SG1 in Atlantis

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.

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 Tayla and John. Ok, that's it for author's note.

AN2: I'm sorry for having taken so long in updating, but I was working on 'Te Amare', which is a sort of a prequel to this one and I just felt the need to get that one further along. Also, and here I'm going to be asking for your help, I started writing this fic because I wanted to read a good crossover between SG1 and Atlantis and I just couldn't find many - so I decided to do myself. Unfortunately, I didn't really plan for what would happen after SG1 got there and Jack started making everything go haywire. So, please let me know what you guys would like to see: what kind of action, what kind of Atlantis secret to be uncovered, and anything else. Thank you!

Chapter 5 (Information Mentalnetwork)

After a few minutes of silence, Jack asked what was on everyone's mind, "Atlantis's woken up? Leaving aside the fact that I find really disturbing that a city can 'wake up'; I thought it had awoken when you guys arrived and it arose from the sea?"

"Yes, well," Rodney answered as he leaned against a table, crossed his feet in front of him and his arms across his chest and prepared to go into lecture mode – Jack knew this because though Daniel's and Sam's postures were different, the look in their eyes were identical to Rodney's whenever they're about to embark on a lecture. "It is true that we'd had theorize that Atlantis had awoken when we first got here. However, the fact that the city has over the past two years slowly shown us its secrets has led me to believe that we were in fact, well, wrong." He said obviously reluctant to admit any such thing.

John, despite the gravity of the situation couldn't let that one go and said, "Really, Rodney? You were wrong? I didn't think it was possible for the great Dr. McKay to be wrong."

"Yes, well. We all have our days off," Rodney said with a tight lip smile in John's direction. Just because the man happened to be his best friend didn't mean that they had stopped teasing each other. If anything, it seemed that the closer they get the more they teased each other. "I know you have to know that since most of your days are off."

"Touche, McKay." John said with a grin and opened his mouth to continue with the banter but Elizabeth stopped them.

"Guys, I know how much you like your bickering but we have more important matters to deal with right now. You think you could postpone this session until later?"

Sam had to half-turned her head to hide her smile. Elizabeth's comment had been calm and matter of fact, if a little sarcastic. This told Sam that that scene was nothing new in the Atlantis team and she couldn't help but be reminded of all the bickering session she'd had to put a stop to between Jack and Daniel. Looking at the amused faces of her team and husband, she's sure that they have also noticed the same similarity.

"Ok," Rodney said as he cleared his throat. "Right. Well, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Rodney couldn't help one more dig at John, and John acknowledged it by a small smile and tilt of his head. The look on Elizabeth's face, however, was enough for Rodney to leave it there and continue with his explanations. "Um, yes. The term 'awake' is not wrong per say. It's just that it is not entirely accurate, either."

"McKay, you think you could possibly hurry this up? We've had a long trip and would like to go to our quarters." Jack said impatiently, he's never really like McKay that much. And even if he had, the only scientist that Jack would even considered letting go on and on without hurrying was Sam – and that was something that didn't really happened all that often.

"Right, General. The thing is that there are different levels of awareness. When you go to sleep, you usually feel yourself 'descend' through the different levels as you get closer and closer to actually losing consciousness and being really asleep – hence the name 'falling asleep. And when you are waking up you can sometimes feel yourself coming up. Now, it doesn't happen as often as when you fall asleep, but occasionally you can feel as you passed through the different layers. And sometimes you can actually sense what goes on around you even though you're not fully awake." He looked around the group to see if they were getting what he was saying and judging by the all the nods he was getting, he figured he was.

"So," Daniel said before Rodney could continued, "what you're saying is that you guys, what? arose Atlantis when you came through the first time but didn't really jolted her awake. And in all this time, the city has slowly been waking up and for some reason when Jack beamed down the process was somehow expedited and it is only now that the city is fully awake? And that is why all of these," he said waving his arms to encompassed all the chaos around the control room, "things are happening?"

Rodney took a minute to think all that through and then said in a voice that let his friends know that he had not appreciated Daniel's summary of his theory, "yes, that's about it."

At the other scientist's confirmation, all of male members of SG1 and Jack turned to look at Sam with expressions that clearly said: 'is that possible?' Sam noticed this and said, "What? McKay's the expert here if he says it's possible, then I guess it is." If the look on their faces was any indication, none of the four guys liked that answer and if the look on Rodney's face was any indication he did not like the fact the other four had felt the need to ask Sam to corroborate his theory. As she said, he was the expert here. But to his chagrin, she continued, "Though for what I read of his reports, what he's saying does sort of make sense. And it would explain everything that's been going on." That answered was marginally more acceptable to her 'guys'. And just as Daniel opened his mouth to comment, Dr. Beckett came running into the control room.

