[Updated 06/09/2017]
Chapter Seventeen: Finis
"So there I was amidst a misty forest, this ghoulish voice taunting me, and all I could think about was Red Riding Hood. Of all the characters I could have recalled, she was the one that terrorized me."
"Oh, you poor man." Daniel quipped from the Colonel's left, earning a dark glare as reply. Unfazed, he continued, "So I suppose the voice was the big bad wolf."
"Could have been the woodsman. He may have saved the girl and the granny, but he still had the means to . . ." A wicked smile curled his lips as Jack mimicked a knife to his throat.
"That's just wrong Sir." Carter replied in disgust.
"I still don't understand your children's stories." Teal'c said. "On Chulak, the tales are real, as are the heroes. Not fabricated, mythical fables."
"He has a point." Sam agreed.
"Oh, be quiet you." O'Neill waved dismissively. Carter smirked. "Of course you agree with him. Your definition of fun consists of scientific doohickeys and unsolvable calculations."
"I'll have you know that I experienced a childhood too."
"You mean you didn't just rock up from an alternative universe?"
Jack schooled a mock stunned expression, causing Sam to chortle in reply.
Daniel shared a look with the Jaffa. Gradually, the men lagged in pace allowing the chatting soldiers to move ahead on the path.
"They don't remember, right?" Jackson asked once they were out of hearing range.
"Indeed, they are oblivious to what occurred between them."
"That's good . . . I think." He supplied with an incredulous expression.
"Do not worry Daniel Jackson. Michal assured the memories wiped would not return. It only lingers within their emotions."
"Guess no harm could come from it. But still. Jack's not acting like someone who's faced hell."
"This is O'Neill. He will confront this mission in his own fashion – alone, and in the recesses of his mind."
"Yeah, let's just hope it doesn't come back to bite us . . . in the, you know what."
Teal'c observed the chuckling duo who was oblivious to the vulnerabilities they had encountered together. "We will know once the feline is out of the bag."
Daniel stopped, and like a gaping fish stared after the Jaffa. "Did you just?" He called, jogging to keep up with his stride.
"I did Doctor Jackson." A sly smile quirked the Jaffa's lips.
Up ahead, the soldiers glanced over their shoulders, lost as to what had transpired between the two men. Although by Teal'c's shrewd expression, Jack knew what he had done.
"He just floored you, didn't he Danny boy?"
"You could say that." Jackson glared at the Jaffa to his right, both joining Carter and Jack.
The team unknowingly passed the dais and inscriptions, which had disappeared the moment they had entered the canyon. It was as if nothing had occurred on the planet, and the team was immensely grateful for it.
"Aah, he has his moments." Jack replied proudly.
He had taken the far left position in their horizontal line. Carter situated to his right, followed by Teal'c, and then by Daniel.
"Well, he has the element of surprise mastered to a tee."
Smiling slyly, O'Neill acknowledged the Major's double saying. "Nice Carter. Two strikes in one go."
"I'm sorry, when did this turn into an idiom match?"
Daniel leaned forward peering past the Jaffa at Jack, brow furrowing.
"Since time immemorial."
Jack scowled at Sam's reply, but then his countenance changed into a smug expression. He too could play this game.
"When one's back is turned." The Colonel cunningly referred to the men's secretive conversation.
"You should quit while you're ahead." Daniel playfully warned. "Otherwise, you'll be caught unawares. Or was that caught off-balance? Sorry, my head's in the clouds."
"The plot thickens Major. Should we stir it, see what happens?" Jack's eyes squinted in her direction.
"I don't know Colonel. We could be opening a can of worms instead."
"Jack stared at her as if she'd grown two heads. "A . . . can of worms Carter? Seriously, that's the best you can come up with?"
"Child's play, hey Jack?"
A snicker slipped through Daniel's lips, whilst Teal'c scowled at his teammates in confusion. Evidently, he had not understood the wordplay.
"Don't you start." O'Neill pointed his finger in the archaeologist's direction nearly poking Carter's eye out. Thankfully, she had anticipated the onslaught coming her way, and slowed down with a step.
"I haven't yet." Jackson said, and then gestured at the Major. "And it's not my fault you chose Sam as a co-conspirator."
"Hey!" Carter exclaimed slightly taken aback by the fierce gesture and accusation, whilst Jack spat, "Look who's talking, says the one who has Teal'c as an accomplice. Talk about a disadvantage."
"If this were a sparring match, you would be eating dirt O'Neill."
