DISCLAIMER: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the goa'uld and all other characters that have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of the people who made them up. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

Manifestations

Part two

'Sir!' The two doctors stood to attention as Colonel Maybourne entered the room, not so much out of respect, although being his subordinates that should have been the case, but because they knew he was in a particularly bad mood and that he was more than capable of assigning them to cleaning toilets if they didn't come up to scratch.

'What have we got?' Maybourne snapped, his patience sorely tested by earlier events. He might well fume, but under no circumstances was he foolish enough to go up against Jack O'Neill and his gang in a head to head to situation, it just wasn't his style.

'Well, the second two subjects aren't going to supply us with anything I'm afraid,' Dr Crispin said nervously, moving on hastily when he saw the Colonel about to explode. 'The first subject…well, I think we've got enough to keep us going for years. Here.' He directed Maybourne's gaze to a television screen and flicked a button on the remote and they all watched, Dr Crispin fast forwarding to give Maybourne an idea of what they were working with.

Dr Crispin approached Alysha with a needle to sedate her while they carried out some tests. Alysha, a wary look on her face, lashed out with her hand and the needle went flying across the room, even though the doctor was still several feet away from her. It had taken several more attempts for them to get the sedative into her, and even then, after they had attached her to various monitors, the readings went haywire as the focussed look on the girl's face told them she was somehow interfering with the electrical equipment. They had managed to get their readings only after the sedative had taken full effect and she had fallen asleep.

'We don't know what else she's capable of, but I suspect we've only scratched the surface.' Dr Read informed Maybourne.

'Excellent work, doctors,' Maybourne's smile sent a chill down their backs. 'Let me know what else you turn up. In the meantime, I think it's time I had a little chat with our child wonder.'

XOXOXOX

'Colonel.' Sergeant Brown stood to attention as Maybourne entered the room. This was the first time he'd visited Alysha although she knew perfectly well that he was the one responsible for what the child had been put through. Part of her automatically obeyed her orders, but part of her was really struggling with what was going on, feeling sorry for the little girl who seemed to be so lost and so alone.

'Sergeant,' Maybourne acknowledged her briefly before turning to Alysha and smiling at her. 'Hello Alysha.'

Alysha, who had been sitting at a table with some crayons and paper, stopped what she was doing and stared at the intruder, her eyes seemed to be staring into his very soul. Within moments, she leapt to her feet, knocking her chair over as she dived behind Sergeant Brown, the only person in this place who didn't seem to be a threat.

'It's alright, Alysha,' Sandra spoke reassuringly. 'This is Colonel Maybourne, he's the one in charge.'

Alysha reluctantly moved out from her hiding place but still clung to Sandra who manoeuvred her back into her chair, but remained right beside her.

'Can you tell me about yourself Alysha?' Maybourne prompted, wanting to find out as much as possible about this child, hoping that maybe once they knew where she'd come from, they may be able to find more people with similar powers. Alysha stared at him, saying nothing. 'How old are you?'

There was a long silence, until she eventually spoke in a very quiet voice. 'I'm Alysha, I'm ten. Everyone in my village died after they got sick.'

'I'm sorry to hear that. How did you get into the storage room?'

'Some men were chasing me. I went through the door, I was looking for somewhere to hide. Then the men had gone but some others came.'

'Did you touch anything when you were in there?'

'No. I did bump into a stone though.'

'I see.' Maybourne stood to leave, feeling it best if he tried to get more information another time. 'Well, thank you for your help. I'll come by and see you again.'

After he'd gone, Alysha turned troubled eyes to Sandra. 'I didn't like him. He makes me feel bad.'

'It's alright, Alysha,' Sandra did her best to reassure her charge. 'I'm sure it's only because you don't know him yet. Anyway, it's getting late, I guess we better clean this lot up and get you to bed. Come on.'

As they headed for Alysha's sleeping quarters, they could see a group of people ahead of them turning a corner. As they disappeared from view, Alysha suddenly felt cold all over as she saw something that had to be impossible and stopped dead in her tracks, her face white as a sheet.

'What's wrong?' Sandra asked, alarmed at her appearance.

