Sorry this has taken so long, I've been working on my Harry Potter fic...but I'm on holidays now, so hopefully chapters will be a lot quicker!

A/N: I saw Amanda Tapping at a convention shortly before I wrote some of this chapter, she's the loveliest person, and such a sense of humour! Anyway, for this reason, I'm really sorry if anything Sam says is more an 'Amanda' comment, as I'm now accustomed to how Amanda Tapping talks, not Sam Carter. Sorry! :D

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DAY THREE, PART TWO: WEDNESDAY

Okay, anger was an emotion Sam was fully familiar with. She'd been angry at countless people during her life, drawing her weapon on them if they happened to *really* annoy her off-world, like during one of their first missions. And anger at Jack was something she was something she was *very* familiar with. She couldn't even remember all the times she'd wanted to step out of protocol and shout abuse at him, holding her P-90 right at his chest until he agreed with her. But for some reason, things usually turned out alright in the end, and she was glad she'd held her tongue. Occasionally it went bad, but usually it was alright. Usually.

Anger, Sam thought to herself as she glared at the computer screen, is a very unsettling emotion. Mainly because she didn't feel very in control, and if there was one thing she hated, it was being out of control. So there came the anger again. A vicious circle she couldn't break out of.

Right at that moment, if he'd walked in the door, she would probably hit him. A part of her told her the situation had been partly amusing, and she was glad the meeting had come to a screeching halt. But the stronger part was screaming, 'You're going to be let go from the SGC and it's *his* fault!'

And the worst part of the whole thing was that she didn't *really* hate him. She couldn't. You just can't hate someone who has saved your life countless times. You can't just throw that out a window.

So hate was out. But revenge was in.

There was a light tap on the door.

'Sam?'

'Come in, Daniel,' she said, and heard the door open behind her. Suddenly remembering he was in crutches, Sam jumped to her feet and turned to help him. But he was already inside, the door partly open behind him. 'Sorry, I should have helped.'

'No, I'm fine,' Daniel told her, giving a half-smile. 'I'm coping, but after all this practice using crutches, I just can't wait until they're gone. That way Jack can stop partly tripping me up as we're walking.' Sam frowned, and she saw Daniel inwardly kick himself. 'Probably shouldn't have mentioned that at the moment, huh?'

'From now on, I really don't care,' Sam told him, sitting back down and facing him. 'Take a seat.' Daniel sat down carefully, placing the crutches beside him. There was an expectant silence. 'So?'

'So.' Daniel took a deep breath. Wait for it, Sam thought to herself. 'Has Jack visited you yet?'

'And why would he do that?' Sam asked carefully. 'I don't believe he's called any sort of impromptu meeting.'

'Well, I was just wondering, because...'

'Because why?' Sam was impatient but Daniel refused to un-nerved. Compared to the difficult aliens he'd encountered on other planets, Sam was alright. 'You think I've already cut him up and shoved him in a cupboard somewhere?' Daniel winced slightly, realising he was getting the 'lash-out' effect of Sam's anger. 'Don't worry, I have a little more class than that.'

'Oh, that's...fine, it's all fine.' Daniel was stammering, losing his nerve all of the sudden. 'It's just...is he avoiding you?'

'I'm not sure of his motives anymore, Daniel,' Sam told him calmly. 'If you want the inner workings of Jack O'Neill, you'll have to ask him yourself.' Daniel decided to change tack.

'Where were you at lunch? Teal'c and I were the only two from SG-1 in the commissary.' Sam just shrugged.

'I wasn't really hungry, plus I was too busy.' Daniel nodded.

'Yeah, I understand that. Don't starve yourself, though.'

'It's just lunch, Daniel, I'm sure I'll cope.' Sam looked to the side of the room for a moment, then turned her attention back to Daniel. 'So, why did you really come here?' Daniel tried to look surprised.

'Can't you just accept that I wanted to visit? I do visit and talk with you sometimes,' he said. Sam just continued staring. He hated the way she did that, there was no lying to Major Samantha Carter. 'Okay, I wanted to see if you were ignoring Jack. Or if he was avoiding you. I mean, considering the circumstances, is that so wrong?' The minute the words were out of his mouth Daniel regretted them. 'I mean, it's just that...'

