ZnK here with chapter eleven! In this chapter, Harry gets annoyed with the Tollans, and Frank acts as an excellent infiltrator and thief! Also, Project Aceso is introduced!

Harry was very happy that he had spent these last few months working, rather than going on missions. It wasn't like he had missed anything amazing. Just little things. He had no intention of seeing an Unas again, as he had learned all there was to know about them. Therefore, he didn't go with SG-1 on a mission to save Daniel's friend Chaka from slavers.

And he definitely didn't care about Russians, so he stayed out of the mission to rescue a Russian team. What did he care about lost teams? He was better off in his lab, working on his Replicator replicator.

And now, Harry was in Hammond's office, standing in front of the bald Texan's desk, smiling brightly at him. The cigarette in his mouth wasn't lit, and he decided not to light it in a rare show of respect.

"Dr. Potter, what on earth could you need scrap metal for?" Hammond asked, furrowing his brow. "Scraps isn't exactly the strongest of material."

"It will be once I'm through with it, General," Harry said, grinning. "I have created a machine that breaks apart any kind of metal, and converts it to Replicator blocks."

"What?!" Hammond barked, shooting to his feet in shock. "You're making Replicators? Here?!"

"Weren't you listening?" Harry asked, unfazed, as he reached up and turned his bolt. "I'm not making Replicators. I'm making Replicator blocks."

"I don't see a difference, Doctor. You haven't seen the full extent of what those things can do."

"The difference, General, is that these blocks that I make aren't made by another Replicator. Therefore, it won't come with the Replicator hive mind that controls each block. These blocks will only be keron conductors," Harry said, fishing a block out of his pocket and holding it up. "General, two of these tiny things are powerful enough to allow a Ma'Tok Vulcan cannon to fire for thirty minutes straight before it's depleted. And it charges itself. As long as one makes sure not to completely drain the keron in the block, it'll recharge itself indefinitely."

Hammond's eyes widened at the implications of that statement. He stood there, contemplating, for quite some time. Then he asked, "Are you absolutely certain we won't suffer a Replicator outbreak on this base?"

"One hundred percent. Like I said, I'm making blocks, not Replicators. There is no mind in the blocks, no directives, nothing. Just energy."

"Then you have a go. I will make sure you get as much metal as you need sent to your lab," Hammond said with a nod, making Harry grin.

"I knew you'd see reason, General. I'll make sure to name the first Vulcan mounted on one of the new X-302's after you."

SG-1 had returned from the Tollan homeworld, where they had attended a Tollan memorial service. Harry didn't really care who it was, or how that Tollan was connected to SG-1, but he was a bit cranky that he hadn't been allowed to come and study the Tollan ion cannons.

Currently, they were sitting in the briefing room. Apparently, one of the Tollans, called Narim, had give Carter a holographic message, warning her that earth was in grave danger.

"I thought the Tollan were against giving their technology to other worlds?" Harry said as he looked over the device in his hand. "So, why were you given this?"

"In all honesty, I doubt we are smart enough to reverse-engineer that device," Carter said, shrugging. "I don't think Narim saw any harm in it."

"Not smart enough, eh?" Harry asked, a smirk appearing on his face. "I guess we'll see about that..."

"Narim gave you no other indication that something might be wrong?" Hammond asked curiously, and Carter shook her head.

"No, sir. Everything was fine."

"Well... for a funeral," O'Neill chipped in.

"You have to admit, it was strange there were so few people there," Daniel said, which got him a look from O'Neill.

"Hey, you knew him. What's strange?"

Daniel nodded at that.

"Whatever he meant, I'd be willing to bet that Omoc's warning has something to do with what Travell wants to meet with us about."

"Agreed. Let's see what they have to say," Hammond said.

That was how Harry ended up stepping through the Stargate onto Tollan soil for the first time in his life.

Quite frankly, he was a bit... appalled...

Most all Tollans had amazing brains. They were all scientists at heart. That was why Harry was appalled to find that everything looked about the same as it did according to reports from SG-1's first visit to the Tollan homeworld, and that was years ago.

