CHAPTER 86

EPISODE……………THE CAPTAINS TABLE, RETURN TO GIA'AS

Yes, I know, another off the wall idea. Well, maybe not off the wall, but after reading the Star Trek series, I came up with an idea suddenly and thought, hey, why not. If I come up with a bright enough idea, maybe I can do it for Jack too. Unless someone else does the idea, which I would gladly love to see and read. A Carter and Mitchell one would be nice, though with Carter's past, I can't think of anything she could really talk about.

And to my readers, I am sorry for the update taking so long. This was the chapter I had a lot of trouble with finishing.

Though they were on different missions in different parts of the galaxy, both Captain Riker and Captain Picard got a message to locate a particular place and to do it at the same time. They talked to each other over subspace, not understanding the encrypted message, but agreed to see if they could seek it out. They both left their ships at the same time, though both being on different planets and sure enough, they located what they were looking for. Picard entered first and headed for the bar. Riker came in next and walked over to sit next to him as Cap walked up.

"Hello gentlemen." a thickset human male with a stock of short, white and slightly unkempt hair said as he cleaned a glass with a small towel. He set the glass down under the bar and then leaned on it. "You two were in here recently."

"That was sometime ago." Riker said.

"Yes, but I've realized that time moves much differently in this establishment. I've been here quite a few times Riker." Picard said as Cap set a glass of wine in front of him.

"I don't have any really interesting stories at the moment…." Riker began saying as a drink was also set before him.

"Someone else is paying your tab tonight gentlemen. He just hasn't arrived yet."

"Well, this is certainly a different development." Picard said taking a sip. "Hmm, a very nice vintage as always."

"This is what you call, a special case."

The two looked at the door but it opened to let a few aliens in, an old Cardassian, some Orion, a Ferengi and some alien that they didn't know. But then, there was a lot of aliens in the establishment that they didn't know and many other's that they did. The Captains bar allowed only Captains to enter and just about every race came and went. It didn't matter if the person next to you was a enemy. There was no fighting allowed and everything that was spoken in the bar, stayed in the bar. Most of the patrons were all doing what they did when they entered the place, telling stories about their exploits. A story got you a drink, no matter what it was or how exotic, but they had to be true stories. And Cap always knew exactly what the person or persons wanted. Food was available too.

"Do we know this person that is paying our tab?" Picard asked.

"Nope. No one does." he said handing a drink to another person near them. "At least no one that's ever been in here. Accept one person I can think of. Q has been here a few times, but I don't count him."

"That doesn't make any sense." Riker said.

"You'll see." Cap said with a smile as he walked off to the other end of the bar to help someone else. "One Tulaberry wine coming right up sir."

Sam had already went to work earlier. Ford had to stop off to grab a few items to cook with later for the important meeting they were having with some new friends one of the other SG teams had encountered. Daniel was currently getting to know them better and finding out what was needed to help the relations work out better. Diplomatic protocol and all. That being the case, Ford had to wear his uniform along with all his medals, mostly because it had something to do with how these new friends were going to perceive them. Daniel had mentioned something over the phone call about how these people were somewhat related to a culture here on Earth, but the name escaped him at the moment. Something about being able to boast about great accomplishments and the showing of awards made or broke relations. The entire SG-1 team had to wear their medals. Sam didn't like the idea but was going to do it anyway. Daniel was at least able to convince these people that keeping their weapons on them while working wouldn't be a great idea, mostly because it was slightly against the rules. Mostly Daniel did it because he and the rest of SG-1 didn't feel like walking around the base most of the day wearing their off world outfits and all weapons included. The people somewhat understood enough to let them forgo that. Daniel mentioned later after the people were sent back to their planet that they were at least happy to see that Ford had all his weapons with him and was ready for just about any attack. Being a prepared warrior no matter what seemed to make them more impressed and appeased them concerning the fact that the other's were not going to be wearing weapons or their off world uniforms.

He was on his way to work on the same path he took just about everyday when he passed a building that wasn't suppose to be there. He slowly pulled over and turned around, despite how illegal it was and drove back up the highway, making a few other drivers mad in the process. He quickly turned into the run down parking lot of an old three story building that was scheduled for demolition. When it was suppose to happen was anyone's guess. It'd been scheduled for destruction ever since he arrived in this universe. Right next to it was a large and old looking bar that he was quite sure was never there before. Ford didn't go to bars, but this seemed to be drawing him in, like he needed to see the inside.

"I've heard of building fast but…." he said climbing out slowly after parking in front of it. "I'm sure this wasn't here yesterday."

He sat on the door while resting his head on the top. Glancing around, he didn't see any other vehicles around. Not even the traffic was that great, which usually was. He could hear noises coming from the building, like lots of talking and yelling. Bar noises, just no sounds of fighting though. The door had a sign that said open in a old neon orange that seemed to be fading. There was no windows, save the dirty one in the door and a sign that was above the door.

"Well I'll be damned." he said smacking the top before climbing out. "When he said special gift, I didn't think he meant this. Guess the Time Lord thing is something else. Or a bonus."

He unloosened his tie, Sam forced him to wear, as he walked up. The door wasn't locked and he slowly opened it and looked in. There was a lot of aliens he did recognize and some he didn't. A few looked his way, but otherwise no one came up to him or anything. He looked back and saw the General Lee still there along with the rest of the world. No one outside the bar seemed to pay him any attention. It was like he wasn't even there.

"General, lock up."

The windows came up and there was a few noises.

"I'd take a couple photos, but something tells me, they wouldn't turn out. Take a few anyway General."

Riker and Picard had only been there for a couple of minutes when they saw the door open and some dark haired man peek inside then look back outside. He entered and closed the door, opened it back up to look outside then closed it with a laugh as he shook his head. The two Starfleet Captains weren't the only ones surprised when he looked out the door again, laughed again and then turned from the door and headed for the bar. It quieted down quite a bit as they watched him walk up and leaned against the bar a couple of seats away from the two Starfleet officers, still chuckling. There was a couple other Starfleet Captains in the establishment, but they were in their own world, drunk possibly. Captain Elizabeth Shelby was in one corner looking at him over her drink, waiting to see what would happen. He didn't have that Captain look and a lot of people noticed that, or were starting too.

"I couldn't be more surprised if the T.A.D.R.I.S. had shown up in my living room." Ford muttered as Cap walked up. "Sam is never going to believe this. Hell, I barely believe it."

"What will it be? I can tell you aren't sure what to order." he said holding out a hand. "Welcome to the Captains Bar. A somewhat mutual friend said someone fitting your description would be showing up. Name's Cap."

"Mutual friend, hmm. I know who you mean. Still baffles the hell out of me and I'm a scientist, amongst other professions. Ford's the name." he said shaking the man hand. Most of everyone had went back to their own stories and drinks now.

"Actually, some one else is responsible for you being here. Not anyone you even know."

"I'm guessing you aren't going to tell me?"

"I think you got a really interesting story to tell. So, which do you want, the saki, the root beer or the Klingon Raktajino?" he asked leaning on the bar slightly and smiling, while obviously avoiding the question.

"Hmm, guess you're going to be elusive as well." Ford said with a shrug. "Drink huh? Ooh. Tough choice. Well, I've always wanted to try a shot of saki so, let's do that and a large mug of the Klingon coffee. Hopefully I don't pass out. And I don't want…"

"The saki that has mice in it, I know. Not a problem. Got a couple of friends here waiting for ya." he said jerking a thumb to Ford's left.

"Friends? But I don't know…." he said turning to see two people he didn't expect. He brightened considerably as he walked over and took a seat next to them. "This day is getting better and better. Sam is never going to believe me."

"He's the one paying our tab?" Picard asked looking at Cap while pointing his finger.

"Yep." Cap said.

"You'll have to forgive me and my esteemed friend here, but I don't recall ever seeing you before." Riker said. "But I do have to thank you for the drink."

"Pardon my observation, but you don't look like a Captain by any standards." Picard said.

"No, we've never met before. Neither of you have and no one in….your universe has." Ford said as the two drinks were put before him. "I was a Captain though. My rank has increased."

"Universe?" Picard asked curiously.

"Hold that thought. God, I really hope I don't pass out." he said gulping down the shot glass worth of saki.

It burned worse than the whiskey shot and made him thump the bar a few times with his hand as he shook his head.

"Whoa! That stuff is strong! Yeah!" he said hissing slightly as he shook his head. "Hell of a lot better tasting than that whiskey I had by mistake many years ago. Thanks Cap. I think I'll stay away with wine from now on. Whoa, I got a head buzz."

"Can't hold down real alcohol very well huh?" Riker asked with a smile as he watched the man blink a lot and shake his head a few more times. "Might want to stick to synthehol."

"Can't." Ford said shaking the effect off slowly. "Where I am from, there is no such thing. Whoa, that stuff has a kick. Makes me think twice about ever trying moonshine. I think it's a miracle I'm not passing out. Whoa, what a kick."

"What does that mean? Wait a minute, you're from Earth's past." Picard said standing up as he pointed at Ford's uniform that was showing. Ford had his coat on, but it was open.

"That can't be. He ordered a Klingon drink." Riker said.

"No. I'm not from the past either if that is what you're wondering." Ford said turning to them as he took a drink from the Raktajino. "Wow! Damn, I wish we had this stuff on the base. Daniel would be buzzing for days. Hell, Sam would be too. Hell, most of the base would be. Certainly cleared up that alcohol buzz quickly."

He set it back down slowly.

"I'm from another universe where Starfleet and all of this doesn't exist. None of it. To us, it's all, um…..well I won't bother to explain because it just will sound so stupid or appalling that….well. I should introduce myself and tell a story shouldn't I?"

"That would help." Cap said with a small smile. "It is how one pays for their drinks and I am looking forward to your story. I'm betting it will be interesting, very interesting."

"Because I'm from another universe and everything I will tell you will be totally new?"

"That's one way of putting it."

"Right. Before I start, I should explain a few things so those that are listening don't get lost too quickly. My former name was Ford Primus, that's the short version. My real name is a lot longer. Where I started working I had no rank, not till much later when certain people felt it was necessary that I was re-enlisted back into the particular branch that I work in. Air Force. At the time I started working, I was just another civilian on this team of four, which turned into five with me included. Doctor Daniel Jackson, another civilian and still is part of this team, is one of the greatest friends I have." Ford said naming off Daniel's credentials.

"Sounds like someone the Federation would be interested in talking to." Riker said.

"Or better yet, someone I would like to talk to." Picard said with a smile. "We probably would have many interesting stories to talk about."

"I bet you and Daniel would have much in common Jean Luc, unfortunately, you will probably never meet him."

"I don't understand." Picard said.

"This is going to be a long story, and I haven't even got to it yet, so I should start at the beginning of how this all started. Back in….damn, what year was that, Daniel is usually the one that tells this story." he muttered rubbing his chin. "Ah, yes."

It wasn't until after he told the story of how the Stargate was found, its purpose, a bit about the Ancients and what they did with the gate that he noticed everyone in the place was listening. Shelby's jaw had dropped slightly and she had moved to a table closer. The other two Captains hadn't seen her yet.

"Wait, you're saying that you don't use ships to travel to other planets?" Riker asked waving a hand.

"We have ships, or had. A enemy called the Ori, ironically the enemy of the Ancients came through a much larger and more powerful version of the Stargate, we call it a Supergate. Sounds stupid in so many ways, but it's appropriate. They came through and quite literally wiped out our little fleet." he said with sadness and anger. "Though we only had two Earth ships, one was destroyed rather quickly, the other one barely got out of there. The enemy ships flew away with no damage. Kinda like the battle that happened at Wolf 359 with that Borg cube. We really could use the Enterprise E right now, but I'm not even sure if she could do anything. Hell, I bet a Borg Tactical cube wouldn't stand much of a chance. Really, I don't know. They are in possession of technologies we don't have or do, but are extremely limited in."

Ford wasn't surprised by the two shocked looks he got from them as he took another drink. Those people that knew about the Borg were also shocked.

"How does this, Stargate work? Or should we even believe that this sort of technology exist?" a gruff voice behind him asked.

Ford turned around to see some Klingon captain sitting a couple stools away from him. Seeing as he pretty much had the attention of everyone on the place.

"I've been listening in on this rather fascinating story human, but something tells me that you aren't a ship captain. How did you enter this place?" a voice called out.

He didn't see who asked but could tell it was a guys voice.

"It took me sometime and I have to say a lot of smacking myself around, mentally, to finally get myself around to realizing that the woman I loved was going to say yes."

"He didn't ask about you love life." the Klingon said gruffly.

"I'm getting to it. This goes along with it. Anyway, the United States Air Force along with all the other branches doesn't allow fraternization in the work place. That is if you are both enlisted and work together."

"The same goes for Starfleet." Picard said.

"Well, that's to a point. Riker and Deanna are working on the same ship and are married." Ford pointed out. "So, this wonderful woman who was mostly instrumental in making it possible for us to be able to even make the Stargate work, with human technology, married me. It wasn't even a month, at least I don't think it was…whatever the case, and I was re-enlisted, without being able to object about it. The rank given to me, was Captain."

Many of the people in there didn't understand and started voicing it.

"I'd explain that but it is not important really. After I'm gone or if there is anyone in here that understands Earth's past enough to know about the Air Force, they can tell you that the rank of Captain then did not mean what it does for all of you. I later got promoted to Major and then promoted past Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel to the Brigadier General I am now. Now, I did command one of our ships once, not that bad looking, but I could have designed better. Personally I want a Constitution class vessel myself. Not the original designed one, the refitted version. Enterprise Alpha specifically. Anyway, I was in command of the ship we had for a day or so. Checking out a black hole at the time. Unfortunately, she was destroyed by the Ori, taking her Captain with as he manned the transporters to save as many people as he could. In the Air Force, they are called Colonel's, but basically it means they are Captains. I don't command a ship but I am in charge of Stargate Command. A base consisting of 38 levels in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado."

"That's good enough for me. You go to other planets, just not through space travel. Not often anyway." Cap said. "Ain't a ship, but close enough. Still a leader with many people under you."

"Right. We would with the ship we have, but it takes a long time to build a ship, not to mention what we do is kept from the public." Ford said taking another drink. "Damn, this stuff is good. I'll be on a buzz for hours. Wonder how long I'll be up tonight?"

"What year are you in?" Riker asked.

"I don't know the Stardate, which would help a lot of you all out better. I never could figure that out. But I come from the year 2006."

Several people actually knew how far in the past he was. Riker and Picard were more shocked than anyone else.

"We barely were on the moon in that time." Riker said.

"How about my question now?" the Klingon asked. "I may not understand half of what you're saying, but I'm beginning to think it is all just a fair tale."

"Anyone in here that have a scientific know how that can do base ten math? If you do, listen closely. Wormhole physics 101, Stargate style." he said before launching into what he knew and what Sam taught him. "And that's how it works. So unless any of you can come up with an equivalent, which we haven't come up with, you can't duplicate the technology. The entire gate is built from the stuff."

"This Naquada? Can you tell us anything else?" Picard asked.

"Unfortunately, no. We are still trying to figure out more about this stuff as it is. If I had any with me, I'd give it over. I can say, if you haven't located it in your universe, there is a good chance it doesn't exist. Kinda like Dilithium Crystals. They don't exist in our universe."

"Is there a story with all this information?" someone in the crowd asked.

"Okay." Ford said clapping his hands lightly. "My first mission with SG-1 off world as we like to call it ended up on a planet called Gia'as. I'm just going to give a quick rundown of the mission because that is now the story I want to tell."

"Who are these….Goa'uld?" Picard asked after Ford finished about an hour later.

"Think Trills gone bad, in a sense. Except instead of living in a pouch in the body, they are smaller and kinda look like white snakes. The heads are different though. Anyway they wrap around the spine in your neck and take control of your consciousness. You will see, feel and experience everything that happens, but you never have control every again. It's not a joint partnership, unless you join the Tok'ra, in which case you are pretty much like a joined Trill. Except in that case, the host and the symbiont share. It's not a true blending like the Trill do, it is two separate entities living in the same body and one or the other is in control depending on what's going on."

He took another large drink and turned back to the crowd.

"So, about a week ago, we got a call from Gia'as, or I should say, the fox version of me came looking for help."

Ford was in the middle of a post mission briefing with another team when Walter announced the gate was activated at an unscheduled time.

"Any I.D.C. yet?" Ford asked as he came off the stairs with the other team behind him.

"Still waiting….it's Gia'as General." Walter said.

"Must need some new supplies or something. Let them through." Ford said as he walked down the stairs into the gate room.

The Iris opened and a tall blue furred fox with black hair stumbled through. Ford and a few of the others knew it was the other version of Ford but the black hair was a lot longer than before. Just longer than shoulder length. His coat was ripped up and there was a lot of blood on it. He took several steps forward and dropped onto his knees coughing blood onto the ramp. Both of them sneezed suddenly. Though the Fox Ford ended up sneezing up blood. Ford at first thought of saying something smart when his counterpart walked though, but seeing him drop onto the ramp changed everything.

"Walter, get medical!" he yelled instinctually as he ran up. "What's wrong?"

"Attacked coming…..run." Fox Ford said trying to push him away.

"Run? What…." Ford began saying when he glanced up seeing the gate was still active.

"Wait a minute? There's a….fox version of you?" Riker asked. "I don't understand."

"Ah, yes." Ford said waving his hands as he spoke. "This is going to be hard to explain, but…..on a adventure in China, there was…..um."

It took him about half an hour to explain his unusual gift that made no sense, but was a little more controllable now, and explaining what he learned from his fox counterpart.

While he was telling everyone this, another guy entered and sat down several bar stools away from him. Other than a few nods at him by just about everyone in there, he was pretty much ignored. Ford kept talking as he caught a glimpse of the man go over and sit at the far end of the bar. The man had a blue three piece suit on, which had a watch in the vest. Boots that looked like they were either combat style or dress. It was hard to tell. He had some long octagon barreled pistol on his right hip in a holster. Kinda like his own, probably longer, but it was a revolver. He also had a long coat similar to his own, but it wasn't weighted down and it wasn't leather. Just really black though. The inside of the coat, which should have looked black like the outside, looked more like an endless void. Since he didn't look directly at the guy, he didn't get much more than the glimpse. He had glasses on like his, but without the technology added. He did have a wedding ring on and some other ring he barely saw on the other hand and a watch that was so strange that he couldn't begin to describe it. It wasn't organic or had tubes or anything, it was just, strange. The most strangest thing though, was the man had blue hair, same style like him, though longer. It was almost like a see through blue or electric blue. Reminded him of one of his anime shows. His eyebrows were a few shades darker. From the impression he got, the man was six feet tall. And he got the strangest feeling that the man could kill everyone in the room with a single thought. He could also swear he felt a buzz from the guy, but since he didn't sneeze.

