Getting into the Cheyenne Mountain complex was surprisingly easy for Mac. He supposed the fact that he'd timed his arrival with the changing of the guards helped. One look at his face and guards either saluted him or waved him on in. Nobody questioned him or stopped him. One soldier in particular, became so agitated that Mac actually felt sorry for him.
Once inside, Mac walked determinedly down a corridor. He knew he didn't belong there, in fact would probably face jail time if he was caught, and if he knew Jack, he was going to get caught, but he had to find out what was going on. He got on the first elevator he came across and pressed the button to take him to the 12th level. It was the lowest he could go on this elevator, so it was his current destination.
"General O'Neill!" someone called out just as he got on the elevator. He turned to see a woman heading his way and he put his hand out to hold open the doors.
"Thank you," said the woman as she got on. "I was running a little late. Not anymore!" she continued as she smiled at him.
He smiled back at her and nodded his head. He wasn't sure what Jack would say in this situation, so he kept his silence. The woman apparently was used to this, because she just stood there watching the numbers decrease on the display panel. She was getting a little agitated though, which he tried not to notice. Did Jack cause this reaction in everybody he knew?
"Look General, I want to apologize for the other day," the woman said. "I realize that I was a little abrupt with you, but I… well,… I'm sorry," she finished with a sigh.
Mac was starting to wonder about the wisdom of trying to impersonate the General. "It's okay," he said, hoping they were the right words. He went back to staring at the numbers as they continued to increase, wishing they would go faster.
The elevator continued to move lower into the mountain with its occupants remaining silent. Still the woman was getting more agitated by the minute. Finally, just as the display panel turned to 11, she spoke up abruptly, "I've spent some more time studying the animal on P4X-903 and I think I may be able to help you and your people if they have to go back there."
Mac didn't know how to respond to this, but thought he would give it a try. "That's great. Why don't we discuss this later?" He really hoped this was the right answer.
Her reaction told him it was. "Yes, I'll come by later," she said as the elevator reached its destination.
The doors opened and Mac waited until the woman got off before following her out. He found himself in yet another corridor and facing a man who was waiting to get on the elevator. The man did not look good. His face was pale and drawn and his left arm was in a sling. He lurched to stand straighter when he saw Mac. "Jack!" the man said, trying to act like he was feeling great. "I've been waiting here forever for you to show up. Where've you been?"
"I had to take care of something," Mac replied, concern for the other man running through him. "Are you alright?"
"Dr. Jackson, shouldn't you be in the infirmary?" the woman from the elevator asked. This was Dr. Jackson? Mac wasn't sure who to thank for this, but he wasn't about to let the man who could help him get his daughter back get away.
"I'm fine," Jackson hurried to tell them. "Don't start on me, Jack. I'm fine."
"Why don't we head back to the infirmary anyway?" Mac said. This guy really didn't look like he was going to survive another minute.
"It's all an illusion," Jackson said, as he led the way. "There are people living on that planet, Jack. But like the Nox, they've created an illusion to hide from the Goa'uld."
Mac felt his hopes slide down the drain. The one man who could help him find Lindsay was a raving lunatic. People living on another planet? He continued to walk with Jackson, feeling a heaviness settle in his heart. God knows what Lindsay was going through right now and he had pinned his hopes on a mad man.
"Jack?" Dr. Jackson asked, his expression showing his agitation. "We need to go back," he continued when Mac looked up.
"You don't seem to be well enough to go anywhere," Mac said, as they reached another set of elevators. Jackson pulled a card out of his pocket, which he used to activate the elevator, and Mac knew he had reached the top security section of the facility. He could feel his heart pounding with excitement as the doors opened and he stepped into the elevator. This is it, he thought. He was about to find out what it was the men who had taken Lindsay wanted. He watched as Jackson pushed the button for the 28th level.
"I realized it was an illusion when I tripped and fell," Jackson continued, determined to convince 'Jack' of the need to go back to a planet populated by people. Mac suppressed a sigh and went back to watching the numbers on the display panel as the elevator took him nearer to the heartbeat of the facility.
"What looked like fog on the water from a distance were really plants that grew tall enough to be seen above water. The silver leaves that were above the water line made it look like fog."
"Have you made any headway with the translations," Mac took the opportunity to ask.
"What translations?" Jackson asked, his blue eyes were feverishly bright behind the glasses.
"The translations I asked you to work on," Mac said, knowing at that moment that Jack hadn't given the envelope to the linguist. Anger built up in him, which he tried to hide from the poor demented man standing next to him. It wasn't his fault that Jack was a lying son of a bitch!
"What translations?" Jackson asked again. "What language was it in?"
Mac wasn't sure what to say to this. It would probably have to be in a language that wasn't that well known to many people; otherwise Jack could have gotten someone else to translate it. No, it had to be a language that was older than dirt or so obscure that only a handful of people would know it. "You've been sick," he said instead, hoping to stall the inevitable. "You probably just forgot."