'Daniel, as much as I really want to continue this conversation, I have work to do,' Sam interrupted, getting to her feet. Her tone was final, and Daniel realised talking to her any longer was going to be fruitless.

'For what it's worth, Kinsey will forget,' Daniel pointed out, getting to his feet slowly. 'It may not seem it now, but I think Jack did the right thing.' Sam didn't reply, merely looking at the door, then back at Daniel. Daniel just smiled grimly to himself and headed towards the door, taking the hint. 'Don't mention this to Jack, will you?'

'I'll try and contain myself.' Sam stared as Daniel left the lab., closing the door behind him carefully. Turning back to her computer, she sat down and rubbed her face with her hands. She was a whole bundle of conflicting emotions...anger, unhappiness, slight amusement, guilt... She looked up, remembering the whole situation. A smile slowly appeared on her face.

Revenge was definitely in.

***

Jack paced around his office, throwing and bouncing a tennis ball as he paced. He was extremely impatient, and full of energy. His energy had to be directed somewhere. A knock at the door interrupted his pacing, and he called,

'Yeah?'

'It's me.' Rolling his eyes, Jack went over to the door and opened it.

'Daniel, what a surprise. To what do I owe this visit?' Daniel just tried to push past him, no easy feat in crutches, and Jack watched in amusement before stepping aside, causing Daniel to nearly lose his balance.

'Thanks Jack,' Daniel muttered, turning to face him. 'She's mad, Jack.'

'Don't tell me Janet's gone crazy already? I knew giving too many needles to people is hazardous to your health.' Daniel ignored Jack's sarcasm and went on.

'I think you owe an apology, even if we are both partly agreeing what you did was necessary?' Jack's eyebrows rose.

'I don't ask Janet to give me those needles, you know. It's her own fault that...'

'Jack! Stop trying to avoid the obvious,' Daniel said with more vehemance than Jack would expect from him. 'And just listen, alright?'

'Wow, Daniel, didn't know you had so much pent up anger,' Jack commented.

'Jack, everyone's angry, and I personally don't see how this is going to clear up,' Daniel said slowly. 'But I think the best place to start is with an apology.'

'An apology?'

'Apologise to Sam,' Daniel told him, then went on quickly before Jack could argue. 'Now I know you're bravado and arrogance must be telling you 'Daniel has damn stupid ideas', so before it takes control, just hear me out.' Jack just stared for a second, and Daniel was tempted to leave the mountain forever. What was with these people and staring to get the truth out of you? But Daniel was hardy, and he kept his resolve.

'I had no idea you had ESP,' Jack said lazily. 'But carry on.'

'Just think if the situation were reversed, and Sam did something to jeopardise your career,' Daniel offered. 'And don't say anything about Kinsey flirting with you, because I know that's wrong on too many levels to count.' Jack had to grin at that. 'You'd be mad, and you'd probably want her to apologise.'

'Actually, I'd be mad, and I'd want to get back at her,' Jack told him, and Daniel would have thrown his hands in the air could he have. 'I'd probably want...'

'Please, don't say the R word.'

'What, revenge?'

'Jack, I said don't say it.'

'You're the one that brought it up.'

'I did not!'

'You did too.'

'Did not!'

'Did too!'

'Did not!'

'How did you know I was going to say that? I could have easily said something else,' Jack reminded him.

'And I'd have thrown the SGC rulebook at your head.'

'Excuse me?'

'You'd want revenge?' Daniel asked him, changing the subject, hoping and hoping Jack would say...

'Yeah, of course I would. Now, is there anything else I can help you with, Daniel?' Jack asked.

'Will Sam want revenge?' Daniel asked quickly before Jack could kick him out of his office. Literally.

'I don't know, Daniel. If you want to know about Samantha Carter, ask Samantha Carter.' Jack's temper was obviously close to snapping, so Daniel decided to tread carefully.

