PART SIX
 

“Incoming traveller,” Lt. Simmons called, his voice carried through the entire base of the missile silo via the intercom system.  Hammond, Sam, Teal'c and Daniel all hurried downstairs to the Gate Control room to await Jack’s return.

“SG-1 signal, Sir,” Simmons confirmed their suspicions as the iris slid open.  Jack emerged through the shimmering wall then down off the ramp and up into the control room in one fluid movement. 

“Colonel?” Hammond asked as he watched Jack come up the few steps from the corridor. 

Jack paused, saw the rest of his team standing behind the General, and with a jerk of his head said, “Permission to speak to you in private, Sir?”

Hammond shrugged and swept his hand towards the stairs that led up to the briefing room then through to the General’s office.  Behind closed door Jack told him, “There’s been a hitch..”

“A problem?”

He winced slightly at the concern in the other man’s voice. “Not necessarily,” he reassured him before adding, “Basically, Sir, the clone wants to be switched off.”

“Off?”

Shifting awkwardly in his chair as heat tingled the tips of his ears, Jack admitted, “He’s lonely.”

“Lonely?” The General’s eyes narrowed and his round face tilted slightly.  “Colonel we’re talking about a robot here, aren’t we?”

Tetchily, Jack corrected him. “We’re talking a clone, sir.  One with all same feelings, emotions, and thoughts that Daniel Jackson had prior to the mission to Px3 -989 two years ago.  He’s as aware of his surroundings as Daniel would be, Sir and he’s faced with spending thousands of years alone in that metal contraption.”  He let those words sink in for the General. 

“We can’t allow that,” the older man said after a few moments of consideration.

The thin lipped mouth turned down slightly. “I agree.”

“What is your purpose in this, if I may ask?”

“He needs me to switch him off.”

“You?”

“Well, one of us, but he chose me,” Jack tried for nonchalant and pulled it off well. 

“So what’s the problem?”

“I’m interested to find out a few things from him, Sir, before that happens.  Maybe he knows something that might give us a tactical advantage.” Jack was certain Daniel knew a lot that could give him a tactical advantage, personally, but he wasn’t so convinced that the clone really had any information that the Military could utilise.

“Shall I send the rest of your team through with you?  The four of you can work out the best questions..”

“Won’t be necessary.” The Colonel shrugged and pulled a face. “He trusts me.”

Hammond stared across the desk. If he was suspicious it didn’t show on his round, stern face. “Well, how long will you need?”

Trying to sound like he was making it up on the spot, Jack said, “Maybe a day..”

“A day?”

Ignoring the surprise in the Texan voice, he said, “Should be enough.  I don’t have that many questions.”

Hammond’s voice grew tight as he clarified, “Colonel, you’re requesting twenty-four hours with this clone?”      

“Yes, Sir,” Jack tried to sound like he hadn’t heard the disbelief in the General’s question.

Hammond watched him a while then sat back in his chair and asked, “What about P4x-459?”

Jack laced his fingers across his stomach and laid his elbows on the arms of his chair. “I recommend Major Carter to lead the rest of SG-1 through that mission, Sir. She’s capable of the command.”

“I’m certain she is, Colonel, but I’m also aware how important you felt this mission was going to be.”

“Really, it means more to Daniel than..” Jack stumbled on the name and then took a brief moment to collect his thoughts.  “It’s important to Daniel, Sir.”

Hammond acknowledged that with slight nod. “Okay, Colonel You have your twenty-four hours.” 

Jack looked up and nodded, mouthed a faint ‘thanks’ then rose from his chair. 

“Anything else, Colonel?”

At the door Jack turned and said, “I’d like a brief word with Daniel before I return.”

Hammond approved.  “And some supplies.  Water, food-”

“Certainly, Colonel. Anything else?”

“Coupla chocolate bars? The ones with the…” Jack saw the look in the beady blue eyes, shrugged and grappled with the door.  He held it open with one hand and pointed out of it with the other as he remarked, “I’ll go and see Daniel now.”

“You do that, Colonel,” Hammond said, fighting his building amusement at his unruly subordinate.

*

Daniel was hunched over his work when Jack reached the office. The light on the desk reflected off Daniel’s dark brown hair and glasses, when he raised his face to see his caller.

“Is it done?” The compassion in his voice hushed it gently.

“Ah-” Jack shoved his hands deeply into his pockets and shook his head.

“Oh?”

“We’re talking,” Jack said, nonchalant again.

Daniel’s eyes grew wide. God, what had he been telling Jack? “Talking?”

“There’s a lot he can teach us, a lot he knows about.” Jack pointed towards his friend as he said, “The technique of synthetic cloning, for starters.”

“Earth needs that information?” Daniel doubted with a frown.

Entering the room more completely, Jack rounded the bench as he said, “Might come in handy.”

