Window of Opportunity - Sam's Thoughts
Window of Opportunity - Sam's Thoughts
by Sam Madison
Title: Window of Opportunity - Sam's Thoughts
Author: Sam Madison
Email: sam_madison@hotmail.com
Category: POV, Romance, Thoughts
Episode related: 406 Window of opportunity
Season: Season 4
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: A basic re-write of the episode Window of Opportunity - only this time, it's from Sam's point of view, including her thoughts.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Thoughts - Window of Opportunity:
Sam's Point of View.
Note: This story only deals with the loops we see in the actual episode - I'll leave all the creative new loops to you other ficcers out there. This deals mostly only with what we see.
We'd just arrived on P4X 639, and I was busy setting my equipment up. The geomagnetic storm had fascinating properties, and I was eager to get this set up before the radiation levels got too high. In order to make things go faster, I'd had Teal'c help me. Daniel was over at the ruins, taking notes on the inscriptions, and as usual, the Colonel had nothing to do. I noticed him shading his eyes to look up at the sun, and he asked, "Is it supposed to be doing that?" he looked to me, so I assumed it was I who was supposed to give him the answer. I loved that he thought I knew everything.
"It's a coronal mass emission, like a giant solar flare," I explained, as simply as I could.
"But it's safe, right?" he took his shades down and looked straight at me.
"Well that's what this equipment is designed to find out," I answered. "Apart from disrupting the planet's magnetic field, it might cause a significant increase in surface radiation."
"But it's safe, right?" He's so cute when he's dumb - I had to hold back a smile.
"As long as we don't stay here too long, yes sir." I said, and got back to my instruments.
"Anyone explain that to Daniel?" the Colonel asked, and I looked up to see Daniel making a rubbing of a carving on one of the ruins. He then walked over to chat with another man behind a stone pedestal, so I got back to work. A few minutes later, I was finished, and looked to Teal'c to make sure he was done too. "All set up, sir." I called to him over the approaching winds. I looked towards the pedestal, and found that I could no longer see Daniel. "Good." The Colonel said, standing from when he was perched on the Gate. "Let's hit it." Finding that he also couldn't see Daniel any more, the Colonel used his radio. "Daniel. Let's go home." When there was no reply, the Colonel tried again. "Daniel!" he said, louder this time. We began to walk towards the pedestal. There were sounds, like some kind of charge was building up, and Daniel was no where to be seen. I looked towards Teal'c, and then the Colonel, but neither of them seemed to understand what was going on, either.
"O'Neill." Cautioned Teal'c, presumably about the noise.
"Yeah, I hear it." He nodded. Suddenly, the two poles in front of us crackled with blue energy. The energy shot out and hit the Gate, which opened immediately.
"Gah...!" the Colonel yelled as the three of us hit the ground to avoid being disintegrated. Getting up, we moved closer to where the other man was standing.
"Are you doin' this?!" the Colonel called out to him.
"Stay away!" the man called back, not entirely sane, it seemed. Suddenly, I noticed Daniel behind one of the pillars, collapsed and hardly breathing. I called his name and ran over to kneel beside him. I took his pulse - faint, but there.
"What the hell are you doin'?" The Colonel asked the insane man, and he and Teal'c ran over to grab him.
"Stay back!" the man cautioned, but the two men grabbed him anyways. I looked up from tending to Daniel to see what was going on at the pedestal. A blinding light shot out from the Stargate to hit the stone - and engulf all three men.
"Colonel!" I yelled -
"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it." Daniel finished. "What'd you think?" I completely agreed with Daniel in this case, but had no idea as to what the Colonel's opinion would be. Frankly, I was glad Daniel had gotten around to asking. Daniel forked a piece of waffle into his mouth and I chewed my breakfast absently. The Colonel had a spoonful of fruit loops halfway up to his mouth as I watched him with interest. Suddenly, he looked up from his spoon, and then back and forth between Daniel and I.
"What?" he said. Oh no - had he not been paying attention the whole time? Typical Jack. Me and Daniel gave each other a look that clearly said `oh for crying out loud...', before Daniel repeated, "What do you think?" With a mildly pissed look on his face. The Colonel looked around, a totally bewildered look on his face that had come out of nowhere.
"Colonel?" I asked out of concern, "Something wrong?" He looked like he'd just seen a ghost.
"Maybe," he said, fruit loops still halfway up to his mouth. He looked down at his breakfast in confusion, before continuing with, "Weren't we just somewhere else?" I looked to Daniel for an answer.
"Where?" Daniel asked.
"Some planet." The Colonel answered. What was going on? I wondered.
"When?" Daniel asked.
"Just now." The Colonel shot back.
"No."
"Sure?"
"Yeah." They shot back and forth quickly. My head turned from speaker to speaker. O'Neill still looked totally confused. He put his fruit loops down and looked around some more. I was starting to get really worried; this was odd behavior, even for Jack - and I knew Jack's behavior from front to back. I was in love with him, after all.
No.
Never mind.
No.
"Everything just changed." Jack said, jerking me back to reality. Now this was just odd. I gave him a half-smile, though I'm sure I must have looked a little perplexed.
"Sir, we've been sitting in the commissary for the past half hour." Jack looked from me to Daniel, then back again.
"Really?" he asked.
"Although it is understandable how you could've gotten the two places confused..." Daniel joked, and I gave him a smile. His jokes still weren't as funny as the Colonel's, no matter how you sliced it. At that thought, I looked down at my watch. Realizing it was past the time when we should have been finished eating, I said, "We're going to be late for our briefing." Confusion or no confusion, we still had work.
"Briefing." The Colonel said, and Daniel and I gave him looks.
"Are you okay," Daniel asked, "Or are you just trying to avoid answering my question." I was glad he'd asked, because I had been wondering the same thing.
"Oh, I'm fine." He said, getting up. "What question?" he asked, as he left our table. I looked at Daniel, who looked down in frustration, before getting up quickly. Technically I should have stood when the Colonel did, so I made up for it by getting up quickly now, and following the Colonel out the door.
I ran to grab my notes and disk for the visual presentation, and also my reports, and headed for the briefing room. Once everyone had gathered, I stood in front of the visual screen and started my briefing.
"Two weeks ago, SG-15 took these images of solar activity, on P4X 639. Analyses of the data shows a steady increase in the intensity. Now, if I'm right, the explosions that we're witnessing here are just the precursor to an exponentially greater violent ejection." I was just about to move on to coronal mass emissions when Teal'c interrupted me.
"Major Carter," he said, stoic as ever, "Have we not previously been briefed concerning this matter?" he asked. I frowned, seeing the Colonel turn to him and say,
"I was just gonna say that."
