At Last, an Ancient in Atlantis

by palma

The Ori threat has become urgent, and SG1 searches for a way to counter them. This however will take them on a whole new adventure...to Atlantis. How did they get there and why? Crossover between SGA and SG1.

12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 - Truths and Revelations

The following day, after her 2 hour-long morning jog and various warm-up exercises, Angela found herself in a dark room in the base:

"Are all these machines really necessary?" Angela asked.

"Yes," the psychiatrist said simply.

"Aren't these sessions normally done lying down, on a sofa?"

"Spent a lot of time with psychiatrists?"

"No."

"Really?"

"I've seen it on TV, the sofa and everything. I always find a way of escaping."

"How?" Mitchell said, interested.

"This will just be a further study on your state of mind," he answered.

"Ah, that's what I thought. I thought I'd dreamt I'd already seen a shrink," she said jokingly.

"Ok, I'm going to start with some simple questions just to test the machines," he said, ignoring her remark, "I would of course ask you to answer honestly, there are no trick questions," he said as he sat facing Angela so he could see all his machines and took out a notepad.

Meanwhile, Mitchell was leaning against the wall behind the psychiatrist to see how Angela reacted to the questions.

"These machines are making me nervous."

"Just relax. Now."

"Come on, let's just get this over with!"

"What do you prefer, coffee or tea?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Just answer," said the psychiatrist, growing impatient.

"Is it to make the atmosphere more relaxed, is that it?"

"Yes," sighed the shrink.

"Well then neither, I prefer chocolate," on seeing the dejected look on the shrink's face, she went on to say, "uhh...coffee."

"Sweet or savoury?"

"Sweet."

Mitchell smiled as he knew that cakes were her weakness.

He asked her several more questions about her personal tastes before asking her the following:

"What do you hate most or can't stand the most?"

"You."

"Seriously now."

"Lying and the abuse of women and children."

"Your worst nightmare."

"Probably losing a loved one."

"How far would you go to protect your loved ones."

"Killing or dying."

"I'm sorry?" said the shrink, taking his eyes away from his notepad. He looked at the machines but none of the readings had changed.

"What's your next question?" she asked, as the pen danced across the notepad.

"What do you love?" the shrink continued.

"Having fun in a club."

"Your best dream?"

"A massive chocolate cake."

"Something you would never do?"

"Sleep with someone to get what I want."

"That's your answer?" he said, looking again at his machines. Nothing had changed.

"Don't you believe me?"

He then spent another 15 minutes asking her questions about her life.

"Do you have any enemies?"

"Like everyone I suppose!"

"Have you ever had...any sort of relationship with anyone?"

"Yes, several."

"What kind?"

"I'm the godmother to a handicapped child and I've been engaged."

"Really?" said the shrink, "there's nothing about that in your file," he said as he leafed through while Mitchell grew a little restless. "You used the past tense."

"Yes, but I don't want to talk about it."

"But that's the reason we're here. Did it not work out?"

"Yes, of course it did!" Angela was also beginning to get agitated now although the machines still showed nothing, "it's not easy to take care of a sick child."

"Yes I'm sure it is, but that's not what I was talking about. So, what happened? Did you fall out, was there cheating involved...?"

"No, he was killed. That's all."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"But you're not really, are you?"

"How did he die? An illness"

"On a mission."

"He was a solider too."

"That's right."

"What did you feel?"

"Sadness, emptiness, intense pain."

"What else?"

"Anger."

"With whom?"

"What?"

"With him for leaving you or with his killers?"

"Both, I guess," the pen hadn't stopped scribbling on the page.

"Why?"

"He took so many reckless risks."

"Don't you do the same?"

"Of course," she said, again growing agitated while the screens showed nothing.

The shrink stood up and checked the machine. She seemed to be alright and he hadn't noticed any change in her heart rate although he could tell she was agitated and upset. He continued to push her for a reaction.

"So, what you wanted was for him to stay safe at home while you went off and took all the risks?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"What did he think of that?"

"That doesn't matter."

"Maybe it does!"

"He wanted me to take less risks, take it easy and refuse to take on certain missions."

"And did you?"

"I always asked his opinion before a mission."

"And did he ever have a negative opinion?"

"Yes," Angela sighed.

"And what did you do?"

"I didn't go."

"Really? And did he listen to you?"

"Yes, sometimes."

"Hmm, and that day, did you want him to go?"

"No."

"And?"

"He didn't regret his decision."

"There's no way of knowing that. He's dead."

"I just know, that's all. That day he saved the lives of hundreds of people. He wouldn't have changed that for anything."

"What did you do afterwards?"

"What?"

"About his killers?"

"That's none of your business," Angela said, getting angry, but only her tone gave her feelings away while the rest of her body betrayed nothing. Even the machines remained calm. However, her voice alone was menacing. The shrink decided not to push the point any further.

"Did you hate them?"

"Yes! That's normal."

"Did you want revenge," the shrink asked with caution.

"Let's just say I finished the job and did what had to be done."

"Meaning?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Because you're ashamed of what you did?"

"No, not at all. In fact it was what I needed. That's all I can say."

"I need you to be more specific."

"Well you're not going to get it. It has to do with national security and it's classed as top secret."

"I don't see what that has to do with this story."

"Well, it is and unless you have level V security clearance, then this interview is over."

"Level V? Well, if I'm here, I assume I must have that clearance to hear your answers."

"Your being here doesn't mean you're allowed to know my answers."

"Well I don't think that's for you to decide."

"She's right," Mitchell intervened, "this base is classed level IV and even I didn't know level V existed."

"Well, I think our interview is over," Angela said, as she removed the electrodes and stood up.

"I still..."

"Have a good evening," Angela said as she headed for the door, "anyway, I have an appointment with some training," she finished as she left the room. Mitchell stayed where he was, surprised by her theatrical exit.

As she left, Angela was fuming inside, even if it didn't show on her face. It wasn't just her either, but the corridors were reflecting how she felt: the neon lights in her path flickered off and then on several seconds after she passed. Mitchell decided to keep a certain distance between them as he followed her so as to avoid any problems. He tried to warn any airmen to make way for her to stop anything from going down. Unfortunately, he lost track of her where two corridors intersected. She was volatile. He thought about looking for her but changed his mind when the corridor was suddenly plunged into darkness. Angela really did seem to want to be alone. He decided to go and join Sam while Angela went off to do her exercises, which he hoped might calm her down.

As he was entering the lab, Mitchell ran into General O'Neill. Out of politeness, he motioned for the General to go first.

"Hey," Sam said, sounding distracted and still hunched over her computer, "so, any news?"

"Uh, the interview with the shrink didn't go so well," Mitchell said.

"Hmm," Sam said.

"And," Jack said, seeing that she wasn't listening, "I met Nicole Kidman walking round the corridors."

"Hmm."

"Hello! Earth calling Carter, permission to land?" Jack said.

"Sorry, General," Sam said as she sat down, "what have you found out?"

"Doesn't really matter..."

"Angela stormed out of the interview."

"Ah, okay," said Sam.

"Well, sometimes people just touch a nerve," said Jack.

"That would explain all the power fluctuations on the base. I thought it was you trying one of your new experiments again," said O'Neill as he turned to once again face Mitchell. "Well, she needs to get a hold of herself. You don't know how tiring it is to work in these conditions or how much it pains me that I can't read mission reports because of the lights."

"Well there is the emergency generator that...," said Sam.

"Really?" said Jack. " Since when have we had one of those? I see things have changed around here."

"It's just an excuse to...," Sam said.

"I'm just kidding, I read it in one of Teal'c's little notes. Anyway, just tell me the short version of what you found out about the Ancient device."

"Nothing," Sam said.

"Then what am I doing here?"

"I don't know, I didn't call you."

"Yes, but I had this sudden sensation that I tend to get when you've discovered something and I suddenly have this desire to come and see you in your lab, so..." said Jack, hoping that it wasn't for some other reason that he'd felt compelled to come and see her.

"Actually, Jack, we've found out a few things," said a male voice behind them. They turned round to see Daniel appear, whom they hadn't seen leave hidden as he was behind a pile of books.

"Where did you spring from?" Jack asked. "Did I miss something when I left."

"Uhh, yeah, sorry about that Jack. I was using the Ancient device to cross over into a dimension like the one Merlin's device could reach," Daniel explained.

"So, what are all these books doing in Sam's lab?" Mitchell asked.

"Oh, that's a good point. Why?" said Jack, mocking the habit Daniel had for leaving his books everywhere he went.

"Uhh, she needed me and I couldn't break off from my books and translations, so..."

"Ah, okay, so..." Jack said, cutting him off, "are you finally going to tell me what gave me this sudden desire to come down here to see you?"

"It has to do with the gate activating the other day," Sam said, typing something on her keyboard.

"Okay...so?" said Mitchell.

"See? He gets impatient too?" said O'Neill.

"Well, as you know, there was an unauthorised gate activation, but because the program detected an anomaly, it shut down the dialling sequence."

