Chapter Five

Jack spent several hours in the small cage passing in and out of consciousness. Although he couldn't see anything the gentle rocking and windy sounds told him that he was been moved a great distance. Curled up in the back corner of the metal container Jack sat staring at the only pin point of light, which he assumed was a small hole in the blanket that they thrown over the cage. Salty tracks stained his face, but he couldn't truly cry. He still hadn't accepted the new situation.

Rubbing at his painful heart Jack leaned his head back and moaned. He couldn't get the image of Sam's eyes widened with fear as he was being torn from her. Her anguished cry echoed in his mind and he wondered if it had been her last, if the alien had finally done what he had been unable to. Jack closed his eyes against the sting of real tears. It was supposed to have been him, he was meant to be the one to be with her at the end.

"She wasn't supposed to be alone."

Swallowing against a painful lump in his throat Jack tried to zone out. Shutting down his thoughts was a trick he'd learned during his six months in the Iraqis prison, back when he was still running Black Ops. It wasn't as easy to clear his thoughts now. Back on Earth he had been the one who had been betrayed, he was the one who had been left behind. He had only needed to let go of his anger and bitterness. Here he felt that he had abandoned his teammate, failed her. Grief and guilt were not emotions that could be controlled easily and they tore at him mercilessly. Thinking back he decided that he hadn't fought hard enough, that he should have done more.

"I should have fought to the death."

Jack knew in his heart that he had been too weak to engage the aliens in a confrontation that would have forced them to kill him. Everything had happened so fast. These facts brought him no comfort in the confines of his new cage. Feeling more weary than he could ever remember being Jack allowed himself to fall into a deep sleep.

When Jack woke a dim light was invading his space. The blanket had been skewed to the side so that now there was about an inch long strip that could see seen out of. He wasn't moving anymore, but there were lots of voices. It was the same intricate language that Jack was used to hearing from the natives back when they still visited. There were other sounds as well, most notable was the clinking and clacking of metal striking metal.

Not sure if he was interested in what was going on Jack sat up with his back against the back wall of his new home. A sudden shrill cry followed by shouting finally got Jack's attention. It had sounded like someone stepping on a dog's tail. Jack got on his hands and knees to peer out of the slit of light in the door.

All Jack could really see was a smooth white floor and a pale blue wall that was about twenty feet away. There was more commotion off to the right and the cry repeated only weaker this time. Jack didn't know the language, but he knew when he was hearing orders being barked. After about ten minutes everything went quiet for a second. Jack listened to the voices chatter amongst one another, this time in a calmer tone.

Jack watched with his emotions completely detached as two of the aliens carried a large feline creature into his view. A third laid down a tarp and they placed the animal down on it. It had once been white, but was now dingy with dirt and streaked in dried blood. Painfully emaciated it stared at Jack with glassy dead orange eyes.

If Jack had any reason to fear death he would have been terrified at this moment. However he had long given up on that particular fear. He couldn't even feel sorrow for the creature's death, his heart was already shattered by his separation from Sam. It wasn't capable of feeling any more pain. As a result he was unaffected by the events surrounding him. Sitting back Jack waited his turn. When the blanket was fully pulled off his cage he just sat there peacefully. He didn't have the strength or desire to fight. He still hadn't decided if he had been rescued, or if he'd been sold again to scientific experiments or what have you. Truthfully he didn't care.

The aliens were still highly cautious when dealing with him. They opened the door just enough to get their pole with the wire loop through the door. Jack shook his head sadly and just let them place it over his neck. They coaxed him out of kennel, but he was unable to get to his feet. For the time being they seemed satisfied to have him on his knees.

Jack glanced around and saw a highly sophisticated medical lab. The aliens here all wore similar black outfits, very simple and uniform like in nature. One of them was cleaning blood off the large metal table that dominated center of the room. Jack turned away as another came into the room with a rolling cart of various sadistic looking sliver tools. He looked up at the alien that had him by the throat.

"You're not going to dissect me alive or anything like that are you?" Jack asked with little concern.

The reptilian creature furrowed its brow which was accented by darker scales. The pink alien from before suddenly stepped into Jack's view. Although she, Jack had decided that it must be a 'she', was now wearing the same black outfit as the others he recognized her instantly. She looked down at him and reached out to stroke his hair. Jack pulled back to keep from being touched, he wasn't in the mood to be treated like a stray dog. The pink dragon started speaking to him in long complicated sentences.

"I don't understand a word of what you're saying." Jack interrupted. "Just do whatever it is you're going to do to me."

The pink one stared at him for a moment before an older looking green scaled male approached her. They discussed something between one another. It sounded to Jack like they were trying to figure out what their next best move would be. They started arguing, but in the end the pink alien seemed to win.

