Chapter Forty One: Broken Links
"OK, it's risky but I think it'll work," said Wesley.
"No you don't. You're just saying that to cheer me up because we've got no alternative," said Eve.
"And just why would I bother to cheer you up?" asked Wesley. "It's your people who got us into this."
"They're not my people, for the last time ... Oh for goodness sake let's just get on with it. If we sit here much longer the loop will start again," said Eve from her position sat on the hotel room floor facing Wesley. I wonder why he thinks it's risky she wondered? Surely either it'll work or it won't? But do I really want to know the risks? Nope she thought. We've got to do something or we'll be stuck here permanently or until something comes to get us.
Wesley bit back any further retort and picked up the papers he had prepared. His plan was to cast a spell, the spell that was written in the papers he had in front of him. The papers were a printed extract from an ancient Babylonian spell book which Wesley had been able to find by using the computer.
The computer had been a success in that as far as he could tell he had been able to access the same information that would have been available to him back in the real LA. While Wesley had conducted his research Eve had walked around the area. She had reported that their little universe seemed to be otherwise unaffected by the changes they had made. She had not been able to spot any other differences in their distorted version of LA as a result of what they had done. But their imitation city was still getting a little bigger and a little more crowded each time a new loop started.
The idea of the spell was to break down the walls between their present reality and the world that was closest to it. Logically, Wesley had reasoned, the nearest world would be Kallistien, the world from which they had been transported. But of course he might be wrong.
Wesley knew that the risk was in not knowing exactly how the spell would take effect, if it worked at all. Would it simply open up a convenient door or portal for them to use or would it merge their pocket universe back into Kallistien? Would they find themselves back on Kallistien or would they simply be merged out of existence along with this imitation world? Well they would soon know. Either that or they would be beyond knowing.
Wesley opened his mouth to begin the Babylonian chant but before he could start, everything shuddered. Wesley paused with his mouth open.
"Was that you?" asked Eve. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything," protested Wesley. "You're sitting right here. You can see I didn't do anything."
At that moment everything shuddered again. It wasn't an earthquake exactly because things didn't start falling from the shelves. It was as if the whole world wobbled as some sort of a pulse passed through it.
"What's happening?" asked Eve.
"I think this world is starting to break down," said Wesley. "It might have reached some sort of natural limit. We've got to make sure we don't disappear with it!"
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"They're not getting any closer," said Sam as she studied the instruments in front of her. "In fact I think they're getting further and further behind."
"So whatever's slowing us up is affecting them as well," said Jack. "Maybe it isn't some sort of Apophis secret weapon after all."
"It's not just affecting them as well. I think it's having a bigger affect on them," said Sam. "The ships at the back of Apophis's fleet, the ones that are furthest behind us, seem to be the ones worst affected."
"Theories Carter?" asked Jack. "Any idea what's going on and no, don't say it. Whatever you suggest, don't say it."
"Say what?" asked Sam puzzled.
"Magic," said Jack.
"Magic doesn't explain anything," said Sam. "Not for me anyway. Since I don't know how magic works it's just another way of saying I don't know." Sam had been in two minds for some time now. On the one hand finding out how things worked was part of who she was. The unknown had always been a challenge to her, particularly unknown science and technology. But magic? Did she really want to study magic? Wouldn't that make her a witch?
"But you do know?" asked Jack hopefully.
"Yes, um no of course I don't know the details but it's obvious that something is exerting a braking affect on all the ships travelling away from Kallistien," said Sam. "Logically that force, that power, is coming from somewhere on Kallistien. I don't know what it is but at the present rate we'll be brought to a halt in less than twenty four hours. Apophis's ships are more strongly affected because they're closer to the planet, closer to the source of the power. They'll come to a stop a few hours before we do."
"And what then?" asked Jack. "Do we stay immobile or do we get pulled back to Kallistien? Is it just stopping us leaving the area or does it want us back? And if we do get pulled back do we end up crashing into the planet?"
Sam shrugged. "At the moment your guess is as good as mine," she said. "But there's one thing we could try. It's dangerous but it might take Apophis by surprise. We could reverse course now and head back to the planet at full speed. We'd have to go back through the middle of Apophis's fleet but at that speed they'll find it very difficult to hit us. Even if they reverse course, as soon as they see what we're doing we'll have the jump on them so we should get back first."
"I like it," said Jack. "Apophis has only left his smaller ships behind so if we arrive back before he does we might be able to take them out before he returns. Just so long as we don't crash into the planet."
"I need to do some calculations on the way back," said Sam. "I'm hoping we'll still have enough engine power to manoeuvre safely when we get there. Otherwise we might have to bail out and put this ship in the middle of an ocean somewhere. But crashing might be the best result."
"Because if we crash then Apophis and his ships will crash as well?" asked Jack.
"Exactly," said Sam. "Losing this ship will be a good investment if we can take out all of his ships as well. I wonder how the ships Apophis left behind have been affected by whatever this force is that's coming from the planet? Anyway if the sergeant will tell everybody on board to secure themselves we can turn the ship around. The faster we do it the less time Apophis has to react so everybody should make sure they're well secured just in case our manoeuvres cause a little disruption."
