1 [Holo-Location: Sanctuary]

[ancient-monkey.livejournal.com]

All he did was blink, how could everything have changed so drastically? Daniel blinked again, hoping despite himself that he’d only imagined he’d seen a metal room with him standing on a platform. No luck. He glanced around, warily, before calling out.

“Thor?” Surely it had to have been the Asgard’s transporting beam, right? Except without the flash of white.

“Jack?” He tried again. Despite the fact Jack hadn’t been on the Prometheus with him, weird things tended to happen when Jack was involved, so it was generally a safe bet to assume he had something to do with this. Still nothing. He gave a sigh, reaching a hand up to ruffle his hair.

“This isn’t funny, guys.”

Only then did he look up and spy a rather odd and unusual device.

“..Okay, definitely not Asgard.”

Feeling a strange weight on his wrist, he sent an enquiring glance at it, only to do a double-take. What the heck was on his wrist? It didn’t hurt, despite the fact the metal seemed to be fused to his skin.

“Oh that can’t be good..”

He also noticed at that point the pedestal standing next to him. Was something wrong with his sight that he’d not noticed that? He stared at the tablet resting on top of the pedestal, the metal bracelet attached to him temporarily forgotten as he walked carefully around it before reaching out and picking the tablet up. Then he glanced around again.

“Jack?” Silence. “Isn’t someone going to say I shouldn’t have done that?”

This was getting tiresome, and he was starting to feel even more uneasy. He stared back down at the tablet, if only so he wouldn’t be looking around the large room anymore and see no one. Without really expecting anything to happen, he tried to open the tablet, finding it flipped open quite easily, as if it were a cell phone. He sighed again, glancing around once more despite himself.

“Jack, I know you have to be there. I get that you must be laughing your socks off, but this really isn’t funny.”

Comments

[aesthetic_mojo]

Charlotte knew that face. Not well, but she'd seen it. She'd also seen someone deeply wounded when that face went away. One more reason to hate this place with a growing passion.

Sighing softly, Charlotte hit a button and brought up a visual link. "Daniel, right?"

[ancient-monkey.livejournal.com]

The strange voice startled Daniel into almost dropping the tablet. He blinked a few times before hesitantly speaking, assuming that the tablet was actually on and transmitting.

"Uh..yeah? And you are..?"

How did she know his name?

[aesthetic_mojo]

Oh lovely. "I'm Charlotte Blaine." She took in his confusion, then shook her head. It didn't really matter what was wrong with him. Taxon would become blindingly obvious pretty quickly. "I'm a friend of Vala's."

[ancient-monkey.livejournal.com]

"Nice to meet you," he automatically replied. And then the comment of her being friends with Vala sunk in. His head jerked back a bit as he sorted through that. Something was strange.

"..I see. When did you last see her?" It was just a hunch that made him ask that, but he'd learned to follow them.

[aesthetic_mojo]

Charlotte looked away, pretending to be distracted by the soft sound of a cat meowing, then looked back at the tablet. "Too long. Days. Weeks. I should have seen her before now, but..." She shrugged. "This place has a way of eating days."

[visual]

[sgmitchell.livejournal.com]

He was actually eating lunch, when a familiar voice cut through the din of the tablet communications. Now that he'd figured it out, he generally kept his own tablet on 'audio', and just kept an eye out for anyone important popping up. After all, there were 28 levels of Cheyenne Mountain, and only a handful of actual SGC personnel.

Still, the voice took a little bit for him to recognize, before he actually looked at the tablet, and the holographic image there. Cam grinned at the device briefly, before flipping his own to visual (because holo? Was still pretty creepy and not something to greet someone with.).

"Jackson! I knew you'd be around somewhere."

[ancient-monkey.livejournal.com]

Daniel fumbled a bit with the tablet, not at all expecting to hear anything, much less see anything from it. Well there was a familiar voice, not the one he'd been expecting however. Blinking at Cam's image, he gave a wry smile.

"Is there some other place I should be?"

He back tracked his thoughts a bit, odd things happened whenever Jack or Cam were involved.

