CHAPTER 9
As they stepped through the gate and walked down the ramp, everything looked normal. Ford looked to his left seeing that Mel was with them.
"Mel?! What are you doing here?" he asked surprised.
"I thought you left with your Uncle." Carter said also surprised.
She turned to them, total loss on her face as to what they were saying. Something else was wrong, her right eye was covered with a patch. "What are you talking about? I came to help fight the Goa'uld with your team. General O'Neill said he didn't mind the help. Don't you remember?"
Ford stared at her, stunned, his finger twitching slightly as he pointed at her eye suddenly. She stepped back in confusion.
"Colonel Ford. Major Carter. What are you doing?"
They turned slowly seeing Jack at the end of the ramp. Teal'c, Daniel, and several soldiers all were walking down the ramp slowly.
"Jack what is going on? Where is General Hammond?" Ford said slowly.
"Where is the General sir?" Carter asked.
"I'm the General, Carter!" Jack said forcefully. "Guard get Doctor Frasier up here immediately."
A guard near the door sounded off with a quick yes sir and left.
IN THE NORMALUNIVERSE...
As they walked through the Stargate they were talking about what to have for dinner.
"Took you two long enough." Jack said at the end of the ramp.
"The restaurant at the end of town would be nice to go to. Hey General, what's up?" Ford said looking at Jack.
"Ford, what are you doing in a Colonel's uniform?" Hammond said. He looked upset at being ignored.
"Who is this General?" Carter asked Jack.
Jack noticed she had a ring on and so did Ford.
"What do you mean Carter? That's the General, I'm your commanding officer Major!" he said really upset. "And where did those rings come from? Where did you get that uniform Ford?"
"I earned it General, you know that. You pulled me out of retirement and…" Ford said turning to Carter after seeing a slightly pissed off look from the man they thought was the General. "Carter, what just happened?"
"I'm not sure yet sir." Carter said looking between Jack and some mysterious bald man. Jack could almost swear Ford was acting like him.
"What was the last thing you two were doing before you came through the Stargate?" Daniel asked. Hammond looked ready to interrupt but closed his mouth.
"Well let's see...Draco and I shook hands then Melissa said bye to him." Ford said looking around for her. "Where is she anyway? Old needle pusher didn't call her away for more needling did she?"
"Daniel and Teal'c went through and Ford and I talked a moment to Melissa to see if she was sure about coming. Then we all walked through. There was something different about the gate as we entered but I didn't think about it." Carter said.
"We were discussing personal things." Ford commented happily.
It was bothering Jack cause it was his stance, his personality he was seeing, in someone else.
"General Hammond, this Ford has no symbiont. Interesting." Teal'c said.
"No surprise there T. Melissa ended up becoming the host. Where did you come up with the insanely dumb idea that I would even let one of those snakes inside me." Ford said. "Last time it happened, I ended up chasing down a girlfriend I never knew I had."
"You're starting to sound like me." Jack said annoyed. "You even starting to act like me."
"Enough people. Colonel O'Neill, take these two down to Doctor Frasier and have them checked out. I want to see SG-1 in the briefing room in one hour. Dismissed." Hammond said turning and walking away before anyone could speak.
"You heard the General, follow the leader." Jack said walking off. Ford shook his head and followed. Carter followed as well thinking it strange to see this O'Neill acting like Ford.
One hour later...
Ford and O'Neill had some trouble relinquishing their seat, as they saw it, it was the Colonel's chair and them both being Colonel's, well...
"Ford you sit here, Colonel you sit here." Hammond said.
Jack got his seat and Ford was across from him. The rest of SG-1 sat in there respective seats, except for Carter who sat next to Ford.
"What have you figured out what has happened Major Carter?" Hammond asked.
"Well sir, from what I could figure out, Colonel Ford and I are not from this universe. I am here, but it's a different Samantha Carter. In our universe, Jack O'Neill is the General of the SGC and you did something else that had nothing to do with the Stargate program. I've never heard you sir, so I don't know what you do in my universe. As you are aware of sir, Ford and I are married, as for everything else, it almost seems the same with those exceptions." Carter said. "We have a special pardon allowing us to be together."
"From what I have found out General O'N…..Hammond, Jack and I here seem to be about the same in personality." he said with a huff.
"Great." Jack muttered.
"I almost can't believe that someone else acts like me." Ford said sarcastically.
"I agree General, but seeing the things SG-1's been through, it must be possible, though seeing Ford here as a version of me is freaky." O'Neill said with a wave of his hands.
"Now I'm a freak?!" Ford said angrily.
"That's not what I said." Jack said back in the same tone.
