Can't say I really love this chapter...Tell me what you think! (And please, I am fishing for comments, not compliments....if it stinks, please say so.) -Emmy

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General Hammond, sighing internally, called yet another meeting to order. This one was exactly like the one twenty-four hours ago, and the one twenty-four hours before that, and on for six days. Nothing had changed: his 2IC was still sick, as was the revered and friendly Dr. Jackson. Major Carter was twice as restless as Colonel O'Neill was, but at least today she looked positive. His CMO looked thoughtful, which was a lot better than it had been: she tended to blame herself for anything that happened to the SG units, and hadn't been at all cheerful lately. Teal'c, of course, was Teal'c. His presence hadn't been needed for the past few days: his expertise was in go'a'ulds, and there had been no evidence linking the planet to the go'a'ulds in any way. But today was looking different from the other days: maybe they were finally on the way to a cure for this strange disease.

"Major Carter," said the general, "I assume today's news is somewhat more promising than the past few days?"

"Uh, yes, sir," she said. "Thanks to Daniel," she added, smiling a little. Janet hadn't been happy with him, but his little escapade had finally pointed them in the right direction. She explained the situation, and then said, "I've talked to Teal'c, and he says it's entirely possible that there could be a radical feminist go'a'uld out there... but he doesn't know of any particular one. He also says that the idea of this kind of evolutionary nudge was more likely meant to be for the slaves and Jaffa: the females could get a lot of work done."

"Indeed," Teal'c helpfully supplied. "However, the males would get little or no work done."

"Sir," Sam said, "I'd like to talk to Daniel and the Colonel about this thing with being around people making them feel worse. I have a hunch..."

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"Sorry, sir, Daniel," Sam said. "I know you'd rather not experiment with this. But I have a hunch..."

"...This might work. Anything to finish this damned...thing. And it's not like we'll die. Just get on with it." Jack was lying in bed, irritable but compliant.

"Daniel?" asked Sam. "You guys sure you want to do this?"

Daniel smiled slightly. His eyes were closed against the headache pounding in his skull, but he was listening carefully. "Sam, it's not like it's gonna be much different from any other time...nurses have been coming through here the whole time we've been here. Bringing other people in probably won't make a difference."

"Yeah, well..."

"Just get on with it, Major!" Jack growled. "C'mon, I'm getting bored."

"Uh, yes sir." Sam said. "Okay, I want you to just concentrate on how you feel, okay?"

"I'd rather not," Jack muttered.

"Shut up," Daniel replied. "Like you said, let's get on with it."

Sam carefully stepped away from the wall, where she was standing, and made her way slowly to her two team-mates. Both had their eyes closed. Sam carefully touched Daniel on the shoulder, and he flinched. "Sorry," she said, snatching her hand back.

"No, it's okay," said Daniel, relaxing. "I just didn't know you were there."

Sam looked pensively at him. Daniel, his eyes open now, gazed unashamedly back at her. "Daniel, I know you're used to hiding any pain you might feel, but that's against the point of the experiment at the moment. I mean...don't scream out in agony if you don't want to, but tell me if something I do hurts you."

Daniel smiled. "I'm hardly in agony, Sam."

Sam snorted. "Yeah, well, considering everything we've been through, your definition of agony might be much more...agonizing than a normal person's."

"Carter, give us a break! We feel rotten, yes, but we're not dying. Just sick and bored out of our minds. If you really want to make it up to us, sneak a game boy or two in here afterwards." Jack gave her the O'Neill Glare. Fortunately, it wasn't as potent as usual, due to the watery quality of the eyes utilizing said Glare.

"Um..." Sam thought for a minute. "I think I have an idea."

"Uh-oh," the Colonel muttered. "Here we go."

Sam smiled a little. "Don't worry, I won't have to explain it to you. But...just give me a few minutes, okay?" She saw Janet coming over, and started talking quietly to her.

"Janet," Sam said, "your nurses are mostly female, right?"

"Right," said Janet, not quite sure where exactly this was going, but eager. She knew that anything Sam would be working on would have to do with Daniel and Jack. Not only was she slightly worried about the lack of improvement in her patients, she was also ready to try anything to get Colonel O'Neill out of her infirmary.

"How many in total?"

"Nurses?"

"Yeah."

"Uhm..." Janet did a quick mental tally. "Ten today. A total of thirty-five if you got all the nurses together."

"How many are female?"

"Eight today, thirty-one in total."

"All right. Is Dr. Warner here today too?"

"Uh...I think so...why all the questions? What's this about?"

"Just give me a minute, okay? Are there any other patients?"

Janet frowned. "No...well, I suppose you're technically an outpatient..."

Sam waved that aside. "Listen. Can we take all your female staff, you and myself out of the mountain?"

"Well...I could... But why? And you're not allowed off-base..."

Sam sighed. "Not to go anywhere. Listen, mostly Daniel and the Colonel have been around infirmary staff, which are mostly female. The rest of the base is mostly male, so that doesn't matter."

"What doesn't matter?"

"I think when they say they feel sick 'around people,' they really mean 'around women.' If we went away from them, we could figure out if my theory is correct."

Janet nodded slowly. "Okay," she said carefully, "but where will we go? How far away do people—women—have to be for this?"

Sam shook her head. "I don't know. But it's worth a shot. And I was thinking NORAD."

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