"Where's Jack, Cam? And where did you put me?"

[sgmitchell.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey. Jackson recognized him after all. In retrospect, it would have been awkward if Jackson happened to come from a time when O'Neill was still a Colonel, too. He did sound a bit disoriented, though. Either way, Vala would be happy to see him again.

Cam returned the man's wry smile. "Not sure where he is. He's probably in his cabin, and I'm pretty sure I didn't put you anywhere, unless you just popped in to herald the Odyssey's arrival."

[ancient-monkey.livejournal.com]

"Why would he be at his cabin? Shouldn't he be in D.C.?"

Poor Daniel was getting more confused by the second. He shook his head a bit and ruffled his hair distractedly before giving a quiet sigh.

"As far as I know, I was just on the Prometheus and watching as the Supergate was destroyed. So unless something went out of control regarding the Prometheus and the Supergate, sending me somewhere but no one else, what else am I supposed to think?"

It was a sure sign when he started speaking quickly that he was getting frustrated and rambling.

[sgmitchell.livejournal.com]

Well. That ruled out Jackson wandering off for a dig or rescue and coming back triumphant. Prometheus. He was from years before, and clearly seemed unfamiliar with the fact that he was no longer in Colorado.

If it was Prometheus and a Supergate, it had to have been almost four years before. Great.

Cam frowned. "Yeah...well...I'm pretty sure nothing went wrong with them. Not as they relate to you being here. That part's probably better explained by someone who's good at this kind of stuff, Jackson."

All of it was, in fact.

"Welcome to Taxon, Jackson. An inter...universal petting zoo."

[Visual]

[valaunbound]

Vala was actually IN Daniel's office when his hologram popped up above the tablet that she had set up next to his computer. She'd been sifting through his sentbox, not that the connection was live anymore, only mail within the complex worked. But she'd found herself morbidly comforted by reading his replies. Of course she'd never admit that. She hasn't even to herself. She's just being nosy.

At first, she wonders if she's imagining that it really is Daniel, but after a few seconds of just gawping at the tiny holographic Daniel, she manages to get out a "Daniel?"

[ancient-monkey.livejournal.com]

It was probably a very good thing Daniel didn't know where she was. He'd be less than impressed, and probably a bit wary about 'presents' he knew she left behind.

Still, hearing the very familiar voice, and then seeing her image appear on the tablet he still held, he blinked a couple times in surprise. He reflexively glanced away from her image to look around, as if expecting his surroundings had changed. When that failed, he looked back at her and frowned.

"Vala..? What did you do?"

What a wide open question, though it was more a confused way of asking what had happened. He'd heard Sam say there'd been a matter stream pulled into the Supergate before it shut down, so how was it possible Vala was within communications range?

[valaunbound]

"I didn't do anything!" Vala protested reflexively, without even stopping to consider what he was talking about. Let's be honest, it could be any number of things with her. She could name a few just off the top of her head, but she wasn't about to go and admit any of them until she knew exactly what he was referring to. And even then it was unlikely.

Reflex indignation done with though, her brain actually kicked in. "Wait, what do you mean exactly?" At least his accusatory tone was familar ground. Responding to that had successfully circumvented any emotion she was feeling. Which, when she discovers he doesn't remember ever being here before, will be a blessing in disguise.

[ancient-monkey.livejournal.com]

Yes, he probably should have asked what she'd done this time. Daniel was fully aware there were probably a number of things that she'd done without him knowing for weeks.

He ran a hand over his face as he tried to organize his thoughts.

"Let's start with why you thought it was a good idea to ignore orders and ring over to the scout ship, pilot it to the Supergate without knowing what would happen? Then, you can explain how you got out of there, and where we are now."

[valaunbound]

That was a lot to take in, and certainly a lot to process. Vala squinted in confusion at Daniel's image as she struggled to keep up initially. But at the mention of the Supergate, it all became far too clear. Her eyes shot wide open, one eyebrow quirked, briefly.

