THE HERE AND NOW
Chapter 40
"CHILD'S PLAY"
There had been a fight, one in her family and the little girl known as April O'Neill was not happy. She knew that her uncles and aunt had gathered to talk to her Dad about Aron's mom. She didn't know why and she didn't know why they had gotten so upset or why her Dad had walked out so angry. She had been wondering what had happened and now she could finally find out, she was in Aron is house on a play date with him, Cassie was the baby sitter and she was with Aron watching TV's, he seem to be upset about something also, as if he was had a bad day or something.
"Aron, you angry?"
"No, I…I think mom is sad or something"
That got April is attention, why would Aron is mom be sad or upset? Maybe Aron is mom and their family was fighting, but that couldn't be cuz Cassie was babysitting for her.
"Why do you say that?"
"Cuz she has been weird"
"That's strange cuz my Dad and family have been weird too"
Aron looked at her and signaled her to go on; if what April was saying was true then maybe she knew what was wrong with his mom.
"Really?"
"Yeah my Dad was angry cuz of something your mom did"
That surprised the boy and April nodded continuing with her tale.
"Yeah, do you know what she did? Maybe she is sad cuz she made my Dad angry or something"
To Aron that made sense, ever since her mom had meet April's family she had been a bit weird, oh he knew that her mom knew these people for a long time but maybe they didn't want to be her friends any more or something.
"So all we have to figure out is what she did right?"
April nodded and Aron smile, if they worked together maybe they could figure out what had happened, looking at Cassie both of them smile and rushed towards her, after all she was a grown up, so maybe she knew what was going on with the others.
"Why are you guys looking at me like that?"
Was the only thing Cassie could say before the kids began to fire one question after another.
SGA BASE
There are always hard days, everyone has them and every one deals with them, but for Jack O'Neill those days were getting piled up were stressing him to no end. Problems at home followed him to work, work problems followed him home, he had no rest, not from the SGA and not from his home. Janet, Daniel and Teal'c were worried about him, which meant that they were all over him; lucky for him he had Walter, his own personal human shield. He keep them away and he could spend a few precious minutes alone, looking at the hollow gram before him he smiled at the look on her face, not a care in the world and filled with wonder, of course any one would have that look if they were watching season one of the Simpson's.
"So I am named after the little girl?"
"Yeap"
"Why?"
"Smart and kick ass"
The hologram gave him a weird look and he smiled, of course she didn't know what he was talking about, but that was okay, it was quite relaxing explaining things to her, she didn't bother to ask him about how he was, or if he was troubled, she just enjoyed being with him.
"I understand the smart part but I do not kick assess Jack"
"I know you don't, but you are the A.I of a war ship"
"I could kick ass, couldn't I?"
"Yes you could Lisa"
She smiled and the hologram turned back to the screen before her, she had been in Jack's office for over an hour and while she had mostly been watching the show. She had also been thinking about asking him for a favor, she had been observing humans for a while now and she had concluded that humans were irrational beings far too primitive to fully understand, their technology was laughable and were a race that was completely lost without aid, the only thing they had going for themselves was the fact that they accepted guidance. Jack O'Neill had been a major factor in this, while most humans were too arrogant, to admit they were wrong, or that they had made a mistake. Jack was the first one to accept that he was not perfect, that he made mistakes and that if he was ever to get anything done then he needed to rely on others for help.
Sure, he was stubborn but he was also very centered, he knew when to ask for help and when to stand on his own two feet, when he required helped he asked for it when he felt to overwhelm he let others help. That is what a true leader did, he didn't take the weight of the universe on his own shoulders, he relied on others, and he was a true team player all the way. He had learned to accept help and to let others help him, but those lessons came with a price, it had not always been like this, his file spoke volumes about his previous life, about his darker days and of how he had grown, based on those experiences.
If it were not for his experiences on SG-1, he would probably be dead by now, after he had left the services and his son had killed himself all that was left of Jack O'Neill was a broken shell of a man. his trust was gone in the air force ever since his old commanding officer left him behind, his normal life was hell ever since the death of his son, nothing seem to click any more for Jack, all except for one, a way out. Lucky for him the air force had come a coming and had giving him a new found purpose, had given him a second change, from them on he had grown into the man that stood before her.
"Can I ask you a favor?"
Jack noticing the serious look on the woman is face nodded; closing the files before him, he turned fully to face her and gave her the go ahead.
"What's up?"
"I want a body"
The question made Jack frown and gape at the girl, a body, she wanted a body, looking at her he wondered if it was normal for a hologram to ask for things, I mean she was just some computer program and yet, he had never accepted her to be one had he? After all he was the one who had given her a name and had made the other talked to it, to her as if she was just another person. He was the one who had given her the right to ask this.
