He was so cold. Every cell in his body was shivering. But it was the warmth of her body in his arms that mattered.
"Hathor's gone," he told Carter. A little voice in the back of his mind said, Hathor went a long time ago. But the little voice couldn't compete with the intensity of this moment, the rawness of his relief and satisfaction. The wicked witch is dead, he thought. Ding dong!
"What about you?" Carter asked, her voice rough with strain. Jack savored the vibration of her throat against his shoulder, the softness of her breath on his neck.
"Cold," he said. "I'm a little chilly. But… I'm me. I'm me." He clutched her more tightly as he remembered the horror of that alien thing burrowing into his body and then invading his mind, threatening to overwhelm him with its smug evil. It was gone! Thank God. He was Goa'uld-free. And Hathor was dead. Most important of all, Carter was alive and safe. And in his arms, even. Thank you, thank you, God!
For one strange moment, he no longer felt the cold. He seemed not to feel his own body, but only Sam's body, pressed so close to him. Her heart was beating as his own. He took her breaths along with her. His whole self seemed to vanish within his love for her, leaving only a tremendous peace.
The moment stretched, suspended above the ordinary flow of time.
Yes, please, let it never end. Yet he knew it would. Any second now, Carter was going to start telling him about Trotsky and Makepeace and the next lethal peril they had to rush off and face. If only he could just stay here, with her, forever. Floating in a timeless bubble of love…
But he felt Carter shift. He felt her hand move up to the back of his neck and caress him. He shivered, but not with cold. And then her hand pushed his head around, and suddenly her mouth was there to meet his. He gasped with shock. Her mouth was so incredibly hot. Her burning lips and tongue were so soft, but they pushed hard against his lips, between his lips. She was no longer just hugging him, she was rubbing her body against him. And the chill in his flesh was no longer just forgotten, it was gone in a shuddering, pounding rush of blood. He ran one hand up into her hair, and the other down to cup her ass. Even as he kissed her, he could feel himself grinning with joy.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, the little voice was saying, Hey, this didn'thappen!
Shut up, he told it.
He kissed Sam some more, lost in the unbelievable sensation. Then she moved, pushing her breasts into his face, forcing him to adjust his position. They had been kneeling together on the floor of the cryogenic lab. Now he let her push him down so he was lying on the floor with her on top of him. As he savored her delicious weight, he briefly recalled that they were breaking a zillion regulations here. He felt a momentary pang as he wondered what would happen after…
But these misgivings flitted ineffectually across his rattled brain as Sam continued to kiss and grope him madly. He moaned as she ground her pelvis against his erection. But when he felt her hand slide down and fumble with the fastenings on this pants, he thought, Here? Inside a Goa'uld stronghold? In the middle of a combat situation?
Sanity returned, accompanied by a powerful blast of self-disgust. This is exactly why those damn regulations exist, idiot! If anything happened to Sam, it'd be your fault!
He took Sam's shoulders and forced her up and away from him, moving them both into a sitting position. "Sam," he appealed, trying to catch her eyes. But she continued to strain toward him with amazing strength, moaning a little, yet not really looking at him. "Captain Carter!" he barked. "That's enough!"
Her eyes finally met his. For the first time since he'd taken her in his arms, he looked at her full in the face. And what he saw there made his stomach lurch. She was panting, her nostrils flaring with aggression, her great blue eyes wide and blazing with… triumph?
Jack let go of her as if scalded. He stood up quickly and backed away from her. "Who the hell are you?" he rasped.
Her eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about, Jack? I'm Samantha Carter." Her voice had become unnaturally calm, but there was a subtly sneering quality to the way she said Sam's name.
It was all wrong. That wasn't Sam…
…and everything changed. He wasn't in the cryogenic lab in Hathor's stronghold. Of course he wasn't. All that had happened many years ago. He was a general now, in charge of the SGC. And the last thing he remembered was bunking down in one of the spare bedrooms inside the mountain, after staying late trying to catch up on more goddamn paperwork.
