Part Three: Assessment

Ten minutes later, after they had been declared fit for duty, SG-1 gathered in the briefing room, where Fraiser was giving General Hammond her full assessment of the situation.

'The majority of cases are severe migraines and mild temporary hearing loss, sir, although two of the men who were in the gate room have ruptured ear drums, and there was one incident of unconsciousness.'

'How are you managing the situation Doctor?'

'It's proving quite difficult, sir. Ideally, half the base should be sent home for the rest of the day, if not the week, but that's just not practical, so…'

'So?' O'Neill inquired, trying to speed things up a little. He wanted to forget the formalities and start organising a rescue mission for Dixon and his team.

'We're doling out painkillers, rotating staff and crossing our fingers. There's not much else we can do sir.'

'What about the more critical patients?' Hammond asked.

'I'm transferring them to the Academy Hospital in Colorado Springs. I want to get them assessed by a specialist, just to be safe.'

Hammond nodded. 'Whatever you say, Doctor.'

Still standing beside the General, struggling to keep his impatience at bay, O'Neill waited until he was sure Fraiser was finished before tilting his head back and looking at his CO expectantly, through lowered eyelids. 'So, how 'bout that rescue team, sir?'

After the full damage of the sound was evaluated, Hammond had ordered the gate dialled to P3X-981. Thankfully, no piercing sound penetrated the mountain as the last chevron locked into place and the now dishevelled gate room flushed blue. However, after several attempts, SG-13 could not be reached.

'Jack,' Hammond started, pausing for a moment to close his eyes and sigh. His head was throbbing. 'I understand your sentiments Jack. However, at this stage, I cannot risk sending another team through to aide Major Dixon and his team. We know nothing of what could be waiting on the other side, or, if they are even in danger at all.'

'Then send a MALP, a UAV, R2D2, anything!' O'Neill threw his hands in the air, clearly exasperated by the situation. 'We have to do something.'

Hammond drew his shoulders back and looked as sternly as he could at his 2IC. 'There's a MALP being prepped as we speak, Colonel. Now, if you're considering taking command of a rescue mission, if and when I authorise it, I suggest you get some rest. In fact, I'm ordering you to do so.'

Behind them, Carter yabbered aloud to herself, oblivious to the others in the room as she worked on her laptop.

'Major?' O'Neill questioned, walking up behind her and leaning in so he could look over her shoulder. 'Do you have something you'd like to share?'

Carter quickly spun in her chair to speak to Hammond, and, unaware of how close the Colonel's face was, had to jerk her neck back in surprise and ogle him for a second as she tried to figure out what he was doing. In response, O'Neill cleared his throat and straightened his back, stepping away from Carter's chair.

'As far as I can tell, General,' she replied slowly, lifting her face to Hammond, but never quite taking her eyes off O'Neill's, 'this is not a distorted radio transmission like the kind we received from SG-10 when they were trapped on P3W-451,' she stood up.

'So… no big, honkin', matter-sucking, black hole then?' O'Neill raised his eyebrows.

Carter paused, a flash of a smile threatening to ruin her perfectly grave expression. 'No sir. I mean, it's unlikely. These wavelengths are of an incredibly high frequency and by all accounts are not affected by the kind of time dilation commonly associated with gravitational pull. I've tried speeding the recording up, and slowing it down in millimicron increments. Neither effect has produced a translatable signal.'

'If it's not a radio transmission, Major, what in God's name is it?' Hammond asked.

'I don't know sir.'

'You don't know?' O'Neill looked incredulous. 'Now we're really in trouble.'

Carter opened her mouth to speak and closed it again, shaking her head and looking down at the floor in an attempt to maintain her composure.

At the other end of the table, Jonas placed his treasured travel mug down, lifted one of the many sheets of paper in front of him with his little finger and resumed the conversation, speaking to nobody in particular. 'Maybe it's some other method of communication. Perhaps a metered code, like the kind you used on Earth in the past, before your current technology.'

'Morse code?' General Hammond looked dubiously at Carter. 'Could it be a distorted Morse code message Major?'

Carter placed her hands behind the small of her back and took in a sharp breath. 'I thought of that sir. It doesn't fit. But I think Jonas is onto something – whoever or whatever sent this, if it was in fact sent on purpose, could be trying to make contact. I'd like to work on finding some sort of pattern, or code, within the transmission if I can, sir.'

'Fine. I want updates on the hour. Jonas, you're to assist Major Carter on this one.'

Just as Carter and Jonas were about to leave, they were interrupted by the unscheduled off-world activation siren. The five of them rushed down the stairs to the control room.

'Incoming wormhole, sir,' Harriman reported.

'Close the iris,' the General ordered.

'We're receiving an IDC.'

The four members of SG-1 stepped up to the empty frame that looked out at the Gate.

'It's SG-13,' Carter announced, shifting her gaze from the computer to the General. There was a brief pause. 'Sir, I'm not even sure, if the sound were to return, that the waves would be blocked by the iris… and if that really is SG-13, we should…'

'Open the iris,' Hammond had understood.

'Déjà vu,' O'Neill added sarcastically, pressing his ears shut with his two index fingers. 'Anybody got a set of ear muffs?'

In front of them the metal shield twirled open to reveal the shimmering blue of the wormhole.

A/N: Hope you like Part Three. As said, hopefully I will update a lot sooner than last time. However, RL is kinda crazy at the mo, so bear with me. Reviews always welcome. And believe me, they will inspire me to write quicker:)

Thanks all, cheers!