Chapter 13 - The Breaking Storm
Sam drove for the first three hours on the long journey north, while Jack kept quiet for the most part, nevertheless managing to surprise her when she caught him smiling vaguely from time to time.
"Come on!" she chided him. "Care to share it?" He looked blankly back at her. "Well?"
"It occurred to me yesterday afternoon that somewhere along the line, I've handed over control of pretty much everything in my life to you, without realising when it happened." he replied at length.
"No, that can't be." she replied. "I've kinda been thinking the same thing about you."
"What? You mean we're still at the 'Me Colonel, You Jane' stage, then?"
"In a pig's ear we are!"
"Well, a guy can dream..."
She was silent for a short while. "Does it worry you?" she asked, glancing over at him.
"Hell, no." he sighed. "I'm telling you, when Hammond announced us to the crowd as a couple, in front of all the people we knew - well, that was one of the best moments of my life. Period."
Her grin threatened to split her face, and she briefly took one had off the steering wheel to reach over and squeeze his forearm. "Yeah, it was a moment, all right."
Jack stayed quiet a little longer, before saying in a soft voice, "I'm sorry I lit off at you when we were talking to Daniel and Indira."
"No." she started to respond. "I started it..." But he interrupted her.
"Wait, Sam. I want to say this right. I can't promise that I won't do or say dumb things again that'll upset you or other people. The fact that I'm telling you this is an example of what I meant about you controlling my life. I don't ever want this to end between us, OK?"
Sam was dumbstruck, and her eyes started misting as she tried to concentrate on the road ahead. The sudden sight of a large illuminated yellow 'M' ahead determined her next actions, as she signalled a right turn and gently braked for the exit to the fast food restaurant. She drew into the parking lot and came to a stop in a marked bay at the rear of the building. Assuming that they were taking their first break on the journey, Jack started to unbuckle his seat belt and reached for the passenger door handle. He was surprised however to find that Sam had quickly freed herself from her belt and had moved across to throw her arms around him, pulling his head suddenly round and kissing him passionately on the lips. His seat belt buckle made a loud noise when it hit the door post as the belt retracted, startling the two canines in the back seat.
Well, what could the poor guy do except respond by leaning back into the kiss? But not for the first time, a close-by sniffing sound followed by the unmistakeable touch of a cold, wet nose in their rearward-facing ears reminded them both of the social order that prevailed in their household and they drew back, Sam smiling fit to bust. "Rule 2." she announced more to Sam 2 than Jack. "No passion before walks. I forgot for a moment there." The dogs appeared to agree.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Walked, watered, replenished and relaxed, the journey recommenced half an hour later with Jack behind the wheel. The relatively featureless highway was downright boring for long stretches, and as usual Jack had selected a music CD to help him keep alert. Sam had thought that she might doze a while after they had left the diner, but had found herself listening enraptured to Dvorak's 'New World' symphony from beginning to end.
"Now that's an example of your influence on me." she said, as the strains of the music were still fresh in her mind. "I'd never paid much heed to classical music before. Now I don't listen to much else, given the choice."
"Glad to oblige." he replied. Then after a pause, he continued, "Sam, I've been thinking about what we should do next. It's only a matter of time before the press tracks us down to Minnesota and then we're going to have the neighbours and friends cursing at the plague we'll have sicked on them."
"Yes." she said, nodding in agreement. "I've been wondering about the same thing. I'll bet that realtor will tell them where our new house is as soon as he sees us on TV."
"Him or a dozen others." said Jack. "But what I was thinking: how about a pre-emptive strike against the media?"
"P90's or zats?" she laughed.
"I wish." he agreed. "No, here's the thing. The school has its own computer journal for the kids to compile, doesn't it? Publishes it on a web site, yes?"
"Yes!" Sam replied enthusiastically, seeing where this was going. "We give them a world exclusive interview with former SG-1 leaders; they copyright it and get a little bit of fame and hopefully some money for syndication rights!"
