Briefing Room A

"What planet is the ship on, exactly, Col...providing, Major Cromwell can obtain the generators needed to power that thing....where will we be going?"

"You won't be going anywhere..." Jack had made that decision only recently. "Ev...the computer chick will be there and Cromwell. No need for anyone else to risk anything."

"I beg your pardon?" Daniel took exception to that statement. "I, of all people have to go."

"We've been re-thinking that part. In another time, Samantha Carter came through the Quantum Mirror and her being with our Carter caused this ecoto..plasty...play doh thing and...Ev...the computer chick thinks it's better not to push that envelope again."

"I'm going." Daniel stood up and...faced Jack O'Neill squarely. "If something, God forbids...happens to this other Daniel...I am the only one that can make this work. You know that, Jack. What the hell is this all about?"

Jack felt a little..uneasy. He couldn't look at Carter for a long beat. "Evvie says it's important that Carter doesn't come on the journey. She won't say why but...I thought..if she couldn't come...maybe you shouldn't either, that's all."

"Well, I'm coming."

"...K." The computer chick had not said anything about Daniel, per say...so...Jack supposed it would be alright if the man came along. "But, you don't have to...just saying."

"I'm coming."

Jack shrugged mentally.

"I don't understand...why can't I go? What if something happens and the computer can't be used? A system failure or something. My brain won't shut down."

YOU ARE TOO VALUABLE TO RISK, DOCTOR CARTER. YOU ARE NEEDED HERE. ESPECIALLY IF I AM TO GO WITH THE COL. YOU CAN REDESIGN MY SYSTEMS IF NECESSARY. WHILE DR. MACKAY UNDERSTANDS THE ORIGINAL CONCEPT HE CREATED....YOU WILL FIND, ONCE INSIDE MY...BRAIN...IF IT COMES TO THAT...HIS FIELD OF KNOWLEDGE EXTENDS ONLY SO FAR. YOU...CAN REBUILD ME. YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THE INTRICACIES INVOLVED WITH THE...UPDATES I HAVE IMPLEMENTED.

"Daniel is the computer geek..sorry, Daniel." Carter forgot in her flustered state to be...polite.

DOCTOR JACKSON IS CORRECT. IF SOME FATALITY BEFALLS THE ALTERNATE DANIEL JACKSON. HE CAN STEP IN AND FULFILL THE REQUIREMENTS NEEDED.

Daniel tried not to show his pleasure too much because of Samantha Carter.

"It's settled." Hammond ended the 'discussion.' "I'm sorry, Doctor...you are needed here. They are right."

Jack hated to refuse Carter anything...always had but he understood the reasons behind the decision and was determined to stand firm on this one.

He wanted to go put his arms around the woman she looked so stricken, however. He refrained, of course. But, promised himself. The first opportunity that presented itself...he would explain why he had done...what he had done....

Frank Cromwell bounded up the stairs and halted a couple down. "Geared up, and ready to move out." He told Jack more than Hammond. "Should be back by tonight. 2100 hours, Jack." He consulted his watch as did Jack O'Neill. "....Mark."

"Luck, Frank...need an extra hand?"

The large man grinned. "Got it covered...you just make sure that damned relic is in working order. Don't want to risk my team for nothing."

"It will work." Jack was positive.

Frank Cromwell nodded and was ...gone. He wore all black...leather gloves...hat turned around backward in that shit-eating cocky way he had about him. Vest full of C-4 and ammo...night vision goggles...very large knife...a Butterfinger candy bar and one very old...very...unused...condom.

"And...again..." Daniel brought things back on track. "What planet will we be going to?" He was so excited about the idea of traveling through space he could hardly contain himself. He was trying sooooo hard to be professional and cool but...he was just sooooooooo in his happy place right now.

"Some P Planet..." Jack had visited too many to remember even one let alone all of them...

"Some....'P'....planet." Daniel repeated, still enthralled with the very idea presented.

COL....I SHALL NEED MORE DATA IF I AM TO CORRELATE THE EXACT POSITION OF THE PLANET TO WHICH WE TRAVEL

"It's based on a code...the Abydos Cartouche thingy...Daniel knows...Carter kno..." Jack halted. Shit...No they didn't. "Alright...hang on....I can do this...Let me think." He hated to think. "While I'm doing that...you guys get the stuff hooked up to the Gate. Is that a plan?"

All agreed it was, indeed a plan and Jack sat down, with a pad and pen, writing down every gate address he had ever dialed himself...not many there. But he remembered several more and by the time everything was ready to go and all they waited for was Cromwell's return...he had complied quite a list.

"Evvie...can you find some kind of sense to these? A pattern, maybe?" He knew the computer had watched his entries. He could feel her now. Her presence. Even when she was silent and unobtrusive. "It's the best I can do."

I HAVE ALREADY DONE SO. I HAVE NARROWED THE POSSIBLE PLANETARY SITES TO THREE. WE HAVE POWER FOR ONLY ONE ATTEMPT, COL. YOU MUST...REMEMBER THE EXACT SEQUENCE. IF WE CANNOT FIND THE CORRECT PLANET, THEN WE CANNOT FIND THE TIME SHIP.

"Great." Jack rubbed his palms into his eyes. He was tired.

"People...the Major will not be back for six or seven hours. They have to wait for darkness to operate. Get some rest. Tired minds do not plan well." Hammond had picked up on the man's fatigue. "We will meet back here at 1900 hours."

Jack pulled his ass out of the chair and...headed for his quarters. He glanced down to where Daniel and Carter still messed with all the hook-ups to the Gate.

For one split second in time...the man had his doubts about what he was attempting. If he succeeded...these people, very likely....would not exist by the next morning.

He had grown very fond of them. All of them...especially Carter and Daniel and in spite of it all...even to see Cromwell again. He was torn. His mind was troubled.

He did not know what had happened in his world...or even if it existed any longer. Was this now supposed to be...his world? How did he get here? And...why?

The General was right...tired minds did NOT plan well. He had heard that line before..from an old movie. One he really...really liked. One of his favorite movies of all time was...HG Wells, The Time Machine.

Jack had read it over and over as a boy and when the movie came out, he was the first one in line. He had worked all summer and spent most of his wages on that damned movie. He knew each line by heart.

He liked Sci-Fi. Another cool movie was The Day The Earth Stood Still...and of course...who could NOT watch...Journey to The Center Of The Earth...and the mutant ants on THEM....Creature From the Black Lagoon. One of his earliest crushes was on the woman who swam above the creature in the water.

He made his way down to the quarters and for the first time...realized..no guard accompanied him. When had he lost him? Jack could not have said. He fell into the cot and within moments...after a brief period of pouting because he did not feel Samantha Carter's body next to him...he fell into a much needed sleep.