Just then an airman knocked on the door and slipped into the room, bending to whisper into Hammond’s ear. A look of surprise passed over his face before he turned to face Frasier."Doctor, another member of SG-1 has been found. Major Carter is in her lab. Your assistance is required."
Janet was already out of the door, leaving the General and SGI to follow in her wake.
Sam was lying on the floor, Simmonds leaning over her inert form. Blood trickled from a slash on her forehead and the Lieutenant was trying to stem the flow. He looked up when the door opened, relief crossing his face as he realised medical help had arrived. He stood to allow Janet access while he explained what happened.
"I was just coming to check on the progress of one of the programmes I’ve been running while the Major was out of action. As I passed the door I thought I heard movement. I entered the room, just in time to see the Major collapse to the floor. She must have hit her head as she fell."
"Any idea what she was doing?" King asked surveying the room.
"None, Sir. All of the monitors were switched off although I was more concerned with the Major’s condition."
"Did you see anyone as you entered the room"
"Again sir, I can’t say that I was paying attention. I’m sorry"
"Okay, Lieutenant. Just don’t leave the base." Turning to Frasier, she asked "how is she?"
"Same condition as Jackson. Someone must be playing some kind of joke. Hopefully the guards should stop this happening again. If you’ll excuse me."
King watched for the second time as a member of SG-1 was removed in apparently the same state as when they were originally found. Something about the scenario didn’t make any sense. Resolving this would take more effort. Satisfied that the rest of SGI were working on the problem and that no one would be able to remove SG-1 again, she set out to review her notes for an explanation.
Melissa watched as Major Carter was wheeled past her, a medical team following. Janet was snapping orders to those around her. King strode past, a grim look on her face. Melissa was glad the woman was on her side. Perhaps there was more in the diary of Doctor Jackson. She looked again at the page with the plaintive cry for help. No one at the meeting had believed it was Doctor Jackson’s handwriting but Melissa was convinced. The page was enough proof.
The section above the words had been underlined and beneath the neat lines of writing there was a shakily written translation of the passage she’d had difficulty deciphering. Only Jackson would have been able to accomplish that. Why she hadn’t said anything, Melissa wasn’t quite sure but she knew the answer to the puzzle lay in the text she held. Still reading she wandered back to the office.
By the time she reached the door she had read all of the translation and had hazarded a guess as to the content of the rest. It certainly made interesting reading and Melissa was sure it held the clue as to what had happened on the planet. She hesitated. Obviously she had to tell someone of her findings. Perhaps Connor could help.
She found him in the computer lab, hunched over one of the many keyboards scattered around the room. A pile of notes sat on the desk, on top of which sat James’ videotape. The monitor in front of Connor was covered in text and the only sound was the rapid tapping of fingers on keys.
Connor turned as Melissa entered the room, the journal clutched protectively to her chest.
"Hiya Mel. Can I help you with something?"
"It’s more a case of what we can do to help each other." At the frown of puzzlement that creased his forehead, Melissa decided to expand. Placing the journal on the desk, she explained what she had found.
"I’ve been checking through the diary again that was made on the planet and I found a passage that might explain what happened."
"Go on."
She paused for a moment and then began to read.
In the tenth year after the Great Famine, the evil Gods came through the Circle of Standing Water.
They took many of our people and their souls back through the Gate. A great darkness covered the land and our hearts. Those who remained faced many hardships as the Gods forced us into slavery. We prayed for salvation.For five generations we fought for freedom. Then, in the month of Ash, another God came through the standing water. We feared more punishment but finally we were to be delivered from the oppressors.
She came and showed us how to return the evil spirits back through the Water, to use it as a gateway back to the evil place from whence they had infested our world. Many of our people however could not be saved. Their husks were buried around the gate to protect us from the evil Gods’ return.Connor sat silently for a moment, digesting the implications of Melissa’s reading.
"So you think this is what happened to SG-1?"
"I know it sounds crazy, but what if they did something to lead certain people to believe the evil gods had returned. Maybe they attacked them with this weapon and it caused them to go into a coma of some kind."
"I suppose its possible." He sat for a moment, absent-mindedly turning the videocassette between his fingers. A look of realisation crossed his face, followed by a wide grin. Excitement lit his eyes.
"Come on." He leapt to his feet and grabbed Melissa’s hand, dragging her to the door. "If we go to the briefing room, we can check the rest of the tape and I can run the simulation at the same time. Then we can see if your theory is right."
They arrived at their destination in record quick time. While Connor booted up his laptop and connected it to the television screen, Melissa set the video to play. Then she moved to where Connor was sat and pulled up a chair. Pictures filled the screen followed by scrolling text.
"Okay. The connection seems to be working." Fingers raced over the keyboard. "Now we know where SG-1 were found and where they set off from." A diagram appeared on the screen marking the positions. "We also know the angle of attack and we now also have an idea of what the weapon was used for even if we don’t know what it was. Any hints in the text?"
