Author's Note: Thank you to those who took the time to review the last chapter and Mara Jade Jedi for the beta.
Chapter Five: "Just another first contact…"
It was unlike anything Daniel had ever experienced before (and that was saying something). In a matter of hours, they had learned the basics of twenty seven languages, although Daniel still had to be careful not to use euphemisms. Remarkably, language wasn't the only way they communicated. They interacted with all of his senses. Daniel couldn't get used to suddenly being assaulted with smells (tar, perfume, freshly cut grass…) and then being commanded to describe the sensation by the curious interlopers. It was like Urgo, except far less annoying.
When Daniel was sick of tasting, smelling, and hallucinating, they would talk to him. For Daniel, their conversations were the most fascinating aspect of the entire experience.
We were once like you. Without Consciousness.
"Without consciousness? I have consciousness."
The Command Cell Cluster is conscious perhaps but so much is unaware.
"The Command Cell Cluster?"
You. A part of you.
"Why did you infect me?"
We were curious. You are so much like us… before the Big Change.
"The Big Change?"
When we… evolved. Gained consciousness. You are our living past.
"You're historians! Anthropologists!"
Yes. And scientists. Scholars. We seek knowledge.
"Did you make my eyesight better? I don't need glasses anymore." This led to a clarification of the word 'glasses' and what they were.
You are inefficient. We are making you better.
"Are making? You're still doing making changes?"
Yes.
"What are you doing to me?"
We are you. Symbiotic.
Fear was Daniel's uncontrollable response. One word dominated his thoughts: "Goa'uld." But they didn't know who the Goa'uld were, and although Daniel tried his best to explain his enemy, they failed to see the comparison.
Exhausted by the mental exercise or perhaps triggered by the organisms within him, Daniel eventually stumbled into an uneasy sleep.
Janet wandered into her infirmary, and checked on her most popular patient. She flipped through his charts, more out of habit than anything else. Daniel was sleeping. She should be doing the same. Sleep eluded her however –coffee was the obvious reason. If she was honest with herself (a rarity), it seemed whenever SG-1 was in danger, she always was an insomniac.
She watched Daniel for a moment. He was ever the medical miracle/pain-in-the-ass. He was her friend and she was damned if she'd let him down. She yawned again, and berated herself (sleep was a necessary evil).
Putting away his charts, she silently turned around to go out the door ---
"Janet?" a faint voice muttered. Not as silent as she had hoped then.
She turned around and headed back to his bed, where a half-asleep Daniel Jackson was smiling at her. Idly, Janet wondered where his floppy hair had gone in order to complete the five-year-old look.
"Hessariak en shine?" He asked. Janet glanced at the translator by the bed: "What time is it?"
"Late," she admitted, "Go back to sleep, Daniel." She gave him a small smile and pulled the blanket he'd tossed aside on top of him, tucking him in.
"Janet," he grabbed her hand, "Jacoork en themble ja olka cetunugoo." His incomprehensive words were punctuated with a second smile. Another quick glance at the alien device, and Janet felt her heart melt a bit. Daniel Jackson was too sweet for his own good (for her own good too). She knew better than to fall for his charms; experience had already taught her that harsh lesson.
Feeling the roughness of her hands, he added, "Shrook anna loopa?"
"It's nothing," she reassured him and repeated her earlier advice, "Get some rest. Doctor's orders." Janet gave his hand a final squeeze and let go.
With one foot out the door, she turned back towards him and said just barely loud enough for him to hear, "You don't have to tell me. I already know."
Daniel closed his eyes, trying to fall back to sleep. They were still there. They sounded like a bee buzzing around his ear. Daniel wasn't sure of the purpose of the low pitched humming noise. Perhaps it was their own mode of communication?
"How many of you are in me?" he wondered, not really expecting an answer.
Many.
"How many? A number?" There was no answer and after a moment, Daniel tried a different tactic. "Where are you specifically within me?" There was still no answer. "Hello?"
We cannot answer those questions.
"Cannot or will not?"
Will not.
"Why?"
Not permitted by those superior.
"Those who were superior? You have a hierarchy? A government?"
Yes. We fear… (They had emotions? Daniel wasn't sure.) …that the information could lead to our elimination.
"Death?"
Yes.
"You think we're trying to kill you?" There was no answer. "We're not trying to kill you." At least, Daniel didn't think so. Janet could have other ideas, if she was still bent on treating them like any other virus.
Many have already been killed. Yet we are immortal. Each of us has millions of… (There was a pause here. Word searching: Brothers? Sisters? Daughters? Sons? Until one was chosen.) …clones. We never die because when one dies, thousands live on.
They were a unicellular life-form, Daniel gathered. Similar to himself and capable of 'helping' him achieve this type of immortality, although they hadn't claimed this outright. His conclusions were based mostly on speculation. Yet Daniel had been offered this sort of thing before (ascension sprang immediately to mind) and there always had been some sort of price to pay. With ascension it had been possessing knowledge and power, but the inability to act. What had the Vorfahren given up? Independence? Freedom? Individuality? Humanity?
We can bring you to our world.
"Your world? I thought we lived in the same world?"
You live in the macroscopic. We live in the microscopic. The internal. We live within. We can show you our world.
"You can?"
Only if you wish.
"Would I be able to leave?" His earlier thoughts had made him cautious.
Yes.
First and foremost, Daniel was an archeologist. This was like asking a kid if he wanted to go to a candy store.
"Daniel? Can you hear me?" Someone was trying to ground him. Daniel felt a small, feminine hand brush his forehead.
"Janet," he answered, opening his heavy eyes and refocusing his attention from the mind-bending internal conversation outwards to the external world. However, the Vorfahren were still there. Waiting.
Was it morning already? Hadn't it been less than an hour since Janet had visited him last? Daniel craned his head to an awkward angle. He could hear the regular earlier morning 'traffic' outside the infirmary, and caught sight of a clock proclaiming the time to be nine a.m.
Janet looked relieved –Daniel felt terrible for worrying her. She was the one who always took care of everyone. Who took care of her?
"Are they still talking to you?" she asked. Daniel wondered if he had been talking out loud in his sleep.
She read his reply off the translator, "They want me to join them… meet them. I'm not too sure what they mean exactly…"
Janet frowned, feeling decidedly powerless. It was two years ago and Daniel was on his own all over again.
"Are you going to?" She had no control. Medicine had hit its limit.
Daniel gave her a half smile, "It's just another first contact, Janet. It's something I have to do. Tell them not to worry."
There was little question as to whom Daniel was referring. Janet felt a brace around her heart when Daniel closed his eyes, as if he was going to sleep. "Them" didn't include her –she broke no promises when worry unfurled in the pit of her stomach.
The ancestors spoke up again when Daniel's closed his eyes and he was enveloped in darkness.
Are you ready?
"Yes."
TBC
Try and fill in the blank: Please --blank--. (Hint: starts with R and ends with eview. Hehe.)
