Hey! I didn't forget about you, xD. Or this.

Enjoy!

M.

Chapter XXI

March 25th, 2004

SGC.

After every member of the Sanctuary passed through the CT scan, and none of them was pinned down as Goa'uld, their escorts walked them to the mess hall for a quick lunch.

Will imagined what a day to day routine of lunch looked like for the members of SG-1 and he quickly decided it didn't include the whining of a half-vampire nor the audience coming and going to try and steal a glimpse of Helen. Or, how he managed to understand from reading their lips, 'British Sam'

He noticed Colonel O'Neill had also caught the never-ending intrusion of people who came to observe the situation, which made him walk to the door and disappear for a while. Soon, only those eating remained and guards were placed on the other side of the entrances to avoid the curious glances of the other members of SGC.

Will also noticed the worried looks coming from Helen towards Ashley, who looked a bit paler and was playing around with the food she had placed on her plate.

"Helen?" he whispered, and she smiled weakly.

"I might need to intervene," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "She's not looking...well."

"Intervene?" Will whispered

"A sparring match may be a good outlet, or," Helen trailed, and he understood. Blood, her blood to be more accurate, the other part of the treatment, which Ashley disliked. He nodded once, she sighed. "It might be both."

Once he started to learn more things about Helen, he was amazed to know how many people depended on a version of her blood. Nikola depended on it for the first years; she was the only one who could produce enough to keep him sated and not die.

Until they found a way to create his "special dinner." He needed much more of the compound than he did if it was Helen's blood. She had used a similar treatment for John, a vial of her blood to keep his blood lust under control. And seeing the effects of using her blood, she had given both James and Nigel, a vial each.

Nigel stopped using it when he met his wife. James, he knew the effects weren't everlasting, and he had managed to measure the amount of time the unique qualities of her blood remained in his system. And then, Watson repeated the process using the machine which had kept him alive for so long. He never asked for more, and she knew he wouldn't accept it, even if she offered.

Through the years, she had used her ability to cure herself to produce plenty of vaccines to save other species, and those variations were all saved somewhere. And now, Nikola and Ashley were both under her treatment again. Will asked Nikola why he needed her, why he didn't keep his version of it, and his answer was simple

"I can smell her blood, just like Henry and Ashley can. It's a fight, and I need to keep myself in control. To make it simple, protégé; Helen is like cocaine, and I'm an addict," he had grinned.

The way Nikola had said it made Will understand he wasn't too happy with the situation. He knew the vampire had his schedule, and he was attempting to reduce the intake. He also knew, that fighting Ashley regularly was taking its toll with all those reconstructions their bodies had to endure, and the production of his meal was limited.

Someone cleared his throat, and Will noticed all the plates were empty or set aside. Soon, their escorts walked them back to the conference room. Hammond joined them as soon as the crowd took their seats.

"Dr. Fraiser?" Hammond asked while Jack eyed suspiciously at every member of the Sanctuary team.

"Well, I have the results that interest us the most. None of them has a Goa'uld attached. I'm still awaiting results from the lab. If we are still here, then blood work will be sent here when it gets done. My recommendation is to continue with this meeting under caution, sir."

"Very well, then. Let's proceed," Hammond signaled the guards who often stood around, and when they were out of view, he nodded towards Helen.

"I guess our time to talk has started then," she said, placing a small laptop over the table and connected it to the projector. "As most of you know, the Sanctuary purpose was, and still is, the protection of the abnormals of the world," the screen showed an empty desktop that filled soon with several images of their most fiercely protected secret.

"A long while ago, the Sanctuary started to call 'Abnormals' to all the species which not recognized as members of the natural kingdom. This definition was further extended later, to include the small changes in DNA that resulted in different abilities. Also, added the subspecies which have missed their place in our natural science books. We have a library of thousands of different species unknown to botanists, zoologists, and humans alike."

"Why?" Hammond asked, his eyes widened as he observed image after image of creatures he never thought might be real.

