Saturday, May 1
Reality L583

A new month had started. Jack looked at the calendar page that read May 1, 1999 and wanted to throw it against the wall. Daniel needed to come home now. They needed an answer. Maybourne's visit on Thursday had been a simple message of nothing's changed. He'd stayed no longer that ten minutes, and all he'd had to say was that the SG-1 of that reality, minus Daniel, had been sent on an offworld mission.

Hardly useful information, except insofar as it meant that they were possibly risking their lives and leaving Daniel alone without support in their reality.

It had given their Carter more data for her calculations, though.

He reached for his keyboard. There were a few items flagged for his attention in his e-mail, and he ought to get to work. The phone rang, and he picked it up. "O'Neill."

"Sir, get down here," Carter said, sounding agitated. "Maybourne's here again. I'll call the general, you get Teal'c."

Jack caromed off the opposite wall in his haste to get out of his office door. Leaving staring staffers behind him as he ran through the halls, Jack made his way to the gym as quickly as possible given the slowness of the elevators. He stuck his head in and Teal'c looked up from his work. The young private who was bouting with him at that moment saw an opportunity and dove on him. Teal'c put the young man down – without hurting him, Jack was relieved to see – and stood up. "Class is dismissed," he said, as he walked out to join Jack.

They headed to Carter's office, arriving there at the same time as the general and they deferred to the higher ranking man, though Jack was champing at the bit. Maybourne was leaning against one of the lab counters and Carter was pacing. It looked as if they might have caught her mid-babble. She stood waiting as the general strode in. "Yes, Colonel Maybourne?"

"Sir, I thought you would want to know. The general has made a definite decision . . . he wants to keep your Daniel. And I forgot to mention on my last visit, this reality's Teal'c has now been captured by Earth and is being held at the SGC."

"I hardly see how that's relevant to getting our boy back," Hammond said.

"Well, sir, he's shown signs of possibly wanting to help," Maybourne replied and Jack raised his eyebrows.

"In what way?" Teal'c asked.

"Hammond apparently became suspicious of Daniel's translation of the folk tale you sent. He had Teal'c, controlling him by means of someone called Ryac." A measure of tension entered Teal'c's body that didn't go unnoticed by anyone present. Jack and Carter both edged closer to their largest teammate. "He asked Teal'c to verify the translation Dr. Jackson gave him."

"And he didn't tell them what it really was?" Carter asked.

"No, Lt. Carter tells me that he read through the entire letter and then told Hammond it was nothing more than a folk tale." He looked at Teal'c. "I thought maybe you could give me an insight into what his motivation might be."

"How could I?" Teal'c asked. "I am not him. He is not me. Our lives have run along different courses."

Jack shrugged. That was all the answer Maybourne was getting out of the big guy, he knew the signs, and there was something a little more interesting on his mind. "You already said Hammond was determined to keep our Daniel. What makes it so 'definite' now?"

"He's moved him and all his books out of the holding cell and into a suite he set up for the eventual permanent Daniel." He pulled out a folded piece of paper. "This map will show you where it is, and why it's a problem. Let me just say that there are at least three layers more of security than there were originally. I'm not sure what his reasoning is, maybe he doesn't want anyone invading the base to easily get their hands on a resource like Dr. Jackson, I don't know. Still, it makes things a bit more complicated for us."

"What size force would be required to get him out now?" Teal'c asked.

"I think you're missing my meaning," Maybourne said impatiently. "We're talking about a completely isolated block of the mountain, a space that can be locked down independently. I don't think he could be gotten out of there without a lot of help from the inside or months of effort. On top of that, if you did get through into the suite he's in, Hammond would know and he'd kill him instantly."

"Damn it!" The words exploded out of Jack. "I can't stand this!"

"We've also had a problem with getting more data from their log of alternate realities. They've blocked the hole we were using and we haven't found a solution yet."

"So you can't get the Daniel here home to his reality?"

"Not yet," Maybourne said. "How's he holding up?"

"Sir, now that he knows, maybe we should include him in this conversation?" Carter suggested. "He has a better understanding of the people over there than we do."

