Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

‘They’re closing the Stargate programme.’ There was an overtone of disbelief in Daniel Jackson’s voice as though the reality was still to sink in fully.

‘They’re what!’ Catherine Langford’s startled reply and the clatter as she put down the china teapot in shock had the archaeologist turning from the drawing room window of her New York home to look at her and the elderly man sat next to her on the Queen Anne couch.

‘They’re closing the Stargate programme.’ Daniel repeated.

Catherine regarded Daniel for a long moment; his blue eyes were churning with upset, his high cheekbones were flushed red and his floppy hair was askew as though he had run his hands through it several times. She patted the chair next to her. ‘Come and sit down, Daniel.’

He followed her instruction a little reluctantly as she resumed pouring the tea.

‘Why are they closing the programme?’ Ernest Littlefield asked as he accepted his china tea-cup and saucer. He owed his return to Earth to the Stargate programme. He had gone through the Stargate during experiments in the 1940s but the planet he had landed on had no working DHD and he’d been stuck until Daniel and the rest of SG1 had turned up with Catherine to rescue him a few months before.

‘Senator Kinsey’s decided we’re too expensive.’ Daniel said bitterly. ‘That and we don’t fit in with his religious ideology.’ He took a sip of the tea and wished it was coffee.

‘But how has Kinsey got the power to shut down the Stargate?’ Ernest pressed.

‘He’s the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee.’ Catherine explained before Daniel could reply. ‘He has to approve the budget.’ She pursed her lips. ‘I never did like him.’

‘Then you know who he is?’ Daniel checked a little surprised.

‘I spent a lot of time in Washington when I was trying to get the Stargate programme up and running.’ Catherine reminded him.

‘Actually, that’s why I’m here.’ Daniel placed his tea back on the small mahogany coffee table and looked at her beseechingly. ‘I was hoping you might be able to do something.’

‘Me?’ Catherine’s dark eyes widened. She gave a short humourless laugh. ‘Daniel, my Washington connections are mostly long gone. I have less influence now then I ever did in regards to the Stargate.’

‘But surely you must know someone?’ Daniel insisted passionately. ‘They’d listen to you.’

‘What about General Hammond?’ Catherine asked hoping to divert him.

‘He left for Washington right after the decision.’ Daniel admitted. ‘We haven’t heard anything from him since.’

‘The General’s a good man and he’s well-connected.’ Catherine said comfortingly. ‘I’m sure he’s doing all he can.’

‘It’s not enough!’ Daniel said sharply. He lurched out of his chair and paced back to the window.

Catherine and Ernest exchanged a worried look.

‘What’s really going on Daniel?’ Catherine asked.

Daniel stuffed his hands in his pants pockets. He knew he needed to apologise for his outburst but his frustration seemed to stifle the words in his throat.

‘There’s more to this than them closing the Stargate isn’t there?’ Catherine probed gently.

Daniel sighed and extracted one of his hands to run it carelessly through his hair. ‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.’

‘Try us.’ Ernest said.

The younger man glanced over his shoulder at the elderly couple looking back at him encouragingly.

‘I think you’ll find us an understanding pair.’ Ernest said his eyes twinkling at the archaeologist.

There was a moment’s silence as Daniel seemed to weigh his decision before he slowly walked back to his chair and lowered himself into it. He leaned forward eagerly. ‘Four days ago, we had a mission to P3R233. We went through the gate as normal and found an abandoned building on the other side. There was a room filled with artefacts from all kinds of different civilisations and there was this mirror.’

‘A mirror?’ Catherine checked she’d heard correctly.

‘Yes. Kind of. Not really.’ Daniel amended. He waved his hands. ‘It was made of the same material the Stargate is made from and it had a remote control device that seemed to switch it on. I picked up the device and that’s when I noticed the mirror but I couldn’t see my reflection.’

‘Odd.’ Catherine commented.

Daniel nodded and adjusted his glasses. ‘I touched it. I thought I’d just got a small electrical shock but suddenly I found myself on PR3233 alone.’

‘You didn’t wonder what happened to the rest of your team?’ Catherine asked surprised.

