The Unending Odyssey
Part 2 – Chapter 2

"Something Nice"

Harry wondered how he got into this mess. Certain areas of the Hyperdrive section were only accessible by venturing from outside… as in, Outside the ship.

As it was, he was walking up from the airlock outside the port hanger pod, thanking that magnetic boots really did exist in some manner.

He winced at the sluggish way he moved. He was somewhat smaller than Sam, which meant that the spacesuits didn't fit him right. They chaffed his armpits.

Inches above his head, floating in the vacuum with him were 2-inch thick alloy hull plating. Harry had made use of the matter converter to create an alloy similar to the one Asgard hard used, a combination of Trinium, Neutronium and Naquadah. Only this also had Carbon in the mix. This somehow made the plating crystal-like, and slightly transparent.

Following him along was a space-version of Deep Sea Remote Control UAV's. meaning, instead of fans, it used directional thrusters to move and spin.

Thanks to Naquadah generators however, it wasn't quite so short-lived as it's ocean cousins, and nicely provided light for Harry.

2 similar robots were bringing up the rear pulling larger amounts of the plating, which were different in thickness.

It took him 2 hours to get into position.

As he reached the hatch that would let him in, he radioed in, "I'm at the Access Hatch. Permission to unseal airlock."

Sam came over the radio, "Granted, Hyperdrive Section is sealed and the atmosphere vented."

Harry used his wrist-mounted torch to find the manual lock, and it took him a minute to turn it, unsealing the airlock.

"Airlock unsealed, Opening with caution."

Harry did so as he said that. The access hatch, slightly bigger than him, split into 4 sections, which then split into 2 sections each, and disappeared within the dark chamber. The light space UAV repositioned to shine plenty of light into the area.

Harry found that he'd have to jump down.

"Making my way into the section." He said, before stepped carefully into the hole, his momentum slow. As his arms passed the sides, he gave an extra push, and he lowered to the floor several metres away steadily. He barely had to bend his knees as he reached the floor, and his boots automatically re-engaged. The space UAV followed in from behind, while the 2-inch thick shielding plate had stayed outside.

He shone his light through the maze of technology and piping.

"What do you see?" Sam asked.

"It's dark, there were lights here last time… hold on one second." Harry paused as he tapped on an arm control pad linked to the space UAV. It's light increased in coverage and power.

He looked at the myriad of devices in the 2-story chamber that stretched from one side of the central hull to the other side. It was the reason for adding the 'plate' to the design, armor.

He saw little space between them and the walls.

"Sam, It's bad. I can't shield the section."

--

Back in the Asgard Core room, Harry stood at the Core control console. Behind it, in between the console station and the wall screen Sam stood looking rather disappointed. Behind Harry was the rest of the motley crew.

Harry turned to them, and sighed.

"I can't shield it."

Cam frowned, and said, "Be we have plating stacked in the port hanger…"

"I know, but… there just isn't enough room for me to fit in." Harry told him.

"So how did you and the Asgard do whatever you did?" Vala asked.

"Remember, we were in an atmospheric bubble while they also fitted the externally-mounted pieces, like Weapons emitters. We didn't need to vent the section, because externally there was air, no danger of rushing air. That meant no one had to wear those bulky EVA suits. If we were on earth, we'd fix it."

"So, we fix it on earth when all is said and done." Cam replied.

Sam shook her head. "But I discovered something else."

Harry turned to the console and tapped a few things, bringing up a diagram of some wave thing.

"This energy waveform… our Hyperdrive is dumping out way more than it should be, this you know. The fact is, I can only add an inch of shielding to the section, and while it would, in conjunction with some modifications to the Hyperdrive, reduce the flood of energy down to a trickle, we don't know how accurate those Motherships' sensors are."

"So what now?" Daniel asked.

Harry thought for a second, before replying, "We come up with a new plan."

"Great. So what is it?" Daniel continued.

Harry looked at Sam, and she looked at him…

"We… don't have one yet." Sam answered reluctantly.

Cam shot her a slight glare, and muttered, "Great… I'm stuck on this ship with 2 geniuses and they don't know how to fix our problem…" and stomped out.

"I'm sure you'll think of something." Landry said, before he too left.

"Indeed, I have every confidence in you both." Teal'c assured them, and then, he too, left the room.

"What if you just, I don't know… turn back time? Or something?" Vala suggested.

Sam shook her head, but Harry fielded answering that. "Even if I still had my time-turner, It'd be useless. We'd still get stuck in the loop."

