~ Climbing Towards Gods, False or Otherwise ~
by B.E. Renda

Email:barbara.is.berenda@gmail.com

Disclaimer: Don't own them, not making any money, alas. This story isn't trying to steal from Whoever Owns Stargate SG1 these days.

Warnings: This story portrays a close personal relationship between a medical professional and at least one of her patients. Readers should remain aware that, in the real world, such a relationship would be entirely inappropriate. One should never become friends, fall in love, raise a child, travel to distant planets, or save the world with their doctor.

Also, at least one person uses a naughty word in here.

Pairing: Sam/Janet (eventually... but there's no sex in here I'm afraid. Afraid to write sex scenes, that is...)

Season: Two, after In The Line of Duty but before The Fifth Race. The story does, however, have a bit of a precognitive sensibility, possibly because Janet is very clever (and good looking).

Spoilers: Big ones for Singularity, Thor's Hammer, and In The Line of Duty. Possible little spoilers for other episodes.

Thanks: to KJP, RGG, and Enginerd for their splendid Beta-reading. Any mistakes, inconsistencies, or otherwise irritating stuff is my fault, not theirs.



Summary: Sam goes off world and gets in trouble. Janet has to save Sam (and the world).

prx259

Attached to a towering alien device by a climbing harness, Captain Samantha Carter was growing dangerously fatigued. Opening a triangular panel she removed a burnt out power gem and placed it in a bag hanging from her left shoulder, which was filled with many such moribund objects. From a bag on her other side, she removed a healthy looking gem and placed it inside, whereupon it lit up with a hum and the panel sealed itself shut. Wistfully, she thought that it would be easier to simply let the used gem (or better yet the whole bag of them) simply drop to the ground. Looking down, she saw the tiny figure of Daniel Jackson sprawled upon the grass. Even the boundlessly tolerant archaeologist would probably object to having a large bag thrown at him from a great height. He was supposed to be translating some local scrolls but Sam suspected he was in fact sound asleep.

She was surprised by the degree of envy she felt for her slumbering colleague. The task she was performing was of the sort which usually excited and energised her, yet she felt little more than an aching exhaustion. She was just about finished and had been climbing for a couple of hours, but no way should she be this tired. She'd have to mention it to Janet at her post mission medical exam.

Reaching the final panel, she allowed herself to stop and simply lean into the structure for a moment.

According to local legend (Daniel had said) the device's shape was meant to represent the multi-tipped spear of Skadi, Norse Goddess of Winter and of the Hunt, not to mention Justice, Vengeance and Righteous Anger. Skadi was, Daniel had added, the deity who delivered the sentence on Loki to be bound underground with a serpent dripping poison on his face. This had led O'Neill to suggest Skadi was also the Norse Goddess of facial strips, and he had briefly taken to calling the machine a 'mascara wand', although he later admitted it looked more like a harpoon to him.

To Sam, at this moment, it looked like nothing but a really, really big tower to be climbed.

She continued to rest and gaze downward.

Teal'c, vigilant as ever, prowled his self-established guard parameter.

Grimr, the local man who had provided the power gems Carter was using, had attentively settled himself at the base of the tower when she began her climb and as far as she knew, hadn't moved since. His focus was intense and, frankly, kind of creepy.

She was irritated but not surprised to see absolutely no sign of her commanding officer. He had probably gone off to 'improve diplomatic relations' with the local inhabitants. In other words, to consume fine foods and cool beverages while flirting with the friendliest (and best looking) of the local women.

Even as she shook off another spasm of entirely uncharacteristic jealousy, Carter almost literally shook herself off the tall device. Swaying with fatigue she had almost sent herself plummeting. She quickly secured herself more firmly. Janet was going to be cranky enough when she found out that Sam had continued working while exhausted. She'd be a holy terror if the blonde captain took a high dive into the hard ground as a result.

Assuming Carter survived the fall. It was a long way down. Even the talented Doctor Fraiser might find it hard to fix that kind of damage, although if anybody could, Janet could. In fact if she was angry enough she might well bring Carter miraculously back from the brink of death just so she could fully, roundly, chastise her for her folly. Sam suspected that a pissed off Janet could easily rival the fearsome revitalising power of a Goa'uld sarcophagus any day.

Smiling, Sam suddenly (and it seemed to her rather randomly) remembered a time when she was younger, and her mother still alive. The family had visited the Washington monument in D.C. and as they peered down the tall building together, Sam's brother told her in hushed but dramatic tones that were one to drop a penny from this great height, it would pick up such speed that it would be travelling faster than a bullet, and probably shoot straight through the very earth itself. Naturally, Sam had immediately reached for a penny, wanting to witness the proof of this herself. To her frustration, but undoubtedly to the benefit of the pedestrians below, her parents had come to drag them away before she could follow through on the impromptu experiment.

But if she didn't want to be the penny an this situation she'd better start focusing. Shaking her head, she muttered to herself, "Come on Carter, concentrate. Only one more to go." She inserted the topmost gem and before she could even attempt to shield her eyes a bright light shot out to encompass her.

Blinking eyes groggy with sleep, Daniel Jackson just had time to watch his colleague being swallowed by the beam before it expanded blindingly outwards to paradoxically sweep him into darkness.


Stargate Command

Janet Fraiser narrowed her eyes as the iris slid back to reveal the shimmering luminescence of the open wormhole. As the base CMO this was not the first time she had stood there like a medically qualified Penelope waiting for a team to return under emergency conditions. But although she didn't like to admit it, even to herself, her heart was always heaviest when, as now, it was SG1 doing the returning and the requiring of medical assistance.

Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson were the first to emerge, each with an arm cast about the other's shoulder. Two of her medics raced forward to assist the men and she kept an assessing eye out while the apparently healthy colonel helped hustle his protesting comrade onto a stretcher. The bulk of her attention, however, was focused on Samantha Carter, whose unmoving form had just been carried through the Stargate by Teal'c. He raced forward and also helped place his charge on a stretcher, looking to Janet with pleading, anxious eyes. Even as she proceeded with seemingly unruffled efficiency to read Carter's vital signs, Janet felt a stab of fear.An easily-readable Teal'c was never a good sign. Her fear redoubled as she felt the pulse beneath her fingers stutter, although her voice maintained its usual professional calm. "She's in v-fib. Charge the paddles to 200."

Bless her nurses, who were always there. Bless the crash cart. As she administered the hopefully lifesaving jolt of electricity to Carter's body, Janet felt a painful current race up her arms.

Damn the crash cart, if it was choosing this moment to malfunction. She was relieved to find it had however done its job. Carter's pulse and respiration had regularised.

"Let's get her to the infirmary...now!"



SGC Infirmary

"Any change Doctor Fraiser?"

Reluctantly tearing her eyes away from the unconscious form of Samantha Carter, Janet looked up at General Hammond. Although the man had asked the question in his usual tone of professional calm, Janet could tell he was extremely worried. She'd noticed that whenever her C.O. was in a state of high emotion he seemed to compress into himself, becoming somehow smaller but of a greater density. She wondered if she'd ever mentioned this observation about General Hammond to Sam. Janet could just imagine the enthusiasm with which Carter would greet such a notion, no doubt forming some complex hypothetical equation to calculate the physiological manifestations of an emotion/mass interrelationship. Noticing the General (and the more obviously anxious SG 1) still waiting for her reply, Janet internally chastised herself, "Come on Fraiser, get a grip." Turning to face the General, she launched into the closest thing she had to an answer. "No sir, I'm afraid there's been no change. All I can tell you with any certainty is that her life signs are stable, but there remains a bare minimum of brain activity: sufficient to keep her body functioning but no more."

"So you're saying we've lost Carter's mind?" Even Teal'c turned to O'Neill with a look of glaring disbelief, but the stricken look in the colonel's eyes showed that, for once, he wasn't trying to be funny.

Hoping her rising sense of despair wasn't sounding in her voice, Janet pulled her lab coat tighter around herself and continued, "Repeated scans have still failed to turn up signs of any physical trauma whatsoever, although if she did fall from the height SG 1 described, there should have been significant internal and external injury. Basically, I still can't tell you how or why she entered the coma."

Unusually, it was Teal'c who responded first to this statement. "Although none of us witnessed the actual event, Doctor Fraiser, Captain Carter was on top of the tower-device when the bright flash occurred. As she was lying on the ground when we all recovered our eyesight. It seems necessary to conclude that she did indeed fall."

Flicking her eyes away from the prone form of Samantha Carter for only the briefest of seconds, Janet nodded, shivering slightly. But before she could reassure them all that she didn't doubt the veracity of their report, the normally reticent Jaffa surprised everyone by having even more to say.

"However the local man Grimr was also lying unconscious on the ground when we all recovered our eyesight. He, like Captain Carter, remained unconscious even after Daniel Jackson had revived. Does this not indicate that it was the actions of the device itself, rather than the fall, which have caused this condition?"

"Yes, of course, but I still..."

Perhaps reasserting his role as the garrulous member of the team, Daniel Jackson excitedly interrupted Janet, "As you all know, the inscriptions thereon indicate that the device is Asgard technology, which is why we were-- or rather Sam was-- trying to fix it. So if we can get the tower to work, it could possibly restore Sam. And even if we can't, we might still be able to make contact with its creators and ask for their assistance. We should take her back to the planet."

The archaeologist's rapidly bounding leaps of logic left his listeners silent, but Teal'c's eyebrow was not the only one to raise slightly. They were all aware that in wishing to contact the Asgard, Daniel was thinking not only of Sam's plight, but also of the possibility that the aliens could help save his wife Sha're, who had been taken as a host by a Goa'uld parasite.

It was General Hammond who finally, gently, responded, "Perhaps we should let Doctor Fraiser finish her report before we begin discussing possible strategies Doctor Jackson."

Janet felt yet another icy breeze travel down her neck and made a mental note to get the problem fixed. A draughty infirmary was not a good infirmary. Maybe she'd talk to Siler about the problem: he was about due for a visit.

"Actually Sir, Doctor Jackson may have a point. As I understand it, the device SG1 encountered on Cimmaria was able to detect the presence of the larval Goa'uld within Teal'c and consequently transport him and Colonel O'Neill to a distant physical location. The functioning of such a technology could well explain Captain Carter's lack of injuries. It's entirely possible that the device responded to the trace elements of naquada remaining in her blood after her short time as host to the Tokra symbiote Jolinar."

"Exactly! Which is why we should take her back and..."

Daniel's excited proclamation was quickly overridden by the more sceptical tones of O'Neill, "I don't know, Doc. That device on Cimmaria was designed to force Goa'uld out of their hosts. It's hard to see what could possibly be achieved by leaving Carter like..." he paused and waved his hand at the pale, still form of his second-in-command, "...like that."

Daniel rallied for a moment. "So maybe it malfunctioned or something. If we take her back to the planet..."

"I am sorry to interrupt Daniel Jackson, but I must concur with O'Neill. It is difficult to comprehend that a species as advanced as the Asgard would construct a machine intended for such an effect as we are seeing in Captain Carter. It would seem to serve no practical purpose."

Teal'c's quiet words temporarily threw a pall of depressed silence over the small group. Seeing Daniel beginning to resurge, and keen to get her report over and done with, Janet cut the archaeologist off at the verbal pass. "There's one other curious thing, Sir. Her heart rate accelerated briefly a few moments ago, but the readings have settled down now. This pattern of heart rate acceleration has occurred every two hours like clockwork since she was first brought in to the infirmary."

Jack O'Neill beat the General to the punch and asked Janet the question she knew was coming but wished wasn't, "What does that mean?"

Stifling a wince and clearing her throat, Janet replied in a voice of frustrated despair, "I don't know sir. I don't know what's wrong and I don't know how to fix it."

Daniel could be held back no longer. "Then for gods sake General, let us return with Sam to the planet. I know we can get her back."

Hammond turned to Janet and she answered his question before it was even asked, "Truthfully Sir, unless we can find something extraordinary -- or extraterrestrial -- to help, the only thing my medicine has left to offer at this point is to declare Captain Carter brain dead."


prx259

Captain Samantha Carter shifted the bag full of gems to rest more securely upon her shoulder, pausing to speak to O'Neill before she began her climb, only to find that no one was there, although Daniel had settled himself nearby upon the grass ,ostensibly to continue translating scrolls. In truth, Carter suspected (with an unexpected twinge of envy) that a light nap was a more likely outcome for the Archaeologist. She quickly re-ascertained that the panel of the base of the device held no power-gem. She didn't want this thing inadvertently activating while Teal'c was anywhere in the vicinity. Turning, she was startled to see Grimr (the local man who had provided the power-gems) standing so close she'd almost stood on him. She hoped the smile she gave him didn't seem too forced, but suspected that it did. As helpful as he'd been, the man's religious fervour made her uncomfortable. Shrugging, she looked up at the tower device: somehow it seemed taller and larger than she had initially estimated. Deciding not to wait for the others, she began the climb, wondering wearily how many hours it would take. She also wondered why she felt nothing but tired when it was the sort of project she was usually so enthusiastic about. She'd have to remember to ask Doctor Fraiser about it during the post mission exam.


SGC Gateroom

Adjusting the straps on her gargantuan backpack, Janet watched with a twinge of envy as Teal'c picked up two of her heaviest medical containers as if they weighed no more than a box of tissues. He disappeared into the shimmering blue of the Stargate, closely followed by a sulky Daniel Jackson.

She assumed the archaeologist was still feeling grumpy because she had tried to prevent his return to the planet, ultimately acquiescing to his presence only on the grounds that he remain under her close supervision. She had no desire to treat the poor man like a child, but his MRI and PET scans (like those of Samantha Carter) had shown irregularities which were currently unexplainable. Deep down, she suspected that if it weren't for his damn puppy dog eyes she wouldn't have relented and given him clearance at all, but she consoled herself with having at least been strong enough to insist on Sam remaining in the infirmary. Of course, the fact that her friend was unconscious and therefore had her eyes closed may have contributed to Janet's ability to remain adamant, but with SG1 you had to take your victories where you could find them.

"Coming Doc?"

Colonel O'Neill cheerfully whacked her on the back (sending her pack askew) and trotted off into the wormhole. Taking an emboldening breath, Janet moved to follow him. Though she had been through the Stargate a number of times and understood how it theoretically worked (thanks to several clear and impassioned explanations on Sam's part)she always felt a little uneasy at this part of the process. As a doctor, she could all too graphically visualise just what the de-molecularisation and re-materialisation of a human body would involve. Knowing how tricky even something as basic as a knee reconstruction could be, she was never 100% sure the Stargate was going to get it right.

prx259

Taking a deep breath and pushing away her clawing fatigue, Captain Samantha Carter forced herself to move. Only one more to go. She reached out and opened the final panel, but suddenly a feeling of dread which was somehow familiar told her to stop short of inserting the gem. Her eyes widened with horror as her hand, as if it had a mind of its own, inexorably continued its movements. The gem was inserted with a soft clicking noise and a bright light shot out to encompass her.



Janet emerged from the Stargate into the full bright light of a sunny alien day. As she surreptitiously checked that her constituent parts were all reassembled properly she was greeted by Colonel O'Neill.

"Welcome to prx259 Doctor, your bags are available for collection at the nearest friendly Jaffa, and if possible please avoid hostile locals and/or the effects of freaky alien technology."

The thus mentioned freaky alien technology was set a short distance in front of the gate, towering an impressive number of metres into the air. Seeing Janet stop short and stare, Daniel Jackson launched into full on tourist guide mode.

"Actually, the planet is called Rachnought and the inhabitants seem to be an incredibly friendly, hospitable race; although they themselves are apparently pretty severely divided along religious versus secular grounds. We estimate the planet's population to be in the tens of thousands, but most of them live in larger settlements throughout the planet. The area around the gate is sparsely inhabited, just the leaders of the two aforementioned factions, some of their closest followers, and a few farming families. It's quite interesting to note..."

Janet allowed the archaeologist's words to roll over her pretty much unheard. No doubt this planet was absolutely fascinating and the device was a miracle of advanced alien technology, but she found herself unable to focus on any of these things. Her attention was instead thoroughly preoccupied by the fact that standing at the base of the structure and clearly preparing to scale its heights was none other than Captain Samantha Carter.

Calling out Sam's name, Janet rushed forward and reached out to touch her friend's arm, only to see her own hand passing through Sam as if the other woman were vapour or a hologram. Phantom Carter turned away and began to climb the tower.

Janet reached out towards her again, only to jerk round to her left upon hearing a distinctly Sam-like voice saying, "She won't listen to you, Janet. I've tried. Lord knows I'd stop for you any time, but she seems like an all climb no play kind of girl."

Janet, stunned by the appearance of another Carter (or was that, she thought rather hysterically, an other another Carter?) was reduced to a whispered, "Sam?"

Sounding and looking pleasantly surprised, Sam said, "You can hear me? See me?"

Opening her mouth but unable to speak, Janet nodded her head slightly. She heard O'Neill and the rest of the team approach.

"You OK, Doc?"

Janet turned to answer the Colonel but was silenced when (the new) Sam placed her hand across Janet's mouth saying, "Careful, they obviously can't see me, either of me, and if you tell them you can, the Colonel's probably going to think you're losing it."

Janet began to voice a protest but was again silenced when Sam laid a gentle hand across her lips. Calling on one of the biggest guns in the Samantha Carter arsenal, Sam turned the full force of pleading blue eyes on to her friend. "Please Janet. I promise we'll talk soon. But right now you're clearly the only one who can see me, which means you're probably the only one who can help me. If they send you back and slap a padded jacket on you I'm on my own again. It's not worth the risk. You have to trust me."

As ever, Janet found that she couldn't refuse that look or that tone coming from her friend: even, it seemed when that friend was semi-visible at best and inexplicably dividing like a yeast cell. She'd go along for now.

So when Jack O'Neill repeated, "Are you okay Doc?", she replied with the first excuse that popped into her head, "Yes. Yes, I'm fine thank you, Colonel. I was just trying an old Scottish trick my grandmother taught me. She used to say that if you talked to things or people that were lost, you could get a feeling about where they were. I know Captain Carter's not lost per se and it's not very scientific but...."

In the silence that followed this explanation, O'Neill looked as if he was in actual pain trying to choose from the myriad sarcastic rejoinders available to him; Daniel looked like he'd swallowed a bug; Teal' c raised an eyebrow; and Janet cursed herself for the sheer stupidity of her excuse, while striving to ignore the unhelpful contributions of her invisible (but hopefully not imaginary) friend.

"God Janet," Sam said with amusement. "That's how you convince people you're sane?!? And you say I can't lie."
"You can't." Wincing at her slip-up, Janet immediately cleared her indiscreet throat and addressed the men, "You can't remember anything else that might help, now that we're here?"

The guys were still looking at her like she was kind of crazy but each did their best to answer.

O'Neill said, "Nope. Nada."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow and looked regretful.

Daniel, primed by years of academia, launched into a lengthy response despite having nothing new to say.

The unseen Carter, even less helpfully, said, "Ooh...good save."

Half-listening to these varied replies, Janet narrowed her eyes at the spear-device. When she had earlier tried to grab the currently-climbing-Carter, her hand had passed through and landed on the smooth surface. Now it looked like she had left a soft, faintly-glowing mark....

Reaching out to investigate further, she was halted by the restraining arm and urgent words of Samantha Carter.
"No! It could be dangerous. I'll explain later, but I really don't think you should be touching that." Her transparent friend's voice was overlaid by the more generally heard but no less sharp tones of the colonel.
" YO, DOC! Careful. That thing's already taken down one of my team, I'm not looking to lose another."

Feeling vaguely flattered by this remark, Janet complied. "Okay, I'll just grab some samples and we can get going."
As she quickly set about sealing up sundry soil and flora specimens, she did her best to ignore a hovering Sam, and continued to address the Colonel. "Actually Sir, what I'd really like to do is examine the man who was also injured, and speak to the attendant health professionals."
"Great. You're in luck, because the injured guy, Grimr, is married to the local healing-woman."

If Janet hadn't been concentrated on her task she might have noticed that O'Neill looked suspiciously pleased with himself as he said this, though his next words did manage to grab her attention.

"Yeah, they' re both the leaders of some wacky fundamentalist crowd they have around here."

Daniel interrupted and clarified, "Actually, Hrefna and Grimr lead a religious movement adhered to by a full half of the planet's population. They call themselves the 'Defenders of the Faith' and worship what they refer to as the 'Old Gods'. Presumably meaning the Asgard."

O'Neill shot an annoyed look the archaeologist's way but cheerfully continued, "As I was saying Doc, you'll find this Hrefna woman can be a more than a little loopy. But hey, that doesn't mean she can't be a perfectly good doctor, right?"

Sam at least found this comment funny, but Janet, closing up her collection kit and hefting her heavy pack back into place, simply opted for a dignified silence.

Jack O'Neill, however, clearly didn't do dignified, and waving the group forward with his gun, he rattled determinedly along. "It's a bit of a hike to Grimr's house I'm afraid, but as my Irish grandmother always said, there's nothing like a good brisk walk to clear the head. In fact, she reckoned that if Mad King George had simply gotten more exercise, it could have changed history."

If O'Neill didn't do dignified, then Daniel didn't do silence, and he chose this moment to intervene. "Just ignore him, Doctor Fraiser." He raised his voice. "As you yourself know, over recent years much folklore and many traditional remedies have proven themselves to be of scientifically sound, practical value."

The Colonel simply muttered a sceptical "Shee'yeah right," while Janet threw Daniel a grateful smile. Unfortunately, the occasionally maladroit archaeologist proved that he didn't always know when to stop. "Besides, I can remember myself how disorienting it was the first few times I went through the gate. It's enough to unsettle anyone. I mean, there's nothing necessarily crazy about that is there?"

