“Paul, that doesn’t make sense,” Jack complained over the top of his newspaper. “You were going to tag her so she can beam around.” Davis' parents were refusing to attend, but several of his cousins and old school friends caught wind of the hand-fasting, and let him know, in no uncertain terms, that they were behind him. Much to Paul's surprise, he had burst into tears when his cousin said she wanted to stand up with him. He hadn't allowed his stress over his parents to be shown for so long, that he didn't realize he had been holding in a volcano of pain.
“And she doesn’t want to get beamed around,” Paul said. “She started quoting Star Trek and talking about her molecules getting mixed up. She told her father she’s going to Utah for an interview, and she's flying in to Denver, driving here.”
“That’s pretty weak,” Sam commented. “Never worked on my father.”
Jack looked up again. “Oh? Where did you go?”
She smiled and took a bite of her jam-covered toast. “To Miami,” she said. “Spring Break.” She held the toast for Olivia. The baby liked the taste of the sweet strawberry as her excited wiggling attested.
“You rebel, you,” Jack said. “Wish I had known; I like you in a swimsuit. If we could only get you into a bikini….”
“Nice try,” she informed him. Olivia held her sticky fingers out for Fang to wash. “Honey, don’t do that,” Sam told her. “Doggy germs.” She took the baby into the kitchen and put her hands under the faucet. While Sam’s back was turned, Jack fed Fang a finger-full of jam.
“How’d your day of Ancient go?” Paul asked.
Jack rolled his eyes. “It went,” he said. “Gave myself a headache. I didn’t know I knew all those words.”
“I’m not wearing this!”
They turned to Nick who came out of the bedroom with Daniel and a tailor behind him. He was tugging at the dark teal cummerbund around his waist.
“Why? You look very handsome,” Paul told him, standing to go and adjust Nick’s tie. “And the color does match your eyes.”
“I look like a southwestern poser,” Nick informed him. “I want it leather.”
“Would you rather I had chosen pink?” Paul asked, arms crossed. Nick’s eyes narrowed.
“Alright, guys.” Daniel separated them. “Nick, we would tell you if something looked wrong on you. The teal is fine. Paul, you need your pants adjusted a little; you’ve lost a couple pounds.” Jack raised an eyebrow and buried himself in the paper again.
“Nerves,” Paul complained, rubbing his stomach as he followed the tailor into the bedroom.
“Nick, are you sure there isn’t anyone we could fly in to be with you?” Sam asked. Olivia held out her arms and Nick took her.
“There isn’t anyone, thank you, Sam.” She draped a cloth over his shoulder, protecting his suit from baby drool.
Someone beamed into the middle of the living room.
“Hello.”
Jack groaned. “It’s Lenny and Squiggy.”
Jonathan flicked a finger at him and took Olivia from Nick. He pressed kisses to her round cheeks, making her gurgle and smile.
“Squawk!”
“I wanted that,” they heard Ninurta complain from the kitchen. Jerrie came out, hands on her hips.
“If those two are going to mess up my kitchen, they can clean it,” she declared.
“Don’t mess the kitchen!” Jack yelled back.
Running steps were on the stairs and Davy came in and flung himself at Jonathan. Sam took Olivia from him and let Davy climb over Jonathan who groaned under the weight and fell to the floor.
“Where’s Daarai?” Jack asked.
“On the ship,” Shara said, watching the two on the floor. “We didn’t exactly get permission to adopt him, so we’re a little concerned about showing his face on the planet.”
“No, really?” Jack asked, his eyes wide in mock-surprise. “Bring him down, let him play. If anyone says anything, we will deal with it.”
More people beamed in. Inanna, Enki, and Erra. Inanna passed around a few royal kisses and plucked at Nick’s collar.
“Look at you, handsome,” she commented. “I like the leather, but this works, too.”
“See?” Paul informed him as he came out to see what the commotion was about. Inanna planted a sisterly kiss of congratulations on his cheek. His cell phone rang and he excused himself. “No!” everyone heard from the bedroom. Paul came out, white-faced. “The rabbi has tonsillitis!”
Daniel took the cell phone and tossed it to the couch. “You have a house full of people capable of hand-fasting you guys, so relax and pick someone.”
Paul immediately grabbed Daniel's arms, a wild look in his eyes. “You do it! Please please please!!!”
Ninurta came out of the kitchen munching on a bagel.
“He is NOT wearing that to the ceremony,” came a shocked voice from the bedroom doorway. They looked at the tailor. The man was staring aghast at Ninurta.
“You don’t like it?” Ninurta asked, flicking at his worn leather kilt.
“No, he won’t be wearing leather,” Paul assured the man. “He knows how to dress up. Let’s just deal with my pants.” He ushered the man back into the bedroom with Jonathan trailing behind.
