I was truly astounded by the breadth of knowledge that had been shoved into my brain. The first thing I had done when I woke up – other than marveling at the advanced medical suite around me and the fact that I was in zero-g – was ask for paper.
I just couldn't help myself, I had to start working. I began by sketching the blueprint for the basic constructor. The device was – relatively – simple. Of course, that was "simple" when compared to some Goa'uld tech that I had the schematics for. It was effectively just a collection of presses and spools all wound up in a single device.
I got lost in my work. It was two hours later and I still wasn't done with the base schematic. Luckily I wouldn't have to write any code, the whole device had been designed to be analog – so no computers included.
It was at this moment that Elder James arrived. He wore a sleek white knee-length coat over a set of purple pants. On his collar were two Cameron Stars.
"Arthur, how are you doing?"
I turned away from my paper.
"I feel great. The perk… gave me a lot of knowledge."
The Elder nodded.
"Arthur, I have news. You have a brain tumor and lung cancer."
I sputtered.
"What!?"
He nodded.
"Well, you had a brain tumor. Your 'perk' ate it when it was rewiring your brain. It's still a good thing you blacked out when you grabbed that perk. If you hadn't then it might have been too late by the time we found the cancer."
I sat in silence, totally stunned.
"Then I'm not the only one?"
The Elder shook his head. My stomach dropped.
"When we found the tumors on you we immediately began screening others. Everyone who has used the Reetou Karesh for more than a day has developed a brain tumor. Among those who used it for more than a month, 75% have some other form of cancer as well."
I winced. Those were not pleasant numbers.
The Elder smiled lightly.
"Don't be so worried about it. I've negotiated for the use of the Sarcophagus. Arktos was quite thankful for your assistance in defeating Ares."
I let out a sigh of relief.
"Understood. How are the negotiations going?"
Elder James pulled up one of the chairs. A look of exhaustion passed over his face for a brief moment.
"Well, that depends. Tell me about the effects of this perk."
I looked down at the blueprint before me. I was barely a third of the way through drawing it up. I would still have to do machine tests, and if I got my hands on more advanced Goa'uld tech then I might be able to improve the functionality of things like the automated smelter which I was planning to work on next.
"It's a lot more than I was expecting. The information for a lot of machinery was shoved into my brain."
I gestured down at the schematic.
"This is an automated multi-roll constructor. It takes a single material, copper, steel, or iron – for example – and reshapes it into just about anything you might need."
Elder James smiled in satisfaction.
"If that is the case, then the negotiations are going quite well."
I frowned and waited for him to explain. Instead he just smirked at me and moved onto another topic.
"Ares is no longer a threat. You'll be going over every piece of Goa'uld technology that we have access to."
I squinted at him but eventually decided to move on as well since he didn't wish to discuss it.
"Anything in particular that I should start with?"
"The Ha'tak; I was speaking with Arktos about how heavily the Goa'uld monitor their capital ships. He seemed certain that there would be a tracking device on board somewhere."
I furrowed my brow.
"We have Ares. Who would be tracking those ships?"
A grave look came over the Elder's face.
"Ra."
That could definitely be a problem. I nodded.
"Alright. I'll get to it."
Elder Dorian entered the room.
"You're good to go. There's no reason to keep you here any longer."
Elder James turned to face the Elder.
"Thank you, Dorian."
Dorian winced.
"I'm just glad you don't have to use it anymore. If you had to keep using the device I can't guarantee how much worse it would be."
"Is it really that bad," I asked.
Elder Dorian nodded.
"I really hope that sarcophagus is as impressive as I've been told, otherwise most of those who used the cloaks will be dead within a year."
I winced. Elder James shrugged.
"I spoke with Arktos about the sarcophagus. If it doesn't work, we'll figure out what to do from there."
He turned to me.
"Come. I have some things to show you."
I said goodbye to Elder Dorian and found my way out of the medical bay. I followed Elder James to the Elevator where he took us down several floors. The door opened to cables haphazardly bolted to the floor.
"Deck 21; this floor contains all of the KF-Drive controls."
I followed in silence. We very quickly arrived in front of a door. The inside of the room was a mess. Panels had been pulled off of nearly every console and wires laid across the floor in no discernable pattern.
I placed my hand down on the console. Immediately, a flood of information rushed into my head.
First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: KF Drive (KF King LXIV)
Experimental Field Initiator
The KF Drive consisted of four sections. The Field Initiator which generated the field for the jump, the Drive Core which expanded the size of the Hyperspace Field to encompass an entire ship. Third is a massive tank of liquid helium which is used to keep the Drive Core at a safe temperature. Fourth is the drive controller.
I sighed.
"Who was it who did all of this?"
"It was the ship's chief engineer."
I frowned.
"What happened?"
Elder James smiled a melancholic smile. It was the smile of someone thinking about friends who'd long passed on.
"We suffered a misjump that fried a lot of the ship's systems. It took her almost six months of work to get the ship back into a state where it could jump again. The next jump, something went wrong. I don't know what, but everything in the rear end of the ship got blasted with ionizing radiation. Those on this deck were dead almost instantly."
I looked around. If the bodies were in decent condition, it might be possible to revive them with the sarcophagus.
"What did you do with the bodies?"
"Frozen. We didn't know what to do with them at the time, but we didn't want them to rot. We still haven't gotten around to giving them proper burials."
I could hear the hurt in his voice; I wanted to ask, but I knew it would be better not to continue with the subject. I looked around the room once more. The walls were covered in dozens of panels and screens.
