IT'S NEVER THIS EASY

BACK IN ROCKFORD

Col. Mackenzie inputs the address for the store in the GPS and Daniel drives the appointed route. After pulling into the stores parking lot and finding an open space, They prepare to go in. Before getting out Col. Mackenzie pulls a small aerosol canister from her purse

"What's that?" asks Jackson

"Breath spray" says Mackenzie

"No No no don't do that" says Jackson

"Why not?" asks Mackenzie

"A little beer on the breath may give Mr. Smith the impression he has an advantage over us" says Jackson

"How do you think of these things?" asks Mackenzie

"I lay awake at night doing just that" says Jackson

"Shall we?" says Mackenzie

Exiting the car they proceed inside.

"The tour guide was right, I noticed there were a lot of out of state plates in the parking lot and it's pretty busy for a week day afternoon" says Mackenzie

"Yes; getting one on one time with Mr. Smith might be difficult." says Jackson

Spotting Mr. Smith wasn't very difficult older gentleman sitting behind the counter ; a regular throw back to the sixties, full beard, pony tail(mostly grey) wearing bib overalls and sporting a portable oxygen tank, with 3 young boys running out of the back room each carrying a new item ready to be displayed. The oldest boy has a lamp and he knows where it goes

"Thank you Christopher" says Smith

"No problem Grandpa" says Chris

The second boy has a heavy glass object

"Is this a candy dish grandpa?" asks Corey

"Well Corey I think it use to be an ashtray, but just put it with the other glassware" answers Smith

The youngest comes out with a large glass phalanx

"What is this Grandpa?" asks Logan

"Never you mind Logan , just give it here and I'll keep it behind the counter" says Smith

Observing this bring smiles to Dr. Jackson and Col. Mackenzie as they approach the counter

"So what brings a nice couple like you to the Mon-inois?" asks Smith

Don't you mean Illinois?" asks Mackenzie

"The MON is just a little catch phrase of my own doing; I can replace the first syllable or word of any state to "The Mon" like "The Montucky" instead of Kentucky"

"Why "The Mon"?" asks Mackenzie

"It's an acronym and I'll bet that once I tell you what the M stands for you'll know the rest" says Smith

"Ok; Shoot" says Mackenzie

"Middle" says Smith

In unison both Daniel and Sarah finish the line "Of Nowhere"

"Pretty simple huh?" says Smith

"Yes well I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson and this is my associate Ms. Mackenzie.

I'm an Egyptologist and the other day at the Field Museum we noticed an artifact resembling a stone tablet that you had loaned to them and then earlier today we took the tour of the Burpee museum where we saw another interesting fossil you have on loan to them." says Jackson

"So?" says Smith

"Simply put Dr. Jackson and I are very interested in tracing the origins of those artifacts." says Mackenzie

"So would I but it's just as big a mystery to me" says Smith

"Really?" says Jackson"Yep, six months ago my son took time out of his busy schedule to come visit me for my birthday(for the first time in years). He said he had a surprise birthday present but I had to wait until I made it to our cabin; He and my wife left a couple of days early to set the cabin up and… "

Mr. Smith starts to get a little emotional takes a red bandanna out of his pocket and blows his nose.

"That's when the accident happened" says Mackenzie

"Oh you know about that?" asks Smith

"Yes and we're very sorry for your loss" says Jackson

"Well all I can tell you is I found all of that stuff in his car when they brought it back; I assumed he'd collected them in his travels and they were going to be my surprise. I'm kind of a history buff. The snake fossil really got those guys at the Burpee excited but they said the people at the Field Museum would be better suited to examine the tablet. I told the both of em they could display the artifacts hoping someone would come along that might know more than they did" explains Smith

"Well I do have a history with both objects and would love the opportunity to examine them closer; Would you consider releasing them to us for that purpose?" asks Jackson

"Sure, Can't see why not, What do you want me to do?" asks Smith

"Just ask the museums to return the items to you, so you can give someone else a crack at solving the mystery" says Jackson

