Happy New Year everyone from my corner in the UK!
I can only apologize for breaking my promise to you all in trying to get this chapter out sooner. First, I had the Christmas rush to get through, then the day that I had set aside to actually publish this chapter out to you all, the website crashed spectacularly in that I could look around but not log in or respond to reviews. It was very annoying, but now I've logged in and I want you all to read this before anything else goes crazy!
Standard Disclaimer is standard. Anyone you don't recognise or research as belonging to MGM and the Stargate franchise is mine. Though, I do admit, finding a way to get Ronon Dex and/or John Sheppard to my place is high on my list of priorities.
I wish to remind people that there is an ongoing poll on who everyone thinks Camilla should get together with. If you go and click my penname at the top of this page, the poll is right at the top of my bio, so have a vote and I'll take a look. While I have promised at least one pairing to a reader, I will take all comments/poll votes seriously and consider how to work in a relationship – a friendship at the least – into the story.
I do want to thank those of you who have either voted on my page or through your reviews; to say the least, it's very interesting to see where everyone's opinions lie.
Chapter 11: Before I Sleep, I Need To Tell You Something…
Practically three weeks to the day that Chaya arrived and also abrupty left, found Camilla Carter in her comparatively small office, the Tok'ra having taken up almost permanent residence in the office. Following Sheppard's attempt at a reprimand, she had kept to herself, staying away from the others as she dealt with the tasks dealt to her as head of a newly formed department. Her brother had been the only constant visitor outside of the hours she slowly and patiently trained the new members of the newly created Translation Department.
Outside of the visits from Martouf and Lantash, both Camilla and Kel'an had outlined a fast track course for those in the department to teach them all comprehensive, useful Ancient while also allowing them to translate various texts being sent to the Tok'ra every day. The work had been delegated between the eleven other members in the department while Camilla had started to keep a highly unorthodox sleeping and working pattern.
That was all the other, leading, members of the expedition had been able to learn about the Tok'ra as she worked, the majority of them surprisingly not wanting to push the woman's anger levels too much further.
Inside her office, Cam sighed as she sat back in her seat, looking at the translation in front of her, grateful that the last one she was working on for the morning was relatively easy. She took a contemplative sip of warm coffee from the metal cup, her right hand absently twirling the stylus for the datapad she was working on, knowing that her own people had the day off considering it was a 'Saturday' as well as the fact that she had ordered her department to take the day off to just relax, a break from all the lessons they were enduring.
You really should work them harder, kid, Kel'an muttered. We don't have the time to pamper them.
Cam rolled her eyes at that, twirling her stylus as she translated one of the many texts that had come in the day before. Yeah, she answer. I do that and there'll be a revolt and the entire department will be broken down back into the pieces it was before I asked Elizabeth for help.
Her symbiote chuckled mirthlessly in her mind. Go ahead then, kid, she said. I won't argue against your logic.
Rolling her eyes again, Cam barely had time to think of a retort before she started slightly at the chime coming from the door to the room. The Tok'ra hadn't locked it, knowing at least one person would want to come in for some extra work, and she wondered who was being cautious at the door. "Come in," she called.
Cam watched as the door slid open with another chime, revealing Sheppard and the woman found herself tensing, moving to return her attention to the translation, fully intent on looking like she was busier than she was to get him out.
"I've got work, Major," she told him tersely.
The man snorted as he walked over, moving carefully around the various tables from the slow pace of his shoes on the hard floor. "You gave all your people the day off," he said. "You can take a few minutes."
The woman sighed at his logic, nodding as she put the stylus down and turned to face the man that had moved a lot closer, almost standing beside her. As was usual for him when he was staying in the city and not going off on a mission, he still wore base uniform without the tac-vest but a thigh holster with a hand gun at the ready.
She leaned back in her seat, watching as the man drew one up, moving carefully as he held a bag in his left hand. "What can I do for you, Major?" she asked politely, sipping her coffee quietly.
He shrugged. "Call me John," he said, bringing an eyebrow arch from the woman. "Humour me. Please?"
Cam nodded once at that. "What can I do for you, John?" she asked.
The man grinned at her before he reached for the bag, rooting around inside it for a moment. "I still don't agree with what you and Rodney did," he began, "but I'm sorry for my part of it." He drew out an object wrapped loosely in a dark cloth. "This is my apology to you, as well as a birthday gift – late as it is. I didn't find out until recently."
Cam took it when he held it out to her, frowning at the mention of her birthday – she was going to ignore his first comment for now. "My birthday was close to nine months ago. Technically, it's not for another three and a half," she said, looking at him as she unconsciously crossed her legs. "How did you find out?"
John's grin was unrepentant as he nodded to the gift. "I was on the mainland a few days ago and got this from the Athosians," he told her. "They were happy to make it for me when I asked."
The Tok'ra looked at him for a moment longer before she set her coffee down and took the gift in both hands. She held it for a moment before she carefully unwrapped it, lifting and pulling down one folded corner of cloth, repeating that for all the others she came across until she was looking at her gift in its entirety.
Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the Egyptian-style jar that was in her hands. It look much like the jars used in the Egyptian tradition of mummifying the human body, but instead of the Anubis dog head as Cam knew was traditional, it was a simple clay lid that covered it. It was a lovely balance – even with the Egyptian hieroglyphs painstaking etched into the surface – of the old and the new and Cam loved it as she traced the words with a small smile.