Approaching him carefully she bent down and loosened the wire around his neck and pulled it off. She held her breath for a moment, looking all the world like she was waiting to see if Jack would attack her. He briefly considered it, it might earn him a death sentence. However, in the end he was too listless to act on even suicidal thoughts. His pink friend bared her teeth at him in a mockery of a smile and made a motion like she was going to take off her shirt.

When Jack made no move one way or another she reached out and started tugging at his fifthly black shirt. Knowing what she wanted he tried to lift his arms above his head, but he started to shake violently with the effort. Under orders the green lizard stepped closer and after a moments hesitation he reached out and took Jack's wrists to help him hold his arms up. With one quick motion they pulled his shirt off.

Starvation and captivity had pulled Jack's skin tight across his frame. He hadn't reached the extreme that Sam had yet, but his ribs were still clearly visible. Where his ribcage and abdomen met was a concave slope that flattened out as it disappeared into the tightened waistband of his uniform. The pink alien traced her smooth fingertips over his body, pressing harder when she came to a place that looked like it may be injured to see if he'd react. When she went to take his dog tags off Jack reached up and grabbed them causing the others to back away in fear.

"Those stay with me."

Jack noticed that one of the aliens had moved off to the side and retrieved a rod with a silver tip on it. He was fairly certain it was something that could subdue him. Of course at this point it would only take a sharp kick to the stomach to render him completely helpless. Still they were treating him as though he was dangerous. The green alien gave some orders and two others that Jack hadn't even seen suddenly had him by the elbows.

Hoisted up onto the metal table Jack came close to passing out again. His blood pressure kept dropping as his heart weakened. The only thing that kept him conscious was the fact that they quickly laid him down on his back. Jack growled in pain as one of the aliens stretched out his sliced up left arm and began scrubbing the wounds with a yellowish fluid. As time had gone by his body had been less and less capable of healing the self inflicted wounds.

Still uninterested in his fate Jack laid still on the cold metal peacefully as they cleaned the cuts. He was a little less pleased when he noticed one of them drawing over a dozen different syringe looking devices with various coloured fluids. The green alien pushed down on Jack's chest with his palm in an attempt to help restrain him while another stretched out his right arm and held his forearm in both hands with clear intention of further restraining him. Another picked up a set up that looked similar to an IV.

"Listen, guys, my Health Insurance is really picky about which providers I see...I don't think they are going to cover this. So why don't you just let me die in peace, okay?"

The aliens paused and looked at one another and began talking again. They all seemed to have an opinion about Jack, but he couldn't figure any of them out. Jack's nonsensical protest didn't help him and the technician set the IV into his wrist before starting to push the syringes through the access port. Several of the injections burned all the way up his arm. Others brought his heart rate up to racing before they settled in his system. After what felt like an hour of these continual medications Jack moaned in delusional pain. There was suddenly a cold wet contact at his forehead. Looking up he saw that the female alien looking down at him with her deep sapphire eyes. She was running some sort of cold stone, or possibly a solid looking sponge across his skin. Jack forced a sad smile.

"I know you're trying to help...but please...just stop."

They didn't stop and as much as Jack hated it the more drugs they pushed into his starved blood the less pain he felt. He wanted to hold on to the pain, it was the only thing he had left of Sam. With some strength returned he suddenly wanted to fight against the creatures trying to fix his broken body, angry that they hadn't come in time to save them both.

Before he got the chance to even try Jack felt an increase in the amount of hands holding him down. The weren't messing with his arms anymore, in fact they brought them close to his sides. He took a breath to snarl something they wouldn't understand. The moment he opened his mouth a snake slipped down his throat. He thrashed violently, his thoughts going instantly to a Goa'uld. However after a short period of time the tube was yanked back out.

When lifted off the table Jack was unable to even keep his head up. They dragged him back over to the small cage. Laying on the steel floor Jack wrapped his hands over his stomach. It felt like he'd swallowed a water balloon. He shivered as a bone chilling cold overtook him. What he didn't realize was the fact that drop in body temperature was being caused by his blood rushing towards his recently filled stomach, ready to soak in the much needed nutrients.

Jack curled up tightly, but nothing could stop the tremors. A soft warm blanket was thrown over him and he gripped it tightly to pull it closer. His body's instinct to survive and seek comfort was winning the battle over his mind which was ready to give in. Within minutes he was sleeping soundly.

A gentle knocking brought Jack back to his senses. Without opening his eyes he reached out in search of Sam to make sure she was okay. It was a painful realization that greeted him as his hand only came in contact with a cold metal wall. He brought his hand up to his chest and rubbed at the constricted feeling around his heart.

"Rearlist?"

Jack rolled over on to his back and stared up at the blue eyed alien that was looking down at him through the mesh door. He rolled his eyes at her and tried to go back to sleep. She opened the door and pushed on his shoulder. Jack ground his teeth together.

"Leave me alone."

"Tek ket, neari." She replied cheerfully.

