With Ashmel's help, Jack was able to recover enough to wake up when the food arrived that evening. He explained to the others what he had seen.
"They're trying to cope with a full scale plague out there, with no medical provision at all! Ashmel can keep me safe but I'm really worried about you two." He indicated Sam and Daniel. "We can't risk taking it back to the SGC either. This thing kills about a third of all who catch it and leaves the others weak for months and scarred for life."
"Jack," interrupted Daniel, "We're overdue now. Hammond will be sending a rescue party soon, or at least trying to power up the MALP to try to ask where we are."
"We don't want anyone else coming through the 'gate!" He turned his attention to the guard. "Go get Elm, Soldier. As quick as if your life depended on it!" Which, in a way, it did.
Elm took longer than Jack would have liked, but at last he arrived.
"I have been arranging your release. Please forgive me that it has taken so long, bureaucracy is always so slow. Your mercy is greatly appreciated. Are you able to continue in Tamber?"
"No, I've got to do something else first. If we don't sent a message through to our command centre, they will send troops here pretty soon. And I don't want them catching whatever you've got running around here. Let me report and then we'll go back to Tamber."
So all of SG1 were let out to report back. Jack still didn't want them to see the symbols he dialed but he though the iris would cope if they tried to go to earth themselves. The MALP was still parked in the plaza, so Jack used it to contact SGC.
@~@~@~@~@~@~@
"Off world activation. It's SG1's code, Sir!" Hammond breathed a sigh of relief. God they were five hours over due and he was already thinking the worst!
"Open the iris."
"Receiving MALP signal, Sir. Putting it on screen."
Jack's image appeared on the screen. Hammond thought he looked like shit.
"Hey there, Sir. I'm afraid we've got a little situation here."
"Are you alright, Colonel? I've seen you looking better!"
"Yes, Sir, I'm okay, just a little worn out. Ashmel and me have been kept rather busy treatin' the folks here who are suffering from a kind of plague. They've got no medical infrastructure here at all. We could sure do with some help, but I don't want to put any of our people in danger."
"Get Dr Frasier up here, asap!" The General called out to no-one in particular. "Let's see what the good doctor suggests. Are the negotiations going well?"
"We haven't really started yet, Sir. We've sort of been held up with other things." Luckily the doctor arrived at the control room, before Jack had to say any more.
"What can you tell me, Colonel?"
"It's a really nasty piece of work, Doc. Takes out 30-40% of the adults who catch it, more of the children. They get fever, headache, backache, vomiting, delirium and this really disgusting rash, like blisters which scab up and leave really horrible scars. The people here call it the variola."
"Variola! That's Smallpox, Colonel!"
"What! SMALLPOX! I thought no-one got that anymore!"
"Only because a vaccine was developed for it and there was a world wide programme to eradicate it! Didn't you have a vaccination as a child? Leaves a little puckered scar, usually done at the top of your left arm." Jack, Daniel and Sam all reach unconsciously for the top of their left arms, where each of them knew they had a little puckered scar.
"So, you can treat it?"
"No, Sir, I'm afraid not. But I can get hold of quite a lot of vaccine. I don't thing we would be able to vaccinate the whole planet, but it would be a start."
@~@~@~@~@~@~@
The briefing back on earth, some days later, was very long, the negotiations with the people of P8B 723 were even longer, but, hopefully, the benefits would last forever.
As soon as they were allowed time off, Jack invited the rest of SG1 to his house for a meal to celebrate a job well done. He invited Dr Fraiser as well, as she had been doing a lot of the health related negotiations, in addition to the vaccinations.
After dinner, Jack and Sam sat on one sofa, Sam was leaning against Jack with her feet dangling over the arm and Jack had his arm round Sam's upper chest. Daniel thought they looked so together. He was sitting on the other sofa with Teal'c, and Janet was wedged in between them. Teal'c tended to take up more than his fair share of any seat! But in fact Janet didn't feel uncomfortable, it was rather nice being sandwiched between two such good friends.
"Have you ever heard of that uprising against the Goa'uld, Teal'c?" asked Janet, wriggling back against Daniel so she could turn and face Teal'c. Daniel put his arm round her shoulders to make more room on the sofa.
