STARGATE: EXPLORER

by Lady Grey
Alpha/Beta by Jude

November 1

The Next Day

“Some concert last night, huh?” asked Jack as he sauntered down the road. “That’s quite a music box these folks have.”

“I’ll say,” Daniel agreed. The memory of the Furling music and light show still choked him up, but he tucked the memory away, concentrating on the obelisk instead as they approached it.

He still hadn’t mentioned the locking device to Jack. It just didn’t feel like the right time, and he’d learned to trust his intuition over the years. The weight of the PDHD tugged at his trouser pocket, but was well hidden by the drape of his cloak over his back and thighs.

“So, you’ll be sending some diplomats through when you get back to Alpha?” asked Daniel casually.

“I’d still feel better about this if you’d come back with me now,” Jack admitted, his expression growing a little tense. “There are other reasons why you’re needed.”

“I’ll be right after you,” he promised. “I have something to do here, and then I’ll be on my way. The People have a lot of supplies to drop off, and once they’re done with that, the elders will stay on to talk to the diplomatic team.”

Jack nodded. “I’m trusting you on this.” He clapped Daniel on the shoulder and smiled, his face relaxing a bit. “Good to see you, Daniel. Just when I think you’re really, finally, permanently dead, there y’are.”

Daniel grinned at him. “The proverbial bad penny?”

“More like a Cheshire cat with nine lives.”

Jack ambled around the pillar and used the DHD to key in the glyphs for the Alpha base.  While he waited for the gate to finish dialing, he eyed the mass of gathered Furlings, all of whom were giving the stargate a wide berth.  He was looking for one in particular, and finally he spied the Grass Clan elder not far behind Daniel.

“I’ll be back for that fishing date as soon as I can,” he called out to Hunter.  “Maybe we’ll even bag us some of those warthogs Daniel told me about.”

“Ghidan,” the alien corrected with a gravelly laugh. “See you soon, O’Neill.”

Moments later, after a final wave to Daniel, Jack was gone, and the event horizon vanished after him.

Stepping up to the DHD, Daniel finally pulled the portable dialing device out of his pocket. He activated it, keyed in the password, and brought up the settings for Furdani. Before he made the edits, he glanced up, his gaze traveling over the crowd.  “Today, the People will be free,” he announced simply.  “I believe I have chosen wisely.”

Scout moved up beside him on the landing pad, his dark green hair sparkling in the sunlight. “The People owe you a debt that can never be repaid, friend.” He took a deep breath, looking around at his position beside the DHD. “I will be the first to attempt to pass through the Wheel of Worlds. I hope you have succeeded in unlocking it for us.”

That sobered Daniel. If he hadn’t set the data properly, the Forest Clan elder would be vaporized; his life was literally in Daniel’s hands. His throat tightened as he tried to swallow, his mouth gone suddenly dry.

He looked down at the data screen, updated the entry, and verified that there was no longer a lock in place on the ‘gate. He programmed in the symbols for Alpha site, then pushed the blue button on the PDHD and slipped it back into his pocket. Glancing up at the golden chevron on top of the obelisk, he listened as the kawoosh sounded, then settled into placid ripples.

The scanner, installed by the Ancients so many centuries before, remained still and silent.

Scout smiled at him as relief swept through Daniel. He let go a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and gestured toward the event horizon. The elder took a confident step forward, his shoulders squared, head up.

"I'd like to introduce you to my people," said Daniel. "I'd be honored if you would accompany me to Alpha, the place we now call home."

A cheer went up from the crowd, echoing in his ears as Daniel strode toward the wormhole accompanied by a handful of Furlings bearing gifts, supplies, and knowledge intended to help the refugees from Earth survive. Just a few steps more, and the People would be truly free to travel wherever they chose.

Daniel felt proud to have done it. This was an important day, both for the Furlings, and for their new friends, the human race.

