CHAPTER 46
Authors note: There are a few Ancient words used in this chapter that I made up because I don't know the real words that would be used. Also, I have made a addition to what I think about Immortals and children, which doesn't really exist in the actual show, but hey, that's why it's just a fanfic.
There was a new planet that was discovered that held interest for Daniel. The M.A.L.P. showed that the gate was in a cave system. Very dark with the only light coming from the M.A.L.P. But what it did show was Ancient language on the walls, or a close look alike. There was what looked to be a lot of crystals on the wall as well. SG-7 found it two days ago.
"We need to go look at this planet Jack! It may tell us places for new technologies! New planets that might have those ZPM's!! Weapons!!!" Daniel said making a case of it at the table.
"Finished?" Jack said casually.
"I….why?"
"You've been talking for over five minutes about this. I said yes a couple of times, but somehow…..your brain never heard me." Jack said with a wave of his hand. "How long were you guys going to let him keep going?"
"It…was interesting, so I stayed quiet Jack."
"I didn't feel the need to say anything sir."
"T?"
"I saw no reason to stop him O'Neill. It was most informative"
Daniel had been talking about the different symbols he saw, what they could do or be and several other theories. It was toward the end he started raising his voice.
"Six minutes and just over twenty seconds actually. How much time he kept going after you said yes the first time."
"Now I know I don't watch Star Trek all that much, but are you trying to be Data?" Jack asked after a moment of looking at Ford. They all gave him a curious look.
"Um, another training thing that became habit." he shrugged.
"Right. Like how Marines seem to know the time no matter what happens."
"It's 10:30 right now." Ford said smiling. He didn't look at his watch either.
Jack looked around not seeing a clock and not seeing a watch in Ford's view. He looked at his seeing it said thirty minutes after ten on the dot.
"You're showing off again." Carter said looking over at him briefly. Though the smile implied a lot more.
"I know." he said smiling back and then whispered to her quickly. "Actually, I just looked at my watch recently. I can't do the marine thing."
"Enough about your talent to make us look bad…"
"I was not trying to do that." he said acting hurt.
"Anyway, you all have a go. Call back in an hour and let me know what's going on. I'll send another science team if you need them or whatever else you might need. Dismissed." he said getting up.
They got up and started for the stairs.
"Oh and Major?!"
"What?" he said turning around.
"Quit showing off. You make me feel old."
Jack walked off into his office before they could say anything.
Inside the gate room they were waiting at the bottom of the ramp.
"Did I actually hear Jack say he felt old?"
"Indeed you did."
"Feeling old. I wonder if I ever thought about not growing old when I was…" Daniel said putting his bandana on.
"Ascended. Does make you wonder."
"You ever think you'll feel old?"
"I….I almost always feel…..perfect in most cases. No pain, no ache, never extremely tired unless I really exert myself on something." he said slowly while checking a small scanning device.
It was acting up, ironically and he gave it a good hit which seemed to clear up. Daniel noticed Sam was blushing for some reason as Ford talked.
"It's not something I try to think about much. It's a gift for sure, but a curse as well."
"I can't imagine living forever." Sam said rubbing her face with one hand as the gate activated.
"Another thing I try not to think about. Especially knowing you'll be gone with everyone else in hopefully I pray many, many years to come." Ford said tapping the screen. "Hey K-9, what's wrong with this damn thing?"
"Several components need replacing Master."
"How many?" Carter asked as they slowly walked up the ramp.
"From the assessment of damage I scanned Mistress, the Master would say, it needs recycling."
Ford stopped with one foot through and pulled it back.
"Oh forget it." he said putting it in the bag and walking through.
The other side it was really dark. The only light was still from the M.A.L.P., which wasn't much. Ford put the bag down and pulled his Maglight.
"Talk about dark." Sam said turning her light on. It didn't help much even with the others turning on their lights.
She looked down near her feet seeing the buttons on K-9's back glowing different colors along with his red eye panel. They started spreading out some when there was a crushing sound, almost like broken glass.
"K-9, what was that?" Sam asked looking around with her weapon at ready.
"The Master stepped on broken crystals crushing them further."
"I wondered what that was. Maybe this might help." he said walking over to the bag that was near the gate they brought along.
He pulled something that they really couldn't see out. A few seconds later a ultra violet light came on from a special flashlight. The room got bright quickly as the crystals seem to absorb and reflect the blue light. There was two more in the bag he mentioned getting up.
"Whoa." Carter said blinking.
"Reminds me of a case I had once." Ford said leaving the light on the floor with it pointing at the ceiling. "Had to do with a lot of black lights in the room. My gun just shined making it look like it was almost floating around. I blended in since my coat is naturally black."
He grab another one out and got up again. The room was about 40 or more square feet with a couple of passages. The walls were covered with crystals. They were not quartz, but a close look alike Sam figured out rather quickly from a scan.
"Question is, which path first?" Daniel said looking at one behind the gate.
It was
Ancient language but most of it was missing with time and was damaged
by the crystal formations.
"Draw straws?" Ford suggested
looking at the crystals.
"You bring any?" Sam said jokingly.
"No. Hey, K-9, scan…."
"The unknown crystals are disrupting my scans Master."
"How were they formed?" Sam asked touching one. It felt like it was suppose to.
"Insufficient data Mistress."
"Let me know when you find out anything or scan anything interesting or usual."
"Yes Mistress."
"Okay, I'm going this way then if you don't mind." Ford said pointing the light down one route.
"No, I'm coming with though. Come on K-9."
"Yes Mistress."
"I guess we're suppose to figure things out ourselves." Daniel said looking at Teal'c.
"Indeed." he said picking another flashlight from the bag and following Daniel.
They left the room leaving the other light on the floor.
"Hey, you guys be careful and call if you find out anything."
"Got it Sam." Daniel yelled back. "For a moment, I thought she forgot about us."
"She does seemed to be preoccupied lately Daniel Jackson."
"I'll have to ask her about it later."
"Indeed."
Daniel and Teal'c walked along finding sections of the walls with some writings. Most of it was covered by the crystals making it difficult to see anything worth reading. The crystals were everywhere.
The two had K-9 stay in front of them as they continued on. So far they were finding a very long hallway with crystals on the walls. Some they had to really avoid and others climb or duck under.
"I'd love to take some of these home!"
"They are pretty interesting. I never seen crystal formations of this size. You think you can break off a few without shattering them?"
"I can try." he said grabbing one the size of a baseball bat.
"That's way to big."
"I wanted something like this for at home. Our home."
"As much as that would look nice on a shelf, there might be too many questions."
"From who, the only ones who come to our house is people from the SGC, and rarely that much. The last time anyone came over was Janet and Cassandra last week so you could all go girl shopping. Beyond that I can't remember. Though I did volunteer to go and carry the bags."
"Good point." she said realizing the truth of that statement. Ford managed to take it off with just breaking it off at the wall. "But we mostly went to go window shopping and just girl talk. I know you wanted to see some of those…I'll get the name, anime's you got."
"I could have watched them later."
"I know." she said smiling. "Some of these are pretty big. How heavy are they though?"
"Doesn't weigh much for being this big. I've felt baseball bats that were heavier. I'll grab a few of the small ones for research in the lab." he said looking it over then setting it aside. He pulled a few small ones off the wall. Mostly about an inch or two wide and the same long.
"Those will work."
"Master. I am detecting a unknown power source ahead."
"How far?"
"Distance undeterminable Mistress. Scans are inconclusive."
"Best guess?"
"Possibly three to four meters ahead and 12 to 15 feet down and 13 to 16 feet from that Master."
"Must be a power core of some sort."
"I do not think so Master."
"We'll find out when we see it." she said as they kept moving.
They eventually came around a corner that ended at three meters. It was a circular room of around thirty square feet. Ten feet of the room was taken up in the middle by a very large crystal that was hexagonal. It came from the ceiling and went down through the see through floor.
"This looks dangerous." Ford said looking at the floor. They couldn't see the bottom.
"There is a floor beneath us Master."
"How far?"
"12.5 feet Mistress."
"That explains that." Ford said walking up to the large crystal.
He ran his hand across it and got a small charge and grunted as he pulled his hand back.
"You got shocked?" she said walking up.
"Yeah. Not badly though. Like rubbing your feet across a carpet shock. I wouldn't touch it further though."
"That's not that bad." she said pulling a scanner out.
"Danger Mistress, Master! Danger!!"
"What is it?" she said turning around with her gun ready. Ford pulled one of his and looked around with the light.
"I advise haste in movement! The floor is unstable!!"
The floor beneath them started cracking like thin ice on a frozen lake. Ford shoved Carter away from him toward the door as the floor gave out. He instinctively reached out grabbing nothing and dropped both the gun and light. The light hit the floor twelve feet down and broke on impact. He hit the ground and rolled with the fall. Other than some cuts to his hands and face, he was fine.
Sam sat up feeling nothing under her feet until she scooted up farther near the doorway. K-9's eye was the only light she could see.
"How much of the floor is left?" she said standing up slowly. It was so dark she had trouble finding the wall.
"Very little Mistress. Danger Mistress! The floor is…" K-9 said backing up into the hallway.
"Whoa!!" she yelled as it gave out under her.
Ford got up slowly and looked around seeing nothing.
"Damn. Broke the light. Great…"
He heard movement above and was about to call out when he heard Carter yell. He got running toward the sound quickly, praying he'd catch her in time.
"Sam, where…" he started yelling.
His intention was to catch her, that didn't work though as she landed on him. For a few minutes neither of them moved.
"Oh man. That really hurt." Ford said spitting crystal from his mouth. "And tasted bad."
Giving himself a good minute he managed to heal up completely.
"Sam?"
She didn't move off him.
"Sam?!" he said a little louder.
Still nothing.
"Colonel wake up!"
She stirred with a groan.
"Come on Sam, wake up. I can't move until I know how bad you're hurt. I can't reach my com unit either."
"Nothing is broke if that's what you're wondering." she said after a moment of small movements. "I hit my head though and I'm pretty sure I got cut on the way down."
"Think you can get off me to check you out?"
"Yeah." she said slowly sliding off. "Ow."
There was a lot of shattered crystal all over the floor and she had to move her hands around to get a spot where she didn't slice them open. She didn't do that well though. Ford then checked himself quickly and pulled a small pen light from his coat. The M.A.L.P. put more light out than it, but not by much.
"Where does it hurt?"
"My left leg and face, mostly." she said through gritted teeth. "And hands."
He looked the leg over finding a rip in her pants above the knee.
"You have a cut in your right thigh."
"No kidding. How deep?" she asked sarcastically.
He felt it slowly finding it was not a deep gash. Any big amount of movement might make it become needing a few stitches, otherwise she was going to be fine as long as she didn't move.
"Don't
try moving it, damn I need better light!"
The room suddenly lit
up as he was trying to look at her face. She could finally see him.
He was kneeling in front of her with the small light in his teeth.
