Jack paced the small room. There was a cot and a sink like contraption that slid out of the wall when you got close and what he assumed was supposed to be a toilet. The toilet noiselessly popped from the floor when Jack stepped on a gray circle that looked like it had been painted on the floor. Jack put the sink and toilet away by moving back towards the cot. He made them appear three times in a row before accepting they would come back whenever he needed them.
Jack only tested the force field once. It took ten minutes for him to get full feeling back in his arm. After pacing all he could pace he went back over to the cot. Sam shifted closer to the wall. Jack sat beside her.
"I'm sorry." Jack kept his eyes focused on the hall outside the force field.
"For getting stuck in a cell too small for you?" Sam's words were soft and full of affection. Jack took them just as they were meant.
He smiled and looked down at her hair. "For not getting you out."
"I'm going to assume you came alone and have no way of contacting the SGC. If I'm not right don't tell me because Ba'al can get anything out of my head he wants. If I am right don't tell me because that would just be depressing." Sam rolled over and gazed up at Jack. Jack moved his head so he could shield her eyes from the light that seemed to radiate from the whole ceiling.
"Then I'll tell you nothing you don't already know. You know I came to get you out and you know I'm a man of my word. One way or another we're getting out of here together." Jack reached down and burrowed under the blanket to find her hand. He was shocked to feel her shaking. Jack wasn't sure if it was fear or pain that was overloading her senses. He didn't really care why she was shaking, but he was determined to help her regain her balance.
"Fill me in on what's being going on with you for the last few weeks." Jack rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand.
"Weeks?" Sam's brow knitted as Jack shook his head yes. "I guess I lost track of time. How long has it been since I left you at the Washington airport?"
"Six weeks." Sam's eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly. Jack reached up and caressed her cheek.
"You've been looking for me for six weeks?"
Jack looked away from Sam. He knew lying was pointless, she knew him too well. "You were replaced by a freakin' clone. Apparently it did a great impersonation because I was called back to Colorado this week when the thing killed itself and everyone believed it was you. As soon as I realized it wasn't you we began a search." Jack looked back at her face, not sure what to expect.
Sam shifted her gaze to the bare gray wall. "It replaced me for six weeks?" Her words were a whisper, but Jack heard them and the pain that followed them.
"They sent it to the psycho doctor. They knew something was wrong but didn't know what." Jack let go of her hand, as she seemed to shrink under the covers.
"Did she fool you?"
It was the one question Jack didn't want to answer. He hated to admit he hadn't noticed. The fact that they'd only spoken on the phone a few times wasn't what she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear a lie. She wanted him to say their spiritual connection let him instantly know the creature that was hundreds of miles away wasn't really her, even when her best friends who were within inches had no idea.
Jack did what he does best. He changed the subject. "What's he done to you?" Sam didn't acknowledge his question. "Sam, if we're going to get out of this I need to know what's been going on up here."
Sam rolled over. There was fire in her eyes and Jack hoped that was a good sign. "Right. Back to business it is."
Sam pushed herself up and threw off the light blanket. She swung her feet over the side and sat beside Jack. Her shoulders were slumped but she was vertical. "He tricked the plane so it landed in Chicago. He kidnapped me. When I awoke I was on a Goa'uld ship. At some point I was moved here." Sam's arms flew up slightly.
Jack sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "A few more details would be good."
"An airline representative met the plane when it was diverted. They asked me to accompany them to the main office to meet with a Colonel Richards. I was out cold a minute after I entered the office suite. I don't know how they got me to the ship."
"They put you in a crate, loaded you into hearse, and hid out in a funeral home that has been serving as their base of operation. There were transport rings in the funeral home."
Sam grimaced. "That's creepy."
Jack nodded his head in agreement. "So what happened after you woke up on the Goa'uld ship?"
Sam wrung her hands and looked down at the floor. "When I came to, I was bruised and my shoulder was dislocated. I was strapped to a table. Multiple Ba'al's would come and go. The method of torture varied but a favorite seemed to be burning. He used something similar to a pain stick that made my skin burn. It made me feel like my whole body was on fire. He kept changing the intensity so as soon as I began to find it tolerable he would adjust it."
Sam shuttered as she spoke. Jack put his arm around her shoulders and she winced. Jack lifted his arm. "He's never used a sarcophagus." Sam pulled her jacket off her shoulders and showed Jack the bruises from where the burning device was laid against her skin and Ba'al's hands had made repeated contact.
"There were a few times when I hoped he'd gone too far and I was about to die. On those rare occasions he used a healing device on me." Sam glanced over at Jack waiting for his disapproval. It never came.