'Shouldn't you at least consider the possibility that she will want to...get back at you, for lack of a better term?'

'Yes, Daniel, I am fully aware of that possibility. Not only that, but I've had the pleasure of living it.' Jack rubbed his arm absently.

'What happened?' Daniel asked, hoping it wasn't too violent.

'Oh, I just got pushed into a wall. I'll be fine.'

'You got pushed into a wall? Jack, I think you have a little more to worry about than that.'

'Daniel, I'm just gonna forget subtlety. Please leave my office.' Daniel just stared at him for a few moments, then turned towards the door. 'Rulebook at my head?'

'Bye, Jack.' Daniel headed through the door, then muttered, 'Good luck,' as an afterthought. As the door slammed behind him, he started heading up the corridor. 'You are sure gonna need it.'

***

'What's up, Daniel?' Janet asked, starting to do her rounds through the infirmary. 'You don't have a head-ache, do you? How's your ankle?'

'My ankle's fine.'

'Still, I want you to stay on your crutches until I say no more.' Daniel just stared at her. 'Daniel, I was in the briefing room earlier. I didn't see any crutches.'

'Wow, do you have a photographic memory or something?' Daniel asked her, only slightly shocked. Amazed was a better description. Janet just smiled.

'No, I have a habit of checking up on my patients at all times, especially since around here, the bravado and 'I'll be fine' attitude runs rampant even when they're on their death bed.' Daniel had to smile at this accurate description.

'So, how's Kinsey?'

'Asleep, thank goodness. I had to give him some sedative, and he fell asleep soon after,' Janet replied.

'Great,' Daniel muttered.

'So, what did you come to talk about?' Janet asked, checking the temperature of a captain who was suffering from a bad case of the flu. 'Don't come too close, Daniel.'

'Well, actually, I came to talk to you about Sam and Jack.' Daniel checked the reaction of the captain, but she was thankfully so out of it and head-achey that she hadn't even registered what he'd said. Daniel had some relief about that, he didn't need any comments getting out of control.

'What about them?' Janet asked, stepping back from the bed. 'You keep resting, now.' The captain was half-asleep, so didn't reply.

'Actually, I'm more worried about Jack,' Daniel amended. 'I'm worried Sam's going to kill him.'

'Kill him? Surely not literally.'

'Oh, you'd be surprised,' Daniel said quietly, following her to the next patient. 'She's mad, and Jack just said that if he was in her position, he'd be out for revenge.'

'That doesn't mean Sam is,' Janet reminded him, then looked up when Daniel didn't reply. He was just staring at her. 'Okay, so Sam probably would be if mad enough.'

'Oh, she's mad enough,' Daniel told Janet. 'Scarily mad, in fact.'

'What do you want me to do about it?'

'Well...not anything, actually, I just wanted to discuss it with someone else to see if they thought the same as me.'

'Well, I agree it's a bit risky at the moment,' Janet commented, turning to face Daniel properly. 'I think Colonel O'Neill should stay out of Sam's way for a while.'

'How long a while?'

'A few years should do it.' Janet gave a small smile. 'Don't look so worried, Daniel, everything will sort itself out. You won't get anywhere worrying about other people's problems all the time. I'm only allowed to do it because I'm a doctor.' Daniel had to smile at that. 'And because no one around here worries about their own problems.'

'Yeah, I guess. Sorry to interrupt your rounds.' Janet smiled.

'It's fine, Daniel. Just be careful of that ankle, alright? Doctor's orders are to be followed around here.'

'Funny, they're the only orders that ever get followed,' Daniel commented. 'I'll get out of your way.'

'You're not in my way, Daniel,' Janet told him. 'And don't worry too much. The Colonel may bend the regulations to snapping point, but Sam stays in line.'

'Thanks. I have work to get done, though. I'd stay, but...'

'Yeah, I know, work builds up if you even turn away. Go get your work done. I may even escape the infirmary for lunch sometime this afternoon, although with Kinsey and these other patients, I probably won't.'

'How are they?' Daniel inquired.

