Chapter One: Nametags?
“I’m sorry, Major.” Though gruff, General Hammond’s voice was not unkind. “My decision is final.”
“But, General, imagine the possibilities for exploration, for gathering information, learning about new technology. Who knows what we could find...”
“My point exactly.” He cut her off firmly. “I think that it would be fair to say that we have enough problems of our own without importing them from other realities, don’t you?”
Even Sam couldn’t argue against that. “Yes, sir.”
“Then you should get to work.” He told her. “The sooner that thing is destroyed, the better I’ll feel.”
The quantum mirror seemed to be stubbornly resistant to the idea of being destroyed.
Teal’c’s staff weapon had been unable to put so much as a dent in its surface and multiple shots from a zat had had no effect whatsoever. Bullets had caused about as much damage as paper balls would have and, as the object seemed to be made of naquadah, or something very similar, C4 was out of the question.
“Not going to go gently into that good night, is it?” Jack observed, coming into the lab for a progress report and finding the quantum mirror still standing in all its glory and his second in command growing increasingly frustrated by her inability to follow General Hammond’s orders.
“Nothing I’ve done has been able to so much as scratch it.” Sam told him, frowning. She never liked to be beaten, especially by technology.
“Maybe you’re going about this the wrong way.”
“Sir?”
“Your methods might be a little too high tech - Siler!”
At the Colonel’s bellow, Sergeant Siler, who had been conducting repairs outside the lab, entered, a puzzled frown crossing his features when Jack plucked the huge wrench from his hand and shooed him out of the room.
“Brute force might just do the trick.” He hefted the heavy wrench - how did Siler manage to lug this thing around all day? - in preparation to strike then paused, as if remembering his manners, and offered it to Sam. “Want to do the honors?” He inquired politely, his eyes pleading with her to decline.
Sam laughed and, taking pity on him, shook her head. “It’s all yours, sir.”
“Sweet!” He grinned appreciatively before regarding the mirror with a keen gaze, his eyes combing its surface for any weak points. “Well, here goes nothing. Fore!”
Swinging the wrench like a golf club, he struck the center of the mirror as hard as he could, creating a resounding clang and smirking when he cracked the surface.
The triumphant smile was wiped off his face when, approximately three seconds later a wave of pale violet light emanated from the mirror and sent him and Sam flying across the lab.
Major General George S Hammond had been half convinced that just over two years of running Stargate Command had permanently cured him of being surprised - at least until he had walked into the lab and, instead of the two people he had expected to find causing trouble, he had found eight, most of them nursing various bumps and bruises.
“What the heck is going on here?”
“Uh, General,” Jack looked as uneasy as he ever did. “Remember when you ordered the quantum mirror destroyed? It didn’t exactly work out as we planned.”
That was an understatement of mammoth proportions, the general reflected sourly, taking in the assorted Carters and O’Neills standing in the lab.
“Sir, there’s a problem. Another problem.” Sam amended sheepishly, seeing the general’s glare. She gestured to the quantum mirror, which was now a dull black, cracked in several places. “It won’t come on again. We’re not going to be able to send anybody back.”
“Wonderful.” Was a quiet life really too much to ask for? “I don’t suppose any of you have any suggestions about what we can do now?”
Jack shrugged. “Nametags?”
General Hammond was not amused.
“I didn’t think that I would be back in your universe again so soon.” Dr Samantha Carter-O’Neill, having visited this universe before, had a distinct advantage over the other newcomers. “Actually, I didn’t think that I would ever be back. I thought that you were going to destroy the mirror.”
“Yeah.” Jack looked a little sheepish. “That didn’t turn out like planned.”
“So I see.”
General Hammond had ordered them all to wait for him in the briefing room.
So far, Samantha was the only one who seemed to be in any way comfortable with the situation, but then again, she was also the only one of the newcomers who had experienced an alternate reality first hand before today. One of the O’Neills, a general, if stars meant the same thing in his world as they did in this, stood by the window, a frown creasing his forehead, making no attempt to interact with any of them. Another O’Neill, together with a Carter, both military, sat at the briefing table, conversing quietly and Sam had been cornered by the last of her counterparts, another civilian, who was eagerly interrogating her, presumably about dimension hopping, while the fourth O’Neill - Jack had a sinking suspicion that he was a geek - listened attentively, occasionally chiming in with a question of his own.
“Alright, everybody, listen up.” Figuring that General Hammond would soon be back, probably with the rest of SG-1 and, as likely as not, Dr Fraiser in tow, Jack wanted to get one point cleared up. “Everyone got a Teal’c where they’re from? Big guy, gold tattoo, snake in his gut.” A chorus of nods. “He’s a good guy here, a valuable part of my team. Everybody got that? Teal’c: Good.”
“If you say so.” General O’Neill responded curtly, refraining from pointing out that the other man should address him as ‘sir’.
Jack and Sam came to their feel as General Hammond entered, the others following their example after the briefest of pauses.
Hammond sat, acknowledging them with a nod. “As you were.”
Forewarned, none of the doubles attempted to throttle Teal’c when he arrived. Samantha greeted him with a smile and, aside from a few scattered nods, none of the others seemed overly interested, accepting Jack’s assertion that the Jaffa was one of the good guys and leaving it at that.
If Teal’c was shocked by the fact that there were four times as many Carters and O’Neills as usual, he did a masterful job of concealing it, with a raised eyebrow as the only evidence of his surprise.
Daniel, as usual, was slightly late and hurried into the briefing room, straightening his glasses. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw who was sitting at the briefing table.
“Whoa!” The archaeologist’s mouth was open almost wide enough to swallow the stargate whole.
“That about sums it up.” Sam said dryly.
“We hit a bit of a snag when we tried to get rid of the quantum mirror.” Jack explained in a would-be casual tone.
“A bit of a snag?” Daniel repeated in disbelief, his wide-eyed gaze taking in the newcomers. He stared for a moment before remembering his manners. “I’m Daniel Jackson, I’m a member of SG-1.” He looked hopeful. “I don’t suppose I’m involved in the Stargate Program in your realities, am I?”
Although he would never have admitted it, even to his closest friends, it had been something of a blow to his ego to learn that in both the reality he had visited and the reality from which Samantha and the alternate Kawalsky had come, the Stargate program had been able to manage without him.
“Nope.” The civilian O’Neill told him cheerfully.
Sam’s military counterpart merely shook her head.
Samantha gave him a sympathetic smile. “Sorry, Dr Jackson.”
General O’Neill fixed the younger man with an icy glare. “The Daniel Jackson of my world was a part of the program.” His response was curt.
“Was?” Daniel was unsettled by the use of the past tense in reference to his other self but General O’Neill did not seem to be inclined to volunteer any further information.
“I’m going to have to consult with my superiors before we decide where to go from here.” Hammond addressed the newcomers, bringing them back to the matter at hand. “And perhaps some of our allies will be able to help.” Although he had his doubts about whether they would be able to do anything without the mirror, he kept this thought to himself.
After all, they did have something of a record for getting themselves out of impossible situations.
“So you’re telling me that in your world Carter’s a Colonel?” Jack asked incredulously, gaping at one of his counterparts, who nodded confirmation. “Did she join the Air Force when she was ten or something? So I take it she’s your CO.” Major O’Neill nodded again. “And what about you?”
The civilian O’Neill grinned in response to the question. “Dr Jonathan O’Neill, at your service.” He joked, sketching a mock bow. “Astronomy’s my specialty.”
“You’re a geek.” Jack wasn’t sure whether or not he should be unsettled by the fact that this didn’t seem as unbelievable as it should have.
“Yup.” His counterpart didn’t even have the grace to be ashamed of his geekliness.
“Fork in the road stuff, I guess.” Jack’s tone was slightly doubtful. He looked across the table at General O’Neill, who drank his coffee silently, his gaze occasionally drifting to the table a short distance away, where the Carters were getting to know one another. “Anything you’d like to share?”
“No.” The clipped refusal was all the response he was prepared to give.
‘For cryin’ out loud.’ Jack thought, looking at the other man’s sullen expression. ‘Am I that much of an asshole?’
“So,” He said, determinedly cheerful. “I take it we all like ‘The Simpsons’?”
It was often said that rumours could travel through Cheyenne mountain at a speed exceeding hyperspeed but that, apparently, had not been fast enough to inform the Airman on kitchen duty of the situation.
When he had seen four near identical Samantha Carters troop past him, each armed with a glass of blue jello, the serving tray he had been holding fell to the ground with a resounding clang and he had spent the next couple of minutes doing a remarkably good impersonation of a goldfish.
“This is all fascinating.” The counterpart Sam had silently designated ‘Dr Carter’ spoke excitedly. She had exchanged her suit and lab coat for blue BDUs but her long hair was still pulled back into a loose knot. “I know that according to quantum theory there are an infinite number of possible realities but to actually experience one first hand...”
“It’s incredible.” Colonel Carter finished for her, her face alight with the same enthusiasm. She sobered, remembering her temporal physics. “But what about...” She didn’t need to continue, the other three had all been thinking the same thing.
“Entropic cascade failure.” Samantha spoke softly. “Not exactly the most pleasant experience in the world.” She exchanged a concerned look with Sam. “It only took a few days last time. If there are four of us here now...”
“I know.” Sam shared her fear. “Maybe it won’t be an issue.” She tried to sound positive. “We could have everyone back in their own reality before it starts.”
She hoped.
“I’ve spoken with the president.” As his office was too small to comfortably accommodate all six of the new arrivals, Hammond had summoned them to the briefing room once he had hung up the red phone. He nodded towards Samantha. “You were already cleared, Doctor, and there should be no difficulty arranging the same clearance for the rest of you until we can send you back to your own worlds. Until then guest quarters have been prepared and I’m sure that Dr Jackson will be happy to help you in any way he can.”
