In the darkened corridors of Stargate Command there was a feeling of expectation in the air, as if something extraordinary was about to happen.

All was silent, except for a softly uttered "Oh shit" that broke the silence of Dr. Jackson's' office.

A desk lamp was focused on the fragments of an artefact that had survived untold centuries, then crossed countless light years unharmed, just to encounter a butter-fingered archaeologist on Earth.

Daniel Jackson gently picked up the parts of the artefact that he'd just dropped. The pieces had formed a ceramic globe of about six inches in diameter and as he held two of the portions side by side he could see that the segments of the globe would fit back together.

As Daniel tilted the bits to get a better grip, tiny gold writing shimmered into view.

"That's interesting!" he muttered as he held one of the pieces up to the light from the lamp to examine the writing closer.

"Hmm, appears to be a form of Sanskrit" he mumbled to himself.

Daniel looked up from the fragment and studied the books that surrounded him. "I wonder where that Sanskrit dictionary went?" he murmured absently.

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Daniel leaned back in his chair and shook his head in disbelief as what he had read finally sunk in to his mind.

He turned to stare at the mug of coffee that sat on the edge of his desk; it was cold and had a thick skin floating on top.

Jackson leaned forward and rested his head on his crossed arms and started concentrating on the formula that the ancient object had revealed.

Sweat broke out on his forehead, as he saw steam start to rise from the mug.

"Oh boy!! Now what do I do?" Daniel groaned as the mug of coffee steamed gently in the cool evening air of Stargate Command.

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The Mess Hall was quiet with just a few occupants to disturb the peace. Doctor Daniel Jackson sat slumped at one of the tables with a cup of tea growing cold before him, his head resting heavily on his hands as they lay on the surface before him while he considered what to do about his current problem.

Sgt. Siler walked into the room in search of a strong coffee that might help defeat the feeling of depression that was surging through him, as he contemplated the long and never ending job ahead of him and his team.

The engineer drifted aimlessly to the table that was next to Daniel's, eased out the chair in front of him and slid into the gap between that and the table. Siler put his elbow on the surface in front of him and gently rested his chin on the palm of his hand, then sighed with great feeling.

Daniel turned his head from where it was cushioned on his hands and looked at Siler.

"What's wrong?" he asked with vague curiosity.

Siler glanced at the good Doctor and replied. "Overworked, underpaid and we all need some R & R."

Daniel squinted at Siler and said, "Me too... just when I think I'm getting on top of the workload, Jack O'Neill waltzes through the door and informs me that we leave the following morning on another mission."

The Sergeant picked up his coffee and sipped the hot liquid carefully then looked at Daniel again.

"Everyone on the Base is in need of a rest, but while we have the Gate in full operation no-one's getting any. Do you know just how many Irises we've replaced in the past month?"

Daniel was investigating his cold tea as he shook his head from side to side and replied listlessly, "Nope…"

Siler looked over at him with outrage on his face and just a touch of insanity gleaming in his eyes.

"Six!! That's one roughly every five days!"

Daniel looked thoughtful as he contemplated the problem. "So what we need is to close the Gate for a while... Leave it to me and I'll try to think of something. "

And with that evasive comment, Daniel got up and left the Mess Hall leaving a mystified Sergeant behind him.

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Daniel stood leaning against the glass in the Control room and gazed down at the Gateroom and the team of engineers and technicians scurrying about the Stargate.

He had this urge to caper around the Control Room, making grand gestures and chanting "Abracadabra" in front of the General. Except he knew that he'd be wearing a new white jacket with wrap around arms before he finished.

Been there, done that and wanted no part of the sequel.

All he could think of was Commander Scott of the Enterprise saying "May all your tribbles be little one's." Just because the Gate before him was a large problem, there was no reason he couldn't make it smaller --- was there?

After all a small Gate meant nobody going through in either direction and they could still contact any off-world teams to direct them elsewhere.

With a grin Daniel pressed his forehead against the toughened glass and started concentrating on converting the formula into actions within his mind.

Down in the Gate Room the activity started to resemble a stirred up ant's nest as the Stargate glowed and started to shrink. The blare of the Red Alert almost shook Daniel out of his light trance as the Control Room became a hive of activity. And something within his brain seemed to giggle almost hysterically.

The Gate continued to shrink and the super-conductors crashed to the floor as the naquada was compressed to the point where they lost their grip on the Gate. Finally, all movement ceased and the Gate Crew gathered around a Stargate that was barely a foot wide in diameter.

Jack O'Neill pushed his way through the crowd, looked over the edge of the ramp and down at the Gate lying on the floor. "Peachy, just peachy!" O'Neill drawled. He turned and looked up at the Control Room to see General Hammond looking down at him. "It's shrunk, General!" he called up to him.

Colonel O'Neill looked down again, studied it and then announced to those around him "Anyone for a game of Frisbee?"

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Daniel kept a firm grip on his emotions until he could get out of the Control Room; otherwise he'd lose it totally over the expression on Jack's face.

This was going to drive them mad and he wanted to be sitting on the sidelines watching the fun, 'cause as it had said in one of Arthur C. Clarke's books 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic'.

But, in the meantime he could study his 'rocks' in peace - at least until someone thought of some other means of disturbing him.

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A shimmer in the air behind Daniel went unnoticed, as he returned to his office. Two lazy blue eyes opened to observe Daniel walk away and thought about the fun ahead as the infant mage found his way into Power.

The End.

Maybe…?