Jack was bored. He and Teal'c had gotten the UAV, which was stuck in a tree, surprise surprise, back to the Stargate. Then they had scouted the surrounding area and found, get this, more trees. Well, Carter was right about the trees in the briefing. Maybe they'll be right about the caves being worthless and everyone will get to start their vacation early. "Carter, Daniel. Come in, over."
"Carter here sir."
"It's almost 13:00. What's your status?"
"We're at the caves sir. We've about finished what we can and then we'll pack it up and head back to meet up with you. We should be there in about thirty minutes sir."
"Alright. Don't keep us waiting too long. O'Neill out." Jack sighed and looked at Teal'c. "Well Teal'c. What should we do for thirty minutes?"
"If you wish O'Neill, I can tell you another joke."
"Oh no Teal'c. I think we can find something more productive than that. We could find an artifact for Danny, get some soil samples for Carter, set up camp. I think we are way to busy for jokes right now." It wasn't that Teal'c didn't have good jokes, the jokes just lost something in the translation. A very big something.
"I believe it would be most beneficial if we started putting the camp together O'Neill."
"I agree."
Sam and Daniel looked around in amazement. Somehow the camp had set itself up. "They must have been really bored."
"We were not bored Danny. I just don't think this is a time for joking around. Do you Teal'c?" Jack grinned as he saw the confused looks on the scientists' faces. Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow in response. "Anyway, what about those caves. Please tell me there is nothing to see and you are ready to go home."
"Sorry Jack. There were a few old pictographs in the caves. It looks like basic cave drawings so they probably never developed written language."
"Any idea where they are now?"
"Sam thinks they were eaten by some big, ugly, hungry thing in the forest." They both turned to see Sam blushing. "Seriously, I doubt that their level of technology was anything greater than a stone so I don't think they left through the Stargate or build a ship. There were no pictures of anything like a Goa'uld so I don't think they were taken as host. I think they just died off, but I don't have a clue why. The real interesting thing is the caves themselves. They seem to be connected somehow, like a giant underground maze. I went as far back as I could, but it got to dark to see anything. Sam said we should go back with torches and then we can see if there is anything important about the cave system."
"Carter, how is the mineral survey going? Find any Naquadah on the planet?"
"There's a few little deposits, but nothing big yet. There are some interesting rock formations by the caves. I think they are made with a new mineral I have never seen before. I got some samples that can be analyzed back at the base. I just want to get a couple more samples from inside the caves themselves."
"Okay. We'll have lunch and then you two can go back to the caves and look around some more while me and Teal'c play a game."
It was 14:00 by the time General Hammond got off the telephone with the President. The President and his advisors had agreed with Dr. Fraiser's risk assessment of the organism. Based on her lab results, the President's scientific advisors had come up with only one option for containing the virus. And it was a doozy. Walking into the briefing room he looked around at the group assembled there. Dr. Fraiser was looking very tired and very frustrated. Colonel Webber and Captain Williams were looking better than when they came through the Stargate. They must have grabbed a shower, hot meal and a quick nap. Hammond quickly took his seat and started the meeting. "Alright people. Let's make this as fast as possible. Dr. Fraiser, any new developments with the organism?"
"Unfortunately not sir. The only thing we have tried that has had some success has been varying the amount of oxygen in the air. Apparently, the organism does need oxygen to live. We did manage to kill some by putting them in a vacuum. But so far nothing else has phased it."
"Has there been any more cases reported?"
"Yes sir. Two people came into the infirmary with the symptoms. They both had the organism in their blood. Fortunately, for them we were able to catch it quickly. They both should be fine."
"The President agrees that containment of the organism is a top priority. His advisors have reviewed Dr. Fraiser's lab results and have come up with one option. Pending any further insight into the organism we were instructed to carry out their plan. Since no other option has been found we have no choice but to implement the plan immediately."
"What is the plan, sir?"
"The plan they developed is to starve the organism of the one thing it requires, oxygen. The oxygen pumps are to be turned off and the mountain will become one giant vacuum."
