"Gods, Xander they started the whole thing!"
"I know. But it means more then that. Giles' books say, the demons ruled first. They didn't. The Alterrans did. They thought they'd successfully closed that thing down, but sometime after they left, demons escaped. We know they used to be dinosaur sized. The Hellmouth is another dimension, not a reality, there's a difference. There's a near infinite and ever increasing number of other realities, which just means a place where different choices resulted in different outcomes. The rules of physics are the same there. A different dimension means physics are different. So different, that they're at odds with our physics. The dinosaur sized demons couldn't handle our dimension and adjusted, becoming smaller and smaller. Which probably also means, the last one didn't create vampires, something from the Hellmouths originally animated a corpse."
"How do you know?!"
"A combination of being a sci-fi geek and a little leftover knowledge. The demons really don't belong here. This was never their home, humans evolved here, not them."
"How are we going to keep the researchers safe, not to mention, keeping them from finding out about the Hellmouth? You know they'll want to study it too and that could cause all kinds of problems."
"True, not to mention, what if the Alterrans tried this experiment in other places on Earth? The information in that repository, may tell us that. It could also gives us a way of permanently closing the Hellmouth. We need to take the job offer. It's the best way to monitor the situation and learn what's in that thing. Once we have an understanding of how it works, we can figure out how to control it and just ask for the specific information we need, without risking a massive overload of brain cooking information."
"I wish we could tell them, but you're right, they would want to study it and the military would probably just bomb it. Neither one is a good solution. As long as we're careful, we might be able to make this work, but the potential for disaster is also there. Gods, I hate secrets! But I understand the need for them. The world isn't ready to know demons or aliens exist."
"Yeah, it's like Agent K said to Agent J in the Men in Black movie. A person is smart, people are dumb, panicky animals."
"Gods, isn't that the truth." She leaned her head onto his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her, instantly she felt calmer. Xander was a solid presence in an ever shifting reality.
"Other realities, huh? Wonder what our choices are like in those realities."
"Well, I hope the other mes are smart enough to realize, you're the perfect woman for us. They might be able to make a relationship work with someone else, but I bet you, it would be someone alot like you. I'm pretty sure, I have a type. Blunt, smart, money-hungry, sarcastic and beautiful fits me perfectly."
"Sold, dependable, sarcastic, hides his intelligence, blunt and awkwardly charming seems to work for me."
"Anyone like that around here?" Xander asked innocently. She dope slapped him.
"Yes Doofus, you."
"Lucky for me." He kissed her. "Very lucky indeed." And proceeded to show her just how lucky he felt, to her enthusiastic agreement.
Once SG 1 arrived back at Cheyenne Mountain, they collected their missing and silent member, Teal'C and reported to General Hammond.
"So there really is something in Colonel O'Neill and these two teenagers that allows only them to get passed this force field and operate the equipment in there?"
"Yes, sir. Neither Daniel nor I could make anything work in there." Major Carter told him. "But Xander got the repository to respond and Cordelia located and activated a door that blended seamlessly into the wall."
"And this power module? Can we use it?"
"I wouldn't recommend using it to utilize the energy they were trying to utilize, sir. Given that, that energy is contaminated."
"Why would it be contaminated?"
"Likely they were trying to access another dimension. Physics may be radically different there. Depending on how different, it may be completely at odds with our own. We do need to study that collector device though. Obviously, they knew about zero point energy and were able to make it work. If we can figure out how, we can use it to collect energy from the vacuum of space. Much safer then risking contaminating Earth with something from another dimension."
"And hiring Mr. Harris and Ms. Chase? It that a good idea?"
"Yes, sir. And we may be able to make it permanent. At least in the case of Xander. Danny commented on how polite Xander was being to Carter. Xander's response was that she was an officer and her rank afforded her respect. In those terms, sir. I asked him, if he had family that went military and he said no, but that he has near perfect recall of the UCMJ, procedure and current ordinances. Apparently, the military has been an interest since he was at least a sophomore in High School." Colonel O'Neill said.
"Not only that, sir. We were chatting with them on the way out to the site. Prior to this, Xander was considering pursuing studying something like literature, since he likes to read. Building that sensor and reconfiguring the laptop seems to have sparked something in him. In between being scared about what was happening to him, he realized he was also enjoying figuring things out. It was not something he had ever considered before because he has a friend who is very into computers and has a fragile ego, at least according to Cordelia. She made computers 'her' thing, so Xander let her. Now he's reconsidering and is eyeing studying engineering instead. Depending on how well he does, we can always use more engineers."
"There's something else to consider, sir. He may have some left over knowledge that he's unaware of. He recognized the crystal as this Potentia he mentioned when he was speaking Ancient. He said he felt like he knew what it was. The fact that he inherited this genetic key from both of his parents may mean he could retain, at least subconsciously, more then Jack did. Or his youth or a combination may have contributed to it. How much, neither he nor we may ever know." Daniel said.