Catch you on the flip side

Part Nine - The Ritual

Words drifted though the haze of his unconscious mind. An unintelligible stream of alien language.

"No," Daniel mumbled vaguely, "I don't understand."

The words changed, still foreign, complex, and yet Daniel found himself knowing their meaning. The voices were angry, accusing, but also curious about him.

As the fog in his mind cleared, he listen to the questions they repeated over and over. Ancient, he realised, They're speaking Ancient!

"My name is Daniel Jackson," he replied, grateful for the time he'd spent practising the complicated alien tongue, "I seek guidance."

You are not worthy.

He was stumped by that. It sounded final.

"Forgive me... I know I am not worthy but this is... an emergency."

You speak of the tormented ones.

"Yes! They are my friends."

They abused the Yia Mar. The uninitiated are not to converse with Spirit. They have become many.

"But it was unintentional. They--"

Of what race are you?

I am Tau'ri, from Earth."

How is it that you do not become many? You are not a priest.

"I have acted according to your text, followed the ritual."

You have great understanding. Your kind must be intelligent.

"We're explorers. We found the... Yia Mar in a deserted city, and took it for study. I'm sorry, we didn't know it was holy, or the consequences of touching it."

No reply. Daniel wondered if whoever he was speaking to was considering their verdict.

A sudden stab of light seared through his brain. Images assailed him, a kaleidoscope of memories; people, places, alien races he'd encountered on his many journeys through the Stargate. Languages bubbled through his mind, a stream of blended Arabic, Goa'uld, Hebrew, Abydonian, Latin... More voices joined in, speaking words he didn't understand, but could somehow feel the meaning.

He was on his knees in the darkness, hands holding his head, and with the weight of a thousand voices crushing him he knew he had been found guilty, and that he had failed to save his friends, as well as himself.

The same Voice he had been conversing with spoke amid the din.

How many do you hear?

"Aaaarrrgghh-- hundreds, thousands!"

You hear all of us. The Children of Dionysus have passed from the physical world. Every one.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry--"

You did not kill us. The Voice sounded casual, unconcerned by Daniel's pain. It was time to move on... but we could not. The Yia Mar was to be purged, to allow the connection to be severed so we can move into the realm of our God. The last one to pass over did not do this.

Daniel felt a torrent of sadness he was sure didn't come from himself. The souls of the Dionen people cried out, imprisoned, denied heaven...

You are now become many, only for a moment. This is what it is for all of us, eternally.

The din died down, as though the crying multitude stepped away to allow the single Voice centre stage.

You can end this.

The pain that Daniel had felt for just a minute... He could hardly imagine what state Jack and Sam were in after experiencing that for twelve hours, but 1500 years! Anything he could do to stop that much suffering...

"How?"

The Yia Mar must be purged. Only a priest can do this. Your thoughts and memories are known to us. You have travelled through the Circle many times, and known the Gods. Even though you do not serve our Lord, you are a priest of your people. It is enough. We ask you to give the Yia Mar back to the stars.

"Send it into space?"

Into the stars.

"You mean destroy it."

It cannot be destroyed. Once it is purged, we will become one with our God Dionysus, we will know peace, and we bequeath the Yia Mar to your kind. Use it however best serves your Lord.

"I promise I will do this. What about my friends?"

They will hear us no more.

Daniel breathed a huge sigh of relief. Once the voices were gone, they should hopefully recover.

"Thank you."

We are grateful to you, Daniel Jackson.

The cavernous darkness he seemed to be in grew lighter, and shapes began to appear out of the blackness. Slowly the indistinct blurs became people, who stepped forward to form a circle around him. A hauntingly beautiful, ethereal-looking race, each face with a gentle smile of gratitude.

- - - - - - - - -

"--looks like something went right," Daniel heard General Hammond's voice as if from a distance as he slowly drifted back to consciousness. He knew he must have been smiling.

"Dr. Jackson?" Janet shook him gently. Daniel sat up, looking from the doctor's concerned face to General Hammond's, and then down at the coin, the Yia Mar, in his hands.

"General, we're going to need the X-303."

End of Part Nine