"Sir?" I asked the Colonel in confusion. He turned towards me and pointed. "You wanna go to the planet and set up some kind of...remote observatory." He finished, hands waving. I walked over to him in uncertainty.
"Yes." I said, because that's exactly what I wanted to do.
"We just did that." He stated, drawing odd expressions from everyone except Teal'c, who I couldn't tell agreed, or was just being Teal'c.
"No we didn't." said Daniel.
"I believe we did, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c interjected quickly. So he agreed.
"No, Teal'c, that what this briefing is all about." The General clarified.
"I distinctly remember sitting here, listening to Carter prattle on about solar activity and a..." he struggled for the word. "Corona, something." He finally came up with.
Corona...? Coronal! "Coronal mass emissions." I said. "I was just about to bring it up."
"There you go!" he said, feeling victorious. "How would I know that?"
I decided to state the obvious. "Maybe you read my report." It sounded wrong just coming out of my mouth. Daniel tapped his briefing book on the table and said, "Maybe he read your report?" Yeah. Right. Not a chance in he-
"I'm tellin' you guys, we've done this before." the Colonel finished.
"I am in agreement with O'Neill. I am experiencing a great deal of familiarity with these events." Teal'c stated. This was just too odd. If it was only the Colonel, I would be thinking he was just being, well, Jack, but Teal'c too? With Teal'c, this just did not sit. I gave them both a look as the lights began to flash, the sirens went of and a voice came over the comm, `Unscheduled off-world activation'. We ran down the steps from the briefing room into the control room too see who it was.
"We have an unscheduled incoming traveler, sir." The gate room guy clarified. Suddenly, the Colonel piped up. "It's SG-12." SG-12? But they weren't due back for days!
"They're not due back for days." Thank you, General.
"Receiving GDO transmission." Gate room guy said. They are new guys here every day, I thought, mildly amused. This guy wasn't the girl, and it wasn't the squeaky man - he must be new, I figured. My eyes got wide, though, as I looked at the incoming GDO signal.
"It's SG-12." New GateRoomGuy said in amazement. He had heard the Colonel's prediction too. I looked back at Colonel O'Neill and we just gave a little smile and a shrug. My insides went soft at his look.
"Open the iris." The General commanded.
"One of them will be injured." Predicted Teal'c. O'Neill nodded in agreement, still looking at me; I turned away, blushing.
When one of SG-12 came through the gate with a bandaged ankle, however, everyone turned to look at the pair of men in astonishment. Teal'c gave his Teal'c face, and Colonel O'Neill looked at the General with a smug expression. Seeing my bewilderment, me raised his eyebrows in an, `It's what I do,' fashion. This was just too weird.
I caught up to the General as he was leaving the control room. "What do you make of all this, Major?" he asked me.
"Well sir, I'm not sure." Which was the honest truth.
"SG-12's early return was a result of an accident," he said, when I gave nothing else. "One of the team fell and broke his ankle. How could Teal'c, Colonel O'Neill, have known that was going to happen?" I didn't know the answer to this question any better than the General did, but I gave it a shot anyways.
"Both of them claim to have memories of SG-1's mission to P4X 639." Was all I could give by way of an answer.
"A mission that isn't scheduled to start for six hours." The General said in shock, and I nodded. We made our way into the infirmary, to find Daniel speaking with Teal'c and O'Neill, and Janet had finished with their physicals.
"Well sir," Janet said upon our arrival, "I can't find anything wrong with either of them. Now we'll have to wait for the lab results to be sure, but they both appear to be in perfect health." She finished, looking at her patients.
"Except for the fact that they're remembering events that haven't even happened yet." I said, staring pointedly at the Colonel.
"Yes, but why Jack and Teal'c and not us?" Daniel asked a question that had been nagging me for a while. The General stepped in when no one seemed to have an answer.
"I'm not taking any chances. `Til we figure out what's going on, I'm postponing your mission to P4X 639." The General finished with a little nod. No one looked too happy with this solution, especially not Jack, I noted, but we took it in stride. After that, I went back to my lab and pondered over some notes for a while. After finally coming to some sort of a half-conclusion, I decided it was time to get out and talk with someone. I knew exactly who I wanted to talk with, too, and of course, exactly where to find him. I entered the commissary to find the Colonel at a table drinking coffee. I had an absurd idea, but thought I'd go with it anyways. Standing in front of him with a little smile, I said, "So." He looked up at me through tired eyes. "So?" he asked as I sat down.
"Don't you know what I'm going to say?" I asked him, smiling and, I'm ashamed to say, flirting a little.
"Actually," he said, looking at his watch, "By this time we were on the planet." I could feel myself start to blush as he tapped his watch. "It's all different now." He said, overly dramatic. I looked down, embarrassed.
"Oh." I decided to tell him what I'd found anyways. "Well I was thinking about what you said about a beam hitting the Stargate." He took a sip of his coffee and said in a particularly raspy voice,
"What about it?" my stomach flipped at the way he said it. I continued in spite of it.
"After the flash, you found yourself back here, and then you were basically reliving the moments leading up to the mission." I continued, as he stuck a finger in his coffee and then shook it off. Classic Jack moment. "Maybe," I went on, "You're not remembering future events. Maybe you were sent back in time."
"For what, six hours?" I'd known he'd be skeptical - I was prepared.
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time we've seen something like this. I mean, the Stargate did send us back to 1969." He smiled the smallest of smiles and I could literally feel the blood start to pound in my veins.
"Good year." He said, and I gave him a smile back. Cutie.
"So I was wondering." I had to keep talking to stop him from seeing what I was feeling. Not like he didn't already know; I'd virtually told him flat out a week ago, during the whole Za'tarc incident. "Could this beam you mentioned be a means to access the Gate's sub-space field, in order to create some kind of time inversion outside of sub-space?" Suddenly, he gave me one of the oddest looks, an expression I knew I'd never seen before. He looked right into my eyes and said quietly,
"I knew you were going to say that." I grinned, embarrassed by the way he was making me feel, and looked down to escape his gaze.
"I guess I'm just thinking out loud." I said, still smiling. He was still looking at me like that, and I was still hopelessly attracted to him. I had to get away before this got any more emotionally confusing. "I'm gonna go run a few simulations." I said as I got up, giving him one last smile before turning my back to him. He gave me a little nod with a tip of his coffee cup, and I could hear him say,
"You run...simulate..." and then his voice faded out as I exited the commissary. I ran from my lab when the sirens blared again. `Unscheduled off-world activation!' New GRG's voice blared through the comm. I entered the control room to find Jack, Teal'c and the General coming down the stairs. Suddenly, blue - was that energy? - surrounded the Gate in lightning-like flashes, and the diagnostic computer showed an Unknown Error.