‘Well, no.’ Daniel admitted. ‘Jack wanted us to leave and I figured he’d gotten tired of waiting and left without me.’ He paused for a moment as though realising for the first time the unlikelihood of that happening; Jack never left people behind, never. He sighed and continued. ‘I dialled home, went through the wormhole and…’ he hesitated as his eyes shyly met their curious gazes, ‘and entered a completely screwed up version of the SGC.’

‘Screwed up?’ Catherine put her cup down and pinned him with a frank gaze. ‘How?’

‘They had no idea who I was.’ Daniel said, his blue eyes clouding at the memory. ‘General Hammond wasn’t in charge; he was a Colonel. I got taken into custody and then,’ his eyes returned to Catherine’s face, ‘you came to question me.’

Catherine’s mouth gaped open and she snapped it shut. She could see Daniel’s lurking fear that they wouldn’t believe his story in his anxious expression.

‘Go on.’ Ernest urged gently.

‘You…or rather this other Catherine told me I’d refused the job translating the cartouche and I wasn’t a member of the programme. It wasn’t until I mentioned Ernest,’ his eyes flickered to the older man in silent gratitude, ‘that she finally started to pay attention to me.’ He gestured. ‘She took me to see Jack. Only it wasn’t my Jack.’ He took a sip of his drink absently unaware of Catherine’s and Ernest’s gentle amusement at his claiming Jack as his.

‘Jack was a General. He was running the SGC.’ Daniel said with a frown. ‘He only started paying attention to me when I threw Charlie in his face.’ He sighed. He’d hated using the knowledge to get to Jack and could clearly remember the pain he had caused the other man. He shook his head. ‘And then I found out.’

‘What?’ Catherine and Ernest asked simultaneously.

Daniel set his cup back down and met their eyes again. ‘That the Earth was in the middle of an attack from the Goa’uld.’ He saw the gravity of his statement register on their faces. ‘They were destroying whole cities from orbit; they were just burning Earth to the ground.’

He rose and walked with his hands back in his pockets back to the window. He stared out at the garden beyond sightlessly. ‘They were evacuating people through the gate but it was never going to be enough and then the Goa’uld established an incoming wormhole and the mountain came under attack.’ He swallowed past the upsurge of emotion as he remembered the ground shaking as the ship had landed atop the base and focused on telling the rest of his story. ‘By that time, we’d worked out that I was in an alternate reality.’

‘The Stargate wasn’t designed to transport matter inter-dimensionally.’ Ernest protested. ‘Only to create a gateway through time and space.’

‘The mirror.’ Catherine concluded.

‘Of course.’ Ernest smiled at her. ‘The mirror must have been designed by the same people who designed the Stargate.’

‘Maybe.’ Daniel admitted, spinning back round to them. He couldn’t believe they had accepted the idea so readily but then Ernest and Catherine had both been scholars for longer than he had been alive…

‘Sorry, Daniel.’ Catherine said. ‘We’ve got a little off track.’

Daniel smiled at her sadly. ‘There’s not too much else to tell.’ He motioned with one of his hands. ‘They showed me a message they had received from P3R233. It said ‘beware the destroyers, they come from…’ and gave a gate address.’

‘They knew the origin of the Goa’uld attack.’ Catherine surmised.

‘Yes!’ Daniel agreed with her as he sat back down. ‘I knew if I could get the coordinates back here…’

‘You could stop the attack in this reality.’ Ernest said quietly.

Daniel nodded. He fidgeted with his glasses. ‘I…I convinced the other Jack, Sam and Catherine to help me try and return to P3R233. Jack went to talk to Teal’c who was leading the attack to buy us some time before the wormhole destabilised and we could dial out.’ He saw Catherine’s surprise. ‘Teal’c had never met Jack in the other reality; he’d never come over to our side.’ He looked down at his hands. ‘They all died giving me the opportunity to come back.’

‘Daniel.’ Ernest said gently. ‘That’s not true. If the Goa’uld were attacking as you say, they were likely dead anyway.’

‘Ernest’s right.’ Catherine said firmly. ‘You shouldn’t blame yourself.’

The younger man flushed. ‘I made it through the wormhole back to P3R233, touched the mirror again and…’ he gestured, ‘came home to find the Stargate programme was under threat.’ He shook his head as he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.

