CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Daniel watched the Wraith, which stared right back at him. "Before you start thinking about attacking me, I should tell you that I could kill you before you got even halfway across this cell."
The Wraith sneered at him, baring pointed teeth. "You carry no weapon."
"Actually, he doesn't need one," Sheppard told the alien.
The Wraith didn't listen. With surprising speed, he came at Daniel. But before Sheppard could even lift the barrel of his weapon, the alien was hurled across the cell to smash with stunning force against the bars. Even having heard what Daniel could do, the sight still surprised most of them, making Teyla gasp.
They weren't nearly as surprised as the Wraith, however. The alien rose off the floor where he had fallen and studied Daniel more closely.
"I did warn you," Daniel told him.
"What weapon do you use on me?" the Wraith asked.
Daniel tapped on the side of his head. "One right inside here."
The Wraith stared at him narrowly, then rather stupidly tried to attack him again. The alien stumbled backward as fire abruptly sprang up between him and the human he intended to kill. It forced him backward against the bars, burning tongues licking close to his body. On the other side of the flames, Daniel stood staring at him, the light of the fire reflecting on his glasses in such a way that it looked like the flames were dancing in his eyes.
The fire guttered out, leaving no smoke in its wake.
"Sam, tell him what I did to the Supersoldier," Daniel requested.
Surprised, Sam stared at him for a second or two, then complied. "The Supersoldiers are Goa'uld drones protected inside a virtually indestructible suit of armor. One was attacking us. Daniel couldn't do anything about the armor, so he . . . he burned the Supersoldier to death inside its armor."
Sheppard grimaced. "Oh, man. That had to hurt."
Daniel's gaze pierced into the Wraith. "I'd suggest that you don't try to attack me again."
The Wraith looked back at this man who appeared human, yet possessed power far surpassing that of any human the Wraith had ever known. If he attempted to attack, he did not doubt that this one was fully capable of burning him to death. Though the Wraith did not fear dying, that manner of death did frightened him.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"To know about your species."
"You know all you need to, that we are the ones who will destroy everyone on this world."
"Well, until that time comes, we're going to get to know you better. But, in order to do that, I'm going to have to touch you." Daniel studied the alien. "Oh, you're not going to cooperate are you." He glanced over his shoulder. "Do you have some heavy chain?"
"Sure," Sheppard replied.
"Could you get some? We're going to have to bind him."
The major contacted someone and asked for some chain to be brought.
While they were waiting for it, Daniel felt an odd tickling sensation in his mind. Realizing what was happening, he focused a glare on the Wraith, who roared in pain, clutching his head and falling to his knees.
"What's going on?" McKay yelled.
Instead of answering the question, Daniel asked one of his own. "The Wraith have psychic abilities?"
"We know that they have the ability to fool the senses of humans," Telya replied, "make them see things that are not there."
"Well, I don't know if that's what he just tried with me, but he tried to do something." Daniel stared at the Wraith, who had recovered from what the archeologist did. "You won't be trying that again, will you."
The alien's reply was an angry silence.
When a man arrived with the chain, he and Sheppard bound the Wraith's arms to one of the cell's bars as Daniel psychically held the alien in place in a seated position. The men wrapped the chain around several times to make certain the Wraith couldn't break free.
Once that was done, the man who'd brought the chain left the cell. Sheppard opted to stay inside, his weapon trained on the Wraith just in case.
Daniel walked up and knelt before the alien, meeting the Wraith's gaze. Pure hatred looked back at him. He pressed the palm of his hand to the Wraith's forehead and closed his eyes. Focusing his abilities, Daniel turned them upon the alien, seeking knowledge of their kind, who and what they were.
Digging deeper than he ever had before, he saw flashes of images, years and then centuries of time compressed into the space of minutes. And then he saw something that utterly shocked him, shattering the vision.
The archeologist stood and stepped back, staring at the creature with new eyes.
"Release him," he said.
The chains were removed, and all the humans began backing out of the cell.
It was then that the Wraith attacked again, but this attack was not aimed at Daniel.
The young marine who had brought the chain suddenly shouted, "Something's in the room!" Startled, he bumped into Sheppard, whose head had turned in the direction the man had pointed.
