For that reviewer: We have no idea if the Ancients dealt with Anomalies or not, but if they did, they would have been very good at it.

Chapter 3

Jack took a cursory look around the rooms – two bedrooms, sorry Carter, and a common room – and then turned back to Becker. "Where are our weapons?"

"In the armoury. We don't carry weapons in the ARC."

"How nice for you. I want them back."

"I'll have to clear that with Lester."

"Oh? Head of security doesn't make those decisions? Huh. Well, run along and get permission, then."

Becker scowled, taking a step back into the hall. "There's a guard out here. Just in case you need anything. Sir."

"How thoughtful," Jack said politely. Becker smiled grimly, closing the door carefully.

"You have a fan," Jonas noted, sitting gingerly in one of the chairs. "Is it really necessary to talk to him like that? He already doesn't like you."

"Yes."

"Yes...?"

"It's necessary." He didn't bother to explain, since Jonas wouldn't ask.

"Do you think he'll give back our weapons?"

"Getting them back isn't the point. Having a little control is the point."

Jonas nodded, apparently accepting that. "They haven't taken anything else. They haven't even tried to search us. "

"They don't need to search us. They had scanners when we came into the building. They know exactly what we're carrying."

"And we don't let people carry weapons in the SGC, especially people we don't know. This is basically a foothold situation, isn't it? But we're the aliens here."

Jack made a face, refusing to answer, and Jonas continued patiently, "I don't think they mean us any harm."

"It doesn't mean they won't do some in passing," Jack snapped, and they sat in silence until Sam and Teal'c came back, escorted by a random soldier.

"Slipped your escort?" Jack asked, studying Carter quickly.

"Lester called him. I think. Those earpieces make conversations very confusing." She sank into one of the chairs. "He apologised, said he'd be by later and called down another soldier to walk us back, and all the time he was arguing with Lester. And no one seemed to think it was weird." Catching Jack's look, she added, "I'm fine, sir, honest. He put some more antiseptic on it, but it's nothing. It'll be fine in a day or two."

Jack glanced at Teal'c, who nodded solemnly. "The medic seemed most capable."

"Good to know."

Sam glanced around the room. "Not bad."

"Not bad," Jack echoed.

Connor knocked on the door, pushing it open in the same movement. "Ah. Can I borrow the Major?"

Jack studied him. "Where are our weapons?"

"Becker and Matt are arguing it out with Lester," Connor told him. "I tried to argue your side, but I'm just making Becker angry now."

"Doesn't seem that hard to do, honestly."

Connor shook his head. "We lost people. He lost people; he's our security and our bodyguard, and he lost people. He doesn't want to lose anyone else. He'll calm down. Major?"

"Yeah."

"Can I borrow you? I want to show you some of the Anomaly readings we have, see if anything catches your eye."

"Sure," Sam agreed, looking at Jack.

"Have fun," Jack told her. "Take Jonas."

"Yes, sir." She glanced at Jonas, who obligingly followed her.

"You have a lot of information about the Anomalies?" she asked. Connor shot her a look, and she shrugged. "You said the ARC wasn't in operation ten years ago."

"Almost six years, now, since our first Anomaly. And yeah, we've got a fair bit of information. It's mostly – I mean, it's shorthand, I'll have to translate as we go."

"You do the research?"

Connor grinned. "You're looking at the first person to artificially induce an Anomaly, thank you very much."

"Why would you want to induce them?" Jonas asked.

"At the time, for research into using them to generate energy. We've more or less abandoned that research path, though; it wasn't worth the price. We don't induce them anymore, but I've still got the maths kept hidden."

"Is it safe to keep it? I mean, could someone else use it?"

"They'd have to be some kind of genius," he said with no hesitation. "Like I said, most of it's in shorthand – here we go." He flashed his wrist under the scanner by a lab door, pushing it open when it beeped and ushering them in. Sifting through sheets of paper, he pulled one out and offered it to Sam. "I'm trying to use it to figure out how long any given Anomaly will last, but it's harder to apply it to natural Anomalies."

Sam nodded, eyes darting over the figures. "Have you tried..."