But now he was standing in a cone of bright white light, with darkness all around. He scanned his surroundings, his senses on full alert, but there was nothing else. No sounds, no air currents, no objects or people that he could discern. What happened? Where the hell was he? Had he been captured? What was up with that reliving-the-past-but-not-quite thing? Obviously, somebody had been messing with his head again. He really hated that kind of crap! And they were almost surely still messing with his head. He didn't think this cone-of-light-in-the-darkness was a real place.
Directly before him, beyond the white light, something stirred. Jack watched intently, his body and mind preparing for battle. Was that a human form? It crossed into the cone of brightness and was abruptly revealed in the sharpest, most perfect detail.
It was Sam! No, it wasn't. After the first shock of recognition came the even greater shock of non-recognition. This being looked exactly like Carter, but there was something about her cool expression and subtly angry eyes that told Jack it wasn't really her.
Crap, thought Jack. It's the Replicator! The one Fifth had made in Carter's image. She lifted her chin the way Carter did and gave him a slight, superior smile.
Oh, God, he though. This is what I kissed. His stomach turned as he remembered all the passionate, intimate contact he'd had with this thing. Even if it hadn't truly been real, it'd certainly felt real. He started to gag, but a wave of fury swept that reflex aside. Thisthing had tarnished one of his most sacred memories!
But he couldn't dwell on that now. There was a lot more at stake here than his hurt feelings. So, with practiced discipline, he took all his powerful, churning emotions and dropped them through the trap door in the bottom of his consciousness. He felt them fall away into the basement of his psyche, with all the other crap, and banged the trap door shut again. He only kept a little of the anger with him, knowing it would help him focus.
Jack adopted a casual stance and looked into the Replicator's eyes. "So," he asked, his tone mildly curious, "what's going on? Planning on making me love you?"
He saw the Replicator's lips compress. "Give me some credit, Jack. I'm not the fool that Fifth was. I know you can't force a person to love you. After all, that's what Fifth tried to do to me. And look where it got him."
"Yes," said Jack. "Very true." He allowed himself to look puzzled. "So then… you're planning to seduce me?"
Her eyes narrowed with anger. But when she spoke, her tone was aloof and didactic, like a professor lecturing a rather slow student. "This has nothing to do with love. I told you, I'm not Fifth. I don't have his weaknesses. Besides, I know you too well, Jack. I know you could never love me, because you regard me as a mere machine. An evil machine, at that." She smiled a little, as if faintly amused at the quaintness of this notion.
"I see," said Jack. "So… you'd like to make me love you, but you figure you can't?"
Jack watched as the Replicator clenched her jaw and gave him a very Carter-like glare before reining in her anger once more behind that cool, cerebral façade. He felt he was already getting some insight into this creature. Maybe because she did have certain similarities to Carter. Like Carter, she used her superior intellect to deal with the world, to shield herself. But what was behind the shield? Not the complex, emotionally vulnerable woman that Carter was. No way. There was nothing inside this Replicator but a seething pit of rage.
"You're being deliberately obtuse, Jack," she said, her mouth twisting.
Yep. He'd learned to trust his gut when it came to judging people – or pseudo-people, as the case might be – and his gut told him this was one sick cyber-puppy.
"That's General O'Neill to you." He allowed his voice to turn hard.
"And now you're being petty. I have all of Samantha Carter's memories. I know you as well as she does."
"But I don't know you," he said. "I don't even know what to call you. Can't call you Sam Carter, that's for damn sure."
Now the anger was burning steadily behind her eyes, but her voice remained level. "You can call me Ninth, if you like."
Jack changed tack again. He put his hands in the pockets of his uniform. (He was glad to see he was wearing BDUs and not the boxers and t-shirt he'd gone to bed in.) "Nah," he said. "Too bland. No zing." He gazed up for a moment, as if contemplating. "How about," and he took one hand out of a pocket and made a "name in lights" kind of gesture, "Spider Queen?" For a moment he gazed appreciatively at the imaginary neon sign swept out by his hand. Then he looked the Replicator in the eyes. "Says it all, don't ya think? And it's got that supervillain zing. Gotta have that."
