thanks for the reviews again! Enjoy the next chapter.
Later that afternoon, Carter stepped into the Colonel's room, to find Fraiser sitting next to the bed. The doctor looked up from her chart and greeted her friend with a soft voice.
Sam approached the bed, examined the sleeping figure with a frown. "How is he, Janet?"
"All things considered… not too bad. I've got him on some pretty heavy pain medication and a mild sedative to relieve the pain in his head and help him sleep. He was exhausted from the ordeal; it has worn him out completely."
"Have you tried cutting back on the medication? I mean; is the device still causing him pain?" Sam wondered.
Janet shook her head. "I'll find that out later. First, I want him to sleep for a couple of hours. I think he needs it." She showed Carter the latest scans and photos. "The device is still there. But take a look at that…" she pointed on a little piece that appeared to be sticking out of the device.
Sam took a closer look, a stunned expression on her face. "What's that? That wasn't there on the last photo, was it?"
The doctor fidgeted in her stuff and gathered the older photo. "No. It wasn't there. You tell me what that is, I haven't got a clue."
"I wonder if it's supposed to do this… Do you think this is what's causing the pain in his head?"
"That's a possibility," Fraiser agreed, "I don't want to find out what happens to the damn thing if it comes near the Stargate again."
"Oh, no. It might send an even longer spike through his head. Has that thing harmed him physically?" Carter was suddenly afraid this device could do a lot more damage to her CO than initially thought. She'd been more worried about the actions the device could trigger her CO to undertake than about the possibility of brain damage. She stared at the doctor, fear in her eyes.
"I can't tell, Sam," Janet shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "We just have to wait and see. But we need to figure this out, and soon, or this could kill him."
"People I need answers. What happened to Colonel O'Neill?" It had been six hours since the incident in the Gate room, they were getting nowhere and General Hammond was getting desperate.
"Sir, it appears there may be some sort of change on the device itself," Major Carter started. "The Colonel was able to fight off the effects of the mind control. It appears the implant is able to inflict severe pain if the order is not carried out. It somehow has sent a small spike through his brain. I don't know however why this didn't happen the first time when it was triggered or what it might do next." Sam had been spending all day trying to figure out what had happened. She thought this device might be similar to the Zatarc programming that the Goa'uld had developed, although with the Zatarc incident the victims had killed themselves.
Despite the long hours in her lab, she still had nothing to offer but guesses. "Perhaps the first time, the Colonel was in pain from the gunshot wound, and failed to mention the headache," she wondered.
Daniel interrupted her. "No, Sam… You saw him the last time. It's not possible that he just failed to notice something like this the first time!"
She nodded, assuming Daniel was right. "There was also no spike sticking out of the device after the first incident. Maybe it reacts to each failure to complete the orders. It could be added incentive to get the victim to carry out his orders."
"Oh, God. We've got to do something. I can't believe we can't figure this out." Out of frustration, Daniel hit the table hard with his fist.
"Sir, perhaps the Tok'ra have heard of this technology," Major Carter was as disturbed and just as desperate to bring this whole nightmare to an end.
"Teal'c, do the Goa'uld have a device like this?" General Hammond knew the longer this situation went on, the more danger Colonel O'Neill was in. They had to find out who was responsible for this.
"General Hammond, the Goa'uld have many of mind controlling devices. However, I have never seen one that is implanted into one's head, as this one is," Teal'c stated. "I do not believe this device is of Goa'uld origin."
"Major Carter, you have my permission to contact the Tok'ra. Maybe Sel'mac knows what this thing is." Hammond decided to call for all the help he could get. "Dr. Jackson, could you please contact the Tollan, hopefully they have some ideas, too."
He turned to Dr. Fraiser. "Doctor, how is Colonel O'Neill holding on?"
"He has been sleeping for six hours, Sir, aided by pain medication and a mild sedative. I've tried to cut down on the pain medication, but he became restless immediately. It's my guess that he'll be in a considerable amount of pain without them. I believe that the small spike sticking out of the device is causing that."
