O'Neill led the evac from the chopper raising his weapon and scanning the tree line as the rest of his team and Pierson disembarked and took up similar positions.

"The camp should be about two hundred feet directly in front of us; the pyramid is about a half mile beyond that!" Adam shouted over the sound of the choppers. O'Neil nodded and directed the team forward. Teal'c took point, they swept down the hill keeping Adam, as far as they were concerned unarmed behind them. As they caught site of the camp it became clear that something was very wrong.

The tents were collapsed and shredded broken equipment and food packages littered the area, everything was bleached and weather beaten. Adam felt his stomach lurch in dread what had happened? He felt a moment of regret for not evacuating everyone when he had taken Max out, but it was only a moment, he felt badly for them but he cared more about Max.

"Pierson was it like this when you left?"

"No, it was business as usual, I just convinced Dr. Robinson to call a chopper so I could get Max out of here, the last I saw of them they were heading out to the pyramid."

"Did you have to sedate Max to get her out of here?"

"No, she was okay at first, she could control the urge, but after awhile, it wore her down." Adam's voice was tainted with sorrow.

"Okay kids let's keep moving." Jack said and led the way toward the pyramid. Adam continued in the rear he hated the jungle as much as Max did but he felt more at home in it than he did other climates. He glided along behind the trained team and waited with taught muscles. He most definitely did not want to see that glowing goddess again. Finally after an eternity of creeping stealth they reached the entrance. There was no sign of the expedition. The generator sat silent and primed, two full cans of fuel stacked next to it.

"Pierson?"

"I don't know Colonel it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If they were attacked by locals none of this gear would be left, they would've sold it or used it themselves, at least until the fuel ran out."

Sam bent over the generator and fiddled with it briefly.

"Colonel O'Neil, this area bears little resemblance to any Goa'uld construct I have previously come into contact with."

"Yeah I can see that Teal'c Daniel thoughts?"

"Uh well it's possible that the Goa'uld came across the pyramid and took advantage of it, they are parasites."

"Care to chime in Pierson?"

"Not much to say Colonel, you're guys are the experts."

"Fine, Major any worries?"

"No Colonel our satellite scans and passive flyovers didn't pick up anything unusual. I'll get this running again and we can head in." As soon as she finished speaking the engine caught.

"Okay let's go." Jack said Sam took the lead.

"It's a long nasty walk." Adam advised. To Adam's surprise the four team members didn't even break into labored breathing during the trip. As they emerged into the chamber Adam unconsciously tensed dreading whatever waited. An image of the goddess's angry face flashed back to him. He shuddered involuntarily.

"You okay Pierson?" Jack asked, Adam felt a wave of surprise, Jack had two people between the two of them and he had picked up on Adam's reaction.

"When I was here last the Goa'uld saw me, she wasn't happy that I'd overheard her talking to Max."

"Okay, and you're just now telling us this? Fine, Sam be ready for hostiles." Jack cautioned.

She acknowledged him with a nod and slipped into the chamber, Jackson and Teal'c followed after. Adam watched Jack hop down and steeling his resolve leapt after. He landed easily and looked around him. The lights were still working but what they revealed was obscene.

The four archaeologists were dead, Adam focused on that first. They were sitting in a row, prostrate arms extended in an attitude of worship. They faced the wall where the writing had been carved. Their corpses were desiccated, preserved by the jungle heat and the hot air in the chamber their expressions forever frozen in a tableau of manic joy.

"Sir, I think they starved." Sam said after examining the corpses briefly.

"Starved?" Adam asked horror in his voice.

"She kept them there, worshiping her, loving her for so long that they died." Sam said her voice echoing Adam's sense of disgust.

"I have seen acts of evil but this . . . its beyond evil, they didn't even try to leave, they just sat there and died." Adam snapped angrily.

"Daniel you got anything?" Jack asked dragging their attention away from the terrible sight.

"How did you decipher this?" Daniel asked Adam his voice was admirably steady.

"I transcribed the Egyptian, when the translation didn't make any sense I tried again until it occurred to me that the Egyptian could be used to inscribe a third language."

"Dr. Pierson that's . . . astonishing, no one else in the world could have done that. How many languages do you speak?"

"Do you want the dead ones, or the modern ones?"

"Total."

"Oh two hundred give or take." Adam smirked at their expressions.

"Okay well given that then yeah that would be a reasonable deduction." Daniel said recovering his grace.

"Sorry to rain on the parade guys but can we get back to the rampaging Goa'uld who has my friend's sanity hostage?"

