It was a quiet evening in the SGC. O'Neill and Daniel were off-world, helping SG-11 to catalogue artifacts in an archaeological dig. Teal'c and Carter were chatting casually with General Hammond in the operations room. Suddenly, the base alarm went off, and the Stargate's chevrons moved. A blue wormhole popped out, and the protective iris shut itself.
— Unscheduled off-world activation.
— What is it, Sergeant?
— I'm getting audio only, General.
— Play it, Sergeant.
Shol'va! I have captured the Shol'va Bra'tac! I'm going to kill him if you don't come! It was Apophis' voice. Teal'c! Don't come, it's a trap... Bra'tac mumbled, followed by the sound of a staff weapon and a scream. You have fifteen minutes to come. I'm waiting for you, Shol'va!
End of communication. Teal'c clenched his fist.
— I must go, General Hammond.
— Teal'c, it's an obvious trap... I'm sorry to say that, but Master Bra'tac is probably dead, by now.
Teal'c stared at Hammond for exactly five seconds.
— O.K., Teal'c. I know that I can't stop you.
He sighed.
— Be prudent, son.
Teal'c kept staring.
— Requesting permission to go with him, sir, Carter said, standing to attention.
General Hammond sighed again. He knew that he couldn't stop her either, and he didn't have the strength to argue, today. He didn't even want to stop her, anyway. She and Teal'c were a team, and they had to stick together. "We don't leave our people behind" is the U.S. Air Force unofficial motto, after all.
— Very well, Major. Radio contact in one hour. Sergeant, dial the coordinates.
Teal'c and Carter rushed to the gate. They had prepared no plan and expected immediate capture. All they could do was negotiate with Apophis to save time and Bra'tac's life, while O'Neill would think of an actual plan to rescue them. And indeed, as soon as they passed the gate, Apophis' Jaffas zatted them. They dialed new coordinates promptly, and brought them to Apophis' mothership. Their timing was flawless. They pushed the captives on their knees and tied their hands behind their back. The Goa'uld was standing in front of them.
— Shol'va! You are so predictable, and your God tricked you with ease.
He pulled a metallic device that looked like a radio in front of his mouth.
— Teal'c! Don't come, it's a trap...
He giggled demonically. He sounded exactly like Bra'tac.
— How do you like this device that I designed?
Carter thought that it had been too easy; they should have designed a voice recognition program to at least identify their allies. She was disappointed with their mistake. They had been too gullible to fall for that trap. Since O'Neill wasn't around, she decided that it was up to her to make a comment:
— Goa'ulds are technological thieves and scavengers. I really doubt you designed anything.
One of the Jaffas hit her on the back of the head. It hurt a lot and threw her off balance.
— You know so little about your god, Tau'ri. I construct a lot of advanced devices. Shol'va! I have designed a torture appropriate to make you pay for your insults. I am glad that you brought the Tau'ri female with you. I will torture her until you kill her, and only when you kill her will I allow you to become my First Prime again. She will be put in so much pain that eventually, you will have no choice but to end it.
— Apophis! You are a coward! Don't torture her. You wanted me and here I am.
— Shol'va, that would be too easy. But you are no god, and only gods make the rules. Jaffa! Bring the prisoners to their cells.
The Jaffas brought them to two separate cells in front of each other. There was no door, only a magnetic field to block the exit. The field also blocked all sounds, which prevented them from speaking to each other. Carter had nothing to do but glaze at the infuriated Teal'c in front of her, until the guards came back and brought her to their master.
— Aha! Here's the female Tau'ri.
Apophis was moving his hands inside a large holographic screen. It seemed that he was closing computer programs, and Carter was observing him attentively to learn what he was doing. She recognised sinusoidal waves which must have been the graphical representation of sound waves. He was probably working on that voice synthesizer.
— I see that you are admiring the superior technology of your God. I'm working on a program that converts the code of life into musical sheets. But of course, I don't expect your primitive brain to understand how it works.
Code of life was the Goa'uld term for DNA.
— You'd be surprised what I can do with a computer.
But she was surprised, and wondered if he was lying. She had never pictured brutish Apophis as a computer engineer, and even less as a musician. The thought of Apophis playing music was but ridiculous. Goa'ulds didn't have the required delicacy to play beautiful melodies, and she suspected that their taste was limited to war drums. She, on the other end, was a sensitive being, and had always wanted to play cello, although she was far too busy to develop a hobby.
