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Daniel awoke, disoriented, to the white-out of a storm raging around him. He felt no cold—this wasn’t snow whirling about. It also lacked the texture of dust or sand. It was more like fog moving with increasing speed all around. The hazy tornado made him raise his hand to protect his eyes from the filmy wind.
“Daniel! Daniel!” came the call, as if from a great distance. Not knowing what to do, he moved towards the voice that kept shouting his name. He pushed ahead, against the wind, trying to find whoever was calling. Blinded by the raging fog, he moved forward until, suddenly, there was no more ground under his feet. He reached out instinctively for some kind of hold, but there was none. Fear rippled through his body as he fell.
Daniel awoke with a jolt, anxious and sweaty. The feeling of dread still grabbed his psyche, making his heart pound. He sat up on the bed, trying to ground himself in the bedroom’s quiet darkness.
“What’s up?” said a voice near him that he had no trouble identifying: it was Jack. Anchored by the presence of his sleepy lover, he laid down again.
“Nightmare,” said Daniel, taking a deep breath.
“What was it?”
“I was in a storm. A voice kept calling me. Then, the ground under me disappeared, and I fell. Woke up.”
“Sounds unpleasant. Com’ere. Let’s go back to sleep,” said Jack, wrapping his arm around Daniel’s waist and kissing him on the back of his naked shoulder. Daniel relaxed into the embrace. The two men spooned together and soon fell asleep.
Daniel woke up in the morning to the insistent, but altogether pleasant, ministrations of a horny bear. Early lovemakingwas always followed by a brief nap and a quick shower. By the time Daniel headed to the SGC, Jack had already left. Now that he was a general and the commander of the base, his life was full of early morning briefings. After checking in, Daniel went directly to Sam’s lab. She was scheduled to begin testing a ZPM included in a recent shipment they had received from a dig in Egypt. She needed his help with any relevant information given in the written tablet included with the ancient module.
As Sam set the ZPM on a round base, from which it flowed a variety of wires and cables that connected to an assortment of measuring devices, she looked at Daniel, and said, “I just can’t wrap my mind around the fact that I’m here but I was also trapped in the past.”
“If it really bothers you, you could take the Ancient’s ship and rescue yourself,” suggested Daniel. “But I thought we had decided to leave it alone.”
“I know. We could make everything worse. I guess it still bugs me, but I’ll get over it,” responded Sam while she observed the readouts in one of her computers.
“Sam, is this thing supposed to be producing smoke?” asked Daniel, looking at a gaseous cloud issuing from the ZPM.
Sam quickly turned around.
“Oh, no! Step back!” she indicated, quickly grabbing a pair of thick work gloves. She pulled the ZPM out of the base and carefully placed it in on the table. Moving back, she went to a cabinet and pulled a small Geiger counter.
“No radiation,” she said, waving the sensor around the module.
“It’s emanating from all over the surface. What is it?” asked Daniel, not quite relieved.
Sam grabbed another measuring device and looked at it for a moment. “It seems to be water vapor.”
“Why is it doing that?”
“I have no idea,” she said, frowning in concentration.
Suddenly, both teammates found themselves inside a white tornado, vapor and wind hitting their faces. They looked at each other in utter confusion.
“Daniel! Daniel!” called a voice in the distance.
“Did you hear that?” asked Daniel, moving towards Sam, who struggled to keep steady in the fierce wind.
“Someone is calling you,” she said, and then began moving towards the voice.
Abruptly, Daniel’s dream flashed in his mind. He shouted, “Sam, don’t move! This ground is dangerous. Trust me!” He reached out for his friend and grabbed her hand.
As soon as they made contact, the wind subsided, and the dense fog quickly dissipated. The teammates looked at each other with astonishment on their faces.
“Did you see that?” asked Daniel, moving his finger in a circular motion.
“I did.”
Both looked at the ZPM on the table next to them.
“Daniel, ZPMs never behaved like that. They are not supposed to. Are you okay?”
He nodded. “You?”
“Yeah. By the way, why did you say the ground was not safe?” she asked.
“Uhm, a bit of a story. I had a nightmare last night. I was in that weird white fog storm, and I heard a voice calling me. I began walking towards it, then I felt like I was falling into an abyss, and woke up with a jolt.”
“Bad nightmare,” said Sam as she turned on the Geiger counter and other devices to make sure they weren’t in any immediate danger.
“Actually, after what we both experienced, I don’t think it was a dream,” said Daniel, sitting on one of the stools.
“So, if not a nightmare, and most likely not ZPM related, then maybe someone is calling you?”
“What if it is ZPM related? I mean, in the sense that it has something to do with the Ancients, or the Ascended. Who else can manipulate that device to make a storm in a glass of water, sort to speak?”
