Sam. Don't listen to him! It's not real. You have to get to the SGC!!

She opened the door. General O'Neill stood there; hands in pockets. "Come in," she said.

He shook his head, meeting her puzzled gaze sadly.

Christ! Look at his eyes Sam! He's not real!

His eyes were black, like the dead eyes of a shark, the hazel colour of his irises replaced. As soon as she had perceived the wrongness, the thought disappeared.

Arrgh!!

"Carter. I've resigned. I... I've decided to get married to Julia. We're moving to live in Minnesota. You're being promoted to General."

"You're leaving?" Her breath seemed to catch in her throat. She felt dizzy and gripped the door frame by surprised, surprised herself by her reaction.

He nodded.

"Sir.. Jack. I don't know what to say..."

--she had lost him forever--

--he said he'd never leave!--

--he knew, in his heart of hearts why she was going. He'd hurt her too much; she had to move on be dragged down by this unrequited love-

"Congratulations, I guess," she added, feeling like she was about to cry.

O'Neill didn't look much happier. "I'm sorry Carter," he said softly. "I wish I could stay. But... I have to move on now. Or..."

She nodded, a lump rising in her throat. "Keep in touch," she said fiercely.

"I will."

And then he was gone, walking away down her drive and who knew when she would see him again? He belonged to another now...

She sat down, too shocked to cry, and tried to collect her thoughts. Promotion to General? She would be in charge of the SGC... She put her head in her hands and tried to think straight. She should go to the base, start tying up loose ends there. Anything to distract herself. It seemed like ages since she had been to mountain, but obviously she must have visited it recently...

She put on her coat and stepped outside into glorious afternoon sunshine.

Thank God.

It was panicked. Something had gone wrong. They were resisting! They were finding a way back! This wasn't right. It couldn't stop them!

O'Neill stood silent in the elevator, watching the numbers flash as he descended to his office. He felt nervous, on edge. Every muscle in his body was tensed, sensing and preparing for attack. Which was ridiculous. He was in the SGC, for cryin' out loud. He did this everyday, this was work.

The door of the elevator opened and his sense of unease grew. The SGC was normally bustling with activity any time of the day or night, there were simply too many people doing too many things for any corridor to be completely deserted for any real length of time. He stood still, waiting. He timed five minutes on his watch. No one came past the door. No noises echoed along the corridor, no stamp of booted feet. No one tried to call the elevator from another floor.

He stepped forward, extremely worried now, intending to head to his office and the embarkation room.

Every hair on his body stood on edge as he passed through and invisible, crackling energy barrier of some nature. He fell to his knees in the corridor as the rushing realisation struck him, yelling in pain. Lights blinked on and off in front of his eyes as he clutched at his head, trying to fight off the sensation that he was two separate people.

Behind him the elevator hummed into life, heading back upwards. He remained on his knees for an incalculable amount of time, until the clank of machinery heralded the return of the elevator. He heard the door open and someone stepped forward.

Carter fell to her knees beside him. "Oh my God," he heard her murmur, voice more terrified than he had ever heard.

"Carter?" he said, releasing his head at last and turning to her.

She couldn't answer him, holding her head as he had, repeating over and over like a mantra, "No, no, no, not again."

He prodded her. There was no response. He shook her shoulders gently, and the more firmly. She turned to him at last her eyes filled with pain and worry.

"Sir?"

"Yeah," he said.

"This can't be happening."

He nodded. "I know."

"Oh God."

He stayed on his knees, holding her shoulder until he reached a decision. "On your feet Carter."

She responded unthinkingly, obedient to her military training. "Look, we need to get out of this situation. However... weird and horrible it is... we have to find a way out. I need you. Calm down. Let's just think about this."

She nodded, drawing in a deep breath.

Stick to what you know.

The first rule of finding yourself in an unknown and potentially dangerous situation. It was a rule O'Neill had found himself following on many separate occasions.

What did he know?

The last clear memory he had was of catching a swooning Carter in his office. As she folded up he had grabbed her arms. There had been a flash of silver, so fast his eyes couldn't follow the movement. After that he couldn't be certain. He thought he remembered hitting the corner of his desk as he fell to the floor himself, but the lack of throbbing pain in his arm suggested the memory might be false.

