"Do not make any sudden movements," growled Teal'c in his most threatening tone of voice. He primed his staff weapon and aimed it at the strange alien substance clinging to the wall outside of the Gate room. He had been the last to return through the Stargate and had seen Captain Carter raced off towards the infirmary just moments before. He did not think the others had had any time to see the insignificantly small alien substance.

He watched it carefully for a long moment detecting no odours from it nor any movement. There was a faint glistening to one side of it, a hint of moisture perhaps or bodily fluids. It was small and lumpish having no visible limbs of any kind. Still Teal'c was wary. He knew that many things smaller than the eye could see had managed to defeat the strongest of Jaffa. Many more creatures existed that hid their true natures pretending to be insignificant and benign when in fact they were neither.

He risked a glance around the hallway but there were no other staff members in sight. Not surprising, considering what had just transpired in the Gate room. A second fast glance gave him the location of the base alarm controls not three meters from his position.

Teal'c regarded the substance with rising alarm. It did not conform to anything he had ever seen before and then it moved, very slightly, but Teal'c had seen it. He took careful aim with his staff weapon, but the hallway was too cramped to risk firing without risking serious damage to himself from the backlash of the weapons plasma energy.

The containment teams were located only three corridors away but Teal'c knew that every second was precious when an alien substance remained free. Once he had watched an information chip appropriated form a rival Goa'uld's vessel littered with corpses. An alien contaminant had swept through the vessel leaving over three hundred Jaffa dead within minutes.

The substance moved again dropping swiftly to the floor. Teal'c did not hesitate he stamped at it with his boot and launched himself toward the alarm. The substance attempted to pull him back somehow but Teal'c used all of his strength and wrenched free to press the base alarm button.

####

Many hours later, Colonel O'Neill was less than impressed. "A foothold situation, Teal'c, " he said with exasperation. "A full on emergency lockdown … over a lump of pink bubble gum."