TRAPPED ENERGY
TITLE: Trapped Energy
STATUS: Complete
CATEGORY: Sequel, missing scene
SPOILERS: minor one to Tangent, plus the Sentinel
SEASON / SEQUEL: season five, sequel to the Sentinel
RATING: PG
CONTENT WARNINGS: none
SUMMARY: What goes in, has got to come out somehow….
DISCLAIMER: This story is written entirely for entertainment and is not intended as an infringement against the copy written material that belongs solely to Showtime, MGM/UA, Gekko Films, et al. I'm only playing with their characters and will return them as soon as the story is finished. The following story is the property of the authors and is not to be copied, or published without the express, written consent of the authors.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: For Sandra G, to help her through a nasty week… for Sandra W who begs so nicely for more all the time, then last but not least for the girls who are coming to my house for a mini SG-1/Jack-Convention. It's a sequel to the Sentinel, and to my story "No". You can read it as a standalone, but reading that before this one might help. Beta-ed by BadgerGater and Sandra.
This story was written in 2003. Never posted here on FF, and Sokerchick was asking for it. Sorry, it took me a while to post it g.
"The Sentinel is indeed a device of great power. We would be wise to ask the Latonans if we may study it further."
Vaguely, O'Neill was aware of Teal'c's comment regarding the device that had just made all Jaffa and Col. Greaves disappear. Knowing of his previous discussions with Marul, however, plus taking into account what had happened between people from Earth and the people from this planet, he just knew there was no chance. Lifting his aching head, Jack sought his Jaffa friend. "Oh," he commented dryly. "I think I know what they'd say..."
Daniel was working on the chains, and managed to open up the lock around O'Neill's neck. "There we go," he said softly, throwing a worried glance at his kneeling friend, who appeared to be ready to tip over and lose consciousness. "Careful now," he warned, lifting Jack's chin with thumb and pointing finger while taking off the chains with his other hand.
Despite the dim light in the cave where the Sentinel was hidden in, Daniel didn't fail to notice the dark bruises already coloring the skin of his friend's neck. He moved around the kneeling figure, gently fidgeting with the locks around the Colonel's wrists, noticing from the corner of his eyes that Teal'c was already working on Lt. Crogan's chains.
"How are you doing?" he asked softly, as he watched how Jack slowly flexed his neck by carefully moving his head from the left to the right side.
"Fine." The answer was short, coming too fast, which, in fact, didn't surprise the linguist. "Just get these damn chains off, will ya?"
"In order to open these chains we require the keys," Teal'c concluded after a brief inspection of the locks around the young Lieutenant's wrists.
Daniel looked up, pulling a face. "Well, the Jaffa probably had the keys, so that's not helpful, isn't it?"
"Can't you shoot them open?" Carter asked, looking up from her position next to the Sentinel.
Upon hearing her voice, O'Neill jerked his head to look at his Second. "Carter, go outside and contact SG-3. I wanna know how they're doing and if the Jaffa troops and mothership are really gone."
"Oh, I think they are," started Daniel.
"And I wanna be sure," O'Neill quickly interrupted. "Go," he motioned, only satisfied when he saw her leave the cave.
"I suggest you hold your arms steady, Lieutenant Crogan. I will break the chains now." Teal'c had pulled out his sidearm, positioned it and pulled the trigger. The sound of the bullet was followed by the clattering of the chains as they fell apart.
"O'Neill," Teal'c said calmly. "I will free you now."
Daniel stepped aside.
Jack grimaced as the Jaffa pulled at his arms to get a good aim, and then winced at the loud sound behind his back.
Daniel rushed forward, grabbed the now swaying man by the shoulders and steadied him before gently taking the rod away.
"Aaargggh," O'Neill groaned as his shoulders protested the sudden movement. He slowly pulled his arms forward, the heavy chains still locked around his wrists, but at least they were free. He looked at the entrance as his Second returned. "Report, Major."
"SG-3 is at the gate, Sir. They've witnessed the same light as we have, and it has swallowed the Jaffa troops. They also reported that the Goa'uld mothership is gone."
Relief showed on O'Neill's face for a brief moment, then it was replaced by a painful expression as he tried to get to his feet, but failed.
Carter wanted to rush forward but stopped, seeing that Daniel Jackson slowly guided her CO down into a more comfortable sitting position.
