cutting corners

Cutting Corners

By Travelling One

Email: travelling_one@yahoo.ca

Web: http://www.travellingone.com

Summary: After releasing his passengers, Daniel finds himself in difficulty.

SPOILERS: THIS IS A TAG TO LIFEBOAT

Season: Seven

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. Any original characters and situations are the property of the author. Archive with permission, please.

August/03

Notes: While I don't normally do episode tags, this one wanted a life of its own and I couldn't resist.

How do we know that gizmo won't syphon Daniel's consciousness as well?

_____

They hadn't. There had been no guarantees that the beings would be able to leave Daniel's body or that Daniel would remain in his own. Spoken from the unsympathetic mouth of one who had his own gang of a baker's dozen sharing his brain, Pharrin had only promised to do his best, and the only reason he'd agreed to try at all was to save the rest of his people. He could have called their bluff, could have seen if Earth's Stargate Command would have given his people a way to safety even if he hadn't fixed Daniel. Would these Earth beings have let a thousand people die, just because a single one of their own could not be returned to his previous state? The thought of a bluff had undoubtedly crossed Pharrin's mind, just as it had crossed SG1's, but the potential cost had been too great for him to take the chance.

So the moment Daniel had spoken for himself had been the first moment that Jack and the others had been able to properly breathe. Each of them had been alarmingly aware that this was their friend's single and only hope, a solitary trial and error which, had it not succeeded, would have essentially ended Daniel's existence, his consciousness sacrificed in combination with twenty-five others, poured into a body that never would be his.

The relief had lifted the dread off their shoulders like the weapons of an enemy disintegrating.

That relief lingered still, here in the infirmary where Daniel lay in blessed re-energizing sleep.

Hell, he must have been scared out of his mind. Must have thought he'd had a dozen Goa'ulds inside his head. How frightening to wake up like that.

You'll be okay now Daniel. It's over.

Daniel stirred, and Janet came quickly to his bedside, Jack moving to allow her more space. "Daniel?"

The linguist's eyes tried to open, but that small effort seemed to exhaust him.

"Janet?" he whispered.

"I'm here, Daniel. Colonel O'Neill is here too."

Eyelids lifted partway and blue eyes focussed on the man at the foot of the bed. "Hi".

"Hey," Jack smiled. Not too many hours earlier he'd been watching Daniel, in restraints, being not Daniel. Watching his friend be molded from the inside, used against his will and threatened with lifelong insanity. God, it was good to hear his voice.

"How are you feeling?" Janet asked, her checkup showing no indications of permanent damage.

"Headache." The subdued voice was barely audible.

"You'll be fine, Daniel," Janet reassured him. "It's good to have you back." She smiled at Jack, removing the instruments from the immediate bedside area. Gently placing her hand on Daniel's arm, she smiled soothingly. "I'll check on you in a little while." Nodding once at the colonel, Dr. Frasier quietly turned and headed towards whatever business she had at the far end of the infirmary.

Jack studied his friend lying with eyes almost closed, blinking against the sting of the light and throbbing of his head.

"They're gone?" Daniel asked quietly, nervously.

"Yeah. Put them into that Pharrin guy."

"All of them? God Jack, there have to be at least two dozen beings inside him. That's no way for anyone to live."

"No Daniel, it isn't." But better than them still being in you. "You did good, Daniel, keeping yourself out of the way."

Daniel sighed. "It wasn't a plan, Jack. I was just too scared to come out. I thought I was a host."

"You were."

"You know what I mean. I had no control and didn't want to watch myself hurt someone." His voice faded off as he turned his head away. "I thought you might have to kill me, actually."

"Shit."

"Almost."

"What?"

"So is he awake?" Daniel changed the subject, trying weakly to sit up but falling back into the pillow.

"Pharrin? Yeah, he's on their new planet with them. They didn't want to leave him alone on the ship."

"He'll go insane, Jack."

"Maybe." At least they still had some hope. "They think the others from Talthus might find a way to separate them. They're waiting for one of the other ships to pick them up, or for us to locate Ardena. They figure their other ships arrived there years ago."

"How can they help? I mean, even if they could separate the consciousnesses, those people still have no bodies."

"No idea Daniel, but they're hoping. They're not even positive the message got through yet. But it's not our problem."

"Unless we can find Ardena…."