"The answer is easy, General. Everyone needs protection, and everyone needs to feel they have a home. We protect them, we give them a place to call home, and in return, we learn from them. The different species which have come to our radars have provided cures and treatments for many of the human-made diseases which keep appearing as time moves forward.

"Just like human-created diseases can originate when scientists blend disease a with b; abnormalities can develop as a result of known mixes, or accidentally created on not prepared laboratories, or in mistakes made with radioactive disposal. Let's us not forget the ones that happen naturally. Just like with diseases, everything from the attempt of a cure can lead to a small mutation, and no matter how small it is, we are prepared to receive them."

Catherine smiled as she looked around. Samantha Carter had a thing with audiences, and that was something that had always caught her. Sam had a way to mesmerize the audience with the most simple words, and Catherine had wondered where she had seen that happening before but until now, seeing Helen talking, she couldn't quite point the where.

All eyes were on Helen, and her voice caught the attention of all, including Jack. If there were such thing as magic, Catherine would say that Helen had placed some magical spell that was keeping them all attentive to her words. It was almost like she was telling a bedtime a history to a bunch of kids, and they were all eager to know how the Prince managed to rescue the Princess even though she was showing them the life-altering the history of how the Sanctuary came to be.

"However, what I believe you want to know the most is: why are we here at the SGC? And the answer is also easy. A long time ago, the Network got a lead on what could be the greatest repository of knowledge from an ancient and powerful abnormal who lived on the Earth; access to this knowledge changed what we know as history. The Sanctuary couldn't allow this data to get lost to the hands of Governments or worse, tomb raiders; and the Sanctuary organized an expedition to El Cairo. The Sanctuary placed a team of their best Archeologists, being Catherine's father the leader of the excavation. They traveled there in December of 1927 and after several months of nothing but empty hands, the Head of the Sanctuary network was called over."

1928

Giza

Everything pointed it would be just another day in the desert; the sun was shining brightly through the opening between the flaps of his tent. They were sipping their warm tea, and sweating with it, but it was breakfast, and he always told her that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Then, one flap opened.

"Sir, we found a ring," one of the few Americans on the team told him, his frown covered with a mix of sweat and sand.

"A ring? Let me see," the man shook his head.

"It's not… We can't move it, sir. It has writings all over, nothing I've seen before; we thought we found nothing when the hit rock. Fred, he hit the rock angrily, and it gave out, it was under it as if someone buried it."

His companion watched the exchange as if she was looking at a tennis match. She looked from one man to the other and back.

"Did you call her?" he added, scratching his face pensively. Doug nodded.

"We called her when we found the engravings on the rock, and we were talking with her when Fred hit the metal."

"Well done," he told Doug, patting his shoulder happily.

"Sir, I don't know how but they are already here."

"Very well; let's go then."

Robert Langford, stretched his hand to take his daughter's hand in his, and they walked to where the helper was pointing. He tried not to gasp when he saw how extensive was the discovery Doug mentioned. Right next to it, standing in the middle of the circle were two persons already.

He smiled brightly; every time he saw her, he found himself amazed. It had been at least five years since the last time he had the honor, and yet, she still looked pretty much the same. If it weren't for the hair, she would've looked the same way she did when he had first met her twenty years before.

"Papa, who are they?" his daughter asked, bringing him out of his reverie.

"Oh, darling. Come, and I'll introduce them to you," the little girl nodded.

The two strangers were talking rather fast, but she managed to catch a few free words 'ancient', 'portal,' 'vampires' and 'Goa'uld.' Back then, she didn't know those words would change the world for some people included herself, many years later.

"Robert!" A polite voice, soft and sweet called her dad, "How lovely seeing you! I'm sorry, Douglas explained you were still asleep, due to the time he called I'm not surprised, I hope you don't find rude us finding out first."

"No, not at all, Helen. After all, we wouldn't have unburied anything out here if it wasn't for you."