"Look, you clearly know I'm not just another animal...can't you understand that I might not want to be kept alive?"

"Tek ket, neari." She repeated.

"You know...when I was a kid I caught this little lizard in my back yard. I kept it in a box as a pet for about a week before it died, probably because I was trying to feed it table scraps." Jack babbled. "Anyway, I was really upset when I discovered that I'd killed it, and I swore that I would never do it again. So if all of this is some sort of karma I just want you to know that I really was sorry about murdering him."

The pink dragon turned her head to the side and stared at him. When he didn't make any further motions she tried once again to get him to come out. Even though he was feeling stronger after just the one meal he still forced them to drag him out of the cage. They put him back on his knees and tilted his head to right to stretch the skin on the left side. Jack jerked slightly as an ice cold gel was smeared on his neck from the back of his ear to his chest.

The gel had a very antiseptic smell to it and seemed to be numbing his skin. An alien with more of a blue hue to his scales came up with a device that looked like a fancy pen in his slender hand. The pink female carded her fingers into his hair and held him still. Jack heard a minute of a high pitched noise, but he didn't know what was going on. He was released and someone wiped the gel off his neck.

Although Jack couldn't see the results he now wore a series of small tribal looking teal coloured symbols in a vertical line from just below his ear to just above where his shoulder and neck met. The next move he could more clearly understand. The pink alien knelt down in front of him with a highly polished silver chain in her hands. The links were about half an inch long and a quarter of an inch wide each.

"I really don't need or want a collar."

"Dali." She sighed in what sounded like an apology.

She reached out and wrapped the chain around his neck despite the fact that he tried to lean away from her. There was a larger circle at one end of the chain which the free end was threaded through. The blue alien stepped back up and secured another metal circle to the loose end of the chain and with a quick spark he welded it in place. When released the jewelry quality choke chain's pull tab rested a few inches below the point where Jack's collar bones met.

Jack watched while the process was repeated around each of his wrists. The new bracelets could be pulled tighter, but they couldn't be removed without being cut free. Usually he would have a few choice words for anyone who thought they could treat him this way, but he just closed his eyes and sighed.

Helped to his feet Jack discovered that his blood pressure control had been greatly enhanced. He felt dizzy, but didn't he didn't feel like he was going to pass out. Looking around he noticed that at some point he'd been moved out of the medical lab. There wasn't very much in this room other than a large rectangular metal tub that was elevated up off the ground by a white stone slab.

It took Jack's senses a moment to register the heavily floral scent in the air and it wasn't until they helped him take a few steps closer to the tub that he noticed that it was full of a murky blue water. A few tendrils of steam curled at the surface. The pink alien took a few moments trying to work the knot that Jack had tied in his belt to make it small enough.

"I can take a hint, I can also bath myself thank you very much."

"Wen rieks nar telmagua."

"Right, of course, my thoughts exactly."

Jack pulled at the tangled belt and found that despite feeling better he still wasn't strong enough or dexterous to remove the belt. Someone had already been sent for a knife and the belt was cut free. Jack had lost enough weight that they didn't even have to attempt the buttons. He and Sam had both removed their shoes weeks ago in fear that the humidity would quickly lead to fungal infections in the synthetic leather shoes.

With their captive naked the aliens chattered among one another. They were clearly interested although the pink alien did her best to protect him from their staring. Jack had to chuckle, modesty had never been one of his stronger traits.

"Yeah, I don't know why human guys don't keep their sensitive parts more tucked away like everyone else either." Jack smiled. "It would make a hell of a lot more sense."

Upon seeing him smile the pink alien instantly bared her teeth at him again. When she had first done the awkward facial expression at him he had been unsure of her meaning. He was starting to think now that smiling wasn't something her kind did, but that she knew it was something that humans saw as 'friendly'. It made him wonder how much experience she'd had with them.

Starting to get tired on his feet Jack decided that he was going to be placed in the tub no matter what he wanted so he might as well do it himself. The warm water felt wonderful against his sore muscles and dirty skin. One of the male aliens brought Jack's wrists to either side of the tub and another snapped the bracelets he wore into clips that he hadn't noticed before.

"You don't have to chain me up...I'm not going to hurt you."

The pink alien attempted her smile again. Jack decided that although she was trying the way she showed him her sharp teeth was extremely disconcerting. He tried smiling at her without showing his teeth and she practiced a few time to mimic the new expression.

"That's an improvement. Doesn't look so much like you're about to tear my throat out."

"Near mali?" The blue alien asked her.