Pages rustled as Melissa checked for any reference to what the natives used. "Got it. There’s a description of it here. Apparently it uses the sunlight to power it and it’s light is "as bright as Sol himself." Presumably they mean the sun."
"Okay so lets assume that whatever was used is solar powered and it emits energy as some form of light. Maybe it’s some kind of highly charged laser. I’m guessing the other god that turned up gave them a Goa’uld fighting device."
More commands appeared on the screen and then with a single keystroke a mini movie began to run. Small green dots, depicting SG-1, moved across the screen. A series of red squares followed behind. One by one the SG-1 dots, in response to a flare of light from the squares stopped moving.
Connor studied the diagram.
"Something isn’t right. The beam must be narrower, otherwise it would have hit them all at the same time and we know that Jackson at least had time to activate the Gate AFTER O’Neill was hit."
He tapped in a few more commands then played the video again. This time each dot stopped in approximately the correct position.
"So, lets see if we can refine this model any further. Any idea what the weapon..."
He didn’t finish the sentence as at that moment the air was split by a shrill alarm. Lights posted on the walls began to flash.
"What the hell?"
"Unauthorised Gate activation. Repeat, unauthorised Gate activation."
"Find King and James. I’ll see if I can find out what’s going on." Melissa was out of the door and down the stairs that headed to the Observation room before Connor could even move. Taking just enough time to shut down the computer, Connor followed.
The Observation room was a scene of utter chaos. Technicians in white coats ran between the terminals, desperate to understand what was going on. At the main terminal sat Sergeant Harriman. He was checking the main screen, counting down the chevrons as they locked into place, whilst simultaneously trying to figure out how the Gate had activated and what could be done to shut it down. Melissa watched for a moment wondering what she could do to help when a movement in the Gate room below caught her eye. A flash of white moving towards the ramp. Without another thought she flew down the stairs.
As she reached the main door, she could see it was beginning to close. Putting on a burst of speed she just managed to slide through the decreasing gap. The door closed with a thud behind her. Glad she hadn’t gotten trapped she turned her attention to voices in the room and her mouth fell open in disbelief.
"Are you sure this is going to work Carter?" the man with the short grey hair asked his female companion.
"Well, it as good a guess as any sir. I don’t fancy spending the rest of my life in limbo"
"Neither do I. And remind me when all this is over to ask the medical team not to have gapping whole in their gowns. It’s draughty."
"Er, Jack."
"What is it Daniel?" He followed the line of Daniel’s gaze and saw Melissa standing not more than five feet away. "Oh hell."
In the observation room, Hammond was not in a good mood
"What the hell is going on here, Sergeant?"
"Um, the gate appears to have been activated. Chevron five encoded."
"Well shut it down man."
"I can’t. We’re locked out. The computer won’t recognise any of our codes. Someone’s locked out the normal codes."
"Whose command?"
"Its Colonel O’Neill’s sir."
"O’Neill’s? That’s impossible. How did they...? Never mind we can answer that later. We need to shut it down. Is the manual override still active?"
"Yes sir, but I need your override codes to de..."
"Sir. There’s someone in the gate room." The young woman next to Harriman looked up from her monitor. Hammond turned to her screen. There, at the foot of the ramp to the gate stood SG-1, still dressed in the white hospital gowns.
"What the hell? Sergeant, get Doctor Frasier and Colonel King up here now. I want to know what the hell is going on here."
"Aye, Sir. We still need to deactivate the gate."
Hammond was already way ahead of him, typing into the computer the code that would lock off the gate activation programme. As he did so, chevron seven became locked and the gate opened in an explosion of water. SG-1 began to move towards the gate. At that exact moment, Hammond and Harriman completed the gate shutdown. The water shimmered for a second then vanished like a bubble bursting.
Melissa saw the final turn of the giant wheel click into place, unleashing the whirl of plasma that formed the wormhole. Jack began to move up the gate.
"Come on campers. Last chance home..."
His voice wavered on the last note, and Melissa watched as SG-1’s various members began to sway. Daniel’s eyes rolled into his head, and without a sound dropped to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut. As Melissa bent over his limp form, she heard two more thuds. She turned and saw Jack still on the ramp, clutching desperately to the rail as if whatever was happening would stop if he tried hard enough. Behind him, the wormhole’s event horizon shimmered for a second.
"What the..."
Melissa moved closer to the picture that was forming but as she did so the water effect disappeared. The Colonel swayed for a moment, his fingers loosed their grip on the rail and he slumped backwards onto the ramp. Silence reigned for a second then all hell broke loose.
The door to the Gate room opened ponderously and people dressed in white coats poured into the space, led by the flying form of Doctor Frasier. Hammond followed closely, King clinging to his heels. Hammond’s face was grim as he looked at the bodies of SG-1 scattered on the floor.