"I just got back this morning," Jackson said, giving Mac a wary look. "I wouldn't have forgotten something that quickly. Besides, it was just a slight infection from the scratch," he continued, pointing to the arm that was in a sling.
Mac was saved from having to answer him when the elevator stopped on the 25th level and two Marines stepped into the elevator after saluting the General. Mac found himself swearing that this was the last time he would impersonate a General, then grinned as he remembered the last time he had told himself that.
"Jack?" Jackson said to gain his attention. "What language was it in?" Mac started to sweat as he realized that Jackson was staring at him with an intense look. He knew with a certainty that the Doctor suspected something, and he racked his brain trying to come up with something to keep up his own illusion. "Goa'uld," he said, remembering Jackson telling him the people on another planet were hiding from them.
"Teal'c could translate that as well as I could," Jackson said, still watching Mac intently.
"I wanted you to do it," Mac said, hoping desperately that Jackson wouldn't push it. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"I'm fine," Jackson insisted, standing up straighter in order to convince him it was true. The elevator stopped just then and the doors opened as Jackson told him, "It was just a scratch."
"It was more than 'just a scratch' Daniel Jackson," a man said having overheard Jackson's statement. Mac looked in surprise at the man's appearance as he stepped out of the elevator. He was tall and burly, but the most surprising feature was a gold emblem smack in the middle of the man's forehead. He nodded at the man when he'd bowed his head in greeting. "O'Neill," the man said, then turned to Jackson, "The doctor is extremely angry to find that you had left the infirmary against her wishes."
"I'm fine, Teal'c. Really I am," Jackson insisted as he led the way down the hallway.
"Doctor Brightman disagrees with you and I am here to take you back to the infirmary," Teal'c said with aplomb.
"After I convince this guy of the need to go back to the planet," Jackson said stubbornly. "Talk to him Teal'c. Those people were there, you saw them."
"The planet is also infested with Jaffa," Teal'c said. "Those people are safe there, if we could not see them, the Jaffa will not see them."
"So what are you saying? We wait for the Jaffa to leave before we go back to study their cultural and technological advances?" Jackson asked. "And I did find them, what makes you think the Goa'uld won't?" His eyes seemed to be even brighter in his anger and Mac was really starting to worry about the poor man. He was also starting to wonder about his own beliefs as the two men argued amongst themselves. Teal'c was talking to Jackson as if there really was life on another planet. No wonder this place was top secret.
"You are extremely intelligent," Teal'c said matter-of-factly. "The Goa'uld do not possess your knowledge or your intelligence. They will not find those people."
Jackson apparently didn't know what to say to this. He stopped to stare at Teal'c for a few seconds before saying, "Thanks Teal'c, but I still think we should go back."
They moved on until they were in a large conference room with a window gracing one wall, an office situated at one end and a long table in the middle of the room. Mac took all this in as he moved toward the window, fascinated by an object that caught his eye. It was a huge metal circle standing at one end of a ramp in the room beyond the window. There were men and women working on and around the object and Mac could see that there was writing or pictures on the inner ring of the wheel.
"O'Neill," Teal'c said, bringing Mac out of the trance he was in. "You seem preoccupied. Do you require anything before I take Daniel Jackson back to the infirmary?"
"How about getting some SFs in here," a voice Mac knew all too well said from the door. He turned to face Jack, and glared back at the man who had lied through his teeth. He was surprised at the anger he felt toward the man who had promised to help him get his daughter back. The intensity of it fueled his wrath.
"Well, if it isn't the son of a bitch who told me everything was being taken care of," Mac snarled, as he pushed past Teal'c. "Who's doing the translations?" he asked.
"O'Neill?" Teal'c asked. Mac looked back at the man and saw he was standing in anticipation of attacking something. His body was tense and his dark eyes promised bodily harm. Mac didn't think he wanted to face this guy in anger, ever.
"You had no right coming here," Jack snarled back at Mac, totally ignoring Teal'c. "This is a top secret facility; you don't have the clearance to be here. Yet here you are, walking in here as if you own the place," Jack yelled. "What the fuck do you think you are doing?"
"I'm here to find a way to get my daughter back," Mac yelled right back at him. His anger was at an all time high, and he was not going to let Jack get the best of him. "I will get her back, Jack. No matter what stands in my way, including a lying, scum sucking General who swears he's going to help."
"I didn't lie to you," Jack roared. "I will handle this my way, and my way does not include you coming in here to impersonate me and to screw things up."
"Who's doing the translations?" Mac asked. He had come up and was standing nose to nose with Jack daring him to lie to him again.
"Like I've told you before, it's being taken care of. You…"
By Dr. Jackson?" Mac interrupted angrily, pointing to the man in question who was standing there gaping at the two men. "He didn't even know what I was talking about when I asked him how it was going."
"I didn't say I was going to have him working on it," Jack said defensively. "I just said the translations were being worked on."
"By who?" Mac asked him, his voice still betraying his anger, although it had quieted down a little.
