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The Man Who Gave Up Everything

By Edna Phillips (Mrs Stargate Obsessed)

Summary: A planet under attack needs to contact their protectors in another dimension, an extremely dangerous task, that isn’t to be taken lightly. SG-1 offer to help…but will it be accepted?

Status: Complete

WARNING: You’ll find out

Category: Hurt, Angst, Action, Adventure and pure SCI-FI

Season: Season 6

Spoilers: None

Rating: PG13

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters belong to MGM/UA, Showtime/Viacom, SCI-FI Channel, Gekko, Double Secret Productions etc. and all the powers that be, not me. No copyright infringement intended. This story is written for fan entertainment only and no money has exchanged hands. The story is the property of the author and may not be posted anywhere without the authors consent.

Author’s Note: This story has been dedicated to the owner of this website. Beth of Dedicated to Stargate SG-1. For her friendship, understanding and caring listening ear. Thank You Beth.

_______________________

“What’s happening Carter?” Colonel O’Neill asked as he came into the control room. “I was told you wanted to see me.”

“Yes Sir,” she answered, her face taking on a big smile as she turned from the consul she had been working on. “It’s this.” She grinned at General Hammond standing at her side as she spoke.

Colonel O’Neill looked over her shoulder at the picture on the screen.

“OK Major, what am I looking at?” he asked.

“It’s P996, one of the planet addresses you typed into the computer memory, when you had the knowledge of the Ancients downloaded into your brain. I placed it into the cold dialling programme, the one that tries unresponsive planet addresses at random every now and then to see if there’s a connection.” She waited for his response. None came.

“It’s the weird one Sir, the one I told you about. Even though there was no connection, when the planet was dialled the feedback we got from the dial out was different.” He still didn’t respond. “I said the first time it happened that it was almost as if the gate on the other side wasn’t buried or anything like that, but blocked in some way by some energy force.”

“Oh yes I remember now,” Colonel O’Neill said looking with more interest at the screen in front of him which showed a clearing in a forest.

“Well not long ago I tried the planet address again, just at random and it connected. General Hammond ordered a MALP to be sent through and we got this.”

“Yes?” said Colonel O’Neill, still not really picking up on her excitement as most of the Stargates had been placed in either sandy or forest areas, so he couldn’t see what she was so happy about.

“The energy force, the one that was blocking our locking into the Gate, it readings were off the scale. I’ve never seen anything like it. We have to see what was making them.” She waited, but he just shrugged his shoulders at General Hammond.

“Could be Goa’ulds,” he said.

“Well I’ve never seen readings like these anywhere,” she told him. “Never.”

“So, what do you think General?” O’Neill asked. “Do we go, or what?”

“I’ll let you know tomorrow. At the moment you’re due a physical,” he told him.

Next Day

“Well?” Major Carter asked Colonel O’Neill as he came into the control room where she was working.

“Well what?” he said, looking over her shoulder at the screen in front of her.

“How’d the physical go?” she asked as he stood upright and looked around.

“Oh well, you know physicals. Old Doc Fraiser said that I’m fit as a fiddle, or I would be if this knee didn’t keep playing up and then there’s the back of course. That’s not been too good. I’ve been getting lots of headaches lately and oh yes my shoulder gets a little creaky now and then. However, she thinks I’ll make it through to the end of the day. If the stomach holds up that is,” he answered smiling.

“And she calls that fit?” muttered Major Carter as she turned back towards the screen.

“Hey, what can you expect? I’m no spring chicken you know?” he said as he rubbed his aching back. “You can’t have everything. You have the brains and I have the brawn. So now, the brawn’s wearing out a bit. As long as your brains don’t wear out, all will be well with the world,” he said, patting her on her shoulder.

“What’s that?” he said pointing to the screen.

“That’s P996,” she answered smiling.

“No I mean what’s that?” he said pointing again.

“Oh that’s an energy source. Not the one that was blocking the Gate, but another one. Civilisation. Or I think it is,” she told him, smiling again.

“Pretty unusual isn’t it?” he asked.

“Yep,” she answered happily, as General Hammond came into the room.

“Well I think it’s a go,” he told them. “Hopefully whatever was blocking the Gate won’t turn itself back on and trap you there.”

“Carter? Said O’Neill, a worried look on his face.

“It’s just a possibility Sir,” she answered.

“A possibility?” said O’Neill. “How big a possibility?”

“Not a big one, just a possible possibility. Are Jonus and Teal’c back from their trip yet?” she asked trying to change the subject.

“Carter?” repeated the Colonel. At that moment, one of the engineers who had picked up a telephone call indicated it was for O’Neill and saved her from answering. He took the telephone from the engineer but kept shaking his head at her as he did. There was a few minutes silence and his face took on a puzzled expression.

“Now calm down,” they heard him say to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

“OK I promise I’ll be careful. Yes, I promise, but how did you? That doesn’t make sense. What? No, I told you I promise. Yes, alright put him on”.

Although trying not to listen in on his telephone call, Major Carter and General Hammond couldn’t fail to see how concerned he was as he stood there nodding.

“I understand. OK, I’ll put her on. Tell her I promise. Get her to calm down,” said O’Neill, then called to Major Carter and handed her the receiver. After she put the telephone back on its hook, she looked as concerned as Colonel O’Neill did.

“That was Ethan,” she told General Hammond.

“Is everything alright?” asked Hammond. “Are they OK? It sounded like something was wrong.”

“It’s Charlotte,” Major Carter told him.

“Is she sick?” asked Hammond, worried about his friend.

“Not exactly,” said Major Carter. “Ethan said she’s been having terrible nightmares, for about a week now, wakes up every night yelling”. Hammond waited.

“He says it’s about P996.”

“But how?” he said in astonishment.

