Chapter Seven

"Samantha!"

The memory turned nightmare jolted Sam awake every time it lashed across her mind. She had witnessed the forced separation through a haze of delirium, and yet every detail seemed so sharp. However, now she suffered in a nightmare that never ended, it just changed themes. The first few times she'd regained conciseness she had quickly lost her hold on it. The pain and physical weakness took its toll instantly upon waking.

As she grew stronger it became harder to find the blissful release of mental darkness. Every time she woke her fear grew more intense, each time it felt more real and more endless. Before she barely had the power to move, now she had the strength to fight against the cruel restraints. Unable to free herself she continued to scream and cry for help even though her ears heard no sound.

Sam felt the tight constriction of the black substance on her body, however she did not associate it with clothing and assumed she'd been stripped. She didn't have time to figure out what it was that coated her skin she was too concerned with the fact that her legs were being held slightly apart and there was nothing she could do to correct the vulnerable position or anything else for that matter.

Drawing the warm fluid that surrounded her into her lungs Sam cried out again. If this was death her mind wasn't going to make it much longer. If this was life she decided that didn't want to continue it. Sam arched her back and pulled tight at the snakes biting into her wrists and ankles. The motion brought with it a wave of agony as the needles embedded in her leg and forearm were shaken.

Sam didn't care about physical pain, if anything it was a distraction. The terror of being completely restrained in a world that had no sound, no air, no gravity and only shapeless shadows was far more difficult to bear than the invasive metal. Sam tried to calm herself, but taking deep breaths just drew the suffocating liquid further into her aching body. She never succumb to oxygen deprivation physically, but her instincts cried out that she was drowning with ever breath.

Feeling her sanity slipping away Sam started dry heaving violently. On her back the convulsive motion caused her whole frame to jerk against the restraints. The muscular contractions were completely unproductive but now that she'd started there was nothing she could do to stop them. It was only the glowing aura of an impending seizure that ended her struggling.

She'd been experiencing the auras ever since the seizures had started back on the floor of the cage. They lasted from seconds to minutes, but it gave her a brief reprieve from fear and pain. A sensation of euphoria would take over her every thought and sense and then there would just be nothing. Sam had no memories of the seizures themselves, only the bizarre warning sign she received before hand.

Knowing that the aura would eventually save her didn't make waking any easier. Having woken from the latest seizure Sam fought hard with herself to remain calm. The fighting and screaming was senseless, just a reflex driven by the survival instinct.

Time had lost its meaning to Sam long before she found herself in the alien tank so she had no idea how long this had been going on. If she was released this moment and told a thousand years had passed she would believe it. Since deep breaths of the liquid just caused her more panic this time around Sam tried concentrating on her heartbeat instead. For a moment it worked, she was able to remain conscious without straining against the restraints. In this state she found it easier to pass in and out of a dreamless sleep.

The next time she truly woke Sam had finally arrived at the point where she had no fight left. Jack had been right, she hadn't been ready to give up on herself before. She was ready now. Thinking about Jack reminded her that she hadn't had a chance to truly contemplate him and whatever fate he'd fallen to. Her days had been filled with alternative sheer panic and fitful nightmares.

Despite the vivid images in her mind very little of the past few months seemed very real to her. Rather than trying to figure out where she was now Sam spent some time trying to figure out the last memory she had that she knew for a fact was real. It wasn't as easy as it sounded.

"I've got you...it's almost over." Jack's soft voice replayed. "It has been an honour to serve with you, and nothing short of awe inspiring to be at your side."

That was it, that was the last thing that she was positive was real. It made far more sense that those would be Jack's last words to her rather than him crying out her full given name in terror. That hadn't sounded like him, that had to have been a delusion. He would not have shown such fear at her death, he would have remained strong on the outside no matter how terrified he was.

