Content Warning: violence, suggested rape

False Assumptions

"...And what is Colonel O'Neill's condition, Doctor?" General Hammond inquired.

"Well, General," said Doctor Frasier, pausing. "Physically he's in remarkably good shape considering the amount of external physical trauma that was present when we found him. There were no broken bones or internal injuries. The MRI came back clean but it's been forty-eight hours since we rescued him and he still hasn't regained consciousness. The Tok'ra who provide the information about where he was being held have strongly suggested that I not remove the Goa'uld memory device yet. In fact, they're not even sure if it is actually a memory device. I'm considering borrowing a PET scanner to check for abnormal brain activity if he doesn't awaken in the next twenty-four hours."

"General Hammond, I disagree with the Tok'ra's suggestion regarding the device that has been placed on Colonel O'Neill's temple," Teal'c said solemnly. "The device should be removed as quickly as possible and examined. Our rescue of Colonel O'Neill proceeded too easily and the resistance at Apophis' base was much lighter than it should have been with the presence of so valued a prisoner. Additionally, I find it highly suspicious that O'Neill was recovered alive even though he was taken well over a fortnight ago."

Daniel stared at his hands. "Alive, yes, Teal'c, but obviously tortured. Jack could have been tortured to death several times only to be revived by a sarcophagus."

"No sarcophagus was found at the site, is that not true, Daniel Jackson?"

"Well, yes, but..."

Whatever Daniel was about to say was interrupted by the General motioning him to silence. "You believe that Apophis allowed O'Neill to be rescued?"

"Although it is distasteful to say so, I believe that it must be considered as a possibility."

Hammond creased his forehead in thought. "If Apophis did mean for the Colonel to be rescued, it would only be because he thought that returning Colonel O'Neill would somehow hurt Earth, the SGC or both." He clearly did not want to voice his next thought. "Could it be possible that Jack has been made into a Zatarc?" Of those gathered at the table, only Teal'c would meet the General's eyes.

"Doctor, go back to the infirmary. I want further testing done, anything that you need will be provide. Additionally, I want you to go back over the initial blood work, make absolutely certain that the Colonel wasn't made into a living bomb like Cassandra was when she was brought through the Stargate. Although the first MRI was clear, take another. I want to make doubly sure that he has not been made into a host."

"I'm certain that he's not a host, General. I would have felt the Goa'uld, if there was one, when I helped rescue him," Major Samantha Carter interjected.

"All the same Major, I want to be absolutely certain."

Daniel lifted his eyes from his hands to General Hammond. "General, you sound like you consider Jack as some kind of threat. My god, he's not even conscious," he said angrily.

"Daniel," Samantha said softly, "he's just taking reasonable precautions. If the Colonel were sitting in here, he'd be recommending the same things. It's just better to be safe than sorry."

Dr. Fraiser nodded before slipping from the room. The joy of finding the Colonel alive was now being tempered by the realization that the trauma of the last two weeks wasn't over.

Awareness was returning slowly but it was preceded by the horrendous memories of the last weeks. He and his team had been lead into an ambush and taken. He almost retreated back to blessed unconsciousness rather than remember watching Apophis slowly torture his team, his friends, to death. He was so emotionally numbed by being forced to watch them being slowly and painfully killed, that when his own torture came he didn't even feel it. In fact, he would have welcomed the physical pain if it would just replace the agony of those lingering memories.

Rather than concentrate on those details, O'Neill forced his thoughts along other lines. He remembered being somewhere else. Somewhere dark and cold where he was tortured, deprived and taunted by Apophis' Jaffa with the death of his team. He remembered hearing Apophis' plan to invade Earth through a Stargate at a location made to look like the SGC. He struggled to remember all that he had overheard while his captors believed him unconscious. Although the memory of the look in Daniel's eyes when he realized that he was going to die was as fresh and vivid as if it had just happened, the memory of Apophis' plan was hazy and indistinct. A general impression that they intended to trick him into revealing Earth's defenses by placing him in a mockup of the SGC, complete with identical staff and personnel, was all that remained of those foggy memories. He started to wonder how they could duplicate the people but the thoughts were cut short by incredible, blinding pain. His mind shied away from those thoughts and concentrated on the anger and the loss. Although he hadn't yet opened his eyes, his jaw clinched perceptibly. Oh, he would make Apophis pay.