She could easily read the old Egyptian words for friend, traveller and family and it touched her heart. She felt her sensitive fingertips easily discerning the depth of the words, feeling the halting gestures used that told her someone who wasn't used to writing in the old language had made an effort.
"…So?" John asked quietly.
The woman looked up at him, startled, but still smiling. "I love it," she told him. "Thank you!"
Cam saw his answering grin. "Well, I did have to finish a bit of it when the Athosians didn't understand," he said before he looked at her, tilting his head slightly. "You want to join me on an excursion out into the city?"
A-A-A-A-A-A
John sighed as he walked through the dim Ancient corridors. He, Ford, Teyla and Camilla had worked their way through the residential section of the city he'd decided to go through. Rodney was back up in the City, keeping watch from the new bio-metric scanner, calibrating the new system.
Camilla had seen some Ancient text early on in the excursion, pausing long enough to translate it and let them know where they were. That had been an hour ago and they had just finished.
John tapped his radio and heard it buzz to life. "Alright," he said, hefting his P-90 calmly. "We're done with the living quarters. Moving on."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rodney called over the radio as John calmly walked down the corridor. "Before you go, you see anything better than our current quarters?"
John sighed. "A few," he answered. "Some of them are pretty nice actually."
"Well, what kind of square footage as we talking about?" the scientist asked.
John paused for a moment before he shook his head, frowning. "What am I, your realtor, Rodney?!" he asked, slightly amused. "We're here to unlock the secrets of Atlantis."
"Fine then, I'll ask Cam then," the man responded. "Cam? How are things looking there?"
John heard the woman snort as she shone her torch around the corridor, her eyes flicking from one feature to the next, taking in all the sights as they walked, using her Staff Weapon to lean against as she walked. "Atlantis, Rodney," she reminded him. "But, admittedly, some good spots here. Why? What you looking for specifically?"
John looked at her. "Whatever for?" he asked her.
"I can keep an eye out, let Elizabeth know so she can take it first," the Tok'ra responded, grinning.
"Oh, well…" the scientist stuttered. "I'm looking for a one-bedroom with a den, preferably with a balcony, but I'm not married to it."
John heard the man rambling on as he saw Ford standing at a doorway, peering inside. "Sir!" he called. "Check this out."
"Shut up Rodney!" Camilla ordered as they moved to join him, running as Teyla came up behind them.
John peered inside the dark room and nodded once at Ford, the two men going inside first, the lights activating the moment the pilot set foot inside.
"What?" Rodney asked. "What is it?"
"Some sort of laboratory," Teyla answered.
Rodney scoffed for a moment. "We've come across dozens of those," he said. "The city's full of them. Something unusual about this one?"
John walked towards a console past a flat surface in the middle of the room, ignoring the consoles all around the edge of it. The console he was focused on was small, just past the end of the fat table, looking rather innocuous. More lights came on as he waved his hand over it and John watched as an upright capsule at the end of the room suddenly lit itself up, revealing a woman inside.
She wore a long white dress and the woman herself appeared to be elderly from the way her face appeared to be wrinkled.
"I'd have to say," John began, "yes."
"Rodney," Camilla spoke firmly. "Alert Dr. Weir and Dr. Beckett, I have a feeling we're going to need them down here."
"Oh," John added. "Might as well bring yourself down here as well."
A-A-A-A-A-A
Cam sighed as she ran a hand through her long hair, the length quickly becoming unmanageable for her. "How is the translation coming?" she heard John ask her as he walked over.
The Tok'ra sighed again and gestured at the datapad plugged into the Ancient machine. "Slowly," she answered. "I'm not getting much from the small datapad. If Rodney's bringing his laptop, I can get more information then."
"Limited access?" he asked.
She shrugged a shoulder at that. "I can better, easier access through a laptop than a datapad," she answered, running a hand absently through her hair as she started translating the small amount of Ancient she had managed to get on the screen. "But, what I have got is that this lab here is a stasis room. Much like the one we found back on Earth."
"On Earth?" she heard Ford ask.
She turned, rolling her eyes. "The then 'Colonel' O'Neill, as well as myself, took the Ancient knowledge into our minds," she began, remembering the second time her head had been grabbed, "after several long hours, one day-long trip to an old Ancient outpost in the Milky Way galaxy, we came back to Earth, found the Ancient tower in the ice."
John frowned as she continued on. "The Ancient knowledge re-writes the human brain," he began, interrupting her quietly. "General O'Neill didn't have any way of stopping it, so he put himself into the stasis chamber by the chair."
Cam smiled slightly, nodding. "Yes," she answered. "The knowledge was removed by the Asgard."
"Why didn't they take it out of you, ma'am?" Ford asked.
Cam chuckled at that, leaning back in her seat. "The woman I had grown to be would have disappeared, Lieutenant," she answered. "Because of Kel'an, the knowledge's expansionist deigns on my brain have been kept at bay, but it has also forged what I am. If the knowledge were to be removed now, I wouldn't remember anything of the last eight years."
She saw both men and Teyla start at that, even as she returned her attention to the limited Ancient she could see and began to mouth the words unconsciously, her mind automatically beginning the translation process. It was roughly then that Elizabeth, Rodney and Carson decided to walk in.
Cam didn't move, but took the laptop that Rodney carried in with him, ignoring what he said to her as she plugged it in and worked on copying the data and began the slow process of translating the text.
"Well," Rodney said, his voice interrupting her translation minutes later. "We could stand here looking at her all day. What we've got to do is get her out of this box."
"Rodney, we can nae take the chance!" Carson complained. "Look at her, she's at least a hundred years old."
