If you read parts 1-5 before June 8, 2008, please go back and have a re-read. I explain more about how the newly infected are ranked and it might come into play later. Thanks! Oh, and have a look at the Poll I posted on my profile. It will effect part 7.
Part 1: Vampires?
--
The city seemed entirely abandoned despite the clear, sunny day. The Stargate was in a spacious park. The gate was positioned to face a distant grove of trees. To the team's right was the path leading to a small city; to the left was the path towards larger, single-residence homes. The team headed towards the town.
Col. Jack O'Neill and Teal'c led the party down the street with Dr. Daniel Jackson and Capt. Sam Carter looking around. Outside of the park, the buildings lining the narrow, treeless street were plain-looking, practically windowless, two-story row houses.
They could all hear recorded sounds coming from the insides of the houses. Some of the noises were music, others seemed to be radio announcers or television-style entertainment shows.
"There's nothing wrong with the atmosphere or the air, so I wonder why no one's outside," Sam said. "Admittedly, the UV rating for today could easily be at a harmful level during certain hours, but right now it's fairly mild."
"I hope their reluctance to venture outside is not due to an infestation of large insects," Teal'c said, tightening his grip on the staff-weapon as they continued down the street.
There was a large building at the end of the street. It had pillars out front, and was four stories tall with bars on the basement and ground-floor windows. It was the tallest building in sight.
"That looks like it's probably town hall," O'Neill said, nodding towards the building.
A scream came from one of the homes they were passing. They were sure it wasn't any sort of recording.
The team stopped and looked towards the building.
"Jack...?" Daniel started to ask.
O'Neill nodded.
The team positioned themselves on either side of the door of the house where the scream had come from, their weapons ready.
"Please, don't!" a small, shrill voice begged.
O'Neill knocked on the door. "Everything all right in there?"
Another scream came from inside, this time it was muffled by something.
"We're here to help," Daniel called.
They could all still hear the frightened, muffled sobbing.
"No assistance is needed," hissed a woman's voice in an angry tone as the girl's muffled screams continued.
"Jack, we have to do something," Daniel whispered urgently.
O'Neill sighed. "We're coming inside," he called towards the door. He tried the door. It was unlocked.
A door swung open, they heard someone running and then all that remained was a quiet sobbing.
"Hello?" he called into the darkness.
No lights were on in the house. The only window was in the rear of the building, and it was covered securely with thick curtains.
The light flooded down the hall, past the small kitchen, and into the living room.
Sam and O'Neill flipped on the lights that were mounted to their guns, and Daniel pulled out a flashlight, shining it into the dark.
In the living room they found the small girl, tied tightly to a wooden chair.
Daniel rushed past Sam and O'Neill, and started untie her. "You're going to be OK."
The girl began to calm down, her cheeks stained with tears and dust.
Sam and O'Neill shone their lights throughout the room when, out of nowhere, a woman's hand reached forward and grabbed Daniel by the shirt collar, dragging him with her into the dark corner.
The little girl screamed again, her breath held in shock as she saw her would-be savior dragged back by the monster.
Sam and O'Neill aimed their weapons and lights at the corner.
The woman was pale with long black hair and black clothing. Her fingernails were long and sharp. She held Daniel in place now with one clawed-hand around his throat. As her attention darted between the three intruders, her eyes caught the light and reflected like two shiny gold coins.
"What are you doing in my house?" the pale woman demanded.
As she spoke the team could see her pointed teeth pressing against her lips.
"The better question is why you have a kid tied up in your living room," O'Neill replied.
The woman looked even angrier. "I have the permit posted on my door--in case you hadn't noticed--so you have no right to be in here."
"We're travelers and…" Daniel began to say, but the woman looked at him and tightened her grip so he couldn't say anything else. He placed his hand on her wrist very lightly, hoping the gesture would tell her she was holding on too tightly for him to breathe.
"Permit?" Sam asked. "To do what? Torture a child?"
"She is a criminal," the woman assured quickly. "Your criminals are given to us."
