2310

"Sergeant, report."

Walter pushed to his feet from the radio station as his CO entered. "General Landy, sir. All Gateroom staff have been cleared, as has the rest of SG-1 and Sergeant Siler's crew."

"Which would seem to imply that this is not a contagious illness. Have you reported that to Doctor Lam?"

"I have, sir. She implied that not being contagious and not being contagious through casual contact are two different things. She's keeping a close eye on General O'Neill, sir."

"I see. Well, let's hope she's wrong, or we could have a lot of sick civilian wives on our hands."

"Sergeant Siler isn't married. And it would call into question how they became ill in the first place. Sir," he added uncomfortably.

"Yes, yes, it would." Though after all Colonel Carter and General O'Neill had gone through for their relationship to be approved, he couldn't imagine her canoodling around – and certainly not with Siler. "What about the rest of our people?"

"All crew heads are currently contacting their subordinates and will report back to me, sir. None of the field teams on base have experienced any symptoms; however, Captain Baker had a rather unfortunate incident with his car at home and is reporting in. His injuries may be completely unrelated. We have nearly two dozen more to contact on Earth, sir, and five teams offworld are currently unreachable."

"Unreachable?" Landry asked.

Walter checked his clipboard. "SG-7 is studying the caves on P4X-582. SG-13 is currently observing radio silence on P3X-122 in search of one of the Priors. SG-14 is surveying M2X-143 and is likely out of range. SG-16 is on P4X-124 and has reported multiple communications equipment failures due to particles in the atmosphere. SG-19 is also observing radio silence."

With a sigh, the general said, "I hate to do it, but I suppose we'll have to wait for them to check in, unless we have reason to do otherwise."

"Yes, sir."

"Have you been cleared, Walter?"

"Uh, no, sir. Once we've finished contacting the rest of base personnel, we'll take care of it."

Of course they would. While every member of the SGC was an unsung hero, unknown to the public, Landry knew that the ones with the thankless jobs worked every bit as hard as the field teams. Putting the needs of others before their own was something they all did, without even being asked. "Good work, Sergeant."

With a nod, the NCO went back to work.

~/~

Jack couldn't help but think, as he pulled a chair closer to Carter's bedside, that he'd be spending much of his foreseeable future there. It made his stomach lurch. "How are you feeling?"

"Discarded." The glare she shot him was blatant, but she set aside her laptop to speak to him. "At least Doctor Lam gave me a copy of the list I made and got me my laptop. She's been keeping me updated on the results, and I've been crossing things off as we go."

Knowing that it was likely to get him in trouble, he suggested, "Maybe you should try and get some sleep. It's late."

"There's a lot to do," she answered with a shake of her head. "The sooner we get this pinned down, the sooner the doctor can start on a cure."

"I heard they brought someone else in."

"Yeah. His daughter slammed his hand in the car door. Due to the multiple broken bones, they're not calling that one excessive yet."

"So... no one else." For a moment, he could only stare at her. He wanted to do so much more, but since the medical staff had given them the ugly white infirmary clothes and tucked them safely in, they'd pulled back the dividers and there was no privacy to be had.

That, and he was terrified to touch her.

"Well, that must mean just as much, right? If it really is only the two of you."

"Maybe." Forcing a smile, she said, "Sorry to ruin your weekend. I'm sure you didn't really plan to spend it here."

He couldn't help it – he put his hand over hers. "I planned to spend it with you."

For just a moment, the smile turned real, if sad. "Siler and I have low levels of platelets in our blood. That's all that's come back in the tests so far. Of course, the question is, why are they low?"

"Platelets," he echoed dully.

"The clotting cell. That's why we're bruising so badly – we're bleeding more easily."

Without consciously intending to, he yanked his hand from hers, then cringed when she sighed, "Jack."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"I know that."

Quietly, he asked, "Is it serious?"

"Maybe." Her voice was just as soft. "If the levels keep dropping, then yes, we're in trouble."

"We'll figure it out." He could only hope the look he gave her was as reassuring as he meant it to be and not as worried as he felt. Only she wasn't looking at him – she was staring intently at something over his shoulder. Intrigued, he turned around. "Reynolds?"

It caught the other colonel's attention, and he turned toward them from the infirmary doors. "Fancy meeting you here, sir."

Jack stood to approach him and fought down irritation that Carter was out of bed and on his heels. The bruising was evident on the side of his face, beginning just in front of his ear and trailing down below his collar. "So, what happened to you?"

With a smile that was a little too bright, Reynolds said, "Much the same thing that happened to you two, if the rumors I hear are right."

He felt more than saw her wilt. "Great," she muttered. "That's great."

"Newsflash, Carter," Jack hissed back. "They all know we're sleeping together." Though if he pushed it too hard or said that too loudly, he was well aware that could become past tense at any point.

Determined to move past it like the adult and officer she was, Sam straightened. "Who else?"

"Most of the team. Baker's already here, though they haven't called it officially yet. Peterson took a baseball to the shin tonight and it blew up. Bosco isn't showing any symptoms yet, but he's on his way in."

"That's probably a good plan. I should go tell Doctor Lam."

Jack glanced between the two of them. "Tell her what? You look like you've figured this all out."

"Not all of it," she said with a shake of her head. "But I know where. P4X-124. SG-3 helped scout security for the data site, and I went out to get their network online with the crystalline structure we found."

"Yeah, but what about Siler?" Last he'd checked, the man stayed mostly on base.

"They've had odd mechanical issues due to atmospheric conditions. Sergeant Siler spent a day troubleshooting their radios and generators." Catching his gaze, she added, "There were others, sir. There are almost two hundred people in the village nearby. And SG-16 is still there."

She only still called him sir when she was seriously upset, and it was catching. The knot in his stomach flipped to make itself known. "We'll get them back here pronto," he assured them. "Just hold tight."