There were other memories, but they were vague and he didn't want to focus on them.

"What's happened?" he asked gently, looking her in the eyes.

She took a deep breath. "I was infected with an alien parasite on P3X-907," she said slowly, striving to keep her voice calm.

"And now it's in me as well," he said, more a statement of fact than a question.

She nodded anyway. "It's... it's not alive in the normal sense. It lives through other creature's minds. Not like a Goa'auld, it actually becomes part of the host mind... That's how I know this..."

"Because in the same way that it can read our minds, we can read its mind?"

She shook her head, understanding finally dawning. "It wants an identity of its own, and its trying to find the concept of personification in human minds. But it hasn't, as yet, and if it takes over a host mind entirely, the host dies. That's why P3X-907 was deserted. It killed everything. But it doesn't mean to," she added quickly, not sure why the detail was so important but knowing it should be said.

"I know."

"The... other memories we have. Not those from your office. That's the method of interface it has developed with hosts. It takes over the higher brain functions and gives the host mind scenarios to react to, so it can study them."

"So why, when we came here, did we find ourselves free of it? I remember...another me. Telling me to come here."

She nodded. "This is our subconscious mind. The part of us that is truly us. The bit it can't enter without killing us. Funny, how it should be the SGC," she mused.

"And now we're here...?"

She shrugged. "It will come for us. It's been in so many minds and no-one has ever made it this far before. It thinks we're special. It'll come here because it thinks we hold the key to giving it identity."

Identity was the wrong word, she thought, it was the creature's word for what it wanted and it wasn't the right one. She understood that It lived through others, but It didn't intend to harm them. It wanted the ability to experience things for itself, but It didn't know how.

"If we can teach it how to experience things for itself, will it let us go?" O'Neill asked, apparently, sharing the same thought.

"I don't know. Can you think of a way to teach it?" she asked.

He shook his head. "We should explore."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I just feel we should."

"Fair enough."

She followed him through the corridors, poking their head round various doors which inevitably lead to empty rooms.

Growing weary of exploration they headed towards the commissary, although neither of them knew why, because they were in no need of nourishment.

Carter gasped in shock as they opened the door. Teal'c was at the table in the middle of the room, surrounded by cups of blue jello.

"Samantha!" he said happily, and most unlike himself, as they entered.

O'Neill nudged her. "I think this is from your mind."

She nodded, taking a seat opposite the Jaffa. "Hey Teal'c."

"Hello." He continued to eat the jello, loading up spoonful after spoonful and swallowing them as quickly as possible as if determined to finish an apparently never-ending supply.

She frowned. "I thought you didn't like the blue flavour? I thought you liked green."

Teal'c gave her a piercing look and nodded solemnly. "Yes, I prefer the green. But it is unobtainable." He pointed towards a self-service fridge which was stocked with cup after cup of green jello.

She laughed, face creased with a frown of confusion. "Teal'c, all you have to do it open the door..." She demonstrated, but the Jaffa ignored her, concentrating entirely on the jello.

O'Neill touched her shoulder. "Come on," he said, "I think that's all you're going to get out of him."

Filled with renewed desire after finding Teal'c they continued their search of the corridors. They stopped outside the gymnasium, someone could be heard working out inside.

O'Neill stuck his head round the door and then leapt backwards as if he had been stung. "Something from me," he said gruffly, and Carter could have sworn he was blushing, "Not important."

"Who is it?" she asked, trying to peer around him.

"Um,"he said, and in his moment of confusion she seized the doorknob and peered through the doorway.

"Oh," she said shocked as he closed the door again. She couldn't let the moment pass without further comment. "I have to wonder sir, which part of your mind a naked Uma Thurman lifting weights is representative of--"

"Shut up Carter."

"Yes sir." They moved onwards, O'Neill uncharacteristically quiet. "It could have been worse," Carter said after they tried another door. "It could have been Mary Steenburgen."

"Shut up."

"Yes sir."