"If you don't mind me asking; what did your son do for a living?" asks Mackenzie

"Claimed he was a traveling salesman, never did say for who" says Smith

"Did he ever send you letters?" asks Mackenzie

"Oh Yea, see back there on the mirror; Post Cards, His mother would always hang em up right after she read them to me several times." Says Smith

Looking at the mirror Col. Mackenzie sees dozens of post cards displayed Mackenzie : Wow, He did get around

While Mr. Smith Listened to Dr. Jackson's instructions on what to do with the artifacts when he got them back, Col. Mackenzie slipped her digital camera out of her purse and took a couple of pictures of the post cards

"I can't tell how much I'm looking forward to getting a closer look at the artifacts and we'll return them to you ASAP hopefully with a better understanding of what they are and where they're from" says Jackson

"You're very welcome, like I said that's why I put em out there to begin with" says Smith

"You don't mind if I use "The Mon" thing do you" asks Mackenzie

"Don't have the copy write if that's what you mean" says Smith

"Maybe you should" says Mackenzie

"I'm not sure I'm the first to use it" says Smith

"Where do you think that was?" asks Jackson

"My best guess is around 1889" says Smith

This is where his three grandsons join in to finish the story "When the Montana entered the union"

"I guess they've heard that one a few times" says Smith

This gets a chuckle from everyone that only gets louder when the youngest Logan chimes in "Even when I was little"

"Thank you again for everything, good-bye" says Mackenzie

"You all have a safe trip now and I'll be looking forward to hearing from you real soon." says Smith

With that Dr. Jackson and Col. Mackenzie return to their car"WOW! That went way better than expected" says Jackson

"Do you have a guess as to where his son might have acquired them." says Mackenzie

"To tell you the truth, I believe they were his" says Jackson

"HIS!" shouts Mackenzie

"Yep, He was blended with either a Gou'ald or a Tok'ra, How and what he was up to is anybody's guess" says Jackson

"This learning on the fly is getting old; Tok'ra?" asks Mackenzie

"Ah Yes, I see what you mean. The Tok'ra are yet another alien race that have learned to co-exist with their symbiotes" says Jackson

"Snakes" says Mackenzie

"If that makes it easier for you. We had a working relationship with them, but they never really trusted us. They felt we were inferior and meddlesome, so they decided to break off and go it alone." says Jackson

"Do you miss their help?" asks Mackenzie

"Sometimes. A little more learning on the fly; with the symbiotes abilities the host can live for hundreds of years with no health issues, General O'Neill was mortally wounded and would not have survived had it not been for (what they call) the blending" explains Jackson

"Come again?" asks Mackenzie

"They put a snake in him, so it could heal his injuries" says Jackson

"It obviously worked, but is it still…" asks Mackenzie

"NO it's not" says Jackson

"I took a couple of pictures of the post cards they received from their son" says Mackenzie

"Why?" asks Jackson

"To help us decipher the tablets code , if we know where he's been, then those places should match" says Mackenzie

"How do you think of these things? Wait don't tell me you lay awake at night" says Jackson

"I think it's recess time" says Mackenzie

With that Col. Mackenzie turns on the radio and the announcer's hyping that nights Hockey game between their very own Rockford Ice Hogs and the Chicago Wolves. Dr. Jackson is checking his PDA

"Well we can't get a flight to Denver until mid-day tomorrow is there anything you'd like to see while were here?" asks Jackson

"Ever been to a hockey game?" asks Mackenzie

"You do realize that those are minor league teams" says Jackson

"SO" says Mackenzie

"OK, You have the GPS ….." says Jackson

Dr. Jackson and Col. MacKenzie go to the hockey game and have a great time, especially all the rowdy play including a couple of fights. Afterwards they grab a pizza and eat it on the way back to the hotel. Once there they are totally ready for bed it has been a long day

BACK TO NEW YORK

After the cab ride to the theater, they are still a little early so they decide to walk down to the deli and see if the technician is a frequent customer."I'll take a quick look inside" says Vala

"Oh NO you're already way to popular in there I'll take a look you wait here." says A.J.

