Chapter 6
Daniel had drunk a little apple juice and had actually fallen asleep by the time Carter and O'Neill arrived at the infirmary with Kasuf and Skarra. Immediately Kasuf went to Daniel's bedside and took his hand, gazing down at his son-in-law with such concern that Janet felt tears come to her eyes. Skarra stood on the other side of his bed and held his other hand and began to whisper to Daniel in a mixture of English and Abydonian. Daniel shifted under the blankets, but he didn't wake.
"What are you saying?" O'Neill asked, surprised.
"It is what my sister would say to Daniel," Skarra explained. "Most of it, at least. Some words are meant only to be shared between husband and wife."
"And how often did you spy upon them, you imp, to know what words they were?" Kasuf said fondly. "I caught you at it more than once."
"Never when they should have been private," Skarra countered, smiling. "These words I speak now, they are what Sha're spoke to Daniel while he was ill."
"Daniel was sick on Abydos?" Carter asked, surprised.
"A terrible fever," Kasuf said, remembering. "Sha're nursed him and refused to leave his side for ten days while it raged within him. Slowly, it grew less, and he recovered and grew strong once more."
"I tell him that he shall soon be well," Skarra said before returning to talking to Daniel.
Kasuf translated, and most of the words had to do with Daniel's being well and strong soon, how the sun would shine upon him and the wind blow through his hair once he was up and walking outside again. There was mention of the lotus blossoms on the water and the cool feel of that water on his feet as he walked along the shores of the river. Then, there were the stars at night that would shine with joy at his recovery. He was safe and loved and surrounded by those who cared for him, and nothing could hurt him while they were there.
Neither Carter nor O'Neill could think of a reason why, but Daniel appeared to relax as Skarra spoke to him. It was Teal'c who said that the words Daniel Jackson was hearing were calming him and reassuring him of his safety. After all, he pointed out, it was not likely that an enemy would speak those words.
Space
When Daniel woke up, he found Kasuf holding one of his hands, Skarra holding the other, and his friends gathered around his bed. For a moment, he stared at all of them as if uncertain of what he was seeing. "Good father?" he managed at last. "What...? What are you doing here?"
"We could not leave our good son to go through such an ordeal alone," Kasuf said, patting Daniel's shoulder with his free hand.
"Ordeal?" Daniel said, looking at the rest of SG-1. "You...told him?"
"Hey, don't get angry, Daniel," Jack said, holding up his hands in a warding gesture. "We felt that your family should know and be nearby for a while. You don't have to go through this alone, and Kasuf and Skarra were more than happy to come."
"I don't know if I'm angry," Daniel said, dropping his head back into his pillow. "But I know I'm not happy about it."
Kasuf nodded. "The colonel and Carter told us of the demon with my daughter's face and what she did to you. Good son, could we speak with you privately?" He turned to the rest of SG-1 with an apologetic look on his face. "Please? These are words meant to be shared between family, Colonel. You understand?"
"Sure we do," Jack said, getting to his feet. "Let's go, Carter, Teal'c. We won't be far, so if you guys need anything, just holler and let us know."
With that, the rest of SG-1 left, leaving Daniel alone with Kasuf and Skarra.
"Good son, why did you not wish us to know what has happened to you?" Kasuf asked once they were gone.
Daniel considered his answer carefully. Abydonians praised truth so he knew he would have to tell the truth, but he really didn't want to talk about any part of the nightmare. Also, he knew that Kasuf and Skarra were expecting him to tell what happened to him and his feelings about it since such confessions were part of Abydonian healing. They considered sicknesses of the spirit to be as serious as sicknesses of the body or mind.
"Good father, I am ashamed," Daniel said at last after thinking very carefully about his answer.
"Why is this so, Daniel?" Skarra asked, just as Daniel had been afraid he would.
"Because of what the demon and I did," Daniel confessed. "Also, when I saw Sha're's face, I wished that the demon were actually her. If I hadn't, perhaps what happened might not have happened."
"I do not see how that can be, good son," Kasuf said after a few moments of reflection. "A demon who wishes to harm you will harm you no matter what your wishes are. You know this to be true. A demon took Sha're, and I know that she did not wish it."
"You think your wishes for Sha're made you vulnerable to the demon?" Skarra said. "Daniel, demons are crafty and cruel. You know this. They are not above hurting you in spirit as well as in body, and it is clear that the demon wore my sister's face to hurt you in spirit."
"But I wouldn't have even allowed it to get close to me if it had not worn Sha're's face," Daniel insisted. "My weakness allowed it to harm me, and I only deserve what happened to me."
