For the first time in ages I had a ‘breakfast date’ with my little
brother. He hates when I call him that and quickly points out that a
few minutes should not push him into the little brother category. I
just quickly remind him I am older, so obviously he has to be younger,
and my little brother. Cam usually pulls a face and suggests some
insane thing for us to do just to be competitive. I will never let him
know, but half the time, I let him win.
He was late, which was not unusual, but as the minutes turned into 30
and then an hour late, I ventured to where I figured he would be
hanging out. The basketball court was empty, and he was not even signed
up to use the courts in the afternoon. Next went to his office,
nothing. Daniel was gone also, so I went down to Sam’s lab. He would be
down there if she had managed to find a way to turn on the device that
they had been studding for the past 6 months. He was not there either.
I called his office and left a message.
An off-world activation came just as I was heading toward the
elevators. I backed away as I heard running feet, and soon Daniel came
into view. Turning around I jogged after him toward the control room.
- - -
Landry sent Teal’c and SG-12 to the Sodan home world after the incoming
message was deciphered as a call for help. Landry looked to me and
asked if I knew where Cam was. I hated to have to tell him I had no
idea either. I went back to the infirmary to go back to my paperwork,
when my pager went off. ON the small screen I read that I needed to go
to Sam’s lab, so I ventured back over to level.
“What’s up?” I asked as I came into the room.
“STOP!” Bill practically screamed at me.
I stopped in mid-stride. Ok, I looked around and tried to decide if it
was safe to step backwards. I took a step tentatively back and looked
at Bill who was tiptoeing over the floor toward me.
“I have a theory about the disappearance of Cols. Carter and Mitchell,”
he said, standing beside me. “I stepped out of the room for a moment –
a split moment – well it was a donut run, so maybe a bit longer – but
not much – and I did not see anyone, but did notice that the results
from the energy readings had jumped.” He shoved his hands deep into the
pockets of his lab coat. “It’s on.”
“What’s on?”
“The device.”
“And how is that connected with not being able to locate Sam and Cam?”
“I don’t know. I’m thinking about it. Really there is not that may
possibilities.”
I turned toward him and put a hand on his shoulder. “When was the last
time you slept?”
“I left Col. Carter still working here around 1a.m. I got enough sleep.”
“Well I’ll be in the infirmary if you find anything. By now Cam has
skipped breakfast and is probably grabbing food at the commissary,” I
shrugged. “I’ll see you later, ok?”
“Ya, sure,” Bill said, already deep into his own world. I left him
tiptoeing back to his workstation and wondering why he was still doing
that.
- - -
Landry looked at me, past Bill, who was now gesturing to the cordoned
off section around the worktable that held the device. I shrugged; I
was wondering how Bill had persuaded the two SFs who were sweeping the
inside of the area with sound equipment that this was a legitimate
theory. Personally I was holding my breath so I would not laugh out
loud.
Honestly, did even Bill buy his own hypothesis that the device had
emitted an energy burst that had shrunk Sam and Cam? If he did, then in
my professional opinion he needed to sleep and not drink so much
coffee. Among other things.
“Right,” Daniel said slowly. I could see he was looking at Bill, Landry
and then at the device. “So let’s say that did not happen. Maybe
something else can explain the energy spike?”
“Uhg, I don’t know. It’s only a theory, I understand that, but it is
plausible.” Bill ran a hand over his face and picked up his coffee cup.
“I need more. Anyone else?”
We declined. Landry soon followed Bill out back to his office, and
Daniel turned to me.
“Doctor, do you think that Dr. Lee is …” Daniel finished the sentence
with several hand gestures.
“I think the theory is whacked,” I said plainly. “I would lay off the
coffee for a bit if that is the effect.”
“Trust me, I plan on it,” Daniel muttered as he turned toward the
device. “Ok, let’s assume that the energy burst just caused Mitchell
and Sam to … go somewhere. This looks like a keyboard; maybe it is
meant to aid in communicating.” He was silent for a moment but then
surprised, looked up. “I don’t think we are alone, Doctor. Um,
Mitchell, Sam, if you were the one pressing the buttons…press this
button –“ he pointed to one on his right, “as ‘yes’ and this –“ he
pointed to one next to the first button, “as ’no.’”
I went over to the device and looked over Daniel’s shoulder. He cracked
into a smile as the ‘yes’ button was depressed. “It works,” I breathed.