‘And you’ve told them this?’ Catherine asked.

He laughed derisively as he replaced his glasses on his nose. ‘Nobody believes me. Kinsey thought I’d made the whole thing up as some last ditch attempt to change his mind.’ He sighed again and looked up at the couple to find them gazing back at him with worry and understanding.

‘What about your team?’ Catherine’s hand had somehow found its way into Ernest’s; a silent physical gesture of support.

Daniel picked his cup up and took a large gulp of the lukewarm liquid. ‘Teal’c believes the idea of an attack is possible but I think the alternate reality stuff is just too big a step for him to take.’ His fingers tapped against the china restlessly. ‘Sam, on the other hand, I think wants to believe the alternate reality happened but doesn’t want to believe the attack will happen here.’

‘And Jack?’ Catherine prompted.

‘And Jack doesn’t want to believe any of it.’ Daniel said disgustedly. ‘He’s doing the mental equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears and hoping it all goes away.’

‘I’m sure that’s not true.’ Catherine rebuked him softly.

‘No…’ Daniel admitted a little reluctantly, ‘he’s doing what he can to try and look after us with the Stargate programme shutting down but…he definitely doesn’t believe me about the alternate reality.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I think his exact words were if I brought it up again he’d shoot me himself.’

‘It’s a lot for anyone to get their heads around.’ Catherine noted.

‘You and Ernest seem to have done fine.’ Daniel pointed out.

The elderly couple looked at each with a smile.

‘I lived most of my life on another planet.’ Ernest said.

‘And after we found Ernest, I swore nothing would surprise me again.’ Catherine added.

‘Not to mention that we’re old.’ Ernest said with a laugh.

‘I wish…’ Daniel broke off the sentence and flung his arms out. ‘I just…I feel like I owe them – the other Sam, Jack, you, even Teal’c. They spent the last moments of their lives working to save me, to save us, to give us a chance and now we’re just going to throw that chance a way.’

‘You have to convince your team.’ Ernest said. ‘They’ll help you.’

‘How?’ Daniel asked plaintively. ‘I’ve tried…’

‘Daniel,’ Catherine broke in quietly but insistently as she reached over and took his hand, ‘in the other reality you convinced a version of your team who didn’t know you at all to help you.’ Her dark eyes held his firmly. ‘What makes you think you can’t convince the team who do know and respect you in this reality to do the same?’

Daniel had to look away from her.

‘Go back and talk to them again.’ Catherine urged. ‘Trust them to do the right thing.’

‘Trust yourself.’ Ernest adjoined.

Daniel nodded slowly. He pushed his glasses up his nose and squeezed Catherine’s hand. ‘Thank you. Both of you.’

Catherine smiled at him warmly. She let go of his hand and patted his knee. ‘Now finish your tea.’

An hour later, she watched from the window as Daniel got into the yellow taxi to take him to the airport. She felt Ernest’s arms slide around her waist.

‘Do you think in some other reality we were lucky enough to have a son like Daniel?’ Catherine asked idly.

‘I do.’ Ernest said. ‘But I like to think Daniel is ours in some small way in this reality.’

Catherine smiled at the sentiment.

‘Do you think he’s right?’ He asked. ‘That there will be a Goa’uld attack?’

Catherine sighed. ‘For once I sincerely hope Daniel isn’t right.’ And if he was…well, she only hoped his team would be there for him.

o-O-o

Captain Samantha Carter stared at the words on the paper in front of her as though staring at them alone could change them somehow. The sharp rap on her lab door finally broke her concentration and she straightened at the sight of her CO, Colonel Jack O’Neill in the doorway. ‘Sir.’

‘Carter.’ Jack sauntered in casually looking at the myriad of boxes around the room with a frown.

‘Packing, sir.’ Sam explained at the unasked question in his brown eyes.

‘Ah.’ Jack sighed heavily. He pushed his hands in the pockets of his BDU pants and looked over at her. The young blonde Air Force officer looked as depressed as he felt. The hearing with Kinsey and the subsequent decision to shutdown the programme had rocked them all. He caught sight of the papers in front of her. ‘So, those would be…?’

‘My new orders.’ Sam confirmed.

Jack slid onto a stool and gestured at her. ‘What’d ya get?’

