Chapter 4

Some hours later San pushed away from the bench, stretching her back. Connor was hunched over the desk beside her, scribbling quickly.

They'd been working non stop, more or less, since the meeting had broken up. Jonas and Emily were working in a corner of the lab and whenever Connor took a break from working with her, he went across to them, checking their work and helping them along. Every so often one of his teammates came in with something to drink or a snack, which he took absently without really stopping what he was doing; Abby had distracted him for almost ten minutes at one point, but that was the longest break he'd taken. Jonas and Emily had individually stopped for a while, and Sam had stopped to walk around - escorted by Becker, but he'd been polite - and had a little fresh air in a training yard outside the ARC building.

Emily stood, carefully laying down her work, and murmured to Jonas for a moment before coming to join them. "I am going to get something to eat," she announced. "Connor, are you hungry?"

"No, ta, Emily," he said distractedly. "Take the major, though, she hasn't had a meal break yet."

"My name is Sam, Connor," she told him firmly.

He glanced up, grinning at her. "Take Sam with you, she hasn't had a meal break yet."

"Look who's talking."

"Yeah, I know, but you can't get any further until I'm done with this. Emily, how are you guys doing over there?"

"We have three more locking mechanisms and two detectors finished, and Jonas is working on another detector. Becker has been collecting them as we go; he's testing them for us to be sure they're working."

"Yeah, testing's important," Connor agreed vaguely, head bowed over his work again. "Have fun."

"Does he do that often?" Sam murmured, following Emily out.

"He can get very focused," Emily told her. "I'm not completely sure why, but he feels he has a responsibility to understand the Anomalies. It has something to do with Professor Cutter, who was one of the first to discover Anomalies, but only Abby and Lester knew him then and neither of them will talk about it."

Sam nodded, following her into the break room and looking around. She saw the notice board and crossed to study it.

"That's Professor Cutter." Emily pointed him out. "That's Stephen Hart. Captain Ryan; he was Becker's predecessor. Jenny Lewis – I heard Connor call her Claudia once, but I don't know why. That's Danny Quinn. I met him briefly." She trailed off, studying the other photos.

"These are people who've died for the ARC?" Sam asked.

"Jenny is alive; she left. I was at her wedding. And Danny went through an Anomaly, so he's out there somewhere."

"Where?"

She smiled faintly. "The Anomaly he used went to the Pliocene, but he could be anywhere by now."

"Pliocene," San repeated.

"Two and a half million years ago."

"Why?" Emily turned away, pulling down mugs, and Sam winced. "I'm sorry. Forget I asked. I'm just curious."

"It's not your fault. I just think that talking behind his back..."

"Of course. Don't mind me. How can I help?"

They pulled together a small meal – soup and biscuits and tea all around – and brought it back. Connor was still absorbed in his work, but he took the cup of soup with a mumble that might have been 'thanks' and kept working, taking little sips as he went.

"Abby has him trained to eat whatever he's given," Emily told Sam, drawing her over to the corner. "Otherwise he'd have collapsed by now."

"Well done her," Sam murmured. "Hi, Jonas. How's it going?"

"Fine." He tightened a screw carefully and laid down the device he was working on.

Sam picked it up, looking at Emily for permission. "This is the detector?"

"Yes. Anomalies create static on a particular radio band. The detector picks it up. We used to use a wind up radio."

"This is a step up," Sam said, running a finger over the GPS screen. "What's the range?"

"The handhelds have about one hundred metres. The version here in the base can monitor the whole world. I don't know what the plans are about that."

"And Connor created this?"

"I believe the concept was Professor Cutter's, but Connor certainly did the physical and design work, yes."

"Scuse me." Connor leaned in, taking the detector from her and running a quick check. "That's perfect, Jonas. Thanks. This is really helping me out."

"What powers it, Connor?" Sam asked.

"These ones run on batteries, but I'm about to show Jonas how to adjust it for solar power. That'll work, right? The planets they're going to don't have infrared suns or anything?"

"The Stargates only go to planets with an Earth equivalent atmosphere. They mostly look like Canada. Lot of trees, hills, lakes."

Connor pulled a face. "Canada? That's not very alien."

"Sorry. But it works for our purposes."

"The Land of Light might have problems, though," Jonas murmured.

"Oh, yeah." Sam sighed, scrubbing a hand through her hair.

"Land of Light?" Connor repeated, putting the detector into a case.

"The rotation is fixed so one side of the planet is always light and one is always dark. If these are solar powered and an Anomaly opens up on the dark side of the planet..."

