Fic, Surprises, Lies, and Amnesia, 3/14

[hathor_girl]

 Sam, Jack, Jonas, and Teal'c had checked that Hermes was dead, and then called Janet and the other medical personnel. They had then told those of the people in the room who were still conscious - which were only about half of the people present - to come with them.

They would be signing non-disclosure agreements, and then be given something to eat, before being checked up by the doctors. If all was well, they would be sent away from Stargate Command as quickly as possible.

Those who were unconscious would be taken to the infirmary and examined, then kept under observation until they woke up. If there was no remaining problems, they too would sign non-disclosure papers and be shipped away as quickly as possible.

"What a mess." Jack grumbled. "Whomever decided it was a good idea to bring in these people to look at the place, should have their asses wupped."

---

SG-1 had just finished being debriefed by General Hammond, when Janet called them over the intercom.

"Yes, Doctor Fraiser. What is it? Do you have any news on the victims of the super-zat?" Hammond asked.

"Very little, they are still unconscious, but are not deteriorating. I think it's only a matter of time before they wake up."

"Good. Nothing else?"

"Well, I'd like all of you to come down here. We've got a patient who looks very much like someone he just can't be."

---

"Okay, Doc, we're here. What was it you wanted us to see?" Jack asked.

"Come this way." Janet lead them into a large room in the infirmary, which had been converted to a ward. Several rows of bed stood in there."

"How many patients do you have?" Jonas looked shocked.

"20 in here, but that's only half of them. I have another room just next door. Come."

"That's horrible, Janet, but you said they'd recover, right?" Sam looked uncomfortably at some guards she recognized, really hoping they would be okay. "I'd really like to get to my lab and look at the super-zat. I may learn something that will help these people."

"This will just take a few minutes, then you can go look at your gadget. I'm really sure you will understand me, when you see the person I am talking about." Janet said.

SG-1 followed Janet into the room beside the one they had just entered, and walked towards a bed at the corner.

They was not quite there, when Sam stopped, frowning. "I...think I sense a symbiote."

"What? There's another snake? Hermes is dead, right, he didn't jump into anyone else, did he?" Jack demanded.

"No, don't worry. I have already looked at the corpse, and the symbiote is still inside its host. The Goa'uld Hermes is quite dead."

"Good - but then who else is snaked - and who's this Goa'uld?"

"Oh, god!" Sam exclaimed, as she spotted the man lying unconscious on the nearest bed. "Martouf!"

"I was under impression he was dead, killed by yourself, Major Carter." Teal'c observed.

"Well, this fellow has some ID that says his name is David Bourne Jr., but he does look a LOT like Martouf." Janet told them. "I talked to some of the other actors, and they confirm his identity - they say he's calling himself JR, and that he's a nice person - nothing suspicious that they have noticed."

"He looks exactly like Martouf." Sam said, guiltily lifting the blanket and checking. "He has the same birth-mark that I remember from Jolinar that he has."

"DNA test is not back yet, and I haven't had time to check if he has a symbiote, but..."

"He does. I can feel it. And it feels like Lantash." Sam insisted, looking part hopeful, and part disbelieving.

"There is also this..." Janet showed them a thin line on the man's arm, where the skin was pink, as if it was new skin. "He got a - fairly deep - scratch when he fell after being hit by Hermes's shot. As you can see, it is almost completely healed already."

"Ok, if that's indeed Marty and not some weird impostor of some kind...how could that be?" Jack demanded. "Did the Tok'ra trick us again?"

"I have no idea how this happened, but I don't think they tricked us...I think dad would have told me!" Sam said with conviction.

"Well, we can't get any further on this until he wakes up." Jack reasoned. "Let's go contact the Tok'ra. Inform us when 'JR' can be interrogated."

"I will inform you as soon as he is awake and well enough for you to talk to." Janet said. "It may well be a while. The first one who was shot has not awaken yet."

---

After talking to Hammond, they got the go ahead to contact the Tok'ra. Unfortunately, the Tok'ra was still on the run after the attack on Revanna, and it might be some time before they were able to contact the SGC.

Sam visited the infirmary again, still not quite believing it could be Martouf and Lantash down there.

However, using one of the devices they had received from the Tok'ra, Janet had by now made the DNA test on man. According to the test, this was Martouf. Janet had also scanned him and found he was a host. She had taken a test of the symbiote, and gotten a match - the symbiote was Lantash.

Janet had allowed Sam to stay in the infirmary, waiting for Martouf and Lantash to wake up. She had warned her that it could be a long time still - none of the victims of the super-zat had woken up yet.

There was one more thing Janet had discovered when she scanned Martouf's neck-head region - there had been some sort of small, organic, device, which she didn't know what did. It was very small, and she almost missed it, but after some discussion with Sam, they had decided it's most likely purpose was to somehow interfere with the symbiote's ability to take control, maybe even to communicate with the host.

Sam had guessed that it might have been installed as part of making them a zatarc. Obviously, there would have had to be some way of preventing the symbiote of taking control, if it was the host that had been brainwashed. Otherwise, the symbiote could just have taken control and stopped the host from doing anything bad when the programming activated, and probably could even remove the programming, given time.

It would seem that the shot from the super-zat had had an effect on the device, and it was now slowly breaking down. In time, Lantash would again be able to talk to Martouf and take control.

---

It was almost one hour later, when Martouf suddenly made a muffled sound and stirred on the bed.

Sam looked up, her heart beating faster both due to nervousness and anticipation. Could he remember her? Was he himself? Why had he pretended to be an actor from Earth? How had he even ended up on Earth?

"Martouf?" She asked, worried.

He groaned and touched his head. "Damn that hurt!"

"Ah, the zat-shot. Yeah, even being shot by a normal zat hurts - I don't wanna know what a super-zat does!"

Martouf opened his eyes and looked at her, confusion clear on his face. "Do I know you?" He frowned. "I mean, I kind of feel like I do, but I can't remember your name."

Sam nodded. "You do know me. I am Major Samantha Carter. Do you know who you are?"

"Of course. I'm JR Bourne." He carefully sat up, not moving his head too much. "So... I know you? Samantha... can I call you Samantha?"

"Eh, yes. Sure. Actually, that's what you usually calls me." Sam told him.

"It's a very pretty name." He gave her a charming smile, which almost took her breath away. "For a very pretty woman."

"Um, thanks." Sam didn't know what else to say.

"Well, I'm happy to hear that I know you - actually, I think I may have dreamt about you, but I can't say I have any other recollection of you. That's kind of worrying. Why would I forget such a beautiful woman?" He sat up straighter in the bed, then winced. "Samantha... do you think I could get some painkillers? My head feels like it's about to explode, and the rest of me aren't feeling so hot either."

Sam gave him a strange look at hearing him talk like that, but then nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure I can get you something. Don't worry, the affect will pass pretty quickly. It's from the zat - uh, you know, the weapon you were shot with."

"I kind of guessed that, but I'm very pleased to hear I'll be better soon." He gave her a small smile.

Sam nodded and smiled back, then left to find him some painkillers - and alert Janet that her patient was awake.

She wondered if Lantash was awake too - and how long it would be before the strange device had broken down so much that Lantash could talk to Martouf again - or perhaps she should call him JR right now, since that was apparently the persona he had taken on.

She shook her head, wondering how much he remembered, or how he had come to think he was from Earth. If he even thought that. Perhaps he just pretended, since he didn't know what she knew?

Regardless, she was very happy he and Lantash were still alive.