Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

Janet Fraiser shook her head and made a notation in the file in front of her.

‘So what’s the verdict, Doc?’

Colonel Jack O’Neill’s cheery question had her turning to the smiling military officer with a sigh. ‘As far as I can tell, Colonel, the memory loss aside, you seem to be back to normal.’ His results had indicated that the effects of the device that had caused him to behave so abnormally had disappeared. She shook her head in disbelief.

‘Excellent.’ Jack jumped off the infirmary bed as though to leave.

‘But,’ Janet raised her voice slightly and stopped him in his tracks, ‘I want you to remain on base tonight so we can monitor your condition.’

‘Doc…’

‘That’s an order, Colonel.’ Janet insisted, holding his annoyed brown eyes with her own for a long moment until he nodded in acknowledgement. She slid her gaze to the two men standing beside him. ‘It would be good if one of you could stay with him.’

‘Sure.’ Daniel Jackson instantly responded, folding his arms around his torso as he nodded enthusiastically. The Jaffa beside him was slightly more subdued giving his agreement with a slow inclination of his bald head.

Janet suppressed the relieved sigh and tapped her folder sharply as her gaze returned to the Colonel. ‘It’s purely precautionary, Colonel, just in case whatever these aliens did to you was temporary.’

The light in Jack’s eyes dimmed a little as he assimilated her concern. ‘Right. Better safe than sorry, huh?’

‘Come back and see me in the morning, Colonel. If everything checks out, you’ll be back on duty.’ Janet held his gaze again until she got a grudging agreement.

The Colonel headed out of the infirmary and Daniel threw Janet an apologetic look before he and Teal’c followed their friend. They found him paused outside in the corridor as though uncertain as to his direction.

‘You OK, Jack?’ Daniel asked worriedly.

‘Yeah.’ Jack shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘Lunch?’

‘Actually, it’s closer to dinner.’ Daniel said carefully, glancing at his watch.

‘Dinner then.’ Jack said, impatiently. He wheeled around and strode away from them.

It wasn’t too long before they all sat at their usual table in the commissary, plates of food in front of them.

Jack cleared his throat. ‘Where’s Carter?’ He asked casually as though he had only just realised that the Captain who was the fourth member of their team was missing; he had actually noticed her absence as soon as he had walked onto the ramp in the gate room.

‘Hammond has her checking what you did with the computer when you were…you know.’ Daniel said, waving his knife at the Colonel. ‘I think that’s why he delayed the briefing until tomorrow too.’

‘Ah.’ Jack shovelled another forkful of meatloaf into his mouth. ‘So what happened exactly while I was…’ he waved his own knife in an imitation of the archaeologist, ‘you know.’

‘Don’t you remember anything?’ Daniel asked.

‘I vaguely remember sparring with Teal’c,’ Jack’s eyes flickered to the Jaffa who inclined his head in acknowledgement, ‘and then…nothing until I…uh…found myself talking to the little grey guys.’

‘Nothing?’ Daniel repeated.

‘Nothing.’ Jack confirmed.

‘Wow.’ Daniel shook his head. ‘That’s incredible.’

‘So what happened?’ Jack asked with annoyance.

‘The information in your brain slowly eroded your ability to communicate with us until you constructed a device that allowed you to connect a wormhole to the Asgard, O’Neill.’ Teal’c said calmly.

‘I know that,’ Jack said frustrated, ‘I meant, what exactly happened?’

Daniel and Teal’c exchanged a look. Teal’c stuffed a large amount of food in his mouth and Daniel sighed as he realised the Jaffa had left him to respond to their team-leader.

‘Well, as you know you started to speak Ancient.’ Daniel said. ‘You translated the circle on the floor of the room we were in.’

‘I did?’ Jack frowned. ‘What did it say?’

‘Place of our legacy.’ Daniel said, around a mouthful of chicken casserole. ‘We think the device was an Ancient repository of information, kind of a database where they stored all their knowledge.’ He pushed some food onto his fork. ‘There must be so much we could learn from it.’