December 1

One Month Later

Alpha

Daniel sighed in the darkened guest quarters, lying in his lumpy bunk and staring up at the corrugated aluminum ceiling. Claire was fast asleep, tucked into her tiny bed on the nightstand, but Daniel couldn't close his eyes. Jack had reminded him earlier in the day that he still hadn't made the genetic donation he'd promised, and that he needed to hop to it and get it done. Daniel had sworn to try, only there were still issues, and he hadn't grown any closer to feeling capable of… doing that.

He knew he had to at least make an attempt, but there always seemed to be someone around, and Daniel wanted privacy.  During the last month, he’d spent far more time on Furdani than he had on Alpha. At either place, he’d been in the constant company of Furlings. Even now, his tiny Sky Clan companion was nearby.

He shot a wary glance at Claire in her padded box, illuminated in silvery profile by a narrow beam of moonlight, and realized this was as good an opportunity as he'd ever get. He sat up on the edge of the bunk, brushing his long bangs out of his eyes with one hand. He finger-combed his hair back, momentarily mulling over the idea of getting it cut sometime soon, but then he remembered the promise he’d made to himself to let it grow until Zeus had been captured and put away forever.  It was almost long enough for a ponytail now, and he usually kept it tucked behind his ears to get it out of his face. 

As stealthily as possible, he padded barefoot into the bathroom and grabbed the sample cup, still sealed in its sterile package, from the storage cabinet that held the towels and bathroom supplies. 

He put his back to the door and leaned against it to make sure he wasn't interrupted.  He closed his eyes and thought of Sha’uri.

All he found in the memory was grief and loneliness. He missed his wife, the warmth of her sleeping by his side. More than anything else, he missed the lightness she had brought to his life for such a brief time, her devoted companionship, and the golden peal of her laughter.

After a protracted attempt to shift his imagination toward other inspirational material, he discovered his initial instinct was correct.  Wherever his mind went, he couldn't hold on to the fantasies without some inadvertent reminder that Earth was gone. Not only was almost everyone who had ever attracted his interest dead, frankly, this was not a universe into which he wanted to bring more children. The shadow of grief for the loss of his world still stood in his way. 

An earnest fifteen minutes of trying, he finally gave up and put the cup back into the cabinet and shuffled back to his lumpy bunk.  He sighed as he settled under the covers and tried for some sleep, but that effort was also short-lived. Voices raised in alarm outside the Quonset hut pulled him from his bunk, and he headed for the door with Claire buzzing right behind him.

"What is happening?" she asked sleepily.

"I don't know." He pulled open the thin aluminum door, and a chilly gust of wind swept around them.

The scent of rain filled the night air as a flash of lightning momentarily lit up the area.  The cold reminded him to throw his cape over his undershirt. He jammed his feet into Furling-made suede boots, quickly fastening the self-sealing straps over his calves.

The bright glow on the chest plate of Claire's s'resh lit their way as they hurried to join several others jogging toward the infirmary. They followed a handful of people heading across the compound, toward the door of the base hospital, where they found three men supporting others, with a fourth carrying a woman in his arms.

Daniel glanced around for signs of battle, but there were none. What he did see were more people heading for the infirmary.

A woman staggering along not far away from him dropped to the dirt, and he rushed to pick her up.  She was burning up with fever. It wasn't until he had carried her into the infirmary that he realized who she was.

Doctor Carolyn Lam was unconscious when they reached the interior of the infirmary. He glanced around for somewhere to put her and noticed as he called for a medic that all the exam tables and beds were already taken. People were standing everywhere, crowding the large reception room.

Nurses were taking temperatures and charting symptoms, while doctors completed examinations and consulted with the Furlings standing by to offer their aid. Fluids were given, and Grass Clan pressed cups of foul-smelling tea on every patient. Some of the ailing took a whiff and refused the brew, declaring they'd rather take their chances with medications they knew and trusted.

Daniel carried Doctor Lam to an exam table where a man was sitting up, apparently about to leave. He placed the unconscious woman on the table, moving the man aside, then grabbed the nearest Furling -- a Grass Clan female -- and towed her over to Carolyn's bedside.

Doctor Lam roused slightly and began to shiver. "Sick," she moaned. "Fever. Came on. Fast." She tried to lift a hand to cover her eyes, squinting against the bright lighting.