"Which is why every single second counts!" the scientist returned. "I mean, she could drop dead while we stand here arguing."
"How could she drop dead?" John asked. "You said she was frozen."
"Metabolic stasis," Cam told him, not looking up from her work as she frowned, looking at the words in front of her. "Ageing process is slowed considerably, but not suspended. Technically frozen, it's just without the cold."
"You are saying this woman is still alive?" Teyla asked.
"Yes," Rodney, Carson and Cam commented at the same time before Cam winced.
I did not need to think of the three of you as close relatives, Kel' complained in her mind. You all certainly sounded like brothers and sister! Certainly unwilling from your own memories if I am correct.
Cam winced at that. Thanks, Kel', she muttered. I needed that image just as much as you did.
Her closest friend grinned, unrepentant, in her mind. You're welcome!
"Lifesigns systems indicate viability," Rodney continued.
Cam nodded at that, looking at the data on screen. "According to this, it says she first went in ten thousand years ago," she told them before frowning. "Came out on two separate occasions, three point three thousand years apart, from what I can tell."
"Ten thousand years?" she heard Ford exclaim, stuck on the first part of her words.
"Doesn't look a day over nine thousand," John commented.
"She'll continue to age at a very slow rate until she dies," Rodney said calmly, "which, judging by the look of her, seems more likely to occur sooner rather than later – which brings me back to my original point."
Carson sighed. "Look at her," he said. "She's so old I'm afraid the process of reviving here migh' actually kill her."
"We cannot let this chance to talk to a living, breathing Ancient slip through our fingers," Rodney argued. "Again."
Cam didn't need to see the Canadian to know he was throwing John a sour look, a look that the pilot would easily return. "And who knows what state of mind she'll be in?" Carson returned. "Not to mention the fact that she might be carrying some horrifying contagion."
"And who knows what she knows about our city?" Rodney threw at him. "More importantly, does she know about any Zed.P.M.s lying around?"
John hummed at that. "Ah," he said. "There's a thought."
A few seconds passed in relative silence. "Revive her," Elizabeth ordered.
"But…" Carson began.
"It's my call," the head of the expedition told him.
Cam heard Rodney walk over to her, joining her in looking at the screen. "Anything?" he asked.
The Tok'ra nodded as she pointed to a series of Ancient commands. "I can wake her up," she said. "It'll take some careful coding, but I can."
"Can you get it ready in an hour lass?" Carson asked her, stepping over to join them.
Cam nodded after a moment and began to work, typing in the commands. "Just tell me when," she said, "and I'll have it ready and waiting."
A-A-A-A-A-A
Rodney nodded at Camilla when he was sure that Carson had everything he needed to deal with the 'frozen' Ancient. The Tok'ra nodded in return and tapped a key on the laptop and Rodney turned his head to look at the stasis chamber, watching as the 'ice' disappeared from view and he moved with Carson to catch her as she began to fall.
"Easy," the Scot muttered. "Easy. Let's get her to the table Rodney."
The two of them moved quickly, John and Ford moving to help them lift her up onto the bed. Rodney glanced at Camilla, watching as she nodded at some information on the screen before she relaxed and shut the laptop down, closing the lid and unplugging it from the Ancient technology in seconds.
"Breathing shallow," Carson reported after a few seconds. "Pulse rapid." He sighed. "I'll run an EGG to determine any brain activity."
Camilla walked over then, holding the laptop firmly in one hand, cables wrapped carefully around her left shoulder to keep them out of the way. "What's in her hand?" the woman asked, nodding at the old woman between them.
Rodney looked down and saw something inside the Ancient's clenched hand. He moved carefully, gently slipping it out from her hand, frowning as he realised it was a slip of crumpled paper and he carefully unfolded it, well aware that the others were watching him.
"It's Gate addresses," he answered after a moment, recognising the symbols and the order of them. "Five of them. Actually, one's M7G-677 – we've already been to this planet."
If these were what he thought they were, then they were in luck!
A-A-A-A-A-A
With the familiar weight of the laptop in one hand, Cam froze at the sight of the woman's eyes opening slowly. "Uh, guys?" she asked, pointing calmly at the Ancient.
"Hello?" Elizabeth asked. "Can you hear me?"
The Ancient didn't respond and didn't seem to react. "Yeah," Rodney muttered. "That's what I was afraid of." He moved to wave his hand in front of the woman's open eyes. "Freezer burn."
Cam rolled her eyes. "I thought she wasn't frozen?" Ford asked.
"Ten thousand years," Carson muttered, "D'y' expect her t' dance a bloody jig?!"
"It's all in the eyes, Carson," Rodney said. "You look at the eyes."
Cam snorted. "And hers are focusing on your hand, Rodney," she told him, her trained eyes easily seeing the slight movement of the eyes of the Ancient.
Rodney saw it a moment later as she turned her head slightly to look at him and the scientist froze, jumping slightly in surprise.
"Oh course she can see us," Elizabeth said, smiling slightly, even as the woman's head moved to look at her. "And hear us. Hello. How are you feeling?"
The woman tried to smile weakly and Cam realised then that there was a window in the room, looking out on the city where the sky was visible on one of the many sunny days that the City had. "It…worked," the woman managed.
A-A-A-A-A-A
It was late that day, hours after lunch that Cam was called to the briefing room. She made it to the room after the meeting had started and she heard two words that had her pause for a second in the doors.
"Time travel?"
