After Jane left the room to give them some privacy, Michael self-consciously sat down opposite them, and Sam asked,
"Hi, I'm Captain Alison Harper, and this Doctor Simon Ballard. We're with the Air Force."
He nodded in acknowledgement, but looked at them oddly. She said,
"Michael, we really need you to help us. What we're about to tell you isn't to leave this room. Do you understand?"
He nodded again, and asked, looking guilty,
"Am I in trouble for the power generator that I built for the school? I didn't know that I was breaking the law."
Sam assured him, "No, you're not… Actually, that's why we're here. We need you to help us build a large generator, with an output rate similar to, say, that of downtown Manhattan."
He frowned slightly, before quickly writing down a series of calculations. He looked up and replied,
"You do realise that that would mean generating way over ten gigawatts of power? Can you tell me what you want to use it for?"
Sam and Daniel exchanged a look, before she replied, quietly,
"The Air Force has discovered a device capable of transporting the user, via a stable wormhole, to different planets within this galaxy. We just don't have the means to power it up due to the present situation in Vietnam."
He instantly asked, "Then how do you know that this 'device' does what you said?"
Sam and Daniel exchanged another look, before the latter replied,
"We've tested it… there was an accident and we can't power it up again."
Michael was about to say something, when an auburn-haired young girl entered the room, calling,
"Auntie Jane!"
She stopped in her tracks on seeing Sam and Daniel, who in turn slowly realised who she was. She instantly became shy and held onto the back of Michael's chair, shyly looking out from behind him.
Michael said, a little annoyed, "Janet, you're not allowed to be here."
Janet, forgetting Sam and Daniel for a moment, retorted as she pinched the back of his neck, making him flinch,
"I can… your Mom is my Dad's sister, so that makes us cousins… and besides, Auntie Jane said you had be nice to me!"
She became shy again, and Michael held the back of his neck, saying to his guests,
"I'm sorry, Janet's a little bully."
Sam and Daniel smiled knowingly as Michael left, calling for his mother, before the former said to Janet,
"Hello Janet. How old are you?"
Janet, her shyness dissipating somewhat, replied,
"Ten."
Daniel made a mental note to write Janet's real age in a birthday card when they got home again, in order to tease her future self.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Janet thought for a moment, before replying, "I don't know."
Daniel asked, "What does your father do?"
"He's in Vietnam. He's a Doctor."
Sam said with a smile, "I bet you would make a good Doctor too… and maybe you could join the Army… or Air Force so you could travel."
Janet replied, "I would like to travel… would I have to fly planes in the Air Force?"
Sam said, "No, not if you're a Medical Officer, but you have to know the basics."
Janet nodded, the idea of joining the Air Force turning in her mind. Just then, Jane returned and escorted her out, saying,
"I told you not to disturb Michael and his guests."
She flashed an apologetic smile to Sam and Daniel, saying, "I'm sorry, Janet can be a handful."
Michael returned, and when his mother left once more, he said,
"I think I can help you, but it's going to take me months to gather the components, make the relevant calculations, and then put everything together… and that's without knowing the power capacity of the device!"
Sam replied with a smile, "That's where you're in luck – I just happen to be an Astrophysicist. I know how the device works, and I could help you with the calculations and construction."
He asked them, "Can I see the device?"
Sam and Daniel glanced at each other, before the former said,
"Sure. We can arrange that."