Relativity

by Stargate

  “What are you doing in there?” Everitt’s voice came up through the open vent.

  Teal’c ignored the question, a frown deepening on his forehead. Elements of the device’s technology seemed familiar to him, but others were wholly alien. “Inform Major Carter that her presence is required here immediately.” The low rumble of the words echoed along the air shaft. “I have located what appears to be an alien explosive device concealed in this chamber.”

  There was a pause from out in the corridor; then he heard the sound of heavy booted feet at a run.

  “But you’re not a hundred percent sure if the objects you found actually are of Ancient origin?” Jackson couldn’t help but keep a hopeful tone in his voice.

  Koe answered his question. “Our knowledge of the gate-builders is admittedly quite sparse, but we know enough to recognize their artifacts when we see them.”

  “We won’t give them up to you for nothing,” insisted Ryn. “Trade in equal or greater value is expected in return.”

  “Naturally,” noted Hammond.

  “Hey, we have flexible terms, lay-away, that kinda thing,” said O’Neill. “Maybe we can work out a ‘buy-now, pay-later’ deal.”

  Vix snorted in mild amusement. “A substantial down payment would suit us better.”

  Carter cleared her throat. “I’ve taken the liberty of having some goods assembled for you to take back through the Stargate, food packs and medical supplies. You could think of them as free samples…”

  Kinsey eyed Sam, and Daniel could see that he wasn’t pleased she’d been acting on her own initiative. “Consider that a gift of the United States government,” he appended, quick to put his own stamp on the donation.

  He glanced at Suj and saw his own expression reflected there. Despite the vice president’s continued approach of patronizing the Pack as if they were some tribe of unsophisticated nomads, the woman could clearly see through the man’s intentions. She met Daniel’s gaze and smiled slightly.

  Hammond nodded to himself. “If I might suggest, then, that we proceed to—”

  The general’s words trailed off as Sergeant Harriman pushed his way past Kinsey’s bodyguards and into the room. Daniel saw the look on Walter’s face and felt his blood run cold. Harriman moved quickly to Hammond’s side and whispered something in his ear; in turn, the general looked directly at Carter. Then he was getting to his feet, a familiar but no less unwelcoming expression of concern on his face. “Mr. Vice President, ladies and gentlemen, if you will forgive me, there’s a situation that requires my immediate attention.” He beckoned Sam. “Major, you’re needed.”

  “Yes sir.” Carter sprang up, sensing the same implied threat.

  “General?” Jack’s question hung in the air. What’s the problem?

  Hammond threw him a nod. “Look after our guests, colonel.”

  “General?” repeated Kinsey, his face reddening. “General Hammond!”

  But they were already out the door and gone. Jack gave a wan smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “So,” he said with false good humor, “You guys like sports?”

  Daniel looked out over Koe’s shoulder to the Stargate beyond the windows, sitting inert and at rest.

  Sam used the access hatchway a few levels above the tier where Teal’c had entered the air shaft, climbing through a double set of doors to a mesh plate walkway. A murky light illuminated the interior of the circular bore, the weak, watery glow spilling from buzzing sodium emergency lamps. Carter glanced down and blinked as her eyes got used to the gloom. She saw the Jaffa on another ledge several feet below her, rendered in shadows from the backwash of his flashlight beam.

  “Ah, dang.” There was no easy way to descend; it would just be hand-over-hand down the maintenance ladder. “Teal’c!” she called out. “I’m on my way to you!”

  “Very well, Major,” His voice echoed. “I recommend quickness.”

  “Quickness. Right.” Sam started down the rungs as fast as she dared. “And don’t look up,” she added as an afterthought.”

  “Why?”

  She fumed a little. “For modesty’s sake. I’m wearing a skirt.” Carter hadn’t had the luxury of changing out of her service dress uniform; she’d simply shrugged off the uniform jacket and handed it to Walter before donning a heavily-laden gear vest. The rest of her clothing was hardly designed for this sort of thing. And I’d just got it laundered as well. Still, that’s the Air Force life. Aim High.

