Chapter 6

Alien Detector Ray Guns

For once in her life, Samantha Carter was in a hurry to leave the house for school. It helped that she had no intention of actually going to school. She wasn't even completely sure how to get there, or whether she was supposed to be walking or taking a bus. Not knowing which way she would normally be walking, she hurried off before Mark left and noticed that she wasn't going in the right direction. She also didn't want anyone to notice the rather bulky item poking out of the top of her backpack. Kid's backpacks were, in her opinion, way too small.

Unfortunately, while the part about getting away before anyone noticed her backpack worked, she didn't escape Mark.

"Hey, Geek Girl!" he cried, catching up to her, "You're going the wrong way!"

"Am not," Sam answered, "It's an experiment. I'm trying a different way."

"By going the opposite direction?" he demanded.

"Exactly. I'm proving the world is round," Sam answered. Mark stared at her for a moment then burst out laughing.

"You're ditching school!" he exclaimed gleefully, "And here Mom and Dad think you're this perfect angel, little baby Sammy." Sam gave up on hiding what she was doing and took her device out of her backpack. It looked like some odd sort of futuristic ray gun, bulky and exotic.

"Hey, what's that?" Mark asked, making as to snatch it from her hands. She jerked away from him, surprising him in a sidestep that left him tumbling to the ground.

"It's an alien detector ray gun," she answered, and she turned it on. It emitted a burst of white noise as it warmed up and, cautiously, she aimed it towards herself. It immediately began a high pitched whine.

"See, I'm really an alien," Sam said, "We're here to take over the world." She aimed it towards Mark, and the noise stopped.

"Is that Mom's hair dryer?" Mark demanded, picking himself up from the ground to get a closer look, "And dad's metal detector? You are so going to be grounded for life!"

"Shouldn't you be going to school?" Sam asked, pouting slightly. Irrational or not, she was hoping for a more excited reaction to her new invention, even if he probably did think it was fake.

"And let my alien sister wander around alone?" Mark asked, "Mom would kill me." Sam shrugged, and started to point her ray gun in different directions, not really expecting to pick anything up. It was designed to detect other people like her; people who were slightly out of sync in time. She hoped it would help her find Jack and Daniel once she figured out a way to get to New York. To her surprise, it started beeping. It was erratic, whoever it was picking up wasn't close, but considering the limited range of her detector she hadn't thought it should be detecting anything at all.

"So what'd you find? Gold?" Mark asked, noting the change in the sound.

"Another alien!" Sam exclaimed, and she began to hurry in the direction the detector was facing, not waiting to see if her brother would follow. He did.

The erratic beeping became more pronounced the further they went. It became difficult in places to follow it; it took them over lawns and ran into houses. Finally, frustrated, Sam tried someone's door and was pleased to find that it opened.

"Another plus of being a kid," she mumbled gleefully, "I won't go to jail for this." Then she walked into the house. Mark followed her more cautiously, hissing at her to come back, this wasn't a game. He closed the door behind them and together they walked down someone's hall, ducking quickly past a doorway where they heard voices, and out the back door. Deciding that if Mark had to follow her he could at least be useful, she got him to give her a boost over the fence in the backyard. They landed in someone else's yard, also luckily empty, and this time Mark dragged her towards a small fence that led them along the side of the house instead of through it.

"You know how dangerous this is?" he demanded as they walked past the front lawn, "What if they had a dog?"

"I thought of that," Sam answered, "I installed a taser. It only has like, one charge on it though, I didn't have enough power for more." Mark stared at her like she was crazy and they continued walking. The beeping of her gun was more pronounced and constant; she knew they had to be close. Suddenly, someone grabbed them both from behind, and Sam dropped her gun with a squeak.

"What're you kids doing sneaking around houses?" a gruff voice demanded, "You brats should be in school, not out vandalizing and stealing or whatever you're up to."

"We were going to school," Mark insisted, indignantly, "You're making us late."

"Through my yard?" the voice asked. Squirming slightly, Sam looked up and up into the form of a large, angry looking man.

"We didn't do nothing!" Mark insisted, "We were just late was all. We were taking a short cut!"

"Ha!" the man cried, shaking them slightly, "I aught to call the police!"

"You let my sister go!" Mark insisted, "You're scaring her!" Then he twisted slightly to kick at Sam with his foot. She glared at him, but saw where he was going and burst into dramatic tears.

"What will the police say, you holding onto a little girl like that?" Mark continued, "You let my sister go!"

"I'm not falling for that missy!" the man exclaimed, shaking her slightly. Then he looked away from them, his frown deepening.

"And who are you?" he demanded, "You their leader? Teaching them to steal?" Sam looked up and through her tears she saw a very familiar form.

"Teal'c?" she said in surprise. Teal'c looked equally surprised when he looked at her. Mark didn't know where to look; this new stranger didn't look any more friendly than the guy holding him by the arm.

"You will let them go," Teal'c proclaimed, his voice menacing. The man holding the two children hesitated. Teal'c's expression did not waver and the man's grip on their arms began to slip.

"I'm calling the cops!" he exclaimed at last, as he dropped them and hurried back towards his house. Mark made half a move to grab Sam's arm, wanting to run away while they still could but not about to leave his sister behind.

"Teal'c!" Sam exclaimed excitedly, grabbing up her gun from where it had fallen. Something had come loose inside, but she was able to fix that easily, and a moment later her gun was squealing loudly as she pointed it towards Teal'c.

"You are Samantha Carter?" Teal'c asked, staring at the small girl.

"How do you know my sister?" Mark demanded, taking a step in front of her defensively.

"He's the alien we were looking for," Sam exclaimed, "Only I didn't know he was here. You weren't on Earth in 1974!"

"Should you be saying these things, Samantha Carter?" Teal'c asked, apparently taking finding her a child in stride, though Sam knew him well enough to see his surprise.

"Doesn't matter, he won't believe us anyway," Sam explained, "It's like a game. And if he does, no one will believe him!"

"Do you know what has happened?" Teal'c asked.

"We've gone back in time," Sam answered, beginning with the obvious but quickly moving into her theory, "I mean, not just us, it was kind of like a bubble in time that went through the Stargate. Maybe that's why you're here; everything outside the bubble is in real time but we've looped over ourselves again. Maybe wherever you were thirty years ago is outside the bubble, so it couldn't send you there, so you went here instead."

"I awoke upon P4X-639," Teal'c answered, "I was alone. When I came through the Stargate, I was here." He had apparently taken Sam at her word that it was all right to speak in front of Mark. Mark didn't seem to be following their conversation anyway; he was looking back and forth between them with a nervous frown.

"Well, it's a good thing you're here," Sam said, "You can drive." Then she turned and started to lead them down the street, back in the general direction of her house.

"Drive?" Mark demanded, "What are you talking about? You can't go off with this man!"

"We have to go to New York," Sam explained, "And find Jack and Daniel. I'd drive myself, but I don't think I'd get away with it." Then she paused, finally turning to face her brother. "Well," she said, "As long as you're here…how do we get back home?" Mark just stared at her for a long moment, then turned to lead the way.