Crystal Skull

US Airdate : 3 March 2000

UK Airdate : 8 March 2000

Summary

Daniel and SG-1 discover a crystal skull on P7X-377, when Daniel touches the skull, he seems to disappear.

However, Daniel is still there, but the skull has made him invisible to his friends.

The rest of SG-1 must discover the link between the skull, Daniel's disappearance and an identical skull found on Earth by Daniel's grandfather, Nick

Synopsis by Pepper

The MALP probe heads away from the Stargate along a long thin pathway. Directly ahead is a huge pyramid. Once through the pyramid, the probe faces another thin path. This time, too thin for the MALP probe to trundle down. Sam pans the camera round through the remote control. She and the rest of SG-1 are in the control room of the SGC. At the other end of the pathway is a round plateau. Sam zooms in at Daniel's request. There is a stone pillar at the furthest edge. With an object resting upon it.

"It appears to be a human skull," observes Teal'c.

"No," says Daniel. "It's a crystal skull."

"How do you know?" asks Sam.

"Because it's exactly like the one found in 1971 in Belize. By my grandfather."

At the briefing, Daniel explains that although there have been more than a dozen crystal skulls found throughout the world, the skull found by Nick was unique.

"Nick?" enquires Jack.

"Uh, yeah. The great explorer, the not so great grandfather, Nicholas Ballard. He preferred being called Nick even when I was a kid. It was er..." Daniel isn't sure how to explain. "Anyway, the point is, that no-one can explain how the skull was carved... from a single piece of crystal... against the grain... given the technology of the day. He claimed that it possessed a certain power."

"What kind of power?" asks General Hammond, interested.

"That if one were to look into the eyes of the skull one would be teleported to see aliens." Daniel continues, explaining that Nick wasn't believed by the academic world, his attitude showing that he didn't really believe it either.

"Doesn't mean he wasn't right," Jack points out.

Sam adds, "The academic community didn't believe your theory that the pyramids were landing sites for alien spaceships either."

Jack turns to General Hammond. "We have to see this," he declares.

The General agrees. "I'll authorise a standard recon mission."

Janet is concerned about the radiation present in the cavern and SG-1 can only spend ten or fifteen minutes at most in there.

Once on the plateau, Daniel heads straight for the skull. He realises that it's identical to the one found in Belize, and gazes into it, fascinated.

"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c says, approaching, but Daniel gives no sign of having heard him.

As he gazes into the skull, Daniel can see pinpricks of light gathering together in the centre. A breeze ruffles his hair.

"Sir," Sam calls to Jack, who's wondering how deep the cavern is, "radiation is spiking. It's at 300%."

Jack turns, startled. "What?"

"400%."

"Right, that's it. We're out of here," Jack orders. "Daniel?"

As Daniel makes no effort to move the light surges out of the skull, enveloping Daniel. Teal'c raises his Zat gun and fires. The blast hits the skull, the light disappears and Daniel is thrown backwards. He rolls and lands a few feet in front of Teal'c, unconscious.

"Where'd he go?" demands Jack.

Teal'c steps forward, walking through Daniel's body. "He seemed to disappear."

"Sir, these readings are off the scale now," Sam tells him. "If we don't leave soon..." Her voice trails off as she collapses, falling to one side. Jack acts quickly, catching her over his shoulders in a fireman's lift. He makes his way along the walkway as quickly as he can yelling, "Teal'c, get outta there!"

Teal'c turns away from the pillar, puzzled, and follows at a run.

The three of them fall through the Stargate and hit the ramp. Sam's out cold. Jack can barely move. Teal'c just manages to raise his head.

Jack comes round in the infirmary. "Carter? Daniel?"

Janet explains that Sam's still unconscious, but Teal'c's symbiote is helping him.

"As for Doctor Jackson," Hammond explains, "Colonel, he never returned with you."

Teal'c sits up. "He is no longer there, General Hammond. The skull enveloped him in an energy field. I fired my Zat'nick'atel but it was too late. He seemed to disappear."

In the control room, they're using the MALP's camera to search the cavern. There's no sign of Daniel; even the infrared is failing to pick up any body heat. Teal'c approaches the General. He explains that as Nicholas Ballard believed that the skull had transported him, retrieving the skull might help them find out where Daniel is.

"And if that thing zaps you to where ever it sent Doctor Jackson?" demands the General.

"Then I will have succeed in locating him," responds Teal'c with the hint of a smile on his face.

As Teal'c runs past him, Daniel comes round. "Teal'c," he calls. "What happened? Where is everybody?"

There's no reaction from Teal'c as he grabs the skull and hurriedly places it in a box. He turns and heads back towards the pathway, running straight through Daniel.

