Another visit to the transporter 'room' only this time the destination was Hogsmeade Village. The door opened onto a railway station platform. The station itself was a collection of stone buildings with slate roofs that looked to date from mid-19th century England. However, the tracks looked like standard steel railroad tracks – well maintained tracks. To one side of the platform was a paved road that crossed the tracks.
"A railroad?" Rodney sputtered. "You have transporters but you also have railroads?"
"It's just the one route and it's 220 years of tradition," Isaac explained. "The route starts in Londinium, has a couple stops on the way to Scotland, and the train has scheduled runs six times a year to transport Hogwarts students back and forth for school breaks. It's an antique steam engine painted crimson with crimson cars acquired in 1830 from the town of Crewe. We don't use coal though."
"Acquired?" John asked.
Isaac chuckled. "The story is that it disappeared from Crewe one night and ended up here. The station and the original tracks were built literally over night. One day Hogsmeade just had a road that was impassable 4 months out of the year and the next morning they had a rail line that was always clear and a station nobody'd warned them was coming."
One leg of the road led to a village. The other leg looked like it headed around a lake then into the mountains, possibly to the huge Disneyesque castle that looked down on the valley. The castle had too many accessible windows to be a military fortress but John could see a rainbow shimmer surrounding the building and assumed that it was shielded. The castle reminded John ever so slightly of Atlantis.
John caught Isaac's eye and nodded toward the castle.
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Founded around 990 CE. It's the oldest Wizarding school in the world and is claimed to be the best," Isaac said, leading the way to the village.
The road was bordered on both sides with deciduous trees that were devoid of leaves but were decorated with hanging lamps that gave a golden, flame-like glow. A sign announced the village as 'Hogsmeade, Est 914'. "Nobody knows who came up with that date," Isaac said.
"You've only been on this planet 10 years?"
Isaac shrugged. "The remaining human population was brought here 10 years ago. When we were brought here, all the remaining magical buildings were brought here as well. Hogsmeade was founded about the same time as Hogwarts. The buildings were rebuilt over time but these buildings all originated on our Earth."
The road opened into a paved plaza surrounded by brightly painted store fronts that looked like an artist's rendition of a Tudor period shopping area – the colors were too bright and the proportions too modern. It was as if the Disney people had designed a 'quaint medieval' shopping area tourist trap.
Families with children in costume were going from shop to shop trick-or-treating ignoring the snow flurries. John noted the adults were rather pointedly ignoring his group. He mentally shrugged. Strangers were probably a rare occurrence here. But there was also a certain uniformity to the adults' dress. No overcoats or ski-type coats and hats. Just cloaks and robes, some of them simple, some more obviously expensive in both fabric and decoration.
He looked more closely at the children. Some of the costumes seemed too good and weren't suitable for the current air temperature. Pixies dressed in leaves and flowers with gossamer wings and pointed ears. Some were the size of children but others were much much smaller and flew about like dragonflies – if dragonflies were the size of hummingbirds and robins. And then there were the miniature iridescent dragons.
"Magic lets them fly?" Rodney asked.
"They are fae," Isaac responded with a shrug. One of the small ones flew up to Rodney and he held out his hand. The creature's face changed into something dark and fanged. It hissed and zipped away.
"Do not engage with them. Your ring will protect you, but not if they attack en masse."
Rodney stared after the creature. "Are they poisonous?"
"No, but they have a really nasty bite," Isaac told him.
"Rodney, you're taking this really well…" John began.
Rodney shook his head. "We're on an alien planet that resembles Earth way too much to not be contrived. There are alien life forms here, some of which appear to defy the rules of physics as I know them. But so do the Alterans and the Ori and the Nox and I'm pretty sure the Wraith are on this list. So I'm doing my level best not to freak out about all the things I didn't know I didn't know."
The scientist focused on the signs above the stores they were walking past. "Tomes and Scrolls, Specialist Bookshop, 1768," he read aloud. "Specializing in what?"
"Herbology and potions mostly. Books and specialized potting tables, that sort of thing," Emily said, finally speaking up. "For upper level students. Hogwarts Library is good but the librarian doesn't loan out the more specialized or higher level books. And Morgana help you if she catches you marking in any of them, or damaging them."
