AN: Hey guys, so sorry this took me so long to get up. I was originally waiting for a certain number of reviews, then my computer went down and it took over a month for them to tell me that there is nothing wrong with it. Then I got caught up in a summer Spanish course then shortly after the fall semester started I joined the Maryland Defense Force and went to New Orleans with "Operation Lifeline" to lend medical support to the surrounding areas after Katrina. Then RL really kicked my ass. As you can see I've been a bit busy, and I do apologize, I had intended for this to be up no later then a week after the other part was posted. Ok shutting up now, on with the story...
(OH wait, I'm having computer and internet issues here lately and figured I'd better just post it before everything crashes and I lose it all. So if your picky about spelling and grammar then hold off a while, I'm going to try and get it beta'd then repost)
Jack awoke to the sound of a fire crackling in the pre-dawn light. He shifted onto his back allowing a few tears to escape as he recalled the previous night's events. Sitting up he scrubbed his face, erasing the sleep and tears from his eyes. He didn't want to get up, this was a day he prayed he'd never see. It was bad when Daniel had 'died' but even then he had a chance to say good-bye, to understand, and to know Daniel was simply moving on. This, this was Sam, she hadn't ascended like Daniel. Her cold body was still in the lab waiting for a team to come for it.
The smell of coffee pulled him from his thoughts. Teal'c must have lit a fire and started coffee for everyone—Daniel wouldn't be up to performing that particular task. Shrugging into his shirt Jack stood and exited his tent. The fire was fairly large—its warmth welcoming. Teal'c was no where to be seen so Jack bent down and helped himself to some coffee.
"Sir! I'm sorry, I hope I didn't wake you."
Jack stood slowly and turned around clutching his coffee cup.
"DOC!"
"Damn it Colonel!" Janet yelled seconds before popping out of her tent intent on chewing out Jack for his early morning rudeness. Instead she froze, unsure what to do or say. Daniel practically ran into her back.
"Janet, what?" Daniel looked to where Janet was staring. "Oh my god."
"What?"
"Sam?" Janet slowly approached the other woman, reaching out until she made contact with her arm. "Oh my god."
"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" Sam was looking from face to stunned face. "And while you're at it explain why the hell I woke up with an ice cube blanket! I've been up for hours and I'm still not warm!"
"Sammy?"
Sam spun to see her father rushing toward her. Janet barely had time to step out of the way as Jacob grabbed up his daughter in a bone crushing hug.
"Dad, oxygen issues." Sam squeaked.
"How?" Jacob asked as he put her down, though not totally releasing her.
"I swear to God if someone doesn't start talking. . ."
"What's the last thing you remember?" Janet asked.
"We were working in the lab. The second set of samples were almost finished. . .there was a sharp pain in my side and my head was throbbing." Sam's face scrunched up as she tried to recall more. "Next thing I know, ice blanket."
"We have all contracted the virus Sam, that's why you were in pain."
"The virus didn't produce symptoms like I was experiencing."
"Yea well since when have you ever done anything the easy way Carter?"
"So I was sick?" Everyone nodded. "The ice bath then, you were trying to bring down my fever?"
"The ice was to preserve your body." Teal'c stated.
"My body? As in. . ."
"Dead. Again." Jack frowned remembering the first time she had died—at his hand.
"That's not possible, I feel fine. Cold, but fine."
"Come on." Janet said leading her toward the lab. "Let's get to the bottom of this."
"Ooo, you're gonna get it Carter! A big one! Right in the butt!" Jack called after them, a huge smile on his face. Turning to the others he said, "She's back!"
"Janet did I really die?"
"Yes you did. I truly wish you guys would stop doing this to me."
"I'm sorry," Sam joked, "next time I'll just stay dead."
"Major Carter that is not even funny." Janet said brandishing a butterfly needle. "Arm. I want to know what's going on."
"You and me both. Manticore was good but not that good."
"This will take a while."
"We can work on the other samples while we're waiting."