“No idea Sir. She just knows. She’s frantic about us going there. Ethan is beside himself with worry, as she’s now afraid to go to sleep. She says something is going to happen to Colonel O’Neill and the only way Ethan could get her to calm down was to let her ring and warn him and to make me promise I’d look after him”, she said, giving O’Neill an amused look as she did.

“Well, what did she warn you about?” Hammond asked O’Neill, as he became increasingly uneasy. He knew about Charlotte and her strange dreams, but usually put them down to her overactive imagination when it came to danger, but he’d never known Ethan to take them too seriously.

“I’m not really sure,” answered Colonel O’Neill as he shrugged his shoulders.

“She just said that I shouldn’t go to P996. Don’t ask me how she knows we were planning on going there and that I was to be careful, then there was something about my arm,” he paused and looked a little uncomfortable.

“Yes? Said Hammond knowing he was holding back.

“She said that when I can’t get through the wall, I’m to watch out for the bear.”

“And that’s it?” asked Hammond. “Just watch out for the bear. Come on Colonel, I know the Templeman’s well. There has to be more to this than that. Charlotte worries about all her friends but usually Ethan manages to settle her down. If he agreed to her telephoning you he must be really worried about her.”

“No, that’s it. She made me promise to watch out for the bear. She said she can’t remember the dream she keeps having too clearly when she’s awake, but I’m to watch out for the bear when I can’t get through the wall,” O’Neill shrugged his shoulders.

“And what does this bear do?” Hammond asked.

“She didn’t say. Ethan said that it’s always at that point in the dream she wakes up yelling, ‘Go away. Get back. Leave him alone!’ He says he knows she remembers, but won’t say,” he paused and shuddered slightly. “Boy this is weird; does anyone else think this is weird?” he asked.

“OK then,” General Hammond said. “If Charlotte said you’re to watch out for the bear you’d best do as you’re told, or there will be hell to pay when you get back.”

“If we get back,” said O’Neill trying to lighten the situation. “Bears can be tricky creatures Sir.”

“Just be careful,” said Hammond shaking his head, “I don’t want a telling off from Charlotte.”

“I think I’ll go check Teal’c and Jonus are here. If that’s OK with you Sir?” said O’Neill feeling really uncomfortable and wishing to change the subject.

“By all means Colonel,” said Hammond, and then added with humour. “You know Major Carter, I’ve known Charlotte and Ethan for many years now and she’s never worried this much about me. I’m quite hurt and perhaps if I was Ethan, I would be getting a little worried that I may have competition.”

“Oh Ethan has nothing to worry about, not in that way Sir,” Carter told him. “Charlotte calls him her hearts blood, although she says sometimes she feels like shedding some of it, his blood that is, when he gets her mad. Like when he tries to mend things, she says he’s no MacGyver, or when he won’t divulge something he’s been asked to keep secret. But I do understand what you mean when you say she doesn’t worry about the rest of us like she worries about Colonel O’Neill.”

Colonel O’Neill had at this point stopped his headlong rush from the control room to find Teal’c and Jonus Quinn and was standing with his arms folded listening to them as they discussed him as if he wasn’t there.

“It’s just we think that Charlotte and Colonel O’Neill are the same kind of people, from the same mould you might say”, offered Major Carter smiling at the Colonel.

“How’s that?” asked General Hammond with pretended seriousness.

“Because they both cause chaos wherever they go and are ‘absolutely crackers’ is how Ethan describes them.”

Gate Room

Jonus Quinn and Teal’c stood at the base of the ramp leading to the Stargate discussing the strange energy readings that the MALP had sent back from P996 while they waited for Major Carter and Colonel O’Neill.

“I am certain it is not of Goa’uld origin,” Teal’c told Jonus Quinn. “I have never seen such energy patterns before.”

“Should be pretty interesting to find out what is making them,” answered Quinn, smiling in the way he always did and looking towards the doors as Major Carter and Colonel O’Neill entered.

“OK let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” said Colonel O’Neill as he looked up at the control room and waited for the engineers to dial the planet address for P996.

“I sure hope the energy field that shuts the Gate off doesn’t come back on while we’re there,” said Jonus Quinn, straightening his jacket as he did so.

“Oh great leaving speech,” said O’Neill as the wormhole established itself.

“It was just a thought,” said Quinn as he headed towards the Gate at the same time as Teal’c.

“Well it’s a bad thought,” said O’Neill, giving Major Carter a ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this trip’ look, as they started up the ramp as Quinn and Teal’c stepped through the event horizon.

“Just remember your orders,” said Major Carter as they stopped in front of the Gate.

“What orders?” asked O’Neill, wondering if he’d forgotten something.

“Watch out for the bear,” she answered smiling.

“Oh very funny Carter, very funny,” answered O’Neill as he pushed her into the wormhole.

P996

As they stepped out onto P996 Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter almost bumped into Jonus Quinn and Teal’c who were standing just in front of the Gate on the other side.

“What are you two? WOW!” said Colonel O’Neill as the team began to move forward and the wormhole disengaged.

“You can say that again,” said Jonus Quinn as he walked down the steps in front of the Stargate.

“It’s amazing,” said Major Carter as she looked around.

“It is most unusual,” commented Teal’c as he reached the last step.

“Most unusual. Teal’c, have you no heart? It’s more than unusual. It’s WOW!” O’Neill told him enthusiastically.

“It must be the clean atmosphere,” said Major Carter as she made her way down the steps. The MALP showed there is absolutely no pollution here at all. Well none that it registered that is.”

“Funny taste,” said Colonel O’Neill as he caught up with her.

“Something in the air,” she said. “Tastes like sherbet.”

“This place is fantastic,” commented Jonus Quinn as he walked away from the Stargate and looked around. “It’s a Paradise.”

“Don’t say Paradise,” O’Neill told him.

“Why not?” Jonus Quinn asked.

“Because of the snake. There’s always a snake in Paradise,” O’Neill told him.

“Don’t say it Carter,” O’Neill warned her, as he knew what she was about to say.