Sam looked at him curiously. As her CO she knew he would have been informed. ‘Nellis. Stargate R&D.’ She made a face.

‘I thought that would be right up your street, Carter.’ Jack said surprised at her reaction.

‘It’s not exactly going to other planets and fighting alien bad guys.’ Sam muttered.

He smiled recognising her description from a conversation they’d had once.

She cleared her throat. ‘What about you, Colonel?’

Jack fidgeted reaching for the nearest object on the lab bench. ‘Pentagon.’ He admitted as though embarrassed. ‘They’re setting up a taskforce to look at ways we can defend ourselves against the Goa’uld without going through the Stargate. I thought I should stick around a while longer and help out with that.’

‘Sounds interesting.’ Sam said enviously. Why couldn’t she have got that, she grumbled inwardly as she focused on folding her orders very precisely.

‘I’m glad you think so because we’ll be working with you R&D guys to come up with…’ Jack waved his hand, ‘stuff.’

Sam’s eyes jerked up to his. ‘Really?’

‘Sure.’ Jack said. ‘Let’s face it, Carter. Unless we find a way of defending ourselves with the technology we have managed to bring back through the gate, we’ve got no way of defending ourselves against the Goa’uld when they come.’ He paused. ‘It’s the only reason why I agreed to let you go to R&D instead of being on the taskforce. I figure if anyone can come up with something to help us, it’s you.’

Sam blinked. ‘You…you…’ She stumbled over her words and blushed at his amused expression.

‘Well, this is something I thought I’d never see;’ Jack teased, ‘Samantha Carter lost for words.’

‘It’s just…’ Sam struggled to put into words how much his confidence in her meant to her. ‘Thank you, sir.’ She said eventually smiling at him.

He smiled back. They’d come along way since their initial meeting in the briefing room, Jack mused. Back then, he hadn’t wanted a scientist on his team; now he couldn’t imagine not working with her every day. As much as he was a military man and he was used to changing personnel and changing assignments, he knew he was going to miss her and the rest of the team. At least with Sam he knew he’d still get to see her once in a while and he wouldn’t be her CO. Maybe he could even ask her out on a date…he frowned at the last thought that had sneaked in. ‘Well, I’d better…’ he gestured at the door.

Sam nodded.

‘Unless you want me to stick around here and help you pack.’ Jack asked, waving at the boxes.

She was about to refuse, her usual automatic response of being able to do things herself kicking in, when she stopped and considered his offer. ‘Actually, sir, that would be great.’

He looked a little taken aback.

‘Unless you have something else to do.’ She hurried out.

‘No, no.’ Jack hastened to assure her. ‘I’m all yours.’

If only, Sam thought, lowering her eyes and missing Jack’s reaction as his brown eyes widened slightly at his unintentional admission. ‘Well,’ she slipped off her stool and he followed her to the other side of the lab, ‘all these need wrapping in bubble wrap and putting in these boxes here.’

Jack looked at the array of technological devices. ‘Do I want to know what these all do?’

‘If you want me to, I can describe them each in detail.’ Sam offered tongue firmly planted in cheek.

‘Thank you, Carter, but no.’ Jack said reaching for the tube of bubble wrap.

They worked harmoniously for a few minutes before Jack glanced over and saw her frowning at one particular conical device that she was turning over in her hands. ‘You’re not wrapping, Carter.’

Sam’s head snapped up. ‘Sorry, sir.’

‘So what’re ya thinking about?’ Jack asked casually.

‘What makes you think…’ Sam didn’t get to finish the rest of the sentence as he threw her a knowing look. ‘Right.’ She muttered.

‘So?’ Jack prompted.

‘When we were talking before, you said we’d need to create something from the technology we’ve found if we were going to have any chance when the Goa’uld came.’

‘Right.’ Jack nodded momentarily distracted as he pressed down on the bubble wrap and it popped satisfactorily.

‘You said when, not if.’ Sam said. ‘Do you think Daniel’s right, sir?’

Jack looked up at her and sighed. He gestured at her as he turned around to lean back on the lab bench and crossed his arms. ‘You know more about that alternate reality stuff than me. What do you think?’