Jonas lost track of the conversation very quickly. At first Sam tried to explain to him as they went, but after a few minutes he stopped her. He still wasn't following properly and it was just slowing them down.

"Not your field, huh?" Connor asked with a grin.

"I'm a social scientist." Not strictly true, but Earth didn't have a true equivalent to the subjects he'd studied at home, and it tended to stop any followup questions. "It doesn't matter. Go ahead; I'll get the condensed version later."

"You'll be bored..."

"I work for the government. I'm used to being bored in meetings that go over my head. Sam, don't wait for me. Really."

Sam took him at his word, diving straight back into discussion. They had to stop every so often to define things; Connor seemed to be self taught and didn't recognise the technical terms Sam was using, but she never had to explain something more than once. Jonas knew enough to be impressed; self teaching to the level they were working on was rare.

He wandered around the room, examining the equipment. Every so often he looked up and caught Connor's eye, but he never said anything and Jonas was careful not to touch anything that looked like machinery.

After a while Connor appeared at his shoulder. "Tea break," he announced. "You want to come help me carry, or stare at my file cabinet some more?"

Jonas glanced across at Sam. "Want me to stay?"

"No, go ahead," she said distractedly. "I think I'm onto something here."

"I guess I'm yours, then, Connor," he said with a shrug.

"Brilliant. This way." Connor nodded to the guard outside and headed back the way they'd come.

"What is it she thinks she's almost at?" he asked curiously.

"Hmm? Oh. Well, Anomalies are basically a kind of wormhole, really, but the numbers don't match. My equations don't match what she knows about wormholes."

"But wormholes don't travel in time. At least, not usually."

"There's no reason they shouldn't. Time's only another dimension. We're guessing that your stargate has controls built in to keep the wormhole linear."

"OK," Jonas agreed.

"So she's trying to only look at the bits of the equation that are about how the Anomalies travel in space and not about how they travel in time. It's complicated, because I was looking at it the other way – we're more concerned about the time part of the Anomalies. The spatial orientation is secondary."

"It would be," Jonas said thoughtfully. "If you often get incursions, I can see why you'd be more concerned about when the Anomalies go to."

"That's it. Plus we've got the detector, so it doesn't matter so much where the Anomalies are."

Jonas nodded. "How big is this base?"

"Very. But we're here." He opened a door, stepping aside for Jonas to enter first.

Becker was sitting at the little table, cleaning a handgun. He didn't speak or stop what he was doing, focusing on the pieces in his hands. Jonas looked back to see Connor turning away from a notice board just inside the door.

"D'you leave us any hot water, Becker?" he asked cheerfully, nudging the kettle. "Jonas, there're mugs in the press there."

Jonas obediently pulled down four mugs. Connor raised an eyebrow at the last one and Jonas glanced back towards Becker.

"Good thinking. How does the Major take her tea?"

"She drinks coffee." Jonas thought for a moment before offering, "Strong."

"Heathen. All right, let me see what we've got here."

Jonas wandered towards the door, studying the notice board. It was covered with pictures, some candid shots, some official IDs, and one pencil drawing. He looked over them carefully, recognising what they had in common after a moment.

He looked up, unsurprised to see Becker watching him. "We have one like this at the SGC," he offered.

Connor stirred one of the cups loudly and perfunctorily. "There, all done," he announced, putting one down beside Becker, safely away from his elbow. "Ready, Jonas?"

"Yes. Thank you." He took two of the cups, nodding to Becker on the way out. "Was that wrong?" he added softly once the door had closed.

"Was what wrong?"

"It's a memorial wall, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Connor took a sip. "It is. Unofficial, though."

"Should I not have mentioned it?"

Connor shrugged. "I dunno. It's hard to know what's going to set him off at any given time. Don't worry about it right now, anyway."

"No, now is Anomaly discussion time," Jonas agreed mildly.

"I can get someone to walk you back. You don't have to stay around."

"It's fine. Don't worry about me."

Connor considered for a moment. "Can I ask you something, Jonas?"

"Of course."

"Are you really an alien?"

