There was the usual controlled chaos in the main lab. There was a group of four scientists gathered around a white board, debating the equations on the board. Radek Zelenka was demonstrating something to a small group of newbies.
"Ah! Colonel Sheppard," Radek grinned. "Perfect timing. Can you give us a hand?"
John was immediately wary. "Depends. What do you need?" he asked.
"I would like to demonstrate how your gene is stronger," Radek replied. "Just a simple demonstration."
"Okay, that I can do," John agreed. "What are you using to test that?"
Radek held out what John knew was a children's toy. John took the device and thought on at it.
The device lit up like a Christmas tree, with whirling lights of various colors. It was bright enough that John had to squint his eyes to look at it.
"Now you see how bright the device has become in Colonel Sheppard's hands," Radek pointed out. "The Colonel's pure ATA gene and the strength of the gene is very rare. There are some with the artificial gene that are almost as strong, but the 'real' gene is always superior."
"Will we have access to the information there is about the gene?" a female voice asked.
"No," Rodney said flatly, coming up from behind John. "That information has been restricted and if you want to see it, you have to justify it. And I'm hard to convince."
"May I ask why?" the same woman asked.
"There are real people involved," Rodney said. "People who have a job, who are not an experiment. You need to make sure to remember that."
"I will," she said.
"Anything else?" John asked, thinking off at the toy.
"No, thank you, Colonel," Radek took the toy from him.
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