"This device," O'Neill pushed on. "Can you activate it again? I mean, do you know how it works now?"
"Well, yeah," Daniel started. "It's all a matter of..."
Raising one hand, O'Neill quickly interrupted the linguist. "Uh! I don't need a full scientific explanation on *how* you do it, I just want to know if you can..." Absentmindedly one hand moved toward his face and he started rubbing his temple. "Crogan, how are you doing?"
The young man beside him shrugged. "I'll be fine, Sir."
"Good. I want you and Daniel to go to the city, explain to Marul what happened and get back here with a new caretaker ASAP. Then we can start teaching him how to operate this thing."
"Yes, Sir," Crogan said, scrambling to his feet.
Daniel also got up and the two men moved toward the exit.
O'Neill made a faint gesture with his hand. "Teal'c... you better go with them."
The silent Jaffa needed no more explanations as he simply nodded and followed the pair.
Letting out a slow, deep sigh Jack dropped his head in his hands, rubbing both temples now.
Carter knelt next to him. "I can radio SG-3 and have them come and pick you up, Colonel, while I stay here," she softly offered.
"Negative, Carter," O'Neill said. "I need SG-3 at the gate. If anything comes through before we've got this sucker back in business, we're in big trouble. I don't want any surprises."
"Yes, Sir," she nodded, understanding his reasoning. She left, coming back shortly after, her backpack in her hand. "SG-3 will guard the gate until we're back. That leaves me to check you out, Colonel."
Lifting his head was almost too much to do as he prepared to convince her that he was fine.
"No arguments," Sam quickly said, dragging out the med kit. "I'll keep my ears open and I'm sure you will, too, and it'll be done in a second."
Giving in, his shoulders slumped and his eyes closed, as if he was finally allowing his body to relax now everything that needed to be done was being taken care of.
Carter's soft hands gently probed his head, searching for anything amiss. "Headache, Sir?"
"Mmm."
"How bad?" she demanded.
He glanced up at her. "Remember our little trip through space, when you transported us back into Jacob's ship?"
She nodded, thinking back at that time when she'd thought they had lost Teal'c and the Colonel. Due to the oxygen deprivation, the Colonel had suffered from serious headaches for a couple of days. She frowned. "That bad, huh?"
The fact that he didn't attempt to tell her otherwise, she knew it was. "What happened, Colonel?"
"Ugly-duckling liked to jab me with that damn stick too much," O'Neill grunted.
Sam moved her attention toward his neck, bending closer to take a good look at the bruises. He flinched under her touch. "How many times did he hit you with it?" she asked, wanting to know and distract him at the same time.
"For crying out loud, Carter..." he muttered. "I didn't exactly count them... Ouch..."
"Sorry, Sir," she apologized. She was examining his shoulders and chest, which were obviously bruised and sore at the least. She placed her hand on his right shoulder. "Lay down, Colonel." Gently pushing, she guided him until he was lying on his back.
Cracking one eye open, he gave her that look. "Is that an offer, Major?"
Sam giggled while lifting up his shirt. "Not in a million years, Colonel."
"Now, that hurts," he complained. Unable to hide his smile, his lips curled up slightly before crumpling with a soft moan as Carter examined his ribcage.
"I don't think anything is broken, Colonel, but it seems to me they didn't only jab you with the painstick, did they?"
"Err... you know me and my mouth…"
Despite the situation, Carter grinned, pulling his shirt back down. "Anything else?" she asked.
"Isn't it enough?" he shot back while getting up to a sitting position. "Nah... That's it. I'll be fine, Major."
She nodded, then gathered some pills before handing them over along with the canteen of water. "Here you go, Sir. It might help with the headache."
Silently, the Colonel took the proffered medication and swallowed the pills. Next, he poured some water over the palm of his hand and splashed it into his face.
"I'll be on guard, Colonel. You can rest for a while," Carter offered.
Throwing her a thankful glance, O'Neill lowered his upper body, closed his eyes then covered his face with one arm and was asleep before his Second had taken up her position near the opening of the cave.
Daniel and Lt. Crogan had successfully explained the situation to Marul. The Latonan had been thankful for their help and soon pointed out the next caretaker from his people.
The newly nominated caretaker, Nigel, had no idea what task was waiting for him and followed the trio back into the woods. Crogan took point, Teal'c brought up the rear, and Daniel walked next to him, explaining bits and pieces along the way.