"And she's exactly right," Rodney stated. "Books are precious and safeguard the future. Facts and theories, how-to books, history, even fiction. Libraries exist to preserve what is known, so that if all the teachers are gone, all the experts are gone, what they knew isn't gone. And anyone who destroys that saved knowledge is worse than a murderer. A murderer may kill one person, but a knowledge killer, a book burner, is murdering the future. Everyone's future. The Goa'uld do that. The Wraith do that. The Ori do that. Tyrants do that. And they do that to keep their victims down, to keep societies from improving. To make us mindless obedient chattel! To make us no better than sheep! To make us slaves!"
The man who had been handing out goodies to the trick-or-treaters from the door of the bookshop started clapping. Within moments most of the adults in hearing distance were also clapping. He stepped out of the shop and came over to shake Rodney's hand.
"Cornelius Brown," he introduced himself. "You must be Doctor McKay of the Taur'i. I would ask where you were when Dumbledore decided our people didn't need to know our history, or the ethics of what we can do, or how to defend ourselves against soul darkness. But I know you weren't born yet."
Brown turned to Teyla, looking her up and down. Teyla was dressed as she usually was on a trade mission to a temperate or warm world: short top and a homespun split skirt that left her legs free for combat if necessary. "My dear, aren't you cold?" He took her hand then glared at Isaac. "Colonel White, the lady is freezing. I know you were raised better than to let a guest go without a proper cloak in this weather. Or at least a warming charm."
Isaac managed a chastised look as he waved his wand and muttered something. A dark blue woolen cloak appeared out of nowhere and settled onto Teyla's shoulders. "My apologies for being an inhospitable host. And thank you Master Brown for reminding me." He turned to the group. "Maybe we should get out of the cold. Our tables should be ready at the Three Broomsticks and we're expecting more snow over night." As if to echo his statement the light snow fall became heavier.
The Three Broomsticks Inn was at the far end of the plaza. The sign indicated it was established in 1452. The building looked almost authentically Tudor. Hewn oak beams and stucco, tall multi-pane windows, multiple stone chimneys. The upper floors stuck out over the pavement.
The interior carried over the Tudor style with a roaring stone fireplace large enough to roast a full pig or calf, exposed beams, high vaulted ceilings and white washed walls. The hewn oak beams were blackened with years of soot from the iron chandeliers that once used real candles for light but now used something less polluting. Opposite the entrance doors was a set of stairs to an upper level John assumed led to the guest rooms.
A young woman wearing a long dark skirt and white blouse greeted them and led them to a large table in a corner.
"Since it's Samhain, we're serving a traditional family style meal of roast beef, colcannon, honey roasted parsnips, pumpkin apple soup, kale salad, soul cakes, and barmbrack," she said.
"Um, I'm deathly allergic to any kind of citrus," Rodney stated.
The woman nodded. "No barmbrack or wassail. I'll have the kitchen staff check for cross contamination as well. Food allergies are uncommon among our people but it does happen."
"St. Mungo's can't cure it?" Alexander asked, sounding surprised.
"Not if it's a family curse." She looked around at the other guests. "All the students should be up at the castle for the Samhain feast. Don't see any that might have snuck down here. But still…" She pulled out her wand, said something that sounded Latin and a wall appeared, separating the table from the rest of the room. "Adds some privacy as well," she added.
She took their drink orders and left.
"Did I even had a counterpart in your old home world?" Rodney asked.
"You did," Isaac answered softly. "You, your sister, and the Major were killed by Riddle's followers in our last civil war. You were doing research in London and the Major was your military escort. The Sheppards were an old American wizarding family. The McKays were half-bloods. Their research was classified at the highest levels but the rumors were that they were looking at the causes of squibhood. A squib is someone who should be magical but isn't."
"So my counterpart's family didn't survive?" John asked quietly. It felt odd to ask that. John's relationship with his own father and brother was strained at best. John's choice to join the USAF rather than the family company was only one sticking point. Both John and his father were stubborn (pig-headed was probably a more accurate term) and that had kept them from reconciling. It also didn't help that John had taken a posting in a completely different galaxy. But the thought that his brother David hadn't survived, that the Sheppards were all gone, that brought a grief he hadn't expected.