Sam nodded and gingerly began attaching a couple of cables to the ZPM to figure out the status of the device. Then added, “Daniel, do you remember when you went to look for Shifu in Abydos? Didn’t he walk out of a sand tornado?"
“Do you think he’s calling me?”
“Could be. Was he with the other Ascended in that café where you saw Oma and Anubis?”
“Shifu wasn’t there. Oma would do her best to keep him hidden from Anubis. And I didn’t recognize anyone. Just Oma and Anubis. I fear they are both now locked into some kind of eternal combat.”
“How do you know? What did really happen at that place?”
“Another, even longer story. You’d better have a seat, Sam. I’ve come to the conclusion that Oma didn’t save my ass to spare me—she knew I wouldn’t stay ascended. She needed me to witness her atonement for her one terrible mistake of ascending Anubis.”
“I can’t believe she did that!”
“In fact, before her sacrifice, Oma allowed Anubis to play his little head games with me, pretending he was this really nice friendly guy named Jim, the only one at the diner, besides Oma, who talked to me. By the time I realized who he was, I could understand how he had deceived her. I totally fell for his act.”
“I see. But why was he there? “
“I guess to keep an eye on us and to gloat, like the arrogant Goa’uld he was, about his plans in Dakara.”
“You mean, using the Ancient device to kill us all?”
“Exactly. Once I realized what he was trying to do, I tried to stop him, but couldn’t. I wasn’t ascended. Then Oma confronted him, and both moved towards each other, sparkles flying from their hands. A bright light surrounded them, like a white tornado moving around—”
Daniel stopped talking to think for a moment.
“It was like a white tornado, a mix of what we experienced and the white aura of the Ascended. They fused together in this powerful rotating light and then disappeared from sight.”
“Daniel, I think we should talk to the general. What if Oma is trying to send us a warning?”
====
“So, let me get this straight,” said Jack, seated at the end of the briefing room table, “you think Oma is trying to make a collect call from glowyland to warn you about Anubis?
“It appears so. Or it could be Shifu,” answered Daniel, seated to Jack’s right.
“He did say dreams teach,” added Teal’c, seated next to Sam on the other side of the table.
“But what are we supposed to learn?” asked Sam.
“Perhaps Oma is in need of assistance,” answered Teal’c. “Anubis is a very powerful Goa’uld.”
“Wait, there are a lot of “ifs” in this conversation. How do you all know this is Oma calling, or if anyone is calling for that matter?” asked Jack.
“Jack,” said Daniel, looking at him with a pointed look.
“Daniel?” Jack presented not to understand.
“Sir, I personally witnessed this call. Someone is trying to make contact. We aren’t certain who, but we could go to Kheb and see if there is anyone there who can answer some questions. Perhaps even Shifu,” said Sam.
“Couldn’t the kid just help?” asked the general. Everyone knew he was weary of the Ascended or the Ancients who had previously landed him in one sort of trouble or another.
“No,” answered Daniel. “Oma would have prevented Shifu from having any exposure to the Goa’uld because that could trigger memories of them that he might still hold. He cannot help her fight Anubis,” explained Daniel.
“But then, who can?” asked Jack, raising his hands in frustration.
“Perhaps that is why Daniel Jackson has been contacted,” said Teal’c.
“Oy,” said Jack, covering his face with his hands.
====
Two or three times a week, depending on schedules, Daniel would discretely meet Jack at his home for dinner, and if the spirit moved them, a night of passionate lovemaking. The spirit was a rather cooperative chap, so theirs was a long-term, emotionally solid, and physically satisfying relationship. The fact that it had to be kept a secret from most, so as not to openly provoke the military—who, of course, were aware of Jack’s extracurricular activities—was both a source of excitement and an annoyance. In fact, this evening, shop talk was veering things into the acrimonious.
“Jack, not every exchange with the Ascended results in an ascension. Sam was able to relate to Orlin just fine.”
“But he wanted to be here,” responded Jack.
“So do I! Why are you assuming I want to go?” said Daniel, pointing upward.
“Daniel, use your big brain and look at our options. If we confront Anubis in this reality, we can’t kill him. God knows we tried. If we meet him at the diner at the end of the universe, access is post-mortem, so not the best choice. So, what’s left? You tell me.”
“Right. Ascension.”
“What if this time they wipe out your mind permanently, or drop you on a planet where we never find you again? What if you are left fighting Anubis all alone, for all eternity? It’s a terrible choice!”
“It wouldn’t be my first choice, no. But if Anubis gets loose and uses that damn machine at Dakara, there’ll be nothing left, anyway.”
“Then we should both go and do this thing together. I’m tired of waiting and wondering if I should keep arguing with people about your funeral.”
“Jack, we don’t even know what’s going on. Don’t you think all this whining about ascension is a bit premature?”
“Did you listen to a word I said? Daniel, you have a terrible track record! If Oma can’t handle Anubis, there is only one option: he has to be stopped by the Ascended.”