Thousands of scientists in the same place, and they had made no progress in years? Did they consider themselves perfect, or something?

"Stagnation..." Harry muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. "If there was not so much to learn from them, I would just turn around and head back through the Gate..."

"What do you mean?" O'Neill asked curiously.

"As a scientist, I loath perfection," Harry explained with a scoff. "There is nothing in this universe that is truly 'perfect.' Though it may be a rather large cliché, it is still the truth. It is the ordinary people who look up to 'perfection' as an ideal and seek after it. But in truth, what is this idea of 'perfection' truly worth? Nothing. Not a single thing. To be 'perfect' is to be unable to improve any further. There would be no scope for creation, not a single gap in one's knowledge or one's ability. To a true scientist, like me, perfection is tantamount to despair. We aspire to reach greater levels of brilliance than ever before, but never, never, to reach perfection. That is the paradox through which we scientists must struggle. Indeed, it is our duty to find pleasure in that struggle. Sure, we may make a perfect creation, but we must not reach a state where we are surrounded by complete perfection. If one were to reach perfection, they would have to give up being a scientist."

Harry shuddered at the thought...

"I see you've put a lot of thought into this," O'Neill commented, clicking his tongue. "Anyway, Daniel and I will be heading to Travell. You guys go talk to Narim."

"Where's the fun in that?" Harry asked, furrowing his brow. "I'd much rather like to take a look at one of those ion cannons."

"Yeah, well, I doubt those guys are going to approve of that," O'Neill said, nodding toward the two approaching security officers, wearing light purple and silver outfits, looking grumpy.

Harry raised his hand, whispering into his palm while pretending to stifle a yawn. His memory charm worked flawlessly. The security officers, who had been giving Harry suspicious stares, suddenly shifted their gazes to the rest of SG-1, while Harry slipped away.

Harry headed straight for the only visible ion cannon in the distance, a grin spreading on his face.

However, when he reached the ion cannon, he found that yet another security officer was guarding it, and the man held up his hand to stop Harry when he approached.

"Do you have clearance to be here?" the man asked as Harry lit a cigarette. He could just memory charm this guy, but it'd probably be troublesome. He could get away with the ones who greeted him. Having them saying that they forgot about Harry wasn't a problem, but if another security officer suddenly showed up and said that he'd forgotten who approached the ion cannon, well... After all, despite being fools for believing them to have reached a state of perfection, the Tollans weren't stupid. They'd put two and two together.

"Well, not quite, but it wouldn't hurt to just look, right?" Harry asked with a chuckle, but the guard showed no humor.

"If you do not have permission to come here, then you are not allowed to approach the ion cannon," the guard said coldly. Harry hummed, putting his hands behind his back as he looked over the cannon, narrowing his eyes ever-so-slightly.

"Oh, is this one of the famous Tollan ion cannons?" he asked conversationally. "I've heard a lot about their power. To be that destructive, even at that range... and the velocity of each shot... It's an amazing creation, I admit. Do you-"

"Please, sir. I am here to guard the ion cannon, not discuss it with outsiders."

Harry clicked his tongue at that.

"Fine, be that way," he muttered, then turned and walked off, puffing on his cigarette. Then, he gave a yawn and asked, "Did you get a good look at it?"

"I did, master," came Frank's voice from beside him. "The Tollan security systems are incredibly flawed. To not be calibrated to detect even inorganic objects... It is shameful that they seem unable to consider that a superior being such as myself may show up to kill them."

"How lucky for them that you are not here to kill them."

"It is still early, master. Let us not be hasty to make such a decision."

Harry snorted. "Quiet, you never know who's listening in. Upload the schematics that you managed to look at to the control device."

"As you wish, master. Entering complete stealth mode," Frank said, which indicated that he was going to go completely silent.

A picture of an ion cannon was visible on the screen in the briefing room, Carter standing in front of it, while Harry, Hammond, O'Neill, Daniel, and Teal'c sat at the table.

"The ion beam technology is very advanced. Unfortunately, it's so advanced that reverse-engineering one of these things for mass production is well beyond us. Well, except for, maybe, Harry. However, if even Harry is incapable of such a thing, that poses a bigger problem."