"I misspoke I think," Isaac said. "There are still Sheppards in America. As I recall, the brother had a number of children and I believe the current president of the American government is a Sheppard."
"My dad would love to know one of Dave's kids got elected president," John said with a chuckle.
"I don't follow American politics that closely but I believe the President's father is named James," Alexander said.
"Ah, so no entropic cascade failure because they don't match up," Rodney said.
"Not familiar with that term," Isaac admitted.
Rodney grimaced. "I assume you know about multiple realities since you say you came from one. Well, every reality has its own unique quantum signature or vibration. The more similar the signature the more similar the universes are and the easier it is to get from one to another. The Alterans made a device that could open portals between realities. For research I assume…"
"Or them just liking to mess with everything within reach no matter what the consequences," John interjected.
"In any case," Rodney stated, glaring at John for the interruption, "if someone comes over from another reality and they are a duplicate of someone alive here, the visitor's molecules start to degrade, like the universe is trying to eject them. Unless they return to their home reality, they die."
"What about time travelers?" Isaac asked. "In theory, the mere fact of a time traveler should be spawning more realities. They can't all have the same signature."
"We assume the signatures are very very similar so the cascade failure is so minor it's unnoticeable."
"But it sounds like it only happens with people. What makes a live person susceptible and nothing else?" Isaac asked. "I mean, we brought thousands of tons of plants, animals, and just stuff here from another reality. And several million people. And we've been keeping an eye out for problems. And we haven't seen any. So why would a reality care if a carbon or oxygen atom came there from another reality inside a person as opposed to a plant or a piece of clothing?"
"So maybe the entropic cascade issue only happens with the Alteran device?" John speculated. "Some sort of security measure? Keep people with duplicates from coming over and staying but allowing things to be sent through."
"That fits the observations better than Carter and Lee's theory," Rodney admitted. "Personally, I hadn't worried about it much since we haven't found a quantum mirror in Pegasus."
"Yet," John reminded him. He turned to Isaac. "If any of your people find an object about the size of a door that kind of looks like a mirror but the reflection is wrong? Walk away, lock it up, destroy it if you can."
Isaac chuckled. "We already do that with big mirrors that don't behave like proper mirrors. Small ones too. We figure they're cursed and are out to steal your soul. And they probably ate their creator."
"Wonderful. Mirrors that eat people," Ronan muttered.
Dinner was delivered to the table and their drinks refilled. As the food server had indicated, the dinner was family style. John was reminded of Halloween meals when he was growing up, before his mother died. They didn't go trick or treating, the neighbors weren't within walking distance and his mother had disdained the idea of going to a shopping mall to score candy from retailers who were hoping the parents would come in and spend money. But his mother always made a traditional Samhain meal and set out carved pumpkins with candles on the front porch along with a bowl of milk and some bread. Then, when everyone else had gone to bed, she would put on her woolen cloak and go outside to walk a circle around the house. It didn't matter the weather. John knew this because the Samhain before she got sick and died, she had invited him to walk with her.
"John?" Teyla's voice intruded.
He came back to the here and now. "Sorry. It's just that this reminded me of the Halloween meal my mom would prepare for us when I was little."
"Your mother was Wiccan?" Emily asked.
"She never described herself that way," John said. "She called it 'respecting the old ways.'"
"She must have been a fine woman to have had such a fine son," Teyla said gently.
"She was." John frowned. "Could my mother have been one of your people? Could she have been magical?"
Isaac shrugged. "I doubt it. Not without using time travel at least. We can have Gringott's run an inheritance check for you tomorrow to make sure. But one thing I do know, and this is not widely known, is that the Alterans abhor magicals and they kept magicals from developing on your Earth. My people barely survived the last Alteran invasion of our old home. They were deliberately manipulating the genetics of those who could call on the planet's energy and do magic to remove that ability. They attempted to destroy the other magical races and the magical creatures. The Old Ones discovered this and managed to throw the Alterans off the planet with a warning to never return."
"Knowing the Alterans, they did their best to ignore the warning," Rodney groused.
"True. None of their technology was allowed to remain on Old Earth. And when Ra attempted to invade using Alteran technology, the Old Ones did not take it well. They exterminated the Goa'uld. Completely."