At this, invisi-Sam nudged her smaller friend with an elbow and winked. As she tried to hide her surprise (and keep her balance) Janet smiled weakly. She was looking forward to forgetting this entire conversation. Should it ever have the mercy to end.

Sadly, her pain was extended from an unexpected direction when Teal'c of all people suddenly experienced yet another fit of volubility. "Doctor Jackson is perfectly correct in regard to the potentially destabilising effects of the Stargate. Indeed, even the Jaffa themselves are not immune to such a phenomenon. Perhaps owing to an imperfect blending with the symbiote, otherwise strong warriors have been known to become severely agitated upon stepping through the portal for the first time. Such incidents are fortunately very rare, because it is the practice of the Goa'uld to have such Jaffa killed immediately."

"Ha!" O'Neill swung merrily back into the conversation. "Lucky you're with us and not the Goa'uld, eh Doc?"

Teal'c's eyebrows radiated the greatest distress at this reading of his words. "Indeed, I must apologise Doctor Fraiser. I did not in any way mean to imply that your rivets were insufficiently tightened."

O'Neill helpfully corrected the Jaffa. "It's ' she's got a screw loose' Teal'c. Not that I'm calling you nuts or anything, Doc. I mean, you're the CMO for crying out loud."

Janet, not entirely certain if this last was intended to reassure or to add insult to injury, decided to persevere with her (so far unsuccessful) tactic of dignified silence. Sam, however, laughed out loud and said, "Never mind Janet, better to be patronised and insulted than sent home in a straitjacket. And at least now you know what it's like to go on a mission with SG1."

Forgetting herself, Janet responded with a snort. "Actually, given your mission record, I'm just surprised we haven't yet contracted some vicious alien disease -- while being attacked by a mob of hostile locals and/or the Goa'uld."

Before the men had time to react to this complete non sequitur they were distracted by a loud yelling noise. Janet looked up to see a man, only slightly taller than herself but significantly more muscle-bound, hurtling down the road towards them waving a shiny, hefty, and no doubt sharp axe.

"Oh, way to go Doc."

Janet couldn't help but sympathise with O'Neill's sentiments, though she wasn't comforted by the see-through Sam's reassuring words, "Let's look on the bright side
-- even if he is contagiously ill, there's still a chance he's not Goa'uld."



Any hope Fraiser might have had that the crazy axe wielding guy heading their way was simply excited to see them was thoroughly dashed by the stream of profanities he was spewing at them. The three visible members of SG1 brought their weapons up in defence, and Sam leapt protectively (if futilely) in front of Janet.

Their assailant had enough sense to screech to a halt just short of their position, but enough rage to continue ranting, "You dare to show your faces in our land again? Your effrontery in returning here will be the last mistake you ever make. Even if you can stop me killing you now you will die for what you have done. All Defenders of the Faith know of the evil you have cast upon Grimr and our revenge will have its due."

While the incensed man continued on in this vitriolic vein, O'Neill rolled his eyes and turned to Daniel. "OK Doctor Jackson, you were the one saying what warm and fuzzy people these were. You want to settle this down before somebody gets hurt?"

The archaeologist looked either offended or nervous (Janet wasn't sure which) and though he opened his mouth, no sound came out. Happily, his input wasn't actually required, because the stand off was broken by the appearance of a small woman striding determinedly towards them, her voice lashing out like a whip.

"Doldar! Cease you this minute!"

She came to a halt in front of the now thoroughly cowed Doldar and crossed her arms in displeased fashion. The little local quickly lowered his axe and Janet was surprised to see that, although he was actually both taller and bigger than the woman, his demeanour suddenly turned into that of a hapless, chastened kindergartner.

"Hrefna! Well met indeed. I was just..."

"I see very well what you were doing Doldar, though I do not understand how you could. Have you forgotten the code of hospitality which governs our lives and our land?" In a long tradition beloved of mothers, teachers, and doctors everywhere (even intergalactically it seemed), the woman's voice spoke more of disappointment than of anger. Having always hated being on the receiving end of that particular tone, Janet found she couldn't entirely blame Doldar for his mutinous and slightly sulky reaction.

"But Grimr..."

"What happened to Grimr was not the fault of these, Doldar. My husband would be in accord with me on this, as you must know. Now get you gone from here, and let the others know my will in this matter. Our visitors are not to be harmed."

As Doldar trotted obediently and rapidly off into the distance from which he had come, Hrefna turned to them and with a smile both friendly and gracious launched into a veritable onslaught of apologies, which she concluded by asking, "I trust you all remain unharmed?"

If they had been injured, Janet thought but was wise enough not to say, they'd have probably bled to death while the woman was still talking. O'Neill, though he still looked somewhat dazed by the flow of words, mustered a response. "Well, that guy was like a can full of clichés just waiting to explode, but I think we'll be okay."

Daniel, ever the gentlemen, spared Hrefna having to respond to this. "We're fine, but glad of your timely arrival. And you? How is Grimr?"

"Alas, he sleeps still with no sign of waking, I'm afraid." The local woman spoke sombrely, but Janet noticed a distinct twinkle in her eye as she spoke to Daniel. It seemed the archaeologist might have made yet another conquest. Hrefna did however manage to peel her eyes away from him, looking round to say, "I fear you also have failed to heal your companion? The tall, beautiful woman? I see she is not with you."

Janet didn't entirely catch Daniel's reply because Sam was whispering (quite unnecessarily) in her ear, "Wow. Tell her she's not bad looking herself. She's got gorgeous eyes."

Janet, still feeling the sting of the word 'failed', repressed a reply to her friend that might have included words such as 'dull', 'mud-coloured', and 'terminal verbosity'. She also wondered if it would be a good time to tell O'Neill about Sam's apparent-only-to-her presence, calculating that if they were far enough away from the gate the Colonel would be less likely to send her straight back to the SGC. She might be going crazy, but she wasn't ready to give up on helping Sam just yet.

"Doc?"

Startled out of her musings by O'Neill's voice, Janet realised the group had begun to move off in Hrefna's wake, having finally been able to accept the healing woman's long winded invitation to her house, to check on Grimr and discuss the situation further.

Daniel was walking alongside the local woman, talking in rapt but hushed tones.

Teal'c was behind them, clearly happy in his own company.

And O'Neill, rather inconveniently, was waiting to walk with the doctor herself.

Sam articulated an echo of Janet's frustration. "Damn, I was hoping to get you alone so we could talk. Although..." the blonde woman continued cheerfully, "...since he can't hear me I could talk and you could just listen, right?"

The colonel spoke simultaneously. "Glorious weather they have here, isn't it Doc? It'd be great for fishing if there was any to be had around here. I remember a time..."

It was, Janet thought, like a really fast game of aural ping-pong.

"...can't explain how the device activated, because I hadn't yet inserted a gem into ..."

"...Minnesota, the most beautiful place in the world. There were these fish that..."

"...responded to the naquada in my blood. I suspect the original process was meant to be..."

"...this big, I swear to God. If I'd had any..."

Janet felt a headache coming on.

As they walked and she was talked at, Janet observed that prx259 -Rachnoght-- was a beautiful, verdant, and seemingly peaceful land. Large hills and lush forest surrounded wide open fields, most of which showed signs of a recent harvest. The few structures that they had passed (outlying farm buildings Janet guessed) were unsophisticated but obviously meticulously maintained. If it were flatter and had fewer trees, in fact, it would bear a strong resemblance to a latter-day Kansas. Which was, unfortunately, definitely not where they were any more. She briefly, wildly, wondered if tapping her heels together would help improve the situation.

She also contemplated whether her head was going to explode from the strain of listening to two people at once, particularly when she could only interact with the one whose conversation, at this point in time, was the least interesting. Fortunately, the colonel didn't seem to require a response any more than Sam did.

"...beginning to worry about my safety. Not only was it giant, it..."

"...actually removes the consciousness from the physical body somehow. While it doesn't seem possible, it..."

"...actually had teeth. Do you think that's possible, Doc? Doc??"


Janet stared blankly at her commanding officer, and was relieved when they were once again presented with the sudden, noisy, arrival of a local. Or in this case, locals, who were very much smaller and very much more benign than their previous attacker. She smiled as she watched a group of remarkably cute, pocket sized children thunder across the field in a beeline towards Teal'c. The big Jaffa held his arms out to the side and his small admirers swarmed over him, clinging and swinging and laughing.

Sam spoke in her ear. "The people here are just fascinated by Teal'c, we think because of his comparatively large stature. It's a nice change from the fear with which he is usually greeted as a former Jaffa."

O'Neill provided the expected, audible echo. "They really love the big guy around here, can't get enough of him. I don't know if you've noticed, but the people around here are kind of..." he looked over at her and faltered, "...kind of..." he swallowed, "...diminutive."

Sam laughed outright and Janet struggled to maintain the lack of expression on her face as he struggled on, throwing out phrases such as 'nothing wrong with that' and 'some of my best friends'.

"He must be getting worried about you." Sam's voice was amused. "First he used a polysyllabic word, and now he's trying to be polite."

"Oh look, we've arrived! " O'Neill all but gasped with relief. Sure enough, Hrefna had stopped in front of a seemingly unbroken line of foliage and, gesticulating, said something to the children which caused them to clamber down from Teal'c and run away. With the exception of one small individual, who had disembarked but continued to stand next to and stare adoringly up at the Jaffa. Janet couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the obviously besotted child.

Hrefna, however, had no such qualms and put a sharp end to this moment of worship. "Ityn! Get you gone from here now!"

Defiantly dragging his feet, the small boy reluctantly obeyed. Hrefna pulled back some branches to reveal a gate, and the group filed through in her wake, finding themselves in an unexpectedly and densely packed wooded area.

As they followed the revealed path O'Neill parlayed his previous discomfort into yet another fishing monologue but Sam remained silent. Looking up, Janet saw her friend smiling indulgently at the oblivious colonel. Speaking of besotted, she thought, rubbing her decidedly aching temples. And speaking of headaches, she didn't envy General Hammond if the obvious attraction between Carter and her commanding officer ever came to fruition. Appalled by this uncharacteristically gossipy line of thinking, Janet shook her head in self chastisement. She needed to concentrate on the matters -- or rather the Sams -- at hand.

The group had by now reached a large brick and timber house. The dwelling was mostly unadorned, excepting the presence of a mammoth, grandiose brass bell next to the front door. Given the comparatively small stature of Rachnoght's people this gleaming bell could well have housed a family of three, and Janet wondered if was a status symbol -- the local equivalent of parking a Porsche in the driveway.

Hrefna paused in unlocking the front door and said, "Be aware, I have placed my husband in the common area of the house so that I might better attend to him. I will check on him and then take you through to the kitchen...which I assure you I mean not as a sign of disrespect or inhospitality."

Everyone murmured softly with sympathy as they followed her in, except Teal'c, who merely crinkled a compassionate eyebrow.

While the exterior of the house had been relatively plain, its interior furnishings would have been described as lavish anywhere in the galaxy. The simple wooden cot on which Grimr lay stood out in stark incongruity, a humble twig in a sea of opulence. Janet wasn't entirely sure that the glinting of that much gold was entirely appropriate for a sick room. Although when she thought about it, the SGC infirmary was a little drab....

Sam whistled. "I guess religion pays pretty well on this planet. Or medicine. Maybe you should talk to Hammond about increasing your budget."

Hrefna bustled over to her husband, while the remaining members of SG1 spread themselves throughout the room, their eyes looking everywhere but at the prone form of Grimr. Janet suspected this was an expression of extreme discomfort rather than a tactical manoeuvre, but she was happy to exploit their distraction and allowed her gaze to settle speculatively on the apparitional Sam for a moment. She then, with all the impudence of a doctor desperately seeking a cure, walked over to stand next to Hrefna. Her ghostly friend, with the insouciance known only to the invisible or the imaginary, followed closely in her wake.

Janet watched as the healing woman removed a rather sophisticated looking syringe from Grimr's arm, surprised by the high standard of care the man seemed to be receiving. Judging from a superficial perspective. She'd been unimpressed that he'd been left entirely unattended, and even now her muscles were twitching with the suppressed desire to leap in and take over his care.

Sam's voice breathed in her ear, "I suppose you should find out what was in that syringe, but..." she leaned over to look more closely at Grimr, "...it doesn't seem to be helping much."

Janet was doing her best not to look like someone being leaned on by a tall beautiful blonde, but obviously hadn't hidden her earlier surprise at all well, judging by the defensive tone in Hrefna's voice. "As you can see, Doctor Fraiser, and despite what some people might think, the fact that we adhere to the Old Ways does not mean we wallow in primitive ignorance. Indeed, as I understand we are peers in our profession, I would be pleased and honoured if you would care to examine my husband. Any help you could give would be much appreciated."

Sam made a soft, derisive sound and spoke with a tone of wounded pride, "She's got a pretty high opinion of herself. I doubt she could compare to you even on her best day." She continued as if Janet expected or required an explanation, "I'm not being earthnocentric or anything. It's just that you set a pretty high standard."

Janet felt warmed by this compliment, until it occurred to her that if this 'Sam' was nothing more than a delusional product of her own disordered mind then she was essentially flattering herself. Like any good doctor, Janet had a fairly healthy ego, but a self-created fan club would be going a little too far.

She noticed that Hrefna was starting to look puzzled and she quickly slapped a smile on her face and accepted the local woman's offer to examine her husband. While she performed as thorough an examination as she could under the circumstances, Janet did her best to ignore the two sets of eyes intently watching her every move. Arms folded, Hrefna stood at the head of the stretcher, but Sam remained close by Janet's side. Very close. At one point, Janet was unsettled to feel Sam's warm breath grazing her cheek. Did figments of the imagination usually breathe so realistically? Did non-corporeal entities usually breathe at all? Janet was fairly sure such issues had never been covered at medical school and she silently cursed her teachers for this egregious oversight.

Grimr was suffering from no apparent injury or illness which could explain his current condition. He appeared to be -- much like the Samantha Carter lying in the SGC infirmary -- simply, inexplicably unconscious. Unfortunately for Janet's concentration, the Samantha Carter who was inexplicably awake (not to mention inexplicably present) was, in contrast to her other distant self, proving to be very distracting indeed. The doctor had just about grown accustomed to the disturbingly close proximity of her friend when she felt the other woman stiffen and move away. As Janet set about collecting an array of samples from Grimr (a process much complicated by the need to answer a volley questions from a frowning Hrefna) Sam started popping up at various points in her peripheral vision, wandering the room waving her hand through a variety of objects: a wooden chair, a gold goblet, a standing lamp, and at one point an entirely unaware Jack O'Neill.

Packing her samples, Fraiser turned to Hrefna and asked, "Have you noticed any unusual pattern of heart rate acceleration since he entered this coma-like state?"

Sam approached and waved her hand through the stretcher, before poking Janet repeatedly on the arm.

Hrefna's frown deepened in a vaguely patronising manner. "By this I assume you refer to the beat by which we measure the rhythm of life? In which case, no. I have observed no such pattern. While I am treating him with herbs intended to stimulate wakefulness, I am also giving him others which serve to soothe his life force. This will not only encourage him to return to us, but also make his sleep peaceful. You have no such treatments on your planet?"

Sam waved her hand through a medical container and then gently ran her hand up and down Janet's leg.

Janet swallowed back her surprise and continued to question Hrefna with determined calm. "His breathing and temperature have also remained stable?"

As Hrefna answered in a lengthy and slightly snooty affirmative, Sam waved her hand through the Rachnoughtian healing woman, returned to Janet, and brought her hand down on the doctor's leg with a loud *slap*.

Stifling a curse, Janet leapt to her feet. Snapping closed the latches of the sample container, she could only pray that her movements looked deliberate. Although a part of her (the same part who wanted to start screaming and not stop until someone locked her away in a nice padded cell) wondered irritably why no one had further challenged her surely odd behaviour.

"God Janet, I'm so sorry. I really didn't think you could feel me. I'm so, so sorry."

Beneath the sound of Sam's apologies Janet distinctly heard the shattered tinkling of a no doubt precious object being broken. It seemed safe to assume that O'Neill had gone a fidget too far in his wanderings around the room, and Janet quickly tried to distract Hrefna from a potentially nasty breakage incident. She heard herself gushing like an adolescent, which did nothing to improve her mood. "The herbal remedies you're using seem most efficacious Hrefna. If I may call you that? Quite wonderful. Really. I'd love to learn more about it and...."

Hrefna's condescending voice mercifully cut her short, "I would of course be pleased to share my knowledge and experience with you Doctor Fraiser, but another time would perhaps be better. For now I think we should..." she waved her arms to encompass the entire group "...move into the kitchen where we can further discuss the current situation. That is why we are here, is it not?"

Janet was by no means an expert on alien cultures but she was pretty sure she had just been roundly snubbed. Sam patted her gently on the shoulder and then followed Daniel and Teal'c into the next room. O'Neill slowly moved from where he had been standing, shaking his arm slightly. The shifting clatter of something broken falling to the floor was unmistakable. As he breezed past to move through the doorway O'Neill spoke quietly to Janet. "Don't worry Doc, it didn't look new."


Janet remained where she was for the moment, trying to ease the tension from her shoulders -- and to unclench her jaw. Taking a deep breath she followed the others, muttering softly, "Hell, thy name is SG1."



"Scho iffa arpa erfer nah?"

Daniel Jackson looked at Hrefna, and then at the group seated around the kitchen table, clearly yet mistakenly confident that they had been able to understand his words as spoken through the mouthful of...whatever...he was eating. Janet's brows furrowed. Hadn't she just issued a memo cautioning against the ingestion of alien foodstuffs during off world missions? The archaeologist washed down his mouthful of food with a potential pathogen in liquid form and repeated his question, "So this has happened before now?"
Hrefna beamed her understanding. "Truly, it is so Doctor Jackson. Our histories tell of a time when strangers to our land -- sometimes one, sometimes many -- would appear before the Great Spear of the Gods with no knowledge of how or why they had come to be there. Some were said to have no remembering of anything at all before their arrival here, although others told tales of the lives they lived in lands so distant that even the very stars themselves were different."

Janet frowned. "And you think this historical phenomena is related to what has happened to Captain Carter and your husband? Has there been any correlative shift in environmental factors which would support this connection?" Out of the corner of her eye Janet saw O'Neill leave his seat to go pour himself a tumbler of the brightly coloured liquid which Doctor Jackson had been drinking, and she added before Hrefna could respond, "Are there any substances which Captain Carter and Mr Grimr might both have had contact with...or consumed?"
"You misunderstand me Doctor Fraiser." Hrefna didn't actually add the words "you idiot" but their presence hung palpably in the air. "Although the strangers who came to this land in earlier times were welcomed and embraced as favourites of the Gods, I believe my husband and your companion have been Blessed in a more direct and more meaningful fashion. Such Blessings were not gifted to us until later in our history."

O'Neill's voice sputtered with equal parts scepticism and outrage, "Blessings?!? You call that Blessed?"

On the brink of retaking his seat next to Hrefna, the Colonel abruptly veered left, aiming for the supposedly vacant seat next to Janet...and the unseen lap of his invisible second in command. Carter hurriedly leapt up, and just as promptly tripped, providing Janet with a sudden armful of Sam.

"Oops, sorry. That was just a little too close for comfort. I admit the man has a nice butt." Sam winked at Janet. "But that'd be too weird."

She jumped up and claimed the seat O'Neill had abandoned, while Janet tried to refocus her attention on Hrefna's continuing words.

"...cleansed of their carnal and material attachments, ready to be lifted up and taken to dwell with the Gods."

Janet yelped, there really was no other word for it. "They die you mean?!?"

Hrefna looked vaguely affronted. "If that is how you wish to say it, certainly. Their spirits are freed from a corporeal plane of existence within a few short days of the Blessing."

"Why is there always a potentially fatal time limit in these types of situations?" Sam's voice was light-hearted, but she was clearly shaken. Janet wished she could reach out to comfort her friend.
"Oh for crying..." O'Neill had clearly reached the end of whatever patience he had to spare. "So you're saying Carter and Grimr are going to die? That's what you had to tell us? So why are you bothering to treat your husband? Why bring us here? "

"Jack...."

O'Neill held up a silencing hand. "No, Daniel, I want to know. Are we going to get to the bit where Rhona here tells the Doc how to fix Carter? Or not? Because personally I'd kind of like to keep my Captain in a corporeal state. If you get what I mean."

An unruffled Hrefna placed her hand on Daniel's arm, smiling gently first at the archaeologist and then at O'Neill. "It is not mine to decide the fate of my husband or your companion Colonel O'Neill. I must simply do what I can to comfort my husband's physical form, and encourage his spirit to return. But..." her smile now glowed with the inner fire of the fanatic "...it is my hope and fervent belief that Grimr, along with Captain Carter, even now speaks with the Gods and will soon return with glorious news: that the time has come when all our people will be forgiven their transgressions and we will journey together to take our place among the Gods."

In the silence that followed this statement, Janet might have been the only one who heard Samantha Carter curse softly; and the only one who saw the blonde woman drop her head into her hands in the universal posture of despair.

They all, however, saw Jack O'Neill freeze with a half-drained glass at his lips before gracelessly spitting out what liquid remained in his mouth; and they all heard the soft clunk with which he set the glass back down on the table. The colonel used one finger to push it away and -- glancing at Daniel -- not-so-surreptitiously muttered, "OK. No one else drink the Kool-Aid."

Although she didn't at the moment consider herself to be the best qualified to do so, Janet attempted to inject some sanity into the situation, saying to Hrefna, "If we could rule out environmental, climatic, or dietary factors..."

Hrefna calmly batted back this attempt at normalcy. "I assure you, Doctor Fraiser, I myself and many other healers of many generations have searched for a physiological explanation of The Blessing. And still the only possible explanation available to us, the only 'factor' to have changed over the years, is the turning away by so many of our people from the True Way of the Gods. Our Holy Texts, however, clearly tell of the Great Ascension which will follow a long period of faithlessness and..."

