All right guys, get ready for another long (but good--I hope) part!
The Queen’s Best Part Four
Rated: PG
A bright, blinding light pierced MacGyver’s eyes as he regained consciousness. Groaning, he squinted and tried to turn away from it.
“You have the same photosensitivity as your cousin, I see,” a voice said behind the light.
Mercifully, the light went off and MacGyver opened his eyes fully. After the spots of light faded from his vision, he saw a woman standing over him, smiling.
“It’s okay, MacGyver,” she said. “You’re in the SGC. It’s Dr. Frasier.”
He began to recognize her and smiled faintly in return. “Doc,” he said weakly.
“How are you feeling?”
“Groggy,” he said. “A little sore.”
“Well, that’s understandable. You’ve been through a great deal.”
“Jack,” MacGyver said, remembering how his cousin struggled with the Goa’uld inside him as he tormented him with the hand device. “Where’s Jack?” He sat up, instantly regretting it, his head spinning in dizziness and black spots dancing in front of his eyes.
“Easy,” Dr. Frasier said, steadying him. “MacGyver, you need to rest.”
“I want to know where Jack is,” he said.
Janet sighed. “He’s…here, in the infirmary,” she said. “We had to quarantine him, since the Goa’uld inside him is dangerous and a threat to this facility.”
“Can I see him?” MacGyver asked. “Please.”
Dr. Janet Frasier was familiar with the manipulative techniques Colonel Jack O’Neill had at his disposal to sway her to agree to his demands when ill, and she supposed MacGyver was similar. Both men were stubborn, but as Janet looked at MacGyver’s pleading brown eyes this time, she knew he had a reason beyond removing himself from her care. The deep concern in his expression showed her how much he cared about his cousin. She knew it was painful enough for him to learn that Jack had a Goa’uld inside him that nearly tortured him to death. Keeping them isolated from one another was almost too much for him to bear.
“All right,” she said, “but take it easy. You still haven’t fully recovered from the effects of the hand device.”
She offered to help him out of bed, but MacGyver waved her away and used the bed to push himself up, stumbling slightly as he began to walk. Janet walked with him, watching him as he moved slowly and painfully, wincing with each step. When they reached the cordoned off area where Jack lay, MacGyver stared at him sadly. He hated seeing his cousin strapped to his bed like some wild man. He wished the restraints weren’t necessary, but he knew it was a precaution against the Goa’uld inside him striking out and causing violent damage and destruction to the base. The straps encircled his wrists, ankles, torso, and even his neck, his body further imprisoned and paralyzed.
Janet looked up at him in sympathy. “He’s heavily sedated for now,” she said, “but I don’t know how long I can keep him that way.”
“Janet, how is he doing?” Sam asked, entering the infirmary with her father.
“Not much of a change, I’m afraid,” she said.
Sam looked at how despondent and weak MacGyver looked, and then looked at
Jack, immobilized and unconscious. She sighed sadly and looked back at MacGyver with large, moist blue eyes.
“How are you feeling, MacGyver?” She asked.
“Better,” he said. “I’m still a little exhausted and sore, though.”
“Your pain could have been a lot worse had my dad not come with a Tok’ra healing device,” Sam said. “MacGyver…you almost died.”
MacGyver looked at Jack, thinking of how horrible it would have been for him to know that he had killed his cousin and was powerless to prevent it. He returned to Sam and her father Jacob.
“Thank you,” he said. “You’re Sam’s father?”
“Call me Jacob,” he said, reaching out to shake MacGyver’s hand. He smiled slightly and studied MacGyver’s face. “Well, I can see where Jack gets his good looks. There’s quite a remarkable family resemblance.”
MacGyver nodded, hearing that comment often when he was with his cousin.
“My dad is a Tok’ra,” Sam said. “He was part of the attack on Hathor’s world that helped us escape from there.”
MacGyver watched, stunned as Jacob bowed his head and returned, speaking a different voice, one that sounded like the low, gravelly voice of a Goa’uld.
“We have been planning the incursion for some time,” Selmak said, glancing down at Jack. “Fortunately, it came at the right time for you to rescue the colonel.”
MacGyver stared at Jacob, confused. “He’s…he’s a…Goa’uld?” He asked.
“Not quite,” Sam said. “He’s a Tok’ra. Remember how I explained the difference to you before?”
“I willingly share my body with Selmak,” Jacob said in his voice. “I was terminally ill. Blending with Selmak has been beneficial for me, healing me and saving my life.” He bowed his head again, and Selmak returned. “If Jacob Carter did not wish my presence, I would willingly leave his body,” Selmak said, “just as I willingly entered it. Ours is a symbiotic partnership, one of equal rights and responsibilities.”