"A body? H-how I mean"
"The Asgard can download there consciousness to a shell body, I could do that"
"So you want to be Asgard?"
"I want to become more than just data on a computer"
He could respect that, but what he didn't understand was the fact that she wanted to change, to become something more, Daniel had warned him that she would evolve depending on how much freedom he gave her, so when Jack had given her all the freedom in the world she had broken free of her normal parameters.
"I wouldn't mind but you're not a consciousness, you are data, a vast amount of data are you sure a physical body could sustain you? And I don't mean you I mean you as the way you are now?"
She smiled and inclined her head sideways, as if she was curious about something, Jack frowned and pulled his head back a bit, he was sure he had not screwed up on anything he had said, so why was Lisa giving him such a weird look?
"You're worried about me"
Jack couldn't help but smirk at her amused tone, when the small smile appeared on her lips Jack knew that he had been busted; truth was he was worried about Lisa. The woman had kept him company and had giving him space whenever he needed it, with the way things were right now she was the only one that gave him her company without expecting something in return, or wanting to talk about how he felt.
"Yes I would, so I would rather not risk you"
"A physical body might not hold my vas consciousness, but what about a replicator body? They are far more complex and are capable of processing data faster than organic bodies, not to mention the fact that they have an amazing capacity for storing data"
"Replicator bodies"
His tone and demeanor quickly change. She could see that Jack the friend was pulling back and that General O'Neill was beginning to rear its ugly little head. She didn't want to suggest the replicator bodies because of the history Jack and the others had with them, but Jack did make a pretty good point, an organic body did held disadvantages over a replicator body, the only down sight to having a replicator body was the fact that every one feared them.
"I know what it would mean but I…I would really like it if I could feel things"
"I might have some trouble with that"
"Why?"
"You do realize what you are asking me right?"
Lisa nodded and Jack frowned, every time one of those damn bodies was constructed everything went wrong, even the original android called Reese had been nothing but trouble, then there was that whole ancients building the replicators thing. Touching his head he frowned and a few memories flashes in his mind, memories that were not his but belong to the ancient is database.
These episodes only happened when he was triggered, it could be a word or an event, but they were usually as brutal to his mind as to his body, what was worse was the fact that he could not block them and had no way of stopping them. His brain had all the data of the ancients within it, which meant that the good came with the bad, there were things that he wished he didn't have but were always there, this was one of those things.
"Are you all right?"
"You were the first, the prototype"
"You remember that? The repository of the ancients doesn't include those details, how could you possibly know this?"
"I don't know, I always get flashes of memories things I shouldn't know, I shouldn't see but they are always there"
"Perhaps those repositories contain more than technical knowledge"
Jack nodded and she frowned, as far as she could tell every single one of those devices had been made to only contain technical specifications and some historical data on the ancient is social structure, there never specified on one thing, just a wide variety of subjects pertaining to the ancient is culture. Yet Jack was something different, he was able to pin point a certain specific detail and expand it, see behind that data and even read behind the words, see behind the data and get to the point behind it.
"You were servants?"
She smiled sadly and nodded, what else would you call a life were you had no choice but to obey and do as you were told? Her life had been lived in servitude, always following orders maintaining the ancient is way of life, that was her primary goal, or it was until she crashed on that planet and her crew had died, there in that lone world she had found her freedom, she had found who she was. No rules, no wars to fights, just herself and the whole database of her ship to read and to learn, everything had been different in that plane, there she had found out what she had was.
She was one of many living chained to a ship to serve the creators, to serve, obey, and do whatever her master dictated to them, but on the planet she was free to do was she wished, so she had disabled all the communication and emergency beacons, her alone had chosen to make a home in that barren planet.
"I attacked your crew because I sensed you…I was afraid that…"
"We would take you freedom away from you"
She was afraid, a human trait coming from a piece of hardware, he smiled and walked up right next to her, slowly he placed his hand above hers and frowned when it faded trough Lisa is hand, she had feelings but could not touch, could not experience anything. Lisa pulled away from him and Jack frowned, this was no life, no one should live like this.
"Please don't"
"Male or female?"
Lisa turned to him and frowned, the question had come out of no were but looking at his face she could see the amusement behind his eyes, General O'Neill was gone and now all that remained was her friend, the one who had given her a choice.
"Male or female?"
"Your body, I have to know if we are going to built you one"
"FEMALE OF COURSE!"
She frowned and slapped him, but the only thing that happened was that her hand passed right through his face, Jack smiled and she pouted, which made Jack laugh his head off. Once the light conversation and fun got out of the way the hologram looked at Jack with a serious look on her face, one that Jack didn't like. He knew what it meant and to be honest he didn't like what she was going to bring up, if everyone was doing it why should she be any different?