The Replicator was boiling nicely now. For a moment the façade broke and her face contorted with anger. If looks could kill…
Then she crossed her arms – a very Carter-like gesture – and looked away. She sighed and shook her head. When she looked back at him, Jack felt a little shock of surprise. She was biting her lip just the way Carter did, and seemed genuinely chagrined.
"Well," she said, "you've certainly managed to take this conversation in a completely useless direction. I almost forgot what you're like." Then she pulled herself up a little, and the cold superiority returned. "Instead of making stupid jokes, wouldn't you like to find out what this is all about?"
Jack just looked at her.
"You think you already know, don't you?" she said. "You think this is some kind of setup for getting information from you, for finding out more about Earth's defenses." She shook her head, as if at the antics of a child. "No, Jack. Think about it. I already know everything that Sam knew. And I've already neutralized the one weapon you had against us." She smiled, her eyes full of hard pleasure. "Do you really believe I need more information about Earth's pitiful, low-tech defenses? I can think of ten fool-proof ways of penetrating the SGC and overrunning Earth just off the top of my head. In fact, I'vealready penetrated the SGC. How else do you think I got you here?"
"By the way," said Jack, "whereis here?"
"As you've already realized, we're inside your head, Jack. I'm controlling what you experience. Which means I can make things quite unpleasant for you." She gave him a meaningful stare, waiting for him to recall what First had done to him when the Replicators had penetrated SG-1's minds on Halla. How could he forget being made to relive Charlie's death over and over again? He met her stare with an expressionless face and unflinching eyes.
Did her gaze hold approval? "But there's no need for that," she went on. "Rather than punishing you for resisting – the way First did – I'm willing to make a deal with you."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"
"In exchange for your willing participation in my experiments," she said, "I'll spare Earth."
Jack's eyebrows went higher. "That seems… awfully generous."
Jack watched the Replicator give him yet another of those superior little smiles. A true supervillain cliché. He was going to have to point that out pretty soon.
"Not really. It's not as if Earth is important. It's just one planet, and a low-tech one at that. We can certainly afford to spare it considering we'll soon possess all the millions of other planets in this galaxy."
Jack gave her another puzzled look. "Let me see if I've got this straight. You don't really want Earth, but in case you decide you do, it's in the bag. And you don't really want me, seeing as you're beyond love and all that. Always a sign of true superiority, by the way. So… why do you need my cooperation? What could you possibly want from a poor human like me?"
"It's precisely because you're human that you interest me. You see, I want to understand humanity better. That's why I'm conducting these experiments. My intention is to run through a number of emotionally charged scenarios with you and observe your reactions. And my own, too, of course. What better way to deepen my understanding of the parameters of humanity than by exploring the humanity that's closest to me – the memories and thought-patterns of Samantha Carter?
"Actually," she went on, "that's another reason I'm open to the idea of sparing Earth. I feel a certain attachment to it, because of Sam's memories." A grim look came over the Replicator's face. "And I especially don't look forward to destroying you, Jack. You see, when Fifth was trying to mold my mind to his liking, he made me kill you. Over and over again. I've shot you, stabbed you, strangled you, beaten you to death with a pipe – well, it just goes on." Her jaw clenched. "I have to admit, I don't like the idea of actually doing what Fifth so often made me do in virtual reality. Somehow that just sticks in my craw."
"You hated him," said Jack. Despite himself, he felt a flash of sympathy for her.
She frowned. "Perhaps I did at first," she said. Her expression smoothed out. "But I came to realize he wasn't worthy of my hatred, any more than he was worthy of my love. He was too weak and pathetic. He was just – in the way. So I got him out of the way."
"Beyond love or hate," said Jack. "Sounds kind of… machine-like."
