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stargÅtefan.com : episodes > season 3 > next episode: learning curve

SG-1 explores a darkened chamber on another world, lit only by their flashlights.

Jack asks, "Daniel, any ideas about this place?"

"Looks like it was built by a pretty advanced culture then stripped and abandoned," he answers.

Sam reminds them, "The MALP showed no life signs."

They discover a sealed doorway with a red knob off to one side, "Teal’c, whadda ya think?" the Colonel asks.

"It is an ancient Goa’uld design," the Jaffa offers as he approaches the knob, moves his hand over it and it springs to life, glows and the chamber door rolls open.

Jack reacts strongly, "Now, that is not a good smell!"

Daniel walks around a table and trips over a prone corpse, and he backs immediately away. Realizing the potential danger, Jack orders, "Alright! Level A." Immediately the team dons protective gas masks and gloves. They discover more dead bodies.

Sam notes scarring on the backs of their necks, "These aren’t quite human, they’re Goa’uld."

Noting the door exit mechanism, Teal’c comments, "This mechanism appears to have been damaged by a ribbon device."

"They might have been trying to contain whatever did this," Sam muses.

Daniel discovers some unusual markings, "Teal’c, do you recognize this symbol?"

"It is the curse of the Limvris!" the Jaffa answers.

Jack seems a bit irritated that he must ask, "Which is what… or … who?"

"A rival league of lesser Goa’uld who challenged the System Lords."

"A minor league!" Jack quips.

Not reacting to the joke, Teal’c continues, "Yes, there were nine."

Sam counts the corpses, "Five, six, seven, eight, nine… found ‘em!"

Daniel makes yet another discovery, "It’s one of those Goa’uld tablet devices, the kind we found on Argos."

"Can you translate it?" Sam asks.

"Most of it. It’ some sort of battle plan. I need the hand device that makes the screen go to the next page," Daniel begins searching.

Jack bends to look under the table and sees something partially hidden by a body, "That it?"

Daniel reaches under, retrieves the oval shaped device, and swipes it over the tablet. He swipes it again, "Nothing’s happening!" Suddenly he reacts as if he’s been touched by something and begins to look around.

Jack sees his reaction, but nothing else, "What?"

"I felt something brush by me!" Daniel states with concern.

"Ya… alright… let’s pack it outta here and leave this to the medical containment unit, it’s gettin creepy," Jack turns to leave. Daniel remains looking about in confusion, still reacting to something.

The scene shifts to the SGC locker room. Daniel is exiting the shower area, dressed in robe and slippers, towel drying his hair. "Out in a minute!" he yells. He reacts again as if someone has called him, then reacts in an odd fashion to a dripping faucet, pausing to stare curiously at himself in the mirror.

Out in the hallway, Sam greets Daniel. He asks her, "Were you calling me just now?"

"No," Sam answers in an offhand way.

Daniel frowns and asks again, "You weren’t calling my name in the locker room just a minute ago?"

"No! Wasn’t me! General Hammond is waiting for us in the briefing room," she walks off, apparently unaware that Daniel is worried.

Dr. Frasier opens the meeting, "The Goa’uld died before their hosts. We know this from a unique protein marker left in host bodies after a Goa’uld dies."

"The same protein marker that was left in my body after Jolinar was killed," Sam confirms.

Hammond asks, "But how did they die, Doctor?"

Janet responds, "Well, at this point Sir I can’t give you an accurate answer and I may never be able to. As with Major Carter, when these Goa’uld symbiots died, they rapidly decayed and were absorbed by the hosts, so there’s no Goa’uld corpse for me to study!"

The team ponders use of germ warfare, poison… then dismiss it due to the Goa’uld immunity to such things. Janet presumes the human hosts died of starvation, as the room was sealed and they otherwise appeared healthy. Hammond wants to know who would have killed these Goa’uld and Teal’c states that the System Lords were most likely. No one can give a guess how the assassins might have escaped with the door locked, however. They discuss the possibility of Reetou being responsible, but Teal’c thinks the human bodies would have been damaged by Reetou weaponry. They seem out of other possible ideas.

