Too tired to sleep, Jack checked on the kids, the puppy was in his kennel on the porch, and then went to the living room to find his book, settling into a chair. He heard keys in the door and waited. Katie came in, looking as exhausted as he felt.
“Dad, you’re home,” she noticed, coming to a stop.
“I’m home,” he nodded. “How’s the hospital?”
She put her purse down, her chin quivering. Jack put his book aside and opened his arms. She slid onto his lap and buried her face in his chest. In between her crying and hiccupping, he got that a child had died in her arms. He rocked her as he did when she was little and let her cry for a while.
“This won’t be the last time, honey,” he said quietly. “Never get used to it. Don’t harden yourself to it. You do your work and break down on your own time. Here.” He picked up his glass and held it to her mouth. She took a sip and sputtered; her eyes were already watery.
“Ugh!” she declared.
“Don’t get used to that, either,” he told her. “Scotch. Bad for your liver.”
She stuck her tongue out, trying to get the taste to dissipate. “Nasty,” she said, and wiped her face. “What’s this?” She tugged on his t-shirt, seeing a new scar. “Did you get hurt?”
“I’m fine,” he told her. She looked at him. He needed to tell her because the rest of the kids knew…. “Really. Okay, I got shot a couple days ago but I’m fine now.”
She frowned. “That’s a bullet hole? Shouldn’t it be… I don’t know…. bleeding?”
“So Dr. Warner thinks,” he said. “He got the bullet out. I chased down a bad guy and I’m home now. See?” He showed his teeth and spread his arms. He got a smile out of her. She hugged his neck and pecked his cheek before getting off his lap. “Take a nice hot bath,” he told her. “It’ll help you relax. Do you have any tests tomorrow?” No she didn’t.
“I’m done with all my finals,” she told him. “I don’t see why I have to go to school when all my finals are done.”
“Neither do I,” he said. “But go anyway. Getting back to your routine will help you feel better. I’m proud of you for helping out.”
Everyone was home and healthy. Jerrie was taking time off to visit with her parents for a couple of weeks; gearing up for summer vacation. Jack began to relax.
Maynard told him to try and stay out of trouble. For a couple of days, at least. He didn’t intentionally piss people off, it just seemed to happen that way. Somewhere, sometime, the snowball started down the mountain and it had yet to stop.
It was hard to admit, but he was actually afraid of the future; the changes that were happening were much faster than he was comfortable with. He wasn’t sure he wanted things to be changing, anyway. Were they responsible for the changes? Would the world have begun the changes without them? Without the Stargate? That’s stupid, he told himself; of course, they would have. The Gate had nothing to do with it, it’s all genetic.
Maybe he should just admit that it was the changes within himself that were scaring him more than anything else. This certainly wasn’t what he had in mind for himself a year ago; he had been considering getting himself command of a 303, putting Sam on as his second, and talking Daniel into joining the crew with a promise of an Atlantis stop once in a while. Jack had figured on fishing for a while, getting into the hair of several generals, and getting himself shipped out. Damned Goa’uld changed all his plans.
He heard the baby snuffling through the baby speaker and smiled; he was beginning to believe that the universe had plans for him whether he agreed with them or not. He made a note to discuss self-determination with Daniel again.
According to Jonathan, the Tollan were not happy campers. They didn’t understand why they didn’t Ascend with the Nox. They refused to believe that Daniel Ascended not just once, but twice. Daniel Jackson. A Tau’ri. Inanna offered them space, but they decided to stay on the Nox home world since the city was already developed. Jack had snorted.
“Figures,” he said. And no, the Tollan were not interested in joining the Unified worlds. Jack had a feeling someone other than Narim was making the decisions for the Tollan council. Narim had never struck Jack as an idiot. A little naive, but not stupid. Let them get a taste of those pirates that had come out of hiding after the Goa’uld had begun disappearing. They’ll come running.
Daniel had been walking around with a cell phone in his ear, talking rapidly in an Arabic dialect. Both the Iraqi and Egyptian Department of Antiquities were interested in having representation on Daniel’s Earth-based teams. Iran was still a little skittish, but they were at least making an attempt at playing nice. Fundamentalists of all religions were having issues with the entire year’s happenings, but at least the new Iranian president was listening.
The Iranian representative to HomeSec, Shahin Zarif, told Jack privately that their president was caught between his beliefs, the common sense of his eyes, and the tribal mentality of his people. Shahin had seen too much during his time at HomeSec; he believed in the push for unity that was being made. He had seen firsthand that Jack didn’t care how someone worshipped, as long as others were given the freedom to worship as they pleased. As for Jack’s rudeness, well, Jack was rude to everyone. He was an equal opportunity offender.
Jack didn’t try to be deliberately rude, he just became quickly irritated with ignorance. At least he was learning to shut up and have someone else take over when he felt himself starting to snap. Usually. He had to admit that the Chinese seriously irritated him. Tien was playing much nicer, though. Saving his grandson may have had something to do with it.
The world was still shaken over the bombing of Seoul. Only the bombing of the World Trade Center rivaled the horror of the moment. No one knew what the issue was; Kim and his entire government had been killed by their own people, long fed up with the slow, torturous death they had been under. Jack scanned the initial reports from his 303 commanders. Most of the people they had picked up seemed to think the gods had returned. The translators had a hard time convincing them otherwise.
