CHAPTER 33
Episode-----Resurrection
Location: Los Angeles
At some large abandoned complex, men were patrolling outside as helicopters were in the air looking around. A lot of soldiers were stationed keeping guard, watch or patrolling. Several dark vehicles were parked outside as well. One of the guys in a suit walked out of the warehouse and headed over to a parked GMC Yukon. He had to pass a few ambulances first. People were being brought out on stretchers as were other objects.
"Major Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Mr. Primus. Glad you could make it." Agent Barret said as they got out of the vehicle. Standard F.B.I suit with tie, but he was N.I.D. still.
"Agent Barret." Carter said.
She was wearing all black with a black jean jacket. Ford had mentioned earlier when they were alone how incredible she looked in it. Needless to say, she thought she needed to get more clothes like this and he told her that more than once.
"How's Colonel O'Neill doing?" he asked.
"Still recovering. He's taking some time off." Carter said.
"Fishing I think." Ford said looking around. He was dressed in his jean clothes with the coat as usual.
"Indeed he is." Teal'c said to Ford's statement.
He had a hat, a long sleeve shirt and black pants. Looked like he almost belonged in a gang. Daniel was in green pants with a button up short sleeve off red shirt.
"What happened?" Carter asked.
"Well we're still putting the details together here. If you'll follow me I'll explain things as we go."
"What is this place?" Daniel asked.
"An abandoned industrial complex. Near as we can tell, it was home to a rogue N.I.D. sleeper cell we've been trying to locate over a year now."
"Still haven't got them all?" Carter asked.
"No. Not by a long shot, Major. Their ties run deep. They seem to have infinite resources at their disposal."
"Not surprising." Ford commented still looking around from where he stopped as did everyone else. They had stopped at the small concrete ramp leading up to the walkway to the front door. "Not uncommon to what I used to do either."
"What does that mean?" Barret asked confused.
"Huh? Never mind. Talking aloud." he said waving the thought away.
"What were they doing here?" Carter asked after glancing around as well.
"Not exactly sure yet." Barret said still looking at Ford a moment who was not looking his way. Teal'c was watching the people move around past them.
"What happened?" Daniel asked.
"At approximately 0800 hours this morning we intercepted a 911 call. We moved in just after local authorities arrived. Been in lock down mode ever since." he said walking up the ramp and looking at the building.
"Wait a minute, someone from a top secret, not to mention an illegal N.I.D. operation, called 911?" Daniel asked.
"That does sound wrong." Ford said.
"It got real ugly. Come on." Barret said having them follow him inside. "We got a call from a panicked male voice. We think is was from the cleaning staff. Unfortunately, the call was cut short. Thus far we've counted 32 casualties."
It was busy with many people walking around moving out bodies on the floor. Two way lights were set up around the room on stands in several places.
"Which included a six man security contingent."
"Who would do this?" Carter asked.
"And for what reason?" Teal'c asked.
"Actually we know who did it. As for why." he said stopping next to several closed body bags.
"You know who did this?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah." he said sounding almost sad or confused.
Ford almost said that's a first, but kept his mouth shut. They left that room passing the body bags. As they came to a long hallway with guards at the end Barret turned but still kept walking.
"Aren't you hot it that?" he said pointing at the large coat.
"This? No." Ford said shaking his head.
He raised an eyebrow and turned to the guard.
"Open it." Barret said to the guard.
He pulled back a door that went into a large room with a glass like cage in the middle. There was a bed, papers, a shelf or two and more importantly, a girl. Probably into her late teens. Long red hair with a white shoulder dress.
"It was her." Barret said.
Daniel looked confused. Teal'c didn't change his expression. Carter looked surprised and confused.
"Um…hmmm." Ford said rubbing his chin as he checked out a few of the pictures. "Okay now what?"
Those pictures look interesting. Goa'uld like possibly. Herc thought.
We'll take a closer look later.
"We thought she was a survivor, then we found this." Barret said pulling up a surveillance video.
They had left that room going to another where the surveillance equipment was. It showed a video of someone crawling away to somewhere when she walked up and shot him in the back. She looked at the video camera on the ceiling next as he paused it.
"We found her cowering in the corner. She seemed to be genuinely terrified." Barret said turning to them. "Had no memory of what happened."
"You put her in the cell?" Carter asked.
"Yeah, that's where they said they kept her." Barret said. "We locked her up there after we found the security tapes. We didn't want to take any chances."
"Who is she?" Daniel asked.
"We're not sure yet. She's been printed and we're running her through the system."
"Any other survivors?"
"Yeah, one. A scientist named Keffler. We're holding him upstairs. So far he hasn't been very talkative. Come on, let me show you guys why I called you down here." he said getting out of the chair.
After walking some distance they came to a downstairs area with a large door that creaked badly when it was opened by Barret. Being a metal door it sounded bad. He flipped on a switch revealing a long row of a couple of shelves with lots of old items on them. Some looked like artifacts.
Daniel looked around seeing things that looked almost familiar. "Wow."
"Recognize anything?" Barret asked.
"Nothing I've cataloged as coming through the SGC." he said as Teal'c looked around like he knew something.
Daniel picked up some dark object looking like a metal bar.
"This indicates it belonged to Sekhmet." Teal'c said putting a spear, perhaps, back against the shelf.
"Who was that?" Barret asked.
"A Goa'uld who at one time was loyal to Ra." Teal'c said looking over at another shelf.
"From what we know she was a powerful ally of his." Daniel said spinning the unusual object with a figure engraved in one side. "He would routinely dispatch her to rule other planets in his stead. Quell revelations, oversee mass executions. You know. All the fun stuff."
"Sounds like a real sweetheart. What happened to her?" Barret asked leaning on a shelf.
Carter and Ford hadn't said anything yet and basically just listened while looking at the shelves.
"It is believed she was exiled for plotting against Ra." Teal'c said.
