// And the chaos continues. Just a note, this isn't the funniest thing I've ever written, since it's
// explaining a lot, but the next chapters will make up for it.
// Oh yeah, forgot the legal BS again. I don't own this show, wish I did, blah blah blah, you get the idea.
Chapter Two
Janet Frasier emerged from her infirmary an hour later grumpy, sweaty, confused, exasperated, and
over all just plain exhausted. SG-1s condition, readily identifiable to even the most amateur students of
medicine or psychology, had been driving both her and her staff totally nuts.
It had been impossible to pin down any one factor to blame for SG-1s condition. Even Mackenzie, who
happened to be on base when the four had returned, had been totally and completely baffled, never having seen
a case like this. Letting out a sigh that carried with it the largest amount of frustration she had felt in
months, she looked up to see the General coming down the hall. 'Oh boy, this is NOT gonna be fun.'
"Doctor, what's their status?"
'Okay, suck it up Janet, just tell him what you know. He's not gonna get angry at you...is he?'
"Well sir," she struggled to find the words to explain what really should have been quite easy. After all,
millions of people had seen the movie with that silly fish in it that was suffering from the same thing.
'The general has two grand-daughters, doesn't he?'
"Sir, do you remember seeing that Pixar movie 'Finding Nemo' over the summer?"
If he was thrown for a loop by her question, he didn't show it. "I rented it to watch with Sandra
and Nellie about a month ago. Why?"
"Do you remember the blue fish, Dory, and her memory problem?"
She actually saw the old man smile for a moment. "Who could forget her? What's that have to do with
...oh, OH!" Understanding lit up his face, followed quickly by despair. "Oh my god, they're not-"
She simply nodded. "Yep. All four of them. Total and complete loss of short-term memory. And no,
there are no signs of any physical trauma that could be to blame, though I doubt any sort of blow or blows
could cause this sort of thing."
"Could this be an aftereffect of repeated exposure to gating, doctor? Something that we're only now
seeing?"
Janet thought hard, running through all the data she had ever looked at on the status of human minds
and bodies after passing through a wormhole. "I doubt it. We've been doing this for years, there's no
reason to expect that this would show up just now. No, my guess is it's usual: exposure to alien technology
or a new disease of some sort, one that affects jaffa as well as normal humans. We'll have to wait until
the tests come back for a conclusive answer. Until then..."
"Right, we'll have them confined to base until then. What can you tell me about their condition, in
the meantime?"
"Well, the memory lapse usually sets in after about a minute, though the amount of time they retain
their memory seems vary depending on the person. The shortest time so far is about five seconds."
Hammond nodded knowingly. "Colonel O'Neill."
Now it was her turn to hold back a look of surprise. "How did you know?"
"When was the last briefing you attended with the colonel, doctor?"
She had to struggle to remember that detail. "It was a little over two months ago, the medical
relief mission to P3X-797, to deliver more of the vaccine for the touched virus to be distributed to other
portions of the world."
"And what did the colonel do for the entire briefing?"
"Ah yes, he tried to engage Daniel in a game of tabletop football, when his attention wavered after
the first two minutes. I remember because he missed the goal and hit me in the forehead."
"Exactly."
"Yes sir. It is surprising, though, he also managed to hold onto his memory the longest, a full three
minutes. Teal'c is very constant in his times, somewhere just over a minute and forty seconds. Daniel and Sam
both vary widely, though not so much as the colonel. Another interesting thing, just after their memory is
effectively erased, there's a moment where they seem a little open to suggestion. We had to pry the colonel
away from door after I threatened to use a size DD-31 needle to extract spinal fluid from him if he didn't
stop acting like a child. I didn't see at the moment that his memory had just lapsed."
"Something tells me, doctor, that you might have gotten that reaction anyway. You know the colonel's
dislike for needles."
She ran a hand through her hair tiredly. "And me in general, I know. The thing is, I've NEVER gotten
a response that drastic out of him before...and I wasn't even trying to intimidate him. It was a joke!
