It was one hell of a party.
Ra, gone. The gate, separated from the DHD, hidden, but not yet buried. Only so much people could do in a single day. Katep was already working on the cover stone, and the sheer exuberance of the local population was infectious. Jack and Sam had disappeared together, stumbling, cups of beer in hand. Teal'c sat calm in the midst of a tremendous chaos of revelry, a benign smile on his lips as he gazed around at the bonfires, the small herds of shrieking children chasing each other, adults ranging from drunken to an almost religious fervor of rejoicing. Daniel smiled and shook his head at the offered beer. The stuff was pervasive, and this particular variety seemed to have been fortified to a startlingly high alcohol content. He'd learned early to avoid it.
He wasn't sure what they would do next, but for the first time in five years, he felt the overwhelming sense of wrong dissipating.
Sam woke in a tangle of limbs with a gritty feel in her mouth. She started to reach up but discovered a heavy arm draped across her. She lifted the arm off of her and wiped sandy sleep from her eyes. Looking around, she found that she was in a tent, naked, with a very naked Jack draped along her side, half-covering her. She blinked.
oh...
The memory of the night before started to return. Giddy with success, they'd shared quite a lot of the local beverage. And then...
She started to smile at the memory, then the implications came crashing down. OH SHIT.
From the diaries of the Samanthas Carter
Sam Two
1
(ETA: I’m not dating these, because it would make my head hurt. But I have to write, so I don’t get things mixed up. SC)
Oh shit. oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit.
How could I be so stupid... Oh, right. Alcohol. And Jack. And oh shit... God, stupid hormonal... Seriously, it’s not like I’m 15. Or stupid. But...
It started when we won against the Jaffa and took back the gate ship. Daniel calls it a jumper, says it’s short for “puddle jumper” and I think I like that better. I kissed him. Not Daniel, Jack. And oh god, he kissed me back. But that wasn't the stupid part. No, the grade A, class 1 moronic behavior of the year came at the party afterward. I don’t know what the hell was in that firewater. Well, probably a lot of alcohol, but damn, I didn't have that much... Anyway, it felt so damn good to have won, to have done something important, and kissing him... I just can’t believe I didn't think about it at the time.
It’s not like I don’t know the birds and the bees, it’s just that every other time there’s been, you know, the awkward moment of fumbling where you actually remember to ask him to use a condom and remember to put in the jelly and all that, and this... this was just HOT and oh god... I don’t think the Egyptians have invented contraception, at least, there’s an awful lot of them, anyway, and oh my god what if he got me pregnant? I mean, the whole damn point of coming back here was to fix things, and we’re introducing blue-eyed Egyptians to the gene pool 5000 years ago??? I don’t think... oh god. If it was another time or another place or something where you know, we weren't living in a primitive society with no doctors and no hospitals and no daycares, and we’d been married for a year or two, and a house, that would be different, but... oh god, what if I am? What if we... I knew I’d screw it up, coming back here.
I just wish I could disappear.
Oh.
Right.
I wonder if that’s even possible? I must talk with Daniel. He seems ever so much more competent than my Daniel. I mean, he wasn't mine, but you know. Like, he’s not the kind to get himself killed that way, he’s got experience. More than any of us for sure. And he knew her... Super Sam. I bet Super Sam didn't get herself knocked up in ancient Egypt in the heat of the moment, she looks like the kind who never makes a mistake. Although, obviously she made SOME mistake, because she got killed and screwed the timeline up and all, but still... hard to believe she’s me. Or I’m her. Headaches must be a natural consequence of time travel. Anyway. Talking to him. Because this is too hard to make anyone else do it again. It’s hot and sandy and my heart hurts and my head hurts and I’m stuck in a society that thinks that my reproductive organs are the only thing of value, and they want to BUY me for god’s sake. We have to fix this.
“So is there anywhere we could go? I mean, through the gate?” Sam asked. “Because clearly staying here is not a good idea.”
“Theoretically,” Daniel answered, “but realistically, anywhere I've been is risky, since I never saw any sign of us, and I don’t know well the places I haven’t been.”
