"The Scientific Method" by settiai
Title: The Scientific Method
Author: settiai
Rating/Warning: PG
Spoilers: None.
Recipient: Nanda (nandamai)
Request details: Something goes wrong on an offworld mission,
and Sam saves the day with science. Feel free to fake the science, as long
as it sounds plausible. Bonus points for some action/adventure aspect,
but it's not necessary.
As the four of them made their way through the forest, Sam couldn't
help but smile.
For once, nothing about the mission seemed to bode ill toward SG-1.
The weather and plant life on P3X-563 were similar to several
semi-tropical regions on Earth, and the planet appeared to be
uninhabited. In fact, if it hadn't been for some obviously ancient
ruins several miles from the 'gate, they might have assumed that the
planet had never housed any type of advanced life.
The short hike to the ruins was uneventful, and for the first time in
months all four team members were apparently enjoying the mission.
The comfortable weather was enough to put Jack at ease, while Daniel's
mind was focused entirely on exploring the ancient buildings that were
visible in the near distance. Even Teal'c seemed to be content with
the peacefulness of their surroundings as they made their way out of
the woods and into a large clearing with several buildings.
"Daniel, don't touch anything!"
Sam flinched as the colonel's voice broke the peaceful silence, and
she quickly turned her gaze away from Teal'c and back toward the other
two members of the team. Daniel had somehow managed to make his way
halfway across the clearing before the three of them had even reached
the end of the trees, and he was kneeling in front of what looked like
a rather small stone obelisk sticking out of the ground.
Even though he hadn't risen from his knees, Daniel had turned his head
around so that he was looking in their direction. The expression on
his face was a combination of irritation and amusement, and it didn't
take a genius to realize that his gaze was focused on O'Neill. "Trust
me, Jack, it's not going to explode," he said dryly.
The colonel just shook his head as he made his way toward Daniel's
position, followed close by both Sam and Teal'c. "That's what you
said last time."
"I believe, O'Neill, that the 'last time' you speak of involved a
Goa'uld computer system," Teal'c pointed out matter-of-factly.
As they came to a stop behind Daniel, Jack raised an eyebrow. "So?"
Sam struggled to keep a straight face as Daniel rolled his eyes at the
colonel. "This is a rock, sir," she said after a moment or two.
"From my experience, rocks are much less likely to explode than
already unstable Goa'uld technology."
Jack stared at her for a moment before glancing up at the sky. "Would
it kill you to make them at least pretend that I'm in charge?" he
muttered.
Daniel just ignored Jack, instead shooting her a mock-hurt look.
"This is much more than a rock, Sam."
Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow, something akin to amusement on his face.
Sam resisted the urge to roll her eyes, choosing instead to give
Teal'c a helpless shrug as Daniel suddenly grinned and pushed himself
to his feet. "If I'm reading this correctly, then the building to the
far left was some type of library," he said eagerly, shooting Jack a
hopeful look. "I think that's the first place we should check out."
Jack stared at him for a moment before reluctantly nodding. Daniel's
grin grew even broader as he quickly set off in the direction of the
building. The colonel, in the meantime, glanced over at Sam and
Teal'c with a raised eyebrow. "Did he say if?"
Sam nodded, and she struggled to keep from smiling as Jack grumbled
under his breath and started after Daniel. "What do you mean by
if you're reading it correctly?"
Shaking her head, Sam adjusted the pack on her back and glanced over
at Teal'c. "Shall we?" she asked dryly, gesturing after O'Neill and
Daniel.
"Indeed," he replied, nodding slightly.
Sam paused in the doorway of the ruins for a second, not attempting to
hide the surprised look on her face. She wasn't entirely certain what
she had expected ... but it certainly wasn't what was there. If
nothing else, the ruins appeared massive on the outside, but the room
she was standing in the doorway of was even smaller than her quarters
back at the SGC.
"This is it?" she asked, a hint of disappointment in her voice as she
glanced around the dark and empty room. There were no windows, no
other doors ... it looked like nothing more than a storage closet.
Several feet to her right, Jack cleared his throat. "That's pretty
much exactly what I said, Carter."
"And, like I told you - no, this isn't it," Daniel replied, a
distracted tone in his voice as he walked around the room, carefully
examining the walls. "There's got to be a secret panel or something."
The colonel snorted, and Sam just shook her head as she stepped out of
the doorway to let Teal'c into the room. If Daniel was right, then
he'd find a way to open a hidden door and the team would be able to
explore wherever such an entrance would lead. Eventually. If not,
then they'd have at least a few hours' wait before O'Neill would
finally convince the archeologist that there wasn't anything there.