“So, I don’t understand,” MacGyver said, watching the Jacob/Selmak interaction with curiosity. “If you can leave Jacob’s body, why can’t the Goa’uld inside Jack leave his?”
“Unfortunately, his Goa’uld entered him by force,” Selmak said. “He will not leave Jack’s body willfully without inflicting great pain and possibly killing him in the process.” Selmak’s eyes blazed with anger and disgust. “That is the difference between the Tok’ra and the Goa’uld. The Goa’uld wish to possess a human body fully, without giving consideration to the host. They see the human as a vehicle for transporting their agenda and establishing their power. What the human feels is immaterial to their concerns for advancement.”
“Isn’t there anything you can do?” Sam asked. “Any new technologies that can help him?”
“I am afraid not,” Selmak said. “It is up to the Goa’uld inside him.”
“And he won’t leave Jack,” MacGyver said.
Selmak looked at MacGyver. “I am afraid not,” he said. He bowed his head, and Jacob returned. “I’m really sorry. I wish there was something more we could do. It is, I’m afraid, the greatest challenge of our time—trying to liberate enslaved hosts and Jaffa from the Goa’uld, and we still don’t have the answer. Jack’s condition is, I regret, irreversible.”
“That’s all right, Dad,” Sam said, rubbing his back, trying to remain strong, trembling slightly with the urge to cry. “We understand.”
MacGyver stared at the unconscious body of his cousin, never feeling more useless in his life. Throughout his career, he had managed to figure out solutions to the most complex problems, and yet he could do nothing to save Jack from his misery. It was a situation beyond his control, something he wasn’t used to, the definitions of Goa’uld and Tok’ra and a world he had just learned existed overwhelming him. He couldn’t stand to watch his cousin suffer as the Goa’uld crushed and suffocated his soul, taking over his body. He barely heard Daniel, Teal’c, and General Hammond enter, watching him and Jack closely.
“Any change, Doctor?” Hammond asked, staring grimly at Jack.
“No,” Janet said. “All I can do is try to keep him comfortable while monitoring him for any instability or violent mood changes due to the Goa’uld inside him.”
Daniel and Teal’c watched in silence, both painfully aware of the ramifications of Jack being taken host.
“I’m afraid I must return to the Tok’ra,” Jacob said, reading the somber expressions of his daughter and her colleagues, wishing there was more he could do to alleviate their despair. “While our attack successfully took many Goa’uld casualties, Hathor has managed to escape.”
The expressions of everyone in the room transformed from sad to concerned.
“She knows we have taken her king,” Teal’c said, raising an eyebrow. “She will seek revenge against us and become a grave threat to the base, not relenting until we surrender Colonel O’Neill to her.”
“That will never happen,” MacGyver said quietly, anger in his voice. Daniel looked at him in sympathy.
“I’ll place the base on high security alert as a precaution,” General Hammond said.
“Dad,” Sam said, gently placing her hand on Jacob’s face in a gesture of affection as well as a desperate attempt to keep him from harm, not wanting to see him leave.
Jacob smiled warmly at her, taking her hand. “I know,” he said. “Be careful.” He winked. “Don’t worry, Sam.” He glanced at Jack, and then returned to her. “Just be strong for me, okay?”
“I will, Dad,” Sam said, her voice shaking with emotion. She reached out and embraced him tightly. She watched him as he left, hoping she wouldn’t lose him to the Goa’uld, too.
Jack began to move, pulling against the restraints and groaning.
“He’s regaining consciousness,” Daniel said, watching in amazement and worry.
MacGyver grabbed Jack’s hand, squeezing it gently. “Jack,” he said. “Jack, can you hear me?”
“I advise caution,” Janet said. “We don’t know what he’ll do when he’s fully conscious.”
“He’s in there still,” MacGyver said. “He just needs to hear me. Jack, come on…please talk to me.”
“Mac…” Jack said weakly, his eyes open to slits.
Everyone in the room looked hopeful, hearing Jack’s voice instead of the Goa’uld.
“Perhaps the sedative has kept the Goa’uld in a state of unconsciousness,” Janet said, trying to contain her excitement. “Maybe we can get through to the colonel this way.”
“We’re all here for you, Jack,” MacGyver said in a soothing, calm voice, still holding his cousin’s hand.
As Jack became more aware, he returned the gentle squeeze to MacGyver’s hand, acknowledging him.
“This is extraordinary,” Daniel said, barely containing a smile. “We might get Jack back, after all. He responded.”
