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Guardian of the Gate by Jb part two, of five
10. Dr. Daniel Jackson 11. SrA Eddie Mason Holy fucking hell... he's dead. One minute he's standing there next to Jackson, and the next he's, he's... not. He's gone - mostly. God. I might just puke. Those are some pretty huge hunks of window that hit him. Must not be tempered glass. Got chunks of it, not zillions of tiny, crumbly little bits. Gotta be laminated. Yeah. What a joke. It might slow down a bullet, but it'll kill you by slicing your... Oh, God. I am... I'm gonna barf. Jackson's hurt. Glass, a piece almost the size of my hand; I can see it sticking out of his shoulder. He looks shocky, but he's still on his feet. I don't know how. If that was me I'd probably be in full let's-get-horizontal mode. Okay, so maybe Joe is onto something here after all. It sure as hell looks and sounds like the world's gonna end any second. So much blood and, other, stuff. What with that ungodly racket I didn't even hear the glass go... just suddenly got rained on. Lucky thing for me and Joe it blew out as hard as it did, or we'd of been hit with the big shards like the others who are standing further toward the ramp than us. Two of the other guys - the two still standing - are rushing to help those who are hurt, but somehow I think that's not the worst of our problems here. Those SG8 guys are still with us, and it looks like everyone's pretty much forgotten about them for the minute. I don't like the way they're moving back up the ramp toward Jackson, all slow and evil-like - their eyes all strange and heads tilted weird like that. What the hell are they doing... Shit, they're listening. To that roaring noise? Yeah... wait... it sounds like something - hang on. It's words, I think. 'Re'... and an 'ss' noise... something... 'leader'... and the next part's real clear. The next part is, "take the other". Take the other, what? Joe! What the hell is he doing? Joe's running out into the middle of the room and waving his arms around, and he's screaming up at those guys behind the first story window, the one that's still intact. The control room. Right. New-guy-tour fact number twenty-eight. That's the control room. Everybody in there looks like they've just been hit with stun guns, all flapping and zipping and zapping around in a panic. What's Joe saying? Something about the blast doors? Can't hardly hear anything over that howl. Someone else is moving fast now too, up the ramp. Wait... hell, it's that big SG8 guy, and he's diving at that box thing. The other two SG8 hoods are, oh shit, the other two are running after Joe. Just what the fuck is going on here? What am I supposed to do? What do I do? I don't like that guy being so close to Jackson, but I think I gotta go help Joe. Somehow I don't think those guys want to hug him for joy. I haven't gone two steps, though, before I see Joe whirl around and turn his weapon on those two, and I can see he's shouting something at them. They lurch to a stop, facing him. He's still hollering, but he's directing it up toward the window again, and he's waving one hand like crazy, first at the doors and then pointing up to the window that blew out. Oh shit. That, I do hear. Yelling. Sounds like something which might come out of a man who just figured out what's up with his wife and his best friend. Not a happy sound. It's coming from behind me. I whirl around to see the SG8 guy has a death grip on Jackson's arm. He's hauled Jackson over to that big box on the ramp, and is opening the lid. Jackson is struggling. Looks like he's a hair away from totally freaking out. He's the one making that noise - yelling something. I can't make it out, can't hear the exact words over the howling. He really wants to be understood though... he's yelling so hard the veins in his neck look like they're gonna pop any second. Shit. Blood on the ramp There's blood dripping from his hand. It's running down his arm from his shoulder and dripping onto the ramp. I'm closest. Everyone else who hasn't got some goddamn dagger of glass sticking into some important body part is doing something else somewhere else - I don't know what to do! Wait. Joe. I gotta check with Joe. He needs help too. He'll tell me what I'm supposed to do here. No, that's stupid, Mason. What are you doing... waiting for permission? Just get moving... get over there and help Jackson... fuck, my legs aren't listening... Movement, to my right. I snap my head around to see the blast door coming down over the what-used-to-be-a-window, followed by one sliding down to cover the control room. Those two guys in front of Joe suddenly start to jitterbug and jump all around. They jitter themselves into a u-turn and start back to the ramp, aiming for where the box is, but before I can even move Joe is on them. The only other guys still on their feet are there too, and the three of them are herding the two SG8 screamin'-meemies over toward the far corner of the room. So Joe's okay. Great. Doesn't do much to settle the jackhammer in my chest though. My heart is in my throat, and I'm terminally confused. There's so much going on. That noise is driving me off the deep end. I don't know what to do, where to go. Go to Jackson... yeah. So why aren't I moving? Damn! Like a fucking deer in headlights. Don't deserve any new stripes. Move, moron... move! Shit! What? That horrible noise just shut off so suddenly that the relative silence is a jolt. Joe just jumped about five feet straight up. It's gone, all except the roaring in my head. I can't hear Jackson hollering any more either. I hope that's not because... I'm almost afraid to look over there but I know I have to. Painful cold, as icy as a blast of sub-zero wind against my face. With it there's a stench worse than anything I've ever breathed in before, ever. I don't know what it is, and I can only guess at where it came from, but I'm sure as hell gonna give it my full attention. No way I want something that feels and smells that dead to be coming up on me from the wrong direction. That box is wide open, and the creepy guy has moved aside. I've got this great view of Dr. Jackson. Wish I didn't because what I'm seeing is seriously scaring the shit out of me. He's not alone there... there's something there with him... No. I'm wrong. There's nothing. I thought I saw something, but... Jackson is sure looking