Catch you on the flip side
Author: Gillian Slater
E-mail: LeoricGS@aol.com
Rating: PG -13
Teaser: Carter, whilst experimenting with materials gathered from an alien world finds an ancient coin which triggers a spontaneous OBE. Problem is, she can't end it.
Disclaimer: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they are the property of the show's creators, and I'm borrowing them for my own sinister purposes...
Part Three
The uniform grey corridors of the SGC had never looked so welcoming to Sam, even though her breathtaking flight over the countryside back to Cheyenne had left her with a sharp pang of regret to be underground again.
Her consciousness flew unerringly towards the lab this time, and she slid in above the heads of the two soldiers standing guard and settled over the desk at which her physical form still sat. The bright beam of Janet's opthalmascope shone into her vacant eyes, and the concern in the doctor's voice was mirrored in the face of General Hammond, who paced around the lab hurling question after unanswerable question at the gathered medical personnel.
Janet? General Hammond? She called hopefully. No response, not even a glance in her direction. The colonel had been able to hear, so why couldn't they? Just one more mystery she'd have to solve once the initial problem of being disembodied was rectified.
It was generally agreed upon by the base's medical staff that Major Carter should be removed to the more controlled environment of the infirmary in an attempt to ascertain the cause of her trance-like state.
Realising the futility of protest, Sam's consciousness followed the party into the infirmary and observed their efforts with interest, absently making inaudible suggestions as the investigation proceeded.
It was around 9pm when Jack burst in, cursing the traffic and quickly informed all present of his conversation with Sam's astral representation, except that he described the situation in somewhat more colloquial terms, referring to her as 'ghost Carter'.
I'm not dead, sir. Sam retorted. For the second time that day, Jack leaped a foot into the air. Sam's laughter bubbled in the Colonel's brain.
"Dammit, Carter! If you do that one more time..."
"Colonel?" General Hammond's puzzled tone was accompanied by equally strange looks from around the room, and Jack's own expression quickly mirrored them.
"You guys... didn't hear that?" Blank looks answered. "Carter's right here," he made a circling motion with one raised hand, "Floating or... something."
I can't figure out why only you can hear me, sir.
"You're telling me that Major Carter's... presence is here in this room?" General Hammond sounded incredulous.
"Well, she didn't hit Minneapolis at rush hour."
"So, you can communicate with her directly?" Janet's forehead creased once more with a puzzled frown.
"Yep. You know Carter - can't shut the woman up at the best of times, but now..."
Hey! Sam retorted indignantly.
Colonel O'Neill grinned in her general direction. Imagining Sam's response, Janet smiled knowingly as she turned to the Colonel.
"Does she have any idea what's going on here? We could really use her input to..." Jack didn't hear the question as a sudden stream of analytical comments flooded his mind.
"Whoa, whoa, WHOA! You wanna give that to me in English?"
Just repeat what I say to Janet, all right? Sam requested calmly. Jack rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, whatever." He looked towards Carter's body, then to the Doctor. "Oh, she has input all right, just don't ask me to understand it. Okay, Carter..."
Sam, through O'Neill's careful repetition, explained all she knew of the coin's origins on P3X-663, and of the analysis results her powerful microscope had turned up.
"...And she can't figure out why I can hear her." Jack finished. "Well, for once we're in agreement. I mean, why me? You could've at least gotten psychic with someone here at the base but no, you had to come mess up my fishing trip!"
I'm sure you can throw grenades into a pond some other time, Colonel. Sam commented dryly. He scowled in reply, glancing quickly around before remembering with relief that only he could hear her.
Janet's brow was furrowed in thought and she absently checked Carter's pulse for probably the fiftieth time.
"Colonel, ask Sam to describe exactly the state she was in when she... err, took off. I mean physically, emotionally, every detail."
"Well, you know I really don't need to ask her since she can hear you--" O'Neill's dry comment was cut off by a wave of trepidation from the presence above.
What's up, Carter? he asked her, for the first time speaking silently to her in his mind.
I think I know where's Janet's going with this, and...
What?
I don't want a repeat of the Zatark thing.
Realisation dawned on Jack. The doc wanted to know Carter's emotional state at the time... Yeah, this definitely had echoes of before.
Seems Frasier'll stop at nothing to 'out' this stuff in front of Hammond, huh?
Look, just tell her...
O'Neill once again began to repeat Major Carter's words to the doctor, detailing her encounter with the alien artefact. "...Sitting just as you found her... She says the last thing she remembers thinking is that she wished she had Daniel's help translating it. She's pretty sure the coin just took her where she wanted - to see Daniel."
"And after that?" The General's soft southern tone chimed in.
"Well she looked in on you briefly," he nodded at Janet, "And then, uh, got stuck in Minnesota with me. Guess it's half my fault."
"We'll sort that out later. For now I'm concerned about the effect all this... Out-of-body-ing could have on Sam's mind."
O'Neill couldn't help but smirk. "That a technical term doc?"
She glared daggers at him before turning to the General. "Sir, with your permission I'm going to try to recreate the incident, with Sam's help, and see where that gets us."
General Hammond nodded, adding a cautionary, "No one else is to come into contact with that coin, okay?"
The operation went ahead. Carter's unblinking form was seated back at her desk before her beautiful microscope, and the coin, which had been swiftly quarantined, was placed back in her hand.
Okay, Carter, do your thing. Jack sent the thought to her, adding with a sarcastic twitch of the lips, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home!"
Sam focused her thoughts, remembering her earlier success in getting herself out of Egypt and back to the SGC. Surely this was just an extrapolation of that. She formed a mental picture of the view she would have from her own two eyes, felt herself descending...
Her eagle's eye view came abruptly down to human level again and she blacked out.
She opened her eyes to the blinding light of an opthalmascope and Janet's concerned voice.
"Major? Major, can you hear me?"
"I'm okay, Janet. I'm back in any case. Whoa, what a trip." She scanned the room. Everyone else was gone except for Janet. Off Sam's quizzical look, Janet pre-empted the question.
"He's in the infirmary. I was hoping it was something to do with him that was keeping you out of your head--" she stopped, catching another meaning to what she'd just said and smiling momentarily. "But I was beginning to think you weren't coming back. It's been hours."
Sam still grasped the alien coin in her hand. She took a pair of tweezers and held the artefact up to the light, "What the hell are you?" She asked it absently.
"Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out. Later. Right now you should come to the infirmary for a check." Janet's tone automatically held unquestionable authority. As chief medical officer, she could issue a direct order even to General Hammond if necessary. Sam went along without objection, pausing only to drop the troublesome coin into a sterile bag and replace it in the secure cabinet.
Walking through corridors, Sam turned to Janet. "The Colonel's undergoing tests because of me? Oh, he's gonna be seriously pissed--"
She didn't hear the doctor's reply, as instead O'Neill's indignant comment sounded in her mind. Uh, you could say that.
End of Part Three
