Makepeace ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Follow the yellow brick road." He turned around the bend to see that the force shield was protecting him from much more then leaving, but also prevents people on the outside really seeing what was on the inside.

The cave was not a bleak black hole in the ground. It was a vast room full of blinking colours. Makepeace was at a loss. He glanced down the edge of a seemingly endless cliff. He kicked a rock down and didn't hear it hit the ground. He tried yelling for help, but not even Heimdall responded. He glanced upwards and found no escape upwards and repelling wasn't an option. So he looked around aimlessly noticing a cross of moss, gorse and mold growing on the gold plated rocks.

"Aw, Hell. Talk about Technicolor." He grumbled. He backed away from the rocks and looked around again, this time with a purpose in mind; to find ventilation. There was none. Makepeace was no medic, but he knew that a high enough concentration of those plants meant it became hallucinogenic and pretty soon he was going to start seeing things. The big gape in the ground that formed an endless cliff is likely real; he didn't think that he had been exposed to the mold long enough as he stepped in for it to take effect but from what he'd heard and seen of the Asgard, they could do just about anything by way of technology. The cliff could be a façade, hallucination or not.

"Wow, cool place you got here, Makepeace. Built it yourself?"

Makepeace swiftly turned around instinctively reaching for his weapon that would ordinarily be attached to his hip by means of a holster but finding none at his side. He wiped a drop of sweat off of his face by what he saw. Standing before him was a crisp clear image of Colonel Jack O'Neill. A sly smile formed on Jacks face. He stood motionless as Makepeace doubled over in pain. He wiped his face again. He straightened up. "Jack, what the hell are you doing here?"

Jack tilted his head to the side and scratched his chin lazily. "Well that's the tricky part. Carter could probably explain it better than me. She's really smart you know. Can figure things out like that!" He snapped his fingers exaggeratedly for emphasis.

Makepeace rolled his eyes. "Jack?"

"Long story short; I'm not here, you are." Jack pointed to Makepeace with a partial serious tone overlapping in his voice. The childishness that was typical for Jacks nature had disappeared. Realization came to the Colonel.

"What? I imagined you."

"Yeah, more or less." O'Neill shrugged.

Makepeace began shaking his head. "Sorry, Jack. But why the hell would I imagine you?"

"Maybe you like me the best."

"You're the one that put me in prison for trying to defend the planet!"

"No, Makepeace," Jack somberly shook his head. "You were doing it wrong."

"Whose to say that I'm doing it wrong!" Makepeace yelled as his face turned red at yelling at Jack. He coughed. Jack only stood as the Jarhead regained his bearings.

"You can't freak out like that here, Jarhead. You're running low of oxygen and as you've already guessed, there are no vents."

"What are you doing here, O'Neill?"

"I think that's for you to figure out."

Colonel Makepeace doubled over in pain. His gut was telling him that the problems he was experiencing were not coming from the mold alone. He hit himself in his stomach and gripped the side of the cave as the dizziness flooded through his mind. His eyes weren't dilating correctly and his entire body fell limb against the floor of the cave. "Go to hell." He muttered as he passed out.

O'Neill just stood with his hands in his pockets gently rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet. He casually cocked his head to the side and a smile crossed his face. His emotion was completely unchanged by Makepeace's condition. "You first." Was his only reply.

It was many hours later before Makepeace awoke once again to find Jack staring at him again. "Rise and shine." He smiled brightly.

"What the hell are you still doing here?"

"Like I said, that's for you to figure out." While Makepeace was still trying to gather his bearings, Jack looked around the room. "Now, usually, I'd offer a hand, but I'm not really here. So, unfortunately my hand won't do you much good."

Makepeace ran his hand through his hair and rolled his eyes at his imaginary friend. "I don't need your help."

"Well obviously you do, otherwise I wouldn't be here."

"You're a figment of my imagination Jack." Makepeace wheezed.

"Yes, I'm sure that a Jarhead such as yourself has many figments, why then am I the one chosen to appear?"

"Because you're a pain in the ass!"

"Yes I am. What are you going to do about it?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'll leave when I'm no longer needed. Find what you have to do and I'll be on my merry way."

Makepeace scratched his head and punched the dirt wall that felt as hard as steel. He pulled his fist away and shook it frantically as it bruised. Anger now dissipating, he turned to his friend. "I don't know where to start."

O'Neill shifted his jaw and stared blankly into space then an idea suddenly burst its way into his mind. "What have the Asgardians said to you?" It was obvious that Makepeace was struggling to remember. He silently cursed his aging mind. "Did they say anything?" Jack paused and urged Makepeace to speak. "Oh, c'mon Makepeace! The Asgard don't usually leave us completely clueless."

"Some Asgard named Heimball-"

"Heimdall."

"Was stationed at the entrance. He didn't say much though but the Asgardian high council said that I would encounter three trials here and one that's not here that would determine my worthiness to live. None of them said what they would be, but that I would need courage, strength, wisdom and knowledge in order to pass. If I failed, it meant death."

"I don't like the sound of death." Jack remarked coolly.

"Neither do I."

"The first, virtue, if you will, is courage. So you have to do something courageous."

"No kidding, Jack," Makepeace rolled his eyes. "A monkey could have figured that one out."

"I'm a little bit smarter than a monkey."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Makepeace shook his head.

Jack smiled ruefully at him and dismissed his last comment as a remark said out of frustration and friendly banter between Jarheads and Flyboys. "What are you most afraid of?"

Colonel Makepeace snapped his attention back to Jack. It was a highly irregular question to ask and it surprised him. Ordinarily, Makepeace would have told him where to shove it, but this wasn't Jack; it was a figment of his own imagination. "Heights." Makepeace cringed. "I hate heights."

Jack walked to edge of the cliff and leaned over it as if he had nothing to fear. Jack thought hard as he scrunched his face like a little kid trying to figure out what two plus two equaled. Makepeace grew impatient. "Cheeky buggers." Jack remarked as he smiled to himself. He put his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. "This isn't really here."

"Come again?"

"You have to cross it."

"Nah, I threw a rock down there before. It fell but I didn't hear anything echo."

"No. That is empty space," Jack said pointing to where Makepeace stood. "This is a pathway." Jack drew in his finger and pointed northward in the direction in front of him. "You have to follow it."

"Jack?" Makepeace cocked his head to the side in fear.

"What, scared?" He challenged.

"No." He said all too quickly.

"Good." Jack turned back to the invisible pathway and pointed. "Cross it." Makepeace grimaced but swallowed his fear. He put his hands out to balance himself unsure of the width of the pathway. "One foot in front of the other." Jack mumbled quietly.

Makepeace started to sweat and placed one foot on what felt like solid ground but what looked like empty space. His mind began to play tricks on him as he felt the sensation of falling without falling. He shook his head as if in a bad dream and continued moving onward. He wiped his face. "Jack. I can't do this."

Makepeace turned around only to find that in the space that Jack once stood he saw no one. He knew that Jack was just a hallucination to begin with, but he heard a voice and could speak to it and it replied. It was likely a sign of insanity but now that it wasn't there, he felt truly alone. Makepeace turned his head forwards and kept walking. When he got to the middle of the platform he began to lose balance in his ankles then collapsed and crawled. It was a disgraceful way to get around but he found that his balance was better and the pressure that was building up in his ankles was disappearing. When he made it to the other side he managed to open a door that lead to a different room before he collapsed on the ground with Teal'c looming over him.