In that moment when Daniel was distracted, the Wraith came at him again. With only a few feet separating them, the alien had reached him before he could react. There was a searing pain in his left arm. Daniel's mind reacted instinctively. Fire engulfed the Wraith, who screamed in agony. Daniel almost immediately put the fire out, but the alien had already been badly burned in several places.
"Daniel!" Sam shouted. "Are you all right?"
The archeologist looked down at his arm. There was a bloody rent in the fabric of his sleeve. "Yeah, it's nothing serious."
Sam glaring down at the Wraith, who lay panting on the ground. "What about him?"
"The Wraith have highly advanced regenerative abilities," Doctor Beckett replied. "They heal with extraordinary speed. The burns will most likely be gone in a short time."
The three humans left the cell, and Weir ordered the force field to be turned back on.
"I'm sorry, sir," apologized the marine. "I saw something streak across the room."
"It was an illusion created by the Wraith," Teyla told him. "We know that trick well. It is used to frighten and confuse their victims, to distract them from the real danger."
"Let me take a look at that arm," Beckett said, stepping up to Daniel. He very carefully ripped open the sleeve to reveal two slashes in the skin of Daniel's arm. "It looks as if he got you with his claws. Wicked things. It'll take some stitches, I'm afraid."
"Actually, that won't be necessary," Daniel told the doctor. He laid a hand over the wounds and closed his eyes. When the hand was removed about twenty seconds later, all traces of the injury were gone, except for the blood. With an amazed smile, Beckett wiped away the blood with a cloth.
"Incredible," he murmured.
Those who had never seen Daniel use his healing abilities before stared at his arm, lips parted in surprise.
"Damn. I wish I could do that," Sheppard said.
Daniel looked over at the Wraith. The alien had risen onto an elbow, clearly still in a lot of pain. He stared at the place on Daniel's arm where, only seconds ago, his claws had torn tender flesh. His eyes then looked into Daniel's.
"What are you?" he asked. "You are not human. The Ancients could heal themselves, but none had the power to do what you can."
"No, I am human," Daniel answered.
"But one the likes of which you have never seen," Teyla stated, "one with power the Wraith cannot match."
The Wraith struggled up halfway into a sitting position. He bared his teeth in a horrendous parody of a smile. "He is one man. We are many. In the end, he will be fed upon, just as the rest of you will."
"Come on," Elizabeth said. "Let's get out of here."
They returned to the briefing room. Daniel took off his BDU shirt. There was some blood on the black T-shirt beneath, but at least the material was whole. The eyes of more than one person in the room kept returning to the unblemished skin of his arm.
"The power you used against the Wraith was incredible," Teyla said in admiration and deep respect. "You could kill many with such power."
"Yes, I could, but not enough to make that much of a difference. There are limits to what I can do. If I use my abilities too much, it can harm me. It's already happened more than once."
"Even so, you would be a great weapon against them."
Daniel didn't reply. He knew that he could help here in the Pegasus galaxy, but he could not abandon the fight against the Goa'uld.
"What did you learn from the Wraith, Doctor Jackson?" Weir asked.
"Something pretty surprising. They used to be human."
"What?!" exclaimed everyone else in the room.
"I can't begin to understand it, but the Wraith are a . . . a combination of two species, human and another that I can't name, some kind of insect, I think."
The Atlantis team members immediately knew what he was talking about.
"We know of the insect," Doctor Beckett said. "We had a run-in with one not long ago."
"Yeah, run-in is right," Sheppard responded. "The thing nearly sucked the life out of me."
"We concluded at the time that it may be related to the Wraith, perhaps what they originally evolved from. But we did not guess that the Wraith may also be related to humans." The doctor began to get excited. "This could be of significant importance."
"Do you think that it would enable us to devise a weapon against them?" Elizabeth asked. "Some sort of biological warfare?"
"That is possible. I'm going to have to do more tests, obtain some fresh tissue samples from our friend in the holding cell. Thank you, Doctor Jackson. This could help us tremendously."
Daniel gave the man a nod.
Elizabeth got to her feet. "Well, I think that we've put Doctor Jackson though enough for one day. Doctor, Colonel. I'll take you to your quarters so that you can unpack and relax for a while."
