Chapter Text
For Faith, who is the reason this story is what it is, but also for Miera, who is the reason this story finally got a proper edit.
"So... this isn't dangerous, right?"
Jack was standing across the table from where two women were working. One was Carter, of course, and she looked up and gave him a knowing smile. "I think we can be pretty sure it's safe, sir," she said.
The woman next to her glanced up for a moment, then at Daniel on her other side. "It should be fine, General," Ke'ra said.
"See, it's the I think and should be that have me worried." Of course, there was something else that had him worried too. He had a hard time not thinking of Ke'ra as Linea, even though she'd ceased to be that woman in anything but genetic makeup five years earlier. But Linea must have gone nuts at some point, right?
He sighed, and decided not to press the point. Again. Earlier in the week they'd gotten a call from Vyus – Ke'ra had made a discovery, and while she had some idea as to what it would do, she needed several inscriptions on the device translated to know for certain. Thus, Ke'ra had requested permission to bring it to Earth.
It was a large silver cylinder, not too different in appearance from the thing that had made them all see those interdimensional bugs a couple years earlier. Jack was really hoping that this didn't turn out the same way, and the three eggheads had been assuring him that it wouldn't.
"As far as we can tell from the design and from Daniel's translations, it's a power source, sir," Carter said, apparently sensing his discomfort. "But it doesn't draw its power from this dimension."
"That's where you lose me," Jack replied. "How does it do that?"
She shrugged, eyebrows raised. "We've found plenty of evidence to suggest that the Ancients were doing a lot of research that led them to discover how to Ascend. Tapping into another dimension would have been part of that."
"So... how much power are we talking here?" Daniel asked.
"Enough to run the major cities of the world indefinitely," Carter replied. "And if we get it configured properly, it might just be enough to sustain defense shields for the planet."
"That'd be a nice perk," Jack commented. Carter smiled.
Ke'ra cleared her throat. "Are we ready to test this, Colonel Carter?" she asked.
"Yeah, let's do it."
Ke'ra pressed a sequence of buttons on the rim of the cylinder, and Carter picked up a small device which Jack suspected to be a remote control. She pressed a big purple button in the middle of it, and the machine started whirring at increasingly high frequencies.
Then, quite suddenly, there was a bright flash of light. When Jack's eyes had recovered, Carter had disappeared.
After the brilliant flash, Sam found herself in total darkness. "Guess we should have moved this to an old bunker to test," she said. "The EM field must have knocked out the..."
She trailed off, suddenly feeling very alone. "Hello?" she said. "Anyone?"
Her eyes were growing more accustomed to the dimness. A soft light filtered in from the hall, and Sam realized she was alone in her lab, and yet it wasn't her lab. The things in it weren't hers. Jack, Daniel, and Ke'ra were gone, as was the power device they had been experimenting with. This was all very, very wrong.
There were people walking by the open doorway, though none looked to see the very confused woman within. Sam slowly walked toward it, and as she reached it, a familiar head of spiky hair passed – and the last she knew, the man who went with that spiky hair was on Langara, directing his home world's gate program. "Jonas?" she said, incredulous.
He whirled around, looking for the source of the voice. He looked as he always had – boyish and eager, ready for the next challenge. But apparently seeing Sam was not something he was ready for. His jaw dropped and his green eyes grew wide.
"Colonel?" Jonas blinked several times, squeezed his eyes shut, and shook his head. "I thought Doctor Fraiser said I was fine."
"Doctor Fraiser?" Sam repeated, now more confused than ever. "Jonas, what's going on?"
"You're asking me?" he said. Then, someone walked by them, and Jonas grabbed the person's elbow. "Lieutenant, I need you to tell me I'm crazy."
"Fine, you're crazy," said another familiar voice. "Why exactly?"
Jonas pointed in Sam's direction. "Tell me you don't see someone there."
He looked at her, and Sam gasped. "Elliot," she said. "You're supposed to be dead."
"Holy crap." The young man jumped slightly, then shook his head. "No, ma'am," he replied, "you're supposed to be dead."