Chapter Sixty: Multi Problems
Just to make sure nothing had changed Sam dialled up Earth from the Kallistien DHD as soon as she reached the Gate but as expected it produced no response. The Gate still wasn't working, everything was still dead. Jack had accompanied Sam to the Gate having already explained to her exactly what had happened to him up on the spaceship.
"It was all in a blaze of lights," he continued. "One minute there I was pounding along the corridor at full speed with the countdown in the background. The next there's a blaze of lights all around me and I'm being hugged by a beautiful woman. I didn't know whether my number was up or it was my lucky day."
"Don't let Willow hear you talk like that," said Sam with a smile. "I hear she's um, somewhat overprotective about Tara."
Before Jack could respond to that Tara herself arrived, ending any further discussion on that topic. She arrived by orb and had brought Daniel with her. Daniel had agreed to find Tara and persuade her to come to the Gate where Sam could question her about what she knew.
"OK," Sam said to Tara. "Could you please explain everything you were told about why the Stargates aren't working. Please don't leave anything out. Even one little detail might be important if I'm to have any chance of getting the Gate working again."
Tara nodded. "Right, well to start with are you familiar with the concept of the Multiverse?" she asked.
"Lots of alternate realities, each a little different from each other?" said Sam. "We've had a little experience of that sort of thing."
"We generally call them dimensions," said Tara. "Well that's all off in one direction or along one plane so to speak. But the Multiverse comes in several um, layers. As well as these alternate dimensions which are pretty well alternative to our universe there are higher and lower dimensions as well and these also stretch out into a multitude of alternatives."
"Higher and lower in what sense?" asked Sam.
"Higher as in the sense of heavens and lower as in the sense of hells," said Tara. "In a manner of speaking."
"Does that mean when you die..." began Daniel.
"Let's keep to the point shall we and leave the metaphysical side of things to another time," said Jack quickly.
"But don't just think of one up, one down," said Tara. "There are various levels of hell and various levels of heaven."
"Seems Dante..." began Daniel again only to break off as Jack glared at him.
"These dimensions, levels, hells, heavens and such like are linked to each other in what some would call the Multiverse," continued Tara. "And the links are important. So is the position of each universe relative to the others. Some places are nearby, in a sense next door, and others are further away and harder to reach. The ones next to us are the most similar. The further away you go the stranger things become."
"Daniel says you explained that this whole arrangement is now under stress." said Sam.
"Exactly," said Tara. "Because of the build up of stress, things are being distorted and in some places they're pulling apart. Normally there's room for some expansion and contraction and even for a regular amount of new creation but there's now a danger of things pulling apart too quickly and there is a risk of a massive chain reaction across worlds, universes and dimensions."
"OK, I'm with you so far," said Sam.
"Nice to know somebody is," said Jack.
"I won't ask how you know all this or how to put it right because I understand other people will be working on that. At the moment all I want to know is how this stress has caused the Stargates to go off line," said Sam. "What are the physical symptoms in this universe, our universe, which have caused the network to stop working?"
"The worlds have moved," said Tara. "The worlds in our universe are no longer in the same position relative to each other. It's not an enormous difference yet but the stresses have distorted our universe just a little. Space-time is no longer the same shape so the Gates in this universe are no longer in the positions the Gate network thinks they are relative to each other."
"Are we talking expansion or contraction here?" asked Sam. "And is it regular or irregular?"
Tara shrugged and shook her head. "I have no idea," she said.
"At least you've given me something I can work on," said Sam thoughtfully.
"You think you can fix it?" asked Jack.
"I think it might be like the problem we had when we first got the Stargate working," said Sam. "You remember we had to compensate for the movement of the planets in the years since the Gate was last used?"
"Uh huh," agreed Jack.
"Well if our universe has expanded or contracted regularly I should eventually be able to reset the DHD to the new co-ordinates and get the Gate working again," said Sam.
"Define eventually," asked Jack dryly.
"I don't have the SGC computers here," said Sam. "And for all I know our universe has not expanded or contracted regularly. I might get lucky or I might not. It might take a few minutes or it could take years. And all the time things are still moving so I might never get it right."
"Somehow I think you'll be able to do this," said Tara. "I'm a witch as well as a Whitelighter and good luck is something that is very susceptible to magic."
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Lissie screamed and jumped backwards about ten feet to fall sprawling on the floor. This brought Faith and Drusilla running into the room from the room next door. By the time they reached the young Keeper she had sat up and was getting to her feet apparently unharmed.
"What happened?" asked Faith looking closely at the young woman. "Are you alright?"
"Is it something to do with the Key?" asked Drusilla. "Has something gone wrong?"
"I'm OK," said Lissie. "No harm done. And yes, it is something to do with the Key."
"What a surprise," said Faith. "As soon as we have a plan that looks like working something always messes it up and makes it all more complicated. Why can't things go smoothly for a change?"
"But we always seem to muddle through anyway," said Drusilla to Faith. "Don't worry so much." Seems Faith needs more faith she thought to herself but she said nothing more. Faith was not the sort of person who would take kindly to any attempted spiritual guidance. Maybe when she's a few years older the souled vampire mused.
