Author's Note: When I put apostrophes ('') around a sentence it means that someone is thinking it. I will try to label which character is thinking what. Words that are italicized are words that are written. Bolded words are in Morse Code. Sometimes I will do periods (.) and underscores () though.
SongoftheWind: Blue Jello is, I believe, Colonel O'Neill's Jello of choice.
'Where am I?' Jack thought as he sat up in one of the clean, white infirmary beds. 'Why am I here? Oh...right. Bright light, burning throat, unconsciousness. Where's Janet?' He opened his mouth to call for her, but couldn't get a sound out to come out. 'No voice, got it. Now what? Is there like some kind of call button I could use?' He searched the sides of his bed and the stand next to it for a button to call Janet with. 'Aha!' He thought as he found a red button attached to a cord. The button was labeled help and he had seen patients use it before to get attention.
BEEEEEEPPP!
'This is fun.'
BEEP! BEEP!
"Yes, Colonel." Came an annoyed Doctor from her office. "You're awake. How are you feeling?"
He tried again to speak and again nothing came out. 'Damn.'
"Colonel O'Neill, you and your team all suffered damage to your larynx, your voice box." Janet told him. "Other than that you are perfectly healthy. At the moment the only way for you to tell me something is to write it on the notepad I put on your bed table."
He picked up the pad and the pen on it and began the write. When he finished he lifted the pad so that Janet could read it. This Sucks was written on the page.
"Thank you for that wonderful piece of insight, Colonel. Your not allowed to leave until I've talked to your entire team and figured out a better way for you and your team to communicate." BEEP! rang a tone from another patient. "I have to go help my other patients. I'll have one of the nurses bring you in some food." And with that she turned and left Jack to his thoughts.
Two Hours Later"You can go, Colonel." Janet told the man. He had spent an hour thinking and the other one trying to get out. The Doctor had finally given up on keeping him there when he had decided to hover over her as she filled out her paperwork. "As long as you carry around a notebook and pen to communicate with." He gave a sloppy salute to show that he would do as told and walked back to his bed to get the notebook. He picked up the notebook and pen and left making sure to slam the door on the way out (to make sure Janet knew he was gone, of course).
From the Infirmary he went straight to General Hammond's office. He knocked on the door and entered at Hammond's command.
"Colonel O'Neill, how are you feeling?" Hammond asked as Jack walked into the room.
Peachy"That's good to know. What do you need?"
Briefing with SG-1 and you. 1200 hours. He took the notebook back and flipped the page. Please. He obviously had this planned.
"What is this briefing about?" Hammond asked. Jack hated briefings, he'd never asked for one before. This had to be important.
Communication. Artifact.
"I'll inform the rest of SG-1. I'll see you 1200 hours in the briefing room, Colonel. Dismissed."
1158 hours: Briefing Room
Jack was seated in his chair as his team came in and sat down. General Hammond was the last to enter the silent room.
"You have our full attention, Colonel." Started the General. In front of him on the table Jack had a medium-sized stack of paper, all upside-down so that they couldn't be read. He grabbed the first paper and handed it to the General. Neatly typed on the page was a list of questions and ideas he'd come up with.
"We need a faster way to communicate." The General read. "I agree. Writing in the notebooks takes to long and you'd have to get someone's attention before having them read it. Any ideas?"
Sam had her laptop in front of her and was typing away at it. She stopped typing and used the built-in mouse to click a button on the screen and the computer began to read what she had typed.
"This simple text program is faster than writing everything down." The computer read to the room.
"I agree Major Carter. The program does seem faster and is loud enough to get someone's attention." The General agreed. "It also spares us from sloppy handwriting." At this the entire room turned to look at Jack. Seeing their stares, Jack picked up his pen and began to write. He showed the page to his friends and co-workers in the room and Sam immediately started to type again.
"You're what's not that what?" The computer asked. Jack quickly crossed off some words and rewrote them carefully.
My handwriting's not that bad.
"Yes it is, Colonel." The General told him, voicing the opinions of the entire room. "You can use hand signals for basic commands. I'm afraid I can't let you go on any more missions though." Daniel looked like he wanted to ask a question. "No Daniel, not even ones of archeological importance." The General answered Daniel's unasked question. Daniel's face visibly sunk at these words. He had finally finished translating the artifacts the other teams had brought from their missions.
'At least I have the artifact that did this to study.' Daniel thought.
"Is there a non-vocal language we all know?" Sam's computer read. After a moment of silence Jack began writing.
Morse Code?"You all know, Morse code." The General stated thinking it over. "Do you think it could work, Colonel?" General Hammond asked his 2IC.
Sure. Jack tapped on the table.
"Do we all agree?" The General asked his flagship team. The occupants of the table nodded in agreement. "Good. Morse code will work. In one month if your condition hasn't improved to the point that you can speak, you will have to learn Sign language. Dismissed. Jack, can you wait?" Jack nodded and stayed in his seat as his team left.
Daniel sprinted off to look through the books in his office. He kept a sign language dictionary some where in there in case they met deaf aliens. He also needed to get some books before heading back to Sam's lab to do more research on the artifact.
Teal'c left to help Sam and Daniel in Sam's lab.
"One of the questions you have on here," the General said, holding up the paper Jack had typed, "is how you got to the Infirmary. Sgt. Siler was walking down a nearby hallway when the computer started beeping in the lab. He thought it nothing at first, but when the second computer started beeping also he went to see what was going on. When he got there you and your team were unconscious. He called for help and some nurses came to help get you there."
Thanks. Jack tapped.
"You can go. Unless you have another question." General Hammond stated.
Nope. Thanks. See ya later. Jack tapped before getting up. Jack secretly hoped that their throats would heal so that they didn't have to tap messages to each other for a long time. He especially didn't want to learn sign language. He left the briefing room to wander around. Maybe even do some paperwork...maybe not. He was ultimately headed to Sam's lab, but had decided to wait awhile and let everyone else get settled in there first.
Another Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long. It's been done for awhile. I'm almost done with chapter 5 also. Hopefully the upcoming chapters will come faster. I really love posting and getting feedback on my stories.