"It wasn't a dream," Jack cringed as the cold look Maj. Jackson had given him while snapping his double's neck. It was the icy and emotionless, expression he associated with mass murderers and battle hardened vets, but definitely not a look he'd ever believed could be on the face of his intensely passionate and violence abhorrent friend.
"What wasn't a dream?" Asked Sam her face a mask of concern. "Do you remember what happened? We thought it was the Asgard, but Thor said he had no ships in the area. What do you remember?" Jack looked down at his hands, still shocked by the images replaying through his mind.
"It was Daniel."
"But Daniel was here."
"Not our Daniel, another one, two actually."
"Two Daniels?"
"It's an alternate reality thing."
"But how it that possible?"
"The one who took us, told me it was some kind of dimensional void, a weigh station between realities, the Ancients set up a lab there and he somehow managed to stumble across it. He said he was conducting a study of himself."
"Then how did you end up there?"
"My counter part leaned on the button apparently." Sam smiled faintly, but stopped when she saw her CO's face.
"What happened sir?"
"He killed him."
"Who?"
"Daniel," Jack cringed.
"You're counter part killed Daniel?" Sam looked shocked.
"No!" said Jack, "Would you let me explain?" Sam looked abashed but nodded. "I was in a room," he said, "No furniture, no windows, and one door that never opened. Daniel was there, sat on the floor cross legged, mumbling to himself. He woke up, and told me he had been Kelnorreeming because he got hit by a weapon on E39 that stopped him from being able to reach REM sleep. I thought it was weird, he thought I was delusional, I brought up Nick, but for him we'd never met Nick and we figured out we were from alternate realities. Then the other one showed up." Jack shuddered. "Then the other one showed up told us about this place, he wore a mask at first but then he took it off he introduced himself as Major Daniel Jackson." Sam's eyebrows rose in interest at that tit-bit. "Seems that Daniel joined the Air Force to avoid juvenile detention. The other one was more like our Daniel, curious about the differences fascinated by the alternates relationship with his Jack. Apparently in most of the realities where Jack O'Neill knows Daniel Jackson they're usually in close proximity to one another. So I got pulled in because Daniel was off doing whatever it is Daniel does when I'm stuck in meetings all day. Neither of them could believe I let him go off world without me, then I told them about my promotion and the Major didn't sound pleased, he pulled out a remote and said he'd send me back before his Jack hurt me. He said he'd be back for my Daniel, and that's when he reached out for the other one and killed him."
"Killed?"
"He snapped his neck one handed."
"Holy Hannah!"
"I always knew Danny had a mean streak, but I never thought I'd see a look so cold on his face. Jesus, Carter it was like he was empty, his eyes, it was like looking into a black hole. The only thing worse than watching Daniel getting murdered is Daniel being the murderer."
"And this Major Jackson has Daniel now?"
"I think that's a likely assumption."
"But how do we save him?"
"I was hoping you knew."
Daniel turned from the wall to find he was no longer in his lab, but a plain room with no windows and only one door to speak of.
"What the hell?" He made a quick assessment frowned, tried the door and then stood behind it cleaning his glasses, in a thoughtful manner.
"You don't seem all that surprised to be here." Daniel looked up a man in black from head to toe had appeared from nowhere.
"If I were it wouldn't exactly behoove me to make it obvious to you would it?" Daniel crossed his arms over his chest. "So what is it?"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you want?" Daniel enunciated himself clearly, "Are you NID, the trust?"
"No."
"Someone else wants to kill me?" He asked as he put his glasses back on.
"I'm not here to kill you." The man sounded amused and disconcerting familiar.
"Have we met, before?" Daniel asked stepping closer, the masked man didn't move.
"Not in the strictest of sense no, but in a way we are close, family even."
"That's weird; I don't remember any secret agents on the family tree, but then again all my relatives are dead, so I'll return to my original question what do you want?"
The man smiled behind his mask, perhaps, he thought, he'd finally found a counterpart with what he needed, there were still tests to make sure but this first meeting had gone well, this one had courage, yes most did, but where the others had courage in the face of fear this one seemed oblivious to it, almost welcoming the challenge offered by his capture. Yes, this one could be the one.
"I want you Daniel," he said finally, "and I want us to learn about each other."
"I don't understand," Daniel answered eyeing his captor suspiciously.
"Let me help you," He removed his mask to reveal the familiar face of Daniel Jackson.
"Why, the hell, not?" Jack banged his fist on the table as Sam came in, he held up a finger for her to be quiet. "This is not a request Sergeant, it's an order I want that thing crated up and shipped here yesterday, is that clear?" A voice echoed through the room from the speaker phone.
