Sam leaned against the wall in the infirmary watching as a nurse changed
Jack's bandages. "He looks awful," she whispered as Janet came
to stand beside her.
Janet looked at her friend solemnly before telling her, "It's gonna get a lot
worse, and it's gonna happen fast."
"Are you sure you're doing everything you can?" she plead with her
friend.
"Sedatives and painkillers. That's all we can really do," Frasier
admitted dejectedly. "Sam, you have no idea how painful this is gonna
get. You know, I would never normally say this, it goes against everything I've
been trained to do, but the truth is he'd be a lot better off if I…"
Sam turned to look at Janet before turning her attention to where Teal'c, Daniel, and General Hammond stood watching in the observation room. She watched Hammond nod his consent before turning her attention back to the device concealed in her hand. Sam pushed away from the wall and approached the bed on which Jack rested. "Colonel," she called softly. "I didn't suggest this before because the truth is, I'm not really sure what I'm doing with this thing. I could make things worse."
Jack turned his head slightly towards her. "Do it, Carter," he whispered painfully.
Sam slowly lifted the healing device and the ruby like jewel in it's center
began to glow. The effect on Jack was nearly instantaneous.
"He's seizing!" Janet shouted as she pushed Sam out of the way in her
haste to get to her patient. "Get the crash cart; give me 5 of
Valium."
"I'm sorry," Sam cried. "I'm sorry," she said again as
Daniel entered the room and pulled her out of the way. He held her as the
medical team continued to work on Jack.
"Help me get him on his side," Janet commanded. "Valium's in. Set
up an ambubag. Draw 2 grams of magnesium sulphate. Put him back,
easy."
Jack heard Janet giving these orders to her staff, and then suddenly found
himself walking along the corridors of the SGC towards the 'Gate room. 'I'm
having one of those out of body things,' he thought to himself. 'Daniel
will love this.' He entered the 'Gate room to find a civilian standing on
the ramp. She turned to him, and he suddenly knew without a doubt who he
was looking at.
"Your fate is in your hands," she told him.
Jack felt himself being pulled back to the pain of his body in the infirmary. He stirred with a groan and opened his eyes.
"Hey, Jack" Daniel said quietly.
"I hear that Sam thinks the naquadria might be an important discovery,"
Jack said hoping that talking to Daniel would keep his mind off the pain he was
in as he dismissed what he'd just seen as the first in what he was sure to be
many pain induced visions.
"Yeah, apparently" Daniel agreed. "If we can get some. For
what it's worth, I tried again to get the point across to Jonas."
"He's in a tough position," Jack said absolving the young Colonan
scholar of his part in what had happened.
"You're not going to take the fall for this, Jack" Daniel promised.
"I don't care what's at stake."
"I do," Jack told him.
"This will not be your last act on official record," Daniel said
again.
"Oma," Jack said as he once again felt himself drifting from his body.
"What?" Daniel asked at this apparent change of subject.
"Jack?"
Jack couldn't hear him however as he once again found himself standing before
the woman in white on the ramp before the Stargate. "Oma Desala.
You look different," Jack said.
"Lightning flashes, sparks shower, in one blink of your eye you have mis-seen,"
she said.
"Riiight," Jack drawled out slowly. "What did you mean when
you said my fate is in my hands?"
"When the mind is enlightened the spirit is freed and body matters not,"
Oma replied.
"You're talking about ascension, right?" Jack asked. "Rising
to a different plane of existence. Are you saying that I could do that? Become
like you? What do I do?"
"Release your burden," Oma commanded.
"Okay, well consider it released," Jack said. "What's step
two?"
"A tall man cannot hide in the short grass," Oma said.
"You know, really, I don't have time for one of these kind of conversations." Jack commented angrily.
"One cannot reach enlightenment by running from death," she gently rebuked.
Jack sighed. "Tell me what to do."
"Many roads lead to the Great Path. Only the willing will find their way,"
she said.
"Okay, well I'm willing. So let's go. I mean, you know, do your thing. Glow
me," Jack commanded.
"The river tells no lies. Though standing on the shore the dishonest man
still hears them."
"Right. I didn't think it was gonna be that easy," he admitted.