“I’m so sorry we have to pull you away from Egypt... the Daniel I knew would have been thrilled to be here...” Sam looked abashed.
Daniel shook his head. “It stopped being fun surprisingly quickly. You’re right, we need to get ourselves away from here, whether or not...” he waved a hand in the general direction of her belly, “...you know.”
“I wonder what all those places you visited in your timeline are like now?” Sam mused. “I mean, if you think about how much our world changed in 5000 years... there must be some place that wasn't occupied...”
Daniel pulled his notebook out of his robe and a makeshift pen, and began to make notes, muttering.
From the diary of Daniel Jackson
Still spring, but another day. According to them, they went back five thousand years from March 2005, so we should be in late March 2995 BC.
I have hope for the first time in a long, long time. The Rebellion is over. And Sam is still Sam, at heart, for she may have found us a way away from this mess without trampling over our future selves. Finally, we will go exploring again, if only for a little while, to find a place to call home, someplace we will not have to leave, ever. Which is good, because I’m starting to run out of paper.
And in the “Maybe it is fate” category, Sam Two and Jack Two are already sleeping together. Those crazy kids. Stupid, since Sam Two didn't have Sam One’s long-term contraception, but hey, if it gets us off this rock, I’m all for it. I was wrong about being able to live in Egypt the rest of my life. Every day, they are more like my friends, and less like those strangers who showed up wearing my friends’ bodies. And while I might almost belong here, WE do not, and I would rather be We than I.
By my reckoning, we have a couple of good options for places to go.
Option 1, seek out a known civilization, throw ourselves on their mercy and hope for the best. We believe the Ancients died out about ten thousand years before my birth, give or take. So they’re not going to be around but their places might. But they had allies... Furlings, Nox, and Asgard. We could talk to one of them...but I worry that we would introduce paradoxes to our friends’ histories.
Option 2. Many of the Goa’uld worlds are not occupied right now, but we don’t have exact dates for when they were settled in most cases, so that would be less than helpful. We have a good idea about some of them, the alpha site, for example, or one of the mining planets. But I’d prefer to put us farther out of the way.
Option 3. The alpha sites...but since we did not find ourselves there, it either means we left no record to be found, we didn’t look hard enough, or that’s not where we should be.
Option 4. Kheb, only I don’t know if Oma is there right now. There’s not much there, trees, water, compatible, and we know nothing about the history of the area, other than Jaffa occasionally showed up.
Option 5. Someplace the ancients were but no one else.... Oh. Right. We want no traffic. We want infrastructure if we can get it. Most of the ancient places we know about were not very nice places to live by the time we were there, and we don’t know when it went wrong. But Hadante... big structures there, only squatters... I have no idea what the surface is like but if we take a jumper we can check it out. I think we will start there. If we can get to the surface, or if the place is in better repair....
From the diary of Sam Two
2
Daniel... my god, does nothing flap that man? I look into his eyes and I can see five thousand years in them, easy. Kind of creepy, actually. But he didn't laugh at me. Hell, he hugged me and said it was the best idea he’d heard in a long time. He likes these people, it’s clear, but there’s this loneliness in his eyes. Like the look in the Guide that tells people exactly how far they are away from home. His thousand yard stare is more like a five thousand year and a couple of alternate realities stare. Crazy. What that man lived.... He’s only told us tiny bits of it, scattered here and there, dropped like random ripe apples in the rest of the conversation. “Sam said...” or “Jack wanted...” or “Teal’c knew...” Anyway. He had some ideas. And when I told him why I wanted to go, he actually smiled. Muttered something, not sure what, sounded almost like “finally” but jeez, I just met Jack and how on earth could it be “finally?” Unless... I really have to read the notebook he says he has. Were the other Jack and Sam together? I mean, they’re both air force, I guess, so that might complicate things. I guess I’ll find out.
