Chapter Fifteen (Present Day, SGC, crystal shipment received)

"Samantha?"

"Yes?"

"Have you even learned my name yet?"

"I don't think I have with all of the rushing around, DHD building and stuff, what is it?"

"Alana."

"That's a nice name."

"Not really, I came across a library of meanings and my name in Alterran means 'High one'. I was born to be a slave in my father's household."

"Hey, we encountered a world through the Stargate where women were bought and sold as commodities. I was sold to a rival chieftain for his daughter, whom was loved by the man who kidnapped me."

"How did you escape?"

"My team rescued me, and then I challenged Turghan to a fight and won. The Shavadai women were free as a tribute to my memory."

"That is wonderful."

"Yes, now, how do we build a DHD?"

"You have to connect each symbol to the corresponding crystal within the ellipse of the central processor." Samantha looked up, surprised to hear Jack O'neill describing how to build a DHD.

"How dare you!" She added a dirty look to her exclamatory phrase and the general smiled wanly

"That's insubordination Colonel."

"I don't care, General, you retained the knowledge, the Asgaard just toned it down so it didn't overtake your brain. Why didn't you ever tell us you still retained some knowledge?"

"Yes I did. I'm sure of it."

"No, you didn't" Replied Daniel.

"Did."

"Didn't"

Did, mouthed Jack looking at Sam for validation. She just shook her head.

"I thought I did."

"You mean we could have had all that help all those years, sir?" She was dismayed. "Why didn't you offer to help before now? Or, build us a DHD? You knew we needed it." Sam waited for an explanation. Jack had none.

Interrupting, Alana commented, "He's right, you do have to individually connect them." Alana looked up from a complex scientific equation she had just written down. Jack walked over and peered over her shoulder.

"That's not right."

"Sir?" Samantha Carter was thoroughly confused. Jack O'Neill had been accused of many things, insubordination mostly. Correcting complex scientific equations had not been one of them.

"It's base eight math, not base six."

Realization dawned on Alana and she flipped two variables from the position they were in the equation.

"Does that look better?"

"Yeah. How are you thinking of adapting the processors?"

"The more refined veins channel energy more efficiently, if I can get the striations to line up it should work."

"You're awfully smart for a little kid."

"I'm probably about sixty four million, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and fifty older than you are."

"You've been in suspended animation, it doesn't count."

"I don't care, I originally designed this thing."

"You built the first Stargate?"

"Yes, I planned to enter it in the Huritatrean competition for yearly scientific development, but my husband stole my research and no doubt claimed it as his own."

"Well, you're still way smarter than we are."

"No kidding, what was made worse was that when I was revived your friend Daniel was standing in front of the pod. I must confess that I was afraid of what he would do to me. I thought he had come back to boast that he stole it. I lost consciousness and when I woke up, I am afraid I threatened him rather severely."

"So I heard."

"Then this one flung him across the room."

"Carter?"

"He insulted my intelligence sir; I did more than stick a few computers together and slap on a label that said dialing sequencer. And, then it seems Alana here is empathic. Her emotions just took over and oops... sorry Daniel." Daniel huffed a little, but motioned he understood. Jack continued his exposition.

"I know you did Carter. Now, about this DHD."

"I know, I have been reading the research, much as adapted about the design in sixty million years."

"I have the updated version."

"Really? You retained the knowledge?"

"Yeah, I got the repository stuck in my brain. My information is from just before the plague, so that's about as up to date as you can get on the stuff."

"We must begin work immediately."

"Yeah, we probably should. How are we going to get sixty-five pounds of weapons grade naquadah bars to look like a DHD?"

"Why do you call it that?"

"DHD? Well, it stands for Dial Home Device, there's one on pretty much every planet."

"All right. I just remembered!" Alana put a hand to her forehead and then reached into her bag. She pulled out a large roll of shiny silver wire and showed it to Jack.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"If you were thinking it was superconductive connecting wire, you guessed right."

"Yes!"

"I didn't know you knew so much about the DHD sir."

"Do you remember who got you out of that situation with the locked up DHD? Without my plans you would have burned to death."