There's not even any such thing as a size DD-31 needle."
"Okay, aside from that, how are they handling this new...development?"
'Ah finally, I get to tell him some GOOD news.' "Remarkably well, actually. When their memory lapses,
they become very calm and agreeable, regardless of how upset they might have been five seconds ago. Not
surprising since they wouldn't remember anything from earlier anyway."
"And their long-term memory, that's okay?"
"Yes, that has been completely unaffected. Since their long-term memory is just fine, they remember
who they are, who we are, their educations, what they do here, everything about the Stargate program and what's
happened here over the past four years. It's just the last half a day up until now they're having trouble with
remembering."
That threw the general for a moment. "Does that mean they don't remember being on the planet?"
"No sir, they remember some parts of their exploration. It seems their memories cut out right about
when they started exploring some large building. They can't remember a thing about it, other than, in the
colonels words, 'it was a big honking building with a bad paint job and no front door'. I pressed him a
little for details but neither he nor the others could tell me anything else."
The rotund officer in front of her shook his head slowly. "So they can't tell us ANYTHING about how
this happened?" There was a note of despair to his voice.
"Well, we could try some hypnosis. Regression therapy worked that time Daniel was captured by that
alien creature and Sam, Teal'c, and the colonel all thought he was dead."
He seemed to consider this for a moment. "Let's wait until we can be sure it isn't anything we can
treat any other way. Doesn't hypnosis usually require more than three minutes to take effect?"
'Oh, damn it, he's right.' "Yes sir, now that you mention it, it usually does. Well, so much for
that option."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens with the test results. In the meantime,
just make sure they're watched over at all times. It shouldn't be that hard, considering they can't remember
anything from five minutes ago and it's easy to distract them. Just let me know the instant the test results
come in if it's something that can be counteracted in any way. Otherwise, it can wait till tomorrows debriefing."
'And my God have mercy on our souls in the meantime.'
TBC
// More to come soon. Be patient, classes have started and I'm really busy, but the next chapter will be
// here by the end of the week.
// explaining a lot, but the next chapters will make up for it.
// Oh yeah, forgot the legal BS again. I don't own this show, wish I did, blah blah blah, you get the idea.
Chapter Two
Janet Frasier emerged from her infirmary an hour later grumpy, sweaty, confused, exasperated, and
over all just plain exhausted. SG-1s condition, readily identifiable to even the most amateur students of
medicine or psychology, had been driving both her and her staff totally nuts.
It had been impossible to pin down any one factor to blame for SG-1s condition. Even Mackenzie, who
happened to be on base when the four had returned, had been totally and completely baffled, never having seen
a case like this. Letting out a sigh that carried with it the largest amount of frustration she had felt in
months, she looked up to see the General coming down the hall. 'Oh boy, this is NOT gonna be fun.'
"Doctor, what's their status?"
'Okay, suck it up Janet, just tell him what you know. He's not gonna get angry at you...is he?'
"Well sir," she struggled to find the words to explain what really should have been quite easy. After all,
millions of people had seen the movie with that silly fish in it that was suffering from the same thing.
'The general has two grand-daughters, doesn't he?'
"Sir, do you remember seeing that Pixar movie 'Finding Nemo' over the summer?"
If he was thrown for a loop by her question, he didn't show it. "I rented it to watch with Sandra
and Nellie about a month ago. Why?"
"Do you remember the blue fish, Dory, and her memory problem?"
She actually saw the old man smile for a moment. "Who could forget her? What's that have to do with
...oh, OH!" Understanding lit up his face, followed quickly by despair. "Oh my god, they're not-"
She simply nodded. "Yep. All four of them. Total and complete loss of short-term memory. And no,
there are no signs of any physical trauma that could be to blame, though I doubt any sort of blow or blows
could cause this sort of thing."
"Could this be an aftereffect of repeated exposure to gating, doctor? Something that we're only now
seeing?"
