Reality is Lie. Truth is Fiction. Transgression is Obediance. Hate is Love.
Carter was pacing the halls of the Architeuthis, the newest in the assembly line of powerful Asgard ships. Supreme Commander Thor watched her as she paced, following her disturbed person with his big black eyes.
"What is your currant thinking process?"
Carter stopped pacing and looked at him.
"Um ... confused."
"Shall I elucidate for you?"
"It's not that I don't get it - I do, I just ... well what you're saying doesn't make any sense."
"I thought I told you in quite the simple manner. Colonel O'Neill is no longer who he is."
"See, that's the confusing part."
Thor swiveled his seat around.
"As you know, the Asgard do continually watch all the protected planets as a safe guard against any breaks in the treaty by less than friendly forces."
"But - that doesn't actually mean you're watching it, per se, right?"
"We do send craft to physically watch the planets time and time again. Usually, an automatic database records the currant status of the selected planet, but these manual surveillance watches do prove useful in eradicating any threat that was not caught by our automated system."
"That doesn't happen a lot, I hope."
Thor glanced at Carter.
"Of course not, Major."
"Ah." Sam grinned.
Thor moved three stones on his ships command interface which brought up a screen. On the screen was Jack, walking down the hall of the SGC.
"This footage is from several months ago. As you can see, Colonel O'Neill appears to be performing his usual duties in the normal human capacity."
Sam shrugged.
"Two weeks after this, our patrol sent peculiar footage of him at his home. Sensors had lately been malfunctioning and kept showing that there was some craft in close earth orbit."
"Cloaked?"
"Those concerns were quickly thwarted by scanning of your earth. There was no ship. This footage is from three days after that initial scan."
On the screen, Jack was sleeping in his bed. He looked so calm and peaceful as he lay there, lost in a restful slumber dreaming whatever a Colonel dreamed about. The peace broke. Suddenly, his eyes popped open. He became visibly stiff and agitated as he lay there, no longer lost in that slumber, now wide awake in sucha way which showed his physical discomfort. His eyes slowly turned and stared frantically at something in the room - which neither Thor nor Carter could see on the screen There was only a light shining in his direction which they could see. Jack's body began to levitate and turned on a flat plane on his back. He seemed to be screaming, but his mouth was shut tight, his hands, firmly clamped at his sides were stiff as boards. His whole body was trapped in a silent shriek for help. When he did finally move it was several spasmodic jerks and he fell back on the bed, unconscious.
Sam looked on in utter bewilderment. She looked at Thor who was still looking at the screen.
Jack's eyes opened. He rose slowly from the bed. He looked at himself - all of himself. His arms, his legs, his body, he touched his face as if it was the first time he had ever felt it before. He rose from the bed and walked mechanically into the bathroom.
Inside the bathroom, he turned on the sink and spooned a few mouthfuls of water into his mouth with his hand. He dried his hands and looked for the longest at his reflection in the mirror. An eerie orange light began tofill the bathroom. Jack's body became iridescent, glowing from within, his eyes shone brightly and there were faint crackling sounds as if the wall paper was burning from the walls. The light began to flicker and slowly ceased. Jack turned and left the bath room.
Sam watched in shock as this person - if it was that, in Jack's body climbed into the bed and closed his eyes.
Thor finally spoke. "I assume you now understand why I was reluctant to tell the true reason for asking you here, Major Carter. I have reason to believe that your foothold situation has become far more delicate at this point."
Later, In Daniel's house...
Scully was sitting on the couch sipping a cup of tea. Daniel was sitting on a recliner, eyes downcast in the glare Scully had now become accustomed to.
"Everything you've been told ... is true."
Scully gritted her teeth. She took a long sip of tea.
"I am the archeologist ... who deciphered the StarGate. I opened it."
"So it does exist?"
"That - that's what I'm saying. To get your friend probably won't be easy. But I have good, good friends among the SGC. Jack, Sam, the General."
"Will they hurt Mulder?"
Daniel looked at Scully for the longest. He finally shook his head.
Scully put her tea cup down and rose with a sigh.
"Well, then I guess we should get going."
Daniel was looking at her very oddly, she thought. So hard, like he was looking into her ... searching inside her soul, she'd seen those kind of eyes before ... she didn't like them. She turned away.
(Flash - Daniel is strapped to this cot, scared, where is he? Who are these creatures? Slowly, one by one, the creatures illuminate. They are people - humans, Jaffa, Nox even. There's a man in Tok'ra garb, A woman - Jolinar? A few Jaffa in robes, there are empty faces among the people. Faceless, gender less figures standing, waiting with the others ...)
Daniel blinked. He turned.
"I'll - I'll get ready."
"Daniel ..."
He hesitated.
Scully was looking at him again.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me."
Daniel spoke curtly. He went upstairs.
