M.E. Chapter 2

Stripping down

Twenty five minutes after the arrival of SG-1, the hustle to get the team off of the ramp began. All of the soldiers were dressed in their BDU's. General Hammond had changed his clothes as well, and headed back into the gate room to check in with his number one team.

"Looking sharp General." Jack said as Hammond had to steady himself going up the ramp. He was surprised at the amount of inertia that was pulling him towards the team when he walked into the gate room. There were scientists and Air Force staff everywhere, involved in different activities to try and get SG-1 out of the gate room. Several men were riveting the fifty caliber guns to the ground to either side of the ramp. Others were trying their best to remove SG-1's gear and equipment.

"Thank you, I was going to make everyone stay in their PT uniforms, but some of the personnel informed me that it doesn't matter what we wear, we're still going to be drawn to you. So I ordered everyone who is going to come in contact with you to remain in their BDU's, and I ask no more or less of myself, so here I am. Dr. Frasier…"

"I'm here sir." Janet too was in her BDU's. She rather welcomed the change from her working blues which she wore on a daily basis. Janet had a hard time keeping her balance as she was pulled up the ramp. She grabbed onto the handrail to steady herself.

"Doc!" Jack said happily. No needles for him today, nope. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Dr. Frasier." Teal'c nodded.

"Hello Dr. Frasier." Jonas added

"Hey Janet; it's going to be pretty difficult to do our post-mission physicals today, don't you think?" Sam was happy to see her friend too, but she no more looked forward to a needle in the butt any more than the rest of the team.

"Yes, Sam, it is. No worries, I think you guys look pretty healthy to me. I can't do any sort of exam without my equipment, but as soon as this…" Janet waved her hand at the team. "…wears off, then you all will get a complete and thorough physical before you are cleared for your next mission." She smiled right back at the Colonel in triumph. The doctor knew all about O'Neill's aversion to needles and pills, and it gave her pleasure to see him squirm a little. She could have sworn she'd heard his trademark 'doh' under his breath, and she just smiled even bigger.

"So General, what are we doing about SG-1 now? Janet looked up and asked. "Where are they going to go until the effects of the alien technology wear off?"

Hammond and Frasier both tried to get out of the way as several airmen headed up the ramp to start unloading Sg-1's equipment. It was protocol for any team that had been contaminated on another planet to have to turn over their equipment and uniforms for analysis an de-contamination. The haz-mat team felt that it was more efficient to get

Sg-1's clothes and gear off while on the ramp, so that 'un-sticking' them would be much easier.

"We'll worry about that in a few minutes. I just want to watch this." He smirked as the pair looked up at Sg-1 who were still in exactly the same spots as when they arrived back on Earth. Siler was among the bunch that decided they wanted to help.

Sam started in to help Siler who just didn't know quite where to begin removing all of Sg-1's stuff. "Sergeant, I think it's better if you go one person at a time. Remove the equipment from one of us to the other right down the line, and remember that the Colonel and I are magnetically charged the same, and Jonas and Teal'c are charged the same. So my gear and Teal'c's will stick together, and so will the Colonel's and Jonas's. You can use that to your advantage."

"Yes Ma'am." Was all that Siler would say. The General and the doctor moved to the base of the ramp to let the airmen work.

The weapons were the first priority. They were going to start O'Neill, but they had to get him and Jonas apart first before they could do anything. A soldier took hold of Jonas, and another took hold of Jack. They pulled, and the two men's shoulders came apart just enough to get another airman's arm in between them.

"OWW!! You could've at least warned me before you were going to do that!!" Jack yelled in surprise. "That hurts!"

Now, they had to remove his P-90. The two guys that had held him and Jonas apart now each grabbed one of Jack's arms. The third airman just stood where he was, keeping Jack and Jonas apart while the others worked. A total of about ten Air Force and Marines were working at one time.

The airmen were holding the Colonel's arms with all of their strength. Little beads of sweat broke out on their foreheads. Jack was trying to help them as much as he could by trying to keep his hands as far apart from each other as he could. The rest of the team watched as Siler and another technician grabbed a hold of the Colonel's gun and strained to lift it away from his chest. It gave way with great difficulty, and the technician and Siler both fell on their rumps with muffled grunts, still holding Jack's P-90. Siler handed it to another Sergeant, who took it out of the gate room to de-con.

"You know, I just thought of something." Jonas said looking around at his team. "I can't move as well as when I first arrived back here in the gate room. Are you guys feeling the same thing? I feel heavier somehow, like I am tied down."

"Go ahead Carter; I know your brain is cooking up all kinds of theories over there. You've been quiet for five minutes straight. He's right though, I feel like I'm wearing lead. What's up with that?" Jack turned his head to look down the line at his 2IC.

