'…in a surprise move today at the United Nations, a grouping of eighty nations; representing some of the most powerful countries in their respective regions, announced the formation of a new International initiative; the Delphi Academy Program.
'Its purpose; to build Departments within already existing Academic Institutions around the world that will cater to the needs of children who are developing enhanced abilities thanks to the Great Leap. In addition, Delphi Academies will also be built in their own right, to help adults in developing and gaining proper control over their metaphysical abilities.'
'An invitation has been extended by, what is now being called the 'G-80' for other nations around the world to join the Delphic education initiative.'
'It is too soon to tell what the overall response will be from the UN, but analysts predict that it will be favorable, as many countries are ill-equipped to research and educate their own people on their new metaphysical abilities."
'In other news, there was astonishment as the Pope, in his Sunday mass, supported the scientific view that there had to be life in the Galaxy and beyond, citing that 'God loves diversity, and His creation is simply too large for it to be otherwise'
Harry had to hand it to whoever thought it up, it was a brilliant idea; not just the Delphi Academy…but whom they were going to use for instructors. The only people on Terra who had had metaphysical abilities before the 'Great Leap', and people who were well versed in both the hidden world of Alteran descendants and the 'normal' world (which wasn't normal anymore)…in short, as a British wizard would say…Muggleborns and Muggle-raised.
He had received an email from the President a few days ago, in which it detailed the effect of the 'Great Leap' on wizardom…or at least, this was what the American Bureau of Magic had told President Clinton. Since the evolution, the amount of 'magical' activity had gone through the roof and it was becoming increasingly difficult to monitor the country. The Obliviators had been ordered to stand down except for calls related to 'magical' creature sightings. The reasons for this went beyond being swamped in reports of magical activity everywhere.
The Bureau had been called in to capture and contain criminals who had used their metaphysical abilities to escape (thankfully there had been no reports of serial murderers or psychopaths who had developed powers…it seemed that the nanites had done their job) and American Unspeakables had started to do testing of their own and every single test showed the criminals to be a 'wizard', even though they had never before heard of a wand in their life. They did the tests again on other randomly gathered people, and found to a man and woman…that they were 'magical', even the President himself. It seemed that the word 'Muggle' was going to die quickly.
The President had also included the finer print on the Delphi Academy…such as the use of 'Muggleborn' as instructors. Harry noticed with amusement the notation that the idea had originated in England…and it wasn't far-fetched to assume it had come from a certain bushy-haired witch. In fact, as Harry read on into the Delphic Initiative's memoranda that a few of the clauses had her 'ethical fingerprint' all over them.
Obviously the British Government had gotten a bit of help from their 'magical' counterpart.
He shut down his computer as Sam came into their shared lab carrying what a long roll of blueprints in one hand and a TabletPC in another.
"Hey Harry," she said.
"Sam." He noticed her expression. "What have you discovered now?" She smiled knowingly at him.
"This just came from the Patents office, our watch officer there flagged it for my attention," she explained gesturing to the Tablet and the plans. "If this pans out and we can build it, hopefully with enough time to integrate it into Daedalus, Odyssey, Apollo and the new ship class, it'll solve a lot of problems and perhaps even further speed up production." Harry glanced at the TabletPC and unrolled the plans. After perhaps ten minutes of reading, assessing, and nail-biting on Sam's part…no doubt waiting on his verdict…he looked up.
"Amazing," said Harry looking deeply thoughtful. "You think Area 51 can manage it?"
"With the equipment they have there…it's possible," said Sam earnestly. "The inventor has no idea of what scientific strides we've made in secret, therefore with a bit of refinement I think it's worth the try. Of course, it will all depend on how many qubits we can create and keep isolated in its own system…but the power of it can theoretically make the crystal Information tech on Goa'uld ships look like an old XT processor in comparison if we can keep more than ten quanta states stable."
"Indeed," said Harry. "Well, our only major obstacle is, as you mentioned, decoherence of the quantum structure, but it should be doable…you've got my vote."
"Excellent," said Sam, "now, we'll have to build a prototype here and at least prove that it's possible."
"Let's get started then."
Starship Achilles, Hyperspace…
He sat pensively on the glowing blue and marble white Control Chair, around him twirled the visual spectacle that was the tunnel of Hyperspace. His mind was awash in the Cyberspace of his ship's computer, sensors, and everything else that told him the status of his vessel.
There was a beep of warning and a glowing holographic screen appeared a few feet in front of him.
"Hyperspace transition in ten seconds," said Colonel Ronson.
"Understood," nodded Harry, and the screen vanished. In the meantime he was hoping and praying that everything went well and that nobody screwed up. He chuckled when he remembered the famous astronaut Alan Sheppard's prayer before he was blasted into orbit in the '60s era Space Program.
He willed every weapon system he had on the ship to full power.
Achilles swooped out of its Hyperspace window. Only, it was not alone. Prometheus and the twelve F302 fighters from Mongoose Squadron burst out of their own respective windows.
Confronting them was a large world with numerous continents and few oceans; it was quite pristine, except for the four Ha'tak that orbited it. They wasted no time, and barely a moment out of Hyperspace, the Prometheus fired her first ever shots in anger. Sixteen AHM missiles shot forth from her launchers and their small sublight engines glowed an angry red as they raced forth to their targets…they divided into four groups, four missiles per Ha'tak, and every fourth missile was the AHM-1C that used Naquadria.
Multiple flashes of pure white explosive energy detonated against the Ha'tak's shields.
"Achilles to Prometheus, their shields are down to thirty percent and I'm detecting overloads and internal damage, press the attack," suggested Harry.
The Terran ships did just that. And this time the Mongooses launched twelve missiles, one from each fighter. Twelve globes of red light streaked through space. The Ha'tak's finally managed to organize themselves to return fire, but the bright orange ship to ship plasma cannon fire came too late. There were more flashes of light and visible shockwaves and when the explosions cleared. Only a single Ha'tak was intact, barely keeping its hull integrity, whilst its fellows were no more than scattered empty husks of hulls drifting apart.
