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The room was quiet around the fallen bodies for a time. Then the healing light stretching from the rock like crystals and covering the four bodies retracted slowly. For a time the room was dark and silent and then the Gate like circle lying beside Daniel began to glow intensely blue. Daniel's body shifted and lifted gently into the air rolling limply over and came to rest upon the glowing circle. Within seconds the rest of the crystals in the room were also glowing strongly and a deep humming orchestra of sound, like a thousand buzzing bees resonated from them.
The circle pulsed in time with Daniel's heartbeat and brightened for a moment blindingly white before slowly it began to shrink pulsing brighter and brighter as its light became more concentrated. It shrank until it was the size of a pin head and as bright as a tiny sun. It hovered in the air for a moment lighting up the entire room brightly and then it entered Daniel's ear.
The other crystals continued to hum. Daniel's body jolted once and then again and then lay still. The humming died down again and the healing trendils of light once more reached out from the crystals to enfold the four unconscious bodies.
When Sam awoke again, she sensed that a lot of time had passed. She lifted her head prepared for pain but this time there was none. Cautiously she sat herself up relieved when she felt no pain at all. In fact, she felt incredibly well, except for being a little too warm. She blinked up at the unfamiliar room and turned, remembering quickly what had happened.
She put her hand out and hesitantly touched Jack's shoulder. It really was Jack, but he had changed, a lot. He had gotten younger and if she hadn't met his clone she would barely have recognised him at all. It was Jack – just a Jack that was years younger – decades younger. He looked more like an older version of his clone than the Jack she knew. He looked years younger than he had been when she had first met him. The shimmer worked over his skin and she could see new light brown hair growing at an incredible rate where his hair had once receded. The familiar lines on his face had smoothed away and left him almost unrecognisable to her. Sweat beads coated his face – the same way that they were coating her own.
With a gasp, Sam snapped her own hand into her range of vision and peered at it carefully in the blue tinged light. It was smooth – rejuvenated and youthful. No age spots, no wrinkled skin or raised veins, not even any signs of the burn that had scarred it years ago. Sam watched in wonder as the shimmery glow rippled in and out of her leaving a faint tingling sensation behind. The shimmer extended back like a tendril of thin mist to some rocks scattered here and there around the floor and imbedded in the ceiling and walls and interconnecting again to a massive jewel like crystal in the centre of the room. She could see a strong shimmer working over Daniel's form where he lay beside the large crystal and another tendril extending out towards Teal'c's body lying sprawled on his back near a machine.
Sam's eyes came back to her hand again. Flawless and youthful – she grinned and turned her hand over in wonder for a moment and then shook her head at her own silliness.
Jack – yes, it was really Jack at about twenty five years of age or a little older. He had colour in his cheeks and his eyelids were fluttering.
Sam rolled easily to her feet, momentarily startled at exactly how easy the movement had been. No aches – no pains, she felt strong again and it felt wonderful. But she pushed aside the strangeness of it all and hurried over to kneel beside Daniel. Her hands hovered over him for a moment unsure if it was really Daniel or not. He'd been de-aged – a lot. But it could only be Daniel in those clothes that were now far too big for him. His glasses were gone – probably lost on the too rapid entry through the Gate. Dark eyelashes lay against pale hairless cheeks. Thick blond hair framed a too thin face. He was slim to the point of thinness – easily half the weight of the man he had been and he looked fourteen or fifteen. Sam had a sudden surge of hope as she watched the shimmer dance over his skin. She'd just seen the stuff fix Jack's wound; she could hardly dare to hope that it was fixing Daniel's cancer as well. She didn't want to interfere with whatever healing the blue shimmer was doing so she resisted touching him. "Daniel?" she murmured, but he showed no signs of stirring.
Jack moaned and Sam jumped to her feet. She couldn't help the grin on her face at how easily the movement came to her. She wondered exactly how much she'd been de-aged. She hoped she hadn't turned into a teen again, like Daniel. The teen years had been – not the best, from memory. But a quick glance down showed hips and a chest that were more womanly than that of a teenager. She shook her head. There would be time enough for vanity later. Right now she had friends to care for and she needed to figure out exactly where they were and if she could get them home again before the residents of this place showed up. She hurried over to Teal'c and pattered him on the cheek. Teal'c didn't look very different. His hair was completely black again with no hint of the grey streaks that had begun to take over and his face was line free and youthful – like a thirty year olds face.
Jack sat bolt upright and clutched at his head, "Oh, ow … , oh man."
"General? Um … Jack?" Sam hurried back to his side.
He reared back groping at his clothes for non-existent weapons to defend himself with. "Who the hell are you … Sam?" Jack froze and his eyes grew huge as he looked at her.
"Yeah it's really me. It's all of us sir, including you. We've been de-aged by some sort of substance coming from these crystals and incredible as it sounds ..."
Jack held out his hands in a stop gesture. "Hold on, hold on – you are … actually … my Samantha Carter aren't you? Not some clone or robotic copy or some other freaky thing that we haven't come across before?"
Sam nodded, "It's me – I think," she said remembering Harlan and his robots that hadn't known they were robots until they'd met them. But she remembered seeing Jack's all too human blood and the way his hair had been growing back and dismissed the robot idea quickly. She couldn't help grinning at him. "Yeah, it's me. I feel like I've gotten a lot younger than I was."
"You're telling me! I hardly recognised you. You look amazing – your hair and your face and … . You're looking more like maybe twenty four."
"You're around about twenty five or six years old , sir. And I'm glad I met your clone because I hardly recognise you at all. Your hair has all grown back sort of light brown."
Jack ran a hand through his thick hair where only a day ago it had been thinning and coarse. "Yeah, um Sam – do me a favour and lose the 'sir' thing for good. This is hardly a mission that we're on nor am I in charge of anything. Can we just be good friends here? All-be-it friends in a load of trouble on some alien planet without any weapons or backup, let alone a clue as to exactly where we are."
Sam nodded her head with a smile. "It could take some getting used to but yeah, sounds good to me."
Jack rolled up, automatically compensating for his bad leg and nearly overbalancing as he underestimated the power of his initial move. "Whoa," he paused and then cautiously bent the knee. "Well … that's … amazing."
Sam looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"There's no pain," he said with wonder. "Absolutely no pain what-so-ever, it even feels strong. I haven't been pain free since my late twenties – which I seem to be in all over again, according to you."
Sam couldn't help but smile at him. "I feel amazing too, Jack. But I've got no idea if the effects will last or if they're dangerous or will affect our memories or anything. I watched a wound being healed by the stuff and I'm hoping Daniel will come out of this cancer free."
Jack's eyes widened again and he hurried over the rocky ground to his friend. He frowned when he spotted the boy and said uncertainly: "This is Daniel?" Jack put a hand onto the boys shoulder hesitantly. Daniel lay still, showing no signs of stirring. "Why's he so young?"
Sam shrugged. "Maybe it's because he was the youngest of us in the first place or maybe because he needs more healing. Really I've got no more idea than you do, Jack,"
Jack nodded, and shot her an apologetic glance, "Sorry, I'm kinda used to you having all the answers."
Sam sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah. So far I haven't seen any people or anything. There's dust on pretty much everything so maybe this whole place is abandoned. I'll take a look at some of these machines and hopefully I'll be able to get us some intel.
Jack nodded. "I'll check on Teal's and then scout around a bit and see just exactly how alone we are."
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SORRY this is sooo late, but as warned life has been extreme and I've hardly had time to think. Sat down and belted this chapter out at two this morning and am half way done with the next chapter as well. Hope you enjoy - R&R please.