General Hammond took his seat in the briefing room and looked around the table at SG1. "All right, I want an explanation," he said without event a hint of a smile.
"Well, sir. We were packing up to leave the planet when Daniel spotted the artifact," Sam started as she nervously pushed at the short stack of papers in front of her.
"There wasn't much of anything in the temple," Daniel continued.
"We had finished collecting some samples and..." Sam began again.
"He touched it first," Jack blurted out as he sat forward and put his elbows on the table.
"DanielJackson indeed touched the artifact first," Teal'c said to General Hammond with a slight nod of the head.
Sam grinned and continued, "Daniel did pick it up first, yes. Then he started to translate the writings on it."
"It said something about changing the character of a man and warned not to use it, so I put it down," Daniel said. He then chewed on his bottom lip and looked toward General Hammond through his lashes.
"The object then began to glow," Teal'c said as he clasped his hands together on the table.
"I thought that it would probably be best if we tried to shut the thing off before it did any... damage," Jack said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"I told you not to touch it, Jack," Daniel said under his breath.
"You touched it first!" Jack said as he waved his hand toward Daniel.
"Yeah, that's before it started glowing," Daniel said as he leaned back in his chair, rolling his eyes.
"Colonel O'Neill touched the artifact and instantly his skin turned, well, purple, sir," Sam said as her smile grew larger.
Daniel's giggle was quickly quieted when Jack shot him a threatening glare and put a hand up to his mouth. Daniel cleared his throat and sat up straighter in his char, turning his attention back to General Hammond.
"So how did you get it to shut off then?" Hammond directed at Sam.
"It shut off by itself shortly after Colonel O'Neill touched it," she said as her cheeks began turning red.
"And I stuck it in my pack," Daniel added with a hand raised in the air as if making a point.
"Yeah, but nothing happened to him," Jack grumbled as he rested his cheek in the palm of his hand.
By now, even Teal'c's top lip was curled into a bit of a grin. The room fell silent and all eyes were on Jack.
"He touched it first," Jack repeated as he looked at the general with innocence in his eyes.
"Jack, I told you not to touch it," Daniel reiterated, sounding a bit annoyed.
"So, how long will this... 'character change' be in effect, Dr. Jackson?" General Hammond asked, now sporting a small smile.
"I don't know," Daniel said with a wince.
"You don't know?" Jack said as he turned his chair so that he was facing Daniel. "You don't know?"
A nervous chuckle escaped Daniel's lips and his mouth dropped open as he tried to form the words. "I don't think it'll last for a long time, but I don't know," Daniel said as he scooted his chair ever so slightly away from Jack.
"He doesn't know!" Jack said, the sarcasm heavy enough in his voice to make Sam put her hand to her mouth to suppress a laugh.
"Well then," Hammond began, effectively cutting off any more comments from Jack. "I believe you've got your work cut out for you, Dr. Jackson. Dismissed, everyone."
Jack's mouth hung open as he watched Hammond walk away from the table and into his office. He stared at the general's closed door, looking as if he couldn't figure out what to say.
Suddenly the sound of loud laughter could be heard coming from the general's office. Jack rubbed his hands over his purple face and stood up. As he left the briefing room, he could hear laughter making its way down the stairwell as the rest of his team could no longer help themselves.