"Look Mac, you are going to have to trust me on this. We'll get Lindsay back, I swear it."
"Why won't you answer my question?" Mac was not going to let Jack whitewash his way out of involving him in this operation. "Let's go talk to the people you have working on the translations."
"No. You're not supposed to even know this facility exists. There is no way in hell I'm going to give you a grand tour."
"Bring whoever it is here to this room," Mac insisted. "You've lied to me once, Jack. I can't afford to have you lie to me again. That's my daughter out there," he said, his voice filled with emotion. He looked away for a second, trying to rid himself of the fear and the pain he was experiencing, then looked back at Jack. "I will be a part of this operation, whether you want me to or not. And if it means impersonating a General, then so be it."
"What's going on here Jack?" Dr. Jackson asked, as he came up to the two men.
"Why aren't you in the infirmary Daniel?" Jack countered. "You don't look so good."
So this is Daniel, Mac thought to himself. He knew from the phone conversations he had overheard that Jack and Daniel were good friends. He wondered if he could use their friendship to get Daniel to help him. "What about the translations?" he asked before Daniel could answer Jack.
"They're being translated even as we speak," Jack insisted. "We'll get her back, Mac, I promise."
"What is going on?" Daniel asked again.
"My daughter's been kidnapped by some men who thought I was Jack," Mac told him. "They said they'd let her go when Jack turned over some alien devices and had some stuff translated. They specifically mentioned you, Dr. Jackson, for the translations."
"Call me Daniel. And you are?"
"MacGyver," Mac said.
"He's not using your name?" Daniel asked Jack with surprise.
"Nope," Jack said with a grin. "Unusual, ain't it?"
"Indeed," Teal'c said, as he came up to give Mac a thorough looking over. "Who is he O'Neill?"
"Well, from what we can gather, it appears that he may be my twin brother," Jack said. "We're still checking into it." Mac was starting to feel like a freak of nature. Teal'c was still checking for some deformity and Daniel was staring at him with a thoughtful look on his face.
"You sure it's not a trick?" Daniel asked, still staring at Mac. "It wouldn't be the first time."
"Daniel," Jack warned. Daniel looked at Jack for a second, then turned back to Mac. "Why didn't you tell me who you were in the first place?"
"I needed to find out what I was up against and I didn't know if I could trust you," Mac said truthfully. "Who am I up against?"
"NID?" Teal'c asked Jack, as he had finally finished his scrutiny.
'It appears to be," Jack agreed.
"What'd they want translated?" Daniel asked
"They had pictures of artifacts with Asgard words on them. At least I am told it is from the Asgard," Jack said, knowing full well Mac was listening in. "I gave the pictures to Lieberman to work on."
"Lieberman," Daniel groaned.
"What's wrong with Lieberman?" Jack demanded. "You yourself told me he was one of your best students in that language."
"I've only just started teaching it to him," Daniel countered. "Yes, he's picking it up fast, but I've only just started with him."
"Could you just go get Lieberman and the pictures so that you can get started doing your own translations?" Mac interrupted, getting just a little aggravated here. They didn't have time for this.
Jack turned on him, looking for all the world as if he was going to pound Mac into the ground. He stopped himself, but continued to glare as he said, "We will. In the meantime you are leaving this base…"
"Who are these NID people?" Mac asked, not even listening to Jack. "Sounds like a government agency. What are they capable of?"
"The people we are dealing with are rogue government agents," Jack said. "And they are very dangerous, which is why you are no longer involved. We've handled them before," he continued when Mac started sputtering his protest, "we know how to stop them."
"I have dealt with some pretty rough characters in my life time," Mac said, as visions of Murdoc, a very dangerous nemesis of his past, came to mind. "I've been shot, poisoned, tortured and left for dead and I am still here to tell you about it. I can take care of myself, Jack, and I will not stay out of this just because you think I'm a wimp. If I have to go out there and do it myself, I will, but I would much rather have the help. That's my little girl out there and I won't leave her rescue up to you just because you tell me to. I will be involved, so you might as well get used to it."
The three men stared at Mac, not saying anything. Mac didn't care though. It was Jack he needed to reach and he stared at his twin, telling him with his eyes and his posture that he wasn't going to back down.
"All at the same time?" Jack asked.
"What?"
"Shot, poisoned, tortured. Separate incidents?"
"Yeah," Mac said, wondering where this was going.
Apparently nowhere, as Jack took Daniel's good arm and led him to a chair. "Sit," he told his friend. "Teal'c, would you call Lieberman and ask him to bring us the translations? You thirsty, Daniel?"
"I'm fine," Daniel said for what seemed like the thousandth time.
"I'm going to call the Doc and let her know you're here," Jack said. "What do you wanna bet she'll be here within five minutes with an army of nurses?" he grinned.
Daniel rolled his eyes heavenward, while Mac just stood there, not sure what to expect at this point. He had made his stand, but whether or not he was going to have to go it alone or with Jack, was left to be seen. He decided to go with the flow and sat down at the table next to Daniel.
