CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
"So, are you going to kill me now or do I have time to send through those crates of champagne?" Jack asked once Daniel was back on Earth.
"Go ahead and send them," the archeologist replied with a glint in his eyes that made Jack nervous in spite of himself. "Remember what they say, Jack. Revenge is a dish best served cold."
"Um . . . yeah." Jack ignored the looks of pity he got from a few people in the control room. "Walter, have those crates sent through to Atlantis. I should imagine that there will be partying there tonight, and no party is complete without champagne."
"Yes, sir."
Daniel headed for his office. After a moment, he sensed Jack hurrying up to him.
"Look, Daniel. I know it was a dirty trick to pull on you," the grey-haired man said.
Daniel stopped. "Are you sorry you did it?"
"Uh . . . sort of."
The archeologist's eyes narrowed. "Only because you're finally starting to consider what the ramifications to you might be. Should have thought of that before, Jack."
Daniel resumed walking. Jack hurrying to keep pace.
"Okay, now, Daniel, I'm the base commander here, and I need to maintain a high level of respect in the eyes of the personnel. If you do something like. . . ."
"Hang you naked in the women's locker room?" Daniel supplied. "I seem to recall that's what you wanted me to do to Ferretti."
Jack started to sweat. "Yeah. That. It would severely damage my image here, which could affect my ability to lead. You wouldn't want to do that, would you?" The fact that Daniel didn't reply made Jack really nervous. Crap. What had he been thinking? It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. "Daniel, come on. Give me a break. Please? For old time's sake?"
Daniel stopped again and looked at him. "All right. I promise that whatever I do won't involve the forced removal of clothing."
Jack relaxed. "Thank you."
A downright evil smile curved Daniel's lips. "But that's all I'll promise." He then turned and strode away, leaving Jack to ponder his fate.
When Teal'c returned late that afternoon, it was with the news that the Jaffa were insisting that Daniel come to Dakara so that they could thank him personally. Teal'c passed on a personal message from Bra'tac that, if Daniel didn't come, the Master Jaffa would come through the Stargate after him, regardless of Daniel's power. Knowing that he'd never hear the end of it if he didn't relent, the archeologist very reluctantly agreed to go next week.
The following afternoon, Jack received quite a surprise when he got home from work. The surprise was a man who was rather rudely pointing a gun at him and saying that Jack had ruined his life. Since the gun wasn't real, this didn't really concern Jack much, even if he did think the guy was a nutcase. After Jack revealed that he knew the weapon wasn't real and then got his own gun, which was real, the situation changed.
"Oh, God. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you're right. It's just a toy," the man babbled, dropping the gun and throwing up his hands. "Please don't shoot me."
"I'm not gonna shoot ya."
"I'm sorry. I just thought it was the only way to make you listen to me."
Jack put down his gun and picked up his cell phone.
"Oh, where you're going, people will listen," he said as he started dialing. "They got nothing to do but listen to what you have to say. They got nice white coats, padded walls, the whole nine yards."
"Please wait! You're Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, head of Stargate Command at Cheyenne Mountain. You used to command SG-1, which is now led by Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter. You once visited a planet called Argos, and the nanites in your blood caused you to age artificially. You've had the entire repository of the Ancients' knowledge downloaded into your brain. You have a thing for The Simpsons, fishing, Mary Steenburgen, the color peridot, and you're a terrible ping pong player."
Jack stared at him. "Have we met?" There was something vaguely familiar about the guy, now that he thought about it.
"My name is Joe Spencer. I'm a barber. It's all true, isn't it. Everything I've seen, the Stargate, the Goa'uld, the Asgards. It's all real. Tell me it's real. I need to know."
"Well, first of all, Joe . . . I'm not a terrible ping pong player."
Thinking that it might be wise to discover what the hell was going on, Jack took Joe to the SGC, calling Daniel on the way and very briefly filling him in. Once they arrived, Jack took the man straight to the infirmary. If the guy was an alien, it would probably be wise to know that.
A nurse drew some blood from Joe as Jack looked on.
