CHAPTER 98

EPISODE…………………THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

After what happened at that village with the Ori and the use of Merlin's device. Carter wanted to do more work on it. To make it work better without the possibility of a crash if at all possible. The power system regulators needed to be looked over more along with a few other things. So, the two of them, plus K-9, were doing what they can at different times since that day. That day being almost a month ago.

The T.A.R.D.I.S., K-9 and the two Carter's were both in Observation room one working on the device which was on the table. Ford was standing next to her using the Sonic Screwdriver on some part while she was doing something on her laptop. She, who also now had a Sonic Screwdriver of her own, picked it and the little book Ford had made that told what each setting did and such. Behind them was a couple large computer bank systems, lights blinking at different intervals. To their right was the door out and to their left, against the wall and the door open, was the T.A.R.D.I.S. Though Sam really wanted to see a different shape, they still hadn't came up with one, so it was being kept at a blue phone booth, just like the Doctor. He was in his suit outfit, blue instead of black, while she was in her BDU'S, minus the jacket. Gun still on her hip.

"Figuring it out yet?" he asked.

"Rather well actually." she said pointing at her the leads on the naquada generator. "Ah, that upped the percentage a few points. This is a very invaluable tool."

"Glad we have several just in case anything happens to them." he said putting the part down and glancing at the door.

"What?" she asked.

"I think someone's at the door." Ford said.

"Colonel Mitchell is about to enter Master."

"Hmm." he said pointing the Sonic device as the door opened and Mitchell went to walk in.

"Whoa! What did I…" he asked stepping back with his hands up. When he saw the forcefield drop. "Oh. So, how's it going?"

"Getting there, somewhat." Ford said twirling his tool. "A few more, tweaks as you put it once, and we should have the safety protocols changed to envelope much larger things. Bigger than that village for instance."

"Why do you have this place locked up like Fort Knox? And I thought you said you were going to put a sign up?" Mitchell asked.

"I did. It's on the wall next to the door." she said twirling her Sonic device in her fingers as well. "Didn't you see it?"

"You mean this one?" he said picking the large paper off a computer system on the other side of the table.

"Oops." they said.

"I know what you're working on and why, but why the extra security? The forcefield?"

"We set up the two way force field to ensure that the cloaking field didn't extend beyond the range of this room, and to also ensure that no one accidentally walked into it." she said.

"Ah."

"Did you hear anything from those Jaffa about Daniel?" she asked.

"No. The latest sighting by the Jaffa turned out to be a false alarm. But Teal'c has returned and he indicated he's looking forward to eating something of yours General."

"Hmm. I am hungry. We'll come back and finish."

"Right after this…." she said turning back to her laptop.

"Now." Ford said grabbing her arm and pulling her out slowly. "I'll pick you up if I have to."

"Oh, very well." she muttered as she put her Sonic Screwdriver down. "K-9, keep watch and don't let anyone in."

"I shall activate the shield to ensure the protection of the project and T.A.R.D.I.S. Mistress."

About half an hour later, the group was all eating in the mess hall at a table. Carter explained to them that if the idea that she and Ford were working on worked, they'd be able to protect a planet and not use a lot of power from a ZPM. Though they were still working on some of the details and planning, K-9 said that it could be possible to use a nuclear reactor to cloak the Earth, that is if all that power in the reactor was pushed to the limit of safety and only used for the device. Theoretically anyway.

"That's pretty cool. Now we just need to test the idea. But I have no idea how we'd be able to get access to a nuclear power plant and not get questioned rather heavily." Mitchell said as he dug into his hash browns. "I heard something recently. Did you two get into trouble a some bar a couple weeks ago?"

"No. Not exactly." she said wiping her lips. "Not intentionally I mean."

"And it was last week. We decided to go for a, drive. And we took Sally with us. She loved every minute of it, up till the problem at the 'restaurant." Ford said.

"You two went on your bikes? How'd that work with your little girl?" Vala asked. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"It would be if I didn't know what I was doing." Ford said. "It's actually very easy to ride a motorcycle."

"Gotta be something to do with the regeneration. Before, he was still afraid to ride. Now, he's got it down to an art." she muttered.

"He's not, popping wheelies is he?" Mitchell asked.

"Just one. To see if I could do it. Since her bike isn't at big as mine, I was able to put a baby bike seat on it easily. She even has her own little set of chaps and helmet. We can talk to each other through built in mikes. She was having a great time laughing in our ears."

"We got some very cute pictures too. Dad and mom thought she was cute, till they realized what we were going to do. Then they got afraid." Carter said.

"Why did you go out anyway? Just to ride or…" Mitchell asked.

"We went for a ride to check out the scenery in the mountains and such. Family outing." Ford said.

"What transpired at the restaurant?" Teal'c asked.

"We don't have any colors as some bikers do." Carter said. "Though we've been thinking of making some. Just haven't came up with anything. Anyway, we pulled up, saw over a couple dozen other bikes there and didn't think anything about it. It was also a gas station, and we did need to fuel up."

"Wait, how far out of Colorado Springs were you?" Mitchell asked.

"About a hundred miles I think." Ford said.

"Yeah, about that. Or maybe it was over. Wasn't important." she said waving a hand. "We got gas, then went in to grab a drink and maybe something to eat depending on what they had."

"There was a few other cars out front, not many. I carried Sally with me. We thought it kinda strange after the music in the place shut off shortly after we sat down at the bar. We only noticed it after we sat down that they did sell liquor, and some of it the heavy stuff." Ford said.

"Thankfully they had pop. The bartender thought it strange that we asked for pop instead of beer. And then he laughed at Ford for saying that it was against the law to drink and drive." she said.

"Not to mention that we had our little princess with us."

"So that started the fight?" Mitchell asked.

"There was no fight." Carter said. "There, was an altercation of sorts."

"The bartender walked off to get out drinks when several other bikers, who really needed showers walked up. One planted a heavy hand on my shoulder and then one on hers."

"About knocked me off the stool. They asked us what we were doing here and what our colors are or were. I said we didn't have any and that we were on a family outing. A couple of the guys were extremely offended that they couldn't join us. I admit I was offended when they called me a whore, but I didn't do anything. I told them we didn't want trouble and to please go away."

"The guy on my right said something that I don't recall, mostly because of Sally shouting over him. She's got a voice on her. Made my ear ring." Ford said rubbing his ear in memory. "But he also called Sam something derogatory."

"I didn't hear it either, all I heard and so did just about everyone else was Sally shout, 'My mom is not a pig you mean bastard.'"

Even Teal'c was shocked and almost dropped his fork. Vala started chuckling as Mitchell was choking on his food.

"Way to go little girl." Vala said smiling and then it dropped by the looks she got. "What? She was sticking up for her mother, like a good daughter should."

"She probably learned that word from me." Ford grumbled. "Point is Vala, she's way to young to start swearing. Though we have taught her some of the words out there, we don't want her using them."

"I think the problem with that guy was he probably was a bastard. In the term sense." Carter said.

"Yeah, he got pissed off quickly and actually raised his hand to slap her." Ford said.

"They backed off rather quickly after I pulled my gun, the one currently on my hip, and told them what I was." Carter said. "We grabbed our drinks, decided to forgo the food ordering and left. Several of them decided to try and go after us outside."

"And then the altercation took place." Teal'c said.

"No, the words inside were the altercation. The problem that got us in trouble with the law was when Sam pointed her Sonic Screwdriver at them, and used the hyper pulse. Well, one of them anyway."

