Stargate Andromeda Episode 3: The Fifth Plague

by Lewis Green

Eli, his team, and SG-1 travel through the gate to the planet that has been infected by the Andromeda Strain to assess the situation.

PLEASE PARDON THE POOR QUALITY, SEVERAL ERRORS WITH UPLOADING. WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN :)

STARGATE ANDROMEDA

EPISODE: 103

THE FIFTH PLAGUE

Written by, Lewis Green

A set of misty mountains sat still on the planet P3B-993, silent as the grave. The sun lightly grazed over their tall peaks. The mist made everything between the mountains unclear, a mystery.
With a mighty roar, two F-302s burst out of a thin lair of clouds and began to do a flyby of the area. They flew with their stomachs facing the peaks.
Inside the lead fighter plane, a woman sat, watching the dead mountains. She gazed down at a small screen on the fighter's large console. The screen watched the mist, seeing what the naked eye could not. A plastic air mask and a large black lens were held to her head by a helmet.
"Odyssey, Ripper 1. We have no life signs, repeat, no life signs," the woman said.
Odyssey to Ripper 1, one of the Odyssey's crewman responded. Understood. We'll forward the word to Stargate Command. Head on home.
"Roger that, Odyssey. Ripper 1, out." The two F-302s pointed their noses to the thin lair of clouds and began to speed up to the atmosphere, their mission completed.

Five hours after the SGC had received the word from the USS Odyssey, the Stargate activated, firing a blast of energy from its opening. After a few moments, a Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe (M.A.L.P.) exited the blue event horizon.
Its camera slowly scanned over the dark, misty area with its built-in flashlight until it had seen all it had come to see. After a few moments, it lowered its camera and sat still.
Just as its camera slumped down, nine figures exited the Stargate, one at a time. Each held P90s, flashlights blazing, pointing them allover. The figures wore red suits, helping to keep the outside environment out.
"Looks like we're all clear," James said, standing beside the Dial Home Device (D.H.D.)
Another one of the figures pressed a button on the bottom of his suit's helmet.
"General Hammond," the voice of Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell began, "we've made contact with the other side. Looks like we were right, the air is VERY poisonous."

"Poisonous with what though?" Doctor Daniel Jackson said, flashing his P90's flashlight around to get a better look at his surroundings.
"I'm guessing the strainy...thing," Vala Mal Doran replied sarcastically, sitting on the steps that led down from the blue light of the Stargate.
Thank you, Colonel, General Hammond's voice responded over Mitchell's radio. Proceed. Next check-in is in five hours.

"Roger that, Sir," Mitchell replied, "out."

With a roar, the blue event horizon of the Stargate disappeared, leaving only the dark mist and the nine flashlights to find their own way.
A figure rose his hand up and presses a button on the chin of his helmet, shining several blue lights on his face from inside his helmet. The lights illuminated the face of Lieutenant Colonel Eli Thompson.
"Wow," Eli said, turning his head to see the misty architecture and surroundings. "Very...misty..." Carl strutted around the rocky ground, holding a hand-held device used to detect surroundings.
"Yep, this is definitely poisoned atmosphere," Carl said.
Sam used the same device.
"I've got the same, Doctor," Sam replied, looking up from her device.
"Maybe we should take a look at the surrounding area," Daniel interjected, looking down a distant stone trail.
Teal'c proceeds wordlessly down the stone walkway.
"Hang on there, big guy," Mitchell interrupted. "I think we should split up into teams. Colonel Thompson, you and I'll go together. Sam, you're with...uh..." Mitchell trails off, looking at Rachel.
"Major Fisher, sir," Rachel added.
"Right, sorry. Sam, you and Fisher'll go together," Mitchell continued.
From there, the two teams broke up into four teams with Teal'c agreeing to stay back and watch the gate. Mitchell and Eli, Sam and Rachel, Daniel and Carl, James and Vala, who put forth no protest when she saw her partner.
After deliberation, the group set off to scan the area, trying to find survivors and understand just what this strain did to the indigenous people.

