Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

Part 1: Future Predictions

‘It doesn’t get any better does it?’

Elizabeth Weir spun around at the gruff voice of Hank Landry and smiled at the sight of the paunchy commander of the SGC standing in the doorway of her temporary office. ‘If you’re referring to the briefings with the IOA,’ she gave a rueful sigh as she packed away her laptop into the oversize briefcase, ‘no, it doesn’t.’

‘Actually, I was referring to the food in the mess.’ Landry teased with a straight face.

It was an old joke between them but she gave a genuine laugh of appreciation, her eyes twinkling back at him. ‘That too.’ She admitted. She sighed. ‘Actually it wasn’t too bad.’

‘The food?’ Landry asked amused.

‘The briefing.’ She corrected him smiling again as she shrugged into her new black uniform jacket. ‘Although, I would have preferred to have lost only one of our ZPMs and not two.’

‘Consider it accrued interest on the one we gave you.’ Landry joked.

‘Doctor McKay isn’t going to be happy.’ Elizabeth said as she hoisted the briefcase off the chair and the two of them fell into step as they headed down the corridor to the elevators.

‘I’m surprised you wanted to take it all on again. I mean, running Atlantis after what happened with the Ancients taking over and the Asurans invading not to mention the continued Wraith threat.’ He waited a beat. ‘Dealing with Sheppard and McKay.’ Landry noted as he pressed the button to take them into the depths of Cheyenne Mountain.

Elizabeth shrugged happily. ‘What can I say? I love my job.’ And she loved her team, she silently added. She half-turned toward the General. ‘I’ve been meaning to thank you for your support since we got permission to return to Atlantis especially after…’ she waved a hand vaguely at him.

‘After you stole a puddle-jumper and made off through the Stargate against my orders?’ Landry’s brown eyes smiled at her, softening the brutal honesty of the statement.

She winced anyway. ‘Yes.’

‘I can’t say I was thrilled with how you did what you did but you pulled it off and you deserved the support to get the expedition back up and running.’ Landry noted. He grinned at her. ‘But thank you.’

Elizabeth nodded in acknowledgement. The elevator doors swept open and they exited, both moving in unison toward the gate room. They stopped just inside the doorway. A team of technicians were running around the stationed puddle-jumper that took up most of the available floor space. Elizabeth handed over her bag as the announcement and alarms sounded for an incoming wormhole and she followed the General into the control room.

‘It’s Atlantis; right on schedule, sir. Doctor Weir.’ Walter Harriman informed them crisply.

‘Thank you, Sergeant.’ Landry turned to the monitor and greeted the officer looking back at him. ‘Colonel Sheppard.’ His eyes flickered to the civilian scientist hovering beside the military man. ‘Doctor McKay.’

Sheppard nodded respectfully. ‘General Landry, sir.’ His brown eyes shifted to Landry’s right. ‘Doctor Weir.’

‘John.’ Elizabeth smiled warmly at him. ‘How are things on Atlantis?’

‘Never mind that.’ McKay jumped in brusquely. ‘How many did we lose?’

Elizabeth sighed a little in exasperation. ‘Rodney…’

‘How many?’ McKay insisted.

Sheppard gestured into the monitor. ‘We are all dying to know the answer.’

She repressed the urge to sigh. Keeping Rodney in line was hard enough but when the two of them ganged up on her, it was practically impossible to deny them any request; practically impossible but not completely. However, this time she figured telling them from another galaxy rather than in person was infinitely more desirable. They’d have a chance to grouse and moan about it before she arrived back and had to hear their complaints face to face. ‘Two.’ She said succinctly.

‘Two?’ McKay’s outraged disappointment was written all over his expressive face. ‘You can’t be serious.’

‘Really?’ Sheppard checked. ‘Two?’

‘The status report, Colonel?’ Elizabeth asked pointedly.

Sheppard shifted sheepishly. ‘Everything’s going well. Beckett’s confirmed the infirmary is fully operational and McKay’s got the science labs up and running. We’ve finished an initial check of the city and there’s nothing unusual to report.’

‘Good.’ Elizabeth said briskly. ‘Well, I can confirm I will be returning as scheduled. I’ll see you all shortly.’

‘Can’t you stay there a while longer and, I don’t know, convince them that we need all three ZPMs?’ McKay argued passionately.

‘Rodney,’ Elizabeth said firmly, ‘we’ll discuss this when I get back.’

‘But…’

‘When I get back.’ She repeated her face settling into a familiar ‘don’t argue with me’ expression that she saved for the scientist.

McKay’s mouth opened, no doubt to argue further, when Sheppard clamped a hand on the scientist’s shoulder. McKay snapped his mouth shut abruptly.

‘It’ll be good to have you back.’ Sheppard said sincerely, his green eyes sliding to McKay expressively.

‘Yes.’ McKay said a little grudgingly drawing himself up and gesturing with the small hand-scanner held. ‘Of course. Good.’

Elizabeth struggled not to smile and settled for a brief nod before the transmission ended. She turned back to Landry. ‘If Major Castle is ready to leave, sir, I’d like to get going.’

‘Actually, there’s been a change of pilot.’ Landry said, his eyes darting behind Elizabeth to the replacement who had just made their way into the control room.

‘Oh?’ Elizabeth asked surprised.

Landry waved behind her and she turned. Her eyes landed with delight on Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter. The blonde Air Force officer was decked out in the black BDU of Stargate Command with her team patch clearly designating her as a member of SG1.

‘Colonel Carter.’ Elizabeth greeted her warmly.

‘Doctor Weir.’ Sam smiled at the statuesque brunette. ‘It’s good to see you again.’

‘Likewise, Colonel.’ Elizabeth answered. She hadn’t realised the Air Force officer had taken the ATA gene therapy but that she had and that it had been successful was evident in the fact she was standing in front of her.

‘Colonel Carter requested permission to run some diagnostic tests at the mid-way point of the intergalactic bridge.’ Landry explained.

‘They shouldn’t delay us by more than ten or fifteen minutes.’ Sam promised.

‘Anything you need, Colonel.’ Elizabeth smiled. ‘After all, if you hadn’t had the idea, there would be no bridge.’

Sam shrugged self-deprecatingly. ‘We should leave immediately if we’re to remain on schedule.’

Elizabeth nodded. She and Sam both turned to look at Landry.

‘I have one new order for you, Colonel.’ Landry said briskly. ‘You’re to transport one of the Atlantis ZPMs back to Earth on your return trip.’ Sam nodded in understanding and his eyes moved back to Elizabeth. ‘The Daedalus will transport the other one when it returns.’

‘Understood, sir.’ Elizabeth said unhappily.

‘With your permission then, sir.’ Sam asked formally, although the sparkle in her blue eyes gave away her enthusiasm for the trip.

‘Permission granted.’ Landry agreed cheerfully. ‘Have fun.’

Sam grinned at him before she preceded Elizabeth out of the control room. She was looking forward to her first trip through the intergalactic bridge. She almost bounded onto the puddle-jumper and took her seat eagerly.

Elizabeth inwardly acknowledged that the other woman’s excitement was contagious as she took the second seat at the control panel.

Sam gave her a bright smile as she made the final adjustments. ‘All set, Doctor Weir?’

‘I am.’ Elizabeth settled back and took a deep breath as Sam entered the requisite code that would allow them to travel uninterrupted to the mid-way point through the series of gates on the Milky Way side and dialled the address of the first gate.

The Stargate in front of them started to dial and as the seventh chevron locked, the blue backwash of the forming wormhole mushroomed into the gate room.

‘That never gets old, does it?’ Elizabeth murmured.

‘Nope.’ Sam said. ‘It never does.’ She tapped the communications panel. ‘This is Jumper One requesting permission to depart.’

‘You have a go, Colonel.’ Landry replied.

Sam sent the jumper forward and the next moment it zipped into the wormhole. It exited at the mid-way point in the circular metal structure that held the two Stargates; one for the Milky Way behind them, the one for Pegasus ahead of them. The plans were to build a space station that would act as the landing point between galaxies and allow for foot travel but in the interim the puddle-jumpers had to be used.

Sam immediately keyed her diagnostic programmes to run and turned to her former boss with an apologetic look. ‘This shouldn’t take long, Doctor Weir.’

Elizabeth smiled understandingly. ‘ Elizabeth.’ She said impulsively.

Sam looked at her questioningly.

‘You should call me, Elizabeth.’ Elizabeth gestured. ‘We have known each other for a couple of years now and I’m no longer in charge of the SGC, Colonel.’

‘Then you should call me Sam.’ The Air Force officer returned.

‘Sam.’ Elizabeth gave a pleased nod. She settled back comfortably. ‘Do I want to know what you’re doing exactly?’

Sam waved a hand at the computer monitor. ‘It’s stress tests mostly. We want to make sure that the sequential gate travel isn’t unduly compromising the integrity of the puddle-jumpers.’

‘I see.’ Elizabeth frowned. ‘And if it is?’

‘We may have to reduce the number of times one particular jumper goes through the bridge or create more stop-off points.’ Sam informed her. ‘Unfortunately we had no way of testing this until the bridge was complete.’

‘I guess not.’ Elizabeth murmured.

‘Most of our initial tests have indicated there’s not a significant problem.’ Sam said absently as her eyes skipped over the data on the screen.

‘And by significant?’ Elizabeth asked delicately wondering if the puddle-jumper was about to disintegrate on them.

‘We’re OK.’ Sam reassured.

‘Good to know.’ Elizabeth said gratefully. She shifted in her seat. ‘You know, I’ve been meaning to apologise to you.’

Sam looked at her puzzled.

‘For not inviting you on the mission to retake Atlantis.’ Elizabeth tilted her head. ‘General O’Neill told me I should include you next time.’

‘He did?’ Sam hid a smile.

‘He did.’ Elizabeth repeated. Not for the first time she wondered at the exact status of the relationship between Jack O’Neill and Sam. There was no doubt in Elizabeth’s mind that the two of them respected the hell out of each other as officers and more, loved each other a great deal. But were the couple together? That was the million dollar question, Elizabeth mused. Maybe the military policy of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ was the best to follow. Her mind slipped to her own failed relationship with Simon Wallace and it was with some difficulty that she dragged her attention back to her companion who was, she belatedly realised, talking.

‘…in fact, all of SG1 would have come with you if we’d been Earth-side at the time.’ Sam finished. ‘Actually, we would have come back from our mission on P5X886 to go with you if we’d been informed.’

There was a bitter note to the final sentence and Elizabeth surmised that General Landry must have taken the decision not to tell the SG1 team. Having had first hand knowledge of how close the original members of SG1 were and how far they would all go for one another, she had some sympathy with Landry’s decision. No doubt he’d believed SG1 were the likely candidates to have stolen a puddle-jumper and embarked on a rescue mission, Elizabeth mused ruefully.

‘Hopefully there won’t be a next time.’ Sam said interrupting Elizabeth’s thoughts a second time.

‘Hopefully.’ Elizabeth murmured. ‘I’m not sure the Asurans will give up though.’

‘I’ve read in the mission reports that they are very similar to Replicators in nature.’ Sam glanced over at her sympathetically.

‘Very.’ Elizabeth couldn’t prevent the shiver that coursed through her. ‘It’s the individual nanites that can infect you that are the most insidious things though. They almost had me convinced I’d imagined the whole of the Atlantis expedition.’

‘Fifth tried something similar with me when I was his prisoner.’ Sam admitted. ‘It wasn’t a pleasant experience.’

‘I’ve been thinking General O’Neill made the right decision.’ Elizabeth said thinking out loud.

‘About?’ Sam prompted.

‘Leaving Fifth in the original mission when you all encountered the human form Replicators.’ Elizabeth explained. ‘If I hadn’t agreed to bring Niam with us, I wouldn’t have been infected.’

Sam tried hard not to show her inner turmoil at the older woman’s words. She had her own opinion about that long ago decision Jack had made. It had led to Fifth plotting to escape the time dilation; to taking her as a prisoner and torturing her; to creating another human form Replicator in her own image who had ultimately betrayed Fifth and tried to take over the galaxy. On the face of it, the decision to leave Fifth behind had been a mistake but then maybe if they had taken him with them, it would have led to the same conclusion only sooner. At least her Replicator double had pretty much eliminated the Goa’uld in her quest for galactic domination which had meant when the Dakara machine had eliminated the Replicators, the galaxy had been a changed place. Her machine beeped and she read over the last of the data with satisfaction. ‘We’re done.’ She announced. ‘Ready for the next stage?’

Elizabeth nodded.

Sam input the code and the address. She nodded in satisfaction. ‘Atlantis is confirming IDC recognition.’ She reached for the jumper controls and manoeuvred toward the blue shimmering puddle. The jumper entered in one sleek shot forward.

It exited in a spin.

It tumbled out of a planet-bound Stargate crashing headlong into the undergrowth across a grassy clearing. The outside crackled as bolts of power raced up and down its length before the jumper lay inert.

Sam pushed her torso off the controls and groaned as her bruised ribs protested. She quickly glanced over at her passenger and frowned; Elizabeth was unconscious. She lurched out of her seat and pressed her fingers against the other woman’s neck, relieved to find a pulse. Her eyes objectively noted the small red bump on Elizabeth’s forehead.