"What is that?" the General asked, voice my exact thoughts.
"I'm not sure, sir." New GRG said, "I've never seen anything like it!" I looked back to see the Colonel's reaction, and he said, "We have..." Teal'c gave a little smile as I stood in confusion and -"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it." Daniel finished. "What'd you think?" I completely agreed with Daniel in this case, but had no idea as to what the Colonel's opinion would be. Frankly, I was glad Daniel had gotten around to asking. Daniel forked a piece of waffle into his mouth and I chewed my breakfast absently. The Colonel had a spoonful of fruit loops halfway up to his mouth as I watched him with interest. Suddenly, he looked up, and looked between Daniel and I, putting his fruit loops down. He looked at his watch.
"Colonel?" I asked out of concern. "Something wrong?" He looked like he'd just seen a ghost.
"Oh yeah," he said, confusing the hell out of me. "Somethin'." At that, I looked down at my watch. Realizing it was past the time when we should have been finished eating, I said,
"We're going to be late for our briefing." Confusion or no confusion, we still had work. The Colonel only sighed and stormed out of the commissary. I followed, running to grab my notes and disk for the visual presentation, and also my reports, and headed for the briefing room. Once everyone had gathered, I stood in front of the visual screen and started my briefing.
"Two weeks ago, SG-15 -"
"We've done this!" The Colonel interrupted, slapping his briefing book down on the table. I looked at him in utter confusion. The odd thing I noticed was that Teal'c didn't even look phased - but then, that could also just be Teal'c.
"We do this every day." Daniel said flipping a page in his briefing book, always the voice of reason. The Colonel looked slightly put off by that.
"I'm not talking about briefings in general, Daniel, I'm talking about this briefing!" he clarified, "I'm talking about this day!" Everyone except Teal'c froze and looked at the Colonel.
"Colonel O'Neill is correct." Oh no - not Teal'c too. What was going on? "Events do appear to be repeating themselves." Uh...no...not from my perspective. O'Neill gave an `I told you so' look.
"Since when?" Daniel asked.
"Since we went to P4X 639." We haven't been to P4X 639!
"We haven't been to P4X 639." I said.
"Yes we have." O'Neill said, and I frowned, as the Colonel looked to Daniel. "No we haven't, that's what you were going to say." Daniel just gave an expression that read clearly as `Duh'.
"Of course that's what I was going to say." The Colonel paused.
"Okay, bad example." Jack shook it off.
"Colonel, I'm not quite sure what to make of this." General Hammond said. Suddenly, something dawned on me.
"If we've had this meeting before, sir, then -"
"Why are Teal'c and I the only one who remember it?" he said, finishing my sentence with startling accuracy. "I know, that's what you said last time." Now this was getting really weird. I just cocked my head. "Well I'll venture I guess it has something to do with that planet." No one said anything - we were all speechless. "And you'll all believe me when SG-12 comes through that Gate in -" he looked at his watch, "-four, three, two, one..." he waved his hand as if to mimic the turning lights that activate when the Gate is activated from off-world. I glanced at the Gate. Nothing happened. After all, SG-12 aren't due back for days. Jack tapped his watch in annoyance, seeing if it was slow or broken.
"SG-12 isn't due back for three days." Thank you, General. Suddenly, the sirens went off, and some male voice I didn't recognize came over the comm: `Unauthorized off-world activation'.
"So close." Muttered the Colonel, as we all got up to walk down the stairs to the control room.
"We have an unscheduled incoming traveler, sir." The gate room guy clarified. "Receiving GDO transmission." They are new guys here every day, I thought, mildly amused. This guy wasn't the girl, and it wasn't the squeaky man - he must be new, I figured. My eyes got wide, though, as I looked at the incoming GDO signal.
"It's SG-12." GRG said, unfazed. He hadn't heard the Colonel's prediction. I looked back at Colonel O'Neill and we just gave a cocky little smile. My insides went soft at his look.
"Open the iris." The General commanded.
"One of them will have a broken ankle." Predicted Teal'c. O'Neill nodded in agreement, still looking at me; I turned away, blushing. When one of SG-12 came through the gate with a bandaged ankle, however, everyone turned to look at the pair of men in astonishment. Teal'c gave his Teal'c face, and Colonel O'Neill looked at the General with a smug expression. Seeing my bewilderment, me raised his eyebrows in an `It's what I do,' fashion. This was just too weird.
I caught up to the General as he was leaving the control room.
"What do you make of all this, Major?" he asked me.
"Well sir, I'm not sure." Which was the honest truth.
"SG-12's early return was a result of an accident," he said, when I gave nothing else. "One of the team fell and broke his ankle. How could Teal'c, Colonel O'Neill have known that was going to happen?" I didn't know the answer to this question any better than the General did, but I gave it a shot anyways.
"Both of them claim to have memories of SG-1's mission to P4X 639." Was all I could give.
"A mission that isn't scheduled to start for six hours." The General said in shock, and I nodded. We made our way into the infirmary, to find Daniel speaking with Teal'c and O'Neill, and Janet had finished with their physicals.
"Okay -" Janet began, but Jack cut her off.
"General," he said, holding up a hand, "I know you're thinking about postponing the mission, but there's no point. Tried it last time, it didn't work." I looked at the shocked expression on the General's face, as the thermometer was inserted back into Teal'c's mouth. The General just shook his head and left the room, apparently having nothing to say (other than what the Colonel had told him not to say). I made my way back to my lab, where I came up with a theory about time looping, involving the Stargate's sub-space fields, in order to create a time inversion. Just as I was about to go find Jack and tell him about it, he found me.
"Gear up, Carter. We're going back to 639!" he said cheerfully, and left the lab.
"I've never been to P4X 639..." I muttered to myself as I rushed to follow him to the dressing room. When we finally arrived on the planet, I looked down to my reader.
"A geomagnetic storm is building up," I warned, "We shouldn't stay long."
"That's the machine right there." Jack pointed ahead to a stone pedestal among a bunch of pillars and ruins. We made out way towards it.
"I wonder how it works..." I said, more to myself than anyone. I had my theory, but that was about it.
"Sub-space fields and time inversions." Jack said. I literally stopped in my tracks to stare at him. How did he -
"That's what you said." He threw over his shoulder. I just shook my head and kept moving. What else had I told him that I wasn't aware of saying? Hopefully nothing stupid...or revealing... A man rounded a corner when we approached the pedestal. Hurriedly, I put down my monitor and held up my gun.
"Hello." The man said, raising his arms.
