Author's Note: A big huge gigantic thank you for all the reviews and for the readers' continued patience with me. I didn't mean for this chapter to take so long to come out, but I had an emotional crisis to work through that stopped my writing dead in its tracks all this last week. I'm good now, and determined to get this out to you so I can't promise my editing will be the best because it's very late at the moment. In fact, thinking of my tendencies towards malapropism I'm considering a beta reader would be useful. If anyone's interested in betaing the remaining chapters of this story (as I write them) just drop me an email.
Author's Note1 part2: Okay, I got me a beta or two. Thanks! :D Plus I fixed the whole 'manor' issue, thanks for spotting that one Elvaralind. It confirmed that a beta was very much needed. :P
Author's Note2: This chapter reaches the 100 page mark in my word document! Woot!
Author's Note3: Oh, Pete Thornton from "MacGyver" makes a cameo in this chapter.
Author's Note4: I also finally went to the dictionary and looked up the exact meaning of the word doppelganger. So, in a small sense Jack and Mac are doppelgangers, but it's not a natural occurrence nor is Mac or Jack a ghost. In any case I decided to use the word in this chapter as a tribute to the proposed theory. :)
doppelganger: a ghostly counterpart of a living person (according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
Author's Note5: major plot hole changes have been made here. :P
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Sam was angry, frustrated, and confused. Not something that happened all that often, a least, not all at the same time.
She stared across the room at the Colonel with a carefully controlled expression on her face. They were having an impromptu meeting in her lab. Something they sometimes did after a mission to confirm accurate information in their reports, but Hammond already had their reports and they weren't due for any follow ups for a while yet. Not until they had more to go on then just the translation from the ship, which Daniel was talking about now or so Sam assumed because she wasn't really listening.
How could he lie to them so easily? Sam internally demanded. She understood the whole trying to keep MacGyver a secret if it meant blowing a cover he'd basically grown up with. If, and there was a big emphasis on if, he was really this Dexter Fillmore. Daniel had told her the Colonel had pretty much confirmed it, but the anthropologist still wasn't convinced, and while she hadn't said anything, neither was she.
None of her searches on 'Dexter Fillmore' had proved fruitful, but when she'd talked to her friend at the DXS and gotten the file on HIT she'd discovered that while neither Jack O'Neill or Dexter Fillmore had any mention, MacGyver did. In fact at one point HIT had even put a contract out on the man. Not Jack O'Neill. Not Dexter Fillmore. MacGyver.
They'd lied to them, and they were still lying, and for that Carter was pissed. She trusted the Colonel with her life. They were a team! Why couldn't he trust them with the truth? Internally Sam sighed. She could never stay angry at him for long but she was sure going to try.
What could possibly be so dangerous about having a twin anyway…a twin so identical it wasn't humanly possible. Janet had taken the opportunity to do another test just to be sure, this time with the Colonel's blood. They'd forced him to have her check his bullet wound, which he still hadn't really told them about. He'd told them the people had been after MacGyver, took him by mistake, and he escaped. Nothing about who they really were, where they were now, and what they wanted. MacGyver's life, Sam supposed, but this secret was too 'cloak and dagger' for her believe it was as simple as that anymore.
Janet had pulled her aside later to tell her that the results had confirmed what they'd suspected, it was exactly the same. But how? Clones, like Daniel had suggested? On Earth? And how? When? Sam mentally shook her head, then thought of all the exact duplicates they'd come across. Only the one, really, but to think MacGyver was a robot was more absurd then him being a clone. The only thing they knew for sure was that MacGyver and the Colonel were the same genetically. Did that mean the Colonel had the same inherent genius abilities MacGyver did?
Sam giggled.
"Something funny Carter?" The Colonel drolly asked.
"No sir," Carter quickly replied. Who'd been talking? Daniel? She turned her attention back to him.
The anthropologist was standing half turned toward the computer's screen and looking at her with a questioning expression on his face. Even Teal'c had an eyebrow raised, but Sam just smiled and nodded at Daniel to continue.
"Like I was saying," Daniel began again slowly, "The language is definitely goa'uld but the evidence would indicate that it originated before any goa'uld language we've seen so far."
