Teal'c was concerned.
It had been several hours since Daniel Jackson had spoken with them. In that time, O'Neill had gathered the team and bid the archaeologists goodbye, driving to the military airbase with all speed. Teal'c himself understood the other man's worry – Daniel Jackson would be much safer back in the security of the SGC.
Thoughts of the traitor flickered through his mind, and Teal'c's fists clenched in impotent fury. This time, Daniel Jackson would be properly watched over, and such would not occur again.
Teal'c glanced over to where the archaeologist in question was leaning against the wall of the military transport, blinking slowly. It was almost afternoon, and it appeared that the alarming energy that Daniel Jackson had exhibited as a side effect of the drugs he had been subjected to was finally wearing off. The young man was nearly a picture definition of the Tau'ri euphemism 'burned out'. There were dark circles under dull eyes, standing out harshly in his pale face. Teal'c could not see all the bruises, for Daniel Jackson had his arms tightly folded across his chest, but a few greenish-yellow marks were visible. It was almost sickeningly reminiscent of when the archaeologist had returned from the mental institution.
Major Carter sat next to Daniel, but not too close. Whenever she got within a foot of him, he would tense, and it was obvious that he was fighting the instinct to curl up on himself.
"Daniel, do you want some coffee?" she asked quietly, holding a mug out. She was openly startled when he shook his head, refusing the offer. O'Neill glanced away for a moment, and when he turned back his lips were tight.
The three conversed quietly, and Teal'c joined the conversation, telling Daniel Jackson of inconsequential things that had happened in Colorado Springs during his absence. As intended, the archaeologist dropped into sleep not long after they began speaking, lulled by soft voices.
O'Neill glanced at the sleeping scientist for a moment, judging the depth of his slumber, before he nodded grimly at the others.
The remainder of the flight passed in relieved quietude. The three members of SG-1 were too wary to rejoice just yet at having Daniel back, but there was an ease in the air that had been missing on their journey to Israel.
When they landed several hours later, O'Neill insisted that they let Daniel sleep, and brought the car into the hangar. Teal'c gently transferred the unconscious archaeologist into the backseat, and Major Carter slipped in next to him to buckle his seat belt. The drive to the mountain was comfortably silent, each person in the car becoming more relaxed and confident the closer they came to Cheyanne. Finally, passing security and parking, O'Neill smiled at his team in the rear-view mirror. "Well, looks like we made it."
Major Carter grinned, and Teal'c's lips twitched upward in a small, satisfied smile.
"Daniel? Wake up," Major Carter coaxed, gently shaking the archaeologist's arm. She called him a little louder when he didn't so much as twitch. "Daniel?" she shook him harder, but the archaeologist didn't react. Her voice gradually rose, as she continued calling him, and a frown rose up on her features. O'Neill had opened the car door, and gently smacked Daniel's cheeks. Even that did not elicit a response. Concerned, Major Carter felt his pulse, and jumped in surprise. "Sir!"
"Speak to me, Carter," O'Neill ordered tersely.
"We need Janet. His pulse is racing, but he isn't sweating or fevered. We can't wake him. Something's wrong."
"Teal'c!" his CO snapped, pointing to the guards.
Without further instruction, Teal'c ran to the security area and commandeered the phone. His call down to the Infirmary gave them seven minutes of panicked waiting before Janet arrived with a team and a stretcher. Teal'c could see the shock on his teammates' faces; he was battling dismay himself. They were so close, in the mountain itself, and had been too confident of their safety.
SG-1, or three-fourths of it at any rate, was forced to wait for the elevator to descend to the Infirmary with Daniel, before being able to follow.
"Screw this," O'Neill hissed, moving for the stairs. It was slower, but at least they were going in the right direction.
By the time they reached the Infirmary, Janet was drawing blood, but she'd seen the needle marks. "Do you know what they gave him?" she snapped the minute SG-1 set foot in the door.
"Glutamate," Major Carter replied immediately. "They told him that what they gave him was an engineered glutamate isotope."
Dr. Frasier nodded curtly, and began calling to various nurses, demanding a specific array of drugs. The frenzied activity began to calm, and Teal'c could see O'Neill daring to take a breath, slumping a little as the situation was revealed to be completely in the Doctor's control.
At that moment, the klaxons went off. "SG-1 report to the control room. SG-1 report to the control room."
"And it's another fun-filled day at the SGC," O'Neill snarled. The guards at the security checkpoint must have been ordered to alert Hammond as soon as they arrived. Major Carter shrugged. None of them moved. Dr. Frasier caught sight of them, staunchly planted just far away enough to avoid summary dismissal. "Go," she said.