O'Neill stood up abruptly and interrupted the local woman as ruthlessly as she had cut off Janet. "Well, I haven't had this much fun since they kicked me out of Sunday school, but I think maybe it's time for Teal'c and me to go have a chat with some of the other folks around here."

Teal'c complied with a speed which belied his size, while Janet stared reproachfully at the colonel. The man was possibly the most stubborn and irritating patient she had ever had, but she'd never thought O'Neill a coward. Yet here he was running away, leaving her and Doctor Jackson in the clutches of a clearly lunatic (and kind of obnoxious) woman.
Perhaps the stare had had some affect because O'Neill immediately redeemed himself by saying, "Either of you doctors want to come?"

Before Janet could answer, Sam and Daniel spoke simultaneously.

"Let them go, Janet. We need to find some place where we can talk alone."

"Thanks, Jack. But no, I think I can learn some more by staying here."

Janet articulated her own refusal, "I'd prefer to find somewhere to set up my test equipment, sir."

"Okay then, keep in touch."

For two big bad warrior-types, thought Janet, Teal'c and O'Neill sure knew how to scatter like chickens running from the chopping block. For a moment it seemed as if they had actually created a slipstream which ruffled the hair on the back of her neck, until she realised that Sam had once more moved into close proximity. As if Janet needed reminding of their need for privacy.

Hrefna, unfortunately, proceeded to offer Janet the use of just about every room in her house, bar the bathroom. The doctor found herself scrambling for excuses to refuse. She began to feel as she had in her youth, when trying to evade her mother so she could sneak out to see her boyfriend. Janet ruthlessly cut off that line of thought almost as soon as it appeared. Not only did it bring back grim memories of what a toad marriage had turned her young prince into, it made her worry about Cassandra. How was she going to protect her adopted daughter from toads if she was locked away in a mental health unit? Worse, how could she face Cassandra if she couldn't find a way to help Sam before it was too late?

"...ablutions chamber which might..."

Daniel mercifully cut Hrefna off before she could finish her latest offer. "Didn't I see a small cottage on our way here? Would that be suitable for Doctor Fraiser's purposes?"

Hrefna looked disconcerted, but after staring at Daniel for a moment she smiled and responded in happy enough fashion. "Yes, yes of course. It is the healing hut which I use to store and prepare my herbs, and on occasion to isolate patients who have a spreading sickness. Would that not suit you admirably Doctor?"

The word 'isolate' gladdened Janet's heart, and she sprang eagerly to her feet. "That sounds perfect, thank you. If you could just give me some directions..."
Hrefna cut her off at the proverbial pass. "It would be my honour to accompany you myself, Doctor Fraiser. And it would be grievously inhospitable to expect you to find it on your own. Indeed, once we have arrived there I may be able to be of some further assistance."

There wasn't much Janet could say to that, and she moved resignedly towards the living room to gather her equipment, samples, and supplies. Following close behind, Sam muttered, "Damn, what does it take to get rid of this woman? I feel like a nun trying to escape the convent. Perhaps you should slip her a Mickey Finn."

Janet suppressed a smile. "It's funny you should say that..."

"Doctor Fraiser?" Speaking simultaneously, Daniel and Hrefna looked equally puzzled. Sam emitted an entirely unhelpful 'oops', and Janet scrambled to recover. "It's funny you should mention assisting me, when I have all this equipment to carry. If you wouldn't mind?"

While Daniel enthusiastically loaded himself up like a pack mule and Hrefna delicately picked up a small sample container, Janet made one last bid for freedom and proper medical procedure. "I'm sorry Hrefna, but I really don't feel comfortable making you leave your husband unattended. Perhaps..."

"No, no, Please fret yourself not Doctor Fraiser." Hrefna happily strode off down the hallway, followed by the heavily laden Daniel. "As you have seen yourself, Grimr is resting as comfortably as possible. And..." she shut and locked the front door which Janet had just made her way through, unaware that Sam had yet to fully make her way out, "...my bond with my husband is such that if he experiences any distress I will sense it straightaway and make my return."

Studiously ignoring Sam's indignant yelp, Janet followed Hrefna and Daniel down the path, shuddering at the thought of having a psychic bond with her trouble-magnetic SGC patients. Siler alone would ensure she never slept again.

Left for the moment in silence, Janet felt a burden of fear settling upon her shoulders, heavier than the pack on her back: fear for Sam's life; for her own sanity; for her daughter; and (it suddenly came to her) for her house, because she couldn't remember turning the iron off that morning. Looking over at the tall figure walking next to her, Janet's tactical ambition to be alone with her colleague became a sharp emotional need to talk freely with her friend.

They had reached the end of the path, and Janet's eyes blinked as she stepped out into the bright light of the open field.

" Einarr!"

Janet briefly thought that Hrefna was swearing at her in an alien tongue, but soon realised that the local woman's vitriolic hiss was in fact aimed at a small, dapper man who was standing in obviously interrupted conversation with O'Neill and Teal'c. Sam spoke in a low, urgent voice. " That's the local leader of the so-called Progressives. He can't be trusted. I'll explain more later, but I think he had something to do with what happened to me."

"Hrefna..." the little man approached and smiled an oily smile, "...well met indeed."

Hrefna's voice was cold and hostile. "It is never well to meet with you Einarr. Cease your meddling and get you gone from my lands."

Einarr's smile never wavered. "My apologies Hrefna, I was not aware your gods had elevated you so far above the common laws of hospitality which govern our land. I must assume, however, that these visitors..." he rejoined Teal'c and O'Neill, "...are not personal gifts to you from your gods, and are therefore not your property. In that spirit gentlemen..." he spoke to the men, but cast a sneering look at Hrefna, "...may I suggest we retire to somewhere more conducive to rational conversation?" He gestured politely to indicate that Teal'c and O'Neill should follow him, and walked stiffly away across the field.

Before joining Einarr and Teal'c, O'Neill quickly performed an elaborate series of gesticulations which Janet translated to mean 'carry on suckers, we're out of here, but keep in touch.'

Hrefna threw her hands up in disgust and stalked off, muttering what were definitely alien swear words. Daniel silently indicated that they should follow the local woman before regathering his load of containers and doing just that. Janet was wondering if she should wave her arms around just to fit in with the group when Sam popped into her line of vision and performed a fiendishly accurate parody of her commanding officer's hand signals, before jogging after Daniel. Smiling, Janet moved to follow and stepped on something which revealed itself to be the small sample container Hrefna had been carrying.It must, Janet thought, have come loose during the woman's flurry of indignation. She was relieved to find that nothing had been broken, but she muttered a few choice swear words herself as she secured the container in a side pocket and hurried to catch up with the others.

She promptly met the fate of those who don't watch where they are going, ploughing into the solid back of a now stationary Daniel Jackson.

His head was cocked in a listening position as he said, "Did you hear that? It sounds like an argument. Or raised voices at least..."

Janet, who had been hearing (and seeing) plenty of things that weren't necessarily there, had to confess she'd heard nothing in this particular instance. If you didn't count Sam asking, "What voices?" Daniel, however, remained concerned. "I hope Jack's not...I mean, his diplomatic skills aren't really...perhaps I'd better go check it out."
He quickly divested himself of medical equipment, asking in obviously rhetorical fashion, "You'll be okay without me, right? If you do need me..." he patted the radio at his chest "...just let me know."

He rapidly trotted off, and Sam sounded cheerful, "That's one down, we're almost alone now." She frowned as her hand passed uselessly through the handle of an abandoned medical container. She looked sideways at Hrefna. "Ask her to carry the heavy ones...that might get rid of her."

Watching the receding archaeologist bound away from his supposedly required medical supervision, Janet sighed, sharing Sam's desire for solitude but wondering just how many duties she was going to neglect on this mission.

An empty handed Hrefna had already continued walking, and looking down at the mountain of containers Janet seriously contemplated adding the abandonment of SGC-issue equipment to her growing catalogue of Bad Doctor sins.

It was, Janet thought, typical really: although there were veritable hordes of them at all the wrong times, there was never a Jaffa around when you really needed one....




Ityn crouched further down into his hiding place, his heart rate accelerating as the footsteps drew closer. Carefully peering through the foliage which concealed him, he saw the visitor called Doctor Jackson running swiftly towards Teal'c and the two other men. The young local had followed the three men all the way from Hrefna's house without getting caught, and he now decided it would be best to stay where he was for the moment. Doctor Jackson seemed like he was pretty good friends with Hrefna, and Ityn really, really didn't want to get in trouble with her again. Making himself more comfortable, he pulled out the treasure he had found and sighed softly. He desperately wanted to show the shiny object to Teal'c, but only if he could get his big friend away from that creepy Einarr.





"Jack! Teal'c! Wait up!"

O'Neill rolled his eyes and turned to watch a winded Daniel Jackson coming to a stop in front of him. "Daniel, I'm flattered. I can't remember the last time I had someone panting after me with such breathless enthusiasm." The colonel tapped the radio on his chest. "Really, you could've just called me."

"Funny, Jack, funny. Doctor Fraiser didn't need my assistance so I thought I'd tag along with you guys."

O'Neill's voice was not unkind. "I don't blame you. All that medical mumbo jumbo would give me a headache pretty fast too. Plus I bet she's got that damn penlight with her, and she'll pull that sucker out any chance she gets. But..." he amiably thumped the younger man's arm, forestalling any response "...you're meant to be under medical supervision...and I'm not particularly comfortable with Fraiser being left on her own."

Daniel lowered his voice, "Uh...can I have a word with you alone Jack?" He cast an arm about O'Neill's shoulders and led him a short distance away from the other two men. "Look, Doctor Fraiser seems to think Einarr can't be trusted. She wanted me to warn you to be on your guard."

O'Neill looked as sceptical as he sounded. "She hasn't even really met the guy. What possible reason does she have not to trust him?"

"I don't know precisely, medicinal instinct maybe? The point is..."

"The point, Daniel, is that I'm a big boy now and can look after myself just fine thank you. So why don't you do what you're supposed to do and go join Fraiser, so she can do what she's supposed to do and keep an eye on you."

"But..."
"Daniel."

O'Neill's growl was clearly intended to close the conversation, and Daniel's response was more than a little sulky,
"Oh okay, I'll go see if Doctor Fraiser needs any help yet."



"No, really, I don't need any help. Thank you."

What Janet did need right now was some space -- quite literally.

The healing cottage (more of a hut really) wouldn't have accommodated much cat-swinging at the best of times. One entire wall and both sides of the doorway were covered by floor-to-ceiling shelving; while the remaining two walls were respectively filled by a capacious workbench (on which Janet was now setting up some tests) and a large, fully made bed (on to which Janet would have liked to simply collapse face down, potential alien contagions be damned). Getting her medical equipment into the limited space had been like playing a life-sized, concretised game of Tetris. Now, with all the gear inside plus three people (even if one of them was invisible) Janet wouldn't have been surprised if the little place had suddenly burst open and collapsed like a porcine straw house. Making a mental note not to breathe too heavily, she turned from the bench and narrowly avoided being hit by the piece of equipment which Hrefna was waving through the air. About which the healing woman was no doubt formulating a query. Janet had earlier decided to distract Hrefna by getting her to unpack containers -- a tactic which had backfired when it unleashed an incessant barrage of questions. Janet would have simply stepped around the inquisitive local, but the only path available was blocked by a fidgety and restless pseudo-Carter.

Watching Hrefna draw breath to fire off the next inquiry, Janet realised that what she'd really, really like right now would be to wake up in her bed at home and have Sam emerge from the shower to tell her this was all just a terrible dream. Before the doctor could formulate an acceptable scenario to explain why Sam might be in her shower, she heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.



The running figure of Daniel Jackson screeched to a halt outside the cottage door. Tilting his head, he could just make out the words (spoken in a distinctly irritable tone) emerging from inside.

"...used it in such a way, I doubt you'd ever walk the same again..."

Smiling, he opened the door and interrupted the conversation by cheerfully saying, "Hi, sorry to barge in on you. Jack wants me to work on translating some more of the writings on the spear device. I just wanted to ask Hrefna if she would come along to assist."

The local women simpered. "I am most honoured that you should ask this -- indeed ask anything -- of me, but I am afraid I have already pledged myself to assist Doctor Fraiser."

Janet quickly, maybe even a little too enthusiastically to be quite polite, assured Hrefna she was free to leave. Perhaps as a result of this assurance (or more likely because the archaeologist flashed those puppy dog eyes) Hrefna acquiesced.

Daniel, however, simply stood in the doorway for a moment, brows furrowed. Janet saw that his eyes were turned in the direction of Sam and her heart leapt with hope.

"Daniel?"

Carter sprang forward, also uttering her colleague's name. She tried to place her hand on Daniel's shoulder, frowning in disappointment as it passed straight through and Daniel showed no reaction whatsoever. "Damn, for a minute there, I thought he could see me."

Daniel shook his head as if to clear it and smiled. "Sorry, I was just struggling with the sudden temptation to shirk my duty. From the sounds of the conversation I interrupted, it might be more fun to stay here."

Throwing him a grateful look as he politely guided Hrefna out the door, Janet was surprised when he turned and winked roguishly over his departing shoulder. Daniel was a lot of things, but roguish generally wasn't one of them. When she thought about it, Teal'c had also been behaving a little out of character since bringing the injured Carter home. The Jaffa had probably said more in the last few hours than he had in the last few months. And while it was not unknown for O'Neill to be skittish and inappropriately flippant at times, Janet wondered if he was always so flighty and tactless when leading a mission off-world.

Not that she was in much of a position to judge whether people were acting out of character or not. Given that she herself was seeing, hearing and about to talk to a friend who was in sane fact lying in a coma light-years across the galaxy.

Said friend Sam was peering out the window, watching their annoying hostess and disconcertingly flirtatious colleague departing. With a cheerful, "They're gone", she turned back into the room and moved towards Janet, saying "God am I glad to see you." She smiled wryly. "Or more to the point, glad you can see me." She moved to give her friend a hug, but Janet threw up her hands and backed away. Running out of room and into the bed, she sat down heavily. In the face of this rejection Sam looked hurt and confused, asking softly, "What's wrong Janet?"

The smaller woman looked up at Sam, incredulously saying, "Other than the fact that I'm delusional and have clearly gone completely, utterly insane you mean?" Before Sam had a chance to reply Janet continued in a voice that sounded suspiciously hysterical even to herself. "God, I should have told the Colonel as soon as I started hallucinating you -- I'm going to have to tell him as soon as possible -- but I can't stand thinking how upsetting it's going to be for Cassandra when she finds out I've cracked up. It's been hard enough for her being worried about you being in a coma. Which maybe I shouldn't have told her about -- but she always knows when I'm keeping something back from her -- which I knew was a mother thing, but no one warned me was also a daughter thing -- but really, she needed to know where we both were. Or at least, where I thought we both were...I mean, I think I know where I am and now where all of you is...are...is...but..."

With a sympathetic chuckle, Sam pulled her uncharacteristically babbling friend into a gentle embrace, saying softly "Sssh, it's okay Janet: I promise, we'll figure this out. We'll figure this out and then we'll fix it."

Janet relaxed slightly, allowing herself to draw comfort from the embrace of the friend she'd feared lost. And she thought to herself that even if it was all a delusion, at least it was a reassuringly warm, solid, Sam kind of delusion.

Releasing her hold, Sam continued, "and I promise, much as it may seem like it, you're not going crazy."



"It seems a little crazy to me, but from what you're saying I'd guess the machine was designed to suck the brains out of the Goa'uld, leaving the host with a dead snake inside them and nothing but good memories. Right?"

Teal'c and Einarr both looked surprised and somewhat baffled by O'Neill's pronouncement.

The local man was the first to respond, "Well, until your arrival here we had no knowledge of these Goold of whom you speak. As I have said, the mindlessly religious elements on our planet believe the device was created long ago by their gods. They also believe all manner of nonsense about how it used to function in 'the good old days' in contrast to our supposedly more sinful present. Our scientists, with somewhat more merit, believe it to be a weapon which was created by religious fanatics during the Great War. The wide spread destruction wrought by this war meant that much historical, scientific and technological knowledge was lost to us. However, the physical evidence and the memories of survivors indicate that weapons of almost unimaginable power proliferated during the struggle, making it reasonable to conclude..."

Teal'c saw O'Neill's eyes glaze over as their host continued to talk at the ponderous length which appeared to be his habit. The Jaffa took the opportunity to walk up alongside the Colonel, saying softly, "I believe we are being followed, O'Neill."

O'Neill replied in equally low tones, leaving Einarr oblivious to his audience's inattentiveness. "Yup. At least one tail, probably two, maybe more. It's hard to hear for sure with old Draino blathering so much. He's worse than Carter when she starts prattling on -- but not as beautiful to watch."

Teal'c's eyebrow twitched in a slightly disapproving fashion, and O'Neill hurried on, "That didn't come out quite right. What I mean is, usually when Carter's talking the galaxy's collective ear off she's in the process of saving the world...not to mention our asses. Which is beautiful to watch. That's what I meant." He nodded his head in a decisive movement, but his voice trailed off into a mumble, "I think."
"I see." Teal'c looked sideways at his companion before continuing, "I was most impressed with your earlier analysis of the alien device's intended function and operation, O'Neill. I have never heard of such a machine, nor would I have extrapolated such an explanation from Einarr's words."

Jack looked pained by this statement. "Hey, I'm a lot smarter than I look you know." Looking a little smug he continued, "If you piece together what we know about Asgard technology, what Rhona said, and what Draino...is still saying...it makes sense: tower whoosh equals brain dead snake equals happy host." He waggled his eyebrows and continued, "Though I admit I'm pretty impressed with myself. All that hanging out with Carter, some of her genius is obviously beginning to rub off on me."


"... an electroencephalographic determination of the constituent parameters of the unique network of neurons which make up the Goa'uld consciousness, which it then extracts as a unit of discrete energy. It seems reasonable to conclude that in my case the device malfunctioned -- as it presumably has for the past several decades -- causing my consciousness to be fractured and then dispersed into three separate ...'units', for lack of a better word." Carter's smile shone with the brightness of a theory-high as she added, "So although you could say I've got a bit of a split personality problem, you're perfectly sane. Or not imagining me, anyway."

"Uh-huh."

Janet felt a twinge of guilt as she watched Carter's smile fade in the face of such obvious scepticism. But one of the strengths of her friendship with Sam was their ability to be completely honest with each other, and Janet saw no need to change that now. Even if Sam wasn't really there in the fullest sense of the word. So, finishing up at the workbench and moving over to sit on the bed, she continued inexorably on, "I have to admit, it seems unlikely that I could ever come up with a theory so very, very medically unsound -- even in a highly delusional state. But if I'm not imagining you --which I don't admit -- that doesn't obviate the possibility that you -- or rather what I'm seeing and hearing as you -- isn't some form of alien mind control." Janet narrowed her eyes. "Which might make more sense actually. All else aside, you're certainly not behaving entirely like yourself."

As if to prove Janet's point Carter looked affronted, her face overtaken by a decided pout. While beautiful in its own right, pouting wasn't something that Sam tended towards. Nor had Janet ever heard her sound sulky, which she definitely did as she asked, "What's that supposed to mean, Janet?"

"It means the Samantha Carter I know wouldn't hold information back from her CO. Let alone compliment his...posterior. You just seem a little more, I don't know...unfocused...mercurial ...frolicsome...than usual."

Sam laughed. "Frolicsome? Posterior? Come on Janet, it's not like the man could hear me." Her laughter turned quickly to a frown. "Hey!" She slapped Janet lightly on the arm, "Are you saying I'm usually boring and predictable?"

"I'm saying you don't usually hit me this much."

Sam adopted an expression of contrition too acute to be entirely genuine, gently patting the arm she had earlier slapped.

Janet rolled her eyes. "You're not helping your case any here Carter."

Sam smiled. "Well I've never been accused of being an otherworldly enemy agent before. It just feels kind of ridiculous. Really Janet, if this was some kind of evil alien plot it would be a particularly stupid and ineffective one wouldn't it? Have I tried to get you to do anything sinister? Have I tried to get any secrets out of you?" Kneeling down in front of the seated Janet, Carter grew serious and answered her own questions, "No, I haven't. Because I'm not in your head owing to alien design...or insane delusion. I'm here, really here, and I'm really me." Taking Janet's hand she placed it over her own heart. "You're one of my best friends in the whole world Janet -- the entire universe even -- can't you tell it's me?"

Surprised by the heartbeat she could feel under her hand, Janet couldn't help but smile gently at her friend's earnestness. It was a fundamental Samantha Carter trait and Janet had to tamp down the surge of hope it caused. Leaning towards the other woman she resolutely looked quasi-Carter in the eye. "I want to believe you're real Sam, I really do. But it just doesn't add up. Why am I the only one who can see and touch you? If this is something that happens to everyone affected by the device, why can't I see Grimr? Why didn't the other...you...respond to me? If you can't interact with any part of the physical world aside from myself, why don't you fall through the ground, the floor, or the chair you were sitting on earlier?"

Janet truly did find the desire to believe in this Sam most seductive, but the more questions she asked the more her doubt and anxiety increased. She had never seen Carter withstand so many queries without jumping in with a theory, solution, or offer to blow something up. True, Sam was still holding Janet's gaze, but her eyes looked dreamy and unfocused. Janet reached out to touch her friend's face, unable to stop the tears springing to her eyes. "I'm sorry Sam, but this is your life -- your life -- hanging in the balance here. I just can't take the risk."

She quickly thumbed her radio on. "Colonel O'Neill? Fraiser here."

