TITLE: The Lost Ones
AUTHOR: Cyn(di)
EMAIL: custardpringle@yahoo.com
RATING: PG-13 for weird evil happenings and general suffering/pain on the parts of all concerned. Also language, as always. And "thematic issues," whatever the hell they are.
CATEGORY: supernatural, drama
SUMMARY: Daniel is having terrible nightmares. And the worst thing is, they're not only in his head . . .
SPOILERS: I'm too lazy to keep track, so let's say anything up through "Fallout."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Bonus points for anyone who can figure out why I had Daniel choose those particular movies. This being the tenth chapter, I feel the need to repeat that I don't own "Stargate." Yet. I'm working on it . . . The song is "Godzilla" by Blue Oyster Cult (aka the greatest band in the history of the universe). I don't own them either, sadly. And I have no idea when Jack's b-day really is, so please don't hurt me.
--------------------------------------------------
Dammit, Daniel thought, what is wrong with me today? He had been unbelievably rude back there, when his friends had just been trying to help him. Still, he knew quite well that there was nothing they could do. There was very little he could do, either, except hope that either he could learn to control his powers or the Ancients would defeat the Perii before he shut down totally from lack of sleep. He felt all right, though. Except that he felt like he hadn't slept in a week, of course . . .
Really, Daniel told himself futilely. I feel just fine.
Just to be on the safe side, though, he decided to take a bus home, not trusting himself to drive safely. However, although he was definitely feeling a lack of sleep, Daniel knew that actually falling asleep would likely as not make the situation worse if he ended up in the middle of another battle. In a flash of that bizarre form of reasoning peculiar to the semiconscious, he decided that he might actually get less tired if he stayed awake as long as possible.
With this goal in mind, Daniel got off the bus at a video rental place within a few blocks of his house and made a beeline for the science fiction section. A few years ago, he wouldn't have been caught dead in this corner, but Teal'c and Jack, between the two of them, had gotten him at least as addicted to the genre as he was to coffee.
After a little consideration, he grabbed "Independence Day"; he'd never seen it, but Jack had assured him several times that he'd enjoy it because "the hero's a geek-just like you." Daniel objected to this reasoning, but the film also looked pretty action-packed, and he figured it would be perfect for keeping him awake.
A little more thought also resulted in the selection of "Godzilla," which he had seen before but wouldn't mind watching again. Besides, the song of the same name was one of his favorites.
"With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound, he throws the spitting high tension wires down . . ." Daniel sang under his breath as he headed for the counter, pausing on the way to consider an enormous "Simpsons" poster as a birthday gift for Jack. A moment later, though, he remembered that Jack's birthday wasn't for several months yet, and therefore was not an issue.
Dammit-he was getting woozy again. He gave himself a sharp mental slap. "History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man . . ."
Daniel discovered too late that the line at the register was unbelievably long: the usual Saturday-evening issue of too many customers and not enough clerks. The song wouldn't get out of his head now, but about halfway through the wait Daniel stopped singing under his breath, sobered by a sudden chill of fear. He attributed to his confused mental state.
"Excuse me," the woman behind him said softly a minute later. "Would you mind being a little more quiet? I'm sure you're enjoying that song very much, but I'm not. I'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself."
"But I'm not singing," Daniel protested in total bewilderment. "I mean, yeah, I've got a song stuck in my head, but I'm not singing it out loud."
"It doesn't matter," she said. "I can hear you-" she tapped her temple-"up here." Daniel felt that chill go through him again, more strongly, and recognized it this time. It was the same feeling he had gotten back in the woods on P3A-476, talking to the Perius before it had killed the two Tok'ra.
This woman was one of the Perii. There was no doubt about it.
He hastily shoved the idea out of his mind-he was totally defenseless right now, and she could kill him easily if she recognized that he knew what she was-but she still caught his moment of uncertainty, and smiled humorlessly. "Interesting concept, eh, Dr. Jackson?"
Daniel forced a smile. "Yes," he agreed, "it is," and drove all other thoughts firmly out of his mind.