“I guess so,” sighed Daniel. “Look, Jack, if what you say is true, I don’t think we should argue anymore. This may be our last night together and—”
“You are not going alone,” interrupted Jack. “Things are too squirrely for me not to supervise them directly on the ground... or wherever,” declared Jack, waving his hand in the air. And then added, pointing at Daniel, “I am going with you, and that’s that.”
“Fine, whatever. Can we now get some rest? I’m getting a headache.”
Before falling asleep, the two men spooned together, seeking each other’s warmth. Even though the spirit was not in a cooperative mood, they still needed that physical and emotional connection to face the uncertain future that lay ahead of them.
====
Daniel adjusted his backpack while his SG-1 teammates waited for Jack to arrive at the Gate room before their departure for Kheb. Putting on his cap, the general walked in just as the kawoosh exploded.
“The President isn’t happy about this,” Jack said to no one in particular as he buckled his P90 to his uniform. “Let’s do it!” he called, and walked up the ramp, followed by SG-1.
Kheb was the same as always: sunny, forested, tranquil. The plan was to see if a visit to the temple would yield any answers. It was still early in the morning when the team entered the building’s courtyard and began to look for a corner to set up camp. Daniel put down his pack and, without delay, walked into the temple’s chamber where he had first made contact with the Ascended. He called a few times, but there was no answer.
Teal’c entered the temple next. He looked around for a while and then said to Daniel, “Let’s meditate.” Both men unlaced their boots, entered barefooted the round sand pit, and sat down, cross-legged, to begin their meditation.
Outside, Jack and Sam settled down under the covered gallery, with their backs against a wall, and their vigilant eyes on the temple’s gate. Suddenly, a smallish figure, clad in monk clothes, turned from around a corner and stood next to Jack. It took a minute for the older man to notice the still presence of the young monk.
“Wow, where did you come from?!” asked Jack, startled.
“Holy Hanna!” exclaimed Sam, equally surprised.
“Where I come from and where I’m going are not so different. All paths cross the Big River,” the young man said, coming down to their level.
“Right. I’m General Jack O’Neill and this is Coronel Samantha Carter. And who might you be?”
“I’m Shifu. Hello Jack. Hello Sam. I didn’t mean to alarm you.” Both of them smiled in return, a bit embarrassed for having been caught off-guard.
“You have grown,” said Jack. The young man looked like an older teenager, but his quiet demeanor betrayed the maturity of an older person.
“You have, too,” said Shifu, sitting down near the pair.
“Well, yes,” returned Jack in a contemplative manner. “Do you know that Daniel is looking for you?” he added, moving his thumb towards the chamber’s door.
“I do, but the wicker basket first needs the one who collects the weeds.”
Jack looked at Sam to see if she had made any sense of the last words. She shrugged, but after a moment of consideration, she spoke. “I’m not sure I quite got what you said, but we have a question for you. Do you know if Oma Desala is trying to contact Daniel and, if she is, why?”
“Nothing ever exists entirely alone. Everything is in relation to everything else.”
“Right. If you say so,” said Jack, adding, “Carter, go get Daniel and Teal’c. Let’s get this basket started.”
“Indeed,” said Shifu, smiling.
After a minute, Daniel, followed by Teal’c, opened the chamber door and walked out, his feet bare and his pants lightly covered with sand. Frowning, he said, “I was inside, calling you.”
"I do not see myself as outside. Why enter?” Shifu asked.
“What? Well, uhm, it’s great to see you, Shifu,” said Daniel, slightly uneasy that the boy had not sought him first. Yet, the soulful eyes and sweet features, so much like Sha’re’s, reminded him of his dream of growing a family with her, lost so long ago. “It has been a while. You’re still growing up so fast,” he added, gently putting his hand on the boy’s head for a moment or two.
“So are you,” said Shifu, with a small smile.
“Moving things right along,” interrupted Jack, “Shifu was about to tell us about Oma, right?”
Everyone looked at Shifu, who then spoke, “As Oma teaches, out of nowhere, the mind comes forth, but a broken mirror never reflects again.”
Jack grabbed his head in frustration. “I appreciate the Zen, but we won’t be able to communicate in this way. Please, tell us what’s going on.”
“I am trying,” said Shifu.
“Let me,” said Daniel, sitting down next to the boy and crossing his legs. “Shifu, do you mind speaking to us as if we were little children? As we spoke about your mother, simply, with no intention to teach, just to remember. There’s also a lesson in clarity, if you like to think of it that way. We will ask you questions, and please answer them simply.”
“I will try,” said Shifu. “I want to help.”
Daniel took over the questioning, while his teammates made themselves comfortable.
“Great to hear. Thank you, Shifu. Where is Oma?”
“She is battling Anubis.”