"Don't be modest, I can do many things, but I can't spend my days in the desert finding artifacts that can change history, no matter how much I would love to. We were quite astounded by the explanations Douglas gave to us, and we couldn't wait to come. Thankfully, we were near enough, and it didn't take long," she finished with a dazzling smile.

The strawberry blond woman was beautiful for Catherine's eyes. Her hat was providing enough shadow for Catherine to study her. Under the shade of the hat, she found two sparkling blue eyes, perfect white skin, and some plump pink lips, and she discovered that the woman wore a white pant-suit.

"And who do we have here?" she said, smiling at the girl. The man who was with her was also suited up with white clothes. Both looked utterly out of place with all those other people wearing expedition clothes, and at the same time, seemed entirely at ease.

"Ah! Helen, dear; let me introduce you, my daughter, Catherine." Robert added blushing when he had to force his daughter to close her mouth, pushing her jaw upwards with a finger. Helen smiled as the little girl followed her movements.

"I'm very pleased to meet you, Catherine," She told her, coming to her knees to look at the girl straight to her eyes. Catherine blushed.

"Are you an angel?" She asked in awe, Magnus laughed.

"No, sunshine. I'm not; some say I'm quite the contrary. Although, I've never listened to what people say about me," she winked, "What on Earth are you doing here?"

"I want to be a great archeologist when I'm older. I'm learning all I can from my father," she said matter-of-factly. Helen placed a strand of hair behind the girl's ear.

"That's great, dear. We need more women doing important work like this," she winked. She came on her feet again, not even bothering to pat away the sand that had gotten stuck at her knees. She looked around until she found what she was looking for, and quickly went to a table which contained most of the artifacts they had unearthed so far. She moved them around as if she was looking for something and then grabbed a piece and walked back towards the group. "Well, Catherine, this is a present for you, so you can always look at it and know our dreams can become true."

"Helen… We can't accept it," Robert whispered, but she merely eyed him and bit her lower lip with squinting. The girl looked happy when she gave it to her, but Robert looked consternated.

"Robert, maybe you can't, and you wouldn't accept it. However, the present isn't for you. I believe nothing points out that little Catherine here can't take it," she smiled.

"You better accept it, Robert, you know how she is," the man they hadn't introduced to her intervened, and Robert nodded.

Catherine's eyes went wide, whatever present she was getting, her father was forced to approve, and her father rarely was forced into anything. Helen's attention turned back to the kid; she kneeled again and extended the object towards Catherine.

"What is it?" she questioned, extending her two hands to take it.

"Oh, it is just a necklace; every girl should own at least one," Helen winked at her. Catherine felt concerned; on one side, she wanted to keep the necklace. On the other, the girl didn't want to be the cause of people forcing her father to do what he didn't want. She chewed her lower lip.

"Can I keep it, papa?" She asked. Robert looked at Helen.

"Are you sure, Helen?"

"We won't miss a necklace, Robert," she waved. "Besides, it will look lovely on her."

"Then yes, Catherine, you can keep it," the girl jumped to embrace her father's leg and then she threw herself at Magnus, making her laugh wholeheartedly. The man who was with her was smiling too, so Catherine thought she did something right.

"May I?" Helen asked, grabbing the necklace, and Catherine blushed and nodded yes. Soon, it was on her the massive symbol falling almost at her navel level. She giggled happily.

"What is this drawing, Miss Helen?" She asked, caressing the contours of the trinket softly.

"Oh, that is the eye of Ra." She smiled, "People considered it amongst other things as an excellent protection symbol. I'm pretty sure your father has books about Ra with him."

Present

Catherine smiled as the memory of that day, flowed through her mind and played with her necklace. Magnus, who was scanning the room reading the expressions her presentation caused, smiled when she saw Catherine's hand softly caressing the trinket she had gifted to her all those years ago.

"Wait! That's not right; it can't be true." Daniel commented with a frown.

