812 Prometheus Unbound

"It's that damned ship again, Carter" O'Neill was not happy. The only good thing it did, in his opinion, was bring Carter home, only after nearly scrambling her brains. That was over a year ago. Now the damned thing was his headache. And it was missing.

" Hammond was taking it out for a joy ride. Serves him right."

"Sir" Sam was shocked he'd say anything disparaging General Hammond.

"He took Daniel against my better judgement, and the comfy chair. And he took Walter. I can't find anything. My desk is a mountain of folders and memos."

O'Neill's office was a mess, folders piled everywhere, some slipped down to the floor. There were plates with half eaten sandwiches on them and a scattering of coffee cups atop the mess. He had moved out to the conference room to avoid the debris.

O'Neill was amazed someone from Washington hadn't come to snatch the stars off his shoulders. Well, he did get the Stargate back last month and he didn't want to even think about the Replicator debacle. And now the Prometheus, complete with its crew, was on it's way back to Earth so he guessed his job was safe.

He thought too of Hammond taking the ship out for a joy ride. Maybe there could be some fun in this job although he hadn't found much yet. He'd have to look for and grasp the opportunities, those few he was allowed.

"I still don't know why we had to call it Prometheus. Why not something like The Cloverland or The Midnight Special or The City of New Orleans. Those are great names. And if ever there was a 'magic carpet made of steel'..."

"Actually, Sir, there is more trinium and titanium than steel, a matter of mass and strength."

"Oh po-tay-to, po-tah-to, Carter."

"I was partial to the Rock Island but it didn't sound as if it would ever get off the ground." Sam said.

"Wabash Cannonball? Too war like?" O'Neill countered.

"No, I like it."

"The Winnipesaukee or Umpachanee?"

"Did you make those up?" O'Neill gave her his most guileless look.

"Anyway that's liable to confuse other races and they wouldn't be able to pronounce it."

"Serves em right." O'Neill thought of the numerous times he fumbled over names. Then he suggested "The Wolverine?"

"Oh, good for a small heavily armed agile gun ship."

"Denali Star?" O'Neill offered.

"Now that I like for the next generation, a much larger ship." Carter obviously had plans.

"Good. No more Greek tragedies."

"Prometheus is said to bring fire from the gods to man." She said.

"Yeah, and look what it got him. And our Prometheus has been nothing but trouble."

"It did protect us over Antarctica."

"Don't remember a thing."

But he did. The feelings were the first to surface. He remembered the feelings of necessity, the urgency to accomplish the mission at all costs. He remembered, with so much filling his mind, the feelings of drifting away from all that was familiar. He remembered words slipping away. He remembered the pain of overwhelming loss, loss of friends, loss of his life, loss of his very being. And still the remnants of these feelings of loss were still eating at his soul.

If you miss the train I'm on,

You will know that I am gone.

You can hear the whistle blows hundred miles.*

*Five Hundred Miles - Hedy West

A/N: The sound of a train whistle in the middle of the night is to me one of the most melancholy sounds of earth. And I love trains!