"How so?" Hammond asked Carter.

"Well, sir, even strategically placed in, say Washington D.C., one ion cannon provides very little range of defense coverage for a planet the size of earth. Even if we could mobilize it, a fleet of Goa'uld motherships could still easily strike at will."

"Not to mention the fact that the Russians might take issue with our having control of a single ion cannon," Daniel chipped in.

"Our current relationship with them in these matters is tenuous at best," Hammond muttered, which made Harry scoff in annoyance.

"International rivalries and grudges..." Harry muttered, shaking his head. "I don't see why you all bother..."

"Anyway, at this point, one ion cannon is likely to cause more harm than good," Carter concluded. Hammond hummed.

"How many do we need to set up a proper protective net around the entire planet?"

Carter hesitated for a second, then pressed a button on the remote in her hand, showing several dots on a world map on the screen behind her.

"Thirty-eight. Minimum."

"Thirty-eight?" O'Neill and Daniel asked together, their eyes wide.

"To provide total global coverage? Yes, sir. And that's not including back-ups."

"Dr. Potter," Hammond said, looking to the mad scientist, who was currently thoughtfully turning his bolt, "do you think you're capable of reverse-engineering one of these ion cannons?"

"Given time, I am one hundred percent sure that I can," Harry said, nodding. "I'm already having Frank go over what schematics he managed to draw from the ion cannon we looked at when we were last there. Of course, having a real one to pick apart and research, I'm sure I can reverse-engineer one, maybe even make some improvements."

"Nonetheless, I think it would be for the best if we give the impression that we have no idea how to do so," Hammond said.

"Sir, I feel obligated at this point to mention the fact that Narim is opposed to this exchange, and thinks that Omoc's warning is directly related," Carter spoke up.

"You believe the Tollan Council has ulterior motives that do not represent our best interests?"

"Something's going on," O'Neill said, nodding in agreement with Carter. "I just don't know what."

"I'm ordering you to proceed with the negotiations," Hammond said, and they all nodded as they got to their feet.

"Okay," O'Neill said, nodding.

"Dr. Potter, the next time Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Jackson meet with Travell, I want you to go with them. I want you to look over the designs of the ion cannon. Ask to look at it so that you can get a feel for the design, but I want you to also look for any flaws in it."

"Understood, General," Harry said, nodding.

Harry once more found himself on Tollana with SG-1. They were escorted by security officers, as Harry didn't memory charm them this time. As they walked, they saw Narim come walking toward them.

"Greetings," he said, giving them a bow, and then looked to the security officers. "Chancellor Travell has asked that I personally escort them the rest of the way."

"Is that true?" O'Neill asked once the security officers had turned around and walked away.

"No," Narim said, gesturing for them to continue walking. "I heard you had arrived back on Tollana to meet with Chancellor Travell again."

"Yeah," O'Neill said, nodding slowly. "Uh... we're going to ask for a whole whack of space guns."

"This is much worse than I thought," Narim muttered.

"Narim, we understand why you're concerned, but those ion cannons could save earth one day," Carter said softly.

"You're just going to have to trust our people won't blow each other up with them," Daniel supplied.

"And if we do, we won't blame you, promise," O'Neill added with a small smile.

Narim stopped and turned to them.

"You don't understand. Every Tollan has a small implant that monitors their health," he said as he took out a silvery device, opening it and placing it on his wrist. A few lights blinked on the device, and then it beeped. "See? This is my current health data."

SG-1 was quiet for a while, and then Carter said, "I'm assuming you're okay?"

"Yes, perfect health. However, I am overseer of Omoc's personal property, including this device which contains his health records. After our last conversation, I decided to do some checking. As you know, Omoc died of a heart attack."

"Narim... where are you going with this?" O'Neill asked, and Harry chuckled as he lit a cigarette.

"There's only one direction he can go with this conversation, O'Neill. He's suggesting that Omoc was murdered."

Narim nodded. He made to speak, but hesitated as two Tollan security officers walked past them. He watched them go for a moment, and then said, "Despite the face that Omoc looked as if he was under great stress, he, too, was in perfect health."