"Why not?" Catherine asked, crooking her head.

"If the Stargate was the property of a private facility, how could you have sold it to the Air Force, Catherine?" He asked.

"And yet, I sold it to the Air Force," Catherine answered mysteriously.

"Then how come she claims it was Sanctuary property?"

"Well, it was Sanctuary property." Catherine admitted, "For a couple of months at least. They moved the ring to England, and then, my father got a letter announcing him the stargate was on its way to America, and it was his to use carefully. I found that note going through his papers; it mentioned they couldn't keep it safe any longer as the artifact could endanger Earth's safety if it were it to fall into the wrong hands. They were also worried that their secrecy would be compromised if someone found about the gate."

"Thankfully, he agreed to keep it. That could have changed the outcome of WWII," Nikola commented. "Can you imagine?" He added, looking at Helen, who shivered at the thought.

"I don't understand," Daniel continued his line of questioning. "Why would you give something so big to someone?"

"Well," Helen sighed, "our commitment to understanding the unknown, comes from a deep desire to understand nature in all its extension. However, our commitment to protect the unknown comes from the need of others to use them for askew purposes. Believe me when I tell you there are plenty of abnormals you wouldn't want in the hands of the unscrupulous," Helen said.

"By keeping those kinds of abnormals far away from greedy hands, the Sanctuary managed to gain both enemies and support around the globe," Nikola pointed.

"Okay, got it, you got enemies," Jack rolled his eyes. "Who doesn't?"

"I'm still not convinced, I mean, you got this massive ring which does nothing. Why would you give it away to protect humanity?" Daniel asked. Nikola and Helen chuckled.

"Because we knew what it did," Helen affirmed.

"What? It wasn't way up until 97 when we figured it out, and you mean to tell me you knew all this time about the Stargate?"

"Yes," she answered firmly.

"I don't believe it."

"As Nikola has already proved to you, Doctor Jackson, their language is not unknown to us. Not now, not back then. However, it was determined by the Network that if people weren't ready to know and accept the many different species the Earth holds, they were least prepared to know the secrets of the Universe. And if something was to come through it, the worst possible scenario was for it to end up in the middle of a place filled with complex beings. Therefore, to keep it safe, we sent the ring to America, and we kept the other part with us. Catherine father worked with the Sanctuary long enough to be deemed as trustworthy, and he accepted the enormous responsibility of keeping it safe."

"You should show him the diaries," Nikola suggested. Helen nodded and typed something in her notebook. A picture of a handwritten page appeared on the screen along with a search box, she typed 'gate, ' and the document jumped.

"According to the writings the circle is a gateway to the stars," then, she deleted her search and added, Goa'uld, and the document jumped again. "The writings found make mention a race called Goa'uld, they take the human body as a host suppressing all the humanity of the person, so the host doesn't exist anymore," Helen quickly read her writings out loud.

"That's not entirely true," Sam said. Daniel was observing the writing closely; somehow, it looked oddly familiar to him.

"Yes, that would be correct, Major Carter. We learned later about the existence of a rebel group: the Tok'Ra - they called themselves. According to a newer expedition diary, the origins of said group can be placed on Earth, specifically in Cairo, when there was a rebellion against Ra, hence the name. A few years back, we also managed to tie what happened in that revolution with the creation of Praxis as a refugee city." She smiled.

"Praxis?"

"Another long story that you can live without. Now, the Tok'Ra," she inhaled deeply. "During the time of the rebellion, one of the 'Goddesses' escaped Earth and went to another planet, where she grew her children. Egeria offsprings' were born with the knowledge of what they were. Soon, they started to plan how to defeat the other pseudo-gods."

"You mean to tell us you found out about all of this here? On Earth? " Jack asked, skeptically.

"Yes."

"I don't believe a word of what you are saying," Jack affirmed stubbornly.

"And yet, I know that in fact, she is telling the truth," Jacob Carter interrupted the conversation, joining them from the stairs.

