Title: Ad Infinitum – Chapter 1/10
Author: Alice J. Foster
E-mail: Summary: Alex and Jacob realize something's wrong.

Chapter Rating: PG-13

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Chapter 1/10

Alex's POV

When I woke up, there was a sharp pain in my head and it seemed to be replicating itself and attacking a different part of my brain time and time again. I hadn't felt this shitty since dad let Uncle Jack in charge of the barbeque grill; I swear, the man used up like 10 beers in his cooking. And at least that time I had a good buzz for about three hours before the headache started.

I tried to open my eyes but the pain got much much worse and I groaned. The overwhelming burning feeling in my eyes told me I'd fallen asleep with my contacts in. I moved my hands to cover my eyes but my arm stopped midway, my mind slowly registering the leather straps attached to my wrists.

Panic started to overwhelm me, everything in my body screamed wrong and I forced my eyes to open, trying to ignore the pain. I couldn't regain focus as quickly as I would've liked but I saw enough to recognize the SGC infirmary. I sighed with relief; this was like home to me – except I had never been strapped to a hospital bed here before.

I heard a groan of pain coming from my left and looked to find a Jacob-shaped blur waking up as well. He also seemed to be restrained to his bed and my eyes finally noticed the three SFs that were standing by our beds.

Jacob's eyes followed mine, his vision not impaired by crappy contact lenses and burning dry eyes. "Uh excuse me but can someone explain to me why the hell you have these things on my wrists?" My best friend demanded answers and from his voice I could tell he didn't recognize these SFs. The SGC was an enormous operation, but anyone who spent as much time as we did on base would at least be able to recognize most people.

None of the SFs said anything, holding their guns steady and ready to point at us. They conspiratorially spoke in hushed tones, until finally one of them left the infirmary. My mind was working overtime with all the possibilities… I remembered my father once telling me that Hathor put together a mock SGC to trick him and SG-1 into believing they were in the future, but Hathor had been MIA for over a decade. Plus she'd more likely go after Dad and the rest of SG-1 than Jacob and me.

Soon a female entered the room that threw that possibility out in the wind. "Dr. Lam?" I asked the blurry figure in front of me.

The good doctor seemed taken aback. "How do you know my name?" she asked as she came to my bedside and flashed one of those doctor flashlights into my eyes. Frowning at the undoubtedly redness of my eyes, she helped me remove my contacts and wash my eyes. When she was done, Jacob finally spoke up.

Jacob frowned. "You're kidding, right? You're Doctor Carolyn Lam. Your father is Hank Landry, he's a retired Air Force General. I've known you for seventeen years. This is the Stargate Command and can someone please take these restraints off?"

"I am not sure where you get your intelligence, young man but General Landry is not retired and he has some questions for both of you. Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you're in?" Dr. Lam asked as she moved from me to Jacob, doing the same thing with the flashlight on his eyes.

I rolled my eyes. Puh-lease. 'Trouble' carries no connotation except when associated with 'fun' and this definitely didn't sound like fun. "When can we see the General then?" I asked, voice full of exasperation.

"Gen. Landry is a very busy man, kids. You two were found passed out above the surface inside a military complex. You have pretty bad concussions. I need to run a few more tests and then you two will be asked some questions. In the meantime, let the nice men at the door know if you need anything." Motioning to the SFs posed at the door to the infirmary, Dr. Lam flipped through our charts. She made a few notes then turned and left the room.

I turned to Jacob with worried eyes. "What do you think happened?"

Jacob shrugged then his eyes went wide with realization. "The motorcycle! I remember we were riding it on the surface and then – nothing. I don't remember anything after that." He motioned to the clock on the wall, "It's 1400. We must've been out for at least thirteen hours."

I frowned. Definitely not fun. "Why do you think Dr. Lam doesn't recognize us?"

"Alternate reality, maybe?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

I nodded before realizing something else. "She doesn't look just different… she looks—" I couldn't finish the sentence.

"Younger, yeah."

Jacob didn't say anything else for a while as we let the idea sink in. Time travel… damn.

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Jacob's POV

Going back in time was a possibility infinitely worse than an alternate reality. An alternate reality where Alex and I didn't exist - that I could deal with. No way to mess up the timeline, no ripple effect, no stepping on a bug and messing up the future.

Going back in time was definitely NOT GOOD.

I tried to sit still in the interrogation room. It was one of the rooms just above the control room, adjacent to the debriefing room. Cameras were on and pointing at me and Alex and I were separated and I felt something akin to a panic attack bubbling somewhere in my stomach. She was still in the Infirmary because her eyes were bothering her and her concussion was worse than mine. I kicked myself again for not giving her a helmet… how could I be so stupid?

I didn't think things could get worse and then I saw a very familiar face walk into the room. Oh god, no.

"Hello, I am Lieutenant Colonel Sam Carter. I need to ask you some questions." A seemingly younger version of my mother said. Lieutenant Colonel, my mind considered that… Not the Lieutenant General I knew back home but still I stood up in respect as she walked in, a gesture that was second instinct to me when I was at the SGC even if this was not the SGC I was accustomed to. She'd been promoted to Brigadier General when I was eleven, when she took command of the SGC. Before that she'd been a Colonel, so if she was a Lieutenant Colonel now, then I knew we'd probably gone back almost twenty years. Either that or we were sent back in time AND sent to an alternate universe.

