Alterius
by Eilidh17

Cruel irony?  A twist of fate?  Wrong place at the wrong time?  Bad timing?

The list of metaphors that could be used to explain Jack’s, or more obviously, Daniel’s, current situation was undoubtedly endless, and Jack had pretty much heard them all over the last few weeks.

He’d tightened his lips while he listened to the sarcastic comments from amused base personnel as he trekked his way through the SGC, dragging—or more accurately, carrying—Daniel from one appointment with Fraiser to the next. He always had a thick skin anyway.

Jack had heard it all.  There was a time he thought he’d seen it all as well, but the mission that downsized his strapping six foot archaeologist and best friend down to a baby, defied reasonable explanation.  This wasn’t Daniel’s first brush with a second childhood either.  Months earlier, his friend had learned the hard way that he was in fact an Ancient.  The lesson had been difficult, and Jack really didn’t feel like rehashing the whole set of circumstances again for fear of the headache it would inevitably give him.

Needless to say, Oma had stepped in and returned their Ancient speaking downsized team member back into his adult self, but the whole set of memories she’d left him with had thrown Daniel for a loop. But, Daniel being Daniel, and far better at handling mind-meddling Ancients, had eventually taken the whole affair in his stride and gotten on with reclaiming his mortal life.  Or so he’d had them believe.  Jack wasn’t so sure.

Pushing the memory aside, Jack looked down at his precious bundle, all blond locks and pink cheeks, and smiled.  He hated seeing Daniel this way, still couldn’t understand the reasoning behind it… if there really was any, but every time Daniel blinked at him, he swore he could see knowing behind those brilliant blue eyes.  That knowing was all SG-1 had, the only shreds of hope they could hold on to in the wish that somehow, in the cosmic scheme of things, this would all be set right.

The race that had ‘bestowed’ the SGC with this gift had guaranteed Jack that Daniel would grow into adulthood once his mind learned to cope with his ascended memories.  This was the way of the learning; he had been told, although Jack couldn’t quite understand what exactly had taken place.  PL6-121 housed a friendly enough population and the city closest to the Stargate was picture perfect right down to its manicured terraces and potted flowers hanging from every street light.  Daniel had drawn an instant comparison to England in the middle ages, and in that way that always amused Jack and the rest of SG-1, he’d gone on to give them all a walking talking lecture on comparative cultures.  It made for a long trek into town.

Letting Daniel step up to do the standard meet and greet was mission protocol where the threat assessment was deemed low, so Jack had given his nod of approval when the town leader stepped forward to welcome them.

And that is where everything went screwy.

Reaching out to grasp the hand Daniel offered in friendship, Geras’ warm smile turned to surprise, brows raising appreciatively as he tipped his head down towards their joined hands and muttered almost reverently, “You are Alterius.”

Alterius—Jack rolled the word around in his mouth.  If he wasn’t mistaken, and he admitted he often was; the name sounded Latin. Searching his memory, he swore it was something he should remember from his time as a walking repository. But, as that wasn’t his favorite memory, he couldn’t be sure. Maybe… Maybe not.

“Alterius?”  Daniel, on the other hand, appeared to ponder the word for a moment, his hand still held firm by Geras, before his face lit up in understanding of the man’s word.  “Alterius—the genitive form of alius, meaning ‘other’? It’s Latin.”

“Others… yes,” Geras confirmed with an approving smile.  “Your grasp of the language of the revered is to be expected as a child of the Alterius.  It is clear you have been sent to us for the learning.”  It was a statement not a question and one which had Jack’s spidy sense suddenly on full alert.  Looking across at Daniel; his brow tightly drawn, Jack could tell that his teammate was similarly confused.

Disengaging himself from Geras’ grip and taking a small step back into the circle of his team, Daniel waved a hand absently over his shoulder.  “Ah, I’m Daniel Jackson, and these people are my friends—Colonel Jack O’Neill, Major Samantha Carter—”

Daniel didn’t get to finish. Geras waved his hand imperiously in the air. The dismissal was clear.  “Who they are matters not,” he said, his tone insinuating that the rest of SG-1 was unimportant.  “What matters is that you have trusted them with your learning.”

“R-right, okay, about that.” Holding a finger in the air, Daniel scowled at the inference. Lifting his chin while his eyes narrowed with silent reproach, he said.  “Ah, about this learning…”

Geras ignored the reproof. “The learning is that which occurs when one such as yourself has returned from living among the Alterius and reclaimed their mortal form.”

“I think he’s referring to your ascension, Daniel,” Sam said, edging forward.

“Yeah.” Daniel nodded, lowering his voice so low Jack strained to hear the words. “I got that, thanks.”

“Please,” Garas turned side on and swept a hand towards the town square. “There is not much time.  Those that require the learning are usually sent straight to us from the Alterius.  Your means of arrival through the Astaria is most unusual.”

Daniel looked over his shoulder at the Stargate off in the distance and then back to Geras.  “Astaria?  You mean the Stargate, right?  The large metal ring in the distance?”

“Yes, the portal of the Alterius.”

“Jack!”  Daniel spun towards Jack; his brows raised high on his forehead, excitement burning in his eyes.  “I think Geras is referring to people who have descended like me, not people who have come through the gate.”

“And? So? Therefore?” Jack returned with a ‘hurry it up’ smile on his face.

Daniel shook his head emphatically, “Don’t you see?  There is so much we don’t know about the Ancients and what little we have been able to discover only points towards them having some sort of caretaker role in our history.”

“Again… I say.  And?  Not getting any younger here.”

Daniel’s waved his hands about animatedly.  “The writings on the wall at Keb, the tablet we found on Abydos—Jack, the repository of the knowledge! So many glimpses and yet we’re no closer to truly knowing who they are.”  Daniel lowered his head, blew out a long breath and looked back up at Jack. “These people have some sort of connection with the Ancients.  It’s obvious Geras and his people are teaching something to others that have descended like myself.  This could be a perfect opportunity here to find out more about the Ancients.”

“Fine, but don’t you think a little caution is in order?”

“Come,” Geras reached out and rested a hand on Daniel’s shoulder, gently encouraging his attention away from Jack.  “Your learning is late.  This I can tell from your aura.  We must begin.”

Daniel, the least skeptical person Jack had ever met, and undoubtedly the most curious, met Geras’ pleading stare with a frown.  “You never answered my question.  What is ‘the learning’?You see, on my world, I’m considered a scholar and historian—I study the past to enlighten the future—”

“I am aware of what a scholar is, Daniel Jackson.”

“Great.  Then you won’t mind telling me about this learning.  Don’t take this the wrong way, but we’ve learned from experience to not leap blindly into a situation without at least learning what it is we’re letting ourselves in for.  I’m all for learning pretty much anything but…”

Geras’ nodded; the smile he offered Daniel was almost sympathetic, mocking.  Jack didn’t like it one bit, and strumming the side of his P-90, he was inwardly grateful when Geras turned his attention towards him.

Clearing his throat, his fingers still beating out a tune in staccato rhythm, Jack pursed his lips and ground out between clenched teeth, “What Doctor Jackson meant to say is that he won’t be undertaking this learning of yours until you explain how it works.”

“I cannot.”  Geras didn’t even blink; the stare he offered Jack was blank and lifeless.  “The technology used for the learning is something only the Alterius understand and we are nothing but the custodians of its giving.”

“Okay,” Jack drawled out, “a little odd.  So you meter out the lesson but you don’t understand the contents? And that doesn’t seem just a little strange to you?”

“It does not.  Please,” Geras spread his hands wide.  “You must understand that for as long as we have recorded history, this village has served the Alterius by providing the learning.  Never, in all of this time, have we had a child of the Alterius come to us via the Astaria.  Your arrival is quite a surprise.”

Daniel didn’t look convinced.  Pinching the bridge of his nose, brows drawn tight in thought, he shook his head slowly and muttered something incoherently under his breath as though engaged in a silent conversation.

Jack’s patience was running out. “Daniel?” He crossed to his teammate and put a hand on his shoulder, breaking him from his musings.  “Something you wanna share?”

Daniel shook his head and shrugged.  “It—it’s nothing.”

“You were talking to yourself, it didn’t look like nothing.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Waving away Jack’s show of concern, Daniel turned to Geras.  “Tell me something,” he asked, “The Alterius that arrive here for the learning…”

“Yes.”

“They aren’t true Alterius, are they?”

Geras blinked his confusion.  “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.  All that are sent down from the ancestral plane are Alterius.  At least, that is what I am given to believe.”

“How often do they arrive?”

“In all the time I have been the leader of the village, I have only welcomed two to their learning and you will be the third, though history records quite a few more.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking, Daniel?” Jack piped up from behind him.

“I’m not sure.  I think… and it’s only a guess, but the Altarius that are sent here are probably humans who have been ascended and not true Ancients.”

“Members of the Oma Desala glow club that didn’t make the cut?”

Daniel threw Jack a warning glare.  “Funny, Jack.”

Jack held his hands up in front of his face, P-90 dangling by its clip.  “I’m just sayin’.”

“This conversation is counter productive,” Geras chimed.  “The learning is something that is meant to be engaged in when an Altarius is given into our care.” Turning to Daniel, he added softly. “Already, it is evident that you should have undertaking the learning many cycles ago.  Had you been—”

“Sent here in the first place,” Daniel waved dismissively, “I get it.  What I don’t understand is what benefit this learning is.  You’ve been rather vague.”

“I have told you what I know.  We do not know the process of the learning.  All I can tell you is those who have undertaken it benefit from regaining what was lost.”

“Lost?”

“Surely you wish to remember that which you have forgotten?”

Now it was Daniel’s turn to look confused.  He’d been descended for several months now and the memories of his life before his death and ascension had almost completely retuned.  Of course, there was the matter of the extra memories Oma had given him from his time as a true child of the Ancients, but he was slowly reconciling those with the life he had now.  It had taken a conscious effort on Daniel’s part, but he was learning to separate the various stages of his life into nice little compartments in his mind.

With a sigh of regret, he accepted he never had kept an organized filing system.

“As far as my life before ascending is concerned, I think I’ve remembered all I’m about likely to.”

“Before?  Your life as a mortal is of no consequence.” Geras brushed away Daniel’s life experiences with a casual flick of his wrist.  “I am talking about your life amongst the Alterius.  This is the learning.  How else are you expected to rejoin them at the appointed time if you cannot remember that which you learned?”

Daniel’s jaw dropped open, and like a floundering fish, he quickly snapped it closed and winced.  “You mean to tell me that by undergoing the learning I can regain my ascended memories?”

“So that when it is your time to rejoin them, you have the knowledge to do so. Yes.”

“Ah,” Sam strode up to Daniel’s side, placing a comforting hand on his arm.  “Not to be stating the obvious here, Daniel, but didn’t you tell us that no mortal can ascend without the help of an Ancient?”

“Indeed,” Teal’c remarked, “Was it not the being Oma Desala that helped you to ascended?”

“Perhaps I don’t need help anymore.”

“What?” Jack balked.  “Did I or didn’t I add a ‘no ascending’ clause into your contract when you rejoined SG-1?”

“I didn’t say I was going to.  I’m merely saying that perhaps I don’t need her help to do this again.  Look,” he spun to face Jack.  “This isn’t about me ascending again.  If what Geras says is true, then we have an opportunity here for me to regain my ascended memories and perhaps be of some benefit to Earth.”

“I like you just the way you are, Daniel,” Jack added in a pointed tone, “and we’re not having that whole self worth conversation again either.  I don’t need to be reminded of where things went—”

“Jack!”

“What?”

“This isn’t about us, it’s about having access to the knowledge I gained while ascended.  Who knows what I may have learned that could help us in the future, and it’s not looking likely that we’re going to defeat the Goa’uld anytime soon.”

“And what of the Replicators? Teal’c added.

“Right.”

“Hang on.” Sam shook her head, eyes dark with suspicion. “Daniel, this is all well and good, but the Colonel’s brain couldn’t handle the download from the repository of the four races, so how is this any different?”

“This is the purpose of the learning.”  Geras, who had remained quiet for some time, stepped into the circle of conversation, one hand gesturing back towards the town square.  “The learning teaches the mind so it can access and accept the information of the Alterius.  The writings of the Alterius, by which we all live, tell us that all who are returned must regain the knowledge to achieve enlightenment.  When truth and understanding have been restored and the mind is in harmony, only then can the student return to the teachers.”

“Certainly sounds like Oma,” Jack grumbled, earning himself another disapproving glare from Daniel.  “What? What da’ya want me to say?”

“Oh, I don’t know, how about, ‘this is a great idea, Daniel. A real opportunity we can’t afford to ignore’.”

“Now why would I say that?”

“Because you know it is.  We barely scratched the surface with what you could give us from the ancient download and we already know that what I can recall of my time with the others is sketchy at best.”

“Wait!” Geras held up a hand calling for Daniel’s silence. “You have already started to remember some of your time amongst the Alterius?”

Daniel shrugged one shoulder.  “Bits and pieces.  Nothing definitive.”

“I would not call your memory of Ry’ac and Bra’tac ‘nothing definitive’, Daniel Jackson.”

“Sorry, Teal’c,” Daniel swallowed his ill chosen words and gave his friend an apologetic smile.  “I didn’t mean it in that way.  Nobody was happier more than me when we found Ry’ac and Bra’tac, well, except you of course.”

“This is what I have warned you against,” Geras broke in.  “Regaining your memory without the learning can be harmful.  The writings of the Atlerius foretell of the physical consequences of such an act.”

“He could be right, sir.  The Asgard had to remove the knowledge from your mind before it killed you.”

“I don’t need reminding of that, Carter.”

“Yes, sir, but we never really considered what might happen if Daniel ever recovered more of his ascended memory.”

“Carter, you’re preaching to the converted here.  I’m all for Daniel giving us a rather full and detailed debriefing of his glow-gone days, but this all seems just a little too convenient to me.  We walk into a village on some planet that the SGC computer randomly spat out, and the answer to all of Daniel’s prayers are laid out for him?  Am I the only one who thinks this is a little too easy?”

Daniel snorted, catching Jack’s attention.  “What?” he quipped.

“Oh,” Daniel drew in his lips, trying to smother a smile, “it’s just that I seem to remember most things happening to us were the result of stepping out onto some randomly chosen planet.  This really doesn’t seem any different.”

“Forgive me for trying to practice some caution here.  I know it’s been a while since I actually wore the word Colonel on my jacket.”  Jack ran a hand down his face, feeling the scratch of a five-o-clock shadow on his chin, and heaved a sigh of defeat.  Flicking a tired gaze at Daniel who was looking at him over the rim of his glasses, he nodded away his nagging concerns and gave up the argument.  “So help me, Daniel, if this goes wrong I’m going to tie you ass to a chair and make you ride a desk for the rest of your career.  Capeesh?”  Jack didn’t mean it, but he took some pride at having voiced his concerns and metered out some unlikely reprimand.

Daniel capeeshed with a goofy grin that matched Geras’ equally pleased expression.  Shouldering packs, slinging weapons, SG-1 set off towards the town square and a little building that had been used for the millennia old tradition of the leaning.

It was to be the last time the rest of SG-1 saw their archaeologist until Geras deposited a wriggling, screaming child in Sam’s arms.

Hell in a hand basket.

“Colonel!”  Doctor Janet Fraiser, the diminutive Chief Medical Officer of Stargate Command, looked up at Jack and the swaddled bundle resting snugly in his arms, and smiled warmly.  Jack on the other hand, cringed inwardly as he’d done many a time during these ritual visits to the infirmary with Daniel.  It wasn’t Fraiser he was dreading, it wasn’t even her constant need to do just one more test—which inevitably lead to about a dozen more—no, it was the nursing staff.  Male and female alike, they had taken to this latest incarnation of their favourite archaeologist with all the ooh-ing and ahh-ing they could muster.

Scribbling notes on a patient’s records and handing it over to a waiting nurse, Janet pocketed her pen and waved Jack over towards the waiting crib.

“I think you know the routine, Colonel,” she said as she reached to pull aside the blanket that slightly obscured Daniel’s face.  “He looks so peaceful.”

Jack harrumphed as he settled Daniel into the crib and loosened the wrappings just a fraction.  “Kids’ got the lungs of a mastage! You obviously didn’t hear him about an hour ago.”

“Hungry?”  she asked and then turned to Daniel who slept on, oblivious to all the attention.  “He’s a growing boy, Colonel.  I’m sure you remember this from Charlie’s first year.”

Jack flinched at the mention of his dead son but didn’t bother to comment.  The topic of Charlie and his own ability to parent again had been brought up briefly in a private conversation between himself, General Hammond and Janet.  Jack had been resistant at first, acceding that the attention Daniel would get in the infirmary from the bevy of ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’ among the nursing staff would be more than enough, but Janet didn’t agree.

Her preliminary assessment of Daniel’s age put him at about three months, physically, but it hadn’t taken long before that estimation warranted a second opinion.  After their harried return through the gate from PL6-121, and an even hastier explanation to a visibly stunned General Hammond, Jack had been left to explain Daniel’s small problem to an equally bemused Janet Fraiser.

The standard questions were asked as Janet’s medical team swung into action trying to settle a now hysterical baby who had worked his arms free from the blanket and was waving them about in a show of dissatisfaction.  Daniel’s pitiful wails could be heard clear around the infirmary, and Jack took a large step back at the suggestion that he try to calm him while the staff attempted to find a blood pressure cuff small enough for an infant.

“Colonel!” Janet had pleaded, picking Daniel up and holding him against her shoulder, shushing and swaying while patting his bulkily clad bottom.  “If you wouldn’t mind taking him for me?”

Jack searched for a quick escape in the form of the rest of his team only to find them both in the middle of their post-mission medicals.  Traitors! Throwing his hands up in front of his face like a barrier, Jack explained that he didn’t do babies.  Truth be told, the whole situation was just too far out for him to comprehend and the thought of holding someone who had been a full grown adult only a matter of hours ago, was beyond his ability to fathom.

So, Jack had withdrawn.  He’d gone through his own post-mission check-up and used the excuse of a pending debrief to quietly exit from the infirmary, leaving Daniel in Janet’s capable hands.