"What about the personnel here sir? We can't live without oxygen and we can't evacuate without breaking quarantine."
"You are wrong about that Colonel. We can evacuate while still leaving the mountain under quarantine."
"We are going through the Stargate sir?"
"That's right Captain. Our orders are to evacuate the base personnel through the Stargate with enough food and supplies to last until the organism has died out. Then someone will call us and we will come home."
"Sir, we will have to go to an uninhabited world. We can't risk bringing a plague to a whole society."
"What about P8X628? We found it over a year ago and have done several research missions there. We've never found any indigenous people or had any problems of any kind." Hammond nodded his head.
"What about the SGC. Isn't it a little dangerous to leave the SGC abandoned while there will be people offworld?"
"We are going to leave the main computers on. Someone from the SGC will be able to monitor all gate activity from NORAD and be able to close or open the iris if necessary. The only team offworld right now is SG-1. Hopefully, they will return before we begin our evacuation. If not, we will contact them and relay the new address for them to gate to. All of our allies know that we were planning on shutting down for the next couple of weeks so we shouldn't have a problem with that. Any questions?" He looked around the table as they shook their heads.
"Okay people, we have a lot to do and very little time to do it in. The longer it takes us to evacuate, the greater the risk from the organism. So let's get busy. Dr. Fraiser, I need you to get me a rough estimate of how long it will take for the organisms to die. Colonel Webber and Captain Williams, you will need to begin grouping people together and getting supplies for the little trip we are taking. I want to begin the evacuation at 17:00. Also Colonel, prepare to send a MALP through to the planet just to make sure it's still secure. Dismissed." Colonel Webber and Captain Williams nodded as they rose and left the briefing room. He motioned for Janet to stay behind for a second. "I would like your thoughts on this matter, Dr. Fraiser?"
"Well sir, number wise this couldn't happen at a better time. Because of the upcoming shutdown, the SGC is basically running on a skeleton crew. But this also presents a problem. Most of the people here are technicians getting things ready for the upgrade. They have never been through the Stargate and when they hear they'll be going, they are probably going to be a little nervous. Moral is going to be shaky at first. People will be scared and some may start to panic. Unfortunately, the most experienced people to help them through this are already on the surface. We only have two SG teams and a handful of trained defensive men that will be going with us. I would organize the men into groups with at least one person who is experienced offworld with each group. That should give the some greener men the proverbial 'security blanket'. Above all else they will look up to you General. If you show any signs of panic, the rest of the men won't be too far behind."
"What about SG-1?"
"I hope that they will be joining us as soon as possible. I don't know about you, but I sure know I'll be sleeping better once they are there to watch my back. And I'm not even bringing into consideration their knowledge and offworld experience, both of which will be crucial. But that does, however, bring up my next concern. Health wise, if we leave quickly enough the organism won't have a chance to change too much and we will at, the worst, have a flu outbreak on our hands and, at the best, only a few more cases. However, SG-1 rarely comes back from a mission unscathed. I'm worried that we will get to the planet, SG-1 will come there, they will be injured, and I won't have the right equipment to help."
"When we inform them of the plan and give them the new address, we will have them leave immediately. That way there won't be a chance for them to get hurt." Janet nodded, thankfully. "Anyway, about how long do you think we will be forced to remain on the planet?"
"It's hard to say really. I recommend that we clear all but three or four levels and turn those pumps off right away. Since we can't pump the air out like we normally would to create a vacuum, we'll have to wait for the organisms to use it all. Depending on variations in the reproductive speed, that should take about a week. Then we will need to stay away long enough for all the organisms to asphyxiate. Again depending on what adaptations they might make, I would say about five days for this part. Then we will want a safety zone in case any of the organisms develop a super adaptation for their oxygen deprived environment. That should take anywhere from a couple of days to a week. Then, just to be safe, I would sweep the base level by level to make sure none of the organisms survived before breaking quarantine. All in all sir, I would say to be prepared to spend three and possibly four weeks offworld."
"Very well. Dismissed."