"I can look through all of this, but it'll take me days. It's better if we go over it all with Elder Callum."
He frowned.
"Did the forge not activate?"
"It did. I got the schematic for the Field Initiator. That just isn't all that helpful when trying to figure out what's going on with this mess."
He was silent for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.
"I guess she won't be going anywhere any time soon then."
I nodded in return.
"What next?"
Elder James gestured for me to follow.
"Stasis pods."
"Stasis pods?" I asked in confusion.
The Elder closed the door to the Drive Control Room.
"The Stasis Pods we have on board were designed for use by humans. I need to know whether we can use them for holding Goa'uld Prisoners. You happen to be our expert on Goa'uld physiology. In a moment you'll be our leading expert on the Stasis Pods as well."
Once more, we took the elevator. Down three decks this time. Once off the elevator, I followed the Elder through a door marked "Hold K". From there we approached a door marked "Hold J" where the elder stopped for just the briefest of moments.
His apparent hesitation passed quickly enough and I entered the massive storage room. Massive crates – reminiscent of 21st century shipping containers – dominated the room. I followed the elder to a collection of containers where he opened one of them. Inside, row upon row of human-sized tubes sat tied to the wall.
I walked to the nearest one and placed my hand on the glass cover.
First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Stasis Tube (Star League)
Cryogenic Chamber
The tube was cold. I slowly removed my hand to see the face of a woman. She must have been a member of the crew. I turned to the Elder.
"Are you sure that they're dead?"
He gave a sad smile and nodded. I didn't say anything further and moved onto the next pod.
First Perk Activated. Complete Blueprint Acquired: Stasis Tube (Star League)
Life-Support, Control System, Emergency Power
I removed my hand and thought for a minute.
"It should be fine. You'll just have to make sure that the Goa'uld is properly sedated while it's freezing. If it awakens before the freezing process is complete then there is a good chance it'll die."
I turned my attention to the pod again. Inside, was the fourth pristine body. If I didn't know otherwise then I would expect the corpse's eyes to open at any moment.
My thoughts turned to the Sarcophagus. I knew the device had a limited ability to bring people back from the dead. Some fanfiction even had preserved corpses brought back from the dead years after their hearts had stopped.
I really didn't want to get Elder James hopes up, but it was better to try it than let their bodies rest here.
Taking a deep breath I turned away from the capsules.
"Elder, It's possible that the Sarcophagus could revive these people."
The Elder immediately froze, though he quickly regained his wits.
"I thought you said it was a healing device."
I nodded.
"It is, but it is also capable of reviving the recently deceased. If a body is sufficiently intact, then it might just work."
Elder James stood there stunned for a few more moments.
"It seems I might owe Arktos several more favors."
I looked at the agitated Elder.
"Sir, you shouldn't get your hopes up. It is a vague possibility at best. I really cannot confirm anything."
He almost seemed to deflate before getting ahold of himself.
"Yes. Thank you for reminding me."
I nodded and followed the Elder out of the Hold.
"What next?"
He chuckled. His formerly unpleasant mood had seemingly faded quite a bit.
"I was planning to show you around the ship to see what you could use, but I'm a bit too excited to do that at the moment. We're heading back to Dendred. Hopefully Arktos arrives early as well."
As we rode the elevator back up, I realized something.
"How long was I unconscious?"
Elder James smirked.
"You were out for three days."
I winced.
"Well, if we're still in negotiations then things can't be going too badly."
I boarded the Leopard with the Elder. As the docking collar detached, and we pushed away from the Manassas the Elder turned us around to get a good look at the ship. A couple of minutes later, the sun appeared from the other side of the world and I got my first proper look at the Manassas. She was a beauty.
On the dorsal docking collars I saw one confederate class dropship and another Leopard class dropship, but there was something else that really caught my attention. On the ventral side of the ship just aft of the radiator was what appeared to be a fifth aerodyne dropship. One that I didn't recognize.
I turned towards Elder James.
"The dropship on the back, what is that?"
The Elder smiled.
"Funny you should mention that. That's actually your father's ship. And it certainly isn't a dropship. That's a Bug-Eye Class. The SLS Cobalt Eye."
"I'm not familiar with the Bug-Eye Class."
The Elder almost seemed to shrug.
"I guess that shouldn't be all that surprising. They're recon ships. Our mission before we got separated from the exodus fleet was to provide support for the Cobalt Eye and its crew."
"What were you doing that would require that support?"
"We were scouting for pursuers. The Cobalt would jump into a system's oort cloud and search for signs of pursuers. We would be there if any were ever found."
I frowned.
"Elder, how often is it that two Warships misjump to the exact same location."
He chuckled bitterly.
"They don't. That doesn't mean we know what caused the problem. We maintained protocol through the jump. Hell, the Manassas was jumping with a jury-rigged drive; we made damn sure that every possible measure had even more wiggle room than normal, not that it ended up doing any good."
I let out a sigh. Slowly the Manassas turned into a speck in the distance before that too slowly faded from view. I sat in silence as we went through reentry. I'd have to start looking through the manual for operating the KF Drive if I wanted any chance of understanding how to fix the ship.
I also had to worry about getting all of the schematics now in my head onto paper. The Constructor was the simplest of them. Just the smelter alone was an order of magnitude more sophisticated – who knew that processing raw ore into a standardized format was so hard. God, that wasn't even considering the higher end assemblers.
I also needed to begin scouring the Ha'taks for a tracking method. There was so much to do. Luckily we weren't on a time crunch anymore.