Chapter 1

Sara looked at Dr. McKay for a few seconds and then started laughing, "Oh my god. Oh, " she gasped for breath, "Oh...you had me going, you really did. I'm going to kill Molly for this, I really am." She walked back behind her desk, still shaking her head, "No one here on Earth." She paused to catch her breath, "I'll have to say this, it's the most elaborate stunt she's pulled to date, " she walked around her desk, "The whole secret confidentiality agreement was a nice touch though."

Rodney looked helplessly at his companions, " I take it you don't, uh, you don't believe me?"

Sara sat on the edge of her chair and tried to contain her amusement, " Molly put you up to this didn't she? Are you grad students? Are you in one of her psych classes, is that how she roped you into this? She didn't promise you anything to lavish, did she? "

Samantha stepped forward, "Dr. Clayton, we aren't students here and I can assure you this isn't some prank being played on you." She looked at Rodney, "What Dr. McKay was saying is true. It appears, from what I've been told, that the manuscripts we discovered are connected to these Vengrier texts. We'd like you to come with us to help us analyze them."

Sara stopped smiling, "Right, the United States military has a new program involving ancient literature and it's what? It's useful information on aspects of national security? Look, I don't know who you really are, but this just isn't funny anymore. I mean," she waved her hands in front of her, "this is all very Men In Black , and normally I'd play along until Molly decided to stick her head in here and laugh at me, but I have to finish grading these papers and I just don't have the time. " She pointed to the door, "I'll make sure that Molly makes good on whatever she promised you, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."

Samantha looked at Sheppard as he stepped up to stand next to her in front of the desk, "Look, I know you're a busy lady and all, but if you could just give us a couple of minutes I think we can prove to you that we aren't jerking your chain."

Sara sighed and stood up, "Boy, you're really committed to this aren't you? Is Molly supposed to show up and drag me off to one of her parties?" She stepped out from her desk and sighed again, "Fine you have five minutes, after that you have to leave."

Sheppard smiled slowly, "I doubt it will take that long Doc." He tapped the ear piece he was wearing, "Daedalus, this is Sheppard. Bring us up."

oOo

Sara gasped as her feet connected with the solid ground. Her heart was racing and her mind couldn't make sense of anything she was seeing. Someone reached out to steady her as she closed her eyes, gripped the arm of the person holding her up and started trying to recite the alphabet backwards in an attempt to focus.

Ronon stared down and the tiny woman gripping his arm and then looked at Sheppard, "What's she doing?"

Sheppard shrugged, "Not sure."

Sara ignored the voices and kept reciting until she reached A. Then she slowly opened her eyes and scanned her surroundings quickly then started to feel nauseous again, so she shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Her office was gone and her head was swimming. She gripped the arm she was holding tighter and drew in a breath to try and steady herself.

" Dr. Clayton we..." Samantha began. She was cut off by Sara's upraised hand.

"Don't. Don't talk to me right now." She released her hold on the person standing next to her and looked up, "Are you people insane!!" She found Colonel Carter immediately and walked towards her.

Samantha tried again, "Dr. Clayton, we don't usually resort to such drastic measures..." her voice trailed off as the much shorter woman stabbed a finger into her chest.

"Look, I don't care who you are or what it is you think you're trying to accomplish. You don't just kidnap someone from the middle of their office and drop them in some screwed up version of a bad 1960's movie set!!" Hearing a laugh behind her Sara whirled around and pointed an accusing finger at Sheppard, "And you, don't stand there grinning like that, it's annoying and smug. You may be used to women falling all over themselves for that smile, but I'm not one of them. Where the hell am I? And what the hell did you dose me with?"

Sheppard stopped smiling and shot an annoyed look of his own towards Rodney when he heard the other man chuckle, " This is the Daedalus and we're in high orbit around the earth. No one kidnapped you...okay, well, technically we did kidnap you, but we didn't drug you."

"Oh, so now you want me to believe this is a space ship? Who's driving? Captain Kirk?" Sara snorted and turned her attention to Dr. McKay, "You know, I only took that appointment because a colleague of mine told me you were some big shot physicist and it intrigued me that a scientist of your caliber would show so much interest in ancient works of literature. What are you people trying to prove?"