"Stay cool Pierson we'll get her back for you." Adam ground his teeth in frustration. If he knew what they did he wouldn't be waiting around he'd be getting results. Irritated he shoved past the armed experts and into the chamber itself.

"HEY SHE BITCH!" He yelled, his voice ricocheting.

"I'M BACK! MAX DIDN'T KILL ME, YOU HEAR ME? YOU EVIL VICIOUS BITCH!" Jack rolled his eyes and clamped a hand on Adam's mouth.

"Do you mind? My hearing isn't that great as it is." He grunted. Adam shook his hand off and booted a light stand.

"She isn't here." He said emptily.

"We don't know that Pierson, have a little faith." Jack said.

"Fine let's keep looking." Adam snapped.

They did so scouring the chamber for evidence of the Goa'uld present, past, or future. Finally after a few hours even Carter admitted defeat.

"Sir we need more equipment, deep penetrating radar for one thing. I don't think there's much more we can do here with what we have."

"What about her mark?" Adam asked. He got confused looks.

"Her mark, she told Max that the book Daniel had would have her mark on it that would be how Max could tell which book to take. What is her mark?"

"That is an actual good question Pierson. Daniel?" Jack admitted.

"It's hard to say Jack. We don't even know what Goa'uld this was let alone what her 'mark' might be."

"What about the wall doesn't that tell you something?" Adam demanded.

"Yeah it says whoever wrote that probably read Egyptian but spoke Goa'uld which doesn't make any sense either."

"I didn't make a full translation, I never finished the inscription. We can finish it faster together."

"Sure yeah of course why don't you read it to me and I'll copy it down." Jackson suggested. Privately he thought the lean, intense academic was crazy, but then again when he had come back from the dead he hadn't been exactly sane either.

"The People in the land were good and loyal to their gods." Adam began Jackson faithfully transcribed it. Adam kept reading and Daniel faithfully copied Adam's words for a half an hour before they came across anything helpful.

"The goddess walked among the People and they were filled with joy. She was splendid to behold and gentle in nature. She wore around her divine throat the sign of a mighty cat. And such a beast strode at her heel- That's it that's the sign!"

"I don't have any books like that." Daniel said.

"What about the SGC Daniel, she may not be able to distinguish between you and the SGC, we don't' know where she's getting her information or how good it is. One of the artifacts one of the other teams brought back might have a large cat, although I don't remember anything like that." Sam said.

"Okay kids back to the SGC, we'll have SG-11 and the eggheads go over this place with a fine toothed comb." Jack ordered and gestured for Teal'c to take point.

"Colonel wait, we should get the rest of this inscription while we can. It may be invaluable later." Daniel interjected.

"Okay here's how it goes. Daniel, you and Pierson keep working, Sam you and Teal'c head up, contact the choppers, maybe take a look at the camp I'll stay here with our boys, radio contact every ten minutes." Teal'c inclined his regal head in acknowledgement. Adam returned to reciting the inscription while Daniel transcribed. He also took photos before they left. Two hours later they met the chopper and headed back to civilization.

Adam fumed, he had traveled thousands of miles, risked Max's life and his own and these people acted like he was making them work too hard, he'd given up secrets that he had held sacred for literal millennia, to the military no less. He cursed his foolishness. He glared balefully at the jungle as it swept beneath them.

"Adam relax if anyone can help Max its us. Believe me Jack takes the idea of friendship very seriously." Daniel said.

"Indeed Adam Pierson, Colonel O'Neil is a man of honor. He will help you."

"Thanks I'm just. . . okay I've told you and your people some things that could get me killed, things I've never told anyone, it's a little nerve wracking to do that and then hit a stone wall."

"If we don't find anything SG-11 and the science guys will." Jack added. Sam studied Adam speculatively. He shifted under her gaze and met her eyes with his own, he held her gaze until she looked away. He made a point of reminding her of his humanity whenever she looked at him like that, like a cut of beef or a juicy new discovery.

"Adam it's been like fourteen hours, go to bed." Jack ordered. Adam glared at him

"My friend is tearing herself to pieces in that cell Jack, what would you advise?" Adam said wearily. He was scanning through the area 51 inventory and a listing of research material at the SGC; the SGC list was more arduous because it was just a list of titles not pictures or descriptions.

"REST jerk, look you aren't dong anyone any good here, you're irritating me and making Daniel crazy. So, GO TO BED. Or I'll have some SFs drag your narrow ass down to the infirmary and have Doc Frasier dope you."