“I said snake. Not what you were about to say and there’s always a snake.”

“And maybe bears,” muttered Major Carter quietly, as she walked away smiling.

Past the Clearing

What had taken SG-1 by complete surprise was the beauty of the clearing where the Stargate on P996 was located. Although they had already seen it via the MALP, it did not prepare them for the ‘actual beauty’ of the place when viewed in person. As there was no pollution in the planet’s atmosphere the air was so clean they could taste it and the colours of the flowers growing nearby were brighter than they had ever seen, almost painful to the eye. The green of the trees around the clearing indescribable. In addition to this, the different aromas from the plants in and around mingled and made a perfume unlike any they had ever experienced before.

“I thought you said there were signs of civilisation?” O’Neill asked Carter.

“There are Sir,” she answered.

“Then how come no pollution?” he wanted to know.

“Well they’ve obviously found some way of generating enough power without creating it,” she answered.

“Sounds good to me,” he told her. “But this place, how come?” he asked as they walked through the surrounding forest.

“Well the MALP only shows scientific readings,” she answered. “Our reactions to all this are, well, human,” she said as she bent down to smell a flower. “But Jonus is correct, this place is Paradise.”

“Complete with snake,” shouted O’Neill as he pushed her to the ground.

“Teal’c, Jonus get down,” he yelled, as they too reacted to what he’d seen.

“What?” asked Major Carter as she untangled herself from Colonel O’Neill.

“Look,” he told her, as he pointed skyward.

Heading straight up in a sheer vertical ascent they could see a Goa’uld spacecraft.

“It’s a long range scout ship,” Teal’c called back from his hiding place.

“What’s it doing?” O’Neill asked as the ship continued to fly straight upwards.

But before Teal’c had time to answer they all heard a terrifying bang, much like a sonic boom, followed by an explosion from the spaceship as it plummeted towards the ground. All four members of SG-1 were on their feet in a split second and headed in the direction they could see the ship would come down in. For a moment, it was lost to their sight behind some trees and then they heard an explosion, followed by another. Continuing their pace, but keeping a close watch for other Goa’uld aircraft or Goa’ulds themselves, SG-1 made their way towards the now rising smoke.

Major Carter was the first out of the clearing and she kept running.

“Carter get back here,” Colonel O’Neill ordered angrily as he stopped in his tracks just before the edge of the trees.

“There are houses on fire,” she told him as she continued to run. “I can see people. We have to help.”

“She’s getting as bad as Daniel at doing that,” muttered O’Neill as he followed her. “Teal’c, Jonus, you stay hidden,” he called as they made to follow him.

“Carter wait!” he shouted as she continued on. Then he saw what she was running towards. A group of houses on the outskirts of what looked like a small town had been hit by the falling scout ship and were on fire. Strange looking vehicles were heading towards the burning houses as he and Major Carter reached them. Those already fighting the fires gave them amazed looks when they first saw them, but as Major Carter and Colonel O’Neill began pulling people away from the flames, they didn’t try to stop them helping, just shook their heads and carried on. Suddenly Colonel O’Neill saw Major Carter run towards a burning building.

“Major, where the hell are you going?” he shouted at her as he pulled an injured man away from some burning fuel.

“There’s a child in there,” she shouted back as she rushed into the burning house.

“Carter!” yelled O’Neill as he ran in the direction she had taken. As he reached the house, a boy ran out, tripped and fell. Colonel O’Neill dragged him to his feet and began pulling him away from the house as Major Carter came out pulling a little girl with her. “Get down; it’s going to blow,” she shouted as she ran.

The words had barely left her mouth when the explosion happened. She threw herself to the ground and covered the child with her body to protect her as a sheet of flame and debris washed over them sending Colonel O’Neill and the boy crashing to the ground where they both lay still.

=======

Major Carter opened her eyes, but at first her vision was so blurred all she could see was a moving shape; then she started coughing and tried to sit up.

“The child,” she shouted, as her memory returned.

“The child is fine,” said the soothing voice of a woman who gently made her lie back down. “She’s fine. Thanks to you young lady.”

“Who? Where am I?” Major Carter asked as her vision cleared completely and she looked around the room and up at the owner of the voice, coughing again.

“Well, you’re in my house. And I am Shoona,” came the reply.

“Where’s?” Major Carter went to ask the question, but Shoona answered before she had time to complete it.

“They’re here. I’ll get them. They’ve been as worried about you as you seem to be about them. A hieratical chain of command that appears to have caring and loyalty mixed in. Very unusual,” she said aloud as she opened the door to allow Colonel O’Neill and the rest of SG-1 to enter.

“There’s our heroine,” said Colonel O’Neill as he came to her bedside walking with the aid of a stick, his voice sounding amused, but slightly angry at the same time. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” she answered as she pulled herself into a sitting position.

“Well you don’t exactly look fine,” he told her. “Stay put or Shoona here will have my guts for garters.”

“Bad?” she asked, as she touched the dressing on her forehead.

“I wasn’t going to say,” he answered with a smile.

“What about you?” she asked as she looked at the stick he was using.

“Oh just a bang on the head and twisted the old knee, otherwise I’m fine,” he said.

“The little girl?” she asked Shoona.

“Sprained wrist,” she told her. “But as I said, she’s alright. She wants to thank you, so do her parents. I told them perhaps tomorrow.”

“Must have been when I pulled her from behind the cupboard where she’d hid herself,” Major Carter said, laying herself back down as she felt giddy.

“I’m amazed you even saw them from outside,” Jonus said, pleased to see her OK.

“I saw her at the window, near the door, then I saw her move away. When she didn’t come out, I knew. Children often hide in cupboards, under beds, things like that during a fire. The boy was trying to pull her towards the door when I went in but she was too frightened to come past the flames and ran back. It was no big deal,” she told them, feeling uncomfortable with all the attention. “Is the boy OK?”

