Disclaimer: Please see chapter one for full disclaimer.
Another Trip into Wonderland
Chapter Three
"Deja vu" Jack exclaimed as he and Teal'c re-entered the lab. The sight that greeted them was very reminiscent of their entry to the lab earlier in the day. Sam and Daniel stood hunched over the alien device and were conversing quietly. The only difference being the countertop that previously held the device now held both the device and stacks of books which Daniel was pouring over in an obvious attempt to finish deciphering the writing found on the outer casing.
"Hello sir" Sam said as they entered the room. "We think we may be a little closer to figuring out what happened but we need to know what you found before we can be sure."
"Well…if you must know…Teal'c and I found nothing, as in zip, nada, zilch, bubkus" the Colonel said, warily eyeing the alien artifact.
"Nothing?" Daniel questioned.
"Nothing, Daniel Jackson" Teal'c confirmed. "We are the only personnel remaining at the SGC."
"So…there's no one else at all?" Daniel asked looking to Sam with a worried expression.
"Not a soul Daniel. So what's the deal with that…thing" the Colonel asked waving his fingers to indicate the alien artifact. "Is it the cause of all of this or not?"
"Well, yes and no sir" Sam replied glancing away.
"Care to elaborate on that a bit Carter?" Jack asked with his typical inflection of sarcasm.
Giving him an uncomfortable smile that clearly indicated he wasn't going to like the explanation, she took a deep breath and tentatively began. "Well sir, the device is responsible for knocking us out which was a result of the whining we heard it emit just before we blacked out but…" she stopped momentarily and looked to Daniel whose expression mirrored her own.
"Carter, spit it out" the Colonel said flatly.
"Yes sir. Anyway, as I was saying, the device is responsible for knocking us out and placing us 'here' but it isn't responsible for whatever happened to the base personnel. Not directly anyway" she finished.
"Do you have any idea what she's talking about?" Jack asked Teal'c as he tried to make sense of what his 2IC was telling him.
"I do not" the Jaffa replied raising one eyebrow in question as he waited for Sam to continue with her explanation.
"Basically sir, it's an alternate reality device. It takes us from our own universe and transports us to one that mirrors our own" she concluded.
"Then it is comparable to the quantum mirror Daniel Jackson discovered previously?" Teal'c questioned.
"Exactly" Sam replied.
"Well from what we just saw, this base is nothing like our own. Our SGC is crawling with people and this one doesn't have anything, or should I say…anyone?" Jack asked wondering how they were going to return home with nothing more than a faulty alien device to rely on.
"I know sir. As we've seen previously, the variations in realities can range from minute to vastly different. This reality seems to have taken, what looks to be, a radically different course but the setting that we've found ourselves in is virtually the same. It's the circumstances that are different," the Major concluded.
"Jack," Daniel began, "I think we need to find out what happened here. It may have some bearing on things to come in our own reality."
"Or, we could just get Carter here to fix that doohickey and zap us back to our own reality" the Colonel said.
"I think Daniel's right sir," Sam intervened. "We've seen in the past that information gained from an alternate reality can aid us and in this case it might help to know what happened that would possibly have caused an entire base to be abandoned."
Looking between the archeologist and his 2IC, Jack mentally shook his head and sighed. Somehow he knew that going home wasn't going to be so easy but for once it would be so nice just to leave without a lot of fuss. After all, they had enough mysteries to solve in their own universe so why did they have to worry about alternate universes as well? Not to mention the fact that leaving now meant there wouldn't be any injuries or Goa'ulds to run into. "Fine" he replied. "Carter, I'm assuming that knocking us out wasn't part of the designer's original intent," he said indicating the alien device. "So, why did it malfunction and how long before you can repair it?"
"Do you remember that small object that I removed from the device just before it activated?" Sam asked. Seeing the Colonel nod his head she continued, "well, I believe the object had merely become dislodged. If you take a close look just in here" she said indicating a small crevice just to the right of where the object had been wedged "then you'll see that it looks to have dropped down and to the side, impeding the flow of matter that regulates the device. This interrupted flow, combined with our earlier examination of the device caused it to activate. The loud whining sound that knocked us unconscious is a result of the misdirected flow and the reason we ended up in this particular reality is a direct result of the settings we had unknowingly punched in during our examination."