"Yeah, well. Our technicians are comparing that area of space with all possible coordinates. It depends if it's in our system."

"If it has a Stargate it should be."

And still it could take years to find, or months at least. By that time… "So Daniel, help me out here. I've been trying to imagine this democracy thing…" Jack swayed back and forth on his heels, eyes roaming the room in search of tactile diversions. "You know, whose hobbies get priority, who gets to choose what books to read. And how'll they decide what to eat? Will they fight, or eat thirty-six meals a day in order to…"

With a suddenness so startling Jack took an involuntary step backwards, Daniel jolted to a sitting position, eyes flying wide open. "Jack!!" Grabbing his head, fear and panic swallowed his next words.

Jack bolted forward, sitting abruptly on the bed to steady his friend. "Daniel, what? What's wrong?"

Daniel's head was down, the man seemingly in pain. Grimacing, he shuddered.

"Daniel?" Just a headache, that's what this was. Daniel would be okay… wouldn't he? No residual effects; Janet had nearly promised. Jack still held his friend's arms, while loosening his grip. "Daniel? You okay?" Talk to me.

Slowly raising his head, Daniel looked at Jack with painfully sad eyes, then bit his lip before ducking his gaze away. His whisper stabbed Jack's heart like a knife. "Where's my father?"

"Your… your father?"

"Is he here? He said we'd be together." The sad eyes welled with tears and Daniel's mouth began to twitch.

"Oh god," Jack breathed. "Keenin?"

Daniel nodded once.

Jack's blank stare quickly filled with horror and guilt. "Your father… we left your father on P5X 129 with the others, a place they're calling New Talthus. Keenin… we thought you were with him." Jack's voice trailed off, his eyes still staring at the boy-man before him. Dear god, they'd lost Daniel and had an abandoned frightened child on their hands. "Janet!" Where was she?

How had this happened? And why hadn't Janet's tests picked up the boy's presence?

Keenin shook his head, not daring to talk lest the tears flow.

"How could you not be with them?" Jack was feeling the tugs of desperation. The transfer had left someone behind, and now the others, all those who knew how to work the machine, were gone. SG1 could go to P5X 129 and bring Pharrin back to the ship, but would another attempt at a transfer work? This time, would Daniel's consciousness go too? Were he and Keenin somehow too conjoined to be separated? Or had Pharrin wanted Keenin to remain with Daniel, to allow the youngster more of a chance at individuality? Pharrin had said he couldn't separate individual consciousnesses… had he lied? Had their bluff been called after all? Jack could feel the anger rising in conjunction with his fear and confusion.

Tears were running down Keenin's cheeks, and Jack reached out to touch the child's face. His heart struggled to contain its emotions, both for the sake of Daniel and the child. "Aw, Keenin. I don't know how this happened."

Keenin sniffled. "I was hiding," he whispered, not looking Jack in the eye. His lip twitched, and another tear escaped.

"You were hiding?" Jack lifted the boy's face gently. Geez, this child… would have looked just like his best friend, had the timid personality not been so pronounced. Was Daniel in there looking out?

Keenin nodded gently. "I was afraid. I hid in the corner."

Of Daniel's mind?

"Jack?" Daniel sat up straight, looking into Jack with eyes of shock and fear. "Jack! They're still here!"

"More than Keenin?" Jack sputtered. But the EEGs had shown one active reading… and an inexplicable occasional blip that Frasier had assumed was a residual interference that would dissipate with time. No one had dared to consider that another soul might be sleeping or comatose inside their archaeologist. But hiding in denial was of no help to Daniel.

"More than Keenin?" Daniel paused, thinking, feeling inside his own mind. Closing his eyes, he concentrated. "No. It's just the boy." His eyes now were filled with sorrow, the last of Keenin's tears finding an escape. "The child's in me. He's so scared, Jack."

"We'll find a way to fix this, Daniel."

"We can't fix it. His body's gone." Daniel's voice trembled, his eyes revealing resignation.

Jack gently squeezed Daniel's upper arms. "I said we'll fix this, Daniel. We're not leaving anyone but you inside your head."

_____

"I have to go with you. I mean, this is about me, isn't it?" Daniel was not giving up the argument, as he faced his colleagues seated around the long polished table.

"Pharrin knows by now his son isn't with him. He may have done this intentionally," Jack reiterated.

"Well we have to offer to keep them together."

