Part 2
JACK
Teal'c and I went from top to bottom, side to side, covering every level, taking the stairs, the elevators and the access shafts. We climbed up the shafts, at least as far as they go now. The SGC was reduced in all directions except from the bottom and the north, the side the elevator shafts were on. Good thing, too. Down was where our escape hatch – the stargate – was.
"Well, T, let's get to the lab. Our time's up." We hoofed it to Carter's lab without seeing anyone else. Carter and Daniel were heads down in front of their laptops, and several of Carter's prized doohickeys were humming.
"Hey, Jack. Find out what's left?" Daniel looked up and greeted us as we came into the lab. Carter barely registered our entrance as she typed furiously then sat back, frowning, to read the results of her commands.
"Looks like we have levels from this one down to 28. The areas furthest away from the elevators are disappearing fast and on the top floor a gray … whatever was creeping down the walls. I don't think we saw five people during our entire tour." I summarized our findings quickly for the two scientists. "Carter, you and Daniel come up with anything?"
She looked up at me, unsmiling. "Yes, sir, I think Daniel came up with a viable theory as to what's happening. I'm running molecular decay rate tests on items from three different levels. The cup from Daniel's lab is definitely decomposing at a rate many times that of a cup from the briefing room, several levels below us, although the cup from my lab is still breaking down much faster than normal. Everything we looked at is breaking down… including us."
"Ouch," I said. "So, in words of one syllable, what's the theory?"
She smiled slightly at that and replied, "We've somehow gated into a reality that's being merged into or overlaid onto another."
Teal'c asked, "What would cause such a thing to happen, MajorCarter?"
"Our theory is that, when two realities become so alike as to be indistinguishable from one another, they merge, keeping the total number of alternates from becoming too large. We believe what we're experiencing is the erasing of the extra universe as it's absorbed into the other," Carter replied.
"So, the Nothing," Teal'c began.
"The Nothing?" Daniel interjected.
"Yes, DanielJackson. I refer to the gray nothingness that is engulfing the SGC with the term used in 'The Neverending Story' as it was similarly engulfed," answered Teal'c.
"Been watching A&E again, huh Big Guy?" The thought made me grin. Teal'c was a voracious television viewer and would occasionally come out with the most astute observations on our world. He merely nodded.
"The Nothing will quickly take over this reality and us along with it. How can we get back to our own reality?" After a slight pause, Teal'c met their eyes before finishing his thought, "Or is that not possible?"
We all looked to our resident physicist, whose expression wasn't exactly reassuring. "I don't know. The rest of this universe, outside Earth, may be engulfed by the Nothing along with the SGC. If we gate to another planet, I can't say for sure it won't be in the same situation. However, at the rate things are breaking down, I can say that if we stay, we only have a few hours before we're gone, too."
"Anyone have any suggestions?" I looked at my team, hopeful. The members of SG-1 were well known for coming up with the answer to every problem.
DANIEL
I suggested, "Um, we could try to reach another world before we lose the ability. If this universe is breaking down so quickly, the gate system may put us back into our own universe. If this reality is being merged with another, maybe the gate systems are too."
Sam's face set itself in that blank look she sometimes gets when she's thinking so intently on a problem there's nothing left for more than autonomic functions. We all waited, patiently. Well, Teal'c and I did. Jack started fidgeting and playing with items on her desk. The man has too much energy bottled up to stay still for more than a few seconds.
Her blank look turned to one of guarded hope. "It might work, Daniel, if we could time it right. If we leave just before this place is consumed, and can establish and sustain a wormhole, the two Stargate systems may be closely enough overlaid to work together."
"Do you need anything from your lab to figure out what the correct time will be to leave?" Jack asked. "The Nothing will take over this floor next, so we should retreat down to the lower levels."
"Just my laptop, sir."
"Grab that and we'll get all the gear together while you work on it downstairs," ordered Jack, ever calm in a crisis, at least so long as there's something he can do to keep busy. In those infrequent situations where the only action to be performed was for scientists only, Jack quickly becomes a basket case.
TEAL'C
By the time we retreated to a conference room on level 27, O'Neill had listed off everything we would need and assigned the gathering of some portion of it to one of us. We had a plan of action at least.
I headed toward the armory to gather weapons, then to the communications storage area to pick up radios. DanielJackson accompanied O'Neill to the locker room to gather items from our personal lockers which we'd placed there last night. They then moved on to pick up our packs. Within an hour everything was gathered and had only to be assembled into the packs.