“Does she need help?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“The Others say that he’s learning from her and becoming stronger. Without thinking of good or evil, Oma cannot learn from him. Eventually, he’ll escape. I must deny this battle.”
“Will the Others intervene?”
“No.”
“Shifu, what about your people, like Kasuf and Skaara?”
“They aren’t fully ascended. They live in a dream-like Abydos. I visit there often.”
“Would you be able to ascend them? Could they help?”
“I don’t know. Anubis is very powerful.”
“Why is Oma contacting us?”
“I was the one who called you. She told me all of you were powerful and a force for good in the universe. You must help her.”
“How?”
“You must all ascend and help her end Anubis. Without Oma’s protection, I’m beginning to remember. I do not want to become evil.” Shifu lowered his head, and a small tear fell from his eye. Oma was the closest thing he had to a mother, and he had just lost her.
“I’m sorry, Shifu. But how can the four of us ascend? Are you sure about this?”
“Yes,” said the young man.
“Daniel, I understand he misses his stepmother and wants her back, but we’re not exactly ascension material, except maybe you, and that’s a bet I’m not willing to make again,” argued Jack.
“Look, think of it like visiting another planet—a temporary mission,” Daniel argued back. “Yes, it’ll be a bit weird, but you’ll be able to use your mind in order to arrive at a certain time and place, like when you are using Ancient technology. Our bodies will have a few physical limitations, like no exposure to strong radiation or extreme gravity—so we’ll have to keep away from those fun places Sam likes to study. Yet, most things won’t affect us, like not breathing air or being in outer space, orbiting a planet. We’ll be able to collect energy from the surrounding areas and re-direct it towards a target like Oma did here in Kheb.”
“This is nuts,” said Jack, shaking his head.
“How can this be achieved?” asked Teal’c.
“Oma taught me how to ascend you,” said Shifu. “The Others will not interfere. They want a resolution but do not want to be directly involved.”
“But I am a Jaffa,” said Teal’c.
“Who no longer carries a larva,” added the young monk.
“Shifu, if we were to go… to ascend, how long we’d be gone?” asked Sam.
“If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. Each morning, we are born again. What we do today is what matters most,” responded Shifu.
“Uhm, well, the thing is that I can’t leave my present life and family behind,” said Sam.
“Time happens differently when you are an Ascended being. I will help you return at a moment of your choosing.”
“Shifu, I think we, SG-1, need to have a conversation. Would you mind giving us some privacy?” asked Jack.
“As you wish. I’ll wait in the temple,” said Shifu, walking away.
Magically, two pairs of boots appeared next to the group. As Daniel and Teal’c got their boots on, Jack got up and began walking back and forth.
“If we’re going to try to do this—and that is a big, fat if—I’ll need authorization from the president,” Jack finally said. “But I’m not gonna lie to you. I hope he says no.”
“Are you sure you want to tell anyone there’s a fast-track to ascension?” asked Daniel, tying his boots. “If someone like Anubis could fool Oma, what about Shifu? He’s no pushover, but in a few days there could be a long line at this door.”
“Point taken,” said Jack. “But we could ask the president directly, in person, and nobody else needs to know. Well, Hammond would be okay too.”
“Suppose we get the go-ahead, then what? What’s the plan?” asked Sam.
“We destroy Anubis,” said Teal’c with a smug expression.
“Wait, wait, wait…,” said Daniel. “We should think about this in a more strategic way. I suggest that—"
“No, Daniel,” interrupted Jack. “Every time you invite us to a rodeo with Anubis, things go very squirrelly and I don’t like squirrelly. I can’t even believe I’m actually going to do this,” he said, giving Daniel a pointed side glare, “but I have a plan.”
===
Daniel walked back to Kheb’s Stargate to dial the SGC and inform them SG-1 would remain in Kheb for two more days. Colonel Reynolds was temporarily left in charge. Once Daniel returned, he found his team asleep in the courtyard.
“Shifu, what’s happened to them?”
“Dreams teach.”
“Oh. What are you teaching them?”
“Ascension.”
“Quite the shortcut.”
“They have good hearts. Soon they’ll know that the law of cause and effect must not be obscured.”
“Uhm, sure. Did they explain the plan to you?” asked Daniel
“Yes, they did. Are you ready to ascend?”
Daniel nodded. He stood straight, closed his eyes, and while emptying his mind, he wished his spirit to soar, to be there and nowhere; to be present, and to be an empty vessel. For a moment, he forgot everything, his past, his present, his love for Jack, the child that could’ve been his son but he had given to Oma, the evil that Anubis represented, and floated softly in an endless pool, a slow current gently carrying him away towards the distant stars. It was so peaceful.
“Daniel! Daniel!”
After hearing his name, he finally opened his eyes. Shifu was in front of him, suspended in a pool of light, as he was himself, surrounded by brilliant tendrils.
