Our Legacy - Chapter 5
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters nor profit from their use - I merely toy with them for my own amusement.
Summary: A gate accident strands Jack and Sam in the year 2034, when the SGC is under the command of General Samantha Carter. But all is not as it seems, and to get home, they first need to save the world.
The car was a marvel to behold. It ran smoothly and silently, and didn't run on gas, although quite what it did run on was a mystery. The driver's seat – or the modern equivalent – was missing the usual steering wheel, hand brake, foot pedals, gear stick etc, and just had some sort of computer user interface. When asked, Beth explained that all cars on public roads were now self-driving. Although impressed by the technology, Sam wasn't entirely sure she liked it – it made her think fondly of her beloved Volvo, and her motorcycle, and of the adrenaline rush of being in absolute control of a vehicle at speed. Beth explained that those still existed, but were only driven now as a hobby, and only on race tracks or private roads.
Other than the cars, a few new buildings, and some changes to road layouts, there was little visible difference between this Colorado Springs and the one of her own time. They even drove passed her house, which had a different fence at the front, but was very much still there. The park opposite had been remodelled beyond recognition though.
They arrived at Beth's house, a small, detached, two-storey property with a garage at the side. Jake hit a command on the computer screen and the garage door slid open smoothly, and the car pulled to a stop inside, the doors retracting to the floor automatically. Beth touched a panel on the interior wall of the garage, and the garage door slid closed again, and she led them into the house via an internal side-door.
Sam walked slowly, looking around and absorbing everything. The walls had panels of colour, the floors were hardwood, and there was a huge amount of natural light – more than it seemed there ought to be given the size of the windows – and it bounced around the shiny, white surfaces with abandon, making the rooms seem much bigger than they were.
"Nice digs." Jack commented from behind her.
Beth grinned at Jack over her shoulder. "Thanks. Make yourself at home."
Sam wandered into the living room, and was drawn to the framed photographs on the wall like a moth to a flame. She felt Jack's presence at her side a moment later.
"Well, at least we know I don't die right after they're born." He commented after a moment, gesturing to a picture of the four of them, when Beth and Jake were teenagers.
"We probably shouldn't be looking at these." Sam said in an undertone.
"I don't think a few photographs are going to screw up the timeline."
"It's weird, isn't it? Knowing in advance …"
"Very weird." Jack agreed.
A wedding photo caught her eye – her wedding to Jack.
"Huh." Jack chuckled. "It's like the one from the alternate reality."
"What?" Sam asked, confused.
"The wedding photo. The alternate you, Dr Carter, she had a wedding photo, and it was just like that one. Well, mostly, I mean obviously we were younger and your dress was different, but apart from that …"
She glanced away from it to look at him, and he caught her eye for a moment and smiled. Her breath caught in her chest as she smiled back, and they had a moment of eternity as their gazes held, heat and longing and tenderness passing between them.
"I'd tell you guys to get a room, but I know you're not allowed to yet, so just stick it back in your pants." Beth teased from behind them, making Sam jump.
"Beth!" She admonished. "She clearly gets her mouth from you." She added to Jack reproachfully.
"Carter! You wound me." He said clutching his chest dramatically.
The doorbell rang, and Beth dashed away, as Sam exchanged a rueful look with Jack for having gotten caught out having a moment.
Jake wandered in from the kitchen, as they heard Beth greeting Serena at the front door. The girls came back a moment later.
"Hi, we haven't officially met yet. I'm Serena. Dr Serena Jackson." The dark-haired young woman said as she entered the room, giving Sam and Jack each in turn a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.
"So you're Daniel's kid?" Jack said.
"Yup." She smiled widely. "Although most people say I'm more like my mom."
"Now that we're all here, we should move to the safe-house." Beth said. "I've got clothes and supplies ready in bags in the hall, I need you all holding the bags, and standing close to me in the living room."