They'd informed Major Carter by radio that they were approaching and she was waiting for them outside the cave.
"Where's Jack?" was Daniel's first question, finding it strange that he was missing.
Sam pointed with her thumb over her shoulder. "The Colonel is sleeping. He was exhausted."
Worry showed on Daniel's face. "Is he all right?"
Nodding, Carter tried to reassure him. "Bad headache, bruised and sore all over, but yeah, he should be fine."
"Okay, guess I should start explaining things to Nigel here, then," Daniel commented.
"Yeah," agreed Sam. "The sooner we're done, the sooner we can go home."
Carter and Teal'c stayed outside, watching as Daniel guided the new caretaker inside, to prepare him for his upcoming task. The Major then grabbed the radio to report their situation back to SG-3 at the gate.
Daniel was explaining the way the force field could be activated and de-activated to Nigel, when his eyes were drawn in the direction of his sleeping friend.
"Just a second," Daniel quickly excused himself before rushing to where Jack was resting.
The sleeping man was trembling, his whole body shuddering.
Daniel knelt next to him. "Jack?" he asked, attempting to arouse the shivering man. He moved a hand, placed it on his friend's forehead. He frowned. Not hot, not cold either. Yet, Jack was showing all signs of somebody either trembling from the cold or from a raging fever. "Jack... come on, wake up..."
Gently shaking his friend by the shoulder, Daniel was surprised that the always alert man didn't respond to the touch.
"What is wrong with him?" Nigel asked, stepping closer.
"I don't know," Daniel responded, then jumped up, moving closer to the entrance. "Sam! Sam, there's something wrong with Jack here..."
Carter came running in immediately, her face a mixture of surprise and concern. "What's wrong?" she asked, while she hurried to kneel next to her CO.
"He's shivering all over," Daniel explained. "And he won't wake up."
Carter's hands already ran over the trembling man. "Colonel," she tried to rouse him. He didn't show any signs of awakening, however. Carter frowned. "What is this?"
"Sam?" Daniel asked worriedly.
"Well, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but it seems that his muscles are spasming... Now what could cause that?"
"His muscles?" Daniel frowned.
"Yeah, but that doesn't make any sense," Sam thought out loud. "There's no sign of fever..." Her hand rested on the Colonel's arm and she felt it shuddering underneath. "I have no idea what's wrong with him..." she admitted.
"We need to take him home..." Daniel concluded.
Nodding, Carter quickly tried to decide. "Teal'c can carry him back," she said.
"I agree, but you need to go to," Daniel suggested. Upon her questioning glance he explained. "Janet might need you to figure out what this is. We'll stay here, Crogan can guard the entrance and you can send Teal'c back."
Understanding his reasoning, Carter nodded. "And SG-3 will remain, guarding the gate. If anything comes to this planet, you can set up the force field. That should do. I'm going to inform Teal'c now."
A little while later, having fixed a stretcher out of some branches and a blanket, the team carefully lifted the still trembling and unresponsive man on it.
"Good luck, Sam," Daniel said, throwing one last glance at his friend.
"You, too." With that, Sam and Teal'c picked up the stretcher and started their trek back to the Stargate.
After waiting for an eternity, Sam and Teal'c finally saw Doctor Janet Fraiser stepping out of the room where they'd taken the Colonel.
"Janet..." Carter called out, unable to hold her worries any longer.
Fraiser moved closer, a chart in her hand. She lifted up her head to search the eyes of the two waiting members of SG-1. "This is weird. Really weird," she started. "Whatever is affecting Colonel O'Neill, it isn't something I know. As far as I can tell, there's a massive electrical field rushing through his veins, making him shudder uncontrollably. It's impossible to do an MRI, as whatever this is, it is interfering with our equipment. Nothing is showing up in his blood, though, and X-rays showed no damage either, other than a couple of bruised ribs, probably from several blows to the chest area. He's been awake for a short period, indicated his head was feeling like it would explode and other than that, he wasn't really lucid. What the hell happened to him on that planet?"
"An electrical field?" Carter frowned, her thoughts running.
"O'Neill was struck by a device called a painstick, several times," Teal'c explained.
"He has been, before," Carter filled in. "By those men who had captured Chaka... and so have you, by the way." She glanced at Teal'c.