"Between you and me, I totally see the analogy. Burns as Goa'uld," Joe said, continuing a conversation they'd been having.
Jack made an expansive gesture. "Thank you." He was starting to like this guy.
Joe turned and saw Sam and Janet coming toward them. He got off the infirmary bed and shook Sam's hand.
"This is such an honor. I don't know how to thank you for all you've done for our planet. There are not enough words."
"It's nice to meet you, too," Sam said with a smile of confusion. She looked at Jack for an explanation.
"Joe Spencer," he said, as if that was all the explanation needed.
"I was particularly impressed with the time you blew up that sun," Joe told the astrophysicist.
"Well, thank you. I had a bit of help."
Joe turned to Janet. "Janet Fraiser. I can't tell you how relieved I am that you weren't killed on P3X-666. You are a wonderful doctor."
At that moment, Daniel walked in, and Joe's entire face lit up. He rushed forward and grabbed Daniel's hand. He started shaking it quite enthusiastically.
"Doctor Jackson. How can I even begin to express my respect for you? The things you can do, the times that you've saved us all, not just Earth but the whole galaxy! You are amazing!"
"Uhhh . . . thank you," Daniel responded. Joe was still very aggressively shaking his hand, and he was beginning to wonder if he'd have to use his abilities to regain possession of it before it was shaken right off.
Fortunately, telekinesis proved not to be needed as the man finally let go.
Daniel turned to the base commander. "Jack?"
"He's a barber."
"Broke into your house?"
"Yeah."
"Perhaps you should think of getting an alarm."
"I'm thinkin' dog, actually."
"You could try locking your front door," Joe suggested.
"It's going to take a while for the test results to come back from that blood we drew," Janet said. She turned to Joe. "I'm afraid that we need to do some other tests as well, an MRI and EEG, perhaps a PET scan."
"Okay, sure. Whatever you need."
"When she's all done poking and prodding you, have someone take you to the briefing room," Jack told the man. He turned to Sam. "Carter, I had something sent to your lab. It's a rock that Joe says is what made him see all that stuff about the program."
Daniel's eyebrows lifted. "A rock?"
"Looks like a rock to me. It's black, about this long," he held his hands apart a few inches, "has strange symbols carved on. Go see it for yourself."
As Joe was taken away by Janet and Jack went off to find Teal'c, Daniel went with Sam to her lab. The "rock" was sitting on her worktable. Daniel frowned upon seeing it.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked.
"It looks familiar."
"You mean from something in the Ancient knowledge?"
"No, I think I've seen something like it before."
Daniel reached out to pick the thing up, then paused. If this was Ancient in origin, which he was pretty certain it was, he didn't know what would happen if he touched it. Better to be safe than sorry.
"Um, Sam, I'm going to go see if I can figure out where I've see this before. Could you . . . put it in a box or a bag? I'm hesitant to touch it."
Sam got a plastic bag and dropped the stone into it.
Daniel took it back to his office. First, he looked through a few books, thinking he might have seen a picture of one somewhere. When that didn't pan out, he got on his computer. After searching for a while through various photos he'd taken off-world, he suddenly thought of checking the inventory catalog of artifacts. Partway through the search, he got a call from Sam.
"Hey, I just heard from Janet," she said. "She had a hunch and ran a certain test on Joe's blood. It turns out that he's got the Ancient gene."
"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me."
"Janet's still running tests, but, so far, Joe is perfectly normal otherwise. Janet will send me all the test results when she's done. You got anything yet?"
"Not yet, but I'm looking into it. As soon as I've got something, I'll come to the briefing room."
Soon after the call, Daniel found what he was looking for. He went to the base archives and began yet another search. He scanned the labels on the dozens of boxes on the shelves. He finally found what he was looking for sitting high on a shelf in a box with several other objects. Taking the box, he returned to his office.
Still leery of touching a piece of Ancient technology, Daniel removed the thing from the box telekinetically and set it on the table beside the one belonging to Joe, which was still in the plastic bag. They were identical.
Daniel stared at the two stones for a while, an idea forming in his mind about what they might be. Almost certain that he was right, Daniel put the second stone in the bag using telekinesis and left his office.