"Well, people sometimes die of heart attacks without warning," Carter reasoned.

"Our implants are linked to a central system. If anything goes wrong, health officers are dispatched immediately. Now, normally, maximum response time is under five minutes. The night of Omoc's death... it took them over ten minutes."

"So, you think he was murdered? Why?"

"I don't know... but I think it had something to do with his warning..."

So, later found Harry standing in front of the older woman known as Travell, who was looking over the trinium rod they had brought with them. In Harry's hand was a holographic projector, showing the designs for the ion cannon. Travell had agreed to show him the designs, possibly because she believed that he would never understand them.

How wrong she was...

Nonetheless, Harry found no flaws in the designs, but he still felt that it was a bit strange, so he had used a bit of Legilimency on Travell to find out what had caused the sudden change in the Tollan stance on sharing their technology. He had done this after Travell had, without any real hesitation, agreed to take the fact that earth would need thirty-eight ion cannons up with the Curia.

"You look troubled," O'Neill commented as they left the Curia building, since they had been told to wait outside while Travell talked to the Curia. "What's wrong?"

"I'll tell you when we get back," Harry said, watching as O'Neill and Daniel sat down, leaning against a pillar. "I'm gonna go take a look around. You guys just keep doing what you're doing."

Without waiting for a response, Harry walked off.

He reached a park, away from people, and leaned against a tree, lighting a cigarette.

"Frank, complete stealth mode off."

"What do you require, master?" the invisible Frank asked, standing to his right.

"I poked around in Travell's head. The ion cannons are basically useless. Of course, they could be used as a base to create more powerful weapons, but the ion cannons as they are now are completely useless against the Goa'uld."

"I do not understand, master... Have they not always served as a great means to deter the Goa'uld from attacking, demonstrating their effectiveness time and time again?"

"Yeah... But there's a Goa'uld out there now with shields powerful enough to stop even the ion cannon," Harry muttered, puffing thoughtfully on his cigarette. "Things are going to go downhill fast, Frank. This will not end well. I have given my word to General Hammond that I won't personally do anything to risk the alliance treaties with the various allies of earth. However, I never gave my word that I wouldn't order such a thing. Therefore, I want you to sneak into the Curia, access their database, and steal all the technology you can hold."

"Understood, master."

Harry pulled back his sleeve and opened the control device on his arm, switching to the tracking beacon in Frank's body, watching as the dot indicating his location moved further away from him. He closed it again, sighed, and walked off.

Harry was standing in the SGC briefing room with Frank at his side. Frank was connected to the screen on the wall, and at the table sat Hammond and the rest of SG-1.

"Well, Frank hacked into the Tollan database, on my orders," Harry said, rolling the unlit cigarette in his mouth back and forth. He needed to spin this story properly so that he didn't need to tell them all that he had read Travell's mind. "It wasn't easy, as most of the records had been deleted. Apparently, a Goa'uld mothership appeared in orbit above Tollana one day. The ion cannons fired, and the weapons proved ineffective against the ship's shields," he explained, making their eyes widen. "Now, the official reports say that the ship left peacefully, but..."

"But...?" O'Neill prodded.

"In actuality, a representative of the Goa'uld came down to Tollana and made demands, threatening the planet," Harry said, nodding to Frank, whose eyes flashed once, and a 3D image appeared on the screen, rotating slowly. It was a cylindrical device, which suddenly split apart to give an exploded view. "In return for the safety of the Tollans, Tollana was to create weapons of mass-destruction for the Goa'uld. These weapons would be equipped with phase-shifting technology. Now, it wasn't stated in the report, but I can guess what they want the weapons for..."

Carter's eyes widened in shock.

"The Tollan phase-shifting technology lets them move right through our iris!"

Harry nodded. "That's why they need the trinium. The phase-shifting technology is housed in a trinium casing."

"So that's why they were suddenly so eager to part with the ion cannons," O'Neill said, snapping his fingers. "They knew that we'd never even get the chance to set them up before the Goa'uld blew our planet to bits through the Stargate."

