Chapter 3

The next morning, Sara got up early and got dressed. She stepped out into the corridor and was greeted by two armed men, "I'm a security threat now? Are they afraid I'm going to take over the base with my vast knowledge of medieval literature?"

"No ma'am," one of the young men assured her, "We're here to escort you to the briefing room for your meeting with Dr. Jackson and Dr. McKay."

They led her through the corridors back to the briefing room where Dr. McKay and another man sat waiting for her.

"Good morning Dr. McKay," Sara said as she approached the table, "And you must be Dr. Jackson?"

Daniel stood and extended his hand, "It's nice to meet you Dr. Clayton. Please call me Daniel. I hear you had quite the day yesterday."

"You could say that. Now, normally I would be happy to sit and engage in small talk for a while, but right now, I would much rather just have you explain to me exactly what I'm doing here."

"Of course," Daniel said, "I'm sure this is all very confusing for you."

"Not so much confusing as annoying. I'm not used to being beamed from one place to another, certainly not for manuscript consultations."

Rodney coughed.

Daniel looked down briefly, "I, uh, I heard about that." He stood up and walked to the other end of the table. He picked up a very large, very old book and placed it in front of her, offering her a pair of white cotton gloves as he did so, "When I was first told that Col. Sheppard's team had discovered a set of manuscripts, I was eager to see them," he flipped the cover of the book open, "And then I saw the first set of engravings."

Sara stared down at the open book, her eyes quickly scanning the pages. The engravings bore a striking resemblance to those she had studied in graduate school.

"So, what are your first impressions?"

Sara tore her eyes away from the book in front of her and looked at Daniel, "At first glance, the illustrations appear to have a lot in common with the Vengrier texts. I can say with some degree of certainty that this, "she pointed to one picture, " Is a depiction of Callor's fight with the demon Balen," she scanned the page, "The language seems to be a derivative of Celtic. Do you have a linguist working on translations?"

Rodney spoke up, "We have a team working on translating them right now back on..."

Daniel cleared his throat.

"Back at my lab," Rodney finished. He tapped on the computer pad sitting in front of him a few times, "I think," he scanned the screen quickly, " Yes...they've already translated a portion of the first manuscript."

"Can I see that?" Sara waited as Rodney pulled up the translations on his computer then took it from him, "I'd like to keep this. Look over the translations tonight. I could have an initial analysis done for you first thing in the morning."

"That's what we'd like to talk to you about, " Daniel said, "Normally I would be handling this, but right now, I'm needed on another,umm, project. I'm the one that suggested Dr. McKay and his team contact you."

"Okay, so that answers that question. I can take the translations back to my office and start work on them tonight. I can email Dr. McKay..."

Both men shook their heads, "No," Daniel said, "Actually you can't. Rodney and his team normally aren't reachable through email or any other means of traditional communication really."

"That's not strictly true..." Rodney started.

"Not helping Rodney." Daniel said.

"So let me get this straight you need me here so I can work with Dr. McKay's team because the base isn't allowed to use traditional outside communication methods? Okay, so," Sara looked at the computer pad again, "This is what? A third of the manuscript? I'm sure I can rearrange my schedule and make myself available on site for a few weeks."

"Yeah, well, that's the other thing we need to talk to you about. See, we don't, we don't actually work here at the SGC," Rodney said.

"And there are approximately thirty manuscripts," Daniel added.

Sara sat for a moment before speaking again, "Thirty? You found thirty manuscripts?" She stood up and began to walk around the room, her mind a whirlwind of activity. "Thirty undiscovered manuscripts pertaining to the Vengrier Texts. I...I don't even know what to do with that."

"As I was saying," Rodney continued, "We usually work out of, shall we say, a more remote location."

Sara stopped walking and looked at Rodney, "How remote?"

Rodney winced a little, "Another galaxy?"

Sara felt her head start to swim and she grabbed the back of the nearest chair.

"Whoa there."

Sara felt someone catch her around the waist as he knees started to give out.

"Why don't you sit down?"

Sara looked up to see Col. Sheppard standing over her, grinning, "Thank you," she managed to get out before her eyes drifted closed and she slid out of her chair onto the floor.

oOo

"You couldn't ease into it Rodney?"

"And how would suggest I do that, Sheppard? What exactly is the slow way to tell someone you want them to move to another galaxy for five years?"

Sara's eyes popped open and she sat up, "Five years?"

"Oh, you're awake,"Rodney said.

Col. Sheppard looked at her, "How you feeling?"

Sara slid her legs over the side of the bed she was lying on and shook her head, "About as well as can be expected for someone who has, in the last twenty-four hours, learned that not only does the U.S military have some very Star Trek kind of toys but can travel to other galaxies."

"Yeah, that can be pretty overwhelming, " Col. Sheppard said.

"You think?" Sara replied.

"Well Doc. we kind of need an answer. I know it's a big decision, but we're sort of in a hurry."

"Umm..." Sara started, "Yeah, I gathered that." She stood up, "So you want me to sign on with you for five years in another galaxy," she took a deep breath, "And during this time I'll have full access to and uninterrupted time with thirty undiscovered manuscripts associated with one of the most controversial pieces of ancient literature." She walked to where the colonel was standing, "A lot to take in yes, but really a no brainer. I'll do it."

"Great. Excellent!" Rodney said.

"Wait a minute Einstein," Sara said, "There are a few stipulations here."

Col. Sheppard looked at her quizzically, "And those would be?"

"Well first, I'm going to need to go back to my office and gather all my reference material to take with me."

"Okay, easy enough."

"Second, I'm not just running off to another galaxy without bringing some of my personal effects along."

"No problem. See, this isn't so hard," Col. Sheppard said, looking at Rodney, "We can do both of those and still be back on Atlantis by tomorrow."

"Oh no, Captain Commando. Slow down. That's the third thing. I'm not leaving without seeing Molly first and telling her what's going on."

"Okay, now that's going to be a problem. You can't tell your friend where you're going. She doesn't have security clearance."

"I didn't think I was going to be able to tell her the truth, but I have to tell her something. I can't just disappear on her."

"You can call her before we leave, explain that you've decided to accept a position with an archeological expedition," suggested Daniel.

"Oh, you've never met Molly. She knows me to well to believe that in the space of twenty four hours I've decided to go running off to East of Nowhere to a dig."

"So what do you plan to tell her?" Daniel asked.

" Honestly? I have no idea, but I have until eight o'clock tonight to figure it out."