O'Neill was suddenly aware that he was no longer hanging in a damp cell. He was lying down and mostly free of pain; though he wouldn’t turn down an aspirin or two to take care of the headache that was throbbing behind his eyes. He listened but heard nothing. There was a scent of antiseptic and latex that reminded him of the infirmary. The infirmary? He opened his eyes slowly so he could get used to the light, still his eyes watered. After a couple of weeks of near darkness the dim lights seemed uncomfortably bright. He turned his head and looked around. It looked like the SGC infirmary. Had they come for him? Was this the real SGC or Apophis' set? He heard footsteps and quickly closed his eyes, feigning unconsciousness.

Janet Frasier paused in the doorway and looked at her patient. His condition didn't seem to have changed. "Colonel, it's time to wake-up now. Sam, Daniel, Teal'c, the General, they’re all worried about you. I'm worried about you. I need to be able to tell them that you're going to be all right. Come on, open your eyes," she said softly without really expecting any response. She walk to him and gently placed her hand upon his brow while checking the monitors. There was still no change. With a deep sigh she turned to go to the lab to prepare for additional testing.

As soon as her footsteps had faded, O'Neill opened his eyes. "Well, now ya know," he muttered quietly. The fake Fraiser had mentioned his team, had said they were worried about him. "Hell," he thought, a vivid memory of lifeless blue eyes staring at him in silent supplication suddenly making him feel sick. He pushed the memory back so he could deal with the present. He was stuck in the middle of Apophis' trap.

O'Neill sat up and ripped off the tape securely holding the glucose IV to the back of his hand. With a muttered curse he took out the needle and applied pressure with his thumb to stop the bleeding. He said a silent prayer of thanks to lady luck that they hadn't put in a Foley catheter; removing that himself would have hurt like a son-of-a-b... He became very still as he thought he heard someone in the hallway. He held his breath several seconds while straining to hear anything but whatever sound he had heard didn't repeat itself. "First on the list of things I gotta do, get out of this damn paper dress."

He stood slowly on shaky legs. His muscles complained and his knees sharply reminded him that neither he nor Apophis' goons had been kind to them. He told his body to stop being a wimp and straightened, putting the discomfort in the same place that he put his painful memories. Walking slowly at first but quickly gaining confidence in his ability to stay up right, he found some discarded scrubs. They would do until he could get something decent to wear. A stray thought intruded as to how Apophis could have gotten the manufacture's label correct in the nurses' scrubs, let alone totally replicate the layout of the base. The sudden pain in his head almost drove him to his knees and the thought slipped away.

Jack decided that it would be safe to go boldly where he had previously gone before and walked the halls of the SGC as if he had every right to be there. The lowered lighting levels in the hallways indicated that it was the nightshift. If Apophis followed the SGC's regular staffing pattern then the halls should be mostly empty. He saw only a few people and those that he did see paid him little attention. He made it to the locker room without incident. When he opened his locker, he caught sight of himself in the mirror that hung on the inside of the door. "What the.." he said to himself as his fingers started to explore the disc on his temple. "Damn snakeheads and their memory devices." He slipped his fingers underneath the edge to rip it off. Pain flared twice, actual and remembered.

Apophis laughed at her futile gesture while grabbing Carter's hair and pulling her head back sharply. "Perhaps I will make you a host. Then you would tell me everything I wish and make me a lovely queen." He took his hand away abruptly, causing her head to fall forward sharply. Apophis moved over to stand in front of Daniel. "Tell me where to find the Harcesis and I will let you go."

O'Neill's fingers dropped and his gaze avoided the mirror. He grabbed what he need from his locker and quickly changed into the extra pair of fatigues that he kept there. "OK, I can check the first thing off of my list and now for number two." He started methodically rummaging through the other lockers. An old gym bag was a major find and it began to fill with all matter of articles: a couple of travel clocks, wire from head phones, a cigarette lighter, tape, a screw driver, even hair spray. A flashlight and Swiss Army knife he stuffed into the pockets of his fatigues. His internal clock estimated that it was at least fifteen to twenty minutes since he left the infirmary. Pretty soon they would discover that he was missing. He couldn't risk walking the halls any longer, which only left crawling around behind the walls.

"I really hate a cliché," he murmured under his breath as he used the screwdriver to loosen the screws to the screen over the ventilation conduit. He was loosening the last screw when the klaxon began sounding. "Busted," he said, turning the screwdriver faster.