"Whoa, easy, guys..." Daniel cautioned, but much as I wanted to, I couldn't put down my gun until the Colonel said I could. Damn regs. That wasn't the first time I'd thought those very word.
"That's the guy." The Colonel said, "He's the one who started all this."
"I don't understand." The man shifted.
"Whatever you did, I want you to undo it." If even I didn't understand what O'Neill was talking about, I figured, what were the odds that this poor, most likely innocent man did?
"I did nothing!" the man said. I shook my head.
"Colonel, I don't think he knows what you're talking about." I don't even know what you're talking about, I added, but kept that to myself. Teal'c muttered something, and I heard Jack say,
"Oh, he remembers. He was the one who was pushing all those buttons."
"Please," the man begged, stepping to stand behind the pedestal. "I'm a - an archaeologist. I've been trying to translate these alien symbols. I - I - I told the others who came before you."
"SG-15?" Daniel asked.
"Uh, yes!" the man nodded. "But they didn't point weapons at me. I can show you my notes -" he said, reaching for his pack. Jack stopped him with an abrupt "Ah!" and stepped up to beside the man. I stepped up in front of the pedestal, gun still trained on the man.
"I've been making periodic visits to this planet for quite some time now. My research is almost complete." Jack began to go through the man's pack, and pulled out something that looked vaguely like a gun.
"What kind of archaeologist carries a weapon?" Jack asked the man. Good point, Jack, I thought to myself.
"Uh," Daniel came up behind me, hand raised. "I do." Better point, Daniel. Jack wavered for a moment.
"Bad example." He said to the man, and put the weapon down. He went again through his pack, pulling out a long, rectangular object. It opened to reveal a picture - of what, I couldn't see. "What's this?" Jack asked bluntly.
"If you must know." The man asked, eyes suddenly hard, and voice choked, "It's my wife." Suddenly, the stones on the pedestal began to move up and down, and a sound began like - crackling electricity. I put down my gun and looked at it in perplexity.
"What'd you do?!" the Colonel yelled to me over the noise. Surprised by his question I responded with,
"I didn't do anything! I - it engaged on it's own!"
"Turn it off." He demanded.
"How?!" I shot back at him. Talk about unreasonable. Just because my name's Samantha doesn't mean I can just twitch my nose and make everything right again!
"It's drawing energy from the ionization in the atmosphere." The man said, startling me. "There's nothing Major Carter can do!" Well, I could do something, if I had a little time -Hey. Wait a minute -
"'S'cuse me?" the Colonel demanded. "How'd you know her name?" he said, pointing to me. The man's expression changed to one of panic.
"You told me." He said.
"No I didn't, not this time around." the Colonel yelled. So the man did remember past loops. The man's expression changed again, and he put his arms down.
"It doesn't matter, you're too late." He said.
"How do you shut this thing off?" the Colonel yelled.
"Even if I knew I wouldn't tell you." The man said adamantly. Now I knew for a fact what that sound was. "Sir," I said, "It's building up some kind of charge."
"Daniel, you know how to read this stuff, get up here and shut it off." And I though Jack was being demanding of me! Daniel approached the pedestal with a look of overwhelmingness on his face.
"What?" he said, "Are you kidding me? I wouldn't even know where to begin! It could take years of translation, I should need the proper material, I don't even have enough -"
"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it." Daniel finished. "What'd you think?" I completely agreed with Daniel in this case, but had no idea as to what the Colonel's opinion would be. Frankly, I was glad Daniel had gotten around to asking. Daniel forked a piece of waffle into his mouth and I chewed my breakfast absently. The Colonel had a spoonful of fruit loops halfway up to his mouth as I watched him with interest. Suddenly, he dropped his spoon into his bowl and put his head in his hands. What an overreaction! I thought.
"Just a question..." Daniel backtracked, obviously thinking the same thing I was. At that, I looked down at my watch. Realizing it was past the time when we should have been finished eating, I said,
"We're going to be late for our briefing." Question or no question, we still had work. The Colonel sighed as he left our table. I looked at Daniel, who looked down in a slightly pissed off fashion, and I got up quickly. Technically I should have stood when the Colonel did, so I made up for it by getting up quickly now, and followed the Colonel out the door. I ran to grab my notes and disk for the visual presentation, and also my reports, and headed for the briefing room. Once everyone had gathered, I stood in front of the visual screen and prepared to start my briefing. Before I even had a chance to begin, the Colonel and Teal'c stood, and O'Neill said,
"Alright, here's the deal. We're all stuck in a time loop of some kind. However, Teal'c and I seem to be the only ones who realize it. Now, there's an alien device on 639. It shoots a beam, which - ah - sub-space something - what?" he looked to Teal'c as we all stood or sat in shock.
"Accesses the sub-space field the Stargate is capable of generating." Teal'c supplied. I moved forward, nodding, and concentrating on what they were saying. It was all plausible - sort of. "It is powered by ionization."
"In the atmosphere, right." The Colonel started up again. "Which is caused by -" Teal'c was about to cut in when O'Neill held up a hand to stop him "Ah! I know this one...magnets."
"The geomagnetic storm." Teal'c agreed. I nodded again - still semi-plausible.
"Close." Said O'Neill. The General opened his mouth and lifted a hand as if to say something, but Jack cut him off. "Anyway, I don't know why none of you remember any of this. But I do know for a fact there's no point in having ol' Doc Fraiser examine us again." I personally didn't think this was the case, so I looked to the General to see if he agreed. He did.
Suddenly, the sirens went off - SG-12 was back early from their mission because one of their members had broken their ankle - and both Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c had predicted this before the team even came through the Gate. Still confused as hell over the whole situation, but reasoning that it could make sense, I caught up to the General as he was leaving the control room.
"What do you make of all this, Major?" he asked. I told him what had been running through my mind.
"Well sir, when was the last time you heard Colonel O'Neill use terms like sub-space field and geomagnetic storms?" the General tried to hold back a smile as he said,
"Good point."
And he actually used them correctly!" I put in, before adding a hasty, "For the most part." It was true - he had, and that made less sense than it didn't.
"You believe him." The General read me like a book.
"Well," I tried to skirt it. "I'm considering the possibility, sir." As a theoretical physicist, everything had merit to me. "I mean, the more I think about it, if he's right, the ramifications are huge!"
"The next time time loops, we'll forget this conversation even happened." It was more of a statement than a question.
"Yes, sir." I nodded, as we rounded a corner. We entered the infirmary to find Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c had already left. Instead, I gave the General a nod and then made my way back to my lab. Something had just occurred to me - if this looping device was using the Stargate's sub-space field as a generator, then we'd just have to find some way to make our gate inaccessible. When I'd found my solution, I called Daniel to tell him I had something. I set up in the briefing room again and clicked a button on the visual display remote as everyone entered. Before I started, though, I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight.
