Theodore's Comet

Summary: She could picture her mission report now: "Went to alternate reality. Slept. Woke up. Slept. Woke up. Passed out. Slept. Slept. Slept. Came home".

Rating: PG-13

Season: Seven

Spoilers: (Season One) Cold Lazarus, Solitudes, The Nox, There but for the Grace of God , (Season Two) Point of View, (Season Three) Urgo, 1969, (Season Five) 48 Hours, (Season Six) Abyss, The Cure, Paradise Lost, Metamorphosis, (Season Seven) Birthright.

A/N: Thanks to Karen T(oesucker) and Melly! Also, physics has never been my strong suit. Ever.

As always, feedback is much appreciated.

"This wasn't on the MALP screen, Carter."

Sam took in her surroundings with a confused frown. Her superior officer was, once again, stating the obvious in that sarcastic way of his which was sometimes amusing and sometimes exasperating, but always unnecessary.

So, no, this wasn't what had been on the MALP screen and that had been patently obvious when they'd each stepped out of the chilly wormhole and into the overwhelming dry heat that had buffeted against their faces like an invisible wall.

There had been trees on the MALP footage. Trees, bushes, various tall, tangled, green grass, lush surroundings. The UAV had confirmed this – mile upon mile of beautiful landscape dotted with lakes of varying sizes and a large, silver river slithering through the valley to the north.

Your standard wormhole planet, as a matter of fact. Something that deserved a nice, quiet mineral survey after a couple of months of rebel Jaffa recruitment and difficult missions. Even Colonel O'Neill's usual caustic remarks on the number of trees around had been kept to the bare minimum as they'd surveyed the video footage.

"The MALP is also missing," Teal'c pointed out.

With a sigh, Sam realized they had, in all likelihood, walked into potentially more trouble.

Again.

"Nothing but mile upon mile of dust and desert," Daniel commented, his binoculars against his eyes as he scanned the dusty, hot horizon. Sam could already see sweat forming on his upper lip, which made her uncomfortably aware of the heat beating down on her own head. "Oh – look – a rock. Two rocks!"

"Carter," Colonel O'Neill nodded his head to the DHD, "check out the DHD."

"Yessir."

With the usual heavy anticipation weighting her down, Sam hurried over to the DHD to see if it was in working order. The first thing the MALP was made to do was monitor the DHD – scanning the device for possible problems to make sure that any team that went through could come back once again. But, since it appeared they weren't on the planet the MALP had originally taken footage of, they were merely left with chance.

At first glance, it appeared to be intact. No broken keys, no damage that she could see externally. That was usually a good sign. With increasing confidence, she pressed down on the first key to dial home.

Nothing happened.

Colonel O'Neill was beside her in an instant as she pressed more keys with no success. "You can fix that, right?"

Sam smiled faintly at the unwavering faith he had in her but didn't confirm or deny anything. She unclipped the straps of her pack quickly so she could drop to her knees and pull her equipment out.

"How did this happen, MajorCarter?" Teal'c wanted to know.

Sam shrugged, all her focus on the DHD in front of her. "I have no idea."

"This isn't like the time when we went back to the past, is it, Carter? You fiddled with something beforehand and, poof, we were in 1969."

"Me fiddling with something didn't cause us to go back to the past, sir," she pointed out, giving his profile a narrowed look. "And, besides, I didn't do anything this time."

"Well, it looks like we jumped to a different planet," Daniel guessed, coming over and casting his shadow over Sam's proceedings. She already had the DHD open and was using a flashlight to check the insides where the sunlight couldn't penetrate. "Is that possible? Teal'c – has it ever happened to your knowledge?"

"No, it has not," Teal'c said bluntly.

"Okay, let's leave Carter to work. Teal'c, Daniel, do a perimeter check. Stay in radio contact." He started to walk away himself, back to the Stargate, while Daniel and Teal'c headed out. "And sunscreen up, guys. Looks like we might be here for a while."

After she'd applied sunscreen to her exposed skin, Sam took out her energy scanner and switched it on, waited the few moments it needed to charge up. The DHD looked like it was in perfect working order inside, which was a little odd. Any internal damage was usually pretty obvious – a staff weapon blast, a missing component. God, she hoped she wouldn't have to take it apart to look at it in closer detail – they really *would* be there for hours then.

She looked down at her readings, cupping a hand over the screen to shade it from the sun. "Uh oh."

Colonel O'Neill, sitting on the steps of the Stargate, raised his head from the intense study of his tube of sunscreen. "Carter?"

"Sir, we may have a problem."

He sighed loudly. "Naturally."

"I'm getting off the scale energy readings," she said, swiveling around on her knees, aiming the scanner away from the DHD and noting the change. "But not from the DHD."

"Is that good? Bad? Wrong? Very wrong?"

She stood up and started to walk away from the Stargate, watching in astonishment as the readings spiked still further. "Sir! This can't be right."

She saw his shadow out of the corner of her eye before he actually reached her. "What? Carter, explain. In *small* syllable words," he added, quickly.

"My scanner is saying there's something giving off high levels of energy, but, as you can see, there's *nothing* around here that would be capable of doing so." At least, she realized with growing excitement, nothing they could *see*. That, as they all knew from experience with the Nox, didn't necessarily mean there wasn't anything there.

"Not even the 'gate?"

"No, sir."

"That's... weird." He reached up and grabbed his radio, looking out to where two small specks indicated Daniel and Teal'c's location. "Teal'c? Daniel? You seen anything unusual? Carter's getting wacky energy readings."

"Dust. Sand. We came across a rock a while back. Teal'c was very excited," Daniel replied, dryly.

"Well, come back anyway. Keep your eyes open. O'Neill out." He released the radio and looked at Sam. "Theories? Suggestions? Wild guesses?"

"The only possible thing I can think of is some kind of stealth technology, something we can't see," Sam suggested, her heart beating fast as she finally voiced her currently unfounded theory. She started to walk away from him, watching her readings intently and keeping an eye on her surroundings. She noticed that the readings escalated the further she got from the gate. The gate was giving off a fair amount of energy itself, of course, but nothing in comparison to these readings.

"A weapon?"

"It could be anything, sir," she said, not wanting to commit herself. She lifted her head suddenly as an idea struck her between the eyes. "Sir, it could be the reason we saw something different on the MALP screen. Like on Urgo's planet."

"So there's something here, something that projected a misleading environment, something we can't see, something that lured us here under false pretenses."

A trap, in other words. "It's possible."

His mouth tightened. "Get back to the DHD. Get it working."

She nodded. "Yessir."

Mere moments after she'd started pulling out the insides of the DHD, Daniel and Teal'c returned. Daniel was looking a little sweaty and damp about the edges while Teal'c looked as if he'd done nothing more stressful than take a walk in a park.

"See anything?"

Daniel shook his head, then mopped his brow with his bandana. "Nothing. Not even a mirage. Any luck with the DHD?"

"There didn't appear to be anything wrong with it, so I'm taking it apart to see if there's anything I missed."

Teal'c came to stand over her. "Is there anything I can do to aid you, MajorCarter?"

She looked up and smiled at him. "You could stand in front of the sun for me?" she suggested with a mischievous smile, holding her hand over her eyes and wishing her cap had some kind of air conditioning facility.

He smiled back. "I would be happy to."

She got back to work, throwing herself fully into the workings of the DHD and trying to figure out what was missing.

"Uh... guys?" Daniel said, some time later.

Even with Teal'c standing over her and casting some much needed shade, there was sweat trickling down her back, underneath her highly inappropriate long sleeved black T-shirt. Her hair was sticking to the back of her neck, droplets of salty moisture stinging her eyes. If Daniel was going to offer some witty comment on the nature of fate or something, she was going to hit him.

The Colonel grunted. "What is it, Daniel?"

"There's something moving in the distance."

Sam jumped up, her hands going straight for her P-90 as she rose. The Colonel had stood already, walking past Daniel and staring off into the distance, his fingers fumbling for his binoculars.

"There is indeed something out there, O'Neill."

"Yeah." His eyes pressed to the binoculars, Colonel O'Neill scanned the horizon, his face grim. "But what is it?"

He passed the binoculars to Teal'c.

"It is not a human being. I believe it is a vehicle."

"A car?" Sam reached for her own binoculars since all she could currently see was a tiny dot in the very far away distance. She zoomed in on the target and squinted.

"I think he's right. Okay, everyone fall back, take cover behind the Stargate," the Colonel ordered. "Carter, clear up your stuff."

"Yessir."

Daniel helped her pack everything up and then they ran to take cover with Teal'c and the Colonel, Daniel clutching his gun gingerly.

"You know, SG-4 never gets sent to the wrong planets. SG-4 also never gets wacky energy readings. I want a transfer to SG-4," Daniel whispered, peering over the stone platform.

"It's definitely a car. It kinda looks like..." Colonel O'Neill snorted and gave Sam a look. "Looks like your car, Carter."

She blinked and looked up, narrowing her eyes. "Mine?"

"Yeah... only red." Daniel made a face. "And a drop-top. You know, we've never come across a planet with cars before."

"Well, until we know they're friendly, kids, we're not going to get out and discuss mileage, okay? So, Carter, you can stop drooling."

There was only one car and, as it got closer, Sam could see only one passenger as well. The tension that had filled her when they'd first seen the car began to ebb. Whoever it was, they didn't appear to be coming armed.

The car stopped about ten meters away from the DHD and the passenger inside the car pulled down the visor and checked her reflection. At least, Sam was pretty sure it was a 'her' but she was basing that purely on the shoulder length blonde hair – the only attribute she could make out clearly through the tinted glass of the windscreen. Gender fashions on Earth didn't necessarily apply off-world.

The car door opened and the figure slid out of the car. Part of Sam felt smug that someone else was dressed inappropriately for the desert – but that was before she considered the oddness of someone driving out to a Stargate wearing what looked like a very designer business suit.

She was having a hard time remembering this was another planet and this person was an alien.

Colonel O'Neill nudged her. "Am I imagining things, Carter, or does she remind you of someone?"

Sam glanced away from the woman and over at her CO. "Who?"

"You, Carter." The look he was giving her was absolutely serious so she checked again.

Holy shit.

"Sam... is it possible we've jumped to an alternate reality?" Daniel hissed over Teal'c's head.

She started to shake her head... then she remembered her own personal note to herself: nothing was ever impossible in her line of work.

The woman – Sam refused to believe she was who everyone thought until it was proven – walked towards the DHD and toed the ground with a patent black shoe. She pushed up her overlarge sunglasses that were perched on her nose and looked directly at the Stargate.

"Holy crap," the Colonel hissed. "Carter?"

"Okay, so she bears an alarming resemblance to me," Sam admitted grudgingly. "Doesn't mean we're in an alternate reality."

"You can come out now," the woman called. "My name is Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter. I'm with the United States Air Force. I'm the second in command of the International Stargate Command Center and I'm here to welcome you to our planet. Which, whether you know this or not, is also your planet."

Everyone was staring at her now with identical looks of surprise.

Shit.

"What do we do?" Daniel asked. Sam could see he was *itching* to jump up and announce himself.

"Just... stay put for a little longer," Colonel O'Neill decided. "Carter? Is this for real?"

"I don't know, sir. The energy readings... this could be some kind of elaborate... alien... scheme, for all I know," she said desperately. "She could be a figment of our imagination."

His eyebrows went up. "Alien scheme? Figment?"

"Sir, as far as I'm aware, the only way to get to an alternate reality would be to go through an alternate reality mirror. I don't remember doing that, do you?"

Colonel O'Neill sighed. "No, I don't, Carter, but we're at a decided disadvantage here."

"I'm unarmed!" the woman shouted, interrupting their planning. "Completely unarmed. You can come out. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm pretty harmless. We can send you home! We have your reality's co-ordinates!"

Sam looked at Colonel O'Neill and shrugged. He blew out a breath.

"I'm really a very nice person!"

Daniel snorted. "Why, Sam, your first contact skills are really something."

Colonel O'Neill ignored Daniel. "Teal'c? What do you think?"

Teal'c, who had been sitting quietly, had not taken his eyes off this Lieutenant Colonel Sam Carter. "She does appear to be unarmed," he said. "And if this is indeed an alternate reality, then I cannot imagine another Samantha Carter bringing harm to us."

Which was nice and all but the point of alternate realities *was* that things were different. In this reality, Sam could be a mass murderer for all they knew.

"And if it isn't an alternate reality?" Daniel queried.

"Then, so far, we have not been harmed."

"Teal'c makes a good point. All right." Colonel O'Neill raised his voice. "We're coming out!"

Slowly, the four of them stood up until they were in full view. The removal of the sunglasses gave them a much clearer look of the woman's face and all four of them saw her expression of surprise.

"Oh boy," she said, loudly and clearly.

"Looks like we're a surprise, too," Daniel murmured. "Er... hi!"

She nodded tightly at him and then her eyes lingered on the other three members of SG-1. "Nice to see you, Daniel. I'm sorry. I didn't expect... you to be... you know."

"You?" Sam put in, crossing her arms across her chest.

The Lieutenant Colonel smiled slightly. "Quite. Sometimes... well, sometimes you're not you. I mean, sometimes you're from another reality but you're... not... me. If you see what I mean. Which you probably don't." She sighed and reached up to massage the back of her neck. "Look. That DHD won't dial out."

"Bit of a misnomer then, isn't it?" Colonel O'Neill quipped, wearing his most charming smile.

Sam was surprised when the other woman laughed and laughed hard. If she was in her situation... she was pretty sure she'd be a hell of a lot less friendly.