The klaxon began sounding before Hammond and the rest of SG-1 had left the debriefing room. Hurrying to the control room, they heard the declaration. "Unscheduled gate activation."

The tech on duty looked up as the door opened and saw General Hammond, followed by Major Carter, Dr. Jackson and Teal'c. "It's the Tok'ra signal, Sir."

"Open the iris."

In the gate room, the iris spiraled open and the energy field wash out in a tide of liquid power before settling in a pool enclosed by the inner ring of the Stargate. The rippling surface of the pool fell away from the familiar figure that strode into the embarkation room and down the ramp.

"Stand down," Hammond ordered the SF who guarded the 'gate.

Jacob Carter looked up at the group gathered in the Control room. "George, I just found out something that you need to know."

"Escort the General to my office. Jacob, I'll meet you there." Turning to leave he found three pair of eyes staring at him. "Come on. Maybe the Tok'ra have found out more information on what happened to Colonel O'Neill."

Jacob hugged his daughter when she entered the room then held her at arm's length. "You doing OK?" He noticed that although she gave him a tired smile, she didn't respond. He let her go to take her seat. Clearing his throat, he began. "As you know the Tok'ra have spies in the ranks of the Jaffa of most of the major system lords. A few hours ago, a spy in Apophis' retinue contacted us. He told us that Colonel O'Neill was used as a test subject for some new mind control techniques."

His declaration had the expected reaction.

"I think you had better explain, Jacob," General Hammond said sternly.

"Our operative said that Apophis was experimenting with altering the memory device so that it would implant false memories, rather than retrieve real ones. The device makes the subject experience events that never happened but are so real to the subject that he believes them and acts accordingly. When Colonel O'Neill was recovered, he was wearing a proto-type of this device."

Carter was the first to ask the question that everyone else was thinking. "Dad, do you know what false memories the Colonel was given?"

Jacob Carter nodded but it was the voice of Selmac that answered. "Colonel O'Neill was apparently given two sets of false memories. The first was of the deaths of Major Carter, Dr. Jackson and Teal'c. The second was that he was in a false but identical SGC from which Apophis intended to launch an attack on your world."

As everyone in the room digested the information, the ringing of General Hammond’s phone disturbed the silence. Disgruntled with the interruption, he answered the phone too sharply. "What!...What? ……How long ago?...Yes, thank you doctor." Hammond frowned as he hung up the phone. Looking around the room he said, "People we have a problem."

Jack loosened but did not remove the last screw. Swinging the grate up, he pushed the bag into the conduit and then shimmied in himself. The grate fell crookedly shut behind him. There was barely room for O’Neill’s shoulders as he inched his way along the conduit, pushing the bag in front of him. The conduit itself ran parallel to the wall before tapering off to run into one of the large ventilation shafts that ran vertically through the mountain. It was dark behind the walls and O’Neill was grateful for the flashlight. Once he made it to the larger vertical shaft things became much easier. The shaft had handholds wielded to the walls, probably to allow for maintenance of the compressors. It also contained bundles of wires: telephone, electrical and optical. Bracing himself between the handholds and the walls, O’Neill got out the knife. "Number three on my list of things to do today: isolate the base internally and externally."

"If Jack’s left the infirmary and believes that he’s still a captive of Apophis, then he’ll be trying to escape. We just need to cover all the exits and let him know what’s going on," Daniel reasoned.

"I do not believe it will be as simple as that Daniel Jackson," Teal’c said. "If Colonel O’Neill believes that we are dead and this base is a threat to Earth then his initial objective is not likely to be escape."

The phone rang. "What in Sam Hill! Doesn’t anyone on this base know what do not disturb means?" Hammond complained as he picked up the headset. "This had better be an emergency…..When?…Sergeant, hello, Sergeant." He hung up the phone only to pick it up again immediately, angrily punching the buttons. He slammed the headset back down. "A few minutes ago we lost feed to the internal security cameras. The telephones have also just gone dead." He reached over to the intercom and toggled it on. Nothing happened. "It appears that internal communication has been lost."

Slinging the bag over his shoulder and holding the flashlight in his teeth, O’Neill began climbing down and counting levels. At twenty-seven he threw the bag into a horizontal ventilation shaft and began crawling again.

