The Stargate brilliantly flashed forward and SG-1 was flung from it. Jack, following up the rear, was the last to appear and he looked up to see P4X-355.
"What the hell is this?" He asked in an almost shocked state. He looked around to find that there were no Jaffa, the tree line as beautiful as it was when they first appeared and the weapon still standing as proudly as when the photos were taken of it. Though Col. O'Neill wasn't the only one that felt a bit of confusion.
"Sir," Carter broke the silence, "we're back on 355."
"I noticed that Carter, any reason WHY we're back here and not in the Gateroom?"
"The beam from the gun must've affected the Stargate and flung us back here, or otherwise a planet just like it. But we dialed home, we should be there sir."
Daniel looked at the gun. "Well, maybe I can get a better look at the script on it…I mean if you wanna know what just happened."
"Yes, knowing. Knowing is good," Jack interceded.
The team moved toward the weapon, realizing that it's relative distance to the gate was the same as it was before. So if it were another planet this device was key to moving them back and forth farther in distance than ever they'd gone. They reached the weapon very cautiously making sure that there were no Jaffa around. They then made their way to the panels and Daniel started to read. He thumped his upper lip with his finger, looking to be in deep thought deciphering the symbols in front of him. Carter was examining the control panel while Jack and Teal'c stood watch. They stood there for an hour as Carter and Daniel did their work.
Finally Jack's impatience got the best of him. "Have you two found anything yet? I mean I'd like to believe that we're not…stuck here!"
"Good news is that the missing piece is here."
"Great! What did it do?"
"That's the bad news Jack, it's pretty vague."
"Damn aliens. We come all this way and they decide to be vague."
"What it says here is that when trouble is near the people will signal the sleeping Sun God who will catch them as they go towards him and deposit them elsewhere."
"Meaning…."
"Meaning that these people fire the beam into the sun, and go through the Stargate. From there they're deposited somewhere out of danger."
"Well, you coulda just said."
"That's it then," Carter's eyes gleamed with understanding. "The Gate didn't fling us to another world, it flung us through time."
Daniel looked over the glyphs and looked back to Carter. "Of course, it makes sense, they'd go where the attack wasn't and rebuild. But who built it in the first place?"
"Last time we ran into something like it we came across someone Ascended. He had built it and was banished to watch over the planet forever. Then eventually helped to destroy it."
"So it could be one of the Ascended."
"There's a distinct possibility, but the one that did it is probably out of favor with the rest."
Jack stepped in-between them. "Not to break up this little conference, but I don't care if it was built by Tonka. How does it work? I want to get home."
Carter started to tap on the panel looking for any indications on how it worked. Daniel helped her with the translations and he looked back up at O'Neill. "I don't think we're going anywhere Jack, at least not for awhile." "He's right sir, according to the diagnostic I've read we're going to need a power crystal. Now the good news is that there might be one on the planet, the bad news is that there's no way to tell if the harmonics of the crystal will work for our purposes."
"So what do we need then Carter?"
"Well sir, we're going to need to go to Earth and see if we can find a replacement source for this crystal."
"They don't have anything here that can do it? I mean we've never had to before."
"Before we were on a Goa'uld mothership or someplace that there was readied back ups. The problem sir is that I don't know when we are."
"Crap, so we have no way of knowing if we're going to get back to Earth, and even if we do we need to find a crystal with the ability to do what we need to with it."
"Essentially, sir. And then there's a matter of getting our hands on a calibrator to make sure. I'm going to see if the machine will calibrate it or not, but if it does we could run into some heavy problems."
"What's the worst case scenario if we don't get the calibrator?"
"Two separate scenarios sir. One is that the machine just doesn't work, that's what we'd hope for in this case. The other is possibly sending the sun into nova and wiping out the planet because the beam was too strong."
"That would suck."
"Yes sir."
"Now the next question is what kind of crystal do you need? I mean I'm going to assume that it's a common sort of crystal."
"Yes sir, I need a diamond, unprocessed at that. And hope it works."
"Carter, I don't know if you're aware of this, but raw diamonds aren't exactly easy to come across. I suggest that one of you goes and looks for it while another sees if we can figure out how to use this thing."
"Sir, we're going to try to find some. But even if we find something to fit, the deal is still down to calibration."
"So you need to stay here while two of us look for this machine. Which means Daniel and I go look for your gizmo while you and Teal'c stay here and get this thing off the ground."
Daniel raised his head a bit in agreement, his face wrought with utter lack of want to venture anywhere other than their current location. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what condition Earth is in right now."
Jack seeing the look just stared at the team. "Good, so let's go see if we're gonna have an SGC to talk to."
Daniel and Jack started their walk back to the gate, both keeping pretty quiet on the way there. Daniel walked up to the DHD and looked at it for a second. Jack stared at the gate and then back to Daniel when the flash of the Event Horizon didn't shoot towards them.
"Are we confused how to press buttons?"
"No, just wondering where we'll end up is all."
"We're not going to find out until you dial us home, now are we?" Daniel agreed with a slight nod and started to dial Earth. Soon the Event Horizon shot forward and the beautiful site of the shimmering pool stood before them.