"So, it wasn't a glitch?" said Mitchell.

"No," said Daniel.

"And, whenever the gate is activated, a programme diverts the necessary power to the gate to prevent any overload but this time that power wasn't made available to the gate. The program just recorded a sudden increase in external energy and shut down the system," Sam went on.

"So, there was another power source?" said Jack.

"Yes and that' the problem. An energy source of that size shouldn't be undetectable, General, but I couldn't find the source even though something on that magnitude should be easy to trace."

"And that's not good for us?" Mitchell asked.

"The other problem is that the energy signature came from inside the base, so it wasn't an external activation."

"We've concluded that it might have been an enemy mole trying to open this gate without being detected," Daniel said.

"No, that doesn't make sense," Mitchell said.

"It doesn't?" said Jack

"Daniel, I don't think Cam's wrong,"Sam said, "there was nothing unusual about the activation sequence and the access codes were valid so there was no reason to shut down the connection. Apparently, there was enough power for the connection, but for whatever reason it was interrupted. The program detected a power level higher than normal when we go on missions, but what caused it to shut down was the sudden surge in power."

"So there wasn't enough power? I'm getting confused, I thought the energy released was important," Mitchell said.

"I don't know," Sam said.

"Maybe it's a virus that was trying to open the gate so we could be spied on," said Jack, "we've seen that before."

"Our last problem is the first symbol in the dialling sequence that the gate recorded. General, it was trying to connect to the Pegasus galaxy, most likely Atlantis according to Daniel," said Sam.

"There wasn't any contact scheduled with the base," said Jack, "we should apprise them of our situation."

"I'll see to it," said Sam, "there's no reason why that connection should have been made. We control all contacts with Atlantis because we usually don't have the power necessary for that connection. Each time we make contact with Atlantis, we use a special program."

"I'm guessing that's not what was used this time," said Mitchell.

"So, what did happen?" Jack asked.

"We don't know," Daniel admitted.

"Angela and I were in the gate room at the time and we didn't notice anything out of the ordinary," Mitchell said.

"Really?" Daniel said in a surprised tone, then returned to his translations.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," said Jack, "and the next...feeling...don't act on it!" he said as he left the lab.

"I wonder if Teal'c really writes post-it notes?" Sam asked.

"I think the question is more like what does he write!" said Mitchell, "okay, well I'm gonna leave you to your...problems," he said as he also left the lab.

As he was leaving, he asked himself if there was anything he could be doing. He was getting a little bored. It had been several days since he last went through the gate. He decided to go and join Angela in the infirmary. Once there, he saw Teal'c sitting behind the isolation bay.

"Everything okay?" Mitchell asked.

"She arrived annoyed. She clearly possesses great stamina," said Teal'c, "she has been running at this pace for nearly two hours."

"Are you kidding?" said Mitchell as he looked down into the isolation bay and saw Angela running at a steady pace, "she's going to wear herself out. She already ran for an hour and a half this morning, she must be tired."

"Indeed," said Teal'c.

"How fast is she going?" Mitchell asked.

"She has been running at 28 kph for the last 10 minutes. In fact...," he said, as he turned a switch which showed 30 kph.

Surprised on realising that the speed had been increased, Angela shot Teal'c a glance.

A fairly long tube was measuring her lungs' capacity to intake and use oxygen while electrodes positioned in various places, particularly near her heart and brain, were monitoring her stress levels. Teal'c was watching the screens closely.

"She must have chosen a race course from the beginning. Unfortunately, she picked a starting speed that was already high, most likely because she was angry. She was running at 12 mph. Doctor Lam then asked me to increase the speed gradually to measure her endurance and resistance. She is adapting quite well, according to the doctor," Teal'c explained.

"What's this red line?" Mitchell asked.

"That is her adrenaline level. It was already elevated when she began and only began to fall 50 minutes ago. Her brain capacity is also dropping. It is currently at...15, most likely due to her fatigue."

"But it's still high in any case. How much longer does she have to do?"

"As soon as her heart rate reaches a speed of 200 beats per minute."

"After running for two hours, she should already be at that."

"Her resting heart rate is 40," Teal'c said.

Mitchell glanced at the screen.

"So, she's at...180"

"Yes, for 30 minutes."

"30 minutes?" Mitchell said, surprised.

"Indeed, she is only now beginning to become tired. Her average effort is 120 beats per minute."

"Remind me never to go running with her," Mitchell said.

As Mitchell was going over Sam's latest discovery, Dr Lam joined them.

"How's she doing?"

"Her adrenaline levels are beginning to drop," said Teal'c.

"Good, that means she's finally burning some of that energy," Lam said while looking at the screens and then at Angela, "and she doesn't seem as angry; she's getting tired."

"Well she has been jogging for three and a half hours."

"Yes but her body's reacting well to it. Her tumour isn't affecting her and her faculties aren't massively reduced. She's actually overheating a little on the heart and brain level because her brain is no longer regulating her temperature very well, but I can't say whether that's a result of being on her feet for three hours or whether it's being caused by the tumour. I see her cerebral and metabolic activities have also dropped sharply."

"Yes, they have been for the last five minutes."

"Her cerebral and metabolic activities are very low," she said as she stared intently at the screens, "far too low," she said as she took the microphone, "we'll stop it there for today, Angela, we'll drop the speed slowly."

Angela did not react. She continued to run with a fixed and vacant look on her face.

"She's not responding anymore. Her brain must not be receiving enough oxygen and she hasn't reached 200 bpm," the doctor said as she took her readings.

"What's going on? Why isn't she reacting anymore?" Mitchell asked.

"Her brain's lacking energy, sugars and oxygen. Her brain activity is too low, 12 Hz instead of 24 Hz. The brain works because of tiny electric shocks between neurons which allow nerves to pass messages but here it's not strong enough for the muscles to understand that message and act on it, almost like someone turned the sound down. She needs to stop because 12 Hz is the level she should be at while she's asleep except that here she's awake and if her activity continues to fall, she'll slip into a coma. Teal'c, keep dropping the speed gradually. I'll be back with a care team."

While Teal'c was reducing the speed, Angela was slowing down without realising it. Carolyn rushed to get back to her but in the time it took to reach her, Angela was walking and convulsing and was having trouble keeping upright. Mitchell helped the doctor to get Angela to the bed."

"Here, get her to take this," she said, handing Mitchell an energy bar.

"What's happening?" asked Mitchell as he saw Angela's empty gaze.

"How can I put it? Her brain, to put it simply, has disconnected. It's no longer following her body," she explained as she made Angela drink, "can you hear me?"she asked as she shone her torch in Angela's eyes to look at her pupils. What she saw were the whites of her eyes, "oh my God," she whispered.

Angela moved her head.

Mitchell looked into her eyes. They had changed. They had lost their glimmer. The doctor brought out some eye drops.

"It's only temporary, at least I hope it is. She just needs to eat."

A little at a time, Angela regained her strength.

"Apart from that, your physical looks pretty good for two hours of running."

"Three and a half," Mitchell added.

"Well, in any case, I'll sleep well tonight," said Angela suddenly, surprising them both, "did you have anything else in mind? Maybe a little combat exercise to see how I hold up in battle before I go out this afternoon. What? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"It's just that your eyes are..." Mitchell started, neither knowing what to say, "but to answer your question, I don't think so," Mitchell said, happy that she seemed to have regained the ability to speak.

"Go out?" Dr Lam said, sounding surprised.

"Yes. Jack promised to take me out," said Angela.

"I don't think that's..." the doctor began to say.

"I have to get out, I want to see the sky!"

"You've had enough exercise for one day."

"Oh, come on, that was nothing!"

"Mitchell, will you keep an eye on her for me, because I'm not sure I can convince her to rest."

"That's probably best," Mitchell said.

While Angela let herself be lead by Mitchell, they ran into Daniel.

"Did you know, Jack has a surprise for us this afternoon?"

"Yes," Angela answered, looking just above his shoulder as she couldn't see him properly.

Daniel looked around him, wondering what she was looking at behind him.

"Angela passed her physical with flying colours," said Mitchell.

"Why are you looking...?" Daniel said as he saw her eyes. They had turned from white to black with white dots, "ah, what happened? Your eyes are...black."

"Nothing," Angela lied.

"Black?" said Mitchell as he looked at her eyes, "oh yeah, they are black."

"So, why...?" said Daniel, moving his hand in front of her eyes. All of a sudden, she grabbed hold of him.

"Don't do that! It hurts my eyes," she surprised both men by how fast she moved.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you couldn't see."

"Obviously," said Angela.

"Hmm..." said Mitchell.

"I can't see, but I can make out movements. The doctor said it was only temporary. I'm feeling better already actually."

"Okay, see you later," said Mitchell as he guided Angela to her room before an argument could break out. Mitchell spoke to the guards following her and then went inside with her.

"I'll be back," said Mitchell.

"If you say so."