His tinny voice responded immediately, "Yeah Doc. What's up?"

Eyes widening with surprise, Sam grabbed the doctor's hand to prevent further communication. "Please Janet, don't do this. If you don't believe me, he's certainly never going to. You're my only hope and I don't, apparently, have that much time. Please. "

Janet froze, pulled in by the sincerity shining through the blue eyes in front of her. Seeing this hesitation, Sam hurriedly began to answer the doctor's earlier questions. "When I came to after the device activated, I saw Grimr being carried away, the guys heading to the gate, and that other, unresponsive me...it was pretty clear something weird and bad had happened. So I followed the rest of SG1 back to earth. When you used the Defibrillator on me...my body...I think it set up some kind of electricity-based connection between us that was strengthened when you came to the planet and touched the spear-device."

"Doc? You there, Doc?" O'Neill's voice now sounded tetchy as well as tinny. But Sam hadn't loosened her grip on Janet's hand, although she had started to gently rub it as if soothing a startled horse while she continued to speak. "When I was climbing the spear-device, I was feeling unusually fatigued and really having to pep talk myself to keep going. I think the unresponsive 'me' is a projection of that isolated aspect of my personality. The forefront of my consciousness, so to speak."

"Doctor Fraiser, please respond immediately." O'Neill now sounded both angry and concerned, and Janet pulled her hand away even as it was released by Sam. The colonel, however, beat her to the punch. "Crap. Hang on Doc, we're on our way."
"No! I mean, I'm sorry sir. It's Fraiser here and I'm all right. I was just having some trouble working my radio." Which was true in its own blonde haired, blue-eyed close to six foot of trouble way.

The radio crackled with O'Neill's indignation. "You've got to be kidding me. Surely medical personnel have been trained..."

Sam spoke over the top of her commanding officer's tirade, "If you're going to tell him, at least make sure Einarr's not there. He can't be trusted."

"...brain bigger than a planet and all those degrees I'd think you'd be able to..."

Sam mercifully drowned him out some more, "Just before I began working on the tower, Grimr and I caught Einarr trying to steal some of the power gems. After we'd stopped him he took me to one side and 'warned' me not to go ahead with the repairs. I'm thinking now it was more of a threat than a warning...."

"...nearly gave me a heart attack." O'Neill's voice suddenly sounded more frightened than angry as he continued, "Not a real heart attack. I was speaking figuratively. There's no need for you to worry Doc. Or come at me with those paddle-thingies or shine that damn light in my eyes or anything."

Janet couldn't quite keep the amusement out of her voice as she replied, "No sir, I'm sure all that can wait until your post mission exam."

"Ha, ha. Very funny Doctor. What was it you wanted?"

"I need to speak to you sir..." she paused, responding to pleading blue eyes. "Preferably in private. Is Einarr there with you sir? Because..."

The radio gave a screeching whine as O'Neill overrode her signal. "Thank you Doctor, but as Daniel should already have told you I'm aware of your concerns and can assure you I have the situation in hand. Was there anything else?"

Janet felt puzzled by the colonel's response, but also and suddenly felt in that moment the familiar strength of a decision finally and firmly made. "No sir, there's nothing else for the moment."

"Okay Doc. Listen, aside from the obvious, I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this planet, so stay in touch if you can remember how, take care, and keep an eye out for anything unusual. O'Neill out."

Sam gave a relieved nod of gratitude, and Janet wondered if staring straight at something unusual counted as keeping an eye out.



"Is all well with Doctor Fraiser, O'Neill?"

Einarr had finally stopped talking so Teal'c was able to speak at a normal level.

O'Neill shook his head. "I don't know, T. The Doc seems really on edge. Scatty even. It's got me worried, to be honest." He looked round irritably. "For crying out loud, is this guy planning to walk us all the way back to Earth?" They were still being followed, but even imminent peril was beginning to pall. "This gizmo he's taking us to better fix Carter...and maybe rid the galaxy of the Goa'uld and play The Simpsons on a continuous loop while it's at it. Otherwise I'm going to..."

"I believe we have arrived, O'Neill."

As usual, Teal'c was right. Einarr had stopped, facing a section of the large hill to their right. He cleared some branches and began rolling a large boulder sideways, revealing a doorway.

O'Neill cheerfully, if tactlessly, addressed Einarr. "You know Draino, for a supposedly friendly and hospitable race you folks sure do like secret entrances." He strode determinedly to the door. "Of course, if I had to face the prospect of Hrefna dropping in to see me I'd probably lay some mines and install a couple machinegun nests myself."

He turned the door latch, and immediately felt the full weight of Einarr crashing into him from behind. His head painfully struck the boulder, but before he lost consciousness he had time to curse Fraiser...for being right about Einarr, and because she was definitely going to shine that damn light in his eyes now....



Looking down at her own hands, Janet felt slightly embarrassed to note that she'd started nervously fiddling with her favourite (a more superstitious woman might call it 'lucky') penlight.

Sam had stood up and was bouncing on the balls of her feet, wearing a pleased smile on her face as she said, "Okay, now what?", before sitting firmly down next to Janet. This act, and the very firmness of it, caused Janet to frown. She poked her penlight into Sam's arm, watching it bounce softly back from the resistance it met. She then held the light out to Sam saying, "Here, hold this", before quickly catching it as it felt straight through the other woman's hand. She opened her mouth to verbally point out this inconsistency, but was cut off by the no longer smiling Sam.

"You still don't believe that I'm really me do you, Janet? OK. What will it take to convince you? Because we really don't have time for you to sit there wallowing in doubt."

Janet's eyes flashed fire. "Listen Captain Invisible..." she leaned away from Sam, her hand running out of room and sliding under a pillow, "...I'm not just sitting around...Damn!"

Janet pulled her hand -- and the knife which had just stabbed it-- out from under the pillow. Sam leaned closer with concern. "Are you all right?" With an aggrieved look, Janet dropped the knife and stuck the wounded finger into her mouth to stop the flow of blood.

Sam raised her eyebrows. "You know, when I did my field medicine training they never taught us the "suck on the boo-boo" technique." She gently pulled on Janet's hand and examined the damage. "It seems to work though. Perhaps you should institute the practice in the infirmary. The Marines would definitely enjoy their visits more."

"Oh great," Janet pulled a disinfectant pad from her pocket as she spoke, "Now I have to tell the colonel aliens have turned his second in command into a comedian. Only he probably won't mind...you sounded just like him for a moment there." Torturously, she dressed the finger one-handed. "What the hell kind of healer keeps a damn knife in a damn sickbed anyway?" She looked up to find laughing blue eyes startlingly close as Sam teased in a soft voice. "You're really cute when you swear, Janet. In a Mickey Mouse carrying a switchblade kind of way."

Janet's indignant reply was forestalled by the soft lips pressing with gentle intent against her own....


It was like a thousand stars exploding all at once, a fury of sound and colour. He wasn't sure at first who or where he was, and all he wanted to do was to shut his eyes and make the lights go away. But he couldn't and each fresh burst sent a jolt of pain through his head.

"Jack"

Someone was tugging on his sleeve but he didn't turn. He realised the agonising luminescence was coming, not from stars, but from things called 'fireworks'.

"Jack!"

He was Jack O'Neill, and he was in a place called Washington DC, watching a fireworks display. Which was odd, because Jack O'Neill didn't like Washington and he didn't like fireworks.

"Jack, what is it?"

He answered the question without turning. "What what?"
"Yes, what...or who?"

He looked around irritably at the questioner, and met the limpid gaze of Doctor Daniel Jackson. It figured. If anyone was going to so annoyingly, so insistently grab his attention it would be Daniel.

"I can't make out the patterns, Jack. What is that shape? Is it Apophis?"

"I think it's Snoopy." He answered the question, but something wasn't right. Somebody who wasn't Daniel was still shaking him....

"O'Neill!"

Crap. Not fireworks after all, just the blowback from a really nasty crack on the head. He torturously creaked open one eye and saw the blurry shape of Teal'c looking down at him.

"Are you all right O'Neill?"

"Of course I'm not all right...that little rat bastard just whacked my head on a really big rock. Help me up."

Teal'c bodily lifted him from the ground and held him steady while his legs tried to remember how to work.

"Should I contact Doctor Fraiser?" The Jaffa spoke in a concerned voice, but O'Neill's answer was sharp.

"No! Absolutely not. I'll be fine."

Teal'c looked puzzled. "I do not understand why you are so frightened of Doctor Fraiser, O'Neill. I have always found her to be a most skilful and gentle..."

O'Neill cut him off. "It's not fear, Teal'c. It's...it's...never mind." He gingerly opened his second eye and blearily searched out Einarr, pulling his zat from its holster. Their pale little guide was standing nearby wringing his hands and radiating anxiety.

"You!" O'Neill roared and wished he hadn't, because it really hurt his head. He paid no attention to Einarr's apologetic jabbering, but was unable to ignore Teal'c. With a stern, "Do not", the former first prime grabbed his arm and wrenched the zat from his grasp. The battered colonel threw a reproachful glare at his comrade, even though he had to close one eye to do it and knew he had absolutely zip chance of ever even vaguely intimidating Teal'c anyway. As if to prove this point, Teal'c continued speaking in a calm voice. "It was not Einarr who caused your injury O'Neill. On the contrary, his actions prevented your death."

He used the tip of his staff weapon to point at a large axe imbedded in the wooden door, almost exactly where O'Neill would have been standing. Squinting, he saw that he had triggered a crude but obviously effective booby-trap.

Apology wasn't in his current repertoire, but he did manage to thank Einarr, albeit through gritted teeth.

No doubt relieved not to have been shot where he stood, the little man responded effusively. "No, no Colonel O'Neill. I am just appalled that you were nearly caught in a trap so clearly intended for myself. I assure you that such flagitious violence is not the Rachnoughtian way. Alas, the religious fundamentalists who benight this land have grown increasingly extreme in their views and behaviour..."

"You don't say?" Seeing no end in sight to their host's latest monologue, O'Neill none too subtly herded the man towards the door, although this did nothing to abate the flow of words.

"It is indeed so. There have even been disturbing rumours that these superstitious maniacs have come into possession of an explosive device of considerable power. We fear that they may plan to use it to further their misbegotten vision of a universal judgement day."

"Uh-huh." O'Neill cautiously opened the door and roughly bundled the local man through it, nearly sending Einarr hurtling down the long set of stairs waiting there.

Teal'c paused a moment before following. He couldn't be sure, because human behaviour was often incomprehensibly odd, but it seemed to him that his young friend might be behaving even more strangely than normal.



Judging by the focused skill with which Janet was being kissed, it seemed that this Sam retained some of that fabled Carter concentration after all. Not to mention genius. Definitely genius. Before Janet could analyse the evidence to her complete satisfaction Sam pulled away, looking triumphant as she folded her arms and said, "There. Bet that surprised you."
Whatever she was feeling, Janet's face betrayed no emotion. As the ensuing silence grew in profundity and length the triumphant look slipped from Sam's face.

"So." Janet spoke in a voice of studied calm which her medical staff would have instantly recognised as being very dangerous indeed. "In your infinite wisdom, all things being taken into consideration, you decided that the best way to convince me that I'm sane -- and that you're acting completely in character -- was to...kiss...me?"

Sam cleared her throat, looking sheepish but leaping bravely to her own defence, "Well, yes. Perhaps, in retrospect, it wasn't the best method I could have seized upon, but you have to admit it isn't something you'd imagine me doing. Which would prove I'm not a figment or an alien projection. Right?"

Janet didn't respond to this explanation, and in a moment of burgeoning panic, Sam thought the slow blinking of her friend's eyes was growing audible. She sensed a plan B was probably going to be required. In her time as a member of SG1 she had learned that there were situations in which you had to hold your ground and fight; and there were situations in which you had to grovel with all your might. This was definitely one of those latter times, and she launched into an apology, "I certainly didn't intend...." she faltered briefly, suddenly unable to hold Janet's still impassive gaze."That is to say, I wasn't expecting...I mean, technically..."

Baffled by her sudden verbal incompetency, Sam stumbled to a defeated stop. She looked down at her own foot, rubbing it absently on the floor.

Mercifully, Janet finally spoke, not unkindly, "In the circumstances, it doesn't really matter whether I believe you're real or not, does it? We'll both just have to work with what we've got."
Sam looked momentarily crestfallen at this statement, and then her face suddenly cleared as she chose to simply ignore it. "I've got an idea: I can tell you something about this planet, something provable, that you couldn't possibly know..."

Janet didn't look convinced. "Except that I'm relatively familiar with Rachnought by now, so it would have to be something..."

"Trivial!" Sam interrupted gleefully. "Some trivial little...domestic ...detail that no one would ever expect me to notice."

Janet smiled softly as the triumphant light slowly faded from Sam's face, and gently said, "I'm presuming that you've just hit the flaw in your own equation. In order to tell me such a detail, you would first have had to notice one: and the reason we all think you are utterly oblivious to such matters is because you really, incomparably are..."

Gently biting her own lip, Sam flicked an aggrieved look at the doctor. But the smaller woman was only just warming to her theme and was not to be stopped by a mere look. "I swear to God, Sam," Janet said, picking up the knife she had discarded earlier. "I could park a giant pink elephant in my living room and you'd only notice it if it bumped into a light fixture and disrupted the power supply; and even then..."
"Tea!" Sam sounded excited while Janet wondered if it was possible for a product of her own delusion to itself go crazy. What would that be called. Lunacy squared? She stood up to go to the workbench, gently setting the knife down on the bed. "Have a look at that will you?"

Sam obliged by leaning over to peer at the object which she couldn't touch, although she continued to pursue her previous point. "When we first came here Hrefna gave us some tea which tasted just like...Holy Hannah, Janet, these are Goa'uld markings." She pointed to the design on the knife's handle.

"That's what I thought. So the question is..." Janet returned her eyes to her microscope, "...what is a Rachnoughtian healing woman doing with a Goa'uld weapon?"

Sam's eyes narrowed in concentration as she pondered. "Well, given the presence of an Asgard protective device and what we know of the planet's history, we can assume the Goa'uld have been here on more than one occasion. This weapon could simply be an artefact from one such time."

"Maybe." Janet didn't sound that convinced. "Although that doesn't explain its presence in a sickbed. Lord knows, I've had some pretty difficult patients in my time..." she glanced at Sam with a quick smile, "...but as far as I know they've never felt the need to arm themselves."

Sam, who considered herself to be a model patient, merely replied, "Who knows? Perhaps it's a local custom...a militant Tooth Fairy kind of thing. I'm just saying the fact that it's Goa'uld isn't necessarily suspicious."

"Well if it isn't, this certainly is." When she looked up this time, Janet's face was grim. "These blood samples I took from Grimr contain large amounts of a barbiturate-like substance."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that his current unconscious state isn't a result of anything the device did." Sam's quizzical look prompted Janet to elaborate, "Grimr is in a coma because Hrefna is keeping him that way."

Sam stood up eagerly. "So, back to Hrefna's house?"

"Oh yeah."



Albeit slightly blurry, the patterns on the wall reminded O'Neill of the underground cavern Teal'c and he had been trapped in on Cimmeria. But this place was both smaller and more open in design, and the smoothness of the walls betrayed it's technological -- as opposed to natural -- origins. As did an impressive array of machinery scattered around the walls, complete with knobs, dials, and blinky lights. Carter, he thought, would love the place. Although it was, in fact, a curious blend of styles. The many mechanical marvels sat alongside fittings and equipment which would have looked more at home on Earth at the time of the second World War. Or, in the case of some of the stuff, the Renaissance.

O'Neill grabbed a stool and sat down at a long wooden bench, cradling his aching head in his hands.

"So, Draino, what exactly is this place? Your lair? Your evil scientist dungeon? Your TV room?"

Einarr, who seemed a lot more relaxed since they'd entered, sounded amused as he replied, "It is my practice to refer to it as a laboratory, Colonel, though I would be most hesitant to describe it as being 'mine'. I am but the last in a long line of scientists who have been privileged enough to make use of these facilities." As he spoke, Einarr unlocked a wooden cabinet and pulled out a small phial of liquid. "The laboratory was discovered many hundreds of years ago, long before the Great War, by our Founder. An explorer and great seeker of knowledge who was much shunned by the religious zealots of his own time...", he poured a few drops from the phial into a cup of water and vigorously stirred it, "...he chanced upon this place after the surrounding area had been ravaged by a period of violent seismic activity." He placed the cup of liquid in front of O'Neill. "If you would be pleased to partake of it, Colonel, this physic will assist in alleviating your headache."

"No thanks, I never drink before dinner."

Correctly interpreting O'Neill's unease, Einarr poured some of the liquid into a second cup and drank it. "As you can see, it is not my wish to poison you. I assure you, you will find it both safe and greatly efficacious."
Without once removing his eyes from the little man, O'Neill gulped down the vile-tasting concoction, shuddering to think what Fraiser would have to say if she could see him now. But this headache was wasting time they didn't have....

And in his own defence, whatever was in that potion was working, almost straightaway. As the pain receded and his vision began to clear, he saw that Teal'c had located another set of stairs, almost directly opposite the way they had entered. The Jaffa opened the door at the top, eliciting a yelp from Einarr.

"I crave your pardon, but to egress through that particular portal would perhaps be unwise at this juncture. It leads directly into the forest fringing Hrefna's land. You have seen how irrationally confrontational she can be, and I would advise avoiding her, at least for this moment."

O'Neill walked towards the stairs and waved Teal'c down. Perhaps it was because the guy had killed his headache, but O'Neill saw no reason not to humour the uptight little fellow. He was, however, pleased to see that Teal'c had left the door unlocked. It never hurt to keep your escape options open....





Frowning slightly, Janet carefully shut the cottage door, wishing there was a way to lock it. Admittedly, from what she knew of this planet's culture, theft wasn't a likely possibility, and she hadn't left anything behind that needed preserving from prying local eyes. But on the other hand, O'Neill might come to find them in their absence, and she had a lot of breakable equipment in there...

Turning to join Sam, Janet jumped slightly upon seeing an odd, doglike creature sniffing around her friend's feet.
"Whoa! Where did that come from? And more to the point, is it safe?"

Laughing softly as she unsuccessfully tried to move her legs away from the fawning animal, Sam replied, "Unless it licks me to death, we should be okay. We encountered these things the first time we came through the gate....apparently they're called Hundragas. Although they don't appear to be domesticated, the locals seem to regard them as harmless. In fact, I think the Colonel wanted to bring one home."

Before Janet could form a sentence which would no doubt have included words such as "reckless", "contaminants", "quarantine", and "stupid", a low growling sound cut through the air.

"Hungry much, Janet?" Sam asked in an amused voice.

As the women began their walk back across the fields, Janet stuck her hand into one of her many pockets and produced an entirely nonregulation chocolate bar as she replied, "Well I for one didn't ingest alien foodstuffs of dubious provenance earlier, so its way past mealtime for me." Looking up at her smiling friend, it occurred to Janet to ask, "Actually, what about you Sam? Are you hungry? Or thirsty? Or tired?"

Impressed that her friend could eat so fast and yet still look graceful, Sam replied, "No, I'm fine thanks. I haven't slept since...the incident...but I feel like I've got limitless energy." With a wry half-smile she continued, "So I guess there's something to be said for this invisibility thing after all."

"Maybe. But there's bound to be some military regulation which specifically prohibits invisibility...might cause you some serious problems in your professional life."

"True. I doubt it would do much for my personal life either."

"Oh I don't know Sam. For most of our marriage, my ex-husband either made me feel invisible or made me want to be so. Although that's probably not the kind of love life you'd actually want."

Suddenly and disconcertingly serious, Sam quietly said, "To be honest Janet, when it comes to the kind of love life I want, it sometimes feels like I might as well be invisible anyway."

Janet was uncomfortably sure that this was a veiled reference to her friend's feelings for Jack O'Neill, and she paused before replying. Given that the fragmentation (or whatever it was) had clearly left Sam rather more...relaxed...than usual, Janet supposed it wasn't entirely surprising that the young captain should choose this moment to make her confession. What was surprising to Janet was her own reluctance to pursue the topic, and she inwardly cringed at her own feeble attempt to joke the subject away, "Well this little fellow certainly seems interested in you Sam." She gestured toward the creature still dogging Carter's footsteps.
The gaze Sam turned on her friend was briefly piercing in its intensity, but she accepted the shift in conversational tone with seeming ease, and lightly replied, "Assuming it's a fellow, how would we know?"

Janet gratefully responded in kind to her friend's jocular tone, and turning towards the creature, she said, "Hey girl, I know you're not air force but Sam is, so we won't ask if you don't tell, okay?"

"Man, talk about sounding like the Colonel. Just how many Women-Behind-Bars movies did you watch in your youth, Doctor Fraiser?"

Janet replied in a voice of injured innocence, "I was simply pointing out, Captain Carter, that Dogina here is having no trouble seeing you."

The two woman's eyes met as they came to a simultaneous moment of realisation, which Janet was the first to articulate in a puzzled voice, "Actually Sam, why can it see you?"

Staring hard at the creature, Sam was about to respond when the animal --with a frightening and unearthly swiftness-- sprang at her. It's now bared fangs and menacing snarl made it clear that it wasn't moving in for an adoring kiss. Sam threw her arms up in a defensive gesture but it proved unnecessary: her smaller friend had moved in from the side and with adrenalin-fuelled strength knocked the creature to the ground. The no-longer-cute Dogina turned towards its attacker with a growl of outrage, and Sam made a tackling dive at it, determined to protect her friend. To her horrified dismay, her arms and body simply slipped through the creature, leaving her to helplessly watch as it sprang aggressively towards Janet.

