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Chapter 3

Jack O'Neill inhaled deeply, hesitating before swiping his access card.

He hated these situations. He was well beyond hating these situations. He knew the threat of the Goa'uld was continuous, and they could lose a solider at any time. But these close encounters were hitting way too close to home.

Way too close.

With a sigh, he pushed himself forward and entered cautiously, finding Daniel sitting quietly on the small bed they had provided for him within his cell.

"Hey, how'd you get that notebook?"

It wasn't the brightest thing to say, but it was the first thing that had come to mind.

Daniel shrugged, pausing as he placed his pencil down. "One of the SF's brought it in for me. I figure I might as well be doing something constructive while I'm locked up. No one seems to object." He chuckled apprehensively. "Guess I'm the model prisoner or something."

Jack nodded and looked down at the floor. He hated to see Daniel this way. Just like he had hated when Carter was locked up. Damn, just the thought…

"I assume that you've checked out just fine?" Daniel asked him quietly, staring blankly at his notebook.

"Yeah. We all did. Doc Fraiser is just waiting for MRI's to come back for you and the others."

"There must be a problem, then, if it's taking this long," Daniel said weakly, voicing Jack's unspoken fear.

"Look, Daniel," Jack began, approaching the cell. He rubbed his chin anxiously. "Just tell me what really happened on 139."

Sighing, Daniel did not answer, and instead turned his head to face the wall.

"Daniel, you're not helping your case here."

"The lab was filled with all kinds of weird vials and liquids. There were slides with cells and tissue samples. Even some things growing in jars," he said dimly.

"Did you touch any of them?"

Again, Daniel gave him the silent treatment.

"Dammit, Daniel!" Jack ran his fingers through his hair, scrubbing at the back of his neck as he tried to shake the nerves that were rattling him.

"I told them not to go any closer." Daniel leaned his head against the wall and gazed mournfully at Jack. "I told them to keep their distance while I tried to figure out what the lab was for, based on the notes I had found."

"You keep dodging my question, Daniel."

Daniel shook his head, the muscles in his face tightening. "I'm not one of them, Jack. I'm not. I wouldn't lie to you about something like this. Especially something like this. You've got to believe me."

Jack pursed his lips together and looked down at the ground. He wanted to believe him. Every part of him wanted to believe Daniel was telling him the truth.

"Daniel, I'd really like to believe you."

"I'm not one of them."

"I know. I know," Jack muttered, wishing he felt the same. "So, when the MRI and the blood tests come back, then we'll know for sure," he stated, a lift to his voice.

"No chance of springing me now?" Daniel asked with a nervous laugh.

"'Fraid not," Jack stated, feeling miserable. "You know the drill. Let's just wait for those results and then we'll talk."

Daniel nodded, and sighed, bowing his head over the notebook.

"Colonel?"

Jack turned to face a young lieutenant that had entered the room. "Sir, General Hammond would like to see you in the infirmary right away."

"Sure," he answered. "Hey, I'll be back," Jack told Daniel, smiling uneasily as he followed the young woman out the door.

"Glad you could join us, Colonel."

Jack noted the serious expression on Hammond's face, mirrored in the petite doctor's as well. Breathing out slowly, Jack just knew this wasn't going to be good.

"What's up?" he asked, moving to join Carter and Teal'c, who had arrived there just moments before he had.

"We just got the results back from the MRI's done on SG-11 and SG-17." Hammond stepped aside, allowing Doctor Fraiser to do her work.

"There were several abnormalities discovered when we ran the initial testing," Fraiser stated, holding a chart in hand. "So, I wanted to take the time to study them in more detail before I jumped to any conclusions."

"What did you find?" Carter asked, keeping her voice level.

Doctor Fraiser sighed. "I'm not going to lie to you, Sam. The results are disturbing."

"Disturbing?" Had Jack just heard correctly?

The doctor nodded, moving over to where she had the x-ray and the MRI results posted. "This is an x-ray we performed on Captain Mueller," she informed them. Taking a pointer, she tapped at the base of the skull, circling a small area.

"What is that?" Carter asked.

"I don't know," Fraiser said honestly.

"It looks like a…bug," was the best way Jack could describe it. "Like a fat little june bug or something."

"It could be," Doctor Fraiser admitted. "Whatever it is, it's about the size of your thumb, Colonel."

"SG-11 and SG-17 went to a planet and came back with bugs?" Jack shrugged. "Happens all the time."

"Yeah, but how many bugs do you know that make your eyes glow, Colonel," Carter remarked, staring at the results.

He was only trying to make light of the situation. Jack sighed, cocking his head as he conceded to her point. Truth was, he'd rather have any situation but this.

"So, what else can you tell us about these things?" Jack asked, bringing his mind back to the conversation.

"Well, Colonel, as you can probably tell, just by looking at the results…"

"They appear to act like the Goa'uld," Teal'c stated bluntly.

Fraiser nodded. "They attach themselves to the brain stem. Normally, a symbiote's long body would then either remain flush against the spine or wrap itself around the vertebrae. In this case, we have the same kind of parasitical attachment, but the body is small enough to remain against the cranium."

"So, are they Goa'uld?" the general asked, searching those under his command.

"They are unlike anything I have previously encountered," Teal'c informed them.

"Well, they have to be connected somehow," Carter said. "Or else we wouldn't have witnessed that display in the briefing room."

"Baby Goa'uld?" Jack offered. "I mean, younger than the symbiotes like Junior or what we encountered on Chulak?"

He wasn't even going to mentioned Hathor and her brood.

"I do not believe so, O'Neill. As I have stated, I have never seen such a creature."

"Maybe this is just something new in the evolutionary process," Carter offered, her statement nearly a question as she appealed to Fraiser.

