Part II: And so the search begins

"So, has Doc Fraiser found anything about that bacteria that was inside you?" Jack asked as he sat down across from Sam with his tray of food.

Sam, who had been spooning at a cup of jell-o, looked up furtively at her CO. "Do you enjoy talking about bacteria while you eat, sir?"

Jack regarded the plate of spaghetti before him. "Only if it annoys you."

"Hmm." Sam pushed aside her half eaten jell-o and rested her arms on the table. "Lya said they're intelligent."

"What?" Jack said distractedly.

"The bacteria."

"Oh, right." Jack frowned. "How can they be intelligent? They're too small to have brains."

Sam shrugged. "Well, Janet says they seem like bioengineered nano-bots."

"What?! Carter…"

"They're like nano-bots," Sam said again, slower. "Except they're made from living tissue."

Jack nodded. "Uh-huh." He looked up at Sam, his brow furrowed. "So how'd you get it?"

"The bug that bit me on P3X-427." Sam explained, tapping the side of her neck with one finger. "Janet also put in a request to Hammond that we go back to the planet with HAZMAT gear to see if there's any information about the bacteria."

"You think that's what the meeting later is about?"

"Probably, sir."


It was, indeed, what the meeting was about. Hammond wanted SG-1 to go on a reconnaissance mission back to P3X-427, to recover information and try to locate any survivors.

"This place feels really eerie," Sam said into the radio on the inside of her HAZMAT suit's helmet. "It's like a ghost town."

"I agree, Carter." Jack said, staring around the deserted streets. "And frankly, the quicker we get in and out, the happier I'll be."

"I think we should go back to that hospital," Daniel said. "There may be notes or something that doctors took before…before they all died."

Jack nodded indistinctly. "Good idea, Daniel. Lets go."

Once in the hospital they decided to split up. Jack had been navigating the twisting hallways for only a moment before Sam's voice crackled over the radio.

"Sir! I'm in the first room we came into the last time we were here…and there's a problem."

Seconds later Jack was at her side in the empty room. "What's the matter, Carter? I don't see anything."

"That's exactly it, sir!" Sam said, turning. "There's nothing here! The room was full of bodies the last time we were here."

Daniel and Teal'c appeared in the doorway.

"Whassamatter?" Daniel said.

Teal'c gazed around the room. "It seems that the bodies have been moved."

"That must be it," Jack said, nodding. "Maybe the survivors came and moved the bodies."

Sam's eyes were wide. "But why, and where?"

Jack shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Well," Daniel said, holding up a stack of books and papers he'd found. "I did find some notes, they were laying out on a desk, so I'm hoping they're relevant to the current situation – "

"What if they weren't dead?" Sam interrupted.

"Carter," Jack rolled his eyes. "We saw them. They were dead. They didn't just get up and walk…What now?!" For Sam had suddenly jumped, looking behind her.

"Nothing, sir, I just thought I heard something."

But on an outside inspection of the building they found nothing except one of the squirrel-like creatures that was poking around in the garbage heap behind the hospital.

"See, Carter?" Jack said, as though speaking to a child. "It's just a rodent." The creature looked up at them with big brown eyes, then quickly scampered off. "More afraid of you then you are of it."

Sam shot her CO a scathing look. "Shouldn't we be getting back?"

"Shouldn't we look for survivors?" Daniel asked timidly. "I mean, the disappearance of those bodies must prove that there's someone out there."

"Well…" Jack seemed hesitant about remaining on the planet any longer. "I'd rather not stay too long, but lets have a look around anyway."

They walked up and down the empty streets, all the while having the nervous feeling that they were being watched. They all nearly jumped out of their skins when someone stepped out in front of them. It was a tall man with short brown hair, and simple clothes that hung limply about his thin frame. There was something about the way that he moved and watched them that seemed….wrong.

For a moment his lips moved incoherently, and then he spoke. "What are you, strange things?"

"Um," Daniel stepped forward, opening the outer visor on his helmet, so his voice could be heard through the inner, thin one. "We don't actually look like this, we're wearing protective suits. There's a dangerous disease on your planet. That's what's killed everyone."

The man tilted his head to one side. "Who are you?"

"I'm Daniel Jackson," Daniel said. "This is Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, and Teal'c…We're humans…Tau'ri. Except for Teal'c, he's a Jaffa."

"You serve the goa'uld?" the man asked, turning to Teal'c.