Maybourne looked faintly alarmed. Hammond tilted his head. "You don't seem altogether comfortable with that notion," he observed.

"I'm afraid I haven't met any of the Daniels," he said. "Not since ours died. Not face to face. And he's bound to regard me with understandable hostility."

Jack shrugged. "I'll go fetch him, sir. I think Carter's right. He should be involved." Hammond nodded, and before Maybourne could object further, Jack left. He headed up to the VIP room where Daniel was staying and went inside. Daniel was reading. He'd been given a very light work schedule, and Fraiser was observing his state of mind and body. At the moment, there was a young airman in attendance on him. The young man lounged in a chair, reading his own book. When he saw O'Neill, he jumped to his feet at attention. Daniel raised an eyebrow at the airman, then looked curiously at Jack.

"As you were, Borgos," Jack said. "No need for formality in this detail. Daniel, would you like to meet the Maybourne from the alternate reality?"

Daniel stared at him. "He's here right now?"

"He is indeed."

"Why do you want me to meet him?" Daniel asked apprehensively.

"It's not so much that we want you to meet him, Daniel, as that we want you to hear, firsthand, what he's saying, so we have someone who's actually met the people in question to validate his claims." Daniel just sat there, eyes wide and staring at him. After a moment, it dawned on Jack what the problem was. "We are not giving you to him. He's not asking for you, and if he did, we wouldn't give you to him." He walked over to the phone and dialed Carter's lab. When she picked up the phone a moment later, he said, "Can you move the party next door? I think one of the guests might be a little uncomfortable with the decor."

"Sure, sir," she said sounding vaguely uncertain of what he meant. "I'll arrange it."

"Good. I'll be down with the last guest in a few minutes."

"Very good, sir."

He turned back to Daniel. "Honestly, we're not giving you back to them. We'd never do that."

"Even if they offered to give you your Daniel back?"

"At this point, I'm being told that it may be months, so I don't think that's even an option. And we wouldn't take it. Can you imagine . . . well, I'm sure you can imagine better than I can just what my Daniel would do to me for putting another one in that position?"

"Months?" Daniel repeated, looking horrified. "He'll be there for months? My God, he'll never survive!" Jack flinched and Daniel flushed. "I mean . . . I'm sorry. I mean, he'll . . . I don't know how he's made it this long with as few injuries as have been reported to you."

"Come with us and talk to Maybourne. He's the one setting the schedule, and he's got the mirror on that side, in Area 51, so us going through to his reality wouldn't do us much good. We'd be stuck miles from where we need to be. And we still can't turn the goddamned thing on anyway!"

Daniel nodded slowly. "Where's the wheelchair?"

Borgos got up and wheeled it into position, then got Daniel into it. "Do you need me to come along, sir?" he asked.

"I think we can manage," Jack replied. "Take some time off. I'll let you know when you're needed again."

"Yes sir," the airman said, opening the door for them. Jack pushed Daniel along the halls where people looked at him curiously. They all knew that while this was Daniel, it was not their Daniel, and they all wanted to know more. Hammond had been deliberately fuzzy on the exact details of how it had happened, but had been abundantly clear that it was not this Daniel's fault that theirs was missing.

Daniel appeared a little uncomfortable under the scrutiny, but he held up well all the way down to the office where they were meeting the others. "The mirror isn't in there, is it?" he asked.

Jack shook his head. "Nope. Nothing like that."

"Okay," Daniel said, clearly nerving himself up. He leaned forward and opened the door and Jack pushed him into the room. Maybourne's eyes widened and he rose to his feet, staring at Daniel. Jack hadn't considered what effect it would have on the man to see this Daniel still confined to a wheelchair, even after nearly four weeks. Not just that, but a wheelchair he couldn't control himself because he had one arm still in a cast.

"Dr. Jackson," Maybourne said. "I am sorry that my . . . that the people of my reality did this to you. I can't begin to tell you how sorry."

As Jack got him closer to the table, Daniel nodded. "Well, one thing you could do is find a way to get the Daniel that belongs here back faster."