"So, this is all real?" someone asked after he was done. "Because is all sounds like a bunch of…. "

"It is." Ford stated forcefully. He was going to look at the new guy, but he got distracted by whoever was asking him that question. "Whether you believe it or not is your choice. Weird things happen to me a lot. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes…"

What came out of the gate surprised him so much he didn't move or act instinctively. Everyone in the gate room was also in shock. Ford felt someone messing in his coat, but he couldn't look away. The entire creature was huge, very huge. And its weight made the ramp start to buckle under the weight. It had the head of a lion, except this one had much bigger and sharper looking teeth, plus two large fangs that looked like they belonged to a saber tooth tiger. The body looked like it belonged to a Kodiak bear. A bear that was almost bigger than the circumference of the ring. All four of its paws had extremely large and sharp looking claws, and a large claw in the back like that of a chicken, or turkey. Maybe even a raptor. And they all had blood on them. Walter's hand was just over the alarm. No one moved as it looked around sniffing and then stared down at the end of the ramp at the only movement going on. That was until Sam, Daniel and Teal'c entered the Gate Control room.

"Oh my god." Daniel muttered.

"Holy….." Sam began saying. "That's not possible…."

"I believe we are in trouble." Teal'c said quietly.

Walter and a few others in the room turned around, and that startled the creature. It looked up at the room and opened its mouth letting out a roar that shattered the glass window and cracked most of the computer screens, plus Daniel and Walter's glasses. All the guards in the gate room dropped grabbing their ears. Even Ford bent down doing the same. Everyone in the control room got down, other than to avoid the glass, but also because of the loud roar. Walter reached up hitting the alarm alerting the base. The creature rose up and dropped down buckling the ramp into the floor, making the rest of it crumple and break apart as it did it again while roaring. Ford reached around looking for his gun only to find it missing and being pointed out in front of him by his other version, who still hadn't gotten up. The gun didn't do anything though despite the few tries.

"You DNA'd it didn't you?" Fox Ford yelled at him.

"Yeah.." he said with a slight whimper.

The creature looked at them and started kneeling slightly.

"Shoot it dammit! For the love of god…" Fox Ford started yelling.

Bullets flew rapidly as the guards finally opened up on it. The fifty cal's pummeled into its side, but it looked like barely any damage was being done. It roared loudly again and pounced. Fox Ford dropped the gun and rolled off to the side as Ford rolled backwards, his gun slipping from his hand as he was jarred from the ground shaking as the creature landed directly in front of him. The breath was so awful he almost passed out and puked at the same time. Everyone else was trying to get back to their feet again. Someone in the control room ordered all the guards to evacuate the gate room. As it went to bite his head off, Fox Ford ripped the fifty cal from its base and clobbered it across the side of the head. It turned to him sharply with deadly intent in its eyes.

"Oh shit." Fox Ford whimpered before the lights went out.

Ford watched as the large paw lifted up and backhanded his Fox version through the metal blast door. A couple of airmen on the other side also went down with him. As the paw started coming down toward him, he made both blades come out of his coat arms and stuck them into the beast. One just under the arm coming down and the other in the chest. The creature roared loudly, much louder than before and slammed its paw onto Ford anyway, crushing bones and the concrete underneath. Ford couldn't even cry out seeing as most of his body was under the paw including his head. It took all his willpower not to pass out as the creature moved its paw off him. Everyone in the control room began running out of the room as the creature put both paws unto the broken window sills and computer consoles. It stuck its head in and was getting ready to roar or bite when a very loud explosion, followed by blood along with other body parts flew around the gate room. SG-1, including Mitchell who had arrived just after the fox was tossed aside, watched as the life left the creatures eyes and it slid back into the gate room with a loud gory sound. Several of the people who were working in the gate control room got sick in the hallway from the smell and the noise. Pretty much everyone else including the medical team that arrived earlier all had a green tint to them.

"Walter, I need that Iris closed." Carter commanded. "Airmen, get…..um, damn, get some more people down here to help in cleaning this up. Suit up in hazmats if they have to."

"Bring a couple dozen zat guns!" Daniel yelled.

"I believe we should go check on General Carter." Teal'c stated.

"Good idea." Mitchell said running down the stairs only to stop. "Whoa! That is not pretty."

The two guards and the fox were both bloody and covered in a few internal organs. This made matters worse for the medical team seeing as they were having trouble figuring out the extent of damages done to the two airmen. The fox, they pulled him aside and laid him on the floor out of the way. Carter assured them he would heal up and be back on his feet in no time. When they entered the gate room and saw the goriness, all but Teal'c instantly turned away in different directions to get sick. Teal'c managed to just keep it down as he walked over what parts he could. There was blood pretty much everywhere, including the ceiling. It was dripping off the walls, off the gate where what was left of a couple organs were, mostly intestines. Just under the rib cage, was completely gone on the creature. What was left of its organs were all over the floor in front of the control room as they fell out of what was left of the dead animal. He walked around it finding Ford covered in blood, amongst other things, and sitting against the wall. His legs and arms spread out in a fashion that indicated he had little if any strength to move and was probably blasted there. Teal'c also noticed that both heel's on Ford's boots were missing. Ford lifted his head slightly as he noticed the Iris close and then he saw Teal'c.

"Teal'c, please tell me you have a zat." he asked slowly and quietly as he spit a few times.

"I do not, yet."

"Damn."

"Is there a further threat Ford Carter?" he asked looking around and then up at the control room as airmen started entering it.

"No."

The airmen came in and started to hand SG-1 the zat weapons, but seeing how they looked, they helped them out of the room and a few others who couldn't stand the sight. Teal'c nodded as one airmen in the control room looked down and asked if he needed a weapon.

"I have a zat Ford Carter. On what do you wish it to be used on?"

"Hand it here, please."

Teal'c did so, unsure of Ford's intentions.

"Thanks." he muttered and then shot himself before he got violently sick, again.

"Wait a minute. This story has to be made up. You said that this creature crushed you, broke bones and such. Even crushed the concrete under you. How in the hell did you survive? Not even a Klingon could make it through that!" some human nearby asked. The he looked at the Klingon. "No offense."

"He makes a good point 'General'. To die from fighting such a creature would be honorable, but here you stand."

"I'm not, totally human. Only half, or is it three quarters seeing as I am now more Time Lord." Ford said taking another deep drink. He set the mug down and tapped the bar lightly. "I'm…….depending on your point of view. I have what you can call a great gift, or a terrible curse. My point of view, a little of both."

"What, a rapid healing ability? There are many species that have that ability." someone said.

"I have a version of that. With the exception of Robin Leaflers mother, Morgan I think. I don't know of any race in this universe, at the moment, that is immortal. Q does not count. I am, technically, somewhere over 65 million years old. But really, somewhere near 55 since I traveled through time to get where I am now. Whole different story there. I have actually forgotten how old I am."

Everyone in the place got quiet.

"I am, as far as I've been able to find out, one of last remaining survivors of the Lost City of Atlantis. Those that are still around……have what we call ascended. Becoming a pure energy life form." he said taking a drink.

"You've told us that." Picard said.

"Right. Forgot. Well, did I also say that these stuck up, pompous, and self centered assholes have what we would call powers similar to the Q continuum?"

"No, you didn't." Picard said with concern on his face. Riker had the same look, but with an air of sympathy.

"They believe that they can't interfere. If they do, something to do with possibly becoming malevolent with the power or some stupid thing like that. We are a 'lower life form', thus beneath them even though most of Earth are direct descendents." he said using his fingers to quote the life form word. "Now my parents are not included in those remarks, but even though they are up there or out there, they still can't do anything. In many ways, the Federation and, anyone who's heard or seen the Borg are blessed by the fact that Q brought them to you, in a sense."

"How do figure that?" Cap asked before Picard could say anything, or anyone else.

"After the Enterprises first engagement with them, back when the ship was still a relatively new Galaxy class vessel, you were able to come home and prepare for their evitable approach. In that sense, Q let you see what to expect in the future and gave you time to get ready, even though he thought he was just playing. With us, the Ancients refuse to help and never even left any indication of anyone called the Ori. We accidentally stumbled onto them and now, they are winning. We have no defense so far. Well, no fully working one anyway."

"So, this enemy, has the ability to affect your immortality, if that is even true?" the Klingon asked.

"Something like that. I could go join them, my people and ascend, but I would never be able to do anything accept sit back and watch everything in our galaxy be taken over and destroyed, at least the people anyway. Now the Ancients may have a plan, but from all indication, they will not be doing anything. I doubt they have a plan, other than to run away if things get that bad."

"I must know before you go on, how did you kill this creature?" the Klingon asked.

"How do you think?"

"I was thinking that you gutted the beast and placed some bomb inside its belly. But I can see that isn't what happened."

"No. It's belly was to far to reach." he said as a lot of people either groaned or shook their heads in disgust as they realized what he meant.

The Klingon laughed as he slapped the counter top.

"A bomb being stuck up your enemies backside! That is certainly a different approach to killing from behind." he said still laughing.

"Not there. A little lower." he said with a revolting feeling that showed up in a lot of people's eyes. Including his own. "I did not like having to kill the creature that way, but it was that or dead personal. And I didn't feel like being its first meal. Anyway, were was I?"

Ford awoke a couple hours later, feeling restless and thankful that he didn't smell the scent of death or blood in the air. A quick check of his body and hair as Doctor Lam walked up showed he was clean.

"Don't worry General, your clean, completely. Though I have to say, if it wasn't for Colonel Carter saying no, we probably would have shaved you bald."

He gave her a sharp and narrowed glare.

"Count your blessing that you didn't cut it doctor. I'm not vain about my hair, but I don't want it short. I hate it short." he said in a stern voice. "Remember that for future reference. I'll clean it myself if I have to."

His normal friendly voice came back then.

"So, is everything and everyone else okay? I don't remember much of it after being trampled."

"Well." she said hugging the folder to her chest. "Two airmen were knocked out when the blast door into the gate room slammed into them. They had some internal injuries, which we were able to work on quickly before they became life threatening. It will be a week or more, depending on circumstances, before they are fully recovered. A few other people were injured by glass, otherwise no fatalities thankfully. Vala helped where she could."

There was a pause and a look that Ford noticed cross her face.

"Well, with the exception of your Fox counterpart anyway, but he came back from the dead like you do so…."

"Yeah." he said nodding. "Where is he?"

"Eating. He's already explained why he's here to the others. He wanted to cook food for himself, but they wouldn't let him in the kitchen. At least the chefs wouldn't."

"And…." Ford began asking with confusion on his face.

"You aren't the only cook General and you have to remember that this place cooks for a whole base."

"Still not getting it Doc."

"We have hair bonnets to keep hair out of the food when cook. Or in your case, a large hat, as ridicules as it looks on you." she said seeing him shake his head. A lot of people including his team thought he looked funny with the large chef hat on. Teal'c even smiled when Ford first put it on. Jack laughed his ass off. "Your counterpart is all hair, well fur, but you get the point."

"Did he take it well?" he said nodding in understanding.

"Yeah. He understood. Didn't like it though and tried to explain he was one of the primary cooks back on Gia'as, but…."

"Do I need to stay here?"

"No. We just were letting you sleep. The test results we got back say you are rather exhausted, but it is not enough to keep you here. Um, I do have to ask though, why did you shoot yourself?"

He cringed at the memory as it all came back.

"You okay General?" she asked concerned as she saw him turn a little green.

"You did see the state I was in?" he asked as she had grabbed the bed pan.

"Yeah. Wasn't pretty. Do you need this?"

"That's why. I was there when the creature exploded. Thanks, but I think I can keep it down. It would all be dry heaves anyway."

She frowned and then nodded in understanding. He got out of the bed as she closed the curtain to give him privacy and told him about the clothes that were set out for him next to the bed while his others along with the coat were being cleaned.

"I don't get it though. You don't like the sight of that much bodily fluid and parts, but you don't have any trouble blowing….whatever it happens to be full of large holes with those guns of yours."

"That's because I don't keep watching my target after I shoot them. I just go onto the next target. Is there anything else?"

"No General. You're free to go. I'll keep you updated on the others."

"Thanks Carolyn." he said pushing the curtain aside and walking out.

"It was rather funny actually. When we decided on having kids, she shove me off the bed so suddenly, I didn't know what to think." Fox Ford was saying at the table as SG-1 listened intently. "Almost broke my tail."

"Sounds like it has happened before." Daniel said.

"Many times. Sam's been more fortunate. She sprained it once which is a funny story." he said then seeing the look on Carter's face. "I won't go into it though."

"Smart move. Because I'd go tell her."

"I'd rather not sleep on the couch again."

"Ooh, what did you do?" Mitchell asked.

"Nothing. Seriously." he said seeing the looks, especially from Carter. "A few of the other, furs there have more than one mate. Not many, but it is allowed. I've been hit on a lot and a few females that hadn't gotten the message I was not available, my Sam found hanging off my arms more than once. I won't hit women where the last guy who tried to really hit on her, she kicked hard enough the vet had to, ahem, cut one off. And she only did that because he tried to get, frisky."

The guys cringed.

"You didn't…."

"Hell no Sam! I know where my loyalties and love belong. Doesn't stop some of furs from trying anyway. I stand out rather well. This is mostly your fault anyway, well hers. No, both."

"Excuse me?" she said offended. "I think you need another trip the couch or worse. Where do you get the idea…"

"You still speak to Janet about your intimate details with him?" he asked very bluntly. "Mine doesn't have her, but she befriended a lot of girls that under her tutelage. And when they aren't talking science, well….I think you can guess what subject comes up next. Unless I need to elabor…."

"No, forget it. Never mind." she muttered quickly while looking at her food and avoiding the gaze of her friends.

"How much do you know Vala?" Mitchell asked.

"Other than Ford's real size?" she said ignoring the looks she was now getting from several people. "No other intimate details. Though I have heard…"

"Enough Vala." Fox Ford said.

"Yes, new subject. Anything other than sex or our lives." Carter said quickly.

He really wanted to go back to Gia'as right then, but so far, General Carter hadn't woken up yet and Lam wasn't going to force him awake, but assured him that he should wake soon. So far, an hour had passed. SG-1 could see there was pain and agitation in his eyes, but he was living with it, barely.

"How about the story you were finishing?" Mitchell said.

"Where was I?"

"So, you mean you two were…." Daniel said after reminding him.

"Slightly in the act, yeah Daniel. Try not to think on it and no dog jokes of any kind. I won't even let you get away with it." he said with a seriousness that made them all lean back slightly. The last statement was pointed at Carter.

"I thought I said new subject." Carter said.

"I'm not going into any heavy details. Don't worry. Anyway, she said nothing was happening until she talked to Melissa or one of the other girls. With everything that was going on before and during our time on Mobius, even though we got married there, we never actually had time to have another moment together. Usually to tired or something else. Besides that, we wanted to wait and get home so we could see about possibly getting back to normal before trying to have children. After we found out about what happened after ending up back in this universe, well, you know the rest. Once we decided to have kids, she suddenly thought about it much more than I thought. So I called Melissa and she came over right away. I was able to stay in the room thankfully, because I was still trying to figure out what spooked Sam so badly. I'm guessing by the look on your face Colonel, you already know where this story is going?"

"I have a good idea." Carter said with a grimace. "No heavy details remember?"

"I know. Don't worry. Melissa laughed pretty hard when Sam asked her about having children." Fox Ford said.

"I get it. She was worried if, well, if she was going to have more than one, like um…" Daniel was saying while trying not to sound insulting.

"She was worried about having a litter of puppies, per say, if I understand correctly." Teal'c said.

"Yeah." Fox Ford said with a chuckle. "I laughed too. Got kicked for it. I had already asked that question sometime ago and knew the answer, but since she refused to tell me what was bothering her, saying I wouldn't understand, I didn't know how to help. If was a few days before I got to sleep in the bed again. Damn, where is he? You know what, I don't care anymore. I'm going to go drag his ass out of bed."

There was a sneeze, two of them, though they only saw the Fox Ford sneeze. It was kinda weird to see, but he at least covered his face with a napkin in time. Vala only tensed up for a moment, but eased up quickly after.

"I'm here." Ford said pushing his counterpart back down into his seat. "So, what is the hurry?"

"I'll explain on the way to the armory."

"It's serious." Carter said as Ford looked at her.

On the way there and as they were getting suited up, he explained. Fox Ford also mentioned that they should use armor piecing rounds or fletching rounds, or explosive type. Teal'c picked out rapid fire, canister clip shotgun. Daniel and the other's got the PC-90's with armor pierces.

"Remember…our first mission off world, and that temple we were in where Mel's father was? And that forcefield?" Fox Ford asked.

"Yeah. We never did figure out what was behind it. Never went back either."

"Right. Well, after we left here, after returning from, P-whatever 666. We started a new life helping them and such. It wasn't until Draco and a few other's decided that it was safe to go looking through that temple again, or whatever it was, after they found it on a scouting mission several months back. About a day's hike through the forest. When they told us about it, Sam remembered she wanted to look at it and completely forgot about it after we joined with Herc."

"There was something bad behind it." Ford stated.

"No, there was some bad things behind it. Lots of them. I don't know if Mel made it out or not." he said sadly. "The zat guns only knocked out some of the smaller ones, kinda looked like a couple canine mixes together. About as big as Great Dane and as dangerous as Jaws. There is a couple others, other than that large beast that entered the gate room with me."

"How did you kill that thing General?" Mitchell asked.

"Yeah, from what we could tell, it wasn't a explosive round." Carter said. "Your guns weren't used from what we could see."

"Yeah, mostly because there wasn't a large hole in the ceiling." Mitchell said. "Or any bullet casings."

"I just barely got the C-5 out of my heels, and then…..well, boom." he said trailing off with a shudder.

"I thought that stuff doesn't stick to flesh or in this case, fur." Daniel said.

"It doesn't." Carter said giving Ford a curious stare. When he didn't say anything much less look at them as he put his clean coat on. "Well?"

"Yeah, I want to know too." Fox Ford said crossing his arms. "How did you blow her ass end off?"

"Please tell me that you didn't stick the bomb up…." Mitchell began with a disgusted look.

"No." Ford said with a grimace that the others had. "I don't want to remember that incident, so no bringing it up. Let's go. Airman, have Walter start dialing Gia'as. We are on our way. You all get heavier weapons, Teal'c, get that staff cannon, hip thing, what the hell is that called anyway?"

They all got to the gate room, which was still in a state of cleaning and repair, but thankfully the gate worked. Though the ramp was still a little trashed. Mitchell had a thirty millimeter machine gun while Carter, Vala and Daniel had PC-90's with armor pierces. Ford had his Tommy gun while his Fox version was holding a multi round grenade launcher. Teal'c had a multi round shotgun behind his back with the large staff like weapon on his hip. Walter had already gotten the gate activated and a makeshift ramp of some metal panels was set up near the gate.

"We didn't see anything on the other side General. We sent a U.A.V. through." Walter said.

"Okay. We'll call you back as soon as we see the place is secure. Have the other teams ready for when we call." Ford said as he turned to his team. "We'll go through first then radio back to tell you all if it is safe."

"The radio units are going to be on, so they'll know if we start yelling because of an attack." Fox Ford said.

"Oh right. I forgot." he said as they walked up the makeshift ramp. "I need more sleep."

"Hey, you think you can get me the parts necessary to make another General Lee…" Fox Ford asked as they walked through.

They came out and saw it was getting near dawn. They didn't see anything or hear much of anything.

"Well, I don't see why not. Give me a week or so. Just remind me later."

"I think I can use one of the gliders to possibly make him fly."

"Hey! That isn't fair!"

"You have the Delorian."

"Yeah, but the flying circuits don't work. Though K-9 says it might be possible to reverse engineer them, possibly. The future was so drastically changed that that future we saw is not going to happen….."

