Extra Terrestrials?
"So are you two going to take part at all?" asked Paul sneaking up on them.
"Yes, just give us two minutes, Professor." Said Sam speaking up for both of them.
"Ok," he replied, beginning to walk away.
"Mason?" called the colonel to his retreating back.
"Yes, colonel?" You could easily tell he was irritated at the use of his second name, but choose to ignore it, these military types where all the same he thought.
"Are we going to get a chance to met him?" he asked, pointing his thumb at the podium where Ford once stood.
Mason's eyes took on a glazed look; "Yes he will be walking around here later."
He spoke as though a god where about to descend and walk among them, not unlike many of the brainwashed slaves they had encountered going through the stargate.
With a small feeling of pity for the supposedly educated man before him he replied, "Thanks."
Jack watched as he walked from them, heading briskly to the doors trying in vain to subdue the excited flood of students into the room.
"Sir, what did you mean by he was your professor?" she said looking curiously at her superior.
"It was years ago, before I joined the air force." He said to his shoes, then facing her he continued. "It was my last year, three weeks from final exams and he faked a failed drugs test and got me kicked out."
"Kicked out with only three weeks left?" she echoed, shocked.
"It's not the worst part, not getting a degree was nothing compared to losing my theory." He spoke quietly looking to the throng of people behind them.
"Your theory?"
"Yeah, my theory but Ford took it for his own." He looked at his 2IC smiling slightly at the look on her face. "Come on, let's talk to these kids who want to grow up to be like you."
Standing the finally made their way to the back of the hall, noticing it was slightly more organised than when they last looked upon it.
Reaching their table they where surprised tot find that their where a few people around waiting, though distinctly fewer than the others in the hall.
However, not so much of a surprise was the presence of Cadet Hailey, who was greeted with a proud smile from Sam and a quick nod from Jack.
"Major, Colonel." She said snapping to attention, her hand quivering at her side just itching to salute.
"Cadet Hailey, how did your exams go?" asked Sam.
"All A's, Ma'am."
"Well Done."
While the rest of the cadets around the table were shocked at the exchange, staring dumbfounded at their classmate, Jack was non pulsed settling into his not so comfy chair as best he could.
"Carter?" he said interrupting any further conversation.
"Yes, Sir?"
"How we going to do this?"
She looked confused for a moment, then after a nod in the student's direction on Jack's part, the light bulb switched on.
"Oh right." She murmured, then turning to the small crowd of 10 people, "What we're going to do it tell you a little about ourselves and then take it from there, probably answering any questions that you might have."
She slipped easily into presentation mode.
"I'm Major Samantha Carter and after flying around in F-15's for a while, I obtained a doctorate in Astrophysics, then working in the pentagon for a while on all sorts, before being transferred to Cheyenne mountain to work on Deep Space Radar Telemetry." She smiled and turned to the colonel, he appeared to be in deep thought and hadn't listened to anything that she'd said.
"Sir?"
"Hmm." He replied, the realisation. "Right, Colonel Jack O'Neill, two l's, Carters CO. Um …. Flight school, Special Ops, Cheyenne, retirement, and then Cheyenne again. Deep Space Radar Telemetry is just too darn exciting, I just couldn't stay retired."
Sam smiled at his sarcastic comment knowing that Radar Telemetry was about as boring as things could get when compared with the SGC.
The cadets where rather shy of these high-ranking officers but their varied careers had them hooked. Wholly expecting specky geeks reciting fact after fact, only to find that cool officers who'd flown F-15's and been in special ops to be a pleasant surprise.
Many cadets who had formally been walking around in the middle, probably bored or not wanting to be there at all where drawn in by the revelation that even cool people could be smart.
Really smart.
The crowd around the table grew to around thirty.
Hey this is kinda fun!
"Colonel, Sir?" said one cadet slightly braver than the rest raising their hand.
"Yes?"