"Sam you've been out for a while." Janet picked up the data printouts and handed them to Sam.
They spent the better part of the following hour going over the data with Janet filling her in on Earth and the Tok'ra scare.
"Janet, what are the chances this is naturally occurring?" Sam asked.
"They've been doing some drilling with the Tok'ra tunnel crystals. There's the off chance they've hit on a dormant virus deep underground. If so it could have then seeped into the underground water supply." Janet trailed off for a second before continuing on a different line of thought. "Of course it is also possible that it was deliberately introduced. Either way it would take months to track down the source."
"How could it have been done deliberately?"
"Something like seeding the clouds, contaminated rain would seep into the ground getting into the under ground water supply eventually. But that's just one way, there could be hundreds of ways of introducing it to this planet's water supply." The sound of the printer drew Janet's attention. Moving to the printer she continued, "Besides, right now I'm more concerned with you and finding a cure for us then finding out who or what caused it."
"But Janet this is a Tok'ra world, if this was a Goa'uld attack they need to know."
"My God."
"I know, thousands could . . ."
"What? No, Sam look." Janet handed Sam the papers from the print out.
"They're all dead. Well most of them."
"Nothing I have tried has even slowed them down. Sam what ever happened to you, you're immune."
"Will you be able to create a cure now?"
"Give me a few hours and I'll know for sure but yes I should be able to create a cure." Janet grabbed her kit. "I need more blood"
"Geez what are you trying to suck me dry?" Sam joked as she rolled up her sleeve. "Do you need my help? I'd like to go collect some samples and start trying to figure out how this was introduced."
"I'll be fine." Janet removed the needle and turned to grab a band aid, when she turned back Sam was gone.
"Hey Sam." Daniel greeted her as she exited the lab. "Everything turn out alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine, but I need a favor from you guys. Where's everyone?"
"Right here Carter. Glad to see your still up and about."
"Thank you sir."
"What's up?"
"Since we know how the virus is spreading I'd like to try and figure out how the water was infected. Could you and Teal'c head east two or three kliks and get me a sample? Dad you and Daniel go south."
"I think we can handle that. Water or soil?"
"Soil but if you're near a body of water grab me a sample of that too. Don't go out of your way for it though."
"What about you?" Jacob asked taking the sample kit Sam handed him.
"I'm going to head west then over to the village."
"Are you sure you're okay to go?" Jacob asked.
"Yea Carter you were dead a few hours ago."
"I'm fine guys. Now go, I want to start on these samples as soon as you get back."
sgcsgcsgcsgc
Sam quickly made her way through the trees moving as quickly as she could, then headed to the village. She slowed to a walk as she approached the edge of the woods. The villagers looked at her curiously but no one stopped to talk to her. At the center of the village stood a well, right where she remembered it. When she started to lower the bucket a woman approached her.
"Dear, it is the dry season, and it has been much worse then in the past. The water level has dropped below the reach of the bucket. If you are in need of water I have a jug at my home, you are welcome to some."
"That is very kind, but I will pass. I just need to retrieve a sample." Sam smiled at the woman as she nodded and walked away.
Sam lowered the bucket all the way then hopped up onto the edge of the well. Grabbing the rope she gave it a good tug. Satisfied she carefully began descending the rope into the well. As she made her way deeper she began to notice a strange odor, it was quite strong by the time her foot first made contact with the bucket. Sam placed her foot in the bucket, glad it was large enough, and perched on one leg while looking around. It was fairly dark, but her enhanced vision easily caught a strange looking residue on the sides of the well. Removing a collection tube from her blouse Sam used her pocket knife to scrape as much as the stuff as she could into the tube before turning her attention to the water about three feet below her reach. Sealing the tube tightly she placed it in the bottom of the bucket next to her foot, opening her last tube she calculated the distance and then carefully wrapped her other foot in the rope before flipping herself upside. Unfortunately while the rope was still quite sturdy the bucket was not. The wood holding one side of the rope snapped causing the bucket to turn and Sam so slide several feet lower before regaining her footing and dunking her head and shoulders below the cool water.
