Disclaimer:Stargate SG-1 is the property of MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions, SciFi Channel, and Showtime/Viacom. No copyright infringement intended, no money being made. Some dialogue is borrowed from the episode, and for that, credit goes to Jonathan Glassner, Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper, and Tor Alexander Valenza.
Chapter 3
"What happened?" General Hammond asked, charging into the infirmary. SG-1 and Major Kawalsky were already there, hovering at the foot of Samantha's bed.
"Doctor Carter's going through some sort of convulsive shock," Dr. Fraiser said. "I don't know the cause and I don't know how to stop it."
"How's the baby?" Jack and Kawalsky asked at the same time.
"The baby's fine," Fraiser said. "Its heart rate was elevated briefly, but it's dropped back to normal."
"But you don't know what's wrong with Dr. Carter?" Hammond said.
"No sir, I can't think of a single medical problem that would cause what she's experiencing," Fraiser said. Her eyes scanned across the blinking monitors, but the machines told her nothing.
"Not medical," Samantha said through gritted teeth. "Temporal. Entropic cascade failure."
"On the cellular level?" Carter asked as she rushed to Samantha's side.
"Yes! I thought it would take years not days!"
"So it's a side effect of travel through the quantum mirror," Carter said.
"Then why don't I have it?" Kawalsky asked. He couldn't tear his eyes away from his friend.
"I'm guessing Dr. Carter has it because I'm here," Carter said. It was purely a guess, but also all they had to go on. "The increased entropy caused by both of us existing in the same reality might theoretically be causing a temporal distortion-"
"Not theoretical anymore," Samantha said. She shook again, and as her features seemed to blur out of reality, SG-1 knew they had to do something.
"If she stays here she'll die," Carter said gravely.
"But if she goes back the Goa'uld will kill her," Jack said emphatically.
"Either way, the end result is the same," Teal'c said.
"People," Hammond said, "We need to start thinking of solutions."
"I might have one," Daniel said from the doorway. He entered the briefing room with a stack of old mission reports and passed the pile around the table. "As you know, just under a year ago Jack had all the knowledge of the Ancients downloaded into his brain."
"Ah yes," Jack said. "Good times." Daniel continued, ignoring Jack's comment.
"During that time he built an advanced power source and added a significant number of gate addresses to our dialing program, and through that he was able to reach the Asgard homeworld. Since first contact we've learned that they possess technology far greater than ours and that of the Goa'uld. According to Major Kawalsky, they've never encountered the Asgard in their reality."
"What's your point, Doctor Jackson?" Hammond asked.
"I'm saying, we still have the dialing program that took Jack to the Asgard homeworld. What if our fate—our contact with the Asgard—can be applied to the alternate reality. If the Asgard there are anything like the Asgard here, they won't just stand by while Earth is destroyed. They'll see the same potential that they saw here and act accordingly."
"I don't disagree with that, Daniel," Carter said, "but there's still the issue of power. I haven't been able to get the power source back online, and without it we can't generate enough power to get to another galaxy."
"Yeah, I know," Daniel said. "But there are two of you here, now. Don't you think we owe it to them to try?" In all the mania surrounding the incident, Daniel had taken for granted that Carter and her double would be able to figure out the power problem.
"The phrase 'two heads are better than one,' does come to mind," Jack said.
"If Major and Doctor Carter are successful in repairing the power source, getting to the stargate once we're on the other side would be extremely difficult," Teal'c said.
"That's where I come in," Kawalsky said, entering the room. He asked to join the briefing, and Hammond, possibly against his better judgment, relented, pointing to a seat next to Daniel. "I'll get her through the gate," Kawalsky continued. He wouldn't let Samantha down again.
"You'll need someone to hook up the power generator," Jack mumbled. He really didn't want anything to do with this whole thing, but he couldn't shake an odd sense of responsibility.
"And you'll need someone to download the dialing program," Carter said.
"How many people do you think you'd need, Colonel?" Hammond asked.
"Just a team," Jack said. "Any more people and it'd be too obvious."
"I will accompany you, O'Neill."
"No!" Carter and Kawalsky said simultaneously.
"Teal'c can't go any more than I can," Carter said. "The extra entropy created by two Teal'cs in one reality would lead to the same problem we have here."
"Dr. Carter did not start experiencing negative effects within the first 48 hours," Teal'c said. "If we are gone longer than that, it is quite likely we will be dead."
"It doesn't matter, because we can do it on our own," Kawalsky said. He could barely stand to be in the same room as the Jaffa, much less across from the table, and the thought of trusting his life to Apophis's first prime -- no matter how former he may be --was entirely unacceptable. "We don't need him."
"Wait," Daniel said, "you said that Teal'c led the assault on the mountain in your reality. So, from a tactical standpoint, wouldn't it work to our advantage to have Teal'c with us?
"Quite the military mind, Doctor Jackson," Jack said. Kawalsky hated to admit it, but Daniel made a good point. Like always. It seemed no matter what reality he was in, Kalwasky was destined to be on the losing side of arguments with Daniel Jackson.
"Fine," Kawalsky said.
"Are you really okay with this, Sir?" Jack asked Hammond.
"If you're confident you can pull it off, I have no objections," Hammond said.
"Well, we're not going anywhere if we can't get that power source up and running," Carter said.
"All right then," Jack said as he rose to his feet. "Kawalsky, show Daniel how the mirror thing works. Carter once you've got the dialing program ready meet me and yourself in the lab. Let's get this over with."
"If the Asgard are everything you say they are, then they're just the little green men we're looking for," Samantha said as she, Jack and Carter entered the lab.
"Gray, actually…Roswell gray," Jack said.
"Let's just hope we can raise them," Samantha said. "What can you tell me about this power source?"
"Me? It glows," Jack said. "Beyond that, I got nothing."
"With the exception of the energy module of a staff weapon, it was constructed entirely out of items made on earth," Carter said.
"If it's powered by the energy module of the staff weapon, why doesn't it-"
"Blow up? My best guess is that the device creates a modulated dampening field around the liquefied naquada, which controls the energy transfer to the capacitors. So maybe the modulation is thrown out of wack each time the device is used," Carter said, "But how do you even begin to recalibrate a field that you can't generate in the first place?"
"Are you two going to be able to figure this out?" Jack asked.
"We'll figure it out," they said. No sooner had the words left her mouth than Samantha was gripping the edge of the table. Her body tensed and her breath was ragged.
"Are you okay?" Carter asked. Worried for her parallel self, she helped Samantha onto a stool.
"I'll be fi-," Samantha began, but before she could finish the sentence, she doubled over in pain.
"Two in a row?" Carter said, barely able to believe it.
"No," Samantha pleaded. "Please, not yet."
"Oh god," Carter said, "uh…Sir." A large wet spot was forming on the front of Samantha's jumpsuit.
"Oh you've got to be joking," Jack said. "Tell me she didn't just go into labor."
Author's Notes: Sorry about the big delay. School and other aspects of real life took over. Not to mention that this was a hard chapter to write, and I'm still not sure I like it. I feel like I took too much directly from the episode.
Now I know why directors hate filming in the briefing room, but at least they can cut the table in half and do nifty camera tricks.