Beyond the Iris: A Stargate Story

Chapter 10

Eleanor

Summer melted into autumn and that rolled into winter. I appreciated the change of seasons, I never experienced that in the desert as much. Seeing the kids run up to my door to go trick-or-treating in costumes, the leaves of trees all shedding in the most elaborate colors on my drive into the office every day, but most importantly the s'mores lattes I bought weekly and shared in office gossip chats with Daniel across the hall. I was now a well respected member of the science department's raiding party, even to the extent of an invitation to join them on their yearly pilgrimage to San Diego's comic con that I courteously refused. I did however offer my hand in extensive costume design that had put one of them in fourth place for a contest on a character I had hot glued pads to with no idea of what or who they were.

I had requested leave and went to visit my sister and mother for the autumn break. I still had lingering resentment from feelings dredged up after Dr. Yoke's funeral about my place in their eyes, but I know my mother was finally at peace that I had a stable job as a "military historian." Something that offered benefits and an income was all she really needed to know.
Daniel had pulled a view strings and was able to get me into the Akhenaten exhibit before they started packing it up and moving it to its next home in San Antonio. He was indeed the most informative tour guide and enthusiastically answered every question I had. The only one left lingering between us was where we stood. He held my hand as he guided me from relic to relic, I had caught him eyeing me in the mirrored reflections behind glass, but at the end we parted again on very awkwardly casual terms. I had gone out two more times with the women in the office, and each session I left with a rejuvenated respect for them and the endurances they faced while still managing to find the light in it all.

After the multiple Jaffa ambush attacks that happened in October during gate jumps I asked Teal'c to start training me in combat. I already had started a running routine in the mornings, but I definitely could not keep my end of a fight if I ever came in contact with a Jaffa in the halls of the SGC. Lonnie was the only one who seemed distant. I had met him a couple times for a sub sandwich right outside the base, but he had grown distant as a friend and I assumed it was due to his work load.

The trove I had brought back from Dr. Yoke included a few artifacts that seemed pointless for him to hold onto. Most of them except for a thin silver wrist bangle that had Ancient's symbols engraved along the edge. There were thin delicate chains made of wired cording leading to the pointer and middle fingers looping around and reattaching to the bangle. There was a different pea sized crystal on each end that linked to a matching crystal at the base. I recognized it immediately, Dr. Yoke wore it on his left hand once we had found it, refusing to take it off. It made me uneasy to look at it. I turned everything over to the science department, debriefed General Hammond on the situation, and after scanning pages of the journal into the database I handed it over to Daniel. Everything but the letter. I honestly explained to him that I couldn't notate it with an unbiased view, plus I had already skimmed over most of it on the flight back. The cuff was the only piece that really mattered.

Dr. Yoke had written that the bracelet had some sort of healing properties, that he was doing experiments with it and I had flashbacks of moments I questioned even then. People having gashes that needed stitches were completely healed by morning, maiming and bruising all gone. Multiple instances of falling down caverns where bones should have been shattered, ended up being completely fine. I swore I remember even seeing him knock people down a handful of times on purpose but assumed it was the heat getting to me. I now realize it was for his personal tests on us, on himself. Mornings I woke to him over my bed, blinked again and he was gone. He had become obsessive when he heard someone was hurt. If someone had fallen, he had to be there. It was addictive to him, and he wrote about the rush he felt after every use, the harder the ailment, the better the high was after using the device. Time and time again he used us to get this fix, putting us, his students and peers, in danger to elicit a response for himself. I wrote my opinions and personal memories of the device in a formal letter and submitted it to General Hammond who, after much deliberation, agreed that the practice wasn't worth the side effects. It was similar to that of a Goa'uld sarcophagus, or the healing item the Tok'ra used but, I didn't understand how Dr. Yoke was able to control it. Thanks to Hammond I had an excuse to place the device in storage, permanently, and felt a weight lifted off of me. I felt as if my theories had finally been answered.