  In a few moments she was down with him, the ladder depositing her on the other side of the gantry. Sam had a penlight clipped to her shoulder and she flicked it on, pulling out a portable scanner with the other hand. “How’d you find this?”

  “A lucky guess,” Teal’c deadpanned.

  “Not so lucky,” she replied. Sam felt a chill as the sensor unit presented her with data on the energy and chemical components running through the device. She glanced at him. “Bomb?”

  “Bomb.” He nodded. “I had hoped I was mistaken.”

  Sam peered at the timer. “If I’m reading this right, we have about, what? Thirty minutes?”

  “Closer to twenty-five, Major. Not enough to completely evacuate Stargate Command.”

  “We can still try.” She took a deep breath and toggled her radio. “Carter to Hammond. Sir, I can confirm Teal’c’s estimation. We’re looking at a compact, high yield explosive device with what seems like an enhanced naquadria component.”

  She could picture the general’s face as he took that in. “What’s the destructive potential, Major?’

  “Major is right, sir. I’d say if this thing goes, we’d lose the SGC for sure.”

  “Copy that.” He paused for a moment. “Can you disarm it?”

  “I think so…” She peered at the device, watching the ebb and flow of power through its patchwork of circuits. “It’s not one of those ‘cut the red wire’ things, General, but the technology is familiar. Confidence is high, sir.” Even as she said it, Carter felt her throat turn dry. This was not how she had expected her day to go.

  “Proceed,” said Hammond. “We’ll dial the Alpha Site and initiate an emergency departure protocol.”

  “Roger.” Sam looked to Teal’c and he nodded.

  “Carter.” The general spoke again. “I don’t want any heroics, Major. If you and Teal’c can’t get that thing deactivated in time, I’m ordering you to abandon the attempt and get up to the gate. Am I clear?”

  “As a bell, sir. Carter out.” She pulled a set of probes from her pocket and handed the scanner to the Jaffa.

  “It will take us ten minutes to reach the gate from here,” he told her.

  Sam set to work. “Will it?” She gave him a loaded look. “We better work fast, then, huh?”

  Gently, Carter levered away a section of the device’s outer casing and peered inside. It was a peculiar mixture of seething bio-organic components and elements that resembled metals and crystals. “Who made this thing?” she said to herself.

  “A question I will be most interested in learning the answer to,” noted Teal’c, “after we have rendered it inert.”

  Doctor Warner crossed the infirmary with a half-smile on his lips and Jade gave him a tepid grin in response. “Is something wrong, Doctor Wells?”

  Jade schooled her expression. “I’m not sure I follow you.”

  Warner pointed at the silent emergency siren and the alert lamp beneath it, high on the wall above them. “You keep looking up there. And I thought I heard you talking to someone earlier.”

  She looked away, faking embarrassment. “Oh, I’m sorry! It’s a nervous habit I have, I talk to myself while I’m working. And the other thing, I was… Just staring into space, really. Sometimes I just drift off when I’m thinking about things.” Jade resisted the urge to glance at the lamp again. The first tremors of concern were starting to ripple across her thoughts. If something didn’t happen soon, she would be forced to expedite events herself.

  “Oh. Fine.” He flashed his weak smile again. “We
ll. We all have our habits, don’t we?” He sniffed and patted his pockets. “Ah. I left my watch on the nightstand. Do you know what time it is?”

  Warner had barely finished speaking when the alert siren blared, the red emergency condition light strobing into life. He started with a visible shock. Jade threw a look over her shoulder, relief in her eyes. “It’s time,” she said, although Warner couldn’t hear her over the klaxon.

  “Attention, all personnel,” Harriman’s voice issued out of every speaker and repeater across the entire SGC. “Condition Black Alert Status. Initiate critical systems shutdown. Proceed to evacuation and egress stations immediately. Dialing of the Alpha Site will commence in sixty seconds. I repeat, Condition Black. This is not a drill.”

  “What in God’s name does that mean?” demanded Kinsey, bolting from Hammond’s chair.