"I serve the Tau'ri." Teal'c replied flatly.

"We think the goa'uld are a foolish race who don't know anything about what they're doing." The man said.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I'd call the goa'uld lots of things, but foolish isn't one of them."

"Then you are a weak race indeed, Tau'ri."

"Hey!" Jack said. "We were going to offer to take you back with us so you won't get this disease that killed everyone…"

"We do not need your help, arrogant creatures!" the man shouted in a voice far deeper and louder then seemed possible coming from a body so small.

"Uhhh…sir…"

"I hear you, Carter." Jack was beginning to loose his temper, as was obvious to the rest of SG-1. Jack turned back to the strange man. "Hey, we're just trying to help! And who the hell is this 'we' you keep referring to?"

The man placed his hands on his chest. "Us. We are part of the Paren. And you should be more respectful to your future conquerors, Tau'ri." He suddenly turned to face Sam, a wicked grin on his face. "We are the voice that speaks in the dark, when you're all alone and none of your friends can find you." With that, he turned sharply and walked away.

"Ooookkkaayyy…that was weird." Jack said matter-of-factly. "Now, who's ready to go home?"

Back in the infirmary, Janet noticed that Sam seemed a little put off.

"Is something wrong?" Janet asked.

Sam sighed, resting her chin in one hand. "It's probably nothing, Janet…Just what that man said to me back on P3X-427."

"What did he say?"

" 'We are the voice that speaks in the dark when you're all alone and none of your friends can find you.' " Sam shuddered. "When I lost all feeling…It was like being trapped in this place with no light, no sound…except my own thoughts. And some of those even…weren't my own. They….they were things like what he said, talking about the void and the darkness, voices, my friends not being able to find me…"

Janet reached over and put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, Sam. I think you were just very frightened, and what you were hearing was just your subconscious over acting. I've never met anyone who was in a situation like yours, so I can only imagine what would be going on in your brain."

"Yeah." Sam sighed, running a hand through her short blond hair. She shook her head. "Anyway, we should be getting up to the briefing room.


"So I think if Dr. Jackson translates these for me, they should be an invaluable source of knowledge about the bacteria," Janet was saying, examining the papers that SG-1 had brought back. "There are some diagrams and pictures of the bacteria, as well as its path through the body, which alone will be helpful."

"Good." Hammond nodded. "And did you find anything else that would be of use?"

"Well," Jack said, leaning back in his chair. "There was that one creepy guy who didn't seem to want or need our help."

"I think you should go find him again," Hammond said. "Convince him to come back with you. He might not realize the danger he's in."

Sam looked up. "There must be more than just him, though. I mean, we were off world for only a few days…do you think he would have really been able to move all those bodies by himself?"

"It's possible." Jack said.

"Did he appear able to harm any of you?" Hammond asked.

"No, Sir, I don't think he could." Jack replied. "He seemed like a malnourished, crazy, little man."

"Well, don't underestimate him, but I want you all to go back there and try and convince him, or some other survivor to come back with you."

"Yes, and perhaps I can find a reason why they didn't catch the bacteria." Janet put in. "Maybe they have a natural resistance to it."

"Ok. Colonel, get your team ready to go." Hammond nodded to them all. "You're dismissed."

Jack stood up, smiling sarcastically. "C'mon, kids, lets hit the road."

Back to the planet they went, back through the deserted streets, past the empty hospital, searching for any signs of life.

"Someone shoot me if I ever want to do anything with these damn HAZMAT suits again." Jack complained.

"Sir!" Jack turned to see Sam pointing off to the side, where they could see the figure of a small girl crouching over something. Sam went over and knelt next to the girl. "Hey, are you ok?"

The girl looked up at them with big blue eyes. Sam was reminded forcefully of when they'd found Cassie, though this girl was older then Cassie had been. "You are the Tau'ri." The girl said.

"Yeah." Sam nodded, then looked down at what the girl had been bending over. Sam's stomach jolted unpleasantly. It was the body of an older woman. "What are you doing?"

"We're waiting for her to wake up." The girl said.

Sam ignored the girl's use of first person plural and said slowly, "Uhmm…she's dead."

"She'll wake up. We know she will."

"Sir," Sam said, turning to look up at Jack who was watching with raised eyebrows through the visor of his helmet. "I think we should bring this girl back with us."

"We don't want to leave!" The girl cried suddenly. "We don't want to go with the Tau'ri!"

