Upgrades

US Airdate : 14 July 2000

UK Airdate : 20 September 2000

Summary

Jack, Sam and Daniel become superhuman due to some ancient devices found by a Tok'Ra scientist.

Synopsis by Pepper

The gate dials up. SGC has received a transmission from the Tok'Ra. They haven't said who was coming or why.

"Now see," Jack says, "That's rude. I hate that." As the iris opens he adds, "In fact, the Tok'Ra are starting to annoy me in general. Don't get me wrong, Carter. Your dad's great - I love him like a brother. Its just that every time they show up, it seems like its all kinds of - " he stops as a very attractive woman steps through the gate.

"Yep," Daniel says. "That looks like trouble to me."

The woman advances towards them, her companion carrying a box. "This is Marnok," she says, in response to General Hammond's introductions. "You may call me Anise."

"Anise?" Daniel says, curious about her name.

"It means noble strength," she explains.

"I'm Daniel. It mean God is my judge."

Not wanting to be left out, Jack says, "I'm Jack, it means..." he stops as he realises he's got no idea what it means, "...so what's in the box?"

The box contains three armbands Anise found among some ancient ruins. The armbands are supposed to give the wearer incredible speed and strength but they refuse to work on the Tok'Ra, because they carry symbiotes, so Anise wants Jack, Sam and Daniel to try them out. Jack agrees to be the first guineapig.

Anise fits a biosensor to Jack's chest. She explains that it will monitor every aspect of Jack's condition and transmit the data to a recording device. Then she fits the armband. Jack waits a few seconds, expectantly. "I don't feel like leaping any tall buildings," he says, but Anise believes that it will take a little time for the device to affect him. She suggests that he carries on as normal. Taking her advice, he goes off and practises boxing with Teal'c. He feels a little stiff, but Teal'c finds it difficult to break through Jack's guard. Finally Teal'c throws a few punches directly at Jack's face, Jack avoids them extremely easily. Then Jack punches Teal'c and knocks him out.

In the infirmary, Jack tries to apologise. "Teal'c, I'm really sorry."

Teal'c glances at him. "You are not," he states.

Jack looks a little shamefaced. "He's right about that."

Anise gives Jack a silver ball and asks him to squeeze it, explaining that it will measure his strength. Jack squeezes the ball casually. "Your strength is five times that of a normal human," Anise says, hiding her surprise.

"So, no increase there then?" Jack quips. Everything else is normal, although Janet points out that Jack seems to have developed a sweet tooth. Jack stops munching on snacks for a second.

"Your metabolism is increasing to match the energy your body now requires," Anise explains. Jack continues to munch.

Janet touches the recording pad Anise is holding. "You were going to show me how to read this thing," she reminds her.

"I will. First it is time to increase the number of subjects in the experiment."

Jack goes to see Daniel. "Notice anything yet?" he asks, meaning Daniel's armband.

"You're eating a lot," Daniel replies.

"Give it time," Jack says, picking up a book and flicking through it rapidly.

Daniel looks at him. "You just read that?"

"I guess," Jack shrugs. "Don't suppose there's another book around that explains this book."

"What ...what reason did Hobbs give for the fall of the civilisation?" Daniel asks casually.

"Failing agricultural infrastructure," Jack replies.

"Jack, it's unbelievable."

"Hey, it's just theory," Jack responds.

Daniel starts to flick through a book, and becomes frustrated when he can't do it as quickly as Jack did.

Jack looks at him. "Want me to read to you?"

Janet discovers Sam running tests on the armband in the dark. Sam hadn't noticed how dark it was, so Janet takes the opportunity to run a few tests and discovers that Sam has a temperature. Sam dismisses it, saying that Anise isn't concerned. But she realises that Janet doesn't trust Anise.

Anise goes to see Daniel. He's excited about the fact that he can now read really fast, but he hasn't managed to translate the symbols on the armband. She gives Daniel her notebook on the armbands and the race that created them, the Atenekes. Daniel reads it (in 5 seconds flat) and notices that she wasn't concerned with why the race became extinct, all her notes relate to finding the armbands and how they work.

Meanwhile, Janet discovers that the armbands infect the wearer with a virus and that's how they work. She's concerned, but Anise says there's no danger.

"Major Carter's bloodworks showed a dangerous amount of adrenaline in her system," Janet points out.

Anise is put out and shows it. "I object to the interference in my experiments!"

"I object to being kept in the dark about the condition of people whose health I am responsible for," Janet retorts, her voice rising with her temper. She convinces the General that they should remove the armbands until they know the full effects, Anise is annoyed but Hammond insists. But the armbands won't come off.