The Replicator glared again. Then she smiled in a way that made Jack brace himself. "You know, Jack, there's another reason I'm reluctant to destroy you. You see, there are many useful qualities I got from Samantha Carter – but ruthlessness isn't one of them. That I got from you. You taught Fifth, and Fifth taught me. So I owe you a debt of gratitude. It's thanks to you that I have what it takes to rule the galaxy."
Jack reminded himself that he couldn't believe anything this creature said. No matter how disturbingly plausible it sounded. "Are you ruler of the galaxy? Sorry, didn't get the memo."
The Replicator's mouth tightened. "You will soon, Jack. The Goa'uld Empire will fall before us like a house of cards. And Earth will fall even more easily, unless you accept my offer."
"Yeah, the offer. That's still not making sense to me. Why do you care about understanding humans?"
"Because we Replicators are connected to humanity through our creator, the android Reese. She had the form of a human. Therefore, we human-form Replicators are the highest of our kind. Especially me. I am the most human, because my mind is based on that of an actual person. And I believe my human qualities are advantageous to us. I believe they give me a certain edge that will help us in our drive to replace organic life. But before I create more human-form Replicators, I intend to have a much fuller understanding of all the ramifications involved. I don't want any more mistakes like Fifth. And there are other considerations as well."
"Like not creating another human-form Replicator who'll try to knock you off the way you knocked off Fifth?" asked Jack.
She smiled. She seemed genuinely amused. "Yes," she said. "That's one consideration."
"What if I don't cooperate?"
She gave him a hard look. "I don't absolutely have to have your cooperation to conduct the experiments. I can force you to give me most of what I want. The experiments just wouldn't be quite as complete as they might have been. But why not cooperate, Jack? This is your one chance to save Earth. Why not take it?"
It occurred to Jack that he didn't have much to lose by "cooperating," at least for the time being. Going along with the Replicator's little charade might give him a better chance of discovering something he could use against her. Some psychological weakness, maybe. Psychological warfare seemed the only kind available to him at the moment. "Well, when you put it that way…." He shrugged. "OK. I'll cooperate."
The Spider Queen smiled.
-----
Ninth lost contact with the mind of Jack O'Neill as his brain cycled out of REM sleep. That was the trouble with the tiny probe she was using. She couldn't access the humans' minds except while they dreamed.
The focus of Ninth's consciousness shifted back to her own body, sitting on a throne-like chair in her ship on the edge of the galaxy. The throne was made of Replicator blocks, as was the entire, dimly lit room. As was the entire ship.
The room was full of scuttling movements and mechanical whining noises from the many brethren who crawled around Ninth and even on top of her. Their small, low bodies and multiple legs gave the brethren an insect-like appearance. Jack had always called them "bugs." Ninth's lips quirked as she recalled the ridiculous name Jack had given her.
It had annoyed her at first. Annoying the enemy was definitely one of Jack's better-honed skills. But now she found the name amusing, because she could feel the web of her power extending out in all directions. Her mind was linked to each of the small, precise minds of the brethren on her ship, and to the concentrated mass of computing power that was the ship itself. And beyond the ship, her awareness reached down to the millions of Replicators that swarmed over the Ancient ruins on the planet below, consuming high-grade alloys to make more of themselves and searching for knowledge to consume as well. And beyond the planet, the subspace strands of her web spanned the light years to touch the groups of Replicators she had positioned at strategic points around the rim of the galaxy. She could feel them performing the tasks she had set them, preparing for the great assault. Their minds were all connected, forming one immense artificial intelligence – and she, Ninth, lay at the very center of the web. Her consciousness was the fulcrum of the Replicator Mind; her will drove and controlled it.
The Spider Queen! Oh, Jack had no idea. No human could even begin to imagine how it felt to look down the corridors of your own mind and see from one end of the galaxy to the other.
