Instead of returning to Ochsner's office, Sam and Daniel were led along a different, yet equally nondescript hallway. Both teammates mentally cataloged the numerous turns, but neither was confident of the advantages it would gain them. The small procession finally came to a halt after entering a large room.
It appeared to be a medical laboratory of some sort. Though it was a single room with no physical barriers, it was clearly divided into two separate sections, seemingly mirror images of each other. Each half contained what appeared to be a medical examination table, a variety of equipment and monitors, and a barrage of wicked looking instruments and tools, the purpose of which neither teammate wanted to guess.
Daniel instantly recalled the numerous Frankenstein movies he had seen over the years and felt an icy chill run down his spine. A glance in Sam's direction confirmed that, whether it was from their unexpected emotional connection or from her own thoughts, she felt the same thing.
Sam's gaze shifted to the side until she locked eyes with Daniel. The moment that blue met blue the two friends came to a silent agreement. They couldn't wait any longer for a rescue that might never come. If they acted now, then, at least, they stood a chance of escaping whatever Ochsner had in mind for them, whereas if they did nothing, it would be as good as granting the madman permission to use them as his own personal guinea pigs.
Each of the guards none-too-gently nudged his prisoner towards the metal exam tables and each of the prisoners used the opportunity to react.
Daniel attacked his guard, Rand, high by quickly taking a step back and slightly to one side and throwing his elbow back, catching the large man squarely in the nose. He felt only a small sliver of pity upon hearing the crack of cartilage breaking and seeing the river of blood instantly begin to pour down the stricken man's face.
Rand took a couple of dazed and stumbling steps backwards and brought a hand up in an attempt to stem the flow of blood from his broken nose. Daniel took full advantage of the opening presented. He used both hands to grasp the end of Rand's energy weapon, easily pulled it from his loose one-handed grip, spun around, and brought the weapon down to connect solidly with the back of the guard's head.
As in many slapstick comedies and old cartoons, Rand continued to stand, swaying ever so slightly, for a moment before falling forward to land in an undignified heap at Daniel's feet.
Daniel looked over to see how Sam had fared with Tylus.
Sam, who was dwarfed by Tylus, attacked low. She firmly grasped the end of his weapon, pulled with all her might, and then quickly pushed back again, jamming the butt end of the weapon into the man's abdomen and forcing the air from his lungs.
Stunned and doubled over in pain, Tylus attempted to draw in his next tortured breath. Sam firmly planted a leg behind his and pushed him backwards, causing him to trip. As he fell, she wrenched the weapon from his hands and used it to deliver a final blow to the side of his head, rendering him unconscious.
The newly armed members of SG-1 looked upon each other with obvious approval, but little time could be wasted with such frivolities.
"So, where do we go from here?" Though Daniel felt obligated to protect Sam as much as he could from Ochsner and his goons, he respected the fact that she more than surpassed him in the area of strategic planning and relinquished the duty to her.
"We need to..."
Before Sam was able to give voice to her idea, an excruciating pain, reminiscent of a close range, powerful zat blast, tore through her and Daniel's bodies. Their muscles seized painfully and their limbs became rigid, forcing them to drop the confiscated weapons and fall stiffly to the floor. As quickly as it descended upon them, the pain dissipated, but it had drained so much of their energy that neither Sam nor Daniel felt capable of so much as lifting their heads.
Ochsner slowly strode into the room. "Did you think that I wouldn't be prepared for an escape attempt?" he chided, obviously pleased with his superior intellect and ability predict his opponents' actions. He used his foot to prod each guard back to wakefulness. "Get up you fools!" he demanded callously.
Rand and Tylus clumsily helped each other to their feet. Once they had cleared their heads, they pulled their prisoners up to stand before their boss.
Ochsner returned his attention to his captives and held up a small black box, which closely resembled a garage door remote. "This device grants me direct access to your pain receptors. It remotely activates the discs that one or both of you have been implanted with and the disc, in turn, stimulates your pain receptors. You have just experienced one of its lower settings, would you like me to demonstrate a higher one?"
