SG1 in Atlantis
AN: ok, this is a future fic, only three years but still in the future. As any of you who have read any of my fics know, I'm a shipper. So, here I'm making a couple of assumption that should really come as no surprise to anyone that has read my other fic: Sam and Jack are together and so are Teyla and John. Ok, that's it for author's note.
Disclaimer: they don't belong to me, though I really wish they did. Neither does the whole concept of Atlantis or a city control mentally, I'm just playing with it.
Chapter 4 - Chaos in Atlantis
AN2: Sorry for the long delay in updating but I was working on some of my other stories. Hope you like this new chapter and please review so I know that you like it. Enjoy!
As the rest of the team followed Elizabeth, Sam stood next to Jack and putting her hand on his arms asked him, "Jack, are you ok?"
Jack was looking around and answered her with a distracted, "Umm?"
"Jack, are you feeling ok?" Sam insisted.
This time Jack looked down at her and answered, "Yes, Sam, I'm fine."
But Sam wasn't really convinced and asked again, "Are you sure? You seemed, I don't know, distracted." At seeing his amused look, she added, "more distracted than usual that is."
With a soft smile, Jack leaned down to kiss her and reassured her, "Yes, honey, I'm fine. There's no need to worry." But seeing her disbelieving face, he went on, "I'm just taking in all of this," he said with a wave of his hand, "it is pretty spectacular, don't you think?"
Sam took a look around and had to agree with Jack, "Yes, it is pretty spectacular." But Sam had not really gotten over the fright of hearing that he'd collapsed and just had to asked one more time, "are you sure you're ok?"
Jack just shook his head, he knew where she was coming from and that she only nagged him so much because she loved him and was concerned about him – but it was really starting to get old, not to mention annoying. If he didn't love her so much and wasn't completely sure that he would be acting in the same way were their places reversed, he would have already told her to stop nagging him – and not in very nice terms; but he did love her and understood her, so he just answered again, "Yes, Sam, I am sure that I'm fine. Now, should we follow the others?"
Sam wasn't sure she believed him but she also knew that he was starting to get annoyed with her endless question, so she agreed, "Sure, let's go." And looking at the others ahead of them, she couldn't help adding, "It sure looks like Daniel is on heaven."
Jack smirked and had to agreed with her assessment, "Oh, yeah. I'd say that Daniel is definitely on his heaven. I think we may have a hard time getting him out of here when it's time to go home." And looking at the excited archeologist, he added, "a very hard time."
Sam was also looking at their best friend going on about something or other and could only agree, "Yeah, you're right. I'm not sure how we're going to pried him away from here. Maybe we shouldn't have brought him along?"
Jack immediately shook his head, "No, we couldn't have done that. He would have never forgiven us if we had left him back home."
"Yeah, I know. I'm just not looking forward to all the pleading and whining we're going to hear. Because he is going to plead and whine to for us to stay longer or for us to just leave him here for a while longer, you know that right?"
"Oh, yeah, I know." Jack agreed with a sigh, he was sure that they were all in for some serious whining – maybe the worst they've ever heard, after all it's not everyday that Daniel gets to study the city of the Ancients.
"But we're not leaving him here, right?" Sam was suddenly worried; she knew how annoying Daniel could get and that he only did that so that Jack would get tired of listening to him and give him whatever he wanted. And though Jack knew that that was what Daniel was doing, the tactic still worked a surprising number of times – a testament of just how annoying Daniel could get. And while Sam was usually happy when Daniel got whathewanted, and had actually helped him a few times, this time Sam did not want him to win and stay here for an undetermined time. Not only would she missed him terribly - with Jack in DC for big chunks of time, Sam had come to depend on Daniel's friendship for companionship and support – but Sam was also not comfortable leaving Daniel alone in another galaxy, especially one that still had the Wraiths running around. They may not have come to Atlantis again, but they were still very much a threat off-world and Sam knew Daniel well enough to know he'd want to go explore off-world and without anyone from SG1 there to watch his six, God knew what sort of trouble he would get into.
"Don't worry, Sam. There's no way in hell I would ever leave Danny boy here by himself – no matter how annoying he gets with his whining."
See, Jack knew that it was all a tactic on Daniel's part; whoever said Jack wasn't smart, really didn't know him. Sam sighed in relief and said, "Good, but that leaves us with all that whining to look forward to."