"Yes, it is, I guess. But then everyone on this planet *is* home." She smiled brightly. "What we usually do in these situations is take you back to command, slap on the Afeds and wait for authorization to do a shift that will send you back home. That usually takes a couple of days."

"In these situations?"

"Afeds?

"Shift?"

She chuckled at the simultaneous questions and raised her hands. "Yeah, the Ancients designed our gate with a little... quirk, shall we say." She glanced at Sam. "I'll go into more detail later. Afeds are anti-entrophic failure devices, provided to us by the Asgard. They come in handy while we wait for however long it takes to fit in a shift. A shift is the mode, if you like, we have to put the Stargate in to send you back to your reality and this takes two days – that's if we get immediate authorization which sometimes doesn't happen because the *paperwork* required to move all the missions and traveling out of the way... well, you get the picture."

"Wow," Daniel said, blinking. "I'm glad we asked."

She grinned. "Thankfully, this doesn't *always* happen. For the past two years, we missed it completely. It all has to do with incredibly *bad* timing on your behalf."

Colonel O'Neill glanced over at Sam. "Oh yeah. We have that all right."

Sam smirked and looked down at the ground.

"Okay. So I'll take you back to command." She nodded to the car behind her, grimacing. "I wish I'd brought a bigger car now. It's going to be a bit of a squeeze in the back. Teal'c, maybe you ought to sit in the front? You'll get more leg room."

She walked off back to her car, shrugging off her black jacket and popping the trunk. "You can put your stuff in here, though I'm not sure if you can fit everything in." Then she went to take her place in the driver's seat.

Colonel O'Neill turned his back on the car. "What do you think, Carter?"

Sam shrugged. "I think it sounds like an incredible story."

"One that could be plausible?" Daniel asked, wincing at the glare of the sun and mopping his neck.

She sighed. "Sir, I really don't know."

"What about the DHD?"

Sam shook her head. "From what I could see, everything should be in working order... only it wasn't working. But I would have to do a more in-depth study to know for sure."

"So she could be telling the truth?"

As astonishing as it sounded, she could. And Sam couldn't help but note that the other Samantha Carter did a very good impression of... herself. "Yes, sir."

"Teal'c?"

The Jaffa inclined his head. "I am not sure there is anything else we can do. I suggest we follow ColonelCarter."

"Daniel?"

"I'm with Teal'c. We have no choice."

"Okay. Keep your guns on you. I can't believe you got shotgun, Teal'c."

*

"So where exactly are we?" Colonel O'Neill asked as they squeezed into the back of the car. "Nevada?"

"No – though from what I understand, this particular simulation was created to mimic Nevada."

"Simulation?" Sam leaned forward to enable the Colonel and Daniel to put their seatbelts on. "This isn't real?"

"No. It's.. well, it's called the Bowl." Colonel Carter turned around in her seat and cupped her hands. "It's a large building with walls made of a reflective material so that an image can be projected. The Stargate is in the middle. It looks huge when you're standing in the simulation but it's actually no larger than a baseball field."

"Why do you have it?" Colonel O'Neill asked.

She switched on the engine and turned around, following the way she had come. "Defense, primarily. When the gate's not in use, this simulation is used so that people who turn up accidentally take one look at the surroundings and go home. It works exceptionally well and while we have some surveillance we don't have to have a full-time security team."

"But the DHD doesn't work," Daniel pointed out.

"It usually does. Only the mode's been shifted for you guys and it'll take a few hours for it to shift back to normal. For some reason, the 'gate finds it easier to switch modes to receive visitors than to send them out."

"Can you explain this mode thing?" Sam queried.

"Our Stargate has two modes. As far as I'm aware, it's the only Stargate in the universe with this particular talent. The only one in the alternate realities, as well. The Ancients in our reality were pretty advanced. Once they'd created the alternate reality... you have the mirrors, right?" She glanced in the rear view mirror at the trio in the back. They all nodded. "They wanted something more convenient. So they created our Stargate."

"It doesn't look any different from ours."

"No. It's a simulation as well."

"You're kidding! No wonder my energy readings were off the scale," Sam mused.

"Exactly. The generators for this place are *huge*."

"I'd love to see the design."

This earned Sam a smile. "I'm sure that can be arranged, Major. Hold on tight."

Sam leaned back into her seat as Colonel Carter began to speed up. And speed up. And up. The wind picked up and Sam started to feel a little bit like she was on some kind of theme park ride. She pulled her hat off and held it in her lap, afraid that it would fly off.

"Woah. Some ride!" the Colonel shouted over the noise of the wind rushing past, one hand on top of his head, holding his hat on.

"You can only get out of the Bowl at a certain speed," she shouted back, the wind whipping her hair back over her head. Sam was, once again, relieved to have short hair.

They were obviously far more advanced than their own reality, Sam realized, though it sounded as if the Asgard here had been more involved then they were at home.

The landscape was a blur, now – a sandy colored blur with blue trim. She could hear nothing but the sound of the wind and the engine.

And then, suddenly, it stopped. There was absolute quiet, absolute stillness and bright white... everywhere. The car had come to a halt.

"Hey... what happened?"

"Buffers," was the only explanation.

Sam looked around, swiveling her head to and fro. It was a room – a massive room, admittedly – with tall white walls and white flooring. Towards one end were tall, thin frosted windows letting in bright light but there was no sign of any desert or any technology.

"This is the White Room, otherwise known as the meet and greet room," Colonel Carter explained, getting out of her car and running her fingers through her wind-blown hair. "Everyone who uses the 'gate is brought here to be picked up by the transport that'll take them to the gate." She stood by the side of the car, looking at them expectantly. Then she smiled. "You can get out now. We'll get an elevator to command central."

Obediently, they clambered out of the car and she popped the trunk for them to get their stuff.

"So, do you know us? In this reality?" Colonel O'Neill asked, once again making use of his most charming smile.

Sam wondered if he was hoping to get a kiss out of this one as well, then she was shocked she'd even *thought* that and busied herself with helping Daniel put on his pack.

"Yes," she replied, shortly, still smiling.

"I'm alive, then?" Daniel said. When Colonel Carter nodded, he beamed. "Great! It was so depressing being dead in most..."

"Hey, I was dead in both as well," the Colonel pointed out.

"As was I," Teal'c added with a small smile.

"Okay, okay," Daniel said, raising his hands. "I get the picture."

"It's this way, guys." She gestured to a completely blank wall, but by this point they were so used to the absolute weirdness of their surroundings that they just followed her. Sam was trying to look for *some* evidence of more sophisticated technology, though.

"So you've experienced alternate realities before?" Colonel Carter asked.

"Only twice. Both through alternate reality mirrors," Daniel said, hurrying to walk alongside Sam's other self.

"You're lucky to have met realities where you're prominent features in the Stargate program. A lot of the time those who come through I don't recognize at all. In fact, it's always kind of a thrill to see the whole gang together." She grinned over her shoulder at everyone and, Sam thought narrowly, that grin lingered on Colonel O'Neill the most.

Uh-oh, she thought.

"Are you on SG-1, too?" Daniel wanted to know.

They all paused in front of the blank wall and watched as Colonel Carter waved a hand over a specific space. Moments later, part of the wall slid away, revealing a well lit, white corridor. "I used to be. We were all SG-1 but after Apophis tried to invade and we successfully fended him off, the President decided the 'gate was too dangerous a secret to keep hidden away so he made the program public. Shortly after that, the Asgard made contact with us and the rest is history."

Sam stared at the pictures on the wall – they were very familiar, 'inspiring' photographs that she'd seen all over workplaces. "The Asgard helped you build all this?"

"And the Tollen, to some extent."

"The Tollen? They refused to share anything with us!" Colonel O'Neill exclaimed.

"Really? Now why on earth would they do that?" she asked, surprised.

"They had an unfortunate experience with a neighboring planet," Teal'c murmured.

"Which one? Myrth? Kavish?"

"No.... Surita," Daniel said, pulling the name from his apparently limitless memory.

"Well, there's difference number one, then. There's no such planet in this reality."

"That possible?" Colonel O'Neill asked Sam quietly.

She nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Just checkin'."

They paused in front of a recognizable elevator and when the doors slid apart, Sam found herself somewhat relieved to see there were more people inside. All dressed in business suits, some in lab coats, but all very *human* looking.

Colonel Carter nodded at a couple of them, who nodded back respectfully. All were grinning broadly at SG-1.

She selected a button – Sam noted the number for future reference. "I'll take you up to see the General first. He'll want to be updated."

"General Hammond?" Colonel O'Neill asked.

She shook her head, grinning, Sam noted, just like the other occupants of the elevator. "No, sir. General Hammond retired nearly two years ago. My superior officer is General Jack O'Neill."

Colonel O'Neill's face lit up. "Cool!"

Teal'c and Sam exchanged a look. They would be hearing about this for *months*.

"So I'm in charge of this place, am I?"

"Yes, sir."

Colonel O'Neill smirked at the rest of SG-1. "I can't wait to tell Hammond."

Teal'c and Sam exchange another look. *Months*.

The elevator pinged and Colonel Carter walked off, this time entering a very normal looking corridor. Well varnished floorboards, offices, windows looking out into green gardens, lots of people milling around and cork boards on the walls with paperwork pinned on them.

"The officers' offices are the least hi-tech of the entire building, ironically enough," Colonel Carter told them, catching their looks of surprise.

"Isn't that always the way?" the Colonel said, glancing in through open office doors as they walked along the corridor. "So where are we?"

"Colorado Springs."

"At least the location's still the same."

"Well, we do a lot of work with the Academy. Some of the cadets get trained in the Bowl."

"Is the Bowl underground, then?" Sam asked, walking forward to walk between Daniel and her alternate self as they turned a corner.

"No, why would you... Oh! No – that elevator doesn't go up! It goes across!" She laughed, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "I promise you, you would have felt it a few weeks ago but we just had the entire elevator system redone. They're state of the art now and you can't feel a thing!"

"Elevators that go sideways. Why don't ours do that?" the Colonel mused. "Hey – this is your office!"

They stopped outside a door with Colonel Carter's name on the front.

"Yup. That's it. I don't use it much because I do most of my work in the labs. As I imagine you do," she said, looking at Sam.

Sam nodded in agreement, finding it hard to really *say* anything that didn't resemble 'How did you become Colonel?'.

"General O'Neill is just down the hall, here," she said, walking off and pointing down towards another door only a couple of offices away from her own. She knocked on the door and a female voice told her to come in.

She beckoned them to follow her and SG-1 filed in behind. It became immediately apparent that this wasn't General O'Neill's office, but his secretary's. The secretary herself was standing with her back to the team, filing something away. She was in full military uniform, Sam noted, unlike most of the staff.

"Lieutenant, does the General have a minute?"

The lieutenant turned around and did a double take, one hand going to her chest in surprise. Then she smiled. "He's free for about ten minutes, Colonel." Keeping her eyes on the members of SG-1, she reached for the intercom and pressed the button.

"What is it, Stacey?"

"Colonel Carter is here to see you."

"Send her in."

"You can go ahead, Colonel." The lieutenant hurried to get the door, pulling it open and beaming a white, toothy smile – aiming this expression at Daniel in particular. "Nice to see you, Dr. Jackson."

Daniel stammered. "N... n... nice to see you too, ah, Lieutenant."

"Carter! Get in here – I don't have all day!" a familiar voice shouted from the office.

Colonel Carter hurried into the office with SG-1 following behind her. "General, we have a problem."

"I can see that, Carter."

Sam moved around her own CO, eager to see yet another familiar figure. She couldn't stop the full out grin that spread across her face when she saw a look of dismay settle on the face of the man behind the desk.

"Hello... me," Colonel O'Neill said, standing with his hands in his pockets and eyeing his other self closely. "Nice hair."

General O'Neill ran a hand over his closely cropped, gun-metal gray hair. "Thanks. The messy look isn't good for publicity." He reached for the red phone on his desk. "You could have called ahead, Carter. I could have gotten the ball moving faster."

Colonel Carter slid into a chair and crossed her legs, seemingly undaunted by this criticism. "Ten minutes either way won't make any difference."

He shook his head, giving Colonel O'Neill a weary look as he put the phone to his ear. "Yeah, that's the attitude that got you where you are today, Colonel. Yeah – I'd like to speak to the President."

She snorted and reached across the desk to swipe something from the pencil holder. Sam was slightly surprised to see it was a red candy cane which her alternate self began to unwrap leisurely.

"He has to talk to the President to get this mode switched?" Daniel asked, sliding into the other chair in front of the General's desk.

Colonel Carter made a face. "It's a pretty major thing. The gate has about thirty operations in a twenty-four hour period and putting these on hold requires some maneuvering. Sometimes it's not even possible. I think there's some big political thing the day after tomorrow, actually."

The General put a hand over the mouthpiece. "That 'big political thing' is the final peace talks with the Vellinterans. And you're going."

Colonel Carter jerked upright, the candy cane forgotten in her hand. "What? That's not on my schedule!"

"It is now."

"Jack! Come on, you *know* I can't..."

"Let's talk about this another time, Colonel," the General said through his teeth, sliding his eyes to SG-1 and back significantly.

Colonel O'Neill glanced over at Sam, his eyebrows raised. She made a face – obviously these two had a slightly more informal relationship than she and Colonel O'Neill.

"Get them down to the infirmary. They'll need DNA scans to make sure the Afeds are necessary."

"Yessir." She stood up, looking far less comfortable. "After that?"

"VIP quarters." He looked at SG-1, his eyes lingering on the guns around their shoulders. "You'll need to have your weapons stowed, I'm afraid. This," he nodded to his phone, "could take some time. I'll have someone keep you apprised. Carter, get an AF to escort them down to the infirmary. You need to prep for the Vellinterans talks."

