Either he was getting sloppy and careless, or then he'd just run out of luck.
Teal'c would probably survive. But that wasn't the end of the world, since Teal'c wasn't the first priority anyway. He'd always have time to deal with Teal'c later, when he'd gotten rid of his first target. If he'd manage that.
He'd have to plan everything carefully. Although time was of the essence here, he couldn't risk rushing it. Failure would probably lead to his death.
All things considered, it had actually been a stupid move to go at Teal'c now, but he had gotten emotional about it. That was, of course, the one problem he'd always had.
He had thought it would've been a nice gesture, a sort of an apology for what he would have to do. He still didn't like the idea of doing it, although he knew it was the only way. He had no choice.
"We're going to find out who did this, and when we get them, I'm going to..."
Jack fell silent. He was going to--what, kill them? Well, that wasn't really an option. But by God, he'd make them wish he had.
He gazed at the knife, back from the lab, sealed in a plastic bag, still stained with blood.
It was a bread knife, a goddamn bread knife from their very own mess. They'd checked with the mess staff, and yes, they had a knife missing, but they couldn't say for how long, exactly, no matter how important it was.
There were no fingerprints on it. None at all. Whoever had done it had been cautious enough not to leave any. So, one thing seemed certain: there had been some amount of planning behind the attack. Not that it was surprising. Attacking a person in the most secretive of all top secret military facilities in the country and escaping without trace--that certainly required some planning.
"Yeah, I'll be there with you to do that, whatever it might be," Daniel replied to him. "Really, I can't see how this could happen. It's like a bad detective mystery. A closed room with a guard at the door, no traces of struggle except for the knife and the blood on the floor... No suspects."
"Ah, but we have a suspect," Jack raised a finger. "There were two people in the room."
"Jack, we talked this over already. If you blame him for doing it--you could just as well blame me."
"Yeah, except that I've known you for years, and this guy just came in today. You trust people way too easily, Daniel."
"Yeah, and you don't trust them enough. He's me, Jack."
"He's not you. He's... Another you."
"So, let's just assume for a while that he didn't do it, and that he's right about someone following him. I think it's scarier than the alternative, really. It means that there's someone in here we don't know about. Someone we might not be able to see."
Jack considered that for a while. He'd already thought about it before, and Daniel was right, it was a nasty idea. One they certainly shouldn't rule out. He was going to talk about this with Hammond in a few minutes anyway, so he'd bring it up.
"Nothing I like more than a good ol' invisible alien assassin," he noted. "I think we'll just have to grab our TER's once again and do a full sweep of the base. Who knows what we'll find."
"Yeah... I'm going to see how Teal'c's doing."
"I've got a better idea. How about you stop by at the mess, get something to eat, and then go to sleep? When's the last time you ate and slept anyway? 'Cause, if you ask me, I'd say it was before... Well, you know, before she..."
The look on Daniel's face darkened instantly when Jack as much as hinted at Sha're. "Jack, I ate at your place just, what was it, some hours ago."
"No, you didn't. I saw it. You nibbled. It was pathetic. Eating happens when you grab a fork and use it to put food in your mouth."
Daniel sighed, shook his head and marched out of the room.
Jack sighed and shook his head too, as soon as Daniel had gone.
He couldn't decide which of the two he was more worried about.
Teal'c really didn't look so good. Janet had said that both Teal'c and the symbiote were in a coma, and she couldn't begin to guess when they'd come out of it. If ever. After years of having Teal'c around, they still didn't know a whole lot about the physiology of that larval Goa'uld.
Sam stopped by to visit Jackson on her way out of the infirmary.
"So, how're you doing?"
"Better than I should, I guess. I mean, someone's tried to kill me twice in less than a day, and all I've got is a few stitches. Well, a good few stitches, really. But it could be so much worse. I'm just waiting for Janet's leave to move back to that VIP room. It's not the Home of the Year, but at least it's nicer than being stuck here all the time."
Sam frowned. "Yeah... About doing better than you should, there's one thing I've been wondering..."
"Entropic cascade failure?"
He'd figured that one out really fast. This Jackson definitely wasn't any less sharp than the Daniel she knew. "You know about it?"
"I'd say I know quite a bit about it. We went through the quantum mirror a few times. Did some research. I suffered some ECF myself, more than once, so I do know what it feels like, and I've been expecting it to start all along."
"But, so far so good?"