Either way, they were in for a wait.
Other than that, everything was going perfectly well until the door
slammed shut behind them.
And then it disappeared completely.
Daniel let out a startled cry, and both Sam and Jack jumped slightly
at the unexpected noise. Then, for several seconds, they didn't say a
word, instead just staring at each other mutely in the murky light
given off by Daniel's flashlight.
"Oh, that's not good," the colonel finally muttered.
Teal'c nodded in acquiescence, while Daniel stared blankly at where
the door had been. "What just happened?"
Sam stood there a minute before shaking her head. "It's impossible,"
she said. "The doorway was nothing more than a rectangle cut into the
stone. There's no possible way for it to ... do that." She gestured
weakly at the now apparently solid wall. "Not if it's just stone."
Jack frowned and pulled out his flashlight, shining it on the
apparently seamless wall. Then he took a few steps forward and
carefully tapped the space where the door had been with his knuckles.
Stopping almost immediately, he flinched as he pulled his hand away
from the wall; then he turned back towards the others. "Are you sure,
Carter? Because it feels like solid stone to me."
Daniel shook his head. "Sam's right," he said, stepping forward to
look more closely at the wall himself. "If it was some kind of
ancient booby-trap, there would have been cuts at the top of the door
where the stone wall would fall down. Trust me, I checked for those
before I took one step inside."
"Something you learned from past experience?" Jack asked wryly.
Daniel ignored him. "It's almost as if the door was never there to
begin with," he continued on. "If it was some kind of trap, we should
still be able to see cracks around where the door was.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sam noticed a sliver of light coming
from several feet away. Still keeping an ear on the conversation, she
took a few steps over and knelt down to investigate. She ran her
fingers over the sliver of light, gently feeling the stone that
surrounded it.
"Perhaps it is an illusion," Teal'c suggested.
"Was no one listening when I said that it felt like solid rock?" Jack
asked exasperatedly. "I'm pretty sure that means it's not some kind
of illusion."
Without warning, the stone under her hand pressed into the wall, and
the small sliver of light she had been studying suddenly widened to
reveal a rather sophisticated control panel. "I'm not so sure about
that, sir."
Despite the situation, Sam couldn't help but smile as the other three
gathered around her. She glanced and shrugged when she saw that the
colonel was staring down at her. "I've seen some technology similar
to this before," she said. "It looks as if Teal'c might be right
about it only being an illusion that there isn't a door there."
Jack frowned again. "Did you not hear the 'felt like solid rock'
part?" he asked.
Sam shook her head. "I think it's a force field, sir," she explained.
"It just has some type of holographic projection around it to make it
look as if it's solid."
The colonel started to ask something else, but Sam held up a finger
and glanced over at Daniel. "Daniel, does this look like Furling
technology to you?"
He knelt down beside her and studied the panel for a second. "You
know, you might be right about that," he said after a few seconds.
"It's a little different that anything else we've come across so far,
but it might just be from an earlier or later period in time."
Sam grinned at him. "That's all I needed to know."
Without hesitating, she reached into the panel and pulled out several
of the crystals inside. Jack coughed. "Are you sure you want to be
doing that?" he asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
"I know what I'm doing, sir," she replied, her eyes twinkling a bit.
She quickly switched around the crystals she had removed, inserting
them inside the panel in different places than they had originally
been.
Without warning, the doorway suddenly reappeared.
O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "Okay, Carter, I'll admit it ... I'm impressed."
Sam shrugged as she let him pull her to her feet. "It was similar to
some technology we found last year," she explained.
As the four of them stepped outside of the ruins, the colonel paused.
"You mean that thing we found on the planet with the six moons that
were always in the sky?"
When Sam nodded, Daniel's eye lit up in comprehension and he shot her
an impressed look. Jack, on the other hand, just stared at her. "You
managed to get us out of there based on some knowledge you'd gotten
from a toy?" he spluttered.
Teal'c bowed his head toward her just a little. "That is most
impressive, Major Carter."
A sheepish expression appeared on Sam's face as she avoided their
gaze. "Well, it was a very advanced toy," she pointed out.
Daniel snorted. "That's for sure. Bill had been working with that
thing for weeks before you figured out it was the Furling equivalent
of a Gameboy."
Sam shrugged once before quickly changing the subject. "Are we going
to explore some more of the buildings?" she asked. "Or should we head
back to the Stargate and let the science teams take over?"
"Well, of course we're going to explore some more of the buildings,"
Daniel shot back immediately, his words overlapping with Jack's.
"We're heading back to the 'gate."