‘Our brains aren’t ready.’ Jack pointed his fork at the younger man. ‘So don’t even think what I know you’re thinking.’

Daniel blinked at him. ‘I’m not thinking anything.’ He denied.

‘Yes, you are.’ Jack responded.

‘No, I’m not.’ Daniel immediately retorted.

‘You are.’ Jack shot back.

‘Am not.’

‘Are.’

‘Not.’

The two men glared at each other.

‘Daniel, you can’t tell me that the thought of going back to P3R…whatever and downloading all that stuff into your head hasn’t crossed your mind.’ Jack said forcefully.

Daniel shifted uncomfortably on his chair. He waved his fork at the other man. ‘We are talking about the knowledge of the Ancients here, Jack, the Gate-builders.’

‘Nobody is sticking their heads into one of those things again.’ Jack insisted. ‘It almost killed me.’

‘But in the meantime you helped me translate the Ancient language, downloaded a lot of additional Stargate addresses into the computer, came up with a revolutionary equation to help with the Doppler shift calculations and Macgyvered some kind of energy device.’ Daniel said passionately.

Jack shook his head dismissively. ‘We don’t know for certain that I didn’t damage the computer.’ He looked down at his plate. ‘I’m sure that’s why Hammond has Carter checking.’

Daniel caught Jack’s gaze. ‘I think everything you did was an attempt to help us in some way.’ He gestured at him. ‘You saved Sam and Teal’c.’

‘I did?’ Jack was taken aback.

‘You did, O’Neill.’ Teal’c confirmed.

‘They went to P9Q281 trying to get you some help but there was a problem with the DHD.’ Daniel explained.

‘We would have died without your assistance, O’Neill.’ Teal’c added.

‘You drew detailed instructions for Sam to fix it.’ Daniel expanded.

Jack swallowed the food that had turned to sawdust in his mouth and reached for his glass of water. ‘You guys almost died?’

‘Indeed.’ Teal’c nodded sagely. ‘There was a second sun that was not immediately apparent and the planet became uncomfortably warm.’ He paused. ‘Captain Carter was most affected.’

‘But she’s OK?’ Jack checked. Sam was a typical blonde; she burned easily.

‘She’s fine.’ Daniel said nodding. ‘She’s a little sun-burnt.’

‘So why aren’t you sun-burnt?’ Jack wondered out loud staring at the archaeologist. ‘You usually burn just as much as Carter.’

‘I…uh…I didn’t go.’ Daniel admitted, looking down at his empty plate.

‘Daniel Jackson refused to leave your side, O’Neill.’ Teal’c said.

Jack’s eyes widened and he looked over at the younger man who was turning an interesting shade of red. ‘Really?’ He drawled the word, amused at how Daniel was avoiding his gaze.

‘You were speaking Ancient.’ Daniel muttered. ‘I was the only one who could understand you.’

The Colonel was silent for a moment. ‘I appreciate it, Daniel.’

Daniel’s gaze jerked upward to collide with Jack’s. The evident sincerity there had him turning a deeper shade of red but he nodded in acknowledgement of the other man’s gratitude.

Teal’c hid a smile of satisfaction.

‘I guess I owe you all some thanks.’ Jack said, turning his attention to the Jaffa.

‘No thanks are necessary, O’Neill.’ Teal’c stated firmly. ‘We were unable to assist you.’

‘Teal’c’s right.’ Daniel said, happily moving the conversation onwards. ‘You really saved yourself.’

‘Yes, well…’ Jack shrugged. He didn’t remember any of it.

‘So what was it like?’ Daniel asked, leaning forward over the table eagerly, his shirt perilously close to his plate.

‘What was what like?’ Jack asked, uncertain what Daniel was asking exactly.

‘The planet you went to.’ Daniel expanded. ‘What was it like?’

‘Well, I didn’t really get an opportunity to go outside and take a look around.’ Jack responded. He pushed his main course away and reached for the dish of red jello he had picked.

‘The gate was inside?’ Daniel nudged his glasses back up his nose.

