Jack's saved...or is he?

The Queen’s Best Part Five
Rated: PG

“It will not be easy,” Thor said, meeting with SG-1, MacGyver, General Hammond, and Dr. Frasier in the briefing room. “Once we begin the procedure, there will still be grave risk to O’Neill’s life.”

“But that contraption you brought,” Hammond said. “I thought it safely removed Goa’ulds from their hosts.”

Thor blinked slowly at Hammond. “It is designed to do so,” he said, “however, it is still experimental.” He bowed his head slightly. “We believe the Ancients built it. It appears to be a prototype. The Ancients may have just begun developing it. It took the Asgard many of your years to research it and discover its true purpose.”

“You mean, you’ve never used it?” Daniel asked.

Thor tilted his large head at him. “I am afraid not,” he said.

“So it’s a relic?” Hammond asked. “How can you be sure it even works?”

“We have conducted many tests on the device,” Thor said. “Our results indicate that it is still functional.”

“Still, if you’ve never used it, how can you be sure it will help Colonel O’Neill?” Hammond asked.

“I don’t think we have any alternatives, Sir,” Sam said.

“She’s right,” Daniel said.

MacGyver remained silent, brooding about his cousin, worried about his prospects for surviving.

“If the device is successful removing the parasite from O’Neill’s brain,” Thor said, “then the Asgard hope to improve upon the device and free other hosts from their Goa’ulds as well.”

“That would greatly advance our cause for freedom,” Teal’c said.

Thor nodded slightly.

“Think of what that means,” Daniel said, growing hopeful for his wife. “It would signify the end of the Goa’ulds’ power, saving many innocent lives in the process.” A passionate look flared in his deep blue eyes.

“Granted, this is the best hope Colonel O’Neill has at the moment,” Hammond said, “but are we really willing to sacrifice his life if this machine doesn’t work?”

“It’s what he’d want,” MacGyver said, staring blankly at the table.

Sam looked at him in sympathy.

“I agree,” Daniel said. “We all know that Jack would rather die than be a host, and if undergoing this procedure helps future hosts, then I believe he’d consider it worthwhile.”

Dr. Frasier sighed. “He’s under heavy sedation at the moment,” she said. “If we’re going to try this procedure, then I suggest we do so now.”

“That is satisfactory, Dr. Frasier,” Thor said, inclining his head toward her. “However, it is MacGyver who must perform the actual procedure.”

Waking from his stupor, MacGyver looked up in surprise at Thor, feeling the other eyes on him in the room.

“Why?” He asked, stunned.

Thor blinked. “Even though we are confident of the device’s purpose and functioning, it is designed so that only someone of the Ancient race can operate it,” he said.

“All right,” MacGyver said, sighing. “Let’s do it.”

He hoped he could save his cousin. He wasn’t sure he could forgive himself if he didn’t. His death would add to the list of those he was unable to save—his mother, father, grandmother…Mike. He wasn’t sure he was ready to lengthen that list, especially with Jack. After Harry’s death, he was the only relative he had left.

***

Jack’s unconscious body was placed inside a tube-like apparatus that appeared similar to the Asgard healing chambers. The designs and writing on it were much different, and the only indication that it was of Ancient origin. A small, tablet shaped plaque on the side of the tube seemed to give instructions in the Ancient language. Thor approached MacGyver and gestured with his long, bony fingers towards the plaque.

“You will place your hand there,” he said. “It should activate the device and begin the extraction process.”

Nervously, MacGyver licked his lips and glanced up at the others as they watched, hoping for results as much as he was. He looked back at Thor.

“Are you…sure?” He asked.

Thor bowed his head. “All our research concludes that is how the device functions,” he said. “MacGyver, you must continue with the procedure. You are the only human with the Ancient gene besides O’Neill.”

“All right,” MacGyver said, preparing to place his hand on the plaque.

‘Mac,’ Jack’s voice echoed lightly in his mind, stopping him.