"But you can get us back, right?" Jack questioned looking back and forth between Sam and Daniel whom were both shifting from one foot to the other in obvious discomfort.
"I believe so sir. It's merely a matter of reversing exactly what we did in the first place and Daniel thinks he's almost deciphered the translations so, between the two of us, we should be able to return to our own reality" she finished.
"We should be able to return? But you're not sure?" the Colonel questioned wondering yet again what he could have possibly done in his lifetime to deserve the bizarre situations he had found himself in over the past few years.
"Well…I can't be 100 percent but I'm relatively confident this will work sir" Sam stammered uneasily.
"Well then that will have to do. How much longer before that thing is ready to go?" Jack asked indicating the alien device.
"I just need to finish translating the last set of writings and then we should be able to leave. Maybe a couple of hours or a little longer?" Daniel suggested.
"Two hours?" the Colonel repeated.
"Or a little longer" Daniel reiterated, "unless of course you want me translate this wrong and risk ending up somewhere else?"
"Fine, just finish it," the Colonel barked. "Teal'c, stay here with Daniel just in case any trouble comes up. Carter, you're with me. We need to go back to the control room and see if we can find out anything from those computers. The phones are down and Teal'c said the last set of gate coordinates was erased. Let's see what we can dig up."
"Yes, sir" she replied following him out of the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The base seemed eerie as they walked through the empty corridors. The lighting was minimal and the many people who usually roamed the corridors of the SGC were no more. Even the sounds of the various types of machinery the base used on an everyday basis were now absent. Reaching the control room, Sam and Jack entered and began looking around. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Sam walked over to the main computer terminals and began hurriedly tapping the keyboard to retrieve information. She sat back and sighed after several minutes of furious typing.
"Problem?" the Colonel asked.
"Yes sir. I've been attempting to access the most recent mission logs but the mainframe keeps denying me access and until I can gain access I can't determine anything" she said shaking her head.
"So…we aren't going to be able to find out what happened here?" the Colonel asked.
"There still might be a way sir. When I was designing the systems I programmed a back door. Maybe my counterpart in this reality took the same precautions. If so, I might still be able to access the mainframe and determine what happened. Providing the information still exists somewhere in the system" she concluded.
"That's assuming that your counterpart was part of the SGC in this reality," Jack said coming to stand behind her. "And what's this about a back door?"
"I created a back door, a code that only I was aware of, in case the main system was ever damaged or compromised. That way we could remotely access the main gate controls from another location on base if necessary" she concluded.
"So why didn't you use this back door thingy when Linea took over the base computers?" he asked knowing that it was highly unusual for his 2IC not to explore every option at their disposal.
"I tried sir, but she somehow managed to circumvent my precautions and lock me out of the system" she replied, obviously unhappy with the way things had played out during that particular mission.
"Don't worry about it Carter. These things obviously can even happen to the best of us," he said with a small smile. 'One thing about Carter is that she doesn't like to lose' he thought to himself. And that was why he was so confident that his 2IC would once again find a way to break through the encryptions and pull the information they needed from the mainframe.
Recognizing the compliment under the teasing tone, Sam smiled as she continued her task. All of a sudden she sat back and exclaimed, "We're in" and proceeded to pull up several files.
"Access the personnel files for the base. Let's see how closely this reality parallels ours," the Colonel ordered.
"Yes sir," she replied and within seconds the monitor displayed several files listing the SGC's last known command structure. Opening several of the files, Sam looked up to find the face of her CO staring back at her from the computer monitor. Glancing briefly at the picture and then to the data she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "It looks like you received a promotion 'General'," she said to the man hovering over her shoulder. "A very recent promotion."
"What happened to Hammond?" the Colonel questioned.
"One moment sir," she replied pulling up several more files. "According to this, General Hammond resigned his commission due to…" she stopped scanning several more sentences. Sitting back with a stunned expression on her face she looked to Jack and shook her head.
"What is it Carter?" he asked trying to read the file from where he stood.