‘Yeah.’ Jack nodded and waved a spoonful of the red wobbly dessert at his friend. ‘Now that was an odd place.’

Daniel’s eyes widened. ‘I wish I could have seen it.’

‘I think I surprised the heck out of the Asgard as it was, Daniel.’ Jack confessed. ‘I don’t think they’re used to humans flying through their gate and pleading to be saved every day.’

‘But you talked to them, right?’ Daniel checked. ‘After they…fixed you.’

‘Right.’ Jack shoved a large spoonful of jello in his mouth.

‘So what did they say?’ Daniel asked exasperated.

‘I too am curious, O’Neill.’ Teal’c added encouragingly.

Jack swallowed and sighed. ‘They explained they’ve been to Earth and have watched us; that’s why they knew our brains weren’t ready for that device thing.’

‘Well, we kind of knew that already.’ Daniel said disappointed. ‘I mean, about them coming to Earth.’

‘They also confirmed the alliance thing.’ Jack said. ‘Apparently they were allied with three other races.’ He scooped up more jello and missed seeing Daniel’s expression brighten. ‘The Nox, these Ancient guys and some race called the Furlings.’

‘Wow.’ Daniel took a sip of water. ‘So who are the Furlings?’

‘How should I know?’ Jack said impatiently. ‘I’m just telling you what they said.’

‘They must be another advanced race.’ Teal’c mused. ‘I have not heard of them.’

Daniel sighed. ‘Did the Asgard say anything else? I mean, are they willing to talk to us yet?’

‘Not exactly.’ Jack pushed a hand through his hair.

‘They think we’re still too young?’ Daniel looked crushed.

‘Maybe.’ Jack said thoughtfully. He pointed at the archaeologist. ‘They did say we had taken our first step to becoming,’ he mimed quotation marks, ‘the fifth race.’

‘The fifth race?’ Daniel’s eyes widened again. ‘You mean joining the alliance?’

‘I guess,’ muttered Jack.

‘Wow. That’s…wow.’ Daniel blinked. ‘Do they really think we’re worthy?’

‘I think it’s more along the lines that they think we’re going to be worthy eventually.’ Jack waved his hand. ‘Some day. In the future.’

Teal’c arched an elegant eyebrow.

Jack made another vague gesture. ‘One day. Maybe.’

Daniel clicked his fingers several times and almost rose from his chair. ‘The fish guy!’

‘Excuse me?’ Jack asked, blinking at him disconcertedly.

‘Nem.’ Daniel stated excitedly. Jack’s face remained blank. ‘The alien who kidnapped me and made you guys think I was dead.’

‘Oh. Him.’ Jack exchanged a resigned look with Teal’c. ‘What about him?’

‘Maybe he’s a Furling.’ Daniel said gesturing. ‘He was advanced and his mate must have been on Earth around the same time as the Asgard.’

‘I don’t know, Daniel.’ Jack said slowly and leaned back in his chair. ‘The Furlings kind of sound cute and fuzzy to me.’ He threw his spoon in the empty dish.

Teal’c’s eyebrows rose.

‘I wonder if we’ll ever meet them.’ Daniel murmured.

‘Who knows?’ Jack shrugged. ‘Maybe we already have and didn’t know it.’

‘Well, that’s depressing.’ Daniel objected.

Jack smiled as he got up from the table. ‘Don’t worry, Daniel, I’m sure when we do meet them, you’ll be the first to tell me not to shoot them.’

o-O-o

Samantha Carter looked at the device in front of her and gave it a desolate poke. It remained lifeless. She slumped into the stool and rubbed the back of her neck. Her blue eyes felt gritty and sore having spent an entire night reviewing machine code and checking that the Colonel’s actions while he had been under the influence of the Ancient knowledge hadn’t done any irretrievable harm. It had taken her and two other technicians far too long to establish that the Colonel had actually increased the efficiency of the dialling programme along with inputting the coordinates of many more Stargates in the galaxy. She shook her head. She didn’t know which was more impressive.

