Daniel woke up to a blinking light somewhere in the room. He looked around blearily while he blindly groped for his glasses. Slipping the wire frames on, he watched the world come into focus. As he turned his head towards the blinking, a sour feeling started in his gut. His clock. Crap.

It was blinking at 2:54, which meant three things. One, there had been a power outage overnight at least three hours ago. Two, he really needed to put fresh batteries in the clock. Three, the alarm wouldn't have gone off when it was supposed to, and from the light filtering in through the curtains on his window, it was morning. They had a mission briefing at 0800. Jack was going to *kill* him.

What would have the right time? His watch. Where did he put it? He couldn't even remember going to bed last night, he had been so tired.

He looked around the room and found his pants in a crumpled heap next to the bed. He lifted them up and shook them, hoping the watch would fall like an apple from a tree. Plunk! Great! He'd found his watch!... only to lose it to the darkness under his bed... He was about the throw the pants across the room when he felt a heaviness from the waist. His beeper!

That made him feel a bit better. If he were late enough, they would have beeped him. And called. And, eventually, come by to yell at him. Since none of these things seemed to have had happened....

He glanced at the beeper. 8:30. Double crap.

Breaking new land speed records, Daniel got washed, dressed and made himself a cup of coffee. Once in the car he picked up his cell phone and dialed the base. They put him through to Jack, who picked up after only a few rings. "Jack. Hi. I'm, uh..."

"Late?" Jack said acidly.

"Not on purpose. Alarm didn't go off."

"Well, get here yesterday. You're the only one we're waiting on. Even the new guy's here."

A squirrel darted out into the road, and Daniel jerked the wheel to avoid it. "New guy?"

"Tell you about it when you get here."

Daniel heard the distinct click that meant Jack had hung up. "Not even a goodbye," he mumbled to himself.

He managed to make it to the base in record time, but the six security checks between him and the briefing room seemed to take forever. He decided to skip his office and go directly to his final destination. Glancing at his beeper, because he hadn't had time to find his watch, told him it was around 9:15. "Not so bad," he mumbled.

He pushed the door open, and got the distinct feeling that security had been instructed to call ahead when he got there. They had all been looking in the direction of the door, waiting for him.

"Uh... hi."

"Glad you could join us, Doctor Jackson," General Hammond said.

"Power outage," Daniel muttered as an explanation. "What'd I miss?"

"World ended. Goa'uld started tap dancing. Pigs flew." Daniel got the distinct impression that Jack was still annoyed at him.

He shot Jack a 'we'll talk *later*, now's not the time' glare. Jack gave him an insolently bland look in return.

"Gentlemen," Hammond said, sounding like he wanted to use a different term. "Doctor Jackson, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

Daniel looked around the room and didn't see anyone he didn't recognize. Hammond continued, "I'd like you to meet Dr. Peter Adams."

A tall, bookish man who had been leaning against the wall in the back of the room came forward, seeming cautious in his approach. "Hello Dr. Jackson," he said in an accented voice. Daniel examined the, thin, almost lanky, dark_haired man before him as he offered his hand in greeting. A slightly shocked look passed over Dr. Adam's face, but he went to take the hand anyway.

As their hands met, Daniel's mind caught up with his body and he paled. "Oh my god."

"Nice to meet you," Peter said, quirking his mouth in a smile. "I've read your reports. Fascinating stuff."

Daniel tried to get his mouth to catch up to his brain. "Adam?"

There was a flicker of __ recognition? acknowledgment? annoyance? __ in Peter's eyes, but he shook his head, face bland. "I'm sorry, you must have me confused with someone else."

"I don't__ I__" Daniel frowned. "I guess."

Jack, who had been watching the exchange with bemusement, said laconically, "Something wrong, Daniel?"

"What?" Daniel turned to Jack and asked, "I mean... um..." He turned again to Peter and looked closely this time, "You look..." Peter simply stared at him, his face still bland. Daniel shook his head. "I'm sorry, you just reminded me of someone I hadn't..."

"Is something wrong, Daniel?" Jack asked. Flustered Daniel could be amusing, but he looked too shocked for Jack's comfort.