"We also believe she lived here for most of his dynasty. I didn't realize this stuff had been recovered." Daniel said putting the object back.
"From what I can gather, it may have come from the Germans." Barret said.
Everyone looked at him.
"The Germans?" Daniel asked.
"The background I have on Keffler says he's the son of a convicted Nazi war criminal."
"Germans?" Ford said shaking his head as he muttered. "Sounds like an Indy film."
"Indy what?" Carter whispered.
"I'll tell you later." he whispered back.
"I guess we shouldn't be all that surprised." Daniel said wondering what Ford meant.
"Rouge N.I.D. really have no limits, do they." Carter said.
"See if there's anything else you can tell me about this stuff." Barret said.
Daniel nodded and turned back to the shelves.
"I'm going back at Keffler again. Do you want to join me?"
"Sure." Carter said.
"Stay or go?"
"Go." Carter said grabbing Ford's arm as she and Barret walked out.
"Just thought you might want to watch a master interrogation at work." Barret said.
Ford almost scoffed.
"You calling someone special?" she said.
"Funny Major." Barret said as they walked.
Sitting behind a table was a small man, small as to no morals. He wasn't dark skinned, more along the lines of maybe…slightly tanned with light brown hair with a receding hair line. He was smoking a cigarette as the three walked in.
"Dr. Keffler. This is Major Samantha Carter and Mr. Primus."
"It's just Ford, please." he said waving a hand at the smoke near his face.
"No problem."
Keffler looked at them before speaking as he took a drag off his smoke.
"Of the Stargate program." he said. His tone showed he didn't care.
"That's right." Barret said. "Are you ready to tell us about the girl?"
He smirked and slightly raised his hands.
"Look Doctor, do I really need to explain to you the nature of your situation?"
"Yes please do. It amuses me." he said tapping his cigarette into the ashtray. He continued to smile like he didn't care about them being there.
"This was an off the book N.I.D. operation, which means technically you don't exist. Which means no phone calls, no lawyers, hell I don't even have to read you your rights. To make matters worse for you all the people involved are in jail. Nobody to bail you out."
Keffler shrugged like he didn't care still smiling.
"What kind of work was being done here Doctor?" Carter asked.
"You're a smart girl. You'll figure it out." he said pointing at her before taking another drag.
"You really think we're going to let you walk away from this? Thirty two people are dead." Barret said moving closer to the table.
"Believe it or not, I do feel bad about that. Some of them were not quite incompetent as the others. Unfortunately the bad ones always ruin it for everyone, don't they." he said tapping the ashtray again.
Barret turned looking at the ground angrily. He pulled some device that looked like a remote out.
"What is this?"
"That….unlocks my car." he said pointing at it.
"Don't think you're safe." Barret said leaning onto the table. Keffler leaned into Barret's face.
"Read the paper's Agent Barret. No one is safe these days."
As Barret backed off the table.
"My pills." Keffler said putting his left hand out.
Barret reached into his pocket and pulled a metal tin out. Taking one pill out he dropped it in the table.
"Now, now. You wouldn't want your only witness to die on you, would you?" he said picking the pill off the table.
He put it in his mouth as Barret gave the small metal pill tin to the guard.
"It's Nitro. Says he has a bad heart. I think and X-ray would show a total absence." Barret said as they left the room.
They walked over to a dresser like file unit and he opened a drawer.
"I don't know. I think he was starting to crack." Carter said.
"Crack?" Ford said confused with Carter's statement.
He didn't think the guy was going to crack at all, unless under serious torture. She only glanced at him.
"Well the guy was colder than Hannibal Lector in there." Barret said giving her a flashlight from the drawer and a CB unit. He gave Ford a couple as well.
"Still, obviously no match for a master interrogator."
"I didn't see you carelessly starting on his ass."
"I didn't want to step on your toes." she said putting the CB in her back pocket.
"Alright, come on. I've got one more thing to show you."
"There's more?"
"Trust me, I'm saving the best for last."
Where ever they where going it was dark and they needed the flashlights. The came down some stairs and took a direction off just to the right.
"This isn't at all creepy." Carter said.
"Oh it gets better." he said as they walked into a slightly well lit room.
It was a lab with lots of scientific equipment. The room was longer than a semi trailer, and just a little bit wider. A computer was on a table in front of them with a stool. Barret opened a slide out drawer like in a morgue to reveal babies in glass jars.
"Those look like partial developed fetuses." Carter said.
"They don't look human to me."
"Failed experiments of some kind?" she said glancing at him.
"What kind is the question." Barret said.
"This place should be burned." Ford muttered.
"Well, there's one way to find out." Carter said moving to the computer. Ford closed the drawer not wanting to see it anymore.
"No. Forget it. Major, we've already tried that. All the codes are encrypted." Barret said going over to her. "I've requested a data retrieval team."
"Present and accounted for." she said happily.
"Ditto." Ford said from across the room.
"You don't look like a computer expert."
"I dabble in many things." Ford said looking at a clipboard.
She chuckled as she started working.
"Right. Of course." he said not sure what that meant. "So how've you been?"
"Busy. You?" she said typing away. Ford was looking at other things in the lab.
"Busy."
"You know I've never thanked you for that memo on Woolsey."
"Well maybe we could go out to dinner some time?"
Ford looked up and glanced her way then back at the papers.
He's bold.
Yeah, I'm not worried though Herc. He doesn't know anyway, but he will soon.
She stopped typing and looked at him.
"It's just that I'm seeing someone right now."
"Really? You? Hmm."
She shook her head feeling insulted.
"Well, you asked me out."
"Yeah. Right. Sorry. Anyone I know?"
Carter nodded her head back to behind her. Barret looked up seeing Ford with his hand raised up. He got the picture quickly.
"Right, I'm going to go check in with Dr. Jackson and Teal'c." he said leaving the awkward situation he gotten himself into. Carter almost laughed as he left.
"I'm almost surprised you didn't say anything or try anything."