She sighed and slowly lowered her head; her arms provided a pillow as she laid them flat on the workbench. She just needed to close her eyes for a minute, she thought wearily, just for a minute and then she’d look at the device again. A whole team of scientists had looked at the device and declared it was dead but General Hammond had still given it to her. The Colonel had built it to supplement the power when he had dialled the Stargate to the Asgard planet and the General was interested in seeing if they could use it on an ongoing basis to relieve the pressure on the electricity requirements. So far, she had drawn as much of a blank as the other scientists on base and she had a gut feeling that wasn’t going to change particularly as according to Daniel the Colonel didn’t remember what he did.

She shifted position restlessly. She had been a little frustrated that her work had kept her from checking that the SG1 team leader was OK after he had come back through the wormhole, but she’d had her orders and she had abided by them. It had been several hours before she’d caught a break and managed to escape long enough to try and find the rest of her team. Only Daniel had still been awake. He’d been working in his office trying to translate a piece of obscure text SG2 had found on their last mission. He’d confirmed Jack had already bunked down for the night with Teal’c apparently watching over him just to make sure there weren’t any lasting effects from his experience. Daniel had brought her up to speed with what had happened with the Colonel and the Asgard. The news of the alliance and the possibility of being part of it had been uplifting; the news that Jack didn’t remember anything had been disappointing. She would have appreciated some help figuring out what he had actually done.

She stirred and sat up. She rubbed a hand over her face and stared ahead unseeingly. The whole incident had left her feeling somewhat useless. She had watched helplessly as the Ancient device had grabbed her CO and then watched him slowly overtaken by the knowledge in his head unable to prevent what was happening to him and unable to help him. At least Daniel had been able to help Jack a little as he had been able to communicate with him. She frowned at the tug of jealousy and shook it away. She knew Teal’c had felt the same as she had; they had talked a little about it on their ill-fated mission to try and get help. If the Colonel hadn’t come up with the DHD instructions…she fingered the sun-burns on her face unconsciously.

‘Hey, Earth to Carter!’

Sam blinked and turned around sharply to find Jack standing in her doorway frowning at her.

‘Are you OK, Captain?’ Jack asked as he slowly made his way into the lab to stand next to her. He’d called her name quite a few times before she had responded.

Sam smiled weakly. ‘Just tired, sir.’

‘I take it I didn’t break the computer?’ Jack asked in a lighter tone as he stuffed his hands in his pants’ pockets.

‘No, sir. Actually you improved the efficiency of the dialling programme by twenty-five per cent.’ Sam said dryly.

‘I did?’ Jack shrugged a little self-consciously. ‘Well, good.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Sam bit her lip to stop from smiling again.

Jack’s eyes roamed over her. She looked exhausted. There were purple shadows under her eyes, tension lines creasing her face and, across the bridge of her nose and cheekbones he could see the harsh burns she had suffered trying to save him. ‘You should probably get some sleep.’

Sam’s lips twisted; she obviously looked as bad as she felt. ‘General Hammond wanted me to look at this.’ She gestured at the device on the workbench.

‘I’m sure he didn’t mean right now, Carter.’ Jack said. ‘What is it anyway?’

‘It’s an energy source that you built to get enough power to the gate to dial the Asgard planet.’ Sam said succinctly. ‘You really don’t remember how it works?’

‘I really don’t.’ Jack confirmed.

‘Maybe if you worked with me, it would come back to you.’ Sam suggested, folding her arms over the black top she wore.

‘I doubt it.’ Jack said. ‘I don’t have any advanced knowledge anymore, Carter, I’m back to being,’ he gave a self-deprecating smile, ‘me.’

‘But you do have a degree in engineering, sir,’ Sam refused to let him continue with his pretence of being dumb.

‘Ah. You know about that?’ Jack sighed as she nodded. ‘Well, even so, I’m sure you’ll figure it out without me getting in your way.’ It impressed the heck out of him that she had been able to make sense of all the advancements he had apparently made.

‘I’m not sure about that, sir.’ Sam admitted, looking at the device again.