"According to Colonel O'Neill, in the first loop, he and Teal'c witnessed a beam striking the Stargate on P4X 639. Then the gate became energized somehow." The Colonel looked bored with my explanation and Teal'c made no move to correct me, so I figured I was on the right track. Either that, or Jack was just being Jack, and Teal'c was just being stoic Teal'c. I went on anyways. "And now, in the second loop, at the exact same moment, they witnessed a similar effect in our own Gate room here on Earth." I looked to the Colonel for confirmation.
"Sounds about right." He murmured. Good; I could get on with my explanation.
"Okay, so if we really are under the influence of an alien technology then the effect is clearly being translated to Earth through the Stargate. In which case, then the solution is simple." I said with a smile, pleased by my own, you know, genius.
"We dial out." Daniel said, taking the words right from my mouth. Okay, so maybe I wasn't such a genius.
"Exactly. A few minutes before this loop is supposed to begin again, we establish an outgoing wormhole to, say, the Tollan home world." I said the first planet of allies that came to mind. "Then anyone or anything trying to dial in from P4X 639 will get a busy signal." I looked at everyone expectantly. Daniel looked like he thought it made sense, Teal'c raised an eyebrow, Jack looked confused (which meant I was on to something) and the General looked resigned enough to try anything.
"Let's do it." He ordered with a nod.
I spent the rest of the day in my lab, reviewing my notes on the Gate's sub-space generator, but found nothing. A couple minutes before when Jack had said the loop would restart, I made my way up to the control room and told them to start dialing Tollana, as I sat down beside the New GRG. Within moments, Jack, Teal'c, Daniel and the General were all assembled behind me, waiting to see if this would work. And there was no reason it shouldn't.
"Chevron five, locked." New GRG said, as we looked on in anticipation. "Chevron six, locked..." I held my breath. "Chevron seven will not engage."
"What?" I said, looking over at the dialing computer. That made no sense. I'd just run a full diagnostic - there was nothing wrong with the Gate or the dialing computers!
"It won't lock. Can't establish a connection." And that made even less sense!
"I'm running a diagnostic." Even though I knew there couldn't be anything wrong, I punched in some letters and numbers on the keyboard for a full, automatic diagnostic. Suddenly, the gate started to dial itself - we were getting an incoming.
"Incoming wormhole." GRG confirmed, to which the General immediately responded,
"Close the iris." GRG did, and the defense teams moved into the Gate room. I heard the Colonel mutter, "Oh crap..." behind me, with a sigh.
"This doesn't make any sense, there is nothing wrong on our end, we should have been able to dial out." I muttered, mirroring my thoughts. The wormhole established, and blue energy shot across the gate in lightning-like strips. My eyes got wide at the phenomenon, and I turned to look at the Colonel to see if this struck a chord with him. All he did was give me a little smile and a two fingered wave and -
"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it." Daniel finished. "What'd you think?" I completely agreed with Daniel in this case, but had no idea as to what the Colonel's opinion would be. Frankly, I was glad Daniel had gotten around to asking. Daniel forked a piece of waffle into his mouth and I chewed my breakfast absently. The Colonel had a spoonful of fruit loops halfway up to his mouth as I watched him with interest. Sudddenly, he dropped the spoon back into his bowl and leaned back into his chair.
"Ask me tomorrow." He said, and I retracted a bit. That was an odd response - apparently Daniel thought so too by his expression. At that thought, I looked down at my watch. Realizing it was past the time when we should have been finished eating, I said,
"We're going to be late for our briefing." Question or no question, we still had work. The Colonel sighed as he left our table. I looked at Daniel, who looked down in a mildly pissed off manner at having to wait to have his question answered after the big opinion speech he'd given. I got up quickly. Technically I should have stood when the Colonel did, so I made up for it by getting up quickly now, and followed the Colonel out the door. I ran to grab my notes and disk for the visual presentation, and also my reports, and headed for the briefing room. Once everyone had gathered, I stood in front of the visual screen and prepared to start my briefing. Before I even had a chance to begin, the Colonel and Teal'c stood, and the Colonel gave a very strange explanation of loops and time inversions. Unfortunately, though it sounded preposterous, it was all extremely plausible. After SG-12 got back early from their mission because one of their members had broken their ankle (as Jack had predicted), and Jack and Teal'c were sent to the infirmary, I went into my lab. Why hadn't we been able to dial out during the previous loop? Had it just been an error on the Tollan end? Could we contact any worlds? Wait - of course we could - SG-12 was able to gate in. Which worlds could we still contact? Maybe it was just a problem with the Tollan gate...Or was the Earth out of synch with the rest of the Gate system? Only one way to find out - trail and error. I ran up into the control room.
"Let's run some random dialings - no, don't ask why." I said at their confused looks. When our experiment was over and I'd reviewed the findings, I ran to find the General. I set up a visual in the briefing room and explained.
"According to Colonel O'Neill, in a previous loop we attempted to block the connection to P4X 639, but we were unable to dial out. I think what's happened is that the Earth has become, in a sense, out of synch, with the rest of the Gate system, making it impossible for us to establish contact with these worlds."
"What about SG-12?" The General asked the very question that had plagued me earlier. "They managed to gate in."
"I realized that; so I ran a sequence of random dialings, and this is what we found." I clicked on the visual display to show which worlds we were able to contact in a star pattern. "These were the worlds we were able to contact, including Alarus, the planet where SG-12 was doing its survey." I pointed it out on the screen. "Now at the center of this group," I pointed to the center star, from which lines had been drawn on the visual to connect it to all the other planets, "Is P4X 639." I went on to explain why this was important. "I believe that the alien device is establishing a simultaneous connection to all these Gates, creating a kind of..." I groped to find layman's terms that would explain this, "Sub-space bubble," I managed, "And that everything within the bubble is cut off form the normal flow of time." So that was that.
"What are the implications of this?" the General asked, as I'd known he would.
"Well, sir, we could be reliving the same day over and over, maybe thousands of times, and we'd never know it."
"What can we do?" the General asked, obviously not liking the sound of my explanation. I didn't like what my answer would have to be either, but it was the truth.
"Unfortunately, not much. I mean, the next time the loop starts, we won't even remember we had this conversation." Here's the part I really didn't want to have to say, "It's up to Teal'c, and Colonel O'Neill." The sirens went of, and the General and I ran down into the control room. Daniel, Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill were no where to be found. The gate established on incoming wormhole, and blue energy zapped over the closed iris.
