The Great Escape
Carra was walking along the road about ten to twenty feet past the ditch through the woods. She was already about three miles outside of town. She was close enough to the road to be able to follow it, but far enough to be able to completely hide in the brush if necessary.
She heard the car long before it was in sight, driving slowly down the road. She saw the driver and made herself just visible to the driver if he was alert. The car was not what she expected from the NID and the driver was alone. No problem at all, not even a challenge.
The car suddenly stopped and the window rolled down, "Carra, get into the car now!"
Carra slowly stood to her feet, "Maybourne, what a pleasant . . . and convenient surprise!" Her words were slow and deliberate. She wanted him to get the message, and to test him.
"In a short time there'll be a bunch of people, the wrong people, looking for you. We need to get you out of here right now!" He looked worried.
Carra put her finger on the side of her head as though thinking, "It is also very suspicious that you would show up right now. What are you doing here? You're not supposed to even be on Earth" She cautiously took a few steps forward, wanting a better view of the road right now. She didn't turn her head, but took in the roadside. Nobody was there.
"We don't have time for this! Get in now! Hey, how did you know who I was?"
Carra sat down, testing him. "You're a little slow, but the circumstances might explain that. Tell me what you're doing here."
Maybourne became frustrated, "I came to see Jack to tell him there were plans to kidnap you next week. When I got here I saw military trucks full of men headed down the street. I followed them to the school and overheard them say you were missing and making plans to search for you. I also saw some shady characters looking on and figured they missed you. I started looking for you. I guess my information was faulty or incomplete."
Carra showed distrust on her face and in her voice, "likely story. Why would you care about them kidnapping me? Why is there a ridge on your front tire from the rim to the tread?"
"Huh? People are hunting you down and you want to know about a tire? What is wrong with you?"
Carra ignored him and approached the tire and read it. "Steel belted radial." She examined the tire and felt around it, like a wood craftsman would feel a piece of lumber he was about to start work on. She decided to push him to his limits. "Radial, around. My guess is that there is an overlap that makes this area thicker. Is there a place where I can get a tire to dissect?"
Maybourne was getting upset, "forget about the tire! Get in the car or I'll just go ahead and leave!"
"Why did you think the kidnapping would be next week?"
Maybourne sighed, "the information was a bit cryptic, but it was supposed to happen someplace away from school. I couldn't tell where."
Carra still examining the tire responded, "Zoo."
"Huh?"
"We were going to go to the zoo next week. I wanted to ask someone there about how worms have sex . . . and about how they can see where they are going." She wanted to keep him off balance, see if he would slip up somehow.
"Worms! Tires! Sex? Oh, brother, how could you possibly be important to them, and why did they push it up to today?"
Carra smiled. He wasn't going to break, but he was getting properly frustrated at her, "Probably because I was," she paused for effect and then became extremely sarcastic, "soooo naughty last night," then quickly switching to a more serious tone, "and cut off their last connection to Stargate Command. I found some code hidden on several computers. Very advanced. Alone they looked like programming bugs, but they worked together to send reports to someone. I guess someone didn't like getting cut off."
"How old are you!" Maybourne was totally off balance mentally by her seeming schizophrenia, bouncing from child, to scientist, to villain.
"Eight, my years. Not much different than your years. 360 days to a year, approximately 26.2587 of your hours to a day."
"Approximately?" Now she was a mathematician.
Carra stood up, took off her backpack and pulled out a netbook and started typing.
"What are you doing now?"
"Checking out your story. I already know some of it fits." She was seemingly focused on the screen and the unseen information it contained. "How did you get back to Earth?"
"Don't you think they'll find you if you start looking around?"
"Not yet."
"Yet?" She intended to be found? Just what was this girl up to?
Carra typed away and looked a few more times "Rats. Not what I wanted to see."
Maybourne looked around nervously, "so I take it you're not going to go with me. I'm leaving. You're crazy."
Maybourne put the car in gear, but Carra responded, "just a minute while I think." She was silent for several moments. Maybourne nervously checked his mirrors. He didn't want to be caught. One more test. "How did you get back to Earth?"
"Long story. If you come with me I'll tell you all about it." Maybourne was in a hurry to leave, with or without her. She stared at him in a childish sort of way that would make any daddy give in to her little girl. "I found an Ancient travel device in some ruins and used it to get back here to pick up some stuff. Unfortunately, it only worked one way."
"Yea, it's kinda nasty that way, huh? They couldn't figure out how to store enough power to do a two-way trip. I hope you kept it. In another eleven years it will be powered back up for the return trip. How did you find me?"
Maybourne shook his head, nervously tapping the wheel, anxious to get out of there, "I had no idea except that I didn't expect you to go straight to either Fraiser's house or anyone on SG-1 or to Stargate Command. I just flipped a coin and hoped." Carra started typing some more. "What are you doing now?"
"That's an interesting shortcut to dividing the diameter of your moon by the number of times my teachers refused to answer my questions. Just checking my email. I want to see if Professor Wagner of Columbia University in Astrophysics answered my email. Nope, no answer yet."
"Then they'll definitely find us. I'm leaving! You're on your own."
Mayboure was ready to go, but Carra quickly opened the door and got in, "of course they will know. How else will we lead them in the wrong direction if I don't give them a clue where I want them to be?"
Maybourne turned to her and smiled sly smile, "are you sure you are not NID?"
"Master Goulet was right about you. There is hope for you. He wants to meet you."
Maybourne was shocked, "Goulet is dead . . . isn't he?"
"DRIVE!"
Maybourne turned the car around, pulled off through a well-worn field and off across country. "Let's go to El Paso."
"Why El Paso?" She knew where she wanted to go. She had something planned, but what?