‘Elizabeth?’ Sam said firmly. ‘ Elizabeth. Doctor Weir.’

‘Huh?’ Elizabeth forced her eyes open and blinked at Sam groggily. ‘What happened?’

‘We crashed.’ Sam said succinctly. ‘How many fingers am I holding up?’

‘Two.’ Elizabeth said.

‘Does anything else hurt?’

Elizabeth shook her head and gave a yelp as a sharp pain shot through her temple.

‘You need to take it easy.’ Sam moved back to her own seat and tried to bring up some diagnostics. ‘You have a head injury; probably a minor concussion.’

Elizabeth straightened and gingerly put her hand to her head feeling the injury. She focused on the outside greenery. ‘This isn’t Atlantis.’

‘Not unless you’ve changed the décor.’ Sam agreed tightly.

‘What went wrong?’

‘I think the wormhole jumped.’ Sam muttered. She hit the console and the wobbly readout stabilised.

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know.’ Sam admitted.

‘Do you know where we are?’ Elizabeth asked.

‘Not yet.’ Sam said.

‘Would you like me to stop asking questions?’ Elizabeth asked hearing the bite of tension in Sam’s voice.

Sam’s attention remained on the readout. ‘Thank you. That would be appreciated.’

Elizabeth subsided into her seat and waited for the Colonel to finish her review of the available data.

‘This isn’t good.’ Sam said finally. She sighed. ‘These readings indicate there was a problem with one of the Stargates after the jumper entered its buffer so the wormhole jumped to a different location.’ She frowned. ‘I can’t establish at which point in the bridge the wormhole aborted or where we are.’

‘Can we dial out to Atlantis?’ Elizabeth asked.

Sam shook her head. ‘From the sensor readings that were taken as we exited the Stargate, there is no ground DHD and the jumper’s power circuits are shot. There’s no power to the onboard DHD and we have minimal systems operating. Stealth is out.’ She added seeing the question forming in Elizabeth’s eyes.

‘You can fix everything though, right?’ Elizabeth asked nervously.

The Air Force Colonel rubbed a hand over her forehead. ‘Truthfully, McKay and Zelenka know more about the jumper technology than I do but if the jumper can be fixed, I should be able to get it operational again given time.’

‘Great.’ Elizabeth sighed and rubbed her hands on her thighs. ‘What about Atlantis finding us?’

Sam pulled a small face. ‘It would be an almost impossible task.’ She shifted to look at Elizabeth fully. ‘When this happened to myself and General O’Neill in the first year we operated the Stargate, the SGC had a relatively small distinct corridor of space to check against.’ She raised her left hand to a point just in front of her. ‘The planet we were gating in from,’ she raised her right hand a foot apart from her left, ‘and Earth. In our case, they would need to check every single Stargate in the corridor along the bridge; it could take them years to find us.’

‘The mission you mentioned,’ Elizabeth said slowly, ‘wasn’t that when you discovered the second gate on Earth.’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you think this could be Atlantis? Somewhere on the mainland?’

Sam shook her head. ‘The planet dimensions are similar to Atlantis but not the same.’

‘So we’re definitely somewhere else.’ Elizabeth sighed.

Both women were silent for a moment as they absorbed their situation and the likely reactions of their teams to the news they were missing.

‘We should think about survival.’ Sam said briskly. ‘We could be here a while. I’m going to do a quick check of outside. If this planet is inhabited, I doubt our arrival went unnoticed. Can you check the supplies and see how long they will last?’

‘Yes. Of course.’ Elizabeth said. She got up and grabbed for the side of the jumper as her balance went suddenly.

Sam was immediately at her side. ‘You OK?’

‘Just a little woozy.’ Elizabeth admitted.

‘Maybe you should sit down for now.’ Sam said. ‘I’ll get to the supplies once I’ve finished with the perimeter check.’

‘Really, I’m fine.’ Elizabeth insisted.

The readout changed abruptly and Sam’s eyes narrowed on it. ‘There are life-signs approaching our position.’ She left Elizabeth and went to the back of the jumper. She grabbed her P90 and threw the older woman a protective vest and a zat gun. ‘Whatever happens stay inside the jumper.’ She ordered.

Elizabeth didn’t argue. She’d had enough experiences in the last couple of years to defer to Sam’s strategy. She moved into the back compartment as Sam opened the jumper door and took up a covering position in the outside undergrowth. Elizabeth hung back and watched from the jumper, her heart pounding uncomfortably.

A group appeared in the clearing across from them and approached cautiously. Two women and a man; they looked young to Elizabeth’s eye, no more than twenty, and were dressed in simple brown clothes; plain if a little drab. They were also unarmed. The sunlight hit the metal on the colonel’s gun as Sam rose from her position to greet the arrivals. They all stopped startled.

Sam kept her weapon trained on them but attempted a friendly smile. ‘Hi.’ The slight flicker of fear on their faces reassured her a little that they were harmless but she still didn’t change her position; she’d been fooled before. ‘We accidentally came through your Stargate and…’

All three of the natives fell to their knees and prostrated themselves on the ground.

‘Oh boy.’ Sam muttered. ‘This hasn’t happened in a while.’ She lowered the gun and reached for the first woman; a dark-haired woman who reminded her vaguely of a pixie. ‘Please don’t. You don’t need to bow.’ She helped the woman to her feet.

‘I take it’s safe to come out?’ Elizabeth called out from the jumper as Sam stepped back from the woman; the others were getting to their feet.

Sam nodded and waved her over. The three people turned to stare at Elizabeth and clutched at each other.

Elizabeth approached cautiously but kept a smile on her face. ‘Hello. We’re…’

‘The Goddesses.’ The man stuttered out, his brown eyes wide as he stared at them. ‘Yes, we know.’

Elizabeth gave a nervous laugh. ‘No, we’re not Goddesses. We’re just…’

‘But you are.’ The young dark-haired woman Sam had assisted up beamed at her. ‘You have come through the Astraportal as it was foretold.’

Sam’s heart sank; prophecies were never a good thing.

‘Be blessed.’ The other woman said loudly. ‘You are the answers to our prayers.’

‘Please.’ The man gestured behind them with a wide sweep of his arm. ‘You must come with us to the Citadel. Everything will be explained by the Council.’

Elizabeth didn’t need to look at Sam to feel her unease. ‘That’s a very kind offer but…’

‘We’ll just be staying a little while.’ Sam said politely.

‘Yes, yes; to fix your ship but there is no need.’ The dark-haired woman smiled at Sam again. ‘We have another at the Citadel.’

‘You do?’ Sam asked startled.

‘Of course.’ The man nodded eagerly. ‘Our Ancestors were most generous. Please come with us.’

Sam looked over at Elizabeth.

‘I think the Citadel is worth checking out, don’t you, Colonel?’ Elizabeth said, her eyes catching Sam’s meaningfully.

Sam nodded but gestured back at the jumper. ‘We should grab some things before we go.’

Elizabeth agreed and Sam hurried back to the jumper. She gathered together a backpack of equipment including her laptop before securing the broken ship and rejoining the others. Elizabeth waved at their companions.

‘This is Ala,’ she indicated the dark-haired woman, ‘her sister, Reta and Reta’s husband Morl.’

‘Sam.’ Sam said introducing herself.

‘Yes, we know.’ Reta giggled.

Sam looked at Elizabeth who shook her head; she hadn’t told them Sam’s name. Sam smiled tightly an uncomfortable feeling in her gut. ‘Perhaps we should get going to the Citadel.’

‘Of course.’ Ala agreed cheerfully and began to lead the way, Elizabeth beside her.

Sam gestured for Reta and Morl to walk ahead of her and she brought up the rear of their travelling party. She held her weapon firmly and scanned the countryside for any sign of a threat as she had been trained. She could admit to herself that she was a little unnerved by the natives’ apparent knowledge of them. Sam had never bought into the whole prophecy business especially as the last one she’d personally been involved with had involved a time machine. She and Elizabeth would just have to keep their wits about them, Sam mused.

She wasn’t too surprised to hear Elizabeth strike up a conversation with Ala. The other woman reminded Sam a little of Daniel Jackson, and she knew her team-mate held Elizabeth in high regard. Hopefully Elizabeth would be able to get some more information from Ala without giving too much of their own situation away. Sam concentrated on the walk.

It wasn’t unpleasant; the day was sunny but the air was neither too warm nor too cold. Sam absently wondered whether there was some form of weather control at work. She couldn’t detect any sign of technology looking at the blue sky and the green trees. She absently noted the sound of birdsong and occasionally her scans of the undergrowth that edged the path revealed a rabbit-like creature. It was almost idyllic. Eventually, the forest gave way to a hillside and the group came to a halt as the Citadel stretched out in front of them.

Elizabeth looked up at the familiar spires and gaped. It looked like a smaller version of Atlantis. The walls were more weathered; the sheen of their metal lost in the centuries exposed to the air but the architecture was definitely Ancient. She felt a small spark of hope ignite within her. Perhaps their adventure would be beneficial, Elizabeth considered. If the Citadel had drones, jumpers and ZPMS, there was a possibility of trade; if it had working shields, it might be a potential site of refuge if the Wraith or the Asurans attacked Atlantis again. The possibilities lightened her spirits for a moment before she cautioned herself not to get too hopeful; the priority was definitely to get back to Atlantis. She followed Ala eagerly through the arched gate-way and into the Citadel.

Sam moved to walk beside Elizabeth as they made their way through the corridors. Their presence caused a stir as they passed by others, and Sam glanced back to find a crowd following them silently. She pushed down on her worry and focused on where they were going; they might need to find their own way out in a hurry and she quietly memorised the twists and turns they took before they arrived at a central hall. It was hauntingly familiar.

‘Doesn’t this look like the operations room in Atlantis?’ Sam whispered to Elizabeth as they came to a halt in front of a small dais where the Atlantean gate usually stood.

‘Yes. It does.’ Elizabeth felt her head pound and she raised her hand unthinkingly to her injury.

‘You OK?’ Sam asked worriedly.

‘Just a headache.’ Elizabeth answered quickly lowering her hand as a procession of people entered from the doorway to the left and took their place on the dais. They were much older than the three people who had accompanied them from the jumper to the Citadel; all had white or silver hair, their faces creased with lines indicating long and eventful lives, and they wore similar versions of the simple brown clothing of the others.

An elderly woman stepped forward, her white hair swept back in an elegant chignon. ‘Welcome to Amera. You are most welcome.’ She smiled at them and bowed her head.

The two Earth women watched astonished as the rest of the Council did the same and the crowd that had followed them dropped to their knees around them.

‘Please.’ Elizabeth stepped forward. ‘There’s no need to bow. I don’t think we’re who you think we are.’

Sam inched closer to her. ‘Careful, Doctor Weir.’ She cautioned. They were in a vulnerable position if the crowd grew angry at them.

The woman on the dais raised her head. ‘Do not be concerned, Samantha. You are among friends here.’

Sam shifted at her name and her hand automatically tightened on her weapon despite the assurance.

The woman indicated the six men and women next to her. ‘We are the Council of Amera.’

‘It’s good to meet you.’ Elizabeth said.

‘It is good to meet you at last, Elizabeth. I am Gya.’

‘Gya.’ Elizabeth tried a hesitant smile. ‘Thank you for your welcome but I have to admit we’re a little surprised.’ She tilted her head. ‘You seem to know a lot about us.’

Gya nodded. ‘The Ancestral Father said you would have questions. Please come with me and all your questions will be answered.’

Elizabeth looked at Sam who shrugged. They had very little choice if they were to discover what was going on. Gya led them away from the crowd and Sam could hear the babble that broke out at their departure as the doors slid shut behind them and they made their way down the corridor.

Elizabeth recognised the room they were led into immediately. ‘This is the Hall of Records.’ She said indicating the circular platform with its control lectern.

‘Yes.’ Gya gestured at Elizabeth. ‘The control has been keyed to recognise you, Elizabeth when you step up to it.’

Elizabeth took a deep breath and stepped onto the lectern. A holographic image immediately snapped into view in the centre of the platform. ‘Oh my God.’ She muttered. ‘Janus.’

‘You recognise him?’ Sam asked moving to stand next to her. Her eyes swept over the elderly man in the hologram; he was tall and thin with white curly hair and expressive, mischievous eyes that looked so alive it was difficult to believe he wasn’t a living breathing being.

‘Yes.’ Elizabeth answered. ‘Janus is the Ancient who helped me, the other me, when she was sent back in time. But he went back to Earth. I don’t understand how he came to be here.’

‘Elizabeth,’ the hologram Janus began and wrested their attention, ‘if you are standing here listening to this holographic recording then everything I have seen for the future has come to pass.’ He smiled warmly. ‘Knowing you, you have many questions and I have left this recording hoping it will provide you with many answers.’ He took a breath. ‘Let me begin by explaining what happened to me when I left you in Atlantis what will be ten thousand years into your past. I lived on Earth for many years recreating my time travel technology. The Atlantean Council still disapproved of my work and I fled through the Stargate, finally settling on a planet in the Milky Way galaxy where for many years I observed the planet’s future. I admit I interfered. I wrote down the events on the walls around me allowing those who came to understand my language the ability to foresee events.’