“Must he sing?” Jack asked plaintively.
“Yes!” Paul called out from the bedroom.
Jack looked around. “I am still the general, right?”
“For the moment,” Daniel said, tossing a spoon at him.
Enki sat at the table and stared at Jack. Jack stared back.
“Fang needs a walk,” Jack decided.
“He went thirty minutes ago,” Sam reminded him. “Do we need to sit on you to keep you down?”
Jack considered it. “Would you?”
She smiled and squeezed his cheeks, puckering his lips and pecking them.
“I don’t know how I did it, it just happened,” Jack informed Enki. He assumed the old man was staring at him in expectation of conversation regarding the red line in the grass.
“You’re stubborn, Jack,” Enki told him. Someone snickered.
“Not,” Jack said, frowning. “A little. Maybe.”
“Want to see something interesting?” Daniel asked Enki. He tossed the old man a magazine. “He finished that book in two days.”
Enki flipped through the puzzle book, taking a moment to figure out the various types of puzzles.
“Even the advanced puzzles,” he noted. “Relatively easy, actually. These are advanced for you?” he asked Daniel.
“For a lot of people,” Daniel said with a nod. “We’ve been working on his vocabulary for a few years through crossword puzzles, but it’s only recently that he’s been speeding through these.”
Jack looked at the men and shrugged. “What? They were easy.”
“And two years ago you would have been trying to find someone to cheat off of to get them finished,” Daniel reminded him. “Jack, those advanced pages are Mensa puzzles. And you whizzed through them –with a pen. You were not really a slouch in the brains department before this, you were just lazy about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were closing in on Sam’s IQ. You’re definitely past mine. A couple of those puzzles were giving me headaches.”
“I don’t know what it is with you guys,” Sam commented. “Col. Shepherd hides it, too. I had an email from McKay…..”
“He emails you?” Jack questioned.
“Unfortunately,” Sam said. “He discovered that Shepherd coasts through Mensa tests, too. Rodney is feeling snubbed. Shepherd won’t join the Atlantis Mensa club.”
Jack considered asking the obvious questions and changed his mind.
“What’s menses puzzles?” Davy asked, climbing onto Jack’s lap. The adults smiled at the verbal error.
“Mensa is a group of smart people,” Daniel told him. “It’s just the name of their group. They use very hard puzzles to test people. To see how well they learn.”
“Oh.” Davy thought about it. “Is Daddy a smart people?”
“He doesn’t think so, but he is,” Daniel assured him.
“I think so, too,” Davy said, putting an end to the argument.
Jack poked him. “Why don’t you go help Paul with his pants?”
“He’s a big boy, Daddy, he knows how to fix his pants,” Davy explained.
“Oh, right,” Jack nodded. “Then how about you go out and play?”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Yes, I am.”
David gave a big, put-upon sigh and slid off Jack’s lap.
The phone rang and Jerrie answered it in her room.
“Jack, it’s a Dr. Hyman from the hospital,” she said from around the door. “He has a question about Katie.”
“Dr. Hyman?” Jack questioned. “Are you serious? Please tell me he isn’t an OB/GYN.”
She handed him the phone.
“O’Neill. Yes, Doctor, I’m aware of it; file it under current weirdness and just let her help. Dr. Lam can assist you in directing Katie’s education. Thank you, I appreciate your concern.”
“Apparently Katie is diagnosing people by looking at them and it’s beginning to irritate the medical staff,” he told the group after he hung up. He drummed his fingers on the table for a moment.
“Most of the kids I’ve met seem to be doing odd things,” he commented. “A few aren’t doing much of anything except being kids. All of ours are off the charts, even Miss Thing, here.” He tugged gently on Olivia’s toes. She was currently nestled against Ninurta’s chest. “She seems to be a couple months ahead. Catching onto words easier than her brothers and sister did, trying to walk already. Davy senses people’s emotions, Katie, like I said –diagnosing people. Matthew finds depth and connections in information, Stacey picks up languages faster than light-speed and her drawings are almost photographs.”
“She’s pretty good at guessing the three-dimensional shape of something if she sees only one side,” Daniel told them. “Her dimensions are excellent.”
“And one of Mason’s sons, Keith, hears music,” Jack said. Sam nodded.
“Yes, especially in electricity,” she said. “The smallest amount has a musical tone for him. He likes the naquadah better; says its tone is more even and tranquil.”
“The National Educators’ latest newsletter says they’re contemplating giving all primary, secondary, and college level students a new placement test to see if we’re imagining things,” Daniel commented. “The entire curriculum may need to be changed.”
Enki was in contemplation as he pulled on his beard.