He was still looking in her direction but his eyes were darting
around.
"I hope I did that." he muttered. "Keep watch behind me the best you can."
"Sure. Got nothing else I can do." she said as he pulled a few small crystals from her cheek.
"Call Daniel and them while I fix this." he said working on her leg.
"Daniel, Teal'c."
Daniel grabbed his com and stopped walking. They found a room with more inscriptions but little of it was able to be read. Daniel was really angry and disappointed from finding this great amount of Ancient language wrote down, but not being able to read any of it.
"What's up?"
"Ford and I fell down into another room. We came into a room with an unstable floor and it gave out."
"Are you badly hurt?" he asked concerned.
"I can't walk at the moment, but nothing is broken. You still in the dark?"
"Yeah we are. Why?"
"Then be careful. Some light came on in here with us. Some floors might be made of crystal as well. Try to get to us and have a rope ready. It looks to be the only way out of here."
"We are on our way."
"That feel better?"
"A little." she said as he tied off the bandage.
"Anymore feel like they're still in your face?"
"No." she said gently rubbing her right cheek.
"People might think I'm being a bad husband seeing how your face is cut up. The limp isn't going to help either." he said cleaning her injured face.
He worked on her hands next having to remove several crystal shards.
"Don't make me laugh." she said wincing. "Well, I can say this. We'll get some sleep the next couple of days."
"Yeah, I guess we will." he said smiling.
"We can stay on the base for a few days."
"I can go home to make sure the plants and other things are looked after then come back. I can't remember the last time I slept alone. And that night I passed out drunk don't count."
"Works for me." she said as he helped her to her feet.
Some more crystal from above came down near them as he pulled her out of the way and started walking toward the wall.
"You two down there?!"
"Yes we are Daniel. Got that rope ready?" she said as they stopped.
"No, we can't send one down." Daniel yelled down.
"Why not?" Carter asked.
"K-9 told us that the crystal would cut the rope before anyone got up, or down."
"Probably said with statistically numbers." Ford said.
"Probably. Dial home and have then send a ladder." she yelled up.
"Sure! You two okay then?"
"We will be." she yelled back.
Ford helped her over to the wall where she could sit down without sitting on broken crystals. Mostly the middle of the large room had the shattered remains of the floor.
"Wonder where we are?" she said looking around.
"I….I'm getting a weird feeling from this place." Ford said picking his gun up and walking back over to her quickly.
"Define weird."
"I don't want to be here." he stated sitting near her. "Give me the creeps for some reason."
"Same creepy feeling as when O'Neill was put into that stasis machine?"
"Not really." he said putting the gun away then walking to the middle of the room suddenly. "Teal'c?!"
"Major Carter." he yelled from above.
"K-9 still there?"
"Indeed."
"Tell him to drive off the edge."
"Say what?" Carter asked in surprise.
"I'm going to catch him. I almost caught you." he said assuring her. "Would have had I seen you."
There was more crystal falling followed by K-9. Carter was almost sure Ford wouldn't catch him, but he did.
"Systems fully functional again Master." K-9 said after being set down.
"Where's the light coming from?"
"Unknown energy emissions from the ceiling Master. Conclusion of scan suggest that it is caused by energy buildup in the crystals lining the ceiling."
"Best guess you're saying?"
"Yes Mistress."
"Where does that passage go K-9?" Ford said pointing at the far end.
Noises came from K-9 as he scanned ahead.
"Unknown energy emission are coming from a small room Master. Distance two meters."
"Go check it out." she said then called K-9 over.
"Not till Daniel gets back with the ladder. K-9 did you tell them how deep this was?"
"Yes Master. I indicated a fifteen foot ladder would suffice."
"Cool. Now we wait." Ford said sitting next to her again.
"I told you to check that out."
"If you order me to I will, otherwise I'm not moving. Something down here doesn't feel right and I have no light."
"Don't need you dropping any further either if it's another floor like that one." she said remembering the first drop as she looked up.
"I didn't hurt you when I pushed you…"
"Startled yes, hurt no. Thank you, by the way. I think I would have more injuries if you hadn't." she said grabbing his hand.
"That's what I'm here for."
"You two still okay?!" Daniel said a few minutes later.
"Yes." they said together.
"Here it comes then." Daniel said sliding the ladder down.
It hit the ground with a resounding thud and Ford went over keeping it from sliding as Daniel climbed down. He pulled a couple of heavy weights out and set them down near the ladder so it wouldn't slide.
"Guess you thought about that."
"Yeah, I figured that the floor might make the ladder slide so…." Daniel said with a shrug.
"Nice work. I didn't think about that." Ford said as Teal'c came down. A nurse came along with a medical bag. "Who else came?"
"Just the nurse and a doctor waiting above and another team of scientists who are looking around. A couple of soldiers are holding the ladder in place. The crystals are interesting but they are covering the inscriptions. Hopefully we can find a way to remove the crystals without damaging the wall."
"Maybe. I need that light Teal'c."
Teal'c handed it over as the nurse checked out Carter who tried to tell her gently that Ford had already fixed her enough she could walk on her own.
"I'm going to go check this out, either of you want to come?"
"Sure, might be something of interest other than all these crystals." Daniel said. "Not really my field."
"Take K-9. He says he detected a strange energy source in there." Sam said as the nurse looked her over.
"Coming Master."
"Sam, don't move that leg much or you'll make it so you'll be in bed for a week or more."
"Yeah, yeah, I saw how bad it is. Now quit worrying about me and get going." she said as the nurse helped her up the ladder.
Ford pulled his gun again and walked up and into the dark room slowly. Since there was no crystals in the room, the blue light wasn't helping much.
"You got a flash…right." Ford was saying when Daniel turned the light on his PC-90 on. "Thanks. Teal'c, hold this again please."
K-9 entered and looked around as they did. There was nothing in the room. The whole thing was completely barren.
"This is strange." Daniel said still looking around.
"Indeed." Teal'c stated also confused as he swung the light around.
"K-9 where is the power source you…" Ford asked spinning round slowly.
"Danger Master!!" K-9 said as they all heard something move behind Ford.
Ford turned around, saw a bright light and then blacked out.
"Ford! No!" Daniel yelled as he dropped to the ground moments later. His gun clattered away from him as K-9 backed off so as to not be fallen on.
"Colonel Carter will not be pleased." Teal'c said collecting the gun and helping Daniel turn him over.
"No, she'll probably kill him."
"He would come back Daniel Jackson."
"Yeah, but she might actually take his head off."
"I see."
They tried waking him up, but K-9 stated his condition suggested he was not going to wake up without medical intervening or at least a few hours of rest.
Back at the SGC, almost a hour later…..
"HE DID WHAT?!!"
"I don't think he did it on purpose Sam. He turned around and then that was it. K-9 tried to warn him. Everything was extremely dark, and it showed up suddenly as he got to close to the wall." Daniel said following a very enraged and pissed off Carter down the hallway. Anyone that saw her moved if they were in her path, even though she had a limp. "We didn't even see it until he backed into it and then…well he turned around and….you know."
"Ford's better than that! I seriously doubt he would allow that to happened! He would have at least heard it!"
"No one heard it. I think it was already there and just reached out as he turned around. Sam, try to go easy…"
She held a hand up telling him to stop as she walked into the infirmary. Ford was sitting on the bed rubbing his head as the nurse talked to him. Jack had followed along seeing as he wanted to see how Ford was doing, but he knew better than to say anything.
"What the hell happen to me? What's with the secrecy anyway?" Ford asked the doctor. "I turn around, see a bright light and then I wake up here. With a bad migraine too. Which I shouldn't have. Did a crystal break from the ceiling and impale my head or something?"
"I'm not at liberty to…" she began saying as Ford was feeling his head and hair.
"I don't feel any crystals, or residue…."
"MAJOR!!! I should take your head off!! What the hell were you thinking?! I thought I gave explicit orders not to go near those things!!" she yelled.
To everyone's surprise, with the exception of Carter, Ford did the unexpected. When she yelled his rank he got up, turned to her, then shrank back as she kept yelling and pushed him into the wall. Jack could see real fear in his eyes.
Oh no! I did something wrong. Something really wrong.
It was the fear of the wrath of a angry woman with a vendetta and Jack saw the look on Carter's face. It was the look only a woman could give that made every man cringe. He actually felt sorry for Ford. He was really going to get it if he said the wrong thing. Jack even felt like backing away, but he couldn't do that.
"Where was your mind at?!"
"Colonel….."
"What?!!" she yelled turning to him. "Sir."
"Other's are trying to sleep or recover so keep it down or take it to another section of the base Colonel." he said in a commanding tone.
"Can somebody tell me what's going on? What have I done that I don't know about?" Ford said slowly as she whipped back around.
"He didn't know." Daniel muttered.
"Your head got sucked then downloaded with lots of important information that will destroy your mind in a few days." Jack said slowly. "You know, the same thing that happened to me those two times."
"What?" Ford asked not getting what Jack said.
He was still trying to avoid Carter's evil like gaze.
"You accessed a Ancient download device in the wall." Jack said holding up two fingers. "Those things I got hit with twice."
"Oh no." Ford muttered in horror as he closed his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. One for the fact his mind was going to go, two, the worst part, Carter might actually kill him before his mind went. "Wait, this is all a big joke on me, right? Just wanted to see Sam yell at me for once. Ha, ha funny guys."
They shook their heads.
"Okay. I'm in big trouble here then." he said with a small cough. "Someone call Thor yet?"
"We're getting on it as we speak." Jack said, then left with the other two.
The rest of the day went somewhat smoothly as Ford avoided her as best he could. Jack had ordered him to cook the rest of the day, just in case Ford never made it through what was happening to him, he would have at least made everyone a great meal beforehand. At first, Ford thought it was a joke, but Jack was not kidding. They called Thor, but just like the time it happened with Jack, they were not responding, and they didn't know why. Ford was ordered to stay on base. He didn't object to it and neither did Carter who went home without him that night despite doctors orders.
Day two……………..
Ford awoke to his door being pounded on. He grunted in frustration and turned over putting the pillow over his head.
"Sam, did you…." he said turning back over after hearing the door knocked on again and noticing he was alone. Realization kicked in.
"Oh right." he mumbled as the door was hit harder. "Come in! Come in. I'm awake, unfortunately."
"Are you awake Major?" Jack asked walking in seeing Ford in only jogging pants as he sat on the bed rubbing his face.
"I am now. Thought I was at home. I miss my bed and Sam. God I am an idiot."
"Yeah, must be why you took so long to call out. As for the idiot part, well…" he said looking the robotic semi over. What does he see in this toy?
"Don't touch Optimus. Now, was there something you need?"
"It's 0800."
"Oh. Sam show up yet?"
"Yeah, she got here real early and got to work. I think she's calmed down." he said going back to the door.
"Why didn't she wake me then?"
"I wanted to in case your mind had went already. Didn't want to freak her out or anything."