They all wanted to talk about the final mission, that was all that was required from him, one mission to secure earth once and for all to show them others races that they could stand alongside them perhaps not as equals but as observers. Jack wasn't as arrogant as to believe that they could just drop in and demand to be seen as equals, they still had a long way to go before that happened. Looking at the gate from the control room, he couldn't help but feel a bit of fear, if this mission went wrong if anything happened to him, April would lose her father. He knew that despite the bang up job Janet and Daniel would do at raising April the loss of a parent was devastating to a child, he had lost a son and it had nearly destroyed him, he didn't want to think what that would do to April.
If the mission went off without a hitch then it would be a completely different story, the whole world would be safe and he could finally enjoy his job behind a desk, he laughed at that, who would believe that Jack O'Neill wanted nothing more than to sit behind a desk and go home. The man of action had changed, his priorities had change, hell it was only the fact that they had requested his presence that he was going through with it.
"Jack"
"Lisa"
Lisa frowned and shakes her head, Jack was being annoying and the only reason for him to be like this was because everyone was bringing up the very subject she was trying to discuss with him, looking the distress and annoyed look on the man is eyes she knew that it was better for a change of conversation. Jack didn't want to deal with this right now, it was bad enough he was the one who was going on a mission, but to be constantly reminded of what he could be facing and of what he had to do, had to have him a little annoyed and scared.
"We have found lirium and alquirium on the planet were I crashed"
Just the thing to cheer him up, she brought up a little surprise McKay wanted to deliver him, she was sure that the annoying human would be annoyed with her but if she could see Jack smile it was worth spoiling McKay is surprised. Jack on the other smiled brightly at her and whistled those words were music to his ears; finally, he could begin producing mass quantities of the damn zero point modules.
"You sure?"
The woman nodded, when her A.I had joined the ship she had access to every bit of data store in the memory banks, while searching on what star system they were she had found out her ship is purpose and why it was so heavily armed. They she was a warship with one objective; her job and the job of the crew was to replenish Atlantis's supplies of both minerals, the planet she had crashed was one of them; Jack smiled at her and congratulated Lisa on finding out what her designation was and what had happened to her. More importantly, however he congratulated her on finding those two minerals, with out them making ZPMs was practically impossible.
She nodded and transmitted the data that was on her memory banks straight into Jack is computer, Jack smiled at the sight the planet was filled with the right minerals, it seem that McKay might just get those ZPMs he wanted, that was of course after the mission, he didn't want to let Hammond with a hyper active McKay.
"Lisa if you were solid I would hug you"
She smiled and sat on his desk, both of them needed a little break from all that work, and with her systems at 80% capacity; her weapons on-line she didn't have anything more important to do but relax for a while. she didn't have to worry about what the humans were doing to her as long as they keep their hands of her primary systems she could take a little rest with her favorite human.
"Don't worry Jack, if all goes well I'll have a body after you come back"
"You just had to bring it up again didn't you?"
"Of course"
Jack looked away from her and wondered if it had been such a good idea to let her have access to the base is computers, at the time he thought that it was a good idea and that it would give Lisa a closer look at how humanity and at how the base operated. Now it didn't seem like such a good idea especially when the woman was trying to make herself a replicator body. He knew that if they went through with it Washington and every single agency was going to have a fit over it, but he didn't have any choice, Lisa deserved a body, she deserved a rewards after everything she had done for them.
Outside the office how ever there was no laughing, there was no joy. There was only a blond woman who envied the situation, who wanted to be next to that man and wanted to be the one to make him laugh. Samantha Carter looked at the scene in the office and frowned, she had been denied so much in her life as an officer, she couldn't even sit close to the General without someone whispering, someone thinking the wrong way, and she always had to keep her distance.
"So is he busy?"
Turning towards the entrance to the conference room she spots Hailey with a stack of files on her arms, she had sent her own ahead to check if the General was free to hear their little proposal. That had been 15 minutes ago, Hailey looked at Sam and then turned to see the General is office and smirked, the General and Lisa had been quite the pair for the last couple of days, now that she thought about it, the General had been avoiding ever one except for herself and Lisa.
Sam turned away from Hailey and began to walk away from the room; Hailey frowned and shakes her head, it was clear that Sam was not comfortable with other women being around Jack. Things had changed between all of them in the last couple of days; they seem to be splitting up right before her eyes.
