Silence seemed to permeate the room as all eyes focused on the doctor. The doctor looked around the large conference table. All eyes were focused on her, and she was sure that she had everyone's rapt attention. She placed her hands on her files and notes. Looking at each person in turn, she ended on The General.
"It appears as though The Ancient's device made quite a few changes to Alexander's genetic make-up." She glanced over at the young man, who was currently leaning forward in his chair. "From the results of the few tests we have performed, I feel it's important to say that, as of now, there is no evidence that Alexander is in any physical danger." A few people sighed in relief, though Xander hadn't moved from his position. Hell, she could swear the man hadn't even blinked since she began speaking.
"I do believe it's important to point out that this particular finding is not conclusive. Especially without further testing done. There has simply been too many changes to his body for that to be conclusive. Though I do feel, with a good deal of certainty, that further testing will show that he is in no physical danger."
General Hammond cleared his throat. "What changes have your tests shown?"
Dr. Frazier glanced between Xander and The General before placing her hands on top of her files once again. "If I could categorize, or perhaps surmise, what has been done to Alexander, I would say that the machine has evolved his genetic makeup."
Silence ascended throughout the room once again before it was quickly interrupted.
"So, he's still human?" Jack asked as Sam asked her question simultaneously, "So, what is he, homo superior?"
Janet looked at Jack first and said, "As far as I can tell, he is still very much human." She then glanced over at Sam. "I'm not sure what the next stage of evolution is, but from what I can surmise, I would say that he is actually a few stages, perhaps millions of years, more evolved than your average modern day homo sapiens."
Jack's eyes lit up, "Wow!" as Sam asked, "So how would we classify him?"
Surprisingly it was Daniel who spoke up. "Ancient." He noticed that everyone was looking at him. "I think we could classify him as an Ancient."
Before questions and scenarios could begin to form, General Hammond once again spoke up.
"We can speculate, and classify, all we want later." He looked around at the individuals of the room, noting that Xander hadn't said one word, he just seemed to be quietly soaking in all of the information. 'I can't believe he's keeping it together this well.' General Hammond had to admit that the young man was vastly impressing him. But, be that as it may, he pressed on.
"What I want to know now, is what specifically it is that has been done to him." He held up his hand as Dr. Frazier began, what looked like, a protest. "I understand you need to run more tests to come to any firm conclusions, but with the tests you have run, please let us know what you believe to have transpired."
Janet bit her bottom lip before complying. "Well, I believe the first thing we should look at is this." She got up and placed a disk into a computer terminal. After a moment a projection was displayed on a large white screen. "What we are looking at are T-cells, or better yet, helper T-cells." She looked back at her audience who were glancing back between her and the monitor. "The grouping on the left is from me, it looks similar to anyone in my age bracket with my health, which I am proud to say is quite good." She clicked a button on a remote as she walked towards the screen. "This grouping on the right belongs to Mr. Harris." She didn't notice the slight wince at the name, but he too was paying rapt attention to the screen. "You'll notice the fact that his sample has an extremely high number of helper T-cells, and they are all closely packed together." She looked back at the table, and while most of the occupants in the room knew that this was important, only Major Carter was staring at the screen with wide eyes and her mouth agape.
Janet sighed, "Look, T-cells are the corner stone to a person's health and physical condition. As you age the T-cells become less compact, and some will actually begin to degrade. This is a normal part of life, and the result of which is aging." The occupants in the room were glancing between the two samples, and she waited until all eyes were on her before continuing. "As we grow older, we have fewer and fewer helper T-cells. As a result our body begins to break down, we are more susceptible to disease, and a host of other ailments." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's the curse of aging." She hit another button on the remote and the sample on the right began to come to life. "What you are looking at now is what was recorded from our tests last night. You'll notice that my T-cells look to be inactive. That is because the process is slow." She smiled at them. "If it moved much faster we wouldn't be living nearly as long." She then turned back to Xander's sample, which was in motion. "At first I was concerned about this rapid activity. However, as you continue watching, you will notice that, while some T-cells do degrade and break off from the grouping, new helper T-cells are formed at a rapid pace. His T-cells remain tight and compact, and the process continually repeats itself." She turned to look at Xander. "Perhaps indefinitely." She placed the remote on the table and retook her seat.
General Hammond spoke up. "What exactly does this mean, Doctor?"
She looked at Xander. "From what Xander told me about this mission, it seems as though his regenerative capabilities are directly tied, or work just as well. While I haven't tested in it in any controlled settings, he seems to be able to heal at an extremely accelerated rate." She looked over at The General. "Though that is just speculation. And while this is also simply speculation, I don't see Xander dying of natural causes." She looked back at the young man who seemed to be having an introspective moment. "Ever."
