Title: Waking Dreams
Author: Paradigm Shifter
Feedback: Yes please! :-)
Rating: R.
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"He's got to be an NID plant." Jack said vehemently.
Hammond replied instantly, "Reasons?"
Jack shrugged. "I don't know... yes, I do. He's dumped on our doorstep, with a tale so gauzy that any idiot can see through it, and expects us to believe him. He has a detailed knowledge of the earliest days of the SGC, including a complete history on Kowalsky: enough to say 'He's in my head'" Jack mimicked the tone that Xander had used when explaining how he knew about Kowalsky: as if it was obvious that he heard voices in his head. He didn't quite get the facial expression down though. "I think he's either an NID plant, or a crazy that should be put down."
Teal'c shifted his weight slightly, and Jack looked up. "Got anything to add, buddy?"
"I do not believe he is... NID, O'Neill. Nor do I believe that he is simply insane."
Hammond swivelled his chair round to see the Jaffa. "Again: reasons?" He tapped on the arm of his chair, and added, "Please sit down, Teal'c." He gestured at a chair.
Teal'c did so, and explained his reasoning. "There are many tales among the System Lords of beings – demons – of incredible power..."
Jack butted in, "So you think he's a... demon?" His voice carried an incredulous note to it.
"No." Teal'c replied. "I do not. But their powers were more astonishing than themselves: they could do anything. While the Goa'uld use technology already existing, demons had natural abilities... some could warp time, others could resurrect the dead. Others still lived forever. The Unas... which could, indeed, be believe to be 'demons' have astonishing regenerative abilities: we have experienced this ourselves, have we not, O'Neill? There was a tale once of a demon who could transfer one persons mind into another. I believe that he may have encountered one of these."
Jack snorted; his disbelief evident. Sam also seemed sceptical, but was silent. Daniel nodded slightly to himself, and raised his hand as if he was a kid back in school again. "If I may?"
Hammond nodded. "Go ahead, Doctor Jackson."
"Teal'c's theories have some grounding in other mythologies..."
He paused at Jack's "Oh, puh-lease!" and continued from where he left off.
"Is it so impossible Jack? That mythology other than the Egyptian and Norse were based around fact? But fact so advanced people could not understand it? There are links to ideas like this in Babylonian myths. And in Japanese mythology, too. The past is rife with examples that may reveal a more detailed present... I'm not an expert on either of those belief systems – as you know I dealt mostly with Egyptian mythology – but that doesn't mean I can't contact a few academics who may be able to help."
Hammond nodded, but looked reserved. "If we wash out with Mr. Harris, I will ask you to contact a few select people, Dr. Jackson. Until then, what can you find out for yourself?"
Daniel looked decidedly unhappy. "I've got a few books I can use... but we really need an expert."
"Noted," Hammond said, "But this is the SGC, Dr. Jackson. We cannot just give passes out like candy."
"I still think we should just lock him up." Jack cut back in to the conversation. "If he's telling the truth... if. That's a very big meaning for a very small word. We don't know if it's Kowalsky. If Teal'c's right, and it is a 'possession' or a 'mind-swap' or whatever, then it could be Kowalsky's little Goa'uld pal playing with our minds again."
Sam reversed the report she had been reading, and pushed it slowly across the desk to Jack. "I don't think it can be... I've been going back over the various reports and scans that we did on Kowalsky when we got back from Abydos that first time..." She pointed at one particular MRI image spread out in front of Jack.
"Look, this was a picture of Kowalsky's brain activity during a routine medical a few weeks before the mission..." she moved another next to it. "And here is the one taken when we knew the Goa'uld parasite was present." She pointed to a third image, "and this was the image taken after the surgery to remove the Goa'uld. See that it's a combination of the two? These two areas here," she ringed two bright areas with her pencil, "are active. We assumed that it was just residual activity from the attack... the brain doesn't stop working in one area simply because the stimulus has gone. It has a slight lag time. The areas the Goa'uld stimulated wouldn't return to normal for a few hours at least. But we know now it was because the Goa'uld had completely taken over the host." She winced inwardly at the overly analytical tone she was using – but distance had to be maintained as much as possible. Kowalsky, whether present in Alexander Harris or not, had been dead for some time: they had dealt with it and moved on.
Sam hated herself a little at that realisation.
She opened the folder still in front of her, and pulled out another MRI scan. "Now look at this one. We took this when he arrived, since he was willing. Alexander Harris doesn't have any of the activity associated with Kowalsky's Goa'uld infestation. There is some abnormal activity in the visual cortex, but that could be just about anything. It may be to do with the high level of radiation Dr. Frasier said he was exposed to."
"And exactly what does this... myrrh scan do?" Jack asked, half confused and half upset.
"M.R.I scan, sir," Sam Carter explained patiently. "Magnetic Resonance Imaging. It uses the minute fluctuations in magnetic field inside the brain to create a map of activity within it. Wires have electrical fields generated when power flows through them... well; it's the same with the brain. Just on a much smaller scale."
"I think I want to say, 'huh'?" Jack said with a deliberately idiotic voice. Carter sighed. Daniel cut in to save her.
"They stick him inside a dirty great magnet, and see what comes out the other side, Jack."
Jack rolled his eyes at the archaeologist, but the humour in his eyes was evident. "Duh."
Daniel rolled his eyes back, a small smile tugging at his mouth, and Carter sat back with an even deeper sigh. Jack O'Neill was not stupid: you could not get where he was and be stupid. He seemed to take an almost incredible amount of delight in baiting people with an act.
Janet stepped back into the room. "I've asked for Mr. Harris to be brought up here in four minutes. I suggest we close off the blast doors. He's decided to open up."
"Oh, and how did you manage that, Doc?" Jack smirked at her.
"I was polite." Janet riposted.
"Touché." Jack grinned. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as he thought.
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