'For the most part, confused, and don't seem to be any closer to regaining their memories. They've got quite a few more days off, and after that we're going to monitor them carefully,' Janet explained. 'Simmons, who's the worst effected, it seems, is quite low. He seems quite concerned with the memory loss.' She checked something on a clipboard in front of her, then put it back down on the bedside table. 'But other than that, their appetites up, and they seem to be suffering no other adverse affects.'

'So far,' Daniel remarked, and Janet gave him a grim smile.

'So far,' she repeated, sighing almost imperceptibly. 'Anyway, I won't keep you from your work any longer.'

'That's fine,' Daniel told her. 'See you sometime later, hopefully.' Janet smiled.

'Hopefully's the word,' she said as Daniel left the infirmary, hobbling along on his crutches. He kept remembering what Jack had said, and that horrible 'R' word. Revenge.

*'Actually, I'd be mad, and I'd want to get back at her,'* Jack had said. That sounded all too ominous for Daniel's liking. Hobbling along, he decided he was being ridiculous. Why should he worry? He had nothing to worry about, except for General Hammond's wrath. But that wouldn't be for a while, he reasoned, so even that wasn't worth worrying about just yet.

***

It took a lot of wheedling to get into the room with device, but Sam almost had that down to a fine art, after working with an anti-scientist CO for close to four years. It was still in quarantine, after being turned off again, but Sam had managed to convince the scientists that she really needed to get in there and work on it. Technically, she shouldn't be asking to go in, she should be ordering to be let in. But the circumstances had changed, and with that so did the rules.

And so Sam found herself handling the object in the glass 'quarantine box' with the gloves on. Onlookers observed from an above window, intrigued as to what she would discover. This annoyed Sam somewhat; she didn't want people looking, but couldn't say so without sounding rude. So she put up with it...for a while.

'How's it going, Major?' one of them asked. Sam gritted her teeth.

'Not very well,' she replied calmly. 'Those scans helped us understand what happens on the inside, but I won't know for sure until I open it. I'm starting to think it's not actually a hormone, more a signal.'

'What kind of signal?'

'A signal that sends some kind of mind control or subliminal messaging to the affect persons, making them act the way they do. For some reason, it only affects males.'

'Any reason as to why that is so?'

'Not yet, I seem to be over-run with questions while I'm trying to find one.' Although she said it politely, there was a warning undertone, and the scientists thankfully got the hint.

'Sorry, ma'am, we'll return in a few hours to see if you've made any progress,' one of them told her, and Sam looked up and nodded.

'Thank you.' The four left, looking decidedly low, and Sam felt a sudden pang of guilt. That was over-ridden by a memory of Kinsey's face staring at her in wonder. Gritting her teeth even harder, Sam turned her attention back to the device, tapping it. 'Come on, please just tell me how you work!' It suddenly started beeping, and she stepped backwards slightly. 'Wow, never expected *that* one to work!'

Finally managing to get to the inside of the device, she inspected it while it beeped and whirred in the quarantine container. It seemed quite simple, solid, which explained why it was quite heavy, with a small box nestled in it that came out. It was this box that was causing the beeping, the flashing light and the whirring noise, vibrating against the inside of the device and humming.

'Okay, so how do you work? And why only men?' she muttered to herself, experimenting and running hypotheticals for a couple of hours before the scientists returned. She tried turning the device off, checking to see if it didn't open up any more, pressing buttons, until finally, she took the small box out and sort of waved it around, giving up on any rational science in her desperation to find out how it worked exactly, banging it against the side of the container. Quickly regaining her composure, Sam told herself firmly that that was *not* the way to treat a possibly lethal device.

Restraining herself from laughing at that thought, she got sidetracked by the scientists returning.

'Doctor? How did you go?'

'Not very well,' she replied. 'There's this small box inside the device, but how it works, I don't know. I found the off and on switch, though, which is helpful.'

'New information has come through,' one of the scientists reported. 'The planet it was received from? Seems Hathor spent some time there.'

*Hathor?*

'Hathor?' Sam said questioningly. 'Why was Hathor there, and how do they know?'

