Part 11 O'Neill watched from the door for a moment as Dr Frasier and Ryan animatedly talked about something to do with motorcycle racing. Well that was a new piece of information about SGC's very own doctor that might come in handy. He filed it away just in case he could ever use it. Frasier had sent up her report that their Goa'uld guest was awake approximately half an hour ago, and Hammond had called Jack into his office immediately. They'd already discussed what SG-1 had seen in a team debriefing, but the General had wanted Jack's private opinion on the matter. They'd talked for a good twenty minutes, and now Jack had been sent down to collect Richie to see Hammond. The kid really didn't look very threatening sitting cross-legged on one of the medical bay's beds. He was wearing regulation combat trousers, and a green T-shirt, and he didn't look much like a Goa'uld. He seemed to be the same young man Jack had just begun to know before Shu and Tefnut made a house call, and that on the inside Richie might not be what he appeared was not a settling thought. If the safety of his team hadn't been on his shoulders he might just have given in to the urge to trust Richie, but he had to be sure first. As he finally stepped into the room golden eyes flicked round to stare at Jack, and he was sharply reminded of what Shu had done to Richie. Now he knew more about what Richie really was, and what he had become, O'Neill could see it in those eyes. The windows of that soul showed just about everything, and Jack didn't have to see their colour to know the person he was looking at was not quite human. "Good afternoon," he greeted as Dr Frasier noticed him as well. "I've just come from General Hammond. He would very much like to see you if you're feeling up to it." Jack met the strange eyes calmly, the kid probably had enough problems without seeing anything O'Neill might be feeling as well. Richie had all but proven his loyalty to his human friends, all Jack wanted was time, time to find out exactly what was going on in that blond head. "The doc's the expert," Richie told him with a grin. "My patient is recovering nicely, Colonel," Frasier said evenly, "and if he comes back on a gurney I will hold you personally responsible." The smile was trying to force its way onto her face, and to help its progress Jack saluted sharply. "What ever you say, Doctor," he promised faithfully. The cheerful atmosphere was not quite what he had been expecting, but Jack was happy to play along. "One small problem," Richie commented as he stood up. "What's that?" Jack asked. The young man looked at his feet, and O'Neill's eyes followed. Richie was barefoot. When they'd brought him into the medical bay all Goa'uld regalia had been taken away, including the boots. "The floor's getting colder by the second," the Immortal commented. "Well stop by supplies on the way," Jack promised with a smile. That, however, wasn't the only problem as he turned back towards the door. As Richie moved to leave the room the soldier stepped into the doorway. "The prisoner must be restrained during transport between secure areas," the marine intoned evenly. Jack immediately disliked the idea. Richie had saved his life and the life of his team, he did not want to put the kid through the indignity of being shackled. Military protocol sometimes got in the way of doing things right and Jack couldn't help the bad taste that the marine's observation left in his mouth. If the military had had their way Teal'c would have been treated in the same way when he first arrived and that would have lost them a very good friend. Then the answer hit Jack between the eyes and he smiled slightly. "I don't suppose it has occurred to you that this whole base is a secure area?" O'Neill said in a triumphant tone, and stared the man right in the face. "We are inside a mountain, there is only one way out. Between here and there are several dozen of you. The prisoner is just fine the way he is." With that Jack strode purposefully out of the door, and hoped that Richie was following along behind. ===================================================================== Richie was as scared as hell. What he hoped the rest of the world saw, was a nonchalant, happy go lucky individual, on the inside he was anything but. His emotions were in turmoil, and he really wasn't sure whether his life was over. So many possibilities ran through his mind, from Dr Frankenstein to Government games, and he didn't much like any of them. Richie was practical enough to realise that The Powers That Be weren't just going to let him go no matter how he proved he was still in control. He was no longer exactly human, and he knew far too much to be anything less than a security risk. Right about now he'd be a real hit on the Goth scene as well, and there weren't many ways he could change that. The Immortal laughed and joked with O'Neill as they walked from