"Yeah. The thing about ECF is, none of our science staff have been able to figure out how to predict it, when it strikes, how bad it is and so on. I mean, I think common sense would suggest that it's worse if the two universes are very similar to each other, but how can you prove that? How can you measure how similar two universes are?"
Sam couldn't think of any way to do that. It'd be impossible to compare everything that'd happened in both worlds. The smallest differences would surely be too tiny to notice, while the major ones could easily overwhelm everything else and distract the observer.
"Anyway, we've got the mirror here now. If you're all right with it, we'll try and find a universe without you... Without Daniel Jackson. So you could stay there safely."
"There's no 'safe' for me as long as the someone or something following me goes free, but that's a whole other problem... So, thank you, Sam--I'd really appreciate it."
They'd just have to start looking, trying to find a suitable alternate reality. It wouldn't be easy, she could tell that right away. They'd probably run into many dangerous realities, where the Goa'uld would've won and conquered the SGC and Earth, or something even worse. They'd be risking a lot for one man, but Sam was prepared to do it, for this Jackson--this Daniel, who had been through so much. They didn't have clearance to start yet, but she was sure Hammond would give it.
She made her way to the lab where the quantum mirror was waiting. It was off, of course. She picked up the remote to activate it, just to skim through universes and see what the other ends looked like. But nothing happened. The device stayed dead.
She walked closer to it and tried again, and even went so far as to touch it. Could it have somehow broken when they'd transported it here? That had never happened before, and it didn't sound plausible. But the fact was that it clearly wasn't working.
They didn't know a whole lot about how the mirror worked anyway. The Area 51 staff had only brushed the surface of the whole complexity of it. She was glad they'd managed to convince Hammond and the other people in charge to keep it instead of just destroying it. Now, she'd need all the knowledge they had.
Sam opened the panel at the side of the mirror, one that allowed access to some of its technology, and swore at what she saw. The technology was partially crystal-based, like that of the Goa'uld, only much more complex. It was all melted and broken, a real mess. It reminded her strongly of the effect a zat gun would have on something like this. Someone had sabotaged the quantum mirror.
Daniel sat by Teal'c's bed, staring at his still form, without actually seeing a thing.
Why did this have to be so hard?
He couldn't figure out what he felt. About Jackson. About Teal'c. About everything. And Sha're. Sha're, who was everything.
Jackson had asked if Daniel really believed that Teal'c had had no choice. Now that he thought about it, he didn't think he believed it. He believed Teal'c had had a choice, that things could've played out differently.
Daniel was still angry at Teal'c. And still, he did forgive Teal'c. He had to. He knew it was the right thing to do, and Teal'c was his friend. And now that Teal'c was hurt too, being angry at him and doubting his actions made Daniel feel like a really bad person.
That part of his mind that still paid some attention to the surroundings warned him that Janet was approaching. He picked up a Kleenex and did his best to wipe away any traces of tears. He didn't want her to see he'd been crying. She wouldn't be able to help anyway. No one would. He needed to sort this all out himself. Figure out what he really felt about things. And how to keep going when everything was wrong and Sha're was dead.
"Colonel O'Neill is right, Daniel. You should sleep. Teal'c's still going to be here in the morning, I can promise you that."
"Can you, really? What if someone attacks him again?"
That was another worry Daniel couldn't get rid of. That whoever had attacked Teal'c and Jackson would come back to finish it. They'd obviously known what they'd been doing, because they'd went for Teal'c's symbiote. He couldn't believe it had been just a random attack at whoever had happened to be there with Jackson.
"That's why we're going to keep the guards here around the clock. Nothing bad can happen. So, shoo, now! Doctor's orders."
Daniel stood up and nodded. He was tired, he wouldn't deny that, but he also knew he wouldn't be able to sleep.
When he left the infirmary, he noted that Jackson wasn't there anymore. Probably gone to the VIP room again. Somehow, Daniel knew he wasn't sleeping either.
On his way to his room, Daniel met Sam, who looked really upset about something.
"It's the quantum mirror," she told him. "It's broken--deliberately sabotaged, I think--and the Area 51 staff can't tell how long it's been like that. We've asked for their security camera data, but, again, it's going to take a while before we get it."
"Sam, wait," he frowned. "It's broken, as in, not working? So the other me can't leave?"
"Not in a while. I'm not sure I can fix it on my own, but Hammond's permitted us to contact the Tok'ra for help. We're going to make it work again soon enough."
They'd have to figure it out soon enough for Jackson to get out before being in this reality with Daniel would kill him. And how long they had before that'd happen, no one could tell. Hopefully at least a few days.