— Kree shak nel! You are an arrogant little ant! I will teach you to worship me. Jaffa!
A Jaffa came closer to the prisoner, holding a pain stick. In the corner of the room, she noticed a double reed wind instrument.
— Kree!
He hit her with the stick. Glowing light came out of her eyes and mouth, all of her nerves were overstimulated with energy, and quickly she began to wail with agony. Apophis was pleased, and he left to another part of the ship. Carter was tortured for two hours. She was brought back to Teal'c's cell. She rolled in a ball, on the floor, and cried. She had been hurt so badly that she didn't notice the torture had ended.
— Carter! What did they do to you?
Teal'c was enraged. He bumped his hand in the protective field, but only burnt himself. He didn't care about the pain. He tried to break it until the skin of his hand was completely black. The field was just too strong.
A few minutes later, Apophis came to visit the prisoners.
— Shol'va! Have you made up your mind, yet?
The brave warrior had nothing to answer. He could only scream with rage. Only a scumbag could attack a woman. Apophis was laughing.
— I didn't expect any less from you. I chose you as my First Prime for your strength, after all.
He hit Teal'c with a Zak'nik'tel to paralyse him, and turned his attention to the other prisoner. She was still crying on the floor. He tilted a bit his head on the right, and looked at her. He was going to paralyse her too, but changed his mind. He brought his hand close to her face, and caught one of her tears with his index finger. She looked at him for a few seconds and stared in his eyes. She wasn't even hateful or angry: she was too much in pain to feel anything. Apophis turned on his heels, and left.
Sam was incredibly tired, and she felt asleep. When she woke up, she was being thrown through the Stargate. On the other side, O'Neill, Daniel and SG-11 were waiting for her. It was the planet where she had been captured.
— Carter? It's good to see you. What happened to you? You look like a mess.
— O'Neill... What happened? she echoed. Where are we?
— You tell me. I was off world, looking at weird pottery that for whatever reason was getting Daniel all excited, when General Hammond called us and sent us here. He said that you went after Apophis to save Master Bra'tac.
— Bra'tac wasn't there... Apophis had a sound device to emulate his voice.
— Interesting, Daniel said. I didn't know Goa'uld could do that. We will have to be more prudent.
— How did you escape? O'Neill asked.
— I don't know... My memory is fuzzy. I think that Apophis' Jaffas just kicked me out through the Stargate.
— That's odd. Goa'uld don't release their prisoners, usually.
— Apophis behaved oddly. When I was in jail with Teal'c, he caught one of my tears in his hand, then left.
— Where's Big T? Is he O.K.?
— I don't know, I haven't seen him since I passed out.
— That's quite odd, indeed, Daniel said. It looks like Apophis was so disturbed to see you in pain that he felt the need to release you. It's possible that his host still has some control over him. It might give us an edge to defeat him.
— I... I don't think it was his host. I think it was Apophis himself.
— What makes you think that, Sam?
— I don't know. I just know.
Daniel threw her a worried look. She really did look like a mess.
Sam was brought back to the base. It seemed that Apophis had improved the torture stick, because she was still experiencing some of the effects. She had facial tics and was feeling a bit disorientated. Dr. Fraiser wasn't too worried, and prescribed her muscle relaxants. Her nervous system had just been overstimulated, and she would soon recover. She ordered her to rest and forbid her to go to the briefing room with the others. Sam sit on the computer to kill time, and researched what Apophis' instrument was. She didn't know why she'd research such thing. She simply felt compelled to.
It looked a lot like a kind of Egyptian flute called a "mizmar". She found a sound clip and played it. It sounded mysterious and exotic, and she was enthralled. It helped her relax, and she took a nap.
The environment was blurry. She was dressed like a slave, with a beautiful silk dress and golden jewelry. The room smelled of rose petals. Apophis was sitting in front of her on red cushions and was playing on his mizmar. It was extremely beautiful and was making her feel high. Somehow, she knew that Apophis was playing her code of life. Every note sounded in harmony with her inner self. Every note sounded just right. Apophis stopped playing, and she felt herself yearning for more. She didn't want him to stop. He said: "Simka" softly, with a human voice. She didn't know what it meant, but she knew that it referred to her.