Ford; the lieutenant, as wise as he was about war and fighting, the 'boy' had no idea about everything that the Stargate programme had offered humanity.
"That's what she said," Elizabeth told him. "She somehow found a way to travel back in time to when the Ancients inhabited the city."
"How did she do this?" Teyla asked as Cam moved slowly into the room.
The Tok'ra sat heavily then, sighing. "Has she told you, Elizabeth?" she asked.
The woman shook her head. "It's one of the first questions that I will ask when she wakes up again," she answered. "Why?"
Cam shook her head, absently running a hand through her hair. "Well, let's not be too quick to exclude the possibility that the woman might be…umm…" Rodney hummed. "What is the clinical term? Nuts."
Elizabeth snorted and shook her head. "She may be senile, yes, but that doesn't explain that she knows so much about all of us," she said.
"Is time travel even possible?" Ford asked.
"Well," Rodney began, "according to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, there's nothing in the laws of physics to prevent it. Extremely difficult to achieve, mind you - you need the technology to manipulate black holes to create wormholes not only through points in space but time."
Cam shook her head at that. "If it's accidental travel, then it doesn't have to manipulate time, Rodney," she told him. "The Stargates don't affect time, at all, unless a solar flare is involved."
Teyla frowned while Rodney once in grudging agreement. "I'm sorry?" she asked. "I do not understand."
Rodney and Cam shared a look before the scientist nodded and gestured at the Tok'ra. "In the second year of the Stargate Programme on Earth," she began quietly, "SG-1 was sent on a mission to one world. There was a flare of solar energy from our sun at the same moment we went through the Gate. Instead of going to the planet, we were sent back in time by close to forty years and we had the task of getting back to the time we had left." She sighed, shaking her head as she leaned back in her seat. "We had six days, a Stargate, two car batteries and three solar flares to travel back through time."
"So what you really need is a really nice DeLorean?" John asked.
Rodney rolled his eyes. "Don't even get me started on that movie!" he said.
John looked at him. "I liked that movie!" he responded.
Cam looked up as Carson hurried into the room, clutching a tablet close to him as he stopped at the doorway. "The results of the DNA test," he said hurriedly as he looked at them. "It's a match." Carson looked at Elizabeth as he walked over and handed her the tablet. "She is you."
A-A-A-A-A-A
Elizabeth looked down at her older self, the woman lying asleep in the medical bed, seeing the cameras that recorded her every move, every gesture. The woman had been in stasis for ten thousand years, released only every few to do something to the City. She heard the doors to the private room hiss open and someone walk in, the footsteps sounding far too loud for who she thought it might be.
"I've just spent the last hour talking to Rodney," Camilla told her, moving up behind her. "We've spent that time going over the computers in the chamber, Elizabeth, all because the Canadian had one question: why didn't the City try and wake her up when we first got here?"
Elizabeth hummed, not looking at the Tok'ra. "I was wondering," she admitted.
"Well, the City did," the younger woman said. "Rodney correlated the respective data and it appears that the City tried to do just that." It was then that Elizabeth tore her gaze from the older version of her in the medical bed. "Rodney said that the first thing we noticed upon our arrival was a sudden spike of energy in the stasis chamber's lab. The City was trying to revive her as best it could when we didn't know that. Rodney shut everything down, seeing the spike as a drain on the ZPM, instead he almost killed her… You…" The Tok'ra shook her head. "Okay, I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. How weird is that?"
Elizabeth chuckled softly, nodding. "Very, very weird," she agreed. "Looking at yourself, how you will be."
Camilla shook her head and moved to her side slightly, moving so that the older woman could see her better, even as she bowed her head, her eyes closed. "Elizabeth, you will look very different from how she appears now," Kel'an told her, lifting her head to look at the head of the expedition.
Elizabeth would never admit it, but speaking with Kel'an always left her feeling like a child, like she had always done something wrong despite being older than the host. She doubted Kel'an meant to, but it was an unconscious act the symbiote used as she spoke to others.
"The moment she went back in time, Elizabeth, she created a new, separate timeline and reality," Kel'an continued calmly. "In that separate reality, she exists. Well, that is according to human theories on quantum physics." The Tok'ra chuckled then and Elizabeth frowned.
"What's so funny?" she asked the Tok'ra.
Kel'an shook her head, waving her left hand slightly. "More entertaining than anything, Elizabeth," the Tok'ra answered. "Rodney explained one of the many theories of the universe humans hold: that the universe itself is made up of an infinite number of copies of itself where every possible decision to every outcome has been made exists somewhere out in the infinitely layered multi-verse."
Elizabeth chuckled at that, amused. "Simply put," she commented.
Kel'an chuckled again. "Indeed," she said. "Though I believe Rodney's description would have lasted longer."
The leader of the expedition smiled and nodded in agreement, even as the older version of herself roused in the medical bed. "Elizabeth?" she rasped out, her voice old.
Elizabeth nodded and stepped closer.
"There's so much to tell you," Weir said. "The note… I had a note."
Kel'an nodded and stepped closer herself, bowing her head politely. "We found your note," she said politely.
Weir nodded and Elizabeth sighed. "You want to hear about what happened?" she asked and Elizabeth nodded slightly. "There was an accident," Weir began. "I remember we arrived through the Stargate. The lights came on by themselves, sensing our presence. The city slowly awoke. But as we explored, power only worked in the air and in the lights. Nothing else."