"Actually sir, I have no idea. Well, not exactly no idea, but I'm working on it. It could be any number of things. My guess is that the gravitational differences between the two planets are significant. Seeing as their gravity was artificial, and ours is natural, there might be no way to compensate for the varying amounts of inertia that Earth's gravity field generates. We also may weigh more on Earth, than we did on P2R-687. There's really no way of telling unless I can get to my lab to run some tests, but I can't do that, or I will erase all of the hard drives from the EM field that we are emitting. I.."

Sam stopped in mid-sentence as she watched Siler get a pair of pliers and attach them to the Colonel's zipper on his vest so that he could pull it down. The pliers stuck instantly to the thick, black metal zipper of Jack's vest, and Siler had to literally sit down on the ramp, and pull with both hands. As he got the zipper down, the catch at the end of the zipper's track would not release. Siler yanked hard, and still the zipper would not release. Again, Siler pulled, and it seemed the more he pulled, the more the zipper caught. He ignored the brays of laughter from the surrounding personnel. Even General Hammond and Dr. Frasier had to stifle their chuckles.

Finally, the zipper on the Colonel's vest gave, and two more airmen were on either side of him to pull his vest off of his shoulders, they too had to struggle, but with two of them, it made it easier.

"You know Siler, WD-40 was invented for a reason." Jack said, not expecting a reply as Siler just glared at him. Oops. Not even a yes sir.

"It would be best now sir, if you simply unlace your boots, and undo your BDU's and just leave your underclothes on. You should be able to step right out of your clothes onto the ramp." Siler stated. Jack did as he was told, and the crew moved on to Jonas.

It was easier the second time around, Teal'c and Jonas were already apart, and Jonas was quite a bit more cooperative in the removal of his gear than the Colonel had been. The zipper on Jonas's vest didn't give Siler any trouble at all, even though he had to sit down again and use the pliers to pull it down. Jonas too, started to strip down to his underwear.

The Colonel bent down to get Siler's attention again. "Um, Siler, I have a little problem here." Jack said to the Sergeant. "My foot seems to be stuck inside my boot, and well, the pants won't come off until the boots do, so what next?" He was only slightly embarrassed that he was standing in his drawers in front of the entire base. Mostly due to Carter watching on the other end. He couldn't wait until it was her turn. It took two airmen on each foot to remove Jack and Jonas's boots, and then they were left to stand, stuck once again on the ramp. Jack was in his t-shirt, boxers, and black socks, and Jonas was in his t-shirt, boxer/briefs, and white socks.

They were once more stuck back together.

"You know Jonas, being stuck with you in your underwear is not in my 'idiot's guide to getting to know your alien friend'. I could think of much better ways for two guys to bond." Why couldn't he have been stuck with Carter in HER underwear?

Jonas just shrugged. When he did, Jack's shoulders went up right along with Jonas's, and he glared at the young Kelownan without another word. This was going to be a long three days. He turned to watch as the crew was using everything they had to pry Teal'c's hands off of his staff weapon. A second crew, consisting of two female marine captains had joined in to help Sam get her gear off as well.

Teal'c too, started to remove his clothing, being grateful that this magnetization had not ever occurred when he was wearing full metal Jaffa battle dress. He didn't think his Jaffa comrades would have had such an easy time removing his uniform as the Tauri did with his current attire. They got his boots off, and he stood waiting for whatever he was supposed to do next, while the group next to him helped Sam out of her gear.

Janet hastily ran out of the gate room, and came back just as Sam's second boot had been removed. She just about fell up the ramp, to bring Sam one of the long lab coats from the infirmary, so that she wouldn't have to stand on the ramp in her bra and underwear. Much to the Colonel's disappointment, she was sure.

"Hey that's not fair! How come she gets a lab coat, and the rest of us have to stand here in our skivvies?" Jack blurted out before he could stop himself. Sam and Janet both grinned as she helped her friend put on the long white coat.

After about an hour and a half of hard, laborious work on the part of the airmen and the soldiers, Sg-1 was escorted with terrific effort down the ramp. It took four men for each member of the team to get them down the ramp.

"Now where do we take them sir? Janet went back to the question she'd asked the General earlier. "We can't take them to the infirmary they'd be creating a war zone as soon as they stepped through the door."

"Sg-1, as much as I hate to do this to you, I am going to have to quarantine you in the level 22 isolation quarters until we get this thing figured out. You can have anything you need, as long as it's not anything with metal in it, or that is electronic. The EM field that you are generating will erase anything on a computer, just like the Major said. And I don't want to take any chances. I can't let you free in this facility; I really don't know what things are going to stick to you, and what things aren't. You don't need a guard posted, but I want one there in case you need anything. Understood?"

"Yes sir" Sam and Jack replied.

"Thank you General Hammond." Teal'c answered.

Jonas spoke up too. "Dr. Frasier, I am incredibly tired right now. I wasn't like his an hour ago, what do you think it is?" In fact, the rest of the team was feeling it too. They were all almost completely exhausted.

"If Sam's theory on gravitational forces is correct, it's only going to get worse."

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