Hammond turns to Daniel now, "Doctor Jackson, what about the Goa’uld tablet device?"

Daniel begins to answer, but is distracted by the sound of the Stargate engaging in the Gateroom below them, and incoming travelers are announced. He is obviously having difficulty maintaining his train of thought. "Ummm… it’s a Goa’uld dialect akin to Latin. From what Teal’c and I have made out so far, it’s some kind of attack plan. I’m still trying to figure out how to scroll to the next page… if there is a next page."

"I want you to make translating that tablet your top priority!" the General orders.

"Yes, Sir," Daniel agrees, and the team is dismissed. Jack and Daniel watch through the window as "SG-7 returning" is announced. Daniel sees the faces of the dead Goa’uld instead of the faces of the SG-7 team, and stares at Jack to gage his reaction. Seeing that Jack apparently sees nothing out of the ordinary, Daniel looks back again and sees the usual SG-7 team this time.

Daniel sits now in his office, surrounded by shelves of books, busily translating and taking Tylenol. "To enter by infiltration," he mutters to himself. He reacts again to what seems to be someone calling his name, but he is obviously alone. Then, he is very surprised to hear the sound of the Gate engaging… coming from the direction of his closet. He pulls the closet doors open, and stares into the rippling blue event horizon. He hears voices whispering, "Help us Daniel! Step through the Gate, Daniel!" "This isn’t real," he firmly tells himself as he reaches out to touch the Gatelight. Suddenly, a hand thrusts out and grabs him by the throat. He begins to struggle and yell for help, then a face of the dead Goa’uld appears, "Somebody… Help!" Daniel screams. He is then pulled into the Gatelight.

A blurry vision of Jack absently flipping a bag of IV solution is seen through Daniel’s eyes. Jack notes that Daniel is waking up and moves to the side of his infirmary bed, "Hello!"

"Hello," Daniel responds.

"What happened?" Jack asks softly.

Daniel closes his eyes and holds the bridge of his nose, "Do you believe in ghosts?"

"Ahhh… no…" Jack answers.

"Neither do I, which means there has to be a logical explanation," Daniel reasons.

"For what?" Jack still has no idea what Daniel is talking about.

Daniel hesitates, clears his throat and resumes holding the bridge of his nose, eyes closed, "When we were in the Limvris chamber, I felt something brush by me… and … I’ve heard voices… and… I keep seeing the dead Goa’uld from the massacre!"

"Where?" Jack asks.

"Well… last night they were in my closet…" Daniel pauses as Jack reacts by raising his eyebrows, then continues, "In like a… Stargate event horizon… without the Gate…"

"In your closet!" Jack repeats with apparent disbelief.

"Yes…" Daniel answers with certainty, "I don’t think they’re really dead!"

"Who? The stiffs in the morgue?" Jack asks.

"No! The nine Goa’uld that were using them as hosts! I translated a phrase on that tablet that I first thought meant attack, but when I refined the translation I realized it meant to enter by infiltration!" Daniel is becoming more animated.

"And you think that’s what they’re doing," Jack states still sounding very doubtful.

"Yes."

"Through your closet!" Jack remains focused on the absurdity of how that sounds.

"Teal’c said the Limvris were being hunted by the System Lords, right? Now, what if they used some kind of technology to transform their bodies into… I don’t know… some kind of… energy… or… something…" Daniel sounds a bit unsure as he nears the end of his diatribe.

"Energy?" Jack reacts again with some disbelief.

"Or something!" Daniel is irritated now, he wants Jack to buy what he’s saying. "I don’t know exactly how, Sam can figure that part out… the point is… they’re here! They’ve entered by infiltration and now they want me as a host!" Daniel looks to Jack for affirmation.

"All nine of them?" Jack is obviously very much wanting to buy what Daniel is saying, but can’t.

Daniel pauses, stares at the ceiling, frowns and closes his eyes again, "That sounds crazy, huh?"

"Mmmm… ya…. You gotta admit there are some holes in your theory there!" Jack seems relieved to hear Daniel acknowledge that his line of reasoning is a bit strange.

"Well, it’s a theory, not a proof!" Daniel retorts.