"What was her crime?" Teal'c asked.
The woman glared at them again. "You are trespassing." She smiled, her teeth looking very sharp in the light of their flashlights. "It may be within my rights to do whatever I wish with you as well." She tightened her grip and her claws dug in a little deeper.
"Let our friend go," O'Neill began coolly, "and we can straighten this out with the people who run your town."
"Where we come from if anyone screams for help people are allowed to enter a building," Sam added, trying to justify their intrusion.
Daniel made a move to get away, grabbing onto the woman's hand and pulling it from his throat as he darted away.
The woman, however, leaned forward quickly and tried to recapture him. Her claws caught his hand and shredded the skin as she gained a more secure hold.
O'Neill pulled the trigger, firing a single shot into her outstretched arm.
She refused to let go. The woman's blood oozed down her arm and onto Daniel.
Teal'c fired his Zat gun, stunning both her and Daniel.
The woman hit the floor, unconscious, and Daniel hit the rug beside the girl, crippled by the electricity.
Teal'c kept his aim on the woman as Sam and O'Neill rushed forward and dragged Daniel a few paces farther from the woman. Sam crouched by Daniel while O'Neill straightened and re-aimed his weapon.
Daniel readjusted his glasses, his hands shaking a little.
"You all right?" O'Neill asked Daniel casually.
Daniel nodded a little. "I don't think she was going to let us just walk out of here with the girl." The reality of his bloody injury finally struck him and he started putting pressure on his hand.
Sam nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You did the right thing."
Daniel looked to the girl, and Sam helped him sit up to face the child. "My name's Daniel. Are you alright?"
The girl recoiled from him, almost thrashing as much as she must have been against the woman. "No, don't touch me!"
Daniel was shocked.
"It's OK, he's trying to help you," Sam insisted kindly, her focus, like Jack's was more on the woman.
"Anyone but him," the girl whimpered.
Daniel was even more confused. He'd just ended up as a hostage because he was trying to free her from the ropes, and now she didn't even want his help. He stood and backed away from her towards the exit, his hand still keeping pressure on the stinging, bloody scratches. "I-I guess I'll wait over there," he said reluctantly, joining Teal'c near what appeared to be the kitchen.
The girl started to calm down immediately.
"I will treat your injury," Teal'c volunteered, removing a package of bandages and disinfectant from the lower locket of his vest.
Jack continued to point his weapon at the woman and gave a nod to Sam.
Sam crawled over and started to untie the girl. The ropes were knotted more tightly than she'd originally thought. "Can you tell me your name? I'm Samantha, but you can just call me Sam, if you'd like."
The girl was quiet, thinking of nothing else but her own release.
"Can you tell us why you are so scared of Daniel?" Sam continued, finally freeing her hands and moving onto her the tightly bound legs.
She still didn't answer.
Teal'c put the bloody cloth into a plastic baggie and began to wrap the hand in the cloth bandage.
Sam was finally a little annoyed with the ropes. She let go of the ropes and started to dig into the pocket of her vest. "The knots are pulled too tightly." She found the pocketknife and pulled out the blade. "Don't be afraid I'm going to just cut the ropes."
The girl nodded a little, still very shaken.
Sam cut the bindings and before she could say another word, the girl slipped from the seat and shot out of the door.
Sam and Jack rushed after her and Teal'c tucked in the last of the bandage before he and Daniel followed.
The girl was already at the end of the street, turning the corner.
SG-1 didn't chase her.
"Is it just me, or are all the people around here just a little strange?" Jack asked the group with a hint of frustration.
Daniel shut the woman's door as he stepped off the porch. "If these people don't like to come out of their houses during the day, maybe we should go to the town hall and explain what happened before the sun sets and we have a whole city full of people who think we're criminals," he suggested.
Sam nodded a little in agreement as she glanced at her watch. "According to our calculations, the second sun should be setting in the next hour. Leaving now might make it look like we actually are guilty of something."
"I agree," Teal'c said simply.
"Sure," Jack said casually, setting out towards the building. "What's the worst that could happen?"