"What the -" I asked, before there was a blinding flash of light, and -
"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it." Daniel finished. "What'd you think?" I completely agreed with Daniel in this case, but had no idea as to what the Colonel's opinion would be. Frankly, I was glad Daniel had gotten around to asking. Daniel forked a piece of waffle into his mouth and I chewed my breakfast absently. The Colonel had a spoonful of fruit loops halfway up to his mouth as I watched him with interest. Sudddenly, he dropped the spoon back into his bowl and leaned back into his chair.
"I honestly couldn't care less, Daniel." He said. Oh. Well then. At that thought, I looked down at my watch. Realizing it was past the time when we should have been finished eating, I said,
"We're going to be late for our briefing." Question or no question, we still had work. The Colonel sighed as he left our table. I looked at Daniel, who looked down with an extremely pissed off expression on his face, and I got up quickly. Technically I should have stood when the Colonel did, so I made up for it by getting up quickly now, and followed the Colonel out the door. I ran to grab my notes and disk for the visual presentation, and also my reports, and headed for the briefing room. Once everyone had gathered, I stood in front of the visual screen and started my briefing. Before I began my briefing, though, the Colonel stood up and said that he'd busted his arm somehow and couldn't hold a gun. I looked at him, confused. He'd looked fine this morning in the commissary...odd. The General postponed our mission, so after SG-12 got back, I shut myself in my lab to do some research on the rate of naquadah decay in different controlled environments. Quite a few hours later, I decided to check on what was happening in the control room - plus, I needed to get out of my for a while. I walked into the control room to find the it deserted. I checked the computer - the blast doors were shut, every corridor leading to the Gate room was sealed off, and the Gate was locked on to Alarus. Typing in my access code to the blast doors in confusion, I found it had been locked by a higher officer - a Colonel. I needed another Colonel or a General to override. I went and got General Hammond from his briefing room and asked if he knew what was going on - he didn't even know the Gate had been activated. It certainly had.
Typing in his access code, the blast doors slid themselves open to reveal -Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c playing golf through the Stargate?! I thought he'd busted his arm! Though, I had to laugh at the Colonel's attire, all plaid and mismatched. The Colonel lifted his arm to take a swing, and the General yelled, "Colonel O'Neill, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" through the microphone. I was wondering the same thing. Stopping mid-swing, the Colonel turned and spread his arms, to yell,
"In the middle of my back-swing?!"
Suddenly, the gate was overtaken by a mass of blue energy, striping across it. I looked on, wide eyed, as -
"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it." Daniel finished. "What'd you think?" I completely agreed with Daniel in this case, but had no idea as to what the Colonel's opinion would be. Frankly, I was glad Daniel had gotten around to asking. Daniel forked a piece of waffle into his mouth and I chewed my breakfast absently. The Colonel had a spoonful of fruit loops halfway up to his mouth as I watched him with interest. Suddenly, he dropped the spoon back into his bowl and leaned back into his chair.
"I honestly couldn't care less, Daniel." He said. Oh. Well then. At that thought, I looked down at my watch. Realizing it was past the time when we should have been finished eating, I said,
"We're going to be late for our briefing." Question or no question, we still had work. The Colonel sighed as he left our table. I looked at Daniel and he looked down in confusion and I got up quickly. Technically I should have stood when the Colonel did, so I made up for it by getting up quickly now, and followed the Colonel out the door. I ran to grab my notes and disk for the visual presentation, and also my reports, and headed for the briefing room. Once everyone had gathered, I stood in front of the visual screen and started my briefing. Before I even had a chance to begin, Teal'c slumped over in his chair - he looked like he'd become very ill.
"Kel-noureem..." he muttered, as an emergency med team rushed in to take him to the infirmary. I guess we wouldn't be going to P4X 639 today. The Colonel looked like the only person who had the slightest idea what was going on. The General sat, perplexed, and cancelled our mission as I thought he would've. I decided that since we had nothing to do today, I'd shut myself in my lab and experiment with some naquadah decay rates. The sirens blared in my lab - `unscheduled off-world activation!' New GRG's voice blared. I ran from my lab into the control room to see what was going on. The gate was dialing itself in. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Colonel O'Neill come up the steps into the control room - wearing civvies! A yellow sweater, a black toque and a pair of jeans. Hmm...he looked good, I decided, and kept one ear and one eye on what he was doing.
"George?" He said to the General, and handed the older man a couple of papers. I gasped at his informality.
"Colonel O'Neill, what are you doing out of uniform?" Jack looked at his watch.
"Handing you my resignation..." he replied slowly. My eyes got wide. What on Earth - I couldn't pretend as if I wasn't listening! Why the hell was he resigning?!
"You're resigning?" I marched over to him and planted myself directly in front of him. "What for?" I may have sounded more concerned than angry - I don't really know.
"So I can do..." he said, still looking at his watch. I heard the Gate establish a connection. "This." Next thing I knew, he'd grabbed me on either side of neck and pulled me into him, planting a mind-numbing kiss on my lips. It was all I could do to close my eyes. My arms lifted a little in shock. Next thing I knew he'd slid his hands gently around my waist and flipped me to the right, dipping me over. I threaded my hand through his arm so one was around his back to support myself. With the other, I clung to his shoulder. I felt all bound in his tight grip. Holy crap! My Jack...kissing me...here...now...dipping...All I could think about was that he was doing this in front of the entire control room - in front of General Hammond! After resigning -I stopped thinking after that. He tasted so good...it felt so right. I tilted my head slightly so we were in a less awkward position, and then I slid my arm from his shoulder to around his neck and pressed him deeper into me. Everything felt so perfect - I even managed to forget where we were. I was just crushed up against him as the blood pounded through my veins, and I was sure he could feel my heart beating heavy through my shirt - I could feel his. I felt myself wish that this moment would never end -
"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it." Daniel finished. "What'd you think?" I completely agreed with Daniel in this case, but had no idea as to what the Colonel's opinion would be. Frankly, I was glad Daniel had gotten around to asking. Daniel forked a piece of waffle into his mouth and I chewed my breakfast absently. The Colonel had a spoonful of fruit loops halfway up to his mouth as I watched him with interest. Suddenly, he dropped the spoon back into his bowl and shut his eyes. He leaned back in his chair and completely ignored Daniel. I saw a little smile play over his lips and he sighed deeply.
"Colonel?" I asked, concerned. This was odd behavior. "Is something wrong?" He opened his eyes and gave me the most wicked smile that I had ever seen in my entire life.
"I'll tell you someday...Samantha..." he said, and I looked over at Daniel with raised brows. The Colonel then got up and walked out of the commissary, with a definite spring to his step.