Mitchell left Angela sitting on the bed. He had barely left when she stood up and started moving things about on her desk. There was a file that smelled like Daniel. He just couldn't let her be. Being as she was nearly blind, she noticed that her other senses were heightened as a result, such that she was picking up other sensations. The situation gave her the sudden desire to take out her medal, a military ID badge. She held it in her hand and put the frame on the desk. Even though she couldn't see the photo, she knew it by heart. That day had brought back a lot of old memories that she had kept buried deep inside her. She traced her finger over the photo and held back a long overdue tear. Her fury reignited just a little, an easy flame to rekindle with time.

She then heard someone enter her room. She turned around, panicked, bumping her leg as she did so.

"Ow!" Angela groaned.

"I brought something to eat. Feel up to it?"Mitchell said as she rubbed her knee.

"I bumped my leg," she said, the pain audible in her voice. Then anger crept into her voice as she took the folder she had noticed on her desk when Mitchell left and tossed it into the bin in an attempt to calm both her pain and her anger.

"What did the file do to you? You really don't want anything to do with it, do you?" Mitchell sighed as he placed the tray on the bed.

"I suppose Daniel left it there," Angela said, sounding tired," well, in any case, I can't read it at the moment."

"Any excuse!"

"Hey, it's the truth!"

"Yeah, but that's no reason to throw it in the trash."

"Nowhere else for it," she said as she headed over to the bed.

"What about the desk," he said as he took her hand to direct her to the bed and sit down, but as he did so he saw she was holding something in her and. "What's that?" he asked.

She opened her hand, trembling lightly.

"Oh, it's your military ID. Wanna to put it on?"

"It's not mine. It's..."

"...your fiancé's," Mitchell finished for her.

"Yes," Angela whispered.

"I didn't know."

"I don't talk about him much. Not many people knew about him and he's gone now anyway. He gave it to me to protect me when I was away on missions but I think he needed it more than I did looking back now. It was a sign of his love as well. Funny present, huh?"

"Is that him in the photo?" he said, taking the frame from her.

"Yes...," she said, on the verge of crying, "it was taken in the South of France before he left on his last mission."

"I'd have liked to get to know him. I...I'm sorry the shrink asked you all those probing questions about him," Mitchell said as he approached her and pulled her towards him so her head was resting against his shoulder as he sat on the bed.

Mitchell liked being this close to her. He finally felt useful for the first time in two days. Even though it wasn't that hard to console someone, he was glad to be there for her.

"Okay, let's eat before it gets cold. We need to keep our strength up," Mitchell said, even though he didn't want this moment of contact and to end.

"Yeah," she said as she unlaced herself from Mitchell's comforting arms.

Mitchell placed the tray between him and Angela, creating a divide that he was afraid to breach again. There were all sorts of conflicting and even antagonistic feelings bouncing around inside Mitchell's head. Angela lifted the lids assuredly.

"How is it you can bump into things when you can make out movements?" Mitchell asked.

"I just need to concentrate, but I'll admit it's tough. I need to empty my mind, but after this morning I'm beat, so sometimes I find it difficult to concentrate."

"Here, try this," he said as he held out a fork to her.

She drew her mouth towards the fork without hesitating.

"Umm! That's not from the canteen, is it?"

No, I ordered Mexican, like..."

"...like old times," Angela finished.

"Yeah, in your opinion. Why the surprise?" he asked.

"I don't know, but we're going to burst without Daniel to help us with this, I think," she said as she took something from the tray.

"Why?"

"I don't know, I just get the feeling."

"And everyone else will be there."

"What?"

"Yeah, Jack and John will be there too."

"Umm, here try some of this," she said as she offered him the fork,

They had a good meal and talked about the memories they had in common. Little by little, Angela's sight cleared up, just like the doctor had said. A few minutes later, her eyes were more or less back to normal.

That was just in time for her to get ready to meet up with the rest of the team. Angela put on some old black clothes and wore a helmet. When she joined the others, everyone was ready except Daniel and Mitchell.

"Are you all ready?" said O'Neill.

"General, are you coming with us?" said Sam.

"Yes. I also have the right to a little fun!"

"Where are we going?" Daniel asked, ignoring Jack's remark.

"It is a surprise," said Teal'c, smiling. He was carrying an iron box.

"I see you know something we don't," said Mitchell.

"Indeed," said Teal'c, tilting his head.

"Okay, enough chatter. Let's go! This is not a drill," O'Neill said excitedly as he headed for the stargate.

"Is it painful?" asked Jack S., "just because from what I've heard, we get broken down into so many pieces and then put back together again. Couldn't we lose a bit?"

"That's never actually happened...," Sam began.

"So, it's not impossible then?" said John.

Teal'c followed Jack who went through the gate.

"They look like they're about to cry," Angela joked. Then, as she moved forward, she herself stopped and hesitated.

She didn't want to go through, but despite that put one foot in front of the other until she had stepped through the gate. She found herself in a dense, lush forest. The trees were enormous; the Giant Sequoias were nothing next to these.

"Whoa, the difference in environment is pretty shocking."

After Angela had passed through the gate, the two agents didn't hesitate to follow. But, once they arrived, she saw them checking to make sure they weren't missing anything. She laughed to herself and looked up at the sky: "ah, men, they're all the same."

"Okay, everybody's here!" said O'Neill, watching as Daniel arrived, "and all in one piece as far as I can tell," he said, looking at John and Jack S.

He leaned on the chest Teal'c had put on the ground in such a way as to hide it from the others' view. As he opened it, everyone came closer to see what it was. It was just weapons, which left Daniel disappointed.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do, we're having a manhunt," O'Neill said.

"Cool!" said Angela.

"I knew you'd be up for it."

"Jack, you dragged me all the way out here for this? I could've carried on with my research," said Daniel angrily.

"You owe me 10 dollars, Mitchell," Angela whispered in his ear, but just loud enough for O'Neill and Daniel, who were next to them, to hear. O'Neill smiled.

"These are paint guns with different coloured paint. You can work in groups or alone. And you understand it is a sort of test," Jack explained. "Help yourselves!" O'Neill said as he helped himself to a gun. "Oh, yeah, once you´ve been hit, come back here. You can only be hit once. For long-range shots you just need to lock your target. Whoever it is will know they've been hit because of their the wristband," he said as he held up a black wristband and passed them out.

Everyone put them on their forearms. At last they were all ready.

"You'll have 10 minutes to spread out. You've got the whole planet, well just the island really as you won't actually make it much further," said O'Neill, "if you do decide to work in groups, just remember that there can only be one left standing at the end, so choose your teammate well," Jack finished.

They all looked at one another to choose their teams.

"Well, I think I'd be better off alone," Angela said.

"As would I," said Teal'c.

"Oh, great! I was hoping we could go together," said O'Neill, "ah well, never mind. Daniel?"

Angela and Teal'c split off and went their own separate way. While Daniel and O'Neill's team made their way westwards, Sam and Mitchell headed East and John and Jack S. went south in the same direction as Angela.

Jack and Daniel walked for around 8 minutes in the direction of the mountains where they would be able to see pretty much everything.

"Okay, now let's find out where they are," said O'Neill as he pulled out a notepad laptop from his pocket.

"But, that's cheating!" said Daniel.

"Not at all. I'll bet you Carter thought about it and then there's Teal'c. He's got enemy and motion sensors in his head. And let's not forget Angela; she makes me shudder with the things she can do. We need to even out the odds a little!" Jack explained, "and anyway, this will let us know when they're within a few metres."

"And that's what the wristbands are for. I get it."

"Yes. Come on, this is gonna be fun!"

"If you say so."

"Okay, listen. I just want to keep an eye on out pilot. I wouldn't want to be stupid and lose her in the middle of the forest. Ah, there, you see?" said O'Neill, pointing to a point to the south on his screen, "that must be our young general. She hasn't made bad progress either, I'd say twice as far as us. And she's headed east, towards Carter and Mitchell. And I'm guessing these are our two secret agents. Who shall we start with, Daniel? Come on, pick one!" said Jack, "I promise I won't look at the screen again."

Carter and Mitchell came up close to a pile of rocks, which looked to be sandstone scattered all over with a fine layer of sand. That made it easy to find footprints. They climbed up on top of one of the rocks.

While Teal'c focussed on his surroundings, he was reflecting on the prey he was going to choose.

John and Jack were attempting to follow Angela's footsteps, but they were suddenly disappearing. They had lost her. She could be anywhere, watching them. They were easy targets.

Angela had got as far away as possible and when she had got halfway, she had climbed up a tree so she wouldn't leave any footprints on the ground. She went from tree to tree, constantly changing direction, until she decided to settle on what looked like a pine tree much taller than the others. From here, she could see all of her enemies approaching in a large perimeter. She took in her surroundings, memorising the smallest bush and rock. Sat there on the pine branch, she didn't yet know what strategy to adopt. She knew that Carter and Mitchell's team was in the east. She tried to locate them using the sights on her weapon, She decided to start with them. For right now, her only objective was to get down from her vantage point. She moved discretely down the giant tree and made her way in silence towards her new goal. She was perfectly camouflaged by her surroundings and apparel. Her movements were so discrete and precise that a person only a few dozen yards away wouldn't have known she was there and this is exactly what happened.