“Just shaken,” said Shoona. “And as your Colonel said, to us you’re a real heroine and we haven’t had one of those around here for a while. But now you need to rest and heal.”

“What about the scout ship, why did it crash? Are there Goa’uld here? Ouch! My head hurts,” said Carter in a mad rush as she tried to get out of the bed but failed and lay back down.

“Do as the lady tells you,” Colonel O’Neill told her as Shoona ushered him, Jonus and Teal’c out of the room. “Rest. That’s an order.”

Next Day

It was halfway through the next day before Major Carter emerged from the room she had been placed in to find Colonel O’Neill and Shoona talking quietly so as not to awaken her.

“I’m not sure you should be out of bed yet,” Shoona said indicating an armchair.

“What I need is a shower. Do you have showers here?” Carter asked as she gratefully sat down in the offered chair which was large and comfortable.

“If you mean somewhere to clean up, yes I do have a shower,” Shoona told her as she handed her a drink. “Drink this then I’ll show you and then it’s back to bed.”

“Are you sure you’re OK? O’Neill asked, giving her a worried look.

“Let’s just say I’ve felt better,” she answered, “but I’m well enough to be told what’s been happening,” she said resting her head in her hand.

“Well you look pretty rough to me,” said Colonel O’Neill as he looked across at her.

“I’ve seen you looking worse,” she told him as she began coughing again.

“I bet you have,” said Shoona as she sat down beside her smiling.

“Colonel please. What happened?” Carter asked impatiently.

“OK Carter, if it’s the only way to get you to go back to bed,” said O’Neill looking towards Shoona. “Be my guest,” he said to her.

“Well my dear,” said Shoona filling her cup. “We call our planet Geminus and our people have lived here for, well hundreds of what appear to be your years. Originally, we came from somewhere else, through what your Colonel calls The Stargate. That was when our planet was being attacked a long time ago.”

“What do you call The Stargate?” Carter asked, taking a drink and trying to control her spinning head while trying to untangle her legs from the long nightdress Shoona had dressed her in while she was asleep.

“Well we don’t really refer to it at all anymore,” she answered. “It hasn’t been used since we came here. However, it is called The Circle. Anyway,” she said, as she watched her with growing concern. “Up until recently the barrier that hides our planet from prying eyes in space started to go wrong and just before you arrived two ships appeared in our skies. We knew our world was visible from space each time the barrier stopped working, but we hoped we would be able to fix the problem before, well before anyone, or anything out there became aware of our presence.”

“You mean this barrier hides your planet?” Carter asked impressed.

“Not hides, disguises,” Shoona answered. “But unfortunately those two ships must have been in our vicinity of space as the barrier went down.”

“Your barrier also blocks The Stargate?” said Carter coughing, as Shoona went quiet and looked towards O’Neill with concern about his injured teammate.

“Yes we know,” Shoona answered. Well we don’t really have any form of protection, except the barrier of course, so we could have done nothing to deter them from landing, if they had chosen to do so, but then they flew off somewhere, then came back and after flying overhead for a while one went back into space.”

“And?” Asked Major Carter felling the worse for wear.

“Well just as the second one started to leave, the barrier came back on, but lower than it usually is. We think they must have detected it because they tried to force their way through. They didn’t have the power to do so and smashed into it. Then they crashed. That’s all,” said Shoona as she got up from her chair.

“That’s all?” said Carter holding her head. “But they’re Goa’uld. They know you’re here now. They’ll be back.”

“So your Colonel has said and we agree,” Shoona answered as she helped her from the chair.

“Colonel!” said Major Carter in protest as Shoona led her to the door.

“Don’t worry about it Carter, it’s all in hand. Just do as the lady says,” he told her.

“What’s in hand? This is ridiculous,” she said, as Shoona stood waiting for her to follow. “I’m OK really I am.” She began coughing as she said this and it annoyed her.

“Yeah we can see that,” said O’Neill smiling towards Shoona.

“It’s just a cough,” she answered angrily, coughing again. “As you always say, just a cough. No big deal. I don’t need to rest anymore.”

“Fit enough for a five mile run?” asked O’Neill obviously enjoying the fact that she was the one being ordered to rest for a change and not him.

“At the moment I expect I could outrun you,” she answered looking at the stick resting against the chair he was sitting in.

“Carter,” said Colonel O’Neill indicating she should go back to bed.

“God,” she said. “This is so stupid; I’m fine, just fine. Anyone would think I was a baby or something,” she muttered as she left the room.

The Following Morning

Major Carter awoke the next morning feeling much better, she got herself up and ready, although foregoing the use of the clothes Shoona had left her, then went into the other room where she could hear voices.

Jonus Quinn had been left to ‘keep an eye’ on her by Colonel O’Neill and he was seated at a table with a book in front of him while Shoona busied herself with the herbs she had collected. Both turned and smiled as Carter entered and Shoona immediately began preparing her something to eat. Major Carter wasn’t really hungry but they both insisted she ate something.

“OK,” she said, “as long as you tell me what’s been happening. Where’s Colonel O’Neill and Teal’c?”

“Well at this moment in time the Colonel is helping to rebuild one of the houses destroyed in the fire and Teal’c, well Teal’c has returned to the Gate to report to General Hammond what’s been happening as the barrier is down again,” Jonus told her and before she asked him the question he could see forming on her lips, he added, “but things are in hand. You know the Colonel.”

“What things? Look I don’t understand all this,” she told him and Shoona. “Why aren’t you doing something to protect this place in case the Goa’uld return? When the Goa’uld return,” she asked pushing the plate away from her.

“Take it easy young lady,” Shoona said as she pushed the plate back.

