Chapter 36

Chapter 36

I get a call from Fraiser later in the afternoon. Tesia has refused Sam and me permission to be involved with the twins, and she's decided not to allow Abby Derek to see them again.

I immediately go to Sam's lab where I find her as furious as I am.

"She knows something," Sam insists. "She knows what happened, and she thinks that by keeping it secret, she's protecting the children."

"Why do you think that?"

"I was pretty sure she knew when we were having lunch. When she stormed off she told me that she'd do anything she could to ensure nothing like that happened again. At the time I didn't know what she was planning, but now …"

"Look, I'm going to speak to Hammond – if the Doc. doesn't get there first. If she's not capable of looking after the twins …"

"Jack, realistically, getting a judge to take Tesia's parental rights isn't going to happen quickly. Everything up till now's been looking good. Sure, she's been traumatised, but she's been getting better. She hasn't tried to hurt the children in any way."

"There's got to be something we can do."

"I don't know what," she answers.

She turns to her laptop screen. Something's running, something I wouldn't understand even if I could see the display clearly from this angle. There's some paper next to it – just a list of dates, times and some other bits.

"This about the activations?" I ask.

"Yeah – it's just a list. The real data's being analysed."

She glances at the paper, running her eyes over it. When she gets to the bottom of the sheet she seems to freeze for a second then picks up the phone, not stopping to explain.

"Janet?"

I listen to the one-sided conversation, trying to be patient.

"What time did the call for a med. team for the twins come in?" There's a pause then, and she continues. If there's one thing worse than listening to a one-sided phone call, it's one where you don't understand the side you can hear.

"Look, I'll explain later, but if I'm right, I might know what caused the problem. Sort of. Please, just check for me. Right, I see. Thanks, Janet. I'll speak to Linda and see if she can tie it down for me."

She ends that call and follows it up with one to base security where she finds that the twins' tutor has gone home. Another call gives her her cell number, and a moment later, she's talking again.

"Linda? This is Sam Carter. How're you doing?"

"Good. Look, I can't explain why, but this is important. Can you tell me exactly what time it was when the incident with the twins started this morning? I've got the time the call for a med. team was logged, but I need it more accurate than that. Ok. Are you sure? And, just so I know how that compares, what time is it on your watch now?"

"That's great, Linda. Thanks."

She puts the phone down and turns towards me.

"Want to tell me what that was all about?"

"Jack, the thing with the twins … it started during the unexplained activation. It could be a coincidence, but …"

"It could. There've been lots of those activations, and none of them caused that effect before," I point out.

"I know. I just … What if the signal I'm getting is something to do with the twins' ability to communicate silently? What if someone put images into their minds this morning that made them react as if they'd been dreaming? And what if the signal I measured within the SGC was them actually communicating … or taking information from someone else?"

"What?"

"Remember. Back when we were lost. Shanna told us that she and Cal can communicate all the time, but if she's in contact with someone, she can share things. I felt real pain just after one of their nightmares."

"There's a lot of 'what-ifs' there."

"I know. But, if I'm right … Look, I'm going to get one of these adapted sensors close to the twins – see what happens."

She picks up the phone again and explains what she's come up with to the Doc. When she hangs up, she's got news.

"Tesia's been to see General Hammond. She wants him to ensure that neither of us is allowed near the twins other than in her presence. The General's made it clear that he isn't happy about the situation, but he's agreed to have the twins moved into an isolation room for now. We're not welcome."

"So, what're you going to do?"

"I'm going to see Janet and give her a new bit of equipment."

A while later, I'm sitting with Sam and Hammond while she explains her theory to him.

"I've left the sensor with Dr. Fraiser, and she's agreed to leave it close to the twins and retrieve it later. I've finished the analysis of the data from the activations so far, and I've got a better idea of what we're looking for. We've definitely had instances of the signal traffic being one way – just coming through the gate to us, but we've had others where there was definite communication of some sort."

"What would be the point of this … communication?"

