CHAPTER TEN
A cloak of silence descended upon the corridors of the SGC as a gurney was wheeled by with a sheet-covered body upon it. On either side of the gurney, like an honor guard for a fallen hero, walked Bra'tac and the surviving members of SG-1. The looks on their faces reflected the grief they were feeling, even on the two Jaffa.
The group descended to Level 21, but it did not go to the infirmary. Instead, it went to a cold and sterile room where, years ago, Sha're's body was brought to await the journey home for her final rest. Now, it would contain the body of her husband until he, too, was laid to rest.
For the longest time after the corpsman that pushed the gurney had left, SG-1 stood unmoving in their positions around Daniel's body. Bra'tac, too, had left, knowing that Jack, Sam and Teal'c needed this final time alone with their friend.
More than once, Jack's hand had reached for the sheet that covered Daniel's head, but, each time, it fell back to his side. He just couldn't bear to yet again see his best friend's pale and lifeless face. He looked at Sam. The major's eyes were fixed upon Daniel, eyes that had gone dark with a terrible, soul-deep look of anguish and despair. Jack feared that this would be the one thing that would break her, that nothing would ever put her fully back together.
As for Teal'c, Jack could remember only two other times that he'd seen as much grief on the Jaffa's face: when they had come upon the wreckage of Teal'c's home on Chulak, the Jaffa believing that his wife and son had perished, and when Shan'auc, the Jaffa priestess that Teal'c had loved, died.
At last, Jack knew that it was time to leave. He gently wrapped an arm around Sam's shoulders and led her outside as Teal'c followed.
"Sam, do you want some . . . some company?" Jack asked.
"No," she whispered. "I need to be alone."
Jack didn't say anything more. He, too, desperately needed to be alone, for the emotions were building inside him, and he couldn't let anyone witness it when they finally exploded.
The three remaining members of SG-1 went their separate ways. Teal'c retired to his quarters. One by one, he lit the candles that he used for Kel'no'reem, then sat upon the floor. But the Jaffa did not attempt Kel'no'reem, for he knew that he would fail. Instead, he closed his eyes and remembered. He remembered the first time Daniel Jackson spoke to him. In the huge chamber containing all the humans who had been gathered as possible hosts, the archeologist had approached him without fear and showed him the symbol for Earth. He remembered the moment when Daniel looked upon him with eyes full of a willingness to forgive the crime he had committed against the archeologist's family. He recalled the day that Daniel stood before the people who were putting Teal'c on trial for his life, the impassioned plea the linguist had given to all assembled, asking that they spare the Jaffa. Into Teal'c's mind came the memory of the joy he'd felt upon seeing Daniel alive and well after SG-1 destroyed the ships Apophis had sent to attack Earth.
Moments of happiness and sorrow, pain and pleasure passed through Teal'c's mind, six years shared with a man of unswerving courage and unfailing compassion and one year spent missing his presence. Daniel Jackson had been like no other man that Teal'c had ever met, and he knew that there would forever be a place in his heart that would remain empty without him.
Jack closed the door of his office and locked it. He looked up at the security camera in the corner. Grabbing a chair, he climbed up onto it and covered the lens with a handkerchief. He wanted no prying eyes upon him. Jack then sank into the chair behind his desk. The minutes ticked by as he stared with unseeing eyes at a spot on the wall across the room. He felt so empty, shattered, like a broken bottle drained of its contents.
Jack pulled an object out of his pocket. It was Daniel's glasses. He gently touched them with his fingertips, thinking how horribly wrong it was that his friend would never again wear them.
It was then that something snapped inside Jack. Rage erupted within him with violent force. With a sweep of his arm, half the things on his desk went flying. He flung himself out of his chair and strode over to the next thing he laid eyes upon. The books on the shelf joined the mess on the floor. Jack smashed a fist against the wall, venting his rage upon its unfeeling surface.
As quickly as the rage came, it ended. Overwhelmed with grief, Jack rested his forehead against the wall, clenched fists on either side of his face.
"Damn you, Daniel," he whispered raggedly. "Damn you. You not supposed to be dead. You're supposed to come back. You always come back."
Jack sank to the floor, his sobs finally breaking free. Wrapping his arms around himself, Colonel Jack O'Neill cried for the loss of the best friend he could ever hope to have.