"I didn't see a need to. If you're thinking I might get jealous about something like that, I'm not going to."
Carter was surprised enough she stopped typing again and turned around. Ford was looking at some papers he found. He understood some of it. It was rather…disturbing.
"You weren't jealous? Not at all?"
"He didn't look your type and I trust you. If you wanted to go with someone else, I would hope you'd tell me first." he said still looking at the papers.
"Though if you want me to go attack him I can?" he said looking at her seriously as he put the papers down.
"No." she said chuckling as she turned around to the computer again. He's a definite keeper! She thought to herself.
"That Keffler guy really bugged me. I wanted to punch him out. That attitude just rubbed me the wrong way. I could get him to talk, but…"
"If I can't figure this out, with your help, then you can maybe try something."
"Works for me. What have you got so far?" he asked looking at the computer screen.
"Most of the artifacts are related in some way to Sekhmet." Daniel said looking at an clipboard under a light.
"I'm guessing they were found here on Earth in an Egyptian tomb or crypt of some kind." he said walking over to Teal'c who was looking at a strange looking box.
It had the symbol of Ra in the middle. The picture of an eye, right eye. Four scarabs were on it, one in each corner.
"Nothing of note?" Barret asked.
"No it's interesting stuff, but no, not really."
"Well, what is this?"
"It would appear to be an ark." Teal'c said.
"Ordained in the gold motif of Ra, the sun god. Possibly a gift to Sekhmet."
"Okay, what's in it?"
"I don't know, we haven't been able to open it. But these turn." Daniel said turning one of the four fist sized scarab's that occupied each corner of the gold box.
"Some sort of combination lock?"
"So it would seem." Teal'c stated.
"Any luck with the scientist?"
"No. No, not exactly. That girl, she may be on tape killing everybody, but I'm pretty sure that guy up there is not innocent."
"Yeah, what about that girl?"
"She hasn't said anything since we locked her up. I was kinda hoping you'd give it a try?"
"Um…me?" Daniel said pointing at himself.
"Heard you had a knack for this type of thing."
Daniel had reservations about doing it, but didn't voice them.
He walked into the room after leaving the storage area. She was still there sitting on her bed with her legs cross looking like she was meditating.. He walked up to the glass panel and looked at her then at all the pictures she had drawn that lined the wall and floor. The pictures were not very pleasant.
"Hi, um, I'm Daniel Jackson."
She didn't say anything but slowly rocked back and forth on the bed.
"You're Anna right?"
She still didn't respond.
"You know, when I first saw you, I didn't believe that you could do the things they said you done. And even after I saw it for myself, I still don't believe it."
She stopped rocking as she was looking at him.
"Look, I know you don't know me and have no reason to trust me, but I want to help you. Before I can do that, I need to know a few things first. Who you are? What's happen to you? Why are you in a cell like this? You even understand me?"
"I didn't kill those people." she said.
"Well there's some pretty overwhelming evidence."
"It wasn't me." she stated again.
Daniel looked away thinking.
"Please you have to believe me. It wasn't me!" she said getting off the bed and coming over to the window.
Daniel had a monitor brought it with a VCR. It showed her entering a lab area and shooting two of the scientists with a hand gun.
"Turn it off! Turn it off!" she yelled.
"Sorry." he said shutting it off.
"I couldn't do those things."
"Well, it looks like you did."
"It's not me."
"Well then who is it?"
"I don't know."
"Okay, where were you when this was happening?"
She didn't respond.
"If the person in the tape isn't you, where were you? What were you doing?" he said forcefully.
"I don't remember!" she said holding back tears.
Daniel waited a few moments.
"Who is Dr. Keffler?"
"He is the one who made me."
"She says that Dr. Keffler made her." Daniel said standing behind the monitor that Carter and Ford were working on. Barret was there next to Daniel.
"What the hell does that mean?" Barret asked.
"Some sort of genetic research?" Carter said.
"But she's over twenty years old. We know that the operation has not been going on that long." Barret said.
"We know the Asguard can rapidly grow a human clone, but…." Daniel began.
"Area 51 has a sample of Goa'uld nanite technology from the planet Argos. It can also rapidly grow a human with the ability to learn very quickly and the rogue N.I.D. would have access to that." Carter said.
"Keffler is responsible for everything that happened."
"How?" Barret asked Daniel.
"I don't know." he said.
"Do you think she's telling the truth?" Carter asked.
"To be honest I don't know what to think. She says she didn't do it and that the girl on the video tape isn't her."
"How can that be possible?" Barret asked.
"The N.I.D. have cloned a Goa'uld symbiont before."
"Right. Of course, she could be a clone." Barret said pointing at her.
"So there could be more than one of her. How well have you searched this facility?" Daniel asked.
"Top to bottom. Better put an APB out to local authorities." he said leaving.
"Test tube baby." Ford grumbled.
"What?" Daniel said.
"Test tube baby Daniel. Allows for genetic manipula…..oh no."
"What?" they both asked.
"What if she's not a clone. Remember how those babies we saw in the jar's looked not quite human."
"Yeah." Carter said starting to see where he was going.
"What? What is it?" Daniel asked quickly.
"That idiot!" Ford said looking at the closed drawer.
"What?!" Daniel asked.
"I think Keffler combined a human with a symbiont to create one life form." Carter slowly said.
"You mean?"
"She's human and the Goa'uld in one." Ford said. "We'll have to see what the research says but that's probably what he did. That would account for her not knowing about the killings even though the tapes show it happening. Would even explain the drawn pictures we saw."
"Let's keep this to ourselves until we have more information." Carter said turning back to the computer.
"Got it Sam. I'm going back to talk to her though. Maybe she does know but won't say."
"We'll let you know what we find." Ford said looking back at the screen.
Anna was drawing on her bed when Daniel walked back up.
"Anna, how long have you lived here?"
"Since I remember."
"Yeah, how long is that exactly?" he asked walking around to another side of the glass wall.