"Isn't that the one that is such a high pitch it knocks you out?" Mitchell asked.

"Yeah, I just used the wrong setting. And broke all the glass instead. The bike windshields and lights, that was glass anyway. The cars outside and all the windows on the restaurant."

"Plus everyone who has glasses." Ford said. "Now there was a state patrol officer outside in his car, keeping watch on the restaurant. Only because all those bikers were there and the people inside called in case of trouble. And with our luck, we just happened to stumble into it."

"The cop car and his glasses were also effected by the pulse." she said. "And all the glass inside the restaurant was shattered. Even the mirrors in the bathrooms."

"Only after we showed our identification badges did he not take us in for more questioning. That and I think him calling the local sheriff helped. But did we ever have to pay a heavy fine."

"We've still got a couple lawyers trying to settle out of court for all the damages, both in property and in medical." she said shaking her head. "More medical than property unfortunately."

"That's, a lot of glass." Mitchell said as he took his last bite. "Ah, that was great as always General."

"Indeed." Teal'c stated with a small bow of his head.

"Thank you. You're all welcome."

"Wait, how did you explain the Sonic Screwdriver?" Vala asked.

"Told him it was a top secret project that we didn't get to work right apparently. It was suppose to be a sort of high pitch noise stun wand. Knock people out without causing physical damage."

"It does do that though. Except that it effects everyone, well, except you." Mitchell said.

"He didn't know that." Carter said. "We just said that it had to be pointed at a group or one person, though anything in the field of the direction pointed was effected. General O'Neill did call us at home and chewed us out rather well and threatened to demote us if we pulled another stunt like that again. I think the next time we go riding again, we'll get more information about the surrounding area to avoid biker places."

"Well, I'm done. Let's go back to work." Ford said.

"Can we watch?" Vala asked.

"Sure. You can all look from the upper room." Carter said as they got up.

The shield went down as they opened the door.

"Anyone try to come in K-9?" she asked as Ford closed the door and reactivated the shield.

"Negative Mistress. Everything is as you left it."

"Excellent. Okay, we're going to activate this and then we'll be gone, obviously. And we should be back in, say a minute?"

"Yeah. Let's say five to be on the safe side. To scan and check for any problems, or tweaks that need to be undone as Mitchell stated."

"Okay, you don't need to say that anymore." Mitchell said into the mike.

"See you in a few minutes." she said pushing the enter button.

Mitchell and Vala looked at the clock as everything in the room disappeared.

Ford and Sam were both watching the device, keeping readings and such when a strange whine filled the air.

"What is that?"

"Danger, danger!" K-9 stated as he turned and headed for the T.A.R.D.I.S.

They both looked and saw a strange disturbance coming from above the naquada generator.

"GO!" Ford yelled pushing her towards the T.A.R.D.I.S.

They both just made it in when they saw a bright light and heard the T.A.R.D.I.S. activate for a few moments as they blacked out.

"Hey you two, its been five minutes." Mitchell said into the mike.

"Perhaps there is something wrong." Teal'c stated.

"Yeah, knowing our luck. Go down and get one of those Sodan cloaks and check it out Teal'c."

Ford awoke slowly hearing a couple of alarms. One was the base alarm he heard outside the T.A.R.D.I.S. The other sounded like a strange bonging noise that kinda had a low echo to it.

"The Cloister bell is ringing? K-9, what is ow!" he said trying to get off the floor slowly when his hand came down on something sharp. "What the…."

He glanced up seeing the console and K-9 next to it and what looked like someone's boot on the other side. The door was open beside him and around him on the floor was unknown burnt parts. Some of them looked like they could have been from what they were doing, but there were to many damaged parts everywhere, plus it went outside the T.A.R.D.I.S. He brushed his hand off after it healed and looked to his right.

"Oh god! Sam, no!" he shouted as he crawled up next to her ignoring the debris digging into his knees.

She was very badly injured. From her waist up was pretty mangled and burnt, mostly second degree burns. Her face looked like a small explosion of shrapnel had blew up near it and across the front of her chest and arms. He quickly placed his hand on her chest and tried to heal her. After ten seconds of nothing, he jumped over her quickly, opened one of the panels and rushed back.

"K-9, what happened? How bad is she?" he asked urgently as K-9 rolled up and extended his antenna. He activated the healing hand device over her as K-9 was scanning.

"The Mistresses injuries are superficial Master. Correction, damage has been done to her left lung Master. A three quarter inch piece of metal…."

"I see it. Has her lung collapsed?" he asked using the device on her right side. "And can I pull it out of her?"

"Lung capacity is still intact. Removal the metal straight up Master to avoid more damage and begin instant use of the device."

"Got it." he said pulling it out and started healing her. "Keep scanning…"

"New data Master, this is not the Mistress."

"What? What do you mean isn't not Sam?!"

"This female is Samantha Carter Master…."

"Ow, what the hell happened?" Carter muttered as she sat up from under the other side of the console and smacked her head on the underside. "OW!"

"Sam, but…." Ford wondered in confusion as he looked at the Carter in front of him and the one that was standing on the other side and rubbing her head. Though confused, he didn't stop using the healing device.

"What happened?" she asked walking over and then noticing another Carter on the floor. "Oh god…"

"K-9, is that our Sam?"

"Affirmative."

"You can see me?" she asked worried. "I'm not having some out of body experience?"

"And hear you. K-9 says this is some other Carter. I guess we jumped universes or she jumped into ours. I don't know yet. Can you go shut down the shield out there. Someone is yelling and banging on it."

She walked out seeing a blast zone on the floor, plus burnt parts as well. Her table and equipment was all there still, though not active. Doctor Lee and some other guy were outside the shield yelling at her. She raised a finger and then pushed a couple buttons. The shield went down and they entered.

"Major Carter, is everything alright? We heard an explosion…" Lee was asking when he noticed the phone booth. "What is that?"

"That's…..wait, did you just say Major Carter?"

"Yeah."

"Sam, you're okay. Where's Major Bennet? Where'd that come from?"

"Major Lorne? What are you doing here?" she asked as a couple of airmen came into the room with weapons ready.

"Sam, get in here please!"

She ran back in as he was working on her counterparts face.

"Over there near the door to the interior is a hidden button. K-9 can point it out."

"Right, what's it do?" she asked walking over quickly as two other people entered.

"Who are you and what….oh my god. Major Carter?" Doctor Lee asked as he knelt down next to Ford. "Another one?"

"I'm trying to save her." he said as he pulled another small piece of metal from her chest and placed the device over it just as quickly as blood seeped out.

"What the hell? What is this and…." another man asked as he entered the doorway.

"Shut up! You're distracting me! Sam, you find…" he said looking over a moment and seeing the hidden bed come out. "Lee, I need you to go get a medical team quickly. I can only do so much…."

"Who are you?" Lorne asked.

"I'm the General. Look, we'll do further introductions and explanations later. This is your Carter, that is mine. Understand?"

The two were really confused, but Lee ran out and grabbed the phone off the wall that somehow survived whatever explosion had happened.

"K-9, can you scan….um, Major Lorne? I guess it wouldn't matter anyway if you scan him or not." Carter said.

"Scan me for what?" he asked defensively.

"His quantum signature is different Mistress. As is your counterpart, which matches his."

"Great, we ended up in another universe." Ford muttered.

"What were you thinking?" Carter asked with her hands on her hips.

"This is not my fault." he said quickly. "I was not thinking anything but on the task at hand. Lorne…"

"That's Major."