"Fine." Adam growled and headed for his cell. He refused to move to different quarters. His cell was next to Max's and although he could hear her all day and all night destroying herself until her body was so battered it shut down and stopped healing, which then forced really brave volunteers to go in, dope her, and put her on an I.V. he wouldn't move. It had been a month since their return to the SGC.

"Jack the point is it could work." Jackson said.

"Have you run this by Adam?" Jack asked.

"No he's too sleep deprived or pissed off most of the time to listen."

"Well ask him. Get his answer, get back to me." Daniel nodded and headed for Adam's cell.

Adam's weird insistence on staying near Max was stupid in Daniel's opinion, he sympathized with wanting to support a friend in pain but all it had earned Adam was sleep deprivation, nightmares, and guilt. Daniel peered in and watched Adam pace. Adam's eyes were sunken and his skin pale, he never went out and he almost never slept, his all ready lean frame had shrunk further.

Daniel knocked loudly and entered.

"I have an idea." He said cutting off any wrathful outbursts from the gaunt man.

"Okay." Adam said suspiciously.

"We need to fake kill you."

"What?"

"Look her first objective was to kill you right?" Adam nodded.

"Okay well we can't find this book, but if we kill you then theoretically she's going to start looking for it, so we convince her that you're dead and see what happens."

"It's a long shot but why not, how do you want to go about it?"

"What will convince her you're dead?"

"Decapitation."

"Okay so we set up a camera and fake a decapitation."

"Yeah, that sounds so, uh, not simple. Does Jack know about this?" Adam asked concern creeping into his voice.

"Yes he knows so does the General, its up to you Adam but I'm stumped otherwise, it could take us months to search the SGC, and even then we may never find it."

"Yeah okay let's do it." Adam watched Daniel leave, the screams and thumps rattling from the next room an elephant in the room during the conversation.

"He'll go for it." Daniel said.

"Good."

"Jack?"

"Yes Daniel?"

"We have to get him out of that room."

"Yeah well short of shooting him I don't see it happening too soon, but yeah, I agree. Tell you what talk to Syler about the fake decapitation; keep Adam busy, I'll have his gear moved and the cell lock changed."

"Thanks Jack." Jack waved a dismissive hand and returned to reading a comic book with Teal'c.

"Okay we're going to stage it so the security cameras can catch it. It's going to be an industrial accident." Adam arched an eyebrow.

"A tragic misstep with a forklift while loading really heavy pallets. Look, we're betting on her lack of sanity affecting her reasoning."

Adam shrugged.

"Reasonable assumption, but fair warning Max in her right mind is no mental slouch." Adam cautioned.

"I think it's safe to say that she isn't right, right now." Jack said and frowned over his word order.

"Dr Frasier has been unable to sedate her for several days now." Teal'c added. Adam sighed.

"Yeah I get it she's a violent irrational nut case." He said bitterly and got into his position for the 'dress rehearsal'. They ran through the sequence a dozen times until Jack and TSgt Syler were satisfied Adam would not be seriously threatened.

Adam grimaced and shook himself ready to 'act' the part. He was actually quite a good actor but having to act on the spot with rehearsals and all threw him off. He thought of Max raging in her cell and focused.

He stood in front of a huge stack of pallets loaded with solid steel components bound off world. The forklift idled behind him blue smoke filling the loading dock. He ground his teeth and stepped into his role.

He began shouting orders at the unseen driver and waving his arms helpfully. To his horror a completely different forklift powered up and started toward him. He began waving his arms and shouting louder gesturing for them both to stop. The second forklift bore down on him homicidally. He yelled a string of deeply shocking curses that were in languages no one nearby spoke, including Daniel and tried to dodge the forklift, which was when the first forklift started forward. As the two forklifts converged on him he shrieked and vanished from sight. The engines died and Jack, Teal'c and Daniel sprinted toward Adam.

Adam staggered upright, one leg seriously broken; he glared at the SG-1 members as they skidded to a halt in front of him. He twisted the leg into place earning winces of sympathy from Jack and Daniel. Adam then launched himself at Jack and managed to land two healthy blows, winding the Colonel and dropping him to a knee before Teal'c and Daniel pulled him off.

"You son of a bitch!" Adam snarled struggling against the Jaffa and Daniel. He managed to get one hand loose and swing at Jack again. Jack scowled and slugged Adam hard enough to rattle him.

"Relax! You're fine! It was the only way to make it look real." Jack snapped. Slowly Adam relaxed; he shook the two men off him and spat at Jack's feet. He muttered an Egyptian curse and stomped off.

"What did he call me?" Jack asked Daniel.