like he sees something, though. And like he's feeling something. Something not nice. He's quiet, but his eyes are bugging out and he looks like he's in pain. Ah, well sure he is, you moron, he's got this big slab of laminated... No, wait... what the hell? Yes, there is something there. Huh? No. No, there's nothing; it's my imagination. Wait! There... right there! Yeah, I can see right through it. That's why it looks like it's there one second and gone the next. I can tell it's there because all around the edge of it the room and the air look weird... warped, sort of, and kinda dingy grey. It's, it's growing... or something... It's hovering. I can get a handle of the size and shape of it from how things look through the edges; it's tall and wide and freaking huge. It's right in front of Jackson. I can see him through it, looking a bit distorted and washed out. The edges are moving, flowing slow like molasses or something toward each other. It's getting taller and thinning out somehow, moving up and over... Shit. There's the leading edge, the tip of it, hanging there above Jackson's head. I can't move. Too fucking scared to even move. But it's moving now... it looks like it's swooping down onto, no, oh crap, into Jackson... oh Christ oh my God - He's screaming. He's staggering, I can see his throat working and his mouth moving, and he's gotta be screaming but I can't hear him; why can't I hear him? Great... now my legs decide to work. My head and guts are shrieking at me to run like hell in the opposite direction, but my feet are taking me closer. What are they, fucking retarded? This is some really bad shit here. Joe, get your butt over here, man! The closer I get, the colder it is. Ice cold. Stabbing cold. The SG8 guy... he sees me moving to the ramp. Shit. Okay, he's not coming this way. He's moving closer to Jackson - Why? Never mind. Never mind him. Don't look away, don't lose sight of it. Just lock the eyeballs on Jackson and that whatever-the-hell-it-is. Shit, Joe, where the hell are you? Get over here! He's not answering me. Never mind. It's the, the Thing, that's important. It's still flowing over, into, Jackson. It's going about it slowly and his arms are jerking around, and I am so fucking scared it feels like my whole body's gonna do an exact imitation any second now. Jackson... he sees me coming. He's looking right at me, shaking his head back and forth a bit. His eyes are locked with mine, and there's something there - a message? He stops the 'no way' head shake. His mouth is moving, but there aren't any words coming out. Just some blood - must be from falling onto that damn hinge before. Ah shit. I want to puke up so bad. I'm majorly pissing terrified here. But it's Jackson who's really suffering, and he's trying to tell me something, and I have to figure out what it is. I have to. Oh shit shit shit! In a blur, with a sharp movement and a quick gust of frigid stinking air, that thing squeezes what's left of itself together into a long spiral and just sucks right into him. It's moving the rest of itself inside him almost faster than I can follow with my eyes, and his body spasms - if I thought he looked like he was in more pain than any person could ever stand before, well, I was being typically fucking naive - and he suddenly calls out and this time I can hear him... yeah, the whole base could probably hear that. "Now! Do it now!" It comes out in an agonized scream, and it's like an order and a prayer and a plea all mixed up together. Holy shit, do what, now? What? What does he want? What am I supposed to do? Oh Jesus, it's killing him! I just know it is, and here I am completely clueless. Joe! Help! Goddamn it, Joe, answer me... oh, please... I want to see what's up with Joe - I need him, I'm just the know-nuthin' new guy for Christ sake - but I can't. I'm, like, pinned by Jackson. He's staring at me so intently I can't look away. I can see his eyes really clearly. They're blue, a real deep blue like my brother's eyes were. Lady-killer-eyes, my bro had, Mom used to say when my brother was still alive, because the s.o.b. always had girls crawling all over him mooning about his - Oh, hell. Clear blue eyes. I can see his eyes clear as anything. Because that thing isn't in the way any more... because, oh, oh I feel so sick... because it's all inside him now. He nods at me. A little up and down of his head and... ohh crap. I get it. Understanding comes crashing down, and even as my knees just about give out, I feel my own head nodding. What the hell am I doing? How can I agree to that? No way, no fucking way, no way... noway noway noway. But his look is urgent and I know - I can feel it - he's certain about it; he's telling me without words it's okay, that it's the right and only thing to do. I'm just the scared spitless new guy, and what the hell do I know except that this feels like the end of the Earth, all right. I'm terrified, and he's looking right at me, pleading with me, insisting, ordering me. Suddenly his face contorts and his body jerks repeatedly. His strangled scream of agony sends me into a panic and rips my guts right out through the end of my dick - a gush of warm-wet tells me I just pissed myself and I'm crying as I bring my weapon up and open fire from not more than ten feet away. I feel like I'm dying right along with him. 12. Colonel Jack O'Neill Damn, that's loud. The only thing that's out-shouting that godawful racket is my headache. Oh no, hang on, that's not all. There's the sharp pain in my arm and my lower back, too. Whaa... wait. Now I remember where I am, and what's going on. No, scratch the last part of that. I have no idea what's going on. Ah. A caster. I dig it out from under me, and pretty much immediately the noise in my back settles from an insistent shriek to a dull roar. I can move my legs okay. That's reassuring. So quit lollygagging around doing nothing. Move those legs and get up. There's hands on me, checking me out. It's Hammond. He's got a gash on his forehead, and he looks like maybe he isn't feeling too good. He's talking to me, but... Geez. Someone really needs to turn off that racket. What's he saying? Something about SG8, about the gateroom? SG8? Oh Christ... Porter. Black, cold, dead eyes. The gateroom. A honking big box full of trouble. Oh, holy shit - Daniel's in the gateroom. And maybe the rest of my team too. I'm up like a flash, and it