"Dad? What are you doing here? When did you arrive?" Sam asked.

"How do you know that?" Jack inquired at the same time, Jacob bowed his head saluting all.

"Hey kiddo, I was here all week. You were on an 'undefined location.' God knows I called Hayes several times for him to relent, but he didn't. I must say he has the utmost respect for you and your work, Doctor Magnus. And to answer your question, I had scheduled my return to the Tok'ra."

"I forgot about it," Hammond said. "How did you find us here?"

"Well, at the infirmary, they informed me that SG-1 was seen with Doctor Frasier earlier, and a group of people which had included a British Sam. Scuttlebutt pointed to you all being holed up here for a meeting. I kinda tricked the guard into letting me into the control room."

"You are not supposed to be eavesdropping, Jacob," Hammond said.

"I know, I was going to come up and interrupt before, but I head the word Tok'ra and couldn't help it to listen to the rest of it. I'm sorry if I'm not welcomed but, I mean, who's a better fit to tell that history, right? So I walked up, and I must confess Selmak is pretty shocked by seeing her." he pointed to Helen, "but before you react, Jack, I'll let you speak with her, and we all can get more answers."

Jack closed his mouth as Jacob lowered his head and closed his eyes, and then, he slowly raised his head again, frowning. He crooked his head and walked closer, towards Helen until he was face to face with her. Helen raised her eyebrow, and Selmak huffed, grabbing her face and moving it from one side to the other, check it as if verifying it was real. Helen inhaled profoundly, and she saw Nikola doing the same before he both nodded to her.

"How can you be?" Selmak asked Helen.

"I'm sorry I don't know who you are. I don't know your host. Therefore, my guess is I don't know you either," Magnus said, curiously looking to Jacob/Selmak.

"And yet, you are the same Helen Magnus, aren't you?" He inquired.

"Yes. I'm Helen Magnus." It was her turn to frown. "I've only met one of you before, and one of the other ones," she affirmed, Selmak grinned.

"I'm not from the other ones."

"Then I will politely ask you not to jump into me if you want to live. You wouldn't survive me," Helen grinned, raising her hands in surrender. Selmak sniffed around her, making all of the crowd look at the exchange weirdly.

"You smell like … them. The sweet scent of the protectors, I can't jump on you. I won't jump into you," Helen smiled intrigued; she had the same conversation before. Years ago, and yet if she imagined the warm sand and blazing sun of the desert, she could almost be there again, she could transport herself to Cairo, 1965.

"You are not hurt, are you? Can I help you?" she offered.

"I am Selmak, from the Tok'ra." Helen's eyes went wide; no one else was understanding what was happening.

"Dear God! How can you be?" She asked in surprise.

"Ah, you aren't a human; you are one of the Protectors as we agreed when we met."

"I'm not one of the Protectors; I'm a species on my own." Selmak nodded, "I didn't have a reason to lie to you. I never knew if you made it," Helen frowned, searching Jacob's eyes. "And after all these years, I."

"You tough our paths would never cross again," he nodded. "Don't worry; I did too." Jack and Daniel cleared their throats to interrupt the conversation the two of them were having, Nikola was grinning like a kid in a candy store.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but care to explain what is happening here?" Daniel said.

"You are that creature?" Nikola grinned, "Amazing!"

"You reek of Protector," Selmak said after smelling the air near him.

"Half-breed," Nikola pointed proudly.

"I see."

"We don't!" Jack provided, "Care to explain to the audience?"

"I've met Selmak… Some years ago," Helen explained.

"It was a lucky encounter, I can't imagine the outcome if it hadn't occurred," Selmak dismissed, "The Tok'ra sent me to a mission, I was returning to our base planet on a Tel'tak."

Somewhere in the milky way.

Unknown date

Saroosh was smiling; it was her last mission for the Tok'ra. Her body, even with all the help of Selmak, was ready to start aging over her real age. She had lived around 170 cycles, and she was willing to get old. So they were finally retiring.