Once the general had dismissed them, Daniel led the group to the elevator, offering a shy smile as the numbers clocked down.
The previous week had been strange enough, between the alternate Kawalsky and Samantha, but that had been positively normal next to chaperoning half a dozen people who were both very familiar yet at the same time complete strangers.
“I guess you all know your way around pretty well already; I mean, the base is more or less the same in everybody’s reality, right?” Daniel chattered awkwardly as he exited the elevator and, with a quick glance to make sure that he hadn’t lost anybody, led them through the corridors to the quarters assigned to them.
“Major Carter’s lab is on the nineteenth floor here.” Dr Carter volunteered. “Ours is on the twenty-first.”
“We started off on the nineteenth, though.” Jonathan reminded her. “But we needed more space to work on both our projects.”
“Your rooms are just here.” Daniel stopped outside the first door, checking the list of rooms. “Samantha, you’re in here. Dr O’Neill is opposite and Dr Carter...”
“We just need one room, thanks.” Jonathan cut him off, grinning impishly.
Daniel caught a brief flash of something sparkly as Dr Carter swatted Jonathan lightly. He supposed that he shouldn’t have been surprised, after all, the Sam and Jack of the reality he had unintentionally visited had been engaged too, and Samantha had been married to the O’Neill of her reality.
Colonel Carter and Major O’Neill did not say anything about how many rooms they would need, they both simply headed into the room Daniel had indicated for Colonel Carter.
“Uh, that just leaves you, General.” Daniel addressed the last of the group. He opened the door to the room assigned to the other man. “Your quarters are here. If you need anything...”
“I don’t need anything from you.” General O’Neill marched into the room, closing the door and leaving a puzzled Daniel in his wake.
‘I wonder what his problem is.’
The next morning
As the old adage went, two heads were better than one. Four heads were better still.
“The monitors in the lab registered a huge spike of energy when Colonel O’Neill hit the mirror, it only last a second or two, then the mirror went dead.” Sam explained to the other three Carters.
“Breaking the mirror must have caused some kind of overload.” Dr Carter caught on to her train of thought. “And that overload created a tear between the realties that brought us all here. Who knows how many of us would be here if it hadn’t shut off so quickly.”
“If you and O’Neill were the ones closest to the mirror when it was broken, that’s probably why only different versions of you... us came through.” Colonel Carter theorized.
“I wonder if there was any particular reason our four realities were the ones drawn through the mirror.” Samantha mused. “Were either of you near the mirror physically before coming through?” Dr Carter and Colonel Carter shook their heads. “It must have been random, then. Our worlds are all pretty different.”
“Tell me about it.” Sam grumped. “All of you were able to figure out how to use the stargate. I couldn’t.”
“You would have.” Samantha told her confidently. “I figured it out six days after your Daniel did.”
“Jonathan was the one who spotted that the symbols were constellations.” Dr Carter chipped in. “It would have taken me forever otherwise.”
“And you’re the only one to have built a working naquadah generator.” Colonel Carter added.
“True.” Sam assented, cheered by this. She made a mental note to ask General Hammond for permission to provide her other selves with details of her research if they found a way to send them back to their own realities.
‘When.’ She reminded herself sternly. ‘Not if, when.’
It hadn’t taken her and Samantha long to rebuild Colonel O’Neill’s Asgard power core. Between the four of them, they’d figure out something.
“Engaged engaged?” Jack regarded Daniel with some skepticism. He, Daniel and Teal’c had congregated at SG-1’s usual table for breakfast. Sam had been closeted in her lab with the other Carters since early in the morning and he had been unable to pry her away for breakfast.
In retrospect, he was glad that she wasn’t present for Daniel’s conversation topic of choice.
“That’s what I said.” Daniel told him patiently, finishing his second cup of coffee before polishing off the last few bites of his waffles. “Colonel Carter and Major O’Neill are together too.”
“Now I know you’re pulling my leg.”
“Colonel Carter and Major O’Neill are indeed involved, O’Neill.” Teal’c told him in a tone that left no room for argument. “They both wear the gold rings of a Tauri married couple.”
“I didn’t spot that.” Daniel said, impressed by his friend’s powers of observation. “Wow.” He looked thoughtful. “That makes four realities. Do you think the universe is trying to tell us something?”
“Drop it, Daniel.” Jack’s tone was sharper than he had intended.
Some things were better off not discussed and this was one of them.
“The Asgard were able to get every Jaffa on the planet off in minutes.” Samantha’s joy and relief were evident. “Thor promised that they would help us rebuild and he’s going to try to have Earth included in the Protected Planets Treaty.”
“You gotta love those guys.” Jack grinned.
“I take it that you won’t be able to cover the attack up.” Sam said, conscious of the fact that they had been very lucky in that respect when Apophis had attacked Earth in this reality.
The few astronomy enthusiasts who had spotted the motherships had been successfully fobbed off with an explanation about unusual meteor activity but she very much doubted that the billion people left dead and the billions of others enslaved in Samantha’s reality could be explained away.
“No.” Samantha grimaced. “General Hammond and the President are hoping that we’ll be able to get away with keeping the Stargate a secret but I don’t know if we will. We’ll definitely have to come clean about the existence of the Goa’uld and Asgard at the very least.”
“Tough break.” Jack commiserated.
“I know.” Samantha brightened. “At least while I’m here, I don’t have to deal with the press conferences.”
“Are you Carters any closer to figuring out how to turn the mirror back on?” Jack’s tone was hopeful.
“No, sir.” Sam responded, shaking her head. “None of my equipment has been able to pick up any kind of energy readings from it. It’ll be a while before we can repair it.”
“If we ever do.” Samantha said.
“D’oh!” Jack quipped, dismayed by this news.
Although he could live with having an extra three Carters around, he didn’t think that the universe was big enough for four Jack O’Neills.
Lunchtime
“Do you think that I have leprosy in General O’Neill’s reality?”
“What?” Jack gaped at the younger man and even Teal’c looked slightly surprised.
“He can’t stand to be anywhere near me.” Daniel said unnecessarily. The general had been eating lunch with Jack and Teal’c when Daniel had joined them and had taken his own tray and moved away without a word the second the archaeologist had sat down. “I wonder what I… the other me… could have done to make him so mad.”
“The Teal’cs of both General O’Neill’s reality and that of Samantha O’Neill took part in Apophis’ attacks on Earth. The Teal’c of Colonel Carter and Major O’Neill’s world remains in the service of Apophis.” Teal’c remarked, either not noticing Jack’s reaction to the name ‘Samantha O’Neill’ or choosing to ignore it. “None of them have demonstrated dislike for me.”
His words did not seem to be much comfort to Daniel.
What could the Daniel Jackson of General O’Neill’s reality possibly have done that was so much worse than trying to destroy Earth?
“I guess superglue wouldn’t do the trick, would it?” Major O’Neill observed, tapping the mirror lightly.
Colonel Carter rolled her eyes. “I doubt it.”
“Duct tape?”
She unsuccessfully smothered a laugh as she shook her head. “Although if nothing else works, we may end up trying that.”
“Sweet!”
Sam averted her eyes as the two briefly touched hands before Major O’Neill left the room. Like Teal’c, she had seen the gold wedding bands the pair wore but had convinced herself - or at least tried to convince herself - that it didn’t mean anything, that they could very well have been married to different people, but after a few minutes of observing them, she knew that this was not the case.
Watching the colonel and Samantha kiss a few days ago had not disturbed her half as much as the jealousy she had felt when she saw them.
It seemed to take every ounce of willpower Sam possessed to keep herself from asking questions like how Colonel Carter and Major O’Neill had been able to find a way around the frat regs and from thinking things best left unthought about her CO. She had to force her attention back to the quantum mirror and to the realm of science, where things were infinitely less complicated.
Later
“What is your problem?”
“I beg your pardon, Colonel?” General O’Neill pointedly emphasized the other man’s lower rank, but even his dark scowl was ineffective.
Few people could intimidate Colonel Jack O’Neill and he did not count himself - any version - among that number.
Though initially inclined to suspect that Daniel was exaggerating slightly, Jack had been convinced when he saw the glares General O’Neill had directed at the younger man when he had delivered a message from General Hammond.
If looks could kill, Daniel would have been zatted three times over.
“Granted, he’s a bit annoying.” Jack conceded. “Especially when he’s talking about one of his wonderful archaeological finds, but he’s a nice guy and he's saved my ass more than once. Whatever happened in your world, cut this world's Daniel some slack.”
“He’s still a part of your team.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes he…”
“Get rid of him.”
“Excuse me?” Jack stared at the other man, unable to believe what he was hearing, that someone who was, to all intents and purposes, him would want him to drive a friend from his team.
“You can’t count on him.” General O’Neill’s voice was quieter now, his warning genuine. “Get him off your team now, while you still can, or a time will come when you’ll wish that you had.”
“The outer frame is definitely naquadah.” Sam observed, running a finger over it. “I’m not certain about the surface of the mirror itself. It could be a type of metal we haven’t seen before.”
“Or it could be a way of processing naquadah that we haven’t seen before.” Dr Carter suggested.
“Good point.” Sam nodded acknowledgement. She sighed. “If we could contact the Asgard, maybe they would know more but we can’t get in touch.”
“Why not?” Colonel Carter asked.
“The device to give the stargate extra power is still in my reality.” Samantha said sheepishly. “Sorry.”
“SG-3 couldn’t access the Hall of Thor’s Might on Cimmeria.” Sam added. “It seems to have been designed to be accessed only once. There wasn’t anything brought back from P3X-233 that could help us, it was mostly artifacts, Daniel said that they were from different cultures and planets, but there were no ‘gate addresses.”
“An instruction manual would have been nice.” Colonel Carter quipped.
“If wishes were horses.” Samantha quoted.
