Author's Note: I promise that I will finish this story, but I might only post a chapter a week, as grad school does take up much of my time. Again, thanks for all the reviews, and enjoy Chapter 5.

"Sir, I'm pretty sure we're still on Earth, but I can't determine anything other than that. I think the structure is having a dampening effect on our radios."

Sam, from the accumulated stress of finding himself in one strange situation after another on this Leap, replied with an uncharacteristic sarcasm. "Okay, Carter, what do you suggest we do; call for help and hope someone is still around in here?"

"I'm not sure, sir, but I'm thinking that if we search the perimeter, maybe we can find something to tell us where we are, or even better, a way out."

"Um, okay Carter, lead the way." "Where did that remark come from? Maybe more than usual of Jack's personality stayed behind."

As Carter entered the doorway a hall became visible which led both left and right. Trying not to be too obvious, Sam desperately tried to read more of the writing on the hallway wall to see if he could gain a clue as to where they were. The hieroglyphs directly across from the room translated into directions, which Sam could only make partial sense out of. "Storage Room One, left, Embark Room, right, Recreational Area, left…hmm, I wonder where they are embarking to?"

Carter, in the meanwhile, was heading left.

"Carter, why don't we go right?"

Startled, Carter turned around and looked at Sam. "Okay, sir, we can go right, but might I ask why?"

"Um, because… because I thought I saw something down there."

"What kind of something, sir? A light? A person?"

"I…I think I heard a sound, so I think we should go investigate it."

"The Colonel is definitely not acting right." "Okay, sir, after you."

As they walked down the corridor, Sam was distracted by the ancient text. Carter, seeing this peculiar action, was even more aware that something was up with Jack. "I'm not sensing the presence of a Goul'd, so Jack can't be a host, but then what is it? Maybe the beam did something to him, but no, he was acting different before."

Before she could finish her train of though, they both found the end of the hallway. An open doorway led into a chamber about the size of the base cafeteria. There were no other exits from the room, and the golden walls reflected the light from their flashlights onto the only thing located in the room; an empty platform and a DHD.

Carter, excited about the prospects of their find, started to head towards the DHD. "Look, a DHD…and no Stargate! Where could it have gone? Why would anyone leave the DHD and take the Stargate?

Confused, Sam started to walk towards Carter and the DHD. Whatever the Stargate was, Sam could see that the empty platform probably use to be related to it. "Maybe I can get a sense of what's going on if I can peek at that…what did she call it…a DHD."

As Sam was heading to meet Carter, a bright light in the shape of a door appeared in front of him, and Al walked into the room. Almost running into Al, Sam suddenly stopped. Carter, being too interested in the DHD, didn't notice this odd behavior.

"Sam, it's you! Finally! Gooshie, we got him, hold it right there." Al's voice had an echo to it, and his image was slightly off color. "Sam, you have no idea how hard it's been to find you. Ziggy went on strike for a few hours, muttering something about how u were here and then you weren't. Our visitor wasn't much help, either. She finally calmed down enough to do some calculations. Sam, do you realize that that crazy computer is saying you are shifted from the normal space time? Ever so slightly, she insists, but it's enough to make a connection twice as difficult as normal. I swear; that computer is going wacko!"

Looking up from the DHD, Carter saw Sam looking at thin air with an odd expression of relief and tension on his face. "Sir? Sir, are you okay," she asked again.

"Fine, Carter, um, I think I heard something in the corridor. I'm going to go check it out. Let me know if you find something."

"Yes, sir."

Sam walked back into the empty hallway with Al behind him. Once he was far enough away from the DHD room, Sam turned to his best friend. "Al, I don't know what the hell is going on here, but it's good to finally see a friendly face in all this insanity. They're talking about other planets and mother ships and things that belong on television. Do you know what year this is suppose to be?

"Well, I haven't gotten much information from our guest, and Ziggy is still trying to compensate for whatever is making it hard to contact you, but from what I have gotten so far, the year is 1998, and your name is Jack."

Yea, Al, I got all that. I'm also some kind of soldier. What I don't know is how I got here, and where here is. Ask Ziggy what exactly here readings are?" Sam had a notion about what the beam did, but he wanted to confirm it with Ziggy before he said something that would make his friend believe he was as crazy as Ziggy."

"She says that you have been pushed to a slightly different section of space-time, not enough to do any harm, but enough that it makes it harder for us to contact you. I'm telling you, she's gone out to lunch or something. What does she mean your not in our space-time?"

"Al, I know this sounds incredible, but stay with me. I think some kind of alien device might have pushed me and Carter into this skewed space-time. When we were in the pyramid room, this blue light beam landed on Carter and me, and the next thing we know we're here. Maybe 'here' is another part of the pyramid that exists in the same space-time that we do now because of the beam." The ramifications of what had occurred appealed to the quantum physicist, and Al could see the excitement in his friend.

Carter, wanting to keep tabs on her comrade, had in the meantime left the room and headed back towards Sam. She turned off her light when she saw Sam standing in the hallway, talking to himself. Watching in the dark, she could hear the conversation and see from Sam's light that he was facing thin air while he talked about concepts that Jack would have no knowledge of.

Positive that this person was not Jack, Carter drew her gun and advanced towards Sam.

"Hands in the air."

"Carter, what's going on?"

"Hand in the air, now!"

"Sam, the hot blond is not joking around; do it."

"Okay, Carter, whatever you say, but what's going on?"

As she approached Sam he could see stark determination in her face. As the realization that she heard what he and Al had been saying struck him, Sam raced to try to find a good answer for the questions that were about to come.