Monday, April 5
Reality L583

Daniel was deeply engrossed in a translation that was proving more difficult than he'd anticipated. From the evidence of unraveled binding along one edge of the pages, it seemed to be a portion of a handwritten book, and the language was a derivative of what Daniel was almost positive was Indo-European. Further, there were quotes in it that appeared to have been translated from their original languages into the language of the text. That made translation doubly difficult, because translating from a translation was like playing that telephone game they made you play in school. Meaning was always lost.

He heard footsteps behind him and looked back over his shoulder. Jack was standing in the doorway. "Back already?" he asked, glancing at his watch. It had only been an hour since he'd had the colonel in, fiddling with his bric-a-brac and making him crazy. "Did you forget to ask me –" Though he hadn't heard any movement whatsoever, he suddenly felt a strong arm grip him hard around the chest, pinning his arms to his sides. "Jack!" he exclaimed.

"Quiet, Daniel!" Jack growled, putting a hand over his mouth and dragging him off his stool and out the door.

For a moment, Daniel didn't try to stop him, so stunned was he by the sudden attack, but then he started struggling wildly, for all the good it did. Jack's strength was more than equal to his own, and his training made the outcome a foregone conclusion. Daniel looked around, but saw no one to come to his aid, and despite his efforts, Jack succeeded in dragging him to the storeroom that was close to his office where he threw him to the floor and pinned him down, cuffing his wrists together behind him.

The cold of the concrete beneath his cheek . . . the pain in his arms . . . the temple of his glasses pressed into his face . . . this wasn't a dream. He lay there, breathing hard, trying to figure out why Jack was acting this way. It was crazy. What could have happened? Had some illness from offworld just taken longer than usual to incubate?

"Jack?" he ventured. "What's –"

A hand threaded into his hair and yanked his head backwards. "I said quiet!" Jack snarled, then let go, and Daniel's cheek hit the concrete with a jolting smack. He moved down Daniel's body and bound his ankles together as well. "Ready, Kowalski?" he said. Daniel didn't know what to think. Kowalski was . . .

"Yes sir." The voice was sharp and clear . . . and utterly impossible.

Daniel felt his stomach twist and he craned his neck to look up at the face of a dead man. This . . . how could this be happening?

Jack yanked him up to his feet again and thrust him toward Kowalski. "The other one's in place?"

Kowalski nodded towards the other end of the room, and what Daniel saw there made him freeze with shock and terror. On his back on the floor lay a creature of welts and bruises, face bloodied but clearly . . . clearly his own.

So focused was he on the limp body that he barely noticed when Jack knelt and put something around his ankle. Jack stood up and, abruptly, Kowalski threw Daniel over his shoulder, knocking some of his breath out of him and throwing his glasses across the room. He craned around, trying to get away, but there wasn't enough space in the storeroom for him to move.

"Ready to go, colonel," Kowalski said, and Daniel saw him fiddle with some device on his belt. Dizziness washed over him, then passed, probably due to being head down like this.

"Aren't you going to get medical attention for him?" Daniel asked, looking at the man who looked like him.

Kowalski laughed, a very unpleasant sound. "It ain't him you should be worrying about," he said as he walked out of the storeroom.

"What in the hell is going on?" Daniel demanded. Kowalski made no reply, but Daniel heard the door shut behind them and he craned his neck to see where Jack was, but he couldn't see him. Were they nuts? How far did they think they'd get, walking through the SGC with a trussed up Daniel Jackson flung over the shoulder of a dead man?

He kept twisting around, trying to see someone to help him, but there was no one in sight. This was not happening. Daniel started yelling for help and struggling as best he could. In the breath between shouts, though, he heard Kowalski laughing again and anger surged through him. He twisted down and bit him on the fleshy part of his shoulder.

The soldier let out a stream of curses and threw him to the ground. Daniel immediately started trying to scramble backwards, but Kowalski place one foot between his knees, effectively immobilizing him.

"Damn it, let me go!" Daniel yelled.