“Ladies?” A cheerful voice called from the doorway to the lab. Jonathan walked in, carrying a laden tray. I come bearing blue jello.” He announced with a grin, passing out the desserts together with cups of coffee, taking a fifth cup for himself and sitting down next to his fiancée. “How goes it?”
“Not great.” Dr Carter responded honestly. Like her counterparts she was all too aware of the fact that the forty-eight hour grace period that had passed between
Samantha’s first arrival in this reality and the beginning of entropic cascade failure was almost up and that they were no closer to finding a way to turn the mirror back on and sending everybody home than they had been when they had started.
“You’ll figure it out.” His tone was confident. “Between the four of you, how could you not?”
“I tempted to take Jack’s idea and try duct tape.” Colonel Carter said testily, setting her notes aside to tackle the jello.
“Don’t knock duct tape.” Jonathan chided her seriously. “Half of my equipment would have fallen apart by now if it weren’t for duct tape.”
“He’s not kidding.” Dr Carter informed the other three women. “Be careful!” She called, seeing Jonathan prod the mirror. “There’s no tetanus shot for naquadah.”
“Do you think that we’ll all get seven years of bad luck for breaking this?” He joked.
“Technically, Colonel O’Neill is the one who broke the mirror.” Sam pointed out.
“Then it’ll be his problem… crap!” Jonathan swore as a large shard of the mirror came loose in his hand. “Better get the duct tape.” He flicked it with one fingernail and was rewarded with a resonant clang. He turned it over in his hand and a grin spread across his face. “I found the ‘Made In China’ sign.” He showed the six symbols engraved on the back of the shard. “I wonder if we can get a refund…” He was abruptly cut off when Dr Carter pulled him towards her and planted a kiss on his lips.
“You’re a genius!” Dr Carter’s eyes were bright as she turned to her counterparts. “Maybe we don’t necessarily need to fix the mirror. If we can go to the planet it came from, maybe somebody there will be able to help us.”
“For all we know there’s another mirror there.” Colonel Carter suggested.
“It’s a start.” Jonathan said, before grinning widely and spreading his arms wide. “Any chance of another three kisses?”
“Not unless you want to spend our wedding night sleeping on the couch.”
"From what I can tell from the symbols on the reverse of the mirror's surface, Dr O'Neill's suggestion is correct." Daniel announced to the group assembled around the briefing table. "The glyphs are the 'gate address for the mirror's planet of origin."
"So it's a 'Made in China' sign?"
Jonathan grinned at Jack. "That's what I said."
"Essentially." Daniel said, not enjoying conducting a briefing in a room with all the O'Neills present. He had thought that one Jack was disruptive but four of them, two of whom did not seem overly interested in what he had to say and one who was looking at him as though he was a particularly unpleasant insect, were far worse.
"Of course since the mirror is at least ten thousand years old, the symbols alone won't be much use." Jonathan announced.
"I was just getting to that." Daniel said, slightly disgruntled by the way that the other man was calmly usurping his briefing.
"We tried dialling the coordinates already." Sam spoke up, her words directed mostly at Jack and General Hammond. "We couldn't get a lock. I've entered the coordinates into the dialling computer but it will be a day or two before it can compensate for stellar drift."
"We're hoping that we will be able to find the people who built the mirror." Colonel Carter said. "Or a replacement, or even a guide to help us repair the one we have."
"If worst comes to worst, we find nothing and it'll be a nice outing." Jack suggested encouragingly. "I think that we should go for it."
"Agreed." Hammond nodded his assent. "As soon as we have a revised 'gate address for the planet, we'll send a MALP and a UAV through and, assuming everything checks out, SG-1 will travel there to find a solution." He looked at the other six people in the room. "Accompanied by our guests."
The next day
"Alright, General, everything seems fine." You're in perfect health." Janet said cheerfully.
"Thank you." Keeping a piece of gauze firmly pressed to the tiny puncture wound where the petite doctor had drawn his blood, General O'Neill rose from the bed ans made his way out to the hall where Jonathan and Major O'Neill, both of whom had already been examined, were waiting.
Janet called for her next victim.
"I really don't think that this is neccessary, Doc." Jack protested a a penlight was shone in his eyes. "Carter didn't get sick when her twin did, so I should be fine."
"It's better to be safe than sorry." Well accustomed to dealing with this particular Jack O'Neill, Janet tuned out his complaints as she checked his temperature, heart rate, respiration and blood pressure before producing one of her much feared needles.
"Can't you just take my word for it when I tell you that I feel fine?" He asked hopefully. "Ow!"
"Sorry." Janet said automatically as she filled a small vial with a sample of blood.
"You don't sound sorry." He accused, accepting a piece of gauze and applying pressure.
"I think I still have some of Cassie's Scooby Doo bandaids." Janet offered sweetly. "Would one of those make you feel better?"
"Very funny."
"We're done, Colonel." She said, smiling. "You're free to go. Could you send the Sams down for their check ups?"
"Sure thing." He didn't leave the infirmary.
"Was there something else?"
He nodded, gesturing to his arm. "Where's my bandaid?"
"Fraiser said that nobody is showing any signs whatsoever of entropic cascade failure." Jack observed as he looked over the list of equipment they would be bringing on their trip.
"But it's been three days." Daniel said, sorting through his books to decide which of them he was most likely to need. "Samantha was sick before this last time."
"Don't remind me." Samantha shuddered at the memory.
"If anything, it should have happened earlier." Sam told them. "Major Kawalsky wasn't affected at all."
"He probably wouldn't have for years if my calculations were accurate." Samantha seconded.
"The increased entropy created by having two of us in the same reality reduced it from years to days." Sam said. "With more than two versions of the same person, that time should have decreased exponentially and..."
"Carter!" Jack cut her off, before amending his admonition. "Carters. Do we have to make a rule about tag team technobabbling?"
"Sorry, sir." Sam said automatically before returing to her discussion with Samantha. "I wonder if it's possible to generate too much entropy for the reality to compensate."
"Like a system overload." Samantha said excitedly.
"We overloaded the universe?" Jack asked. "Sweet!"
"If we're right, we could all be immune from entropic cascade failure." Sam said.
"So if worst comes to worst, we can all stay here." Samantha finished for her.
"Let's not talk about Plan B until we know that Plan A doesn't work."
"Plan C, sir." Sam corrected. "Going to the planet is Plan B. Plan A was to fix the mirror ourselves."
"Plan B...C... Whatever." Jack said testily. "It's going to get confusing having so many extra people around."
"Like it isn't already." Daniel said. "At least the Sams have different hairstyles. The only new Jack I can always tell is General O'Neill, and that's because he always looks at me as though I were something he scraped off the bottom of his shoe."
"I really don't want to share a universe with that guy permanently." Jack groused.
"Maybe you two should cut General O'Neill some slack." Samantha said, more severely than they had ever heard her say anything.
"He's an ass." Jack said bluntly.
"Maybe there's a reason for that."
The next day
It had taken exactly twenty-two hours and thirty-eight minutes for the dialing computer to calculate a revised address for the mirror’s planet of origin, re-christened P7l-886.
There had been some question over who would be in command of the mission there; Jack and Colonel Carter were of equal rank and General O’Neill outranked them both, before Hammond had ended the discussion by placing Jack in charge, a decision accepted cheerfully by Colonel Carter and grudgingly by General O’Neill.
All four Carters were geared up and waiting in the ‘gate room a full ten minutes before they were due to depart, along with the three military O’Neills and Teal’c, who after more than two years at the SGC had yet to be late for anything.
Jonathan arrived a few minutes later, having raided the nearest vending machine as soon as he had been told how long they might be expected to survive on MREs.
“Is he always this unpunctual?” General O’Neill demanded of nobody in particular, his tone testy, as the clock ticked down to 0900 and the final member of their party did not make an appearance.
Daniel was slightly breathless when he arrived and took his place with his team, muttering excuses about books he had remembered at the last minute that could prove essential and adjusting his pack, weighed down with the heavy volumes, to a more comfortable position. “Sorry I’m late.”
At a nod from General Hammond, Lieutenant Simmons began the dialing procedure and the group in the ‘gate room watched as each chevron locked in place, glowing softly.
“Chevron seven - locked.”
“That never gets old.” The look on Jonathan’s face reminded Jack of the expression of wonder his own second in command had worn when she had seen an open wormhole for the first time - right before he had shoved her through it.
Hammond’s voce filtered through the microphone. “SG-1, you have a go.”
P7L-886
“How far is it to civilization?” Jack asked once the last of their group had stepped through the stargate.
“The UAV found signs of a settlement approximately forty-five clicks south.” Sam told him.
“Forty-five?”
“The stargate mustn’t play an active role in their civilization.” Daniel winced under Jack’s glare. “I’m just saying.”
“Okay,” Jack sighed, surveying his newly extended team. He was confident that the three military newcomers would have no problems, but resolved to keep an eye on the three civilians. “We should be able to cover most of the distance by nightfall, then we can make camp and finish our journey tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan.” The irrepressible Jonathan quipped.
Now that the group were all kitted out in green BDUs, it was increasingly difficult for Daniel to tell the O’Neills, and even the Carters apart but to his dismay, nobody else seemed to be having problems.
“Carter, take point… Major Carter.” Jack clarified when four faces turned towards him.
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll keep you company.” Samantha volunteered.
“Teal’c, watch our six… and you, Daniel.” Jack added meeting General O’Neill’s eye, wanting to show the other man that despite his words of warning, he still trusted his friend.
General O’Neill did not speak against Jack’s decision but the half-angry, half-pitying look he gave him before moving ahead to join Sam and Samantha spoke volumes.
“Well then,” Jonathan straightened his pack. “To Oz.”
“I say that!”
Night
Jonathan sighed wearily as he sat down next to the reluctant fire Teal’c was coaxing into life.
Seated next to him, Dr Carter looked similarly drained by the long hike.