"The Tollans mean to betray us..." Hammond muttered, furrowing his brow in thought. "Dr. Potter, if Frank was capable of hacking into the Tollan files like that, would it be possible to have him-"

"I know what you're going to ask, and I'm way ahead of you," Harry said and nodded to Frank, whose eyes flashed again. Several other designs showed up on the screen, 3D models in an exploded view. "I took the liberty of having Frank steal the blueprints for as much Tollan technology as possible."

"Good work."

"It feels wrong to go being Narim's back like this..." Carter muttered, then looked at Hammond. "What do we do now, sir?"

"Do you believe all Goa'uld now possess these advanced shields?" Hammond asked Teal'c, who shook his head.

"Goa'uld do not share technology."

"So we only have to worry about one Goa'uld," Harry said, disconnecting Frank from the screen, causing it to go black. "However, one Goa'uld with shields that strong..." Harry sighed and stared up at the ceiling, a blissful smile on his face. "Aah, I would love to study it..."

"So, while Harry is off in happy-land, how should we proceed, General?" O'Neill asked Hammond, whose eyes narrowed in thought.

"If we let them know that we know of their treachery, there is no guarantee that a bomb won't be sent through the Gate," Hammond said, turning to look at Harry, who was still smiling blissfully. "Doctor, is there any way you can come up with a way to block the Tollan phase-shifting technology?"

This snapped Harry out of his thoughts, and he reached up to turn his bolt.

"Well, I haven't exactly done extensive research into phase-shifting yet, so you'll have to give me a few hours to study their designs. Then, if I get a firm grasp on how it works, I should be able to develop a counter-measure."

"Good," Hammond said, nodding. "SG-1, I am ordering you to proceed with the trade as though nothing is wrong. And try to find out who this Goa'uld is. In the meantime, Dr. Potter will be trying to find a way to prevent any unwanted phasing through the iris."

"I'll get to work on it right away, General," Harry said, gesturing for Frank to follow him as he walked off. As he opened the door to the briefing room, an AIAU-G unit was patrolling outside, stopping in its tracks when it saw Harry.

"Ooh, the creator!" it exclaimed in its childish, metallic voice. "This unit is thrilled at meeting you for the first time, father! Oh, and brother! Joyous day! This-"

Suddenly, Frank's leg lashed out and kicked the sentry with enough force to knock it onto its side.

"Oh no! Fatal design flaw detected!" the unit, G5, exclaimed in a panic. "Unable to continue patrol mode! Searching for secondary orders! Oh no! This unit has no other orders!"

"Frank," Harry said chidingly as Frank uttered a monotone "Ha-ha-ha..." Harry pulled the G5 upright. "Be nice to your brother."

"Oh, joyous day, thank you, father!" the G5 exclaimed happily, starting to roll away while spinning round and round. "Resuming patrol mode!"

"Why did you give those units such personalities, master?" Frank asked grumpily as the duo walked off. "They are annoying."

"Agreed. When I gave them their personalities, I had been counting on being far, far away from here by the time they had been put into service," Harry said, clicking his tongue as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "A mistake on my part."

"Understandable, master. Although you are vastly superior to the rest, you are at heart a meatbag, and as such, you will never be quite as flawless as a machine."

"Well, you're not exactly flawless yet, are you?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. "There are still many upgrades to be made on your body. I'm thinking about incorporating the phase-shifting technology into your body."

"Oh, what a glorious idea, master. I will be able to make my way through even the thickest walls in order to catch my prey off-guard, so I can proceed with the dismemberment unhindered."

Harry smirked at the glee Frank showed at the prospect of making him a greater infiltrator than he already was. Harry had to admit, the phase-shifting coupled with the cloaking technology would make him a rather fearsome infiltrator.

"By the way, master. Permit me to congratulate you for reaching a level of technological expertise way beyond the capacity of a machine. I tried and tried, but the security on some files on your computer is too strong even for this unit."

"Heh, I knew you'd be curious. That's why I made it so secure," Harry said, lighting his cigarette.

"May I ask, master, what is Project Aceso?"

Harry chuckled at that.

"Ah, that... Yes, I figured you'd be drawn to that. It's related to you, after all..."