Sam couldn't help it her mind was too focused on her previous thoughts to really pay much attention. It'd been a busy day. They had had to unglue and hide the box in the back of the stack, convince the Colonel to be looked at by Janet, and Sam had been involved in fixing the damaged systems once the fried transformer was replaced. The Mountain was once again fully operational and everyone was more than ready to finally leave. Yet here they were discussing this new ancient dialect of the Goa'ulds. Again the Major's thoughts traveled.
Silently Sam hoped MacGyver had made it out safely. They hadn't heard any alarms and she was sure they'd have been called on the Colonel's doppelganger if he'd been discovered.
"So does it say what the disks are?" The Colonel asked Daniel, the change in speaker catching at her attention somewhat.
"Disks?" Daniel frowned for a moment confused, his hand still half-raised pointing to the symbols on the screen.
The Colonel gestured with exasperation. "The crystal doohickies!"
"Oh. They're called the keys of time."
"As in time time?" The Colonel was giving the anthropologist a dubious look.
"That's just what they're called." Again Daniel gestured at the screen. "But if this is correct, then they're the keys to a database of all Goa'uld technology."
Sam suddenly looked up sharply in interest. Had Daniel told her that before? "Sir, if we can find the other two keys and unlock them the information could be invaluable."
The Colonel gave her a strange look. "That important uh?"
"Yes sir, it could be. It might be the solution to being able to defend Earth from the Goa'uld threat permanently." Sam stated. At the very least it should put them a few more steps ahead then they currently were.
Then Teal'c spoke up, adding his agreement to the conversation. "The information could prove extremely worthwhile O'Neill. It is said the Goa'uld once had abilities even more powerful than they currently have. Perhaps this technology is located on these disks."
"How does a gould loose technology?" The Colonel asked. "Don't they have that whole born again memory stuff?"
Born again? Sam minutely shook her head. "We don't know enough about genetic memory to know if absolutely everything is passed on to each new goa'uld."
"Different family lines know different things?" Daniel offered.
The Colonel raised his hand stopping them from saying anything further and pausing for a moment finally asked, "So if we can get all three of these keys, you think you could open them?"
Sam wasn't sure what to say. Could they? She didn't know, maybe with a few years and a basement full of code breakers. "It'd be worth finding the other two if just to try, sir," Sam stated seriously.
The Colonel closed his eyes briefly, then with a sigh asked, "Carter, where's the disk?"
She motioned to the desk beside him and reaching over he grabbed it placing it squarely on the table between them. Then much to their surprise he pulled out a second one, placing it next to the first.
Once again she felt the wave of anger surface although Daniel seemed more shocked than anything. "Jack, where did you get this?"
The Colonel didn't immediately reply but pulling the floppy disk MacGyver had given him right before leaving motioned for Daniel to give up the keyboard. "I'm guessing Mac told you about his friend who'd been killed?"
He pulled up on the screen an article from some sort of archeology magazine. "You'll probably recognize some of this."
Daniel actually stood up and got closer as if he couldn't believe it. "This is the same goa'uld dialect that we found on 239. Where is this?"
The Colonel huffed out in mock humor, "Oregon."
"You're kidding, really?"
"Really. And they found one of these keys while they were there. That was before Steel was killed."
"Why was he killed?" Teal'c asked, the unspoken question 'was it by a goa'uld' echoing around the table.
Shrugging, the Colonel answered, "Not sure T. It's a good enough reason for us to check it out though, don't you think?"
Then Daniel demanded, "Why didn't you tell us this earlier? What if they had unintentionally released a goa'uld?" Sometimes Sam envied Daniel being a civilian and therefore allowed to just demand answers like that.
As was expected the Colonel was quick to defend himself. "Hey! I only just got back, remember? Mac only just gave me this today."
"But then why didn't he-"
"Daniel," The Colonel cut in sternly. "Let's just figure out how we're going to present this to the General, okay?"
*****
"And you say this site was found in Oregon?" Hammond questioned looking around the briefing table at SG1.
