Disclaimer: The characters used within this are mostly the property of others. I have a few originals, but the vast majority are not original. A few well known names may be used, but everything here is fiction. This is for entertainment only and not for profit.
Author's Notes: I've had a couple reviews where the reviewers appear to believe that lies, corruption, and the general decay of the democratic process is just part of the democratic process, and that you shouldn't worry or write about any of that stuff. I reject that argument. Stories should not be a safe space for certain groups, and I'm not about to create one because they complain the loudest. Finally one obvious name change was done. It wasn't that important so I just changed it.
-oOo-
Araiansu – Chapter 5
Voltaire once said, "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
Einstein once said, "My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-beings, through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the few ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. I am quite aware that for any organization to reach its goals, one man must do the thinking and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced, they must be able to choose their leader. In my opinion, an autocratic system of coercion soon degenerates; force attracts men of low morality... The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.
-oOo-
An old man sat starring out the window of his English estate. Twin young brown haired women with catlike ears and tail hovered nearby.
"Let us begin again," he said.
The twin on the left said, "You don't have to keep doing this. No one really blames you anymore. We did what we thought we needed to."
"She was like a daughter to me and I consigned her to fate possibly worse than death because I was so sure that it was the only way. I'm never been so glad to be wrong. I have little strength left in me, but my mind is still sharp, and you my faithful friends are still with me, are you not?"
"Always," both insisted in stereo.
"Then let us begin again. We have the manifest of all the artifacts ever studied available to us. Let us find the answer we seek, so perhaps the next time the situation occurs another road may be taken."
They soon returned to his grand desk, one young woman on either side as they again began reviewing the ancient books for the answer they sought. They could not undo their own mistakes, but perhaps, just perhaps, someday they could keep another from repeating them. All around them hard fought victories seemed ever so fragile with each passing day. The government of his own beloved England seemed to get worse all the time. He could not fix that, but then his true allegiance had not been to England in some time. That government too was more fragile than it looked on the surface. The good men and women that sustain it seemed to grow ever fewer over time. Yes, he had almost sacrificed someone that was like a daughter to him, and it was possible that she might yet have to pay that price, as might so many others. His work was to one day help one of them not have to make that choice.
-oOo-
Sam, Ranma, and Andy appeared beside a large lake with a clear sky on a warm spring day. Several bundles of camping equipment appeared with them.
"Where are we?" asked Andy.
Sam said, "Since we are still relaying all this, I'd rather not say. It was chosen mostly at random."
"Alright. Is there anything else you can tell me?"
"We are going to need help. Those missiles were not a threat to our ship. We could sit behind our shielding and take all the hits directly if we wanted to. They were, however a threat to the planet. Billions could have died and the biosphere could have been ruined."
"What are you going to do now?" Andy asked cautiously.
"Our actions by trying to prepare a defense for this planet led a major power totry to start world war three. Was it a rational decision by them? No it wasn't. Likely once they saw that we were a threat to their power they freaked out. I'm not excusing it, but that could have gone so much worse. I killed the one who ordered it, not so much as punishment, but to hopefully prevent further retaliation. That country no longer has a nuclear deterrent of any meaningful size. Still, I'm greatly worried it won't be enough, and the people there did not do this."
"Is that why you left Jack was it in charge?"
"Jack has been a soldier for a long time. America owes him more than they will ever know. He will do what has to be done, and if there is need we can be recalled nearly instantly. Frankly, he has the ability to make rational decisions right now. I wasn't entirely sure I wouldn't overreact if someone else did something stupid. I was giving serious thought to doing more, but I knew the correct decision was to step away so that emotions did not sway my decision making."
"That makes perfect sense to me. Cops are normally given time off after they have to use deadly force. People are human. At least I assume you are purely human?"
Sam smiled. "We are. Thanks to Ranma I can control my own life energy and extend my lifespan somewhat, but that is a learned skill that many people can achieve."
Ranma added, "I also have one other odd thing, but I will leave that for another day."
"Okay. What do you mean by life energy?"
Ranma said, "I normally call it ki, but the Asgard called it life energy. The Chinese call it chi."
"But that is a myth."
"No, at least not where I'm from. It is no myth. It was a well kept secret generally passed down in certain families, but it wasn't a myth."
"Can you give me a demonstration?"
"Sure, why not." He walked down to the edge of the lake and bent down by the water's edge, without letting his shadow fall on the water.