"What do you mean, master?"

"You'll see."

"You are very cruel, master, keeping me in suspense..." Frank said in disappointment, but then said cheerily, "I like that about you."

When they got to Harry's lab, Harry immediately walked over to the computer that had housed Frank's consciousness after his creation and turned it on. After typing in a few commands, a soft, almost angelic voice was heard saying, "Good day, master," in a tone of voice that sounded, if possible, even more monotone than Frank's laughs.

"Good day, Aceso," Harry said with a small smile on his face, which turned into a grin as he looked at Frank, who was just staring at the computer. Harry was sure that if Frank had a mouth, his lower jaw would have hit the floor from the surprise.

"Do you feel a need to make anymore modifications to my programming?" Aceso asked softly, but Harry shook his head.

"No, I just thought I'd introduce you to Frank. He was feeling a bit curious."

"Good day, designation Frank," Aceso said softly.

"Greetings, fellow AI," Frank said, before turning to Harry. "Are you replacing me, master? Have I not been a good servant. Please tell me you will not be destroying me and converting my body to energy blocks..."

Harry laughed, waving Frank off.

"Of course not, Frank. This is your sister, not your replacement," he said, gesturing for Aceso's computer. "You are the offense, she is the support."

"I see. So that is why you named her after the Greek goddess of healing," Frank deduced, nodding slowly. "I am the combat unit, she is the medic. It is understandable why you would need them. Your flesh sack bodies break so easily, after all."

"Do you require my assistance, master?" Aceso asked in her soothing, angelic voice. "Or would you prefer if I shut down for now?"

"You can shut down, Aceso," Harry said, smiling at her. "The next time you wake, you will be in a body of your own."

"As you wish, master," Aceso said, before her screen went black.

"I know these thoughts have already run through your homicidal mind, Frank, so I'm telling you now about Aceso what I told you about the AIAU-G units," Harry said, peering shrewdly at Frank. "You are not allowed to kill, or otherwise harm Aceso in any way."

"You think about everything, master. As I have always said, you know me too well."

Chuckling and refraining from telling Frank that anyone would be able to deduce his line of thought after spending five minutes with him, Harry started getting to work uploading the various designs stolen from the Tollans onto his computer.

"Hm, master?" Frank uttered suddenly. "It has been a while, but this question had been puzzling me. Why did you let the mammary-equipped flesh sack known as Nirrti go? Is it because you have this strange fetish for snake-infested female organics, master?"

"A fetish?" Harry asked, his eyebrows rising. Then, he snorted and shook his head. "I let her go because it was part of our deal. Besides, she has a very impressive brain. It'd be a shame if she wasn't allowed to use it."

Harry was in the Gate Room. He had spent hours upon hours studying the Tollan phase-shifting technology, and had finally managed to create a counter-measure. Or, at least, he hoped that he had. He was currently hooking the device he had constructed, which looked like a small generator, which reached up to his knees, up to the Stargate. Beside him stood Hammond, watching.

"What, exactly, does this device do, Doctor?" the General asked, staring at the device. Harry paused and stared upward in thought.

"Hm... How to dumb this down so you can understand...?" he muttered, tapping his forehead with his finger a few times, before smiling and turning to Hammond. "Well, I suppose you could liken the phase-shifting technology to a stack of papers."

"What do you mean?"

"This isn't exactly accurate, but I'm using it as an example... Let's say this entire world exists on a single paper, the top-most paper in the pile. The phase-shifting technology allows someone to move to the piece of paper underneath ours, and move freely. This device utilizes some of that phase-shifting technology. Basically, it detects which paper the intruder is moving on, and adjusts its phase to match, rendering it solid no matter how intangible the intruder is."

Slowly, Hammond nodded.

"And you are sure it will work?"

"If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have set it up. I am ninety-eight point seven percent sure that it will work," Harry said, finishing what he was doing and then turning on the device. "There. That ought to do it!"

"Is it ready?"

"Yup. Now, if you'll excuse me, General, I have to get back to work."