"No... I... no." He turned back to Peter, "I'm sorry, you just reminded me of an old... friend."

"I get that a lot," Peter said, smiling. "Shall we get down to business?"

"Business?" Daniel stared blankly at him before shaking his head. "Right. Um. What *is* the business?"

"Doctor Adams is joining the SGC research staff," General Hammond said. "He's an expert on ancient languages."

Daniel shot a sharp look at Peter, but said only, "Good. We need someone like that."

Peter tilted his head slightly. "The General thought I could assist you with the texts from __ P2X_568, I believe it was?"

"Oh," Daniel said, and then, "Oh! Yes, see, the writing base is, as far as I can tell, an ancient Mesopotamian dialect, and I haven't quite been able to translate..."

Jack tuned Daniel out as he continued; the terms he was rattling off with increasing eagerness meant absolutely nothing to Jack, though Peter was nodding with seeming understanding. Instead of listening, he watched the interaction between the two men. There was something there, something between the two of them, that he wasn't quite getting. It made him uneasy, not to mention concerned for Daniel. When he'd seen Peter, he'd looked like he'd seen a ghost. And Peter... Peter had looked almost guilty. He knew *something*.

Jack shrugged. He could talk to Daniel later, figure out what was going on. Figure out if having this Peter on base would cause problems. His priority was Daniel, and if Daniel was going to have issues, Jack wouldn't hesitate to get Peter out.

Peter and Daniel had continued to chatter in what seemed to be a different language when Hammond's voice rang out, "Gentlemen." They both looked up, slightly guilty about having drifted into their own little world.

A grandfatherly smile spread over his face, "Go to work. Dismissed." Everyone get up to leave with three exceptions, Daniel, Peter and Jack.

"I'll see you in your office, Daniel?" Peter asked.

"What?" Daniel had been distracted again. "Yes... my office. I'll be there in 10 minutes."

With a nod, Peter left the room. Daniel watched him leave, lost in thought. Jack frowned at him. "Daniel."

"Hmm?" Daniel said without looking away.

"Is there something you want to tell us? Off the record?"

"What?" Daniel blinked, genuinely startled. "About what?"

Jack, in answer, jerked his head towards the doorway that Peter had gone through.

Daniel flushed slightly and said, "No."

"You sure?" Hammond's voice was soft with concern. "If there is something, we need to know."

"It's nothing," Daniel said, a bit too harshly. He rubbed his arms together in an uneasy gesture. "I just...he looked like someone."

"I gathered that," Jack said dryly. "Could he *be* that someone?"

"No." Daniel closed his eyes. "Adam... died. It's just a coincidence. Gotta be."

"Right," Jack said, but he was frowning. His mind leaped to the immediate parallel __ Apophis, who had died. Several times. Granted, Peter wasn't Apophis, but nevertheless...

"Very well." Hammond nodded at Daniel. "Dismissed."

Jack stretched out in his chair, waiting until Daniel left, and then said, "I don't like this."

* * *

Daniel made his way through the hallways, not paying too much attention to what was going on around him. His head was swimming, remembering blood soaked shirts and ducking for cover.

He was on autopilot by the time he reached his office. He opened the door and began to put away various papers that had been in his briefcase without looking up. He didn't notice the small click as the door opened. "Busy?"

"Wha_?" Daniel was surprised by the sense of deja_vu, the voice was so similar.

"Did I startle you?" Peter looked amused.

"A little."

"I could wear a cowbell," Peter said, not quite deadpan, and Daniel had to smile.

"No, it's all right. I was a bit... distracted."

"I can understand that." Peter perched on the edge of Daniel's desk, idly looking through the papers. "So where are these texts?"

"I've got them in another room." Daniel rescued some of the papers. "Wanted someplace where I could spread them out."

"Got it."

"I, uh." Daniel tapped the papers against one hand, looking down. "You didn't go to school at Oxford, were you?

"Oxford?" Again there was that strange flicker of *something* behind Peter's eyes. "No, I don't believe so. Why?"

"Just curious." Daniel gave a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "It's nothing."

"This is about your friend, isn't it," Peter said quietly, "the one I reminded you of, back in the briefing room."

Daniel closed his eyes, shook his head slightly, and said, "We should probably get to work."

