The two women had long since abandoned the formality of their doctoral titles and their last names. They sat in the quiet bar, each nursing a glass of beer, talking animatedly about quantum physics and the conundrums of time travel. Donna had reacted a bit oddly at a casual reference to string theory, but Sam, who could easily spot when someone was running their words through a top security buffer, chose not to question her further.
"Out there," Donna said at one point, waving her hand vaguely skywards, "that's what so many people see as the ultimate frontier. Up in space."
"Sounds good to me," Sam said, remembering the incredible view she'd had after they'd saved the planet from Apophis and his motherships. "There's an entire galaxy out there. Maybe more than one." I should know.
"Going to follow in Sally Ride's footsteps?" Donna asked, arching an eyebrow. "Somehow, I don't think they'll send another woman up on the Challenger all that quickly."
Sam jolted a little, slopping her beer over her hand. She took a quick swallow to hide her confusion. Of course -- in this time, Sally Ride's first momentous trip into space had taken place only the month before. The tragedy of the Challenger 7 was still three years in the future.
"I know it's hard for women to advance in the space program," she said quickly. "But if Sally could do it, what's to stop us from doing it, too?"
Donna eyed her for a moment, but only said, "It's just that I don't believe that space travel is the ultimate barrier. Time travel, now -- that is the real challenge. Moving through time, observing the past. Discovering the truth of historical events."
"Only the past?" Sam asked carefully, wondering if this was a hint. "You don't think there's a way to time travel to the future?"
Donna leaned back in her chair, looking thoughtful. "I think that it would be too risky," she said at last. "How would you know where you'd end up, or if the Earth is even there any more?"
Oh, it's there, all right. And I need to get back there. "From the point of view of the future, this is the past," she said aloud, daring to venture a hint of her own. "So I suppose that someone from the future could visit this era, and go back. So why not go forward in the first place?"
"But wouldn't you need to know first that you're going to live that long?"
Sam frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Well." Donna hesitated, staring down at her empty glass. "It's just a theory I've heard," she said finally. "That time travel would be restricted to your own lifetime."
Sam blinked at this. "Why would that be the case?"
Donna flushed a little -- at some memory, perhaps. "Look, imagine a piece of string..."
As she listened, Sam wished she could confide in Donna. They needed help, even if the Colonel was understandably wary of getting the people of this era involved. She herself had warned him about the dangers of time paradoxes. But which paradox would be worse? Telling Donna they were from the future and needed access to the equipment that Donna had in her top secret project , which wasn't so secret at Sam's level of security clearance in 1999... or remaining sixteen years in the past, until their future history finally caught up with them?
Sighing, Sam ordered another round for them both. Getting a little drunk probably wouldn't help much, but at this point, it couldn't hurt, either.
Heliopolis Main Archive
A Stargate: SG-1 Fanfiction Site
Five Crossovers That Didn't Happen to SG-1
by Fig NewtonSite Navigation
Support Heliopolis