"It's ok!" Sam said, trying to calm the girl. "We're not going to hurt you, we just want to find out why you don't have the disease that everyone else has."

The girl seemed to contemplate this for a moment. "Can we see you without your protective suits?"

"When we get back to our planet." Sam promised.

"What about her?" The girl looked down at the body of the woman.

"We can't do anything for her, I'm sorry."

The girl sighed and stood up, she was very tall for her age, almost as tall as Sam. Walking between Sam and Jack, with Teal'c in front and Daniel behind, the girl went with them back to the stargate.

She seemed slightly frightened when they got to the SGC, perhaps it was the airmen with their guns, though Hammond told them to stand down.

"She was the only person we could find." Sam said, removing her helmet. "And she appears fine."

Hammond nodded. "What's your name?" he asked the girl.

The girl thought a moment. "Jana."

"Well, Jana, I'm going to have Major Carter escort you down to the infirmary so Dr. Fraiser can make sure you're ok."


Sam was just coming out of the showers when Janet came running up, looking worried.

"Sam!" She said, sounding out of breath. "Jana…she has the bacteria."

"What? Oh god…" Sam grimaced. "How bad is it?"

Janet sighed. "Bad. I did an MRI, it's completely infiltrated her brain. It's even worse then it was when you were completely out of it. The strange thing is she's not showing any symptoms. I've got her in one of the isolation rooms." She gestured for Sam to follow her, and the two women went down to the isolation room where Jana sat, drawing on some paper with crayons.

Jana looked up as Sam entered. "Carter?"

"You can call me Sam." Sam said, sitting down. "How are you feeling?"

"We feel fine," Jana replied. "Why are we in here?"

"Well, you have this bacteria." Sam explained. "And it's really bad for you. So we have you in here so we can keep an eye on you and hopefully find a cure."

"We are not sick." Jana said.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I know, that's what's weird. Dr. Fraiser found that there's a lot of bacteria in your brain, and -"

"They don't understand us, Sam," Jana said in a strange voice. Sam frowned and Jana leaned closer. "They don't know what its like. They don't know…they haven't heard us. But you have. You can help us." Jana's face was inches away from Sam's now. "Where's the part of us that was removed from you?"

Sam leapt backwards, or at least, she tried to, but Jana grabbed her arm in a surprisingly strong grip.

"Don't leave us, Sam!"

"Let go of me!" Sam cried. She successfully pushed Jana away from her. "Janet!"

Janet came rushing in just as Jana regained her balance and rushed at Sam. At the last second she changed course and shoved Janet into the wall.

"You don't understand!" She shouted. "Tau'ri are stupid! They don't understand us!"

Janet struggled to reach the red button next to the door that would bring help in a second, but Jana held her too strongly in place. Sam rushed forward and grabbed Jana by the shoulders, trying to pry her off the doctor. But Jana was much stronger than she appeared. Letting out an angry growl she turned and shoved Sam, sending her flying across the room. Janet hit the button, the alarm went off.

"No!" Jana shoved past Janet into the hall.

Janet ran over to where Sam lay against the wall, rubbing the back of her head.

"Sam, are you ok?!"

Sam sat up. "Yeah…yeah I'm fine. Where'd she go?"

"Out into the hall." Janet said. "But don't worry, she won't be able to get out of the base."

"Major Carter to the gate room!" An announcement blared through the base. "Repeat; Major Carter to the gate room."

Sam groaned, but got to her feet and hurried to the gate room, where Jana stood before the stargate, glaring at the airmen and General Hammond.

"She says she won't talk to anyone except you." Hammond said.

Sam turned, holding her hands out. "Jana, what do you want?"

"We're not Jana." The girl said. "Jana's long gone. Nothing of the host remains. We've picked that up from the goa'uld, however foolish they are."

"What are you?!" Sam asked, looking alarmed.

"We've told you that already! We're part of the Paren."

Suddenly Janet burst into the gate room and ran up to Hammond.

"Sir, I can't get to the infirmary, level 21's closed off." She panted.

Hammond looked alarmed. "What?"

"I don't know why," Janet said. "I'm going to try calling the infirmary, see if someone can tell me what happened."

Sam turned accusingly towards Jana. "You did that, didn't you? You locked us down here."

"No, you stupid Tau'ri did that to yourself." Jana replied. "Part of us just wanted to be free. Now let us leave!" She suddenly turned towards the door, where Jack had entered, looking dazed.