"Oh, gee, General, I'm so looking forward to it," she muttered, much to Sam's surprise and – oddly – her embarrassment. She would *never* speak to Colonel O'Neill like that.

"Later, Sam," he said, with less bite to his tone. *Now* he sounded liked he was sorry for causing her problems. "Mr President! I'm sorry to bother you but it seems we have a situation." He waved at them, which Sam guessed was their dismissal.

Outside, Colonel Carter had the lieutenant phone for someone to escort them to the infirmary.

"Why the infirmary?" Colonel O'Neill asked, wandering over to look out of the window at some neatly manicured lawns and flowers.

"Sometimes those from an alternate reality don't match exactly the twin in this reality," she said, leaning against the lieutenant's desk with her arms crossed over her chest. There were frown lines on her forehead that hadn't been there before they'd entered the General's office. "The Afeds have a couple of side effects – temporary tiredness, sometimes nausea – so we try not to use them unnecessarily. You don't have any problem with us taking some blood, do you? You can watch over the whole process. I'm sure Major Carter would like to have a look at the technology our doctors use."

Sam nodded at her CO, who rolled his eyes at her predictability. "Great. Needles," he muttered.

"Who are the Vellinterans?" Daniel wanted to know.

"Just another planet warring with its neighbor," Colonel Carter said, shrugging. "Unfortunately, the latest peace talks are being negotiated by my ex-husband." She smiled at their expressions of surprise and looked at Sam. "No divorces in your past, I guess?"

Sam shook her head, her mouth slightly agape. Married? Who the hell to?

Suddenly, Colonel Carter gasped. "Oh God, you're not still married, are you?"

"No, she's not," Colonel O'Neill said, coming somewhat to Sam's rescue. "I think Carter wants to know who you were married to."

Colonel Carter stared at them for a long moment, then shook her head. "No. You know what? You don't need to know that."

"Hey!" Sam exclaimed, now rampantly curious. Who the hell did she know that she could have married? Jonas? God – had she *married* Jonas in this reality? "Come on!"

"Really. No. I just don't think it's a good idea." She looked at her watch. "Where's your AF? Lieutenant?"

"I'll call again, Colonel," the lieutenant said quickly just as there was a knock on the door.

"That'll be him. I'm sure I'll see you around," she said, hurrying for the door and letting the AF in.

*

It was late afternoon by the time they were shown to their quarters. After their DNA tests in possibly one of the most high-tech infirmaries Sam had ever seen, they were taken to lunch while their test results came back and it was found that only Sam, Jack and Teal'c needed to have the Afeds. There were slight differences between the two Daniel Jacksons – what those differences were wasn't explained to them.

The Afeds turned out to be some innocuous looking arm bands. At least, they looked innocuous until they were slapped onto your wrist and then, literally seconds after you'd gotten over the strange whooshing sensation, you suddenly really, really needed to go to sleep.

"I feel like I've just gone on a twenty mile hike," the Colonel said, leaning back on his bed and groaning.

"That's normal and will only last a few hours while the Afeds get to work. These devices put a lot of strain on your bodies – the nano-chemicals..."

"Nano... chemicals?" the Colonel said, lifting his head from his pillow weakly. "How closely are these related to nano-bots?"

The doctor smiled. "Colonel, these nano-chemicals aren't going to harm you. They locate unimportant DNA and change it minutely to make you slightly different from your counterparts in this reality," Dr. Forrest said, making notes on his clipboard as he watched the computer screen with Sam's vitals.

"Unimportant DNA?" Sam questioned.

He shrugged his shoulders casually, turning grey eyes onto her. "Apparently, it exists."

Gee, that was reassuring. "You don't know?"

"I'll admit, Asgard technology is somewhat beyond me, however these devices have been tried and tested on two dozen people before yourself." He smiled comfortingly.

"Once these come off, we'll go back to normal, right, Doc?" the Colonel asked, lifting his arm and staring at the black, almost metallic band around his wrist.

"Yup. They work better coming off than on, actually. The release button – " he showed them the two sliding pieces of metal that needed to be pushed together to release the devices " – injects you with a nano-chemical that has recorded your DNA exactly. You should be back to normal within ten seconds. And if anything goes wrong, the Asgard can be here in a jiffy."

After that, even Sam was unable to muster enough energy to be given a tour of the facility they would be staying in and they were taken to their quarters. All four had interlocking doors, bathrooms, computer access, TVs. It was a veritable dream.

But none of them cared about that.

Sam only bothered to pull off her boots before she dropped down on the large, soft bed and fell immediately asleep.

She awoke to darkness. Not the alarming kind but the soft, peaceful and satisfying kind that usually greeted her after a good night's sleep. The clock beside her bed told her it was just after six in the morning so she slid out of bed and turned the lights on.

Curious to see what this reality's TV had to offer, she found a remote and switched the TV on. A lot of the morning shows looked pretty normal – sometimes hosted by exactly the same people as they were in her reality – but there was one, major difference.

"Stargate Command reports that all non-essential traveling will be delayed for a few days as four as yet unnamed alternate reality personnel are returned to their homeworld," the news reporter reported with a serene smile. In the background, a generic picture of a comet was showing flying through space. "The passing of Theodore's Comet which occurs every three-hundred-and-seventy-three days, in combination with the special design of our Stargate, means that any outgoing wormhole from Earth that runs through the comet's path is directed back. The resulting surge in power shifts the Stargate into an alternate mode and it receives the first set of alternate reality personnel who are dialing out from their Stargate at any time."

'Bad timing', Colonel Carter had said.

No kidding.

"That's all from me, Karen Walker. Back to you, Anne."

"Thanks, Karen," a new, husky-voiced presenter said. "Say, are you doing anything for Halloween?"

"I certainly am." The news reporter grinned and suddenly looked several years younger. "A friend and I are going to hole up with a bunch of scary movies and scare ourselves witless."

Anne laughed. "Wonderful! I'll think of you when I'm trying to convince my son that he doesn't need all that candy before bed. Have a great day, Karen! Now, have you ever wondered..."

Sam switched off the TV and sat back on the couch. It all seemed too miraculous to be true and yet Sam was almost convinced. It seemed far too elaborate for an alien plot, certainly, but that never meant it wasn't.

It was always hard for Sam to believe in anything these days. Each time she did, her beliefs would be blown to hell and back so it always seemed best to keep her mind open and to not take everything at face value. Sure, it led to a somewhat exhausting life, but it was always best to be prepared.

There was a knock on one of the interlocking doors and she quickly checked that she was dressed properly before saying 'come in'.

The Colonel opened the door and smiled at her. Now he had one *serious* case of bed hair, Sam thought fondly. She could only imagine, of course, what her hair looked like. "Hey, Carter. You feeling okay?"

"Yeah."

"No nausea?"

"No – why? Do you?" she asked in concern.

"Nothing. I feel great." He grinned charmingly and his eyeline moved upwards. "Nice hair."

"Same goes, sir," she replied quickly.

"Oh." His fingers ran through his hair – much like his counterpart had done yesterday, she thought – and he looked a little sheepish. "I guess I should comb it or something. Were you just watching the news?"

"Yup."

"Weird, isn't it?"

"Totally. But, I guess if the trigger to switch the modes is to supply more energy – which was what happened when you built the Ancient's device to power the Stargate further – it would make sense that an accidental energy surge from a bounced wormhole would switch their Stargate from one mode to the other," Sam theorized.

She could all but see his eyes glaze over.

"Er... yeah. Teal'c's still asleep and I'm kinda hungry."

Suddenly, she understood why he had knocked on her door. "You want to go get breakfast?"

"I was promised pancakes and waffles by the Doc yesterday. Daniel is already up and down there; I found a note on his desk."

Reason number two why he'd knocked on her door. Nice to know that he'd checked the other two before trying her.

"Okay. I'll just put my boots on." And comb my hair, she added silently.

"I'll meet you outside."

He closed the door and Sam opened her pack, which had been brought up to their rooms while they'd been in the infirmary. Everything was how she'd left it so she found her travel kit and brushed her teeth and combed her hair, though she noticed that the bathroom came with all the necessary toiletries, anyway.

Still, it was nice to have a few of her own things.

Colonel O'Neill was out in the hallway, looking out of the windows and nodding at passing staff. "You notice they're a weird mixture of in uniform and civvies?" he asked.

He was right. Colonel Carter – that was *so* weird – hadn't been in her uniform, while General O'Neill and his secretary very definitely had been. "Yeah – wonder why that is."

"Guess we could always ask. This way, wasn't it?"

She nodded and they walked side by side, stopping every so often to peer in through windows and offices. The atmosphere was pretty great in this SGC – not that the one in her reality wasn't. It was just... things were lighter here. Physically and metaphorically speaking.

Sam got the feeling that the annual fatality figures of this SGC were far less than their own.

The mess hall wasn't particularly full and Sam spotted Daniel straight away. He was sitting at a table with General O'Neill's secretary and she could tell from his expression that he was *really* enjoying himself.

A couple of captains passed them by, both eyeing them curiously. When she caught one's eye, he gave her a big smile and a nod. "Major," he said.

"Captain," she replied, not quite liking this sensation of being mocked.

Having gotten their breakfast from the buffet, they made their way to the table, just in time for the lieutenant to make her blushing excuses and to hurry off with her mug of coffee. Daniel, too, looked a little red about the ears.

"Someone's had a productive morning," the Colonel joked as he sat down next to Daniel and raised his eyebrows.

"I have *actually*." Daniel sniffed and sipped his coffee. "Ask me anything. I know it all."

"You *grilled* her for information?" Sam exclaimed.

"And she told you?" Colonel O'Neill asked, no doubt wondering about the military ethics of this SGC.

"Yup." Daniel smirked proudly. "And if you're not nice to me I won't tell you."

"Tell us what?"

"Firstly, Jack, why didn't you tell me you have a brother?" Daniel demanded. "I've known you for ten years and yet I was convinced you were an only child."

"Er... because I am." Colonel O'Neill shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have a brother."

"Oh," he said, obviously disappointed. "I guess this is another one of those alternate reality things."

"I have a brother in this reality? He has a brother, I mean?"

"Yeah, a younger brother."

The Colonel frowned – he probably didn't know quite what to make of that. "Weird. What's his name?"

"Ambassador Michael O'Neill." Daniel's eyebrows shot up.

"A *diplomat*?" He laughed. "Someone obviously got Mom's genes."

Sam smiled into her muesli. Another O'Neill. What a weird thought. She wondered what he looked like – if he looked anything like their Colonel O'Neill. She'd never thought about the Colonel's family – excluding Charlie, and Sara.

"So... guess who he was married to?" Daniel said in the tones of someone who knew something juicy.

"My alternate reality brother?" There was a pause. "Oh shit."

Sam raised her head to find everyone was looking at her. "What?" she asked, wondering why the Colonel was looking so odd. "I don't know. You're the one with all the..." She trailed off as she remembered one of the other alternate reality differences. Inch by agonizing inch, she felt blood creep up her face. "Oh."

Colonel O'Neill cleared his throat. "Suddenly, I'm glad I don't have a brother."

Sam hurried to say something, not sure if she should wonder about what he meant. "He works here, then?" she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

The Colonel's *brother*? That was just... what *was* it with O'Neill men?

"Mostly off-world, as I understand it. He, Joseph Faxon and a French guy – Luc Combι – are the top three diplomats in the diplomatic division."

"Joe Faxon. Now that's a familiar name." The Colonel started to cut into his pancakes, shaking his head. "This is the weirdest freaking mission ever."

"Did either of you catch the news? Wasn't it the weirdest thing," Daniel continued when they nodded in a dazed fashion, "to hear reports on the Stargate? They must have had some kind of press conference last night because all the news reports were full of the delay." He shook his head. "You have to wonder... if the President had made the same decision all those years ago, would we be standing where they are now?"

Sam, who had been thinking along those lines, shook her head, stirring her cereal without much interest in eating. She wished she'd had the pancakes like the Colonel. "I don't think so, Daniel. The Asgard seem to have a more hands on approach in this reality, possibly because of the differences in the Stargate itself. Not to mention the Tollen's influence."

"Yeah, our bad luck that we got the universe where the Tollen had the wrong neighbors," the Colonel muttered.

"I wonder if they have the Tok'ra. I haven't heard anything about the Goa'uld."

And, Sam thought, she wondered if her father was alive in this reality. Without the Tok'ra, it seemed unlikely – though she couldn't be certain if he would have had cancer too. God, she wondered what her father would have thought if she'd married Colonel O'Neill's brother.

She just didn't know what to make of that. She supposed she should just be grateful that, yet again, she hadn't been married or engaged to her CO.

That kind of thing was difficult to put into a full mission report, after all.

"Oh, Sam. You've just walked in."

"What?"

Daniel nodded over her shoulder and Sam turned in her seat. This time, Colonel Carter was in her dress blues, carrying her cap, looking every inch the professional USAF officer.

When the other woman saw them, she smiled and walked over. "Hi. I'm glad I found you. You're all feeling all right?"

"Fine, thanks," Sam replied, eyeing her counterpart's naked wedding ring finger.

"No nausea? We had an SG-7 once who were bedridden for twelve hours."

Sam's eyes widened. "Why do you think they felt the side effects so badly?"

"Slightly different genetic make-up, we think. It looks like you guys are going to be fine. Teal'c isn't here?"

"Still in bed. Last time I checked," Colonel O'Neill said.

She nodded. "Hmm. He's ex-Jaffa, we noted. The chemical in his blood-stream – that's to boost his immune system?"