No longer under the thumb of ignorance, the refugees were getting a quick lesson in current world affairs. Being told strange tales and not believing them was one thing; actually seeing these things was a whole other matter. Most of the people wanted nothing more than to find the remainder of family members and get back to farming their land. Death was not a new concept to them; they expected it. Their land was dead, though, and there was nothing to get back to, except new land in Russia. They were assured that homes were being built for them.
“Jack. Are you alright?” Daniel stood at the kitchen doorway holding a glass of water.
“Fine,” Jack said. “I thought I was going to read for a while, but my mind is wandering.”
Daniel walked slowly to him. “If you need alone time, you can go downstairs,” he suggested.
“I know. There’s been so much happening lately that my brain doesn’t know where to settle.”
Daniel considered him for a moment and then put his glass down. He pressed the gas button on the fireplace, lighting the logs.
“Come on,” Daniel said, sitting and patting the tiled floor space that circled the front of the fireplace. Jack put his book down and joined Daniel on the floor, his back to the fire. “Close your eyes. Imagine your spine glowing. Give the glow whatever color is calming for you. White, yellow, or light blue works well. Imagine that glow extending beyond your body. Going down into the floor and up through the roof. The line needs to be straight. If it isn’t, just work at it. Don’t force it. Bring the flow of color up from the floor, up from the ground beneath the house. Bring it up slowly, gently. Tap at any kinks in the line with it. Let the energy drop back down, refresh itself, and bring it back up again. Little by little those kinks in the line will straighten out. When you can feel it flowing smoothly all the way up to your head, let it extend beyond the top of your head, through the roof, and into the sky. One straight line of glowing energy, moving gently from the center of the earth, through you, and into space. As it moves through your body, allow all those niggly irritations to attach to the energy. Put all those worries and fears into the energy, just like rain through a gutter, washing out all the clutter. Know that those irritations and worries are now returned to their pure energy form and they are no longer a hindrance to you or to anyone else. They have been neutralized. You are calm, centered, and at peace.”
When Jack opened his eyes, he felt light-headed. He had never meditated in his life before meeting Teal’c and Daniel; he had always pushed it aside as fruity nonsense. He was beginning to understand why a couple billion people meditated every day.
“How come it’s sometimes out and other times it’s inside?” he asked. It took Daniel a moment.
“Depends on the effect you’re after,” he said. “Feel better?” Jack nodded. “Good. Want to come back to bed?”
They shut off the fireplace and lights, and made sure doors were locked before heading back to bed. Daniel curled up behind him, Jack curled into Sam, and he knew he was well protected. For the first time in weeks, Jack slept without war in his head.
He had a vague sense of being pecked on the head before waking up. A door closed and he looked blurrily at the clock. He was alone in bed. He picked up the phone and dialed as he cleared his throat.
“This is General O’Neill,” he said huskily when it was answered. “I need flowers sent. Colonel Samantha Carter. Groom Lake. Congratulations. Play nice and don’t hog the ball. Love, Jack and Daniel. And put a teddy bear with it. Make another card. To Mom / Aunt Sam, we’re proud of you. Love, the kids and Fang. He’s a puppy. Thank you.”
When he stumbled into the kitchen, he found Daniel at the table, reading the newspaper while Olivia played in her swing. Fang looked at him and thumped his tail on the floor before his attention was re-taken by the rawhide bone he was chewing on. The rest of the house was quiet.
“I had an SF take the kids to school,” Daniel told him. “I figured you needed to sleep.”
Jack grunted and poured coffee. “Does he need to go out?” he asked, looking at the pup.
“We just got back from a walk,” Daniel told him. “A ride, actually. Took a little bike ride around the block. Olivia likes the breeze. Jack, I’m not happy about Sam back in Nevada.”
“Neither am I,” Jack said, feeling his body waking up with the caffeine. “She’ll be using the arches, though, so she’ll be home every day. And we can go through to see her. She thinks she’s got the mechanics figured out.”
“Does she?”
Jack found a piece of ham in the fridge and shoved it into his mouth. “I think so,” he said. “The specs seemed to click when I looked at them. Ninurta agreed when he saw them.”
“Cool,” Daniel commented.
“You think people are pissed at me, wait until the oil and automobile companies find out they are now obsolete,” Jack said, lifting a knowing eyebrow. Daniel looked up from the paper.
“I hadn’t thought about that,” he said with a chuckle.
“She’s so happy figuring these things out, I hesitate to hold her back,” Jack said.
“Is she going to make general?” Daniel asked, eying him seriously.
“Looks like it,” Jack said. “She needs a large command, though, before she’ll be considered. There’s a few doubts going around the upper echelon, so this was the compromise. Give her a few years at Area 51 before kicking her upstairs. She doesn’t need to know all that.”
“Well, then, I’d say it’s her choice to remain in the military,” Daniel said. “If she gets command of the department, she’ll be able to guide it better than if she were a civilian.”
Jack nodded thoughtfully to himself. “I’m going to be home today, so you don’t need to take Livie with you,” Jack told him.
