Rating: G
Notes: Call CNN Ans4Christ has updated with 3 days! This week is full of newsbreaks. Well I have a vague idea as to where I'm going with this. This piece was inspired by the extreme heat in AZ this weekend with a high of 111! At least it's a dry heat right? I refer to degrees in this chapter using Fahrenheit so my apologies to people from outside of the US, I forget how to convert to Celsius! It's really hot, that's all you need to know! Now on with the story! And remember reviews make the writer happy
P.S. From what I can tell 110-112 degrees Fahrenheit is 44 degrees Celsius. Hope that helps my foreign friends!
Sometimes Miracles Happen
By Ans4Christ
The heat was unbearable. If there was one thing SG-1 could sense about the planet that was it. The protective suits they wore only made it worse. It was almost stifling. They trudged along following the directions from the MALP. It would be another two hours of this. And who knew what to expect once they arrived at the pillars.
Jonas and Daniel had speculated that while the other SG team hadn't encountered trouble until after stepping within the pillars, anything might have been unleashed now. They were walking in the dark, so to speak.
As they walked Jonas pondered. He would have loved to talk but that was almost impossible with the heat. It took everything just to stay focused. He wondered about the heat. In talking with Amy and reading the initial mission report and MALP readings there had been no mention of high temperatures. If anything it had been normal. Which led Jonas to wonder, what if this heat was in connection to the tablet and the pillars. Perhaps reentering the planet with the tablet had caused it. In fact as they got closer to their destination the hotter it seemed to get. What if the pillars were somehow generating this heat? He knew it sounded crazy, but then again maybe not. This was something from the Ancients, whom would go to any length to conceal and hide information. What if a self- defense mechanism was placed within the pillars to sense the reentry of the tablet. Meaning that whoever was targeted with the illness had survived and now the heat was trying to destroy any enemies whom might wish to gain this information for evil.
Jonas stopped in his tracks. If he was right, they had to make sure they knew how to disable the tablet and the pillars. Or the Ancients themselves would ensure that no one got out alive.
"Sir, we've got to take these suits off." Sam stated forty minutes later.
"We can't do that Carter."
"Sir, the temperature inside these suits is anywhere from 15 to 20 degrees hotter than it is outside."
"What is the temperature outside Major Carter?" Teal'c inquired.
"You really don't want to know that Teal'c." Daniel stated after looking at his temperature gauge.
"What is it, Daniel?" O'Neill demanded.
"120 degrees." He said reluctantly.
"Which means inside the suits it's anywhere from 135 to 140 degrees!" Sam exclaimed. "Sir, if we keep this up, we won't need the disease to kill us, we're all going to collapse from heat stroke."
"Especially since it's getting hotter." Jonas chimed in.
"Hotter?" Daniel asked. Everyone stopped walking.
"I started watching the temperature around an hour ago and every twenty minutes it goes up 5 degrees. At this rate it'll be 140 degrees when we reach the pillars." He said plainly.
"And inside the suits it would make it 160 degrees. We can't handle that physically, sir." Sam pleaded.
O'Neill sighed, "All right, guess it won't matter if we're protected from the disease but become burnt toast from the heat. Take'em off."
Everyone gratefully shedded their suits. "Hard to believe it's much better." Daniel said.
"At least breathing's a little easier." Jonas pointed out.
"Why is it so hot here? I don't remember the SG team's report mentioning anything about the heat." Sam asked.
"I don't think they had to deal with it." Jonas stated, and he explained his theory to them.
"It would certainly seem that Jonas Quinn's theory is correct." Teal'c stated.
"If it is correct then we have work to do. We can't risk not being able to prevent the disease or anything else from being unleashed. We have to make sure it's disabled. And if it is getting hotter every twenty minutes, then we better start now." Daniel suggested.
O'Neill looked up towards the sky," You know it might be smarter to do that anyway. The sun has gotta be adding to this heat. If we wait until nightfall it might be a little better." He paused," Besides if the pillars are generating the heat maybe they'll light the way."
Surprisingly enough when Sg-1 stopped moving the temperature stopped increasing. This only confirmed Jonas' theory. He and Daniel went over their notes several times trying to get the information they needed before reaching for the tablet. It was a very smart thing. Upon pulling the tablet out of Daniel's knapsack they found it to be very warm. Within twenty minutes however, it was beginning to glow red.
"We have a serious problem here." Daniel stated." Not only can't we translate it now, but we can't carry it with us to the pillars."
"Maybe we can pick it up if we put something over it first." Sam suggested.
Daniel shrugged and placed a blanket over it. It immediately started on fire. "Well, there goes that theory." O'Neill said after they'd put out the fire," Any other good ideas?"
"It appears that it has recharged as we hoped it would O'Neill. Although in doing so it has perhaps prevented us from carrying out our mission." Teal'c countered.
Jonas was thinking quietly. "Maybe it hasn't," he said suddenly.
"I know you're Mr. Optimistic Jonas, but this may not have a bright side." O'Neill pointed out.
"That's not what I mean." He paused," The pillar and the tablet are connected. The fact that the tablet is hot now proves that."
"So?" O'Neill asked.
"So, if we can disable the tablet we can disable the pillars." Daniel jumped in with a smile.
"Exactly, we just have to find out how to disable it."
"Any idea as to how, considering the fact it's beat red from heat?" Sam inquired.
Jonas shrugged and looked to Daniel, Daniel looked to him and bit his lip. They both paused than nodded their heads, "We'll figure it out." They said in unison.
Like it, hate it? Any ideas or suggestions? Let me know!