stores towards General Hammond's office, but inside he was terrified. Then to top it off he was grieving. How could he ever explain to anyone that he had loved what they so feared. They'd lock him up forever if they knew just how much it hurt to lose Tefnut, how much guilt he carried with him for killing her. "Well here we are," Jack said with half a smile. "Good luck, kid." The old Richie Ryan would have seethed at that comment, but the new one was far too busy with other thoughts to even care. He smiled back at the Colonel with his best confidant expression, and O'Neill knocked on the door. "Come in," was the immediate response. Jack opened the door and entered, followed by Richie and the marine who was their constant shadow. "Good afternoon, gentlemen," the General greeted as they came in. "I hope you are recovered, Mr Ryan." "Thanks, I am," Richie replied, and forced yet another smile. "Thank you, Colonel, marine," were Hammond's next words, "I'd like to speak to our guest alone." "Of course, General," Jack responded lightly, he had obviously known that the request was coming. "Marine, we can wait outside." The soldier did not look particularly happy, but he couldn't exactly say anything to a General and a Colonel. The pair left as quickly as they had arrived. "Please, have a seat," Hammond offered the moment the door closed, and retook his own. Richie followed the advice, and tried to assess the man on the other side of the desk as he sat down. He didn't know much about General Hammond, but from the few things O'Neill had hinted at, Richie didn't think he was being thrown to the wolves. "Firstly," the General said calmly, "this is an informal meeting. Nothing here is being recorded, and I will treat this conversation as confidential unless you tell me otherwise. I asked to see you because I can't let you loose on this base unless I'm totally sure of you." That opening surprised Richie in its honesty, and in its implications. The idea that he might actually regain some sort of freedom hadn't been at the top of his concepts for the day, and it shocked him so much that he actually let his guard slip for just a moment. "I don't know what you expect of the military," Hammond said, reacting to the expression Richie knew had crossed his face, "but I will do my damnedest to make sure that nothing happens to you, you don't deserve. If you do anything to endanger my people, however, I will make sure you end up in the darkest deepest hole I can find." Richie nodded slowly: they understood each other. "I'm not a threat to you or anything here," the Immortal said, and let the cheerful facade fade to seriousness. "I am not Shu, Shu is dead." The look on Hammond's face said he wished he could believe that, but he was still unsure. "I know what you did for the team," the General told him evenly. "Without you they would still be stuck on PX 1287, and Major Carter would almost definitely be dead. You've proved your worth, but you do understand that I have to make completely sure you're not suddenly going to turn around and change your mind. You are after all Goa'uld." "Of course I understand," Richie said with a little more feeling than he had meant, "I know first hand what Goa'uld are capable of. Shu is gone, but I remember lots about his whole twisted existence. I know the way they think, and I know exactly how much human life is worth to them." The Immortal hadn't expected the outburst, it had sort of just happened, and he didn't like it much. From the expression on Hammond's face he hadn't seen it coming either. "Sorry," Richie apologised quickly. "It's me who should be apologising," Hammond responded almost instantly, "I was wading in like a bull in a china shop. Coping with what has happened must be terribly difficult." Richie let out an ironic little laugh, and then caught his emotions before they could give him away. He was not going to fall apart in this man's office, no matter what. "Yeah well, I've coped with big revelations before," he said with more certainty than he felt. Hammond nodded. "Your Immortality," the General said evenly. "I won't pretend that I know much about it, but Pierson explained what we needed to know for the rescue. That knowledge will go no farther than SG-1 and me." "Yeah, well it's a bit of a shock when you come back from the dead for the first time," Richie returned, "but it has it's up points." He tried to hide behind the wise crack, but somehow it didn't come out quite right. Too many ideas were going around in his head, and they were jamming his defence mechanisms. "I'm sorry to have to bring this up, but I must know," Hammond began again after a moment's silence. "In their reports several of the team noted that you were crying after you killed Tefnut. Was that Shu's emotion or yours?" Richie looked down at his hands, he had hoped no one had seen that. He was still worried that they would lock him up and throw