feels like it was a hell of a lot more than just a caster that whumped me in the back. For a second it takes my breath away, and my stomach rolls over. No time for this. Hammond is tugging at my arm, talking in my ear. I can just about make him out. I duck my head in closer to him and he shouts, each word a mini-explosion, right into my ear. Okay, loud enough, Sir. Got it. Sheesh. Just lost one already half-fried eardrum. "Colonel! Can you hear me? Can you walk? We may have injured men trapped in the gateroom." His eyes are wide and round, and for him that's a real feat. But what the hell is he talking about? Injuries from what? SG8? My head turns toward the observation window and... what the hell am I looking at? There's no gateroom there, just a big grey something. Oh. The blast shield is down. Why? Oh again. The window. I remember now. The thing that used to be Porter went down, the noise came up, and the observation window went south, right along with everything in the room that wasn't nailed down. Including me. But what's he mean about people trapped in the gateroom? Okay, I'm confused. I admit it. He puts a big paw on the far side of my head, and shoves his face right into my left ear. "You've been unconscious for about five minutes. The window blew out into the gateroom. The men in there may have been injured by the blast. We need to get them out." So. Fine. Open the goddamned blast door, then, and go get them. He's yelling something else about SG8. "It's SG8. The base is locked down. Intruders in the gateroom... SG8." Oh, right. Okay, well, I guess my solution isn't worth mentioning then. "Jack, SG3 was on standby, and are on the way to join Teal'c and Captain Carter in the control room. They'll go in after them." Nope. Not without me, they won't. I've got a team member in there. I swap places with him and yell into his ear. "What've they got on the cameras?" I have to know what they see in there. If they can see Daniel; if he's... Hammond shakes his head and says something, but I don't catch it what with that caterwauling still going on. I feel my chest tighten up, and I have an irresistible urge to whirl around and tell whatever's making that noise to just shut the hell up. Shit, this is ridiculous. My head is pounding, my arm feels like it's falling off, and Daniel's in the gateroom with three probable maniac aliens, a whole shitload of glass, and... and where the hell is that Beretta? Where'd it go? I don't see it anywhere around here... my gear is scattered around right over there, though. As I make my way over in a fit of rage, I trip over the legs of one of the guards. Holy... oh, holy buckets, ah crap, doesn't begin to cover it. It's Webb. Nice guy, always really helpful. He's dead. The whole side of his head is caved in. Must have been flung into the edge of the table. The straw that broke the camel's back can't hold a candle to what the sight of that does to me. I know what I need to do. I'm at my gear, I've got the MP5, and I'm slapping the lever into place before Hammond can even move. But now he does move, and it's right into my line of fire. Shit, get the hell out of the way! I know he doesn't understand - but all it does is push me further into the need, and I'm shoving him aside. All I can hear is that howling, all I can see now are those goddamn dead eyes and that open mouth, and I want it to shut-the-goddamned-stinking hell-UP, and I want to get my man out of that gateroom! The noise snaps off so abruptly I almost fall down. But... I didn't do... did I? I stare at the weapon in my hands. No. No, I didn't. It just - stopped. Why? Why did it stop? It's good that it stopped, but all the same, I've got a bad feeling maybe it's not so good it stopped on its own. "Well That's better." My voice sounds far too loud in the sudden silence. I turn to Hammond. "Ah, well, I hope it's better. It is better, isn't it?" He's gaping at me with a look of total astonishment on his face. I'm not sure if that's because of the unexpected blessed silence, or because he's come to understand I was just a split second away from turning the corpse of an SGC member into a whole bunch of messy lumps of raw hamburger. Ugh. Was that what I was going to do? Oh, oh yeah... oh, God. What was I thinking? Hammond's eyes harden. Okay. It wasn't the noise cutting off like that, then. It was door number two, and I know once this is all over with I'm going to be on the receiving end of that 'not-another-word-mister' voice, about my lack of control. There's noise on the steps, and the very top of Carter's head appears. Without even looking over the edge of the stairwell she hollers, "We've got video back!" and then she's gone as quickly as she didn't-quite appear. Okay, so that answers that question. They didn't have anything on the cameras. We pound down the steps after her, and I round the corner into the control room just in time to catch some of her techno-prattle as she throws herself into the techie's seat. Something about the wavelength of the damned howl-from-hell setting up a kitty-counter-clatter-resonance-thingy to account for the air pressure distortion and having some kind of... what's she talking about? Electro-magnetic energy fields affecting the video? Well... look. I don't really care. Just show me the pictures. There. I can see it - provided I can push past Teal'c. It's like trying to shoulder your way past a concrete wall. He turns, glaring, but sees it's me and nods slightly, moving over a bit. Still sporting a jaw of steel though. The video image is distorted, and Carter's having trouble getting the thing to pan. We're getting a not so lovely view of the right-hand top one-third of the Stargate. I wave at the blast shield. "The glass is intact here. Can't we open this one up?" "Oh, Colonel, you're here... you're all right! Sir, a combined variable electro-magnetic field and low wavelength..." "Yeah, yeah, Carter. A simple yes or no will do. No, wait, a yes. Only a yes will do." She looks back at me, and I recognize that doe-eyed apologetic expression. It's a no, and she's about to launch into some explanation I really don't want to hear. I hold one finger up, and she bites off whatever was on her tongue. Pretty good. I didn't even have to 'ach-ach' her. When we're all done with this, I'm gonna order her to give Daniel lessons - Damn. Daniel. Make it pan, then, Carter. Work some magic, make it