"A little something for you to think about," she added.
"Thank you."
Fortunately, nothing further happened; seeming satisfied, the woman simply nodded-she was still smiling slightly-and quietly slipped out of the line and disappeared out the door.
The instant he was sure she was gone, Daniel gulped hard. He had no idea who she was, or how much she knew about him-his name, certainly, which was frightening enough-or what she might possibly be doing wandering around in human guise.
For starters, it was a pretty safe bet that Anubis had sent her to watch him. It might only be because of his connection with the SGC, which automatically made him a threat. Or, worse yet, the System Lord might have recognized that he was fighting with the Ancients, which meant that Daniel's allies on both planes were in serious trouble.
Then again, Anubis probably wouldn't be particularly fond of anything that subtle. The most likely solution, Daniel decided, was probably that the Perius, whoever she was, had simply been bored and felt like messing with someone's mind. With any luck, he'd never meet her again, and it wouldn't be a problem at all.
Daniel paid for his two rentals a few minutes later and walked out of the store in a relatively good mood, considering his experiences of the past couple of days. The woman was nowhere in sight as he walked home, contemplating the large cup of very strong coffee he would be making as soon as he got home. Plus a nice big bowl of popcorn, of course.
This could turn out to be a very fun evening. Assuming, obviously, he succeeded in his main objective, which was to stay awake as long as possible.
"Oh, no, there goes Tokyo . . ."
-----
Somewhere a few hundred yards above his head, a small, diffuse wisp of cloud-only slightly darker than the night gathering around it-drifted away in another direction above the tops of nearby buildings.
It was moving against the wind, and talking very fast in a language nobody could possibly understand-except for one being: the System Lord Anubis.
Roughly translated, what it said was something like: *He is here, My Lord.*
And Anubis answered, *Excellent. We will be ready for him shortly. Our enemies made an unwise decision when they chose him.*
The cloud, had it had a face, would have smiled. *An unwise choice indeed, My Lord. He will be most useful to us.*
AUTHOR: Cyn(di)
EMAIL: custardpringle@yahoo.com
RATING: PG-13 for weird evil happenings and general suffering/pain on the parts of all concerned. Also language, as always. And "thematic issues," whatever the hell they are.
CATEGORY: supernatural, drama
SUMMARY: Daniel is having terrible nightmares. And the worst thing is, they're not only in his head . . .
SPOILERS: I'm too lazy to keep track, so let's say anything up through "Fallout."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Bonus points for anyone who can figure out why I had Daniel choose those particular movies. This being the tenth chapter, I feel the need to repeat that I don't own "Stargate." Yet. I'm working on it . . . The song is "Godzilla" by Blue Oyster Cult (aka the greatest band in the history of the universe). I don't own them either, sadly. And I have no idea when Jack's b-day really is, so please don't hurt me.
--------------------------------------------------
Dammit, Daniel thought, what is wrong with me today? He had been unbelievably rude back there, when his friends had just been trying to help him. Still, he knew quite well that there was nothing they could do. There was very little he could do, either, except hope that either he could learn to control his powers or the Ancients would defeat the Perii before he shut down totally from lack of sleep. He felt all right, though. Except that he felt like he hadn't slept in a week, of course . . .
Really, Daniel told himself futilely. I feel just fine.
Just to be on the safe side, though, he decided to take a bus home, not trusting himself to drive safely. However, although he was definitely feeling a lack of sleep, Daniel knew that actually falling asleep would likely as not make the situation worse if he ended up in the middle of another battle. In a flash of that bizarre form of reasoning peculiar to the semiconscious, he decided that he might actually get less tired if he stayed awake as long as possible.
With this goal in mind, Daniel got off the bus at a video rental place within a few blocks of his house and made a beeline for the science fiction section. A few years ago, he wouldn't have been caught dead in this corner, but Teal'c and Jack, between the two of them, had gotten him at least as addicted to the genre as he was to coffee.