“I wasn’t going to,” Daniel informed him. “Your mother watches her when Jerrie isn’t here. Connie or Mary takes her once in a while. Doing anything in particular for the day?”
“Nope,” Jack said, leaning back in the chair. “I’ll work from my computer here. If I need to sign anything, they can run it over to me. Otherwise, I’m vegging. I’m going to work on the hot tub, I think. The deck and foundation need to be replaced before it can be used. The screen on the front door needs to be fixed, too.”
“Sounds like work to me,” Daniel said. He put his plate in the dishwasher, found his briefcase, and bent for his kisses from both the big baby and the little one before heading out the door. Olivia watched him leave and the door shut behind him. Her lower lip began to tremble, giving her a sudden resemblance to her oldest sister. Jack picked her up and held her high before bringing her down and buzzing her noisily on her cheek. She sparkled at him.
“Da!”
He put her stroller together, sat her in it, put Fang on his new leash, and headed out, jogging easily around the neighborhood as he pushed the stroller, then walking for a cool-down when his chest began to ache a little. Fang soon tired, so Jack sat him in the under-carriage. Carl Weber spotted them and waved.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked, seeing the pup getting a ride.
“He’s still a baby,” Jack said, stretching his legs. There was a slight wobbly feeling in his muscles, but the stretching felt good, as did the fresh air in his lungs. Carl squatted and made noises at the human baby.
“How’s the world, Jack?” Carl asked, standing up.
“A mess,” Jack said. “It may get worse before it gets better, but it’ll get better. Just hang in there.” The men shook hands and went their ways.
The next stop was the Giorgetti home. All around the neighborhood, Jack spotted inconspicuous SF who acknowledged him by standing more vigilant while he was in sight. Several of his regular SF had taken homes in the area, which made their jobs easier. The small, quiet, rural town along the wooded roads that led to and from Cheyenne Mountain seemed to be filling up with more and more military and civilians who were attached to HomeSec or the SGC in one way or another.
“Mornin’, Jack,” Mandy said, giving him a wave as he came up to the house. Mandy was getting ready to head out to work. His wife, Maria, came out to the porch, still in her bathrobe.
“How are you, Mandy? Maria?” Jack asked, taking their hands. Maria took Olivia out of the stroller and cooed at her. “Mandy, can your sister come into town tomorrow? Too soon?”
Mandy’s eyes lit up. “Tomorrow? No, that’s fine. Are you sure, Jack? We know there’s a lot going on.”
“Tomorrow is as good a time as any,” Jack assured him. “The clean-up crews are heading out to Asia, there isn’t really much that anyone can do except to let nature take care of the mess. Most of my pilots are out there doing what they can. It’s real quiet here, so if your sister is feeling up to it, get her down here and I’ll give her the guided tour.” Overjoyed, Mandy gave profuse thanks and promised to call his sister right away.
Once they were back home, Jack put Olivia on the living room floor to let her crawl around, let Fang off his leash, and found a printed report that he needed to read.
Stacy was not happy about the porch leash and keeping Fang in a kennel during the night and when they were gone. Jack pointed out that they were living next to a forest; did she want bears, wolves, or mountain lions coming down and eating the dog? Or torn apart by other dogs? Or even him running out into the street and getting hit by a car? No, she didn’t. Jack told her that this would help to teach Fang manners so that bad things wouldn’t happen to him.
Giggles were coming from the floor and Jack looked. The puppy was on his belly, trying to understand his strange, hairless sibling. He put his cold nose to her head and she giggled again. Olivia made her way across the floor, determined to get to her daddy. She found his legs and pulled herself up. Jack looked again and discovered her grinning at him, proud of herself.
“Stinker,” he told her, setting the papers aside and picking her up. “I see we’re going to have to Olivia-proof the house sooner than we realized. You’ll be running around here by the end of June.”
“Da!”
He called his mother and told her Olivia’s latest accomplishment.
“Jack, you’ve been without a baby in the house for too long,” she told him. “They usually start to find their feet around ten months. She’s almost ten months.”
“She’s special,” he insisted.
“Of course, she is,” Maggie agreed.
He set the playpen on the front porch and started to work on the screen door. He had most of it done by the time his next visitor came around.
“Pastor Earl Cohen,” the man introduced himself. Jack paused.
“Pastor and Cohen don’t usually get strung on the same name,” he commented, glancing at the uniform, with its stars, and then at the official car at the curb. The pastor, about forty or so, a few inches shorter than Jack, smiled pleasantly and nodded.
“I know, I get that all the time,” he said. “I’m the newly appointed Air Force Chief of Chaplains.”
“I see that,” Jack nodded. “Congratulations.” He put down the screwdriver, wiped his hands, and shook the pastor’s hand. “That’s Olivia and Fang. Would you like something to drink?”
“Water would be fine, thank you.”
Jack picked up the baby and ushered the man into the house.
“You’re probably here to talk with Daniel,” Jack said. “He’s at the SGC today.”
Pastor Cohen took the glass of water and sat. “Actually, I’d like to speak with you, if you don’t mind, General,” he said. “Your office told me you were at home today.”