"You just ran right through me!" Daniel says, rather shocked. "Teal'c!' he shouts, running after him.

As Teal'c reaches the MALP probe he turns, his eyes searching the cavern for whatever he heard or felt.

"What the hell is going on?" Daniel demands but Teal'c can't hear him.

Teal'c exits the gate, followed by Daniel who only just makes it through before the wormhole disengages. The General is waiting at the bottom of the ramp. "Well done, Teal'c."

"Regrettably, there was no sign of Daniel Jackson," Teal'c says, handing the box to Sgt. Siler.

Daniel waves one hand in front of Siler's face. "So I take it no-one else can see me either?"

"Doctor Rothman's awaiting the artefact in lab 3C," Hammond tells Siler.

"Major Carter will also want to study it," Teal'c points out as Daniel swings his arm back and forth through the General's neck and shoulders.

"As soon as she's fully recovered," Hammond agrees.

"Recovered from what?" Daniel demands. "What happened?"

Teal'c goes to the infirmary, followed by Daniel. Once there he approaches Sam's bed.

"She's going to be fine, Teal'c," Janet reassures him. "Her exposure wasn't long enough to cause any permanent damage."

She's interrupted by Jack's shout of "Doc!" She pulls back the curtain. He's lying in the next bed.

"You can protest all you want, Colonel, but it'll be a while before you get your strength back, so relax."

"Ah, come on!" Jack's not happy.

"Doctor's orders," Janet tells him and leaves.

"Napoleonic powermonger," mutters Jack. "News?" he asks.

As Teal'c tells him everything he knows, Daniel leans against the bottom of Sam's bed. His thoughts are interrupted by Jack sounding off (again).

"Look, I'm sick of laying around. Help me up," he orders, sitting up.

"Doctor Fraiser believes you not strong enough to undertake such a mission."

"Yeah, whatever," Jack retorts and then hits the floor.

Teal'c regards the wall, thoughtfully. "Doctor Fraiser is usually correct in such matters." He bends, grabs Jack's arm and dumps him face down on the bed.

"Thank you," Jack's muffled voice replies.

"You are welcome, O'Neill."

In the lab, Daniel is trying to encourage Rothman. General Hammond is waiting to hear what he's discovered.

"Well, it's a crystal skull," Rothman declares.

"We knew that, Doctor," Hammond responds.

As Rothman rambles on, Daniel realises that Robert doesn't know it was found on P7X-377.

"What I don't understand," adds Rothman, " is what it has to do with Daniel being missing."

"We believe it to be a teleportation device," Teal'c declares.

"Are you serious?" Rothman demands.

"That's good, Robert. Be sceptical," says Daniel.

"We were hoping your archaeological expertise could help provide insight into where he may have been sent," Hammond explains.

"It's a skull!" Rothman protests.

"Not that sceptical," Daniel points out.

In the end, Hammond demands a full report within 12 hours and leaves. Teal'c follows him, warning Rothman not to look directly into its eyes.

"OK," says Rothman, blankly.

"Don't let me down, Robert," says Daniel.

"Teleportation device?" Rothman looks at Siler. "What d'you think?"

"I think you're gonna get fired."

In the control room Hammond refuses to send another team back unless the UAV search they've organised produces something, so Sam suggests going to see Nick Ballard.

"He claimed that the skull teleported him somewhere. He may be the only person who knows where Daniel is."

"I'm not so sure, Major," responds Janet. "I've already taken the liberty of looking him up."

"Oh you didn't," says Daniel, dismayed.

"His current address is a psychiatric institution in Oregon," Janet continues. "Apparently his failure to prove the crystal skull was more than just a curiosity caused a severe mental breakdown from which he's never been able to fully recover. Nick checked himself in."

"Why wouldn't Daniel have told us that?" Sam wonders.

"Oh, yes, by the way, he's insane." Daniel offers.

"Daniel was a regular visitor there up until 4 years ago, right before he joined the Stargate program..." Janet explains.

"Oh please, he kicked me out. We had a huge fight..." Daniel interrupted.

"...apparently Nick still talks about him all the time..."

"...he doesn't want anything to do with me."

"...the doctor I spoke to says any friends of Doctor Jackson's are welcome," Janet adds.

"What?" demands Daniel.

Hammond agrees that they should talk to Nick, but reminds them that they can't tell him anything.

Once at the hospital, Daniel talks to his grandfather. He asks Nick to tell his friends everything, to trust them. At first Nick denies that anything happened when he found the skull, but after hearing that they've found another identical skull, he agrees to tell them. But only if they take him to see the skull.

Daniel gazes through Hammond's window as the General points out a few small facts to O'Neill.

"Colonel, there is no greater secret in this nation than the Stargate."

"So, we keep him away from level 28," Jack responds.

