Chapter 4
"Are we certain that everyone saw that encounter?" General Hammond asked Walter as he, SG-1, and the pentagon liaison Major Davis all sat around the briefing room table.
Walter nodded as he finished giving his report. "Yes, sir. Though a few people, perhaps the Amish, may not have seen it, even they had to have heard about it by now. The media is going crazy. Colonel O'Neill's name and image are appearing all over the world."
Sam shook her head, "It's almost to the point of complete pandemonium, sir. At least neither of the alien races felt inclined to mention the Stargate itself."
"At least there's that," Daniel said dryly.
General Hammond nodded while Major Davis broke in, "However, that leaves our government with the challenge of answering the questions of how two advanced alien races have heard of a Colonel in our Air Force. The President is considering that it may be time to make the Stargate public before things get too far out of hand. Our other allies who are aware of the existence of the Stargate are agreeing and willing to back us up."
"I think we passed the point of things getting too far out of hand long ago, Major," General Hammond said dryly.
"Indeed," Teal'c said.
"Yes, sir," Major Davis agreed.
Then a familiar bright beam of light flashed in the room and deposited a familiar gray figure.
"This occurrence is beginning to be overrated," Teal'c said, looking angrily at the new Asgard.
"Well all I can say is, it's about time," General Hammond said.
"General Hammond, Major Carter, Teal'c, Daniel Jackson," the alien nodded at them all in turn. Then he turned back to General Hammond. "I must apologize for my delay, General Hammond. I had to follow the Sumerian ship out of orbit in order to ensure that they were truly leaving your planet. My name is Kvasir, Thor has sent me to explain the situation and to provide protection for your planet until the time that I am no longer needed here."
"And what exactly is the situation?" General Hammond said, his temper flaring.
"Thank you for the save earlier though, Kvasir," Sam interjected, "I thought I was toast."
"It is what little I can do to repay you and your people, Major Carter, for the help that you have given me and mine." Then the alien turned back to General Hammond. "I am sorry for the incident earlier today. Thor would have liked to explain what was about to happen, but he was in rather a bit of a hurry."
"As we had noticed," Teal'c said, then he added, "we would be most appreciative if you would inform us of the location and health of O'Neill."
Kvasir shook his head. "I'm afraid I do not have that information, free-Jaffa Teal'c. Thor has not informed anyone of his destination in the fear that we could have another leak of security."
"What do you mean, leak of security?" Daniel interrupted, "Are you saying that the Sumerian ship coming here was your fault?"
Kvasir looked ashamed. "I'm afraid so, Daniel Jackson. The truth of the matter is far worse that you may even be thinking at the moment. It is the Asgards' fault that this threat has descended upon your world, though it may have been an inevitable consequence anyway."
"What exactly are you saying, Kvasir?" General Hammond asked.
Kvasir sighed and sat down in a chair across from General Hammond. "I am saying, General, that in part it is the fault of SG-1 for revealing Colonel O'Neill to more advanced races. We tried to prevent information regarding him from reaching other, less benevolent sources, but your excursions into the galaxy have prevented our efforts from being successful. However, we are not entirely without blame."
"See, that's what I don't understand," Daniel said, "why Jack? I mean, he's a great guy, and all," here Daniel frowned and added, "on occasion," then he went on to finish, "but he really isn't all that remarkable. Thor said that he was a step in the evolutionary ladder, but he wasn't the missing link. What could possibly have caught the interest of an advanced race like the Sumerians that would cause them to break a treaty that they have obviously kept until now?"
Kvasir looked at Daniel Jackson in surprise, "You mean you do not know the worth of O'Neill? How is this possible when you live in such close proximity to him?"
Daniel shrugged and looked around the table for some support. Sam just shrugged back. She didn't have a clue what the alien was referring to. Teal'c merely lifted an eyebrow in Kvasir's general direction.
General Hammond finally voiced what they all were thinking, "I'm afraid that you seem to have us all at a disadvantage Kvasir, we don't really know what you are talking about."
Kvasir sadly shook his head. Then he leaned forward and looked at General Hammond, his large eyes blinking slowly. "General," he said, "I was the one who greeted O'Neill as he came through the Stargate to the Asgard homeworld when he head was filled with the knowledge of the Ancients. As I'm sure Loki informed you when you talked to him, for a mere primitive human to take that knowledge and absorb and utilize it, is far beyond anything past generations of humans could hope to accomplish. What you also don't seem to realize, is that it is far beyond even what Asgard brains can comprehend. Perhaps even beyond the Ancients themselves."