The debrief had gone about as well as Jack had expected… pretty badly.  Hammond wanted answers to the same questions the rest of SG-1 had and the suggestion of a return visit to PL6-121 had been tabled.  Despite knowing a return to the village was the only pro-active choice they had, Jack was sure Geras wouldn’t give up any more information than he’d already provided.  Which admittedly wasn’t much.  Not so much vague in his offerings, but it was clear the town leader was unswerving in his faith that the Alterius did everything with reason, and that the learning had been a necessary process Daniel was supposed to undertake.

Jack was kicking himself, berating his piss poor judgement in the blinding belief that everything Daniel thought was a good idea was probably worth the effort of going through with.  Palming his eyes, head resting in his hands, he’d let the rest of the briefing wash over him as he tried to reconcile his thoughts.  He was conflicted, this much he knew.  He and Daniel had argued in the last year or so before he’d ascended and much of those heated discussions had been borne out of increasing pressure being placed on the SGC by the Pentagon for results.  The request was kidding no-one, least of all Jack.  He’d played in the political arena for long enough now to know that “results” actually meant defensive or offensive weaponry—they weren’t fussy.  Nope, the Pentagon wanted results and Jack was loathed to tell his archaeologist that cultural imperatives were being pushed aside for military ones.  Somewhere in his cowardly mind, it had become easier to argue with Daniel than it had been to defend the primary mandate of the SGC.

The briefing had droned on until Jack noticed a new voice amongst the melee and he looked up to find Janet Fraiser seated across from him.

“Well, he’s very unsettled,” Janet’s gaze settled on Jack for a moment before addressing everyone at the table.  “I’d like to call in a pediatrician if you don’t mind, sir.”

Jack rubbed a hand across his chin, sliding it up his face so he could scrub it through his short hair.  Stuck in his own thoughts, he’d obviously missed the start of her report on Daniel.  Mentally kicking himself, he blinked away his own weariness to tune in to her words.

“We’ve managed to get a blood sample and the preliminary results suggest that this is Doctor Jackson—”

“You had doubts, Janet?”  Sam asked.

“It’s standard procedure, although there’s nothing standard about this situation,” Janet conceded with a wry smile.  “We followed the same protocols we used when the Colonel was cloned and when Doctor Jackson handled the Ancient crystal.  As I was saying, the initial results point towards this being Daniel but we won’t know for sure until the DNA results are in.”

“Oh, you can be sure this is Daniel,” Jack offered strumming his fingers on the table top.

“You did a thorough search of the village before you left, Colonel?”  Hammond swivelled his chair in Jack’s direction and rested his laced hands on his belly.  “We know from experience there are several races out there that aren’t beyond using children for their own purposes.”

Janet tapped a finger on the medical file in front of her. “We did check him out for any biological booby-trap, sir, but he was clean.”

“No hidden bombs in his teeth?”  Jack added testily.

“He’s three months old, Colonel.  No teeth.”

Jack flinched and dropped his eyes to the table.  “Right.  No teeth.”

Teal’c, whose silence was almost customary at briefings unless he was called upon, lifted his downcast gaze to Hammond. “Geras was adamant that this child was Daniel Jackson.  I see no reason for us to assume otherwise.”

“And you believe this Mr. Geras?”

“It is not a matter of belief, General Hammond.  I simply do not see what advantage Geras seeks to attain with his actions other than what he has told us. It is entirely probably that he was carrying out the wishes of the Ancients.”

“With this learning ritual?”

“Correct.”

“And we don’t know what happened to Doctor Jackson once he was taken for this ritual?  I assume there’s a good reason why you or a member of your team didn’t go with him, Colonel.”

And there was the clincher.  “We weren’t allowed to, sir.”  It was the truth, although as the words slipped from Jack’s mouth, he winced at how hollow his excuse sounded.  He should have tried harder to stay with Daniel, but as they reached the small building set aside for the learning, Geras had blocked his path.

“None may enter save the Alterius,” Geras had explained, placing a hand on Jack’s chest.  “We are but the keepers, the custodians, and those who bear witness to the learning.  What goes on beyond these doors is not for our eyes until the learning is complete.”

One look from Daniel was all it had taken to put paid to any further discussion.  Jack had seen the fire in his younger teammate’s eyes, the deep desire to recapture a part of his life that was he thought was permanently lost.  A forced step back away from the door and a quick nod of reluctant acceptance, and all Jack could do was wish Daniel good luck.

“This learning thing,” Jack idly batted a hand in the air as though he was swatting a bug, “we weren’t allowed to watch, sir.  Daniel walked in alone and the door was closed.  I couldn’t even see past him.”

“How long was he in there?” George asked.

“Half an hour, perhaps a little longer.”

“And what did your team do in the meantime, Colonel?”

Jack sat up and rolled his shoulders, not daring to look at the other seated around the table.  “Nothing, sir.  Geras and some of the other villagers took us to another building to wait it out for Daniel.”

“We were left alone, General Hammond,” Teal’c added.  “Geras was most insistant that we remain in the room and be ready to assist Daniel Jackson when the learning was complete.”

“Assist?” Janet looked up from her briefing folder.  “Assist in what way?”

“Geras did not elaborate.”

“We weren’t given any reason to believed he’d be harmed in anyway, if that’s what you’re asking, Janet,” Sam said.  “If anything, I got the feeling the villagers revered him in some way.”

“Like a god,” Jack muttered under his breath.

Hammond whipped his head towards Jack.  “Colonel?”

“I said,” Jack continued flately, “they revered him like a god.  Their whole attitude towards these Alterius was one of religious reverence.  Geras pretty much said so himself when he mentioned living by their word.  As far out as it sounds, these people worship the Ancients.”

“Actually, sir.  That may not be as ‘far out’ as you think it is.  Religion is a mindset based on the individuals life experiences through belief in the existance of a higher being or diety.” Sam steepled her fingers in thought, tapping them against her chin.  “We don’t yet know whether descension is done purely as a form of punishment or by concious choice, but perhaps there is a flaw in the process that doesn’t allow for the descendee to retain the knowledge that ascension affords them.”

“No,” Janet said with a shake of her head, “We already know from Colonel O’Neill’s experiences that the human mind can’t handle that much information.  It starts to take over incremntally and builds to a point where the mind invariably shuts down.  It seems to me that the Ancients got it right by descending someone without all that knowledge.”

“A human someone,” Jack muttered, and then noticing a wide spread look of puzzlement from around the table, added,  “Daniel theorized that the Alterius who descended without their memories intact were mostly likely humans that had been helped along the path to ascension by an Ancient.”

“He also said he wasn’t sure though, sir,” Sam added.  “We really don’t know enough about the Ancients to make any assumptions on their motives.”

Janet turned her chair towards Carter.  “True enough, Sam, but if Daniel was right, then it does show that the Ancients at least knew that descending a lesser evolved human with those memories could be harmful, and not just in a physical sense.”

“Uh, huh. Having access to such knowledge would be a powerful catalyst for anyone seeking to gain a food hold in the galaxy.  It makes sense to descend them without those memories whatever the reason might be.  However, it doesn’t explain why they would then be put through the learning.”

“Indeed it does,” Teal’c interjected, turning to look at Janet Fraiser.  “Is it not true that the mind of an infant is more adaptable at processing a greater volume of information then that of an adult?”

Janet nodded minimally.  “Yonger brains do have the ability to process and retain larger volumes of information than older ones do.  It’s one of the reasons children pick up languages quicker than adults… amongst other things.  Even so,” she strummed her finger on the table top, lips thinning into a disbelieving grimace, “I don’t think even a newborn’s mind would be able to cope with the amount of information we’re looking at here.  It might take a little longer, but eventually, the child would suffer the same fate that the Colonel almost did.  If it wasn’t for the Asgard, I don’t think he would have…”

Teal’c wasn’t convinced and arched an eyebrow in response.  “Surely something the Ancients would have known when they put in place that which Daniel Jackson was given.”

“The learning?”  Jack’s head bobbed in surprise.  “You mean the learning, right?”

“You could be on to something there, Teal’c,” Sam said, “It’s possible that what has happened to Daniel was meant to happen.  That the process of the learning is a two fold event that requires the descended Alterius to not only regain their memories, but do it over a period of time so the physical effect is minimalized.  Something in the act of reverting him back to a child—”

“Baby,” Jack interjected in a dour tone.

“Right, sir… a baby.  Something in act of reverting him back to a child could also be allowing him to incrimentally regain his ascended knowledge.”

Jack dropped his head to the table top and banged it a few times for good measure before mumbling, “Does anyone else here thing that this is all a little far fetched?  Way out?  Far out?”

“Not in comparison to some of the other things I’ve seen while sitting in this chair, Jack.”  The general’s voice was hushed, almost fatherly in response, and when Jack finally lifted his head from the table he saw nothing but sympathy reflected in his gaze.

He’d tried to make sense of the briefing; of the bevy of opinions and theories that had been bandied around the table in the hopes of coming up with a solution to the problem.  Carter, while admitting there was no way to be sure that their assumptions were correct, had come up with the most likely scenario: Daniel was who he needed to be if he was ever going to recover his ascended memories.

Jack wasn’t sure it had been worth the effort though.  He’d argued the point to the best of his admittedly limited understanding, and put forward his own theory that waiting for Daniel to grow up to the point of being able to share what he’d learned, was going to be a very long time.  Given that they were learning more and more about the Ancients as time passed, it seemed to Jack that by the time Daniel revealed all, they probably would have learned all there was to know on the subject from their travels through the Stargate.

From his perspective it was a sound argument, but as Carter had gone on to point out—the learning wasn’t intended to act as a long term debriefing, but to prepare Daniel for re-ascension.  Either way he looked at it, Jack wasn’t happy.

And neither was Daniel.

Whether it was the chill of the infirmary after being wrapped securly in a warm blanket, or just a general grumble at the world because he was small and screaming was his only means of communication, Daniel Jackson suddenly had a lot to say.

Dragged back to reality by an ear piercing wail, Jack looked down at the quivvering bundle in the crib and his heart skipped a beat.  Little face screwed up tight, eyes closed shut against the world, Daniel sucked in a deep breath and voiced his opinion… loudly.

“You can’t possibly be hungry again, tyke,” Jack harrumphed, reaching into the crib to pick Daniel up.  Holding him to his shoulder, he cradled the back of his head with one hand and rubbed his back with the other.  After a few moments, intersperesed with the odd sob and body shuddering hiccup, Daniel’s cries finally reduced to a sniffle.

“You’re good with him, Colonel,” Janet said softly, draping a blanket over Daniel and tucking in it around his little feet.  “A natural, I’d say.”

“Yeah, well…”  Jack searched for a chair and spotting one on the other side of the crib, settled himself down.  “Daniel and I have come to a little understanding ove the last day.”

“Really? Do tell.”

“Oh, its no big deal. He promised not to burst my eardrums and set off sensors around the base with his lung excercises and I’ll put a shot of coffee in his morning bottle.”

“Colonel!”

Jack laughed lightly, Daniel’s head shifting on his shoulder, his little legs moving restlessly under the blanket.  “Shhh,” he soothed, tugging the blanket up high.  “Don’t worry about it, doc.  It’s not like Daniel here has lived up to his end of the bargain anyway.”

“Yes, I’m sure he’ll pass a lung capacity test with flying colors.”

Janet dragged another chair over and sat down facing him, sneaking her hand-warmed stethascope under the blanket and positioning it on Daniel’s chest.  As she listened, a small smile tugged at her lips and she hmm’d with satisfaction as she drew the implimet away and let it fall around her neck.  “He sounds great, sir, you’re doing a great job.”

“Am I?”  Jack wasn’t so sure.  His initial reluctance to have anything to do with Daniel’s care had been short lived.  Somewhere between the end of the mission debrief and the short jaunt to the locker room, something inside him snapped, burst open.  He couldn’t admit it to anyone, not even himself, but his ability to love again—something that he’d buried with Charlie—had been unlocked with Daniel’s first cry.

Heavy legs had carried him back to the infirmanry and straight up to make-shift crib the nursery staff had cobbled together until a real one could be brought in.  Whether to laugh or cry was the only thing on his mind at that point as he looked down on Daniel, wrapped and laying on his side, a pillow behind his back while a nurse looked on.  Leads snaked out from the blanket and up to a monitor set as far back against the rear wall as it would go.  The sight seemed surreal, and if he hadn’t known who he was looking at, it would have been easy to dissasociate himself from the picture.

Moving around the side of the bed, Jack snagged a chair with his toe and sank himself into it, just close enough to poke his hand through the bed rails and caress the small hand that had escaped its blanket coccoon.  Quitely, as though sensing the colonel wanted to be alone, the nurse tabled her folder and stepped away, drawing the curtain around the bed as she left.

Jack rested his elbow on his knee and his head in his hand, and pinching the bridge of his nose, tried to center his thoughts.  Weariness washed over him like a winter deluge, and feeling his mind starting to wander and vision greying ever so slightly, he sat himself up quickly to push away his fatigue.

Only to find himself looking into the most beautiful pair of tiny blue eyes…

“Colonel?”

“Crap,” Jack whispered as he dragged himself back to the present and the bundle of warmth and contentment still cradled on his shoulder.  He could feel Daniel’s breath puffing against his neck, and turning his head to the side, he saw he was still fast asleep, a trail of drool oozing from his lips.

“Sorry, doc, I must have wandered off there.”

Janet smiled warmly at him.  “You really are doing a great job with him, sir.”

“We’re a team, doc.”

“No-one gets left behind?”

“No,” he said quietly, “not on my watch.”

“Listen, Jack.”

The use of his first name suddenly changed the tone of the conversation, and a flicker of fear danced in his chest.  “What’s wrong?  Is he-?”

Janet flashed up her hands, palms out. “No. No, really, Daniel is a very healthy three month old.  I haven’t gotten all of his test results back yet but I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.  I just wanted to be sure that you know what you’re letting yourself in for here, that’s all.”

“As in?”

“As in taking on Daniel’s care.  You were very reluctant at first—”

“Things change.”

“Yes, they do, but I’d like to know why.”

Daniel shuddered on Jack’s shoulder, his breath hitching for a moment before he let out a contented sigh.

“Dreamin’ huh?” Jack could just make out his face from the corner of his eye.  “Hope it’s a good one.”

“Sir.”

The conversation was inevitable, and not something Jack had been looking forward to.  His initial reaction to Daniel when they’d returned for PL6-121 hadn’t gone unnoticed by Fraiser or her staff and his sudden change of heart had obiviously given her pause to question his motives.  Jack couldn’t blame her though.  The situation was unique, the circumstances complicated and involved, but most importantly, there was the welfare of a person at stake, and Jack’s track record in the child raising department wasn’t that bright.

“Would you believe me if I said I don’t really have a reason?”

Janet threw him a sceptical look, one brow arched high on her head.  “Not really, sir.”

“Then the truth is… he’s my responsibility.”

“So, you’re doing this out of a misguided sense of loyalty, is that it?”

“No,” Jack whispered.  “I’m doing this because he’s my friend.  Look, I don’t have the nouse that Carter has for coming up with crazy solutions to even crazier problems, and I certainly don’t have Teal’c's depth of understanding and ability to see the bigger picture.  All I have is me, and strangely enough, I think that’s all Daniel needs right now.  Does that make any sense?”

“Oddly, yes.”

“It does?”

“Colonel, your physical ability to parent was never in question, but I’ll admit to having had some reservations about your mental state of mind considering the unique circumstances we find ourselves in.”

“And I’m bettin’ my son factors into this somewhere as well.”  Jack was no fool.  He knew the moment he stood in front of Hammond and Fraiser and demanded care of Daniel that the issue of Charlie’s death would be plucked from the shadow of his past.  He’d long reconciled himself with the events of that dark day and the part he’d unwittingly played in it, and with time he’d let his guilt go as well.

“No one is playing the blame game here, sir.  We’ve already discussed this and you know my feelings on the subject.  I just need to be absolutely sure you know that once you fully committ to taking on Daniel’s care, well, its going to be difficult to pull out if you change your mind.  It’s already evident from the few days you’ve spent together on base, that a bond has formed.  Daniel is more at ease with you, more content in your company than anyone elses.  If you’re having any doubts at all, now is the time to table them or back out before the damage is done.”

He had enough doubts to sink the US Navy, but none he was willing to voice.  Daniel needed stability, he needed a home, and he needed someone who knew the man he would someday become.

“No, Doc.  No doubts at all.”

“Not a chance.”

“But, sir-,”

“Aht!” Jack held up a hand to forestall Carter from any further embarrassment.  “He’s three months old, Carter.”

Daniel, just fed, burped, and changed, was wrapped in a blue and white striped baby blanket and nestled in Sam Carter’s arms, blissfully unaware of the debate raging over his wardrobe choices.

Fatherhood the second time around had give Jack a renewed appreciation for exactly what Sara must have gone through with Charlie.  Jack had missed those first early months.  Allowed home from a pre-deployment training mission for his sons’ birth, he’d only been given a few days to count fingers and toes and fawn over the tiny miracle they’d created before shipping out on rotation to the Persian Gulf.  It hadn’t been nearly enough time.  Sara’s tears, mixed with Charlie’s small pathetic cries, had been the last thing Jack heard as the cab pulled away from the curb and stole him from his new family for the two years.  It was a bitter moment.  The picture he carried in the top pocket of his dress blues was a poor replacement for being actively involved in his son’s upbringing, but he’d been left choiceless.

There had never been the ‘right’ time to start a family.  Jack’s career being what it was, had taken away any true stability in his and Sara’s life, and despite arguing that they should hold off for a few more years, mother nature had stepped in and taken that choice away.  Their timing woefully bad, Jack had balled up his anger tight inside only to have it roll away the moment he held Charlie for the first time.

Their happiness was tragically short lived.

Jack had a new life to care for now, the strangest of circumstances having delivered to him the most surprising opportunity.  In a quiet moment while Daniel was asleep in his crib, Jack had pondered the physical logistics of mass versus size and what exactly had happened in that tiny room back on PL6-121.  Honestly, how was Daniel turned from a six foot tall, one eighty pound adult, into a… how big was he again?  He’d have to look at Daniel’s medical records at his next check-up.

So while Jack now spent his days divided between his two jobs—full time father and full time career officer, his 2IC had been spending her off hours debating Daniel’s wardrobe.  Apparently, all the best dressed downsized archaeologists were wearing tiny battle dress uniforms these days.