Agitated she stayed under, simply intent on taking the sample while she was there. Opening her eyes she caught a glimpse of her other sample sinking slowly. Grabbing it she slipped it into a buttoned pocket, collected the water sample and placed it in there as well before righting herself and shaking the water from her hair. Checking one last time to make sure her samples were still secure-she certainly did not want to go swimming down into the well but she would if there were any tubes missing. There were all there so she quickly and easily climbed up the rope, surprising several passing men as she popped up over the edge then trotted off toward camp.
"Sam!" Janet was alarmed to see Sam rush in dripping wet. "What happened to you?"
"Equipment failure. Dunked myself in the well getting my last sample."
"Jesus Sam. Did you miss the part where I told you it was in the water?"
"You also said I was immune."
"You'd better hope I was right. Damn it if you die again." Janet let her sentence trail off not sure how to finish it.
"I'll be fine. How's the cure coming along?"
"We'll know in a little while." Janet stood and wavered slightly.
"Janet, what did you do?"
"We had to test it on someone, everyone else was gone. Besides, I hate asking other's to risk themselves."
"Of all the. . ." Sam scoped Janet up and carried her into the lab, placing her on a cot. "The reason we volunteer is because you are needed in the off chance it doesn't work."
"Well this is a good sign." Janet said through chattering teeth.
"Yea, great, I died after this part. Janet your body may not be able to handle. . ."
"Sam I knew what I was doing." Janet said, her eyes growing heavy. "Besides, if the worst happens you'll be able to work out the kinks."
Sam frowned as Janet's breathing evened out in sleep. She went over and poured some of their water in a bowl then dropped a clean rag in it. Wringing most of the water out she then placed it over her friend's forehead trying to keep her comfortable. That's how Jacob and Daniel found them several hours.
"Sam what happened?"
"She believes she found a cure, so she tested it out on herself. I think her fever broke a little while ago, she'd been extremely restless until then. Would one of you sit here while I check out the samples I took from her?"
"Sure." Daniel took the rag from Sam and sat on the edge of Janet's cot.
Sam moved to the counter and picked up the slide she had made moments before. Placing it under the microscope Sam held her breath, afraid of what she might see. She looked for a second then pulled back and sagged against the counter.
"Sam?" Jacob moved next to her, placing a comforting hand on her back.
"It worked. The virus is dead, her body's already breaking it down." Sam turned to face him. "God Dad she took such a stupid risk."
"Yea? She must be hanging around you too much."
"What?"
"Sam you've obviously been here for a while, you went to two places to our one. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how that happened."
"I'm a big girl."
"I know. And I'm your Dad, it's my job to worry about you."
"And I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Hey campers!" Jack said as he bounded into the lab. "We. . .Obviously missed something. What's going on?"
"Janet found the cure." Jacob announced.
"Ah, good news! But I don't believe it is nap worthy news." Jack said, the bounce in his step giving no doubt he was more happy then anything.
"She tested it on herself. It apparently has some nasty side effects."
"I swear! You scientists will be the death of me!"
"Technically Sir Janet's a doctor."
"Same damn thing." Jack grumbled. "So the cure sucks. What do we do now?"
"There should be enough materials here to make enough of the cure, however you guys should probably wait until we go home to take it. I can't carry everything back by myself."
"You sure we have to take it? I mean I feel fine." Jack whined.
"Yes sir." Sam got up and relieved Jack of his samples. "I'll start producing the cure while I work with these samples. Why don't you guys go start dinner?"
"Ma'am, yes Ma'am!" Jack snapped off a crisp salute, giving her a hard time for handing out the orders in a manner all his own, then performed a perfect about face before marching out of the lab.
Jacob watched, a grin on his face. "So, what are these other samples for? I mean you already have the cure."
"Yes we do, but I'm worried about how the water was infected."