Daniel and Sam's quarters were right next to each other. Doctor Weir excused herself, leaving them to unpack and relax for a while.
In his room, Daniel stripped off the bloody T-shirt and threw it in the sink. He might be able to get the blood out.
He was slipping on another one when there was a knock on the door. He answered it to find Sam there.
"Hey." She looked at his arm with a slight frown. "That could have been a lot worse."
Daniel nodded, letting her into the room and closing the door. "The Wraith are a whole lot more dangerous than the Goa'uld. I underestimated him."
She met his eyes. "You could have let him die, not put out the fire."
"Yes, I could have, but you know me well enough to know I wouldn't do something like that, not unless I had to."
Sam smiled fondly. "Yes, I do."
"This place is amazing, isn't it," Daniel remarked as he began to unpack.
"You aren't kidding. We could spend years here and not see everything." Sam studied Daniel from her seat on the bed. "I saw the look on your face when Teyla made that comment about you being a great weapon against the Wraith."
Daniel stopped unpacking. "I still believe that my place is at the SGC, fighting the Goa'uld, but I can't deny that I probably could help here. For all I know, just being here could make me remember more of the Ancient knowledge. I might very well remember the plans to that space gun Jack wants so badly, one that could help here and back home."
"Yes, but that's not guaranteed, Daniel. As for fighting Wraith, unless you joined one of the teams that goes on missions, when would you actually encounter any? Would you be willing to go out there for the sole purpose of killing Wraith, become some kind of assassin?"
Daniel sighed. "No, I don't think I would." He sat on the bed. "I saw a lot of things when I touched that Wraith. I learned things about them that gave me a clearer picture of who and what they are. They feed on humans because they have to, just like we have to eat to survive. When they are denied food, it's very painful to them and weakens them dramatically. I'm not justifying what they do, not at all. From that Wraith, I learned that they like what they are, what they do. Even if there was another way they could survive, I think that most of them would not stop feeding upon humans. Yet. . . ."
"What?" Sam inquired.
"I don't know. Maybe it's a feeling, but something is telling me that, with some of the Wraith, perhaps only a very few, if they could be made to look at us as more than a source of food, they might actually . . . I don't know, not be our friends or allies, but perhaps respect us enough that they'd be willing find another way to survive."
Daniel looked down at the shirt in his hand. "But regardless of whether I'm right or not, I would not be willing to become what you said, an assassin, someone who goes out there specifically to slaughter Wraith. When the Tok'ra asked me to use that poison at the Goa'uld summit, I hated the thought of what I'd be doing. I really didn't want to do it. But I felt that it needed to be done. Afterwards, I was relieved that I didn't do it."
Sam excused herself to go do her own unpacking. After Daniel was finished, he decided that he should write a report about what he'd seen in his vision. While he was doing that, Sam went off to find McKay and the power generator. She got directions to his lab from someone passing by.
"Ah, Colonel Carter," the Canadian said as she entered the lab. "All settled in?"
"Yes, I am."
"As I was going to tell you before, I've already been working on improving the stability and power output of that device you and Doctor Jackson built, and I'm confident that I'll succeed."
The Canadian's statement didn't surprise Sam. "How much do you know about liquid Naquadah?"
McKay's smugness faltered ever so slightly. "Well, I admit that I have not done any studies on it. I've never actually had access to any until now."
"Uh huh. Well, as it so happens, I have done in-depth studies on its properties, including the risks in working with it. It is far more dangerous to work with than Naquadah in its solid form, and there are a great many things that have to be taken into consideration when using it as a power source. But, hey, if you'd rather work on this all by yourself, go right ahead. Hopefully, you won't blow yourself or anyone else up."
Sam began to turn away but was stopped by McKay.
"Wait. I didn't say that you couldn't help. I'm sure I could do it by myself, but we might have a working power module a little faster if the two of us work together."
Sam decided that was as good as she was going to get from McKay and got to work with him, thinking that she might be able to make it through the day without actually shooting the man. She wasn't sure about the rest of the three weeks.
Daniel handed his report to Elizabeth.
"I thought that I should write down everything I saw and learned about the Wraith in my vision," he explained.