He was taken aback by the despondent note in her voice. ‘You will.’ He said confidently.

Her eyes flew back to his. For a moment the two of them stared at each other.

‘So,’ Jack said, clearing his throat, ‘breakfast?’

‘Sounds like a good idea, sir.’ Sam admitted, sliding off the stool.

‘And then, bed.’ Jack said firmly. ‘For you.’ He added hurriedly seeing her amusement. ‘Not for me.’

Sam grinned at him and opened her mouth to tease him…

The klaxon sounded.

‘Saved by the bell.’ Jack quipped. He waved her forward as they hurried to the control room. They entered at a run at the same time as the General.

‘What’s going on, Sergeant?’ Hammond asked as Sam slipped into a spare seat to interrogate the computer; Jack stood behind her. He nodded an acknowledgement as Daniel and Teal’c arrived to join them.

‘It’s an unscheduled incoming wormhole, sir.’ Walter Harriman replied briskly.

The iris slid open.

‘I didn’t authorise that, Sergeant.’ Hammond said alarmed.

‘Yes, sir. I mean, I know, sir.’ Walter stumbled over his words. ‘It slid open on its own.’

‘Captain?’ Hammond asked sharply.

‘I don’t know, sir.’ Sam replied. ‘The computer isn’t responding.’

‘Is this because of…’ Jack gestured at himself.

‘No, sir.’ Sam shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Hello.’ The voice came through the microphone loudly. ‘Can anybody hear me?’

Jack and Daniel looked at each other in surprised recognition and the archaeologist leaned forward to the microphone with a frown. ‘Tonane?’

‘Hello, Daniel.’ Tonane’s warm tone washed over them.

‘He must be using the MALP we left on the planet to communicate with us.’ Sam mused.

‘Can you bring up the video?’ Hammond asked quietly.

Sam nodded and an instant later the monitor showed an uncertain Tonane crouched closely by the MALP; the aliens they knew as T’akaya and X’els by his side.

‘Hello, Tonane.’ Daniel responded. ‘It’s good to hear from you again.’

‘It’s good to hear you too, Daniel.’ Tonane laughed. ‘X’els said this would help us talk to each other through the blue water.’

‘What can we do for you, Tonane?’ Hammond stepped forward.

‘Hello, George!’ Tonane replied cheerfully.

‘Hello, Tonane.’ Hammond couldn’t help softening at Tonane’s friendliness.

‘X’els and I would like to visit.’ Tonane said eagerly. ‘If that’s OK with you, George.’

They could all see his hopefulness in the monitor. Hammond looked over at Jack who shrugged. Their relationship with Tonane’s people and their alien protectors hadn’t gone well the first time; they had been close to losing the base after they had been caught plotting to steal a rare metal, trinium, from the Salish. It had only been the efforts of Jack and Daniel that had persuaded the aliens to leave them unharmed; they had believed the Salish and the aliens would bury the gate. Hammond frowned. He couldn’t pretend he was happy to have an alien who had the potential to destroy his base back on Earth.

X’els stepped up to the camera on the MALP as though he had read Hammond’s thoughts. ‘I promise you, we come in peace.’

‘Very well.’ Hammond sighed. ‘You have permission to come through.’ He nodded at SG1 who made their way ahead of him to the gate room. Tonane and X’els stepped through together. The Salish man was dressed in the traditional gear of his upbringing while the strange looking alien beside him was dressed in a luminous silver outfit that gleamed in the artificial light of the base.

Tonane broke into a wide grin at the sight of them and Jack couldn’t help but grin back. ‘Tonane.’

‘It is good to see you again, Jack.’ Tonane greeted him before his gaze encompassed them all. ‘All of you.’

‘Perhaps we should adjourn to the briefing room.’ Hammond’s suggestion was readily accepted and a few moments later they all took seats around the conference table.

‘You’ll forgive our surprise but we weren’t expecting to hear from you again.’ Hammond admitted as he clasped his hands together.