Things got interesting though as the last remaining Ha'tak managed to empty its Glider bays and twenty Death Gliders swarmed towards them.
Harry focused on the Ha'tak and from the Achilles emitter ring a beam of pure white energy lanced out and hit the beleaguered Goa'uld vessel. It promptly started to glow bright white and suddenly it was merely a cloud of disassembled particulate matter that was drifting apart on the solar winds…it was a weapon that could not penetrate Shields, but was very effective in finishing off ships. More such disintegrator beams lashed out at the drifting debris from the three destroyed Ha'taks.
Meanwhile, Mongoose flight was living up to what their mascot was famous for…killing snakes. The squadron of twelve divided into six teams of two…the leader of each team picking a Glider as a target, while the latter team member covered his back. Already the independently articulated cannon of the F302 made a huge difference…a Glider could not expect itself safe by staying out of the forward kill zone of the F302, Harry watched as a Glider tried to do that only to be blown to smithereens when the plasma cannon of the F302 rotated to port and nailed it with a single shot. Another Jaffa pilot was surprised when he thought he had cornered a F302 alone and locked him in his sights, when the cannon on the fighter in front of him rotated a full 180 degrees and shot backwards, blowing off the wing of the Glider and sending it spiraling off into space.
Then there were the standard Sidewinder missiles (retrofitted for use in space superiority fighting) that the F302 still carried for dogfights.
And if that wasn't enough, the Prometheus closed into range and unleashed its anti-fighter rail guns.
The last part of the battle lasted just under eight minutes; the final Glider falling under precision rail gunfire from Prometheus.
"This is Prometheus Actual to SGC, we have space superiority," came the transmission, that was beamed down to the planet surface, where the Stargate had come alive with an incoming wormhole from Earth, just as the attack began.
"Understood, Prometheus, well done, ground phase commencing," said the familiar voice of General Hammond.
8888888888888888888888888888
SGC, Earth
The Gate Room in the SGC had undergone a slight overhaul before Earth's retaliation against Anubis had launched. The large hall-like room had been lengthened by a few meters, and the Stargate itself had been mounted onto a rail system so that it could be moved forward and backward at the touch of a button. And on the rear wall a perfectly rounded slab of concrete (which had the same diameter as the mouth of the Stargate) had been built. What did this accomplish? A great deal.
Firstly, the Stargate could now be 'buried' and 'unburied' on a moment's notice. The Stargate would move backwards to the extent that it touched the rear wall, and the circular concrete slab would fill the interior diameter perfectly. It wouldn't stop an already connected wormhole, but it would give SG Commanders the option to take the Stargate 'off-the-map' and cut off a possible attack point for any enemy.
Secondly, now that more room was available, the Stargate could now be used as a delivery system for the larger ordinances that was available to Terran Militaries, especially, the Navy Tomahawk Cruise Missile. 'Missile' was actually a misnomer for the Tomahawk, since it's in effect a twenty foot long self-guided plane, that is initially launched with a five hundred pound solid rocket booster, at which point a turbofan engine takes over after the rocket is done.
The launching system for it had been adapted from the truck-mounted launcher that the Army used, to be fitted onto the main crane that lowered itself from the retractable roof of the Gate Room. This ominous weapon system with four launcher tubes was now pointing directly at the event horizon.
Red curtains of energy shielding descended on all the walls of the Gate Room.
"Prometheus Actual, we have joy on Snakebusters one and two, paint the targets," said Hammond into the Comm after looking at Sgt. Siler and a Navy Captain who was a Specialist on the Cruise missile systems.
"Roger."
Thousands of light years away, over one of Anubis' tertiary Naquadah mining worlds, the Prometheus turned her ridiculously overpowered secondary bow mounted sensor array (which was a standard LIDAR system) and shot pin point beams of invisible laser energy towards the three Goa'uld pyramids that were rather stupidly clustered close together. (Then again, the Goa'uld had never really fought an opponent on near-equal terms, nor one with the capabilities and military mindset of Earth.). The second beam was focused on the open-cast Naquadah mine.
"SGC, you are go."
Hammond walked over to the main console on which the Dailing computer was situated and typed in an authorization code, the screen changed and flashed a red warning. The General paused and a grim smile overtook his features, as his finger hovered over the 'Enter' button on the keyboard.
"This has been a long time coming," said the man who had written one too many eulogy letters that was filled with lies on how his men had died in combat. Too many times had they merely reacted to Goa'uld aggression and attacks, too many times were they on the defensive…his finger rapped on the button sharply…and everything changed.
The Gate Room was suddenly filled with a bright flash that died suddenly and plumes of rocket exhaust abruptly obscured the view. The Tomahawk leapt forward out of its launcher and covered the distance to the event horizon within less than a second. Another flash, and a second one leapt through.
On the Mining world, the two Tomahawks streaked out of the event horizon and angled themselves immediately on an upward trajectory. Each missile's guidance system abruptly focused on the specific frequency of laser energy, and they started to correct their flight paths to their respective targets.
The first Tomahawk reached its target five minutes after launch. It activated its terminal guidance system, which gave its internal systems the signal to activate its one thousand pound explosive package; five hundred pounds of Potassium was abruptly forced into contact with five hundred pounds of weapons grade Naquadah using a specially shaped charge of C4. The resulting explosion was easily visible from orbit…the pressure and displacement was enough to send clouds streaking away from the epicenter of the explosion…which was the central pyramid. A massive shockwave of energy now streaked outwards decimating everything within twenty miles in every direction and sending the dreaded pluming mushroom cloud into the air.
The second Tomahawk had made enough distance that it was out of range of the destructive power that its colleague had unleashed, just in case though, a one use Firestorm shield had been crudely cobbled together on it.
It had to eventually engage its Turbofan engines as the Naquadah mine was rather distant from the refining facility that had just been destroyed (Naquadah was apparently flown by Cargo Ship back and forth).