"Why are you the only one that can see them? Why didn’t they come through my closet? Aside from the fact that yours is cleaner?" Jack asks obvious questions.

"I don’t know," Daniel answers. "The only other theory I can come up with is that I’m having some sort of nervous breakdown…" he giggles softly as if he can’t believe he seriously said that.

"Or something…" Jack says, worry apparent in his eyes.

Echoing him, Daniel says, "Or something…"

In the briefing room, Jack enters acknowledging Doctor MacKenzie, "I’m not going to enjoy this, am I?" he asks.

The General explains, "Part of Doctor MacKenzie’s work is psychological evaluation of SG units specifically looking for common side effects of Gate travel. Dr. Jackson’s episode yesterday may have uncovered a serious one."

MacKenzie asks O’Neill, "Dr. Frasier has been treating you for headaches lately, hasn’t she?"

"Yes," Jack answers suspiciously, "What’s that got to do with Daniel?"

"53 percent of SG field personnel also have a history of them," MacKenzie notes.

Jack dismisses this quickly, "A lot of people get headaches… what’s your point?"

Dr. MacKenzie explains, "Dr. Jackson experienced what I’d call a first break psychotic episode, which may be manifesting a full blown hebephrenic schizophrenia!"

Frasier adds, "Migraines are often one of the first signs."

Jack’s simply been hearing too many things he can’t believe and it shows, "Daniel’s a schizophrenic… and … it’s caused… by… the Stargate?"

Janet responds, "It’s the only logical explanation we have right now, Colonel."

"Well, it sounds pretty theoretical to me! Anybody think it could be stress?" he asks.

Janet looks pained as she responds, "As much as I’d like to think it’s all that it is, the evidence simply does not point that way. Daniel has paranoid delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations!"

MacKenzie adds, "Dopamine levels have increased in the left hemisphere of his brain… all of these are textbook schizophrenia."

"Alright! Let’s say the cause of this is the Stargate… a theory to which I do NOT subscribe! Why don’t we put a little sign at the base of the ramp that says ‘Gate travel may be hazardous to your health!’ I can live with that!" Jack sarcastically dismisses the assembled group’s concerns.

"So can I Sir!" Sam smiles and voices her agreement.

Hammond gets control of the meeting once again, "I can’t risk any SG officer having delusions in the middle of a crisis, therefore as we speak all outstanding SG teams are being recalled for evaluation. Then, once Doctor MacKenzie and his people have submitted their report, if he is correct… limits will be placed on the number of missions. Until then, the Stargate is closed!"

Jack begins to protest, "General!"

Hammond shuts him down, "There is NO debate, Colonel!"

"What about Daniel, Sir?" Sam asks.

MacKenzie answers, "For now, we’re going to medicate him and let him rest in one of the VIP rooms."

Janet adds, "If his symptoms persist, or he becomes a threat to himself or anyone else, we’ll have to commit him to mental health."

In the VIP room, Daniel and Jack play chess. Daniel makes a hesitant move, "Check."

Jack looks surprised, as he moves his king easily out of check.

"Oh!" Daniel comments.

"What? You didn’t see that?" Jack asks.

"Actually, I was Ohhing about something else… Checkmate… I should’ve done that two moves ago… I don’t know what I was thinking…" Daniel rambles a bit.

Jack isn’t too concerned with that, "Ya… well… you’re a little off…"

"I don’t feel "off". I feel… I feel fine! No headaches… no tension. I mean I feel… normal!" Daniel confides in his friend.

"That’s because it was just stress… and I have a very calming effect on stressed out people!" Jack offers. "How about a game of gin?"

"I’m not very good at gin!" Daniel reveals.

Now Jack seems very happy, "GOOD! Get the cards!"

Smiling, Daniel rises to get the cards from a cabinet. He stops as he hears the Gate engaging from within the cabinet. He looks back at Jack who is calmly putting away the chess pieces. Daniel approaches the doors and pulls them open, relieved to see only the inside of the cabinet. He sits back down, opposite Jack at the table, and as he looks up from writing their names on a pad of paper, he sees a writhing adult Goa’uld wrapped around Jack’s arm as Jack is obliviously shuffling the cards.