pan because we really have to see what's what in there. Teal'c is staring at the display. His tone of voice is as intense as his attention. "Captain Carter. If it is not possible to raise the blast shield due to some influence from the alien incursion, will the blast doors not still be affected as well? And why would the video return but control of the blast shield remain disabled?" I can see he's holding something in his hands. It's black, whatever it is. He's got a death grip on it. I can't see what it is because he's scrunched it up so bad, but I can see his knuckles are pale. General Hammond is looking both utterly confused and thoughtful. Only man I ever saw other than Dannyboy who could pull that off. "Captain Carter... are you saying the alien noise has damaged our equipment? That we've lost control over the lock out? We can't open the doors?" He scrubs a hand down his face and wobbles a bit. Looks like he needs to sit down. "Oh, no, Sir. At least, not completely. We can disable the security lock out on the corridor doors all right. I just did that, so Colonel Makepeace and SG3 should be able to get through to us now. But the blast shields won't respond. I haven't tried the gateroom blast doors yet because I don't want to chance them opening until we're ready." Damn right. I want to be there when those doors open. Standing front and centre in the receiving line. I don't even get the chance to open my mouth for the let's-get-to-it, because Carter's going on with more gobbledegook. So maybe she's not the ideal person to teach Daniel the correct response to the index finger after all. "I think the electro-magnetic and atmospheric pressure fields generated in the conference room must have been in effect in the gateroom as well. Possibly as a result of the window blowing out." Carter looks at each of us in turn. That's her secret signal, our Captain Carter. It means she's about to pile a big negative on us. She bites her lip. Yup. Here it comes. "The cameras were affected while that... noise... was active, but as they're working now, I think the only explanation for the blast shields staying down is the window blast shields must be mechanically damaged, somehow. I think we need to be prepared for the possibility the gateroom doors might be damaged as well." Oh perfect. Just dandy. I have a question. The big question of the day, in fact. Just how in the hell are we going to get in there, then? It's probably rhetorical, but I'm getting organized to ask it anyway... but, hold on, the camera is finally panning down. What I'm seeing leaves me suddenly and completely speechless. Three, no, four - no, it's five - five men in the corner in what looks like a vicious parady of a rugby scrum. The image is not exactly clear, but I don't need it to be. My sore arm starts to sing off key, and I recognize all too well what's happening there. Three of the security forces crew struggling with what used to be two members of SG8, and not doing so well. Where's the third? And the rest of security? And where's... "Pan it over... the ramp. Show me the ramp, Carter." My voice is like gravel. Feels like I've got a gutload of the stuff. "I'm trying, Sir. It isn't responding very well..." I can see there's men down and blood on the floor. They aren't moving. I can see the edge of the ramp. I can see... oh my God. Oh, hell. Somebody just gagged. I think it was Carter. Oh God, please, tell me that's not Daniel. No, no it's not. That's jungle camo, not Daniel's forest green BDUs... it's... it looks like... it was Sergeant Harris. Ah God. Carter mutters about panning it and then starts furiously jabbing at the keyboard. Can't say I blame her. I don't want that image to stay on the screen any more than she does. There's a commotion behind me. Makepeace. He's at my shoulder, and I hear him swear under his breath. Nobody else is saying anything. Pan, damn it. And, finally, thankfully, it does. The box is open, the lid thrown back all the way. Looks... empty? No, not quite. There's something in there but I can't tell what it is from this angle. The third used-to-be-SG8 is there, and so is Daniel. He's standing just next to the box, and, oh crap, he's hurt. Blood, and something glinting - glass, there's glass in his shoulder. But there's something more than that. He's, he's twitching... writhing like, like... hell, I don't know what like, exactly. We have to get down there! My stomach twists into a knot, and my arm is screaming at me. His image is weirdly distorted. It's like we're looking at him through a fog or something. What the hell is happening? Teal'c hisses at Carter, and her fingers fly on the keyboard but it doesn't clear up any. Teal'c shifts his weight, muttering something that's definitely not in English, and all of a sudden he's leaning over her tapping on the keys himself. He's transferred that twisted-up thing he's been clutching over to one hand, and I can see what it is now. Daniel's replacement holster. "Kel'sha'k!" Teal'c's explosion brings my attention back to the screen. Something's come into view at the bottom of the screen... the business end of an MP5. Pointed toward Daniel. There's movement. Fast movement. Real fast. Some bad stuff happening all at once here. Something weird, the image isn't very clear - Oh holy shit! Daniel! He's having a, a seizure or something. Hands, coming into view... I can see hands on the weapon and moving faster now, an arm and now the back of the guy's head and shoulder. And the SG8 freak is moving toward Daniel... blocking my view - Move! Get out of the way! Leave him alone! Stand aside, you alien piece of... Shit... I can't see... There's a roar from Teal'c and a shout from behind me. In front of me, on the screen... ...there's death. 