And, just like that, everything was back to normal.
Author: settiai
Rating/Warning: PG
Spoilers: None.
Recipient: Nanda (nandamai)
Request details: Something goes wrong on an offworld mission,
and Sam saves the day with science. Feel free to fake the science, as long
as it sounds plausible. Bonus points for some action/adventure aspect,
but it's not necessary.
As the four of them made their way through the forest, Sam couldn't
help but smile.
For once, nothing about the mission seemed to bode ill toward SG-1.
The weather and plant life on P3X-563 were similar to several
semi-tropical regions on Earth, and the planet appeared to be
uninhabited. In fact, if it hadn't been for some obviously ancient
ruins several miles from the 'gate, they might have assumed that the
planet had never housed any type of advanced life.
The short hike to the ruins was uneventful, and for the first time in
months all four team members were apparently enjoying the mission.
The comfortable weather was enough to put Jack at ease, while Daniel's
mind was focused entirely on exploring the ancient buildings that were
visible in the near distance. Even Teal'c seemed to be content with
the peacefulness of their surroundings as they made their way out of
the woods and into a large clearing with several buildings.
"Daniel, don't touch anything!"
Sam flinched as the colonel's voice broke the peaceful silence, and
she quickly turned her gaze away from Teal'c and back toward the other
two members of the team. Daniel had somehow managed to make his way
halfway across the clearing before the three of them had even reached
the end of the trees, and he was kneeling in front of what looked like
a rather small stone obelisk sticking out of the ground.
Even though he hadn't risen from his knees, Daniel had turned his head
around so that he was looking in their direction. The expression on
his face was a combination of irritation and amusement, and it didn't
take a genius to realize that his gaze was focused on O'Neill. "Trust
me, Jack, it's not going to explode," he said dryly.
The colonel just shook his head as he made his way toward Daniel's
position, followed close by both Sam and Teal'c. "That's what you
said last time."
"I believe, O'Neill, that the 'last time' you speak of involved a
Goa'uld computer system," Teal'c pointed out matter-of-factly.
As they came to a stop behind Daniel, Jack raised an eyebrow. "So?"
Sam struggled to keep a straight face as Daniel rolled his eyes at the
colonel. "This is a rock, sir," she said after a moment or two.
"From my experience, rocks are much less likely to explode than
already unstable Goa'uld technology."
Jack stared at her for a moment before glancing up at the sky. "Would
it kill you to make them at least pretend that I'm in charge?" he
muttered.
Daniel just ignored Jack, instead shooting her a mock-hurt look.
"This is much more than a rock, Sam."
Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow, something akin to amusement on his face.
Sam resisted the urge to roll her eyes, choosing instead to give
Teal'c a helpless shrug as Daniel suddenly grinned and pushed himself
to his feet. "If I'm reading this correctly, then the building to the
far left was some type of library," he said eagerly, shooting Jack a
hopeful look. "I think that's the first place we should check out."
Jack stared at him for a moment before reluctantly nodding. Daniel's
grin grew even broader as he quickly set off in the direction of the
building. The colonel, in the meantime, glanced over at Sam and
Teal'c with a raised eyebrow. "Did he say if?"
Sam nodded, and she struggled to keep from smiling as Jack grumbled
under his breath and started after Daniel. "What do you mean by
if you're reading it correctly?"
Shaking her head, Sam adjusted the pack on her back and glanced over
at Teal'c. "Shall we?" she asked dryly, gesturing after O'Neill and
Daniel.
"Indeed," he replied, nodding slightly.
Sam paused in the doorway of the ruins for a second, not attempting to
hide the surprised look on her face. She wasn't entirely certain what
she had expected ... but it certainly wasn't what was there. If
nothing else, the ruins appeared massive on the outside, but the room
she was standing in the doorway of was even smaller than her quarters
back at the SGC.
"This is it?" she asked, a hint of disappointment in her voice as she
glanced around the dark and empty room. There were no windows, no
other doors ... it looked like nothing more than a storage closet.
Several feet to her right, Jack cleared his throat. "That's pretty
much exactly what I said, Carter."
"And, like I told you - no, this isn't it," Daniel replied, a
distracted tone in his voice as he walked around the room, carefully
examining the walls. "There's got to be a secret panel or something."
The colonel snorted, and Sam just shook her head as she stepped out of
the doorway to let Teal'c into the room. If Daniel was right, then
he'd find a way to open a hidden door and the team would be able to
explore wherever such an entrance would lead. Eventually. If not,
then they'd have at least a few hours' wait before O'Neill would
finally convince the archeologist that there wasn't anything there.