"Go to hell!" Sam spat, her own anger, magnified by Daniel's, stripped her of what little self control she would normally have. She was amazed at how good saying those three simple words made her feel.
Ochsner was not amused. He demonstrated his displeasure by delivering a vicious backhand across Sam's face. Her head whipped to the side from the force of the blow and blood oozed lazily from a cut on her cheek made by his large signet ring.
With little more instruction than a slight flick of their boss' eye, Rand and Tylus began to physically maneuver their unwilling and struggling captives towards the tables. As Rand and Daniel passed in front of him, something caught Ochsner's eye.
As soon as Sam and Daniel were secured to their respective tables, Ochsner positioned himself at Daniel's side, clamped a hand onto his jaw, and forcefully turned his head.
"What is this?" he questioned in genuine curiosity.
The side of Daniel's face, which had remained unmarred by the multi-colored bruising that had resulted from previous blows, now presented a single, fresh, oozing cut.
Ochsner turned on his heel to examine Sam's face and confirm his budding theory. Her cut was identical in every way. Her opposite jaw was also beginning to form a light bruise, probably a result of the earlier reminder concerning punctuality.
"Intriguing," he voiced to no one in particular. "You each appear to presenting the physical manifestations as well as experiencing the sensations of each other's injuries. This is a truly unexpected development, one which must be explored further."
The scientist gracefully strode to a near-by computer panel and entered a sequence of commands, which ultimately resulted in a bright blue light engulfing each of the SG-1 team members. The sharp, blinding light dimmed considerably after only a few seconds, but did not extinguish entirely. A three-dimensional holographic representation of their nervous systems was projected above a small table at Ochsner's side.
The man cooed over the images for quite some time, all the while taking notes and occasionally uttering a quiet word of astonishment or approval.
While Ochsner was otherwise occupied and the guards were busily gathering the various implements he called for, Daniel strained against his bindings in an attempt to free himself. Until a stifled gasp from Sam reached his ears, he was unaware that the coarse straps had cut into his wrists and caused fresh blood to flow. Normally, he would have ceased the pain inducing action immediately, but a pointed look from his friend combined with the tremendous sense of approval and encouragement he received over their link spurred him on.
Just as his blood-slicked hand was about slide free from its confines, thanks in part to an unplanned and extremely painful dislocated thumb, a new, blinding pain ripped through his right arm. Daniel's animalistic scream coincided exactly with Sam's.
When the pain had receded somewhat and he was able to think clearly enough to remember the proper thought process required to open his eyes, he looked blearily towards his arm. The sleeve of his jacked was undamaged, but a red stain was quickly spreading over it.
Daniel could hear Sam gasping for breath and directed his attention to her, only to be shocked by the image that greeted him. A large, double-bladed knife was imbedded in Sam's arm, pinning it to the table as if she were the latest addition in some grotesque insect collection.
Ochsner positioned himself between the two tables, obstructing Daniel and Sam's view of each other. He roughly pushed up Daniel's sleeve to reveal a two-inch long, heavily bleeding puncture wound.
"Fascinating," he murmured. "With one stimulus, two physical injuries are formed."
"I'm glad we can provide some amusement for you," Daniel hissed between clenched teeth.
Ignoring Daniel's outburst, the scientist brutally ripped the blade from Sam's arm before returning to his notes. He entered more commands into the panel and watched as the holographic images replayed what it had recorded only moments ago.
For nearly an hour the madman preformed his 'research'. None of the tests, which were preformed alternately on both Sam and Daniel, were as dramatic as the first, but each was painful in its own rite. They included small burns, both thermal and chemical, electrical shock, beatings, and many, many cuts. Two particularly large and deep cuts, one on their collar bones and one on their abdomens, bled profusely and caused them to pass out, but even unconsciousness would not grant them a reprieve. Ochsner was even more intrigued by the responses from unconscious subjects and simply conducted more tests before reviving them. After each test, he would consult the hologram and then write his notes.
Finally, as darkness threatened to descend upon the captives once again, Ochsner deactivated the hologram and closed his ever-present notebook.
"Well," he addressed his test subjects, "as much as I've learned from this little session, I'm afraid it must come to an end. I have much more work to do." With a tilt of his chin, Ochsner indicated the disguised lead bars he had placed next to the control panel he'd been working at.