"Uhm..." was all I could think to say. What was going on? At that thought, I looked down at my watch. Realizing it was past the time when we should have been finished eating, I said,
"We're going to be late for our briefing." Question or no question, we still had work. Technically I should have stood when the Colonel did, so I made up for it by getting up quickly now, and followed the Colonel out the door. I ran to grab my notes and disk for the visual presentation, and also my reports, and headed for the briefing room. Once everyone had gathered, I stood in front of the visual screen and started my briefing. Before I began my briefing, though, both the Colonel and Teal'c stood up and gave an extremely impressive lecture on the time loop we were all stuck in. Also, they said that in about two hours, they'd be able to finish the translation of the carving around the ruins; with Daniel's help, of course. This day was just becoming too weird.
The two hours passed, and SG-1 was called into the briefing room. Instead of taking his normal seat beside me, the Colonel opted to sit across from me instead. Before General Hammond got to the room to start the briefing, I decided to read the quick briefing book he'd prepared. When I'd finished reading, I looked up - straight into the staring eyes of Colonel O'Neill. He had the oddest, smile on his face, like he was remembering something. I looked left to see if there was anything there that he could be smiling at. Nothing. I looked back at him. Still smiling. I looked right. Nothing. Back. Still smiling. With a nervous, forced half-smile, I asked him, "What're you smiling at?" He just sat with his head propped up on one hand and continued to stare at me in a way that made me wish I could sink into the floor.
"Nothin'..." he said, with a little shake of his head - I knew it was a lie by the way he said it like he was someplace else - still like he was remembering something. And he was smiling at me... What was going on...? I looked down at the table to avoid his gaze and organized my briefing book.
"What've you got for us Dr. Jackson?" he General asked, after taking a briefing book from Daniel and sitting down in front of me. I could feel the Colonel take his gaze off me and turn it towards Daniel. I looked up at him to see the dreamy look had completely disappeared from his face. Daniel began.
"With the help of Teal'c and...Jack," he seemed reluctant to say it, even, "I've managed to complete the translation. As I originally suspected, ah, P4X 639 was once a colony of the Ancients." He paused, letting the information sink in. "They thrived there for thousands of years, until they were struck with some sort of unspecified cataclysm, perhaps a disease, but we'll never really know for sure. Ah, in any case, facing certain destruction, they built the time machine." He pointed with his pen behind him, to where a visual display of a stone pedestal was projected onto the screen. When he didn't say anything else, Colonel O'Neill supplied, "They were gonna go back and change their history, to avoid their fate." This was quite a large statement, coming from Jack.
"Right," Daniel agreed, "But it didn't work. Instead of sending a team of scientists back to the key moment in their history, the device caused a short-term, continuous loop; just like the one we've been experiencing." He clarified. "They experienced the same day dozens, maybe hundreds of times trying to get the machine to work, but in the end," he shrugged, "They gave up, they shut it down and...let the end come." He finished.
"So the loop can be broken." The General drew out. Colonel O'Neill nodded and made as if he were about to say something, but Daniel stepped in.
"Uh, there's a section of text on the altar that deals specifically with the geomagnetic storms that power the device -" I leaned forward, intrigued, "Apparently, they reoccur every fifty, or so, years, which is why, incidentally, the -"
"Yes sir." The Colonel cut Daniel off, throwing the younger man a warning look. Too bad - I would have liked to hear what Daniel had to say. I'll ask him later, I figured. "The loop can be broken." The Colonel gave Daniel an all-out look of `get on with it'.
"I was getting to that..." Daniel said rather dejectedly. "When we activate the symbols on the altar in the right sequence, I think we can shut it down." I'd never noticed how often Daniel talks with his hands, I thought absently.
"Colonel," the general said, "Have your team geared up and ready to embark in thirty minutes." Judging by the expression on Jack's face, this was exactly what he wanted to hear.
"Yes sir." He said, and got up out of his chair. The rest of us followed, to get our gear on. I tried as much as possible to ignore the stares the Colonel kept sending my way. When we arrived on P4X 639, I looked down at my instrument. Hmm...a geomagnetic storm is building up, so we shouldn't stay long. I opened my mouth to warn the others -
"A geomagnetic storm is building up," the Colonel said, staring right at me. "We shouldn't stay long." I gaped at him in amazement. Those were the exact word I was about to - how did he - "Lucky guess." He shrugged, and moved forwards toward the altar. I shook my head and moved also. This was just too weird.
"Malaki!" the Colonel yelled. I looked, but didn't see a human anywhere.
"I don't see anyone, sir." I said, voicing my thoughts.
"Oh, he's around here somewhere. He knows we're onto him." The Colonel muttered. The Colonel gave some hand signals and I put down my instrument so I could hold my gun properly. I took the left flank. Teal'c, on the other hand, walked straight forward - straight into a wall of red energy that sent him flying backwards. I rushed over to him and knelt beside him to make sure he was okay. As I did so, a scrawny little man walked out from among the ruins to stand behind the altar; Malaki.
"I'm sorry, but you've come to break the time loop." Malaki said. "And I'm afraid I can't let you do that." And eerie smile lit his features as he flipped through a notebook. The Colonel stepped forward as I touched Teal'c's face to make sure was okay.
"Get away from that thing." The Colonel demanded of Malaki. The man just shot Jack a dirty look, as if to say `Make me', and went back to his notes. The Colonel picked up a rock from nearby and stepped back from where the energy wall had been. He tossed the rock at it and it ricocheted, slamming back directly between the Colonel and where Daniel was standing, a few yards back.
"It's no good, sir, it looks like a variation on a Goa'uld force shield." I said.
"In fact it is, Major." Malaki's voice was a little creepy, I decided. "I had to trade several rare artifacts for the field generator, but it was well worth it." He looked down at his notes again.
"Malaki?" Daniel stepped forward. "We have to reset those controls, or the loop's gonna start all over again."
"I'm counting on it." Malaki said, causing me to look up at him in surprise. I was still knelt over Teal'c. "I need more time," he continued, "Once I've correctly deciphered the symbols on the altar, I will be able to master the time device."
"Why, so you can be king of Groundhog Day?" I let myself smile a little at the Colonel's joke.
"You think I would do this for personal power?" Malaki asked, obviously not getting the joke. "She," he nodded his head at something, before looking away from us. "You wouldn't understand."
"What happened?" the Colonel asked. I heard concern in his voice. There was a long pause, before Malaki shrugged.
"She died. Twelve years ago." He looked down. "When I found this place and discovered it's true purpose, I dedicated myself to unlocking it's mysteries.