"I don't know."
"You ever have a birthday?" he asked as he stopped behind the wall behind her. "You know, birthday, cake, candles, funny hats, pin the tail on the donkey, that sort of thing."
"He gave me this paper and some new charcoal."
"Who, Dr. Keffler?" Daniel asked.
She nodded.
"He always gives me paper, but once, once he said it was my birthday." she said going back to drawing again.
"Once?"
She nodded.
"Have you ever seen anything outside of the room?"
"Just pictures. I've read a lot of books which describe the world outside, the mountains, the ocean, the sun."
"But you've never experienced them first hand?"
She shook her head saying no.
"What about these?" he gestured to her drawings.
"These are the thing I see in my dreams. Flashes. They just come to me."
"They mean anything to you?"
"They scare me."
"If they scare you so much, why do you hang them up everywhere?"
"Dr. Keffler wants them there. He hurts me if I take them down." she said looking around.
"They're important to him." she said as she finished drawing a picture of a large scarab.
"You have anymore with one of those on it? Maybe with an …ark?"
She looked around picking up a pile.
"I've got it." Daniel said placing the picture on the ark. It was a picture of the top of the ark with the scarabs facing a certain direction. "It's one of Anna's sketches. I think it's the combination to open the ark."
Teal'c reached down and turned the scarabs to the directions on the picture. It clicked and the lid came off. Underneath was a small glowing dome with a large black ring around it. It had a light clicking around it. Like a countdown or clock. Several of the symbols were lit up red and others were lining up with them.
"Did we just do that?"
"I do not believe so." Teal'c said. "It was activated some time ago."
Daniel looked at it very worried.
"I've got a picture out to local authorities. If there's a second girl out there, we'll find her." Barret said coming over to Carter and Ford.
"Not going to matter. My theory was right, our theory actually."
"What?"
"We got in a few minutes ago finding out that his research goes back over three years. He got all the artifacts from his father that date back to Napoleons age. He spliced human DNA ovum with a symbiont from an Canopic jar." Carter explained.
"A what jar?"
"It holds a Goa'uld symbiont in stasis." she said.
"So she's a Goa'uld human hybrid?" Barret said.
"Yeah, we figured it out just after you left to call the local authorities." Ford said.
"Then there's only one of her?"
"Yeah. Took forty five tries to get it right. They didn't want to wait to get the information that the symbiont would know, so they used the nanites from Area 51." she said.
"They tortured her to try and get what they needed." Ford said sadly.
"Electrocution, sensory depravation…."
"Agent Barret, Major Carter, Ford Primus." Teal'c said entering and not knowingly interrupting.
"Our theory was right. She's a Goa'uld human hybrid. That would explain why she doesn't remember doing those things on the video."
"The Ark is a bomb." Daniel stated cutting in on her explanation.
Ford groaned looking at the ceiling. "Wonderful. Is it a Goa'uld bomb?"
"What?!" Carter asked.
"The ark is in fact a Goa'uld explosive device." Teal'c stated.
"And its been activated." Daniel said.
"This just keeps getting better. How long we got?" Ford asked.
"Approximately 16 hours." Teal'c said.
"Can you shut it off Teal'c?" Ford asked.
"I cannot."
Don't ask me.
Thanks a lot Herc.
"Hercules has no idea either so that idea is shot." he muttered.
"Keffler might know something." Barret said.
"Let's go find out." Carter said. "Daniel, go see if you can find out anything from her."
"Sure."
Ford, Carter and Barret was up talking to Keffler again. He was sitting on the edge of the table. They gave him a brief explanation on what they just learned.
"How interesting."
Barret grabbed Keffler by his lapels and slammed him into the door. Carter backed up a step incidentally backing into Ford who didn't move. He put a hand on her shoulder gently.
"Wipe the smarmy smile off your face and tell me what's going on here!" Barret yelled.
"You're hurting me."
"Nothing I could do to you could make up for what you've done here!" he yelled.
"Agent Barret." Carter said commandingly.
"Listen to her Agent Barret." the doctor said.
"You're going to tell me everything I want to know or she's not going to be able to stop me from beating you senseless."
"What do you want to know?" he said almost scared sounding.
Barret let him go forcefully like and he straighten his collar as he neared the table.
"For starters. Do you know how to deactivate the bomb?"
"I didn't know it was a bomb." he said going for his cigarettes.
Ford grabbed them quickly and gave him a look that made him back away. He crushed them and walked back over to the others.
"So this girl breaks out of her cell, kills thirty two people, sets a bomb to go off a day from now and then sticks around? How does that make sense?" Barret asked ignoring what Ford did. Let the guy fidget.
"Your problem Agent Barret, one among many I must point out, is that you see her as a girl." Barret shrugged in an angry way.
"Look, don't start giving us some moral justification for what's going on around here…"
"Please Major.." he said interrupting her. "I know that you have helped orchestrate the death of Goa'ulds before. Assassinated them in cold blood in fact. Without regard for the life of the human host. In fact your tall friend here has done far worse in some cases."
"I didn't create the problem." she said ignoring his remark about Ford.
"Neither did I. I am merely trying to help solve it. The Goa'uld are a terrible threat to us all. Anna is a device. A conduit that has the knowledge to level the playing field and I think we can all agree, that killing one person to save millions, billions of innocent lives, you would have no choice. You would do it."
Carter shook her head and rolled her eyes. Ford was losing his patience.
"Let me hold him out the widow by his feet. That'll make him talk. Worked several times in the past for me. Only dropped a guy once." he said totally serious as he took a step forward. Keffler stepped back hitting the wall.
"Answer my question." Barret said looking down from where he was staring at the ceiling and putting a hand out to tell Ford to wait.
"I'm sorry. I've forgotten what it was." he said going back to his sarcastic mood as Ford backed up.
"Why set the bomb and stick around?!"
"Anna did not set the bomb."
"Then who did?"
"The Goa'uld. Sekhmet."