‘Maybourne’s planet.’ Sam said in wonderment. ‘He’s talking about the planet where we discovered the time machine in the Milky Way.’

‘I was discovered by the Council and forced to abandon my time machine again.’ Janus continued. ‘But I already knew it was a necessary sacrifice; your current companion Samantha Carter and her team would discover it and use it to save the planet from the Goa’uld.’

‘Holy Hannah.’ Sam muttered.

‘I was exiled by the Council to live my life on a distant planet in the Milky Way where I eventually Ascended.’ Janus smiled wryly. ‘Unfortunately, as an Ascended Being I had as many problems with the rules as I had done in my former existence. I eventually came here.’ He waved around him. ‘To Amera and returned to human form.’ He grinned and wagged a finger at Elizabeth. ‘And no doubt, Elizabeth, your next questions will be where Amera is exactly, what is it and its relationship to Atlantis?’

Elizabeth felt her cheeks heat at the knowing look the hologram gave her.

‘Amera was a sister city to Atlantis, one of the first colonies we created in the Pegasus galaxy in a neighbouring system very close to Atlantis.’ Janus clasped his hands behind his back and continued. ‘There was a difference of opinion between the two ruling Councils of Atlantis and Amera over Ascension. Those who lived here in Amera came to believe Ascension was not the goal of one’s existence. They eschewed technological advances and sought a simpler existence. Eventually, the ruling Council in Atlantis granted the Amerans freedom and independence. Any mention of them was systematically removed from the database; it was to be as though they never existed.’

‘Nice.’ Sam commented.

Janus smiled sadly as though he had heard her. ‘It may seem harsh but it was as much for their protection as it was to cover the failing of the Council to sway the Amerans to their viewpoint; the Wraith had just become a threat.’ He sighed. ‘A shield hides Amera from view and there is little power routed to the Stargate which is no longer used hence they remain unknown to the Wraith till this day.’ He seemed to look directly at Elizabeth. ‘I know you probably hoped for another safe haven for your people, Elizabeth, but once you are gone, the Amerans will bury their Stargate.’

Elizabeth dropped her gaze.

‘Besides, there is a larger issue at stake.’ Janus said seriously.

‘A larger issue?’ Sam repeated.

‘I’m not sure I like the sound of that.’ Elizabeth said tiredly.

‘The reason why you’re here.’ Janus continued. ‘There is a spatial anomaly moving through sub-space; a massive energy disturbance. It will pass unnoticed for the majority of the universe but there are elements of our technology that interact with it on the subspace level. It touched the last Stargate in your bridge – very ingenious, by the way, Samantha – before Atlantis just after your gate ship passed through it.’

‘That must be what caused the wormhole to jump.’ Sam murmured.

‘It is moving toward Amera and will be here in another five of your days.’ Janus said formally. ‘When it comes into contact with the ZPM here it will cause a huge explosion. This planet will be destroyed.’ His face saddened. ‘I have witnessed this destruction in the future and I have returned to my past to ensure that it is not repeated as I once helped you, Elizabeth, ensure the future of Atlantis.’ He paused.

‘Your arrival in the future I witnessed was greeted with suspicion; the Amerans had long ago lost interest in the technology of their city and did not understand the danger that was about to come upon them. They realised too late that you had the knowledge and the understanding to assist them. I have ensured that in the future you will be welcomed as valued guests and all the city’s resources placed at your disposal. I could not do more without incurring the attention of the others or compromising the timeline but I have faith that you have the ability to avert this awful disaster.’ The holographic Janus smiled at them. ‘Good luck to you, Samantha.’ His eyes seemed to settle on the woman at the lectern with fondness. ‘ Elizabeth.’

The hologram vanished.

Part 2: Present Danger

Elizabeth stared at the empty space where the hologram of Janus had stood for a long moment before she stepped down from the lectern. She staggered a little and Sam immediately crossed over to support her.

‘You need to lie down.’ Sam said anxiously. ‘You probably have concussion.’

‘I’m fine.’ Elizabeth insisted.

Gya approached them cautiously. ‘May I?’

Elizabeth looked at her questioningly.

Gya smiled at her and raised her hand to Elizabeth’s head. She placed it over the bump and Elizabeth felt warmth spread across the band of pain washing it away. Gya lowered her hand.

‘Thank you.’ Elizabeth said bemused as her hand felt for the bump and discovered only smooth skin.

Sam peered at the injury and her mouth fell open a little. ‘It’s gone. That’s amazing.’ She snapped her gaze to Gya. ‘You have the power to heal.’ She had seen it before with a young Ancient woman they had revived in Antarctica and once when Jack had developed Ancient gifts after downloading an Ancient repository into his head.

‘Yes.’ Gya acknowledged it with a tilt of her head. ‘Many of our people have gifts.’

‘Then you must be on the path to Ascension.’ Elizabeth said puzzled.

‘Not all paths lead to Ascension.’ Gya said firmly.

‘Gya,’ Sam interrupted, ‘the hologram mentioned a spatial anomaly. Do you or your people know anything about it?’

‘We have only heard the stories left to us by the Ancestral Father.’ Gya said. She spread her hands. ‘He tells of a hidden ribbon of energy that moves beneath that would normally leave the universe above untouched but when it comes into contact with our power source it causes a massive explosion.’ Her face grew grave. ‘He talks of the Citadel itself obliterated with one fireball before the planet is consumed in fire.’ Her head tilted. ‘He also talks about the two of you, how you tried to save us and how you might have done so had we welcomed you.’ She smiled. ‘The tale of your coming has been passed down from generation to generation with the one truth that you will arrive to save us at the time of our greatest need.’

Sam and Elizabeth exchanged a look.

‘May we have a moment alone?’ Elizabeth asked politely.

‘Of course.’ Gya bowed her head and left the room without a further word.

Elizabeth sat down heavily on the platform. She pushed her hands through her dark hair.

Sam sat beside her, the P90 in her lap. ‘You said you knew this Janus guy?’

‘My counterpart was the one who knew him.’ Elizabeth explained. ‘I looked him up in the database after she told us the story. That’s how I recognised him.’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t help but feel this incredible bond with him though. It’s difficult to explain.’ She hugged her knees to her chest. ‘According to the other me, Janus was the reason why she was able to save us, save Atlantis when we first arrived. He helped her extend the power of the ZPMs, sorted out the stasis for her, ensured the city had a failsafe to rise from the ocean if the shield failed.’ She caught Sam’s sympathetic gaze. ‘We owe him everything.’

‘It’s no wonder you feel a bond.’ Sam commented. ‘He sounds like he was a good guy.’

‘She spoke about him with so much fondness.’ Elizabeth murmured. ‘It was like I was the one who knew him.’

Sam laid a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder briefly in comfort. ‘So he was probably telling the truth about this anomaly and about the version of the future he witnessed?’

Elizabeth nodded. ‘I think we have to trust he wouldn’t lie to us; to me.’ She sighed.

‘I don’t understand why he made us out to be Goddesses.’ Sam said confused.

‘I don’t think he did.’ Elizabeth said thoughtfully. ‘Ten thousand years is a long time. It’s probable the original message became distorted. Janus tells his people that in the future they are to welcome us because we might be able to save them but that simple message slowly erodes and we become goddesses sent by the Ancestral Father to save them.’

‘No pressure then.’ Sam quipped lightening the moment.

‘I don’t see that we have any choice.’ Elizabeth admitted. ‘If Janus recorded the truth in the holographic message to us then we have five days or less to stop this anomaly from destroying this planet and us with it.’

‘Maybe not.’ Sam suggested. ‘There may be other options.’

‘What are you thinking?’ Elizabeth asked seeing the other woman’s eyes focusing inward, no doubt turning the problem over in her head.

‘Stopping the anomaly is certainly one way of dealing with it.’ Sam said. ‘But even if we have access to the city’s systems, I may not be able to come up with a solution in time. We should think of…’

‘Evacuation.’ Elizabeth finished. ‘If we could get the Stargate to work…’

‘We could gate to Atlantis and take the Amerans with us.’ Sam agreed. ‘It might not be what Janus had in mind but we’d all still be alive.’

Elizabeth nodded. ‘I’ll talk to the Council.’

‘I’ll see if we can’t get the Stargate working.’ Sam pushed herself back to her feet and offered Elizabeth a hand, helping to pull the other woman to hers.

‘You should take this.’ Elizabeth handed Sam the zat gun.

‘I’d feel better if you kept it.’ Sam said.

‘I don’t think they’re going to harm us,’ Elizabeth said firmly, ‘and I can hardly begin negotiations carrying a weapon.’

Sam sighed at the resolute look on Elizabeth’s face and took the zat gun. She put it into the side holster on her leg. ‘If you need me click your radio.’

Elizabeth nodded. They walked out of the room and were relieved to see only a small group waiting for them.

‘Gya,’ Sam began, ‘is there a lab or a…’

‘Of course.’ Gya waved a hand at Ala. ‘My grand-daughter is a Guardian of the Ancestral technology. She will show you the way.’

‘Thank you.’ Sam murmured.

Ala waved a hand down the corridor and motioned for Sam to follow her. The colonel raised her eyebrows at Elizabeth and set off after the young woman. Elizabeth watched her go with concern.

‘You’re not going with her?’ Reta asked.

‘No.’ Elizabeth said. She turned to Gya. ‘I’d like to speak with the Ameran Council.’

‘Of course.’ Gya gestured. ‘Please come this way.’ She led the way back through the corridors and up the stairs to the room Elizabeth regularly used for briefings in Atlantis. ‘Please be seated. I will call the others.’ She swept out leaving Elizabeth alone.

Elizabeth sat down gingerly. It unnerved her how alike the two cities were and she felt a wave of homesickness for Atlantis and for her team. She rolled her shoulders and tried to relax. The doors opened and the Council members entered. Elizabeth rose to her feet as they all took seats around the table and waited until they all sat down together before resuming her own chair. She leaned forward across the smooth surface of the table and clasped her hands. ‘Thank you for agreeing to see me.’

‘I am Domu. We are honoured that you would wish to speak to us.’ A grey-haired rotund man spoke up first. ‘We have long awaited the day of your arrival.’

Elizabeth smiled tightly. ‘And we are pleased to offer your people our assistance.’

‘You will save us.’ Another woman said brightly.

‘Yes, about that.’ Elizabeth began. ‘I’ve seen the holographic message from Janus…’

‘The Ancestral Father.’ Domu interjected.

‘The Ancestral Father,’ Elizabeth confirmed turning to nod at him, ‘and I am concerned that his original belief about our ability to help you may have been overstated.’

The Council members exchanged confused looks. ‘But do you not have the knowledge of our Ancestral technology?’ One of them asked.

‘Well, yes…’

‘And the ability to help us prevent this disaster?’ Domu spoke again.

‘In all honesty, we don’t know.’ Elizabeth answered firmly. ‘Until Colonel Carter has had sometime to review any data on the anomaly, we really don’t know if we’ll be able to stop it at all.’

‘The Ancestral Father believed you had the ability within you to save us.’ Gya said comfortingly. ‘You just need to believe that too.’

‘We might not know yet whether we can stop the anomaly from destroying Amera,’ Elizabeth said trying an alternative tactic, ‘but we might be able to save your people anyway.’

There were more perplexed looks.

‘We don’t understand.’ Gya said. ‘If you cannot save Amera, how could you possibly save us?’

‘The Stargate,’ Elizabeth waved a hand, ‘the device you call the Astraportal. We may be able to route enough power to achieve a stable wormhole – a way to travel between this planet and another.’

‘Why would we want to do that?’ asked Domu aghast.

‘To evacuate.’ Elizabeth said persuasively. ‘We can transport all your people to safety.’

‘But where would we go?’

‘Atlantis.’ Elizabeth returned immediately.

Shock rippled across the faces of the Council.

‘It is forbidden.’ Gya said as though astonished Elizabeth wasn’t aware of the fact.

‘I don’t think you understand. Your shared ancestors – we call them the Ancients,’ Elizabeth paused realising for the first time she was sat with true descendants of the Ancients from Atlantis and had to take a breath, ‘they all left Atlantis a long time ago.’

‘We realise this.’ Gya said. ‘The Ancestral Father explained.’

‘So you must know that you could return there without fear of reprisal.’ Elizabeth argued.

‘We have no wish to return to Atlantis.’ Domu said brusquely. ‘It is our past. Amera is and always has been our future.’

‘We’re talking about saving all your people.’ Elizabeth said passionately. ‘Surely that is the most important thing.’

‘But there is a little purpose saving the people if we are to lose Amera.’ Gya replied.

‘Amera is just a city.’ Elizabeth said. ‘Surely if we can save the people…’

‘I’m sorry, Elizabeth,’ Gya said breaking into her impassioned speech, ‘but none of us can leave Amera.’

Elizabeth took a deep breath. She was obviously knocking her head against a brick wall following her current line of argument. She searched her mind for another line of attack and rested her hands flat on the table. ‘I don’t understand.’ She admitted. ‘Janus said in his message that you separated from Atlantis on a philosophical difference.’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, please,’ Elizabeth said exasperated, ‘explain it to me so I can understand why you won’t consider leaving.’

‘You know about our history?’ Gya asked. ‘How our ancestors came to travel to this galaxy?’