About fifty yards away, she began to crawl slowly towards the pile of sandstone rocks. When she got to a bush she had spotted before, she hid herself to rest. The silence remained unbroken by any sound, not even her breathing. She decided to observe the situation before taking action, because from here she could only see Sam and couldn't guess where Mitchell was. They were on the lookout. "Did they know she was here? But where exactly was Mitchell? Was this a trap to draw her in, using Sam as the bait?" It didn't matter. From where she was, she could eliminate one of them and retreat. She would get the other one later. Suddenly, a branch cracked and broke the silence a few hundred yards to her right. That drew Sam's attention, but Mitchell was still nowhere to be seen. She closed her eyes and listened to see if anyone else was coming. There were a few sounds, but nothing was headed in her direction. She got into firing position; if she didn't act now, she would be overtaken by...she recognised the sound of footsteps, but also heard clothes ruffling. She would've recognised their owner from hundreds of yards away in an instant: it was Daniel's walk, followed by other sounds she couldn't place. That was him alright. He never was discrete, not when he would come to her room at night to see her on the military base when they had been together. She could always make out the sound of his heart beating when he left his room to come and see her.

She pulled herself together and spotted Sam. She couldn't miss this chance. She waited for just the right moment. Sam also had something in her sights. Angela decided to look in her sight in the direction Sam was looking. Sam could see Daniel behind a tree. Angela decided to hit Sam when her friend got Daniel. That strategy would allow her to mask her presence. It was important for her to remain undetected so she could double back safely. The moment arrived. Sam fired. Angela didn't hesitate for an instant. She took her aim and fired within seconds. Both teams' exclamations were loud and clear. They were all stunned. Daniel had a blue stain on his chest while Sam had a pink one on her shoulder. The two 'dead guys' joined each other, still shocked, while Jack and Mitchell hid, their hearts beating, trying not to be heard. Both men asked themselves who had shot whom since they didn't know which colour represented which person. They were all disorientated and Angela took advantage of this confusion to make a discrete retreat. She made her way back to the pine tree she had left twenty minutes earlier.

At least two people were now out of the game.

For his part, Teal'c had also followed Daniel and O'Neill's team. He had also been surprised to see Daniel and Sam get hit as O'Neill hadn't fired and, unless Mitchell had betrayed Sam, there must have been someone else there. But, whoever it was, he didn't hear them. Strange, he couldn't hear any sound.

Teal'c put his doubts aside and decided to focus on O'Neill. He was going to have fun with this and follow him from nearby. Jack didn't dare move. He waited for a few minutes before getting up and moving further away. Meanwhile, Mitchell was doing the same.

As O'Neill was going to be eliminated, Angela made it back to her tree. She climbed up it and looked at the landscape, trying to find the slightest sign of the others. As she had suspected, Jack and John had followed her footsteps until they stopped. She smiled inside: "they're so easy to fool!" Now she would take care of these two and settle old scores. She was very excited, her hands crackling with energy. But she mustn't allow that to take over. Patience was the golden rule when hunting. Ten minutes later, she wasn't far from the two agents and a plan had already taken shape in her mind.

The losers had gathered at the rendez-vous point. Daniel, Carter and O'Neill were all there,

"Who got you two?" Jack asked them.

"I got Daniel, at least I think I did," said Sam.

"So who's pink?" Jack asked.

"Isn't that you? I thought it was you who hit Sam," said Daniel.

"No," said Jack, "I didn't hit anyone and I'm green, not pink," as he showed Daniel by shooting him.

"Hey!" said Daniel, "so who got you?"

"Pfff...Teal'c." O'Neill said, sitting down, "he's purple."

"So, who's pink?" said Sam, surprised, wanting to know who had shot her.

"I dunno," Jack responded.

He took out his notebook and looked at the different positions.

"You had our positions!" said Sam, "but that's cheating!"

"I told you, Jack," Daniel said, sighing.

"I didn't use it. I just prefer to keep an eye on our three new members. You never know and I think I'm right."

"What do you mean?" Sam and Daniel asked.

"Angela's headed towards her two enemies," Jack explained.

"That's not good. Sparks are going to fly," said Sam, "they'll kill each other."

"Well, it's best they get this core settled now," said Jack.

An hour later, John and Jack S. joined them. Jack had a pink stain on his heart and his penis while John's was on his shoulder. They were also not in good moods. They had been beaten.

"So, that just leaves three people," said Jack, "at least now I know who's pink! That's three kills to our pilot."

Angela had just left John and Jack. Her top lip was bloody, but it was her only serious injury, physically anyway.

She was very pleased with herself. She had notched up her kills to three and she was even happy because of the tension she had sensed in the two men as they left. In John, this tension had transformed into anger, then uncontrolled violence. She knew they were beaten men. She couldn't help but understand that with John, after what she had said, at last the anger had got to him. Sometimes words could do more damage than physical violence. She hadn't even had to use much physical strength. The two men had been confused as to the reason for her outburst. She didn't feel she had even been that hurtful with her words. Afterwards, she had made a quick departure so as not to get weighed down even further by her emotions. Now she would quietly by her tree for the other two and draw them towards her. From where she was, it seemed that Teal'c was teaming up with Mitchell, but unfortunately, they were nowhere near the young woman.

She focussed on a way to draw them in. The only way was to eliminate one of them. The only thing in the way of that was the distance. She got as high up in the tree as she could as she tested how solid the branches were. She chose a sturdy one and positioned herself along the thick part of the branch and laid out on it. She used her sights to seek out her next targets.

All this time, O'Neill was observing the last remaining players on his screen. The indicator that corresponded with Angela had become stationary while the other two were mobile and side by side, heading leisurely towards the east to Angela's position.

"Looks like Teal'c and Mitchell are working together, they're about two klicks away from our young lady," O'Neill informed everyone.

Angela found her prey and watched them through the sight on her gun. They still looked quite far away. When they got to 800 metres, she might be able to hit them, She would wait. It was only a matter of minutes.

For their part, the two men were walking briskly and in silence. Suddenly, Teal'c froze.

"Did you hear something?" Mitchell whispered.

Teal'c signalled for him to be quiet and then carried on:

"It was a false alarm. I believed someone was observing us but I believe we are getting close."

They were now slowly approaching the limit of Angela's sight. She could make a precision hit at 800 metres. Beyond that, there was the chance that she might not lock her target. The margin for error was too big. But they were getting nearer, ever so slowly.

"More than 900 metres," said O'Neill, "but they're too far to the east, they want to brush past her without running into her. She still hasn't moved. We should get closer and closer to them."

Teal'c felt nervous again for a few minutes. The sensation was getting greater, the feeling that he was being watched. He froze once again. Mitchell did the same, also keeping watch. They hid, but couldn't hear anything except the sound of their own breathing. Nothing was happening. Thinking they were out of harm's way, they stood up. But, Mitchell had barely moved one step when his bracelet made a sound. Teal'c turned round.

"What happened?"

"I...oh, I think I understand. She locked her target from a distance," said O'Neill, as he saw the indicator change to red.

"But that's impossible. You said she was more than 800 metres away," said Daniel.

"And yet you think she managed to wipe you out from more than 800 metres away?" said John.

Everyone turned to face him as John continued.

"She's an elite marksman, she never misses her target. She currently has about a hundred successful targets. She's the best one in the US and in other countries."

"She can target whoever she wants whenever she wants within a radius of roughly 1 kilometre with the right weapon," Jack S. added.

"Really! That's interesting. Daniel, you really do know how to pick your exes," O'Neill joked.

"What?"

"Forget it! It's worrying though, isn't it? Look at this!"

Mitchell was in trouble. Teal'c had stayed hidden. At that moment, Mitchell heard the voice of the General.

"Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell, are you there?" came a serious voice, garbled by the radio.

"Yes, General, I've been hit."

"I know. It's just Angela and Teal'c left now."

"So it was Angela who hit me!"

"Affirmative, Colonel. Come on, pull yourself together!" O'Neill said.

"O'Neill, that is impossible. I do not sense her presence, at least not close by," Teal'c said to Jack.

"Yeah, I know, she's far away and I suggest you stay undercover. She hit Mitchell from a range of more than 800 metres."

"Huh!" the two exclaimed.

"Yeah I know, it's worrying, I'll explain later. Anyway, she's 800 metres west of your position. Teal'c, go get her for me."

"Very well, I shall," Teal'c said as he stood up.

Angela had just felt a surge of adrenaline as she locked her target. The key was not to move and not to shake. Her heart beat hadn't even changed. She allowed herself to breathe only afterwards. There was only one left, and that one had suddenly hidden himself, Now, however, he was slowly approaching her position with caution.