The female alien rotated her head in a circular motion. Jack guessed that the motion meant either 'yes' or 'no', but he wasn't sure which it was. Whatever the cue the others left. She went over to a shelf and brought back a glass bottle and an oddly shaped wash cloth. She poured an orange gel out of the bottle and spread it on the cloth. Jack shook his head sadly and allowed her to clean his skin. It wasn't until she slipped her hand down his stomach towards his hips that he tried to jerk away.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Lady." Jack protested. "Looking is one thing, but if you're going to wash me there you're gonna have to buy me dinner first. And that whole tube down the throat ordeal doesn't count. I want a steak, a nice one, something free range, and possibly a few glasses of wine."

The alien narrowed her eyes and made a purring type sound.

"Is that a laugh? That's creepier than your smile."

"Dali."

"Does that mean sorry?"

When the alien just stared at him Jack sighed in frustration. After a minute of thinking about it the pink dragon reached out and unclipped one of his wrists. She offered Jack the wash cloth and he took it gratefully. The once blue water was becoming stained with gray from the months worth of grim coming off his skin. When he felt he was as clean as he'd ever been he put the cloth over the side of the tub.

Feeling braver the alien reached over and unclipped his other wrists. She ran her hand over the seemingly plain wall at the foot of the tub and it lit up with a variety of colours. She played with the lights for a moment and the tub drained quickly. She brought Jack a large round towel and he began to dry his skin.

When he was done she reached out and took his wrist and brought it back to where she could clip it back to the restraint. Jack voluntarily brought his other wrist to the clip on the other side. She paused and stared at him for a minute before clipping it to the bracelet.

"Gala."

"No problem. I don't want to get you in trouble for trusting me."

The dragon furrowed her delicate brow. She looked like she desperately wanted to be able to understand what he was saying. Jack smiled, he had often seen a very similar expression on Daniel's face when he came across one of the few languages he didn't know. She gave in with a sigh and called for the others.

Jack still wasn't very stable on his feet and needed help getting out of the tub. He was then dressed in a pair of loose white pants that only reached a few inches past his knees. Looking at them he realized it was what the aliens wore, it just looked different on their oddly jointed legs. They had to pull the drawstring tight to keep them up on his thin hips. He was also given a large short sleeved shirt that had a wide v-neck. The material was soft and looked a lot like silk.

"Thanks."

"Gala?"

Jack nodded, thinking that they had correctly translated that word between them. However, she didn't understand the nodding. Jack wasn't used to dealing with a culture where nodding and head shaking had no meaning. He went to take a step towards the small cage that was still sitting on the floor and lost some of his balance.

Dizzy again Jack put nearly all his weight on the two aliens that had his elbows. He expected to be placed into the kennel again, however they guided him past it and down a short hallway. He glanced to either side and found more bars keeping animals captive. Not all of them looked like they were dying, in fact some lunged at them violently.

When he was brought to an empty cell Jack began to struggle. The mesh enclosure of the kennel had been one thing, but he didn't think he could stand being trapped behind bars again. Panting heavily from the effort Jack managed to tear himself free of the aliens holding him. He only made it a few steps before falling to his hands and knees.

Jack weld his eyes shut, he figured that they would retaliate for his disobedience. He braced himself to be kicked or beaten in some respect. He'd been taxing his weak body too much, his mind was starting to shut down again and it was now running on old information. When touched he lashed out at the aliens as if they were enemy Jaffa. One of them cried out in pain and the other shouted an alarm.

The collar around his neck suddenly pulled tight. Crying out like the animal he was being treated as Jack fought harder. Rearing up to his full height he blindly turned on the creatures that had been helping him. When he was suddenly released Jack tumbled to the floor. Disoriented he couldn't get back up.

Jack rolled over on his back and looked over just in time to see the bars slide back into position. Gasping for breath the pattern of the bars filling his vision drove him to screaming. Any sanity that he'd regained over the past few hours instantly vanished. His instincts were crying out to him that it was about to start all over again.

Trying to get to his feet he stumbled and fell back to the stone floor. Backing as far from the bars as possible he ran into a heap of blankets that had been left for him. As the initial shock of being caged again wore off he laid down on his side on the blankets so at least he didn't have to feel the familiar stone floor. His stomach twisted painfully, but he didn't have the energy left to be sick.

Welding his eyes shut Jack tried to keep the last cry he'd heard from Sam from replaying again. None of this had seemed real until he'd seen the bars again. Now not only was it a reality, he had to suffer it alone this time. Jack shook his head in a repetitive fashion at his last thought. He told himself again and again that he should be grateful that he was on his own. The mantra didn't keep him for breaking into to tears for his lost companion.

Jack brought himself back under control and forced his eyes open. He stared through the bars, feeling numb once again. On the other side a spotted animal that had feathers without having wings was contently licking its feathers. Jack closed his eyes again, too tired to keep them open for long.

When his imagination continued to show him Sam's eyes filled with fear he tried to remember the way she looked while she slept. With her eyes closed she always looked so peaceful and that was how he wanted to remember her.

"At least tell me that they didn't leave you there to be scavenged...you deserve better."