In Daniel's office, Sam lay curled into a tight ball on the cot. The tears kept coming and coming. She felt like her soul was dying, destroyed by a pain that was consuming her from the inside out. Never in her life had she hurt this much. How could she survive this? How could she go on from day to day, knowing that she would never again see Daniel's face, or gaze into his beautiful eyes, or see that wonderful smile that always lightened her spirit or made her heart flutter. Never again would she share a meal or a cup of coffee with the best friend she'd ever had, a friend she had come to love more than any other. He was gone, gone forever. This time, there was no hope that, someday, he'd come back, no hope at all.
With a brutal sense of fatalism, Sam realized that, once again, her black widow's curse had taken away a man she cared about deeply. But, this time, the theft was unbearable. Sam also knew that this time would be the last, for never again would she give her heart to any man. When they buried Daniel, her heart would be buried with him.
It had been over three and a half hours since Daniel's body was brought home, and, in all that time, Janet had been unable to set foot in the room where he lay. She knew that a time would come when she could not put it off any longer, but just the thought of seeing Daniel's lifeless body was almost too much to bear. A part of Janet berated her for this weakness. She was a doctor, after all, a woman who dealt with death on a regular basis. But death was so much more brutal and hard to face when it happened to someone you loved.
More than once, Janet had watched Daniel die. Most of those "deaths" were only momentary, brief minutes when his heart had been silent and she had fought to bring it back to life. Once, it had been more than that, a true death that had turned out not to be death at all because of an event that Janet still believed was a miracle. Seeing Daniel ascend had been one of the most beautiful things she'd ever witnessed, even though it also tore her apart.
But death had finally taken Daniel and was not giving him back. No medical actions could restore him, no ancient entity was going to guide him to another plane of existence. Daniel really was gone this time, and Janet had to learn to accept it.
Finally, the doctor stood. She left her office and passed through the infirmary. Some of the nurses were crying openly, others on the verge of tears. Daniel had been a favorite of the nursing staff, alternately bringing out the mothering instinct in them and lighting the flame of their feminine desires.
The thought of feminine desires made Janet think about Sam again. She was terribly worried about how her friend was doing. Sam had loved Daniel so much. How deeply was his death going to scar her? Would she ever be able to fully recover?
Janet had decided to give Sam some time alone, guessing that's what she'd want. But the doctor knew that, soon, Sam would need someone to hold onto, someone to keep her from getting lost in the crushing grief.
As Janet continued the journey to the morgue, she thought about the task that would soon have to be undertaken. Just the thought of it made her ill, but she knew that an autopsy would have to be done. She also knew, however, that she would not be the one to do it. It would just about destroy her to violate Daniel's body like that.
Janet paused outside the morgue for a long moment, her feet not wanting to carry her forward. Drawing in a deep breath, she took the final step and opened the door. She froze again upon seeing the sheet-draped body lying upon the gurney.
Forcing herself to move forward, Janet came to a halt at the gurney. She stared down at the sheet covering Daniel for a very long time, trying to find the courage to pull it back. At last, her hand rose and lifted it aside. A little gasp caught in her throat as Daniel's chalk-white face was revealed. Janet pressed her hand to her mouth, holding back a sob. But she could not stop the tears that began streaming down her face.
"Oh, Daniel," she whispered.
With a shuddery sigh, Janet touched her friend's cheek, feeling the warm skin, the scratchy texture of unshaven whiskers as she remembered all the times she'd touched his face when he was sick or injured in her infirmary.
Janet's eyes closed tightly. God, this was even harder than she'd thought it would be. She needed to get out of here, to. . . .
Warm?
Janet's eyes snapped open, and she stared down at Daniel. She touched his face again and found that his skin was, indeed, warm, equally as warm as that of a live, healthy body.
'Okay, Janet, calm down. So his skin is warm. That doesn't mean anything. Though a body usually starts to cool one to two hours after death, it can sometimes take three, and there have been some studies that claim it can take up to five.'
Despite that thought, Janet's heart rate refused to slow down, and there was this tight, quivery feeling in the pit of her stomach. She decided to check something else and found that rigor mortis had not begun to set in.