"Teal'c, you should be a few metres away," said the radio.

"I do not see anything," whispered Teal'c.

"Are you sure?" said O'Neill.

"You think she took off her wristband?" Mitchell asked.

"You think so?", said Jack, "stand by, Teal'c, we're coming."

They all found themselves in the same place, but could find no trace of Angela.

She on the other hand was about to explode in a fit of laughter. The situation was comical. The team was looking for her everywhere except in the trees where she remained hidden and watching everything.

She decided to take a funny-shaped pinecone. It was time to end this game. Poor guys, they were acting like Inspector Poirot. She wanted to put an end to the suspense and threw the pinecone to land at Teal'c's feet. The cone she chose was strange. It looked like nothing she'd ever seen on Earth. It was a spindly, 4 inch thing that looked strangely like a long dagger blade. The red and yellow scales were very close together, but also very sharp. These hard scales left light imprints on the palm of her hand. She looked at it for a while and then threw it. The pinecone landed in a tree near Teal'c.

Reflexively, he instantly looked up to find out the reason why this sharp pinecone-like thing had fallen. That was when he saw Angela smiling.

Teal'c could sense Angela's presence, but couldn't see her, just when something dropped from the tree. Angela took aim and a pink stain appeared on his heart.

"Hi guys!"

"Oh! Why, you cunning...!" said Mitchell.

"Oh yes!" she said as she let herself slide from the branch and land on the ground. She looked terrible, with dead leaves caught up in her hair despite her helmet. She had scratches on her arms and her upper lip was bleeding after her fight with the two secret agents.

"You okay?" Mitchell asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, this is nothing. They fight like little girls," Angela whispered, "so, I think that makes 4 hits," she said, this time aloud, sounding proud of herself, "that was a good hunt for me," she said, looking at Jack S and John.

Flashback

Suddenly, Angela found herself face to face with the two men and had disarmed them by surprise in no time. But Jack hit her in the face, knocking her forcefully to the ground and left her shaken up for a few seconds. She had fallen fairly easily

replace all this with first paragraph of flashback

"You never should have gone to my grave," she screamed while struggling for breath, not because of the effort she was putting into the fight but because of her anger, as she stopped herself from frying him on the spot, "you noticed the words, but you don't think about them."

She picked up the gun that she'd dropped when she fell and fired twice at Jack who was laying on his elbows. John started towards her, no weapon in hand, he rubbed his cheek.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing!" she screamed, "it doesn't matter anymore," she said, pulling herself together and walking away from John. "Nothing. I...forget it," she said as she shot him again.

Then, she ran as fast as she could, almost as if death was chasing her. John wasn't having any luck in tracking her down. He looked at the stain on his shoulder and then looked at Jack. He had one pink stain on his heart and another on his groin. That was a message. Anger started brewing inside John.

"What did you do to her?", asked John as he got dangerously close to Jack.

"Listen, I..." he said.

He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence or explain what had happened before a fight broke out.

End of flashback.

Angela had wiped this episode from her memory. She shook her head and went to pick up the pine cone she had thrown before.

On the way back, Jack O'Neill was talking to Sam and Daniel about their next objective while John and Jack S. followed behind them in silence, keeping a certain distance.

The other three kept close. On the way, Angela asked a lot of questions about Mitchell's travels as she kept her gaze on the pine cone. She wanted to know everything: if he had discovered new species of animals or if dinosaurs still existed on other worlds or if he had discovered any new technologies. Mitchell tried to answer her as best he could while Teal'c smiled at the bombardment of questions. She had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

They went through the gate without any issues . Daniel finally went back to his books, Sam to her lab and Jack felt reassured. She was even more resourceful than his team, even more so than Teal'c.

She had even got to know a young recruit. O'Neill watched Teal'c, who was listening intently to the young woman's conversation, the respect for her clearly visible in his eyes. She had gained the respect of not only Mitchell but also Teal'c. Everyone respected her. He hoped that trust was justified. Now he would be able to move on to more serious business, which wouldn't be quite so exciting for the young woman. He had brought together the best scientists, including Sam, to help Angela to overcome her fears and her accident. This was something she had wanted to do for a long time, but she had never had the opportunity. He went to his office as if on auto pilot. Once he got there, he picked up the phone.

"Is the team ready? ...Ok, thanks. Call Carter, I'd like her there...yeah, let's say two hours, don't be late, the day's getting on and I want to get home for... nah forget it, I don't want any issues cropping up."

He hung up the phone. That was easy.

He made his way towards the base's maze of corridors. The hardest thing now would be telling her. He was so carried away in his own thoughts as he prepared what he was going to say that he didn't notice that he'd been standing in front of a door for the last five minutes: "oy, I'm gettin' old."

He knocked on the door.

"Come in," said a woman's voice.

As he did, he saw Teal'c, Mitchell and Angela sitting on the bed talking and playing cards with beers in hand.

"Wanna join us, Jack?" Angela invited O'Neill.

"I don't recommend it, General, she takes no prisoners."

"No thanks," Jack refused.

"Beer, then?" she said, gesturing to a bottle on the desk.

"I'm on..." Jack said.

"Well, I am your superior officer, Brigadier General, so...you see where I'm going with this?" Angela said as she cut him off, "Take advantage of the fact. This one's on you!"

"She is most skilful," Teal'c pointed out.

"In that case, I don't mind paying as long as I get something out of it too," said O'Neill as he took a bottle.

"It can be our little secret," said Angela.

"Hmm!" he said, savouring the beer, "thanks for your suggestion."

"It was nothing. So easy a kid could have managed it," she said.

"So I see. How's the lip?" O'Neill asked.

"It's just a scratch, nothing major," she said.

"I hope you settled your differences, you and our two agents," O'Neill stated.

"Uhh...," she started.

"Never mind," he said.

"Are you certain you will not join us for a game, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, obviously enjoying himself.

"No, he doesn't want to," Angela said to Teal'c. "Jack, I know you didn't come here just to tell me that," she said to O'Neill.

Jack was suddenly uneasy. He forgot what he was going to say to her again and she was scrutinizing him. He knew he couldn't keep beating around the bush.

"Okay, I give in. We're moving on to the next stage," he said.

"Which is...?" Angela asked, as she mulled the possibilities.

"The flight," said Mitchell, finally understanding why O'Neill was uneasy and the reason for his hesitancy.

"Now, it's almost night!" said Angela.

"It's not exactly an ordinary flight. We got it on one of our missions. It's a machine that lets you train in a virtual environment but with real situations, flight situations as well as combat. I've been told it's based on virtual imaging," Jack explained.

"General, I don't think that's such a good idea. Teal'c...," Mitchell began.

"We've modified it. Well, Sam modified it after that unfortunate little accident. The modifications we've made should hold. We'll be expecting you within the next two hours," said O'Neill. Then he left.

"What's your problem?" Angela asked.

"Teal'c was trapped inside a mission simulation. He died a few times. It wasn't real, but it was as far as his brain was concerned. His heart rate was dangerously high," Mitchell explained.

"Well, say no more," she said.

"But I am sure Colonel Carter has made the necessary modifications to ensure that the programme runs smoothly." said Teal'c to reassure her. Even though he had not forgotten that incident, he still didn't trust that machine. "I will take my leave, but I wish to see Angela first," he said as he left to avoid Angela seeing the doubts in his own mind.

"Well, there's no need for me to worry if she's made adjustments, is there?" said Angela.

"Exactly, it's just that because of a machine like that, I was accused of murder not that long ago!" said Mitchell.

"That's what you told me about in your letter and online? You never told me it was in Africa," she said.

"Yeah, but it's the same kind of simulation that brought up that time in Africa. It wiped my memory one night and put another one in its place."

"So that you'd be accused and since you remembered that day in Africa, you would have felt guilty and there would be the proof," she said, understanding.

"Yeah," Mitchell sighed. "I just want you to know there's no danger, but I just don't trust that machine."

"You're not the only one. Teal'c doesn't either."

"What?" said Mitchell.

"But I trust Sam and I know she'll do everything she can to make sure nothing bad happens," Angela said.

"Of course!" said Mitchell.

"Anyway, I don't think we should be afraid of that machine. I don't think it's dangerous in itself, it just depends on how dangerous the person using it is, in this case, me. I..." she was about to break down again. She was becoming so sensitive, possibly because of her hormones. Whatever it was, she needed to do something about it.

"I know," said Mitchell, as he came closer to Angela and put his arms around her. "I know and I'll be there for you. Nothing's gonna happen to you." He hoped so, anyway. "You'll be under control and the first sign of trouble, we'll stop the whole thing."

"I know," Angela sighed, "alright, let's get going. The sooner we do this, the sooner I can go to bed!"

An hour later, she was ready. Angela felt like she was a lamb being led to the slaughter. At the moment, she was sitting on a chair to which there was some sort of helmet attached which was shooting out green rays onto her tense face and electrodes all over. She was basically plugged in all over her body.