Since having a soul once more Drusilla had begun to gradually feel like a real person again. The person she had been before she was turned into a vampire. Religious faith had been very important to the original Drusilla and the souled vampire had gradually come to the view that everything that had happened to her was part of a greater plan, that in the long run it was all for the greater good.
"So what's wrong with the Key?" asked Faith. "Can you fix it? Can you still do what we planned?"
"Nothing's wrong," said Lissie. "It's just that the Key's already active. I was trying to switch on something that's already switched on. It was already live with energy. I thought it was closed down."
"And you couldn't tell that before you tried to do whatever it is you were doing?" asked Faith.
As she asked the question Faith looked around but could see nothing that could be thought of as a Key. Everything in the room looked to be perfectly normal and exactly the way it had been the last time she had been there a short while before.
"Obviously not," said Lissie with a scowl.
"So what does it mean?" asked Faith. "Have we got to change our plans or not?"
"I don't know," said Lissie. "I've got to find out what's going on before I do anything else."
"And just how do you do that?" asked Faith.
"That's not something I can discuss with you," said Lissie.
"Fine!" said Faith. She turned away and started to leave but stopped and turned in the doorway: "I'll be next door then," she said. "Scream and make falling on the floor noises if you want my help."
"I'm sure you'll be able to sort things out," said Drusilla to Lissie quietly before leaving. "But if you do need any help just ask."
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"Glory? You think she's involved in this?" asked Buffy. "You really think she's the one who opened up this new Hellmouth?"
"We don't know for sure but it all fits," said Willow. "Did you know she originally came from this planet? Tara says Faith and the others met her back in the past when she was still human. She used to be a witch herself a long, long time ago."
"Yes. I remember Faith and the others explaining all that when they got back. I did hope we'd seen the last of her," said Buffy. "But sneaking around and pretending to be somebody else isn't really Glory's style. I know she was Ben but he was a different person really. Glory herself was always very up front with taking charge and giving the orders."
Buffy and the others with her had left the Witch HQ and met with Willow and the group at the Kallistien hotel which was the location of the new Hellmouth on the planet. Only Giles had remained behind to do more research and see if he could find out more about the Key.
Buffy and the others had decided that whatever plan they developed it would be a good idea to gather together and consult all of the various groups before making a move. They were now with Willow and her group in the basement of the hotel where they were keeping watch on the open Hellmouth.
The information provided by Tara required that everybody get back home as soon as possible. They would be needed back on Earth soon in order to deal with the fall out from opening up the new Hellmouth there. They also needed to leave Kallistien so that the Kallistians could carry out their barrier spell to protect themselves from the Goa'uld. That was becoming increasingly urgent.
"But if you're right there's no point in doing anything about the Hellmouth until we've done something about Glory," said Angel. "If you shut it down she'll just open it right back up again."
"Not necessarily," said Willow. "We've got a lot of pretty powerful magic users gathered here. I doubt Glory is more powerful than all of us put together. If we really want to I think we can shut this down permanently."
"Like we did back on Earth?" asked Anya. "Look how well that's worked out. Anyway Tara doesn't want us to shut this up yet. Not until we know we've got another way home."
"Glory turns up again and Dawn disappears again. I don't like the smell of this," said Buffy looking at Willow. "If it is Glory do you think we could track her down and shake the truth out of her?"
"What about Lissie?" asked Xander. "If Glory's back she'll be interested in the Key again and that means Lissie. We'd better warn her."
"Tara was back here for a short while and she told us all about Lissie," said Cordelia. "She orbed off to make sure Lissie and Faith were warned."
"Faith said this is Glory's original home planet," said Xander. "She might want to save it but I suppose we'd be stupid to rely on that."
"Eve did lead you to Tara," said Kennedy to Willow. "She didn't have to do that. If that was really Glory and not Eve then she might not be hostile."
"She couldn't have kept me from Tara anyway," said Willow firmly. "But whatever she's up to there's no way I'm gonna trust her. Not with her record."
"If it really is Glory doing all this," interjected Cordelia. "We don't know that for sure. We're dealing with a lot of worlds here. Why should we keep coming across the same characters all the time?"
"A good question," said Wesley. "Perhaps there's an unseen player manipulating things for their own reasons."
"Oh great," said Cordelia. "Just what I needed."
"An unseen player?" asked Wesley.
"In a way. I've just had another vision," said Cordelia. "The unseen players have just sent me another message."
"Saying what?" asked Angel.
"Saying hurry up and get out of here because we're running out of time," said Cordelia.
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Dawn opened her eyes and found herself looking up at the sky. What had happened? Where was she now? She felt OK but as she sat up she realised that once again she was in a place she didn't recognise. She had been lying on the grass, the blue-green type grass found on Kallistien. She was on the side of a hill in the sunshine a few yards down slope from a small copse of trees. Once again she was clothed in an unfamiliar dress.
"Lemi? Are you alright?" asked a voice from behind her, the voice of a young man. Dawn slowly got to her feet and turned to face him as he came down the hill towards her.
"You just seemed to shimmer for a moment, sort of disappear and reappear. What happened, how did... Lemi? You're not Lemi! Who are you and what have you done with Lemi?"