"Good point." Connor considered for a moment. "I can make it with switchable batteries; if they charge up a couple at once they can switch it out halfway. I'll do that one, it'll be complicated. Jonas, let me show you how to switch them to solar."

"Sure," Jonas agreed, stacking the soup bowls aside and starting to gather parts for the next detector.

The two worked steadily for several minutes; the basic design was the same, and Jonas picked up the new wiring very quickly. Finally Connor sat back, glancing around distractedly. "You said Becker was testing these, Emily?"

"Yes, he's been coming by and collecting them." She was still bent over a locking mechanism, carefully fusing a wire into place.

"I'll bring him this one. Sam, can you look over what I've got done there?"

"Sure," she agreed, settling back at the bench.

Connor was gone for a while, and Sam found herself drawn into the numbers. Connor made leaps of logic sometimes, but his results were almost always correct, even if his methods were a little unorthodox.

When she looked up Colonel O'Neill was leaning against the other side of the desk, flicking idly at a spring wire hanging from the ceiling. "Sir," she said in surprise, lowering the sheets she'd been studying.

"You've been gone a while. Figured I'd come and check in, see how you're doing. Hey, Jonas." Jonas raised a hand without looking away from what he was doing. "How's it going?"

"I think we're covered on the equipment side, sir."

"And figuring out what's actually going on and how to stop it?"

"That's going a little slower."

"Oh?"

She sighed, pushing the papers away. "The numbers just don't match, sir. Anomalies act like wormholes but they aren't. I can't find any way they can have become entangled; it's like a stream of water following a tree just because a branch dips into it."

Jack nodded, rocking back on his heels. "I see."

"What's the plan?"

"We're going to be picked up by whatever ship followed the Daedalus. They'll beam us down into the SGC and we'll go straight through to the Land of Light and work out from there."

"Still won't tell you the names, huh?"

"He says he can't until we get there. Whoever wrote those instructions, I'm going to punch them very hard in the face."

"Yes, sir," she agreed, smiling. "What about the team here?"

"Lester's still trying to decide. We can learn the equipment easily enough, so he's trying to argue we don't need the team."

"If you go to alien planets with Connor's technology and don't bring him, he'll be very upset," Emily offered.

"And we might need him," Sam agreed. "Sir, these machines are brilliant, and he can alter them on the fly."

"Better than you?"

"Definitely better than me."

He nodded, sighing. "And he'd come?"

"I think we'll have more trouble leaving him behind, to be honest."

"If we bring him, Becker'll want to come."

"And the problem with that is?" Sam asked. "He knows the equipment too, and he has experience."

"He doesn't like me."

"That's entirely your own fault." Jack glared at her, and she added, "Sir."

"You're just a little too gleeful there, Major."

"Yes sir. I'll watch out for that."

"Make sure you do." He looked over at Emily. "Becker'll want to come, right?"

"It's likely, yes. Abby may want to go too."

"Abby," he repeated. "Right. Well, if you're sure we need Connor..."

"It'd definitely help, sir," Sam agreed.

"I'll go argue the case, then. Where is he?"

"He went to bring a finished detector to Becker."

"No, he didn't, Becker's been shadowing me."

"I don't know then, sir."

"All right. Carry on." He waved vaguely in Jonas's direction, nodded to Emily and left. Sam buried herself in the math again, watching the numbers dance.

Becker wasn't speaking, or at least not any more than he had to; he answered anything Jack asked, but he seemed to be having a competition with himself to keep to as few syllables as possible. Jack retaliated by asking as many questions as possible on as many topics as he could possibly think of.

They headed back to Lester's office, Jack taking as good a look around as he could. The ARC staff seemed to have given up on keeping them from finding anything out, though they still weren't allowed access to a TV, radio or phone. Still, observation was teaching them a surprising amount.

Lester looked up as they came in. "Yes?"

"I've been talking to Carter," Jack said, sprawling across a seat. "She thinks it'd help a lot if we could borrow Connor."

"Connor is needed here."

"Here where you have a base full of experienced, practised people."

"Yes," Lester agreed, refusing to be drawn. "You'll be fully briefed on the operation of the equipment before you leave."

"Carter says we need Connor."

"Unfortunately, this base is not your command."

Becker stirred. "We could ask him."

"What?" Lester snapped.

"Ask him if he wants to go."

"You want to trust Connor's wellbeing to his own good sense?"

Becker considered for a moment. "Maybe not. You could ask Abby. She can probably talk him into whichever side we want him to pick."

"That sounds suspiciously like coercion, Becker."

"My apologies, sir."

"Go and find Abby."

"Yes sir." He let himself out, closing the door behind himself.

"We'd watch out for him, you know," Jack offered.