"We've got to move fast, though." Jack mused. "Tomorrow night. Can you get a call to the Principal? Tell him that we'll make a presentation followed by Q and A for the kids and parents. Nobody should tell the press if they want it to be an exclusive."
"Well, I help the group of kids who compile the school journal." said Sam. "We'll have the first copy on the web site within thirty minutes of the end of the meeting. I'll call him on my cell phone right now."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's time for questions at last." announced Sam to the packed school hall as she finished their talk about the new wonders. "Who's first?" A sea of arms waved and the noise level suddenly increased.
"Quiet, please!" shouted the Principal from his position on the stage beside Sam and Jack. "I think first that a round of applause for our distinguished guests and the honour they have done in giving us their stories is called for." He paused until silence reigned again, although it was noticeable that not all the parents seemed to be enthusiastic about what they had heard. "I will select the questioners. Parents, please be patient, I'm going to give the pupils the first go. You, Simpson!"
"How many planets have you been to?" asked the blond, spiky-haired youth inevitably nicknamed 'Bart' by his pals.
"I lost count." said Jack. "Over a hundred, by my reckoning. Sam's been to a few more since she was in the program a while longer than me."
"What's it like having a Goa'uld inside your head?" came the next, surprisingly from a normally rather quiet girl.
"Truly hideous." replied Jack, and Sam nodded in agreement. "There's no hiding anything from them, not a single thought, and they can control you any time they want, make you do anything at all, even against your will."
"Do you get travel-sick in wormholes?" was the first question to make them smile.
"Yes, when you're not used to it." replied Sam. "It takes some nerve to step through the Stargate for the first time, knowing that you're going to be disassembled into an electronic version of matter, and then re-assembled at the other end. But it all seems to work out right. Well, most of the time anyway!"
"I'd like to visit the other worlds, but only if they have Burger Kings there. Do they?"
Jack waited until the laughter died down. "It won't be long, I'm sure. In fact, on some worlds it'd be a vast improvement over the local offerings!"
The children's questions continued, varying from the sensible and incisive to the truly youth-orientated. Sam and Jack's favourite was: "Do you think I could take my punk rock band on a Stargate tour to different planets, you know, make a real splash?" asked one adolescent.
"I'm sure the neighbours would welcome it." replied Jack, keeping a straight face, in contrast to Sam.
The parents' questions were of course of a more serious nature.
"Are we under threat of invasion by aliens now?" was the first.
"We always have been." Jack responded. "The only difference is, now we know the odds and a lot more detail of who our real and potential enemies are. Some will be frightened by that prospect, others will recognise after the initial shock has worn off that it's an opportunity to plan the best defence."
"Are we really so backward in technology compared to these other races?" asked another.
Sam of course replied to that one, describing her role in analysing the alien artefacts and building her own versions of the discoveries. She concluded: "It's most important that we educate people not only to understand and be able to make use of these new technologies, but more importantly, to learn how to make best use of them." She looked at Jack and said in a firm voice, "That's the biggest lesson I learned from Jack." He caught her eye and nodded his thanks almost imperceptibly.
"Do they share our religious beliefs on other worlds?"
"Insofar as most of the peoples we've come into contact with are humans like us, many seem to believe in a god-like figure or figures to a greater or lesser extent." said Jack. "But just like on Earth, there are many versions of religion. No-one can really claim to know the absolute truth, and yet they all think they do - just like here. But recognise this: we've met a few races who only vaguely resemble humans. I think it was the science writer Arthur C. Clarke who said, 'The rash assertion that *God made man in His own image* is ticking like a time-bomb at the foundation of many faiths.' You can draw your own conclusions."
"Why did the Government keep it secret for so long?"
"Because that's what governments do. I can't answer that."
"Why did you both retire? Are you going to stay around here?"