Just as A.J. steps inside the deli Vala spots the same guy in the Yankees jersey and dress slacks carrying what appears to be coffees getting into a car about half a block away, so she decides to check him out while A.J. is inside. She walks down to the first intersection behind the car before crossing the street , so she can come up behind it. Once Vala's close enough she takes a digital camera from her pocket and snaps a few shots of the 2 men and the license plate.

While inside the deli A.J. does spot the technician sitting at a table eating lunch with someone, so he sits himself at a small table near the door to observe. This only last a minute or two before the 2 men are finished eating and get up to leave. A.J. quickly leaves first to find Vala and get the digital camera so he can get pictures of them to send back to the SGC. As soon as he's outside he tries to locate Vala but she's nowhere to be seen. He finally sees her half way down the block on the other side of the street, but she's to far away to get her attention and even if he could it would be to late the technician and friend have come out said their good-byes and go their separate ways. A.J. starts to walk in Valas direction staying on his side of the street and when he's close enough he sees her taking pictures, so he just leans back against a lamp post with his arms crossed waiting for Vala to spot him; only the guys in the car spot him looking in their direction first. They get spooked and start looking around and spot Vala. Now they are in a panic, so they start the car and take off. Vala looks to see what spooked them and sees A.J. leaning against the lamp post and gives him a wave. A.J. motions to her to head towards the theater and starts walking that way, so does Vala crossing back over at the first available opportunity. Catching up with him shortly afterwards."Any luck?" asks Vala

"Yea, all bad; What did you think you were doing?" says A.J.

"Well I saw them before they saw me, so I thought I could get some pictures of them and their car so we could find out who's side they're on" answers Vala

"Well while you wondered off I found the technician having lunch with someone." says A.J.

"Did you get any pictures?" asks Vala

A.J. stops dead in his tracks puts his hands on his hips and just stares at Vala

"What?" asks Vala

Realizing she's holding the only camera they have

"Oh, sorry, I forgot" says Vala

"Yes you did, well at least you showed a little initiative, even though I told you to ignore that guy until we needed to know." says A.J.

"I know but I thought if I got a few pictures we'd have the upper hand" says Vala

"At least we got somebody's picture." says A.J.

They continue to the theater and see that the security guard is already standing outside of the stage door entrance

"Don't tell me Martins' friends, I thought it was going to be a good day when he wasn't standing here waiting for me" says the Guard

"Well we aim to please, with any luck he won't be here for at least a couple of days" says Vala

"Or until Stan Lee throws him out. No today I'm the potential replacement guest" says A.J.

A.J. shows the guard his confirmation . And the guard checks his list"Admiral A.J. Chegwidden and you have a star next to your name" says the Guard"Meaning?" asks A.J.

"There are 2 waiting rooms for potential replacement guest the ones with a star get to go to the nicer one where Mr. Letterman actually stops by to chat for a little bit and your friends get to stay with you until just before show time and meet him as well." says the Guard

"Can I assume Martin never had a star" asks A.J.

"Good guess , hold on you'll need an escort to the right room" says the Guard

The guard pulls his radio from its holster and calls for an escort. It's only a few moments before the escort appears at the door

"Right this way Admiral" says the Escort

With that A.J. and Vala follow the escort to the nice waiting room

"Here you go; Mr. Letterman usually stops by about 30 minutes before show time to chat for a couple of minutes; there's snacks and drinks in the fridge" says the Escort

"Thank you" says A.J.

"Yes, thank you very much" says Vala

And as quick as he appeared the escort is gone

"Alright it's about 2 hours until the show starts so one of us can snoop around until Letterman shows up." says A.J.

