A Small Problem - Chapter Six
Feb. 22nd, 2012 09:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bungakertasA Small Problem - Chapter Six
Disclaimer and general Author's Notes are in the first entry, which is linked at the bottom.
Sam and Teal’c lay on the desk and concentrated on breathing for a few moments. It had been an effort of Herculean proportions to get both of them onto the desk, most of the effort being on Sam’s part. Teal’c could lift her easily. The reverse was far from true.
Sam watched from her prone position as Teal’c wandered across Hailey’s desk, glancing curiously at her computer before making a disdainful noise.
“What?” Sam asked.
“I am intensely disappointed in Hailey’s taste in music,” Teal’c answered, indicating the playlist that was open on her screen. It was filled with an inordinate amount of techno and pop.
“Ha!” Sam laughed. “Says the man who subsists on a musical diet of non-stop Ricky Martin and Barry Manilow.”
Teal’c glanced at her. “They are both important icons of your culture.”
Sam shook her head. “Where did Daniel and I go wrong with you, Teal’c?”
“I believe it was when you allowed me contact with O’Neill,” he replied, striding over to stand above her head. He looked down and offered her a hand up.
Sam took it and he pulled her to her feet. She looked around and saw, on the far side of the desk, the EMP generator. She went over to it, and after some struggling with the controls, turned it on and persuaded the machine to begin building a charge.
She moved to sit with her legs dangling off of the desk and sighed deeply.
Teal’c joined her. “Colonel Carter?”
“If this doesn’t work, Teal’c,” she sighed, “I don’t know what to try next. We’re too small to use a lab or any equipment. I’m…I’m completely out of ideas.”
“Then we shall return to P4Z-028 and examine the temple further. Perhaps we will discover something there that will aid us. Or perhaps Daniel Jackson will be able to read something there that we did not previously see,” Teal’c suggested, sounding completely unflapped. “Or we will call the tok’ra or Asgard and ask their advice.”
Sam stared at him.
Teal’c smiled. “This enemy, too, we shall defeat.”
She nodded. Lately, Teal'c seemed to have a confidence he had never displayed, even despite the fact that he'd never been precisely unsure of himself. Though, Sam had to admit, if she had lived her life as a slave to a false god, and then quit, and then fought him, and then started a massive slave rebellion, and then won, and then beat a whole bunch of his false god friends into the bargain, all in less than ten years, she'd feel pretty confident, too. Go figure.
They waited for the charge to build up together. The EMP machine began to emit a high pitched whine, that seemed to circle around the room as it rose in pitch and fell in volume. Finally, when the whine was high-pitched enough that it was starting to give them a headache, but so quiet Sam was starting to feel it more than hear it, she went over to the machine and pushed a button.
The lights went out. Hailey’s computer died. Everything electric suddenly went quiet and dead.
Even before the emergency lighting powered up, Sam knew it hadn’t worked. They were still tiny. She made a disappointed face into the darkness, but cleared it up as soon as Teal’c could see her. If he was going to be so irrepressibly optimistic, then there was no way she was going to seem anything less than totally hopeful.
Sam looked at the generator in a vaguely disappointed manner and said, “Well, that’s that, I suppose.”
“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed. Sam couldn't help but think he did sound at least the tiniest bit disappointed, as well. Selfishly, that made her feel a bit better.
They climbed down from Hailey’s desk, and began making their way back to Daniel, to give him the bad news.
Of course, they didn’t need to say anything. As soon as the electricity had died but they'd remained shrunk, Daniel and Fuentes had known it didn't work. They just gave them understanding and disappointed looks.
“What next?” Daniel asked curiously.
“Well, Teal’c and I will go report to General O’Neill and…I’m not sure. I’m not quite certain what our next step is,” Sam sighed.
“Call the Asgard and hope they’re at home, I suppose,” Daniel shrugged.
“The tok’ra also may be able to help,” Teal’c said.
“I hope it doesn’t come to asking them,” Daniel sighed. “They’d probably get Anise to work on it.”
That name made Sam feel a bit weird. Queasy and stretched.
“She is distasteful,” Teal’c agreed.
Ugh. Why was Anise suddenly making her feel so sick? Damn tok'ra irritating her when she wasn't even on the planet.
“Well, I suppose we’d better—Ow!” Sam broke off in pain as the side of her head, slammed roughly into the slight overhang of Dr. Fuentes’s desk. She reached up to rub her head irritably, glaring at the offending desk. “What on—” Then, suddenly, the weird dizzy feeling and the fact that she had just slammed into the side of the desk connected to the rest of her mind.