"Jack?"

"Yup!… What?"

"Nothing…" Daniel quickly states, looking down.

"You alright?"

Daniel, obviously stressed, answers, "I’m fine! How are you feeling?" He sees the Goa’uld slither up Jack’s arm and penetrate the back of his neck, causing his eyes to glow.

"Good! Real good!" Jack answers Daniel’s question.

Daniel can’t take it anymore and pounces on Jack screaming, "THERE’S A GOA’ULD IN YOU! I’VE GOT TO GET IT OUT!"

Jack pushes him away, "Daniel… get off! There’s NO Goa’uld in me!"

Daniel is shocked at what he just did, "I’m sorry! I… saw it! Saw it…" He holds his head and starts to act faint.

"Easy… easy… put your head down!" Jack commands as he helps him to the floor, and goes for the phone.

Daniel passes out, as a strange lump moves just under the skin of his right cheek.

++++++++++++end of part one++++++++++++++++

Dr. MacKenzie, an aide, and Sam, Jack and Teal’c walk into a locked room. "Don’t expect much… if he becomes agitated, call one of the aides," MacKenzie instructs.

Daniel sits on the floor of a padded white room, barefoot, dressed in a white shirt and pants, with a hospital band around his wrist. He stares blankly at the team’s feet, his look is haunted, unshaven, red eyed.

"Jack?" he asks tentatively.

"It’s us Daniel, can’t you see us?" Sam answers.

"I was just making sure you… weren’t just a figment of my ima… mind. They took away my glasses in case… I broke the lenses… and tried to… ahhh… hurt myself…" Daniel seems barely able to function.

Sam reacts in pity and sorrow.

"They treatin you OK?" Jack asks.

"Ya…" Daniel answers quickly, then drops his head in his hands and begins to sob, "I’m sorry!"

"For what?" Jack asks.

"For being such a head case!" a mixture of laughing and crying erupts as Daniel slowly disintegrates.

Sam, close to tears herself responds, "It’s not your fault, Daniel!"

"Colonel O’Neill seems to think it has something to do with the Limvris," Teal’c tries to offer some help to Daniel.

Jack adds, "Remember in that chamber, you said you felt something brush by you?"

"Yes… it was them! I know you don’t believe me… but I felt them!" Daniel jerks and reacts to some sound, "They heard me!" He crawls into a small alcove, extreme fear visible on his face, "They’re coming!"

Attempting to reassure him, Teal’c states, "Only your friends are here, Daniel Jackson."

In a very agitated tone, the stricken man continues, "I hear footsteps! Footsteps!"

Jack is losing patience and seems very frustrated, "There are no footsteps! STAY WITH US!"

Daniel begins to grimace, covers his eyes and cries out, "FOOTSTEPS!" He then covers his ears to block out the sound. He sees one of the dead Goa’uld appear next to Teal’c and laughs hysterically, pointing, "I told you… it’s one of them! He’s right there!"

"There is no one by my side, Daniel Jackson," Teal’c tells him.

"Yes there is!"

Jack signals to Sam, "Want to get the aides?" As she knocks on the door, Daniel springs for the imagined Goa’uld and Teal’c grabs him. While being held by Teal’c, Daniel sees something go out of him and penetrate Teal’c’s hand. He pulls away, backing up to a wall as two aides enter.

"Something just went inside Teal’c!" he yells urgently, pointing.

"You’re hallucinating, Daniel!" Jack tells him.

As he is forcibly pinned to the ground and restrained, he shouts, "Don’t just stand there! Get it out of him!" He reacts in pain at the strong hold on him. Daniel hears a voice as the nurse injects him with meds, "You have delivered me to the vile Goa’uld so that I may destroy it!"

"Machello!" Daniel shouts.

Doctor MacKenzie states, "OK, let’s raise the dose 5 mls at 4 hour intervals."

"Machello…" Daniel calls again, relaxing and fading into unconsciousness.

+++++++++++++

At the SGC, the three teammates are returning, Sam states, "God! I hate seeing him like that!"