“You have to admit he’d look cute, sir.”

Jack held the tiny uniform up and turned it from side to side, an action that seemed to spark hope in Carter’s eyes, which he quickly doused when it was obvious he was more interested in the coat hanger.

“They make them this small?”

“Ah, well… yes,” Carter stammered, a puzzled frown creasing her brow.  “Everyone wears clothes, sir, it’s not a new fashion trend just for the grown-ups.”

“Har-har.  I was talking about the hanger.  I can’t believe there’s a whole industry out there devoted to making small hangers for small clothes.”

Carter sighed.  “You’re not taking this seriously at all.”

“Nope,” Jack confirmed with a smile.  “No kid of mine is going to be seen dead in desert cammo BDU’s.  Not while I’m around to make the decisions.”

“Well, hearts are gonna break.”

“And why would that be?”

“Daniel always did look good in desert cam.”

Jack tossed the clothes back into the box of other rejected fashion disasters, and shook his head in disbelief.  “It was one of Fraiser’s nurses, wasn’t it?”

“Sir?”

“Who put you up to this?” He waved toward the box of clothes.  “BDU’s, a sailor suit, a lion suit?  Carter?  Who dresses their kid in this stuff?  Whatever happened to sensible pants and a shirt?”

“He’s a baby.  They do cute clothes really well.”

“Give me Daniel,” Jack held his hands out to Carter, waggling his fingers in a ‘hand it over’ manner.  “You can take all this back and get him something more appropriate and preferably something that doesn’t require a how-to manual to put on.”

Favoring Jack with a look of disappointment, Sam carefully stood and slid Daniel into Jack’s waiting arms, brushing a finger over his pink cheek as she pulled away.  Daniel acknowledged the transition with a fluttering of his eyes and puckering of his lips, his chin dimpling for a moment before he relaxed back into sleep.

“He is cute, sir.”

“Don’t you have a mission to prepare for, Carter?”

Grappling with the box of clothes, Carter shrugged and turned to leave before looking back over her shoulder.  “It’s not too late to come with us, sir.  Janet could watch Daniel till we return.  I do think Geras will respond to your questioning more than ours.”

No.  Jack had already made up his mind on the proposed mission back to 121 and decided to leave the questioning to Carter and Teal’c who were taking SG-7 as back-up.  His decision to become Daniel’s primary care-giver was one he hadn’t taken lightly, and as part of his new responsibilities, Jack had taken himself out of off-world duties for the time being.  SG-1 was now down two members in stead of one, and while he was acutely aware of what that had done to the dynamics of the team, he knew he had made the right decision.

“You’ll do fine, Carter.”

“I’m sorry, sir.  It just won’t be the same.”

“Nothing is, but it has to be this way.  I know you and Teal’c both understand.”  Lowering his voice, watching as Daniel smacked his lips and wriggled in his blanket, he added, “I couldn’t live with myself if…”

“We’ll be fine, sir,” Sam added, her gaze softening.  “You just take care of Daniel.”

“I’ll do that, major.”

“You have returned?”  The look of surprise on Geras’ face didn’t quite match the sting of suspicion in his tone, and Teal’c eyed the man with carefully concealed distain.  “Is there a problem with the Alterius?”

Although the teams had exited Pl6-121 during this side of the planet’s afternoon, the small village was strangely quiet.  Streets that had been alive with life only a few days ago, were, aside from the occasional person moving from one house to another, mostly vacant.  There were no vendors selling their wares, nothing at all that resembled the hustle and bustle of the thriving community that had greeted them previously.  Tightening his grip on his staff weapon, Teal’c slid his gaze over to Major Carter who looked similarly apprehensive.  Behind them, the members of SG-7 had spread themselves out into a protective semi-circle.

Teal’c stepped forward and bowed slightly at the waist, his gaze held firm on Geras.  “Daniel Jackson is faring well, but we have many questions that require answers.”

“Questions?” Geras’ mouth twitched with a threatened wince.  “Of what do you require answers?  The learning has been completed and your Alterius has begun his journey, there is nothing more to be discussed.”

Sam stepped forward, her hand resting lightly on the top of her P-90, “I’m sure to you, this is very cut and dry… straightforward, but the leaders and healers of my world have asked us to return to you in the hopes you can address some of our concerns.”

Geras’ shoulders slumped in a show of silent resignation and he gestured for Sam and Teal’c to follow him.  “Please,” he said as he guided them through the village square and up to a tall white free-standing building.  “You must understand that you are the first to accompany an Alterius on his learning and as such, we have never had to defend the ritual to anyone.”

“We are?”  Sam asked.

“Yes.  As I told Daniel Jackson, all previous Alterius have been sent directly to us from the astral planes.  This was why your arrival caused such a commotion in the village.”  Pausing to open a heavy wooden door, Geras ushered them inside.  “My home is your home,” he said, spreading his arms wide to encompass the entire room.  “We live a Spartan life as dictated by the teaching of the Alterius, but we do not go without.  Please, if you would sit?”

The room was massive.  Large wooden beams crisscrossed the ceiling like a lattice frame.  The walls were washed in a white paint that only served to accentuate the beams and give the room a bright feel.  A large round table sat in the center of the room, its legs adorned with carvings of what looked like angels, staring out at them.

“We use this room for our village meetings on the rare occasions there are decisions to be made requiring a quorum of consensus,” Geras offered as he pulled out a chair and waited for the rest of the team to take their places.

Off to one side and to the rear of the room, Teal’c spotted a narrow spiral staircase ascending into darkness.  “What purpose does this building serve beyond your village meetings?”

“The village archives are stored here as are other important documents and artifacts from our past,” Geras obliged as he sank down into his chair.  “Despite Angelus Gens being a city with a very long history, we do not have a very colorful one.  Ours has always been and will remain so, a clan in service to the Alterius and their varying needs.  As such, our archives are quite small.”

Most of SG-7 had remained outside the building while only their linguist, Captain Elise Cerra had joined SG-1 at the table.  Sucking in her bottom lip, the captain dug a notebook and pen from one of her vest pockets and started making notes.  “Angelus Gens,” she said, scrawling it across the top of the page and underlining it heavily, “meaning… City of Angels?”

“If that is your interpretation of the words, yes,” Geras replied.  “We call ourselves the Angelus because that is what the Alterius refer to us as.”

“About that,” Sam paused and rested her P-90 across her lap as she sat.  “Exactly how often to you communicate with the Alterius, and how is it done?  You have some sort of device you use?”

“I don’t quite follow you, Major.”

“It’s easy.  If you needed to talk to the Alterius, how do you do it?”

“We have never needed to talk to the Alterius, it isn’t their way,” he stated matter-of-factly.  “All that we need to know is written in the archives they left for us.  We have followed their teachings and instructions from the very beginning of our history.”

“Is it possible for us to look at your archives, Mr Geras?” Cerra asked.  “It could help us to understand what happened to Dr. Jackson.”

“You are unhappy with your Alterius?”  Geras appeared confused with the request.  “His learning went as expected.  I am unsure what looking through our archives would achieve.  Besides which, the writings of the Alterius are sacred to our people and only those directly involved with the learning are permitted to pass that ability on to their apprentices. It is a cycle that has been repeated for millennia.”

Head down, Cerra hastily scribbled a line of Ancient script on her notepad and slid it across the table to Geras.  “Is this what you mean?”

Geras picked up the pad and promptly dropped it like a hot rock.  “What trickery is this?” he exclaimed, pushing away from the table.  “None bar the Angelus have ever been permitted to learn the writings and those that descend from the planes left that ability behind.”

“Relax, Geras.”  Sam retrieved the notepad and handed it back to Cerra.  “Captain Cerra here is one of a handful of my people who can read, write and speak the language of the Alterius.”

“Dr. Jackson is the head of our linguistics department among other things, and is the person responsible for teaching us this language.” Cerra added quickly, “It was the one thing he retained from his time as an ascended being.”

“Impossible,” Geras huffed.  “All descended Alterius are returned without the knowledge.”

“As you have already noted, Gera, Daniel Jackson was not returned to this village when he descended,” Teal’c added, “It is quite possible the Ancients did this deliberately and his ability to comprehend their language was part of their purpose.”

“For what reason? Bah!” Geras stood and rested his hands on his hips, staring down his nose at Teal’c.  “This is foolish.  The Alterius demand that all go through the learning and in this we have succeeded.  I don’t know what reason they had to return your comrade outside of Angelus Gens, but his learning has been enacted and we are finished here.  Like all Alterius, he will return to the fold when his learning is complete.”

“Geras, please sit,” Sam waved to the chair.  “We really need to work this out and you’re our only source of information.  Whatever reason the Alterius had for descending Daniel on another planet are irrelevant.”

Holding her gaze for a moment, Geras shrugged lightly and sank back down in his chair.  “I will answer your questions to the best of my ability and within the teaching of the Alterius, but that is all I can do.  Then… you must leave.  The village is in their mediation cycle and your arrival here is a disruption.”

“So, that’s where everyone is,” Cerra noted.  “The whole village meditates?  Even the children?”

“The teachings of the Alterius tell us that to meditate is to open the window to the soul which will lead us down the path to enlightenment.”

“Sounds like Oma,” Sam muttered dryly.

Geras either chose to ignore her or didn’t hear.  “The entire village enters into meditation, none are exempt.”

“Then we will endeavor to be brief,” Teal’c said, equally dryly.

“The question we’d most like answered is why Daniel was returned to us as an infant,” Sam asked as she watched Cerra flip to a new page on her notebook, her other hand discretely thumbing the on switch of an audio recorder she had concealed in her palm.  “Our healer has put forward a compelling theory but we’d like to hear what you have to say.”

Geras tipped his head to one side and shrugged as though the answer should have been obvious.  “The learning will not work if the Alterius remains an adult.  It is that simple.”

“That’s it?” Cerra dropped her pen and stared out at Geras from under her fringe.  “Is there are cultural or physical reason for reverting someone in this manner?  I mean, surely the Alterius have given you some reason as to why they do this?”

“The teachings tell us the Alterius can only relearn what they have forgotten in small stages and that the mind needs to be in a pliable state for the learning to work.  Every Alterius that has undertaken the learning has been… what was your word?”

“Reverted,” Sam offered.  “Made young again.”

“Yes, reverted.  I must remember that word.”

“You call it something different?”

“We call it the learning.  It is a lesson as much as it is a process.”

“What of the other Alterius?” Teal’c asked.  “Those who have descended here and undertaken the learning.”

“Ah,” Geras smiled. “They are raised by families in the village until their learning is complete.  At the moment there is only one Alterius child living here.  He was descended to us many cycles ago and undertook the learning immediately.”

“Is it possible to see him?” Cerra asked, looking up from her notepad.  “I’m curious, from a purely scientific point of view of course.”

“I am sorry, but there are so few descended Alterius and we guard their privacy out of respect as much as reverence.  Had you not accompanied Daniel Jackson to his learning we would have taken him to raise as our own… in fact, there are many in the village who were most vocal about the decision to let him leave.”

“Any attempt at stopping us would have failed,” Teal’c said darkly, earning himself a look of defiance from Geras.

“Ah,” Sam interrupted, “What he means is we don’t leave our people behind.  It’s a cultural thing.  I am curious though.  How do you know when the learning has been completed?  Does the Alterius ascend again?”

“All Alterius ascend again, they have no choice.  We are told the Alterius descend for many reasons, some of which are personal.  When one reaches the end of their learning, they are returned to the astral planes to rejoin their kind.  Some of the Alterius have chosen to spend their learning days in the safety of a cloister not far from Angelus Gens.  Many of our villagers live in the cloister as well, all seeking enlightenment.  Others, once they are of an age of independence, prefer to travel through the Astaria to other worlds. What happens after they leave Angelus is a mystery, but I can only assume they too return to the planes when their time comes.”

“What of their ascended knowledge?”  Cerra abandoned her notebook and rested her hands on the table in front of her, the audio device tucked behind a thumb and out of sight of Geras.  “If the learning is intended to unlock their ascended memories in increments, what becomes of that knowledge?  We know from experience that the Ancients… the Alterius, were the keepers of great repositories of knowledge.  Surely as a descended Alterius slowly regains their memories of ascension, there must be some curiosity from others as to what they know?  Wouldn’t it be a bit of a risk to let them through the Stargate?”

Geras smiled indifferently.  “We cannot keep them here.  It is not our place to decide the fate of an Alterius.  All we can do is what we already do—offer them sanctuary until they are ready to ascend again.  The Alterius give their kind to us for safe keeping for a reason.  I do not know what that is, but we respect their wishes as the caretakers of their learning.  Now, I have answered all that I can and must return to my meditation.  We have left Daniel Jackson in your care and entrusted you with his learning.  There is little more I can do for you.”

“Acutally,” Sam held up a hand, “there is one more thing you could do.”

“What would that be, Major?”

“You could let us look in the room the learning is held in.  We promise not to touch anything, but it would help us if we could work out the mechanics behind what happened to Daniel.  Call it satisfying scientific curiosity.”

“Impossible.”

“Impossible, because you can’t or you won’t?” Sam eyed Geras suspiciously.

“None but the Alterius may enter the learning room.  There is nothing I can do to change that.”

“You couldn’t just hold the door open and let us look from the entrance?”

Geras shook his head emphatically as he rose from his chair and crossed to the doorway.  “You don’t understand, Major.  The door to the learning will not open for anyone other than an Alterius.  We can not even enter there to clean.  The building existed before the village did, and none save the Alterius have ever entered it.”

“Curious,” Teal’c said with a quirked eyebrow.  “If the Alterius are the only people allowed access to the room then how do you recover the child when the learning is complete?”

Geras smiled widely as though remembering a fond memory.  “They are left in the waiting chamber.  A small room set apart from the learning room.  How they get there, we do not know, but the tear tells us when they are ready to be collected.”

He could do this.  No worries at all.  No a problem in the world.  Truly, how hard could it be to look after a baby?  Granted, this was no ordinary child, but really, the principals should be the same, right?  His mother had done it several times and both he and his older brother had turned out to be fairly decent human beings… or so Jack thought.  His wife had done this and she’d had to go it alone for most of Charlie’s short life.  Millions of parents around this world… and many others, had all successfully raised families and then sat back and watched as their children set out to raise their own.

It was circle of life stuff… but still, at oh-four-seventeen hours, when all cranky colonels and over-tired downsized archaeologists should be asleep, they were very much awake… and Daniel was screaming.

“Crap,” Jack cursed under his breath as he scrubbed a hand through his hair.  “One hour, Daniel… is it too much to ask for just an hour of sleep?”

Jack had deliberately placed Daniel’s crib on the opposite side of his on-base quarters.  It was a matter of safety really, and he didn’t want to take the chance of waking up from a particularly vivid nightmare and lashing at the nearest object.  Tossing the covers back, Jack slipped out of bed and tried to stretch the kinks out of his back as he padded over to Daniel.

“Kid,” he grumbled as he reached into the crib and scooped Daniel up, “you’ve certainly got a decent pair of lungs in you.  Did you give your parents this much trouble first time around, huh?”

Daniel’s body was taut against Jack, his little head bobbing on his shoulder with every wail.  Reaching up, Jack tapped his finger on Daniel’s lip and smiled as his tiny lips started to root around in anticipation of the offered meal.

“You’re kidding, right?  How can you be hungry when I only just fed you?”

Smacking his lips appreciatively, his tongue darting in and out, Daniel started to squirm in Jack’s arms, his legs kicking free of his blanket and bumping into Jack’s chest.

“Okay.” Jack reached behind Daniel with his free hand and cradled his head.  “You know the deal, buddy.  Your bottles are over there,” he nodded in the direction of a small kitchenette on the far side of the room, “and you’re over here.  I can’t warm your grub and hold you at the same time.  Tried that, remember?” Jack waited a beat for an answer.  “Well, didn’t work then and I’m not doin’ it again.  Think you can hold on for a few minutes without wasting away?”  Daniel continued to seek out Jack’s finger, his lips quivering expectantly.

Reluctantly, and acutely aware of what Daniel’s response would be, Jack lowered his infant charge back into his crib and wrapped his blanket tightly around him.  With his anticipated meal withdrawn, Daniel’s breath started to hitch, his face knotted in displeasure, and Jack had hardly taken a step away before his cries filled the small room.

“Pacifier. First thing in the morning, I’m gonna hit Fraiser up for a pacifier.”

Janet Fraiser toed off her shoes and rubbed her stockinged feet together, moaning at the simple pleasure her aching legs got from the massage after a night spent on her feet.  The infirmary was full.  One of the SG teams on a joint off-world training exercise with the Tok’ra had uncovered a long abandoned naquadah mine and taken a tumble down its access shaft.  Limping and carrying themselves back to the gate, they had spent the rest of the evening having their various limbs x-rayed and casts applied.  It had been a hectic shift.

Signing off on the last of her patients’ charts, Janet had just reclined back in her chair and loosened her tightly bound hair bun, when her office phone rang.  Catching a quick look at the clock on the wall, she frowned and picked up the receiver.

“Fraiser.”

“Doc, ya busy?”

“Colonel!  And how is my favourite little patient doing this early morning?”

Jack muttered something under his breath that Janet didn’t quite catch.  “Sorry, sir… you faded out on me there.  I couldn’t quite hear you.”

“I said,” Jack enunciated slowly, “I can’t seem to get him settled.”

“You’ve fed him?”

“Only three times in the last four hours.”

“Has he got wind?”

“He’s firing from both ends if that’s what you mean.”

Janet hummed and started rubbing her feet together under the desk again, listening to Daniel grizzling on the other end of the phone. “And you changed his diaper, right?”

“Twice.  He’s good there.  I’ve taken him for a walk, rubbed his belly and his back.  Laid with him on my chest… heck, I even gave him an early morning bath, but nothing is helping.”

“Well, sir, you’ve covered all the basics.  My guess is he’s just unsettled and there’s not a lot you can do until he sorts himself out.  Babies are like that.  Sometimes, no matter what we do for them they just seem determined to grizzle.  I’m sure he’ll wear himself out and drop off for you.”  But from the sound of Daniel’s cries in the background, Janet was sure it wouldn’t be any time soon.  “Do you want me to come down there and take him for a while?  You wouldn’t be the first parent that’s needed a little bit of respite.”

