Chapter 4
Sam sat up suddenly gasping for air as if taking her breath for the first time. Her heart was racing a mile a minute and a white light blinded her. She pushed back the panic that tried to take root in her heart and worked on focusing her efforts on her breathing and racing heart. As she calmed down, she noticed her vision begin to clear and, as it cleared, confusion and fear began to creep in on her.
She took in her surroundings and found that she was no longer in the SGC infirmary. She was in fact, no longer in the SGC. She was covered in a lavender comforter on a queen-size bed in a bedroom that was not much bigger than the bed itself. Across from her she saw what appeared to be a closet with sliding mirror doors and to the left of that was a closed brown door. To her left was a mahogany stained nightstand, the only other piece of furniture in the room, upon which sat a small lamp with a beaded shade. The light from the lamp cast a soft glow over the sparsely furnished room and she noted how bare the walls were. Not a single picture decorated the walls.
Her option being obvious, Sam rose throwing off the comforter, and headed to the door. She listened for any sign that there was someone beyond before she slowly tested the knob to see if it were locked. The knob gave easily and Sam slowly opened the door to peek out.
It was dark beyond the door; as a matter of fact it was totally devoid of light. Sam pulled the door open all the way hoping that maybe she was mistaken and the light from the room would illuminate the floor, a wall, something, but it didn't, it merely ended at the door.
"That's not possible."
Sam turned back to the room and headed for the nightstand. There had to be something in its drawers that she could use, preferably a really strong flashlight that she could use to peer into the darkness to see if it truly were impenetrable. She lucked out when she opened the top drawer and found one.
"What are the chances of that happening?"
Returning to the door, she peered through again this time with the flashlight. Moving closer, Sam stepped through the door before she realized that there was no floor, and fell straight down into the darkness. She was surprised when the wind was suddenly knocked out of her as she landed haphazardly across what appeared to be a plush armchair. Getting her bearings as she caught her breath, Sam realized that it was no longer pitch black around her. Swinging her legs off the arm of the chair, Sam placed them on a spongy floor. The light that engulfed her came from a sliding glass door that was directly in front of the chair.
She was startled to see the familiar walls of the SGC shifting before her eyes yet was perplexed by the angle of the image coming through.
"I've got to be dreaming this."
Sam continued to watch as the view continued to shift around a corner and down a hall that looked to be leading toward the main stairwell access. She saw a hand reach out from below view and push open the door and then it dawned on her. The pieces had suddenly fallen into place. As much as she wanted to deny what came to her and given the difference in how she perceived things from how it was before, she knew the truth. Her body had been hijacked again.
****
Jenna moved out of the infirmary and out into the hallway. Following the intermittently spaced signs she worked toward the stairwell as quickly as she could without attracting too much attention from passers by. Having turned a few corners and gone down several hallways, Jenna had finally made it to the stairwell door just in time to sense that Sam had realized what had happened to her.
She stepped onto the landing and leaned against the door as she closed it. She wasn't sure how Sam was doing it but Jenna felt her attempting to take control of her body. She had to pause and focus inward, forcing Sam back with some effort on her part. Jenna was very surprised with the quickness with which Sam had responded to her situation. Her ability to grasp what had happened and know how to go about regaining control gave Jenna enough of a pause to realize that Sam knew what she was doing from experience. Jenna was thankful, however, that it hadn't occurred to Sam to use the door. She felt her simply desire to take her body back and tried to use her will alone to accomplish that. If she'd used the mental door it would have been a surefire ticket to dominance.
Unfortunately, once she had established the door and used it, Jenna couldn't remove it. She could only mentally reinforce the door and hope that Sam didn't figure out how to break through it before Jenna was able to figure out her own circumstances.
Having done all she could to keep Sam at bay, Jenna looked at another sign and realized that in order to get out she had to go up. So up she went. She did not notice that her progress was noted and recorded by an MP as she passed under a security camera.