Elizabeth frowned, an expression that was mirrored by the Tok'ra standing beside her. "Forgive me ma'am," she said. "But that is not what happened. Everything came online when we arrive. Reports indicated that lights, computer, power control systems, everything came online. Even Rodney was able to access the database immediately."
Weir shook her head. "That's not what happened," she said tiredly. "Not the first time."
Elizabeth watched as her older counterpart fell asleep, her head falling carefully to one side.
A-A-A-A-A-A
Cam rolled her shoulders as she waited in the conference room a short hour later, three datapads lying on the small section of the table she allowed herself. Once more, she found herself struggling to keep on top of the translations that so many required throughout the city.
Her only comfort was that Rodney was close by to receive his 'important' translations and leave her to work on the rest. In the few short hours she had been awake, more had come in from around the city where she knew various members were exploring for the day. Tiredly, Cam ran a hand through her hair, brushing the worst strands back before she returned to her work, hearing the others walk in, including her brother as he sat down on her right.
"I see you have been busy," Martouf commented quietly.
Cam rolled her eyes and scratched out an incorrect translation, quickly replacing it with a clearer one and sent it off to Rodney's datapad along with another three. "I'm head of a new department, Marty," she said quietly as John sat down near her. "Being busy is part of the job description."
"Incompetence?" she heard the pilot on her left ask as she paused, once again twirling her stylus absently.
Cam looked up at him, leaning back in the chair and shook her head tiredly. "Just some of the people in the department are still new to translating." She shook her head and once again ran a hand through her hair. "If I'm asleep before 13 at night tonight, I will be surprised."
John and Martouf frowned. "How bad?" the former asked.
The female Tok'ra host gestured to the Ancient she had been working on. "Have a go," she told the pilot. "Even you should be able to get a basic gist down – the letters at the very least!"
She wordlessly handed the man the stylus she had been twirling and turned her attention to another, thankfully simple, translation. In the short time it took for her to read the text and begin to analyse it, John had returned the datapad and stylus to her, sliding it along the table to her.
Cam paused and picked up the tablet, leaning back in her seat to read the rough Ancient words – written in English – that had been written carefully and with forethought. She grinned at the fact it wasn't rough, rather it was more detailed than that and she looked at John.
"Ever considered joining the translations department?" she asked him. "You've done far better than any of the people I've taught."
She saw the light flush as the pilot shrugged. "I prefer flying," he answered. "Languages were never really my strong suit."
Cam chuckled at that, even as she felt Kel' nudge gently at her mind. "One moment," she said.
She sat up and bowed her head, letting her oldest friend take control. Kel'an lifted her head after a moment, rolling her shoulders with a relieved sigh.
"Languages may not be your 'strong suit', Major," she said. "But you are eminently better than some of the expedition members my host has tried to educate in these past few weeks."
At the sound of wheelchair on the move, everyone, including Rodney looked to the entrance and Kel'an smiled at the sight of the elder Elizabeth being escorted in by both Carson and Elizabeth, the younger. Kel'an took a moment to notice that Teyla, Ford and Rodney had taken seats.
"Seeing the city like this, sitting on the surface of the ocean," Weir said, unconsciously smoothing the blanket over lap. "You can't imagine how relieved I am."
"What are you saying?" Rodney asked as he stood and moved around the table, closer to the woman. "The city didn't rise the first time round?"
Weir shook her head. "No, no," she answered. "The city was in serious trouble the very moment we arrived." She sighed, taking a breath and Kel'an noticed that her slightly clouded eyes easily fell to rest on each and everyone one of them. "We managed to get power to the consoles and Colonel Sumner asked that Major Sheppard and I join him in looking out over the city, to see that it was underwater." Weir shook her head. "Parts of the city were already flooding, the shields failing. Rodney tried everything he could, but one of Sumner's teams had requested his presence. When I tried to call him back, the shield failed where he was and he didn't manage to get out of the area before…"
Kel'an felt her face fall. "Colonel Sumner drowned?" she asked.
Weir nodded and Kel'an could not help the muttered curse under her breath, scrubbing at her face. Somehow it seemed a worse fate than what the Wraith had done to the man.
"And he wasn't the only one to perish," Weir continued sadly. "Major Sheppard suggested that we evacuate through the Stargate – we couldn't, there wasn't enough power. Too much of it was being drained by the shield and our arrival. I had been told of a bay of spaceships and I told Major Sheppard as much. He went to check the bay out while I dealt with the people in the control room, hoping that I could somehow help."
Kel'an looked at the woman, tilting her head. "And what of us, of my host, my brother Tok'ra?" she asked gently.
Weir looked at them both, tears already forming in her eyes. "Martouf had gone down into the tower to search," she answered. "He did not go as far as Colonel Sumner, but the shields failed only a few minutes after Sumner died." She looked apologetically at the Tok'ra. "Martouf, host to Lantash, drowned as he struggled to get the group of men following him to safety. Kel'an, you and Camilla were with me, struggling to help Rodney and Grodin in the control room when you heard about your brother."
Kel'an stood shakily and moved to the nearest window, looking out on the water as she held herself. "Please, ma'am," she said stiffly, trying to control Camilla's emotions that surged through her at the thought of what had happened. "Continue. Do not worry about us."
Weir nodded. "I received word not long after that Major Sheppard had contacted Dr. Zelenka in regard to the ship he had found and I joined him," she continued, plucking at the blanket over her lap. "Camilla came with as well, giving up on her translations when it showed only letters and words that Rodney had already deciphered. We had only just arrived when we heard word that the Control Room was beginning to flood. Rodney told us that he could not get to us and he remained in the room as he tried to open the bay doors." Weir took a heavy breath. "Despite your efforts, there was nothing you could do, Rodney," she said, looking at the man. "Within seconds the Control Room was flooded."