“We’ve already set up some defences; your Colonel is a very capable man when it comes to things like that, as you know. Not that they will do much good if what he tells us about these Goa’uld is true. As for your Teal’c, well he is asking your General Hammond to send reinforcements. Obviously, with extra weapons with which we can defend ourselves. We’re not really good as this sort of thing. Haven’t had to fight since, well since before we came here. However, until the barrier is mended, we will most certainly do our best. So you see everything is in hand, as Jonus said.”

“Am I missing something?” Carter asked, pushing the plate away again and coughing slightly. “What if you can’t mend the barrier, what if the Goa’uld come in force, which they probably will do if they’ve picked up on the energy source coming from this planet, like we did? They’re not going to let something that powerful slip through their grasp, disguise or no disguise.”

“We are trying to fix the barrier,” Shoona informed her. “And hopefully you might like to take a look at it. According to your team you’re quite, a dab hand, I think they called it, at this sort of thing.”

“Me, what can I do that you can’t? Surely you know how to fix it?” said Carter.

“Err not really,” Shoona answered. “We didn’t set the system up.”

“You didn’t? Who did then?” Carter asked intrigued.

“It was some of the Others, before they went away. They designed and set it up,” Shoona answered as she fidgeted uncomfortably.

“Well can’t they fix it?” Carter began to ask.

“Yes they can, at least we hope they can,” answered Shoona as she got up from her seat and indicated they should follow her.

“That’s what the committee will be deciding. Who, what and when, at the meeting to be held shortly.” With that, she stopped talking and indicated they should go outside.

“Is it this bang on the head, or am I still missing something?” Carter asked Jonus as they stepped outside into the bright sunlight. “Who are the Others?”

“I haven’t a clue,” he told her. “It’s the first I’ve heard anything about them.”

“Well I just wish everyone would stop treating me like I’m an invalid,” she told him.

“It’s just a cough and a bump on the head.”

“Boy this place is beautiful,” she said as she looked down the small slope in front of Shoona’s house to where she could see a clear blue lake a few yards away. Across the other side, the hills and trees in the distance set the scene perfectly.

“You can say that again,” Jonus told her. “Colonel O’Neill appears to be quite taken with it.”

“I see why,” answered Major Carter as she looked around.

“Now you just walk slowly young lady,” Shoona told her as she came alongside them.

“Don’t want you tiring yourself out your first day up now do we.”

“Any news on the little girl?” Carter asked coughing.

“Well, like you, she has a bit of a cough at the moment, something to do with the fuel from that ship we think. It was spread everywhere and anyone who came in contract with it is coughing. You had quite a bit on your clothes you know, but we cleaned it off for you.” Shoona informed her. “I’ve been putting medicine in the drinks I have given you and you should feel a lot better in a few days. Didn’t you like the clothes I laid out for you? You’re such a pretty young lady I thought a dress might?”

“Err they’re nice, really, but I’m on duty,” Carter answered uncomfortably, then added as they walked towards the town that could be seen just a short distance away. “Shoona this place is amazing,”

“Your Colonel keeps telling me that as well,” Shoona answered smiling.

“Well it is,” Carter said, and then asked cautiously. “Who are the others? You said the Others designed and constructed the barrier before they went away. Why haven’t they returned to mend it? Don’t they know it’s going wrong?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Shoona told her. “Oh look there’s your Colonel O’Neill.”

She pointed upwards and at first, Major Carter and Jonus weren’t sure where she was pointing. Then they saw him. He was up inside the wooden shell of the new house he was helping to build, hammering something into one of the rafters.

“Should he be up there?” Carter asked Jonus, coughing as she did.

“Why not?” Shoona asked. “Is it because he is on duty? Only he appears to be enjoying himself.”

“No it’s not that,” Carter answered as she looked up at him. “Only his knee is going to make him pay for enjoying himself tomorrow morning.”

“Well he was helping yesterday and he seemed quite well when he set off today,” Shoona told her. “I have given him something for his knee. It is a lot better.”

“Must be the air,” Jonus Quinn said as Colonel O’Neill waved down at them.

“How are you feeling Carter?” he shouted as they stood looking up at him.

“A lot better Sir,” she answered. “Are you sure you...you know with the knee?”

“It’s fine at the moment,” he told her. “Teal’c not back yet?” he asked Jonus.

“Not yet. Do you need any help?”

“Not at the moment, you help Carter with that barrier,” O’Neill told him as he carried on working. “I’ll see you a bit later.”

“OK then,” said Jonus as Shoona indicated they should follow her.

Major Carter gave the Colonel a small wave and he waved back and then carried on hammering. As she moved away, she stopped suddenly and looked back at him with a puzzled expression on her face.

“Does Colonel O’Neill look different to you?” she asked Jonus as they continued on.

“In what way?” he wanted to know as he looked back.

“Oh just different somehow, I’d swear...Perhaps it’s my head. Just forget I asked,” she said looking back once more towards the Colonel.

“Looks different to me,” she said under her breath. “Definitely looks different.”

“Well it appears someone wants to speak to you,” Shoona told her, as she pointed to a group of people coming their way.

As the group got closer, Major Carter could see the little girl she’d rescued hurrying towards her carrying a bunch of flowers and coughing as she came, followed by the boy who’d been trying to get her out of the house.

“This is Beth and her family,” Shoona told her as the little girl handed Carter the flowers. She bent down and gave the child a hug, then smiled at the brother, who hovered protectively over his younger sister as she began coughing again.

“Sorry I hurt you,” Carter told her, as she stood up to greet the parents.

“Beth told us how you pulled her from behind the cupboard where she was hiding. It could not be helped. You saved her life,” The child’s mother said smiling. “We are very fortunate. Sadly those that died...” Her voiced trailed off as she looked down as her small daughter. “We will never be able to thank you enough,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “Come Beth you’re not to tire yourself. Leonus take your sister home while we go to the meeting. See she rests.”

As the two children moved away the little girl’s father turned to Major Carter.