Jack picked up his cell phone and frowned. He had left it on vibrate. He hadn’t heard the six missed calls. He was going to speak smartly at whoever allowed the General Pastor through to his home.
“I’m on kid-duty today. What can I do for you, Pastor?”
The man smiled as he sipped his water. “To the point,” he observed. “I was warned about you. Alright, General, here it is: we understand that this is a changed world. The very concepts that created spirituality as we know it today have been altered to where we hardly recognize them. The military chaplains are getting bombarded from our flocks and we don’t know how to respond.”
Jack stared at him. “Really, Pastor, you want Daniel for this, not me.”
“No, I want you,” Cohen assured him. “You speak the language of the common man, and I don’t mean that as a slight. How do you see the future of spirituality in the military?”
“I don’t,” Jack shrugged. “I’m not a spiritual person, so I don’t think about it at all. At least, I don’t unless one of my kids brings it up. Or Daniel. Or my brother. How about my brother? He’s a Catholic priest. I can call him over and you two can…..”
Cohen held out a piece of paper. Jack took it and opened it.
“Jack, play nice with the good friar. HH,” he read. He sighed and put the note down. “I think I know what job I’ll give him,” Jack grumbled to himself as he rubbed his face. “Look, padre, I don’t know how I can be of help on this subject, I think Henry sent you to the wrong guy. All I know is a lot of people drop their religion once they’ve spent time off world. I know other people who are spiritual, but it’s turned into a personal thing and doesn’t equate well with anything organized.”
Cohen nodded as he considered Jack. Olivia crawled over and patted Cohen’s leg.
“She wants up,” Jack interpreted. Cohen lifted her with experienced hands and settled her on his lap.
“You may have hit the nail, as it were,” the pastor said, letting the baby take his fingers. “Religion is the organization of spirituality. We do our best to make them compatible; in the best of both worlds, they are compatible. I admit that sometimes they are not.”
Someone beamed in and Cohen jumped. Olivia grinned and clapped.
“Pardon,” Shara said, inclining his head at the stranger. He held out a palm-sized notepad to Jack and took Olivia who had her arms out to him. Jack frowned as he scrolled through the pad. Olivia played with Shara’s beard and screeched when he captured her fingers between his lips.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked. Shara looked at him, a small hand in his mouth. “Of course, you are. Find Daniel, let him deal with it. I will call Daedalus and have Colonel Caldwell release Colonel Sheppard to Daniel. I want Sheppard to command the mission. Daniel is in the middle of something, so if he wants to assign someone in his place, that’s fine.” He made his notes, signed the pad and hit the tab for a new blank page. He wrote something with the stylus stick and signed it, too. “Make sure Inanna gets that to the council.” He exchanged the notepad for the baby. Shara beamed out.
Jack took one look at the pastor and added a shot of Kahlua next to the man’s glass of water.
“Sorry for the interruption, where were we?” Jack said. “Oh, right. Religion. Our children learn comparative religions from Daniel and a number of our friends. Their grandfather, my brother, is a Catholic priest. It’s a long story. Michael certainly gets his point of view in.
“They spend a weekend here and there with the Anunnaki on their world. The man that beamed in was Shara, consort to Ninurta. Ninurta is Inanna’s consort. You may know those names from your own studies. My oldest son is currently Shara’s consort, and believe me, I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one. They recently made me a grandfather. They adopted that little guy, there, on the wall. Daarai.
“Enki is playing grandpa to our kids and father to Daniel. The kids play with other allies, the Jaffa, the Tok’ra, Sua, a bird of unknown origin, among others. The kids are learning tolerance and acceptance of others while they form their own opinions and their own beliefs.
“My son and nephew, Matthew, another long story, is almost fifteen and still attends church. He likes it. He’s happy, so I’m happy. Wouldn’t surprise me if he became a priest or something to the equivalent. Stacy is a little pagan in her outlook, but doesn’t believe in deity. Maybe a Buddhist streak in her. She met the Dali Lama and they hit it off. He’s on her pen-pal list.
“The other kids don’t really have opinions, yet, and that’s okay, too. You want my advice on all this? Promote tolerance and education, and let the individual take care of the soul aspect. That part is between the person and their god and no one else.”
He looked at Cohen for a moment. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather talk with someone from your own field?”
“I think I would, yes,” Cohen admitted and downed the shot of Kahlua in one gulp.
Jack went to the door and stuck his head off the porch. He raised a hand and made a signal before returning to the house. He put Olivia into her play pen and handed her a bottle.
Cohen was looking a little pale in the gills. “A bird?” he questioned, slightly hoarse. Jack held out an arm.
“Zu, to me!”
The bird appeared on his arm and squawked.
“This is Zu,” Jack told Cohen. Olivia laughed and tried a Z sound, succeeding in drooling out a bit of juice as she held out her bottle. Zu muttered and hopped to the play pen where he preened Olivia’s skimpy hair. “He’s sentient, you can ask him questions. No? Ah, Sergeant.” Jack turned to the door where one of the neighborhood SF had presented himself. “Escort General Pastor Cohen to Beth-El Temple and present him to Rabbi Melnik. If the Rav isn’t available, take him to my brother. He might be at the Academy hospital, if he isn’t at the church.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once the pastor was on his way, Jack watched Zu and Olivia.
