The Tegan Chronicles

Intuition and Lies 8

"Hey?"

Tegan looked up to see Sam standing in the doorway to her lab. She parroted her, "Hey?"

"Do you have some time you can give me?"

"Sure." Tegan cut off the microscope and followed Sam into the hallway. "What are you working on?"

"We think it's a Goa'uld device. SG3 brought it back from their latest mission. I've got it in an iso unit as a precaution until we're sure it isn't going to release a virus or anything strange like that."

Tegan nodded.

"It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen." Tegan slipped her hands into the heavy rubber gloves on the side of the isolation box.

"Not even in any memories or dreams?" Sam queried.

"No." Her brow furrowed in question. "You?"

"No." Sam shook her head. "I was hoping…"

Sam's voice trailed off as the object started to glow when Tegan touched it.

"Sam?" She pulled out her right hand, even as the thick black rubber of the left glove started to melt and burn into her hand and arm. "Sam!"

Sam looked at Janet who was pushing something into Tegan's IV line and double checking the monitor readings. She closed her eyes and could still see the skin and muscle melting off Tegan's bones and dripping into a gruesome puddle on the stone floor. Sam's eyes shot open and darted from Tegan to Janet when her own name had ruptured through Tegan's vocal cords with the same death cry her voice had contained on the planet. "Janet?"

"I don't know." Janet could see the tears collecting in Sam's eyes and wished she could reassure her. She wished she could set her mind at rest over the situation, but she couldn't. She only had theories and no way to back them up. "It's the third time it's happened. And she remains unresponsive to pain afterwards."

Sam shuddered.

Janet checked her watch. "You need to go get some fresh air, and take a break."

"I'm…"

"No arguments." Janet put her foot down. "It wasn't a suggestion."

Janet looked up as the door opened ready to tell Sam that five minutes wasn't even time for her to make it to the surface and back without exiting the elevator. Instead she saw Daniel donning a mask and hobbling into the room on his crutches. She quickly moved around the bed and replaced the stool with a chair.

"How's your leg doing?"

"It's fine." He grimaced. "You saw Dr. Scully's report?"

Janet shook her head. "She told me. You really need to stay off it."

He lifted the crutches slightly. "I'm not walking around."

"Sit." Janet pointed to the chair.

"How is she?" Daniel dropped carefully into the chair, biting his lip as he did so.

"She's still unresponsive."

"It's my fault." He berated himself.

"What?"

"It's my fault," He repeated pointing at her missing arm. "If I'd listened to her, and hadn't been so gung-ho about bringing back that recording device. I should have just left it there. Both she and Jack warned me it could be a trap, but did I listen?

"Of course not." He continued. "I reasoned that no one had been there in fifteen to twenty years by the overgrowth. And… oh man… I'm so sorry." He looked at Janet. "I'm so, so sorry. If I could go back…"

Janet just nodded, she couldn't make her mouth form the words her heart didn't want to say.

Daniel thought back to when they'd arrived on the planet, how hot and sticky it had been. The air was thick and their clothes stuck to them in a matter of seconds. He remembered following Sam into the building and hearing Jack asking Tegan about an invitation. He'd heard the uneasiness in her voice, he should have listened. He should have known Tegan well enough by now to know she'd never throw away a mission over something she ate. His mind jumped ahead to that devastating moment when Hek'tu pulled her arm into the tank of acid. The look of shock on Tegan's face just prior to her screaming in agony.

"Oh my God," He wailed slobber and snot escaping from his nose and mouth. "I'm so sorry. If I hadn't touched that recording device we'd never found ourselves face to face with Hek'tu and she'd still be in one piece."

He felt Janet put her hand on his back and jumped slightly. He'd been unaware that'd she'd maneuvered around the bed.

He reached over and touched Tegan's hand. "I'm so sorry Tegan."

"Tegan."

She looked up when she heard Daniel say her name.

"You might want to check this out."

"What is it?" She glanced from him to Sam. She wasn't entirely sure what planet they were on. "It better not be giant spiders," she warned remembering that encounter.

"It's not." He turned holding a toddler sized lizard in this arms.

"Is that a?" Jack asked not bothering to complete the question.

"A dragon." Tegan responded as if the answer should be obvious.

"But they don't exist. They aren't real." Jack pointed out.

Tegan looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "And I suppose Aliens and Goa'uld don't exist either?"

Jack shrugged.

"He's cute." Daniel cooed as the creature squinted his yellow eyes. "Besides dragons are unprecedented."

"Daniel?" Tegan pointed to the opening mouth just as the small dragon sneezed spewing fire onto her arm. As it engulfed her left arm in flames she screamed out,

"Daniel!"