15 Colonel Jack O'Neill I'm so ripping mad I don't even know what I'm saying. Moron! Just who the hell does he think he is ... getting in our way in there, between us and those things that used to be SG8. Pushed Carter and me out of the room like we were dustballs caught in his sweeper. Damn asshole shot Daniel. I saw it. Okay, so that was an accident, he was going for Robinson, but still - The door's closed up now, and Carter's radioing up to the control room. Lock out the door control? No! Can't do that; we have to get Daniel out of there first. We don't have time for pissing around out here. The kid underneath me looks pretty much pole-axed. Don't even know precisely what I said to him, but I'm pretty sure I delivered my message. I haul up on his shoulder, and his head kisses the floor with a satisfying smack as I just as harshly let go of him. I'm up, reaching for the switch on my radio and scrambling to the door, but Teal'c is in the way. Get your hand off my chest, Teal'c. "O'Neill. There appears to be a third entity. I believe my staff caught it. However, we must ensure the aliens inhabiting SG8 are not able to open the doors until we confirm it has been neutralized." What the hell is he talking about? I'm spitting mad and this slab of meat he calls a hand, pressing on my chest, isn't helping matters any. "What entity? Neutralized? You mean the wall you killed in there? Teal'c, I didn't see anything. We need to go get Daniel." "I believe it was there." He won't let me step away from him. He believes it was there? So, what, we're going to sit out here twiddling our thumbs discussing beliefs while Daniel is in there maybe bleeding to death... even may be already ... uh-uh. Don't go there. Stop it. There's still a chance. Getting slimmer every minute we spend farting around out here, though. A voice. From down on the floor. The kid must not be a total moron; he knows enough to stay where I put him. "You didn't 'neutralize' it. All you did was provoke it into killing Joe. You never should have opened the door in the first place." Then again, maybe he is short a few bricks. If he keeps this up, he'll lose a few more. My foot is, like, an inch from his face, and nobody invited him into the conversation, never mind giving him permission to be insubordinate. "You, shut up." Back to Teal'c. This kid I don't know from a hole in the head; all I know about him is he shot Daniel... and there's nothing else worth knowing. Teal'c, well, even pissed as I am, him I'll talk to. "Look, I don't want to hear what you believe. I want to hear facts. Is there a threat in there or not? Other than the two Mr. Freezie-Pops?" He gives me that eyebrow thing. "I cannot be certain. But I believe so." "Ah-ah. There's that b-word again. That's not good enough. Carter, go on up, see what the video shows and radio down to me. We..." "You won't see anything. The cameras are knocked out." The unwelcome voice from below again. I thought I told him to shut up? "They blew out just after I... just, well, just after. That thing took them out. And even if they were working, you probably wouldn't be able to see it." My toes are starting to twitch here. "Go, Carter." She does. Makepeace and his men are shifting around impatiently. I catch his eye and he looks... what? His face is all screwed up. Is he hurt? No, that's not it. What? He gives a quick jerk of his head to the ground, and I follow it, and for the first time the state this kid is in penetrates my thick skull. He's red-in-the-face-chin-trembling-eyes-watering really upset. My eyes drift over him. He's got hold of the hem of his BDU jacket, pulling it up high to his chest, mangling it worse than Teal'c mangled the holster and... oh, for crying out loud. There's a wet stain on his pants. Ah, hell. He's only a green gate guard. Total inexperience. Hasn't even had time to sew on his third stripe yet. What were the Brass thinking, bringing him down here? Shit. He didn't make this happen. And he just killed people in there. Gut twist. Agh, hurts. Wasn't going to go there, remember? One person. Not two. Just one; just one kill. Okay, granted, a baddie... but nevertheless it's got to be his first kill, and that's no fun for anyone. My eyes go back up to Makepeace, and I know it looks like I just ate a whole lemon. He gives me his patented Makepeace fake sneer of superiority - God, I hate that - and reaches out a hand, nodding at the kid that it's okay to get up, and hauls him to his feet. Wow. This is one big kid. Strong son of a bitch, too - I've got the bruise on my butt to prove it. Carter comes whizzing around the corner, out of breath and looking worried. "Sir! General Hammond's passed out up there. There's a medical team on the way." She looks at the kid. "And, he's right. Cameras are out. We still can't raise the shield to have a look, either. It must be warped like this door, only worse. Sir, about the blast door, I think.." Ah shit. I shut her down. I don't want to hear any more theories on why the damned things don't work right. "Not now, Carter. We're just going to have to go in blind, then. Makepeace, you guys take out the two hostiles and check the others for survivors. Carter, you're with me to get Daniel." I turn to Teal'c. "You think you saw something in there? Take point then, and if you see it you can, uh, point it out." There's quick movement, and the kid is standing between us and the door. "No. That's a mistake. You can't open the door. Uh, umm... Sir." He's right next to Teal'c and damned if he's not just that bit bigger than him. He's also strung up tight, his eyes blazing, body trembling, his posture defensive. He looks immovable. Damn it. Get out of the goddamn way. "Airman? What's your name?" Carter's slid in by my side. She's got her hand on my arm. Deja vu. You'd think she doesn't trust my interpersonal relations skills or something. I miss his answer, but she got it because now she's addressing him by name. "Okay, Mason. It's over now. You did what you had to. You're out of there. You're safe, and now you need to let us do our job." He jerks like he was just shot himself, and stares at us. "You think I don't want you to open the door just because I'm scared?" Bingo. Give the man a prize. We don't have time for this. Daniel doesn't have time for this. "Mason, get out of the way. That's an order." I don't have to work to make my tone worse than harsh. Carter's fingers dig into my arm. "No! You don't understand. You'll let it out." He's starting to sound a bit hysterical. Carter reaches a hand out toward him, but he bats it away. He's yelling now. "I'm not some crazy stressed out jerk! There's something in there, and it's dangerous, and if you open the door you're going to let it out!" "I didn't see anything!" I'm yelling right back. Why am I doing that? He's an airman, by God, and last time I looked I was a full colonel. Crap, am I ever frustrated. If he doesn't move out of the way I swear I'm gonna shoot him. Yup. Borderline hysterical. His face is beet red and he's hollering, "It's there! It's