STARGATE SG-1 STARGATE ATLANTIS: Points of Origin - Volume Two of the Travelers' Tales (SGX-03) (STARGATE EXTRA (SGX-03)) Page 9

  “But I still had to sign a novel’s worth of NDAs just to hear the pitch?”

  “It’s a hell of a pitch.” He was leading Janet away from the airmen who had escorted her this far. “How much were you told?”

  “The doctor I’m replacing was killed,” she said, “and that this is an unexpectedly dangerous posting. I assume that was a reference to the fact this mountain a potential target for terrorists.”

  “In a manner of speaking.” They had arrived in the briefing room. A blast door covered the window at the far side of the room. Hammond approached it and rested his hand on a button. “Once I press this button, your entire world is going to change.”

  Janet smiled. “I’m not a fan of hyperbole, sir.”

  “Nor am I.”

  He pressed the button and the blast door slowly lifted. Janet stepped forward, the smile fading from her face as she approached the glass. She couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing. Her mind tried to fill in the details so that she thought she was looking at the aft-end of a shuttle, but there was only a single engine. But after taking in the whole picture she realized there was nothing behind the massive ring. Even more curious was the ramp leading up to the circle.

  “What is it?”

  Hammond looked at his watch. “You finished your paperwork faster than I thought you would. In a few minutes you’re going to see something truly remarkable. Dr. Fraiser… that is the Stargate.”

  She watched the technicians moving around in the room below as he explained. Giza. Abydos. Parasitic aliens in giant pyramid ships. When he was finished, Janet laughed.

  “I assure you I’m serious.”

  “Oh, I know, sir. I know. But aliens? A portal to outer space? Soldiers going through and fighting aliens? What could you possibly need me for?”

  The Stargate suddenly came to life and Janet took a step back. Hammond stepped closer to her and they watched as the technicians fled and armed soldiers took position with their weapons aimed at the empty center of the ring. Janet stared at that empty space but an initial flash of light made her close her eyes. When she opened them something else had filled the space. Something she didn’t have the words for. It swirled out like a giant fist made of water before collapsing into a serene pool that bathed the room in soft blue light. Seconds later, a team walked through the wall of water.

  “Where did they come from?” she whispered.

  “A planet called P41-229. It’s a mostly uninhabited planet approximately thirty-five hundred light years from Earth. That is SG-1. As for what we need you for, Doctor… we need you to keep them safe.”

  Janet breathed in and whistled slowly. “Sounds like a heck of a job. I assume I start now?”

  Hammond smiled. “Let me show you to the infirmary.”

  Her first assignment at the SGC had been post-mission examinations for SG-1. Since then she’d examined the team countless times. Before, during, and after missions they would come to her — or be brought to her, as was often the case — and it would be up to her to find out what was wrong. Adult alien male stung by an unknown alien insect. Two adult human males and one adult human female suffering addiction-like effects due to an Ancient device worn as an armband. Unknown residue causing the team to have vivid memories of a person who never existed. And, of course, there was the time the entire team was replaced by robots. Their work was dangerous, but at least it was never boring.

  Her reverie was broken when Daniel cleared his throat behind her. She realized how close she had been to dozing off as she turned in her chair to face him. He was standing in the doorway, his uniform rumpled and wet at the shoulders from being out in the rain.

  “Hi,” she said. “Sorry, I was off in my mind. I thought you were setting up negotiations with the other side.”

  “I was. I am. It’s a work in progress, and at the moment they’re refusing to talk. I was wondering if you had anything that could keep me from falling asleep. I want to be awake if the other side agrees to come back to the table.”

  “Sure. I have some caffeine pills here somewhere.” She went to their supplies and retrieved the bottle. “Other than the stubborn negotiators, how do things look up there?”

  He sighed heavily and swallowed the pills dry. “Two steps forward and one step back. The same as it always is.” He looked through the door at the patients. “And down here?”

  “Oh, you know. Identify and cure an alien disease in the space of a single evening. Kid stuff.”

  Daniel smiled. “You know, Jack does the same thing with Sam that she’s doing with you. Points her at some piece of technology she’s never even seen before and tells her to figure it out. Most of the time she has about five minutes to become an expert. He has faith that she’ll succeed because he knows what she’s capable of. Sam wouldn’t be pushing you to solve this puzzle unless she really thought you could do it. With anyone else, we probably would have been back on Earth hours ago.”

  “Thank you, Daniel. And, you know, figuring out common ground between two alien cultures is no mean feat, either.”

  He smiled. “I wasn’t fishing for the compliment, but it’s appreciated. I better get back up there.” He held out the bottle to her.

  “Keep it. We don’t have any coffee and we all have a long night ahead of us. Just use it in moderation.”

  He thanked her with a nod and went back up the stairs. Almost as soon as he was gone, Wendy called out to her. “Dr. Fraiser? Could you come here for a moment? Please?”

  Janet retrieved the wadded-up wrapper of her protein bar and put it in her vest pocket. Wendy’s voice had come from the second chamber, so she passed the beds of the sleeping patients and entered the darker room. They had three lighting sources set up to provide the most light, and Wendy was standing just behind one of them where the shadows were thickest. A man loomed behind her with a blade against her throat.

