A small, grey, three-foot tall figure walked slowly over the metallic surface of the research lab, which was based on the Asgard ship Bifrost in orbit of Earth. There were all together about ten Asgard working at various control consoles throughout the room. All of them were at monitoring stations which processed sensors readings, calibrated to search for different anomalies. It was Mani's job to monitor the researchers overall workload, making sure they didn't miss anything of vital importance, which could help in their plight.
Mani continued his slow paced walk over to his control console in the centre of the room. Once there, he set straight to work checking over all the different sensor readings. The readings were continually changing as the new information was filtered through from the relevant researchers.
He had been working for a little over three Earth hours when Mani spotted something. He moved one of the egg shaped controls to rewind the sensor readout. When he had found what had caught his interest, he once again changed the settings for that particular sensor relay and refined his search.
There it was, right in front of his big black eyes, the possible answer to their countless millennium long puzzle. Without missing a beat Mani turned around to face another console and once again began moving egg shaped controls around until he had managed to achieve his goal of activating the long-range communications.
"Commander Thor… this is Head Researcher Mani of the research vessel Bifrost orbiting Earth… I require your assistance" spoke the almost childlike voice to thin air.
Minutes later a small screen changed and the face of Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet appeared. "You requested my assistance Mani… What is it that you require my assistance with?"
"We have found something commander which I feel you would be interested in pursuing as soon as possible."
"I am unable to get to Earth at this moment as my vessel is in the middle of a battle with the Replicators… Send me everything you think that I would require and I will go through your findings…"
With that the small screen went blank and Mani set about doing as Thor asked.
"We have to tell Hammond." Adam implored
"What! Are you nuts? You said yourself you didn't want to tell him unless it was absolutely necessary!" Jack's voice rose above the general noise of the room at Adam's comment. Janet and Sam stopped their own discussion and looked toward Jack and Adam to see what the problem was.
"It's the only way we're going to be able to approach the Asgard with our suspicions… and Hammond's not going to let me into the SGC unless I already know about the Stargate."
"But still… are you nuts?"
Sam piped up at this point. "Sir, I've got to agree with Adam on this one. The General would rather lock Adam up than let him back into the mountain. General Hammond doesn't know about Adam's knowledge concerning the Stargate and the Goa'uld… let alone the Asgard. Also, if we talk to the General and he agrees to let us confront the Asgard, I think Adam should be involved, what with him being the oldest immortal and all…"
"What about Janet? She's immortal and she's already in on the Stargate; so we wouldn't have to let Hammond in on Adam!" Jack's protest rang through the room, but he was the only one that seemed to be against Adam getting introduced to the SGC.
"Yes, sir, but I still think we need to keep Janet's immortality a secret as long as possible. General Hammond wouldn't make anything of the situation, more than likely, but what if he did? Just think if it got out that there are immortals in the world, the Trust would have a field day…"
"Ok, but that could happen with them knowing about Adam…"
"I agree, but it's better having them think there's only one immortal then having them know about the whole lot of them…"
"OK… so, what exactly are we going to tell Hammond then… Are we just going to walk in to his office in the morning and say, 'Hey General, you're never going to believe this but we've discovered immortals living among us, but hey, don't worry, they're not aliens; well, at least not much. We think that the Asgard may have had a part in this, though, so could we possibly contact Thor and find out…' I really don't think that's going to work."
"What about the Watcher? There's bound to be a Watcher inside the Mountain; otherwise how would they be able to keep an eye on Janet as she's mostly on base?"
Jack groaned. "What, or who, are the Watchers?" Jack rose an exasperated, yet questioning, eyebrow at Janet.
Janet took on the air of a tour guide. "Watchers… they're a group of people who watch and record the lives of immortals. Basically, they record who killed who and so on."
"Ok then, now that we've got that sorted out, it just adds some more twists to this, already, sucky plan. First, we don't know the identity of Janet's Watcher. And, second, how would we explain a Watcher inside the mountain without telling the General about Janet?" Jack threw back at Adam.
Adam looked perturbed, mostly at himself. "I must be slipping in my old age…"
"Well, we need to come up with an idea before tomorrow morning if you want to tell Hammond."
"Well, you could always have Adam break in again, that way Hammond would more than likely have Adam brought to him so he could deal with him personally."
All heads turned toward Janet, whose face was turning slightly red from all the attention she was suddenly receiving.
"What! It was just an idea!" Janet could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. No matter how long she lived, she had always hated being the centre of attention.
"That could work, actually," Adam thought out loud.
