VIII

It was a lot for O'Neil to take in but his gut feeling was that was more to come.

"You still haven't told us how you knew when we were coming."

Mithrandir smiled. "You're a sharp one Colonel."

"So they say," added O'Neil dryly "you haven't answered my question."

The old man was silent for several moments.

"As your 2 friends sped through the stars; I was on a journey with 8 companions. It was the beginning of a long trip and we were...delayed in some caves. They had to go on without me."

"You chose to be left behind," solemnly stated Teal'c to everyone's surprise.

Mithrandir looked slightly suprised "It was a logical choice at the time; but later, after a long battle with the demon of the depths...I lay dying or close to it and i believe i travelled outside space and time and saw events that had passed and were yet to come.

Then it was time for my soul to return and return it did with new memories. A lot of them disturbing."

Stunned silence followed his words.

"Could someone please translate what he just said ?" asked an exasperated O'Neil.

Teal'c obliged. "He saw the past and the future..."

"...so knew Lantash would crash and we would dial Middle-Earth?" added Daniel in a confused voice.

Sam laughed nervously. "That's a little hard to believe."

Mithrandir smiled sadly. "It doesn't matter what you believe. Lantash and Martouf are here and very ill and he needs your help."

Sam and Daniel shared a look. "How bad are his injuries?"

The smile left Mithrandir's face. "He had several internal injuries..."

O'Neil stared at him. "Had? "

"The ones to the chest and abdomen are healed due to Lantash but the extra fluid in the head has put Martouf to sleep," replied Cenaron.

Sam stared at him in shock. "He has cerebral oedema. Oh God."

"Sir we have to get him back home as soon as possible."

Mithrandir was shakng his head. "He will not survive being moved; 3 days ago when Martouf fell asleep ; Lantash informed us of how precarious his condition was and we asked for anyway we could treat him."

"As a last resort he gave the elves plans to build a gould hand device; but we are unable to use it."

O'Neil stopped walking. "Did you just say you built a gould hand device?"

"Not I, the elves did and it took many hours. But none of the healers can use it."

"Naquadah," said Daniel softly "that's why you need the gate...and us."

O'Neil swore silently. Daniel and his big mouth.

"Well; before we all get too excited," he glared at Daniel "I would like to see the hand device."

Mithrandir nodded. "By all means; that's why you're here in the first place."

Melwyn quickly dispatched his people when they reached one of the Great Trees.

Even deep within Lothlorien he could not get rid of the anxiety that filled his heart.

His sister's stretcher had preceded them; yet he had a feeling that it had not been quick enough.

He ran to the Healer's Grove; surely they would have word of his sister's condition.

His steps faltered when he passed the 'strangers'. Was there no where he could avoid them?

"Yaltenia," the female elf within one of the inner chambers that housed ill patients looked up. "Melwyn."

"My sister; where is she? I can't feel her."

The female healer lay a gentle hand on his arm. "She is well but sleeps deeply. She needs it to fight the poison."

"She will live?"

Yaltenia hesitated before answering. "We are hopeful, but its too early to tell."

Melwyn let out a breath he did not know he was holding. He sat down wearily.

"Rest here awhile; a bed waits you if you wish to be close."

Melwyn nodded his thanks; too emotionally exhausted to utter a word. She silently left him to his thoughts.

Colwyn, Naftria, Seladriel, Lanawen and many others whose names he kept memorised had died. He would see himself dead first before he added his sister's name to that long list.

Heavy footsteps that could only by human interrupted his train of thoughts.

He kept his head turned away hoping they would respect his privacy.

The steps stopped near him and after a few seconds moved away.

Oddly enough that did not leave him with gratitude towards them...but with resentment.

O'Neil had decided to forgo all dipolmatic questions and ask direct questions.

"How technologically advanced are the elves?"

"Technology?" asked Mithrandir.

"Jack; maybe we should wait..." started Daniel.

"No, we ask now. Do they have ships?" continued O'Neil.

Mithrandir looked confused "Of cause we do."

O'Neil pulled down his shades. "Really?"

"Ships that go over water or in the air?" added Teal'c.

Mithrandir's face cleared. "Just ships over the water."

Sam took one look at the thunderous look on the colonel's face and spoke up.

"No offense Mithrandir; but we need to examine the new hand device to see if it works."

Cenaron who was still with them nodded. "We kept it by Lantash and Martouf. They rest in the House of Healing; which is where we are."