"Besides," he added with a yawn, "I've promised Rand and Tylus some quality time with Samantha and they're beginning to grow impatient."
The blackness that had edged into Daniel's vision instantly vanished as he was overcome with white-hot rage, an emotion that was only fueled by the fear transmitted by Sam, of what the men would do to her. Daniel would not allow those men to touch her.
With strength born of fury, Daniel pulled a hand from the restraint; mindless of the pain it caused, and clamped it around Ochsner's throat.
Rand came to his boss' aid in an instant by delivering a ferocious backhand, which had the desired effect of causing Daniel to release his deadly grip.
"Dispose of him," Ochsner spat in disgust while attempting to draw breath through his bruised windpipe.
Rand took a step back and pointed his energy weapon at Daniel. Before he was able to fire the fatal shot, he was engulfed by a pulsating beam of blue energy and promptly fell to the floor unconscious.
"Oh, I don't think so," Jack declared, holding the recently discharged zat gun.
Teal'c entered the room as well and zatted Tylus before moving to Daniel's side.
A number of Kolean soldiers baring energy weapons entered and restrained Ochsner.
"Nice security forces you had out front," O'Neill taunted. "If you'd like, I'm sure we could round up a few kindergarten girls to give them some suggestions for improvement. They didn't even offer much of a challenge."
"How did you find us, sir?" Carter asked as O'Neill released the leather straps that bound her bleeding wrists.
In lieu of a verbal response, the Colonel assisted the injured and exhausted Major from the table and then reached a hand around to the back of her collar. When he withdrew the hand, he held a small, round, electronic device, no larger than one centimeter in diameter.
"A tracking device," Carter stated with obvious awe and approval in her voice. "You suspected all along that we would somehow become separated and you would be able to find us with this."
"Hey, they don't give out these birds for rugged good looks alone." He indicated his own lapel, which, on any other uniform, would normally display the eagle pins that signified his rank of Colonel, however, on BDUs, all indications of rank were removed.
Carter simply smiled at the intentional bumbling humor. At one point in time, she might have accepted the Colonel's act at face value and assumed him to be as incompetent as he pretended. Now, however, she accepted the Colonel for what she knew him to be; a highly intelligent and resourceful man who would let nothing prevent him from assisting a friend in need.
Finally, the four members of SG-1 were reunited. Jack looked to his two battered team members. Sam and Daniel were leaning heavily on each other for support and, assumedly, comfort. The Kolean soldiers had everything under control here and his team needed medical attention.
"Well, kids, what do you say to getting out of here?"
Sam and Daniel looked to each other. "Sounds good to us," they chorused.
The team began to exit the room but, upon hearing an enraged yell from behind them, turned back around just in time to see Ochsner attack one of his guards, arm himself with the fallen man's weapon, and fire it at SG-1.
With little time to react, Sam and Daniel could only push off from each other and pray that the shot would pass between them. Unfortunately, they were not so lucky. The shot struck Daniel on his left side, just below his rib cage. Both he and Sam collapsed. Fortunately, Jack and Teal'c were able to catch them before they crashed to the floor.
A Kolean soldier fired on Ochsner. The force of the blast threw him back against his computer panel, short-circuiting it and causing a chain reaction of explosions to rock the room.
O'Neill was perplexed. He knew it was Daniel who had gotten hit. He could even see the smoldering hole in the young man's shirt. The thing that confused him was the fact that Carter, who lay alive but unconscious in his arms, was bleeding.
"O'Neill," Teal'c yelled above the clamor in the room, "the Naquadah!"
He had no time to contemplate the mystery. The explosions were coming dangerously close to the Naquadah. Even the small amount of the mineral that coated the bars would dramatically enhance an explosion.
"Everyone get out of here! Move!" The Colonel hoisted Carter onto his shoulders as Teal'c did the same with Daniel. Just as he was about to exit, something caught his attention. Ochsner's notes. Making a split-second decision, one that he dearly hoped wouldn't cost him and his team their lives, O'Neill hastily tucked the notes into his jacket before departing as fast as he could.
