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Part 12: Daniel
*God...
Make this stop.
This isn't real; I know it isn't real.
But it hurts.
Sha'uri...not Sha'uri....
Help me, Jack.*
I can feel the steady presence of Jack's hand on my shoulder and it helps to anchor me, helps me remember that this isn't my wife wanting to kill me.
It's an image out of a dozen nightmares. An image that's kept me awake more night than I can count. The two people I once knew better than I knew myself turned into this parody of themselves, a parody of the familiar that hides the evil core within.
The Jaffa march us to a cell. Whatever they have in mind, they must want to give us time to think about it...
I just lay there where they push me down. It's too much of an effort right now to get up. Jack's here beside me, one hand checking the pulse under my jaw. If he'd asked me, I could have told him it's racing like wildfire and my heart's about to explode...
"Daniel?" Jack sounds worried.
I look up at him finally, trying to force a reassuring smile that I don't begin to feel.
His eyes say 'bull'...or some similar sentiment...and he helps me to sit up slowly. Those ribbon things always give me a banging headache....
"Daniel?" Jack's making me look at him again. "You have to remember that none of this is real."
I'm rubbing the back of my neck, trying to ease the pain in my head. "It feels pretty real, Jack..."
He nods shortly at that. "Yeah, I've been thinking about that, too. We could be in a heap of trouble this time..."
I actually do smile at that one, which is probably what Jack intended. He smiles back at me, asking the question, and I nod my head...I'll be okay. Maybe not any time soon...
The cell looks like the same one we were kept in...before...but I doubt that Bra'tac will be coming to our rescue this time.
I reach to Jack and he helps me to stand...it's touch and go for a moment, but I manage it.
We're trapped in a dream within a dream...
How are we going to get out of this one?
I start pacing around the cell, trying to get my brain pumping on all cylinders. Jack watches me from where he's standing against the wall...he knows me.
"The Keeper said he was drugging us before. That explains how he kept us in the dark so long...but now we do know what's going on...but somehow, I don't really believe that we can just refuse to play, like we did before. If...Amaunet....and Klorel decide to kill us, there's a very real possibility that our minds will accept that and we will die. And, yet, I don't think the Keeper wants us to die...that would effectively cut his 'game' off right here and now...but can we count on that? I expect Sam and Teal'c are trying to get back to us, but can we count on that remote possibilty in time? The residents...are an unknown factor...could we influence their perceptions from inside this scenario, help them see what they're doing...like it seemed the first time? Can we influence the scenario, since it's being generated from our imaginations...."
Jack is nodding and shaking his head alternately. I wasn't even aware that I was thinking out loud and smile in apology.
"I'm...getting used to it...." Jack says it like it's some great admission.
"But does any of it help?"
Jack takes on that deep frown he gets when the strategist in him takes over. Then he smiles...he's got a plan.
"Maybe we should try a little...passive resistance, with a twist?"