Chapter 2

The mysterious team leader was Irish. Jack carefully didn't react to that. Whatever this program was, the two governments had to be in on it together.

Or maybe not, he corrected himself as Matt spoke to the woman beside him. That was a northern accent; Matt could well be a British citizen.

"Matt Anderson," Connor said, adding hastily, "and Emily Merchant. Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Jonas Quinn, and Murray."

Anderson's gaze flickered over the group, resting momentarily on Teal'c before coming back to Jack. "Welcome to twenty twelve."

"Greetings from two thousand two," Jack said solemnly.

"Can you tell me what happened just before you arrived here?"

"We were somewhere else."

"Colonel," he said, faintly disapproving.

"You get what you give." Giving Anderson an obvious once over in return, he added, "Matt."

Anderson and Becker exchanged looks; Emily and Abby were talking quietly in the background, and though Connor was still standing beside Anderson he was apparently listening to the women, if the faintly distracted look on his face was any indication. Jack wondered about the little earpieces; they were more advanced than anything the SGC was currently using.

"What does SGC stand for?" Anderson asked.

"What does ARC stand for?"

Connor got a mildly irritated glare for that; it didn't seem to bother him. Anderson turned back to Jack. "ARC stands for Anomaly Research Centre."

Jack nodded slowly, making several mental connections. "SGC is Stargate Command. That's an Anomaly?" He gestured to the spinning ball of light, still retracted tightly in on itself.

"It is. You can go back through, but Connor tells me that's probably a bad idea." He studied them again, eyes lingering on Carter's ankle.

Jack weighed death by Jaffa against possibly stuck ten years in the future and nodded. "It's a bad idea. Where are we?"

"Outskirts of London. Where are you based?"

"Colorado."

Abby sighed, turning to Emily. "This might take a while."

"They're from now?" she asked softly.

"Not exactly. About ten years ago."

"That seems unlikely."

"Tell me about it. The most recent Anomaly we saw before this was the one in the prison, your one." Emily nodded and Abby glanced around. "We can probably head back, start filling in paperwork."

Connor turned abruptly, coming back to join them. "You heading off?" he asked softly.

"Back to base." She watched Matt and O'Neill for a moment. "They could be here a while."

"Immovable object, unstoppable force," Connor agreed.

"You staying here?"

"Yeah, I want to keep an eye on that locking mechanism for a bit, make sure it doesn't give up again. Hey..." He touched her arm. "I'll see you in a bit, yeah?"

"Yeah. I'll text you if I'm heading home."

Connor nodded. "See you later, Emily."

"Goodbye, Connor."

Connor headed back to join the others. Becker looked away long enough to wave one of his men to follow the ladies as they left.

"What is a Stargate?" Matt was asking.

"What is an Anomaly?" O'Neill responded.

"How long've they been doing that?" Connor murmured to Becker.

"Pretty much since you stepped away."

Connor rolled his eyes, taking a step forward and dropping back to sit on a crate. "New plan," he announced.

Matt turned to look at him. "Oh?"

"Anomalies are rips in space time. Step through, you're somewhen else."

"Connor!" Becker hissed.

"We aren't getting anywhere, and they already know they've travelled in time," he pointed out. Turning back to O'Neill, he continued, "We find 'em, seal 'em and track down incursions – anything that comes through."

"That happen often?"

"Often enough." He looked expectantly at them, waiting for their answer.

Jack sighed, giving in. They were getting somewhere, after all. "Carter?"

"The Stargate is a device capable of opening stable wormholes to other planets. We're one of several exploratory teams tasked with finding allies and tech we can use."

"Allies," Anderson repeated. "Against who?"

"Whom," Jack corrected him absently.

"Not really the point of the question."

He looked at Carter, who shrugged apologetically. "Sorry."

"Breathe," Becker said abruptly. Connor heaved in a breath, waving off Anderson's look. "Aliens," Becker added, as though that meant something.