Elizabeth nodded slowly. ‘We found a reference on Earth that the Ancients were once from a distant place also called Amera; that they travelled to Earth to escape some kind of a religious crusade and that they left Earth for this galaxy following a plague.’

‘You are correct.’ Gya said gently. ‘The original Amerans argued over Ascension but the difference was always about how to achieve Ascension; Ascension was always the goal.’

‘Until the plague.’ Domu interrupted. He pinned Elizabeth with a hard stare. ‘The Ancients as you call them were convinced they could achieve Ascension through the use of technology. Our ancestors, the ones who founded this place, New Amera, believed Ascension was no more or less a way to simply achieve power.’

‘Which is why your ancestors eschewed technology.’ Elizabeth surmised.

‘Why we still do.’ Gya informed her with a smile. ‘If it wasn’t for the Ancestral Father’s warning that to allow the technology to fall into disrepair would add to the coming catastrophe we would not use it at all.’ She shifted her weight a little.

‘If Janus knew your people eschewed technology, why did he come here?’ Elizabeth wondered out loud.

‘We allow freedom of expression.’ Domu declared roundly. ‘The Ancestral Father knew he would be free to pursue his interests and he assumed guardianship for the technology here in the Citadel allowing us to remain hidden from the Wraith.’

‘I see.’ Elizabeth took a moment to assimilate the information and sighed. ‘I still don’t understand why you’re so against leaving.’

‘We do not believe Ascension is the goal,’ Gya said, ‘but as we have evolved here on Amera, we have come to realise our energy is all inter-connected.’ She gestured expressively. ‘Over the last ten thousand years, our lives have become as intertwined with that of the planet as the air we breathe.’ She held Elizabeth’s gaze. ‘If we were to leave, we would surely die as if we were stood on the planet itself as it exploded.’

Elizabeth sat back in her chair momentarily defeated. She hoped Sam was having better luck.

o-O-o

Sam looked around the room with a sense of disbelief. She had only been in the Atlantis ZPM room once before during a whistle-stop tour when SG1 had travelled with the Odyssey to the Pegasus galaxy but the similarity was disconcerting. She pulled her mind away from her memories and concentrated on establishing a connection between the Citadel’s computer and her laptop. She had so much experience at connecting alien technology she made it look easy but she was barely aware of Ala’s astonished expression as the displays on the Citadel’s monitors were duplicated on the small laptop screen. Sam allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction before she began to interrogate the database.

She struggled over the Ancient language a little and made mental notes as she went through hoping Elizabeth would be able to provide a better translation. She finally found the scans and diagnostics she was looking for and began to input her own requirements. She began with the long range sensors and set them the task of finding the anomaly; if she couldn’t get the Stargate working, understanding the anomaly was going to be the only way she could begin to formulate a plan to stop it from destroying the planet.

As soon as the scans were progressing, she turned her attention to what she had mentally dubbed ‘plan A’; fixing the Stargate. She frowned over the schematics and power readings. ‘This can’t be right.’ Sam muttered.

‘Is something wrong, Samantha?’ Ala inquired gently coming to stand beside the blonde woman a little apprehensively.

‘There’s no power going to the Stargate at all.’ Sam explained, her brow creasing with confusion.

‘We have no need to use the Stargate.’ Ala explained. ‘It is forbidden.’

‘According to these power readings, much of the Citadel is uninhabited too.’ Sam noted.

‘That is correct.’ Ala clasped her hands together. ‘The Ancestral Father told us to conserve all the available power we had.’

Sam checked the readings and moved to the ZPM station. She hit a panel and the three ZPMs rose from their compartments. She frowned and lifted the first up to examine it. It was long dead. The second was the same. Only the third gleamed with the inner light that indicated it was active.

Sam held up one of the dead ZPMs and looked over at Ala. ‘Do you have more of these?’ She asked hopefully.

Ala shook her head sending her brown hair swinging. ‘These are our last.’

Sam felt her heart sink. ‘And you don’t know how to make new ones?’

‘No.’ Ala confirmed, her fingers rubbing anxiously against each other. ‘We have been rotating them as directed by the Ancestral Father one at a time.’

‘It’s OK.’ Sam said reassuringly and inwardly hoped it was. She left the two dead ZPMs on the ground and replaced the active one. She briefly prayed the single ZPM would have enough power left for whatever plan they would be able to execute. She tapped in another command into her monitor and sighed in relief. The single ZPM was almost completely unused. ‘OK,’ she muttered, ‘we have power. Now we need to get it to the Stargate.’ Some of the conduits had been damaged, she mused, but she could reroute power around them.

‘For what purpose?’ Ala asked interested.

Sam paused in her typing. ‘Well, if we can get the Stargate to work, we can all leave before the planet is destroyed.’

‘But it is forbidden.’ Ala gasped.

Sam stopped completely and turned to look at her. ‘Really?’ She said in disbelief.

‘Yes. We cannot leave Amera.’ Ala said firmly. ‘It is not possible.’ Her dark eyes settled quizzically on Sam. ‘The Ancestral Father said you would save us.’

‘We’re going to try our best.’ Sam promised. She patted Ala’s hand and looked back at her monitor. She frowned. The long range sensors had found something. She abandoned the power rerouting and glanced over the results. Her eyes widened. She quickly tapped in another command and looked at the graphic with dismay.

‘What’s wrong?’ Ala asked seeing the flicker of worry on Sam’s face.

Sam looked over at the young woman and wondered how much she should tell her. ‘I’ve found the anomaly.’ She pointed at a thin white squiggly line on the monitor. ‘This is it. It’s in the next solar system to this one.’ The same solar system that housed the first gate in the intergalactic bridge after Atlantis, Sam considered. It looked like Janus had been right; the wormhole must have been affected by the anomaly and jumped to the next safe Stargate; the Ameran gate.

‘It looks so benign.’ Ala commented, her eyes on the white line.

‘Yes, it does.’ Sam murmured her eyes skipping down the series of data the sensors had picked up. ‘Unfortunately, it’s not as benign as it looks.’ She bit her lip. The anomaly was sending ripples of distortion through sub-space and it would easily destabilise a wormhole, Sam judged. The image flickered and refreshed itself; the line has inched closer to the Ameran system.

‘How will you stop it?’ Ala asked.

‘I don’t know.’ Sam admitted. Her eyes flickered to Ala again. ‘Yet.’ She tapped in another series of commands. ‘I need to run more scans and learn more about it.’

‘But you will be able to stop it?’

Ala’s worry had Sam’s head jerking back toward the Ameran woman. ‘Both Elizabeth and I will do everything we can to save your people, Ala. I promise.’

Ala nodded. ‘Is everything to your satisfaction?’ She waved a hand at the lab. ‘We have tried to maintain everything as the Ancestral Father requested but we do not understand much of how everything works anymore and…’

Sam reached out and took Ala’s hand cutting off the flow of words. ‘Everything is great, Ala. You did a good job.’

‘I’m scared, Samantha.’ Ala confessed lowering her eyes.

‘Me too.’ Sam admitted.

Ala’s eyes flew to hers. ‘But you are…’

‘Human.’ Sam said pointedly. ‘We just know a little more about this technology than you do because over time you’ve lost the knowledge of how to operate it while we’ve been gaining it. That’s all.’

Ala sighed. ‘You are not what I expected.’ She smiled. ‘I think I like you better than I thought I would.’

Sam returned her smile. ‘Thank you.’

‘Could you teach me?’ Ala asked eagerly gesturing at the consoles. ‘Could you teach me how this works?’

Sam squeezed her hand. ‘Sure. Come on.’ She shifted over to make room for Ala and quietly began explaining the scans that she had set-up. It was how Elizabeth found them a few hours later; one blonde head and one brunette bent over the laptop monitor immersed in the readings from the scans.

‘Hey.’ Elizabeth called from the doorway as she entered.

Sam’s head jerked up surprised; she hadn’t heard Elizabeth enter. ‘Hey.’ She answered. She stretched suddenly feeling the knots of tension that had developed in the muscles of her shoulders and back. She took in Elizabeth’s downhearted expression.

Ala looked from one woman to another. ‘Perhaps you would like some refreshments?’

‘That would be great.’ Sam smiled at Ala gratefully. ‘Thank you.’ She waited until Ala had left before she turned back to Elizabeth. ‘I take it the meeting with the Council didn’t go well?’

Elizabeth pulled a face. ‘They won’t leave.’ She sighed heavily and slumped into a chair beside Sam who sat down herself. ‘I won’t claim to understand it but apparently over the years their life-energy has intermingled with the planets and their lives are inextricably tied up with it.’ She rubbed the back of her neck. ‘If the planet is destroyed, they say they would die wherever they were when it happened.’ She frowned. ‘Is that even possible?’

‘Theoretically?’ Sam pressed her lips together as she turned the idea over in her head. ‘We know Ascension is a process of becoming pure energy and that the closer a person gets to Ascension the greater their ability becomes to manipulate the energy around them.’ She tapped the arm of her chair unconsciously. ‘Healing. Telekinesis. Mind-reading.’ She shrugged. ‘And we know from the Ori that they’ve discovered a way to drain energy from the lower planes to fuel their power. It’s not out of the realms of possibility that the Amerans have discovered a way to create an energy balance between themselves and the planet.’ She pursed her lips. ‘Actually, that might explain the unusual ecosystem here.’

‘There’s an unusual ecosystem?’ Elizabeth asked wearily.

Sam nodded. ‘Very. Given where we are on the planet, the core temperature of the planet, distance from the sun; we should be in the middle of an ice age.’

‘Oh.’

‘If the Amerans are in some kind of symbiotic relationship with the planet then they could be keeping everything in balance to ensure the weather is maintained at an optimum environment for their existence.’ Sam explained. ‘So they could be right about the energy transfer.’

‘Even if they’re not,’ Elizabeth said, ‘I wouldn’t want to risk it. Their belief is so strong that even if they are not physically connected with the planet, they might still die from a psychological belief that that is what will happen.’

Sam nodded in agreement. ‘It’s maybe just as well because I don’t think the Stargate will work.’

‘You can’t fix it?’

‘Well, fixing the power issue is relatively simple,’ Sam began and Elizabeth had the feeling she was understating the matter considerably, ‘but forming a stable wormhole could be difficult because of the anomaly.’ She gestured at her monitor.

‘What am I looking at?’ Elizabeth asked leaning forward eagerly.

Sam traced a finger over a series of dots on the screen. ‘This is the Ameran system and this,’ she tapped to the left of the dots, ‘is the Atlantis system.’

‘It’s that close?’ Elizabeth asked shocked.

‘It would still take us a good week to get there in a puddle-jumper without stopping.’ Sam said absently. She tapped to the right of the dots. ‘This is the system where the first gate in the bridge is located after Atlantis.’

‘And that white line…’ Elizabeth murmured. Her fingers reached out to trace over the squiggle criss-crossing the systems.

‘Is the anomaly.’ Sam confirmed. ‘From what I can see, it’s already causing a ripple effect through this whole region of sub-space.’ She circled the Ameran system and the adjoining system to its right. ‘The Citadel only has one working ZPM and it won’t provide enough power to the Stargate to punch through the disturbance.’ She bit her lip. ‘I have more bad news.’

‘More?’ Elizabeth rubbed her arms. ‘I don’t think I want to hear anymore bad news.’

Sam looked at her sympathetically. ‘We don’t have five days.’

‘But Janus said…’

‘I know.’ Sam said interrupting her. ‘But I’ve calculated the speed of the anomaly three times to be sure. At the rate it’s moving it should get here in within the day.’

‘Oh my God.’ Elizabeth said shocked.

‘It’s possible the changes that have happened in the timeline have meant the energy ribbon is moving faster now than it did before.’ Sam explained. ‘And it’s picking up speed.’

‘Is that…are we going to have enough time to stop it?’ Elizabeth asked.

Sam pulled a face. ‘Honestly. I don’t know.’ She gestured at her screen. ‘I’d better get back to this. The more I can find out…’

‘Of course.’ Elizabeth got to her feet. ‘I should inform the Council.’

‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea.’ Sam warned her.

‘They deserve to know what’s going to happen, Colonel.’

Sam registered the use of her rank. ‘With all due respect, Doctor Weir, informing them that the prophecy was incorrect may make our own presence here more precarious.’ She pointed out. ‘Their entire trust of us is based on what Janus has told them.’

‘We’ll just have to take that risk.’ Elizabeth said firmly. ‘If these people only have a few hours left then they should know so they can choose to spend those hours as they wish.’ It was the compassionate thing to do, she thought.

The military officer looked at her dubiously and shrugged. ‘It’s your decision, Doctor Weir.’ Sam said diplomatically.

‘Yes.’ Elizabeth stated. ‘It is.’ She turned and headed out of the lab before Sam could argue further.

Sam watched her go before she started back in on the scans. She had a feeling she would need to come up with a plan B and fast.

o-O-o

Elizabeth made her way to the briefing room – Council Chamber – she corrected mentally. It took a little while for her to gather everyone together again. Most of the Council seemed bemused that she had called them together for a second time.

Domu shifted restlessly in his chair. ‘I must protest at this constant interruption.’ He said forcefully. ‘The Council has other business to deal with it.’

Elizabeth took a deep breath and clasped her hands on the smooth table top. ‘I assure you, Domu, that I would not have pulled you away from your other business if this was not important.’