"This is Col. Jack O'Neill to Gen. Hammond, come in." The radio stayed silent. "This is Col. Jack O'Neill to anyone at Stargate Command, please respond." He finally gave up and looked back at Daniel who at that point looked at the pool for the first time in a long time as a truly alien thing. "Well, looks like we go walking."
They stepped through the gate and got to the other side and slipped quickly on the ice in front of them. They ended up in a frozen cavern and Jack looked back and he just shook his head. "Aw crap. Again with Antarctica? Can this day get any worse?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact it can Jack…um…we have to dig out the DHD or otherwise get a power source capable of getting back to the planet, and that's after we cross the frozen wastes twice. Hopefully not freezing ourselves to death in either attempt."
"You know, I'm going to teach all of you to have an optimistic outlook on things. If it kills me, I will make you look at the bright side just once. But we'll talk about that more later, right now we need to climb outta here and back towards civilization."
"Whatever you say Jack."
The two put on some emergency wear, which consisted of a heavier shirt, and pair of climbing gloves. They then trekked around the crevasse until they came to a fisher that would allow them to escape. They looked into the frozen wastes of the Antarctic and looked at one another. Then started to move forward. Jack and Daniel huddled together as best they could, knowing that they had to find someway of getting warmer clothes or go back to the gate and attempt to dial out to the planet again. They were out in the cold a total of 20 minutes when they saw a group come towards them. A group of scientists setting up a station to watch the Aurora Borealis were hard at work in their temporary housings when Jack and Daniel stumbled in. The leader of the group was a tall, dark, and very beautiful woman. She stared the two of them down.
"Who are you?" She snapped out looking at the two intruders.
"My name is…Donovan, Dean Donovan. And this is Willy." Jack replied.
"What are you doing here Mr. Donovan?"
"Well, that's long and complicated. But suffice to ask, do you have a way out of here back to the States?"
"You tell me your story, and I might consider it." Jack smiled and looked at Daniel.
"We were on an expedition to the pole and our team abandoned us up here. It was horrible. They took most of our clothes and everything."
"Oh my God, are you two okay?"
"Well, no…not really. I mean we're up here and we've got all sorts of problems, we don't even know how long we've been stuck up here."
"Well if it helps, it's March 13th."
"That's good, March 13th. We've only been missing…2 days."
"It's a miracle you two survived."
"We hugged…a lot."
She stared at the both of them, looking like she wanted to laugh. She managed to suppress the urge and she told them to wait there while she talked to her colleagues. She allowed them to take a seat and they looked at one another wrapped in a thermal blanket, drinking nice hot chocolate. Daniel looked around the place and saw the calendar and then to Jack who was more caught up in looking at some of the different pieces of equipment.
"We're not too far away from our own time." O'Neill looked up at the calendar.
"1995, it's just a little over a year until the first Stargate mission. Which means that we're lucky we dialed the beta gate instead, and it also means if Carter looks to get in touch with us we're in deep trouble."
"Why's that?"
"Well, as I recall, you had to translate the coverstones to get it to work in the first place? I imagine a whirling vortex of energy shooting out is going to make them a bit on the suspicious side."
"Possibly, but how do we know that that's not the reason they started to really give the gate credence to be worked with more heavily? I mean if it is that the gate activated and they saw the magnitude and power of it, it might've given them reason to call me and the Air Force the need to call you."
"Yeah…well…I could be right ya know?"
"Yes, you could be. But we have to think that there's a possibility that because we are here now, that this might've all happened before. Which means it could be the reason why our careers took such a drastic turn."
"Meaning that you think because we're here that somehow they know to choose us from the line up of several that could go."
"It's a distinct possibility. I mean I know why I got chosen, but it could be because we did something to effect the changes."
"Daniel, would you shut up? My head hurts, and since we don't have a Delorean and Michael J. Fox to try and work this out we're going to have to just play it by ear. No over analyzing it."
The two remained silent and Jack went into deep thought. He looked at his feet and his mind went straight to his son Charlie. He could get a chance to see his son just once more before the accident that would take him away forever. He then started to give thought to what Daniel had said about changing the past for the sake of the future. He wondered if they truly did affect the time stream to get themselves the position in the Stargate program. If that were the case, he continued to think, would saving his son make much of a difference? He looked back at Daniel and sat there pondering to himself just how much he wanted his son back, and how much different his life would be. Before long the scientist that talked with them walked in.
She smiled heavily at them. "Well Mr. Donovan, you've got a ride to the States. We'll take you to an airstrip and you can head out from there. Your ride leaves to California in an hour, better hurry."
"Thanks, Ms…"
"Dr. Wiseman. Dr. Jane Wiseman to be exact."
"We'll remember you."
"Thank you, I hope you do." The two ran out of the tent and went straight to a snow shuttle. Dr. Wiseman watched the two go out of earshot and she picked up a radio.
"Dr. Wiseman to Col. Mayborne."
"Mayborne here."
"I'm sending you a couple of people. They came straight out of the area we picked up the seismic activity at."
"Very good Dr., we'll make sure they have a lovely stay, courtesy of the NID."
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