"Well people, here’s what we’re doing. Dr. Jackson begin passing out two-way radios to all base personnel so that we can have internal communications and brief Doctor Fraiser regarding the new information regarding the implant. Teal’c, find a few Marines secure the exits and set up a guard around the armory. Major Carter, your job is to get into the computers and rescind the Colonel’s self-destruct authorizations. I will give you the codes that you need to change his access."

"General, with all due respect, shouldn’t we be trying to find Jack rather than acting like the base is under attack?" Daniel asked.

"The base is under attack, son, and I intend to take the threat seriously,"

General Hammond replied.

"I just can’t believe that Jack would do anything to hurt us or the SGC," Daniel said shaking his head.

"Daniel, if and I say if, the Colonel is behind the blackout in communications, then he isn’t attacking us, he’s attacking Apophis," Carter explained.

"Indeed, Daniel Jackson, if Colonel O’Neill acts upon his false memories then he will attempt to disable or destroy this base," Teal’c added.

Jackson nodded reluctantly. "Yes, but Sam, you and Jack both had your memories altered on P3X886 by Nem and the false memories couldn’t be sustained. You realized that something was wrong because your real memories kept intruding," Daniel continued, trying to make his point.

"But it took days before our real memories began to assert themselves. I doubt we have that long. We need to find and stop the Colonel as soon as we can, before he’s able to do anything to the base. If he does any permanent damage, he’ll never forgive himself once he gets his real memories back."

General Hammond reasserted control. "Come on people, you have your orders now hop to it. Jacob and I will be in my office. Keep me informed of your progress; and Teal’c, I know that under the circumstances Colonel O’Neill will be playing for keeps but I would hate to lose him."

"Do not fear General Hammond. Should Colonel O’Neill attempt to leave the base or attempt to obtain weapons, he will be apprehended and returned to the infirmary without significant harm."

"Good enough," Hammond nodded. "Dismissed."

Jack hadn’t considered how hard it would be to open the grates from the inside. In the end it came down to brute force. As the grate tumbled noisily to the ground, he climbed out and took as best a defensive position as he could considering he was only armed with a Swiss Army knife and a can of hair spray. No one came to investigate the clatter. He rummaged through the bag, putting several items in pockets and then stowed the bag in a corner behind the door. Easing the door slowly open, he glanced up and down the hallway before slipping out.

He ran in a half crouch toward the armory, trailing one hand along the wall. The concrete was slightly pitted giving it a rough feel to his fingertips. In several places the pits were deeper, caused by bullets that missed their targets and hit the walls during a firefight when aliens had gotten a foothold into the SGC. He remembered running along this hallway with Teal’c after he had released him from the detention cell.

O’Neill stopped and straighten, staring at the wall. He remembered running along this hallway with Teal’c. He remembered running along THIS hallway. The pain hit him so suddenly and intensely that he couldn’t prevent his knees from buckling.

A quick, hard twist and it was over. He was still cradling the body when they came for him.**

O'Neill didn't know how he ended up on the floor on his hands and knees. He got shakily to his feet, unconsciously avoiding touching the wall for support. His headache had definitely gotten worse and was getting harder to ignore. They had to be looking for him by now. His only hope was to get to the armory before they stationed guards there. He didn't really think that he was in shape to come out on top if it came to a brawl. Especially since the opposition would be armed with more than an alarm clock. He started to run as quickly as he could, wincing as pain lanced through his knees and at minor explosions that seemed to be occurring behind his eyes.

Listening for the sound of booted feet stomping down the corridor, O'Neill hurried as quickly as he could toward the armory. His caution increased as he neared his destination. His back pressed against the wall and moving quietly, he used the reflective surface of the lighter to look around the corner without exposing himself. He had been too slow. There where two armed guards stationed on either side of the door. He looked around the hallway. "Think, O'Neill, think."

The heads of both guards turned in unison and oriented up the corridor. It sounded like a muffled alarm. They looked at each other, one pointed up the hallway with his chin and the other nodded. Gun at the ready, the marine walked up the hallway and paused at the corner. Turning his head from side to side, he followed the sound. He stopped at a door and listened. The sound originated inside. Expecting a trap, he turned the knob and kicked the door open hard enough to disable anyone foolish enough to hide behind it.

The sound of the door slamming into the wall hid the sound of the door across the hallway opening behind him.