"You know what to look for better then me so I'll wait here for Dave" says Vala

"Of course you will, but he will expect to find me here, so you'll have to stay at the door and keep an eye open for him, then call me as soon as you see him; There are no bathrooms in here, so you can tell him that's where I'm at and that I'll be right back." instructs A.J. "Got it! Get going" says Vala

A.J. sees some visitors passes setting on the table so he grabs one and clips it to his pocket as he walks out the door. The first thing he wants to get a look at is the control room where the technician works. Finding his way there he sees that it is unoccupied for the moment and goes in. examining the satellite technicians work station he spots a chart that list the settings for the satellite used by the show; He also notices the controls are not set to those coordinates, realizing he doesn't have the digital camera again, he uses a pen to write the settings on the palm of his hands. Knowing he wouldn't be able to tell if anything else was out of place he makes his way out. So far so good, he passes a couple of employees and just nods his head they pay no attention to him he finds the employee locker room and decides to take a look. Inside there are several employees including the satellite tech. A.J. sees a men's room and thinks about slipping into a stall, again he realizes he still doesn't have the camera so he works his way back to the waiting room.

"What are you doing back so soon? You still have over an hour." asks Vala

"I left without the camera again" says A.J.

"Did you get issued one of these?" asks Vala

Vala holds up here her government issued cell phone

"Yes, but I'm use to my own" says A.J.

"Yes, but can it do this?" asks Vala

Vala opens her cell turns on the camera function and "click" takes his picture

"Your telling me this now! Would you please give me the digital camera?" asks A.J.

Vala hands A.J. the camera and he turns to leave again

"Keep your eyes and ears open" says A.J. "Yes sir!" snaps Vala

A.J. makes his way back towards the employees locker room passing the stage and seeing that everyone seems to be preparing for the show to begin; even in the control room, that bodes well for him. Once inside and making sure there is no one else he goes to the locker he saw the satellite tech. standing by. Pulling a lock pick set out of his coat pocket he goes to work(we know now who taught Col. MacKenzie). In short order he has the locker open and finds a suit coat with a wallet conveniently in the inside pocket. Removing the drivers license he takes a picture of it. He also finds a DD-214 card meaning this guys ex-military. Putting everything back where he found it and returning it to the proper pocket he makes a quick check of the other pockets finding nothing but a matchbook from a gentlemen's club in Las Vegas. A.J. puts it back and closes the locker, then heads back to the waiting room. Once there he finds Vala deeply involved in conversation with none other then David Letterman himself(so much for the warning call)

"Well hopefully you're the Admiral otherwise we're going to have to send a rescue party to the men's room" says David

Vala laughs like it's the funniest thing she's ever heard

"Mr. Letterman it's a real pleasure to meet you in person, I was just by the stage watching everyone getting ready" explains A.J.

They shake hands as David looks at his watch and simultaneously there's a knock at the door

"10 minutes Mr. Letterman and you still want to visit the green room" says an Intern

"Thank you, I'm coming, Well I've already been told all the scheduled guest are here so maybe we'll get a chance to chat during the tour if you can stay afterwards" offers David

"Absolutely! We'll be here!" says Vala

Letterman gives the Admiral a salute and exit's the room "What happen to my warning call?" says A.J. "Aaaa He caught me by surprise, he came out of nowhere and from the opposite direction; Besides you should really be flattered, after reading your application Dave's considering making you a scheduled guest" says Vala

"Really? He said that? Quit trying to change the subject" warns A.J.

"Did you have any luck?" asks Vala

"Some, I got into the tech's locker photographed his license and DD-214" says A.J.

"What's a DD whatever?" asks Vala

"It means he used to be in the military" says A.J.

"Is that a good thing?" asks Vala

"If he hasn't been out to long we'll have a pretty good record on him. Well the show's going to start soon, are you going out to sit in the audience?" asks A.J.

"Nope, These couches are much more comfortable then the seats out there, plus there's all kinds of goody's in here" says Vala

"I should have brought my laptop, they might actually have wi-fi here" says A.J.

A.J. and Vala get comfortable on the couch, a drink in one hand, a snack in the other and they're ready to watch the show. Afterwards they wait for the audience to file out so they can start the tour. About 15 minutes go by when the same escort that showed them in appears at the door again.