“So, Zu, how’s Erra?” he asked.
“Errrraaaaa muuuu,” Zu said. “Errrraaaa make nesssst Inaaaaana.”
“Good,” Jack nodded. “Can you watch Olivia for a while? I want to finish the door.”
“Annnnna.”
A few neighbors stopped to chat while he worked, and a delivery truck dropped off three boxes for Daniel. They were from the publisher of his manuscript. From the weight and the wiggle, Jack guessed that they were advanced copies. He went into the house and called Daniel.
“Yes, open them,” Daniel told him, a little breathless in his excitement. Jack put the phone down and tore open a box.
“Books with your face on the back,” Jack told him, turning one over and opening it. The new spine cracked and the smell of new book filled the air. “This is great, Danny. Hey, Zu is here. Want me to send one of these to you?”
“Yes!”
Jack handed the book to Zu, who took it with strong claws, and disappeared.
“Thanks, Zu,” he heard Daniel say. “Wow, Jack, this turned out so great. Zu, can you bring a box? Would it be too heavy?”
Zu reappeared, dug his talons into a box, and popped out again without even trying to flap his colorful wings.
“Thanks,” Daniel said. “Here, take this to Sam, please?” Zu squawked in annoyance.
“The letter says it’ll be on store shelves next month,” Jack told him, reading the letter that came with the packing slip. “That’s a little earlier than originally planned.”
“Yeah, they’ve been working over-time on it,” Daniel said, his voice distant as he perused the book. “Jack, I’m going to send one of these to Sarah’s family in England. I think they deserve it. Sam’s family, too.”
“I agree,” Jack said. “Send them to whomever you’d like, they’re your books. I think Henry’s waiting for one, too.”
“How many all-together?” Daniel asked. “Three boxes? So, thirty-six.”
Jack opened another box. “Daniel, the chaplain for the Air Force was just here. Henry sicced him on me. Would you mind if I gave him one of these?”
“I don’t mind, go ahead,” Daniel said. “Set two aside for Michael and your Mom, too. Jack, this is our story, not just mine. Why don’t you take a box and Sam take a box? I’ll take care of Hammond. Oh, before I forget; I’m heading out to Austria with Sheppard. This one is too interesting for me to pass it off to someone else. How the hell did Heaven’s Bow spot that one?”
“No idea,” Jack said. “Please be careful and don’t touch anything.” The ship did pick up something earlier on a planet scan, but it was just a small blip, nothing to get excited about. The initial report from Daniel’s team should be interesting.
“Jack, I can’t examine anything if I don’t touch,” Daniel said patiently. “I think having Sheppard going around touching things is more dangerous.”
“That’s true,” Jack admitted. “Alright. Keep your eye on Sheppard.”
Zu zipped back in and dropped a book into Jack’s hands. There was a sticky note attached to it. “Please sign this.” Jack noticed that Daniel had signed the inside cover, addressing it to Hammond. He signed it and handed it back.
“Zu, when you’re ready to go home, could you take this one to Teal’c?” Jack asked, putting a book on the table. Zu acknowledged and zipped out with the signed book.
He put baby stuff in the truck, locked up, and headed out. He dropped a book off with his mother, snatched several cookies, and went to his office. Cassandra took the book from him, excited to see it. Paul was also pleased. Although not a kid-person, Paul had somehow managed to be won over by Olivia. She raspberried him from over Jack’s shoulder.
“Daniel and Sheppard are taking a team to Austria,” Jack told him, wiping baby spit from the back of his head. “Heaven’s Bow spotted something in the mountains.” He told Paul the coordinates. “It originally showed up as just a speck on the Bow’s scan; nothing the size of a ship. It still isn’t registering as anything larger than a dinner plate, though.”
Paul thought about it and tapped on his computer. “There was a tremor recently,” he said. “It caused several avalanches in the Alps. Those combined with the warming trend could have caused cloaking equipment to malfunction, if a rock hit it wrong. We have noticed that the mikku isn’t all-seeing; it only scans for what we tell it to scan for. It doesn’t seem to be programmed for ‘wild leaps.’ Still, that doesn’t tell us why the scans aren’t coming up naquadah.”
“Well, I’m declaring it HomeSec jurisdiction, so make sure a bulletin goes out to Austria to keep that mountain off-limits. The last thing we need is to have hikers or skiers poking around. And make it a no-fly zone.”
Paul agreed and began the notice.
His cell phone rang the moment he left the office. He discovered that he couldn’t use the ear piece when he had the baby; she kept taking it from his ear and playing with it. An ear full of baby spit was nasty.
“O’Neill.” Jack listened for a moment. “Thank you.” He sat down in the outer office.
“What’s wrong?” Cassie buzzed Paul. “Something’s up,” she said. Paul came out of his office and immediately went to Jack’s side.
“I’m fine,” he told them, waving them off. “Today seems to be an interesting day. Hell must have frozen over; China just signed a treaty freeing Tibet. It’ll hit the news shortly.”
Paul squatted next to him and touched his shoulder. “You saved Tien’s grandson, and who knows how many people by getting the ships in to beam them to safety. You were honest with him in a way no one probably ever has been and you asked for nothing in return.”