“I think it’s Katie, Matthew, and possibly David who may need to be watched,” he suggested. “All of their talents have far-reaching possibilities. We don’t know where Olivia is going, yet, but Zu had some interesting commentary on her. David might be able to hear a lie or omission, but it’s Matthew, especially, who will need direction. His talent could be used for negative purposes.”
“Information,” Jack said. Enki nodded. “He isn’t up for that kind of pressure. He’s learning self-defense, but I can’t see him becoming someone like…. Well, Nick, for the lack of a better example. Matty isn’t ‘covert’ material.”
“Not now,” Daniel conceded. “But we don’t know what kind of man he will become.”
“I believe in nurture over nature,” Jack said. “Matty will be fine.”
“I know he will, Jack, he’s a terrific kid. I’m just saying…..,” Daniel argued.
Sam put a hand on his arm. “You’re saying life happens,” she clarified. “All we can do is love the kids and raise them the best we can. The rest is up to them.”
Daniel pointed and nodded.
“I agree, Jack,” Enki said. “Unless something extreme happens, Matthew is too gentle a person to act covertly. Don’t worry about him. I think, though, you might want to teach him that not everyone who crosses his path will be as ethical as he is.”
“You do realize he managed to change the subject?” Daniel asked the old man. Enki twinkled.
“Oh, I have several thousands of years experience in dealing with precocious boys like him.”
Ninurta ignored him.
“I asked him to turn my coffee mug from brown to lapis,” Daniel said. “I think his focus needs focus. My cup is now one big piece of lapis.”
“Yeah, and what’s the point of me being able to do this stuff?” Jack interjected. “I’m not Superman, I’m not going to fly around the world turning water into wine.”
Daniel looked at him. “Very good, Jack; nice choice. And speaking of religion…..”
“No.”
Thankfully, Jack was saved by the bell. The phone, actually. Someone needed Daniel at his lab. Paul wasn’t happy to be minus Daniel the day before his hand-fasting, but Jack offered him Olivia’s help. Paul turned on his heel and went back to the bedroom and the tailor.
“You be nice,” Sam scolded. “He was invaluable to our hand-fasting, you should be more supportive of his.”
Jack sighed and stuck his head in to apologize. He then escaped the madhouse and stopped in to see his mother. At least she could be counted on to feed him. The peanut butter cookies were nice and warm and chewy as he dunked them into the cold milk.
Maggie put a few dishes away and sat across from him.
“I’ve been trying to understand this thing you did,” she said worriedly. “That red line they said you made in the grass. And this healing thing you do.”
“Believe me, Mom, I’m trying to understand it, too,” he said. “Some people can do things because of genetics. Remember I told you about the Ancients living here on Earth so long ago? Some of them mated with early humans. Their genes are still in some people. You know all those stories about Irish magic and stuff? A lot of the old Celts had the genes.
“You and Dad had their genes. It’s the luck of the draw that I can do a few things. Between those genes and something that happened to me a few years ago, I can do a lot more than most people with the genes.”
“Does your brother have these genes?” she asked.
“Yes, of course,” Jack nodded. “But his didn’t turn on in his brain the same way mine did. He can use some of the Ancient stuff, if he wanted to, but that’s about it.”
“Do the kids have them?” she asked.
“No,” Jack shook his head. “The genes need to come from both parents. Olivia didn’t have them to pass on to Megan, and neither Megan nor Andrew had them to pass on to the kids. The stuff the kids are doing is just part of the leap process.”
She thought about it and shook her head. “Well, it’s all beyond me,” she concluded. “I remember a number of times I heard my mother say, “Well, I never…” and I do believe this is one of those times.”
Jack chuckled and nodded. “I remember Gram saying that, too,” he said. “I think she would have rapped my ears for my latest choices.”
“She would have chased you around the neighborhood with a switch for your latest choices,” Maggie informed him with a knowing waggle of a finger.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Michael found him at their mother’s house just before Jack was about to leave.
“No.”
“Jack…..”
“I said no.” Jack stood his ground, feet almost dug into the floor itself. “I do not have to defend my opinion. I could care less what someone else believes; I am not going to defend my beliefs and lack thereof.”
Michael sighed and sat. “Jack, no one is asking you to defend yourself. We want to hear your opinion, that’s all.”
“Why?”
“Because you have overturned the entire apple cart and the world is interested,” Michael said. “Billions of people DO believe, in whatever manner they see as Truth, and they are looking to their religious leaders for answers. The leaders need to consider your opinion because of who you are. Jack, you have the entire world in the palm of your hands. Everyone watches your every move.”
Jack’s eyes grew bigger. “That’s….. I’m getting better shades for our bedroom window.”