For her own part, Janet had just enough time to notice with revulsion that the animal had at least two rows of teeth before emptying the clip of her sidearm into the beast. She closed her eyes against the spray of blood and other debris, the constituent nature of which she was, as a doctor, all too familiar. When she opened her eyes again it was to see Sam bending over the damaged corpse, and through the ringing in her ears Janet heard her companion pronounce the creature definitively dead. Janet sheathed her pistol and began disgustedly wiping at the mess left on her clothes and skin, jumping slightly when she felt strong hands wrapping gently around her biceps. Janet looked up into blue eyes that were messy with conflicting emotions, and felt the strong hands moving to cradle her face with the most tender of touches. When Sam spoke, Janet was surprised to hear unshed tears in her friend's voice."God, Janet I thought you were...I couldn't..."

Just as Janet was moving to offer her friend some comfort, she heard the distinctive but less than dulcet tones of Colonel Jack O'Neill crying, "Doc! Doctor Fraiser!"

Sam dropped her hands and stepped back (rather needlessly, in Janet's opinion, given the woman's invisible status) even as O'Neill came to a clattering stop next to Janet and asked if she was alright.

"I am now, thank you sir," she replied, exerting all her willpower not to gaze over at a heartrendingly lost looking Samantha Carter.

O'Neill was prodding the moribund creature with his foot. "You know Doc, there are less drastic ways of teaching a dog to play dead."

"I'm no Barbara Woodhouse, Sir. But I doubt even she'd be able to bring an alien, double-jawed hell-beast with murder on its mind to heel." Janet had a sudden memory of the icy steel in the voice of the famed British dog trainer she had once watched on TV during a particularly dull night-duty, and added, "Well okay, she probably could...but the point is I didn't have much choice."

"I know, Doc," O'Neill replied gently. "So, want to tell me what happened here?"

Taking a deep breath, Janet launched into an explanation which included everything from the time she stepped through the gate and saw a phantasmagorical Carter up until the encounter with the now-dead beast, adding that they were on their way to Hrefna's house to investigate further. Sam looked shocked and worried by the sudden confession but O'Neill showed no reaction whatsoever, his expression remaining neutral. The silence with which he greeted the disclosure did, however, have a stunned quality.

Clearing his throat he finally spoke, albeit with an obvious effort. "So...you're saying you can see coma-ed people?"
Janet shrugged. "Just the one person, Sir." Admittedly more than one version of that person, but she saw no need to add to O'Neill's obvious bemusement. With the freedom of a clear conscience, she smiled reassuringly at an anxious looking Sam.
"Absent, Earth-bound coma-ed people?" Janet met scornful disbelief and its name was Jack O'Neill.

"Oh God." Sam's voice dripped gloom. "He's going to send you back to earth."

"Okay." The scowl had left O'Neill's face and he spoke cheerfully.

"Okay?" Janet sounded cautious but felt merely confused.

"Yeah, why not? I'm not saying it makes sense, but this whole situation is kind of weird anyway. And Einarr did say that giant fishhook device was designed to suck the brains out of Goa'uld. Maybe Carter's brain was just too big for it to handle and this is the result." He turned and spoke to an empty space to the right of Janet. "Carter...get this fixed."

Janet relayed her friend's crisp affirmative to this order, and he returned his gaze to the doctor as he continued, "Einarr's got a sort of underground lab, if you follow the path through there..." he pointed to a pair of large, distinctive trees, "...you'll find the back door. He says he has a machine which can fix Carter..."

Janet's heart leapt with excited hope. "Then shouldn't we...?"

"I'd like to check it out alone first. If you ask me, this Draino guy is kind of snaky. And Searching Hrefna's house sounds like a good idea. Meet me back at his lab in..." he looked down at his watch, tapping it as if to assure its functionality, "...an hour. Sooner if one of us finds something useful."

"But..."

He breezed right over the top of Janet's protest. "You've got an hour to find out what you can Doc. If the ghost of Florence Nightingale starts talking to you let me know and we'll reformat the plan."

Ah. So he didn't entirely trust her sanity after all. Understanding this was not sufficient to quell her objection.

"With all due respect sir, splitting up..."

"...isn't usually a good idea when in potentially hostile territory. I know Doc, I've seen my share of horror movies. And when I get the chance I'll ream Daniel out for wandering off and leaving you alone. But for now..." he assaulted his watch again "...we're apparently under a time constraint. And the possibility of traps means we're better off dividing our efforts."

"Traps, Sir?"

Something very like anxiety, possibly fear, chased briefly across O'Neill's face but his response oozed casualness.

"Oh, just a little incident when we arrived at the cavern..." he waved his hand dismissively, "...so you need to remain alert. Okay, well, you have your orders...."

Janet narrowed a searching gaze at the suddenly nervous man. "Are you OK, Sir? Your eyes seem a little..."

"Carry on Doctor. Keep in contact!" With this hurried, slightly high-pitched injunction he turned and ran back across the field.

Sam whistled. "For someone with knee problems, he certainly moves well doesn't he?" She glanced over at her friend, who was rubbing her temples and generally emitting an air of stress. "I have to admit, you were right to tell him, Janet. That was much easier than I expected."

Janet didn't respond to this statement. Concerned by the silence, Sam moved closer to her friend. She brushed a lock of brown hair from a furrowed brow before gently rubbing Janet's upper arms. "Hey, you OK?"

Looking up into a pair of startlingly close blue eyes, Janet realised she was a lot of things just now, but okay probably wasn't one of them. "Yeah, it's just...that whole incident was pretty weird, Sam."



"Well, that's weird. And he didn't say how long he'd be gone?" O'Neill spoke with a peevish impatience which bordered on the petulant.

"As I said O'Neill, Einarr did not specify the reason for his departure nor the precise length of time for which he intended to be absent. However he did express his intention to minimise our inconvenience by returning as quickly as possible."

Despite having to repeat himself, Teal'c retained his passive demeanour. However the prospect of a bored and restless O'Neill wandering at will through a room full of fragile equipment and potentially volatile substances left him feeling a trifle...uneasy.

The colonel spotted a small set of brass scales sitting on a bench and ambled over to peer more closely at them. He then began to sequentially bounce each side up and down, apparently oblivious to the fact that they contained a menacingly vibrant green liquid.

"So, Teal'c. Do you think the Doc's gone nuts or what?"

"I do not consider it likely, O'Neill. For a human, Doctor Fraiser has great strength of will and mind. I would be more inclined to think..."

"Oops! Hold that thought Teal'c."

A piece of liquid had jumped from the scales and with a sinister hissing sound it landed on the bench, where it proceeded to eat through the wood. O'Neill jumped backwards and continued to move away until he bumped into a large and metallic object. Turning, he saw a long, sarcophagus-shaped machine. A confusion of buttons and blinking lights ran around its outer rim, foregrounding an inner recess which looked roughly the size of a single human body. Kind of like, O'Neill thought, a coffin with disco lights. Shuddering slightly, he casually yet swiftly sauntered further down the room. He continued to speak to Teal'c, although it was obvious he hadn't registered what Teal'c had started to say before the liquid lunge.

"Yeah. I definitely don't think we should rely too heavily on the Doc at the moment."

The colonel found himself standing in front of two large metal panels set into the wall. They were entirely unadorned, save for one blinking red button situated where the panels met in the middle. So fixated did O'Neill's eyes become on this button, he did not see Teal'c open his mouth to reply, and he blithely continued, "Fraiser is one of the last people I'd ever expect to crack up, but I suppose it kinda makes sense. Her and Carter have gotten pretty damn close of late, what with raising Cassie together and all."

Dollars to doughnuts, pressing that button would open those doors. He felt his right index finger twitch as he continued to propound, "And let's face it, she's a doctor, which means she's a control freak..."

If Carter and Daniel were present, one of them would have pressed the damn button by now and he'd have quite properly chastised them. But he'd also know what was behind the panels. "...so it's no wonder not being able to help has made her a bit crazy. Or a lot crazy, really."

As if it had a mind of its own, his hand reached out and pressed the button....

The panels slid back to reveal two massive sets of shallow shelving which contained an array of colourful crystals, each the approximate size and shape of an egg. Obviously still following an agenda of its own, his hand moved to pick up one of the crystals, before jerking back at the shock of Teal'c's stern voice. "Do you believe such an action is wise, O'Neill?"
"Don't ask me. If it wasn't for Carter and Daniel I wouldn't even have opened the damn thing in the first place."

O'Neill's gaze returned to the tantalising objects. Placing his errant right hand behind his back, he leaned forward for a closer look at the crystal he'd almost picked up. There appeared to be something inside it...which definitely resembled...yes, unbelievably, it was...a little miniature Goa'uld.

His head shot backwards in alarm. "Whoa. Goa'uld-in-an-Egg. I wouldn't have thought there'd be much of a market for that."

Tentatively returning his eyes to the tiny encapsulated creature he was appalled to see it sinuously turn in his direction, vile maw agape, and rush towards him....



Janet felt the warmth of Sam's body against hers, strong arms enfolding her, gentle hands guiding her own...and heard the soft sound of Sam's voice in her ear...

"Yes, that's it...that's good...just like that..."

"Sam, I don't think..."

"Sssh. Don't think, just relax...it's okay...just there...there...yes!"

Sam stood back in triumph. "See...I told you we could do it."

Hrefna's door swung open with ease and Janet led the way into the local woman's house.

"So where'd you learn to pick locks anyway, Sam?"

Following Janet down the hall and into the living room, Sam replied, "Did I never tell you about my brief internship with the Mafia?"

"No, but it certainly explains a lot..." Janet quickly strode over to Grimr where he lay in a continuing state of unconsciousness and began to examine him. Sam prowled inquisitively around the room until her inability to interact with solid matter forced her to abandon the search. Crossing her arms as if it would help contain her frustration, she asked, "How is he Janet?"

"Not as good as he was when I examined him earlier." Janet's face was grim. "I'm fairly sure Hrefna has been by to administer some more of her 'medicine'."

"So is he going to be all right?"

"Well he's stable for now, but I'd really prefer..."

"Ssh!" Sam dropped into a crouch and moved to conceal herself beneath the window, signalling for Janet to do the same.

As she obeyed the silent command, Janet heard the murmur of voices coming from outside. They were silent enough to be disturbing, but not close enough to be entirely comprehensible or recognisable. At least they didn't sound like they were coming any closer. Janet didn't know what the penalty for breaking and entering was on Rachnought, but suspected it might well involve stoning and/or burning. Religious types tended to go for that kind of thing...
Straining her ears, she caught the fragmented words "...unique opportunity...off worlders must be...too weak...what is necessary...". A second voice indistinctly responded, "...them where you want them...allow you...others must die...insist...destroy everything...".

Janet looked over in alarm at an intensely listening Sam, tugging at the other woman's shirt sleeve to get her attention. Sam turned, holding up two fingers to indicate the number of speakers. Janet raised her eyebrows and made an upward motion with her head. Looking perplexed, Sam whispered, "What?". Using her hands to more forcefully gesticulate Janet mouthed the words " stand up" and a look of realisation crossed Carter's face.

"Oh, right."

She stood up and looked out the window, her voice returning to a normal level. "It's Hrefna and Einarr. I can't make out everything they're saying but it's definitely an argument. I should go and...ooh."

The voices outside had ceased, while an equally silent Sam remained where she was standing. After at least two or three seconds of composed patience, Janet lightly slapped Sam's leg.

"Oh, sorry." Sam briefly looked down at Janet. "Hrefna just planted an enormous kiss on Einarr, which seems to have settled their dispute. Now they're going into a small building back there...looks like a garden shed or something." She looked back down and made a face of distaste. "I'm probably not going to enjoy this but I'd better follow them." She disappeared through the wall.

Janet resigned herself to enduring an eternity of silence and inactivity, but shortly after Sam's departure she heard a loud, rhythmic metallic sound. A flash of a bright light shone through the window. This was not good. For the second time that day (possibly that decade) Janet unsheathed her sidearm and readied it for action. Slowly and carefully standing up, she saw only a disgruntled looking Carter stomping towards the house.

Morphing through the wall, Sam looked and sounded irritated. "Damn. That building's not a garden shed, it houses some Goa'uld transportation rings. They've gone."

"Shouldn't we follow them?"

Looking pensive, Sam shook her head. "I have no idea where we'd end up or what we'd find. It's too risky. I could go on my own but..." she waved her hand through the wall "...I'd be pretty useless once I got there, if I even survived that kind of transport." She shook her head again, this time in a self chastising movement. "Stupid. I should have gone out straight away when they were still talking."

Sensing the potential onset of a full-blown Carter Pessimism attack, Janet fired off her very briskest doctor-voice. "It doesn't matter now. Our first priority remains restoring you to a fully physical state anyway."
"Yeah, you're right." Sam neither looked nor sounded particularly cheerful but at least she'd been distracted from beating herself up. "First you should contact the colonel and tell him what just happened here." She wandered over to a large, three-drawer desk. "Then I think we should start our search here...."

Nodding in reply, Janet spoke into her radio, "Colonel O'Neill? Fraiser here..."

Silence.

Janet tried again but still received no response.

Worried brown eyes met worried blue.

As if in response to this concern O'Neill's voice leapt into the silence, "O'Neill here. You okay?"
Remembering the need for discretion Janet carefully replied, "I'm fine sir, but we just observed some disturbing behaviour on the part of what I suspect to be the native reptile population." She winced slightly. To her own ears that sounded more asinine than cryptic, although Sam looked approving and O'Neill seemed to take it in his stride.

"Yeah...things just got a little snaky around here too, Doc. It might be best if you lay low for the moment and wait for me to contact you. And if you're still seeing Carter, tell her not to press any more buttons."

Buttons? "Yes sir." Deciding the situation warranted risking a more overt approach she continued, "Have you seen Hrefna or Einarr recently Colonel?"

"No, but I found...hey! Speak of the devil, Einarr's back. I'll be in touch. O'Neill out."

Frowning, Janet looked at Sam and asked, "Do you think we should find him and figure out what's been going on at his end?"

After a thoughtful silence, Sam replied, "No, I'm sure if he needed backup he'd have made it clear. He definitely wants us to stay put for the moment."

"Hmm." Janet walked over to the desk, opened the first of the three large drawers, and pulled out a daunting stack of papers. "He definitely doesn't want a crazy woman watching his back, at any rate." She set the pile down with a thump and pulled up a chair.

"Don't you believe he believes you?" Sam sounded disappointed, perhaps slightly offended.
Janet started perusing papers as she spoke, "Look, I don't blame him for doubting me. He's a pretty observant man." She quickly flipped through yet another herbal remedy recipe. "I suspect he's doubted my sanity from the time I spoke to you after stepping through the Stargate." Drawings, drawings, drawings of the local plant life. "What worries me is that he seemed to be hiding something else...I don't know what." She'd yet to spot anything that appeared even remotely useful, although one of the cold cures looked interesting in and of itself. Taking her companions ongoing silence as disagreement, she continued, "Trust me, I'm his doctor, I know when the man's prevaricating."

She looked up...and around...and saw nothing.

Samantha Carter had disappeared.



"I am most sorry to have disappeared on you."

Einarr's voice sounded from the top of the stairs leading into the lab, causing O'Neill to jump. As the local man slowly descended, words of apology flowing like an incoming and seemingly endless tide, O'Neill took the opportunity to mutter to Teal'c, "I'm thinking this guy's more dangerous than he looks. Act casual. Maybe he won't notice we've been futzing with his stuff."

"Ah..." Einarr had achieved ground level and paused a moment before moving towards them. "...I see you have found the spirit-crystals."

O'Neill snatched a final mumble. "Okay, he's seen the open shelves. With luck, that'll distract him from noticing the growing hole in his bench." He raised his voice to speak to Einarr, "Yes, we have. Spirit-crystals?"

"You are quite right Colonel. It is not a particularly scientific sounding appellation. But I am confident that you will nevertheless find this..." he walked straight past the colonel and plucked a crystal from the shelf, "...a welcome and astounding sight." He held the crystal up to the light.

Astounding was one word to describe it, thought O'Neill, though he expressed it differently.

"Holy crap."

Even Teal'c looked slightly dumbfounded as they watched, within the crystal, a teeny tiny Carter climbing a teeny tiny spear-device.



"Couldn't they make this damn thing any smaller?"

Janet set the massive kettle down with a thud. After a short, sharp, period of panic she had found Sam in Hrefna's kitchen. Oblivious to Janet's alarm, the blonde woman had been cheerfully insistent that her friend should make a cup of tea. Janet had given in, but was clearly none too happy about it. Abashed by her friend's displeasure, the young Captain stood with folded arms and bowed head, hunched into herself as if to become small enough to avoid Janet's anger. Pouring a cup of the contentious tea Janet caught a glimpse of Sam's posture and felt a pang of remorse.

"I don't mean to be a bitch Sam, it's just...you frightened me."

Sam raised eyes which were full of apology. "I'm sorry, I just didn't think." Receiving a gentle smile, she stood up straight and happily continued, "But you've really got to try this tea. It tastes just like..."

Her words came to a stop as her breath was stolen by the brown eyes looking into her own. Brown eyes which suddenly overflowed with sorrow and concern.

"God Janet, what is it?"

Breaking the gaze, the smaller woman began to walk briskly towards the living room, saying, "Let's get on with the search, shall we?"

Sam strode along in her wake. Janet sat down at the desk and, placing her cup to one side, emptied the second draw and began sorting through the pile. Sam knelt down and placed a gentle hand on Janet's leg, saying softly, " Talk to me Janet. What's wrong?"

"I'm..." Janet hesitated, opening a leather-bound journal without really seeing it and cursing her own inability to hide emotion. She didn't want to dash the hope and enthusiasm which Sam seemed to be maintaining, but knew the other woman would not be satisfied with anything less than a full and honest answer to her question. "...I'm concerned that your ability to focus and concentrate seems to be deteriorating. I can't be sure what it means, but I suspect it's not good. Haven't you noticed it yourself?"

Sam had been listening to Janet, she really had, but she was drawn once more into deep, deep brown eyes and found herself chasing an elusive memory...

"Sam?"

...something...a song maybe?

"Sam, can you hear me?"

"Van Morrison!"

"What?" The fear had returned to Janet's voice, and Sam hurried to reassure her, "It's just something I was trying to remember...don't worry..." Her eyes fell on the as yet uninspected journal and her heart leapt. "Look!"

"This is Goa'uld, isn't it?" Janet sounded as excited as Sam felt. "Can you read it?"

Sam grimaced. "I can try, though it's not really my field." After a long period of silence, she blew out a frustrated breath and said, "Either my Goa'uld's even worse than I thought it was, or this is a pretty obscure dialect. I'm fairly sure this..." she used one long finger to point out the relevant word, pulling the finger back when it began to sink into the page, "...means Ra. And I'm guessing these two words..." she allowed her finger to hover above sinking-level "...are also names, though I don't recognise them." She shrugged. "Basically, all I can really make out is that these two...somebodies...came to this planet by ship and then something...something bad I think...happened. We really need Daniel or Teal'c to look at this."

Already chafing at her own inactivity, Janet perked up immediately. "So you want me to contact one or both of them?"

After a moment's thought, Sam unwittingly crushed Janet's hopes for some action. "Not yet. Daniel's with Hrefna, and it might be kind of awkward explaining why we broke into her house. Plus, you know, it's looking more and more like she's a Goa'uld, though I still don't understand why I couldn't sense anything, if that's the case. The same goes for Einarr, which rules Teal'c out. I think we should..." She looked at Janet but her gaze immediately became unfocused. The doctor gave her the time and silence to continue thinking....

And think....

And continue thinking....

Presuming she was thinking. Janet's patience ran out. "Sam?" She snapped her fingers in front of the other woman's face.

Sam shook herself as if waking from a nap. "What?"

Janet spoke with studied calm, "You were saying we should...?"

Sam looked puzzled. "Really? I did?" She suddenly and inexplicably blushed before continuing, "Right. We should keep looking through and see if we can find something for ourselves before contacting the guys."

She signalled for Janet to turn the page. After working through several pages in this fashion, Sam placed her hand over Janet's and used it to turn pages at will. Before Janet could decide whether to be amused or annoyed by this practice, she felt Sam's hand tense and her own heart jump. They had reached a set of pages which contained detailed diagrams...one of which was quite clearly the spear-device.

"Oh yeah." Sam positively purred. "That's more like it." Continuing to use Janet's hand as an ersatz pointer, she settled into a lengthy spell of examination and muttering. Janet knew it was inappropriate to the situation, and possibly a sign of incipient hysteria, but she was finally unable to stop herself from laughing out loud.

Sam looked up in surprise, and then unleashed a full-wattage smile. "Well, it looks like my theory was correct." She patted Janet's hand gently before reappropriating it to trace over the diagram. "We can see here how the Spear device extracts a consciousness and transfers it to the array over here...presumably for some form of storage." She frowned. "I'm not entirely sure what the constituent parts of this array are...some type of power cell, or crystals maybe."

"So, not to rain on your parade, but how does that help us? Your consciousness has already been removed from your body, and doesn't seem to have gone anywhere but here."

"Ah..." Sam looked inordinately pleased with herself, "...remember the colonel said Einarr had a machine which could help?" She drew Janet's hand down to what looked like a drawing of a coffin, and the doctor tensed at the sight of her traditional enemy. Sam continued, "I'm betting this is what he was talking about. It doesn't look like an Asgard design, so I suspect the Goa'uld...whoever and whenever...pieced it together and used it as a means of transferring or freeing consciousnesses."

Janet felt the unwelcome stirring of suspicion. "I have to admit these diagrams are good -- I only wish my TV instructions were half as useful -- but can you really tell all that just by looking at them?"

Sam pulled her hand away, looking hurt by Janet's doubt. "Obviously there's some speculation involved here, but I've studied my fair share of alien technology. Retrieving...my body...from the SGC and getting it to Einarr's machine is our best bet."