He said softly, "This may take some time."
He didn't move, not even a muscle. Sam was grinning in anticipation and Andy was looking on in confusion. Fifteen minutes later Ranma suddenly had a fish that was almost a foot long in his hand, yet his arm was dry.
"What?" asked Andy.
Ranma said, "A true ki master can move incredibly fast. Of course, if you don't know what your doing you can also maim yourself for life. The life of a true martial artist is fraught with peril and all that."
"How long does that take to learn?"
"The basics is probably ten years of dedicated learning. I have far beyond the basics and I am still learning."
"But your not that old."
"I'm older than I look. Ki mastery slows aging."
"How old are you?"
"Thirty six."
"Dang, I'm impressed. I bet you just started a new health craze."
Ranma laughed. "It is not a simple thing. To get the largest effects you need to devote yourself almost totally to the art. Few can. I once was engaged to a girl. It was our parents idea and we hated it. She actually had some potential, and was oddly sweet at times. The rest of the time she would overreact and act with violence, including summoning gigantic hammers that were nothing more than ki constructs. Thankfully we never married. I just hope she found control over her temper or married someone who didn't set her off. The force of her attacks could have greatly harmed someone with less training in the art."
"She caused you brain damage," said Sam in a deadpan tone. "It was only thanks to the Asgard that it was fixed."
"Yes, she did, but we were young, and I was hardly innocent either. Of course had I acted with what I would consider reasonable restraint now, out crazy parents would have married us off for sure. Still, she had remarkable potential that she squandered. Had I known then what I know now I might have been able to help, though I was actually suffering from the same problem."
"What do you mean?" asked Andy.
"Akane was remarkably good at summoning emotional ki, particularly given her actual martial arts skill. Emotional ki is ki that is tainted by an emotion. I doubt my dad or hers really understood. Both were users of emotional ki and, I think both were victims of it, as was I, though I didn't know it at the time."
Ranma looked lost for a moment before Andy prompted, "Can you explain?"
Ranma grinned.
"You're going to use the force analogy aren't you." Sam accused.
"Of course, and while the Force is utter bunk. What was that quote again?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "Fine. Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."
Ranma grinned.
"Don't pretend your memory is actually a problem just to get me to quote Star Wars."
"It worked, didn't it?"
Sam rolled her eyes again.
Ranma said, "In truth, with ki, anger leads to more anger. Hate leads to more hate. Depression leads to more depression. Confidence leads to more confidence. Fear, well that is actually pretty useless. It doesn't really work as an effective means of assisting ki augmentation."
"Your saying what, if you are angry when you use ki it results in more anger?" asked Andy.
"In those poorly trained they may stumble upon accessing their ki through an emotion. The more they repeat this the more it becomes a well worn path so that ki is easier to access and so is the emotion. A friend..."
Sam snorted, cutting him off.
He continued. "A friend of mine used depression. I have no idea how things turned out for him, but I very much fear he may have killed himself, and possibly a lot of other people. Anger and hate can add to that and negative emotions can end up linked very easily with channeling ki through them. You basically end up creating someone that is little more than an unstable bomb."
"That is insane. Was everyone like that?" asked Andy?
"Very very few could manipulate their ki. My father used greed, though he was actually fairly weak as a ki master. Akane's father I think used rage and possibly depression, but he didn't use ki that much. Still, I think he was channeling the rage at his wife's death. That is guesswork though. I don't know. An elder I knew may have used pride, though she may have used pure ki too. I honestly don't know. Thinking back, her granddaughter did not exhibit any of the symptoms I'd have expected. She had ki skills that were probably comparable to Akane. I'm mentioning all this not to encourage people to use emotions as a crutch, but to warn of doing so."
"What did you use?" asked Andy.
"I thought I was so clever. I substituted confidence instead of copying Ryoga's depression."
Sam said, "It bought you time is all. You were lucky. From some of the stories you told me your confidence was bordering on pure suicidal. I'm just glad you were well on your way of mastering pure ki when we met. If you acted like you did back with Akane, well I'd have probably never married you."
"She is right. Our doctor was a specialist in a lot of fields, particularly esoteric ones. Most people today would call him a quack, but he wasn't, though he was odd at times. He got me on the path of mastering pure ki."
"Why didn't he teach you sooner or help Akane?" asked Andy.