"For some time?"

"If it all…."

"Is it safe you should we just keep listening to your ever so boring conversation about your cars?" Daniel asked.

"Hey, I never complain or say that your talk about ancient relics and other artifacts is boring." Ford said.

"Is it clear?" Mitchell asked before Daniel could say anything.

"It's clear." they both said.

"What's his problem?" Fox Ford asked.

"You know Daniel. He was never into cars. Can't even change the oil. Only reason why that Chevy he has hasn't broke down is because I check it once a month."

The rest of SG-1 came through and looked around. Fox Ford looked up sniffing the air.

"What are you doing?" Vala asked.

"Oh right. I sometimes forget what I am." Fox Ford said. "Being a fox, which is a really interesting experience, has given me heightened senses."

"Okay, we kinda knew that already. What were you sniffing for?" Carter asked.

"A storm is coming. I think a big one. According to what is considered the weather reporters here, this is the time of the year for them and we are due for a big down pour."

"Oh great." Ford muttered. "I hate working in the rain."

"Worse for us. And I hate it too. And that shaking thing only works so much. Takes time to get fur dry."

"And it stinks." Ford muttered.

Fox Ford smiled as he spoke.

"Actually, despite our heightened sense of smell, that isn't noticeable. It only effects you all. Unless it was something that smelled bad to begin with."

"I believe we are alone." Teal'c stated.

"I've noticed that as well. Thanks for paying more attention for us though Teal'c." Ford said as he gave one more quick glance around with the others.

"As far as I could tell, which was another reason I was smelling the air, the creatures that were here have left to somewhere else. I'd say a good hour or so ago they left." he said then turned away and pulled something from his coat.

"Mitchell, have the other teams come through. You, Teal'c, Vala and Daniel will take up the back with SG-5. Me, myself and Sam." he said getting a small groan from Daniel and Carter.

"That was original." Fox Ford muttered.

"Thanks." he said with a smile. "Anyway, we'll take the front. SG-6 and 7 will stay behind us with the medical teams and scientific teams."

"I guess you're taking charge of this mission then?" Mitchell asked.

"Yeah. I know the place a little better or my counterpart here does and being this was my first official mission, I figure I should pull rank. Besides, if we run into whatever is out there, we're better off in the front."

"And if they attack us from the rear?" Daniel asked.

"I'll smell it or them long before they show up. Besides, most of the scent I get is toward the city." Fox Ford said turning back to them.

"Understood, sirs." Mitchell said turning back to the gate to avoid seeing their glares.

The other three teams came through with the three SG teams and Mitchell told them what to do as Ford was talking with his counterpart.

"I know you're in a hurry….."

"Damn straight. But I was able to make contact with the city a few moments ago. She's alive and stable, but there is other's who need help. A lot of the creatures tried to attack the city. A few of the security people died and some other's were hurt, but they did more damage to them. Draco thinks that there might be four or five of them left."

"Can he give us more than that?"

"Such as?"

"Like are those four or five the size of the ones that trashed the gate room?" Carter asked.

"Um…." Fox Ford said dumbfounded. "He didn't say. Hang on. Hey, anyone picking me up still?"

"This is Smokey,..."

As Carter and Ford heard the voice that came through the com unit Fox Ford was holding, Ford remembered who's voice that was and did everything he could not to laugh as Smokey kept talking. It didn't work though and he slowly knelt down shaking with silent laughter.

"Are you under attack? We can have…."

"Hang on Smokey.." Fox Ford said quickly as he handed to com unit to Carter and turned away.

Carter looked at the com and then at Fox Ford's back to see his shoulders were shaking. She shook her head and answered.

"This is Colonel Carter Smokey."

"Colonel Carter? Oh, the human Carter. Okay, sorry about that. For a moment I thought she left her bed again and tried to get to the SGC. Glad to hear our Ford was able to get help." he said over the line as Carter watched the two crack up badly and fall down laughing.

"You didn't?" Ford asked still laughing.

"I did ask him. I lost it before he finished." Fox Ford said cracking up harder.

"Did you bring other's with and some people who could help us medically? The vets we have right now are currently understaffed." Smokey asked.

"Yes. We'll be on our way there in a soon."

"We have a few newly designed van gliders on the way. Something our Ford and Carter made. They should arrive on the outskirts of the forest in a few minutes. Please be there waiting to help provide backup if needed."

"We're heading out now. Thanks for the heads up." she said then signed off. "What are you two laughing about? We have a serious problem here."

They both got up a little sheepishly and brushed themselves off while still chuckling.

"I'm sorry, but I remembered who he was and I couldn't help but laugh." Ford said.

"And then I told him I once asked Smokey to say that line. I never laughed so hard in my life. Surprisingly he didn't take offense to it and it took Sam to explain what it was he said and why I had him ask it. She cracked up later, but I lost it before he finished speaking." Fox Ford said between laughs.

"Is everything okay here? We're ready to go." Mitchell asked walking up.

"Everything's okay. Let's head out. Smokey said that a few new gliders will meet us at the edge of the forest."

"Who's Smokey?" Mitchell asked making both Ford's crack up again.

"Ask Daniel." Carter said grabbing the two by the arms and pulling them along. "Grow up guys."

"She's the only one that can get away with that." one of the medic's said.

"Yeah." Mitchell said. "And the only one that is allowed to hit the General any time he steps out of line or something."

When Daniel told him who Smokey was, Mitchell was really surprised.

"Oh this I got to see. He really looks like…."

"Yep. Just not cartoony."

"I wonder if we can get him to say the line." Mitchell said hearing the two Ford's crack up again.

They exited the forest keeping a close watch on everything. The clouds above them had darkened and the wind had picked up slightly. Rain was still on the horizon, but so far hadn't fallen yet. A few lightening strikes in the air caught their attention more than once and the thunder was loud enough the ground shook enough they could feel it.

"Ah, here comes the gliders." Fox Ford said pointing out across the open field. Then he whimpered. Actually whimpered and they all heard it. "Uh oh."

"What's wrong? Oh no. Not again." Ford said still standing next to his counterpart.

He saw the foxes hair standing on end and felt his hair starting to rise. Carter was wondering what was going on seeing as she was between the two of them and noticed their hair starting to stand up. She reached up feeling hers doing the same and noticed it happening to everyone without a hat on.

"Everyone scatter! Get away from us!" Ford yelled.

Being military trained, the other's did exactly that without thinking about it. Nothing happened for about three seconds and even though the other's, with the weapons, were still looking around expecting something to attack them, nothing did. While that three seconds was going by, though they other's were looking with weapons ready, they did noticed both Ford's trying to get out of their coats like they suddenly caught fire. And that they were getting apart from each other quickly.

"What the…" Carter began.

Everyone, including the gliders which stopped quickly, had to turn away from the brightness of the sudden flash of lightening that took place near them. Both Ford's were struck instantly. Lightening lit up the sky in other locations as they were struck. They both screamed, loudly as they got struck more than once. Fox Ford had managed to toss his gun aside and taken his coat off partially. His sword though was stuck in the ground with him still holding it with one hand as he was struck a few more times as he hit the ground. Ford had gotten his coat off and tossed his guns aside quickly, but his sword he still had. It wasn't in the ground and it was serving as a conduit since it was almost above his head. Several more strikes hit the sword before he dropped to the ground, face first. A few more strikes took place but nothing hit the ground near them, just in the distance and a few places in the forest. Though they really couldn't see the town because of the weather, they did see the lightening hitting a few certain areas in the city over and over again. They learned later that they were lightening rods.

"Is everyone okay?" Carter asked looking around blinking.

A chorus of yes sir's answered her quickly.

"I didn't hear the General's voice." Mitchell said.

"Indeed."

"Ford?" Carter asked looking around.

They weren't there, but she did see two smoking bodies several feet apart. She also saw a bundled up coat that was smoking near one of the body's. Small little fires were near and around the two bodies, but they were going out as it started to pour down rain.

"Oh shit." she muttered before getting up quickly and yelling for the medics without thinking. They rushed forward anyway as did the rest.

Ford stopped a moment to take another drink.

"I really wish I could take this recipe home. Not for the money factor I know I would make, but for the taste and caffeine high I know I'd be getting everyday. I could almost give up chocolate for this. Klingon, I commend your race for making such an excellent coffee." he said holding up in a toast fashion.

The Klingon nodded with a smile at the complement as he walked over and sat closer.

"I have been around victims who have been struck by lightening. The smell is quite repulsive." he said with a grimace. "It happened on a distance world me and my crew were…."

"Captain Kor, this is his story we are hearing right now." Cap said.

"Ah yes. Sorry, caught up in a memory."

"Wish I could stay and hear it along with many other stories. But yes, it never smells nice. He smelled worse. Burnt fur or hair is always incredibly repulsive. Not to mention skin. Captain Riker, if Deanna was here, what would be a chocolate that she would suggest I try before leaving this universe? That's assuming I never come back."

"I don't know if you'll be able to come back or not." Cap said.

"If she was here, I think…." he said telling the Cap what sort of one to go get. Cap smiled as he knew which one.

The name was slightly long, but Ford doubted he could pronounce it without lessons. Daniel probably would need a hour or so. Ford figured that Riker only knew how to pronounce it because Deanna loved chocolate so much she probably asked for it from the replicator a lot. Or had him do it.

"Isn't that that chocolate she once referred to as being so sweet you could rot your teeth out?" Picard asked. "And one of the few that the Replicators can't create?"

"That's the one." Riker said with a knowing smile.

Cap came back with a one by one inch block that was wrapped in a gold foil.

"This is a very expensive piece of chocolate. Hopefully you'll come back with a new story to pay for it." he said.

"I'll will try." he said opening the small delicacy.

He broke off a small chunk and the smell alone was incredible. The taste was so great he started coughing and his eyes watered up quickly.

"Strong huh? I only eat it very sparingly." Riker said as Ford chewed it quickly and swallowed.

"I know what they mean by that saying when that talk about a orgy going on in your mouth." he said wiping his eyes as several people laughed at the analogy. "That was incredible! Thank god my teeth heal up quickly. Do I have to eat all of this or can I take it with me? I don't think I will be touching anything chocolate for weeks."

"Seeing as I know that your planet cannot duplicate this and I am pretty sure who you plan on giving it to, that is if you promise on your honor as a Captain, or in this case General?"

Ford lifted his hand quickly.

"I solemnly swear that only she is going to eat it. Unless she can't finish it and I give part of it to Daniel, but knowing her, she'll take the other half completely. I just hope she won't need dentures afterward."

Cap nodded and he pocket it.

"So, what's it like to be hit with lightening?" Picard asked. "It doesn't happen all that often on Earth anymore and I rarely hear it on other worlds."

"Hard to describe. It's not pleasant, but that goes without saying. Kinda like grabbing a live wire or in your case a open conduit with a broken cable unit or something. It didn't kill me, but then I have been hit before."

Ford slowly awoke as he heard people shouting and felt himself being dragged on the ground. He looked up to see they were back in the forest again and that it was raining, heavily. He was leaning against a tree with his counterpart several feet away lying on the ground, still smoking despite the rain.

"General, can you see me?" one of the medic team asked shining a light in his face.

"Get that damn thing out of my face please?" he said waving it away. "I got enough spots to blink away as it is."

"Are you okay General?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got to wait a moment for it to pass. This is third time I've been hit. God, it got cold quickly."

"Third?" Carter asked.

"First two happened before I ended up in the SGC."

"Oh." she said. "And you survived? I want to hear this story later."

"I don't conduct well. I still get shocked every time I clean the dust off the TV screen."

"So that's why you grunt every time you clean it."

The few medics working on looking at the Fox Ford jumped back as he bolted to his feet. He let out a cry of pain as he started to walk away with a few twitches. A few words in Japanese that made everyone give him a look before looking at the General.

"You don't want to know."

"Jesus Christ that hurt! That's the seventh time! I'm getting sick of this!" he said slowly walking back and forth several feet from all of them. "Don't come near me! Not safe!"

Ford slowly got up watching his counterpart twitching and shaking off the feeling. He tried not to laugh as he watched him shake, well like a dog would. One of the women with them stifled a laugh, but Fox Ford heard it. He didn't say anything though but everyone noticed he heard it. Occasionally, you'd see a small spark on his fur, which was all proofed out. His hair had made him look like some old punk rocker, all of it was standing on end and his tail was totally poofed out. But it was all falling down as he was getting drenched by the rain.

"Let's get out of here. Sooner I'm out of this storm, the better. I don't want to get hit again. Hurts worse when wet."

"You want your coat back…um sir?" one of the men asked holding out the heavy jacket, barely.

"Don't call me sir."

"No offense, but what should I call you then? Seeing as…" the man said shrugging toward his Ford.

"I don't have a rank. Ford works. General would be just fine seeing as it was once our nickname anyway. And he is your superior officer." he said taking the wet coat. "This will help get rid of the static."

"General is your nickname? Since when….wait you mentioned that once before." Carter said trailing off as she followed him along with the others. "But I thought your nickname…."

Both Ford's gave her a very stern glare that stopped her cold in her boots. It was bad enough that Ford was giving it to her, but getting a look like that from a fox, that was a little more scary. His lips actually curled up slightly to show his sharp teeth.

"I wasn't going to say it out loud." she muttered looking away. She also noticed she wasn't the only one that was kinda scared of Fox Ford's glare.

"Does anyone here know?" Ford asked his counterpart.

"Melissa does, besides Sam. She had a good laugh and made a few comments. I made her swear not to tell anyone. So far, no one knows as far I can tell."

"Before we continue on, how are we going to avoid you two from getting hit again?" Mitchell asked.

"Well, those hover-vans are here now so we make a break for it." Fox Ford said as he picked his sword and stuff back up with his counterpart.

They all quickly got into the different vans, SG-1 and Fox Ford got into one van all to themselves. The driver got out going into one of the other units as Fox Ford took the controls. Carter took the passenger seat and no one challenger her. He turned the heater unit up so they could dry out quicker.

"Nice. Rather spacious." Mitchell said looking at the interior as he dried off with one of the towels the van was holding.

Basically, it kinda looked like a large rectangular box that had hover-units built into the bottom. The cab section which was built on as though it was a van, had some of the same sort of controls you'd find in a death glider. Small wings came out either side about three feet. One either wing, at the back, was the thruster units to propel it forward and one was up front to slow it down. It needed a coat of paint and a lot of cosmetic work. Inside the box section was a metal raised section on either side like inside of a S.W.A.T truck. Under the long metal bench like seat was drawers. Small metal cabinets lined the top of either side of the walls. Towels, which Fox Ford said were in all vehicles because it rained at some of the most inopportune times, tools and other supplies filled the upper cabinets. The back opened with double doors that automatically closed and locked on command.

"We needed some supplies from the SGC, or Earth in general to make them look better. These things are only a year old really. We had a lot of problems with them crashing a lot, electrical trouble and such. But that's all been ironed out." he said as they followed the van in front of them. They were in the middle of the small convoy.

"No crashes then?" Mitchell asked.

"Nope. What crashes there was, I was in. Safer that way, for others. The top speed on this thing would be, fifty miles an hour. If I do some work to it, I could get it up to seventy, but you really start loosing stability control then."

"Why?" Carter asked. "I have a pretty good idea, but what did my counterpart say?"

"Let's just say that the term, flying brick really is more accurate than you want to think. Kinda built like one anyway. We made them mostly as cargo carrying units and such. We're still in the process of making the Hummer's and other vehicles that we were given compatible for many of the others that live here. Quite a few people here have tails so seat adjustments are a big change."

All of SG-1 looked to see a small wall behind the driver seat. It went up to about the middle of his back. The seat was up just about half a foot to allow the tail to go through. The wall was there to keep the said tail from being either stepped on or hit by anything in the back. The passenger seat was the same way.

"What is it like to have a tail anyway?" Ford asked. "And a big bushy one at that."

"Mine isn't the biggest." Fox Ford said hearing a stifled laugh come Carter.

Mitchell covered a cough while Daniel rolled his eyes. Teal'c raised an eyebrow in confusion for a moment until he realized what the two were laughing about. Jack had, in a sense, told him how certain remarks could be misconstrued and or taken another way.

"A pain in the ass, literally. I slammed my tail in many doors before I finally started remembering I had one. Sam did it a few times, but I think her having pain that lasted longer helped her remember better."

"How much longer before we get there?" Daniel asked.

They all looked at him.

"What?"

Mitchell shook his head and looked back forward, and gasped.

"We're…road, dude!"

Fox Ford looked forward to see he was way off course and about to hit a group of rocks the other van has went around. He quickly veered away and got back on course.

"That was close." Carter muttered.

"Mr. Primus, is everything okay with your vehicle?" a voice said from the com.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just…..took my eyes off the road."

"I thought you told us that was a bad thing. What were you doing?"

Fox Ford growled as the other's laughed. Even Teal'c smiled.

"Nothing really. I'll explain later when I have another class." he said signing off.

"You have classes?" Mitchell asked.

"Now that we have more vehicles to go around, hell yeah. These people have no idea how to drive. It was like driving up to a four way stop and each person keeps tell the other to go and no ever moves or they all go and there is a pile up. Thankfully that only happened once and no one was hurt."

"Good idea. But are you sure that you should be teaching…." Ford began. He got a snarl from his counterpart. "I was kidding."

"Not funny." he said snapping at him. "Bad enough my Sam makes that joke every so often when I go. Unlike many other furs, I will bite."

"If he drives anything like you do…" Carter began knowing he wouldn't attack her, or at least hope it.

"I wish I could, but no vehicle here has that sort of horsepower. I don't count the Hummers and a few other trucks here. And Sam's motorcycle doesn't count. Speaking of horses, I got a funny story for you later General."

"Why can't you tell us?" Daniel asked.

"Well, um……" he said nervously.

"Let me guess, this is like a hung joke?" Mitchell asked. He got a couple of stares. "What? Someone had to ask. And it sounds like that sort of….he said horses."

"Yeah, it is kinda. I'm not used to telling stories like this. No offense, but there is ladies present." he said sheepishly.

"He'd probably tell me the story after I asked anyway." Carter said.

They then proceeded to tell a few stories about Vala.

"Okay. That at least explains the comment back in the commissary. Um, there's this, really big stallion that is great guy, really. Kinda weird to see a horse with hands and feet, but seeing a walking and talking panda bear was cool so. Anyway, Leo is a great worker and loves to climb. About 8 feet tall, build like tank. Oh, that reminds me, thanks for getting that for me."

"What are you doing with it anyway?"

"Not much. I've been working on it slowly."

"You got him a tank?" Mitchell asked. "Why?"

"I like the M1A Abrams. Have one myself. Two actually."

"We own tanks?" Carter asked in shock. "Why? Where the hell are they at? And what for?"

"Warehouse. I'll show you later. Tell as well. It's research purposes mostly."

"Research? On a tank?"

"I outfitted a Charger." he said and after seeing the still questioning look. "I'll explain later."

"Anyway, Leo came in to get checked out by one of the vets that we have stationed here. Betty is a really nice lady. I don't know what it is, but it takes a hell of a lot to surprise her. From the day she got here she didn't stop working for like, 48 hours. Excitement about meeting everyone was too great apparently. That and almost a dozen cups of espresso. Anyway, Leo told me and Sam about a visit he had to go to one day. We all get scheduled check ups every so often. Like every few months and so. Well, Leo went in to…um…."