The jumper was accessible, two of them in fact. It made Daniel's head hurt to see the jumper sitting next to itself... a natural consequence of flying the same jumper back twice. But two jumpers meant a lot more options. Although Daniel ached to go back, the fact that the ZPM had, in fact, made it back the first time meant a darned good chance, if they left well enough alone, of no more teams coming back to fix things. Sam wanted to destroy both ships at first, but Daniel persuaded her that putting the jumper in a place the Goa'uld could not find it but the SGC might, would leave options open if they hadn't gotten it right.
"So, let me get this straight," Jack said, frowning and peering into the jumper they'd flown. "Your guys found this thing, already really really old, on a planet somewhere. You took it back to the mountain, and then took it 5000 years into the past. It sat there for 5000 years. Then we flew it 5000 years into the past. And it's not out of gas?"
"Oh! They managed to recharge it before we got there, this time," Sam explained.
"Sam, is there anything wrong with this that you couldn't fix with enough support?" Daniel queried, gesturing at the newer...older... the ship the other three had flown in.
Her eyebrows went up and her breath huffed out in a sigh. "Gosh. Um. I'm not sure, but I think it's all fixable. I mean, if future-me has a good chance to learn about these things, and there's enough technology, sure."
Daniel nodded. "Good. I think we should take the other one, it's in better shape."
Jack blinked."You think the ol' girl's got another 5000 years in her?"
Daniel smiled, "I think that given that we have seen Ra leave, the gate still on the planet, and the fact that we are getting the hell out of dodge with our modern weapons and modern genes, she won't need another 5000 years, but honestly, we've seen ancient technology work after much, much longer."
Sam's eyes got big and she said, "You *will* tell us, won't you? About our other selves? About what we saw, and did? I just..."
Daniel Jackson just laughed. "If we find a good place to settle, I'd love to. I have an idea about that, by the way. In my time there is a very advanced culture, pretty isolationist, and about as zen as anyone I've ever met. They could give us information about a few planets I have in mind."
Sam frowned. "Wouldn't we be damaging their timeline?"
Daniel answered, "It is possible, but if anyone in the universe can withstand a time bump, it's the Nox. Their level of self control is profound."
They argued. They argued about how to go see the Nox, jumper or on foot. They argued about taking weapons. Daniel kept doing double takes as Sam kept deferring to him, and Jack showed no hint of ever trusting him. A decade of training, down the drain. he thought, as Jack gave him the "you clueless civilian" look one more time.
Finally Teal'c settled it. "It would not concern me to follow Daniel's advice except that if we leave our weapons here, and walk through the Chappa'ai, we will have to return here, and while Ra may be gone from this place, he is not the only Goa'uld remaining on this planet in this timeline. If we take all we need, we will not have to come back, and they can bury the gate promptly."
With that, they packed the jumper with every bit of gear they could muster, plus a number of Goa'uld weapons. Daniel brought forward four backpacks and vests, pain written in his face as he loaded the original SG-1's backpacks into the jumper and stowed them with a net. "I haven't had the heart to look inside them since... But there may be stuff we can use."
Sam patted his arm awkwardly, "Hey, uh, I think that we got it right, you should all be okay in the future, no more time travel. And you've got us, even if we're not the super duper action heroes you loved."
He cracked a pained smile. "I'm sure you're right. I still miss them. We were a team for a very long time."
"So will we risk future timelines if we bring some livestock through with us?" Jack asked Sam.
"Um... We could. Maybe if we don't find something suitable, we can come back. But let's see what those Nox people have to say, first."
Sam Two
3
We’re packing. Taking the old ship, because it’s newer. Scary to know that the fate of the universe hangs in your hands. Although I suppose those other timelines keep going, don’t they? Or maybe not. I mean otherwise this would all get very impossible very quickly. So we’re mostly picking the timeline we want to live in. Except that we won’t live in it. We’re picking the timeline our time clones will live in. Sounds very nice of us... if we can just get off of this planet and out of Egypt, I think it will save a whole lot of trouble. I hope we find someplace nice.