“You must come and see us,” he told her. “We would have liked you to come today, but we have to go to the meeting. Perhaps tomorrow. If you feel well enough that is.”

Major Carter smiled her thanks and as the group walked away, the little girl waving as they went, she turned to Shoona.

“How many died?” she asked.

“Four,” Shoona answered.

“I’m surprised it wasn’t more, Jonus Quinn commented as they continued walking.

“We are too,” Shoona said, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

“I can’t believe these houses,” Major Carter told her.

“There must be every design of house I’ve ever seen here. That house, the one the Colonel is working on, it usually takes weeks to get to that level of construction on a new house. Your method of building must be really advanced.”

“We have our ways,” Shoona told her.

“Yes I can see that,” Carter said as a strange looking vehicle crossed their path up ahead. “This place looks, well to the eye it looks fairly...”

“Low on advanced stuff, I think is the way Colonel O’Neill put it,” Shoona said. “But as I told him at the time. Looks can be deceiving.”

“Oh I’m quite sure of that,” laughed Carter and then she stopped suddenly as her head was spinning and she began coughing. The other two waited for her with concern.

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Shoona asked, as she began walking again.

“Just a bit giddy,” Carter answered. “But not giddy enough to stop me seeing whatever it is that can generate enough power to disguise a whole planet. By the way Shoona, what did you mean by disguise?”

“Well to the outside observer our planet looks dead. Desolate and poisonous,” Shoona answered. “Not a place you would want to stop and investigate for possible habitation. You certainly wouldn’t expect it to be ripe for conquest; you’d most definitely pass it by. If anyone did come in for a closer look, they’d hit the barrier and we’d hear them. However, no one has ever tried. Not until the other day of course.

The only thing that has penetrated it in our history was a tremendous meteor storm. The devastation was, well I don’t like to think of it if I don’t have too. Here we are,” she added as she pointed to a round building up ahead.

“This I’ve got to see,” said Jonus Quinn excitedly as they entered it.

“Me too,” said Major Carter as they got inside and were surprised by the amount of people there. The foyer of the building was crowded, with people coming and going and standing in groups talking. She felt a little embarrassed, as she appeared to be the center of attraction as they made their way towards a man who came hurriedly towards them, hand outstretched and smiling broadly.

“This is Rayley,” Shoona told them as he shook Major Carter’s hand enthusiastically. “He’s in charge of the team working on the barrier.”

He smiled and as his deep blue eyes looked straight into Major Carter’s, she found herself blushing. Jonus noticed her reaction and glared at the man.

Introductions done with he took them four floors below to the rooms which housed the planet’s defences. Jonus Quinn and Major Carter stood with stunned expressions on their faces as they entered the first room. Lights flickered from every wall. There was nothing that Quinn, or for that matter Major Carter could describe, let alone know what their function was. It was unlike anything they had ever seen.

“The problem is,” said Rayley as he indicated the panels on the walls, “these work perfectly well. There is no malfunction with this equipment. The problem is here,” he told them as he crossed the room and opened another door, indicating they should go through. This room like the one they had just left, was also covered with unknown equipment that blinked at them as they tried to work out what exactly it was they were looking at and which neither of them could see anything wrong with until they turned and saw the panels near the door. It was then obvious a massive explosion had taken place somewhere behind the wall as the front of it was burnt black.

“What happened?” Major Carter asked as she and Jonus stood looking at it.

“One of the outside conductor units was hit by lightening during a terrific thunderstorm we had about 14 of our planet’s turnings ago. Usually the system is protected from such occurrences, but the force of the lightening overpowered it and there was a massive feedback, which went right through the whole system and culminated. Well ended up here, where it did this,” he told them.

“What did this equipment do?” Major Carter asked, as she carefully touched the black and melted panels.

“This one regulated the power supply to the barrier. We turn it down slightly when there are any repairs or upkeep to the system needed, so it still hides us, but we can or could, work on the panels without danger. At the moment the barrier is operating, but turning on and off independently and intermittently and we haven’t been able to find a way of bringing it back under our control,” he told her.

“So why can’t you build another to replace this one?” Jonus Quinn asked aware that Shoona was wishing to leave.

“Oh we can build another unit to replace the one struck by lightening and after a while no doubt we could replace this one as well,” Rayley told them as he crossed the room and opened a cupboard. “Unfortunately the one thing we have no idea how to replace is this”. As he stopped talking, he took something from the cupboard and held it out to show them.

“What is it?” Major Carter asked, coughing once more as she did.

“It’s the major control crystal,” he told her. “As you can see it’s burnt black like the panels.”

“Haven’t you got a replacement?” Carter asked as she took it from him to examine it.

“It’s a bit silly not to have a replacement don’t you think?”

“Well in the circumstances yes I suppose it is, but we have no idea where it came from. The crystals that run the barrier don’t come from here. The Others gave us them. Even worse. This one controls the whole thing. It appears to re-crystallize the smaller ones. Something we’ve only just realised or we would have sent the Seeker before, but now. Without it to re-crystallise the smaller ones when they become drained the barrier will soon not work at all and we will be vulnerable to attack or invasion from...” He indicated upwards as he stopped talking.

“How is it still running if this is missing?” said Carter holding out the crystal for Jonus to see.

“We are using local crystals but they only seem to work for a short time and then they give out again and as I said we have no actual control at the moment. Sometimes the barrier is at its correct height above our planet and sometimes, like the day you arrived, it only goes a little way up into the sky, so anyone in a spaceship can see our atmosphere and no doubt tell, if their equipment is good enough, that someone is down here,” he told them.

“If we just had another master control crystal all we would need to do is place it here,” he said indicating an open panel on the other side of the room, “and it should, theoretically, boost the other crystals restoring the barrier fully. The air may taste a little peculiar for a while, but I’m sure we’d get used to it.”

“It keeps the air clean as well?” Major Carter asked coughing as she did.