MajorCarter continued to work furiously on the calculations as we packed. Finally, she looked up. "From the rates of decay I observed earlier and the rate the facility is being taken over, I've been able to estimate that we'll have about an hour in which to establish a viable wormhole to a world that isn't being erased. Given the breakdown of molecular adhesion, I think that during that hour any stable wormhole will be established only with a gate that isn't being destabilized by the Nothing." At O'Neill's questioning expression, she explained. "If my assumptions are correct, sir, then when the gate is in the process of destabilizing, the failsafe routines in the gate won't allow it to accept an incoming wormhole."
"Then why will ours work outgoing? I'd think that would fail first," asked DanielJackson. She held up two fingers and crossed them with an uneasy expression.
"When does this hour begin, MajorCarter?"
"As close as I could come is in about 20 minutes," she replied, looking at her watch.
"How do we get permission to use the Stargate from General Hammond?" asked DanielJackson.
"If we wait until this level is gone, this General Hammond won't exist anymore. There'll be no one to ask," O'Neill replied.
DanielJackson looked ill at ease at that. "Isn't that a little cold, Jack?"
"Danny, this reality is disappearing fast. If we want to get out of this alive, we don't have time to worry about the feelings of people, or copies of people, who won't exist in another hour."
DanielJackson was clearly distressed by the ideas expressed, but knew there was no other option if we were to survive.
SAM
As they talked, I sandwiched my laptop into by backpack, hoping to keep some of the data I'd gathered for later study. This could greatly expand our knowledge of the life and death of alternate universes. Too bad none of it would ever be published, right along with that book I wrote on wormhole physics.
We made our way to the control room and found only Master Sergeant Davis there. The gateroom was empty of all of its usual inhabitants. The five of us might be the only ones left. Davis looked up as we entered, obviously geared up for a mission.
"Unscheduled mission, sir?" Davis asked the Colonel.
"Uh, yeah. We've been ordered back to P5X-whatever to pick up more samples of some slimy stuff Carter found there. Looks like it might have some medicinal properties we could use," Colonel O'Neill improvised. "Didn't you get the memo?"
"No, sir. But you're the commander of the SGC, so whatever you say goes," replied the Sergeant.
The Colonel looked surprised at the thought of being the commander now that the General was gone. I couldn't tell if he was panicked or pleased.
The chevrons engaged as the gate spun, but the wormhole couldn't be established. We tried two more times to P5X-650, but never could get a stable connection. The Colonel ordered Davis to try the alpha site. No luck there either. Our hour was draining away quickly. I looked up at the Colonel. "Sir, why don't you three go down to the Gateroom? That way you can leave as soon as a stable wormhole is established. I'll join you after I give a few more instructions to Sgt. Davis."
"Looks like there's no one to give instructions to, Sam," said Daniel. We looked down at the Sergeant's chair to find it empty.
"Okay, everyone downstairs, except me and Carter. She can keep dialing while I watch for the Nothing," ordered the Colonel. Daniel looked like he was going to argue, so Colonel O'Neill added firmly, "When she gets a stable wormhole, we don't want a traffic jam on the stairway down."
Daniel must have given up, because there was only the two of us left when I glanced up from the keyboard seconds later. The address I'd just entered caused the gate to dial and the chevrons to engage, but the wormhole wouldn't stabilize enough to be safe. After a few seconds, the blue swirl sputtered and died.
"Carter, you gonna be able to do this?"
"We were closer this time, Sir. I think we have enough time for one more try." I put as much certainty into the reply as I could muster. He nodded and I entered the last address, heart thumping. The gate spun so slowly, it seemed as though we'd struck out again. Each chevron engaged, as before, but there was a noticeable pause after the seventh coordinate locked. The kawhoosh of the wormhole filled the control room with sound and light, but deep down inside, I wondered if the wormhole would be stable enough to hold until we got to the other side.
The Colonel's hand fell on my shoulder as he tugged me toward the stairs. "Let's go, Major. Looks like this one's gonna work."
"Right behind you, sir," I said, hitching my pack up onto my shoulders.
I stood to leave and found myself caught. My pack was caught in the Nothing that was oozing through the control room. I scrabbled at the jammed quick release clips on my pack. The Nothing was slowly consuming the pack that held my laptop and getting closer to me with every second. Despite years of training, I could feel terror creeping through me as I struggled to get lose. Just then, a knife sliced through the straps binding me to the pack and it disappeared, engulfed. The Colonel heard my struggles and came back to save me.