“You two are out of condition.” Major O’Neill told them unsympathetically. “Too much time cooped up in your lab.”
“I like my lab.” Dr Carter objected.
“Honey, if I ever complain about not getting to travel offworld enough, could you smack me?”
“If you’ll do the same for me.”
It had been several hours since they had last stopped to eat, and Jonathan was so hungry that even MREs looked edible – well, almost.
“Do you think that somebody somewhere sat down and designed these things to make sure that they tasted as bad as possible?” He asked, examining the meal pack as though it contained some kind of alien life form. He wasn’t entirely convinced that it didn’t.
“They all taste like chicken to me.” Daniel said dolefully. “Except for the ones that are supposed to be chicken.”
“It’s the Air Force, Jackson, not a five star restaurant.” General O’Neill snapped, ignoring Jonathan and focusing his words on the younger man. “If you can’t take it, I’m sure that nobody will force you to stay.”
“That’s enough.” Jack told his counterpart sharply. “You’re out of line.”
His reproof had no effect on the other man, who simply rose, MRE in hand and made his way to a fallen log a few yards away to finish his meal.
“What is wrong with that guy?” Jonathan asked.
“He’s always been perfectly polite to us.” Colonel Carter said, referring to herself and her counterparts.
“Quiet, but nice enough whenever we spoke.” Dr Carter seconded.
“Weird.” Abandoning his MRE, Jonathan dragged his pack over, unearthing a sizeable stash of candy bars and savoury snacks. “Anybody want some real food?”
A few hours later
With so many people, the night watch had been divided into hours rather than the usual two-hour long shifts.
Despite the fact that none of them had enjoyed the day’s hike, Samantha, Jonathan and Dr Carter had all objected strenuously to the suggestion that civilians be exempt from watch duty.
It had been a point of principle for them, especially after Major O’Neill’s suggestion that lab work had left them out of condition.
General O’Neill was sitting, surveying the area with an eagle eye when a hand on his shoulder made him jump.
“Sorry.” Samantha said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“That’s alright.”
“It’s my watch now.”
“Would you mind some company? I’m not ready to sleep just yet.”
“Of course not.” She lifted a thermos. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Thank you.” He gave her a slight smile as he accepted the cup. “There hasn’t been a peep so far.”
“That’s good to hear.” She sipped her coffee silently for a few minutes before speaking again. “What happened to her?”
“I beg your pardon?”
She looked down at her hands, running a finger over her wedding and engagement rings. “I was married.” She said softly. “He died less than two weeks ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“We’ve been discussing what happened, trying to work out what happened, why we were the ones pulled through when the mirror was broken and one thing that we all agree on is that since Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter were the only ones close enough to the mirror when it broke to be affected, it pulled in counterparts from four different realities. If it had stayed on any longer, who knows how many of us would be here.” She stopped, taking a deep breath. “No Jack O’Neill was taken here from my reality, because there wasn’t one there to take any more.”
“And no Sam Carter came from mine.” He finished for her.
“And you look like I felt when I first got here… like I still feel.”
“We never intended for it to happen.” He said quietly. “With the regs, and everything. But after Antarctica, it just felt so right. Only Kawalsky and Jackson knew about it, maybe Hammond.” He gave a humourless chuckle. “Nothing much gets past that man.”
“Sounds like the General Hammond in my world.”
“We didn’t find the mirror in my world, it’s probably still sitting on P3X-233. When we first met the Tok’ra, they were able to tell us about Apophis’ plan to attack Earth, and give us the information we needed to stop it. Martouf even volunteered to come along and help us.” He swallowed a mouthful of coffee, not caring that it was barely warm by now. “We split up; Martouf sabotaged whatever ship’s systems he could get access to, Kawalsky and I tried to grab Skaara and Sam and Jackson were planting C4 all over the ship.” His expression darkened. “Jackson dropped a block of C4 and the noise was enough to alert a couple of serpent guards.” He laughed bitterly. “But he wasn’t the one they found.”
“Oh God!”
“He left her behind.” His voice was hard. “He let them take her. He didn’t even radio the rest of us, I didn’t know until we met at the rendezvous point, a few minutes before the ship blew. The rest of us were able to escape through the stargate but Sam…” He brushed impatiently at the tears forming in his eyes. “Hammond resigned not long afterwards, recommended me to take his place. I wouldn’t work with Jackson anymore, he was removed from the program.” He drained the rest of his coffee, grimacing at the taste. “We found out later that Apophis had escaped and, God forgive me, I hoped that he had taken Sam with him.” He saw Samantha suppress a shudder at the thought of being held prisoner by the Goa’uld who had come so close to destroying her world. “I know. I tried to believe it, to convince myself that as long as she was alive, there was hope, that I could get her back. I nearly succeeded. Then I came here and I knew. She’s dead.”
“I’m sorry.” Even to her own ears, it sounded foolish, inadequate.
“I know.” He didn’t say anything else.
There was nothing else he could say.
The next morning
“Rise and shine!” Major O’Neill called cheerfully as he pushed back the flap of the tent Jack and Daniel were sharing.
Jack pushed himself into a sitting position, blinking away any trace of sleepiness as he reached for his boots and put them on. “I’ll rise, but I refuse to make any promises about shining.”
“Fair enough.” His counterpart agreed. “Dr Jackson?”
Daniel, who was definitely not a morning person, groaned, burying himself in his sleeping bag, seemingly determined to ignore the concept of ‘morning’.
“Come on, Danny-boy.” Jack poked the swaddled figure, none too gently. “Up and at ‘em. There’s probably coffee.”
His friend poked his head out of his sleeping bag. “Coffee?” His nose twitched slightly, as though to sniff it out.
“Are you part bloodhound or something?” Jack asked, amused by the other man’s all but legendary caffeine addiction.
“Everybody else is already up.” Major O’Neill reported, a mischievous expression in his eyes that anybody acquainted with this universe’s Jack O’Neill would have recognized instantly. “The general already has his coffee and Dr O’Neill is practically inhaling the stuff. As for the ladies…” He grinned. “Well, I know how much coffee my Sam can put away so between the four of them…”
Before he could finish, Daniel scrambled out of his sleeping bag and tore out of the tent, tugging one boot on and carrying the other, his glasses crooked.
Major O’Neill watched him leave, amused. “I wonder what they’d all do if we run out of coffee.”
Jack glared at him. “Don’t even joke about that.”
“It won’t be much longer.” Sam said encouragingly, reaching out a hand to help Dr Carter when she stumbled. “The settlement the UAV picked up is only another five or six kilometers ahead. “We’ll be there before lunch.”
“The people here must be incredibly advanced if they were able to build something like the quantum mirror.” Dr Carter said, cheering up at the prospect of discovering new alien technology. “Who knows what else they have.”
“Remember that we want to get back to our own universe.” Jonathan teased. “We do want to get back, right?”
“I know.” Dr Carter looked slightly wistful. “But it won’t hurt if we spend a little more time here now that entropic cascade failure isn’t on the cards.”
“As long as we’re back in time for the wedding - it’s in nearly three weeks, at the end of the month.” Jonathan elaborated for Sam before giving a mock shudder. “And Jacob will castrate me if I’m late.”
“He will not!”
“He said that he would - with a rusty knife!”
Sam suppressed a laugh. The threat sounded suspiciously like the ones her father had made her boyfriends when she was a teenager. She suspected that Mark had made similar threats but she had never been able to prove it.
“What about you and your O’Neill?” Dr Carter asked curiously. “Is there anything…”
“No.” Sam cut her off hastily, feeling her cheeks grow warm. She looked around them, praying that none of her teammates - one in particular - had overheard.
“Why not?” Jonathan sounded slightly offended, as though this reflected badly on him. “We’re pretty okay looking, aren’t we? And we’re smart and funny - tell her that we’re funny.” He demanded of his fiancée.
“They’re funny.”
“Colonel O’Neill is my commanding officer. Our relationship is strictly professional. There is nothing going on between us.”
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”
“Be nice.” Dr Carter admonished mildly.
“It’s against regulations.” Sam said, hoping against hope that this would end the uncomfortable conversation.
No such luck.
Jonathan simply pointed at Colonel Carter and Major O’Neill, who were walking a short distance ahead with Jack and Daniel. “That doesn’t seem to be a problem for them.”
“Major O’Neill?”
Hearing his name, the major turned to Daniel, who had spoken. “What’s up?”
“You guys are married, right?” He nodded towards Colonel Carter, ignoring Jack’s warning glare.
“We are.”
“Almost five months now.” Colonel Carter supplemented.
“Don’t the frat regs exist in your world?” Jack demanded before he could stop himself.
“They do.” Major O’Neill told him.
“Then how…”
“We were granted an exemption.” Colonel Carter explained.
“After we stopped Apophis’ attack and saved Earth. It was Air Medals all around for the whole team, another promotion for our lovely commander and President Kinsey, well he’s a bit of a romantic and saw it before we did, so…”
“President Kinsey?” An astonished Daniel cut him off. “Robert Kinsey?”
“Are you trying to tell me that Kinsey’s actually a nice guy in your world?” Jack asked incredulously.
Colonel Carter nodded, surprised by their astonishment. “He’s one of the best friends the Stargate Program has.”
“Okay,” Jack exhaled slowly as he processed this information. “From now on, your reality will be referred to as ‘The Twilight Zone’.”
“What about you and Major Carter? Are you…”
“Don’t start.” Jack cut his counterpart off sharply.
Any ideas the presence of the couple may have given rise to were ruthlessly suppressed.
It would be a cold day in Hell before this reality’s Robert Kinsey did anything to help him.
Later
The settlement they reached was fairly large, a town rather than a village, with houses and shops constructed primarily of wood spreading out from a big stone building at the center.
“The architecture looks similar to that of a Mayan temple but all the writing is in Latin.” Daniel murmured. “It’s fascinating. I wonder if the locals are descended from Mayans or Romans, or maybe they...”
