Look! Another chapter! Again! How long can one drabble on about nothing?!?
Daniel awoke to the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. He lifted his head to look around. Apparently, everyone else was wide awake and talking softly to make sure they didn't disturb Daniel.
"Jack..." he said.
"I hear them, Daniel," the CO answered before Daniel could finish his statement.
Daniel suddenly felt nervous. If Anubis was coming to torture him even more...well, Daniel wasn't sure he could handle it again right about now. He looked over at Jack, blue eyes wide with fear. Jack looked back, his brow furrowed in concern.
Suddenly, everyone jumped as the prison doors swung open again. And who should it be? Anubis.
"Hello, Dr. Jackson. Have a nice nap?"
"Why, yes, actually, thanks for your concern. By the way, how long has it been since you slept? You look just awful," quipped Daniel, remembering Jack's earlier remark.
"Indeed. But not as awful as you will look when I'm through with you," he smirked.
Daniel rolled his eyes to meet the concerned faces of his comrades. He gave them a small smile that lasted a few seconds to signal that he was okay...so far.
"Dr. Jackson, have you had experience with one of these devices before?" Anubis questioned. He pulled out a very small, round, gray disc. One look at it and Daniel knew exactly what it was. A memory extractor that was used by both the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld. The Tok'ra used it to target certain memories in the brain so that they could gain information. They usually set it on a 'low level' so that the user does not mistake their memories from the present reality. However, the Goa'uld used it as torture. They took a prisoner and set it on a high level to either gain information, or to make the victim experience hurtful memories from their past. Daniel had had some experience with those things before with Hathor and Apophis and Sarah, or rather, Osiris. He was not at all excited about this.
As a matter of fact, Daniel had many bad memories. Ever since he was 8 years old and his parents died, he had been through a lot of hard times. What if Anubis set it for the time he was exposed to that lethal dose of radiation? Oh, this was going to be oh, so lovely, as Jack would say.
"Um, yeah, actually," Daniel finally answered.
"Well, then, I'm sure you enjoyed the experience?"
"Uh, not particularly. I kind of like being stuck in reality most of the time. I'd rather not go back in time and explore my past and all. You know how it is."
"Yes. And that is why I will use it on you."
Daniel gulped. Then, he looked at his team. They all looked worried. They had all experienced the technology at some point, and they didn't like it at all.
Anubis walked up to Daniel and pushed it into his head. Daniel closed his eyes and winced. It always hurt when you put it on, too. Then Anubis pulled a device with which to control the disc. Daniel kept his eyes shut as the Goa'uld put the device up to the disc. Suddenly, Daniel was back on Abydos.
However, it was not a happy time on his planet.
He was once again in the hands of Ammonet and her ribbon device. He could feel the searing pain go through his brain, through every nerve in his body, making it impossible to move. Only, this time, he went without the dreams Sha'uri had given him to tell him of Shifu. He was aware of the pain for the whole, oh, 15 seconds. But, still, a very long 15 seconds. He saw Teal'c come into the room. The Jaffa held his staff weapon up and Daniel knew his intentions before he carried them out. With a single shot Sha'uri was on the ground. Daniel fell hard next to her and lay in deep physical and emotional pain as she used her last breath to tell him she loved him.
NEXT SCENE
Daniel's knees buckled and gave out, leaving him hanging on his shackles. Tears streamed down his face as he was experiencing the memory. He whispered barely audible words now and then, but Jack only caught one "...Sha'uri...". Immediately, he knew which memory Anubis had chosen first. Sha'uri's death. He knew this was one of Daniel's most painful memories, especially considering that it was one of Daniel's best friends who was the culprit. He glanced over at Teal'c to see if he had heard Daniel's whisper. Obviously, he had. His face was overcome with guilt. And he was the first to speak up.
"Please discontinue the intentional discomfort of Daniel Jackson."
"I don't believe I shall. I find it enjoyable to witness his pain. Let us set the controls to another, more recent memory, shall we?"
And he used the device on Daniel once more.
NEXT SCENE
Suddenly, Daniel was laying in the infirmary. He was bandaged up pretty well, but he hurt like...well, you know. He remembered something about a bomb and the need to act quickly. Everyone had been coming in and, basically, saying, "good bye, you're going to die" to him. He had known he was going to die, ever since Janet had told him what happens when you are exposed to this much radiation. He just thought that he would miraculously escape death, once again. So far, his future wasn't looking so good. Even Jack had come in to say good-bye. Not exactly in those words, but Daniel could tell what he meant.
A few minutes later, Daniel could no longer think about anything other than breathing, or he would stop. He knew this because he had tried. But every second it got harder and harder. He didn't know how much longer he could last...
NEXT SCENE
Daniel was struggling to breathe in the prison cell. He seemed to be concentrating on only that. And so far, he was just barely succeeding in keeping it up.
Jack kept listening to hear if Daniel said anything, but thus far, he had been very quiet other than his labored breathing. Jack couldn't quite place which memory Anubis had put him in this time. Daniel had been in pain and had a hard time breathing in many instances. The room was otherwise quiet.
Finally, Daniel uttered one thing, "...I have to go now...". All of a sudden, Jack shot up. He yelled to Anubis, "Stop it, NOW!"
"Sir, you figured out where Daniel is," Carter stated.
"Yeah, Carter. He's back when he destroyed the bomb on Kelowna. He's dying of radiation," Jack said while glaring at Anubis.
"I do not recall Daniel Jackson saying anything of that sort before his 'death'," Teal'c said.
"He only said it to me. Right before he died and he needed someone to stop Jacob. He told me to...help," Jack said, blinking back tears at the painful memory. Then he turned to Anubis, "Get him out of there!"