Daniel nodded. "According to the article I read they discovered it while digging for a resort. The ruins, probably a temple, was completely buried which is why no one's discovered it before. But they've already head one accident on site, and we all know how our last encounter with goa'uld artifacts went-"
"He's saying we should all go this time, sir," Jack put in.
The General looked at the Colonel regarding his Second in Command carefully. Compared to yesterday all of SG1 had seemed to return to normal. Perhaps Fraiser was right and the odd behavior was purely emotional. He'd talked to the Doctor earlier in the day and she'd assured him she'd talked with Sam and found out the mysterious man on the Colonel's front porch had been a neighbor telling him about an accident that had just happened to a friend of theirs. She'd also strongly suggested that the whole team was long overdue for some time off.
Perhaps with this mission being that it was Earthbound he could accommodate the doctor's suggestion. It wasn't that he intentionally overworked his number one team they just had a tendency to overwork themselves. Even the Colonel rarely stayed away from the base anymore for more than three days at a stretch.
As last answering the Colonel's suggestion Hammond stated, "I agree. I want a call every day on the situation, and I'll have some back up ready for you in case there is a goa'uld there but I want you to take all the time you need to analyze the situation properly." Hammond waited till he was sure the Colonel understood what was being said between the lines -don't rush back- before asking, "Have you discovered who the natives on 239 belong to?"
"No. Not yet," Daniel answered looking down at his notes. "To be honest we're not even sure what the tattoo's supposed to be."
"Neither DanielJackson nor I have seen it before," Teal'c added.
Hammond nodded. There were times he was shocked how well SG1 could follow the trail of the smallest piece of information, but sometimes even they had their dead ends.
*****
Jack stepped into his house with a sigh. It felt good to be home, even if it was only for a quick shower and to pack. The rest of SG1 would be by to pick him up for the airport before too long and then they'd be on their way. One of the great perks of working for such a high clearance place like the SGC was securing free transportation almost instantaneously.
Grinning Jack tossed his jacket on the couch and headed for the kitchen. Before he did anything else he needed a beer.
"Will you be going to Oregon?"
The Colonel practically jumped out of his skin before turning on his counterpart in annoyance. "Mac! What are you doing here?"
"Wow, you must be tired," MacGyver replied shocked to have started the Colonel. Jack just gave him a glower and stubbornly pulling open his fridge rummaged for the now desperately needed beer. MacGyver watched amused and leaning on the counter casually said, "I found your spare key. You know, under a rock is one of the most common hiding places in America?"
Jack looked up. "Is that where it went?" But the irritation was quickly returning. "I say again, what are you doing here?"
MacGyver didn't answer but responded by repeating his own question, "Will you be going to Oregon?"
Sighing Jack popped the cap off the beer bottle and took a swig before reluctantly answering, "Yes."
Just as Jack knew would happen MacGyver's eyes lit up with curiosity. "What did the translation say?"
"I don't know, you'll have to ask Daniel," Jack replied still wishing there was someway to stop all this. He could feel it; they were nothing more than a couple of snowballs at the top of a mountain on the brink of an avalanche. The Colonel drawled out sourly, "I'm assuming you'll meet us in Oregon to personally show us the site?"
"Yeah, sure, of course," Mac quickly replied then asked, a small smile on his face, "So does this mean the disks are important?"
"Maybe," Jack replied stressing the word as best he could. "Carter and Daniel think they might hold the entire Gould database and if they do it could seriously improve our chances of winning the war."
"Then we're going to break the code?"
It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement and that right there was exactly what Jack didn't want. "No Mac, we're not going to do anything of the sorts, we're going to check out the ruins, see if we can find the third disk and then let the professionals take it from there."
"Come on Jack. If the information on these disks is really so important wouldn't you want to access it?" Mac tried reasoning but that just made Jack all the more frustrated.
"Of course I would but us doing it might not be worth the consequences! What if it took us more than two days to unlock them? What then? We put everyone around us at risk? I don't think so!"
Mac wasn't fazed at all by Jack's anger and with a shrugged replied, "We could at least try it and see."