'No rigor mortis even though it's been over four hours, most of that time spent at room temperature.' Janet mentally shook her head. 'But you know that this doesn't really mean anything either. There could be all kinds of explanations for it.' The doctor gazed at Daniel's face. 'He's dead, Janet,' she told herself. 'The corpsman confirmed it. No pulse, no respiration. Stop torturing yourself by building up ridiculous, false hopes.'
Despite the self-chastisement, Janet's hand reached into her pocket and pulled out the penlight that was universally hated by all her patients. She stared at it for a few seconds before leaning forward and lifting one of Daniel's eyelids. The doctor shone the light directly into the vacantly staring eye. Shocked, she watched as, very slowly, the pupil contracted.
"Oh my God!" Janet cried. The penlight clattered to the floor as the doctor's hand dove for Daniel's neck. She placed her fingers over the carotid artery. It was still, unmoving. But Janet did not give up. She kept her fingers there, eyes closed in concentration, silently counting off the seconds. Nearly thirty seconds had passed when she felt a faint flutter beneath her fingertips. She remained in that position, continuing to count. Thirty-five seconds later, she felt it again.
Janet's gaze flew to Daniel's face for a long, stunned moment, then she was dashing to the phone. "I need a medical team in the morgue! Stat!" she yelled in the receiver. Hanging it up, she ran back to Daniel's side. "My God, Daniel, you've done it again! I can't believe it!"
The medical team came hurrying in a few moments later, looking around for their patient, but the room was empty except for Janet and the body of Doctor Jackson. The physician pointed at Daniel.
"We have to get him to the infirmary! He's alive!"
The others looked at the archeologist, who still appeared to be very dead.
"What are you waiting for, dammit?" Janet snapped. "Come on!"
The doctor grabbed the end of the gurney and started pushing it toward the door. Finally snapping out of their daze, the team leapt forward, two of them grabbing either side of the gurney. They rushed it down the hall, nearly bowling over a couple of hapless airmen.
Once they got to the infirmary, Janet began snapping out orders. Daniel was hooked up to a life signs monitor. When a flat line began tracing over the screen, all those gathered around looked at each other, then at their C.M.O., who had apparently lost her mind.
"Wait for it," she said, paying no attention to the looks.
Out of respect for the doctor, they kept watching the screen – and were all shocked when a single blip showed on it about fifteen seconds later. Mouths dropping open, they kept watching and saw another blip a bit over half a minute later. Beyond all hope or reason, Daniel Jackson was alive.
"I want his respiration and blood pressure taken," Janet ordered. "I also want a complete blood work-up. And we need an EEG over here. I have to call the general and SG-1!"
Jack had been sitting slumped in his chair for about an hour now. The only reason why he'd left the floor was that parts of him had gone numb. He felt drained of all energy and had no will to move from the chair.
A persistent ringing worked its way into Jack's consciousness. Realizing that it was the phone, he chose to ignore it, having no desire to speak to anyone. When the phone just kept right on ringing, Jack finally answered it, figuring that it might be the general.
"O'Neill," he said.
"Sir! It's Doctor Fraiser! You have to come to the infirmary right away. It's unbelievable! I can't—"
Jack interrupted the doctor's excited babble. "Doc, what are you babbling about?"
"Daniel, sir! He's alive!"
Anything else Janet might have said would have been spoken to empty air, for Jack was no longer there. He'd dropped the phone and streaked out of his office. Bypassing the elevator, the colonel went to the stairs, taking the steps two and three at a time. He skidded into the infirmary and came to a screeching halt. Not seeing Janet or Daniel, he made a beeline for the ICU. And there he saw it. In the corner, surrounded by a hive of nurses who were buzzing around him like bees, was Daniel. Jack slowly approached the group, afraid that he was dreaming it all. Just then, Janet appeared.
"Colonel! It's incredible. I couldn't believe it when I realized what was happening."
"What is happening?" Jack asked.
"Come here."
Janet led Jack to Daniel's bed. The colonel's gaze fixed upon his friend's face. Pale and unmoving, he still looked dead to Jack's eyes.
"Watch the monitor," Janet told him.
Jack dragged his eyes away from Daniel and looked at the monitor. It was not the first time that he'd seen a flat line in place of Daniel's heartbeat, but he had hoped he would never see it again. Even as he had that thought, though, there was a disturbance in the line, a single beat.
