“I only ever saw lesions once,” Esser said. It was the first time any of them had spoken since Janet’s departure. Jack was still fuming. “It was when I was away on my Ordeal. There was a body in my cave when I got there. Elek had killed himself with his bread knife. He must have done it when the madness hit him. Or, at least I hope he did. There was so much blood.”
“What did you do?” Esser’s tone was apparently enough to snap Jack out of his sulk.
“I waited for the Dark, and then I buried him.”
Teal’c placed a hand on Esser’s shoulder, and she smiled half-heartedly up at him. Without really thinking, Jack had set his usual USAF-approved pace. Even with the larger pack, Esser was holding her own. Still, her voice reminded him that this was not a typical USAF mission, even by SGC standards. He stopped walking and signaled for a halt.
“Is there any place remotely defensible around here?” Jack asked. “I don’t need cyclopean fortifications, even some trees will be fine.”
“Yes,” she said after a moment’s thought. “There’s a cave about half an hour’s walk from here. It’s empty, or, it should be.”
“Should be?”
“I’m sorry, Colonel. I really don’t know.” Esser took off her pack and sat down on a rock. “We used to use it for the Ordeal, but it’s too close to town. There were several...incidents, and now we go further into the hills. But sometimes, when they get desperate, the Sanoctem come this far out of the mountains, so they might have taken shelter from the light there.”
“We’ll try it, very, very carefully,” Jack said. “We’ll take a breather and still make it well before night.”
Sam dug into her pack for a couple of granola bars and handed one of them to Esser. The girl’s pack was a bit of a mess, since it had been almost full even before the addition of Janet’s paraphernalia, and they didn’t have time for extended excavations.
“What are cyclopean fortifications?” Esser asked, halfway through her bar.
“I–have no idea,” Jack admitted.
Sam covered a smile.
“According to Daniel Jackson, the Cyclops were a mythical race of giants who lived on Earth,” Teal’c informed them “They had a single eye and were monstrously behaved. Any architecture in Greece which is excessive in size has been described as cyclopean for centuries.”
“I knew that.”
“There’s a good story by a man named Homer about a Cyclops,” Sam said, her eyes still shining. “Daniel will lend it to you when we get back. Actually, you might even have a similar story here. Our cultures are very similar.”
Esser, her mouth full of granola, only shrugged.
“Sierra Golf one-niner, this is Sierra Golf three-niner, do you copy?” The static on the walkie-talkies was a source of fascination for Esser, and she looked up.
“Sierra Golf three-niner, this is Sierra Golf one-niner, we copy. Over,” Jack said into his left shoulder.
“What is your position? Over.”
“We’re – uh,” Jack paused. “One moment. Over.”
Jack looked inquiringly at Sam who was checking some instrument readings.
“We’re five minutes from the rendezvous point, sir,” she reported. Esser whispered something in her ear. “About ten minutes from there is the cave we can camp in.”
Jack relayed the information along to Major Griff, and picked up his pack.
“Let’s move.”
------------
Daniel had always been told that doctors make the worst patients, though how anyone could possibly be worse that Jack O’Neill was beyond him. Janet, however, showed no signs of joining the stereotype. She allowed herself to be poked and prodded with such disregard, that even more of Daniel’s red flags went up. He sat in the infirmary, barely understanding the medical jargon flying around his head, worried out of his mind.
Finally, Warner finished his examination and Daniel was allowed to stand beside Janet’s bed. The lesions, which had been alarming enough in the daylight of the Sandiem planet, were nothing short of horrifying under the fluorescent lights of the infirmary. They covered Janet’s arms with a throbbing mottled red and Daniel could not control the shudder that swept through him. Janet moved to hide her arms under the blanket, but he grabbed her hand and wove his fingers through hers.
“I’m sorry, Daniel,” she said quietly, mindful that even though Warner had pulled the curtain, sound carried very well in the infirmary. “I didn’t think.”
“It’s okay.” She wished, irrationally, that he would yell at her. “Everything will be okay.”
“Take me home.”
“I have to talk to Hammond. By the time you’ve finished your treatment, I’ll be ready.” He smiled, and her heart broke again. “I don’t think Warner wants me here while you’re – reacting.”
He kissed her and turned to go, but she did not relinquish his fingers. He looked at her questioningly.
“When we get home, we need to talk,” she said simply.
He nodded and squeezed her hand. “When we get home.”
Janet watched him go, knowing that she as still concealing things from him and feeling horrible about it. She knew it was for the best. When she told him, there was going to be a scene, and she didn’t want it taking place in the infirmary. Dr. Warner pulled the curtain back.