"My mind is fine. Maybe it fixed itself. Nothing seems different."
"I thought the same thing until I started saying…..Ancient dialogue." he said thinking.
"Nice one Jack. You actually thought about what it was really called."
"Sometimes I try. I'm not as dumb as you people think."
"And yet for years you've passed it off well. I know the truth though."
"Better keep it to yourself, especially on your death bed if it comes before mine."
"Do I go back to the cafeteria?" he asked whining.
"No. You cooked enough yesterday to last the rest of the week. Get back to whatever it is you do and see Daniel later." he said then left.
Daniel came to work and Jack told him to keep a watch on Ford. And to raze him worse than he did to Jack. He ordered it in fact. Daniel watched Jack walk away after the order thinking Jack was having to much fun. Sam walked in seeing Daniel with a lost look. She looked at the doorway then at him, then at the doorway. When she snapped her fingers in his face he jumped in his seat.
"Sam?! What's going on? When did you get here?" he said looking around then at his watch. Only two minutes since Jack left.
"You sure that it wasn't you that got that damn download?"
"Yeah. Jack was just here. He ordered me to watch Ford closer than a starving hawk near a box full of mice." he said smiling at her showing her what he thought of the idea.
"That bad?" she said with a cringe of regret. Mostly for herself.
"Yeah. It was an order. A direct order."
"Odd. Jack doesn't order you around all that often. Not like that anyway. Where is Ford?"
"Don't you know? Shouldn't you know?" he asked surprised.
"I….haven't found him. Not that I have been looking." she said slowly. "I think I really scared him yesterday."
"You might have. Scared me in some ways. I know you scared Jack, but being in command and such, well." Daniel said after a moment seeing her looked worried and looking at the floor. "He really loves you Sam. Just go and tell him you're sorry. More than likely he's in the workout room training or working out himself. Couldn't go for his morning run."
"Neither could I. Just not the same without him. You sure he will forgive me?" she asked still worried.
"Like I said before, you live with him, you should know. Besides….."
"Yeah, he seems real forgiving and I've yelled at him before. Nothing like yesterday though…."
"Go find him and quit beating yourself up about this." he said putting a hand on her shoulder.
Jack was working on paper work and Teal'c was visiting friends off world. After getting dressed and eating, Ford went to train troops as he usually always did. So far, things were going well and no one seemed to notice. They were keeping the thing that happened to Ford between Jack and the rest of SG-1 and the doctor who knew. He was in the middle of discussing combat when Carter walked in. Some of the airmen and other people that worked on the base looked tired and possibly beat up, not seriously though. Some of them started to stand at attention but she waved it off quickly. Ford never noticed as he paced back and forth slowly talking to them. His mind was in one place at the moment.
"Now you see, when you try sneaking up on someone, you better be sure that you can make quick moves to take them out or at least knock them out if you have to. You fail on the first try, you usually end up having to fight to survive instantly. As I said this is a class or whatever you want to call it where weapons are not involved."
"You said that before sir."
"And I said don't call me sir." he pointed out. "I hate that."
"Sorry Major."
"You're new so I'm not bothered really. Just remember next time. Anyway, where was I, oh yes, no weapons. Just hands and feet. These techniques I have been and still am teaching, to some of you, can and will save your lives and or others."
She listened from the doorway as he kept going for another couple of minutes. Pretty good pep talk speech in fighting. Unlike other commanders and drill leaders, he didn't berate or tell the people how bad they were even if they sucked. He'd help those that really need help and such. She looked at her watch seeing it was near lunchtime and it reminded her of why she was here other than to see how Ford was doing. She walked up as he kept talking and laid a hand on his arm as he told one of them to attack him from behind.
Now Ford didn't know she was there, didn't know what time it was and hadn't seen the people he was training looking past him occasionally. He just kept talking seeing as he usually gave almost the same speech every time, so it became habit. Most of the time, there was always more new people than others that normally came. Some people were just people that was able to come through to get training, but didn't get to learn much about what the installation was. He was in the process of finishing his speech when a hand was put on his shoulder.
That was quick! I didn't even get to turn around to be attacked yet, so someone is trying to surprise me for once. Try to mess with my reputation. Nice try buddy, but to slow.
He thought all this as he grabbed the hand, noticed enough that it was a female officer by the feel of the hand, spun them around to be in front of him and had them in a tight but not knocking out headlock, yet. He planned on doing other moves in a moment after a telling them the problem with the attack that this person failed to do and so forth.
"Don't move until I say so. First off you blew the surprise attack when you stopped. 10 for effort but a zero for not following through. That was quick and you did surprise me, but you moved to slow mis…." he started saying when he saw the looks on his, students.
They seemed surprised, but not surprised in the fashion like he was fast, but that he did something wrong. The biggest thing that stopped him was the smell and color of the of the hair. He let go quickly.
Oh smeg I'm in bigger trouble!!!
"Sam! Sorry! I didn't…" he started saying as he tried to apologize with both hands out.
She grabbed his right arm, tripped him quickly and slammed his face into the mat within less than two seconds. She placed her foot at the base of his neck and used her other foot to gain leverage to hold his right arm behind his back like she was trying to pull it off or out of socket as she stood over him.
"Ow!" was all he grunted as he hit the mat. Damn that was fast!
"Now, in any situation when you have the advantage over the enemy, make sure you take them down or out quickly if they are surprised, such as the Major here was. Their surprise will be your one chance to survive if you move quick enough to get them before they get you." she said in her commanding mode. "If done correctly, you can turn a…blown surprise attack, as he said, to your advantage. Thereby increasing your survival."
"Yes Colonel." they all said standing at attention. Most of them knew she was receiving private training well before the two got married.
"And that raps up the lesson for the day." Ford said weakly, still on the floor as he raised his other hand pointing a finger in the air. "Class dismissed."
They walked out quickly leaving them both alone. She still hadn't let go of him though.
"You going to let go Sam?"
"Umm. I'm thinking about it."
"You know, I can get out of this." he said after a moment.
"You think so?" she said pulling just hard enough that he had to grunt. "From what you taught me, I could snap your neck quickly or take your arm off, maybe both. How would you get out of this?"
"Easy." he said turning his right hand around and grabbing her wrist.
He pulled hard while using one foot to knock her to the ground. He rolled over and sat just above her waist with his legs on her arms, pinning them to the ground.
"Like that. My right arm has a lot of strength in it. Seeing as my arms are still free, I'll grab your legs if you try kicking me in the back or in the head." he said placing his hands on either side of the mat near her head as he leaned in. "Nice try though. Um, 10 for the counter attack, 10 for taking me down, but um, 0, no um, how about a 3 for thinking but not following through with keeping me down."
"You win, now get up."
"You don't like it when I do this do you?" he said smiling.
"You going to get off me?" she said trying to move her arms.
She was tempted to kick him in the back of the head, but more than likely he would grab her leaving her completely defenseless. At least he didn't try tickling her, though he did once before which being at home at the time lead to other things.
"Is that an order?" he asked moving in for a kiss.
He could see it in her eyes she wasn't mad at him anymore, but more regretfully of her actions yesterday.
"Let's hope so Major."
Ford got up quickly seeing Jack standing there with Daniel and Teal'c.
"Hey Jack."
"Sir." she said getting up with Ford's help.
"What were you two doing?" Jack asked suggestively. "I thought you said on the base everything would be professional?"
"Depends on how long you've been there?" Ford said rotating his right shoulder. She had almost pulled it out of socket, but he wasn't going to say anything.
"Long enough to know what's really happening. You're suppose to be working with Daniel."
"On what?"
Jack pointed at his own head.
"It's only the second day! Took you three to four before anything set in on you."
"True but you're smarter than me." he said quickly.
He stopped from saying more as Daniel chuckled quietly and he realized how bad that might have came out. Carter hide a laugh, but just barely.
"Yes, well. Don't try to rub it in too badly now. Might bruise my ego Jack." Ford said wishing he had said the words, damn straight, out loud instead of the mutter he knew Carter heard.
"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is," he said glaring momentarily at Daniel who was trying to keep from laughing. Sam just had a thin smile after his glare. "That being smarter in other ways, emphasis on other ways, that it might come to you more quickly."
"That is a possibility O'Neill."
"See, even Teal'c agrees."
"Okay, I'll go look into it and see if anything is coming out of my fron."
That startled them.
"That was quick." Daniel and Jack said.
"I was joking guys. I can say mind as well as fron. I was there when he said that word, remember?" he said tapping his the side of his head.
This earned him a glare from Jack and a look from Daniel and Carter for the bad joke he just made.
"Sorry. I won't do that again."
"Can it wait till after lunch sir? We need to talk." she said remembering why she was here, again.
"Lunch. Oh yes! It's that time isn't it!" he said looking at his watch. "Got to go see what he made before everyone else eats it all. Go ahead."
"That was unusual." Carter said as they watched him run off quickly
"Yeah, what did you make that made him…" Daniel said pointing at the doorway.
"Jello. He's going for the Vanilla flavored Jello I made." Ford stated.
"Indeed." Teal'c said with an almost perked up voice as he left.
"That might be the biggest mistake in cooking here you've ever made Ford." Daniel said looking back at the doorway.
"There's plenty, trust me. I made a couple pounds of the stuff. One big block." he said gesturing with his hands that the size was about the same as a 24 inch TV. "Which reminds me, there's a bet going on that Jack doesn't know about. Want in on it?"
"Jack doesn't know. Interesting." Daniel said thinking. "How long till he finds out about this you think?"
"He won't find out. I have everyone that has joined in the bet sworn to secrecy. You know how much secrets are kept here."
"Not much." Daniel muttered.
"What's the bet?" Carter asked.
"How long the Jello will last. I betted it will last a week at most and that Jack will become sick of the stuff afterward or before. I made him that brick and made other Jello for everyone else."
"I'll get in on that. I say that he will finish it in five days and gets sick afterward." Daniel said quickly and excitedly as he rubbed his hands together. "How much or can we bet something else?"
Ford had gotten a small notepad out of his pocket along with a pen and was about to write down Daniels bet when he stopped just touching the pad.
"Wait, you know something." Sam said.
"Yeah he does." Ford said suspiciously.
"No I don't."
"You said that way to quick. You're lying Daniel. What is it you know that I don't?" Ford said crossing his arms.
"Many things."
"Cute, and a little funny. Try again."
"Ah, Jack already found the Jello brick you made for him and he's ate quite a bit so far." he said smiling flakily.
"Damn! He started eating already?! When did he find it?"
"Last night. I walked in finding him filling out paperwork and a large bowling ball sized brick of Jello on his desk. Though it was missing a few big chunks."
"I say three days and he gets sick while eating it." Sam said.
"Five and three. Okay." Ford said writing it down. "How much money or are you betting something personal? You could bet shifts too."