“You’re now beyond the threshold. You must find your way,” said Shifu.
“Thank you, Shifu. Oma would be so proud of you. I’ll do all I can to bring her back to you.”
Shifu said goodbye with his soulful eyes and returned to his human form to wait while the other members of SG-1 dreamed and learned.
Like a flash of light, Daniel went to the Gate and dialed a planet in the SGC roster. When he arrived, an SG team was a couple of miles from the Gate, returning home. Cloaked in an invisible shield, as he used to do when visiting SGC colleagues while he was ascended, he waited patiently for their arrival and traveled with them back to Earth. It didn’t take him long to find General George Hammond’s office in the Pentagon. He was alone, working. Daniel chose a corner and began to make himself visible.
“General Hammond, sir, this is Daniel. Please don’t be alarmed.”
In spite of his warning, Hammond quickly stood up and moved away from his desk and from the shining figure in front of him. After Daniel was able to fully assume human form, he requested, “Sir, may I seat down? I have an important message for you.”
“Dr. Jackson, what in hell is going on?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you. Please sit down, sir.”
Both men took their seats, and Daniel conveyed to Hammond everything that Jack had requested. He then added, “If everything goes as planned, we’ll be back in a couple of days, and nobody will ever know what happened. In fact, it’s possible that we won’t remember ourselves what has occurred. We ask that you please inform President Hayes, but no one else. Gaining ascension can be a very dangerous thing, as Anubis has demonstrated. This development has been a kind of desperate choice on Oma’s part, but Anubis must be defeated. If he gains control of the Dakara super-weapon, he could destroy all life in the galaxy.”
“I see. It doesn’t seem we have many options. Dr. Jackson, I appreciate that you have come to keep us informed. For whatever it may mean in such extraordinary circumstances, please tell General O’Neill that he and SG-1 have my approval and authorization to act as needed. Do you mind if I contact Master Bra’tac and insist that they destroy the super-weapon?”
“I’ll leave that up to you, sir. But please don’t mention Kheb or the Ascended, just to keep us safe for the moment.”
“I take your point. I’ll let you get on with your mission. Son, while I can’t pretend to speak for all, in the name of this galaxy, I wish you and SG-1, Godspeed.”
“Thank you, sir. Hopefully, we’ll be back soon.”
Becoming invisible again, Daniel returned to the Gate room at the SGC, and with the next outbound team, he caught a ride out.
===
When Daniel returned to Kheb, his teammates were awake and eating dinner.
“How did it go?” asked Jack.
“Hammond approved whatever actions may be needed, and wished us Godspeed,” said Daniel, once again in human form so he could serve himself a cup of coffee. “How was your day?”
“Illuminating,” answered Jack.
“Indeed” and “Amazing,” added his teammates.
“What did you learn?” asked Daniel, curious.
“We learned how to allow the ascension process to take place by focusing our minds,” said Teal’c.
“And how it will feel to have an ascended body that reacts to the environment in quite different ways from our physical body,” said Sam.
“Basically, the dream prepared us not to freak out when things happen,” clarified Jack.
“I must confess, I’m a bit surprised that you’re all willing to do this,” said Daniel.
“Are you surprised we’re willing to follow in your feet tracks, Daniel Jackson?”
“As General O’Neill teaches, no one gets left behind. Where one goes, we all go,” said Jack.
“There is wisdom in that,” said Shifu with a thoughtful expression.
Looking smug, Jack rubbed his hands together and asked, “Okay, happy campers, is everyone ready for this?” After all nodded, he added, “Shifu, do your thing and wait for us in Abydos. Tell Kasuf and Skaara what’s going on, and if it becomes necessary, ask them for help.”
Everyone stood up. Shifu and Daniel transformed first and extended their curling lights over the three figures who, with their eyes closed, entered into a deep state of meditation. Soon they began to transform: first Teal’c, then Jack and Sam.
The five ethereal beings kept their luminous tendrils laced together, rising up above the temple’s courtyard and moving up slowly until the whole planet was well below them. Carried upwards by Shifu and Daniel into the dark, starry sky, the three newly ascended teammates consciously released the expectations of having a physical body and, tapping on years of military discipline, made themselves relax into their ethereal configurations.
Once they learned to balance their own energy and control their movements, Shifu said in his mind, “Follow me. We’ll begin your training,” and everyone clearly heard the message. Moving in outer space took some doing until they figured out that thinking of themselves as light traveling through hyperspace helped regulate their speed and structural cohesion. It was a delicate balance between maintaining speed and thought-guided jumps that made them instantly arrive at their destination.