“Jackson!” General O’Neill snapped his name. “We’re not here as tourists.”
Not wanting an argument, especially when he would need to convince the townspeople that they were peaceful, Daniel subsided, inwardly resolving never to complain about Jack’s impatience with his archeology again.
A cluster of small children were the first to approach, their fascination with the near identical Carters and O’Neills outweighing any apprehension about the strangers, the bravest among them reaching out a tentative hand to touch the green material of Major O’Neill’s BDUs.
The adults were warier, one or two parents clinging tightly to the hands of their children to prevent them moving any closer. They relaxed somewhat when Daniel launched into his often repeated ‘peaceful explorers’ speech but they continued to regard the Carters and O’Neills with mingled trepidation and fascination.
A loud, insistent voice spoke and the crowd parted to let the speaker, a portly man at least a head shorter than the Carters, through. The crown of his head had been shaved, leaving him with a ring of graying hair, similar to that of a tonsured monk, fringing his head. He wore a long robe of dark purple cloth and was clearly a leader in the community.
“I am Publius.” He announced, as though they should have known of him and been honored by his mere presence. He squinted at the two quartets, whether out of curiosity or disapproval none of them could say. “There are many of you - not all of you belong.”
“Just us.” Jack indicated himself and Sam.
“We all belong.” Samantha objected to Publius’ choice of words. “We just don’t all belong here.”
“How came you to be here?” Publius demanded of Jack, ignoring Samantha entirely.
“It’s a long story… well, not that long, I guess.” Jack amended. “You see we hit a bit of a snag when we broke your quantum mirror.”
Several of the villagers began keening and Publius’ expression personified outrage. “A sacred mirror has been broken?”
“Yeah. Sorry.” Jack apologized awkwardly, wincing as the keening intensified and Publius fell to his knees, praying loudly to his god. He glanced up at the rest of his group. “I’m guessing that this isn’t good.”
The keening swelled as the people around them prayed, with Publius hogging the limelight, sobbing his grief and beating his fists theatrically.
“They don’t look too happy.”
Jack glared at Jonathan, who had made the half-joking observation, before reaching out and hauling Publius to his feet - no easy task given the man’s bulk. “Come on, it’s okay. Get up.”
“Woe, woe and treble woe!” Publius wailed, seemingly oblivious to Jack and his attempts to calm him. “We have failed in our duty to protect the sacred mirror, and we are doomed!”
“For cryin’ out loud!” General O’Neill snapped impatiently. “It’s not the end of the world.”
“The angry words were able to jolt the hysterical man back to reality, his eyes brimming with tears as he gaped at the general. “But it is!”
“If a sacred mirror has been forever lost, then our world is doomed.” A voice from the crowd spoke up.
“Doomed as in…” Jack suppressed a groan. Why did these things always happen to him?
“Oh boy.” Jonathan’s eyes were wide. “I guess seven years of bad luck was an underestimate.”
Deciding that if they spilt up they might have better luck with getting some information out of the locals, or with finding out what was going on on their own, Jack gave the order for his extended team to pair off and learn what they could.
Partnered with General O’Neill, he had not expected that they would have much luck winning anybody’s confidence and thus far he had not been proven wrong; all they had been able to get out of anyone so far was that the planet was doomed.
No details had been forthcoming.
His expectations were understandably low when they regrouped but he had been pleasantly surprised to find that Sam and Samantha, together with Jonathan and Dr Carter, had between them managed to calm Publius considerably, enough to be able to coax at least some information out of him.
“The Great One came here over a thousand thousand years ago.” Publius told them, sniffling. “Further back than our history records.”
“A Goa’uld?” Jack mouthed the question at his second in command but Sam shook her head decisively.
“Go on.” Dr Carter said encouragingly.
“He built the holy temple, and a maze that nobody has dared explore and He crafted the sacred mirrors, hundreds of them.”
“Hundreds?” Sam asked eagerly.
“Yes.” Warming to his theme, Publius became animated. “Mirrors that could show the past, and the future; mirrors that had the power to defend against evil, mirrors that could travel the galaxy and traverse existence itself; mirrors that could see into your very soul.”
“Where is this ‘Great One’ now?” Jack asked, resisting the urge to rename the mysterious figure ‘Oz’.
“He has never been seen.” Publius responded, surprised by the question. “But His mirrors protect us… or they did.” His plump face quivered and his eyes filled with fresh tears. “Now that one of His sacred mirrors is destroyed, the link is severed and we shall surely perish!” He dissolved into frenzied sobs and they could get no further sense of him.
“Daniel?” Leaving Publius to Jonathan and Dr Carter, Jack made his way to the entrance of the temple, motioning for Sam to join him. Samantha had moved to General O’Neill’s side and the pair were speaking quietly. How she could put up with the other man, Jack did not know.
Daniel, who had been scrutinizing the carvings on the doorway and on the side walls of the temple, barely spared them a glance. “Hi, guys.”
“Find anything interesting?” Jack asked with forced patience.
“I’ll say!” Finally dragging his attention from his work, Daniel looked up at his friends, an excited smile on his face. He pointed towards a line of writing. “Does this look familiar?”
“Isn’t that…”
“It is.” Daniel cut Jack off, grinning, not surprised in the least by the fact that the other man had recognised the script – he had been able to write it for a short time, after all. “This is the language of the race that built the stargates.”
“I say we lock them in a room together.”
“Excuse me?” Major O’Neill was taken aback by Jonathan’s suggestion.
“Him.” Jonathan jabbed a finger in Jack’s direction before pointing towards the four Carters, who were clustered together, deep in conversation. “And her.”
“You want to lock Colonel O’Neill and my wife in together?”
“Okay, not her. Her.” He pointed at Sam. “Those two are practically walking around with blindfolds. I can tell that she likes him and as for him, he’s basically us. Enough said.”
“Maybe they just need a nudge in the right direction.” The major suggested. “God knows that Sam and I did. Luckily, Kinsey was nice enough to give it to us.”
“Should we try to get in touch with this reality’s Kinsey and see if he can help out?”
“I don’t know if that’d work.” Major O’Neill said dubiously. “Colonel O’Neill didn’t seem to think very highly of him. I think he might be a bit of a jerk here.”
“What if we told him that those two getting together would practically guarantee him a place in the White House? Or that all the worlds we’ve encountered where the Jack and Sam there aren’t together seems to be doomed to destruction at the hands of the Goa’uld?”
“We haven’t been to any other worlds besides this.”
“I know that and you know that.” Jonathan said slyly. “But he doesn’t.”
“Good point.”
“Do you have any ideas?”
“Handcuffs.”
Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “Kinky.”
“What are you two talking about?”
Seeing one of the subjects of their discussion approach, both men schooled their faces into appropriately innocent expressions.
“Fishing.” Major O’Neill said without hesitation, looking as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.
“I was telling him all about the new fishing pole Sam helped me rig up.” Jonathan continued. “It has motion sensors and everything.”
Jack shook his head, tutting disapprovingly. “That’d take all the challenge – not to mention the fun – out of it.”
“Since there aren’t any fish in the pond, that’s rather a moot point.” Jonathan countered triumphantly. “You’re just jealous that all you have is a plain old ordinary fishing pole.”
“I’m not.” Jack protested immediately. Nonetheless, he made a mental note. ‘Remind me to have Carter rig up a cool fishing pole as soon as we get back to Earth.’
Later
“Based on what little I could translate, and what we’ve been able to learn from the locals, I would lay odds that there are other quantum mirrors inside the temple.” Daniel told the group. “Whoever this ‘Great One’ was, he seems to have had more than a slight obsession with them.”
“So we head in, borrow a mirror and bring it back to the SGC.” Jack suggested. “Or send everybody home from here if they prefer. What’s the problem?”
The group winced collectively as Publius commenced a loud, very shrill tirade.
“Out of the question. Such a thing has never been allowed – never!”
“That’s the problem.” Daniel finished dryly.
“I thought that you were all doomed anyway?” General O’Neill snapped. “What difference does it make?”
“It is sacrilege. One mirror was stolen from us and is now lost forever. We will not risk the others.”
“Hang on,” Jonathan spoke up, extending his hands in a pacifying gesture. “Who said anything about lost ‘forever’?”
“You told us that the sacred mirror had been broken.”
“Actually, he told you.” He gestured towards Jack. “And nobody ever said anything about the mirror staying broken.” He put an arm around his fiancée. “This lovely lady here can fix just about anything – and there are another three to help her. Let us borrow a mirror, and we’ll drop it, and the other one, straight back.”
“Nobody can repair a sacred mirror once it has been broken.” Publius said, his voice wavering at the words of hope.
“That’s what you think.” Jonathan looked solemn. “But in our world, we have a marvellous invention for situations just like this.”
“You do?”
“We do.” He grinned. “It’s called ‘duct tape’.”
Two hours later
“How much longer is he going to take?”
Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes at General O’Neill’s aggrieved demand. “As long as it takes.”
Their expedition into the temple had thus far been short and uneventful, as the doorway that led from the entrance chamber where they were now congregated to the temple proper had been blocked and, truth be told, his own patience was growing shorter with every passing minute that Daniel spent trying to decode the symbols to open the doorway.
He had no intention of letting General O’Neill know this, however.
“So what do you think the natives are going to do once they find out that we can’t actually fix the mirror - with all due respect to duct tape, I don’t see it getting the job done.” Sam added, seeing that Jonathan was about to object.
“Hopefully, that’ll be your problem and we’ll be back in our own realities.” Major O’Neill told her cheerfully. He shook the GameBoy he had borrowed from one of the airmen, frowning. “The batteries are running low. You didn’t happen to bring…”
Colonel Carter handed him a fresh pack of batteries. “Here.”
“You’re the greatest.” He accepted them with a grin and a quick kiss.