"It's difficult, " Maybourne said. "They've moved him from the room you were kept in.'

"Moved him?" Daniel exclaimed. "Why?"

"They've decided on keeping him. He's cooperating, Colonel O'Neill hasn't done more than rough him up a couple of times, he's only objected to working once, and he took his punishment stoically. Hammond seems to think he's found the perfect Daniel Jackson."

Daniel shook his head. "There will come something, some little task that Hammond will set him that he'll refuse to do. No matter that he knows help is coming, no matter that he wants to live, he won't be able to trade his life for those of others. Not knowingly. It's one thing to translate ancient history, it's quite another to translate current military statistics. He'll never last months." Daniel leaned forward. "He might not last out the week. It all depends on what Hammond gives him to do."

Maybourne grimaced. "I don't know what I can do about that," he said. Looking at Jack he asked, "Does he know about everything?"

"If you mean the bomb, yes."

"Look," Hammond said, "you said a few moments ago that you couldn't get him out quickly without a lot of inside help." Maybourne nodded. "Then get it, by God. I don't know what you have now, but you've said that your O'Neill and your Carter are now opposed to Hammond. Do you have anyone else on your side?"

Maybourne nodded. "One or two people, and the more people who meet Daniel, the more come to that side. Still, it does no good to attack Hammond if all of them are just going to wind up in prison for mutiny. Then you'll have Daniel there, assuming he survives, with no support at all."

"So get proof that Hammond is doing something illegal," Daniel said. "Something detrimental to the White House. Something that will boot him out of there."

"Or manufacture proof," Carter put in. "That might even be better if you do it right, because then you know exactly what you have and can plan accordingly."

Maybourne smiled at her with pleasure. "I like the way you think, captain," he said.

"Will that work?" Daniel asked impatiently. "There are three of us at a minimum who still need to be gotten home, maybe more."

"I realize that," Maybourne said. "I'll see what can be done." Glancing at his watch, he pursed his lips. "I really have to be going." He turned to Daniel. "Dr. Jackson, believe me, we are making every effort to get you home."

"And believe me, I want to go home, but it will be an empty victory if these people lose their Daniel in the process."

Maybourne shook his head, looking baffled, and Jack was amused to see a new person struck down by the sheer selflessness of the man. Was every Daniel like that? Was there a Daniel somewhere who was inherently mean and selfish? It seemed beyond imagining.

"I must be going back," Maybourne said. "I'll come back when I have more information."

Carter took him back to the mirror and they all sat silently until she came back. "The trouble is, all he has to do is stay away and we'll have no way to affect anything," she said as she came through the door. "If he decides he can't help us on the time frame we think is reasonable, all he has to do is not come back."

"Because you don't have a controller?" Daniel asked.

"Right," Carter said. "I'm sorry. I don't have enough data on how the thing operates to create something that will turn it on and shift its focus."

Daniel was silent for a moment. "Here's a wacky thought," he said. Jack raised an eyebrow. "P3X-233, the planet where you found the mirror, you've avoided going back there, right?"

"It's radioactive," Carter said.

"Yes, I know, outside, but the buildings weren't as bad inside, right?"

"No, they weren't," she replied cautiously.

"Well, the mirror was inside a building."

"What's your point, Daniel?"

"Grab some radiation suits and go back and see if maybe, just maybe, there's another controller."

Jack was stunned. Apparently so was everyone else, because they all sat silently with their jaws hanging open.

"That never occurred to me," Carter said in astonished tones.

"Me neither." Jack put his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "See why I thought you needed to be here? We need someone who thinks outside the box."

Daniel shrugged. "You would have thought of it in time," he said.

"No, son, I don't believe we would have," Hammond said. "Girls and boys, let's get moving."

Jack took Daniel back to his room and said, "Hammond's right. We'd never have thought of that. You're unique."

Daniel looked up at him, his eyes filled with emotion and shook his head. "Hasn't anyone told you? We're interchangeable."