Janet thought hard, running through all the data she had ever looked at on the status of human minds
and bodies after passing through a wormhole. "I doubt it. We've been doing this for years, there's no
reason to expect that this would show up just now. No, my guess is it's usual: exposure to alien technology
or a new disease of some sort, one that affects jaffa as well as normal humans. We'll have to wait until
the tests come back for a conclusive answer. Until then..."
"Right, we'll have them confined to base until then. What can you tell me about their condition, in
the meantime?"
"Well, the memory lapse usually sets in after about a minute, though the amount of time they retain
their memory seems vary depending on the person. The shortest time so far is about five seconds."
Hammond nodded knowingly. "Colonel O'Neill."
Now it was her turn to hold back a look of surprise. "How did you know?"
"When was the last briefing you attended with the colonel, doctor?"
She had to struggle to remember that detail. "It was a little over two months ago, the medical
relief mission to P3X-797, to deliver more of the vaccine for the touched virus to be distributed to other
portions of the world."
"And what did the colonel do for the entire briefing?"
"Ah yes, he tried to engage Daniel in a game of tabletop football, when his attention wavered after
the first two minutes. I remember because he missed the goal and hit me in the forehead."
"Exactly."
"Yes sir. It is surprising, though, he also managed to hold onto his memory the longest, a full three
minutes. Teal'c is very constant in his times, somewhere just over a minute and forty seconds. Daniel and Sam
both vary widely, though not so much as the colonel. Another interesting thing, just after their memory is
effectively erased, there's a moment where they seem a little open to suggestion. We had to pry the colonel
away from door after I threatened to use a size DD-31 needle to extract spinal fluid from him if he didn't
stop acting like a child. I didn't see at the moment that his memory had just lapsed."
"Something tells me, doctor, that you might have gotten that reaction anyway. You know the colonel's
dislike for needles."
She ran a hand through her hair tiredly. "And me in general, I know. The thing is, I've NEVER gotten
a response that drastic out of him before...and I wasn't even trying to intimidate him. It was a joke!
There's not even any such thing as a size DD-31 needle."
"Okay, aside from that, how are they handling this new...development?"
'Ah finally, I get to tell him some GOOD news.' "Remarkably well, actually. When their memory lapses,
they become very calm and agreeable, regardless of how upset they might have been five seconds ago. Not
surprising since they wouldn't remember anything from earlier anyway."
"And their long-term memory, that's okay?"
"Yes, that has been completely unaffected. Since their long-term memory is just fine, they remember
who they are, who we are, their educations, what they do here, everything about the Stargate program and what's
happened here over the past four years. It's just the last half a day up until now they're having trouble with
remembering."
That threw the general for a moment. "Does that mean they don't remember being on the planet?"
"No sir, they remember some parts of their exploration. It seems their memories cut out right about
when they started exploring some large building. They can't remember a thing about it, other than, in the
colonels words, 'it was a big honking building with a bad paint job and no front door'. I pressed him a
little for details but neither he nor the others could tell me anything else."
The rotund officer in front of her shook his head slowly. "So they can't tell us ANYTHING about how
this happened?" There was a note of despair to his voice.
"Well, we could try some hypnosis. Regression therapy worked that time Daniel was captured by that
alien creature and Sam, Teal'c, and the colonel all thought he was dead."
He seemed to consider this for a moment. "Let's wait until we can be sure it isn't anything we can
treat any other way. Doesn't hypnosis usually require more than three minutes to take effect?"
'Oh, damn it, he's right.' "Yes sir, now that you mention it, it usually does. Well, so much for
that option."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens with the test results. In the meantime,
just make sure they're watched over at all times. It shouldn't be that hard, considering they can't remember
anything from five minutes ago and it's easy to distract them. Just let me know the instant the test results
come in if it's something that can be counteracted in any way. Otherwise, it can wait till tomorrows debriefing."
'And my God have mercy on our souls in the meantime.'
TBC
// More to come soon. Be patient, classes have started and I'm really busy, but the next chapter will be
// here by the end of the week.