"That's what has me concerned, Doctor Jackson," General Hammond gently stated. "If Pharrin chose to have you keep Keenin, he may very well try to keep you on P5X 129 as well. This may have been his intention all along, son."

"General... Keenin claims that he was hiding alone in a corner of my mind, in which case Pharrin had nothing to do with it. He's probably been mourning the loss of his son," Daniel tried to be convincing, "whenever he's in charge."

"Daniel, even if he didn't plan this, when he sees the freedom Keenin shares with you do you think he'll be eager to destroy that?" Jack's concern was growing. They had to convince Daniel it was in his best interests to remain behind. Jack would have General Hammond order him to stay if it came to that, but he'd rather have his teammate's cooperation. Daniel didn't need more stresses than he'd already had unintentionally thrust upon him. "The people have all been relocated and revived, Daniel. They have no more incentive to want to get the boy out of you, especially if Pharrin thinks he'll have a better life inside you this way."

"Jack, Keenin needs to talk to his father. He's terrified."

"So am I." Jack's eyes narrowed. "And we can't have Pharrin convince him to stay on their planet inside of you. You want to share your life with a kid in your head? Hell, we don't know whether to give you reference books or something to play with. Should we put on the Discovery Channel, or cartoons, Daniel?"

Daniel glared at him. "What do you think I want, Jack?"

Jack's look softened. He was angry at Pharrin, not Daniel, and not the boy. "Sorry."

"Do you think he wants to be inside of me, Jack? I'm a stranger to him; we're all strangers, and he's on a planet he's never even heard of in a body that's not his own. An adult body. He's feeling completely alone and abandoned."

"Would he rather grow up in a head with two dozen others competing for attention?"

"But that's just it, Jack. No matter what, he knows he'll never grow up."

The silence was laden with the immensity of the situation, the unreality of the mess that was the lives of two dozen human beings and Daniel. Beings who had had no say in what had become their new existence, an existence possibly less preferable than death, and no hand in their own futures. A democracy of one; the one whose body belonged to Pharrin.

"Please, Jack. Let him talk to his father."

_____

"I'm going to see my father?" Keenin's eyes were hopeful as he glanced at the one person he truly trusted, Janet Fraiser.

"Yes, Keenin," Janet smiled reservedly. "But you can't stay there, Keenin. At least not inside Daniel."

"What will happen to me?" He blinked and looked down at the floor.

"That's up to the others, Keenin, the ones taking care of your father. We're hoping they'll have a solution."

"We're hoping your dad will be able to take you inside of himself," Jack added. Christ, no kid should have to go through this.

"I want to be with him. He promised." Keenin's quiet plea was so reminiscent of the longing voice of childhood.

"I know."

Keenin nodded. There was nothing more he could do but trust these people who wanted so badly to be rid of him. Why this had happened, he could not understand. Why the adults he had trusted on his own planet had forced this upon him, he could not understand. What he could understand was that he was an unwanted passenger in an alien's body, and that his own body and will would never continue past the age of nine.

_____

The Earth travellers hesitantly stepped forward onto P5X 129, the route familiar to them from their relocation efforts the previous day. Only this time, instead of chipper jokes and relieved smiles, they were returning with grim countenances and heavy hearts. The one casualty of this situation was the one they had tried so hard to protect.

The Stromos voyagers looked up from preparations of their dwellings as SG1 approached with the female doctor. They had rejected the offer of help from the SGC, reassuring all concerned that they had plenty of manpower to settle themselves on their own. After all, a thousand healthy bodies - minus only a few - was a satisfactory number to arrange a life for themselves as efficiently as possible. All their tools and building materials had been intact and readily waiting, as though in preparation for life on Ardena. All they needed was some immediate food, which the SGC had provided without question.

"Pharrin!" Tarris rapidly turned and jogged through the working bodies to the sidelines, where the man he needed was sitting wrapped in a mound of blankets. They'd been nursing him through his headaches and rantings, and until help came there was little more they could do. Finding the officer, he grabbed the man's shoulder and nodded towards the approaching group.

Pharrin knew why they had come.

He rose slowly, making his way towards SG1. Pharrin paused, his longing gaze closing the distance between himself and Daniel. "I did not know how to contact your Earth," he said as the team drew near.

Jack's stare was harsh. "Did you do this?" he cornered the man.

