Mitchell felt like he'd spent every bit of strength he had left, trying to look like he was in control of the situation, pointing a wavering P90 at the newcomers and asking stupid questions. Well, not so stupid, actually. They'd found out amazing stuff, and he was sure there was more to come. Unfortunately it was getting harder and harder for him to follow the conversation. Carter was explaining something about what she had thought about the ice-mirror-device, while Eilerson answered with what little he had figured out. He seemed to be interested about the commercial value of it, which Carter found ridiculous.

Mitchell really found the whole situation ridiculous. He decided he could just as well lie down.

So, two guys pop in from 2267, one of which is some kind of a weird wizard wannabe, while the other does basically the same stuff as Jackson, and advanced as they might be, they're just as stuck here as SG-1, and haven't got much of anything useful to offer? Well, except, unless Galen really could heal people. That would certainly count as useful. And if he could heal Jackson, then surely healing Mitchell would be an easy thing to do. But Eilerson had expressed several times that he'd never seen Galen do anything like this before, and was sure that it was just some kind of a show.

Mitchell noticed that blood was seeping through the bandaging covering his shoulder. For a passing moment, he wondered what'd happen to him if Galen really wasn't able to help. Of course, he'd just fight and get over this injury like everything that had happened to him before this. No problem. Piece of cake. At least, that was what he tried to tell himself, with the feeling that deep down, he really didn't believe it.

When he heard Jackson's weak voice telling Eilerson that Galen really could help, his hopes went up. And so, when the supposed healer showed up by his side, he was anxious to see what'd happen. But it wasn't all that spectacular. Mostly, Galen just sat there, his hands partially blocking Mitchell's view. He seemed to be holding a crystal of some kind in one hand. Then, slowly, very slowly, he saw new skin growing to cover the wound. He didn't feel it, since Galen had done something to stop him from feeling anything at all.

"There you go," Galen said, and lifted his hands, revealing a patch of perfectly healed skin. So much for whatever Eilerson had said, this really worked. At least looked like it had worked, and felt like it too. If this was a trick, then it was a damn good one.

"A few hours of sleep, and you'll be good as new."

Mitchell could believe that. Nothing he'd like to do more than doze off. But he was still in charge, still had an obligation to his team. "Carter? What time's it?"

"Sir... It's late. 0300 already. I guess we could all use a few hours of sleep."

"Make that an order, then. Sleep for all. You mind taking the first watch?"


Day Two

Daniel woke up wondering if he'd accidentally fallen from his bed. At least it felt like he was lying on the floor. But he was not entangled in sheets, he was in a sleeping bag, which would mean that he was offworld.

It only took that realization to bring it all back in awful clarity. SG-1 stuck in the Ancients' science lab, with two people called Max and Galen that he barely knew anything about. And Galen had healed him. He was all right now, no longer injured, dizzy, cold--he was feeling fine, except that the floor was hard and uncomfortable, and it was a bit too warm.

The most important thing was, Daniel could think again. The memory of all that had went through his head earlier made him ashamed of himself. It'd been all useless desperation and gloom, surrendering to the fact that they would all die here, instead of something that could help them get out. Of course, there was a perfectly rational, physical explanation for it--of course he hadn't exactly been himself, he'd been in shock, he'd been dying. Still, he hated to think that he had been about to give up.

He got up and looked around. The room was perfectly still and silent. The others had went to sleep too, and they hadn't waken up yet. For a passing while, Daniel had the awful idea that they might all be dead, but he could hear someone snoring--probably Max, and he saw Sam turning around. He looked at his watch, only to be reminded that it was broken. Sam lay near him, her hand out of her sleeping bag, so he checked her watch instead. It showed 0730. They had left the SGC at around 1000 the previous morning. In a few hours, they'd have spent a full day in this place.

Daniel caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye, right where the multiverse mirror was. He turned around, startled. It was only Galen, who apparently wasn't sleeping. He had just sat down on the pedestal, at the foot of the device. Daniel walked over and sat down next to him.

"So... I didn't thank you yet, did I? For saving my hand, my life, and all that."

"You're quite welcome. I take it that you're feeling better now?"

"A lot better. Normal, really. As if nothing ever happened. So, you're an Ancient?"

"Do I really look ancient to you? No, I'm not one of these Alterans who've built this place. Maximilian and I are just as human as you. We actually discussed most of this with your friends when you had already fallen asleep."

"Then you'll have to fill me in. Who are you, and why are you here?"

"Those are questions we spend all our lives trying to answer."

Right. That gave Daniel some serious Oma Desala flashbacks. "Just give me the short version," he said, feeling like he was channeling Jack.

"Maximilian is--much like you, I hear--a specialist in ancient, alien languages. I am a techno-mage."

"What's that?"

"That would be in the long version, I'm afraid. Dreamers, shapers, singers and makers, my teacher used to call us. We use technology to achieve the effect of magic. Not all of us are humans, but we all work for a common goal: understanding the universe and knowing all that can be known."

"But you just don't happen to know how to get us out of here."