After their short trip, they arrived at a nearby uninhabited planet to practice the skills they had learned in Shifu’s dream, including how to communicate with each other. There, Daniel observed, fascinated, how his teammates got used to their energy-based essence. Jack took to being ascended like a supersonic bird, flying at great speed and dropping thunderbolts as he soared in the sky. Sam hovered over things, testing and playing with quantum states, drawing from all matter to create waves of fiery energy. Teal’c remained calm, building fierce auras around him that he discharged as powerful lightning strikes.
In a swooping arc, Jack grabbed Daniel and dragged his shiny form with him as he moved in and out of the clouds.
“Jack, you are enjoying this way too much.”
“Hey, at least my knees don’t hurt anymore.”
“It’s good to have a moment alone,” said Daniel, transmitting a kind of erotic pulse to his lover.
“Ooh, I liked that and would love to explore that side of things; but you need to practice your ascended battle skills.”
“I know how to use them, Jack.”
“Oh yeah? Show me!”
Intertwined, both figures quickly flew to the edge of space, and then Daniel turned around and let go of a series of lightning bolts that began to draw clouds together to form an incipient hurricane.
“Impressive!” exclaimed Jack. “Let’s go back, then.”
Once they reached their teammates, Jack announced, “I think we are as ready for Anubis as we’re ever going to be.”
Daniel turned to the young monk, who had been quietly observing everything, “Shifu, we cannot deny this battle. Forgetting was good for you. Perhaps it would be good for us as well, if we defeat Anubis. But, please, do not let the Others wipe our memories completely clean. We don’t want to lose our earthly past. Those memories are part of our path towards the Big River.”
Shifu nodded, reached for Daniel, and hugged him, in the ethereal way of the Ascended, and Daniel hugged him back.
“Tell Oma that I miss her,” said the young man. Daniel looked back at him and said, “Everything will be okay. Did Oma teach you about hope and faith? You will see her again.”
“We must go to Oma. She’s not as strong,” answered Shifu.
“Not too close to the battle, as we discussed,” said Jack.
The group traveled back to Kheb, where Shifu dialed the Gate to a distant planet. “Once you get there,” explained Shifu, “go up in the heavens. The battle is nearby. I mustn’t go with you, but as General Hammond teaches, I wish you Godspeed.”
“Thank you, Shifu,” said Jack. “Today we’re going to kick some Goa’uld ass into extinction. Say hi to Skaara for me!”
Without any further wait, SG-1 flew into the Gate to emerge into a dark, starry world, illuminated by colorful nebulas overhead. In a small sector, there was a scintillating star, but as they reached out with their awareness towards it, they realized that it was where the battle between Oma and Anubis was taking place.
“Easy, everyone, keep stealthy. Let’s spread out and attack from the sides. You know what to do. Daniel, you’re with me,” ordered Jack.
In the dark of space, divided into pairs, the ascended members of SG-1 traveled quietly toward the white vortex, coming at it from different directions.
“That’s like that weird storm in my dream,” commented Daniel.
“Eyes on the prize, Danny Boy,” said Jack.
As they got close, they noticed a change in pattern in the rotating energy, as it began to separate into two distinct forms. SG-1 moved quickly forward it, just as one of the shapes grew suddenly fainter while the other stretched thin and escaped the vortex, blasting off into space. Four glowing beings followed in pursuit. They caught up with Anubis and tried to push him down to de-ascend him, but he was able to draw energy from them and resist their efforts. In the confusion, he escaped moving towards the planet with the Gate, and disappeared.
“He sensed your arrival and escaped through the Gate,” said Oma, reaching out to them. She seemed older and quite exhausted.
“We came to help you,” said Daniel. “We made everything worse.”
“I think I know where he’s going,” said Oma, traveling slowly towards the gated planet, followed by the others. “You must not attack him directly. He’s learned how to feed off your own energy. But if you support me, I will be able to contain him better.”
“But for how long?” asked Sam.
“For however necessary,” said Oma.
“We need a plan B,” said Jack. “We need to kill him. For good. Can you teach us how to block his efforts to drain us?”
By then, they had already arrived at the Gate. Oma reached out with her tendril to the four ethereal beings and said, “Can you feel that drain? Try to vary your electromagnetic vibrations so my drain cannot find a steady hold.”
They all tried.
“It seems only you are able to do it,” she told Sam.
“Understanding particle physics helps,” she answered.
“It might work if we both act together and the rest support us. By the way, thank you all for letting me take some of your energy. It’s helping me.”
“Oma Desala, where has Anubis gone?” asked Teal’c.
“He’s read your minds. He’s gone to Abydos to find Shifu. We must get there as soon as possible.”
The Gate was activated, and the group emerged on the other side in human form. As soon as they walked out of the pyramid towards the sandy dunes and the tent city beyond, Daniel was flooded with memories.
Jack moved closer to Daniel and put his arm around his shoulders.
“I missed this place so much,” said Daniel, tearing up.
“I know. Unfortunately, this is not the moment for nostalgia. The stakes are just too high. Are you going to be okay?” Daniel nodded, drying out his eyes.