Vala just looked at him blankly, before she walked off muttering about not knowing much of Harry.

Daniel gave him a shrewd look. "Even if you still had?"

Harry sighed, and glanced at Sam, who simply said, "You should tell him."

Harry nodded, and said, "I kind of… cheated."

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked.

"I had a time-turner… a small device to turn back time by an hour per 'turn', to attend numerous sessions with professors back at Uni. And, I used it so that Sometimes, when I was off world, I'd also… be on earth studying some Engineering…" Harry shifted a little.

"So sometimes, there were 2 of you walking around?" Daniel asked with an incredulous frown.

Harry sighed, and corrected, "Or more…"

"Or more?" Daniel asked in shock.

"Well anyway, I lost that during my stint on the Daedalus…"

"Lost lost, or broke lost?"

Harry grinned slightly, and said, "Lost lost."

"So somewhere in Pegasus, there's a device floating around that could let someone travel through time?"

Harry shook his head. "It's probably hidden away on the Daedalus still. I hid it away when I got onboard, and forgot where I put it when we got back from Pegasus a month later."

Daniel looked at Sam, and asked, "You knew about this?"

Sam grinned unashamedly. "Of course I did. You really think it wouldn't have gone unnoticed that Harry is on mission and at the Academy, during his time there?"

Daniel sighed. "Alright, I get the point."

--

After several nights of generally sitting around thinking of their problem interspersed with research and project-doing, Harry decided to make his way to the Gym. He had been neglecting his body, and had a right time trying to shift the shield plates between the hanger and the cargo area he put them in.

As he entered, he spotted Cam and Teal'c sparring Sodan-style, and Sam was off to the side, running on a treadmill but watching the two in curiosity.

Harry stepped onto the treadmill next to Sam's, and as he began to do a walk-warm up, Sam interrupted, slowing her's down to match speed, "Here it comes, like clockwork."

Harry looked over, and as Sam snapped her fingers, he noticed a slight change in the ship, before it disappeared. And whatever it was, affected Cam, he tripped over his own feet.

"Like clockwork my arse… I felt that sudden increase in the AG field." He turned to Sam to glare. She stared back, unsuccessful in putting up an air of innocence.

After a few seconds, she shrugged, and pointed back to Cam, "Well Cam fights harder when he stumbles."

Indeed, Cam did fight harder, Harry noted. His swings were more forceful, and Teal'c was on the defensive. Cam may have had training in the style, and then taught Teal'c, but he had only had several hours, not days of training.

When Teal'c grabbed the staff and held it in place, staring as he was at Cam wide-eyed, Harry noticed something else.

Harry glanced at Sam with a frown, who was also frowning at the scene. So Harry wasn't the only one to notice how angry Cam was lately.

Shortly after, Cam left, followed shortly thereafter by Teal'c.

For an hour Harry and Sam ran on the treadmills, pumped a few weights and generally exercised.

As they left, Harry spoke again. "So, I saw a Cello in the Core room."

Sam gave him a smirk, and replied, "I saw you setting a schedule for the next 3 months of Sci-Fi programs you're going to watch."

Harry shrugged, "So I'm a nut, what can I say?"

Sam nodded, and answered his original, hinted question, "I've always wanted to learn to play the Cello."

"I prefer violins." Harry commented. He didn't, but then again he didn't dislike them either.

"You know how to play?" Sam asked, her doubt heard in her voice.

"Nope, but could do with learning."

Sam grinned. "It'll keep you away from too much TV at least."

"Oh? Do I detect a hint of resentment, Colonel Samantha Carter?" Harry asked playfully.

"And if you do, Lieutenant?" She asked challengingly.

Harry noticed the glint in her eyes, so he answered, "Then I shall have to relieve you of the reason for this resentment."

"And, dear sir, How would you do that?" Sam asked somewhat sarcastically.

As they neared Sam's quarters, Harry decided it was now or never.

"Maybe Dinner, just the two of us?"

Sam stopped, shocked at what he said, although only a little showed, in her eyes.

"No?" Harry asked, trying to hide his disappointment.

"Yes." Sam corrected. "I'd love to." She smiled, and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Harry barely noticed as she went into her quarters. To the empty corridor, he agreed, "So would I."

--

Well, Harry wanted to make it a special dinner, and he knew about the Atmosphere bubble generators, (Basically a force field generator, but just set to keep air in,) ways to heat said area…

The day after he asked her to dinner, Harry went to the Knowledge base before Daniel did, and locked the door.