“We’re big again!” she exclaimed cheerfully.
She stared at her hands, the desk, and the fact that she, Teal’c, Daniel, Dr. Fuentes, and Dr. Fuentes’ broken leg were all squished up against the side of the desk in an incredibly uncomfortable manner.
The reverie was broken and three people who could move instantly did so. Dr. Fuentes reordered herself to sit more comfortably on the floor.
“I think we should assume we were immediately re-contaminated with the shrinking device as soon as we resumed normal size,” Sam said.
“Then we must quickly get the EMP generator and move it to the level 28, where we may cure as many people as possible,” Teal’c said.
“If we don’t get back in time,” Daniel said to Dr. Fuentes, handing her his Beretta, “be sure you look first before you shoot.”
She nodded, taking the gun. “Got it.”
The three members of SG-1 raced into Hailey’s lab, grabbed the EMP generator, and then took it to the elevator as quickly as they could with such a bulky and heavy piece of equipment.
*~*~*
Major Davis and SG-3 were just finishing their report to General O'Neill in the control room when SG-1 managed to get that stupid EMP generator down to level 28. Then, a regular-sized Daniel Jackson—who was watching where he put his feet so carefully that it looked like his eyes were almost crossing—poked his head into the control room and explained what they were about to do and how long it would take to have effect. And as soon as he did, Davis recognized a problem. After going to all the trouble to get everyone together for ease of communication, they were being blasted—there went the lights, so he hoped Jackson wouldn't move just yet—with something that would unshrink them all in about fifteen minutes.
With somewhere upwards of a hundred and seventy-five people already in the control room.
And more on the way.
So space was about to be at something of a premium.
Fortunately, General O'Neill was just as quick on the uptake. He went swarming up the toothpick ladder Siler's guys had built (Davis hated to admit it, but that really had been a good idea) to the desk and sprinted over to the button for the PA. Thankfully, several of the heftiest marines had pulled the microphone down to his head level earlier, so that at least wasn't a problem. Then they all watched him for an awkward moment, waiting for the emergency power to kick in.
And there it went. Jackson assessed the low lighting for a moment, fished in one of his many pockets, and pulled out a flashlight, which he shone on his feet as he left.
The general stood on the PA button and turned his face to the microphone. “All right, people,” O'Neill said, in his tiny, tinny voice, “SG-1 has just brought the EMP down to level 28 and turned it on for us. According to their findings, it takes about fifteen minutes for someone to unshrink after the shrinking stuff has been knocked out. Given the number of people currently in the control room, that leaves us with not a great deal of space. So, those of you not yet on level 28, remain where you are. We'll be coming to get you as soon as we can. Those of you who are on level 28, do not—I repeat, do not—make for the control room. Remain where you are. Those of you who are in the Control Room, clear the area unless you are here as part of a regular duty shift. And try and spread out as much as you can. I don't want to turn big again with someone standing on my head.”
Half the extra techs, several SG teams, a whole battery of scientists, and most of the archaeology department all began making their way toward the hallway.
Major Davis began to go with them when Sergeant Harriman suddenly grabbed his jacket.
“Sorry, sir,” Harriman said, releasing him. “The general was making hand gestures for you to stay here.”
Davis had always felt that Harriman was a master of sarcastic politeness. 'The general was making hand gestures.' Of course, when he looked up to see O'Neill, he was doing just that as he climbed down.
“All right then,” he shrugged. If the general was making hand gestures, then he would be happy to stay here. Obviously.
They stood watching O'Neill climb down. By the time he joined them, Harriman was practically hopping from foot to foot trying not to say something or another.
“Out with it!” Jack finally ordered him, strolling up.
“Well, sir,” Harriman finally said, “are we sure this will work? Or stay working?”
“No. But it's the best we've got for now,” Jack said.
Harriman did not look very reassured. Davis did not feel very reassured. They both continued, unreassured, for the next fifteen minutes, at which time Harriman looked flat-out astonished when he found himself sliding off his feet as he suddenly grew taller again.
Well, Davis thought, as he smothered laughter and helped the sergeant to stand, given that Harriman put up with stuff like this on a regular basis, a little sarcastic politeness was hardly an unearned privilege.
*~*~*
Author's Notes: Well, they're big again. One more chapter to wrap things up.
The next line of the song lyrics in the title being, of course, “But if you try, sometimes,/ You might find/ You get what you need.”
Chapter One - A Little Bored
Chapter Two - In The Infirmary
Chapter Three - Down In Fraggle Rock
Chapter Four - Working Out The Bugs
Chapter Five - Troubleshooting
Chapter Seven - Research For Its Own Sake
Disclaimer and general Author's Notes are in the first entry, which is linked at the bottom.
