Colonel O'Neill sighed as he took in his surroundings.

"You know...I really hate it when we gate into a room."

"I know what you mean, Jack." Daniel answered dryly, eyeing the place with a curiosity tempered with caution. Not only had the last few years taught the enthusiastic young archeologist discretion, but gating into enclosed spaces made him especially wary. "At least there aren't any weird inventions in here to hurt us, like in Machello's lab." A shudder escaped down his spine at the memory of being in that helpless old body. It had been so close! His heart had actually stopped beating once. "If Sam hadn't picked up on what Machello said about being the only one unable to switch with me...."

Several times since they had been together as a team, SG-1 had gated into the confines of rooms, chambers, caverns, and not once had the missions proved uneventful. Within those confines they had lost everything from their minds to their bodies, visited an alternate, a past and a future Earth, and basically gotten hurt a lot. Yup. Rooms were trouble. True, many of the worlds they gated to held dangers for Earth's premier team of explorers, but being outside at least gave them some feeling of control. Rooms were built around stargates to manage traffic and give the occupant control. After all, that was why Earth's stargate was housed in a concrete and steel reinforced basement 28 floors below a mountain...

This room, though resembling none of the others they had ever gated to, still managed to evince memories of others. Looking like the inside of a huge, brightly lit but empty egg, its walls were completely seamless and smooth, the color of amber shot through with darker patches. Apart from the gate and the DHD, it appeared to contain nothing else.

"Just like a certain room where an iris popped out and grabbed me in a headlock." Jack thought as he eyed the walls suspiciously, giving them wide berth. Although smooth, they had no trouble keeping their footing on the curved surface. Sam walked over to where the wall began to slope and reached up to touch the ceiling just inches above her face. It was cold to the touch and smooth as...

"Ice!"

Her hand quickly pulled away, fingers closing over her palm as she remembered another place where she and the Colonel had nearly frozen to death at the foot of Earth's second stargate in an ice cavern in Antarctica. The memory evinced an involuntary shiver. This place made her feel very uncomfortable.

The sound of Daniel giggling pulled them from their unease. He was standing upside down, feet on the ceiling!

"Daniel?" Jack's tone was command, query and exclamation all in one. Daniel shrugged goofily.

"There's nothing to it!" He exclaimed. "It takes no more effort to walk up here than," He pointed at Jack's boots, so close his eyes nearly crossed. "down there on the floor. As a matter of fact," He closed his eyes. "in the dark, a guy couldn't tell which way was up!" He walked around, eyes tightly closed, arms outstretched to avoid bumping into the others. O'Neill grinned and shook his head as he watched the antics of his best friend, exploring with childlike zeal the uniqueness of this place. Sam watched him circumscribe the entire room, walking with assurance as if they were the well-lighted floors of the SGC.

"Huh!" She grunted, scientific observation replacing her discomfort. "Mass-specific gravity. We've been trying to figure out how to do that for decades. It would allow humans to live in space without becoming invalids! No matter where you are in here the gravity pull seems to be the same. Look!" She pulled off her cap and held it out in front of her. Slowly she let go of it and took her hand away. The cap remained motionless in midair, no point in the room exerting more pull than any other.

The Captain reached out a finger and slapped the lip of her cap. Daniel looked up from his place on the downward curve of the opposite wall and watched it flip lazily through the air, reacting like an object floating in zero gravity, until it 'fell' against the wall, above him.

She shook her head in disbelief. Daniel looked ludicrous, standing parallel to the floor and staring up at everyone. Teal'c and Jack looked at her expectantly.

"Of course, you know what this means, don't you?" Their silence said otherwise. "It means, we're probably not on a planet." She pursed her lips, a bit annoyed with their lack of understanding. "Sir, we may have gated to some kind of ship!"

"A space ship?" O'Neill asked, incredulous. He felt along the walls for a seam or some other indication of an exit from the sparse, cramped room. "Must be the economy model." He stopped at the wall where Carter's cap 'lay'. Daniel 'stood', suspended in front of him like some levitating act. Feeling the comfortable pull of gravity at his feet, he couldn't resist slowly waving his rifle under his friend.

"No strings attached, Jack!" He joked from his place on the wall. Shrugging, Jack pulled the cap away from the wall and let go. It hung there as if on an invisible hook. He nudged it in the direction of the Captain. Grinning playfully, Sam let her head intercept the cap.

" Almost feels like I'm on the space shuttle again."

"If this is a ship, it is not of Goa'uld design." Teal'c supplied. "Nor have I ever encountered a species that uses this kind of technology." He approached the wall to examine it more closely.

The intensity of light in the room, Sam realized, had diminished slightly. "No visible lighting or ventilation system. The wormhole must provide the light for this place and the walls must absorb it. Pretty soon we'll be in total darkness." She sniffed the air. It lacked the strangeness that alien air usually had. Always, no matter where they went in the galaxy, even when it was identical in composition to Earth's, the smell was always noticeably different. "I think we may have imported the atmosphere too."

"Yeah. That must be why I feel so at home here." The Colonel quipped sarcastically.

The lower light level allowed the dark patches in the amber surface to become more clearly defined. They seemed to be embedded in the wall, rather than painted on it. Realizing that the outer surface was almost a pristine amber, Jack took out his knife and scratched experimentally at it. He could not make a mark on the diamond hard material. Sam, watching him, nodded and pointed. His eyes followed her finger to a shadowy gray shape, embedded under Teal'c's feet. Teal'c was oblivious to it, hands pressed up against the curved wall, staring intently at a dark patch within. Sam approached the transfixed Jaffa.

"See something Teal'c?"

"I cannot be certain." He spoke softly. "But I believe there is a body inside the wall."

Sam's eyes widened in surprise and dismay. She stared at the man, not wanting to look, but morbid curiosity soon took over and she turned toward the wall. Burying her neck deep into her shoulders in concentration, she tried to discern some form to the smudge. Daniel righted himself and joined them.

"What have you got?" Cupping his hands around his eyes, he leaned into the wall and peered curiously at the object of their attention, seeing nothing.

"Teal'c? Captain?" Jack asked, standing beside her. "Don't know sir. Teal'c thinks that might be a body in there."

Daniel backed away from the wall as if it had pushed him. He stared open-mouthed at the immobile Jaffa, then at the dark formless smudge. On a hunch, Sam took her flashlight and pressed the lens up against the wall. Turning on the beam, she slowly traced around the dark shape. The wall quickly absorbed the light into it, making the smudge take on more contrast. It was still formless to the human's eyesight, but something did begin to stand out. She kept the beam of light focused on that spot.

"There!" Teal'c pointed excitedly. At one point in the wall the light was not being absorbed but reflected back at them. Soon it became apparent that they were looking at the highly polished sheen of a metallic ribbon device and the hand that wore it!

As one, the team backed away.

"My God!" Daniel exclaimed as he looked at the walls with new appreciation. "They're all over the place! There must be dozens of bodies in there!"

"Like insects caught in amber." Sam breathed

"Are they all Goa'ulds?" Jack wanted to know. They eyed the walls, fascination mixed with horror. They would have to examine a few more bodies to make sure. If they were all Goa'uld then this place belonged to a people SG-1 wanted to talk to, maybe ally themselves with. If not...

"Okay, people...pick a smudge." The Colonel ordered. The forms were becoming a little easier to discern, what with the lower light level and the knowledge of what they were looking at. The walls had become a grotesque fresco of twisted death. Under their feet, over their heads, everywhere they looked now, it seemed that dead bodies crowded them.

Struggling to clamp down on her almost overwhelming desire to run away from this wretched place, the Captain purposefully chose the wall furthest from the gate. Pulling in a deep breath, she picked out a dark patch level with her face. Shining her light onto it, she was shocked to see how quickly the form took shape. In short order her light reflected back to her the outline of a staff weapon and a breastplate. "I've got a Jaffa." She neither needed nor wanted to look into its face.

"Same here." Daniel muttered. "And another over here."

"Yeah, I've found a few Goa'uld tools. Teal'c, you never heard of this place? No... legend among the Jaffa...?" Jack asked. The Jaffa warrior was silent a long moment, staring up at yet another of his kind embedded in the ceiling.

"I have not." He spoke grimly.

