A/N Hang on to your hats everyone- it's about to get complicated.

It was another three hours before the shuttle landed on Ibcan. By then, Dalton was back on his- admittedly shaky- feet. The ten passengers exited the shuttle into some kind of holding bay. General Hammond had arranged for them to stay in base housing on the closest military base to the shuttle landing pad.

The military ran the primary operation on Ibcan, and there was very little residential housing for civilians in the area. Perfect for an odd group that seemed to have duplicates of its members.

After a short trip in an official van, they arrived. Their escort informed them that the Stargate itself was inside the large building centrally located in the city. They could stay for however long they needed before heading to Earth.

They thanked the airman and then decided to head over to the Stargate while it was still daytime on Ibcan. This posed an interesting question.

"So, uh, Sam? Are the four planets in the same time zone?" Major Carter asked her counterpart.

"Yeah. We, uh-" She glanced at MacGyver, "colonized planets that had roughly the same day and night schedule as Earth. We pretty much got rid of the gate lag issue."

Major Carter smiled. "Good."

They decided that they would split up each SG-1. The alternates for Daniel and Teal'c would go with Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill, while Colonel Carter and the alternate O'Neill would be heading back to the next gate with the other Daniel and Teal'c.

This way, no one on the Earth side would see the two SG-1s together, and the foreigners would have a "travel guide" to go with them into the epicenter of gate travel on Earth. To a bystander who happened to witness both teams coming through the gate, they would just assume that they'd gone and come back. Hopefully, they could just get lost in the crowd.

The first group of five members approached the waiting area for the Stargate. MacGyver had volunteered to go with the first group. Although he'd already seen the Stargate, it hadn't been active during his glance.

As he watched, the gate began to dial. Major Carter glanced over at him, smiling as his eyes widened in awe.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" She asked. MacGyver tore his gaze away long enough to give her a small smile. "Yeah." He said distractedly.

"Just wait until you see the next part," She said, just as the gate exploded into life, before settling into the rippling blue puddle she was accustomed to.

"Woah." A pause. "That's what we're going to walk into?"

"Yup," Daniel interjected. "You really do get used to it."

The five of them walked down a staircase and into the holding area for the gate. They waited in a line with several other travelers, as MacGyver stood mesmerized by the light patterns cast on the floor all around them.

Before MacGyver could wrap his head around what was about to happen, he found himself face-to-face with the blue puddle. Carter came up beside him.

"Cool, huh?" He jumped, turning towards her.

"Yeah... Is it, um, safe?"

"Of course. Watch this." She reached out and gently touched the puddle. "It's called an event horizon. I've been working with these things for almost a decade. It never gets old."

"Ah, don't let her get to ya." O'Neill walked up beside MacGyver. "It's not that exciting. C'mon."

MacGyver's brow furrowed as he took a step back. "I-I don't know about this..." He started, just as O'Neill pushed him through the wormhole.

Carter shot him a glare. "Did you have to do that? Sir." She added quickly.

He gave her a lopsided grin. "Had to shove you through your first time, ya know."

She smiled as she stepped through the shimmering puddle after him.

o-O-o-O-o

Far above the gate, in a shadowed corner of the highest balcony, a figure quickly reviewed the photos he'd just snapped. He wanted to make sure that he'd captured the fifth man's face. He carefully scrutinized the image, just to confirm his suspicions. He carefully tucked the photos into his jacket pocket and sat down to wait for the next gate.

An hour later, after snapping a photo of the newest travelers, the man did a double take. He quickly pulled out the photo from earlier, and aside from the fifth members of the little group, they were identical. He squinted at the fifth man. A chill crept down his spine as he recognized the person that was supposed to be locked up in prison.

He hadn't left his post for even a moment. There was no way that the same group could have doubled back on him. Four people with duplicates and two very familiar faces. He added the two photos to his jacket and quickly hurried after the newest group, trying to shake the feeling of dread, and knowing that it was time for drastic measures.

It didn't take long for him to find the first group. They were being clever, carefully maintaining space between them as they traveled. If the first group hadn't stopped subtly to wait for the second, he wouldn't have had a chance. He knew that he had to act soon.

Dun dun duhhhh!

Who do you think the mysterious person is? And what do they want with our little band of characters? You'll have to wait 'till next week!

Please review, it'll make my writer's heart happy. :)

(And maybe I'll write more.)