“Just some sleep would be good,” Jack mumbled.

“What was that, sir?”

“Nothing,” he sighed, “I said, we’re good.  I just wanted to make sure I’d done everything.”Janet understood the colonel’s concern.  This was a difficult phase for everyone as far as coping with Daniel’s altered physical state was concerned.  Regardless of his outward appearance and the results of the barrage of tests she’d run on him, there was always the chance something crucial had been missed, some minor test result they’d dismissed as insignificant but could actually turn out to be vital.

There were simply no standards to compare too.  Janet and her nursing staff were working blind on this case, and not being able to bring in specialists because of the security implications had made her job all that more difficult.  Her only concession: Major Darren Reeves.  Assigned to the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force hospital, Major Reeves had given up a lucrative career in Pediatrics and moved to Orthapedics—a field more useful to the military.  The Major’s career move was a blessing for Fraiser who didn’t have to tackle the General for a security clearance to have the doctor brought into the infirmary.

Daniel’s appointment had been unsatisfying short though.  While the General had backed a specialist physical exam of Daniel, he’d stopped short of allowing Major Reeves access to his service records and any documentation related to his downsizing.  The situation was awkward.  Effectually gagged, Janet had no way of directing her specific concerns to the major without raising any suspicions, but the General’s argument had carried some weight.

The NID and certain elements at Area 51 had demanded access to Daniel within days of SG-1 bringing him back to Earth from Vis Uban.  Not satisfied with Janet’s diagnosis of amnesia, both organizations put forward requests to the Pentagon to have Daniel released to them for a period of testing and debriefing.  The Colonel hadn’t taken the news very well, Daniel even less so.  His memory may have been sketchy at the time, but the man had smarts and could see trouble coming towards him at a million miles an hour.  To this day, Janet isn’t sure how General Hammond managed to keep both the NID and Area 51 away from Daniel, but she figured he’d called in some pretty heavy markers—not the least of all being the President.

The situation they found themselves in now was no different in regards to how the NID or Area 51 would react if they found out about Daniel’s altered state.  To the General’s way of thinking the less information that found its way out of the mountain, the better.  Keeping the President apprised of events at the SGC was one thing; having the factions of the NID knocking at your door was another.

When everything was considered, Janet could see why the General had refused to give any extra clearances to Major Reeves.

“If he doesn’t settle soon—” Janet quickly and pulled the receiver away from her ear as Daniel bellowed his displeasure down the phone line, followed by the sound of the Colonel trying to shush him.  The sounds brought a smile to her face, the vision of Colonel O’Neill willing a moment of peace from someone who as an adult had lived by the word, both warmed and amused her.

“Sorry about that,” Jack offered apologetically, “I think we’re both a little overtired at the moment.”“No need to be, sir.  I know I’ve told you this before, but truly, parenthood is a game of patience.  It’s going to take a period of adjustment and learning before you step into a steady routine with Daniel.”

“Yeah, I get it.  I’m gonna put him down for a while and see if he wont settle.”

“Good idea, and get some rest yourself if you can.  If you’re still having problems, bring him down to me and I’ll check him out, maybe give him some baby Tylenol just in case something else is bothering him.”

“Will do.”

Janet replaced the receiver on its cradled and strummed her fingers on her desktop.  She knew they were operating in unfamiliar territory here.  There were just too many unknowns; too many hidden variables that she had no way of anticipating.  Dragging Daniel’s file out from the pile on her desk, she flipped open the cover and pulled out his latest test results, grateful that Dr. Reeves had had the opportunity to mull over them and pronounce him healthy.  Still, there had been other tests she’d requested that Reeves wasn’t allowed access to; test that were well outside the norm for what even a specialist would request, and there was no baseline to compare them with.

Closing the file, Janet rested her head in her hands and drew in a shaky breath.  It would be easy to err on the side of caution and head down to the Colonel’s quarter, check Daniel over, and allay any niggling fears she might have.  Too easy.  But it was a routine she didn’t want to fall into.  Not only was it disruptive to Daniel, but she feared it would send out the wrong message to the Colonel; that she perhaps didn’t trust him with his care.

Was she courting trouble that wasn’t there or just far too experienced with what she’d seen through the Stargate over the years to let her doubts go.  Either or both… she didn’t know.

“I don’t know about you,” Jack paused and stuffed a pillow behind his back, “but this is really going beyond the boundaries of friendship here, Daniel.”  Definitely not the most comfortable of positions, but ever since Jack had given up on trying to settle him in his crib and shifted them both back to his bed, Daniel had been fairly quiet.  The fist shoved in his mouth and currently being gummed to death probably had a lot to do with that as well.

Jack slipped one foot under the cover, which had slid down the end of the bed, and dragged them back up, finally getting close enough to reach out with his spare hand and pull them up over his shoulders.

“You know…”  Shucking the blanket over Daniel’s small body, he turned his head just far enough to the side to catch a pair of brilliant blue eyes staring intently at him, “when you get to my age, shoving your whole hand in your mouth aint gonna win you any prizes with the ladies, so make the most of it.”

Daniel didn’t even blink, his gaze was firmly locked on Jack and after a stare-off lasting a few moments, Jack finally broke and scrunched his eyes closed tightly to moisten them.  Cracking one eye open, he found Daniel still staring at him, fist capture in his mouth, a trail of drool running down one side of his chin.

“Perfect,” he sighed, reaching to wipe away the drool with his thumb.  “Why couldn’t you save all this drooling and puking for Carter?  Or what about Teal’c?”

Jack wiped his thumb on the blanket and then ran his fingers through Daniel’s fine downy blond hair, surprising himself when his little charge smiled back at him from around his fist.

“There it is,” he praised softly, trailing his hand down to Daniel’s cheek and tweaking it softly, “You just can’t resist that O’Neill charm, that’s it isn’t it?”

The smile was magical and matched only by the slow blink of tired eyes that finally fluttered closed after struggling to stay awake for so long.  Jack knew he should really put Daniel back in his crib and try and get some rest himself, but the little puffs of warm breath on his neck and the dead weight on his shoulder were somehow comforting.

As Daniel’s face twitched in sleep, eyes roaming restlessly under their lids before finally stilling, Jack slowly slid them both down the wall until he was lying propped up by pillows.  He’d done this with Charlie when he was younger.  Just the two of them asleep in the ‘big bed’ as Charlie called it.  It was different then though, his son was several years older than Daniel, but the sense of connection was familiar to Jack.  Flooded with an overwhelming sense of love for the tiny child sleeping on his chest, Jack recognized his initial reluctance to care for Daniel as defense against the loss he’d felt when Charlie died.  He never wanted to be in that position again, but somehow, and certainly not by design or in the conventional manner; he’had been given another chance at parenthood.

“Sweet dreams, Daniel.”

Jack slid into his chair at the briefing room table to the slightly astonished looks of his teammates.  “Hey, kids,” he smiled mischievously, “did ya’ miss me?”

“Your presence on our return to Angelus Gens was noted, O’Neill,” Teal’c placated.

Jack raised one eyebrow appreciatively, and muttered, “Thank you, Teal’c.  Not quite what I meant.”

“Colonel,” Hammond shifted in his chair at the head of the table, “you weren’t expected at this meeting.”

“Got nowhere else to be, General.  Daniel is being fawned and pawed over by Fraiser’s nurses so I thought I’d see what souvenirs my team came back with.”

Teal’c frowned.  “I was unaware a keepsake of our mission was required.”

“It’s a joke, Teal’c,” Jack replied flatly, a mirthful twinkle in his eye.  “So, you all came back in one piece, always a good thing.  Tell me what old Geras had to say?  Anything helpful?”

Sam winced and slid a copy of her carefully prepared briefing report across the table to him.  “We apparently arrived during their period of meditation which didn’t sit well with the villagers, but Geras was happy to hear us out on the proviso we left straight afterwards.”

“And?” Jack prompted.

“And… not much really, sir.  Whatever the learning is, its function is to downsize the Alterius to allow their mind to develop to a point that it can hold the ascended memories without any physical or mental harm.  These children are raised by members of the village until such time as they are able to look after themselves.  According to Geras, it’s all fairly cut and dried.”

“What about this room they use for the learning.  Any chance to take a look?”

“None.  Not even the villagers have access to it, but Geras did mention something that was very curious.  Teal’c asked him how they retrieved the Alterius child when the learning was complete if they couldn’t enter the building.”

Jack shrugged. “A good question.”

“Well, Geras said there was another room near the learning room and that the tear told him when the child was ready.”

“Tear?”  Jack rested his elbows on the table, palmed his eyes, and muttered sourly, “This is going to end badly isn’t it?”

“Well, it certainly piqued my curiosity.  Something else of interest as well, although, like the learning room, getting access to it could be a bit of an issue.  Geras showed us to another building which also contained an archive of the village history from as far back as its initial establishment.  Captain Cerra was hoping to get a look in there but Geras wasn’t overly obliging.”

Teal’c nodded in agreement, fingers steepled in his lap. “He grew most agitated when the Captain showed him a sample of Ancient writing.”

“How so?” Jack asked.

“As far as Geras is concerned, only certain members of the village are allowed to learn to learn Ancient,” Sam replied.  “There was something else as well.  He also said that the descended Alterius no longer have the ability to read Ancient and have to relearn it as part of the learning.”

Jack held up a hand to stall the conversation.  “But Daniel could read Ancient when we found him.  In fact, as I recall, he had a better grasp on the language after ascending then he did beforehand.”

“Exactly.  None of which makes sense, and when we told him this he got quite agitated.”

“So,” Jack rolled his hand to hurry Carter up, “sum it up for me here, what exactly are we looking at?”

“Captain Cerra managed to sneak a recording of the whole conversation which you’ll find inside your briefing folder, but if I had to hazard a guess, it very much looks as though Daniel wasn’t meant to go through the learning.  Taking this all on face value and weighing up Geras’ answers, it seems that when the Ancients descend someone, for whatever reason, they are sent here to undergo the learning.  The end result of which is that once their learning is complete, they have the knowledge to reascend.”

“We’ve always assumed Daniel was descended because he couldn’t live by their non-interference rule.”

“Right, sir.  All of which leaves me wondering why the other ascended humans were descended to the village to undergo the learning when Daniel wasn’t.  I would have thought descension was a form of punishment for breaking the rules.”

“Or perhaps by choice,” Teal’c added.  “It could simply be that they were unable to comprehend their new lives and chose to descend.”

“Like Orlin?”

“No, sir.  Orlin was an Ancient and had the ability to descend himself.”

“Yeah, but Carter, wasn’t he trapped on that planet we found him on?”

“He was.  The others banished him there for breaking the non interference rule by helping the Velonan’s build a super weapon. Wait; there is one thing that doesn’t make sense.”

“Only one?” Jack joked, brows raised.  “I’ve got a whole list.”

“Daniel believed that those descended to the village must have been humans who had been helped along the path to ascension by an Ancient.”

“He said that.  So?”

“I think he was wrong.  Well,” she paused, wincing at her poor choice of words, “not so much wrong, but a little off the mark.  Orlin told me that once he’d descended, he couldn’t reascend without the help of the others.  Now, he’d been banished to Velona and followed me through the Stargate, and then descended by himself.”

Not quite following the direction of her reasoning, Jack held up a finger in front of his face.  “Aht!  Carter… you’re losing me here.”

“And me, Colonel,” Hammond added hot on Jack’s tail.  “Get to the point, Major.”

“Sorry, sirs. I’m trying to work out the relevance of the village in terms of why the Ancients chose to descend their kind here and why Daniel wasn’t.  If I take Orlin’s descension as a point of reference, none of this makes sense.  Orlin had been banished to the planet and yet he managed to follow us back to Earth.  He willingly descended and retained enough of his ascended knowledge to build a Stargate in my basement from common objects he purchased online.”

“I knew that whole Stargate in your basement thing would slip into the conversation at some point.”

Carter sighed, “My point is, sir.  I don’t think the Ancients descending into this village are doing so because they’ve broken some rule.  Otherwise, why give them the learning and reascend them again?  Surely banishment like they did to Orlin would be more appropriate, or descending them away from the village like Daniel.”

“With his memory wiped,” Jack said flatly, the muscles along his jaw line tensing.

“Yes,” Sam conceded, “but I’m assuming that’s where the differences come in to play.  As a human, they knew Daniel’s mind couldn’t cope with the ascended knowledge so they took it all away from him.  In Orlin’s case, he used to be a mortal Ancient who chose to ascend.  We already know the Ancients were further along the evolutionary path then we are so perhaps they’re able to retain the knowledge when they willingly descend.  It’s only a guess, sir.”

“Well,” Jack tossed a hand in the air, “your guesses are way better than anything I can come up with.”

Sam shrugged one shoulder.  “Maybe, but it still doesn’t explain why the Ancients are descending people into the village only to have them undertake the learning and ascend again later.  Nor why Orlin needed the others to reascend, but these people don’t.”

“Truly fascinating stuff, Carter, but how does it help Daniel?”

“I… well… it doesn’t, sir.  However, there is one thing we do know from all of this.”

“And what would that be?”

“Daniel wasn’t meant to undergo the learning.”

Teal’c, ever the voice of logic, sat forward in his chair, palms flat on the table top. “And yet, the Ancients did nothing to stop the process from happening,” he declared. “Surely, if they had not intended Daniel Jackson to regain his ascended knowledge, they would have interfered in the process.”

“Perhaps they didn’t think it would work,” Jack suggested.

Nurse Barbara Evens finished securing the Velcro tabs on Daniel’s fresh diaper and gave his bare belly a little tickle, the action rewarding her with a dimpled smile and a peek of tongue through tiny lips.

Clearing the used diaper and baby wipes away, she efficiently slipped Daniel’s pyjama bottoms back on and pulled down his undershirt.  “There you go, little man, all done.”

Daniel praised her efforts with another smile and a kick of his legs as she reached under his head and scooped him up to her shoulder, one hand resting lightly on his back.  “Now, let’s see what Aunty Janet has planned for you, huh?  Maybe a nice a nice warm bottle and a delicious set of obs.  Would you like that?”

“Obs? Delicious?”  Janet laughed lightly, reaching out to ruffle Daniel’s fine blond hair.  “Nice bedside manner there, Barb.  I’m sure Daniel understood every word.”

“Ah,” Barb raised her eyebrows and looked at Janet over the rim of her glasses, “It’s the tone they react to at this age, not the content of the conversation.” Tipping her head towards her shoulder, she kissed Daniel lightly on the cheek.  “Isn’t that right, Daniel?”

“You’re good with him, you know that?” Janet offered, an almost sad look in her eyes.  “He really responds to you.”

“I have a granddaughter his age.  It’s funny really.  They grow up and you kinda forget what it was like to have a baby in your arms and a toddler hanging off your leg, but the moment you’re handed one, it all comes flooding back.”

“Good memories?”

“Are you kidding?” Barb laughed lightly, “There were days I couldn’t wait for them to grow up.  Don’t misunderstand me, I loved them as babies, but I’ve never been so tired in my life! Being a grandmother was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“You get to hand them back?”

“Absolutely.”  Barb started to rub soothing circles on Daniel’s back as he uttered a small cry.  “I think someone’s getting hungry here.”

“And we’ve got some tests to run.”

“I’m sure he must get sick of being poked and prodded all the time.”

“Well,” Janet pulled back the blanket on the crib and moved the ECG leads to one side, “if we’re lucky, this should be the last time we have to put him through this.”

“You think so?”  Barb slid Daniel into the crib and pulled up his little undershirt as Janet place the electrodes on his chest.  “I’m sure everyone will be looking forward to the day he can go home.  Even him… isn’t that right, Daniel?” she clucked, reaching out to unfurl the fingers of one hand that had latched on to the leads.

“Okay, we’re set.”  Janet flicked on the monitor, scribbled a note on the graph paper as it fed out, and watched the display for a few moments to be sure everything was working.  “Looks good, Daniel.” Turning to Barb, she said, “Can you warm his bottle and feed him?  Should keep him quiet long enough to get an accurate reading.”

“Can do,” Barb leaned over the crib and winked at Daniel who was burbling around his fist again.  “Won’t be long, little one.”

Barb’s back ached.  Even just the time it took to feed Daniel his bottle had been long enough for the small of her back to register a protest at being stuck in the one position for so long.  Daniel was being uncharacteristically fussy today; he’d gone from sucking on the teat to turning his head away or nuzzling it out of his mouth.  Teasing the teat against his lips, she waited patiently for him to open his mouth far enough for her to slip it in a little further; hoping just a dribble of milk would encourage him to feed.

Lulled by the quiet atmosphere in the infirmary and the drone of the ECG machine, she’d missed a change in Daniel’s heartbeat until an alarm on the monitor sounded.

“Hey,” she said, pulling back the bottle and peering intently at the readout.  Daniel’s heart rhythm had changed, sped up, and a quick glance at his face showed his eyes were slightly glazed and at half mast.

“Doctor Fraiser!”

It all happened so fast.  In the moment it had take for Barb to register the change in his heartbeat, Daniel was suddenly shaking in his crib, his arms and legs contorting in the throes of a seizure.  The monitor wailed loudly as staff dropped what they were doing and ran to the crib.

“Barb?”  Janet snapped as she drew up by her side.

“He’s seizing,” she yelled, reaching into Daniel’s crib and levering him onto his side.

Orders were yelled out, staff moved.

“I need two milligrams of Lorazepam, and get that crash cart over here now.  Barb, check his airway.”

“It’s clear.”

“Graves, I need some numbers!”

“O2, eighty five percent, pulse one ninety.”

“Shit.”

“IV in,” Lieutenant Hendricks reported, hitching a bag of fluids to the stand behind.

“Okay,” Janet tucked a stray lock of hair behind her head, one hand resting on Daniel’s convulsing body. “Where’s that Lorazepam?”

“Here,” Nurse Riley slapped a capped syringe in her hand.

Reaching over the crib, Janet inserted the syringe into the IV port and pushed the anticonvulsant drug into the line.  “I want this left wide open,” she gestured to the saline bag as she tossed the syringe into the sharps receptacle, “As soon as he’s stable, I want a CBC plus chem and viral panel.  Someone set up a pedi collection bag for a urinalysis sample.  And get Colonel O’Neill up here, stat!”