* * *

Jack quickly moved away from the door before the two scientists left the room. He wasn't sure what had prompted him to listen in, and he didn't think he had actually learned anything. But the conversation with Danny earlier just hadn't sat well with him. Neither had the one he just overheard. "Adam and Oxford." he mumbled to himself "Other than not knowing how they would affect Daniel like this, I know nothing."

On a whim, he tracked Carter down __ she was in her lab, of course. "Hey. Carter."

"Colonel?" She looked a little startled. "Can I do something?"

"Yeah, uh, I was just wondering __ the new guy, Adams __ you didn't sense anything... uh... odd, did you?"

"Odd?"

Jack grimaced and tapped his head. "Snakeish."

Her mouth dropped open. "Wha__ You think he's a Goa'uld?"

"I don't *think*," he said. "I'm just covering all bases."

She gave him an odd look, but said, "I didn't feel anything. And he *seemed* perfectly nice."

"Yeah, but you saw how Daniel reacted to him."

"What, that Daniel knew him? Not everyone Daniel knows is a Goa'uld, sir."

Jack rolled his eyes. "I *know* that. But __ didn't you see *how* Daniel reacted? Not what he said. How he said it."

Sam smiled and looked down. "All I saw was that Daniel thought he recognized Doctor Adams. Sir, haven't you ever seen a stranger who looked like someone you knew?"

"No."

"...right, well, I have. Memory recognition of faces is based on pattern matching. Some faces we remember with greater detail than others; generally shapes and colors. If we see someone that matches a particular set of data that we've stored in__"

"Right. I get it." Jack held up one hand.

"__in memory," she continued, stubbornly, "then we might pull a false pattern match and believe that the person we are seeing is the same as the person whose face we remember."

"So you think that there's nothing... odd going on

"Odd? Only you, Colonel." Sam smiled.

"Very funny." Jack mock_glared at her, and left.

He wasn't seeing things. He wasn't being paranoid. But... without any proof, he had nothing to do. Except skulk about, which he was good at, and, maybe he needed to have a talk with Peter. Or Daniel. Or both, but not at the same time.

* * *

Daniel and Peter were sitting at the head of a large table that had numerous books, transcripts and scrolls spread out. Daniel was peering intently at a particular piece, slowly sipping his cooling coffee.

Peter was sitting next to him in a similar position. "This is the most different mutation of the language I've ever seen."

Without looking up Daniel nodded, "It happens. They've been self contained for god knows how many years."

"Can you hand me the Plaut?"

Peter absently reached for the large book on his left, "Here you are."

Without looking up took the book, "Thanks, Adam"

"Not a problem," the man mumbled

Daniel looked up sharply, but Peter didn't notice, and Daniel frowned and went back to his translation. "There's a chunk missing__ the scroll's torn here. Have you seen a piece about yea big?"

Peter glanced over. "There are some partial segments in this pile. What's the context?"

"Uh." Daniel squinted. "As far as I can tell, singing trees. That, uh, could be wrong, but this phrase," underlining a couple of the words with one finger, "appears a lot."

"Right," Peter said, starting to sort through.

Daniel snuck a glance up at him and said, casually, "Reminds me of that class on Arabic morphology I took __ I had this Professor who would throw in random strings of words, just to see__"

"To see if you were paying attention," Peter finished with him, giving a distracted grin. "God, I hated when the bloody know_it_all professors did that. I showed up didn't I? What more did they want?"

Daniel went very still. The phrase _ Adam had used that exact same phrase, for that exact same professor, "Adam?"

"Hmmm?" Peter didn't look up. "Hey, I think this is the segment you want_ does it fit?" He held the parchment fragment out, and when Daniel didn't take it, he finally looked over. "Doctor Jackson, are you all right?"

"You're Adam," Daniel said flatly.

"I told you," Peter protested, "my name's Peter. Don't know this Adam friend of yours." His gaze was bland and innocent, but Daniel didn't buy it any longer.

"I called you Adam, you didn't even blink."

This time something did flicker across Peter's face, it went by too quickly for Daniel to clearly identify it, but at least he had reacted.'

"Is THAT what you said? I thought you had just learned some bad habits from these military types."

