Chapter 8
The dizzying sensation of being plunged through space into darkness was not entirely foreign to either Jack or Daniel, but as a trained soldier, it was Jack who stood at attention on the other side, his hand already moving to his weapon as he looked around, wide-eyed in the gloom, waiting for his eyes to adjust.
It was a moment before he realized that he still had an arm around Daniel, and the archeologist was struggling to be released. Jack finally let him go, but murmured, "Stay close, Daniel. Under no circumstances do we want to be separated."
He could feel Daniel's annoyance as he jerked away, but long experience reassured him that the archeologist would follow his instructions. At least, as long as they were in such a precarious position.
Slowly, as Jack's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he began to make out the general shape of the room. It was a cube of some sort, and as far as he could tell, the walls were made of featureless stone. There wasn't even a door or a window to let in light.
With a frown, the colonel glanced around, searching for the source of the glow that allowed him to see in the darkness. His search drew his gaze directly back to Daniel, who was still holding the alien cube in his hands. The faint light emitted by the thing cast faint shadows on the man's face, and something about the sight of Daniel staring transfixed at the object caused Jack's stomach to turn.
"You sure that thing isn't radioactive?" Jack asked, using his usual joking manner to try and capture Daniel's attention.
Silence from the archeologist. Daniel didn't even twitch as he continued staring at the artifact. Concerned, Jack touched his shoulder, but didn't get a response. It wasn't until he waved a hand in front of Daniel's face, breaking his line of sight with the cube, that Daniel finally looked up with a distracted smile.
Another line of that gibberish garbage came out of Daniel's mouth, and Jack held up a hand for silence. "I'm going to look around a little," Jack whispered, with a glance toward the cube. He considered trying to take the thing away, but even as the thought crossed his mind, Daniel clutched it a little closer to his chest.
In the end, Jack decided to leave Daniel alone for now, and forced an uncomfortable smile onto his face. "Just….stay put, will ya?" he finally said with annoyance. Daniel looked at him with bemused confusion, and Jack remembered the look of confusion and fear he'd seen there moments before they'd been...zapped, or whatever had happened.
Frustrated, Jack pointed to Daniel, and said clearly, "/You/..." Then he pointed to the ground, "Stay here." Then he held up a hand in the classic gesture for 'stop'. "Stay."
Eventually, Daniel just rolled his eyes and went back to staring at his cube, this time turning it over and over in his hands.
That would have to do. Convinced that Daniel would stay out of trouble, Jack started a painstaking search around their prison for any means of escape.
As he looked at the expanse of solid stone, he sighed slightly. Somehow, he had a feeling that they weren't going to get out the same way they came in.
Half an hour later, Jack had proven himself right. This was one of those times when he hated that he was right, though he'd have never admitted to it. The room may have been large and dark, but there didn't even appear to be any sort of an exit. There was no door, and no sign of a transport device that he could find. In fact, he had felt over every inch of the walls, and had not found even the slightest sign of a flaw in the smooth stone. Unless Daniel had hidden a pickaxe in his pocket along with that stupid cube, he didn't know how they were going to get out.
He was taking inventory of what weapons he had on hand when he heard a familiar voice. "Jack." Daniel was calling to him in the voice that always made Jack's stomach sink. It was the one that said that Daniel had gone pushing buttons where he shouldn't, or that there was a giant killer bug approaching from behind. The tone had a million meanings, but each of them spelled trouble.
"Daniel?" he returned cautiously. Only belatedly did he realize the true significance of the statement. "Daniel! You said my name!"
A few steps brought O'Neill back to Daniel's side, but Daniel only reluctantly looked away from the glowing cube. He had a distinct look of worry on his face.
That couldn't be good.
"Daniel?" Jack asked, splitting his attention between the cube and Daniel. "Is it just my imagination, or is that thing getting brighter?"
Daniel just looked at him in worried silence, then looked back at the cube.
It wants me to do something, Daniel thought, trying to work the problem through in his mind. I'm supposed to do something. What am I supposed to do? What's happening to me?
As Jack hovered over him, asking question after question that he couldn't understand, Daniel tried to ignore his own growing panic.
Deal with it, Daniel, he told himself, sternly. This isn't the first time you've been cut off from the group...Figure it out.
With frustration, he turned the cube over in his hands one more time, gritting his teeth. Yes, but those times I didn't have Jack hovering at my shoulder babbling nonsense and reminding me exactly how screwed I am.
He glanced up at Jack, and an unbearable sense of helplessness overwhelmed him. I can't do this. There's nothing to figure out. We're trapped.
His gaze dropped to the cube in his hand, and his fingers clenched angrily around the even surface. He hefted the weight of it in his hands. The size of a baseball, but certainly not the weight...
Suddenly, impulsively, he turned away from Jack and threw the cube as hard as he could at the wall.
"Daniel!" Jack flinched as the archeologist exploded in a fit of uncharacteristic rage. "What the hell are you..."