“Can I go home now?” Janet asked, her tone almost petulant.
“Dr. Fraiser, I really think you should stay for observation.”
“Why? I’m not in pain. I’m not contagious. I won’t get any worse.” Now she was petulant. And she knew it.
“Janet, your blood hasn’t been processed yet.”
“I know what I’ve got, doctor.”
“We don’t know if the lesions will be different from Dr. Jackson’s experience. The might –”
“Dr. Warner,” Janet cut him off. “I. Am. OK.”
“I’d feel better if I could give you something.”
“I’d feel worse if you did. The last time I had penicillin, my anaphylaxis was violent. You know as well as I do what will happen if–”
“Yeah, I do.” He handed over her street clothes. “Just stay away from garlic.”
“Stakes and crosses too?”
“Get out of here, doctor.”
------------
Dr. Carter’s lab was strictly off limits to the janitorial staff. She cleaned it herself when she was Base side, unless certain Colonels had lost recent bets, but when she was off world, the dust gathered.
Not that anything in the lab minded. The computers rested quietly, except the one she had set to compute pi, and the various pieces of alien technology strewn across the lab bench waited patiently for the return of she who poked, prodded and generally re-wired them.
In the approximate centre of the bench sat the last remaining Sanoctem blood sample. It was sealed in a petri dish, awaiting SG-1's return, at which time, Sam would find the sample, and throw it out, as had been her intent.
If one were to be looking at the sample with a microscope right at this moment, one would have noticed a curious thing. The cells were moving. Moreover, they were moving faster. They moved with a greater and greater velocity until their erratic behaviour caused the slightest of tremors in their enclosure.
One would not have needed any technology at all to see the burst of flame which instantly incinerated the sample of Sanoctem blood. In fact, the burst consumed the oxygen within in the dish so fast and burnt out so quickly, that the security cameras in Dr. Carter’s lab never saw a thing.
------------
“How many?” Jack whispered to Major Griff as the two of them lay on their stomachs in the underbrush.
“Abernathy said he saw about two dozen,” Griff whispered back. “But he only got a quick look. We cleared out quick when we saw the cave was already occupied.”
“What were they doing?” Sam asked.
“Sleeping.” It was Esser who answered. “Colonel O’Neill, we have to deal with them now. They’ll wake up in about half an hour and they’ll be very, very hungry.”
“Can we not conceal ourselves in the woods, Esser Aeronnsdaughter?” Teal’c asked. “We have not sufficient time –”
“They’ll find us,” Esser said unequivocally. “They can track body heat for miles, they can climb trees, and they still hunt like humans. They’re mad, yes, but they still think and reason.”
“Carter?”
“Seven of us with tranq guns, sir. That’s at least three each. Very quickly, and firing from tight quarters.”
“The cave mouth is wide enough, Colonel,” Griff reported. “If they’re still sleeping, we can just line up and shoot them.”
Jack looked out across to the cave, visibly weighing his distaste against the necessity of what he was about to order done.
“Alright,” he said finally. “Esser, you stay put until we call for you. Griff, you and I will have the middle, my team on the left and yours on the right. I want no noise at all until we’re clear, Clear?”
There was a round of nods, and Jack passed his zat to Esser, just in case. They would be using Earth tranquilizers, because Janet had not been certain what effect an electric field would have on the Sanoctem physiology. Esser moved so that her back was against a tree, and began to organize her medical supplies as the SG teams moved out.
The strike was over lightning quick. The Sanoctem had not even been awakened. Jack sent Teal’c back for Esser and the medical equipment while the SG-3 marines put hand restraints on the unconscious Sanoctem. Sam was rummaging through her pack and then she too began to circulate amongst the fallen. She carefully placed a surgical mask over the mouth and nose of each Sanoctem.
“What’s that for?” Jack asked.
“To make sure none of them accidentally inhale the garlic, sir.”
“But it’s liquid, Major. It’s not like you’re going to accidentally spill it up their noses.”
“No, sir. It’s so they don’t smell it.”
“What?”
“Well, when you smell something, it’s because very small particles of whatever it is you’re smelling have gone up your nose and triggered your olfactory receptors,” Sam explained as Teal’c and Esser entered the cave. “For example, some people are so allergic to peanuts, that the minute amount in their noses can trigger their allergic reaction. Janet was worried that this would work the same way.”
“Wait,” said Jack, holding up his hands. “Are you telling me that when I smell manure – ”
“Eprem!” Esser cried out and ran across the cave. She fell to her knees next to one of the supine Sanoctem. “Oh my Eprem...”
