egyptiansoldier | Searching for Atlantis

Daniel takes a step back and looks over his work. Several dozen padded, hard-shell cases, packed full of supplies. Ammunition, food, clothes, and the like. Things that the Atlantis expedition either can't make themselves, or simply don't have access to, in the Pegasus Galaxy.

There's only one problem.

When the expedition first went through the Gate, they took far more than this with them. But they had Field Remote Expeditionary Devices (FRED, for short), supply robots capable of transporting tons of material without need for a human to carry them. Daniel doesn't have one, and he's not sure how far he's going to have to transport these supplies once he goes through the door.

All dressed up with nowhere to go.

He thinks about it for a while, as he stacks the crates closer together, and finally he makes his decision. Daniel sends a text message via PINpoint to his most recent contact. I don't suppose there are any spells to make things easier to carry?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"We hope that I will be able to charge it."

O'Neill's eyebrows go up. "You?"

"Long story," Daniel says.

"Can you show me to the generators?"

"Now, hang on a minute," O'Neill objects. "You've been missing for three years. Now you show up with an unknown civilian and you want to tamper with the base's power generators? For all we know, you've been compromised."

"I know, you have to follow procedure," Daniel says. He turns to Hermione. "Will you let them put you through an MRI? It's standard on return to base, to make sure we haven't brought any alien visitors along. It's quick and harmless." They discussed not letting her be a test subject before, but he hopes she'll agree to this, since it's something everyone has to do, and has nothing to do with her magic.

"An MRI?" Hermione frowns. She looks to O'Neill with a long, studious look. Then sighs softly.

"Okay. I'll do it."

She has no idea how a Witch's mind would appear in the scans.

"I'll go first," Daniel volunteers. It's only fair, since she's the guest.

O'Neill nods, and calls for an armed escort to the infirmary. The corridors are made from concrete and metal, and painted colored lines on the floor lead to different destinations. Once they ride the elevator to level 21, they follow the blue line to the infirmary.

Daniel takes off his outer gear, dropping anything metal - including his glasses - into a container before he can enter the room with the MRI machine. "It'll only take a minute," he tells Hermione. "We're old hands at this."

Once the armed escort shows up, Hermione resists the temptation to bring out her wand. She has to trust in Daniel. Her fingers twitch, but she follows them down to the infirmary.

She watches Daniel drop anything metal into a container. She only has a few metal things, a bracelet and a necklace. Luckily, her wand is made out of wood, and can stay on her person. It is a small comfort.

"I am not sure what they will see, when I go in."

"If there are differences, they likely won't notice," Daniel tells her in a low voice. "We don't have a baseline for you, and they're not looking for anything other than passengers. It'll be fine."

"Will you be able to stay close? Hold my hand?"

"Yes. I'll stay in the room." He hops up onto the narrow table, and the doctors begin the scan, slowly pushing the table into the whirring machine. The scans focus on his head and torso, taking careful images over the course of one minute. And just like that, he's done.

Daniel gets to his feet, and pats the table. "Your turn."

Hermione breaths steadily, before getting on the table, and lying down on it. She tries very hard to remain that calm, steady rock that she usually is...

But this scares her.

Daniel holds her hand, and squeezes it gently, trying to reassure her. "It's going to be fine. I'm right here."

"Just relax, miss," one of the doctors says. "This won't hurt a bit."

Hermione pictures sitting in the dentist chair -- yes, that is her calm spot. With her parents beside her. Having fun and checking her teeth. Telling jokes and smiling.

She squeezes Daniel's hand, not letting go until it is over.

Her scan doesn't take any longer than Daniel's did, and then they allow her to get up and out of the machine, and reclaim her jewelry. Daniel puts his glasses and gear back on, and smiles at her. "You did well. It should only be a few minutes before we're cleared."

"I have never done something like that before." She tells him, replacing the bracelet on her wrist, and the necklace around her neck.

"New things can be scary the first time. But you did really well." He puts his hand on her shoulder in a silent thanks for her trust in him.

"Well you're both clear," the doctor says after a few minutes. "No sign of Goa'uld infestation, or any other hitchhikers." She doesn't seem to notice anything weird about Hermione's scan.

Hermione is glad that nothing weird showed up on her scan. "You mentioned this is standard procedure?"

Daniel nods. "Every time a team comes back through the Gate, or has been unaccounted for over any length of time. I haven't been in the SGC for years."

"And they can see the Goa'uld using that method?"

"Yes, they're very obvious on MRI scans. X-rays would do it too, but MRIs are safer for long-term use."

"And now that we are done with that, what next?"

"I'm sure ideally, they'd like to debrief us," Daniel says. "But I'm not really sure what we can tell them, and until we get to Atlantis, I won't have definitive proof that we're in the right reality. Besides, if you can help us solve the power problem, even just temporarily, that can be postponed."

"Are they going to let me try to fix the generators now, at least?"

"We'll have to ask." Daniel turns to the armed escort, who are still hanging around by the door. "Are we done?"

One of the soldiers nods. "Yes sir. General O'Neill said he'll meet you on level twenty-three."

"Thank you, sergeant." Daniel looks over at Hermione as their escort leave. "Level twenty-three is where the backup power grid is, including our backup reactor."