“Excellent. Well we know they are not little. Either that or they have
shrunk onto the keyboard and are jumping up and down on them,” Daniel
said. The ‘no’ button was hit twice. “Well that was another theory at
least.”
“If the device is on, shouldn’t we be seeing something?”
“Maybe it’s on the other side. Umm, do see a screen with words on it?”
The ‘yes’ and ‘no’ buttons were depressed. “Ok, that’s not helpful.
Maybe is it in a language you don’t understand?” A moment later and the
‘yes’ button was pressed. “Right. It’s ancient, isn’t it?” The ‘yes’
button went wild. “Well, let’s get started. I’ll go line by line in the
book and signal when there is a symbol that I am pointing to that is
shown on the screen. Ok?”
I left Daniel, Cam and Sam to decipher the screen, escorting the SFs
out of the lab and telling Bill he needed sleep, not coffee if he was
going to help Cam and Sam. I figured I would go to Landry’s off to hear
if anything new had happened with Teal’c.
- - -
Hours later I was cleaning up after SG-10 went with Teal’c on a recon
mission. Teal’c came back stating that the Sodan were dead and had been
killed by one of their own, if the last survivor was telling the truth.
Teal’c declined any medical personnel but conceded, after a short
tongue lashing from Carolyn, to have enough supplies for the team to be
taken back to treat the injured man.
Carolyn had left to check on patients while I restocked the shelves. I
wondered how Cam was doing and if Bill had recovered from the “General
we shrunk the Colonels” theory when a frantic Bill paged me.
“Doc, I think I did something wrong.”
“I’ll be there in a moment,” I said, imagining what could have happened
now.
“Thanks,” he said, sounding only a bit less frantic.
By the time I got to the lab, Landry was already there. His calmness
was unnerving to Bill because every time the General said something, he
would flinch.
“So you were not really sure what you were doing, did you?” Lardy said.
“And now we have two scientists and Col. Mitchell gone.”
“Y-yes sir,” Bill said. “I just found the frequency and tweaked it,
hoping that that would cause Colonels Carter and Mitchell to come back
to our … reality.”
“Well are we sure that Daniel is now in the same state as Colonel
Carter and Mitchell?”
“Well… no. I can check though,” Bill said.
“Why don’t you do that,” Landry watched as Bill moved over to the
device. Turning around he saw me. “Ah, Dr. DeBarr, perhaps you could
supervise Dr. Lee and assist him.”
“Sure,” I said. Medicine is my science, not technological devices, but
I figured I would stay for Bill’s comfort, at the very least. “So what
happened?”
“Well I found the frequency that had spiked this morning – when we
figured Colonels Carter and Mitchell disappeared – and was analyzing
it. I told Dr. Jackson that I had found something and then … well next
thing I knew he was no longer standing there.” He turned toward the
device and cleared his throat. “Um Dr. Jackson do you hear me?”
The ‘yes’ button went wild and Bill sighed a deep sigh of relief. I
looked around and wondered if now Daniel was able to fix the problem
quicker now that he was able to read the script on the device.
- - -
“So I hear you have an address to go to,” I said as I rounded the table
with my coffee and coconut crème pie.
“Yes, thanks to Jackson who found it and then decided to leave the …
what are we calling it?” Cam said waving a fork about.
“I think we decided to call it ‘out of phase,’” Sam said.
“Right. So Jackson decides to come ‘out of phase’ while I am being
ready to be pinned by a Ori diseased infested Sodan warrior. I have to
thank you, Jackson, for that,” Cam said sarcastically.
“Anytime. After all your sister has told me how much of a dare devil
you were when you were kids, so I figured you could handle anything
that came your way.”
“You defended yourself from the warrior bravely, ColonelMitchell,”
Teal’c said.
“Oh yes, being a rag doll is what I consider ‘brave,’” he said rolling
his eyes. “So anyway we have the address to where we figure Merlin has
hidden this anti-Ori device.”
“I’m never going to be able to read King Arthur stories again,” I said
with a sigh. “Of course working here, I can never look at the pyramids
the same either.”
“We should have a go with in a few days,” Sam said, picking up a few
French fries. “Man, not eating for a day really does a number on ones
appetite.”
“Ya, and I had to watched Roast Beef day come and go,” Cam said,
shaking his head. “Do you know how often I have requested that?”
“No wonder it tasted so good,” I said, sipping my coffee and ignoring
his glare.
- - -