"What the. . . ." Jack kept watching, wondering if he'd imagined it. Way too many seconds later he saw it again. Stunned, Jack returned his gaze to Daniel.
"His heart is beating roughly two times per minute," Janet explained. "His respiration is almost negligible, but it is there. But what's most important of all is that." She pointed at another monitor.
Jack looked at the wavy line. "What is it?"
"It's his EEG, sir, his brainwave pattern. It is extremely slow, way down into the lowest delta frequencies, but it proves that Daniel's brain is alive!"
"You mean that he's done it again? He's come back to life?"
Janet shook her head. "I don't think so, sir. I don't think that Daniel died at all. It's just that his pulse and respiration are so slow and faint that they're almost impossible to detect, except with machines. Even if I'd used a stethoscope, I probably would have missed it, unless I happened to be listening at exactly the right moment."
Jack shook his head in amazement and growing joy, realizing that, yet again, Daniel had somehow beated the Grim Reaper. A huge smile lit his face. 'Yes, yes, yes! I should have known I was right. Daniel just can't stay dead.'
"Sir, I tried to find Sam," Janet told him. "She's not in her lab or her quarters, and she hasn't left the base."
"Did you try Daniel's office?"
"Yes, I called but got no answer. I was going to send someone over there."
"I'll go. Call Teal'c. You'll no doubt find him in his quarters. Have you contacted Hammond yet?"
"No, sir. I thought it only right to tell you, Sam and Teal'c first."
Jack left the infirmary and went to Daniel's office. When he saw that the door was closed, he knew that Sam was there. He found her curled into a tight ball on the cot, clutching what appeared to be one of Daniel's spare BDU jackets. Traces of tears marred her face, her nose red from hours of crying. Her eyes were closed, and Jack didn't know if she was asleep.
The colonel came up to his 2IC and knelt beside the cot. "Carter?"
Sam's body contracted into an even tighter ball, then her eyelids opened. Bloodshot eyes looked up at him with an expression of such pain that it made Jack's heart clench.
"Sam, listen to me. You have to listen carefully. None of us know yet why or how it's possible, but Daniel is not dead. He's alive."
Sam blinked a few times. "W-w-what?"
"He did it again. That stubborn, pain-in-the-ass archeologist is alive!"
Hope flared inside Sam's eyes like an exploding sun. She sat up quickly, finding it hard to believe, but wanting to more than she'd ever wanted anything in her life. "Alive?"
Jack smiled at her, an honest to goodness, ear-to-ear grin. "Yes!"
Sam threw her arms around Jack's neck and hugged him so tightly that he felt in danger of strangulation. Then she was off the cot and running out the door. Still smiling, Jack followed her.
Teal'c was already there when Sam and Jack arrived in the ICU. There was a look of wonder on the Jaffa's face.
"Daniel Jackson is truly alive, O'Neill," he said.
Sam went up to the bed. She frowned upon seeing the EKG, but then she saw the EEG, proof that Daniel's brain was active.
"How can he be alive without a heart beat?"
"Ah, but he does have one," Jack said. "Watch."
Sam returned her gaze to the monitor. Several seconds later, she saw it. Her mouth fell open. Around half a minute later, there it was again.
"My God," the astrophysicist whispered.
Janet came into the room. "Sam! Thank goodness the colonel found you!" The doctor came up and gave her friend a tight hug.
"How is this possible?" Sam asked her.
"I can't say for sure, but I have some theories."
Just then, General Hammond came in. He, too, looked a bit stunned. He stared down at Daniel. "This is incredible."
Jack grinned. "You can say that again, sir. But, considering that this is Daniel, I guess none of us should be surprised. Staying dead isn't something he seems capable of doing."
Sam turned back to Janet. "You were saying that you have some theories?"
The doctor nodded. "Do any of you know what tetrodotoxin is?"
"Isn't that the poison from puffer fish?" Sam asked.
"Yes. It's also found in several other animals. It is a neurotoxin that kills primarily by paralyzing the respiratory system. There have been cases of people with tetrodotoxin poisoning being declared dead because their pulse and respiration were so low as to be almost undetectable. It's one of the things in the zombie powder used by people who practice voodoo."
