GEMINE CITY

"But you're human!" Eli protested.

Jade laughed, "We can create livable planets and you don't think we can manage simple organic life?"

Eli blushed. Jade was very beautiful and now she was teasing him, it sent butterflies in his stomach, "I was only saying… Well that is, you're not… organic – and now you are I just thought…"

Jade saved him the embarrassment, "We are still crystal," reaching up she began to unzip her shirt careful to keep the top pinched together, she knew the reaction that sight would leave on the men despite being an alien. The men stared in surprise, what was she doing? Once the opening reached her belly their mouths opened again in surprise. At first it was soft pale skin but when she flexed her stomach muscles it became a transparent material, showing a small cluster of crystals inside her.

"We used the human Genome too create these organic shells controlled by our crystal," Sapphire explained, "If we were to talk with you we would need them. It's unfortunate that our true selves don't have the capabilities to form your language or we would have contacted you long ago."

Rush stepped forward to Jade, "May I?" he asked pointing to her flexed belly, she nodded. Gently touching the clear surface he smiled, "Warm… pliable like skin… Slightly charged with electricity, you can feel it spark now and again! This is fantastic! This is far beyond me… Can you tell me how it works?"

"No," Jade said with conviction and zipped up her shirt, "We do not share our technology with younger races. It would cripple you."

"Cripple?" Eli asked, "How would knowledge cripple us?"

Jade smiled sweetly, "Knowledge beyond you would cripple you, it would force you to depend on something other than your own brains and achievement."

Eli nodded then, understanding. Sapphire stepped forward to the image wall before any more questions could be asked, "Now," pointing at the wall it formed into a picture of Destiny floating in space, "Here is your ship. The Gemine have removed the alien parts and restored it to-"

Jutoi jumped to her feet, "You removed the Antolian technology?" her tail twitched unhappily.

"Yes," Sapphire sighed, "You are beyond them at the moment. When you teach them as we taught you, and they understand… then you may give them the technologies you possess."

The crew looked like they were about to protest so Sapphire continued loudly, focusing their attention elsewhere, "You'll be happy to note… We did repair the ship to its former glory. It is as it was when it was first built. Excepting the information on the ships system of course… All the planets you have visited are still there."

"Isn't it beyond them?" Terru grumbled.

Sapphire rolled his eyes in frustration, "It is Ancient technology, it is their own people… our morals do not allow us to interfere with the discovery of their history."

"So let me get this straight," Greer asked, making sure his voice showed as little aggression as possible, "You saved us from the Ori to take away the Antolian technology and repair our ship… only to send us back to the Ori woman on our little journey without a crew?"

Jade folded her arms, "He's got a point Sapphire…" Sapphire glared at her, "I'm only saying sir… With their human crew gone, no matter how well repaired the ship is, it will not help. They will die, and we will be the ones who killed them."

"They are resourceful…" Sapphire defended.

Jade shook her head, "No… they are lucky," she turned to Greer for a moment then back to Sapphire, "Our moral code does not deny me the right to run their ship. I can be a part of the crew and teach them."

Sapphire's face seemed about to explode from held in frustration.

"I am joining the Destiny crew. You said so yourself only this morning to the council, 'they have high potential, if only they had the right teacher'."

Sapphire's nostrils flared. Thoughts raced in his head of how this conflicted with the moral code. But, as his thoughts raced he found Jade to be right… Although it skirted the line, it never crossed the code. She had successfully bent the rule to her whim. Sapphire sighed. So be it.

Jade smiled, seeing the defeat in his eyes, "It is settled then. We will leave when they are ready," before anyone else could protest she left the room smiling proudly to herself.

Somehow, Young thought, I think she planned that.

DESTINY

"All systems are clear," Jutoi said, not looking at Young.

"Then set her back on course…"

"Are we really leaving sir?" Scott asked.

"We have no choice…"

"We could trick them like Jade did," Greer said in a low voice, standing beside Young in his chair.

"Then we'd make enemies. I'm not willing to do that, especially when they're so far beyond us."

Jutoi exaggerated a sigh, "When you hens are finished gossiping, I could use some help on the sensor console."

Terru laughed, "But, mother!" he whined and sat down to the indicated monitor, "Look, not even a planet nearby! We're fine. Once we get back on course you can go take a much needed shower and muss up that disgusting mug of yours!"

Jutoi jumped over her console to lash out at him, grabbing his arm and briefly wrestling with him before shoving him back in the seat, "I'll show you who's ugly," she muttered with a smile.

"Auto-pilot set sir," Eli announced turning in his chair.

"So what do we do now?" Scott asked.

"We continue the mission," Rush folded his arms across his chest, "We learn about the universe and we try to find a way home."

Jade who was silent the entire time cleared her throat, every one turned their attention to her, "May I ask… why try to find a way home?"

Scott scoffed, "Why?" he shook his head, "I guess it's hard for you to understand. You can blink home anytime you want, but we're a long way out and we can't blink back… So we're a little home-sick," his tone was harsh and Young made a note to question him later, but Jade seemed unperturbed.

"Of course…" she smiled sadly, "I'm sorry I totally forgot that you were not from here."

How could she forget? Young questioned to himself.

The Gemine see the universe differently Colonel Young, Jutoi mentally answered. Young had been slacking on his exercises and his thoughts were breaking through more often. This would be a problem if they were to pass by Azul.

So she's spacey? No pun intended.

