"He seems to be okay, except for some bruised ribs," said Dr. Fraiser. "I still want him to rest, though."

"I'm fine, Jack. Really," said Daniel. He tried to sit up on the cot.

Janet pushed him back down. "I said that you're to stay put! Your heart was stopped for nearly five minutes!"

"I need to get back there!"

"No! You are staying in this bed," said Jack. "Now tell us what happened."

"I don't know!" said Daniel. "One second, I'm looking at inscriptions on the wall; the next, I'm lying on the ground with a tube down my throat!"

"But you were over by the column when the field activated," said Jack.

"Short term memory loss," said Dr. Fraiser. "The field seems to shut down all neural activity. The last few seconds before it activated are probably gone."

"So you don't remember what you did?" asked Jack.

"You were there," said Daniel. "Did you see me do anything?"

"No, you were just looking at it," said Jack. "I didn't see you touch anything."

Carter had just entered the tent. "I don't think it was Daniel."

"You've found something?" asked Jack.

"We picked up another burst of static that corresponds with when the field was active," said Carter. "Just like the ones that were recorded earlier. The first was approximately 44 hours ago. The next was about 22 hours ago, and then the last one was about two hours ago."

"So this thing is activating every twenty hours?" asked Jack.

"Something like that," said Carter. "The second activation was 22.3 hours after the first. The next was 19.5 hours later. The interval seems to be decreasing. If the pattern keeps up, the next one should be in about 15 hours."

"That gives you lots of time to set up some more of your toys," said Jack. "See if we can get a reading on what this is."

"Yes, Sir," said Carter, "but this thing isn't just happening faster. Each static burst that we've measured has been stronger too."

"How much stronger?" asked Daniel.

"Each one has been about fourteen percent stronger than the one before it," said Carter.

Jack tried to do a little math in his head; he wasn't sure if he got the right answer. "And the decrease in the time between activations?" he asked.

"Also fourteen percent, Sir," said Carter.

"That matches the marks on the floor," said Daniel.

"What marks on the floor?" asked Jack.

"There's a series of concentric circles, centred on the column," said Daniel. "Each one has a radius fourteen percent larger than the previous one."

"So, if this keeps up?"

"If I'm right, then the field will fill the dome on its eighth activation, a little more than two and a half days from now," said Carter.

"And if it doesn't stop then?" asked Jack.

"It will be here in five and a half days," said Carter. "It will reach the gate about three hours and fifteen minutes later."

"Five days to go 200 metres, and then three hours to go five kilometres?" asked Jack.

"The growth is exponential," said Carter. "It starts slowly, but it keeps accelerating. When it reaches the gate the field will be expanding at over 30 kilometres and hour, and it just keeps going faster. Nine minutes after it passes the gate, it will have engulfed the entire planet, if nothing stops it."

"So, I suggest that you find a way to stop it."


Nearly everyone was back in the dome fifteen hours later. Even Daniel was present. Dr. Fraiser had wanted to send him back to the SGC but he had refused to go. He'd had a good night's sleep, and said that he was feeling fine.

"Five minutes!" said Carter.

"Alright! Everyone out!" ordered Jack. "Now!"

Everyone headed for the exit. They thought that they knew how big the field would be, but they weren't taking any chances. They left their cameras and other instruments inside to take readings, but the people cleared out.

A few minutes later they were back at the camp, watching the interior of the dome on a bank of TV screens. Carter started a countdown: "10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…Now!"

They could see the field form on their TV screens. Its border was right where they had placed their yellow tape border on the ground. It stayed active for a few seconds, and then vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.

"Looks like you've got the pattern right, Carter," said Jack.

"Yes Sir," said Carter, not sounding at all happy about it. "What about the rest?"

"Let's see," said Jack.

They re-entered the dome. Cages holding rats had been placed inside the radius of the field, and the rats were now dead. Even the rats that had been enclosed in Faraday cages, and other forms of shielding against electromagnetic radiation were dead.

Carter had been examining the readouts from a variety of instruments that had been scattered around the room. "What are your toys telling you, Carter?" asked Jack.

"Everything that was inside the field stopped working, Sir. It will take me a few minutes to find out if they sustained any permanent damage."

"And the stuff outside the field?"

"The field seems to disrupt some forms of electrical activity," said Carter. "It will take me a while to analyse the data further."

"So, how does that kill someone?"

"Nerve impulses are electrical, Colonel," said Dr. Fraiser. "Shut them down, and your body just stops working. For things like your arm, once you removed it from the field the nerves started to work again, and it quickly returned to normal. For something like your heart, once it stops beating, it won't spontaneously start again."

Teal'c had been wandering around the interior of the dome, quietly observing the activity. He stopped moving, looking at something on the ground. "Colonel O'Neill!" he called.

Jack moved toward him. "What is it Teal'c?"

Teal'c tapped on the ground with the base of his staff. "Observe."

Jack saw what looked like some sort of beetle crawling along the floor. "It's a bug."

Teal'c tapped on the ground near the bug again. It turned and moved slowly away from his staff. "This bug does not appear to be able to move quickly," he said. "It is well within the area that was enveloped by the field. It must have been here when the field was active, and yet, it is still alive."

"You're right," said Jack. "Doc! Come take a look at this! Carter! How long till the field activates again?"

Carter checked her watch while Dr. Fraiser came over to Jack and Teal'c. "About fourteen hours and forty-five minutes, Sir."

"Teal'c, we've got that long to catch some of the local wildlife," said Jack.


Fifteen hours later Jack was looking at some cages that held a few of the local 'birds,' a beaver-thing, and some of the local insects, all looking very much alive and healthy beside cages with dead rats in them. "Okay, looks like this thing leaves the local wildlife alone."

"That means that it's probably meant to be some sort of protection against invasion from the Goa'uld, or something like that," said Daniel. "Like Thor's Hammer on Cimmeria."

"If that's the case, what happened to the people who created it?" asked Jack.

"Maybe they didn't want to experiment with something like this on their home world," said Carter, "In case they got it wrong."

"Makes sense," said Jack. "Work out the bugs someplace where they won't wipe themselves out, if they screw it up."

"So what happened to them?" asked Daniel, "Why leave it here?"

"Maybe they screwed it up," said Jack.