"Give taimin tea," the Furling pronounced after a brief check of her patient’s vital signs. She pressed a cup of the hot liquid into Daniel's hands. Then the Furling moved away, angling for a nearby patient. 

He took the drink and scooped an arm beneath Carolyn's narrow shoulders, in an effort to lift her up. "You have to drink this," he instructed the doctor. "I know how bad it smells, but it'll help."

Carolyn flinched, instinctively turning her head away from the noxious odor. After a few moments of hesitation, she forced herself to face the cup and sip at the contents. When she had finished, Daniel let her relax against the pillow and drift off to sleep. 

As soon as Daniel finished with Doctor Lam, he was called to assist with someone else, then another. He lost track of time as he helped medicate the patients, more arriving until it seemed every person on base must have been crowding into the infirmary. He pushed back his own weariness and fatigue, staying on his feet and keeping busy dispensing doses of the noxious tea, hour after long hour.

Finally, he stood staring at the cup in his hands, wondering what he was supposed to be doing with it, and decided he was thirsty. He drank the cup of taimin tea and set the empty container down on a nearby table. There was nowhere to sit or lie down, and he was tired. He couldn't think anymore, couldn't remember why he was even there. There were so many sick people, constantly coming in and going out.

"Daniel."

He looked up at the sound of his name and the familiar voice that had called him.

Jack O'Neill stood not far away at the end of the aisle, holding Daniel’s cloak out to him. "You're dead on your feet, buddy," he said gently, his face etched with worry. "You've been at this all day. Come on. Get some rest. You can help out more tomorrow." 

Daniel couldn't form a coherent reply, just walked toward his friend, wrapped up in his warm cloak, and accompanied him outside into the wan autumn sunlight.

Jack's hand patted his shoulder as they crossed the compound. "Doc Warner says it looks like the worst is over. Folks are shaking this whatever-it-is off, but none of our medicines could fight it. Good thing you brought the Furlings here, or a lot of folks wouldn't have made it."

A sense of justification filled Daniel, but he was too tired to talk. He just nodded wearily.

"I know, I know. You told me so," Jack quipped. "Don't rub it in."

Daniel couldn't help smiling. They could banter without a single word, they knew each other so well.

They walked for a little while in silence, entering Daniel's quarters with Jack on his heels. As he crossed the small room, Daniel pulled off his boots, leaving them where they landed.

"You were a lot of help at the infirmary," Jack observed quietly. "I know medicine’s not your field, but the nursing staff said you have a great bedside manner. I think it's been good for you to be among humans for a while."

Daniel thought about that as he removed his black tunic and dropped it on the floor just outside his bathroom, barely breaking stride as he stripped off his pants.

"The Furlings have been very good to me," Daniel countered after a yawn.

"But they're not human," argued Jack gently. "Get cleaned up, and we'll talk a minute." He waved Daniel into the bathroom and turned away.

Daniel showered without waiting for the water to heat up, just wanting to get clean. He scrubbed himself efficiently, turned off the spray and wrapped up in an old blue bathrobe on his way to his bunk. The cold water had energized him a little, helped him clear his head so he could think better.

"I know what you're doing on Furling-world is important," Jack went on, continuing the thread of his previous speech, "but I think you should spend more time here. Reconnect to the human race."

There was more than a little wisdom in that comment, and Daniel smiled. "Maybe being the guy in charge had been good for you, Jack. I think you're finally starting to grow up."

"And since the elf guy fixed my knees, and it's heading toward winter here," Jack added lightly, "I was thinkin' I might teach you to ice skate. We could play hockey. You be the goalie, and I'll shoot pucks at you. It'll be fun."

"I should have known there was an ulterior motive." Daniel had the strength to glare for a moment, then flopped down on his pillow, sighed and closed his eyes. He made a disapproving noise as he felt himself sliding off quickly toward sleep.

"I'm just sayin'."

A soft chuckle sounded, and Daniel felt a large hand ruffling his too-long hair, messing it up and scattering damp strands all over his face. He was too tired to care or smooth it back.

