Season 6 Episode 16 – Metamorphosis

Episode Summary: Nirrti has been performing genetic experiments on a small population, and SG-1 attempt to rescue them – but they don't want rescuing, they think Nirrti is their saviour. They are captured and Nirrti uses the genetic manipulation device on Sam, who starts dying. Eventually Jack convinces a telepathic native to look into Nirrti's mind, and the locals turn on her, killing her. The telepath uses the device to heal Sam, just in time.


Sam looked up as a shadow fell over her workbench. "Teal'c." She greeted him with a smile, which turned to a frown when she noted the subtle troubled expression on his face.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"I believe your presence is required in the gymnasium." He said.

"Why?"

"O'Neill." He said simply. He communicated the rest with just a look, and she easily read his concern for their team mate in his eyes. She set down her tools and stood.

"I'll go talk to him." She said. She had a pretty good idea what this was about, although she wondered at Teal'c figuring out that probably only she could help. Jack liked to joke that the big guy knew everything, but there were limits … right?

She walked quickly to the gym, which would usually be completely deserted at this hour. She'd been burning the midnight oil, as it were, herself.

And there was Jack, wailing on a punching bag with his fists. It looked pretty out of control too – not a measured practice session, but a man who really wanted to beat the crap out of a person and was settling for gym equipment.

"Sir?" She started carefully.

He ignored her, continuing his assault. She walked around into his field of vision, and tried again.

"Sir, is everything alright?"

"Teal'c sent you?" He asked. She opened her mouth to answer, but he cut her off. "I'm fine Carter. Just a little work-out session."

"After midnight sir?" She asked sceptically.

"That's when it's quiet." He said, landing a particularly vicious punch.

She watched him for another long moment, trying to figure a way in.

"Sir, if this is about what happened on the planet …"

He didn't respond, and didn't look at her, fists continuing to fly.

"I'm fine sir. And we always knew I would be."

If anything his assault on the punching bag got more intense, and she figured she'd struck a nerve.

"A couple more minutes and you would have died, Carter."

"Well, yeah, but as we know that I'm alive in the future, we knew that was never going to happen." She reasoned.

He stopped, and leaned on the punching bag, breathing hard from the exertion.

"It's funny, I seem to recall having this exact conversation with you in reverse a couple of weeks ago when I got back from being missing on that moon. It didn't seem like the knowledge that I was going to be fine did much to help you out."

She winced and looked at her hands, conceding the point.

"It doesn't really make it that much easier does it?" She agreed softly.

"If anything it makes it worse." Jack said. "Because along with being scared out of my mind that you were about to die, I was also scared out of my mind that I was about to lose the future. Our future. The kids."

"Towards the end, while you were missing, I started freaking out that I'd missed something, or done something wrong, and ruined the timeline." Sam admitted.

"Yeah." He sighed, and walked over to the bench at the side of the room, grabbing his towel and mopping at his face and neck.

She watched him, at a complete loss for words. She knew exactly what pain he was feeling – she'd felt it herself a dozen times since they'd returned from 2034. Every time they got into a life-threatening situation, it was like walking a high-wire of fear and nerves, waiting for the timeline to come crashing down around them and destroying their future.

Knowing how he felt though, meant she also knew there was really nothing she could say. Only time and normalcy healed this wound.

"Do you still have that picture?" Sam asked after a moment. "The one of the kids?"

"I do. It's in a safe place. You wanna see it?"

She nodded.

"Come round to my place tomorrow. I'll get it out." He said.

"I will. Thanks."

"I'm going to hit the showers and go to bed." He said, standing. "Night Carter."

"Night sir."


There was a knock on his front door, and Jack set down the plate he was washing in the sink, drying his hands.

"Hey Carter." He said as he opened the door. "Come in."

"I hope you don't mind me taking you up on your offer, sir." She said nervously.

"No, it's fine. You've got as much right to it as I have." He said.

"Where do you keep it?" She asked curiously.

"I have a wall-safe."

He walked into his living room and pulled the couch slightly away from the wall, revealing what looked like an electrical cupboard behind it. Opening the wooden door, he keyed in the code on his state-of-the-art safe, and the door opened with a heavy swing.

It had been a long time since he'd last opened it, and he paused for a moment, looking at the little ring box tucked in there next to the photo. The ring box that contained the engagement ring he'd bought for Carter a year ago, that she knew nothing about.

He pulled out the photograph and shut the safe.

He couldn't help but look at the picture, and she came to his side to join him.

"I can't believe it's been two years already." Sam said softly.

"Feels like yesterday." Jack said back. "Hey, I have a question."

She looked at him expectantly.

"If we screw up and ruin the timeline, will they just disappear from this photograph?"

Sam smirked. "This isn't a sci-fi B-movie sir. No. What happened, happened. This photograph will never change, even if we sabotaged the timeline intentionally. We would just branch off into an alternate timeline."

"Ok. Good."

"Have you spent the last two years rushing home after every mission to check they're still there?" Sam asked teasingly.

"No." He said, a tad defensively. He hadn't. But he had wondered.

Sam took the photo from him and gazed at it, taking a deep breath.

"Do you want to hold onto it for a while?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No, your safe is probably the best place for it. I wouldn't want it to get lost or fall into the wrong hands."

"At this point in time it wouldn't matter, to anyone else they'd just be three strangers." He said.

"Still … this is a photo taken thirty years in the future. The paper alone could reveal secrets best left alone."

He nodded, and took it back from her. "I could make you a copy."

She considered, staring at him. "I guess you could. Would you?"

"Sure."

"Thanks." She beamed at him, and he smirked back.

"You're welcome."