The thought that this was death actually was very comforting because she had come to the conclusion logical and that meant that it could be accepted. Sam quickly decided that she was stuck in a realm where time had no meaning, which was why the wounds she had suffered before death still haunted her. Nothing could be done and there was nothing to fear because she had already lost. Instead of finding realization horrifying she gained a deep sense of peace from it. She didn't have to fight anymore, she could just lay here in the space in between and rest.

This denial of her situation not mattering and being unchangeable didn't last long, even by her timeless standards. With the panic ebbing away Sam's thoughts instantly turned to her heart and how tight it felt in her chest. Even if she couldn't do anything about what was happening to Jack she wanted to know. She wanted to make sure that if he had lived that he carried on and that he didn't worry about her. More than any of that she wanted to say good bye. She recalled gathering up enough of her strength to tell him that she loved him, but that wasn't enough. The three simple words didn't even begin to explain all she had to say to him.

Growing more agitated Sam arched her back, wondering why if she was dead could she still struggle, just not win. Death was making less sense to her, torture however was starting to become more of a possibility in her mind. What if none of this had actually been happening? What if it was some sort of neurological simulation being used to break her or Jack. His horrified cry could have been reality breaking through as he was forced to watch her play out the terror and anguish that was being projected into her dreams.

This new theory suddenly felt like fact. Sam was instantly convinced that they had never shared the damning cage, no animal had come to eat her flesh in the night, they had not shared desperate confessions of love in a moment of despair. None of it was real, it was a cruel trick, a punishment from some unknown enemy.

It wouldn't be the first time someone had forced their way into her mind to ruin her sanity in an effort to break her. All Sam's fear, doubt, sorrow, and hopelessness was instantly lost. It had been replaced by a cold rage. All she needed was one chance, one glimpse at who was responsible, one misstep by the enemy and she would show them that she was far from broken and not a force to be reckoned with.

Until she could act on revenge she relaxed her mind completely to keep any negative thoughts or memories from being forced on her. As for her physical body she tensed and relaxed her muscles till exhaustion and then let her body rest before starting again. She did this so that it would be strong again when she needed it.

If Sam had to guess she'd say at least a week passed before she got the chance she was looking for. Opening her eyes one morning she tried to focus the shadows that she saw through the water into a shape she could recognize. It was then that she felt gravity beginning to work on her again. The water level was dropping, slipping down an unseen drain.

Sam's first breath of true air was a painful one. Coughing violently she spat out half of the liquid and swallowed the rest of it. The struts on the restraints that had been holding her had been lowering along with the water level so that now, although still pinned, she was laying on the cold floor of the tank. She experimented by lifting her head up against gravity and found herself capable.

The needles that had been sunk into her wrist and leg suddenly retracted. Having been in place for so long her skin had grown around them and they had to be torn out. Sam cried out weakly, hearing her voice for the first time in weeks Sam barely even recognized it as her own. Once the water was fully drained the glass slid away as well. Blinking the last of the discolored water out of her eyes Sam brought them into focus.

A beast with sickly pink scales and unnatural blue eyes was looking down on her. Sam stared at it, only recognizing its type from the dreams of the cage that she'd had. The alien creature pulled its lips back and displayed its sharp slightly translucent teeth. Swallowing her fear of the reptilian alien Sam decided the best move was to pretend to be helpless, hopping it might draw the enemy off guard.

Closing her eyes Sam moaned as if in far more pain than she was in. The alien brushed its oddly jointed hand on Sam's cheek. The touch caused Sam's skin to crawl and prickle. Another alien came into view and started talking to the first one in a language that Sam didn't understand. However she did hear the gentle tone and suddenly she wasn't so sure about her theory about this being a sadistic torture tactic.

"What are you?" Sam asked in a faint whisper.

"Quel?"

"What are you? You can't be some new breed of Goa'uld, I would feel it." Sam continued. "What do you want? Why are you doing this?"

The aliens looked at her and that back at each other. They continued to speak as though she wasn't there and anxiety began to creep into her blood. Sam brought her head up as far as she could and looked down over her body. A shiny black coated her skin as tightly as if it had been painted there. Looking over her chest she looked at the way her hip bones rose high up off either side of her stomach. Sam laid back and weld her eyes shut. Unable to determine what was real and what was illusion she was starting to panic again.