‘We know, Elizabeth,’ Gya said reassuringly, shooting Domu a warning look, ‘and please know that this is the most important Council business that we are dealing with at the present time.’

Domu gave a huff of impatience but he subsided. Gya nodded at Elizabeth.

‘As you know after our last meeting I went to consult with Colonel Carter…’

‘Samantha.’ Gya inserted.

‘Yes, Samantha.’ Elizabeth confirmed. ‘She has made some progress in identifying the anomaly.’

‘This is excellent news.’ Gya beamed at her.

‘Yes,’ Elizabeth said hesitantly, ‘but we’ve made a discovery that I’m afraid isn’t good news at all.’

The Council members exchanged worried looks.

Domu frowned. ‘What discovery?’

Elizabeth looked over at him with a serious expression. ‘Colonel Carter estimates that the anomaly will reach us in less than a day.’

‘But that cannot be right.’ Gya protested. ‘The Ancestral Father is always clear that the anomaly reaches us five days after your arrival.’

‘I know but it’s possible that the future Janus witnessed has been changed already by the events he set in motion.’

‘I do not see how.’ Domu blustered.

‘I’m sure Colonel Carter could explain it to you better,’ Elizabeth said firmly, ‘but Janus – the Ancestral Father – witnessed one possible timeline. When he came back in time and left the messages for your people and for us, he effectively changed that timeline.’ She took in their confused expressions. ‘The important problem to focus on right now is not why the anomaly is going to be here sooner than Janus predicted but that it is.’

‘According to you.’ Domu said bluntly.

‘Do you have a way to stop the anomaly?’ Gya asked ignoring her fellow Council member.

‘Colonel Carter is still working on a solution.’ Elizabeth said.

Domu harrumphed. ‘So you say.’

‘Domu,’ Elizabeth said addressing him directly, ‘I have no reason to lie to you.’

‘Perhaps you are not who we thought you were.’ Domu said harshly thrusting his finger in her direction. ‘You are certainly not goddesses.’

Elizabeth ignored the flicker of anger she felt. ‘We never claimed we were.’ She pointed out. ‘But we are trying to help.’

‘Help?’ Domu almost shouted the word which echoed around the large room. Elizabeth looked away from the anger that gleamed in his eyes. ‘You have done nothing.’ He gestured furiously at her. ‘You have done nothing but suggest we leave our planet and delved into our technology. Perhaps you are only here to steal our home from us.’

Elizabeth breathed in sharply and shook her head, her own eyes sparking with anger. ‘I assure you, Domu, that we arrived here purely by accident and we have no wish to steal anything from you.’ She lowered her voice. ‘I believed it was right to tell you this information because I wanted to be honest with you. If Colonel Carter cannot come up with a solution, your people may only have a little time left.’

‘And if you were really the goddesses the Ancestral Father spoke about, you would have a solution.’ Domu retorted getting to his feet. ‘You are imposters!’

‘Enough! Sit down, Domu.’ Gya snapped across the table. She laid her hands flat on the surface. ‘ Elizabeth, the Ancestral Father has always been right on these matters. Are you certain about this?’

‘We’re certain.’ Elizabeth answered immediately. ‘Colonel Carter ran her calculations several times.’

Gya folded her hands together. ‘You are still looking for a solution?’

‘We are.’ Elizabeth confirmed.

‘Then we shall waste no more of your time in debate.’ Gya’s eyes flickered to Domu who flushed. ‘I see little reason to inform our people until we know more.’ Her tone rang with finality and she stood up evidently dismissing the Council who one by one began filing out of the room.

Elizabeth waited until the room had emptied before she approached the older woman. ‘Thank you for your support.’ She said gratefully.

Gya reached out and clasped Elizabeth’s hand in hers. ‘Do not worry, Elizabeth. The Ancestral Father believed you could save us and I believe he was right.’

‘Even though he was wrong about how long the anomaly would take to get here?’ Elizabeth asked sceptically.

‘You are right; a lot can be changed in ten thousand years.’ Gya smiled. ‘But I still believe the essence of what the Ancestral Father said is true; you are here to save us.’

Elizabeth looked down for a moment overpowered by the look of belief in Gya’s eyes. ‘But we don’t have a solution.’

‘You will.’ Gya said simply.

‘I really wish I had the strength of your belief, Gya, I do,’ Elizabeth began, ‘and Colonel Carter is one of the most intelligent and gifted people I know, but this anomaly is like nothing we’ve seen before. We might not be able to stop it.’ She held Gya’s eyes solemnly. ‘We might not be able to save you.’

Gya squeezed Elizabeth’s hand. ‘You will save us, Elizabeth. Believe it as I know the Ancestral Father believed it to be true.’

Elizabeth managed a small smile before she gently pulled away and hurried from the room unaware of the lurking figure of Domu behind the door who had heard every word.

o-O-o

Sam muttered under her breath and absently reached for the cup beside her. She started to raise it to her lips her eyes still glued to the graphics on her laptop screen. Her gaze caught on a series of data and the cup stopped mid-way to her mouth; she lowered it back to the console. She bit her lip as she considered the figures for a moment and what they revealed. The anomaly was nothing more than a wave of energy that was held together by a certain sub-space frequency and if the numbers on her screen were right, she had just identified that specific frequency.

‘But how does that help us.’ She wondered out loud. She raised the cup again. Her brow furrowed as liquid failed to manifest and she jerked her gaze to the bottom of the empty cup with regret. She placed it back on the console and stretched, her gaze drifting first to Ala curled up asleep in the chair beside her and onto Elizabeth who was slumped over a second console behind them. A reluctant smile tugged on Sam’s lips. They had all been working constantly on analysing the data for the last twelve hours.

Sam stood up and stretched. Her body twinged and she grimaced. She needed a bathroom. She rubbed her lower back as she slipped from the room and headed for the facilities Ala had shown her hours before. Sam felt a little strange walking down the empty corridor but she found her way easily. She locked the door with relief and a few moments later exited the toilet to the large sink.

It amused her that bathrooms were bathrooms whether Ancient, Goa’uld or human in design. She turned on the water and washed her hands. She shook them free of excess moisture and caught a glimpse of her tired face in the polished metal above the sink. She winced at the dark shadows under her eyes and one of her fingers reached up to trace the lines at the edges. She filled the sink with water and splashed her face liberally. The startling cold was the jolt she needed and she reached blindly for the towel patting her face and hands dry.

Her blue eyes fell back to the water as she finished and took in the swirling waves in the small puddle left in the sink. She watched fascinated as one wave cancelled another and her mouth dropped open in startled realisation.

‘That’s it. One wave to cancel the other. Why didn’t I think of that before?’ She hurriedly emptied the sink, thrust the towel on the side and strode towards the door. She was about to open it when the sound of loud, angry voices and pounding footsteps outside made her hesitate. She frowned and waited for them to pass before she waved her hand at the controls and the door slid silently open. She peeked out.

She could see the back of a disappearing group. Her eyes registered the weapons they held and she coolly noted they were headed for the ZPM lab. They didn’t look like a greeting party either. She cursed inwardly at leaving the P90 with the rest of her belongings in the lab as she checked her belt for the knife she carried. Her eyes caught on the zat in her leg holster and she gave silent thanks as she felt its familiar and reassuring weight in her hand. She crept forward, careful to maintain a distance between her and the group ahead before she slipped down an adjoining corridor to enable her to enter from a different doorway, hopefully in surprise. The doorway was already open and she held her position just outside straining to hear. She slid down into a crouch and glanced into the lab.

‘What’s going on?’ Elizabeth looked dazed at the small group who had wrenched her from her doze. Her startled eyes landed on Domu who was clearly leading the five men and women. ‘Domu?’

‘Where is the other one?’ Domu asked brusquely. He gestured at Sam’s abandoned laptop as one of his team pushed Ala from her chair to stand by Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looked around, her dark hair bobbing around her shoulders. ‘I don’t know.’ She said slowly. She returned her gaze to Domu, her eyes flickering over the small weapon he held. ‘What’s going on here, Domu?’

‘What is going on is that you are going to leave.’ Domu said forcefully.

‘But they are here to save us.’ Ala said confused. ‘The Ancestral Father…’

‘I do not believe that the Ancestral Father meant these women would save us.’ Domu waved his weapon at Elizabeth who stiffened at his harsh expression.

‘Then who, Domu?’ Elizabeth retorted quickly. ‘You know our names are the same as those told to you by the Ancestral Father. The anomaly is on its way. We are the ones the Ancestral Father spoke about; we are the ones who will save you.’

‘You don’t believe that anymore than I do.’ Domu said forcefully. ‘I heard you speaking with Gya.’

‘I’m not denying I had my doubts, Domu, but Gya told me to have faith and we’ve been working hard to discover as much about the anomaly as we can.’ Elizabeth argued.

‘Which is why you were sleeping and your partner in crime is missing.’ Domu snapped.

‘That is unfair.’ Ala objected. She blushed as Domu glared at her and lowered her gaze respectfully. ‘I’m sorry but both Elizabeth and Samantha have been working very hard to understand the anomaly.’

‘But they have not come up with a solution yet, have they?’ Domu mocked her gently. ‘You are young, Ala. You do not understand these matters.’

‘I have seen them working every minute to try to save us.’ Ala said heatedly. ‘The Ancestral Father believed in them and I do too.’ She gestured at the consoles and debris of their hard work. ‘They understand this technology in a way that we do not. If they cannot save us, I do not know who will.’

‘Listen to her, Domu.’ Elizabeth said. ‘We are not your enemy.’

‘We eschewed technology long ago because we did not believe in it.’ Domu growled. ‘I will not believe that it will save us now.’

‘The Ancestral Father…’ Ala began.

‘The Ancestral Father may have lied.’ Domu shouted waving his weapon wildly. ‘What do we know of him anyway? He was an Ancient only interested in technology.’

His words caused a stir of consternation in the small group who were with him.

‘Your words are blasphemous, Domu.’ Ala said shocked.

Elizabeth took a step forward and stopped abruptly as Domu raised his weapon. She held up both her hands. ‘Domu, please. This is exactly what the Ancestral Father was trying to prevent; you treating us with suspicion and preventing us from helping you.’

His gun wavered and Elizabeth held his gaze entreatingly.

‘Please.’ She said again.

Domu’s lips firmed and she saw his decision in his cold blue eyes. She shook her head in denial as the weapon fired.

Sam threw herself at Elizabeth sending them to the ground with a bump as she triggered the zat simultaneously. The blue energy shot out and hit Domu squarely. He fell to the floor writhing. Sam didn’t wait; she was already back on her feet and kicking his weapon from his hand.

Ala swept her hand at the remainder of Domu’s group and their weapons were yanked out of their hands through the power of her telekinesis. Sam pointed her zat gun at them just as Gya entered the lab with a troop of men behind her. Her eyes took in the situation in a glance.

‘Take them!’ Gya ordered briskly waving at the group who had followed Domu. The Council woman stooped by her fellow Council member and Sam lowered her weapon as she reached down to pull a winded Elizabeth to her feet.

‘Are you alright?’ She asked.

‘No. I’m not.’ Elizabeth said trying to catch her breath. ‘But thank you.’

Sam nodded and turned back to Gya who had stood up and was looking at the unconscious Domu with concern. ‘He’ll be OK.’ Sam reassured her. ‘The weapon only stuns.’

‘Yes.’ Gya met her eyes squarely. ‘I have decided to leave him that way so you can continue to work.’ She gestured at the troops who removed Domu from the lab.

‘Thank you.’ Sam said.

‘Yes. Thank you.’ Elizabeth echoed gratefully. ‘Both of you.’ She reached out and squeezed Ala’s arm. ‘I’m just sorry we haven’t been able to come up with something.’

‘Actually, we have.’ Sam corrected her. ‘I have an idea.’

‘You do?’ Elizabeth said blinking back her surprise.

‘I do.’ Sam grinned. ‘I think I know how to stop the energy ribbon from destroying Amera.’ She was already moving back towards her laptop. ‘We need to send an opposing wave of energy back towards it through sub-space that will cancel it out.’

Elizabeth sat down heavily rubbing the side of her hip which had impacted with the floor. ‘OK.’

Gya bowed her head. ‘I will give the good news to our people and I will leave you to your work.’

Sam looked up at her somberly. ‘It’s going to be close.’ She warned.

Gya simply smiled back at her and left.

The next couple of hours were spent in a whirlwind of activity as Sam modified the shield to send a pulse of energy back through sub-space. She and Ala calculated and recalculated the speed of the anomaly. Eventually, they stood ready around the ZPM console.

‘Ready?’ Sam asked Elizabeth.

‘Ready.’ Elizabeth agreed.

Sam pressed the button. The console crackled with bright yellow energy; bolts running over the surface and sparking off the surface, causing all three women to stand back hastily as the energy dissipated. Sam grabbed her laptop. ‘The shield has emitted a pulse of energy through sub-space as planned.’ She confirmed.

‘I think we all saw that.’ Elizabeth noted dryly. ‘Has it worked?’

Sam scowled. ‘Damn.’

‘What?’ Elizabeth demanded craning to see the screen.

Sam’s mouth went dry as she studied the results of her plan; she went over them a second time; a third.