"But wait a minute, she doesn't have a snake in her, right?" Barret said turning to Carter.
"Something we didn't expect. A separate and distinct personality." he said still sitting on the table.
He went to get up, but the glare's he was getting, mostly from the tall man in the black coat made him stay.
"Are you saying that Anna's mind has created an entirely separate personality that acts like Goa'uld Sekhmet?" Carter asked.
"I don't know if it's that she's incapable of dealing with the darkness within her, or that knowledge is so powerful that it can manifest itself as such. I only know that it emerges and speaks as an unique entity. We have witnessed it with a growing frequency. Anna has no awareness. To her it's as though she has blacked out."
"Okay so the Goa'uld personality comes out, goes on a rampage, set's a bomb…" Barret said.
"But can't stay in control of the body long enough to finish what she was doing." Carter said finishing his statement.
"Her breakthroughs are sporadic and seem somewhat uncontrolled."
"Still why set the bomb?"
"Leverage." Carter said.
"Bargaining chip." Ford said at the same time.
"Exactly." she said to him. Keffler nodded.
"Against what?" Barret asked.
"Sekhmet only has conscious control of the body for short periods of time. She wants more. She was going to blackmail you with the bomb." Carter said realizing everything.
"Oh the psyche is so simple isn't it. So simple minded. It's truly fascinating to behold." his attitude still on the I'm better than you are.
"She thinks you can give her that full control."
"Can you?" Barret said.
"She is the experiment. I am the observer." he said shrugging.
"Still, the Goa'uld personality didn't go out and do this on a whim. You've lead her to believe that you have the power to give her control of her life. And I bet that you did it so that she would tell you what you wanted to know."
"How to save us all, Major. I'm not the only one who wants to know."
Daniel was talking to her again as they were upstairs.
"I still don't remember anything."
"I know this must be hard for you."
"How can you know what this is like for me?"
"Cause I knew a boy once. He was like you."
"There are more like me?"
"Not exactly. He was born of two Goa'uld host. They call a child like that a Harsessis."
"What happened to him?"
"He was saved by a very powerful being. He ascended to a higher plane of existence. And when he did, he gained great power himself. He used that power to show me that all the knowledge and memories, passed genetically by the Goa'uld, there came a terrible burden, and how it was wrong to seek it for any reason."
"Can I be saved like him?"
"Maybe. Honestly I don't know. Will you help us shut this bomb off?"
"I don't know how."
"You knew how to open the Ark. It was in your drawings."
"I don't remember turning it on." she said turning away.
"I know, but somewhere inside your mind is the answer. And I can help you find it."
Down with the bomb Teal'c and a guy from the SGC were going over it. Well the guy was anyway. He had a laptop out and a hand held scanning device going over the Ark. Barret was there kneeling next to the box.
"According to these readings there a ten pound block of naquada in this thing." Dr. Lee said putting the device down.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Barret asked.
"That it would be very bad if it went off."
"Well it's a bomb, so it's usually not a good thing when they go off, right?" he asked.
"True."
"Can we move this?"
"From what I know of Goa'uld weaponry. That would be unwise." Teal'c stated. "It would most likely have a sensor that would detect such action."
"Yeah, I don't even want to go there." the bald scientist said. "Let's see if we can disarm it here first."
"I'm going to get the local authorities to start evacuating the local area." Barret said getting off the floor.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"How large an explosion are we talking about here?" Barret asked turning around next to Teal'c.
"I don't know. How big is Orange county?"
"You're kidding right?"
"Do I look like a practical joker to you?" Lee said sounding serious about the problem.
Barret left shaking his head.
Daniel was still trying to help the girl as everyone continued trying other things.
"The images just come to me." Anna said looking at the picture Daniel was holding up. "I just draw them. I don't know what they mean."
"Just relax and think about it. When you look at this, what comes to mind?"
"The blackouts…they're happening more and more."
"Do you trust me?" he said slowly lowering the picture. "Do you trust me? I want to help you. I don't want to hurt you."
"After I help you?" she asked crossing her arms.
"It's not like that. We have to shut this bomb off."
"How many birthdays have you had?"
"That's not important right now."
"You sound just like him." she stated angrily.
Daniel just looked at her a moment. He thought about something then left.
"I heard you were in here. What are you doing?" Barret asked politely as he came into the room where Daniel was looking over the tapes where Keffler was talking to Anna.
"I noticed that most of the tapes were labeled Anna. Not just the security video footage tapes, but the actual documented of the research." he said holding a blue movie box under his chin with both hands.
"Anything useful?"
"No. Just something she said when we were talking. How I reminded her of Keffler. Figured I needed to learn more about how he dealt with her before I pressed her to much."
"What are the chances you'll find out how to deactivate the bomb before the time runs out?"
"I don't know." Daniel said slowly looking at him from a glance.
"We're just trying to get as much of the area evacuated as quickly as we can. We just don't know how big the blast is going to be."
Barret noticed Daniel now looked like he was feeling the burden.
"No pressure. I'll leave." he said walking away quickly then.
Daniel closed his eyes like why me and picked the remote back up pressing the play button hard.
"You know, I'd feel better if I knew you were working on the bomb." Barret said after coming into the room where Ford and her were still working on the computer.
"Dr. Lee is the best we got for this and Teal'c knows more about Goa'uld weapons than I do." Carter said with a sigh.
"What about you?" he asked Ford.
"Me? Unless it's a nuclear bomb or less, something of this planet, sorry. I'm more likely to blow us up." Ford said looking over a note written down on papers. "Though we make it out of this, I plan on learning in case of a future incident."
"Okay then. Why you still here then?"
"I wanted to see if there was anything more in the research notes that might help." Carter said.
"Like what?"
"Well, if we can offer Anna a cure for her condition, she might be more willing to help us. She's been horribly mistreated, and without intervention, she has very little hope of survival. At the time they made her, they had no idea what her life span was going to be. Based on her current rate of growth, I estimate it can't be more than three years."
