Chapter 3: Recuperating

"Sergeant, I swear to god if you run into me one more time, you'll be pulling head duty so fast you won't be able to blink!" One annoyed Colonel snapped, as he turned to yell in the face of the soldier who was quite literally RIGHT behind him. The scared airman struggled to pull himself away, thankful his boots had good traction so that he could get a good foothold on the floor to step backwards. Jonas struggled to stay facing forward, as the momentum from the Colonel's brisk turn to the rear almost carried him around too.

"Yes sir, sorry sir. It's very tough to…um… stay away from you, but it won't happen again sir." The Sergeant replied humbly.

"Um, yeah, I know I'm completely irresistible, but just keep your distance will you?" Jack hastily turned back around so that he was facing forward again. He noticed that no one else dared to make eye contact with him except for Jonas. His subordinates knew better. Up ahead Hammond and Frasier turned around to see what the fuss was about. A few yards to the rear, Sam and Teal'c watched with amusement at the commotion up ahead. Sam just shook her head and chuckled, as the entourage continued on to the supply room for some fresh clothes before heading to the isolation quarters.

New BDU's were issued to the team. The males headed to the male lockers, and after Sam and Teal'c were pulled apart, she headed to the female lockers, followed by her female escorts. After some difficulty with sticking to the aluminum lockers, and a lot of help from the staff to get them unstuck, the team was finally on their way to level 22.

"Aaaaaaahh, home away from home." Jack said as they arrived at the isolation quarters.

"Colonel," Hammond started in. "The room has been converted into two separate quarters, one for you, Jonas and Teal'c, and the other for Major Carter. They are connected, and a lounge was added, so the four of you will have enough space to move around. If what you say about the magnetization is true, then you'll only be here for the remainder of three days, and after Dr. Frasier clears you, you'll be back on the mission schedule again."

Jack groaned in protest. Janet and Sam both rolled their eyes, and Teal'c turned his nose up slightly. Hammond ignored them all.

"I'm going to get a hold of the Pentagon and let them know about our new friends, and ask them how they want me to proceed, given the atmospheric differences between the two planets. I hope for once, we have actually found a race that is willing to form an alliance with us, instead of just tease us with their technology. I'll be back up later today, or early tomorrow, so we can have the official post- mission de-briefing. For now, just get some rest. What ever you need, just ask, and I'll try and get it up to you."

"Sir, we've only been home for a little over three hours, how did they get these rooms ready so quickly? And so efficiently stocked with cardboard and plastic and wood… everything?" Jonas inquired.

"The quarters were already combined to accommodate the Vice President and his security guards when they came for treaty negotiations last fall. Although never making it all the way down to level 28, they were most impressed with NORAD, and Cheyenne Mountain. We just kept it this way in case we needed them again."

The General turned and attempted to leave, but he was having such trouble getting his footing, that one of the airmen had to help pull the General away from Sg-1. He looked at Sam with a questioning face.

"I don't know sir, it seems as though the EM field around us is getting stronger, but also more concentrated just around the four of us. When we first arrived in the gate room, the fifty calibers started sliding, and you and the defense team were being pulled to us from at least seventy-five feet. Now, notice that you're standing about fifteen feet from us, and you're 'on solid ground' so to speak. I can't wait to get into my lab and run some simulations after these effects wear off." Sam was excited with the anticipation, and Hammond just shook his head.

"Well, for your sake, I hope the effects wear off soon. Dr. Frasier let me know if anything unusual comes up." With that said, the General was finally able to leave.

"Okay, I'd also like to come back later for some observation. I'd like to see how this electro-magnetization affects you physically as well as psychologically. But for now you need your rest, So I'm going to go to my office and also check on my other patients. Let me know if you need anything, otherwise, I'll see you soon."

Janet had already taken her lesson from watching the General, and she slowly and with some effort stepped backwards. It was like a strong wind was blowing behind her, and she was leaning into it to get a good grip on the floor. When the petite doctor got out of range of the EM field, she suddenly went backwards a little too fast. Keeping her feet however, Janet just smiled broadly and left for her infirmary. Sg-1 watched with interest, as slowly, one by one, each member of their escort that had brought them to their new home for three days, got out of range of the magnetic field that was pulling them towards SG-1.