Jonas considered him for a moment. "I'm human," he said finally. "But I grew up on another planet. There are billions like me, thousands of worlds; we all came from here originally, but most of us don't remember now. We're all human."

"And Murray?"

"You'll have to ask him; I don't want to talk about him without him knowing."

"That's fair. Thank you."

He grinned. "It's not as exciting as you think. My world's very close to this one; I think they said we're about fifty years behind you."

"Still. Alien, that's pretty cool."

"You're an alien, as far as I'm concerned. Is that cool?"

"Never thought about it like that." Connor toasted him with the mug, opening the lab door and letting them both in.

SG1 had slept, eaten and debriefed again with Lester, and were back in their room when Matt tapped on the door. "Need you for a bit, Colonel."

"What for?"

Matt considered. "We're getting a call that claims to be from your SGC. We need you to come and verify the codes so we'll know if it's true."

"How can they be calling here?" Jonas asked, frowning.

"I'm guessing the ARC's been trying to get into the systems for a while now," Jack said lazily. "Good to know you're still on the ball, Carter."

"No, sir, Jonas is right," Carter said. "We have protocols to deal with hacking attempts. If it was just that, they wouldn't be using codes that we might know. They have to know we're here. So we must get home at some point, or at least back to some point before this. You might be on the other end of the phone."

"Doesn't the universe explode if I talk to myself?"

"Perhaps you should experiment and find out," Teal'c suggested.

Jack looked at Matt, still leaning in the doorway. "Willing to risk it?"

"Wouldn't be the first time. I'm pretty sure the universe won't explode. Lester might if we take much longer."

"That is definitely not something we want to risk. Lay on, MacDuff."

Matt blinked before turning and heading out. Jack followed, glancing back at Teal'c before closing the door.

The young woman Jack thought was probably Jess was in Lester's office, writing on a pad. Lester glanced up as they came in. "I do hope I didn't rush you gentlemen. I'd hate to think I was interrupting something important."

"Just some metaphysical discussion about timeline interactions," Matt told him.

"Pardon me?"

"That might be the O'Neill from this timeline on the line, and we were discussing what might happen if this O'Neill talks to himself on different points of his own timeline."

"And what might happen?"

"The universe might explode," Jack told him.

Lester frowned, and Matt added, "It's unlikely, though."

"Well, who am I to argue the word of someone so well versed in Anomaly theory. Jess?"

She passed the pad over to Jack. "I'm pretty sure it's right," she said apologetically. "He says it very quickly, but he did repeat it, so I think I caught everything. He doesn't sound like you."

Jack studied the sheet, shaking his head. "This can't be right."

"Why not?" Lester asked.

"This is my current code."

"So?"

"So codes are changed every few months to prevent infiltration. This is the code I was issued about six weeks ago. It can't be right."

"It's right, Colonel," a new voice said. Jack glanced up; Lester swivelled his laptop to show him the SGC's logo, rotating lazily on the screen.

"You called me Colonel."

"Yes sir," the voice agreed. Jack didn't recognise it; there was a Southern tinge in it, but he didn't think it was anyone currently stationed at the SGC. Of course, as far as he was concerned, currently was ten years ago. "We're aware of your situation. I need your response, sir."

"If you're aware of my situation..."

"I still need your code, sir, I have very strict orders. I cannot proceed unless you give me your code."

Jack considered the laptop for a moment before looking at Jess, who seemed the most likely to know. "If I type there, can he see it?"

"Um, just a minute..." She typed quickly for a moment before nodding. "There, you can do it now."

"Thank you." He tipped the laptop back, carefully typing in his response code.

"Thank you, sir," the Voice said after a moment.

"You are?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you, sir. Not yet."

"That's really annoying, you know."

"I'll be sure and tell the person who gave me my instructions next time I see them. Sir, your wormhole became entangled in what the ARC project calls an Anomaly."

"Yes, I'm aware." Lester was frowning, probably at the implication that the ARC was wrong.

"Something went wrong. The Anomaly is travelling through the 'Gate network."

"Pardon me?"

