Chapter 14: Changes
Far from Atlantis, at the edge of the Pegasus galaxy, a lone dart emerged from a hyperspace window. The dart carried two passengers. One was a captive, the other a conflicted quasi-human pilot. The flight was the beginning of the end for both of them.
I don't know if I can do this anymore, Denny thought.
It had been one of many similar missions. He'd been sent by Oscar to capture yet another hapless victim, someone specially selected for the perceived strength of their life force. Even now, the latest young woman slept fitfully in the rear seat of the small craft. Sedated, she had little idea of the fate that awaited her. With any luck, she would be killed before she awakened. But it was doubtful Oscar would be that considerate.
Denny had been the harbinger of death for several humans like this one. He'd quietly lull them into a false sense of confidence with his innocent, human appearance and pleasant façade, then spring the trap. Once captured, the poor souls were offered up to Oscar in exchange for Denny's next dose of the enzyme.
He'd grown used to it for awhile, immune to the horror of what he was doing. But since meeting Colonel Carter, Denny had started to see things differently. He wondered if Oscar had any idea how his star subject had affected his favorite human slave. After all, Denny's slave master had specially selected Sam Carter. The rebel Wraith scientist was privy to information that made her irresistible.
The man who used to be Aiden Ford had put Oscar in contact with a renegade member of the Atlantis expedition, someone with the know how to covertly transmit information, someone willing to give that information to the Wraith, for a price. It was from this spy Oscar first learned of Colonel Carter and her assignment to Atlantis. Her qualifications swiftly caught his attention.
In his report, the spy had glowingly noted the Colonel's exemplary military and scientific achievements, as well as her skills as a leader. He'd also highlighted the esteem in which Sam was held by the people under her command. Those paid observations had been enough to convince Oscar that Sam Carter was the perfect subject for his precious experiment. She met all his specifications.
Oscar wasn't the only one impressed. Once he met her, Denny was also convinced this Air Force Colonel was an extraordinary woman, but for entirely different reasons. Despite the extremes of her imprisonment and the fact rescue was highly unlikely, she'd refused to freely divulge information to her captors. She'd remained defiant for weeks, refusing to give Oscar the satisfaction of tears or panic. And she'd done her best to appeal to whatever humanity remained in Denny.
He'd worked hard to fend off her influence. After all, to his knowledge, there was still no cure for his addiction. He didn't relish the thought of going through withdrawal or losing the super-human strength and endurance he'd gained. But all of that came at a price. Being around Sam Carter reminded him of that price. And that reminder had made the most recent mission all the more abhorent.
OoOoOo
Sam could feel the Wraith mind pushing insistently against her own. She'd learned that the more she resisted these invasions, the harder Oscar pushed, intimidating her with fearful mental images and threats. On the other hand, when she gave in, he seemed content to stop with nothing more than suggestions for seemingly harmless behavior.
Today he simply wanted her to regulate the temperature in the hive control room. He could have asked her nicely, but recently every task had become a test of his new found power over her mind.
This time, Sam gave in; she found herself doing that more and more often. It wasn't so much Oscar wearing her down as it was Sam letting him believe he was in control. At least that's what she told herself. Better yet, her apparent docility and cooperation had gone far toward gaining her new levels of freedom.
That freedom gave birth to hope. Hope was a powerful force. Each tiny smidgen was motivation to work for more, no matter how bleak the prospects. And the prospects were becoming bleaker; Sam was gradually forgetting why she was resisting Oscar in the first place.
To Sam's dismay, her memories of personal events and history, her sense of self was fading away. Though she clearly remembered complex formulas for interstellar travel, the specifics of her own life were becoming more and more difficult to recall. With each passing day her ability to remember people she'd left behind, people who'd been important in her life, diminished. Though random names would come to mind, she was at a loss to place them. Remembering how her life intersected with theirs was out of the question.
One face, however, remained clearly etched in her mind's eye. He was older, his hair was silver and he had the most penetrating brown eyes. Somehow, she knew his name was Jack. He was dear to her. Of that much she was certain.
OoOoOo
Three days later, Oscar paced the corridor leading to the stasis chamber. If a Wraith could be anxious, he was the epitome of anxiety.
His experiments were reaching a new and telling stage. Where initially Sam's reactions to the inoculations had been slow and unpredictable, recently her responsiveness had skyrocketed. She'd become remarkably susceptible to telepathic suggestion from himself and his fellow Wraith. What's more, her physical strength and stamina had increased exponentially. The success of the injections in this realm, given her recent confinement, was a source of special satisfaction. After all, his subject would need considerable physical endurance to survive the trials ahead.
Best of all, from Oscar's perspective, almost without her knowing it, Sam's level of self awareness was rapidly diminishing. She'd become sufficiently compliant over the past few days that restraints were no longer deemed necessary, even when she was unguarded. Unaware of her own identity, Sam Carter had nowhere to run.
Even now, his prize subject was completing a test of her new abilities. She'd done well in previous tests. This one was harder.
She'd been assigned to bring him the young woman Denny captured three days ago. The semi-conscious captive had been stored in a cocoon over the past seventy-odd hours. Now Oscar was ready to feed.
In order to complete her task, Sam would need to cut the woman free of the cocoon and likely drag her kicking and screaming before Oscar. There the hapless victim would doubtless meet her death.
Sam Carter knew what would happen. This was the penultimate test of loyalty. If she passed, more would be expected of her.
The true purpose of Oscar's work was unfolding.
TBC
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