"Nothin worse than losing your mind and knowing it’s happening!" Jack reacts.

Teal’c suddenly slumps over a table, they rush him to the infirmary.

++++++++++++

Daniel is lying, arm crossed, in the padded room, dreaming about Machello and when he talked of inventions to fight the Goa’uld. He wakes up and makes his way to the door, pounds on it, and calls for Doctor MacKenzie.

++++++++++++

Teal’c is doing poorly, his symbiot is dying and they don’t know why. Dr. Frasier thinks he may have a day, possibly two, left.

++++++++++++

Doctor MacKenzie enters Daniel’s room with a nurse and aides, "Doctor Jackson?"

Daniel shushes him with a finger to his lips. He sits on the floor, eyes closed, "Just… ahh… one … second!"

MacKenzie gently tells him, "Daniel, it’s time for your meds!"

Rising unsteadily to his feet, Daniel backs slowly into the padded alcove, "Uhh… I don’t need any more drugs! What I NEED is to get the ones you’ve placed into my system – out – of my system!"

"No, Daniel, you need rest," the Doctor tells him in an ‘I know best’ tone.

Daniel is still leaning heavily against the walls, obviously still quite drugged but fighting it, "I think I’ve rested enough!" He grimaces and fidgets with his hands, "Just tell me one thing, is Teal’c sick?"

As MacKenzie draws up the syringe, "Not that I’m aware of. I haven’t been to the SGC."

In frustration, Daniel slams his elbow against the wall.

"Doctor Jackson! I insist you calm yourself, otherwise I’ll have no choice but to have you restrained and further sedated!" MacKenzie orders him.

Daniel reacts fearfully to this at first, then it shifts to irritation, "Why are you so quick to jump to the conclusion that I’m crazy… I’m dangerous… and out of control? … It’s cuz I’m acting that way… aren’t I?" He waves away the Doctor once more and walks along the wall, eyes closed, "I just need to get these drugs out of my system! Doctor, look… I know you probably hear this from patients all the time… but I think I’m cured!" He tries to smile.

"You’re right, I hear it all the time, but it doesn’t work that way. You don’t get well from something like this over night." MacKenzie moves to give Daniel his injection, and as Daniel sidesteps him, the aide moves to block his escape.

"You do, if there were an alien organism inside you, making you THINK you were sick, but you weren’t!" Daniel tries to explain.

"Umm… hmmm… and you found this out… how?" MacKenzie humors him.

"Machello told me!" Daniel answers hopefully.

"Machello?" MacKenzie asks.

"He’s an alien old man we met on P3C599!" Daniel explains.

"Doctor Jackson, you haven’t had any visitors," MacKenzie dismisses this latest fantasy and moves toward him, needle ready once again.

"No!… No of course I haven’t! You see… Machello is dead!" Daniel remains looking hopeful that somehow MacKenzie will make sense of all this.

"Dead? Yet he told you there was someone inside you making you APPEAR crazy?" MacKenzie is very patronizing now, and more than ready to medicate the man.

Realizing how very bizarre he was sounding, Daniel looks at the syringe, then the aides and manages a half grin, trying so hard to sound sane in the face of all he’d said before, "That’s a good point!… I wouldn’t… ahhh… buy that if I were you either! Just do me one favor, OK? Contact the SGC… find out if Teal’c is sick and if he IS… promise me you’ll let me talk to Jack O’Neill!?"

Daniel remains backed against the wall desperately looking for at least that promise, as MacKenzie looks doubtful, but considering it.

++++++++++++++++++++

Hammond announces to Jack as he sits by Teal’c’s bedside – fiddling with a coffee cup, "Doctor MacKenzie seems to think there’s some sort of change with Doctor Jackson… he’s requesting you come out there to see him!" Jack immediately jumps up and leaves the infirmary.

++++++++++++++++++++

Daniel sits thinking, and rises immediately as Jack enters his room. He seems much improved.

Jack smiles, "Hey Daniel!"

Daniel chews his fingers a bit, nervously paces and pushes his hair behind his ear, still pacing, "You don’t… ahhh… you don’t need to walk on eggshells anymore… I’m… uhhh…. I’m better!" he smiles also.