"So in your old reality, Earth humans and cultures were never seeded on other planets because there were no Goa'uld taking slaves from Earth," Rodney said. "And because there was no Alteran tech on Earth, there was no stargate and no Stargate program. So how is it that your history and culture and ours match up in any way at all? Or do they?"
"They did for the non-magicals. The Alterans created the non-magicals on our old world," Isaac said. "And I suspect the Old Ones took an active role in leading the non-magicals down paths that matched what the Alteran Earths were doing in other realities. Possibly to keep the Alterans from interfering more than they already had. There are things in our more recent history that points to Alteran interference."
"Who are the 'old ones' you keep referring to?" Rodney asked. "The fae?"
"No," Isaac said. "As far as we know, the fae and sidhe are no older than modern humans. There is one of the original four space faring races that, as far as we know, no longer has a presence in this reality."
"The Furlings," John said. "There are indications the Haaken killed them before the Alterans took care of the Haaken."
"It is possible the Furlings chose to disappear after they were attacked by the Haaken. Or there was a fifth race that never joined the 'Great Races Alliance'. After all, I have doubts as to whether the Asgard or the Nox or the Alterans would be able to pull this off." Isaac waved his hand, indicating everything around him. "Even the rest of our star system is a match to our Old Earth's, and your Earth's. As far as we can tell, the masses and compositions of all the major bodies of this system, including the star, are absolutely identical to your Earth's system."
"And that should be almost impossible," Rodney said. "Unless you have the ability to replicate entire star systems. No evidence the Asgard, or Alterans have that level of tech. Not sure about the Nox. Reports are they have some really serious damn-near-magic abilities."
Rodney frowned. "You have access to Alteran technology. But you said your Earth didn't have Alteran technology."
"It didn't," Isaac admitted. "But this reality has Alteran tech scattered all over at least two galaxies, possibly three. I'm not sure even they know where all the abandoned labs and factories are. Not long after we got here we found an installation with a Portal, several portal ships, and a very extensive library, including current events in both the Milky Way and Pegasus. Not so much on the Asgard or the recent actions of the Ori."
"Are you supposed to be telling us all this?" John asked.
"Probably not," Isaac said with a grin then continued more seriously. "But we would really like to be allies with you. As a race we gained a lot being brought here, but we lost a lot we didn't know we needed. And I figure if the Taur'i really are intended to be the fifth Great Race, you need all the knowledge about what the other Great Races have really been up to you can get."
"And what makes you think the Taur'i are going to be the Fifth Race?" A woman's voice asked. A woman in ornately embroidered Alteran style robes appeared in the room.
John wished he had his weapons with him even as he recognized the presence of an Alteran that his weapons would be useless against. He also noted the three magic users had their wands in their hands.
"The fact that they've been doing a pretty credible job of taking out your garbage for the last ten or so Earth years," Isaac stated, glaring at her. "Think about it, the Taur'i have done more for the people of the Milky Way in ten years than your people have done in ten thousand. They have freed your children from slavery. They have allied themselves with the Asgard and joined in their battles."
"And they have made powerful enemies," the woman said.
"Does that now include your people?" Isaac asked. "Is Morgana Le Fay counted among the enemies of the Taur'i? Did your people murder the magic users and magical beasts of their Earth?"
"There were never any magical beasts on this reality's Earth," she said. "Janus and Moros were able to convince the Nox and the Furlings to abandon their experiment of giving humans Nox-like abilities. My people are not responsible for things that may have happened in another reality."
"But your people developed the Quantum mirror to explore other realities," Rodney interjected. "And we know your people developed time travel so figuring out what experiments would go your way would be easy." Rodney's eyes narrowed. "You're afraid of what would happen if there were people with Nox abilities that weren't isolationist. And the people here don't seem to be nearly as isolationist as the Nox. I can't imagine they would be very happy if they knew you'd been interfering with their children."
"I was not concerned," the Alteran stated. "But as you have surmised, Janus chafed at any form of oversight over his research and inventions. He did not tolerate anyone interfering in his work and hid his work from those of us who were tasked with overseeing him. He was very much an individualist."