Teal'c's expression was deadpan, Daniel and Sam smiling sardonically. Jack glared dangerously.
"Seems the fat lady has sung." Carter quipped softly, yet O'Neill heard enough to turn his glare upon her, and her expression swiftly mimicked a rebuked kid.
"I'm not familiar with that saying." Teal'c said innocently, ignoring the exchange.
"It means we're done expressing and should tiptoe our way back to the Gate."
The Jaffa raised an eyebrow, scowling in disagreement. "That would be most unwise, Daniel Jackson."
O'Neill added from the side, "Talk softly, carry a big stick, is what the geek meant, T."
"Then I will do so." The Jaffa nodded, gaze resolute before him.
"Wait." Daniel retorted surprised. "That you understood? It's basically a historic saying, as in, an important piece of American history."
"Theodore Roosevelt I believe." Teal'c squared his jaw in satisfaction.
"That's a bottle rocket! The crowd goes wild." Jack playfully mocked.
"To the gate with you, Jack." Daniel exclaimed with a stern glare indicating in its direction.
"You just got Jersied and you're sending me to the sin bin?" He sulked. "No fair, sucha bender."
"Hey look!" Sam interrupted drawing their attention for a moment. "The DHD. Maybe you should discuss hockey later."
Silence engulfed the team for a while as Jack stared at the Major in disbelief. "Okay, now I'm floored. You know ice hockey lingo?"
"Not just a smart cookie Colonel." Carter stated teasingly.
"Oh, that's the biscuit in the basket." His hands mirrored that of a hockey player's, and hit the imagined puck along the ice.
"Why would O'Neill . . ."
Daniel anticipated Teal'c's question and quickly explained, "In hockey lingo, it means she's just scored. Baseball would be a homerun, and in American Football it's known as a touchdown."
"She has won the contest?" His brow furrowed with the question.
"Yeah, suppose so." Came Daniel's deflated reply.
"Are they not on the same team?" Teal'c inquired further.
"Yes, we are T." Jack interjected with a wry smile curling his lips. "Greatness should be rewarded regardless of the team you play for."
Major Carter stifled a laugh as she approached the Dial-Home-Device and punched in earth's address. The three men continued with a light conversation, Jack sneaking a peek in between pauses.
Something had changed between them, a thought that was false, because he had been the only team member within the virtual world. Somehow his emotions portrayed differently – there was a sense of personal respect, compassion, and hurt. This confused the Colonel, how had he hurt her? Haran did, whom he had heard Teal'c and Daniel outwitted, uncovering a secret trade with Ba'al. It was a major problem, and thus they had stirred a brewing coup in order to save SG1. He could not have been more proud of them.
The Gate sprang to life beckoning the men to join the Major. Daniel and Teal'c stepped through first, leaving the two soldiers behind. On cue, they turned towards each other, Jack bearing a considerate expression as he regarded her. Surprisingly enough, she allowed it.
"You okay?" O'Neill asked softly.
Sam swallowed back the lurking anxiety caught in her throat. "I am. Only bummed that I couldn't get my hands on their technology. Just think, once we step through the Gate, this desert will disappear, and what might replace it, is a lavish landscape with a lake full of fish."
Her eyes sparkled with humour.
"Funny." Jack smiled amusingly, acknowledging her reference of his cabin and pond back in Minnesota. "Yeah, would be a cool toy to have, excluding the virtual thingie of course."
Both their expressions fell, aware of what he had endured there.
"Any who," Jack gladly changed the subject, smile back in full as his left palm gestured at the active Gate. "After you, Major, we shouldn't keep the ol' Génerál waiting."
"Thank you Colonel." Sam replied with a respectful nod and took the lead.
O'Neill fell in with her stride, and before they stepped through the event horizon, mockingly quipped, "So, hockey Carter."
Sam smiled brightly in retort, ignoring his prying as they vanished into the wormhole.
On PM6-324, dark clouds crept across the blue sky, while the surface of the planet slowly but surely morphed, shaped, and altered into that of a Tundra landscape, hiding what once was a desert with a canyon and assassins named Bedu – as if they had never even existed.
Unseen but not forgotten.
VIRTUALIS MUNDI
Thank you everyone for reading Virtual World, uncovering its mystery, and staying until the end. I hope you enjoyed it. I also appreciate the feedback from those who had reviewed, many thanks.
Have an awesome, lovely week and month further.
Cheers, lezaanv