As she put her tel'tak on hyperspace, Saroosh wondered how she would look like an old woman, instead of the young features that had accompanied for over a century.

"It's not the way you look, Saroosh. It's the way you lived," Selmak told her, and she smiled.

"Then I'm ready to live as an intelligence officer and not like an infiltrated agent," She frowned, "There's something odd with the engine."

"We better get out of hyperspace and check, you want to get in one piece for your retirement dinner," Selmak joked. But they came out of hyperspace slowly, and then both gasped.

"That can't be," Saroosh commented.

"Yet, it is," Selmak provided, both concentrating on avoiding the wormhole that opened in front of them. But, there was nothing they could do. Their course, no matter how much they tried, was not going to allow them to avoid it, and soon they were inside it.

The Tel'tak vibrated in ways none of them ever felt before and soon; it started to fail. Thankfully, they were spat out of the wormhole seconds later. They were rotating like a ball in space, and they both were thankful no other rocks were floating in space. She walked towards the main seat and noticed the primary systems were out. And although the navigation systems were on, they couldn't point where she was.

"What should we do?" She asked out loud, even if Selmak could hear her thoughts. And then, the tel'tak completed one turn, and they saw a blue orb. Saroosh quickly studied it and grinned when the results showed it was an environment where they could survive. She also found large cities and a lot of living creatures.

"Oh! Selmak! The only planets I know with this many people are Goa'uld strongholds and how are we going to explain ourselves?" Saroosh complained loudly, while Selmak took control of her body and started to analyze the globe.

"There! We can land there, Saroosh. It's not like we have much choice, but at least we will be able to live to explain it."

Alarms started to sound as they marked their course, Saroosh inhaled deeply and grabbed herself as firmly as she could, and soon she was both fighting to keep herself safe and to breath. She saw how sand covered the central glass and slid towards the door, using her last breaths. Raising her hand, she pressed the combination just in time to feel the wind blowing sand against her face before blacking out.

March 25th, 2004

SGC.

"My last conscious breath was used to open the door of the Tel'tak, and my last memory of that experience was a warm sandy wind before I collapsed," Selmak added.

"Some years ago," Helen started, "I was called on a mission to help a giant sand ray that surfaced, those are rare, and there were years since the last one had surfaced on a cry for help."

"A giant sand ray? She's got to be kidding," O'Neill added, Magnus smiled and showed pictures of the creature which had surfaced during the Kali incident. She raised an eyebrow waiting for more questions over her sanity.

"As I was saying, we were packing our things since the sun was starting to go down. Darkness in the desert can be quite magical or terrifying. And then, I saw something strange coming down in the sky and the sound of it crashing."

Cairo

1964

Once healed, the sand Ray had buried herself again slowly but surely. Helen looked up enjoying the way the day was giving space to the night, the sun was still halfway up, but the temperature was beginning to drop, and the breeze they missed during the whole event was starting to rise.

And then, something odd was in the sky. Helen had heard histories on the thousands of tribes she had lived with, and this thing was something straight out of their shared library of memories. It looked like a golden shell and flew low enough for her to catch it. The screams from her crew were as odd as they were loud.

They were used to confront things unimaginable like sand rays and pterodactyls and such, but a metal flying thing scared them to the point of making them run. Helen moved in the opposite direction, for her a collision course was a distinct call for help.

She arrived at the crash site shortly and took her gun out of her holster as what it seemed like the door hissed open. She waited for a while, to see if someone, anyone or anything came out. Nothing did. She walked closer, her pace falling with the memories she had of the thousands of complicated situations she had managed to put herself. With a deep breath, she pointed her gun inside and turned around to enter the ship.

It was empty or looked like it until Helen spotted the body lying awkwardly close to the door. She looked up and saw some device, and she figured it was the lock. Frowning the Doctor decided the woman on the floor was trying to get out. She approached her and found she wasn't breathing. Helen doubted a little, and then she did what knew she should. Hoping the woman was a carbon-based lifeform, she started to give her air.