I’ve got it. We’re trying to make the best possible future. One which would not be possible, but for our actions. Which is, in fact, nice of us. But also necessary. And none of this has felt optional. Yes, there are infinite less optimal futures, but if we succeed, one of them will be better than it would have been without us. And that is what matters.
Daniel Jackson would have been prepared to come out of the gate and not find any trace of the Nox at all. He wondered if they might be less lofty, less ethereal than the quiet beings they'd met in the past. Looking back (forward?) he now recognized the Nox for what they were, a race on the verge of ascension and patient enough to wait for it. (Could an entire race get to the point of ascension without actually developing that patience? He had no idea.) But when Jack finally eased the jumper through the gate and stopped just past the event horizon on the Nox homeworld, the rushing chaos of a busy metropolis caught him off guard. The jumper drifted forward and bumped to a stop against the green sparking splash of a forcefield. On the other side, a slight woman stood, uniformed, hair curled short and dark and interwoven with something that sparkled electronically as she talked.
"You fly in an Ancient craft. Yet you carry weapons, in contravention of our long-established treaty. We have seen no Ancient in thousands of years, so I ask, who are you, and why do you violate our world with your tools of violence?" The voice came from the jumper speaker, but did not appear to sync with her lips.
Translator in the jumper? Something funny in those mind-controls that automatically takes meaning and scans it to something Jack can understand? Daniel wondered. Must be... took them hours to start talking to us last time. He leaned forward and asked, "Can you hear me?"
She did not respond, so he said to Jack, "Think to the jumper that you want to communicate with her, in her language."
Jack gave him a funny look and said, "Huh? Um... Okay then."
"Can you hear me?" Daniel spoke aloud again.
The woman outside relaxed a tiny bit and responded, "Yes, now I can. Please explain your presence and your weapons."
Daniel looked at the others and then leaned forward (probably not necessary, but a habit) and answered, "Please understand that we come in peace. Our weapons are stowed and will remain so, we wish you no harm but will not be able to stay here long, and the rest of the universe is not so enlightened. This craft is one that we inherited from the Ancient race that helped create ours, but it is vitally important that we not interact with very many of your people. Is there an elder or someone in a position of authority who could discuss a very sensitive matter with us?"
She looked perplexed. "Not one of the races that those you call the Ancients seeded in the galaxy with most recently could possibly be ready to inherit their wisdom yet. But..." she paused, appeared to be listening, "Yes, Droayal will come. Please allow us to autopilot your craft to a location away from the vortex zone."
Sam leaned forward, "Jack, I think you have to think, "autopilot"." But they'd already started moving.
"Yeah, got that." Jack leaned back and locked his fingers behind his head. "You sure about this, Daniel?"
Daniel shrugged noncommittally. "I'm never sure about anything, but this could have been worse. Could have been better, too. I was kind of hoping we could stash the jumper and walk to them unarmed, but this is what it is."
"You seemed surprised, Daniel Jackson, when we came through the gate". Teal'c spoke for the first time in hours.
"Yeah... When we came through last time, the place felt deserted. We didn't see the Nox until they let us, long after they'd brought us back to life, and our first impression was that they were a primitive and vulnerable people, right up until the point at which they demonstrated that they were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. I strongly believe that the powers they have are those of beings on the verge of ascension, and it is perfectly likely that these Nox are not quite there yet. That actually concerns me, I do not want to upset their timeline anymore than I want to upset ours." Daniel shuddered a little at the thought of losing any one of the against-all-odds battles they'd given up so much to win... and the only thing that prevented him from drowning in the multiverse was that their vehicle had come to a stop.
A man stood in front of the jumper. His long hair had more of the bushy look Daniel remembered of Ohper and Anteus, but without the twigs. The clothing he wore was a similar cut, but less organic in adornment. "I am Droayal. Please explain."
"Man of few words?" Jack mumbled.
"Thank you for letting us come talk to you," Daniel started. "Are you able to keep a secret if necessary?"
The man looked intrigued, concerned, slightly offended. "We prefer not to keep secrets."