“And this is payment. Holy shit.”
Olivia smacked the back of his head.
An hour later, people had come to a standstill as they listened to the radio, turned on news channels, and looked at the home pages of online news. Amidst the chaos and destruction of what was once Korea, another country was reborn. The foremost image was of the Dali Lama falling to his knees.
“What’d you do, Jack?” Henry asked when Jack answered his cell phone again.
“About what?” he asked.
“You must have said something to Tien,” Henry said. “What was it?”
“You keep telling me to play nice, Henry, so I played nice,” Jack said. “This wasn’t my doing, he made this decision himself. Oh, Henry? When you leave your current position, if you’re still interested, I’m nominating you as the Tau’ri representative to the Unified Worlds council. Does that work for you?”
There was silence on the line.
“Are you joking?” he heard.
“No,” Jack shrugged and shook his head. “Henry, you’ve been pushing me around for a year. Anything to get you off this planet…..”
“Are we in?” Henry asked.
“Don’t know yet,” Jack said. “Inanna knows what’s happening here and she needs to take Earth’s application before the council. This thing with the Koreas could very well disqualify us, but the rest of the world is working to help, which might push things back this way. The HomeSec members will need to approve your nomination, of course. You want me to make your nomination official, after this happens?”
Hayes breathed heavily into the phone. “Yes. Dear Lord, Jack. This entire year will be making the history books.”
“Yeah, and speaking of books…..”
“I have it,” Henry said. “That bird dropped it on my desk. Jack, you really need to do something about him. He needs to learn what doorbells are for. Almost gave my Secret Service heart attacks.”
Jack snorted. “You try telling Zu what to do. We can only suggest. The last time I tried ordering him, I discovered my truck covered in bird crap. Do you know what that stuff does to a paint job?”
He went down to the R&D lab.
“Biggs…..,”
“Boggs, sir,” the captain corrected.
“Is this thing working?” Jack asked, gesturing toward the plain-looking stone arch that sat against a wall.
“Yes, sir.” Boggs held up what looked like a remote control.
“Good. Send me and Olivia to Colonel Carter?”
“We can do that, sir,” Boggs said.
There were surprised salutes when he appeared in the Area 51 arch.
“At ease,” he said, returning a salute. The baby waved at a friendly looking tech and looked around with interest from Jack’s back. “That was very cool, right, Liv?” She bounced in her carrier, patting his shoulders.
With guidance from passersby, they made their way to Sam’s new office. Jack had never actually taken the entire tour before; the place seemed much bigger than he remembered. From the number of salutes he returned, he was sure Sam would know they were on their way up from the lab.
“Sir.” A major stood as he entered the office.
“At ease,” he said once more. He looked closely at the man’s uniform. “Coulter. Is she in?”
“Yes, sir, and expecting you,” Coulter said. “Please go on in. Sir? Would you like me to babysit? My daughter is sixteen months.”
Olivia studied him. Coulter shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.
“Thank you, Major, considerate of you,” Jack said. “I’ll keep her, though. Were you General Taylor’s assistant?”
“Yes, sir,” Coulter nodded. “For three years. He considered taking me to Washington with him, but felt that I would be of more use to Colonel Carter here, since I’m familiar with this office.”
“I’m sure she appreciates your experience, son. Take care of her, or you’ll hear from me.”
“Yes, sir.”
They entered Sam’s office and noticed that the first thing she had done was to put up her family photos. Daniel’s book sat in the middle of her desk.
“I think your office is bigger than mine,” Jack commented looking around. Sam smiled at him.
“I think it is, too,” she said, and got up to kiss him. A large vase of flowers occupied the center of a small conference table.
“Ma!”
Sam smiled and lifted Olivia from the carrier. “You are just a smarty-pants, aren’t you?”
“She grabbed my legs and pulled herself up this morning,” Jack told her as he dialed out from the phone on Sam’s desk. The entire building had a block on cell phones and limited internet access. “What’s Coulter’s first name?”
“Leo. Leonard. Why?” Sam roamed with Olivia, pointing at the photos.
“Run a check on a Major Leo or Leonard Coulter,” Jack said low into the phone and spelled the name. “What do you know about him?” he asked Sam after hanging up. She looked sharply at his tone.
“Not much,” she said. “I met him often enough when I was stationed here before. He seems like a nice guy. Good officer. General Taylor relied on him. I know he’s married and has a baby daughter. Why?”
“Livie doesn’t like him,” Jack said. “And I sensed….. I’m not sure. I didn’t like what I felt from him. I could be wrong. Let’s see what Nick comes up with.”
Sam shook her head in disappointment. “That’s too bad,” she said, not questioning his gut. “I was looking forward to his assistance. Paul has a list of people he uses for filling assistant positions; I’ll see if there is anyone appropriate for out here.” She smiled at him and lifted her face. “Thank you for the flowers and teddy bear,” she said. Jack kissed the upturned face and brushed the hair from her eyes.
“You’re welcome.”