"Sir…?" Sam said curiously, but Jack didn't respond.

"Open the stargate!" Jana commanded. "We need to return home."

Jack nodded dully. "We agree." He turned and walked up to the control room, shoving airmen out of his way if they dared to get in it.

"Major, come with me." Hammond ordered. He and Sam rushed up to the control room. Jack had just shoved Sergeant Harriman out of his chair, and was now proceeding to dial coordinates into the computer.

"Sir, what are you doing?" Sam asked, Jack ignored her.

"Colonel!" Hammond shouted. "I am ordering you to stop!" Jack ignored him as well.

"Major Carter." Sam turned to see Teal'c standing in the door, looking as worried as the large jaffa ever did. "I believe Colonel O'Neill has been compromised."

"Yeah," Sam said, nodding. "Yeah I realize that."

Hammond had just attempted to stop Jack by force from dialing out, but Jack merely shoved him away, before standing. The whoosh of an opening wormhole came from the gate room. Sam stood stolidly in Jack's way.

"Sir."

"Get out of our way."

"No, Sir."

Jack seemed to think a moment then said, "Carter, we're ordering you to get out of our way!"

"Sir, you're not in your right mind!"

Jack reached out as though to grab Sam. Her body tensed. Jack held his hands out for a moment, as though part of him wanted to throw her across the room and part didn't. However, the former won over and he grabbed her by the shoulders, flinging her like a rag doll out of his way. Luckily, Teal'c moved quickly and caught Sam before she smashed into a bank of machinery.

"Are you all right, Major Carter?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sam said hurriedly. "Come on!" They hurried back down to the gate room where Jack and Jana were walking up the ramp towards the stargate. Several airmen had their guns trained on the two figures.

"Colonel," Hammond said over the speaker system from the control room. "I'm ordering you not to go through that stargate!" But Jack continued walking. When he and Jana were nearly at the event horizon they stopped and turned.

One of the airmen looked expectantly at Sam.

"Wait, don't do anything." Sam ordered.

Jana clasped her hands in front of her. "You'll see us again, under less pleasant circumstances." With that, she and Jack both entered the wormhole.

Hammond appeared moments later holding a sheet of paper. "These are the coordinates that Colonel O'Neill dialed into the computer."

"I don't recognize these." Sam said, frowning. She suddenly looked up at Teal'c. "Where's Daniel?"

"I left him in the hall in the care of Dr. Fraiser," Teal'c told her. "He was injured while trying to stop Colonel O'Neill."


"Will someone please explain to me what is going on here?!" Hammond demanded of those seated before him.

Teal'c, Sam, Janet and Daniel, whose arm was heavily bandaged, were all seated around the table in the briefing room, looking worried.

"Levels 20 and 21 are sealed off," Janet said. "From what I could make out over the phone, the tubes of the bacteria from Sam just…exploded…and the bacteria went from liquid to air born in seconds. Luckily, I think they were able to seal off those levels, including the air vents, before the bacteria spread. But it appears that Colonel O'Neill slipped through."

Sam nodded. "And if he did, others could have too."

"So what is this bacteria doing to people?" Hammond asked. "Obviously not the same things it did to Major Carter."

"Actually," Janet laced her fingers together and frowned slightly. "It is…just much quicker. I don't know if it's because the bacteria is more developed, or because of the protein marker in Sam's blood. But, as I was talking to my assistant over the phone, he said those infected are showing the same symptoms that Sam did, and seconds after they loose all senses they're vitals stop, and then they go back up again. And the person's behaving strangely, saying 'we', referring to themselves as part of the 'paren'…"

"So these bacteria are actually taking over the people and controlling them?"

Janet frowned even deeper. "I believe so. I think they're doing something similar to the goa'uld, except they're bacteria rather then symbiots."

Hammond looked thoughtful. "Well, I'm ready to declare a foothold situation. I've already sealed off the base, no one is to leave or enter except through the stargate. I think we can assume that any infected persons will attempt to leave that way, possibly to the same place that Colonel O'Neill and the girl went."

"Sir," Sam said. "I request permission to form a search party for Colonel O'Neill."

"Let's send a MALP to the planet, check out the situation. Then we can talk about forming a search party." Hammond got to his feet. "I'm going to order a sweep of the levels we have access to. Any infected persons found will be taken to Dr. Fraiser. Dr. Fraiser, I want you to examine any evidence you get to try and find a cure for this. Major, you can supervise sending the MALP through. Dismissed."