  O’Neill fought down the immediate surge of alarm that came with the announcement and forced himself to keep a calm expression. “It means we’re going to take a walk. Don’t worry, it’s just like a fire drill.”

  Kinsey’s men were already speaking urgently into their radios. “In the middle of a diplomatic engagement?” The vice president sneered. “I want an explanation now, colonel, this very second!”

  “You and me both,” Jack retorted, his thin measure of tolerance for the politician evaporating. “Vix, if you and your people will come with me, we’ll get you out of here.” From the gate-room beyond, the sound of the dialing sequence reached his ears.

  “Are we in danger?” snapped Vix.

  “Probably,” admitted O’Neill. “Hammond doesn’t usually push the red button unless it’s a big deal… But trust me, we’ll get you to the Alpha Site and—”

  “What is this ‘Alpha Site’?” Koe broke in. “We agreed to come here, not go elsewhere.”

  “It’s a Tau’ri colony,” explained Daniel, frowning. “We have another facility like this one on the planet.”

  “And what awaits us there? If this is a ruse of some sort…” Koe retorted.

  Kinsey was talking over him. “I’m not going anywhere, especially to some alien planet on the other side of the galaxy!”

  “Sir,” one of the Secret Service agents spoke up, pressing his finger to his radio earphone. “Confirmation. An explosive device has been discovered inside the base perimeter. Sir, we have to get you out now.”

  “There’s a bomb?” Kinsey blurted, and Jack felt the tension in the room jump by a factor of ten. Suddenly everyone was talking at once, the vice president quickly backtracking on his not-going-anywhere statement, Koe and Vix and the rest of the Pack contingent snapping at one another, Daniel trying his best to calm them all down.

  Then the Stargate opened with a crash of displaced air and an abrupt flare of color. The noise made everyone jump and Jack took the initiative, jumping on the momentary pause. “Hey!” he yelled. “We got a situation here, ladies and gents, and we have a plan for these things! A calm and orderly fashion, you know how it’s done.” He stabbed a finger toward the open gate. “One exit, no waiting!”

  “We demand to be returned to Golla IX,” growled Vix.

  “Fine, no problem,” Jack said briskly, “Daniel, why don’t you go with the Pack and make sure they gate to wherever they wanna go once they’re safe at the Alpha Site.”

  Jackson didn’t quibble, he just nodded. “Got it.” He beckoned the visitors toward the door. “This way, please.”

  “And as for you, Kinsey…” Jack gave the other man a hard look as the off-worlders left the room. “It’s a couple thousand stairs between here and daylight.” He jerked a thumb at the ceiling. “If you get started now, you might make it in a few hours, depending on how fit you are.”

  The politician was a little paler than usual. “O’Neill, if you’ve rigged this to make me look like a fool…”

  “Oh yeah, Kinsey, it’s all about you, isn’t it? Like I’m going to screw over a major diplomatic effort just to get at you…” He made a tutting noise. “If you don’t believe Agent Buzzcut over there, then by all means you’re welcome to stick around until something goes boom. Otherwise, get your butt through the gate and outta my way!”

  “What the hell kind of operation is Hammond running here?” fumed the vice president. “Don’t you people know what security is? If this treaty falls apart because of this, I’m going to hold you personally responsible!”

  “You know what?” Jack snarled. “You can fix the blame all you want, Kinsey. Right now, I’m more interested in fixing the damn problem.” He glared at the lead bodyguard. “Get him out of here.”

  “O’Neill!” Kinsey’s shout followed him down the stairs to the control room, but Jack didn’t turn back.

  “Intriguing,” Teal’c noted. “The device does not match any manufactured Goa’uld weapon I have ever encountered, and yet several elements of the structure use their technology.”

  “You don’t say.” Major Carter spoke around a probe stylus clamped between her teeth, her fingers working through leaves of flexible circuitry.

  “I would hazard a guess that the weapon is an improvised offensive mechanism. It appears to use components from a staff weapon for the detonator core, but the power regulator appears Orbanian in origin.” He pointed to another area. “These fluid mechanisms are new to me.”