“You may be hearing from Daniel,” he said, turning to look her office over. “The leather boys upstairs found something in Austria, so I sent Daniel and Sheppard over to take a look. Could be Ancient. Seems a tremor caused an avalanche which may have unburied whatever it is. Nukes aren’t going to kill us, Sam, the greenhouse effect is. The Alps –melting. Christ…. Sam, can the mikku be programmed to search for everything at once?”
Sam paused in the tapping of her keyboard. “It isn’t God, Jack; it can only do what we tell it to do.” She deleted Olivia’s helpful keyboard opinions.
“Well, I want it to look for everything at once,” he said, his eyes gazing over as he looked at the titles on her reference shelf. “We keep overlooking stuff because it doesn’t know to tell us something is there.”
Wheels turned swiftly….. “You want it to run all search parameters at once?” she guessed.
“That’s it,” Jack snapped his fingers.
“I don’t think it’s programmed to do that, but I’ll have Capt. Boggs play with it. Oh, about that whole Loch Ness thing? As far as we can determine, there’s nothing down there except garbage and old boats.”
“Bummer,” Jack commented. “I was looking forward to monster hunting. Keir is going to be disappointed.”
“Da!”
He picked her out of Sam’s lap. “You are a demanding creature today, aren’t you, Miss Thing?” She rocked back in his arms, screwing her face up and sticking a fist in her eyes. “Uh, oh,” he said. “I think we missed nap time. I’ll get her home,” he said, picking up the baby paraphernalia. “She’s been queen bee all day. Keep in contact with Daniel; if there are devices up there, he’ll need your guys to come in.”
“I just sent a message to Boggs,” she said. “We’ll keep an eye on Daniel.”
Jack turned to her as he lifted Olivia up over his head and put her into the carrier on his back.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I won’t people your job; it’s your office, I’m going.” He pecked her mouth and headed out.
“Jack!”
He stuck his head back in.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“I’m kinda in a pizza mood,” she said. “Do we have other plans tonight?”
“Nope,” he said. “I’ll order pizza. Anything in particular?”
“Pepperoni.”
Exiting her office, Olivia stared at the man behind the desk in the outer office.
“It’s alright,” he said gently to her. It took him a moment to realize he spoke in Ancient. Whether or not she understood, she took his tone, patted him, and dug into her pouch for the bottle she dropped.
As they made their way back to the arch, Olivia once more waved at the tech she noticed when they came in.
“What’s your name, airman?” Jack stopped and asked. The woman straightened.
“Chief Master Sergeant Rusty Wilson, sir!”
Jack gave a nod, glancing at the flaming red hair on the woman’s head. “As you were, chief.”
“Yes, sir.”
When Jack returned to HomeSec, he went up to his office before heading home.
“Cass, find me the file for Chief Master Sergeant Rusty Wilson,” he told her. “Just email it to me. Can you watch Livie for a while? She’s almost asleep.”
“Sure. There’s a portable crib in the closet,” she said, getting up to find it while Jack gently took the carrier from his back. He knew the generals upstairs didn’t approve of him bringing the kids into work, they also weren’t happy with the day-care that was being built across the compound. Oh, well. As long as it didn’t interfere with jobs, he saw no reason why employees couldn’t take their lunch breaks with their kids. When the civilian employees petitioned his office for a day-care, Jack had Paul run the stats. It seemed that employees worked much better when they knew their kids were nearby and safe. He considered several off-world examples and agreed to a day-care.
Once they got Olivia settled, Jack went back down to the lab and kicked Boggs out of the seat. The machine worked much quicker when Jack was at the helm; the Alps were visible to him moments after he sat in the chair. A peak had revealed a hint of brown at the top, amidst other peaks that were still covered in snow. An entire section of mountain top had shifted, and a corner of something obviously not of nature had been laid bare.
Jack hit his comm. “Daniel, what is that thing?” he asked. “Looks almost like the top of a pyramid. Please tell me it isn’t a pyramid.”
He saw one of the figures on the slope pause and look around.
“Jack?” he heard. “Where are you?”
“Watching through the mikku.”
“Oh. No, it isn’t a pyramid,” Daniel said, speaking to a dim-witted child. “It does look like Ancient design, though. I’m guessing it’s a hide-out. Sort of a…. ouch…. hunters-blind, which makes sense if they were watching the early humans before making their appearance.” He tossed a rock over his shoulder after looking carefully at it. Just below him, Sheppard ducked and yelled at him. “Huh? Oh, sorry, John. Jack, this mountain top needs to come down.”
Jack considered the request. “Daniel, did you just ask me to move a mountain for you?”
Daniel paused and looked up and around, smiling in the general direction of the sky. “Would you, Jack? How much do you love me?”
“A lot,” Jack said. “But I’m not moving a mountain. Find a way into that thing. If it can be powered up and moved, you can do that. No. Change that. Let Sheppard fly it.”
“He’s probably the only one here who can,” Daniel commented. “I’m betting this thing was rigged for one of you guys, if it was so secret that it needed to be cloaked at the top of a mountain. And speaking of mountains -Jack, did you have anything to do with Tibet?”
“Not a thing,” he said. “I had an hour’s advanced warning of the announcement. Sam wants pizza tonight.”