In the lunch room, they walked in finding Jack was eating a bowl of oatmeal with a large chunk of the Jello. There was others in the room eating Jello with other things, but nothing like Jack had. The worst part was everyone got up, except Jack and gave him a standing ovation on the cooking he did.
"Thank you, thank you, just enjoy it while you can. I don't plan on going all out like this again." he said waving them to go back to eating.
A lot of them laughed, said thank you and sat back down. Jack looked like he was in heaven.
"I'm going to lose, badly. I'll be working the whole bases shift at this rate." Ford muttered as he got some food with the other two.
"How much did you bet?" Daniel asked as he grabbed some pasta dish Ford made.
"A couple thousand dollars. If I win, the money I get goes to charity."
"A couple thousmmm." Daniel started to say when Ford covered his mouth quickly.
"Yes." he hissed, then whispered, "Keep it down."
"Sorry. You are going to lose big. Not much really considering." Daniel whispered.
"We need to talk in private if you don't mind Daniel."
"Sure, I was going to go to my room and get things ready to test Ford with anyway. See you then."
They went to her office and ate there.
"I'm sorry about….."
"Sam. Don't worry about it. I made a mistake and broke a promise. Accident though it was, but you had ever right to blow up at me." he said waving it off.
"I should have stayed here with you instead of going home alone. I should have stayed here by your side like you do with me. I just…."
"Sam, it's okay. You needed time to try and think things through, calm down and being away from me was probably the best thing at that moment. Besides, if Thor had suddenly showed up during the night and beamed me away, I didn't want you waking up to me not being there thinking I left or something. Here, well there's a camera keeping watch."
"I guess you're right. I did need time to think. Glad Thor didn't show up, then anyway. Wonder what has the Asguard not getting our messages or what's keeping them from coming or responding."
"Uncanny luck for them being away when really needed? But things work out in the end, so far they have anyway. I forgive you though. On the bright side, better me than you."
"How so? Because you might come back and have all that information erased?"
"No. When and if I start losing my mind as Jack calls it and start to build something, if I build anything, you will be there to take notes and understand it so it can be duplicated if it turns out to be an excellent idea. Maybe I'll write it down while I'm at it if you remind me."
"Good point."
"And I'm hoping that I will be a better participant in Daniels exercises in the information retrieval effort seeing as Jack didn't want to do it and I want to. So, how's the leg?"
"Better, but still sore. If I don't cause any undue stress on it, we'll be back in bed together, having personal time in about four days." she said wrapping her arms around his neck. "What do you think about that?"
"Sweet." he said making her laugh.
Daniel was pulling out a few note books he had made during the times Jack had learned information and was able to give what he would give. Hopefully Ford would be able to tell more, book or books worth more. Ford walked in as he was still setting things up.
"What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"
"I forget." he said after a moment then sat down. "If I remember, you'll know then. Let's get to work."
They spent the next couple of hours going over items and different writings that dealt with anything related to the Ancients. Ford only learned how to read the language and notice it better, but he wasn't able to tell Daniel anything that he didn't already know.
Day three………
Since they didn't know if Ford was going to start….losing his mind as Jack liked putting it quite often, he was ordered to stay on base until told otherwise. That meant no off world missions unless Jack allowed it either. The rest of SG-1 stayed on the base as well having down time in some senses. Ford woke up at 0500 and couldn't get back to sleep. He left a note for her on the pillow and went to the lab to work. He had no idea how much time passed when Carter and Daniel walked in.
"Is he humming?" Daniel whispered.
"Yes. He actually does it a lot when he's concentrating on things. Though he never seems to really notice he's doing it." she said as they watching him from the doorway. He still hadn't noticed them.
"He humming anything we know?"
"No. But from my guess, it's probably one of those overseas cartoons he likes."
"Oh. The anime shows. Some are pretty good actually."
"You watch cartoons?"
Daniel shrugged as he walked in. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, hey." he said looking up at them. "Just computer work I've been trying to finish for a few months now."
"Nothing dealing with…"
"No Daniel. Nothing to do with my head or mind or fron if you want to call it that." he said typing away.
"What is it then?" Carter asked looking at it.
All she could really tell at the moment, considering the speed he was typing, it had something to do with the Stargate and power consumption.
"What are you doing?"
"An idea that I'm still working on, and on, and on, and on….." he slowly muttered off as he kept at it and was back to humming again within seconds.
He made a few more modifications while she was still watching and then hit enter. The information was…tallied, and the result was shown moments later. It didn't work out, again. Actually, it was…..
"That would be volitious!" Ford said with wide eyes.
The results said there was a 90 chance of the gate exploding or a massive power overload from the computers wasting most of the base if not the mountain complex.
"Guess I start over again." he groaned. "Why can't I seem to get this right? I've been doing this for months now! And I'm not sure why it suddenly became important. Originally it was just an idea. Though were it came from I don't know…"
He completely forgot that they were in the room and that they were looking at him as he kept talking.
"What could I have done wrong?" Ford said rubbing his chin. "Got the power figured out, somewhat. Got the gate's……maybe it needs theoretical symbols for a gate address. No. Maybe the vectors are off on the Naquada. Naquadria might be better, but we have so little and the stuff is so unstable to begin with…"
"Ford?"
He jumped.
"Talk about being involved with work." Daniel said as Ford kept himself from falling off the stool.
"Jeez. You two scared me. How long have you been there?" he said calming his breathing.
"We never left Ford." Carter said worried he was in another world, or his mind anyway.
"Oh." he said slowly.
"What does volitious mean?"
"I don't know Daniel." he said closing the lap top and then standing up. "This is a lost cause for the moment. Where did you hear or see it?"
"You just said it a moment ago." Carter said still worried, now more seeing Ford didn't notice he said it.
"I did? When?"
"At least he's not pulling a Jack." Daniel said.
"Ah! Good morning people." Jack said happily as he walked in after clapping his hands together and rubbing them. "So what's up?"
He was in blue jeans and a red T-shirt. Evidence he had just arrived and came here first.
"What makes you think something's iz'da?" Ford said leaning on the table with one hand.
"Well, one, Carter and Daniel look worried. Okay more Carter than Daniel, two you just said iz'da and three, what the hell does that mean?" he said counting off fingers and acted like nothing unusual had happened.
"Day three and it's started." Ford said rubbing his face with one hand.
He pulled a notebook out and wrote something down and gave it to Daniel. It had the words, up equals iz'da. It also had all the other words that they had figured out, mostly stuff that Jack had said. It was something Ford had started, for himself. It wasn't one of Daniels notebooks.
"What was the other one I said?"
"Volitious." Daniel said.
"Any idea what it means?"
"No, I was hoping you could tell me." he said tapping the notebook with the pen.
"When did I….what did I say with it?"
"You said…that would be volitious." Carter said having to think a moment.
Ford looked up, with his eyes only thinking. He took the notebook and wrote the words volitious means disastrous then handed it back.
"Any cravings for…." Jack said then gave a brief deep thought. "Building advanced mechanical or technologically items or equipment for going through the gate or somewhere else in the vast universe to explore new cultures, artifacts or save the Earth from enemies from afar?"
They were stunned at the fact Jack actually used his brain, for once.
"That's….impressive sir." Sam said shocked.
"Yeah, well, don't tell to many people. I have a reputation to keep. So Major?"
"Are you sure you're actually Jack and not Ma.."
"Just answer the question Major." Jack said quickly and with a commanding tone.
"No." he said with a shake of his head and a hidden smile. "Other than a program I'm trying to run that I keep messing up figures with wrong."
"Anything unusual feeling I should know about?"
"Ah…yes. I've been up since 0500, I think. I'm hungry."
Jack's eyes shot up.
"Ah yes! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I need my Jello fix! Jello oh sweet Jello!" he said walking out quickly with a happy skip in his step.
"Oh god. I'm going to lose bad. And I thought I wasn't getting any sleep before, now I won't at all." he grumbled out.
"Oh yeah." Sam said agreeing.
Jack was sitting at a table to himself with eggs, bacon and coffee. And a big bowl of Jello as the other's walked in. Since the day Ford had made it, this was Jack's twentieth helping, maybe higher seeing as they didn't know how much he had before they found out he was already eating it.
"At this rate he'll have it finished in hours." he grumbled.
"Well you do cook the best food I have ever eaten." Daniel said going into the kitchen with Carter and Ford.
Jack had the kitchen redone some time ago, about the same time when the bomb took out the lower level and the remodeling was done to give the women a locker room of their own. Only a select few were actually allowed to go into the new kitchen to get things for themselves, depending on what was going on. They were all getting a few different thing from the selections of fridges.
"Please, flattery might get you somewhere."
"Oh, brownies…"
"I don't have the supplies right now."
"If it weren't for the runs we do every morning, or try to on the days we have and the sparring…"
"Sparring? More like training Sam. You're the only one that ever actually hits me other than Teal'c. Some just get lucky."
"Whatever." she said with a small smile at him. "I think I'd be much bigger. I've gained almost ten pounds even with all the working out."
Daniel knew better than to comment on that as he walked out quickly.
"What?" Ford said looking her over quickly. "Must be muscular or the scale is broken. I don't see anything different, no wait, got to be muscle. You look more stronger and fit than before we met. Considering what we've been doing some nights…"
He turned back around grabbing a can of pop from the soda machine as she spoke.
"Wait, are you saying that before you showed up I was lazy?"
The tone in her voice easily showed his remark insulted her.
"That's not what I meant Sam. I see where that came out wrong though. Did you ever get up in the morning, as early as we do, and take those runs? Or how about all those exercises and training in combat moves I have showed you? You're the only one that I know that's really capable of taking me down. Not to mention, I can tell before we got married, you hadn't been with anyone else in some time." he said whispering as he got more than kissing close.
She didn't say anything knowing he was right and didn't want to acknowledge it. She just smiled and walked out with him following shortly after. After eating they were in the briefing room with Jack talking to them.
"Okay, even though I said I wanted you all on standby until this thing with Ford was figured out, I'm sending you to this new planet."
Carter was about to ask why when Jack held his hand up.
"I'm getting to why Colonel. Now, survey reports say that the planet has extensive wildlife, mostly birds from the sounds of things, trees and other interesting stuff. But they found a cave system that has….stuff Daniel would be interested in and maybe something you two might find." he said pointing at the Carter's. "Not to mention it suddenly popped up on the computer as looking important, to K-9 anyway."
"Now the main reason I'm sending you.." he said in a low voice, "Is because word has gotten out about Ford and a select few people are coming to talk to him from what I understand."
"More than likely to interrogate me." he grumbled.
"Right, so I'm getting you out of here so they don't try to take you away. There was word in the higher ups when I was going through the same thing before finding the Antarctic site that the next time this happened, the person it happened to would be put through extensive questioning and other things."
"Thanks Jack." Ford said happily. "I didn't want to be a guinea pig."
"Neither do I. Besides, I think Kinsey is behind this one. I mean he made the policy before he was fired."
"Where is he anyway sir?"