When he got to the briefing room, Jack, Sam and Teal'c were there with Joe.
"I think I've got it," he announced. "It took me a while to track it down, but. . . ." He set the bag with the two stones on the table.
"You have one, too?" Joe said.
"I think they're a set. Jack, remember P3R-233? That's the planet where I—"
"Where you found the quantum mirror that sent you to an alternate reality," Joe interrupted, "where the Goa'uld invaded Earth."
Daniel nodded as Jack dumped the stones out of the bag and picked one up, frowning. He failed to hear Daniel's next words as a memory came back to him of the first time he'd seen it on a table full of tagged artifacts, the ones that had been brought back along with the quantum mirror. He'd picked it up to look at it, and something rather weird had happened.
"That stone was brought back with the rest of the artifacts from that room we found," Daniel was saying, "the one with the mirror."
Jack's mind came back to the present.
"I think the stones are a kind of Ancient long-range communication device," the archeologist explained, "allowing people to see events over great distances through some sort of psychic connection. Now, Jack must have activated the link between the stones by picking up the second stone. After that, all that would be required is a certain proximity to the stone, for the connection to be activated. Now, seeing as how the stone was being stored in the base archives. . . ."
"But that doesn't explain how the other stone got to the. . . ." Jack looked at Joe. "Where? Where was it?"
"A garage sale," Teal'c answered.
"The person who sold it to me said his grandfather found it on a dig in Egypt," Joe said.
Sam frowned. "But that still doesn't explain the proximity issue. I mean, if the stone General O'Neill touched was kept here, how was Joe able to see everything that happened to the General off-world?"
"I think he was getting most of it from when Jack was writing up his reports right here on the base," Daniel answered. "The stone was being stored just a few levels above."
A look of comprehension spread across Joe's face. "That's why the stories were so easy to write. It was like someone else had done most of the work for me."
"And you say they all got rejected?" Jack asked.
Joe nodded.
Daniel wondered what stories they were talking about. He'd have to find out later.
"Wait a second," Sam said. "If the stones worked the way Daniel says, shouldn't General O'Neill have been able to see elements of Joe's life as well?"
Daniel nodded. "Theoretically, yes, he would."
He and his teammates all turned to Jack, who looked back at them, then exchanged a look with Joe.
"Bowling league, Thursday nights?" Jack inquired.
"You saw that?" Joe asked in amazement.
"You got game, Son."
Daniel stared at the general. "W-wait a minute. Jack, you've been seeing parts of the life of a barber in Indiana for seven years, and you never mentioned it?"
"Yeah, sure I did. I know I did."
"No. No, you didn't, sir," Sam told her C.O.
"I didn't?"
"You didn't find it the least bit odd?" Daniel asked. He couldn't believe that Jack had been seeing those things for all those years and hadn't said a word.
"Actually, no. I found it quite . . . relaxing."
That got a smile and a shrug from Joe, who looked pleased.
Figuring that it would be safe, Daniel picked up both of the stones. For a brief instant of time, it was like he was seeing the room from two different perspectives. He quickly set the stones back down.
"Whoa. That was . . . disconcerting."
"You're not kidding," Jack said.
Daniel looked at him. "You saw that, too?"
"Hell, yeah."
"So did I," said Joe.
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"For a second, I think I was seeing through both Jack's and Joe's eyes at the same time," Daniel replied.
"You mean that, now, there's a three-way connection?"
"God, I hope not!" Jack exclaimed. "If I start seeing Daniel's life as he's doing all his translations and archeology stuff, I'll go mad."
Daniel frowned down at the stones. He picked one up and held it out to Jack. "Here."
The general looked at it like it was a deadly snake.
"Take it, Jack. I have an idea."
Hesitantly, the man took it. Daniel then gave the other one to Joe.
"Okay, stand next to each other and hold up the stones," Daniel instructed.
The men did as he asked. Daniel then laid his hands on the stones and closed his eyes. He stood that way for several seconds.
"Okay. That should do it," he said. He took the stones and put them on the table.