Daniel looked down. "Droayal, is this conversation being recorded? Can it be seen by more than a few people? We do not bring ill wishes or secrets which could damage your people if kept, but our situation is... risky, and knowledge could harm your people. If you can speak to us in private, it would be better. Then you can decide what to share with your people after you've heard our story. I'm sure you understand that sometimes knowledge can harm if not used in the proper context."
Droayal inclined his head, closed his eyes. Little electronic traceries and points of light moved through his hair. He stood there, hair flickering, for long minutes. Finally he opened his eyes and said, "I would come aboard your vessel."
Jack closed his eyes and the back door of the jumper lowered. As Droayal came up the ramp, Sam said softly, "Think, privacy." "We don't want to be broadcasting, right Daniel?"
Daniel's mouth smiled but his eyes looked pained. Will she ever stop looking to me for confirmation? What did that timeline do to her, anyway? "Right." So strange to be the defacto leader of this group, simply because they're all green and wet behind the ears.
He stood, brushed his robes smooth,and bowed slightly. "We are travellers from the far future. We are trapped in this time, but do not wish to disturb the timeline further, and are looking for a place that we might spend the rest of our days in isolation and peace. We are hoping to find a world that is unoccupied, that the Goa'uld do not know, someplace we can live without fear of stepping on a butterfly and changing everything."
A thousand expressions seemed to try to land on Droayal's face simultaneously. "I assume you do not need at this point to be told exactly how foolish it was to start time travelling in the first place?"
Sam looked up. "Please, three of us are from a future which did not unfold as it was supposed to. We think we fixed the pivotal event such that, so long as we can get out of the way, our actions will not cause further problems on Earth." She slapped a hand over her mouth. (Wasn't supposed to tell them exactly where we are from...)
Droayal narrowed his eyes. "And why did you risk my people, our timeline here?"
Daniel bowed his head, then met Droayal's gaze. "In our time, your people were some of the wisest we had ever met. We needed help, and I could think of no one more capable of absorbing such information than your people. My experience with the Nox led me to believe that you would understand our desire to live apart, in peace, so that we do not break those who are... too young to understand."
Droayal arched one eyebrow. "Would it not be better to simply cease to be in this time, go back to your own, or simply cease to live?"
Teal'c spoke, finally, "The timeline I have come from has been broken by my hand, willingly, because I was shown a future that was full of more promise for my people. If I go back, there will be two of me, and the results of that could cause considerable problems. I do not believe any of us can return. Nevertheless, I am not yet ready to die."
"It would be perhaps better for us all if you all ceased to exist."
Daniel frowned. "The Nox I knew would never raise a hand against anyone. I would hate for our presence to bring you to violence."
"Daniel, this guy going to help us, or not?" Jack snapped, exasperated.
Droayal looked upwards and sighed. "What can we do to help?"
Sam fiddled with the fabric of her robe, bit her lip and then said, "First we need a place. Someplace we are not likely to be disturbed, where we can grow food and build good shelter and keep ourselves busy. If you can help us with food, or food generation, or shelter in our first year, it would help a LOT."
Daniel said, "I have a couple of places in mind that might work, but I really wanted to check with someone about the current state of those worlds. A lot can happen in fi... in the time between our eras." He held out a small pocket notebook, several addresses written there.
"There is great instability near this first planet. I cannot guarantee your safety there, and it is not a good candidate for even a small colony. May I ask why you picked it?"
So the Nox are capable of curiosity, hm? "In our time, a black hole has formed near the planet, but only just. So I didn't know if it was occupied or not, but it was an address we knew very well."
Droayal responded, "The events which will lead to the formation of that black hole have rendered the planet... less than comfortable in this time." He looked at the next one on the list.
"I do not think Kalb would be suitable. It is known by too many."
Daniel smiled. "I have good memories of that place, and it was not... occupied in my time. We called it Kheb."
The third address provoked a wholly different reaction. "Oh! That just might be an option."
Daniel responded, "In my day, it was impossible to get from the gate to the surface. Is it occupied now?"
