Nobody talked about The Incident. It was immediately classified at the highest level. Over the next few weeks all of the people involved were separated—reassigned from Cheyenne Mountain to god knows where.
After a while George started to doubt that it had ever happened. Maybe he was losing his mind, or having hallucinations. After all, there was no real proof. The four mystery people were gone, and along with them went the note George had supposedly written to himself. The older man—Colonel O'Neill—had used the Star Trek weapon to destroy all the evidence. Not even the crate was left... it had all simply vanished. Then O'Neill had shot George with the same weapon, apologizing first, of course.
Whenever he thought of it, George would frown and shake his head. Maybe he'd gotten an electrical shock somehow and that caused him to imagine... Or he got struck by lightning... Yeah, maybe that was it. But he couldn't remember anything like that. It worried him. Was he going nuts?
Eventually he was able to put it behind him—mostly. Sometimes he could go for a whole week without thinking of The Incident. The details got a little fuzzy...
A year later, he was posted to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. That's where he ran into Captain Jacob Carter...
He hadn't seen Jacob in about three years, but he'd heard that Jake had gotten married to an American girl he'd met here in Germany. When Jake learned that George's wife and daughter had not joined him yet, he clapped the lieutenant on the back and invited him home with him for dinner. "I want you to meet Debra," he said. "And our little girl."
"You have a daughter?" George grinned. "Congratulations! How old is she?"
"Just turned eighteen months. Looks just like her mother."
"Good thing," George teased. "Congratulations! What's her name?"
"Samantha. Samantha Leigh Carter," Jacob said proudly.
Before he'd shot him, Colonel O'Neill had pulled Lt. Hammond over to the side of the road, hidden by the truck, and offered him his hand. Surprised, George had shaken the hand.
"I can't tell you much," O'Neill said quietly. "For one thing, Carter would kill me. Remember her name, George. Carter. Samantha Carter. And remember this, too; about thirty years from now you'll be offered a command at Cheyenne Mountain. Don't refuse!"
George had opened his mouth to ask a question, but O'Neill had shaken his head. "That's it. I don't think that little bit will mess up the timeline, but that's all I'm gonna say. Except that I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, but we can't have anybody suspecting you." And that's when he shot him.
O'Neill's words echoes now in George's head. "Remember her name. Samantha Carter." George stared at Jacob. "I'd love to meet your family, Jake," he said, and he started to smile. "Especially little Samantha!"
He wasn't crazy after all!
-The End