"Okay." Janet didn't sound entirely convinced. "But didn't we just agree that Einarr's dangerous? As in possibly a Goa'uld?"

"True." Sam looked grim. "But it's the only choice we've got at the moment. And hey..." she smiled in one of the mercurial mood shifts Janet was growing accustomed to, "...it's about time something went our way today, right?"

Before Janet could comment, her attention was caught by a distant sound. She looked into Carter's surprised eyes.

"Was that the Stargate?"



"Feel free to examine this further if you wish Colonel. I assure you the object will cause you no harm."

Einarr held the crystal containing the minuscule Carter out to O'Neill, who wished Daniel was there, because he really didn't want to take the thing. It kind of creeped him out just thinking about it, let alone touching it. He had just gingerly wrapped his fingers around the small orb, surprised and slightly appalled by its warmth, when the sound of the wished-for Daniel Jackson's voice echoed through the chamber.

"No Jack! Get back!"

O'Neill leapt backward and brought his gun to bear, the crystal dropping with a clatter to the floor. Teal'c also brought his staff weapon up and pointed it at the local scientist. Before anybody could speak, the high-pitched scream of a child was heard coming from outside the cavern.

Without taking his eyes from Einarr, Jack snapped "Crap! Teal'c, get out there and find out what's going on, I'll take care of things here...."

A puzzled and slightly panicked looking Einarr watched Teal'c run through the wooden doors. The little man turned towards Daniel. "What are you...?" Before he could finish his question he was struck down by the zat in the archaeologist's hand.

Einarr lay twitching on the ground, stunned but not entirely immobilised, his hand seeming to stretch out towards the dropped crystal. Daniel shot him twice more, and the slain man's body shivered into nothingness. Feeling slightly dazed, Jack turned to his recently-arrived comrade. "What the hell was that about?"

Looking shell-shocked, Daniel took a shaky breath. "I managed to translate some of the writings on the tower: it seems it houses a machine which was designed to detect the presence of a Goa'uld, and when it did to separate the consciousness of the symbiote from its physical body, leaving the host free and the Goa'uld consciousness imprisoned elsewhere." As he spoke Daniel had been looking around the cavern, and he continued in an excited voice, "Actually, if I was to take a guess I'd say that this is where..."

Experienced in such matters, Jack butted in before the archaeologist could build up a full head of geek steam. "Yeah, yeah Daniel, way ahead of you there. In fact..." Jack used his gun to indicate the glowing crystal lying on the ground where he had dropped it, "...it seems Einarr was just about to give Sam's mind back to us. So you wanna explain why you just killed him?"

As if suddenly remembering what he had just done, a sombre Daniel began to reply, "I...when I was..." but he was cut off by the crackling of Jack's radio.

"O'Neill," said Teal'c through the communication device "I have found the source of the scream we heard. It came from the child Ityn. Although he himself appeared physically unharmed, he has fled this place."

Jack jabbed the button on his radio. "So the kid just wanted to see if he could give me a heart attack?" Although the raising of Teal'c's eyebrow could not be seen, it was somehow audible in his calm reply. "Indeed, O'Neill, I believe Ityn to have been distressed by the discovery of Hrefna's unconscious form, which he perhaps mistook for a dead body. She is however alive, though she is suffering from considerable injury."

Sighing, Jack replied "Hrefna? Any ideas what happened to her?"

"I believe she has been assaulted by a sharp, bladed instrument. I cannot tell who her assailant was, although what footprints remain would seem to indicate that it was a man rather than a woman. However, this is not certain."

"Ok T, get her to the doc as quick as you can: she's at Hrefna's house. We'll tidy up here and see what we can find out."

He turned to the archaeologist: "Daniel?"

"God..." the younger man said, "I didn't think...I was too late..."

Seeing, possibly even hearing, Jack quivering with impatience, Daniel hurried on, "Hrefna helped me with the translation: from what the writings said and the things she told me about what has been happening around here, it became clear that Einarr had been using the broken machine on people and was responsible for what happened to Sam. I sent her ahead to warn you but he must have had one of his followers watching the cavern, who got to her first. When I saw him waving that crystal at you I thought he was about to do to you whatever he did to Sam. So..." Daniel sighed, and concluded miserably "... so I stopped him."

Although he felt some sympathy for the miserable looking archaeologist Jack couldn't entirely keep an aggrieved tone from entering his voice as he replied, "Well unless you can figure out how these machines work there's a good chance that, without Einarr, Carter's stuck in there now..."

Suddenly realising that he might have inadvertently shot the little Carter crystal, he quickly searched about and stooped down to pluck it from the floor. His fingers collided with Daniel's as the other man replicated his actions. Looking into the familiar blue eyes of his friend and colleague, O'Neill felt a shiver of realisation and mistrust crawl down his spine...




Ityn settled further into the undergrowth which concealed him. He wished he'd come out of hiding when Teal'c was still around, but he hadn't wanted to look at Hrefna again. So much blood, it had scared him. Although he hadn't heard sound of anyone since the big offworlder carried Hrefna way, he decided to stay where he was for the moment. Looking down at the metallic object he still held tight in his hand he noticed a small piece of it had moved. He pressed this piece with his finger and it shifted sideways. The object made a chirruping sound and a series of bright lights lit up across its surface.

Unbelievably, the boy' s day had just gotten worse....



"...press this button, my consciousness should be returned to my body. Okay?"

"Got it, Sam."

When they'd heard the sound of the Stargate for a second time, Janet had been impatient to find out what was going on, but Sam had persuaded her to quickly run through the diagrams a couple more times. As the blonde captain had rightly said, she herself wouldn't be of much use once the process had begun. "You're absolutely clear on the procedure?"

Janet restrained an eye roll. "As if it was burned into my brain. Trust me."

"I do." Sam's smile was warm. "Okay, let's go...."

As she stood up from the desk, the often caffeine-driven doctor absently picked up the much neglected cup of tea and drank a tepid mouthful before she could think better of it. Her eyes widened. "Oh my God, that takes just like..."

"Doctor Fraiser! Doctor Fraiser!"

Recognising Teal'c's voice, the two women dashed for the front door, pulling it wide open. He hurried through, carrying the unconscious form of Hrefna in his arms. "She has been injured Doctor Fraiser, and requires your assistance."

Janet waved him towards the capacious couch and quickly gathered up some of her previously abandoned medical supplies. Teal'c made a surprisingly deft nurse, and excepting a few terse commands from the doctor as she worked, all was silence for some time.

Janet finished wrapping the hand into which she'd inserted an IV and, satisfied that she'd done all that was necessary, sat back on her heels saying, "Thanks Teal'c." She gently brushed a lock of the injured woman's hair off her forehead and motioned for Teal'c to join her on the other side of the room.

Teal'c looked serious, but that was usual. "Are you able to wake her Doctor Fraiser? She possesses information which would be of use to us."

Janet spoke softly in reply, smiling absently when Sam leaned in to hear better. "Her wounds looked a lot worse than they were. I'm satisfied her life is no longer in danger. But it will be a while before she's in any kind of shape to be questioned."

"I see."

Sam's response was no more elaborate than her Jaffa colleagues, but slightly more pointed. "Damn."

Teal'c elaborated on this shared disappointment. "That is unfortunate. She may hold the key to restoring Captain Carter."

"Oh." Janet raced over and fetched the journal from the desk. "Actually, Captain Carter's already found her own cure."

Directing Teal'c to the pertinent pages, she quickly ran him through the explanation Sam had drilled into her head. Teal'c simply nodded, and Janet narrowed her eyes at his lack of reaction. "I take it the colonel's filled you in?"
The big Jaffa came very close to smiling. "Indeed." With eerie accuracy, he bowed his head in Sam's direction. "Be she visible or otherwise, I am confident Captain Carter's solution will prove to be the right one. We should go."

Janet looked worriedly over at Hrefna. "I don't feel comfortable..." she was interrupted by the sound of O'Neill's voice coming over the radio. "Teal'c, Fraiser? O'Neill here. Meet me at the Stargate...now."

"Fraiser here, sir. Hrefna has been injured. Her condition is stable but she probably shouldn't be left alone."

"Listen doctor, I don't care if you have half the village in there bleeding out. I need you at the gate. That's an order. And keep an eye out for Daniel. He's not to be trusted."

Janet noticed that neither Teal'c nor Sam remained in the room. The deafening noise of a bell being rung outside added to her confusion. "Say again, sir. Daniel's not to be trusted?"

"That's what I said. Now move. O'Neill out."

Janet allowed herself a moment of quiet swearing. Teal'c and Carter had already left, apparently quicker than she was to obey O'Neill's command. She felt irrationally hurt that Sam had left her behind with such rapid ease.

Once again torn between two opposing duties, Janet assured herself that her two otherworldly patients were resting comfortably before stomping out the front door to at least see what all the noise had been about. Only to find Sam and Teal'c standing quietly staring down the path leading to the house.

Sam simply shrugged, but the Jaffa turned to explain, "Doctor Fraiser. I have used this bell..." he pointed to the large object which he had clearly wrenched from its moorings, "...to sound an alarm. It has been my observation that in small communities such as this, those nearby will respond to such a summons immediately."

As if the universe itself felt constrained to obey Teal'c, the sound of running footsteps could be heard coming up the path as he concluded his explanation, "Whichever local arrives first will be able to watch over Hrefna and Grimr for you."

Said local emerged from the wooded path and came to a panting stop in front of them. "Greetings strangers," he gasped, "I am Desmacinr. My friends call me Mac." He smiled as if to indicate the entire world was his friend. "How may I be of assistance to you?"

His smile wavered only slightly when he spied the desecrated bell, but fell away completely when Teal'c steered him with gentle force towards the house saying, "Your healer and her mate are incapacitated. They require supervision. You must attend to them."

"I...what?"

Janet smiled reassuringly at him. "My name is Janet Fraiser. I'm a visiting...healer. We really appreciate your help in this situation." She pulled off her radio and handed it to Mac. "There shouldn't be any problems but if you're worried, press this button and speak. We'll be able to hear you." She gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and watched as he dazedly walked into the house.

Teal'c gave a satisfied nod and sprinted off down the path, Sam hot on his heels. Janet shrugged, kicked the bell just for the hell of it, and followed.





By the time they reached the open fields Janet had already fallen behind the others, but did a creditable job keeping up during the rest of the dash for the gate. They had longer legs and a lot more practice running for their lives...but she had a lot of practice running for other people's lives and it seemed to even out well. Admittedly, she was glad not to be wearing her usual high heels....

She did, however, falter as she reached her destination. Not because her legs were burning from exertion (which they were) nor because she could see two Samantha Carters standing beneath the Spear device (which she could). She'd expected both these things. But Colonel O'Neill, deep in conversation with Teal'c, had his arm around the shoulders of the second, fully armed and uniformed Carter. He could obviously see and feel her. That she hadn't expected.

The invisible Sam Janet had spent the day with was circling her doppelganger, a puzzled look on her face. She stretched out her hand to her other self and frowned as it passed straight through. She then stepped into the other Sam's body...and came straight back out, shuddering and saying, "Creepy, creepy, didn't work." Spotting Janet, she jogged to her side. "It's my body, Janet, but it isn't me. It can't be, can it? I'm not sure what's going on."

There was fear in Sam's voice and Janet placed a reassuring hand on her friend's back. O'Neill looked up and said, "Nice of you to join us Doctor. We've got a problem. It seems Carter here..." he lightly shook the Sam next to him, "...isn't. All here, I mean."

"Sir?"

"Einarr was showing me how to use this..." he held up a small, egg-shaped crystal "...to put Carter's mind back in her body when Daniel came in and killed him."

"Daniel? Why?"

"I was getting to that. It seems our favourite archaeologist has gone nuts. Once Teal'c had left, he zatted me as well. When I came to he was gone. I tracked him down to this damned machine and discovered he'd brought Carter back from Earth and done...something...to her. I managed to overpower him and get this thingie off him...but the zat blast must have slowed me down, because he got away. And something's wrong with Carter, she seems really out of it. I need you to check her out..."

"Well that explains it. There was only a fragment of my consciousness in that crystal." The Sam only Janet could hear sounded relieved. "If we use the machine in Einarr's lab we can properly and fully restore me." Her voice grew troubled, "Although I don't know what's wrong with Daniel. Maybe he..."

"Some time this century would be good, Doctor," O'Neill said impatiently.

"Oh, sorry sir..." Janet moved forward to stand in front of the other, soldierly yet oddly silent, Sam. "...Captain Carter was just telling me that if we use the..."

"You can still see ghost-Carter even though the real one's standing right here?" Janet couldn't tell if it was amusement in the colonel's voice, or simply scepticism.

"Yes, I can. Only part of her original consciousness has been transferred back into her body. We need to..."

"So you're saying you can see a Carter here..." he indicated the physically present Sam, "...and you can see another Carter...where?" It was definitely scepticism. "Standing right next to you? On Teal'c's head? Where?"

It was Janet's turn to be impatient. "Just here, Sir." She rested her hand on the generally invisible Sam's shoulder. "We need to..."

O'Neill quickly slapped the front of the Spear device and a panel opened, into which he inserted the crystal.A bright light shot out and encompassed the incorporeal Carter, then drew back into the crystal, taking her with it.

Before a confused Janet had time to react O'Neill hooked his arm around her throat and drew her into his body. Reaching down, he unholstered her pistol and brought it up to point at her head.

"Thank you Doctor...we couldn't have done it without you." Keeping the gun threateningly tight against her temple, he briefly released his hold to speak into his radio. "You can come out now, my love. I have Carter."

The Sam who remained looked troubled. "Sir?"

He tightened his grip on Janet. "It's all right Captain, you just stand there and look pretty, I'll handle this."

Janet couldn't see Teal'c. Assuming he at least was who he was supposed to be, that meant he was positioning himself to free her. Which meant she needed to provide a distraction. She shifted her neck in an effort to ease his hold and spoke,

"Who are you and what the hell is going on?"

The creature restraining her gave a tinkling, girlish laugh which sounded vaguely obscene coming from the colonel's mouth. "You disappoint me Doctor Fraiser. Haven't you and your Samantha Carter figured it out?"

It wasn't politic, but Janet couldn't quite restrain a soft growl of anger. "Hrefna?"

"Oh no, no. Not any longer. Her body served me well for many years, but now it's time for an upgrade."

"You're a Goa'uld."

"I am your Goddess, Beletseri." Janet felt O'Neill's chest rise with the creature's terrible pride. "My physical body, it is true, ceased to exist a great many years ago. But gods cannot truly die...so here I am."

Teal'c appeared seemingly out of nowhere, grabbing the hand which held the gun and forcing it away from Janet's head. Before she could complete her escape, a blast of energy shot out and felled the big Jaffa. Beletseri resecured her hold on the doctor while Janet watched, appalled, as Daniel Jackson strutted towards them, a zat gun held loosely in his hand.

Janet didn't bother to keep her swearing under her breath. "You must be fucking kidding me."

"Now, now Doctor -- language. Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

Beletseri laughed her grating laugh and said, "And this, Doctor, is my lord and your God, Resheph. It will be your privilege to bow down to him...before you die."

Semi-Sam had brought her gun to bear, but seemed uncertain about who the enemy was in this situation. Seeing this, Beletseri spoke in the colonel's best command voice, "Stand down, Captain Carter. That's an order."

Janet used her eyes to silently signal her distress to this manifestation of her friend, but the other woman simply stiffened into soldierly obedience. It seemed there was going to be no help from that quarter.

Resheph walked up to the Spear device and extracted the crystal. Turning, he tauntingly kissed it before crowding into Janet's space. Leaning over her, he placed the crystal in Beletseri's pocket and kissed his mate.

Ordinarily, if she'd ever thought about it, she would have considered Daniel and O'Neill to be a cute couple -- but the current circumstance didn't really lend itself to 'cute'.

Resheph stepped back and Janet saw that he had two Hundragas with him, fawning about his legs. Her stomach roiled. Panic and fear welled up within her and she crushed it back down. Now was not the time. With Teal'c and Sam incapacitated, she was the only one left to fix this problem. Surreptitiously, she began to feel around to see what was within her reach that might serve as a weapon. A belt, a buckle, a spare chocolate bar, and maybe some bandages. Never a scalpel when you needed one...
Resheph had wandered over to the unconscious Teal'c. "Hmm. Decisions, decisions. Shall I take the body of this Jaffa for my host, or remain in possession of Doctor Jackson?" He glanced mockingly at Janet. "His eyes are poor but his body is sound, as you know. I would take Carter, but she is destined for my beloved -- and my future enjoyment." He sighed theatrically, clearly enjoying Janet's distress and anger. "It is a shame only one can return with her to Earth, carrying the tragic news that the rest of you died in a surprise Goa'uld attack." He snickered. "But so it is...and I think the Jaffa is most worthy to accommodate me, after all."

Janet's hand, still searching, brushed against something metallic, and she remembered the knife she had stuck into her belt earlier that day. Was it only that long? She felt like she had been on this planet for weeks. She began slowly working the knife free. Sam had once told her that the Goa'ulds' greatest weakness was their overweening egos. Now seemed as good a time as any to test that theory, and she put a deliberate sneer into her voice.

"Well that's a stupid idea. The symbiote Teal'c carries may be immature, but it will be strong enough to prevent you from taking his body."

Resheph stiffened, cocked his head, then stalked back over to Janet. "That is what you think is it human?" He ran his thumb across her cheek and over her lip, and she womanfully restrained herself from biting it. Deliberate goading was one thing, suicide quite another. She strived to show no reaction as he continued, "We think that the only thing more contemptible than a slave who believes she is wiser than her master, is a slave who believes she is free. It is time you learned your place...and time for you to die."

See, Janet thought as fear seized her heart, that's where the line crossed over into suicide.

"No, wait, my beloved." For the first time, Janet was relieved to hear Beletseri say something. "Why not take her as your host? She is very beautiful, and though not as clever as Carter, she could still contain some useful information."

Janet felt a spurt of indignation. Not as clever as Carter? What did that mean? She quickly reminded herself she was about to die -- or worse. Her competitive instincts weren't going to help now. Her mind raced through the dwindling options available to her....

Resheph tangled his fingers into Janet's hair, using his grip to turn her head from side to side. Having appraised her from several angles, he reached the end of his ostentatious pondering. "Hmmm, no. It's an intriguing possibility, but I think I prefer the Jaffa."

...it didn't seem to have occurred to the Goa'uld, but Teal'c should have recovered from that zat blast by now. Janet suspected he was playing possum. She inched the knife further out of her belt, the need for concealment making it an agonisingly slow process. If she could take just one Goa'uld out of the equation, she was confident Teal'c would be able to neutralise the other...

"However..." Resheph sounded even more pleased with himself, "...you have given me an idea, my love."

...The knife was almost in a firm grasping position. Janet calculated whether she could significantly incapacitate Resheph before Beletseri's gun fired. The thought of deliberately, perhaps dangerously, wounding someone -- anyone or anything, but especially a gentle soul like Daniel, regardless of who was inhabiting his body -- was deeply repugnant to the doctor. Nor was she thrilled with the certainty of her own death. But this had turned into one of those 'save-the-world' scenarios in which SG1 specialised, and if she was destined to be the red shirt, so be it...

Before Janet could strike, Resheph abruptly moved away and walked back over to Teal'c, crowing triumphantly as he went, "I will remove the symbiote and place it in Doctor Fraiser. Because it is immature it will be unable to take full control of the body. I will be able to easily dominate both it and the human. In this way, we shall both have superior hosts, my Beletseri . True, this planet has made me weary of short hosts, but my presence will give her stature of a kind."

He knelt down next to Teal'c and, with a tearing of cloth, exposed the symbiote pouch. Teal'c still hadn't moved, and Janet suddenly feared that the Jaffa remained unconscious after all. So she cast the insult dice again, speaking in a voice as loud and obnoxious as she could make it. "Actually, Mr obscure little God from who knows what dinky cesspit of a planet, I think you'll find I gave you that idea, not your snaky bimbette of a girlfriend here."

He stood up, his eyes glaring rage into her own as he stomped towards her. For a fleeting moment, she thought her competitive streak had actually been useful. She was disabused of this notion when his hand shot out and tightened around her throat, while the laughing Beletseri pinned her arms.

A clinical part of her mind noted that, despite using only one hand, Resheph had been able to achieve an acute depression of both the right and left common carotid arteries as well as the jugular vein, which meant she had approximately 10 seconds until she lost consciousness -- although it would take her several minutes to die.

She'd failed.

I'm sorry, she thought as her vision darkened, I'm sorry Cassandra, I'm sorry Sam.

She wished she could have saved them all. She wished she'd said goodbye to Sam when she'd had the chance. She wished a lot of things...

...and one of them came true.

She took a desperate, heaving gulp of air as Resheph's cruel grip was suddenly broken.

It took her a few seconds to notice that while Beletseri retained a hold on her, it was now a comparatively loose one-handed grip, and there was no longer a gun pointed at her head. The Goa'uld was instead pointing the pistol at Teal'c and her mate, who were grappling for control of Resheph's weapon. The two Hundragas were joined in the fray, savagely tearing at the Jaffa.

Grasping the knife handle firmly, Janet plunged it into Beletseri's thigh. The Goa'uld's finger tightened reflexively, firing off a single bullet, before the gun fell from her grip. Janet assisted in Beletseri's hard fall to the ground, quickly removing the crystal from O'Neill's pocket and grabbing his weapons. Picking up her own pistol and moving away from her felled former captor, Janet turned the weapon onto the melee in front of her and was astonished to see that one of the Hundragas had been killed by Beletseri's stray bullet. Now if this had been a TV programme, Janet thought, that would never have happened...