"I wish I could say for sure," Fraiser responded. "But even with my experience with both infant larvae and mature symbiotes, I have never come across anything remotely close to this."

"How's Captain Mueller?" Hammond asked.

"She's unconscious at the moment and under heavy restraint." She paused, appearing to choose her words carefully. "All of those infected with these tiny parasites are unconscious. We're not sure exactly what is causing their lack of consciousness, but we're working on additional blood work and tissue samples to uncover the cause."

"Unconscious?" Well, Daniel wasn't unconscious. Jack breathed a sigh of relief. He noticed Teal'c and Carter relax as well.

A bit.

"Janet, did any of the people who went to P9R-139 avoid infection?" Carter asked.

She nodded. "Aside from you, SG-13, and 19? Colonel Edwards and Major Lorne. They've been released, but are under guard for the next twenty-four hours."

"And Daniel?" Jack asked, getting restless once again.

Doctor Fraiser opened her mouth to speak, but didn't say a word. Instead, she moved over and recovered another chart, placing it carefully on the table beside her.

Jack eyed her cautiously, refusing to look at his teammates.

"I've gone over Daniel's results several times—"

"Out with it, Doc."

With a sigh, Doctor Fraiser held up an x-ray of Daniel's skull, posting it for everyone to see. She didn't bother to explain, and allowed the gravity of the situation take hold.

Hell, she didn't need to talk. A picture tells a thousand words.

Jack bit his lip, and turned away as he heard Carter mutter in surprise. Teal'c remained silent.

"I'm sorry, Colonel," Fraiser said softly.

"Yeah." He turned around to face them, avoiding the picture that Fraiser had posted. He felt betrayed. Utterly betrayed. "So, how'd it get in? Any scar on the neck or…" He exhaled, feeling his anger rising. "How could you miss something like that?"

Fraiser did not flinch. "Colonel, please. Daniel did not exhibit any scarring on his neck. And when I first examined him upon your return through the Stargate, there didn't appear to be anything physically wrong with him. No lacerations to the throat, or any abrasions to the front of his chest. In hindsight, I should have examined the cuts on his left arm more carefully. That is the only way this could have found entry, based on my results thus far."

"Yeah, well hindsight does us a lot of good now."

"Colonel," Hammond warned, "Stand down. Doctor Fraiser is doing everything she can."

"Janet, I'm sorry, but that-that doesn't look like a Goa'uld," Carter said, staring at Daniel's results.

"I know, Sam. That's what has me puzzled." Fraiser shook her head. "It's different than the smaller parasites that have affected Captain Mueller and the others."

Jack was exasperated. "The damn thing is curled up on his spine and sucking on his brain!"

"That is correct, O'Neill. However, Major Carter is also correct. This does not appear to be a Goa'uld," Teal'c agreed.

Forcing himself to look closer, Jack stared at the results, his stomach turning. The Goa'uld, or whatever it was, was long and narrow, wormlike in structure, without any appendages or other funky things sticking out of it. True, it was different than the little june bug things, but that made his case even stronger. Whatever the hell was in Daniel was pretty damn close to being a Goa'uld.

"Looks like an snake to me."

"It indeed appears to perform in the same manner as the Goa'uld," Teal'c admitted.

"That may appear to be the case, Teal'c," Janet said. She paused, pointing to her results. "However, as you can see, this creature lacks the physical characteristics of a mature symbiote."

"So, are you telling me it's immature? Like what happened to Kalwalsky?" Jack asked.

"No, Colonel, I don't think so. Like I said, I am not really sure what we're dealing with here."

"So…"

Teal'c straightened his back, exchanging glances with his fellow teammates. "I do not believe this to be a Goa'uld."

"Is this some entirely different race we haven't yet encountered?" Hammond asked, dropping his arms to his side.

"Sir, it's a possibility." Carter cringed, staring at Daniel's chart. "Or maybe it's a subspecies of Goa'uld. I haven't sensed the presence of any Goa'uld on this base."

"Whatever they are, they don't have any naquadah in their systems," Fraiser told them, closing Daniel's file. "Neither the small parasites nor the larger one in Daniel seem to indicate there was ever any naquadah in their blood."

"So, they shouldn't be able to use any of the Goa'uld technology," Carter stated more than asked.

"Let's hope not," Hammond said. He turned to Jack, keeping his gaze level. "You know that we're going to have to try interrogation."

"If it is anything like the Goa'uld, it will not share information freely," Teal'c announced.

"I don't care about the information. What we should be talking about is getting that thing out of Daniel," Jack said irately. "We know what Goa'uld do to their hosts. Hell, we know what the Tok'ra do. If that thing is a snake, then we haven't even been talking to Daniel. He must be freaking out by now."

"I understand that, Colonel. And believe me, I am not going to sit back and let Doctor Jackson go through that kind of torture. But before we do anything, we need to know what we're dealing with."

Jack stared at the general, not at all pleased with the situation.

"In the meantime, I'll contact the Tok'ra," Carter said, gazing at Jack sympathetically. "We know they have ways of removing symbiotes. It worked on Sarah Gardner."

"Yeah, and look how stable she turned out," Jack muttered. The aftermath had not been pretty, and the poor gal had been signed up for some serious counseling. But could you blame her for having issues? That Osiris was a bitch. Or bastard, depending on how you looked at it.

"Get right on that, Major," Hammond ordered, ignoring Jack's comment.

"Yes, sir."

Jack watched her leave quickly, exiting the infirmary. Building a new resolve, Jack then turned to Hammond, gazing at him levelly.

"Permission to interrogate—"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Jack."

"General?" He shifted his weight uneasily. "General, we've got to get through to Daniel somehow. I figure I'm the best one to do it."

Hammond seemed to consider the possibility. "Fine. But Teal'c and I will accompany you."