"It's a noble goal, but hard to attain. We're still working on it."

"And that's why you came here?"

"Yes, in a way, that is why I'm here, since it's the reason I exist. It's the true reason any of us exist. But no, back to the tale. There is a particular reason as to why Maximilian and I came to be in this particular place, and this very unexpected time. We both belong to the crew of a ship known as the Excalibur. At the beginning of the year 2267, the current year where we come from, we set out on a quest to save Earth from a plague that will otherwise wipe out all life from the planet in a matter of years."

"Wait, wait, wait! 2267 AD? What timeline? Did you destroy Ra? Did you even ever meet the Goa'uld? What about the Ori?" The questions kept coming, though as they came, Daniel knew that they might be all wrong. He might not be able to guess how different Galen and Max's universe was from the ones he knew. But at least there were humans there who lived on Earth, so there had to be similarities. "Did you ever find the stargates? Do you even have stargates?"

"Another interesting point that came about in our earlier conversation. I've never encountered anything that resembles these stargates you speak of, and I don't think anyone has, in our universe. Instead, we use jumpgates, which open into hyperspace, in much the same way, allowing fast travel through great distances."

"And you said not all techno-mages are humans, so you've made first contact--when? With whom?"

"Unlike in your universe and timeline, with us, humans only made first contact in 2156. We had been visited by aliens before, but we only learned of it much later. That year, we met the Centauri, who are, according to your friends, not a race known to you, just as the Goa'uld, the Ori, the Ancients, the Asgard, the Nox and the Furlings are wholly unknown to me."

"So it's not the same plague that destroyed the Ancients that's got to your Earth."

"It's not. It's a biological weapon used against us by a race known as the Drakh, servants of the Shadows, who, I hear, also don't exist in your universe. In search of a cure to that plague we have visited a number of alien ruins, and this place is one of them."

"According to the diary of one of the people who worked here, it's supposed to be perfectly hidden. How did you find it?"

"I have certain sources and certain technologies available that come with being what I am. I came across a rumor and a discovery of something, an odd distortion in space, barely noticeable. I was able to locate it exactly and uncover the shielding. Ah, and this was something that your friends found quite intriguing, while I was surprised that they did not know: We are not on a planet. This Dodecagon, as you call it, is basically a space station. There is a hatch in the ceiling--right where your friend Cameron located an area that does not emit light--but even if we could open it, it would only lead to an airlock, and then into the vacuum of space."

A space station. Of all things. Sam had located the gate coordinates quite far out there, not near to any known star, but they had supposed--well, they had had many ideas about it. The base could've been on an asteroid, or on an artificially built planet... Of course, a space station, all alone in deep space, far removed from everything, was the safest place to conduct the sort of experiments the Duodecim had done with the multiverse mirror.

"What about the device, the mirror? How'd you end up here? How did you activate it? And most of all, can we go through it again?"

"By accident, we didn't, and no."

"Sorry?"

"We were locked in, same as you. We're still not sure what exactly closes the doors, but it must be either close proximity to the device, or then touching it, or certain parts of it. We tried to do our best to get out, and in the course of things, Maximilian thought it a wise thing to do to go and touch the surface of the Veraeda, as device was called in one of the texts. I didn't agree with him, but as I tried to stop him, the exact moment my hand contacted his, the device was activated, and we found ourselves here."

"So, even in the year 2267, humans still haven't learned the first rule of survival. Don't touch. But why do you say we can't use the multiverse mirror again?"

"See for yourself," Galen gestured at the device.

Daniel turned to look. The surface was no longer ice-like. It wasn't even transparent anymore, just a dull, matted gray.

"The mirror's broken, and I'm afraid I'm the one to blame for that, just as I'm to blame for the initial activation of the mirror. This is also the reason why I can't do much inside these walls."

"And you're the one to blame because..."

"Samantha told that you understand something of this technology. The power unit of the mirror is, or rather, as it's now fused into its base so it can't be removed, was what you call a Zero Point Module. I, as a techno-mage, need technology to cast spells, and for that, I need a power source. And just as this device, just as the entire complex around, I use zero point energy. Only I do it in a way that isn't exactly compatible with this technology, or so it would seem. As the two technologies clash, the consequences are impossible to predict."

"So much for escaping through the mirror, then."

"It would only have taken us to another sealed room anyway. Activating it is a sure way to initiate the lockdown at the other end."

"Which, of course, brings us back to the walls and the texts, which still seem to be our only way out. At least there's two of us working on them now, with Max around, or three, if your knowledge of all that can be known includes linguistics and history."

"It does, actually, though right now, it's rather limited. I'll help if I can."

Right. Daniel's knowledge was rather limited now, too, since he could've used a whole library of grammars and dictionaries, instead of a set of random notes from here and there. But it'd have to do.

He stood up and walked a few steps closer to the wall. The text right in front of him was the ominous Brahmi script, the one that he had failed to date, so Mitchell had got badly hurt. Hopefully Galen had been able to heal Mitchell as well. At least he seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

Daniel searched his pockets and picked up a notebook and a pen. Back to work.