Chapter Sixty Nine: Green with Energy
The Goa'uld missiles continued on their way. They were all set to detonate on their arrival at the target point on the planet of Kallistien and they were all programmed to arrive at the same time. The single target point for all of the missiles was the witches gathering where the Key had been activated. This was the point where the Goa'uld instruments showed the build up of a very strong power source. This was where they expected an attack to be launched at them.
The Kallistians knew of the risk from the Goa'uld but they had no technology to detect the approaching missiles and no technological defence shield. The small amount of equipment that had been left behind by SG personnel on their return to Earth was mainly communications equipment and was a help in detecting the ships of the Goa'uld fleet rather than the missile barrage. But anyway it provided no means to defend a planet from an attack of that sort.
If the missiles exploded as intended by the Goa'uld the effect could very well split the whole planet apart. The explosion of just one such missile, with its nuclear warhead, was sufficient to destroy a large city. Exploding all together at the same time and in the same place the combined chain reactions of the explosions had the potential to be far worse than that. Similar events in the history of the Goa'uld had left nothing behind but a scattering of debris, a new radioactive dust and asteroid field in orbit in place of a living planet.
But the planet Kallistien, the planet that was the target of this attack, was one of many planets called Kallistien. As part of the Multiverse an almost infinite number of planets called Kallistien were being attacked by the Goa'uld in much the same way at exactly the same time in a multitude of different universes.
Not every such planet no. The history of many Kallistiens was sufficiently different that eventually, along the continuum of the Multiverse a point was reached that was sufficiently different for there to be no attack. But the all but identical attacks undertaken in so many similar places had the potential for much more than the destruction of a single planet.
This was because of the activation of the Key, the multi-dimensional Key which was linked to all of time and space. The Key that even now, on many different Kallistiens at the same time, was active and expanding up towards the many different incoming nuclear missile barrages.
The same Key was now active in many different universes across time and space at the same time, linking them together in a way that had not happened before. What was involved was not separate Keys on separate planets. Just like there was a single Multiverse so there was a single Key.
And then it happened. On each planet at exactly the same time the incoming missile barrage reached the threshold of the expanding sphere centred on the Key. Expanding energy rising up met incoming potential energy coming down. The meeting triggered the premature detonation of the missiles outside the atmosphere of each of those many planets. To say that the consequences were immense would be a vast understatement.
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"Is it an attack?" asked Jack. "Where's it coming from?"
Jack O'Neill, in the absence of General Hammond, was currently in command of the SGC. He and the other members of SG-1 had received an emergency call to the control room. On arrival they had seen the Stargate, with the iris closed as usual, vibrating and threatening to break loose from its fixtures.
As well as shaking violently the Stargate had begun to glow and seemed to be surrounded by a green halo. That green glow was pulsing brighter and dimmer about twice every second.
"We don't seem to have a wormhole connection," said Sam staring at the console in front of her. "It makes no sense that any sort of energy should be able to reach us. But nevertheless the Stargate is being shaken about by the arrival of some sort of energy"
"This can't be a coincidence," said Daniel. "Just when things are going down in Sunnydale, just when everything is coming to a head, our Stargate starts to play games."
"We know the Stargate network has been affected by the magic events that are being dealt with by the witches," said Teal'c.
"That might be it," said Sam. "The whole Stargate network might be repositioning itself as part of the pressure release or whatever they're doing in Sunnydale."
"You don't think they're going to break our nice little Stargate network do you?" asked Daniel. "It wouldn't be the same without it."
"If they break it, they fix it," said Jack. "Either that or they'd better have good insurance."
At that moment the vibration stopped and the Gate room fell silent. The green glow disappeared and everything seemed once again to be normal. Normal that is for a Stargate that was not connected to a wormhole. But the perfect silence lasted only for an instant.
"Unscheduled Offworld Activation," said Sergeant Davis. "We have an incoming wormhole from Kallistien."
"Wow! That's off the chart," said Sam, staring at the screen in front of her.
"Meaning?" asked Jack.
"Meaning the energy coming along with that wormhole is more than we can measure," said Sam. "When it gets here..."
Sam stopped talking because now not only the Gate, not only the Gate room, but the whole SGC was glowing with a bright green energy.
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Dawn had been in a daze ever since she found herself transported back to what she had hoped was the original Kallistien. She had pretty well sleepwalked into the circle of young women surrounding the bright green glowing source which she vaguely presumed must have some connection to the Key.
But as she stood watching the power of the Key expand ever upwards her mind began to clear and Dawn began to wonder and question. Wait a minute. If that's the Key does that mean I'm not the Key? And who are these other girls? Are they Keepers of the Key or are they part of the Key as well? Are they other versions of me from different parts of time and space or different parts of the Multiverse? Are they just human aspects of the Key or are they separate from it?
Why can't Giles appear with one of his old books and explain everything like he used to do? Isn't there some dusty old prophecy that explains all this? Is this thing meant to be controlling me or am I meant to be controlling it?
And then the memories began. Memories of events that simply had not happened. Or rather had simply not happened to Dawn Summers, this Dawn Summers. Dawn began to remember things that must have happened in the lives of some of those other young women: Lives that were sometimes linked directly to the Key and lives that were sometimes nothing at all to do with it.