"COLONELS!" Hammond yelled before it got out of hand. "Enough gentlemen. Now how do we get our people back and get you home?"
"I don't know yet sir. I don't even know what triggered this." Carter said.
IN THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE...
"I'm the General, Major Carter!" Jack said forcefully. "Guard get Doctor Frasier up here immediately."
"Somehow I don't think we're in our universe anymore Major." Ford said skeptically.
"General O'Neill, this Ford has a Goa'uld." Teal'c said. Ford had his hands up quickly, even before Teal'c had finished.
"Whoa people, I'm not the enemy!" Ford said standing perfectly still. The fifty caliber's were swung in his direction instantly.
"He's fine sir! Ford's now a Tok'ra." Carter said putting an arm out in front of him as guns were aimed.
O'Neill thought a moment before speaking.
"Lets take this to the briefing room people." Jack said. "Guards, watch him."
Carter proceeded to tell them what transpired as they sat at the briefing room table.
"That almost sounds like what happened to me." Melissa said. "I lost my eye sight when I was very young, is that what your wondering?" she said turning to Ford. She was not in a good mood seeing as he kept looking at it.
"That, but mostly, it should be healed since you also have a symbiont in you. My..." he said with a chuckle. "This is weird, my Hercules is wondering what it would be like to talk to himself."
She stared at him a moment then removed her patch, "I can see again. This will take some getting used to." She blinked a few times and kept looking around like it was a new thing.
"That reminds me, is Jacob Carter here sir?" Ford asked.
"No, why would he be?" Jack asked.
"Well, Jacob was called when they found out I became blended." he said with a wave from his right hand. "I know the Tok'ra would want to talk to an old Tok'ra like they did with me. Besides if you don't call them and they find out, well..."
"He is right General O'Neill. The Tok'ra would be displeased if we didn't inform them." Teal'c said.
Jack nodded and had a guard dial up the Tok'ra planet. "Major Carter, tell me what happened from your point of view with the mission."
Carter explained everything that happened from arriving on the planet and leaving. Most of what she said where the rest of SG-1 was around almost was the same thing that happened with the exception of the things Ford did in her universe, Ford didn't do them here. No one did. Melissa ended up being the one that got kissed by the dying guy.
"With the exceptions of your Ford's exploits, everything is close to what I got from the others here. Interesting." General O'Neill said.
"Interesting? More like weird." Ford said. Seeing the bad look on the General's face, "Sorry sir."
"Any idea's on how to get things back to normal?" Jack said.
"I don't even know how we got here sir. The gate shimmered and then we walked through. I thought it was a bad idea going through but we went anyway." Carter said. "Neither of us a the GDO so we had to walk through."
"Just a guess, but did a solar flare or something dealing with the sun happen recently?" Ford said.
"That would account for the gates shimmering, that has happened before and would explain a great deal." Carter said as a soldier came in and told Jack that someone was here.
"No. Don't let him in here Jack."
"How did..."
"My hearing is greatly improved now and I heard what you were told. I don't want him in here."
"Who is it?" Carter asked.
"Maybourne." Ford said with a air of hate.
"I see what you mean." Sam said with a grimace.
"Why do you hate him so?" Jack asked.
"Sorry. I hate Maybourne and it depends on what he does. He pisses me off and then I have to leave, or shoot him. Sorry General, but where I'm from, Maybourne has, how shall I say, made many enemies in the SGC and well, many want to shoot him. Me mostly."
"I think you may be surprised. He has been a great asset to us."
"I got to stay and see this." Ford said in a gruff voice.
"Send him in." Jack said to the soldier. A few minutes passed and he walked in.
"Hello General. Colonel Ford." Maybourne said coming in, in a Colonel outfit. Seeing the bad look he was getting, "Something wrong?"
"Not really Colonel. This Ford is from another universe along with Major Carter. They've informed me that you are not very popular there." Jack said. Ford snorted showing his distaste.
"What did I do there?" he asked sitting near Jack.
"Ever heard the N.I.D.?" Carter said.
"Unfortunately yes." Daniel said.
"Well this...guy here was working for them. He...they nearly destroyed the SGC's reputation on several planets."
"I have not done any of that here. I helped get the objects stolen, back to their owners. The N.I.D. are still around but I'm not working for them or ever have." Maybourne said.
"Well this is a new development. Who is or was in charge?" Ford said livening up.
"Kinsey."
"That figures." Ford said looking disgusted. "Must be naturally evil no matter the universe."
IN THE NORMAL UNIVERSE...
"Well then Carter, you should be at your computer, doing whatever science things you do to get this problem straighten out." Jack said.