The last man exited the building only seconds before a large explosion caused the whole structure to crumble.
*~*~*~*
It appeared to be a medical laboratory of some sort. Though it was a single room with no physical barriers, it was clearly divided into two separate sections, seemingly mirror images of each other. Each half contained what appeared to be a medical examination table, a variety of equipment and monitors, and a barrage of wicked looking instruments and tools, the purpose of which neither teammate wanted to guess.
Daniel instantly recalled the numerous Frankenstein movies he had seen over the years and felt an icy chill run down his spine. A glance in Sam's direction confirmed that, whether it was from their unexpected emotional connection or from her own thoughts, she felt the same thing.
Sam's gaze shifted to the side until she locked eyes with Daniel. The moment that blue met blue the two friends came to a silent agreement. They couldn't wait any longer for a rescue that might never come. If they acted now, then, at least, they stood a chance of escaping whatever Ochsner had in mind for them, whereas if they did nothing, it would be as good as granting the madman permission to use them as his own personal guinea pigs.
Each of the guards none-too-gently nudged his prisoner towards the metal exam tables and each of the prisoners used the opportunity to react.
Daniel attacked his guard, Rand, high by quickly taking a step back and slightly to one side and throwing his elbow back, catching the large man squarely in the nose. He felt only a small sliver of pity upon hearing the crack of cartilage breaking and seeing the river of blood instantly begin to pour down the stricken man's face.
Rand took a couple of dazed and stumbling steps backwards and brought a hand up in an attempt to stem the flow of blood from his broken nose. Daniel took full advantage of the opening presented. He used both hands to grasp the end of Rand's energy weapon, easily pulled it from his loose one-handed grip, spun around, and brought the weapon down to connect solidly with the back of the guard's head.
As in many slapstick comedies and old cartoons, Rand continued to stand, swaying ever so slightly, for a moment before falling forward to land in an undignified heap at Daniel's feet.
Daniel looked over to see how Sam had fared with Tylus.
Sam, who was dwarfed by Tylus, attacked low. She firmly grasped the end of his weapon, pulled with all her might, and then quickly pushed back again, jamming the butt end of the weapon into the man's abdomen and forcing the air from his lungs.
Stunned and doubled over in pain, Tylus attempted to draw in his next tortured breath. Sam firmly planted a leg behind his and pushed him backwards, causing him to trip. As he fell, she wrenched the weapon from his hands and used it to deliver a final blow to the side of his head, rendering him unconscious.
The newly armed members of SG-1 looked upon each other with obvious approval, but little time could be wasted with such frivolities.
"So, where do we go from here?" Though Daniel felt obligated to protect Sam as much as he could from Ochsner and his goons, he respected the fact that she more than surpassed him in the area of strategic planning and relinquished the duty to her.
"We need to..."
Before Sam was able to give voice to her idea, an excruciating pain, reminiscent of a close range, powerful zat blast, tore through her and Daniel's bodies. Their muscles seized painfully and their limbs became rigid, forcing them to drop the confiscated weapons and fall stiffly to the floor. As quickly as it descended upon them, the pain dissipated, but it had drained so much of their energy that neither Sam nor Daniel felt capable of so much as lifting their heads.
Ochsner slowly strode into the room. "Did you think that I wouldn't be prepared for an escape attempt?" he chided, obviously pleased with his superior intellect and ability predict his opponents' actions. He used his foot to prod each guard back to wakefulness. "Get up you fools!" he demanded callously.
Rand and Tylus clumsily helped each other to their feet. Once they had cleared their heads, they pulled their prisoners up to stand before their boss.
Ochsner returned his attention to his captives and held up a small black box, which closely resembled a garage door remote. "This device grants me direct access to your pain receptors. It remotely activates the discs that one or both of you have been implanted with and the disc, in turn, stimulates your pain receptors. You have just experienced one of its lower settings, would you like me to demonstrate a higher one?"
"Go to hell!" Sam spat, her own anger, magnified by Daniel's, stripped her of what little self control she would normally have. She was amazed at how good saying those three simple words made her feel.