The Jaffa simply nodded. "The painstick would be comparable to an electric shock. It creates great pain as waves of energy push their way from where the device touches you through your veins to your head. The energy escapes the body through the mouth and eyes."
"How many times was he struck?" demanded Fraiser.
"We don't really know. When he was with us, two times, but apparently he'd been hit by it before," Sam informed the doctor.
"And we don't have a device for examination, do we?" Janet asked.
Carter shook her head.
Frowning, Janet turned to face the Major. "Sam, do you think it's possible that somehow the energy of the painstick could still be inside the Colonel's body?"
Carter's eyes grew wider. "Well, I don't know... We saw the yellow beams coming out of his mouth and eyes when the Colonel was hit with the stick in front of us..." she looked at the Jaffa. "Right, Teal'c?"
"Indeed," nodded the tall Jaffa. "I do not understand how the energy can remain in the human body."
"Neither do I." Frustrated, Fraiser waved with her hands. "But the fact is that some unexplained electrical pulses are pumping through my patient's veins and I have no other possible explanations on what could have caused that."
"What if..." Sam hesitated, thinking her own strategy over.
Teal'c raised an eyebrow.
"Teal'c... you experienced the effects of the painstick as nobody else. You say that the energy leaves the body through mouth and eyes. What if... you would fight it, and keep your mouth and eyes closed?"
"That is unlikely, Major Carter. The force of the energy waves is great."
Sam stared at him. "All right, but the first time the Colonel was hit with it on that planet, he was with Lt. Crogan. And as far as I know him, the Colonel would do anything to hide his pain from someone as young and inexperienced as the Lieutenant..."
"Oh, my God..." Janet gasped.
Teal'c slowly nodded. "I believe it would be in O'Neill's power to do so... We do, however, not know what effect that will have."
"We don't," Sam agreed, then motioned at Fraiser. "But..."
"The situation at hand makes that the most plausible option," concluded Janet.
"There's only one way to find out..." Carter said.
Teal'c bowed his head. "I shall leave immediately. I will discuss the matter with Lieutenant Crogan and report back to the SGC."
Janet Fraiser nodded. "Thanks. In the meantime," she faced her female friend. "We've got to figure out how to solve this before permanent damage is done to the Colonel's body."
With that plan, they left, Teal'c heading for the control room and the women for Colonel O'Neill's private room in the infirmary.
Janet Fraiser sat at Colonel O'Neill's bedside. He was unconscious, luckily unable to feel his body still shaking and shuddering from whatever was plaguing him.
He'd been awake a second time a while ago, and, knowing him well, Janet could tell he was in a considerable amount of pain. It bugged her that she was unable to do anything about that, but giving him something could be dangerous, it being unpredictable how the medicine would interact with whatever it was that was running through his veins and muscles.
The Colonel was feverish now, too, which was a simple but normally effective way for the human body to defend itself against invaders.
It wouldn't work this time, she knew.
Carter had run some tests, some of her machines still present in the infirmary room. Fraiser remembered her identifying the sort of electricity they were dealing with, but, since it was nothing within her scale of knowledge, she'd left Sam to work on a possible solution while she would remain, keeping a close eye on their number one patient.
Rinsing a washcloth in tepid water, Janet stood and gently wiped her patient's face. Studying his features she could tell by the sharp lines that formed around his lips and jaw that he was hurting.
She was thankful that he was unconscious, at the moment it was the best for him, taking the edge off the pain, and giving him no time to feel out of control.
If only Sam would figure this out, Janet thought, before it was too late.
The soft scraping of the door opening startled her and, looking over her shoulder, Janet nodded silently at General Hammond, who stepped inside.
Hammond strode in, stopping at the foot of the bed and quietly examined the restless figure lying there. Then, he looked at Fraiser. "How is Colonel O'Neill doing?"
At that moment, Major Carter also entered the room.
Fraiser started her report, telling about their theory that the beams of energy coming from the painstick were trapped inside the Colonel's body, and that this was what was making him tremble non-stop.
"Can somebody explain to me how this could have happened?" Hammond demanded.
Sam stepped forward. "Sir, the human body is a so called open system. You can compare it to a black box, and basically it has one stream of input and one stream of output. Which means, that anything that goes in, comes out, in one form or the other..." looking apologetically at the General for her simple, explanation, she was glad he didn't interrupt her. "Based on the explanations given by Daniel, Teal'c and the Colonel, we know that the device that is called the painstick sends beams of energy through the body, which seek their way out through the mouth and eyes."