"Didn't Janet say it could have been a natural event?" Daniel asked.
"It's possible, that's why I wanted soil samples and not water. If the rain water was contaminated there will be traces in the soil."
"But what does that prove, I mean if it's in the water, water evaporates and then rains down, so it should be in the soil."
"Well yes, but Janet had mentioned intentional introduction, possible seeding the clouds. If that's the case then I'd expect there to be a higher concentration in the soil."
"So you think it's deliberate?"
"I don't know, but I think it's important enough to find out." Sam moved over to the samples the guys collected. "I've got a lot to do, if you guys will excuse me."
"Sure thing." Daniel said, grabbing Jacob by the sleeve and tugging him to the door. "We'll help Jack."
Once they were outside Jacob pulled his arm free. "Daniel you do realize that last night my little was dead and now she's not and I haven't had five minutes alone with her since?"
"Hey take it easy there Jacob." Jack said, ignoring the glare sent his way. "This has happened before. . ."
"Oh really?" Jacob snapped.
"Actually yes. We've all died once or twice. She does this, gets all involved in the problem at hand and deals with the dying thing later. Daniel did the right thing."
"I think I know what's right when it comes to my daughter."
"That is true." Teal'c said. "However in this case it would be most wise not to force MajorCarter into something she does not wish."
"Why? Are you afraid she'll brake down on a mission? Not finish the cure? Sam's better than that."
"Indeed. The mission would not suffer. I believe the proper Tau'ri expression is 'she would tear your head off'."
"She wanted to be alone." Daniel continued, trying to explain a little better then his team mates had. "She's worried about Janet, she ahs to reproduce the cure on her own, plus she's looking into possible sabotage to this planet's water supply, not to mention working through her own death. She has a lot on her mind right now, she was asking to be alone without actually saying the words. It's the way she works."
"What is this about sabotage?"
"Ah Atmin, why is it the strays always turn up at dinner time?" Jack asked.
"I did not come to join you for the evening meal. The council wishes to know of your progress."
"Dr. Fraiser has created a cure and tested it successfully. Sam's in there reproducing it now."
"This is wonderful news."
"It is." Jacob said. "Would you care to join me? I was just about to go inform the villagers of the cure."
"But Jacob, dinner's almost done." Jack pointed toward the pouches of steaming MRE's.
"I know, that's why I'm leaving." Jacob stood from his seat by the fire. "I'll be staying in town tonight. Selmac wants to catch up with an old friend."
"Why Jacob you old Dog!" Jack smirked.
"Watch it Colonel." Jacob smiled as he and Atmin headed toward the village.
"So," Daniel said breaking the silence that had descended up on the trio, "who's taking Sam her dinner?"
"Not it." Teal'c blurted out. Daniel and Jack's heads jerked around. "Is that not the proper response? I do not wish to attempt to distract MajorCarter from her work. She can be very vocal in her displeasure about being disturbed."
"Huh. Well I agree T that's why I didn't even bother heating her one up."
"Jack she needs to eat."
"Yes I know that Daniel. I also know that when she's like this only the Doc can get her to slow down long enough to take care of herself."
"True, but Janet will be pissed when she finds out."
"I'm not telling her and Sam won't tell her."
"She'll find out." Daniel said grimly.
sgcsgcsgcsgc
Jack carefully entered the lab.
"Is dinner done already Sir?" Sam asked without looking up.
"Damn it. How the hell did you know I was in here?"
"Besides being able to hear your heart breathing and you breathing I could smell you."
"I do not stink."
"I think that may be up for debate Sir. We've all been here for a while without access to adequate bathing water. But it's your soap. You, Daniel, and Teal'c all use different soap."
"Oh, right."
"I'll be out in a few minutes for dinner Sir. I'm sort of in the middle of this."
"What? No, Carter it's 0117. I came in to see how things are going and how the Doc's doing."