Daniel looked at him strangely.

"You know... calling everyone by their last names?" Now Peter looked perplexed and worried, "Are you sure you're ok?"

"No."

"Is there any way I can help? Perhaps take you to the infirmary?"

Daniel studied the face in front of him intently; it was so familiar. He briefly closed his eyes and said, "No, it's.. No. How about an early lunch?"

"I am a little hungry." Peter said, "I'll meet you back here in an hour?"

"Make it an hour and a half, maybe I'll take a short nap, you know me..." he trailed off waiting.

Peter looked at him curiously, "You... like your mid_day nap?"

"Nooo. Sorry. I'll just be going."

Again Daniel wandered through the hallways with his mind racing through the past. He watched a face float before his eyes, was 10 years long enough to forget? No, something wasn't right.

He sat at an empty table eating his lunch trying to put the pieces together. Normally, when he wasn't eating *with* someone, he spent the entire meal alone __ but today, he wasn't. Jack sat down next to him, dropping his tray onto Daniel's table with a loud clatter. "Hey."

"Hey," Daniel said, drawing the syllable out as he continued to try to think

"They call this turkey," Jack complained, poking at his sandwich, "but I really don't think it's anything halfway edible." He shrugged and took a bite. "How's your new friend working out?" he asked around a mouthful of sandwich.

"Huh?" Daniel blinked up at him. "New __ what?"

"New friend. Y'know. Doctor Peter Adams."

"He's not... I mean, there's...ah, that is, it's... He's good at what he does."

"Uh_huh."

Something in Jack's voice made Daniel look at him, but Jack wasn't sending any meaningful glances his way. "We've made progress on the translation."

"So you'll be finished sometime this century?" Jack teased, deadpan. He expected some sort of reaction __ a sigh, rolled eyes, an annoyed "Ja_ack", something __ but Daniel just shrugged and went back to poking his lunch.

"Something bugging you?" Jack asked.

"Nah," Daniel said, but it was the sort of 'nah' that really meant 'yes'.

"This about Adam?"

*That* got a reaction. Daniel's head snapped up, and he stared wide_eyed at Jack, looking more alarmed than confused. "What?"

"Isn't that the name you used back in the briefing room? When you thought Peter was someone else."

"I__ oh. I did, didn't I." Daniel looked less alarmed, but wasn't relaxed either. "That was a mistake. I've got to go, need to get to work," and he stood abruptly.

"Bye," Jack said to Daniel's back, and frowned. "*That* was odd."

Jack sat at the table a few minutes more, finishing the so_called turkey sandwich. "Maybe he wants to be left alone," he muttered to himself. "That's never stopped me before." He got up and followed Daniel down the hall.

Jack found Daniel in his office; he seemed to be going through an old dusty box. "Come on. I *know* this one's not at my apartment." Daniel started mumbling numbers to himself, "94, 95.. Ah ha! Got it."

Jack watched as Daniel pulled out what could only be a Journal from what he figured was a box of old Journals.

He sat behind his desk and started thumbing through it. Towards the middle of the book he slowed down. Reading more and more of each page until finally he stopped. A few minutes later he slowly put the book down in front of him. Placing his elbows on his knees and his face in is hands he took a deep breath. "I don't know if I can do this."

Jack watched him with silent concern for a moment, and then, as Daniel started to stir, Jack ducked back out into the hallway. From Daniel's office he could hear a muttered "okay, I *can* do this, I *have* todo this."

A few moments later, Daniel left, head down, not noticing Jack, not seeming to notice anyone. Jack bit his lip and slipped into Daniel's office. The last time he'd gone through Daniel's journals, Daniel had been dead. He didn't have that excuse this time, but he had to know.

The journal had been stuck back in the box, but was lying on top of the other journals. Jack lifted it and started flipping through. One of the pages was stiff, far less flexible than the others. A photo had been taped to it, and Jack looked. Daniel __ looking extremely young, even though it was probably little more than ten years ago __ and another man, arms around each other, laughing. The other man had Peter's face. Identical.

The surrounding pages had a lot of talk about Adam __ Adam this, Adam that, and Jack flipped back to the photo and stared at it. Geez, no wonder Daniel looked so shocked in the briefing. This was... unreal.