Later, in the armory ...
Mulder cringed against the wall. Jack slowly approached him with a half smile on his face.
"Mulder, Mulder, Mulder ... what are you doing here, huh? It's not your time yet."
Mulder aimed his gun. Jack looked almost amused.
"You don't think you're going to kill me, do you? No, see, I can't be killed. Oh - this body can, but when this body dies, I will simply return to the others and another will be picked from the Guf."
"The Guf?"
"Where all our souls reside. This soul will pass on ... but I will live again..."
Jack leaned in close and looked in Mulder's eyes.
"And I will know you."
Jack straightened. He walked out.
Mulder 's hands were shaking. He was stunned, confused, more than he thought he could ever be. Was it because it was real? He had seen worse. Stranger in fact. Things beyond compare. Then why was he so ... afraid?
Meanwhile, in the briefing room...
General Hammond was sitting at the head of the table. Along the sides were three men and two women. The men were clad in roman-esque garments with chiseled chest plates. The two women had loose white robes on and long golden medallions with lions heads carved in them. On the other side of the table were two Tok'ra, Nebeth and Harif, twins.
General Hammond was scanning each of them with a worried expression.
"This is ... uh ... most ..."
Nebeth spoke.
"I know everything must be confusing right now, General. But I assure you, to allow anyone to go forth from this base will entail destruction upon your people. These creatures have no sense of right nor wrong. They come and they go as fast as they came. They take many different shapes, many different forms, they have the ability to be invisible - "
"We have counter measures against that. The TER's you gave us."
"The TER's are useless. We have tried them."
"If these creatures are so ... flexible with their appearances, how can I be sure you're not one of them?"
Nebeth smirked and sighed. "To that, general, you have, sadly, only my word."
"I see."
Hammond rose.
"Well, thank you for the warning. If you have any more suggestions as to precautions we should take - "
"We do. " Harif interrupted. "If and when you do find one, do not let it know you."
"Know me?"
"Don't let it look in your eyes. To let that happen will be in effect, a death sentence."
Later, on the Architeuthis ...
The deck was filled with the sound of romantic classical music. It slowly bled from a instrumental to an opera. The deep, fluid tones of the singers voice echoed along every deck of the ship.
Thor moved a stone which confined the sounds to the deck he and Major Carter were on. They were listening to some sort of telecommunications broadcast that the ships sensors had picked up within the last few minutes. So far, it had all been music, Classic rock, heavy metal, oldies but goodies, and a few of Carter's favorite Bluegrass tunes.
"Major Carter, I believe these creatures have been watching you for a long time. It seems that your planets's previous attempts to contact extraterrestrial life forms, as you call it, has succeeded."
"What do you mean - these are - "
"Your planet's organizations have repeatedly sent up probes which contained parcels such as these that held basic information about your home world, if the aliens as you call them, possessed the knowledge to understand it."
"Looks like they do."
The observation screen changed and another Asgard appeared on it. Thor turned to the screen and turned off the music. The Asgard was speaking in the Asgard tongue.
"What's he saying?" Sam inquired.
Thor was silent until the Asgard finished. The screen cut to black. Thor turned to Carter.
"I am sorry, Major Carter, I must send you back to your home world."
Thor set his hand upon one of the stones on the motherboard. Sam started forward.
"Wait - why? What's going on?"
"I have been summoned back to Orilla. As soon as I have more information, I will contact you."
"But - "
Thor moved the stone. Carter materialized in a beam of light.
Later, at the SGC...
Daniel was walking down the halls of the SGC with Scully. To Scully, it looked like any old military base. There were the airmen going about their daily duties, other military personnel, no, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this place, dull and dank as it was.
Daniel slid a key card through a check point. They continued down the hall until Daniel led her to a door marked General George Hammond. He knocked crisply on the door.
"Enter."
Daniel let Scully in first and went in behind her, closing the door. Scully clasped her hands and waited.
Hammond looked expectantly at Daniel.
"What is it, Dr. Jackson?"
"General Hammond, This is Dana Scully - "
Scully showed General Hammond her badge. Daniel stared at it for a moment, recalling seeing her gun but never figuring the FBI part - he continued.
"Requesting permission to search your base for a possible stowaway, so to speak."
Daniel cleared his throat nervously.
Hammond cocked his head. "I'm sorry?"
Scully spoke.
"General, I believe that an FBI agent has mistakenly found his way into this compoud and is now hiding somewhere in your base."
Hammond lips were tightly pursed. He glanced at Daniel and few times - this Scully person. He finally rose.
"Can I talk to you in private, Dr Jackson?"
Daniel nodded. He opened the door for Scully.
"The airmen will show you to the briefing room."
Scully left. Daniel turned and faced General Hammond. He could feel the General's southern anger exploding through the seams.