She sidestepped the obligatory, 'what?' questions, there really wasn't any need. However it was possible here in Taxon, Daniel had been brought here from before she'd been transported to the Ori Galaxy. If she had time to consider the implications of what this meant to 'them', and how far they'd come since then, she'd already hidden it under one of her smug sarcastic smiles.

"Oh of course I knew what would happen, Daniel. I wasn't looking for a tidy parking spot. And if I recall correctly, I saved everybody's hives that day. As for how I got out of there - it's a long story, along with everything that's happened since. And currently, we're in Taxon."

[Visual]

[islegendary.livejournal.com]

Wait...

He did not just hear what he think he just heard, did he? Maybe he finally went crazy? Er. Crazier. "Daniel?"

He scrambled around for his tablet, lost somewhere in the mess that is his cabin. Finally, he finds it and hits it for a visual reply. He also can't resist putting his hand through Daniel's hologram... because he can.

"Not my fault this time, Daniel, I swear," despite that slight tone of annoyance he is happy to see him again. He is so going to say 'I told you so' to Vala for ages after this.

[ancient-monkey.livejournal.com]

If Daniel were aware of his hologram being played with, he'd hardly be surprised. It was Jack, after all.

"Jack, don't tell me you're playing with whatever image of me you're seeing." He could guess, after all. And his tone seemed a bit tired, but relieved at the same time.

At the denial, he peered at the image of his friend, giving him a rather incredulous look. "Then what's happened?"

[islegendary.livejournal.com]

Busted. Jack pulled his hand back abruptly from... something not visible on the visual. That could in no way be a hologram he was just poking in the head with his finger, "'Course not. Would I do a thing like that, Daniel? Wait--" he held up a hand before a reply could come, "Don't... answer that."

He let out a sigh and leaned back. The background says he's in his cabin. "Well, honestly, Daniel I would love to know the answer to that one myself. I'm betting you're having one of those memory--" he waved a hand vaguely, "--things like last time." He seemed to grow distracted by his own thoughts then snapped back on topic.

"So... Welcome to Tax-son. Again."

[Visual]

[ancient-monkey.livejournal.com]

Daniel smirked when he saw Jack clearly stop whatever he'd been doing.

He studied the small image, fiddling a bit with the tablet until it clicked. As he could still clearly see Jack, he figured he'd not done any damage. And how was Jack in his cabin?

Still, he listened to what Jack said, regardless of whether it made sense or not. "Could you be any more specif-" Now he was torn between indignant and even more confused. "There's nothing wrong with my memory!"

He shook his head, frowning. When Jack got back on topic, or what passed for a topic for him, he blinked.

"What do you mean by 'again'? I've never even heard of Taxon."

[Visual]

[islegendary.livejournal.com]

This day is getting better and better. He's not sure if it's in the sarcastic way or not, he'll figure that out as he goes. And of course Daniel already figured out the tablet, of course he did.

Jack made a face, "Oh, so that whole coming back from the dead thing and the memory loss thing? What? Didn't happen? Look, Daniel," he raised his hands to try and explain.

"About four months ago, I got my ass beamed here. One second we where on the Thor's planet and the next I was here. And you and Vala where already here. Some crazy future yous. Hell, I never even met Vala before. Then about a month ago--" he gestured strangely, "You disappeared."

[voice]

[gating-across.livejournal.com]

Dr. Jackson?

[ancient-monkey.livejournal.com]

Daniel looked around at the voice, a bit familiar but not immediately being placed. After a moment he peered at the tablet, maybe the voice had come from it?

"Uh..yeah. Who is this?"

[gating-across.livejournal.com]

Lt. Colonel Sheppard of the Atlantis mission. Didn't really expect you to remember me.

[Visual]

[ancient-monkey.livejournal.com]

"No...No I do remember you. It's just been a couple months. Care to tell me why're back in this galaxy Sheppard?"

While he was talking, he was looking the tablet over to see if he could just turn it to verbal communicating. It took a few tries, right now he thought the person on the other end could just see and hear him.

[Visual]

[gating-across.livejournal.com]

Sheppard nodded as soon as the visual kicked on the other side. There was a faint smile on his face.

"Taxon isn't in the Milky Way or Pegasus."