Ochsner was not amused. He demonstrated his displeasure by delivering a vicious backhand across Sam's face. Her head whipped to the side from the force of the blow and blood oozed lazily from a cut on her cheek made by his large signet ring.
With little more instruction than a slight flick of their boss' eye, Rand and Tylus began to physically maneuver their unwilling and struggling captives towards the tables. As Rand and Daniel passed in front of him, something caught Ochsner's eye.
As soon as Sam and Daniel were secured to their respective tables, Ochsner positioned himself at Daniel's side, clamped a hand onto his jaw, and forcefully turned his head.
"What is this?" he questioned in genuine curiosity.
The side of Daniel's face, which had remained unmarred by the multi-colored bruising that had resulted from previous blows, now presented a single, fresh, oozing cut.
Ochsner turned on his heel to examine Sam's face and confirm his budding theory. Her cut was identical in every way. Her opposite jaw was also beginning to form a light bruise, probably a result of the earlier reminder concerning punctuality.
"Intriguing," he voiced to no one in particular. "You each appear to presenting the physical manifestations as well as experiencing the sensations of each other's injuries. This is a truly unexpected development, one which must be explored further."
The scientist gracefully strode to a near-by computer panel and entered a sequence of commands, which ultimately resulted in a bright blue light engulfing each of the SG-1 team members. The sharp, blinding light dimmed considerably after only a few seconds, but did not extinguish entirely. A three-dimensional holographic representation of their nervous systems was projected above a small table at Ochsner's side.
The man cooed over the images for quite some time, all the while taking notes and occasionally uttering a quiet word of astonishment or approval.
While Ochsner was otherwise occupied and the guards were busily gathering the various implements he called for, Daniel strained against his bindings in an attempt to free himself. Until a stifled gasp from Sam reached his ears, he was unaware that the coarse straps had cut into his wrists and caused fresh blood to flow. Normally, he would have ceased the pain inducing action immediately, but a pointed look from his friend combined with the tremendous sense of approval and encouragement he received over their link spurred him on.
Just as his blood-slicked hand was about slide free from its confines, thanks in part to an unplanned and extremely painful dislocated thumb, a new, blinding pain ripped through his right arm. Daniel's animalistic scream coincided exactly with Sam's.
When the pain had receded somewhat and he was able to think clearly enough to remember the proper thought process required to open his eyes, he looked blearily towards his arm. The sleeve of his jacked was undamaged, but a red stain was quickly spreading over it.
Daniel could hear Sam gasping for breath and directed his attention to her, only to be shocked by the image that greeted him. A large, double-bladed knife was imbedded in Sam's arm, pinning it to the table as if she were the latest addition in some grotesque insect collection.
Ochsner positioned himself between the two tables, obstructing Daniel and Sam's view of each other. He roughly pushed up Daniel's sleeve to reveal a two-inch long, heavily bleeding puncture wound.
"Fascinating," he murmured. "With one stimulus, two physical injuries are formed."
"I'm glad we can provide some amusement for you," Daniel hissed between clenched teeth.
Ignoring Daniel's outburst, the scientist brutally ripped the blade from Sam's arm before returning to his notes. He entered more commands into the panel and watched as the holographic images replayed what it had recorded only moments ago.
For nearly an hour the madman preformed his 'research'. None of the tests, which were preformed alternately on both Sam and Daniel, were as dramatic as the first, but each was painful in its own rite. They included small burns, both thermal and chemical, electrical shock, beatings, and many, many cuts. Two particularly large and deep cuts, one on their collar bones and one on their abdomens, bled profusely and caused them to pass out, but even unconsciousness would not grant them a reprieve. Ochsner was even more intrigued by the responses from unconscious subjects and simply conducted more tests before reviving them. After each test, he would consult the hologram and then write his notes.
Finally, as darkness threatened to descend upon the captives once again, Ochsner deactivated the hologram and closed his ever-present notebook.
"Well," he addressed his test subjects, "as much as I've learned from this little session, I'm afraid it must come to an end. I have much more work to do." With a tilt of his chin, Ochsner indicated the disguised lead bars he had placed next to the control panel he'd been working at.