"Colonel, you yourself raised the point that twenty four hours ago we didn't know you. Becker has known Connor for four years and still can't keep him out of trouble. Abby's known him six years, she is engaged to him, and she still can't keep him safe. This is not a reflection on you. The boy simply has no sense of self preservation."

"I see," Jack murmured. "He's careless?"

"Not at all. He simply tends to leap before he looks. Connor isn't one to stand by when he sees someone in danger."

"I know that kind," Jack agreed softly.

Becker came back in, escorting Abby. "You wanted to see me, Lester?" she asked, glancing curiously at Jack.

"Yes. Major Carter thinks Connor could be helpful to their team when they go to see their allies."

"Go visit other planets? Connor?" She grinned. "You haven't mentioned this to him, have you."

"No. I'm inclined to refuse permission."

"He'll hate you forever."

"He'll be here to hate me. We need him here in the ARC, Abby."

Abby shrugged. "You managed well enough when we were gone."

"We were closed down for a lot of that time. And if it weren't for him, New Dawn would have wiped us out."

"If it weren't for him New Dawn wouldn't have been finished in time."

"Do you think so?" Lester asked. "I think Philip would have found a way. That isn't the point, anyway."

"No, the point is you're worried about him."

"Abby," he said warningly.

"Lester, he's the best suited to go. You know that. This is our remit."

He scowled half heartedly. "I suppose you'll want to go with him."

"Someone's got to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

Becker stirred. "That would be my job, Abigail."

"Sometimes it takes more than one person to keep an eye on him."

"That'd be us," Jack offered.

"Sometimes it takes more than five people to keep an eye on him."

"Why don't I just send the whole team?" Lester suggested. "No doubt you can find a use for the time travellers."

"I'm sure I could," Abby agreed, so completely neutral that Jack glanced at her to see what was wrong. Neither she nor Becker would meet his eyes.

Lester sighed, looking at Jack. "If I send them, they're your responsibility."

"Understood."

"I mean it."

"I understand."

"Right then." He eyed Abby. "I suppose you want to tell him?"

"Yeah. Thanks. When are we going?"

Jack glanced at his watch. "Ten hours, give or take. Tell him he doesn't have to bring anything, just the equipment. SGC will provide everything else he needs."

"We'll be carrying EMDs," Becker said mildly.

"I'm going to let you fight that out," Abby murmured, slipping out of the room.

"We have non lethal guns," Jack said neutrally.

"We're more familiar with the EMDs. We'll be using them," Becker said steadily.

Jack considered him for a moment before nodding. It wasn't much to ask, after all. "All right. Make sure I know what you're carrying and how many."

Becker nodded and Jack turned to Lester. "What else do we need to sort out?"

Abby found Connor in her lab, dozing at the desk. "Hey," she murmured, leaning against him.

"Hey," he answered drowsily. "S'going on?"

"Just looking for you. Have you been here long?"

"Dunno. I was looking for you, and I sat down to wait. What time is it?"

"About half two. Connor, are you listening to me? Got something to tell you and you really have to be awake."

"I am awake," he mumbled.

"Really awake."

"I'm really awake." He sat up, knuckling one eye. "There. See? Awake. What's up?"

Abby sat next to him, lacing their fingers together. "You know the Colonel and his team are leaving in a while to start working on this?"

"Yeah, they're taking loads of locking mechanisms and detectors, we've been working on them for ages. I should go back, actually, I've still got to modify one so they can switch out the batteries."

"Hang on a minute," Abby protested, pulling him back when he went to stand. "I'm not done yet."

"Right, sorry. I'm listening." He propped his head on one hand, watching her.

Abby took a deep breath, dropping her gaze to their linked hands. "Major Carter's requested you go with them to help with the equipment."

Connor was silent for long enough that she looked up at him. He was staring at her in complete disbelief. "Conn?"

"Go with them?" he repeated.

"Yeah."

"To other planets?"

She smiled at the look on his face. "Yeah."

"You're lying."

"No."

"Abby, you're lying."

"No," she said again. "Lester didn't want to, but we talked him into it. We're all going, the whole team, to help them out until we get a handle on this. You can help with the equipment, and Major Carter's still trying to figure out how to stop this, so..."

Connor caught her shoulder, pulling her into a kiss. Abby laughed against him, laughing more loudly when he pushed her away to punch the air in triumph. "Yes!"

"Connor!" she squealed when he pulled her up off the seat, dancing around the lab. He laughed, dropping back into the seats, eyes bright and cheeks flushed.

"It's work," she warned him. "Not wandering around staring at the aliens."

"Hey, I've not been staring at Jonas or Murray, have I? I can keep my mind on work."

