06 - Siren Song by Jamie Duncan, Holly Scott - (ebook by Undead) Page B

Daniel, Teal’c’s voice rose, and they turned to
see him watching them. “You are mistaken, O’Neill. Major Carter only offered her
assistance.”
    Jack turned to him. “You haven’t been right since Apophis brainwashed
you, have you? How many times have you switched sides? How do we know that you
won’t turn on us again?”
    “Jack!” Daniel said. He reached out a hand to grip Jack’s arm, to get his
attention, but the force field flared red between them and sent a sizzling jolt
up Daniel’s arm. Daniel stepped back, knocking into Aris, who shoved him away
and retreated a few paces, all the better to hold weapons on them.
    “Sir… sir.” Sam lifted her hand in an appeasing gesture and then scrubbed
it over her tired face. “I’m sorry, sir. I should have waited for your order.”
    “You have done nothing wrong,” Teal’c said, still staring at Jack. They were
toe to toe now, eye to eye. “Nor have I.”
    “They’re all in my head,” Carter said haltingly. She squeezed her eyes shut.
“All of them. Every one she took as host.”
    “What are you talking about?” Jack said, his voice rising. “Make sense,
Carter!”
    “Do not raise your voice to us in this manner,” Teal’c said, tensing with
readiness. Daniel glanced at Aris, who was paying rapt attention to the little
tableau, and then over at Sam, whose features were contorted into a mask of
horror.
    “It’s happening again,” Sam whispered. She backed away from Jack and Teal’c
until she hit the wall and could go no farther. “I don’t want your memories!”
    In that moment, it clicked for Daniel—Sam was talking about Jolinar. Not
her memories, but the memories from Jolinar’s blending. He leaned as close to
the force field as he could and said then-names sharply, breaking their focus on
each other. “Whatever’s happening here, it’s not about us. Do you hear me? Stop
this.”
    Jack blinked at him, then turned toward Sam, who was sinking toward the
ground, curling inward in a fetal position. “Carter,” he said sharply. He took a
couple of steps in her direction, then stopped suddenly and raised his hands to
his head. “What the…” He staggered backwards and Teal’c stopped him, holding
him up with one hand on his elbow. “Okay, that’s…” Jack sat down abruptly; it
looked more like a fall, to Daniel, but Teal’c eased the way. “I know that’s not real,” he said, and his hands went to the back of his neck, scrabbling
down the back of his collar and over his bare skin there, and then to his
throat, to smooth the unblemished skin. “Yeah,” he said, as if confirming
something the rest of them weren’t privy to.
    Daniel looked up to find Aris watching them. He didn’t seem nearly as wary as
he should; this was obviously not a new experience for him. “What the hell is
happening to us? You know, don’t you?”
    Aris wavered under Daniel’s direct, furious gaze, then admitted, “I’ve seen
it before.”
    “And you didn’t think you needed to warn us?”
    “What good would it have done?” Aris shrugged. “The effects are temporary. I
didn’t think it would take you long to get this thing open.”
    “Well, you were wrong.”
    “Obviously. My faith in your abilities was clearly misplaced,” Aris said.
    “You need to take the others back to the surface,” Daniel said. “I’ll keep
working on this, as long as you want. Just—”
    “Not a good idea,” Jack said. He was pale as a ghost. Teal’c helped him up
from the ground; Jack patted Teal’c on the arm, a wordless apology, and Teal’c
released him. The tension between them dissolved as quickly as it had risen.
“We’re not leaving you down here.”
    “Jack, I don’t need you here.” Daniel hated to say it, but if the brutal
truth would convince Aris, then he didn’t care. “I don’t need any of you. Not
even Sam.”
    “You do need me,” Sam said. She made no attempt to get up, but her eyes were
like laser points, focused on