"The number of Chinese characters on their keyboards times O'Neill's phone number."
"Huh? Let me guess, no pattern." The car was bouncing around in the field. The field was freshly cut and the tracks blended in with the surroundings. He could be on the highway in about fifteen minutes heading away from town. The NID would be heading in the wrong direction.
"I hope you have enough of your 4.7865 million on you in cash to last for 4 days." Maybourne was shocked! She knew all about him! Did she know his bank account number too? Probably. She obviously knew he was back on Earth. That money came after he returned!
General Hammond arrived at the school and met with SG-1. "So what happened here. Any idea where Carra is?"
Jack filled in the General on what they had found out so far, "Carra was taken to the school psychiatrist by one of the teachers. The psychiatrist said she went out to go to the bathroom, but never returned. We are also missing a substitute teacher and found her normal teacher at home drugged and unconscious."
A girl tugged at Carter's pants, "did Carra do something bad to someone? I thought she was out on her usual trip for bugs."
Sam turned around and knelt down to talk face to face with the girl, "what do you mean?"
"I saw her running into the woods, but I didn't say anything. Will she be in trouble?"
Sam was worried, "did you see anybody follow her?"
"No. I was waiting for her to come back to talk to her. She's a real good listener. I like talking to her. She's funny and very, very smart. I don't care what the teacher says."
Sam laughed. Carra seemed to have that effect on almost everybody, anybody who took the time to listen and patience to understand her. "Yes, Carra is a very intelligent young lady. She's been helping us a lot since she came here. I think the people after her are the ones in trouble." The girl smiled and gave Sam a hug. "Don't tell anyone what you said. Just say you are worried about her, okay?"
The girl smiled and continued, "I hope she isn't with Miss Taylor."
"The substitute teacher?"
"Yea. Betty and me were talking about her. We didn't like the way she looked at Carra. We told Carra, but she just laughed and said she knew everything. She said we were right and I guess we were." She got suddenly quiet and looked around, "Is somebody here named Sam?"
"That's my name, Sam. It's short for Samantha. Everybody calls me Sam."
The girl looked into Carter's eyes, examining her and finally continued whispering, "Ok. I don't know what she meant. It was weird at the time but she said to ask Sam why they always drive a white van. Do you know what she meant?"
Sam chuckled, "thank you, I do. Carra's gonna be just fine. I don't think I can say the same for the people trying to get her."
The girl smiled, satisfied with Sam's encouragement. Sam ran to the rest of the team, who walked away to give her and the girl space to talk in private.
"She's alone and expected this. She gave 'em the slip. I suggest we focus on those following her. They're driving a white van."
Jack added, "they like to keep their enemy close. So, we find them and she will be close ahead, right?"
Daniel was surprised at Jack's insight, "you've been hanging around her too, huh Jack?"
"Ok, you found me out. Do you think they have a chance against a scared little girl?"
Hammond laughed, "I pity the fool that tries to fool with her. Do you think she planned this?" The smile on his face was observed by the little girl who talked to Sam. She whispered some encouragement to her friend, Betty, who responded with a smile.
"Actually sir," Sam responded, "I think she just anticipated it and allowed for it, but I don't think she planned it. From what I see she just knows how to adapt and have fun. She's imaginative and that's what makes her dangerous . . . to them."
A soldier ran to the group and handed them a paper, "sirs, I found this report in the trash. It's," he shook his head, not quite sure how to describe it, "she wrote a report today about alternate energy sources. It's the silliest thing I ever read!"
Sam took the paper and started laughing, "A pipeline to the sun?"
Daniel took the paper. He pulled out his pen and started circling words, "She does this to me all the time. It's a hidden word game and it's in four different languages, Phoenician, phonetically of course, German, Goa'uld, again phonetically, and Spanish. White van, black truck."
Jack was a little frustrated with Daniel, "she sure wants to make sure we know what to look for. Does she give us an address to these guys or a license plate?" Although he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was beginning to like her a little.
"Not that I see."
Mayes came walking up, mumbling and typing on his phone gave and gave them an absentminded salute, too focused on his phone, "I'm amazed that anybody can learn anything from these teachers."
Jack was frustrated, as always, "Mayes, what are you mumbling about."
Mayes, snapping to attention, "sorry sir. Some of us were talking to Carra's other teachers. The one that took her to the psychiatrist is mind-boggling. We think SHE needs the psycho ward!" Jack grunted and Mayes went back to the subject at hand, "sorry sir. Carra asked a perfectly legitimate, okay, a little weird question, that set this teacher off and it got us to thinking. I calculated the circumference of the moon and divided by an estimate of the number of probable questions that she got this reaction to and hopefully we will be able to find her."
"Mayes, no wonder you dropped out of school." Mayes laughed, which made Jack angry. "What is so funny soldier!"
"Sorry sir. It IS a wonder I stayed in as long as I did. Anyway, we were talking and it was something the teacher said and reminded us of what Carra says. Carra loves puzzles and the C.S.I. and we tried to think like her. Where's a map of the area. I want to confirm this calculation."
Jack pointed to the table and board that were set up as a base. Mayes looked over the map and at his phone. He pointed to a spot on the map and spoke to Jack, "right here sir. I think she went this way."
Jack look at Sam with a questioning glance. Daniel spoke up, "it's as good a place as any to start."
"And she left a clue with her friend over there. Why not with Mayes, too?" Daniel and Sam had a point. Besides, Jack would feel better out in the field and it wasn't that far away. If they found something they could get going on the trail. If they were in the wrong place they weren't too far away.
The General overheard and gave the command, trusting in his troops, "take a crew with you. Let me know if you find anything."