"So he figured he had the right to leave his broken and abandoned toys all over two galaxies," Rodney sneered. "Because rules don't apply to the self-proclaimed 'superior' people and who cares if a 'lesser' person steps on the landmine he planted."
"Well I, for one, am glad he ignored that 'don't build a time ship' order otherwise we wouldn't be here to have this conversation," John stated. "But I am getting really tired of clearing out the landmines he left." He gave the Alteran a speculative look. "So, Moros was against humans having magic? But wasn't he Merlin the magician? Supposedly the most powerful magician ever born? The whole Camelot and Excalibur thing, personally raised the Standing Stones?"
"Amergin was probably the most powerful wizard ever born," Isaac corrected. "At least according to our histories. He brought the sons of Mil and cold iron to Britain to drive the Sidhe court into exile. But Amergin drew his power from the elements, from the magic of the land, sea, air, and fire, and rituals called to power the actions that his people and the world needed. So his wasn't individual power but the power his people gave him, the power Lady Magic gave him to do the job she wanted done.
"Merlin was an individualist. The individualist puts his or her wants over every one else's. They claim they do it for the 'greater good' but they really mean their good, their vision. The only power Merlin respected was personal power. He had no need to ask for help or advice because his vision was paramount. He had no need of ritual circles or women's magic. He had no need to call on the elements or the planet. He had no need to call on Lady Magic except in lip service. And I suspect Harry Potter could best him easily in a magical duel assuming there wasn't cheating. Harry doesn't do cheating. Not sure about Merlin."
"Moros was a good man," Morgana protested but the protest sounded unsure.
"So was Josef Mengele according to his family," Rodney stated.
Isaac continued: "Moros knew that Janus wouldn't stop his banned experiments in time travel, galaxy wide sterilization, destabilizing stars in order to kill the inhabited worlds in those systems, turning stargates into bombs. Using sentient beings as test subjects for really questionable experiments was a minor issue compared to all that. Yet Moros and the ruling council did little or nothing to stop him. When he was caught, all he got a slap on the wrist that told him he needed to hide his crimes better."
"He was a brilliant scientist in a difficult time," Morgana protested. "His research was valuable and he did not wish to be hampered by lesser minds."
"Mengele was a 'brilliant scientist' in a 'difficult time'," Rodney spat, making air quotes to emphasize his sarcasm. "His research was 'valuable' according to him and his cronies. What did it matter that it involved vivisecting children and torturing people to death while he took meticulous notes."
John chimed in. "So exactly what were Moros and Janus objecting to in the Nox experiment? Surely not the fact they wanted to experiment with 'lesser' sentient beings. Or was it the individualists didn't want Nox empathy and consensus building contaminating their humans? The 'lesser beings' your people bred with? The lesser beings they wanted to breed and manipulate and send out to clean up their messes? Or maybe they just wanted more experimental animals. Humans can breed pretty damned fast. A useful trait for experimental animals."
"Your suggestion is obscene," Morgana growled. Her expression changed to one of concern, then out right fear. "I cannot leave. Why can I not leave?!" She glared at John. He shrugged.
"Don't look at me," he advised with a smirk. "I'm just one of those experimental animals with an Alteran grandparent who decided to indulge in a little bestiality."
Isaac chuckled. "Terrible having bad blood in the family like that." He turned to glare at Morgana. "You're the one who crashed a private meeting knowing that your presence in this star system is unwelcome. We have the right to detain entities that enter our territory against our wishes. If you don't like that, then post a protest with your ambassador. Oh, wait, your people have refused to open diplomatic relations with us. Maybe you can talk to the Asgard? Oh, wait, are your people even speaking to the Asgard these days?"
Isaac made a hand signal to his team. They both stood and went over to Morgana. Alexander took her arm as Emily opened the door to reveal two people wearing what looked like high tech battle armor. One of the armored people put glowing hand cuffs on the Alteran then they and Alexander ushered her out of the room.
Emily closed the door and secured it before heading back to her seat at the table. "That was unpleasant," she commented.
"But not unexpected," Isaac said.
John felt a wave of warmth go through him like a loving memory. There was a scent like spring flowers in the air. A woman with flowers and grass in her hair wearing what looked like homespun walked though the wall opposite the door.
"Well met, Elder Lya of the Nox," Isaac greeted.