Tense moments passed as the ECG monitor continued to wail its warning alarm.  Barb almost wished she could turn the damn thing off but it was relaying vital information that the resus team needed.  Holding one hand behind Daniel’s neck while Janet rested her hand lightly on his thigh, she counted off the time in her head.

Two minutes.  Two minutes had passed since the seizure began and almost a minute since the anticonvulsant had been administered.  Daniel’s limbs twitched, face contorted in a macabre mask of pain, his head thrown back against Barb’s palm.  A heartbreaking scene, she berated herself for not paying enough attention when in reality there was very little she could have done to stop it from happening.

Too slowly for Barb’s liking, the convulsions started to abate and Daniel’s body relaxed, easing its stiffened and contorted limbs.

“Shhh,” she soothed as the barest of whimpers escaped his saliva coated lips.  “It’ll be over soon.”

“Doctor Fraiser is a cunning woman.”  Teal’c eyed the two SF’s stationed outside the entrance to the infirmary as though he was contemplating just how much of a struggle they’d put up if he chose to get past them.

“Relax, Teal’c,” Jack said wearily, “she just doesn’t want us getting in the way.”

“Would little Daniel Jackson not benefit from the proximity of his family during this crisis?”

Sam met his concerned gaze and shrugged, resting her head in her hands.  “She knows what she’s doing.  Intimidating the guards won’t get us in there any quicker.  They’re just doing their job.”

A sense of overwhelming frustration bored down on Jack like an impossible weight.  If the emergency call telling them that Daniel was seizing wasn’t enough, finding himself cut off from him was even worse.  He could sympathize with Teal’c, feel the man’s anger at being so close to Daniel and yet so far away it was impossible to even know what was going on.

“How long?” he said, tipping his head towards Carter while rubbing his sweaty palms on his pants.

“I’m not sure, sir.  Five minutes maybe?

“No, Carter.  How long does a seizure last?”

Sam shrugged sympathetically, “I don’t think there’s anyway of knowing.  My cousin has epilepsy and the few seizures I saw him have when we were younger seemed to vary in length.”

“You think it could be epilepsy?”

“I don’t know anything, sir. I was just drawing a comparison.”

“It’s not epilepsy,” Janet Fraiser called from the doorway as she summarily dismissed the SF’s and pocketed her stethoscope. “He’s asleep at the moment, the seizure drained him completely. All we can do now is wait until he wakes up.”

“Give it to me straight, doc.  Preferably in words I can understand.”

Janet pulled up a chair and sat across from Jack, reaching out to rest a comforting hand on his arm.  “At this point, aside from the fact Daniel has had a seizure; I can’t really tell you anything more.  I’ve ordered a series of tests; CT, lumbar puncture and a full blood work up, and that’s just for starters.  In the meantime, I’ve got him under twenty four hour observation in the ICU ward.  There’s someone with him at all times.”

Jack scrubbed a hand across his tired face and shook his head slowly. “How did it happen?”

“There was no warning, sir.  Barb was feeding him when the seizure started.  The only thing we can be grateful for is that we had him connected to the ECG at the time and it caught the seizure as it started.”

“He seemed fine this morning.”

“You did have a difficult night with him though, sir.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed, still feeling the effects of far too little sleep, “but all kids have nights like that, you said so yourself.  I figured he must have been teething or something.”

“I don’t know, sir, but changes in behavior can be a precursor for a seizure in patients prone to them.”

“And he only had the one seizure?” Sam asked.

Janet nodded, “Just the one.  Because we caught it so quickly, it only took one dose of Phenobarbital to control it.  We definitely got lucky there.”

“When can we see him, doc?”

“I know this is hard, sir, but right now I’d prefer if you didn’t.  He’s sleeping and we’ve got a lot of tests ahead of us; some of which are quite unpleasant, and not only just for him.  I really think it would be best—”

“No,” Jack said flatly, meeting her surprised gaze.  “One of us needs to be with him and as he’s my responsibility, its going to me be.”

Janet opened her mouth to speak but Jack cut her off with a raised hand.  “No argument, doc.  I can’t… I won’t leave him to go through this without being there with him.”

“These tests are hard on adults, sir… its not going to be easy.”

“Doc, I sat with him as he died. How much harder can it be?”

Janet smiled tightly but conceded the point with a resigned shrug.  “Okay, but only one of you.  We’re running an EEG at the moment to identify any background epileptogenic activity.”  At Jack’s puzzled expression, she added, “activity that causes epilepsy.  This is all a process of elimination which is why I’m trying to keep the number of people down in the room during these tests so we don’t distress him anymore than we have to.”

Jack hated hospitals, ironic considering his choice of occupation and it’s proclivity for seeing him flat on his back under someone’s caring gaze, but when children were involved, well… he just hated them.

Somewhere among the miles of leads—he may be exaggerating there—and assortment of different tubes carrying lord knows what, was his kid.  Okay, so maybe not technically his kid, but in the same way Jack regarded the rest of SG-1 as his kids, so he did with Daniel.

The muted lighting in the ICU gave the nursery bed holding Daniel a kind of ghostly appearance.  Monitors surrounded the bed, their flickering lights and telltale display adding to the atmosphere and only heightening Jack’s awareness of how dire the situation had become.

Flat on his back, his face angled in Jack’s direction, Daniel slept on without a care in the world… or so it seemed.  In truth, after the harrowing experience of the lumbar puncture, Jack was only too happy when Daniel finally succumbed to exhaustion.

Fraiser had warned him repeatedly about the procedure, walked him through it verbally, and offered him several outs, but he’d resisted.  He needed to be with Daniel as much as Daniel needed someone with him that wasn’t causing him pain.

Sitting there in the treatment room, Daniel’s tiny hand in his, eyes locked on his face to take away any temptation of watching the procedure, Jack figured it would be easy.  Suck it in for the sake of his friend.  No worries.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.  Physically only three months old, Daniel fought like a trooper against the hands that tried to restrain him in the foetal position.  Barb had Daniel’s head in her hands, forcing his chin down towards his chest, while on the other side of Jack, Lieutenant Hendricks had one hand on his shoulder and the other on his knee’s, forcing them up towards his chest.

The surgical mask Janet Fraiser wore couldn’t hide the distress reflected in her eyes. Calm and professional on the outside, Jack could sense her inner turmoil as she stood behind the base anaesthesiologist while he prepared for the procedure.

Jack tried to shake the memory away, find something else to focus on but inexorably, Daniel’s cries of protest as the fine needle was guided into his spine still rang in his ears.  Local anaesthetic be damned… Jack could feel his own back muscles tensing in sympathy.

As soft mewling caught Jack’s attention and looking up, he found Daniel looking at him through sleepy eyes.  He shuffled his chair in closer, never breaking Daniel’s gaze and all the while snaking his hand around the various leads and tubes to cup his head in his hands.

“Hey, kiddo,” he whispered, stroking his thumb across Daniel’s cheek, “how ya doin’ in there, huh?”

Daniel drew in a shuddered breath and for a moment Jack wondered if he was working up for a cry, but after smacking his lips and blinking slowly, a small smile played in his eyes.

He should really let the nursing staff know Daniel was awake, but reaching over to snag the buzzer, something caught his attention.  Daniel’s was moving his mouth.  Not in that uncoordinated way he’d seen with Charlie in those first few days of his life, no, it was almost as if he was trying to tell him something.

Impossible, Jack thought.  He was no baby doctor but there was no way a three month old baby had the ability to talk.  Babble, maybe, talk… not in his experience.

Only… this was no ordinary child.

Jack pushed the impossibility of it all away and took a close look at Daniel’s face. His small rose-bud lips were puckered; tongue peaking out between them and a frown marred his perfect brow in an expression that mirrored his older self.  If he really looked hard, Jack could see the adult Daniel had been… the one he hoped he would be again.

“I’m not sure if you can understand me here,” Jack quickly looked about to see who might be listening, but the only nurse in the small ward was busy restocking a cupboard.  “We’re trying to work this out, okay?  Doc’s doing her best and Carter, well, you know her—no stone unturned and all of that.  The big guy is busy giving everyone the eyebrow and me, hey, you know you’re stuck with me right?  You watch my back, I watch yours kinda thing…”

Daniel’s smile grew brighter as he tried in a most uncoordinated fashion to put his hand in his mouth, missing on several attempts until he connected with his thumb.

“Colonel.”

Jack jumped, startled, and swivelled in his seat to find one of Janet’s nurses watching him.  “Hey,” he stammered, “Ah, Daniel’s awake.  I was just about to…” he waggled a finger at the buzzer.

“That’s okay, sir.  I paged Doctor Fraiser when I overheard you talking to him.”

Jack turned his attention back to Daniel.  “Yeah, he can be quite the little talker when he wants to be, can’t you, Daniel?”

Daniel had his hand firmly entrenched in his mouth and deigned to answer.

“I think he’s hungry.”

The click of heals on the hard floor heralded the arrival of Janet Fraiser, a sunny smile on her face as she moved to the end of the special care crib and checked the readouts on the monitor.

“He looks good,” she announced, checking the flow of the IV and then reaching over the side of the bed to take Daniel’s pulse.

Jack frowned.  “All these monitors and you still take his pulse the—”

“Old fashioned way? I like the tactile feel of hands on nursing, especially with children,” she reached over and jiggled Daniel’s chin, “and especially this one.”

“He’s due for his next feed, Doctor.”

“Thanks, Barb. I’ll leave you to organize that for me while I check this little one over. Colonel, now might be a good time to take a break while we get him fed and settled.”

Jack stretched his legs and pulled back his hand from behind Daniel’s head as Janet started moving leads and monitors about.  “I guess I could do with a break, check up on the rest of the team and… stuff.”

“I’m sure they’d appreciate knowing Daniel’s doing better.”

Jack smiled tightly as he rose from his chair.  “You’ll…” he said tipping his head towards Daniel who was now more fascinated in his hand and definitely becoming more active while his bottle was being prepared.

Returning Jack’s smile, Janet moved to capture Daniel’s free hand as it groped blindly at the IV line near his head.  “If there’s any change, I’ll page you, sir.”

Satisfied, Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and left the nursing staff to their duty.

“Sir!”  Sam slipped off her stool and stood to attention as her commanding officer strolled into her lab, hands in pockets and face deep in thought.  On the far side of her work bench, Teal’c acknowledged Jack’s arrival with a small nod before returning to the computer screen he’d studying.

Raising his brows at her rigid stance, Jack shook his head and muttered dourly, “At ease, Carter, before you sprain something.”

Visibly relaxing, Sam smiled wanly and slid back into her chair.  “How’s Daniel?” she asked, gathering in files scattered across her work surface.

“Looking better,” he replied, toeing the leg of a stool and dragging it over to the bench.  “He was awake when I left.”

“Really?  Janet thought he’d sleep most of the afternoon away.”

“Since when have you known Daniel to do anything the doc told him?”

Sam shrugged.  “Any mention of test results yet?”

“Nope,” Jack conceded and rolled his chair closer to Teal’c.  “What ya got there, T?”

Teal’c turned the screen towards Jack and tapped at the image.  “A digital recording of the building in which Daniel Jackson undertook the learning.”

“How did you…?”

“SG-7 was able to acquire footage without arousing the suspicions of the villagers.”

“Sweet!  Anything in there that can help us?”

“I do not believe so, however, Captain Cerra was most interested in one portion of a wall near the main entrance.”  Teal’c tapped on the keyboard and several images flashed by before he settled on one.

Zooming in, the image blurring as the pixels adjusted to the increase in size, a picture of a white washed wall took shape.  Jack had to squint for a few moments against the glare, but very slowly the faint but familiar image of Ancient writing filled the monitor. He held a hand in front of the screen before moving the fingers to point at the image.  “These were near the door?”

“Correct.”

“So why didn’t Daniel notice them?”

“Of that I am unsure, O’Neill.  You were with him when he went for his learning and you did not notice them.”

“True, but then I’m not paid to notice this stuff.  Any idea what it says?”

“I think I can answer that, sir.”

Jack spun on his stool.  “Captain,” he drawled.

Cerra stood in the doorway to Carter’s lab, only entering when the Major invited her in with a quick nod.  Sidling over to the bench, she placed a briefing folder down and pulled up a stool.

“It’s a story,” she announced, flipping open the folder and handing each of them a translation copy.  “Or, at least as best as we can tell it is.  The dialect is very old and some of the words are obscure, possibly diacritics which are confusing some of the references.”

“In English, Captain?”

Cerra winced in apology.  “A diacritic is a word that is both a noun and an adjective; different to a diacritical which is only an adjective.  In the form of written Latin we’re familiar with, a diacritic is denoted by a mark above or below the word. In Ancient, well, it’s not that easy.”

“No diacritic?”  Sam asked.

“Nope, and given the obscurity of the Ancient,” she shrugged, “it made for a difficult translation.”

“And?” Jack asked.

“And… as I said, it reads like a story,” Cerras continued. “Assuming we’ve interpreted the writing correctly, it appears the learning building pre-dates the village, but not by much.  An Ancient by the name of Arturus established the building for the purposes of the learning which he describes as being ‘a necessity of the soul’.  The village came later because Arturus was unable to interact with the realms of the mortal and needed a caretaker for the rebirthed.”

“Rebirthed?”  Sam drew her brows tight in puzzlement.  “Is that even a word?”

“No, but it was the closest thing we could come to describing the passage.  I think it refers to those who have descended.  As far as I can tell, every person Arturus descends returns as an infant.  The necessity of the soul could be a reference to explain away why he does this.”

“He?”  Jack queried.

“He,” Cerra confirmed. “The modern day equivalent of Arturus is Arthur.”

Chewing on her bottom lip, Sam quickly scanned the translation copy and set it down on the bench top.  “And you think this reference to soul refers to their altered state?”

“Honestly,” Cerra said with a small shrug, “anything is possible at this point.  As I said, there were quite a few passages in the text we weren’t able to adequately translated to a point we were sure of the context.  The reference ‘a necessity of the soul’ seems to me to mean something that had to be done for the sake of preserving the life.”

“Well, we already know the human mind can’t contain the knowledge of the Ancients without serious repercussions,” Sam offered.  “I guess this Arturus has found a novel way around the problem.”

“There is something else, though.  Something the other members of the linguistics team all agree on.”

“Which was?”  Jack asked.

“There is one passage of text Arturus set apart from the rest: ‘Doomed to eternal watching.’”

“Doomed to eternal…” Sam’s head shot up.  “You think he’s stranded there?”

Cerra nodded confidently.  “I do, and if you read through the translation, you’ll find there are several references to Arturus having established the village in direct support to his descending other ascended beings.  I can’t figure out why, but it does look as though he was banished either before he starting descending them or shortly after.”

Sam blinked her eyes in surprise.  “How can you tell?”

“Because the passage in question was at the end of the story and set well apart.  If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say he added it well after the rest, more of a foot note.”

Jack wasn’t so sure though, and pushing away from the table, he crossed his arms and looked up at Cerra.  “Let’s just pretend for a moment that I know nothing about ascension and ascended beings.”

“Sir?”

“Stay with me here, Carter.  If this Arty—”

“Arturus,” she corrected with a smile.

“Whatever. If he was an ascended being, then how the heck did he build a building without the aid of us mere mortals to do his handy work?  I thought they couldn’t physically interact with the lower plains without descending.  Isn’t that what Orlin did, Major?”

Sam was forced to agree.  “Yes, sir.”

“And in doing so, did he or did he not reduce himself to the level of said mortals?”

“He retook human form, yes.”

“So,” Jack held a finger in the air, “aside from the fact he obviously retained enough ancient knowledge to build a Stargate in your basement—an issue we’re not even going to touch on—this leads me to wonder how, as an ascended being, Arturus erected a building.  Which came first, the hammer or the nail?”

“I believe O’Neill wishes to understand how Arturus could establish a dwelling when ascended beings are without corporeal form,” Teal’c attempted in explanation.

“I get it, Teal’c, thanks.” Sam shook her head.  “I don’t know, sir.  I don’t imagine he would have descended to make the building because we already know from Orlin that they can’t reascend without the help of the others.”

“Unless,” Cerra tapped her chin in thought.  “What if he built the building before he ascended?  Planned it all out before hand?”

“For what reason?”

“Does it matter?”  Jack interjected.  “None of this really helps us out here now does it?”

“I disagree, O’Neill?”

“Really? Do tell?”

“If Arturus has been banished to Angelus Gens by the Ancients, then it is likely he has watched over these proceedings and is aware of Daniel Jackson’s fate.”

“Bit of a stretch.”

“Not really, sir,” said Sam. “Orlin was stuck on Velona until we came along, so perhaps the same thing has happened here.”

“See my last comment, Carter.”

“It makes sense.”

“None of this makes sense.”  Jack abruptly pushed away from the bench and stood up, the stool rolling away from him.  “Short of heading back to 121 with an arsenal powerful enough to knock the building flat on its ass, I’d better start entertaining retirement and impeding fatherhood, because I don’t see any other way out of this mess, do you?”

The phone on Sam’s desk rang.  “Perfect timing,” Jack snapped, glaring menacingly at it for a moment before turning away.

“Carter.  He’s here.  We’ll be there right away.”  Sam put the receiver down.  “They need you in the infirmary, sir, Daniel’s seizing.”

“I only wanna hold him.”

“Sir, I don’t think—”

“No, you don’t.”  Jack’s temper had reached critical mass and against his better judgement, he’d snapped at one of Janet’s nurses, the woman in question stepping away from him with her hands raised in front of her face.  “I-I’m sorry,” he stammered, clenching and unclenching his fists to release pent up anger.

“Colonel O’Neill.”

“Doc.”

He hadn’t heard Fraiser sneak up behind him, a weakness on his part that he could only put down to the stress of the last few hours.  Daniel’s seizure had been worse this time; long and drawn out, and in the end, Janet had resorted to intubation when his airway became compromised.  Jack wasn’t sure he should have been thankful Janet had let him remain in the room while Daniel was seizing.  Grateful at first, his heart flopped sickeningly at the sight of such a tiny body being subjected to such a violent convulsion over a prolonged period of time.  There was nothing he could do but stand back and watch as the medical team battled to stabilize him.

“Please,” Janet gestured to the chair in front of Daniel’s special care bed, “sit down before you fall down.”