"Hi, It's me again, Are you ready for your tour?" Asks the Escort

"Yes, Will we be seeing Dave?" asks Vala

"He's usually in his office for a while after the show to make sure the staff knows what they have to do to prepare for tomorrows show; so we probably will." says the Escort The escort leads them out to the stage where they get to sit at Dave's desk and see how he sees things; he then takes them to the control room to see where the director calls the shots. A.J. takes note of the settings on the satellite board as they now match the ones on the chart. Then they work their way to the elevator and go up a few floors, He explains that most of the staff uses this floor, including the writers.

"We're not going in there, They are already working on tomorrows jokes and if they flop they'd blame me for distracting them, so let's move on to the Man's office himself." says the Escort

"Then can we go to Dave's office?" asks Vala

"That is who I meant when I said "The Man"." explains the Escort

"You'll have to excuse Vala, she's not from the U.S." says A.J.

"Wow! I don't even notice an accent" says the Escort

"Thank you I've worked very hard to loose it" says Vala

The threesome climb back into the elevator and go up one more floor

"This floor is almost all David's, he likes his privacy." says the Escort

They approach Dave's office and knock on the door

"Come on in, I've been expecting you; Can we get you anything to drink?" asks Letterman

"Sure, a Coke would be nice" says Vala

"Well if their one of our sponsors we'll have it otherwise it might be the other guys; I can never remember which it is anymore; So, Admiral, you use to be a Navy Seal?" asks Letterman

"That's right" says A.J.

"I'll bet you've got some wild stories about that""You bet, But most of them are still classified so if I told them to you, I'd have to kill you" smirks A.J.

"You Wouldn't Dare!" screams Vala

Dave busts out laughing

"It was a joke Vala, see even Mr. Letterman knew that" says A.J.

"Sorry, I guess I still have a lot to learn about earth humor" says Vala

All of a sudden Dave's not laughing anymore

"What does she mean earth humor?" asks Letterman

A.J. busts out laughing

"Vala you are SNL material I swear" says A.J.

"But she sounded so serious" says Letterman

"I know; that's her shtick and she really nails it don't you think?" says A.J.

"No kidding, I almost believed her" says Letterman

"I really appreciate you taking time to talk to us, but I realize you're a very busy man." says A.J.

"I feel like I'm getting the bums rush admiral; are you in a hurry?" asks Letterman

"Our drinks aren't even here yet" says Vala

"No sir, I just didn't want to keep you from anything important" says A.J

Letterman : Believe me; If I had anything more important I wouldn't be here, so have a seat let's talk a bit. So Admiral, what exactly is a JAG?

"Something we do not talk about in polite company" says Vala A.J. fakes another laugh for Letterman's benefit and proceeds to explain; JAG is an acronym that stands for Judge Advocate General which simply means the head lawyer for the Navy and Marines

"Oh, That JAG" says Vala

"Kind of the Top Gun of the legal department" says Letterman

"Yes Sir" says A.J

"How do you go from being a Navy Seal to being a lawyer?" asks Letterman

"Actually it's the other way around; the Navy put me through law

School first, then to repay my obligation I chose Seal training" says A.J

"Man! Those two specialties just don't seem to go together; I can't see a lawyer getting his hands that dirty or a Navy Seal getting a weekly manicure" says Letterman

"You should have heard my mother when I told her I was going to be a Seal; She sounded more like a sailor then I did" says A.J

This gets a big laugh out of Letterman and Vala joins in to play along even though she didn't know what was so funny

"Do they really have the bell there for guys to ring when they can't hack it" asks Letterman

"During "Hell Week" Yes sir they do; Ringing that bell equates to an immediate DOR which stands for Drop- On-Request" explains A.J

"Wow! And the Marines think they're tough" says Letterman

"Only if you listen to them" says A.J

"So what brought you to our little part of the world?" asks Letterman

"I think that would be me" says Vala

"Vala's a big fan and when I saw that Martin made the list I had nothing to lose" says A.J

"Martin? Oh that little guy that says he produces some cable sci-fi show" says Letterman