The others followed.
--
Jack, Teal'c and Sam all began to wake up. They were lying on the stone floor, all three inside the same prison cell. Their weapons and vests had been taken.
"Sir?" Sam asked nervously as she sat up.
Jack pushed himself upright and gave a small shrug. He looked at Teal'c. "Do you know what happened?"
Teal'c sat up. "We entered through the front doors of the town's administrative building. I do not recall how we came to be prisoners."
"Daniel?" Jack called, looking through the bars at the other empty cells in an attempt to find Daniel.
"He's not here, Sir," Sam pointed out.
The room they were in was fairly small, just large enough for three separate cells along one wall and separated by thick metal bars. Each cell seemed designed to hold up to four prisoners. Directly in front of the center cell was a door leading out of the holding area; it had a single small window covered in heavy glass. Each cell was equipped with some sort of an electronic lock, but only the cell holding SG1 was fitted with a single, barred window just large enough to fit an arm through. There were no overhead lamps so the only source of light was the shaft of electric light coming through the tiny window from the building across the street.
Jack pressed a button on his watch so it would light up, and he gave a heavy sign. "We've been out almost 12 hours."
Sam looked shocked, but Teal'c was unphased. "Indeed," he replied simply.
They all made their way to their feet.
Jack walked over to the locked door to examine the lock. "Carter? Do you think you can get us out of here?"
Sam checked her pockets for her tiny flashlight, but it was gone along with the rest of her gear. "It might be a little too dark for me to do much but..." Sam went to the door, but the door leading outside opened and they all froze, hoping that the newcomer hadn't heard their discussion of escape.
A red-haired man escorted Daniel into the center cell, a small amount of light coming into their dark room as the door opened.
"Daniel," Jack called, standing as they all went to the bars. "What happened?" His glasses were missing, and he looked almost as pale as the guard.
The man placed his palm on the black locking mechanism and the cell let out a loud click, swinging open. He stepped aside and gestured into the cell.
Daniel walked inside and sat down heavily on the bench inside, his eyes fixed on the floor in a daze. He was exhausted and felt a little dizzy.
The guard shut the door, pressed his hand on the lock again, and it made the same sound as it relocked. He ignored the others and spoke to Daniel. "The first sun will be up soon. When it sets we will bring you a meal." He looked at the others. "At the setting of the second sun you will all be evaluated. By dawn of our first sun tomorrow you will all be informed of your status."
"What is that supposed to mean?" O'Neill asked the guard.
"You will either be found innocent and released, or found guilty and sold to one of my countrymen for your crimes." He nodded towards Daniel. "He will be given a rank based on his skills and abilities. He will then either be made a citizen, or he will be put to death."
"Why is Daniel's crime different from ours?" Sam demanded. "And what is our crime?"
The guard didn't answer.
"We need to talk to your superiors," Jack said finally. "This has just been a misunderstanding. We're not exactly from around here."
The guard was quiet for a moment, as if lost in thoughts of his own, and finally repeated what he had already said. "By dawn of our first sun tomorrow you will all be informed of your status." He turned around and left. They heard another electronic click and the door to the holding area locked, leaving the room in almost complete darkness.
"They aren't telling us anything," Sam said in a frustrated voice as she hit the bar with her hands. "And it sounds like they're not going to listen to anything we're telling them."
Daniel sat quietly.
"Daniel Jackson, are you not well?" Teal'c asked from the bench supplied to the group's cell.
"No, Teal'c I'm actually not well at all," Daniel said quietly, his head still bowed as he stared at the floor.
"What happened?" O'Neill asked again.
He looked up, his eyes catching a shaft of light and his pupils glinting gold the way a cat's or a dog's do when exposed to light in dim conditions. His eyes looked the same as the strange woman's had.
"S-So you're one of them?" Jack asked. "Whatever they are..." he added.
Daniel nodded a little. "That's what their doctors think, too. When you shot that woman, her blood infected me with something."
The others were quiet, waiting for any other sort of explanation.
