Chapter 3 – Einar
General Hammond grimaced to himself as he marched side-by-side with Dr. Frasier towards the SGC holding cells.
"You know, I've always had a nagging suspicion that this would happen one day," he commented.
Janet couldn't help but smile a little at that.
"Do you have any idea what could have caused all of this, Doctor?"
"Not yet, sir," she replied. "Rumours are flying around already though. Most of the personnel in the commissary seem to think the Colonel suggested something inappropriate, and Major Carter didn't take it in good humour."
"Well, I hope not," the General snarled, signalling for the SF to open the door to the cells.
Sam had been lying awkwardly on the hard bed in one of the locked cells. She looked up as the door creaked open, and immediately jumped up when Hammond entered, followed by Janet.
"General," she stated respectfully.
"Major Carter," he began evenly. "You'd better have a damn good excuse for assaulting your commanding officer!"
Sam swallowed nervously, looking away in though momentarily. She shifted her feet with trepidation.
"I don't think you'd believe me, sir," she explained.
"Humour me, Major!" he barked.
"Well, sir," she dragged. "He's not actually Colonel O'Neill…"
"What do you mean he's not the Colonel, Sam?" Janet quizzed, standing in Hammond's shadow.
"I'm not quite sure," Sam shrunk under the incredulous looks from her base commander and her friend. "He's been acting strangely ever since we brought him back from the planet. When I confronted him about it, he actually admitted it."
"He just blew his own cover?" Hammond questioned incredulously.
"No," Sam shook her head sharply. "I accused him of not being the Colonel when I realised how odd he'd be acting. He – whoever he is - must have decided there was no point in pretending anymore since I'd figured it out. I thought he might attack me when he tried to follow me out of the commissary, so I acted pre-emptively, sir."
"You understand, Major," the General began carefully, after a moment's pause, "that until we have some kind of verification of your account, I can't actually have you released."
"I understand, sir."
Hammond crossed back to the door, picking up the telephone hanging on the wall next to the doorframe. As soon as someone answered, he stated his orders.
"Have a security team find and secure Colonel O'Neill. Bring him down to holding cell C15. He may have been compromised by alien technology – be prepared to use force but do not shoot to kill."
"Colonel O'Neill, sir!" the SF barked, weapon raised readily as he and three other security personnel stalked down the corridor. At the far end, whatever it was that now controlled Jack stared over his shoulder at the advancing soldiers, access card poised over the panel for the elevator.
"What is it, airman?" he asked in military sternness.
"General Hammond has ordered that we escort you down to the holding cells. Please, come this way, sir," the SF instructed smartly.
"The holding cells… hmm…" O'Neill feigned confusion. "Well, orders are orders."
He took just three steps back down the corridor, SFs on all sides, before he swung his right fist around to head-hook the nearest airman. The SF fell with a grunt of surprise. The Colonel balanced on one foot to twist around expertly and floor another SF with a roundhouse kick.
With a snarl of pain, he dropped his leg back down heavily, clutching miserably at his knee. The brief pause gave one of the remaining SFs the opportunity to club him from behind with the butt of a gun. Jack slumped to the concrete floor with a sharp grunt.
Teal'c was the first to notice Jack regaining consciousness, strapped securely to an infirmary bed. Expressionlessly, he stood and readied a zat. Sam, Daniel, Janet and Hammond all noticed this action and stood too, watching as Jack groggily blinked and focused on those around him.
"Whoa," he muttered, immediately noticing Teal'c with the zat right next to him. "This isn't my week…"
"Colonel?" Hammond quizzed.
"Erm… define 'the Colonel'…" he squirmed.
Hammond glanced briefly at Carter before shifting his line of sight back to the trapped form of one of his officers.
"We strongly suspect that whoever we are talking to is not Colonel Jack O'Neill. Is that correct?" he began firmly.
"OK," he sighed with resignation, "you caught me. You are correct. I'm not Colonel O'Neill."
"Then who exactly are we talking to?" Janet questioned, a clipboard clutched in both hands.
"My name is Einar. I was trapped in the technology of that lab you visited. Without a physical body, the only thing I was aware of was the pulsing of the crystal on emergency power. Judging from that, I think I have been stuck there for around two centuries."
"Two hundred years?" Sam exclaimed.
He nodded grimly, "But when your friend accidentally touched the damaged wire in the lab, I suddenly became aware of his senses, knowledge, memories…"
"You invaded his mind," Teal'c stated accusingly.
"No, it wasn't like that," he exclaimed anxiously. "I was dormant for so long that when I was transferred into this body, my consciousness woke up and it was all just there."
"But it wasn't enough, was it?" Sam guessed, her expression cold. "You don't know everything about the Colonel, do you?"
"No," he shook his head ruefully. "I tried to gather as much information as I could – a sheer impulsive reaction from suddenly being thrust back into awareness. For all I knew at that moment, they were my own memories."
"Why were you unconscious for so long after being transferred into the Colonel's body?" Janet questioned curiously, making notes on the clipboard.
"I wasn't prepared for the whole situation. I couldn't properly comprehend what had happened at first, and therefore didn't realise I had a body to control. I began to remember my own past, before the lab, and distinguished it from Jack's memories. I hoped that once this body had recovered enough to be controlled I could use them to pass myself off as your Colonel for the time being."
His eyes focused on Carter momentarily. "I was wrong."
"Wait… Einar…" Daniel broke in, rubbing his eyes. "If you're in Jack's body now, what's happened to Jack?"
All eyes turned back to Einar in Jack's body.
"Has O'Neill's mind been erased to accommodate your own?" Teal'c interrogated.
"No, no!" he insisted vehemently, shaking his head vigorously. "Jack's mind is still in here too. He was stunned by the transfer, but not destroyed. I can sense him – as far as I can tell, his mind is, shall we say, unconscious for the moment. However, he hasn't stirred at all since the transfer, which is becoming worrying."
"The presence of two minds in one body might be what's keeping the Colonel's mind subdued," Janet offered. "Maybe only one can be aware at any given time."
"What exactly are you, Einar? Are you some kind of computer based life-form?" Daniel queried, clearly getting too fascinated.
"No, I was originally an organic one," he corrected with indignation. "I am an Innarim!"
"Is there any way you could be extracted from Colonel O'Neill," Hammond demanded. "By contacting your kind, perhaps?"
"There is one problem with that…" Einar confessed grimly, closing his eyes with sudden heaviness and apparent pain.
The others waited anxiously in silence.
"If my worst fears have been realised, then I am all that is left of my kind."