"Yes; that's Martin" says Vala

"I didn't see him out there today" says Letterman

"Only because we reminded him that Stan Lee is holding auditions for his show "Who Wants To Be A Super Hero"" says A.J

"Well at least he has his priorities set" says Letterman

"From what I know of that show he just might make the cut" says A.J

"As the comic relief " says Letterman

"If you really want to get rid of him just stop by and say hi just like you did to us and he would go home feeling he really accomplished something" says Vala

"I'll actually give it some thought the next time he shows up" says Letterman

"If we hadn't run into him we wouldn't be here now" says Vala

"True enough" says Letterman

"Vala, Are you ready for dinner yet " asks A.J.

"Ooooh, Authentic New York Deli?" asks Vala

"Don't tell me that's your first choice" says Letterman

"Yesterday was her first time and I think she liked it" says A.J.

"Yes, I did" says Vala"Why don't you let me have something delivered" says" Letterman

"Are you talking about that place right next door to the theater?" asks A.J.

"Naw, Rupert already gets enough of my business; I was thinking more of the Carnegie Deli, they have this huge pastrami served open faced on a potato knish with melted Swiss

"You're making my mouth water" says A.J.

"Finish it off with a slice of New York Cheese Cake" says Letterman

"Sounds delicious let's go" says Vala

"Go, Oh no; push a few buttons order my usual times three and it will be delivered right here in 30 minutes or less" says Letterman

Pointing at Letterman's PDA

"We should have one of those" says Vala

This time Letterman laughs first actually thinking it's part of Valas' routine and the Admiral joins right in. Letterman goes to his personal fridge opens it and pulls out three brown bottles turns to offer Vala and A.J. a Grolsch beer.

"It's good to be the King" says A.J.

"Amen to that brother" says Letterman

"I have to say I'm extremely flattered by all the attention, but really why us?" asks A.J.

"Well to tell the truth the family went south to the in-laws for the holidays, so I'm a bachelor for the next few days before I join them, but really I'm enjoying your company; Am I keeping you from something?" asks Letterman

From the look in Valas eyes A.J. knows the answer, besides there's nothing more to do except e-mail an update to the SGC, which they probably wouldn't get until tomorrow anyway

"Are you kidding ; What could be better than this?" says A.J.

Vala's curiosity gets the better of her(as usual ) and she opens a rather large cabinet door exposing a couple of rows of television monitors

"Watch a lot of shows at once?" asks Vala

"Security" answers Letterman

With the flip of one switch they all come on with a live picture of various areas of the building , including the stage the green rooms and the control room, which seems to be occupied and instantly grabs Dave's attention

"Now What; We just had a meeting dealing with the inordinate amount of overtime; want to take a quick walk to surprise someone? The food is still 30 minutes away" asks Letterman

"Oooh let's" says Vala

So the threesome heads down to the control room where they find Hal the director and another guy

"Mr. Letterman, I didn't expect you to still be here" says Hal

"Obviously, Didn't we just talk about this?" asks Letterman

"The records showed technicians uploading the show to the network via satellite were responsible for much of the overtime in question; They claim the equipment was at fault, so I brought in Troy here from I.T. at network to check it out" explains Hal

"Ok, I'll bite" says Letterman

"There are a huge amount of files here that seem to have nothing to do with the uploading process; It appears that they were playing some kind on-line fantasy role playing game" says Troy"On-line role playing games are one of the most popular Trojan Horses used to gain entry to your network" says A.J.

"You've dealt with this before" asks Letterman

"Not directly; but I know a couple of Unonaughts that could go through this with a fine tooth comb and see if there's anything hinky going on" offers A.J.

"Uno what?" asks Letterman

"The very basics of computer language is 1's and 0's or Uno and Naught these geeks just put the two together for Unonaughts" says A.J.

"Cool! You can call me an Unonaught from now on" says Troy

"Alright Uni make the Admiral a copy of those files so he can get them looked at" says Letterman

"No problemo Mr. Letterman; Should I delete them all off of your system when I'm done" asks Troy

Letterman looks at the Admiral

"I'd wait to see if they are a problem first" says A.J.

