Two months had pasted since Major Hiller had started to swap with Eli on a somewhat regular basis. While he enjoyed going to the Destiny and exploring the ship, the major always liked it when he was back in his own skin. His buddy, Mark, had made sure that Eli was keeping his body in shape, but it was obvious that he didn't get a descent workout when Eli was on Earth. On top of that, George was getting sick of the ration like food that he had to eat, so when he was on Earth, George made sure he ate some food that had some variety in taste.
Listening to Mark talk about Eli while spotting him, it was obvious to George that Eli was a good guy, and though he didn't care for exercise, Eli was willing to workout since it was not his body. Hiller found it interesting though, that Mark was having to drag Eli to the gym less and less. Relaxing after doing a set of bench presses, George wondered what Eli was doing back on Destiny, and if Johnson's influence here on Earth was having any affect.
Matt walked over and put his right hand on one of Eli's surprisingly broader shoulders. Everyone in the room was either fully awake or shaking off the last effects of the hibernation sleep.
Colonel Young had ordered Matt to get Eli to report to him when he was no longer needed by the rest of the crew. "Eli," the Lieutenant spoke. "The Colonel wants to see you. Is everyone awake enough to take care of themselves?"
Looking around at the last members of the crew that had been in stasis, Eli thought for a moment and said, "Yeah, I think so. Go and tell Dr. Rush that I will see him in a little while, could you just make sure to come and get me if there are any problems?" Though it came out a question, it was obvious from Eli's tone, he expected nothing else. "There shouldn't be any problems but it is better to be cautious."
As Eli left the room, Matt for the first time noticed that he was no longer wearing his old jeans, t-shirt, sneakers and sweatshirt. Eli was wearing fatigues and combat boots. As Eli turned the corner out of Matt's sight, Matt realized that Eli's jeans probably would not be able to fit him anymore, and after three years, Matt wasn't surprised that Eli's shoes had worn out.
Eli was getting use to it, coming back to his body and being sore from head to toe. What surprised him though was the fact that when he came back this time, even sore, he was restless. All Eli wanted to do was close his eyes and forget his surroundings, but every time Eli tried, he ended up unable to stop fidgeting. Getting up out of the bed that he had been lying in, Eli went for a walk around the ship. Within a few moments though, Eli was jogging down the corridors.
Arriving at the observation deck, Eli was surprised by two things, he was only slightly winded and he was not as sore having stretched and worked his muscles. At first he was not sure how he should interpret what his body was telling him; after all, he had never done any real exercise in his life other then the little yoga on Destiny or the workouts in Major Hiller's body. Leaning against the rail on the observation deck, Eli thought about his times on Earth and wondered what the major was doing while here in his body.
Becoming restless again, Eli decided to take a jog up to the bridge of the ship. Once he had arrived though, Eli could not bring himself to stop. Continuing down the corridor, Eli kept jogging until he finally wanted to just drop onto his bed and not move for two weeks, but within an hour, Eli was feeling better and headed off to do some work for the scientists back on Earth.
For the next few days that Eli was on Destiny, he found that if he did not start his day with at least a jog around the ship, he would be restless and unable to concentrate the rest of the day. When he returned to Earth, he was actually happy to go to the gym with Major Johnson, and even went a few times by himself. After about three months when Eli returned to Destiny, he received a surprised. The jeans that he had been wearing when everyone came through the Stargate no longer fit, even with a belt. It was only then that Eli realized that he had been going down belt holes.
Not wanting to go through everyone else's clothes to find something that would fit, Eli went to look through the fatigues that had been brought to the Destiny. Finding a pair of pants that would not drop down around his ankles, he then went on to do his, now daily, morning jog.
Major Hiller sat in the captain's chair on the bridge of Destiny. He had been swapping bodies with Eli now for almost ten months and while he liked that Eli was willing to change his jeans for fatigue pants, George was not sure how he would react if he found himself in fatigues only. The sneakers that Eli had been wearing had just given out, and George did not like having to wear Eli's old shirt that said, "You are here." The shirt was now far to large for Eli.
Eli no longer had much of a gut; he was not near to having abs yet, but Hiller was sure that he would be able to change that fact in time. With the almost zero calorie food and the almost constant exercise that George did while in Eli's body, George wondered what Eli must think of the differences in his body.
Hiller noticed that at first when he returned to his body that he was slightly out of shape, but soon he saw that his body was back in shape and then some. At first he wondered if it was because of Mark forcing Eli into the gym, but now he had the feeling that Eli was going by himself.
The last time he had returned to Earth, they had told him that the scientists on Earth and Eli had figured out how to gather more energy so that Destiny would not drift, but he had not understood. All that mattered to him was the fact that he would be continuing the swapping with Eli for another two years. He was also told that Eli had decided that he would stop swapping about two months before the rest of the crew woke up.
Getting up out of the chair, George jogged down to the observation deck. As much as he liked when he was home in his own body, George knew that he would miss the view that a person got on the deck, because while they might be between galaxies, he could still see stars and the many galaxies that were present throughout this portion of the universe.
After sitting and watching the view for a while, George began to wonder what the time was. He was to return to Earth this day so that he could get some time with his family. Going to Eli's room, Major Hiller turned on Eli's computer. Seeing the time he cried, "Damn." He was late in swapping back with Eli.
Running through the empty halls to the room were communication room, George came to a sudden stop once inside. Everything in the room was exactly like he had left it, but the long-rang communication device was not alight. Even not being a scientist, Hiller knew that something was wrong. He had majored in communications in college, but after everything that he had seen and heard while with the SGC, George knew the device should be lit while active. The fact that he was still in Eli's body meant something was very wrong.
Taking the stone off the machine, Major Hiller knew that if that stone was removed from the device, the connection should break. When this did not work, George removed the power cell. Nothing worked causing George's anxiety to grow exponentially. George had been told that high levels of radiation can prevent the connection from being severed, but he also had been taught how to bypass this problem. Working for a few minuets, Hiller tried the final bypass, but when this did not work either, he knew he was in some serious trouble.