A/N: Today's chapter will pay tribute to several TV series. I'm sure you'd recognize them.
Disclaimer: The characters of Doctor Who belong to BBC Wales and those of Stargate to MGM but the words are mine.
AU/SG1/DW: The last address of the Stargate opened on a depressing, dim world full with nothing but graves and tombstones where four SG teams already disappeared without a trace. SG1 embarks to locate them only to witness the opening of one tomb that holds the greatest of all secrets in the universe.
The Tomb of the Doctor
Chapter 6
Previously
They left the Coliseum room but the stones in Mitchell's hand stayed stones. "They are very real."
Daniel blinked again. "This place is odd."
"Try impossible, Doctor Jackson." A voice interrupted them. They turned around and faced the source...
And now
"Mayborne," Daniel exclaimed stunned. "Why are you here?"
"We came looking for all of you. We figured you are all in separate dimensions."
"We reached the same conclusions." Mitchell said.
"Where are Colonel Carter, Ms. Mal Doran and Teal'c?" Mayborne asked.
"We got separated." Daniel replied.
Mayborne's team came into view and Daniel had hard time believing his eyes. It consisted of Lt Hailey, Aron of the Hak'tyl and Major Marks.
"You are the only one that came?" Mitchell asked.
"No, Jack's here too." Mayborne replied. "General O'Neill,"
"Really?" Daniel looked at him. "Who else came with you?"
"General O'Neill commissioned old friends, Doctor Jackson, Dr. Gardner, Jonas Quinn and Master Bra'tac."
"Sarah, here, are you insane?" Daniel exclaimed.
"Quinn?" Mitchell looked up surprised too. Last he checked on most mission reports it did not seem General O'Neill was very fond of him. "The general picked him up personally?"
"Yes, he did."
"I find this odd." Daniel shared.
"Well, I'm here." Mayborne reminded.
"True," Daniel acknowledged.
"How did you get in here?" Mitchell asked.
"We followed some strange fellows through a tunnel though at one fork we lost sight of them. Yourselves?"
"We found a hole in the ground and jumped." Daniel replied.
"And we fell on pillows. Go figure." Mitchell added.
"This place gets stranger and stranger by the minute." Mayborne said.
"Well, it is a change from the monotony outside." Lt Hailey remarked.
"True," Daniel admitted.
Vala, Sam and Teal'c now walked in a corridor of metal or at least they hoped it is metal but it was difficult to tell. They did leave the library via the staircase and found the way into the corridor. They walked slowly and cautiously.
"What is that?" Vala exclaimed as they passed by an opening. They walked in and gasped.
"A pool?" Sam stared aghast. It was a pool, an Olympic size one. She wondered if it was not an illusion so she approached the edge and bent down to touch the water. She relaxed when her fingers came into contact with the surface. It was water. "It is real."
"Care for a bath?" Vala teased.
"I would gladly if not for the strange place we are in." Sam said.
"We are inside the big box. You do realize this?" Vala said.
"Yeah, I do but it is weird."
"I know."
"Still it is even weirder."
"Why?"
"The one we found on the outside is a smaller copy."
"Yes,"
"And yet they vibrate on the same frequency. The wood feels the same on touch. The detail is far too precise."
Vala looked at her. "So what do you say they are the same? It is not the first someone's done something similar."
"Not in such detail, Vala,"
"Colonel Carter, Vala Mal Doran," Teal'c called from the next room.
They joined him and gasped once more. They were in a control room or so it seemed. It had a central column and controls all over it but the controls themselves were weirder than anything seen before. There was a radio, a typewriter, a gear, a screen, a sink tap, a tab, a tape recorder and other crazy things and yet primitive enough. The walls around had rhombic screens with bulbs. There were also stairs leading in two different directions up and down.
Sam took the stairs down finding herself underneath the control console. There were cables of all sorts linked around the central column. And the maddening part was the constant but steady humming. As Sam approached it her vision blurred. In a blink of an eye the surrounding changed.