"Yeah," Jack agreed with a sigh of his own, he really wasn't looking forward to a Daniel tantrum, God knew they got on his nerves like nothing else (when they weren't amusing him, that was). But Jack had an ace up his sleeve, he was after all a master tactician, "Well, let's just hope that she'd be able to convince him to come back without much fuss."
Sam looked at him with surprise for a little bit and then said with the air of someone who had just understood something, "That was why you suggested she came along!"
Jack looked at her with his patented innocent expression and said, "don't know what you're talking about, Sam. I just thought he would miss her and would be happy if she came along, that's all."
"Yeah, right." Sam snorted, "You didn't suggest that Ishta came along, and you know Teal'c will miss her and be happier if she were here." Sam pointed out.
"Yeah, well. Unlike Danny boy, Teal'c and Ishta are warriors and are accustomed to being separated and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't leave her sisters to come on a vacation with us, anyway."
"Yeah, likely story," Sam said with another snort, but was prevented from saying anything further as they had finally caught up with the rest of the group. They finally entered the control room a few moments later only to find it in a frenzy.
Elizabeth was demanding asking questions and Rodney was hunched over the computers. Sam hurried over to him just as the technician was finishing his explanation, ". . . and it all suddenly went haywire, Dr. Weir." He finished with a perplexing frown, looking at his instruments.
Jack, who really couldn't help himself – he had been a general for over 4 years now and a commanding officer for far longer than that, after all – stepped up and barked, "Define 'haywire'," he almost added airman, but stopped as he noticed that the man was wearing what appeared to be a scientist uniform and not a soldier's one.
Whether he was military or not, didn't really matter, the technician had come to Atlantis with the first expedition and was used to taking orders from Colonel Sheppard and other assorted military personnel; he automatically straightened and answered, "all of the ancient technology, all over Atlantis, just turn itself on, sir." He knew who Jack (had heard all the stories) was and had been living with military guys too long not to show the proper respect. "Stuff we hadn't been able to figure out, just suddenly came on. And even stuff that had gotten to work is suddenly out of our control."
"Do we know who's doing it?" Elizabeth asked with a worried frown, she didn't like the idea that they no longer had control over Atlantis. She looked at Jack to see if he wanted to add something but found that the General seemed lost in thought; anyone else would have bristled at the way he had seemed to take over, but Elizabeth knew that it was not personal and besides, the man was technically her boss.
"No, ma'am. We're looking into that right now. But . . ." the technician trailed off with a shrug as he studied the read out on his monitor.
Elizabeth turned to the one man who knew Atlantis better than anyone, "Rodney? Any ideas?"
"Not yet, Elizabeth. I haven't seen anything like this before, I don't know . . ." he too, trailed off frustrated at not knowing what was going on with his city. Sam was looking over his shoulders, seeing if there was something she could do. But really, McKay was the expert on Atlantis, all she could do was observed and offered some suggestion – not something she usually did in a crisis and which was irritating her.
And all of the sudden the light went off and came on a few seconds later. Just as the lights came on the stargate started spinning and the force field flickered on.
"Ok, someone find out what's going on, NOW!" Elizabeth said in a fair bark of her own; it was one thing for the machines in the city to start acting up – they could deal with that, might be frustrating and perplexing but they could deal with it. It was another thing entirely for the gate and, more importantly, the force field to start going nuts. They needed control of both those things, especially the force field – it was their best defense from hostiles coming through the gate.
While the scientists furiously went through diagnostic after diagnostic, Daniel looked around; he was no scientist and would only get in the way if he tried to help them. As he walked around the control room, keeping out of everyone's way, he saw that Jack was standing quietly to one side ostensibly lost in thoughts. As he came closer, Daniel noticed the look on Jack's face; it wasn't his usual confused 'I don't know what's going on' face, in fact it wasn't like any of the faces that Jack usually makes (and the man sure got a ton of faces he likes to make) and yet it was somehow familiar to Daniel. It took only a few moments for Daniel to remember exactly where and when he'd seen Jack wear that face. Given where they were it made sense and it certainly explained everything that was going on.
"Jack?" Daniel said, trying to get his attention. Jack looked like he was staring at the 'Gate but Daniel knew he was lost inside his own mind. "Jack," Daniel repeated, this time also touching his arms and shaking it a little.
Jack's only response was a distracted, "um?"