"Get some rest, Danny. We miss you here."

The door opened and closed, and Daniel pulled the covers up around himself, relaxing into his pillow and dropping off to a deep, exhausted slumber.

December 11

Ten Days Later

The aftereffects of the illness that had hit Alpha so hard were still bothering a few of the colonists and crew of the Odyssey, but there’d been no fatalities, thanks to the Furlings' medical assistance; the number of sick was rapidly dwindling. Daniel still helped out in the clinic every day, one of many who dispensed tea packets to patients who were well enough to take it on their own. The source of the illness was under investigation, but so far, its origin had proved elusive.

When not volunteering at the infirmary, he was assisting with lesson plans for teaching archaeological, anthropological and linguistic courses, based on the information now stored in the newly-installed Furling database, downloaded directly from his memories into a brand new supercomputer, also supplied by their alien friends. He'd managed to edit out most of the personal stuff, but there were still a lot of his childhood experiences in Egypt he'd chosen to leave intact, just for the sake of posterity.

Daniel's breath made cloudy puffs in the early morning air as he strolled from the infirmary to the archives. He looked around, studying the people moving about in their daily routines, a liberal sprinkling of Furlings among them. The drawn, worried looks of the human population during his first visit to Alpha were gone, replaced with ones of contentment and hope. His alien friends had made a significant difference here, and he felt a growing urge to return to his studies of their culture.

Daniel had been amazed by their technology as well, and he was thrilled the Furlings were sharing it with the colony. They had volunteered healers to teach Alpha doctors and exchange information about human biology. They were sending hunters to locate game on Alpha to increase the local food supplies, and botanists to assist with exploring for edible native fare and therapeutic plants. Regular deliveries of food and medicines were being made, and the Furlings were assisting with manual labor for building and architects for planning the settlement. Wherever the humans needed a helping hand, the Furlings were there to offer it, asking nothing in return but friendship and a free exchange of knowledge.

He was part of that bargain, and needed to get back to it. All he had to do now was tell Jack he was leaving again. Maybe he'd just email a memo instead. That way, he'd already be back when Jack read it.

Coward, he teased himself with a wry smile.

Still, the sense of urgency to return to Furdani built inside him. The longer he stayed on Alpha, the more he found his thoughts obsessively turning to Zeus.  A frustrating sense of helplessness ate away at him, making him feel weak and defeated.  Perhaps a change of scenery and less time spent looking into human faces would help him accept the fact that the Goa'uld would not be punished for his crime.

Clouds gathered and a cold rain began to fall as Daniel made his way across the compound.  He gathered his cloak about him and pulled up the hood as he trudged toward the sturdy stone building that housed the base's computer core in a secure, humidity-controlled work area.

He pushed open the swinging doors and removed his mantle, shaking off the droplets of water and hanging the garment on a hook by the door.

As he signed the register logbook at the reception desk, Daniel smiled at the security person on duty, Airman Roberts.  Just four weeks before, a construction accident had crushed and severed the man’s left leg just above the knee.  The Furlings had literally fashioned him a new one, utilizing a process similar to a laser printer, depositing layer upon layer of bone, muscle and skin tissues.  As Roberts lay heavily sedated for a day, they had joined the new appendage to his living flesh, which was a perfect biological match to his own body.  After a few weeks of recovery, allowing the tissues to fully knit together, he'd be as good as new.

"Hey, Roberts.  How's the leg doing?”  Daniel asked the soldier.

The airman beamed, glancing down at his left leg, which lay supported on a shelf extending from the wheelchair in which he sat.  He gave his thigh a fond pat. "Healing pretty good, Doctor Jackson," said the young man brightly. "I never thought such a thing was possible. Those Furlings just blow me away."

"Yeah, they're pretty cool," Daniel agreed.

Roberts buzzed him in, and the heavy security door swung open, admitting Daniel to a large, dimly lit room filled with tiny shelves that housed a variety of compressed data storage devices: CDs, DVDs, portable hard drives crammed to the gills with information. The archive also held digital photographs of famous paintings, buildings, statues, and other precious artifacts, complete libraries of books and reference information.  Records of all kinds had been stored in the facility as a way of preserving the most important memories of Earth, just in case. Now it was the only record of Earth that remained, aside from the recollections of those who had been there.