"Seriously Carter. I don't know. Last I heard, he left the country. Anyway, get going before they show up."
"How you feeling?" Carter asked as they watched the gate dial.
"Fine considering I'm losing my fron." Ford muttered.
"Well, we know that one." Daniel said.
"What? I said another…" he said and they nodded their heads before he got finished. "Which one?"
"Fron." Daniel said.
"Probably cause I knew that word already." he said as the gate activated.
"Call back in two hours or else people." Jack said from above.
"Yes sir." Carter called back. "Let's go."
It was a nice sunny day on the unknown planet. No sign of intelligent life or should be said humanoid life anyway. There was a lot of birds, most bigger than the bald eagle.
"Wow. Those are some big birds." Ford said.
"At least they are not above us." Carter said seeing the variety of birds in the trees. They didn't seem to be any flying and the birds barely acknowledged the SG team.
"Where's that cave system Sam?" Daniel asked eager to move on before the birds decided to fly above them.
Daniel pulled a hat out putting it on as did Teal'c. They were standard issue SGC camouflage hats with the brim all the way around. Carter had the cap version on while Ford didn't wear one.
"Let's see." she said looking at the map they had for what was scouted. "That way."
They took off going east of the gate which would be easy to find since it stuck out being near the edge of the large forest. After a good mile walk they came out from the trees to a tall mountain wall. There was several caves built into the wall. Somewhere around twenty and the highest was a good two stories up. Whoever made the caves also dug out paths in the wall to make it up to those higher caves.
"Reminds me of one of those American Indian tribes that did this sort of thing, but which one I can't recall."
"Wasn't my field of study either Daniel." Ford said as they walked up a small path.
"The report stated that this cavern met up with a larger cavern several meters in. I'm going to check it out. The other caves seemed to have most of the writing on the walls." she said.
"I'll be looking at those with Teal'c. Let us know if you find anything."
"No problem." she said folding the map back up that another SG team created. "We'll meet up here in just over an hour to report back."
Daniel and Teal'c followed the dug in path going to one of the top ones as the Carter's walked into a cave near them. All Daniel and Teal'c found was some pottery, some old arrow heads and a lot of writing on the wall that got Daniel's interest, but not as much as he would normally have. It was of Indian origin and it was escaping him. Ford and Carter found better along with the same stuff that the other two found.
They walked in going past pottery and other objects that held little interest. It had been sometime since any SG team came across something this old.
"Makes you wonder if some System Lord went to America when Indians were around."
"Yeah, this…..is strange. At least the Egyptians knew how to build things. Not that I'm criticizing the Indians. Considering everything we have all seen out there….the Indians got lucky if only one Goa'uld found them."
"You've got a point there. More than likely they got tired of…watch your head." she said as her hair got ruffled by something in the dark. She looked up as she turned around seeing there was a low overhang that was barely visibly in the dark.
"What? Whoa." Ford said ducking. "Where did that come from? Anyway, you were saying…"
"Oh, ah…they probably got tired of the oppression and fought back."
"Let's hope so. You see that light iz'da there?"
"That's where we are headed." she said as they went down a small incline.
They emerged into a room with a large open hole in the center. A lot of light was coming from the hole and some amount of heat. Strangely enough, there was no smell in the air. Ford slowly walked over to the hole looking down at it. He had to put on his glasses to not get blinded by the heat waves. There was what looked to be lava at the bottom of the chasm. A few holes that had some suction system going, pulled the heat and fumes coming up from the lava. They were built into the side of the large opening a good hundred feet from the deadly pool of molten magma. But the design wasn't human looking.
"If this is what I think it is, it's ingenious." she said after a momentary scan.
"What?" Ford said looking around finally. "How long I been looking at this?"
"About five minutes. Space out?" she asked with no trace of worry.
After they walked in and he walked over looking, she glanced at him several times to make sure he was fine or if he was going to do something.
"Apparently so. What was you saying this was?" he said stepping back.
"I think it's a power system that is powered, well by intense heat. But that's just my assessment from looking at it." she said still scanning.
"But for what and whom?"
"Right now, I can't tell. The technology doesn't seem familiar, but all those components look to be possibly be made by us."
"There's another passage that goes this way." Ford said pointing at a dark corner on the far side of the hole.
"Can you check it out?" she said not really asking knowing he'd go anyway.
"Sure, as long as you stay away from that edge." he said walking over to it backwards.
"You got close." she smiled.
"Yeah, and I felt the ground not wanting to support my weight either."
"I planned on staying back anyway. Go find out what's in there." she said shooing him away.
After he left she called the other two telling them what she came across. Ford stepped through the almost hidden opening in the cave wall finding a long passage that wound up as he followed it. There was a wall on either side of him and nothing else. He had to use his flashlight to see where he was going. At the top, which took him a good twenty minutes to get to, he found a door. A familiar door.
"Sam, I found something of interest."
He got no response.
"Daniel, Teal'c?"
Same thing.
"Guess I look on my own."
Ford walked over and pushed on the small panel. The door opened to a dark cave where old computers were still working. Asguard computers around Ancient computer system by the language on some things. Some were not lit up though and some of those crystal palm things were on the floor. A chair that was of Ancient in origin was near the middle of the room.
"Looks like the Asguard was checking things out once. But it's been many years. Many, many years."
The room had a great deal of dust in it that jumped up as Ford walked around. He didn't find much else other than old stuff that had quit working years ago. From the looks of things, they must have abandoned the small place due to volcanic instability. He tried calling them again but still got nothing. Ford brushed off his pants and walked back down the long path. As he got near the bottom he heard a lot of talking.
"I don't know Daniel!"
"Are you sure he just walked up some path that's suppose to be here?"
"Yes. That's the place. He said he saw it, but I didn't notice because my attention was focused on this…hole here."
"How long has he been gone?"
"Over an hour now."
Over an hour!!!
Ford looked at his watch seeing she was right. He couldn't figure out how the time had passed so fast on him and he wasn't gone that long from what he remembered. He walked forward more then came around seeing Daniel looking at him.
"Daniel?"
"Well, all I see and feel is a rough wall." Daniel said turning away.
"Well I see something else." Ford said scaring them all as he stepped out.
Daniel turned and touched the wall again. His hand didn't go through but stopped like it hit a force field. Ford grabbed his hand and tried to push it through, but got nowhere.
"Hmm? I see a passage." Ford said stepping through.
For him he walked through like before, for them they saw him walk through a solid wall. It never shimmered or changed appearance as he stepped through.
"Ford?" Daniel asked.
"Yes I can hear you." he said turning around.
"Ford!!!" Carter yelled.
Ford stuck his head out.
"I can hear you." he said walking out.
"Okay, it's apparent that we cannot go in there or see what it is." Daniel said stepping back.
"So what did you find that we cannot go see?" she asked touching the wall herself.
It was a rock wall. Didn't feel any different than the other walls and her scanner detected nothing except it being a wall.
"Looks like the Asguard had a small base here once and was investigating Ancient technology. There's one of those chairs iz'da there."
"Did you sit in it?" Daniel asked.
"I knew better than that. I just….looked around."
"Maybe if you sit in it, it will deactivate the hidden doorway." Teal'c said.
"Only if Sam wants me to try."
"I'll stay here and wait for him, you two go back and tell the General what we have learned."
"I'll see if it is safe to come home too?" Daniel said walking away.
"Give me your scanner so if nothing happens after sitting in the chair, I can at least take readings."
"Good idea. If things start looking bad, get out of there."
Ford walked up the long path and found the room looking as he left it. Still had the footprints he left and objects he disturbed.
"Must have just stared for a long time at something." he muttered.
He did the scans, surprised he was scanning and then stopped after a good five minutes, maybe more. He put it in his pocket and went to the chair. As he touched it, he got a strange feeling. The same one he had before when he was in Antarctica with Jack and the others those many months ago.
"I refuse to be afraid of some stupid chair." he said sitting down.
Daniel and Teal'c came back finding Carter looking at the wall. There was a passage going up they could all see.
"When did that show up?" Daniel asked.
"A few minutes ago. I was waiting for you guys. I tried calling him, but got nothing. Let's go."
After a long walk up, which tired them all out, they made it to the open doorway. Ford was sitting in the chair, not moving, eyes closed, and almost looking dead.
"Major Carter?" Teal'c exclaimed walking over. He wasn't as wasted as the other two were.
Ford's eyes opened and he sat up quickly.
"Ford?" Daniel said standing back up.
He said nothing in return as he got out of the chair and started walking out. Carter grabbed his arm stopping him.
"Ford where…."
He tried to speak, but nothing came out. He put a hand on her shoulder and jerked his head toward the door.
We have to go, quickly. Carter heard in her mind. She didn't say anything as he walked off.
They came back through the open passage to the lava filled hole. As they all walked through, there was a swooshing sound and the passage became a wall again. Daniel touched the wall finding it was hidden again.
"Ford wait!" Carter practically yelled as she grabbed his arm.
"Unless it's an absolute necessity that we hurry, I have to rest, we have to rest." she said exhausted as she sat down against the wall.
"Thank you Sam." Daniel said sitting down even more exhausted. Teal'c sat down with his legs crossed to rest in his own way. "How many stairs did we just climb anyway?"
"I wasn't keeping count." Daniel said as Ford sat down next to Carter.
"Four hundred and twelve Daniel Jackson."
"That many! Wow, that's a workout. That would mean there was….was…"
"Umm….two hundred and six up…." Carter said between a drink of water.
"That is not what I spoke Daniel Jackson. There is four hundred and twelve up and four hundred and twelve down." Teal'c said standing up.
"Oh man! I think I'm going to be hurting in the morning." Daniel groaned as he rubbed his legs.
"That's got to be a couple of miles or more." she said taking the hat off and wiping her brow.
Ford patted her leg and left it there.
It will do us some good. We've missed our morning jogs and this will help your leg get used to being move a lot again.
"Do us some good? My leg? I haven't felt this tired since…um.." she said shutting up suddenly. Ford turned quickly looking at her.
"Sam? What's going on?"
"Didn't you hear him? He said the climbing we did was making up for all the time we've missed on our morning jogs."
"Forgive me Colonel Carter, but your husband never said anything." Teal'c stated.
"He just said it a moment ago. How could you not hear it?"
"Sam, he never said anything." Daniel said.
She turned back to Ford who shook his head.
"But I could have sworn…wait a minute! You did say those words?"
He nodded a she grabbed his hand.
I can't speak. And I don't why. He said letting her hand go to rub his chin.
"Wait." she said grabbing his hand again.
What is she doing?
"I can hear your thoughts."
Really?
"Yes really."
Hmm, this gives me an idea. Not good ones though.
"He's talking to you telepathically Sam?"
"Yeah, somehow he can, but only through physical contact." she said letting go before the rest of what he said made her blush more than she wanted.
Teal'c walked over and stuck his hand out. Ford grabbed it but Teal'c heard nothing and let go after a few moments.