Teal’c allowed a small smile and a nod, preferring to be more subtle against Daniel’s level of exuberance. A part of him was still doubtful about how long Jack would remain present. His suspicions were confirmed when Jack’s squeezing of MacGyver’s hand became harder and tighter, causing MacGyver to cry out in pain. He rushed over to the two men, forcibly separating them. He found himself facing the glowing eyes of the Goa’uld inside Jack.
“Shol’va,” it growled, glaring at him hatefully. He turned Jack’s head and stared angrily at his captors, struggling violently against the restraints. “You will release me and return me to my queen Hathor immediately!”
MacGyver held his painfully crushed hand, watching in horror as Jack once again succumbed to the overpowering presence of the Goa’uld.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” General Hammond said. “You will leave the body of Colonel O’Neill and return him to us.”
The Goa’uld sneered. “That will never happen,” he said.
“Then I’m afraid we can’t release you,” General Hammond said.
The Goa’uld twisted Jack’s lips into a wicked grin. “You are wasting your time, pathetic Tau’ri,” he said. “Hathor will not show mercy on this world until you release me.”
A painful, ear shattering wail emitted from Jack as his movements became more frantic, twisting against the restraints, a grimace on his face.
“Get…this…thing…out of me!” Jack yelled, squirming.
Everyone in the room looked at each other in astonishment. Tears leaked down Jack’s contorted face, revealing how much pain he was in and how hard he was battling the Goa’uld inside him. He arched his back, pulling away from the restraints, making gurgling sounds and muttering incoherently. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Unable to watch him suffer any longer, Sam turned away, burying her face in Daniel’s shoulder. He comforted her, stroking her hair. He closed his eyes as he listened to Jack cry out and beg for relief. In ancient times, holy men thought the beings that inhabited their inflicted and possessed were demons. He realized how close they were to being right, the Goa’uld ravaging Jack’s body and mind. There was no better way to describe the Goa’uld. They were demons, infesting the human body and destroying everything that was good and sacred in their path.
“We’re trying to, Jack,” MacGyver said, trying to comfort him while looking at the others sadly. “We’re going to figure out a way to help you, don’t worry.”
“Kill it!” Jack screamed, writhing in his bed.
“We can’t,” MacGyver said. “If we kill it, you’ll die.”
“So…what? Do it!”
“Jack…”
Jack’s eyes glowed again, the Goa’uld returning. “You will be silent!” He shouted to Jack. “You may think you have won, but I claim this body now, and there’s nothing you can do. You cannot win. I am your master now! I am your god!”
“N…no!” Jack screamed.
Janet rushed over with a syringe. “We have to sedate him again,” she said. “He’s becoming too violent. Teal’c, help me hold him down!”
The others watched helplessly as Janet, some of her staff, and Teal’c held down Jack as he thrashed around. Janet prepared the syringe and an injection site.
“Keep him steady,” she said.
‘M…Mac,’ Jack said in his mind.
‘Jack?’ MacGyver asked in his mind. ‘Jack, I can hear you.’
‘We’re talking again…in our heads,’ Jack said.
‘I know.’
‘Did I hurt your hand? Oh God, I’m so sorry I hurt you.’
‘No, it’s all right,’ MacGyver said. ‘You didn’t break anything—or I should say the Goa’uld in you didn’t. I’ll be fine.’
‘I’ll never…forgive myself for allowing that slimy snake to harm you…oh Mac, I’m so sorry.’
‘Jack, there was nothing you could do. Do you understand me? I know it wasn’t your fault. We’ll figure a way out of this torture for you, I promise. I don’t know how…’ his thoughts trailed away for a moment.
‘Mac?’ Jack asked in his mind.
‘Jack, how come the Goa’uld inside you hasn’t silenced your thoughts?’ MacGyver asked in his mind.
‘What?’
‘Well, we’re talking, but the Goa’uld hasn’t intervened to stop us.’
‘So, what are you saying?’
‘Jack, I don’t think the Goa’uld in you can hear us, in a manner of speaking. I think our telepathic communication runs on a higher brain level than the Goa’uld in you can detect and try to censor.’
‘Now you sound like Carter,’ Jack said.
‘Listen Jack,’ MacGyver said. ‘That means there’s hope for you. Daniel hypothesized that a part of your brain would be locked away from the Goa’uld, and the Goa’uld would be denied access to it because of your Ancient ability to communicate telepathically. I think he’s right. Jack, we can communicate this way freely.’
‘Well, that’s just peachy, but if you don’t find a way to get this sucker out of my head, I’m not gonna be too happy about spending the rest of my life talking only to you, and in my head,’ Jack said. ‘Don’t get me wrong, Mac, you’re an engaging guy, but talking this way…well, it sucks.’