"He resigned due to an undisclosed terminal illness. According to the information here, he died within forty-eight hours of handing over command of the SGC" she concluded.
"Pull the files for the rest of the team and let's figure out where things stand," he ordered.
"Yes sir. It looks like SG-1 consisted of yourself, at least until your recent promotion, Teal'c, Lieutenant Michaels and Captain Haggerty," she said with a confused look on her face.
"Where's your counterpart Carter? She's obviously somewhere around here or you wouldn't have been able to use that back door to break into the system. And what happened to Daniel?" Jack asked.
"I'm checking sir. Oh no" she exclaimed softly as she read the file displayed in front of her.
"What is it?" the Colonel asked immediately alarmed at the emotion in her voice.
"According to this, Daniel was killed in action nearly two years ago" she replied.
"How?" he asked, shock plainly written on his face.
"It doesn't say sir. Although, I'm sure that we could find out from the mission reports. They must be on record somewhere," she said as she began searching for files that would reveal what had happened to the archeologist in this reality.
"Leave it for now" the Colonel ordered. "What about your counterpart?" he asked fearing that something similar may have happened to Sam.
"I don't show an active military record for my counterpart sir" she responded as she continued to pull up additional files.
"Check the roster of civilian personnel assigned to the base. We've seen other realities in which you weren't military," the Colonel said wondering if something had also happened to Carter in this reality.
"Yes sir" she absently replied as she continued to search through the data. It was still unfathomable to her that she would be anything but military. Continuing her search of the civilian roster she finally announced, " I found it" and then sat back and simply stared at the screen.
"Carter?" Jack asked wondering what she had found. "What is it?"
"Nothing sir, it's just not what I expected that's all" she replied as she went to close the file.
Leaning over, Jack stilled her hands on the keyboard while he read the file. And then he too went silent for a moment. Raising his eyes to look at her he said quietly, "It's not like we haven't seen this before now is it?"
"No sir, I guess it's just that I've never seen it in black and white so to speak" she answered looking back at the screen as she once again read the information displayed on the screen.
Dr. Samantha Carter-O'Neill
Civilian consultant- Astrophysics
Retired Military as of 04/01/1999
"It says that she retired from the military three years ago and continued on with the project as head of Research and Development. It also says that we, or rather they, have a fourteen month old child," she said looking down toward the desk. It was true they had run into other realities where she and Jack were either engaged or married but none of them had ever mentioned a child. She wondered, not for the first time, if they had made the right decision when they decided to place their feelings on hold to continue their careers and their fight against the Goa'uld.
"It's okay Sam" Jack said placing a hand on her shoulder. He had a pretty good idea what thoughts were going through her mind, not so much as a result of knowing her so well, but merely because the same thoughts were rushing through his own mind.
"I know" she replied, closing the file and scanning through several more files listing base personnel. "It doesn't seem like there is anything else that is drastically different as far as personnel and job assignments are concerned."
"Can you find anything that will tell us what happened here? I don't know about this other me but I know that I wouldn't have just up and declared a holiday for no reason" the Colonel quipped.
"No sir" she agreed wryly. I can't find any mission updates for the last two months which basically correlates with the time you…I mean your counterpart, assumed command of the base."
"Which means that whatever happened to Hammond was probably tied into this whole mystery," he concluded.
"I believe so" Sam answered and then stopped typing to lean forward and look at some information in the latest file she was reviewing. "Oh no" she exclaimed softly and sat back in her chair with a hint of tears glistening in her eyes.
Jack began to worry as he looked at the face of his 2IC and her dejected posture. "What is it Major?" he asked knowing that he probably wasn't going to like the answer.
"According to this information, there was a Goa'uld attack on the planet almost three months ago. A mother ship entered the planets' atmosphere and began firing upon several key targets throughout the world," she said continuing to read the file.
"But what about the planetary treaty with the Asgard?" the Colonel asked. "Don't they have that in this reality?"
"Apparently so, and according to this, the Asgard stepped in and thwarted the Goa'uld attack by destroying the mother ship" she replied.
"So, what's the problem?" the Colonel asked.