‘Sam?’ Elizabeth said worriedly. She placed a hand on the blonde’s shoulder. ‘Didn’t it work?’

‘The anomaly won’t destroy Amera.’ Sam confirmed.

Ala gave a cry of joy; she hugged an unresponsive Sam before she ran out shouting; carrying the news to the Council and waiting crowd.

‘Isn’t that good news?’ Elizabeth asked anxiously sensing there was something Sam wasn’t saying.

Sam’s frantic blue eyes met Elizabeth’s. ‘We couldn’t get enough power to the energy pulse the shield generated.’

‘So?’

‘So the anomaly wasn’t dissipated as I hoped.’ Sam said. She swallowed hard. ‘I only managed to divert its course.’

‘I don’t understand, Sam.’ Elizabeth said quietly not liking the lurking horror she could see in the other woman’s eyes.

Sam cleared her throat. ‘Amera is safe but in less than twenty-four hours, the anomaly will destroy Atlantis.’

Part 3: Past Corrections

Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak and closed it again. Her hand crept to her throat. ‘Are you certain?’ She managed eventually.

‘Yes.’ Sam felt her knees tremble and she searched for the chair behind her. She sat down heavily. She’d just destroyed Atlantis. There were over two hundred personnel in the expedition…all gone because of her; she had pressed the button.

‘There has to be some mistake.’ Elizabeth grabbed the laptop from Sam’s numb fingers and looked uncomprehendingly at the screen, at the squiggly white line creeping towards the Atlantis system. She shoved the laptop on the console and whirled back to Sam. ‘We have to warn them.’

Sam shook her head. ‘The long range communications array here is completely ruined.’ She ran a hand through her shaggy blond hair, her mind already turning to the problem, running through options and discarding them. ‘We can’t even contact them through the Stargate; the anomaly will still be causing issues with connecting a stable wormhole.’ Her sad eyes met Elizabeth’s. ‘I’m sorry.’

Elizabeth felt her throat close up. Atlantis; John, Teyla, Rodney, Carson, Ronon and so many others. They would all be destroyed. Her chest constricted; her head pounded. ‘I need some air.’ She muttered before she all but ran from the room, down through the corridors, past the celebrating Amerans. Her feet found their way through the familiar yet different passageways until she reached the operations room and found her way out to the balcony. She collapsed against the railing; the wind whipped her hair around her face as she gasped in lungful after lungful of air. Thoughts of Atlantis and her team rampaged through her mind, collided into each other, half-finished and chaotic…

Her first meeting with John in Antarctica; the memory of him sitting in the chair, his ability to use the Ancient technology as natural to him as breathing and whose talent as a military leader was developing all the time…who had tamed Ronon, a tough, relentless warrior who would follow John anywhere…

Teyla; the beautiful Athosian, a warrior princess with a pure heart and fellow leader, someone who understood the challenges of command and leading men; dealing with the boys and Rodney…

The thought of the scientist made the breath catch in her throat and she clasped her hand over her mouth. Rodney with all his quirks and foibles but who had so much courage and deserved his self-proclaimed status as a genius…but so too was Zelenka…and Carson…

A sob escaped her at the thought of the gentle Scot who kept them all patched up and sane. The friend who had reached out to her in her depression when the Ancients had briefly reclaimed Atlantis and dragged her out to socialise with the others…

All would be gone when the anomaly reached Atlantis.

Her legs wouldn’t hold her any longer and she sagged to the floor. She rested her back against the railing and stared up at the night sky through blurred vision. Her hands swiped at her wet cheeks. She was barely aware of the door opening and Sam walking over to her, sitting beside her, until the other woman spoke her name. She shifted her head and looked at the devastated blonde. Her hand groped outward and a moment later it was clasped warmly.

‘I’m so sorry.’ Sam said softly, her lip trembled slightly giving away her own tumultuous emotions.

Elizabeth shook her head and brushed the back of her free hand beneath her nose. ‘This isn’t your fault.’ Her fingers tightened on Sam’s hand. ‘You couldn’t have known.’ She sniffed as a thought occurred to her. ‘Maybe they won’t be destroyed.’ She turned eagerly to Sam. ‘They’ll be able to spot the anomaly. The long range sensors are working perfectly with three ZPMs.’

‘Maybe.’ Sam suggested hopefully.

‘And Rodney’s just as smart as you.’ Elizabeth continued blithely.

Sam gave a half-smile but nodded. ‘He is. He’ll be able to come up with a plan.’ She sighed. ‘If they tried ours with three ZPMs it should work. We just didn’t have enough power.’ The guilt returned edging her tone. ‘I should have run more simulations before we tried it.’ She muttered. Her eyes searched the sky as though the stars would provide an answer to assuage the nagging shame that filled every pore.

‘It’s a miracle it worked at all.’ Elizabeth assured her. ‘You were barely able to make the shield modifications in time.’

Sam’s head snapped up; her eyes wide with startled realisation. ‘That’s it.’

‘What?’ Elizabeth asked seeing the excitement race across Sam’s delicate features.

‘Time.’ Sam turned to her enthusiastically. ‘Didn’t Janus say he had gone to the future and seen what would happen with the anomaly? How it destroyed Amera so he returned to the past to fix it.’

‘Yes.’ Elizabeth agreed hesitantly. She had no idea where Sam was going with her comments.

‘So if he was able to travel in time he had to have a time machine here.’ Sam pointed at the Citadel behind him.

‘A time machine.’ Elizabeth repeated.

‘A time machine.’ Sam confirmed excitedly. ‘If we can use it…’

‘We can go back in time.’ Elizabeth began to smile and she couldn’t resist reaching over and hugging the military officer who hugged her back just as forcefully. Elizabeth pulled away to grin at her. ‘We can stop any of this from happening.’

Sam’s face sobered and she shifted away from Elizabeth. ‘Well, not exactly.’

‘Not exactly?’ Elizabeth questioned.

‘We have to be careful not to disturb too much of the causality otherwise we might do more harm to the timeline than good.’ Sam said firmly. Her fingers tapped restlessly on her thigh. ‘We have to consider what the best plan is.’

‘OK.’ Elizabeth agreed readily. ‘As long as we save Atlantis.’

Sam nodded and stood up. She reached down with a hand and Elizabeth grasped it gratefully as Sam pulled her to her feet.

‘First,’ Sam said with a wry smile, ‘we have to find the time machine.’

o-O-o

In the end, finding the time machine wasn’t as difficult as they had anticipated; the jumper bay was almost completely empty. There were three jumpers in total left in the bay. One was completely non-functional; the second was as damaged as their own which remained outside the Stargate and the third…Sam recognised the modifications immediately.

‘This is it.’ She said confidently as she strode into the machine.

Elizabeth took in the central console in the back of the jumper. ‘Is that…?’

‘The device that allows time travel.’ Sam nodded. She was already trying to power the jumper up; accessing control panels and the internal crystals of the machine. ‘We don’t really understand how it works yet. The project at Area 51 hasn’t managed to do anything more than figure out some of the command pathways.’

‘So we’re not going to be able to use it?’ Elizabeth asked tentatively.

‘Well, we don’t have to understand it to use it.’ Sam pointed out as she dug into her retrieved backpack and brought out her laptop. She started to connect it to the jumper. ‘Apparently we already have used it successfully in the past.’

‘Huh?’ Elizabeth asked as she sat down on a bench and watched Sam work.

‘The ZPM we sent Atlantis.’ Sam muttered. ‘We used the time machine we found in the Milky Way galaxy to get it.’

Elizabeth frowned in confusion as she rolled her tensed shoulders. ‘I thought it was found on a dig in Egypt?’

‘It was,’ Sam confirmed, ‘along with a video recorder.’

‘A video recorder?’ Elizabeth gave a sharp laugh. ‘You’re kidding.’

‘Nope.’ Sam said as she examined one of the flat clear panels. ‘Supposedly we – I mean, SG1 – went back in time, found the ZPM in Ancient Egypt and left it in a location where Daniel knew there would be a dig.’

‘Wow.’ Elizabeth murmured.

‘Well, it wasn’t us, really.’ Sam said gesturing with a screwdriver. ‘Because we went to the past and changed the timeline so the ZPM would be found, we didn’t actually have to go to the past.’

‘That’s confusing.’ Elizabeth said crossing her arms.

‘Can you pass me the cable?’ Sam pointed to the one she wanted and Elizabeth reached across to hand it to her. ‘It’s not really anymore confusing than your own trip to the past.’ She said returning to their conversation.

‘I guess not.’ Elizabeth said. ‘At least you didn’t meet your past self.’

‘Just saw them on video.’ Sam said lightly. She looked over at Elizabeth. ‘That was pretty weird. I can’t imagine actually seeing myself in person, watching myself…uh…’

‘Die?’ Elizabeth suggested dryly. ‘It was…’ she searched for a word to describe the experience and settled for the one Sam had used; ‘weird.’

‘Anyway,’ Sam said, ‘because of the video I know we managed to get the time machine to work.’

‘Which is why you think we should be able to use this time machine.’ Elizabeth concluded.

‘I’m just hoping it will work for someone who has the gene artificially.’ Sam said. ‘It was General O’Neill who operated the time machine in the other trip.’ She sighed and looked at Elizabeth. ‘I’m going to need to look at the other jumpers and see if I can find some replacement parts for this one otherwise we’re not going anywhere.’

‘How long do you think it will take you to get it operational?’ Elizabeth asked.

Sam bit her lip and hooked her hands into her pockets. ‘A couple of days.’

‘But Atlantis will have been destroyed by then.’ Elizabeth protested.

‘It doesn’t matter.’ Sam said.

‘Doesn’t matter?’ Elizabeth’s voice rose in the small compartment.

‘Time machine.’ Sam said pointedly gesturing around them. ‘Even if it takes us a week we can still go back in time and if Atlantis is destroyed, we can correct it.’ She waved a hand at Elizabeth. ‘And if Atlantis isn’t destroyed and they stop the anomaly themselves, we can simply use the jumper to get home.’

‘Without going back in time?’ Elizabeth checked.

Sam shrugged. ‘If Atlantis manages to stop the anomaly, there won’t be a need for the time travel.’

‘But we could go back and stop it from being diverted there in the first place.’ Elizabeth objected.

‘How?’ Sam asked crossing her arms and regarding Elizabeth with scepticism. ‘The only way to prevent the anomaly from being diverted to Atlantis is to allow Amera to be destroyed. There isn’t enough power here to destroy the anomaly completely and I don’t know of anything else that will destroy it without needing just as much power as the plan we have already.’ She sighed. ‘If Atlantis manages to deal with the anomaly without us having to do anything, then the best thing for the timeline is to do nothing.’

‘OK.’ Elizabeth reluctantly agreed. ‘But if they don’t…’

‘We go back in time and fix it.’ Sam agreed. ‘I’d better take a look at those other jumpers. We have a lot of work to do either way.’

The hours slipped away; Elizabeth could hardly believe Sam’s stamina as she worked non-stop on the time machine, repairing broken panels and rerouting power. The grateful Amerans brought them whatever they needed including the abandoned supplies from the jumper the two women had abandoned outside the Stargate. Twenty-four hours after they had saved Amera they stopped to watch how Atlantis fared using the long range sensors. They hovered around Sam’s laptop screen with anxious eyes and watched helplessly as Atlantis was destroyed. It seemed like the anomaly had taken them by surprise; there had been no attempt made to prevent the disaster.

Sam placed a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder. The brunette was clearly shaken. ‘We’re going to fix this.’ She reminded her.

Elizabeth fierce gaze met Sam’s. ‘Yes. We are.’

It was a tired but satisfied Sam who two days later proclaimed the time machine ready. They flew it out of the Citadel and placed it directly in front of the Stargate. A small contingent of Amerans accompanied them to say goodbye.

Gya smiled warmly at them. ‘We have no words to thank you.’

‘There’s no need.’ Elizabeth replied stepping forward to clasp Gya’s hands in her own. ‘I only wish the relationship between our two peoples could continue.’

‘Perhaps one day.’ Gya said.

Elizabeth stepped back. ‘Thank you for all your help and for your kindness.’

‘It was the least we could do.’ Gya murmured. ‘We have survived at the cost of your own people but I know you will save them yet.’

‘How do you know that?’ Elizabeth asked seeing the complete certainty in Gya’s eyes.

‘Because you saved us who you didn’t know at all.’ Gya cupped Elizabeth’s cheek in her palm. ‘How can you not save those you love?’

Elizabeth nodded and impulsively hugged the older woman. Sam gave a respectful nod to Gya and smiled broadly at Ala. It was time to go. They turned away to board the time machine, the ramp slowly closed behind them as they took their seats. Sam powered up the machine and checked the readings.

Sam turned to Elizabeth. ‘OK. I think we’re good to go. Do you need to go over the plan?’

Elizabeth shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. We’re going to go back in time ten thousand years first because the time machine doesn’t work in short jumps but then we’ll come forward to a point in time just over two weeks ago.’

‘Two weeks should give us enough time to travel with the jumper to Atlantis across space without using the Stargate.’ Sam concluded.

‘Which we can’t because the Ameran gate doesn’t work and wouldn’t even if we fixed it because of the power issues.’ Elizabeth recited. ‘Are you sure two weeks is long enough?’