“Your sex life is a different subject,” Michael said dryly. “It’s minor compared to whether or not there is a God. Jack, we need to understand. I know there’s information that no one can have, I made you a promise and I will keep it, but some people are wondering what you are NOT telling them. People are not stupid, they can read between the lines and you’ve left some very big openings, and once Daniel’s book hits the shelves in a couple weeks, people are really going to be looking for answers. The leadership needs as much information as you can provide.”
“Then talk to Daniel,” Jack whined.
“We have been,” Michael said. “And he’s been a great deal of help. Our problem with him is that he speaks our language instead of letting us in on his own personal beliefs.”
The eyes narrowed. “Oh, really?”
Daniel was tracked down in his new lab at HomeSec. He was oblivious to Jack’s entrance until Jack silently came to a halt at his back. Daniel’s hands were inside large, rubber gloves, working under a sterile hood.
“Please don’t make me drop this,” Daniel said carefully. He was attempting to separate a sodden mass. It was found in a swamp and local archaeologists asked him if he had a way of fixing it so that they could figure out what it was.
“Why don’t you just dry it out?” Jack asked.
“Because it would disintegrate. Not that I don’t treasure your presence…..”
“I’ve agreed to go to the meeting tonight,” Jack said. Daniel paused, almost dropping his mess.
“Okay.”
“You’ll come with me, right?”
“Of course, I will. I’m glad you’re doing this, Jack. Go away?”
Jack went away. His cell phone rang on his way to his office. There was probably a pile of papers that needed to be signed.
“O’Neill.” He paused as he listened. “Yes, I agree. Get all teams rerouted to the planet, I’ll call in the ships.”
He hit the comm as he jogged to his office. People jumped out of the way; their general wasn’t usually rushed about anything, but when he was…..
“Sam, you and Paul get into uniform and get moving. We’re sending everyone out to meet up with the Jaffa. Some planet was hit by a very large asteroid and there are a couple million people to evacuate. Apparently it took out a chunk the size of Texas.”
Abigail took one look at her boss and began to prepare for holding down the fort. Jack hit the intercom on his desk as he sent out an all-call from his computer. “Daniel, drop the mud and find me a planet. P7X-893 needs an emergency evacuation. Get a Gate address for them. We need it yesterday.”
All the ships were notified and headed home to pick up personnel and supplies. Jack called the Joint Chiefs and informed the Navy that since they had been complaining about being left out, they could prepare anyone they could spare to help with the evacuations. Get IDs entered into the database immediately and the 303s would begin beaming people up as soon as they were near Earth.
Taking advantage of the Heaven’s Bow in orbit, Jack had himself beamed home. Sam and Paul were organizing their staff as they dressed.
“Is it bad guys, Daddy?” Davy asked, sitting worriedly on the couch.
“No, son,” Jack assured him. “Something bad happened to a planet and we’re going to help the people.” He stripped on his way to the bedroom and picked up the BDU’s that were left on the bed for him. “Jerrie, I’m taking Sam and Daniel with me,” he called out. “Stay put, we’ll call in when we can.”
“Yes, sir.”
Inanna’s family had already beamed up to Heaven’s Bow and begun preparations for their ship. The door to Daniel’s den opened and Michael poked his head out. He had been rummaging through Daniel’s books.
“What’s going on?”
“Michael, I think it’s time you got your hands dirty,” Jack informed him. “I’m drafting you.”
“You’re what?”
“Paul! Get Michael into a pair of my BDUs!”
Jack shoved his brother toward the bedroom. “Jack, you can’t….!”
“Jack, it’s Carolyn,” Jerrie said, holding the phone out. Jack took it and gave her an update. All medical staff except a peripheral staff would be going on the trip.
“General, I’d like to take Katie with me,” Lam said.
Jack stopped. “No -are you kidding?!”
“I’m not kidding,” she said. “We could use her in triage. She did an excellent job with the Koreans that were transferred here. She knows by looking at people how serious their condition is. We need her.”
“She’s a kid. I don’t think so.”
“She’s a kid who lives in your house,” Lam pointed out. “She’s underage, so you do have the final say, but don’t think less of her because of her age. She can handle it. I’ll keep her with me.”
Jack looked at Sam, thinking hard. He looked around and focused on a picture of Katie that was hanging on the wall. He went to it and touched it, forcing himself to center and find her. ….Scared, yet….strong. He hadn’t touched in with Katie in a while and wasn’t expecting to get the sense of belonging she was feeling.
“Let me talk to her.”
Katie was handed the phone.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked. “You are still a kid, Katherine; you are not expected to be up for something like this. Things you saw after the bombing will be minor compared to this. A chunk of planet was blown away by an asteroid, do you understand? If you decide you cannot handle it, we cannot stop to bring you home.”