"The Colonel's right Major, but without the sarcasm." Hammond said. "As much as you could be to us, having two Colonels that are apparently the same people, in some senses, just isn't going to work."
"I agree General." Jack and Ford said in unison. They glared at each other a moment and dropped it just as quickly when Carter told them to grow up.
"Sorry." they said in unison again. This time they didn't look at each other.
"All right everyone, go find out what happened and figure out how to fix it. I've got some phone calls to make. Dismissed." Hammond said shaking his head.
As Hammond left Jack mentioned he was headed for the mess hall if anyone needed him.
"I could use a bite to eat. What about you Sam?" Ford said. "I'm looking forward to that Jello."
"Yeah, after that we can see what we can find out." Carter said.
In the mess hall...
Jack, Teal'c and Daniel were eating at a table and talking to Melissa. Ford and Carter came in talking personal things. Carter thought it was best that they sit at another table so they did.
"I wonder..." Daniel said.
He got up and went over and asked Ford a few questions, which he answered, somewhat reluctantly. Coming back he had a smile on his face.
"What?" Jack asked.
"I was wondering how close you and him are in other aspects." Daniel said.
"And?" Jack said.
"Well, for one thing you both love finishing. He also lost a son, hates yogurt, likes to fly." Daniel said. "Can't live without Jello."
"Great." Jack said dropping his fork and rubbing his face. "If they get stuck here permanently, I'm going to retire. I can't take being with another version of myself. Too creepy."
"It would complicate things O'Neill. Two Colonels can't be in charge of SG-1." Teal'c said.
"I know that Teal'c." Jack said sarcastically.
"I'd stay if you did Carter. That's assuming we don't get back." Ford said.
"I'm wondering how much I'm like the Carter that belongs here. What would my house look like? How do I act?"
"Considering your married in our universe and she isn't here that makes a big difference." Ford said.
"You're right. Many things would be different. Well I'm finished so lets go see my office first."
"Good idea, then we can see what we can find out about this other Carter."
"They're leaving." Daniel said.
"Let them go. They're probably going straight to Carter's office to figure things out. We can go look in on them later. Besides, they're not from this universe. Besides that, they're being watched in case they try something. And besides that, I'm hungry so I'm not moving." O'Neill said through a few bites.
"Fine. I'm going then." Daniel said.
"Suite yourself."
The other universe's Carter wasn't surprised that this universe's Carter kept her office just about the same. Pictures weren't hanging around like she had in her universe. Ford walked in behind her and took a moment to look around before commenting.
"I guess it doesn't really matter what lifestyle they have out of the job, if the job is the same, so is the office." Ford said rubbing his chin.
"What?" Carter said with loss before finally realizing what he meant. "I see what you mean. I'm surprised you paid enough attention to my scientific talks to come up with that conclusion."
"I try. At least a little better now." he said with a shrug.
"Anything I can help with?" Daniel said as he came in.
"Yeah, let's see if anything unusual has happened lately that could have caused this." Carter said.
"I'm going to go...do something." Ford said waving his hand in the air. Daniel almost laughed seeing him act like Jack. Ford walked away as he let them talk.
Surprisingly enough, Jack and Ford got along quite well when they decided to play the X-box to pass the time. They decided on Halo. They were doing a really lousy job since they couldn't cover each other's backs very well. They both didn't say anything, but it was evident that they were competing against each other. Halfway into the second level, Ford looked around seeing if anyone was with them.
"Hey Jack, I need to ask you a personal question."
"What?" he said as he kept playing.
"My Carter was wondering if you have a certain past like me."
O'Neill paused the game and looked at him funny.
"One name, Pete Thorton."
"Who?"
"You know, guy in charge of the Phoenix Foundation?"
O'Neill unfortunately was not expecting this sort of thing and it showed. He was about to open his mouth as say something against it, but didn't have a chance.
"Don't worry. I won't say anything about you, us, we…whatever…you know." Ford said looking around. "Before you say anything, even though we look different, I can tell we are the same person we gave up once. I bet you still carry that pocket knife and duct tape in your bag too."
"Knife? Yeah, I guess." O'Neill said slowly after a moment.
A couple of hours later, Carter and several others learned that it was a solar flare that caused the mix up and how to possibly get back. The solar flare didn't happen on Earth's sun though and since it happened on the other planet's suns, that caused problems. Presently they were back on Gia'as as Carter and other scientists worked on fixing things. Jack and Ford talked fish stories while they worked. Melissa stayed back at the SGC to learn a few things from Daniel.
IN THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE……………………………..