Droayal shook his head. "Our allies once used it as a mining planet. Many ages ago it was a busy place. It was abandoned due to massive instability, the dialing device removed to dissuade others from taking up residence on a planet with... extensive cyclical climate changes. There was never a native population. If you can find your way to the surface, it should be a good option. If not, your ship will allow you regress. The local climate is sufficient at this time, and I believe you will find the soil usable. There may even be shelter available already. What is this place to you?"
"In our time, an advanced race is using the underground chamber, which is not open to the surface, as a prison. But I thought the lack of access to the surface in our day might make it perfect for our needs now, if it is not currently being occupied." He smiled wryly. "My memories of the place are not particularly pleasant, but if we can't get out of the tunnels, we can't stay there. I know it as Hadante."
"These other addresses are also unoccupied." Droayal gestured at the paper.
"Yes, in our day we've already created outposts on them because they are inaccessible to the Goa'uld and uninhabited. But the very fact that we've already been there puts them at the bottom of the list. Do you have any other addresses which would be better than Hadante?"
Droayal considered the matter. "Better? Not necessarily. But yes, if you cannot find a way out of the gate area at, what do you call it? Hadante? we will consider those options. Hadante is more... protected. As for the other things you are asking... What exactly are your food needs?"
Sam spoke up. "We tend to eat an omnivorous diet. We will be happiest if we have some high quality protein, complex carbohydrates, and a range of mono and polyunsaturated fats. Usually we eat some meat from mammals, birds or fish each day, with the bulk of our diet made up of grains, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. And chocolate, although I'm just about ready to give up on that one."
Droayal frowned. "We... no longer consume the flesh of living creatures. It's a recent change... Do you have an idea of what kinds of animals you need?"
Sam answered, "I thought about trying to bring livestock from Earth, but I don't know what kind of damage it would do to the species there, and I am so worried about the timeline being affected by animals being removed out of turn... If I had access to cloning technology, I could make what we need from tissue samples with much less risk, but that kind of tech..."
Daniel broke in, "In my timeline we had cloning technology, but only for a short time. In hers, they did not have more than the most rudimentary cloning tech. Mostly we don't need cloning technology so much as the animals themselves. But if Hadante has its own flora and fauna that is compatible with ours, we may do just fine.
Droayal nodded. "We will send you with some basic food supplies while you get established. If you need more than the planet has to offer, we may be able to help further, but you are correct in thinking it is best to keep our interaction to a minimum. Right now, few of us know anything about you, and I am the only one who knows truly... I believe that the others who must know of what we will be doing can get by on less information than you've given me. ANd I will do my best not to let this change what I do from here on out.
Teal'c spoke up. "My goa'uld will last another five or six years. After that I will have to find another or I will die. That would appear to be a risky tactic when one thinks about not disturbing the timeline. I am told you have powers of healing far beyond most civilizations. Is there something I can do to avoid this?
Droayal shook his head... "Killing the young to save the old is antithetical to who we are as a species. I cannot slay your infant goa'uld, no matter how much I would like to free you of this."
Daniel frowned, "In my timeline, Teal'c's gou'uld symbiote was killed long ago, he takes a medicine regularly to substitute for his immune system."
Droayal continued shaking his head. "Really, I cannot slay his infant goa'uld. Please do not ask this of me." He paused. “But perhaps, one day, we might be able to help. I will check in with you periodically in your new home. I strongly suspect... Hadante will meet your needs quite comfortably. If you will wait, I have already arranged for supplies to be brought to you here. Then you must go, the sooner the better. While our society is advanced, we still have some who would not react kindly to your continued presence here, especially with your weapons, and your borrowed technology.”
With that, he turned, and left. The four travelers looked at each other for a long moment before Jack said in the awkward silence, “Did that go well? I thought that went well. What do you think, Daniel?”
Daniel laughed, but with a dry and bitter edge as he said, “As well as we could possibly have hoped.” He looked around at the familiar-yet-not faces of his new team, and managed to suppress a sigh. So Jack trusted him now enough to ask his opinion? Except now it was if anything more odd, Jack actually asking him if things had gone well. I just want to go home.