"How did you do from Special Ops to Radar Telemetry, Sir?"
"Well," then taking a deep breath, "My knee was injured and I wasn't fit enough for the field." He said, spinning a tale expertly, so much so that Hailey almost believed him, "So I pulled off a physics degree with astrophysics and then Cheyenne Mountain signed me up."
The cadet nodded obviously approving of his answer.
"Major?" said another.
Sam nodded her head indicating for the young girl to continue.
"How do you know Hailey, Ma'am?"
"Ah, well Cadet Hailey kind of came on a work placement to out facility, but please ask us any questions you have rather than interrupting the cadets studies." She said smiling.
"Ma'am, do you just stare into space all day?"
She grinned.
"Yes, but it's certainly no as boring as it may sound, new improved methods of radar let us see further and in more detail than ever before."
"Ma'am, did you say Cheyenne Mountain?" came a timid voice.
"Yes, why?" replied Sam concerned, if not a little worried.
"I've heard stories about that place." Spoke the cadet quietly; everyone around the young boy falling silent awaiting the answer to his question.
"Your name cadet?" said Jack standing and leaning forward hands spread wide on the table.
"Grisham, sir."
"Well Cadet Grisham, why don't you tell us what you've heard." Said Jack softly, "You might as well, no one knows what goes on at Cheyenne better than us."
"Extra Terrestrials, Sir." Said the cadet gulping and quivering in front of the imposing officer.
"Carter." Jack said with a smile, causing Sam (despite her worry) smile also.
"Yes, sir." She replied confidently.
"You ever seen any little green aliens from outer space running around Cheyenne?" A familiar twinkle in his eyes.
"No, sir." She said truthfully.
"Well there you have it." He grinned, noticing that the rest of the crowd we're smiling also he decided to push it a little further. "Like they'd let us, well me play with anything that cool. Nope, it gets sent to all the geeks in Area 51."
The entire crowd listening to what he was saying burst out laughing, causing many of the other cadets to turn in their direction, while Grisham was blushing furiously of embarrassment in the middle of the group.
"So any other questions?" asked Jack to their audience.
Just as another was about to speak, the entire hall plunged into silence as the over confidant figure of Derek Ford entered the room.
"You know who that is?"
Jack over heard one of the original cadets whisper.
"Yeah." Answered another. "Derek Ford, the guy that made superstring theory what it is today."
"Superstring theory?" murmured Sam, glancing at her CO.
He looked straight into her eyes, holding her confused gaze for a few seconds, before nodding his head slightly.
Sam was taken aback, leaning into the chair she stared into the middle distance processing the new information.
A quiet buzz rumbled through the hall as cadets admired the new arrival.
"He was miles ahead of everyone!"
"Yeah, they where all concentrating on basic quantum physics, while he resurrected the string. Ingenious."
Jack slumped into his seat listening to the chatter around him.
Why did I even come here? I knew something like this would happen!
"He's coming!" said a cadet close to him.
Standing he watched the crowd part as if he were Moses and they particles of the Red Sea. Coming to rest in front of the table, Jack stared into those black lifeless pools.
"Ford." He said coldly.
An age-old anger was bubbling within him unlike ever before. But despite his new life, his rank, he was still powerless to do anything about it. Unlike Ford, he was bound by rules, morals and a conscience none of which Derek Ford had.
There was a glimmer of confusion, for a moment, which was quickly followed by stark recognition. Those eyes took on the haunting stare that they had some thirty years ago; Jack remembered it like yesterday.
"Jonathan."
oOo
Superstring theory actually exists, first thought of early 20th century and then buried by the beginnings and hype of quantum mechanics, it was later revised in 74/75 by a group of 3 American scientists (so it does fit the time frame of the story) .
Any way it's really cool and makes quite a bit of sense, as it includes Einstein's, Maxwell's and the quantum theory all in a metric tensor thingy. 26 fixed dimensions; fascinating stuff!