Then Jack goes to see General Hammond, who refuses to let SG-1 go on any missions.

"We shouldn't be sitting around wasting this stuff," Jack points out. "We ought to be out kicking some Gou'ald butt. I mean, look at this." To prove his point, Jack kicks the wall. A corner of it flies off. General Hammond looks at his damaged wall, open-mouthed. "Sorry about that, General."

"Colonel, I'm concerned that you aren't in full control of your new abilities," Hammond explains.

"Well, you might be right about that," Jack admits. "Its just so damn exciting, sir!"

"I'm sure it is."

"And even if we're not in total control, shouldn't we be out there doing the damage instead of in your office?" Jack asks.

"I'm concerned for your well-being, Colonel," Hammond explains.

"And I appreciate it. And you're the boss, whatever you say goes," Jack reassures him. "I just want you to know that we're here for you. Ready to go. Just say the word."

"Thank you."

Jack looks at him. "Seriously. Say it. Say the word."

"Dismissed," the General replies.

"We can be ready in 3 seconds..."

"Colonel."

"...2..."

"Colonel!"

"Heck, we're ready."

"Jack, please, just get the hell out of my office," Hammond asks.

Jack leaves. He passes Siler and gives him a friendly slap on the shoulder, knocking him off the walkway on to the stairs below. Jack looks down at Siler. "Oh, crap," he says.

"This is ridiculous," Jack protests to Sam and Daniel. "It was an accident."

"Siler has a broken arm and a concussion," Daniel points out.

"He'll pull through," Jack replies. "I sent flowers!"

Daniel looks at them. "You have to admit it's a little scary," he says. "I mean, I feel like I could...do anything."

"Well all I know is," Sam replies, "I'm going to starve to death."

They decide to head to O'Malley's in town. Jack orders first.

"Three of the biggest steaks you've got...with everything. Rare. Baked potato." As the waitress turns to leave he says, "Excuse me. That was for me."

She smiles at his joke, but stops smiling when Daniel orders.

"Yeah. I'm gonna have three as well."

"Four?" Jack suggests.

"Four! Four is good. Yeah."

"Me too," adds Sam. "And French fries with mine. Oh, and a diet soda." The other two look at her. "I like the taste better," she explains.

Sam uses her new abilities to beat a guy at pool and win some money from him. The guy decides to cut his losses, but Daniel's comment of "smart move" annoys the guy and he calls Daniel a geek. Not a good idea.

Hammond looks at Janet. "I thought the devices were supposed to enhance them physically, not make them stupid?"

Janet explains that the effect is almost like intoxication. But there's problems, blood tests show that their major organs are going to fail. "The human body wasn't meant to be put through this," she says.

The three of them try to explain to Hammond that they only wanted some food (they were starving) and it was only a scuffle, but Hammond isn't happy. Then Anise comes in and announces that Apophis is building a new super-duper battleship that will wipe his enemies off the face of the universe.

"However," she adds, "based on our intelligence a special covert team could - "

Hammond interrupts her. "You've known all along," he says accusingly.

"Excuse me?" Anise is surprised to say the least.

"This was the point, wasn't it?" the General demands.

At this point Anise shuts up and lets her host, Freya do the talking. With a bit of luck she can get them out of Hammond's bad books. "General, I assure you - "

Hammond interrupts her; he doesn't care which one he's talking to. "I assure you, I've been at this a long time and I know damn well when I'm being manipulated."

Freya tries again. "I realise how this must look. However, in the interests of the Tok'Ra/Earth alliance…"

"Don't give me that load of bunk," the General says furiously. "Right now, I don't think the Tok'Ra have my people's best interest in mind."

"General, if you believe anything, believe this," Freya says, as sincerely as she can. "If Apophis is allowed to complete this battleship it will assure his dominance over the Gou'ald, your planet and the rest of this galaxy." Anise takes over, "I am sure the High Council will be disappointed. I have downloaded everything we know about the battleship's construction into your base computer. Hopefully, you will review it and change your mind."

Once they're alone Sam accesses the information and they come up with a plan. They wouldn't be able to get to the core of the ship, but they can blow up the cooling system. Ten minutes after that the core, and the mountain the ship is sitting on, will explode. The forceshields won't be a problem as they can travel so quickly they can see the vibration in the shield and run straight through. Simple.

They take over the control room, lock all the doors, dial up the gate and go. Teal'c is the only one who manages to get to the gateroom, but Jack tells him to stay behind.