Rodney held up his hands, hoping to fend off any possible attack, "I'm just here to... wait you have a colleague who knows who I am? What did he...no, never mind that's not important right now. You are in a ship in high orbit over the earth and if you come with me..."

"Screw you and the horse you rode in on. I'm not going anywhere with you buddy. You just take me right back to the university and we'll forget this ever happened." She began backing up, muttering to herself, "Sick bunch of freaks. Think I'm gonna believe..." she stopped muttering as she ran into something solid...and warm. Sara turned and came face to face with someone's chest. She raised her eyes slowly and found herself staring into a pair of deep green eyes set in a sharply chiseled face. She involuntarily took a step backwards and looked over her shoulder, "So I'm stuck here, right? Captain Dreadlocks here isn't going to let me leave?"

Rodney laughed, this time out loud, "Listen, I know this is a lot to take in for someone like you, but if you just follow me over to the viewing port, I can prove to you I'm telling the truth."

"Someone like me?" Sara raised an eyebrow and walked over to Dr. McKay, "Listen you little...I may not be Mr. Wizard or anything, but that doesn't make me an idiot. And like any sane human being, I know the difference between fantasy," she made little circular motions with her hands, "and reality. You know that place where flying saucers don't exist?" Seeing the look of resolve on the faces of the people around her she threw her hands up in defeat, "Fine if it will get this over with, show me your little light show or whatever. We can all be dazzled, agree you are, indeed, from another planet and then I can go home."

Sara followed Dr. McKay as he walked into an adjoining room. She stopped short and felt someone bump into her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Col. Sheppard, "Seriously, I wouldn't get to close to me just now. I'm likely to kick your ass." Smirking slightly when the man raised both hands in a gesture of defeat she returned her attention to the sight that had stopped her. One wall of the room was a huge window and outside...well, outside all Sara saw were stars. And then she looked down a bit.

"Holy Mary, Mother of God!" She walked all the way to the window and leaned against it, peering out into the blackness. "How the hell did you do that?"

Rodney stopped next to her and started pointing out different places on the Earth's surface, "Kind of cool, huh?"

Ronon watched as the woman everyone referred to as Dr. Clayton looked out the viewing windows and stared at her planet below her. He looked at Sheppard, "She really doesn't believe you, does she?"

Sheppard turned to Ronon with a grin on his face, "I have to admit, she's a little more difficult to convince than most people. Not sure how we're gonna get around that. "

"What kind of doctor is she anyway?"

"Well, she's not really a doctor. The title refers to her academic degrees. She has a Doctorate in Literature and ..." Sheppard looked at Samantha, "What else ?"

Samantha nodded toward Sara Clayton, "She's actually has three. One in Anthropology, one in Sociology and of course Literature. She specializes in obscure texts and oral traditions."

"So, she's smart." Ronon said, "Smarter than McKay?"

Samantha laughed, "I don't know about smarter, but she could defiantly give him a run for his money."

"And how's she supposed to help us?" Ronon asked.

John looked at his friend, "Rodney says that with her help we can wade through all the information a lot faster. And that will help us figure out who we should be talking to about fighting the Wraith."

Ronon shrugged, "If you say so." He walked further onto the observation deck and watched as Col. Carter and Rodney spoke with Dr. Clayton.

Samantha walked over to where Dr. Clayton was still standing, gazing out at the earth below her, "Dr. Clayton, if you've seen enough, we'd like to take you back to the SGC to debrief you before we move on."

Sara looked at the Colonel as she spoke, her mind still reeling, "Sure, fine, whatever you want to do. I'm just gonna go along for the ride, because it's obvious to me that you people aren't going to let me go home."

It wasn't the answer they had been hoping for, but Samantha decided it was better than nothing. She touched her ear piece, "This is Colonel Carter, we're ready to come down."

As the transporter activated Sara said, "Shouldn't you be saying 'Beam us down, Scotty'?"