"Dr. Weir, Rodney. You've got to see this! Atlantis is going insane!" Dr. Beckett came to halt in front of the group and paused for a few seconds to get his breath back and then tried to go on again, "Elizabeth, lass . . ."

"We know, Carson, we know. Equipment is acting up all over Atlantis," Elizabeth said interrupting him.

"No, I mean aye, that it is. But that is not all, lass. Something else is going on. I'm either going insane or I can all of a sudden feel Atlantis on my head!" It was clear by his expression that he was firmly leaning towards the crazy explanation. He just couldn't wrap his brain around the possibility that somehow the city has gotten into his brain.

"You're not going crazy, Carson," Elizabeth began to explain only to be interrupted herself by Rodney's not so low murmur.

"Not anymore than you already were, anyway," he said to John's quite snort and Elizabeth's exasperated, "Rodney!" "Sorry, Elizabeth, sorry," he apologized, putting his hand up in the sign of surrender, but when Elizabeth turned back to Carson, he turned his head towards John and the two shared a smirk. Teyla noticed the exchange and just shook her head; she was used to the two acting like children. Jack also noticed it and had to admit, at least to himself, that it seemed like Dr. McKay had changed some since he'd come to Atlantis; he didn't seem quite such a pompous, pain in the ass. Then he amended that thought, he was still a pompous, pain in the ass, but it seemed that now he had acquired some small measure of 'coolness' – must be his association with Sheppard.

"John and General O'Neill and I imagined any one else that was born with the Ancient gene, have also felt it, Carson. It's not only you." Elizabeth explained.

It was at that moment that Carson turned and for the first time noticed the half of the people around Elizabeth didn't live in Atlantis. "Oy, I'm sorry, General. I hadn't seen you. How are you?" He said as he extended his hand to Jack.

"Fine, doc. And yourself?" Jack answered with an easy grin. He had always liked the affable doctor.

"Fine, now that I know I'm not going insane," he answered with a laugh as he turned and greeted Sam. "Col, how are you?"

"I'm fine, doctor Beckett. And don't worry, if you were to go insane you would be in great company with all the 'crazy' people in the room." Sam said with a smile.

"I'm not sure how great the company would be, lass, but I know what you mean. And please, call me Carson." Carson offered.

"Then please call me Sam. Since you're here, do you think it'd be possible for me to see you for a while as soon as this settles down a bit?" Sam asked and Jack very quietly moaned, he knew what that visit would be all about and here he thought he'd get away from all the doctors for a while – he really should have known better.

Carson was a bit surprised but answered easily enough, "Of course, come by the infirmary whenever you have a few moments."

"Thank you, Carson."

"Dr. Jackson, a pleasure to see you again. I see you finally made it," Carson said shaking hands with Daniel.

"Yes, finally. It's good to see you again, Carson. And please call me Daniel." He then turned to Teal'c and Cameron and introduced them to Carson, who had not met them before. "Carson, these are Teal'c and Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell – the other two members of SG1."

"A pleasure. I hope you all had a nice trip." The greeting out of the way, Carson turned back to Elizabeth and asked for a further explanation. "Now, could you please explained what you meant when you said that the General and John are also 'feeling' the city, lass?"

"Well, there's really not that much I can say, Carson. Both the General and John say they can feel the city and can control it. Well, the General can, anyway." She then turned to John and asked, "Can you do it, too?"

John looked at her for a moment and said, "I don't know. Let me try." He then concentrated for a while and in seconds the 'Gate activated and a puddle jumper came from the ceiling.

"Ok, I'd say he can do it too," say Rodney, who couldn't help but feel a bit envious. John had always being able to control Ancient technology better than him, but it had usually been smaller stuff. To see him command such crucial controls so easily bugged him, but, surprisingly enough, not as much as it would have two years ago.

All of the sudden Jack turned to Carson and said, "I can feel you!"

Carson had the look of a deer in front of headlights for a few moments and then said in a somewhat shaky voice, "Aye, I can fell your presence too and John's." After a few moments of silence he added, "This is decidedly freaky."

John laughed and said, "Yes, but it is also kind of cool. Hey, look at that. I didn't know that was there."

"Wow, that's impressive. How do we get there?" Asked Jack.