"Can you help her?" Barret asked sadly.
"Possibly. We should at least be able to halt the rapid growth effect of the nanites. I doubt we can un-marry the Goa'uld DNA from hers, we might be able to block the knowledge from her unconscious mind. Stop it from possessing her. We've had some luck with certain medicines in similar situations before."
"I suppose the fact that you've had similar situations shouldn't come as a total shock."
Carter paused a moment before speaking.
"Anything on your end?"
"Keffler. He wants to chat."
"That's a surprise. Maybe this time he will be more forthcoming." Ford said.
"Short of that, I'm thinking about letting you hold him out the window."
"It actually works, on most people."
Daniel was still poring over tapes when something caught his attention. As he fast forwarded and rewound the tape, he noticed Keffler was holding something in his hand pointing it at Anna. On the tape Anna yelped in pain.
"There is a cure Anna. You can be a normal girl, live a normal life. You can be free." Keffler said walking around the glass cage.
"Or you can continue to suffer." he said pointing at her again. She cried out in pain again.
"I don't know anything!" she cried and then doubled over. "Please stop." Suddenly she stood up.
"Stop this at once! I command you!" Sekhmet said coming forth.
"Now we are getting somewhere." Keffler said crossing his arms and leaning again the cage wall.
"Let me out of here."
"In due time freedom can be yours."
"Do you think that I would just tell you the secrets of the Goa'uld?"
"If you want to live." he said still leaning against the wall and waving a small device.
It looked like a simple small push button thing, like key attachment for unlocking car doors.
"You will not kill me."
"I can make another as easily as I made you."
"If it were up to me, I would rip the heart from your beating chest and feed it to you." she said leaning close to the wall and sneering.
"Such colorful language. Let's focus on the task at hand shall we." he said moving over to the corner of the wall.
Daniel turned off the tape.
"Son of a bitch."
Barret, Carter and Ford were up with Keffler again. Somehow he had cigarettes again and was smoking.
"We have the same goal. I do not wish to see my work go to waste." he said tapping the cigarette. The three looked at each other almost in disgust.
"Look, I know her. I know how her mind works. I can get you what you need." he said.
"Yeah, I've read about your methods." Carter said with distaste.
"I will only talk to her. Your welcome to be present the entire time." he said smirking.
"Somehow I doubt the talking part." Ford said.
"What do you want in return?" Barret asked. "I can't believe you're doing this solely for the greater good."
"My freedom."
"Please. A Presidential pardon couldn't free you." Ford said sarcastically.
"Not a chance." Barret said agreeing.
"I am guilty of nothing more than trying to save this world. Just like you. We are at war." he said putting a new cig to his lips.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Carter said. "I've heard that defense." she said turning and leaving. The other two followed.
"What choice do you have?! How many people will die if that bomb goes off?"
"Better hope we get lucky or else when we evacuate I'll personally strap your ass to the thing before we leave." Ford said sticking his head back in.
He said it making sure only Keffler heard.
"Let's just say we're considering this. Do you have the authority to offer him immunity?" she asked as they stopped a few yards away from the room. Daniel came running in as Barret answered her.
"Trust me, no matter what we decided to do, no court is ever going to hear about this."
"Daniel?" Carter asked as he walked past them furiously.
Ford was about to walk away from the door as Daniel came by him and went over leaning on the table.
"You let her out didn't you?"
"You must be Daniel Jackson." he said. The cig still between his lips and just lit.
"Daniel what's going on?" Carter asked coming in.
"He controls when the Goa'uld comes out. It's not just random. He has himself a little remote control."
"Remote control? About this big?" Ford said making a small gesture with his fingers. "Looks like a car alarm for a key chain?"
"Yeah." Daniel said.
"This maybe?" Barret said taking the object from his pocket.
"That's it." Daniel said nodding. "Uses it to shock her. He can make the Goa'uld personality appear or he can kill it."
Daniel glared at Keffler who still smirked through it all.
"Why? Were the other scientist going to shut down you research? Maybe report on your little science experiment?"
"You have no proof of that."
"You used that device to bring out her Goa'uld personality, then you let her out of her cage. You murdered thirty two people."
"Speculation."
"You can control her with that. If you didn't want all the other scientist dead, why didn't you stop her?"
Keffler smiled and blew smoke up into the air.
"I vote we throw him into the cage with her. Tie him up first and come back in an hour." Ford said.
"I like that idea." Barret said.
"Nice." Daniel said.
"Perfect idea." Carter said. "Poetic justice."
"Maybe we should considering what I saw on those tapes." Daniel said. "What's the saying, Revenge is sweet."
Lee and Teal'c were still working on the Goa'uld bomb. Lee pulled a small panel off the side revealing about thirteen glowing crystals in different area's.
"Careful." Teal'c said.
"Okay, just because the cover wasn't booby trapped doesn't mean the crystals themselves are safe to touch."
"That is correct." Teal'c stated.
Lee ran a scanning device over the crystals.
"There's no energy signatures. I don't think there is any force fields or sensors protecting the compartment." he said going to reach in.
"I am unsure, which of these crystals will control the detonating of this device." Teal'c said holding a hand up for Lee to not touch.
"Well, blue is technically for power regulation."
"Indeed."
"So if we remove the power regulation for the entire control board.."
"The device could explode." Teal'c said finishing his statement.
"Yeah I suppose." he said sighing. "It's not like I was going to pull the yellow one."
Teal'c tilted his head to the side.
Ford's idea didn't have the actual effect they hoped and since Keffler wasn't going to be more forthcoming, they left to regroup even after he was dragged halfway to the room with her. He just kept saying it wouldn't work and that what they were doing was wrong. Once they got halfway there, Barret had one of his men take Keffler back.
"Obviously letting Keffler anywhere near the girl is out." Barret said as they all watched him being lead away.