"You heard the man" says Letterman

Troy finishes the copy and hands the disk to the Admiral

"There you go; just give me a call if you decide to delete them" says Troy

"We will; Thank you Troy; I guess we're through here" says Hal

Perfect timing; Letterman's PDA chimes letting him know the delivery guy from the Carnegie Deli has arrived

"Good, the food just got here; Admiral, Vala Shall we" says Letterman

The threesome heads back to the elevator and back up to Dave's office arriving just as the food does. Dave shows the delivery guy where to put it all, signs the ticket and slips him a twenty.

"Thank You very much" says the Delivery Guy ( and he leaves)

"I hope everyone's hungry" says Letterman

"It smells wonderful" says Vala

The rest of the evening is enjoyed by all, great food and even a greater exchange of stories

The Admiral and Vala finally make it back to their hotel room at 11 PM

"I'm going to download this disc to the SGC" says A.J.

"The game stuff?" asks Vala

"Apparently you don't remember Agent Webb telling us he first thought the information was an on-line role playing game" says A.J.

"So we now might have everything that went through here" says Vala

"BINGO! Who would have thought giving in to your star crossed fantasies could merit us everything we came for" says A.J.

All of a sudden Vala's not smiling

"Does that mean we're leaving?" asks Vala

"If it all checks out, I suppose so; I imagine that just means we'll be given a new puzzle to work on, who knows where we'll be off to next" says A.J.

This brings a smile back to Valas face

BACK TO JACKSON & MACKENZIE

The next morning neither one bats an eye until 10AM when Col. MacKenzie finally rolled out of bed and knocks on the door between the rooms. After about a minute Daniel finally answers the door

"What time is it?" asks Jackson

"It's after 10 already and unless we want to get charged for another day we have less than an hour to be checked out" informs MacKenzie

"Ok I'll be ready in less then 30; Are you going to call for a bellman?" asks Jackson

"Oh yea, I'm in no mood to haul our luggage around" says MacKenzie

"Alright, just knock when he gets here" says Jackson

Dr. Jackson closes the door and they are both off to the races to be ready in time. Eventually Col. MacKenzie knocks on the door to let Daniel know that the bellman has arrived. They load their luggage onto the bellman's cart and head for the lobby. Once there they check out and switch their bags to an airport cart which is conveniently in the hotel lobby. They take the elevator to the lower level where the underground crosswalk to the main terminal is. After checking in their bags they have just enough time to grab a cup of coffee and a donut at one of the snack bars on the way to the gate. By the time they reach the gate boarding is already underway so they have to woof down the donut and drink as much as they can before the last call for boarding is made. Once on board and seated they're both ready for a nap

"Well if I don't fall asleep before we get off the ground I suppose we could try to match up some of those post cards to the descriptions on the tablet" says Jackson

"You go right ahead; I'm going to ask for a blanket and a pillow; Besides wouldn't it be much easier to do that on a big screen where we could have all the different post cards displayed as well as the translated descriptions?" asks MacKenzie

"Good point, so a blanket and a pillow it is" agrees Jackson

The plane is barely off the ground and not even at altitude before this dynamic duo is out cold for the duration of the flight. The flight attendant actually has to wake them so they can bring their seats back to the upright position for landing. Once off the plane they look at the board to see where they need to be for the puddle jumper back to Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, once spotted they head that way, because there's only a short wait before it takes off. Just as before the short trip takes no time what so ever, Colorado Springs Municipal Airport isn't very busy, so their luggage makes it in faster then they do and the Airman that was sent to pick them up is already picking it out

"Airman Fraser has picked me up enough times he knows my bags by heart" says Jackson

"Col. Mackenzie's were right next to yours so I grabbed them to, hope you don't mind" says Fraser

"Absolutely not; We're ready to be out of here" says MacKenzie

All loaded up they make the trip back to the SGC