Three hours later, Mitchell and Eli walked through a long, twisting, cobblestone walkway, surrounded by stone buildings. The mist had disappeared by then, leaving a beautiful blue sky. The sky would deceive you however, because nestled in between the buildings on either side of the roads, were an assortment of corpses, lying on the ground, cold as the grave.
Mitchell turned his head to look around at all the deceased aliens.
"What a mess..." "You said it," Eli replied.
Mitchell bent over to examine a body even closer.
Far off in the distance, Vala and James walked a similar road, observing the dead. Vala grimaces at every each dead body, not out of fear, but the fear that she may have to touch one of the disgusting things.
Further off than that, Sam and Rachel stand on a large stone balcony overlooking an enchanting lake. The two examine the lake, watching the bodies as well.
On a distant rooftop, Daniel and Carl examine one body. The body's head is slammed on the edge of the roof, its nose broken, a gaping, dry gash on the side of its face.
"Interesting..." Carl mutters as Daniel pulls the body's face off of the pavement roof's edge.
Daniel lets the body fall the short distance to the floor of the roof. Carl bends over and lightly strokes his gloved hand over the head's dry gash.
"Shouldn't there be...you know, blood?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah," Carl said, still examining the face of the dead body. Carl lifted up his gloved hand to his helmet, looking at a dry, flaky material on his fingertips.
Daniel gazed at the material sitting on Carl's fingers.
"What is that?"

"No idea... Hey, how long has it been since the strain hit this world?"

"Uh..." Daniel looks up at the sky. "It hit about...ten, maybe fifteen hours ago." Carl begins to pull the dead body's shirt off.
"What are you doing?"

"When a body ceases to live, the heart stops pumping blood through the body, so the blood stops moving through the arteries, veins, and capillaries."

"Okay...so why does that matter?"

"Because," Carl said, showing the bare chest of the man to Daniel, "when that happens, the blood pools at the lowest part of the body because of gravity. So where's his pool of blood?" Daniel bent down to see the body closer.
"Now that you mention it..."

Far off in the misty valleys of the mountains, Teal'c stood guard in front of the Stargate, simply watching.
Immediately, the chevrons around the Stargate began to glow.
Teal'c lifted his radio to his lips.
"Colonel Mitchell, the Stargate is activating," he said, watching the chevrons light up.
What? Mitchell asked over the radio. It's too soon to be the SGC.
"Indeed it is!" Teal'c replied setting down the radio and pointing his P90 at the opening gate.
We can't let anyone through, they'll just die, Sam said over the radio.
Two bodies step through the gate. After a few moments of staring at Teal'c, they began to writhe and scream, falling to the ground.
Teal'c tried to make his way to the people in need, but by the time he reached them, it was too late.
Eli and Mitchell stood in the stone walkway.
It is too late, they are dead... Teal'c said over the radio.
Mitchell swore loudly, looking around at the other dead bodies lying on the ground all around him. All Eli could do was stand and watch.
On the rooftop, Daniel and Carl continued to examine the body. Carl held a knife in his hand, Daniel had the body's arm pinned down.
"You got it?" Carl asked.
"Yeah, but why do I have to hold his arm down?"

"Because if I cut wrong, I could end up making a BIG mess."

"I'm not too fond of blood..."

"Neither am I, so just keep our buddy hear still."

"Right."

Carl begins to slice vertically into the body's left forearm, from its wrist to where it meets its elbow. Carl then made two cuts on each end of the first incision, making two T's on each end. To Daniel's distaste, Carl pulled the two flaps of flesh apart, revealing bones, muscles, and set of black veins and arteries.
"That's weird..." Carl said to himself.
"What?"

"One sec..." Carl put his knife to one of the veins, beginning to cut into it.
"What happened to not making a mess?" Daniel asked.
The vein split, but did not shoot out blood. Instead, a black, crusty substance slowly dropped out of the split vein.
"He's got no blood," Daniel said, observing the strange phenomenon.
Carl begins to cut up further on the body's arm. He follows the same procedure he did before, only to find the same result. The two then placed the body on its back, beginning to perform the procedure on the man's chest, revealing the ribcage.
"Okay, Doctor, I'm gonna need your help here," Carl said, looking down at the ribcage.
"Please don't say it..." Carl pulled a small hammer from Daniel's bag. Carl then placed the tip of the knife on the center of the ribcage.
"Go ahead."

"Please no..."

"Doctor, we need to know for sure." Daniel sighed, accepting his fate, and rose the hammer, and swung it down lightly to the handle of the knife. A crack went up the sternum of the ribcage. Daniel began to look very squeamish.
"Again," Carl said, only watching the ribcage.
Daniel repeated is act, only creating another crack.
"Again."

Again.
"Again."

Still only a crack.
"Again."

SNAP!
The ribcage burst open and Daniel leaned over to the side to vomit.
Sam and Rachel continued to walk around the balcony.
"What's wrong?" Rachel asked.
"This was a heavily nomadic world, trading of all sorts went on here."