there! It just killed Joe, and it got inside Dr. Jackson and he told me to, to, to... and it is there! It's invisible, I saw it, and you can't let it out!" Oh for... I have to really concentrate to keep myself from - Whoa. Back up here. What'd he just say about Daniel? Who told who, to what? Carter pipes up before I can even get my jaw back where it belongs. "Wait. Mason... what got inside Dr. Jackson?" "The thing, that thing! Captain, I just told you. It came out of the box. It got all the way inside Dr. Jackson, and he told me to, to - he said 'do it now', but it didn't work like I thought it was supposed to. I saw it. It must have left him. I had it in sight, but you guys came in and shot at it, and it killed Joe... it went right through him and killed him. It's invisible. If it gets out of there, it could go all through this place..." Whoa, whoa, whoa. This pony's galloping out of control. Makepeace lets out a huge snort and moves forward, but I put my hand up and he stops. Teal'c is silent at my side, looking intently thoughtful, and as much as I sympathize with Makepeace - I just want to just push the kid out of the way, too - I know that look on Teal'c's face. As crazy as the kid sounds and as worried as I am about Daniel, I'm starting to think maybe it's time to back off a bit and listen. Teal'c stares at the kid and asks, "The third entity came from out of the box?" He gets a frantic nod as a response. "You said it is invisible. How then could you have observed it?" The kid looks flustered, and his mouth gets to jawing open and closed for a few seconds. "Uh... ahm. Okay, well it's not completely invisible, I guess. If you look real close, you can see the edges of it. They look kind of grey, and whatever it's in front of looks sort of fuzzy and warped, like you're looking through somebody else's dirty glasses or something." He's wringing his hands together, looking sickeningly, earnestly hopeful. I've got a sinking feeling in my gut. Carter jumps a bit and grabs my shoulder. "Sir! The video display!" Oh, crap. Teal'c is nodding, Makepeace mutters something that sounds like 'yeah, could be', and I'm having trouble controlling my breathing. There can't be some dire threat to mankind loose in there. Daniel is in there. Ah damn... why can't anything ever be simple anymore; just get in, kill the bad guys, rescue the poor bleeding slob on the floor, and get out? "Yes. The person of Daniel Jackson on the monitor was blurred in comparison to the surrounding images. You recall, neither Captain Carter nor myself could refocus the lens to clear the image." Teal'c's voice doesn't sound any different, but his words, his corroboration, changes everything. "The distortion cleared immediately after we witnessed the shooting. When we entered, I observed a slightly more pronounced version of the same effect, just before I fired my staff weapon." Oh, I so don't want to hear this. I just want to go get my teammate. But Teal'c is going to make sure nothing is left open to question. "The disturbance was difficult to discern, and I would not have seen it if Airman Mason had not drawn my attention to that area. O'Neill, there is a virtually invisible, deadly alien force in the embarkation room." There's a hitch in Carter's voice. "Sir, they're right. As much as we need to get to Daniel, we can't open that door without a way to locate the threat first. But... even if we did find a way, I'm worried..." "It doesn't matter. I, I'm sorry, Sirs. He's... already dead." Mason's voice is flat. "I saw where he got hit. I was still firing when the other guy went down... and I saw where Dr. Jackson..." He can't keep it on the straight and level for long; his voice starts to quiver, and he looks like he's going to burst into tears. But he's going to finish it, to get out the information we need. My quick flash of sympathy for him disappears under the avalanche of horrible understanding he sets off as he continues. "The hostile got in my way at first, but he got hit and went down fast, and I was still firing. I had a... a clear line. I saw it. He was sh-sh-shot in the chest, Ma'am. Dead centre. He, he was gone before he... h-his body, even went over the rail." The hostile got in the way? No. He had a clear line? No. No, no, no. My brain gives one last ditch try at denying it. I'm desperately telling myself I'm misunderstanding him here... We saw it on the monitor. The bad guy was the target. It was an accident, Daniel was hit by the follow through, and he could still be... Oh my God. My body accepts it a split second before my head does, and suddenly I find myself lunging at him. I have him pinned up against the wall, and then he says it - he says it, and I have no choice now, I can't push away acknowledging it. "Sir... I'm sorry. Dr. Jackson, he wanted me to do it. I had to kill him." Aw crap. I understand what he's saying, and it's killing me. Daniel is dead, and it wasn't from any misfire or freak accident or stray bullet. He was - murdered. Outrage is spilling from my mouth, and my hands are clenched so tight on his jacket they're hurting. I'm ripped away in a strong grip and find myself pushed up against Makepeace. He grabs onto me and hisses into my ear. "Knock it off. Leave it for later." He's right, but there's explosions going off inside me, and I have to force myself to stand there and shut up. Carter looks like she's struggling with her own reaction, and Teal'c has taken my place. His hand is on Mason's collar, but he's standing further away than I did, and his face and voice are calm as he questions the guy. "You fired upon Daniel Jackson intentionally? For what reason?" Mason is breathing so heavily he's having trouble talking. "He told me to." I can't see Teal'c's face, but I can imagine the 'encouraging' look he's giving Mason. "That thing was there. It had him. It was going inside him. I saw it." There are tears starting to run down his cheeks. I don't care. The prick killed Daniel. He's looking past Teal'c, right at me. "Really, I'm so sorry. H-he was... hurting really bad. He looked at me... nodded at my weapon, and when that thing went all the way inside him, he told me to do it. He screamed at me, Sir. He told me to do it." Shit. Oh, Daniel. I never should have left you alone down there. Oh God. A year and a half spent subtly spreading my wisdom around the base on the fine art of pretending to humour