Disclaimer: I don't own SG-1…and if I was making money on this (which I'm not)…do you really think I'd be posting on Fanfiction?
A/N: Thanks to all you faithful reviewers out there,…You've given me happiness and inspiration. I hope you all like this chapter…but the next one will be even better!
And Now…The Feature Presentation:
Translation Troubles Chapter 3
The sheet of rock was a light gray, soft and warm under her hands. It was smaller than the paper Daniel had given her, but larger than her hand. She peered closely at the runes, noting that they seemed very similar to Stargate symbols. Suddenly, the rock began to light up slowly, the light coming from the center of the rock. A sudden flash illuminated the room, and then everything went dark for Samantha Carter.
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"Sam? Are you okay?" She opened her eyes to find a concerned Janet gazing down at her.
"I think so." Sam looked around for the rock and found that it had been placed out of reach.
"What happened?" Sam looked at Janet, frowning. All she wanted was to translate the dumb rock.
"I don't know, one minute I was looking at the rock, the next it lit up and then everything went dark." Sam experimentally reached for the rock and now knew it was out of reach.
"Are you saying that the rock did this?" Janet was looking closely at Sam, who now leaned back and sighed.
"Yes, I don't know why it did, but perhaps if I translate it, I can figure out what it is." Sam looked at Janet, focusing on the fact that the doctor didn't look happy or satisfied by the explanation. "Please, Janet. You can't just leave me in bed with nothing to do." The pleading was clear in Sam's voice.
"No, I wouldn't do that to you Sam, but if that rock does anything else, I want to know about it, and then have it quarantined." Sam nodded in agreement, as Janet handed her the rock. "I'll be keeping a close eye on you, Sam."
Once the rock was back in her possession, Sam sighed. The warm softness of the rock seemed to fit in her hand perfectly. Sam slowly brought the rock closer to her, getting a better look at the runes carved in it. They did in fact look like Stargate symbols, but to see if they were, she would have to get up and go to the Stargate to compare them. And there was no likely chance that Fraiser was going to let her out of bed, or that she'd be able to make it to the embarkation room.
Oh well, first things first, Sam thought, eyeing the tablet and then glancing around to see if Janet was anywhere nearby. Janet was just across the room, not far enough away for Sam to slip from bed and make it to the door without risking the doctor to turn and look. That, and the IV would have to be removed – not that that posed a problem.
Sam began to copy the runes onto a sheet of paper, putting each rune on a different line. This way she'd be able to make notes about it and perhaps translate it more effectively. She closed her eyes briefly, memorizing the runes and then tried to remember if she'd ever seen them before.
She came up with nothing before realizing that she should be concentrating on Jolinar's memories. A slight headache began, but Sam attributed it to the fact that she was thinking too hard. She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then reached for Jolinar's memories.
The tide broke and Sam found herself drowning in memories and knowledge that she hadn't even begun to know she had, or possessed. So this was why the Tok-ra had claimed it was a security risk to let her go – if only she had known this earlier…but she hadn't, and now she needed to look for a translation among all these…memories.
She cracked an eye open, looking at the tablet to remember the runes, and suddenly the knowledge seeped into something she could use. It was confusing, tiring, and above all, repetitive, as she realized it wasn't just something to translate, but it was also encoded. She quit halfway through the tablet, exhausted from the sheer amount of brain power she used – regardless that it was mostly Jolinar's.
Sam exhaled and tried to empty her mind, but the knowledge she had released was now floating around in her mind. It kept her from sleeping, or more importantly, resting. She glared up at the ceiling, her left hand resting idly on her thickly bandaged thigh. There was still no pain, and Sam still couldn't understand why that was.
A gentle hand took her wrist again, and Sam looked up startled to find Janet beside her again.
"Why is there no pain?" Sam finally inquired. Janet looked down at her.
"I don't know, Sam, there should be some pain, considering that I have you on a low dose of morphine." Oh, so that was what the IV was for. "Are you hungry?" Sam perked up at that. "Alright, I'll go get some lunch for both of us."
Now was her chance. Sam waited for a few minutes, knowing that it would take Janet a while to get to the commissary and then to return with two laden trays. Sam hoped she would have enough time to get to the embarkation room and back, but depending on whether there were any teams scheduled to embark or arrive it may or may not conflict with what she wanted to do.
With her mind made up, Sam swung her legs over the bed and waited a moment. No pain. She carefully stood, balancing her weight on her good leg, as she shifted more weight onto the injured one. Still no pain. She took an experimental step. Good so far. Sam glanced at the IV in her arm. She removed it. So far, so good. She pulled on her pants and shirt over the hospital gown she was wearing. She pulled on her boots. Now she was ready.