He paged forward, skimming over the entries. Adam this, and Adam that, and __

__ and one entry, dated May 12th, that consisted only of // Adam's dead. // Jack sighed. He really should put the book away and walk out of the office. He really should. He turned the page and continued reading.

The next entry was dated May 15th.

// The funeral was today. Jen reminded me that there were things I needed to take care of. I don't want to think about them, but she asked me some questions that I couldn't answer and now I wonder. Can I afford the rent now? Should I postpone my defense? I don't_ //

"Find what you were looking for Jack?" an angry voice asked from behind him.

His head shot up in surprise, "Danny!"

Daniel waved a hand in dismissal, "No. Don't. Not right now. I'm going home and catching up on some sleep. Tell Peter... Tell Peter that I didn't feel well."

"Daniel__"

"Don't." Daniel sounded almost more tired than angry. "You have no right to __ to dig through my life. What it is now, and," snatching the journal out of Jack's hands, "what it was then. I am going home and I am locking my office and you are not saying a *word*, Jack, not a word."

"Right," Jack said. He could take a hint.

Daniel locked his office door with savage movements and then stalked past him, and Jack didn't follow. Tell Peter, Daniel had said. He'd probably meant 'if you see him,' but Jack sought Peter out anyway, tracking him down in the research lab that Daniel had taken over.

"Colonel," Peter said, and smiled at him. "Can I help you?"

Jack thought of the picture in Daniel's diary, and of the shock in Daniel's face, and said, "Yeah. You can."

Two steps brought him close to Peter, and Jack gripped his arm tightly and pulled him to his feet. "You can tell me who you are and what you've done to Daniel."

Peter looked at the Colonel with a serious face, "I didn't do anything." There was something in the eyes. "Please let me go." Something that didn't mesh with his professor type appearance.

"I don't believe you."

"You have to. I swear, I wouldn't do anything to hurt him."

Jack nodded tightly. "If you do, I'll kill you."

Again, something passed through his eyes. Equals stared at each other. "I have no doubt that you would." Then Peter was Peter again. "Do you know where he is? We were supposed to meet a few minutes ago."

"Yeah. He asked me to send his regrets. Said he didn't feel well. Went home early."

Peter thought about it for a moment. "I see. Then I'll get back to work. Perhaps I can make some progress. Have something to talk about when he gets in tomorrow. He *is* coming in tomorrow?"

"He didn't look too sick. Probably just needs some extra rest." Was it Jack's imagination, or did Peter look slightly relieved?

"I'll just get back to work then."

"Yeah, you do that." Jack walked out of the room and mumbled, "Well that was even *less* helpful."

* * *

5:32

Daniel stared at the clock in his bedroom. No longer blinking, it was a steady red glow that didn't change nearly quickly enough. Daniel's mind was spinning wildly with memories that hadn't shown up for years. Things __ *people* __ that he'd almost forgotten.

5:33.

"This is impossible," he muttered, rubbing his face. He couldn't do this. He couldn't go in. He couldn't __ "Dammit." Adam. Peter. God, if it had been anything else, any other situation, he wouldn't even waver in his certainty that they were the same person. But Adam had *died*.

5:34.

...hadn't he?

Daniel shook his head. It wasn't a matter of having been *told*. He'd seen Adam, touched him. Adam was dead. And without a sarcophagus, no one could get over that.

5:35.

This wasn't about him, Daniel told himself firmly. It wasn't about either of them. It was about those scrolls, the translation. The knowledge.

5:35, still.

Daniel scrubbed at his face again and sat up with a sigh. Maybe getting some work done would take his mind off of the __ other stuff. And at this hour, the base would be quiet. Quieter, at any rate, than later in the day.

5:36, and he stood up and stumbled into the shower.

6:11, and he was at the base.

He made it down to his office and dropped his things off, then relocked the door remembering the incident from the other day. It still made him mad. He felt invaded enough without walking into his own office and finding his best_friend reading his journals.

Next stop, the scrolls.

It seemed that Peter had continued working without him. He had solved the tense problem AND the syntax problem. He'd left his notes on the table, Peter had started retranslating it based on the new information. Several words jumped out at him, "My god." He whispered to himself. "This is.. wow."

