Shadows of Fear – Part 12

The spectres that plagued O'Neill pressed closer, causing Teal'c to shift slightly despite knowing they were little more than insubstantial shadows of reality. For the brief time he had been joined with O'Neill in seeing the phantoms, Teal'c had reminded himself of this fact, just as he was sure O'Neill had done, and as each new gruesome vision came to join the others his respect for his commander grew. It was increasingly difficult to ignore them and act as if they had no power over him, to hide his growing fears from those around him, particularly Doctor Fraiser. If the doctor saw him falter just once, he was sure she would demand he desist and try to take the burden of O'Neill's care herself. He could not let that happen.

So, he stiffened his resolve, once again concentrating his attention on what was real rather than what was not.

The thump as the electrical charge hit O'Neill's chest was almost drowned out by the voices of the very phantoms he was striving to ignore, shouts and whispers holding deep malice filling the air.

"Dios mío!" The scream cut through all other sounds, causing Teal'c to turn. Nurse Mendez was backing away, her hand making a crossing motion, and her eyes widened in obvious terror. Seeking the problem, he looked at those around him and saw the same horror reflected in their faces. Even Major Carter seemed transfixed as she stared into the twisted, insane face of her ex-fiancé, Captain Hanson.

Teal'c gasped as he understood - the illusions had become visible to all, even those not in contact with O'Neill. They crowded in, pushing to find a position near O'Neill's bed and the medical staff retreated under their onslaught leaving only Doctor Fraiser and one nurse huddled over their patient. Teal'c saw the doctor's gaze flitter about and her eyes close momentarily, before opening them again, her expression determined and again shouting the command, "Clear!" as she placed the paddles once again on O'Neill's chest. This time his body rose higher from the surface of the bed, his spine arching before he flopped bonelessly down.

There was an air of expectation in the room, heightened by the expressions borne by those who should not be there. Teal'c felt his own heart race at the smiles, the looks of evil glee, and the low whispers from mouths far too close to the sick man's ear. Every moment they grew more solid, becoming less and less like ghosts and more like flesh and blood, their pale faces reddening as if warm, life-giving fluid was being infused into their veins, and every moment O'Neill grew less and less like the mortal man he was and more a shadow of himself.

The machine beside his bed emitted its agitated beeps, high and insistent, and the doctor's commands to her remaining nurse grew more and more incisive. She was losing the battle for O'Neill's life, a battle she fought with the beings crowding in on her.

"They're killing him!" Daniel Jackson's voice came, shouting over the rest, and Teal'c swung around.

"What can we do to stop them? How?" Even as he spoke he recognized the note of panic in his questions. He strode to his teammates. "We must act."

"Look! There's an energy signature." Major Carter was pointing at one of the many pieces of equipment she had set up around the room and turning her back to the malevolent presence hovering over her shoulder. "It's spiking." She grabbed a smaller instrument and held it out, facing it toward the cluster around the bed. "But it isn't just around the colonel." She spun, holding the instrument out in front of her as she did so. "There's a trail leading ..." she pointed, "that way."

"I need some help here!" Doctor Fraiser's call had all three of them looking back at O'Neill. "I'm losing him!"

Her nurses hurried to her side, clearly racing to do their duty despite their fears, but Teal'c pulled his attention back to the major. "If we disrupt the energy stream, will it stop them?"

With a purse of her lips, Major Carter shrugged. "I have no idea, but it's all we have. We need to track it back to the source."

"We can't leave."

"We can't do anything to help here, Daniel. This may be the colonel's only hope. If we can find the cause ..."

There was no time for this. Teal'c took both his teammates by the arm, dragging them in the direction Major Carter had indicated.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Daniel was torn between staying with Jack and obeying Teal'c, but his hesitation was brief. He flung a last look at where his friend was lying so still and pale, and followed the others. Once out of the infirmary his resolve hardened. Sam was right - this was the best route to go down – the only one really. They were of no use in the infirmary, except as spectators, and there were more than enough of those already.

With a start, he realized only a few minutes had past since Jack's collapse. So much seemed to have happened, the terror of the moment when Jack's hallucinations came to life around him still fresh in his mind. Blindly he followed Sam and Teal'c down the corridor, still grappling with the images of violence, the stink of death and the sounds of cruel laughter.

