Chapter 8 Bless you

"Get geared up. Huh. Yeah right. Where's Siler with his pliers when you need him?" The Colonel was desperately trying to get his tactical vest on, and his arms kept getting stuck in the sleeves. Finally with some effort, he managed to get his right arm through, and then he used it to pull his left arm through too.

"Sir, we didn't seem to have any trouble." Sam said mockingly.

Jack ignored her.

"It figures. Just when this stuff was wearing off, we get to be the first ones back to the planet, and when we get home, the three days will start all over again." He sighed as Jonas looked away sheepishly.

"I believe it is a good thing for us to return to the planet O'Neill. As Major Carter said, if we want the Cequarish race to become our allies, we must indeed make certain that the illness comes under control." Teal'c could always be counted on to ruin a bout of Jack's ranting.

"I just meant Teal'c, that when we come back I could be stuck to Jonas again. I realize that we were sort of responsible for them getting sick, but you would think a society as sophisticated as they seem to be would be far more advanced medically than we are. Yet here they are asking for our help. I will never understand the priority system of the rest of the galaxy." The Colonel finally finished getting himself dressed as the rest of the team waited patiently. They all left the locker room after a great deal of difficulty, and were on their way back to the gate room. Janet met them at level 28 hauling an entire cart full of equipment by herself.

Jonas being the gentleman of the group offered to help.

"Dr. Frasier, let me get that for you." Before Janet could respond, Jonas was at her side trying to help with the cart. But his magnetic field was too strong, and the cart slammed hard into his upper thighs.

"UnGh!" Jonas looked down and winced at the heavy cart stuck to his legs.

"See Jonas, chivalry is totally over rated." Jack started with a smirk. "A couple inches higher, and that cart really would have made you famous with the girls in the infirmary."

Janet just looked back and forth from Jonas to the Colonel, while trying her best not to laugh at poor Jonas.

"Here Jonas, let me get that for you. I know it's heavy, but I have to get my field training somehow, right?" As little as she was, Janet pulled hard on the cart to get it free from Jonas's legs. It came loose very swiftly, and almost sent her reeling. She kept her feet though, and pushed the cart into the gate room ahead of SG-1, who followed behind, one by one. Jonas Just glared at Jack as he tried to keep his distance.

The gate was already active as the group entered the gate room, and at the base of the ramp were General Hammond with the Cequarish commission waiting to return to their home world.

" Well Lyinill, It was a pleasure getting acquainted, I am fairly certain we can remedy the situation on your planet." Hammond was speaking the Cequarish commission leader. The others simply looked on in silent respect. " We look forward to our friendship and possible alliance. Have a safe trip back home, Sg-1 and Dr. Frasier are ready to accompany you." As the general was finished speaking he reached out his right hand in what he hoped would be a gesture of respect. But the magnetic field around the Cequarish leader was too strong, and pulled Hammond's hand very hard into the gut of Lyinill.

"Oh I uh... I am terribly sorry, will you please forgive me for that, I didn't intend to do that, I just wanted to shake your hand as a gesture of good faith...UH." the General finally managed to pull his hand free.

The Cequarish were not offended in the least. In fact, they were quite amused. All of them smiled as their leader spoke yet again.

"All is well. No need for any apologies. When we make trade arrangements, we have technology that will prevent the attraction of our magnetic fields to your equipment and machines, and also your personnel." As he said the last bit, he looked over at SG-1. Sam's eyes were huge at the thought of more technology to explore, and she was just smiling away. In an attempt to nudge her, Jack had a momentary loss of memory and tried to give his 2IC a bump with his elbow. Their magnetic fields repelled, and Jack's arm which was connected to his P-90 slammed backwards, and his gun caught him on the chin. Sam had her own chance to smirk, as Jack took a slight step back, rubbing his sore spot. She looked at him with her best 'that's what you get' look.

The General spoke up once more. "I am sure our personnel would greatly appreciate the technology that prevents the magnetic fields from effecting them. I know you are wasting valuable time, so I am not going to hold you up any further. SG-1, you have a go. Do your best to solve the problem, I will see you when you get back." Hammond waved his flagship team up to the gate, as he slowly backed down the ramp.

"Yes sir, we'll report in twenty-four hours, or sooner depending on how fast we solve this thing." Jack said as he headed up the ramp. He turned to the Cequarish leader. "After you.....I am sorry what was your name again?"

As they carefully made their way up the ramp and into the event horizon, the Cequarish leader turned to Jack. "Lyinill". he said and passed through the rippling blue illusion with the Colonel on his heels.

Sam decided she would stay back with Janet, and they were the last ones through as they drove the F.R.E.D. up the ramp and into the wormhole.

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Emerging on the other side, Janet simply stopped and gasped at what she saw. They were in a massive facility, not unlike the SGC, except that it was above ground, and there was a lot of light coming in. The people in the facility were dressed similarly to their leaders, and Janet was reminded of a science fiction movie. Everyone wore blue. While the clothes were different on everyone, they were all the same color blue. She looked over at Sam.

"Impressive isn't it? This is their receiving facility for any travelers that come through the gate. Look up there." Sam said pointing up high. "It's sort of like a scanner. It detects Goa'uld, and other enemies, that might try and come through the gate. And over there, is their weapons system, which is only used in the event that the scanners fail. It's incredible, they have a backup plan for everything. And the best part of it is, they are very humble. They don't assume that their technology is better, but they are willing to share just about anything."

"But Sam what are they asking for in return?" Janet asked.

"They just want to learn about our technology and us. And I think after this, they will want our medical technology as well. Who knows, the Colonel deals with the politics, I get to play with all the neat stuff when we get our hands on it."

"Oh, you know something? You're not magnetized anymore. I was beginning to think those three days would never end. I hate when you guys are quarantined." Janet was still looking around at all the amazing things she was seeing.

"You hated it? Imagine how Jonas felt being stuck to the Colonel." The girls giggled and other members of the Cequarish approached them. Jack called back to them from down the long hallway.

"Okay girls, let the bellhops get the luggage, we have to be "decontaminated" before we start to try and help these people. And hurry it up will ya?"

Sam and Janet let the Cequarish lead their equipment and themselves down the corridor to two very large rooms. Teal'c, Jonas and the Colonel were already seated in one of them and the girls were led to the other one, along with their equipment. Jack and Jonas waved to them as they went by. Sam smiled back. She silently remembered the last time they had been, to use the Colonel's word, "de-contaminated". They had been in the same room together. She just smiled to herself, as she thought about returning to Earth again now that she and the Colonel were in separate magnetization rooms. Oppositely charged. Her thoughts were interrupted by Janet on the other side of her, talking to one of the Cequarish scientists.

"Well thank you Rollin, it is a pleasure to meet you, I feel much better now that I know what's happening." Just then the young, bright-eyed scientist sneezed very hard. He looked down at the front of his shirt with disgust and surprise.

"Bless you Rollin." Janet said.

"I..have never had this happen before. What is this? I am getting the sickness aren't I? I had better consult our physicians." With panic on his face, the young Cequarish ran from the room and slammed the door shut as he exited.

"Well that was weird. He said he has never sneezed before. But that's not really a sickness Janet, that's a..."

"COLD!!!" They said together.

"Sam this is better than I thought. If all they have is a simple cold, on one hand it'll be easy to remedy. On the other hand we'll have to offer all the vaccinations that we have on Earth to prevent them from getting anything else from us." Janet was very excited as the decontamination devices started and the travelers from Earth were once again magnetized according to Cequarish standard protocol. Maybe this trip wouldn't be as difficult as they had thought.