"I… I think he is busy"
"Sam come on, we have an appointment with him"
Sam could see the small annoyed look on the young woman is face and frowned, there was no way that she could go in there all normal, it wasn't that Jack is friendship with Lisa bother her, well it was not all that, it was that things had been awkward between them. Ever since Janet and Daniel is little plan everything seem to have fallen apart, Jack was not pleased with the fact that his friends and family had set him up but what was worse was the fact that she, Samantha Carter had done nothing to stop the plan from coming to fruition; which is why she had taken an indirect approach when dealing with the situation, she simply did not.
She avoided the whole thing like the plague, she didn't want to become a problem, she didn't want to cause any trouble for any of them and yet she had become so much more. Her emotions had come returned with a vengeance and all she could do to kept herself in check was keep away from the General, to avoid him as much as he could, if she didn't do this she was afraid that she might say or do something that would give her away, that would tell him that something was up.
"I can't go in there, ever since"
"We have a meeting; you can't back down from a meeting Sam"
Hailey was frowning now, there was no way that this could keep going, the way things were right now no one was going to get anywhere without talking to one another. Hailey had seen the way the others avoided Jack; hell the only who ever attempted to talk to Jack was Teal'c, and the man had a way to make conversations awkward. Daniel and Janet were giving him time; at least that is what they say but to be honest how much time did Jack need?
"He is busy, you can come in later with the"
"No I can't, and I won't, this is a joint project Sam besides we can't leave it till later, Jack's leaving today!"
"T-today?"
Hailey nodded and Sam frowned, she had been too busy with the whole project that she had forgotten what today is date was, the mission was today, looking towards the office she saw that Lisa was no longer in the office and that Jack was once again at his desk reading some files. He seem to calm, cool and collected that she wondered if he knew how much other people were worrying about him, Hailey ignoring the older woman and the little world she seem to be on, just moved right past her and on to the General is office.
"General Sir"
Jack look up from his desk and smiled at the young girl, she was in full military geek more, some files on her arms and standing at attention, he remembered that today they had a meeting about one of her little side projects. Lisa noticing that Jack is about to have a meeting simply smiles and vanishes, she needed to let Jack back to work and she needed to find Jack is friend, it was time she had a little chat with them.
"Hailey, I was expecting you earlier"
The young woman nodded and took a sit when the General told her to do so.
"Sorry sir, we got held up"
"We?"
"Me and…"
She turned towards the conference room and found it empty, she frowned and shakes her head, these people were too much, they had been hiding from each other way to long, covering their emotions and pretending that everything would be all right if they simply let things as they were. She was new to this, she knew that and maybe that is why she had a different point of view on the whole situation, looking at Jack she could see the man is tired expression and worried eyes staring back at her. This whole thing was upsetting all of them but somehow she knew that Jack had it the hardest.
Jack O'Neill had been through this before, he had seen Sam outside the office and was expecting her to walk in, but she didn't, she turned around face Hailey and then walked off. It seem that he was not the only one who was having a hard time dealing with this whole mess, Carter was avoiding him like the plague and if he were to be honest so was he, he couldn't face her, not knowing what they all knew.
"Carter?"
"Yeah she, I just…"
"You don't get it? Believe me kid, it's better if you don't, these whole mess is far too complicated to even begin to understand"
"But sir, you and SG-1 I mean you were family…"
"We are Hailey, but sometimes…I just don't know"
Hailey frowned when she saw the conflict behind Jack is eyes, the man was being torn between feelings, Hailey knew he still had some feelings for Sam, she could see it, even if it was hidden behind all those layers the General had. Some were deep down inside of him he still cares for the Sam.
"You should talk to her, get things out in the open"
"Talk to her?! What should I say? Do you have any idea?"
Hailey was taken aback by the way he had gone from zero to sixty in less than a second, it seem that Sam was a sore or sensitive subject for the General. Now she had a very angry Jack staring down at her and she knew that she only had two options, one she could shut up go away and be done with it, two she could stand her ground and maybe drill some sense into him.
"With all due respect sir, I DON'T! But it seems that you and her still have some major issues to be worked out!"
"Issues?! That is an understatement, you have no idea"
"NO I DON'T, but you do, you might not want to face it but she has a power over you that no one else has, Jesus sir if she wanted to she could break you so easily"
Jack wanted to explode at her to shut her up and just assert himself as her commanding officer, but he couldn't, he couldn't do that to Hailey, she had been there for him when all of them had been preoccupied with the Sam and Jack dilemma.
"You don't know what you're talking about"
"No, maybe I don't, but sir. You still have some issues, DEEP issues with her, and for what I have seen just now so does she, I mean everyone is always talking for you I think is time you and her do some chatting of your own"
"You're right"
CONTINUED…………….
Next Sam and jack talk.
A BIG THANK YOU GO OUT TO CBass
Who took it upon herself to beta the whole darn story and send it to me big thanks to her and now that I have a beta the works will continue on