"Tretonin," Daniel supplied.

"Do you have enough for him?"

"He should be okay. Depends how long we're here for," Sam said. "Do you know anything?"

Colonel Carter smiled. "Yes, that's why I came to find you. The shift has been authorized but we have some large, political missions that can't be moved about so a lot of us are being shipped out today to arrive early, rather than late." She gestured down at her attire. "I'm going out in a couple of hours. It looks like they'll start the shifting over to alternate reality mode sometime this evening which should mean we can send you home forty-eight hours from then. I'm sorry it's going to take you such a long time."

"There's no way we can contact our reality? Hammond will be going nuts," Colonel O'Neill said bluntly.

She shook her head, tilting her head sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Colonel."

"Can I ask a question?" Daniel lifted his hand slightly. "If you know what this comet does, why don't you prepare for it?"

Colonel Carter sighed and rested her briefcase on the table. "Because this isn't a regular event. It's all a matter of a number of coincidences happening at the same time. The number of alternate realities nearby us – similarity wise – where the Stargate is being used on Earth is very small and so the chance that a wormhole will be dialing out from another Earth at the same time as our Stargate switches over to alternate mode is pretty slim. And the wormhole we dial has to hit Teddy *exactly* for the energy back-surge to be powerful enough to flick the switch from normal to alternate modes." She shook her head. "There are just too many variables to make it worthwhile to suspend all wormhole activity when Teddy is in the vicinity."

"You can't do anything?"

"Oh, we can. We can make this the busiest time of year. If the wormhole is in constant use, it can't switch modes accidentally. So the windows between each wormhole activation are very slim. But that means if something does happen in a free window..."

"You have even more problems," Daniel finished, looking amused.

"Yup. That's it in a nutshell. Look, I won't be around, obviously, so I came to say goodbye. It was nice to meet you all. Um... Daniel? The other Daniel should be coming back to Earth tonight so he'll be around. He'll be very excited to see you, trust me. If you have any problems, talk to Lieutenant Omsley – the General's secretary. She can sort you out."

"Thanks. It was... weird to meet you," Sam managed.

"No kidding. I don't think I'll ever get used to it." She picked up her briefcase again, wincing at how heavy it was. "I hope you have an easy trip back. Goodbye." Then, with an ironic twist of her mouth, she saluted them. "I've got to get my practice in," she explained with amusement. "I'm going to be doing a hell of a lot of it in the next week. I have to go now and pick up some documents from security. Bye!" She raised a hand in goodbye and they waved half-heartedly as she walked off.

"She's pretty different," Daniel decided, finishing off his coffee and pushing it away from him. "To you, Sam."

Sensing an insult was coming her way, she widened her eyes. "In a good or bad way, Daniel?"

"Neither really. She's just... I think she's a little more laid back." He smiled at her fondly. "But I think everyone here is like that. I get the feeling they don't worry for their lives on a daily basis."

Well, that wasn't so bad, Sam decided. "So, we're stuck here for a while."

"Apparently," Colonel O'Neill stared at a syrupy piece of pancake. "These are great."

"Yeah – they look it," Sam said longingly. "Ours are always kinda rubbery."

"Think they have better chefs. Want some? I took too many," he offered, pushing his plate to her.

A little surprised, her eyebrows rose. "Really?"

"Take a couple. Daniel, you want another coffee?"

"I've had three already."

There was a slight pause. "Is that a no?"

"Er... get me another."

He snorted. "Carter?"

She shook her head. "Trying to wean myself off."

Both Colonel O'Neill and Daniel stared at her.

"That's just wrong, Carter," the Colonel said, obviously voicing Daniel's option because the archaeologist was nodding profusely in agreement. "How about *tea*, then?"

"Yes, please. Black. One sugar." She smiled at him sweetly, then pounced on his pancakes when he'd turned away, using Daniel's used knife and fork. Looked like the Colonel hadn't been the only one to eat pancakes that morning.

Daniel propped his head up on his fist. "I'm looking forward to meeting myself."

"It's weird," Sam said, from experience.

"Wonder what you did to get promoted to Colonel."

"Married my CO's brother, apparently," Sam said dryly. She bit into a pancake and almost moaned. "These are wonderful."

Obviously in the mood to gossip, Daniel cleared his throat. "Apparently, you were married to him before you joined the Stargate program. You divorced him shortly before you started working as part of SG-1."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "How long were they married, then?"

"Six years."

"*Six*? I was so young!"

The Colonel came back with their beverages just in time to hear her last remark. "Who was?"

"Sam. When she married your brother."

The Colonel's eyes slid over to Sam, his eyebrows raised. "How young?"

"Early twenties," Sam estimated, stabbing at another piece of pancake.

"I married Sarah when she was in her early twenties," the Colonel announced coolly, staring at the two coffees in front of him with his brow furrowed. "I think this one's yours, Daniel. Yeah. A General's daughter. My dad would have been thrilled. You're quite a catch, Carter," he said matter-of-factly.

She was so surprised he'd said it that she laughed. "Sir!"

"I'm just sayin'." He grinned at her in a relaxed way. "Though why you always go for these diplomatic types is beyond me."

She rolled her eyes. "Trust me, that's a new development as far as I'm concerned."

Daniel sniffed his coffee and then sipped it. "Coffee's good here, too."

"It's the way I mix it, Daniel," the Colonel said dryly.

"Sure, Jack. What exactly are we going to do for two days, anyway?"

"God knows. I'm thinking we're restricted to base. Though it looks like your other self will want to bond when he gets back from wherever he is, so you're sorted. Carter could probably convince someone to give her a tour of the tech. And I can veg out in front of the TV with Teal'c. Do you think the VIP rooms have room service?"

Sam rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair, looking around the room at all the other diners, both military and civilian. "It would be great to get home with some ideas for Stargate security."

"Nice being an understatement, Carter." He sucked his fork. "You know, I'm really looking forward to lunch."

*

Sam spent the rest of her morning and afternoon knee deep in technology reports, technology design and schematics, barely aware of comings and goings around her. A few of Colonel Carter's lab technicians dropped by to 'chat' – which actually meant they queried her mercilessly about her own reality – but mostly she was left completely alone.

She came out of the lab late afternoon, feeling slightly dazed and woozy from absorbing so much new information, and located Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c playing foosball in the rec room.

Teal'c was winning.

The Colonel didn't glance up but he knew it was her. "Hey, Carter, long time no see." He spun a handle enthusiastically, his eyes tracking the ball across the table in front of him.

Too tired to banter, Sam just agreed with him. "Yes, sir." She dropped onto a couch, content to listen to Colonel O'Neill's complaints and Teal'c's silent pride while she rested her eyes.

"Find out anything interesting?"

"Yes, sir."

"What?"

"That I don't understand Asgard technology."

There was a loud clatter of a little plastic ball entering the little plastic goal and a whoop of dismay. "HEY! No fair! I was talking to Carter and my mind wasn't on the game! Teal'c!"

"That is not my fault, O'Neill, but if you wish, we will play the point again."

"No, no. It's fine. Tell you what, let's take a break."

"Indeed."

"So the end score was, what? Eight-seven to you?"

"It was nine-six to myself, O'Neill."

"Oh."

Sam opened her eyes to smile at them as both men dropped onto the couch in front of her.

Colonel O'Neill propped his boots up on the coffee table. She noticed that he'd recently polished them. "Did I hear you correctly, Carter? Did you admit to not understanding something?"

Summoning enough energy to smirk at this comment, she nodded. "Yes. And I'll admit it again – I don't understand Asgard technology. And this base – the designs for the security, the Bowl, the simulation – it's all Asgard technology. What Tollen influence there has been was minimal – in the computer design, maybe – and that's easier to understand. But... " She shook her head and sat forward, voicing her concern. "I just don't think *anyone* human could understand the concepts the Asgard are using. Not without decades of study."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying... do you remember what the doctor in the infirmary said?"

"Doctor Forrest," Teal'c prompted.

"Yeah. He was applying a medical procedure that he knew next to nothing about." She spread her hands beseechingly. "He only had a loose idea of what it did and if anything should go wrong, his solution was to summon the Asgard." She clicked her fingers. "Just like that."

"You think they have an over-dependence on the Asgard," Teal'c summarized.

"I do, Teal'c. At least with the technology we've reverse-engineered from the Goa'uld, we've been involved in the process. We *understand* it. This method of using alien technology seems to be somewhat dangerous."

"I see your point, Carter, but I'm pretty damn sure Hammond, the Joint Chiefs, the President, would think such technological advances would be sure as hell worth it."

"With respect, sir, they would be wrong," Sam said, shifting forward eagerly. "It would be like buying a new hi-fi and only using it to listen to the radio. Only this hi-fi," she spread her arms to indicate everything around them, "could potentially blow up the state of Colorado if you press the wrong button. What if something goes wrong and the Asgard aren't around to help? What if their security system failed? If these huge weapons they have aimed out into space malfunction and start shooting down friendly space craft?"

"When have you known anything built by the Asgard to go wrong?"

"Maybe that's true, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Human error is a pretty standard occurrence. And the Asgard aren't the most technologically developed aliens we've had experience with – the Ancients are. And as far as I'm concerned, what sent us here was a malfunction. That gate doesn't work, sir. There are eventualities even the Ancients couldn't foresee. Relying unduly on any advanced species isn't just stupid, it's negligent, Colonel."

Colonel O'Neill dropped his head back on the couch and groaned. "Only you would have something to criticize in a perfect world, Carter."

Disappointed that, yet again, he hadn't understood, Sam appealed to Teal'c, who was looking at her thoughtfully. "Teal'c? Do you see what I mean?"

"I do understand, MajorCarter – as a Jaffa I had next to no understanding of the Goa'uld tools I wielded – but there are also the advantages to be considered."

"But – " she began, only to have Teal'c raise a hand and halt her.

"The Asgard's readiness to support Earth suggests to me that the Goa'uld are no longer a problem. Nor the Replicators." He glanced over at the Colonel, who had one eye open and was looking at him. "It seems unlikely that there would be any greater threat to the universe and therefore I see no reason for the Asgard to not continue to support Earth. Over time, perhaps, humans will grow to understand their technology. Unlike the Jaffa, they would not be forbidden from learning."

Sam admitted he had a point. "I guess. I just... I don't like it."

"That's because you're a naturally controlling person, Carter. I wouldn't worry about it," the Colonel said, lifting his head and winking at her.

Her shoulders slumped and she considered a stack of magazines near his propped up feet. What they were saying was true but it still concerned her. While she wanted Earth to make leaps and bounds, technology wise, she didn't want it to be remotely dependent on outside sources. She suspected it was her pride at work here – she wouldn't want to summon someone to help her out when something had gone wrong. That smacked of the parental influence that had plagued her throughout her life.

"You ate lunch, right, Carter?"

She nodded. "Daniel dropped by with some sandwiches."

"Good. That means he ate then."

"Yes, sir," she said vaguely.

"We went on the internet and looked up Ambassador Michael O'Neill."

She jolted out her thoughts. "You did?"

The Colonel grinned knowingly at her. "Yup. Found wedding snaps."

"No way!"

"Teal'c thinks you had hair extensions and I'm inclined to agree."

Sam was aware that the Colonel considered this to be the usual enjoyable teasing that he reveled in but she didn't find the topic particularly amusing herself. A failed marriage wasn't something she could be amused at, even if it wasn't technically her own.

"Something wrong, Carter?"

She shook her head, wondering how he could chose to be perceptive only at the worst times. "No, sir. Just a little tired."

"Go take a nap, then. We'll wake you up for dinner."

She told herself it was the Afed talking when she decided to take him up on this offer. She was tired and since diving into complex Asgard technology only depressed her – despite acknowledging the lifelong dedication it would take to learn something like that, she was still miffed that she couldn't do it – she didn't have anything else to do during the afternoon.

"Okay. Thanks, Colonel." She stood up and walked out of the door, smiling at the conversation she caught before she was out of earshot.

"Teal'c? New game?"

"We have not finished the previous game, O'Neill."

"Yeah, but I'm losing that one."

"I see."

*

It was very much like home to be woken to the klaxons blaring. So much like home that this time, when she awoke to darkness, disorientation had her falling out of bed. And because her luck was always just perfect when it came to Colonel O'Neill, he chose that moment to knock on the door and walk in.

"Carter, there's something – did you fall out of bed?" He smirked at her even as he walked forward and pulled her up.

"Yeah." She rubbed her hand where she had clipped it on the bedside table. "What's going on?"

"Dunno. We're going to go find out though." Behind him, Sam could see Teal'c standing in the doorway, looking determined.

"You think we could help?"

"I think we can't spend all our time in our assigned rooms."

Which could only mean he'd finally gotten bored. "Teal'c beat you at foosball again, didn't he?"

"We are not allowed to speak of it ever again, MajorCarter," Teal'c said wryly.

She pulled on her boots and tied them up tightly while the guys waited for her impatiently. "Where's Daniel?" she asked, grabbing her radio and jamming it into her pocket.

"With his other self." His eyes lingered on her hair for a moment and he smirked. She ran her fingers through her hair self-consciously. "They're bonding in a particularly narcissistic fashion. Where do you think we should go?"

"The Bowl?" she suggested, pulling open the door and walking out into an alarmingly empty corridor.

"Well, if there's going to be problem around here, it's got to be something with the 'gate and it makes sense that the control room would be near there."

They retraced their steps of the previous day and found the elevator they had used. There was no one inside there either – in fact the whole place appeared to be completely deserted.

"You'd think they would have sent someone to watch us or something."