Ford was trying his best to help Carter think or a way to get back to their universe, along with the help of several other scientists and Daniel. Maybourne had a few idea's, but left seeing that his presence didn't help Ford any and seemed to agitate Carter some. It had been several hours and they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. The pictures that hung around the office didn't help much in some cases. Anyone else would swear it was them in the pictures.
"I can't figure out anything that could have caused it." Carter said in frustration.
"Did you see if a," he said stopping with a snort and small sarcastic laugh, "solar flare was the cause? They have caused trouble for the gate before." Ford said.
"Tried that. The sun hasn't had any activity that could have even come close." Carter said leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.
She rolled her head around a few times trying to work out the kinks. Ford came over, more subconsciously, and massaged her shoulders as he spoke.
"Wait a minute……we've been looking in the wrong place, the problem occurred on P," he started to say, "ah…I can't ever remember those numbers."
"You
mean Gia'as."
"Yeah, that's where we saw the gate shimmer
so it must be there that the problem…."
"You're right." Carter said sitting forward. "We have to go back there and then do our scans. That planets sun's could have caused all this."
"Let's go talk to the General then."
"You're positive that whatever caused this mix up happened on the other planet and not here?" General O'Neill asked.
"Yes sir. I've run test after test, and others I haven't tried before and came up with nothing. We saw the gate shimmer on Gia'as, so theoretically that's where we have to look for the solution."
"Alright then, since the planet is safe and the inhabitants are our allies. You and the rest of SG-1 have a go to go check it out. Contact me every two hours and take whatever you feel you need. Dismissed."
They suited up, as usual, got the equipment they needed, per Carter and General O'Neill orders, and went through the gate. SG-1 went through with Melissa along. Even though it was her planet, it was considered her first official mission. Things were going slowly. Very slowly. A few hours later, less than back at the SGC, Carter found out it was a solar flare that caused it.
"It was a solar flare, but we have a problem."
"Let me guess, no more flares." Daniel said.
"No." Carter said dejectedly. "I can't seem to predict the next solar flare because of the amount of flares, but most of them never come toward that planet. With two sun's it makes things very difficult."
"Daniel?" Ford said coming behind him.
"Yeah?"
"Is that cool universe jumping mirror at AREA 51 or inside the SGC? I think its called the Quantum Mirror, no that is what it's called. Yeah, anyway…." Ford said waving his right hand as he described what it looked like.
"Yeah, it's in AREA 51, but we really never figured out how it worked."
"Oh great. We need it, it's the only way home, and before you say anything Carter, no offense, I know it will work."
"How? There's an almost infinite combination of parallel universes out there. It could take minutes to forever." Carter said staring at him. "The idea is sound, but as I said, it could take forever."
"Ah, but I know this universe, or I should say, how things work somewhat." Ford said.
"What?" Carter and Daniel said together. Mel looked like she was trying to figure out what he was saying and still not getting it as did everyone else, but she more than them.
"Explain Mr. Primus." Teal'c said.
"I come from a universe where I've seen your missions and how things tend to go, like the fact you're constantly lucky, get my point."
"Yeah, I do now, but you can't believe that that would continue now that you're here, could you?" Carter said thinking.
"What has it been now, three escapes from the Goa'uld, with me being here. Trust me Carter, this has to work."
"Well it can't hurt to try. Theoretically, it's possible that we could find our universe and that the other versions of us are doing the same thing." Carter said. "Lets go home and get it."
Ford dialed the home address, for the first time, while Carter packed up a few things with the others. After the whoosh, Ford grabbed a few cases and followed behind.
"Something wrong Major?" General Jack asked as they came through.
"The sun's flares are too unpredictable to come up with a solution that would work. Back in our universe, we figured out how the Quantum Mirror worked."
"The what?" O'Neill asked.
"That strange mirror we never got working." Daniel said.
"Our Daniel went through it and saw what happened when a Goa'uld invasion conquered Earth. When he got back to our universe, we were able to prepare for their invasion. We had another encounter later…."
"Alright Major, I understand. If you believe this is the only way, then I'll have it taken from AREA 51 and transferred here."
"It was Ford's idea sir, but I agree with him." Carter said. General O'Neill noticed that she looked like she wanted to say or was going to say more but didn't, so he let it drop.
"Alright then Major. Dismissed." he said walking off.
"That was the easy part." Ford said.
"Did you think he would not have let us try Mr. Primus?" Teal'c asked.
"No, just feels like theirs going to be trouble with getting the Quantum Mirror. Something tells me it's not where it should be." Ford commented.
"Let's hope your wrong Ford." Carter said as they walked out of the gate room.