"Did I…? I don't understand. Is the boy alive?" The pain in Pharrin's eyes gave away the uncertainty as to what had occurred.

"Yes," Daniel answered.

Pharrin breathed a sigh of relief. "I was hoping."

"Get him out of Daniel." Jack wasted no time giving the order.

"It won't work. He should have been transferred with the rest of us." Pharrin had begun to sweat, agitation showing in the nervous shaking of his closed palms. "He should have been transferred with the rest of us." The voice belonged to someone else.

"Easy," Jack cautioned, moving towards the man as Pharrin closed his eyes and shook his head.

"When will you be getting help, Pharrin?" questioned Carter. The man did not seem well. Grimacing in pain, he began to pant.

"There is ….I can't…" Bending forward, he dropped to his knees, head squeezed between shaking palms. "Go... go. GO! So much pain... This is not what..." Shuddering with a heavy sigh, the agitated man lifted his face, growing calmer and more steady as comrades' hands helped lift him to his feet. Standing upright now, his expression softened. "When there is too much pain, and the voices so overwhelming, I intervene. They count on me."

"Tryan?" Frasier recognized the manner.

"Yes."

"You can't go on like this much longer. When do you expect help to arrive?"

"It will be far too long."

Jack's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Tryan sighed, and grabbed his head.

"Have you managed to contact your other ship yet?" Carter persisted, looking worriedly at the man. Men. And women. None of them deserved this; they should have died a quiet death, knowing nothing including pain.

"Father?"

Pharrin's eyes shot wide open, shining with wetness. "Son?" Pharrin was again in control.

Daniel's… Keenin's… hand reached out towards the other man, and Pharrin tugged his son into an embrace.

"I want to be with you. You promised we'd be to… together," the small voice shook as the boy began to sob quietly, head resting on his father's shoulder. Sam's eyes grew moist as she watched the body of her friend so compromised, so vulnerable. Jack squinted, his lips tight. Somehow, even at the expense of this unfortunate boy, they had to get Daniel back. That was not an option.

But sometimes, things couldn't always go as one wanted; sometimes casualties happened. This, Jack had learned all too well over the years of his career, was part of life.

"That is unacceptable! Take the boy away!" an arrogant voice roared from the depths of Pharrin's vocal chords, and arms tried to push Daniel's body out of reach.

"Father?" the high squeak indicated shock and confusion, as Keenin raised himself abruptly from the comforting warmth of his last surviving parent. Why was his father rejecting him?

"Martice!" Dr. Frasier shouted. "Leave the boy alone. He needs his father!"

"This man will not lay his head on me again!"

"Hey!" Jack intervened angrily. "I thought you're supposed to take care of your people!"

Pharrin was struggling to regain control, his features distorted and pained. "No! Go away. Leave me with my son!"

"I must take charge! I am the sovereign! You are nothing without me!"

"NO! My son! I must speak… I must…" Pharrin was losing the battle, and his hands holding his head were gripping tighter.

"Pharrin…" Dr. Frasier placed her hand upon his arm.

"NO!" Shoving her away, Martice lost his balance and fell to the ground. Within moments he was being tended to by his people, as they lay him down and covered him with a blanket.

"He needs help," Dr. Frasier tried to reason with them. "He can return to Earth with us."

"What can you do?" Staeter countered frustratedly. "You can do nothing. He was not meant to survive with these personalities within him. Only the others can help."

"And they're coming… when?" Jack retorted.

"Whenever they come, we must wait. There is no more any of us can do. We must just hope he … they do not die."

Amid the commotion, Jack stole a glance at Daniel, seemingly lost behind the crowd. He was shivering, tears silent and plentiful making their way down both cheeks. "And the boy?" Jack asked, knowing the response.

Staeter's eyes widened in incredulity. "Why, he must remain within your teammate. We cannot add another soul to Pharrin's group."

Jack nodded. I knew that.

Crap.

Jack turned to where Janet was trying to comfort Keenin. Sam and Teal'c looked on, their faces pained by the sight of the stricken manchild.

"Is, is he going to die?" The voice quivered and the blue eyes were saturated with terror. A lost child knowing not his fate nor his future, imprisoned and reliant upon the goodness of strangers. A host body that wanted him out of the way and gone, and the boy had never known such fright.

