I crept along a few metres behind him. We’re moving through the dense forest of this planet and had been for hours, yet we’d hardly covered any distance from the Stargate. I was watching the Colonel’s back, waiting for the moment his arm moved to motion me to cover the six or so metres between us.
There.
I moved forward quietly - so quietly – until I reached his side. He crouched down in the scrub and whispered to me "I had no idea it was this far away. What have these people got that we are risking our butts to get? Why didn’t they just bring it to us?"
"Sir – I explained earlier…"
"Refresh my memory Major, while we wait for the others."
"The Tok’ra said the inhabitants of this planet possess a new Goa’uld device, capable of instantaneously freezing the cells of the human body with no entry or exit points visible on the skin. It fires numerous desensitising particles of laser light which penetrate the skin without damaging it, freezing the cells and killing the person immediately once enough cells have been crippled."
"I see." I couldn’t help rolling my eyes a little before he continued "Why are we creeping up on them?"
"Because, Colonel, they have gotten so much delight from this device that they activate it left and right to show their power. If we just stroll up and ask them for the technology they’ll use it on us. If we can prove to them that we are worthy of the device by passing through their safety precautions, booby traps and security measures, they may just give it to us. That’s how they work according to the Tok’ra."
"Well let’s just hope the Tok’ra are right. This is hellishly dangerous."
"It’ll be worth it."
"Nothing could be worth this."
"Sir I believe that if this technology could be harnessed, minimised and used on cancer patients early in their diagnosis, it could simply seal the disease into the affected cells and they would recover perfectly – providing not too many cells had been invaded."
"A cure for cancer?"
"Yes Colonel."
"Well then alright." He watched Daniel and Teal’c approaching before he crept forwards again, another six or so metres. He waved me forward again.
I heard the ground click as I put my left foot down and swivelled on it to see what I had trodden on. The ground was suddenly moving, taking me into the air with it. I felt my body go completely numb but not before the searing heat ripped through me. Twisting, turning, upside down, twisting, turning, then horizontal. Is this what its like to fly?
CRACK.
In that position I found the ground again. The moment of impact sent me blundering into unconsciousness. As I tried to draw myself out of it the real extent of the pain hit with an unrelenting force I could sense myself mumbling about the depth and severity of it. Finally I got my eyes open and I saw the Colonel’s eyes - deep brown and worried - searching my face. In an instant I knew. I gave him a little smile and whispered "Who would have thought, eh Sir? That I’d be the first one to go."
I could feel the intense pain building up inside me and knew I was going to cry, and shut my eyes in an effort to prevent it.
"Carter! Carter! Hold on, you’re going to make it!" The Colonel cried "Don’t give in, fight it!"
For him I found the strength to pull my eyelids apart again. When I did his eyes showed immense relief. "Sir there was one thing. Something I always wanted you to know," I spoke sporadically through the pain.
"Major don’t talk this way… you’re going to be fine" he said in an unusual quivery tone of voice I’d never heard him use before. I watched his brown eyes go wet with sorrow, and felt the fight die within me. The pain and the darkness began to close in.
"Well, then, just in case… in different circumstances I think I would have acted on my feelings. But then in different circumstances, I may never have fallen in love with you, Jack."
I let my eyes flutter closed, savouring the final thought that maybe, just maybe, he had felt the same.
The End.
Copyright © 1999 Kate Davis
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]