"I heard nothing."
"Let me try."
Ford grabbed Daniels hand and did the same thing. Same result, Daniel heard nothing as well. He got up and then helped her to her feet not letting go.
First things first. You tell them we keep this between us. We'll not even tell Jack, got it?
"What did he…" Daniel started to ask seeing the look's going between them.
"He said we should keep this….ability he has between us and not to tell the General either. I agree with him for now." she said turning to them.
"Works for me." Daniel said.
"Indeed. As I believe O'Neill would say, I heard nothing."
Ford gave them a thumbs up, then touched her shoulder again as they walked out.
I know the other gate symbols. We need to go and use them, quickly.
Sorry if I don't understand the urgency. She said to him as she grabbed his hand quickly before they left.
Hey, I heard that! It works both ways I see. Good, we can have a more private…
Not right now. Why are you so intent…
I'm not sure. Just a extreme urgency for getting there as quick as possible. Mostly before I lose my mind.
Yeah, I don't want that……
"Ford?" she asked as he let go and staggered. She grabbed him before he could fall.
I'm fine, just really hot all the sudden and tired.
They got back to the gate without trouble and dialed home. Coming back through the gate Jack was standing at the bottom of the ramp.
"Back already?" he said looking at his watch. "I thought you were going to stay a couple of days on that…fascinating planet."
"Ford wasn't feeling very well sir."
"Not feeling well? Oh, he does look under the weather." he said casually then looked up at the briefing room.
Ford was looked tired and sweating pretty bad and had to hold the rail to keep standing.
"Those idiots showed up with legal papers saying they get to talk to you! You were suppose to stay away!" he whispered forcefully.
"Ford lost the ability to talk sir."
"Oh. That's wonderful news! We can send those guys home then….go about our business."
He sent them to the infirmary and told them to come back to the briefing room right after.
"We know he is back General! Where is he?" a dark short haired man said leaning over Jack's desk.
"He's in the infirmary right now where you cannot go." Jack said quickly as the man tried to leave.
"You saw the paper's General! We have orders higher than you that say we can talk to him anytime we want!" the man said slamming his hand down on the desk. Jack got out of his chair quickly.
"Sergeant! Get this man out of my office and put him in with his friends! If he resist! Shoot him!"
"You can't do this General!" he said as he was being escorted out.
"The nerve of some people." he said with a grunt.
"How is he?" Sam asked.
"He's mentally exhausted from what I can understand Colonel. His brain activity is off the scale. The MRI shows his entire brain is completely active, much more than O'Neill's ever was. He's worst than the scans that Janet had on him. But don't worry Colonel, I think he just needs some sleep."
"He's almost made it past the amount of time General O'Neill had his brain this way." she said chewing on a fingernail.
"We can wake him in an hour and see if anything might have changed."
Ford sat up quickly and looked around.
"That's impossible." the doctor muttered.
Ford got off the bed grabbed his coat off the rack and walked out putting it on. Carter followed along after.
"Ford, where are you going?"
I need a cold shower! It's to hot in here! You still have that paper?
She pulled it out and he took the pen she gave him along with it and wrote the last three symbols, handed it back and kept going. Though she could have sworn he said he needed the cold shower for more than one reason as he left.
Just about an hour later in the briefing room.
"So the Major can't talk anymore. That's almost a good thing." Jack said straight faced.
Ford shook his head and grimaced slightly.
You really like being an ass sometimes Jack.
Carter had placed a hand on his arm under the table to hear what was going through his mind and heard what he thought. She kept from laughing as Daniel went on about what happened. Teal'c was next then she went next.
"After we got Ford out of the chair we came home."
"Nothing else happened in that room then?"
"Nothing we could find Jack. Ford just sat up and left quickly." Daniel said.
"Great find. An Ancient chair that doesn't work."
"That's about the jist of it Jack."
"Indeed O'Neill."
Ford leaned forward and got ready to say something. He dropped his hands into his lap realizing he couldn't talk.
"Can he write?" Jack said looking over at Daniel.
Ford shook his head while Daniel said no.
"Guess you're in big trouble then or have you all figured out a way…." he said leaving it hanging.
The SG team looked at each other briefly then at Ford. Ford shrugged his shoulders and under the table put a hand on her knee.
Tell him, but write it down for him to read while you tell him that we don't have anything yet.
"Great, then what do we do, Morse code or…..what are you doing Colonel?" he asked seeing her writing.
"A note for myself later sir." she said finishing it then turning it so he could read it. "We have tried a few things but have came up with nothing. He can't even use the keyboard anymore. Basically, he can respond to yes and no questions. Though how long that last, I'm not sure."
Jack listened to her as he read the note.
General, Ford is capably of telepathic communication with me. It only works with me, but I haven't figured out why and we have to have physical contact in order for either of us to talk to each other. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, we touch and can talk to each other in our minds. And I only works for us. Ford suggested that we keep this circle of people knowing this information to as few as possible. The only people that know so far is us at the table and I agree that we keep it that way.
Jack looked up from the note after she was finished talking. He looked at Ford first with a questioning look to which Ford nodded slightly. He then looked at Carter and gave her a upset look.
"I know what it means." he whispered.
"Sorry si.."
There was a sudden commotion as three men in business suits walked into the room from near Jack's office. Carter grabbed the paper off the table and handed it to Ford who put it away quickly. One stood behind Carter while the other got behind Ford and the last stood near Jack. That guy pulled a set of papers as the other two pulled handcuffs out. They both had cropped hair that was whitening and from Ford point of view, after turning to see them, noticed the were packing nine millimeters. Ford put his head in his left hand and put his hand on Carter's knee.
Just look at me like your sympathetic or something, don't turn around, they are armed.
Ford told her this as the leader of this group started talking.
"I have…."
"Sir! I'm sorry sir, but they had legal papers and…." a Sergeant said rushing in.
"Never mind for now Sergeant. I was about to have them brought up anyway." Jack said waving him off. "You were saying."
"I have legal documentation that has been signed by the President himself that says we are allowed to take Ford off this base for questioning. Even the Joint Chiefs signed this. You are to hand him over right now or face court martial charges as will any other officer that tries to stop us." he practically yelled in frustration as he slapped the papers on the table.
"I seriously doubt…" Jack said picking up the paper.
"You can call the President Hayes right now if you wish General. I can wait a few minutes."
"Wait here." Jack said leaving the table.
"While he is gone, you can read this Colonel." he said pulling another file out. "You, give it to him."
The guy in front of Ford reached into his coat and pulled a syringe out.
"What the hell are you doing?" Daniel asked standing up. Teal'c stood up as well as Jack came back out.
"What's going on here?!"
"Your Major has been known to….act out of character with what a normal officer should do so we are sedating him for the ride. It is also for our protection seeing as he has unknown information the government wants access to." the guy handing out the papers said with a tone that said don't dare go against me. "What did the President say General?"
"I couldn't get hold of him. He's in some meeting."
"Then we are leaving. You've seen the President's signature before and you have technology to confirm it. We are taking the Major and leaving right now. Tom give him the shot."
"Now wait a…!" Jack started saying as he moved forward. The guy stopped him.
"He is coming with us General and you are ordered to back off right now!"
Ford rolled up his sleeve on his left arm as Carter tried to tell him to stop.
"Sir this is…."
"Hold your tongue Colonel if you wish to keep your job." the guy near Jack said.
"Ford you are ordered not to…."
Tom bent over and started to get ready to inject him. Ford glanced to his right seeing the other guy behind Carter had his hand near the inside if his Jacket if Ford tried anything. Ford grabbed Tom's hand and pulled the needle away as he kicked the guy in the nuts. His left hand grabbed the nine from Tom as the guy bent over grabbing what was left of his family jewels. The other guy started pulling his gun as did the guy with the briefcase. Ford kicked out Carter's chair making it hit the guy behind her as he got up and tossed the needle past Daniels head. As strange as it was, Jack got himself surprised as the guy near him dropped the briefcase and put the gun to Jack's head.
"Drop the weapon and surrender yourself now Major! Or I will shoot the General!"
"You are not here from the government." Teal'c said backing away from the table slowly.
"Very astute. Me and my friends are actually part of the Trust. Ford has information that will help us and we plan on taking it if we have to hurt people to get it. Now drop the weapon!"
"They got bold." Daniel muttered.
Ford had the gun pointed at the mans head while keeping his eyes on the other two men. The man got behind Jack and kept the gun on his head as Ford motioned for Carter to get behind him. Several guards came up from above and stayed back from a motion from Carter.
"Major! Do not test me on this! I will kill him and take your wife and anyone else I can in the process! You have till the count of three! One! Tw…"
Everyone jumped with the exception of Jack who twitched as blood hit him. The man behind him hit the floor as Ford lowered the gun. When he did the guy that was knocked down by the chair got up, he went for his gun but was knocked out when Sam saw him and elbowed him in the face then kicked him in the nuts as well. He dropped and didn't move.
"Is it safe now?" Daniel asked after a few moments.
"Nice job Colonel." Jack muttered then shook himself free of his stupor.
"Are you all right sir?"
"Fine Colonel." he said wiping some blood off his face. "I need a towel and guards, get these…"
The guy Ford kicked in the nuts got up quickly and slammed into Ford knocking them both on the table. The guy was trying to strangle him, but failed as Ford broke free easily, turned the guy over and slammed his head, face first into the table, hard. He didn't move anymore, just slid off the table leaving a trail of blood.
"Get them out of here before they wake up!" Carter yelled to the guards.
"Get this guy too." Jack said moving out of the way as more guards came in.
"The situation has been taken care of here. Go find out if anyone else was seen talking to these men inside the base or up top." she said to the others.
"Yes Colonel."
"Okay, that's out of the way. Any idea what might be next?" Jack said looking around like something else was going to happen.
Ford threw his hands into the air and sat down rubbing his face.
"The Trust got bold this time sir." Carter said still standing.
"Indeed."
"We need better safety measures." Jack said with a finger in the air.
"You mean security measures Jack." Daniel said.
"Yeah, whatever."
The guards had removed the bodies by now as the medical team came to retrieve the dead guy and clean the table.
"Sir, what about this?" one of the medical people asked.
"What about what?" Jack asked turning around.
They all looked, with the exception of Ford who was probably in another world considering how spaced he looked and how much he was starting to sweat. They saw the needle, imbedded in the window panel. The needle was dripping out slowly on the other side.
"Remove it and find out what's in it."
"Sir." Carter exclaimed quickly as Ford started falling forward. She grabbed him before he fell out of the chair.
"Get him to the infirmary." Jack said with urgency.
I can't. I won't make it that long. We have to leave through the gate, now.
He almost passed out after he talked to her.
"Sir, we have to get him through the gate to whatever address he came up with. If we don't he says he's not going to make it." she said with urgency and concern.
"Get him out of here then quickly. Take whoever and whatever you might need."