"Not necessarily," Sam said. She touched the first button on the elevator pad, assuming this was the right 'level' for the Stargate. "I'm pretty sure the security of this place can track individuals."

"Oh. Do you think they know I got an extra Coke from the vending machine this afternoon without paying?"

Teal'c and Sam gave him an odd look.

"How did you pay in the first place?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I always carry some change with me on missions."

She'd never known that. Then again, it was a very Colonel O'Neill thing to do.

The klaxons that had been blaring pretty much consistently ceased suddenly, though the red light at the top of the elevator continued to flash. Sam watched the yellow numbers blink by on the elevator pad.

The doors slid open finally and they walked out into a reassuringly busy corridor. Marines and AFs were standing to attention in front of the offices Sam had peered into the previous day, and there were men and women in lab coats and BDUs running around.

Colonel O'Neill, not wasting any time, grabbed a captain and demanded to know what was happening.

He glanced at the three members of SG-1. "You shouldn't be down here."

"Thanks, Captain, we'll take that into account. What's going on?" the Colonel asked, applying pressure to where he was holding the man's arm.

"Shortly before we shifted the Stargate, the 'gate activated without authorization. We received an automated message from Vellinter. The neighboring planet started bombing all the major cities from air. Excuse me, sir, I have to get these to Doctor Jackson," he said, waving a thick folder in the air.

Colonel O'Neill released him but beckoned Sam and Teal'c after him. "Follow that guy – hopefully we'll find our Daniel and he'll know more."

The captain ran down a flight of stairs and through a set of grey doors. SG-1 emerged, much to their surprise, in a very familiar set-up.

"This is the control room," Sam said, looking around at the computers, the reinforced glass that separated the room from the 'gate room where the Stargate was once again in place.

"It's the situation area," Daniel announced, getting up from where he'd been sitting at one of the computers and looking relieved to see them. "Hi – I was just about to get someone to come and get you. The peace talks in Vellinter just fell apart."

"We heard," Sam said, still looking around the bustling room. Techs were working away at the computers and there was an officer she didn't recognize standing and staring out into the 'gate room itself. "Something about their neighbors bombing them."

"Well, that's basically it. My... other self brought me over here to watch the shift take place. I was going to call you, Sam – I thought you'd like to see it happen. Apparently, the Stargate grows... appendages, or something. I've only seen Ancient designs of it so far, so it would have been..."

"Daniel. Focus," the Colonel snapped.

"Oh yeah. The wormhole activated and we got an automated message from the MALP. It was Colonel Carter – apparently they can dial up the Stargate remotely via the MALP and get a message through. The city is under siege and they've all been evacuated. So on our end they had to halt the shift to try and activate the Stargate."

Sam wasn't particularly surprised by this last piece of information. Obviously, rescuing people would be more important than sending them home.

Someone ran past her, bumping her shoulder and she moved out of the way, standing in front of a filing system instead. It was strange to feel out of place in the control room – somewhere she considered to be her own territory. "Did they get through?"

"Yeah, and they sent a MALP through." Daniel shook his head and shifted out of the way of two technicians running out of the room. "The general consensus is that it's too dangerous to send anyone."

"Damn," Colonel O'Neill muttered.

A clatter of feet on the control room stairs announced the arrival of the General and a number of other people, all of whom were talking at him. He glanced SG-1's way but didn't acknowledge them, instead ordering a gate technician to dial up Chulak and staring grimly through the glass.

Sam gave Teal'c a look – her unspoken question making Teal'c shake his head slightly. He had no idea why they would want to call Chulak, either.

The meaning became clear once the Stargate activated and Teal'c's familiar face filled a number of the video screens in the room. Familiar except for one, slight difference.

"Nice hair, Teal'c," the Colonel couldn't help but murmur, with a smirk.

Teal'c's eyes widened in surprise at the thick head of hair his alternate self was sporting. "Indeed."

"Teal'c, have you heard anything?" General O'Neill asked loudly, as the control quieted. He hadn't bothered to explain himself, Sam noted, as if Teal'c was already aware of everything that was going on.

Teal'c shook his head swiftly. "No, O'Neill. My operatives on Mathan must have been under suspicion because they heard nothing of this attack. I am sorry."

"It's not your fault. Is the fleet ready?"

"It is. We await your command."

General O'Neill gave a nod. "You have a go, Teal'c."

Teal'c bowed his head and the communication was disconnected. The Stargate shut down and General O'Neill looked at a woman on his left. "Get Faxon down here."

"Yes, sir."

The General looked their way again and this time he gestured to them. "I'm sorry, but you won't be going home until after this is sorted out."

"We understand," Daniel said quickly.

"Is there anything we can do?" Colonel O'Neill asked.

"Not unless you can go back in time," he replied shortly. He focused on Daniel and narrowed his eyes. "Where's... our Daniel?"

"Last time I saw him he was trying to work out who persuaded President Liffen that it was advantageous to attack Vellinter during the peace talks."

"Fifty bucks says it was his son-in-law," General O'Neil said, shaking his head and heading straight for the stairs. "And the next time someone suggests Earth heads up peace talks for a couple of warring neighboring planets, I'm going to shoot them. I don't care how closely related to me they are."

Daniel winced and looked over at Colonel O'Neill. "His brother was the one who pressed Earth's involvement with the Vellinter peace talks. He's... something of a humanitarian."

"Sounds like an idiot to me. What are they fighting over?" the Colonel queried, putting his hands in his pockets.

"The Stargate. Apparently, four hundred years ago, some visiting archeologists – I call them that loosely," Daniel said sniffily, " – unearthed the Stargate and DHD on Mathan and, realizing what a find it was, transported it back to Vellinter illegally. Two hundred years later, the Mathanese found out, by which stage Vellinter was prospering within the Stargate network. The Mathanese believe that the Vellinter owe them a lot of money."

"They're *suing* them?" Sam said in shock.

Daniel smiled wearily and his eyebrows rose. "For the equivalent of fifteen billion dollars. In addition to the Stargate and DHD itself, of course."

"Jesus," the Colonel scoffed.

"The thing is, it's been essentially a cold war up until now. The Mathanese presidents have always known that they couldn't enter into an all-out war with the Vellinterans without risking complete annihilation."

"What has changed their mind?" Teal'c wanted to know.

"Unfortunately, General O'Neill is probably right – the current President's son-in-law is... very passionate about the rights of the Mathanese. Salum, he's the son-in-law, has been giving some pretty aggressive anti-passive speeches – I watched one this afternoon, in fact. Up until today, all the Mathanese have done in reaction to the crime was cease trade with their neighbor and restrict travel between the two planets. Which, obviously, makes no difference to a planet which has a Stargate that it uses for trade across the galaxy."

"Sounds like a pretty clear case to me, Daniel," Sam's CO said, leaning against a filing cabinet and raising a questioning hand. "Why don't the Vellinterans just give the gate back? It's not theirs."

"Well, they can't be punished for something their ancestors did four hundred years ago, Jack," Daniel pointed out, sounding a little defensive. "Their entire economy now relies on the Stargate. Taking it away would ruin them."

"Why don't we give them one? Has Earth still got a spare one? The one Carter and I stumbled upon in Antarctica?" he asked, raising a hand as if this was the simplest solution all round.

Daniel frowned, his mouth partially open. "You know... that's not such a stupid idea."

Sam smiled to herself, thinking that this wasn't the first time the Colonel – in his usual, straight-talking, straight-thinking manner – had come up with an idea that everyone else had overlooked.

"Was that a compliment?"

Obviously, Daniel was still thinking about this particular idea, so he didn't reply for a moment. After a while, he made a face and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not sure if the Mathanese should be rewarded for attacking the Vellinterans, though," he said slowly, thinking it through. "It might give them the wrong idea – that violence is the way to get something done. It would make President Liffen and his government look pretty bad, too. Not to mention the whole giving-away-a-valuable-asset thing."

"How is it, Daniel, that you've been here exactly the same amount of time as the rest of us and yet you could already go to this planet and recognize the key leaders in the joint?"

Daniel tried not to look smug. "Talent?"

"And Carter spent the entire day buried in paperwork. You guys just don't know how to relax." Having said that, he gave them both big smiles and planted a hand on one of their shoulders each. "Still, at the moment I'm really glad you're both *you*."

Sam slanted Daniel a worried look, which he returned.

"Are you all right, Jack?"

"I believe O'Neill is pleased that neither of you are off-world on a planet that is under siege from enemy aircraft," Teal'c summarized succinctly. "As, indeed, am I."

Daniel formed an 'oh' of understanding with his mouth. Like Sam, he didn't appear to know what to say to that.

"SG-1?"

They turned around to find the General's lieutenant was standing behind him. "The General requests that you go back to your quarters. There's very little you can do here. We'll keep you updated," she said, "but in all likelihood, we'll know nothing until tomorrow morning. The fleet at Chulak will take some time to reach Vellinter."

Reluctantly, they followed her back up the stairs to that white corridor.

"There's a fleet stationed at Chulak? Are these Goa'uld vessels?" Colonel O'Neill asked, taking the opportunity to learn more about the defenses of this SGC.

Willing to explain, Lieutenant Omsley smiled at him, then looked over her shoulder to smile at Daniel. "Yes, sir. We have a several hundred strong Jaffa army whom we use for air attacks. We also have several motherships but they're all currently in the far reaches of the universe – re-colonizing a planet and a couple are on research missions, I think."

"What about the Asgard?" Sam asked.

"The Asgard couldn't get involved in this anyway. Earth isn't allied with the Vellinterans or the Mathanese..."

"Then why the hell are we helping them?" the Colonel interrupted.

The lieutenant shrugged her shoulders. "Ambassador O'Neill feels it's our duty to. The President and the International Stargate Council agreed with him." She paused for a moment. "Actually, sir, both Vellinter and Mathan, the planets, are extremely rich in naquadah, most of which is untapped since neither planet use the material."

"Ah," Daniel said sarcastically. "Now that sounds more like a motivation. For a minute there, I thought we were working with purely altruistic reasons. Thank goodness I was wrong."

"Yeah, thank you, Daniel," the Colonel said depressingly, rolling his eyes and turning to give Sam a look as if to say 'can we leave him here?'

She smiled back at him, knowing Colonel O'Neill was all show.

"These Jaffa," Teal'c said, "are they free?"

"Yes, sir. Though they all still carry symbiotes, which are now stored in captivity for the Jaffa who still need them."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Daniel asked.

"It's a highly secure facility," the lieutenant said. "We've never had any trouble with it."

"What? In the couple of years it's been in use?" the Colonel said dryly. "Well, I guess that's fine then. Tell me it's not on Earth."

Blushing a little, Lieutenant Omsley tucked her short hair behind her ears and walked into the elevator with them. "No, sir, Chulak, where all the Jaffa are."

"It is maintained by Jaffa?" Teal'c asked.

"Yes, sir. They feel it is their responsibility."

It brought up an interesting question. If the Goa'uld were defeated – Anubis, in particular - how would all the Jaffa with symbiotes survive? Would new symbiotes have to be harvested for them – stored in a facility like the one on Pangar? Considering how hard it had been to convince the Jaffa women to take the Tretonin, even when it was a life or death situation, Sam couldn't imagine all the Jaffa would accept the substitute immediately.

Maybe this 'highly secure facility' wasn't such a ridiculous idea after all.

"Hey – we missed dinner. Who's up for grabbing something to eat?"

*

Sam woke in the Colonel's quarters – curled up uncomfortably on one end of the couch that sat opposite the TV. At the other end was Daniel, sleeping slumped over the arm rest, his glasses askew and making little 'whirring' noises.

The twenty-four hour news channel they'd found – which included even the smallest, most up-to-date details of the Vellinter and Mathan crisis – was still running and she focused on the TV just in time to see that sometime during the night, the details of the 'alternate reality visitors' had been either released or leaked.

"News just in, the identities of the four alternate reality visitors are one Colonel Jack O'Neill, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Major Samantha Carter, and Teal'c – making up an SG-1 similar to our own." A photograph flashed up on the screen, showing this reality's SG-1 in full military gear – the photograph had obviously been taken some years ago. "The four alternate reality guests are currently residing in the SGC, unable to return home until the Stargate is free to be of use. The International Stargate Council was unavailable for comment."

No news on when they thought they could go home, Sam realized, stretching her arms in the air. She checked her watch and then turned around to see if the Colonel was up yet. He wasn't – he was lying face down on his bed, still wearing his uniform and boots and snoring.

Daniel made another whirring noise.

She snorted quietly. Hard to believe that these men were two of the most senior SGC members in their reality.

She decided she might as well take a shower. Hopefully that would give them time to get up.

As it turned out, by the time she was dried and dressed, neither of them appeared to have woken up. Daniel had stretched his legs out on the couch and was now lying on his back, his hands over his head, whereas the Colonel was now facing the wall.

She checked her watch and decided she wouldn't wake them up. Instead, she used the Colonel's connecting door to see if Teal'c was awake. She took his empty room as a sign that he was. He'd probably gone down to eat breakfast, she thought with a grin. He, too, particularly enjoyed the pancakes and waffles.

Usually three plates worth.

Sam left the VIP quarters, fully intending to head down to the mess hall to eat breakfast with Teal'c, but while she was standing in the empty elevator she had a change of heart and ended up pressing the first button on the keypad instead. Sure, there might be nothing she could do, but just hanging around without trying to help wasn't really her style.

She found her way into the control room and stopped a random gate technician. "Anything new?"

He shook his head sadly. "Nothing, Major. I'm sorry."

She didn't know why he was apologizing to her but she accepted it all the same.