"Whatever. I need you and Sam to lift, this Sam and place her on that bed while I keep working."

"Why not take her to our infirmary?" he asked as Carter got down and grabbed her counterpart under the arms.

"Is it safe to move me, I mean her? I can't believe I said that." she said.

"We don't have much choice. Ever heard of Entropic Cascade Failure?"

"Yeah." Lorne said as they lifted her off the ground.

"Same effect will take place if both Samantha's leave the T.A.R.D.I.S. And since you'll want to talk to us and we need to find out how we got here, it's best you leave your Sam here to recover so my Sam can leave."

"Won't the effect take place in here too?" Lorne asked as they set her on the bed and a medical team came in.

"No. While inside the T.A.R.D.I.S., no matter when or where it is, anyone inside is protected because it is in its own dimension and some of the laws that should take effect, don't." Carter said as she wiped her hands off on some wet towels the medical team gave her.

"I've got her stabilized the best I can." Ford said stepping back and dropping to his knees.

"You alright?" Carter asked as she knelt down next to him.

"Just tired. Takes a lot out of me for some reason. Here, it goes in that circle."

Carter helped him back to his feet and as he leaned on the console to rest, she put the device away.

"K-9, keep watch. Apprise us if any serious problems with her or otherwise take place." Ford said as he pushed a couple of buttons on the console. "Just so you all know, I've locked the door to go farther into the interior, plus locked out the controls. She's temperamental, so I wouldn't try forcing anything."

"I don't understand any of what's going on." Lorne said. "But whatever happened, you just saved our Sam, so we'll leave everything alone, for the time being. No offense, but we don't know who or what you are and if you end up being a threat…."

"We understand. We also work for the SGC." Carter said as she walked out with Lorne and Lee, Ford following behind as he put his coat on.

Ford and Carter were placed in another room, one of the rooms that was sort of like a brig, but with a locked door instead of the bars, and with guards outside the door. They had their blood taken, to have them checked out. They also stated their medical history, to certain points. Such as Carter once had been host to a Tok'ra. Ford mentioned the same and also said he was an Ancient, plus a Time Lord. The doctors kinda gave him a funny look, but scans were done to both of them anyway. The doctors were baffled by the fact he actually had two hearts. Before they had completely left the T.A.R.D.I.S., Ford mentioned something he wanted Carter to do for him. She thought it a little strange, but agreed. And so, for the moment, they were seated in the room, with their belongings missing, though Ford refused to give up his dogs tags with the items on them. They didn't see or detect anything dangerous so he was able to keep them, as was she. Plus their rings were left with them too which were currently on their dog tag chains.

"General, we have a problem." Lorne said as he entered the gate control room.

"What is it Major?" General Hammond asked.

"I'm not exactly sure how to explain it sir. But there's been an accident and a strange development."

"What sort of development?"

"You'll have to see it to believe it sir."

"Explain on the way." he said following him out.

As they were going through the hallways, Lorne told him everything that happened up to the point that he left the two in the other observation room.

"A parallel universe?"

"Yes sir. I saw two Sam's sir. The other one, which is ours, is in their ship. Currently sleeping from what the doctors say. She'll make a full recovery and hopefully without any scars on her face or anywhere else if lucky."

"And this one is married, a higher rank and with some unknown machine or ship?"

"Yes sir."

"Okay, assuming they are who they say they are, since we haven't gotten the blood work yet back on this other Carter, find out anything else you can and get back to me ASAP. We need to talk to our Carter ASAP as well."

"Yes sir." Lorne said as they two walked away from each other.

"Okay, why are you two here?" he asked.

Before he came in to talk to them, a camera was brought in so that everything that was said would be seen by General Hammond back in the control room.

"We didn't do this on purpose. I know it's hard to believe, but the experiment we were working on shouldn't have had on any level, been capable of bringing us here." Carter said.

"I've never heard of any cloaking field taking someone to another dimension before." Ford said. "Besides the Sodan one, but that doesn't count."

"We were pulled into another universe, not dimension." Carter said. "Big difference."

"What is your first name? I know you said you are a General in your universe, but…" Loren began.

"That's it. Just General. If you like, you can call me General Carter, or just Carter." Ford said leaning back slightly in his seat. "But I prefer General. I hate being called sir so don't."

"Major….Sam, what is his first name?"

"I know it is strange, but it really is General. He's a Time Lord and they have strange names. There's a guy named Doctor Who so…." she said shrugging. "You can even check his dog tags."

Ford lifted it up as he gestured. Sure enough, it said General Carter. Then his rank and serial number plus blood type.

"Kinda strange to marry someone with the same last name. You two aren't related…"

"No, my last name used to be Primus. For reasons we'll keep to ourselves.." he said as she snickered lightly. "I took her name when we married. Can we get on with this please? Quit giggling. It's not funny."

"Sorry."

"Okay, what is that device that you brought with you?" Lorne asked.

"It demolecularizes matter and transports it to another dimension." she said.

"A special cloaking field in laymen's terms, where anyone in the field can see and hear everything going on around them and be protected from anything outside the field and from anything that comes inside it that wasn't there before." Ford said.

"You said another dimension. That's got to be what brought you here."

"No, it doesn't work that way." she said as she began to explain the theory behind it.

"Forget it Sam."

"What, why?"

"He has no clue what you're talking about."

"Sorry Major….Sam, but even my Carter spoke in a language I never understood either."

"Well, since we are both damned sure it wasn't our fault we ended up here, can you tell us what it was my counterpart was working on? It might shed some light on what happened."

"That's not information I can give you. Classified."

"Oh good god." Ford muttered rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Okay then, can we talk to Daniel?" she asked.

"Daniel.." he began sadly. "Was captured by Ori forces several weeks ago."

"Oh great. Doesn't matter what universe, Daniel always gets himself in trouble." Ford muttered.

"Ours was captured by Adria. What about Colonel Mitchell?" she asked getting a strange look. "Cameron Mitchell?"

"Goes by his call sign, Shaft?" Ford put in.

"Oh, the 302 pilot. Went down over Antarctica."

"Yeah. Was in our universe. He is the head of SG-1 for us." Ford said.

"Hmm. I have no idea where he is. Last I heard he left the Air Force."

"Strange, but it is another universe here." Ford said.

"How about Teal'c, or even Vala?" she asked.

"Teal'c went back to the Jaffa several years ago and if you are talking about Vala Mal Doran, she is currently occupying a cell in Area 51."

"Ouch. Turned out to be a nice person and valuable asset to us. And we still have Teal'c too." Ford said.

"Can we at least see the footage of what my counterpart was doing? Maybe a clue or something else will show up and tell us what happened. I want to go home, back to my child. And I can't do that until we know what happened to brought us here so we can reverse it. The sooner we find that out, the sooner you get your Sam back."

"Is that a threat?"

"She can't leave that ship until I go back in. Otherwise, she leaves, I die."

"Entropic Cascade Failure ring a bell?" Ford asked.

"Right, forgot."

"Show them the tape." Hammond said to Lee before walking off.

The two were watching the footage on a laptop that was brought in, seeing a Major Carter and some guy named Doctor Bennet working on some very large experiment that was covering the table in the middle of the room. Lee was sitting across from them while Lorne was standing by Lee with his arms crossed.

"We're getting a power spike." Bennet said as he looked at the set up of some sort of power system on his right.

"The capacitors are overloading. Shut it down." Major Carter said turning from her power system on her left as something exploded in a burst of sparks on her power system.

"Overrides not responding!" he said punching keys on his laptop.