"I know." She leaned in to kiss him quickly, pulling back out of his reach. "Now. You were saying about the detectors?"

"Mmm. I modified 'em for solar power, but one of the planets' rotation leaves half it dark all the time. They need to be able to swap out the batteries on the fly, so the device itself has to hold a certain amount of power, and I lost you at about solar power, didn't I?"

"Difficult thing, you've figured out a fix, you're brilliant," she agreed. "Come on, we should get back to it. I'll go find Matt, tell him what's going on."

"Where's Becker?" Connor asked, following her out of the lab.

"Last I saw? Arguing with the Colonel over whether or not we were bringing EMDs."

"Why would...oh, right, I guess the American military might have problems with us foreign nationals bringing weapons onto their super secret bases."

"Yeah, but remember, they need us way worse than we need them." Abby smiled at him, squeezing his arm as they parted ways.

Jack looked over his team, checking their weapons by eye. He'd tried really hard not to smirk when Becker handed them back over. It wasn't his fault he naturally smiled all the time.

Carter was watching the ARC team mill about; Connor kept forgetting things and giving whatever he was holding to whoever happened to be nearby and stopping to check some of the equipment they were bringing along. Abby was following him around, patiently trying to keep him on track, and every so often Becker just hauled him back into line. Anderson and Emily were talking quietly with Jess. Curious, Jack drifted in that direction.

"We reprogrammed them," Jess was saying. "Obviously they won't be able to upload to us, but they'll still store the information until you get back. You should get about six hours out of them, so try and keep them turned off until you're actually at the wormhole, yeah?"

"You don't want readings from the spaceship?" Anderson asked, fiddling with his belt.

"I'm pretty sure Connor'll be examining the spaceship. By the time you get back he'll probably be ready to try building his own."

"He might have some trouble getting that past Lester." He glanced up at Jack. "Problem?"

"No. Are you ready? They should be here any minute."

"Yeah, I think we - Connor, what are you doing?"

"I'm on it, Matt," Abby said with a sigh, chasing Connor, who'd vanished down one of the corridors.

"Hurry him up, our ride is almost here."

She tossed off a salute, turning away, and Anderson looked back at Jess. "Everyone's hooked up?"

"Earpieces all round, except Connor, I can't get him to stand still long enough. Be careful, Matt."

"Don't worry. Shouldn't you go and make sure Becker is ready?"

Jess slapped him, grinning. "Shut up."

"Nice way to talk to the team leader, isn't it?" he appealed to Emily.

"I'm on her side," she said firmly.

"Of course you are. Ganging up on me."

"It keeps you on your toes."

Abby reappeared, towing Connor, and Jess materialised to hand him an earpiece and stand over him until he put it in. Becker came past to check their weapons, telling them something that made Connor snort and Abby roll her eyes. Jack watched them until Connor turned to start digging through a box again.

Teal'c caught his eye when he turned, and he murmured "Keep an eye on Abby and Connor."

"I shall, O'Neill."

"Thanks."

His radio clicked and he looked around for Lester. "That's our cue. We're going first, we'll call back down in a minute for the others."

Lester nodded, watching as SG1 drew into tightly around the first couple of crates. Jack clicked his radio, watching as rings fell around them.

"Well, whatever else we're doing, we're still using rings," he commented when they reappeared in a featureless cargo bay.

"Some of the ships have Asgard teleporters, but we figured this would be less disorienting."

Jack turned at the familiar voice, seeing a man standing in the doorway. He was wearing an SGC uniform, but it was completely devoid of patches or rank insignia.

"Mystery Voice," he said in greeting.

"Sir. You can call me Cameron."

"How kind. Thank you. Where are we?"

"We're on the Odyssey. We can be at the Mountain in a minute or so, we just need to bring up the ARC team and the rest of the equipment."

Jack glanced towards the door. "I'm guessing we're not supposed to wander?"

"If you wouldn't mind, sir."

"But we're allowed to know the name of the ship and that we have Asgard teleporters."

"Those aren't things that will affect anything, sir."

"Do you know us?"

He smiled. "I think I probably shouldn't answer that, sir. Please step aside, we're ready for the ARC team now."

Jack crossed to lean against a wall, watching as Cameron caught Carter's eye and smiled. He was a little more reserved with Jonas and Teal'c, nodding solemnly to both before clicking his radio.

Connor and Abby appeared, surrounded by crates. Connor immediately bent over, hands on knees and breathing quickly.

Abby patted his shoulder, grabbing one of the crates and dragging it out of the circle. Jonas and Cameron stepped forward to help, quickly shifting the crates and boxes to the walls.