The room was quiet again as all eyes turned to Xander. He didn't seem to take notice. In fact, it seemed as though his sole concentration was at the table in front of him. Though, every soul in that room knew all of his thoughts were reflected inwards.
Xander felt as though he should be going crazy at the moment, but for reasons he couldn't fathom, he felt a calm that simply shouldn't be there. He reflected on the past. He had been possessed more than once, and hell, he had almost been mutated into a 'fish man.' How was this any different?
Well, the difference here was that the process was complete here. And it wasn't magic that did it to him, it was technology. Could magic fix this? He didn't know how he knew, but he was sure that the answer to that question was a resounding 'No.'
Could he face The Scoobies now? Would they understand what was done to him? Would they even be cleared to know that something had happened, or would Uncle Sam be expecting this stay as classified as the Stargate project? There were so many questions, and so many unknowns. What else had been done to him. And how far would these people, or god forbid other people, go to find out?
He was in trouble and he knew it. If it wasn't from his own body, then it was from those around him. He had a good feeling that he could trust the people at Stargate Command, but they weren't at the top of the food chain. If it came down to it, would the President actually come down on his side. Sure he liked the guy, and was pretty sure the man held him in good regards, but he couldn't say for sure if The President would go to bat for him.
Another part of him wanted to make sure that The Scoobies remained safe and out of this. He only hoped that the few people who were cleared to know about them wouldn't get involved in this. But then again there were more immediate concerns. Such as what was going to happen now, and just what was done to him that they don't know about, and perhaps don't have the technology to learn? 'Oh hey, there's the panic!'
The voice of General Hammond brought him out of his musings.
"What else can you tell us Doctor?"
Xander brought his attention back to her.
"Well, there's quite a bit that can be related to the abundance, and tightly packed, helper T-cells, such as him having a perfect immune system. There's also the fact that while most blood samples need to have preservatives added to them, his blood seems to remain fresh even after taken from him. Whether that is due to the T-cells, I can't say." She gave Xander an apologetic smile as she noticed that he had a slightly odd look on his face when he heard that his blood would remain fresh after it left his body.
Xander shook his head. 'One more reason not to become food for a Vamp.' He glanced at The General, then at his other team members, and could tell that they were all having similar thoughts.
Janet didn't seem to catch this, as she got up from her chair, took the remote once again, and pressed the button that switched the picture. "What we are looking at here is the brain wave activity taken from the EKG last night. And, while I definitely want to do more testing here, and have a specialist take a look, you'll notice quite a few similarities to this EKG," She pressed the button again and a very similar one came on the other side of the screen. "And this EKG, which is the one we took when Colonel O'Neill had the Ancient's repository of knowledge downloaded into his mind."
This time it was Sam who was the first to speak up. "When that happened to Colonel O'Neill, it would have killed him without the Asgard's help. Is Xander's life in danger?"
Dr. Frazier shook her head. "I don't believe so." She pressed the button once more, and a new overhead view of the neural activity in his brain appeared. "When Colonel O'Neill had the knowledge downloaded into his mind, it began to overwhelm, or overload his brain. The images here show the brain activity going through different pathways. While he is using far more, if not all, of his brain, it isn't overwhelming him." She looked between Jack and Xander. "I don't think we have to worry about him shutting down."
Sam's eyes lit up. "Towards the end, the machine was focusing on his head. It must have been altering the pathways in his mind, evolving his actual brain."
Jack smiled at him and slapped him on the shoulder. "See, now you can actually use your brain."
Xander gave him a faint lopsided smile shaking his head. His attention went straight back to the table as Daniel spoke up.
"Ah, guys, I think that I have a fairly decent idea on what the machine did to him" He shrugged. "To a degree. And just as important, I think I know why it did it to him."
All eyes were now trained solely on Dr. Jackson. Just as he was about to begin, the telephone in the middle of the table began to ring. Jack quickly got up and answered it.
"Yes?"
"….."
"I see." He took the phone from his ear and gave it to The General. "It's for you."
Taking the phone, Hammond barked into the receiver.
"Hammond, this better be important."
"……." It didn't help matters when Hammond frowned into the phone.
"I see, send him in."
Hammond abruptly hung up the phone while looking at the occupants of the room. With a worried glance he ended on both Jack and Xander.
"That was the front gate." He shook his head. "Apparently an agent of the NID has arrived." He glanced at the worried members of SG-1, and a worried looking Dr. Frazier. "I'm not sure how they did it, and in such little time, but they apparently have some legal documents placing Mr. Harris into their custody."
For once Xander didn't care about being called Mr. Harris. This seemed to be his worst nightmare coming true.