"Uh, well, since you don't have any camels I wouldn't really worry about it." Daniel said patting the Colonel on the shoulder.

"Sir, I'll have the effects polished on this in a couple hours." Syler said holding up the security video. Jack nodded and watched Adam limp toward the exit; by the time he reached it he was walking soundly his compound fracture non-existent.

"I don't care how often I see that, it's still creepy." Jack said.

"Yeah but so is Junior." Daniel pointed out referring to Teal'c's larval Goa'uld.

"Dr. Pierson to the conference room!" The P.A. requested.

Adam sighed and rolled out of bed. He had finally managed to drift off and of course he was needed. He yawned and reached for a fresh set of coveralls. Changing he ran a hand through his short hair and checked his breath. Satisfied he slipped his boots on and headed out.

"We've finished the tape." Daniel said eagerly.

Adam shrugged and sat down expectantly. Teal'c hit play on an ancient dusty VCR. The tape spun up flickered and then steadied. It showed the debacle of the forklifts and then zoomed in on 'Adam's' mangled body, complete with obviously separated head. It was eerily accurate and Adam felt a cold sweat coat his spine.

"That should do well, how do you expect to get her to watch it?" Adam asked relieved when the tape flickered and went black.

"We'll put this setup outside the window of her cell and loop the tape."

"The theory is eventually she'll see the whole tape and realize what it means." Sam concluded.

"Okay, let's get it down there." Adam said and stood. Teal'c took charge of the rig and began dragging it toward the elevators; Daniel moved to help while Adam scurried ahead and claimed the elevators. The few personnel still active took a look at the crazed newcomer puppy guarding the elevators and opted for the stairs. Adam couldn't help fidgeting as the elevator hummed along, creeping toward the cells on the lower level. Once the doors opened Adam was first out clearing the hall and dragging the stand. They set it up in front of her door and hit play.

Adam peered into the window and banged on it. Teal'c grunted and snatched Adam out of the way and pushed the television closer. Adam glared at him for a split second and then grinned. If Max had spotted him banging on the door the jig would have been very much up. They wait for an hour listening to the security tape flicker, run through the footage, flicker, run through the footage ad nauseam.

Finally midway into the third hour the frantic noises from the cell stopped. Adam reached for the rig but Daniel waved him away and gestured for him to be silent. He pulled the rig far enough away from the door to allow him to see into the window. Max was curled in the far corner unmoving. Daniel pulled a sidearm and opened the door Teal'c stood guard in the doorway. Daniel held his weapon ready but kept the safety on.

"Max?" He called she remained still. He put his free hand on her shoulder and she remained calm, he felt her pulse and found it strong and steady, he shook her gently then harder finally she stirred and looked up at him blearily.

"Who are you?" She asked calmly sitting up.

"I'm Daniel Jackson, welcome back."

"Where have I been?"

Adam peered in at her and grinned she smiled back.

"Nowhere important kid." Adam said his voice overflowing with joy and relief.

She stood slowly she was confused by how weak she seemed but she waved away Daniel. Her clothes were tattered and bloody. The room reeked of blood and other fluids. She grimaced and limped to the door. Adam hugged her and then scooped her up.

"Your quarters have been moved to the upper level with the normal living quarters Adam Pierson." Teal'c said helpfully. Adam for once remained silent and followed the Jaffa. Daniel watched them go and shook his head. He hit the intercom.

"Did you get that?"

"Yeah Daniel we got it, the General is a happy man."

Daniel released the intercom button and evacuated the cell, carefully closing the door behind him. Max would need to see Dr. Frasier as soon as Adam would let her go. Daniel took the elevator and headed up to Adam's. Teal'c was standing in the doorway with Adam; Daniel could hear water running in the shower.

"She'll need to be medically cleared." Daniel said. Adam nodded.

After what felt like a lifetime Daniel met Max again for the first time. She was dressed in a set of Adam's borrowed insignia and patch free uniforms. Because of Adam's weight loss the uniforms fit Max no worse than they did him, although the pants were too long. She was bare foot as well but otherwise she looked amazing. Her short hair had grown long enough to be an asset rather than a personality trait. Her ordeal had left her with reduced muscle mask giving her an ethereal look. Her eyes were large and liquid and her skin pale and flawless.

"Miss Holloway you will need to clear medical." She nodded not objecting.

Inside Max was terrified her memories of the past two months were twisted and broken. She remembered the pyramid and speaking with Adam but the nightmare road trip and her time in the cell consisted of broken images and half remembered moments of rage and fear, fear of failing the Mother and rage toward Adam for not succumbing to her. But even the rage had faded in time. She still felt the presence of the mother like a lead weight around her neck.