Kowalski ignored him, doing something with that device on his belt, and Daniel took the opportunity offered and rolled sideways, knocking the larger man's feet out from under him. Unfortunately, this left them tangled together, and before Daniel could extricate himself, a very annoyed Kowalski had a firm grip on him again. "Hold still, you stupid shit!" he growled. Dragging Daniel to his feet, he shook him. "Look, Dr. Jackson, I don't want to hurt you any more than I have to but –"

"Who the hell are you?" Daniel demanded. Meanwhile, his eyes were still darting around the hallway, hoping for help. People usually passed this way pretty frequently, but not today, apparently.

"No one's going to help you, Dr. Jackson," Kowalski said, and Daniel focused back on his face. There was a slight smile there. "No one can see you, no one can hear you. We're out of phase."

Daniel blinked. "No," he said, shaking his head incredulously. "No, that's not possible," he said incredulously.

They'd wound up with Kowalski facing the way they'd come and Daniel facing the way they were heading. Now Jack came around the corner behind Kowalski, eyes blazing with fury, and Daniel was struck by how utterly terrifying that expression was. He'd never seen it directed at him before. "We don't have time for this, damn it!" the colonel declared. He seized Daniel and slammed him painfully against a wall, making his arms bend at brutal angles. "I don't want to knock you out, Daniel, and risk scrambling those valuable brains of yours," he said. "But you have bones that aren't particularly necessary to your function, as I see it."

"Jack, I –"

Still pinning him to the wall with one hand, Jack turned away without acknowledging that he'd spoken. "Kowalski, do you think you can handle one archeologist?"

"Yes sir," Kowalski said, snapping to attention.

"You'd better. Now, I've vanished into a men's room, so we can make straight for the lab."

Daniel licked his lips, nervously, not altogether certain what Jack was talking about. "Look, could you guys just tell me what it is you –"

He caught a brief glimpse of the enraged look in Jack's eyes as he turned back, then a slap snapped his head sideways and made him see stars. Very slowly, he turned his face back. Jack was waiting for him. "Maybe I haven't made myself clear to you, Dr. Jackson," he said, seizing a handful of his hair again. Daniel could feel blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, and he could taste it where his teeth had cut the inside of his cheek. "Do not speak unless you are spoken to," he said, shaking Daniel's head in time to the words. "Do you understand?"

Jaw clenched, Daniel met those angry eyes, trying to stare him down. He didn't know exactly what was going on, though he had an idea that seemed too preposterous to be believed. More preposterous than the dead man standing behind Jack's left shoulder and watching the interchange with a faint grin . . . maybe not.

Jack twisted his hand in Daniel's hair, pulling it viciously. "I said, do you understand?" He released Daniel's hair. "A nod will do."

Daniel took a deep breath and nodded. He didn't need to get himself knocked out. He'd never get away if that happened.

"Good." Jack jerked him away from the wall and threw him back at Kowalski who caught him and hoisted him immediately back onto his shoulder. "Any more delays and I start docking pay and breaking toes."

"Yes sir," Kowalski said, and Daniel felt his gut clench. He had to get away from these two somehow.

"I'm going to the next level," Jack said, and Daniel peered around. What he saw made his eyes widen. Jack seemed to shimmer and fade oddly . . . out of phase? He started forward and Kowalski followed him. When they turned the corner onto the corridor where the elevator was, Daniel craned his neck and began to believe that they were really out of phase. This hallway was always busy, and there was no one visible except Jack, who was only barely visible. He raised his hand and fisted it, and Kowalski stopped dead, waiting.

Daniel started to twist, to try and throw himself off Kowalski's shoulder. The other man's arm tightened around his legs. "How do you think the other Daniel got into that condition?" he asked conversationally and Daniel froze, the image of the motionless, barely breathing form etched in his mind.

The elevator door opened, and Daniel wondered what was going to happen. Kowalski had shifted him on his shoulder, and now he couldn't see Jack, but they were suddenly moving swiftly forward. The elevator closed, just brushing Daniel's hair. He turned his head and saw Jack press a button, and the level he'd selected made Daniel's preposterous theory seem a whole lot closer to reality.

They reached the floor and the doors opened. Jack peered around the door first, then gestured them forward. Daniel didn't know what to do. If they were heading where he thought they were, he was in hot water up to his neck with no way out. They wove back and forth a bit, responding to Jack's signals, and Daniel guessed that they must be avoiding people in the halls. How Jack could see them without being seen himself was anyone's guess.