"Jack," Daniel insisted in a firmer and somewhat louder voice, "you're the one doing this, aren't you?"
Sam noticed Daniel trying to get Jack's attention. It didn't matter that she was some distance from them, she was always aware of what went on around Jack; it had been that way from the beginning, had only gotten more acute since they've been together and not that Jack was 'sick' there was nothing that escaped Sam's attention. "Daniel, what's going on?" She asked as she came to stand next to him.
Of course, once Sam moved towards them it was only a matter of seconds before Teal'c and Cameron came to see what was going on. There were SG1, after all, and when something happened to one of them, they all got involved.
"Is something the matter, Colonel O'Neill?" Even after two years, Daniel still found it odd that hear Teal'c call Sam Colonel O'Neill; he would think that Teal'c was talking to Jack if it wasn't for the fact that Jack was now a General and Teal'c had never called him anything but simply 'O'Neill'.
"I'm not sure, Teal'c" Sam answered, "That's what I just asked Daniel."
"Look at Jack's face, guys," Daniel ordered, "Doesn't it remind you of anything?"
All three of them, plus Cameron, turned to look at Jack's face; but apparently the others didn't see whatever Daniel had seen. "What are we looking for, Daniel Jackson?" Asked Teal'c.
"Yeah, Daniel, I don't see anything unusual." Sam added, but Jack's unnatural stillness was beginning to concern her so he touched his arm and said, "Jack. Jack, can you hear me?"
But all she got from Jack was a distracted, "Um?"
And that was when Sam got it. She turned to look at Daniel with a look of surprise on her face.
"You see it too, don't you?" Asked Daniel.
"Yeah, but how is it possible?"
"I'm not sure; maybe he still has some residue leftover from the last time."
It took Teal'c longer than Sam, but he finally understood what Daniel meant. His eyebrow went sky high and his face took the most surprised look he had ever worn as he asked, "Wouldn't O'Neill had said something?"
Daniel just snorted and answered, "This is Jack we're talking about. Do you really think he would have volunteered that information of his own initiative?"
Teal'c inclined his head, acknowledging the truth of that statement. But Sam added in a disgruntled voice, "You'd think he would have told his wife, though."
Cameron just looked from one to the other, completely in the dark as to what they were talking about. Something that, unfortunately, was nothing new; Cameron had often been confused when the other three would go on about some earlier mission or incident. The number of times that happen had, however, gone down as the years went by – something that Cameron really appreciated as he hated being out of the loop. "Guys, care to let me in whatever's going on?"
It was Teal'c who answered him, as Sam was still trying to get Jack to answer her, "We think that it is O'Neill that is the cause of all the commotion."
"General O'Neill?" Cameron asked, surprised.
"Yes," Teal'c answered.
"But why would they think that?" Cameron was really confused and then it dawned on him, "because he has the ancient gene; but don't a few members of the Atlantis crew have it also, including Col. Sheppard?" At Teal'c's nod, he continued, "then why would the General be any different?" But, once again, he answered his own question, "Because he received the ancient download, twice. But didn't Thor retrieve it both times?"
Before Teal'c could answer, Jack came back from wherever he'd been, "Sam, you'd said something?"
"Yes," she answered exasperated, "are you responsible for all this?" but she didn't give him time to answer her and went on "Thor didn't remove all of the Ancient's knowledge, did he?" The look on his face was answer enough and Sam saw red. "I don't believe you, Jack O'Neill!" She exploded; throwing her arms in the air and pacing a few feet away and then came back. "How could you lie to me?"
"I didn't lie to you, not exactly." Jack tried to defend himself, though he knew he didn't have a leg to stand on. "You never asked me if all the knowledge was gone. I just simply didn't tell you." He finished weakly as the storm in Sam's eyes seemed to grow.
"I never asked you? You simply didn't tell me? Tell me Jack, am I your wife or not? Aren't we supposed to share everything? I thought that was what being married meant. But maybe it means something different to you." Sam fumed at him but in a low voice, they had already attracted attention and she didn't want all of the Atlantis crew to witness this fight.
"Come on, Sam, you know it means the same to me. But this happened before we got married, before we even got together. Wait," he help up his hand to stop what would be another rant and hastily added, "I know that I should have told you when we got together and I thought about it many times, believe me."
"Then why didn't you?" She asked as he paused to draw a breath.
