Chapter 32: The Sarcophagus

Ptah leaned over his control panel and sighed. He'd been working on this experiment for too long now. He should have had a result worth being proud of. He was missing something, and that something was driving him crazy.

Scratching his head, the Goa'uld pressed a few symbols on the panel and watched as the colours on the screen changed from blue to red. Another wrong turn. Ptah growled.

"This is ridiculous!"

Every mistake he made was followed by hours of retracting to undo it all. Ptah slammed his fist down and turned away from the console. He stood in silence, chewing it all over. He couldn't wait any longer. It was time to end this. He had what he'd been searching for for so long. He had the answers…

"My Lord?" A Jaffa appeared at the doorway, head bowed.

"What is it?"

"Major Carter is awake."

"Good. Bring her here."

The Jaffa hesitated.

"Now!"

"I… I am afraid she is unable to walk my Lord."

Ptah's eyes flashed, "I will fetch her myself."

"Yes, my Lord."

The Goa'uld dialled in the sequence to pause his experiment and smiled. It was time to reap the rewards of his hardship.

"Please… tell me I'm dead."

Sam lay in a crumpled heap on the floor of her dark, cold cell. The Jaffa who had tossed her in hadn't cared about what state she was in. For all he was concerned he had hoped that throwing her body into the cell with as much force as possible would have lead to her death. Sam was wishing the same.

Sam willed herself not to move. The Jaffa who had checked on her earlier looked like he was about to throw up when he saw her, so she figured that things weren't good.

Strangely enough she felt no pain. She knew that she had to have at least three broken bones, countless lacerations and some internal damage but she just couldn't feel a thing.

"That's probably not a good thing Major."

At least her conscience was intact. Sam squeezed her eyes shut and tried to concentrate on her shallow breathing.

"The guys will come. Just hang in there."

Sam wasn't sure where the optimistic thoughts were coming from… she didn't really believe herself right now, all things considered. Sam had completely lost track of time; how long had she been here? What if her friends had given up? She didn't expect them to risk their own lives just to save her when there were bigger things at stake, but she knew that they had to have tried to save her.

"Hey, we've been through worse... Can't really think of anything right now but we've always been through something worse."

Her conscience was frustrating her.

"Will you just shut up!"

Sam growled. She suddenly felt sorry for all the people back home who were trapped in their minds. There'd be no one to argue with but yourself. And having a mind like Sam's would certainly turn you insane.

"All I'm saying is that we'll get out of this Sam, we always do."

"We?"

"By 'we' I mean 'you'."

"Right."

Maybe she was going crazy, she'd lost enough blood for that. Sam opened her eyes. There was nothing to see in the dark room but it was better than arguing with herself. If her hearing was working properly she realised that it was too quiet. It had been ages since the Jaffa had come to check in on her, were they just going to leave her? She closed her eyes again, trying to conjure up images of her friends shooting holes through Ptah, which wasn't a hard thing to imagine. It wasn't long before Sam realised she'd jinxed herself.

"You are awake." Ptah stood in the doorway, flooding the small room with a sharp light.

"Leave me the hell alone!"

Ptah moved into the room, "Barely awake…"

Sam kept her eyes shut, but Ptah wasn't fooled.

"Samantha Carter. If you do not open your eyes and look at your God I will force you to." Ptah knelt beside her and tucked a stray, blood stained, lock of hair behind her ear.

"Just go away!"

Ptah studied Sam for a short moment and decided that she wasn't going to cooperate. "Very well, Major Carter. This is for your own good."

Sam felt a sting in her arm. How she felt it considering her other injuries was beyond her, but she was about to find out why. Ptah pulled the needle from her arm and discarded the device across the room.

"That should bring you to your senses."

Ptah watched as Sam's brow furrowed. The shot he had given her would work without mercy. Adrenaline, or close enough to it. It was his own development, and purely for reasons of torture. It raised the victim's heartbeat and awareness, made their senses sharper… it kept them awake.

Sam coughed, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. Now she could feel it. White hot pain fizzed over her body. Her head began to swim, a ringing in her ears startled her, forcing her eyes open.

"There we go." Ptah brushed his hand over Sam's cheek. "Do we feel like getting up now?"

It wasn't a question, but there was no way she could oblige even if she wanted to. Sam was helpless, unable to exert control as her actions were absorbed solely by wave upon wave of pain. She ground her teeth as her body seized and burned. What the hell did Ptah expect her to do in this condition?

Ptah watched for a long moment as Sam tried to gain some resolve. She was stronger than he thought, but she was still human. If she couldn't get up on her own accord then he had to act for her.

"Enough of this. We have work to do."

Sam cried out as Ptah wrapped an arm around her torso and pulled her to her feet. The sudden jolt tore at her limbs, her broken bones biting angrily into her nerves. She had no strength to stand on her own. Ptah tightened his grip around her, forcing her breathing into sharp, shallow gasps. Ptah fixed his free hand around Sam's right arm, squeezing the shattered bones inside.

Ptah whispered harshly in her ear, "This is the last time I will save you Samantha."

She couldn't help the tears that were fighting their way from her weary eyes as the Goa'uld used his momentum to push her out the door. Every step was like walking through fire. Sam wished that she would just pass out, but Ptah's little miracle drug wasn't going to let her. Sam tried to move her feet to alleviate the pain in her chest but walking on a twisted ankle wasn't working so well for her.

Ptah gave up trying to haul Sam all the way to the sarcophagus, opting instead to sling her over his shoulder, jolting the breath out of her lungs. The scream of pain that had been welling up inside her came out as a sickening groan. The floor swirled at Ptah's feet as he tramped down the corridor. Sam closed her eyes, the last thing she needed right now was motion sickness.

Ptah smiled to himself as Sam groaned again, maybe this time she'd be more willing. No more of that Tau'ri bravado. And if she wasn't, in time the sarcophagus would turn her. Albeit Ptah enjoyed his other methods more, but the sarcophagus had proven to be a useful tool for stripping away the human soul before; there was no reason it wouldn't work for him this time.

Just as Sam felt as though her stomach was going to betray her the momentum stopped. Ptah let her fall to the floor beside the sarcophagus. Carter retched, unable to stop the blood she was coughing up. Ptah took no notice as he calmly walked to the other side of the device and opened the lid.

Patting the inside of the sarcophagus as if it were a pet, Ptah ignored the coughing he could hear on the other side. "At least there is one thing in my possession that does not let me down."

Ptah moved back to kneel beside Sam. "Now, let's make sure that this is the last time you have to see the inside of my sarcophagus. I like my women submissive… but not without that fire that makes owning them worth while." A smile split his features as he gathered Sam up and dropped her into the light. Satisfied, Ptah closed the lid and brushed himself down. His hands came away red.

"This won't do." Casting a sideways glance at the sarcophagus, Ptah left the room. His personal chambers were only a few doors up, and he had plenty of time to get changed and be back in time to collect a more submissive Major Carter. "Perhaps it would have been smarter to have worn red."