"Shanna can pick up and impart information from people when she's in contact with them. I think it requires some conscious effort, or perhaps the effort is just required to assimilate the information in some way. She's had contact with both the Colonel and me. If there was some way she could pick up and pass on our iris codes, for example …?"

"We could be in trouble," Hammond finishes.

He picks up the phone, arranging for all iris codes to be cancelled as soon as off world teams have returned, and ordering radio communication with teams before allowing them home.

"We'll assign new codes when we're sure they'll be secure," he promises. "In the meantime, you're both confined to Earth as a precaution."

"Yes, Sir," we agree.

"Now, how can you prove or disprove the theory?"

"Well, obviously I'll check the sensor later. If there's evidence of communication, that'll be another point towards the theory."

"I can't believe the twins would do that – not knowingly."

"I agree, Sir. But … I don't think the twins are the ones who've been communicating via the gate. What if Tesia's the contact and she needs to use Shanna to get the information? We don't know enough about Shanna's ability in combination with her mother to know how much conscious involvement would be needed."

"You realise, if this theory is proved, the twins will have to be removed from the SGC and from close contact with anyone with classified information."

"Yes, Sir," Sam answers. She glances at me. She'd worked that out, but it hadn't dawned on me yet.

We leave Hammond, and make our way towards the infirmary. Janet's in her office, and she waves us in.

"I retrieved this a little while ago. Cal asked me what it was for and I had to make something up."

"Thanks, Janet," Sam answers, pressing some keys.

"Well?"

"There've been several signals. I'll need to get the data to my laptop to be sure, but I'd bet they're a match."

"A match for what?"

I leave Sam to explain her theory to the doc. while I move out to the hallway. I go towards the room where the twins are – drawn there even though I know I'm not welcome and worse, that getting any closer could be a danger to Earth security.

Tesia must see me because the door opens, and she invites me inside.

"The twins would love to see you," she tells me.

"I thought we weren't welcome."

"I said I didn't want you or Sam to be with the twins without me. I know what's best for them, but your influence on them might make them want something different."

"Neither of us would do anything to hurt either of them."

"I don't want to argue, Jack. But the twins want to see you."

"Maybe later," I suggest as I walk away. There's nothing I want more than to see them, but I can't. At least until we know for sure what's happening, and we find a way to counter the effect.

It doesn't take long until Sam comes to her conclusion. The signal's identical to the ones she picked up in the SGC before, and of the same type as the ones coming through the gate. We need to set up a trap. The question is, should it be a trap for Tesia or for the person on the other end of the communication?

An hour later, we've got a decision. We meet in the briefing room – just Sam, Fraiser, Tesia and me. Hammond wanted to come, but the doc. persuaded him it'd be better without him.

"What's going on?" Tesia demands as soon as her escort brings her to the room. "My children need me."

"Lieutenant Wilson's with them," Fraiser reminds her.

"What is she to them? They've had a traumatic experience. They need their mother."

"I agree, Tesia," Sam tells her. "And that's why we had you brought here. We've got news for you. It's about Jama."

"Jama?" She looks confused.

"Your husband."

"I know who Jama is," she answers. She's doing her best to sound irritated, but it sounds more like fear.

"He escaped from the Tok'ra."

I watch her face as the news is imparted. And I'm pretty sure it's not news.

"But you knew that, didn't you?" I accuse.

"How could I have known that? When did you hear? When did he escape?"

"You know because he's been in contact with you. The Stargate's been activating regularly for a while now. At first, we couldn't see any reason for it, but then Sam found it's being used for communication. Communication direct from mind to mind. The sort of communication the children are capable of. The sort of communication you're capable of."

Her already pale complexion has turned ashen. She's shaking her head, probably trying to come up with an answer, but Sam's there, her hand on her shoulder.

"We know Jama's been communicating with you. We suspect he wants security information from us, but you can't get that direct. You need the twins, or perhaps just Shanna, to pick up the information so you can pass it to him. We think he's threatened to hurt the children, and that the incident today was his way of proving that he can do it."

She's sobbing now, almost silent, her shoulders shaking.