She was nowhere she recognized but if she had to describe it she would say an old Victorian building with high arched ceilings and lots of rooms. There was a mirror nearby and she looked into it then stepped backwards. It was her but not her. She wore a business suit. Her hair was longer and black. There was a noise and a tall scary figure entered. It had long furry hands, face and feet though dressed in trousers and a shirt. If she didn't know better she would have said the creature was a monkey or something.
'Tea, Dr. Magnus?'
Her vision blurred again and she was back next to the humming column. Was this her or her mother? If it was her mother then they were like identical twins. Her father never spoke much of her mother. All daughters like to believe they look exactly like their mother. Truthfully, Sam remembered very little of her. But then there were these moments when her dad would look at her with a strange look. She always thought it was because he sees in her his wife. Nah, it was not her mother. The pictures on the mantle were not of the woman she saw. But then who was this woman?
The strangest part of this experience was something else though. It was the name – Magnus and it was strange as this was not her mother's name, even stranger though as she heard it, when her father spoke with someone on the phone. Was she her real mother? But then why would her father keep such a secret from her? Or all in all did she imagine all this just now?
There was another possibility though. This place somehow shattered normal space time. Was it possible it showed her another reality, another version of her somewhere? Sadly she had no answer to this question.
"Colonel Carter?" It was Teal'c.
"I'm down here." She replied.
Teal'c also experienced something strange. He was no longer in the control room but rather on a bridge but it was not any ship he recognized. He felt strange. He felt all the systems around him and in one moment he could say he was the ship. His body felt differently too. In a moment, he realized it was not alive. The body was somewhat cold and then it hit him it was robotic or android or cyborg. Yet, the feeling felt right and good. He had all this power at his finger tips.
'Dr. Lam,' Teal'c exclaimed seeing her walk in.
'Dr. Lam?' She replied with a questioning look. 'Are you alright, Hector? It is me Andromeda Ascendant.'
'Right,' Teal'c said as it felt the right thing to say.
'You are almost ready and soon together we shall serve the Commonwealth.'
'And defeat our enemies,' Teal'c said.
'Yes, this is what warships are for.'
'Indeed,'
Teal'c felt queasy and he was back in the control room. He blinked several times sensing his body. It felt normal and alive. He touched himself just to ascertain it was so. He was him again. But the experience was strange. He wondered where he went. What was this warship and who built it? What was the Commonwealth?
What kind of ship…here his thoughts trailed as he remembered the experience…what kind of ship can think on its own? What kind of ship could have more than one body? He remembered something Colonel Carter spoke of once and it included avatars. Was he an avatar of a warship? Nah, he shook head. There was no place for such thoughts in a Jaffa head.
Vala felt dizzy and everything span around her. She grasped her head with her hands. She had a terrible headache. Her eyes opened and there was something impeding her vision. She relaxed though as it was only a helmet. She took it off and then stared stunned. Colonel Mitchell stood opposite her. She was about to say something when he spoke.
'Officer Aeryn Sun, Peacekeeper's Command and Carry Pleisar Regiment…'
Vala wondered. What? Why does he call her Sun, son, something? She kept starring at him without knowing what to say.
'Commander John Crichton, IASA, Earth.'
'Hi,'
'Hi?' Commander Crichton looked at her strangely.
And before she realized it she was back in the control room. What just happened, Vala wondered. Where did she go? Why did Mitchell act so strange? It was weird as the look in his eyes showed concern. It was not concern though another teammate has for another it was more. Nah, she shook head. 'No,' She said to herself but that's what it looked like.
And then the room span again. 'No'. She heard herself scream but it was too late. The room was no more. She was on the bridge of some ship. It had organic design. At first she thought of a Wraith hive ship but the color palette was warmer. The ship seemed stationary but the sight outside stunned her. It was a giant bluish hose that kept revolving. It almost looked like a Stargate wormhole but a real one, a naturally occurring one.
She looked around but mostly at her attire. She was in black leather and had a gun. The gun itself resembled much the SGC's sidearm but it was different. It felt different as she held it. It was lighter. She pulled the clip. It did not have bullets but rather something like batteries. She placed it back in the holster.