"There is no crime in wishing for one you love," Kasuf told him gently, smoothing his rumpled hair in much the same way Sha're had while he'd been ill or sleeping. "There is no weakness in that. Lay the blame on the truly guilty one: the demon who harmed you, and not yourself. The fact that you still mourn Sha're shows all the world how much you still care for her and how much you loved her. There is no shame in loving."
"If Sha're were here, she would hate me," Daniel pointed out. "How could I confuse a demon with her?"
"When did you realize it was a demon?" Skarra asked.
"As soon as it touched me," Daniel answered, still looking ashamed.
"Then you did not confuse it with her," Skarra said firmly. "You knew what it was, and nothing that happened was your wish. If Sha're were here, she would say the same."
"My memories of Sha're were always good ones," Daniel persisted. "Now, I have a memory of her being cruel."
"You say it looked like her, good son," Kasuf said thoughtfully. "How did it?"
"Well, it looked exactly like her," Daniel began.
"Did it smile like she did?" Skarra wanted to know.
"No," Daniel admitted. "Its smile was...evil."
"Did it call you 'husband'?" Kasuf continued.
"No."
"Did it hold you as Sha're did after you both had an absence from one another?"
"No..."
"Did it sing to you as you were going to sleep that night?
"No," Daniel said quietly after thinking about it. "No matter how late it was or how tired she was, she always sang to me. She told me that she loved to watch me listening to her."
"Did it kiss you as Sha're did?"
Daniel shuddered, remembering the "kisses" the demon had given him. "No!"
"Then your memories of this demon are not memories of Sha're," Skarra concluded. "They are memories of a cruel demon, and that is all they are."
For the first time since coming back through the Stargate, Daniel appeared to relax and he seemed more like the man who had married Sha're. In the next instant, he was weeping, and Kasuf and Skarra were there to whisper encouragement to him as he healed from the torture of the demon.
Space
It was Skarra who left the infirmary to tell O'Neill and the rest of SG-1 of Daniel's recovery. "He will be healing a long time," Skarra told them. "But Father and I feel that he is already healing. In time, he will cease to be ashamed of what the demon did to him and he will accept that he did nothing to cause what happend."
"That's good to hear," O'Neill said, smiling in relief. "We were worried."
"I was scared to death," Carter confessed.
"I, too, was concerned," Teal'c added.
Skarra smiled. "It is normal to worry, you are his friends. Is it possible to get him something to eat? He says he is actually hungry, and Father and I are hungry as well."
"Why didn't you say so?" Jack demanded, suddenly ecstatic that Daniel was hungry. "I'll get you all a feast myself. C'mon, Carter, Teal'c. I'm gonna need help carrying stuff."
Space
Ahntas was certain that they were planning to kill him. Why else would they come and talk and then leave him alone for ages? Perhaps what had happened to Dannul was a serious crime here, and they were holding him responsible for it? The Ghenta did not believe in killing a person who committed a crime, but what if these people did? If they were on Ghenta, he would be sentenced to a life of hard labor in order to help him atone for what he had done, but what if these people actually killed others who committed crimes?
He didn't want to think what forms his death might take. He knew that all of them were very angry over what had happened to Dannul. The anger was so palpable that he could feel it in the air.
He received a surprise when the one called General Hammond reappeared with Tilk and Sam. They told him that Dannul was healing and that he would be fine eventually, but they wanted to know more about what had happened and how. Ahntas told him all that he knew, and he confessed that he should have tried to protect Dannul and all of them more than he had. It was because of his negligence that such a thing had happened.
"I don't know about that," General Hammond told him while Tilk translated. "It sounds as if this Korh is to blame. After all, he is the one who is responsible."
"But I should have expected he would do something like that," Ahntas persisted.
That seemed to propitiate the general in some way, but Ahntas couldn't say if that were a good thing or bad thing.
"While we decide what to do, would you like anything to eat or drink? Would there be anything that you require?"
"Just something similar to what we had on Ghenta, and perhaps I could have a book to look at?" Ahntas requested after some thought. "There is very little to see in here."
The general nodded and left then, leading Tilk and Sam out of the room, and for the first time Ahntas felt he might actually have a chance. He waited, pacing his room, and he thought. Would they allow him to return to Ghenta or keep him here?
A few minutes later, he realized that he wouldn't have to wonder much longer. Alarms were going off, and he was sure that they meant nothing good was happening.
Space
"Incoming travelers! Repeat, incoming travelers!" a voice over the public address system was saying. "Unauthorized incoming travelers!"
"Close the iris!" Hammond ordered as he rushed into the control room. "Where are they coming from?"
"Uhh, from the planet that SG-1 just returned from," Walter said, hurriedly tapping keys. The iris grated shut, but the wormhole did not close. "Um, there are ten travelers en route."
