Emmett guessed that the scientists he was speaking with didn't yet know about Major Carter's inexplicable anger; they were clearly delighted to have someone to talk about their research with.

"Most of our work is strictly practical," Dr. Bill Lee told him. "Oh, when there's some amazing phenomenon offworld that defies scientific laws as we know them, we can get together a team and have a short research assignment for knowledge's sake, but usually the regular SG teams just take what samples they can and bring them back here for us to analyze."

"Samples? Like what?" Emmett asked.

"Plant and mineral samples usually. We also work quite closely with Daniel's cultural experts to understand the context they're used in on their native planets. We backwards-engineer alien technology as well. But as I was saying, this is a front-line facility, so our research is largely defense-oriented. We consider it our job to make sure the SG-teams have what they need to get the job done and come home alive." It sounded to Emmett like he'd rehearsed that last sentence, but that was OK. It was a good line.

"So, could you show me an example of something you've created or—what was it—backwards-engineered?" Emmett asked, looking at a scientist repeatedly hitting a protective helmet for no apparent reason.

"Actually, yes," Dr. Lee said with a smile. "You see, Kevlar won't stop the energy blast from a staff weapon. And the armor plating in other bullet-proof protection gets super-heated from the plasma, so while it will stop the penetration the wearer becomes trapped in what essentially is their own personal microwave oven. You know, not a good idea." Looking a bit embarrassed at his obvious comment, he quickly continued, "Ah, anyway, what we've been working on is this."

Turning to the table, he picked a small black rectangular object. Emmett glanced at James to make sure the camera was getting it. Lee said, "It's a ceramic polymer which will resist the heat, stop the blast, and is flexible enough to fit into a standard-issue SG vest." He bent the edges slightly to show the item's flexibility, and held it out for Emmett to feel.

The material felt cool beneath Emmett's fingers. It felt hard—it looked fragile but felt like armor—and almost brittle, but bent easily enough when he twisted his hands slightly. "Remarkable," Emmett breathed as he handed it back. He watched as Dr. Lee inserted the armor into the sides of an SG vest.

As he worked, Lee explained, "We're working on fine-tuning the final stages. The problem is, so far the vest has stopped one staff-blast but fails to protect against a second. Since staff weapons are able to fire rapidly, we're experimenting right now with thicknesses, and we think we're just about there. Ah, Sergeant Siler, Teal'c, thanks for coming."

The lean man put the vest on, Emmett swung around. Teal'c was here? The… alien? It was an effort to keep his mouth from falling open as he realized the huge black man was looming right behind him with a staff weapon, and not looking particularly friendly either. Forcing his attention back to Dr. Lee, Emmett asked, "Would it be all right if we tape the trial?"

"Um, sure," the scientist replied as he handed Teal'c a pair of protective glasses. "We're recording the results too. Just stand over there." Emmett obediently motioned his crew to the side, feeling a bit uneasy as another scientist with a fire extinguisher positioned himself about five feet away from Siler. Teal'c then leveled his weapon at the sergeant and fired it twice.

The first blast tore the fabric away from the polymer and unbalanced Siler slightly; the second sent him flying backwards onto the protective mat behind him, a fire blossoming on his chest. The technician with the extinguisher quickly rushed over to him and put the flames out. "I'm fine," Siler said, never loosing his laconic expression. "Just a few mild burns."

"OK, get down to the infirmary then and have Dr. Frasier send us the report," Lee instructed. As the group dispersed, Lee saw Emmett's slightly horrified expression. "Oh, don't worry Mr. Bregman, he does this all the time." When Emmett's expression didn't change, he added, "Just remember; without the polymer, either of those blasts would have been fatal."

Making a mental effort to shift gears, Emmett turned the discussion to the naquadah generator he'd read about. Dr. Meyers eagerly tried to explain how it worked, but stopped when he saw he'd lost Emmett and tried again. "Basically, the generator emits clean, efficient energy. But we're still working on how to make it commercially viable. I mean, we'd like nothing more than to get these out in the market. It would cut pollution big-time and make our dependence on foreign oil almost nil."

Emmitt studied the device. "And the problems are…?"

"Well, first of all, anything this powerful could become a seriously dangerous weapon. We've designed them to be as safe as possible, but if one begins to overload, it's physically impossible to stop, effectively turning it into a bomb. And the naquadah itself increases the bomb's destructive capability.

"Second, of course, our amount of naquadah is limited and because of the material's destructive power, the military prefers that it be used in developing weapons."

"Which is crap," grumbled another scientist, "now that they have naquadria." A brief silence fell over the room, and Emmett tried to remember where he'd come across "naquadria" in his research.

"Well, yes," said Meyers carefully. "But naquadria's a whole lot more unstable, and we have much less of it."

"I just think after what it took to get it, we shouldn't lock it away and never use it!"

"We shouldn't waste it either!"

"Ah, gentlemen?" Emmett asked.

The scientists seemed to share a look, and Dr. Lee explained, "You know about Daniel's ascension, right?"

Emmett blinked. "Um, yes. He was exposed to radiation…."

"…from an offworld experiment with a naquadria bomb that went wrong," Lee finished. "That's how we acquired it. We've had a number of debates about what the ethical thing to do with it is. Right now the teams at Area 51 are working to make a truly viable hyperspace drive, but it's a… touchy…. subject."

"But getting back to the naquadah generator," said Meyers. "If its use became widespread, we would be replacing our dependence on oil-rich countries with dependence on naquadah-rich offworld allies. If for any reason we lost control of our stargate, the consequences would be disastrous."

Lee mused, "It would be hard to explain to the public where we got the naquadah too. Oh, most people would probably believe it was synthesized in a lab somewhere, but not everyone would. So unless we can figure out a way to synthesize it, naquadah technology won't become available to the rest of the world until the stargate is public knowledge."

"So do you think the stargate should be public knowledge?" Emmett asked. He was genuinely curious about the answers; in truth, both sides had some valid points. And sure enough, several scientists were nodding, a few were shaking their heads, and most looked conflicted.

"I wish we could share the amazing things we're learning, but… I don't think the world is ready to know," Dr. Lee admits. "There's a quote of Arthur Schopenhauer's that I like. Ah, he was a German philosopher in the nineteenth century, a brilliant man." When Emmett looked incredulous, Lee explained, "Daniel and I went on a mission to Honduras together, and during the flight, we somehow got on the topic of philosophy. Uh, where was I? Right. Well, anyway, Schopenhauer said that truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Like when Daniel recognized that all of the accepted theories about the pyramids and ancient societies were wrong, he was laughed out of academia."

"Right," Emmett nodded.

"Well, if the Stargate became public knowledge now, people would ridicule it until they were faced with overwhelming evidence otherwise. The second stage is violent opposition. People would be furious, I think. There would be a lot of distrust all around. Eventuality, it would be accepted, but a lot would depend on how people found out about it." He sighed. "No matter how much good we could do for the planet, if the people aren't ready to accept it, things will get a whole lot worse before they get better. I don't think the time to make the program public will happen for a long, long time."