"Janet woke up a while ago. She was tired but coherent, I gave her some water, got her changed and put her in my cot. She sweated through her clothes and the cot, I didn't want her staying there. The cure is easy to make, I should have enough made by morning for everyone plus several dozen extra doses just incase." Sam took a deep breath and turned to face him. "There is small trace amounts of the contaminated in the soil and the water sample you brought me from the stream. However, there is a large amount present in the stuff I scrapped off the well wall. It's looking like someone dumped the virus in there. They were probably just trying to kill the villagers but they managed to contaminate the entire underground water supply. I was actually going to go talk to Dad after I set up this next batch of cure."
"He's in the village for the night. Selmac had some catching up to do."
"Oh, well then If that's it I'd like to get back to this."
"Yea. Right." Jack started for the door then stopped and turned back. "I let you get away with missing dinner but you will report to breakfast."
Before Sam could say anything he was out the door. A few minutes later the door opened again.
"I will be there for breakfast Sir." Sam called over her shoulder just seconds before she was hit by a zat blast which sent her to the floor. As she lay there a figure stepped into her field of vision.
"I really wish you hadn't discovered the well. I thought I'd hidden the entry method quite well. The Tok'ra never thought to check it." Atmin stared down at her. "Of course I may have also lied and said I did."
Sam, hearing all she needed to hear, swept his feet out from under him. Not expecting it he hit the floor, hard, the zat skidding across the floor. They were both right back on their feet, Sam threw the first punch, hitting him with much more force then he expected. The fight was fast and hard and both managed to land several solid blows. Atmin kept close enough that Sam was unable to use her feet which would have given her more of an advantage.
Janet woke up to the sounds of the fighting. Her fist thought was to run for help but she was having difficulty simply sitting up. Atmin saw the movement and was distracted enough that Sam landed a devastating blow to his chin which sent him sprawling on the floor unmoving. When he didn't get up Sam started looking around for something to tie him up. She was breathing hard and had her back toward Atmin when she heard Janet scream out a warning. Sam turned to see the metal lab stool just as it impacted the side of her face, swung with the full force of a pissed off Goa'uld. There was a sickening crunch and the slight buzzing of the metal stool vibrating followed by Sam hitting and denting the wall before falling motionless to the floor. Atmin brought the stool up for another blow when he was enveloped in the blue energy of a zat, he turned and saw Janet as he fell convulsing to the floor.
Teal'c burst into the lab, staff weapon ready as he took in the scent before him. Sam was by the wall, a pool of blood forming under her head, Atmin laying unmoving not two feet away, and Janet kneeling five feet from her cot, desperately clutching a zat in her shaking hands. Daniel and Jack burst in almost running into the unmoving Teal'c.
"Shit." Jack swore as he quickly took in the scene before him then rushing over to Sam's side-Daniel heading toward Janet.
"What happened?" he asked her as he carefully pried the zat from her fingers.
Janet looked blankly at him then to Teal'c who was securing Atmin. A moan from the corner brought her out of her daze. Her eyes sharpened as she focused on the wall where Sam was trying to get away from Jack who was trying to keep her from getting up. Janet went to stand but her legs weren't cooperating with her.
"Help me Daniel." Janet said before shouting at Jack. "Let her be Colonel, go get me gauze and some pressure bandages.
By the time they got there Sam was sitting up and blindly reaching out. Janet grabbed Sam's hand, grounding her.
"Janet?"
"Yeah it's me Sam."
"Get out of here, Atmin poisoned the water, I think he's a Goa'uld."
"I know Sam, we got him."
"We?" Sam scanned the room squinting.
"Yes, we. Can you see?"
"It's all fuzzy. I can see shapes, blobs." Sam's grip tightened on Janet's hand as she used it to keep herself upright.
"Sam?"
"Dizzy."
"Here Doc." Jack handed her a pile of gauze and a few bandages.
"Thank you." Janet said. "Sam I want you to lie down. You have a nasty laceration to your head and you're bleeding out. I'm going to clean you up and put in some sutures. Can you stay with me long enough for that?"