‘I understand, Jack,’ MacGyver said. ‘Don’t worry. I have an idea.’
He looked up and saw that Janet was about to inject Jack with the sedative, finally getting him calm enough and to a point where she could do it without him injuring him.
“Wait!” MacGyver said aloud.
Janet stopped and looked up at him with wide eyes. “What is it?’ She asked.
“Wait, just…hold it. Is there anyway you can mildly sedate him, without making him lose consciousness?”
“What are you suggesting, MacGyver?” General Hammond asked. “Colonel O’Neill is in a great deal of pain. He needs rest.”
“I…I know, but…” he glanced at Jack. “We need to talk outside for a moment. I need all of you to hear this.”
“Well, what is it, son?” Hammond asked.
The Goa’uld inside Jack fought back and returned yet again, glaring at the group, his eyes glowing.
“You will suffer dearly for treating your god and your king with such indignity,” he growled.
“Just…come on,” MacGyver said. “Follow me outside. What I have to tell you is pretty important. It might help Jack.”
Daniel gave MacGyver a knowing look; fairly certain he knew where MacGyver was headed.
“I think we should do what he says,” he said.
“I will remain here to watch over the Goa’uld prisoner,” Teal’c said.
“No Teal’c, I want you to hear this, too,” MacGyver said. He then turned to look at Dr. Frasier, who had a perplexed look on her face. “Doc, I need you, too. I’m going to need your help with this idea.”
Janet turned and looked at her staff, then down at Jack, whose lips were twisted in a bitter and angry scowl, the Goa’uld still present.
“Watch him,” she instructed them. “If he breaks free from his restraints or does anything violent, alert me immediately.”
“Yes Doctor,” one of the staff said.
MacGyver took one last glance at his ailing cousin. “All right,” he said, “let’s go outside.”
***
“You want me to do what?” Janet asked.
“Just give him enough sedative that both he and the Goa’uld will still remain conscious, just in a groggy, receptive state,” MacGyver said.
“You mean like hypnosis?” General Hammond asked.
“Not quite,” MacGyver said.
“Colonel O’Neill is trained to resist methods such as that,” General Hammond said. “Look how he’s resisting the Goa’uld trying to control his mind now.”
“I know, but hear me out,” MacGyver said. “Awhile ago, when Dr. Frasier was preparing to fully sedate Jack again, we…spoke.”
“You mean telepathically?” Daniel asked.
“Yes,” MacGyver said. He couldn’t help it anymore. What he once considered hokey and a pseudo-science was real, evident in how he communicated with his cousin.
“He communicated with you telepathically before, in your dreams,” Sam said.
“Yes, and we talked to each other that way back at Hathor’s palace,” MacGyver said.
“Why didn’t the Goa’uld inside him stop the communication?” Sam asked.
MacGyver smiled. “Because I don’t think the Goa’uld inside Jack can hear us talking,” he said.
Daniel’s mouth gaped open in amazement. “So I was correct,” he said. “The Ancient ability of telepathic communication supersedes the mind control efforts of the Goa’uld.”
Sam looked at him, equally astonished.
“Here’s what I want to do,” MacGyver said. “I want to test this theory and see if it’s right. Doc, can you mildly sedate Jack but keep him and the Goa’uld inside him conscious? I want you to monitor our brain waves as we communicate telepathically. I want to see if any of our thoughts combined together register with the Goa’uld in Jack’s brain.”
“Of course,” Janet said, thinking it was a brilliant idea. “I’ll get started right away.”
***
Sam, Daniel, Teal’c, General Hammond, and Dr. Frasier watched from the observation room over the infirmary as MacGyver and Jack were hooked up to brain monitoring devices, recording their brain waves.
“All right, here we go,” Janet said, looking at the scans of Jack’s and MacGyver’s brains on her computer. A computerized X-ray of Jack’s body, showing the Goa’uld wrapped around his brain stem, was also nearby. “Here’s Jack’s brain,” she said, showing the group. “The lit up areas show where the Goa’uld is controlling him. Any activity from Jack will register in the unlit areas. We will record MacGyver’s brain activity and compare it to Jack’s to see if they’re communicating and who is responding to the communication. We will also observe and see if at anytime during the telepathic communication the Goa’uld responds, simply by monitoring the brain waves, brain activity, and any physical cues that indicate a change in behavior.”
“MacGyver, are you ready?” Sam asked over the microphone.
“Yes,” MacGyver said.
“Go ahead.”