"The moment the simulation starts, the General will be guiding you," said Sam as she applied the last electrode to her patient's temple.

O'Neill was sitting in the same position just next to her.

"It'll be fine, you'll see," said Jack, trusting what he said.

"He'll be right beside you all the way through the exercise," Sam added.

"This will also be my chance to test you. It'll be a blast, you'll se. I've heard rumours that you're an excellent pilot. I'm looking forward to flying with you," said O'Neill.

"Rumours?" Angela asked, surprised.

"Of course. I had to find out about you first and I made some pleasant discoveries about a veteran you know pretty well. What was his name...?"

"Franck," Angela whispered.

"Well, it's not important. He told me you were the best pilot he'd ever met. Given that he's an excellent pilot too, I have every confidence in his opinion. That's something else we need to talk about, but from another angle...in private," said O'Neill, smiling to lighten the atmosphere that had built up.

While Sam went about setting up the different machines, Angela tried to relax and Sam adjusted the helmet so that it wouldn't hurt her.

"Okay, once the device is running, you'll be taken into your unconscious mind and the programme will start. You'll be in a kind of deep sleep, but you can wake up and get out at any time," said Sam. "All you need is a strong desire to wake up or you can let us know, as you'll be able to communicate with us. The system actually works in a way that's pretty similar to hypnosis."

"You'll be able to hear everything that's happening."

"Actually, not everything. We'll be able to hear what you want us to hear, which your subconscious might choose to ignore. Normally, the programme ends when your tension or heart rate vary too much."

"But will my subconscious not treat the programme like an intruder and try to block it out?" said Angela.

"It might do if it perceives the programme as a threat. That's why you need to relax. Your brain activity needs to be weaker, on the edge of sleep, which is why we use a sedative which should hely you enter a trance-like state. Since the programme won't run because of your heightened brain activity, it's not adapted for that unfortunately and I didn't have time to change the settings."

"So, if I think too hard about it, the programme will shut off by itself?" Angela repeated back to Sam.

"Right, and the sedative isn't too strong so you'll be able to maintain your reflexes but given the dose we used to knock you out when we went looking for you, that should be enough. It should be starting to work soon, relax," Sam said as she placed her hand on Angela's shoulder to reassure her. "Oh, one other thing, time isn't the same in there."

"You understand all that? Because I didn't follow any of it and only understood half of what she said, but that shouldn't stop us from having fun," said Jack as he closed his eyes.

"It's done, they're ready," said Dr Lam as she checked the data for the last time.

"Ok, I'm launching the programme."

Angela had just started to calm down thanks to the tranquilisers. She was breathing slowly, the way she had been taught during her relaxation sessions but also when she had gone to China. She started to fall deeper and deeper into her subconscious mind, which took the form of a secret garden. It could have been dry or humid, desert or lush depending on her mood. Today, it was a prairie with tall grass and it was just raining a little through a thick, dark hazze.

"What is this place?" said a male voice just behind her.

Angela turned around and saw Jack next to a frozen lake.

"We're in my unconscious mind," she answered simply, as if that was proof.

"Really? But we're not supposed to be here," said Jack.

"Well Jack, you're not actually meant to be here. This is a private space," she said.

"Charming!" he said.

"It's not always like this," Angela added.

"What isn't?" O'Neill asked.

"My mind," she said.

"How is it different?" O'Neill asked again.

"It changes depending on my moods but sometimes my physical state as well," she explained.

A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

"So, I take it you're angry," said O'Neill.

"Looks that way," she said.

"Looks that way? Well, you're hiding it well," said O'Neill.

"Yeah, I'm hiding it on the outside but you can see it here when you look at the sky," Angela explained.

"So what are we doing here?" Jack asked.

"I don't know to tell you the truth, but I think I need to get through this stage so that the programme can start," she said.

"And when would that be?" he asked.

"Let's just wait!" Angela said, no other answers coming to her.

"Wait for what!? In this rain!?" he said.

"You're not even wet!" she responded.

Jack looked at his clothes. The rain was coursing down his sleeves, but he couldn't feel it on his skin. He touched his sleeve and found it was dry.

"Since when is rain not wet?" Jack exclaimed, slightly stunned by what was happening.

"It's a secret garden, remember? Anything's possible here. Come on, let's go. I'm the one who decides whether it's wet or not," she explained.

"How practical! So again, what are we waiting for?" he said, going back to his original question.

"I'm guessing a door, so that we can get into the system or maybe a person. I don't know yet," she said.

"You're complicated. This experience usually goes a little different than this," said Jack.

"Really? The system must have linked you to my subconscious. Don't worry, I won't show you anything on my inner self. Actually, there is something I'd like to show you," she said after a pause, "so tell me what should be happening," she said.

"We should be on a military base with pretty much no-one on it. It should all be white and we should be going toward one of the programmes we want. The one we want here is the base for launching different ships that Carter came up with," Jack explained.

Angela headed towards the frozen lake and started to cross it.

"You sure that's safe?" Jack asked.

"It's my mind, I know what I'm doing. So, unless I've broken some part of my body, or my soul's broken, nothing bad will happen," she said.

"And what's that?" Jack asked, pointing to a slight crack to her left.

"Oh, that's nothing. They're just old scars. Given enough time, they'll all close up completely and the others won't scar at all and they'll just be there as a trace or memory," she said.

"You seem like you know this place pretty well," said Jack.

"Well, yeah, it's my mind," said Angela slightly annoyed, "I often come here to get my strength back or even just to think about things and just be at peace with myself."

"I'd never have expected all this from you?" Jack said.

"All what?" she asked.

"All this," he said, pointing to the lake, "believing in...this."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because you seem so rational, a soldier, a scientist like Carter. You believe in things you can see, real things, concrete, things you can prove."

They arrived at a tree that was in the middle of the lake, which was a little strange. Jack wondered how it could have survived in this frozen environment. Angela came closer and took something from the frozen ground.

"Here, take it. This isn't real," she said, as she held out her hand.

"An apple?" he said. After a second, he looked at it, "yeah, it's real alright," he said, as he turned the fruit around in his hand.

"Eat it," she said.

"Well, it tastes like...an apple."

"It tastes how I expect it to, but it tastes like an apple as well," she said.

"Well you must eat some excellent apples, then," Jack joked.

"All of this is real. It's part of me. The only reason you can't believe it is that you haven't found your reality. Your interior. This is what meditation really is and what you have there in your hand is physical evidence," she said, pointing to the fruit.

"We'll see if I'm hungry in the real world after I wake up," Jack said, still joking. "Where did you learn all this?"

"China," she said.

"Really?" Jack was surprised.

"I had a very demanding martial arts master. He had one rule: be at peace with yourself to maintain a healthy balance," she said.

"This is what you call a healthy balance, this frozen place?" Jack asked, "my idea of a balanced place is a beach and palm trees.

"That's your idea of balance. Mine is this landscape. It's also a reflection of my mood. Do you see strange things around you like missing pieces or maybe black holes. No, because my world is balanced. It's just that you've come into my mind at a bad time. A week ago it was spring and there was a savannah filled with lions," Angela said.

"Ah! You mentioned you have animals living in your mind as well," Jack said as he looked at his surroundings, "well, it's probably best there aren't any lions here now," he said.

"Yes, they're a part of me, my joyful part if you like. That's expressed as a horse galloping with the wind through its mane. You'd be more like a little monkey because you like joking around and you have black humour," she said.

"Look, there's a door over there," he said, pointing his finger to his right, "that wasn't there a minute ago."

"That must be the programme," said Angela.

Jack headed for the door, looking around him as silence descended. Apart from the sad winter landscape, it was magnificent with this white cloak covering the prairie, the waterfall frozen in place as it flowed into the lake. He took a closer look at the lake as he walked with curiosity. He saw blades of grass but also fish. Suddenly a large shadow, several metres high passed beneath his feet, but it wasn't coming from the lake. He stopped brusquely, forgetting that the young woman was there. His senses were heightened in alert, but he couldn't sense any danger. Quite the opposite, he felt peacefully safe. Reflexively, he got into a defensive stance, but there was nothing there. At least, there didn't seem to be anything there.

"What..." Angela started.

But Jack wasn't listening to her, because he could hear a loud noise that sounded like a roar but coming from another world, making the lake shake beneath his feet.

"Oh, that's nothing," Angela said to reassure him, "that's one of my main halves in this world, the wisest one actually."

He looked up at the sky and saw...

"No Jack, it's ok, don't panic. It's a..."

"Dragon!" he said calmly.

"You..." she said.

"I've never seen one," said Jack, now calmed down.

"Don't worry, I've never seen one either, it's just a representation of how I imagine one to be, like the apple. It's the wise part of me," she explained.

"Looking at the size of that thing, I'd say you're pretty wise," Jack joked to cope with the fear.

The enormous dragon was actually flying over them again and just holding itself a few metres above their heads. Jack could hear it breathing and that was not his imagination. This whole feeling was quite real.

