Chapter 33 – The Guardian of Innocents
"Carter!" Jack yelled again as she disappeared from sight. "My God, Daniel, what the hell happened?" he asked, the tone of his voice belying the panic and fear he was feeling.
"I don't know, Jack." The archeologist was as bewildered as the rest of them. "Sam wanted to look at some pictures she found on the wall. She insisted that she hold the Triplexus, that it was safe. She stopped to get a rock out of her shoe and the next thing I know, that light is coming down from the ceiling and Sam is gone!"
"How could you even think that damn device was safe for her to hold Daniel? Look at what it did the first time!" Jack was a mess of emotions; livid at Daniel for allowing Sam to have the Triplexus, worried about her, terrified that he'd never see her again, and angry at himself that he hadn't kept a closer eye on her. Jack paced around the edges of the circle, looking for something, anything, that might tell them where she had disappeared to.
Daniel ran his hand through his hair as he answered. "I'm sorry Jack. I really thought it would be OK. Even Selmak said that it shouldn't hurt her again." Daniel, too was frantically worried about his friend. He felt guilty about her disappearance and was ready to do anything within his power to get her back. If only he had a clue as to how to go about doing that!
Teal'c had wandered to the wall to study the picture that Sam was interested in. He turned to the two men and stated, "I believe Major Carter knew exactly what she was doing and was hopeful that indeed, this would be the outcome. This picture she was studying shows a female child holding the Triplexus while standing in the center of a ring. Major Carter was hoping to recreate this scene in the hopes that something of this very nature occurred."
"Why would she do that without talking to any of us?" Daniel was clearly puzzled by her actions, if indeed this is what happened.
"Because she didn't want to risk one of us getting injured," Jack said quietly. He recalled their conversation of the previous evening. "Damn, I had a feeling she would try to go it alone if she thought there was even the slightest chance that one of us would be in jeopardy. I warned her not to try and enter the cave alone. She didn't do that but she took the next step alone." Jack looked up at the ceiling where the light had come down. "Daniel, you need to figure something out, and now! We've got to find her."
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Sam felt a familiar tingling sensation as the light surrounded her. It was almost the same feeling she had when she was transported by Thor. Fleetingly, she wondered if the technologies were similar. All thoughts of the Asgard vanished as she found herself in a small room faintly lit by crystals that lined the walls at irregular intervals. The crystals corresponded to the colors on the Triplexus. which Sam noticed was still clutched in her hands. She looked down and found herself still small, standing in the middle of another faint circle.
Sam stepped out of the circle, shrugged out of her backpack, and made her way slowly around the room, studying the crystals and the markings on the wall for any sign of what she might attempt next. There were no apparent entry points into the room. The only way in or out appeared to be the center ring. "I could really use Daniel's help here," she said quietly to herself.
As she passed a particularly bright blue crystal on the wall, the Triplexus began to hum and vibrate. Startled at this action, as the device had been dormant since that fateful day in her lab, Sam quickly set it down on the ground and stepped back from it. From a spot several feet in front of where the Triplexus lay, a faint image began to appear. Sam watched in wide-eyed wonder as the image began to take shape.
The blurred green and blue lines of the apparition in front of her began to solidify, revealing the ethereal reflection of a woman. The woman appeared to float several inches above the floor as she regarded Sam with quiet intensity. Floating a bit closer, she reached out a transparent hand toward Sam, then drew it back quickly. Sam was startled when the specter began to speak.
"You are not one of the original chosen. No one has been here for many generations. The evil ones were eradicated. How did you come to be here?"
Sam blinked in surprise before she answered. "My name is Samantha Carter. I am from a planet called Earth. We are explorers who travel to other planets seeking knowledge and an alliance in order to win in our war against the Goa'uld."
The woman frowned, "You say you fight the Goa'uld, yet you once carried one within you. Otherwise, you would not be here."
"No, I was not Goa'uld. I carried a Tok'ra several years ago. They are similar to the Goa'uld, but live in a symbiotic relationship with their host. They also wage war against the Goa'uld. It was the Tok'ra in fact who told us about the Triplexus," Sam indicated the device that lay at her feet.
"The lashadonie, as we call it, was created to sense the presence of the evil ones. I believe it has also sensed something within you that remains from when you carried the Tok'ra. This is why you are here. You are not a child but a grown woman." This was said as a statement, not a question, but Sam answered her anyway.
"Yes, the Triplexus changed me back into a child. We have come back here in the hopes that I can return to my adult form." Sam regarded the woman thoughtfully before she proceeded. "Are you the one known as the Guardian of the Innocents?"
The woman nodded her head and gave a small smile. "I am. When the changed ones came to me, I would guide them through the process of transformation once the evil ones no longer existed within them. Some chose to remain young, some to change back to their adult form."