"Wait a moment. What if we run into him? Is he going to be upset that we know, what I think we're about to learn?" Ford asked.

"No." he said with a laugh. "He's told quite a few people because, ahem, Betty actually hit on him a few times after that."

Carter's jaw dropped as she heard that statement. The guys eyes just widened. Daniel muttered a whoa. Vala, just shrugged.

"Strange as it may sound to you, there's actually a few people here going out with a few of, us furs. One lady here even hit on Siler, not sure if anything happened but I'm guessing nothing did since he hasn't been back. Anyway, Leo was charmed to say the least, but….he's already got…..and no horse, hell no animal jokes at all! You will get in trouble here. Too many people came and told a few jokes, and they didn't go over well. Bad enough I get picked on occasionally because of my color, or hit on. Personally I think I look rather cool."

"This Leo has a mare you mean." Mitchell said.

"Yeah. I think she is expecting in a month or so. I forget. With the threat of the Goa'uld completely gone and such, and thankfully these Ori I heard about not showing up, people have been able to lead better and more normal lives. Less fear of food trouble and possible impending death have made it easier for people to go on with life. Have families and such, explore more. Anyway, Leo is very outgoing, as to having fun in life. Kinda figure with his build you'd expect him to be a runner, be he likes to climb. With or without equipment. With help from Earth books and some videos, he now teaches classes. So, he goes in after hearing that, certain test can be done to check issues and such."

"Had to have that done too." Ford muttered quietly.

"So did I. My Sam thought it was a little invasive on her part for some reason."

"Probably because Janet checked me out is why I wasn't worried or anything." Carter said.

"I should have suggested her seeing Janet, but we really didn't think about it. You guys should already know which test I'm talking about."

They said yeah, not very enthusiastically though. Teal'c was the only one that didn't seem to have a care either way in his voice.

"So Leo goes in, and had to strip. She, ahem, stared. For about a minute. Even dropped her clipboard." he said hearing them all laugh somewhat. "He had to snap his fingers in her face to get her attention diverted. The way he tells it is much more hilarious because of the face he makes. She apologized a lot. He was the first horse she had looked at, ever. All the other, furs before hand were, smaller in stature. Kinda weird to see a five foot tall skunk. But she's a looker. OW! What was that for?! I'm trying to drive!"

"You're married, to me no less!" Carter stated. "The other me, but we're still the same! And don't pull that driving thing on me! I've hit him when he's driving, so I know you can take it!"

"I said she was beautiful, not that I was interested!" he said rubbing his arm. "Obviously you and her still have the same strength."

"Please tell me that is the end of the story with Leo?" Mitchell asked before the two could keep going.

"Yes. That was all he said about that. From what I understand, his wife to be was there and….." he said as they entered the city. "The hospital is a few blocks away. Thankfully we built on a overhang."

"Yeah, it is a rather big downpour." Ford said glancing outside the large window.

The vehicles all parked under the overhang and people got out quickly heading into the hospital. It had to large double doors, big enough a couple large Kodiak bears could get through. There was a reception desk several feet from the front door. On the left was a couple hallways. One kept going to a area with critical patients. Just to the right of the desk was the other hallway that went to less critical patients that were recovering. According to Fox Ford as they were coming in, both those sections could hold about a hundred people if need be. On the left of the desk was a hallway that went to areas where patients got medical treatment, such as surgery or checkups and such. The other hallway on the right kept going to areas were X-rays and other scans plus medical equipment use was done. Checking samples and such. It was a very large one story building with a basement. Down there all supplies were taken. A few elevators and several stairs made it possible to get below in case multiple items were needed at one time. A few human vets/doctors plus a few animal vets/doctors came out from the right hallway to escort the medical team they brought. They all left quickly leaving SG-1 at the reception desk.

"There's isn't anywhere to sit." Mitchell said glancing around.

"Any family or friends are all allowed to go back and wait with whoever is being checked out. Each room is rather big, um, thirty by thirty. Pull a curtain to hide the patient in case something private needs to be done. There's chairs in those rooms. There's privacy here and then sometimes no matter what you do, you don't get as much privacy as you wish. When it comes to certain senses." Fox Ford said tapping his nose. "A lot of things don't become as private. Besides, everyone feels safer with people they know around, mostly family. And all the surgery rooms have windows to allow the families to stay outside and watch, or pray. That's where a lot of the chairs are."

"More room than most medical hospitals." Daniel said.

"Well, some of the people here, let's just say are quite big. Those doors were made with some of the people around here in mind, along with the hallways and such." Fox Ford said.

"Looks like a elephant could get in here." Mitchell said.

"None of those are here, anywhere on this planet. Got a tribe, well you could call it tribe of Rhino's down south several dozen miles. Actually a very nice people, but they stay a little on the secluded side. When you're near ten feet tall like the some of the horses, you tend to stay away from smaller creatures."

"What is the smallest, person or species here?" Carter asked. "And where is the receptionist?"

"I don't know where she is." Fox Ford said looking over the counter. "As for the smallest, it's the mice. Four feet tall if they are lucky. Kinda strange to see considering how small they usually are."

"Mice?" she asked trying not to sound disgusted.

"Trust me, they are nothing like the ones back on Earth. Everyone here is civilized in one way or another. Some will eat meat if we have it, but mostly a lot of them are vegetarians. There's even hedgehogs, but you have to think Sonic with the normal color and much more spikes. Also exclude the large eyes. As for the mice people, when or if you seen any of them, you'd be surprised. It wasn't until I saw the tail and ears that I figured out what they were. Think Splinter from the Ninja Turtles, just less mangy. Smaller nose."

"Is there turtles?" Ford asked.

"Not that we know of. There is some pretty big animals living in the swampy and watery areas, but we haven't done that much in investigating. Little on the history either."

"Heard you finally showed up. Get your butt in there before she comes running out please."

"Oh, there you are. Were you helping someone Selen?" Fox Ford asked the three and a half foot tall squirrel in a red skirt and blouse, as she came from the right hallway.

"Yeah, telling Sam to wait for you to come back. Your children are fine and with her, but she still wants to get out of bed."

"She must not be all that injured. I do the same thing." Carter said.

"You must be her, the human one. I see where she gets her looks. You can all go back, just try not to make a commotion." she said taking her seat behind the desk.

"Which room?"

"Which one do you think?" she asked a little on the sarcastic side.

"Right, first one." he said as they all followed him.

"I gotta know something." Mitchell whispered. "Why is it that all these, animal people, um…."

"What?" Fox Ford asked crossing his arms as they all looked at Mitchell in the empty hallway.

Down the hallway there was door after door after door. On either side. A hallway branched off on either side about five doors down every time.

"When I first read the mission report, I kinda thought that everyone would look more, um….animal like. I didn't expect to see animals walking around like Bugs Bunny in appearance. You're all, animals, but look so human."

"I had the same thought until Melissa showed up behind me all those years ago. Part of me thought that the first female of whatever species we came across would be sporting…well. What is was that Nirriti did was splice human DNA with parts of the animal DNA. Which is how we all have a more human appearance than the animal look you'd think. Though I have looked around, no one here looks like Bugs Bunny or any other character from that series of cartoons. On the bright side, there's no pig people here either."

"Yeah, Porky wasn't all that pretty to begin with." Mitchell said.

"And I never saw a pretty pig in any cartoon." Fox Ford said.

They walked into the first room to see a pulled curtain around a bed. There was a couple of kids leaning against each other on a couch. They were both females and the group noticed Fox Ford smile at them fondly. They both opened their eyes and saw them. After a small wave, they both fell back asleep. One of them had blue eyes with blue tips on their fur, on the tail, hands, ears, and their hair. The rest of what they could see was all white. They were both wearing knee high jeans and sneakers along with tank tops. The other one had frost blue eyes and nails, totally blue hair that spiked in a few areas like Carter's did. The rest of her was all white.

"Cute kids." Ford said.

"Thanks. They mean the world to us." Fox Ford said fondly.

The bed and curtain were next to the wall on their left like the door was attached to. Beside the bed was the same thing you'd find at any hospital. Monitors and such keeping track of the patient along with the hanging bag of fluids. Behind that was a twelve foot long counter that had many drawers under it and several cabinets above it. Against the far wall on the right was the couch and a coffee table. There was nothing on the table surprisingly. There was also a reclining chair on either side of the couch. All the furniture for sitting was fixed to be adjusted for allowing small or large tails to go through. Just a few feet away from the door, against the wall was a small two door cabinet about four feet high. With a coffee maker on top along with the condiments that went with. Paper cups and such.

"That explains the large amount of orders for the coffee makers and cabinets, and the things that go with it." Ford said.

"Yep. A five hundred plus order. This one gets the most attention and has had to be replaced…um, three times now. Or was it more? I forgot." Fox Ford said as he peeked into the curtain. He pulled it back seeing it was safe.

Fox Samantha was lying on the bed in a blue hospital gown. The tip of her tail was between her ankles. She had pushed the sheets and such to the end not wanting to sleep anymore. A few pillows were behind her back and head keeping her sat up. She had been looking at something on a laptop, but set it aside as the curtain was pulled open. Her hair was a lot longer, more than shoulder length. It had lost some of its color though.

"Took you longer enough." she said crossing her arms as she glared at him and his counterpart. She smiled at the others though but her eyes showed she was not happy with either Fords. "Hey Daniel. Teal'c. It's Mitchell, right?"

"Yeah, it's me." he said looking a little surprised. "Been awhile, for you anyway. Um, forgive me if I seem to stare. You're not what I expected."

"Still can't bring pictures to Earth yet?" she asked looking at her counterpart.

"No. We had to take them all and bring them back here." Carter said. "To many people kept trying to take them out of the base. Jack tried once, saying it was a joke to see if he could. I still think otherwise."

"We can bring them back now. Got a place to hide them that no one can get to." Ford said.

"Where?" Fox Ford asked.

"I'll show you later. You're going to hate me when you see it though."

"I'm going to hate you to huh?" Fox Carter asked.

"Probably." he said not looking her direction.

"You know what it is?" Fox Carter asked her counterpart.

"Oh yeah." she said smiling. "I'll tell you later when he's not around."

"What? Why can't I know?" Fox Ford asked.

"You'd freak for one thing." Ford said. "I did."

Fox Ford narrowed one of his eyes.

"What would make us freak…"

"Shouldn't we come back later or something?" Daniel asked pointing at the couch. "They get their ability to sleep through practically anything from me." Fox Ford said proudly. "Unless there is something bad happening or I need them, we could have a party…..well, maybe that would wake them. They'd want to join for the cake if anything. Otherwise, us talking won't wake them."

"When did you two have, two?" Ford asked. "We're still dealing with one."

"You both love every minute of it don't you?" Fox Carter asked.

"Oh yeah." the two said.

"Nancy came first. Um, about a month after we ended up here we found out she was pregnant." Fox Ford said with a little cough.

"They almost look about the same age." Daniel said.

"Sally, which is a name I liked." Fox Carter said. "She came shortly after Nancy."

"Their twins then?" Mitchell asked. "They don't really look alike, much."

"No. Not twins." Fox Carter said giving her husband a certain look that made him cringe. "And we better not have any either."

"That goes for you to." Carter said.

"There was no twins in our line that I knew of." Ford said raising his hands.

"Sally came a few months after Nancy. I mean, Sam was pregnant again a few months after Nancy."

"You two do have more free time than us." Ford said. "Not having to work like we do I mean."

"And I would give it all up to work at the SGC again. Going off world and such. Not the family thing though." Fox Carter said getting out of the bed slowly. "You all need to leave for the moment. And as much as I can see in your eyes that you would…."

"What?! That's not…" Ford began as Carter looked at him.

"That was too easy. Way too easy. I miss doing that to Jack. Okay, jokes over, go." Fox Carter said with a laugh as she pointed.

They got the message and started out.

"Can you stay Sam?"

"Sure."

"Wait a moment, quick question for you two." Ford said as Fox Carter let go of her robe. "Those two on the couch, any signs that might show Harsesis abilities?"

The two foxes looked at each other while thinking.

"Good question. We never even thought about that possibility." Fox Carter said rubbing her head. "Um…we know they are very smart, but…."

"No abilities or special memories that they've shown or told us about." Fox Ford said.

"Our Sally isn't showing any signs either. The sad thing is we didn't even think about it." Carter said. "It took Daniel asking about it while I was sleeping after just after she was born. Other than the high intelligence…."

"About the same as your two. Let us know if anything changes." Ford said as the two nodded.

They walked out and closed the door.

"Gives a whole new meaning to talking to yourself." Mitchell said with a smile.

Daniel shook his head. A smile tugged at Teal'c lips. The other two shrugged.

"You were curious weren't you?" Vala asked.

"No!"

"Come on, I could even see it in your eyes that the thought crossed your mind." Vala said.

"No. It wouldn't be right for one thing." he stated as everyone was looking at him. "Besides. Same women, just add the fur. I will admit she is attractive, but otherwise no."

"You are curious…" Mitchell said with a sly smile.

"I am now that we've dwelled on the subject for so long. Doesn't mean I'm going to ask to have a look."

"But you're thinking about it." Daniel said with the same smile.

"And you complain I spend to much time talking with Jack. Humph. Guess I ain't the only one that he rubbed off on."

"That's almost insulting." Daniel said.

"Is there any other action is this story? Romantic dribble and drama does not make for a good story." the Klingon said.

"I'm…getting to it." he said taking another drink.

He almost said he was surprised that the Klingon knew what romance and drama was, in a sense. He was smarter than that though. He was quite sure that the Klingon would enjoy fighting with him, seeing as they both had tremendous strength, but fighting wasn't allowed.

"I must say I am fascinated with learning how this story ends." Picard said.

"Quite a few other things happened. But that would probably take another hour or so to talk about, no action, so I'll skip ahead."

After seeing how bad the situation was and helping everyone around the area with different needs, such as medical, repairs and preparation for incoming attacks. It took about two hours. One of the other teams went back to the SGC to inform them of what they were doing and the current situation. SG-1, with both the two foxes were going to check out the temple. They took one of the modified Hummers. Draco offered to send a group of volunteers with them to help, but they declined. Less people to look after, the better. Draco personally asked if they found Melissa and if she was unfortunately dead, bring her back. Teal'c parked it several feet from the open door. From what they could tell as they all got out, the door was open and there was quite a few footprints on the ground. Nothing big though, like they were searching for.

"They've been here recently." Fox Carter said smelling it in the air.

"Kinda envious." Ford said.

"Trust me. There are some things that we have learned to try and avoid as much as possible." Fox Ford said shaking his head with a shudder. "Other's we had to wait out."

"We can understand that." Ford said getting on the ground and listening.

"What are…." Fox Ford began.

"Shh! That goes for all of you."

Not even ten seconds later.

"We have superior hearing…." Fox Ford began when he looked at the ground.

He also got down and listened to the ground. Fox Carter looked around with an unease feeling.

"What's going on?" Carter asked.

"The air, feels wrong. Could call it instinct, feeling of danger." Fox Carter whispered as she pointing her PC-90.

The other's lifted their weapons looking around.

"Something is approaching." Teal'c stated as he swung around the hip cannon.

"It's underground." the two Ford's said getting up quickly.

"We never had any reports of any attacks coming from up under the ground." Fox Carter said.

"The seismologists reported unusual disturbances that weren't part of the normal activity." Fox Ford said. "A few 3 and one 4. No where near us, but it's not normal."

"What's the normal activity?" Mitchell asked.

"A little less than California. Say about 2 is as high as it gets." Fox Carter said. "How did you notice….."

"Something crawled under my foot, or so it felt. Several inches down or so I guess. But the ground moved." Ford said.

They went in slowly keeping watch, just in case it was them moving around a lot that made whatever was under them agitated. Once inside, they had Teal'c fire off a round into the sand somewhat away from the doorway. The ground erupted as expected and they waited to see what would come up, if anything. Several, at least 5 inch in diameter snakes, poked their heads out of the ground, flicked a tongue and went back under quickly. While the other's must have went deeper, one did pass by Hummer before going under it and then disappeared.

"They don't have any eyes." Fox Ford said.

"That one had to be at least 7 feet long." Mitchell said. "What do you mean no eyes?"

"I didn't see any. One of them did, look or I should say was licking the air in this direction. Other than the mouth and the tongue, I didn't see any eyes or anything close."

"I thought I saw that too, but I couldn't tell." Ford said.

"We have better eyesight." the two foxes said.

"Let's not rub each other's differences and betterments in..."

The four looked at Mitchell.

"Let's just get to looking around in here. I don't think they are coming in here." Mitchell said pointing behind him.

"Okay. We all know where the rings are….well, most…" Fox Carter began.

"I saw the report and blueprints." Mitchell said as they were walking.

"Melissa is still at that temple we're going to." Fox Ford said. "And hopefully alive."

"We haven't actually heard what really went on." Daniel said.

"We ringed over to check out the forcefield out and see about seeing what was behind it and such." Fox Ford said.

"I figured that there was some emitter in one of the rocks or the wall, hidden or purposely made to look like the wall or something inconspicuous." Fox Carter said.

"What about that room we found her father in, um…I remember his name started with a V." Carter said.

"Vash. Yeah, we intended to check out that room too, but ended up using it to escape. It didn't take long after for the, creatures to leave that temple and show up in town." Fox Ford said as they entered the lower chamber.

The group noticed that both of the foxes shuddered.

"What was that?" Mitchell asked.

"You said you read the report, did you read mine and what this place was?" Fox Ford asked.

"Yeah I did. Wait, are you saying you two feel, like the ghost of those tortured here or something?" he asked with a wave of his hand.

"Or something." the two said glancing around uneasy as they approached the pillar.

They all got into the rings as Daniel was looking at the controls.

"Okay, here we go."

They came down and then dropped them in the lab where Vash was found so long ago. Mitchell and Daniel were standing on either side of Teal'c while Ford and Carter were on the right with their fox counterparts on the left. Everyone was instantly alert and pointing their weapons at the door. No one moved or made to move forward.

"Um, Mitchell?"

"Yeah General?"

"I'm probably not the only one thinking this, aren't you suppose to be the guy in charge here? Seeing As I gave command back in the city."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm thinking." he said looking at the two foxes near him. "You two tensed up so much…."

"Yeah, something is still here." Fox Ford muttered keeping his weapon pointed.

"I don't think it's one of the big ones." Fox Carter said not lowering her weapon either.

"One of us has to go out there." Ford said looking over at his counterpart.

"I'm not going…" Daniel began and then seeing the two looking at each other. "Never mind."

"You both go." Mitchell said.

"Don't shoot us in the back." the two said as they went forward slowly.

"Not that we'd do anything. Your coats are practically impenetrable." Daniel said.

Both of them couldn't fit through the door at the same time though.

"You go first." Fox Ford said still at ready.

"Why?" Ford asked casually.

"You have the personal cannon."

"Right." he said looking to his left first. Nothing was there and he quickly looked the other direction. "It's clear."

They took off toward the former room with the shielded wall, keeping a carefully look around each corner and listening for anything or anyone. A few corridors back they noticed a hole in the ceiling and was told that there was rooms above them as well. Seeing as it was to high to look into and the two foxes were pretty sure no one was up there, they continued on. They all stopped when Ford spotted something.