"He ok?" Jack asked, jerking a thumb at Connor.

"Motion sickness," Abby said without looking at him. "He's fine. Just give him a sec."

"It doesn't actually feel like moving," Cameron pointed out.

Abby dropped her voice to tell him, "It's mostly in his head."

"There's no windows," Connor said, joining them with the last crate.

"It's a hold," Jack told him.

"Yeah, but without windows it's just a room. How high up are we?"

"Synchronous orbit," Cameron told him. "Thirty five thousand kilometres up; just under twenty two thousand miles." Connor grinned and he glanced at Jack. "There's a window in the corridor, I'll show you once we get your teammates up here."

"I've seen Earth from orbit," Jack said, waving it off. "I'll hang around here."

Cameron glanced at the circle to make sure it was clear and clicked his radio once more. A moment later Anderson, Emily and Becker appeared, each one holding a crate.

"That's it," Anderson said, handing his off to Teal'c. "Everything we had ready."

"It's a lot more than we were expecting," Cameron told him, taking Emily's with a smile. "Call me Cameron; I'll be your liaison for the moment."

"Matt Anderson. That's Lady Emily Merchant, Becker, you've met Connor and Abby, and I guess you know SG1."

Cameron smiled noncommittally. "We'll be over the Mountain in a minute or two. Connor, the window's just out here if you want to come and look."

"Window?" Becker repeated.

"We're in orbit, Becker," Connor said, beaming. "I'm gonna look out the window. Want to come?"

"I'll come," Abby said.

"I would like to see," Emily added.

"This way, then." Cameron opened the main door, gesturing them out. Connor bounded out on his heels; Abby smiled, following him with Emily.

"Nice ship," Anderson said idly, looking around.

"It's bigger than Daedalus, I think," Sam said, studying the walls. "It's hard to tell from in here."

"How long has Earth had spaceships?" Becker asked.

"The first was completed a little while ago, from our perspective," Sam told him. "Mid two thousand two. We have dog fighters, too."

"How nice," Becker murmured. "Matt, a word?"

Anderson followed him into a corner. Jack leaned casually against a wall; on the Daedalus, a trick of the construction had - yes, there, he could hear them talking. "What is it?"

"You don't know anything about the SGC?"

"Only what you do. Why?"

"They never went public?"

"They didn't have much time. Things started going wrong with New Dawn, remember, and they got worse very quickly. It's possible the SGC were openly wandering around America and we wouldn't have had a clue over here."

"Right," Becker murmured. "Sorry."

"Not a problem."

Jack didn't react, but he filed the information away. Time travelers, Lester had said, and he and Abby had said Connor had either stopped or caused New Dawn. Was Anderson from the future?

The others came back in; Connor was wide eyed and talking very quickly, gesturing with the hand Abby wasn't holding onto. Anderson smiled faintly, watching them. "Looks like Connor enjoyed the view."

"It does a little, doesn't it?" Becker agreed. "How long do you think before he stops talking?"

Anderson shrugged, moving to join them. "What now, Cameron?"

"We're going to use the Asgard teleporters this time. Much quicker and easier. Everyone just stand still for a minute."

Anderson put a hand on Connor's arm, stilling him, and everything flared white for a moment. When it cleared they were standing in the 'Gate room, which at least looked the same as normal. Anderson glanced around, clearly taking in the metal shield over one end of the room and the empty gun emplacements.

"Quiet night," Jack commented.

"We're dialling out, sir," Cameron said. "It was considered safe to empty the room and drop the shield. This won't take long."

"Right." Jack sighed, looking around. "Well, onwards and outwards, Voice."

"Yes sir," he agreed, turning to wave at the camera above the metal shield.

Jack caught Connor's eye. "This bit, you want to see."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

The Stargate started turning, lighting up in spots. Connor watched, eyes wide, as it settled into place and blue light exploded at them.

"Whoa," he breathed. Jack glanced at Anderson, who was watching the light pull back to form the wormhole.

Cameron gave them a minute to study the wormhole before taking a step forward. "Right. There are people waiting on the other side for the crates; just push 'em through."

They set to, carrying the crates up the ramp and pushing them through the 'Gate. Jack sent Sam through with a look and turned to Anderson. "Ready?"

"Becker," Anderson said. He nodded, stepping through without any hesitation.

"Jonas," Jack said. Anderson waved Connor and Abby to follow, and Teal'c followed on their heels.

Cameron waited patiently until Anderson and Emily had stepped through. "Ready, sir?" he asked.

"Who's waiting?"

"Tuplo and his people. They're ready for us."

"Right. Let's go, then."