Daniel's offbeat suggestions... and this shit comes along and claims all he did was exactly what Daniel told him to the first time off? Even when that thing is to kill him? Oh, I don't think so. Nobody does something just because Daniel says so. That's my department. Okay, so maybe Carter sneaks in there sometimes when I'm not looking. Besides, Daniel's not the suicidal type, and he's not a coward. He wouldn't give up like that. No frigging way. "Why would he do that? Why would he want you to kill him?" What? Makepeace. It's Makepeace. Hey, good question, Robbie. I really want to hear the answer to that. Hah. Try justifying it, kiddo, just try. You're dead meat, Bucko. "I think... I'm pretty sure he thought killing him would kill the thing inside him, Sir." Makepeace is nodding like that's a reasonable answer or something. Ohhh no. No way am I letting him off the hook here. No way I'm going to let him pin this on the victim. "That's bullshit. You were afraid of the thing and you shot him. You murdered him." "No! Goddamn it - No! You think I wanted to do that? You don't know what went down. You didn't see it... you didn't have to look him in the eye! He told me, he ordered me to do it! You think I pissed myself out of pleasure or something?" He obviously believes what he's saying, but even so I don't feel in the least bit charitable toward him like I was starting to before. Before I knew what really happened. No, I don't think he pissed his pants from enjoyment. I think he lost his water in a panic over himself. I think he's a coward, and he killed Daniel to save his own worthless hide. And I tell him so. And it's the last straw for both of us because he snaps, and he's straining against Teal'c, crying a flood of tears. He starts screaming at me about how I'm wrong and how he's sorry - and I can't stand to be in his presence for one more minute. We've got bigger fish to fry. Get rid of him, Teal'c. 16 Colonel Jack O'Neill "So. Ideas on this alien thingy, anyone?" No one is answering. Makepeace and his men glance at each other. They all know who I'm really asking, but she isn't answering either. I can see her fighting with the same awful truth I'm struggling with; the scene we saw on the monitor wasn't an accidental, non-lethal shooting. It was an execution. Daniel's execution. It replays in my head for the fifth time in less than that many minutes, like it has every minute since I saw it. Except it's all changed now. It's not a tragic accident taking the life of my teammate and filling me with loss that I'm now seeing. I think I could have lived with those images of his death in my head. Instead, I'm seeing him purposefully blown away with a vicious shot to the chest. I'm seeing blood and suffering - cold-blooded murder - and I'm filled with rage. If the pressure in my chest and the lump in my throat are anything to go by, Carter's got to be feeling really badly. But Makepeace was right. We don't have time for this right now, and I really need her to be here with me. We need to figure out if there's a threat or not and what to do about it if there is. Come on, Carter. I reach out and touch her shoulder. God, she's tense. "So, what do you think, Carter? Do we have Casper's evil twin on our hands?" She takes a deep breath and brings herself back to us. "I don't believe in ghosts, Sir. From Mason's description, though, it's possible we're dealing with a more plausible alternative to such a non-corporeal entity." "What? Like a real ghost? You've lost me, Carter." "What I mean is this could be an alien being which doesn't interact with wavelengths that we are sensitive to, Colonel. It's theoretically possible we're missing a significant portion of its emissions so we can't detect its presence. Either it simply doesn't interact with most of the wavelengths and frequencies we can detect or we aren't sensitive to the portions of the spectrum it does interact with. Not a ghost, Sir." "I seem to remember hearing one honking huge, annoying noise not long ago, Carter. Those were some frequencies I can really identify with." "Well, yes, Sir. But what holds true with light waves doesn't necessarily have to hold true for sound emissions." Makepeace breaks in. "Captain... about the light waves. You mean, it's like a sheet of glass? It's transparent because light photons pass through but some wavelengths we can see reflect off it, so we can... sort-of see it?" Okay, what did this guy do with the real Makepeace? He's actually following her? I'll have to catch her alone later when we're all done with this mess, get her to explain it to me. But he's still talking. "If the reason we can't see this thing is because most of our light waves go right through it... then, what you're saying is that it's solid matter." Hey. Sounds good to me. Yeah, I know how to handle solid matter. Let's go and blast the thing into oblivion. Guns, grenades, a rocket launcher or two. Hell, I'd love to do it in with my bare hands. I know just the... Teal'c's deep voice, coming closer from around the corner, shatters my preferred strategy even as I'm planning it. "That does not necessarily mean what you think, Colonel Makepeace. There is a creature in Jaffa legend which was as this one seems. Difficult to discern, capable of affecting solid matter, and said to have been also capable of entering and possessing the bodies of other species." He's next to me now, and he looks straight at me. "Even the body of a Goa'uld. I have never encountered such a creature myself, O'Neill, but legend states no weapon was effective against it while it was in its natural form." "Teal'c, this thing - if there even is a thing in there - isn't your legend. It's an alien, and if it's solid, we can blow it to pieces. And it is solid. Right, Carter?" The agreement I'm hoping for isn't there. She gives me one of those annoyingly reluctant, apologetic looks. Damn. "Yes and no, Sir. Mason said he saw it go inside Da... into, people. Certainly, Major Porter was either controlled or altered by something, presumably at the cellular level. If it can integrate itself so completely with us like that, it might not be actually corporeal... at least according to the way we commonly use that word. It may not be in the same solid matter state we are familiar with - either it exists as something roughly analogous to a gaseous or energy state or possibly it's capable of altering itself