"Because by then it seemed irrelevant but I knew you would worry anyway and I didn't want you to worry." He paused and looked at Daniel and Teal'c and added, "That's also the reason why I didn't say anything when it happened. I knew you guys would freak and would be after me all the time to make sure I didn't lose it. And while I appreciate the fact that you guys care so much for me, that much scrutiny would have driven bonkers in a very short period of time and you guys know it. Besides which there really was nothing you guys could do – except worry. Thor assured me that the knowledge would not interfere with my living a normal life; and he was right."
"But Jack," Daniel protested, "you could have helped us so much. I mean you have the knowledge of the Ancients, which would have made most of the battles we've fought so much easier. I don't understand why you didn't use it and help."
"Because I couldn't, Danny" Jack replied with a sigh and a shake of his head. "Don't you think I wanted to help? And if I could have I would but I couldn't. Yeah, Thor didn't remove the knowledge, but he did compress it and isolated it in my brain. It was the only way he knew to stop it from taking over all my brain functions. I had no access to it, Danny, not at all. Sure, every once in a while a random piece of knowledge would float up and I'd find myself thinking and knowing the oddest things but that was it; I had no control over it, at all."
Sam, who had taken a few deep breaths and had thought about it some, had calmed down. She could see why he had not say anything, the truth was that she would have freaked and she, Daniel and Teal'c would have been after him all the time – and that really would have driven him bonkers. Now that she was calm and able to think again, she caught something, "But if all the knowledge if repressed, how are you doing all of this? Because it is you that it's doing it, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so. And I don't know how, exactly. All I know is that ever since we beamed down I've felt something. Almost like a buzzing in my brain that kept getting louder and all of the sudden I could see and feel the city, in here," and he tapped his head. "I don't know how, really. But as I felt it, I suddenly knew how to make different things happen. At first I'm pretty sure it was accidental; I wasn't really sure anything was going on until we came to the Control Room." He finished with a shrug and looked at his family to see if they had the answers, as they've always had.
"That doesn't make much sense. If you can't control the knowledge then it must be your gene that it's activating all these things, but if that is the case then why haven't any of the expeditions members that have the gene been able to do it before?" Daniel asked.
"I don't know. Maybe because Jack's gene is so much more pronounced?" Sam speculated.
"Maybe," Said Daniel doubtfully.
Suddenly Jack's head lifted and he turned to look straight at John and at the same moment John turned and looked at Jack. John had also been distracted but in all the uproar, no one had really noticed. And now, John and Jack looked at each other with the same intensity across the room and despite all the upheaval that continued around them – the discussion that the members of SG1 (current and former) had been having had been quiet enough that it had been missed by everyone else, to the great relief of the those involved. As they looked at each other, Jack asked John, "You feel it too, don't you?"
Despite the distance between them and the noise around them, John somehow heard Jack and answered him in a somewhat bewildered tone of voice, "Yeah, I do."
Teyla, who had just come back from arranging the rooms for their unexpected visitors, caught the look between John and the General and she heard John's response to a question she had not heard. "You do what? John, is everything ok?" The others in the room may not have noticed John's distraction but like Sam, Teyla was very much in tune with her mate and had known that something was going on with him from the moment she'd come back.
Elizabeth, who was closer to Teyla than to John, heard Teyla's question and turned to look at John and noticed for the first time the look he was sharing with Jack. "John, what's going on?"
By this time Jack had come closer to them and asked John, "How you always felt it?"
"Felt what?" asked Elizabeth what was ignored by both men.
John took a couple of seconds and then answered tentatively, "Yeah, I think I have."
"You think you have? How can you not know?" Jack asked a bit exasperated.
He wasn't the only one; both Teyla and Elizabeth were tired of being ignored and decided to do something about. "General! Would you please tell me what you're talking about?" Elizabeth asked Jack at the same time Teyla asked John, "Would you please tell what's going on!"
The two men were apparently still in their own little world, so it was Sam who answered, "We think that Jack is the one responsible for everything that is going on around here."
"The General! By how?"
"We're not sure yet. We know it has to do with his Ancient gene but it could also have something to do with two Ancient downloads that he'd received." Sam explained.
"But what are they feeling?"
"The City; we're feeling the city," this time it was Jack that answered. "But I'd like to know how is it that Sheppard is not sure whether he'd felt it before."
"The City? What does that mean?" Elizabeth asked but was once again ignored as John answered Jack.