"He didn't know, not then. He had a weird condition where he was attracted to the oldest Tendo daughter who was eighteen at the time I met them. He was very young for a doctor, having completed his studies very early in life, so it wasn't as bad as it sounds. He obviously refused to allow himself to act on the attraction, but that combined with his skill in the art messed him up. He didn't understand any of this at the time. He just knew he acted like a moron whenever Kasumi was nearby. It got to the point where her visits borrowing books and such were causing him to endanger patients so he packed up his practice and left. It was about a year later that he found help. Once he understood his problem he came back to help me, and I know he was trying to help Akane. I don't think he had ever found Ryoga, but I know he was looking for him when I was transported away from my world."
Andy said, "It sounds like Kasumi may have had a crush on the doctor."
"Maybe. I'm honestly not sure. I don't know how Kasumi put up with the band of misfits we were. She was far too young to be a surrogate mother to anyone, yet she was. I hope she is doing well."
"She sounds like a strong woman."
"She was. Very few people could maintain calm in that mess, yet she made it look effortless."
"What about positive emotions?"
Ranma mused. They have uses. He held out his right hand. A ball of warm pink light formed in it. Sam formed an equally bright ball in her own hand and held her hand just barely above his, mixing the pink light.
"What was that?" asked Andy.
"You'll have to guess," said Ranma. "I won't taint it with words."
"I see. What about other positive emotions?"
"Ki can be used to heal. Some positive emotion lacing it is fine, but only some. You have to focus on what your doing, on what your sensing, and you really need a lot of medical knowledge, and even then there are risks. If you accelerate the healing of cancerous cells, because you didn't pay attention or didn't understand what you were sensing…"
Sam said, "Such a cancer could kill quickly. Worse, just uncontrolled healing while things are out of place or there is something that should not be in a body there, well that could also end badly. There is no free lunch. It took me a huge amount of effort to get where I'm at with ki. In contrast, Ranma father's training was little more than torture at times; that it produced someone so remarkable still stuns me. It should have left him crippled and broken."
"That is disturbing." Andy added.
They nodded.
"Are you going to teach all this?"-oOo-
"To some. I want to get together a base, though it will take time. We will probably be buying a lot of cargo containers once we set some things up. I can setup some automated robots and build an initial base on Mars fairly quickly with them, though it would be very crude. Better designs will come once we setup some of the needed infrastructure."
"I can think of a lot of doctors that would love to know what you know."
"We know. We have asked the president to find those that may be of help. One problem with ki we think is self created. If you are absolutely sure it is impossible, then you will probably never be able to access it. We are hoping that seeing that it isn't impossible will help some get past that threshold."
"Can you do something impressive?" asked Andy.
"Aren't your ratings good enough?" asked Sam wryly.
"I had almost forgot we were broadcasting," answered Andy. "It is weird for it to be occurring without a visible camera."
Ranma asked, "Shall we?" Ranma looked towards the lake.
"Are you sure? What if?" asked Sam.
"They will find out sooner or later. They always do."
"Find out?" asked Andy.
They ignored the question as first Ranma then Sam stepped out on the lake as if it was flat ground and then started to move.
"I can't believe what I'm seeing. A man and a woman literally not walking but dancing on water, except no. This is clearly a martial arts kata of some kind that I'm unfamiliar with."
He watched along with his audience as trails of blue, pink, gold, and white spun between them and floated up to form a gigantic snowflake in the sky.
He watched as a fish came up and knocked into Ranma's foot, only to cause him to stumble, and then catch himself just below the surface of the water.
Suddenly male Ranma was gone, replaced with an attractive red headed woman that was nearly eight inches shorter than Ranma was. The other odd thing was that his clothes seemed to shrink to fit her.
Sam reached down, "Want a hand oh husband of mine?"
"Very funny. Shall we continue?"
"Yes."
And continue they did. The massive thirty foot snowflake of energy they had formed in the sky grew bigger and more elaborate until the kata just seemed to end and it faded away.
They gliding back to the shore and walked back over to Andy.
Ranma said, "When I was just sixteen my idiot father took me to a place that doesn't exist in this world. Most would say it was a place of magic. I would too. It was a series of natural pools with small bamboo poles sticking up at certain spots. You were supposed to move from pole to pole without falling in. It was a test of skill, for each pool had a curse to change whoever fell into the pool to whatever first drowned there. Whether you believe that story or not, it is what happened to me. My father took me there without believing it was real."