"They haven't exactly told me anything but from what I've been able to learn this is not airborne or transmitted just by contact," Daniel assured, a little more strongly. "It's in the blood and the saliva, but has to enter someone' blood to change them."
"Did you figure out why that woman had the kid tied to a chair?" Sam asked him.
Daniel nodded a little, giving a nervous laugh.
Even in the dark they could see the points that had formed on the tips of his canine teeth.
"I think they're vampires," Daniel admitted. He gestured towards himself, giving another nervous laugh when he touched his own jacket with a shaking hand. "I-I think I've been turned into a vampire." His laugh turned into a sob and he brought his hands over his eyes and face. "This isn't exactly something a person can bounce back from."
"Don't be silly," Jack said happily. "One little trip to Ole Doc Fraiser and you'll be right as rain."
"They don't know a way to stop it or reverse it, or they'd have given it to me," Daniel corrected.
Jack still seemed hopeful, but Sam and Teal's seemed a little less convinced.
"Am I right to believe that a vampire is the creature from the black and white films you have shown me?" Teal'c asked.
Sam nodded.
Teal'c raised an eyebrow.
"When I woke up they had me in a hospital room and were doing blood tests or something. They said that tonight they're going to rank and evaluate me," he reminded as he took his hands away from his face, evidently calming down a little. "What they mean is they want to see if I can do any of that stuff like the vampires from the movies and legends: super strength or speed, move things with my mind, read thoughts, or make people see things... They're not even sure what abilities someone is going to have until they're evaluated," Daniel explained. "If they decide I was a smart enough as a normal person, and I can do enough of those weird things, they'll give me a higher rank." He sounded a little panicky again as he continued. "And then they want to make sure I'll kill someone to stay alive."
"You mean by drinking their blood?" Sam asked to clarify. "Like in the horror movies?"
He nodded, licking his dry lips a little. "Since they don't have a cure they have some sort of law about people who have been bitten. It's along the lines of someone's sense of morality being able to accept the laws of nature. Everyone who's been changed has to prove that they're willing to kill anyone they bite so they don't overpopulate the world with us." He sighed. "It's become an important part of their culture," he added a little more calmly.
"Way to keep things in perspective," Jack said.
Daniel ignored him and continued. "If I did kill the person, and my rank is high enough, they'll let me go."
"And if you don't pass their little tests they'll kill you?" Jack asked.
Daniel nodded. "They'll tie me to the ground in a place behind this building, and when the second sun rises the light will be strong enough to burn me to death. Basically, they'll burn me alive for something I didn't have anything to do with."
"With both suns up the temperature is almost the same as Earth," Sam assured. "Our readings didn't show that the sunlight from either sun was powerful enough to burn a human to death."
"Not human," Daniel reminded. "Vampire."
"Right," Sam said distantly. "So that part about burning in the sunlight is actually true?"
Daniel nodded a little. "It must be."
"But why a death sentence?" Jack asked.
"Their planet is mostly made up of humans, but right now we're on an island continent made up of these people. The criminals of the rest of the planet are sent to this island. It's sort of like what the British did with Australia when..."
"Daniel," Jack scolded before he could say much more.
"Right," Daniel agreed, realizing how off track he'd almost become. "The vampires have complete control over the island's government, and pretty much assume that the only humans in this country are just criminals or escaped slaves. All the criminals are sold to the citizens as slaves. They can actually do anything they want to their slaves," Daniel said in amazement. "With the right paperwork they can even kill them. That's why the woman kept saying she was allowed to have the girl."
"And that is what they plan on doing with us?" Teal'c asked, finally a note of passion in his voice. He'd been a slave for most of his life, and was not intending to be enslaved again.
"Yep," Daniel said simply. "And if a citizen wants to infect a human, criminal or otherwise, they have to get a license. If a person is changed without being licensed, both the person and the one who infected them are put to death. They don't want the ratio of humans-to-vampires to be too high for fear that all life on the planet may end."
"So that's why you're in hot water," Sam finished.