"Sheer exhaustion in Jack's case and battle-fatigue in mine." said Sam. "And yes, we've just bought a house near here. We realise that the place is going to be swarming with reporters for a while, and that they could upset a few of you while they're here. We apologise for that - we need your support to survive the onslaught ourselves. We just hope it's a 'Nine Days Wonder.'"
And so the session came to an end, closed by the Principal. Sam gathered her team of junior journalists, who set to work writing up their notes and transcribing the tape recording on unclear points. By 11:30 pm they were staring with pride at their web page, having made sure that all the pointers were in place to attract as many related search words as they could think of. By midnight, the hit counter on their home page was already in the hundreds, passing all previous school records.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Sam and Jack collected the dogs from their friend Jimmy and returned to their new house nearby in the village. 'New' was a misnomer: the old wooden house was going to need quite some renovation work, but the roof didn't leak and after a winter in the cabin, they had the unaccustomed luxury of multiple rooms and electricity. Their furniture from Colorado Springs had been installed and Sam had already been planning the changes to make it 'theirs'.
"How soon do you think the first reporter will be here?" said Sam, just before they dozed off for the night.
"Probably by mid-day, if we're lucky." Jack replied drowsily.
Unfortunately, it was a breakfast-time phone call from a friend that shattered the calm. "Turn to the Fox News channel." said the caller. Sam picked up the remote and found the station. They watched for a while as the presenters cycled through the news - mostly about the Stargate, of course, but with due prominence to the sports results.
Jack laughed. "I thought that was a British thing, you know?" He put on the awful accent that most Americans think is the right one. "Aliens invaded the world today. And now, here are the cricket match results."
But as the studio team reviewed the day's newspapers, they were suddenly horrified to see and hear the storyline in one national tabloid. 'I was Stargate babe's hot lover, by Denver cop Pete Shannon. Our nights of passion in Colorado Springs love nest when she came back from missions. The unbearable stresses of an affair when one partner has to keep silent.'
Jack sat in silent shock, while Sam fled from the room, her face burning red and hot tears running down her cheeks.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Sam drove for the first three hours on the long journey north, while Jack kept quiet for the most part, nevertheless managing to surprise her when she caught him smiling vaguely from time to time.
"Come on!" she chided him. "Care to share it?" He looked blankly back at her. "Well?"
"It occurred to me yesterday afternoon that somewhere along the line, I've handed over control of pretty much everything in my life to you, without realising when it happened." he replied at length.
"No, that can't be." she replied. "I've kinda been thinking the same thing about you."
"What? You mean we're still at the 'Me Colonel, You Jane' stage, then?"
"In a pig's ear we are!"
"Well, a guy can dream..."
She was silent for a short while. "Does it worry you?" she asked, glancing over at him.
"Hell, no." he sighed. "I'm telling you, when Hammond announced us to the crowd as a couple, in front of all the people we knew - well, that was one of the best moments of my life. Period."
Her grin threatened to split her face, and she briefly took one had off the steering wheel to reach over and squeeze his forearm. "Yeah, it was a moment, all right."
Jack stayed quiet a little longer, before saying in a soft voice, "I'm sorry I lit off at you when we were talking to Daniel and Indira."
"No." she started to respond. "I started it..." But he interrupted her.
"Wait, Sam. I want to say this right. I can't promise that I won't do or say dumb things again that'll upset you or other people. The fact that I'm telling you this is an example of what I meant about you controlling my life. I don't ever want this to end between us, OK?"
Sam was dumbstruck, and her eyes started misting as she tried to concentrate on the road ahead. The sudden sight of a large illuminated yellow 'M' ahead determined her next actions, as she signalled a right turn and gently braked for the exit to the fast food restaurant. She drew into the parking lot and came to a stop in a marked bay at the rear of the building. Assuming that they were taking their first break on the journey, Jack started to unbuckle his seat belt and reached for the passenger door handle. He was surprised however to find that Sam had quickly freed herself from her belt and had moved across to throw her arms around him, pulling his head suddenly round and kissing him passionately on the lips. His seat belt buckle made a loud noise when it hit the door post as the belt retracted, startling the two canines in the back seat.