"Oh, my God. Would you look at that? I would be able to do so much with that." Carson said as he shook his head in amazement at whatever it was that he had found.

The three of them were facing each other but it was obvious by the look on their faces that they weren't looking at each other; they were lost in their own thoughts. And what they were seeing was anyone's guess. But somehow, all the people out of the little network got the impression that they were talking to each other. That they were, somehow, in each other's mind.

Sam was the first one to try and get them to explain what they were seeing, "Jack? Jack, can you hear me?"

"Sure, Sam. I'm not deaf." Jack answered her instantly, but the look on his face didn't change.

"Can you please look at me and tell me what is it that you're seeing?"

It took a few moments but Jack eventually turned to look at her and with a sheepish face said, "Sorry, didn't mean to ignore you but it's amazing, Sam. You should see it."

"I'd love to, but it doesn't sound like I can," Sam said evenly, though she like everyone else there wished desperately that she too could go wherever it was that Jack, John and Carson were able to go. "Why don't you tell what it is like? That maybe the closest I ever get."

"Well, you know how when the internet was first beginning they called it the information highway?" Jack asked.

"Yes, they still call it that to some extent."

"Well, that's what it is like." Seeing by her expression that she didn't get it, he tried to explained it further, "It's like that information highway is going right through my brain. Only that it is Atlantis and not the internet. I can see everything, the whole city. And I can access it with only a thought. And I can even interact with it, it's incredible."

"Interact? You mean like the city is alive?" Daniel asked, his brain already full of questions.

"No, it's not alive, not in the sense you mean. But it can feel me, well us," he said waving a hand between himself, John and Carson. "And it responds to our thoughts; it also lets us know anything new with it or if it needs something. Like a really sophisticate computer that learns and grows and adapts to new situations because of the new input data."

"You said that it felt all three of you. Can you feel each other too?" Sam asked.

"Yes," this time it was John who answered. "If we go with the information highway analogy, then its like I can see where the General and Carson are in their trip and if I need to I can communicate with them"

"How?" Asked Elizabeth. "Are you in each other's minds? Can you read each other's thoughts?"

"No, lass. It's nothing as intrusive as that." It was the first time Carson had spoken up to anyone since he'd felt the full effect of the city.
"Like John said, I know they're there and I know where they are and I can call and talk to them if I want to or need to. But I'm not going into their heads. It's more like I call them and we meet in a neutral place. Because to be frank, while the highway is going through our minds we're not really in our minds when we're in it, if you see what I mean."

"No, Carson. We don't see what you mean. 'While the highway is going through our minds, we're not in our minds when we're in it?' What the hell kind of explanation is that?" Rodney said what everyone else was thinking, if n a decidedly ruder manner.

"Well, I'm sorry, Rodney; I'm doing the best I can. But I don't bloody know how this stuff works! That's your department, not mine." Carson said in a somewhat loud voice.

" Carson, we know you're doing the best you can and we appreciate it, really. But you have to understand that your explanation didn't really made sense to us. Even if Rodney could have said it better." Elizabeth said, giving a stern glare at Rodney who seemed to settled down some under it.

"It's just that, lass, I'm not sure if I can explain it better." Carson started to apologize when John spoke up, "I think I know what Carson meant. The General said that the highway was going through his brain and he's right, in a way. I think it'd be more accurate to say that something like an access portal to the highway comes through our brains."

"Yes," Jack agreed. "I think that is a better way of explaining it. And that's what Carson meant. Once we cross the portal we're no longer in our brains per se but on the highway – or in this case, I guess we could call it the Atlantis network?" Jack finished the explanation and looked at John and Carson to see if they agreed with it and received nods from both of them.

"Wait, wait a minute here." This time it was Cameron that spoke up and said what everyone else was thinking. "Are you saying that your mind somehow leaves your body and enters this network!" He asked in an incredulous voice. "Is your mind leaving your body? Is that even possible?" The look on the faces of everyone else showed how disturbing they also found that concept.

"No, no. That's not what he meant at all. I mean . . ." John started to try to explained it better but found that he wasn't sure how but from the look of Carson's face maybe he had a better idea. "Doc, you want to take it from here?"

"Yes, I do. In a way, a very real way, you're right, Col Mitchell." Carson said to the considerable surprised of everyone present, including John and Jack.

"He is?" came from almost everyone there and from Cameron, "I am? And please call me Cameron."

"Cameron," Carson said with a nod in his direction. "And yes in a way you're right, but not totally. I think, and this is just a theory you have to understand." He said looking at Elizabeth. "I won't know anything for sure until I've run a whole set of tests on the General, John and myself."