Daniel and Teal'c were holding Ford up as the gate was being dialed. They had a M.A.L.P. ready to send through as soon as the gate stabilized. Ford was so messed up that they didn't bother to bring his coat along, just standard SGC outfit for going off planet he had on. Ford didn't even object, and they doubted he could seeing as they had put a standard issue SGC coat on him. Jack released Carter to go and stay with Ford to help him through after she had engaged the extra power system Ford figured out on the laptop yesterday. Daniel moved and let her take his spot holding on his left side.
I'm…still…here……
"I know." she said gripping his hand tighter.
"Chevron six locked." Walter said from above.
"Let's hope this works." Daniel muttered.
"Indeed. As Jack once said, he is heavier than he looks."
Ford shook just enough that Carter and Teal'c noticed.
"He's laughing." she said with a smile.
"Actually Jack said that and added that's without the coat." Daniel said as the whole room started to shake slightly.
"It hasn't done that in years." Carter said looking around as the lights dimmed out for a moment.
"Chevron nine locked!"
The gate opened and stabilized surprisingly.
"It actually worked." Carter exclaimed in surprise. Ford said something to her in her mind, but it was unintelligible.
"Ford. I didn't get that. Say it again." she said looking back at him.
Nothing changed except he stopped holding himself up suddenly.
"Walter get that M.A.L.P. through quickly!" Jack said as he saw them have to put Ford on the floor.
"C'mon Ford don't give up on me like this." she said slapping his face some.
"He has a fever Sam." Daniel said feeling his forehead.
"Receiving M.A.L.P. telemetry." Walter said.
"If it looks safe, let us know. I'm going down to help them." Jack said rushing out before Walter could even reply.
"Ford wake up please." she said holding back tears.
She didn't like seeing him like this, but he had made her promise not to shoot him or anything resulting in his, immortal death. He wanted to see this through and if he died and came back in the process, then so be it, but he had to see it through. Unfortunately, the theory was he'd come back with the information and still be out of his mind, figuratively speaking.
"He is unconscious Colonel Carter." Teal'c stated as Jack knelt down next to him.
"Walter?!"
"It's a open plain sir! I believe it's safe!"
"Works for me." Jack said helping them get Ford to his feet. "You bring him back normal, got that!"
"Sure thing Jack." Daniel said as they walked through.
It took, according to the SGC computer tracking them, almost three minutes to get to the planet.
"They have made it to the planet sir. I can see them here." Walter said as he pointed at the screen as Jack came back up. On the screen it showed SG-1 come through the gate from the M.A.L.P. camera. Once they all came through the gate it shut down and they lost the signal.
"We made it." Daniel said looking around.
There was miles of nothing but clear skies with wispy clouds, a bright sun behind them, and flowers with grass in all directions. Despite how hot it looked to be, it was actually a nice cool day. Even Daniel noticed there wasn't anything in the air to mess with his allergies. Teal'c helped set Ford to lie down on the ground near the M.A.L.P.
"We are here Ford. You can wake up now." Carter said watching him. He lifted a hand very, very slowly and she grabbed it.
"He's still with us." Carter said letting herself cry. "We made it here! What do we do Ford? Where do we go?"
The world around them changed. One moment it was the beautiful day, the next everything changed to being white, everywhere. There was no flowers, no grass, nothing. It was like being in a solid white room but no discernable walls. The M.A.L.P, the Stargate and them was the only thing that hadn't changed.
"What the…" Daniel said looking around.
Teal'c got up and held his staff weapon out, ready for anything. Carter looked around from where she was kneeling when she realized Ford wasn't gripping her hand anymore.
"Ford?"
He is just fine child.
She let go of his hand and got up looking around. They all were looking around with weapons ready.
"Did you hear that?" Daniel said looking around with his nine.
"Indeed." Teal'c said.
A bright wispy light appeared out of nowhere and came up close to them. Despite the whiteness of everything, they could see the light very well.
"Wait!" Daniel said quickly as they other two aimed at it. It seemed familiar.
"You were once one of us Daniel Jackson." a female voice said from it.
"Oma?"
"No dear child. She is one of us though." the female voice said. The voice had a tone that made them have the feeling they could trust it.
"You're one of the Ascended Ancients?" Daniel asked.
"We are." a man's voice said from behind them.
They turned to see a bright wispy light that changed into a very black haired, tall man with a green robe on like Daniel wore when he was Ascended. The hood was down as well.
"Are you here for Major Carter?" Teal'c asked lowering his weapon. He was the last to do so. Carter had set hers on the M.A.L.P. and knelt down to Ford again.
"We are Teal'c of Chulak." the female voice said.
They turned to her seeing a tall female with amazing beauty. She also had very black hair and one of those robes on with the hood down. She walked over to Ford and the two men backed up. Carter was kneeling next to Ford above his head as the unknown woman knelt down as well.
"He has had this for sometime now. He should have came sooner." she said putting a hand on Ford's forehead.
"Can you save him?" Carter asked almost afraid of the answer.
"If he died we could still save him." she said. "Though to save you from this pain, he should have come sooner. Stubborn boy."
She closed her eyes and a glow came from her hand. Moments later, Ford looked better again. She stood up and walked a few feet away to stand next to the unknown man.
"Ford?"
He slowly opened his eyes and had to blink them several times.
"Hey Sam." he said slowly. Then he gave her a curious look. "Wasn't your face cut?"
She nodded her head with a small laugh.
"It was, but that was about four days ago."
"Four days. It took them four days to get to us out of that hole? What the hell was Jack doing? And…." he stopped as he suddenly realized he was missing something, several things actually.
He sat up quickly and looked for his guns and coat. They were both missing and he felt naked without them.
"Where are we? What the hell happened? Where is my weapons and coat? Wha…" he was saying as he looked around. When he saw the two robed people he just stopped moving altogether and looked like he saw a ghost.
"You know these people?" Daniel asked pointing at them briefly.
"He knows us very well." the woman said with a smile.
Ford had to take a few deep breaths as he slowly got up.
"Are you okay Ford?" Sam asked seeing Ford's eyes watering.
"Are….are we dead?" he asked with a choked voice.
"No we are not Major Carter." Teal'c said before the others could answer.
"Then what's going on?" he asked slowly not looking away from the robed individuals.
"You came to us, as it was meant to be." the female said walking up.
She stood just within reach and grabbed his hand which made him jump slightly. The man put his hand on Ford's shoulder giving it a gently squeeze.
"Hello son." the man said smiling.
"Son?" Daniel asked really confused.
"My little boy has found us." the woman said grabbing Ford into a hug.
She started crying as Ford put his hands around her. He was only taller than her by about an inch where the man was the same height as Ford.
"Wait." Carter said shaking herself from her stupor. "These people aren't…"
"They are my parents." Ford said as he stepped back and smiled brightly with tears in his eyes. "I don't know how, but I know they are."
"Wow. Wait, I thought you said they died…." Daniel started saying.
"I did. But that was what I was told. I never saw the bodies."
"We never died son. We went home. There was an enemy we could not fight any longer without help. We left our universe and ended up many years in the future. We had you to raise and once we knew you would be safe, we had to return home."
Ford wiped his eyes then gave his father a confused look.
"I don't understand." he said slowly. Then he said something that was strange, but appropriate. "That sounded like a corny line from a bad movie."
"That sounded like something Jack would say."
"I know, that's probably why I said it. He's not here and it doesn't seem the same without him." Ford said turning to Daniel then back. "God I miss Jack being with us."
"Indeed."
"You certainly have your father's sense of humor. We know you do not understand." his mother said.
"Ford?"
"Oh, sorry Sam. Guys this is my parents, which is pretty obvious now. Nancy and James Primus. These are my friends, Daniel…."
"We know who they are my dear." Nancy said holding his hand. "We have been watching you for a long time."
"You have? Right." Ford said realizing what she meant. "Then you know who this is?" he said turning to Carter.
He knew she didn't really like being put on the spot unless it was part of a duty thing.
"The only woman to actually take your heart. Welcome to the family Samantha." Nancy said taking her hand. "I am very proud to have you in our family."
"Thank you." she said blushing.
"I often wondered if Ford would ever settle down and have a life. We always thought he would be a loner beca…"
"Okay dad, let's not go there. There are some secrets that don't need to be spoken."
"We only wanted you to be happy." Nancy said stepping back to her husband again.
"I am. More than you know." Ford said wrapping an arm around Carter.
"We know more than you think." the Primus's said together.
"I've got to ask this before it drives me crazy. How the hell did we get here?" he said turning to the team.
"That depends. What's the last thing you remember?" Daniel asked leaning on the M.A.L.P. with Carter and Ford.
"Ah….something about going into a dark room with no crystals. K-9 said something and then…" he said waving a hand over his head.
"This will help you." Nancy said touching Ford's forehead again for a few seconds.
"Oh, so that's what….oh my. A good thing I didn't do anything embarrassing." he said with relief then realized something as he stood up fully. "Damn, I lost that bet! I'm going to be doing extra work for a week! And a few dozen people are going to get rich!"
"I have restored his memory of everything that has happened to him from when he accesses the Ancient library till now. The Ancient Knowledge he learned, he does not have." she said.
"The Ancient libraries of Knowledge were left behind for several races to find to use in the hope that an alliance could be made to defeat our greatest threat when their race became capable of holding the Knowledge and to pass on our legacy. It also had a embedded program in them to help you find home." James said.
"You were more than just a child to us Ford. You carry with you the ability to defeat our enemy. They cannot harm you and cannot kill you."
"Is that why I am immortal?" Ford asked.
"Yes, partially. You have a greater strength than anyone else on Earth. That is just one of the defenses that is in you to fight this enemy."
"Wait. Then that………" Ford started saying.
"That would mean the Ancient created the Immortals." Daniel said finishing his statement.
"That is correct. They were created as you say in an attempt to make it harder on our enemy to defeat us. And by the thought going through your head son, you are not a test tube baby as they say. All Immortals that we created were genetically….worked on while in the womb. In your case, we volunteered to be worked on and then had you, not only for what you are capable of but out of love." his father said. Ford visibly dropped the slight disgust and hurt look somehow knowing his parents were being truthful.
"What about the other Immortals?" Ford asked.
"Only a select few of them have the same ability to fight our enemy, but many of them were killed. Of those few, only one is still alive, but what you call pre-immortal." Nancy said.
"Who is it?"
"We cannot say without further interfering." James said.
"Okay. Considering what Daniel went through, it's best you don't say then." Ford said.
"What's this game they play where they have to take each other's head? Why did you create them to all fight and kill each other?" Carter asked.
"That was not our doing. How that started is still a mystery to this day. It may have been started by our enemy, but we are unsure." James said.
"Forgive me sir, but you haven't named this enemy yet. Have we already encountered them?" Daniel asked.
"Fortunately you have not. We are unsure as to the events transpiring as of now, but if the Ancients greatest enemy comes to Earth, Ford is possibly the only one that can fight them alone and win." James said. "That is not be killed in they way they do it."
