Disclaimer: They own it, I don't.
Disclaimer: But honestly, who would sue me? I have no money, and this computer is from the dark ages- go ahead! Sue me for all I'm worth! Lets see how far that flies- I'll be laughing my head off in court! AH ha ha HA ha HA!
Spoilers: Hmm... nope.
A/N : Acoraphobia- An abnormal fear of high places.
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Daniel, Age 15, Earth's Orbit.
Daniel awoke with a feeling of extreme nausea. Keeping his eyes closed, he reached out a hand to get his bearings. What he felt was definitely not pavement. Opening his eyes with a start, Daniel was greeted with a sight that turned his stomach. He was lying on a window in the floor, above what looked sickeningly like Earth. Daniel fought the urge to vomit. This was an acrophobe's 7th level.
"Oh boy." he muttered under his breath, turning onto his back. The teenager focused on breathing evenly as he tired to remember what had happened to him.
"Daniel Jackson." The even voice had come from a balcony above him. Daniel raised his head an inch from the floor, but regretted it as his vision began to blur.
"Yea..." He said uncertainly, lowering himself back against the floor.
"I apologize for any discomfort your journey may have caused. I was unable to anticipate complications involving our genetic differences."
"Our... what?" Daniel rubbed his eyes. For some reason he felt really really tired.
"Apparently there are some major variations in our genome structure. Fortunately, I was able to repair the damage caused to your molecular makeup before you re-materialized." Daniel considered this answer for a moment before deciding he had finally gone mad.
"Okay, tell you what; I'm not feeling to well at the moment, could you come back in, say, an hour? 'Cause right now I'm just going to-"
"I am sorry, sir, but I request your attention now. Timing is crucial at the moment. A life very important to you is in a very fragile state, and I seriously doubt he can sustain himself for an extended period of time."
"What?"
"You are going to die unless you help get me what I want." The voice said cooly.
Daniel struggled to hold on to the fleeting strands of his patience. The sight below him had wrecked havoc with his thought process. He sat up very slowly. Carefully not looking down, Daniel began to speak in an equally cool voice.
"For all intensive purposes, I am going to assume that you are an Alien." The man looked slightly surprised that Daniel had not known this. "I am also going to assume that you have transported me to this... ship... to use as a hostage." The alien didn't deny it, so Daniel coninued. "What I would like to know is, one, why you chose me, and two- what it is you are missing."
"I would have thought that would be obvious." The alien said smoothly. "You are the representative with the least webs. This made you the easiest to transport."
"Webs?"
"Forgive me, your language does not posses the words I need to use. I chose to transport you because you have the least attachments to your surroundings. You love no one, and no one loves you." Daniel realized the alien was explaining this purely in the interest of science, but the words still stung. They wouldn't have hurt half as bad if he hadn't known they were true. Moving from home to home had caused him to develop very few attachments, and it bothered him more then he cared to admit.
"So... So this transportation device of yours only works on people who don't have attachments?"
"In short, it works by forming an attachment with everything that is you. The process is hindered by attachments on the other side. This problem does not usually occur among my people. As for your second question, the device I am missing is called Htyd-j-qwasen, in my language. My research has turned up no corresponding word in your Earth language."
"What does this device do?"
"Creates my helpers. What do you call your Htyd-j-qwasen?"
"I don't understand..." Said Daniel. "What do you mean by helpers?"
"Well, I will introduce you to one." The alien said quizzically, clearly not understanding why Daniel was being so slow. Without any visible cue, a door behind the alien retracted and a younger boy stepped through. "I call him Jaq-yteg-hozen." Said the alien. "He was the head of the team designated to learn your language for me." Daniel thought he finally understood. He rose to his feet and walked closer to the balcony.
"This is incredible..." he said disbelievingly, quite forgetting the wide expanse of space below him. "This boy... he's an expansion of yourself? You can do two things at once, in two different bodies?"
"Two?" The alien said incredulously. "I have over a hundred helpers. This is not how your planet works?" Daniel grinned.
"No, no it's not." He said with amusement. The alien looked confused and anxious.
"That would explain all the webs-" He said quickly. "Representative... it does not mean delegate of others?"
"Oh, it does, but not in the sense you are thinking of. Our minds only occupy one body." Daniel glanced at the boy beside the alien.
"I think I have made a very dangerous mistake." he said.