"Come on Adam, I was only joking! You're not seriously thinking about breaking into the mountain again? Hammond's likely to throw you into the deepest hole he could find and forget you ever existed! By the time you get out you could be six thousand years old!"
"Yeah, but I've got you lot to make sure that if he does; you'll come and find me and get me out, before I turn six thousand, right?"
When nobody answered him, Adam looked around at the small group with a look of disappointment on his face. When still nobody replied, he rose from the sofa, which he had been sharing with Sam and just stood staring in disbelief at his friends and lover.
"I can't believe this! We've finally got a plan that could work and you're all bailing on me! Janet, you can't tell me that you don't want to know where immortals really come from. And Sam, you're carrying my child, which I should never have been able to father for God's sake!"
Adam started pacing the room, trying to come up with another plan that the group would be more agreeable to, but nothing came to mind. After a few minutes of being unsuccessful he sighed and retook his seat on the sofa.
"There are not just the immortals to think about here. There's also the Asgard. Immortals aren't meant to have children, but here I am, expecting to be a Dad in a few months. If we let the Asgard know this then they'll be able the check the baby's DNA out and hopefully solve their cloning problem. Just imagine, if we do this for the Asgard maybe they'll do something for us. Maybe they'll give other immortals the ability to have children. Janet, haven't you always wanted to have children? Maybe they'd even be willing to hand some technology over to help out in your continuing battle against the Goa'uld."
"I wouldn't hold my breath on that last one, but enough with the speeches. We'll give Janet's idea a go, but if Hammond's pissed don't blame me…" Jack said getting to his feet. "I'm going to go order some take out as it looks like it's going to be a long night of planning." With that, Jack left the room, heading into the hallway to call the take out place.
Watchers Report on Janetta a.k.a. Doctor Janet Fraiser.
Like always, Janetta has been working her usual long hours and, as a result, has not been challenged by any immortals for a few months.
There does appear to be some other immortals interacting with her, as of late, but there has never been any challenges. It turns out her friend and colleague, Samantha Carter, has a new boyfriend who is associated with a couple of immortals: -
MacLoed, Duncan
Ryan, Richard
Although Duncan MacLoed has now returned to Seacouver, where his file states he lives, Richard Ryan, it seems, has started a romantic relationship with another of Janetta's colleagues, one Louise Robinson.
Something is causing Janetta an unusual amount of stress. I believe that whatever it is must be immortal related as her workload has not increased. A further indication of the possible immortal source is her word to me that her home life with Cassandra is as good as ever. This was volunteered, by her, when I enquired as to her young charge.
I will make my observations more intense for the next few weeks to try and work out what the immortal problem could be that is troubling her.
My next report will be forwarded to you within the next month, as usual.
Watcher GH
The Watcher finished off his report and quickly e-mailed a copy of it to the Head of the Watchers for North America. Once the e-mail had been sent successfully he shut down his computer.
Leaning back into his chair he thought about all the new people, immortal or mortal, that were starting to get their lives intermingled with his charge and her friends.
He could never know for certain whether things were going to get better or worse as time went on but he could always hope for the best. No matter what, though, he found himself unsettled by something he couldn't control.
He was a Watcher and his job as such was to watch and record but never interfere, but how could he not interfere? Janetta had become as much his friend as anyone within the SGC. One thing he had discovered working within the confines of Cheyenne Mountain was that it was like having one big family.
Shaking himself, he told himself that he couldn't get personally involved because with him being her watcher he had to keep a distance.
He had always heard rumours going around the Watchers that there was one Watcher who had broken that rule on more than one occasion. What was his name again… oh yes Joseph Dawson, Watcher for Duncan MacLeod. What a coincidence.
Thinking of Joseph Dawson brought to mind another rumour going around, one that stated he was protecting an immortal that was impersonating a watcher. What was his name, Alan, no, Alex, no not that either… oh yes that what it was Adam… Adam Pierson.
Stopping mid thought it hit him there and then that there was a possibility of another immortal within the small group on Janetta's new-found friends. That would have to be another thing he would have to check out.
But not tonight. Tonight he was going to go home and get some rest, it had been a long week and rest was what he so desperately needed.
A/N: - Thanks for the reviews people.
Lauren: - Thanks for the review and hopefully you'll enjoy this story as much as you like the other two maybe even better :D.
Shawn Provoncha: - If you think this is a great start just keep reading and you'll hopefully like it better.
Once again i would like to say sorry about only putting one chapter up per week but like i said before it's better then nothing. Hope you like and please review.