Jutoi chuckled, Yes, in a sense. The universe and all its galaxies are one whole to them, so naturally some concepts are harder for them to understand… for example distance. The Antolians had a particularly hard time getting used to their concept of privacy. To them privacy is everything. To us, it does not exist. For you, distance is everything. For them, distance does not exist. This will be a learning experience for us all I'm sure. She purposefully looked at Jade who was carrying on a conversation with Eli and Rush about Faster-than-light travel.

Young nodded examining Jade for a moment as well before standing, "I believe it's about time that I contact home base. They'll want to know we're alive. In the meantime… Rush, Eli. I want you to do what you can, and see how well this ship is running. And I want to know what it can do. If we're going to continue on our way I'm sure we'll meet Irene again and I want to be prepared."

They nodded, Jutoi stood. If it is alright with you, I would like to visit as well. I want to know if my men are being treated well. Young agreed and they left.

EARTH

O'Neill sighed looking down at the pile of paperwork. Five good men lost to another Ori ship, just when life was getting easy the Ori returned! Brody assured him that the woman Irene didn't, or couldn't, travel to earth yet, but that didn't mean she couldn't in the future… Just another future headache on the table, was all it was.

He'd finally gotten down to filling paperwork when someone came rushing into his office. He'd learned not to expect the worst every time this happened. Just one too many times a scientist called a false alarm. So O'Neill calmly lifted his head, the sergeant was out of breath, he had run the entire way here… form where?

"Sir…" the sergeant took a moment to breathe again, "It's the communication stones… Young is alive!"

BRIEFING ROOM

"How the hell did you survive?"

"Nice to see you too Telford," Young laughed. Telford rushed forward pulling Young into a bear hug. Jutoi, or rather private Chin, stood a distance away, against the window to the gate room hoping to see one of her crew.

"We thought you were dead! We tried the communication stones a hundred times, we even used a stolen ZPM to try and dial the gate! Nothing… What happened?"

"Let's wait for Colonel Young before I explain… It's a long story. So first, tell me… how's my crew?"

"They got here safe and sound Everett… You got them home."

Young felt a swell of pride rise in his chest. He'd done what he set out to do, they were safe… with the help of the Antolians.

"And the Antolians?" Jutoi asked.

Telford looked confused, then turned to Young, questioning.

"Jutoi wanted to see her crew."

Understanding dawned and Telford nodded, "I'll make sure you see them as soon as possible."

O'Neill entered the room then, Young and Telford saluted and O'Neill waved their arms down, "Dead men don't salute Colonel…"

Young smiled, "It's a good thing I'm not dead then, is it?"

It took a long time to explain everything. Jutoi became bored very quickly and looked back to the gate room. If she was in her Antolian body she could call out to her crew and know they were safe… She was beginning to think of this human body as a prison. How does the Gemine Jade stand it? Her attention wavered between the conversation and her own thoughts.

"They have a moral code that doesn't allow them to share technology so there was nothing we could do. However, a young Gemine, Jade, found a loop hole and is part of the crew now."

"She's not part of the crew… She's a judge…" Jutoi interrupted.

O'Neill raised an eyebrow, Telford and Young focused on her, "What do you mean?" Telford asked.

"The Gemine, are not as peaceful and trusting as you would think. Not at first… She is there for two reasons, as they traveled with the Antolians in our first years of contact for two reasons. One: she is testing your race as a whole. They cannot summarize your species into one thought as my race can and so she reviews the actions of each member to gain understanding…"

Young scoffed, he knew Jade got away with bending the rules a bit too easily.

"Second," Jutoi continued, "She is to test your learning capabilities. They will not ally themselves with you if you do not present some advancement. They will not meddle in the affairs of younger races, and if you are even too young to learn, then you are nothing to them." Jutoi linked her arms behind her back, "It is nothing personal. They do this because they have been… 'burned' in the past," she unlinked her arms and placed them on the table. "Now… may I see my crew?"

BARRACKS

It was strange to be looking up at her people. She hugged them firmly glad that they were unharmed. Even Yuti had agreed to physical therapy and was walking with the use of specialized crutches. Her people were being treated well. Ango taught the scientists daily, and learned from them as well. At the moment he was telling Jutoi of a city they called "Atlantis".

"It is a race of people who died out long ago…"

"Yeah, but here's the cool part," Golk interrupted, "These Ancients were actually human!"

"I know that…" all too well, she thought of Irene, "The Gemine explained briefly to me and Terru."

Golk looked disappointed that the information wasn't new to Jutoi, "Well it's really cool… If we can prove our loyalty to the Stargate Program they are willing to let us see it..." there was a pause as Golk looked to Ango who simply shrugged, oh how Jutoi wished she was linked with them once more! "And Yuti's practically jumping to get a chance to go there. She thinks… Well she thinks there might be a way to mend her back in the ancient database."

"They're that advanced?" Jutoi was surprised.

"Well Yuti seems to think so," Ango stated. Yuti was still in the hospital at the moment and Jutoi sighed, before she left for Destiny she would be sure to see her and comfort her.

"I am sorry you are out here… I should be with you," Jutoi dropped her head, "It must be so lonely without the collective…"

Ango shook his head and placed a hand on Jutoi's shoulder. His silent comfort made caused Jutoi's head to lift slightly. Golk spoke, "It's not so bad when we've got each other… And besides… You'll find a way for us to get home!" he said with confidence. Jutoi wished she had as much confidence as he and smiled.

"I'll take Ango and Yuti home but I think the collective would be better off without your big head," she teased, then hugged each Antolian one last time before leaving.