"Ah." Anderson looked satisfied, so maybe it did. "Are we in danger from whoever it is you're fighting?" he asked, switching his attention back to Jack.

"We weren't ten years ago."

"Right. And the allies?"

"Anything I know is going to be ten years out of date. When we left the SGC we had no allies on Earth, apart from the other people in the program."

Connor made an odd noise. Anderson completely ignored him, and Becker just shook his head in exasperation.

"Sorry, I have to ask about him," Jack said warily. "Is he quite sane?"

"Oi," Connor protested.

"Big sci fi fan," Becker explained. "Gets very enthusiastic."

"Oi," Connor protested again. "Don't pretend you aren't drooling over the thought of alien weapons."

"I don't drool, Connor."

"Oh yeah?" Connor leaned in, watching him closely. "Tank."

Becker twitched and Connor grinned victoriously. Carter was grinning as she watched them; Anderson had folded his arms, apparently happy to wait them out. Jonas had the slightly puzzled look that meant either Jack or Carter would be getting questions later.

Jack leaned forward enough to catch Anderson's attention. "They do this often?"

"Often enough. It's usually easiest to let them do it, I've discovered." He looked distracted for a moment, one hand reaching for his ear before he aborted the movement. "Look, I think we've got about as far as we're getting right now. We should head back to the ARC."

"Lester finally hear about us?" Jack asked mildly.

Anderson didn't react. The man was good. "Yeah. Listen, I don't have a vehicle big enough to take all of you together. I'm going to have to split you up. Sorry."

"Figured you would," he agreed. "Murray, you ride with Jonas."

"As you wish, O'Neill," Teal'c agreed.

"Connor's going to start with the questions as soon as we get going, and I've got to put him with one of you," Anderson continued.

Jack grimaced. "He'd better be with us. Carter knows the science stuff best." Glancing at Carter, he reminded her, "Be careful what you tell him."

"Yessir," she agreed.

Connor was still busy teasing Becker, but he looked up as soon as Anderson moved. "Ready to go?" he asked, bouncing to his feet.

"Yeah. Call Jess, tell her we're on the way. You and me are riding with the Colonel and the Major. Becker, you take Jonas and Murray, stick as close to us as you can."

"Got it," Becker agreed. Gesturing to one of his men, he added to Jack, "We'll have your weapons with us, sir."

Jack blinked. "Well, if you've got the weapons, Connor and Anderson won't be carrying, yes?"

Connor laughed. "I like him," he told Becker.

"You would. Have you called Jess?"

"Thought you might like to. I'll carry the weapons." He waved the other man away, glancing at Teal'c, who stepped forward to help him.

Jack glanced around and saw Anderson watching him watching Connor. "That is a smart young man," he murmured.

Anderson flicked a glance towards him. "He is," he agreed. "Connor's got some experience feeling out of place somewhere that should feel safe."

"Oh?"

"He helped create the ARC. Been here since the start, him and Abby. But there were problems; they were away for just over a year, and things were very different when they got back. If he gets too intense on the alien thing, have your Major ask about the locking mechanism, or how we detect Anomalies. That'll keep him talking for a while."

"Thanks for the tip."

"No charge. Becker! Ready to go?"

Becker nodded, looking around for Connor. "Is that locking mechanism going to hold?"

"I think so. Who're you leaving behind? I'll walk 'em through what I did to fix it."

"Connor," Anderson protested.

"Or we can leave it alone, and whoever's chasing them can come chase us when the lock fails," Connor said pointedly. Anderson sighed, waving him on, and Becker gestured to one of his men to join Connor at the little machine in front of the Anomaly.

"They fail often?" Jack asked mildly.

"It's been known," Anderson said, equally mildly. "This way, please."

Abby was waiting outside Lester's office when the little procession arrived; she grinned at Matt and Becker, slipping past them to where Connor was talking to the Major. "Hey."

"Abby! They've been to other planets!"