'Officer Sun,'
The voice startled her. She sought it source and found it in a holographic screen. The source had a large scaly head, no hands but tentacles.
'Yes,' She replied. She had to say something.
'Captain D'Argo wants to see you in the launch bay.'
'Sure' And then she thought captain who. The image on the screen disappeared. 'Weird ship,' she thought. 'Can I go back, now to reality?' She spoke mostly to the air but hoped that whatever brought her here will return her to her place.
And then she looked again outside. 'What is that?' She focused and gasped. It was an Earth's shuttlecraft though it was smaller and with weirder wingspan. And in a blink of eye she was back in the control room with the strange controls. She visibly relaxed. She was home.
Teal'c and Sam appeared from below but it was present in their eyes too. They had experiences of their own. The three looked at each other and nodded. They would tell each other's stories later.
Jack reached a closed door that seemed stuck. He gave it a shoulder but it did not bulge. Panting he applied more force but still nothing.
"Darn thing," He exclaimed.
"If I may, General?" Jonas offered and pushed the handle and the door opened.
"Right," Jack said. "I thought of that."
Now he could take a better look. They were in a…well he really did not know where. It was not a room, or storage it was something. Stepping through, they continued eyeing everything around with caution and curiosity.
A sudden tense sensation filled them and the next step felt as though they crossed through a thick veil or field. The result was immediate. Their heads span and the place too. Each fell to a knee holding his head that pounded.
Jack's vision blurred and the strange metal place disappeared. There was instead a garage full of all sorts of junk and a bike. This bike he liked. It was a Davidson rare vintage. He saw some spanners and picked one up. And without any hesitation he started fixing the bike before him.
"Hey McGavyer, phone,"
The voice started him and he sought the source but because of the garage door he could see only a pair of feet.
"Sure," He replied but did not leave his place. He was not certain what or even where he was let alone what to do next.
The vision blurred again and he was somewhere else. Actually it was not that pleasant as he seemed he was in a fight with some dude he did not know. One hit and he was on the hood of a car. Looking in the car's mirror made him realize he was younger and therefore much stronger than now.
He stood up slowly and looked at his opponent that was stalwart but rather ugly. Raising an eyebrow, he ducked under the man's swing and delivered a punch in the stomach area taking the air out of his opponent. Ha, Jack thought, that's what you get for messing with me. Those stars, I earned. And then he delivered the final blow and his opponent was flat on his back. Some random girl appeared out of nowhere and hung on his neck.
"Thank you, Mr. McGavyer."
"Sure," Jack replied. And he felt good about himself and then everything blurred and he was back in the strange place slash corridor or whatever.
By the looks of the others he figured they had similar experiences. This place was well bongo. Still he wondered about his experience. Did he go somewhere else or was it all in his head? Well the latter usually came with flashes and not blurred vision and other places that feel real.
It was certain though they were in the right place. Here, everything was much more distorted and shattered (reality that is).
"General O'Neill?" Another voice cut in. Jack sought its source and visibly relaxed. It was SG-8's leader, Major Kovacek.
"Major," Jack said. "You are not lost."
"No, sir," Major Kovacek replied. "We lost contact though with the other teams."
"And we came looking for you." Jack added.
"SG1 came in after but contact was lost until we figured it out." Jonas explained.
"Figured what out?" Major Kovacek looked at him.
"Well, Major, this odd of a place, seems to misplace SG teams in different dimensions." Jack answered.
"That does explain a lot, sir." Major Kovacek said. "So now we can leave?"
"Not yet, we have to find the others first and then find whatever shatters reality and then go home." Jack replied.
"Yes, sir,"
"Well then, let's keep to it. We still have eight teams to find."
"Eight, sir?"
"Yes, SG9, 10, 12 that came with you then SG1, 3, 5, 14 and Colonel Mayborne's,"
"Yes, sir,"
"Move out," Jack said and continued down the corridor.
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Lordheaven