Relief and adrenaline flowed through me, chasing away the lethargy brought on by my momentary panic. But I was still caught. The Nothing had touched my hair and was pulling me in. I heard a squeak that I think came from me. I felt the cold scrape of steel across the back of my head and was free!
Suddenly, I was caught again, but this time by a strong pair of arms. The Colonel was hugging me, hard, but then I was hugging back just as hard. Nothing like almost dying to make you want to feel another human being, even if only for a second. I could swear I felt his lips brush across my forehead just as he let me go.
"Let's get out of here, Carter," he yelled, pulling me toward the stairs. I don't remember going down, but we were suddenly at the bottom and running toward the gate room door. Rounding the corner, we ran for the ramp and dove through the event horizon seconds after the others and moments before the wormhole disengaged.
JACK
"Wow, that was close!" Carter gasped as we sat up, the wind knocked out of both of us. At least I'd had a pack to fall on. The trip was a rough one. The wormhole had spat us out and half-way down the stairs with a force we'd never encountered before.
We were both shaking from the combination of adrenaline and the close calls of the past few hours, minutes, whatever. My sense of time was all messed up. It could have been a week for all I knew since we gated into the shrinking SGC.
We looked around for any signs this world was being gobbled up by the Nothing. It looked just perfect, nothing but trees. Boy, was I glad to see those pesky trees this time. We should go to more worlds with lots of trees.
"Hey, Sam. New hairdo?" Daniel quipped when he saw the back of her head. I looked at my hand, a fist clutching locks of golden hair and shoved it in my pocket as inconspicuously as I could. I cringed as she frowned and put her hand up to the spot where I'd chopped off huge hunks to save her from the Nothing, leaving patches of bare scalp and wisps of ragged blonde hair. 'She's so gonna kill me.' I tried to quietly slip away into that welcoming clump of trees.
"Yeah, I let the Colonel cut my hair." I turned at the sound of her voice and she sent a smile in my direction that would light up a whole world. It certainly lit up mine.
While I was trying to get my heart rate back to normal after that smile, Daniel asked me something that I missed. "What'd you say, Daniel?"
"I said… should we try to gate back to a non-disappearing SGC, or wait a while in case we end up in the same place?" He repeated his question for those of us whose minds had turned to Jell-O.
"Good question. Carter, what do you think? Is it safe yet?"
"Should be, sir, but it wouldn't hurt to take a look around here, gather some samples, make some recordings, eat lunch, have a mud bath. Just in case." Carter had a strange half-smile on her face.
"By the way, where are we? Where'd you send us?" I asked her. She looked down, trying to hide a grin and I said softly, "Major … where are we? And … mud bath?"
"Oh, it's just a little planet Captain Simpson on SG-6 told me about. I think she called it The Dreaming World," she smirked. Carter actually smirked at me.
"Okkaaay, what's so special about this planet?" I looked around, seeing nothing but my favorite, trees. They weren't as friendly as they'd seemed a minute ago.
"It's a resort," she mumbled.
'Well, that clears everything up.' I opened my mouth to ask for clarification.
Daniel jumped in before I could. "Excuse me. A resort?" Even Teal'c was looking confused, which rarely happened.
"Yes, this planet serves as a getaway for several races. They specialize in quiet, restful, pampered, fun vacations for stressed out people. Simpson called it a cross between the finest spa and Fantasy Island." Her cheeky grin was creeping back.
"Major, are you suggesting we wait a day or two before going home?" I couldn't help grinning.
"Sir, would I suggest something like that?" she asked, all innocence. "I was simply saying that we should be sure that the union of the two universes is safely complete before we attempt any gate travel. There's nothing to say we couldn't dial home and send our report through the gate. I'm sure the General would support our desire to be cautious." How could she look so sincere while being so devious?
"A worthy plan, MajorCarter." My head whipped around to stare at Teal'c.
"Great idea, Sam," added Daniel. They were all in this against me. How could I go against the flow?
I threw up my hands in defeat and said, "Okay, kids, you win. Let's phone home and tell Dad we'll be a couple of days late getting back." As it turned out, General Hammond was more than willing to let us stay a while. We walked away from the gate toward a building that was coming into view around a grove of trees and I felt the stress of the past hours drop away. Glancing sidelong to either side, I started running and yelled, "Last one in the pool buys the first round."
Continued in Dream World.