“Is it to much to be allowed to simply hold him?”

“Threatening one of my nurses doesn’t cut it with me, sir, and you know it.  Besides which, Daniel is intubated and sedated, holding him, while it might reassure you, isn’t really a good thing for him at the moment.”

“I just feel so—”

“Helpless?  Frustrated?” Snagging a chair, she sat down next to him, casting a critical eye over Daniel’s monitors.  “I do know how you feel so I can sympathise, but I also know you want what’s best for Daniel, and right now we’re doing all we can.”

“It’s not enough though, is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“All of this,” Jack waved at the monitors and other equipment.  “How long until you’re keeping him alive by artificial means only?  You can’t tell me these seizures aren’t having some affect on his mind.  Killing him little by little.”

“People do live almost perfectly long lives with epilepsy, sir.”

“But this isn’t epilepsy, doc, and we both know it.”

“No,” she replied sadly, “its not.”

“What about all those tests you’ve done?  They must tell you something.”

“For the most part, no.  Most of the tests we’ve done have come back normal.”

“You said ‘most.’”

“His ECG showed a significant increase in neural activity above the norm for his age.  Much like the results we detected in you when you had the repository downloaded into your mind.”

Jack flinched at the memory.  He’d been reminded too many times about the Ancient download since this whole ordeal with Daniel started, and it was only now the implications of what had been done to him were starting to sink in.  “But I didn’t have seizures… that I recall.”

“No, sir, and that’s where the similarity ends.”  Looking over at Daniel in his crib, she smiled sadly.  “Whether the seizures are from the drastic physiological change he’s undergone or the increase in neurological activity, I can’t tell, but I do feel as thought I’m missing part of the problem here.”

“What if….”  Jack closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands.

“Sir?”

“What if he wasn’t meant to remember,” he mumbled.  “Carter said something about Daniel not being meant to undergo the learning.  So, what if she’s right?”  He looked up at Janet, blinking rapidly.  “Is it possible there are two…? I don’t know… powers I guess.  Both opposed to each other, and this is what’s causing the seizures.”

“Like one trying to unlock his ascended memory—”

“And the other not.  Look, I not going to pretend I understand this mumbo-jumbo, but Oma did descend him without his memories and the only excuses we’ve come up for her doing this is because his mind can’t handle the knowledge.”

“Like yours couldn’t,” Janet agreed.

“Right,” Jack winced.  “Either way, she sent him back a blank slate and the only memories he’s regained have been those from before he ascended.”

“With some exceptions.”

Jack shrugged, mouth turned in a lopsided grin. “If you’re talking about his memory Ry’ac and Bra’tac—”

“And you.”

“Yeah, happy times,” he said quickly.  “They weren’t true ascended memories though.  Think about it.  Both of those times he was anchored—for lack of a better word—to events surrounding us, his friends.  Neither of those memories were meaning of life stuff, now where they?  So it kinda makes sense, in a not really making sense way, that he might remember those sorts of events over anything of any potential galactic importance.”

Janet pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear and smiled.  “Well, sir, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you be so clinical about something, but I think I understood.”

“You did?”

“Uh-huh.  Nothing Daniel remembered from his time as an ascended being has been of any importance, which means he can’t access his ascended memory.  Something in the learning process is trying to release those memories, while Oma or the others did something to make sure he couldn’t access them.”

“Like two people trying to open a door from different sides.”

“A good analogy, sir.”

“Yeah,” he conceded with a shrug, and running a hand across his stubbled chin, looked across at Daniel, his tiny body shrouded by medical paraphernalia, “for all the good it’ll do us.”

“We need to go back.”

George Hammond shuddered, startled by Jack’s intrusion, and looking up at his 2IC framed in the doorway to his office; he motioned for him to take a seat.  “What’s on your mind, Jack?”

“Besides retirement, sir?”

“You like to play that card.”

Jack slid into the chair and strummed his fingers on the arm-rests.  “It’s the only ace I’m left holding, and one day I plan to play it.”

“But not today?”  George asked.

“Nope, as tempting as it is right now, the timings not quite there.”

George looked at him pensively, head cocked to one side.  “Can I interest you in a drink?” he said opening his bottom draw and fishing out a bottle of scotch and two glasses.  “A little early in the day but I hear it’s good for the nerves.”

Jack waved the offer away. “No thanks, sir, but I could do with the use of the Stargate and some back up.”

“So you said.”  He replaced the scotch and glasses and flipped open a file on his desk, scanning the contents quickly.  “I’ve got Doctor Fraiser’s report on Doctor Jackson.”

“It’s not good.”

“It’s very short and to the point.”

“The doc doesn’t mince her words.”

Hammond nodded and closed the folder, cradling his hands on the desktop.  “Supposing I let you return to 121 with SG-7, what are you going to do, Jack?”

“Get some answers.  Captain Cerra believes there’s an Ancient holding guard over this planet.”

“Banished there by the other, yes… I read her report.”

“So, we take this to the source.”

“This Geras person?”

“Nope.  The Ancient who’s holding all these cards.”

“And just how were you planning on contacting him, Jack?  Blowing down the front door?  From what limited dealings we’ve had with ascended beings, they don’t seem to much care for us lowly humans.  I hardly think brute force will pull much sway.”

“Actually, sir,” Jack smiled thinly.  “I was thinking along the lines of just opening the front door instead.”

Jack felt ill.  Not so much in a physical sense, although the knot in his chest was starting to make him nauseous, no, this was more a sickness of the heart.  While the rest of SG-1 and SG-7 headed for the gear up room, he’d found himself beating a familiar path to the infirmary only to stop at its dull doors, unable to force his legs to carry him further.

Beyond the doors lay what had become his life and the reason for him returning to 121, but more than that, there also lay someone that was making a mockery of what rational thought he had left.  Paternal love be damned, Jack could feel his heart breaking and struggled to keep him emotions carefully concealed—it was a battle he was losing.

Reaching out to touch the door, he pulled back quickly as though he’d been burned, and turning on his heel he sucked in a calming breath and marched back down the corridor.  Though his heart told him otherwise, his mind was asking him to trust Daniel into Fraiser’s care and focus on the task ahead of him.  There weren’t many times in his life Jack had had reason to follow his heart instead, and he wasn’t about to start today.

“Sir!”  Eyes flashing surprise, Carter hastily stepped to one side as Jack barreled into the gear up room, narrowly missing colliding with him.  “Sgt Harriman has pushed our departure for 121 forward thirty minutes.”

Jack paused in his stride, tipped his head back and pursed his lips before cocking his head in her direction.  “Why, pray tell?”

“SG-12 are running ahead of flash flooding on 629 and have to evacuate the entire village.  They’re estimating it will take two thirty eight minute windows at least to get everyone through before the village is swept away.”

“So,” he shrugged, “we go after.”

“No can do, sir.  There are seven other SG teams due to either check in or return over the next 5 hours and with the change in SG-12′s plans, the window for us to use the gate has been narrowed considerably.”

“We go now?”

“Now, sir, yes.”

Jack looked down at his day uniform and pulled his shirt away from his chest.  “Ten minutes, you say?”

“More like eight now.”

“Oiy…”

“You are here again?”  Nothing could hide the scornful tone of Geras’ words and in a strange way, Jack was almost glad he hadn’t been pleased to see them again, it made his task that much easier when he could stay angry at the world.

Flanked on either side by Carter and Teal’c, with SG-7 holding formation slightly behind, Jack strummed the butt of his P-90, his fingers itching to slide down to the trigger guard, and pursed his lips.  “You know,” he said in an equally contentious tone, “I just can’t seem to keep away from the place right now.”

“As I told the Major,” he tossed a look over his shoulder at the small crowd gathered in the village square, “this is our time of meditation and we don’t generally entertain visitors.  It would be best if you returned in several cycles.”

“Nope,” Jack said confidently and with a twisted smile, “not going anywhere.  You and I,” he waved a finger in the space between them, “well, we’re going to find somewhere nice and comfy and have a little chat.”

“If this is about your Alterius, I—”

“Daniel!” Jack barked before schooling his face and adding calmly, “his name is Daniel.  Not Alterius, not Ancient, not any other damn thing… Just Daniel. Am I making myself clear?”

Geras nodded tightly, a touch of fear flickering in his eyes.  Pointing over his shoulder to a building beyond, he muttered softly, “If you’ll follow me, please?”

They set off at a fast clip into the village, Jack was acutely aware of the anger radiating from Geras as they strode past the learning building.  The man’s gait was tense, his shoulders square, and the long robe he wore was bunched in his clenched fists to stop it from dragging on the ground.  Slowing his pace, Jack casually deviated from the well worn path in the direction of the building, hoping to catch sight of the writing SG-7 had recorded near its door.

“O’Neill,” Teal’c whispered, catching up to his CO in a few quick strides.  “This is not the way to the meeting hall.”

“I know that, Teal’c.  Can’t hurt to take a look though, right?” Jack tipped his head in the direction of the learning building.

“You wish to try something?”

“What?”  Jack flicked his gaze between Geras and Teal’c as they wandered off the path.  “No.  I’m just gonna look, nothing else.”

“And would this ‘looking’ involve attempting to gain entry into the building?”

A wry smile danced across Jack’s lips. “What if it does?”

“This is not the way.  Would not a more diplomatic approach gain us the same result without the aid of deception?”

Jack could feel the eyes of SG-7 boring into his back as Geras and Carter started to slow their approach to the meeting hall.  “Look,” he paused and looked over his shoulder, nodding at them to follow Geras.  “I just wanna check the place out, take a look at the writing on the door—”

“Did you not read the translation Captain Cerra provided?”

“You know I did.”

“Then you actions here would appear to be most duplicitous.”

“Who made you my conscience?”

Teal’c smiled gracefully.  “I mirror your concern for Daniel Jackson, but if we are truly dealing with an Ancient then we must be considerate with the actions we are about to take.  Even banished, Orlin displayed considerable powers.”

“You think I should tread carefully here?”  Jack was confused by Teal’c's softly, softly manner.  “That this Ancient might swoop down and stop me?”

“I believe going against their wishes without first attempting to convince Geras of the purpose of our mission will hamper any further contact with these people.  If Daniel Jackson was here he would suggest a diplomatic approach first.”

Shaking his head in disbelief, Jack looked longingly at the learning building and then over at Geras who was almost at the meeting hall.  “Yeah,” Jack huffed, “well, he’s not here, is he?”

“Colonel!”  Carter called out as Geras swung about to face them, an angry scowl on his face.  They hadn’t exactly been caught red handed at the scene of the crime as the learning building was still some distance away, but their direction made their intention clear, and with a exaggerated shrug, Jack turned back towards the path.

“You know,” Jack twisted in his chair, his hand never losing contact with his weapon.  Intrinsically, he knew there was nothing he could do if an Ascended being chose to drop by for a visit, and the physical threat from the villagers, based on their level of technology, was deemed as low, but he gained some measure of comfort from having his P-90 resting across his lap.  “I don’t do this sitting around and talking thing very well, so let’s just get straight to the point here.”

Sitting directly across from Jack, his face still held in a tight scowl, Geras leered back at him.  “You wish access to the learning room.  Something I cannot allow.”

“And why would that be?” Jack asked.  “Surely if the door won’t open for us then you’ve lost nothing by letting us near the place.  A little recon is all we’re asking for.”

“The learning room is for the Alterius only, this I have already explained.  There is nothing remarkable about its exterior that can help you in anyway and attempting to force your way in will not succeed.”

“How do you know?” asked Sam.  “Have you tried to gain access before?”

“No,” Geras conceded, “but others in our past have and their attempts were for nothing.  You are not the first to have wished entry.”

Cerra, her face flashing confusion, muttered, “You never mentioned this earlier.”

Geras looked contrite. “I answered your questions as they were presented.  We are not in a habit of offering information when it isn’t requested.”

Jack pushed away from the table and rose.  “This is getting us nowhere,” he snapped “Let me put this in terms you should understand: Daniel is dying, we need to see what’s in that damn building, and if I have to, I’ll use whatever force I need to, to open the place up.”

“Your Alterius is dying?”  Geras appeared shocked at the suggestion.

“Geras, we believe he wasn’t meant to undertake the learning,” Sam offered, looking first at the villager before focusing on Jack and wincing at her interruption.

“But all who return to the lower plains must undertake the learning.”

“According to what you know, yes,” she continued on, “but we believe that the Alterius that built the learning building was banished to this world, probably for descending other Alterius.  That he planned the concept of the learning and established this building before he ascended.”

“Impossible,” Geras huffed, folding his arms indignantly.

“Not so,” Cerra took off from where Sam had ended, “There are writings on the wall near the door to the learning which tell the tale of the Alterius who established this village.  He left quite detailed accounts of what the process represented to those that completed it.”

“I know of the writings on the wall but how exactly were you able to read them when none save Daniel Jackson were allowed near the building?”

Cerra dug into her pack and drew out a digital recorder, sliding it across the table to Geras. “We used this device to make a moving picture of the building so we could analyze it at our leisure which was when we found the writing.”

Geras picked up the recorded and turned it over in his hands.  “You did this without asking permission,” he said flatly, dropping the recorder back to the table top.

“We’re a curious race, Geras.” Sam reached forward and snagged the recorder, passing it back to Cerra.  “I know your people have always lived by the rules set down by the Alterius, and that’s fine, we’re not about to mock your belief system in any way, but we need you to take a step back for a moment and consider other points of view.  According to the translation of the wall, the learning building and this village was established by and Alterius called Arturus.”

“This I know.”

“Arturus is one of many Alterius, but we believe he was banished to this planet by the others and probably because he broke the non interference rule and interacted with the lower plains.  Most likely it was his interaction with your predecessors that caused this, but we can’t be sure.  Anyway, for whatever reason, Arturus has been descending other Alterius and using your people as a type of go-between to conduct the learnings.”

“All of this information can be found in the archives.  There is nothing you have told me so far that I didn’t already know.”

“So you knew Arturus was banished here?”  Jack asked.

“Except for that part,” Geras conceded with a shrug.  “Still, it is only conjecture and based on your interpretation of the inscriptions.”

“True,” Sam continued, “but Arturus isn’t the only one capable of descending the others.  Daniel was offered ascension by another Alterius called Oma Desala; she was also the same person that likely descended him.”

Geras nodded defiantly, lips pursed, “According to the archives, Arturus is the only one of the Alterius to descend anyone to Angelus Gens.  This is how history has always been told.”

Cerra snorted.  “A history from one person’s point of view.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you ever left this world, Geras?” she asked.

He shrugged. “There has never been a need to.  The Alterius provide all that we need here.  Very few of our people have ever left Angelus Gens.”

“And those that have, did they ever return?”

“Some, not many but then we’re talking of a small amount to start with.  In my time as village leader I have only known three non Alterius to leave the safety of Gens and only one has returned.  Throughout history there have been more, but in comparison to our population numbers, well, that number is very small.  Even smaller for the number of descended Alterius who have left.”

Cerra shook her head sadly.  “There are many words in this galaxy that were once home to the Alterius, we know this from ruins we have found and artifacts we’ve uncovered.  In our own history we have met several other Alterius.  What Arturus set up here was unique and quite possibly of his own undertaking and likely not meant for everyone.”

“This is foolish.” Geras scrubbed a hand over his face and dragged in a ragged breath.  “You are implying that we’ve lived a lie for thousands of years, that everything we’ve believed in and supported for all this time was the fabrication of one Alterius meant for his own pleasure?”

“Not pleasure,” Sam corrected.  “I’m sure he had a very good reason for everything he did and if we could ever talk to him, I could only hope that he’d explain it all but our point is this:  When you discovered that Daniel was a descended Alterius you automatically assumed that he was here for the learning.”

“Correct.  This is how it has always been.”

“Right, except Daniel was different.”

“Because he came through the Astaria.”

“Then, consider this.  We’ve already told you there are other Alterius out there and that one of them was responsible for ascending and descending Daniel.  You also know that he was descended without memory of his pre ascension life as well as his ascended memories.”

“This I recall, yes.”

“Good.  We believe, although it’s never been proven in any way that the reason for this is because he broke the non-interference rule set down by the Alterius.  While he recovered his pre ascension memories, with some very minor incidences, he has never recovered his ascended memories.”

“This is what the learning is for,” Geras added.  “It allows the Alterius to regain the memories over time.”

“Yes,” Sam agreed, “but what would happen if your ascended memory was deliberately erased, for whatever reason, and you weren’t supposed to get it back?  Something was put in place to ensure it couldn’t happen.  If you keep this in mind, then what also would happen if you were to undertake the learning which then forces those memories to unfurl over time as part of the process?”

Brow furrowed, Gera seemed to stare off at the far wall for a moment before returning his gaze to Sam.  “Conflict,” he muttered numbly.  “One power working for you and one against.”

“Exactly.” Sam let out a long held breath.  “Daniel was never supposed to recover those memories; the learning wasn’t meant for him. Besides the very obvious fact that his human physiology doesn’t allow for his brain to be able to store such vast quantities of knowledge, the Ancients—Alterius—didn’t want him to remember.”

“I was so certain…”  Words seem to fail Geras who leaned forward on the table top and rested his head in hands.

“You couldn’t have known, and neither could we at the time.  You see, we recently learned that Daniel is a true Ancient, and despite now having access to some of his original childhood memories, most of his time as an ascended being has been denied to him.  When he was descended the first time it was to mortal parents.  His mind, his essence, was given to a human child but nothing more.  His physiology is no different from yours or mine.”

“No,” Geras shook his head slowly, a finger raised in front of his face, “in this you are wrong.  Those of us entrusted with the care of the Atlerius have the ability to recognize them.  I knew Daniel Jackson was Alterius the moment we clasped hands.”

“Like a physiological bond?”

Geras shrugged, the concept appearing foreign to him.  “We are not related, if that’s what you mean.”

“Sir,” Carter turned in her chair and looked across at Jack who was hovering by the door, one ear on the conversation but his attention clearly concentrated elsewhere.  “I’d like you to shake hands with Geras.”

Jack looked down at his left hand, and flexing the fingers, said cautiously, “Why?”

Noting the reluctance in his tone, Sam added, “It’s just a hunch I’d like to test it out.”

“Why don’t you shake his hand?”

“Sir,” she replied evenly.