General Hammond sighed. "How are those bullet wounds healing?"
"They're healing just fine, Sir. And so are the bruises from the fight he's been in."
"Is the Colonel still restrained? Does he need to be, down in the infirmary?" Hammond wondered out loud.
Fraiser shook her head. "We've been discussing that, Sir." She motioned at Sam. "We think it's safe, as long as he doesn't come close to the Stargate. It is rather uncomfortable for him, to be strapped down. There's still a guard posted at the door, Sir."
Hammond, apparently deep in thought, nodded slightly, agreeing with what they'd come up with. "Teal'c, I want you to stay close to Colonel O'Neill. Make sure he doesn't do anything he'll regret later."
"I will leave immediately, General Hammond," Teal'c rose to his feet, bowed at the people present in the room and headed towards the door.
With that, Hammond closed the briefing, satisfied that at least every possible action to solve the problem had been taken. He left and headed to his office.
Sam Carter ran down the stairs, through the blast doors into the Gate room. The Stargate was turning, the chevrons locking in place. Somebody was trying to reach Earth and she was waiting for him.
Her father.
Receiving the correct signal to confirm the identity of the incoming traveler, the airman on duty opened the iris and the blue liquid enlightened the Gate room.
General Jacob Carter, alias Sel'mac, stepped through and smiled at the sight of his daughter awaiting him. "Hi, kiddo," he greeted her.
"Hi, Dad. Glad you could come. Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm great. How about you? What's going on?" General Carter was always worried when he was invited to the SGC. Seeing his daughter alive and well had relieved him only a bit. He immediately sensed the tension in her voice and the concern in her features.
"It's Colonel O'Neill," she said, motioning for him to follow her. "Let's go to the infirmary. I'll tell you all about it there."
Wondering what could possibly be wrong with the Colonel that they needed his assistance, he followed her to the infirmary. She took him to O'Neill's room and showed him the sleeping figure on the bed.
General Carter silently greeted the Jaffa, who had taken his position at the foot end of the bed and threw another close look at O'Neill. Although the man on the bed looked rather pale and Carter did detect some bandages around the man's chest, it still gave him no clue about the source of the problem. He was sure the Colonel had had worse than this, so he figured something else had to be going on; something the eye couldn't see.
When he sat down in Dr. Fraiser's office, his suspicions were confirmed. Dr. Fraiser showed him the scans of O'Neill's head and he bent forward to examine the device that was embedded behind the Colonel's ear. "What the heck is that?" He'd never seen anything like it.
"We were kinda hoping you could tell us," Sam said, disappointment evident in her voice. "As far as we know, it's a mind controlling device and it is currently programmed to force the Colonel to eliminate General Hammond."
General Carter inhaled sharply. "Wow! That's NOT good at all…" he frowned, thinking it over. "Then why is Colonel O'Neill not restrained?"
"We've determined that the device needs to be triggered before it can affect the victim's behavior. It only activates coming in close contact to the Stargate in motion. Even so, Colonel O'Neill has been able to fight it off until now," Sam explained.
"As you can see on this photo," Fraiser pointed at the scan. "The device has sent a small spike into the Colonel's head, causing excruciating pain. He is on strong pain medication, but we can't keep him on that dose forever. We have reason to think the device will respond different each time it's triggered. We can't risk another activation, Sir. We have no idea what damage would be done to the Colonel's brain." Janet closed her chart after giving her report to the Tok'ra.
General Carter nodded, his face in stunned surprise and he faced Sam. "I've never seen anything like this, Sammie. Neither has Sel'mac. I'll have to contact others to see what they come up with. How much time does he have?"
Janet gave him the answer. "Hard to tell, Sir. We also don't know what the device will do with the passage of time."
"Then I'd better get going. Can I take one of those with me?" Carter pointed at one of the photos.
Janet took one, shoved it in an envelope and handed it to him. "Good luck, Sir. For Colonel O'Neill's sake.
Hopefully Selmac will know what to do next.... And what will happen when that second trigger goes off? Stay tuned....