  Janet stopped where she was and lifted her hands to show she wasn’t carrying a weapon. The man wore a uniform that didn’t resemble Magasi or his people, so she assumed he was from the other canton. Rain and sweat had left streaks in the mud on his face. He strengthened his grip on the handle of his knife and rested the blade against Wendy’s throat. Wendy held her chin up and stared at Janet with frightened, unblinking eyes.

  “Who else is here?”

  “Just another nurse,” Janet said. “She’s unarmed. We’re all unarmed. You don’t need that knife.”

  “You were just talking to someone. I heard a man’s voice.”

  “He left. He went back upstairs. We’re alone.”

  He showed his teeth, either in a grimace or a smirk. “You’re not Banu and those aren’t Ostan Canton uniforms. Who are you? Where did you come from?”

  “We came through that ring in the courtyard. It’s called a Stargate.” She smelled ozone and heard water dripping onto stone; she assumed the man had crawled in through some sub-basement or sewage line and the way was still open. She tried to hear if anyone else was following him, but the room seemed still. “We’re doctors. Taoiseach Magasi asked us to come here to help with the outbreak.”

  “Outbreak.” He looked at the patients and took a shuffling step back. He pulled Wendy with him, using her as a shield. “What… what happened to them?”

  Janet lowered her hands a bit. “Oh… oh, God, you don’t know? Magasi implied that the illness was the reason your people retreated.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “We know nothing of this illness.”

  “Oh. Oh, no.” Janet met Wendy’s eye. “Did he get the vaccine?”

  “No, Dr. Fraiser.” Her voice was strained but her eye contact with Janet was steady. “I didn’t get a chance to warn him.”

  Janet said, “Sir, I am a doctor. I don’t care about your war, I only care about treating my patients no matter who they might be. And I think y
ou’re about to become one of them. This disease is extremely contagious. Just being in this room and breathing the air means you’re infected.”

  He blinked rapidly. “You’re not wearing any masks.”

  “We’ve been inoculated. It was the first thing we did when we came to the planet. That’s why Magasi had to call aliens to treat his people. Do you feel queasy? Like your stomach is unsettled? That’s one of the first symptoms.”

  “There are others?”

  “Shortness of breath, tremors, blurry vision… No one has to know you’re here or that you received treatment. But if you start feeling those symptoms, I need to give you the inoculation as soon as possible.” Outside thunder cracked, and Wendy hissed as the blade nicked her skin. Janet winced in sympathy. “Sir. Please. You said yourself that we’re not part of this war. I don’t know if Magasi’s side is right and I don’t care. We don’t have weapons. We’re physicians. We’re only interested in treating the illness.”

  “You’re lying.” He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them wider, furrowing his brow. The man was obviously exhausted, but she knew her list of symptoms had worked their way into his brain. Now every twist of his stomach and every drop of sweat in his eye was a sign he was succumbing to the illness.

  Janet hardened her voice. “Look, it’s your choice. Either you put down that blade and let us help you, or you collapse and we try to keep you alive. I’m just afraid you’ll take my nurse with you when you fall and then you’ll be completely out of luck. Make your decision before the sickness makes it for you!”

  He dropped the knife to his side and shoved Wendy away from him. Janet stepped forward to catch her before she hit the ground. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Wendy said, “It’s just a little cut.”

  An arc of blue light shot past Janet, rising from a low angle near the ground. The soldier managed to take one step before the zat blast hit him. He tried to remain upright but succeeded only in moving the knife out to one side so he didn’t fall onto it. Janet turned as Sarah closed the zat and pushed herself up off the floor. She had been crouching against the wall so the intruder wouldn’t see her when she leaned out to take the shot. She was pale, and her hands were shaking as she put the weapon back on her thigh holster. It took her three tries to make it catch.

  “I’ve never shot anyone before,” she said.

  “You still haven’t. Not really.” Janet reached out and patted her arm. “Contact —”

  Sarah said, “I already radioed them. Teal’c is on his way.”

  “Good work. Both of you, excellent work. See if you can find something to tie him up.”

  As if he had been summoned, Teal’c burst through the doorway and descended down the stairs at a dead run.

  “Slow down!” Janet said. “We’ve taken care of him.”

  Teal’c looked at the man, rising from an attack position to a more restful stance. He offered Janet one of his rare smiles. “It would seem you did not require my guardianship after all.”

  “Never mess with a doctor,” Janet said, sweeping her hair out of her face. “We know the best ways to screw you up.”

  “How was he able to gain access?”

  Wendy pointed across the room. “He crawled in through that. I think it’s some kind of drainage pipe that leads outside.”

  “I will ensure that no one else takes advantage of it.” He crouched and lifted the man as if he weighed nothing. “And I shall find a place to keep him securely.”

  “Thank you, Teal’c. Sarah, would you help Wendy with the cut on her neck?”

  Sarah said, “Yes, doctor.”

