In sickness and in death - chapter 1

'SG-1 is coming back, sir. Precisely as scheduled,' the officer in the control room announced, and threw a quick glance from the lights on the displays in front of him, to the giant ring on the other side of thick, bulletproof glass. General Hammond nodded approvingly and waited for the energy burst that preceded the team's arrival.

Wearing thick clothing and oxygen masks, and looking very dusty, Daniel Jackson and Teal'c were the first ones to step through the rippling substance of the stargate. Between them, they carried a firmly sealed anti-contamination tank.

Teal'c was hardly bothered by the weight of the tank, which made Jackson look rather weak next to him. But then again, general Hammond thought, as he observed Jackson wiping his forehead when Teal'c and he put the tank on a trolly, everyone looked weak next to Teal'c. He was a formidable man and a worthy asset to the SG-1 team, despite the initial distrust the Jaffa once had to face.

Behind the two operatives Colonel Jack O'Neill followed. The stargate and the iris closed instantly as soon as he stood firmly on the landing platform. Like the two others, Jack was covered in a dusty layer of sand and he began by brushing off the worst. He stamped his feet and shook his head, sand flying around, before he took off his oxygen mask. Then he handed a green army bag to Jackson, who massaged his sore muscles. 'There you go. The camera. See yourself tending to the garden,' he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

'Thanks,' muttered Daniel and took the bag from him. 'It might look just soil to you, Jack, but there may be ice crystals in here. It needs research. That's why I wanted air and soil specimen. And the rocks too.'

'Which you did a fine job carrying,' pointed out Jack, and like Daniel did, he moved his sore arms. 'Heck, even the tiniest of rock weighs a hundred tons down there. This was a waste of time. A useless expedition.'

'You don't know that for sure,' Daniel interjected, offended. 'There might be proof of water. And that might mean that a living orga...'

'For crying out loud, Daniel! It's clear that PXJ-117-115 is a DEAD planet, just as we suspected all along. There is no life there. This was senseless, as I told you from the start.'

'Colonel?' Hammond's voice came over the speakers and Jack looked up to see his boss behind the glass. 'Don't forget to decontaminate. Debriefing in my room, thirty minutes.'

'Great. Decontamination,' muttered Jack and saluted.

Annoyed, he left the room, went through the mandatory shower, ultra-violet bath and check-up, and met with general Hammond half an hour later.

'There's nothing there, sir. Sand. Rocks. Air too thin to go without a mask. The wind's a bitch and it's freezing cold,' Jack opened the debriefing.

'Water means a possibility of living organisms,' Hammond reminded him. 'There might be traces of water in those rocks.'

'Yeah yeah. The primal soup. Daniel told me that. About a million times.' Jack sighed and flexed his fingers. 'Sir, there is nothing there. No plants. Just rocks and sand. Not a single drop of water!'

'What about the other side of the planet?'

'The planet's frozen solid. I don't know what's on the other side! I'm not a scientist!' Jack couldn't hide his frustration and general Hammond raised his hand to calm him down. Before Hammond could point out that Daniel Jackson indeed was a scientist and was instructed to take samples, Jack took a deep breath and said, with a sigh: 'Perhaps Daniel has struck gold in some ancient transcript and believes he'll find water on PXJ-117-115. Anything is possible, but I know one thing for sure: I have seen nothing that even remotely would suggest the presence of water. Or life, for that matter.'

'Would you recommend to bury the stargate?'

Jack thought a few seconds before he answered. 'PXJ-117-115 holds no strategic importance. It doesn't have natural resources. There are no biological reasons to hold on to the stargate. If a team got lost and ended up there, it wouldn't hold out for long. It's barren.'

'All right,' Hammond said and stood up, as did Jack. 'I'll await your report and recommend a shutdown, when doctor Jackson has finished his research. You're right. It's a bad place to get stuck.' He nodded to Jack, who rubbed his hands. 'Something wrong?'

'No, nothing,' Jack said and shook his head. 'The gravity is heavier on PXJ-117-115. Picking up little stones equals weight lifting.' He grinned suddenly, and his dark eyes twinkled, his usual self emerging. 'On second thought... maybe we should keep the gate open, sir. It's a great place to do a workout.'

(tbc)