Sam lowered the device she held back to the bench as she turned to face him fully. ‘I believe alternate realities are certainly theoretically possible given what we know of the physics.’ She said slowly.

‘And travelling to one?’ Jack asked, his scepticism evident in his tone.

She frowned. ‘Well, theoretically, it’s not too much of a stretch to believe that if they do exist then there must be a way to traverse between them.’

He could almost see the gears in her brain beginning to examine the complicated physics behind such a notion.

‘I mean, an advanced alien race may well have figured out how to travel between realities just like they figured out how to create wormholes and travel the stars.’ Sam continued. She paused. ‘I’d love to get my hands on that mirror Daniel mentioned. If it really is made up of the same element as the gate…’ she sighed and looked at him again. ‘Without the mirror or the control device Daniel mentioned we may never know for certain, sir, if you’re looking for definitive proof.’ She scanned his expression. ‘Do you think Daniel travelled to another reality?’

‘I believe Daniel believes he travelled to another reality.’ He allowed.

‘Did you come to that conclusion before or after you threatened to shoot him, sir?’ Sam asked amused.

Jack glared at her before he conceded she had a point and his gaze shifted to the ceiling. ‘After.’ He sighed. ‘Have you actually seen Daniel recently?’ He asked, diverting the topic a little.

‘No.’ Sam shook her head. ‘Not since the day before yesterday.’

‘Me either.’ He picked up a metal box-shaped device before her hand snaked across the space between them and relieved him of it.

‘You know even if Daniel did travel to another reality, there’s no reason to think what happened there would happen here.’ Sam argued.

‘Actually, Carter,’ Jack said quietly, ‘that’s the one part of Daniel’s story I do believe.’

‘As do I.’

They both turned to see the small doorway filled with Jaffa.

‘Teal’c.’ Jack waved him in.

‘You are discussing Daniel Jackson’s visit to the alternate reality.’ Teal’c stated as he moved to stand next to his team-mates.

‘We were.’ Jack confirmed.

‘So you believe Daniel travelled to another reality, Teal’c?’ Sam said picking up on the Jaffa’s phrasing.

‘I do,’ Teal’c said, ‘and I believe his assertion that the Goa’uld are most likely planning an attack of retribution on your world.’

‘But why?’ Sam asked. ‘Daniel described a number of differences between that reality and this one in his debriefing,’ her eyes briefly met the Colonel’s and looked away again, neither of them mentioning their engagement in the other reality, ‘so it’s possible the attack wouldn’t happen here.’

‘Didn’t Daniel say that the…’ Jack searched for the form of words Daniel had used and came up blank.

‘Defining event, O’Neill.’ Teal’c supplied.

‘Defining event was the same?’ Jack waved his hand. ‘And even if they weren’t coming after us for Ra, I’m pretty sure we’ve pissed the Goa’uld off just as much here as in that other reality.’

Sam sighed and wrapped her arms around her torso. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she knew he was right. ‘So, if we really believe the Goa’uld are going to attack shouldn’t we be doing something now?’

‘Like what?’ Jack asked.

‘We should endeavour to stop the closure of the Stargate programme.’ Teal’c said.

Jack sighed and opened his mouth to reply when the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps had them all turning towards the door.

Daniel almost ran into the lab. ‘Sam, have you seen…’ He stopped suddenly seeing the rest of SG1 looking back at him and not just the lone Air Force Captain he had expected. ‘Oh good.’ He pushed his glasses up his nose. ‘You’re all here.’

Jack straightened. ‘Look, Daniel, before you start…’

‘No, Jack. You have to listen to me.’ Daniel said urgently, gesturing furiously. ‘Now I know you don’t believe me about the other reality but I really did go there and because I went there, I’ve seen what can happen and…’

‘Daniel.’ Jack tried to break into the impassioned speech.

‘…your counterparts all spent the last few minutes of their lives helping me, to give me a chance to stop it and now I have that chance and I owe it to them not to waste it. I have to stop what happened there from happening here but I need your help.’ He stopped and took a breath as his blue eyes met Jack’s. ‘We have to stop them from shutting down the Stargate.’

‘We agree.’ Jack said simply holding Daniel’s fierce blue gaze.