  Janet inhaled slowly to steady her jangled nerves and then went back to the lab. She had a real enemy who needed to be vanquished, and she doubted it would be defeated as easily as the Faratar intruder had been.

  Someone gently squeezed her shoulder and then rubbed her back. “Janet?”

  She opened her eyes and sat up as she remembered where she was. Sam chuckled. “Easy. It’s just me. You fell asleep.”

  Janet groaned and rubbed her eyes. The basement was considerably brighter than she remembered it being. The sounds of the storm had abated to leave the world silent and still.

  “Q Fever,” Janet said. “We figured it out this morning. It’s a bacterial infection that can be spread by contact with farm animals. That’s why the cases were coming from the outskirts of the city, the farms.” She rubbed her face. “I need to start treatment.”

  “Your nurses are already administering antibiotics.”

  “Right.” She remembered giving the order before she called Sam on the radio to report their breakthrough. But first she’d put her head down to rest her eyes. How many hours had it been? “Sorry.”

  Sam leaned her hip against the table. “Hey, going by Earth’s clock, you’ve been awake for about thirty-two hours. You were dealing with an alien outbreak and, according to Teal’c, you fought off an intruder at the same time. I think you earned a nap.”

  Janet sighed. “I suppose so. How about you?”

  “When the storm passed, it was easier to see where the Faratan squadrons were set up. They were willing to face the Banu weaponry, but P90s and Teal’c’s staff weapon have more range and firepower than they expected. We managed to run them off pretty quickly this morning. Magasi is worried that they might try again after we leave.”

  “You can tell Magasi he might have a bargaining chip. Q Fever has an incubation period of about forty days. If the Faratan people were living in this city and eating its animals, there’s a good chance they’re going to have an outbreak like this very soon. If they don’t already. Magasi can offer the treatment as leverage to stop further attacks.”

  Sam said, “That would be a nice, peaceful solution to this whole mess. I’ll run it by him.”

  “Let him know that I’m willing to train their physicians so they can administer the treatment themselves.”

  “I will.” She straightened and started to leave, then came back. “You know… back on Earth, it’s the day after we left.”

  Janet frowned at her, not understanding. “Yes?”

  Sam smiled. “Happy anniversary.”

  Janet tensed slightly. She didn’t mind Sam knowing, but she was still surprised. “How did you know?”

  “You told me once a few years ago. I was over to play chess with Cassandra, and you mentioned it in passing. The anniversary of leaving your husband and starting on the path to the Air Force. Heck of a celebration, huh?”

  “I can’t think of a better way to spend it.”

  “Well, if you’ll give me a chance to change your mind, I’ll treat you to a girls’ night when we get back to Earth.”

  Janet said, “That is a deal. We’ll have one of the boys check in on Cassandra.”

  Sam chuckled. “I’ll let you get back to it. General Hammond wanted an update, so I’ll let him know that we shouldn’t be here much longer.”

  Janet turned back to the work table. It was hard to believe how far she’d come since that one decision. The choice to let the Air Force pay for her college had been a means to an end. She never expected to love it so much. She never dreamed she would love it so much. And of course she couldn’t have anticipated the opportunities granted by being assigned to the SGC. She was treating an alien on a regular basis. Her daughter, her gorgeous and brilliant pain in the butt daughter, was from another world, and Janet never would have known her without this job.

  She got to travel to strange, faraway lands and usually still be home in time for dinner. She was practicing true frontier medicine in a way modern doctors could only dream of. The work was difficult, sometimes verging on the impossible, and it was extraordinarily dangerous on so many fronts. But she knew that she made the right decision all those years ago. She was exactly where she belonged, and
there was nothing about her life that she would change even if she was given the opportunity.

  The universe had given her a job, and she intended to do it as long as possible, no matter where it took her.

  Stargate Atlantis

  Iron Horse

  Amy Griswold

  Specialist Ronon Dex put his feet up on the seat across from him, watching the Satedan countryside roll by outside the window of the troop train.

  Ara elbowed his feet out of the way and leaned forward to look out the window herself. The troop train was crowded, but Ronon and his friends had found two rows of seats facing each other, and piled all their gear on the empty seat beside Ronon. “I can’t believe we’re finally getting out of that dump,” she said.

  “You say that like the training grounds aren’t your favorite place in the world,” Tyre said. He stretched out his own legs, propping his feet on the heaped-up packs. “Who doesn’t love getting woken up an hour before dawn to run five miles?”

  “I don’t know,” Ronon said. “Who doesn’t?”

  Ara kicked him in the knee in a friendly fashion. “You’re such a good boy.”

  “We’ll see how good he is once we hit the capital,” Tyre said. “Myself, I’m looking forward to being in a town with some actual nightlife. Besides the rats trying to get into the mess hall garbage cans.”

  The train rattled across a narrow railroad bridge, shaking and swaying as they crossed the gap. They were passing through high hill country, the bare caps of the mountains jutting up like bleached bone from out of their skin of trees.

  “It’s probably going to be boring,” Ronon said.

  “Honor guard for the Travelers’ first visit to Sateda in almost ten years,” Tyre said, rolling the words around in his mouth. “That has a nice ring to it.”