“I understand, Dad,” she said, sounding more mature than she ever had before. “Please. I want to do this. I think….I need to do this.”
“Alright,” he sighed as Sam gave him a nod. “Go with Dr. Lam and follow every order. As a medic, she’s your C.O.”
He hung up and saw the look on Jerrie’s face. “You, too?”
“I know you need me here, but I can help, too,” she told him. “I have first-aid training.”
Making a decision, Jack called Hammond and updated him. “George, we could really use all available hands,” he said. “Are your kids up to the challenge?”
“The older ones, sure,” Hammond immediately assured him. Everyone who was legal age and capable of the pressure would be recruited as emergency troops. By year four, that was just about all the seniors.
Matty wanted to go, also, the moment he walked in and found out what was going on.
“No,” Jack said.
“I’m 15 and I’ve been training with your guys for almost a year,” Matty reminded him. “Are the Kalam teenagers going?”
Jack sent him to change into his new BDU’s.
“I think the rest can be managed by Mom,” Jack told Jerrie. “We should only be gone a couple of days. You can come with.”
On impulse, Jack called Michael’s friends from the religious advisory board and invited them to help with the evacuations. Feeling pious over the poor, lost aliens, they agreed. Jack knew they had assumed they would be presiding over the wounded and dead. Jack was pleased to inform the incoming Korolev to beam them up.
When word reached Washington that Jack was allowing civilians to help, the equally pious of the country’s leadership also volunteered. Jack accepted the offers from the most irritating of them and told the others that they were needed to stay home and mind the store but thank you very much for the generous offers.
Maynard called him.
“And where were all these humble politicians when hands were needed to rescue the Koreans? They’re full of shit, Francis, and I will put them to work. They haven’t done any real work in years. And I haven’t kidnapped anyone except my brother,” Jack told him. “Everyone else volunteered. We need all the hands we can get to save as many people as possible.”
Daniel called in with a Gate address and the SGC had teams begin evacuating people through their Gate to a temporary home. The Prometheus was in a neighboring solar system and stopped at a Gated planet long enough to pick up personnel and put them down on the wounded planet, taking hours off the transport schedule. The non-military and students were sent down with orders to flag anyone not ambulatory. Pets were rounded up and tossed through the Gate.
The entire planet was undergoing massive quakes and coastal towns were being evacuated first before the coming tidal waves hit. The sky was beginning to darken from all the soot that was being shot into the air by volcanoes. Argos reported that the planet was beginning to tilt.
The ships landed in fields close to towns and took on everyone they could before departing and hustling to the holding planet, dropping people off, and going back for more. Towns nearest to disaster zones were assisted first. Allies began to arrive and assist in the relocation.
Gliders zoomed over the planet, using infrared to find people still alive. Unfortunately, the volcanic heat was starting to hide the signatures. Jack found young Grant and sent him to the other side of the planet with an SG team. The two of them focused on mental signatures in order to locate survivors. A few of the academy students were surprised to see Grant, and to see him dressed in leather and working in concert with the general. A few others were able to sense the presence of people and helped the ground teams.
Katie wasn’t the only one able to tune into a body, much to her own amazement, so there were a small handful of people hustling around looking at the wounded and calling out degrees of injuries for the medics. From the commentary Jack heard, the medics found the assistance helpful even if they didn’t believe it at first. Even T’Keet was bounding over rubble and notifying rescue teams when she smelled a living person.
Instead of praying over the dead and wounded, the clergy found themselves being pushed by squad leaders to do nothing more than collect the living and either shove them through the Gate or help them onto ships. Michael discovered that Jack had been serious when he said he’d be getting his hands dirty. Having claimed to have worked hard all their lives, they had their definition of ‘hard work’ re-written.
A couple of senators and congressmen kept looking around for the cameras so that there was proof of their working with the poor aliens of the doomed planet. Much to Jack’s surprise one of the senators, Brame from Mississippi, actually dug in and worked as hard as the rest of the troops. Paul reminded Jack that Brame was ex-Army who worked his way up the ranks to major during Vietnam. Jack didn’t care what the man thought about three people being married as long as he did the job assigned.
Only the kids got time off for food every few hours and a couple hours of sleep. For two, maybe three days, they’d survive. Most of the kids were legal age; only Katie, Matthew, Vinnie, and a couple others belonging to SG personnel, were underage. No one was really counting the non-Tau’ri children.
While Jack was reviewing the evacuation plans, Katie was taking a two-hour power nap in a corner behind him. Matthew and Vinnie staggered in and fell into a Sua pile across the room. Colonel Reynolds came in shortly after and stuck his head into a bucket of water. SG-1 had taken the boys under their wing.