"What's going on?"

An unwelcome hand ran itself through her wet hair. She kept telling herself that this was all part of the dream or delusion and tried to wake. It wasn't until she felt her ankles being freed that she snapped back to attention. She remained motionless as her wrists were released from the metal cuffs. When she was helped into a sitting position she started to plot out her attack, not caring if this was real or not.

There were five of the unusual creatures in the room, two standing in front of her and three near what had to be the door. The door, that became her goal. She didn't have to fight them if she could out run them. She glanced around the rest of the room and noted that it looked like a lab of some sort. She decided that it had enough equipment that seemed advanced enough to induce a fevered dream so perhaps this part was real.

Sam was feeling a little dizzy from sitting up, clearly not fully recovered from whatever they had done to her. She put her hand down on the table to brace herself and it landed on one of the long thick needles that had been threaded into her veins. Slowly closing her hand around the weapon she looked for the right time to strike. The pink alien barred her teeth at Sam again and made a throaty purr that reminded her of a dinosaur in a movie just before it decided to eviscerate some hapless tourist.

"Renta gek's nu..."

The alien was cut off as Sam lashed out with the long needle and plunged it into her pink skin just above the what Sam assumed was the alien's collar bone. The green alien standing next to her cried out in shock and snatched Sam's wrists. Leaning back Sam kicked the green alien in the stomach, forcing him to release her.

Sam scrambled down off the table and went to bolt for the door despite the fact that the other three were looking more ready for a fight. One of them had what looked to Sam like an elongated pain stick with a wire loop on the end of it. Before she got a chance to tangle with the others there was a hand on her shoulder.

Whipping around Sam tore herself free. The dragon in the room with the loop was quick and used the distraction to get the wire around Sam's throat. She brought her fingers up in time to grip the wire, but when he pulled it tight she ended her with her hands trapped between it and her skin. Shaking with a combination of exhaustion and adrenaline Sam was easily brought to her knees.

The pink alien had pulled the needle out of her shoulder and was bleeding a bright blue fluid. Despite the wound she knelt down in front of Sam and reached out to take her trapped wrists. Enraged by the ease at which she'd been subdued Sam jerked forward and snapped at the alien. She managed to get her teeth into the space between the alien's medial side thumb and index finger. Although unable to pierce the reptile's thick skin Sam was rewarded by the feel of a delicate bone snapping between her teeth.

The pink dragon cried out in pain and jerked away. The green alien had retrieved a weapon that looked a lot like a fancy rifle. He aimed it at Sam's heart and pulled the trigger. The pink alien had caught the motion out of the corner of her eye and grabbed the weapon at the last minute. The ceiling suddenly showered sparked down on them as the weapon's blast burned into it.

The green alien started shouting and yelling and the pink one hissed at him in return. They fought for a full minute before he rolled his eyes and backed down. Holding her injured hand close to her chest the pink alien turned and looked at Sam again. Panting heavily for breath Sam was trembling, nothing of what was happening made any sense to her.

"Dali." The pink alien said softly.

"I don't understand...please just let me go."

The pink dragon held her injured hand out and someone out of Sam's view handed her a short stick that held a needle on the end of it. Sam fought to get back to her feet but the alien jabbed her in the thigh with the sharp needle. There was a sudden burning that raced up her leg towards her heart, taking her ability to move with it. As she fell back to the floor the wire around her neck was loosened enough for her to free her hands.

"Colonel!" Sam cried out desperately. "Help me! Sir!"

Battling the drug that was spreading over her Sam tried to get back to her feet. The pink alien knelt down next to her and pressed down on Sam's chest to keep her on the floor while the drug slowly took affect. When the blood in her heart started to boil the edges of her vision began to go dark. Sam fought harder to keep a hold of her consciousness but she knew it was pointless. She thrashed as even breathing became difficult.

"Jack!"