"You think that something like that has happened to Daniel?" Jack asked.
The doctor shook her head no. "For one thing, since the poison does not cross the blood-brain barrier, victims often remain fully conscious throughout the whole ordeal, but can't move in any way because of the complete paralysis."
"Oh my God," Sam gasped. "Daniel may have been conscious all this time? In the morgue, thinking that he was going to be—" Her voice choked off as she imagined the horror of being fully conscious and knowing that you were going to be autopsied while still alive.
Janet touched her arm. "No, Sam. I don't think that Daniel is conscious. As slow as his brainwave pattern is, it's very unlikely. The point that I was making is that tetrodotoxin does prove that the human body can be placed in a death-like state, yet still survive. The thing is, though, that victims of tetrodotoxin poisoning can suffer brain damage due to insufficient oxygen flow to the brain. I have not run any kind of scans on Daniel to check for brain damage yet, but I have a feeling there isn't any. What I believe is happening here is that he is in some kind of suspended animation, like an extreme form of hibernation. In hibernation, activity in the body's cells slows to a near standstill, dramatically cutting the need for oxygen. Studies have shown that the heart of a hibernating black bear can beat as slowly as eight times a minute, and there are animals in the rodent family that have heartbeats far lower than that during hibernation. One big difference with Daniel's condition, though, is that, during hibernation, body temperature drops. His is normal, which is a darn good thing since that's how I discovered that he was alive."
"Okay, so why?" Jack asked. "Why is he like this?"
"Maybe it's the only way that he could survive," Sam suggested. "The download was killing him, overwhelming his brain. Maybe Daniel's body went into stasis to stay alive."
"Do you think he did this on purpose?"
"That's hard to say," Janet replied. "It could have been done consciously or it could have been a case of his subconscious mind taking over and doing what needed to be done."
"Dormata," Sam murmured. She looked at the others. "There was this thing in the chamber in Antarctica that Daniel looked at. He said, 'Dormata', which sounds a lot like the word 'dormant', referring to something in a deep sleep. Thinking about it now, that thing Daniel looked at was a little bit like the stasis pods on the Stromos. I wonder if we were supposed to put him in it, but when he collapsed too soon and couldn't tell us what to do, he went into his own form of stasis."
"Okay, here's a question," Jack said. "How do we wake him up?"
"I'm afraid that I have no idea," Janet admitted, "and I'm not even sure we should try. If this stasis is keeping Daniel alive, rousing him could kill him."
"So, we just wait and hope that he comes out of it himself?" Sam asked.
"For right now, I think that's the wisest course of action. We will keep monitoring all of his life signs and occasionally run scans and certain tests to make sure that his condition is not deteriorating."
Hammond nodded. "Very well, Doctor. Please keep me informed. I need to contact the president and give him the good news." He looked at the three teammates. "You all look like you could use some sleep and probably something to eat as well. I think it would be a good idea to go do that."
"I agree," said Janet.
The general left before the objections began.
"Janet, I can't leave now," Sam insisted. "Daniel's alive! Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? I don't want to leave him."
"Ditto for me," Jack stated firmly. "I'm not going anywhere."
"I, too, do not wish to leave Daniel Jackson's side," Teal'c said.
Janet looked at the stubborn countenance of the three people and sighed. She really couldn't blame them for the way they felt. She kept wanting to run over to Daniel and touch him just to make sure this whole thing wasn't a figment of her imagination.
"All right. I've been considering putting Daniel in an isolation room so that he is disturbed as little as possible. There's enough room that you could set up cots."
Jack nodded sharply. "Works for me."
President Hayes stepped into the room where the vice president's aide sat.
"Mister President!" she exclaimed in surprise, not having expected this visit.
Hayes nodded. "Good afternoon, Sara. Is he in?"
"Yes, sir. He was not expecting you."
The president smiled. "Yes, I know." He went to the door and opened it without knocking. Kinsey was sitting at his desk, lounging back in his chair, a pleased, almost smug expression on his face. Upon seeing his visitor, the expression disappeared, and he sat up straight.
"Mister President. I didn't get a call that you wished to see me. I'd have come to your office."
"That's okay, Bob. This time, I decided to come see you." He sat in one of the chairs. "Quite a day, wasn't it."
