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"Am I in trouble?" Daniel asked, meeting Jack in the hallway of the SGC on their way to Hammond's office.
"You bet, Sparky. Your friend left you a little present," Jack pulled the envelope out of his jacket's inside pocket and gave it to Daniel. "I dunno, Daniel, I tell ya not to mess around with stuff, and then you go and mess around with stuff, and see what happens!"
Daniel paid little heed to his ramblings as they rounded another corner, dodging various military personnel coming in the opposite direction. All his attention was focused upon the three poloroids.
The first appeared to be a coverstone of some kind, spanning roughly 24 inches across, according to a carefully placed ruler in the upper-most portion of the photograph. A coverstone with Goa'uld script, Daniel noted unhappily. The second and third consisted each of unrolled papyri, both covered from top to bottom with what appeared to be gate addresses.
It appeared Dr. Effington wasn't exaggerating when she meant that she found something out of the ordinary. Hundreds of questions flooded his mind.
"Just try to tell me those aren't gate addresses," Jack said.
"This is unbelievable. Nowhere except Abdyos ever had a listing"
"Well, I guess Earth is just lucky," Jack replied.
"What are we going to do?"
"Dunno. We'll see what Hammond says."
"Yeah," Daniel sighed as they entered the conference room to await the General's arrival.
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"Colonel, Dr. Jackson," Hammond said by way of greeting, entering the conference room, surprising the two men occupying it who had been engaged in a game of paper football. The general was attired in civvies, a particularly horrendous pair of plaid green pants with a matching sweater-vest over an Oxford shirt. His cleats tapped on the floor as he strode to the table to take a seat opposite the two members of SG-1.
He looked like he had other plans for his Sunday too. And he looked pissed.
"What is this about, Colonel?"
"Well, sir, I believe we discussed earlier an artifact-free weekend for the good doctor here," Jack started, jerking at thumb in Daniel's direction. "Which he has failed at miserably."
Hammond sat back in his chair and seemed to be controlling a rise in temper, though whether provoked by Jackson's error or the Colonel's sarcasm was anyone's guess.
Daniel cleared his throat warily. "I had a meeting with a colleague Friday night and it appears as if she managed to discover some Goa'uld artifacts that were left behind on Earth."
"Are you certain she has?"
Jack tossed the envelope with the polaroids across the table. "Looks pretty convincing to me, General."
Hammond scrutinized the pictures and heaved a sigh of regret. He wasn't going to be able to finish his golf game now. He flipped over the envelope. "What about this number?"
"The Hilton," Jack readily supplied. He had dialed it right after calling Daniel, just to make sure it all wasn't some sort of elaborate prank. "I'm guessing the other is a room number."
"Who is this colleague of yours?" Hammond asked Daniel. "How much does she know about your work here?"
"Doctor Pricilla Effington. As far as I know, she doesn't know anything about our program- she got in touch with me because of some of my early papers that I wrote prior to joining the SGC."
Hammond called to his assistant just outside the room. "Try and find anything on a Doctor Pricilla Effington and make it quick. Now, Doctor Jackson, I assume you can translate the first photograph?"
"The coverstone, yes. It's a bit blurry but it makes mention of the great and powerful Ra-"
"Our old buddy," Jack sneered.
"-and his exile into the land beyond the heavens. I'm assuming these were written after the people of Earth overthrew his rule. Apparently, he left behind some followers who naturally assumed that for their loyalty, they would reclaim honor at his right side when he returned."
"How sweet. Ra made some friends."
"Colonel," Hammond said warningly. "Dr. Jackson, what about the other two?"
"It seems to be a series of gate addresses written on papyri. If I had to guess, I'd say the papyri were housed in some sort of vessel-"
"With the coverstone on top," the general supplied.
"Exactly. It's almost like they wanted to keep a record of the possible locations of exile so that if they ever could overthrow the people of Earth-"
"They could call their old buddy back and have a real party," Jack finished, running his hands through his hair.
There was a knock at the door and the assistant came in with three file folders, distributing them amongst the three men. "There still is more information coming in, sirs. We still haven't heard back from a few key sources yet."
"Thank you," the general said abstractly, intent on the file's content.
"Doctor Pricilla Marcelaine Effington. That," Jack paused, sitting back in his chair after a few minutes of reading the hastily put together report, "is a mouthful."
Hammond, adept at tuning out Jack's running commentary, merely turned to Daniel. "Dr. Jackson, what is your professional opinion?"
"I'm certain these are genuine. From what we discussed Friday night, I think she's aware that what she found has unusual value but I'd say she's far from considering the possibility"
"She doesn't know about the Stargate, then?"
Daniel nodded his head. "She probably assumes that the Goa'uld script is simply an early variant of hieratic or semitic glyphs- a lot of my research prior to coming here centered on symbols-as-script used in the first and second dynasties. She couldn't have known that getting in touch with me had any other relevance."
"How could she have come to have these artifacts in her possession?"
"That is a valid point," Daniel answered the general's question, and ignored Jack, who rolled his eyes excessively as the archaeologist launched into a brief explanation of recent antiquity laws. "Customs would never have allowed her to take such pieces out of the country without documentation from the authorities. And the authorities wouldn't let a private citizen, even one affiliated with an American university, take such a find out of the country of origin. The only thing I can think of is that the pieces were assumed to be forgeries."
"Forgeries? Hell of an elaborate fake," Jack remarked, suspicious.
"The best ones always are. And she did mention something about the previous people she had consulted about the pieces thinking that it was a prank of some sort, that they didn't take it seriously."
"That's where you came in, I presume?"
Daniel shot Jack a disapproving look. "So technically speaking, I think we can assume they're private property at this point- that she has sole ownership of them. How she came to have them is anybody's guess. She could have dug them up herself, bought them in a bazaar"
"Do you think she'd sell them to us?" Hammond asked.
"Or trade? She could always have my stereo- if she didn't mind that the left speaker doesn't work."
"Jack-"
"No one wants to barter anymore. Eh, so big deal, she's got some addresses. I mean, we've probably been to all of them before," Jack quipped.
"Colonel, I think it's best that all materials that pertain to this facility remain in this facility or in Area 51. Doctor Jackson, I want you to locate Dr. Effington and make sure she's available for the next couple of days. Find out everything she knows: where she found them, who else knows about them. Everything," he emphasized, the stern look on his face seeming a bit disjointed from his frivolous attire. "And if she's willing to part with the pieces, she can be compensated. You're dismissed."
Daniel left the conference room, taking the envelope with him. Jack only stood, and putting his hands into his bomber jacket, contemplated the General for a moment.
"What do you want to do if she won't give 'em up?"
"I don't know, Colonel. Right now I'm counting on Dr. Jackson's persuasion."
"Yeah," Jack said hollowly, trying to think how that would work out. "Green's a good color on you," he said eventually with a grin, and left the office before Hammond could reprimand him. Maybe he'd pay a visit to Teal'c, curious to see if the Jaffa actually got a hangover from drinking a pitcher full of beer Friday night. He probably was fine, thanks to Junior and his own massive bulk, but it was always amusing to hear the Jaffa's answer to the question.
The assistant, after almost getting knocked over by the hasty exit of Colonel O'Neill, returned to the room and handed Hammond a folder. "Here you are, sir. That's the complete file. We had trouble getting COMINT to respond– it being Sunday, and all– that's why it took awhile."
Hammond nodded his thanks and then sat down to read the report again, this time with some very interesting additions.
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To be continued