“I don’t have any more with me, so you might want to take it easy.” She cautioned him, unsuccessfully hiding a smile.
“If Jackson doesn’t hurry up we could be here for a very long time.” General O’Neill warned.
“Anybody want a snack?” Jonathan asked cheerfully, digging out a bar of chocolate and breaking it into chunks, passing it to his fiancée and her counterparts before offering it to the guys.
“I don’t see you helping.” Jack pointed out.
“I brought chocolate.”
“Not you.” Jack glared at Jonathan.
“I’m sure Dr Jackson will figure it out soon.” Samantha said, giving General O’Neill a small, sympathetic smile.
“If it doesn’t, I say we break out the C4.”
For the first time since Jack had met Jonathan, he could believe that they had something in common.
“I wouldn’t recommend that.” Colonel Carter said seriously. “The people here are convinced that this temple, or at least the mirrors inside it, are all that is keeping them safe. Blowing up part of the temple might cause a panic.”
“How exactly are a bunch of mirrors supposed to protect them?” Jack demanded.
“If they were made by a member of the race that built the stargates then the technology would be way ahead of us.” Sam said thoughtfully. “Who knows what they were originally designed to defend against – it might even have been the Goa’uld. Maybe the material they are composed of is somehow resistant to their weapons.”
“And with the mirrors locked away, that’s helpful how?” Jack pressed. “In words people who aren’t Carters can understand.” He cautioned, well accustomed to bewildering technical explanations.
“I can understand her just fine.”
Jack shot Jonathan a quelling glare. “You’re an honorary Carter.”
His counterpart merely grinned, putting an arm around Dr Carter’s shoulders. “Not for another few weeks.”
Whatever reply to that statement that Jack might have made was lost in Daniel’s triumphant cry.
“I think I’ve got it!” Carefully pressing several of the symbols in sequence, the archaeologist was rewarded with a grating noise as the stone doorway raised, allowing them access to the inner chamber.
“Well done.” Jack praised, smirking slightly when his friend gave General O’Neill a look that screamed ‘so there’. Shouldering his pack, he led the way through the doorway, motioning for the others to follow him.
At the rear of the group, Sam and Teal’c had scarcely crossed the threshold when the door shut with a heavy thud.
“That can’t be good.” Major O’Neill said, pulling a torch from his belt and turning it on, an example followed by the others. “Wow!”
The light from their torches almost blinded them, not surprising given that the room in which they had found themselves was completely lined with mirrors.
“So which one is the one to send us home?” Major O’Neill asked.
“Is there an exit through which those of us already in our home dimension may leave this place?” Teal’c made his own enquiry.
Sam prodded one of the mirrors gingerly. “All of the mirrors seem to be dormant. I wonder how we’re supposed to activate…” The mirror she touched emitted a cacophony of sound, with light emanating from it, the room seemed to lurch and the rest of her sentence was abruptly cut off.
When the slight ringing in her ears had faded and her vision returned to normal, she found herself standing in a long hall, lined with more mirrors.
“Are you injured, Major Carter?” Teal’c reached out a hand to help her to her feet before doing the same for Jonathan, who groaned, holding a hand to his head.
“I think I was just run over by a truck.”
“No truck.” Sam said. “The mirror must have been some kind of transporter.”
“Oh.” He took a second to digest this. “So where did everybody else go?”
Sam’s eyes widened at his words, her stomach knotting in horror when she saw that their group had been reduced from ten to three.
Elsewhere
“Is everybody in one piece?” Colonel Carter asked, looking over the two who had found themselves in the same chamber as she was; a hexagonal room with mirrors covering just about every inch of the walls and ceiling.
“I’m okay.” Samantha was slightly pale but her voice was steady as she replied. “That was worse than my first time through the stargate.”
“You got sick too?” Colonel Carter commiserated.
“Yeah.” She looked slightly green. “Not pretty.”
Major O’Neill wrinkled his nose. “Uggh. If you’re going to spew, could you aim away from me? Please?”
“That’s the least of our problems.” Colonel Carter cut across the conversation, gesturing towards the empty space around them. “It looks like we’re on our own here.”
“Carter?” Jack winced as his shout echoed through the hall in which he had found himself. “Carter?” He called again, more quietly.
“Here. I don’t think I’m the Carter you’re looking for, though.” Dr Carter told him, sitting up.
“Are you alright?”
“Fine.”
“I’m fine too, thanks for asking.” Daniel said dryly. “Sam’s not here, and neither is Teal’c. the only other person here is…” He nodded almost imperceptibly towards the fourth member of their group.
‘Great.’ Jack suppressed a groan. ‘I just had to get stuck with that guy, didn’t I?’
“At a time like this, a trail of breadcrumbs would really come in handy.” For once, Jonathan’s quip was half-hearted. “Do you think that Sam… that the others are safe?”
“We have no way of knowing.”
“I hope so.” Sam said gently, hoping to soften Teal’c’s less than comforting answer. “Since none of us were hurt, there’s no reason to think that any of the others were. They were probably just transported elsewhere.”
“The question is where.” Jonathan mused unhappily. “Are they still in the same reality? Are we?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you suggest that we do now, Major Carter?” Teal’c enquired gravely as the small group reached the end of the corridor and found no doorway, just more mirrors.
“It was a mirror that transported us in here.” Sam pointed out logically, remembering what Publius had said about mirrors to travel. “So my guess would be that some, if not all of the mirrors in here work the same way.”
“It’s not like there’s a shortage of them.” Jonathan agreed, frowning. “The guy who made this place had way too much free time on his hands.”
“Indeed.”
“It’s a case of finding the right one. I think that we should all try together.” Sam cautioned. “We don’t want to get separated.”
“That would be bad.”
“On three.” Sam said, choosing one of the mirrors at random and standing in front of it. “One… Two… Three.”
A split second after the trio touched the mirror, they found themselves standing in front of another, less than twenty feet away.
Sam sighed. “This could take a while.”
“Would it have killed the guy who built this place to put some labels on his mirrors.” Major O’Neill groused. “Or to put up a nice, detailed map with a big red arrow and a ‘You Are Here’ sign?”
“I don’t think that the maze was ever intended for anybody but himself.” Samantha said pensively. “It was just him and his mirrors, all those years.”
“It must have been incredibly lonely.” Colonel Carter observed.
“He needed a hobby – besides mirror building.” Major O’Neill added hastily, seeing that both women were ready to object.
The mirrors in the chamber glowed dimly as they passed, their surfaces shimmering briefly before images appeared.
Major O’Neill winced as he stood in front of one, which was showing himself being given a through dressing down. “General West really wasn’t happy with me, was he? I’d forgotten how red his face could get when he got mad.”
“Ferretti swears that he could hear him three levels away.” Colonel Carter agreed, knowing how furious the general had been about being lied to. “It was lucky that he agreed to let you be part of the program.” She stood in front of another mirror and, after watching the scene before her unfold for a few minutes, touched the surface with a tentative finger, allowing the sound to wash over her. “Jack?”
Major O’Neill looked up at the serious tone. “What’s up?”
“If we ever meet a group called the Aschen, remind me to run the other way.”
“Will do.” He agreed.
“You should warn the people in your reality if you get the chance.” Colonel Carter cautioned Samantha, clearly angry over what she had witnessed.
“I will.” Samantha promised, her attention focused on another of the mirrors and the scene playing on it, resting her fingers against the surface of the mirror for a few minutes and then, determinedly swallowing the lump that was rapidly forming in her throat, willed herself to move away.
“We’ve got to get out of here.” Major O’Neill said decidedly. “Or we’ll all be driven out of our minds – and nobody look at that one.” He commanded hastily, pointing to the deceptively innocuous-looking object.
“If there’s a way in, then odds are there’s a way out.” Colonel Carter said. “I doubt that the maze would prove much of a challenge to the person who built it, he would have known exactly which mirrors to use.”
“Since we don’t, that could be a problem.” Major O’Neill remarked.
“The mirrors we’ve tried have all shown us something from the past – or the future.” Samantha said. “If one of them is going to be a way out, my best guess would be that it will be the one that shows the present.”
“So we try them all.” Colonel Carter confirmed, mentally cataloguing the number of mirrors lining the room.”
“Fine.” Major O’Neill was not exactly thrilled with the plan. “But if either of you see anything from my early days, look the other way.”
It was bad enough that his mother insisted on regaling her daughter in law with stories of his embarrassing childhood exploits, the last thing he wanted was for his wife and her counterpart to witness them for themselves.
“I wonder if any of these are the mirror that protects the planet?” Dr Carter mused quietly, her keen blue eyes taking in every inch of the room in which they had found themselves.
“If you ever figure out how a mirror could manage that, let me know.” Jack instructed, only half-listening to her words.
“If one of these mirrors was able to pull us into this reality and another to transport us here, anything is possible.” General O’Neill said, giving Dr Carter a small smile.
“Right now, I’d settle for a way out.” Jack stated.
“There has to be one.” Dr Carter said, with more confidence than she felt. “Somebody built this place and he’d have had to have a way out in case he wound up in here by mistake.”
“And for when he was building it.” General O’Neill said encouragingly.
“He doesn’t seem to have been a bad guy, not if his mirrors protected the people here.” Her voice was soft as she thought of her fiancé. “He wouldn’t have hurt them.”
“Do you think that there’s a secret passageway or something?” Daniel asked, checking the mirrors for any markings. “I can’t find any writing in here, or on any of the mirrors.”
“Try the mirrors themselves.” Jack suggested, following his own advice and trying to activate the mirror closest to him. His efforts had no effect and all the mirror’s surface showed was his reflection.
“Nothing from this one.” Dr Carter reported.
“This one is active.” General O’Neill’s voice was slightly choked.
“It does?” Despite knowing of the other man’s less than high regard for him, Daniel moved next to him, eager to see what he had learned. “What does it… Sha’re?” He opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to say anything else as he watched the scene play out in front of him.