Well, what could the poor guy do except respond by leaning back into the kiss? But not for the first time, a close-by sniffing sound followed by the unmistakeable touch of a cold, wet nose in their rearward-facing ears reminded them both of the social order that prevailed in their household and they drew back, Sam smiling fit to bust. "Rule 2." she announced more to Sam 2 than Jack. "No passion before walks. I forgot for a moment there." The dogs appeared to agree.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Walked, watered, replenished and relaxed, the journey recommenced half an hour later with Jack behind the wheel. The relatively featureless highway was downright boring for long stretches, and as usual Jack had selected a music CD to help him keep alert. Sam had thought that she might doze a while after they had left the diner, but had found herself listening enraptured to Dvorak's 'New World' symphony from beginning to end.
"Now that's an example of your influence on me." she said, as the strains of the music were still fresh in her mind. "I'd never paid much heed to classical music before. Now I don't listen to much else, given the choice."
"Glad to oblige." he replied. Then after a pause, he continued, "Sam, I've been thinking about what we should do next. It's only a matter of time before the press tracks us down to Minnesota and then we're going to have the neighbours and friends cursing at the plague we'll have sicked on them."
"Yes." she said, nodding in agreement. "I've been wondering about the same thing. I'll bet that realtor will tell them where our new house is as soon as he sees us on TV."
"Him or a dozen others." said Jack. "But what I was thinking: how about a pre-emptive strike against the media?"
"P90's or zats?" she laughed.
"I wish." he agreed. "No, here's the thing. The school has its own computer journal for the kids to compile, doesn't it? Publishes it on a web site, yes?"
"Yes!" Sam replied enthusiastically, seeing where this was going. "We give them a world exclusive interview with former SG-1 leaders; they copyright it and get a little bit of fame and hopefully some money for syndication rights!"
"We've got to move fast, though." Jack mused. "Tomorrow night. Can you get a call to the Principal? Tell him that we'll make a presentation followed by Q and A for the kids and parents. Nobody should tell the press if they want it to be an exclusive."
"Well, I help the group of kids who compile the school journal." said Sam. "We'll have the first copy on the web site within thirty minutes of the end of the meeting. I'll call him on my cell phone right now."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's time for questions at last." announced Sam to the packed school hall as she finished their talk about the new wonders. "Who's first?" A sea of arms waved and the noise level suddenly increased.
"Quiet, please!" shouted the Principal from his position on the stage beside Sam and Jack. "I think first that a round of applause for our distinguished guests and the honour they have done in giving us their stories is called for." He paused until silence reigned again, although it was noticeable that not all the parents seemed to be enthusiastic about what they had heard. "I will select the questioners. Parents, please be patient, I'm going to give the pupils the first go. You, Simpson!"
"How many planets have you been to?" asked the blond, spiky-haired youth inevitably nicknamed 'Bart' by his pals.
"I lost count." said Jack. "Over a hundred, by my reckoning. Sam's been to a few more since she was in the program a while longer than me."
"What's it like having a Goa'uld inside your head?" came the next, surprisingly from a normally rather quiet girl.
"Truly hideous." replied Jack, and Sam nodded in agreement. "There's no hiding anything from them, not a single thought, and they can control you any time they want, make you do anything at all, even against your will."
"Do you get travel-sick in wormholes?" was the first question to make them smile.
"Yes, when you're not used to it." replied Sam. "It takes some nerve to step through the Stargate for the first time, knowing that you're going to be disassembled into an electronic version of matter, and then re-assembled at the other end. But it all seems to work out right. Well, most of the time anyway!"
"I'd like to visit the other worlds, but only if they have Burger Kings there. Do they?"
Jack waited until the laughter died down. "It won't be long, I'm sure. In fact, on some worlds it'd be a vast improvement over the local offerings!"
