CHAPTER 13 – INTO THE PAST TO FIND THE FUTURE

Three hours later and John sprawled more than a little uncomfortably around the large conference table and his eyes felt as though specks of dust had deliberately gravitated from every part of the room and had settled uncompromisingly into his eyes. He rubbed them now, and yawned.

"1962 – seems it was a big year! Going from my own recall of history – a couple of big ones. Marilyn Munro dies..."

At the gasp he heard, he turned his head slightly to take in Gina's wide eyed shock. "Dead? How?"

"Can't tell you that, but the world mourned, suffice to say... she was a rather .. fetching... woman."

"Even in your time? Dead? Wow..." He wondered at whether he should have imparted that piece of news, but if no details were given, then nothing could be done to change anything, at least that is how he rationalised it in his mind.

"She's still, in my day, the epitome of the the most sexy woman in the world. All women aspire to look like her, all those curves, blonde hair and that sexy voice..."

The general cleared his throat rather loudly and looked pointedly at John, who managed to blush just a little. He had forgotten for a moment who he was speaking to.

"Aaah sorry, sir... to get back on track. The cuban missile crisis – coming up later this year – that'll be a big one for you, and could possibly be something that I could be sent here to stop... but this one in particular intrigues me..."

He pointed to some newspaper clippings he had spread around him, and dragged his hand tiredly across his cheeks hearing the rasp of beard and realised that he hadn't shaven for two days. He needed to stop in town on the way back and grab some supplies. Then sighed. It seemed money was going to be an issue.. in that he technically didn't have any... yet.

"Project Mercury..."

At the mention of this the general's eyes shot to his. "Been receiving a lot of press coverage. Since 1958 it's taken the critical step to demonstrate that humans can survive spaceflight and that a spacecraft can be designed to land humans into orbit then return them safely to earth. It is the first major undertaking of NASA."

"All very true General, but there is something scheduled to happen later this year... the longest mission in the Mercury Project – astronaut Walter Schirra... he circles the earth six times for a total of nine hours and 13 minutes in his Sigma 7 craft and falls into the ocean around Hawaii. He is taken back here to Hickam before returning to the mainland."

"That's exciting news, and definitely a progressive step in our spaceflight programme, but why would you need to stop this?" The general showed confusion now.

"He drops into the ocean for a short period of time..." John was talking to himself now, figuring scenarios in his head, factoring in everything that he could remember about this particular astronaut. " His only connection with here, and now is that fact that he drops in the ocean here... does he find something? Does something find him? Is there something in the water, something that has lain dormant... does he somehow activate it? Does he have the gene? He's the only astronaut in American history to fly all three missions – Mercury, Gemini and Apollo... what does that tell us? He must have the gene... and he must have found something, something he was not meant to find? Damn... I need Rodney on this!"

John tried to ignore the confusion on the general's face. The Gemini and Apollo projects were from his future and these names would mean nothing to him. But they did to John and the more the thoughts churned like thickening butter in his head, the more he knew he was on the right track. It was as though something was guiding him. Something or someone that sat just out of his range of vision.

He stood and paced around the room, running his hands through his hair angrily and Gina watched him in fascination. This was no doubt the Colonel John Sheppard who fought aliens in another galaxy, the Colonel John Sheppard who commanded space crafts that they could not possibly begin to comprehend.

"Damn it! I've been through all this... the only one that pulls at me – is this landing into the water after the orbiting of earth. This keeps pulling at me... and I've learned not to ignore those spidey senses that sit like a damn monkey on my shoulder and tell me what to do. This has got to be it. I don't know how and I don't know why – but it's set to happen in October of this year, so I'm thinking that I'm meant to stop something... not the flight, no... crap!" With the barest flicker of apology for his words, John banged the table. That presence he felt, it had become tangible – not his spidey senses, not this time, something else that guided him now. Something ancient. And the dots had begun to connect with terrifying clarity.

"I know what it is. Damn it – I know!"

He whirled around now and even the general took a step back from the ferocious gleam in the younger man's eye.

"He IS meant to find something. But it's not there yet. I have to put it there... I have it in my... something in my tactical vest back on Gina's island. I came through with it. He needs to find it... how can I know this? How can I possibly know this? It's crazy... of all the things scheduled to happen in this year... how can I possibly know this?"

Something painful flashed into his mind and he felt blackness creep around the edges and he moved to the wall to grip it for support. He felt, rather than saw the general move out of his chair and come in behind and felt his fear of touching him. An electricity crackled from him and the blackness moved up and became all encompassing.. He struggled to maintain control, but control was gone and he was no longer here, but there and saw clearly the stones, the glowing purple light and the moment when he was pulled into them. What then had been blackness until the moment he woke up disorentiated on that beach, suddenly became clarity.

He saw a giant television screen behind his eyes, the stones, backwards, through time – he saw the astronaut landing in the water, the fireball as part of his ship came down on top of him, the nation mourning his death, the cancellation of the Gemini mission... spaceflight no more... He saw the device in this hand, saw it falling into the water, watched as the astronaut, curiously, picked it out of the water as he landed, seconds before his exploding craft came down. Saw the protective shield activate, the future, now secure. Not changed, but as it was meant to be.

"John... are you all right? I think you need to sit down for a moment... you are scaring me..." Gina attempted to place a hand on his arm to calm his and he whirled away, that maniacal gleam in his eye a tangible thing that sent sparks across the room.

"This is going to sound crazy – insane. I carry a device in my tactical vest. I have never used it, it's like a talisman, something I carry for luck more than anything – and have chosen never to use it. It is a personal shield, something designed by the ancients and can only be activated by one person – and once it is activated it can only ever be used by that one person. I have never used it, therefore it has never been activated... oh my god! Do you understand! No, damn it – how could you possible understand this? Hell, I barely understand it. I just know..." The rasp of his beard as his hands were dragged roughly down his face.

"Walter, the astronaut – he dies on that mission, when he lands in the water – he dies! And because he dies, so much is missing from the space programme and there is something important, an integral part that does not get done... the stargate is not activated... far reaching more than you can ever know. It worked, my future, my present BECAUSE I was sent back. It has already happened. Whatever I did worked and he lived, went on to be a part of those three missions and so forth and so forth... ripples, ever expanding and the universe was as it was meant to be."

He ran out of steam now, simply collapsed in his chair and Gina placed a hand on his shoulder. He leaned into it, briefly closing his eyes before opening them again quickly. "If I don't put this personal device into the water where he will find it, he will die and the world as I know it, will not be... how do I know this? The same way I managed to come back here to stop it... genetic memory I guess and something far more powerful that I could never attempt to explain..."