Sam wandered over to look through the glass at the inactive landscape. She could see the differences now – Daniel had shown them photographs and pointed out the 'appendages' that made this Stargate so different from their own. The two, antenna-like prongs sticking out from the top, the second rim of lights lining the inside of the circle and the additional symbol after the seventh chevron.

All in all, she'd decided she liked their own Stargate just fine. She reminded herself to look up Theodore's Comet when they got back home.

"Major?"

She turned at the familiar voice. "General. Good morning."

He walked down the next three steps and came to stand next to her. He was looking tired, she thought. More tired than she'd ever seen Colonel O'Neill, she thought, but then she realized that was wrong. That she'd seen her Colonel O'Neill like this – when Teal'c had gone missing, when Daniel was dying, after he'd escaped from Ba'al's captivity.

"I guess it must be frustrating for you, not being able to help," he murmured, smiling wanly at her.

"Oh, yeah. I'm sure it's the same for you. I know my Colonel O'Neill would want to be out there."

He inclined his head. "I'll admit, riding a desk job has its downsides. I do get to go out in the field sometimes, but it's nowhere near as much as I used to. I miss it," he admitted.

How weird was it, having a heart to heart with her CO? Only he wasn't her CO. He was someone else's.

Well, whatever, it was still weird.

"Is it worth it?" she asked curiously, deciding that if she was going to do this she might as well do it *right*. She didn't have many opportunities to ply her own CO with questions, so she might as well take this chance to ply someone else's.

"When something like this happens? No. But most of the time it is. Better than retirement at any rate," he said, his eyebrows rising when an airman approached him and handed him a folder. He flicked his eyes over the inside page and sighed. He glanced up and held her eyes, the corners of his mouth quirking. "I have to take this up to my office. Do you want to come up?"

She nodded and walked after him, wishing that Colonel O'Neill could wear his dress blues more often. "So, these two planets, Vellinter and Mathan, they're not near Chulak. Last night on the news, they had a map of the planets' positions in reference to Earth," she added, in explanation.

"No, they're not. The fleet went through the Stargate to P4X-049 – which is the nearest Stargate planet to Vellinter and Mathan." He walked into General Hammond's old office and went straight to the desk, not noticing that Sam was lingering uneasily on the outside, looking in.

It was sparsely decorated – none of General Hammond's pictures on the walls, no family photographs. It was obvious that this room wasn't used a lot but it was still achingly familiar.

"Daniel said something about this being the situation area," she said, edging inside.

"Yeah, it's a mock-up of the old layout," the General said, not looking up from the folder he was now reading. "Obviously it's inconvenient to use the 'gate when it's in the middle of that huge room, so they built this for emergencies." He glanced up, his eyes darkly amused. "Would you believe this is only the second time we've used it?"

"It, ah, looks it. So how do you get the gate in there?"

"A sort of... runway type thing. It's pretty cool to watch. The back wall parts..." He made a parting gesture with his hand and then signed something within the folder and threw it onto a pile. The General then dropped his pen and rubbed his hands over his hair. "We should have heard from Teal'c," he admitted.

Sam's eyebrows lowered. "You expected him to make contact? Through the Vellinteran Stargate? For it to be over that quickly?"

"To be honest, the Mathanese aren't that technologically developed, Sam." He made a dismissive noise. "I mean, Major. Look, do you mind if I call you 'Sam'? I have a hard enough time calling our Sam 'Colonel' – and that's not just because she was a Major up until last November."

She smiled broadly, thinking how odd it was that this was reversed in their realities. "I don't mind. It's just... things are so different here, that's all." She wanted, desperately, to ask him about his brother – to find out what kind of a man she had married in this reality.

"That she was married to my brother? Tell me about it."

Sam laughed, glad that he'd brought it up. Now she could *totally* ask him about it without looking like she was being overly curious about her CO's almost-relations. "My... Colonel O'Neill doesn't have a brother," she explained.

"No?" The General stared at her for a moment, tapping a pen against the lid of his laptop. "Well that's just... huh. I can't imagine that. Mike's a pain in the ass." He grinned and she *knew*, absolutely *knew* he was going to say something embarrassing. "But... well, he has great taste in women."

There it was.

She cleared her throat, not sure what to say. "Their marriage didn't last, though."

"No. They were too young, really. Too focused on their careers. Half the time you wouldn't have thought they were married – they never saw each other." He shook his head, sadly, Sam thought. "Shame. Still, if they'd still been married, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have her as my 2IC."

There was a knock on the door and Sam turned.

"Okay – which one are you?" General O'Neill asked, narrowing his eyes at the figure standing in the doorway.

Sam smiled knowingly. "Not ours." His hair was *definitely* darker, Sam realized. A sort of dark-chocolate brown and still in that slightly foppish style he'd sported when he was younger before the Colonel had told him to get it cut. He was also, if Sam wasn't mistaken, about an inch shorter.

"Thanks, Jack. It's amazing how that joke never gets old. You must be Major Carter." Daniel walked in and held out his hand to her. They shook hands, both smiling slightly at the weirdness of it all. "I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to say 'hi'."

"That's okay. You've been busy."

The General grunted. "This is all very nice, Daniel, but is there a reason you dropped by?"

Daniel gave the General a sharp look. "Yes, actually. I've been looking through all the information we have on the Mathanese governing body, trying to understand why they would attack *now*."

"And?"

"I think..." His eyes glittered in excitement behind his glasses. "I think I've found something."

He walked towards the General's desk and began to throw large, color photographs on the desk from the manila folder he had in his hands. "As you know, Teal'c has had a number of operatives on Mathan for the past three years, since Earth got involved in the peace negotiations."

"Sure." The General picked up a photograph and stared at it. "This is Liffen, right?"

"And his family. His two daughters, their children, the son-in-law, Sutun. It's a photograph of them taken on the balcony of their home. See anything unusual?"

Sam picked up on the photographs herself and stared at the now familiar face of the president who had authorized the bombing. She looked at the picture closely, guessing that the slim, tall, unsmiling young man was the son-in-law she'd heard so much about. There were men in black in the background – presumably some kind of security.

"I'm sorry, Daniel, my observation skills obviously aren't up to yours."

"There's a Caucasian figure in the background." He leaned across the table to point it out to the General. "See, here, directly behind the President, there's a man with his face in profile."

General O'Neill raised his eyebrows expectantly. "And?"

"The Mathanese are predominantly black, Jack. That was what first alerted me. It's not impossible, however, for skin color to vary but that guy there is patently white. So I did a computer search and, while he's not one of the men Teal'c put undercover on the planet, he is a Jaffa, one registered on Chulak. He has a file." Daniel gestured to the folder in his hands.

The General frowned and held out a hand for the file. "Okay, that's a little strange. How could a Jaffa be there without Teal'c's knowledge?"

"I don't know." Daniel handed over the file to the General's questing fingers. "His file says he's one of Hathor's first Jaffa – so he's not one of the hereditary Jaffa – but that's about all we've got on him."

"Okay. I'll contact Teal'c. This is weird enough to do a check-up. Thanks, Daniel."

"No problem. I'm just trying to do my best to get Mike and Sam home."

*

"Carter? Where've you been?"

She slid down onto the spare seat at the table and folded her hands on the table. "Up in the control room. The other Daniel seems to have come up with something."

"Really? What?" Daniel asked, looking up eagerly.

"There's a suspicious Jaffa on Mathan – one that the, ah, other Teal'c hadn't authorized to be on the planet." She shrugged. "It could be nothing – the General was trying to contact Chulak when I left to find you guys."

"Trying? Teal'c queried.

"Yeah, the wormhole wouldn't engage. It's possible they're flying more ships out, though," Sam said reassuringly.

One eyebrow went up before Teal'c went back to his book.

Sam tilted her head to the side to try to see what he was reading. Her brow furrowed as she tried to make out what appeared to be a foreign title. "What's that you're reading, Teal'c?"

"It's his *biography*," Colonel O'Neill said with heavy intonation, dark eyes full of amusement.

Sam's mouth dropped open. "Your *biography*?" She all but snatched the book away, flicking to the front to see Teal'c formally adorned in the robes of his people. "'Shol'va'? Oh my God, Teal'c!"

"May I have that back now, MajorCarter?" Teal'c asked testily. "You are smudging the pages."

Daniel and Colonel O'Neill snickered as Sam hurriedly gave back the book.

"You're lucky, Sam," Daniel whispered with false secrecy. "When we tried to get a look at it, he growled at us."

"Yeah, you're obviously his favorite." Colonel O'Neill waved his fork at her. "Did you find anything else out?"

"Nothing... except the General seems to think he should have heard from the fleet before now."

"He expected them to overcome the Mathanese forces so quickly?" Teal'c asked, looking up from his book.

"Apparently, the Mathanese aren't very technologically advanced. At least, compared to the Goa'uld. It's the Ventillerans who are the advanced ones – because of the Stargate."

"This doesn't make any sense," Daniel said, setting aside his mug of coffee to lean on the table. "For two hundred years, these people haven't tried to get back their 'gate by force because they knew they wouldn't succeed. Why would they think now is any different?"

"Element of surprise? Timing?" the Colonel suggested lightly, with the ease of a man who'd been taught to think tactics most of his life long. He tapped his fork against the side of his glass. "Maybe they've been secretly building up their forces and this whole... passive thing was a front?"

"It's all possible, I guess." Sam breathed in deeply as her stomach rumbled and reminded her that she'd yet to have anything more substantial than a cup of lukewarm coffee. "Man, I'm so hungry."

Daniel glanced over at the clock significantly. "It's nearly lunchtime. What time did you get up?"

"Around seven," she said, rising and giving Daniel a smile. "I would have woken you two but you looked so cute."

"Carter, obedient subordinates don't call their superiors 'cute'," Colonel O'Neill said, running a finger through a puddle of syrup and then sticking it in his mouth and sucking.

Sam's mouth twitched. "No, sir."

"What've you been doing all this time?" Daniel wanted to know.

"Er... hanging around with the General and talking about my marriage to his brother, actually." Sam laughed at their expressions of surprise.

"Jeez, Carter, I think I'm jealous," Colonel O'Neill muttered.

She rolled her eyes. "Sir, the next time I marry your brother, I promise to talk to you about it."

He smiled sweetly. "Thank you."

"My pleasure, sir. There better be pancakes left," she said, eyeing the buffet dangerously.

"Don't be too sure," Daniel snorted. "When I got here, Teal'c was finishing off his second plate. Oh – if there are any of those little cheeses left, can you bring me one? Two. No – three! Three, please."

She snorted. "Sure, Daniel, I'll bring you your cheese."

*

Mid-afternoon found Sam back in the control room; she couldn't seem to stay away, even if she couldn't do anything. The General had finally made contact with Chulak shortly after lunch and Teal'c had relayed to him that he'd been sending out more ships because his right hand man on P4X-049 had said the Jaffa were outnumbered. General O'Neill had managed to ask him about Daniel's out-of-place Jaffa – mere seconds before they were forced to disengage the wormhole so Teal'c could check in with his second.

They had yet to hear back.

"They have to have been building up their space forces in secret," the General announced to Sam as they stood by a 'gate technician and attempted to make contact with Vellinter once more.

"Very successfully. But Daniel – both Daniels – said their economy couldn't support something like that, though – not without a massive depletion in other areas."

The General shook his head, his eyes on the seventh chevron. "We've been monitoring both planets – just in case one of them did something this stupid. There's been no indication of anything."

"Chevron seven will not lock."

"Dammit," he muttered.

"Dialing procedure aborted." The technician tapped on a few keys, bringing up the 'gate analysis. Over his shoulder, Sam could see that there was nothing wrong with their gate – it had to be the Vellinterans. "I'm sorry, General, they must have deactivated the Stargate."

"Do you think they're going to move it to Mathan?" Sam asked.

"It's likely. It's what they wanted, after all. But this means, if they are moving it, it's going to be even harder to get everyone home." He closed his eyes.

She smiled at him sympathetically, trying to imagine how she would feel if Mark was stuck off-world in a hostile situation.

A moment later, much to everyone's surprise, chevron one suddenly engaged.

"UNAUTHORIZED OFFWORLD ACTIVATION!"

"What's this?" the General said, looking down at the computer even as the klaxons started blaring and the station went into red alert.

"Chevron two, engaged," the technician reported as AFs ran into the 'gate room. "Chevron three." An SGC code appeared on the screen – though it wasn't one Sam recognized. "Sir... it's the remote dialing code. Colonel Carter's."

"What? But we just dialed there. The 'gate wouldn't work."

"Maybe they were dialing us the same time we were dialing them," Sam suggested hurriedly.

"Chevron four is engaged. Sir, do you want me to close the iris?" the technician asked, his hand hovering over the palm scanner.

"No!" the General exclaimed, pulling his hand away. "No, it could be her, using the device to come through. The DHD could be compromised. Activate the level three force shield around the 'gate."

"Yes, sir." The technician taped something into the computer and Sam stared into the 'gate room, trying to make out the shield. "Chevron five, engaged."

Beside her, the General was very still. "Are all radio frequencies open?"

"Yes, sir. Chevron six, engaged."

"All defense teams stand by," the General ordered into the microphone, somewhat unnecessarily since the teams were already in place, weapons aimed at the Stargate.

"Chevron seven, engaged and locked. Wormhole established."

A burst of watery blue light later and they were all staring at an active incoming wormhole.

Waiting for something to happen, Sam didn't take her eyes off the wormhole, fixated. Beside her, she could sense the General was doing exactly the same thing.

A minute passed and no one came through the 'gate. The sergeant monitoring the radio frequencies shook his head when the General glanced his way.