Daniel nodded as his eyes shifted to the small, barred window above Teal'c. "Bringing us back around to the little test they want to put me through tonight. The first sun is going to be up in a little while, so I'm going to wait until then before trying to open the door."
"How?" Jack asked.
He didn't answer right away. "If I do have any abilities, maybe one of them can get us out of here. I don't know how drained I'll be after tapping into it, so I'm not going to try anything until we have a clear shot to the gate," Daniel explained. "By the time the first sun rises everyone, even the guards, should be out of here and at their homes. When the second one comes up everyone in the whole town is probably going to be asleep."
"How do you know?" O'Neill asked suspiciously. "And didn't you say they never told you anything?"
Daniel smiled a little, nervously. "It was the guard. Even before you asked him the questions he was showing me all of the answers."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" O'Neill asked again, just as he had asked the guard a few minutes earlier.
"I think I could read his mind," Daniel admitted. "Or maybe he was the one who was projecting that stuff into my head."
Everyone was a little shocked.
"Telepathy?" Teal'c asked. "Well, I am still pleased that there were no large insects."
"Amen to that," Jack and Daniel said at the same time, looking at eachother as if to wonder whether Daniel had read his mind or whether he and Jack simply agreed.
--
The building had been much quieter over the last thirty minutes. It seemed that Daniel had been right. Now that the second sun was rising, there didn't seem to be anyone else in the building.
Daniel finally stood. He'd been saving his energy since the first sun rose so he could try to use some kind of ability to open the door. He stumbled a little as he walked towards the front of the cell. He was a light-headed, almost the way he used to feel in Abydos when he'd forgotten to drink enough water.
"Still doin' ok?" O'Neill asked from the floor of the shared cell beside Daniel's. His hat was over his eyes as he rested, but he'd heard the slight shuffling noise.
"Peachy," he lied. Holding his hand over the lock he tried concentrating on several different goals to see if he possessed any other useful ability. Maybe I can just make things move if I think hard enough... "I don't even know where to start," he confessed quietly.
"Is the second sun up now?" Sam asked, brushing off her pants as she stood and went to the window to look outside.
"Yep," Daniel answered simply, still concentrating hard on unlocking the door somehow.
"It's pretty overcast out there," Sam commented.
"What is it that you are attempting to do, DanielJackson," Teal'c asked.
Just then Daniel felt a small spark of energy running through his hand and into the lock. The door beeped and unlatched.
Teal'c and O'Neill got to their feet.
"Nice job Danny-Boy," O'Neill praised at a loud whisper as he jumped to his feet.
"Now I just have to figure out how to do that two more times," Daniel caught his balance on the door as he almost fell again.
"Take it easy," Sam said calmly, turning back to Daniel. "We're not in any rush yet, so take your time."
He nodded and stopped to rest.
"How'd you do that?" Sam asked.
"No clue," Daniel admitted as he followed the bars to the other door and put his hand against the lock. He felt the electricity surge through his hand, and the door immediately beeped as the lock was thrown.
Sam, Teal'c, and O'Neill quickly left the cell.
"Any intel on where they left our gear?" O'Neill asked.
Daniel was still balancing against the bars, hesitant to let go of them to unlock the final electronically sealed door that would get them out of the holding area.
Sam peered through the small window, seeing a deserted entryway with a desk and another door leading outside. She ducked down again quickly in case there were any other security people wandering. "It looks like they were examining our equipment, but most of it seems to be on a desk just outside this door," she announced quietly.
"Do you need assistance, DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked, offering his hand to his friend.
Daniel accepted the extra balance until he reached the wall with the keypad. He let got of Teal'c and used the wall to balance. Just as he'd done a moment ago, he placed his hand on the lock and gave it a zap. It beeped before releasing the lock. Daniel shook his hand a few times and stretched his fingers. For a few seconds his fingers seemed to have gone numb from whatever electricity had just been sent through them.
Jack raised a finger to his lips, and motioned for them to rest against the wall. He slowly pushed the door open.