Hammond nodded impatiently, he'd read the reports from previous missions and was well aware of the unpleasant encounters his men had had with the alien device.
"Anyway," Carter continued. "I just came from the control room, and our theory has been proved by Lieutenant Crogan... When Colonel O'Neill was hit with the painstick the first couple of times he somehow managed to block the exit of the energy, probably in order to hide the effects from the Lieutenant. So... the energy got trapped inside his body and had to find another place to direct itself, and somehow locked itself into the Colonel's muscle tissue."
"Why didn't it escape the other times Colonel O'Neill was hit by the device, wasn't he showing signs of energy leaving his body later on?" asked Hammond.
"That's what we are wondering, too," said Fraiser.
"I think, but I'm only guessing here, is that in matter of fact, it did. Only the amount of input was still much bigger than the output, so it's the remainders that are still trapped," Carter filled in.
"How do we get it out?" Hammond inquired practically .
Sam pulled a face. "That's what I've been trying to find out, Sir. If we had a painstick, I guess we could have tried touching the Colonel briefly with it, hoping that with the low portion of new energy some of the already trapped energy would escape his body. But we don't have one."
"What, so we need to electrocute him with another blast of energy?" Fraiser shot, a shocked expression etched on her face.
"Can you copy the source?" Hammond demanded.
"Now, that's the problem, Sir," Carter said, helplessly shrugging her shoulders. "The electromagnetic fields I've found in the Colonel's muscle tissue aren't like anything we know on Earth. I have managed to rig a device and it's coming close, but it's not one hundred percent the same."
"So?" Janet wondered.
"What do you suggest, Major?" Hammond asked.
"I think we need to try, Sir," Carter said. "I can control the dose, keeping it very low, so it will hardly harm the Colonel at all. Hopefully, it will trigger the remaining energy beams to find their way out of his system."
Hammond stared at the shivering man on the bed, quietly considering the options. He then nodded shortly. "Do it, Major."
Sam nodded, then left the room to make the necessary preparations.
Janet was left alone with her patient again, as the General had left, too, to resume his duties.
She ran an umpteenth vitals check, finding a slightly elevated blood pressure and temperature along with a faster pulse, all signs to her that he was more than uncomfortable, and that his body was trying to fight off something it couldn't defeat on its own.
Her hand touched his arms and chest, searching for the source of the problem, the shuddering muscles and veins underneath his skin.
He started shifting, and mumbling, the first sound she'd heard from him since he had been brought back from Latona.
Janet reassuringly brushed his forehead, then softly ran her fingers along his cheekbone until she reached his chin. "Shh, Sir," she soothed in an attempt to calm him.
O'Neill's eyes shot open, his gaze dazzled and unfocused. "Doc?" he cracked.
"Yes, Colonel, I'm here," she said, grabbing his hand. "How do you feel, Sir?"
"What's happening?" he questioned, his voice weak from exhaustion.
"I don't really know, Colonel," Fraiser said diplomatically, not willing to explain it all to her confused patient but also determined not to lie to him. "But Sam thinks she's figured it out and we're about to try something, okay?"
"Carter?" he whispered, a deep frown appearing on his face.
"Yes. Leave it to her to find a solution, Sir," Janet said reassuringly.
He appeared to accept her explanation as he slowly relaxed, as much as possible given his condition. His eyes were drooping, as he was too weary to keep them open any longer.
Fraiser gently squeezed his hand. "Just rest, Colonel. It'll be all right."
Major Sam Carter had everything prepared, and her equipment stood, installed on a table, close to Colonel O'Neill's bed.
An emergency team stood ready near the door, ordered by the CMO of the facility, in case they were needed, all their equipment within easy reach.
Carter gently connected a wire from her newly-created device to her CO's bare arm, taping it in place. She threw one glance at the female doctor, asking for permission to proceed. At Janet's nod, Carter stepped back, and grabbed the switch on the equipment between thumb and pointing finger.
Fraiser took one step backwards without taking her eyes off her patient.
Sam turned the switch.
The sharp crisping noise of a short circuit was heard as the electric pulses were being transferred from the device into Colonel O'Neill.
His body shuddered even more, then he arched his back once before falling limply back onto the bed.
