"Harm, we worked out what that meant."
"Did we?"
"Come on Harm, we used your blood to cure the entire SGC of some weird alien bug from another dimension."
"How do we know that wasn't just a pleasant side-effect of the prophesy?"
"What else could it have meant?"
"Mac, there's always a meaning behind an oracle that you don't see until it's too late. One of the Oracle at Delphi's most famous pronouncements was that if a certain king invaded another's land, "a great empire will fall". He took this as a sign of his success, but as it turned out the "great empire" which fell was his own."
"That's not the same as having two meanings."
"But it shows you can never be certain with prophecies. They're always vague enough to allow you to do what you wanted to do anyway whilst absolving themselves of blame when everything goes to hell."
To Mac's terror, as Harm was speaking he had picked up one of the tools he had been using on the bomb and begun to open a vein on his left forearm. "Harm? What are you doing?"
"Setting a fuse. It'll give us enough time to get away. We have to blow this place, we can't let Anubis get his hands on this much naquadah for no loss. And if we're lucky we might take out one or two of his ships while we're at it."
"A fuse?"
"A trail of my blood."
"Harm, blood doesn't burn."
"The blood doesn't have to. But the naquadah in it will."
"Why can't we just leave a trail of naquadah?"
"No way to control its combustion. It would be explosive, and wouldn't work as a slow-acting fuse. The naquadah in my blood's composed differently. Sam and Janet had hours of fun playing with it once. It takes a lot to set it off, but once it goes, it'll burn steadily at a rate I can pretty much predict. I figure two staff weapons fired at point-blank range should set it off. That'll be me and Aiax. You get back to the ship and prep for takeoff, we'll need to get out quickly and hope Anubis doesn't notice. If the explosion even licks us with the amount of naquadah we're carrying it won't be pretty."
Mac stared at him in disbelief. "You don't think it's gonna work and you want me out of the way so I don't see you get blown into tiny pieces."
"Mac, if I get blown to pieces and you don't, you're gonna get tortured. Neither you or Dad can really fly the ship; Anubis would catch you in a second. I need you to get the ship ready to go, and let Dad know what's going on. I wouldn't blow myself to bits without you. Butch and Cassidy, remember?"
"Okay, I'm going. But if you die, your ass is mine."
Aiax looked at Harm. "Are you as confident as you made yourself sound?"
"Not quite. But it's not really the moment to start being a realist."
"It is true what they say. The Tau'ri have a strange sense of humour."
"Let's get this done. We have about three minutes, and getting away from here will take at least two." Harm grabbed a staff weapon from a locker in the corner and leaned on it heavily, his blood leaving his body more quickly than he had anticipated.
The two of them trailed Harm's blood out of the room and down the corridor a bit towards the ship.
"That should do. Okay, on count of three, fire at this point here. One, two, THREE!"
They fired simultaneously, and Harm's trail of blood began to fizz and spark. The sparks moved along the trail at the speed Harm had hoped they would.
"Okay, now run!"
Harm Sr and Mac saw them coming, Aiax in front, Harm lagging behind a little. As Aiax fell through the doorway into the ship, the doors began to close. Harm tried for one last burst of speed, but it was not enough. He stumbled and fell several yards short, closing his eyes to ward off the dizziness as he saw the gap between the doors grow smaller and smaller before he passed out.
"Did we?"
"Come on Harm, we used your blood to cure the entire SGC of some weird alien bug from another dimension."
"How do we know that wasn't just a pleasant side-effect of the prophesy?"
"What else could it have meant?"
"Mac, there's always a meaning behind an oracle that you don't see until it's too late. One of the Oracle at Delphi's most famous pronouncements was that if a certain king invaded another's land, "a great empire will fall". He took this as a sign of his success, but as it turned out the "great empire" which fell was his own."
"That's not the same as having two meanings."
"But it shows you can never be certain with prophecies. They're always vague enough to allow you to do what you wanted to do anyway whilst absolving themselves of blame when everything goes to hell."
To Mac's terror, as Harm was speaking he had picked up one of the tools he had been using on the bomb and begun to open a vein on his left forearm. "Harm? What are you doing?"
"Setting a fuse. It'll give us enough time to get away. We have to blow this place, we can't let Anubis get his hands on this much naquadah for no loss. And if we're lucky we might take out one or two of his ships while we're at it."
"A fuse?"
"A trail of my blood."
"Harm, blood doesn't burn."
"The blood doesn't have to. But the naquadah in it will."
"Why can't we just leave a trail of naquadah?"
"No way to control its combustion. It would be explosive, and wouldn't work as a slow-acting fuse. The naquadah in my blood's composed differently. Sam and Janet had hours of fun playing with it once. It takes a lot to set it off, but once it goes, it'll burn steadily at a rate I can pretty much predict. I figure two staff weapons fired at point-blank range should set it off. That'll be me and Aiax. You get back to the ship and prep for takeoff, we'll need to get out quickly and hope Anubis doesn't notice. If the explosion even licks us with the amount of naquadah we're carrying it won't be pretty."
Mac stared at him in disbelief. "You don't think it's gonna work and you want me out of the way so I don't see you get blown into tiny pieces."
"Mac, if I get blown to pieces and you don't, you're gonna get tortured. Neither you or Dad can really fly the ship; Anubis would catch you in a second. I need you to get the ship ready to go, and let Dad know what's going on. I wouldn't blow myself to bits without you. Butch and Cassidy, remember?"
"Okay, I'm going. But if you die, your ass is mine."
Aiax looked at Harm. "Are you as confident as you made yourself sound?"
"Not quite. But it's not really the moment to start being a realist."
"It is true what they say. The Tau'ri have a strange sense of humour."
"Let's get this done. We have about three minutes, and getting away from here will take at least two." Harm grabbed a staff weapon from a locker in the corner and leaned on it heavily, his blood leaving his body more quickly than he had anticipated.
The two of them trailed Harm's blood out of the room and down the corridor a bit towards the ship.
"That should do. Okay, on count of three, fire at this point here. One, two, THREE!"
They fired simultaneously, and Harm's trail of blood began to fizz and spark. The sparks moved along the trail at the speed Harm had hoped they would.
"Okay, now run!"
Harm Sr and Mac saw them coming, Aiax in front, Harm lagging behind a little. As Aiax fell through the doorway into the ship, the doors began to close. Harm tried for one last burst of speed, but it was not enough. He stumbled and fell several yards short, closing his eyes to ward off the dizziness as he saw the gap between the doors grow smaller and smaller before he passed out.