'Another look at the visual shows remains of serpent and horus guards, and...' The scientist trailed away. 'I can't remember the rest, and the report's on my desk. Hathor was there.'

'Well, that changes things slightly,' Sam muttered. 'If I'm told these things, then maybe my job wouldn't be made ten times more difficult!'

'What's that?' one of the scientists asked, and Sam waved her hand, as if to say 'no, nevermind', then placed her hands on the top of the quarantine container.

'Look, I'm just going to take a break, okay? Make sure no one comes in here.'

'Right.' Sam left the laboratory, hanging her lab coat on a hook as she passed. This was frustrating. This was more than frustrating. This was...

Revenge.

'Why is revenge so hard?'

'What was that, ma'am?'

'And why do I keep talking to myself in front of other people?!'

***

'She's doing what?' Jack said, intimidating the poor scientist in front of him with his voice. She seemed to cringe away, then regained her composure somewhat.

'I assumed you sent her,' she faltered. 'You being her commanding officer and all.'

'My being her commanding officer never has any affect on anything,' he said harshly. 'She never follows any damn orders anyway.' Sensing some kind of crisis, the scientist just stared, a scared expression on her face.

'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you angry.' Jack rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

'No, don't worry, you didn't, it's just...I'm having a bad day.'

'Shall I go?'

'Please.' The scientist scurried out the door, and Jack sat at his desk fuming for a little while. He had just been informed that his second-in-command was working on the device for no particular reason. She hadn't told the other people working on the device why, just that she wanted to see 'how it worked', and that she wasn't sharing any real progress reports. Another Captain had come in and asked him if Sam was alright, she'd been talking to herself, but Jack had waved that away. It was the device thing that...

'CARTER!' Jack got to his feet quickly, a lightbulb suddenly flashing bright as day above his head. 'Don't think I don't know what you're doing!' He tore the door open and ran down the hallway, pressing the button for the elevator hurriedly. He jumped in as the doors opened, pressing the button for Sam's laboratory's floor. He 'bopped' on the spot impatiently, hopping from one foot to the other as the elevator made its steady way to...

*Ting!*

He jumped out and raced along the halls, knocking loudly on the door.

'Carter?' he called sharply. 'Carter, you in there?' The door was opened by a frazzled looking lieutenant.

'Colonel?'

'Is Major Carter in there?'

'No.' The lieutenant didn't say anything else, she just stared at the Colonel steadily. He sighed.

'Where is she?'

'I'm not sure, sir. She was in the laboratory with the device for a few hours, but she left there twenty minutes ago. She could be in the commissary, she missed lunch, or...Colonel?' Jack was already racing back to the elevator. The lieutenant shook her head as he jumped in, startling Dr Fraiser as he did so.

'Colonel?'

'Lots of people have said that today. What's up, doc?' Janet rolled her eyes, starting to smile. Jack shrugged. 'I've always wanted to say that.'

'I'm sure you have. What floor?'

'I'm heading to the commissary.'

'So am I. I'm meeting Sam there for a coffee.' Janet looked startled for a second, then shook her head.

'What?'

'I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. But you're already heading to the commissary as well, so you would have found her, anyway.'

'How'd you know I was looking for her?'

'You were on the floor of Sam's laboratory.'

'Was I?' Janet knew better than to argue with Jack when he was in that mood.

'Nevermind, sir.'

'Wasn't going to, doc.' The elevator finally reached its destination, and Jack raced to the commissary.

When he finally reached it, Sam was already sitting there.

'Carter?' She looked across for a second, then turned away, obviously still annoyed. Jack had to admit she had good reason, but that wasn't the point. He walked across, and sit in the chair across from her. 'Carter, you can't ignore me forever.'

'Unfortunately. But since forever's out, how about I just ignore you until...oh, ten years from now? Twenty?'

'Let's compromise. Fifteen.' Jack noticed Janet hadn't followed him into the commissary, and silently thanked her and her intuition. Sam showed a flicker of a smile, as if she was trying to repress it.

'What do you want, sir?' she asked finally.