Daniel blinked but didn’t comment further. He thought the idea of earth knowing how to create exact replicants was a bad idea, but it wasn’t for him to argue.  A lot of what Jack and the Military thought were good ideas seemed to go against his grain, personally.  Jack studied the young man, saw the way he didn’t bother to keep his eye contact, and he bowed his head silently.  After a few moments, Daniel lifted his face and studied his visitor.

“Jack?”

The older man raised his gaze.  Daniel tilted his head and arched his brows higher than the rims of his glasses. “Are you okay?”

“Just weird, you know, getting to know you all over again..”

Daniel swallowed hard and nodded. God! What was it about him that he was getting to know, he wondered.  As he folded his arms on his desk he leaned into the light, the brightness of it glinted off the lenses of his glasses again. “Jack, you already know me..”

Jack touched his fingertips to the spine of a book on the desk. “Guess I do,” he commented flatly as he saw none of the love in his friend’s eyes that was in the clone’s eyes. 

Daniel stared at him then he lowered his face as he moved something on his desk, purely as a distraction, while he said, “Anything else you want to know.. all you have to do is … ask.” Jack watched him closely in his distractions.  “Because it’s not like either of us are the same person we were-” Daniel met his eyes- “Two years ago.”

Jack nodded slowly.  He had his answer.  “Yuh,” he said, his mouth turning down slightly with disappointment.

They were silent for a moment then Daniel asked, “Are you still switching him off?”

Jack scratched his scarred brow as he said, “Yeah, once I get the information I need from him, I guess..”

 “Seems a little one sided,” he commented to himself but loud enough for Jack to hear.

“Huh?”

“Well, you know, you’re getting the information you want.. what’s he getting out of this?”

“Out of his misery.”

“Pardon?” It seemed clear to Daniel that that wasn’t enough.

“He’s getting put out of his misery, basically.”

Sharpness crept into the edge of the linguist’s voice. “Oh, so, that makes it all okay.”

“Look, Daniel, what am I meant to do? He came here asking for my help and I’m giving it to him..”

“After Earth gets something from him first!” Daniel reminded him pointedly, and a touch snidely.  

Jack frowned and tilted his face back, rebutted by the sharp comment. “What more can I do for him?”

Daniel stared at him. “I don’t know.  Have you asked him?”

Jack’s mouth dropped open a fraction then he shrugged.  “Maybe I’ll do that when I get back.”

The younger man shrugged, shifted a book on his desk again and leaned onto his elbows.  Defiantly, he said, “Maybe you should.”  He stared back at Jack’s stare.

After a brief, uncomfortable silence, Jack blew out a long, loud breath, and then said, “I’ll see ya.  Hope P4x-459goes well.”

“You’re not coming?” Daniel rose to his feet, moved around the desk then leaned back on its front edge, his arms folded over his chest, his legs crossed at his ankles.  Jack turned to look at him.

“No.”

“This information you’re getting..”: The brown head bowed momentarily then raised again, blue eyes squinted behind round lenses. “It’s going to take.. that long?”

Unable to say anything as he froze under the questioning gaze, Jack quickly shook his head then shrugged. 

“I see-” Daniel’s chin went to his chest again. 

Jack screwed his eyes shut tightly.  Daniel had to know now what was going on over there but he showed no interest in preventing Jack’s return, or stopping what was bound to happen when Jack returned.  With his head still bowed Daniel stepped away from the desk, went around the other side of it again then sat.  His face tilted enough to meet Jack’s gaze once more.  “I hope it all goes well for you too, then.”

Jack’s mouth worked but no words came out.  He cocked his head slightly, twitched a brow then turned and left, nothing more to say to his friend. 

*

By the time Jack returned to Nine-Eight-Nine with his supplies Daniel was no where to be found.  Jack left the MALP by the gate and headed along the steel walkway towards the main computer.  Over head, the large ornate ball turned and hummed, indicating that all seemed well on this world.  Jack paused at the computer and tried to understand the readouts flashing before him.  He was about to give up when he noticed a small red light flicking in Sector 6. 

He worked out the quickest route to that part of the complex and weaved his way through the maze of mesh and steel to find Daniel working on tightening an over-sized nut with the same large spanner he’d been using as a hammer earlier. Steam leaked from a nearby split but Daniel’s efforts seemed to be stemming it to a trickle.  He paused a moment and swiped his arm across his forehead. Jack wondered if he was sweaty. Do clones sweat? Probably it was condensation from the steam but it did look like Daniel was swiping away sweat, and the action squeaked of male sensuality. As he climbed the last steps to reach him, Jack felt his heart thud hard from something more than exertion. 

Daniel turned as the boots clanged on the top step and the smile that lit his face made Jack’s heart clamp hard in his chest.  “You’re back,” the clone said as he put the heavy spanner down and stepped over it to reach Jack.

“I told you I’d be back.”  Jack noticed the way the blue eyes searched the layers below them.  “I’m alone,” he reassured him. 

Daniel’s gaze shifted and the blue eyes twinkled with joy. “What happened?  What did they say?”