Sam nodded. ‘It gives us time to stop for rests.’ She gestured at the jumper. ‘It’s not really designed for long term travel.’ She adjusted her position. ‘But we should aim to arrive at the same point we would have done if we hadn’t been diverted.’

‘Which will give us almost forty-eight hours to make the shield modifications to handle the anomaly and save Atlantis.’ Elizabeth finished. ‘OK.’ She let out a slow breath. ‘Let’s do this.’ Her eyes remained firmly forward glued to the front windshield and the party of Amerans in front of the Stargate.

‘OK.’ Sam said quietly. She closed her eyes and concentrated on initiating the time machine, of travelling back ten thousand years. A power surge around her had her eyes flying open.

‘Oh my God.’ Elizabeth leaned forward over the controls and stared out of the jumper. The Amerans had disappeared and in their place stood a lone man; tall, thin with brown hair and twinkling brown eyes.

‘Janus.’ Elizabeth said stunned. ‘It’s Janus.’

The Ancient saluted them and Elizabeth returned it clumsily.

‘We should go.’ Sam said gently.

‘But we could stay and talk with him.’ Elizabeth suggested half-rising from her seat.

Sam pushed her back down with a firm hand. ‘Causality.’ She said softly. ‘We have to protect the timeline.’ She gave her own nod of thanks to Janus and closed her eyes to take them back to the future.

Another power surge.

She opened her eyes and looked out at the empty space in front of them.

‘Did we do it?’ Elizabeth asked anxiously.

Sam tilted her head and checked the sensor readings. ‘I think so. The anomaly is just entering the other system and…’ she peered out of the windshield where the wreckage of their jumper had been, ‘we haven’t arrived yet.’ She started to take the jumper up into space, cloaking as they skimmed past clouds and into sky.

‘It worked.’ Elizabeth said in disbelief.

Sam grinned at her. ‘Yes. It worked.’ Her smile turned grim. She only hoped the rest of the plan worked as well.

o-O-o

The trip from the Ameran system to the Atlantis system was difficult. Sam hadn’t been joking when she’d commented that the jumper wasn’t equipped to handle a long space flight. The practicalities of eating, sleeping and dealing with the normal bodily functions were all fairly grim. A bucket in the back of the jumper served as an emergency toilet especially in the space between the two systems when they couldn’t set the jumper down on a planet for two days. The benches in the back served as beds and they took turns; Sam would fly while Elizabeth slept and Elizabeth kept watch in the stationary jumper when Sam would sleep. Food was plentiful – the Amerans had been generous in providing them with enough water and dried goods to last the trip – but after a few days the lack of variation in their diet had both women grimacing at meal times; they realised after the first week that both of them had lost weight. A meteor storm caused them to make a day’s diversion but the trip was otherwise made without mishap. The sight of Atlantis in the distance was a godsend to both women and gave them a surge of renewed energy.

Sam took the jumper into a geosynchronous orbit with the city as she began making sensor readings. She had tracked the anomaly throughout their journey and she figured that they were a day behind schedule but still ahead of the anomaly itself. She should have plenty of time to make the adjustments to the shield. Her mind had already refined her previous plan and she figured with the power from all three ZPMs, they could destroy the anomaly once and for all. She nodded at Elizabeth and opened up their communications.

‘Atlantis, this is Doctor Weir. Do you read me?’ Elizabeth said authoratively. The city wasn’t cloaked which suggested they hadn’t spotted the jumper’s approach.

There was a deafening silence in the cockpit.

‘We’ve probably arrived quite some time after we were expected.’ Sam said calmly. ‘They may think this is a trick.’

Elizabeth cleared her throat. ‘Atlantis, this is Doctor Weir. Colonel Carter and I are in a cloaked jumper in geosynchronous orbit with the city. You should be able to verify our position with the sensors and confirm my identity with my voice print on file. Contact us when you are…’

‘Elizabeth?’ Sheppard’s voice crackled out of the radio. ‘Where the hell have you been?’

Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes briefly. There had been a part of her insanely worried that they would arrive at Atlantis too late to save them; that they would all be dead anyway. ‘It’s a long story, John.’

‘Colonel Sheppard, this is Colonel Carter.’ Sam spoke up. ‘We have an urgent situation we need to brief your team on; permission to approach.’

‘Permission…’ Sheppard began. He was cut off suddenly.

Elizabeth and Sam looked at each other in surprise.

The radio crackled to life again.

‘Sorry about that, Colonel.’ Sheppard said tightly. ‘We’d like to take some precautions down here. I’m sure you both understand.’

‘Understood.’ Sam agreed crisply.

‘Colonel Carter, this is Colonel Caldwell. You are to decloak and maintain position. Two 302s will escort you to the North pier.’ The commander of the Daedalus sounded pissed as though he had lost an argument.

‘Please make this quick, Steven.’ Elizabeth said urgently. ‘We’re on something of a tight deadline.’

‘We’ll be as quick as we can.’ Sheppard assured her.

Sam decloaked and waited. Ten minutes later they spotted the 302s leaving the Deadalus. They formed an escort as they descended to Atlantis in the jumper, landing on the North pier with a gentle bump. Sam grabbed her gear leaving the weapons in the jumper; Elizabeth was already hurrying out. Sam watched with amusement as the other woman hugged a bemused Sheppard and even more bemused Caldwell before moving onto the other members of the Atlantis team; Teyla, Ronon, McKay who patted her awkwardly on her back and Beckett whose face shone with concern as his eyes examined her intently.

‘It’s so good to see you all.’ Elizabeth said finally stepping back, her eyes glimmered with tears, the memory of Atlantis’s destruction and losing them all too vivid in her mind for distance.

‘It’s good to see you too.’ Sheppard said with a wary expression.

‘What happened?’ McKay jumped in before Caldwell could speak. ‘We were expecting you almost twenty-four hours ago.’

‘One of the gates was hit by a sub-space anomaly as we went through.’ Sam replied. ‘The wormhole…’

‘Jumped. Of course it did.’ McKay nodded and gestured at everyone around him. ‘That’s what I said. Didn’t I say the wormhole must have jumped?’ He sounded peeved like he hadn’t been believed.

‘Yes, Rodney. You did.’ Teyla soothed him.

‘But it’s light years to the nearest gate.’ McKay’s mind was already leaping ahead. He gestured at them. ‘How did you get here so fast?’

‘That’s a good question.’ Caldwell crossed his arms, his face a stern demeanour that reminded Sam of one of her academy instructors.

‘Perhaps we should take this to the briefing room.’ Elizabeth said taking charge. ‘We don’t have a great deal of time.’

‘You’ve said that a couple of times now.’ Sheppard noted. ‘We don’t have a great deal of time before what?’

‘Before Atlantis is destroyed.’ Elizabeth said clearly. ‘Now we need to get to the briefing room so we can brief you all properly.’ She took a step forward intent on leading the way into the city when a Marine stepped forward. She stopped and looked at Sheppard.

‘You’ve been missing.’ Sheppard pointed out. ‘We need to…’

‘Check we are who we say we are.’ Elizabeth snapped. ‘Yes. I know. I wrote the protocol.’

‘Then you won’t mind if we verify your identity.’ Caldwell stated.

‘We don’t have time.’ Elizabeth objected.

‘And if it was one of us and you were standing where we are?’ Caldwell asked bluntly.

‘I’d follow protocol.’ Elizabeth admitted frustrated. ‘But…’

‘Doctor Weir,’ Teyla interrupted her, ‘if time is a factor perhaps it would be quicker to comply with the protocol rather than waste any additional time arguing about it.’

‘Or,’ Sam suggested, ‘perhaps we can brief you while Doctor Beckett confirms our identities.’

‘Now that’s a plan.’ Sheppard said with a quick grin.

Elizabeth gave in. ‘Fine.’ She glared at the Marine and then at Sheppard. ‘Shall we?’

Sheppard nodded and the Marine moved aside. They all began the walk into the city. Elizabeth and Sam were diverted to the infirmary for blood tests. They both sat through the tests impatiently before they were escorted to the briefing room.

‘OK,’ McKay said impatiently as they settled into their seats and before Sheppard could begin, ‘what’s going on?’

‘Start at the beginning.’ Sheppard advised.

‘Like how you got here in a jumper without coming through the Stargate.’ Caldwell added.

Elizabeth clasped her hands on the table and looked at her team, vaguely aware of Sam opening her laptop and bringing up the relevant data to share with them. ‘As you know Colonel Carter and I were travelling through the intergalactic bridge when the wormhole jumped.’ She took a breath. ‘We were expelled through a Stargate on a neighbouring system to Atlantis, on a planet called Amera. It was one of the first colonies the Ancients made when they came to the Pegasus galaxy.’

‘A colony? Really?’ McKay leaned forward over the table. ‘But there isn’t any record in the database.’

‘The Amerans and the Ancients had a disagreement over Ascension and the Amerans went their own way. The Ancients erased them from the database believing they were protecting the Amerans from the Wraith.’ Elizabeth explained. ‘The Amerans don’t believe in using technology…’

‘Woah.’ McKay waved his hands above his head. ‘You met them? Real life descendants of the Ancients?’

‘Yes.’ Elizabeth said shortly.

‘They aren’t coming here though? Are they?’ McKay asked worriedly. ‘I mean we’ve only just got the city back and…’

‘No, Rodney.’ Elizabeth said forcefully. ‘They’re not coming here.’

‘Oh. Good. Well, not that it wouldn’t have been good to have met them but good in that…’

‘McKay!’ Sheppard snapped exasperated. ‘Shut up!’ He sent him a hard stare to back up the order.

McKay subsided; a little sheepish and a little put out as his huffy expression gave away.

‘The anomaly that caused the wormhole to jump,’ Sam began, ‘was also heading for the Ameran’s planet.’ She pushed her laptop over to McKay who reached for it eagerly. ‘It’s an energy ribbon that moves through sub-space. When it comes into contact with a ZPM the colliding particles cause a massive explosion.’

‘That’s not good.’ Sheppard commented.

‘Not good?’ McKay blurted out. ‘It’s a disaster. I mean, these readings are incredible. They’re…’

‘McKay!’ Sheppard’s sharp use of his name had McKay retreating to mutter over Sam’s data.

‘We stopped the anomaly from destroying Amera.’ Elizabeth said nervously. ‘But it had an unfortunate side-effect.’

‘The plan was to send a corresponding pulse of energy out through sub-space using the shield.’ Sam explained. ‘This pulse is set at a specific frequency that disrupts the frequency that is holding the energy ribbon of the anomaly together which means…’

‘The energy would be dissipated harmlessly into sub-space.’ McKay finished staring at her. ‘That’s brilliant.’

‘Thank you.’ Sam acknowledged the praise tightly. ‘Unfortunately, the Amerans only had one ZPM. There wasn’t enough power. The pulse simply managed to divert the anomaly onto a different course.’ She grimaced. ‘It’s on its way here.’

‘Oh that’s just great.’ McKay said sarcastically. ‘You didn’t think we had enough problems to deal with? You wanted to send us another.’

‘It was an accident.’ Sam pointed out furiously.

‘That doesn’t explain how you got here so fast.’ Ronon spoke up. He had remained standing, slouched against the wall behind Teyla.

Sam took a deep breath. ‘The jumper we arrived in is a time machine.’

‘A time machine?’ McKay looked as though he didn’t know what he wanted to do most; jump up and run out to check or stay and hear the rest of the briefing.

‘Yes.’ Elizabeth said.

Caldwell shook his head. ‘You really expect us to believe this?’

‘We have had experience of time travel before.’ Elizabeth said firmly.

‘She’s right.’ Sheppard said supportively.

Sam cleared her throat. ‘We saved the Amerans just under twenty-four hours after arriving on their planet. Twenty-four hours later, we watched on the long range sensors as Atlantis was destroyed by the anomaly.’

Shock and disbelief raced across the faces of the Atlantis team.

‘But we’re all still here.’ Sheppard pointed out bemused.

‘Because the anomaly hasn’t reached here yet.’ Sam said. ‘We travelled back in time. The Ameran’s Stargate wasn’t functional for outgoing wormholes so we planned to use the jumper to travel and arrive just after we were due to get here via the bridge.’

‘You’re late.’ Sheppard murmured.

‘Meteor storm.’ Sam said succinctly.

‘The point is that the anomaly is on its way to Atlantis.’ Elizabeth said firmly. ‘And we have,’ she glanced at her watch, ‘less than twenty four hours to stop it.’

‘Great. That’s just great.’ McKay muttered slumping back in his chair.

‘My plan should work using all three of Atlantis’s ZPMs.’ Sam said calmly. ‘But the sooner we start making the modifications to the shield the better.’

‘We only have your word on what will happen.’ Caldwell stated brusquely. ‘Until we verify your data and your identities, we’re not modifying anything.’ He gestured at her. ‘You could be Asuran copies tricking us into leaving Atlantis defenceless.’

Sam smiled humourlessly thinking back to her Replicator double. ‘Believe me if I was an Asuran copy, I wouldn’t need the elaborate ruse. I’d have simply destroyed you by now.’

‘And it’s not your decision.’ Elizabeth said to Caldwell causing the older man to flush. She turned to the military commander of Atlantis; Sheppard. ‘John.’