'I know what you're playing at.'

'Excuse me?'

'With the device.'

'I'm merely trying to find out how it works.'

'Without orders?' Sam didn't reply.

'It would appear so.'

'Since when do you work without orders?'

'Since this afternoon when I decided to work on the device.'

'I don't think you're trying to find out how it works, I think you're trying to get revenge.'

'How?' Jack paused. If she hadn't thought of it, which he was sure she had, he wasn't about to plant the idea in her mind. With her IQ, she'd master it overnight. 'How, sir?' Sam knew he was trapped, and decided to make the most of it. 'What were you thinking?' Her voice wasn't remotely friendly, but Jack wasn't deterred.

'I'm warning you, Carter. You even think about...'

'You're warning me?'

'Listen, Carter, listen very carefully. You may think you'll have the last word in this matter, but you're wrong.' Jack got to his feet. 'Very wrong.'

'Is that all?' Sam asked coolly. 'I'm waiting for Janet, who is probably outside the commissary waiting for you to leave.' Jack stared at her for a couple more seconds.

'That's all.' He got up and pushed the chair back in, turning and walking out of the commissary with an angry step. Janet was waiting outside, and stepped back as Jack came past. 'She knows you're there,' Jack told her as he past, and Janet watched him storm away, wondering how this all got so complicated.

***

It was getting late, and Sam was getting tired. She rubbed her eyes, staring at the device in frustration. She'd been working on it for ages, and it was creeping towards midnight quickly. Another work-all-night session. But it was going to be worth it.

'Just not much in my tired state,' Sam told herself.

'Hey there.' She turned quickly and saw Janet walking towards her. 'Working all night?'

'Yep.'

'And it's still because of the Colonel.'

'What?' Sam was confused. What on earth had Janet meant by that?

'I remember just over a year ago you working all night because Jack was trapped. Remember?'

'I'm starting to wonder why I bothered,' Sam said darkly, and Janet laughed.

'At the time I wondered why you bothered,' Janet told her, and Sam grinned ruefully.

'This time it'll be worth it,' Sam told her.

'Sam, although I'm sure revenge is foremost in your mind...'

'Janet, it's not just revenge for Kinsey. It's revenge for everything, from the first meeting to now. The grumpiness, the 'Dammit, Carter, explain it so I understand it!' looks and comments, the 'listen to me because I'm in charge even though I'm ethically wrong' looks and comments, the...'

'Okay, I get the point, Sam...although that last point is Air Force rule, you can't take revenge for that.' Sam didn't comment. 'Ethically wrong?'

'The point is, Janet, that this little bit of revenge will help me feel so much better.'

'I'm not sure how the night without sleep will make you feel.'

'I'll deal with that when I come to it. Problem is, I can't make it work.'

'I assume you're trying to...'

'Slam it into reverse.'

'Love that scientific terminology,' Janet laughed, and Sam had to smile.

'Always works for me. Do you think you can help me?'

'Hey, I'm the doctor, not the astrophysicist.'

'Well, this astrophysicist is having trouble,' Sam told her. 'I just can't find whatever makes it reverse.'

'How do you know?'

'Because I keep getting the same readings. If it's a different signal, the readings would be different,' Sam explained.

'Of course.' Janet studied the device, putting her hands in the gloves that entered the containment chamber and studied the device carefully. Sam waited patiently as Janet studied the device with various instruments. 'Sam, have you seen this?'

'Seen what?' Sam stood on the other side and slipped her hands in the gloves. Janet pointed to something inside the device.

'I can't see it carefully, we'll need a torch.' Sam took her hands out of the gloves and did a brief search through the drawers in the room, finally finding a small torch. She took it back and held it over where Janet pointed. 'It looks like a tiny switch.'

'A tiny switch?' Sam leant in closer to look at it. 'Janet, that's it!'

'That's it?'

'What else would it be?'

'That's an ominous line if I ever heard one.' Janet took her hands out of the gloves. 'I'll just watch you study it, now.' Sam grinned as she slipped her hands in the gloves again, picking up the tweezers to study the area around the switch while Janet held the torch above it.