Jack stopped dead, staring at him. "No, you're not," he said. "I don't know who was spouting that nonsense, whether it was the other Hammond or the other Jack, but much as I like you and admire you, I want my Daniel back. I'd lay odds that your Sha're took one look at the Daniel they left behind and said, 'That is not my Dan'yel.' And I sure as hell know that your children would not think you were interchangeable. You Daniels are not the same, any more than we Jacks are the same, any more than the Hammonds are the same. You are not interchangeable."

Daniel stared at him for a long moment, then tears began to pour down his face. "I don't know what's come over me. I just . . . it felt like you needed a Daniel in there. Any Daniel would do. I – I'm sorry to be such a nitwit –"

"You're not a nitwit, and you have no reason to apologize," Jack snapped. Daniel looked startled. "You've done nothing wrong. You've been through hell and you haven't completely come out of it yet. Of course there are going to be moments like this. It's okay."

Daniel sniffled. "You'd better go. It sounds like your Hammond wants to get this mission off right away."

"I must confess, that's appealing to me, too," Jack said. "But I don't want to leave you like this."

"Like what?" Daniel asked, rubbing at his eyes. "I'm fine. Go, Jack."

"Daniel, I –"

"Jack, go. Leave me be. I'm okay."

Jack shook his head. "Let's get you back to bed."

Grumbling, Daniel let Jack help him. By the time he was in bed with his foot propped up, he was seeming more himself again. Airman Borgos had also shown up, which made Jack feel a little better about leaving. He pulled Borgos aside and told him to call him if he was here, and if not him, Hammond, if Daniel started seeming upset or agitated. Then he took his leave of Daniel and went to get fitted for a radiation suit.

He hoped desperately that they would find another controller, or something that would help. This Daniel knew their Daniel, obviously, and he was right, there was no way he'd last for months. No way at all.

Jack hated radiation suits. He hated any kind of suit that was designed to protect him from the world around him. Invariably, they were bulky, uncomfortable, something in the neck itched, they restricted peripheral vision and if you got shot while wearing one, you were pretty much screwed.

"Carter?" he asked as they picked their way across to the building where Daniel had found the mirror in the first place.

"Yes sir?"

"If this place is so radioactive that we can't walk around in it, then what are we doing bringing something back from it?"

"Well, sir, that's complicated."

Jack shook his head and glanced over at Teal'c. "Why did I know she was going to say that?" he asked.

"Because you are a perceptive individual, O'Neill."

Jack gazed momentarily at the Jaffa, trying to decide whether or not he was being made fun of, then turned back to Carter. "Okay, Madame Curie, tell me, why's it complicated?"

"Well, sir," she said, and launched into a long, involved and much too detailed explanation that left Jack feeling as if his head were going to implode.

"Okay, okay!" he exclaimed finally. "I'll take your word for it. Just point me in the right direction, find whatever it is we're looking for, and let's go home and save Daniel."

"Yes sir," she said, sounding both irritated and amused. They went into the building and Jack looked around. He hadn't paid all that much attention to the space the last time they'd been there, he'd been distracted by a damaged and insanely babbling Daniel Jackson. He shrugged at the thought. Okay, so it hadn't been that insane, but the damage had been real enough and had been very distracting on an empty planet.

Carter started sorting through the items on the tables, and Jack glanced at his radiation tag to see how much the suite was getting. They were okay in here, it seemed. He started walking along the tables, looking at the things he saw. Nothing seemed related to anything else. "Carter are you sure –"

"Just a minute, sir," she said.

He shrugged and turned towards Teal'c, who seemed singularly ill-at-ease. "You okay, Teal'c?"

"I do not believe we should stay too long," he said, and Jack wondered how much of it was reasoned reaction and how much was superstition based on that marker by the gate.

"Well, I don't either," he said. "But if this will get us Daniel back, I'm willing to stay awhile."

Teal'c nodded once. "Indeed."

They both turned as a low muttering came from Carter's direction. The words were largely inexplicable to people not versed in science, but she seemed really excited. He wished he had Daniel to translate for the scientifically impaired. Just as that though occurred to him, she let out a growl that was clearly comprehensible. "Damn!"