But it wasn't just the young women. Dawn began to remember older lives, long lives lived to old age. She remembered having children and grandchildren, husbands and lovers. She was being drowned in the flood of many memories, many lives, of other people. In a brief moment of clarity she worried that she was losing herself, losing her individuality in the swirl of knowledge about all the many people who had been, would be or still were part of the Key.
The multitude of memories seemed to drown out her senses. Dawn could no longer see or hear anything apart from the memories. She saw scenes lived by somebody else. She heard conversations spoken by others and by herself. But her mundane surroundings, her place standing in a circle in a field around a glowing Key, that was no longer in sight.
With an effort Dawn mentally pushed aside the experiences and events that were flooding her mind. "Does anybody here know what's going on?" she yelled. She thought she was shouting out loud but she heard no sound, not even the sound of her own voice.
The memories, the sound and vision, continued but they no longer threatened to overwhelm her. She was able to allow them to continue to flow through her mind without letting them take up all of her attention. All in the mind Dawn thought as she gradually became more aware of her surroundings once more. She now seemed to be floating in a glowing green mist. If she really concentrated and ignored the memories there seemed to be nothing else around, just the glowing mist with no up or down and nothing to distinguish one direction from another.
But Dawn's yell, such as it was, and after a short delay, produced multiple echoes. Or rather it provoked a similar call for attention from many of the other women who were floating in the green mist with her. Dawn could hear but not see any of them. They all had the same question but none of them had the answer. Like Dawn they were absorbing memories of many different lives but nowhere in those memories was a beginning or any sort of explanation of the Key and what was happening now.
And then Dawn began to get angry. This is ridiculous she thought. Why doesn't somebody just explain what's going on? If I'm the Key or part of the Key or linked to the Key somehow there must be some way I can control what's happening. Why should I just be a part of somebody else's plan? I've had that before and it sucks.
As the emotions built up inside her Dawn began to feel more confident. She found that she was now able to move. She had begun to walk forward before she realised that she had something to walk on. She started to walk forward through the mist, now determined to find out exactly what was going on and what was happening to her.
As she continued to walk Dawn began to hear a voice talking, the voice of a woman. It took a few moments to realise that the voice was inside her head and that she was remembering a conversation that she had all but forgotten:
"We find the best way to recruit new Guardians is to chose suitable close relatives of a Slayer," said Grandma Summers. "That's how I was recruited. But I'd better start at the beginning. You need to know exactly who the Guardians are and how it all started..."
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"They can hit that door all night, they won't get in," said Xander. "After the last time this place was attacked, Willow and Tara beefed up all the defences. It's not just construction, good though that is, it's magical protection as well."
Xander, Angel and the others in their party had made it inside the Slayer HQ and Xander had gone straight to the Control Room where he could control the defences. He was now examining the various CCTV screens of the areas outside the building. Angel and most of the others had gone down to the basement to see what was happening there and whether any assistance was needed.
"There's a lot of activity out there," said Connor looking over his shoulder. "Military activity."
Connor had been the only other person not to go downstairs. He had no interest in seeing what the magic users were up to. Whenever possible he steered clear of getting involved in magic.
"Don't mean they're on our side though," said Xander. "Who knows what they've been ordered to do. Hey I wonder if Willow's magic could stop a tank?"
Connor glanced sceptically at Xander. "Do you want to find out?"
"I suppose not," shrugged Xander. "A tank would make a mess of the garden out there and Buffy wouldn't be happy about that."
Connor looked over his shoulder at the open door behind them which led to the corridor and the staircase to the basement.
"You know things are awfully quiet down there," he said. "Maybe I'd better go see... What's that?"
As Connor and now Xander watched, the corridor outside the door filled with a green glow and the green began seeping into the room through the doorway. There was no other way out of the room, not even a window. Or rather no other exit. Thinking quickly Connor decided to punch another exit through the wall opposite to the door.
But as if in response to his efforts to escape the green glow suddenly rushed into and filled the room. Connor had only got as far as making superficial damage to the wall before he was stopped in his tracks. Now Xander and Conner were unmoving in the glow filled room.
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"How do we know?" asked Paige. "I know we all agreed it was a good idea to stay out of it until things played out in Sunnydale but we can't just wait until... until, well until the world is destroyed. This might be the biggest mistake we've ever made."
"I think we'd notice if the world was destroyed, don't you," asked Piper. "We all agreed it was best that somebody stayed clear of the new Hellmouth, just in case of uh, unexpected developments."
"No, she's right," said Phoebe. "We've got to be there. We don't know what's happened there and if it's gone according to plan. Without Leo to keep us in touch with the big picture we might wait too long. And Leo should have reported back by now if everything was OK."
"Well, if things go right they said they'd call us or Leo would orb in," said Prue. "But that won't happen I suppose if everything goes to hell, so to speak."
"I could try to project again," added Prue after a moment but she didn't sound enthusiastic. The others shook their heads. The last couple of times Prue had tried that she had been unsuccessful. Whatever was blocking out Sunnydale now seemed to have the Astral Plane blocked as well.