When the second Tomahawk reached its target, its thousand pounds of destruction was vastly different, but was ideal for 'soft targets' such as the mine. The slaves being used to mine the Naquadah were not there. And this was where the Tok'ra had come in mighty handy. They had had an agent penetrate the planet whom had promptly begun to move amongst the slaves (most of whom were Jaffa who refused to serve Anubis) and spread word about the impending attack. The agent had also secreted numerous Terran small arms to the slaves, and when the word had been given, a swift insurrection started. The slaves had commandeered the Cargo ships and gotten out a mere two minutes before the attack had been launched. And here also was the reason the orbiting Ha'taks had been caught by surprise; their attentions had been on the slave insurrection.
The Tomahawk burst open and abruptly a massive aerosol cloud of high-octane fuel spread over the target, the embedded detonator detached itself as well, and when it detected the saturation conditions were perfect, created a tiny flame. The resultant explosion and overpressure absolutely devastated the mine and every bit of equipment that had been left in the open. The shockwave uprooted nearby trees and sent them flying for miles…the ground seemed pull itself apart at the seams as nature tried to fill the artificially created vacuum.
"SGC, this is Prometheus Actual, we have confirmed detonations, primary targets destroyed."
Various exclamations and hisses of satisfaction and victory were heard throughout the Control room; Hammond only allowed himself a grim nod of satisfaction.
"We copy Prometheus Actual, RTB, and thank Achilles Actual for holding our hands on this one," said Hammond.
"Roger that."
Harry merely grinned at hearing that as the Stargate shut down and without needing prompting, the F302s landed themselves on the Prometheus and both ships swerved out of orbit and vanished into Hyperspace.
SGC, Earth, Harry & Sam's Lab
Harry focused on the pulsing blue square device that was roughly the size of two Desktop computers and carefully used a tiny adjustment laser to temper the variance on the crystals and circuits within the device. Abruptly the power supply sparked. He let out a startled exclamation of surprise and flinched back.
"Bloody hell," he mumbled to himself. He noticed Sam smirking at him from across the lab where she was speaking on videoconference to the Antarctic Base that was researching the area where the second Stargate had been discovered 'accidentally' over five years ago.
"It's a blip," said Dr Michaels, the lead research scientist and nominally in charge of the small SGC Antarctic Base. Harry only knew her by reputation as a very competent scientist and that she received glowing performance appraisals wherever she went, he could only vaguely recall having seen a photo of her. "A shadow on the ultrasound. Too deep to tell. You know, maybe a dead seal. Anyway, we're gonna rule it out and pack up for the season. Another week or two, it'll be dark most of the time, much too cold to work outside. As far as coming back next year, well, you know it's not up to me. The Pentagon reevaluates our position here every year…though I suppose that decision is now in the hands of the STO. Take it up with them."
"Well, I'm sure my new conclusions about the DHD that we discovered down there would be enough to convince the Council that we should continue," said Sam earnestly, staring into the small camera mounted on top of the plasma screen of her computer.
"I'm sure coming from you, that it will hold more weight," said Dr Michaels, Harry heard her rueful tone even over the speakers.
"The one found with the Antarctic Gate died shortly after it was brought to Area 51," said Sam, this perked Harry up, she had not yet shared her own findings even with him. She briefly glanced at him and grinned at his eagerness. "It was used a few times and just ran out of energy. This was the first indication we had the power sources fueling the Gate technology have a limited life span. We've run a number of tests comparing the power source to other off-world DHDs. We think we now have evidence that the Gate we found down there is one of the oldest in the entire system. It could be as much as fifty million years old."
Harry blinked in astonishment, the Beta Gate was that old! Dr Michaels clearly shared his feelings.
"The Antarctic Plate wasn't covered by a glacier back then. It wasn't even at the South Pole!"
"Well, the Gate didn't necessarily originate there," said Sam reasonably, "it could have been moved from another planet at any point in time, but that's what we need to try and determine."
"How?" asked Michaels.
"There has to be something else down there," insisted Sam.
Harry heard Michaels' frustrated sigh. "We've been here four years running. Since we dug out those two Jaffa we've found nothing. If this latest lead turns out to be…"
The scientist was distracted when a door opened off screen.
"Hey Michaels, the thing in the ice," said an unknown voice of a man that Harry assumed was another researcher.
"It's something!" said another voice excitedly.
"Sorry, but anything that has those two this excited has to be checked out," said Dr Michaels with a smile. "I'll get back to you."
"See you soon," nodded Sam, and clicked off the secure video link.
88888888888888888888888888888
High Earth Orbit
The MEV streaked through space unseen as its sophisticated Cloaking system was online. The cylindrical craft rotated as if to give its occupants inside a better view of the Earth that was gleaming below them. This was in fact the purpose of the maneuver.
"Amazing," said Jonas with an awed smile, leaning on the DHD console to look out.
"First time in space," observed Jack from the co-pilot seat with a frown, as he remembered that it was indeed the Kelownan's first time in the void.
"Easy on the newbie, Jack," said Harry with a grin, his hands on the control surface, while his mind monitored the MEVs systems and steered the craft.
"On my planet we've only begun to theorize that space travel was possible at all," said Jonas eagerly.
"Well, it's amazing all right…until something goes horribly, horribly wrong," said Jack with a wearied sigh.
"I believe it is Dr Frasier's first time as well," said Teal'C stoically. Harry glanced into the rear compartment where Janet was busily going through some medical gear she had brought with.
"Don't remind me," came her mumble as she focused on checklisting her gear.
"Come now Doctor," said Harry with a grin, "the MEV is, as Jack would say, the Cadillac of space vehicles. You've been through the Stargate many times, this should be a walk in the park." Janet's only response was to smile evilly at him…it was a familiar smile that promised a full physical of very large needles in his future. Harry turned his seat back to face forward and repressed a wince and focused on flying.