Slowly, Sam played the flashlight beam away from yet another body to a smaller shape, slightly lower than the first. Something white reflected the light. She squinted, not recognizing the object. A white orb with a dark circle drawn over it and a black spot filling its center. Her frown of concentration quickly changed to loathing as she realized she was looking at an eyeball! It stared balefully at her out of a tangle of flesh. She backed away instinctively, hand to her throat to suppress a scream that refused to find its voice. In the now nearly dark room the eye seemed almost to glow. She moved aside and it followed her. It was just an illusion, she knew, but this place had her spooked. She wanted no part of it.

"This is not a safe place for me, O'Neill." Teal'c stated quietly. "I should leave now."

"Yeah, Teal'c, how 'bout we all go now. There's nothing here but nightmare fodder." He motioned to Daniel. "Okay, Daniel, dial us out of here." It might make a good report for the General, but since no one alive was around to talk to, O'Neill decided his team had seen enough.

Without a word, Daniel went up to the DHD and started inputting Earth's address. Jack backed toward him, flashlight aimed at the walls as if he were preparing to lay down cover fire. As the last chevron clicked into place, Sam and Teal'c finally tore their gaze away from the loathsome spectacle, welcoming the blinding light of the engaged wormhole. Sam let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding and, Teal'c at her side, approached the DHD as she keyed in the iris code. They were going to get out of here and never come back and that was just fine with her!

Suddenly, the whole room shuddered violently, throwing Jack and Sam to the floor. Daniel managed to grip the DHD and clung there, riding out the shipquake. Teal'c alone kept his footing with difficulty as the room continued its silent heaving. The floor between Sam and Jack split open and peaked suddenly, sending both officers rolling in opposite directions. Jack's roll was immediately broken at the foot of the DHD. Sam came to a stop midway up the wall at the far end of the room. She found herself staring directly into that disembodied eye. With a grunt she pushed herself away from the wall and rolled onto her feet. Crouching, breathing heavily, she faced it, hands spread in an attack stance.

"Carter!" The commanding voice of her Colonel cut through the surreality, helping her regain control. "Let's get out of this place!"

She turned and sprinted for the gate across a room that continued its wild heaving, but just as she neared the rift in the floor where she and the Colonel had parted company, a wall of clear liquid amber shot up from it, instantly encircling the entire room. Teal'c reacted quickly, putting a restraining arm in front of the Captain before she hit it. At that same instant, the shaking stopped. The four looked at each other. The new barrier effectively divided the room in two, cutting them off from the others and the Stargate!

"Carter! Teal'c!" Jack rushed up to the nearly transparent mass. He stopped short of running into the stuff, mindful of the victims inhabiting the walls around him and not wishing to join them. Tentatively, he stuck the barrel of his rifle into the liquid mass. It penetrated easily, but when he tried to retrieve it, the liquid instantly hardened around the gun, flowing up the barrel and onto the handle, gaining momentum the harder Jack pulled.

"Sir! Let go of the gun!" Sam yelled. Jack's hands flew up and he jumped away as if electrocuted. The instant he did so the amber gel stopped its forward movement. Warily he approached his weapon. It was halfway through the wall and suspended within it, neatly encased in the same solid amber like substance the walls were made of. The rest of the new barrier remained fluid. SG-1 gathered round as Jack experimentally tapped the still exposed butt of the rifle. Immediately, sap seeped from the hard material, covering what was left of the gun.

"Stand back!" Teal'c commanded darkly, readying his staff weapon

"Teal'c! Don't!" Sam cried out, but it was too late.

The energy from Teal'c's staff shot out and connected with the liquid wall, spreading through it and causing it to stiffen. Teal'c's frown deepened as he realized his error. He approached the newly hardened wall and struck it mightily with the butt end of his staff. It bounced off without leaving a mark. In desperation, he backed away and fired at it again and again.

"What are you doing Teal'c!?" Sam shouted in anger and alarm, both hands pulling on his arm but unable to restrain the big Jaffa. "The wall is just absorbing the energy from the blasts! If anything you've made it stronger!" The room had gotten so bright that she had to squeeze her eyes tightly shut. The staff blasts stopped, filling the room with silence. For several seconds Sam clung to his arm, eyes clamped shut, breathing heavily, teeth grit in frustration. What the hell was he thinking?!

"I was hoping the wall would crack or melt under extreme duress." He spoke so quietly she barely heard. It was not like Teal'c to panic, but, it dawned on her that he had done exactly that. The room had gotten to him as well. "After all, there are Jaffa in these walls..."

"It appears I was mistaken."

Sighing, she squeezed his arm and let go, her anger with him subsiding slightly. They looked around their prison. It had become bright as day with the accumulated effects of the staff energy and the still open wormhole.

Sam approached the wall again. Unlike the rest of the room, this barrier was clear as glass. "Highly unbreakable glass." She reminded herself. Eyeing the Stargate, she couldn't keep her voice from shaking.

"Sir, maybe you two should get out while you still can."

"I'm not going anywhere until I can take you two with me! Is that clear Captain?" O'Neill snapped.

"But sir!" She tried to reason with him.

"Is that clear?"

"Sir, with respect! There's nothing you can do for us here!" Her voice rose along with her panic. "Wouldn't it make more sense to ..."

"Daniel!" Jack barked, eyes not leaving his Captain's. "Go home and explain the situation. Bring help!" Daniel nodded at Sam and Teal'c.

"I'll be back soon. Hold on!" With that he turned and ran up the ramp, disappearing through the gate. Jack's eyes remained locked on Sam's.

"You're gonna be alright, Captain. You've been in worse situations." He spoke with soft assurance, the determination in his eyes a counterpoint to her fear. He knew it looked bad, especially for Teal'c. The walls seemed to have a taste for all carriers of Goa'uld, but as long as they were unharmed, as long as they were alive, there was no reason to think they couldn't cheat death yet again. Sam drew strength from her Colonel's gaze. She knew he would never have left them. He would sooner cut off his own hand than abandon a member of his team. But she had needed to hear him say everything would be alright. He had a way of making her believe even the unbelievable.

"Captain Carter!" Teal'c called out urgently. The two officers turned toward him. Teal'c was staring at the floor. The gray smudge had returned under their feet and brightened considerably. It seemed larger now. They backed away from the smudge and to everyone's dismay, it slowly followed its quarry.

"Stay away from that thing!" Jack warned. They were only too happy to comply, but there was not a lot of room to go to get out of the way and whatever was pursuing them was visibly growing. Sam was breathing through her mouth. Her head felt light. Was it panic, or had the air grown thin in here?

"Let's split up. See what it does." Without taking their eyes off the form at their feet, the pair backed away in opposite directions. It worked. The form halted its pursuit. She looked over to see where Teal'c stood. In spite of their situation, she started giggling almost hysterically. She and Teal'c were both standing at opposite ends of the little room, on the walls and parallel to the floor.

Looking up from the gray to see what had set the Captain off, Teal'c found his face just inches from hers. He swiveled his head in disbelief. Were they really standing on the walls as Daniel Jackson had done earlier? He didn't feel like he was! He caught sight of the Stargate and the Colonel pacing furiously beyond the crystal barrier. They looked askew from his perspective. He could not see the humor in the situation, however. They were walled in, with no chance of escape. They were being pursued by whatever creature ruled here, and the air seemed to be diminishing. Teal'c hoped the stargate would soon spring to life bringing help, though he doubted anything on Earth could prevent his death here. The Goa'uld were technologically more advanced than the Tau'ri and yet the walls were filled with them. He understood Captain Carter's remark about insects in amber. He too had seen hapless insects caught in the downward flow of tree sap. Rarely, if conditions were perfect, the insect would be completely covered in an instant and the sap would remain stationary until it hardened, preserving the victim's body intact. Far more often though, the substance would pull the struggling creature apart or twist it upon itself, crushing it into an unrecognizable shape. Either way, death was the only outcome.

The room was silent again. Teal'c glanced at the Captain. The young woman had stopped laughing and was staring somberly at Colonel O'Neill who was punching Earth's co-ordinates into the DHD. They watched as in quick succession the chevrons locked into place around the great rotating ring. They watched him place his hand on the activator and saw the rush of energy spew out its excess and recede back into the vortex. The prisoners stared at each other grimly. They had seen but they had not heard anything! The room, it seemed, had found yet another way to isolate its victims.