Daniel turned away, covering his face with his hands, and so Jack was the first one to spot a silvery gas seeping from the corner of the object.
Without hesitation, Jack grabbed Daniel's arm, dragging him back and away from the cube as it continued to spout some sort of glowing, wispy material into the air that seemed to coagulate and hover near the cube.
Jack was just barely cognizant of a wordless exclamation of surprise from Daniel, but didn't release his teammate's arm.
Before the two men's shocked eyes, the gas continued to build and darken, until it almost seemed to become solid in the air, eventually forming into the shape that seemed vaguely human. At least, the thing had a face...
It looked at them in silence, and Jack faltered. At his side, Daniel opened his mouth, then closed it again.
This would usually be the point at which Daniel took the lead. But Daniel couldn't speak or understand a thing. Jack glanced aside at Daniel, and realized that the archeologist was looking from him to the creature, expectantly.
"Oh. Right..." Uncertain, he looked back at the diaphanous person, if it could be called a person, and cleared his throat. "Ah... Hello!" he offered, trying to ignore the coldly quizzical way that it looked at him. "Um. Take me to your leader?" he tried.
He had just enough time to try and step in front of Daniel as the gas-creature moved, darting toward them faster than anything he'd ever seen.
As Jack was enveloped in white mist, he could only hope that his actions might somehow keep Daniel safe.
Daniel jumped back, and watched in horror as his friend was....devoured? Absorbed? He wasn't sure exactly what was happening, except that Jack was frozen where he stood, only a shadow visible through the mist that formed this creature's body.
If you can call that a body, he reflected, distantly, still in shock.
As a face appeared once more on the nearest side of the creature, Daniel gave a startled noise and took several steps back.
For a moment he was certain that the thing was going to come after him next, until without warning, it opened its mouth to speak.
"You are....Daniel Jackson. Doctor. Archeologist. Anthropologist. Scientist. Friend."
In shock, the only thing Daniel could think to say was, "Call me Daniel..."
After a moment, as he realized what he'd just heard, he forgot about what he'd just seen. "Wait, I can understand you... This...um...Oh! Can you understand me?" he stammered to the conclusion. He felt like a child presented with a puzzle that was missing half the pieces.
The face smiled mechanically and blinked. "You trespassed. You have been locked. I hold the key."
Daniel's excitement was squelched. "You mean I'm still...ah...scrambled?"
A faint look of confusion darkened the apparition's face. "You are locked," it repeated.
"Right," Daniel responded, trying not to let his frustration show. He decided to try a different tactic. "We didn't intend to trespass. We're explorers. We were just...ah...looking. We just want to understand you."
Patiently, the apparition repeated, "You trespassed. You have been locked."
"Well, you said you have the key," Daniel pointed out, determined not to give up. "So just....unlock me. Please." He couldn't help a tiny note of desperation that creeped into his voice as he tried to get through to the alien.
The smile that the face made seemed to somehow be patronizing. "You would be harmed. We do not harm."
Daniel stared in disbelief. "But...My friend. What did you do to Jack?"
"Your friend is well," the apparition said, in a parody of motherly reassurance. "He will be locked. He has trespassed."
"No!" Daniel shouted.
The face of the cloud gave a disapproving frown, and Daniel cringed a little. "No," he repeated, this time forcing calm into his tone. "We weren't trying to trespass. We were trying to get help. You...You harmed me, when you...ah...locked me. He was trying to help..."
The frown disappeared, to be replaced by another patronizing smile, this time a bit more puzzled. "You have trespassed. You will be locked."
"You've got to be kidding me...Look, we're sorry. But you've hurt me, and you will hurt my friend too if you...you...lock him. Who are you?" Daniel finally asked, in desperation.
The apparition did not respond at first. After a short pause, however, it finally said, calmly, "I am Keeper. Chaperone. Protector. Guardian. Warden. Defender."
Grasping at straws, Daniel asked, "Guardian of what? Why are you doing this?"
The last question seemed to be one that the being could answer, as it responded, "You will be locked. You will be safe."
Once again, Daniel felt his jaw dropping in disbelief. "Safe from what?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly under the stress. "We haven't seen anything. We don't know anything."
Silence descended after Daniel's outburst, as the apparition merely looked at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but the gas-creature beat him to it. "You are hurt."
The strange statement startled him, and for a moment the frustration was driven from Daniel's mind. Shock silenced him for a moment, before he finally managed, with some relief, "Yes. Yes. I am hurt. You need to make me well."
A flutter of hope lifted Daniel's spirits for a moment as the being seemed to be trying to consider this, with a faint frown. Finally, it spoke, "You must be locked. We do not hurt."
Eagerly, Daniel waited for the being to reach the conclusion he was desperately hoping for...
Unfortunately, the result was not exactly what Daniel was hoping for. Instead, the silver mist that made up the being's body suddenly evaporated, leaving Jack's body to fall to the floor in an unconscious heap.
"Wait! Come back!" But it was too late. The creature was gone.