Jack muttered incoherently under his breath, but wiping his palm on his BDU pants, he crossed the floor to Geras and with a small shake of his head, offered out his hand.

Hesitantly, and turning to Sam who gave him a quick nod to signal it was safe, Geras snaked out his hand and clasped Jack’s… his face slowly morphing from and expression of  suspicion to surprise.  Quickly breaking the contact, he rubbed his hands together as though he’d been tainted and pushed further back in his chair.  “You are Alterian!  How can this be?”

“No,” Sam offered reassuringly, “but the colonel has what we call the ‘Ancient gene’, something we believe has most likely been passed down through his family over hundreds of generations.”

“Like a family trait?”

“Something like that, yes.  We haven’t quite worked out what the connection is but we do know it’s not something common on our world, in fact, as of this moment, the colonel is the only person we’ve discovered with the genetic marker.  He may also be the only person who can enter the leaning room.”

Geras head shot up.  “But none may enter except the Alterius.  We may have devoted our lives to serving them and carrying out their wishes as written down in the archives, but that doesn’t mean we’re not curious.  More than one child has stolen away to the learning to try and open the door; it’s a game the young engage in while their parents are occupied and has been played out for hundreds of years.”  With a small smile, he added, “Fortunately, they soon tire and leave it to others to try.  In all of our history, no-one from the village has ever gained access.”

“Then you’ve got nothing to lose, have you?” Jack added flatly.

“Geras, Daniel is dying,” Sam pleaded as she watched her CO present his back and resume his position by the door, effectively shutting himself out of the conversation.  “Regardless of the cause, our only hope at this point lays with gaining access to the learning room to see if the process can be reversed.  I think we’ve already proven to you that he wasn’t meant to undergo the learning and I don’t believe you have anything to fear from letting us try to fix something that wasn’t meant to be.”

“Are you sure about this, sir?”

Jack puffed his cheeks and blew out a long breath, looking out at Carter over the top of imagined glasses.  “What did we come here for, major?”

“To gain access to the room, yes, but—”

“And what did you expect we’d do once we got inside?  If there is any technology in there, I’ve no doubt the Ancients didn’t leave it scattered around for us mere mortals to just wander off with.  Hazarding a guess here, and we all know I’m not that bright with all this techno stuff, but I’m fairly sure whatever did this to Daniel is probably integrated into room and if we can work out how to use it we’ll probably need him here.”

“Janet’s not going to be thrilled.”

Jack leaned over and clamped a hand on Carter’s shoulder, smiling thinly.  “I’m sure I can rely on you to convey the urgency of the request to the good doctor.”  Nodding in the direction of the gate, he added, “And take Sgt Clarke with you as back-up.”

Jack watched as Carter turned and sped off towards the gate, waving Clarke over on her way past, not even acknowledging his words with a backwards glance.  He understood her concern, heck, he even shared them.  Bringing Daniel back to the planet in his current state was the last thing he ever wanted to do, but inwardly, he’d know the moment he chose this course of action that is was the only choice they had.  The Ancients never made anything easy and it was too much to ask for an exception in this case.

Watching her and Clarke slip into the woods on the path leading to the gate, he signed and turned back to Teal’c who was standing in front of the learning building with Garas fidgeting nervously by his side.  His understanding of the village leader’s skepticism was severely tainted by his own anticipation of how the rest of the mission should go.  At this point all Jack was concerned with was getting the door open, anything after that he’d consider a bonus.

“Hey, Teal’c,” he said as he sidled up to his teammate, casting a cautious eye over the doorway to the learning room.  “You ready?”

“I have nothing to prepare for, O’Neill.  Is it not you who will be attempting to open the door?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Then perhaps it should be me that enquires as to your level of preparedness?”

Jack frowned and then chuckled lightly—the ludicrousy of the situation barely standing up to Teal’c's unintentional attempts at humor.  Seeing the small smile tugging at his normally stoic friend’s lips, he rolled his eyes and pushed past the slightly bewildered Geras to get to the door.  It wasn’t till he stood right in front of the building that Jack got his first close-up view of the writing.  It meant very little to him, nothing more than a collection of familiar Ancient lettering that to a trained eye told a story, but to him was a sharp reminder of the powerful beings they were once again crossing paths with.

A knot of fear coiled in his chest, tugging at his throat and forcing him to swallow deeply against the nausea churning in his gut.  Shuffling even closer, acutely aware of those watching him from behind, Jack instantly noted there were no handle to speak of; no obvious grooves or devices that could be used to open the door with.  Frowning at the mystery, he held his hand up in front of the doorway and shuddered as a faint electric current leapt out and prickled his palm.  Flinching, he withdrew his hand and rubbed it against his thigh, ignoring a grumbling of protest from Geras who took Jack’s reaction as a sign the Alterius didn’t want him there.

Pressing on and tuning Geras out completely, Jack pushed both hands against the field, forcing himself to relax against the urge to step back as the field snaked its way up his arms, tickling his chest hairs.  Just as the pain peaked to a point where he seriously contemplated abandoning his attempt, the field’s resistance bled away and he all but fell forward as the door disappeared.  Catching his balance, Jack clenched and unclenched his fists, shaking his arms to force the numbness from the static electricity away, and tossing a triumphant look over his shoulder at Teal’c and Geras, he stepped across the threshold.

Met with a wall of darkness, Jack heard the hum of the force field snap back in place behind him as light crept into the room from a source near its center.  Curiosity drove him forward as his eyes adjust to first the darkness and then the steadily growing light.  Finally the light levels stopped at a respectable shade of dawn and the details of the room came into focus.  The walls appeared seamless, and whirling around, he noticed the entrance way had disappeared completely to leave him inside a type of smooth-edged cube.  Faintly at first, but growing with each passing moment, lines of Ancient text washed across the walls like a rolling wave of neon blue and white light, wrapping their way around each of the sides until the ends collided together.  To Jack, it reminded him of the repository they discovered on Ernest’s world only this one was more in your face.

Stepping further into the vast space, his eyes fell upon a familiar sight.  Nestled on what looked like an onyx base at the center of the room was a much larger version of the tear SG-5 had recovered a few months ago.  Its multi-faceted surface refracted the light from the walls like a disco ball, and squinting against the sudden glare, he could just make out more Ancient writing engraved on its many sides.

“Well,” he mused, rocking back on his heels, “what now?”  As enlightened as the notion was of gaining entry into the room, Jack knew from the start this could be a one way adventure to revisiting his own childhood.  If his Ancient gene got him in the front door there was always the possibility that whatever technology was controlling this place could very well accept him as descended and downsize him as well.  He didn’t voice his concerns; only to aware the scenario had to have played on Hammond and Carter’s minds as well, how could it not?  Still, he suspected there had to be more to just stepping inside the room to cause the downsizing to take place… and dollars to donuts, the tear had something to do with.

Patience not being on of his virtues, Jack eyed the Ancient device with much trepidation before he edged forward, keeping his hands tucked in his pockets for good measure.  Size being the most obvious, there were other differences with this tear to the one they’d recovered earlier.  Covering his eyes against the glare—an automatic response more than an effective one—Jack peeked through his fingers at the tear.  At its center was a neon blue heart, a source of intense and beautiful light that radiated outwards and lit up the underside of its brilliantly cut facets, raising the writing above its surface.

He puzzled over the Ancient script just long enough to recognize that the writing on each surface was unique; another difference that set it apart from its smaller twin, and another part of the puzzle he was no closer to solving.  Leaving the tear, Jack crossed to the nearest wall.

“Helpful,” he said holding his hand above the raised writing. “Now if I could just find passage on ‘how to upsize an archaeologist’ we could all go home.”

“You should not be here.”

“Wha—” Jack flinched and spun away from the wall.  The voice was close, so close he could almost feel a breath on his ear, but as he turned he was met by an empty room.

“Ah… hello?”

“You should not be here.”

The voice was everywhere.  Soft and calm but definitely masculine, it was neither threatening nor questioning, and while Jack couldn’t see anyone in the room he could feel a presence.

Stepping away from the wall, he took a few long strides towards the tear, his arm spread wide to show he was unarmed—for all the good he figured it would do.  “My name is Jack—”

“O’Neill.”

“Right,” Jack drawled, “Creepy.  Um, you’ve got me at a bit of a disadvantage here.  You can see me, but I can’t…” In a corner of the room a fine tendril of mist drifted lazily down from the ceiling, threading itself through the air like it was riding on a current of wind.  Slowly as though was no substance to the building whatsoever, the tendril was followed by a larger swirling mass and it didn’t take more than a moment for Jack to register the non-corporeal form of an ascended Ancient. “…see you.  Okay,” he said taking a reflexive step back and then wincing at the stupidity of the act, “this is… better.”

Slowly the ethereal mass gathered in on itself and a human form started to take shape until the mist totally dissipated leaving a tall, balding, middle-aged man standing in its place.

“Howdy,” Jack offered with a sloppy salute.  “Let me guess… Arty, right?”

“I am Arturus and you are not Alterius.”

“Arturus,” Jack whispered, giving himself a mental slap.  Why not Bob or Rob?  “Nope, not Alterius… or should I say Ancient?”

Arturus blinked slowly, his frozen features betraying just the barest hint of surprise.  “You know the name given to us by our children.”

“Ancient?  And here’s me thinking it was because you were really old.”

Arturus ignored Jack completely and walked purposefully towards the center of the room, pausing at the tear and running a hand over its faceted surface.  “Had you been Alterius the tear would have transformed you upon contact.  Curious, in the millennia the tear has serviced the others it has never once failed me.” He jutted his chin in Jack’s direction and then looked over in the direction of the doorway.  “How is it you were able to access the learning room?”

Jack shrugged one shoulder and smiled, “Just strolled on in.  You know how it is—out for a walk, see a nice building and wanna take a look.”

“You lie.”

“Generally?  No.  But if the circumstances warrant it, then yep, I’m up there with the sinners.”

“Sarcasm as a defense.  A human trait I never fully understood.”

Jack snorted softly.  “Well, ya got yaself banished to a planet load of mortals so I guess you’ll have to live with all of our witty repartees and slick one liners.”

“Had you been on of the Angelus Gen then this would be so, but you are not.”  Arturus started a slow circle around Jack, casting his gaze up and down.  “You have not been tainted by ascension.”

“Nope,” Jack said confidently, “How’d ya guess?”

“Besides the tear not commencing your learning, you do not hold the aura of ascendancy.  However, you were able to gain access to the room which leads me to believe you are from Alterius lineage and carry our marker in your blood.”

Jack forced back a smile and an equally witty remark.  There was a kind of rudeness about the Ancients that had never settled well with him despite the reluctant gratitude he reserved for Oma DeSala.  While deigning to admit it to anyone, he was grateful the ancient crone had chosen Daniel for ascension in his moment of need, even though his team still had to live through the pain of his loss.  The leery loftiness of Arturus grated on Jack’s nerves and appeared to be a trait common to his kind, but despite this, he needed the man’s help and a quick lesson in biting his tongue was in order.

“If you mean the nifty gene that allows me to do amazing stuff, then yes, I carry the marker.”

“You have powers?  This should not be.”

“No, I said amazing stuff.”

“Ah,” Arturus smiled falsely, “You exaggerate your own potential.  Another quaint human trait.”

“We are certainly full of it, yes.”  Jack winced at his words and pinched the bridge of his nose.  “This is getting now where.  I came here for your help.”

Arturus rewarded him with a sideways glance as he strode back over to the tear.  “This much I suspected.  You have come about an Alterius child?”

“You know?”

“I can think of no other reason for your being here. Which child are you seeking?”

“His name is Daniel Jackson.”

“That name is unfamiliar to me.  In the time measured by your life span there have only been two Alterius descended into the learning.  Lohan and Deshal.”

“Oiy,” Jack cringed, “Deshal, now there’s a name I never wanted to hear again.”

“What argument do you have with him?”

“Ah, none, well, aside from the fact that we’d like him back.”

“I don’t understand.  Deshal would have come here seeking the learning.  Despite it not being sanctioned among the others, the process is no secret and available to all.  For you to have had a problem with him insinuates that he has had interaction with the lower plains.”

“Oh, he’s had plenty of interaction, but I don’t think it’s quite what you’re thinking.  You see…Deshal… was not descended when he undertook the learning.  It was all a big… huge mistake.”

“Impossible.  To undertake the learning and be granted the ability for unassisted re-ascension, one has to descend.”

Jack could feel a tension headache coming on, and not for the first time was he grateful for being the brawns of the team and not the brains.

“Ever heard of a lady called Oma DeSala?” he asked, massaging the back of his scull.

Arturus let out a throaty chuckle.  “A whelp, she was but a child beginning her path to ascension when I rose the first time.  I did hear of her from some who came to me seeking assistance, but I have never engaged myself in the trivialities of others.  What has she done to bring her to your attention?”

“She was the Ancient who helped Deshal ascend and we’re also assuming it was her that forced him to descend.”

Arturus held up his hand, “Wait! You say Oma ascended Deshal?  He was an Ancient, and no ancient requires the assistance of another to first ascend.”

“Yeah, well… this is where it all gets a bit squirrelly.  Can I take it you’ve got no idea what about what’s going on here and that you don’t know Deshal and Daniel Jackson are the same person?”

“That is becoming highly apparent.”

“So, you’re not all knowing and all seeing.  If this,” Jack held out his hands to encompass the room, “is all your doing and you’re as powerful as the other Ancients we’ve met, then ya have to know what’s going on here.”

“Time is linear, Jack O’Neill, and despite your belief to the contrary, I can not be everywhere and nor can I know everything.  Even the most ancient of the Alterius are but mere children in the eyes of universal knowledge.”

“Ah,” Jack pointed a finger in the air, “I take it that’s a no?”

“Your assumption that I am aware of every detail of those who undertake the learning is not quite correct. The tear serves a specific purpose and a by-product of that process alerts me to those who have descended.  Their life history and reasons for descending are not my concern.  The tear guides the process and reacts independent of my command.”

Hazarding a guess, Jack added, “Like a caretaker?”

“If you will, yes.”

“Carter was right.  You set all this up—this building, the village, all of it—before you ascended.  For what reason though?”

Arturus smiled thinly and rested his hand atop the tear.  Physical interaction with the corporeal world, Jack didn’t think that was possible unless the person chose to ascend, and he was pretty sure this guy hadn’t.  He’d save that tidbit of information for Carter to chew over later.

“You are correct in that I set this up before I ascended, but that would allude to me knowing in advance what my purpose for the tear was.  I did not.  Like some of the others, this is not the first time I have ascended.  However, ascension is not quite as pleasurable as you might regard it to be.  There are many rules that govern our interaction with the lower plains, and after thousands of years, the novelty does tend to wear off.”

“Get’s boring, huh?”

“Safer to say that there is not much interaction between the ascended—”

“Unless you get yourself in trouble,” Jack interjected with a toothy smile.

“Quite,” Arturus agreed begrudgingly. “Slowly at first, but in ever increasing numbers, many of our kind sought to regain their human form and once again experience the simple act of living.  While this is quite achievable through the act of descension, we are all aware that to re-ascend requires the help of an already ascended being, and many are not quite as forgiving of those that chose to leave the higher plains.  Added to this is the fact that our physical representations are unable to retain the knowledge we gained through ascendancy.  This alone made retaking human form an unpleasant prospect.”

“So?  You obviously came up with a solution.”

Arturus patted the tear and smiled.  “While I was ascended the first time, I developed the first tear.  Its purpose is simple.  When an ascended being wishes to descend, they are sent into the learning chamber.  The tear not only alters their physical parameters but allows for advanced neural development to take place.  The two work in tandem though and one cannot occur without the other.”

“Which brings us back to Daniel… Deshal.  It really is a huge pity you guys aren’t all knowing because right now I really don’t want to be hashing over all this again.”

“You say they are the same person and yet I don’t see how this can be.”

“Well, I’d like to say it’s quite easy but as I don’t fully understand it all myself, I’m got with not so easy.  Let’s just say that Daniel started off life as an Ancient who ascended at a very young age but could cope with the process so the others, after a long period of debate, chose to descend him to human parents who raised him as their own.  Years later, Daniel—once known as Deshal—decides to sacrifice himself to save a planet load of ingratiates and just as he’s dying a very horrible death, Oma makes an appearance and offers him ascension.”

“Ah,” Arturus tapped his chin in thought.  “Young Oma ascended to be quite the rebel it seems.  In many ways, she walks a much finer line than myself.”

“For a supposedly enlightened race that lives by the rule of non-interference, you do a heck of a lot of… interfering.”

“Some do,” Arturus agreed with a bob of his head, “but most prefer the solitude and quiet contemplation that comes with attaining ascension.”

“Ah,” Jack purposefully cleared his throat.  “Yes, well, sufficed to say, our Daniel chose the other path of ascension and sorta followed in Oma’s footsteps.”

“He chose to help others ascend?”

“No.  Yes.  Sorta—he kinda offered it up but never had to follow through in the end.  Long story.  I don’t think that was his crime though because they would have booted him out of heaven months earlier.  Nope, best we can tell, Daniel tried to prevent the destruction of his family’s homeword but using his ascended powers against an enemy… again, long story short.  Anyway, we think the others punished him for interfering and forced him to descend.”

“Forced?” Arturus’ brown knotted in thought.  “No one can be forced to descend, at least not as I recall.  Descension is a conscious process on the part of the individual.  Granted there may be exceptions to this rule, but I have never heard of anyone being forced into such an action.”

“What about having it done for them?”

“As I said, it’s a conscious process.  While I accept my banishment to this world has been rather absolute for the last several millennia, I can not fathom any reason as to why such an act would take place.”

“Well, however it happened… it happened.  We found Daniel by chance several months’ later living with a bunch of nomads, his memory wiped clean.”

“His is quite the sordid history it appears.  If he once again walks with his own kind am I to take it that he regained his lost memories and became aware of his Ancient past?”

Jack shrugged and suddenly wished for a chair and cold beer.  “Not so much, no.  Actually, we came across one of these,” Jack cocked his thumb at the dormant tear, “only it was smaller.  Story has it that Daniel’s real mother tried to track him down and sent out a bunch of these things to find him.”

“Hmm, I was afraid this technology would be misused and it appears my assumptions were correct.  I developed the first tear for the process of the learning but in an effort to hide its true purpose from the others, I made smaller versions that fulfilled a variety of uses.”