“Found an old woman caught under rubble,” Reynolds said after coming up for air. He used his shirt to wipe his face. “Vinnie’s still thin and small; he squeezed into the space and helped her out. I will never doubt the bravery or strength of a little gay boy again.”
Jack was exhausted, but he managed to crank one side of his mouth up. “All the kids deserve commendations,” he said quietly, looking at the sleeping boys. “We’ve had three fall under the pressure of real life; I’d say that’s not bad considering we have over sixty with us. How’s the field look?”
“Most of the immediate disaster zones are cleared,” Kevin said. He came to the board and marked off the zones. “The Sua are doing a final sweep with those noses of theirs. If you or Kendrick could finalize the area, that would be great. It’s going to take about a month before the planet is completely uninhabitable, so I recommend that the extended troops can be sent home tomorrow. We can take a little more time with the rest of the population. God, Jack; I wish we had had the time to clear out Korea like this.”
“I know,” Jack agreed, looking out across the deserted city. People had escaped through the Gate with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and maybe a few treasured items from their homes.
Their Gate had been standing unused for centuries, their legends having told that it was from ancient times, from evil demons that had enslaved their ancestors. To say they had been surprised by it coming to life and seeing strange people running in and encouraging them to return through the stone hole would be an understatement. Soon after, more strangers showed up, appearing from nowhere and ships appearing in the skies. Strangers who wanted nothing more than to help them escape the death of the planet.
“There were several hundred thousand people on the continent that the asteroid took out, though. Better than eleven million.”
“How’s the queen?” Reynolds asked after a moment.
“Walking through the infirmaries, I think,” Jack said, looking up toward the Argos in a low orbit. “Inanna’s taking care of her. I know the lady’s upset, but we needed to get things moving and I wasn’t about to beg for her permission every time I gave an order.”
“She’s in shock,” Daniel muttered, stumbling out of a sleeping pile and hunting for a loaf of the local bread. The bread was heavy, having been baked with dried fruits in the dough. “Men don’t give orders in this society. She’ll need to get over it.”
Jack and Reynolds both raised eyebrows. “Pretty radical, Dr. Jackson,” Jack said. Daniel lifted a shoulder.
“I’m too tired to be correct,” he said, biting into the bread.
The local government turned out to be extremely matriarchal. The ruling council was caught between accepting assistance from male strangers who seemed to know what to do in such an emergency, and arguing about taking orders from men. There weren’t many matriarchal societies, but they had run into a few on prior missions. Jack called in Inanna to deal with the women who wanted to argue, while everyone else who wanted to help was welcomed and formed into teams. Jack was a little annoyed by all the politics going on when the planet was dying.
The queen’s youngest daughter, Lisianna, was also annoyed. She was more level-headed and knew when to accept assistance from someone no matter what their gender. Lisianna quickly grasped who was doing what and who was whom, and presented herself to Jack. Jack found a young lady who wasn’t afraid of work. He sent her off with Sam.
“Any leftovers from Ra?” Daniel asked.
“A few odds and ends in various museums,” Reynolds said. “They’ve been sent up to Prometheus’ hold. I didn’t notice anything spectacular, though.”
Colonel Jeffries came into the compound carrying a child who was sniffling and clinging to his neck.
“This little one was hiding under her bed,” he told them. “Could we get someone to take her upstairs and checked out? See if her parents can be found?”
Reynolds immediately called to the Argos. Children separated from parents had turned out to be a problem. In all the hustle and bustle, children were lost, hands dropped, and fear sending them into hiding.
“Cheers, mate,” Jeffries said, turning the child over to Reynolds. The Brit chucked the child under the chin, promised her she’d be taken care of, and took a loaf of bread with him as he went back out. Jack gently touched her cheek. Unknown to her, the scrapes on her face and arms began to heal.
There was an intake of breath behind him. Reynolds gave him a look and took the child away to find her family. Jack sent out a quick feeler.
“Rabbi, how’re you doing?” he asked without turning around. He touched the wire in his ear. “O’Neill. Well, do the best you can, Captain. We can’t force them to leave. People have survived worst. I can’t think of any people off the top of my head, but I’m sure it’s been done. You might try explaining the concepts of ‘nuclear winter’ and ‘extinction level event.’ Out.”
“Daniel, if you’ve caught a second wind, see if you can convince a settlement on the far northern continent that they really need to leave.”
“Are you sure?” Daniel asked quietly in Ancient.
“Yes, I am,” Jack responded. “I’ll be fine.”
The sky was noticeably darker after the couple of days that they were there. Water was showing signs of poison; mostly sulfur. Herders had rounded up their cattle and pulled them through the Gate despite warnings from the scientists that the cattle might not be able to eat the grasses and grains on the other side.