The children's questions continued, varying from the sensible and incisive to the truly youth-orientated. Sam and Jack's favourite was: "Do you think I could take my punk rock band on a Stargate tour to different planets, you know, make a real splash?" asked one adolescent.
"I'm sure the neighbours would welcome it." replied Jack, keeping a straight face, in contrast to Sam.
The parents' questions were of course of a more serious nature.
"Are we under threat of invasion by aliens now?" was the first.
"We always have been." Jack responded. "The only difference is, now we know the odds and a lot more detail of who our real and potential enemies are. Some will be frightened by that prospect, others will recognise after the initial shock has worn off that it's an opportunity to plan the best defence."
"Are we really so backward in technology compared to these other races?" asked another.
Sam of course replied to that one, describing her role in analysing the alien artefacts and building her own versions of the discoveries. She concluded: "It's most important that we educate people not only to understand and be able to make use of these new technologies, but more importantly, to learn how to make best use of them." She looked at Jack and said in a firm voice, "That's the biggest lesson I learned from Jack." He caught her eye and nodded his thanks almost imperceptibly.
"Do they share our religious beliefs on other worlds?"
"Insofar as most of the peoples we've come into contact with are humans like us, many seem to believe in a god-like figure or figures to a greater or lesser extent." said Jack. "But just like on Earth, there are many versions of religion. No-one can really claim to know the absolute truth, and yet they all think they do - just like here. But recognise this: we've met a few races who only vaguely resemble humans. I think it was the science writer Arthur C. Clarke who said, 'The rash assertion that *God made man in His own image* is ticking like a time-bomb at the foundation of many faiths.' You can draw your own conclusions."
"Why did the Government keep it secret for so long?"
"Because that's what governments do. I can't answer that."
"Why did you both retire? Are you going to stay around here?"
"Sheer exhaustion in Jack's case and battle-fatigue in mine." said Sam. "And yes, we've just bought a house near here. We realise that the place is going to be swarming with reporters for a while, and that they could upset a few of you while they're here. We apologise for that - we need your support to survive the onslaught ourselves. We just hope it's a 'Nine Days Wonder.'"
And so the session came to an end, closed by the Principal. Sam gathered her team of junior journalists, who set to work writing up their notes and transcribing the tape recording on unclear points. By 11:30 pm they were staring with pride at their web page, having made sure that all the pointers were in place to attract as many related search words as they could think of. By midnight, the hit counter on their home page was already in the hundreds, passing all previous school records.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Sam and Jack collected the dogs from their friend Jimmy and returned to their new house nearby in the village. 'New' was a misnomer: the old wooden house was going to need quite some renovation work, but the roof didn't leak and after a winter in the cabin, they had the unaccustomed luxury of multiple rooms and electricity. Their furniture from Colorado Springs had been installed and Sam had already been planning the changes to make it 'theirs'.
"How soon do you think the first reporter will be here?" said Sam, just before they dozed off for the night.
"Probably by mid-day, if we're lucky." Jack replied drowsily.
Unfortunately, it was a breakfast-time phone call from a friend that shattered the calm. "Turn to the Fox News channel." said the caller. Sam picked up the remote and found the station. They watched for a while as the presenters cycled through the news - mostly about the Stargate, of course, but with due prominence to the sports results.
Jack laughed. "I thought that was a British thing, you know?" He put on the awful accent that most Americans think is the right one. "Aliens invaded the world today. And now, here are the cricket match results."
But as the studio team reviewed the day's newspapers, they were suddenly horrified to see and hear the storyline in one national tabloid. 'I was Stargate babe's hot lover, by Denver cop Pete Shannon. Our nights of passion in Colorado Springs love nest when she came back from missions. The unbearable stresses of an affair when one partner has to keep silent.'
Jack sat in silent shock, while Sam fled from the room, her face burning red and hot tears running down her cheeks.
XXXXXXXXXXXX