The marine that remained behind to guard the armory noticed immediately that the sound had stopped. He watched the hallway, waiting expectantly for his teammate to return. He saw him back around the corner, gun pointed threateningly back the way he had come. A hand signal indicated that he should come immediately. On alert now, he ran up the hallway only to have the butt end of the other Marine's gun catch him in the forehead as he came along side.

Tossing his purloined helmet to the floor, O'Neill bent down and checked the Marine's pulse and found it beating strongly. He was just unconscious. He grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him toward the armory. Once both Marines were hidden inside the weapons locker, O'Neill secured them with duct tape. Out of curiosity, he looked at the dog tags and recognized the name as one of a Marine that had transferred in a few days prior to his last Stargate mission. O'Neill scowled. Even if Apophis could pull off this whole charade, how could he produce a look-a-like for someone who had been at the SGC for less than a month? The pain was brief but shockingly intense.

"As you instructed and should the duplication not be exact the device shall insure that his memory will supply and correct any imperfect details."**

O'Neill straightened and scanned the weapons locker, deliberately avoiding looking at the men at his feet. He grabbed a zat and began gathering C-4, detonators and timers. Working quickly he sat about assembling the explosives.

"Unit one reporting in. All clear in area one, moving to next coordinates." The sound of the radio crackling almost made O'Neill jump out of his skin.

"Unit two reporting in. No sign of the target." He looked at the radio and around the room. "Smoke grenades, concussion grenades, a zat and an open mic, things are looking up," he said to the unconscious men as an idea began to form. "Obtain weapons and decrease the opposition; scratch off numbers four and five on my to do list."

"Are they dead?" Daniel asked hesitantly, looking at the dozen men laying on the floor before him.

Teal'c straightened from checking a body. "No, they are not. They are merely unconscious." He glanced around. "Perhaps I should have stayed with the Marines as they searched for O'Neill. It seems that they were not very effective in retrieving him." Teal'c frowned and took off back up the hallway.

O'Neill realized that if Apophis wanted to copy the SGC protocols then some guards would have remained behind in the ready room close to the gate in case of unauthorized off world activation. He stopped outside the closed door, pulled the pin on the concussion grenade, counted to three and in a coordinated movement opened the door, tossed in the grenade and shut the door. The Stargate was just a few dozen feet away but he wasn't ready for that yet. Zat at the ready, he ran up the corridor toward the elevator.

Teal'c and Daniel surveyed the damage in the ready room. Miraculously, none of the guards appeared to be seriously injured though since they were all unconscious it was a little hard to be positive.

"Why didn't I think of that," Daniel said suddenly. He opened the mic and spoke into the mouthpiece. "Jack, Jack I know that you are monitoring the communications. Listen to me, while you were held by Apophis, he manipulated!"

"Jack, Jack!" came the wanna-be Daniel's voice over the ear piece. Jack ripped it off and threw the base unit against the wall as hard as he could. His Daniel was dead. He had been the first of the team to be killed by Apophis.

**Jack hadn't seen Teal'c since they had been captured. He held on to the hope that the former First Prime had gotten away and would bring back a rescue party. As time passed, that hope began to fade but didn't entirely disappear. They had been forced to kneel before the would-be god for what seemed like hours while he ignored them and went about his business. That was fine with O'Neill but hell on his knees. The longer Apophis left them alone, the more time they had for things to change, maybe for the better. When they changed, they were not for the better.

O'Neill ran toward the elevators, slowing only to look cautiously around the corner in case a guard had remained behind. All clear, he continued. He hoped there would be no guards at the elevator on level 21; there wasn't. The way was clear all the to the mock-up of Carter's lab where he hoped to find a mock-up of her naquadah reactor. He had plans for a reactor, some C-4 and a certain Goa'uld held Stargate. O'Neill knew he wasn't as smart as SG1's second-in-command, there was no way he could have built this type of advance technology, practically from scratch at that, but if it was one thing that his time in black ops had taught him, that was how to make a bomb. Spying a slide projector he grabbed its remote, deciding to jury-rig a little insurance as well.

He was getting ready to make his exit when he heard someone in the hall. Hurriedly putting down his bundle, he moved beside the door. When it opened, he grabbed the person's arm and pulled them into the room. He followed this up with a good right hook. He didn't even pause to see who it was until they were laying on the floor. It was the Carter clone. She looked so, so real laying there that for a second he couldn't breath. It took all of his will power not to check and make sure she was all right. He really wanted to believe that this was real and his memory false but he couldn't.