"There's noone out there," Daniel assured. He tilted his head a little, listening. "But they're on their way from about four floors down. We have to go right now," he said with more urgency.
Jack led them through the door first, and everyone grabbed their gear.
Daniel slipped on his heavy jacket and started to unfold the hood hidden in the collar.
"What are you doing that for? Just grab the rest of your gear so we can get out of here," Jack said, hurriedly putting the nick-knacks where they were supposed to go.
"Vampires," Daniel said simply, still unraveling the hood.
"Point being?" Jack said, slipping the strap of his gun over his shoulder. He was ready, but Daniel was slowing their progress.
"Sunlight, sir," Sam said with a note of surprise in her voice, almost as though it hadn't occurred to her either. "Since it seems he has been changed into one of these... um... people he'll need to cover up before going outside."
Daniel pulled the hood over his head and grabbed the sunglasses from the pocket.
"Right," Jack said as distantly as Sam had when the topic of vampires and sunlight had been brought up earlier. He reached in the bag and dug out the gloves, handing them to Daniel as he secured the bag and helped Daniel slip the pack onto his back.
Daniel slipped on the gloves. "I'll need a little help seeing where I'm going," he admitted nervously as they all headed towards the exit. He knew they had to leave, but the idea of sprinting through a sunny street when the light could potentially seer the skin from his bones was more than a little unnerving.
"I will lead you safely you the Stargate, DanielJackson," Teal'c said as they jogged down a hall towards the sunlight that was coming through the windows of a barred door.
When they burst through the doors into the light Daniel called out in pain, pulling his hood even lower with one hand, and holding out the other as he kept running.
Teal'c grabbed him by the outstretched forearm. "It is not very far," he assured with a as comfortingly as he could in the time of urgency.
The four of them ran as fast as they could manage towards the park where the Stargate was located.
They heard some distant shouts from the building they'd just left as they made it around the corner. The gate was in sight.
"I'm dialing," Sam called from the distant lead, quickly punching in the symbols as the others caught up.
Teal'c let go of Daniel by the DHD as he and Jack looked back the way they'd come to make sure they hadn't been followed. Daniel was doubled over, trying to catch his breath and keep the light off of his skin. He was almost too dizzy to stand up straight again.
The Stargate opened and Sam dialed the security code into her wrist device to open the iris on the other side. "Ready," Sam called, turning to her friends.
Daniel fell to his knees, his muscles finally giving out. With every heartbeat the black splotches in front of his eyes were blocking out what little he could see in the overexposed world.
"Not so fast, Daniel," Jack called as he and Teal'c both got him to his feet by either arm.
Teal'c put one of his arms under Daniel's shoulders to brace him as they headed up the stairs to the gate.
Three heavily-covered townspeople came around the bend in the street just as the team stepped through the wormhole and disappeared.
--
Sam appeared on the platform first, followed by Jack and Teal'c bracing the now-unconscious Daniel.
"We need Dr Fraiser down here," Jack called to the control room.
General Hammond called for the medics over the intercom before coming down to the gate-room.
Teal'c lowered Daniel to the floor and peeled away the hood and dark glasses.
One of Daniel's cheeks was almost burned black, as if he'd been burned by a fire. Quite a bit of his jaw line also had a peeling red burn across it where the hood couldn't protect him from the sunlight occasionally filtering through the clouds.
"What happened to Dr. Jackson?" the General demanded as the gate room door opened and he and the medical team came through.
"Let's just say he needs a blood transfusion as soon as possible," Jack answered seriously towards the doctors.
Doctor Janet Fraiser and the nurses gathered around Daniel and put him onto a gurney.
"You should probably put him into quarantine and watch out for his teeth," Jack added, turning back to the General. "We've landed on planets where our team has been turned into cavemen, incubators for gigantic bugs, and now we seem to have opened the gate to a place with vampires."
"Vampires?" the General asked.
--
Briefing room
Daniel was still unconscious and in the quarantine area. Sam and Jack had just finished explaining the situation to General Hammond and Dr. Fraiser in the briefing room. Teal'c sat at the table only having occasionally added relevant information.