Jack opened his mouth to retort but stopped short. Planting his beer bottle squarely down on the counter he demanded darkly, "What did you destroy?"
"Nothing!" Mac instantly exclaimed but glancing away reluctantly added, "That worked to begin with." Jack groaned covering his face with a hand in despair. Sometimes he really wondered how he had never just killed the man. MacGyver continued determined to push his case. "So I scavenged some things from you garage. If I never told you you'd never have even known they were gone!"
"That's not the point Mac, we shouldn't be doing this. We shouldn't be involved in any of this!"
"But we are. And since we are don't you think maybe we should help?"
"No. I don't." Jack stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He couldn't believe MacGyver! The man was so damn willing to take risks all the time. Yet once Jack had had time to cool off he'd realized Mac was right, at least in one sense. As long as they were together they might as well see if they could crack the code.
Clean, changed, full of new pain meds, the Colonel finally came back downstairs a bag over his shoulder and feeling far more alive than he had over the past two days. "Mac?" He called out but he already knew where the man was and heading for the living room wasn't surprised to see that Mac had found the alien disks from his jacket pocket and was already viewing them with his newest contraption.
Jack eyed the floating symbols with unguarded suspicion but he dropped his bag by the door and joined MacGyver on the couch anyway. "So what are you thinking?" Jack finally asked.
Mac had been staring intently are the symbols only to sigh and lean back in defeat. "It's too soon."
Jack looked from him back to the disks and the device releasing the same eerie light the machine back on the ship had let off. The disks, or keys as Daniel had called them, sat side by side with the space for the third drawn out on what Jack figured was a freshly cut piece of glass only it was covered with some sort of paint concoction. Jack didn't even want to think about what might have been sacrificed to provide the glass. Above it the area for the floating symbols brushed by each other, and with fingers twitching almost anxiously Jack reached forward and pushed one symbol from one disk to the other.
MacGyver sat up quickly his eyes going wide. "That's amazing."
Not commenting Jack continued to move symbols around but after a minute the impulse to move them faded away and putting his hand down again the Colonel stated, "You're right, it's too soon."
"Or we might just need the third disk. I would never have imagined the key codes would be interchangeable between platforms."
Jack frowned. "Key codes?"
Shrugging Mac motioned to the floating symbols. "I figure they're just like key codes for an electronic lock. Seemed easier than calling them little floating alien symbols."
Jack was about to respond when something tickled along the back of his neck. Silently he got up and went to the door. Teal'c had his hand posed to knock right as Jack swung it open. Daniel and Carter stood at Teal'c's side looking somewhat started, but the big jaffa merely lowered his hand and questioned, "Are you ready to go O'Neill?"
"Ya, um-"
"MacGyver!" Carter cried spying the man through the doorway. "You made it out safe?"
"Obviously," Jack grumbled and then had to step back as everyone suddenly pushed their way into his house. This was supposed to be a pick up and go!
Mac stood to greet them but before he could say anything Carter had noticed the disks on the device and questioned him startled, "You made this?" He nodded. "How were you able to create the electromagnetic radiation needed at the correct wavelength? Did you use a phosphor coating?"
"Carter!" Jack snapped a little harder than intended but not wanting to give them even a chance to get into a scientific conversation. He'd never get them to stop again.
"Sorry sir," Carter immediately replied but the Colonel could still see a smile at the corner of her lips. One reflected on MacGyver's own face. Trying to suppress the sudden rise of jealousy Jack asked, "So, kids. Ready to go?"
"Mac, will you be coming, too?" Daniel asked the man before Jack could usher them all out again.
"I'll be meeting you there," MacGyver replied, and then asked looking at Jack, "You guys are leaving now?"
"Ya, we should be landing later tonight. That is if we get out the door," Jack grumbled.
Mac nodded. "I'll be on the early morning flight to Portland so I'll meet you at the site in the morning."
Daniel frowned. "Why not just catch tonight's flight then we'll get there about the same time."
Jack internally groaned. Being in the air at the same time as Mac was the last thing they wanted to do, but Mac just grinned answering the anthropologist, "The flight was booked. Besides, it's easier to see ruins in the daylight."