He pulled up with a start. They had reached a wall and Sam was thrusting the reader out in every direction her eyes frantic until she pointed it up. "Damn! We'll have to check each level." They ran together to the stairs, pounding up them to the next landing and wrenched open the door.

"No!" At Sam's shout they began the next flight of stairs, taking them two at a time. The check of Level 19 took only a few seconds, but Daniel's heart began to sink, knowing Jack was out of time already.

"Here. This way."

Giving a quick thanks that the trail was found again so soon, Daniel followed his teammates down the corridor toward a familiar door.

His brief cry of "Oh, crap!" was uttered as he ran his access card down the reader and opened the door to his own office. The clutter of documents and artifacts gave him pause, but Sam immediately began her search, the instrument emitting increasingly loud beeps.

"There!" Sam started pulling things from a storage shelf, allowing them to fall to the floor, but Daniel didn't give a thought to the damage as he watched. It only took a few seconds for her to find what she was looking for. Holding up an object the size of a man's palm, she held it out in triumph. "This is the source of the energy." She turned it over in her hand, peering at it. "But I can't see any controls."

Daniel and Teal'c both moved closer. "SG-7 brought that back from offworld weeks ago. I couldn't figure out what it was." Daniel stared at the object, knowing there were no markings on its dull blue surface. "Now what?"

"Destroy it."

Daniel didn't hesitate, as soon as Teal'c's suggestion was uttered he grabbed the object from Sam's hand and threw it to the floor, stamping on it, but to no avail. "How?"

"How about something really obvious? We immerse it in water?" Sam turned to the sink at the side of the room as she spoke. "Bring it over here."

The sink seemed to take forever to fill, but they soon had the device covered with water.

Sam shook her head, looking at her reader. "No – no change and we don't have time to see if leaving it there will help. Every second counts – we have to get rid of it somehow, as fast as we can."

Daniel saw the desperation on her face and knew she was thinking as he was, not that she wanted to study the alien object as she normally would, but that she had to stop it as soon as possible and would go to any means to do so.

Any means...

"The gate! We throw it through the gate!"

He pulled the device from the water and ran.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

They were losing him. Each breath Jack O'Neill took was one she didn't expect, each racing beep of the monitor a small victory. His heart was working itself to death, racing so fast the blood wasn't able to pump properly. She had used the defibrillator three times now and she very much doubted there would be any result if she had to use it a fourth time.

The stress was too much for the colonel's body to cope with.

"He will die."

The mocking voice at her shoulder had been hissing its vile words the whole time she worked over the colonel and Janet didn't need to look to know it was Apophis – or at least some sort of alien imitation of the System Lord. There was no way these could be real ghosts – no way – that was just not possible.

She spun on her heels and stared the Goa'uld in the face, ignoring the gore covered features – she had seen way too much damage to the human body over the last few years for it to faze her. "Why? Why are you doing this?" she shouted, right into the Goa'uld's face.

Unexpectedly, he replied. "He must die so that we might live. We have fed, now we are strong. Just a little more, that is all we need."

"You've been feeding off the colonel somehow?"

All around her heads nodded and mouths drew up in smiles that held no trace of humanity.

"In dying he will give us birth." Hathor's silken tones seemed almost like a cat's purr.

"You're killing him ..." The doctor paused for a second, her thoughts racing. "You're feeding off him, but ... somehow his dying will make you stronger?"

"Just a little more. One last feast." The grossly fat dark-faced man licked his ruined lips. "I will enjoy that feast – his fear, his terror."

"But why the colonel? Why only him?" If she could get more information, she might find something to fight them with. At this point she couldn't think of anything else to do.

"We could only reach this one. The rest we cannot touch."

"The rest? You mean the other people here? Colonel O'Neill is the only person you can feed off?"

A long mournful beep cut through her words as the creatures around the bed straightened, their faces filled with glee.

"It is time!"

They poured from every corner of the room, masses upon masses, all converging on the colonel, lapping at him, pulling at him – feasting.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

TBC