"The real purpose of the Goa'uld visit to Earth was to release a toxin into the atmosphere which rendered the planet uninhabitable. Basically, it was a chemical that, once inhaled, caused the immune system to break down and the body to turn on itself causing all bodily systems to erupt and shut down" Sam said trying to fathom how any race could be so ruthless as to annihilate an entire species.
"Then that means that Hammond…" the Colonel began.
"Was not at the SGC at the time of attack and was infected by the toxin" Sam finished for him.
"How fast does this stuff work?" the Colonel asked.
"According to these records, symptoms started within seventy-two hours of the attack and mimicked a severe case of the flu. Bodily deterioration continued at a rapid pace and most people were dead inside of a week after inhaling the agent. It's a very horrible death sir and these people would have suffered unmercifully," she concluded.
"There wasn't any way to reverse it or find a cure?" Jack questioned.
"I doubt they would have had enough time. According to these records" she said indicating the information displayed on the monitor in front of them, "we detected the chemicals in the atmosphere but didn't realize what was going on for almost forty-eight hours. By that time, it was too late. All human and animal life would have been infected. The damage had already been done."
"So what happened to the people that were manning the base?"
"It says here that your counterpart ordered an immediate lock-down at the time of attack. At that time the base automatically switched over to a self-contained ventilation system effectively blocking the possibility of infection. A short time later most of the remaining base personnel were transferred to the Alpha site. A few remained here to collect any final data they could before joining the others at the alternate site," Sam concluded.
"So" the Colonel began, "you're telling me that everyone that was topside at the time of attack is dead? That no one is left alive?"
"Yes sir" she solemnly replied. "The only people left alive are the eight teams that were off world and those that were on duty at the time of the attack."
"Okay, so why did they leave the base intact? Usual procedure dictates a self-destruct procedure as soon as the final team gates through to the Alpha site" Jack pondered.
"I know but the Goa'uld wouldn't be able to use the planet so they wouldn't have had to worry about hostiles gaining access to the Alpha site via the SGC and from the looks of this data it will be thousands of years before the chemical fully dissipates. They probably figured it would be safe to come back through and use the equipment as needed," Sam surmised.
"Right" the Colonel muttered in a clipped voice as he tried to hold his anger in check. "Let's get back to Daniel and Teal'c and fill them in," he said as he turned and headed for the hallway that would ultimately lead them back to their teammates.
"… And, that's the story" the Colonel concluded watching the horrified looks cross the faces of his teammates as everyone gathered around the device, quietly looking to one another as if hoping someone would crack a smile at any second and tell them that it was some terrible April Fool's Day prank.
"This is not the first time the Goa'uld have rendered a planet uninhabitable" Teal'c offered.
"Yeah but why would they render the planet uninhabitable after destroying the population?" Daniel questioned. "I mean, surely they would gain more benefit in coming down to the planet and acquiring new technology or at the very least, information."
"In this case the people of the Tauri posed more of a threat to the Goa'uld than the lure of discovering new technology Daniel Jackson" Teal'c informed the archeologist. "The Goa'uld reason that it is better to destroy an enemy and gain knowledge elsewhere than to risk allowing that enemy to continue to live."
"That's all well and good but do we have any idea which scum sucking snake was responsible for this massacre?" Jack asked as he turned to Sam hoping she had been able to retrieve that information from the computer files.
"No sir, the records didn't say…" she stopped mid sentence as a base wide alarm sounded indicating the formation of an incoming wormhole and activation of the stargate.
"Alright people, we've got company. Let's go check it out," the Colonel ordered as they grabbed their weapons and made their way toward the gate room. "Any idea about who this could be?" he questioned as they rounded the corner and approached the gate room.
"I noticed earlier that they disengaged the iris so it could be anyone sir" Sam replied taking her position next to the large doors that would allow them access to the gate room.
"Well, whoever they are, let's just hope they're friendly" Jack muttered as they entered the room and assumed defensive positions not far from the ramp. Just then the all too familiar swoosh of an incoming wormhole was heard and the gate room became bathed in the blue shimmering glow of the event horizon. Suddenly, two figures stepped through the gate and began walking down the ramp. With weapons raised, SG-1 was surprised to find themselves staring into the faces of Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter.
TBC
Review???