"If you need anything sirs, ma'am, I'll be out here in the corridor. Just let me know." The last airman shut the door to the isolation quarters, although it wasn't without a good fight. The airman won, and got the door shut, and all was finally quiet for the team.

"Okay, this sucks." Jack said bluntly to the rest of the group. "No TV, no x-box, not even a radio." The Colonel strode over to the storage cabinet along one wall, carefully avoiding getting too close to Jonas, so they wouldn't get stuck again. He opened the closet doors.

"Sir, It wouldn't do you any good anyway, to have your x-box in here. As soon as you touched it, you would erase the CPU on the unit, and it would be trash." Sam added attempting to put some pity in her voice.

She was glad the Colonel wouldn't be driving her crazy for three days with the music from his video games. And she ALWAYS got the stupid little tunes stuck in her head. Yes, thank God for small miracles.

"Well, at least they put some board games, and cards and some other stuff in…" Before Jack could finish his sentence, the cardboard top to the chess box flew off with amazing force, smacking him in the torso, and falling to the floor. Not even having time to blink, Jack watched with wide eyes, as all 32 pieces to the magnetic chess set came flying out of the cabinet straight at him.

"Sir! Ha Ha ha! Look out!" Sam said as she began to laugh.

"Well, I guess we won't be playing chess anytime soon!" Jonas grinned as he looked at the Colonel.

Teal'c couldn't help but chuckle either. Jack had a rook stuck to his forehead, a pawn stuck right above his left eye, one of the queens stuck above the other eye, several pawns stuck to his neck, a king held onto his nose, both the bishops and the other queen were in his hair, and one of the knights looked like it was biting Jack's ear by the way it was hanging on. The rest of the pieces stuck to his shoulders and chest, and he just stood there, covered in miniature medieval warriors, not knowing exactly what to do next.

Sam was holding her side, and Jonas was wiping his eyes, from laughing so hard. Teal'c smiled a real smile, and continued to watch as the Colonel started to pull the chess pieces away from his face. It didn't matter, they stuck to his hand and fingers, and they were just about pissing Jack off. He flung his arm as if shaking off water. The pieces hit the ground, and immediately were sucked to the sides of his shoes, and pants leg.

"OKAY!!! WHO WAS THE SMART ASS THAT PUT A MAGNETIC CHESS SET IN A ROOM WITH A BUNCH OF ELECTRO-MAGNETICALLY CHARGED PEOPLE, AND THOUGHT THAT IT WAS ACTUALLY A GOOD IDEA?!!!" He called loudly to the room, and to anyone that was standing within fifty feet of the door outside. This just made the situation even funnier. Jonas had to sit down on the floor, tears were streaming down his face.

Sam snorted, and it was all over. Jack busted out into laughter, and Jonas fell over onto his side, trying to get his breath.

"You SNORTED!" Jack said in between fits of giggles. This made Sam laugh harder, and Jonas was hitching in wheezy breaths, as Teal'c just shook his head, and took in all of the commotion. The guard came back in to find a hysterical SG-1, and just stood in the doorway waiting.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" The puzzled soldier asked.

"Yes, there is. Get these damned chess pieces out of here, every one of them." Jack pointed to his chest and legs and shoes. As soon as the airman got within range of the Colonel, he had to hold onto to the sofa to keep from running right into the Colonel. He bent down and took the chess pieces off of Jack's pant leg, and removed the last ones from his shoulders and hair, and turned and headed out the door without a word.

"Well, if you ever want to know how a refrigerator feels when you put all those magnets on it, all you have to do is think back to this experience, sir!" Sam said as she scooted along the wall so she could avoid Teal'c and get to her quarters.

"If you gentlemen don't mind, I will take that room in there. The mattress is on the floor, I see they took out the box springs, but I figure you guys can work out the sleeping arrangements out here on your own. I'm exhausted, but I have some theories that I'd like to try out tomorrow, so I'm going to hit the sack. Good night." Sam shut the door unintentionally hard, and the others heard a distinctive 'shit' come from behind the door as Sam pulled her hand off of the doorknob.

"Yep." Jack said to the closed door. "This is going to be a long three days."

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