"You brought an FBI agent into my base? What in hell are you -"
"She knows about the StarGate."
The General's eyebrow arched.
"How?"
"She already knew about it."
"What? How is that - "
" I don't know. She has a friend - he's with the FBI as well, he's some kind of, ghost searcher, he's into UFO's and extraterrestrials..."
Hammond crossed his arms. Daniel made a face.
"ET? Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Area 51?"
Hammond wasn't amused.
"The point is he knows!"
"The question is how."
"I don't know. I brought her here because I knew sooner or later they'd probably be getting into trouble any way and be brought here. But ..."
Daniel was hesitant.
" Is there a chance you might be able to let them leave the base?"
"I'm afraid I can't do that Dr. Jackson. I can't - even if I could, I don't know - not with what they know about this base. I - I don't -"
"Sir, they work for the FBI, surely the FBI has some idea of what the word confidentiality means."
"There are certain member's the FBI who are privy to this operation, Dr Jackson. These two are not amoung them, therefore the fact is, if needed, these two could disappear off the face of the earth."
"That seems a bit harsh General. They weren't looking for trouble -"
"But they found it anyway. How did she find you?"
Daniel sighed heavily. " I - I met her - I swear, I told her nothing about the StarGate, the only thing I can think of is... there must be a some kind of mole."
"Then we're gonna find this mole, Dr Jackson, and we're gonna take care of it."
" Sir, " Daniel replied, "What about the agents?"
General Hammond sat at his desk and exhaled thoughtfully.
"Well, I'm a kind and merciful General. I would turn them over to their superiors, let them deal with them, but I have a possible foothold situation on my hands."
"Foothold?"
"Early this morning, the gate activated. It was the Tok'ra. With them came several hundred refugees of a planet that the Tok'ra had been scouting. These were apparantly the survivors of some kind of plauge. They claimed they had been suffering from some incurable disease, so it was pretty lucky the Tokra happened by, right? Well according to the Tokra,the people were not what they seemed to be. Whatever they had infected the Tokra."
"They couldn't cure it?"
"Apparantly not. The thing about it is, it's not a physical disease, what the Tokra described seems to me to be some kind hostile body takeover. For lack of a better word,body snatching. The remaining uncontaminated they brought here but I fear that they didn't do such a thourough search after all."
"Why is that?"
"I found Maybourne, Dr. Jackson. In my office."
"Maybourne? What was he -"
"He couldn't remember how he had gotten there. Last he remembered he was on his phone in his car then he apparantly blacked out. He later awoke and found himself here."
"And you suspect foul play?"
Hammond inhaled with certainty.
"Anyone who comes in, is going to stay in."
Meanwhile, in the briefing room...
Scully paced. She impatiently checked her watch. How long had she been in here? She went up to the door and opened it. An airmen turned and slowly stepped in front of her. Scully went back inside. This was taking forever. Mulder, why, Mulder, of all the times, why now did you have to get adventurous? One of these days, I just might not be there to rescue you, what then? Her cell phone rang. When she checked the LCD screen the number was unlisted. She answered it anyway.
"Scully."
"Is he out yet?"
"I want you to tell me what the hell is going on, starting now."
"Relax, patience, just make sure nothing happens to Mr Hanes underwear, okay?"
"Look - whoever you are, I'm flying blind here! I don't know where I am or when they're going to let me go - at least give me some information."
"Info? Oh, oh sure, I can do that. I said I'd do that, right? Well, um, so far, everything looks okay. Um - how can I say this without sounding melodramatic or worse, cheesy. It's like that movie they showed on the Sci Fi channel, what was it - something about a bug - one of the hundreds of bug movies, always something with a creepy crawling whatchamasquashit- Bugzilla on a boat, on a plane, in a taxi in Lorraine - you'd think no one else had a phobia - "
"Could you spit it out?"
"Look lady, don't rush me ok, my therapist says I have problems over describing things, it's not my fault, it's the amount of neutrinos in my brain or something, okay then, anyway, as I was saying, I don't wanna scare you so I'll give it to you slowly, 'kay? ok, here is it, get ready."
There was a pause. Scully checked her watch again.
"... The Furlings are coming."
Scully stared blankly at the wall. It was awhile before she opened her mouth to talk again.
"Don't call this number again."
"Wait! Don't you want to hear the rest?"
"Mmmm, nope."
"It's a life and death situation. It concerns you and SG1."
"SG what?" Scully said with a sigh.
"What time is it?"
Scully checked her watch.
"6:15."
"At 7 o clock, you will be reunited with Mulder and you will meet the rest of SG 1. I will then meet you all at approximately 30 minutes after that. Then I'll explain everything."
The caller hung up. Scully hung up her phone and tucked it back in her belt clip. Could this day get any weirder?
Later, in Sam's quarters ...