Later found Harry sitting in the briefing room with Hammond and SG-1. Apparently, Narim had helped SG-1 destroy the bombs that the Tollans had been developing, causing the Goa'uld to attack the planet. Now, Harry didn't say it out loud, but he felt that they deserved it. Those people, who dared to think themselves above Harry... Good riddance. Such arrogance can only be allowed once you reach a certain level of intelligence, and they most definitely hadn't. Sure, they were vastly more intelligent than your average human, and even Carter, but that was normal on their planet. It wasn't like any of them stood out above the rest as smarter.

"Well... that was several hours well spent..." Harry muttered, crossing his arms. "I go through the trouble of creating a defense against their phase-shift, and chances are that none of them will even be alive to use it..."

It showed how used they were to Harry's ignoring of the loss of lives, when no one at the table even glared at him when he said this.

"So, we can reasonably assume the Goa'uld did not get any of these weapons?" Hammond said, and O'Neill shrugged.

"We can only hope."

"Well, whoever Tanith is now working for, these new shields give him a decided advantage," Carter supplied, and Hammond turned to the Jaffa.

"Teal'c? Any guesses who it might be?"

"None, General Hammond."

"I suppose we have to rest assured that whoever it is, they are still afraid of confronting the Asgard, or they would have attacked earth themselves," Hammond said slowly.

"Hey, when am I going to get to meet the Asgard, anyway?" Harry asked suddenly. "I mean, I'm sure we can compare notes."

"I am sure that you will get your chance to meet them, Doctor," Hammond said slowly. "They are a bit busy at present, and I'm a bit hesitant to let you meet them."

"You're afraid I'm gonna knock one out and cut them open?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow, to which Hammond nodded. "You people know me too well."

Harry rose to his feet and stretched.

"Well, I'm going to go work on my new nurse."

"Your new nurse?" O'Neill repeated, blinking in confusion.

"You'll see."

When Colonel O'Neill passed by Harry's lab the next day, he was very surprised to find that Frank was standing outside, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Hey, Frank," O'Neill said hesitantly. "Whatcha doing out here?"

"I am waiting outside the lab, as per my master's orders, meatbag," Frank said, not turning his head away from the door. "He does not wish me to be inside the lab when he works on Project Aceso."

"Why do you do that?" O'Neill wanted to know. "Call us that, I mean. Meatbag, fleshsack, et cetera..."

Frank hummed, and then turned his head toward O'Neill.

"It is just that... you have all these squishy parts, meatbag. And all that water... I have no idea how the constant sloshing does not drive you insane."

O'Neill blinked and moved his head slowly from side to side, trying to see if he could hear any 'sloshing.'

"Come to think of it, neither do I..." he muttered.

"Now do you understand the travails of my existence, meatbag? Here I am, surrounded by you sad, pathetic lifeforms, and due to my programming, I am completely unable to put you poor souls out of your misery. I apologize for my inability to rectify the mistake made on the day you were born, meatbag."

"That's alright..." O'Neill muttered, staring at Frank weirdly. The door to Harry's lab was open suddenly, and the mad scientist himself poked his head out.

"What's with the noise?"

"Master, I believe that I may have properly convinced this meatbag of the worthlessness of his existence. I have no doubt succeeded in eliminating his self-preservation drive. Should he ask for termination, am I allowed to go ahead?"

"No, Frank," Harry said, shaking his head. "O'Neill, maybe you shouldn't encourage Frank with your presence?"

"Yeah..." O'Neill mumbled slowly, taking a few steps back. "I was thinking the same thing... I'll see you later, Harry."

With that, O'Neill left. He headed to the cafeteria, where he found Carter and Daniel, probably talking about some kind of geek thing. As he sat down, his brow was furrowed in thought, something that immediately caught Carter's attention.

"Sir? Are you alright?" she asked, which made O'Neill look at her, his face still set in deep concentration.

"Carter... Do I slosh?"

End of chapter eleven! What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Let me know! Next chapter, we skip a bit more, and then Harry gets to once more meet the man who had annoyed him endlessly every time the scientist visited Area 51... Meredith Rodney McKay! Also, Aceso's body is finished, and she takes her rightful place as Harry's assistant and nurse!