"I think we would have heard something from them by now if it all went according to plan," said Paige anxiously.
"OK, Paige, can you orb us to Sunnydale?" asked Prue. "Just the outskirts to start with. We can at least see if the town's still there of if the Hellmouth has taken over."
"We'd better be ready to fight as soon as we arrive," said Phoebe. "Who knows what sort of creatures might have come out of the Hellmouth and be roaming around town."
Paige held out her arms, her sisters gathered together and they all embraced. Paige orbed and the four witch sisters found themselves on the side of a main road leading into Sunnydale. But there was no immediate need for self-defence.
There was nobody in sight. Since this was the middle of the night that was far from unusual but not only were there no people anywhere in sight, there were no creatures of the night in evidence either as they looked down on the town from the hill on which they stood.
The town in front of them looked to be a perfectly normal, peaceful, small Californian town in the early hours of the morning well before dawn. Normal that is for a town without any electricity, without any street lights visible and with no lights showing anywhere.
Or rather not quite anywhere. For somewhere in the middle of the town, easy to see because of the lack of any other lighting was a bright green glow.
"Let's get closer," said Prue to Paige. "Closer to that glow."
Paige found that she was unable to orb any closer but walking and running was not blocked. The four sisters therefore set off at a jog towards their destination.
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From space the view of the planet available to the crews of the fleeing Goa'uld fleet was totally obscured by the huge fireball that now filled that part of space. The detonation had been premature according to the time the missiles had been timed to arrive at ground zero. But nobody in the fleet was in any doubt, the planet had been totally destroyed. And on numberless Kallistiens in many sister universes the Goa'uld and their people reached the same conclusion.
The fireball was not going to disappear overnight. It would continue to expand for some time to come before it completely dissipated into a debris field. There was no need for the Goa'uld to stick around and pick up the pieces. All that would be left when everything eventually cooled down would be chunks of rock, large and small and lots and lots of dust and radiation. And there was plenty of that all over the universe.
The explosion had been far greater than expected. The assumption was that whatever it was that the Kallistians had been doing to combat the Goa'uld had combined with the exploding missiles into a single mega-explosion. Some in the fleet had been present when other planets had been incinerated. Those explosions had been nothing like this. Chalk off one planet from the list of populated worlds.
But this time things were very different to other planet buster events. This time magic and the Key were involved. This time the planets in the different universes were not destroyed. Behind the expanding fireball each planet was totally unharmed. This time the Goa'uld had been deceived. They were no longer aware of the existence of the planet of magic users and that was just the way the witches of Kallistien and the Key wanted it.
But that wasn't the only thing that the Key was doing with all of that energy, it was just a small part of what was happening. The energy from the exploding fireball above the planet, instead of obliterating the planet and everybody on it, had been sent in other directions and to other places. The visible fireball above the planet was just a small and very temporary part of the continuing reaction produced by the Key.
Although the conflagration above Kallistien was immense in terms of the individual planet, in the greater scheme of things the energy released by the exploding fireball was the merest spark, no more than the initial charge which the Key used to send out and seek links to much greater sources of power. The Key's main purpose in using all this energy was to put things right in the Multiverse. That was why the Key existed in the first place although this time the use of Key had been the source of the trouble in the first place.
The Key needed energy but it also needed intelligence and direction. And that was why the gathered Keepers of the Key, people like Dawn, including Dawn herself, were a vital part of the process. Linked to and merging with the Key the purpose of the Keepers was to provide direction, to ensure that what had been started was not a random explosion of energy but instead was something that would be directed to the greater good. The greater good of the Multiverse that is, and the creatures who inhabited it.
It was this benign part of the process of the operation of the Key that had been usurped by Glory a few years before in order to open the gates between worlds and dimensions and which had been the origin of the problems of the Multiverse. The Glory that had survived so long and had been corrupted so much by her life in a Hell dimension no longer had had any concept of the greater good.
The problems within the Multiverse that this had caused were now being put right. Because now the Key began to link through the Stargate system via its linked gate matrix. Or rather into the many linked gate matrices within the many different universes of the Multiverse.
And not just the gate matrices. The worm holes opened by the gates were just a part of the bindings of the Multiverse. Other links, other short cuts, other types of wormhole were also vital. Thus it was that power began to flow through other, natural wormholes, some in deep space and others on planets. And those most unusual of all wormholes, often called Hellmouths, were also affected and began to play their part.
With all the links activated and energised the many long dormant conduits of power started to have their affect. Slowly, but gradually gathering pace, the shape of the Multiverse began to be restored. This did not involve the movement of individual galaxies and stars across and within the universes. It meant adjusting the shape of each universe back to the way it should be. The process to restore and reset things back to the way they were was now in progress.
But as things continued there was one place where things were not right. One planet in one universe was not responding in the way designed. One location on one planet was causing a glitch. A glitch which if not corrected could cause everything to unravel. The link between Sunnydale and the newly opening Hellmouth was not reacting in the way it should. The power going into that location was not doing what it was meant to do. It was being diverted in some way and for some different purpose.