"So it is possible then? You can help me change back?" Sam asked with more eagerness that she intended to show. She felt that this Guardian was not a threat to her, but still tried to keep her emotions in check.
The Guardian didn't answer her immediately. Instead, she effortlessly floated around the small room, seeming to touch the walls in various places as she went. Sam turned her body to keep watching this strange life form as it made its way around the room. The Guardian made a slow loop, coming to rest once again where she had first appeared. She didn't answer Sam's question right away but carefully regarded the small human in front of her before she spoke.
"You have not entered the Hall of Transformation by yourself. There are others of your kind within the great cavern. They are most anxious about your safety and whereabouts but can not enter the inner sanctum. It is not allowed," she informed Sam. "The changed have always made their way to the Hall of Transformation on their own. Their people were afraid to accompany them to this place for fear that they too would be changed."
"I am not alone," Sam answered. "That is my team, those that I travel with. We are very close and they have been trying to help me find a way to return to my normal self."
The Guardian floated about some more, then came to rest directly in front of Sam. "The days of this sacred cavern are numbered. I can feel the walls begin to crumble and lose their strength. If I assist you in returning to your previous form and send you back to your team, this haven will not stand for long. You and your comrades must depart quickly."
Feeling the hope swell within her, Sam answered swiftly, "We will leave as soon as I return to them, I promise you."
"You must also leave the lashadonie behind. If it is allowed to interact and change another as it did to you, there will be no hope for that person. The Hall of Transformation will have ceased to exist."
Sam knew that Daniel would be disappointed in losing the Triplexus but, if that's what it took to change her back, so be it. She nodded her agreement and waited to see what the Guardian would say next.
For her part, the Guardian studieded Sam carefully, as if trying to sense her sincerity. Finally, she floated back a bit and nodded solemnly. "I will help you if this is your desire. You must know, however that the process is not without its perils. Some of the changed did not survive the transformation. I can not make you any promises."
Sam nodded her head in acceptance. "I understand. I still wish to try and change back. I have much work to do to continue to fight the Goa'uld and can not do that in a child's body."
"And you can not wait until you have grown again?" the Guardian asked.
"No, I can't. I am needed now. There are many battles yet to be won. I must return to my adult state if I am to help Earth in its fight against the Goa'uld."
"Then I shall do my best to change you back Samantha," the Guardian stated with resolve. "You will need to pick up the lashadonie and hold it in your hand in the same position you held it when it first changed you. But first, you must reverse the crystals that reside in the back of the lashadonie."
Sam nodded as she remembered that her father had shown her how to reverse the red crystal. Carefully prying the back panel off, Sam took out the reverse imaging crystal and placed it how her father had shown her. She replaced the panel and looked up at the Guardian who hovered nearby.
"The change will take place rapidly. You will revert to your adult form in a matter of moments. I must warn you that the transformation will not be without pain." The Guardian looked over the small girl in front of her. "I fear you will have to remove the clothing you are currently wearing, or you may be injured."
Sam was grateful for the reminder as she looked down at her small SGC outfit. She blushed at the thought of reappearing in front of everyone having literally popped out of her clothing! "I have some of my adult clothing in my bag. I'll put that on before we continue." Sam went to her bag and pulled out a black, adult sized shirt and her green pants. She quickly took off the small clothing and put on her adult clothes, hiking up the pants and holding them with one hand. She stuffed the small clothing back into her pack and hefted it onto her back. With a quick afterthought, she loosened the straps on the air cast around her wrist. Her wrist too would grow larger, but this particular cast was made to loosen with ease; one of the reasons Janet had put it on her.
The Guardian nodded to Sam when she was ready and indicated that she should stand within the circle once again. Sam's bare feet made tracks in the dirt as she scuffled across the floor, trying to keep from tripping over the pants that lay in pools around her ankles. Once she was situated in the center of the circle, Sam placed the Triplexus face up within her right hand while her left kept a firm grasp on the waist of her pants. She looked expectantly at the Guardian, waiting for the next instructions.
"I must ask you once more Samantha. Are you certain this is what you desire?"
"Yes, it is. I am ready to return to my adult form."
"So be it," the Guardian responded. Her image began to glow brighter than ever and she seemed to grow larger. The glow given off by her form filled the entire room and the Triplexus began to hum and vibrate with such force that Sam was afraid it would fall out of her hand. The blue/green light that brought her to the inner sanctum surrounded her once more. Sam began to feel the same tingling sensation she had earlier. Before she could reflect upon that sensation, the two prongs in the base of the Triplexus shot into her wrist as they had a week ago. Sam cried out in pain but continued to hold fast to the Triplexus. Her head began to throb and her vision blurred as she felt heat radiate up her arm and into her neck. Just as she thought she would explode from the heat and the pain, blackness engulfed her and she fell to the floor, conscious of her surroundings no more. The Triplexus released its hold on her and fell harmlessly to the ground, its light forever extinguished.