Sam and Teal’c lay on the desk and concentrated on breathing for a few moments. It had been an effort of Herculean proportions to get both of them onto the desk, most of the effort being on Sam’s part. Teal’c could lift her easily. The reverse was far from true.
Sam watched from her prone position as Teal’c wandered across Hailey’s desk, glancing curiously at her computer before making a disdainful noise.
“What?” Sam asked.
“I am intensely disappointed in Hailey’s taste in music,” Teal’c answered, indicating the playlist that was open on her screen. It was filled with an inordinate amount of techno and pop.
“Ha!” Sam laughed. “Says the man who subsists on a musical diet of non-stop Ricky Martin and Barry Manilow.”
Teal’c glanced at her. “They are both important icons of your culture.”
Sam shook her head. “Where did Daniel and I go wrong with you, Teal’c?”
“I believe it was when you allowed me contact with O’Neill,” he replied, striding over to stand above her head. He looked down and offered her a hand up.
Sam took it and he pulled her to her feet. She looked around and saw, on the far side of the desk, the EMP generator. She went over to it, and after some struggling with the controls, turned it on and persuaded the machine to begin building a charge.
She moved to sit with her legs dangling off of the desk and sighed deeply.
Teal’c joined her. “Colonel Carter?”
“If this doesn’t work, Teal’c,” she sighed, “I don’t know what to try next. We’re too small to use a lab or any equipment. I’m…I’m completely out of ideas.”
“Then we shall return to P4Z-028 and examine the temple further. Perhaps we will discover something there that will aid us. Or perhaps Daniel Jackson will be able to read something there that we did not previously see,” Teal’c suggested, sounding completely unflapped. “Or we will call the tok’ra or Asgard and ask their advice.”
Sam stared at him.
Teal’c smiled. “This enemy, too, we shall defeat.”
She nodded. Lately, Teal'c seemed to have a confidence he had never displayed, even despite the fact that he'd never been precisely unsure of himself. Though, Sam had to admit, if she had lived her life as a slave to a false god, and then quit, and then fought him, and then started a massive slave rebellion, and then won, and then beat a whole bunch of his false god friends into the bargain, all in less than ten years, she'd feel pretty confident, too. Go figure.
They waited for the charge to build up together. The EMP machine began to emit a high pitched whine, that seemed to circle around the room as it rose in pitch and fell in volume. Finally, when the whine was high-pitched enough that it was starting to give them a headache, but so quiet Sam was starting to feel it more than hear it, she went over to the machine and pushed a button.
The lights went out. Hailey’s computer died. Everything electric suddenly went quiet and dead.
Even before the emergency lighting powered up, Sam knew it hadn’t worked. They were still tiny. She made a disappointed face into the darkness, but cleared it up as soon as Teal’c could see her. If he was going to be so irrepressibly optimistic, then there was no way she was going to seem anything less than totally hopeful.
Sam looked at the generator in a vaguely disappointed manner and said, “Well, that’s that, I suppose.”
“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed. Sam couldn't help but think he did sound at least the tiniest bit disappointed, as well. Selfishly, that made her feel a bit better.
They climbed down from Hailey’s desk, and began making their way back to Daniel, to give him the bad news.
Of course, they didn’t need to say anything. As soon as the electricity had died but they'd remained shrunk, Daniel and Fuentes had known it didn't work. They just gave them understanding and disappointed looks.
“What next?” Daniel asked curiously.
“Well, Teal’c and I will go report to General O’Neill and…I’m not sure. I’m not quite certain what our next step is,” Sam sighed.
“Call the Asgard and hope they’re at home, I suppose,” Daniel shrugged.
“The tok’ra also may be able to help,” Teal’c said.
“I hope it doesn’t come to asking them,” Daniel sighed. “They’d probably get Anise to work on it.”
That name made Sam feel a bit weird. Queasy and stretched.
“She is distasteful,” Teal’c agreed.
Ugh. Why was Anise suddenly making her feel so sick? Damn tok'ra irritating her when she wasn't even on the planet.
“Well, I suppose we’d better—Ow!” Sam broke off in pain as the side of her head, slammed roughly into the slight overhang of Dr. Fuentes’s desk. She reached up to rub her head irritably, glaring at the offending desk. “What on—” Then, suddenly, the weird dizzy feeling and the fact that she had just slammed into the side of the desk connected to the rest of her mind.
“We’re big again!” she exclaimed cheerfully.