Teal'c looked at the archaeologist. The noise of the klaxons had not disturbed Daniel Jackson in the slightest, which in turn disturbed each member of his team.
"SG-1, report to the control room immediately. SG-1, report to the control room immediately."
"Go, now!" Dr. Frasier snapped. "I'll keep you informed."
Accepting her word, Teal'c led the way out the door, and SG-1 broke into a jog, sprinting to the control room. Once there, it was plain to see that Major Carter's expertise was called for. The wormhole was . . . flickering was the only word to describe it.
"What's happening?" she asked Siler, sitting before the diagnostic computer.
"SG-2 was returning from P89-647. The 'gate was located in a country called . . . Kelowna, by the locals. Ferretti pulled out when he heard about the dynamic political situation; the three major countries there are locked in an arms race. SG-2 just got through when . . . this started happening," Davis explained rapidly.
Teal'c listened, somewhat concerned, as he gazed at the 'gate.
"Radiation levels are rising," Major Carter murmured, frowning worriedly. "Close the iris."
The event horizon, which seemed to be sputtering in and out, was blocked from view.
"Levels are still rising." There was a hint of surprise, and a bit of apprehension, in the Major's tone.
O'Neill moved to the intercom. "Evacuate the 'Gate room, now!"
SF's streamed out of the room at the order.
"Radiation still rising. We have to cut the connection."
"Major?"
"General Hammond," Major Carter replied, keeping her eyes on the screen. "I recommend emergency shut-down procedures. This radiation levels are rising exponentially, with no sign of slowing – in fact, the rate of increase is accelerating. The iris won't provide adequate protection for long."
Hammond nodded, and Teal'c stood back. "Colonel, emergency shut down protocol."
"Yes, sir," O'Neill responded. The two officers swiftly input security codes, effectively locking out and protecting the computer systems. The colonel ran to the power main, slamming it shut and cutting all power to the 'gate, mere seconds after Major Carter had begun to speak.
The sudden silence, broken only by the noise of the control room staff heaving a collective sigh, was deafening.
Hammond looked over the control room staff, counting his team members. "SG-1, where's Dr. Jackson?" he asked quietly.
The team members exchanged glances before O'Neill responded, obviously subdued, "He's in the Infirmary."
Hammond glared at no one in particular, yet the whole staff somehow contrived to be busily occupied. "I'll expect a full report."
"Yes, sir," came simultaneous responses from Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter.
"Indeed," Teal'c answered.
"Colonel O'Neill, if you and your team would accompany me to the debriefing room, I'd like you to be present when we debrief SG-2, to see if you can add anything to their report about how and why the 'gate might have malfunctioned."
O'Neill nodded, and SG-1 followed Hammond into the briefing room. Teal'c, O'Neill and Carter listened quietly while Ferretti elucidated the situation for the General.
"The Kelownans seemed to be on a technological level near to ours, but they were locked into an arms race with the two other countries that comprised the planet's continents. I was hesitant to start trade negotiations, given what I knew of the Eurondan situation." Ferretti paused, glancing somewhat nervously at O'Neill, but SG-1 didn't react. "When I heard that they were in the process of building a bomb made out of a recently discovered material several floors below us, I thought it would be prudent to withdraw and discuss the situation with you, sir."
"And once your team came through the 'gate we began noticing the strange wormhole phenomena," the General mused, closing the report folder in front of him.
"Captain," Major Carter began, leaning forward in her seat and fixing her attention on Ferretti. "What more can you tell us about the material they were building the bomb out of?"
Ferretti shrugged. "They were already aware of naquadah, Major. This new material was recently discovered, and the officials we spoke to had high hopes of its offensive potential, even beyond the capabilities of naquadah."
"Major?" Hammond asked.
"The radiation measured coming through the wormhole was incredibly potent, sir. It was almost something I would expect finding in the blast range of a bomb, although this was many times stronger than any naquadah-enhanced bomb we might be able to construct."
"Major, are you suggesting that the bomb the Kelownans were constructing may have somehow gone off?"
Major Carter shrugged expressively. "The Kelownans admittedly knew very little about the material they were working with, sir, aside from it's potential destructive capabilities. They were experimenting with it by attempting to create an explosive device. That is dangerous and difficult work in any situation, without the added political pressure from a global arms race. Accidents have been known to happen."
"Can you make any speculations as to the range of the disaster, in that instance?" Hammond asked.