She moved gingerly to the doorway of the infirmary, looking around for movement or guards. There were none as of yet. She slipped outside, padding softly and quietly, glad she was wearing her good boots. She made her way stealthily towards the embarkation room, avoiding guards and close encounters. At one point, she narrowly avoided being discovered – she hid in a storage room before poking her head out again and continuing her journey.
She looked down at herself, realizing that she was gripping the tablet. She hadn't even remembered picking it up. She picked up her pace, knowing that the Stargate was closer than ever, but the number of guards had increased slightly. It was getting more difficult to avoid them, but somehow she managed. She wondered how long it had taken her to get this far, but her watch was back in the infirmary.
She shrugged it aside and managed to make it into the hallway that led directly to the Stargate. She moved swiftly, despite the wound on her leg, and paused at the blast door that shut off the Stargate when closed. It was open, and she risked a glance up at the control room. She was surprised to find that it was empty.
Empty? She thought, it was never empty, there was always someone in there. She shrugged it off and glanced around the room. No one was there. She smiled to herself. Perhaps this would be easier than she thought. She walked purposely over to the Stargate, and fingered the symbols on it.
She had gone through the Stargate many times before, but she hadn't had much of a chance to actually look at it. She now poured over the symbols and then held the tablet up to the Stargate. She was surprised to find that the runes were similar to those on the Stargate. So that was the key to the code. Sam smiled to herself.
Suddenly alarms began to blare and Sam jumped. Someone had probably found that she was missing from the infirmary. Now that she thought about it, she had been gone from the infirmary for a while. Probably Janet had found someone able to help her carry trays down to the infirmary. Sam sighed.
"Captain Carter, what are you doing?" Sam turned to find General Hammond standing a few meters away. The look on his face was like a thundercloud. "You are supposed to be in the infirmary resting."
"I had to know if this matched the Stargate…" Sam began, but the General held up a hand, cutting her off.
"If you needed to know, you could have asked for Colonel O'Neill or Dr. Jackson. Even Teal'c would have been of some assistance." Hammond softened when he saw the look of fear in the Captain's face. "Let's get you back to the infirmary before you injure yourself any more."
"Yes, sir," she mumbled, following him out of the embarkation room and back to the infirmary where she met up with an irate doctor.
"Sam, where did you think you were going?" Janet was looking at Sam, noticing all in one look how worn out she was and that the wound had begun to bleed through the bandage and the clothing. "Here, we'll help you onto the bed." A nurse materialized from seemingly nowhere and helped Janet lift the Captain onto the bed. "I'll keep you posted, sir," Janet told the General in her discreet way of ordering him to leave.
"Very good, Janet." Hammond left, shaking his head and wondering what would happen if his best astrophysicist became unmanageable.
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"Janet," Sam whined, as the doctor proceeded to take off her boots and the clothes she had pulled on over the gown.
"Sam, you knew better," scolded the doctor. "Look, you re-opened the wound, that's why I didn't want you to move around today." Sam looked at the bandage and saw the red that was seeping through it.
"It doesn't hurt," Sam told the doctor. "It never has and probably never will." Janet snorted.
"If only all patients remembered that when they were in a serious case of shock," muttered Janet under her breath. "Sam, quit struggling and let me work. The reason why there is no pain is that you are in a serious case of shock. I had you on not just morphine but also Tetracycline which was to slow down the infection – if any. Now you can either lay back and let me do my job, or I can jab a particularly large needle filled with sedative in you to do my job. Which will it be?" Janet waited a moment, but Sam had calmed herself down, sighing dejectedly and leaning against the pillows. "That's better."
Janet undid the bandage around the Captain's leg and called another nurse over. The two women cleaned and bandaged the wound and as Fraiser applied the adhesive, the nurse reinserted the IV.
"Thank you," Janet smiled at the nurse who smiled back and then disappeared again. Janet looked down at Sam, taking her pulse. She was asleep.
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A/N: Okay, sorry, that was the worst place to cut off, but next chapter will be much better! I promise. I had to cut it off here anyway because the next chapter may be quite lengthy. I hope the length is reasonable for all you Reviewers who like long chapters :D Oh, and don't forget to review :D You all are inspiring!
Honorary Mention to the following Reviewers: Lt. Col. Elphaba Carter,Queen Lili'uokalani,SG-Fan, Katie MichelleBelle, Greecian-Gurl, caligate, gater62, natalie s,Kimberly,cL235, Jen106,...you all are AWESOME and INSPIRING! (PS: These are only the Reviewers who reviewed Chapter 2)