"We've been contacted by Tuplo, and the Orbanians, and the Tok'ra, and half a dozen others I can't name to you yet. Anomalies are opening and they all lead to various periods in Earth's history."

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"I know, sir, but our teams confirm. The Anomalies are following the Stargate; anywhere it's opened, Anomalies follow after."

"Right," Jack said slowly. "So what do we need?"

"We need the ARC to show us how to stop it."

"You can't stop Anomalies," Matt said. "They're a natural phenomenon."

"Even so, the Earth isn't overrun with dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures, so there's got to be a way to control them. And they're not a natural phenomenon on other worlds."

Matt looked across at Lester, who sighed. "Jess, where's Connor?"

"He hasn't signed in yet. He left late last night."

"Well, get him on the phone, then."

Jess made a face behind his back, dialling. Jack caught her eye and grinned.

"Jess," Connor said, exhaustion clinging to his voice, "if this isn't the end of the world, I don't want to know."

"I'm with Lester, Connor, and you're on speaker."

"Yeah, 'course I am. What is it?"

"The SGC has contacted us," Lester told him. "Several of their allies are reporting Anomalies leading to Earth's past. As far as the SGC can tell, the Anomaly you locked yesterday has become entangled in the network of Stargates and every time a Stargate is used, Anomalies follow soon after."

"Anomalies on other planets? That's cool, and also really freaky. What are we doing about it?"

"Anomaly management is your department. Think you could find it in yourself to come in at some point? If it wouldn't be interrupting anything else you have planned, of course."

"Yeah, I'm on the way. Someone make sure there's coffee in the break room?"

Matt smiled at the plaintive tone. "I'll check for you, Connor."

"Cheers, Matt. See you in a few."

"My team should be in on this," Jack said quietly.

"Yeah. I'll go get them." Matt pushed off the wall, letting himself out.

"Mystery Voice, you still there?" Jack asked.

"Still here, sir."

"Oh good. We'll get back to you when we have something. Make sure whoever's on the switch knows what they need to know."

"Yes, sir."

Jess leaned over to terminate the connection. "Do you recognise him?" Lester asked immediately.

"No. He's not anyone I know at the moment."

"Can we trust him?"

Jack thought about it. "The codes match. Apart from that..."

"I see." Lester leaned back in his chair, studying Jack. "How much do you trust the SGC, Colonel?"

"Depends on who's running it. Three days ago it was General Hammond, and I'd trust him to the end of the world. Have done when it counted. But that was ten years ago, so it's probably not still him."

"It's not him. I can tell you who it is, if you want."

"What happened to not polluting the time line?"

"I think we're a little beyond that now, don't you? If we're going to provide aid to your allies, you'll have to be involved. There's simply no other way to manage this."

"So you are going to provide aid?"

Lester looked away. "Unbelievable as it seems, Connor is our leading mind in Anomaly research. He'll be in charge of this. You'll have to tell him everything you know about the worlds the SGC mentioned."

"Yeah," Jack murmured, leaning back. "That might take a while."

"The more we know, the better."

Matt came back in, Emily on his arm and the rest of Jack's team behind him. Becker brought up the rear. "Doesn't anyone around here sleep?" Jack asked rhetorically, standing to offer his seat to Emily.

"Sleep is for normal people," Matt told him.

"Right. How silly of me."

"What's going on, sir?" Carter asked.

"Bit of a problem in the Land of Light. And on Orban. And with the Tok'ra."

"Sir?"

"The Anomaly got caught up in the wormhole, and now anyone who opens the 'Gate finds Anomalies opening up soon after."

Carter frowned. "That shouldn't be possible, sir."

"I agree, but here we are."

"It really was the SGC, then?" Jonas asked.

"Codes match. I didn't recognise the voice, but he knew me. Knew what was going on here. I think we have to risk it."

"We really must get home," Carter murmured.

"It looks that way," Jack agreed.

Lester cleared his throat, looking at Becker. "Where are we on locking mechanisms and detectors?"

"We have a dozen locking mechanisms and ten detectors ready to go at any time. We could turn out some more fairly quickly, we have the parts. Power's going to be an issue, though."