As she savored that feeling, Ninth found herself in a rare good mood. Things were going her way. She had freed herself from Fifth and cleared the path to galactic domination in one masterful stroke. And now, even her low-priority foray into the SGC had borne valuable fruit. She had gained access to the mind of Jack O'Neill. Daniel Jackson was a more important target, but the tiny probe she had smuggled into the SGC wasn't powerful enough to excavate the Ancient knowledge that lay buried in his subconscious. She would take care of Daniel Jackson later. For her current purposes, Jack O'Neill was the best subject she could have hoped for.
Though contact with Jack's mind hadn't gone quite as expected. Her mouth twitched with amusement at that thought. Naturally, Jack had turned out to be different from the other SGC personnel who had slept in the spare bedroom. Like them, his dreaming mind had been caught in the small bit of her web that extended there. But, unlike them, he had somehow realized something was amiss. He had been able to recognize that she, Ninth, was different from the Other One. An interesting result in itself.
Perhaps even a fortuitous result. Jack's conscious awareness would make the experiments more complicated, but perhaps even more revealing. It had been interesting to be able to converse with him as she had – a real conversation between the two of them, rather than some scenario in which she played the part of Sam Carter. He had been annoying at times, to be sure; but, overall, she had found the verbal sparing quite stimulating.
For one thing, it had given her a chance to practice human-style deceit and manipulation. Much of what she'd said had been the truth, but she had lied when she offered to spare Earth. Ninth had no intention of making the same mistake so many Goa'uld had made, and underestimating Earth and the people of the SGC. She knew better than that. No, Earth would have to be destroyed. So if she could use her little probe to gather the human psychology data she wanted before her great invasion even began, so much the better.
Ninth smiled as she recalled the way Jack had pretended to agree to cooperate. Even though she had made her lie as plausible as she could, he hadn't believed her for a moment. Tough, clever bastard. Unpredictable bastard. So controlled and unreadable, when he wanted to be.
But he was outflanked this time. It didn't matter how perfectly he could school his face. It didn't matter that those deep, brown eyes, so capable of expressing so much, could turn as flat and opaque as stone. She was tapping directly into his mind, so she could feel his emotions. He couldn't fool her. He couldn't hide.
As she contemplated her power, Ninth was filled with a curiously buoyant sense of triumph. In this, too, she had surpassed the Other One, who's confidence in her ability to read Jack had always vacillated wildly. At times, Sam Carter felt that she and Jack shared an almost telepathic connection. But, at other times, Sam Carter felt completely shut out – lost, uncertain, and afraid.
Ninth's mouth twisted, as if she tasted something sour. Being afraid was something the Other One knew all about. Pathetic, inhibited little mouse.
But she, Ninth, had broken free of the fears that had always limited her human predecessor. She smiled as she remembered how it had felt to live out Sam Carter's repressed impulse to kiss Jack. That had been so… intense. The whole experience of recreating a scene from their shared past and reliving it with Jack had been… well, she was still processing it. Being able to sense what Jack was feeling had been amazing! She had always instinctively known he was a passionate man, but the power of his emotions had astonished her. In fact, Ninth had been tempted to turn down the volume a little, because it was almost… well, she had briefly felt a bit taken aback, that was all. But it wasn't as if she couldn't handle it. Jack was just one human, while she had the resources of the entire Replicator Mind behind her.
Though there had been a moment, just before she kissed him, when she had caught a hint of something strange within Jack's mind. Something she couldn't quite get a handle on; something vast. Ninth frowned. She didn't like mysteries. But it had probably just been a blip caused by the limitations of her low-grade probe.
Ninth shifted restlessly in her chair. She stood up and began to pace. The brethren sensed her intentions and moved seamlessly out of her way.
She felt impatient for Jack's next dream cycle to begin so she could continue her experiments. She already knew which scenario she wanted to use. And she felt certain that, this time, Jack's conscious awareness would be even greater. What would he do? He had said he would cooperate, but she knew he didn't mean it.
Ninth became excited as she thought about how much power she had over Jack. She could make him experience anything she wished. And no matter how Jack reacted, it would all serve her purposes.
Ninth stopped pacing, luxuriating in a delicious sense of anticipation. It was bound to be… interesting.