“I thought you guys couldn’t do that type of thing when you ascended?  Being all glowy and… such.”

Arturus threw Jack a quizzical stare and shook his head.  “We have already ascertained that I developed the tear before my ascension.  Keeping its true purpose hidden from the others was the only way I could establish the learning building and Angelus Gens.  The smaller tears were intended to keep my peers interest elsewhere while I enacted my plan.”

“Ah.”  Jack had to agree, it was a good plan.  “Well, your little ruse must have worked because when Daniel handled the tear it tried to ascend him again but only succeeded in downsizing him to about the age of 5.  That’s where Oma stepped in and returned him to his normal adult self complete with a full set of memories about his original childhood.”

Arturus bowed his head in thought and knotting his hands together under his chin, turned away and headed towards the back of the room.  Unsure as to whether the conversation was over, Jack shuffled after him, pulling up short as the Ancient turned back towards him.

“Look,” Jack said, tossing one had out, palm upwards.  “The thing is, Daniel’s dying and there’s nothing our doctors can do to save him.  This,” he waved over his shoulder at the tear, “learning gig, well, it wasn’t meant for him.  My 2IC has already pretty much determined that this process was only supposed to be used on true ascended beings, and Daniel isn’t.  Well, he was once—”

“He was a human helped along the path to ascension by another ascended being.  When the others chose to descend him into his mother they made him truly human.  It is my understanding that Geras recognized the aura of ascension from his more recent past and pressed the learning upon him claiming it was his right.”

“Yep,” Jack confirmed, “that pretty much sums it up.  Point is, can you fix it?”

Stepping from the artificial light of the learning room and out into the harsh glare of the midday sun hurt, and shielding his hands above his still sensitive eyes, Jack sought out the rest of this team.

“O’Neill!”  Jack turned towards Teal’c who was standing off to one side of the building with the rest of SG-7 and waved, noting the curious absence of Carter and Clarke.

“Any word from Carter,” he asked as he jogged to meet them.

“Major Carter is at the gate and awaiting the arrive of the medical team with young Daniel Jackson.  Doctor Fraiser has voiced her dissatisfaction at the decision to allow him off world and would like to discuss the issue with you at a more convenient moment.”

“That’s doc talk for ‘she’s gonna rip me a new one’.”

“A new what, O’Neill?”

Jack clapped a hand on Teal’c's shoulder and grinned, “Never mind, big guy, I can handle the doc.”

“Sir,” Captain Cerra stepped forward from the circle of SG-7, “you weren’t inside for very long, were you able to find anything to help Doctor Jackson?”

Jack flipped the cover open on his watch, sure he’d been gone for at least a good hour, but the time showed only ten minutes has past.  “Not a thing, Captains.  I did however have an interesting conversation with an Ancient.”

“Arturus?”

“The one and only.”

Geras, who had been standing apart from the teams, stepped forward and broke into the conversation, “You spoke to an Alterius!”  He spat the words out like an accusation, glaring open mouthed at Jack.  “Our people have guarded the learning and carried out the wishes of the Alterius for many—”

“Yadda, yadda,” Jack brushed Geras off with a wave of his hand.  “Old news.  Look, I’m sure you’ve done a knock-up job of things as well, but you people really need to get out and about.  There’s a whole galaxy out there to explore instead of sitting back here on your collective assets standing guard over some Ancient relic.”

“But the learning!”

“Doesn’t need a whole village to be on the lookout for the odd ascended being that wants a second chance at childhood.  The truth of the matter is, and Arturus readily admits to this, you people have grown stagnant here.  His banishment means that he’s being monitored pretty closely wasn’t even watching when Daniel went through the learning.  It shouldn’t have happened.  For my part, well, I should have gone with my gut feeling and about faced him back to the gate.”

“Teal’c this is Sam.” Teal’c reached for his vest radio.  “Go ahead, Major Carter.”

“The medical team with Doctor Fraiser has cleared the gate and we’re about five minutes out.  Any sign of the Colonel?”

Teal’c nodded at Jack who responded on his own set.  “Reports of my ascension have been greatly over exaggerated, Carter.”

“Sir!  Good to hear your voice.”

“You too.  I take it there were no problems getting Daniel through the gate?”

There was a beat of silence and Jack could imagine the glaring daggers Doc Fraiser was aiming in his direction.

“He’s still intubated and the mobile special care unit stood up to gate travel without a hitch.”

Jack let out a sigh of relief and looked over towards the glade, hoping to catch any sign of the medical team, but the path was clear.

“Ah, Carter?”

“Sir?”

“I don’t suppose you happened to bring a set of Daniel’s BDU’s, you know… just in case?”

“No, sir, sorry.”

“Never mind, O’Neill out.”

Jack turned back to Teal’c and grinned.  “I don’t think he’s going to appreciate waking up dressed in nothing but a newborns diaper, do you?”

“Indeed not.”

Fraiser was pissed and Jack didn’t need a second glance at her dour expression and stand-offish posture to figure that out.  He’d over ridden her and it wasn’t something he was proud of.  He knew she was aware their options were severely limited in what care she could provide for SG-1′s fourth, but clearly the prospect of actually returning him to the planet while still intubated wasn’t one she’d fully considered.

Jack could sorta see her reasoning, but this wasn’t the first time they’d had to resort to a life and death dash back to some planet to save a team members life.  The whole addiction thing with The Light popped to the front of his mind and he wasn’t lost on the irony that the mad dash then had also been for Daniel.  No doubt about it, the kid had a knack for attracting trouble.

Playing it safe and trying to keep his six below Fraiser’s radar, he took a back seat to the medical team swarming around the tiny special care unit like honey bees.  His initial impulse was to wade on in and check on his kid, but he resisted the urge, and had to be content with the fleet look he got as they set the unit on top of a hastily found table.

How was he going to do this?  Arturus was happy enough to reverse the effects of the tear, even know that he would probably draw the attention of the others in the process.  Seems they turned a blind eye to his little descension business if he wasn’t directly involved in its operation.  Safer to sit back in his caretaker roll and watch the bodies fly out the other end.  Jack conceded that while he didn’t particularly like the guy, he’d give him points for smarts.

The biggest trouble was the fact that Daniel was intubated and Jack was the only one who could enter the room.  He’d argued the fact with Arturus and suggested he could at least let a member of the medical team in, but even as the words slipped out of his mouth he knew what the answer would be.  Arturus was still ascended and there was no way for him to physically interact with the technology maintaining the field around the building.  Bummer!

Taking stock of everything he’d learned from the Ancient, Jack had come to the conclusion that the only piece of technology Arturus could interact with was the tear itself.  Handy really as it was the only part essential to the whole plan.

No way of getting the unit inside, no help from anyone else, Jack was on his own… and Janet Fraiser was not happy.

“We have to extubate him,” she mumbled through her hand as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “His vitals are stable and have been for the last several hours, and there’s no way the colonel can handle him while he’s on the ventilator.  Unless someone’s got any other suggestions?”

After a chorus of muted no’s, Jack left the medical team to prepare Daniel for what he hoped would be his last minutes as an infant.

“Sir?”  Carter tugged of her cap and tucked into the top of her TAC vest.  “This Arturus.”

“What about him, Carter?”

“He’s taking a big risk here in helping us.”

“Afraid someone swoop down and stop him?”

“It had crossed my mind, sir.”

“It’s crossed his as well, but I guess he’s hoping they’ll see this for what it is: a mistake being fixed.”

Carter didn’t quite agree.  “They let Oma repair the damage from the last tear, twice could be a bit of a stretch.”

“In that case, the Ancients should do a better job of cleaning up the messes they make.  This isn’t us futzing with them, Carter, its them blindly negating their own policy of non-interference and stretching the fit with the outcome.  Unfortunately, I don’t think this will be the last time we cross paths with them.”

“Colonel!”  Fraiser stepped into the conversation, acknowledging Carter a thin smile.  “Daniel is about as ready as we can get him given the circumstances.  He’s off the ventilator and breathing on his own but you’re going to have to keep him on oxygen.”

“How do I do that?”  Jack asked.

“Simple,” Fraiser replied.  “We brought a small portable bottle with an infant’s mask attached to the end.  You only need to hold him across one arm and keep the mask to his face with your free hand.  Hopefully, it won’t be for long.  The problem will be after the transformation takes place.”

“Getting him out here on your own, yes.  My team will be waiting as close to the door as we can get and we’ll just have to hope the process of upsizing him isn’t so traumatic that you can’t get him to us in time.”

“I’ll drag him out by his hair if I have to.”

“Don’t think you need to go quite to those extremes, sir, but sooner would be better than later.”

“Get out of the creepy Ancient building with my upsized teammate as soon as possible.  Gotcha, Doc.”

Daniel was a comfortable weight in Jack’s arm, and something he’d found himself missing this last day.  His head was nestled in the crook of Jack’s elbow while the rest of his body was wedged up against his chest, sock clad feet poking out from the infirmary pajamas and dangling over the ends of his hands.  It was all so surreal, and despite knowing he didn’t have the time to simply stand and bask in the moment of the most incredible thing he’d ever experienced, Jack did at least make not of the occasion in his mind.  This tiny bundle of a human being would shortly morph back into his six foot archaeologist and best friend.  Jack saw alcohol in his near future.

With the oxygen mask pressed comfortably over Daniel’s nose and mouth, Jack tossed one last look at his team before crossing the threshold of the learning room.  There was no pressure this time, no pain from the force field at all, and Jack could only wonder if once again the building had registered Daniel’s presence.

Much like last time, the lights inside the room slowly brightened to reveal the large solitary tear sitting serene in the center of the room as the walls turned from a drab white into a mural of brilliant blue Ancient writing.

Nearing the tear, Jack caught movement at the edge of his vision as Arturus floated down from the ceiling and gathered in his essence to take the mantle of human form.  The sight was as breathtaking as it was eerie.

Switching his gaze from Arturus back to Daniel, Jack whispered, “So, what now?”

Arturus smiled kindly as he looked down upon Daniel’s sleep form, and reached out to touch, he pulled back just short of contact.  “Now, you need to rest him on the floor at the base of the tear and move over towards the doorway.  When I activate the tear it will only seek out someone it recognizes as being descended.  You will be safe even if you stood right next to him, but the light is blinding and it would be safest if you moved away for the duration.”

“He’ll be fine though, right?”

“A little late to have doubt now, Colonel O’Neill.”

Jack shrugged one shoulder and smiled wryly; they’d been pretty much choiceless from the start of the mission.  Kneeling down, he removed the oxygen mask and cylinder, putting it on the floor, and reached into his TAC vest to pull out a small blanket.  Clumsily spreading it on the floor, he maneuvered Daniel carefully down, cradling his head and shoulders.

“You must undress him,” Arturus ordered.

“Naked?”

“I was a father once, O’Neill, and can recall my young daughter growing quite rapidly out of her baby swaddlings as the years flew by.  I do not believe Deshal—”

“Daniel,” Jack corrected as he turned Daniel over and undid the ties on his gown.

“Daniel.  I do not believe he would appreciate waking up constricted by ill fitting garments.”

Jack tried to push away his earlier image of a grown Daniel waking up in a diaper but failed.  The picture in his minds eyes giving rise to a soft chuckle.

Job done, he gathered up all of Daniel’s trappings and tucked them into his vest along with the small oxygen canister.  Noting Arturus moving towards the tear, he took that as his cue to move away.

“You should close your eyes.”

No sooner had the words left Arturus’ mouth then the whole room suddenly lit up like a thousand lights had been turned on.  The warning wasn’t nearly quick enough and Jack recoiled, palming his eyes as the glare seemed to seer his retinas.  The air felt charged, like the aftereffects of an intense lightening storm and even with his eyes covered, Jack swore he could see the light coming through his hands.

And then it was over.

The light dimmed, and cautiously, Jack slid his palms away from his face and slowly opened his eyes.  The room was mostly dark, the only light coming from the fading tear.  Stumbling away from the doorway, the burning afterimage of the room still shrouding his eyes, Jack headed in the general direction of the tear, catching his footing as he hit something soft.

“Daniel?”  He dropped to his aching knees and ran a hand over the body in front of him, a smile spreading across his face as the form revealed itself to be much bigger than the baby he’d set down only moments earlier.

“Come on, big guy,” he urged as his hand connected with a nipple on its way up to Daniel’s throat.  “At least I’m heading the right direction.”

Fussing for a moment; warm fingers dancing over cooled skin, Jack staved off panicking when he couldn’t find a pulse first time around.  Calming himself, and yet knowing he really should skip the cursory exam and drag Daniel out to Fraiser and the medical team, he search for the pulse point one more time and was rewarded with the barest flutter of a heart beat.

Adrenaline took over at that moment as Jack hefted Daniel across his shoulder and with a silent prayer to his shoddy knee’s, he rose to full height and headed for the exit.

The door way had barely revealed itself and Jack found a blanket being tossed across his shoulders to cover Daniel up.  Arms pulled at his friend’s seemingly lifeless body and within moments he’d been divested of his burden.

“What happened in there, sir?” Carter squinted at him, “Your eyes look sore.”

Jack waved away her concerns, rubbing at his eyes for good measure, but more interested in the medical team mulling around Daniel.

“Go,” he shooed with his hand, “check on Daniel.  He was breathing when I got to him.”

“Doctor Fraiser does not require our assistance, O’Neill,” Teal’c reported.

“Did she say anything?”

“She requested nothing but her glare is quite formidable when challenged.”

“So, stay out of the way?”  Jack suggested.

“In not quite so many words, yes.”

His ass was sore.  Hell, truth be known his whole body was sore.  Battered knees that had definitely seen better days cried their protests outwards from the joint and up and down his legs, but Jack O’Neill wasn’t moving for anyone.

Generally he despised the hard orange infirmary chairs but after being granted ‘comfort’ rights by Fraiser, no way he was going to file a protest over the Spartan facilities.

They’d been back from 121 for almost eight hours now and Daniel had shown no signs of waking up, something for which Jack was eternally grateful for considering the barrage of tests Janet had planned for him.  According to what little he had understood in the Doc’s rather abbreviated briefing to Hammond and the rest of SG-1, Daniel was in reasonably good health, all things considered.

Extreme exhausted was her final verdict although she admitted not all of her test results were in yet.  With the ECG and EEG machines recording every nuance of activity, she’d finally allowed Jack to keep a silent vigil, waving a warning finger at him if he even attempted to wake her patient.

“So,” Jack rocked the chair back on its hind legs and rested his legs on the edge of the bed.  “You do know that whole stuffing your fist in your mouth routine ain’t gonna cut it with the women now, right?”  Daniel didn’t even flinch in his sleep.  “And don’t think for a moment I’ll come running just because you’re hungry at 3am.  Nope.  Oh,” Jack raised his finger in the air in a silent protest, “by the way, explosive diapers… not a hope in hell!  You can take care of your own toileting now. Well,” he flinched at the catheter sneaking out from under the blankets to a bag hanging on the side of the bed, “the nursing staff can for the time being.”

“No more rocking me to sleep over your shoulder?”

“Whoa!” Jack drew his feet off the bed and reached for the buzzer.  “Hey,” he said softening his tone and catching the merest hint of blue eyes shining out from heavy eyelids.  “Thought you’d never wake up.”

“Not awake,” Daniel slurred, closing his eyes and letting the smallest whimper of pain escape his mouth.

“Sore?”

“Yeah.”

“Doc’ll be here soon.”  Jack pressed the buzzer again for good measure.

“She’s right here,” Janet announced tossing the curtain aside and pulling around the length of the bed.  “Nice to have you back with us, Daniel.  How are you feeling?”

“He’s sore,” Jack reported, shuffling the chair further towards the bed head to give Janet access to her patient.

She rewarded him with a petulant scowl.  “And he can’t tell me that for himself?”

Daniel shifted on the bed, trying to tug the blankets up higher but only succeeding in making himself more uncomfortable.  “Damn,” he cursed just above a whisper.

“You’re body has been through some rather traumatic changes the last few days, Daniel.  I’d be surprised if you weren’t sore.  I’ll get you something for the pain so you can rest.”

“Thanks, Janet.  Just so long as it doesn’t come in a bottle.”

“A bottle?”  She quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Would it surprise you to know I was breast fed until the age of two and then went straight to a cup?”

Jack snorted.  “So that’s why you gave me hell at feeding time!”

“Wait,” Janet held up a hand, “are you telling us you remember the last few days?”

Daniel nodded minimally, “Some of it, yes.  Being with Jack, moments in the infirmary, Sam wanting to dress me in some mini BDU’s… mostly flashes of events.  Not so much details.”

“That’s… impossible!” Janet baulked, “As far as we were concerned you displayed all the normal characteristics of a three month old infant.”

Jack didn’t agree.  “No, there were moments I was sure you were trying to communicate with me.  At first I passed it off as wind.”

Daniel snorted.

“Face it, Daniel; you were a very windy baby.”

“I’d rather look at it as creative conversation.”

“Explosive diapers?”

“Hmm… my artistic side coming out?”  He retorted.

“Artistic?  Something was coming out of those diapers, but it little to do with art.”

“Would it help if I said thank you for looking after me, Jack?”

Jack let out a long breath and shook his head in exasperation.  “You’re welcome, but just remember this: now that I’m legally your next of kin, you’d better choose a darn fine nursing home for me in my old age or you’ll end up changing my diaper.”

“Next of… what?”

Jack pushed up from his chair and clapped a hand on Daniel’s shoulder, wincing as it elicited a small groan in response.  “Good night, Daniel.”

“Wait, Jack!  What do you mean by next of kin?”

Jack waved over his shoulder as he strode from the infirmary.

“What’s going on?”

Offering him a sympathetic smile, Janet eased an analgesic into his IV port.  “Don’t fret it, Daniel; I’m sure the General can have the court order reversed without any problems.”

“Court order?”

“Relax,” she soothed, “Colonel O’Neill was made your next of kin in the event the NID or Area 51 found out about your downsizing and tried to stake a claim on you.  It was just a precaution.”

“I’m never going to live this down, am I?”

“Ah, no… at least not anytime soon.  If it’s any consolation though,” she whispered, hitching his blanket up around his shoulders, “You were a beautiful baby.”

The End