“Do you walk on water, too?” Rabbi Aviram asked, stepping slowly to Jack’s side. Jack thought about it.
“Hey, old man,” he called out toward the pile of sleepers. “Can I walk on water?”
Enki lifted his head from somewhere in the pile. “You could try,” he suggested. “Shara’s our best swimmer; I’ll make sure he’s on hand to rescue you. The mouth-to-mouth part might interest him enough to volunteer.”
“No, I can’t walk on water,” Jack told the rabbi. He held out a hand toward Aviram’s arm and the long gash that was hastily bandaged. Aviram hesitated and then gave him a nod. Jack touched him for a moment.
“Did you get your shots?” he asked. Aviram nodded.
“Yes, before we got here,” he said. He removed the bandage and looked at his arm. The edges of the gash were visibly knitting. He murmured something in Hebrew.
“That’s about all I can do, rav, really,” Jack said.
“I have heard soldiers saying that you can read the thoughts of everyone all at once,” Aviram said. “You can hear the entire world.”
Jack shook his head. “The guys are as superstitious as anyone else. I can sense someone’s presence, if they’re close by, like you are, and I can sense their emotions. I don’t read minds. Haven’t you ever sensed someone near by?”
Aviram thought about it. “I guess I have, yes.”
“Well, I’ve practiced a bit at it, that’s all.”
“And the healing? Has God so blessed you?”
Jack glanced at him. “I don’t know about that,” he said. “It’s a recent thing. Lots of people are doing things, you know that.”
The rabbi looked closely at him and slowly nodded. “Yes, I believe I am beginning to understand why you do not believe in God. You see His secrets unraveling before your very eyes. But, Jack, think about this, would you? The universe, life, is logical. Does that not suggest to you a conscious effort behind the writing of the laws? No, we won’t argue about it here. Please… Think about it? For me?”
After the rabbi left, Jack shook his head and continued with the scheduling. He notified several teams to send their civilians home; the worst of the evacuations were over. He thought it would take longer, but fifty plus ships and a Stargate made a big difference. Jack arched his back, stretching until joints popped.
“You keep healing people like that, it’ll become public,” Ninurta warned him in Ancient, taking note of the people scurrying about the headquarters. He had extracted himself from the pile of sleepers and took a small loaf of the fruit bread.
“I know,” Jack acknowledged. “I’m not so worried about that as I am about what happens if Earth finds out that Enki and the Ancients are the Creator that they’ve been looking for.”
“Yes, that’s a tricky one, isn’t it?” Ninurta agreed unhelpfully. “It doesn’t negate what the rabbi says, though, does it? A conscious effort did go into the writing of the laws. Why don’t you just tell them that you’re agnostic? It isn’t quite a lie.”
Jack thought about it. “And it would get them to leave me alone,” he thought out loud. “For a while, at least.”
The locals may not have been able to understand the Ancient and Jaffa languages being frequently used, but they stopped questioning male-rule when word began to circulate that Jack was a healer. Jack’s wife was seen as a strong leader, and Sam being in the field to help in leading troops comforted them. Most of the locals went to Sam for direction, which took a lot of responsibility off Jack; he could concentrate on the background of the evacuation.
Movement caught his eye and he turned to see Katie waking up. She was watching him from exhausted eyes.
“Did you understand any of that?” he asked.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Can I ask you something personal?”
“Sure, honey.”
“Are you having an affair with Ninurta?”
Surprised, Jack turned to look at her again. “No, honey, of course not. What makes you think that?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Just… the energy, I guess.”
He handed her a bottle of water and a piece of fruit. “Sometimes when two people work closely together in life and death situations, they rely on each other so much that it feels like sexual energy, when it isn’t. That’s all.” The line in Jack’s ear pinged and he touched it.
“O’Neill. Well, beam him out! Oh, fer…… alright. Take me to him.”
Moments later, Jack was stalking his way through a group of villagers. SG-1 was standing defensively as Daniel waited for the guards to get tired of pointing arrows at him.
“Daniel, what are you doing?” Jack asked, coming to a halt next to Reynolds.
Sam beamed in along with SG-3. The women muttered about ‘magic’.
“Jack, just chill, will you?” Daniel asked. “I’m fine.”
“Daniel, you have …1, 2, 3….. nine women pointing arrows at you. In what way is this “fine”?”
“I’m negotiating,” Daniel said.
Jack crossed his arms and waited. He felt a hand on his back.
“Let me?” he heard Sam ask. He nodded and she stepped forward.
“May I ask what the problem is?” she asked the archers.
One of the women lifted a haughty chin.
