O'Neill opened his eyes slowly, cautiously. The room seemed to dip and swirl around him. Briefly the old cartoons he and Charlie used to watch flashed through his mind, he was reminded of the anvil falling on the head of the hapless Coyote as the Roadrunner laughed and whizzed away.
He groaned, "did anyone get the number of the Roadrunner that ran over me.?" The room slowly came into focus and he found Teal'c standing next to his bed.
He regarded Jack with a raised eyebrow. "I have never heard of this 'Roadrunner?' Why would he wish to do you harm? Is this a new Goa'uld system lord?"
Jack groaned again, "Your education is sadly lacking, my friend, we'll have to..." he trailed off as the memory of what had happened came rushing back. He sat bolt upright.
Wrong move, he realized, as the infirmary tilted precariously around him. The beepers on the monitors he was connected to all started to go crazy at once. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he tried to stand. Teal'c caught him before he crashed to the floor.
"O'Neill, is this wise?"
"Dammit, Teal'c, Carter and Daniel are still back in that place. We've got to go back and get them."
The Doctor made her entrance at that moment, her heels clicking on the concrete floor, "Colonel O'Neill, you're not going anywhere until I say so. Now, if you will be so good as to lie down, I will call the general and let him know that you're awake."
There was a brief battle of wills as their eyes locked. When he found that couldn't stand without Teal'c's help he gave in with a muttered curse. Settling back onto the bed, he asked with a scowl. "How long have I been out?"
"It's been over two hours," she told him reluctantly.
Jack moaned softly. Two hours? His mind sorted through the things that could be done to the human body in two hours. None of them were good. "Has there been any word from them?" He knew the answer, he had to ask just the same.
"There has not, O'Neill. The general did send a probe through the gate..." It was rare for Teal'c to hesitate. It couldn't be good.
"And," Jack prompted wearily.
"There were no signs of Major Carter or Daniel Jackson anywhere. Although the laboratory you were investigating does seem to now be operational."
"God, Teal'c, I left them there."
Teal'c put a hand on his shoulder. He knew how O'Neill felt, it was the pain that gnawed at him, "We will get them back, O'Neill."
"But at what cost?"
The jaffa had no answer to that. He was saved from having to make a reply with the arrival of General Hammond.
He looked over the Colonel's head at the Doctor, "How is he?"
"He was knocked with some unknown type of gas, we're running tests but it seems to be working its way out of his system. He has a concussion from his impact with the gate, but his head is pretty hard, he should be okay. " She turned her glare onto Jack, "If he listens to his doctor that is."
"General," Jack ignored her and focused on Hammond, "request permission to go back to that lab and bring Carter and Daniel home."
"All in good time, Colonel."
"Sir, no offense intended, but God only knows what's happening to my team right now. We need to go back now and get them." Jack pleaded with his commanding office, "I need to get them." That need was plainly written on his face for all to see.
It was hard to get close to Colonel Jack O'Neill, black ops specialist, and Air Force officer, but these two had become his family and were closer to him than any one else - on world or off. Along with Teal'c, he would do anything for them. Hell, he would die for them.
And right now he felt like he was suffocating, drowning in his need to go back for them. He was safe and they were gone from his side, a very important part of his own self was missing.
"Colonel O'Neill," the general's voice hardened. He knew how the colonel felt, Major Carter and Doctor Jackson were special to the SGC and they needed to get them back. But now was not the moment to go off half-cocked.
He needed O'Neill as an officer and a soldier if they were to rescue their missing companions. "We can debrief and you can tell us what happened over at that lab, or I can let the doctor sedate you, and you can spend the next six hours in this bed sleeping while the rest of us rescue your team. Your choice, colonel." The general stared down at him with steely eyes. As if to reinforce his point, the doctor pulled a syringe from her pocket and held it up, tapping it.
O'Neill recognized the harsh tone of command. He used it himself with Daniel upon occasion. It worked now to snap him back into his military training and steadied him. He allowed himself to fall back into the pillow. Teal'c stood beside him, hand on his shoulder lending his not-inconsiderable support silently. He nodded, "Debrief it is, sir."
With a satisfied nod, the general asked in a gentler tone, "Colonel..., Jack,what happened over there? You were only going to stay three hours, it was over six before you came back."
Jack took a deep breath and pushed aside his concern for his friends, it would be there waiting when this was done. He let his military training take over, "It was just a laboratory, General. Carter kept going on about gene splicing and DNA research, but it was so far over my head that it sounded like Daniel and his Abydonian to me. Everything seemed harmless enough. It didn't look like anyone had been there for a long, long time."
He rubbed his head, trying to think. "Everything was automated, the second we came through the gate the lights came on and the place seemed to power up."
"Was there any indication of what the lab was for?" The General leaned forward.