“Sort of,” Rayley answered. “These systems not only clean the air but add to it, to ensure purity. We designed this, not the Others.” he paused, smiling proudly.

“Talking about the Others,” said Shoona heading towards the door. “I’m late and so are you,” she told him.”

“I’ll be along in a minute,” he told her. “I just want to give Samantha here. Is it alright if I call you Samantha?” he asked her and she nodded and blushed again.

“I just want to give her some designs to look at when she’s rested, she may be able to spot something we haven’t. You know a fresh eye on the situation.”

Shoona agreed to his being a bit late for their meeting, which appeared to Major Carter to include every adult in the town, only if Carter agreed to go straight back to the house and rest. As she left, Rayley turned to them. He looked worried.

“I think she is the most wonderful person on our world and the most special,” he told them. “But whether she is able to do that which may be required of her. Well that’s another matter. She’s over 60 years old you know.”

“Well she certainly doesn’t look it, more like 40,” said Jonus Quinn looking towards the door, then asked, “but what is it she’s going to have to do?”

“She is the old Seeker; she trained the ones who should have been going. If only...”

“If only what?” Major Carter asked coughing again.

“If only the Seekers she trained to take her place hadn’t been killed when the spaceship crashed, then it wouldn’t be down to Shoona to find the Others,” he said, looking at her with some concern. “She was a young girl the last time she went and she is very strong, a gift from the Others, but the journey is dangerous and no one has ever undertaken it twice.” He stopped talking and handed Major Carter some designs.

“What is a Seeker?” Jonus Quinn asked before Major Carter had a chance too.

“Don’t you understand?” Rayley asked, looking puzzled. “I thought they told you.”

“Told us what?” Jonus asked as Rayley indicated they should go with him, saying as he went. “Didn’t they tell you about the Others and the Seekers? I was sure they would have done, especially after your Colonel O’Neill offered to undertake the journey, which of course is impossible.”

“No one told us anything,” answered Major Carter. “Well at least no one told me anything. But I have been kind of out of the loop for a couple of days.”

“Then I shouldn’t either,” said Rayley as they left the building which had suddenly become deserted. “Shoona will explain when she gets back from the meeting, I’m sure she will. You’re not to worry about it Samantha, you’re to rest. Perhaps I can come by later, you know, to talk to you about the designs?” Major Carter nodded and smiled, at which Rayley cleared his throat nervously and almost bumped into the door.

“Can’t you tell us now?” she asked.

“Best not too,” he answered. “Shoona will explain. Til later then.”

With that, he walked away and left the two of them staring in his direction.

For a moment, neither of them spoke or moved.

“Do you remember that time Colonel O’Neill pinched himself to find out if he was awake or asleep?” Jonus asked Major Carter as they began walking. She nodded.

“Well for a little while now, I keep getting that same urge.”

“Me too,” she answered. “Look there’s Teal’c.

Up ahead they could see their friend as he hurried towards them.

“Are you alright Major Carter?” he asked, “I was concerned.”

“I’m a lot better Teal’c,” she told him. “What did General Hammond say, has he sent reinforcements?”

“Unfortunately, although the General said he would organise it from his end, the barrier came back on before he had a chance to send any men or equipment. We hope that he will keep an eye on the situation and as soon as the barrier is down again he will send men through. Colonel O’Neill said we will have to wait and organise the defences ourselves,” Teal’c told her, as they came up to the new houses that were already half constructed.

“How did you know the barrier had come back on?” Major Carter asked, as she began coughing again. They stopped and waited while she got her breath back.

“Shoona gave me this,” he said, handing her a blue globe, about the size of a tennis ball. “When it turns green the barrier has dropped, when it is blue like now the barrier has reinstated itself.”

“Do you mind if I have a proper look at it when I’ve rested?” she asked him. “I would love to find out how it works.” He nodded his agreement.

A few moments later, they could once more see Shoona’s home.

“The Colonel’s fishing,” said Jonus as he pointed to him out on the lake in what could be described as a rowing boat with variations.

“That man loves to fish,” Major Carter commented as she climbed the steps to the front door of the house. “I’ll fix something to eat.”

“Colonel O’Neill said I was to make sure you rest. So rest you must Major Carter,” Teal’c told her sternly. “Jonus Quinn and I are quite capable of preparing food while we wait for the return of Shoona.”

Carter stopped, turned back and looked down at the lake and Colonel O’Neill.

“Did Shoona tell you and the Colonel about someone called The Seeker and The Others?” she asked Teal’c.

“She explained very briefly earlier, before I left for the Gate,” Teal’c told her, aware she was slightly upset that they hadn’t passed on the information to her.

“She said she would tell you when you were feeling better.”

“Well I’m better now and Jonus and I would like you to tell us, wouldn’t we Jonus?” she said as she continued to watch Colonel O’Neill apparently fishing although not appearing to be bothered by the fact that he had, which was unusual for him, caught one. He was not reeling it in, just watching something on the other side of the lake.

“Colonel O’Neill and Shoona will tell you both when she returns from the meeting. Right now Major Carter, you look extremely tired and Colonel O’Neill has ordered that you rest,” he told her sternly.

Major Carter wasn’t very happy about being ordered to rest, but as she saw the Colonel start rowing for the shore, she decided to do as he asked, as it wouldn’t be long before he came into the house and obviously would tell her what was going on and who the Others were. Well she hoped he would, because even at this distance, something about him was puzzling her. Colonel O’Neill did not return to the house. After tying up the rowboat, he sat down and placed the rod he had made and the two fish he had caught next to him and looked out across the lake. From the house, they could see him sitting there and Major Carter decided to go outside to talk to him. However, something about the way he was sitting made her stop halfway. She turned quietly around and returned to the house, not seeing the approach of their new friend who stopped when she noticed the Colonel.