As this statement was absorbed by the humans sitting around the table, Kvasir continued, "O'Neill also possesses an ancient gene, which most likely activated the repository of the Ancients, but a small number of other humans on your planet also have this gene. For those that possess it, they would be able to activate any ancient repository as well, but after that, they would be unable to process all the information. If anyone on your planet other than O'Neill had used the device, within two days they would have been completely, as you say, crazy, and they would have been dead by three days." Looking around at the shocked faces around him, he added, "You don't seem to realize the extent of the knowledge that was unraveling in O'Neill's brain. The Ancients technology was far beyond even what the Asgard are capable of. Several of our people have tried to absorb the Ancient's knowledge, but each time has ended in death for the Asgard who attempted it. Even after we tried to repress the knowledge that was placed in their brains, the changes that had occurred were too much for their brains to handle, and they quickly lost control and died. Even placing their consciousness in a new body was not successful as the knowledge came with it, and they merely repeated the process of dying. We have extracted bits and pieces of the knowledge from different repositories, but we have been studying the little we have extracted for as long as I have been alive, and we have still only barely scratched the surface. The repository contained all the knowledge of the Ancients. That means that it was more than the knowledge from just one Ancient's mind, it was the knowledge from ALL their minds. I doubt even an Ancient could have handles that much information. I assume you now understand our amazement of O'Neill."
"Actually, no, no, I don't," Daniel said, "I mean, Jack was also dying, would have died, if you hadn't removed the knowledge from his mind. He was able to utilize it, yes, but forgot his own language and the knowledge took over his mind completely. I'm sure the Asgard were able to utilize the knowledge as well. What makes Jack so different than you?"
The Asgard shook his head. "I see you still do not understand. You essential flaw in comprehending is the fact that you seem to think I removed the knowledge from O'Neill's mind. All I did, in fact, was repress it. Jack's mind still contains all the knowledge of the Ancients, and with time, that knowledge will emerge at a slow enough pace that he will be able to retain it, without it overwhelming him, if he lives long enough. Even when we repressed the knowledge of the Ancients in our own people, the changes that had already occurred were too much, and our highly sophisticated brains were overwhelmed soon after. Do you now understand?"
As silence filled the room, Kvasir could see that they began to. He could only hope that Thor was very far away at the moment, and that the Commander would be able to keep O'Neill safe.
"So, anything I want the ship can make," Jack asked, looking interested.
"Yes, O'Neill," Thor sighed, his patience wearing thin. As much as he usually adored the intricacies of this human, he was discovering a bored O'Neill was a very bad thing. Once O'Neill had been assured that Major Carter had been safely extracted from the Sumerians by the Asgard Thor had sent, he had relaxed. However, with that relaxation had come an influx of boredom.
"So, if I wanted...say...the whole collection of the Simpsons, I could get it?" Jack continued.
"What is the Simpsons?" Thor asked, his face void of any sort of emotion.
Jack exaggerated shock, "Thor! You're telling me you've never heard of the Simpsons? What planet have you been hiding on?"
"I have in fact been on several planets, O'Neill," Thor responded with a completely straight face, "though most of my time has been spent on ships battling the replicators. I have not had time to catch up on my entertainment."
Jack was about to respond, but then he stopped and blinked a couple times. "Catch up on my entertainment?" he repeated. Then he grinned. "Thor, are you pulling one on me? Are you telling me you already know what the Simpsons are?"
Thor nodded sagely. "As you have been told, O'Neill," Thor said, with what may have been a small smirk playing on his little gray lips, "we have studied your race closely. What better means of learning about a civilization than to view their various forms of art?"
Jack outright laughed. It wasn't something he did very often anymore, but he couldn't help it. "Simpsons as art! Now you're talking!" he exclaimed. "Does that mean you already have the collection somewhere on your ship?"
"Second interface over," Thor said, motioning with his head. Rubbing his hands together with glee, Jack was about to punch the button, when the ship was violently rocked. Jack found himself on the floor looking up at Thor as he began to punch numerous buttons.
"What's going on, Thor?" Jack asked.
"We are under attack, O'Neill," Thor responded, never once taking his eyes from his controls.
"Is it the Stupiderians, people, things?" Jack asked.
Thor looked up at him, and Jack could see the terror plain in his large black eyes. "I'm afraid so, O'Neill, I must ask that you conceal yourself from the screen in one of the back compartments for the moment. I will attempt to explain that you are not present. If that doesn't work, I will beam you down to the planet below where you must make your way to the stargate and dial home."
"Thor, buddy," Jack said, "I don't have a GDO with me. I can't get home even if I dialed there."
Thor pushed a button quickly, and a GDO appeared on his weapons consul. "I have created one using the ship," Thor said, "now take it and conceal yourself. However, I must require that until I come for you, you not remove that GDO from your presence. It will also prevent a lock from being formed on your specific DNA pattern by the Sumerians. Now go!"
Jack reluctantly did as asked, but not before looking at Thor one more time and saying, "Take care of yourself, buddy."
"As should you, O'Neill," Thor said, and Jack left the room in time to feel the ship shake one more time. He looked back for one last glimpse of a little gray alien fighting desperately to save his life, and as he left to hide in another room, he couldn't help but feel he was not worth all the effort the little guy was going to, and he wished he could just save the little guy the troubles.