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Beletseri writhing on the ground, clutching the wounded leg. If they all actually survived this, Janet knew the colonel was never going to stop whining about the injury to his body. But at least there was one less Goa'uld to worry about for a few moments.

She quickly realised that disabling Resheph without seriously damaging the body of Daniel Jackson would be nigh on impossible. Which wasn't the only problem. She couldn't even get a decent bead on the remaining Hundragas...any shot she fired would have the potential to kill Teal'c as well.

As if sensing her dilemma, the Jaffa warrior cried out,

"Run, Doctor Fraiser, run!"

"Doctor Fraiser?"

Janet had almost forgotten the presence of the physically manifest Carter. She sensed an opportunity and seized it in her most persuasive manner. "Sam, I need you to help me restrain Doctor Jackson."
Somewhat-Carter again seemed to waver, and looked over at the man she believed to be her commanding officer. Beletseri stole Janet's opportunity in a flash. "Carter, I'm ordering you to apprehend or eliminate Doctor Fraiser...immediately. She is not who she appears to be."

Janet looked into the conflicted blue eyes of a soldier but not, she realised, of a friend.

She ran.

The sound of a zat gun firing rang out behind her and she felt a stab of guilty fear for Teal'c. The words 'second shot kills, second shot kills' ran through her head, keeping rhythm with her steps. Feeling the weight of the colonel's weapons dragging against her, she quickly shucked them off, gaining a burst of speed.

"Stop! Doctor Fraiser!"

But not enough speed, apparently, judging by the nearness of robo-Carter's voice. It was obvious that the other woman had hesitated before setting off after Janet, but not for long enough. Even on her best day, Janet wouldn't be able to outrun the taller woman -- and this was definitely not her best day.

"Halt! Stand down immediately, Doctor Fraiser, or I will be forced to open fire."

Maybe if she'd spent her life imprisoned in a Goa'uld harem, this would be her best day...

Janet spotted the tree line and veered sharply to the right, peripherally aware of the loud crack of a firearm discharging and a bullet scudding into the ground perilously close to her position.

Maybe if she'd spent her life as a cockroach imprisoned in a sterile test tube...

If she could make it to the woods, the dense undergrowth would take away some of the tall soldier's advantage. There was the crack of another shot, the bullet passing so close to Janet she wasn't entirely sure she hadn't been hit.

Maybe if she'd spent her life imprisoned at a death-metal concert...

She half dived into the foliage, scrambling to stay upright and maintain her forward momentum. Trees scraped and leaves slapped at her face as she raced further and further into the wooded area. There had been no more shots and she couldn't hear termi-Carter, but that might have been because of the blood pounding in her ears...

Her foot snagged on a root and sent her crashing to the ground. When she looked up she saw the spray of bark where a bullet had impacted the tree in front of her. She began her desperate run again, trying to stay low, zigzagging, and sticking to the densest areas of vegetation. But she was slowing down, and could clearly hear the sounds of her pursuer coming closer.

Janet thought ruefully that Beletseri had been right. Samantha Carter was cleverer than she was; and a damn sight better at this saving the world thing.

The real Sam, that was. This super-drone Sam was proving to be a real pain in the...

Even as she heard the shot she felt the sting along her side. As she stumbled, she spotted a large fallen tree covered in overgrowth. She scrambled towards this prospective hiding place and almost cried when she realised it would indeed provide her with temporary, hopefully secure, shelter. She was growing dangerously fatigued, and now she needed to check her injury.

"Doctor Fraiser? I don't want to hurt you. If you surrender now I will do my best to guarantee your safety."

Janet froze on hearing the all-too-near voice, and tried to still her breathing. But she couldn't control the loud thumping of her heart when a pair of long legs shod in combat boots hove into her line of sight, a bare few metres from her position.

"No one needs to get hurt here. I'm confident we can resolve the situation."

The urge to respond to that familiar voice was strong, and Janet clenched her jaw against the temptation to call out.

But she couldn't resist the temptation of remembering a complete and safer Carter...

When she'd first encountered Sam as a talented and stunningly intelligent colleague, she'd liked that voice, as she'd liked the woman herself. When Janet had been struggling to adapt to her abrupt entry into motherhood, trying to create a happy life for a young and traumatised alien child, she'd grown to rely on that voice. It had infallibly soothed Cassandra -- and often reassured Janet. Out of that time, Janet had learned to love that voice as belonging to a close and trusted friend.

"I know you're scared, but I need you to trust me."

I trust you just shot me, thought Janet, watching the black boots crunching closer to her hiding place. Her fear, she knew, was very close to feeding on itself. If it began to express itself physically she was in danger of giving away her position. But like a rabbit in the headlights, she was unable to take her eyes off those approaching boots....

Her friend was to all intents and purposes gone now, perhaps forever if Janet couldn't get out of this. And this woman wearing Sam's face was trying to kill her...

So why did Janet's heart and mind choose this moment to finally, fully acknowledge how very in love she was with Samantha Carter?

This had to say something bad about her psyche. Nor was this epiphany very useful just now, and Janet tucked it away in a corner of her mind, hoping there would be another day on which to take it out for further consideration.

"We're wasting time here Doctor, the sooner you reveal yourself, the sooner this will be over."
Its not her, its not her. A trickle of blood ran down Janet' s side as if to remind her of that fact.She was confident that it wasn't a severe wound, despite the famed fallibility of self-diagnosis. But she needed to attend to it. Quite apart from the risk of infection, if she managed to get out of here she couldn't afford to leave a trail of blood everywhere she went.

"If I'd wanted to kill you, I could have done it by now. You know that."

Actually, seventh-of-Carter out there had a point. This was, after all, a woman who regularly helped take down whole battalions of Jaffa. She wouldn't have missed one tiny little doctor if her heart had really been in it, would she?

The boots started to move away, but the voice continued to woo Janet's ear. "If you come out, we can clear up this misunderstanding."

This was also a woman who couldn't lie to save herself a library fine. Even in this limited state, surely Samantha Carter could be relied upon to keep her word? To do what was right, rather than what she was ordered to do?

Sam continued to call out reassurances, voice receding as she walked further away. Janet quickly cleaned and bound her side as best she could. She then searched out a rock that was small enough to throw but heavy enough to gain distance in the air. It was her turn to set a trap...or in this case, a test. Stifling a whimper of pain, she hurled the rock as far from herself as she could...

...and watched as the area into which it had fallen with a tree rustling thump was torn apart by a hail of machinegun fire.

It seemed that the librarians of Colorado Springs could consider themselves fortunate: Samantha Carter was apparently able to lie like a politician if she considered it to be her duty.

Janet realized there was no point in retreating back into her hiding place. It was clear that Rambo-Carter was following a circular search pattern, and would find Janet sooner or later if she didn't move. With no particular destination in mind she began weaving her way through the greenery again, stopping periodically to listen for sounds of pursuit. Soon, the light began to change and Janet realised she was reaching the edge of the forest, and would shortly be forced back out into the open.

Concealing herself as far as possible, she adjusted her bandaging, which was seeping a fair amount of blood. Her nurses had often expressed the opinion that a doctor's main role in life was to screw things up so their support staff would have something to do. Janet vowed that if she could just make it back to Earth, she wouldn't complain when said nurses gloated over the mess this doctor had made of an embarrassingly simple task. Looking up, she was struck by the sight of two large, distinctive looking trees.

If she wasn't very much mistaken, this was the same pair of trees which Colonel O'Neill had pointed out earlier as marking the path leading to the back entrance of Einarr's lab. Her fatigue was washed away by a rush of excited hope.Einarr's lab contained the transference device, and she still had the crystal containing the bulk of Sam's consciousness. If she could just lure the limited Carter there....

Her sense of direction perked up by having a clear and concrete goal, she wasted no time finding the path. And although the need for concealment hampered her progress somewhat, it wasn't very long before she was looking at a wooden door which was, presumably, the entrance to the lab. Hang on Sam, she thought, absently patting the crystal in her pocket.

The door could, of course, only be reached by crossing a yawning expanse of open, make-the-doctor-vulnerable ground. By this stage of the day, Janet would have expected nothing less.

Oh well, she thought, she who hesitates starts CPR too late...

She ran towards the door so hard she almost planted her face in the wood. Seizing the handle in a desperate grasp, she wrenched the door open...

...and found herself staring down the barrel of Samantha Carter's gun.

Crap.

Of course.

She should have expected that as well.

"Hands were I can see them, Doctor, and take two slow steps back."

Janet complied, nor did she resist as her pistol was confiscated. She was done. A cool blanket of apathy wrapped about her, and she couldn't even muster up a decent sense of crushing defeat.

"Colonel O'Neill, Carter here. I've secured the prisoner."

This pronouncement was greeted by nothing but a static hiss, and puzzled blue eyes gazed at Janet without really seeing her -- so focused was the soldier on her task.

"Colonel O'Neill?"

"Yeah, Carter, it's me. Good job. Stay where you are, Daniel's on his way."

As Janet watched this shell of her friend, waiting so trustfully for someone who would and could never really arrive, she discovered that her apathy wasn't so immovable after all. Her heart was breaking.

The Carter standing in front of her probably lacked the capacity to understand the fate which awaited her. But it was clear the Goa'uld intended to restore Sam's entire consciousness to her body, to gain the abundant knowledge in that mind and to perform a successful impersonation once on Earth. Which meant that all of Sam, everything that made up her beautiful mind and spirit, would be trapped in her own body and forced to witness God only knows what.She would be insane with despair and unable even to die...

Janet allowed a wave of rage to rise up, lending her a burning energy her body no longer really had. The hell this was over....

Straightening herself as much as her wound would allow, she pinned Carter with her best 'take-the-damn-pill-it's-good-for-you' glare. "Listen to me, Captain, this is very important. Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson have both been infected by a virus of some description, which has caused them to enter a highly delusional state. Their behaviour has become dangerously erratic as a consequence. Therefore, as senior medical officer, I have been forced to relieve Colonel O'Neill of his command."

The partially vacant Carter responded to this voice of authority like a cat hearing a can opening. But her face clouded with indecision and she stared longingly at the radio which linked her to her commanding officer.

Janet was having none of it.She reached up and stilled the taller woman's hand before it could activate the radio."Forget him, Carter. Bear in mind that this is primarily a medical mission and therefore ultimate authority has rested with me from the beginning.' Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the figure of Daniel Jackson (Resheph, she reminded herself) emerging onto the path. Time's up. She hurriedly snapped, "Now I am ordering you, Captain, to follow me and to secure this facility."

She boldly stepped forward and opened the door, hearing Resheph cry out for them to stop. Carter turned and sprayed a line of bullets in front of his position and, sheltering Janet, bundled them both through the door. Securing the lock, she looked at Janet for further orders.

Janet sagged with relief and almost went tumbling down the stairs. For gods sake Janet , focus, she admonished herself, you haven't come this far just to break your neck falling down the stairs like a toddler.

She led Carter down into the lab. The transference device, when she found it, looked even more like a coffin than it had in the diagram, but she was surprised to see the mutinous look on the tall woman's face when ordered into it. Fine time for the woman to start thinking for herself. "This machine will provide an inoculation against the virus," Janet extemporised, striving to ignore the banging and muffled shouts coming through the locked doorway.

As soon as Carter stepped into the machine it lit up with a hum and a translucent cover began to close her in. Janet inserted the crystal, turned dials, and pressed buttons according to the routine Sam had drilled into her head, praying that it would work.

The pounding at the door continued, and Janet thought she heard the sound of wood beginning to crack. She knew she needed to do something about that, but her previous apathy had returned with the full force of unappeasable exhaustion. Leaning against the device housing Sam she slid to the floor, and decided to close her eyes, just for a moment.

The noise of the door imploding and running footsteps jerked her back into awareness, and she finally managed to peer upward -- and almost immediately regretted it. For standing over her was Resheph...

...and standing next to him, she noticed with confusion, was the small figure of a child.

Her voice croaked when she used it. "Ityn?"

"No..." the youngster smiled and bowed politely,"...Einarr."

Deciding it was all too much, Janet let the darkness reclaim her .



She was surprised and slightly ashamed to have actually fallen asleep, but still Janet hesitated to open her eyes. Terrible things awaited her, and she'd been having a wonderful dream. Wonderful because Sam had been in it.Her really, truly, totally complete Sam. Admittedly, the other woman had been upset -- tearful, worried and fretting over Janet's injury -- and that hadn't been so good. Still, Janet had to admit she'd enjoyed the feeling of being looked after by her friend -- the strong arms holding her, the loving way Sam said her name. And when Janet had reached a reassuring hand out to touch Sam's face, the smile she received was glorious, if somewhat watery. The confusion of sound and light which followed had paled in comparison to that smile.

She'd wanted Sam back, and she'd had her for awhile, even if it was just a dream.

"Janet..."

But now someone was calling her name, and she had to wake up.

"Take it easy...it's alright...careful..."

Strong, gentle arms helped her to slowly sit up, and she smiled into blue eyes...the blue eyes of Resheph.

She tried to jerk away, gasping at the pain ripping up her side.

"It's okay, it's me, Daniel...I'm myself again...God, I'm sorry...it's okay. I promise. Be careful, you've been hurt pretty badly and..."

It sounded like Daniel Jackson, but experience proved that didn't mean anything.

"Welcome back to the land of the awake, Doc, where the archaeologists never stop talking." O'Neill (really O'Neill? Or not?) was sitting with his back supported by the Spear-device, his leg sporting a fresh bandage. He waved cheerfully at her. "I've got myself under control again too. All minds present and correct, you might say."

Janet's eyes narrowed with suspicion, her mind racing. Was she still dreaming? Or was this some new sadistic trick of the Goa'uld? Perhaps they'd decided simply killing her was too boring.

Sam was standing next to O'Neill, leaning against the device, and with a slight smile she backed her commanding officer up. "It's true Janet. Resheph and Beletseri's consciousnesses have been safely and securely transferred into that crystal array. And we're all back to normal."

O'Neill's "Ha!" questioned this notion of their normality, but Janet was focused on the person sitting directly in front of her, cross-legged: Ityn...or Einarr? His words seemed to confirm the latter. "You may rest assured, Doctor Fraiser, that they speak the truth. While Resheph was engaged in his scuffle with the Jaffa, I activated the device which channelled his and Beletseri's minds into their just and proper imprisonment."

The words of this child with the disconcertingly old eyes did little to reassure Janet, but Teal'c's baritone "It is so, Doctor Fraiser" just about convinced her. Relieved to see him battered but very much alive, she smiled. O'Neill took this as his cue to speak again. "Yeah, Einarr swapped us back, you fixed Carter up, he ringed us back here and she tended to our various wounds. Should be a good ending, right?" His voice hardened, and Janet was unnerved to notice he had his gun back and was pointing it at Einarr -- and by extension, her. "Trouble is, he's still in that boy's body, and we can't allow that."

Perhaps sensing her unease, Daniel Jackson snatched the conversational reins. "Einarr has promised that he can and will leave Ityn, but he wanted to speak to us first. Well, particularly to you apparently, since he insisted we wait for you to wake up."

Janet looked at the figure seated in front of her, realising that he had yet to remove his gaze from her. Which was puzzling. She and Einarr were nodding acquaintances at best. In fact, since she didn't remember exchanging anything even remotely resembling a nod on the one occasion their paths had crossed, it was truer to say they didn't know each other at all.

Yet he was undeniably and exclusively focused on her as he spoke. "I know, Doctor Fraiser, that you -- in common with some of your companions -- require further medical attention. Captain Carter has assured me that a slight delay will not place any of you in immediate danger."

Janet looked up and smiled at Sam, amused by her friend's apparent usurpation of the medical role in this situation, but the other woman quickly glanced away.

Feeling a slight sting of hurt from this ocular rejection, Janet returned her attention to the still-speaking Einarr. "However, I assure you that is not my intention to detain you all for an undue length of time."

"You got that right, buddy. Step on it already."

O'Neill's snarling mutter didn't seem to register with Einarr, who blithely continued, "I cannot deny my wish to talk with you serves an essentially confessional urge on my part. But it is also my hope that in clarifying the events which you have experienced on this planet, you might consent to keep a friendly eye on my people, to assure their continued safety from the Goa'uld -- after I am gone."

"Of course." Janet nodded her agreement. It wasn't really her place to do so, but she couldn't imagine General Hammond refusing such a request, and Colonel O'Neill raised no objection. Einarr smiled, looking for a brief moment like the boy whose body he inhabited. "Splendid. My thanks to you."

O'Neill cleared his throat loudly and waved his watch in the air. Either because or in spite of this, Einarr commenced the explanation he desired to make.

"My story begins a very, very long time ago. I recently told Colonel O'Neill that the founder of the Progressives had discovered the underground laboratory. What I did not tell him was that this founder was none other than myself." He didn't pause long enough for anyone to react to this astounding statement. "It was I who released Resheph and Beletseri from the spirit-crystals; and I who helped devise the means by which all three of us were able to transfer our minds into a chosen individual...taking complete control and living life after stolen life. And it was our mutual quest for power which led to a planet wide war of unspeakable horror and destruction."

Unsettled both by this terrible admission, and by his intense, incessant regard, Janet looked up...and saw Sam's eyes once more skittering away from her own. What was that about? Einarr stretched out a small hand and touched her leg, reclaiming her gaze, although he seemed uncertain how to continue. Janet found herself asking, with a gentleness she couldn't quite suppress, "That was when you decided to stop them?"

"No. No...I was always a weak and selfish man, and the longer my existence continued, the more confirmed these traits became in me. Even after the war, I was unable to let go of my wretched, unnatural life. But then, at a very recent time, I...well..." For the first time, Einarr's eyes moved away from Janet, though they soon returned. "To phrase it simply, Doctor Fraiser, I fell in love...and was loved in return. In a way I had never known before, and I could not bear the thought of it ever ending. So I told her the truth about myself, and offered her the same kind of immortality as that I enjoyed." His eyes became bleak. "She was disgusted by my story and rejected both my offer and myself. She was determined to expose all three of us..." Unexpectedly, tears filled his eyes, and he took a deep breath before continuing, "The Goa'uld discovered this, and devised a terrible means by which to stop her. Beletseri entered her mind and stole her body." He tried, and failed, to smile. "You have somewhat of the look of my love, Doctor Fraiser."

Janet felt slightly ill with unwelcome realisation, her voice nearly a whisper. "Hrefna?"

"Indeed." The eyes which remained fixed upon her grew haunted, though his voice betrayed little emotion, "As I'm sure you can imagine, they delighted in the torment it caused me to see my love's physical form, knowing her beautiful soul was trapped within -- knowing I was to blame for this fearful fate. They taunted me with it, while I tried to devise a way to free her." He held up a hand-sized metallic object. "Unfortunately, we had long since fashioned a pair of these smaller devices, which can perform a specific, individual transference at close range...but can also abort any such process we did not mutually agree upon; and if the body we inhabited were slain, this device allowed for an immediate transfer and storage of our mind When activated, the mind would automatically move into the person wielding the instrument. It was a form of protection against each other, but ultimately the frustration of my efforts to free Hrefna."

"Is that how you ended up stealing Ityn's body?"

As soon as Sam spoke, Janet looked up, daring the other woman to look away...only to feel her breath catch at the dizzying array of emotions in the unflinching blue eyes. With a touch gentle yet insistent, Einarr once more drew her attention back to him as he answered the question. "Yes. It was most fortuitous, for us all, I should say, that Resheph's personal version of the device was lost, probably dropped when Grimr's unconscious body was being carried away. This child found the device, unknowingly triggering the transfer of my mind into his."

Janet's mind reeled. They'd all survived this, Earth was saved, because a young boy happened to pick up the local version of a penny?

O'Neill had a different gripe. "If you had the will and means to stop the snakes, why didn't you tell us this when we first arrived here?"

"I had no wish to expose myself, nor any certainty that you would believe me. I did attempt to sabotage Captain Carter's endeavour to repair the Asgard device, and to warn her away. When that did not achieve the desired effect, I tried to abort Resheph's transfer into her mind, but, as I feared, her physical interaction with the device at the time thwarted my effort."

Janet wouldn't have thought it possible, but Einarr's gaze suddenly grew even more intense, and he addressed her in a low, intimate tone. "I did try. Will you make sure she knows that -- that I tried? I saw you treat her wounds and see to her care. You and your people will ensure her well-being?"

"I promise." Janet once more gave an assurance that wasn't entirely hers to make.

"My thanks." He returned his speech to a generally audible level. "My people come, and I have no will to face them." Janet saw that he was right, and a group of locals was hurrying toward their position. She felt small hands touch her face as he again demanded her focus. "In a moment I will activate this..." he held up the metallic object in his hand, "...and my mind will be transferred to the spirit-stones. Ityn will be free. An hour from now my explosives will detonate and all that evil wrought here will be gone. The Asgard device will return to its correct functioning, so the Jaffa must leave before this happens. Tell Hrefna...tell her..."

Janet knew this man, this terrible mind, had been the cause of immeasurable suffering. Frankly, he made Dracula look like Mother Theresa. But as she watched him struggle with his final moments, she couldn't withstand a rush of compassion. Leaning forward, she gently touched his face and said, "You've done the right thing...Hrefna would be proud of you...and she's going to be okay now..."

He pressed the button.

When Janet recovered from the blinding flash of light, she found herself staring into the eyes of a scared and confused child.

One of the quietly watching locals peeled away from the group and carefully approached. He wasn't precisely a handsome man, Janet thought, but looked like the kind of guy people were always glad to see. After a moment, she recognised him as the man Teal'c had conscripted to look after Hrefna and Grimr -- Mac. He spoke softly to the child in front of her, and took his hand. "Be not afraid young Ityn, I am come to take you back to your parents. They will be very relieved, and pleased to see you." Mac turned to speak to Janet. "After you left, Hrefna awoke and told us much that was puzzling...and now this talk of explosives...it has been a strange day, JanetFraiser." He handed back her radio.