"And I thank you for that sir. I'll be back in a little while."

"Okay, the first thing we have to do is make the bottom shaft that holds the internal detection crystals." Jack began to draw out a bird's eye view.

"If we keep all of the crystals lined up on the back wall, then we can employ a hinged door that will allow easy access for repairs."

"Good idea."

"Now, the superconductive wire will have to run from all of those to the central control crystal."

"We didn't get one of those from the Tok'ra."

"That could be a problem."

"But we still have the one we got from the Russians, before the DHD blew to smithereens."

"Okay, that works." Alana knew neither who the Russians were, nor what the phrase 'blown to smithereens' meant, but she got a pretty good idea

"Each sensor crystal must be programmed to detect and lock onto a specific constellation."

"How do we do that?"

"We can interface each crystal with the terminal I built and individually program it."

"Then what?"

"We have to build the electronic mechanism that buffers the naquadah keys, but sends the impulse to the crystal to detect the constellation."

"We have to make thirty nine of those?"

"Yep."

"Oy."

"They aren't hard to make, it is a package of liquid naquadah activated by the contact of the superconductive wire. Do you have access to these staff weapons I read of in your reports?"

"Teal'c?" Jack called loudly through the hall.

"Yes O'Neill?" Teal'c suddenly appeared behind him.

"Did you by any chance confiscate the staff weapons the kids were using for the final challenge?"

"I did O'Neill."

"How many were there?"

"I believe we collected a quantity of seventy staff weapons."

"Can we sacrifice the power source of thirty nine of them?"

"Why would you need them?"

"We need the liquid naquadah for a DHD."

"Very well." Thirty-nine staff weapons were delivered and dismantled. Both the liquid naquadah core and the linking mechanism were removed and laid aside.

"We have to build the holder for the crystals first."

"Yes we do, and we have to link the superconductive wire beneath all of the crystals."

"Why?"

"The crystals have dynamic memory, they need a constant power source to retain their programming."

"And what supplies this power?" Jack was getting irritable.

"Do you have any more of these liquid naquadah cores?"

"Yes."

"I need three more to provide indefinite power to the crystals."

"Teal'c, I need three more staff weapons."

"Very well." Teal'c delivered them and Alana broke the casing in half with her bare hands. Jack looked at her astonished.

"Is there something unusual about my strength?"

"Yeah."

"I suppose the second evolution was a weaker version." Alana shrugged and reached inside the open casing and plucked out the core.

"You might want to be careful that can..."

"Blow up, I know, liquid naquadah is more stable the cooler the environment, I would be much more careful extracting the core on a sunny battlefield."

"Ah."

Alana repeated the process and then got a glass beaker. Carefully, as though breaking an egg, she emptied the three cores of naquadah into the beaker. Taking the three empty cores, she crushed them together in her now gloved fingers and reordered the matter. She was left with an elliptical structure with two thin spots. She took tiny lengths of the superconductive wire and coiled them. She attached them to the inner side of the thin spots and attached two more coils to the outside. She poured the naquadah back in through a small hole and sealed up the opening. She placed the naquadah power source below the area where the master crystal would rest and put an end of superconductive wire to one of the coils. She proceeded to wind the wire around through the areas that would hold the thirty-nine other crystals and then back to the other coil on the naquadah packet.

"What does that do?"

"This ensures a smooth flow of energy from the naquadah to the crystals and back again to be recharged."

"Oh."

Alana proceeded to wrap each of the thirty-nine naquadah cores in the wire and left a whisk like fiber pattern hanging down past it. Her nimble fingers wrapped the crystals tightly in the wire and set them in the shell. She layered up the naquadah that would divide the keys and then proceeded to individually shape the keys with the thirty-nine symbols. Suddenly she stopped and asked

"Do you want the sealant on the keys?"

"What does it do?"

"Makes the keys look nicer and on desert planets protects against erosion."