O'Neill shook himself out of his dark reverie, picked up the reactor and headed back to the elevator. His headache was getting steadily worse and he briefly wondered if it would help to stop by the infirmary and take a hand full of aspirin. No time and no real reason. All the pain would stop soon enough. He stumbled briefly as a wave of dizziness hit him. By the time he had made his way back to the gateroom's level, his nose had begun to bleed. He didn't even notice.

There would be a technician in the control room. That was standard procedure. O'Neill set down his bundle and went there first. It was almost too easy to sneak in and zat the tech before any alarm was sounded. He looked at the computer and decided to try to get a message through to the real SGC. He refused to send SG1's code, that would play into

Apophis' hand, but he could let Hammond and the others know what had happened to the team. It would be kinder than letting them believe they were MIA forever. He punched up Earth's address and the chevrons began to lock, until it reached the seventh. Then the whole thing just died. O'Neill figured that Apophis had locked out Earth's address to keep him from escaping. He glanced at his watch. There was no time for another attempt.

Teal'c first noticed the small drops of blood by the elevators. He could tell by their shape and placement that who ever had left them was hurrying away from the elevator and toward the room of the Chaapa'ai. He knew it was O'Neill. He considered contacting the rest of the team but O'Neill could be listening over the communication device. Knowing that he had been discovered might lead him to acts of desperation. A desperate O'Neill might act rashly.

The gate room door was closed and would not respond to attempts to open it. The mechanism was locked from the inside. Teal’s knew that he had found his quarry. He charged his staff weapon, pointed it at the lock and released a blast. He then manually pushed the heavy door open. Staff weapon at the ready, he entered the room. O’Neill was standing at the bottom of the ramp that lead up to the Stargate, beside him was Major Carter’s reactor.

"What took you so long? The party’s ready to start." O’Neill glared at the impostor that entered the embarkation room.

Teal’c lowered the point of his weapon. "O’Neill there is much that must be explained but you should know that you are acting under a false assumption."

"And what assumption would that be?" O’Neill asked casually. "That you’re not an impostor or you’re not the enemy?"

"In fact, I am neither. That which you believe you remember is false." Teal’c looked again at what O’Neill had sitting at his feet. "Colonel O’Neill, is that not Major Carter’s naquadah reactor?"

"Well, it’s a naquadah reactor," he replied.

"O’Neill, even though you are confused, I can not allow you to cause harm to this facility."

"Disappointment, get use to it," O’Neill said, raising a zat and pointing it at the Jaffa. He motioned with the weapon for Teal’c to move back against the wall.

Teal’c stood solid as a wall. "O’Neill, you do not wish to do as you are doing."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you do not, for to do so you would be doing exactly as Apophis wishes." Teal’c considered his commander and friend carefully. "Apophis has manipulated your memories to his purposes." He took a step forward.

O’Neill raised the hand not holding the zat to show the man what he held. "No closer!"

Teal’c regarded him doubtfully, not recognizing the purpose of the object.

"Dead man’s switch," O’Neill explained. "The bomb is set to a timer but if something happens to me, I get tired or antsy or if for any reason my thumb comes off the switch…boom." He gestured again toward the wall. "I’m getting kinda antsy now but would feel a whole lot more relaxed if you would just step back toward that wall."

The two men stared at each other. Teal’c stepped back toward the wall.

Carter ran into the room. "Teal’c, the Colonel…oh, I see you found him." She skidded to a halt, seeing the zat come up to cover her; a bruise was beginning to color her jaw.

"Sir," she started, "What are you doing?"

"Aa, aa, aa," O’Neill cautioned, motioning toward the wall with the zat.

Carter moved slowly over toward Teal’c. "Sir, Apophis has modified a memory device to implant false memories. Apparently his plan was similar to Hathor’s only instead of making you think you are at the real SGC when you weren’t as Hathor attempted, Apophis is trying to make you think that you are at a false SGC when it is actually real."

The throbbing behind O’Neill’s eyes became worse and his vision began to blacken around the edges.

Daniel arrived outside the blast doors in time to hear the last part of Carter’s explanation. He glanced cautiously inside. "General Hammond, we’ve located Jack. He’s in the ‘gate room," Daniel whispered into the radio before slipping through the blast door into the embarkation room.