As they neared the tents, Kasuf and Skaara came running towards them. Kasuf shouted, “You must help us! Shifu has turned evil and threatens to kill everyone! Danyel, you have come to save us, praised be the gods!
“Good father!” exclaimed Daniel, running towards the two men and hugging them for a moment.
“We must act now!” called Oma. She signaled to Sam and both ran ahead, followed by the rest of SG-1.
Oma didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Shifu, who attacked her with all his strength, but she didn’t let him go. “Samantha!” she shouted. Sam pivoted in the sand, and pushed Shifu from behind, making him fall. Immediately, SG-1 put their hands on the back of the two women, letting their power flow forward. Shifu began to scream and curse, but as they held him, he suddenly went slack, and the evil dark cloud that was Anubis left the monk’s body, quickly flying upwards.
Oma put her hands on the young monk’s head and said, “Dream and forget, Shifu. Dream and forget all about the Goa’uld. Forget Anubis’ evil plans. Deny him the battle. Dreams will teach you.”
Putting the young men gently back on the ground, she got up, straightened her body, and waved her arms in a large arc. Abydos seemed to disappear like the ripples in a mirage. She and SG-1 were back to their ethereal forms, floating in space.
“Follow me,” she said, leading the group through space to a nearby nebula where dozens of young blue stars sparkled nested in colorful gaseous clouds.
“He’s here, trying to hide in this place, where he can feed off the energy and expose us to harmful radiation,” said Oma.
Sam sensed the space around her. “It seems safe here, but I would not want to get too deep into the nebula. I also sense another danger, a void, like a bottomless abyss.”
“Is that Anubis?” asked Daniel.
“No, it’s a black hole,” said Sam, with an expression of wonder on her face in spite of the circumstances. “The remnants of a supernova. See over there?” One of her tendrils pointed towards a translucent ring around a slow, spiraling gaseous vortex.
“That would be one way to take out the trash,” said Jack.
“That’s brilliant, sir. You’ve done it again!”
“I have a question too,” said Daniel. “We learned to generate and discharge energy, but can we do the opposite, meaning can we turn energy into something slow, denser, and heavy that we can manipulate?”
“You mean, turn Anubis into a rock?” asked Jack.
“Well, it would make it easier to toss him into a black hole,” answered Daniel.
“Look, it doesn’t quite work like that,” said Sam. “We can’t really get close enough to dunk him through the event horizon, but the idea of changing his structural composition is great.”
“I know how to do it,” said Oma. “I must confess the idea of modifying his substance never occurred to me. It could work, but I’d need a lot of your energy to support me.”
“We are surrounded by energy,” said Sam.
Suddenly, without warning, a lightning bolt exploded in their midst, twisting their shapes and thinning them out almost into a filmy substance. Oma was the first to react, creating energy ripples around her that helped the others gain their consistency back.
“We must do the same to him,” said Oma, “but while moving him in the right direction.”
“Piece of cake!” said Jack. “Teal’c and I will be the bait drawing him closer to the void, only to loop around, while you begin shooting energy bombs that can incapacitate him and move him over the event horizon.”
“Let’s try it,” said Oma. “Samantha, Daniel, keep close to me. I will need your support.”
Before another energy bomb could reach them, Jack and Teal’c flew through space towards the projectiles’ presumable origin, trying to find Anubis. They could sense a slight disturbance in nearby gases, but they moved past it in the direction of the black hole.
Anubis wrapped his shape into a black vortex and sent out a stream of energy against the traveling pair, but they separated their shapes to let the fiery stream pass them by. Annoyed, Anubis followed them, weaving his trajectory in the gaseous filaments of the nebula to draw energy and send it out as projectiles, but if there was something Jack and Teal’c knew how to do well was to avoid incoming strikes while flying in space.
Jack began to pay attention to how the passing energy streams behave ahead of them and noticed that they had begun to slow down.
“Teal’c,” he said, “Look at those streaks of light. They’ve reached the event horizon. Let’s loop back now, now!” Without delay, both men moved their glowing shapes, now like shooting stars in the dark of space, in an impeccable looping maneuver that left Anubis moving forward, disoriented—but not for long. He jumped ahead with his mind and appeared right next to Jack, catching him by surprise and engaging him directly.
As the two beings began to fight, becoming a vortex of light, Anubis said, “O’Neill, no matter how many times your try, you will never defeat me. Now your arrogance will cost you your life.”
“I’m not afraid of dying, you pompous ass, but I’m dragging you with me,” communicated Jack, pushing them both in the direction of the bright gases spiraling around the black hole.
“Jack, Jack!” screamed Daniel. “We have to help him!!” A sense of dread made him feel like he was free falling out of control.
“We need a distraction,” said Sam, her sharp military instincts taking over. “Daniel, Teal’c, get closer to them and try to attack Anubis.”