‘It was our intention,’ X’els admitted, ‘never to contact your people again but Tonane and his tribe have a request.’ He nodded at his friend.

‘We would like to know more about our ancestors on your planet, George.’ Tonane said firmly.

‘Well, I’m sure that can be arranged.’ Hammond glanced at Daniel who nodded eagerly.

‘Of course.’ Daniel nodded. ‘I’d be happy to tell you all about your ancestors.’

Tonane smiled happily. ‘We would also like to offer you a gift of thanks.’

X’els thumped his fists together and a large container appeared out of nowhere with a flash of light in the gate room, much to the startlement of the guards.

Hammond jumped to his feet and strode to the internal window. ‘What is that?’ He asked concerned.

‘It is the metal you call trinium.’ X’els cocked his head.

‘X’els asked the mountain and the river to provide enough for your needs.’ Tonane said, grinning.

They all turned to look at X’els inquiringly.

‘You asked the mountain?’ Jack asked; he didn’t quite manage to keep the slightly mocking tone out of his voice.

‘We have ways of extracting the trinium which are not detrimental to the natural environment of the planet.’ X’els confirmed.

‘Ah.’ Jack quirked an eyebrow at Sam who ducked her head as she tried to keep the grin off her face.

‘This is a very generous offer,’ Hammond said, waving at the trinium on the other side of the glass, ‘but I’m not sure we can accept it.’

‘You have kept your word in not coming back to our planet, George,’ Tonane said, ‘and we appreciate that.’

‘We would also like to thank you for the wisdom in encouraging us to be honest with our friend Tonane and his people. Our relationship with the Salish has only become closer.’ X’els added. ‘We support their wish to learn more of their forefathers.’

Hammond took a breath, uncertain what to do.

‘It would be rude to refuse a gift, General.’ Jack advised.

‘Our friend Jack speaks wisely.’ X’els commented.

‘Well, OK.’ Hammond relented. ‘Thank you, X’els; Tonane. This is most generous of you.’

‘Perhaps our two people can work together to agree a future relationship?’ Daniel proposed. ‘I’m sure there are many ways we can learn from each other.’

‘Perhaps.’ X’els allowed. He turned to Tonane. ‘We should return to the planet.’

They all stood up and escorted their guests back to the gate room. Sam organised a GDO code and device, showing Tonane how to use it as they waited for the gate to dial. She stepped back as the wormhole connected.

‘Thank you, Sam.’ Tonane waved the device at her. ‘We will be in touch.’

‘We look forward to it.’ Hammond said warmly.

X’els nodded at them as he made his way up the ramp beside Tonane and disappeared into the blue horizon.

Hammond waved at Sergeant Siler across the gate room. ‘Sergeant, organise getting this trinium stored.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Siler started to snap orders at his men and most of SG1 turned to follow the General out of the room.

Jack paused as Daniel stayed put; the archaeologist was staring at the Stargate with a perplexed expression. ‘Daniel?’

Daniel’s head jerked to the Colonel’s. ‘Sorry. I was just wondering…’

‘What?’ Jack asked as Daniel walked over to him and they wandered out of the room together.

‘Whether X’els could be a Furling.’ Daniel admitted.

Jack thought about it for a second. ‘Nah!’ He said, his brown eyes twinkling irrepressively. ‘He’s definitely not cute and furry enough. The other one…’

‘T’akaya.’ Daniel supplied.

‘Didn’t you say she was a wolf back on the planet?’ Jack asked.

‘You think a wolf is cute?’ Daniel exclaimed in disbelief.

‘I’m just saying.’ Jack said as they joined Sam and Teal’c by the elevator.

‘You’re not taking this seriously.’ Daniel complained.

‘I am.’ Jack shot back.

‘You’re not.’ Daniel retorted.

‘Am so.’

‘Are not.’

Sam and Teal’c exchanged an amused look over the behaviour of their team-mates as they all got into the elevator.

Jack darted a look at Daniel. ‘Am.’

‘Not.’ Daniel muttered.

The elevator doors slid shut.

fin.