CHAPTER 2

Consciousness returned to Daniel like mist lifting up from the fog. Sensations of sight, sound, touch -- all began to leak thru the haze and overwhelm his senses. The feeling was similar to what it was like waking up from a zat blast. Rubbing his forehead to ease his pain he was able to slowly open his eyes and although the figures standing before him were blurry, it was obvious to him who they were.

"What the hell happened?"

"We were gonna ask you the same thing," Colonel Mitchell said standing at the end of Daniel's bed.

It only took a moment for it all to come back to him.

"Vala."

"Back in you're quarters you said, 'She's alive.' Was Vala who you were talking about?"

"Yes."

"Told ya," Mitchell said turning around to where Sam and Teal's where standing.

Daniel was confused and it must have shown since Sam walked up to his bed and sat down beside him.

"Do you remember that project Dr. Lee and I were working on? The one with the Ancient communication stones?"

"Yeah, the one that you made me activate after Vala and I regained consciousness. You were trying to duplicate the process that was created by the Ancient terminal."

"Well, the three of us where in my lab when it started to go haywire. Cam thought that someone was using one of the stones and since you were the person who activated the stone . . . "

"I would be the one that they would communicate with."

"Exactly. Only something else happened because when Cam went to your quarters, you passed out. Are you sure it was Vala?"

"More sure than I have ever been of anything in my entire life."

"Then she did survive the Al'kesh explosion?"

"Yes, and from what I can tell she is in a village similar to Ver Ager. That was the town where Harrid and Sallis came from. Everything is still sort of jumbled so it's going to take me a while to process it all. However I am almost certain that she's in trouble."

Sam got up from the chair allowing Mitchell to take her place.

"What makes you say that, Jackson?"

"I'm not going to pretend to understand how the stones work but this was different from what happened when we were taken over by Harrid and Sallis."

"How so?"

"When Jack and Joe Spencer activated the original stones on Earth they didn't take over each other's bodies they just had flashes of what that person was doing at the time. This was like that, mostly impart because the stones weren't connected to an Ancient terminal. However, like what happened when were connected to the Ancient terminal, whatever happened to the person who activated the stone, in this case Vala, happens to whomever is holding the connection to the other end, in this case, me."

"So you're saying that the whole writhing in pain and agony that you did before you passed out actually happened to Vala?"

"Yes."

"Waking up just now it felt like I was hit with a zat blast. If something similar happened to Vala on her end, it would explain the way that I feel."

"If what you're saying is true, then why didn't it happen to General O'Neill and Joe Spencer?"

Daniel sighed as he sat himself up.

"I don't know. Maybe it's connected to our exposure to the Ancient terminal or maybe it has to do with those Goa'uld Nut marriage bracelets that she used to bind us together."

"But the effects of the bracelets wore off."

"The effects may have worn off where their lives would have been endangered," Sam said as she began to pace the room. "However, it's possible that they left some small permanent connection between the two of you."

"Whatever the reasons for it, she's in trouble. She needs our help."