'Sssh,' Daniel could feel the fear, and he knew the pain of abandonment and loneliness. 'I won't do anything that will harm you. I'm afraid too. Afraid for you; afraid of what I will become.'

The tears that left Daniel's eyes may have been Keenin's, or they may have been Daniel's.

"Keenin…"

"It's me, Jack. I'm here." Daniel looked down at the hand upon his arm, looked into the eyes of his four friends. "God. He's so scared."

"What about you, Daniel?" Sam's question was gentle, her eyes filled with concern and worry.

Daniel closed his eyes. "I'm the adult here. And I can't help him."

And we can't help you. "Let's try to contact the others that they talk about." Jack suggested. Maybe they could find a way to get Keenin out of Daniel… without killing either. But Keenin's soul would be contained within a vessel without a body; would the boy not still be imprisoned until his soul should die? Was that the mark of eternity? A living hell, unless they could keep him asleep… and that would be death.

_____

That night, caught between the need for Keenin to be near his father and the caution of keeping the child from seeing the struggle of insanity slowly creeping into the officer's existence, SG1 returned him to the base, with no outward objection from the Talthians. Daniel was quiet for the most part, and Keenin was trying desperately to be brave. He slept in the infirmary, with the dim lights on and friends spending the night at his side.

"How is he doing?" General Hammond watched the restlessly-sleeping man from just inside the doorway.

"He's upset, General," Doctor Frasier replied. "Which is completely understandable. The child knows he's losing his father, and Daniel's unsure of whether the same insanity will eventually happen to him."

"And we have no way of extracting the boy's consciousness?"

"Even if we knew how it could be done, where would we put him? We'd be leaving a child in a… a pot, for goodness' sake, Sir, alone and unattended."

"But can it be done, Doctor?" the general was insistent.

"I honestly have no idea, Sir. He may have already spent too long within Daniel. And if he remains afraid, he won't let himself be separated, just like last time."

Hammond nodded. "Do what you can, Doctor. But remember, our number one priority is to save Doctor Jackson."

_____

"They're not coming, are they." More of a statement than a question, Jack addressed the people of the Stromos. Or New Talthus, as they'd named this new planet after their own. Or this town, at least. They still didn't know if there were other people living somewhere on this planet. Hopefully these meadows weren't part of some great national park.

"No."

SG1 was stunned, though the news itself had not been unexpected.

"For how long have you known this?" Teal'c inquired.

Rhismo looked sheepish. "Our first message went unheeded, as did our second and third. Finally, this morning someone from our third vessel responded, informing us that neither ship arrived on Ardena intact. For some unknown reason, the second ship crashed from the same defect or malfunction as did the Stromos. Our third ship reached Ardena under emergency power. They are unable to send help. Until your computers can find Ardena's stargate coordinates, Pharrin and the others must remain in this condition."

Jack's heart crash-landed below his knees. Hope was broken for returning Keenin to his father or finding a way to separate all the entities. This technology was way beyond anything Carter could come up with, and even Pharrin, who had managed to override all the failsafes, was now useless as a source of information.

"Then we have to put the boy into a stasis module."

Rhismo looked stricken. "Surely you would not treat a child this way. He has no one left to care for him; all others from our ship are here on New Talthus."

Jack paused for only a moment. "He can't stay in Daniel."

"Your teammate would be this selfish?"

No, probably not. "We have to get back to our jobs, Rhismo. Roaming the galaxy fighting bad guys is not a place for a child."

"So let Mister Jackson remain behind."

Jack glared for a moment, then turned his back on the man and walked away.

_____

"Please, I don't want to go back in the box! Please?"

Daniel was sitting on the edge of the stool, hands in his lap and face towards the floor. Jack almost couldn't tell who that was any more, Daniel or Keenin. Dejected and miserable, his teammate and friend had taken on some of the moodiness and brooding of a lost youngster.

"Carter, do we need Pharrin or can you do the transfer yourself?" Jack had made his decision; he could no longer watch this happening to Daniel.

Looking up from her mind's wanderings, Carter appeared troubled. "Is that really a choice, sir?"

"No, Carter. I'm just making sure you can do this without hurting Daniel." Pharrin's present state of mind was deteriorating; no single personality had been able to remain for more than several seconds at a time, and his body was weakening with the stress. Keenin was pining for his father and was desperately trying to bond with a Daniel who was too traumatized to let him get close, although that separation might be the only thing working in their favour. Waiting for Pharrin was not an option, but neither was allowing this situation to continue. If Daniel was to be saved, Keenin would have to sacrifice himself. Yet, if Daniel could have sacrificed himself to Keenin, Jack had no doubt that the man would have done so. Fortunately, from Jack's point of view, that had not been an option either.