"I see Melissa. Or a couple of feet anyway that look like hers."

"How do you know?" Fox Ford asked looking around a corner as well.

"She's the only one I ever saw white cowboy boots."

"Right. Actually, she's the only one that really has any white clothing."

"I just realized something. There's a lot of furs here who wear leather. And that was before we arrived all those years ago. Explain that?" Ford asked.

"There is cows, not sentient like us. Just like Earth cows, probably came from Earth. But they are many miles away and taken care of on a large ranch. A long and sturdy fence keeps them from even trying to come to town. There is at least a thousand heads of cattle. You think manure smells bad to you, it's worse for us. I forget who all works there though." Fox Ford said.

"Hmm."

They all went around a corner slowly and carefully and kept watch as he looked around the corner further. Thankfully he found a fully intact body. Melissa was in semi terrible shape. Her clothes were ripped and damaged in many areas. There was blood in each of the rips and tears and a few small puddles from where she was laying. He got down as the others came around keeping watch. Both Carter's got down as Ford was slowly checking for broken bones. Fox Carter adjusted the ripped coat over Melissa's chest quickly as they turned her over after finding no broken bones.

"She's alive. Pulse is strong, surprisingly. I can only hope that she doesn't have any internal injuries." he said standing up.

"May not be a pen light, but her eyes dilate." Carter said shining it a few times.

"We can't leave her here. I mean as to this spot. Um…." Mitchell said glancing around like the other's were. "Any suggestions?"

"Why not just wake her?" Daniel asked.

"I'm going to. We need to know if she's hurt worse than she looks." Fox Carter said pulling some of the salts from her med kit.

Melissa slowly woke up and squinted her eyes in pain. A few coughs racked her body as someone was speaking to her.

"Melissa, can you hear me?" Fox Carter asked.

"Yes." she muttered weakly. "What happened?"

"We ran away from those creatures and somehow you didn't make it to the ring room with us. We came back when we were able to get help."

"How long?"

"Several hours. Thank god nothing came back and dragged you away."

She slowly opened her eyes and had to blink them several times before things cleared up.

"SG-1." she muttered with a weak smile. And then she noticed something was different. "Um, are you SG-1?"

"Do you think you can sit up?" Fox Ford asked.

She nodded lightly and they helped her sit against the wall. Both Carter's were looking Melissa over to see if she was still bleeding or worse.

"Anything feel broken?" Carter asked.

"No. I'm just really sore. Feels like…Ah!" she exclaimed suddenly.

"Sorry. Your tail got cut pretty badly. I don't think it needs stitches…" Fox Carter began. She turned and started feeling her own.

"What are you doing?" Mitchell asked.

"I don't think you can stitch a tail. At least not ours." she muttered letting go. "It's just mostly bone."

"We are not cutting off my tail. I am not ending up like Hite did." Melissa said very sternly as she tried to get up.

"Be careful." Fox Carter said as she and her counterpart with Fox Carter helped her to her feet. "Your tail might be fine if you don't hit anything with it, but your left leg does need stitches, even though it did clot up."

Mel looked down carefully, or started to when she noticed that Fox Carter's hand was on holding her coat closed.

"You're um, shirt is ripped." she muttered letting go as Mel held it closed.

"Great, and the buttons are all gone."

"No one saw anything, if you're wondering." Fox Carter said quietly.

"We'll take you back to town and check things out here then. Just in case, is there anyone else here?" Mitchell asked.

"There was two other's with us, but they got pulled away." Fox Ford said.

"How about you all go over there and keep your backs to us while we work." Carter said.

Vala even went over leaving the three to work on Melissa. Mostly on her tail and the cut in her left leg that started about the middle of her shin and went to her hip was the main injuries on her. Everything else was some long gashes and cuts that had closed up on their own rather well. Her white suit was ruined to the point it wouldn't be worth even trying to repair. The two Carter's were bandaging her the best they could as Fox Ford was telling them about how they fought off some of the smaller creatures on the way back to the rings when they lost the two and then realized that Melissa wasn't with them when he stopped.

"What's wrong?" Ford asked his counterpart as he saw him look at her then him a few times. When his coat was opened and looked in. "Um, I'd offer my coat just like the one you have, but even at peak condition, she couldn't wear it."

"I know that. But unlike you, I don't have a SGC BDU coat on." Fox Ford said tugging on his counterparts shirt. "None of us here can help her with pants, but at least…so anyway, Randis we lost that last corner back. Net'al decided to go help him and she managed to zat a few of the creatures from existence before she was also being dragged away. We tried to go after, but more of the small creatures showed up and….we retreated."

While he was talking, Ford removed his coat and vest and then the SGC BDU coat. He didn't even bother to remove the stars on the shoulders as he tossed it to his Carter and then put the vest and coat back on.

"Who's Hite?" Mitchell asked.

"Yeah, Mel seemed very, adamant about not getting her tail touched." Daniel stated.

"He um, is a, German Sheppard, by species. Anyway, uh, didn't move out of the way totally or I should say, wasn't fully in the back on one of those vans once when the doors closed. I won't go into details, but a lot of screaming was involved." Fox Ford said with sympathy and horror on his face.

"They had to cut his tail off. It's happened a few times in the past to some other's." Melissa said limping over with Ford's coat on, completely button up. "He's still learning to walk."

"And seeing a counselor." Fox Carter said. "I can see it, but then I also can't see the problem with not having a tail anymore."

"Same here. I even tried talking to him, but he didn't seem to respond much. I guess just having to learn to walk again is more than he can take. They say it's going to take at least a year for him to even be able to run again." Fox Ford said.

"Wow. Your tails make that much difference in balancing?" Mitchell asked.

"Yes. Surprisingly it does." Fox Carter said. "For humans, it's in the ears. For us, it's both."

"How are you feeling?" Daniel asked.

"I'll manage. Going to be a slow walk back to town when we get done here." Melissa said with a grimace. "Let's see if the other two might be in here first."

Fox Ford handed over his zat to her as Mitchell asked what they were looking for.

"Ranis is a, short horse. Not a pony, or donkey, or mule." Fox Ford said as they were slowly going forward again. "He's actually a very short horse."

"Net'al is black Panther. They were, are, if they are still alive, together." Fox Carter said.

"I thought you told me once you all stayed within each other's.." Ford began as he stopped to look around the last corner.

"Most of us do. It's not something we stop or condone. After the threat of the Goa'uld not coming back, more of us started to become more outgoing. It was considered a blessing for many who loved others outside their own, breed. Curse for me in some ways." Melissa said from being in the middle of the group.

"Why?" Daniel asked.

"The guy I was going to marry left me for some Bobcat. I'm better off without him anyway. I didn't really like some aspects of his personality." she said shrugging. "Ow."

They slowly entered the room to find the shield was gone. And so was part of the door. The room beyond was completely empty though it had blood stains just about everywhere. Thankfully it was dry, but the smell was still there. Surprisingly there wasn't any bones or anything else. Just a totally empty, but very big and open room. All around the floor against the walls was metal grating, a couple inches in thickness. On the top of the ceiling was some old sprinkler system that had long since stopped being useful. According to the computers they managed to access, the sprinklers were used to spray the creatures and room down to get rid of the waste products. With the slight incline of the floor on either side going down the middle of the room, it made everything go down the grates. At the far end of the room, another large door was open. A large pile of bricks that was in the doorway to the outside world ended up being what was left of the door. They all cautiously approached.

"This is a big doorway." Mitchell muttered.

"Indeed. I believe the intended purpose was to allow the bigger creatures to leave and return. For study purposes." Teal'c stated.

"And the smaller door we came through was small to keep them from coming into the lab area." Vala said. "But why would there be smaller creatures then if they could get through the doorway?"

"There wasn't small creatures before. The computers stated the creatures were all big." Melissa said as he rubbed her leg lightly. "From what we could guess, these creatures got out and, ended up mutating or mating with the other life outside. There was once a large force field active that contained the creatures in a couple square miles. It failed when we accidentally turned off the field to the room we are in that they had escaped from. Some of the bigger creatures along with a few smaller ones lived together here as a sort of den. Without that field, they were able to wander outside the zone and attack us."

"There is a close resemblance to those half furry reptiles that live in the forest." Fox Ford said.

"Is it just me, or are you two also feeling overly cautious and…" Fox Carter said with a hint of fear in her voice.

"In danger?" Mel asked. "Yeah, I feel like I'm being watched, by a predator."

"I ignore it, and face it." Fox Ford said with a growl as he sniffed the air.

"You heal, we don't." the two fox girls said.

Both Ford's walked up, got on either side and held their little mirrors out.

"Nothing." the both said together as they noticed nothing outside the walls.

"Nice view though." Mitchell said as he and the other's walked up to the opening and looked out.

For miles and miles, they saw a magnificent forest below them. A very large ramp sort of walkway lead down into the forest. It was still intact, but showed many signs of use. Claw marks, dried blood and fur along with some feathers were here and there. From what they noticed after stepping out, the doorway was huge. Since the room was big enough for a cargo ship to enter and be flying high enough to use the rings system, the door was extremely huge even though the door wasn't open. The ramp was also the same size in width and how long it was, they couldn't tell because the forest was growing up the slant slowly. It wasn't cracked at the top, but the bottom had many visible cracks from where roots had split it in various areas.

There was mountains to their left, but a good couple hundred miles away, covered with thick snow topped peaks. The mountain range continued up out of view because of the building they were in and went the other direction out of view as well. To the right, was the continuing expanse of forest that Mel said eventually lead to where the town was, and somewhere had the Stargate in it. The run off from those mountains, which was continuous all year, eventually made up the river that ran near one edge of the town. So far, the water was still considered fresh water and a area just outside the town that opened into a deeper spot was where swimming was allowed. Any closer to town was off limits to avoid causing contamination. Even though things were brought from Earth to help them, the water was much cleaner than any run off on Earth. And much safer to drink than Brita water. However, they did run the water through a cleaning system, mostly because other animals in the forest may have done more than drink from it.

"Must be the run off from those mountains that keep this forest going." Ford said.

"It is." Mel said.

"Daniel, you got a camera…" Mitchell said.

"Getting it out now." he said looking in his bag.

"I swear we are being watched." Fox Carter said as Daniel took several pictures.

"Probably from whatever lives in there." Mel said pointing below them. "But it feels closer."

They turned around hearing rocks move and saw small rocks falling from the doorway and rolling around on the ground.

"Probably just settling. Us talking and walking around and such…" Mitchell muttered as he began turning around.

"I strongly disagree." Teal'c stated with a worried voice.

They looked up slowly. What they should have seen was the top of building or temple. Considering what it was once used for, the different names got kinda confusing after awhile. Torture Temple, Temple of Pain, Building of Horror, Lab of Abominable Acts. There was others, some rather derogatory in nature, but the word temple was used often. Anyway, they didn't see the top. They saw something that made them all cringe in fear instead of aiming their weapons. All three foxes were very tense and in more fear than the others. Mostly because of the instinct to want to run from danger. The same creature that had came through the gate into the SGC, was staring at them, about ten feet away. Despite the short distance, and being above them, they could smell its foul breath. It got worse as it opened its mouth and roared at them. And then it jumped.

"RUN!" Mitchell yelled.

He really didn't have to say it as he noticed he wasn't the first one back into the building. They kept running even after the floor shook from the impact from the creature landing. He glanced back long enough to see the creature roar again and come through the opening, making it bigger as it chased after them. They ran through the smaller opening and turned around quickly. Teal'c didn't even hesitate to fire the large staff weapon on his hip. The first hit, right in the face, didn't even slow it down. The second, third and then finally fifth one blew a hole in its head and made it drop. That and the other's firing at it helped.

"Good one Teal'c." Mitchell said rubbing his forehead and putting his cap back on.

"We're missing people." Carter said looking around.

"Sam? Mel?" Fox Ford said glancing around and then shouting their names.

"Ford and Daniel are missing too." Mitchell said as he glanced around and then grabbed his com. "Jackson, General, Melissa, Sam. Any of you read?"

They waited a moment and then heard movement back down the corridor.

"I'm getting that bad feeling again." Fox Ford said as the group started to check it out. "I don't think it is them."

"What else could it…." Carter began asking when something big came around the corner. "Oh god."

"Not another one of these." Fox Ford whined. "Nobody move. I want its attention on me."

"But…" Mitchell began.

"Shh! Trust me. We've dealt with these before."

It looked like a very large cobra, however, the fan like part on either side of its head was rigged like a saw blade, and the enormous snake was white. Except its eyes. The two large fangs were at least two feet long and dripping with venom that burned the floor with each drop. It slowly slithered into the room, keeping a watch on them all as they backed up.

"Is it intelligent like…" Carter started asking.

"No." Fox Ford said quickly as he held up a hand and waved it back and forth slowly. "Like most snakes, from what I understood back on Earth, they will keep a close watch on a moving object until it stops. That could have been cobras only, I'm not sure."

"It seems to apply here." Mitchell said seeing the snake follow Fox Ford's hand with its head.

"Back up very slowly." Fox Ford said as he continued to wave. "When it strikes, you don't want to be near me."

"Teal'c could just…." Mitchell began.

"These move faster than bullets, or so it seems. Okay, I think you're all far enough back from the sounds of it. Teal'c, are you ready to fire?"

"Indeed."

"When I say when, not before."

"Understood."

"Try not to jump, and please don't scream. Once I stop moving my hand, it will go for me."

"And…" Mitchell began as the hand stopped and Fox Ford quickly raised his other one.

"Wait, how did you know what was going on if you weren't there?" a guy in the crowd asked.

"He's probably going to say he jumped in with the others at the last second and blew the snakes head off." someone else said.

"You weren't there. You heard it from your friends later." Shelby stated.

"Very observant of you Captain Shelby." Ford said with a smile after taking a drink. "God I if just had one bean seed for this coffee, I'd be the riches and most liked man in the world. I could get world peace with this stuff. No, I wasn't there or about to attack. You'll hear about me and the other three rather soon. I have always been great with talking about details, so my counterpart was able to fill all the, details, really well. So…"

The snake striked so quickly that they didn't even see it move in. The head moved back and then it was a couple feet from them. They could reach out and touch it's nose if they wanted. Carter cried out a moment and backed up into the wall. Fox Ford had barely managed to catch the two fangs that almost entered his back. They did poke into his shoulders, but the coat kept them from piercing. However, the venom was burning his coat. The strike had also pushed him back a few feet and almost to his knees for a moment.

"Teal'c…" he said standing up.

Though the snake was larger than a normal snake, and had stronger than normal scales that were bullet proof, except for armor piercing rounds at close range, it couldn't withstand the blast from the staff weapon. It burned right through the skin between the eyes and blasted out the back of its head. Fox Ford quickly pushed the head away as more venom started to drain out. He quickly tossed his coat off, away from the dying snake and grabbed the canteen from his hip.

"Is that venom acid based?" Carter asked.

"Yes." he said pouring water on the burnt areas of the coat. "Even burns through glass. Don't touch it. And you screamed."

"I did not." she stated.

"I'd call it more of a yelp." Mitchell said.

She huffed and walked past the dead creature.

"How in the hell did this even get in here? We should have seen it, or at least heard it." Mitchell said.

"Probably from that hole above us we passed before." Fox Ford said picking up his coat as Teal'c followed Carter.

"You two find them?" Mitchell asked as the other two walked out.

"They must have rolled down the incline and into the forest." Carter said as she looked through her binoculars. "Or one of the cracks."

Mitchell tried his com again as Fox Ford was looking through binoculars as well.

"I see a boot poking out from that large crack." he said rushing down, only to trip and start rolling. He quickly used his gun to slow his decent as they were walking down at a fast pace, but more cautiously.

"Not a word." he said getting up slowly.

"So where is all that balance…" Mitchell began only to stop quickly as he was snarled at. "Never mind."

"Better." Fox Ford said going down faster to the boot. "It's Daniel. He's unconscious and upside down. By the looks of some of the broken roots, the other's are down further."

Teal'c and Mitchell slowly got Daniel out, finding he was bruised and scrapped, but otherwise just fine. No broken bones or internal injuries as far as the two could tell. While he was being checked out, Carter and Fox Ford were looking down the large crack. It measures at least seven feet wide and the depth was rather far. Some roots were jumbled together while others were far enough apart that things like people or smaller animals could fall through. They did notice some claw marks on a few roots as they descended into the darkness, some scraps of clothing, mostly being parts of the dirty white suit of Mel's and what they figured was parts of the shirt she got from Ford. They tried calling out to them, but got no response.

The large animal jumped at them. Ford heard Mitchell yelling for them to run. He noticed Daniel start to move only to be slipping back and falling. Mel wasn't moving and neither was Fox Carter. They were to paralyzed to move and the creature was going to land on Fox Carter in the next second. He grabbed Fox Carter by the arm and pulled just in time as they both fell into Melissa and started tumbling down the incline with Daniel. He was still conscious and from what he could see, Fox Carter was too because she curled up to try and stop rolling while avoiding hurting her self. Melissa had passed out and Daniel had fell into the large crack they were heading for. Above, during the rolls, Ford noticed the creature not following and heard gun fire, plus that staff weapon. He managed to stop himself from sliding further as he heard Fox Carter cry out for help. She was hanging onto a root, three feet down, while trying to hold Mel under her left arm so she didn't fall further. Her claws had left marks in a few roots above her plus on the rock wall where she lost her grip.

"I'm coming!" he yelled crawling down quickly. "Daniel, we need…"

"Wait, the roots aren't all…" she began.

They snapped under his feet and he fell past them grabbing a larger root just under them. The root she had hold of started cracking and snapped before she could even look around. Ford managed to grab her free hand before she fell further and Carter managed to keep hold of Mel by her shirt, which almost ripped off.

"Sam?!"

"I'm okay. Hands are sore. Broke a couple claws. Don't laugh.."

"Mel still alive?" he asked trying to glance around at the barely visible light they had streaming in while trying not to laugh, despite the situation.

"As far as I can tell. How long can you hold on?"

"Got a death grip, which is the problem. I can't see anything because there is so little light and I don't know much more of this root there is before my hand rips it in half."

"And here I thought I had the claws." she muttered. "Can you pull me up enough so I can grab you around the waist or something to give you a free hand?"

"Hang on." he said straining as he pulled the two closer.

"Didn't have to pull me this high." she said wrapping her right arm around his neck as they heard the root cracking.

"Better here than you ripping my pants off." he said activating the light on his vest. "Oh look, a large root we can drop onto."

She looked down seeing it was a very wide root, less than two feet below going into either side of the rock face. She then looked above them as he let go.

"Wait…." she cried.

They landed on the large root and he managed to hold them both so they didn't slide off. After helping her up to sit beside him, he pulled Mel up and laid her down.

"Mitchell, anyone?" Ford asked into his com. He started to try again when it came away in his hands. "You've got to be kidding."

"Broke it again? You're counterpart breaks his a lot too." she said trying hers. "All I get is static and Mel doesn't have one."

"Turn you're light on."

She did and it helped them see where they were. The root he had had hold of was ready to snap on any sharp tugs and the other roots nearby were old, cracking or too far away to grab. Or too small to climb, much less grab in a capacity for them to hang on to. Without help, they were not getting out. And the root they were on, it was dead and cracking badly. And slowly drooping with them on it.