Either way, they were in for a wait.
Other than that, everything was going perfectly well until the door
slammed shut behind them.
And then it disappeared completely.
Daniel let out a startled cry, and both Sam and Jack jumped slightly
at the unexpected noise. Then, for several seconds, they didn't say a
word, instead just staring at each other mutely in the murky light
given off by Daniel's flashlight.
"Oh, that's not good," the colonel finally muttered.
Teal'c nodded in acquiescence, while Daniel stared blankly at where
the door had been. "What just happened?"
Sam stood there a minute before shaking her head. "It's impossible,"
she said. "The doorway was nothing more than a rectangle cut into the
stone. There's no possible way for it to ... do that." She gestured
weakly at the now apparently solid wall. "Not if it's just stone."
Jack frowned and pulled out his flashlight, shining it on the
apparently seamless wall. Then he took a few steps forward and
carefully tapped the space where the door had been with his knuckles.
Stopping almost immediately, he flinched as he pulled his hand away
from the wall; then he turned back towards the others. "Are you sure,
Carter? Because it feels like solid stone to me."
Daniel shook his head. "Sam's right," he said, stepping forward to
look more closely at the wall himself. "If it was some kind of
ancient booby-trap, there would have been cuts at the top of the door
where the stone wall would fall down. Trust me, I checked for those
before I took one step inside."
"Something you learned from past experience?" Jack asked wryly.
Daniel ignored him. "It's almost as if the door was never there to
begin with," he continued on. "If it was some kind of trap, we should
still be able to see cracks around where the door was.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sam noticed a sliver of light coming
from several feet away. Still keeping an ear on the conversation, she
took a few steps over and knelt down to investigate. She ran her
fingers over the sliver of light, gently feeling the stone that
surrounded it.
"Perhaps it is an illusion," Teal'c suggested.
"Was no one listening when I said that it felt like solid rock?" Jack
asked exasperatedly. "I'm pretty sure that means it's not some kind
of illusion."
Without warning, the stone under her hand pressed into the wall, and
the small sliver of light she had been studying suddenly widened to
reveal a rather sophisticated control panel. "I'm not so sure about
that, sir."
Despite the situation, Sam couldn't help but smile as the other three
gathered around her. She glanced and shrugged when she saw that the
colonel was staring down at her. "I've seen some technology similar
to this before," she said. "It looks as if Teal'c might be right
about it only being an illusion that there isn't a door there."
Jack frowned again. "Did you not hear the 'felt like solid rock'
part?" he asked.
Sam shook her head. "I think it's a force field, sir," she explained.
"It just has some type of holographic projection around it to make it
look as if it's solid."
The colonel started to ask something else, but Sam held up a finger
and glanced over at Daniel. "Daniel, does this look like Furling
technology to you?"
He knelt down beside her and studied the panel for a second. "You
know, you might be right about that," he said after a few seconds.
"It's a little different that anything else we've come across so far,
but it might just be from an earlier or later period in time."
Sam grinned at him. "That's all I needed to know."
Without hesitating, she reached into the panel and pulled out several
of the crystals inside. Jack coughed. "Are you sure you want to be
doing that?" he asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
"I know what I'm doing, sir," she replied, her eyes twinkling a bit.
She quickly switched around the crystals she had removed, inserting
them inside the panel in different places than they had originally
been.
Without warning, the doorway suddenly reappeared.
O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "Okay, Carter, I'll admit it ... I'm impressed."
Sam shrugged as she let him pull her to her feet. "It was similar to
some technology we found last year," she explained.
As the four of them stepped outside of the ruins, the colonel paused.
"You mean that thing we found on the planet with the six moons that
were always in the sky?"
When Sam nodded, Daniel's eye lit up in comprehension and he shot her
an impressed look. Jack, on the other hand, just stared at her. "You
managed to get us out of there based on some knowledge you'd gotten
from a toy?" he spluttered.
Teal'c bowed his head toward her just a little. "That is most
impressive, Major Carter."
A sheepish expression appeared on Sam's face as she avoided their
gaze. "Well, it was a very advanced toy," she pointed out.
Daniel snorted. "That's for sure. Bill had been working with that
thing for weeks before you figured out it was the Furling equivalent
of a Gameboy."
Sam shrugged once before quickly changing the subject. "Are we going
to explore some more of the buildings?" she asked. "Or should we head
back to the Stargate and let the science teams take over?"
"Well, of course we're going to explore some more of the buildings,"
Daniel shot back immediately, his words overlapping with Jack's.
"We're heading back to the 'gate."
And, just like that, everything was back to normal.