"Well the way I see it sir, is if Keenin hides himself away again in a corner of Daniel's mind, then separating his consciousness from Daniel's should be relatively simple."

"And how do you know you're going to suck out Keenin's mind and not Daniel's?"

Carter stared at her CO. "I can't know for sure, sir, until it's over."

"That's just swell, Carter."

"Sir… this isn't my technology. I want Daniel back as much as you do."

Jack sighed. "I know, Sam."

Carter took a deep breath, glancing over at her distressed teammate. "There is a more predictable way, sir. If we can't trust Keenin to let himself be removed, then we can have him hide and we'll remove Daniel instead. We'll then be certain of reaching Keenin."

Quelling his immediate reactions of shock and revulsion, the thought of separating Daniel from his body being no less abhorrent than allowing his friend to remain a host, Jack caught his biting response, pausing to consider the options. It wasn't as if they had any. "Then we take out the kid and put Daniel back into himself?"

Carter nodded glumly. "So we're going to do this, Colonel? Abandon Keenin?"
"Carter, can you give me another alternative here? Put the kid into a flower vase or something? Maybe download him into a computer like you did with yourself once?"

As Sam tried to stifle a gasp, Jack saw the shock that had passed across his teammate's face and was ashamed of having let the situation get to him so severely. "Sorry, Carter. I just don't know what else to do. This was their own doing and they're responsible for the kid, not us. Not Daniel."

"No… sir! Sir? That's it!"

"Carter?" Jack's eyes squinted into slits. "If you have something I should know about, do tell."

"Colonel… what if we find another vessel…uh, body, for Keenin?"

Jack grimaced. "Carter, you're talking Goa'uld host here."

"No sir, I'm not talking about getting someone else to take him; we know Daniel would never accept that. I'm talking Harlan."

Carter watched the muscles in O'Neill's face slowly loosen into thoughtfulness as the possibilities dawned. "An android?"

"He made the bodies first, Colonel. The consciousnesses went in afterwards."

"We left him on Juna with nothing but a generator, Carter. That complex was falling apart."

"Well, maybe I could get what he needs from the SGC. Or if the ventilation system's still holding in the station we might be able to rescue some of his equipment."

"He needs real bodies to copy."

"I'm sure we could convince some of the Talthians to duplicate themselves. We could even try to separate the others from Pharrin and download them into Harlan's… creations."

"No, they're all scrunched together into one big mess."

"Unless we can teach them each to hide in the corner, one at a time."

"Strain them out slowly?"

"More or less, sir."

Jack jumped up off his chair, the movement barely even registering on the disconsolate man beside him. "Let's get started."

_____

"Oh, this is so good!! I have missed you all so much! Comtraya!" Harlan's happy hand clap was accompanied by a wide grin and Jack's rolling eyes. Looking around at the planet they had relocated him to, P2X 729, the one on which their own copies had met their violent end, Jack was overwhelmed with a nauseating sense of déja vü.

"So, Harlan. Your power packs lasting okay?"

"Oh yes, yes! Major Carter's naquadah generator is excellent at recharging me, excellent. Oh, how I have missed you!"

"Harlan, much as I hate to say this, we need your help." Jack grimaced. Suck up fast, they needed this yesterday.

"Of course! Anything you wish. Comtraya!"

"Can you rebuild your duplicating machines?"

Harlan's face dropped. "But I cannot! Anything else, ask me for anything…"

"Harlan! Knock it off. We need to make… people."

"But my equipment is gone!"

"Tell us what you need, Harlan," Carter began. "We'll try to get it."

"Does nothing remain of your work station?" Teal'c queried.

"Oh, but I do not know! I have not been back since, well, you know…"

"Then let's go see." Jack was already pulling the man towards the stargate. Home, to send a MALP to P3X 989.

______

"What's he doing?" Keenin whispered.

"He's building a machine that might be able to give you another body. One that's all your own," Janet smiled.

The child's eyes within Daniel lit up for the first time. "Will it look like me?"

Janet looked away before responding. "No, Keenin. It will have to look like someone from the Stromos."