Without further delay, two shiny shapes disappeared and reappeared next to the battling pair, sending energy strikes into the vortex.
“Jack, get out, get out!” screamed Daniel in his mind, as he continued to send shock waves against the struggling light entities.
Suddenly, the vortex began to separate into two distinctive shapes, one trying to move away and the other holding on to it. It was hard to know who was who.
“He’s trying to escape,” they heard Jack’s exasperated voice in their minds.
“Let him go!” ordered Oma.
Surprising everyone, Jack suddenly let go of Anubis, allowing the inertia to move his bright ethereal shape away from his own. It was in that split second when the ascended Goa’uld realized that he had made a fatal mistake.
Five little stars, plumb with energy, immediately commenced a volley of powerful energy bombs that pushed Anubis into an uncontrolled retreat. Before he could realize where he was really going, Anubis was reached by a bolt of crackling light Oma had sent, that rendered the evil being into a clunky, dark crystallized form. Sam sent next a powerful pulse that accelerated the fractured being, who moved faster and faster in the direction of the event horizon.
Anubis’ broken remains pulsated for a few minutes, trying to recover their former cohesion, but then he slowed down until he stopped moving altogether. Anubis had fallen into the black hole’s inexorable grasp, held by its gravitational time-space distortion, for centuries to come, at the edge of its event horizon.
Yet, the ethereal bodies of Oma and SG-1 could clearly sense Anubis' screams, until he was no more.
“Thank you for teaching me to do that, Samantha,” said Oma. “I would love to stay around and admire the beauty that shines all around us, but it is not safe.”
Depleted of their energy, they began the long, slow flight to the dark, gated planet. By the time they arrived back at Abydos, they were ready for a long rest. The members of SG-1 warmly greeted family and friends, who insisted that they shared a meal with them. All that fighting had made them hungry, so they were happy to accept.
Shifu welcomed Oma with a big smile, and said, “Dreams teach.”
“They, do indeed, Shifu. I am so proud of you, my child.”
“I learned that sometimes battles cannot be denied. Sometimes we must defend those we love.”
“No matter who your parents were, you will always be my child. I didn’t want Anubis to find you. A mother’s love can be fierce.”
Shifu’s soulful eyes filled with tears. “I’m glad you’re back, mother. As Daniel teaches, one must always have hope.”
After the delicious food, and even more delicious gossip and hilarious storytelling, all under the effects of the strong local moonshine, the team looked for a quiet tent, and fell asleep.
====
When SG-1 woke up, they were in Kheb.
Jack got up, looked at his wristwatch, and said, “We slept for 24 hours.”
“I don’t think we did,” responded Daniel.
“Why do you say that, Daniel Jackson?”
“This letter. It’s from Oma. It reads,
Thank you all for helping me defeat Anubis. He is no more. It was necessary to obscure your memories of these events. It is unlikely our paths will ever cross again , but there would be joy in such encounter. – Oma ”
“You know, this thing when we achieve something that we have no memory of doing is getting really old,” complained Jack.
“Well, we came looking for answers. We got one!” said Daniel, adding, “anyone knows where the coffee is?”
“What about the bathroom?” asked Jack.
Eventually, and since it seemed nobody else would be coming to offer any additional explanations, SG-1 packed up and returned to Earth.
After a couple of frustrating days of debriefing with Hammond, and a visit by Bra’tac, SG-1 pieced together part of the events that had taken place in the days prior. Oma’s hold on Anubis had faltered. They had all ascended to help her defeat him, and their memories of what transpired had been whipped clean.
Nobody, except General Hammond and President Hayes knew anything about their other-worldly mission, but they were so impressed by the apparent results that Jack was offered a big promotion. To celebrate their victory, and to give Jack time to consider his options, he and SG-1 were given a week of downtime.
Daniel went with Jack to his Minnesota cabin, where they spent a few days talking about their future and trying to imagine how it would be for them to be ascended together.
“If we were ascended, it could seriously cut travel time between Colorado and Washington,” said Daniel.
“And have other advantages too, Danny Boy. Do you think we did the deed while we were ascended?”
“How would‘ve that worked out with Teal’c and Sam around, not to mention the Others always watching? I think we did not. But it would’ve been a great thing to explore.”
“I have a great thing you can explore, right here, right now,” said Jack as he entered his bedroom and dropped his clothes near the bed.
“Glad you always rise to the occasion,” said Daniel, following suit.
With no rush, no deadlines, no immediate dangers, the two men decided to make the most of their time together, which could be much scarcer in the months to come. The couple spent long hours in the cabin’s creaky bed exploring each other until, pleasantly exhausted, they fell into a long slumber. But this time, there were no strange nightmares disturbing Daniel’s sleep. Whatever dreams had to teach them, they had already learned.
The End