"And if we're going to get the bomb deactivation code from Anna…..you're going to have to do it." she said to Daniel.
"Right." he said after a moment. He walked away then.
"Good luck." Ford said meaning it. "Sam, I need to talk to you in private."
Barret walked away, far away down the hallway. No one was around.
"I….uh wanted you to know that if we fail and this bomb goes off, meaning we don't get away fast enough, I wanted to tell you that I truly love you." he said kissing her hand.
"Ford." she said smiling while shaking her head. She was blushing to. "I appreciate that, but I still believe we are getting out of this."
"So do I, but just in case." he said putting a hand on the side of her face.
"Thanks." she said rubbing his hand. "I love you too."
They shared a brief kiss then she said they should get back to work before anyone came along.
"Okay, this red one seems to control the timer." Lee said pointing to that one.
He had several wires attached to the different crystals that led back to his laptop.
"Now I should be able to interface with it and reprogram it." he said picking the laptop up pushing buttons.
"Anything happening?" he asked as Teal'c watched the red light symbols that still moved.
"The countdown has begun increasing in speed."
"What?" he said quickly removing the wire from the crystal. "Did it stop?"
"Yes." he said seeing there was a lot more symbols lit up. "However…"
"How's it coming?" Barret asked walking in. Seeing the looks on their faces. "Not well I take it?"
"Well, no. We just had a little set back."
"What?"
"Well I was trying to interface with one of the control crystals and…."
"The time until detonation is now less than two hours." Teal'c stated leaning on the Ark.
"Okay." he said almost fearfully. "Let's hope Doctor Jackson is having better luck."
The other two looked at each other as he left quickly.
"They're trying to evacuate as many people as possible but if that bomb goes off, people are still going to die." Daniel said walking up to the glass cage. Anna was laying on her bed looking at him.
"Including us?"
"We have a helicopter standing by to fly us to a safe distance if it comes to that. Which I hope it doesn't because a lot of others won't have that luxury."
"I've been trying. I can't see anything."
Daniel moved away and sat down in the chair near him.
"You know, not so long ago, I had my memories erased."
"How?"
"It's a long story, but the point is I was able to access certain lost memories by meditating. A friend of mine showed me how to do it. Now I think that can help you."
"What I see scares me so much." she said her voice cracking.
"I know. And for good reason. Ultimately, it's up to you. I can't force you and I won't. And I promise, either way, we're going to try and help you so you can live a normal life."
"He always said he could do that."
"Well the truth is we are not sure if we can, but we are going to try anything and everything in our power."
In the room with the monitors Barret was on the phone.
"Okay, sure, yeah. 42 minutes and 15 seconds. Right, I'll check back. Bye." he said hanging up the phone. Carter and Ford came in and he turned in the chair.
"We've got ten city blocks in each direction evacuated."
"That's no where near enough." Carter stated.
"You need several more miles if I'm right with my figures." Ford said.
"That many? Oh great."
"I just finished going through the files in the computer."
"We found very disturbing results. She's in more trouble than we thought." Ford said.
They all went to Keffler again.
"Even if we halt the rapid growth effect of the nanites, you didn't isolate the gene that carries the Goa'uld genetic knowledge." Carter said walking around the table going behind him.
Ford was ready for the guy to move. If he made one wrong move toward her that would be it for the poor doctor. Keffler was beginning to look frayed and tired and it was probably cause he wasn't allow any more cigarettes.
"We didn't have time to sequence the entire strand. The goal was to get intelligence Major. Not create a viable living organism." he said forcefully.
Carter had walked back over standing next to the guys again.
"I don't understand." Barret asked.
"The way he blended the DNA. There's nothing we can do from stopping the Goa'uld DNA from eventually taking over. It will physically overwrite the human and nothing I know of will stop it."
"What's going to happen to her?" Barret asked.
"She'll die." Carter said quite angry. "A horrible painful death. There's no cure, no way to save her. Just another lie."
"I placed a capsule of bio-toxin at the base of her brain. It's remote controlled. I did this to prevent any undue suffering when the time came." he said crossing his arms like he was protecting himself and leaned back in the chair.
"How humane of you." she said turning away and leaving.
"I say we really throw him in there with her this time. The Goa'uld personality will show it's self then and we might get some answers."
"We can't do that." Barret said.
"Why not? He deserves it."
"He does, but we can't do it."
"This is just like what happened to Cassandra." Ford said as he caught up with her.
"We were at least able to save her." she said agreeing.
"Just relax and try thinking of nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Think of an empty room." Daniel said from the cross legged position he was in. Anna was doing the same thing on the floor, but from in the cage. They both had their eyes closed. The also had a lit candle in front of each other.
"You see a doorway. Go to that door and open it." he paused a moment.
"Go through. You inside of a stone room. Floors made of polished marble. You're inside of a great pyramid. Ornate carvings of great snakes flank a beautiful golden throne. You see a window. You walk towards it. Outside are thousands of people. Slaves who worship you as a god. You have great power over them. The power to decide who lives and who dies."
Anna started shaking slightly.
"No!!!" she screamed. She stood up suddenly.
"I will tell you nothing." Sekhmet said. Daniel stood up with her.
"Anna!!!"
She started going about the room tearing down all the pictures and knocking things over.
"Anna stop!!!" Daniel yelled.
Sekhmet knocked over a table with lots of books then went over to the glass wall where she was previously sitting and picked the candle up. As she started lighting the papers.
"No!!!!!" he said watching it burn. Suddenly it started getting quicker.
"FIRE!!!!!" he yelled. "Fire!!!! Hurry!!!!"
A couple of FBI agents rushed in. One pulled a gun and the other got a fire extinguisher off the wall.
"Hurry!!!!"
He watched as the fire grew all around her and she smiled wickedly through it all.
Barret and Carter were running down the hallway after hearing what was going on. Ford was behind them.
"Daniel. You okay?" Carter said running over to him. He was on the floor. Barret went and checked his men out while Carter was with Daniel.