Jack paced before the crystal wall separating him from his companions. He felt like a caged animal, his nature no more allowing him to escape through the Stargate than the wall would allow the rest of his team to.

Several times he had called out to them to no avail. They could no longer hear him. He had seen Carter's lips move as she spoke, saw her convulse with laughter, but he had heard none of it. He also noticed that both they and he were having difficulty breathing.

"Sam figured the air for this place came with us through the gate. Danny must have taken most of it back with him. Great! They'll probably suffocate before we can figure out a way to get them out of there!" He pressed his fingers to his temples trying to think past the headache the lack of oxygen was aggravating. "Okay. The room seems to have cut Teal'c and Carter off from the gate on purpose. Why? Teal'c's a Jaffa, no brain strain there. The walls are full of his kind. But why Carter? Just a co-incidence? No way!" The idea was rejected as soon as it formed. The room seemed to have an intelligence. It acted with purpose. It chose its victims. Could this place sense her dead Tok'Ra? He shook his head, trying to clear it.

"Okay, first things first." He strode over to the DHD. "If I don't get some air soon I won't be any good to anybody." As he dialed, he wondered if air would be absorbed through the barrier the way light was. "Probably not." He realized. "This place isn't exactly accommodating to Goa'ulds." Hand coming down on the activator, he turned away from the blinding rush of the wormhole opening and saw his teammates staring back grimly at him, still in that ridiculous position, standing head to head on the walls. His rifle hung in midair directly in front of them. The surreality of it all reminded him of those weird paintings of melted watches hanging from dead trees and he found himself thinking that Salvador Dali would like it here...Quickly he turned away from them and concentrated on establishing radio contact with the SGC.

"The air here is almost depleted...seems to go down every time the gate opens from this end..." The sound of gasping was clearly audible over the speakers in the control room.

"Get some oxygen tanks and breathing apparatus to the gateroom right now." General Hammond ordered, turning to a soldier at attention near the door.

Without a word the man disappeared down the stairs. "Carter and Teal'c don't...have much more than 5 or...10 minutes of air...and there's...something alive in there with them...in the floor...can't...hear each other...anymore...wall's...soundproof...hurry up...okay?...O'Neill out."

General Hammond and Daniel exchanged worried glances as the radio fell silent. Below them, in the gateroom, personnel were already assembled with the materials the General had ordered added to the equipment Sargent Siler had hurriedly put together. Hammond initiated the dial-up procedure the instant the gate shut down and with a nod, released Daniel to return with the rescue team. He raced down the stairs into the gateroom, his stomach a tight knot.

"5 to 10 minutes! Hardly enough time to set up the equipment let alone get them out! And what was that about something alive being in there with them?!"

He was relieved to see that Sargent Siler was coming through with him. Daniel had seen him at work and knew he had a keen mind for problem solving, almost as keen as Sam's. He fervently hoped almost would be enough to release his friends. Because of the cramped quarters, Siler had chosen only one other technician, whom Daniel recognized as Susan Baxter, one of the few women Sam got to work with. As the gate whooshed open, she looked at him, face set in anxiety and he realized he was not the only one who risked losing friends. He reached over and squeezed her hand.

"We'll get them out of there." He spoke each word clearly, holding her eyes in his gaze. She nodded once, swallowing hard, eyes never leaving his. He smiled tightly, trying to exude confidence.

"You bet we will!" Siler added, trying to encourage his technician. He pushed their equipment ahead of them and disappeared through the gate. Susan squeezed Daniel's hand back and her face relaxed a little. Squaring her shoulders, she strode purposely forward. Daniel sighed inwardly as he kept step with her. If only he could believe that himself!

"I wonder if this is how Jack feels when he talks to me that way?" He thought just before the wormhole pulled him apart and reassembled him on the other side of the galaxy.

Teal'c watched as his friend opened the Stargate. He knew O'Neill was not leaving them, he was far too loyal and far too stubborn to even consider such a thing. Yet, as he watched him sink to his knees, gasping for what little air was left out there, Teal'c wished he would go. This place held only death. There would be no magic solution to getting out, not like the time he and O'Neill had been sent by Thor to that maze of caverns the Goa'uld were condemned to wander in 'til, tired of such a tedious existence, they surrendered their life to Thor's Hammer. He had gotten out that time because of friends who refused to abandon him and because the hammer could be destroyed by his staff weapon. He still had his friends, and he marveled at their loyalty, but no technology would breach that wall. He and the Captain would die. He, because he was Jaffa. Much as he wanted to live, he knew that he was guilty of heinous crimes committed while under Apophis' tyranny. He had resigned himself long ago to the possibility that he would one day have to forfeit his life because of that past. As for Captain Carter...He shook his head at the irony of her having to die like a vile Goa'uld simply because she had been touched by one, a Tok'Ra no less, in the course of her battle against an enemy she had in common with the builders of this place! O'Neill, on the other hand, had a choice, a way out, and he wished he would take it.

"Damn it Colonel, it's bad enough we have to die, do I have to watch you go first?! There's the door, take it!"

"He will not leave, Captain. You know this."

Sam stared at him, surprised. Had she thought that out loud? They locked eyes a moment, blue on brown and Sam was taken aback at the shock and confusion she saw in them.

Teal'c's eyes widened as he saw into Captain Carter's mind. He saw her fear of their situation even as another part of her was making scientific observations, curious about the very technology that was endangering them. He felt her admiration and shy affection for him, as well as her loathing for his larva. He sensed her frustration at watching the Colonel suffer and, something else, tightly wound around her subconscious. Something Teal'c had seen her show toward her commanding officer, yet, he doubted she even knew she felt it. But why could he suddenly sense her thoughts and feelings? Could she sense his?

A dull thud broke their gaze. Startled, they turned toward the sound to see Jack, pale and wide eyed, throwing himself at the wall, screaming soundlessly and pointing at Carter's feet. Quickly she looked down at them, shrieking in terror at what she saw. The wall had started to melt and slowly reform itself around the soles of her boots just as it had done around the gun! Thrashing wildly, she tried to pull free but she was firmly rooted, her exertions only speeding the ooze's progress. Teal'c was suddenly on the floor at her side. The panic she broadcast made him shudder.

"Captain Carter be still! Resistance makes it worse! I will untie your boots for you." Panting shallowly, Sam grabbed a hold of the shoulder strap of Teal'c's BDU, trying to regain her composure while he gingerly undid her laces, not wanting to increase the flow of amber sap that had risen to her ankles now. She turned her face away from the sickening sight in an effort to clear her head and saw to her horror that the entity they had been trying to avoid was again under Teal'c's feet. It looked much larger now and brighter as it neared the surface. "Teal'c!" She gasped a warning. An image of the creature that flowed beneath him filled Teal'c's mind. It was as if he was seeing with two pairs of eyes; his own watching his hands work, and Captain Carter's, staring at the creature at his feet. He did not understand what was happening, but now was not the time to figure it out. He steeled himself to finish his task.

"Now Captain!" He hissed as he wrapped his arms around her thighs and pulled with all his might, jumping at the same time. Sam bounced painfully on the opposite wall, her head connecting with hard amber. Teal'c rolled off her and onto his feet, landing upside-down on the ceiling directly above the spot on the floor where the creature was. Sam's hand wrenched from the movement and she gasped as she was pulled to her feet, so tightly had she been clutching Teal'c's strap. The lack of air, coupled with the pain finally proved too much, and with a low moan, she fainted, severing their mental connection.

Teal'c caught her.

There he stood, on the ceiling, upside down, the Captain cradled in his arms, his head level with Colonel O'Neill's prone figure lying on the floor against the barrier, suffocating, when all he had to do was walk out that gate. The absurdity of the whole situation struck him and he started to laugh. It was the helpless laughter of one condemned, who had managed to put death off only a moment longer. For a few seconds his whole body convulsed with pent up emotion. The laughter was soon replaced with roars of indignation and frustration with their insane situation. It was not a sensation he was accustomed to nor one that he could afford to keep up. The extra exertion was making him light headed.

