Dr. Lam's Questions

The announcement of "Unauthorized offworld activation!" did not phase the doctor or interrupt her immediate train of thought. It was such a common occurrence that unless the claxons blared and a medical emergency was called she knew she was not needed. Her medical team would be there to make the initial assessment and she would be in the infirmary waiting to take over.

The doctor studied her samples carefully. She was determined to find the answers so many people wanted to have. They were all looking to her now. These people were the best and brightest and she was one of them.

Colonel Carter's results showed a marked increase of a substance not found on Earth. It was essentially identifiable. Because they didn't know to look for it the systems couldn't catch it and contain it. But what was it? As far as she could tell the substance was attacking the naquada and/or the protein marker left behind by the symbiote Colonel Carter once carried.

Okay now she had a culprit but…but what? Taking a deep breath Dr. Lam next placed the sample of Dr. Jackson's blood under the microscope. Interestingly enough he also had the same toxin in his blood but had thus far been unaffected. A thought entered mind which caused her to grab for Colonel Mitchell's sample. Now she was on to something. He had it his blood as well. But what does it all mean?

The culprit in question acted as a toxins but humans with normal physiology seemed to natural immune to its relentless attacks. In the case of Colonel Carter and her altered physiology the effects of toxin affected her almost immediately after coming into contact with it. It put her body in a serve state of some kind of anaphylactic shock essentially stopping all of her body's regulatory systems. Why? That same question once again.

These findings made her think of Teal'c and his body's response to this yet to be identified culprit. Would his alien physiology be affected? Because of the absence of a symbiote would his reactions be as immediate and just as life threatening as his teammate? Would his systems go through the same complete system shut down as Colonel Carter? The questions were stacking on top of each other. Dr. Lam knew if she could find the answer to just one of these question she have answers to all of them.

It seemed to act as a toxin. It was an alien protein which is absorbed into the body. It interacted with biological macromolecules within the victim. There was also evidence that it was produced by living cells or organisms but from where? That answer was yet to come.

For normal human physiology the toxin was absorbed, processed than expelled through the skin via pores. Something clicked in the doctor's mind. The 'unauthorized offworld activation' had to be SG1. Damn her curiosity! She cursed herself as dialed the control room, "Sergeant was that SG1 returning early? Have they left the gate room? Thank you Sergeant."

"Jesus!" She whispered before she ran full tilt out of the lab. She had to stop SG1 from coming into contact with Colonel Carter. They could unwittingly kill her by something as simple as a caring touch. The Sergeant told her SG1 had already left the gate and were headed to the infirmary. She had to beat them there, headed them off at the pass so to speak.

The men of SG1 were huddled close to the hospital bed. The doctor came skidding to a halt when entering the infirmary breathing heavily. She nearly dropped to her knees when she discovered she was too late. However, she had to act quickly now. She gave orders to her staff which at the moment made very little sense, "PREPARE THE CRASH CART AND MECHANICAL VENTILATOR!"

"Ma'am?" one of the nurses questioned.

"Just do it!"

"Gentleman, I'm asking you to trust to me. I need to step back…please," she pleaded with them knowing she hadn't given them reason to trust. After all, their teammate laid smiling and laughing with them. For all they knew Sam was on a straight road to recovery. But Dr. Lam knew it took approximately 30 minutes for the toxin to take affect and didn't know how long they had been here.

With a questioning look Jack moved to the doc slowly, "what's going on, Doctor?"

"Sir, I found the cause of Colonel Carter's condition."

He stiffened with anticipation, "what is it?"

"It's a toxin. As far as I can tell it was in every sample brought back from that planet including water, soil, planet life…it's in the air." She paused before she continued, "Sir, it is in their blood work including Teal'c."

Jack was stunned but acted quickly, "SG1 do as the Doc says. Go get yourselves cleaned up. I want to debrief in 30 minutes."

"Jack what's going on?"

"Daniel, save it for the debrief okay."

Daniel left hesitantly from the bedside of one of his closest friends trail behind Cam and Teal'c. Jack moved to back to his position at the side of the bed slipping his hand easily into hers. She looked at him nervous and terrified.

"Sir…I can't…", it her struck suddenly. He could see her eyes close and while a sheen of sweaty grace her brow as he felt her grip tighten on his hand. Her back arched off the bed.

All the monitors indicated the same thing. "SHE'S CRASHING!" Her systems were once again overloading. Her heart and lungs stopped, her temperature sky rocketed. With a practiced ease Sam's systems were once again regulated with tubes and fever reducers. If they did not act quickly they would loose a cherished member of the SGC team. And the blame would lie heavily in the heart of SG1.