"Just a minute," said Jack getting up from his seat. "Get ready to do all that, but before you start I want to have a word with the witches we still have on board. I've got an idea."
Jack realised the Sam was giving him one of her looks. "Yes Carter, it'll take magic but it's not a magic idea. You should watch more Star Trek. If it's good enough for the Klingons it's good enough for us."
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After failing to achieve anything with their visit to the now dormant Stargate Teal'c had led the group of allies off in the direction of the nearest teleportation point. Their plan had been to use the teleportation rings to get back to Marduk's ship. It might even be possible to bring in others to help them in taking over the ship.
But before they reached the transportation point, activity on board the ship had suddenly increased considerably. Crew members and armed Jaffa had begun crowding the corridors and rushing around in all directions. Teal'c had found an unoccupied room in a quiet side corridor and the group had decided to stay there until the hue and cry died down.
It didn't seem as if the hubbub was anything to do with the group since nobody in the corridors had stopped and challenged them. Something else seemed to have stirred up Apophis and his people. But just in case, Phoebe had done a concealment spell on the door of the room to hide it from any search. The group had then taken the opportunity to rest and consider their options. At that point the group realised that the ship was in motion.
"The ship is accelerating," said Teal'c. "We must be leaving the planet."
"Does that mean Big Bad Apophis is running away?" asked Xander. "Or has he got to A-pop over to his nearest service station to fill up with gas?"
"If this ship is no longer in the vicinity of Marduk's ship or the planet we will not be able to use the transport rings," explained Teal'c. "Not until the ship arrives at its destination. And before we use the rings we will have to find out where the ship is going."
"Yeah, we don't want to transport down onto Apophis's home planet," said Xander. "How would we get home from there?"
"If we are indeed returning to one of Apophis's bases there will be another Stargate there," said Teal'c. "If that Gate is still working we may be able to use it."
"And if it isn't we might be stuck a long way from home," said Buffy. "We can't risk that and we can't risk being out of the action for too long. All the time we're stuck here we're doing nobody any good."
"If we are off on a trip to another planet, what are our alternatives? Isn't there some way we can leave this ship before we take a journey to who knows where?" asked Phoebe.
"The only other way to leave this ship is to take over control of one of the shuttles from the launch bay," said Teal'c. "But we cannot launch a short range shuttle unless we are close to a planet or another ship. A shuttle does not have sufficient range to travel between planets itself."
"So that's out. Anyway I suppose a shuttle could be blown apart by the weapons fired by this ship if Apophis suspected we were on board?" asked Buffy.
"It could indeed. So some sort of concealment would be in order, if that were possible," said Teal'c looking at Phoebe. "For the moment we must try to find out where the ship is going. We can then make plans."
"There's another way. What about it Will? Do you feel up to transporting us or at least opening up one of those magic portals?" asked Buffy.
"Not really," said Willow sadly, shaking her head. "I can do little things now but nothing like that for the time being I'm afraid."
"We might be millions of miles away from anywhere else by now," said Xander. "I don't think Will should risk it anyway, even if she was back to normal."
"So we either try to take over the ship and Apophis with it," said Buffy. "Or we lie low until this ship gets to wherever it's going."
"Not quite," said Phoebe. "If Willow could talk through details of the spell with me I should have enough power to open up one of those portals myself." Hey, who's the Charmed One around here anyway she thought. If Willow can do it then I can do it.
But at that moment Phoebe found it necessary to grab hold of a nearby table. She quickly sat herself down on the chair beside it.
"Are you alright?" asked Willow taking hold of her arm.
"I'm fine," replied Phoebe. "I've just had one of my visions. I just saw Dawn."
"My sister Dawn?" asked Buffy. Phoebe nodded.
"What exactly did you see?" asked Buffy anxiously.
"I saw her on Kallistien. She's in the capital," said Phoebe. "And she's in trouble. There are demons there, not just Goa'uld."
"What sort of trouble?" asked Buffy.
"Well she came through the Stargate..." began Phoebe but she stopped as Willow sprang to her feet.
"Tara!" screamed Willow. "Tara!"
"What is it Will," asked Xander rushing to Willow's side. "What about Tara?"
"She's gone! She's just gone! I felt her just disappear. I didn't know we were linked like that but we were. Something just happened to Tara. I've got to get back to the planet now." said Willow. "I've got to help her."
"Could she have gone back to Earth through the Stargate back on the planet?" asked Buffy.
"I don't know," said Willow. "But if that's where she's gone that's where I'm going."
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It was very easy to see the boundary of the area around the building that had been placed in stasis. There was a light breeze blowing but the blades of grass in the frozen area did not move. The area seemed to be a perfect circle with the building approximately in the middle of it.
Piper and Faith had walked all the way around the circle and back to their starting point. They presumed that the exact center of the circle was where the ceremony had been due to take place, where it had begun and where something had gone wrong.