"Bennet! Get out of here!" Major Carter yelled as the screen turned to a greenish static. "What the hell…."

As they heard her make her last statement before the feed cut out completely, a familiar noise caught their attention before it all cut out.

"That's all we got before the feed quit." Lee said. "We're not sure what that strange noise was either, but we're working on it. Sensors showed their was a massive explosion in the room, but instead of what we expected to see, we found you two, your stuff and that strange ship. Why did it look like a blue phone box?"

"Personal reasons." Ford said quickly. "I now understand why there was parts of burnt stuff everywhere. What the hell was she working on?"

"Specifically, what were the capacitors for?" Carter asked.

"Um, Major Carter was working on a way to create energy by pulling it from parallel universes."

The two looked at him blanched.

"No offense intended here, but was she insane?" Ford asked.

"Excuse me?" Lorne asked insulted.

"We know what happens when that sort of technology. The same sort of experiment there was done in Atlantis…." she began.

"I'm sorry, where?" Lorne asked.

"Atlantis. The Lost City. Where I come from in our universe." Ford said seeing them give the two looks. "Oh god, you lot are in real trouble aren't you?"

"The experiment involved exotic particles and it ended up almost blowing up in our faces." Carter said.

"Our Carter found a way around that exotic particle problem."

"Wow. Wait till we tell our Rodney about that."

"He's going to hate that." she said with a knowing smile.

"Rodney McKay?"

"Yeah. He's in charge of the science department on Atlantis. His sister actually came up with the idea for the same sort of thing that your Major Carter was doing, except we couldn't fix the exotic particle problem. What was she doing to avoid the danger?" Carter asked.

"Her idea was to open the bridge for a micro second. The idea was to steal small amounts of energy from thousands of universes, thereby reducing the fallout into a single one." Lee said.

"Ingenious. McKay is going to have a fit." Ford said amazed.

"But it didn't work. And it almost killed her." Carter said.

"All this is fascinating, to you three anyway since I'm a bit clueless, but from what I gather, it doesn't explain why you are here." Lorne said.

"That's true. The bridge wasn't designed to bring matter across." Lee said.

"I think I have an idea. When she tapped into out universe, we were conducting an experiment and at the time, we were out of phase and behind a force shield."

"Oh my god. There's no telling what effect that could have on the inter-universal bridge." Lee said.

"That's what presumably pulled us through and caused the capacitors on this side to overload." Carter said.

"Does that mean that Doctor Bennet was pulled into your universe? Because we can't find him anywhere here? Or is he in that ship like our Carter is?" Lorne asked.

"No, it wouldn't have worked that way. Wait, she should be dead then." Carter said.

Ford let out a small chuckle.

"That's why the T.A.R.D.I.S. activated. She tried to save her from the explosion. Bennet was no where near the T.A.R.D.I.S. when we entered this universe. He unfortunately didn't make it, and I'm sorry we can't do anything to change that. That strange sound you heard was the T.A.R.D.I.S. If he was in the T.A.R.D.I.S. like I found your Carter, K-9 would have said something and I would have noticed when I was working on the console before we left. The T.A.R.D.I.S. did something and managed to shield your Carter from the brunt of the blast. Probably because she was close to her when we started to land where Bennet was running out of the room."

"Doctor Bennet is dead then?" Lorne asked.

"Unfortunately yes. Like I said, I'm sorry. Not our fault we are here, but on the bright side, if your Carter had picked up a different Carter doing the same experiment, she'd probably be dead by the blast."

"What is this ship of yours anyway?" Lorne asked. "It's much bigger inside than out."

"It's an acronym." Carter said. "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."

"It's a large time machine?" Lee asked.

"Very good." Ford said impressed. Even Carter was surprised. "Essentially, yes it is. And no Major Lorne, we cannot go back and save Bennet much less stop your Carter from getting hurt much less stopping the experiment. It would cause so much trouble to the space time continuum that we've probably blow both universes apart or cause a rupture that would destroy the fabric of the space time continuum itself."

"And if it didn't do that, just going back and telling her not to do the experiment would cause a paradox on a level I can't even being to phantom." she said.

"You understand any of this Lee?" Lorne asked.

"Yeah, totally. What they are saying is true. I seriously recommend against trying any sort of time travel like they said."

"Can we have our stuff back and be allowed back in our ship now please?" Ford asked. "Even though we know what happened, we aren't going anywhere. If it helps, you can have guards or even Lee here come with us."

"I'll see what General Hammond says." he said walking out.

"Hammond?" Carter said in surprise.

"Hmm, that explains why we aren't talking to General O'Neill." Ford muttered as he looked through is coat. "Damn, they even took my chocolate bar."

Hammond, after getting the info from Lorne, went to where the briefing room normally was at, plus what was once his office. A guard was outside, in a suit outfit.

"General Hammond."

"I need to see the President."

"He's on a call, can it wait?"

"No."

The two were still sitting there, discussing what they would probably have to do to get home when the door opened. She got up quickly as Hammond entered and then slapped Ford's arm lightly making him get up. Lorne was right behind Hammond and closed the door.

"Sorry, been awhile." Ford said as he got up and stood at attention like she did.

"Colonel, General. At ease."

"Hammond sir." she said. "Nice to see you even though you're not our George Hammond."

"I want to thank you both for what you did to save our Samantha Carter. It's unfortunate that we lost Doctor Bennet, he was a good scientist." he said waving for them to sit. "Just out of curiosity, what does your George do?"

"He retired from active service sir." Carter said.

"Lucky man." Hammond said as he sat down and Lorne sat on the edge of the table. "I hear you both have a child."

"Yes. A very beautiful little princess. I'd show you a picture, but you have my wallet."

"Major, have their items brought here please."

Lorne went to the door and told a guard.

"I'm sorry this has happened. And I can understand how hard this is for you, not being able to be with your family. In fact, your timing is really bad too."

"What do you mean?" Carter asked as Lorne sat back on the table.

"Three weeks ago, the Ori attempted an attack on Earth." Lorne said.

"Whoa. They got bold." Ford said sitting up straighter. "No offense, but we haven't had that happen yet."

"Wait, if all this is here, you must have managed to fight them off." Carter said.

"Yes. We used the Ancient chair in Antarctica to fight them off. It almost completely drained our ZPM." Hammond said.

"That's why our Major Carter was running that experiment." Lorne said. "Trying to bolster our reserves with captured energy from other universes."

"A very good idea. Bad timing on both our sides though." Ford said.

"Of course. They would only have the one ZPM because they never got the other's from Atlantis."

"How did that happen? You guys finding the Lost City?" Lorne asked. "What did you do that kept us from doing the same?"

Carter explained that shortly after they destroyed Anubis with the Ancient chair, Daniel found out where the Lost City of Atlantis was.

"That's where it changed for us." Lorne said.

"After we fought off Anubis, we had no choice but to reveal the existence of the Stargate program to the world." Hammond said.

"There was rioting, chaos in the streets. The President had no choice but to declare martial law." Lorne said.

"The diplomatic fallout was even worse. You can imagine the worlds governments and how they reacted when they realized the kind of technology that was in the hands of the United States Military." Hammond said.

"We barely got the chair out of Antarctica before the Russians moved in." Lorne said.

"It's currently sitting in Area 51. But it isn't going to do us much good unless we can find a way to power it." Hammond said. "Seeing as our Carter is still injured and unconscious, we need your help."

"Wait, you want us to continue her research?" Carter asked in surprise.

"Major Lorne told me you dealt with something very similar in your universe." Hammond said.