"...And that's when we stepped through the Gate," Sam finished.
"Vampires?" the General asked one more time, still in shock despite all of the information the team had gathered on the situation.
"What they've described seems to be consistent with the results of Daniel's blood work," Dr. Fraiser agreed. "He's been infected by some sort of parasite that's just smaller than a red blood cell. It's like malaria, but instead of entering and just destroying the red blood cell, they enter and consume the cells."
"So that's what's making him anemic?" Sam asked.
Janet nodded. "The parasites don't impair red blood cell production but there are so many that the body can't keep up with the need. On top of that the parasite is extremely photosensitive. When it's exposed to ultraviolet light, it combusts and destroys most of the surrounding tissue."
"Did you figure out how it's transmitted?" General Hammond asked her.
"There are heavier concentrations of the parasite in the mouth, eyes, and digestive system, but they're located throughout his blood. Daniel was right when he told his team that it's not airborne and not transmitted by regular physical contact. It needs to somehow enter a person's bloodstream. In the four hours since the team has returned, Daniel's fingernails have actually grown about a quarter of an inch, however, I don't think this can be transmitted by a scratch."
The doctor finally got up and typed a few things on the computer so a diagram of the digestive system popped up on the screen. "Because of where the parasites are, it makes sense that ingesting the blood would be the best source of relief for the afflicted person. These parasites have completely shut down his normal digestion. When the parasite consumes the blood, the waste it secrets is everything the human body needs to function. People infected with this parasite don't need food, and would probably get sick if they tried to eat anything. We won't know for sure until he wakes up, but I think he may still need to keep drinking water so his usual production of blood wouldn't be impaired. The parasites also secrete several stimulants that will give the person a boost of energy and feeling of euphoria."
"Like a drug?" Sam asked.
The doctor nodded. "That's how the parasite keeps its host motivated to actually drink the blood rather than solely rely on transfusions: the fix is faster when more of the parasites are fed at once."
"What's with the teeth and eyes? And the claws, for that matter?" Jack asked. "It's all this parasite right, and not like his DNA's being rewritten? 'Cuse you know how much I hate it when that happens."
She pressed another key on the computer and a generic photograph of a mouth showed up on the screen. "It's all due to the parasite. In the mouth the parasite is cleaning the teeth, removing harmful bacteria, and repairing damage. It's sharpened the teeth by moving the foreign particles and the natural minerals in his saliva to the very tips of the canines."
She pressed another button. A cross-section diagram of an eye came onto the screen.
"Because they are parasites that live in the dark, and need a host that's adapted for functioning in low-light conditions, some of them have gathered near the retina." She pointed towards the retina on the diagram. "The parasites themselves are so sensitive to light that they expect the host to remain in as little light as possible. Long story short, they reflect and magnify any light they're exposed to so theoretically his night-vision should be better than 20/20 even in pitch black conditions. Because of this effect, when lights are shone in the host's eyes, the eyes magnify it and seem to shine it back. The only thing I can compare it to is how the eyes of nocturnal animals react."
Another diagram of an eye popped up on the screen.
She pointed towards the iris. "Even though he's still unconscious I can tell that it's also affected the way his eyes will focus. The parasites are acting like a contact lenses so Daniel doesn't need his glasses. As far as I can tell, his eyes can focus more precisely than anyone I've ever examined."
"Bottom line, Doctor," the General began. "Can you cure him?"
"Under the microscope the parasite itself is vulnerable to all levels of ultraviolet light, but since Daniel's last blood test shows that over 60 percent of his blood has the parasite attached to it any sort of UV procedure would probably kill him. From the tests we've run in the lab, none of the standard medications seem to effectively destroy the organism."
"And the not-so-standard-ones?" Jack asked.
Dr. Fraiser sighed. "There are hundreds of medications designed to interfere with the activities of a parasite. We've only scratched the surface. I still can't explain how he generated the electrical charge from his hands, and we can't really assess any other changes until he's stronger and, more importantly, awake."
--