"But… they're all big."

Yes… that was the one drawback, if this worked; well one of two actually. That Keenin would never again be a child, in body at least, went along with the fact that he would not be human either, needing to recharge himself every 48 hours or so. But hopefully he would not be the only one; if they could get at least some of the personalities out of Pharrin, the boy might even get his father back. The recharging thing would be no worse than Teal'c's previous need for regular kelno'reems, or the human need for sleep.

Many volunteers had come to offer their bodies for duplicating, the request having come after much of Harlan's equipment had been recovered from the ruins of his workshop and alternative parts had been scavenged from the SGC. Once the essential mechanisms were attached, all of it would be wired into that Stromos ship. The machine, however, was taking way too long to create for Jack's liking, even with eight engineers lending a hand. Every minute that Daniel had to share his body was a minute too long.

At least the archaeologist had cheered up to some degree. He could feel the hope rising within the boy inside him, and this in turn lifted his own spirits.

"I hope this works, Jack."

"So do I, Daniel." Jack looked at his friend's tired eyes and exhausted features. But what he saw beyond all that was the relaxation creeping into Daniel's cheekbones and temple. For the first time in nearly a week, the guy looked like he might survive intact. He looked like a man with hope. "So how are you doing?"

Daniel's pensive gaze seemed far away. All he did was nod.

"Keenin starting to feel better?" Perhaps the child would be willing to do this after all.

The relaxed demeanor became a frown, a rueful forlorn melancholy.

"He never asked for this, Jack. I mean, think of it. He wanted to stay with his mother, not be put in a jar for hundreds of years in the dismal hope of someday awakening on a strange planet with no one he knows but his father. And now his body's gone, his father's gone, and he's trapped in someone else's head. Someone he knows doesn't even want him." Daniel paused, blinking. "So much for a little kid wanting to feel love and security. So what do we do? We tell him we might be able to put him inside a robot that's about eight sizes too big."

"That robot will have a perfectly functioning body."

"You didn't want yours. At least, your other you didn't." Daniel's eyes locked with Jack's, the memories of their unhappy replicas too close to the surface.

"He knew what it was like to have a real body."

"So does Keenin!" Daniel knew Jack understood, but he couldn't stop. The stress of the past few days was unburdening itself and Jack was the one who'd chosen to listen.

"Look, I'm sorry, Daniel. I'm completely sorry this happened. But this is all we can do."

Daniel sighed. "I know. So does Keenin." The ensuing silence enabled Daniel to take a long look at his team leader, and the weariness in Jack's eyes brought sharply back into focus how badly he himself wanted this whole ordeal to be over. Waking up to find his mind occupied by thoughts and feelings and memories that weren't his own had scared the living daylights out of him, and would have had him disabled with anxiety had this been one of his teammates. "You're more worried that this won't work, aren't you."

"Yeah." Jack studied his friend's closed stance and tight features. Daniel was afraid, he knew, his future depending on alien contraptions and the will and skill of others.

"So am I," Daniel admitted.

"We'll take care of you. No matter what. And we'll keep searching until we find a way to make it work." That was not an option. "That's a promise, Daniel."

_____

It looked like a flipping zoo for mannequins, Jack thought, the androids sequestered in their stasis chambers in the eerie dimness awaiting life. Was that what SG1's bodies had looked like before Harlan's consciousness exchange? Yuck. Freaky just to think of it.

Nerves were keeping Daniel from entering his own claustrophobic compartment. "It looks worse this time, seeing as I'm awake for it," he commented.

Jack patted his friend's back. "Think of it this way, Daniel. When we let you out, you'll be you. Only you."

Daniel nearly smiled, and stepped hesitantly inside. This machine was different than the one on Harlan's old planet, having been hooked up to the Stromos's cryogenic compartments, but the isolation chamber that had created the bodies was similar. Watching the glass door come down from his vantage point within, he closed his eyes. Yes; either I'll be me, he thought, or I'll wake up in a container outside my body and you'll have to store me on the shelf above my fish.

'You ready?'

Keenin nodded inside.

'Will you remember to hide in the corner and let yourself slip out when the probe starts?'

Keenin nodded again. Though he was terrified, he might soon be free, like he had been before leaving home. He could be brave; if he made this work they might even be able to get his father back. He needed his father so badly, missed him SO much…

And then it started, the light like before, and Keenin took a deep breath and let himself go.