"Yes, it was, a victorious day, I must say."
"I agree, and we have SG-1 to thank for it."
Kinsey frowned. "Don't forget that it was because of SG-1 that we were put in danger in the first place. It was only right that they fix the problem they created." The frown faded. "However, I am willing to admit that they did a good job of getting rid of Anubis." His lips curved into an expression of satisfaction. "The threat has been eliminated."
Hayes had to wonder if the man was only thinking about Anubis or also about the elimination of the threat Daniel Jackson had posed to him. The president smiled inwardly. Oh, this was going to be so sweet.
"Yes, the threat of Anubis is gone, very good news for us all. And guess what. I have still more good news. It turns out that Doctor Jackson isn't dead after all."
The look of satisfaction instantly vanished from Kinsey's face. "What?! B-but how is that possible?"
"Well, it seems that he actually put himself into some kind of suspended animation, most likely to save his own life since the download of that Ancients' knowledge was killing him. It may be only a matter of time before he awakens, hopefully good as new."
Kinsey's mouth opened and closed several times, as if he was struggling for words.
"What's the matter, Bob? You don't look all that pleased that the man who saved the entire planet is alive."
The vice president finally found his voice. "I-I. . . . Of course I'm pleased, sir. I was just very surprised. It seems that Doctor Jackson has a knack for surviving against all odds."
Hayes grinned broadly. "Yes, he does, doesn't he. The man puts the survival skills of a cat to shame. Well, I just wanted to pass on the good news. I'll be heading on back to my office now."
The president left the office, still grinning. As he strolled down the hall, he began to whistle. Yep, today was a very good day indeed.
Jack, Sam and Teal'c all made themselves as comfortable as possible in the isolation room that now held their teammate. During the hours that followed, at least one of them was there at all times, with the exception of the hour that was spent debriefing. Every time Sam was there at Daniel's bedside, she couldn't stop herself from devouring his face with her eyes, her hands constantly touching him. She would spend long minutes watching the life signs monitor for that occasional blip that proved that the man she loved was really alive. She had cried several times, this time with joy, though she wouldn't be truly happy until Daniel emerged from his state of suspended animation. Scans of Daniel's brain had showed no signs of damage, but Janet couldn't be sure what effect this whole thing would have on his mind.
Attempts to reach Thor had continued. Everyone had reasoned that, if the Asgard could remove the Ancient knowledge from Daniel, he could be safely aroused from the stasis.
Bra'tac had returned to Chulak, delighted that Daniel was alive. The knowledge that it had been he alone who controlled the weapons of the Ancients was something the Master Jaffa would not be sharing with anyone. The chances that the Goa'uld would find out were too great. He did, however, have every intention of passing on the news that "Dan'yar" had been instrumental in the destruction of Anubis.
As for the Lost City, it was still lost. The team that was immediately sent to the place SG-1 found in Antarctica discovered that it was far too small to have been a city. They determined that it had been some kind of outpost or base. Even so, it was an exciting discovery, and perhaps it would lead them to the real Lost City.
The rest of the day and the night passed with Daniel showing no sign of awakening. The good news was that his physical condition was not worsening, the periodic scans and tests showing no changes in his body or his brain.
Daniel's teammates were not the only company he had that day and night. Quite a few people at the SGC dropped in at one time or another, some for only a couple of minutes, others, like Ferretti, for a couple of hours. The lieutenant colonel kept muttering about Daniel being some kind of immortal.
The morning of the second day passed uneventfully for SG-1. Their mission reports were turned into the general, who, after reading them, declared that they were the most amazing reports he'd ever read.
It was just before noon when Sam found herself alone with Daniel, Jack and Teal'c having gone to get something to eat. Her hand was resting upon the archeologist's as she read a novel that Janet had brought for her. She didn't know why, but she had begun to read it aloud, as if some part of her was hoping that Daniel could hear her
Sam had just reached a funny part of the story and was laughing aloud when something happened that almost sent her jumping out of the chair. She gasped and stood, the book falling to the floor, forgotten. Daniel's hand had just moved.
"Daniel?" Getting no response, Sam looked at the life signs monitor. What she saw sent her scurrying to the phone.
"Janet, I think Daniel's waking up!"