"We'd better go through that door," said Angela as she opened it, "before you have a heart attack."

"No arguments here," he said, still a little shocked as he went through the door. "Ah, that's better," he said as he saw what was on the other side.

They were in a white corridor with people talking and passing in front of them without noticing them.

"Is this the environment you were talking about?" Angela asked.

"Yeah, it's a lot better, isn't it? Come with me," he said.

She followed him, but as she was turning, she ran into someone. There was no physical shock. The person went right through her as if she wasn't there and carried on their way.

"Ah, right, I should've stopped you from doing that. I asked Carter to put people in here to fill the place up a little. I felt a little lonely when I came here. I know, it's not as real as your world and the apple, but it's better than nothing. Carter doesn't quite have your overactive imagination when it comes to creating exotic worlds like yours," said Jack.

"Exotic?" she said.

"Never mind," said O'Neill.

"Is it much farther?" Angela asked.

"Enough time for us to talk a little," he answered.

"Do you want to talk about what you just saw?" Angela asked.

"Uhh...no, not really, I'd rather forget it to be honest with you, well, when I wake up anyway..." he lifted the apple up to his mouth without thinking about it and noticed that it was still there. "How?" he asked her.

"Sometimes certain objects can leave my secret garden and go to other places, like this virtual programme I guess," she explained.

"What about the dragon?" Jack asked, taking a discreet look behind him.

"Uhh...I never thought about that," she said.

"Let's talk about something else. So you just took our war veteran out, did you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

"I'm talking about your little sortie," he clarified.

"He told you about that?"she said.

"No, of course not, he'd never betray your confidence because he knew you'd have permission, but he talked about you and how you fly and I guessed the rest. I knew he wasn't just a witness but that he'd actually been through it."

"His wife had died," Angela said, as if that explained everything, "he tried to commit suicide. The air force wouldn't let him spread her ashes or her personal possessions from the air, so I offered to do it to help him find some peace. After everything he'd done for his country, for your country...first the Second World War, then the Gulf War and then a little of the Korean War. He'd suffered so badly that I thought that was the least the US Air Force owed him and I had the honour of carrying out his wish. I wanted him to go on living too."

"And it worked," he said.

"Yes, he found a reason to live again. I was sad at what had happened to him, so I decided to write to him. He told me he dreamed of taking his wife to her new home. He's a very poetic man. I saw him in such a desperate state. He's been through everything: war, his two wives dying and one of his children too. So, I decided to do it to honour him. We talked to each other for a while before I decided to do it. When I told him I accepted, he was excited. His handwriting started to flow more, the letters weren't shaky anymore, which I took to be a sign of new hope. His letters were more joyful, full of hope, hope he'd lost months before. I negotiated with my C.O. at the time but he wouldn't let me. I used every argument I could think of. I even offered to go on missions I'd refused up till that point., Iraq and even more sensitive places. But, he said that Franck was far too old to go on a journey like that and that it would be risky for his health given his age and his state and that he should stay there. I didn't care. Franck knew the risks, but he was ignoring them. If he died during the operation, he said he would die happy, being near his wife and he'd be at peace at last. He said he'd be back with his dead battle who had died while he survived. Of course, we would have to explain his corpse afterwards and how we'd explain that accident, but I thought the Air Force owed him that at least. But, not everyone thought the way I did and my C.O. denied my request."

"But, you did it anyway," said Jack.

"I made a promise and I always keep my word. What would you have done in my place?" she asked.

"Probably...," he hesitated, he couldn't lie to her and he certainly couldn't lie to himself and he answered, "the same thing?"

"Really?" now Angela was surprised.

"I'd like to say I would've followed the rules in that situation, but I know that I just skirt the line of breaking the rules and sometimes I go over that line, if I have to. So I think I would've done it, but we'll never know for definite," he said.

"So, I took a week to decide, think about how I was going to get Franck to the base, near a plane and on one without being seen. One day, I just had to go for it. Franck's letters were getting more and more urgent. When I went to get him, you should've seen how he looked in his uniform with all his honours pinned on his chest like the Silver Star. He'd made himself look good for that day; he had a bouquet and a wooden box under his left arm. When he saw me, I could tell he was surprised to see a woman. He just said that..."

"The Air Force was recruiting from the cradle and it's not for the faint-hearted now," Jack finished for her.

"Right, but did he talk to you about me?" she asked.

"Oh sure, you had a big impact on him. He said you were gutsy, which is a good quality in a pilot. He also said that if he were 40 years younger, he would've tried his luck," Jack said.

"That sounds like him alright!" Angela laughed, then calmed herself and carried on, "so, when we got o the base, I asked the guards to let Franck take a look at the new fighters to remember the past and that it was a pilgrimage for a war veteran. They were pretty wet and let us go through."

"Wet! Those were battle-hardened soldiers. I think you underestimate how persuasive you are," said Jack.

"I showed him my fighter. We started talking and he showed me these old photos of him and his dead comrades in arms and his two wives as well. We talked for two hours and the hangar started emptying. The airmen were pretty much ignoring us. They were barely paying attention as the pilots went to do their warm-up exercise for the combat simulation. I could feel the emotion getting to him a little. So, I gave him the chance to back out or come, to stay on the ground and just watch."

"And he wanted to go. He didn't hold back like he was on one of the Normandy landing parties. He was ready," said Jack.

"Yes," she said, briefly pausing, "he thanked me then with tears his eyes, just in case his heart didn't hold out. I explained a few facts and figures to him and he said to me:"

"Girlie, I wasn't born yesterday. I've been flying more than 30 years. There's nothing a squirt like you can teach me about flying a bucket of bolts like this," I can just see it now, Jack said cutting her off.

"I had to help him into the cockpit because of his age. By the time I was seated in, a guard spotted us and noticed there was a stranger in the fighter. He tried to interrupt us but I went ahead and launched. There, now you know everything," she finished.

"Did he enjoy it?" Jack asked.

"Oh, yes! He'd asked me if I knew this trick or that trick or strategies which he didn't tell me at the time that he'd invented. He was a little but like a judge evaluating an artist and I think I did quite well," she said.

"Did you let him pilot," O'Neill asked.

"Where I was at that point, as long as he didn't make any big mistakes, and it was only in a straight line. I kept an eye on him, of course. I think he just needed to feel that freedom again. After that he threw some locks of hair and some other things into the air," she said.

"That was risky," O'Neill said.

"I was at low altitude, so there were no major pressure problems," she countered.

"No, I meant for the people below you," Jack said jokingly.

"Hmm," Angela joined in, "well anyway, I was got a warm reception from the welcoming committee when I landed. But Franck was happy and that was all that mattered."

"No reprimand?" he asked.

"No, Franck convinced them they couldn't afford to let me go just like that. The whole thing was forgotten about and erased from the records. So yes, I got away with disobeying orders without a reprimand, which would have left a mark on my file. But what really matters is that Franck found his spirit for living again and remembered the freedom he got from flying."

"Which is something you need to find again as well," Jack finished and ended the conversation by getting into the fighter.

They were so deep in conversation that Angela hadn't even noticed that they had already arrived and standing near an aircraft.

"And I think this is the time," Jack concluded.

"I hope you're right," Angela whispered.

"I asked Carter for a simple flight simulation, the kind we give to new starters. It'll just be you and me, no bogies. We're just gonna fly so you can get used to handling her," he said.

"Ok," Angela said, reassured for the moment.

"Ready?" asked Jack as he placed the unfinished apple in his pocket.

A second later, they were both inside the fighter. Angela was in the co-pilot's seat.

"I'm going to start and then had over to you," Jack said.

"That's it, they're in the programme," said Sam.

"How come it took so long?" Mitchell asked as he watched Angela's readings.

"The programme's not there for nothing. It started just the way it was meant to when Angela's brain activity got low enough. It won't be long before they're in the heart of the simulation programme, so in other words when Angela's in the fighter and starts flying," Sam said.

"I think they're in it now," said Mitchell.

"They are," said Sam.

"Sam, something's happening," said Dr Lam.

Sam looked at Angela and could see that her hands were crackling, disrupting some of the machines.

"Good job I hardened the important machines against electrical currents," said Sam, "but we need her to calm down. This is just the start. She's not flying yet."

"I'll talk to her," said Mitchell, "Teal'c, you monitor her readings," Mitchell said as he stood up, sat next to Angela and approached her ear to talk to her. "Angela, it's me, Cameron, you need to relax."

"Mitchell?" Angela asked, as she heard a voice coming from nowhere that apparently Jack couldn't hear.

"Yeah, it's me. Relax."

"Easier said than done," she quipped.

"Just breathe," said Mitchell as he took her hand.

He felt pain but resisted the urge to pull back,

"Don't do that," said Angela, pleading in her voice, "I'll hurt you."

"Yes, you're gonna hurt me, so calm down. Breathe like you did at the hospital, remember?"