Sam narrowed her eyes when she thought she saw something ripple at the base of the wormhole and, a moment later, something glinting on the ramp. "Wait..." Leaning forward, she squinted. "Has something just come through?"

There was movement in the 'gate room – one of the men nearest the ramp had clearly spotted something. He turned around and said something to his superior. The superior looked over his shoulder and pointed to the ramp.

The General spoke into the microphone, "What is it?"

"Some kind of sphere!" came the reply.

"Don't touch it, for God's sake." The General turned to the technician. "Increase the force shield to level five – that will contain any blasts."

"Could it be a communication device?" Sam wanted to know. "Sir, if it remains inactive..." She flinched as a high pitched noise suddenly sliced through the air, distracting her.

"What the hell... ah!" The General covered his ears as the noise rapidly increased.

Sam mimicked him but the noise just increased to a piercing volume, setting her ears ringing. Pain had her knees buckling, her body curling towards the ground and her arms covered her head defensively. She was aware that it had suddenly grown very warm around her, that there was movement and vibrations, but the noise was so loud, so overwhelming she could barely breathe, let alone open her eyes and look around.

Time slowed as she writhed around on the floor, wishing that it would just stop, that it would be *over*.

*

She came to inches from the singed face of the gate technician. Sniffing the air, recognizing the smell of burnt hair, burnt flesh, and burnt machinery, Sam stood up. Her ears were still ringing but only as a result of the noise – the high pitched, blistering sound had stopped.

She reached forward and checked his pulse – steady. Turning, she saw the General was beginning to stir.

Recalling what had started all this, she stood up and checked on the 'gate room. It looked like the AFs had faired worse than those up in the control room because they were all sprawled, unconscious – or worse – on the floor.

There was no sign of any intruders, thank God, but whatever noise that had been had shorted all of the computers. The screens were blank – two monitors appeared to have exploded, the wiring smoking and emanating heat.

"Shit," the General said, his voice raised, "can you hear that?"

She could barely hear him. "What?"

"That noise."

"The klaxons?" Beyond the ringing, she was dimly aware of some kind of background sound.

"No. That's the self-destruct." He jumped up and looked around. "None of the computers are live."

"Whatever that thing was, it was obviously designed to cause as much damage as possible, sir," she replied. "We're going to have to manually disable it."

He nodded. "Upstairs!" he shouted, gesturing to the staircase and turning.

They hit the stairs running, with Sam not knowing exactly where they were going. They had no idea how long the self-destruct had been on for – for all they knew it could be about to go off but they had to try to stop it.

Two doors down from what looked like the briefing room, the General swiped his security card through a security mechanism to a room labeled B-7. Nothing happened.

"Shit." He twisted around and then looked up at the ceiling. Sam's eyes followed and as her eyes focused on the grate above their heads, she knew exactly what he was going to say next. "The ventilation shaft should open up inside the room. The door can be opened manually from the inside."

She nodded and placed her hands on his shoulders when he crouched and cupped his hands for her foot. "How long do we have left?" She put her foot in place, bouncing on the toes of her other foot, waiting for him to propel her upwards.

"I don't know. On three. One, two, three." He heaved up and Sam pushed herself off his shoulders, reaching up to force the grate upwards. It was heavy and she could feel the General supporting her legs as she shifted the grate to one side.

With difficulty, she linked her arms up over the inside of the shaft and began to pull herself up, the General shoving at her feet in an effort to help her. Grunting, she managed to fix her torso on the ledge and wiggled her way towards the slight difference in light that designated the next stop.

Moving quickly, her hair brushing the top of the shaft, her hands reaching out to cling to the dusty floor and her boots pushing her forwards, she slithered along, her eyes on the goal. Finally sliding her fingers through the next grate, she edged it to one side as quickly as she could, wishing she had more upper body strength.

Realizing she would have to turn around if she wanted to get through the hole without breaking her neck, she quickly deduced the best way would be to slide over the hole itself and then lower her legs down.

"Sam?"

"I'm getting down!" she yelled back, bending one knee impatiently down through the hole until she could stretch her leg out, then following the same procedure with the second leg. Slowly, she began inching her way back, trying to hold on to the sides for as long as possible, hoping there was something below her to stand on.

She was hanging precariously by her elbows when she realized there was nothing there. With a sigh, she abruptly pulled her arms towards her body and let go, bracing herself by bending her knees.

She hit the ground with a slight judder, that was all.

"Sir?" The room was dark, not as dark as the shaft, perhaps, but she could make out very little while her eyes were unaccustomed.

"I'm here. The lock should be to the left of the door. It's a lever."

She headed for the voice, her hands reaching out. She found the door quickly enough and in her search for the lock, she managed to find the lights as well. The lever was easily located after that and she pulled it sideways, hard. The door clanked horribly but then General was pushing through a moment later.

"The manual self-destruct override is in here," he said, walking straight to a console. "Everything in here is kept separate from the system until you need to use it."

She surveyed what she could see. "This is Tollen," she surmised.

"Yeah." The General pressed something and the console lit up. The first thing that flashed on the screen was the self destruct countdown.

A voice appeared out of nowhere, smooth and strangely androgynous, /"You have fifty-five seconds until self-destruct."/

"I really hate the Tollen," the General murmured, selecting something on the screen.

A keyboard emerged from the console. /"Please enter first officer's authorization code."/

He shook his head and started typing away.

Sam watched for a second before the computer's wording hit her. "'First'? Do you need two?"

"Yeah."

She shook her head quickly. "But I don't know her code."

/"You have fifty seconds until self-destruct."/

"I do."

Sam let out a breath of relief. "Oh, thank God."

/"Please place your hand on the DNA scanner."/ A hand shaped red design appeared on the screen. /"You have forty-five seconds until self-destruct."/

"But that might be a problem," the General said, his mouth parting. "I'd forgotten that part."

"It needs her DNA," Sam stated with growing horror.

"And the Afed changes your DNA. Run out into the corridor – look for help," he ordered, placing his hand on the DNA scanner. The console began to whirr.

/"You have forty seconds until self-destruct."/

Sam ran. Looking both ways, she could see no one. "Where the hell is everyone? What are the odds I find someone in forty seconds?" she asked, turning to look at him.

"I don't know, Major."

Sam lifted her hand, looking at the bracelet. "What'll happen if I take this off?"

"You'll probably pass out."

/"You have thirty-five seconds until self-destruct."/

"You'll still be able to use my DNA to scan, though?"

He nodded. "But you'll be susceptible to entrophic cascade failure."

Sam was already fumbling with the release button, pushing the two bits of metal together. She cried out as she felt something pierce the skin of her wrist.

/"You have thirty seconds until self-destruct."/

The bracelet dropped from her suddenly numb hand and she began to fall with it as her legs gave out completely.

"Okay, I've got you," the General said, his arms going around her. He dragged her over to the console. "Put your hand on the palm scan."

She tried to do so but couldn't lift her hand. Alarmed, she felt her head roll back. Then she drifted into unconsciousness and everything was finally quiet.

*

"Hey, Sam, how are you feeling?"

Sam smiled and slowly opened her eyes. She cleared her throat. "I feel... fine." Absolutely normal, in fact. She started to push herself up into a sitting position, only to realize she was attached by wires to some kind of computer.

"They're just monitoring you. You've been asleep for nearly fifteen hours," Daniel told her gently.

"Oh." She sat up and leaned forward when Daniel slid another pillow in behind her back. "The override worked?"

"Yes, though obviously I didn't know that was the reason we'd been evacuated from the building." He smirked. "I doubt we'd have been told anything if Jack hadn't made a fuss."

She shook her head, focusing on the piece of information she didn't know. "You were evacuated?"

"Everyone who wasn't in the situation area was. Everything went down. The computer system, the lighting, the security protocols. Half the personnel in the building was stuck inside rooms with no manual overrides to the doors – I was lucky to be in the labs with... the other me." He smiled wryly. "We were on the bottom floor so we just jumped out an open window.

"I had no idea."

"No. We had no idea what was going on. We couldn't make contact with the 'gate room, the General was nowhere to be found. And then you were missing." Daniel grinned. "Teal'c and Jack kept trying to sneak back in to try and find you."

She laughed, touched by her teammates' concern. "Something came through the 'gate... it seemed to scramble all the technology – that is, if it didn't blow it up in the first place. We had to use the manual self-destruct override."

"So I've been told."

She 'hmmm'd quietly to herself, wondering how many more near misses she was going to have in one lifetime. "Have we heard from the Ventillerans yet?"

"No, but we heard from the other Teal'c. Looks like the fleet is finally succeeding, though it's obviously taken longer than it should have. He was able to look into that missing Jaffa, though."

"Oh? What did he find out?"

"He disappeared from Chulak about four years ago and it's possible he might have been carrying a nearly-matured symbiote."

Her eyes widened. "Uh oh."

"Yeah. The thing is, Sam, that the Mathanese seem to be using a hell of a lot of advanced technology. We're talking... Goa'uld advanced, maybe further. The ships they were using, the device they sent through the wormhole..."

"That was definitely them?"

"The scientists who've taken it apart say it made up of the naquadah from their planet – something to do with its color," he added.

Though she was a little miffed that she'd missed out on the fun, she nodded anyway. "You're wondering about the mature symbiote."

"We know symbiotes can't influence their Jaffa hosts."

"But they can take their Jaffa *as* a host until a proper host comes along."

"Exactly."

"But we have no proof."

Daniel chuckled. "Yeah – that's the only problem. It's all theoretical. But it would explain a few things – a Goa'uld would have superior technological knowledge and a knowledge of how best to utilize the planet's previously untouched naquadah deposits."

Her stomach rumbled, protesting that she needed to eat. "And because the naquadah is an untouched market, no one would notice it was being used."

"Exactly. There are some ships scanning Mathan right now, looking for naquadah mining. At least then we can have some proof, however small."

"Great. Have they made contact with Colonel Carter and the others?"

"Not yet, but the General has already cleared the shift with the council and his superiors. Now that the crisis seems to be under control, he's leaving it in Teal'c's very capable hands. You're the first priority now."

That was a relief. If it took forty-eight hours to get the Stargate to shift, they were still cutting it mighty close with the entrophic cascade failure. "It'll be good to go home."

"No kidding. Having two Jack's around is pretty intense. Hey, Sam, you've spent a lot of time with the General now, haven't you?"

"In between passing out and racing against time? Yeah, I guess." Her stomach rumbled again. "I'm pretty hungry, Daniel. Do you think you could find me something to eat?"

"Oh, sure. There's a tray of something somewhere..." He jumped off his chair and wandered down the empty infirmary, looking from left to right before stopping. "I think they took it away, Sam. Do you want me to run down to the mess hall and grab you something?"

"Please!"

"I'll tell someone you're awake..." Daniel went to the door and looked left and right, "when I find someone. Dr. Forrest?"

She could hear Daniel calling out for someone all the way down the corridor, which made her smile.

In the end, Dr. Forrest found her without Daniel's help. "I'm glad to see you're awake, Major Carter. Feeling all right?"

"Great, thanks."

"Hmm." He looked at the computer, over which vitals Sam didn't understand were streaming. "Heart rate is still a little high, but that's normal considering what you put yourself through. Otherwise, you're pretty healthy."

"What about this nano-chemical? Is it still in my blood?" she asked.

He nodded seriously. "I'm afraid so. Until that's gone, you can't put the Afed back on."

"I should have some time, right? The entrophic cascade failure didn't occur until at least forty-eight hours after others from an alternate reality came to visit us."

Dr. Forrest crossed his arms over his clipboard. "Let's hope so."

She raised her eyebrows. "'Let's hope so'?" she repeated.

"When it comes to things like this, Major, we try not to make assurances," Dr. Forrest said.

It was at times like these, Sam realized, that she missed Janet the most.

"Dr. Forrest! I'd been looking for you. Er... Sam's awake," Daniel announced from the doorway.

Relieved that her friend was back, Sam let out the breath she had been holding. She grinned when she saw that the Colonel and Teal'c were with him as well. "Hi, guys."

"Carter," the Colonel greeted her, smiling. "We come bearing... Daniel. Who comes bearing food." He patted Daniel on the back encouragingly.

"Pancakes!" she exclaimed in delight, seeing what Daniel was carrying on the tray.

"Yeah – I knew you'd missed out yesterday." He propped the tray on her lap. "So these are all for you, fresh from the breakfast buffet."

"You're so sweet," Sam said, reaching out and giving his hand a squeeze. "Thank you."

The Colonel snorted and sat down on one of the chairs by her bed. "You are such a kiss-ass, Daniel."

"How are you feeling, MajorCarter?" Teal'c interrupted, quickly, before Daniel and Jack started arguing.

"Great, thanks." She gave him a confident smile and started to cut up her pancakes, thinking fresh pancakes was her new favorite food.

"Doc? She really all right?" the Colonel asked.

"Yes, Colonel."

"What about the entropy cascading failure thing?"

Sam put down her knife and fork and gave her CO a dark look, which he missed entirely. She stared down at her pancakes as Dr. Forrest, in his own, inimitable fashion, outlined the possible outcomes, emphasizing *once again* just how close they were cutting it. How close she was cutting it.

"We can't put the bracelet back on her?"

"Not until the nano-chemicals are completely gone from her system."

"How long will that take?"

"Twenty-four hours, to be on the safe side."

"Well, that's okay then, we can put it back on her at the same time tomorrow morning, oh seven hundred," the Colonel said, the matter cut and dried in his mind. He eyed Sam shrewdly. "How soon can we break her out?"

"The Major can go now, if she wants." Dr. Forrest looked at her questioningly.