"So I hear!" Jack states. "Ahh… it’s not that I doubt you, but why do you think it happened all of a sudden?"

"I don’t completely understand it myself, but I saw something come out of me and go into Teal’c, and I heard Machello’s voice."

Jack regards him suspiciously, "Ahh… ummm… Machello?"

Daniel again puts his finger to his nose, eyes closed, "Just… just hear me out! I’m guessing it wasn’t actually Machello, it was probably some kind of technological or organic recording that said something about delivering Machello to the vile Goa’uld. Which made me start thinking maybe I had some sort of Goa’uld killing invention inside of me! One of Machello’s inventions!"

"And that’s what made you … nuts?" Jack asks, still quite doubtful sounding.

"Since I don’t have a Goa’uld, one of the side effects of this invention is that it must make normal people feel as if they were…" Daniel searches for a word.

"Nuts?" Jack whispers.

"Schizophrenic!" Daniel corrects him. "Look, Teal’c is sick, right?"

"Right!" Jack confirms.

"Well, he DOES have a Goa’uld!" Daniel states.

+++++++++++++++++++

Daniel has returned with Jack to the SGC, Janet informs him, "Your dopamine levels are back to normal!"

He abruptly corrects her, "I am back to normal!"

In the infirmary, the team debates how Daniel’s theory could be true. Janet says all her tests show nothing foreign in Teal’c or his symbiote, but Daniel is certain it’s there… he saw it. "Look, I spent a lot of time locked up in that little room thinking about this. It makes sense!" Daniel insists.

Sam asks, "Those bodies had only been there a month, but Machello’s been dead for six months, how could he be responsible?"

Daniel reasons, "Maybe he planted those killing devices there a year ago! And the Limvris walk into their meeting.. and…"

Jack finishes, "Like a land mine!"

"Yes!" Daniel asserts.

Sam searches the computer database of all the inventions of Machello’s that were brought back to Area 51. They note many page turning devices, "That could be our land mine!" Sam comments.

Sam and Janet examine the tablet and two sample page turning devices (PTD’s) in a quarantine chamber as Jack observes from within the room and Daniel through a window above. As Sam moves one of the PTD’s over the tablet, ten slug-like organisms are released. They crawl up the gloves and penetrate the two women’s skin. Several crawl along the floor and enter Jack as well. Daniel calls the General and sounds a hazmat alarm. The base goes on alert.

They reason that as long as they remain in that room, and don’t go near anyone else, the base is secure. Janet sinks to the floor, "Since we are infected by multiple organisms, we can expect our symptoms to be rapidly acute."

Jack starts to tremble and sweat, "I apologize in advance for anything I might say or do that could possibly be construed as offensive… as I SLOWLY GO NUTS!!!!" He also sinks to the floor.

Sam, however is fine! She is apparently immune! Dr. Warner comes to the window and offers his help. Sam feels something happening to her, then four dead organisms drip out of her ear onto the floor. She looks up at Daniel, "I could have sworn I heard…"

"Machello!" Daniel finishes.

"Yes!" Sam agrees. "He said my Goa’uld captor is dead, but I don’t have a Goa’uld!"

"You did!" Daniel reminds her.

Daniel and Sam figure out that the Goa’uld killing inventions die when they detect the protein marker made by a dying Goa’uld. Sam has that marker. At Janet’s suggestion, Sam extracts her own blood, centrifuges it and quick freezes it, separating the protein components from the red blood cells, so they can be injected into others without causing rejection.

Janet is beginning to lose it, as she tries to take off her clothes, "It’s too hot! They’re trying to suffocate us!" She nearly screams at Sam, "NO! Stay away! You’re a Goa’uld!"

Sam injects both Janet and Jack with the extract, they both hear Machello and the organisms inside them leave. Daniel smiles with relief that they are now well.

Lastly, the team gathers about Teal’c who looks awful. Janet gives him the injection. He groans loudly, then says Machello’s name and the organism leaves his ear as well. His eyes brighten as he looks around at the concerned team standing about him.

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