"I'll see to it Captain. Thank you." General Hammond looked around the room. "If no one has anything else to add? No? Dismissed."
Chapter 9
Sam slowly roused from her slumber. She'd had the strangest dream. More like a nightmare actually. Why couldn't she dream about Brad Pitt or Orlando Bloom? Or even Richard Dean Anderson. Now that was a hottie. But noooo, instead she dreamed about getting turned into a cat, and being taken to the vet. Now where the heck had that come from? Her tail twitched in irritation at her wandering thoughts. There was work to be done.... Sam's head shot up, eyes opening wide, blinking rapidly. Her tail? Oh God. It was real. It wasn't a dream. She was curled up on one of the beds in the infirmary, she hadn't laid down like that she remembered now, but during her sleep she must have curled in a little ball with her tail wrapped tightly around her and covering her nose. She hadn't dreamed any of it. Looks like this was one dream she wouldn't be waking up from.
Sam felt her tail twitching back and forth as she remembered the physical and tests she'd been put through. Captain Brunsfeld had done his best to be as gentle as possible as he'd tried to explain everything he was doing to her and why. Still, as much as she'd tried to prepare herself, nothing could have readied her for the actual exam. She still had jumped and startled at Captain Brunsfeld's touch, and had been unable to control the yowl that escaped as he'd inserted the well lubricated thermometer into a place she'd much rather not think about. The poor Captain had had to clamp his hand down on the back of her neck to keep her still, she'd been ready to bolt, protocols be damned. Sam didn't think she'd be letting anyone near her with a thermometer for a very long time. Captain Brunsfeld, (although Sam preferred her earlier nickname of Captain Vet) had spent the next several minutes apologizing to her. She could tell he really was more used to working with animals than people.
In addition to the physical, she'd been put through a variety of tests and scans. Janet and Captain Brunsfeld had asked her lots of questions about how she was feeling, struggling to remember to ask yes or no type questions so she could respond. Blood work had been taken and she'd been x-rayed, and scanned every which way. She doubted any of Captain Brunsfeld's other "patients" had been as cooperative as she had been though, except for the thermometer incident; she'd been perfectly well behaved. They'd had her open her mouth, poke out her tongue and touch it to her nose, they'd watched her stand and walk, or try to at any rate, exchanging frowns of concern at her clumsy attempts. She'd been poked and prodded a bit more after that.
Finally, exhaustion had kicked in. Sam had been surprised, usually she could go for hours and hours, and it hadn't seemed like much time had passed since she'd returned through the stargate. Janet had caught Sam's yawn and half closed eyes as she'd discussed some finding or another with Captain Brunsfeld, and had immediately called an end to any further exams. Scooping Sam up into her arms, Janet had ignored Sam's soft mewl of protest, and carried her to one of the beds and deposited her on it, pulling the curtains around for privacy. Gently dropping a hand onto Sam's fuzzy head, she gave it a soft caress, as she'd ordered Sam to rest. Janet had reassured Sam that she'd discuss the test results and the outcome of the debriefing with her when she woke up. Under Janet's gentle touch, Sam soon drifted off.
Sam pulled her thoughts back to the present and dropped her head back down on her paws, and her tail tightened reflexively around her body. Oh, if the Colonel could see her now he'd no doubt have some comment to make. Sam let her thoughts wander as she started to concentrate on her various senses. Everything seemed sharper now. She could pick out more sounds than she was used to hearing. Her ears flickered towards the quiet noises of the infirmary, voices in the distance, the hum of the ventilation shafts; soft mechanical beeps of various machines. Experimentally, Sam tried moving one ear towards the human voices, and believed she could here Janet discussing something with someone, she didn't recognize the second voice. Her nose twitched at the pungent smells of antiseptic and medicines. She could pick out the slightest smell of food in the distance. Sam's stomach rumbled at the thought. Lifting her head up, she looked around noting that even in the currently dimmed lights of her curtained cubicle, she was able to see with greater detail.
Sam wondered when someone would come to check on her, she was getting rather hungry. Deciding to look about more, Sam felt she best get familiar with this body of hers. While she hoped that Daniel and the scientists that General Hammond would no doubt assign would be able to quickly figure out how to reverse her transformation, Sam had to resolve herself to the fact that she just might be stuck this way for several days, at the very least, if not more. And that's only if she were lucky. So she'd best stop moping around and start doing, unless she wanted to be carted around in someone's arms all the time. Her ears flattened back at that most embarrassing thought. Sam decided she would not be carried for long.
Ok, first step, she needed to stretch. Muscles she never had before protested that they were stiff from sleep. She wondered idly how long she'd been napping, as she yawned, than experimentally stretched out her front legs. Then, turning onto her side, she stretched out her back legs and arched her back. That felt good. Rolling back to her tummy, she managed to get all her legs under her. Now she was ready to try standing up. Whoops. Pushed too fast, she ended up sprawled on her side. Good thing she was on a bed for a soft landing. Not wanting to give up so soon, Sam got her legs under her a bit easier this time. Taking a different approach, Sam pushed up with her two front legs until she was sitting on her rump. Her tail swished back and forth at her accomplishments. Baby steps Sam, she told herself. Baby steps.
After sitting for a minute, Sam managed to stand up, without landing on her nose or in an undignified heap again. She practically grinned to herself. Cool. Her thoughts supplied one of the Colonel's favorite expressions much to her amusement.
Was she ready to try walking now? Sam moved her left front foot, managing to balance on the other three. Trying to remember how Schroedinger walked, she moved her right back foot next, than her right front foot, than her left back one. After a few more little steps Sam tried to move the alternating feet, front and back ones together, and if she could have grinned she'd have been beaming as she managed her first few steps across the bed. Sam had no doubt she looked anything but graceful, still her confidence in her ability to control this body grew as she reached the foot of the bed. Turning around however, she mixed which foot moved when and toppled into an ungainly heap at the foot of the bed. Which was exactly the way Janet found her as she pulled the curtain aside and entered her cubicle.