"Yea sure." Sam lowered herself to the floor with Janet's help.
"Daniel I need you to clean off the blood as best as you can. Colonel go get me a suture kit."
Daniel cleaned it and applied pressure as they waited for Jack then again as they waited for the area to numb.
"Sam?"
"Humm?"
"Can you feel this?"
"Feel what?"
"Good. I'm going to start suturing this, don't move alright?"
"Sure. I'll sleep here. Here's comfy."
"Janet what happened?" Daniel asked as she finished with Sam's head and Teal'c carried her still form to the cot.
"I woke up to them fighting. Sam knocked him out and I think she was looking for something to secure him with when he jumped up and bashed her head with the stool. God Daniel he hit her so hard she dented the wall! If it'd been you or me, we wouldn't have gotten up."
"Speaking of, are you planning on sitting there all day Doc?" Jack asked.
"Honestly I don't think I can get up."
Jack looked at her and realized she was shaking all over. Daniel must have noticed too because he moved to her right side to help her up while Jack had moved to the left. They carefully helped her to the empty cot where she promptly passed out.
"Well this is a fine mess." Jack muttered as he looked around, his eyes setting on the wall and the small pool of blood below it.
"I have secured Atmin O'Neill." Teal'c said as he re-entered the lab.
"Is he awake?"
"He is not."
"Good. Come on, we need to clean up that blood some. I don't want either of them waking up and trying to do it themselves." Jack sighed. "Then we're bringing two cots in here, we'll take turns guarding until Jacob gets here."
"There is no need O'Neill. I have already preformed kel'nor'reem for the night, I am capable of watching over Atmin."
"Alright, but were still bunking in here in case they need anything. Oh and T? don't kill him alright?"
"I will do my best O'Neill."
sgcsgcsgcsgc
"Teal'c, why is Atmin tied up?" Jacob asked. "And why does he look like he's been beaten within an inch of his life?"
"I regret to inform you that Atmin is no Tok'ra but a Goa'uld." Teal'c answered.
"Did you do this to him?"
"I did not." Teal'c replied, clearly bothered by his lack of vengeance. "He attacked MajorCarter after she discovered the virus had been introduced to these people through their town's well."
"Sam? Is she alright?"
"I believe she will be fine however she has yet to regain consciousness."
"What!" Jacob rushed into the lab only to have the door smack into something when it was merely half way open. "What the hell?"
"Ack! That's my line." Mumbled Jack as he sat up in his displaced bed.
"Jack what are you doing?"
"Keep it down." Jack said pushing Jacob out of the lab. "Sam's a little beat up, she should be fine."
"What do you mean should be?"
"Fraiser stitched up a fairly large gash in her head but she practically collapsed herself afterward."
Jack and Teal'c filled Jacob in completely as they stood near Atmin. Jacob listened, his face twisting in anger, when Jack explained the bulge on the side of the lab he lost it and started screaming at a very smug looking Atmin.
"Who do you serve? What purpose do they have in destroying these people? How the HELL did you think you'd get away with attacking my daughter?"
"I serve no one. The Tok'ra have become weak, as have you Selmac, for them to hold a planet and it's people so close to their hearts."
"You heard me, weak, so I took it upon myself to remove this weakness before it festered out of control."
"What are you talking about?" Jack was truly confused.
"To be so emotionally attached is a weakness. I am making us strong again."
"Us?"
"I believe Atmin is indeed Tok'ra." Teal'c stated.
"A crazy one maybe." Jack muttered.
"Why did you attack Sam?"
"Another weakness, one too smart for her own good. She discovered the well, she was creating a cure. You are on the council, the council should have no weakness, this too needed to be taken care of."
"She's my daughter you bastard!" Jacob yelled as he punched Atmin square in the nose, his head smacking back into the tree once again knocking him out.