"You don't know the half of it, Mac." She held up an arm and he helped her to stand up, saying "Indeed I do not. Perhaps you could assist in explaining it?"

"For the moment, you and your people should vacate this area immediately, and not return for at least a couple of hours. We'll send another team to help you sort things out at a later date."

Janet quickly looked to O'Neill to see what he made of this highhanded statement, relieved to see his thumbs up agreement and hear his, "Yeah, sure, youbetcha." Speaking quietly, Janet then relayed Einarr's final words, and Mac agreed to pass this on to Hrefna.

The local man bowed a polite farewell. "It would be most well to meet with you again one day, JanetFraiser. It has been my pleasure and my honour. You are most welcome here any time it pleases you." Janet smiled, and as she watched Mac lead the evacuation of his people, she thought that it would be a cold day in hell before she came back to this damn planet.

"All right, kids, let's go home. Carter, dial us up." Unlike Mac's invitation to return, O'Neill's words filled her with joy. Even more so did the sight of a healthy and whole Samantha Carter punching Earth's gate address into the DHD.

"May I assist you, Doctor Fraiser?" A Jaffa had materialised at Janet's elbow.

"Thanks Teal'c, but you're in worse shape than me."

Teal'c looked perplexed by this irrelevancy, while a much Jaffa-battered Daniel appeared on her other side and lied, "I feel fine, lean on me."

The querulous voice of Jack O'Neill interrupted them all, "Hey! She's got a tiny scratch on her side while I'm lying here with my leg half carved off. Who's going to help me?"

The Stargate bloomed into operation and Carter jogged back to assist her CO. As the group limped slowly towards the open wormhole Janet suddenly felt an aching sense of sadness, and a tiny jolt of wounded anger. Sam hadn't even looked like she wanted to help Janet, though she'd wasted no time in racing to O'Neill's side.

The man in question was managing to keep up a steady stream of complaint about his injured thigh.

Feeling petty and self-indulgent, Janet shook off this peevish melancholy. She interrupted the griping Colonel in a cheering tone, "Actually Sir, I have performed my fair share of surgery, and I was as careful as possible to minimise the damage to your leg. On the other hand, didn't you order me to be shot?"

She saw Sam wince and cursed herself. O'Neill, however, continued cheerfully on, "That wasn't me, it was the phantom-snake. I wasn't in control..." Janet watched as he took a large bite out of a round, purplish object she assumed to be a piece of alien fruit. Where the hell had he gotten that from? Feeling her glare, O'Neill emitted an indignant " What?!?" Injured innocence hobbled beside her.

"I should have stapled your stomach instead of stabbing you, sir."

"What?"

"I said I'm looking forward to going home, see you on the other side sir."

Janet stepped into the gate for the short long trip back to Earth.



Einarr was frightened, it was undeniable. Not only were these his final moments of existence. He also knew that he was dooming himself to experience these moments over and over without pause or end. For which he wished there was no fear, and that he could completely forget the great evil he had done and become. But she who looked so like his love was with him, her words and her beautiful eyes promising solace and something he could pretend was forgiveness. He had finally done that which was right. Now he would allow himself to bathe in that borrowed gaze for eternity. So very, so truly, like his love, his angel .




SGC Infirmary

"How's the patient, Doctor?"

"Irritable, restless, and demanding, General. So her mood is improving along with her health. I should be able to discharge her before she reaches almost pleasant."

Janet glared at the chief of surgery. Since when did Warner have a sense of humour?

Predictably, the patient in the next bed chimed in, "Ha! And you said I was the worst patient in the world."

Warner put down Janet's chart and picked up O'Neill's. "You probably don't want to turn this into a competition, Colonel."

Janet decided to let her fellow Doctor live a little longer after all. Plucking at the threads on her blanket, she had to admit he had a point...she was being a cranky bitch. And not in a good way. But like most members of her profession, she functioned better on the other end of a stethoscope.

While Janet had been stuck in the infirmary, Sam, Daniel and SG8 had returned to Rachnought to check on things. Hrefna and Grimr were recovering well physically, though the psychological damage would presumably take longer to heal. The people of the planet had, Daniel said, returned to a happy, Goa'uld-free existence.Janet was pleased to hear this but preferred on the whole to just not think about the place.

In fact when each of the non-Jaffa members of SG1 had independently apologised to Janet for the events on Rachnought (even a disconcertingly serious Jack O'Neill) she told them that as far as she was concerned, they should just forget each and every moment of the mission. She quite truthfully (if somewhat surprisingly) held no residual fears or grudges, irrational or otherwise. Sam hadn't seemed particularly reassured or happy about this conversation, but that wasn't surprising, given the woman's immense capacity for self blame.

As if summoned by Janet's thoughts of her, Sam entered the infirmary. "Hey, Janet. How are you feeling? I've got something for you."

She held up a painting which Janet immediately thought rivalled the genius of van Gogh, although she wasn't entirely certain if it was a representation of a seagoing ship or a mythical dragon. Or possibly a dog. Sam squeezed it in among the rest of Cassandra's creations pinned to Janet's bedside table, and they chatted briefly about domestic matters. But, as on Sam's previous visits, the conversation soon ground to an awkward halt. With a quick, unconvincing smile the blonde woman turned to the other bed and sat down on the chair next to O'Neill. "Hi sir, how's it going?"

Janet squeezed her eyes shut, striving to block out the voices chatting animatedly just beside her. It was at these moments that her noxious convalescent confinement began to more closely resemble unjust imprisonment and torture. Despite her best efforts, the words "...going fishing as soon as I can get the hell out of here. You should come along, we ..." drifted past her unwilling ears. She concentrated harder on her own thoughts, though they didn't provide a particularly pleasant distraction.

Every day since she'd been stuck in here, Janet had looked forward to seeing Sam, and every day the apparent wreckage of their formerly close friendship reared its wraith-like head. Her sadness about this situation wasn't alleviated even the tiniest bit by her realisation that the constraint between them arose as much from herself as from Sam.

"...Minnesota, the most beautiful place in the world. There are these fish that..."

A large part of Janet wished she'd never become aware of her feelings for Sam, since you can't miss what you didn't know you wanted in the first place. Unfortunately, ignorance, no matter how blissful or determinedly deliberate, wasn't a reclaimable state. Which left Janet to struggle with feelings of disappointment and jealousy which weren't really fair to anybody involved. Not to mention entirely pointless. Sam was who Sam was. Which included unattainable, at this point in her life anyway. Not just for Janet, but for anybody. Even O'Neill, for all that he seemed to be the front runner in Sam's affection. Janet knew this, although her occasionally green-tinged heart didn't always acknowledge it.

"...this big, I swear to God. If I use some..."

No one, Janet thought, could deny that Sam made a uniform look good. But that uniform also provided the woman with a handy and unassailable fortification against emotional entanglement. True, Sam had, on a couple of occasions, approached the brink of the possibility of maybe considering an intergalactic might-be romance, but even that had apparently proved too close for comfort. Or safety, at any rate.

"...called relaxation, Carter. You need to at least get out of this mountain and get some fresh air, for crying out loud. Too much work isn't..."

Janet understood the source and substance of Sam's emotional fears well enough to know that the strain in their friendship would be causing Sam great pain, not to mention a certain baffled anxiety. Whatever Sam's behaviour on Rachnought might or might not have meant was irrelevant now. Certainly, Janet couldn't deny the increasing possibility that the kiss they had shared had been nothing more than a charade designed to make Sam's point. A proof of truth, not of love. Janet had to consider that moment and all that was part of it as being finished. As from this moment, she vowed. It was time to get her unruly emotions under control.

"Right, Doc? Yo, Doc!"

Tomorrow. First thing.

Janet closed her eyes, feigning sleep.




pst909

"For crying out loud..." Jack O'Neill looked down at the globby brown substance smothering his boot, "...mud, trees, mud, rain and more mud. That's what's on this planet. I say we tag it and go home."

Sam, uncharacteristically inclined to agree with her commanding officer on this issue, knew Daniel was going to protest even before he spoke. "But the artefacts we found near the gate prove the historical existence of a civilisation here, at the very least. I believe we'll find utlumph...."

The latter portion of Daniel's statement was rendered incoherent by his unintended face first dive into the soggy ground. Even as she and Teal'c helped their hapless comrade stand up, an unworthy part of Sam hoped that this incident would quite literally dampen the archaeologist's enthusiasm for continuing the mission.

It wasn't just the unrelentingly boggy nature of this planet that was leaching her enthusiasm. Unlike her CO, Sam didn't mind the wet. It was the sandy planets she found irritating, in a gritty kind of way. Truth was, she'd lacked her usual zest during all the missions they'd gone on since returning from Rachnought.

When it came to it, her downtime wasn't much better either.

Normally if she felt this persistently low spirited, she'd talk it through with Janet. Unfortunately (ironically, even) Janet was the last person she could take this problem to: her friend being, as it were, the very problem itself. Sam felt hurt and slightly baffled by the growing strain between them, but wasn't entirely sure what was distressing her more. The change in their relationship, or the ways in which their relationship could but almost certainly wouldn't change. For many reasons, none of which made her particularly happy to think about.

"Uh, Sam?"

Daniel sounded confused, and Carter realised she'd yet to loose her hold on him even though he was now upright and stable, if somewhat mud-spattered.

"Oh, sorry." She released her grip, patting him apologetically on the shoulder.

As she wiped her now dirt-sodden hand clean on her trouser leg, she watched O'Neill batting at a wet branch, which promptly slapped back into his face. Irritably, he pinned the non-leaf-obscured portion of his gaze on her and spoke, "All right Carter, that's it. It's time to sort things out and get you back in the game."

"Sir?"

The Colonel noticed and then plucked a small piece of fruit hanging from the branch. He began polishing it on his shirt as he clarified, "You're just not behaving like yourself lately, Carter. Last planet we were on, you barely noticed that tall, dark, and hyper-intelligent alien guy. Which I could let go, even though he was totally your type, except that he was talking about an alternative and highly advanced energy source. Technology, I might add, you allowed the eggheads carry off to area 51 without so much as a murmur of jealous protest. On the planet before that..." He took a bite out of the fruit, but was able to continue his rant with a regrettable degree of clarity, "...I let you use a really huge amount of explosives to blow up that Chuckie guy's little space-plane. Did you thank us for holding off all those Jaffa while you got to do something you love? Noooo, you didn't. I heard you sighing with boredom, sighing Carter, even before the smoke had cleared."

Although only a minor Goa'uld, Cherti had managed to get his hands on a mothership, and Carter had been almost killed or caught at least a dozen times while laying the explosives to destroy it. She didn't bother trying to correct her commanding officer. He'd get distracted and drop the topic soon enough, she assumed.And she had to admit, he had a point about her lack of energy, especially given the fact that this conversation wasn't making her feel even remotely angry.

Daniel, however, wasn't quite so sanguine. "Jack. Stop." His voice hovered between entreaty and warning, and proved to be pointless either way. O'Neill simply took another bite of fruit and continued, "The point is Carter, we need you to regain your usual energy, your naive idealism and geeky enthusiasm. It's unfair leaving Daniel to do all that stuff on his own. Which means you have to..."

"Jack, don't!" Daniel sounded genuinely alarmed. Sam, feeling her feet beginning to sink further into the mud, decided to back him up this time. Speaking quickly while O'Neill paused to swallow, she tried applying a judicious dose of fear. "Do you think you should really be eating that, sir? I believe Doctor Fraiser just reissued a memo cautioning against the ingestion of alien foodstuffs during off world ..."

"Exactly." Clearly unfazed, O'Neill took another bite of fruit. "Fraiser..."

Sam narrowed her eyes. He better not be going where she thought he was...

"I mean it Jack, this really isn't appropriate." Daniel sounded stern.

"Indeed, I believe you should desist O'Neill." Teal'c sounded sterner.

"...when are you going to admit you're in love with her?" O'Neill sounded chipper. "Not to us, we already know. I mean admit it to yourself, and to her? Because you're making each other miserable and, frankly, the rest of us are sick of it."

Okay, now she was angry.

Angry and wishing this bog would just hurry up and swallow her. Or O'Neill.

The man in question threw the thoroughly depleted piece of fruit over his shoulder and pointed at Teal'c and Daniel. "And don't you guys chicken out on me now. You both agreed we needed to talk to her about this."

"This isn't exactly..." Daniel trailed off in the face of Sam's searing glare. Teal'c stoically met his accuser's eyes, but looked embarrassed. A sight Sam had never seen or thought possible, though it did little to appease her sense of indignant betrayal. Silence settled over the small group, broken only by the patter of rain and the soft plopping of mud dripping off Daniel's uniform.

"Sam." O'Neill's voice was suddenly and surprisingly gentle. He squelched over to his second-in-command. "I...we...mean no disrespect to you or Janet. But you've both been so obviously unhappy...and, well, you and her...you're...you should be together." His smile was crooked. "And you know it must be true because this stuff isn't exactly easy for me to say."

She looked into his eyes and was startled and slightly unnerved by their open vulnerability, and by the soft sincerity of his voice. "Trust me Sam, of all people, I know the risks. But I also know they're worth taking."

For a fleeting moment, Sam saw a whole other world of could be and wouldn't be in those eyes. Possibly safer than what she was currently pining after, and it did little to soothe the fears crowding into her beleaguered heart.

O'Neill suddenly clasped her arms, shook her gently and said bracingly, "You're one of the bravest officers I've ever served with Carter. It's time you used a little of that courage to get yourself a life, and some happiness. Okay?"

She knew that O'Neill, that all three of them, meant well, and she appreciated the effort, she really did. But she still felt another burst of anger, a part of her wanting to scream at them: I kissed her. I kissed her and she's said nothing, unless you count an oh-so subtle hint to forget all about it. I made a fool of myself.

When she continued not to reply O'Neill folded his arms, narrowed his eyes and said, "Do I have to make it an order, Captain?"

"No." She stared back at him for a moment. "Sir." Turning away, she avoided the concerned eyes of her team-mates. By this point, she'd lost any sense of what she was feeling, and she wasn't ready for them to figure it out before she did.

"All right then..." If O'Neill shared any of her discomfort it didn't show in his voice, "...let's go find that temple of yours, Daniel."

The group waded off in his wake, and Daniel slid up alongside Sam. After a certain amount of throat clearing and fidgeting he finally steeled himself to speak." Are we okay Sam?"

She nodded her head but remained silent and refused to meet his eyes, so he wasn't entirely reassured. But when he slipped again, Sam quickly and carefully prevented his fall. Taking this as a good sign, he ventured another question. "You okay?"

She simply shrugged. But before he could attempt another verbal sally, he heard her soft voice saying, "I don't know Daniel. It's not just about me and what I want, is it? What if she doesn't...I mean, I'm not exactly her type am I?"

Sam winced, appalled to hear even this much of what was possibly her greatest fear escaping her treacherous lips.

Daniel didn't appear to notice her horror, and he replied in a mild tone, "You'll never know if you don't ask Sam."

"That's what I'm saying, Daniel."

Before the archaeologist could attempt a response, O'Neill re-entered the fray. "Oh come on Carter, she's totally into you. Any fool can see that." He studiously ignored Daniel's muttered 'apparently' and continued, "Besides, how do you even know she has a type?"

Abandoning any hope or pretence of dignified privacy, Sam replied, "Well, she was married, so I'm thinking..."

O'Neill waved this statement away with a dismissive snort. "You're always thinking Carter, which could be your problem with this Fraiser situation. Try stopping for a couple of seconds, see if that helps."

Daniel rolled his eyes at this, and tried a more logical approach. "If you think about it Sam, you were engaged once too. So..." He clutched her arm as his foot once more began to slip.

It was O'Neill's turn to roll his eyes, at least metaphorically. Her mad bastard of an ex-fiancé wasn't the sort of bleak memory Sam needed right now, so he threw in a distraction. "Yeah, to me, in at least one alternative universe. And I'm pretty manly, so it doesn't mean much does it?"

Daniel made a strangled noise and O'Neill turned on him. "What? Are you saying I'm not manly?"

Daniel looked confused. "What?"

Before this inane argument could get any further off the ground, Teal'c somehow managed to dislodge both men from their position next to Sam without toppling them over. " Such matters are immaterial.It is the present with which we are concerned, not the past. And I assure you Captain Carter, I am most certain that Doctor Fraiser will welcome your attentions. I would not have allowed O'Neill to advise you in this manner if I believed otherwise."

Looking up into kind Jaffa eyes, Sam realised that this was as close to a rock-solid guarantee as anybody could ever get when it came to matters of the heart, and she smiled. Teal'c bowed his head at her in an approving fashion, and allowed O'Neill to take his place.

"Um, Carter..." Sam wondered what O'Neill could possibly have to say now, and braced herself as he continued,"...we don't need to mention the fruit thing to Fraiser, do we?"

Despite her best efforts, Sam couldn't stop the bubble of happiness which Teal'c's words had introduced into her heart from expanding, and for the first time in what seemed like years, she laughed.

Leaving O'Neill to worriedly wonder if that laugh had been reassuring...

or simply evil...




Fraiser Residence, Colorado Springs

Exhausted from one too many days of treating O'Neill for a particularly vicious dose of alien food poisoning, Janet was relieved to be home. She pulled her car to the curb and turned off the windshield wipers, wondering when she'd be able to use her own garage again. Sam was teaching Cassandra the fine art of motorcycle maintenance, which for some reason involved strewing oily yet apparently precious engine components throughout the length and breadth of former car parking space.

Enough, thought Janet, was enough.

A fresh torrent of rain beat down on the car roof, firming Janet's resolve. The inconvenience of Sam's hobby might be regarded as a fair price for their slowly reviving friendship, but as soon as Janet got inside she was going to phone the other woman and tell her to clean up the mess. If she didn't start putting her foot down, Sam would be teaching Cassandra how to pick locks next .

Speaking of which...

There were lights on in her house when there shouldn't have been. Cassandra was sleeping over at a friend's house, and no lights had been on when Janet left for work that morning. Unsure if she was being hopelessly neurotic or sensibly cautious, Janet pulled out her cell phone and dialled her house number.

"House of Fraiser, how may I help you?"

"Sam?"

"Hey, Janet."

"Do you always answer my phone like that?"

"No, you have caller ID. Which is something I'd have expected you to know."

"Cassandra rarely lets me near the thing. Why are you answering my phone Sam?"

"I'm in your house, Janet."

"Right, of course."

"When are you planning on being in your house?"

"I'm already there." She opened the door. "Is this the stupidest conversation we've ever had?"

"So far." Sam popped out from the kitchen to peer down the hallway, phone still in hand. "But the night's still young..."

Janet stopped in her tracks, quirking an eyebrow at Sam. The smile fell from the taller woman's face, her manner growing uncertain. "I wanted to cook dinner for you...and, I'm not entirely sure why, I thought you might enjoy it more if it was a surprise...but I can see now that perhaps it wasn't the best idea..."

"Sam..."

"...if you want, I can just leave. The food is all ready, so...although I haven't quite finished..."

"Sam!"

"Right, sorry. I sometimes get nervous when I break into other people's homes."

Janet laughed. "You have a key, so technically it's not a break-in. Which is something I'd have expected you to know."

Sam relaxed, and with a half smile said, "See, I told you the conversation could get stupider." She held one long finger in the air. "Wait." She dashed forward, taking Janet's briefcase and setting it down in its accustomed place. She then helped Janet out of her coat and hung it up on its accustomed hook. With a quick smile, she ran back into the kitchen, re-emerging with a drink in hand. "For you."

Feeling slightly stunned, Janet allowed herself to be led into her own dining area. The table was a study in symmetry, not a piece of cutlery or china out of place. When good soldiers do dinner.

Sam pulled out Janet's chair for her, then raced to pull something from the oven. Returning, she placed her prize in the middle of the table and sat down opposite her friend.

Janet was growing worried about the silence beginning to stretch between them. It felt very much an echo of the uneasiness which had plagued their friendship all too recently. Then her eyes settled on the main course, and she gasped in surprise.

"A soufflé?"

"Yeah." Sam sounded amusedly proud.

"You can cook soufflé?" Janet whispered.

"Apparently. You know, you can talk without it disintegrating on the spot." She held a serving spoon poised over her creation.

"Okay." Janet whispered, looking at Sam as if the blonde woman had just discovered the cure to every illness ever known to humankind. She waited, but Sam seemed to have frozen pre-scoop. She risked raising her voice an nth of a decibel. "Shall we start?"

"I thought we had."

Janet noticed that Sam was, for some reason, blushing...and still not serving soufflé.

"Sam?"

"Started. I thought we had started...on prx259...when we...or rather, when I..." She shook her head in frustration. "God, I'm bad at this. I really do think too much."

Putting the spoon down, she stood up, came round the table and knelt in front of Janet. She gently confiscated the other woman's fork and softly kissed the hand which had been holding it.

"I have to admit, Janet, that some things are easier to say and do when one is a free-floating consciousness on an alien planet. But..." she leaned up and placed a kiss on the corner of Janet's mouth, "...I don't want to surprise you." She kissed the other corner, "I don't want to prove anything." She rested her forehead against Janet's for a moment "I just want to..." she hesitated, her voice dropping to a whisper, "I love you Janet." Her gentle lips claimed Janet's own, with no sign of ever wanting to let go.

Janet could think of at least a hundred reasons why she should refuse this kiss and all that it offered. But not one that was able to stop her falling into the soft sensuality of Samantha Carter.



Later that evening, or perhaps it was night, the soufflé collapsed in on itself with a gentle sigh. Possibly because a noise had alarmed it, but most likely because it knew no one was coming back any time soon to appreciate its glory.

B.E. Renda's Scrolls
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