With his thumb, Jack scratched at his scarred brow as he moved over and sat on the edge of a pipe.  “I have twenty-four hours.”

“Twenty-four?” Daniel sounded delighted.  He moved up to where Jack’s feet stretched ahead of him and he straddled the ankles with his black-clad legs. “What will we do?” He smiled as he recalled his earlier comment of showing Jack, for one night only, what he and the Jack clone had together.  

Jack alluded to nothing as he eyed the metal around them. “Keep this place from self-combusting, for a start.”

Daniel bowed his head as he laughed sweetly. Moving back to his previous work, he hefted the spanner onto his shoulder as he said, “I don’t know why I bother. It’s not like it’s going to matter tomorrow anyway.”

As he wet his lips with a slow tongue, Jack watched the clone step back from what he’d been working on then turn towards him.  “Jack?”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. 

“Are you okay?”

With a quick jut of his brow Jack muttered, “The death talk kinda puts a dampener on my thoughts.”

Daniel’s face split with a congenial smile.  “I’ll try to remember that,” he quipped before he dropped the spanner out of the way with a heavy thud.  He straddled Jack’s long legs again, this time across his knees, and he said, “But nothing changes the evitable, Jack.”

Obtusely, the colonel raised his chin and met the blue eyes squarely. “That being?”

“That at sometime you’ll have to turn me off, destroy this place, and me, and Jack..”

Jack’s chest tightened again as he held the unerring gaze. Blithely, Daniel went on, “You’ll have to send a bomb through – after..”

“Why?” That thought shocked the colonel.

“I already told you.  We know too much, Jack.”

“You’ll be dead.” He felt as if he was pointing out the obvious.

“What if someone came through with the technology to restart us?  Or worse, crack us open for our knowledge?  We know too much about Earth and its security – especially Jack..”

“I gettit,” Jack muttered then lowered his gaze to stare at his hands fidgeting in his lap. 

Daniel bent and clasped his hand over them and that made Jack look up at him again.  Their faces were close. “I don’t ever want to be used against you, Jack. This is the only way..” 

The brown eyes searched the handsome young face. In the closeness, he said in a soft voice, “You could both come back to earth?”

 “What for?” Daniel asked sadly, without a hint of melodrama but with more than a dash of sarcasm. He pushed away from Jack and moved over to the nut he’d tightened, checking its integrity. As he studied his handiwork, he said knowingly, “To be used by Kinsey and his lot? Maybourne?” He screwed up his nose and shook his head adamantly.

“I wouldn’t let them get their hands on you.”

“Then for what? For a decent burial?  Who would you bury, Jack?” Daniel turned towards the other man.  “John Doe and Robert Smith?  What would happen in 99 years, when they exhume the bodies to make way for new ones?  Neither Jack nor I will be decomposed so they would discover us exactly like we are today.”

“You’d be treated by archaeologists in years to come like the Egyptian Mummies are treated today,” Jack remarked. 

Daniel smiled wistfully at that thought, crossed his feet and leaned his butt back against a railing. “As peculiar as that may seem to you, Jack, I don’t want that fate. And what about the real Daniel?  He has the right to die with dignity.  His family to come have the right to grieve only one man.”

Jack blinked as he looked down at where Daniel’s thumb had been stroking over his hands. He touched the skin that still tingled.    

In the quiet, Daniel’s voice was gentle. “So do you,”

With a loud swallow Jack said, “I just thought..”

The clone nodded.  “I know.. but there’s really no other way.”

The gray hair shifted as Jack nodded slightly. “Yeah, I’m slowly coming to that conclusion myself.”

“You maybe should talk with Sam about the best type of bomb. It needs to be strong enough to destroy this place but not enough to destroy the planet. Who knows what it might do to the galaxy if it imploded the world. Perhaps send it through on the MALP and have it angled back at the gate itself for full impact-”  Jack gave a soft laugh as he shook his head and the clone faltered in his conversation - “What?”

Cocking his head slightly, the older man said, “You’re way smarter than he is.”

With a roll of his eyes, Daniel told him, “Believe it or not, Jack, but your Daniel would have reached a very similar conclusion himself.  Given the options.” He got up and stepped over to Jack; his long, black-clad legs moving fluidly. Jack felt his throat tighten as he watched. “Just make sure of one thing, please.”  The clone stood before him, one hip hitched. He was aware of Jack taking in his lean body as he raised his face and looked up at the metal and railing world he’d survived in for almost two years.  “Make sure the bomb will take us out.  I don’t want anything left of this place.”

Jack rose to his feet, and when he looked at Daniel it was hard for the clone to tell if he was going to kiss him or not.  The pink lips parted in hesitation but Jack simply pulled him against his body and hugged him tightly as he buried his face in the long hair.  They embraced for a short time then Jack turned and walked away without another word.  Daniel stood and watched him go, knowing that he’d come back when he felt ready to.  In the meantime the clone went and picked up the spanner again and returned to the task he had been working on.

< End of part 6 >