"Well, it looks like the gangs all here now," Jack said tightly. "Back against the wall with the rest of the..ah…impostors." He gestured toward where Carter and Teal’c stood.

Daniel glanced over at the rest of SG-1 but continued to walk slowly into the room. "Jack, you need to trust me on this but whatever you think you know, you don’t know." At his friend’s blank look, he winced. "Let me rephrase that, your memories have been messed with; nothing that you remember happening for the last seventeen days is real. Apophis modified a memory amplifier to implant false memories for you to act on and destroy the SGC."

Jack followed Daniel’s movements with the zat. With each of the doppelganger’s words the pounding in his head got more intense. "Stop right there," he said threateningly.

Daniel ignored the threat and continued to walk slowly toward the Colonel. "The Tok'ra had a spy in Apophis’ camp. He found out about the device and was able to send word to us. He said that the device supplied two sets of false memories: one of the team..us..being killed and the second that Apophis was going to use an exact duplicate of SGC to trick information out of you and then launch an attack on Earth."

Jack fired the zat and it sparked at Daniel’s feet. He quickly retargeted Carter and Teal’c as they surged forward to get to the archeologist.

Daniel looked with alarm at where the zat discharged at his feet but didn’t stop moving. "Jack if you don’t trust me then trust yourself. You’ve always had good instincts."

The pain every time something seemed wrong, the too exact duplication of schedules, people, the base, the gate dying on the seventh symbol; it all came together in a muddled mess that halfway made sense. "OK," he said as he lowered the weapon. He desperately hoped that he wasn’t just rationalizing the memories away because he wanted to believe that his team was still alive.

Jackson shook his head in surprise. "What? Just like that you believe me?"

"Hey, don’t I always listen to what you tell me," Jack replied innocently. The pain was getting to difficult to hide.

"Well," Daniel said hesitantly.

"Besides, Carter and Teal’c softened me up for you and to tell you the truth, this whole set-up stank from the very beginning. I must be getting soft not to have figured it out sooner," Jack interrupted him. He narrowed his eyes and nodded to the Major and Teal’c. "But just to make sure, you are certain that you’re not dead?"

"Pretty darn sure, Sir."

"I am positive I am alive, O’Neill."

Jack lowered the zat and struggled to stay conscious; hell, just to stay standing. "Well in that case we have a problem ‘cause in slightly less than five minutes we are all going to be really, most sincerely dead." He indicated Carter’s hijacked naquadah reactor. "Feedback loop on the energy doohickey and a C-4 detonator set on a timer. You’ll need to disarm it."

Carter hurried over to the machine and bent to investigate O’Neill’s tampering. "Sir, this is ingenious," Carter said with excitement. "The combination of the energy feedback and the triggering of the explosive could produce enough energy to start a chain reaction that could have caused the naquadah in the Stargate to explode as well. The potential energy released would be enormous."

"You can flatter me later, Major. Right now you need to disconnect the trigger and turn off the generator." He wasn’t able to stop a little of the pain from leaking out in his voice.

"Sir, are you all right?" Carter asked in concern from where she knelt by the reactor. The look on the Colonel’s face silenced her. She turned back to her task. "I could use a hand here, Sir."

"I don’t have one to spare, Carter." O’Neill held out the hand that was not holding the zat. "Dead man’s switch, you know, just in case. About four minutes now, Major. Teal’c give her a hand."

"Oh, and Daniel get down to the armory," O’Neill said through teeth clinched in pain. "I left a couple of surprises there in case this didn’t work. You just need to pull the detonator out of the C-4. There should be about fifteen minutes before the timers trigger the explosion. Oh, and be nice to the two Marines you find in there, they’ve had a bad night."

"Jack, I don’t know how to disarm an explosive," Daniel protested.

"I just told you everything you need to know, so go. Now!"

Looking down at where Sam and Teal’c were still quickly but carefully disarming Jack’s makeshift bomb, Daniel turned and took off out the door.

"Colonel O’Neill, what in blazes do you think you’re doing?" General Hammond’s voice boomed from the control room, the intercom between control room and ‘gate room being on a separate circuit than the general one for the base.

Jack looked up; things were just getting better and better. "I was attempting to save the Earth from an attack from…ah...Earth, Sir."

"Well, stand down, Colonel," Hammond ordered.

"Done, Sir, dead man’s switch deactivated, and the reactor is off-line," Carter chimed.