She woke up abruptly. It was a strange dream and she didn't like at all. She shivered. She hated the idea of Apophis playing music for her, and she wondered why she'd dream about it. Dreams are just silly. She felt in perfect shape, and searched for the rest of the team through the base. She found them in the briefing room. General Hammond spoke to her:
— Major, it's good to see that you've recovered. We are trying to think of a plan to rescue Teal'c, but it's difficult because we don't know where he is detained.
— He is in Apophis' mothership.
— Any idea where that is?
— I... I should have looked at the constellations through the windows, but I didn't think of doing it. It would have given me an idea of his position, because I could have used the stars as reference points.
— That's O.K, Major. We are going to contact the Tok'ra to see if they can help us. Daniel thinks that since Apophis' host felt a weakness for you and released you, you should try to talk to him and distract him. It should give O'Neill enough time to strike him whilst his defenses are down. What do you think, Major?
She gave Daniel the mean face. Was he suggesting that Apophis had a crush on her? How very disgusting.
— Sir, as I told Daniel, I don't think it was Apophis' host that released me. It was Apophis himself.
— That's strange, Major. Goa'ulds are usually ruthless. But I trust your thinking. You tend to often be right about things.
Daniel looked perplexed. He asked General Hammond to talk in private in the hallway for a minute. When they came back, he spoke to her again:
— Major, I think you might not be psychologically ready to go back. The torture you suffered was inhumane. Apparently, Apophis has improved his torture device.
— Daniel? What did you tell him in the hallway?
She was becoming hysterical.
— Were you plotting against me? You think that I'm crazy, is that it? Answer! Are you too much of a coward to admit it? You are a coward, like Teal'c, who let the Jaffas torture me!
She was screaming, and Hammond called two guards to restrain her. She calmed down, and was brought back to Dr. Fraiser. The doctor looked in her eyes with a light, and asked her questions about her emotions.
— I think that you might have PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder. It's an anxiety disorder caused by an extremely traumatic event. It's pretty common to see it in war veterans.
— But I'm not a simple war veteran. I'm a member of SG-1. I've seen a lot of horrible things and was never traumatised.
— I know, Sam. But this time, it's different. You have been tortured far worse than anybody has ever been. I cannot even imagine what you went through.
She put a friendly hand on her shoulder and smiled.
— With a bit of rest, it will go away. Don't think of it as a weakness, think of it as being human.
— But the rest of the team needs me!
— Yes, Sam, they need you. But you'd be of no use in your state. Don't worry. I think one week of rest and therapy is all you need.
— One week?
She had a panicked look on her face.
— One week is too long. Teal'c... He'll be dead by then. Teal'c... I said horrible things about him...
She burst into tears. She was feeling too many emotions. She had felt strong emotions in her dream, too, but those were much more pleasant.
— Sam, it's O.K., you weren't being yourself. I know that you care for Teal'c. Now, I'm going to give you a shot of a strong anxiolytic. Everything's going to be fine, O.K.?
— No, she screamed. I have to go.
Dr. Fraiser made a hand gesture directed at two soldiers to make them hold her, and she gave her the shot. Sam calmed down, and passed away for a third time in 24 hours.
Three Jaffas were torturing her, but she didn't feel anything. Apophis took a DNA sample from her, and typed on his computer, which displayed enigmatic symbols. Then he grabbed his mizmar and started playing. It was the same beautiful melody as in the previous dream. And again, she felt frustrated when he stopped playing. He walked toward her. Apophis wasn't Apophis anymore. He had turned into O'Neill, dressed in his blue uniform. He spoke in Ancient, and she didn't understand one word except the last one: "Simka". One of the Jaffas hit her with the torture stick, and she felt her eyes burning.
Sam woke up in an infirmary bed, but her eyes were still painful. She drank a glass of water. Daniel was sitting on a chair, next to her bed.
— Sam? Are you O.K.?
She was all sweaty.
— I'm fine, it was just a bad dream. How long have you been here, Daniel?
— Not too long. Don't worry about it.
— Daniel... I'm sorry for acting crazy, earlier.
— Earlier? What do you mean? You've been sleeping for two days.
It didn't feel like that long to her. She only remembered that one short dream.
— Daniel, can you translate something in Ancient for me?
— Yes, Sam. What?
— "Simka". Do you know what it means?
— Where did you hear that? It's not Ancient, it's Goa'uld.
— Goa'uld?
But Jack was speaking Ancient. Although she wasn't sure if he was really Jack, because before that he had been Apophis.
— Yes, Goa'uld. It's an archaic word that approximately means "beloved". It fell out of use in Modern Goa'uld.