"And this thought reading thing?" Jack focused on the men outside the force field.
"You know that spiky ball they put in Thor's head?" Sam watched Jack nod, acknowledging his understanding. "He inserted it through my nose."
Jack winced. "I assume that hurt."
"Oh, yeah. There was a lot of blood, which isn't unusual since it was my nose. Because I was lying flat, it went down my throat. I was choking on the blood and the taste was horrid. I had to hold down the bile or my throat would have closed and I would have died. I think I aspirated some blood. My breathing has been growing more difficult, of course the potentially broken ribs could be a factor in that as well."
Jack unconsciously rubbed his nose. "I've always wondered why the nose seems to bleed so much."
Sam smiled. "There are numerous blood vessels very close to the surface within your nose. The blood warms and moistens the air as it enters the respiratory passages. This helps your body prevent infection and decrease water loss. Mouth breathing skips these defensive mechanisms and can lead to more respiratory infections."
Jack grinned and glanced at Sam. "I should have asked years ago. So now that he's got that thing in your head, he knows everything you know?"
Sam shook her head no. "I don't think it works that way. If it did he would have stopped asking me questions and beating me. I think he has to get me thinking about the information he wants in order to be able to access it. He's tied it to a screen so I can watch what he steals."
Jack flinched. "That sounds all too familiar."
"Yep."
"I guess the headaches are related to the nasty spiky probe."
Sam nodded her head in agreement. "I assume the near constant pressure in my head is due to the extra volume now contained within my cranium. I still get nosebleeds when it's activated. At least he lets me sit up now. He also uses it to create images and thoughts. I heard you and Daniel arguing once. Janet briefly visited one day and a couple days ago I swore I smelled gunpowder and decay. There have been times when Ba'al wasn't touching me but I could feel his hands roaming over my body. He seems to get a lot of pleasure out of that particular game."
"I guess that explains why you didn't believe I was me. So were Daniel and I fighting about anything interesting?"
Sam shrugged her shoulders and looked away. "You didn't think I would want to ascend and Daniel thought it was my best option. Janet yelled at me for leaving Cassie." As Sam admitted the last sentence her voice wavered and her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
Jack pulled her head to his shoulder. "We'll get out of this."
Sam only rested her head for a moment. She pulled away and turned to look him squarely in the face. "There's more. He's been able to control my movements. He made me hit one of the Asgards and then stopped me from hitting him. His control seems to be limited to large movements. He couldn't make me pick up a knife, which involved fine motor skills. My point is I'm not safe to be around."
Jack reached up and moved her greasy hair from in front of her eyes. "I'll take the risk."
Sam placed her hand over his and shook her head. "It's too dangerous."
"There's nothing you can say or do to change my mind. We're in this together." The strength of his words and the intensity of his eyes gave her hope. "So have you figured out what he wants to know?"
Sam let her hand fall away. She took a shuddering breath. "He didn't beat around the bush. He's reviewed my memory of watching the video we left in Ancient Egypt several times. He's asked me questions about Ra's time on Earth. I think he trying to find a way to go back in time. The Asgards haven't been willing to tell him how to use their sensors to predict a flare and he hasn't been able to gain access to an Ancient jumper. Even if he had access to one, he didn't have a pilot with the ancient gene until he captured you."
Jack stood up, paced the room, and ran his hand through his hair. "Damn it! I played right into his hands."
"No, you came to save me. You had no way of knowing what he was doing."
Jack watched Sam leaning back against the wall. She was filthy, tired, and too pale. "So why hasn't he put spiky things in the Asgards and taken the knowledge of how to predict a flare?"
Sam closed her eyes and grinned. "He knows Thor used the probe to take over Anubis' ship. He doesn't want to risk letting that happen again."
Jack stared intensely at Sam. "Any chance you could do it?"
Sam opened her eyes in surprise. "Put my brain in the computer core, take over the ship, and wait to be extracted from the computer and placed in my newly cloned body?"
"Ok, when you put it that way it sounds a little less plausible." Jack glanced at the room's entrance. "Maybe just take down the force field?"
"I don't think I…"
"Just try." Jack moved towards the entrance. "Please."
Sam closed her eyes. She thought of the blue haze of the force field when it was active. She imagined the crystal pattern that would control the force field in her mind. She imagined the crystals were loose. A trickle of blood dripped from her nose. Jack saw it and thought maybe that meant it was working. Sam didn't notice the blood because the pain in her head was exploding. She screamed just before she passed out. Jack ran over to the cot and rolled her onto her side, so the blood wouldn't go down her throat.
Nibikko has a new vid called Hell you should check out at nibikko(dot)com!