If Sam had any doubts that Esser was old enough to know she was in love, they were banished as the girl reached out and touched the horrible scars on Eprem’s face without so much as a flinch. Esser spent a few moments silently exulting that Eprem was alive, and then got down to business.
“Major Carter, we’ll start here,” she said crisply, voicing an authority she was not entirely sure she had. “I’ll need one dose and the paddles. Just in case.”
“You can do this, Esser,” Sam said, passing over the materials. “Janet...had great faith in you.”
Esser nodded and took a deep breath. She took the needle and prepped it as though she’d been handling such equipment her entire life. She carefully located a vein in Eprem’s arm, inserted the needle and steadily pushed the injection through.
The reaction was immediate. Esser barely had time to withdraw the needle before Eprem’s whole body jerked and he went into seizure. Again, Sam was taken off guard by Esser’s manner as the young girl watched her almost betrothed writhe on the cave floor, fully aware, it seemed that there was nothing she could do, so panicking was useless. As quickly as they started, Eprem’s convulsions stopped. Esser snapped into action, feeling for a pulse. She tried his wrist, then his neck and looked up at Sam with the first hints of panic in her eyes.
“Paddles charged!” Sam said as she handed them over. “Clear.”
Esser shocked him once and nothing happened. She was chanting under her breath in Latin, and Sam realized that she was praying as she battled to save her patient. Teal’c, Jack and SG-3 were standing a respectable distance away, but all were watching holding their breaths.
Esser shocked him again, and felt for a pulse.
“He’s alive!” she announced, her relief evident in her voice. “He’ll be okay.”
“What now?” Jack asked as Esser looked around the cave and attempted to get her breath back.
“I do it again. Twenty-three more times.”
------------
Janet wiped the steam off of the mirror in Daniel’s bathroom. She’d been absolutely terrified that the hot water was going to make the lesions on her arms and legs sting, and when it hadn’t, she’d made the water as hot as she could stand. She looked at herself, tentatively running the fingers of the hand not holding the towel in place over the inflamed red marks on her arm. She wondered if they would turn white with time, or if she’d be wearing long sleeves for the rest of her life to cover up the angry red marks.
They didn’t hurt, much, anymore, but they did itch. Warner had given her something for it, but she had a history of reacting to medicinal creams, so she hadn’t tried it yet. Her mentoring physician, from back in med-school, had found it incredibly amusing, cosmically, that his best student should be so allergic to most of what she prescribed her patients. An oxymoron in a lab coat.
Unable to restrain herself, Janet dug her fingers into her skin. Pain shot through her and she cried out before she could help herself.
“Janet?” Lord, was he waiting right outside the door? “Janet, are you alright?”
“Yes, Daniel. I’m fine.” The throbbing itch returned, and Janet reached for the cream. “You can come in if you’d like.”
He opened the door and came in quietly. He sat down on the hamper, which creaked in largely ignored protest, and watched as she put the cream on her arms and legs. She craned her neck over her shoulder in a failed attempt to see her own back. Daniel took the jar from her and began to rub cream where she couldn’t reach.
“Does Warner think that these will fade now that you’re back?” Daniel asked, still focused on the task at hand.
“Well, they won’t get any worse. The radiation source is gone.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
Daniel set the jar down on the counter and turned her around to face him.
“The tears stopped after I had the treatment. And mine was accidental. I’m sure the lesions will clear up too.”
“I didn’t take the treatment, Daniel.” His eyes widened. “I’m allergic to penicillin.”
Daniel’s entire body seemed to sag.
“But don’t worry, I won’t get worse. I’ll still look – ”
“I don’t care about that!” Daniel burst out, his tone uncharacteristically sharp. “I care about you! There must be another – ”
If Janet had still been facing the mirror, she might have understood why Daniel suddenly released her shoulders. She might have had the same terror she saw in his eyes in her own. But Janet could not see the creeping marks, tearing their way through her skin, and it was not until after a few moments wondering what on Earth Daniel was so afraid of, that the pain of her transformation sent her crashing to the floor, writhing in agony, and she began to understand.
------------
“Just make sure that she eats something when she wakes up.”
“I will, O’Neill,” Teal’c replied, looking down at the girl who slept like the dead a few feet away from the crackling fire.
“OK. I am going to coordinate with Griff. I didn’t realize there were going to be so many of them. We’re going to need more local help to get these people home.”
Teal’c nodded. It had been a long six days. Almost two hundred and fifty Sanoctem had been found, and they had worked tirelessly to treat them. No one, however, had worked as hard as Esser. She had personally treated every single victim they had found, often working all night after walking all day to locate her patients in the first place. SG-3 had been taking it in turns to stay with the healed and then escort them back to the town. It had been Abernathy who had suggested using the Sandiem to help, but the idea was easier said than done. Those who weren’t terrified of the woods at night were those just reunited with loved ones, but a small force of volunteers had marshaled.