Carter switched the machine off, watching as Fraiser stepped forward to quickly examine her patient.
"Pulse racing... breathing steady... " She now touched his chest. "Damn... the trembling is still here."
Disappointed, Carter moved forward to see for herself.
"What do you think happened?" Janet asked. "It seemed he was just absorbing the energy."
Carter bit her lip. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Somehow, the pulses can't find their way out... What are we going to do about that?" she wondered.
Janet looked up. "Can't we sort of redirect it ourselves? Like in..." she hesitated. "Hot-wiring him, or something?" The doctor threw a hopeful glance at Sam.
"Hot-wiring?" Carter stammered. Her mind raced then her face lit up. "Like in charging car-batteries... we can hook the Colonel up to an output device... that could work!" She ran out of the room.
Fraiser quickly patted her patient's forehead. He was still unconscious, and completely unaware of the commotion around him. His fever was slowly rising, she knew, but hopefully their next attempt would put a stop to whatever was harming him.
Carter re-entered the room, a laptop under her arm.
"Sam?" Fraiser frowned.
Carter shrugged. "This laptop still has windows ME and isn't working anyway, so..." She swiftly went to work, plugging two wires into the laptop, then connecting the other ends with paddles onto Colonel O'Neill's bare chest. Turning the laptop on, she quickly typed some commands before moving around the bed, taking the switch again between her fingers. "Ready?" she asked.
Janet nodded, already moving backwards.
Sam turned the switch on again.
This time the crisping sound soon was being replaced by a loud hissing noise as Colonel O'Neill jerked on the bed. He moaned, the screen of the laptop flickered, then burst into a thousand pieces. Another shiver ran through Colonel O'Neill's body, before he fell absolutely still.
Carter turned her device off, her face stunned by the events.
Fraiser jumped forward. She jerked the paddles off, snapping her stethoscope in place to listen to her patient's lungs and heart. A while later, she rose her head. "He's stable," she announced.
"And?" Sam demanded, needing to know.
"It seems to be gone..." Fraiser smiled now, relieved that the whole ordeal was over. "Let's get him settled, take this stuff away and wait for him to wake up."
A couple of hours later a tired Doctor Fraiser came out of the Colonel's room to find the whole team waiting for her.
"How is he?" Daniel asked quickly.
"I think he's going to be fine," Fraiser smiled. "He woke up half an hour ago. His headache is slowly subsiding. Every inch of his muscles, however, are screaming in protest from the extended abuse for how many hours, eight or so. I've given him a muscle relaxant along with some pain medication, and he's drifted off to sleep. He's completely worn out."
"Can we sit with him?" Carter asked the obvious.
"Of course. But he won't be awake for a while yet," Fraiser warned.
"Does he know what happened to him?" Daniel wanted to know.
"Nope. He didn't ask, and I refrained from telling him," Fraiser grinned. "Now, if you don't mind... I've got work to do." With that she left the team to guard her most troublesome patient so she could concentrate on other issues for a while.
Jack's eyes slowly fluttered.
"I think he's waking up," said Daniel, never missing anything.
"Indeed, O'Neill seems to be arousing," agreed Teal'c.
O'Neill opened up his eyes, slowly looked around the room, confusion written all over his face. "Hi, kids," he greeted his team.
"Sir," Carter smiled. "Glad to see you're okay."
Jack frowned. He slowly took stock of his condition, noticing his whole body seemed to refuse to respond to any commands he tried to give it. "Am I...?" he wondered.
"Well, considering you've been swallowing energy beams, then blew up a SGC computer all by yourself... yeah, you're going to be fine," Daniel snorted.
"You seem to have swallowed the energy beams of the painstick in order to protect Lieutenant Crogan, O'Neill. I must advise you to refrain from doing so in the future," Teal'c solemnly summarized.
O'Neill looked stunned.
"You're on a high dose of muscle relaxants, Sir. That's why your body isn't responding well, yet. But that's only temporary," Carter quickly explained. She tried to inform her CO on what had happened, but obviously, he only got half of her story.
"I really blew up a computer?" O'Neill asked, a giant frown still etched on his face as Carter was done with her story.
"Yeah... big explosion, giant mess..." Carter grinned.
"From what I've heard it was pretty cool," Daniel joked.
"Mmmm," O'Neill commented dryly. "Carter? Remind me never to touch the SGC main console again..."
- THE END -