She stood for a moment observing him. He was unusual. In fact, he was most unusual. The outside person gave the appearance of a stern military man, caught up with strategies and orders, but every now and then he belied this appearance by the twinkle in his eyes, which, she’d found, usually indicated he was about to act as non military as it was possible. The people of the town already liked and trusted him a great deal and called him Colonel Jack. She stopped as thoughts filled her head.

“So that is the sadness he carries,” she said aloud to herself.

“I’m very sorry if my most favourite place on our planet causes you such distress,” she told him as she settled down beside him and looked across the lake to the distant hills. He turned and gave her a slight smile.

“Distress? Shoona, there is no way I can describe to you how much I love this place. No it’s not distress it’s...” He stopped and looked at the hills.

“I know you love it here,” she answered him. “Still I always find it strange that the places that hold our most beloved memories are the places that cause us the most distress, when they are remembered with pain and regret.” He turned towards her again, surprise registered on his face.

“Your son. This place reminds you of your son and his mother, yes?” she asked.

“How?” he stopped. “Do you read minds?”

“Not in the way you mean Colonel, I do read thoughts, but I don’t do it purposely. Mostly I read hearts,” she told him. He looked puzzled. “It’s hard to explain,” she said, as she laid a gentle hand on his arm. “I didn’t mean to pry. Your feelings and thoughts, well they crowded into my mind before I could stop them. I’m so sorry about your son and the fact that my home reminds you so painfully of him. Perhaps you would like to stay somewhere else?”

“No, it does remind me of him,” O’Neill told her quietly. “He loved to fish and the last fishing holiday we all took together we stayed at a place like this.” He indicated the lake. “But I don’t want to be anywhere else.” She started to get up. “Please don’t go,” he said. “I find your presence soothing. Strange, but soothing. It’s just your knowing; well it shook me for a moment. But here,” he said indicating the surrounding area with the sweep of an arm, “well since the moment I arrived on your planet and for the first time since he died, I’ve been able to think of Charlie, which I do everyday, without the... It still hurts, but not so overwhelming and you’ll never know the amount of times in the past I wished those memories would go away for good, that I’d have been better off if I didn’t remember him at all. Does that make sense or does it shock you? Me wanting to forget him the way I did. To try and stop the pain.” Shoona stayed where she was and looked once more across the lake.

“You know,” she said looking down at the water. “Some of my people have done that. Found a way to get rid of the memories that haunt them. However, it is at a great price. Many times our most painful memories are mixed with our most wonderful, as you find each time you think of your son. To get rid of the bad memories you would also have to lose the wonderful ones as well. Your memories of him and his mother are part of you. Would you really want to lose them?”

He shook his head and she saw him swallow hard.

“Enough now, I will not invade your privacy anymore. Let us go and check on Major

Carter as I know she is not resting as she has been told to do.”

He nodded and retrieving the fish and the rod got to his feet and followed her back to the house.

In the house, they found she was right. Major Carter was not resting in her room, as Teal’c had wanted her to do, but sitting by a window looking through the designs Rayley had given her. He and Jonus Quinn had prepared a meal for them all. It consisted entirely of fruit, different kinds of fruit. Shoona was a vegetarian and her supplies were made up of some of the strangest fruit SG-1 had ever seen. The other things they found edible in her storage spaces they were not sure about, so the two men decided to stick to putting out a meal of fruit. It didn’t matter though, as they had already found out. The fruit on Geminus was so delicious and filling they hadn’t felt the need for the kind of food that may cause their new friend offence. However, Shoona refused to tell them what had been decided at the people’s meeting until the meal was over and the things cleared away.

Explanations

“Shoona, if Major Carter has to wait any longer for explanations she is liable to have a coughing fit that will last for half the night,” Colonel O’Neill told her, as she sat herself down.

“I understand that,” Shoona answered smiling. “It’s just trying to find a way of explaining things to you has been causing me, well let’s just say I’m not sure if what I am about to tell you will make any sense.” No one spoke.

“Right, fine, here we go,” she said, making herself comfortable. “The Others. I understand Samantha wants to know about the Others.” They waited.

“When my people first came to this planet through the Circle, countless generations ago, we were being attacked by enemies from space. The Whips they were called and everything was in chaos. It was decided that the only way to be free of them was to leave our world through The Circle and find another, where we could live in peace. Unfortunately, the group my ancestors were with ended up here, instead of where the majority of our people had gone. There were about three hundred altogether, not counting the children. We still have no idea what went wrong. Some thought that a symbol or symbols had been remembered incorrectly by the person who had been given them.”

“It happens,” Carter told her.

“Yes I’m sure it does, Shoona said, her face taking on a worried expression. “Anyway, this planet was already inhabited. When they arrived, they found a great sickness amongst the people here. A strange sickness. I suppose it wasn’t really a sickness at all, in the full sense of the word, but a changing, an evolving into something. Well into something different.”

“How different?” Jonus Quinn asked.

“Well our records written at the time described it as ‘taking a further step’.”

“You mean they ascended?” Colonel O’Neill asked.

“Oh no, not ascended. I’m amazed you know of those that have ascended,” she said and before he could respond, carried on speaking, but gave him a strange look.

“We have met some that have ascended, if you mean the same as I do. But their path is different to those the original inhabitants of this planet were about to take. Their changing was and I really do not have the words to describe it, a moving on to another level of existence, but not ascended. Beyond that. Beyond this. Am I making sense to you?” she asked him. Colonel O’Neill shrugged his shoulders.

“Perhaps it will become clear later,” she told them. “Let’s just say for now, they become The Others, those that lived through the changes. Our people tried to help, but some died, mostly the very young and this tragedy made their journey even harder, but they found a way to overcome it and went to be somewhere else.” She paused and took a deep breath.

“So they’re not here anymore?” Major Carter asked, not really following her. “But before they went, wherever it is they went, they set up the barrier to protect you from your enemy and any outsiders. That’s why they haven’t helped. Yes?”

“Err yes