He had to tell someone. Tell everyone, maybe. He had his phone up and Jack's extension half_dialed before he remembered what time it was. Instead, he dialed down to the security desk.

"Let me know when either Colonel O'Neill or General Hammond sign in."

"Yes, Doctor Jackson," the airman on duty said, and Daniel hung up, focusing back on the translation.

When the phone rang a little over an hour later, Daniel jumped. He'd lost himself in the translation, in what Peter had done and in what he himself could translate based on the current knowledge. The more he found, the more he felt like this was a dream. It had to be a dream. Nothing else would explain how incredible a find this was.

"Jackson," he mumbled into the phone.

It was the airman from the security desk. "General Hammond just arrived."

"Thanks," he said, and tapped his pencil against the notebook he was writing in.

He got up and went to seek the General out. When he got to his office he knocked hesitantly. When he heard a faint, "Come in," he opened the door.

"Good morning Sir."

Hammond looked up surprised, "Dr. Jackson, you're here early."

"Uh, yeah. Making up for yesterday."

"Right." There was an awkward silence in the room, "Did you want to speak to me about something?"

"Uh yes sir." Daniel stepped all the way into the room and started speaking, "I was going over Dr. Adams notes, he ah..." he blushed, "made significant progress yesterday."

"What did he find out?"

He got up and started pacing. "Well it seems these scrolls speak of an ancient gathering place, a place of knowledge. Now I thought that was interesting considering that this culture doesn't usually have that sort of thing at this level of development. Mostly there are oral traditions passed down from father to son, mother to daughter. Sometimes there's an information gatherer. Someone who_"

"Dr. Jackson, could you please."

Daniel stopped pacing and started leafing through the notebook he had brought with him. "Sorry, it's just.. it's.. Like I said before, an ANCIENT gathering place. Originally I mistook that for a simple noun. After the work of Dr. Adams it became clear that it's a proper noun. Meaning, THE Ancients."

Hammond was leaning forward, listening with great interest, "What does this mean, Dr. Jackson?"

He took a deep breath, "I think we may have found another Heliopolis."

Hammond just stared at him. "Care to elaborate?"

"Heliopolis," Daniel repeated impatiently. "P3X_972. Ernest's planet. Meaning of life. General, this could be what we're looking for. This could be *everything*.

"And if I recall," a dry voice said behind them, "the last 'everything' we found collapsed around us. And nearly killed *you* in the process."

"Morning, Jack."

"I take it you found something good," Jack said, and then added, "Yes or no, I don't need details."

"Well, I do." Hammond was still staring at Daniel. "I don't want to risk people until we're sure what we're facing."

"General__" Daniel protested.

"I'm not saying we won't check it out," Hammond said. "I don't want to risk my entire research staff if they'll end up speaking only the language of the Ancients and hijacking the Stargate to go where we really shouldn't be able to."

Daniel glanced at Jack, smiled a bit ruefully, and then said to Hammond, "Sir, can we at least check it out?"

"I could send SG_1." The General looked at Jack, who nodded his agreement. "Doctor Jackson, prepare a mission briefing; we'll meet at 1100 hours. Dismissed."

Daniel started to leave, then hesitated and turned back. "I'd...sir, if it's all right, I'd like to request that Doctor Adams come with us."

Jack shot him a sharp look, and Daniel flushed. "He's good with the language. Better than I am. Given the complexity of the information, we'll need him along."

"He doesn't have combat experience," Jack said immediately.

"Neither did I, when I started."

"That was different."

"It was not."

"Gentlemen!" Both Daniel and Jack jumped at Hammond's bark, and fell silent. "I will take your request under advisement, Doctor. Colonel, I am aware of your reluctance. I will make my decision before the briefing. Is that clear?"

"Yes," Daniel mumbled. Jack looked sullen but said, "Yes, sir."

"Dismissed."

Daniel shot an undecipherable look at Jack and brushed past him.

"Daniel, can we talk?"

"I need to prepare for the briefing," Daniel said, evasively. "Sorry."

Jack stared after him. "Sure you are," he muttered.