"Do what?" Jack asked.
"I broke the connection. As long as you guys don't touch them again, you'll never have to worry about seeing each other's lives again. And neither will I."
Joe gazed down at the stone. "I'm going to miss seeing all your adventures. A barber's life isn't exactly an exciting one." He sighed. "But that thing destroyed my life, so I'm glad to be rid of it. I lost my wife and my son because they both thought I was crazy. I lost my business. I lost my friends. I lost everything." He sat down in a chair, looking utterly dejected. "I don't know what I'm going to do now."
"Jack, couldn't we do something?" Daniel asked.
"Like what?" Jack responded.
Joe looked up at him. "Couldn't you tell my wife that everything I told her was real? If she knew it was all real, she'd know I wasn't crazy and come back to me."
"The program is classified, Joe," Jack told him.
The man's shoulders slumped, his eyes dropping to the table. "Yeah."
Jack stared at the man, feeling sorry for him. Though they weren't to blame for what happened, he felt a certain sense of responsibility to fix the damage that had been wrought.
"Tell you what, Joe. I'll have a little chat with General Hammond and see if I can get permission to tell your wife about this."
Joe's face lit with hope. "You will?" He jumped to his feet and shook Jack's hand. "Oh, thank you!"
"As it so happens, Hammond will be at our little party tomorrow, so I can talk to him then."
Joe smiled. "Can I go, too?"
"Uh, no. Sorry. You may have seen all that stuff, but you still don't have clearance, and you're not part of the program."
"Oh. Right, of course."
"Go on home, Joe. I'll call you. Oh, and I don't think I have to tell you not to say another word about all of this."
"Of course I won't say anything. You can count on me."
Joe said goodbye to everyone, then was led out of the room by an airman, who would see to it that the man got home.
"Well, that was . . . interesting," Daniel remarked. He turned to Jack. "What stories was he talking about?"
"Joe wrote some stories based on what he saw."
"And they were all rejected?"
"Yep, which makes no sense to me."
Daniel chose not to respond to that. "Okay, Jack. Tell me how you could go through seven years of seeing images from another person's life flash through your head and not think something strange was going on."
"I told you. It was relaxing."
When Daniel just kept staring at him, Jack sighed in exasperation. "All right, if you must know, I was afraid MacKenzie would throw me in a rubber room if I told anyone." Seeing the archeologist's reaction, Jack cursed. "Crap. Sorry, Daniel."
Daniel shrugged. "It's all right. I should imagine that, after what happened to me, you were even more worried about telling anyone."
"You could say that. When that thing with you happened, I started thinking that the flashes were some strange byproduct of gate travel."
At that moment, the warning of an unscheduled gate activation was announced.
"Speaking of gate travel. . . ."
The four of them went to the control room and waited to see who it was that was dialing in. It turned out to be Jacob.
"Okay, we've been hearing all kinds of rumors, but nothing has been substantiated," he said in the briefing room a few minutes later. "We heard that Anubis attempted to gain control of the weapon on Dakara and that his entire army was destroyed."
"What you heard was right," Jack confirmed. "He showed up and got his ass kicked."
"Care to tell me how? I know that some of the other stuff we've heard couldn't possibly be true."
The general smiled slightly. "Let me guess. You heard that Daniel ascended again and did the whole fire and brimstone thing big time."
"Yes, that's what we heard. Knowing what we do about ascension and the rules of the Ancients, we figured it was just a story that the Jaffa made up. Daniel's presence here obviously confirms that. So, what really happened?"
Jack's smile turned into an outright grin. "Daniel ascended again and did the whole fire and brimstone thing big time."
Shocked, Jacob stared at Daniel. "It's true? You ascended again?"
"Yes."
"So, why didn't the Others stop you this time?"
Daniel opened his mouth to explain, but was beat to the punch by Jack.
"Because Danny Boy got one up on the other glowworms and ascended to an even higher plane of existence."
Jacob's shock went up another notch. "An even higher plane of existence?"
Daniel explained the whole thing to the Tok'ra, who was left amazed by it all.