The craft streaked towards the southern pole of Earth and within barely twenty minutes they were back in the atmosphere descending towards the Antarctic Glacier; where the strong winds and cloud cover forced Harry to close his eyes and merge his consciousness fully with the ship's systems. Sam had to quickly calm down an alarmed Jonas who had initially thought that Harry had fallen asleep at the controls.
Soon billowing torrents of snow streaked past the forward viewscreen and for Jonas' piece of mind he brought up a holographic sensor overlay, which clearly showed that the MEV was still on a controlled descent towards the Research base.
When they finally touched down, Harry had made sure to land with the rear hatch facing the main garage entrance to the Dome base with only five meters between the two. The Research base had its own airfield but it was getting too dangerous to fly with standard aircraft, hence the reason for the MEVs use.
All of SG1 was kitted out in thick cold weather clothing, while Harry was content to be the odd one out with his Chromesuit…since it was technically a spacesuit, he didn't have to bother with the bulky cloths. He willed the suit to run up his neck and with a flash, the conforming transparent helmet appeared. He glanced back at SG1 and Dr Frasier to make sure they were ready for the cold and pulled on the small release leaver, only for a blast of frigid Antarctic air to hit them.
The group hurried out and Harry sent a mental command to the MEV. It decloaked and abruptly a slight shimmering effect appeared all over it. It wasn't a shield per se, that would drain the power of the MEV quite fast, but it was a low tuned energy field that would melt snow that collided with it.
The garage door opened and they hurried in, slugging their luggage in duffel bags. Dr Michaels and the two other occupants of the small base met them. Michaels herself was a rather pretty woman with dark black hair and a face that hinted of Native American Indian ancestry.
"Hi," said Sam, starting introductions by shaking Michaels hand.
"Hi, its finally nice to meet you, Major," she said with a charming smile.
"This is Ambassador Harry Potter," said Sam, gesturing, and Harry also shook hands.
"It's an honor, Ambassador," said Michaels with a nod.
"This is Dr Frasier."
"Doctor."
"Doctor."
"Uh…this is Doctors Woods and Osborne," said Michaels indicating her two male colleagues.
"Doctor."
"Doctor."
"Major."
"Ambassador."
"Major."
"Doctor."
The round robin of introductions was interrupted by a rather exasperated Jack.
"All right, that's enough," he said mildly.
"Well, welcome to the Antarctic, Colonel," said Osborne, a thin mustached man with brown hair, while his colleague Dr Woods was rather tall and looked like he had just done some major weight loss.
"Thanks," said Jack, "great to be back."
"Let's go inside," said Osborne.
The group walked from the snow covered garage entryway through another door into a much warmer hallway, which led into the main dome. The main room was a central hub which had doorways leading off to various other parts of the dome; quarters for personnel, kitchen, main lab, entertainment area and so forth.
"How long is this gonna take?" asked Jonas, referring to their stay and analysis of the specimen.
"A few days, maybe more, why?" asked Woods.
"Long range forecast doesn't look good."
Harry heard Sam whisper to Michaels that Jonas was a bit of a weather freak. Harry grinned inwardly at that, it had been quite amusing to see how fond the Kelownan had become of the Weather Channel. Jonas found it amazing that you could predict the weather up to a month ahead of time.
The team began to unzip their heavy jackets but Michaels stopped them.
"Uh…you might want to keep your coats on. We're keeping the quarantine lab below freezing to maintain the specimen." The group nodded and only removed their headgear and dumped it with their luggage in the hub.
Harry willed his Chromesuit to dematerialize his helmet, but frowned in confusion when the suit wouldn't let him. He gave a mental query as to why and gave a silent cry of dismay when the suit AI gave him an answer. His shoulders slumped as he considered what to do now.
"Harry?" prompted Sam, as she let everyone into the quarantine lab. His first irrational impulse was to rage and storm in anger at Fate. He quickly banished that and turned the energy into finding a solution…one that would hopefully save everyone's life.
"Coming," he said shortly and walked forward with a purposeful stride that would no doubt send alarm bells ringing in Sam's mind.
They entered the quarantine lab. It consisted of two parts; on one side was the safe zone, which held banks of computers and various other machines used for research, this looked out onto the main lab, which was hermetically sealed from the rest of the base. Inside this lab on a long table was a large near coffin-sized block of ice. There was a darkened shape within the ice that if you looked long and hard enough could be a humanoid body.
"After digging up those Jaffa the first year, we expected to find a lot more a lot faster," said Woods.
Everyone gathered around the table and regarded the block of ice.
"I named her Aiyana," said Michaels. "It means eternal bloom."
"Native American Indian?" asked Jonas curiously.
"Mm hmm, my grandfather was one-quarter Cherokee," said Michaels rather proudly.
"How do you know it's a she?" asked Janet.
"Ultrasound."
"You're guessing," objected Woods.
"The form appears to be female," said Michaels with an indulgent smile at her colleague, "although I admit, it's hard to tell for sure."
"Have you made a guess about her age?" asked Janet.
"About 25 to 35?" she said, glancing at Osborne.
"Give or take several million years," said the man in question with huge emphasis.
"Several million?" said Sam in astonishment.
"That what preliminary analysis of the oxygen content in the ice indicates," said Woods.
"If that's true, then couldn't this person perhaps be from the First evolution," said Jonas, glancing at Harry.
"That's highly probable," said Harry.
"Let's not jump the gun yet," said Michaels reasonably, "as you said, Major, evidence now points to the Stargate being there before the glacier."
"The Jaffa found near the Stargate could not have been frozen that long ago," said Teal'C in thought.
"Not even close," agreed Michaels.
"Dr. Jackson theorized that when the Gate from Giza was buried roughly 2000 years ago that the Goa'uld managed to open up the Antarctic Gate," said Jonas.
"Well, that's because a crevasse was formed. It allowed the wormhole to connect and ultimately create a larger opening. The Jaffa were frozen after that," explained Sam.