The three of them exit the wormhole at the same speed they entered it, and the Jaffa waiting on the other side have no idea what hits them.

Once Jack, Sam and Daniel get into the new ship, they see two Jaffa carrying some weapons grade Naquadah. Daniel fetches it and puts it into his backpack.

"Get the Naquadah?" Sam asks, as they catch up with him.

"Yeah," says Daniel, rather breathlessly. "It's in the pack."

"Good," says Jack. "Let's go."

"This is getting kinda heavy," Daniel tries to tell them, but Jack and Sam race off. They turn back when they hear a thud. Daniel's lying on the ground.

"Daniel?" Jack asks, as they run back.

Sam kneels down by Daniel. "What's going on?" she asks.

"I can't move," he complains. Then his armband comes off and he passes out.

Janet and Anise go to see General Hammond. Janet's realised that the armbands will stop working as soon as the wearer develops antibodies to the virus. That was why the Atenekes became extinct, they couldn't use the armbands to defend themselves once they had the antibodies.

Two Jaffa see Jack and Sam and approach, their staff weapons raised.

Jack and Sam stand up slowly. "Alright," Jack says, placatingly, "You got us. Don't Kree."

Before the first Jaffa can fire, he is hit by a blast from a Zat gun. The second Jaffa fires, Jack and Sam twist out of the way and the blast passes between them. Before he can fire again, he too is hit by a Zat blast. Teal'c steps over his body.

"It seems my assistance is required after all."

"Alright, talk later, we gotta move," Jack says. "Teal'c, get Daniel outta here, back through the gate. Carter, you're with me."

As Teal'c and a now conscious Daniel head off down the corridor, the sound of several Jaffa hitting the ground can be heard.

Several forceshields flicker as Jack and Sam run through them. As they head for the exit, Jack passes through a forceshield, but Sam is knocked back. She collapses and the armband comes off. Jack tries to get back to her, but fails. His armband comes off too and he passes out.

Teal'c realises that something's happened to the other two. He tells Daniel to go on ahead, but a forceshield stops him from going back. He refuses to leave.

"Well, I'm not suggesting we should," Daniel says, but he adds, "There is no way in there to help them."

"No," Teal'c agrees.

"Ten minutes after the C4 goes, this whole mountain is gonna explode," he explains.

"I am aware of that," Teal'c says calmly.

"So the fact that we're staying is based on a completely informed decision."

"It is."

"Yep," says Daniel. "Just making sure."

Sam and Jack wake up. Sam tries to convince Jack to leave without her, but he won't. He tries hitting the forceshield, which gets him nowhere, then he manages to force open a control box, but he can't seem to get anywhere.

Then the C4 explodes and the forceshields drop. Sam and Jack run for their lives. They meet up with Teal'c and Daniel and all four of them head down the mountain. Without the armbands, the three of them are flagging, so Teal'c runs ahead and dials home. He sends through the code, and then heads back to hurry them on. The mountain explodes, and the shockwave heads outwards, towards them and the gate. The three stumble on as fast as they can, Teal'c last, pushing them forward. They get through the gate with seconds to spare.

As all four of them hit the ramp, Hammond runs up.

"Just remember," Jack points out, lying flat on his back on the ramp, "I retired, you wanted me back."

Relieved, the General orders them to report to the infirmary.

"General, sir," Jack stops him. "About the obviously impending court-martials, I'd like - "

"You were all under the influence of an alien technology," Hammond points out. "That's a pretty solid defence."

"Even so," Jack insists. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," Sam adds.

Daniel joins in, "Me...three."

Jack looks at Teal'c, waiting for him to apologise. Teal'c raises his head, proudly. "I have no need to apologise," he states and heads down the ramp.

"Teal'c was actually following orders," Hammond tells them.

"Of course he was," Jack murmurs.

As they walk down the ramp, Anise addresses Sam. "You left the armbands behind?"

Sam is a little short with her (and who can blame her?); "We had other things on our minds."

"Understandable." As Jack passes her, she stops him, "Colonel?"

He turns. Freya looks at him. "Anise and I both hope we can work together again in the future."

"Both of you?" Jack says. "Can't wait for that."

Review

Great episode, really good. Especially when the ship and mountain explode and you can see the shockwave heading towards them. Jack gets to be funny (is there ever an episode when he isn't), but there's a lot of humour. Anise doesn't seem to be as much of a good guy as the other Tok'Ra. Everytime she was trying to persuade someone that she was sincere Anise shut up, and her host, Freya, did the talking. I really thought she'd turn out to be a villain.