He stepped up to the pedestal, and the cylindrical holographic projection appeared around him.

"Library, access technology schematic databank. Search parameter, force fields, keywords: Atmospheric force field generator."

Barely a second passed before a single file faded into prominence on the projection. Harry made a pulling motion, as though he was pulling a stack of files towards him, and the file mimicked the movement. Harry waved his hands outward, causing the rest of the projection to fade.

Harry looked over the schematics, smiled, and asked, "Library; Copy current Open file to Asgard Core Room Console, and encrypt the file, log under the filename, 'Films that Daniel Hates.' Decryption trigger Passphrase, "Robson Diner."

A second passed, and the projection mimicked the file being copied and sent elsewhere, quite literally, the 'copied file' becoming jumbled and seemingly flying into the back wall.

"End Session." Harry spoke, and stepped away from the pedestal, and left.

He didn't get to access the file until Sam had left the Core room, so Harry generally avoided the room, with only a few check-ins to keep Sam up on his progress with one of his projects.

--

After she finished and left, Harry entered the Core room, and opened the file.

Within seconds, he set the matter converter/transporter to automatically assemble the pieces and beam them to where he was going to set it. The transporter would be so accurate, that all he'd have to do was go out there, hook it up to one of the external power ports, and activate it. While it began to work, Harry began to construct something else virtually. A table, with heat generator and AG field generator in the base. The latter, since it is merely creating a anti-gravity field orientated the same as the ships' internal field, well, it wouldn't have problems reminiscent of previous messing around with said AG fields.

When he was done an hour later, it too was made and beamed into position, along with suitable chairs.

One last thing that he did was to materialise a remote control device that he carried with him as he left for the airlocks, and put on a EVA suit. He strapped the remote control to his suited arm.

Outside, he hooked up the power supply, and sure enough, within seconds a force field flash/speckled into existence.

Harry tapped a sequence, and almost immediately, various flaps opened, Air streaming out, filling the area within minutes with breathable oxygen. But the readout still showed the area to be quite cold. Harry sorted that out by beaming in several heaters he had prepared before hand, the kind you have out on a porch, only built by the Asgard Core/Matter converter, as such, quite safe and more energy efficient. He turned them on full, and set the upper temperate limit, so they would maintain a specific temperature in the area.

He smiled, walked over to the table, set beaming co-ordinates into memory, and beamed back to the airlock.

He returned a short time later, space-suit-less, but the heaters had only got it to tolerable cold by then. He had with him various things to set the place. Table clothe, and so on.

By the time he was done, he had taken several hours, and it was into the evening, ship time… just past 7.

Just time enough to cook food and ready himself. He remembered just in time to record co-ordinates to beam the food in too.

--

Harry put on his best clothes. Food was plated and in an oven set to keep them warm, and he had set the transporter to beam the food directly to the table on his command. He made sure he could pull his sleeves over the remote device easily, without revealing it.

He sighed, as he looked at himself in the mirror. He tried to remember if there was anything else to do…

He gave up after a minute. He was sure there was something he had forgotten to do…

He shrugged it off, and as he set off for Sam's Quarters, he recalled earlier that morning when Sam had asked if he was serious about asking her to dinner.

--

Harry nervously entered the Core room. Sam looked up at him and smiled at him.

She seemed to notice his nervousness though, and asked, "Last night… were you serious?"

Harry almost chickened out, but as someone once said to him, he dragged his inner Gryffindor lion out kicking and screaming. "Yeah…"

"Don't worry, I'd love to have dinner with you." Sam told him. "I mean, we've been to restaurants numerous times…"

Harry nodded with a relieved smile, but corrected her, "That was usually as a group… Like with Daniel, Vala or Carolyn."

Sam had to tease. "Harry… are you saying this isn't just the two of us?"

Harry stuttered for a moment, before he sighed at her. "You're evil."

"You're not that smart if you didn't know that by now." Sam joked.

"Hardy har har." Harry sarcastically replied.

As he sidled up, she asked, "So, where are we going to have dinner? I mean, there's not that many private places on this ship, even with just the 7 of us."

Harry nodded, and began to think.

"Harry?" Sam prodded. Harry didn't hear her, he was busy thinking. "Harry?" she tried again, this time physically too.

"Hmm? Oh… just thinking about where… I think I know a nice spot. Perfectly private…" Harry informed her, and asked, "9 alright?"

Sam nodded, but asked, "Why not the traditional 7?"