"We need to get off this, quick." she said. "You still carry that cable gun?"

"No. I only had it because it was made for scaling cliffs in other missions before the SGC. In my past and such."

"My Ford won't say a damn thing either about it."

"Good. No one needs to know that info. I'd prefer to forget it if I could. I'm guessing you don't have any rope." he said as they heard more cracking.

"No. I don't even have a full pack. Just extra clips, med-pack and a few things like that. What about your sword? You could stick it into the wall…"

"Don't have it with me. Got a new sword now and I'm wishing I brought it as well. We could stand on it and wait for help to arrive."

"There's a few more bigger roots below us." she said looking down with the light. "I can't see any way up, so we're better off going down to a more secure root."

"I weigh the most, so I'll go down and see if it is safe. Maybe this one won't break with me on it."

"Be careful." she said touching his arm. "You're not mine, but I still care and I know she'd hate me if you didn't come back."

"This is me." he said with a smile.

"That's what I am worried about." she said as he slid off and dropped about six feet.

The root held, but part of it ripped under his feet and he slid off barely grabbing on.

"Ford?!"

"I'm fine!" he yelled as he slowly was able to crawl back up on it. "That was close."

"Ford, it is still cracking."

"I see it. It's about to break any second down here and it's coming out of the wall. Drop Melissa."

"Are you sure you can catch her?"

"Gotta try. I can't catch you both when it breaks. On three." he said gritting his teeth for the pain he knew was about to come.

Sam watched as she slowly slid Mel over the edge, holding her under the arms, and then let go. Seeing as there was a very good chance of him grabbing her and then sliding off, her caught her, and then dropped down straddling the root. Carter saw what he did and had to cringed at the pain she knew he had to be in.

"Ford?" she asked after a few moments.

"Give me a moment." he squeaked out.

Mel stirred slightly and felt a weight on her chest. And heard crying. Someone was holding her close, a little too close for her liking. Plus, she could tell that the it was a bit more, drafty. The shirt that Ford had given her wasn't as intact as before. And his face was a little too close to a certain part of her body she knew was exposed.

"I'm not dead." Mel said seeing Ford leaning over her body crying.

"I know." he squeaked out again.

"You ca…are you alright?"

"No." he said slowly sitting up.

She sat up and noticed where they were and then saw Fox Carter above her. She got up slowly and moved back as he pushed on her leg. He stuck his right blade into the root as the root Carter was on cracked further and dropped. Carter reached out grabbing his extended left hand as the root fell into the darkness. A quick swing got her up where the other two were. He removed the blade, laid back and slowly pulled his legs up laying them out straight as Carter sat down rubbing her tail.

"What happened?" Mel asked sitting down and rubbing her aching head. "How far did we drop?"

Mel had pity on her face as Carter told her what happened, especially with what Ford went through to catch her. While she was being told all this, she turned away and did what she could with the shirt to cover herself.

"Ouch. Sorry Ford."

"No problem." he said barely moving. "Let's all stay awake. I don't want to do that again. Oh, Sorry Melissa. That was not intentional."

"I didn't think it was."

"Still hurting?" Carter asked.

"Subsiding slowly. I want to go home. So, how far do you think we are Sam?"

"I can't really tell. It's rather hard to see any sunlight. I'd guess though, 40 feet down."

"How far till bottom?" Mel asked.

"I don't know." Carter said as she looked down. "I hope one bullet won't make any difference."

She dropped it and barely seconds later, they heard a small splash. Ford sat up and the two shined their lights, not seeing anything but blackness.

"That could be very deep water." Carter said.

"Other than that storm, when was the last time it rained Mel?" Ford asked.

"Um, one of your weeks. These plants suck up a lot of water though. So many trees and roots like this must take most of it in. That root that broke must have died out years ago. Possibly because it was crushed somewhere during that quake several years back. The one we are on must belong to a very strong tree whose root wasn't damaged with shifting of rocks in this region."

She looked around some more and then dug a claw into the root looking at a section.

"A very healthy root. Should hold until they find us." she said tossing the small bit off into the darkness.

"What?" Ford asked after a moment.

"Oh. I'm taking horticultural. I've always found plants fascinating." Mel said.

"That's, interesting."

"I got her the books and other things she needed when she mentioned the interest years ago." Carter said. "She even helped us with our garden. Which I hear is much better than yours."

"Huh?"

"Don't you and my Ford send letters to each other, or at least talk in some way?" Carter asked.

"No."

"Now there is a typical guy thing. So much for all that communication." Carter muttered.

"I communicate a lot!"

"Is there a relevance for this part of the story?" someone in the crowd asked.

"Yes, there is. You just have to wait and find out." Ford said finishing the coffee. "So…."

"Just not with yourself." Carter said as Mel started cracking up. "And talking to yourself personally doesn't count. I've seen my Ford also do it."

"Wait a minute. You're dissing on me after I've saved your life?"

"We've got to do something until we get rescued. My com is totally open to anyone listening so they'll hear us at some point. Besides, we've both got those watches on so they can locate us. To pass the time, we need to do something. I figure why not compare the differences between spouses. And since I'd rather not hear about my counterpart, mostly since we communicate regularly, usually through letters…."

"I do it with my counterpart too." Mel said. "It was strange at first, but now I look forward to sending letters. She promised me a tour, if the knowledge of the gate becomes public any time soon."

"You two are ganging up on me."

The two looked at each other and then smiled at him.

"There's nothing better to do."

He could only shake his head while running his hands over his face as they laughed.

"Why me?" he muttered making them laugh further.

"Because, you are so easy." Carter said giggling. "So, why is it you don't talk to him?"

"What would we even talk about?"

"Well, how things are going in each other's worlds for instance. Just like what me and your Sam do. Maybe even how the sex is. I think it is better for us." she said seeing his face turn really red in the light.

"I really liked the letter she got that said, he shifts my orbit." Mel said. "I didn't get it until Sam explained the other phrase."

"Why couldn't I get stuck with the guys instead?" he muttered as he looked up. "You tell her about…"

"Janet isn't here and I needed some girl to talk to. Mel is just one of a few girls I really trust. We talk about pretty much everything." Carter said. "She was there helping me when I gave birth to Nancy and Sally."

"You're midwife too?" Ford asked raising a eyebrow.

"I've helped deliver…" Mel said looking up thinking. "Um, I've lost count. Before SG-1 first arrived on our planet, it was just over a dozen. After finding we were going to be safe and people could live more freely now, more people got together and then lots of children came."

"Yeah, there's a big school now. It's fun to see children laughing. I love hearing mine laugh. Being a mother is so incredible. It's one of the more important things your Sam and I talk about."

"We want two more, but Sally takes most of our free time, plus our work makes it difficult to have more. We figure we'll wait a few more years and see what happens. K-9 assures me that even at fifty she'll still be healthy enough to have kids."

"We have our own K-9. He follows the kids around, plays with them sometimes and helps them with school." Carter said.

"We didn't see him around in the hospital though."

"He's out helping with scanning the area and protection." Carter said flicking a bug off her leg.

"Where are they?" Mel muttered as she rubbed her arms. "Is it me or is it getting cold in here?"

"Kinda feels cold." Carter said.

"I'm not noticing it." Ford said as he watched Sam feel Mel's forehead.

"You've got a fever. Probably have a infection in one or more of your injuries." Carter said digging into her pack. "I got some antibiotics in this med pack, or I should."

"We need to get out of here." Ford said as he took a swipe at something on the wall with his blade.

"What's wrong?" Carter asked as she found the pills.

"I hate spiders. And that damned thing was as big as my hand." he said wiping his blade off on the root.

"I almost forgot you're totally afraid of them." Mel said with a chuckle. "Did you tell him about that story with the kids and your Ford?"

"Here's my water." Carter said handing the pills and canteen. "No, I didn't tell him."

"Don't tell me. If it involves spiders, I don't want to know." he said shining his light around and then at the wall, slowly going up.

"What are you thinking? We don't have any tools for climbing." Carter said.

He used the blade to make a few deeps cuts at angles, eventually getting a pyramid shaped rock out.

"What are you going to do…" Carter began when he dropped it, on purpose.

The two girls quickly covered their selves thinking a massive splash of water was going to hit them. Both of them briefly looked at each other, before the rock hit, and they both silently agreed to push him in, in spite. However, there was no giant splash. Not of water anyway. Mud hit them, though thankfully and very surprisingly, it only got on their legs and feet. Not much higher than that. Ford shook his head and just slide off, landing in a good six inches of mud. He glanced around with the light seeing the ground was completely muddy.

"I'm going to look around."

"What if there is more spiders?" Mel asked.

"You'll hear lots of gun fire then. Keep a listen…." he said pulling his gun.

"Oh no." Carter said dropping off, Mel following along shortly after. "Ugh. You fire that and with this much enclosed space, plus we have no idea how stable this rock is, you'll not only blow our ear drums, you'll possibly bury us."

"I know I'm not feeling well.." Mel said looking behind them. "But I swear I am seeing, light."

The two turned and also saw light. It was barely there, but noticeable.

"Must be sunlight making it through everything above us." Carter said as Ford slowly walked over, using his foot to feel for any holes.

"I don't think so." Ford said looking up as he got near the light. "It's a, moss, I think. Fascinating. Looks like there might be more in some of these cracks."

"I got to see this. I've only read it in books." Mel said walking up. "It is a florescent type of moss. I've encountered this in a few places in the deeper parts of the forest where there is little to no light. But it was so much smaller."

She looked at her fingers seeing them glowing slightly from the dust that brushed off after touching it.

"There is more, a lot more. But you can barely see it." Mel said.

"You can make out the outlines in the cracks. They go pretty high. Wonder how deep though." Carter said.

"Maybe there is more of this stuff around in bigger clumps." Ford said. "Our flashlights won't last forever. And it doesn't look like the others have even came close to finding us."

"I tried to call my Ford through the watch, but…..what about you?"

"Got nothing. Probably something in the rock bed here." he said slamming his hand into the side of the wall in frustration.

Mel looked up as several small rocks broke off above her in the wall. More moss was now showing and more rocks started to slowly fall out.

"I think we better back up." she said moving away quickly as they followed moments later.

More of the wall started to break away and more moss started showing up as more rock feel away, getting higher and higher. They hide behind the large root above them, just incase the wall came falling towards them. After a moment, it stopped leaving a pile of glowing rocks, and a opening in the wall that had more of the glowing moss along the wall that went rather deep.

"Wow. There's a path. Looks like it goes pretty far." Ford said looking in.

"We're all staying here until help…." Carter said stopping as they heard noise from above.

At first, it was just small cracks and breaking of wood, plus things bouncing off the wall. It slowly got louder and the walls vibrated slightly.

"Oh, just what we need. A quake." Mel muttered as she walked past them to the hole in the wall. "Personally, I'd rather be crushed than die slowly from being buried or suffocating in this mud."

Sam followed quickly as Ford backed up keeping watch. Lots of broken roots started falling, most of them a few inches in width, but some were about a foot. Rocks also followed of varying sizes. Sam turned to look as Ford backed in quickly as several basketball sized rocks bounced off the root they were previously on. They went different directions, but a few came at them. Though it hurt, he smacked them away with his blades the best he could. One very large root came crashing down a few dozen feet past the root they were on previously sending a big splash of mud everywhere. The ladies were more fortunate because he was in the way.

"Nice." he muttered as he brushed some mud off his face.

Several more larger roots came down followed by a couple of sections of the wall from high above that was the size of some cars. The quickly went farther into the crack as mud was splashed around more and more things from above came down near the entrance. After another minute, it all settled down and was quiet again.

"Great, we're buried in here." Carter muttered as her voice tightened.

"We'll get out Sam. There has to be air coming from somewhere. otherwise this, moss wouldn't be here. We've got water tablets, a few MRE'S and whatever you might have gotten that I made exclusively for the SG teams. Still have the medical supplies too." he said rubbing her shoulder. "They'll find us."

"Thanks. I appreciate it." she said rubbing his hand. "Can you dig us out and see how bad it is out there?"

He tried for a couple of minutes, and managed to break up enough rock to make an opening for them to look out.

"If we could just get rid of all this by making it vanish." he muttered.

Carter and Ford both turned as they heard a familiar sound.

"After all that, it still works. And it didn't fall out of the holster." Mel said looking at the zat she had been given earlier. "Let's see if it will do anything."

Several shots later they were able to see out. She had to fire at a few more things in their way so they could get out. They could see a bit more light now since most of the roots above them were broken. Some were sitting on other roots while most of it was on the ground around them.

"I suggest we don't move around this much. One fall could get any one of us impaled on some stick or rock." Carter said. "However, you can look around for us. See if we might be able to get out or at least send a message or something."

"Hurrah for me." he said walking out slowly.

After a few moments, he managed to make it up onto the large root they had dropped from that was now broken and sticking in the mud.

"See anything?" Carter asked.

"Um, well…it's not safe to walk through. I cut my leg open after a slip."

"I thought I smelled fresh blood suddenly." Mel said.

"Me too. I was thinking it might be you though."

"I'm not bleeding anymore as far as I can tell. Though I do feel like it is getting hotter." she said un-tucking the shirt.

"You're missing a few buttons and the shirt is ripped in several places back here." Carter said using the flashlight to check to see if she was bleeding.

"I noticed." she said. "At least I'm still got my chest covered again. Lost a star though."

"What are you doing?" Carter asked as she heard metal clinking against metal.

"An idea that once worked a long time ago. Though I was pointing straight ahead instead of up." he said as he was taking the sliding part off his gun.

"What sort of idea?"

"You already know my bullets are special. I've taken the slider off and the barrel. I'm going put a hole through this bullet and place part of my boot string through it. From there, I'm going to tie a flare to it and then fire it into the air."

"That's the dumbest thing I have ever heard! You can't do that! Guns aren't designed to do that! Have you lost your mind?!"

"No. I've taken a lot of the propellant out, and this is just a normal round. If I do this right, like I did in the past, the bullet will fire into the air, just enough to get the flare up above for everyone to see and then, hopefully will drop somewhere up there." he said still working.

"It's not going to work. No barrel means that the bullet will not go anywhere. Nothing to guide it."

"I'm going to hold the casing in place and let the hammer hit it like normal. It will work. I've done it before, though I sending a urgent message to someone else on another building at the time." he said tying the flare on the other end.

"That is going to blow up in your face. It can't work."

"Got a better idea to let them know we are down here? I could just fire off a few rounds, but that might bring more down on us."

"That is not…"

He shook his head, pointed the gun up, used his fingers on his left hand to hold the casing on the track and pulled back the hammer with his right thumb after igniting the flare.

"Here's to hoping."

(A.U. As stupid and completely impossible as this idea sounds, I've heard that is it theoretically possible. Though the idea involves shooting straight, not up or down. Now, for anyone who thinks I am just doing the impossible, ignore it and kept reading. No offense, but I'd rather not hear about how far fetched the idea is.)

He couldn't hold back the scream of pain that came as the bullet casing burned his fingers after it was fired. He lost the casing but shoved the gun and his burning fingers into his abs as the gun began losing other parts. Thankfully, they landed in his lap. The girls were rather amazed as it did fly up, bouncing off the wall once before just barely going over the lip way above. Only because they had slightly better eyesight did they barely notice the smoke from the flare and then someone looking down.

"That, was totally impossible." Carter muttered. "That shouldn't have worked. But we got someone."

"You're radio is cracking." Mel said.

"We are down here and alive. Repeat, we are down here and alive." she said.

Someone was saying something, but it was garbled. She pulled her binoculars and looked up seeing Mitchell. She tried waving her flashlight, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Mel, fire the zat gun right above us. They should see that."

Carter noticed Mitchell notice it and follow it as it came up and then went into the sky.

"He saw that. The others are now looking in here as well. I think Sam is digging out the rope she has. Um, no. Must be something else."

"How many clips do you have?" Ford asked walking back over slowly.

"Um…say six or so. Why?"

"Give me the gun."

Carter shrugged and gave it over as she asked why.

"Oh, I have an another idea. Hopefully they will notice it before we run out of ammo. Keep watch and let me know if they seem to figure it out."

He fired off several rounds, at different intervals.

"Anything?"

"I know you're trying Morse code, but they didn't get it. Try again." Carter said.

He did it again, this time repeating it over and over until he ran out of ammo and tossed the clip aside as he handed him a new one.

"Looks like they are talking about it. Do it a couple more….wait." she said holing up a hand. "They're looking over the chasm we're in. And now they are shooting at something."

They all heard gun fire and could see it above them somewhat. A few unknown animals the size of cats dropped in dead along with some more of the rocks from above.

"Thank you." Ford yelled up.

"Those, are considered like big versions of rats." Carter said. "Except they look like a cross between a cat and rat, with shark teeth. Kinda like vultures."

"Nice." Ford muttered as one of the creatures that caused them to be where they were landed several feet away from them.

They jumped and backed away with their weapons ready, Carter taking hers from him quickly. Another one fell in along with some more of the other smaller creatures. These ones were still alive and started eating on the bigger dead creatures. Though several did notice them.

"Oh my god." Mel said looking up.

"I think we should leave." Carter said pulling her with as they went into the crack in the wall.

"They got some legs on them." Ford said following along quickly.

He noticed a lot more of the creatures coming down either by scaling the walls where they could or jumping from broken root to broken root. And some of the roots were over fifteen feet away from each other.

"It is going to stink in here real quickly." Carter said as he turned around and shot a few of the creatures that got too close. "Thankfully, those things stay away from town, but their body odor is worse than a skunk and a decaying body."

"I'm now noticing it." Ford said as he pushed the girls further in to escape the smell. "Must be what keeps them from being eaten."

"Some bird that is bigger than the bald eagle eats them." Carter said as they kept moving. "They will also eat their own kind too."

The crack was big and getting bigger as they followed the moss. Their flashlights keeping a watch ahead for anything and everything. Ford had given Mel his light while he took her zat. What few of the creatures that did follow or occasionally did, he zatted. Though one lens on his glasses were broken, the other was fully functional giving him the ability to see just enough behind him. They tried to stop for a moment but after seeing several of the creatures following, they took off again and he zatted them.

"I thought they avoided town." Ford said firing again.

"They do." Mel said. "So many people and they stay away. Um, I think someone referred to their behavior as being like a, certain dog on your planet."

"Hyenas." Carter said.

"I guess they don't see us three as a threat." he said firing several times.

"It's getting much bigger in here." Carter said. "There must be water nearby too."

"I hear water rushing as well." Mel said turning her light off. "There must be a way out or something. There's a lot of light ahead."

Carter turned her light off as they entered a large enclosed area deep underground. The crack was a couple feet above the floor and stretched up into the ceiling a couple inches. From the looks of it, water was once in the chamber but had since run off down the fresh stream that continued further down another dark tunnel. Where the water started was anyone's guess, but Mel said it probably was part of the run off that went into some deep crack somewhere that eventually lead to where they were currently at. Carter shined her light into the water were it seemed to come out of the wall, and seeing it was a couple feet deep, but completely clear, and shining along the bottom.

"Hmm, gold. And a lot of it." she said as she knelt down to take a drink. "Fresh water. Taste a little different. Probably the gold."