O'Neil finally let the brilliance of the surrounding structure hit him.

They were inside a giant tree; he had dimly heard the sounds of awe from Daniel and Sam when they reached "The great Tree."

However he had been too busy trying to understand how a Tokra (who he believed were the most un-cooperative race in the universe second only to the Tollan) had shared technology with these elves.

What did the elves have that made them so ...special?

O'Neil had a lot of questions for Martouf/Lantash.

IX

SGC Command; Cheyenne Mountain

General Hammond read the report that had been submitted 2 hours before its deadline.

It was the third time he was reading it...and he was yet to make any sense of it. The first time he thought it was a prank.

But considering the levelheadedness of the people that worked in his base (especially the extreme seriousness of Sergent Walter Harriman) he quickly began to realize the report had been taken very seriously.

Maybe too seriously.

General Hammond rubbed his fore head wearily; an outsider taking one look at the report would suggest that the writers have a series of high level psychological analysis done before they were considered safe to return to duty.

But General Hammond had seen too many strange things occur at the SGC. Maybe this could be one of them.

"I can't make head or tail of it," he muttered tiredly. He reached for the black phone beside the red emergency phone.

"Sergent Harriman, come into my office"

He didn't have long to wait. He suspected the sergent had ran when he was called.

"Sir," asked the bald technician.

"I've read your report...and I find it a little hard to take in. This reports states that the planet SG1 are currently on is one already known to us in the ..." he had to pause to say the next part "In the famous "Lord of the Rings movies as Middle-Earth?"

Sergent Harriman swallowed before answering. "Yes Sir."

"I thought the book was written more than 50 years ago. Shouldn't the...wizard Gandalf or Mithrandir be dead by now?"

"It would be hard to explain sir; but SG1 may have more information that coud help answer the questions...and Mithrandir was never actually described as human. It was stated in Tolkien's books that he lived on middle-earth for up to 20,000 years before departing for the Undying Lands."

General Hammond stared at him. "Did the books ever describe him as having Gould like characteristics...like glowing eyes?"

"No, sir," the voice was firm and confident. General Hammond sighed.

This was just more confusing.

"Let's wait until SG1 report back; maybe they could make more sense of this than I can. You're dismissed."

"Yes Sir," said Harriman before he left the office.

And they better have answers thought General Hammond.

Lothlorien

Cenaron and Gandalf/Mithrandir had left SGC waiting outside the House of healing. O'Neil approached his team members.

"Okay people; my brain is strained with all the information. Does anyone know what our guests are talking about?" He looked at each of them. They all looked confused except Teal'c.

"I get the feeling that this place is familiar to you."

"And it should be familiar to you as well O'Neil."

The Colonel stared at him. "How so?"

"Less than a week ago we both watched 3 of the visual films that described this place in detail." The others stared at him.

"The Lord of the Rings." There was stunned silence.

Colonel O'Neil laughed nervously. "You can't be serious."

"Indeed I am," said Teal'c solemnly.

"That's not possible," said Sam slowly.

"Then explain this; we are in Middle-Earth; we have met the elves of Lothlorien whose leader is Galadriel; in their company is Gandalf the white and we were just attacked by urukai. All this has been described in the films and in great detail in the books."

"I still don't believe it," said O'Neil "I watched those movies with you," Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"Ok,ok I slept through most of it; but it's just too fantastic."

"Correct me if i'm wrong ; but the books of the Lord of the Rings was written almost 60 years ago and it was stated that most of elves left Middle_Earth for the Undying lands close to the end of the war." Teal'c, Sam and O'Neil stared at Daniel.

"Emm...i read the books because...i was bored at the time," he explained in a defensive manner.

"Right," said O'Neil in a dry tone "what's your point ?"

Daniel sighed and rubbed the back of his neck; a sure sign that he was very stressed.

"If we are in the Middle-Earth of the books we have read or of the film; then we either travelled back in time to that period or someone from Middle-Earth travelled back in time to land on Earth in the 1930s"

There was dead silence for several seconds.

"Apart from that crazy analysis; I have nothing else to offer."

O'Neil looked at Sam. "Sir; we couldn't have travelled back in time; we would not have been able to contact the base."

The colonel nodded. "Okay; that's one thing to be happy about; anything else?"

Sam bit her lower lip. "I have got nothing sir. I have not read the books or watched the movies. Daniel and Teal'c are our experts in this case."

O'Neil took off his sunshades. "One question that is bugging me is how the elves got to build a hand device?" He looked at Teal'c.