"But she wasn't," said Janet, pointing to the ice block.
"Much before that."
"So she's neither Jaffa, nor Goa'uld…could she perhaps be an Ancient?" said Teal'C stoically.
"I can think of no way to be sure at the moment," said Micheals, "whoever this is, she was probably around when the first Antarctic Gate was being used."
"We need to take more core samples to determine if she was actually frozen in the same vein," said Osborne thoughtfully. Janet walked around the ice block to stand next to Michaels and studied the ice as if demanding that it suddenly grow a mouth and answer her questions. She fingered a hole in the ice that Harry instantly knew was the source of the current crisis…not that anyone knew they were in a crisis. He was wondering when he could break the news to them.
"Did you do a tissue sample?" asked Janet.
"Yes, I'd like you to have a look," said Micheals.
"Listen, could somebody bottom line this for me?" asked Jack with a heavy sigh.
"Well, sir," said Janet, "we could be looking at the first local terrestrial evidence that human beings evolved long before we thought they did, as the Ambassador has made quite clear to us."
"And maybe not even originally on this planet," said Michaels.
"Darwin would be crushed," said Jack airily.
Harry cleared his throat pointedly to get everyone's attention. "As much as I'd like to see the first evidence of the Ancients on Terra unearthed for you all to see. I'm afraid we have a serious problem on our hands."
"What do you mean?" asked Sam.
"P4X-639," said Harry pointedly.
"The Time Loop thingamabob?" said Jack immediately.
"Yes," nodded Harry.
"Oh yes," said Jonas, "I read about that, the Colonel and Teal'C along with an entire sector of the Galaxy was stuck in a seemingly irreversible Time Loop, and repeated the same eight hours, over and over again…for what to the outside observer is believed to have been nine months."
"That brings back memories," said Jack, a sudden grin on his face and twinkle in his eye as he stared at Sam.
"Yes, well," said Harry, "while I was stuck outside the Time Loop, after it was broken, I did as much research as I had time on it afterwards. You see, the Time Loop device was created by the Ancients to reverse Time, as it were, and develop a cure to a plague. They were going to give the cure to their past selves in the hope to reverse all the deaths that had been caused by the Plague, which had all but wiped out their civilization. However, at the time the Ancients couldn't get it work, Time just looped itself over and over again. So they shut the machine down and bowed to the inevitable fall of their civilization and left the Galaxy. Now…and this is important, only those Ancients who remained uninfected left…those who couldn't be saved…were left behind."
"Oh my goodness…" said Janet, her face blanching. "Are you saying…"
"Yes," nodded Harry. "Aiyana is infected. When Dr Michaels did a tissue sample, it thawed and was released into the air."
"Wait a second, how can you be sure?" asked Sam.
"My Chromesuit," said Harry, "it detected the Plague as I entered and wouldn't let me disengage my helmet."
"Assuming that's the case," said Michaels with deep worry evident on her face, "I used biohazard protocols when working with the sample…"
"Standard lab biohazard won't stop this Plague," said Harry pointedly. "You'd need to at least have Level 5 Biohazard protocols, such as those the Army uses when dealing with Ebola virus and the like."
"So you're saying we're all infected with some bad-ass bug that nearly wiped out the Ancients?" said Jack grimly.
"Yes, except for Teal'C who's larval symbiote would protect him and me," said Harry, who took cognizance of the skeptical looks on Woods and Osborne's faces. "With Dr Frasier's help I can show you…"
And so two hours later, using the electron microscope that was present in the lab, Harry showed them the Plague in all its tiny ugly glory.
"There it is," he said, gesturing at the plasma screen, "the tiny little thing that nearly defeated the most powerful race to inhabit the stars."
"What are its symptoms?" asked Janet.
"High fever, followed by chest pains, dizziness, finally you collapse and lose consciousness," he explained. "Then when you wake up, the disease has fully asserted itself in your system and you only have a few days to live, an Alteran would last for a few weeks. It's somewhat ironic that their advanced immune systems actually contributed to the Plague's effectiveness; as it delayed their becoming aware of its presence. Anyway, the closest comparison to a Terran disease I can draw is that this little super-bug acts like the meaner cousin of Cerebral-Spinal Meningitis."
Janet looked like somebody had pole-axed her.
"Ok," said Jack slowly, "why are you speaking of our impending deaths in such a blasé manner?"
"Because this super-bug was impossible to stop after it had asserted itself five million years ago, when Aiyana was walking around, but you see, the Ancients left and their medical technology conquered this version of the bug in the meantime."
"So there is a cure?" asked Jonas hopefully.
"Ummm, yes," everyone sighed in relief, "but the Alterans were working with their own physiology, you see, the cure would not work for Terrans," said Harry with a wince as everyone's faces turned to scowls. "But…I've got an idea."
"Enlighten us," said Jack dryly.
"I can't cure you, but I can cure Aiyana…after we defrost her, of course."
"Ummm…Harry, Aiyana is a frozen corpse," said Sam slowly, looking at him like he had grown an extra head, a look that was mirrored by Janet.
"Well, it depends on a number of things, but I doubt that's the case," said Harry, his eyes twinkling enigmatically.
"I think he might be right," said Dr Michaels eventually.
"What do you mean?" demanded Janet. Clearly to her current frame of reference it was medically impossible.
"Take a look at my sample of Aiyana's tissue." She went over to the microscope and swapped the virus sample with the tissue from Aiyana. Janet stared into it and her body jerked in surprise.
"This is incredible," said Janet.
"I know," said Michaels, "no adipocere."
"What's that?" asked Jonas.
"It's a residue that forms on dead animal tissue when exposed to moisture," explained Janet. "But what's even more amazing is that these cells are intact."
"That's what I'd hoped you say," said Michaels ruefully, "I thought I was losing my mind."
"I'm sorry…uh…what?" said Jonas, apparently speaking for all the non-medical trained present.