"I think they stopped following us finally." Ford said as Mel also got a drink and then dunked her head under. "What…"

"Ah, my head feels so much better." she said after pulling it back out and shaking her head as Carter backed off.

"Don't laugh." Carter warned as she noticed him starting to.

Mel ignored him as she did it again and waited ten seconds before coming back out and then straightening her hair and fur back as much as possible.

"That should help alleviate the fever some." Carter said.

"Got rid of the fatigue." Mel said sitting down and glancing at the walls. "A lot of that moss is here. Enough light to read with."

"There is a lot of gold." Ford said reaching into the water to grab a handful of flakes. "Yeah, it's real."

"You're not going to keep it are you? You weigh enough as it is."

"No Sam." he said tossing it back and then also getting a drink. "Looks like there might be silver in here too."

"There is a lot of minerals and precious ores on this planet." Mel said as Carter looked at her injured leg. "Some of your people are mining a few areas, with our permission of course. So far, everything we've asked for has been given."

"Everything?" Ford asked as he watched Carter look over Mel's leg and a few other spots.

"Even weapons." Carter said. "They aren't trying to kill any neighbors or take over any planets. Seeing as quite a few people from the SGC and other places on Earth now reside here, many things are allowed that aren't normally on other allied worlds. There is a iron ore mine just outside of town that according to the readings, stretches for a couple miles. Mostly it is just plains on top of the ground, kids play there a lot. The mining of that takes place further out, which is why the town's buildings and such are mostly made of iron and anything derived from that."

"Cool. Can you feel that?" he said pointing at her leg.

"Oh yeah. It hurts." Mel said wincing. "Has since I woke up, both times. I feel it with each step. I've felt worse and besides, limping will only slow us all down."

"You've opened it in a few places, but otherwise, you're not going to bleed to death. Don't make any long jumps or falls. The strain might cause your shin to break open much worse than it did." he said glancing at it. "Good thing you feel the pain."

"I know. The doctor said any deep injury, such as this, if you feel the pain, you're doing good." Mel said as she looked. "Is there an infection?"

"I think so. I can feel swelling around the wound down here on the shin, but higher up, it doesn't feel like it as bad." Carter said looking at Ford with a movement of her head. He understood quickly and got up going back into the crack to look if they might be being followed.

"I probably shouldn't say this, but, I am glad you're here doing this Sam. If he was, there would probably be problems." Mel muttered as she slowly opened the shirt to let her see the wounds on her chest and abs.

"I don't see why you wouldn't want to say that." she said noticing that only a few of the cuts had bleed recently but since closed up. She was going to have a lot of scars on her body, but the fur would cover them all eventually.

"This conversation does not leave this place, but if we get trapped down here and can't get out. And I mean seriously get stuck with no hope of possible rescue, at least in time for us two, I'm jumping him." Mel whispered. "And I will zat you if you try to stop me."

"Jump…wait, you don't mean?!" she whispered.

"With everything you've told me and the other few girls about your Ford…"

"You're jealous." Carter said as Mel closed her shirt.

"Of course I'm jealous." she spat lightly. "And I'm not the only one. I haven't been with anyone and just about every girl I know has. And if you hadn't picked up your Ford, I would have. Despite the blue hair, he is very eyes on the eyes. The only reason I don't do all that training and exercise stuff he shows others is because it drives me crazy to look at him in those jogging pants. And I noticed I am not the only one. The other problem I have, he was only a inch from my nipple back there when I woke up. I'm only admitting it to you because I'm sure you can smell how I feel right now."

"I know the feeling." she muttered.

"And if that, shift the orbit saying is half true, for both Fords, then I am not dying…."

"He won't do it." she said shaking her head.

"I'm pretty sure as a last request, he will. Your Ford told me, if anything ever happened to you, the only person he could even think of loving, since you did tell him to find someone else after you were gone, it would be me he chose. Though we both hope you die of old age many years later or if lucky, find something that prolongs life. I don't have many girlfriends I can talk to about personal stuff, and I'd rather you not die despite how much I want him anyway." Mel stated sadly as she kept her eyes on Carter's.

"Thank god I know you enough that you aren't trying to take him from me. Though a few other girls did try before Nancy came. But I don't think…."

"You know how much of a gentlemen and a push over your Ford is concerning women. Remember that day those three ladies had him help them move to a new house several streets down? He did everything except carry them! He didn't even care that they were checking him out, in more ways than one." Mel said trying to fight off the feelings rising inside her.

"I remember. However, when one of those ladies tried to get frisky, he walked away."

"Right. Knowing everything you know, do you think he'd actually refuse me, if we were sure we were not getting out of here alive. They can easily get him, even if it takes years. I know for a fact, and would bet my life on it, he wouldn't dare stop any of your advances."

"True. He never could deny me." she muttered. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but he actually might take that request if it…"

"I'm very flattered. Really, I am." Ford said stepping out and startling the girls. "I'll get us out of here before that though."

"I know you find me attractive. You once told me you were thinking about asking me out once. Back before you started going out with Sam." Mel said as Carter sat back in shock.

"Yes. But you told me that your people didn't date or something like that outside your own species and such. Yes, I know that has all changed and yes, I even find this Sam attractive. Doesn't mean I'm going to cheat."

"Technically, with her, it wouldn't be cheating." Mel said pointing at Carter. "They are pretty much the same person. And if we were both about to die, I wouldn't be surprised if we both got you. Anyway, why were you listening in on our private conversation?"

"I wasn't trying too. I could hear you because there was nothing else to listen to. And my hearing has gotten better as of late since the change."

"What sort of change?" Carter asked.

"Um…I'll tell you later when we get out."

"And if we don't?" she asked crossing her arms.

"We both know we don't want that and you know why?" he said walking to the stream and following it. "Let's go while I still have some blood in my brain."

"I thought he smelled aroused earlier." Carter muttered quietly as they followed. "Its only gotten stronger."

"Can you blame him after what we said?"

After the attack that took place shortly after the zat blast and the strange firing of the PC-90 they heard, which they eventually figured out was one of them doing Morse code, they were about to do a rescue. However, a bunch of small creatures came out of the woods and started towards them, followed by two more of the very large creatures. They all fired into the oncoming animals while backing up. Teal'c shot the bigger creatures as they jumped, making them fall into the chasm.

Before the attack, after Daniel woke up, and unfortunately with a slight sprained ankle, they had looked into the chasm with night vision goggles, going around the edge to see what they could see. Unfortunately, at one point, Mitchell stepped on a section that was very unstable and broke off, taking a large section of the ground out. They watched it fall along with many roots and other sections of the wall too that either came out from being ripped when a root was pulled on sharply or from the bigger pieces of rock hitting the wall making more fall in.

They backed up as they continued to fire and ended up backing behind the dead creature in the temple. And then finally having to crawl over the dead snake to avoid being attacked further. Mitchell had his leg swiped at leaving a few deep gouges and almost bit into. Fox Ford has been bitten several times, only to distract the animals long enough for the others to get over the snake. Daniel burned his hand slightly, after his ankle gave out making his land on some of the venom, but otherwise was okay. Teal'c got his hand scratched after he punched and then had to shake one of the creatures off himself. Carter was so far completely safe, only getting a few scrapes from falling down a few times like they all had in the rush. They continued to back up and ended back in the room with the rings. The door closed before more than three of the creatures got in. The stink got so bad that even after they were zatted away, they had little choice but to ring back. They hated the fact they had to leave the others behind, but they were injured and they all agreed that there was no way they were going back without gas mask.

Once at the Hummer, Mitchell radioed back they situation and stated they were on their way back. There was a few gliders that still flew so while several people flew them over the forest, where Fox Ford said they were somewhere in possibly or at least still in that chasm, the group could get cleaned and fixed up before heading back out to look for them again.

There was more than just the Hummers on the planet. The SGC had also sent supplies for a small base that was in the town, which Draco allowed once both Fox Ford and Carter talked to him about it. Most of the furs did not like flying at all. No one really was sure why, though speculations about the fact that animals usually didn't like to fly to begin with. Dogs and cats were different because of domestication, but other animals like most of the types found around them, back on Earth, were normally transported to other locations by car, or boat. Though it was only speculation. Since the feeling didn't bother Ford or Carter, and seeing as making a runway was really out of the question, a couple of transport helicopters, that could have missile pods and stationary guns placed on them, were sent to the planet on one of the trips when the Prometheus was bringing large supplies. Once the gliders located the exact location and or found the missing people, they would take the helicopter to pick them up.

On the bright side, they learned that no one else had been attacked or any sightings of any creatures near the town or settlements, once they got back. Carter wasn't too worried about Ford not coming back, but she was helping Fox Ford cope with the fact his Sam was out there and he wasn't. According to Carter's watch, it said that Ford was still alive. But then, her watch had been upgraded rather heavily, though it wasn't noticeable. The two foxes watch's, were the original designs Ford gave them back when he first created them for him and Sam.

For the moment, they were resting and awaiting news from the gliders. Once the gliders came back, it was getting near nighttime, so they very reluctantly decided to head out tomorrow at first light.

With the moss and their flashlights, they followed the underground water stream, that just kept going and going. There was a few twist and turns here and there, but mostly the water seemed to follow the wall. There was signs on the walls that showed the water was much higher and had been several times. However, it was more of at low tide as Ford said as an example. A few places they had to walk through the water to get further, but mostly, there was dry land on either side. It was more than eerie, only hearing their own steps and breathing as they walked through the darkness. Mel had one flashlight while Carter had hers.

Ford was walking ahead, other than to avoid seeing the two women that kept muttering under their breaths about different things, mostly because he had heard Mel bring up that conversation from before. And she kept making jokes or something and laughing at strange moments or at something Sam would say, not that he was able to make out much.

As for the conversation before, he figured it was the different medicines talking that made Mel, well, horny, not to mention a little on the loopy side. The first time they had to cross a section that had a lot of water and there was no way they were not getting their feet wet, Ford had went first holding one of her hands. Though he had warned both ladies the water was rather icy, it still was a shock on her injured leg. She ended up slipping and landing right on it, breaking it open in a few places. The other two also fell in trying to help her out of the icy water. They did laugh as they sat on the shore, but it went away quickly because of the cold. Other than shaking their fur out, there was little they could do to keep warm. Seeing as Mel was in a lot of pain and had a fever again, Carter gave her a shot of morphine and more antibiotics, then wrapped her leg with what gauze she had. It at least stemmed the bleeding. After a few minutes, Mel felt better and they took off again after a quick bite to eat. MRE's weren't the greatest things, but they did provide nutrition to keep the body going. Ford supporting most of her weight as she leaned into him until she felt she could walk on her own again.

But he was mostly walking ahead because he did have one lens working and it was helping him see. The occasional use of the night vision feature on Carter's goggles helped as well.

"I've been watching the wall for awhile now Sam. Have you noticed anything, out of the ordinary about it?" Ford asked.

"Not really."

"And you aren't asking me, why?" Mel said looking at the wall for less than a second before continuing to walk.

"You and drugs don't mix well." he said turning around as she bumped into him.

"Oh. I thought you were further ahead." she said blinking a few times before chuckling a moment.

"Mel, look at me." he said taking the flashlight and shining it in her eyes as Carter walked up. "Help me here."

"What do you want me to do?"

"See her hands?"

Carter looked to see Mel's hands were starting to explore his chest and go further. She grabbed them quickly as they reached his pants and then Mel tried to squirm away.

"Mel, please…"

"I'm ready whenever you are…" she said seductively. "I know you want it."

"I don't know why, but this is bringing back memories of you and a couple bottles of wine." he said holding the back of her head with one hand and trying to look into her eyes again.

"You mean your Sam."

"Yes. Her pupils are not dilating at all no matter how much or close I shined the light in them. How much did you give her anyway? She's as high as a kite?!"

"High in more ways than one."

"Sam. I really need to concentrate. And that look in yours eyes isn't helping." he said jerking suddenly and backing away somewhat. "Her hand."

"Sorry. All I gave her was just the small packet that is in all the med kits. Could have been something in the aspirin that her system couldn't tolerate…"

"She's had aspirin before." he said putting the light away and pulling his canteen. "Mel, I want you to drink all the water in here."

"Why?" she asked leaning against his chest. "Will we have fun afterward?"

"No." he said then seeing the look of hurt and resentment in her eyes. "Maybe. Drink this first and then……"

She suddenly slumped and almost fell into the water.

"She's unconscious." Carter said as he sighed. "Better than her fawning all over you. Please tell me….why did…"

"Because she was about to run away. I've seen it before in other drugged girls."

"Oh."

"This, like that conversation, doesn't leave here." he said picking her up into his arms. "You'll have to hold both lights."

"What did you mean about the wine bottles?"

"I wanted to see what it was I was missing. So I purposely got her drunk." he stated bluntly. A smile crept onto his face slowly as he remembered the night. "You can dance very well Sam, but a strip tease. That was something I will never forget."

"You got me, her, drunk, so she would strip, do a dance and then screw you?" she asked insulted. "I've never known you to want sex so badly you'd revert to doing that. Considering how bad you are aroused, I'm surprised you don't dump her and jump on me."

"Hey! I asked before hand, all three times. I got restraint! I can tell you want to jump me too! Speaking of sex, do you have a pet name?"

"No. Other than, my hot foxy lady."

"She didn't tell you in any letters then about me giving her a pet name?"

"No. Certain details aren't discussed. Sure, she may say, me and Ford had a wonderful time last night, which she may go into more personal aspects about how she felt and such, but other than that. It's been four days for me. Which is probably why it is getting to me."

"Hmm. Alcohol seems to give Sam more energy, I guess. I've never stayed awake long enough, after getting her that drunk, to see find out when she fell asleep."

"Only three times so far?"

"I got tired of waking up with the hangovers. Throwing up is not fun. So far, Sam hasn't thrown up after getting drunk. Must be experience. Now, the idea is to only do that sort of thing if I feel like it on my birthday."

"Hmm. We both got drunk off something close to moonshine here once. I do remember wanting to get all over him, but he had already passed out before I was finished stripping. I fell asleep on him and we both woke up sick. Don't you dare tell your counterpart…."

"Don't give him the idea, got it."

"Good, now about these walls? I need a subject change before I loose control. Or you do."

"I won't." he said glancing down a moment as Mel moved in his arms. He quickly looked back up. "As long as I don't look down again. Anyway, I've noticed for awhile that this wall has layers and it is a continuing layer. No breaks anywhere. Each layer is there and just continues on."

"What is your point?"

"Well, other than I am seeing what might be light at the end of the long tunnel." he said pointing. "I think, from the looks of the ceiling above us, that wall was probably underground at one point and came up in an upheaval. You see, this wall over here doesn't look anything like that one."

"You're right." she said looking with the light at the wall and then above. "Not even the ceiling has any real layer marks that can be identified."

"There must have been a massive quake many years ago…."

"According to their history, there was a very large quake at one point. The town was almost totally destroyed. The loss of life was very low thankfully, other than because there wasn't a lot of people to begin with, but also because they…felt something bad coming. Though we furs look very human, to a point, a lot of the natural animal instincts are still there. Such as sensing approaching danger. Usually storms though."

"I guess that sense of smell is also a curse."

"Most of us are able to keep our arousal problems under control." she growled. "We don't go into heat like normal animals thankfully. Now if you bring up sex again, I will kick in you in the balls. Understand?"

"Crystal."

"So…as for that quake, it happened many generations ago." she said looking anywhere other than at him. "From what little I gathered from their history that Daniel was able to piece together and tell us, along with their historians, the river was much bigger back then and slowly got smaller and smaller, eventually stopping at one point to look at what we currently see today. They never really found out what caused the river to shorten to its current size."

"Hmm. The quake was more than likely behind it."

"That was a given, but they never found out where the rest of the water ended up going. They only followed the river so far into the forest before turning back. To this day, they still won't go to far into it because it is unexplored, plus dangerous. For obvious reason. Is it me, or does that light seem….like it is waving?"

"It does seem like that. I'd say let's run and check it out, but…" he said motioning his head at Mel.

"She's never got injured bad enough to need strong pain medication. Well, not morphine anyway. Most I've seen her take is an aspirin like a lot of others. Can't you run with her? You've done it before with other's over your shoulder. Including your Sam, as she mentioned once."

"Only one lens is working. We could try walking faster, but…."

She stayed in front, keeping watch on the ground with both lights to keep him from tripping. There was rocks of varying sizes in the way, plus a few areas where the water was taking the whole section of ground. They had been walking for at least an hour when Sam stopped, shining the lights at the water where they had to walk through it once again.

"What's wrong? Please tell me it's not deep and we have to swim…"

"No. The water is not going out anymore. It's staying right here." she said shining it further along as she walked through. "It's clear and I can see the ground, but it slopes off as it goes to that wall. I can't see bottom over there."

"This must be where it all collects." he said staying next to the layered wall with her. "Wow, this is a big puddle."

"More like a pond." she said looking ahead. "I can't see…oh wait. There it is."

"Does this look as big as it seems?"

"I'd say, at least a hundred square feet. My feet are starting to freeze."

"My shins are freezing. We're walking through a couple feet of water. Mel's so lucky."

"It's not salty."

"That's good." he said as she walked up onto dry land again.

"Looks like that light is a few hundred feet away." she said shining the light. "Do you hear that?"

"Running water? Been hearing it for awhile."

"No, sounds more like….a rushing of water." she said as they went up the small incline. "There's more water, but it is going into that large pool. I think there is a waterfall up ahead."

"There's only one explanation for that then."

"That the water is coming from above us? We are rather deep underground." she said as she turned off one of the lights. Suddenly she snapped her fingers. "If I'm right, I may know where we are. In that large forest, there is this extremely enormous crack in the ground. From what me and my Ford gathered, after flying over the area, not only directly over the forest, but also from space, there are several waterfalls going into the crevice. It's over a mile long and just over half a mile wide. Part of the large lake that is at the base of those mountains where the run off comes from, that river goes through the forest and past that crevice. Oh my god, I just realized, that's probably what happened to all that water that used to be by the town. That quake, caused the ground to split and most of the water flow is going into that crack."

"It would make sense. It's a waterfall." he said as they walked up slowly to the rushing noise.

The light they were seeing was from one of the moons that was in the right spot, shining down on the water. The waterfall, like most others, wasn't fully covering the entrance. They took the path to the right and came out seeing a truly majestic sight. They were in that giant crevice, and it was nighttime. There was the waterfall behind them and several other small ones on the left wall. The moonlight was bright enough you could read a book, making it easy to see most of everything out there, that wasn't shadowed. Some of the smaller waterfalls came out of the rock wall at different heights. There was a lot of foliage and bushes growing out of the left wall, while the rock wall to their right, was more dirt and rocks than anything else. They couldn't see the other side where the end of the crack was, even with the light. Some trees, but mostly small bushes and shrubs grew on the ground. There was water pools everywhere along with many streams. Grass seemed to be rather abundant too. The rock wall on their left, the layered one with the waterfalls, was much higher than the one on their right.

Mel had woken up and he let her down gently. She glanced around rubbing her aching head and noticed they were in the open again. And then she noticed the two of them looking around.

"Wow, this…." Carter said.

"Is beautiful? I wish I was sharing it with my Sam, but I'm glad you're here."

"Their loss despite our lost problem." Mel said looking at the moon. "Wish I had a camera."