Again Daniel frowned but before he could say anything Jack grabbed his bag and quickly ordered, "Carter, grab the disks. Mac, lock up when you leave and under no circumstances-"
"I know, I know," Mac interrupted with raised hands of mock sufferance. "No blowing up the house."
"Exactly!"
*****
Daniel was sitting in his seat clutching it and desperately trying to ignore the fact that they'd been riding through heavy turbulence for the last thirty minutes. Whenever they had to catch a flight with the Air Force they never knew what they were going to get. Sometimes they even got their own jet. Today was not one of those days.
The plane was huge to say the least, with the middle packed full of pieces of large machinery tied down under canvass sheets but rocking against their straps nonetheless. Their seats were at the back along the sides of the plane and basically out of the way.
The Colonel had disappeared upfront to chum with the pilots and while Teal'c looked completely at ease on a seat across the ways Daniel noticed the jaffa's hands momentarily grab at his own seat when the plane gave yet another somewhat violent jerk. The anthropologist imagined death gliders weren't nearly so unsteady in the air.
Sam on the other hand wasn't even sitting but was casually crouched down in front of her pack looking for something. Pulling out her laptop she walked across the rocking plane as if it were as steady as solid ground.
"Daniel."
"Ummm?"
The large engines easily drowned out most noise but Sam leaned in close flipping open the laptop. What she showed him was enough to divert his mind from its current and perfectly reasonable belief that the plane was going to come apart midair.
It was a news report about a gas explosion that had not only taken out the entire building but killed ten people along with it. "FamilyView?" Daniel asked reading the name of the company that owned the building.
"They acted both as an adoption agency and a fertility clinic," Sam replied. "I did a search on events during the week both MacGyver and O'Neill went missing."
Daniel automatically looked to the front, but the Colonel didn't suddenly appear much as Daniel expected him to. Looking back to Sam he asked worried, "You think the events are related?"
Shrugging Sam honestly told him, "I don't know, but it was the first thing that really got my attention."
"This is really bothering you, isn't it? The whole Jack Mac mystery."
"Yes! Doesn't it bother you that they've been lying to us?" Sam demanded more heatedly than Daniel would have expected.
"Well, yes. But Sam, it's Jack." She just gave him a look and he had to admit he was pretty angry, too. "Do you really think the flights were full?"
"On the red-eye?"
He didn't think so either.
*****
"There's no place like home."
Teal'c looked over at the Colonel as they exited their rented vehicle. The dew was thick and the heavy morning air cold. "Have you lived here before O'Neill?"
"Well, no. But you gotta admit western Oregon looks like half the planets we've ever been on. Ancient ruins and all!" Jack stated gesturing around him.
Gazing about at the trees lining the abandoned construction site the jaffa would have to agree, but he refrained from saying anything. As he checked that his requisite hat was completely covering his tattoo MajorCarter and DoctorJackson pulled the packs from the trunk and soon SG1 was on their way. They barely got halfway across the site before someone called out, "MacGyver? Is that you?"
They all turned to see a man with a walking stick standing by one of the parked construction vehicles. "Pete?" O'Neill immediately responded. "What are you doing here?"
"When you called last night to request the site be left alone for a few days I couldn't resist." The man replied and then exclaimed. "MacGyver! What happen to you? You just suddenly disappeared! And with Steel already dead I thought the worst."
"I know I know, I'm sorry. And I promise I'll tell you the whole story, later. Now's just not a good time."
"It better be a good one!" The man griped only partially mollified.
Then DanielJackson questioned quietly, "Jack?"
Teal'c would not have thought the man O'Neill had called Pete would have been able to hear DanielJackson, but apparently he had for in the next minute he demanded looking about, "Is Jack here? Because that would go a long way in explaining a lot!"
The man didn't seem to be able to see too well and gazed long and hard at all of them. Perhaps that was why his hearing was better than normal, Teal'c mused. Meanwhile O'Neill glared angrily at DanielJackson before quickly saying, "No Pete. Jack isn't here. Don't worry you have nothing to fear."