"When you freeze live cells, crystals form and ultimately destroy the integrity of the cell. That's why we haven't been able to develop a viable method of human cryogenic preservation."
"So…"
"These cells from Aiyana are perfect, they could be from you or me," said Janet, staring at Harry in amazement.
"Ok," said Jonas, "but say we defrost Aiyana, the Ambassador cures her, but how does that help us…"
"Dr Frasier," said Harry with an arched eyebrow, "what ability have you recently developed?"
"Touch Healing…" she said wonderingly, staring at the ice cube, seeing where Harry was going. "But will she have that ability?"
"All Ancients developed it eventually," said Harry with a shrug, "Touch Healing is merely a forceful reapplication of energy at a level you have only scraped the surface of."
"Then what are we waiting for?" snapped Jack, "lets unthaw us an Alteran."
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She did not know how long she had remained unconscious. She did not know what was going on. She didn't remember her own name. Her mind was an indecipherable jumble of memories and thoughts. Her body felt cold, too cold…yet the biting sting of it was slowly leaving her, there was powerful heat sources around her lending her vital energy.
In that moment, she remembered mind-speaking to Julius, the terrible news he brought her.
The great city was leaving.
And they were being left behind.
The Plague had been too much for her people, the Galaxy all but lifeless in the wake of it, added to that the homeworld was in the grip of a relentless ice age.
She intellectually understood the others' decision. But her heart never would.
She felt her eyes blink open and the strangest sight she had ever seen assaulted her senses. There were two faces hovering over her. Both were female and had blue and hazel eyes respectively, yet their mouths and noses were covered with a strap of blue material. Hovering beyond them was an apparatus that was emitting pulsing red light…ah, the source of the heat.
She took a deep breath of air and rejoiced in the feeling. But her heart caught up with her and more memories surfaced, she grew panicked and tears started to fall. She remembered the Plague taking her consciousness, just as the Outpost's Power Module finally reached maximum entropy; the lights went off, the last she saw was the ceiling overhead…before everything went black.
She vaguely heard a male voice speaking in an unfamiliar language before she felt a pair of arms surround her in embrace. Her sobbing wrenched out of her painfully and she was too much in anguish to care over which stranger was giving such comfort so freely.
She barely felt herself fall asleep again.
When consciousness returned the bed she was on had been slightly raised, allowing her to see her environment for the first time. She was in some form of laboratory, but not one she had ever dreamed could be called as such. The walls were made of reflective glossy material…artificially structured polymers…she blinked, puzzled as to how she could suddenly know and understand that. Various devices surrounded the bed that were emitting constant harmonic sounds, and some of them were connected to her; one over her finger…heartbeat sensor… there it was again….another device was administering fluid into her body…programmed medication dispersal…what was the medicine doing…restoring electrolytes…she blinked and forcefully stopped asking questions.
Whatever was happening, it was clear that she was being helped. She looked to her left and through a window could see a gathering of people wearing strange colored clothing…the strangest of which seemed to be a suit made of semi-fluidic alloy that clung to the tall, powerfully built man like a second skin…a transparent helmet covered his head ergonomically.
She could hear what they were saying, but it was all gibberish to her…it was like no language she had ever heard, yet occasionally she thought she heard a familiar sound or phonetic that seemed to derive from her own language.
The man bobbed his head at another older gray haired one that seemed to carry an air of leadership around him that even she could sense with her fragmented mind. Now the silver suited man and another younger one wearing the green and black intricately weaved clothing approached the doors to the laboratory and entered the room.
The young one had an eager smile and curiosity shining from his face, while the other merely smiled through his helmet at her and bowed his head in greeting. Despite the seemingly warm welcome she could not keep the apprehension and slight fear from showing on her face.
The young one began to speak, very slowly, but it still did nothing to help her understand him. Her face scrunched up in frustration…she wished she could speak…but she did not even know where to begin…her vocal chords felt as if someone had rearranged them and forgot to tell her.
The man in the silver suit shook his head at the young one; his messy black hair rippling within the helmet. He spoke and then turned to her.
"An agnosco ego?"
She blinked in astonishment as that certainly sounded like her language but the vocabulary was unfamiliar.
"Ego…" he pointed towards his own chest… "…Ha-ree…"
She strained and pulled at the fragments of her mind, she felt her lips parting and her teeth opened…
"…Ha…reee…" she managed to mumble out, staring at the man as his green eyes twinkled in triumph as he heard the sound come from her mouth.
"Etiam," said the man, bobbing his head. He now pointed to the younger looking man beside him. "Hoc Jonaas."
"Jo…naas," she managed. The two men now began speaking to each other again in that odd language, but her attention was diverted to an irritation on her right upper arm. A square piece of adhesive absorbent cloth was attached there. The man walked around the bed and slowly reached over to pull it off to reveal unblemished skin. The younger one looked amazed at that for some reason.
The man now sat on the edge of the bed, and his eyes sought to meet hers. She tried to resist…what is he doing…mind-speaking…came the answer again.
The laboratory around her melted away from vision and the world flashed. The next thing she knew was that she was standing on the balcony of her apartment in the great city, looking out at the tall spires glinting in the sun. Beyond the city perimeter was the homeworld, as it had once been, before the ice age…green lush forests, birds flitting past…it was wonderful to see again…but made her feel extremely melancholy.
"Wonderful view," stated the silver suited man. She started in surprise, as he was standing on the other side of the balcony.
"Who are you? How did we get here?" she demanded, but blinked when she realized she had actually spoken a coherent sentence.
"Right down to business, then," nodded the man. "My name is Harry. And 'here', well, we are in a very lovely part of your fragmented mind that I found. To best put you at ease, since the news I have to impart to you will be…difficult to accept."
"Oh," she said, blinking. "How come I can speak here?"