"And it failed. But we didn't do it. Doctor McKay and his sister, who actually came up with the idea originally, worked on it with people in Atlantis. We only looked it over, not helped." Ford said.

"No offense sir, but we're facing a very real threat of our own. And I would really like to get back to my family." she said.

"How about a deal? You help us the best you can, at least until our Carter is medically released and can work on it herself, and we'll help you find a way home." Hammond said.

"I can do that. Sam?"

"We can try. The only problem is we don't even have any idea or theory on how to even try to get home."

"You'll have the fully resources of this base and we'll allow you to use whatever you need in, that strange ship of yours. Can you give us a time table though?" Hammond asked.

"I don't know. It could take a few minutes to…."

"There might be a way. Remember that…no when the Doctor accidentally got pulled into that other universe and the T.A.R.D.I.S. had some power in, that little part…."

"You think the T.A.R.D.I.S. can get us home? Just by dialing in the right coordinates?"

"It's possible. We aren't in our universe and, theoretically, all we'd have to do is set the controls to take us back the universe with our quantum signature. From there, we set the coordinates for home and off we go."

"I don't understand what you're really talking about here, but from what little I gathered and from all the years of listening to my Sam, I'm guessing that you think your ship can get you home at any time?"

"We'd have to go to the T.A.R.D.I.S. and check with the computer system." Ford said.

"Alright, I'll let you do that while your Sam stays in the room outside. No offense, but right now we need your help, desperately. I can't allow you to leave just yet." Hammond said as the guard opened the door and handed a bag to Lorne.

"I understand General. I'll go in and check. Besides, I can't take off without leaving your Sam behind first. Not to mention, our stuff on that table we need back in our universe." Ford said.

"Sir, why the desperation?" she asked.

"We got intel recently. Now that the Ori have consolidated their position in this part of the galaxy, they are amassing their ships to bring a full out attack on Earth. We are running out of time. They are suppose to be here in five days."

Ford looked up at the ceiling and said something in his, native language. Anger on his face. But at least he didn't shout.

"What was that?" Lorne asked.

"I was speaking in Ancient to, the ascended in this universe. As for what I said, you don't want to know." Ford said as they got up. "Let's hurry and see what we can do."

They did go to the T.A.R.D.I.S. and Ford did use the healing device for a couple more minutes on the other Carter. K-9 reported her condition was a little worse than he first detected. She had a serious concussion which the medical team worked on for awhile, at least to the extent of what they could do in the Console room. No surgery was done. She had woke up for a few moments, looked around and then promptly passed back out earlier hitting her head on the floor as she tried to leave. After getting the swelling down and doing a few other things, he went and checked the T.A.R.D.I.S. computer. According to the read outs, it was possible to get home, at just about any time. First, the T.A.R.D.I.S. would have to scan the small tear in space and time for their quantum signature universe before she could take them home. K-9 reported he'd let them know when the scan was complete.

"Well, she opened a lot of universes with that small tear slash bridge. We can get home, once the T.A.R.D.I.S. finds our universe with our signature. Hopefully it will happen soon. No offense, but I'd rather be able to leave if we fail to be able to come up with anything in those five days." Ford said.

"I understand." Hammond said. "Now, I hate to rush you, but do you have any ideas on what you can do to help or possibly finish what our Carter was doing?"

"Actually I do sir. While he was in there working on finding a way home for us, I was looking at our device here. Before we ended up in this universe, we were trying to increase the field range of this device. I think we can use it to save this Earth."

"How will that be done Colonel?" Hammond asked.

"Well, if you will let me sir, we can demonstrate it. But you'd have to be up in the observation room to see it work, or else you'll get caught in the field and won't notice the effect."

"You have my solemn word General Hammond that we will not leave this world before trying to help." Ford said raising a hand. "If you wish, Doctor Lee or even Lorne here can stay with us."

"Major, stay here."

"Yes sir." he said as Hammond and Lee walked out.

"Okay…" Carter said as she started the device up after they entered the upper room. "Basically, we are going to disappear. Totally vanish. You won't be able to see or hear us. But we will be able to see and hear you. Though no physical interaction can take place either way. You can do the honors."

Ford pulled his Sonic Screwdriver out and aimed it at the device. There was a bright light and then they vanished.

"Wow, they did vanish." Lee said surprised.

"They can't see us?" Lorne asked as he heard Lee speak.

"You could flip off or even moon them and they wouldn't notice. Jack would if he was here." Ford said aiming his device again and making them come back.

"Where did you two go?" Hammond asked through the mike.

"We didn't go anywhere sir. You really couldn't see us?" Lorne asked.

"No Major."

"It's basically a cloaking device sir. Kinda like the device that they use on Star Trek, except, like we said, no interaction can happen to anyone inside the field from those outside it. The experiments we were working on back home were to try and change the field size to encompass a planet. I think we can do that here."

"And the Ori can't get to us if we cloak the Earth?" Lorne asked.

"They tried to destroy a village and ended up blasting the ground three times. On another planet. After they left, we uncloaked the village. For the reports we still get, the Ori haven't came back to that planet because they think they destroyed the people. And us." Ford said.

"I'll leave you two to it then. Just call if you need help." Hammond said before walking out.

Later, they were in the other Carter's office, doing simulations and other test. It was very different from her lab back in their universe. No pictures and a few other trinkets weren't there plus a few other computers and other scientific equipment wasn't in there either. The T.A.R.D.I.S. and their equipment with Merlin's device was still in the observation room. The other Carter was still sleeping and probably would be for another day or so. They personally hadn't even been there a day so they weren't too worried about not making it home or anything like that. The T.A.R.D.I.S. was left open, just in case they need to go in and a couple guards were placed outside the room for protection.

"It almost done?" Ford asked as he grabbed a cup of coffee for her from the coffee machine in the room.

"Almost." she said tiredly from where she sat at the table, her back to the door.

"Hey, how's it coming in here?" Lorne asked as he entered.

"Slow in some ways. I was able to upgrade a few of my systems back in my lab that would work better than this laptop. We're about to run a simulation at the moment."

"Hmm." he said standing next to the table.

"It's really weird for me seeing you in here. Even weirder in some ways to hear you married and have a child."

"It is for us too. There's so much missing." she said taking a drink. "Not all of it was scientific stuff though."

"Hmm, more family related stuff I take it?"

"Yeah. Really strange not seeing the computer I would use in here." Ford said as he reached over and grabbed something off a shelf. "We did find something interesting though. Me more than her actually."

"Funny." she said as he set the blue envelope with pictures down on the table.

"Seriously Sam, it's nice to see another version of you married. Even with all those other versions that showed up that one time, I asked a few of them, and only three of them actually got married. Two were divorced. The rest were still single." Ford said.

"Any of the singles the ones that were asking you those really personal questions?"

"Yeah. Actually, it was only the singles and one of the divorced that were asking, from what I remember anyway. You could say that they had good taste."

"I'll give them that."

"You want to know who's she married I take it?" Lorne said showing the picture of her and Lorne standing together, in normal everyday clothes. Her arm was around his neck and the finger showed a ring.

"Yes. We don't think it is you, mostly because you really didn't seem as concerned as a lover would have been for your Carter as I was healing her." Ford said.

"No, it wasn't me. This picture must have been before the divorce though." he said looking at it again. "In your universe, he ended up at Atlantis. Here, McKay is a multi-million dollar aire."

"Wait. She married that jerk?" she asked in surprise.