away the key, but he needed talk to someone. "I've never had family," he said slowly, "never really known what it felt like to have blood relations. I've been close, but there's always a little doubt when you've been through the system. You may not realise this, but Goa'uld are capable of just as deep love as any we feel. They don't show it very often, and it takes them much longer to develop it, but Shu and Tefnut had been together for millennia. He loved her more than I can explain, and that's part of me now. I know it comes from him and not me, but I can't ignore it completely." He threw up all his barriers, and clamped down on all his emotions. Richie wanted Hammond to know some of it, but if the General knew how deep that emotion affected the Immortal, Richie doubted he would allow himself to be so sympathetic. "It was both of our emotion," he concluded slowly. "I don't mean to labour the point," Hammond continued evenly, "but exactly how do you see Shu?" Richie had to think about how to answer that. He hadn't really had time to decide what he thought about that, and it wasn't exactly an easy question. Of course he had an advantage over anyone else in that he'd absorbed people before. At least one of those had come back to haunt him, and he was not unaware of the dangers. "I understand him," Richie said finally, setting aside any emotional reaction for the moment and looking at the situation from a detached point of view. "I know him almost as well as I know myself. I can step into his mind, but it's always me pretending to be him, not me becoming him. I think I may have picked up on some of his instincts, some of my reactions are a little different now, but only on a physical level if that makes any sense." The Immortal looked at the General to see if he was getting through, and the man nodded for him to go on. "There are some blanks," Richie continued, "but I can do just about anything he could. I know what he has learned, I can remember things he has seen, but I always know they are his memories, not mine. I could be like Shu if I wanted to be, react like him, talk like him, even think like him, but I can never become him. I'm still me and I always will be--Shu no longer exists." Hammond just looked at him as he finished his explanation, and they stared at each other for a long moment. There were idea's flying behind the General's eyes, but Richie couldn't tell what they were. "You strike me as an honest young man," the General said slowly, "and my instincts aren't usually wrong. I'm going to put you in Colonel O'Neill's care. You'll be escorted at all times, confined to base of course, and we'll have to limit your movements, but I don't see any reason to keep you locked up. If you don't mind I'd like Dr Frasier to investigate you physiology some more, but other than that your time is your own." Richie just sat there for a moment, not quite believing what he had heard. The General just didn't fit any idea the Immortal had of the United States military. "Don't let me down, Mr Ryan," Hammond said calmly and stood up. Richie climbed to his feet as well. "I won't, Sir," he replied, and for the first time his mind didn't quail at the possibilities before him. ===================================================================== Daniel really didn't know quite what to do with himself. Everyone was interested in Richie, including him, but to actually face the young man was going to take more than a simple decision on Daniel's part. Logically the archaeologist knew that Richie wasn't a Goa'uld, well at least he was partially, but not as far as the way he thought and felt. It was getting his subconscious into line that was causing Daniel problems. The moment O'Neill had led Richie into the room, Daniel had had to leave before he said something he'd regret later. He'd seen the man who had saved all their lives, and the one thing he had felt most of all was a desire to kill him. Daniel was not a violent person usually, but when it came to Goa'ulds it was a different matter entirely. Rational thought had little to do with the way he reacted to them, and reigning in his instincts was not the easiest thing for Daniel to do. Richie had got them out of captivity; he had saved Sam, and yet all the archaeologist wanted to do was throttle him with his bare hands. Then of course there was the "but why" thoughts going around in his head. The ones that asked over and over why this man was blessed to over come the Goa'uld possession, but Shauri had been doomed to life as one of their puppets and finally destroyed by them. He knew Richie was Immortal, knew he had a gift that Shauri did not, nor never could have, but still the questions continued round in his head. He needed time to think, needed time to sort out his feelings and come to terms with the new situation. He had come to terms with Teal'c ... eventually, he could cope with this too. End of Part 11