Jacob then stormed into the lab, the door slamming into the cot causing both Daniel and Janet to startle awake. He marched over to Sam's side and took out his healing device, easily activating it. Several minutes later Daniel, who had moved over to sit next to Janet, looked concerned.
"Should it be taking this long?"
"Probably. I was very concerned about a skull fracture, although I wasn't quite up to par. Honestly I don't remember finishing with the sutures."
"Well," Jack said as he stood watching the soft glow "we always did say you could do those in your sleep."
The light from the device cut off and Jacob looked down at his now healed daughter, confusion clearly playing across his features. "Why isn't she waking up?"
Janet stood on shaky legs, Daniel at her side offering a steadying arm, and made her way over to her friend. Taking her pulse she found it fluttering rapidly beneath her fingertips.
"She's been through a lot, and she lost quite a bit of blood from that head wound. Her pulse's racing, a good indicator that she's still low on blood volume. Her heart is working overtime to try and keep up due to the loss." Janet sighed. "If it was anyone other then Sam I'd have blood hanging but she should be fine in a few hours. If not less."
"Any of us can give her blood if she needs. . ."
"No Daniel, if she was in any real danger we would have known by now." Janet paused looking around the lab. "If you could find my clothes I would appreciate it, I need to start making up the vaccine so we can get these people well."
"Actually Carter was almost through." Jack said from the door. "Said she'd have enough plus extra by morning."
Janet made her way over to where Sam had neatly stored several cases of the vaccine. Doing some rough calculations Janet turned to the others.
"There's almost double the amount needed here."
"Great, let's start handing them out and get home!" Jack smiled.
"It will take a while Sir. This will have to be administered in groups. We can't give it to everyone all at once or there will be no one able to take care of them while they are recovering."
"About that." Jack rubbed his head, "is there any way to fix the side effects? Maybe before we go home?"
"Not without years of fine tuning." Janet looked at the door. "Is there a fire lit?"
"Yea."
"Good." Janet went outside, stood next tot the fire, directly in the smoke's path and took several deep breaths.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I need to know if I can be re-infected. If I can then these people are going to need to relocate."
"Could you please stop putting yourself directly in harms way like this Doc? Hammond's going to have my hide."
"I'm the only one who took the vaccine."
"Yeah well we're going to talk about that too."
"Yes sir, but for now I'm going to freshen up then draw Sam and my blood to see if we're still clean. After that we can start dispersing it."
"Why Sam's?" Jacob asked.
"She dunked herself in the well."
"Not the town's well." Daniel looked shocked.
"Of course it was. Only Sam could find the original source and manage to literally submerge herself in it."
sgcsgcsgcsgc
"So this is no longer a threat to the people of Isard?" General Hammond asked.
"No Sir. Once they received the vaccine they could no longer be infected."
"What happened to Atmin?"
"The Tok'ra questioned him. It turns out his mate of 400 years was killed because of the carelessness of another. Atmin went crazy taking his host with him." Jacob answered. "Unfortunately they were killed after they escaped and attempted to attack the council."
"And Major Carter?"
I've put her through numerous tests. The best I can tell her body simply rebooted when it couldn't get rid of the virus. The virus feeds off the body, while Major Carter's immune system managed to produce an effective antibody to kill the virus it wasn't working quickly enough. Removing the source of food killed off the remaining virus."
"That's pretty dramatic, even for Manticore standards."
"I don't think this was something they intentionally programmed, more like some form of side effect. I have come across nothing in the materials from Manticore that suggests this ability, or even hints at why she can do it."
"How are you?"
"I'm suffering no ill effects from the vaccine. It took nearly 24 hours to feel human again afterward but other than that I have been fine. That's why it took us so long to administer the cure."
"I understand. Thank you Doctor, that will be all."
"Sir?"
"Yes?"
"I'd like to request some down time."
"You're starting a weeks leave in two days."
"Yes sir, however Colonel O'Neill has just received the vaccine, I'd prefer not to be anywhere near the mountain when he regains consciousness."
END