After a little consideration, he grabbed "Independence Day"; he'd never seen it, but Jack had assured him several times that he'd enjoy it because "the hero's a geek-just like you." Daniel objected to this reasoning, but the film also looked pretty action-packed, and he figured it would be perfect for keeping him awake.
A little more thought also resulted in the selection of "Godzilla," which he had seen before but wouldn't mind watching again. Besides, the song of the same name was one of his favorites.
"With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound, he throws the spitting high tension wires down . . ." Daniel sang under his breath as he headed for the counter, pausing on the way to consider an enormous "Simpsons" poster as a birthday gift for Jack. A moment later, though, he remembered that Jack's birthday wasn't for several months yet, and therefore was not an issue.
Dammit-he was getting woozy again. He gave himself a sharp mental slap. "History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man . . ."
Daniel discovered too late that the line at the register was unbelievably long: the usual Saturday-evening issue of too many customers and not enough clerks. The song wouldn't get out of his head now, but about halfway through the wait Daniel stopped singing under his breath, sobered by a sudden chill of fear. He attributed to his confused mental state.
"Excuse me," the woman behind him said softly a minute later. "Would you mind being a little more quiet? I'm sure you're enjoying that song very much, but I'm not. I'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself."
"But I'm not singing," Daniel protested in total bewilderment. "I mean, yeah, I've got a song stuck in my head, but I'm not singing it out loud."
"It doesn't matter," she said. "I can hear you-" she tapped her temple-"up here." Daniel felt that chill go through him again, more strongly, and recognized it this time. It was the same feeling he had gotten back in the woods on P3A-476, talking to the Perius before it had killed the two Tok'ra.
This woman was one of the Perii. There was no doubt about it.
He hastily shoved the idea out of his mind-he was totally defenseless right now, and she could kill him easily if she recognized that he knew what she was-but she still caught his moment of uncertainty, and smiled humorlessly. "Interesting concept, eh, Dr. Jackson?"
Daniel forced a smile. "Yes," he agreed, "it is," and drove all other thoughts firmly out of his mind.
"A little something for you to think about," she added.
"Thank you."
Fortunately, nothing further happened; seeming satisfied, the woman simply nodded-she was still smiling slightly-and quietly slipped out of the line and disappeared out the door.
The instant he was sure she was gone, Daniel gulped hard. He had no idea who she was, or how much she knew about him-his name, certainly, which was frightening enough-or what she might possibly be doing wandering around in human guise.
For starters, it was a pretty safe bet that Anubis had sent her to watch him. It might only be because of his connection with the SGC, which automatically made him a threat. Or, worse yet, the System Lord might have recognized that he was fighting with the Ancients, which meant that Daniel's allies on both planes were in serious trouble.
Then again, Anubis probably wouldn't be particularly fond of anything that subtle. The most likely solution, Daniel decided, was probably that the Perius, whoever she was, had simply been bored and felt like messing with someone's mind. With any luck, he'd never meet her again, and it wouldn't be a problem at all.
Daniel paid for his two rentals a few minutes later and walked out of the store in a relatively good mood, considering his experiences of the past couple of days. The woman was nowhere in sight as he walked home, contemplating the large cup of very strong coffee he would be making as soon as he got home. Plus a nice big bowl of popcorn, of course.
This could turn out to be a very fun evening. Assuming, obviously, he succeeded in his main objective, which was to stay awake as long as possible.
"Oh, no, there goes Tokyo . . ."
-----
Somewhere a few hundred yards above his head, a small, diffuse wisp of cloud-only slightly darker than the night gathering around it-drifted away in another direction above the tops of nearby buildings.
It was moving against the wind, and talking very fast in a language nobody could possibly understand-except for one being: the System Lord Anubis.
Roughly translated, what it said was something like: *He is here, My Lord.*
And Anubis answered, *Excellent. We will be ready for him shortly. Our enemies made an unwise decision when they chose him.*
The cloud, had it had a face, would have smiled. *An unwise choice indeed, My Lord. He will be most useful to us.*
