Chapter 21
Jack's clone Jon O'Neill walked into the commissary for lunch next. He was given a set of green BDU's and assigned to SG-2 to keep an eye on Charlie and Jackie who were still in training. He spotted Daniel, Mitchell, Sam and Janet all talking with Teal'c at a table. He gathered his lunch, a baloney sandwich and a bag of potato chips and headed over to take a seat. He cheered, "Campers!" He took a seat and began to eat.
Daniel started, "You got all of Jack's memories. Do you remember not having fish in the pond and then having fish in the pond?"
He nodded, "Yup."
"It was after a Z.P.M. was found in a site in Giza. It will be this year." Daniel told him.
Jon nodded, "Yup! You won't find a Z.P.M. there. We need to find two."
Daniel asked, "How did you know that? I sent in a friend to the site and no Z.P.M."
"Because we never went back this time." he told him. "I mean you guys went back. Don't you remember the video tape they found with it? You guys were on it. He kept asking Carter if they should be going back and she said you already did. Went to the cabin and poof, fish! Changed something there but I still haven't figured out what." he told them.
Daniel and Sam looked at one another. He drew a blank, "I don't remember a tape…"
Sam suddenly recalled, "Oh' I remember it now. We did find a tape of us too. We had somehow gone back, placed the Z.P.M. in the treasury and added a tape to ensure we told ourselves. I don't think we actually came back from that."
"A tape?" Daniel thought hard. Though he was sent back mentally not all the memories seemed to flow easily.
Jon told him, "Jack remembers more than you guys do because he had longer to recall it." he looked at Teal'c, "Do you remember a tape found with the Z.P.M.?"
Teal'c thought about it and then suddenly he recalled the tape, "I do now. I had forgotten." he stated puzzled.
"See that's the thing about the 'do over'," started Jon. "You can also forget things and then suddenly remember later. The only way we are getting that Z.P.M. from Ra is to go back five thousand years and take it."
Sam then realized, "They never returned! The version of us on the tape must have not been able to return. So, they made the tape, hid it in the grave and made sure we would get it now. But since we all got sent back mentally and things changed, that never happened either. I can verify that by simply seeing if there is fish in pond. If no fish then we never went back."
Mitchell stated, "So finding the time jumper and going back five thousand years is a bad idea."
Sam pondered, "Not if we do it right. The original tape it was just me, Daniel, Teal'c and Jack on it. No one else went back. We must have used the time jumper to do it. So, we find the time jumper and go back but we go back with reinforcements because we know there will be trouble. We get the ZPM and return with it in the ship."
Mitchell asked, "Who do you plan to bring on that little trip, Sam?"
Daniel placed his head in his hands as he suddenly remembered, "That's right! There was a tape with it! Maybe that's not a good idea after all?"
Sam stated, "It obviously worked the first time…" she then winced, "Kind of…"
Jon spoke up, "Hey! If you guys are gonna get that time ship and go back five thousand years you better bring me, Jackie and Charlie with you for backup."
Mitchell stated, "Okay! But we should take out Ra. That can save us a massive headache."
"Eventually the locals would rise against him anyways." Daniel told them. "We don't have to take out Ra. Doing so would mess up our first dial out to Abydos." He then cocked his head, "It would have gone much smoother if Ra wasn't there, huh?"
Jon nodded, "Yup!"
Sam stated, "All we have to do is force Ra to flee. We don't have to kill him. That would be rather difficult with the Jaffa guards anyways." She let out a sigh, "As much as I hate to place them in harm's way we do need Jackie and Charlie. Jackie has the download and she needs Charlie's skills to make what she sees a reality. They work really well together. They need each other."
Jon told her, "You guys are really going to have to pitch that idea hard to the old man. He has no intention of going back five thousand years and getting stuck there."
Sam told him, "We'll talk to him."
Short Time Later
Jack found himself being pestered by Daniel as he walked down the hall. The minute Daniel stated, "Time Jumper" he knew exactly what insanity was brewing. He found himself repeating the same phrase over and over again.
"No Daniel," he shook his head.
"That's how we got the Z.P.M. the first time." Daniel stated. "You know it was us who put it in the tomb. We have a plan this time."
"No Daniel," he shook his head.
"Come on Jack! It's a simple in and out." he told him. "We won't mess up whatever we messed up the first time."
"No Daniel," he repeated.
"Do you have any better ideas because we need to find two Z.P.M.'s to even get Atlantis back." he huffed. "We know where one Z.P.M. is already."
Jack came to a halt, "Do you really think we can pull that off? We went and then made it so we never went meaning there was another version of ourselves who died five thousand years ago."
Daniel pondered, "I guess we would have died and…" he pondered, "Then how did the Z.P.M. get there if we never went back but did go back?"
Jack threw up his hands, "I've been trying to wrap my head around that for decades." he continued to walk down the hall with Daniel still pestering him.
"But Jack we can take back up with us. Two teams! Including Jackie and Charlie." he cheered.
Jack came to a halt and gave Daniel the most disgusted look ever, "You really think I'm gonna let my kids go on that harebrained mission?"
Daniel pondered, "Probably not."
"Bingo!" he told him and started down the hallway.
Before them the elevator door slid open and out walked George Hammond in casual civilian clothing. He wore tan trousers and a blue and white striped shirt under a tan windbreaker jacket.
"George!" Jack cheered.
George looked over and spotted his friend, "Jack!" he offered a hand. He then greeted Daniel. "It's good to see you, Dr. Jackson."
Daniel shook his hand, "You too George."
"Dr. Frasier asked me to come in." he told them.
Jack nodded, "She thinks she has something that can help heal the damage to your heart."
"Really?" he asked surprised.
"Really!" he grinned figuring they could buy George more time.
"I'll have to talk to her." He told him. They started back down the hall and George asked, "How is your daughter fitting in Jack?"
"Doing good." he gave a nod.
"I heard your son has been transferred in." he mentioned.
"He's training for an SG team." he stated.
He confessed, "I gotta admit, Jack. I miss being here."
"Me too." he cheered.
Hammond wasn't sure what Jack meant by the comment but always liked Jack's sense of humor. "Well, let's see what Dr. Frasier has in store for me."