"I know, Becker called on the way. Lester's waiting."

"Spoilsport," he said amiably. "Can we talk some more later, Major?"

"It sort of depends on what your Lester says," she said apologetically. Connor was enthusiastic, but essentially harmless, and he'd dropped everything she'd refused to talk about. He was still championing them to his team, too. It was hard to refuse him.

"Yeah, I guess," Connor agreed. "He'll be sarcastic at you, but he's all right really."

"Thank you for that resounding character reference."

Connor flinched, side stepping to get behind Abby. "He's behind me, right?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

"You look it an' all."

"Can we move, please?"

Lester turned out to be a suited man. He looked short, but that might have been an illusion caused by his standing between Connor and Becker, both tall men. Sam thought he probably wasn't a soldier, but he looked like he could take care of himself if he had to. "Is there a reason we're all standing around in the hall?" he asked testily.

"Just waiting for you to open the door, James," Matt said easily. "It's rude to go in your office when you're not there."

Lester frowned, peering at him; Matt took it calmly, waiting until Lester leaned away again to ask "What?"

"Just making sure you hadn't been replaced by your own doppelganger or something."

Matt jerked very slightly at that, recovering to ask "What makes you say that?"

"Your sudden attack of morals. Completely unprecedented. Well, step aside then, I can't let us in from back here."

Abby slipped through the group to Matt's side. "You all right?" she asked softly.

"I'm fine. Where's Emily?"

"She went to make sure we have enough rooms ready."

"Good thought," he murmured, touching his earpiece. "Emily, you ready?"

"Oh, by all means, invite someone else into my office," Lester said loudly. Matt smiled at him, closing the door and leaning against it.

Jack ushered Sam into one of the seats; she took it without argument, glad to take her weight off her ankle, and he politely offered the other seat to Abby. She waved him off and he gestured Jonas into it.

Lester studied them for a moment before looking at Matt. "Lizards and serial killers not exciting enough for you any more? You had to start kidnapping American citizens?"

"You know how I hate to be bored," Matt said mildly. "James Lester, meet Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Carter, Jonas Quinn and Murray."

"Charmed," Lester said shortly, and unconvincingly. "Two thousand and two, I understand?"

"Last time I looked," Jack agreed.

"We have confirmed that in two thousand and two, Colonel Jonathon O'Neill and Major Samantha Carter were serving in the Air Force, attached to Cheyenne Mountain's deep space radar telemetry project. Nice cover, by the way. There are no records for either Jonas Quinn or Murray."

"Civilian contractors," Jack said.

"Yes, except that there are no civilian records for either of them either."

"Oh, I'm sure they're somewhere around."

Connor blinked, looking from him to Jonas and Murray. "Are you aliens?"

"Connor," Abby said quietly.

"What? That's what Lester's saying, I'm just saying it out loud."

Lester glanced up as Emily slipped into the room. "Crudely put, Temple, but accurate."

Jonas was looking a little trapped. Sam was about to speak to draw attention away from him when Emily stepped forward. "Excuse me, sir, may I...?"

"Oh, sure." Jonas scrambled to his feet, politely holding the chair for her before stepping around Becker to join Murray near the back wall. Emily settled herself into the chair, meeting Lester's look calmly.

"If we're quite settled," Lester said semi-patiently, turning to Connor. "What are the implications of this?"

"Not sure yet. We've never had such a contemporary Anomaly. Emily's was a good bit older. We should be careful not to let them see too much news, or anything."

"Excuse me?" Jack said politely.

Connor shrugged apologetically. "We don't want you to know too much about the last ten years when we get you back home again. Could be really dangerous." His confidence was nice; Sam hoped it wasn't misplaced, as unless she was wrong this was the first time he'd dealt with this situation.

And what was that about Emily?

"What if it's something we're supposed to know so we can make sure it happens when we get back?" Jack pointed out. Connor blinked, and he smiled innocently. Sam hid a smile; everyone always underestimated Jack, and he used it like a weapon.