Carter awoke to shaking and yelling. "Where am I? In Teal'c's arms!? Why is the Colonel lying on the ceiling?"

"Teal'c! Please! Stop!"

The Jaffa held her tightly for several seconds, gasping as he fought to regain control.

"Are you able to stand?" He asked raggedly.

"Yeah."

He held her a moment longer, then, carefully, put her 'down' on the ceiling beside him.

"Okay," She tried to think as she squinted through the brightness, at her surroundings. "We're the ones on the ceiling, the Colonels' passing out on the floor and that thing..." She searched the room for the creature. It was closing inexorably on them, getting larger and more clearly defined with each minute. "Uh...we're gonna have to get moving, Teal'c, before that...thing, or...the goo... gets us."

Suddenly a flash of brilliance blinded them both as the Stargate re-opened, flooding them with even more light. Desperately they squinted around the room, trying to spot their pursuer now made indistinguishable from the wall by the brightness. Teal'c moved constantly, rhythmically and Sam moved with him in a clumsy dance. Abruptly he stopped and she almost lost her balance. She stared wide-eyed at him, her mind suddenly picking up his rising feeling of panic. Looking down at his feet, she saw nothing through the brightness. She sensed that the floor around him had liquefied and was resetting itself around his boots. Before either could react a white tentacle shot out and snaked itself around Teal'c's neck, pulling him violently to the floor. Sam gasped, feeling Teal'c's pain, choking as if her own throat was being strangled. She fell to the floor with him, one knee sinking into the cold gel.

Yelping in fear, she threw her hands up in an effort to keep them from getting caught. The lack of air and the sensation that she was being choked to death were almost overpowering. She neither understood nor had time to figure out why she could sense Teal'c's mind, she had to act or they would both die! Squinting desperately to try to see through the brightness, she unsheathed her knife and prepared to battle the beast, an enormous tentacled creature that reflected the light like a small sun. She could hear Teal'c choking from the stranglehold it had on him but she was afraid to reach out to feel for it lest her hands become imprisoned in the amber goo. Finally she was able to make out Teal'c's face and, fighting the rising panic of two desperate minds, carefully sliced at the arm around his throat. She cut through it easily and it fell away. A thick, sickly-smelling ooze exuded from the wound, causing the oxygen-starved pair to gag, gasping for what little air there was. Teal'c was completely stuck in the floor now. More tentacles rose from it and Sam slashed savagely at them, the ooze building up on her knife, slowing its effectiveness.

"My pouch!" Teal'c's mind cried out. She slashed at several tentacles trying to enter the larvae pouch. But the more she cleared away, the more the creature seemed to produce. Swearing in frustration she threw herself on top of his stomach, covering his pouch with her body. Her left hand slipped into the floor, immobilizing it instantly. The tentacles abruptly stopped. The floor interrupted its gruesome task. Sam lay motionless in her awkward position on top of Teal'c, hardly daring to breathe lest the attack resume. She tried to suppress a whimper as she studied the tentacle standing as if frozen before her. Death-white and segmented, it reminded her of the giant tube worms that lived at the bottom of Earth's oceans. Teal'c saw it through the Captain's eyes as clearly as if his own eyes were staring at it.

"It appears to have a mouthpiece at its extremity.... This is the beast's lair and we are its dinner."

"Please, Teal'c, don't say that!"

The room shuddered again and a strange feeling overwhelmed them, a feeling of unease and uncertainty so strong that they could not mistake it as their own.

"Captain." Teal'c grunted under her weight. "I sense something." She nodded, thinking rather than expend her breath in talk.

"Me too. You think it's the creature?"

"Perhaps it is afraid." Teal'c also resorted to thought. Sam snorted.

"Of what Teal'c? We're not exactly winning here!"

"Not us, but our friends perhaps." Slowly Sam raised her head and turned toward the Stargate.

In spite of the cold caused by the liquid nitrogen, Jack's palms sweated as he pounded at the barrier with his maul. His lungs had been about to burst and he had drifted into that stage of calm acceptance that precedes death by asphyxiation when the gate opened, filling the room with the sweet breath of life and Jack's lungs greedily took in all they could hold. Unfortunately, it also brought blinding light to the room and they had been horrified at the sight that greeted them when their eyes adjusted. Teal'c lay sprawled on his back, spread eagle and literally embedded in a floor that seemed alive. Beneath him, within the floor, a creature extended tentacles over them, trying to attack his larva. Above him, Captain Carter, partly imprisoned in the floor herself, knelt over him, flailing wildly with her knife, hacking away at their attacker.

"Let's get to work, people! They don't have a lot of time!" Panic gave the Colonel renewed strength. Carter and Teal'c needed help, not sightseers. The new arrivals set to work, Sargent Siler taking command of the situation, ordering Jackson, Baxter and O'Neill around like he was their C.O. and getting no argument. He set the three up on one end of the crystal barrier. Explaining that since heat energy seemed to have set the material, perhaps the extreme cold of liquid nitrogen would suck the liquid out of it, making it brittle enough to break through. Then, without waiting to see if it would work, he set up his contingency plan as far away from them as he could. A hydro-cutting torch with a P.S.I. so powerful no material on Earth could resist it. He had used one to cut and form the trinium-titanium alloy that formed the iris on their Stargate. If this couldn't penetrate the alien barrier nothing he knew of would.

As he finished setting up, he glanced at his team. Baxter was concentrating her spray on one small section of the wall, the two men having taken up positions either side of her, throwing their backs into their work, trying to strike the wall at the same time. He let his breath out through puffed cheeks. He saw no change in the wall. Gritting his teeth he set to work with his torch. Directing the spray carefully, he focused his eyes intently, as if they alone might pierce the material. He didn't even pause when he felt the room vibrate. When he felt a palpable fear enter into him from an outside source, he allowed himself a small, ruthless smile. He instinctively knew that they were making whatever intelligence inhabiting this place uncomfortable and that, at least, was something.

Jack and Daniel paused in their attack on the barrier, sensing the extreme discomfort of the room as it quaked. They stole a glance at their trapped comrades. Teal'c's body was almost completely submerged in the pool of liquid amber. His face was turned slightly toward them, the fear in his eyes evident. Another couple of inches and his mouth and nose would be under the gel. Captain Carter lay on top of him, both legs and her left arm completely encased. Her right hand was raised, knife poised to resume their defense. A black oily slick, the creature's life-blood, covered everything, pooling around them. Severed tentacles lay motionless among the upright, living ones. She turned to stare at her would be rescuers, head bobbing weakly as she strove to keep it in the air. The black streaks of alien blood on her face contrasted sharply with her pale, oxygen-starved skin.

Susan stared at the ghastly sight, hand frozen over the handle of the spray nozzle as she watched her friend and co-worker being buried alive. The apprehension threatened to overwhelm her and she struggled to remain on her feet. For all that she was well supplied with air, she found she could not breathe, her mind not registering that she had been holding her breath just as the whole room seemed to be doing. There was no movement at all now on the other side of the barrier. The tentacles still attached to the creature beneath Teal'c stood ramrod straight and the liquid amber had stopped its ascent up their bodies. She was only dimly aware of a hissing sound as her nozzle continued to dispense dry chill toward the wall. She saw Sam's hand drop, then slowly, her head, as the lack of oxygen finally claimed her and she passed out.

"No! Sam! Come on!" She shrieked, kicking at the unyielding wall, all reason fleeing from her under the strain of what she saw and felt, both her own emotions and those the room seemed to be broadcasting. Jack also resumed his pounding, frantic now.

Daniel backed as far away from them as the small space allowed, heart in his throat. He fought back a rising panic as he tried to make sense of the scene. Why had the attack on Sam and Teal'c stopped? How were they sensing these strong emotions?

"Are the walls alive, somehow? Are we hurting them?" That hardly seemed possible. The walls appeared as intact as before they had begun their assult. What were those emotions expressing? Could he somehow find a way to communicate with whatever inhabited this place? Eyes tightly scrunched shut, hands over his ears to block out everything else, he concentrated on the emotions he barely recognized as not his own. He breathed deeply.