"Ouch. That's sinking pretty low in some ways. What the hell did she see in him in this universe? Unless he's actually a nice guy…." Ford began.

"No, he's a complete jerk in this universe too. Though in her defense, which I still don't get where she saw it, she said there was a side of him no one else saw."

"I don't even want to know." she said with some disgust.

"And I was thinking of asking. I don't think I will either."

They were allowed to sleep in the T.A.R.D.I.S., as long as they left the door open and guards outside the ship in the room. They agreed, though felt insulted. They had gotten their results and confirmed them with K-9 before calling it a night. The other Carter woke up, saw the two of them by her, and seeing another version of herself made her pass out again.

"She really must have taken a big blow to the head." he said.

"A serious concussion. I think so. I'm wondering if she, bounced off the door or something before landing on the floor. Something could have hit her in the head too, from the explosion."

"Possible." he said as he put a blanket over her for the night. "Let us know if anything changes K-9."

They locked the interior door behind them and went to bed. The next morning they caught up with General Hammond, who was in his full uniform as he entered the elevator. Sam was in her normal SGC blue BDU'S, while Ford was in a reddish brown suit, white shirt and his coat. Hammond gave him a brief look.

"Is this normal for him?"

"Yes sir. I'd explain it, but you'd probably not even get it after several tries. No offense sir. And no orders are going to get him to change."

"None taken. So, I hear you finished your simulations."

"Yes sir. Unfortunately, you did deplete the ZPM too much for it to make it possible to use for what we need it for. I thought my idea could help, but we don't have the power needed."

"We thought about using the T.A.R.D.I.S., but we haven't tried something like that before much less did a simulation or test run. If something went wrong and the T.A.R.D.I.S. exploded, she'd take the planet and who knows what else. Mostly, we're actually afraid of the device overloading from the power instead of losing the ship."

"No need to worry. We may have another solution for the power problem." he said as the elevator opened.

"This isn't the normal floor." Ford said.

"No, not in your case." Hammond said as they walked down the hallway toward the office and briefing room.

"Sir, who are these people?" she asked as they passed men in suits.

"Secret Service."

"Since when has the Secret Service been outside your office?" she asked.

"It hasn't been my office for three years." he said as the door opened and they went into the briefing room.

The place was jammed with people, walking around or sitting at the table. Hank Landry walked up to them in a dark suit.

"Colonel, General. Glad to finally meet you." he said shaking their hands.

"Colonel, General. President Landry." Hammond said with a wave of his hand.

"President?" the two said. "Of the United States?"

"Right. Is there a problem with that?" Landry asked.

"Not really no. Just in our universe…." Ford said.

"You're are in charge of the SGC with, the General here." she said pointing at Ford.

"A joint command? That's, different." Landry said. "George here informs me you two need a lot of power. How much exactly?"

"About 700 gigawatts." the two said.

"You two do that a lot?" Landry asked.

"Sorry, it became habit over the years." she said.

"We now do it much more to drive our friends crazy." Ford said with a smile she shared.

"Basically though sir, we would pretty much need all the power in the continental United States."

"Then it's doable then?"

"I'm sorry." the two said again.

"We've known about the power depletion from the ZPM for sometime and in addition to the research Major Carter was doing, we have built infrastructure in Area 51 to use the all the power in the U.S. grid to activate it." Hammond said.

"That's ingenious." Ford said impressed.

"Yes. Unfortunately, it's not enough to give us the upper hand in a battle against the Ori fleet." Landry said as he signed off on something. Ford, out of habit, reached out to co-sign.

"Sorry, I forgot where we were for a moment." he said dropping his hands as he got looks.

"No problem General. Kinda weird for a first name though, but they told me you used to live in the Lost City of Atlantis so, maybe that's normal there. You can tell me about it another time. My question to you both now is, can you use your device to cloak this planet with all the power of the U.S.?"

"It's, possible sir. We'd have to do some calculations." she said.

"Excellent." he said turning to a white haired man. "Charlie, I need a speech to tell the American people that they will be without power for a undisclosed amount of time."

"Yes sir."

"You two pack whatever you need. You're going to Area 51."

"We'll only need the T.A.R.D.I.S. and Merlin's device." she said.

"I have an idea. And it if works, we'll be able to get rid of the Ori not only in this universe, but ours as well." Ford said with a small laugh as he rubbed his chin.

"How so?" she asked.

"How many ships you say you think is coming?"

"Five at last estimate." Hammond said.

"I need six of the biggest naquada infused nuke bombs you have, plus a few people to help load and unload them into and out of our ship."

"I like this plan." she said nodding in understanding.

"I'm not following." Landry said.

"Trust me, this will work. This is what we'll do…."

Landry sat at his desk as they got everything ready and then did a count down till he was on.

"My fellow Americans and fellow nations, our planet faces a very grave threat. The same recent forces that attacked us without reason or provocation are again massing for another assault. I can assure you, we intended to meet this aggression with a much better attack than before. And according to the people behind the attack, everyone that is able will see the results of our efforts in crushing this foe. However, in order to achieve this victory, we will need to divert a significant portion of the electrical energy in American to a research facility in Nevada…"

In area 51, a lot of people were listening in to the broadcast while a group of scientist, plus Doctor Lee and both Carters were setting up Merlin's device. The T.A.R.D.I.S. was in the corner out of the way as men were putting the third large gate busting nuke into the ship.

"How that?" Lee asked as he worked on something hooked up to the Ancient chair.

"Nope, still getting too much variance." she said.

"Give me a moment." he said going to a laptop.

"The idea you have planned is basically perfect, but are you really sure…."

"She can go anywhere Sam. It's a time machine, so nothing but another time machine like it can cause it not to land where I want. As soon as they drop out of hyperspace, I have their coordinates."

"You mean like landing on or at the same place as another T.A.R.D.I.S.?"

"Yes."

"Okay, looks like all systems are in the green and everything should work right now." Lee said.

"I'm plugging it in now." she said hooking up the attachments.

"General, the Daedalus just reported 5 Ori ships headed our way." a airman said.

"How many more to load?" Ford asked.

"One more General." another airman said as he pushed the fifth through the door.

"Wow, it's working." she said looking at a screen that showed lines all over the U.S. that was diverting power directly to them.

"Colonel, we are running out of time." Hammonds voice said over the speaker as they saw the percentage number jump to 80.

"We're almost there sir, the capacitors are loading."

"What about you General?" Lee asked.

"Not till the field is up, otherwise they might retreat on the first attack."

"Colonel, two ships are heading to fire upon Area 51." Hammond said.

"95. It's slowing to a dead crawl now." Lee said. "We're not going to make it."

"Do it Sam. There's should be enough and just long enough for me to do my part." he said entering the T.A.R.D.I.S.

The strange sound filled the air and made some papers fly around as he disappeared.

"Colonel!"

"Activating now sir!"

Everyone on the planet noticed a bright light surround them and the Ori ships saw a light envelop the planet as it completely disappeared.

"Status Major?"

"They are just hovering….new report. One ship, now two ships destroyed. They are firing and regroup….three ships dead sir." Lorne said as he heard the Daedalus speak to him from the headpiece.

Back at Area 51, a bright beam of pure energy went right through where Sam and Lee were standing.

"Whoa!" Lee exclaimed.
"We're totally safe." she said.

"Truly fascinating Mistress." K-9 said.

Everyone looked up as they heard the grinding and winding noise and saw the T.A.R.D.I.S reappear.