'Who were those people?' Alysha whispered, almost afraid of the answer she would receive.

'They're just some other guests of Colonel Maybourne's,' Sandra told her. 'Why?'

'They had a girl with them.' Alysha stated.

'That's right, she's the adopted daughter of one of the group.'

'Do you know her name?' Her voice could barely be heard now.

'Uh, I think I heard them calling her Cassie.'

'Cassie!' Alysha started shaking as she repeated the name, Sandra, becoming alarmed, hurried Alysha to her room and settled her in bed as quickly as possible, before reaching for the phone to call one of the doctor's to take a look at her.

'I'm alright, Sandra,' Alysha forced herself to calm down, not wanting to give anything away. 'The girl reminded me of someone I used to know. I'm sorry I scared you.'

'You didn't scare me honey,' Sandra reassured her as she sat on the edge of the bed, smoothing Alysha's hair. 'I was afraid you might be ill. Are you sure you're alright?'

'I'm fine, just tired now. I think I'll go to sleep.'

'Ok, well you know I'll be right here if you need anything. Night.' Sandra shut the light off and sat on the couch in the outer room, her face troubled.

XOXOXOX

'No!' Cassie's screaming brought not only Dr Fraiser to her side, but the rest of SG1 as well. Hovering anxiously at the door, they watched as Janet hugged the shaking girl, trying to calm her down. After several long minutes, Janet was able to settle her and she quickly fell asleep again. Jack led the others back to the lounge where they were waiting for Janet when she emerged from Cassie's room.

'Is she alright?' Sam asked, voicing the concerns of the others.

'I think so,' Janet ran her fingers through her hair. 'She hasn't had nightmares for a while, but I guess in the circumstances it's hardly surprising that they're coming out again. She says she was dreaming of Hanka and the people she lost.'

'I'm going to get on to General Hammond first thing,' Jack said, barely keeping his temper under control. 'I'm pretty sure he'll back me up on this one - she's just a kid for crying out loud.'

'Thank you sir,' Dr Fraiser looked gratefully at the support she was getting, even though Cassie was as much a part of their lives as hers, it still meant a lot to her.

'You bet,' Jack acknowledged before rubbing his eyes and yawning. 'I guess I'll head back to bed.'

They hadn't been asleep long when Cassie's cries disturbed them, and after the third attempt as the sky began to lighten, they gave up all pretence of sleeping and sat around drinking coffee. After the last nightmare, Janet led a wan Cassie into the room where she ran to Jack and climbed into his lap, clinging on to him as though he were the only one who could save her from her bad dreams.

'What's wrong?' Jack asked, ignoring everyone else as he focussed solely on this frightened little girl who had come to him for help.

'I keep seeing her,' Cassie whispered, searching his face for the reassurance she so badly needed.

'Who?'

'My best friend.'

'Carla?' Jack referred to one of Cassie's friends from school, the two of them were rarely apart.

'No. Alysha.'

'I don't know her do I?'

'No. She's from my home. Jack?' Cassie hesitated.

'Yes?' Jack rocked Cassie gently, holding her closer when she said nothing else, waiting patiently for her to continue when she was ready.

'I think she's here.' Cassie's voice could barely be heard.

'She can't be,' Jack's voice was sharper than intended before he checked himself and continued talking in soothing tones. 'You were the only one left alive, you know that.'

'I know, it's just…I know she's here all the same.'

'Carter?' Jack looked to Sam to help him out. Sam moved to sit next to Jack and took one of Cassie's hands in her own.

'How do you know she's here?' Sam asked.

'I can see her in a room like this one, and there's a lady soldier with her,' Cassie informed them. 'The two doctors are with her and they keep trying to do all those tests on her like they did with us.'

'That happens sometimes, Cassie,' Sam tried to explain about the subconscious mind. 'When we dream, our minds try to make sense of what has happened during the day. It's your body's way of trying to cope.'

'No.' Cassie was definite, leaving no room for argument. 'I can feel her, I didn't just dream about her. I can feel her here.' She placed one of her hands over her heart. 'There were some other places I saw her as well, but I didn't recognise them.'