"Adam? She's still here." She murmured.

"We know." He said in a tone loud enough to insure Daniel and Teal'c could hear. He did not want men with guns who knew their secret to think the two immortals were plotting against the SGC. Dr. Frasier gave them a brief look of confusion as they entered and then smiled warmly when she realized that the clean delicate woman in front of her with no shoes was the murderous lunatic from the basement.

"Hello Max, I'm Dr. Janet Frasier, you can call me Janet, it's nice to see you in the flesh." She began her exam with very little extraneous small talk.

"Adam?"

"What's up?" He asked.

"How did we get here?"

"Do you remember what the mother told you to do?"

"I had to kill you and then find Daniel Jackson and get his book."

"Well we tricked the mother Max, we found Daniel and then we made you believe that I was dead."

"You're Daniel Jackson?" She asked the lean blonde man. He nodded.

"Oh, I might have to kill you." She said calmly. He looked stunned, her huge liquid green eyes blinked calmly at him.

"Only if you don't give me the book though." She qualified weirdly.

The group watched her in the same manner childless friends of those with children regard that same child when it behaves like a demon in supermarket, embarrassed horror and shock. Adam helped her onto the examining table and exchanged looks with the SGC personnel. This clearly would not do.

Adam felt his skin crawl and wondered how far gone Max still was. He watched her eyes and wondered at the killer urge she had struggled with in the jungle. Did it still linger under the surface of her mind, still thrust and roil? He hoped her recent lack of control had gone a long way toward releasing it. But with the evil Goa'uld influencing her, who could say?

Adam watched as Janet performed a battery of standard tests and added another selection of more esoteric tests onto the order. He would argue normally since anything they learned from her could theoretically be used against him. Or he could let them run all the tests they wanted while he stole an access code and password and planted a digital time bomb aimed at scrubbing all medical, personnel, and mission files related to Max and himself. So he did that instead and hoped their scans and tests could find a way to free Max and destroy the invading Goa'uld.

"Okay so why this book?" Adam asked.

"I mean most Goa'uld use stone or metal tablets or some sort of digital medium, but a book? That's just really odd."

"You know, you're right. It may not be a Goa'uld at all." Daniel agreed.

"How so?"

"Okay no offense but you've never actually had contact with a real live definite Goa'uld. It's possible that something is masquerading as a Goa'uld, it would help explain why the writing in the chamber was in Egyptian but the translation was Goa'uld, and why the being demanded your life and a book."

"Well, if it isn't a Goa'uld what is it?" Adam asked.

"She is the golden mother. She has always been and will always be." Max said sweetly. Adam shuddered involuntarily, Max, his Max, was anything but sweet, she was cruel, sarcastic, ironic, acerbic, loyal, and murderous, but she was not sweet.

"What's the verdict Doc?" Jack asked entering the room.

"Well, so far mild dehydration and malnutrition."

"Ah, well that's not so bad, had that a few times myself." Jack said dismissively.

"Keep us updated huh doc?" He said and gathered up his team by eye. Adam remained with Max. He watched them go and turned his gaze back to Dr. Frasier's scans and readouts. He had trained as a doctor several times in his many lifetimes and followed the information easily.

"Dr. Frasier this may seem strange but, her blood gases, aren't the readings a little bit off?"

"Yes they are, Dr. Pierson, do you have medical training?"

"I have had in the past, but I'm not exactly current."

"Well nothing wrong with that you can certainly give me a hand." He assisted Janet with her tools and notes, carefully making subtle but deliberate mistakes to maintain an amateur air. He also scrutinized the results and her observations. Finally when Max was too tired to continue Adam helped her settle into a bed in the infirmary for observation.

"Dr. Pierson, I understand that your physiology is very different from normal. But I can't help her unless I know what is abnormal for her; would you be willing to allow me to examine you?"

Adam let out a low soft breath and looked hard at her. He had his backdoor access which would allow him to erase anything they found, or even better, copy it and then erase it.

"Fine." He said softly. He tried to relax his clenched fists, Dr. Frasier's small skilled hands folded over his right fist, her cool soft fingers calming him. He let out a shuddering sigh and closed his eyes.

"This goes against everything I know." He whispered.

"I'll be quick and as gentle as I can." He gave low bark of harsh laughter.

"I'm not afraid of pain or discomfort Doctor, I'm afraid of other people knowing, about me, about the existence of people like me." He looked up at her, his resolve hardening.

"The faster we get going the sooner you'll know what's wrong, so let's go."