Chapter 12 – Working Together

"How's he doing?" Daniel asked from a table he had converted into a desk, his pictures of the artifact's surface spread out all over. Alex saw that he had taken his glasses off and was using a magnifying glass to help him see.

"He's gotten a bit worse. If you heard me a few minutes ago over the radio, he just went unconscious. General Hoffman and I think that it would be a good idea to try to burn through the pole he's connected to, so that's what Rogers and Dagón are doing now."

Walking over to a computer, she sat in front of it, opening several programs, and started a simulation with a model of the artifact on it. They had scanned it into the computer earlier before the incident and Alex planned on putting it through many different scenarios to see if it would react to anything.

"Why're we here in the first place?" Daniel asked as he rifled through pictures, trying to find the right one.

"The Androidians," came her absent reply as she concentrated on her work.

"Yes, I know, but I mean…" He sighed. "What I'm trying to say is that if the Androidians hadn't gained power, we wouldn't have any reason to be here, and therefore John wouldn't have gotten stuck. Long ago, couldn't the Androidians listen to reason? I mean, there has to be some good in them, right?"

Alexandra stopped what she had been doing on her computer, but she didn't turn around to face him. "Daniel, there are stories that many different races have tried to reason with the Androidians…none of it worked. They're fully evil, and will kill you before you kill them. That's why we all need to do the best we can to try to eliminate all the major threats as possible before the major fight at the end. It's going to involve some self-sacrifice, but we all have done that. You'll get used to it…I promise."

"Thanks," he said to her and they both lapsed into silence, working to try to save their friend from staying impaled to the wall.

"Argh!" Daniel said sometime later, breaking the mutual silence of the bay. "This translating is going nowhere!"

Looking at him from her computer screen, Alex allowed her eyes to adjust to the dim light before she asked, "What's wrong? Can't you translate it?"

When Daniel looked up at her, Alex noticed how bleary-eyed he was and how tired she must look to him. Looking at the digital clock built into the wall, the Major saw that it was six in the morning. They hadn't slept in over 24 hours and it looked to her as if they wouldn't sleep for an even longer time after that.

After a sigh that turned into a huge yawn, Daniel said, "I'm not sure why. When we were on The Wasteland, I just glanced at the alien text on that ship and I could read it. Somehow, it seems like something is blocking my abilities to do it. It's like I can do it in the back of my mind, but when I try to comprehend it, it doesn't go anywhere and doesn't work. I could do it the old-fashioned way, but I'd need a reference, a point of origin as to how the language is used. It's not working!"

Alex looked at him and smiled sadly. "Keep trying. It'll come to you eventually."

Daniel sighed. "Yeah, you're right. But I don't want to keep trying! John needs our help now."

"Yes, he does," she said, "but if you totally rush through and translate it wrong, or miss something and can't translate it at all, you'll hurt the Colonel even more than the little bit of time wasted in doing it right."

Daniel turned to face her fully. "Thanks."

Alexandra smiled again. "Any time."

"So how're you doing? What are you doing?"

"Well," Alex said, "I don't think you'd understand if I told you. Hasn't the Colonel ever told you never ask me anything?"

"I don't think he has," Daniel replied. "Try me, anyway."

"Okay, we used our molecular scanner to make a 3D copy of the artifact in our computer. I'm then taking different scenarios and am seeing if they work. Like, for one, I'm trying to see what the individual atoms look like, so I'm taking our subatomic magnifier and am enhancing the nucleus to see if it is made of any known element on Tierra, let alone Earth. I have to have the atoms at a precise angle and ratio to other things in order to see them perfectly. I'm also seeing if direct pressure or intense heat or cold on its structure would cause its internal parts to react at all."

"And has anything worked?"

Looking at him, Alex could see that he actually didn't have the blank look Colonel O'Brien usually had when she was explaining things to him.

Maybe he actually understood that…she thought. That would be a definite first.

Shaking her head, she replied, "The atoms aren't anything found on Earth, but direct heat appears to be working. I think the welding torch will work!"

"That's good." Daniel put his glasses back on.

Hesitating for a second, the Major said, "Daniel, has anyone told you that your eyesight is an anomaly?"

Shaking his head, he said, "No. Why?"

Alex sighed. "Normally, when people are uploaded into The System, their abnormalities, like chronic diseases, bad eyesight, amputated limbs, and anything else, well, they all would be repaired and as good as new. The fact that you still have your eyesight from your previous life and came through the Spacegate with your glasses isn't something that has happened yet."

"Really?" Daniel asked, feeling a bit weird. "How do you know?"

Seeing his open curiosity and willingness to learn, Alex couldn't help telling him. "You can't tell anyone, though, but Dude came into The System blind. Yet, even without his sight, he was the best hacker in the world back on the Old World. No one has ever been able to get out of him how he could do it yet."

"Dude was blind? Whoa."

"Yeah. And Damian had lost a finger while, he says, on a mission—though we think that he cut it off in a weapons-check in basic training. But, anyway, when he accidentally found himself in The System, he had all ten back."

Daniel sat in his chair for a moment, letting it sink in. After a while, he asked, "Alex, do you think I'm the Preserver?"

Startled by his abrupt question, the Major sat in silence for a moment. Then, after a second's deliberation, she said, "Only time can tell, Daniel. I cannot judge that now. Now let's get back to work. We both need sleep badly, so we'd better get as much as we can before we fall asleep right here."

"Yes, ma'am," the linguist said and they both got back to their tasks.