None of the SGC personnel except, evidently, Dr. Fraiser, who had packed almost twice as many treatments as were needed, was prepared for the sheer number of victims. Sam had pointed out, on about the third day of their expedition when exhaustion was just beginning to make Jack exceptionally irritable, that they were dealing with a quarter of the population, after all. The seven or eight seconds of complete silence which followed her statement was finally ended by the hysterical giggling of an even then almost worn out Esser.
Now, after almost a week, SG-1 was finished. Their area had, as far as they could determine, been swept clean of Sanoctem. As soon as Esser woke up, they would pack up and escort this last group safely home.
------------
After the first few times, he had learned that it was better now to wake her. As torturous as it was to watch her flinch and writhe in the grips of her nightmares, it was worse to see those wakened eyes haunted by horrors she had seen but could not remember. No, it was better to let her wake herself up, because if she remembered, she could tell him, and then he could take her in his arms, brush her hair out her face, and tell her it was all just a dream.
The nightmares had begun once every inch of her body had been covered in lesions. Confined to a VIP room on the base, Janet had dealt with her fears by talking with Daniel and punching MacKenzie in the nose. Twice. The good doctor had not repeated his attempted intervention. Over the last six days though, Janet’s hallucinations had left her dreams and manifested themselves in every aspect of her waking life. The cement room that quarantined her had become her own private dwelling in a world of unspeakable demons.
Janet had always been afraid of the dark. He never would have expected this. He did know that her nightmares predated this particular experience. Hell, they all had them, and she knew it; it was her signature on their sleeping pill prescriptions. But whatever terror he faced in his subconscious paled in comparison with what he had physically experienced in the waking world. She had no such means of comparison. Before she was ill, he knew that her dreams had centred largely on emergencies when she couldn’t save them, or worse, when she was forced to choose which one of them to save. Those he could deal with by reminding her that she was competent and they were lucky. Now, she screamed incoherently in gibberish and woke sobbing in terror, reaching blindly for him.
In those first few minutes of wakefulness, she was completely lucid. It was in those moments when she would beg him to turn out the lights so he wouldn’t see the horror that was her face; when she would calmly tell him what arrangements to make for Cassie; when he could kiss her and not worry about getting his eyes plucked out.
The dream was playing itself out. Janet’s breath was coming faster and she was moaning as though something were after her. Letting out a blood curdling scream that raised the hair on the back of Daniel’s neck, she sat up, gasping for air and clawing at whatever horror she was escaping from.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Daniel took her in his arms and she clung to him. “It’s okay. It was just a dream.”
“I hate this,” she said, still shuddering. “I can’t do this anymore.”
“Then take the garlic.”
“You know better than anyone what happens without the right amount of penicillin, and I know exactly what will happen to my bronchial tubes. If I take it, I’ll die.”
“You are dying!” He said it a bit louder than he’d intended and she drew away from him. “I’m sorry.”
“I was so sure Sam was right! It made so much sense! But it turns out that all that saved you was the commissary menu rotation. Classic Daniel Jackson luck.”
Unable to help himself, he began to laugh at her. She stared at him for a few moments before she too began to laugh. He could almost hear the snap in her brain that indicated her switch from coherency to madness. Her laughter became shrill and hollow and she tried to fly at him, but the restraints that both of them had forgotten caught her back in time. The laughter turned to screams, loud keening shrieks of terror and longing. A pair of orderlies and Dr. Warner rushed into the room, Warner barking orders and preparing a sedative. Daniel was forcibly removed.
The door swung shut, muting the shrieks now contained within and the corridor filled with choked sobs as Daniel Jackson collapsed against the cold metal frame and sank to the ground.
------------
“Daniel Jackson to the Briefing Room. Dr. Daniel Jackson to the Briefing Room right away, please.”
Daniel put his glasses back on. General Hammond was a patient and understanding man, but even Daniel was not going to make him repeat the page for a third time. As Daniel mechanically navigated the path between Janet’s ‘quarters’ and the Briefing Room, he noticed that the halls were strangely empty. This was perfectly acceptable, given that approximately half of the SGC was currently out on a mission, but the echo of his steps seemed a bit louder than was customary.
Daniel entered the Briefing Room to find both General Hammond and Dr. Warner waiting for him. He took a seat across from Warner and accepted the cup of coffee Hammond pushed him with a grateful nod.