"What the hell is happening here?" he bellowed, a sudden feeling of helplessness overwhelming him. He’d seen some strange things during his command of the SGC but this was trying even his patience.
Frasier, ignoring her superior officer for the moment, continued giving quiet orders to her staff as they prepared to move the four bodies of SG-1 back to the infirmary. Orderlies helped the other medics to lift the inert forms and wheel them back.
Suddenly a cry went up.
"Frasier, he’s arrested."
Frasier left the side of Daniel Jackson, stethoscope already in hand as she pushed past the female linguist sitting on the ramp.
"Begin CPR. Anderson, bring me the defibrillator. Hurry up people. No pulse..."
Melissa took in all she was seeing, sitting quietly on the foot of the ramp, seemingly oblivious to the chaos that was not more than a few feet behind her. She hadn’t really seen it, in the wormhole. It was impossible. She shook her head to clear it but still the picture was in her head. The Colonel’s face, staring out at her from the event horizon asking her to help them. A hand on her shoulder made her jump.
"Melissa. Are you alright?" King’s leaned in close to her colleague. Melissa was too quiet by half. At the question the younger woman jumped pulling her gaze and attention back from whichever far off place she had been.
"Sir. I think I know what happened to SG-1. We have to send them back through the Gate. It may not be too late."
Lisa looked behind her friend to where the medical team was fighting to resuscitate the Colonel. His body jerked as they unloaded 300 volts through his body. By the looks of things it may already be too late for the Colonel. She turned her attention back to Melissa.
"Come on, let’s get you outta here. Connor, I’m going to take Mel to the Infirmary. I think she’s in shock. Keep me informed. Check out the security video for in here and the surrounding corridors. I want to know how SG-1 managed to get in here, and who locked out the commands to the Stargate. We’re looking at an inside job here. Remember, no is above suspicion."
Connor saluted and headed for the stairs leading to the video control room. King took the other door, leading the unresisting Doctor Thomas and followed the medical contingent of the SGC back to the infirmary with their patients.
Lisa sat on a chair inside one of the medical bays. Melissa sat on the edge of the bed, whilst one of the senior doctors checked her over. Having completed her examination, the doctor made some notes on a chart and left to discuss her findings with Frasier, leaving the female members of SGI alone for a moment.
"What were you doing in the Gate room?" King asked, once she was sure they were alone.
"The alarms went off so I went to the observation room. I saw something in the Gate room and went to see what it was." Melissa faced Lisa, her eyes shining with excitement. "Lisa, they were fine. O’Neill was complaining that the gowns were draughty and Carter said it was their only way out."
"Okay." It wasn’t that King didn’t want to believe Melissa, but she had seen SG-1 herself since their return to the infirmary and they were in no condition to do anything let alone activate the Stargate. O’Neill had stabilised since their return but it was still touch and go for the next twenty-four hours. According to Frasier, his condition was beginning to deteriorate and if something wasn’t dome soon his body might just shut down completely.
"What was that you said?" She realised she’d missed something important.
"I said, I saw O’Neill in the Gate. Right before he collapsed. Just before the wormhole destabilised."
"You saw him?" Lisa found it hard to keep the incredulity from her voice.
"Well, not saw him exactly. It was more like one of those nail pictures. You know, where you push your hand into the nails and it forms a picture of your hand. It was just like that. Like he was pushing through from the other side and it left an image of his face. He said we had to help them. Get them out somehow. But then the wormhole vanished."
"What do you think he meant?" Where was the doctor with those test results?
"I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with the natives. Their myths tell of a way to send the evil spirits back through the Gate. I thought it meant the Goa’uld but what if they were talking about the consciousness of the hosts. What if, somehow they can separate what makes us who we are from our bodies, if you like, our souls. And somehow they were caught by the gate and reintegrated into it?"
"So, you’re suggesting that SG-1’s "souls" for sake of a better word, are trapped in the gate?"
"Mightn’t it not be possible?"
The curtain drew back with such force that both women span from where they were sitting, King’s hand on her pistol, just in case. Frasier’s gaze flicked from one to the other.
"Colonel."
"Wait here Mel, I’ll be right back." She stepped from the small cubicle and Frasier redrew the curtain, eyes focussed on a clipboard.
"I have Doctor Thomas’ test results. They’re all clear. No sign of any brain dysfunction, normal EEG and tox screen. Everything checks out. She’s cleared to leave."
"Maybe she’s telling the truth then?"
"Sorry, I didn’t catch that."
"Don’t worry Doc. Just thinking aloud. How are SG-1?"
"The same. There's no sign of any change. The guards who were posted are recovering as well."
Now it was King’s turn to look puzzled. "I don’t understand"
"Whoever removed SG-1 also immobilised the guards posted outside. I thought you knew?"
"Sadly I don’t know everything."
Frasier’s eyes narrowed at the sarcastic comment, ignored it and moved on. King watched her leave then pulled back the curtains.
"Come on Mel. I think I have a way to prove your theory."