Kel'an looked at the scientist, watching as he sat down slowly. "I died?!" he asked.
Weir nodded slowly at him. "You never gave up trying, right until the end," she told him.
Kel'an took a deep breath, sensing Martouf standing and placing a hand on her shoulder gently as the female Tok'ra easily saw what had happened to the men. In response, she reached up a hand and patted his in silence. She didn't dare speak, not when Camilla's heartfelt emotions were so close to the surface.
"Well," Rodney said quietly. "A man wonders how he would choose to go out, given such dire circumstances." He nodded almost to himself. "Now I now."
"Trying to save the lives of others," Weir agreed.
Before Sheppard could open his mouth to say anything against Rodney – which she was guessing he would – she kicked his chair firmly. The man turned to look at her as she shook her head in answer.
"Why didn't the failsafe mechanism engage and raise the city?" Elizabeth asked.
Weir shook her head sadly. "Because there was no failsafe the first time," she answered. "Atlantis remained on the ocean floor. The shield completely collapsed. Water came crashing in, flooding every room in the city." She looked at Ford and Carson then. "You both drowned while attempting to get our people into ships." She took a shuddering breath and looked at Sheppard. "And we, along with Dr. Zelenka, we found ourselves trapped. You tried to teach, to help, Major. You did something and we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of space, in the middle of a fight." Kel'an saw the tears in her eyes and how fast the woman was breathing. "We were under attack! We didn't know where we were or who was shooting at us. And that's when John…"
Kel'an leapt over the table seconds later as the old woman passed out, her body becoming slack. Kel'an reached the woman and held her up as she began to slide out of the wheelchair.
"This is Beckett!" Carson snapped into his radio earpiece. "I need medical assistance in the Conference Room. ASAP!"
A-A-A-A-A-A
John walked into the infirmary a few hours later. After Beckett had taken the elder Elizabeth back to the infirmary with their Elizabeth in tow, he'd moved to the balcony off of the Control Room for some air. There was something about hearing the elder's words of the expedition's arrival that had gotten to him.
He also hadn't missed Kel'an's reactions to every word spoken as she stood by one window, one hand clutching at the hand of her brother who had moved to stand behind her. He hadn't felt like this in months, heck, years, especially since he'd seen his friends die in the helicopter crash. Seeing that and hearing elder Elizabeth's words had brought everything up. John grudgingly admitted that what her Rodney had done was somewhat impressive.
He saw Elizabeth standing by the bed as he walked in and he consciously made sure that she would hear him and to not silence his footsteps as his Black Ops training had told him.
"How's she doing?" he asked Elizabeth quietly, crossing his arms absently.
The woman smiled weakly at him for a moment before she looked at the old woman in the medical bed. "Stabilised," she answered. "But still very weak – and getting weaker."
John nodded, looking between both the old and the current Elizabeth, comparing their appearances. He couldn't help the sigh and the shake of his head at the sight of Elizabeth's morality.
"Your own mortality staring you right in the face," he said. "I can't imagine how you must be feeling."
She smiled weakly at him. "When she looks at me, it's as if she's sensing my thoughts and I'm sensing hers," she admitted. "It's very unsettling."
John smirked then. "Just when you thought this place couldn't get any weirder!" he said, trying to bring a smile, to alleviate the tension he could sense her having.
He heard her chuckle, even as he heard Rodney walk in. "Well, it's obvious," the Canadian said. "The Puddle Jumper they escaped in must have been some sort of time machine; had to have an additional component built into it."
John smirked at that. "Flux capacitor!" he said.
It was the only thing he could think of as an equivalent and as a continuation of his earlier conversation with Rodney, the man in question watching him for a second. "… Yeah," he said. "The question is, where's the time machine now, hmm?"
"I have an answer to that, Rodney," Camilla spoke as she and Martouf calmly walked into the infirmary. "I looked in the Jumper Bay after the elder Elizabeth collapsed and found multiple spare parts of a Jumper lying in a small, secluded area that the city showed me. A lot of parts are missing, but what components I can find and register on short notice tells me that it's the remains of the time travelling Jumper – several unusual components are amoung the pieces I have found that I know for a fact are not part of a normal Puddle Jumper's systems." The woman sighed. "I can't reverse engineer the Jumper, but there's enough to make a very educated guess."
John looked back at Elizabeth, seeing her stepping closer to the medical bed. "Why don't we ask her?" she said, nodding to the now awake older version of Elizabeth.
The elder Elizabeth frowned. "What happened?" she managed.
"Can you tell us; the ship that you disappeared in, where is it now?" Elizabeth asked her.
"It's gone." The old woman drew in a shuddering breath. "We tried to get away, Major Sheppard tried to fight back, but the ship was struck. The next thing I knew, I woke up here."
"You mean now?" John asked.
The woman shook her head. "No," she answered. "Then. An Ancient was there. His name was Janus. He healed my wounds and explained to me what happened." The woman took in yet another breath and John saw the tears in her eyes as she looked at John. "You and Dr. Zelenka didn't survive the impact of the ship on the ocean's surface." Her clouded gaze shifted to Camilla who moved closer as John saw the old woman straining to see her. "You were in the infirmary as well, but Kel'an didn't survive the impact. You woke up several times while I was healing, but breathing difficulties killed you before they could fix the damage to your body sufficiently to save your life. With their resources focused elsewhere, you died in your sleep one night."