"Ah," said Harry his shoulders drooping slightly, "well, we can communicate because I am helping to 'pull' your mind together, as we speak. I'm speaking through the language center of your brain; its doing the 'translating'." She winced as more concepts and ideas to support what Harry was saying was revealed to her. "What is this?" she asked holding her head in her hands.
"It's our Legacy, my dear," said Harry mildly. "The knowledge of the Universe unfolding in your mind, or rather, merely being remembered is the correct term."
She whirled to face Harry in astonishment. "You're Alteran!" she blurted.
"Yes," nodded Harry. The next thing she knew was that she was hugging Harry in blessed relief and her eyes were filled with tears.
"So you came back for us?" she said with a great smile, after parting from his embrace. Harry visibly winced and his head fell.
"Please," he said sadly, "have a seat." He gestured to the side with his hand and abruptly a chair appeared out of nowhere. She was amazed at the display of Thought Construction, and she wondered if this was merely because they were within the mind, or if Harry could do it in the physical plane as well. Her Legacy answered her. She sat on the comfortable chair and only now realized that she was wearing the same flowing robe outfit she had worn on that traumatic day she had been left behind.
"Firstly, can I ask your name?"
"I can't really say, it feels like it's there, it just doesn't want to come out," she said in frustration.
"All right, the others you saw have been calling you Aiyana, is it okay if I call by that for the moment?"
"Very well," she said slowly, Aiyana…interesting. "Sounds nice enough."
"Good, Aiyana, I will tell you as much as I have been able to piece together," said Harry somberly, "first, you must be aware, a very, very long time has passed since you…passed out as a result of the Plague."
"How long?" she asked.
"Best guess, five million cycles of Terra around its Sun," he said quickly.
"Five mill…" she said faintly. "How…h-h-how c-can that be?"
"I believe when the Plague overcame you, that something must have happened to the facility you were in, perhaps the power failed or something to that effect," said Harry. "The archeological record indicates that it was an Ice Age at the time, and with the life support systems down, the place you fell in quickly filled with snow and frigid air…you were frozen, placed in an accidental natural cryogenic hibernation."
Silence fell, as she tried to absorb the idea of it. It was plausible; her physiology was capable of it, that much she now remembered.
"Go on…"
"The Alteran's left this Galaxy for another, and there they started over," explained Harry. "What happened there, I do not know, but ten thousand years ago, they returned and found that in the meantime, life had flourished again. To their utter astonishment they found that on Terra, sentient beings had evolved that looked just like they did, however they were still primitive, they were called Terrans. There was no hope to live amongst them and rebuild…so the Alteran's decided to each go their own way. Some decided to help advance the Terrans much as they had done for the Asgard so long ago, others decided to focus on leaving the physical plane altogether for an existence of pure energy…"
And so on it went…Harry continued to recite for her the tale of recent history. The tales of the Goa'uld made her sick to her stomach, the Tok'ra intrigued her, the Asgard saddened her by what they had allowed to come to pass in the former Alteran home Galaxy; how they were in a desperate struggle for genetic survival. How the Terrans were finally coming into their own and the War that now engulfed the Galaxy.
"I think it time you get something solid to eat," said Harry after he concluded his tale. Aiyana nodded and abruptly the world around her dissolved again and she was back on her bed in the laboratory. Harry smiled at her and nodded, getting off the bed and stretching. He spoke in that language he called 'English' to Jonas and headed out of the lab.
Jonas returned later with a tray of what appeared to be food, but seemed to have been vacuum packed and reheated, leaving it a bland taste. As she was eating Jonas showed her a book with various hand drawn pictures in, most prominent was the Astria Porta. The young man was seemingly determined to help her understand and speak English…the grammar structure was rather easy she deduced as Jonas continued…now it was just a question on vocabulary…talking it would take much longer…she suspected the part of her mind that governed physical speech was damaged and would take a long time to heal.
She finished eating and Jonas continued to babble English at her.
Harry returned an hour later and her eyes glued themselves to what he was carrying. It was a stylized naquadah cube device that was encrusted with Alteran characters. He nodded at Jonas and briefly spoke to him…something about…needing to be far away. Jonas nodded and raced out of the laboratory.
She pointed to the device and her eyes shone in curiosity.
"Aiyana, this is…" he spoke now in her ancient dialect of Alteran, clearly he had helped himself to the knowledge while they had been mind-speaking, she didn't really mind, as all things considered it was rather trivial, "…a device the Alterans developed to cure the Plague." Her eyes spoke volumes, relief, hope, amazement, it was finally going to end, the certainty of death at the hands of the Plague.
Harry touched a few of the Alteran characters in a specific sequence, and abruptly the device flared to brilliant life…it shone with radiant silver energy that lit up the laboratory. He moved the device to rest on her lap.
"Once it is done, I think you will find your mind will be much more coherent, I think we could even have a proper conversation," he smiled.
The Healing device hummed and now she a feeling of such utter contentment and safety overwhelmed her that she leaned back into the bed and closed her eyes, allowing the energy to do its work. She could feel her body rallying and beating back the disease.
"I will be an hour until the treatment is over," said Harry, "then we must wait a day, and then another treatment of an hour…within a week you will be free of it."
It was when he finally switched off the device that Aiyana suddenly realized something.
"The others here, the Terrans, are they not infected because of me?" she mind-speaked to him after catching his eyes.
"Yes, they are infected," he said, "I was lucky that my Chromesuit detected it and remained sealed as I walked into the dome. It is why I will need your help by tomorrow, as already Dr Michaels has fallen ill, and is running a fever."
"What could I do against the Plague?" she mind-said, looking at him as if he were crazy. "Our best medical scientists of the time could do nothing…every Touch Healer was foiled…"
"Ah, but that is because then, there was no cure," said Harry, "and I think you will find that Terran physiology will 'listen' well to the Touch Healing and will cure itself. Have faith; I am confidant that you will rediscover the ability soon, especially with the device helping you along."
She wished she had such confidence.