"Oh, she wants," Sam said, widening her eyes with determination. "She very definitely wants."

When she got home, she was going to give Janet a big, sloppy kiss. She'd even let Colonel O'Neill watch.

*

She realized at precisely eleven that night that she'd spent most of her time in this reality either being asleep or unconscious. So much so that she had been lying in bed for nearly an hour, waiting to drop off to sleep when normally all she had to do was close her eyes and she'd be out like a light.

Defeated, she blew out a breath and switched on her light. A quick rifle through the bedside drawers and she came up with a magazine on, of all things, golf, and several sheets of paper. She left the sheets of paper and picked up the magazine.

Sam read an entire article, fueled on by pure stubbornness, and decided that anyone who liked to watch, play, or read about golf was clearly insane.

She threw the magazine on the floor and closed her eyes. Tomorrow morning, when she put the Afed back on, she would probably be unconscious for the rest of the day so why she was bothering to keep normal hours was beyond her.

Testily, she opened her eyes and made a face. She was bored. She wasn't sleepy and she was bored.

The General had forbidden her from the control room – much to Colonel O'Neill's amusement – which left her little choice but to hang around with Teal'c and the Colonel for the rest of the day since working with Daniel and Daniel was just *too* freaky for words. They were constantly agreeing with one another, praising one another and bouncing about the room like excitable... archeologists. It was beyond tedious.

Sure, she enjoyed spending time with the Colonel and Teal'c – but in very small doses. They had a sort of routine that only the two of them were really into, and while Teal'c was always very careful to include her in everything, she did end up feeling very third wheel-ish.

And, she admitted, very probably she was a little jealous, though over which guy's attention she wasn't sure. She'd spent a lot of time alone with Teal'c recently – a lot of time alone with him being... less Major Carter-ish and more Sam-ish, as a matter of fact.

Then there was Colonel O'Neill.

Quite frankly, she'd almost given up figuring out her feelings for Colonel O'Neill. Love, like, lust – everything was muddled in her head with things like 'respect', 'honor', 'duty', 'friendship', and, of course, 'fear'.

Characteristically speaking, he was exactly her type – practically a mirror image of Jonas Hansen in fact. Intense, passionate, a little old-fashioned, emotionally closed and, her personal favorite, permanently wounded.

Ugh.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, she told herself, lifting her head and dropping it against the pillow.

She was so predictable. If *only* he'd kept up the asshole persona, she decided. Then she could have built up respect for him and still known that he was, in fact, an asshole. If only he hadn't been so worried about his wife that time, or so blinded by the sight of his son, so brave when they both knew he was dying, cracking jokes in freaking Antarctica, for God's sake.

But, having said all that, there were things she *hated* about him. She loathed and resented the way he would now blow her off when she tried to explain something. *Hated* it when he did it and yet she could never say a damn thing about it. Worse still, blowing her off somewhere public – in front of her father, perhaps, or a bunch of aliens. It was so frustrating and, yes, yes, she understood why he did it. Most of the time he really didn't understand; she didn't automatically translate things into layman's terms and in hostile situations he wanted to have a solution right away. He never wanted to know *how* the solution worked, so long as it worked.

She hated the way he checked out alien women's breasts, too. And if he caught her looking, he'd pretend he'd been staring at the floor or something but she knew the truth. He was a letch. And he wasn't a very subtle one either. She was pretty sure if he had been better at it, she wouldn't have minded so much.

Sometimes she wanted to smack him.

And another thing she hated was his need to make jokes out of *everything*. When they were faced with a squadron of Jaffa and they were unarmed... he was there, cracking jokes. When a Goa'uld was holding up a hand device over his head, he was firing off mocking suggestions which only made the Goa'uld more angry and put them all in a more precarious position.

Oh, yeah, she hated that one quite a bit.

Still, sometimes, all he had to do was look at her in a certain way and she'd remember all the things she loved about him. The way he touched everybody – in encouragement, in sympathy, in empathy, in friendship. Touched her hand, her arm, her shoulder, patted her back, grabbed her by the neck and hoisted her out of water...

She liked that he cooked – badly. Liked that he ate like a bachelor – or a pig. Liked that his clothes were hideous. Liked that his fingers were almost never still and that in the pocket of his BDUs, he always carried around a yo-yo. That once she remembered watching him entertain a crowd of children with it. Liked that he'd spent the rest of the day hiding from them and pretending to be pissed that they all adored him.

Liked that sometimes she could see the father in him, that sometimes he could be so serious, scarily so, when his friends or family were threatened.

She reached and rubbed a hand over her chest, wishing that thinking like this didn't make her feel choked up inside.

Swiveling her legs over the side of the bed, she sat up and stared down at the floor between her bare toes. It would be nice to be home, she decided, mentally changing the subject in her head. As amazing an experience as this had been, there really was no place like home, your real home.

Her chest was still feeling tight so she stood up and walked into the bathroom to get herself a glass of water. Her reflected appearance made her grimace so she avoided looking, filling the glass to the brim and lifting it to her mouth.

With strange detachment, she noticed that her hand was shaking, and shaking quite badly. As she watched, her hand began to shake more violently, the water in the glass sloshing over the rim and running down her hand.

The glass toppled from her fingers but she didn't feel it happen, she just saw it.

With horror, she felt herself lurch uncontrollably back and forwards, unable to breathe and yet she could suddenly feel.... everything. The powerful rush of her blood through her body, pounding in her brain, behind her eyelids. Then... nothingness. A moment later, that rush of feeling, of complete awareness of her body before it was snatched away again. And again. And again until her vision began to blur and mist at the edges while all she could do was gasp in shocked breaths.

Seconds after it began, it finished and she grabbed a hold of the sink, ferociously glad that it was *solid* and thanked God her legs could still, just about, hold her. If she passed out one more time on this mission, the Colonel would probably never let her hear the end of it.

A wave of dizziness swept over her and she swayed, fighting back the mist and the ringing in her ears.

"Oh *crap*," she groaned.

*

Something up there must hate me really badly, she decided, watching a disheveled Colonel O'Neill stomp around her infirmary bed. It wasn't the same infirmary bed she'd woken up in that morning, which made a nice change but, dammit, she was still back in the care of Dr. Forrest.

Did the man ever sleep? she wondered.

"I'm sorry, Colonel, but the bracelet can't go back on," the Doctor said, standing in front of the machine recording Sam's still haywire vitals. "The nano-chemical that's reprogrammed her DNA is still in her blood. There's nothing we can do until it's out of her system."

"So, what, we just get to stand by and watch her... phase out?" he shouted, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head. "Do something! Call the Asgard! The Tollen! Get someone DOWN HERE!"

"Jack, please, calm down," Daniel said soothingly, trying to grab hold of the Colonel, only to have him shake him off. Daniel held back a sigh and ran his fingers through his own hair, going to sit on one of the chairs again.

Dr. Forrest cleared his throat. "Sir, if I thought the Asgard could help, I would ask the General to call them. But this is beyond even their means."

"Colonel, I'm really fine," she lied.

He spun around and pointed at her, rage swimming up into his eyes. "You! What the *hell* were you thinking?"

Sam felt her eyes widen in response. "What?"

"Taking that thing off was a really *stupid* idea, Major. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one."

Oh, look, yet another thing that pissed her off. Irrational-and-yet-bizarrely-guilt-motivated Colonel O'Neill. "We were going to die. The self-destruct needed a second officer's DNA. I was the only one available," she said, calmly, ignoring the hitch in her voice when breathing in hurt her ribs.

Apparently phasing in and out bruised your ribs. Who knew?

"I can't believe this." He ran his hands through his hair and visibly started to cool. "Okay. How long until the chemical is out of her system?"

"Eight hours, maximum," the Doctor replied, promptly, obviously pleased that he could give something solid to the Colonel.

"And this phasing thing? How often does that happen? What's going to get her – " Lovely phrasing, sir, Sam thought bitterly, " - the effects of the phasing or... or... the phasing itself?"

The Doctor swallowed nervously. "I'm not sure, Colonel O'Neill."

"Not sure. You know," the Colonel turned to Sam, "you were right. About them. Their reliance on the Asgard. He's 'not sure' how you're gonna die, Carter. How reassuring is that?"

"Not very, sir." She closed her eyes. Well, she wasn't going to die. She just wasn't. Not here, in some hospital bed where she couldn't do anything to help herself.

"We should let you get some sleep. Jack? Why don’t we go and leave Sam to get some sleep?" Daniel said coaxingly.

"Should she sleep?" Colonel O'Neill demanded of the doctor, who was now, finally, looking like he realized he was out of his depth.

"Sir..."

"If you tell me you don't know, I'm going to shove one of these nifty Tollen medicinal devices down your throat," he said through his teeth.

"I... I... it would probably be best that she sleeps. To reserve her strength," the doctor said finally.

"Okay." A warning finger was pointed at her. "Carter – go to sleep."

She blinked at him. "I'll try, sir."

"No, you'll do it. That's an order."

Clearly, this was the part where she humored the mad-man. So she nodded and Daniel – giving her a sympathetic look – started to tug the Colonel away.

"I'll be back in an hour," Colonel O'Neill told her.

She half waved a hand. "I'll probably be asleep," she said, as casually as possible.

Because, sure, she was tired, her bones felt like warm mud, and she ached all over – but there was no way in hell she was going to sleep before they put that thing back on her wrist.

"Teal'c? You coming?"

"I will stay here, O'Neill."

She tilted her head to the sound of Teal'c's voice, somewhere to her right. She'd almost forgotten he was there; he'd been so quiet.

"Well, don’t keep her up with your jokes, Teal'c. She needs her beauty sleep."

Ah. There was the wisecrack. The O'Neill method of 'dealing': anger, acceptance, wisecracking.

"I shall endeavor not to do so, O'Neill," Teal'c said, who, unlike Sam, could humor the Colonel's need to make light of the situation.

Sam, frankly, just wasn't in the mood.

Dr. Forrest took more notes and then wandered off, unaware that Sam was mentally sending *him* to an alternate reality without Afeds and seeing how he'd like it.

"It would be best if you rested, MajorCarter," Teal'c informed her in a no-nonsense way.

She sighed – with just Teal'c here she could admit she didn't want to sleep. "I can't, Teal'c."

"Then at least lie back and close your eyes."

She tilted her head – ow, ow, ow – towards him, intending to tell him where to get off only it didn't come like that. Somehow, in between the time for the words to form in her brain and the time it took to reach her vocal chords, they had changed to a decidedly un-Sam-like, "You'll stay?"

He nodded understandingly. "I will not leave your side."

*

The next phase happened only a few hours later – just in time for Colonel O'Neill to witness it.

He'd seen it happen before, of course, with the other Samantha Carter – but then he'd had no idea what was going on. Hell, he probably still had no idea what was going on, but at least now he knew that it was bad. Very bad.

Despite Teal'c's comforting presence, she hadn't actually managed to sleep very well, the constant fear that she'd start to phase in her sleep keeping her from drifting off properly.

She was glad that he was by her side when she felt the phase start to creep up on her – the tightness of her chest, the sudden tremors in her hands and legs. She was just quick enough to whisper an 'oh God' before every cell in her body started to sing.

Convulsing and shuddering in and out of phase on her infirmary bed, she wasn't aware of her surroundings or, in fact, that Colonel O'Neill had run into the infirmary when he heard Teal'c shout for the doctor.

So when she came to, it was to find she had an audience.

The Colonel touched her calf through the crumpled sheet. "Carter? Say something. You okay?"

Unable to open her mouth, she just lay there, listening to the beeping of the machine that was recording her vitals and feeling vaguely embarrassed that her CO, that everyone, got to see her when she was this helpless.

"She's in convulsive shock, Colonel. She'll be able to speak soon," the doctor told him.

Teal'c's face loomed in front of her. "I am going to help you sit up, MajorCarter."

She made some kind of consenting noise and Teal'c pulled her upright, shoving another pillow under her to hold her in place. Seeing the Colonel's expression, she managed a smile. "Fine," she said, her throat grudgingly allowing her a one syllable word.

"Yeah. You look it." He sighed. "How many more times is this going to happen?"

"I should think at least one more time," Dr. Forrest estimated. "It really was most unlucky for the Major to start phasing earlier but now that she has, they will recur within decreasing bands of time."

Sam would have rolled her eyes, but even that took effort.

Incredibly thirsty, feeling as if she'd just run a few miles, she tilted her head to the side and stared at the jug of water by her side, wishing Nirrti had at least given her some kind of telekinetic skills. She could probably have dealt with a horrible disfigurement if she could pass that jug of water over and, well, pour it into her mouth.

She gave Teal'c a look that clearly said 'Water. Now' which, thankfully, Teal'c seemed to understand because he poured her a cup and held it out to her. She flexed her fingers and lifted her arm – yup, even her elbows ached – taking the cup and bringing it to her mouth.

She rather wished everyone would stop staring at her now because her hands were shaking and she was forced to hold the cup against her chest.

"I'm fine," she said which, while it wasn't remotely true, was certainly more truthful than when she'd said it earlier.

"I can only suggest she tries to get as much rest as she can before oh seven hundred hours, Colonel. She needs to keep up her strength, which will be considerably weakened each time she phases. Of course," the doctor sighed, "we're not dealing with medical matters now. This is purely physics and there's very little we can do to stop it."

Sam continued to sip her water, letting the iciness drip down her throat soothingly, mentally doing calculations in her head. It was now half past three in the morning and the Afed could be put back on in three and a half hours. She was probably looking at two more phases, maybe three if she was unlucky.

Probably three, in that case.

"Carter, I guess there's nothing