John watched as Camilla sat down and rubbed at her throat self consciously while Martouf moved to her side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders before he pulled her close, one hand cradling her head against his chest. John remembered the incident with the spectre in the first few weeks in the city, remembering her gasping breaths as she struggled to breathe. That breathing difficulty could kill her?
John looked away then, hearing a muted sob coming from the woman. If he, or they, couldn't leave, the least he could do was give them a modicum of privacy.
"Ha," Rodney said as he looked at him. "Ah, the bitter taste of ultimate failure, hmm?" John saw the smug smile on his face.
"Well, if you'd just figured out how to fix the damn shield in the first place, none of us would have died," he returned.
The Canadian just glared at him. "I did everything I could, including valiantly attempting to save your sorry-" he began before Elizabeth turned to look at them.
"Gentlemen," she admonished them gently. "Focus." She shook her head as she looked back at the elder Elizabeth. "Please, continue."
The elder Elizabeth nodded. "Needless to say, I was very confused," she said. "He explained to me that the ship we had escaped in was a time machine. He was the one who built it. After I was feeling better, he brought me before the Atlantean Council." She swallowed convulsively. "But not before I said goodbye to you, Camilla, Kel'an." She nodded after a moment's thought. "The members were called Melia and Moros, the two that I remember." Elder Elizabeth sighed and shook her head. "They told me of beings called Wraiths – a vicious, formidable enemy whose power and technology rivalled their own."
Camilla nodded at that, looking at them as she wiped at her eyes. "We know," she said softly. "We've come across them before."
Elder Elizabeth nodded. "The Atlanteans sent a delegation protected by their most powerful warships in the faint hope of negotiating a truce," she told them. "One on one, the Atlantean ship were more powerful, but the Wraith were so many. After that great battle, it was only a matter of time."
John listened as she described the meeting between her and the elders of the Atlantean city. It hadn't gone well from the sound of things, even as he saw Carson walking in, a datapad in his hands. John waited until the elder Elizabeth had finished the last of her story with the council before he drew their Elizabeth over to Carson.
"The last of the test results only confirm the obvious," the Scottish man said as the others joined them. "Her skeletal, circulatory and neuro-endocrine systems have all been decimated by age. I'm seeing renal failure, liver failure and evidence of a stroke from her recent collapse."
John sighed at that, crossing his arms again. "How long does she have?" he asked quietly.
Carson sighed. "I doubt she'll live out the night," he answered.
"Please," John heard the elder Elizabeth call and he turned with the others to go back to her. "I don't know how much time I have left to tell the story I have waited so long to tell." She looked at each of them before she nodded. "Uh… the Council. They were very upset."
Camilla nodded then. "Yes," she said. "You said that they had decided to destroy the machine."
Elder Elizabeth nodded. "I tried to talk them out of it," she agreed. "I didn't give up hope. Thankfully, I had an ally." She sighed, leaning back in her seat. "Janus and I tried to talk to Melia, but it didn't work. She confirmed the Council's decision. Of course, Janis refused to concede defeat. The more someone told him not to do something, the more he had to do it. So, he came up with an alternate plan behind the Council's back." John smiled at her chuckle. "It was all I could do to try to keep up with him." She chuckled again. "We talked about the ZPMs, about the power system that had resulted in the failure I had experienced. Then he showed me the ZPMs." She shook her head. "I didn't believe my eyes. Three ZPMs in front of me. Then we heard word from the Council. Their transport ship was inbound and it was taking heavy fire."
A-A-A-A-A-A
Elizabeth looked around the infirmary as she saw on the edge of the bed of her elder counterpart. Rodney had appropriated the only other medical bed nearby and had promptly fallen asleep on it, curled up. John sat on one chair, his feet crossed on another that he had drawn close, before he had fallen asleep with his arms crossed in front of him and his chin resting on his chest.
Elizabeth looked at both men, noticing the two blankets draped over both men, tucked loosely around their sleeping bodies. Camilla and her brother sat nearby, on the floor, their backs resting against the wall as they both appeared to sleep or meditate. It appeared the female Tok'ra had a bit of a Mother Hen streak if the blankets were any indication.
Elizabeth shook her head with an affectionate smile as she looked back at her elder counterpart, gently stroking the long white hair. She felt the woman stirring before she saw it.
"Damn!" the woman muttered. "Fell asleep again."
Elizabeth chuckled softly. "Well, you're not the only one," she told her, looking around at the others. The elder Elizabeth looked around, chuckling herself at the sight of everyone asleep. "Are you in any pain?"
The elder Elizabeth arched an eyebrow at her. "Would we admit it if we were?" she returned.
Elizabeth nodded then. "I wish there was more we could do for you," she said quietly, feeling it.
The elder Elizabeth looked at her. "Oh, look at you!" she said. "Always worrying." She shook her head. "You put too much pressure on yourself." The elder smiled slightly. "Remember that miserable Baltic negotiation? What Simon told us afterwards?"
Elizabeth nodded, remembering the negotiations she was talking about. "'Breathe'," she answered. "Amoung other things!"
Weir nodded at her. "Enjoy the moment," she told her firmly. "What's here, right now. The sun, the breeze… our birthday!"
Elizabeth muffled a laugh as she looked at her. "Sheppard couldn't keep it to himself, huh?!" she said.