Pete seemed to sigh with relief, even smiling while he stated, "Well aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"
O'Neill visibly cringed and thinly smiling said brightly, "I'm sorry Pete where are my manners. Pete Thornton, this is Sam, Murray, and Daniel. Daniel's an anthropologist who's familiar with James' work. I'm hoping he can help me figure out the secret to this place, and maybe even what James died for."
"Good luck," Pete replied with full encouragement, then glancing about again with unfocused eyes asked, "And you're sure Jack has nothing to do with any of this?"
"Positive."
"Well, okay. You don't need a blind man in your way."
O'Neill immediately stepped closer to the man saying with what Teal'c felt was real concern. "Come on Pete, you know it's not like that."
But the man waved off O'Neill's concern grinning as he asked, "You promise to tell me everything later?"
"Cross my heart and hope to die!" O'Neill responded adamantly.
The man just nodded, and turning headed off in the direction he'd come from. Looking down the row of abandoned machines Teal'c could see a driver and a vehicle waiting in the clear patch beyond.
No one moved or said anything until they watched the vehicle move off. O'Neill visibly dropped his shoulders in relief while DanielJackson immediately questioned, "When he said Jack, did he mean you?"
"No. Pete doesn't know I exist. He was talking about a man named Jack Dalton, and if you ever come across someone with that name don't trust him!" Jack exclaimed then shook himself as if shaking water off his back.
"Oh come on, he's not that bad!" A voice full of humor commented and they turned to see the real MacGyver step out from behind one of the quickly erected buildings that scattered the site. The man had a large smile plastered across his face while his shoulders shook with silent laughter.
"Ha!" O'Neill exclaimed in disbelief.
MacGyver walked up to them and still highly amused commented, "Jack, I was impressed. You make a better me than I do!"
A small smile twitched at Teal'c lips as well. He, too, had been surprised by O'Neill's sudden change in character, but there was none of it remaining now as the Colonel sarcastically remarked, "Well you make a horrible me, so let's get this over with."
MacGyver showed them entrance to the buried ruins that had been excavated. Before they went in O'Neill pulled out a flashlight and his gun motioning for the rest to follow suit. Then leaning closer to MacGyver O'Neill questioned, "So no one should be down there now, right?"
"There wasn't anyone before."
MacGyver seemed a little startled by O'Neill's precaution and even DanielJackson stated dubious, "Jack, if there was a goa'uld down there I highly doubt it's still there."
"Let's just play it safe to be sure," O'Neill stated, and then grumbled, "I don't want to face down any more kamikaze kangaroos."
So they filed into the uncovered tunnel following it slowly till it opened up into a large room. There was another tunnel leading off at the other end but the writing on the stone walls of the room caught DanielJackson's attention.
"It's the same as on 239."
MacGyver moved up next to him shining the flashlight along the wall and saying with a smile, "I guessed it dated back to either early Egyptian or even Pre-Egyptian. Was I right?"
DanielJackson glanced at the man giving him an odd look but replying, "Yes."
O'Neill had moved on to the far tunnel to check it out. Teal'c was about to join him when Carter remarked examining the room's walls, "Sir, we might want to consider putting up more shoring along the tunnel, there's an awful lot of mud down here."
With her words O'Neill's head snapped around and Teal'c saw the Colonel and MacGyver share a sudden look of alarm. Then MacGyver groaned out, "Awwww Man!"
No sooner had the words escaped the man's mouth then another much more disturbing noise penetrated the darkness. Like the crack of cannon fire from space it filled the entire room. All at once Teal'c saw the cause for the noise as stone upon stone came crashing to the floor. A second later the entire ceiling gave in, giving them no time to do anything more than react.
Even as the darkness suddenly surrounded him Teal'c leapt for safety, but it was already too late, and he knew it.
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Author's Post Story Note: While I know the show is actually filmed in BC, I've been all up and down the Pacific West Coast several times and I think I can say with some accuracy that a lot of it is very identical. :D
Author's Post Story Note2: I just want to assure everyone that O'Neill's cranky behaviour every time he's around Mac is validated. I just haven't elaborated too much on the details yet. :P