Major Carter stared down at the table. "With the radiation levels coming through the wormhole, and since the Stargate was located almost directly at ground zero, at a guess I would say that the blast radius probably exceeded forty miles. Assuming the planet is approximate to the size of Earth, the radiation would spread worldwide. The blast itself could disrupt planetary orbit, especially given the resultant chain reaction blasts that would occur if any more of the material was within the blast range. The atmosphere would likely be polluted beyond breathing from the expelled dirt and dust from the explosion, blocking whatever solar radiation the surface received. Accordingly, the temperature would plummet, quite possibly in a revival of the ice age. As a result -"
Somewhat horrified at the violently destructive picture she was painting, everyone at the table was surprised when Hammond cut in. "Major, could you summarize for us, please?"
Major Carter lifted her eyes to meet those of the base's commanding officer. "Sir, even if the people of this planet were immune to the effects of radiation, the resultant effects of the explosion would approximate the conditions laid down during the end-Permian period mass extinction of Earth, which was many times more extreme than the more well-known extinction of dinosaurs at the end of the Triassic period. It would be . . . an Armageddon, sir."
Ferretti was white to the lips, his hands clenched on the table's edge. "It looks like we made it out just in time, then," he murmured. The rest of his team looked shaky, and surveying SG-2, Hammond apparently came to the same decision Teal'c did.
"SG-2, you're on stand down for the next week. Light duties only. Major Carter, would you attempt to connect to the Kelownans once more? We need to verify the situation if the Stargate is still intact."
Nodding once, Hammond moved to the control room, followed by SG-1. SG-2 left to receive their post-mission physicals and to hit the showers.
Ten minutes later, it was apparent that the SGC was utterly cut off from the people of Kelowna.
"Seventh chevron – will not lock."
Major Carter sighed. "That's the third time."
"Shut it down," the quiet command came from Hammond, who was still staring at the inactive Stargate. "I want those coordinates locked out of the dialing computer, as well."
Major Carter frowned. "We've seen Stargates in full working order during black holes, after being buried, shot at, hit by a meteor strike, while being bombarded by a particle accelerator -"
"Your point, Carter?" O'Neill asked tiredly.
"Sirs, if we encounter this element again, I think it might give us enough power to create a viable source for the defense shields that the labs have been working on."
Hammond raised a brow. "Very well. I'll add it to the missions objectives, and see that all the teams are informed." He paused for a moment, looking over SG-1 and seeing, for the first time, how beaten and tired the team appeared.
Drawing closer and lowering his voice, Hammond asked, "How is Dr. Jackson?"
O'Neill shook his head. "We don't know, sir."
Looking over each dispirited team member, Hammond nodded. "Alright. Dismissed."
As one, the members of SG-1 turned to the door and left, heading for the Infirmary and hopefully, news of Daniel.
"How is he?" O'Neill cornered Dr. Frasier almost as soon as they arrived in the Infirmary, just as she was finishing overseeing SG-2's post-mission physicals. The doctor turned with a sigh.
"To be frank, not well. He's in a coma."
"What?"
"The NID gave him an engineered glutamate isotope, as Daniel told you. It's different from the natural brain chemical in that while it is accepted by the neurons, it is resistant to naturally-produced depressants. In effect, Daniel's brain was continually stimulated, working at peak efficiency, for days. However, side effects of glutamate overdose include migraines and, in extreme cases, seizures. He's been abruptly cut off from the source, so while I'm not expecting any type of withdrawal -" the entire team released a collective breath "- I am expecting him to need quite a lot of rest. I believe that his brain, in an attempt to relieve exhaustion when the chemicals tapered off, simply shut down."
"And? So? Therefore? Well, what?"
Giving O'Neill a quelling look, Dr. Frasier slowly continued. "I don't believe this will last more than a few days, but I'm not sure. All we can do now, is wait."
(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(--(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(-(
Sorry for the excessive delay. Writer's block struck, big time, on this chapter, and I was distracted by fics in other fandoms. (cowers from glowering reviewers) To relieve your worry, let me assure you that I fully intend to finish this fic, and my self-imposed deadline is the start of August. I will follow this fic with the final in the series, the not-yet-fully-outlined but much-anticipated UCHITACHI.
As for the naquadriah thing, I've always wanted to blow Kelowna to hell (please pardon the language), especially at various moments during Season Sux. Um, Six. Season Six. Char-broiled Jonas, anyone? (evil smirk) Not so mysteriously impervious to radiation now, is he? Speed-reading. (incredulous snort). At this point, this fic becomes decidedly AU.