"Well you're the witch," said Faith. "And this is magic, so over to you."
"Gee thanks," said Piper. "Nice to know you have such confidence in me."
"Isn't freezing time your speciality," asked Faith. "Why can't you like, unfreeze it?"
"Oh yeah, I can unfreeze time," said Piper sarcastically. "Now why didn't I think of that?"
Faith started to say something in response but changed her mind. She decided to wait to hear what more Piper had to say. Never start something you can't finish she thought. And never, ever start a fight with a witch if you can possibly avoid it she added to herself. Piper's a powerful witch. She might even be stronger than Willow. She's worried about her sisters. I'd better cut her some slack and not set her off.
"Well I might be able to unfreeze all this and I might not," said Piper. "But even if I can perhaps I shouldn't unfreeze it, not straight away. From what you saw in your dreams things have reached some sort of a crisis inside that building. I might make things worse if I simply unfreeze things. What I want to do is get inside and see exactly what's happening before I do anything."
"So how do you do that without being frozen yourself?" asked Faith. A simple test had shown that everything that came up against the boundary of the frozen area was frozen itself.
"That's where my power comes in," said Piper. "I've got to cast a spell on myself..."
"On both of us," insisted Faith. "You're gonna need me. I'm not staying out here."
"OK, on both of us," agreed Piper. "I've got to hope I've got enough power to protect us from the freeze so that we can get inside and see what's going on." Piper now looked around. "The first thing I need is a rabbit, or rather the Kallistien version of a rabbit."
Piper led the way into a nearby wood where they began searching for a small animal. After about half an hour of getting nowhere Faith had a suggestion: "How about you freeze the area around here yourself. That way they won't be able to keep out of our way and we can just pick one up."
This did the trick, although Piper had to release Faith from her freeze to help with the search. Finally Faith was able to find and pick up a small furry animal. It immediately came out of its freeze when she picked it up but she held it securely for Piper to perform her spell. The two women then went back to the area of the frozen building with the animal.
Faith tossed the animal into the frozen area. It was unaffected by the freeze and comfortably landed on its feet and bounded away.
"Well, my freeze protection worked for the rabbit thingy," said Piper. "So it should work for us."
"So long as you don't have to turn us into rabbits to make it work," said Faith.
Piper now drew a circle in the dirt and they both stood inside. She took hold of Faith's hand and chanted the spell intended to protect them both from whatever it was that had been responsible for the big freeze.
"OK, let's go inside," said Faith. "Let's find out what's being going on in there."
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Connor didn't stay unconscious for long, even though he had been hit by a slayer. And when he woke up it took the combined efforts of Dawn, Anya and Gwen to prevent a full blown fight between Connor and Kennedy.
"Save the fighting for our enemies," said Anya. "We've got enough of them. Right now Kennedy's the leader and we'll follow her. But if she hits anybody again or if anybody else causes trouble I know a few spells that'll change your minds, and change a few other things as well."
"Magic!" said Connor.
"Yes magic," said Anya going eyeball to eyeball with Connor. "If you want to know what I'm talking about, Dawn will tell you all about the sort of spells I've learnt from Amy. She can tell you all about Amy the rat."
Dawn was finally able to pull Connor away from the confrontation and began talking rapidly and quietly to him. Meanwhile Kennedy set off again towards the Witch HQ. The others, including finally Connor and Dawn, followed along behind.
Kennedy meanwhile was still fuming. When it's Buffy or Faith giving the orders mister macho Connor does what he's told, but just because it's me he has to question all the time. Well if he wants to take on a slayer, even the 'number three' slayer she thought sourly, it's fine by me. He won't do it twice.
The group now finally entered the square where the HQ was situated. As she led the way up the steps towards the entrance Kennedy raised her right hand in greeting to the guards on duty. They acknowledged that they recognised her and indicated that she could enter.
Connor and Dawn were at the back of the group and were the last to reach the steps. It all happened when Dawn put her foot on the bottom step. The magic protective wards on the building started at the bottom step and for some reason they reacted powerfully to Dawn's arrival.
The whole building lit up as if it had suddenly been surrounded by a translucent blue balloon. At the same time Dawn, together with Connor who was next to her, was propelled backwards ten feet away from the building and onto the ground by a burst of force from the building. Connor sprang back to his feet immediately and turned to help Dawn only to find himself hit by a second blast of power and knocked aside once again.
The second blast came from Dawn herself. Dawn was now lying immobile on the ground surrounded by a bright green haze. It was from out of this haze that a green energy discharge had hit Connor.
As the rest of the group hurried back down the steps towards Dawn and Connor, soldiers rushed out into the square from the HQ and from nearby buildings. Quickly joining them were a number of witches who gathered in a group at the top of the steps.
It was Anya who realised what was happening. The Kallistians clearly thought that somebody was attacking their HQ. The witches were preparing to use their magic to strike back and their most obvious target was Dawn who was still glowing with power in the middle of the square.