_____

"Daniel may not wake up for several hours," Janet cautioned.

"How will we know if this procedure has been successful?" Teal'c asked. They needed to know before they could continue the process with the others.

"We'll try transferring the contents of the memory module to the first android," Carter explained. The small young man chosen to house Keenin was only seventeen years old. He had been the next youngest on the Stromos, meaning that Keenin would only lose eight years and Regolo would have a twin brother.

"Major Carter, is there not a possibility that it will revive with both Keenin and Daniel Jackson inside?" Teal'c hated to ask but the question needed to be out in the open.

"If that happens, Teal'c,…"

"Then we put them both back into Daniel," Jack silenced Carter's impending reply, "and try again." Like a damn soul sieve.

As Major Carter and Doctor Frasier repeated the procedure that had been explained to them the first time by Pharrin, Jack remained in the shadows, his pensive worried look betraying his emotions. This had to work; failure was unacceptable.

Right, tell that to life.

Long minutes of silence passed so profoundly one could hear a consciousness slipping from a metallic vessel to a lifelike android. Nervous anticipation caused the lives of the beings present to move into the future so slowly one could count the milliseconds. And then, the power shut down, and the glass door rose.

Breathing in the room was at a minimum, the silence continuing as many pairs of eyes, both Tau'ri and Talthian, held fast upon a lifeless android.

That blinked.

Small gasps were heard, an intake of breath and a throat clearing.

And the small hesitant voice, trembling as it said, "Please help my father."

A quiet chuckle escaped the lips of Janet Frasier, amidst the murmurs of the Talthians and a muttered 'yes' coming from Jack O'Neill. All features, now, were soft and smiling.

"Keenin. How are you feeling?" Frasier touched his cheek.

"Different," he said shyly. "And I'm alone."

"No, you're not." Jack was beside them now. "Your people will take good care of you, even if your father can't."

_____

Helping Pharrin was not turning out to be as easy. Getting anyone in there to understand how to hide and separate was difficult; likely they had been a collective for too long a time now.

It was Tryan who finally came to the rescue. "I have a higher tolerance for pain. I think I would like to go first," he volunteered. And so all the others were filtered out of Pharrin's body as Tryan hid in the corner. While the memory modules had not been intended to house more than one soul at a time, Pharrin's bypassing of safety precautions had this time worked to their benefit.

"Carter, don't we have the wrong man left in this body?" Jack indicated that Tryan was the single remaining soul within Pharrin.

"Yes sir, for now. We're going to transfer Tryan to another module now and then into his own android. Then we'll try to get someone else to go into hiding."

With one less personality having now been poured back inside Pharrin, there was a tiny bit less confusion, and the others were beginning to see how this procedure worked. With less tension and fear and greater hopes of freedom, the next volunteer surprisingly was Martice. "I want my own body," he bellowed. "I choose that one."

More and more individuals began to come forth, first hiding themselves away as the others were drained into the matrix memory module and then delivered into their own synthetic bodies. Back and forth, the souls no doubt becoming exhausted yet excited, until at last only Pharrin remained.

Finally, after a long and difficult afternoon, all the consciousnesses had been transferred to bodies of their own, as close to their natural ages as possible. With nearly a thousand volunteers to choose from, close age matching had not been too difficult.

"And? Now what?" Jack asked, himself exhausted from the stress. Daniel had still not awakened.

"And now we wait," Janet replied.

_____

"Hey," Janet smiled down at him. Even with the weight of his eyelids and the pounding in his brain, Daniel could tell that the rest of SG1 was there, somewhere close by.

"Hey," he whispered hoarsely. "Am I me?"

"The one and only," Jack grinned. "Yeah."

"Keenin?"

"Safe and sound, Daniel. With his dad," Jack added pleasantly. He'd been itching to give Daniel this news for over ten hours.

A relieved smile made it to Daniel's lips. "So it worked."

Sam rubbed her friend's hand. "It worked, Daniel. We heard a few minutes ago that the last ones have all woken up."

"With headaches?"

"No way," Jack responded, "their bodies are better, remember? Comtraya."

"Oh. Right."

"Yeah."

Daniel nodded, his eyelids drooping. "I let Keenin choose what to eat, Jack," he managed to mutter before drifting off back to sleep.

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