"Tesia, it's ok," Sam comforts.

"How can it be ok?" she demands. "How can it be ok when that monster has taken over my husband – when he can and will hurt our children?"

"That bit's not ok. I know that. But we can stop him hurting the children."

"You can?" Her anger seems to have dissipated. "How?"

"That's easy," Sam tells her. "The means of communication he's using is very affected by distance. There's no way he can reach them through the Stargate if they're even a short distance from the base – I'd guess that even going to the surface would be enough."

She looks at Sam closely, trying to see any lies.

"But … "

"I mean it. If we take the children out of the mountain, they'll be safe from him."

"That's why," she says softly.

"Why what?"

"Why he threatened he'd hurt us if we left here. He said he needed us to stay here, where we could get the information we needed, and that he'd know if we were somewhere else. That's why I was scared when the SGC was evacuated. I thought he'd know we'd gone and he'd …"

"But really, he needed you here to have any power over you at all."

"Ok, Tesia," I start. This is the hard bit, but it needs to be done. "Have you told him anything that would endanger this planet?"

"I don't think so," she answers. "Anything I've told him was what I've seen for myself – about the iris and the way you have armed men available, the fact that the base is underground."

"What about the children?"

"Jama was never good at communicating direct with them. He and I … we learned to read each other early on, and some of the research we did allowed us to improve that ability. Since … since he was taken by the Goa'uld, he's able to broadcast much more easily. I think he can pick up more too, but he finds it difficult to pick out specific people other than me. Sometimes, it seemed like he'd be … swamped by everything so that he couldn't pick up anything useful. That's why there were so few others around when you rescued us. But with Shanna, she can only really communicate with people other than her brother when she's touching them. The idea was that she'd get things from you and pass them on to me, but Jama never did understand Shanna's gift well. She can pick things out of your mind – but normally only if you're actually thinking about it. So, if she asked you about your iris code, for example, she might be able to pick it up because you'd think it even though you wouldn't say it out loud."

"So you were going to get her to co-operate?"

"I was going to try to do it without her knowing because I knew she wouldn't want to betray you, but then Jama got impatient. He scared them. He told them what they had to do, but even then, Shanna was going to tell you … that Abby woman. I had to stop her. That's why I withdrew my consent."

There's a short silence.

"We need to move the children," she suddenly realises.

"Already being done," I tell her. "By now, they should be at the Academy Hospital."

She sags in relief. "I need to go to them."

"Soon," Sam promises. "There's just one thing you might be able to do for us first."

"What?"

"Tell us where Jama is."

"I don't know."

"Can you find out?"

"I could try," she promises.

"Will he know if you try to find the information?"

"He might, but if I could give him something he thinks is useful at the same time, he might not notice."

"Ok, we can give you some bits of information that should sound good without actually giving anything away," I promise.

"The next activation's due tomorrow morning," Sam suggests. "The twins will be ok where they are for now."

"They'd be better with you or Jack."

"Maybe," she agrees. "But it'd be better for the twins if they got used to being away from us."

I know it hurts her to say that. It feels like someone stuck a knife in my gut. They're not ours, and with Tesia alive they were never going to be ours, but that wouldn't have stopped us being part of their lives … being there for them, seeing them grow up. That's not going to happen – at least not until we're no longer in possession of memories that make us a security threat. And short of total amnesia, that's never. I swallow carefully before I speak.

"Whatever else happens, the Air Force is going to have to settle you somewhere away from restricted information. They can't be around the Stargate, that's obvious. But it's more than that. We've kept knowledge of the twins' gifts quiet and we'll fight to keep it that way, but I believe that the only way to do that is to settle you somewhere a long way from here."

And that's it. I already know that we won't be allowed any further contact with the children. Sure, we could keep in touch by phone or email without an obvious risk, but that's not what's planned. It has to be a clean break, and that's as much for the sake of the twins as it is for security. Sam and me? We're just supposed to suck it up. And we will. Because it's only by agreeing to that that we can do our best to ensure the twins stay out of NID sights.