Misam stepped outside the Alpha Site base and onto the surface of the planet P4X-650. Using a remote control, he closed the large hangar door behind him and turned around, looking upwards and out into the forest. His long black robe was pushed against his legs and tail by the oncoming wind.

Sirustep must have known from her scans that this planet was home to a Tau'ri base. If Em-80's hunch was right, the Goa'uld didn't know or care about the gate within the mountain. It was likely something else in the scans that caught Sirustep's attention: herself.

It was best if the people at Stargate Command didn't know too much about the future, Misam thought; if this was indeed a time loop, he didn't want to be the one to break it. He hadn't told them what he knew about Sirustep from the history books. She had been the on-and-off ruler of a planet of lizard people. Continually manipulating their habitat and keeping them in small groups, she encouraged discord and radicalization on all sides, adopting multiple personas (by switching between multiple hosts) and using each to further stoke the flames. She wished not simply to rule, but to make people fight and to watch them destroy each other.

And in his future, she was dead, from nothing more than a case of bad timing: attempting to hide herself in the body of a seven-year-old feline boy named Sharona Misam, right before the starship he lived on passed through a memory-altering spatial anomaly that destroyed the Goa'uld's genetic memory - and therefore, her very identity.

But, here and now, in the year of the Lord two thousand and five, this particular false god was alive and kicking. Misam knew he ought to hate her. But he couldn't hate anybody.

Which, in this case, made his job easier.

A ring platform brought Sirustep down to the planet. She stood in front of him.

"I greet you, Lord Sirustep," Misam said with a small bow. "I apologize for my brief disappearance. There were matters to which I needed to attend."

"Your genetic signature is identical to mine," said Sirustep.

"Yes. I am your future self. In fact, I remember this conversation well."

"Well. If that is the case, then what does the future bring?"

"Your instincts were correct, of course," Misam told her. "The Tau'ri have become the dominant force of the galaxy. And, as you can see, your symbiote is still very much alive 392 years from now, with enough power and influence to secure an Ancient time travel device."

"And all that is necessary to secure this future is to refrain from conflict with the Tau'ri and their allies?"

"Indeed. As long as you do this, you will not only survive, but thrive."


Em-80 held a portfolio under her arm as she and Misam walked down the corridor. "What did you tell her?" she asked.

"The truth. I told her she would be alive and thriving in the future, as long as she didn't antagonize Earth. And its allies."

"And she thought you meant the Jaffa and the Asgard. Who did you really mean?"

"My own species, of course. If she hadn't tried to take me as a host when I was seven, she'd still be alive."

"So what took her down? Did she simply overextend herself?"

Misam opened the door to the quarters he and Ashley had been assigned. "Never underestimate the power that comes with cooperation, Em-80."

The two of them entered the room, where Ashley was sitting on the lone bed, reading a pamphlet about Garden of the Gods. Misam did a double take. "Where am I supposed to sleep?" he asked.

"You get the bed, Sam," said Ashley. "I'll take the floor. I can sleep anywhere."

Em-80 grimaced as she set the portfolio down next to Ashley on the bed. "We all thought you were a couple."

"We never said we weren't," Ashley told her. She picked up the portfolio and read through it. "Sure are a lot of words blacked out here."

"It is confidential. By order of the international committee. But I was able to get partial clearance for the two of you. It concerns an unresolved report of alien interference in a sovereign Dutch-speaking Caribbean nation that shall remain nameless."

"I see." Ashley paged through the report as Em-80 quietly left the room. "Wow... How'd they know?"

Misam took a seat next to Ashley on the bed. "What is it?" he asked.

"My family. This guy - the name's blacked out, but he reported an alien abduction in Paramaribo."

"Of his eighteen-year-old nephew?"

"It must be one of my uncles - I wasn't out to them. And look at this. 'The parents of the missing teenager' - they found out I was still missing - 'seemed reluctant to discuss their son's situation, although it was clear they were fond of him.' Misam. My parents knew what happened to me! They knew I went to the future! And... they just wanted what was best for me."

"They must have been something." Misam teared up a little. "To have that kind of relationship... I mean, not everyone gets that."