"So you change into a girl when your wet?"
"Cold water, and we think it is a mix of what I would have been like had I been born a girl and what the young woman some one thousand five hundred years ago was like. I think.."
Ranma's voice got quiet and somber, but it was still easy to understand. "I have come to think I know why those pools were called the pools of sorrow. I think, and this is just my opinion. I could be wrong, but I think the magic that cursed those pools trapped at least part of the souls of those who drowned in there. I think I have felt part of her spirit from time to time. I used to be such an idiot. My dad trained me to be a chauvinistic jerk. My mom had some insane standard where she would love me to get many women pregnant, but only marry one, and she was all about honor. None of it made any sense. Thankfully, I grew up."
"Amen," added the blond.
"Hey, I had most of the rough edges sanded off me before we met."
"True. Perhaps someday I can meet Kasumi and thank her and Doctor Tofu and whoever else for it."
"Don't I get any credit?" mused Ranma.
"Oh you get a great deal, but we wouldn't want you to slip back into overconfidence." Her bright smile took the sting out of it.
Andy asked, "And you don't have a problem with your husband being like this?"
"God no. Seriously no. I mean I wouldn't stop him or her if he wanted a cure or wanted to stay in one form or another, but I love Ranma, and I don't honestly want to lose any part of him or her. I was transported the same place he was. He saved my life. It was just the two of us for the longest time. Then we found an Asgard outpost and they helped us so much."
"I still don't get it," Andy admitted. "I have seen your actual file, or what is publicly available, but with your children and everything, shouldn't you be older?"
"When Ranma found me I was dying. He had one magical item. A rare, and probably now non existent piece of magic that could make someone younger. It was a one time deal. I had a poisoned arrow in my leg. His own healing skills were decent even then, but they wouldn't fix this. I was dying. He gave me the item to use and then gave me most of his strength. I survived obviously, but I'm slightly changed and much younger than I should be even with the ki mastery Ranma taught me. The Asgard says whatever happened is stable and to leave it alone. Is any of this believable? I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't believe me. I don't have the item. It is gone and came from Ranma's world anyway, which we may never get back to. The rest was just a time difference between universes that worked in our favor."
Ranma said, "It was the last one I was aware of."
"So," Andy mused in a lighthearted voice, "You married an older woman."
"And I'd do it again. In fact we are going to do it again when things settle down. Her father is going to want to attend her wedding."
"There is no way to bring your family?" asked Andy.
"No, not really. It is complicated, but I probably wouldn't if I could. That chaos is behind me. We have more important things to do."
"Well, I probably should get back," mused Andy.
"Goodbye," they said in stereo.
-oOo-
Andy appeared back in his studio where he had left.
"Are you insane?" his producer asked. "We were getting incredible ratings and you left. Left!"
"They deserved some peace and quiet too," Andy defended.
"Arrrgggh!"
Andy noted that Blitzer was looking at them and they appeared to be live. He asked, "Are we live?"
"Yes."
His producer quickly backed out of the room.
Andy asked, "What has happened since I was gone?"
Dan said, "To recap the latest news, the Liberator has apparently been collecting the nuclear warheads. We aren't quite sure what they are doing with them, but we have confirmed from sources that they are being collected. Further we have had many politicians demanding we launch nuclear weapons in retaliation, but so far saner heads have prevailed. Some politicians have called for the execution of Sam Carter for killing a head of state. Others have called to give her medals. The general consensus is she did the right thing, since had nothing been done the odds of retaliation would have been much higher.
Andy asked, "What about all this stuff about ki or life energy? It sure looked real to me."
"There has been lots of chatter, but so far nothing definitive."
"And the reaction to Ranma's odd condition?"
"Some call it a unholy abomination birthed in the fires of hell. Some call it a blessing by god. There hasn't been a general consensus. I'm sure you can guess how that has gone down politically."
"Quite. Still, they probably don't want to annoy anyone with that much power."
"Some have suggested similar," Dan admitted.
"Has the government issued any statements?"
"The unprovoked nuclear attack was stopped by the Earth Defense Force. No casualties were reported. The US has no plans to launch any form of retaliation at this time, but is considering future options."
"That video feed still has a week's delay?"
"Yes, so if we want to know how they reacted at the time we need only wait a week."
"That should be must see tv," pointed out Andy.