"No, I have not, Doctor Frasier. I did not even recognized the name of the system lord that had ruled the planet. News that a group of Jaffa had successfully defeated their lord would be ruthlessly suppressed. The Jaffa paid a high price for their freedom. No more Prim'Ta were available to sustain their immune systems."
"It's strange that they hadn't realized the need for medical research. Most of their technology is really advanced," she replied. Hmm that arm felt good.
"Well," said Sam, "They had a head start with that. Most of the weapons and suchlike had been reverse engineered from the Goa'uld equivalents, which explains the fact that they didn't work in quite the same way. But, it didn't really occur to them that they could develop medical technology to stop the diseases that had stuck them once the Goa'uld had been defeated. So the medical and health developments had fallen way behind."
"You know," Daniel added, "The Smallpox virus could have been taken from earth by the Goa'uld at the time of the pharaohs. Ramesses V of Egypt, who died in 1157 BC, showed signs of Smallpox scars on his mummified body." Well, Janet hadn't pushed his arm off!
"Really, Daniel, That's amazing!" replied Janet, "We've immunised them all against Smallpox now. It's a good job that the population of the planet isn't very large. The Goa'uld had only settled the area near to the Stargate and the loss of the Jaffa had decimated that small group. And vaccinations against other diseases such as measles and whooping cough are planned. Specialists have been sent out to help improve all aspects of heath provision."
"I'm glad I don't need to cure any more smallpox victims," Jack confessed, "Not only does it wear me out, I'm afraid the symptoms really make my skin crawl." He shuddered at the thought and Sam reach up to hold his hand that was resting on her shoulder.
"I'm glad it all worked out," she said, "Those people were so grateful that they are willing to share all the technology they had with earth. General Hammond is absolutely delighted, this will keep the politicians off his back for years!"
THE END
@~@~@~@~@~@~@
AN Sorry that the last bit is a bit boring but I just wanted to tie up the loose ends. The sort of thing you get after the last lot of commercials. The thing about Ramesses is true. Did anyone look up variola on the dictionary FF.net have provided? No? You can do it now. See, I do my research! So you can review me!
Click on that button, write a review!
"They're trying to cope with a full scale plague out there, with no medical provision at all! Ashmel can keep me safe but I'm really worried about you two." He indicated Sam and Daniel. "We can't risk taking it back to the SGC either. This thing kills about a third of all who catch it and leaves the others weak for months and scarred for life."
"Jack," interrupted Daniel, "We're overdue now. Hammond will be sending a rescue party soon, or at least trying to power up the MALP to try to ask where we are."
"We don't want anyone else coming through the 'gate!" He turned his attention to the guard. "Go get Elm, Soldier. As quick as if your life depended on it!" Which, in a way, it did.
Elm took longer than Jack would have liked, but at last he arrived.
"I have been arranging your release. Please forgive me that it has taken so long, bureaucracy is always so slow. Your mercy is greatly appreciated. Are you able to continue in Tamber?"
"No, I've got to do something else first. If we don't sent a message through to our command centre, they will send troops here pretty soon. And I don't want them catching whatever you've got running around here. Let me report and then we'll go back to Tamber."
So all of SG1 were let out to report back. Jack still didn't want them to see the symbols he dialed but he though the iris would cope if they tried to go to earth themselves. The MALP was still parked in the plaza, so Jack used it to contact SGC.
@~@~@~@~@~@~@
"Off world activation. It's SG1's code, Sir!" Hammond breathed a sigh of relief. God they were five hours over due and he was already thinking the worst!
"Open the iris."
"Receiving MALP signal, Sir. Putting it on screen."
Jack's image appeared on the screen. Hammond thought he looked like shit.
"Hey there, Sir. I'm afraid we've got a little situation here."
"Are you alright, Colonel? I've seen you looking better!"
"Yes, Sir, I'm okay, just a little worn out. Ashmel and me have been kept rather busy treatin' the folks here who are suffering from a kind of plague. They've got no medical infrastructure here at all. We could sure do with some help, but I don't want to put any of our people in danger."
"Get Dr Frasier up here, asap!" The General called out to no-one in particular. "Let's see what the good doctor suggests. Are the negotiations going well?"
