Downtime Mystery
On a jet plane
The sun shone through the windows of the plane waking the sleeping Major who was still lying bed. She sat up quickly in an attempt to take in her surroundings but she only succeeded in giving herself a headache as it had collided spectacularly with the bunk above her. The pain and the soft hum of the planes engines alerted her with the fact that last night events where not a dream. She swung her legs over the side of the ever mindful of the barely un-missable pain harbourer above her head.
From her new vantage point she was able to see almost the entire plane. She could see the colonel's sleeping form slumped over the table in the forward cabin, before her she could see what appeared to be some sort of kitchen area. But what caught her attention most was the presence of a coffee maker. Which is just what you need at 9 in the morning (according to US time anyway).
Standing up she found her boots placed neatly at the bottom of the bed next to what must have been the colonel's shoes from last night. It was then she realised that she hadn't taken off her boots. Neither had she fell asleep in bed. Deciding to add these to the very long list of questions, which she had subconsciously been creating in her head, she began to make some coffee.
Padding into the front compartment with two steaming mugs of coffee and the thick carpet shifting between her toes she placed the mugs on an unlettered part of the table. She drank her coffee and watched him sleep for a while, trying to subdue thoughts about how lovely and soft and silvery his hair looked and how peaceful and at ease he looked when asleep.But the questions in the science part of her mind re-awoke and with it it's thirst for answers. Blowing gently over the top of his mug she let the sweet aroma of his coffee wake him.
"Mmm, coffee." Eyes still closed but doing his best Homer Simpson impression as he could sense Sam's presence.
Sam grinned at the colonel's response. "Morning."
"Morning." He replied. "How did you sleep?"
He took this moment as she registered him as fully awake to take in her appearance. Last nights make up was slightly smudgy in places but could still not hide the beauty beneath it and her hair was sticking out at odd angles which brought a small smile to his face. But the sound of her voice pulled him from his observations which he wasn't entirely ungrateful for.
"Like a log. You, however slept like a dog it appears." Picking up a soggy piece of paper and holding it out to him, exhibit A.
"Erh, I think that was important!" He slightly disappointed; disappointment was soon driven away as the stimulating powers of coffee worked their magic on the colonel. "Ok, so I guess you want to know what's going on?"
"Yeah."
"Do you want me to answer questions or will I just tell you everything?"
This logical thought process was something she never imagined Jack doing but never the less, seeing in his eyes that he was quite eager to get this over and done with she decided to let him get it all out at once.
"Everything."
"Ok just a sec." he finished his coffee, set it to the side, then leaned in on the table and began to tell her everything.
"Right here goes. This first part is a little hard to explain but I'll try my best. After Abydos I retired and never really had much to do so believe it or not I started thinking.
"Not about philosophy or the meaning of life stuff. No nothing like that. But about Egypt and Abydos. I got the idea that if most of the myths and legends about them are true then there must be some real truth in other myths and legends. So in my spare time and lets face it I had a lot, I researched other myths and using some of Daniels wok I was able to figure out things not only that but I was able to work out where valuable artefacts here on earth could be found. I knew that if I did find them then they should go to some sort of museum or collector. And the only person who seemed remotely interested in what I had to say was Mr McHoan.
"He started off with giving me a grant of $5,000 to get me started. And with that money I was able to bring him one item which he later sold for $625,000, during that year his handouts and transportation arrangement grew larger until, my final job before the air force snapped me back up. The artefact I found was sold for $6.5 million. So, even though I told him that I had new commitments he was still intent on having me continue my work for him.
"So now I work on the occasional downtime, get 10 percent from all artefacts recovered and all travelling expenses covered.
"Craig the cheery guy that he is does all the leg work between me and McHoan, always has, I hardly ever talk to the guy. Marcus, the pilot works for McHoan as well, has him here to keep an eye on me, make sure I don't die or runaway with the goods or something. From what I hear he gets paid pretty well for it too.
"So every so often 'fishing' isn't really fishing at all and I go and do this."
Sam was the perfect audience raising her eyebrows and looking shocked at in the right places. But those expressions where nothing compared to the one she was wearing right now. Completely and utterly lost for words. In the time it took her to regain normal train of thought Jack managed to refill his coffee.
"So where are we going now?" she asked.
"Not sure. We're going to meet one of my contacts in Egypt first from there I'm still trying to figure that out."
Now most of her questions had been answered there was just a couple left.
"My boots," she said, "and the bed."
Slightly taken aback by the indirect question he answered.
"You fell asleep and I didn't want to wake you, so I carried you."
She appreciated his kind gesture of letting her sleep, and also noted his ability to carry her without waking her. One down one to go. But this question was never asked. Years of mental barriers and blockades prevented her from mentioning what she had heard at take off, instead she opted for the safer option of sipping her now cold coffee.
"So what do ya think?"
"It's unbelievable. I just never imagined you would ever be able to something like this."
"Me neither. This is my secret life though."
"So Daniel, Teal'c, Hammond ?"
"No one knows except you." He said looking at her intensely.
"Does any one in this life know about the other?"
"I think Marcus might have an idea. But No" he glanced at the door to the cockpit. "More coffee?"
"Yeah, thanks."
A steaming mug of coffee was soon in her hands.
"Listen I'm going to get changed, then relieve Marcus we can talk a bit more then since we've got about 8 hours to go'"
"Ok."
Closing a curtain behind him he began getting changed into his work gear. Little did he know but Sam was watching every move of his shadow, completely entranced by the idea of a semi-naked colonel beyond a thin piece of cloth. Minutes later, from beyond the curtain emerged a freshly shaven Jack O'Neill in brown trousers and white shirt, well half in a white shirt, he was still in the process of doing up the buttons when he emerged leaving half his chest still visible to a very interested Sam. He was quite surprised when he seen an embarrassed and guilty look on Sam's face.
"I'm going to get changed as well." She announced, trying to relieve the awkwardness. Come to think of it, it was a good idea anyway considering that she was looking distinctly dishevelled at the moment. She too disappeared behind the curtain, however she emerged after a considerably longer time. When she did come back to the front cabin she was dressed in cream trousers and a white vest, her own white shirt tied round her waist as she decided that she was too warm. Looking at Jack for approval in her choice of clothes she seen that he was wearing a similar expression to the one she had only minutes earlier.
There was a sudden realisation between the two. They each had the same reason to look guilty. They grinned at each other, considering what the other must have thought. Coughing slightly to regain his composure Jack headed to the door of the cockpit.
"I'm just going to relieve, Marcus."
Disappearing from view, Sam was left alone for a moment, but seconds later another man, slightly shorter and younger emerged from the doorway.
"Sam, right?" he said.
"Yeah," she answered shaking his hand.
The man before her yawned.
"Sorry, got to get some kip, nice meeting you." He said flashing a genuine smile.
"You to." she replied warmly as she headed towards the door from where the stranger had just emerged. The cockpit was the only part of the plane that she was yet to explore.
"Hey Sam," Each of them could easily get used to using their first names, "What did you think of Marcus?"
"Alright I suppose, didn't really get much of a chance to talk."
She sat in the co-pilot seat and took a moment to familiarise her self with the controls.
"You know," said Jack from her left, "I'd prefer an X-302 to this any day.2
This was the kind of atmosphere in the cock pit as the plane headed closer to their destination; work colleagues becoming true friends.