"So, Anubis is really dead this time," Jacob said with a smile. "The other Tok'ra are going to be delighted."
"Okay, now tell him the best part," Jack instructed Daniel.
The archeologist looked at Teal'c with a smile. "I'll let Teal'c tell him that."
"The Goa'uld are no more," the Jaffa stated with satisfaction. "Anubis is truly dead, and the other Goa'uld who remained have been returned to the world from whence their species came, their hosts freed at last."
"What? All of them?" Jacob asked.
"All of them," Daniel replied. "They will never leave P3X-888. I made sure of it. The only symbiotes that are left are the larvae inside the Jaffa that aren't on Tretonin yet."
Jacob sat in silence for a long moment, digesting this. "Daniel, if that's so, the Tok'ra, the entire galaxy, owe you an incredible debt."
"More than you know, Dad," Sam said. "You might not have heard what Anubis intended to do with the weapon. He was going to wipe out everything, scour the galaxy clean of life so that he could recreate everything the way he wanted it to be."
"With everyone worshiping him, of course," Jack added.
"Damn," Jacob cursed. He looked at the man who'd saved them all. "And you chose to descend again?"
"Yes. I'm not ready to spend eternity as an Ascended."
"How long can you stay this time?" Sam asked her father.
"We're having a great big party tomorrow to celebrate the end of the Goa'uld," Jack told him. "We'd love to see you there."
"Well, since there aren't any more Goa'uld to worry about, I see no reason why I can't stay," Jacob replied. "All I have to do is pass on the good news to the others."
Jacob did that very thing a short while later. Needless to say, the other Tok'ra were as shocked by the news as Jacob had been. Unlike Jacob, however, some of them weren't prepared to take Daniel's word alone that all the Goa'uld were gone. They insisted that the Tok'ra continue to watch out for the Goa'uld. This didn't surprise Jacob at all. He and Selmak had been growing progressively more irritated with the actions and attitude of most of the other Tok'ra, especially the High Council. They just didn't see eye to eye anymore.
As big as the party was going to be, it had been determined that no room at the SGC would be large enough to comfortably hold all the guests, so a large hall, the kind often reserved for wedding receptions, was rented for the day. About a dozen people had spent Thursday and Friday decorating the place with party streamers and wall decorations. Because of the classified nature of the party, using a catering service had been out of the question, so the food was courtesy of several dozen volunteers.
Quite a few people were already at the party when Daniel arrived. Many of them came up to him and expressed their gratitude to the man who had made the reason for this party a reality.
Seeing the uncomfortable look on Daniel's face, Sam walked over and whispered. "You'd better get used to it, Daniel. You are the hero of the SGC, and everybody's going to make sure you don't forget it."
"Great," the archeologist muttered. "I think I'm going to leave now."
Sam laughed and tugged him further into the building.
Half an hour later, the party was in full swing. Much to everyone's delight, General Hammond had made it there, as did Paul Davis, plus some other people from DC. Cassie was there as well.
A stereo system had been set up to play music. The music was halted as General Hammond stepped up onto the stage. "May I have your attention, everyone?" he said in the microphone. All eyes turned to him. "We all know why it is that we are here today, what it is that we are celebrating. I have to admit that, when this began all those years ago, I had doubts that I'd live long enough to see this day. I'm sure that some of you felt the same. But here we all are, celebrating the end of the Goa'uld. I cannot tell you how joyful I am," he looked straight at Daniel, "and how much gratitude I feel toward the man who played the biggest part in making this a reality." Hammond turned back to everyone else. "All of you, all the people of the Stargate Program, both those still living and those who have given their lives in the fight, are to thank for this day. Your tireless commitment to what the program was all about, your strength and courage in fighting our enemies, is something that you should all be proud of, just as I am proud of you. Though I know that there are other enemies out there, this galaxy is safe from both the Replicators and the Goa'uld. I hope this will mean that, from this day on, the Stargate will be used mainly as an instrument for peace and exploration, just as Doctor Jackson always hoped it would be." General Hammond held up his wine glass. "To peace."
"To peace," everyone toasted.
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