Harry entered the makeshift Infirmary that had been set up in the crew quarters. Dr Michaels was on a bed; perspiring and breathing heavily, while Janet was wiping her face clear of sweat. He could hear Jack in the adjoining room talking into the radio, trying to contact Osborne and Woods, who had despite Harry advising against it, gone outside to get the final ice core samples that would conclusively prove Aiyana's origins.
"How is she?"
"Not good, Ambassador," said Janet, shaking her head, "her fever won't come down, I gave her anti-viral's but its not doing much. This Plague is fast."
"Woods and Osborne still aren't back and they're not responding to radio," said Harry.
"If they developed the same symptoms as Michaels, they could be weak, disoriented or even passed out."
"Help!"
Harry whirled around at the sound of the cry, and rushed out of the room towards the entrance garage, Jack, Sam, and Teal'C had also responded.
Osborne was back and he was lying on the ground, with a thick plastic suitcase still clutched in his hand.
"The core samples," gasped Osborne.
"Where's Woods?" asked Jack as they helped the sick man out of his headgear and onto his feet.
"Got seperated…hoping he made his way back here."
"What about the snow cat?"
"Got stuck in a drift," said Osborne, shaking his head as they guided him to the infirmary.
"It's minus thirty out there, he won't last long," said Sam grimly.
"I will head out in the MEV and do a low level search," said Harry determinedly, "it still has its beaming capabilities. Besides all of you need to keep your metabolisms low…no exertion, you'll only accelerate the virus' spread in your systems."
He turned around and exited the entrance garage and into the dark snowy night. Not a few moments later they heard the low humm of the MEVs engines as it flew over the dome and vanished into the billowing storm.
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Finding the weak lifesign of Dr Woods was extremely difficult in these weather conditions, so instead Harry scanned for the IPRB that everyone who worked on the Antarctic continent had. Short for International Portable Rescue Beacon, it was to be activated in exactly such a situation; if you ever find yourself lost outside during night with the snow so thick your visibility was near zero, you activated the beacon. Immediately he found the rather weak signal, (no doubt thanks to the extreme cold that was messing with its electronics) and guided the MEV in the southerly direction towards it.
It was only when he was twenty meters from the beacon that the sensors found Woods' lifesign. And a mental command later, the ringing chime of a transporter was heard and Woods appeared in between the seats of the rear compartment, looking very close to being a human popsicle.
"Hang on, Woods," said Harry and turned the MEV around back towards the dome, halfway there and once he was sure of its place, he closed his eyes and a moment later Woods vanished in a flash of light. He had beamed the scientist directly into the quarantine lab.
By the time he had landed and walked back into the dome, and into the observation room, it was to see an astonishing sight.
"It's amazing," said Janet, walking up to him. "Aiyana stopped us as we were about to use the paddles to restart his heart, she layed her hands on his forehead and stomach…not two seconds later Woods was fine, perfect health, even healed him from the virus as well apparently."
"I will refrain from saying 'I told you so'," said Harry mischievously.
"Both his feet were frostbitten and now they're as healthy as ever," said Janet, "I think you were right, Harry, this level of Touch Healing I couldn't even come close to achieving."
"Now, now," said Harry sternly, "none of that, you have the ability, its merely a matter of study, understanding and practicing the process and you can eventually achieve the same results as Aiyana. Now, I need everyone to get to crew quarters again, I have to activate the Healing Device again."
"Makes sense," nodded Janet, and abruptly rushed around ordering everyone to evacuate to a safe distance. The Healing Device was also buying more time for the Terrans in the base, as its effects were helping as long as they kept their distance.
Harry entered the lab to find Aiyana studying the Device in question, her fingers glancing over the edges but careful not to touch the activation symbols. She looked up at his approach and smiled weakly. He glanced around and nodded at her. She pressed a few buttons and abruptly the device flared to life again.
"You've remembered," said Harry in ancient Alteran. Aiyana nodded. "Good, after an hour you can try and heal another of the plague. Then we can wait for a day, the Healing Device is also helping the others to an extent. I don't want you to tax yourself by trying to heal all of them at once."
She nodded, looking pensive as she stared out of the window into the broiling snowstorm.
MEV in High Earth Orbit
Harry sat in the co-pilot chair and watched bemusedly as Aiyana took the small craft through its paces. Her excited eyes met his.
"Its' amazing that you still have one of these after so much time has passed," she mind-said.
"Indeed," said Harry with a grin, "I found it on my wife's former homeworld, before it was razed by the Goa'uld. It was within the launch bay of an Alteran Cruiser, the Artemis, in a hidden dry dock bay."
"You've made improvements," she mind-said.
"Terrans have a saying, 'Necessity is the mother of invention.'"
"Wise…are they going to be all right?"
"The SGC has checked everyone thoroughly out, the Plague is gone," he explained. Harry placed his hands on the control surfaces and after merging his mind said, "change course to 342mark 030. The Briseus is waiting for us there."
Aiyana nodded and the craft turned towards the giant saucer shaped ship hovering over Earth patiently waiting for them.
"Interesting design," commented Aiyana.
"I decided to depart from our ancestors' 'form follows function' approach to our warships," said Harry. "Mainly because she's not just a warship, she's also a relief ship, science vessel, and diplomatic hub all in one. And it only requires one person in a Control Chair to operate. My wife who is fast becoming an excellent Builder," he said with pride, "uses this one. While my ship of the same class, is currently docked at the Asgard orbital facility around Mars."
"Is Seaworld beautiful?"
"As close as you can get to pristine, besides Earth," said Harry. "It won't come close to your view from the city-ship, but its as near a place I can find for you to rediscover your place in this Galaxy, and what you wish to do with your future."
"Thank you," she mind-said suddenly, "for everything."
"You're welcome," smiled Harry. "Now let me introduce you to my wife, I can tell you two are going to get along famously."
The MEV raced through space and into the waiting docking bay aboard the Briseus. The powerful Alteran Dreadnaught engaged its Stardrive and vanished into Hyperspace.