"Yes," she said as she breathed.

Her heart rate slowly went back to normal. Teal'c said her pulse was fine, but her hands were still crackling.

"You just need to control it," said Mitchell.

"I know that! It's stronger than me, at least I'm not crackling in here anymore," she said.

"You're not out here either," he lied.

Actually, the crackling had just become lower in intensity, but the pain it was causing was growing more and more unbearable. But, he resisted. Angela needed him.

Those voices in her head had helped her. She had calmed down right away. Mitchell had always had that power with her. He could exasperate her yet at the same time calm her down too. Jack hadn't noticed the battle Angela was fighting with herself.

"Your turn now," said Jack.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," said Angela.

"Go for it," said a familiar voice nearby, "remind yourself how good it feels to fly."

"I'm handing over to you," said Jack.

"No!" Angela screamed, while she took the controls by reflex as the plane was climbing.

Once again, Angela was panicking Mitchell must have broken off contact.

"Something's wrong," said Sam.

"What?" asked Mitchell.

"There are new settings appearing..." she said.

Something hit the fighter as she was trying to stop it from falling.

"What's that?" Jack asked.

"I think we've been hit," Angela responded.

"Thank you, I noticed," said Jack, "that's not part of the programme."

"Mitchell was right. This machine isn't stable or operational," she said.

"It is, we've used it plenty of times...Oh...we're surrounded by ice...oh," Jack said, finally understanding what was going on..

He saw a Goa'uld ship. It was Anubis' fleet and he was seeing the battle through someone else's eyes because he had experienced that battle in a trance-like state and wasn't entirely present for it. So, if he hadn't experienced it, how could he...?

"Angela's subconscious has modified the programme. They're reliving one of her memories," said Sam.

"Which one?" Mitchell asked, even though inside him he knew which one it was.

"The Battle over Antarctica," she confirmed.

"How can that be?" Teal'c asked.

"I don't know," Sam answered, "the problem is that because we're inside her mind, we can't stop this manually and her readings aren't off the scale to the point that the programme will switch off by itself."

"Oh, tell me it's not true!" said Jack, taken by surprise as the fighter took another hit.

"What?" Angela asked.

"Nothing," he said, not wanting to worry her.

"I feel like I've already seen this," Angela remarked, "you'd better leave; I think we're in my mind or something else, so you should be able to leave," she said.

"No, we need to find another way," Jack said, seeing that her body was gradually becoming more worn out.

Mitchell then re-established contact with Angela.

"Angela, this is just a memory, you have to control it...if you don't, you'll..." he said, but couldn't finish as she bent double and started convulsing while Jack woke up with a jolt. Mitchell went over to join her while the doctors tried to calm Angela down.

"She ... me," Jack simply said before collapsing from exhaustion.

"Urgent call for second medical team. Cardiac arrest" came over the loudspeaker.

Mitchell came back at that point and saw Angela. Her hands weren't crackling anymore and the monitor was flat lining. He made his way over to her.

"Leave her be, Cameron," said Dr Lam, "she's in a state of arrest," she said as she started the cardiac massage.

She took the defibrillator that was being held out to her, but it wouldn't work. Angela had put it out of action.

"Damn! Get me another one. Let's massage her again," said Lam.

The device arrived ten minutes later.

"Charge," she said and then applied the pads. Angela's body convulsed once and then fell back down. The monitor was still flat lining.

"Charge again," she said, aware that there wasn't much time left, as her brain had been without oxygen for 15 minutes already.

An anomaly was displayed on the screen until it became a regular rhythm.

"We've got her back," said the doctor, visibly relieved.

Suddenly, Angela woke up breathless.

"I've got a good pulse," Lam confirmed.

"You ok?" asked Mitchell.

"I think so. My fighter exploded and I died," said Angela, struggling for breath.

"Yes, you did, for 15 minutes. You were lucky," said the doctor, "I'm just going to check to make sure there hasn't been any damage to your brain from the lack of oxygen."

"Okay, whatever you need to do," said Angela as she laid back down.

An hour later, Angela was fleeing from the infirmary where she had been transferred for the night.

"Where are you going?" Mitchell asked as he ran into her making her exit.

"I need to try again," she said, more to herself than him.

"That's not a good idea, it would be suicide," Mitchell said.

"You don't understand," Angela said, still wrapped up in her own thoughts.

"Oh yeah? You were in cardiac arrest and we lost you for more than 15 minutes," he said.

"Huh?" she asked.

"You might not be thinking straight. Your brain might have been damaged .You..."

"No, you don't understand. When I was having that...let's call it a vision, I died," she said.

"I know! So what. I don't see what that has to do with...," Mitchell started to say.

"That memory or that scenario, whatever you want to call it, wouldn't just come back to haunt me for no reason. I know you can't die more than once. My subconscious knew that and it created the worst scenario it could. It can't get any worse than that, I need to try again. And I'm physically weak and...there are other things. In the simulation, I finally understood something, something that was bugging me about why I survived. Now I know something's wrong. The simulation showed me that I wasn't meant to survive that accident, that I should have exploded in the sky along with the fighter, but something happened and I think I might finally be able to understand what," Angela explained, "and I can't just sit quietly until I get answers to those questions!"

"Is this really what you want?" Mitchell asked, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Yes...and I'm not going to change my mind. You need my help and I know that and, as Jack and Daniel like to point out, we don't have long before these...Ori send more fleets through the super gate," she said.

"Yes, but I don't want you putting your health or your life in danger for...," Mitchell said.

"I told you...," she said.

"You're not going to change your mind, I know," Mitchell sighed. Once they arrived in the room where everything had begun that day, Mitchell's doubts had set in one by one.

"You called," said Jack, as he came into the room, "whoa! You're doing it again? I just don't want to crash for the second time in as many hours on the same evening. And anyway, it's getting late now. Don't you wanna get some rest before you try again? Obviously not.," he said as he saw that Angela had already set up the programming system, "and there is the taste of that apple that I can't get rid of!"

"Apple?" Sam asked as she walked into the room.

"Oh, it's nothing," O'Neill said as he instinctively put his hand in his pocket. It was the apple. "Now that's really strange," he said, looking at it as though he had never seen an apple before.

"What is?" Sam asked.

"This apple!" he said.

"It's just an apple, General," she said.

"Exactly, it's the apple," said Jack.

"That's never happened to me before," Angela simply said, "but then again I've never tried."

"It's just an apple," Sam said again, not understanding what was going on.

"How strange! Sam, this is the apple that...never mind. I just hope it doesn't work for other things, like the dragon," she said.

"Dragon?" Mitchell asked.

"What dragon?" said Daniel as he arrived.

"It's nothing," said Angela.

"Yeah, it really is nothing," Jack agreed, "it was in her secret garden."

"Her secret garden?" said Sam.

"You were in her secret garden!" Daniel exclaimed, "but that's somewhere personal!"

"Ah, yeah...it was an accident," said Jack.

"How was it? A lake with a thick forest?" Daniel asked.

"No, not exactly. It was...wait a minute, you've been in her secret garden?" Jack asked, somewhat surprised.

"Uh, we can get back to this," said Angela, seeing the conversation was going in a direction she didn't want it to.

A few minutes later:

"Actually, I prefer your world to the one where it just went on white forever," said Jack as he walked along the main corridor.

"My mind's not always such a nice place to be," she said.

"The world I saw...it was sad but it was amazing," Jack said.

"Yes, but it's not always like that. It can be pretty chaotic at times," she told him.

"Oh yeah? And what mood was it reflecting? What did that refer to?" O'Neill asked.

"It's best you don't know. It's happened to me three times in my life. Come on, let's get a move on," she said, before he could press any further.

They were in a fighter in no time.

"Whoa there, when you get moving, you really go for it!" Jack said.

"Come on, let's get started, I need to concentrate." she said.

"Well, I'd rather stay here all things considered," he said.

"I thought you wanted to come with me?" Angela asked him.

"Yeah, but...ok," Jack said finally.

Mitchell had sat down near Angela again. Her hands were crackling lightly with energy, but mostly confined to her fingertips.

An hour later, they both woke up.

"So?" asked Sam.

"It was great!" said O'Neill, "it shook."

"It was strange," said Angela.

"Strange? No, fantastic, incredible! Angela...how should I put it? She merged with the fighter. Perfect harmony between her and the machine. It was amazing, there aren't any other words for it. Just unbelievable, spectacular, just pure pleasure."

"I think Jack has a fascination for our pilot," said Daniel, "anyone would think he'd never flown before!" Daniel joked.

"So, did you find the answers you were looking for?" Mitchell asked Angela discretely.

"No. I think I'm going to go to bed. I'm so tired I think I'll fall asleep straight away," said Angela, her eyelids closing a little at a time and she couldn't fight against it.

It was after midnight.

"She's asleep. She's had an eventful day. I'm going to transfer her to the quiet room," said the doctor.

Dr Lam showed everyone out of the room and she went to her office.

END.