"Okay, these emotions, they're like... a language maybe?... These aliens, do they use emotions to communicate? Okay..let's say that's it. I'll just have to learn their language. Shouldn't be too hard, I've probably got a minute or two before it won't matter anymore!" He sighed his frustration through gritted teeth. "No!!! I can do this!" He chided himself. "Sam and Teal'c need me to try!" He made an effort to calm his anxiety as the scientist in him took control of the situation. He started his methodical examination, cataloging the emotions as if they were artifacts.

"Fear? Yes, definitely, but not because of pain...More like...trepidation. Yes! Uncertainty? Yeah, and...surprise! Oh this is good! Curiosity! They're...curious about us! Good! Good!" His eyes opened with a start. He now knew for a certainty that they were not dealing with a mindless automaton, but an intelligent being. He ran back to the barrier and stared at the two soldiers. They looked dead to him, but he had to believe they were just unconscious. At least their faces remained uncovered... Putting both hands on the wall, he called out loudly.

"Hello! I'm Daniel Jackson. We're peaceful explorers from Earth. We meant you no harm or disrespect. We wish only to free our friends." Breathing heavily, he stopped, waiting for some kind of confirmation that the room had heard him. All activity ceased when Daniel had spoken. Sargent Siler turned off his torch and looked up from the unblemished wall. Jack and Susan also turned their attention to him, spent nozzle hanging limply from the distraught woman's hand. If anyone thought him crazy, no one said so. Talking to the walls couldn't be any less effective than beating against them had been.

"Please!" Daniel implored trying his best to broadcast feelings of contrition and respect. "We're very sorry if we have done anything to offend you. We want to set things straight, but our friends are dying! Please, release them and we can talk." No response.

"Do they understand me?" Fists dug into his eyes, he concentrated again, reassessing the emotions of the room. "Do you feel it Jack?" He asked hopefully. Curiosity and surprise seemed much stronger now than the cloying fear that had threatened to smother them earlier. Daniel seized on this for his next argument.

"I sense that you are curious about us and surprised that we are trying to save what you think are Goa'uld." He spoke boldly, hoping he had made the right assumption. "We are in fact, enemies of the Goa'uld. The Jaffa was enslaved to them, but he has broken free and fights them alongside us. As for the woman, she was taken once, that's true. But the Goa'uld was put to death in her. She got it while fighting the Goa'uld. We are not your enemy. We share a common enemy."

For a moment that stretched on forever, the room was silent, awaiting an answer from whatever...whoever, held this place, but none came. Jack clenched his fists in frustration. He gazed at Sam and Teal'c, embedded in that hateful gel. Daniel had been their last hope, but now it looked like the fate of two of his best friends and team-mates was sealed. They had been through so much together, beating back enemies much stronger than they and against impossible odds. He stared at his 2IC, lying unconscious on Teal'c's chest. He remembered how he had felt the last time she nearly died because of the Tok'Ra inside her. That time, the numbness within him was held at bay by his hope that Doc. Frasier would be able to work yet another miracle. Who would save her this time? Sam had compared the dead Goa'uld to insects. Was that all these aliens thought of them? Mere insects undeserving of the slightest courtesy? For their lives to end this way seemed so... pointless!

Suddenly, the creature pulled away from its prey and approached the one who had spoken. The solid amber-like material yielded, becoming liquid with its passage. It entered the barrier with ease, flowing upward to face the human. The alien, more clearly distinguishable now, looked like a large, flattened torus. Tentacles extended from its outer ring, individually retracting and growing. The inner ring sported deadly looking spikes which opened and closed like a sphincter. Daniel imagined they might have something to do with eating. He swallowed dryly as he watched the creature extend a tentacle toward him.

"Daniel!" Jack warned.

"Jack! I think it just wants to talk to me." Hesitantly, he reached out to the proffered tentacle and touched it, hoping he was right. Immediately the emotions they had been nearly overwhelmed with earlier disappeared to be replaced with one only.

"We are the PESS."

The four jumped at the sound of a voice in their heads. The alien was speaking to them through Daniel! It spoke with authority.

"Wh...well, we are..." Daniel stuttered.

"Human. We know. Your kind are common Goa'uld hosts." The creature interrupted coolly. "You are oxygen breathers. We have no desire to be allied with such species. You are unauthorized visitors to our world. The criminals will be given an opportunity to prove whether these allegations you make concerning them are true. However, they are Goa'uld and as such will be judged under PESS law. You are not Goa'uld. You will be permitted to return to your home."

The Stargate activated, chevrons locking into place as the PESS continued.

"If you return here, you will be judged as hostiles and dealt with severely!"

"Excuse me!" Daniel cried out desperately. "Our friends are innocent of any crimes against your people! Couldn't you just free them? We give you our word that we'll never bother you again!" The liquid under Teal'c and Sam resumed its ascent, covering their inert bodies completely in seconds, burying them so completely that they disappeared from sight.

"No!" Jack slammed into the barrier, pounding the walls in grief and rage. "No! No! No! You can't do this!" The spinning ring on the Stargate slowed to a stop to allow the last chevron for Earth to engage.

"No! Please! This is wrong! This is all just a misunderstanding!" Daniel pleaded. The wormhole roared open, its light isolating each of them in blindness. With a loud WHOOSH!, the room decompressed, sucking the air and all their equipment through the Stargate.

"You will leave this place now." The PESS spoke into the dazed humans minds, brooking no argument. "Or you will die from lack of breathable atmosphere. It is your choice. Either way, we will speak with your kind no more."

Siler gasped as he fought against the force of decompression and the lack of air. He keyed in the iris code, hoping to avoid being crushed against the gate shielding the way his equipment must have. He reached for the crumpled body of his technician, pulling the grief stricken woman to her feet, helping her toward the wormhole and home. Jack and Daniel followed, too weak from shock and distress to resist either the alien's will or the pull of the gate.

"Jaffa! Awaken!"

A voice commanding immediate obedience shook his mind into consciousness. Teal'c 'awoke'. Not his body, it was solidly encased in its amber prison. He could neither see, hear nor feel. He could not feel his lungs breathing or even his heart beating. He supposed he must be dead and whatever force actually did rule as God in the universe wanted to have a word with him before sending him to...wherever dead people were sent.

"We are not this "God" of whom you think." The voice answered, bemused.

"Nor are you dead...Yet... There is enough atmosphere to keep the cells of your body alive for ten minutes as you measure time. You have been brought to this place to be interrogated to see whether the innocent's claims about you and the female Goa'uld are true." "The innocents?"

"Those who accompanied you through the Stargate. They claim that you, a Jaffa, are not in service to the Goa'uld, but fight them instead."

"That is just so." Teal'c stated firmly, a glimmer of hope rising that they may yet escape death.

"The woman. She is here also?" He asked, no longer able to sense her mind. "She is."

"Her name is Captain Carter and she is not a Goa'uld!"

"Not so! The stench of Goa'uld is in her! We sense its thoughts, but it refuses to speak with us. That is why we speak to her slave."

"I am no one's slave! Captain Carter is not a Goa'uld. She fights them as I do. Once, during battle, she was taken by one, but it was later executed. You sensed it's presence because it was not removed from her body but absorbed by it. You cannot speak to it because it is dead. Only it's memories remain buried in the Captain's mind."

For a fleeting moment, Teal'c felt a shiver of emotions coming from the alien's mind. Surprise and malice. He had just confirmed what the evidence had suggested. In a flash of insight, Teal'c understood that the aliens had been using emotions on them as a tool, probably since their arrival through the Stargate. That would explain the discomfort all of them had felt. It would also explain why he had panicked, expediting their capture. So, he was not becoming a feeble-minded coward after all! Relief mixed with anger at having been manipulated.

Now, like the warrior that he was, he 'stood', mentally, against his enemy. Seizing the opportunity created by their hesitation, he thrust forward with a weapon he had seen Daniel Jackson use most effectively. He would reason with them.

"Tell me, has it ever been your experience in your dealings with the Goa'uld that a master would try to save a slave, as Captain Carter tried to save me?"

No response.

"Had you ever before witnessed such dedication to a Goa'uld as that shown by the ones you called the innocents?"

Confusion, unease! The enemy appeared to be in retreat!