"Sure did," Rachel replied, looking around at all the bodies.
"But, the word of the strain couldn't pass around that quickly. Which means that the last ones that just came through the gate, will more than likely not be the last."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean more and more will come, walking directly into death, and they won't even be able to go back and warn the others; not without infecting them anyway."

"Well, what can we do to stop that,■ Rachel replied.

Mitchell and Eli stood in the same street, the star above them barreling down its heat onto their rubber suits.
"You want to what?" Mitchell asked.
I want to block all addresses to here and the other planets that we've been able to catch before hand, Sam said over Mitchell's radio, except for Earth. That way, we can keep the infected in a controlled environment, and we can keep the strain from spreading.
"Is that even possible, Sam?" Mitchell asked.
It's what the Alterans did with the Atlantis gate.
"Fine. Let's contact the SGC and get this done," Mitchell replied.
Uh, Colonels? Carl's voice asked over the radio. We need you to come over here immediately. We've got something to show you.

An hour later, the two teams were beginning to congregate on the rooftop with the mutilated body.
"Holy man!!!" Mitchell yelled upon seeing the body. "What the hell did you do to this guy?!!!"

"It was necessary," Carl said. "We saw that he wasn't bleeding at all, we decided to investigate."

"What's the WE stuff?" Daniel asked.
"Whatever," Carl said. "The point is, his blood has clogged up completely, his heart is just a glob of dried blood."

"Weird," Sam said.
"Seriously," Rachel added.
James and Vala finally arrived.
"Where have you two been?" Mitchell asked.
"Do you know how long those paths are?" Vala asked back. "They aren't exactly a fun little jog."

"She's not kidding, Colonel," James replied. James took a look at the mutilated body. "Did I miss something fun?"

"The doctors were just telling us a story about the man with crusty dried blood," Eli replied.
"Ew," James said.
"The point is," Carl said, "We know what this strain does to people. It solidifies the plasma in their blood, cutting off the energy, oxygen, and nutrient flow."

"Great, now how do we stop it?" Mitchell asked.
"...I don't know," Carl replied.
"Yet!" Daniel added, getting up.
Vala helped to hoist Daniel to his feet.
"You weigh a ton, you know?" Vala whispered to Daniel.
"If we take this back to the SGC," Carl began, "we could-"

"Got it," Mitchell said, "things'll be fine and dandy. Let's go then."

The group began to flood off of the roof.

Within the hour, SG's 1 and 5 were back at the SGC, cleansed and walking around casually.
Inside of a laboratory, Carl and Sam stood behind a screen, watching a microscopic closeup of a sample of the strain.
"What do you make of it?" Sam asked.
"It's the strangest thing I've ever seen..." Eli walked into the lab, looking around at all the gizmos and gadgets at work.
"Carl, Colonel," he said.
"Colonel," Sam replied.
"Hey there, Eli," Carl replied.
"So," Eli began, standing between the two, staring up at the screen, "what's on the tube?"

"A very strange organism. It's a mystery to me," Carl began.
"Ah, I never liked mystery shows," Eli responded.
"We did find something interesting though," Sam began.
"Really?"

"Yep," Sam began, "this strain has no DNA, RNA, proteins, or amino acids."

"...I have...no idea...what you just said," Eli said.
Sam smiled at the O'Neil-ish Colonel, "it means that this thing can change matter into energy, and energy...well, you know." Eli looked into the screen.
"I see...weird."

"Very weird," Carl said.
Suddenly, a piercing ring and red lights began to fill the SGC.
Unauthorized, incoming wormhole! a voice said over the complex' intercom.
"That's us," Sam said, leading Eli out of the lab.
"Get this figured out," Eli said to Carl on his way out.
"Will do!" Carl yelled to the Colonel who was already down the hall.
In the Gate Control Room, Sergeants ran here and there, trying to assemble key personnel.
Eli and Sam entered to meet General Landry.
"There you are," Landry said to the two. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

"What's going on?" Sam asked.
"We were just about to figure that out," Landry responded. Landry then pressed down a button on one of the computer's in front of him and spoke into a microphone. "Major Marks, why are you dialing in?"

Sir, the voice of Major Marks came through, we're on one of the planets that was set to be quarantined.
"Yes?" Landry said.
Well, sir, from my understanding, this strain is supposed to make people dead, right?
"That's right," Sam responded.
Well.
Hundreds of light years away, Major Marks and his team stood in front of an active Stargate, their P90s were raised. They aimed their weapons, at a large group of confused people standing in front of them.
Major Marks looked just as confused.
"I think we've just broken that theory..."

To Be Continued...