Authors Note edit 1

This is the revised chapter 3. Hopefully it's better than the previous one. If it's not, be sure to yell at me! I have the backup somewhere around here...

Chapter 3

Potentia? I thought. Why does that sound familiar?

The reply came directly into my mind as if someone was telling me, It is a power source of the Altera, Daniel told you about them.

Still not under my control I went to where there seemingly was not a potentia and pushed down on a spot on the raised platform. A dark looking potentia came up from where it was inside the platform. I then walked over to one of the first two potentia, that was still glowing bright with energy, and pushed it down into the platform.

"Should he be touching this stuff?" asked Mitchel.

"He seems to know what he's doing. I'm interested to see what's here, I mean already we found TWO charged ZPM's! Generals O'neill and Landry are going to be very happy." replied Daniel.

As the new potentia made it all the way down and I pushed on it just one more little time, it 'clicked' into place. I could immediately hear things starting to power up and more and more lights coming all over the construct. As the lights all over were coming on I slowly walked a couple of rooms over and went to a door, it opened in front of me and I walked out onto a balcony. What I saw amazed me.

"We're under ground in a massive city!" I said, still not remembering that I was speaking ancient.

"You can say that again." replied Michel following up with, "Whatever it is you said.."

All of SG-1 was out onto the platform staring out over the city. We could see lights coming on very far away and they were fading into the distance.

"This is even bigger than Atlantis!" Daniel said with his hat in his hands all folded up and nearly jumping with joy.

"Think of all the treasures that's here!" Vala Mal Doran said even more giddily then Daniel.

"It must be at least three times the size as Atlantis!" exclaimed Sam.

That's when I started walking away. No one noticed for a few seconds until Teal'c said in his usual mono-tone, "Where is Tim?"

Everyone started to look around and then bolted back inside.

"Ok, split up and look for him, Daniel, Teal'c go that way" he said pointing down a newly lit set of stairs. "Vala, Sam you go that way" he said pointing down a long tunnel "I'll go back to the power room and start searching from there, keep in radio contact I don't want anyone else getting lost."

"Cam. Teal'c. Daniel. We found him, he's in some room to the north of our previous position. Guys, he's standing on a platform that looks an awful lot like the one that Rodney almost died/ascended from." said Carter worriedly.

I saw them coming into the room from the life sign detector I had in my hand that I picked up while walking through the corridors. Two just came in the room with me and three more were on their way.

"I'm not doing this!" I said. "It's not me!"

Sam and Vala looked at each other and Sam said, "You know we can't understand you so just come on down and don't do whatever you're thinking of doing."

"Would if I could..." I mumbled knowing they wouldn't understand me.

After fiddling with some sort of control board I stepped up onto a platform that was slightly raised from the ground. After a moment a bright light came from the ceiling and started to actually turn and wrap itself around me. I was very scared. After the light receded I walked down off the platform thinking I was fine. Then the floor came up to meet my face.

As Teal'c came through the stargate with Tim in his arms General Landry from the operations room said into the mic, "What happened? Why is he bleeding and unconscious?"

"I suggest we debrief immediately General, after we get Tim to the infirmary at least." Cam said.

"Get up to the briefing room as soon as possible then." Landry agreed.

When the last of the team sat down and Landry came out of his office the debriefing started.

"Well what did you find SG-1?" Landry said concernedly.

"A whole hell of a lot General. We hit the jackpot!" said Cam.

"Sir, I think we found another ancient city, this one is even bigger than Atlantis!" exclaimed Daniel.

"Bigger than Atlantis? I thought the ancients built city ships in only one size? There's Atlantis and it's sister city that the Atlantis expedition found almost completely buried. They were the same size." said General Landry.

"Well we don't know if it's an actually city ship sir, but it was definitely bigger than Atlantis." said Sam.

"Oh and did we mention the THREE ZPM's?" Cam said quietly and innocently.

Here Landry stood up so quick his chair went flying behind him and said, "Three ZPM's? That's incredible!"

"Yea it is General, one of them is dead but that's just one that the boys at Area 51 can study and deconstruct without worries of wasting a ZPM." Sam said.

"Two fully charged ZPM's! An ancient city bigger than Atlantis! We need to start to fully exploring this place." Here Landry started to become a little down and asked, "So what happened to Tim?"

Everyone on the team looked around at each other and no one wanted to speak.

Finally Daniel broke the silence and said, "He used one of the devices that alters your DNA. It looked nearly identical to the one Rodney McKay used in Atlantis."

"That's not good, that device nearly killed him!" Landry said.

What's happening to me?

~You're changing.~ Came the reply from the wise sounding man.

Am I alive?

~Yes, you're just evolving. It will take time.~

How long has it been since the city?

~A week, you can wake up now. But you won't stay awake. You're body will need to shut down a couple times for all the changes you'll be going through.~

Shut down? I don't like the sound of that...

"Doctor Lam, he's waking up!" yelled Daniel.

Doctor Lam came over to me and started to shine a bright light in my left eye.

"Oww, That's bright!"

"He said that's bright." Daniel repeated.

"That's good news actually. How are you feeling? You've been in a coma for a week now." said Dr. Lam.

"Daniel, tell her to just leave me alone if I die, tell her to just keep me here."

"Ummm, what do you mean if you die?" asked Daniel in ancient.

"My body might...stop a few times. That's all."

"That doesn't sound very good, what's happening to you?"

"I'm not sure. Just make sure they don't cremate me or something will ya?"

"Alright alright, I'll tell them."

"What is he saying Daniel?" asked Doctor Lam.