"We haven't really started yet, Sir. We've sort of been held up with other things." Luckily the doctor arrived at the control room, before Jack had to say any more.
"What can you tell me, Colonel?"
"It's a really nasty piece of work, Doc. Takes out 30-40% of the adults who catch it, more of the children. They get fever, headache, backache, vomiting, delirium and this really disgusting rash, like blisters which scab up and leave really horrible scars. The people here call it the variola."
"Variola! That's Smallpox, Colonel!"
"What! SMALLPOX! I thought no-one got that anymore!"
"Only because a vaccine was developed for it and there was a world wide programme to eradicate it! Didn't you have a vaccination as a child? Leaves a little puckered scar, usually done at the top of your left arm." Jack, Daniel and Sam all reach unconsciously for the top of their left arms, where each of them knew they had a little puckered scar.
"So, you can treat it?"
"No, Sir, I'm afraid not. But I can get hold of quite a lot of vaccine. I don't thing we would be able to vaccinate the whole planet, but it would be a start."
@~@~@~@~@~@~@
The briefing back on earth, some days later, was very long, the negotiations with the people of P8B 723 were even longer, but, hopefully, the benefits would last forever.
As soon as they were allowed time off, Jack invited the rest of SG1 to his house for a meal to celebrate a job well done. He invited Dr Fraiser as well, as she had been doing a lot of the health related negotiations, in addition to the vaccinations.
After dinner, Jack and Sam sat on one sofa, Sam was leaning against Jack with her feet dangling over the arm and Jack had his arm round Sam's upper chest. Daniel thought they looked so together. He was sitting on the other sofa with Teal'c, and Janet was wedged in between them. Teal'c tended to take up more than his fair share of any seat! But in fact Janet didn't feel uncomfortable, it was rather nice being sandwiched between two such good friends.
"Have you ever heard of that uprising against the Goa'uld, Teal'c?" asked Janet, wriggling back against Daniel so she could turn and face Teal'c. Daniel put his arm round her shoulders to make more room on the sofa.
"No, I have not, Doctor Frasier. I did not even recognized the name of the system lord that had ruled the planet. News that a group of Jaffa had successfully defeated their lord would be ruthlessly suppressed. The Jaffa paid a high price for their freedom. No more Prim'Ta were available to sustain their immune systems."
"It's strange that they hadn't realized the need for medical research. Most of their technology is really advanced," she replied. Hmm that arm felt good.
"Well," said Sam, "They had a head start with that. Most of the weapons and suchlike had been reverse engineered from the Goa'uld equivalents, which explains the fact that they didn't work in quite the same way. But, it didn't really occur to them that they could develop medical technology to stop the diseases that had stuck them once the Goa'uld had been defeated. So the medical and health developments had fallen way behind."
"You know," Daniel added, "The Smallpox virus could have been taken from earth by the Goa'uld at the time of the pharaohs. Ramesses V of Egypt, who died in 1157 BC, showed signs of Smallpox scars on his mummified body." Well, Janet hadn't pushed his arm off!
"Really, Daniel, That's amazing!" replied Janet, "We've immunised them all against Smallpox now. It's a good job that the population of the planet isn't very large. The Goa'uld had only settled the area near to the Stargate and the loss of the Jaffa had decimated that small group. And vaccinations against other diseases such as measles and whooping cough are planned. Specialists have been sent out to help improve all aspects of heath provision."
"I'm glad I don't need to cure any more smallpox victims," Jack confessed, "Not only does it wear me out, I'm afraid the symptoms really make my skin crawl." He shuddered at the thought and Sam reach up to hold his hand that was resting on her shoulder.
"I'm glad it all worked out," she said, "Those people were so grateful that they are willing to share all the technology they had with earth. General Hammond is absolutely delighted, this will keep the politicians off his back for years!"
THE END
@~@~@~@~@~@~@
AN Sorry that the last bit is a bit boring but I just wanted to tie up the loose ends. The sort of thing you get after the last lot of commercials. The thing about Ramesses is true. Did anyone look up variola on the dictionary FF.net have provided? No? You can do it now. See, I do my research! So you can review me!
Click on that button, write a review!