A short while later Sam, Daniel and Teal'c stood in the control room, examining the readouts from the MALP.

"The planet looks safe," Sam said, squinting at the screens. She pointed to the visual. "It looks like mostly forest around the stargate, but you can see what looks like the outline of buildings in the distance." Sam panned the video right, and a small stone building came into view.

"That does not appear to be of goa'uld design." Teal'c observed.

"Well, we know they're not goa'ulds." Daniel said, frowning slightly. He turned to see General Hammond standing behind them. "Oh, General…"

"We found one infected airman." Hammond told SG-1. "He's with Dr. Fraiser right now. How do the readings look?"

"MALP telemetry shows the planet to be perfectly fine," Sam gestured at the readings.

Hammond nodded. "Permission to form a search party granted. Be ready to leave in half an hour."

"Yes sir." Sam gestured for SG-1 to follow her.

The area around the stargate appeared deserted when SG-1 first stepped through, though as they continued, weapons held at the ready, three women came out of the building, each holding a small hand held device.

"Stop." The three women said in unison.

"Ok, that's a little weird…" Daniel muttered.

Sam stepped forward, lowering her weapon slightly. "We don't want to hurt anyone…we're just looking for a friend of ours."

"Who?" the women asked.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill." Teal'c said. The women all turned to look at him. Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"We hold no prisoners here." The women said. "We are no separate beings here."

Sam groaned inwardly and rolled her eyes. "Wait, let me guess, you're part of the paren."

The women simultaneously raised the hand held devices, pointing them at Sam. "If you are here to destroy us, you will find that impossible."

Sam raised her zat gun and fired once at the woman in the center. The other two each got off one shot before they were stunned. The women's shots flew past Sam's head into the woods behind them.

"Okay…" Sam said, her eyes wide. "Let's go find Colonel O'Neill."

They walked for fifteen minutes through the forest before coming to the outskirts of a large city. Sam frowned, peering out through some foliage. She could see people moving.

"Daniel, Teal'c, come look at this." She said.

Teal'c stepped up along side her and looked out. "I see people, Major Carter."

"Yeah, but look, they're all moving in groups, and each of the groups are taking steps at the same time, and their arms are moving at exactly the same time."

"I see what you mean," Daniel said. "Ok, this is getting weirder by the second."

"Ok." Sam chewed her lip thoughtfully. "I don't think there's going to be anyone we can ask about Colonel O'Neill, so…lets go around the perimeter of the city, find some way to get in without being seen."

They moved as quietly as possible through the underbrush until they came to a narrow alley between two buildings. Sam led them through to the entrance, where they could watch the groups of people passing. Suddenly, however, one group stopped, all turning to face SG-1.

"You are looking for your friend." They said.

Sam gaped at them. "How did you know?"

"You told us."

"Apparently they have a shared consciousness," Daniel explained quietly.

"We do." The people nodded. "And you are our prisoners." As one they raised more of the same weapons as the women had had. Sam whirled around, only to see more people walking up the alleyway behind them.

"Well…now what?" Daniel asked. They were sitting in a locked storage room in one of the large buildings. Teal'c was walking around the room looking for some way out, and Sam was leaning against one of the storage containers, thinking. When Daniel got no response to his question, he tried another one. "Do you think they'll try to infect us with the bacteria?"

"I don't know," Sam said. "I mean, if that's what the Paren wanted, I think we'd be infected by now."

"Perhaps the Paren knows that my symbiot will not allow it to infect me." Teal'c offered.

Sam shrugged. "That may be, but it still doesn't explain me and Daniel."

Teal'c went back to his pacing. Daniel stood up and opened one of the boxes stacked against the wall.

"Well, at least we know we won't freeze to death…." He let the box fall shut despairingly. Teal'c gave him a perplexed look and Daniel gestured towards the box. "Blankets."

The doors to the room slid open and two guards entered, holding the zat guns taken from Sam and Daniel.

"Stand!" The guards commanded. Sam got to her feet, walking over to Daniel and Teal'c. "Follow us." One guard started off down the hall, and the other herded SG-1 after.

"Where are you taking us?" Sam demanded.

"To the Servant Mind." Both guards replied. "He wishes to deal with you in person."

To Be Continued…