"We call them the Wraith. They are a parasite race like that of the Goa'uld, except they kill their prisoners by taking their life." she said then went on to describe how a teeth like suction appendage on the palm of the Wraith is attached to the body and sucks the life out like a vampire.
They also spoke of the fact that their current weapons, pistols and such, mostly the hand held types, would have little if any effect on them unless in mass numbers or in bigger calibers, like rocket launchers, anti tank rifles and those sort of weapons.
"And it wouldn't work on me? Couldn't vampire me?"
"No. You have a gene in you that makes you a poison unto them." James said. "Your children will have it as well."
"Children? Excellent news, but that leaves an important question I need an answer to. If Immortals can't have children, then how is it there seems to always be new ones showing up?" Ford asked.
"Due to the genetic manipulation that we Ancients did those many years ago, it caused a defect making it possible for children to be born every ten years, but the mother's would never remember the birth. The men were different in the case they could only have children every ten years, but only during the month they were born could they make a woman pregnant, and then he would never remember and neither would the mother. Unfortunately, we were unable to have time to fix this development when we have to leave Earth." James said.
"Wait, what about me then? How will I know when…me and Sam…"
"When you became the host for Hercules, he was able to fix the….defect, with our help." James said.
"Wouldn't you get in trouble for that?" Daniel asked.
"Considering how small the problem was…"
"Bad choice of words mom. Very bad."
"In your terms, in ours it wasn't. And seeing as you are family, we were allowed to interfere to a point."
"Does that mean our children will be…"
"It is unknown. Most likely not." James said. "But possible."
"Can you tell us why you had to leave Earth and to where?" Daniel asked.
"We cannot say. Not yet." Nancy said. "But we left to ensure the Earth's survival from the Wraith."
"Where are these Wraith right now?" Carter asked.
"We are not allowed to tell you. We can only hope it is many years before you see them." she said looking at the others. "We also wish to ask if you want to come with us Ford?"
"Come with you, and do what?"
"What she's saying Ford is join them. If you do, you don't get to come back." Daniel said. "Trust me, I know from a conversation with Oma."
Ford looked at them and they nodded.
"Ah, I don't think so." he said backing away with raised hands.
"As happy as I am to see you both again, I have a life and someone I want to spend it with." Ford said taking Carter's hand.
"I thought you'd say that son. And I can appreciate that. We will come check on you from time to time. You won't see us, but we will be there." James said giving Ford another hug.
"Thanks dad." he said giving the hug back.
"You take care of my son…"
"It's the other way around mom."
"Listen to your mother Ford." Carter said scolding him in a mocking voice.
"I knew I would like you when I saw you Samantha. He would never find better." Nancy said giving them both a hug. They gave Daniel and Teal'c a hand shake and stepped away.
"Oh wait a minute. Who was Dodge Primus then?"
"Yes. That would be confusing to you. He is an Ancient that was studying Earth during your western era as you call it. He took on a human form to interact with people and by accident ended up on that planet with the Goa'uld when he was captured with several animals he was watching. You know the rest. After returning home, he lost much of his memory during an injury in the fight. He only regained it at the end of his mortal life when he returned to us."
"But was he actual family?"
"Yes. Though not the brightest member of it. We can't tell you how he's related though. We have to go now. You will be sent home shortly. It was good to see you again my little Primy." Nancy said as they started fading away.
Ford groaned loudly as he rubbed both hands through his hair as he looked up at the whiteness.
"You had to say it." he muttered with a growl. "Why couldn't you just…"
"Primy?" Daniel asked with a snort. Even Carter started cracking up.
"Your nickname is…" Carter started saying.
"C'mon guys it's not…oh forget it" he said waving his hand at them. "It's obvious you're already gone."
Everything around them changed and they were back on the planet again.
"How are we getting home again?" Daniel asked trying not to laugh as he looked at the DHD. None of the symbols seemed familiar.
We are sending you home now Daniel. But first we have one last thing to tell you Primy.
"Oh man. I'm never going to live this one down." he muttered as the others tried not to crack up more, though it wasn't working.
You are 53 not 33.
Instantly after she said that, they were standing on the ramp in the gate room surprising everyone. The M.A.L.P. was at the bottom of the ramp as though it was ready to go.
"I'm, what?" he asked in confusion and surprise at the air.
"Where did you guys come from?!" Jack said entering the room.
"I'm what?!"
"Did they just say you were…" Daniel asked ignoring Jack.
"I'm what?!" Ford exclaimed again in confusion.
"She said…" Daniel began.
"I heard Daniel. But where the hell did…..?" he yelled looking around then closing his mouth after seeing they were all back home.
"Wouldn't you know?" Daniel asked.
"I wish. I can't think of anything that would…"
"Ever lose your memory?" Carter asked.
"No. And trust me I would know because I've been around enough people they would have said something."
"Ah hello! General speaking here! You know, the commanding officer! Your boss. What's going on?" Jack said waving his arms.
"We just…." Carter started saying with a smile that was not leaving.
Ford covered her mouth quickly startling her. Jack raised an eyebrow but did little else.
"We will debrief right away and keep it between us General. Understand?"
"That bad?" he asked confused as Carter pulled Ford's hand away hard.
"Yes sir." she said turning to glare at him, but his glare was worse and she turned away quickly with an almost cringed look like she got yelled at. Kinda like the few times Jack yelled at her when he was really pissed.
"Okay." Jack said drawing it out as he saw the glare Ford was giving the other two who looked ready to speak.
"We do it now." Ford said telling Jack to lead the way.
"Infirmary visit first."
"No, trust me, this can't wait." Ford said pushing him along. "Doc later."
"You know proto…."
"Doc later!" he said pushing a little harder.
"I can walk!"
They were seated around the table as usual. Doors to the room were closed and anyone down stairs was to stay down stairs. The camera to the room was also shut off.
"Okay, what's so important that we had to go to extreme measures?" Jack said glancing around. "And you had to push me around."
"I'll tell him." Ford said quickly.
"Okay." Daniel said trying not to crack up.
This made Jack more confused seeing as Teal'c was smiling more than he usual did, which wasn't all that often and even Carter looked ready to burst out laughing.
"What's going on?" he asked with narrow eyes.
"Anyway, we met some….people." Ford said rubbing his hands together.
"And?"
"Ford's parents O'Neill." Teal'c stated.
"Yes." Ford said forcing himself not to look at him. "They are special people, Ancient people."
"Very old huh?" Jack said still thinking they were yanking his chain.
"Not funny Jack." Ford growled out. "I don't diss on your family."
"No Jack, they were, are ascended Ancients, like I was once. Ford is actually from this universe." Daniel said having to talk through a few chuckles.
"That makes no sense." he said with extreme confusion on his face.
"I didn't think it would. Anyway…oh get it out of your system Daniel!" Ford said quickly as Daniel tried not to laugh still. "Same for you two, just get it out now. The sooner the better."
His manner about it was more like I don't care anymore as he waved a hand at them.
"Want to let me in on the joke?" Jack asked as Carter really started to lose it. Daniel was trying to tell him but couldn't.
"Considering the amount of times I've laughed at you, call it pay back." Ford said smartly.
"Major Carter has an interesting…nickname as they say O'Neill." Teal'c stated.
"What, Gung Ho or wait, Mr. Fix it maybe, something along those lines?" he asked confused as to what would be so funny. "Or, I can't think of anything funny about you, as a nickname…"
Nothing funny was coming to his mind though seeing as Ford didn't look to have anything about him with all his abilities.
"No Jack." Daniel said between a fit. "His mother called him….my little Primy."
Daniel went back into a fit which now included Teal'c. This did get Jack chuckling.
"Is….it true?" Jack asked smiling.
"Unfortunately yes." Ford muttered looking at the table.
"Sounds like the name of a pet monkey." Jack said in a semi funny voice. That sent him over the edge and everyone else.
Daniel laughed so hard he fell out of his chair. Ford just shook his head and waited. He had some time to wait too, especially after what Teal'c said. The four started stopping and then Teal'c spoke.
"I must thank you. It has been quite a long time since I have laughed as such….Primy."
"I knew there was some evil streak in you." Ford said pointing at him as they all lost it again. It took another good minute before they were not laughing so hard you would have to shout to be heard.
"Oh God, I think I need someone to call the doctor up here." Jack muttered between breaths. "My sides hurt."
"Yeah well, anyway…" Ford said ignoring the others as he interlaced his fingers and told Jack all that had transpired on the planet despite the few times everyone started to crack up again.
"I can see the need for the secrecy." Jack said still wiping his eyes every so often. "These Wraith sound dangerous. Anymore information we find, learn or gather in anyway is to be told to me and me alone. I'll do something with it to keep it all secret."
"Yes, let's just say we went to the planet, some Ascended guys came along and removed the knowledge and sent us home."
"I agree sir." Carter said holding her sides like Jack and Daniel.
"You all know what I'm capable of so when I say what happened there and here about my….nickname….stays here." he said emphasizing nickname, "If I hear it from anyone, and I mean anyone else, I will come calling. I know where you all live. And some of your darker secrets."
"Sure thing Primy. You know, it almost sounds like the name of a monkey in a circus act." Jack said. This made them all lose it again.
"Okay, Jack. I think you've had enough fun now." Ford said after a good minute.
"Sure, right. So what was that you guys were talking about when you came back?" he said wiping his eyes again.
The others weren't laughing anymore but weren't in a talking mood either. More like trying to get their breath back. Except Teal'c.
"Ford's parents informed us that his true age is much higher." Teal'c said.
"Twenty years higher." Ford muttered. "Which makes little sense."
Jack started counting on his fingers.
"53 Jack, I'm 53. That doesn't leave this room either."
"Then where…"
"I don't know and they never said anything beyond that. Sent us home before I could ask."
"That means you're older than me." Jack said happily.
"Don't gloat. Don't even go there." he said waving a finger.
"That would also….." Jack said glancing at Carter a moment.
"If you're going where I think, don't dare." Ford said seriously warning him.
"Just so you know." he said casually.
"What are we talking about here?" Daniel asked.
"Something Jack learned, that he shouldn't have." Ford said crossing his arms as he sat back.
"You're not going to say?" Daniel asked.
"Absolutely not!" Carter practically yelled, finally noticing what they were talking about now. "Sorry sir."
"Okay." Daniel said slowly with the tone that he got the hidden message.
"Anyway, so any idea's that come to mind that might say why you are…older?"
"No. Let's also not tell the higher up this information either. I kinda like thinking I'm as young as I look."
"Hmmm. Probably a good idea seeing as they might promote you further. Maybe I should and they'll give me back my position seeing as you would become in charge here, maybe." he said smiling at the thought.
"I'll resign first. Or just go off world anyway, making you stay since I'd outrank you. I was once offered to be a two star General, but I turned it down."
"Spoilsport."