Sheppard looked back at her; assessed the sincerity in her eyes; examined her expression for any sign of deception.

‘Colonel, I strongly recommend against allowing either of these women any access to anything until we have verified their identities.’ Caldwell cautioned him.

Sheppard looked over at the Daedalus commander. ‘I appreciate your concern, Colonel.’ He snapped his eyes to Sam. ‘You can stop this anomaly thing from blowing us up?’

‘Yes.’ Sam agreed.

‘OK.’ Sheppard nodded. He gestured at McKay. ‘Work with her, McKay.’ He knew the scientist would know immediately if the blonde Air Force officer tried to do anything but what she said she needed to do to save them.

Sam got to her feet and grabbed her laptop back from McKay. ‘We need to get to the ZPM lab.’

‘Right.’ McKay led the way out of the briefing room.

Sheppard gestured at the two Marines hovering by the door. ‘Go with them.’

‘This is a mistake.’ Caldwell said as he got to his feet. ‘I’ll be on the Daedalus.’ He left without another word.

‘Thank you.’ Elizabeth said to Sheppard gratefully.

Sheppard shrugged self-consciously.

‘We really blew up?’ Ronan asked.

‘And you really travelled back in time to save us?’ Teyla added.

Elizabeth nodded tiredly.

‘Wow.’ Sheppard muttered.

‘You have had quite a journey.’ Teyla said smiling sympathetically at the other woman.

Elizabeth returned her smile. ‘I’m just happy to be home.’

Sheppard grimaced. ‘Let’s hope Colonel Carter can save it.’

‘She will.’ Elizabeth said confidently.

Sam wasn’t feeling as confident as Elizabeth as she set up her laptop in the ZPM lab. She tried hard not to feel an uncanny sensation of déjà vu as she connected with the Atlantis systems.

‘I can’t believe you blew us up.’ McKay muttered as he leaned over her shoulder.

‘I didn’t blow up Atlantis.’ Sam objected. ‘The anomaly did.’

‘Which you diverted here.’ McKay pointed out.

‘At least I didn’t blow up an entire solar system.’ Sam shoved the cable into her machine with more force than was necessary.

‘Half.’ McKay said defensively. ‘It was half a solar system. And besides,’ he said recovering, ‘this from a woman who blew up a sun?’

‘To destroy Apophis’s fleet.’ Sam glared at him.

McKay paused and wagged his finger at her. ‘OK. I’ll give you that one.’

‘McKay,’ Sam sighed, ‘we have a lot to do. Let’s just get on with it, OK?’

McKay opened his mouth to argue but his brain suddenly registered her crumpled uniform, unkempt hair and tired, wan face. ‘Sure.’ He agreed.

‘OK. Here’s what we need to do.’ Sam began to explain. It helped talking through the plan with someone who understood the technology; understood what she was trying to achieve and Sam was suddenly incredibly grateful that McKay had the intelligence to keep up with her. Within minutes they had an improved plan and were hard at work.

Elizabeth and Sheppard interrupted them every few hours for an update and to impart information; Beckett had confirmed their identities; they hadn’t been able to achieve a stable wormhole to Earth to report the current situation; most of the personnel were evacuated to the Daedalus which had left to transmit a subspace message from beyond the area affected by the anomaly. Hardly any of it registered as they focused on the modifications.

It was several hours before McKay clapped his hands and announced to the scientists and military personnel milling in the room that they were done.

‘You’re sure?’ Sheppard asked nervously.

‘We’re sure.’ McKay grinned back at his team-leader and friend. ‘It’s all set-up.’

‘We should clear the room.’ Sam said fighting a wave of tiredness; she hadn’t slept since her arrival, had worked through and she could feel her weariness down into her bones.

‘Right.’ Elizabeth confirmed remembering the sparks that had flown in Amera. ‘Everybody out.’

‘You too, McKay.’ Sam said firmly. ‘I’ll press the button.’

‘But I…’

‘That’s an order.’ Sam said forcefully and pushed him in Sheppard’s direction.

‘But…’

Sheppard placed an arm around McKay’s shoulder. ‘Come on, McKay.’

Elizabeth hovered by Sam. ‘Is this going to work?’ She asked nervously.

Sam nodded. ‘We’ve made some improvements.’ She patted Elizabeth’s arm. ‘Don’t worry.’

Elizabeth sighed. ‘Good luck.’ She made her way out to the doorway.

Sam looked up at the gathered Atlantis team briefly stood outside in the corridor all peering in inquisitively and back down at the console. She hit the button.

Yellow bolts of energy jolted out of the ZPMs and raced over the console. Sam took a quick step away from it and turned towards the door.

A bolt shot out and caught her squarely in the back.

She gave a startled cry and fell to the floor, sprawled forward as more bolts raced over her prone form.

Sheppard dove to the floor and crawled over to her unconscious body. He began to drag her out inch by inch. Half-way there a hand clamped onto Sam’s uniform on the other side and then another. He looked up and found Ronon and Teyla. They made it out of the lab and collapsed into the corridor.

Beckett hurried forward and crouched by Sam.

‘Is she alright?’ McKay asked anxiously.

‘There’s no pulse and she’s not breathing!’ Beckett snapped. ‘Rodney, start CPR.’ He was already beginning compressions and snapping further orders at the hovering soldiers to bring medics and equipment.

‘Me?’ McKay hesitated and a split second later found himself pushed to the side as Elizabeth crouched down and began blowing air softly into Sam’s mouth. Beckett checked for a pulse and shook his head. They began again.

The Atlantis team stood around them and waited.

Beckett indicated for Elizabeth to stop and felt for a pulse. ‘She’s back.’ He confirmed with relief. He gestured for the stretcher he saw approaching. ‘I need to get her to the infirmary straight away.’ He oversaw the transfer of his charge onto the medical gurney and raced away with her.

Elizabeth watched them go, her heart pounding in her chest.

‘She’ll be OK.’ Sheppard assured her.

She pushed away her worry about the colonel and glanced back at the silent ZPM lab. ‘Did it work?’

McKay jerked his gaze away from the disappearing stretcher. ‘Hmmm?’

‘Did it work?’ Elizabeth said forcefully. ‘Is Atlantis safe?’

The scientist strode back into the lab and the team followed after him. He picked up Sam’s laptop, input the scan and checked the data. ‘It worked.’ There was a note of awe in his voice as though he had doubted it would. ‘The anomaly is gone.’

‘She saved us.’ Elizabeth said suddenly fighting back tears.

‘She did it.’ Sheppard said quietly.

‘Well, actually to be precise, we did it.’ McKay objected absently his eyes still reviewing the data on the screen. He looked up and caught the exasperation in the others’ faces. ‘What? What did I say?’

o-O-o

‘Receiving SGC IDC.’ The technician at the gate control console confirmed.

‘Lower the shield.’ Elizabeth ordered.

‘Carter’s ride?’ Sheppard asked as he came to stand beside her.

Elizabeth nodded her hands clasped behind her back. They had been able to establish a wormhole a few hours after the anomaly had dissipated but Beckett had refused to release the Colonel immediately back to the SGC and her return had been scheduled for that morning. They watched in unison as the jumper glided out of the wormhole and into the room. Elizabeth’s eyes widened at the sight of the pilot who gave them a jaunty wave as the jumper was automatically lifted into the bay above.

‘Was that…?’ Sheppard began hesitantly.

‘General O’Neill.’ Elizabeth confirmed already walking away from the Stargate and heading for the stairs to the jumper bay. Sheppard kept pace with her as they made their way to greet the General.

Jack was outside the jumper when they reached him. He returned Sheppard’s salute and nodded an acknowledgement at Elizabeth.

‘General.’ Elizabeth smiled at him. ‘We were expecting Colonel Mitchell and the…’

‘The rest of SG1. I know.’ Jack waved his baseball cap at her. ‘They couldn’t make it. Some Ori thing.’ His expression sobered. ‘How’s Carter?’

‘Much better.’ Elizabeth assured him as they began to walk. ‘Doctor Beckett’s impressed at her quick recovery.’

Jack simply nodded. He knew Sam’s constitution had a lot to do with the naquadah left over from her brief spell as a Tok’ra host and he was always absurdly grateful for it when Sam was injured.

‘She saved us, General.’ Elizabeth’s voice choked up and she took a deep breath. ‘And the Amerans. She saved us all.’

‘It’s what she does.’ Jack said lightly. The pride in his brown eyes gave away his own feelings about Sam’s actions.

‘You know, General,’ Elizabeth began, ‘Atlantis is supposed to be for the best and the brightest…’

‘You can’t have her.’ Jack cut off the half-finished request. ‘I – we need her in the fight against the Ori.’

Elizabeth missed Sheppard’s speculative look at her as she nodded disappointed but not surprised.

‘Besides,’ Jack commented having seen the look Sheppard had aimed at Elizabeth, ‘Carter technically outranks Sheppard here so unless you’d like a new military commander…’

Elizabeth blushed and sent John an apologetic look. ‘No. I’m very happy with the one I’ve got.’

‘Thanks.’ Sheppard said smiling at her. ‘I think.’

They were almost at the infirmary and voices started to drift out to them; a Scottish burr dominant.

‘…and I’ve told you before Rodney that you’re not to disturb my patients.’

‘Who’s disturbing anybody?’ McKay retorted. ‘We’re just debating a minor…’

‘Major.’ Sam corrected tiredly. She winced as she shrugged into the jacket of the Atlantis uniform she had been given as an alternative to her own which had been cut off her unconscious body. She fingered the SG1 patch that Beckett or someone had kept.

‘…quibble with the code adjustments for the bridge in case of another wormhole jump.’ McKay continued as though she hadn’t spoken. He waved the notepad at her. ‘I’m telling you that we need…’

‘Hey.’ Jack’s voice broke into the scientist’s sentence and immediately caught everyone’s attention. His own eyes scanned Sam confirming for himself she was fine before they settled on her blue gaze.

She beamed a smile at him, everyone else in the room seemingly forgotten. ‘Sir.’

‘I heard you needed a ride.’ Jack said easily as he moved to stand beside her but he still didn’t touch her; years of practice. ‘Something about crashing your last one?’ He gently teased.

She rolled her eyes at him. ‘The wormhole jumped.’

‘You sure you weren’t speeding?’ Jack joked. The last of his worry drained away at seeing her whole and healthy.

Sam simply smiled innocently and the two of them held each other’s gaze without speaking for a long moment.

The others shuffled as though sensing they were intruding on a private conversation and the slight stirring caught Jack’s attention.

‘We should be going.’ Jack said as he offered Sam his hand to help her off the infirmary bed. She staggered a little and his arm went around her waist. ‘Easy, Colonel.’

She straightened and he reluctantly let go of her.

‘You really should wait another day, lass.’ Beckett advised.

‘I’m OK.’ Sam insisted.

‘Aye and I’m Superman.’ Beckett frowned but turned instead to Jack. ‘She needs to take things easy for the next few days, General. Light duties only. She received a hell of a shock to her system.’

‘She’ll rest, Doc. I promise.’ Jack said. He grinned at the sharp look Sam sent him. ‘Shall we?’ He indicated the door and they all trooped back out.

They made their way to the jumper bay and headed to the time machine they had retrieved from the North pier.

‘I can’t believe you’re taking the time machine,’ McKay complained, ‘and the ZPM.’ He frowned as a soldier handed it ceremoniously to Jack who placed it in the back with less care than McKay would have liked.

‘Well, we’re all set.’ Jack said cheerily ignoring McKay. ‘Nice to see you all again.’ He looked from Sam to Elizabeth and back. ‘Why don’t I give you a moment?’

‘Thanks.’ Sam said as he disappeared into the jumper. She smiled at Elizabeth and reached forward to shake the other woman’s hand.

Elizabeth stepped forward and hugged her instead. Sam returned the hug, slightly bemused, before she pulled away. They looked at each other with complete understanding of the new bond between them. They had saved the Amerans, saved Atlantis and saved each other. Sam gave a brief nod and entered the jumper. The back door rose and shut behind her. Elizabeth followed her team back down to the gate operations room and watched as the time machine slipped into the blue horizon back to Earth. She leaned on the banister as the wormhole disappeared.

Teyla moved to stand beside her as the others drifted away. ‘Colonel Carter is an incredible woman.’

‘Yes.’ Elizabeth agreed. ‘She is.’

‘As are you.’ Teyla added. She smiled at Elizabeth’s surprise and rested her hand over Elizabeth’s briefly before she moved away too.

Elizabeth wandered away into her office and slid into her chair. The calmness seemed strange after the frantic activity of the past few weeks, or was that the last few days, Elizabeth wondered. She shook her head and reached for her laptop, pausing at the record of Janus she had searched out earlier. She smiled at the frozen image. Had he known everything? Elizabeth mused.

Had he known they would save Amera only to endanger Atlantis? Had he left the time machine for them to use? She shook her head again and with a click of a mouse, Janus disappeared and a requisition form took his place. Elizabeth looked at it regretfully. Time to stop being a Goddess, she considered wryly and time to get back to work however mundane…her fingers hesitated over the keyboard and she sat back in her chair. She reached for her father’s watch on the desk top and fingered the silver thoughtfully.

Maybe she could take another minute.

fin.