Where'd you go Sam? part 1
Everyday Sam worked on the machine. It had been nearly a year since they were sent to the prison planet. They had figured out within the first few months that they were not on PE662's moon. Jack had been a big part in that deduction. How little she knew of her Colonel's activities when they were not looking. Calculating the days was easy enough, each were 18 hours long and a lunar month was 36 and 42 days due to the duel moons. They were coming up on a year given the Colonel's observations, though you could not tell it by the seasons.
There were no extremes in temperatures, at most it varied by five degrees. They had little need for their coats so they utilised then for bedding and bags and the like. Daniel had surprised her with his knowledge of the domestic arts, though she should not have been given the stories he told about his life on Abbydos. She helped the best she could but ended up getting in the way, not that he would say anything.
So Sam sat in here corner and worked on getting what had started out as a GDO and four radios. Now it had bits of there weapons, a camera, a voice recorder, and the power supply from Teal'c's staff weapon. They had run out of ammo during the battles to establish themselves. Those had been brutal and not without injuries, however, they prevailed. It was now Sam's job to use what they had and what they could barter for in order to make her theory work.
Sam had figured out a way to use the equipment they had to detect tech. They had gotten here somehow and a magic beam of light was not cutting it. Several more people had arrived since they had been here and after the fourth group she was able to detect a power surge by reworking the transmitter into a receiver by utilising bits from the radios. It had taken her four more rounds before she knew what she needed to do. Unfortunately by that time all the batteries had run down. That is when Teal'c offered his staff. It was their only working weapon but by much debate and the fact most everyone around knew what that thing could do, she got the power source. After several more weeks she got that adapted.
However the Machine as it was known, was not working like Sam had hoped. She was getting closer but ever so far away. She had gotten them to a direction but the range was too wide. Still her commanding officer would set out everyday in search. Every week Sam would go out with him and run scans with the Machine to try to narrow the field. As it was all they had was south.
She paused for a moment to stretch her back. She loved a challenge but was beginning to hate this Machine. Day in and day out it was so frustrating. The readings she had gotten were erratic and inconsistent. Sometimes she wished someone else would work on this damn machine.
Unable to concentrate, Sam got up for another cup of fi. How she hated that drink and the unending soup. Though since Teal'c ran into a bit of luck the past few weeks it had become more like a stew. Daniel was handy in the kitchen but she wished he would make something else. He was in the corner carefully dismantling his BDU shirt to use as patches for their clothes. Her's were not that in need of repairs. All of them had only what they were wearing at the time so stretching was a must. The Colonel had done the bartering but only for the essentials.
The temperature was mild so they were lucky. Sam looked down at her t shirt and pants. Pretty good shape if a bit worn thin in places. Observing Daniel's she noticed how big they were on him and nearly torn to pieces. They all had lost weight but she did not think that he had more than the others. He had more patches and sewn places, the pants cut off at the knees, and the t shirt was sleeveless and had several holes and the neck cut out. Oh, she remembered now. The Colonel had had a run in with a larger family and got pretty banged up but won the battle. So they traded since Daniel stayed in the cave most of the time.
She wondered if he ever wanted to get out of this damn cave as much as she did. Sam considered talking to him but held her tongue. She did not want to disturb him. Plus she knew he would ask about the Machine. She did not want to get into an argument. She frowned at that thought. Sam could not recall arguing with Daniel. They have had their heated discussions in the past but no out and out fights. Either way it was her Machine and people needed to keep their noses in there own business.
Sam sat back down at her work station with her back to the only other person in the room. She drank the fi and worked on her main focus until her commanding officer came home.