"He says not to do anything to him when he dies. He said just keep him here."

"WHEN he dies? What do you mean WHEN he dies? He just pulled out of the comma he should be fine!" exclaimed Doctor Lam.

Just as she said I could feel my heart getting slower. It felt strange as I could feel less and less movement of my blood. It was awkward. Then I fell into darkness.

I woke up in a room in what I presumed was the city at Tarfino Hancores. I stood up and walked around a little, I felt great! It was as if my body was in perfect physical condition, no more knee pain or awkward breathing.

What's going on? I thought.

Then a man came in the room. "Welcome." he said.

"Ummm, Hi. Who are you, and where am I?"

"My name is Myrddin but I think you would know me by the name, Merlin. As for where you are...let's just say that your not on Avalon, earth, anymore."

I was confused, "Merlin? As in, King Arthur merlin?"

Myrddin smiled, "Yes, he was a very good man. A credit to your species."

I had so many questions. I started to ask one when I was interrupted by Myrddin.

"I know you have many questions. Let me start by just telling you some things, and then I'll answer any questions you may have."

I nodded my agreement.

He started, "I am what your people call an ancient. We of course prefer the term Alteran. My true name is Myrddin but I have gone by many names over the centuries, including Merlin, Moros, Merlyn, and Merlinus. I am currently ascended and I am here to help you out during your...transformation."

"Uhhhhh..." I started.

He interrupted and continued, "This may come as a surprise to you, but at this moment you are dead. I know that sounds unpleasant but I can assure you it is only temporary. Your body needs a lot of work and it couldn't do it all with you alive. Not to mention we needed this time so that I could tell you why I have orchestrated these events. There is a great danger on the horizon, and if it is not stopped, every life in the Milky way galaxy may be extinguished."

He paused a moment and then continued, "That is why I have set you on this path. You will have a long road ahead of you, but if you do everything right you can save everyone you've ever loved, and everyone else that you've never met. While you are here, while your body is being repaired, I will be training you for the trials to come. You will be vastly different than you were before this process began, and you will need to know how to handle yourself. You've got a monumental effort ahead of you, not to put too much pressure on you, but what you have to do may be the most important since we left the galaxy all those ages ago."

"What do you mean he's dead?" bellowed Landry. "You said he just woke up from the coma!"

"He did..I don't know what happened. He was fine and talking and his vitals were strong. It just doesn't make sense." replied his daughter, Dr. Lam. "One thing that is interesting is that, well, I don't know how to say it." here she paused then shook her head. "He's changing... His base DNA is changing. Sir, it looks like, well, it looks like he's evolving, and very rapidly at that."

"Evolving? Evolving into what?" asked Landry.

"Well sir, you remember what happened to Rodney McKay? As far as I can tell, the same thing is happening to Tim. But there are some differences. For one, Rodney didn't go into a comma. Another is that Tims ….. reaction, is going slower on a whole, but some parts of his brain are getting to be very active, much quicker than what happened to Rodney. And, at the moment sir, his brain is rapidly improving in cognizance, his brain is at least twice as capable as any normal person, and Tim was already smart to begin with, he is a genius in Engineering and Astrophysics, comparable even to our Samantha Carter. Basically sir, he's crazy smart right now and I'd hate to see how smart he is when he's done...evolving."

I woke up knowing what I had to do. I could see everyone around me scurrying trying to help me and fighting what they know just happened, that I had come back to life after being dead for days.

I noticed that I was thinking faster, and I felt better than I had ever felt in my life. I felt really strong. I didn't know that it would effect me so fast.

But I knew what I had to do and I needed to get started. I sat up and looked at Doctor Lam, Tell everyone I'm fine. I thought to her.

"Everyone step back, he's fine and he needs some space. Go outside, I can handle this." she said.

"Should I page Dr. Jackson?" one of the nurses asked.

No, do not tell anyone. I thought to the nurse.

She, and the rest of the staff, besides Dr. Lam, stepped out and went back to doing whatever they had to do besides be at work at this point in time.

"How are you speaking to me? Your mouth isn't moving..." Dr lam asked.

I'm thinking to you, when the Alterans were close to ascending, their physiology was extremely advanced. They began to unlock certain abilities as their bodies evolved, sometimes naturally over time, sometimes through genetic engineering. Telepathy is but one of the abilities.

I got up quickly and I told Dr. Lam to come with me. We started to walk to the nearest armory.

When we got there I had Dr. Lam use her card to open it up. She didn't have any choice in the matter, I took control of her mind and did it myself.

I walked in and started grabbing everything I needed, including the new power armor that was very much like the kull warrior armor. The SGC had been trying to make armor that powerful for their teams since the first meeting with the kull warriors. Looks like they have done a pretty good job.

I put on all of the armor and had Dr. Lam help me with the bigger pieces. I took a zat gun and headed to the gateroom. Anyone who happened by when I walked through the hallways just kept on going and forgot having seen me. I also made sure that all the cameras stopped working before I went into their vision.

When I got to the gateroom and started mentally dialing the gate, the base alarm went off. I mentally closed all the blast doors and turned off the cameras. The gate came on without the customary 'kawoosh'. I didn't need it at the moment and it was just a waste of time. I turned to Dr. Lam and thought, You don't remember any of this. She would last remember me being dead and lying on the table. I walked through the stargate and came out at Tarfino Hancores, the 'ancient' city. I turned to the gate and mentally turned off all incoming wormholes. That way they couldn't follow me here.

If they really wanted to get me they'd have to come by ship, and that wouldn't be for days. I had plenty of time to start what needed to be done.

I turned back to the city and thought, I'm home.