"At ease, young man," she said and I sat down. "Dr. Lam said you and your… friend know some things about this complex, about the Stargate. We need to know exactly how much you know and how. How about we start with your name?"

Trying to think of something fast, I almost told me her real name… I finally came up with my middle name, "Ben… Benjamin."

My mother nodded as she wrote the name down on paper. "And your last name?" She asked staring at me. Luckily for me she still didn't seem to have developed her maternal stare here because I was not exactly afraid to be lying to her. It was a necessary measure after all.

"I'm afraid I can't disclose that, ma'am."

"We need some more information from you if we are to trust you, young man."

"You must trust me to some point considering you have pretty much acknowledged to a complete stranger that the Stargate program exists." I informed her, wanting her to know she was dealing with someone who knew the protocols of this facility inside and out. "I am sure General Landry authorized you to confirm the Program after Dr. Lam informed you what we know. Also, our bloodwork probably revealed some peculiarities and therefore you know you're not dealing with regular civilians. You might've theorized alternate realities but you would've realized that the quantum mirror is gone and we did not arrive via Stargate, therefore it's unlikely that we could've somehow caused a wormhole to establish between our reality and this one. You must've also thought it could be due to the use of those Goa'uld communication stones, like the bond between the bowling league guy and D—erh, General O'Neill?" Or maybe it was Colonel, I could not remember when my father had been promoted to Brigadier General and he hadn't been promoted to Major General until just a few months before his retirement. "Hell you might've even considered Asgard cloning gone bad again but you know Thor better than that."

My mother nodded, slightly amused. "So which is it?"

I shrugged. "You already know the answer. It's the one you really wish weren't true."

Both her eyebrows raised in disbelief and surprise. "You expect me to believe you're from the future?"

"Ya betcha," I said sheepishly. "Are you asking for proof?" My mother of all people should know that during this stay on Earth, Alex and I should disclose as little as possible. The younger version of my mother though, seemed incredibly curious by this turn of events.

"Nothing that could change the future, I just need to know that you actually know this base like you claim to and that you're not just faking it."

Not sure what I could or could not disclose, I realized I needed more information. "What day is it?"

"August 21st, 2006."

That put us back in time 17 years and about eleven months. Which also meant I wouldn't be born for another nine months and Alex wouldn't be born for another three years. Chances were my mother wasn't pregnant yet and we would need to be extremely careful with what we said or we could affect our own births and that would not be good. It's not like we could just bury a videotape asking our future selves to ensure that things would end up the same way. Realizing Mom- well, not my mother yet - Colonel Carter was still waiting for some information. "Let me see. You're Colonel Samantha Carter. You're part of SG-1. You must've recently left your short work at Area 51 because it bored you, even though you would never admit it to anyone. You missed being in the field and you're co-commander with Colonel Cameron Mitchell." She didn't seem too impressed and she was right. I could've gotten this info from NID or through several other methods. Realizing I would need to get a little bit more personal, I motioned for her to come closer and she must've thought me not dangerous because she acquiesced. Hoping my voice was low enough not to be picked up by the instruments in the room, I whispered, "Oh and your wedding anniversary is July 20th which means you just celebrated your first anniversary a few weeks ago. Congratulations. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone because I know you kept it a secret for a while."

That seemed to do the trick because her eyes widened and she pulled back, surprised. "How—?" Realizing how dumb her question would've sounded, my mother decided to just shrug it off. "Ok, so you're from the future. How did you get here or more correctly, now?"

"Beats me."

She looked through a file. "It seems the two of you were found on the surface, completely passed out, where you were taken in custody."

"It's remotely possible that my motorcycle had something to do with it." I admitted.

She frowned. "What motorcycle?"

I sighed. "Wasn't a motorcycle recovered with us? It's that last thing I remember, riding my motorcycle outside Cheyenne Mountain." I looked at my wrist and the bracelet was gone, I'd assumed it had been taken to be studied when we were found, but now I was having second thoughts.

My mother shook her head in reply, arching her eyebrows and waiting for more explanations.

"It wasn't supposed to… I had just gotten done making some modifications to the bike and I was testing it outside the SGC on the surface and then next thing I know, I have a headache and I'm strapped to this bed. Please M—" oops almost slipped there. I'm going to have to watch out for that. I continued in what I hoped was an inconspicuous manner, "--ma'am, you have to help me figure out what happened and so we can get back to our time before I do or say something that could cause the end of democracy or a new inter-stellar war."

She tilted her head and examined me. Her scrutiny kind of freaked me out because for one second I thought she'd found out the truth but then she straightened out and stood up. "You will be taken to your quarters where you are to remain during your stay here. You'll be escorted by SFs at all times during your stay. If you're well enough, I would like to have you present when I brief General Landry on our discussion."

I nodded and stood up as she left.

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