"Thank you. I'll look forward to reading it. So, are you ready to get started on diving into the information stored in the database? I should warn you that there is a massive amount of data. It would take many years to go through it all, far more than a lifetime."
"Yes, I am."
"May I ask if there is something in particular that you want to focus on?"
"Well, being an archeologist and anthropologist, I'd love to delve into the historical and cultural stuff, but I think that, first, I'd like to take a look at their research on ascension."
Doctor Weir smiled. "I can't say that I'm surprised, not given your history. All right, I happen to know that we have dug up a little something on that. I'm sure that you could find even more. There is one of two ways this can be done. Either we can set you up at one of the workstations or you can use the holographic interface. The interface is good for first-time users, but if you're going to be at this for several hours at a time, you'll be more comfortable at a workstation."
"As long as you can have someone show me how to operate one, a workstation will be fine."
"Certainly. I'll have someone take you to one and show you how to use it."
Two hours later, Daniel was already deep into his research, immersed within the Ancients' search for the key to ascension. It didn't take him long to see that it had been approached from several different avenues, some of which did not involve the spiritual enlightenment that Oma had claimed was vital to reaching ascension. Some of the Ancients had apparently believed that it could be achieved strictly through scientific means. Others argued for the more spiritual approach. Knowing what he already did about ascension, Daniel chose to follow the research that involved that second thing.
By the time Sam tracked Daniel down three hours later, he was so deeply into his studies that he didn't feel her approach.
"Hey, are you aware of what time it is?" she asked.
"What?" Daniel looked at his watch. "Wow, I had no idea it was that late. I wasn't paying any attention."
Sam smiled. "Something tells me that I'm going to have to have Doctor Weir assign a babysitter to you to prevent you from starving to death while you're here."
Daniel's mouth quirked upward. "Uh huh, and how long ago did you stop working?"
"Um, well, just a few minutes ago, actually."
The upward tilt of Daniel's lips became a smile.
"Oh, all right, so we'll both need babysitters," Sam admitted. "Actually, if I keep working with McKay, I won't have to worry about forgetting to eat. The man starts to whine when he goes any length of time without eating."
"Yes, so how's that working out?"
"I'm already considering taking Sheppard up on his offer to dump McKay's body over the side."
Daniel grinned. "Perhaps you should let McKay know that he'll need to make sure his will is up to date if he doesn't behave."
"How about if I just tell him that I'll sic you on him? That should curb the attitude. I wonder if he ever realized that it was you who did those things to him." Sam suddenly grinned wickedly. "Maybe I'll bring it up tomorrow."
"Poor McKay. You'll have the man cowering in his shoes."
"Hey, nothing like a good dose of sheer terror to temporarily knock your ego down a few pegs. Of course, that's all it would be, a temporary fix. McKay likely came out of the womb with that ego and will, no doubt, still have it the day he dies, even if he's a senile old man. But enough about him. Let's go eat. I'm starving."
They went to the commissary. As they ate, Sam asked Daniel talked about what he'd learned so far. He told her that he was focusing on the research regarding ascension.
"Actually, in a way, it's a little strange reading about it," he said.
"How so?"
"Well, I know what it's like to ascend. I remember what it felt like and the things I had to do to achieve it. Reading that research – their theories and studies, the misconceptions and mistaken opinions – is a little strange. For instance, some of them believed that you would need to have evolved to the point where you were using at least eighty percent of your brain's capacity for synaptic activity in order to be able to ascend at all. I know that's not true. Some among those people believed that once you reached ninety to ninety-five percent, ascension would be assured. Both Jack and I reached that level when we had the Ancient knowledge in our minds, yet neither of us ascended. Of course, that could have been because our brains were getting scrambled."
"Do you think you'll learn anything important?" Sam asked.
"I think so, although I have to wonder."
"About what?"
"If somewhere in that research is information that will give us the key to figuring out how to ascend, are we really ready for that? The Ancients were millions of years ahead of us. As a society, they were far more prepared for that step. We're still . . . very young."
"Well, even if we could figure it out, anyone who ascended would be subject to the same rules that you were, so it's not like we'd have to worry about someone running around on a power trip."
"To be honest, Sam, though I know that an Ascended is not allowed to interfere in the affairs of unascended beings, I'm not sure if going around blasting things for the fun of it would qualify as interference."