“Dr. Jackson, we received a communication from Aeronn,” Hammond began gently. “He said that his people might be able to treat Janet in ways we can’t. They’ll help her...if we send her back.”
Daniel said nothing. He didn’t even splutter. Hammond realized then how desperate the situation was.
“I talked with one of the returned medical teams,” Warner took over. “I think Aeronn was talking about a protein in the bloodstream on animals on their side can be utilized to – ”
“He said that?” Daniel interrupted.
“Not in so many words, no.” Warner shifted uncomfortably. “Aeronn doesn’t really know what he’s talking about, Daniel. Medically speaking. He did say that their was something in the village that will help, and the med team thought he meant the protein.”
“Can’t they send us some?”
“Daniel, son, if Janet stays here, she’ll die in that room.”
“In a cage, you mean, General.”
“I know it sounds bad, but if we send her back to Sandiem – ”
“She’ll die an animal.”
“She is an animal,” Warner said, wincing again. “I’m sorry, but – ”
“I understand, doctor.” Daniel’s tone was frigidly cold. “General, when do we leave?”
------------
The sedative they used on Janet had a name eight syllables long. Daniel wasn’t sure what it did, but somehow it rendered Janet capable of walking and not very much else. Aeronn, Zephrey and Maram met Daniel and the medical team that accompanied him at the base of the Stargate. It was dark, and the three Sandiem stood without fear in the blackness, but Daniel couldn’t help the flood of bitterness that swept through him.
“Daniel Jackson,” Aeronn intoned. “I grieve that we meet again under such circumstances.”
Daniel nodded his head in reply, not trusting himself to speak.
“Dear Janet,” Maram took Janet’s hand without any sign of apprehension. “We owe you so much, and now we are in your debt doubly so.”
Janet did not react at all. She did not even blink. Maram kissed her, and took her arm to guide her through the forest.
“Come then,” Zephrey said, holding up his torch so they could follow him, and they began their walk towards the town.
This time, as Daniel crossed the clearing towards the cathedral, it was framed by a thousand stars instead of overwhelmed by the light of only one. He watched his shoes instead, dividing his attention between Janet and the ground in front of him, completely ignoring the architecture which had so fascinated him. At length, they passed through the gate. The streets were deserted, but the lights in the houses were merry.
When Daniel finally looked up, they had completely crossed the town. Zephrey was unlocking a small door, and Aeronn gestured Daniel and Janet forward. Daniel took one look over Zephrey’s shoulder and took several steps back, dragging the non-responsive Janet with him.
“What is this?” he burst out.
“It’s a cloister,” Aeronn said. “We come here to pray in isolation.”
“It has an east facing window. And no curtains!”
“We know,” Maram said quietly. “Daniel, if we do nothing, she’ll get worse. She’ll go mad, and cease to be the woman you know. She’ll be a monster, and someone will have to kill her. If we put her in here, that someone will not be you.”
“What about treatment? Blood proteins?” Daniel demanded. “You said you could treat her with something in the village.”
“This is the treatment, Daniel,” Zephrey said. “It’s the only humane way.”
“No!”
Daniel had heard Jack explain what military autopilot felt like. He knew what regular autopilot felt like, having spent time on it, but his first instinct was not usually to go for his gun. This time, however, he drew without a second thought.”
“Daniel Jackson!” Zephrey shouted. “What are you doing?”
“Back - back away. Get away from us!” Daniel yelled. “Crombie, set your med kit down. Now!”
Alison Crombie, knowing full well that her med kit was the best stocked, set it down. Daniel, his gun still out, picked up the kit in his other hand and wrapped that arm around Janet’s waist.
“Keep away from us.” Daniel warned as he backed himself and Janet into the shadows.
Zephrey stood, flabbergasted in front of the cloister. The medical team looked to Alison, but she waved them off with a small shake of her head. Aeronn moved to follow Daniel down the alley.
“Aeronn! No!” Maram called out, bringing her husband up short. “Not in the dark. Not in the dark.”
------------
Daniel, practically dragging Janet behind him, made his way up and down every dark alleyway he could find, eluding all signs of people. He made his way to the sally port next to the main gate. As he and Janet stood in the shadows, Zephrey and a large party of men marched out through the gate. Daniel held his breath. Janet moaned, and he put his hand over her mouth to silence her. She struggled only minimally. The company passed by and headed towards the woods and the Stargate.
Daniel’s mind, which he had more or less regained control of, raced as he tried to think of another option. He had, as far as he could determine, seven hours until sunrise. He pulled Janet through the sally port and looked around. “They go up to caves which can be sealed from the inside.” Daniel put his gun away, took the med kit in one hand and Janet’s hand in the other, and set off for the mountains.