"So you could go back and save her." I assumed, voice gentle. I felt Teal'c awake suddenly next to me.
"No, that would be quite impossible." Malaki said. "She died of a congenital heart weakness." Teal'c stood, as did I. "Not even the ability to travel time -" he gestured at the altar "-could change that."
"Then why are you doing this?" the Colonel asked quietly, taking off his sunglasses.
"To be with her once more." My heart softened at Malaki's choked voice. Poor man. Daniel took his glasses off as well.
"Malaki, the device doesn't work." Malaki looked up in disbelief. "It never did."
"It never did?" he asked, sounding a little strangled. He smiled suddenly. "You're living proof -"
"We finished translating the text on the ruins." Daniel broke in. "The Ancients who built this place never got it to work. They tried, over and over again, just like you, but in the end they gave up." Malaki looked away, crushed. "Why do you think this place has been deserted so long?" Daniel continued, just in case the other archaeologist didn't believe him yet. "They couldn't save themselves."
"You're wrong." Malaki shot back. "There must be some other explanation. I know I can make this work."
"You can't." Daniel hissed. "They proved it can't be done. You're just going to go on like this forever, you'll be trapped."
"Along with billions of innocent others." Teal'c said it before I had a chance to.
"This device activates fourteen Stargates simultaneously," I explained. "That's fourteen worlds reliving the same day, over and over." Malaki looked genuinely shocked.
"I, uh..." he looked away, "I didn't realize -" a device beside him flashed and made a sound. "But, it doesn't matter." He seemed to have a quick change of heart from a moment ago, "Once I am able to input the correct time co-ordinates, the loop will be broken."
"The people who made that machine are the same people who made the Stargates." The Colonel pointed out sharply. "And they couldn't get the damn thing to work!" Jack was clearly getting fed up with the archaeologist. "And even if you could," he added, "Just for the sake of argument...you can't change what happened to her." His voice turned soft, quiet.
"I can..." Malaki replied, "Touch her face again. Talk with her. Hear her laugh." His eyes were far off - distant.
"Like you remember." Said the Colonel. Malaki nodded.
"Yes."
"And then what'll happen?" Jack asked suddenly. Malaki looked down at the altar.
"She'll die."
"And then what?" the Colonel asked, again. "You start all over?" the stones on the altar activated, and began to move up and down. My heart ached for this poor man, but the Colonel had a point. I heard something crackle, like the building of energy, on the pillars next to me. "Listen to me." The Colonel called out over the approaching wind and energy. "I know what it's like."
"You can't!" Malaki yelled, disgusted.
"I lost my son! I know!" the Colonel yelled. My heart felt like it had been wrenched out of place; I winced at the sadness these two men must have felt. The same kind of sadness I felt for my mother. I looked down. "And as much as I wo -" the Colonel had to stop to collect himself. He took a breath, and continued. "I could never live that over again. Could you?" he finished. I looked at the Colonel, and then to Malaki, whose eyes were brimming with tears.
"No." he said clearly, looking into the Colonel's face.
"Let her go." The Colonel said gently. I wanted nothing more than to rush over to him and hug him, over all the grief for his son, but knew I couldn't. Damn regs...
Malaki pressed two stones and a button to his left, and everything stopped. The wind died down, the energy build-up ceased, and the stones on the altar stopped moving. I left my breath out - I hadn't realized I'd been holding it. Malaki pressed another button, and the force shield dropped. Daniel looked back at me as the Colonel walked up to Malaki. Taking the image of his wife out of Malaki's pack, Jack handed it to the archaeologist, and at Malaki's look of gratitude, gave an almost imperceptible nod. Daniel dialed the Gate, and we returned home in silence.
"Well, we're still here, Colonel, I assume you were successful?" the General walked into the Gate room, already asking questions, but Daniel and I left the room before I got a chance to hear the Colonel's answer. After our debriefing was finished, I received a message from Dad - they'd been trying to contact us for over three months. Who knows how long we'd been in the loop before they'd tried to contact us. Over three months, relieving the same day. I felt extremely bad for Teal'c and the Colonel. After speaking briefly with my Dad through the gate on a communication system, I went directly to a room with a spare bunk and fell immediately asleep. I was just too drained - emotionally and physically - to do anything else. I dreamed about kissing the Colonel in the control room, in front of the General. I woke up blushing, to the sounds of the on-base alarm that flooded the comm systems. I jumped out of bed feeling refreshed, and went to grab a new pair of fatigues. After that, I went into the commissary, to find Colonel O'Neill and Daniel already grabbing some breakfast. The Colonel heaped oatmeal into a bowl which Daniel took his typical waffle, and I took some fruit. We all sat down at a table together. The Colonel devoured large spoonfuls of his oatmeal like nothing I'd ever seen.
"Mm..." he said through a mouthful in satisfaction. Daniel put down his fork.
"I don't think I've ever seen anyone enjoy oatmeal so much." He said, putting voice to my thoughts.
"When you've been eating fruit loops for who knows how long," the Colonel said with a little grimace, "A little variety helps." I took this as an opportunity to relay my information.
"Well we got a message from the Tok'ra." I tried to contain a smile at the was Jack devoured the food. "Apparently, they've been trying to contact us for over three months." The Colonel gave me a look that read `Oh?'. Just a typical Jack look.
"Really?" he said with a little smile, through a mouthful of food.
"Who knows when they first realized that we were cut off," I continued. "I mean, there's really no telling how much time passed."
"Lemme ask you something." Daniel interjected, "In all that time you were, um..." he search for an appropriate word, "Looping," he came up with, "Were you ever tempted to...do something crazy?" the Colonel looked up from his oatmeal, a nearly imperceptible smile on his face. "I mean, uh, you could do anything, without worrying about consequences." I looked from Daniel to the Colonel with interest. What would I do if I could do anything at all without consequence... I would kiss Jack in the control room in front of General Hammond, I thought, remembering my dream with a faint blush.
"You know it's funny," the Colonel said, staring straight at Daniel, "You've asked me that before." Daniel looked to me with a curious grin.
"And..." he coaxed. The Colonel said nothing - only he shifted his gaze from Daniel to me, and let it rest there. I looked at Daniel and then back to the Colonel, who was still staring. If I wasn't blushing before, I certainly was now. Daniel looked back at Jack and then quickly did a double-take back to me. I knew he'd figured it out. I just hadn't. I stared at the Colonel with a confused smile. Jack smiled at me impishly, before opening his mouth and taking a long bite of his oatmeal, never taking his eyes off me. Me...what did he - my eyes got wide.
The control room...the General...the kiss...did he? Nah.
It would never happen.
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