"A complete success." Ford said walking out after the other men also left. "I popped in, dropped a nuke into that large room where their power source was, set to explode three seconds after being pushed out the door and boom! They never saw it coming."

"Did my counterpart enjoy the show?"

"Up till she passed out, um…third ship I think. Maybe too much excitement."

"That…doesn't sound like something she would normally do." Lee said concerned and confused.

"Well, she is still recovering, and knowing her…as to my curiosity, she probably started asking questions."

"I think the black hole being a power source and a lot of the math behind it was too much to grasp at the moment. She's okay though. Well, let's get back to the SGC."

"I can tell you how much gratitude I have for what you have done for this planet General, Colonel. I have to admit, I wasn't the only one who didn't think this was probably going to work." Landry said as they walked the halls.

"For both plans sir?"

"More his than yours Colonel. We barely understand the Ancient shuttle that has time capabilities. Let alone your ship. They pretty much blew up one right after another."

"Technically, I dropped in for a total of five seconds in each ship. Really I was in five places at one time almost. No offense to anyone, but only someone who really knows what they are doing could perform that action and not cause a mass paradox." Ford said.

"So, is there any time table you have in mind on when you are returning home and when we get our Carter back?"

"K-9 says we can get home at any time. Coordinates are all locked in and ready. As for your Carter, she still asleep but totally stable. One of the nurses is in there in case she tried to get up and leave again to fast."

"Good to hear." Landry said as they stood outside the doors to the gate room. "How do you two feel about cameras?"

"Picture taken for prosperity? Sure." Ford said shrugging.

"I'm meaning it as, saying hello to the entire world."

"Good bye…"

"On no. Not this time buster." she said grabbing his arm and pulling him back. "As much as the thought is nice and all, sir, we don't belong here…"

"I know that Colonel. But you two were instrumental in saving this world and dealing a crippling blow to the Ori. As much as I have been told by several of my military personal to, talk you into staying and helping us out more, I don't think anything I say will keep you here."

"They want to have us forced to stay?" Ford asked.

"A few of them made that, sort of suggestion. However, I am in charge and you just saved us. And saved our Carter. Forcing anything would not only be wrong, but from what I gather about this, Time Lord thing…yes, we have a show here called Doctor Who as well. Crossing a Time Lord isn't a good idea."

"No, it's not." Ford stated grimily.

"I would like you two to say something. Even tell them you are from another universe if you want."

They really didn't want to do it but had little choice as the door opened at that moment and several cameras were pointed at them suddenly, some taking pictures while the others were live broadcasting. A lot of them were reporters asking questions.

"Oh man…" Ford muttered.

"Smile, you're hero's." Landry said smiling for the reporters.

Many of them started to notice the stars on his shoulders and the higher rank on hers. And then started asking about when the promotion took place for her and who he was.

"You want to start…"

"No." she said. "I don't even want to be here."

Ford made a slashing motion across his throat and it had the opposite result. They thought they were about to be stopped.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please." Landry said waving his hands in the air. "Please, calm down. Please, they are going to talk, but first you need to calm down."

They slowly did and then finally stopped talking.

"Thank you sir." Ford said rubbing his hands together nervously. "Here's how this is going to work people. And I'm talking to the reporters, not everyone watching, out there in the rest of the world. We have been given permission to tell you the truth so, please don't ask or do anything until we are finished. A, experiment to save this planet was happening and, it failed. Sorry to say it was me and this Carter's fault. Your turn."

"Though not intentionally. Yes my name is Samantha Carter, but I come from another universe that also has the SGC and is fighting the Ori. As of today, you people are fairing a lot better than we are. We've only managed to take out one Ori ship in our universe. We were working on an experiment that involved cloaking technology, which is what was used to cloak this planet earlier to protect it. And then the ships were destroyed by means that we can't go into. Mostly because many people probably wouldn't believe it." she said, nervous at first.

A few people muttered something about magic.

"No magic was involved. That, doesn't exist. We'll just say, very superior technological means were used and no one save me and this Carter could even begin to understand half of it. However, because of our arrival, the Carter of this universe was injured, but currently she is stable and recovering. We plan on giving what help we can before we go back to our universe. Once we are gone, we can't come back."

"Who are you?" one reporter asked quickly.

"My name is General Carter. Now, if you people will please excuse us.." he said placing a hand on her back. "We have a few things to do before we leave."

Landry answered other questions as they left.

"That went well." she muttered. "I'm rather surprised at the fact we just told the world who we really were and where we came from."

"I'm thinking about going home to Sally, finding some Ori ships and blowing the hell out of them."

Back in the T.A.R.D.I.S., they were getting ready to get going.

"Mistress."

"Yes K-9?"

"We cannot leave yet."

"We're going to take her to the infirmary before leaving." Carter said.

"That is not the problem I am addressing Mistress, nor will there be any further problems for you or the Master concerning the Cascade Entropy Failure theory."

"What the hell does that mean?" Ford asked.

"The T.A.R.D.I.S. has its own unique quantum signature which has changed yours and the Mistresses, permanently. It has also happened to Mistress Sally as well."

"Cool. What about the rest of the family?" Ford said.

"They have not all stayed in the T.A.R.D.I.S. long enough for the change to take effect."

"Wait, what about her?" Carter asked.

"Being we are currently in her universe, her signature will not change Mistress. Unless she stays for over a year."

"I'm guessing she isn't one of the ones that arrived back when we had all those other versions of SG-1 at the base." Ford said.

"Correct Master."

"What is it we are forgetting then K-9?" he asked.

"Merlin's device Master."

"Oh boy." she muttered. "I completely spaced it."

"There is a further problem Master, Mistress." K-9 said as he linked up to the T.A.R.D.I.S. and had the screen open.

For the next couple of hours, K-9 showed them both files on what was happening on Earth and the different files he got from the computers in the SGC showing the state of current affairs.

"This isn't our universe, but we have to do something." she said saddened by the info. "You must have had K-9 check on things for a reason."

"Mostly it was to see how they were doing technologically. See if they had anything that would help us. Other than the idea for making a super infrastructure for mass energy transfer…"

"Colonel, General, the President, General Hammond and several other people would like to see you in, what you call the former briefing room." a airman said entering.

"Is that are things?" she asked looking at the large couple of crates on a rolling cart he was pushing.

"Yes Colonel." he said as another airman came in and helped him unload it onto the floor.

"Thanks. Tell them we'll be right there." Ford said.

After they left and made sure everything was all there, he closed the door.

"We're not leaving…."

"I'm about to cuss out several people. I'd rather have the T.A.R.D.I.S. nearby when I do. Wake her up. We're dropping her off." he said setting the coordinates.

The people outside were surprised when the blue box left. They called downstairs quickly only to hear about it showing up in the briefing room. Papers were thrown around as she finally materialized. Several men had their guns out and at ready while many of the Joint Chiefs and other advisors were away from the table. Landry and Hammond stood at the head while Lee and a couple other scientist were standing at the other end, Lee holding their Merlin's device that was in storage earlier. A disheveled and tired looking Carter walked out followed by the other two. She sat down at the table, not even bothering to say anything and rubbed her face.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hammond asked.

"Sorry, I forgot she has a tendency to cause the air to shift when leaving or landing. Major Carter, though I recommend after a actual good nights rest, will be ready to work again." Ford said.

"Major?"

"You'll have to forgive me sir. They spent a good hour telling me about what happened and everything else that has happened so far. I got a headache at the moment, but should be ready to start work tomorrow."

"That's good. We have a problem we'd like you to fix before you two leave." Landry said. "We assume that our Doctor Jackson could figure it out, but he's not here."