Anubis smiled, "Do not worry, O'Neill. The mind device rarely makes the scenario real enough to kill the victim. Although it does happen occasionally," he said.
Jack looked at Daniel. He had ceased breathing. Jack hoped that Daniel's wasn't one of the rare occasions. Each member of SG-1 held their breath.
Suddenly Daniel jerked up and said, "Stop it! Get me out of here! This isn't real..."
"Oh, Dr. Jackson, did you have to go and spoil the fun? Once you remember the scenario isn't real, it is no longer as amusing," Anubis complained. He put the device that he controlled the other with up to the disc on Daniel's head. Daniel's eyes shot open, and he looked around in a panic. He was breathing heavily, probably out of pain and shock.
"Daniel, it's okay. We're here," Jack said calmly to reassure Daniel.
"...Jack..." he whispered.
"It's okay, Daniel. It's over. It wasn't real."
Daniel closed his eyes and took deep breaths. Finally he nodded to Jack.
"I shall return later when you have regained the ability to be tricked into thinking that your past memories are present realities," stated Anubis. And then, he left the cell.
After he exited, Daniel calmed down a bit and regained the ability to speak.
"Password..." he whispered.
Jack rolled his eyes. This was no time for Daniel to be fretting over the darn password. They could figure out another way to escape...he hoped.
"Daniel..." he began.
"No, Jack. Hear me out," Daniel interrupted. "I don't know the password right now, but I think I might have a way to remember it."
Jack gave him a puzzling stare. What was Daniel talking about? How would he "make himself" remember something? Maybe he was just delirious from the memory device. Right at the moment, the only thing that Jack could think of that would make Daniel remember anything, specifically, anyway, would be to use that thing the old sea monster, Nem, or whatever, used on him when the rest of SG-1 had all assumed he was dead. But, right now, he was having difficulty seeing them getting access to that thing while they were in a Goa'uld prison cell.
"And your plan would be what, Daniel?" Jack asked, still unconvinced Daniel was even aware of what he was talking about.
"The memory device, Jack," Daniel said simply.
Jack raised his eyebrows for Daniel to continue. He still wasn't following.
"I think I see where you're going, Daniel. But do you have enough strength to even attempt defying the device and Anubis like that?" Carter said.
"Um, could someone please be generous enough to let...Teal'c in on this little plan?" Jack asked.
To this Teal'c raised an eyebrow and inclined his head in O'Neill's direction. Jack looked back and just shrugged.
"I think that I might be able to use the memory device to take me to my memories of being on Abydos. That way, I could read the inscriptions on the walls of the pyramids and find the correct password," he explained.
"Ah," Jack said. "And how will you do that if Anubis is in control of the thing, hmm?"
"Well, maybe I can convince him to take me to that point in time by telling him not to take me to that time. That way, he will probably suspect something really bad happened to me during that period in time. He will send me there if he thinks it will hurt."
Jack blinked quickly to signal that Daniel was talking too fast, repeating the same words over and over, and wasn't making much sense.
"Look, if I say I was hurt while on Abydos, he would send me there to make me relive it," Daniel explained in much simpler terms.
"Oh," said Jack.
"Of course! I didn't even think of that!" exclaimed Carter.
"Well, what were you thinking, Sam?"
"Oh, I was thinking you were going to have to convince yourself, while in a memory, that it wasn't real. That way, you could direct your thoughts and current reality to a more preferable one in your brain. But it would be pretty hard to get Anubis to think that you didn't really know. That would also use a lot of your strength, though."
Daniel thought about that for awhile. It would be pretty hard to convince Anubis, either way, that the memory he was in was painful. Anubis could switch the "reality" before Daniel was able to decipher the writings and figure out the password. The only way he could think of Anubis allowing him to stay in the scenario was if he got hurt. Maybe, since this was kind of a virtual reality, he could make himself hurt somehow while still allowing himself to be able to translate. Of course, he would be torturing himself, purposefully.
Finally, he came to the conclusion that he would rather torture himself than have Anubis lead him into scenarios he had no control over. It also might buy the freedom of his teammates. This, he decided, was worth any cost.
"I'll have to, basically, torture myself to allow Anubis to keep me in the memory," he said at last.
Jack looked at him sternly, "That is out of the question, Daniel. You can't inflict pain on yourself. I won't let you."
"Jack, it could get us out of here..."
"I don't care Daniel. You heard what Anubis said; it might kill you. I won't let you kill yourself on purpose."
"I won't hurt myself that badly. I mean, I still need strength to be able to read and translate the password in order to tell you guys."
"But, Daniel, if you don't hurt yourself enough, Anubis probably won't be satisfied enough to keep you in there," chimed in Carter.
Daniel thought about it for a while. Finally, he said, "Look, Sam, I told you what I have to do. If I hurt myself too badly, I could die. If I don't hurt myself enough, Anubis won't let me stay. This is my only shot at this. I can't think of anything that will make this easier. If you have something encouraging to say, please do, but otherwise, there is nothing else we can do, alright?"
Carter nodded. Teal'c and Jack exchanged nervous glances between each other out of concern for their friend, but eventually nodded their agreement to Daniel's plan. Right now, he was hurt, cranky, and suffering some minor symptoms of withdrawal from the sarcophagus. The members of his team were in no position to start disagreeing with his plans, although they knew them to be risky, possibly fatal for Daniel.
"Good, so when Anubis returns tomorrow, we follow through with my plan," Daniel continued in a tone not normally used by the archaeologist. He was starting to get restless and high-tempered which were signs of withdrawal and, obviously, natural irritation toward being tortured profusely for the last few days or weeks or however long SG-1 had been locked up in the small cell. Daniel was ready to do just about anything to escape from this metaphorical sweat box.