"Well, sir, I'm not sure . . ."
"But how, I mean it's so loud, how could you miss it?" Jack seemed puzzled.
"Because it was never that loud." John tried to explain.
"Wait, let's take it from the beginning." Sam, ever the methodical scientist, said. "When was the first the time you felt it?"
John thought about it for a few moments and then said, "As soon as I came through the 'Gate. It was like a buzzing or a niggling sensation in the back of my brain but very subtle not like now." John shook his head as he tried to remember what had happened that night so long ago. "Everything was so crazy; within a half an hour of getting here the shield was collapsing and we were forced to go off-world looking for a zpm. I didn't have any time to really pay attention or try and investigate what it was I felt and by the time everything settled down I guess I had gotten used to it and didn't really noticed it."
"But thinking back now, can you tell if it had always been there?" Sam asked.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure it was always there. But like I said it was pretty subtle, nothing like what it is right now." John answered.
"When did you start feeling the sensation grow stronger?" Daniel asked.
By this time everyone in the Control Room had stopped whatever they were doing and were listening to conversation.
"Uhm," Said John thinking about it, "I guess I would say shortly after the General beamed down."
Elizabeth turned to Rodney and asked him, "Rodney, are you feeling or have you ever felt anything like what the General and John are describing?"
Rodney stood silent for a moment concentrating on a place deep in his own mind and then answered her, "Yes, but it's very faint, like a noise that is just at the edge of your hearing range." He didn't sound all too thrilled at not being able to hear what the other two did.
"Have you ever felt it before?" Sam asked him to clarify.
"No," he shook his head. "I've never felt anything like this; even now I wouldn't have felt it if I hadn't concentrate and knew that it was there."
"But why does he feel it at all? I thought he didn't have the gene?" Asked a confused Daniel, who still remembered the fuss Rodney had made and all the tests he had demanded to take when it was discovered that he didn't have the gene back in Antarctica.
"He underwent the gene therapy that Dr. Beckett developed our first year here, so that he could work with the technology." Elizabeth explained.
"Oh, that's right. I remember reading something about it now." Daniel replied. "But then, shouldn't he be feeling the same as Jack and John?"
"Yes, theoretically he should," Sam answered.
"Not really," answered Rodney at the same time and everyone turned to look at him.
"What do you mean by that, Rodney?" Elizabeth asked.
"It's just something that I've been thinking about for a while now." Rodney started to explain as he left his monitors and came closer to the rest of the group. "No matter how much I practiced at controlling the technology I just never got as good as John. Now, at first I just thought that he had a higher concentration and I a lower – the same difference between him and Carson, who also had trouble controlling the technology. But as time passed, I noticed that Carson got better and better at it, not as good as John but better than he had been, while I maintained the same level of control – I never got better or worse, just stayed the same.So the only explanation was that artificial implantation of the gene is weaker than the natural one and thus the bond between the mind and the technology is also weaker. It's only logical to assume that the weaker the bond the less this feeling would be felt."
"It makes sense," Sam agreed.
"Yes, of course it does," Rodney said in a tone of voice that implied it couldn't be any other way since he thought of it.
"But Rodney, why haven't you ever say anything about this before now?" Asked Elizabeth.
"I meant to but there always seemed to be one thing or another that needed my urgent attention and since this wasn't a vital problem, it just skipped my mind." Rodney answered her shrugging his shoulders.
"Ok," said Jack, like always wanting to get to the bottom line. "We know that everyone with the gene can feel the city but that the 'connection' is stronger for those that were born with the gene rather than those that had itimplanted. But how does that help us in figuring out what is going on with the city and why did it start when I beamed down?"
"Well, I'm not really sure why it started when you beamed down but I'm pretty sure I know what is going on with the city." Rodney announced.
"Well, don't keep us in suspense here, Rodney," John demanded of the scientist making a 'hurry it up' motion with his hands.
"It's simple really; Atlantis has woken up."
At that everyone fell silent.
AN3: Ok, I know that they are going to make Atlantis come to its full potential this season or at least start to make it come to its potential (that's what the spoilers say anyway) but I'm going to ignore that and assume the city won't come alive until Jack gets there. I actually have an explanation for it – or the beginnings of one anyway. Well, I hope you guys like this new chapter; please, please, please review it and let me know what you think, so I'd know if I'm on the right track or should change paths.