"Yes, sir." Jack pushed a button on the phone and motioned for Sam to sit down.
"News?" he asked.
"All bad I'm afraid, none of our off world allies have ever encountered an alternate reality in the ways we have they've never even heard of an inter-dimensional weigh station. And they'd only heard of the quantum mirror technology in passing, a few vague legends of a race that studied other worlds that were their own." Jack went cross eyed, "Their words not mine. It's another way of saying other universes."
"Right. Yeah, I err, found out where Hammond stashed our mirror and it'll be here sometime tomorrow." Jack frowned trying to catch his train of thought, "They err, they welded a big ol' iris to that thing after last time. I don't know how much good it's going to do."
"It's the only lead we have at the moment; if you hadn't been taken by mistake we wouldn't even have that."
"Yeah, that other Daniel's Jack is probably having a really bad day right about now." Sam winced. "But, it's like Teal'c said, ours is the only reality of consequence."
"Major Dan Jackson. SG2; at your service," The double bowed sarcastically.
"SG2?"
"It was the only way I could get command; Hammond refused to give SG1 to anyone lower than Colonel."
"So Jack recommended you for SG2 instead of Kowalski?"
"Kowalski, that load? Ra got him on the first pass in Abydos, it was a good job I managed to convince Jack to follow orders and set off that bomb before things got any worse."
"You set off the bomb? You destroyed Abydos?" Daniel stared at the man who wore his face, "How could you do that what about Sha're?"
"Sha're never heard of her." Dan shook his head, "Besides you destroyed Abydos too, I checked."
"No Abydos was destroyed much later, by Anubis after I ascended."
"No shit? You ascended? But you're so like me, if it weren't for the non-military hair, I'd swear I was looking in the mirror."
"The fun house variety maybe." Dan laughed, Daniel looked suspicious.
"Let me show you how rare a commodity we are in the vastness of the multi-verse." The Major put an arm around Daniel's shoulder and they turned towards the wall a second later they found themselves in a long corridor with barred doors stretching to the end.
"Where are we?" asked Daniel looking around and shrugging off the major's arm.
"This is the real fun house." Dan stepped over to one of the doors, "this one's a real sad case," he looked back a Daniel, "Come take a look," Daniel reluctantly stepped up to the door, Dan leaned over to whisper. "I pulled him out of an agency psyche-ward; Jack visited him everyday, for the first year, but after Teal'c died." He trailed off shaking his head. Daniel peered through the gap in the bars. The familiar sandy brown mop, sat huddled in the corner.
"Machello, Jack it was Machello, I'm not crazy not crazy, no drugs, no drugs, no more drugs, please Jack. Please."
"Well, he's half right." Whispered Dan, "He wasn't crazy until they upped the dosage and Jack stopped calling. Kinda sent him over the edge." Daniel glanced back at the Major beside him.
"You don't seem all that sorry."
"He's one of the lucky ones."
"What do you mean?" Dan once again put his arm across Daniel's back, as a gesture to follow.
"You really don't know how lucky you are, do you?" Daniel eyed the hand but allowed it to remain. "Of the hundreds of realities I've studied, barely half of the Daniel Jacksons even made it to adulthood, let alone become involved with the Stargate Program." As he spoke Major Jackson lead them down the corridor, cries and wails for help, followed them, a few threw themselves at the bars yelling and screaming.
"Get out!" screamed one, "Run while you can!" cried another. None of it seemed to faze the Major in anyway as he continued his monologue. "I myself was on the slippery slope of troubled teenage-hood, until I was caught and forced to focus my attention on something constructive."
"Oh, I never had that problem." Said Daniel faintly, looking back at all the doors in passing.
"Yeah, I noticed, you're one of the academic types, even kept the glasses after all this time. Though you have bulked up." He said moving the hand up to the shoulder. "Must be Teal'c's influence." He shrugged, "I killed the Teal'c in my reality."
"What how?"
"Lucky shot when Apophis came calling the first time. It was a good thing I went down to check on the weekly poker game right then. But I'll tell you I was shocked that in a handful of realities the dumb Jaffa switched sides."
"It's a shame; Teal'c is a good friend and a strong ally in the fight against the Goa'uld."
"He was also a weakness,"
"How do you know?"
"I know we used the symbiote poison to deal the system lords a crippling blow, without regard to the Jaffa."
"That's genocide!"
"That's war." He smiled vaguely without mirth. "Here we are," They were stood in front of another door. This door was unlike the others in that it was solid.
"What's this?"
"I would like you to meet someone."
"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?"
"Probably," Said Dan as he pulled out a small remote control, "Because you won't. You remember the Touched don't you?" He smiled as he pressed the button.