"Besides," he added with a yawn, "I've promised Rand and Tylus some quality time with Samantha and they're beginning to grow impatient."
The blackness that had edged into Daniel's vision instantly vanished as he was overcome with white-hot rage, an emotion that was only fueled by the fear transmitted by Sam, of what the men would do to her. Daniel would not allow those men to touch her.
With strength born of fury, Daniel pulled a hand from the restraint; mindless of the pain it caused, and clamped it around Ochsner's throat.
Rand came to his boss' aid in an instant by delivering a ferocious backhand, which had the desired effect of causing Daniel to release his deadly grip.
"Dispose of him," Ochsner spat in disgust while attempting to draw breath through his bruised windpipe.
Rand took a step back and pointed his energy weapon at Daniel. Before he was able to fire the fatal shot, he was engulfed by a pulsating beam of blue energy and promptly fell to the floor unconscious.
"Oh, I don't think so," Jack declared, holding the recently discharged zat gun.
Teal'c entered the room as well and zatted Tylus before moving to Daniel's side.
A number of Kolean soldiers baring energy weapons entered and restrained Ochsner.
"Nice security forces you had out front," O'Neill taunted. "If you'd like, I'm sure we could round up a few kindergarten girls to give them some suggestions for improvement. They didn't even offer much of a challenge."
"How did you find us, sir?" Carter asked as O'Neill released the leather straps that bound her bleeding wrists.
In lieu of a verbal response, the Colonel assisted the injured and exhausted Major from the table and then reached a hand around to the back of her collar. When he withdrew the hand, he held a small, round, electronic device, no larger than one centimeter in diameter.
"A tracking device," Carter stated with obvious awe and approval in her voice. "You suspected all along that we would somehow become separated and you would be able to find us with this."
"Hey, they don't give out these birds for rugged good looks alone." He indicated his own lapel, which, on any other uniform, would normally display the eagle pins that signified his rank of Colonel, however, on BDUs, all indications of rank were removed.
Carter simply smiled at the intentional bumbling humor. At one point in time, she might have accepted the Colonel's act at face value and assumed him to be as incompetent as he pretended. Now, however, she accepted the Colonel for what she knew him to be; a highly intelligent and resourceful man who would let nothing prevent him from assisting a friend in need.
Finally, the four members of SG-1 were reunited. Jack looked to his two battered team members. Sam and Daniel were leaning heavily on each other for support and, assumedly, comfort. The Kolean soldiers had everything under control here and his team needed medical attention.
"Well, kids, what do you say to getting out of here?"
Sam and Daniel looked to each other. "Sounds good to us," they chorused.
The team began to exit the room but, upon hearing an enraged yell from behind them, turned back around just in time to see Ochsner attack one of his guards, arm himself with the fallen man's weapon, and fire it at SG-1.
With little time to react, Sam and Daniel could only push off from each other and pray that the shot would pass between them. Unfortunately, they were not so lucky. The shot struck Daniel on his left side, just below his rib cage. Both he and Sam collapsed. Fortunately, Jack and Teal'c were able to catch them before they crashed to the floor.
A Kolean soldier fired on Ochsner. The force of the blast threw him back against his computer panel, short-circuiting it and causing a chain reaction of explosions to rock the room.
O'Neill was perplexed. He knew it was Daniel who had gotten hit. He could even see the smoldering hole in the young man's shirt. The thing that confused him was the fact that Carter, who lay alive but unconscious in his arms, was bleeding.
"O'Neill," Teal'c yelled above the clamor in the room, "the Naquadah!"
He had no time to contemplate the mystery. The explosions were coming dangerously close to the Naquadah. Even the small amount of the mineral that coated the bars would dramatically enhance an explosion.
"Everyone get out of here! Move!" The Colonel hoisted Carter onto his shoulders as Teal'c did the same with Daniel. Just as he was about to exit, something caught his attention. Ochsner's notes. Making a split-second decision, one that he dearly hoped wouldn't cost him and his team their lives, O'Neill hastily tucked the notes into his jacket before departing as fast as he could.
The last man exited the building only seconds before a large explosion caused the whole structure to crumble.
*~*~*~*