"A civilian?" demands Hammond. "Who's spent the last 20 years of his life in a psychiatric institution?"

"Exactly!" says Jack, slightly uncomfortably. "Who's gonna believe him if he says anything?"

The General sits down. "Colonel, you walk a fine line."

"Thank you, sir," says Jack, leaving as quickly as he can.

Just then, the phone rings. The General picks it up. "Hammond?" he says.

"General, I know you can't hear me, but thank you," he says and turns to leave.

"Absolutely," says Hammond. "Put her through...Kayla, sweetheart, this is Grandpa."

Daniel stops, turning back to listen to the love in Hammond's voice. His face filled with regret over a grandfather's love.... or lack of it.

"Isn't this past your bedtime?" Hammond laughs fondly. "You lost another tooth...well, you put it under your pillow tonight...I'll bet your big sister Tessa wishes she'd lost a tooth...I'd love to come to see you in your school play tomorrow night, sweetheart, but can't...well, a very close friend of mine is lost and he needs my help...yes, he's a very close friend...I hope so too."

In the lab, Nicholas is pouring over the skull. He asks where they found it, but Jack can't tell him.

"You're going to have to tell him eventually, Jack," Daniel points out.

"The skull stood on a stone pedestal," Nick says, then looks sharply at Jack and Sam. "You have been there, haven't you?"

"You mean Belize?" asks Sam.

"No, no. That was the ruins of the temple where I found the skull, but it's all gone, collapsed. I'm talking about a cavern."

"Do you know the location of this cavern?" asks Teal'c.

"Nowhere on this earth," declares Nick, almost triumphantly. "It was so enormous that the light of my torch never reached the bottom."

"Yes, but how did you get there?" persists Daniel.

"I don't know how I got there. A field of energy surrounded me and suddenly I was simply there. And then they came."

"They?" echoes Sam.

"The giants," Nick declares.

"Giants," repeats Sam.

"The giant aliens," Nick explains. "They rose up as if they were made of mist. They flew around me like spectres."

"Now you know why no-one believed him," Daniel comments.

"And then they spoke: 'hooya waling waling wi tiyil'."

"That's Mayan," Rothman interrupts. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Yes," agrees Daniel, "but what does it mean?"

"I was afraid to answer," Nick continues. "I just closed my eyes and suddenly I found myself back again under the temple in Belize. And the ground was shaking as in an earthquake. I just grabbed the skull and climbed out and everything collapsed."

"Well, that's er...giants," Jack says.

"So you were sent to this cavern and back again without ever knowing where it was. And the ruins where you found the skull?" Sam enquires.

"I spent years trying to find it again, but it was as if the temple never existed."

"So I guess you couldn't take us there, either," Sam says.

"Can you imagine what it feels like to go on the most incredible journey of your life and have no-one believe you?" Nick asks.

Walking down the corridor, Sam comments to Jack, "He described the cavern perfectly, sir. He had to have been there."

"Er...giants?" Jack reminds her.

"Yes, that's weird, I admit," Daniel says.

"Somebody built that place," Sam points out.

"Didn't help us," Jack responds.

"But if he really was transported to P7X-377, maybe the skull was trying to send me somewhere and something interrupted the process," Daniel says, thinking aloud.

Sam steps into the lift, then stops. "D'you get the feeling that Daniel's still around?"

"Kinda," answers Jack, cautiously.

"I guess it's 'cos we miss him," Sam says.

"And we have to talk to those giant aliens," Daniel realises.

"Or radiation sickness," Jack points out to Sam.

She smiles. "Goodnight, sir."

Daniel watches Jack head off along the corridor. "What? That's it? Whatever happened to working through the night?' He stands there alone and adds, 'I'd do it for you."

Entering the VIP room where he's to sleep, Nick turns to Teal'c. "When you see Daniel will you tell him I...never mind. It's something I should tell him myself."

"Very well."

Once the door is closed, Nick sits on the bed. Daniel leans against the wall, watching him.

"I am sorry," sighs Nick.

"For what?" asks Daniel.

"For not adopting you when your parents died."

"You were travelling all over the world," Daniel points out.

"It wasn't your fault."

"I was eight years old - how could it be my fault?"

"I am sorry for allowing my obsession to drive me to madness." Nick turns on the bed, so he can see Daniel. "Will you forgive me?" he asks.

Daniel steps forward, stunned. "You can see me?"

"Yes, Daniel, I can see you," Nick responds calmly.

"Why didn't you say something?" Daniel demands.

"You're not real, so it doesn't mean anything," Nick points out.

"No, no," Daniel protests, "Nick, I'm real, I'm real. You're not hallucinating."

"Hallucinations always say that," Nick tells him.