Sam had found herself beamed back in her quarters a few minutes later. She was now recovering from that slight shock of having been transported several million miles away from your home and back again on terra firma in a split second with out a trace of vertigo. Sam was about to head out when there were two knocks at the door.
She opened it. Jack was standing there, time suddenly came to a standstill, everything moved faster than she could process, because as Jack stepped forward, all she could realize was what her eyes had taken in at the moment she had opened the door ... then everything had gone completely black.
Later, in the SGC ...
Mulder wandered down the hallway. He felt unfocused, foggy. Those eyes kept staring at him, every time he closed his eyes, those piercing, knowing eyes of the colonels. He felt cloudy, as if he was in his present state, only much less so. He turned a corner, suddenly off his stealth mode. There were a few dozen airmen standing in the hall, conversing. Each turned and saw him. One un-holstered his gun and shouted in acknowledgement of his unauthorized, unfamilar presence.The rest, like dominos, reached for their guns and rifles and started moving towards Mulder. Mulder shifted back into alertness, he turned and ran the opposite direction. Coming down the other hall was Teal'c. He immediately broke into a run, charging towards Mulder. Mulder braced himself for the coming impact as best he could. Teal'c hurled into him andgrabbed him by the cuff of his shirt and whipped his hands behind him. Mulder struggled, trying to peel the man's powerful arms from his hands and neck, but Teal'c was stronger. Teal'c wrestled him to the ground, entangling his legs around Mulder's which were writhing in an attempt to escape.
Footsteps came running down the hall from every direction. Mulder looked up in grim anticipation.
A gunshot rang out in the din. Teal'c shouted for everyone to be quiet. He rose suddenly. The body under him was deathly still. Teal'c knelt down and felt for a pulse. His hand touched something wet and slippery. He looked at his hand which was covered in red. Teal'c rose.
"Which one of you shot him?"
There was no answer. The stunned airmen simply stared at the dead body on the ground.
"Which one?"
Teal'c insisted with growing anger. General Hammond came running down the hall.
"Teal'c! What's going on?"
Hammond stopped in his tracks when he saw the dead federal agent.
"What the - ?"
The airmen slowly began to disperse. Hammond grabbed one of them by the arm.
"Get a medical team down here."
The airmen complied and ran down the hall. The general approached Teal'c.
"Teal'c, what happened?"
Teal'c spoke grimly.
"I was attempting to detain him when there was a shot fired. I did not see who fired it."
Hammond sighed.
"Was it one of the airmen?"
"Things happened quickly. I did not see who fired."
Hammond sighed heavily. With a startled jolt, he realized he had one dead federal agent and one live agent, both detained in a mountain that neither should have ever seen. Hammond put a hand on Teal'c's shoulder and headed briskly back down the hallway.
Mulder was teetering on the edge of life as the crowdslowly dispersed around him. Footsteps became hollw echoing sounds, hollw and reverberating through his skull. Suddenly all his sense were dizzied and warped like a drippy painting. As his already slitted eyes closed , he saw feet moving away from him, down the hall - what was it? Who?That confident walk ... familiar ... he weakly raised his head to see but his head suddenly was like a rock on his neck. His head dropped. He tried to keep his eyes open but they only became heavier. They closed. The last thing he saw was the remenant of Jack's eyes, still peircing into his mind...
Later ...
Several dark faces peered into a glass mirror. However, it was no ordinary mirror. The faces watched as within the mirror, a scene in one of the officers quarters in the SGC took place. Jack placed his hand on Sam's forehead, staying very still, and slowly being encompassed by an orange light. Sam was visibly horrified, but unable to make a sound or move. Jack kept his hand on her forehead for the longest. Sam finally began to whimper with pain. The door opened and an airman peeked in. Jack turned and quickly removed his hand from Sam's head. He approached the airman and pulled him into the room, locking the door. The airman inquired forcibly as to what was going on. He was about to attend to Sam when Jack clocked him over the back of his head. The airmen recovered quickly and reached for his gun. Jack clamped a hand around his throat and tightened. He spun the airman into a hammer lock and slowly twisted the airman's neck, placing his hand in the airman's mouth to muffle the scream. There were several dense cracking sounds. Meanwhile, Sam was recovering on the floor. She shook her head briskly and rose, staggering with dizziness. She turned in time to watch the airman crumple to the floor, dead, blood dripping from the side of his mouth. She backed up to the wall fearfully. Jack came in close, his eyes locked with hers. Sam's eyes glazed over and she crumpled to the floor.
The dark faces peered at one another, featureless, gender-less, but somehow, pleased.
Jack knelt near Sam and moved back her hair, gently stroking her face. After awhile, Sam stirred on the floor. Jack helped her up. She looked at him with vague familiarity then taking his hand, followed him out of the room.
(To Be Continued...)