Jack pulled out a card and held it ready, presumably waiting for a moment when there were no passersby to notice a door opening of its own accord. He swiped the card and they stepped through into the empty lab. Empty, that is, aside from the transdimensional mirror. Daniel started shaking his head, twisting in Kowalski's grip.

The soldier tightened his arm sharply and stepped forward, reaching out. Daniel didn't see him touch it, but he felt the shiver as the mirror shifted them. Then he felt hands on his ankles, untying them. "Let him down, Kowalski."

As they lowered him to his feet, Daniel looked around in dismay. This was recognizably the mountain, but it was a different lab. Kowalski pressed a button on the device on his belt. Daniel felt a spell of dizziness wash over him again, but this time he recognized it for what it was. They were passing back into phase with the rest of humanity. Jack vanished from sight briefly, only to appear a moment later.

He put a hand on Daniel's shoulder and smiled coldly. "Dr. Jackson, welcome to my world."

"Medical emergency on Level 18!" Jack looked up from the report he was laboring over. "Medical team to Level 18, corridor 3."

Daniel's office. Jack was moving before he had a chance to think about it. He ran to the elevator and swiped his card, waiting impatiently for the door to open. People emerged, eyes wide and worried at the announcement. He dashed inside and swiped his card again then jabbed at the buttons. When he reached Level 18 the doors opened and he was thrust against the back of the elevator wall by orderlies coming in with a gurney.

He stared down at the figure on the pale green surface in shock. He'd left Daniel no more than ninety minutes ago. How in the hell had he gotten into this state in such a short time? His lips were split, and one of his eyes was blackened, and there was a purple swelling on his jaw.

"Blood pressure is dangerously low," said Lt. Travers, her voice utterly calm despite the bad news she was relaying. "I think he's bleeding internally."

"More than likely," Doc Fraiser said. Jack shook his head, utterly appalled. How could it be? Who had done this to him. Rage began to build under the worry.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Not sure," the doctor said. "Major Takagashi went into the storeroom near Daniel's office and found him like this." She pulled Daniel's eyelids up one after the other, very gently, flashing her light in them. "Eyes are reacting normally," she said. "Daniel, can you hear me?"

He seemed to be trying to speak, but Jack couldn't hear what he was saying. Neither could Fraiser, it seemed, because she leaned closer. Then she shook her head. "You're going to be okay, Daniel," she said in a reassuring voice. "You're going to be fine."

The elevator doors opened and the medical team went smoothly into motion again, and Jack followed them down the hall to the infirmary. "Get him into X-ray," Fraiser ordered. Still moving backwards, she put up an arresting hand. "Colonel O'Neill, you'll have to wait out here."

Jack came to a stop, hands flexing in frustration. What in the hell had happened? Carter and Teal'c arrived a moment later.

"What happened?" Carter asked.

"I don't know," Jack said. "He looks like somebody used him for a punching bag, though, and they think he's bleeding internally."

"But who?" she asked, sounding bewildered.

"I don't know," Jack said again. "But I'm going to kill him."

They found seats, waiting with impatience. They hadn't even been there fifteen minutes when Carter got up and started pacing. Jack sat with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. He should be out there, trying to figure out who had done this, but he couldn't leave without knowing if Daniel was going to be all right . . . if he was even going to live . . .

"Colonel O'Neill?" Jack looked up in surprise. General Hammond was gazing down at him sternly, flanked by Feretti and Makepeace. "You are under arrest for the assault of Dr. Daniel Jackson."

"What?" Jack exclaimed, coming to his feet in shock.

Carter and Teal'c seemed to be struck speechless.

Hammond took a deep breath. "You are under arrest for the assault of Dr. Daniel Jackson."

"That's insane! I'd never hurt –"

"We've got video footage of you dragging Daniel through the hall from his office to the storeroom, colonel."

Jack's jaw dropped and he shook his head wordlessly.

"But that's impossible!" Carter said. "Colonel O'Neill would never do a thing like that."

"I would never have thought so," Hammond said, "but I've seen the footage. Colonel O'Neill, please go with Feretti and Makepeace quietly."

"But sir –" Jack looked toward the surgery where Dr. Fraiser was patching Daniel up.

"Go," Hammond said firmly, and, utterly baffled by this turn of events, he went.