"Not this time, Nick. The skull...the skull...did this to me. I'm trapped, I'm in another dimension, I'm out of phase....something. Look all I know is; I need your help. If you don't help me I don't know how I'm going to get home." He gazes at his grandfather pleadingly.

"So what do you want me to do?"

The guard leads Nick to where Hammond and O'Neill are talking to Janet.

"Sirs, Mr. Ballard insisted on seeing both of you immediately."

"Forgive me," Nick says to them. "He insisted. Daniel is here."

Jack looks sceptical.

"Here," Hammond repeats.

"Repeat what I'm saying," Daniel tells his grandfather. "I'm standing right beside you."

"He is standing right beside me," Nick declared.

"He's lost a few pounds," Jack points out.

"Jack, don't be an ass!" Daniel retorts.

"Jack, don't be an ass!" Nick repeats.

Jack looks shocked. "Daniel?"

"Yes. We have to go back to the planet...and we have to let the skull finish what it started," Daniel insists.

"We must go back to the planet," Nick tells them.

"Planet?" questions Hammond, looking at O'Neill knowing the orders that he gave.

"Not a word, sir, I swear," Jack responds.

"Daniel told me all about the Stargate. We must replace the skull on the pedestal so that the giant aliens will come," Nick explains. "Something must have interrupted this process."

"Teal'c fired a Zat, that's all I can imagine it would be, sir," Jack tells the General.

"That's it," Daniel agrees. "That's what interrupted the process. We have to; we have to let it happen. We have to, we have to trust it."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Hammond asks Nick.

"I thought I was hearing voices," Nick admitted. "It would not have been for the first time."

"Forgive me," asks Janet, "but why are you the only person who can see him?"

"Perhaps because I went through the same experience."

Daniel nudges Nick. "Tell General Hammond if we go back right now, he might be able to see his granddaughter's school play after all."

"General Hammond," repeats Nick, "if you let us go now, you may be able to see your granddaughter's play."

Hammond is amazed. "I was alone in my office when Kayla phoned. Doctor Jackson, are you absolutely certain you and SG-1 can safely return to the planet?"

"Say yes," Daniel tells Nick.

"Yes," Nick declares.

"Good enough for me, sir," says Jack.

As Daniel reaches the pedestal, Teal'c hands the skull to Nick who carries it to the pillar.

"Now we must wait for the giant aliens," he declares.

"That just has a nice ring to it," Jack says.

As Daniel gazes into the skull, he sees the pinpricks of light gather and then expand. Everyone is enveloped in the light, which grows more intense and suddenly shrinks back into the skull

"Daniel!" Sam calls.

He turns. "Sam. It worked."

Teal'c looks round, confused. "O'Neill? Major Carter?"

Jack waves a hand through Teal'c's head. "Carter?"

"It appears that we're out of phase like Daniel but Teal'c isn't."

"Why?" asks Daniel.

"You're asking me?" enquires Jack, surprised.

"General Hammond," Teal'c reports over the open radio link, "I was not teleported with the others."

"Return to base immediately," Hammond orders.

With another look round at the empty cavern, Teal'c leaves.

As soon as he's gone, the ground starts to shake and a mist rises up out of the depths of the chasm. A huge form appears, misty and ghostlike.

Jack jumps back. "Holy smoke!" Then he calls, "Hello. What's your name."

The creature responds then adds, "hooya waling waling wi tiyil."

"Daniel?" asks Jack.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"I know what it's saying, why's it saying that?" Jack demands.

"It didn't affect Teal'c. Why?" Daniel asks.

"Because he's Jaffa," Sam answers.

"He's carrying a symbiote. The Gou'ald." Daniel steps forward. "We are enemies of the Gou'ald," he calls.

"Then you are welcome here," the form answers.

"Keep talking," says Jack, encouragingly.

"We're travellers," explains Daniel. "We come in search of friendship. We'd like to exchange our knowledge and culture."

"We accept your proposition," the alien says. "You may remain."

"Me?" says Nick, delighted.

"Him?" echoes Jack.

"This is not the first time you have journeyed here."

"You remember?" Nick responds.

"There are others among us who would gladly return," Daniel protests.

"No, Daniel, let me."

"Nick?"

"This is my life's work. I've been hoping for another chance at this for 29 years. Please."

"You just came back into my life," Daniel reminds him.

"I'll be back again. Please?"

The giant alien (there is something about that phrase) speaks to Jack, Sam and Daniel. "Look again into the eyes of the skull."

"Well, Nick? Takes notes," says Jack, as he and Sam turn away.

"I will."

"You have to tell me everything," Daniel tells him.

"I promise." Nick grasps Daniel's shoulders. "Daniel. I am proud of you."

"Goodbye." Daniel smiles sadly. "Grandpa."