'Can you tell me about them?'

'It was a big room with lots of shelves. She was being chased by some men with guns, she hid behind a big stone, then the men were gone, but then she saw some different men with guns, and there was the lady soldier there as well. She was scared. She thinks they're going to hurt her and she's all alone except for the lady soldier who's looking after her. We have to rescue her, Jack.' Cassie looked appealingly at Jack, then at the faces of the others as she realised they were having trouble believing her.

'She's here and they're doing all those things to her that they did to me but she doesn't have anyone who can tell them to stop. We have to help her, please?'

'Tell you what,' Jack tried to reach a compromise. 'Why don't Teal'c and I take a walk and see if we can find anything out.' Cassie looked gratefully at him and hugged him before allowing herself to be lifted from his lap and placed next to Sam where she immediately burrowed her way under Sam's arm.

XOXOXOX

Jack looked over at Teal'c as he stood at full alert outside a door. Teal'c held up one hand telling Jack to remain silent while he leant closer to the door, listening hard before beckoning Jack over.

Five minutes later the two of them hurried back to their own quarters, not wanting to risk getting caught sneaking around. The look on Jack's face was enough to tell Cassie that she had been right, causing the girl to burst into tears, taking them all by surprise. Janet held her as she cried, calming her down until she was able to talk.

'I thought she was dead,' Cassie said, still hiccupping from her crying. 'They all died, you didn't find anyone else alive. How can she be here?'

Sam glanced at Jack for permission to tell Cassie about her theory, he gave a brief nod and Sam pulled Cassie onto her lap.

'Can you remember you told us about that big stone in the storage room from your dream?' Cassie nodded, confused. 'Well, that's a special artefact that can take people from one reality and send them to another.' Cassie looked even more confused and Sam searched around in her mind, trying to find the words that would explain to an eleven year old child how the quantum mirror worked. 'Ok, in our world, everyone on Hanka died except you and General Hammond is in charge of the SGC. There are lots of other places that look a lot like this one, but are different. Someone else is in charge of the SGC and maybe other people on Hanka survive. It's a bit like looking in a mirror and everything is back to front. Does that make sense?'

Cassie considered what Sam had told her, then slowly nodded.

'Good. Well, this artefact is in a storage room here, and it's possible that Alysha was the one who survived from her world, except there was no one like your mom to look after her, or us to look out for her.'

'And those men she was running away from wanted to do bad things to her and she had nobody to tell them to stop.' Cassie nodded, looking far wiser than her years. 'We have to help her.' She turned pleading eyes on everyone in the room.

'She's right Jack,' Daniel agreed with Cassie, earning himself a grateful look from her. 'It really doesn't matter where she came from, she's just a little girl and they've got no right to use her in their experiments.'

'I don't know Daniel, I mean maybe there's a good reason why she's here and not with a family.' Jack was more cautious, remembering the disaster that Cassie had nearly inadvertently caused.

'She's scared, Jack,' Cassie spoke softly, remembering how her friend had been in her dream. 'If she is being used like I was, she doesn't know about it. And you can help her.' Cassie spoke confidently, having utter faith in her adopted family to perform miracles if necessary.

'I agree, sir,' Sam also recalled how scared Cassie had been, and she had people who were looking out for her. 'We should get her out of here and sort out any problems later.'

'It is not right that a child should be used in such a manner O'Neill,' Teal'c had also jumped on the bandwagon. 'I will assist you in this mission.' Teal'c's face had a fearsome expression that made Cassie giggle, but reassured her that they were all on her side.

'Well…' Jack exaggerated a sigh. 'It looks like I'm outnumbered here. I guess we go for it then.' Nobody was fooled at this apparent reluctance to act, Jack was very protective when it came to kids and the decision had been a foregone conclusion as soon as he realised Cassie's dream had been something else. At this memory he frowned. 'Are you sure it was a dream you had Cassie?' Jack asked, turning more serious. 'It just seems a little odd that this all happened in so much detail.'

'Well…it did seem kind of real, but sometimes dreams are like that aren't they?'

'We can worry about that later, first, we have to figure out what we're going to do.'