"From what i have read and watched; the elves are immortal and have more knowledge than anyone knows. They possess power O'Neil; the other race that I think they could be compared to, would be the Nox."

O'Neil raised his eyebrows. "Them?"

Teal'c smiled. "Except in the readiness to defend themselves, " then his smile disappeared "but they are powerful O'neil. Don't forget that."

O'neil was about to speak when Cenaron came back.

"The healers have agreed for you to see Lantash. Please come."

Colonel O'neil expected to be surrounded by the smell of antiseptic mingled with blood as SG1 entered the House of Healing.

But in a short while he realized that this 'military hospital' was unlike the countless infirmaries he had found himself in during his long military career.

Where there should be groans and moans of wounded combatants; there was pure silence; which was now contaminated by the 'too noisy' footsteps of the SG1.

The healers clad in light green robes glided from bed to bed; seemingly ignoring the 'human' visitors.

But one thing was painfully clear; these people were in a war; there were too many occupied beds.

They eventually came to a stop at a bed; whose occupant already had 2 visitors.

Gandalf ; who they already knew and a young female elf with long silver-golden hair.

She was wiping the patient's head with a towel. Unlike the healers she wore a floor length white gown.

O'Neil took one look at Martouf and knew without a doctor's report that he was in a bad way. He was extremely pale and his hair was wet with sweat and matted to his brow and his breathing was too slow.

Something about the elf wiping his brow stopped O'neil from talking.

She paused in her ministrations and looked at O'Neil.

"Welcome," said a female voice in his mind. O'Neil knew without a doubt that her lips did not move.

He barely heard Gandalf introducing them to the female elf.

"Stargate one from Stargate Command, Earth; Colonel Jack O'Neil, Major Samantha Carter. Teal' c and Dr Daniel Jackson," she nodded.

" Lady of Lorien, Galadriel; wife of Lord Cereborn of Lothlorien." The respectful tones of Gandalf told O'Neil that she was the leader.

Her outstanding beauty and aura was making it hard for O'neil to utter a single word. A quick glance at him teammates showed Teal'c and Daniel were just as speechless.

Except for Sam.

"Thanks for bringing us here and taking care of Martouf. How is he?"

The elf lady smiled sadly at her. "They have been strong; but their strength is fading."

Sam knelt beside the bed. "May I examine him?"

"You have knowledge of healing," it was not a question "you may."

As Sam knelt to examine the Tok'ra; O'Neil finally tore his eyes away from Galadriel's face and saw the strange glove-like device on the small table beside the bed.

It looked like a healing device; but seemed to have smoother lines and the wrist bands were quite slim. It looked like it would weigh less than a feather.

He wondered what else the elves could build.

His mind returned to Sam shining a light into Martouf's eyes. He also noted that throughout the examination Galadriel did not let go of his right hand.

Sam completed her examination with a sigh. "Left pupil is fixed and dilated and he is unconsciousness. I'm afraid he may have a space occupying lesion that is pressing on his brain and causing cerebral oedema. He needs a lot of medical attention that we can only give him at the base."

"He will not survive the journey to the gateway," said Galadriel solemnly.

"What of the...em... healing device? " asked Daniel.

Sam with obvious reluctance reached for the device.

"You have used it before," stated Galadriel with certainty.

Sam glared at her. "Excuse me; but how do you know that?"

Galadriel smiled and looked at her in silence. O'neil had a strange feeling that an unheard conversation was taking place between the 2 women.

Sam was the first to drop her gaze. "I will try."

The Lady of Lorien smiled and said nothing.

Gandalf cleared his throat. "Maybe we should leave Major Carter and Lady Galadriel to their work."

The men silently left.

Daniel turned to Gandalf once they were outside.

"Is the lady telepathic...I mean does she speak with her mind?"

"Occasionally."

"Do you?" asked Daniel. Gandalf was thoughtful for a while.

"I haven't really given it that much thought." For some reason that comment made O'Neil smile.

Gandalf looked at them. "The Lady has been more gracious than you know. Her close contact with Lantash helped the elves build the device with his permission and she has kept him alive for this long."

"I can see the elves are in a war," said O'Neil.

Gandalf's face fell. "True; and the losses have been high."

"Can we help?" asked Daniel. Gandalf shook his head.

"This is not your fight. Come; the Major and the Lady will be hard at work. You must rest in the time being. I fear this might be the only chance you will get."