Dawn sighed. "My name's Dawn. I have no idea where your Lemi has gone. I certainly haven't done anything to her. I don't know what's happening. I don't know where I am and I don't know you. Oh and you didn't happen to see a large white rabbit around here did you?" And a mad hatter she added to herself.
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"OK, land as close to the Gate as you can," said Jack into the radio microphone. "There's a big park a little west of here. Get everybody together and bring them all to the Gate. Make sure nobody is left behind because this might be a once only shot. By the time you get here Carter might have the Gate working again. If she doesn't we'll have to think of something else."
"More trouble?" asked Daniel as he joined Jack in the communications room. The SG communications team had moved their equipment to a house on the square next to the on-planet Kallistien Stargate. This was part of the gathering in of all Stargate personnel prior to everybody evacuating the world. The only SG people who had not so far arrived were Teal'c and the rest of the crews in the shuttles orbiting overhead.
"I just spoke to Teal'c," said Jack. "He says Apophis's fleet seems to be free of the unknown force. But it's not trying to run away. It's still on its way back to the planet but under its own power."
"Apophis hasn't given up on trying to take over this planet then," said Daniel.
"Did you think he would?" asked Jack. "I've told Teal'c to bring all the shuttles down. There's no point in him staying up there. Trying to use those shuttles to stop that fleet would be like trying to stop a hurricane by spitting into the wind. Anyway we've got to get everybody out of here."
"Has Apophis launched another missile strike?" asked Daniel.
"Teal'c says no. But that doesn't mean he's not going to," replied Jack. "I'm hoping he holds his fire. I hope he's low on armaments and we know he can't use his Gates to resupply. He doesn't know we're not still up there, shielded and waiting for him so he might be cautious and give us a little more time. How's Carter doing?"
"Still on the calculating and tweaking I think," said Daniel. "But I don't think it'll be long now before she makes her first attempt to dial up. Tara just got back with some witch potions and things."
"More magical assistance," said Jack with a sigh. "Oh what fun. Just so long as we don't have to do any dancing."
"Oh come on, after that rescue I should think you'd be the last person to complain about magic," said Daniel. "Without magic you wouldn't be here."
"Without magic I wouldn't need to be here," replied Jack. "This would be just another planet."
"Another planet ruled by the Goa'uld," said Daniel. "Don't knock it."
"You're right but I just don't like being manipulated," said Jack. "Somebody, some... thing, is pulling the strings here and they just yanked a big one. I'm meant to be grateful for the rescue? No, I am grateful... to Tara, but these hidden 'Powers?' No, I'm not grateful to them whoever they are. They're playing games. It wouldn't surprise me if they're the ones who screwed up the self destruct mechanism in the first place just so they could make a big play of rescuing me."
"Paranoid much?" said Daniel with a smile.
"Hey don't knock it," said Jack smiling back. "It's what's kept us alive all these years. Let's go see what Carter's doing now. I'm sure she'd benefit from a few of my helpful suggestions."
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"But your visions don't tell you everything. You've said so yourself," said Willow.
"Oh yeah, but one thing always works out. If I ignore it, bad things follow." said Cordelia. "Either for us but more often for the people I'm meant to help, which in this case might just be everybody in the universe. It's not just that we've got to get out of here. We're needed back home. Isn't that what Tara said anyway?"
"OK," said Buffy. "So we all go through the Gate as soon as we can. We were going to do that anyway assuming Tara and Sam can get it to work."
"You were talking about not going," said Xander. And if you don't go then I don't go he had decided but he did not say that out loud. And if I don't go and Buffy doesn't go then I bet Willow won't go, maybe Giles and Angel as well. And if Willow doesn't go then Tara... It's best that Buffy goes he concluded and we sort out what to do about Dawn later, otherwise we'll be in a big mess.
"I've had an idea about that. Going through the Gate doesn't stop us coming back again and getting Dawn," said Buffy.
"It does if the Kallistians use their magic and the Key to barrier off their world as soon as we've gone," said Anya. "You'll get the busy signal or something if you try to come back through the Gate."
"Not if we go back through the Stargate before the barrier comes down," said Buffy.
"What's the point of that? If they do the spell straight away..." began Xander.
"You're thinking of time travel aren't you?" asked Willow.
"Yep. We go back to Earth and sort things out there. Assuming Dawn's not there waiting for us we then use magic to go back in time," said Buffy. "We go through the Stargate in the past to Kallistien in the past and then use more magic to find Dawn. We bring her back through the Stargate and when we're back on Earth we return to our own time. Anything wrong with that plan?"
"Complicated plans like that have a lot of things that could go wrong," said Wesley. "Like changing our own past."
"The Stargate people at the Command Center have been pretty protective of their Gate all the time it's been up and running. It won't be easy getting to use it in the past before they ever met us," said Angel.
"Am I the only one trying to work out how to get Dawn back?" asked Buffy, starting to get annoyed. "OK, we go back in time and use a magic portal or something instead of the Stargate and we steer clear of our past selves. And anybody who raises any objections to that had better be able to come up with a better plan at the same time!"
Silence descended on the group.