"We, um….don't know how this fully works much less operates. We had no clues on what it was or even did once it was found and it was put into storage with other items. Once I saw what you had and what it did, I had it found and brought here. But I still don't know how it works. Only you two know all that." Lee said as he set the device on the table. "We can't even read the keys."

"We can help, on a few conditions." she said. "Give you a full translation, technical diagrams, power output and things of that nature. Everything you'd need in order to cloak this planet or any other planet or even a small location."

"Conditions?" Hammond asked perplexed. "That tone sounds a lot like insubordination Colonel."

"No offense sir, but you are not my commander. This isn't my universe." she snapped. "It sickens me to see how bad things are really going on in this universe."

"We sent the last couple of hours looking at very disturbing images. Plus looking over detailed reports, some of them actual paper reports. This SGC and this American government have completely lost their original meaning. This country has turned out worse than that movie with Bruce Willis and Denzel Washington called Martial Law."

"People are dying out there, and not just from the few riots we saw. Brutal beatings for protesting! Killing people for having a voice! Children are out there dying because they have no parents, no food, no clean water, barely any sanitation! Disease that were once cured out now running ramped in several areas of this country! This planet was attacked three years ago! By now, our universe would have had half the problems fixed and be out there exploring again." she yelled as she pointed at the gate out the window.

"You cut ties with everyone out there, including the Asguard. Abandoned every planet you put people and infrastructure on. Just brought everyone home to a dying planet. Every nation is in total chaos despite the fact that the crisis has been averted and the Ori were beaten back heavily."

"They were only beaten back because up that ship of yours General!" Hammond shouted. "We're dealing with problems you probably can't even begin to comprehend! There's people out there thinking we should surrender and join the Ori. Others are just terrorist bent on taking over governments to do what they feel is the right thing, either because American couldn't do it right, some religions reason or because of reasons we haven't learned yet! Yeah, your universe is doing much better. Your planet wasn't attacked by the Ori like ours was. What makes you think you can do better in this situation?!"

"Tell the truth about everything concerning the SGC. About the people who work here and did work here and what they did. Bring back certain people who were fired or got rid of. Get rid of the Martial Law and apologize for every mistake and failure. Rebuild and forget about the money involved. Go back to the barter system if you have to. Make some sort of peace treaty with the other countries. Everyone knows there is life out there and not all of aliens are friendly. That should be enough to make everyone come together and realize that if the people on this planet don't start getting along, you're all going to blow each other up and then the enemy out there wins just like they are hoping for. The chaos has to stop or else the enemy won't be want everyone will have to worry about. It will be how the survivors will cope and manage to survive when this planet turns into a nuclear holocaust."

"You now have a defense against the Ori and if you park your ships into close orbit, just inside the field, they can beam more of those nukes into any more Ori ships that show up, given enough time. When they fire those powerful beams, their shields fluctuate enough to beam something through, so you don't need us or our ship to do it for you. If she is anything like me and once she reads my notes, she'll be able to do it all." Carter said.

"And if we don't do any of that and just stay on the course were currently on?" Landry asked.

"Even if you kept the planet cloaked constantly, there isn't enough power to even keep it going for 8 years. And that's if you managed to hook up the power from other countries. There is not enough materials to build more ships and certainly not enough crystals, naquada or other needed supplies to keep ships running. Things have to change or this planet will be a burning cinder in space in less than a decade. I know for a fact that this planet does not have the resources much less the space to continue hiding for ten years behind a giant cloak. There is other enemies out there besides the Ori and more than likely, them losing five ships was barely felt." he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out several memory crystals and placed them before Major Carter. "You know what, do what you want. Save your own necks. Here's all the info you need for that and our notes. No one ever listens to the people who are right and trying to save lives, so why should it start now."

Carter was about to say something when he pushed her in and closed the door. More papers scattered and people held up their arms as the ship left despite the fact several armed guards had went to stop them from leaving. They dropped in on Mitchell and found him in a wheelchair and drinking. He was shocked that they came by. And even more shocked though also sadden about hearing about how his counterpart was doing so much better. Ford used the healing device and fixed his problem making him be able to completely walk again. They told him to try and go back to the SGC and make them do the right things and then left. McKay was surprised when he came home to find them and a blue box in his spacious living room. He tried to flirt with her but stopped quickly after a gun was shown to him. Carter convinced him to use his influence and money to help others and to go back and help the SGC fix all their mistakes. And with that, they left.

Cam was walking around the room, pacing as he talked to the air. As soon as he started hearing a strange yet very familiar noise, he backed up to the door as he watched a blue phone booth appear in the middle of the room. The door opened moments later and the two stepped out.

"Cam." they both said happily.

"You know, I had thought, as did everyone else, that something happened and that you two got lost or were still cloaked because there was a problem that that device of Merlin's. However, it looks like…."

"There was a problem." she said.

"Oh really." he said crossing his arms.

"How long have we been gone?" Ford asked as he looked at his watch.

"Just over a week."

"You set the coordinates wrong again." she said giving him a look. "Sally is not going to be happy with us."

"Better than we being gone a year." he muttered sadly. "Hopefully she'll understand. At least she really loves your parents."

"You two weren't in here for a week were you?"

"No. The machine actually worked like it was suppose to. However, due to a experiment in another universe that another Major Carter was doing, we got pulled into theirs."

"And it was not a good universe. They are in serious trouble." Ford said.

"So you stayed to help…."

"No. I told them how to help themselves and gave a few notes and then we left. Whether they survive or not is not my concern."

"Trust me Cam." she said seeing the questioning look on Mitchell's face. "They dug themselves a very deep pit that they may never get out of. I'd rather not think about it anymore. We'll tell it all in a debriefing I know Landry will want to hear."

"Why are you in here?" Ford asked.

"Um…well." he said glancing around as he tried to come up with something other than the truth.

"Colonel? Don't lie to us."

"It's my shift. We figured you both had got stuck in the field and couldn't get back. Even Teal'c came looking with the Sodan cloak, but found nothing obviously. We've been coming in here and talking every so often, to keep you two from getting bored or thinking we had forgotten about you. Sure you had the T.A.R.D.I.S., but Lee said that the device might have had some effect on its systems that kept you from fazing back into our dimension, which is why you hadn't came back."

"That wouldn't be the case much less happen, but seeing as we didn't come back right away, even I would have thought that idea." she said. "Is Landry still here at the moment?"

"Yep. Another fours hours and we can all go home." Mitchell said looking at his watch.

"Good. We're going to get the device and other equipment out of the T.A.R.D.I.S, take it to our lab, meet you and the rest of SG-1 in the briefing room. From there, we will explain everything, and then I'm going home even if I have to resign to get out of here."

"Works for me. I haven't been home all this week anyway." he said as he opened the door to leave. "Oh, by the way, General O'Neill called and wanted to know the instant you two were back. Might want to call him now."

Landry and the rest of SG-1 thought it was a, interesting tale. Though in that universe, they had learned something about Daniel being sighted, in theirs, there still was no news as of yet. Even though the idea for the massive power system was a great idea that could be used to cloak the planet, it was not going to be implemented. It would mean telling too many people and probably just end up with the existence of the gate having to be revealed to the world. However, the idea of using the T.A.R.D.I.S to pop in and blow the ships up, that was a idea that Landry liked a lot and because it was such a great idea, he had ten of the newest gate buster nukes put into the T.A.R.D.I.S. for if they encountered a Ori vessel or one came to Earth.