While Elizabeth said, "We know, Rodney. Go on." Jack muttered, "Oh, joy, more tests." And John just grimaced and nodded his agreement with Jack's statement.

Rodney ignored them and after hearing Elizabeth continued, "Well, I think that part, and only part, of our brains somehow detaches itself and goes onto the network."

That statement brought another wave of incredulous exclamations, the most prevalent of which was 'is that possible?'

Carson put his hands up to try and quiet everyone down and then went on, "Maybe detached was the wrong word. I think it's more like un-coils. Wait, please let me finish," he said when everyone started talking again. "I think that this maybe one of the results of the Ancient gene. You know that we've never found that there was anything different with those carrying the gene that the rest of population except for its presence. Well, maybe that was because it would only 'activate' here in Atlantis and only when the city was fully awake." While Carson had not been present for the whole discussion of when the city awoke, the time he'd spent on the 'network' had clearly shown him that the city had just really woken up. "Now that the city is awake our minds are acting like they've been programmed by the gene. Part of it is un-coiling or stretching so that it can go into the network and do whatever we need to do there. That way the network doesn't actually comes into our minds, that would be too intrusive and dangerous; but since it is only a part of our brain that it is still connected to the bigger part, we don't run the risk of getting our consciousness trapped on the network if something went to go wrong. Don't you see? It makes perfect sense." Carson finished his explanation and looked at everyone to see what they thought of his theory. But everyone had been stunned into silence.

Finally it was Sam that broke the silence, "I guess that makes sense. I mean, we never found that the gene made any difference; besides letting you access Ancient technology, which, when you think about it, this is precisely what it is."

"Exactly! And it would also explain why only those born with the gene would get access to the network and not those that had the therapy. I mean if you think about it," Carson said in a very excited tone of voice, "the therapy only graphs the gene onto another's DNA. It does not actually integrate the gene into the DNA but only imprints its signature so that person that underwent the therapy can use Ancient technology. Yes, I know that this is also Ancient technology. But think about it; this is a much more advance and sophisticated interaction between the person and the machine. More than just the gene's presence is needed. Like I said, the gene must have been programming our brains since before we were born – there just no way that the therapy could have the same effect. No way." Carson finished emphatically.

Once again, there was absolute silence as they all tried to come to grips with what they were discovering. Everyone but Jack, John and Carson found the idea that part of their brain could uncoil extreme disconcerting. They, also, as much as they tried, just couldn't really image what the other three were experiencing and couldn't help but wish that they were also experiencing it.

Jack, John and Carson didn't find the idea that part of their brain could literally take a hike all that disconcerting. Nor did they find it disturbing that they could in effect touch the mind of other persons and talk to them in a mental network. Something told them that perhaps they should, but it all felt so damn natural that it was hard to feel the least bit intimidated, let alone afraid by it. Maybe the fact that there were at least other two people that had the same ability helped them to not feel isolated or terribly freakish by their new found abilities. Actually Jack and John and to some extent Carson, felt a bit smug and superior. After all, only they had the gene. And Jack couldn't really help it; he was still Jack and his comebacks were an integral part of him, "I guess Thor was right, uh? I am, well, we are the next step in our evolution." He said with a grin.

That comment was received by glares and various snorts from almost everyone in the room. Except Carson and John, who very subtly catched each other's eyes and nodded.

Completely ignoring Jack, Daniel went back to a point that still bugged him. "Ok, doc. I guess all that makes sense and explains how you guys going into this network and how you can control the computers from there. But what I would really like to know is why did this happen right now? I mean the city had been slowing waking up for the past two years, so why now? I guess it could be the natural culmination, but it just seems to me to be too much of a coincidence that all of this happens moments after Jack beams down, don't you guys think?" Daniel asked the group in general.

"Yes, Daniel. You're right. That'd be too much of a coincidence." John said. "The city was waking up but it still had a ways to go before it woke up fully. Something about the General woke the city before it would have woken up naturally. But it is also as if the city had been waiting for whatever it is that the General has or represents." John explained what he had gathered from his time in the network.

Carson nodded his agreement when the others looked at him and Jack just shrugged when the looks where in his direction.

"So, the question now is: What does Jack have or what does he represent that he awoke Atlantis?" Daniel said, summoning up the question in everyone's mind once again.

AN3: I have no idea how the gene therapy is supposed to work, and totally guessing here. But I needed it to work this way, so let's say that for the purpose of this fiic, it does.