"Did it never occur to you that the host is an unwilling victim of the parasite that inhabits it?" Teal'c allowed anger and bitterness to color his last thought. He would use the alien's own weapon against them. "Or that they could be so noble that they would willingly risk so much, even being taken by the Goa'uld, to protect those unable protect themselves? The woman you hold prisoner was taken while saving a village from Goa'uld slaughter. That village was not even on her world." Deep affection and respect nearly overwhelmed him as he tried to broadcast those feelings into the aliens. It seemed to work. What was that? A twinge of guilt, of self-reproach? Parry! Thrust! Advance! The tables had turned! The interrogated had become the interrogator. Teal'c kept a tight rein on his thoughts lest the exhilaration of this formidable type of warfare cause him to lose concentration.

"Did you ever once stop to consider that you are not the only ones to have suffered because of the Goa'uld; that others also fight them?" He reprimanded as a father would an errant child. He sensed their disarray. At that moment he knew he had them!

"Enough!" It was less a command than a plea. Then he felt it. A deep weary sadness and remorse so strong it could not have emanated from but one mind!

"We are satisfied that you pose no threat to us. You may return to your people in peace."

Hesitation, discomfort.

"However, the woman...must remain."

"Why!"

"We sense a great affinity for the Goa'uld. She loves the one named Lantesh. Her father is host to one. Her loyalty appears to lie with them. What is more, she is violent. She attacked the interrogator. She is Goa'uld."

Uh oh! Things just got a lot more complicated. The aliens must have sensed the memories of Captain Carter's dead symbiote. Teal'c had hoped to skip the subject of the Tok'Ra entirely. He had no idea how much time they had before life support would fail, but it was certainly insufficient to explain the concept of good Goa'ulds fighting bad ones. Even the humans had not accepted Jolinar's innocence until she had been forced to give up her life for the Captain. He would have to try a different approach.

"If you are referring to the creature that tried to strangle me, she did not attack first, it did. She only acted in my defense. I do not believe the Captain would purposely refuse to speak with you. Her weakened condition may be the cause. You should let me try to communicate with her."

No response.

"If Captain Carter is to die despite her innocence, may I at least be permitted to explain the reason to her?"

Hesitation.

"Or would you deny her that dignity?"

Somewhat abashed, the PESS conceded to the alien's wish. Never had they encountered such noble-minded oxygen breathers as these who had come to them through the gate! This one did not posses telepathic ability. They had had to awaken the larva within him and speak to him through it. His mind was not even particularly advanced as species go, but his reasoning and instincts showed potential, as evidenced by his use of emotions to convince his audience. This situation was without precedent! They never considered that the oxygen breathers would be unwilling hosts just as they had almost become. If the woman did not possess telepathic ability, if her Goa'uld was dead; if she indeed, fought the Goa'uld as they did, how could the PESS presume to judge her fairly?! Yet, the Goa'uld presence was strong within her. She was an enigma. It was as if hundreds of different minds inhabited one body. It had been confusing and frightening to try to communicate. All the minds were talking at once about any number of things, in many different tongues, but refused to acknowledge the PESS at all. They had interpreted it as a strange manifestation of Goa'uld arrogance. Now, they were not so sure.

The PESS had encountered the Goa'uld centuries ago. Disgusting parasites with a maniacal lust for power. Both possessed telepathic ability to varying degrees, but the PESS could manipulate emotions. How the Goa'uld coveted that ability! With it they could subdue whole populaces, turning them into willing slaves with a mere thought! But, the Goa'uld, unable to overpower the PESS, were driven away by the very emotions they sought to exploit. Later they returned to destroy what they could not possess. With difficulty, the PESS and their allies defeated them. They then set out to insure that no Goa'uld or any other dangerous species would ever threaten them again.

Thus, the holding pods. These had been placed in orbit around the planets of the PESS and of their allies. They were a technological marvel! A joint effort by all the allied worlds. They contained a form of gravity that was mass-specific or the same wherever an alien happened to place itself. The stargates had been imported from uninhabitable worlds and outfitted with a device that brought atmosphere in through incoming wormholes and flushed it out through outgoing. All had been designed to make visitors as comfortable as possible during the assessment period. Anyone attempting to gate to an allied world without the proper authorization codes would automatically be shunted to a holding pod for assessment. The Goa'uld were usually dispatched immediately, their judgement having been rendered long ago, but this unlikely group had intrigued them. They did not exhibit the usual Goa'uld/slave behavior.

They had had difficulty communicating with them from the beginning. The woman had attacked the interrogator when it tried to reach the Jaffa's larva to establish a mind link. It was only after the damage had been done, when the one named Daniel Jackson had spoken, revealing that he understood the message of the emotions, that the injured interrogator was able to touch his mind. Theirs was a hardy species and it had not been severely injured, thankfully, but justice would have to be served nevertheless. Hopefully this Jaffa would be able to establish a mind link for them and they would make sense of her gibberish.

Teal'c cast about, trying to sense the mind of his friend. Fear rose in his gorge when he could not find her.

"Where is she?! I cannot sense her presence!" Unable to not project his panic.

"A moment please." A calm thought reassured him. "The interrogator is linking you to her." Teal'c's mind fell lightly into the Jaffa meditative state of Kel-No-Reem in an attempt to ready himself. He also hoped it would give him clarity to know what to say to convince the aliens that she was not a threat. He had no idea how much time remained before life support would fail, but he could not afford the luxury of worrying about it now.

"Jaffa! You must convince the humans to let me go!" The authoritative voice of the Tok'Ra Jolinar sprang into Teal'c's brain, startling him out of his meditation. He opened himself to the voice and was taken aback at what he experienced. Carter's mind was crowded with the thoughts of countless minds, not only her own and Jolinar's, but of all the hosts the Tok'Ra had ever inhabited! He felt like he had been plunked down in the middle of a busy marketplace with several voices crying out for his attention at once. Strange, he had not experienced this earlier when they were first imprisoned in the holding pod and the Captain's mind had been opened to him. Perhaps other minds held sway when she was not conscious.

Teal'c was awestruck.

"Something of the host does survive, even after death!...Is this what her dreams are now? No longer her own, but other's experiences?" It was very confusing and he wondered that the Captain could keep her sanity under such conditions. As he listened, he began to catch snatches of conversations he had had with the Captain since they had come to know each other.

"A wake is like a big party, supposed to give the departed a jolly send-off ."

"I hate to break it to you, Teal'c, but you are male."

"Do you know anything about quantum gravity?"

They were old thoughts, having no bearing on their present situation, but at least they were Captain Carter's. Mentally he headed off in their direction in the hopes of awakening her, fighting against the current of strange thoughts that surged against him as if to slow his progress.

"Captain Carter!"

"Not all Goa'uld are the same. There are those who oppose the system lords and their ways."

Teal'c hesitated. Jolinar's voice rose above the din of minds. He could almost feel her presence, see her speaking to him through Captain Carter's eyes and the bars of her prison back at the SGC.

"You must have heard of the Tok'Ra." Teal'c tried to dodge the Tok'Ra mind. She followed him relentlessly, as if trying to prevent him from reaching the Captain.

"The Tok'Ra are real, no matter what Apophis has told you." He tried to concentrate on the sound of Carter's thoughts.

"Teal'c! Apophis is more valuable to us alive than dead!"

"Captain Carter!"

"I...talk to my plants, 'kay?"

"I am Jolinar of Malkshur."

"Samantha!"

"I think we're in some sort of virtual reality world created by our own minds."

"Samantha Carter! Wake up! Please."

"Jaffa!"

"Teal'c!"

Suddenly he realized that Jolinar was preventing him from gaining access to the Captain's mind. It was one of the Goa'uld abilities Carter now shared with Teal'c since Jolinar's death. It had prevented the Gamekeeper from accessing their memories to use for the entertainment of the inmates of his virtual reality world. That must be why the PESS had not been able to communicate with her. He must be close now, because the resistance seemed to be building even as Carter's thoughts seemed to be getting stronger.

"I am Jolinar of Malkshur."

"Teal'c!?"

"You must have heard of the Tok'Ra."

"Teal'c!?"