"Where is she?" he asked slowly waking up.
"She won't get far. All units, this is Agent Barret. The female prisoner is on the loose. Be on the look out for her. Secure all exists."
On a the CB unit of the guy watching Keffler, who was laying with his head down on the table in his arms, it came to life. He looked up listening to it.
"Repeat, secure the perimeter and begin a full sweep. The suspect is armed and dangerous."
Barret walked through a doorway where it looked like this section was still being built. It was dark though and he had his flashlight out along with his gun.
"Find anything?"
"Not yet." Barret said looking at the remote. Ford had came with him after seeing Carter was watching Daniel.
Stairs led down only getting darker below. As they started down a hand grabbed Barret's feet and made him fall down the stairs to the ground. Ford pulled his gun and then the stair he was on was broke from underneath him as he went through them landing on the floor hard. He got kicked in the head and his gun was taken. Ford shook his head and got up quickly grabbing her arm, she rounded on his hitting him square in the throat then shooting him in the chest with his own gun. She then went over taking the remote that was near the unconscious Barret and took off after dropping the assault rifle.
Daniel was looking through the burnt pictures trying to find a clue. He found it.
"I don't think she's acting as the Goa'uld." he said running out.
"Daniel!" she said reaching down and taking the nine millimeter from the knocked out guard in the cage. She followed after him quickly.
Keffler was standing and grabbing his arm and panting like he was short of breath.
"I just….just need a drink of water. I'm not feeling 100." he said walking slowly to the water fountain. The guard came in with his hand on his gun.
Keffler reached for the small cup then grabbed the guys shoulder.
"Um….my pills." he said acting worse then grabbed the taser on the guys hip activating it.
The guard grunted then passed out. He reached down taking the nine millimeter from the guards holster.
"I think it's the deactivation code." Daniel said dropping the paper's on the bomb. It showed a picture of the top of the bomb. He left after dropping them. Lee and Teal'c just looked at each other. He ran back up finding Keffler was missing and the guard knocked out. Seeing that he ran to find the others.
Carter came following the direction they two guys went, flashlight showing ahead of her.
"Ford? Agent Barret? Come in this is Major Carter. Respond please." she said through the CB. "Ford? Agent Barret?"
There was a clicking noise on the unit, but she figured it might be static as she ran forward. She found Barret lying on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Ford was no where to be seen, and that bothered her. She couldn't have sworn she heard a gun go off earlier too. One of his guns.
"This is Major Carter, Agent Barret is down and needs medical attention. We are in the northeast corner on level one."
"Sam…" a voice said behind her.
She turned quickly pointing her gun. Her flashlight made out Ford sitting against the wall under the stair case.
"Ford! What happened?" she said moving underneath.
"I don't know which is worse. The fact that she got the better of me." he said slowly. "Or the fact she shot me with my own gun."
He opened his coat to take a look. He was shot alright. Bullet got him in the left upper chest.
"Are you okay?" she asked concerned. At one time she would have really been afraid about this happening to him, but seeing he had to have his head cut off, well….
"Yeah. Just help me up." he said reaching out. She got his arm around the back of her neck.
"What happened?"
"We were coming down the stairs and she pulled his feet out from underneath him. He fell and I drew my gun as she pulled the stair out from underneath me. I should have realized those stairs couldn't take all my weight too long." he said as they proceeded down looking for Anna anyway.
"After I fell through she kicked me. I got up and grabbed her, she turned around hitting me in the throat, grabbed my pistol I dropped and shot me point blank. After that, I heard your voice and well you know the rest." he said standing up completely.
"You better?"
"Much." he said breathing deep. "Pride is wounded, but oh well."
"That's it. It's off. I mean the lights turned off." Lee said after Teal'c had touched a couple of the symbols. After he did all the lights went off. "That means it's off right?"
"Indeed."
"Well hey!" he said putting his hand up for a high five. Teal'c didn't do anything.
Keffler was avoiding everyone, the security guards as he looked around down near the pipes. He saw a guard pass by and hid again when Anna came running by on the other side of the room. He took off after her following the pipes and came to a dark section with a small light and looked around then took off to the left seeing a ladder. As he went up it Anna came out of the darkness.
"Drop the gun." she said pointing the large revolver at him.
"Anna…" he said surprised.
"Drop it!" she commanded.
He nodded, dropped the gun he had while reaching out as he moved away from the ladder. He moved to the passage way he just came through.
"Come with me, now, to the lab, I will help you."
"You can't help me."
"Whatever they told you…"
"Doesn't matter. I never believed you."
"Anna. I did it to help people." he said trying to justify what he did. He didn't even sound afraid.
"All the evil I have seen in my mind, nothing I've seen in my mind, compares to what I see in you."
Footsteps could be heard approaching from above. A shot rang out as the footsteps kept approaching.
"Anna!!!!" Daniel yelled running.
He dropped down the stairs finding Anna falling. He caught her and slowly let her to the ground.
"What did you do?"
"You couldn't help me." she said sadly as her hand opened showing the remote. She died moments later.
Carter and Ford came running up after a few minutes finding Daniel still next to her on the floor.
"Daniel?" Carter asked.
"She killed herself Sam. I couldn't stop her." he said sadly.
"I'm sorry we couldn't do more Daniel. She didn't deserve this." Ford said putting a hand on his shoulder.
"I know."
"We can at least give her a proper burial. She's not in any more pain. Sam found out she had only a few days at most left."
Daniel nodded and slowly picked her up. Carter called in their position so someone could come get Keffler. Ford asked if Daniel wanted help and he shook his head. He retrieved his pistol off the ground and put it away following them out. Carter told him to closed up his coat so no one would ask about his injury that wasn't there.
When they got back, Teal'c and Lee told them the bomb was deactivated. Barret was taken to the hospital with a possible concussion and a few other minor injuries. Anna was taken away and they went back to the SGC after making a brief statement.