"Well met, Master Isaac of the Magi," the woman said pleasantly. Her expression became more serious. "You are well aware the Nox had nothing to do with the experiments the Furlings did on your home planet."
"But oddly enough, Morgana didn't know that," Isaac said. "Or maybe Janus and Moros decided to frame the Nox way back when by claiming your people were involved in things that no Nox would be a party to."
"So, a Furling experiment to make humans with Nox-like abilities?" Rodney clarified.
"Humans powerful enough to face down the Ori and the wraith," John said. He gave Lya a speculative look. "What happened to the Furlings in this reality?"
Lya seemed surprised by the question. "We have reason to believe the Ori destroyed them. If there were any survivors of that attack, they have not revealed themselves to us. But I would not expect them to. Compared to the Furlings, even the Nox are a young race not to be trusted with the secrets they know. And since we are happy as we are, we will probably never discover those secrets. And that is perfectly fine. My people have no wish to explore Ascension. To seek immortality that way… If this is the only life there is, we must make it the best life possible surrounded by those we love and who love us. That is our immortality. Our children, our students, our loved ones, our achievements in making life better for those left behind."
"And if this not the only life there is," Ronan said solemnly, "then we must strive to make ourselves the best we can be, do the best good we can so that when we meet our loved ones on the other side, they can be proud of us."
"Ascension locks the Alterans and the Ori into the material world," Isaac said. "The world of mass and energy. There is no 'other side' for them. They cannot meet their loved ones who passed on without having ascended. Their souls cannot pass to a new incarnation. They gained more power by becoming energy beings but they are as trapped as they were before ascension, only, as energy, they are trapped for eternity. They have immortality but the price is stagnation. They can explore the universe, but do nothing with the knowledge gained."
"And the people the Ori control, pretty sure they're not allowed to ascend, so do they pass on?" John asked.
It was Lya who answered. "No. Whatever energy that makes up the soul, and it is not something we Nox can detect except it appears to be related to the life force that permeates all living things and is strongest in sentient beings. The Ori know how to feed on it. There is nothing left to pass on." Lya's calm demeanor cracked with grief.
"Which makes them the type of abomination our Old Ones abhor," Isaac stated. "I'm now wondering if the dementors Lady Magic destroyed during the Cleansing weren't an Ori experiment let loose on our old Earth."
"But didn't the Ori split off because they wanted worshipers that they could control and would make them stronger?" Rodney asked. "Wouldn't that imply they knew about feeding on the life force of sentient beings before they split off?"
Lya looked horrified. "You are implying that Alterans made that discovery and did nothing to keep that faction from feeding on younger races."
"Feeding like vampires," John stated grimly. "And knowing some of the Alteran experiments we've discovered and others we've found hints about in Atlantis's archives, I've little doubt that somebody like Janus was looking at draining lesser beings to support the Alteran quest for immortality." John looked around the table. "Now, who else do we know that eats life energy to support their immortality?"
"I need to call Atlantis," Rodney announced. "Zelenka's been looking for anything the Alterans might have left on Iratus bug or wraith research. I have a hunch that the timing of that research and the Ori split might be very interesting."
"I'll ask the Prime Minister to pass along the message and to look and see if the records we have contain anything," Isaac said. He turned to Lya. "Elder Lya, I pray that whatever agreements are made between the Magi and the Taur'i, and whatever actions stem from those agreements, that those actions do not negatively affect the peaceful relations my people have with yours. We respect your choice of pacifism and non-intervention. However, all the current evidence pointed to the Alterans having wronged the Magi and the Taur'i over many millennia. They have abandoned their own children to face abominations and attacked the children of the Old Ones.
"Now they must consider the consequences of their actions. If it is true that they allowed soul eaters to escape to ravage galaxies… consider that soul eaters are an abomination intent on destroying all sentient life in every reality they can reach."
Lya looked as if she was ready to cry. "My people cannot interfere with the decisions of others. To do so would destroy our souls just as surely as the Wraith. But you do have the right to take whatever actions you deem necessary to defend yourselves and those under your protection." With that Lya faded from view.
John sat back in his chair, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Uh, Colonel, did you just tell the Nox to stay out of our way?"
"Yeah. Hermione and Harry are going to be so pissed."