"Teal'c!?" Sam felt like she was drowning! Her own thoughts submerged beneath the suffocating weight of hundreds of memories belonging to strangers she knew intimately. Part of her wanted to retreat back into the painless depths of non-existence, where the voices could not penetrate, where no nagging sense of duty, regret or loss weighed upon her. But a greater part of her rebelled at the thought of quitting. Her mind 'looked up' in curiosity. Two voices stood out in the cacophony. One was the familiar voice of her dead symbiote, the other, the vibrant, living mind of Teal'c. Jaffa and Tok'Ra seemed to be locked in a pushing match.

"I can provide the humans with information..."

"Samantha!"

"Teal'c?!"

"Jaffa!"

"Samantha Carter!"

She could hear his thoughts again. He was calling out to her, trying to force his mind away from Jolinar's aggressive hold on him. Giving her mind a shake, Sam strove to breach the surface of consciousness, reasserting her own will and dismissing all the other voices. They obediently fled into whatever recesses of the Captain's mind they slept in while she was awake.

"Jaffa! You must convince the humans to let me go!."

"Teal'c!" Sam called out loudly, forcing Jolinar to finally retreat. "Samantha!" Finally!

"What happened Teal'c? Where are we?" For a moment, Sam wondered if she was dead.

"Not dead, Samantha." Teal'c assured her. "The PESS are interrogating us to see whether we are Goa'uld."

"Oh." She 'looked' around, trying to sense the presence of another mind. She could only sense Teal'c. "How are we doing so far?" "They have already decided to exempt me from punishment, however, Jolinar was preventing them from communicating with you. They believe you are Goa'uld."

"I see."

She suddenly felt very cold as Teal'c's words sank in. She would be put to death unless she could convince them otherwise.

"Okay,... they must see that Jolinar is dead, surely, if they can read minds..."

"Jolinar almost seemed alive as she resisted me. It was as if she was trying to protect you. I do not believe the PESS were aware that you were unconscious. What is more, they know about your father. They believe that you sympathize with the Goa'uld. They do not seem to be aware that the Tok'Ra fight the Goa'uld."

"But...Now that I'm awake, they'll let me explain, ... right? Hello!?... You hearing any of this?" She 'called' out in the hopes the PESS were eavesdropping on their conversation. "My father and I are like Teal'c here. We fight the Goa'uld. We travel around the galaxy looking for allies in our fight...We'd like to get to know you. Maybe we could work together to defeat the Goa'uld."

"They also accuse you of attacking and injuring the one they call the interrogator."

"Uh...well...It attacked first..."

"It was attempting to link minds with us."

"Oh!...sorry...But I couldn't have known that." In an aside to Teal'c she thought;

"That choke hold on your throat didn't feel like an attempt at conversation to me!"

"I agree."

For some reason, Sam felt like she had to yell. "Look, I'm really...really...sorry about attacking you, but where I come from, what you did would be considered an act of aggression. We're trained to defend ourselves." She was beginning to feel exasperated with their silence. Couldn't they say something? Anything, to let her know they at least acknowledged her existence?

"Maybe you've heard of some of the species we've met in our fight against the Goa'uld. The Nox, for example. Or...the Asgard?" She asked hopefully. " They are allies with the species who made the Stargates. The Asgard seem to think we have a lot of potential." Sam sensed Teal'c nod in agreement.

"We know the Asgard." A new voice formed in her head. It carried the weight of authority and Sam's mind instinctively 'stood' at attention in its presence. The PESS noted her reaction. None of the arrogance they had earlier sensed from her Goa'uld was evident.

"The Asgard have been, in our opinion, very generous with their judgement of your...potential." Their dry response left Sam feeling somewhat humbled. Her mind was exhausted and she could think of no answer.

Several minutes, an eternity, ticked by with no further word from their keepers.

Sam felt it first, of course. She did not have a living Goa'uld within her to help her through physically difficult situations. Life support for her had run out and if the PESS didn't make a decision very soon, she would not survive. Teal'c felt the life of his friend slipping away while they waited on the pleasure of the alien court.

"What is taking them so long?!" They had so easily declared him to be free from guilt. "Why can they not see Samantha's innocence?"

"S'okay Teal'c." Sam 'smiled', too exhausted to fight anymore. "I knew the job was dangerous when I took it. You go. Tell the Tok'ra not to come here. Tell the Colonel that..."

"Samantha!"

A feeling of deep melancholy enveloped the Jaffa.

"You've been a good friend, Teal'c. ' glad I got the chance to know you."

"Samantha!"

"The Ashrack comes! I sense his presence."

"I am so afraid! My friends have abandoned me! I don't want to die!"

"Nor do I!... Please understand that I am truly sorry, Samantha! It was never my intention to harm you. I will do all that I can to protect you."

"I know that now. I don't understand it, but I know you're not like the others. I'm sorry too. You're a good...person...You deserve better. You deserve to live."

"We are very much alike, you and I. We could have become good friends..."

"Tell them I died with hope." Jolinar's strong voice suddenly reasserted itself now that Sam was no longer conscious to resist her.

"My death only feeds the fire that burns strong within the Tok'Ra!"

Teal'c reeled at the words of another noble creature who had been forced to die needlessly, because of fear. The humans had been slow to accept the Tok'Ra. Their loathing for everything having to do with the Goa'uld had closed their minds. It had taken a lot for Samantha and himself to convince them that Jolinar was, in effect, good. He received a mental image of the Ashrack as he was about to execute the Tok'Ra within the Captain. He had experienced the exchange between the woman and the symbiote, Jolinar's regret at endangering Samantha and the woman's brave reply. He also sensed the exquisite pain, both physical and emotional, that the Harekash device had caused the two. Jolinar had known she would die that day, yet she had managed to save the Captain's life somehow. Now, it seemed, she was still trying to protect her. If he were in control of his body, he would have wept. Neither the living nor the dead could help the Captain now. Teal'c had been granted freedom, apparently, but he had lost interest in it. Of the two, he knew who deserved the sentence of death, and if she died, better to die with her. He could not live with himself if he survived this ordeal alone.

He had learned much from these people, these Tau'ri. Loyalty toward teammates was not considered a quality among the Jaffa. Among the Tau'ri, stubborn loyalty was a strength, commonly observed. No one got left behind, from the highest ranking officer to the lowly new recruit. At first Teal'c had inwardly questioned the wisdom of such an ideal. He had seen missions jeopardized and lives lost to uphold it. Yet now, he believed and lived it like it had always been a part of him.

The PESS also grieved.

They had been presumptuous! Because the hated Goa'uld had come to them in human bodies, they simply assumed that the humans were like their conquerors; arrogant and power-mad. They had concluded that such were the traits of oxygen-breathers. They had considered themselves noble and magnanimous in their treatment species not infested with a Goa'uld, by merely sending them on their way, unharmed. Never before today had they encountered a non-infested human.

But, what of the hosts?

Never had they been shown mercy, suffering the same fate as the parasite that governed them. Through the mind link, they had watched, transfixed, as the Jaffa, the human and even the remnant memories of the dead Goa'uld, showed qualities they thought their kind alone possessed. Their obvious innocence had put the PESS on trial and they felt the full weight of their guilt. They did not like this feeling, and wanted even less to do with these strange creatures. Just what to do with them had been the subject of considerable debate among the member species. In the end, it was the the fraility of the human that precipitated the Council's judgement. She would likely die if not immediately released and, given the evidence, they did not have grounds to execute her. They agreed instead on another way...

"We have come to the conclusion that neither of you constitute a threat to the alliance." The PESS mind informed him. "You will be returned to your world."

Teal'c felt almost giddy with relief. "Thank you!"

"However!"

The Jaffa felt the full force of the PESS mind bear down on him, as if a very large hand was about to crush him as one would an insect. He felt cowed as he realized that, intellectually speaking, he probably was little more than an insect to them. How could he have presumed to do battle against such a mind?

"We have decided that you are not welcome on any of the worlds of the Alliance." In an instant Teal'c received an image of 117 gate addresses. "On your return to your world, see to it that these addresses are stricken from your records. Inform your Tok'Ra allies. We are not yet ready to have dealings with your kind. You are too violent for our liking." The mind softened its intimidating grip suddenly. "That being said, we have seen a few good things in you. You kind does have potential. Perhaps one day, we will have enough in common to be allies."