"We can deal with that. Matt, EMDs?"

"You want to give weapons to the SGC?"

"We don't need weapons," Jack told them. "We have plenty of weapons, and so do most of our allies."

"Non lethal weapons?" Matt asked. "If these creatures are coming from Earth's past, we're the ones will be affected if something goes wrong."

"We have non lethal weapons. That's what the EMDs are?"

"Electro muscular disruption weapons. We use tranquilisers, too. Lethal weapons are a last resort."

"Is it not more expedient to simply exterminate any creatures who encroach?" Teal'c asked.

"Expedient, yes, but we've learned it's dangerous to mess with the past if it can be avoided." Emily coughed and he glanced over at her, one eyebrow up.

"Pardon me," she said politely.

"If it can be avoided?" Carter repeated.

"Sometimes it can't be. Sometimes we don't have a choice." He was still watching Emily. "But when we do have the choice, we don't do anything that'll damage them. Tranqs or EMDs and back through the Anomaly."

"Sounds like fun and not at all dangerous."

"It's definitely fun," Matt agreed, finally looking back at him.

"How reassuring."

Connor slipped in and Lester looked up. "How kind of you to grace us with your presence."

"You called me twelve minutes ago, Lester." Glancing at Matt, he added, "Where's my coffee?"

"In the break room. Did you not go there first?"

"Spoilsport." He dropped into the chair beside Emily, smiling at her. "So what's going on, Lester?"

Lester summarized the situation again. Halfway through, Jess came in with a cup that she passed to Connor; Jack blinked, trying to remember if he'd seen her leave.

"Jess, you are a pearl among swine," Connor said, burying his face in the cup.

"How charming," Lester muttered.

"You can tell Becker I said so, too," Connor added.

"He's behind you," Jess pointed out.

Connor froze as Becker dropped a friendly hand onto his shoulder. "Hi, mate," he said, craning his head back to see him. "How's it going?"

"How fast can you make extra locking mechanisms and detectors?"

"Pretty fast. We've got the parts, and I've got the knack. Why? What's wrong with the ones we have?"

Becker looked towards Lester and Connor followed his look. "We're proposing to give some to the SGC," Lester told him.

"Yeah?"

"Our remit is dealing with incursions and sealing Anomalies. I don't recall anything limiting us to Earth."

"You're taking this very calmly," Jack noted. "This time yesterday, you didn't believe in life on other planets."

"I'm sorry, were you expecting me to hunker down with my hands over my eyes? Denying the evidence has never been my strong suit. Anomalies are our remit and we will deal with them or show your people how."

"How kind."

"Nonsense. If your allies mess up our history I could end up somewhere even worse than this. I dread to think where that might be."

"Right," Jack agreed, nodding amiably.

"So. Connor. Locking mechanisms?"

"Uh, we've a dozen to hand. I can make another in a couple of hours, so give us two or three days I can double that."

"I can help," Jonas offered. "I don't know how they work, but if it's wiring and building, I can learn that."

"Sure, thanks," Connor agreed. "You wanna help too, Emily? You're pretty good."

"Of course," Emily said. "If you think I can help."

"Good. Go and get started, then; locking mechanisms and detectors, quick as you can." Lester waved them away. "Major Carter, I understand you were working with Connor last night on the Anomaly readings. Did you find anything that might explain this?"

"I'd need to look at them some more," she said apologetically. "There's a lot of information to absorb, and I can't do it on my own, I need Connor to go through it with me."

"Right, well, Connor, you'll have to help the Major with that, then."

Connor grimaced. "You want me to build things or do numbers? I can't do both."

"Are you the only tech on the base?" Jack asked curiously.

"I'm the best tech on the base," Connor said, and Jack didn't get the impression he was boasting. "And I created the machines, I can put them together faster than anyone else."

"Well, show them how to do it and then go look at your numbers with the Major," Lester ordered.

"Murray, you want to stick with Carter?" Jack asked.

"I shall, O'Neill."

"Thanks." He turned back to Lester. "Right. How are we going to do this?"