Chapter 8

After Sam had left his office, Hammond called down to the infirmary.

"Doctor Fraiser? Can you come to my office as soon as possible? It might be best not to tell anyone else. Thank you."

The petite woman entered his office apprehensively; she was never called there for good news.

"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Thank you for coming. What are your thoughts concerning Major Carter?"

"She has been acting strangely, sir. I know it's to be expected after her experience but…"

"Off the record, Doctor."

"If I hadn't treated her myself, sir, I would have said that the parasite had survived and was still controlling her."

"But Hera definitely died?"

"Yes, sir. It was touch and go whether Major Carter would survive. We did numerous scans and there was no sign of the Goa'uld in her body apart from the protein marker."

"So you know of no way that the Goa'uld could be alive?"

"Not unless it has some way of hiding in he body that we don't know of and I don't see how that could be."

Hammond stared thoughtfully into the distance for a few minutes.

"Sir, can I ask what this is about?"

"I will have to report to my superiors about this and they aren't going to like one of our officers beating up aliens that didn't pose a threat."

"With all due respect, sir, Sam has been through something that nobody we know of has experienced."

"I know that as well as you do, Doctor, but the NID are going to use any means possible to get their hands on her."

"Cant we stop it?"

"I can try and keep the Nila'c incident as quiet as possible but if she keeps acting like this, she'll be removed."

Daniel sought out Sam in the commissary, where she was digging into a bowl of blue jello.

"Hey, Sam."

"Come to judge me as well?"

"Uh, no, I just came for the cake."

They ate in silence for a while until Daniel's curiosity finally won through. "Uh, you know the other week when you were, uh, injured?"

"You mean when the Colonel shot me and I was bleeding to death? Yeah, I remember it."

"You said that you remembered everything from Hera."

Immediately, Sam stiffened and became more defensive. "Did I say that? I don't remember that. Maybe when Hera was alive, I knew what she knew."

"But you remember things from Jolinar, don't you?"

"I told Maybourne that I didn't remember anything. Are you calling me a liar?"

Her voice was hard and threatening and Daniel was much more hesitant at answering.

"No, Sam, I don't think you're lying. Maybe, in a while you'll remember because it could really help us. I mean, you got rid of our iris like it didn't even exist."

"It would be nice to be able to do that. Strengthen our defenses, increase our offenses." Sam mused.

"Well, if you do remember anything, I'm always here to help you make sense of it."

She smiled then and it felt like the old Sam was back. Then her expression darkened. "The only things I really remember are killing people. The smell of the blood, their screams…." Her voice trembled and she pushed her bowl away. "You know, I'm not really hungry anymore. Thanks for the chat, Daniel."

Daniel watched her leave the room at a jog and sighed as Jack and Teal'c sat next to him.

"Do my eyes deceive me Daniel? Did you just have a civilized conversation with Carter and she didn't shout at you?"

"I think we just had a serious conversation. She told me that she could only recall the bad memories, that she didn't know anything else."

Jack merely looked skeptical while Teal'c voiced his concerns. "Doesn't Major Carter have memories of Jolinar's life?"

"Yes, but maybe its different with a Goa'uld. Jolinar gave her life for Sam and Hera died kicking and screaming. Couldn't that make a difference?"

"I do not know. I have never encountered a being that has been possessed by both Tok'ra and Goa'uld."

Here, Jack made his first contribution. "Look guys, it doesn't matter whether Carter can remember or not. If she doesn't want to tell us anything, she won't. And that's the end of it."

"What's your suggestion then, Jack?"

"Maybe Carter just needs us to act like everything's normal."

"I do believe that Major Carter's earlier proposal has some advantages. There is currently a planet full of Jaffa with no Goa'uld ruling them. If we could convince them they are false gods, we would have a formidable army as allies."

"Great idea, T. Now what idiot's gonna convince Hammond to let us and Carter go back there?