"Why not? It'd be a nice touch." Alana felt along her right arm until she decided on a place just above her right elbow. She took the knife she had used to carve the symbols and drove it into the spot. Without even a grimace of pain, she turned her arm over the beaker and a clear, viscous substance flowed from her arm into it. Jack looked horrified and Alana said

"I am going to assume that you do not produce excess immunity serum."

"No, is that why you healed so fast?"

"Yes." Alana ended up extracting around three hundred ml of sealant and proceeded to pour it with precision over each key and carved out symbol. The symbol itself was darkened and the entire surface became smooth. With a rainbow glint that indicated the last one had dried, Alana attached the naquadah packets to the underside of each key. With a small device, she checked which crystal was locked onto which constellation. She mounted the keys and then put into place with precision the clear center dome.

"Shall we test it?"

"We have to connect it to the Stargate."

"Right, I knew that." Jack tried to cover his blunder, but Alana was thoroughly amused.

"It weighs fifty pounds."

"I'll get Teal'c to carry it. Teal'c!"

"Yes O'Neill?"

"Would you mind carrying this down to the Control room?"

"Indeed I would not."

"Okay then."

Teal'c picked up the DHD as though it weighed nothing and the three got in the elevator. When they arrived in the Control room, Teal'c set the DHD down where there was enough space to move on either side of it.

"Alana?"

"Yes Jack?"

"When will it be ready to test?"

"As soon as I activate the subspace connection. I should also let you know that if you press the center dome it will cut off power to an incoming Stargate connection."

"Cool, that's almost as good as the iris."

"It is faster than the time it takes to close your metal barrier. I have also installed a button that, when coupled with this device, creates a force-field that will protect your Stargate, but is faster to raise and lower than the barrier you already have installed."

"Okay Alana, you can stop shooting down the hard work Samantha Carter has put into this."

"I am merely trying to make it more efficient."

"Okay, will you activate the connection?"

"I will install the shield device as well as the sub-space receiver." Alana entered the Gate room and ran a clear film around the inside of the Stargate. She then attached a small receiver to the circle on the point of origin symbol. Arriving back in the control room, she said

"It should work now." Sam stepped forward and cautiously put in the first symbol. Chevron one lit up. She put in the other five for the destination and pressed the Earth symbol. Taking a deep breath, she pressed on the clear dome. Blue light erupted from the center of the Stargate and sank back into an event horizon. Sam pushed a small button on the side of the DHD top and a slightly opaque barrier appeared in front of the Stargate. She pressed it again and the shield lowered. She pressed the center dome again and the subspace connection broke off, so the gate shut down.

"Thank you Alana, for everything you've done." Sam turned to the girl in thanks, Alana acknowledged and then said:

"Thank you all very much for your hospitality. Now, I will accept the gift of my intelligence that I was denied for several million years." She faded into a glowing energy form and her face appeared in the center. She rose up through the ceiling and found herself experiencing a sensation that was both free-fall and rising through water. When she appeared a woman began to walk toward her.

"Alana." The woman's voice was gentle and reassuring

"Sheria? Is it you?"

"Yes child."

"Is my mother here?"

"I am afraid my young one that you are about a week too late. Your mother sacrificed herself to enter eternal battle with an enemy of this galaxy in order to save it."

"Why?"

"She did it because she is that kind of a person, however, one of her punishments for the last thousand years was to watch that enemy do whatever he wanted."

"Why?"

"She helped him to ascend, and we are not to do that. It was her punishment because he was on one of the planes of existence between this and the human plane."

"What good did my mother do?"

"She saved a young child at Kheb, she helped Daniel Jackson to ascend, twice mind you, and she selflessly sacrificed herself to save life in the galaxy when Anubis was about to destroy it."

"Will I ever know how great my mother was?"

"You have the knowledge of the universe now and knowledge of everything in it. You already know how great your mother was." Alana listened to Sheria's words and closed her eyes. She saw the universe, a plan that included stars galaxies and Stargates. She saw every small detail of it and beyond the edge, dark matter. Alana opened her eyes again and said

"I only wish that someday I can be like my mother, Oma Desala."

"I'm sure you will be Alana, I'm sure you will be."

End