“These men say we must leave,” she informed Sam. “They say our world is dying. It is a demon-lie and we will have no more of it!”
“It isn’t a lie,” Sam assured her. “An asteroid, a very large rock from space, hit a southern continent. I can show you the damage.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “You are under their control.”
“We are a military organization and General O’Neill is my superior officer,” Sam clarified, gesturing toward Jack. “That is all. We are trying to help you. Most of your people are already on another planet and they will make their new home there. We want to help you to survive, too.”
The woman poked at Daniel with the tip of her arrow. “This one touched me without permission.”
“Daniel, apologize for touching the lady,” Sam told him.
“I did,” he said.
“Well, tell her again.”
“I’m sorry for touching you without permission,” Daniel said easily.
The woman looked closely at Sam. “These men will obey you?” she asked.
Sam leaned on her P-90 and shifted. “Well, he’s one of my husbands, so if he doesn’t obey me, he’ll be sleeping alone.”
Someone hid a snicker as the women relaxed slightly and whispered amongst themselves.
“You have more than one man?” the first woman asked.
“The general is my other husband,” Sam said, cocking her head in Jack’s direction. “He only gives orders when we are at work.”
“Two is an honorable number,” the woman reluctantly conceded. “I have three.” Her chin was held high, daring Sam.
Sam inclined her head respectfully. “You must be very powerful and wealthy in your village, to support three men. Will you allow me to show you the damage to your planet? It might help in decision making and making sure your men are safe.”
The women whispered again.
“We will hear your words,” they decided.
“Thank you. Daniel, do you have your laptop?”
“It’s in my bag,” he said. “They took it.”
“May I have the bag he was carrying? There is an instrument in it that will show you the damage.”
The woman sent one of the men to fetch the bag. He held it out to Sam from a polite distance and stepped back when she took it.
“Thank you.” She took the laptop and powered it up as the women gathered cautiously around to watch. She brought up the active monitors from the Prometheus in orbit and carefully told her audience what they were seeing. They didn’t really understand how the gash in the planet could hurt them on the other side of the world. Sam looked around and found a round melon.
“General, would you please take a shot at this?” she asked Jack, offering a silent apology for the order. Jack understood. He aimed and hit the melon once. People jumped at the unexpected sound and looked at the melon. Sam tried to roll it.
“That’s what your planet is going to do,” she said, exaggerating slightly. “It’s going to keep trying to turn, but it’s going to get stuck on that hole and it will turn on its side. Are there caves here? What kinds of things grow deep in the caves where no sunlight ever goes?”
“Poison plants,” someone called out. Others called out names of plants and poisonous insects.
“Right,” Sam said. She held her hat over the melon, shading it. “The blast into the planet kicked so much dust into the air that it will be years until the sun will shine again. All the plants will die. Without plants, people and animals will die. We can’t force you to leave, but this is what is going to happen if you stay. Before the year is over, you and all the plants and animals will be dead. We want you to live. We want you to grow and we want your children to grow.”
The villagers looked at the clouded sky and the poor melon as they considered Sam’s words.
“Where is Queen Hannan?” someone asked.
“She’s on one of our ships helping people who were injured,” Sam said. “We can bring her here, if you’d like.”
The people would like that very much. While the queen was being found, Sam had Lisianna beamed in. The villagers were somewhat relieved to see the young lady as she walked around, reassuring people of the good intentions of the strangers and that she had flown in their ships and had seen the damaged land with her own eyes. The land was rumbling and breaking apart near the damage and it was spreading along the ground’s power lines. Mountains were being born amidst red rivers so hot that they burned and melted everything in their path. Some people wanted to know about the evil god that had brought their ancestors to the planet. Sam assured them that the god was dead; they can live as they will on the new planet and no one will bother them.
The queen was beamed in, impressing the people once more by the magic. She smiled with a superior grace and walked among them, letting them see that she was alive and well. Jack was glad Inanna was dealing with the queen because he would have walked away from her two days earlier. He contemplated vetoing a protectorate status for them, and then decided he was being pissy; can’t condemn an entire society based on the arrogance of one queen. She flicked her robes away from the grubby hands of a child. Jack scowled and shifted his feet.
“You alright?” he asked quietly as Daniel came to his side.
“I’m fine,” Daniel said, wiping his glasses on the hem of his shirt and rearranging them on his face. Several people had recommended laser eye surgery but Daniel shuddered at the thought of a laser beam in his eyes. “They’re a little more conservative than the city people. New York versus Kansas. I did make a discovery, though.”
“What’s that?” Jack asked.
Daniel leaned in and nudged Jack’s arm with his. “Think I can get Sam to dress up in one of those archer outfits and hold an arrow at me while she makes me do things?”
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