'I can't believe I never saw that before,' Sam marvelled.

'Probably sleep-deprivation,' Janet said pointedy, but Sam chose to ignore it.

'There's a little symbol there, on that side, and another on the other side...male and female?' Janet shrugged.

'Daniel would probably know,' she said, looking into chamber. Sam looked over at one of the computers in the room.

'Records from Hathor's planet would be on file, right?'

'Hathor's planet? What...?'

'Hathor was on the planet this device was found on,' Sam told her, heading across to the computer. 'Hopefully some files about the planet and language will be on the computer.'

'Fingers crossed,' Janet agreed. Sam quickly logged onto the computer and tried accessing the files.

'I'm really not sure of what to look for,' she admitted to Janet. Janet headed over to the other computer in the room.

'I'll look up Egyptian hieroglyphs while you search the files,' Janet told Sam, who nodded.

'Good idea.'

The room was silent as they both searched, the only thing breaking the silence was someone saying, 'I think I've...damn, forget it,' or 'this is impossible, where's Daniel when you need him?!' Finally,

'Sam, I think I've finally found something!' Janet called. Sam headed over immediately. Up on the screen were several Egyptian hieroglyphs, two of which were familiar.

'They're on the device,' Sam said. Janet nodded, pointing.

'And see what that one means?'

'Short-term for Pharaoh,' Sam said.

'And the other for Queen.'

'Male and female,' Sam summarised, and Janet nodded.

'My thoughts exactly.'

'So the switch does actually reverse the effects of the device?' Sam asked, and Janet nodded.

'It would seem that it does.' Leaving the site open on the computer, they both headed back to the device, still debating over whether to flick the switch.

'I keep thinking of all the devices that went wrong,' Sam told Janet.

'We've looked up the symbols, so it's your call.'

'My call?'

'With my input, naturally,' Janet added, and Sam gave a wry smile. 'If it helps at all, I think it is the reverse switch.'

'So do I. But the chain of command effect is seeping in.'

'Technically, you're in charge.'

'But General Hammond warns me every time we get a device to check with him before I do anything.'

'That's only because you turned on a reactor once without telling him and made the whole base shudder and the alarms go off,' Janet reminded her.

'The whole base did not shudder!' Sam argued.

'But the alarms went off,' Janet replied, and Sam made a face.

'Minor detail.'

'So are you going to flick it?' Janet asked, and Sam paused, pressing the button that turned the device on and off. The only thing she'd found during her afternoon's experimenting.

'Count down for me?' Janet nodded, trying to ignore the, 'BIG TROUBLE!' sign that was flashing in bright red letters.

'Three, two, one...' Sam, using tweezers, flicked the switch on the device to the 'Queen' symbol. The device made a light clanging noise, and Sam waited a couple of seconds before pressing the 'on and off' button again. The device seemed to boot itself up again slowly and continue whirring and beeping at a slightly different tone, the lights going off at different intervals. Sam took some quick readings, and smiled in relief.

'The readings have changed, the signals are definitely different,' she told Janet as she replaced the lid on the device, turning it off again, and they both listened to it whir down.

'Well, now that's sorted, you have to get some sleep,' Janet said in an authorative manner.

'Janet...'

'Sleep!'

'Aren't you at least a little...looking forward to this?' Sam asked her, and Janet had to smile.

'Naturally. But sleep comes first. I *am* in charge of your health, remember?' Sam gave in, nodding.

'Yes, alright.'

'And no more working overnight.'

'Well, I can't promise *that!*' Janet gave her a pointed look, but thought it pointless to continue the never-ending dispute any further.

After packing everything up, they hung up their lab. coats as they left the laboratory, Sam giving the device one last glance as they left.

Revenge was most definitely in.

*************************************************************************************

More apologies for this chapter being so late. At first it was because of exams, and the preparation of, then it was pure laziness, then it was my Harry Potter fic. I'm sorry! :(

So choc chip cookies and blue jelly to all! :D

Thanks for reading!

Jolinar of Malkshur