‘You…you agree?’ Daniel repeated incredulous. He looked around and saw all of his team-mates looking back at him squarely. ‘Then you believe me?’

Jack winced visibly and Daniel glared at him.

‘The question is how do we stop them shutting down the Stargate?’ Sam asked quickly before either of the men could get into a debate on alternate realities.

‘We tried at the hearing.’ Jack pointed out. ‘It didn’t go so well.’

Teal’c cocked his head and raised his eyebrow.

‘If we could only have gotten Senator Kinsey to listen to our side of it.’ Sam complained.

‘He was never going to listen to us.’ Daniel said quietly.

‘Especially after that jackass Samuels poisoned him against us.’ Sam muttered. Her eyes widened at her team-mates’ surprise; Jack’s shock quickly giving way to an appreciative grin. ‘Sorry, sir,’ she apologised, ‘did I say that out loud?’

‘I didn’t hear a thing, Captain.’ Jack assured her swiftly. Her comments could be construed as disrespecting a senior officer but he fully agreed with sentiments.

‘Neither did I.’ Daniel affirmed loyally.

‘Nor I, Captain Carter.’ Teal’c said.

There was a shared moment of humour amongst the four.

Daniel sighed heavily. ‘There must be something we can do.’

‘I could shoot Kinsey.’ Jack suggested only half-joking.

‘Is that not a risky strategy, O’Neill?’ Teal’c asked.

‘He wasn’t serious, Teal’c.’ Daniel said. He paused and looked at Jack worriedly. ‘You weren’t serious, were you?’

‘No.’ Jack admitted with a sigh. ‘But it’s a thought.’

Daniel shoved his hand through his hair. ‘I can’t believe I’m going to watch it happen again.’

‘Daniel…’ Jack’s voice held a note of warning. He really wasn’t in the mood for the ‘I travelled to another reality story’ again.

‘I know you don’t believe me, Jack, but it happened,’ Daniel insisted passionately, ‘and it’s going to happen again here.’

‘What do you want us to do, Daniel?’ Jack asked sharply. ‘Carter’s right. Kinsey came in here with his mind already made up by Samuels. Nothing we can say is going to make a difference.’

‘So we’re just going to give up and let them bury the gate?’ Daniel almost shouted.

‘No.’ Jack shot back. ‘We’re not giving up.’ He looked around at his small team who were all looking back at him expectantly. He pushed off the bench he was resting on. ‘Come on. Let’s go talk to Hammond.’

‘Why?’ asked Daniel following him out of the lab.

‘Because, Daniel.’ Jack snapped back. He slapped the call button for the elevator and was pleased when the doors immediately opened.

‘General Hammond got back from Washington this morning.’ Sam explained as they all piled into the small space. ‘He might have some ideas on what else we can try to save the programme.’

‘You really think so?’ Daniel asked hopefully.

Jack shifted uncomfortably. He had a feeling Hammond had already tried and failed to save the programme but it was worth having the conversation with the General; he’d rather they had the other man on their side. ‘Let’s just see what he’s got to say.’ He muttered.

‘Maybe we shouldn’t all go.’ Sam said nervously.

Jack looked over at her to see her looking back at him.

‘It might work better as a one to one conversation, sir.’ Sam pointed out.

Jack sighed. ‘I’ll do it.’ He reached forward and pressed another button on the floor panel. ‘You guys can wait for me in the control room.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Sam said.

The elevator slid to a stop.

Daniel stopped Jack as he made to get out. His worried blue eyes met the Colonel’s. ‘Good luck, Jack.’

Jack nodded and left them to continue the journey downwards. They made their way to the control room in silence. Sam took the only chair as Teal’c perched on a side table and a restless Daniel paced, his mind whirling.

They had to find someway of stopping the Goa’uld attack, Daniel thought, even if they couldn’t prevent the Stargate programme from closing. He sighed and stopped pacing to look momentarily at his team-mates. At least he didn’t feel he was alone anymore, he mused. His team were with him, trying to help him despite their opinions about whether he had really travelled to an alternate reality or not. They might need a little more prompting but they would come up with a plan, he was sure of it. Hope flooded him for a moment and stole his breath. They were the only hope he had left, he realised; and more importantly, they were the only hope Earth had left.

fin.