The woman's chest began to rise and collapse, but she remained unconscious, it made sense. It could take a while to her body to get used to being fully alive.

"I just saved your friend, do not shoot if you see me," she said out loud, hoping that if there were someone else, at least would give her time to stay away from harm. But the vessel was empty. She checked all the places she could gain access to, and then she walked back to camp.

She wasn't pleased nor surprised that no one was there any longer no one except a kid who had joined them for the fun of the desert, and her jeep. The child told her the crew feared the bug that fell from the sky, and ran away, leaving him along with her stuff behind. With not much left to do, the kid packed all the forgotten items and sat waiting for her return. They hopped the jeep and drove closer to the ship; the girl was still out.

"Well, I can move her and risk damage, or I can leave her here and risk her life," Helen muttered to herself before she found a way to move the woman to the jeep. Then, once she had secured her, they started the way back to Cairo.

"Magnus! I didn't understand what happened; they returned all scared and mumbling things about a bug?" The head of the house started talking; then he saw the woman. "Who's this?"

"I'm not sure. Help me bring her to the infirmary," the Doctor added. Asher gave orders to his crew, and soon, they moved the girl to a bed.

"What are you going to do with her?"

"I can't do anything, Asher. I'm not sure what she is, anything I attempt can be more damaging. Go sleep, I'm going to stay, if she doesn't wake up by morning, then I'll sleep, and you can wake me up when she does."

Helen entertained herself with a book, and taking vitals she didn't know for sure were correct. But it kept her occupied, and when she thought she would have to wait until the next morning to find out more about the woman, her eyes fluttered open, and she spoke. Helen frowned, the language was one she knew but hadn't heard articulated in a long time.

"I'm Helen Magnus," she hoped she had said, and the girl frowned.

"Who's your God?" she asked. Helen frowned.

"We are free to choose."

"Nonsense, there aren't many who are free to choose. If you were, then you shouldn't know this language?" The woman sniffed the air, "Unless…"

"I learned it from another being," Helen said also sniffing the air, noticing for the first time that the distinctive smell she had felt came from the girl.

"You reek of Protector, and the other ones." Helen raised her wrist and smelled herself.

"Protector? The other ones?"

"You are familiar with Goa'uld; you must be, you smell like Naquadah… faintly."

"Ah, Goa'uld," Helen added understanding about what she was talking. "I've met one of those before, he jumped at me, and he didn't survive." She sighed.

"Died in you?" The girl asked.

"Yes, it was a long time ago. My body is slowly eliminating the material left behind. How can you know?"

"I told you, you reek of protector and Goa'uld."

"You can smell them in me?" The Doctor asked in surprise.

"Yes, metal and sweet blood. I always heard of the sweet blood of the protectors. I've never smelled something like you before, Selmak did."

"Oh, Selmak is your symbiote? Are you a Goa'uld too?"

"No! I'm not from the other ones. I'm Tok'ra. But how can you know I have a symbiote?" Helen chuckled.

"I'm sorry, but you do smell too. I can't describe it; it's the smell of the creature in you. Although, I wouldn't be able to say if you are Goa'uld or Tok'ra by it."

"I guess it comes to the origins," Saroosh shrugged. "It is good for the Tok'ra that we smell like them. Otherwise, we wouldn't be outstanding spies." They giggled.

"I've read about Tok'ra. I will advise and ask you politely not to jump on me if you want to live. You wouldn't survive me."

"Yes, I know, you smell like them. The protectors, I can't jump into you, I won't jump into you," Helen smiled intrigued.

"You are not hurt, are you? Can I help you?" she offered.

"I am Saroosh from the Tok'ra; I'm host to Selmak." Helen's eyes went wide.

"What's a protector?" The Doctor asked the alien girl bowed.