"No doubt."
"What else?" asked Andy.
"We have reports of almost all major countries offering resources to help build a Martian colony, most with the caveat that they have their own separate Martian colony."
"Do they really think they have time to build everyone their own colony?" Andy asked surprised.
"I presume some of this is just the first reaction. Likely it will change. I believe some of them had offers to build and equip modules, so perhaps it makes sense."
"Maybe, though I thought the point of their base being on another planet was to be separate from Earth's headaches."
"Nothing is ever that easy."
"No, I suppose not," agreed Dan.
"What about the liar?"
"He tried to claim Sam was weak for breaking down and running away after killing and that he would have killed him with his bare hands."
Andy rolled his eyes. "Do they even know how stupid that sounds? I've seen part of her redacted file. She is one of the top minds in the country and also one of the best airmen the air force had. She killed him in what less than a second? I rather doubt the availability of a knife would have made any significant difference. Hell her husband pulled a big fish out of a lake without even getting wet. If he can do that he could snap a neck just as quick, and I rather doubt she is that far off."
Dan said, "We had an expert look at the video frame by frame. She stabbed him precisely in the heart less than a second after he appeared, and no one on their ship seemed surprised at her speed. She didn't even see in that big a hurry from what we could tell. When we slowed it down it looked mostly like she had a task she didn't care for but was determined to finish regardless."
"She also specifically took over the station that could beam him up, likely to take that responsibility on herself rather than delegate it to her children. She made the decision, took the responsibility and executed the man in less time that it takes the liar to come up with his next lie."
"Quite," Dan agreed.
"I take it we have to wait a week to see his actual reaction to all those missiles?"
"No, it seems they added a separate real time stream that according to the stream notes is permanent with no interruptions until he died of old age. It also contains real time fact checking of every word spoken in a window on the right. That was impressive on the one week old stuff, but to do it in real time is really impressive."
"They could manage that? Heck, we had several fact checkers give up and get other jobs."
"Somehow they are doing it."
"Anything else?"
"Well the yacht they were talking about destroying was wiped off the map by Liberator. His country tried to claim it was in cold blood and they killed hundreds. Liberator broadcast the original planning meeting where the propaganda was planned, as well as a view of all the people they moved to safety. Everyone in that meeting is now on continuous monitoring."
"Jeeze, they have been busy. I assume that is all?"
"No, the last thing was there was a public request for information to confirm whether any of the liar's properties has insurance that covers attacks from space."
"And?"
"All the companies involved were swift to point out that there was no such coverage."
Andy broke out in laughter.
-oOo-
Sam and Ranma returned to the Liberator two days later.
Ranma asked, "How are things?"
Jack said, "We are doing great here. That transporter relay Avon threw together and we dropped in a powered Moon orbit allowed us to bury all the warheads safely on the moon for later reuse. You can't tell from the surface they are there, so they should be fine. We also kept an eye on things, made some vague threats. Things seemed to be settling down."
"Vague threats?" asked Sam curiously.
Teal'c said, "They put the liar on television in real time and threatened to destroy all his properties by asking if they covered destruction from outer space."
Sam giggled.
Ranma laughed.
Ranma asked, "Is anything urgent?"
Avon said, "I have a lot of offers of help for our planned Martian base. Most want their own Martian base. We have made it clear that we have no current plans to do so now, though maybe later. Most of the offers are still there. Some have volunteered to come, including the reporter you worked with. We have worked on a portal design to transport standard storage containers full of stuff to Mars, but Liberator currently lacks the raw materials to replicate them. I also wanted you and Ranma to review the design first. These are fairly dangerous if we get them wrong and are going to need a lot of power, both here and on Mars."
Ranma said, "I know enough to go through the materials list. I'll help you revise it. We can add other stuff too, so it is less of a parts list."
Sam said, "Engineering on this level is hard. I assume this is mostly a scale up of an existing design?"
Avon said, "Scale down actually. The problem is the design assumes a lot of Asgard tech we do not have. We can make it, but that requires making a lot of other things. There are limitations in the Asgard replicator, a few of which you and dad can remove. I have assumed that we have that, but the rest…"
Sam said, "Put me on with General Hammond."
"General Hammond here," was heard over the speakers.
"It is Sam."
"It is good to hear from you. You know of course the hornet's nest you stirred up."
"We know."
"What can I do for you?" he asked.