After logging into the database on the Alpha servers, Daniel resumed his latest search through the records for historical background to support a theory that had dawned on him recently. It would take a lot of study before he'd be ready to discuss his findings with anyone, and until he was more certain of his facts, he wanted to keep his theories to himself.

He spent hours in the building, searching record after record, until his dry eyes burned from fatigue. He was hungry and tired, and a glance at his watch told him he was long overdue for a meal and a nap.

Just as he was preparing to log off, he remembered the memo he wanted to send to Jack, so he typed it up. Daniel knew he should tell Jack in person, especially after that conversation a couple of weeks back about reconnecting with humanity, but Daniel didn't want to deal with the fallout. Jack might well confine Daniel to the base until he gave that donation, which wasn't going to happen any time soon.

His finger poised over the "Send" button for a moment, contemplating the wisdom of his electronic farewell, then decided that, if he hurried, he might just be gone before Jack got it. If luck weren't with him, Jack would be waiting for him at the stargate with a couple of SFs. With a shrug, Daniel dispatched the message on its way through the base intranet, logged off the server, and shut down the station. He signed out at the desk register and, with a wave to Airman Roberts, Daniel gathered up his cloak and headed for the commissary. 

Claire zoomed up almost immediately. "I have been looking for you," she told him gaily. "Have you been in hiding?"

"Researching," he corrected with a grin. "What's up?"

"The elder wishes to see you. He sent me to locate you."

"Elder? Which one?" Daniel knew the Mountain elder never left Shahr, but Hunter and Scout visited Alpha frequently.

"The elder of your people," she said with a tinkling laugh. "He is a very interesting person."

"Oh. Jack. Yeah." He gave her a reluctant grimace intended to be a smile and pointed to the commissary. "I'm just gonna go eat first. Wanna come?"

"Will there be cake?" Her face brightening expectantly, she clapped her hands together and did a quick aerial pirouette.

Daniel laughed. "You sound just like Jack. I think you've been spending too much time with him."

"With who?" asked O'Neill, striding up alongside them and falling into step with Daniel as Claire circled them.

"Whom," Daniel corrected automatically. "And we were talking about you, Elder." He chuckled at Jack's melodramatically insulted look.

"You callin' me old?"

"It's a title of respect, bestowed on you by the People," explained Daniel with a gesture toward the Sky Clan woman zooming erratically above their heads.

"Oh. Well, Tinkerbelle can call me anything she wants," Jack returned, shoulders back and head held high with pride. 

"Tinkerbelle was a blond, Jack." Daniel shrugged and sighed, shaking his head. " Claire has lavender hair."

“Can’t help that,” Jack argued playfully, clasping his hands behind his back.  "She answers to that name."

"Answers to Claire, too," Daniel shot back, suppressing a grin.

"So. Food?"

"Yep. Hungry?"

"Will there be cake?"

"I'm feeling a sense of déjà vu here."

"Speaking of, have you… you know… yet?"

"Working on it." Daniel walked a little faster, not wanting to touch on that intimate topic of discussion.

"It's not that hard."

"That seems to be the problem, in a nutshell." Daniel felt his face flush with heat.

"Oh. Well. Maybe the Furlings have a tea for that."

"A tea for what?" asked Claire, darting backward in spurts to keep up with their forward motion and still make eye contact. She blinked innocently, her big green eyes wide with curiosity.

Two voices answered in perfect unison.  "Never mind!"

The trio entered the commissary and got into line, letting dinner and friendship guide them to a more pleasant conversation.

Moments after parting ways with his old friend, Daniel was packed and heading for the stargate, where he found no SFs waiting for him, no Jack with a stern look in his eye.

As Daniel gave Sergeant Harriman the coordinates of his usual destination, he had no way of knowing that this would be his last visit to Alpha for a long, long time.

End Chapter 16

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