Harry deflected with, "Well, I'd like to make sure that everything's ready, and the others aren't… around."

Sam nodded, but was suspicious. "Come on, tell me? Please?"

Harry shook his head. She slowly approached him, and asked again. Harry made a zipped lips motion with his fingers.

Sam pouted for a second, before she got an evil gleam. "I'll lock you out of your Sci-Fi programs…"

Harry just raised an eyebrow, and commented, "Well, I'll just have to make do with the few other programs I like."

"Sci-Fi isn't the only genre you watch?" Sam asked incredulously before she realised what she said.

Harry gave her an amused grin, and backing away slowly, he replied, "You're not that smart if you didn't know that by now."

Harry ran as soon as the last word left his lips. Behind him, he heard Sam's gasp of outrage, and promptly chased him.

As Harry ran through the corridors, laughing his head off, he passed some of the others, Landry in the make-shift garden, watering plants. Harry gasped out "Hey sir" as he passed by the open door, and changed directions when he reached a junction in the corridor.

Sam caught up to him in the Gym, having taken a short-cut after she guessed where he was going.

When he almost ran right into her, as it was they did bump slightly as he stumbled to a stop, he whined, "No cheating… using the transporter… oh come on I had no chance!"

Sam grinned evilly at him, and slowly moved towards him. He backed away. She did so again, and told him, "That was the point."

"Wha… haha... HAHAHA… HAHAHAHA OW! Gi… GIVE!"

--

As Harry approached her door, he gave a quick sigh, ran his fingers through his hair; short as it was, hair gel worked a treat in keeping it tamed and slightly spiky. He looked down and thought he saw lint on his shirt, but didn't get anything with his fingers that time.

After a few minutes of trying to make sure he was presentable, he was about to knock when the door opened to reveal an amused Sam…

And then Harry's brain shut down upon seeing her, what she was wearing…

All he could think of even after a minute, was Holy Shit, I think I've died and gone to heaven, Because I'll be damned if Sam isn't an Angel.

When he snapped out of it, Sam was beaming at him, a glint of success in her eyes.

He drunk in her appearance. She wore a red dress that was so form fitting that he was having trouble breathing, matching red high hells, tights… and since her dress straps were so thin, he knew she wasn't wearing a bra.

"Harry?" she spoke quietly.

"You're beautiful." He told her, and was barely able to keep his voice level.

"Thank you." She replied, and looked him up and down. "You clean up pretty well yourself."

Harry smiled, half-turned and held out his right arm for her to grasp. She did so, and He led her a short way to a secluded room.

She looked around, and frowned. "I don't see tables."

Harry smiled, and answered to her unspoken question, "This is just a stop along the trip."

"You're not having me walk all over the ship are you?"

Harry chuckled lightly, but shook his head. He sidled to behind her, and whispered into her ears, "Close your eyes." As he pulled back, he rolled up his sleeve slightly, took a glance, and put his finger over the trigger button that would set the transporter to beam them after a 5 second count.

"Alright." She said, and 2 seconds later, he put his hands in front of her eyes so she wouldn't both be blinded by the beam, and to stop her seeing their destination should she be cheating.

She giggled, but stopped when she felt and heard the whine of the transporter.

When they materialised, she asked, "Alright, Where are we? It's comfortably warm… and is that a breeze?"

Harry chuckled lightly again, and said, "Alright, walk with me, 5 paces forward… Half-turn left…"

Harry smiled as he finished, "Open your eyes." He pulled his hands away, and waited.

A minute later, she whispered, "You sweet man."

She turned and pulled him into a tight hug.

He wondered what was happening when he heard some sniffles, before he realised she was crying. He pulled back slightly, and was about to ask what was wrong.

He didn't get the chance…

And in his head he remembered something that was said years ago to him before he forgot what it was.

As it was, Cassie had asked him, 'Back on your world, where kisses really that explosive?'

Well, for him at least, he now had an answer.

--

Cam frowned at the lights that were glowing slightly brighter then they should, before settling down.

--

A/N: I am now grinning like an idiot at that last scene. No, it's not magic. Something else, but I'm going to cover that when i get to seaosn 9/10 in The Fifth Member. And a nice bit of continuity, don't you think?

As for where on the hull - the sloped section of the port hanger pod, so that they don't see the Ori ships, nor do they see the rest of the ship. The force field generators are on the horizontal and vertical pieces, just out of view.

I'm missing the reviews too. pwease? review? Chapter 3 is ready to be posted. I won't post for a week, gives me time to journey on ahead.