“Daniel?” Jack moved behind his friend to see what the mirror was showing. “I don’t see Sha’re.”
“She’s right there, she’s safe, she’s… she’s her.” Daniel protested. His eyes were wide, hopeful. “Publius said that some of the mirrors showed the future – this must be one of them!”
General O’Neill’s expression was pitying as he looked at the other man. “It’s not.”
“You can’t know that!”
“How can you be so sure?” Jack asked.
“Because what I saw when I looked is something that will never happen, something that can never happen.”
“‘Mirrors that can see into your very soul.’” Dr Carter quoted Publius softly.
“It’s showing you what you want to see.” General O’Neill told Daniel.
“It’s a distraction.” Jack said flatly. “Daniel…” He tried to nudge his friend away.
“No, Jack!” Daniel scowled. “Even if it doesn’t show the future, maybe it shows what I have to do, where I’ll find Sha’re and get the Goa’uld out.”
“It won’t show you anything useful.” Jack said. “It’s just a distraction.”
“I don’t think so.” Dr Carter spoke up. “It’s more than that.” Her tone was confident. “It’s out way out.”
Samantha, Colonel Carter and Major O’Neill had beaten them to it.
“We were beginning to wonder when you guys would show up.” Major O’Neill grinned at them. “Your Sam should probably figure it out any time now.” He added to Jack, who was half ready to object to his choice of words, but did not want to call attention to them.
As if on cue, the three remaining members of the group rematerialized in the room.
“Finally!” Jonathan’s usual good humour had been sorely tried by the number of travelling mirrors they had attempted to use. “Why is it that it’s always the last one you try?”
Teal’c gave him a quizzical look. “Would you wish to continue trying once you had located the correct one?”
“Is everybody okay?” Jack asked, scanning the group, relieved to see everybody present and in one piece.
“Yes, sir.” Sam confirmed.
“A bit nauseas.” Jonathan volunteered.
“Thank you for sharing.”
“I take it this is what we’re looking for.” Sam addressed her three counterparts, gesturing to the large mirror that stood in the center of the room.
“We didn’t try it.” Colonel Carter explained.
“We didn’t want to do anything until everybody was here, just in case something happened.” Samantha said.
“That was probably a good idea.” Sam agreed, approaching the mirror and examining it critically, before laying her hand on it’s surface to activate it.
Nothing happened.
“That was anti-climactic.”
“Jonathan!” Dr Carter frowned reprovingly at her fiancée.
“Well it was.”
“Carter, tell me that this one isn’t broken too!” Jack demanded. If their journey had been for nothing, he was not going to be a happy camper.
“Wait a minute.” Colonel Carter moved next to Sam. “May I?” Sam moved aside to allow her to place her hand on it’s surface, which immediately shimmered to life, showing a room full of alien artefacts.
“That’s the lab on P3X-233.” Daniel said. “That’s where the mirror was in this reality.”
“The mirror didn’t work for you, but you’re already in your own reality.” Dr Carter theorized aloud, addressing Sam. “It must be a safeguard of some sort.”
“But can we be sure that this is our reality?” Major O’Neill asked, worried. “If not, we could end up anywhere.”
“Entropic cascade failure may wind up back on the cards if that’s the case.” Colonel Carter said.
“I know how we can find out.” Gesturing for the others to move aside, Samantha placed her own hand on the mirror. After a split second, she smiled. “That’s my reality.”
“How can you be so… is that a smiley face sticker on the other side?” Jack asked incredulously.
“Yes – right next to the sign Kawalsky put up so that we’d be able to find our way back if we ever got stuck in another reality again.” She responded, remembering the major’s efforts at making sure that their reality would be identifiable.
“Good thinking.” Dr Carter complimented. “My turn now.” Save for the locations of one or two artefacts, the lab that shimmered into existence when she touched the surface of the mirror was identical to the one Colonel Carter had shown.
“We’ve got radios and GDOs, you can contact your people to have them open the iris for you when you get to the other side.” Jack told them.
“We’ll leave the mirror on, you can let us know when they open the iris so that we can keep it set on the same reality until then.” Sam suggested prudently.
“Three realities down.” Jack motioned for General O’Neill to activate the mirror. “Your turn.”
General O’Neill’s expression turned grim once he saw what was on the other side and when they looked, the others mirrored his expression.
The mirror in his reality was underwater, half imbedded in what looked like the bottom of the ocean.
“Well,” The general surprised all his counterparts by remaining relatively calm. “It seems that I won’t be going back to my reality after all.”
“What if we had some scuba equipment brought here?” Daniel suggested at last, trying to come up with a solution that would allow General O’Neill to return to his own reality. “You could swim to the surface and use the stargate there.”
“It’s too deep.” Sam said. “It’s at the very bottom of the ocean and we have no way of knowing how far down that is without sending somebody over to measure it. The pressure from the currents and the depth of the water could be too strong.”
“And we have no way of knowing where the stargate on the planet is.” Colonel Carter pointed out.
“Or even if there is one there.” Sam agreed.
“It could be a Goa’uld planet.” Dr Carter said. “Or it could be outside the ‘gate network. We can’t send anybody through.”
“They’re right.” General O’Neill agreed, resigned to the knowledge that his own Earth would have to get along without him.
“What about the people on this planet?” Jonathan asked, dragging everybody’s attention back to the second problem that they were facing. “They believe that losing a mirror will mean the end of their world and we did promise to fix it... well, I did.” He amended.
“It’s just a superstition.” Jack said, with as much patience as he could muster. “How could a bunch of mirrors locked away in a temple protect them against anything?”
“A mirror did manage to drag us into this reality and another bunch of them showed our past and future.” Major O’Neill pointed out dryly.
“And another set was transporting us all over the place.” Jonathan agreed.
“Sir?” Sam spoke up, addressing Jack. “Could I try something?”
“Knock yourself out... just not literally.”
Unsheathing her zat, Sam aimed at one of the mirrors and fired, swiftly tossing her weapon aside and watching as the stream of energy rebounded against the mirror, brighter than before, and hit the fallen zat.
“I’d wait a while before touching that again.” Colonel Carter commented, eyeing the weapon. “Not unless you want a few second degree burns.”
“It didn’t hit you.” General O’Neill observed. “It followed the zat.”
“I hope you knew that it would do that.” Jack remarked, an edge of disapproval in his voice.
“It makes a lot of sense.” Dr Carter chimed in hastily, not wanting her counterpart to get into trouble. “If it can reflect and enhance the weapons used against it, then attacking this place would be pretty difficult, even with ground troops if it can draw weapons fire from anywhere on the planet.”
“If all of the mirrors are reflecting against one another the power would increase exponentially.” Samantha said thoughtfully.
“Even a first shot could wind up taking out a Goa’uld mothership if every mirror here reflected the energy back.” Sam agreed.
“In that case, I doubt that losing one mirror would significantly decrease its effectiveness.” Colonel Carter said. “If we get the mirror back, more or less in one piece, it should appease Publius and the other locals.”
“You’re probably right.” Daniel seconded. “The myth about needing all of them was probably a means of ensuring that the place wasn’t stripped bare by others.”
“I take it that they won’t let us borrow a few, then.” Jack already knew the answer to his question.
“I doubt it.”
“D’oh!”
“What do you propose we do about those two?” Jonathan asked of Major O’Neill, watching Sam detail her ideas for getting everybody back to their own reality. “There doesn’t seem to be anywhere we can lock them in.”
“Unfortunately.” Major O’Neill said glumly.
“And if we’re going to be going straight back from here, we can’t talk to General Hammond.”
“Or call Kinsey.”
“What are you two plotting?” Colonel Carter asked suspiciously, sitting down next to them, Dr Carter close behind her.
“How to get those two to see sense.” Her husband told her, gesturing towards Sam and Jack. “We don’t have any handcuffs, so my idea’s no good.”
“Do we have rope?” Dr Carter suggested. “We could tie them together.”
“Jack was a Boy Scout.” Colonel Carter nodded towards Major O’Neill. “If Colonel O’Neill was too, he’ll have no trouble getting out of any knot we tied.”
“Thanks, honey.” Major O’Neill wasn’t overly pleased at her revelation, especially when Dr Carter giggled.
“With all the Goa’uld out there, you’d think that one of them could have taken on the role of Cupid.” Jonathan said, only half in jest.
“Maybe we can’t have Cupid.” Dr Carter said thoughtfully, looking across at Teal’c and Daniel. “But we could have the next best thing.”
Major O’Neill grinned at her. “I like the way you think.”
“What are you going to do?” Samantha asked quietly, pitching her tone so that only General O’Neill could hear her.
“I can’t go back to my reality. Colonel O’Neill said that I can stay here and that they can try to find another way to get me to the Earth in my reality or until...” He trailed off, forcing a smile.
They both knew that, if entropic cascade failure hit, as it likely would once only two Jack O’Neills instead of four occupied this reality, the chances of finding a solution in time were virtually non-existent.
“There is an alternative.” She took a breath before speaking, exhaling slowly. “If you go to a reality where you’re the only one of you there, then even if it isn’t your reality, it will take decades for entropic cascade failure to hit, if it ever does. My reality…”
“I can’t do that.” He cut her off gently.
“Trust me, given what’s been happening there over the past couple of weeks, General Hammond will be glad to have another person around to help out. So will everybody else.”
“You just lost your husband.”
“You’re not my Jack - and I’m not your Sam.” She pointed out. “I know that and so do you. This isn’t about replacing Jack, but even though I know you’re not my husband, you’re still so like him…” She forced herself not to let any tears fall. “I won’t let you die, even if I have to drag you through that mirror.”
“Thank you.” He smiled at her. “I guess you and I will have to start to get to know each other from the beginning.”
“I’d like that.”