The group watched. Even though it appeared that the two almost identical men were merely standing in the same room saying nothing, the brain wave activity they recorded from them increased and then remained steady.
“This is extraordinary,” Janet said, reading the results. “So far, I see no signs at all that the Goa’uld is interfering. The brain activity between them appears steady, as if they are having a real…conversation. Right now, they are functioning on a level that does not appear to be accessible to the Goa’uld inside Jack.”
“It’s just as MacGyver said,” Daniel said.
“Well, if he’s right, and those readouts are accurate, this is a major breakthrough,” Sam said. “It means that we can somehow get through to Jack and perhaps…save him.”
“I hope you’re right, Major,” General Hammond said.
“O’Neill is indeed a strong warrior,” Teal’c said, smiling. “He proves that he can defeat the Goa’uld, even when one is within him.”
In the infirmary, MacGyver sat across from Jack. The Goa’uld awakened, making Jack’s brown eyes glow. He sneered viciously at MacGyver.
“What do you think you are doing?” He asked.
MacGyver grinned, amused to see how oblivious the Goa’uld was to the conversation going on deeper inside Jack’s brain.
“Oh, nothing really,” MacGyver said. “I’m just sitting here.”
“Do you honestly believe you have defeated me?” The Goa’uld asked, pulling against the restraints. “When Hathor finds me being held captive by your pathetic race, she will make slaves of your people and make you a host, just as she planned to do when she found you, suffering miserably from my wrath.”
‘This yahoo sure likes to talk,’ MacGyver said to Jack in his mind.
‘It’s the same old pompous, arrogant, overblown Goa’uld as usual,’ Jack said.
“Oh, really?” MacGyver taunted out loud to the Goa’uld.
“Yes,” the Goa’uld said. “You have made a grave error in judgment, believing that you can stop me. You will never see my host again. He is obstinate, but eventually, I will win and have sole possession of his body. Soon, when you are made host, you will join him, forever imprisoned in your body.”
“I…wouldn’t count on that,” MacGyver said. He turned and looked up at the others watching him in the observation room, giving them a thumbs-up signal.
“The Goa’uld appears not to be aware of the true reasons for MacGyver’s presence in the infirmary,” Teal’c said.
“The brain activity I’m receiving seems to confirm this,” Janet said.
“I hope so,” Sam said.
Daniel gently placed his hand on her back for support, secretly knowing how much Jack meant to her.
‘Okay Jack,’ MacGyver said in his mind. ‘It seems our little experiment is working. The Goa’uld in you can’t hear us.’
‘Sweet,’ Jack said.
‘Now all we need to do is figure out a way to help you…’
‘Thor,’ Jack said.
‘What?’
‘Thor! You know, the little grey dude you met? He’s advanced. Hell, he’s been wiping out Goa’ulds all over the place and God knows he owes us.’
MacGyver could never forget his fear and fascination when he first met the small, bony alien with the almost translucent skin, bulbous head, and large, intelligent black eyes.
‘He’s the one that told us we had the Ancient gene,’ MacGyver said.
‘Yep, that’s him all right,’ Jack said. ‘Mac, he might be my only chance. Maybe he has some advanced doohickey that can get this snake out of my head. Tell Sam to contact him and the Asgards.’
MacGyver nodded. ‘All right, Jack,’ he said. ‘I’ll tell her.’
***
“We just had a full conversation in our minds,” MacGyver said. “The Goa’uld inside Jack didn’t seem to be aware of it, almost like he was in another room. In fact, he just kept spewing his usual propaganda about power, domination, and revenge. He didn’t hear a single thing Jack and I said.”
“Well, judging from your brain activity, I’d say that’s correct,” Dr. Frasier said. “The two of you were functioning on a higher level than the Goa’uld inside him.”
“This is incredible,” Sam said. “We can speak to Jack…through you.”
“He can reveal valuable intelligence about the Goa’uld without the Goa’uld inside him ever noticing it,” Teal’c said.
“Better than that,” MacGyver said, “he can provide us with a possible solution of how to help him, without the Goa’uld in him ever knowing about it.”
“What are you saying?” Daniel asked.
“Jack told me to contact Thor,” MacGyver said.
“The Asgard race,” General Hammond said.
“Yes. He thinks that because they’re such a powerful enemy of the Goa’uld, they might have some advanced method of removing Goa’ulds from their hosts.”
“He may be right,” Sam said. She turned to look at General Hammond. “Sir, request permission to…”
“Granted,” Hammond said, smiling.
To be continued…
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."
--Henry David Thoreau
brains+brawn+beauty+personality=MacGyver