from one state to another." "If that is so, if we can provoke a transformation to solid matter, we could use our weapons to destroy it." Thank God for Teal'c. Ever the pragmatist. I'm about to leap all over the idea, but Carter steps in. I should have known she would. "That's a good thought, Teal'c, but we don't know how to do that. We don't even know what state it's in to begin with and what stimuli it reacts to. There's no way to even begin to try to find out, either. We can't see it, and if it doesn't interact with the same wavelengths we do, it might be all but impossible to detect it in some other way with the equipment we have." Okay, enough conversation. I've got the gist of this now, and at some point we're going to have to make some assumptions and take some risks. Now is as good a time as any. Daniel may be dead, but there are downed guards in there, and some of them might still be alive. "Teal'c. Mason's tucked in somewhere?" "I left him in the conference room, O'Neill, with instructions he should not move from that location. I told him you might be needing to speak with him, and you would expect that he will still be there." Yeah, well, the last part was true. "Good. Go to the armory and fetch some infra-red goggles, will you?" He raises his eyebrows but thankfully leaves right away without questioning the decision. Carter has her mouth open, but I'm not in the mood for any more long discussions. I've got a brain too, and sometimes I can actually use it. "Yes, Carter, I know. But there's no way of really knowing if they're going to be useful until we try them, is there? That thing in Porter was stone cold, believe me. I don't see any better ideas flying around. There may be people still alive in there, and we need to get this show on the road." She shuts her mouth, and as I turn away, Makepeace is tugging at her arm with a huge question mark on his face. I guess he's not so bright after all. Either that, or I'm really barking up the wrong tree, and he's wa-aay smarter than me. There's one more detail to take care of before we pop this door. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing or not. If there's anyone alive in there needing medical attention, the med team won't be able to get through... but on the other hand, if there is something in here and we let it out when we open the door, I don't want it to be able to go far. A bit of a dilemma. Daniel... what would he have to say about this? Never mind. It's my decision to make. God, I wonder if I'd be doing this if I thought Daniel might be still alive? Yeah, yes I would because it's the right decision. Depressing the switch on my radio, I tell the tech in the control room to kill all but one of the lights in the gateroom. Carter's staring at me as I go on to tell him to lock the entire base down tight. Nobody goes anywhere. All doors to stay closed except on joint command from any two of me, her, and Teal'c. I know what she's thinking. I guess if there is something bad in there, I'm just going to have to be sure two of us stay alive and stay ourselves, that's all. Teal'c's back. Put 'em on, load, rack 'em up. "Everybody ready?" Carter, Teal'c, and Makepeace give me the grim thumbs up. Weapons trained on the door. Eyes forward. They're ready. The tech in the control room is ready; he's waiting on our word to spring the door. Yep, everybody is ready. Everybody but me. Now that we're actually going in there, I'm suddenly stuck in flash-back mode. The scene from the gateroom's video display is running through my head all over again. How could I have let this happen? I should have known there was something wonky right from the start. I should have dragged Daniel out of there with me, not to mention the security forces as well - that's what I should have done. That damned box should have been isolated right from the get go. Instead, I complacently tagged along after whatever-the-hell-that-was up to the briefing room and left all those guys alone in there with it. Left Daniel alone with the rest of whatever-the-hell-they-are. And now we're going to get him out of there, damn it. Too bad it's too late. My heart twists in my chest. This hurts more than I ever thought it could. Maybe the new kid was wrong... maybe... agh, who am I kidding? We all saw it. But, even if it wasn't fatal, or, or, something - No. Daniel's been in there for far too long now with whatever those SG8 guys have become. If he wasn't already dead when what's-his-name - Mason, right, that's it - when Mason barreled out of there into us, he wouldn't have lasted very long anyway in the hands of those things. My arm still hurts like hell from my own encounter. God. I hope - oh crap. Knock it off. Just get on with it. There's nothing to hope for. Get his body out of there. There'll be time for wallowing later. I just hope... God. I hope he didn't suffer. 17 SrA Eddie Mason Well, Webb, there you have it. The whole story. My rise from an inglorious grunt of a gate guard to a glorious ignoramus of a... 'Gate Guard. Well, almost. I almost got to be a Guardian of the 'Gate. Now I'm just going to be... toast. No, make that jam. I'm going to be the jam on Colonel O'Neill's toast. I wanted to be a general someday, Webb. Okay, don't look at me like that. I know I can't get there from here. But I was thinking I could go to school, you know? Get myself a degree in something, apply for commissioning. Or maybe even start from the outside; get out of here, get some education and apply to the Air Force Academy. What? You don't think I'm smart enough? I can be educated. I'm not a total - Yes, I am. A total idiot. All I'm going to be soon is court-martialed. Oh fucking hell. The death of a dream. But that's all right. Being jam under O'Neill's bootheel is okay. You wanna know why that's okay? Because I just killed an innocent man, Webb. I lined him up, and I pulled the trigger, and I pissed myself and I saw... oh Jesus it's tearing me up inside. I saw him die. He always said good morning to me up at the gate and asked me how I was, and he never minded when I searched his vehicle. I killed him. He even touched me once just after I first got assigned on the surface, you know? On my birthday. Somehow he knew it was my twenty-first birthday, and he g-got out of the c-c-car and... and he shook m-m... he shook my h-hand. I killed him.
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