“What is it?” Sam asked.

“I can hear Jack, in my mind,” MacGyver said. “He’s weak from the sedative, but he’s there.”

‘It’s all right, Jack,’ MacGyver said in his mind. ‘I’m here.’

‘What’s goin’ on?’ Jack asked.

‘Thor’s here,’ MacGyver said. ‘We’re preparing to remove the Goa’uld from your brain.’

Jack’s inner voice grew weaker and more labored. ‘Tell him…that I don’t want any part of that snake left in me…do you understand? Nothing…’ his voice inside MacGyver’s mind faded.

“It’s okay, Jack,” he said aloud, gently squeezing his limp hand. “We’ll get it out—all of it.” He smiled, trying to reassure himself as well. He took a long, deep breath. “Let’s do this. Cross your fingers.”

‘No…clichés…Mac…please…’ Jack’s faint voice said in MacGyver’s mind, and MacGyver smiled again, hearing the humor that prevailed in Jack, no matter how difficult the circumstance.

‘All right Jack,’ he said in his mind. ‘No clichés.’

Taking another deep breath, MacGyver slowly placed his hand on the plaque. Soon, the whole device glowed at his touch, and a bright white beam moved up and down Jack’s unconscious body as if scanning it for foreign bodies. Once the beam reached his head, it grew in intensity until nobody in the infirmary could look at it, even Thor. MacGyver could feel the energy of the device surge through him, but he refused to release his hand from it. The light continued to brighten, and a high-pitched whine emitted from the machine. The shrieking of the machine grew so loud that everyone in the infirmary crumpled to the floor, clutching their ears for protection. Only MacGyver remained standing, controlling the device. Inside the tube, Jack’s body underwent spasms similar to that of a seizure, his body twitching and contorting, his face twisted in a grimace. Another burst of blinding light and increasing loudness erupted, and then suddenly the infirmary was silent, the beam slicing down into Jack’s head and disappearing. His body grew still again, and MacGyver fell to the floor, overwhelmed with the power of the machine.

“MacGyver, are you all right?” Daniel shouted, his ears still ringing from the whine of the machine, running over to support him.

“Yeah, I think so,” MacGyver said, dazed. He stared at Jack and the machine.

“Well, is the Goa’uld gone?” Hammond asked, standing and rubbing his ears.

Sam approached Jack’s unconscious body and stood over him, allowing Jolinar’s memories to guide her. “I don’t sense anything, Sir,” she said.

Thor also approached Jack and examined him with an Asgard device used for detecting the Goa’uld presence. “I also do not feel the Goa’uld inhabiting O’Neill’s body,” he said. “I believe it has been destroyed.”

Everyone in the room looked at each other in relief.

“What about Jack?” MacGyver asked. “Is he all right?”

Dr. Frasier walked over to Jack, feeling for his pulse. “His pulse is steady but weak,” she said. “He’s going to require some monitoring and rest, but I think he’s going to be just fine,” she said, unable to contain her smile, relieved to have Jack back as much as everyone else in the room.

MacGyver smiled as well, squeezing Jack’s hand again. ‘We did it, Jack,’ he said in his mind. ‘The Goa’uld in you is gone. You’re going to be just fine.’

All MacGyver heard in response was complete silence, Jack’s body and mind fully spent.

***

Jack slowly opened his eyes, his surroundings blurred, enveloped in a groggy haze. He never felt weaker or sicker in his life, his entire body aching and fevered, his head feeling as if someone had not only stabbed him in the brain but was viciously twisting the knife further into it, pushing with full force. Waves of dizziness and nausea hit him, as well as the urge to vomit, which he couldn’t, nothing but dry spasms and heaves responding to his urge. Stabbing pain prickled his body, and as he shifted to alleviate it, his slight movements only made it worse, causing him to release a loud groan. The only relief he felt was the strange sensation of being alone in his mind, something he hadn’t felt for weeks. It took a moment for him to get used to not hearing the Goa’uld’s savage growl in his head, commanding and forcing him to do detestable things, things he hoped in time he could forget.