"Carter was pretty sure it had to do with genetics. Maybe using gene splicing to create the perfect host or jaffa or something."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow at that, "It was a Goa'uld facility, O'Neill?"
"Daniel found a panel with some Goa'uld writing on it. He said it was called 'the place of change'." Something flickered across the usually impenetrable jaffa calm. "Does that mean something?"
"It is a story I heard when I was a youngwarrior in training to become a jaffa." His gaze turned inward as he struggled to remember those half-forgotten tales. "That there was a place where the Goa'uld could go if they wished for change."
"What kind of change are we talking here, Teal'c?" Jack had learned many years before to not ask the question if you didn't want to hear the answer, but sometimes you had to.
Teal'c shifted and hesitated as if he really didn't want to the answer the question, "Some Goa'uld have a definite preference whether their host body be male or female. Some of them have remained mates through hundreds of years with many different hosts. We have seen it to be thus."
"Like with Martuf and Jolinar?" The Doctor asked quietly.
"Indeed." He paused, clearly uncomfortable to be the focus of their scrutiny. "We have also seen that there have been occasions when the symbiote does not have a selection of host - in the heat of battle for instance when their host is killed. The symbiote must find the first available host or die itself. There was a story that if the Goa'uld did not like the..." he paused searching for the correct word.
"Gender," Janet supplied.
Jack lay back, the fear growing inside him. Yes, he was sure now, he didn't want to hear where this was going.
"Yes," Teal'c nodded, "that is correct. If the Goa'uld did not like the gender of its host, it could go to the place of change and ... " he let the sentence trail off, his meaning clear.
"Damn." Jack closed his eyes, refusing to think the words.
The general spared him the necessity. "You think that's what may have happened to Major Carter and Doctor Jackson? Their gender has been changed?" he asked horrified.
Teal'c nodded, "Yes, General Hammond. I believe if they were able, they would have contacted us by now. I believe when they return to us, they will be…" he searched for another word, but could not find one. "They will be changed."
"Even if they don't have a Goa'uld symbiote?" The general's forehead creased as he tried to imagine the enormity of what Teal'c was telling them.
"The Goa'uld are cruel masters, General Hammond," Teal'c answered in a grave, too-calm voice. "There were stories they would send slaves to this facility for the change to satisfy other desires."
Jack knew he didn't want to think about that.
"I do not know if these stories are true. Apophis never spoke of this facility and no one I have ever known has experienced this.. change. It is simply a tale told around the fire." Teal'c continued, his hand on Jack's shoulder clenched.
Jackwas grateful that the general was asking the questions that his head hurt too much to ask.
"Teal'c, do you think that this facility would still be operative with no one there to run it, even after all this time?" Surely even Goa'uld machinery had to break down sometime.
"Many Goa'uld facilities are automated to run without human assistance. With Naquada as the power source, these facilities may remain operational for many, perhaps hundreds, of years. It is very likely that this laboratory is still functional."
"So, we have to be prepared for anything on the other side of that gate," Jack struggled to sit up. Question and answer time was over, it was time to go. Maybe if they could through the gate now, Carter and Daniel would still be... Carter and Daniel. It was possible.
Teal'c looked down at him, his face difficult to read, "O'Neill you can not go through the gate."
"Excuse me?" He was sure he hadn't heard what the other man had just said.
"You can not go through the gate, O'Neill, or you will suffer the same fate as Daniel Jackson and Major Carter. I am the only one that may safely go there to retrieve them."
"And what exactly makes you immune to this place?" There was no way in Netu that Jack O'Neill was going to sit on his ass, safe in the SGC, while his friends were in danger. No way.
"I am a Jaffa. We would go as bodyguard and servant to the Goa'uld to experience this 'change.' I am certain I would be safe,. the machinery would be set to ignore any Jaffa presence."
"Jack, I think you're going to have sit this one out." Jack could tell by his tone that the general would brook no argument on this one.
"Sir," he began. He had to at least try.
The general stopped him mid-splutter, "Jack, cooperate. And, if the doctor agrees, you can be in charge of the operation on this side of the gate."
She nodded her consent and he went on, "Try to go off half-cocked and I'll have the doctor sedate you and we'll lock you up until this is over. Your choice."
The two men glared at each other for a moment until finally the colonel looked away, he wasn't doing too well in the battle of wills today. It must the damned headache, it was ruining his concentration.
He cleared his throat, "I'll be good, general. I just want them back, as them."
"So do I, Jack. Rest assured, we will get them back," Hammond assured him. "Now brief Teal'c on what to expect so we can get this mission underway."
The change proceeded unimpeded. The bodies of the male and female were prepared and placed into the stasis chambers. They were mapped and the proper samples were taken. When the master computer was satisfied, the nanocytes that would begin the process were injected.
They were healthy humanoid subjects and the change would please them greatly, the master computer was sure. It hummed to itself gently, glad to be of use to its masters once more.
To be continued