O’Neill glanced at his second. "Good job, Major." He looked up into the control room at the General. The pain in his head had become intolerable. "Sir, if it’s all the same to you, rather than stand down I think I’d better lay down. Permission to pass out, Sir." He didn’t wait to hear if permission had been granted.

"Colonel O’Neill’s intracranial pressure is returning to normal. His blood pressure is still very high but it’s coming down as well. I don’t believe there will be any permanent damage," Dr. Fraiser explained to General Hammond and the rest of the SG-1 team. "I think that the memory modifier was intended to cause death after a set period of time, just in case the Colonel wasn’t successful. Though I suppose it could have just been an unforeseen side effect of the device. Now that it has been removed, those effects are clearing up naturally."

"You know it’s not nice to talk about me like I’m not here," O’Neill said weakly.

As one those assembled in the infirmary turned to the man in the bed.

"How are you feeling, son?" Hammond asked.

"Truth is, Sir, I’ve got a bit of a headache but nothing a whole bottle of aspirin wouldn’t cure. Otherwise, I’m fine but curious as to why I’m here. What happened?"

Hammond looked at Doctor Frasier with concern.

"What’s the last thing that you remember, Colonel?" Fraiser asked.

O’Neill’s forehead furrowed in concentration. "That would be walking through the gate to PMS-whatever, the world that was suppose to have an abandoned Goa’uld base. Why? And why am I here? Bump my head getting spit out of the 'gate or something?"

The General patted O’Neill’s arm. "Never mind, son. When the Doctor here releases you, we’ll tell everything we know. Right now just get some rest. Even though you don’t remember it, it’s been a rough couple of weeks for you." The General started to leave but turned back to O’Neill. "And Colonel, when you’re up to it we need to update SGC security protocols."

"Yes, Sir," Jack said with a hint of confusion.

"People," Hammond nodded to those gathered and left.

"Sir, now that we know that you’re OK, I think I’ll head down to my lab. I need to have a look at my naquadah reactor."

O’Neill made a shooing motion with his hands. "I’ll see you later Major."

Carter smiled at him and left. He pretended he hadn’t noticed the bruise on her jaw.

"With your leave, I too need to retire, O’Neill," Teal’c said.

"Sure, I’m just gonna take those aspirin and take a nap anyway."

Teal’c inclined his head and left.

Dr. Fraiser looked pointedly at Jackson. He took the hint. "I’m just going to stay for a few more minutes, I swear."

Fraiser looked from one man to the other. "OK, but only a few minutes. I’ll be gone for about ten and I want to see the Colonel resting, alone, when I get back."

"Yes, ma’am," both murmured.

Satisfied that she would be obeyed, Fraiser left as well.

After they were alone, Daniel turned and looked closely at his friend. There was pain and a haunted look in Jack’s eyes, despite his smile. "So, Jack, how much do you actually remember?"

"Nothing, nada, not a thing. The whole seventeen days is a blank."

Daniel smiled in triumph. "If you don’t remember anything then how do you know you were gone for seventeen days?"

Jack smiled back. "Lucky guess?"

"Jack, are you sure you’re all right?" Daniel asked seriously.

"I’m fine." He looked down and scowled, "Or I will be as soon as I get out of this damn paper dress." Jack stared at his hands for a few seconds to guard his eyes and get his emotions under control. "Daniel, I’m glad that you’re, you know, alive."

"So you don’t remember anything that happened?" Daniel countered softly.

"That’s my story and I’m sticking to it," Jack asserted.

Daniel looked at Jack dubiously. "You sure you’re OK?"

"For crying out loud, Daniel, it’s just some bad memories and not even real ones. Nothing I don’t know how to handle."

Daniel nodded in understanding. "I had better go before Fraiser gets back but if you need to talk about those things you don’t remember. I’ll listen."

O’Neill nodded. "That’s something I will remember. Now get out of here before Doc gets back and finds a bed for you whether you need one or not."

Daniel smiled lopsidedly at the threat and left.

O’Neill watched him go. "Nothing I don’t know how to handle," he said quietly to an empty room. "That’s my story and I’m sticking to it."

End

© June 1, 2001 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

Special thanks for grammatical corrections and suggestions to my Beta reader, Denise. Any remaining errors or inaccuracies are my own. Since I couldn't get the italics to post, ** indicates memories and extra line spacings indicate changes in scene.