Hammond winced, but there were no spikes on the computer monitor to show energy signature impact. Instead, there was nothing, and the wormhole closed.
"Did they disappear?" Hammond wondered, surprised at what had happened. "What happened?"
Carter arrived then and took in everything at a glance before rushing to a terminal and examining the events of the last few minutes. "Sir, it says here that the travelers arrived."
"Can these beings become invisible?" Hammond demanded.
"I don't know, sir, we never saw such a thing," Carter answered, hurriedly running through files and programs. She brought up a monitor image, but there was nothing on it. "Sir, it seems like we've got ten aliens we can't see in the base."
"Order lockdown! Defcon 2!" Hammond snapped. "We've got to find them."
The phone rang, and Hammond ran to grab it. He listened for a few moments and thanked whoever it was. "All right, we've got reports from all over the base. Invisible beings are running everywhere, people bumping into them, that kind of thing. I want all SFs to start searching and they are to report immediately if they find anything!"
"What I want to know is, how will they see anything if they find something?" Colonel O'Neill pointed out, entering the room. "Sir, I suggest we use those Reetou seeing thingies the Tok'ra gave us."
"Fine, Colonel, you're in charge of making sure they're used. Let's get on top of this, people!"
An hour's search yielded nothing: there was no sign of the beings, and no one reported any difficulties like bumping into someone that wasn't there.
"Okay, so they break onto the base only to disappear completely? That doesn't make sense," Carter said later in the debriefing room. Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill were there, and Daniel was on his way from the infirmary, escorted by Skarra and Kasuf. "They have to be here for some reason."
"It is possible they are here to rescue Ahntas," Teal'c said thoughtfully. "However, his guards have reported no disturbances within his cell or without it."
"Okay, so they're not trying to spring Ahntas right away," O'Neill said fiddling with a pen. "Maybe their plan is to wait until we lower our guards and then they'll spring him."
"Well, if I know the SGC, our guards aren't going down anytime soon," Daniel said as came in. Kasuf and Skarra were right behind him, wearing big smiles full of relief. Apparently, they were feeling much better about Daniel's condition.
"Darn right," Hammond muttered. "What do you think, Dr. Jackson?"
"Well, I think it's given they're here to get Ahntas," Daniel said as he and his escorts sat down. "The only thing that bothers me is that they seem to have disappeared since coming onto the base. Why?"
"We've been tossing that problem back and forth for a while. Nothing we do--not light shifts, sound waves, thermal scans, or even the Reetou devices--can alert us to just where they are."
"Perhaps the spirits just wish to observe," Skarra said into the silence that followed. "They wish to see what goes on here."
Everyone turned to look at him, surprised.
"Daniel's rubbed off on you," O'Neill said, grinning.
"Skarra, that's pure genius!" Daniel said, slapping the younger man on the back. "Brilliant!"
"Yeah, but what are they hoping to learn?" Carter asked.
"Well, they were trying to learn about us back on Ghenta, but what's a more effective learning experience than field work?" Daniel wanted to know. "After all--"
The phone ringing cut him off, and Hammond answered it. "What? All right, airman, get them both to the infirmary and let me know as soon as their conditions change." He hung up and faced SG-1.
"That sounds...ominous," Jack said, looking at his CO.
"That's because it is," Hammond said, approaching the table. "That was one of the patrols, and they found Ahntas' two guards unconscious and Ahntas missing."
"Okay, so they're here to rescue Ahntas. It's only a matter of time before they head to the Gate room."
Wham! The door to the debriefing room slammed open and an invisible wind rushed in as the entire team got to their feet in surprise. In a moment Jack was knocked over and then picked up by nothing at all, which proceeded to carry him out of the room. Teal'c was battling...two?... beings that were trying to carry him out, and Carter was scooped up like a teddy bear and carried out. All of this happened before Hammond could even shout for a patrol. The being (beings?) that was trying to get to Daniel was having a hard time of it since Skarra and Kasuf were in the way, shouting at it in Abydonian. As SFs rushed in, Teal'c and Daniel were dragged out while Hammond used every iota of his combat training to stop them, but it was very difficult fighting hand to hand with things you could not see.
Somehow, the Gate activated (systems checks later would show that the beings had used the dialling computer in the operations booth, but how had they figured out how to work it?) and the beings rushed towards it. It was eerie for General Hammond to see absolutely nothing carrying his best team up the ramp and through the iris.
"Dan-yel!" Skarra yelled as Daniel disappeared through the iris, his accent worse with distress. "Dan-yel!"
What happened next no one expected. Skarra was suddenly scooped up by...nothing and carried through the iris just as SG-1 had been. Kasuf shouted for him to come back, but the wormhole behind the iris closed.
"SG-2, SG-3, ready a MALP! We're going after our people right now!"