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"This is it!" she said, picking up a wide sheet of something like paper.

"Okay, so roll it up and let's go home."

"It's more radioactive than anything else in the room," she said in frustration. "We're going to have to get something to put it in to get it back on base."

"What about photos?" Jack asked.

"Radiation doesn't do wonders for photographic emulsions, sir," she said. "And a photo wouldn't really be sufficient. It's a schematic. Some of the lines are very fine."

"Then I guess we go back to the DHD and dial home to ask for whatever it is you need."

She rolled up the schematic and brought it with her, much to Jack's discomfort. In the end, they got hold of a long narrow case that Carter fitted the rolled up diagram into with great care. Then they went back through the gate into very unpleasant decontamination procedures.

When that was finally over, they lost Carter to the science labs and an animated discussion of how to deal with a pliable object that was radioactive and had to be viewed at close distance. Teal'c returned to his classes, having skipped two already. Jack went back to see Daniel.

"Your idea was a smash," he said as he opened the door. Daniel looked up curiously. "Carter found a schematic. The only trouble is that it's radioactive, so she's off with the other science geeks, yourself excluded, to see if they can figure out a way past that little problem."

"I'm not a science geek," Daniel protested.

"You're not?" Jack asked in mock surprise. Daniel threw him a dirty look. "Oh, right, you're a soft science geek."

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean I'm a soft science geek or a soft science geek?"

Jack blinked at him. "You're a linguist. Quit it, you know I can't play with words as well as you can."

"It's a reasonable question," Daniel said. "You're always making fun of me." There was a silence, then Daniel cleared his throat. "I mean you're always making fun of him. I mean, I assume you make fun of him. I know . . ." He broke off, shaking his head helplessly. "I want my Jack!"

"I do, too," Jack said. Daniel gave him a startled look. "I mean I want my Daniel."

Daniel blinked at him. "This is insanely confusing to talk about."

"Ya think? And I'm at a disadvantage in the wits category."

"Do you know how annoying that is?" Daniel demanded.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"That pretending you're stupid thing."

"I'm not pretending," Jack protested . . . then thought about what he was saying. "I mean, it's not that I'm stupid, it's that I'm not as smart as you or Carter is. Are. See?"

"So, am I ugly?"

Jack stared at him, utterly failing to follow the train of thought. "Huh?"

"Okay, Carter's gorgeous, you were voted most sexy colonel in the typing pool . . . well mine was, but you're identical so that's not relevant. Because –"

Jack stopped hearing what Daniel said, his mind frozen in place on one thing. "What?!" he demanded finally.

"I said that it's illogical to base your –"

"No, back up!" Jack said. "Most sexy colonel in the typing pool?"

Daniel blinked. "Oh, that. Maybe I should have said 'by the typing pool.' They had this little unofficial poll going for awhile. I wasn't supposed to know about it, but . . ." He shrugged.

Jack was still having trouble absorbing things. "But, Daniel, the typing pool is mostly guys!" he said.

"Not where I'm from, at least not then." He shook his head. "This really isn't the point."

"There's a point?" Jack demanded.

"Yes. It doesn't make sense to compare yourself to the exceptions. You should always look at things from the median. You're well above average in intelligence. And I don't know if I even agree that I'm smarter than you. You have different skill areas. People get too hung up on tying intelligence to academic subjects."

"Daniel, face it, there are things you can do that I'll never be able to do. You're way smarter than me. You're so smart you scare other smart people."

"Jack, there are plenty of things that you can do that I can't, so knock it off."

"Name one."

"Tactics. I have no idea how many guys to send in what direction or whatever. You look at a situation, you make a few gestures, everyone does what those gestures mean, we win, we go home. I couldn't do that."

"Daniel, I –" He shook his head. "I guess that's part of what makes people like you. The fact that you don't automatically think you're the smartest guy in the room, even when you are."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Tell it to the marines," he said.

"I think they already know," Jack replied.

"You are a pain in the ass."

Jack grinned. "I know."