"So do I." the other two said. They looked at each other a moment and then around again.

"As pretty as this is, I am getting really cold. My feet in particular." Carter said looking around. "We're going to have to camp out for the night."

"You two find a dry spot, I'll get wood." he said making his blades come out. "While I'm gone, check her out."

"Good idea." Carter said.

"Oh, and one other thing. Unless she is in extreme pain, no more morphine." he stated forcefully.

"Got it."

"Did I do something?" Mel asked once he walked off to a tree. "I'm having trouble remembering things."

"Um, yeah. You could say that."

"Oh god. Should I ask what?" she asked unsure if she wanted to know.

Carter told her as they heard Ford whacking at branches.

"If it wasn't for the fact he's married, I think I would be insulted. I was, throwing myself at him? Is the right wording?"

"Pretty much. You were high. He's already forgiven you. We're going to act like nothing happened." she said as they looked around. "Looks dry enough to sleep here."

"It is far enough away from spraying water." Mel said sitting on a rock. "Anything I can help with?"

"Grab some of those rocks…" she said directing her.

Ten minutes later, there was a large collection of rocks in a small clearing of grass that had a big fire going in it. Just in case, because Ford was rather paranoid and they all felt they were being watched, he similar fires a dozen feet away or more in a few places from their main one. Once he had a chance to look around more, he and Carter found several dead trees that had fallen from above giving them plenty of firewood. All three of them sat by each other near the main fire. The rock wall just behind them. Sam was on his right with Mel on his left. Their coats, boots, socks and vest were laying on a few rocks nearby drying. Mel had taken off everything from the waist up, and with Sam's help, made a sort of sport like bra out of his damaged SGC BDU coat. Sam was down to her black sleeveless undershirt. Even though most of their clothing was all wet, they didn't take off anything else. Both girls didn't say anything, other than looking at each other, but they noticed the effect it was having on him, and they were loving it. Not to mention, they were doing it on purpose.

With the MRE'S they had, they ate in silence and then just enjoyed the fire for awhile. He did everything to think of everything except his current situation.

"Still get that feeling we are being watched?" Ford asked as he kept watch on the fire and off them.

"I think whatever it is, is looking at us from above. On that side." Mel said pointing at one of the waterfalls. "Maybe it's the drugs, but I feel safe, and tired."

"Sam.."

"Just more antibiotics and a couple mild pains killers. Her leg and a few other wounds, are infected and still swollen."

"I noticed a few of them." he said still looking into the fire. He noticed Mel move her foot and he had to do a double take.

"What's wrong?" Mel asked looking at her feet. "Bug, or…foot fetish?"

"No foot fetish. You paint your toe nails silver?"

"Sam paints her red." she said pointing.

"I knew she did already. Does her nails occasionally."

"Many girls paint their nails, after seeing I do it. I would have red paint on my finger nails, but most of it is gone." Carter said looking at them. "I broke three claws."

"I like silver. Mom likes to paint hers orange."

"Orange? That's, unusual."

Mel shrugged, then stretched and yawned.

"The fires look like they'll stay going for several more hours. We should get some sleep. I'll take first watch. Sam…."

He looked over seeing she was leaning against his shoulder asleep, her arms around his right. When he turned to tell Mel, he found her doing the exact same.

"Great, now I can't move." he muttered. "At least they aren't jumping me."

He managed to stay awake for an hour, before he noticed he was really feeling drained from some reason. Like he had suddenly ran a marathon or something. He dropped back onto the large rock falling asleep while both girls curled up on either side.

"What was the point of that? You talked with a couple women. No action at all. You didn't even get it on with the two of them." some guy in the bar asked.

Several patrons muttered about how they would have gotten on with them, and some were being very vulgar about it. He was about to shout at them to shut up, but Cap touched his arm.

"Let it go. They aren't worth it."

"I have to admit, I have heard worse." he said quelling his anger and then yelling above the crowd. "However, there was a point to what I was talking about. Had I skipped ahead to the coming battle, then you would be asking me certain questions."

They quieted down and then Cap nodded for him to continue.

Carter had woken up to find she was curled next to him, her head on his chest. Mel was still asleep, her head buried in the nap of his neck. She got up, looked around seeing the large fire was still going. It was quiet, other than the sounds of them sleeping and the waterfalls.

"Hey Mel." she said shaking her lightly.

She groaned and curled up closer to him with a content smile.

"Melissa."

She groaned again and opened one eye.

"Sam? What are you doing in my bedro…" she said stopping as the events of the last few days caught up with her. And then embarrassment was all over her face. "Oh, right. Where's Ford?"

"You're sleeping on him." she said as Mel sat up quickly, even more embarrassment all over face. "If it helps any, I was sleeping on his chest. I don't even think he noticed."

"How can you tell?" she asked, and then seeing a look. "Oh, right."

"However, he would notice…wait, never mind." she said looking away sheepishly. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you…never mind. Wait, what if he wakes up?"

"That large fallen tree over there will hide me. See if you can wake him up anyway." she said walking off.

"Hey Ford. It's morning. Time to go home." she said shaking his arm. "Ford?"

She smacked his chest and he still didn't move. She tried tickling him, knowing he was very ticklish, but that didn't even work. Opening both his eyes didn't do anything either.

"What are you doing?"

"He isn't waking up. And yes, he is still breathing and alive." she said getting up. "Your turn."

She walked off as Sam sat down and tried whispering, certain words into his ear. She was very disappointed when he didn't even move, much less his body respond to the, words. Yelling didn't work either. Trying to fake sounding like she was in trouble also failed.

"Fine, this always works." she said grabbing her canteen.

After taking a drink and seeing that the water was warm, she emptied it and then filled it with cold water.

"What are you doing now?" Mel asked as she adjusted the makeshift bra.

"He isn't waking up. So, I am trying something that I know works on my Ford."

"Dumping water on his head while he's asleep? That usually works."

"Not on him. I've dumped ice cold water on him more than once and he never wakes up. I quit doing it because I got tired of having to wash the sheets over and over…"

"What's wrong?"

"I just realized, I do that anyway. Almost every morning."

"Why? I don't know about most people, for me it's usually every three days depending on whatever dream I have. Oh, right. That's why you…" she said seeing the look. "Are you going to dump it down his throat and make him wake up choking? I know he can survive everything but having his head cut off, but isn't that a little extreme?"

"Not there." she said dumping it.

Ford still didn't wake up as she dumped the ice cold water on his crotch.

"Damn, that always works."

"Now he looks like he's pissed himself." Mel said chuckling as Sam refilled it.

"Might as well try his head."

He still didn't wake up.

"Okay, now there is something wrong."

"I, don't know if this has anything to do with it, but…..while I was over there, it didn't hurt to squat. I looked at my leg and then everywhere else."

"Your injuries are gone!" she said as she looked her over.

"Yeah. I don't know how it happened. I've also noticed that I feel great. More than rested."

"So do I. I haven't slept that well in some time."

"Then what is….oh no."

"What's….oh no." she said as fear raced through her.

They both grabbed their weapons and looked around.

"Is it…"

"Yeah, it is. I think there is two."

"Where…."

"Somewhere above us…"

"I smell them now." Carter said looking up with her weapon. "We've got a few grenades. Though after hearing about what happened back in the gate room, I doubt our weapons will do anything against one, let alone two."

"What about his weapon?"

"We can't use it. It's DNA encoded. Only his hands can use it."

"Great. We are in trouble then. I just saw something move up there." Mel said aiming her zat. "Hey, your radio is saying something."

Carter walked over slowly and picked her vest up.

"Hello. Who's there?"

There was a commotion over the line and then someone spoke.

"Sam, are you okay?!" Fox Ford asked.

"I'm fine! Wherever you are, you better get here fast!"

"What's going on?!"

"Ford is out cold. He isn't waking up at all. And we smell two of those large creatures coming this way."

"We got a lock on your location early this morning. Your and his watches are still transmitting your location. Stay where you are if you can…."

"We can't go anywhere! We're at the bottom of that damned crevice! Where the mouth of that large waterfall….oh god." she said whimpering out the last part. "Ford…you better hurry."

Mel fired off several shots as one of the creatures crawled down the wall and then jumped down into one of the water pools. Though more than three hit the creature, it didn't do anything. She turned as another landed a few dozen feet away from her on her left near the mouth of the waterfall.

"What are we going to do?" Mel asked in extreme fear as Carter stood next to her.

"Ford, if you are ever going to wake up and save the day, you better do it now, otherwise. We are all dead." Carter shouted as she kept aiming between the two creatures.

Mel fired off several more shots, but they had no effect on the nearest creature. Carter tossed a grenade in hopes that it might do something. The creature sniffed at the object that landed nearby only to cry out in a very loud roar as it blew up in its face. Howls of pain that began hurting their ears seemed to piss off the other one.

"Throw the others!!" Mel yelled.

Carter tossed the rest at the running creature, only to have one of them blow up in its face as well. Another one blew up underneath causing it more pain. They were both crying out in pain, but the one nearest them was starting to come after them.

"This is not going to do anything." she said taking aim and firing.

The bullets riddled the creature and pissed it off even more. The armor piercing bullet were doing damage, but not enough.

"Help me!"

She turned to see Mel on the ground, putting Ford's gun into his left hand. She dropped down and helped her hold the gun and aim it. Carter really didn't think it would work, but the gun did fire. The creature died almost instantly as the bullet went through a couple teeth, through the throat and several organs and then out its back. It dropped and slid to only be a few feet away. They however were both thrown back into the wall from the kick. Both their arms were hurting and Ford's arm was not in a normal position.

"That hurt." Mel hissed through gritted teeth.

"I know." Carter said slowly moving away from the wall.

"We're going to have to do it with his other hand."

"Where's his gun…" Carter said looking around.

They both looked at his chest as something bounced off it.

"What was that?" Mel asked.

"I think his gun after it flew into the air. Oh shit."

The other creature slammed its right front paw inches from Ford's feet. The girls backed up against the wall as it roared at them. Carter lifted her gun and kept the trigger down long after it was out of ammo. The bullets did make the creature back off several feet. It lost a few teeth, one eye and was bleeding from various injuries all over its face.

"Re-load." Mel whispered.

Carter reached for her other clip, only to find nothing there. Her vest was on Ford's legs and she was behind his head.

"Ford! We need help!" she said kicking him in the head.

It didn't wake him up at all though.

"Running isn't a option is it?" Mel asked as the creature was shaking his head and pawing like it was trying to get something off its face.

"Where would we…you hear that?"

"That isn't a normal sound." Mel said looking up as Carter did.

The helicopter came flying in from further down the ledge and started towards them. Bullets came at the creature as was staff weapon fire. Carter crawled over quickly and grabbed another clip as the creature turned to the oncoming chopper. It roared as it was being shot at. Carter, once loaded, aimed for its head and didn't let up on the trigger even as it turned to her. It dropped down dead shortly after several staff blast struck it in the head and side. Even though it had died, she kept firing it until she was out of ammo again. Fox Ford landed the copter on a rocky area nearby and barely shut everything off as he raced out. The other's got out as he ran up and grabbed her in a bear hug.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just fine." she said evenly.

"Are you sure? You look like you're in shock." he asked as the other's were walking up.

"It is dead Colonel Mitchell." Teal'c stated.

"Just making sure." he said poking it with a stick. "Ford, get her on the chopper. We'll get the other two."

He nodded and gently pushed her along while trying to take the gun away that she refused to let go of. She kept looking around and at the dead creatures as if they were about to get up.

"Mel, are you okay?" Carter asked as she checked on her Ford, who was still out cold.

"Yeah. Just fine now that you are all here. Is it really dead and we can go home?" she asked rubbing her arms.

"Yeah." she said now noticing her attire. "Why are you…never mind. You can tell me later."

Colonel Mitchell helped her to the chopper with Daniel's help while Teal'c helped Carter get Ford off the ground and their supplies. They all got back in quickly as the smaller creatures started showing up, climbing down the rock walls. Fox Ford got the chopper in the air as the two dead creatures were descended upon in a frenzy of the hungry smaller creatures.

Three days later, everyone was doing much better. Melissa and Carter were not in shock anymore, small as it was. Even when they got back, it took a lot of work to get Fox Carter to give up her empty gun. No other signs of the creatures were found and what snakes they did find, they killed that where in that temple. There was plans to check out the other rooms much later. Landry was happy to hear his people would be coming home soon, as was Carter's parents and Sally. However, there was one little problem still. Ford was still sleeping and had been since they brought him back.

It wasn't until a few hours after they got back, and hearing what the two ladies said before all three had fallen asleep that night, that Carter figured out, as to say had a good idea of what happened to make her Ford stay asleep so long. He had, inadvertently, used his healing abilities to heal both girls while they were clinging to him. His kind and helping nature just naturally kicked in, supposedly and took a lot out of him. Fox Carter knew he was already tired to begin with, with everything that happened since the first attack back in the SGC. He never did get a lot of time to recover from being crushed and all, and then went off on this mission to help the people of Gia'as. He was in the hospital on Gia'as still, since there was a lot of people from the SGC helping out with giving them extra technology to detect for other possibly threats and such.

SG-1 was being called back, seeing as they had missions that they needed to get to, dealing with the Ori and other problems. So, the group headed to the hospital to get him out of bed and taking him back to recover, however long it took. When Fox Carter explained why Ford was all wet, she laughed. Carter had tried putting actual ice on his face, which didn't work and neither did it when she dropped it on a particular spot when they were alone and he was only wearing hospital garb. The doctor on call at the moment said there was no change as he took them to the room.

"Any ideas on how long he'll stay this way Sam?" Mitchell asked as they entered. "Whoa. That's….different. Guess we have been away from this room for a few days."

"I haven't a clue." she said shaking her head. "He recovered quicker with mom and she was in worse shape. And what are you talking about? I've been in here every night."

"The last time, we as a group was in here, was when he was brought in. I've never seen him with a beard." Mitchell said. "That's got to be a couple inches thick."

"Indeed. It is hard to believe we are looking at the same man." Teal'c said. "I was always under the impression, he barely if grew anything."

Carter walked over and punched Ford in the arm, really hard. "Wake up, or else Daniel is going to get a picture of you, with your full beard."

"I believe he is waking up." Teal'c stated as he started blinking slowly.

"Where am I? And why does my arm hurt?" he said rubbing it. "And where are my clothes?"

"You've been asleep for three days. You're in the hospital on Gia'as." she said.

"Why?"

"You ended up healing that Sam and Mel when you fell asleep. We think you did it by accident."

"I must have. They both fell asleep on my arms and then shortly after, I felt really tired." he said sitting up. "Wait, three days?"

"Yes. Other's from the SGC are here helping out and we have to go home. Landry and several others want us back to do our other job, such as saving the galaxy from the Ori. We'll be back later, so get dressed. And shave that mess off."

SG-1 all left, minus two people. Though Daniel did get a quick picture.

"So, what is that thing you wanted to tell us, that's we'd freak out about?" Fox Carter asked as he was about to get out of the bed.

"What are you still doing here? I would like some privacy. Damn, I do need to sahve."

"It's not like you have anything I haven't already seen." she said.

"What? You kicked me out when you wanted to change and talk to my Sam!"

"It's a matter of principle for women."

Ford looked at his Fox version who instantly started laughing.

"She's pulling your leg." he said tossing clean clothes onto the bed and pulling the drape shut. "So what is it?"

"Um, well. I'm not completely human anymore. Sam decided to try a new experiment." he said giving a brief explanation of the incident with reality and fiction going crazy.

"Okay. Obviously, something or someone reset everything." Fox Ford said as Ford pulled the drape back, wearing his SGC issued BDU'S and his coat.

"I met the White Guardians and Q."

"I know Q." Fox Carter said.

"The other guy was in Doctor Who. I'm not hearing anything that makes me want to freak out as you say."

"I'm now a Time Lord too."

They both hated the info that came with that, but he promised a tour.

"And that's pretty much it. We went home. And then a few days later, off on another mission." Ford said shrugging. "I also got that picture before Daniel was able to distribute it."

"What's wrong with having a beard and showing it?" Riker asked.

"I don't like it. Just like you, I look very different. And very much older. There's a lot of gray in my beard unfortunately. The main reason for the fact I don't want everyone knowing what I look like with a full beard is because Daniel made a bet about it. No picture, no bet."

"Thank you General. I found the story both entertaining and enlightening. Hopefully, one of these days, you'll be able to come back in and tell us another one." Cap said.

"I could try. Captain Picard, Riker, Shelby, and everyone else. Thank you for listening. Thank you Cap for the drinks and especially the chocolate. Now, I must take my leave and get back to work. I got a lot of people to cook for."

"Wait, what is that other info that got those two foxes pissed off at you and you promising a tour?" the Klingon asked.

"That, is a story for another time. Sufficient to say, with it, I can probably come back here a lot more. Might be able to bring Sam with me too." he said before giving a quick wave and walking out.

"That guy is very peculiar." Picard said. "I really wish we could see their universe."

"It would be within our charter. Plus the added bonus of looking into our past, in a sense." Riker said. "As long as he stay away from the planet and their satellite systems."

"It's entirely possible." the mysterious blue haired man said as he headed for the door. "Never know what might happen with that guy."

"Like you?" Cap asked with a laugh.

The man shifted his hand back and forth before walking out.

After Ford got the cooking done and got back into his uniform to go get ready to talk to the people with Daniel, he stopped in her office first.

"Hey Sam…"

"Someone has been eating chocolate." she stated. "But is doesn't smell like those brownies."

"It's not. I didn't make many chocolate things for the delegation. What you are smelling is this." he said setting the gold foiled piece on the table. "Which is for you."

"Hmm. Smells incredible. Like nothing I've ever seen."

"Or ever will taste, trust me. Eat it all."

"Why?"

"I made a promise that you would. The other half is gone because I ate it."

She rose an eyebrow and then shrugged as she popped it into her mouth. Her eyes widened considerably as it melted quickly making her have to chew and swallow. Just like him, water came to her eyes from the incredible sweetness and she had to cough several times after swallowing it all.

"Holy Hannah." she muttered sitting down. "What the hell was that?"

"Apparently, the best chocolate in the universe."

"Huh? Where did you get it? I want more. Now."

"Can't." he said with a small sad tone. "I can't even make it."

"Why not? Where did you get it from?"

"Captains Bar. I might be able to go back sometime, but I don't know. Anyway, glad to see you liked it as well." he said rubbing her shoulder as she was wiping her eyes. "I've got to see that delegation and do things with Daniel. Despite the fact I'd rather close that door, cut the camera wires…"

"I noticed you were more than in the mood when you walked in. Who or what did you see?"

"No one. Just you. I was telling a story and, we'll just say, it had some sexual elements." he said as her eyes suddenly narrowed. "That time I was with your counterpart and Mel on Gia'as! That conversation I told you about."

"Why did you talk about that?!"

"It was the Captains Bar. I had to tell something and that seemed like a good story. And the most recent one since the mission after wasn't interesting."

"Captains Bar?" she muttered between licking her teeth. "I think I just gained several cavities. Wait, you don't do bars."

"Riker said that if Deanna Troi was there, she would have suggested that chocolate." he said walking out. "I gotta go before Walter starts calling, or I loose control."

"Deana Troi? Say what?! How did you…" she said chasing out the door after him.