Thank you to all for your reviews and patience! I hope this chapter was worth waiting for.

For some background, part of this chapter takes place during the show Enterprise.

Chapter 16: 2153

"Our Science Directorate has determined that time travel is impossible."

"Over seven million lives lost."

Sakkon nodded solemnly. But he was a Vulcan; Vulcans always did that. The universe was a solemn place, and it certainly was that today. Certainly for Keller… his Human heart ached for the loss on his home planet but there was little he could do here on the Vulcan science vessel Nyrrik. That was something Vulcans didn't seem to grasp.

For all the things they did grasp.

"Captain Archer still insists on his time-travel theory, I assume?" Sakkon deadpanned then.

"Well, yes. I believe so." As far as he'd heard, Captain Archer was stuck on that. And Keller believed him, what was more. He wasn't about to volunteer that information, however, since he doubted that the Vulcans would be as interested… Or perhaps they would.

"You believe him, do you not?" Sakkon asked. Keller nodded mutely. "We are here once and for all to prove that time-travel is impossible. It is the reason you are here." He spun and moved away down the hallway toward the bridge.

Keller hurried to follow, unsure what to say or even think. It seemed like it might have been a bad idea, but these were Vulcans. They rarely had bad ideas and, if they did, rarely suffered the consequence for them. Of course, that boded ill for Keller…

Keller stood on the bridge with the rest of the Vulcans, looking at the star they hovered about. It was an old, dying star, they said. One that was out of the way. No life was on either of its planets and no life would ever be. It was perfect for their experiment, whatever it was.

"This doesn't sound like a bad idea?" Keller asked one of them.

"Disproving a theory in pursuit of science?" one of the Vulcans asked him. Keller would have said the Vulcan was aghast, but that would be rather un-Vulcan.

"Messing with time," Keller corrected. "You really have no idea what you're doing, do you? What if time-travel is possible? What could happen?"

The Vulcans exchanged glances before looking back at Keller. As though talking to a child, one of them answered, "Time-travel is impossible. With this experiment, it will be proven and Archer will have to give up his insane theory."

"But that's not very logical is it?" Keller persisted. "Setting out on an experiment when you are already sure of the result?"

"You are not sure," the Vulcan answered. "That is why we do it." He looked at a nearby companion and nodded.

A shimmering blue light emitted from the ship and into the star and, for a moment, it seemed like nothing was going to happen. Then the ship started to shake.

Before he could realize what had happened, before anyone could say anything at all, he saw what was next. Like an echo from the future, pulsing through the ship, he saw a wave of fire breaching the front of the bridge. The front wall of the room was engulfed, next the Vulcans, finally Keller. A moment, only a moment.

Then time caught up with them…

Daniel leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. It had been five minutes. I'll be ready to go in five minutes, she said. He should have known better. Five minutes never meant five minutes. Ever. Sometimes it meant ten minutes. Sometimes it meant twenty. Sometimes, like right now, it meant forty-five. "Sam…" he said tentatively.

"Oh my god," Sam shouted just as he was about to go on, looking up from her computer console with a huge grin. "Daniel!" she went on, as though she had only just noticed that he was there. "I found it!"

"Found what?" Daniel asked. If she had said anything about looking for anything in the past forty-five minutes, Daniel didn't suppose he'd remember. Maybe it didn't even make sense.

She didn't answer. Not really, anyway. She picked up a nearby PADD and loaded information to it, all the time muttering, "Oh my god, oh my god." By the time she'd finished, Daniel had worked up quite a concern about whatever she was muttering about, but she looked so happy about whatever-it-was, he couldn't really be concerned. "Daniel!" she said again, hurrying toward him, almost jumping up and down. "I found it—oh my god!"

"What is it?" Daniel asked, looking at the PADD in her hand.

"This!" she said. "This is a map of the galaxy as we know it. As we know it back home, anyway. I reconstructed it from memory when we first arrived, mostly, but it's also from a map of our time frame from this universe."

"All right, I'm with you so far," Daniel said with a nod, inspecting the PADD closely. He couldn't remember much of the map now himself, but there had been a time when he would look at this map nearly every day at the SGC. He supposed someone with a memory like Sam's would be able to remember much more.

"This!" she said, pointing at an empty space on the map between one star and another.

Daniel looked closer, and then at Sam. "What about it?"

"There is a star here in our universe right now!" she said. "I mean—then! There's a star here and it's not here then. Now." Daniel smiled at how excited she was about this missing star, wishing this Sam might surface more often. "This star was right in the path of our wormhole back home."

"The possibility of time-travel…?" Daniel realized.

"Well, not really," Sam said. "At least, I didn't think so, but obviously I was wrong. But here's the interesting thing!" she said. "This is a star map of 2002 from this universe."

"It's not there," Daniel said.

"Exactly," Sam said. "And I couldn't figure out why until I was looking into the history of time travel and alternate universes according to this universe. They don't have quantum mirrors like we do or anything like that. I found that the Vulcans, in the 2150s, were experimenting with time-travel and alternate universes and, at least in the 2150s according to the Vulcans, there was a star. Right here."

"But not—Sam. That doesn't make sense." Sam just smiled. "You expect me to believe that the Vulcans erased a star. From the history of their universe?"

"Have we seen weirder things happen?" Sam asked.

Daniel didn't answer because he knew they had. That didn't mean Sam's theory was true, of course. But is also didn't mean it was false. And it was so weird… it was probably true. But how this all tied together… well, he guessed Sam might be able to explain it.

"Here's what I think happened," Sam said. "It's hard to tell with the records because—well, there was this whole mix-up and time-travel, and—it was a mess."

"I can imagine," Daniel agreed helpfully.

"Definitely. In short, the Vulcans attempted an experiment to disprove time-travel," Sam rattled on, "but they had no idea what they were doing. The star that they were experimenting on was not only in every moment at once, but also in every possible universe at once, including ours."

Daniel frowned. "What…? Doesn't that make it—"

"Exactly. They're lucky they didn't destroy the whole universe," Sam agreed.

"That's not exactly what I was going to say," Daniel said with a slight smile. Although, destroying the whole universe sounded serious, even if hyperbolic. "I was going to ask if that means we can't use the same way of getting back. Because the star isn't here anymore. And we can't do the same experiment again because, if we're not lucky, we'll destroy the universe."

Sam laughed a little. "I wasn't suggesting we do either. I don't think I could build two Stargates from scratch even with all the technology of the Federation. It wouldn't work even if we wanted to try their experiment again."

Daniel looked down. No reason to be glum about it. They were getting closer! Though it had taken years… "Well," he offered. "At least you found the cause. When I find a gate, we'll be just another step closer."