Teal'c sensed a change, suddenly. An awareness of his surroundings. He felt the weight of his own body again and of that of the Captain, still lying on top of him. He opened his eyes and was relieved to see that they were back in the holding pod, the Stargate's chevrons locking onto Earth's co-ordinates.

"Wait!" Teal'c exclaimed. "We also have a means of preventing undesirables from entering our world. We must enter a sound frequency that identifies us as friends, otherwise we will disintegrate upon arrival."

"Do so now, Jaffa."

Teal'c moved stiffly as he groped for Captain Carter's left arm. It was lying near his face where it had been immobilized in the amber gel. The amber was gone now, replaced with a thin sheen of vapor which he intuitively knew to be what was left of their life support. He grasped her still hand. It was far too cold...Pulling weakly at her sleeve, he exposed the GDO and keyed in the seven digit code that would grant them access home. He felt their bodies being lifted from the floor and approach the gate. Then, without another word from their captors, the pair were whisked away.

Daniel lay against the wall, right arm hugging his body tightly. His left arm rested upon it as he chewed on what little thumb nail he had left. Jack stood beside him, his hands tight fists inside his pockets. His face, at first a study in worry, had taken on that deadly emptiness Daniel remembered from when they had first met. He was taking this hard. Jack, who never left anyone behind, had walked out on two of his people!

"No! Not walked out! We weren't given a choice!...As if Jack'll ever see it that way."

Silar and Baxter remained in the room also, keeping vigil along with the others. It had been over ten minutes since they had been unceremoniously dumped onto the ramp of the SGC, and hope that their friends would be pronounced innocent and released was getting harder to hold onto. Would the PESS be able to keep two oxygen breathers alive all this time? Doctor Frasier stood against the wall near her staff, revival equipment at the ready. The brain could survive for a few minutes without breathing, in a healthy body, but unless exceptional measures had been taken by the aliens...

Suddenly the Stargate hummed to life. All in the gateroom stood in rigid expectancy as the last chevrons locked into place and the energy vortex slammed against the hastily closed iris. General Hammond looked up at the control room, awaiting confirmation that an access code had been sent.

"Receiving SG-1's signal now!"

"Open the iris!" He called excitedly. Janet and her team pulled up at the base of the ramp, ready for casualties. The SF troops took up positions along the sides, ready for worse. Without realizing it, Baxter had wound her arms around Sargent Silar, eyes glued to the shimmering portal.

A bundle of flesh tumbled out of the gate. The two bodies disentangled in their roll down the ramp. Janet was at Teal'c's side before he had stopped completely. He lay on his back, eyes and mouth opened wide. He sucked in the air that threatened to drown his collapsed lungs, unwilling to exhale lest that sweet, searing agony of relief be denied him. Assured that Teal'c would recover, Janet moved quickly to Sam. She lay motionless on her back on the ramp. "Oxygen!" She barked, feeling for but not getting a pulse. Sam's skin was ice-cold and dry. Instantly a medic hovered near, placing an oxygen mask over the Captain's face. Janet massaged her heart.

"Come on, Sam! Come on!" She repeated rhythmically as she bore down on her chest.

Sam's body heaved mightily as heart and lungs so long inactive, were being forced back to work. The pain was indescribable!

"I'm being executed!" She thought grimly, steeling herself against the agony, determined to face it with whatever dignity she could muster. Dimly, she realized that she could no longer sense Teal'c, and she hoped he had gotten away safely.

As the pain increased, she became aware of her own body again. It was on fire and it felt like her chest would explode. She felt a pushing, like someone or something was trying to keep that from happening. She became aware of voices and noises that didn't seem to be inside her mind, but outside. Her executioners were granting her her senses!

"They want me to suffer! Oh God! I don't want to suffer! I don't want to die!"

The pain built to unbearable proportions, to finally crescendo in a wave of relief just as intense. She nearly choked on all the air! She was breathing again! She frowned. It didn't seem like the right outcome for an execution...With effort, she opened her eyes, blinking several times in surprise as the face of the Doctor swam into view. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came.

"Don't try to talk, Captain, just breath." Janet smiled reassuringly at her.

"You're back in the SGC. They let you go." Sam looked around the gateroom and saw the relief etched on the faces of her friends. She saw Teal'c slowly rise to a kneeling position beside her, his usually unreadable expression now open to her. He took her hand in his. She smiled weakly up at him, then exhaustion overtook her and she fell asleep.

"It was never my intention to harm you. I will do all that I can to protect you."

"We are very much alike, you and I. We could have become good friends..."

"You have become a better friend than you will know, Jolinar of Malkshur."

Captain Samantha Carter was DOA at the SGC.

It had taken a lot out of her. She had slept for 15 hours straight while her oxygen depleted body repaired itself. Her mind, however, in order to escape the nightmares, had awoken long before and she let Jolinar resurface to keep her company.

"Jolinar almost seemed alive as she resisted me. It was as if she was trying to protect you."

Sam remembered Teal'c's words. It was as if Jolinar was alive, on some level. Not really alive, she never said anything new, but still, her memories seemed so ...in touch with the moment. She didn't doubt for an instant that some biological mechanism left by Jolinar had tried to protect her from what she would have considered a threat. It wasn't like Sam Carter the scientist, to believe the symbiote could still be alive. And yet...

Sam opened her eyes to find that she was in the infirmary. Jack's face came into view. Grinning at seeing his Captain finally awake, he took her hand in his and gently kissed it.

"Welcome back, Sam. 'Thought we'd lost you for good this time."

"Hey! I'm SG-1." She whispered, voice weak from disuse. "We're surprisingly hard to kill."

"We are at that, Captain." Jack answered softly. "...See, I told you everything was gonna be alright!"

"So you did, Sir. I never doubted you." She grinned her lie.

He remained a while longer by her side, not saying much, just happy that she was alive. He had certainly doubted they would make it this time. Teal'c had debriefed them on what had happened and he knew that he owed the Jaffa a debt. Looking down at her delicate features, her clear blue eyes and that endearing smile, he knew he would have grieved more for her than for any other soldier who had ever died under his command. Presently he sighed. Daniel, Susan, and the others were waiting their turns to see her and Doc Frasier had given strict orders that they were not to stay too long. Giving her hand a final squeeze, he promised.

"I'll come around later, when we can talk more."

"Sure, OK. I'm not going anywhere." She answered, somewhat confused by her CO's demeanor.

"He must have been pretty scared." She thought to herself. It gave her a strange feeling of pleasure.

Sam awoke, aware of his presence. All the others had come to visit, but she had seen no sign of him.

"Probably off briefing the General."

Teal'c was here, now and they were alone. He looked down at his friend's face. She grinned up at him.

"How are you feeling, Captain?"

"Oh, so it's Captain again is it?" She teased. Their privacy allowed him to break into a grin and he chuckled openly. Then he sobered.

"It was an unforgettable experience, being inside your mind... Samantha." He stumbled on the use of her given name. In his culture, such familiarity was reserved only for women you knew intimately. During their link, he had come to know this woman better even than his own wife. The affection this had evoked in him was nothing like his love for Drey'ac. It was different. Perhaps she had become like a sister to him, in addition to a fellow soldier and friend. At any rate, he took to thinking of her as Samantha now, though he would still refrain from speaking her name in public.

"I know what you mean." Sam answered fervently. " I think I learned a lot about you too." She had sensed an incredible mind in the quiet Jaffa. His intuition and abilities had impressed her. She remembered, too, his anguish when he thought she would be put to death. Felt his desire to not abandon her, to die by her side and understood how deeply he cared for his friends. They may not have been able to establish friendly relations with a powerful new ally, but for these two soldiers, something truly special had happened. They had bonded in a way no one else on the team could fathom. As they gazed at each other, openly, at ease, Sam felt a connection not unlike what she had experienced briefly with Jolinar, during the interminable hours of their incarceration together, when both had finally put aside their fear and distrust of each other. She had only Jolinar's memories to remind her of the friend she could have had. Teal'c was here and alive and she knew that things would be different between them, better. She sighed happily. The job was dangerous! But the rewards more than made up for the danger. They were SG-1! They were surprisingly hard to kill!

With friends like these, Sam Carter felt as if she would never have to be afraid of anything, ever again.

© September 19,1999 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.