She stared at her hands, the desk, and the fact that she, Teal’c, Daniel, Dr. Fuentes, and Dr. Fuentes’ broken leg were all squished up against the side of the desk in an incredibly uncomfortable manner.
The reverie was broken and three people who could move instantly did so. Dr. Fuentes reordered herself to sit more comfortably on the floor.
“I think we should assume we were immediately re-contaminated with the shrinking device as soon as we resumed normal size,” Sam said.
“Then we must quickly get the EMP generator and move it to the level 28, where we may cure as many people as possible,” Teal’c said.
“If we don’t get back in time,” Daniel said to Dr. Fuentes, handing her his Beretta, “be sure you look first before you shoot.”
She nodded, taking the gun. “Got it.”
The three members of SG-1 raced into Hailey’s lab, grabbed the EMP generator, and then took it to the elevator as quickly as they could with such a bulky and heavy piece of equipment.
Major Davis and SG-3 were just finishing their report to General O'Neill in the control room when SG-1 managed to get that stupid EMP generator down to level 28. Then, a regular-sized Daniel Jackson—who was watching where he put his feet so carefully that it looked like his eyes were almost crossing—poked his head into the control room and explained what they were about to do and how long it would take to have effect. And as soon as he did, Davis recognized a problem. After going to all the trouble to get everyone together for ease of communication, they were being blasted—there went the lights, so he hoped Jackson wouldn't move just yet—with something that would unshrink them all in about fifteen minutes.
With somewhere upwards of a hundred and seventy-five people already in the control room.
And more on the way.
So space was about to be at something of a premium.
Fortunately, General O'Neill was just as quick on the uptake. He went swarming up the toothpick ladder Siler's guys had built (Davis hated to admit it, but that really had been a good idea) to the desk and sprinted over to the button for the PA. Thankfully, several of the heftiest marines had pulled the microphone down to his head level earlier, so that at least wasn't a problem. Then they all watched him for an awkward moment, waiting for the emergency power to kick in.
And there it went. Jackson assessed the low lighting for a moment, fished in one of his many pockets, and pulled out a flashlight, which he shone on his feet as he left.
The general stood on the PA button and turned his face to the microphone. “All right, people,” O'Neill said, in his tiny, tinny voice, “SG-1 has just brought the EMP down to level 28 and turned it on for us. According to their findings, it takes about fifteen minutes for someone to unshrink after the shrinking stuff has been knocked out. Given the number of people currently in the control room, that leaves us with not a great deal of space. So, those of you not yet on level 28, remain where you are. We'll be coming to get you as soon as we can. Those of you who are on level 28, do not—I repeat, do not—make for the control room. Remain where you are. Those of you who are in the Control Room, clear the area unless you are here as part of a regular duty shift. And try and spread out as much as you can. I don't want to turn big again with someone standing on my head.”
Half the extra techs, several SG teams, a whole battery of scientists, and most of the archaeology department all began making their way toward the hallway.
Major Davis began to go with them when Sergeant Harriman suddenly grabbed his jacket.
“Sorry, sir,” Harriman said, releasing him. “The general was making hand gestures for you to stay here.”
Davis had always felt that Harriman was a master of sarcastic politeness. 'The general was making hand gestures.' Of course, when he looked up to see O'Neill, he was doing just that as he climbed down.
“All right then,” he shrugged. If the general was making hand gestures, then he would be happy to stay here. Obviously.
They stood watching O'Neill climb down. By the time he joined them, Harriman was practically hopping from foot to foot trying not to say something or another.
“Out with it!” Jack finally ordered him, strolling up.
“Well, sir,” Harriman finally said, “are we sure this will work? Or stay working?”
“No. But it's the best we've got for now,” Jack said.
Harriman did not look very reassured. Davis did not feel very reassured. They both continued, unreassured, for the next fifteen minutes, at which time Harriman looked flat-out astonished when he found himself sliding off his feet as he suddenly grew taller again.
Well, Davis thought, as he smothered laughter and helped the sergeant to stand, given that Harriman put up with stuff like this on a regular basis, a little sarcastic politeness was hardly an unearned privilege.
Author's Notes: Well, they're big again. One more chapter to wrap things up.
The next line of the song lyrics in the title being, of course, “But if you try, sometimes,/ You might find/ You get what you need.”
Chapter One - A Little Bored
Chapter Two - In The Infirmary
Chapter Three - Down In Fraggle Rock
Chapter Four - Working Out The Bugs
Chapter Five - Troubleshooting
Chapter Seven - Research For Its Own Sake