An hour later
“Here’s your GDO and a radio.” Sam told Dr Carter, handing the items to her.
“We’ll keep the mirror on until we know that your SGC are going to let you in.” Jack said.
“I wouldn’t worry about that.” Jonathan said calmly. “It’s been scientifically proven that the base can’t survive without Sam for any kind of extended period of time.”
“Sounds familiar.” Major O’Neill said.
“They’ll open the iris all right.” Jonathan finished confidently. He grinned broadly. “Any chance of a group hug before we leave?” He asked hopefully.
“None.” Jack told him flatly.
“I wasn’t talking to you. If it’s okay with you.” Jonathan added to his fiancée, fearing that she would stick to her threat of leaving him to sleep on the couch on their wedding night. When she nodded, smiling, he held out his arms and was enfolded in a hug, receiving a kiss on the cheek from Dr Carter and Samantha and, after a moment’s hesitation, Sam and Colonel Carter followed their counterparts’ examples.
Jack shook his head, amused and a little envious.
Clearly there were advantages to being a geek.
“So long, guys!” Jonathan waved cheerily, slipping an arm through Dr Carter’s in preparation to leave. “We’d invite you the wedding but it’d probably get confusing.”
“Probably.” Sam agreed. “It was nice meeting you - all of you.”
“You too.” Dr Carter told her, reaching out a hand to touch the mirror.
She and Jonathan kept their hands pressed to the surface and then stepped forward, disappearing and reappearing on the other side.
A few minutes later, Jonathan’s face was visible in the mirror. He gave them a broad grin and a thumbs-up, signaling that all was well on their side.
“Our turn now.” Colonel Carter said briskly, hugging Sam and Samantha and shaking the men’s hands. She whispered something to Teal’c and the tall Jaffa nodded solemnly.
“Don’t forget our little chat.” Major O’Neill told Daniel, his cheerful tone contrasting with a decidedly stern expression.
“We’d better get going.” Colonel Carter said, not wanting to draw out the goodbyes. At her touch, the mirror shimmered to life. “Jack?”
“Coming, dear.” Major O’Neill quipped.
Once they were back in their own reality and had reported that all was well, Jack turned to the final pair.
“Your turn now.” He drew Samantha a few feet away, speaking in a low voice. “Are you sure that you’re okay with taking him along with you? You don’t have to.”
“I do.” She said quietly, but firmly. “And I want to.”
“Fair enough.” He shrugged, watching her go over to the rest of his team to say her goodbyes.
“You’re an idiot, you know that, right?” General O’Neill told him in a conversational tone.
“I’ll miss you too.” Jack said sarcastically.
General O’Neill kept his gaze trained on the two remaining Carters. “Life’s too short to waste any time.” Was all he said.
Sam and Samantha held a brief conference as to the best way to proceed to make sure that Samantha and General O’Neill would up in her reality instead of his.
Samantha laid her hand on the mirror first, breathing a sigh of relief when, after General O’Neill touched it, the image remained the same.
“Thank God.”
“We have a go.” Jack quipped.
“Goodbye, all of you.” Samantha told them. “It was nice to see you again.”
General O’Neill didn’t say anything, merely nodded at the other four, the slightest of smiles crossing his features when he looked at Sam. Finally he met Daniel’s eyes, for the first time looking at him without hatred or blame in his eyes.
“Goodbye, General.” Daniel told him.
“Let us know if he gives you any problems.” Jack told Samantha, wanting to lighten the mood.
“We’ll be fine.” She assured him before looking up at General O’Neill. “Ready?” He nodded.
They stepped towards the mirror and an instant later they were home.
Three days later
"The duct tape did the trick in the end." Sam reported to General Hammond and the rest of her team as they sat down for one of the stranger mission briefings they had had thus far. "The quantum mirror won’t work again and I doubt that it will do anything as far as defence goes, but it looks intact and that’s enough to satisfy the locals."
"Publius stopped crying." Jack added helpfully. "And nearly kissed Carter when she told him that the mirror was back in the temple. We took that as a good sign."
"And you’re certain that the planet’s defence systems won’t be adversely affected?" General Hammond pressed, inwardly wondering which malign deity he had so offended that his order to destroy the quantum mirror would have led to such a mess.
"As certain as I can be, sir." Sam said. "Individual mirrors are able to absorb and reflect weapons fire, so if the effect is magnified by the number of mirrors, losing one won’t lessen their defensive capabilities much."
"We’d need to borrow a Goa’uld mothership to really test it, though." Jack quipped. "It’s got a quadruple Carter seal of approval, though, and that’s good enough for me."
"Fair enough." Hammond noted, seeing the young woman sitting next to him blush.
"Do not forget Doctor O’Neill." Teal’c reminded Jack with a completely straight face.
"We can be thankful that all our guests were able to return to their homes – nearly all." General Hammond amended, remembering General O’Neill.
"And that there’s only one each of Sam and Jack in this reality – no offence." Daniel said quickly, seeing the looks on his friends’ faces.
"At least we didn’t mix anybody up." Jack joked. He shuddered inwardly at the thought of sending the wrong Carter back through the quantum mirror.
"It seems as if the mission was a success, then." Hammond smiled at the quartet sitting around the table, grateful that he had his SG-1 back in one piece with no extras running around.
"Yes, sir." Jack responded. The rest of the team nodded.
"Good." Hammond’s keen eyes scrutinized the faces of the two officers sitting at the table, wondering how they had really felt when they had seen evidence that their counterparts had been involved. It was a question he would never have asked, however. "Dismissed." He said at last.
"What was it like seeing so many versions of you?" Daniel asked as soon as he, Jack and Sam were alone.
"Weird." Jack said flatly. "Very, very weird."
"I never would have pictured you as a scientist." Daniel agreed, smiling at the memory of the contrast between Jack and Jonathan.
"I’d have liked to spend more time studying the mirrors in the temple." Sam said, sounding wistful. "The technology was amazing." She made a face. "Even if it did have us transporting all over the place. Samantha told me that the mirrors where she, Colonel Carter and Major O’Neill were showed them the past and the future."
"Anything about the winning lottery numbers?" Jack asked.
"Sorry, sir."
"Figures." He grumped.
"Seeing the past and future would have been interesting." Daniel observed, his expression darkening as he remembered the torment of seeing his dearest wish play out before him on the mirror.
Who knew how long he would have stood there had the others not been able to snap him out of it.
A thought, born of his conversation with Dr Carter and Jonathan, struck. "Jack? You looked into the same mirror as I did – did you see anything?"
Only somebody who knew Jack O’Neill very well could have caught the split second hesitation or the brief flash of discomfort on his face before he responded. "Nothing."
Teal’c had not remained with his teammates once they had been dismissed after the debriefing.
Colonel Carter and Major O’Neill had sought him out before they had left to enlist his assistance, leaving him with advice and instructions he was not certain how to proceed with.
He was observant, something that had helped him to rise to the rank of First Prime in Apophis' service and his friends' reactions to learning of their counterparts' involvements in other realities had not escaped him.
There had been no female warriors in Apophis' army and close friendships between his Jaffa had been discouraged for fear that it would compromise their loyalty and devotion to their false god.
He understood the regulations regarding fraternization but did not agree regarding the need for them, especially where O'Neill and Major Carter were concerned. He knew them both well enough to know that they would not allow a personal relationship to interfere with their duties in the fight against the Goa'uld.
Had he had any doubts, Colonel Carter and Major O'Neill's presence was evidence that they were groundless.
Dr Carter and Dr O'Neill worked well together, though they were promised and from what little he had heard of the reality Daniel Jackson had visited and of Samantha's reality, O'Neill and Major Carter's counterparts had been able to successfully balance their personal and professional lives.
In their case, no regulations were needed to govern their relationship but he knew that neither of his friends would ever disregard them.
He knew from Major O'Neill that it was possible to obtain a dispensation but in this world, Senator Kinsey would never entertain the thought of helping.
Daniel gaped at his friend, surprised, when Teal'c had come to his office to pose the question.
"They talked to you too, did they?" He said at last. "Jonathan and Dr Carter waylaid me before they went back to their reality."
"Colonel Carter and Major O'Neill spoke to me."
"I take it that you're supposed to play Cupid too."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "I do not believe that it will be necessary to assume that role, Daniel Jackson. The feelings are already present."
Daniel nodded, acknowledging the truth of this. "So all we need to do is to get them to see it and to arrange it so that the regulations aren't a problem." He shook his head, mentally cursing the two scientists who had wished the task on him, no doubt knowing that he wouldn't be able to refuse to help his friends. "We'd better start with the regs - we'll probably have an easier time with them than with getting those two to see sense."
"Indeed."
"Carter? Carter?" Jack repeated a little louder when she showed no signs of hearing his approach.
She glanced up from the notes and sketches she had been studying. "Sir?"
"Whatcha doing?"
She passed the sheet to him. "Dr Carter gave me this before we left for P7L-886. Something about you needing this."
"Remind me to send flowers to her reality." Jack said, beaming down at the schematic for a motion sensor for a fishing rod. "Do you miss the rest of the Carter team? Or are you glad to have the place to yourself again?"
"A bit of both. I'll miss working with them but it's nice to be the only one of me in this reality."
"Definitely." He was silent for a while, uncertain how to proceed. "Was it weird for you?"
Both of them knew that he wasn't simply referring to the presence of their counterparts.
"A little." She responded honestly, though she omitted the fact that it hadn't surprised her as much as it should have.
"Yeah." He said quietly. "Carter... Have fun with your project." He finished lamely.
"I will, sir." She gave him a small smile. "I'll see what I can do about building one of these." She offered, gesturing to the design for the improved fishing rod.
He grinned, glad to be on a more comfortable topic. "Then I'll have to drag you - and Daniel and Teal'c - to my cabin to try it."
"I'll look forward to it." She responded sincerely.
"So will I."
THE END