A/N: Ok, I know this took forever, but for those of you who didn't give up hope on me, I hope it's worth it.
Moments later, Teal'c and Daniel were lugged off by Swush and Swish. Jack had watched them follow the two aliens down the hallway and around the corner. He had screamed after them. Pleaded to know what was going on, where Sam had been taken, he didn't get an answer.
Now Jack was alone in the cell. He had to get out. Find Sam. Save her. And Daniel, and Teal'c. Had to be free...
Swush came swooshing back to him, when he came to unlock the door Jack yelled at him. "What is going on here?!? Where have you taken them?" Jack didn't get an answer. Swush grabbed the him by the arm and escorted him out of the cell. His captor's bare skin seared through the fabric on his shirt, his skin began to burn, he hardly noticed. Jack tried to wrench away from the grasp but it was hopeless. Swush was too strong.
Hallway after hallway passed before his eyes. Jack strained to discern one from another. To him he was lost in an impenetrable labyrinth. His only guide his own hatred of the figure leading him.
His body felt weak from the lack of food, his lips were parched and his throat sore. What he needed was water, sweet, clear, refreshing water. Jack shook his head to clear the thoughts, he needed to stay focused.
Their journey ended in front of an ornate wooden door situated between the red rock. This door, like the chairs Jack had seen in the congregation room was engraved with figures. Bodiless figures. He may have wondered what it meant if his mind had been a little less foggy.
Swush pulled open the door and shoved Jack through it. He ended up in a room that he would have described as lavish compared to his previous surroundings. In one corner stood a high-backed velvet armchair and in another a silent divan. On the rock floor laid a large rush mat. On a table nearby, sat bowls of what must have been fruit, and a beaker of some kind of liquid. Jack stared at it hungrily, but did not make a move, it was probably drugged as well.
"It is perfectly safe." Swush read Jack's mind. He went over and bit into what looked like a pear. Holding it up, as though to admire it in the light, he praised, "Fruit of the Gods." His voice was still a grating growl yet it carried a note of ironic hospitality. He offered Jack the bowl.
"Where are my friends?"
"Curious. They betray you and yet you still call them friends. It is amazing the bond you humans share."
"They were not acting of their own free will. You are the ones who drugged them, turned them against me."
"That is only an assumption. How can you be sure that they were 'drugged'?" "Food?" He offered the bowl again.
Jack glared at the being. Loathing every inch of space it occupied. He wondered if he had ever been as angry as he was at the moment. Suddenly, his vision began to blur, as though someone was finger-painting over his eyes. He could tell Swush was still holding out the bowl of fruit, an amused smirk on his ugly face. Unable to contain the emotions any longer, Jack lunged for Swush, his body making contact and knocking them both to the ground. Before Jack was able to regain his footing, Swush had stood up and was leering above him. The smirk still on his face. Jack stumbled to his feet, a blind rage had taken control of him, and he lunged for Swush once again, but this time something changed. Swush was no longer there, instead his body had been replaced by that of Maybourne.
Jack straightened up. "What the hell are you doing here?" He was too out of it to care that Maybourne had just morphed from the figure of an alien.
Maybourne stood calmly, and looked Jack up and down, he didn't look so good. With the cuts on his face, one very obvious bump on his head, and a burn on his upper left arm, one might have thought he was having a rough couple of days, but Maybourne showed no pity in his stoic expression. "Why shouldn't I be here?"
Jack didn't know what to think.
"Isn't the more relevant question, what are you doing here?" Maybourne smiled.
Jack stared at him open mouthed.
"You are the one who was captured and brought here against your will in the first place, and then you are faced with the difficulty of being trapped with the one person you care about more than anything in the world, well where is Major Carter now?
Feeling sick to his stomach, Jack backed up a few steps. Guilt was overpowering his senses.
"You tell yourself everyday that you will take care of her, you can't even protect yourself, how could you be expected to be responsible for someone else? And now you don't know where she is, let alone Daniel or Teal'c."
Jack swallowed, "That's not true, I can protect her, I can save her."
"Will you take care of her as you did your son?"
Jack stared at Maybourne wide-eyed. "Charlie? What does he have to do with this?"
"Everything." Maybourne replied simply before walking towards the door. "Just wait." And with that he vanished down the hall.
The colonel was feeling weak-kneed. He backed up into the corner and sat down in the chair. He set his head in his hands. The whole situation was getting worse by the minute. What he needed know was to think, and think fast. Nothing came to his mind. The same questions were running through his mind, where was the rest of his team? what was he doing here? and most of all, what did Charlie have to do with the matter?