She was already plotting various devious missions for the man for the next few months. "I'm just saying stop being so damned hard on yourself," her elder part told her firmly. "Life is quick."
Elizabeth shook her head. "Not for you," she said.
She chuckled then, surprising Elizabeth. "It was my choice," she said. "I didn't second-guess it then, and I don't regret it now." Elizabeth notice that she was breathing a little heavier but seemed to work through it. "Janis prepared the stasis chamber for me," she continued. "He set up a failsafe to raise the city should everything work as he programmed the city to wake me up after three point three thousand years to change the ZPMs. He taught me how to reset the programming to do just that and how to start the rotation of the crystals." She coughed tiredly. "And then they left, all of them; they were returning to Earth through the Stargate." She smiled weakly, tears in her eyes. "And then I was alone." She sighed. "I set the city to slumber and began my long journey home."
Elizabeth nodded at her. "It worked," she told her. "The stasis, the failsafe." She had to tell her it had worked. She had to. "You gave up your entire life."
Her elder counterpart shook her head. "No," she disagreed. "Because we are the same person. The best part of my life – it's just beginning. I'm exploring a new galaxy. I have years ahead of me yet." She reached out and cupped Elizabeth's cheek and Elizabeth held it there, taking the strain from her older self. "Trust yourself Elizabeth. All that matters is right now. And the note… I wrote it in case I didn't survive. Have you figured it out yet?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "Five Gate addresses," she told her.
Her older self smiled. "Outposts," she told her. "Each one with a Zero Point Module. Janus told me."
Elizabeth nodded and stood up, gently laying her hand down as she moved to John, gently shaking his shoulder. The man started awake, tensing and frowning at the sight of the blanket draped over him. Elizabeth moved to Rodney, waking him and Camilla as she moved.
"The note she left," she told them. "Co-ordinates of planets to have known ZPMs."
She watched as Rodney climbed down off of the bed, kicking the blanket to one side as he patted his trousers before he brought out the note. "They could still be there," John said as he took note from the scientist.
Elizabeth watched as the two and the Tok'ra put their heads together. "Isn't that M7G-677?" she asked. "Haven't you already been to this planet?"
Rodney nodded.
"This is amazing!" Rodney said. "Elizabeth we've got…" he faded off and Elizabeth heard a machine flat-lining behind her.
The woman sighed and turned around, walking over to the old woman that now lay dying and gently took her hand. She wasn't entirely dead yet and Elizabeth would be damned if she would let her go through it alone.
A-A-A-A-A-A
THREE DAYS LATER
At the discrete cough from the door to her office, Cam looked up from her translation. With it now being one of the few days that the woman had given her department a day off, she was suitably surprised to hear a cough coming from the office's doorway.
The woman had given up on sleep after the first night, the first attempt following Weir's death and her cremation. The nightmares of what could have been had left her gasping for air as she struggled to control her ragged breathing. Since then she had kept an ever-present cup of coffee close at hand, making sure that she was fully caffeinated at all times. She'd even gone so far as to meditate in her office as well, sitting out of view of the door.
"I know you're in there," she heard John call as she stood up slowly from where she'd sat herself out of sight of the door after her last meditation.
With a groan the Tok'ra just stretched her back out, placing her datapad on her already overfull desk. "Come in," she called.
She saw the doors open and she watched as John walked in, stopped and looked at the desks that had once held translators-in-training. Now, with the people gone, the desks had been filled with the sudden influx of translations that had been demanded from everyone across the city in the various departments. Cam chuckled at the expression of confusion that crossed the man's face for a moment.
"Be careful of where you walk, John," she warned him. "I've got more scraps of paper and datapads to be had in this room than what's generally called sane."
She watched as the man, without the grey and black jacket of the uniform, rather in the black shirt that denoted military, stepped inside, moving carefully between her desks. The Major seemed to consciously avoid actually touching the desks, holding a mug of coffee up and out of the way as he moved until he reached Cam.
"You got any free time?" he asked.
Cam shrugged a shoulder. "I'd like to say yes," she said. "But…" She gestured to the desks sadly. "I can't leave."
She saw John think for a moment before he looked at her. "You got a few minutes then?" he asked.
The Tok'ra smiled and nodded at that. "I've got a few minutes," she said, grabbing two of the heavier stools and deftly carrying them over, feeling Kel'an added strength easily taking the strain as she placed one down for the pilot. "What do you need?"
She sat down and reached for her own coffee. The Tok'ra winced and drained the mug of cold coffee with a slight shudder.
"I want to learn some Ancient," John told her, smirking slightly as she put her own mug down as far away from her as she physically could. "Seems with all the exploring we're likely to do here, it'll be better if I know what I'm looking at."
Cam leaned back in her seat and thought. "Commonly used words and numbers?" she asked him return before she nodded. "Give me five minutes to get the urgent translations sent out and I'll give you a hand."
She saw the man nod and Cam moved into action, going through the datapads in minutes and sending off the completed translations she had managed to get done and completing the last one and sending it off as soon as she was done. It took a minute or so to clear her desk of the datapads, much to the amusement of John as he leaned back a little before helping.
Cam picked up a training datapad that she had filled with Ancient words and numbers and quickly brought up one of the lessons she had written. "Ready?" she asked John.
The man nodded, setting down his cup of coffee as he clicked his neck. "Ready when you are," he told her.
Cam nodded and returned to her seat. "Let's get started then," she said.
"Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep." Mahatma Gandhi
"As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spend brings happy death." Leonardo da Vinci
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