  “Not to me,” said Carter, with a scowl. “At least, not now.” She shook her head, as if dismissing the thought. “We’ll worry about that later. For now, we have to disarm this thing.”

  Teal’c nodded. “Major. You are aware that we are at the ten-minute mark. If we are to do as General Hammond suggested…” He trailed off.

  “You don’t have to stay,” Carter replied. “Go ahead. I’m going to stick with this.” She worked at something and a spark snapped back at her. “Ah. Nuts.”

  “I will remain,” replied the Jaffa. He tried to study the device with a fresh eye, to see the shape of it rather than the odd mix of parts that made up the whole. “It is a two-stage detonator,” he opined. “A smaller explosive charge released to prime a far larger naquadria-based plasma ignition.”

  Carter prodded at one of two sacs full of runny liquid. “Could be. A binary explosive made up from chemicals that are inert when separated, but lethal when combined. They mix here…” She tapped an empty reservoir chamber. “And start a reaction that ends with an exothermal discharge, which in turn makes the naquadria in this vial go supercritical and… Well, ka-boom.”

  “Indeed.” Teal’c eyed the countdown display. “Nine minutes, Major.”

  Jack watched the lines of men and women moving swiftly up the ramp and into the glittering pool of the wormhole.

  “How are we doing?” Hammond asked.

  “Alpha Site reporting one third of base personnel have been delivered,” said Harriman. “Doctor Jackson and the diplomatic party are secure.”

  “Shame we couldn’t have sent Kinsey to his own planet,” said O’Neill beneath his breath, “one without a DHD, maybe.”

  The general glanced at him. “Jack, we can do this without you. Go on, go through.”

  “Funny, sir, I was just going to say the same thing to you.” He gave a wan smile. “Carter’s an ace at this stuff, General. And besides, the less time I spend near Kinsey, the happier I am.” He glanced away again and his eye line crossed a face in the crowd; a dark-haired young woman in a white doctor’s coat. Something about her snagged his attention, some odd compulsion that he couldn’t explain; but then she was through the Stargate and gone, and the strange impulse faded.

  “Here we go,” said Sam. “I’ve traced the linkages back along the conduit. This is the main trigger. Hopefully, if I sever this, the device will go inert.”

  “Hopefully,” repeated Teal’c. “You are not certain?”

  Carter shook her head. “Not as such, no. But I’m pretty much at the limits of my ability here. Alien EOD wasn’t top of my MOS at the Air Force Academy.”

  “How can I assist?” he asked.

  �
�Hold that light steady,” she told him, leaning in, “and cross your fingers.”

  Sam took a breath and used a conductive probe to break the circuit. The device released a strangled electronic chirp and the countdown froze.

  “Were you successful?”

  She was just about to say yes when it made the noise again and the figures on the display started moving again, this time so fast she could barely make out the blur of Goa’uld digits. “Oh, that’s not good.”

  “I did not cross my fingers,” Teal’c admitted.

  The fluids in the sacs began to froth and flow, trickling onto the mix chamber. Each one was covered with a protective membrane that probably linked directly to a detonation sequencer, but now Carter was past the point of no return and her only sensible option had failed. She had only the dumb, brute force approach remaining. “Knife!” she barked, holding out her hand to the Jaffa.

  Teal’c snatched his combat blade from the sheath on his leg and flipped it around, offering her the hilt. Sam grabbed it and hesitated, the point touching the surface of the membrane. If this doesn’t work, we’re dead. With a grunt, she stabbed the knife into the fluid sac and tore it down and across. The carbon steel blade slashed through the wall of the reservoir and thick, sticky chemicals spat out in a fan. Carter shielded her eyes, but the liquid gushed out over her gear vest and shirt. It was cold and acrid-smelling.

  “Major!” Sam felt Teal’c pull her to the decking as the device gave off a rattling, angry fizz. Some small measure of the chemicals had mixed, and they flared in a brief, brilliant spit of fire.

  It was long moments before Carter hazarded a look up at the bomb. It was largely intact, still attached to the inner wall of the vent, but now blackened and warped. The naquadria vial was visible, unbroken and quiescent.