"A long time ago," Selmak continued, "there were several races, the Goa'uld were created by one of them. But there was one race, in particular, they were called the Protectors. They were special; the symbiotes couldn't survive in them. With their help, our mother understood we weren't Gods. We were simply controllers; if our mother is the mother of the Tok'ra, the protectors are the fathers."

"I've never heard about the Protectors."

"They had another name; I can't remember it. But if my species dies inside you, then you are one of them." Helen frowned: one of them. Her mind quickly provided her with historical facts, the ones only Nikola and her, and a few hand-picked historians knew, and her eyes widened.

"Akhkharu?" She offered, and the girl's eyes widened in response.

"Yes! That's it. We might be able to destroy the Goa'uld. Are there many of your kind?"

"Sadly, no," Helen shook her head. "I'm not even one of them; I'm a species of my own. I can't be even considered a half-breed. There's one man, he still conserves all of the qualities, but he's not completely one, and I don't know where he is at the moment."

"I can believe it," she scrubbed her face tiredly. "I found the protectors just to learn they are gone."

"I'm sorry. Oh, I didn't find anything wrong with you, but I'm not sure I know what I was looking for. Can I get anything to heal you? Will you need anything at all?" The girl bowed once more.

"Selmak will heal me. But I will need tools to fix my ship."

"I will provide you with everything you need."

"Is there a chapa'ai?"

"Chapa'ai?"

"A ring? A gate to the stars? The circle of the universe?" Saroosh attempted in the various names she had heard over the years.

"That was the word!" Helen facepalmed herself, "There was a chapa'ai, it was found buried not long ago. However, now it's hidden and won't be used."

"How can you be sure?"

"The ring is in one part of the world; the control is in another part. We separated those two pieces for our safety."

"Good."

"You should rest, I'll find you later, and you can tell me what you need."

Present time

"I was under her care for about a week or two." Selmak added, "I explained to her the basics of how the universe was going. And somehow we found all the things I needed to fix the tel'tak. And then, I was gone. I never thought about it; I never saved the data about this world. Since it wouldn't provide anything good for us, and having it could cause more damage to her world."

"You never thought you were talking about Earth?"

"I never was on Earth; I never knew the places Jacob knows. I only knew the desert and her Sanctuary; which was nothing like what I've seen here. How could I think her world was the Tau'ri?"

"Was there any other planet with Protectors?"

"There's a galaxy full of a variance of them."

"A galaxy?" Nikola's eyes brightened.

"I wouldn't know. I only know someone took the Protectors to another galaxy. Also, I know the ones they took were variations of the Protectors, similar but nothing like them. The Protectors, well, they cared about all the creatures. The other ones, not so much."

"But how come you never remembered about her, if you saw Sam? Even Saroosh saw her."

"Before I blended with Jacob, Samantha, you made me remember that day, that world. I remembered her when I saw you, and I smelled you. Then, I blended with your father, and I had to concentrate all my energy into healing. Soon, I knew too much about you, I knew your smell from his memories, and I never thought; I thought I forgot about her, about how she looked and smelled, because of Jacob's strong memories of you had replaced my memories of that day with your image."

"And you are sure Helen was the one who helped you?" Will asked, Magnus had shared lots of things with him but knowing aliens wasn't one of those.

"Well, she just shared half of the history with you. So, my guess is yes. Helen, I know I already own you my life, but when I return to Earth, will you allow me to take your blood with me?"

"Why?" Jack asked.

"I think it would be most helpful to the Tok'ra, considering what her blood did as part of the cure for my problem," Teal'c said.

"Of course, you can have a sample of mine, and I'm pretty sure Nikola won't mind you to take a sample of his."

"George," It was Jacob's voice, "do you mind if Selmak and I hold a little chat with the Doctor in your office for a while? It won't take long."

"Of course," Hammond agreed, and they walked towards the office. The door closed, and Hammond sighed, "Well, this certainly changes things."