"So, what are you saying, that you weren't even allowed to help a single person when they needed it, but if you'd wanted to blast a city to ruins just for the hell of it, you could have?"
"No, I'm not saying that. I just don't know what their rules include. Oma didn't fully explain them to me, probably because those who have truly reached enlightenment wouldn't even consider using their powers just for fun or because they felt like it." Daniel smiled. "Which kind of tells you something about me since not every time I use my abilities is out of necessity."
Sam also smiled. "Hey, I happen to think that you can be enlightened and still have fun. What good would it be if you can't?"
Daniel grinned. "I agree, though I can't say that I actually had fun while I was ascended."
"Well, if you ever ascend again, you'll have to go out and have a good time."
The next morning, Sam walked into McKay's lab, hoping they'd get along better today. It didn't take long to realize that had just been wishful thinking.
After half an hour of arguing with him over one component, Sam suddenly said, "You've heard of Casper, haven't you?"
The Canadian stared at her, perplexed. "Casper? As in the Friendly Ghost?"
"Yes, there's that Casper, but there's also Daniel's Casper."
"What?"
"Well, you see, there was this nosy journalist who got on Daniel's bad side, and Daniel, well, haunted him, tormented the man for hours with his telekinetic abilities. Poor Mister Bregman. He didn't know about Daniel's abilities and was led to believe that he was being targeted by a malicious poltergeist. Ever since then, when Daniel gets a bit ticked off at someone, you just never know when 'Casper' will be resurrected." Sam gave the man a meaningful look.
McKay got the message, almost subconsciously touching his rear end. From then on, though they still disagreed about things, the man's attitude was a lot more polite and reasonable. With the bickering at an end, they got a lot more accomplished, McKay discovering that Sam actually was right about some things, though he wanted to believe that he'd have come to the right conclusions himself if he'd been working alone.
Sam joined Daniel for lunch.
"You know, Casper can work really well even when he's not around," Sam remarked.
Daniel looked at her in amusement. "So, you went ahead and did it, didn't you."
"Well, it was either that or go get my sidearm. I figured this alternative wouldn't put me in the brig."
"Wise choice. So, he's behaving himself now?"
"Yes, although I doubt it will last for our entire time here. I'll be lucky if it lasts the rest of the day. The man is brilliant, but he's impossible to work with. I honestly don't know how the rest of the scientists here put up with him on a regular basis. I'm so glad that he never came to work for the SGC."
Daniel sympathized with her. "Are you getting anywhere?"
"Yes, especially after we stopped arguing. I did manage to find some references in the Ancient database about something that I think might be the original version of that power generator. Unfortunately, I didn't find much. But I think that we will succeed in coming up with something that'll be a lot more efficient. I doubt that anything we make will dial an intergalactic wormhole more than a few times before needing more fuel, but it will be much better than what we have now and a lot more stable." Sam took a bite of her sandwich. "So, how about you?"
"I found something in their research that made me remember something Oma told me."
"What's that?"
"She said that there are many planes of existence between this one and ascension. From what I read today, this was something that the Ancients began to suspect farther along in their research."
"So, there are planes that are like lower rungs of the ladder? Does that mean that someone could gradually work their way up to ascension through those other planes?"
"That's one of the things the Ancients were theorizing about, but I don't know if it's possible. Oma never said. I have to wonder what those other planes are like. We might have had some experience with one of them."
"What do you mean?"
"Anubis is half-ascended. What if that means he's on one of those lower planes of existence? What I read said that, when the Ascended tried to descend him, he got stuck halfway. Could that mean that he got stuck on a level halfway between their plane of existence and ours?"
Sam thought about that. "It makes sense, and it would explain a lot."
"Yeah." Daniel frowned down at his sandwich.
"What's wrong?"
"I just have this nagging feeling that there's something more, something I should know."
"You mean from when you were ascended?"
"I don't know. Though I now remember that year, I don't recall everything I saw and learned. But it might not even be from then. It could have something to do with the Ancient knowledge, some puzzle piece that's trapped in my subconscious. Whatever it is, I have a feeling that it's important."
"I guess all we can do is hope that you remember or maybe find it in your research."
Previous Chapter
Next Chapter