They collected the duffel bags obediently, and congregated around Beth, who had in her hands a small, flat, tablet-like device. She beckoned them all closer still, so they were packed together tightly.
"Everyone ready?" She asked. They all nodded. "Ok, here goes."
There was a flash, and Sam felt the air against her cheeks and hands suddenly chill.
"Bloody hell it's cold." Serena exclaimed, dropping her bags and rubbing her hands together.
"Where are we?" Jake asked.
"Canada." Beth answered simply.
Sam put her own bags down and turned in a circle, taking in her surroundings. They were in what looked like an abandoned warehouse, huge and bare. There was a metal staircase along one wall leading to an upper level, and Beth headed for it.
"The living quarters are upstairs. It'll be warmer up there." She told them, and the group followed her up. The upstairs did look a little more homey, with an open plan kitchen and living area, couches, desks with computers, a few mattresses piled high with blankets and a dozen bedrolls.
Beth had them go through the bags, sorting and storing the clothing and food. Then she called them over to the sitting area, and fiddled with a computer and projector.
"Mom recorded a video message for me to show you all once we got here." She explained, and sat down next to Sam, pointing a remote at the computer.
Sam found herself looking at an image of her own face – plus thirty odd extra years of mileage – projected onto the white wall in front of them in excellent resolution.
"Hi. As Beth should have explained to you by now, I am the real General Samantha Carter. At the time of recording this message, it is June 12th, 2032. By the time you see this, I will have been kidnapped and replaced by an imposter, who is running the SGC in my stead.
"On March 31st, in the year 2000, myself and Colonel Jack O'Neill accidentally travelled forward in time to September 8th, 2034. On September 9th, 2034, I found myself sitting where you are now, in a safe-house in Canada, watching this video message. Sam – if you're trying to memorise it, stop. Trust me when I say you'll end up recording this exact message regardless of whether you try to or not."
The General had said that with a grin, and the others looked at Sam with smirks and raised eyebrows. She put down the notepad she'd been making shorthand notes in sheepishly.
"As Beth will have explained to you, I have the device used by Cassandra in the year 2049 to send SG-1 back to their own time, and you can use it to get home. However, first I have a somewhat selfish request to make. I need you to rescue me.
"I don't know for certain exactly when I will be kidnapped, and unfortunately when you find me I will be unable to remember the details of my kidnapping due to a head injury, so I won't be able to tell you when it happened – which means, Sam, you yourself will have the same difficulties in preventing it from happening that I am facing now in 2032.
"However, that doesn't matter. All you need to do is get me out of there and back to the safehouse. The device you need to get home is there – it is in a safe under the floorboards in the north-east corner of the ground-floor warehouse. The code for the safe is Charlie's birthday." She felt Jack flinch.
"In the safe you will also find my instructions on how to operate it. Once you have used it to open the stargate, it is imperative that you leave it here in 2034, so that Cassie can use it when the time comes in 2049.
"If memory serves, you will have already asked Beth why we need you to do this rather than just taking the device now and going home, but I will explain anyway. Beth, Jake and Serena need your help. They need your experience and skills. I don't know who else has been taken and replaced, and so I can't trust anyone else. If I am not rescued, I can't expose the T.U.M.'s corruption to the world. I'm asking for your help, so that my children – your children – and Serena aren't in any more danger than they need to be.
"Serena, I must also ask that you not discuss this with your mother and father. I can't be completely certain that Daniel and your mother haven't been replaced as I have been. It's unlikely, as neither of them are in positions of particular power, but I don't want you taking the risk, just in case. Once I'm back with you, we will find out for certain, I promise."
"I have left a detailed plan of the rescue mission on the computers in this room, and there is a hard copy in the safe. I've had thirty years to work on it, so hopefully it should cover all the angles, and of course I have the added benefit of having done it already myself when I was in your position.
"All that there is left to say is thank you, good luck, and I'll see you soon." The General smiled, deepening the wrinkles around her mouth and eyes, and the message ended.