"We need help, and I have to start somewhere."
"What do you need?"
"I need you to talk to the president. I want him to give you authority to release at least one person on your command. I need them free to use whatever skills they have and I need them to resign from the air force and swear not to reveal any skills or knowledge they learn here without permission."
"I figured that was coming. I've got a great Canadian scientist by the name of Rodney McCay."
Sam laughed. "No sir. I want Siler if he is willing. Siler I would trust to disarm a bomb with me in the same room. I don't have the same trust of Rodney."
"Damn Sam, do you know how hard he will be to replace?"
"I know."
"Can I tell him what the pay will be? There is no question if he is willing he already offered, but he does have a family."
"I've no idea sir. Right now the only money we have is whatever is in our accounts. We will work out something."
"I'll work on getting the president to authorize you a budget for your contributions to Earth's defense."
"Thanks."
"How about you do me one favor then?" asked the General.
"Sure. What do you need?"
"I'll want you or Siler to help interview his replacement."
"Of course. Ranma may be able to help too. His ki sensing is much better than mine. I can spot most lies. He can spot every single one."
"That is interesting. I assume you don't want this fact known widely."
"Correct."
"Well you probably just gave me a bit of information that is more valuable than Siler is. I'll try not to abuse it."
"Thank you sir."
"If you can call me back in an hour, I should have processed Sergeant Siler's resignation."
"I will."
-oOo-
Avon asked, "Out of curiosity, what was the rush for another engineer?"
"It was no slight of your skills, but Siler knows how to work with Earth technology and I trust him. We need that. We don't have time to rebuild everything and he is great at just getting stuff done."
Avon nodded. "I have been thinking about how to get a forward reserve base built quickly. The first thing people need is a place they can shelter in place. The cargo container idea is fine long term, but short term we need someplace airtight from which to start with."
"What did you come with?" asked his father.
"Non nuclear submarines. The nuclear ones are useless, since they are designed to be cooled with seawater, that we don't have. The combustion engines in the non nuclear ones are equally useless, but something we can easily remove. Of course, if we could get the nuclear ones to work, we would have power for the gate solved, but it is probably easier and safer just to, for now, power the gate with an energy beam from Liberator."
Sam said, "The non nuclear design sounds good. See if we can build a Naquadah generator for the reset. Hopefully Hammond can get us the Naquadah."
Cally said, "General Hammond is trying to reach you."
"Put him on."
"General."
"Mr. Siler is here with me. I've got an MP that has volunteered to drive his bike to his house. He is ready to go anytime, and this is on speakerphone."
"Hello Sam. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I guess, beam me up?"
"Sure Siler, or would you like to go by Sylvester? In all actuality we will probably establish some ranks soon, but for now…"
"Either is fine with memam."
"I'm still Sam. Please don't get overly formally with me."
"Understood."
"Cally, bring him up." He appeared in a flash of light.
Sam said, "Welcome to the Liberator Siler. Unfortunately, I need to hear it from you."
"You want an oath?" He asked.
"Just something that says why your here and an agreement not to smuggle technology back to Earth without permission."
Siler said, "I'm here because quite frankly some of the things you guys have faced scare the crap out of me, but if we don't face them, then what will become of my family? And yes, I promise not to steal tech."
Sam glanced around the room seeing Ranma's subtle nod.
"Welcome aboard Sly. It is good to have you."
"It is good to be here."
"Zen grant him the same permissions as SG-1."
"Permissions granted."
Villa said, "One thing that has been forgotten. Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, and Siler haven't gone through a medical baseline."
Jack said, "I'll pass."
Sam said, "Jack, we really need to get that done. If you are injured the data now can save your life. If you like, Ranma and I can go first. I suppose we are about due."
Zen added, "You both are forty seven point six hours from a recommended medical scan."
"Thank you Zen."
Siler blew out a breath. "I don't suppose you can just get the records from Janet?"
"We could, but it wouldn't tell us a fraction of what our scanners will."
"Let's get this over with," Siler added.
Jack said, "What, your giving up?"
Ranma said, "Just wait till your used to them and she turns off the bit where your allowed to move."
"What?" Jack asked loudly.
Sam said, "It nearly doubles the speed with which the system can repair you and is an excellent lesson in mental focus."
"Sure it is," Jack groused.
"Come on sir. You can do it. Ranma and I will go first on the scary mode."
-oOo-
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