‘Hello,’ he said in his mind, testing the absence of the Goa’uld, taunting it. ‘Hey, snakehead! Why don’t you try to shut me up or stop me? Huh? Oh yeah…that’s right! You’re dead!’ He laughed in his mind, hearing it echo, unblocked by the Goa’uld. He was free again. All his thoughts and actions were his own. A broad, exhausted smile spread on his lips as he realized this.

“Hey,” MacGyver said, entering the infirmary and standing over where Jack lay, taking his hand. “It’s good to see you awake. How are you feeling?”

“Like I have the worst hangover in my life,” he said, “but…I’m alive, Mac, and…I’m me. Mac, I’m me.”

MacGyver saw the depths of relief and gratitude in Jack’s deep brown eyes and smiled, glad to see they weren’t glowing. “Yes, you are, Jack,” he said. “The Goa’uld that was in you is gone, completely. Here, I want to show you something.” MacGyver carefully lifted Jack’s head up and gave him a mirror. He held another mirror behind Jack’s head. “Take a look.”

Fighting off another wave of nausea and another urge to vomit, Jack looked though his mirror as it pointed at the larger mirror MacGyver was holding. He saw the back of his head, and he focused on his neck, expecting to see entry scars from the Goa’uld, but there were none.

“Thank God,” he said, handing MacGyver the mirrors and collapsing back onto his pillow. “It really is gone, isn’t it? All of it.”

MacGyver nodded, placing the mirrors on a nearby table. “Dr. Frasier even said that you don’t have any protein markers left when the Goa’uld inside you died,” he said. “Jack, you didn’t absorb it in your body. Thor’s machine erased all traces of it from your system.”

Jack arched and eyebrow and grinned tiredly at MacGyver. “This isn’t…some wacky dream I’m having, is it?” He asked. “That thing is really…”

“Gone?”

“Gone.”

“Sweet,” Jack said. “Those crazy Asgards. What will they think of next?”

“Actually, Thor said it was Ancient technology,” MacGyver said. “That’s why I had to run it to save you.”

“Because we’re…special,” Jack said, still unsure of how he felt being distantly related to those beings, not feeling intelligent enough.

“Yeah,” MacGyver said, smiling. “I guess we are.”

Jack stared up at MacGyver with intense, sad eyes. “It’s good to be human again, to talk to you like a normal person,” he said. “Thanks for not giving up on me, even when I…hurt you.”

“Now Jack, we’ve been through that,” MacGyver said. “Listen to me. You didn’t hurt me. The Goa’uld that was controlling you did. It wasn’t your fault. I understand.”

“I should’ve fought that damn filthy snake harder,” Jack said. “I mean, if we could talk to each other inside our heads without it hearing us, why couldn’t I stop it?”

MacGyver shrugged. “You did the best you could,” he said.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t good enough,” Jack said bitterly. “I still almost killed you. Hathor…well…she…forced herself on me. I couldn’t stop her, either. My sick Goa’uld enjoyed it and forced me to move my body in response to her. Can you believe that? Mac, I was never more disgusted in my life.”

“I can’t pretend to fully appreciate or know what you’ve been through, Jack,” MacGyver said. “Just know that the Goa’uld in you is dead now. You’ll never have to watch anyone suffer through your eyes because of its actions again. You are completely yourself. It’s over now, and you’re safe.”

Sirens blared through the facility and red lights flashed.

“What’s happening?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know, Jack,” MacGyver said.

They soon heard several people running into the infirmary. Turning, MacGyver saw it was Teal’c, Sam, and Daniel.

“What is it?” MacGyver asked.

The devastated look in Daniel’s eyes communicated it all. “Hathor,” he said, his voice filled with dread. “She’s here.”

To be continued…