“Works for me,” Daniel said. Jack experimented and found he could bring the image in close enough to see the stitching on Daniel’s cold-weather jacket.
“You’re getting a few grays, Danny,” Jack said. “You’re not even forty, yet.”
He wasn’t sure what Daniel said, but it didn’t sound polite.
“Language, language,” Jack chuckled. “Hey, this thing sees better than my telescope.”
“Leave the neighbors alone, Jack,” he was advised. “John, see if anything reacts when you touch it.”
Sheppard stepped up to the light gray object and started running a hand over it. Their team stood by, guns and zats drawn at the ready. Jack noticed that Daniel had brought Ronnie with him. She stood nearby, watching with the excited interest of a newbie explorer.
“What’s he doing?” she asked, watching Sheppard touching the thing. Daniel hesitated.
“Go ahead,” Jack said. Time for another layer to be revealed; so far, she had accepted everything tossed in her direction. “Gently.”
“A few of the Ancient things are keyed to a genetic type,” Daniel said. “They only work for people with the genetic sequence. Colonel Sheppard is one of those people.”
“Oh. How do we know who has it and who doesn’t?” she asked. Something beeped and a panel slid open. Guns were pointed at it.
“She doesn’t have it,” Jack said quietly. “She’s already been tested.”
“Sometimes we have people touch certain objects that we know are keyed and other times we run a DNA test on them,” Daniel said. “We know what the marker is, so it’s easy enough to spot on a blotter. I don’t have it, so when I come across something like this, I try and have someone like the colonel with me.”
Sheppard and one of the guards managed to force a door part way open. Daniel eagerly went toward it and was held back by Sheppard who waved a gun. Jack approved of his caution. Sheppard carefully shined a light into the hole.
“Looks like a jumper,” he said. “Sorta. Design is a little different, but could be a jumper. Emerged wrong place, wrong time, maybe. Got stuck. Hey, General?” He reached out and plucked the comm from Daniel’s neck where he had strung it with his tags.
“Hey!”
“Looks like this thing acted as a tomb,” John said into the comm, peering inside. “We got mummified remains.”
“Really?” Daniel forgot about his space being invaded.
“Careful,” Jack warned. The mikku couldn’t see inside the ship, but Jack could still hear them through Daniel’s comm. Something beeped. Irritated at the interruption, Jack looked around. The beep came from his wrist.
“Crap,” Jack muttered. “Danny, I need to go. The kids are getting out of school. Call me if you need me.” They certainly didn’t need him back-seat driving.
“I want extra cheese on my pizza,” Daniel said.
“I don’t think so,” Jack responded. “It makes you fart all night long.”
“I want the cheese,” Daniel said. “If I can’t have the extra cheese, you can’t have onions. Hey, these mummies are wearing the same type of clothing we saw in the recordings of the Ancients. If there’s any DNA left to process, I’m pretty sure they will be Ancient. Maybe we can get a full panel on the Ancients! I’m not sure if we can get this thing flying; a few things are lighting up, but the main power seems to be down. I think we need a tech in here to mess with the wiring.”
“So it is a jumper?” Jack asked.
“I think so,” Daniel said. “Design is a little different. Might be a little older than the ones we know. Writing is in Ancient.”
“Alright, I want you and Ronnie home,” Jack said. “It’s a tech job; we need R&D in there, not you.”
“We’ll be right home,” Daniel said.
“Wait. I think….. I can get the shield completely off,” Jack heard Sheppard say. “General? The ship should be visible to any scans, now.”
Jack looked at his watch again and handed the mikku over to Boggs. “Europa, scan the mountain,” Jack said into his radio. “Sheppard, don’t touch anything else.”
As Jack drove out of town to head back home with the kids, his radio came back on.
“General O’Neill, this is Belarus,” he heard.
“Go ahead, Colonel.”
The children in the back quieted. With the baby-seat, things were a little crowded; Jack was being stubborn in not turning his truck in for a minivan, but it wasn’t too often all the kids were with him.
“Sir, I wouldn’t move that ship, if it were my decision,” Belarus advised. “That entire section of mountain has been shielded for what looks like a very long time. If we were to remove the ship, the entire mountain top could come down. Those villages at the base will be destroyed.”
“Why would the mountain come down?” Jack asked.
“Sir, it almost looks like the mountain grew with the ship inside of it. Or around the ship,” Belarus said. “It’s that old, if our readings are correct. The power shield that surrounded the ship pretty much held up the top of the mountain along with it. That shield needs to be turned back on.”
“Sheppard, get the shield back up,” Jack ordered.
“Working on it, sir.”
“General, this is Carter.” They all heard Sam jumping in on the line, a little formal on the open channel. “I’ve been monitoring transmission and the Europa’s readings. One of my teams is preparing to head up there. They’re all qualified to deal with Ancient technology.”
What Jack heard was that the entire team was made up of people who had the Gene.
“Shield is up, General,” he heard Sheppard say.
“Alright, everyone out of there,” Jack ordered. “Colonel Carter’s team will take over. It’s been up there for all this time, it’ll be fine by itself for a while longer.”
The kids were silent as they listened, knowing not to make noise while there was alien stuff going on.
“Okay, who wants what on their pizza?” Jack asked.
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