"Like a predestination paradox?"

Jack looked at Sam, who nodded. "We've come across a couple of those."

"Fantastic," Connor breathed.

Lester cleared his throat pointedly, and Connor looked up guiltily. "Sorry. Um, predestination paradox is – well, like Helen and Site 333. We already knew that happened long before she went back to do it. Something happens and then we do the thing that makes it happen."

"Propter hoc, ergo post hoc," Lester muttered.

"Uh – yeah," Connor agreed blankly. Becker was smirking; Abby elbowed him in the side and he shook his head.

"I think it unlikely that you came to the future just to learn about something you need to do in the past."

"We've seen stranger things," Jack assured him.

"Just being here is showing us things," Jonas pointed out. "Clearly the world hasn't been destroyed, and the Stargate program may or may not be active but it obviously hasn't gone public or been outed."

Abby caught Sam's eye, smiling faintly, and Sam shrugged innocently. Lester was staring at Jonas, who returned the look calmly.

"How observant," Lester said finally.

"Not really. The world's here, and you didn't recognise iSGC/i or Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter. You would, if the Stargate was public." He shrugged. "Your Becker figured out we'd time travelled because we didn't recognise the Anomaly, so you obviously are public."

"Not by choice."

Jack studied him. "You were outed."

"Anomalies opened up world wide for several hours. We're currently in the first stages of opening ARCs around the world."

"Must be harder to hide something like this. The Stargate's stationary, at least."

Lester smiled. It wasn't particularly friendly. "Indeed. Connor, I hope you have some way to get them home?"

So Connor was important, then. Or at least, expected to do the impossible on a regular basis. Sam could probably sympathize.

"Working on it. I'd like to talk to the Major a little more; I think I've got the basics of how the Stargate works, but I need some specifics before I can make any real headway."

"Well, after she's finished in Medical, I'm sure her Colonel will release her to you."

"Excuse me?" Jack interrupted. "Medical?"

Lester pointedly dropped his gaze to Sam's ankle. "Never let it be said that I'm a bad host, Colonel O'Neill. Are any of the rest of you injured?"

"It's fine," Sam protested.

"Yes, we've often thought that about incursions. You'll forgive us our little idiosyncrasies. It's so terribly time consuming filling out the paperwork when someone under my employ is injured because they were careless."

"I resent that," Connor muttered. "S'not like the forms ever change, you can pretty much photocopy them."

"Yes, congratulations on completing a mission without getting hit in the head. I'll be sure and have Jess update the counter."

Expected to do the impossible, and either accident prone or prone to running towards danger. This felt familiar.

"It really is just scraped," Sam tried again.

Matt stirred where he was leaning against the wall. "Just your ankle, Major. Nothing intrusive."

And Matt knew what they were worried about. Jack looked around for Teal'c. "You go with her." Teal'c nodded agreement.

"Matt, escort the Major and Murray to the med bay, please. Becker, I'm told we have rooms ready for our guests, take the good Colonel and his teammate down there. Emily and Abby, I'm waiting for reports on your Incursion, and Connor, shouldn't you be working on getting them home sometime this decade?"

Sam blinked as the room emptied, the ARC team vanishing through two different doors. Connor grinned as he passed her, clearly understanding her bemusement. "You get used to that," he told her, twisting to avoid Becker's half hearted push. "Don't worry, Ditzy's nice. Mind his hands!"

"Cold," Abby told her before she could try and puzzle that out. "See you later." She slipped out, Emily on her heels.

"This way, Major," Matt said from the other door. Sam pushed to her feet, wincing as stiffened muscles protested; Teal'c loomed nearby, not touching but clearly ready to catch her if anything happened. Matt waited patiently while she stretched out the ankle, loosening the muscles. More surprisingly, Lester didn't say anything either; to all appearances he was buried in his paperwork and ignoring them completely.

"All right," she said finally. "Let's go."