Fic: Intersecting Leaps
Feb. 7th, 2011 04:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smg01Title: Intersecting Leaps
Author:: suzannemarie
Characters:: Classic SG-1, Sam Beckett, Al Calavicci
Rating: G/Gen
Word count: 6543
Spoilers: Episode specific for 1969
Written for SG-1 Crossover Alphabet Soup (SG-1/Quantum Leap)
Summary: Sam Beckett leaps into SG-1's leap back to 1969.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and all of it’s characters, etc. are owned by people who are not me. People like MGM, SciFi, etc., etc. This story is just for fun. An homage if you will.
Notes: I'm ordinarily a stickler for canon. There's one exception. I refuse to acknowledge the final few minutes of the final episode of Quantum Leap. That may or may not a be factor in this story. My apologies for that particular blind spot.
_____
He blinked and began a swift inventory of his situation and surroundings: green military fatigues and boots, his hands shackled in front of him. A healing cut on one palm itched.
He was seated on a bench in the back of some sort of van. Looking around, he saw three men in similar attire. Across from him, a youngish man with shaggy brown hair was looking earnestly at an older man with graying hair who wore a cross expression. He looked to his right to see a formidably large black man with a gold emblem that appeared to be imbedded in his forehead.
The large man suddenly started and stared intently at the person to his left. His expression hardened. “Who are you?” he demanded.
Taken aback, Sam Beckett stared back. “Oh boy,” he said under his breath.
***
Bewildered, she looked around the small, featureless chamber in which she unexpectedly found herself.
“Hey!” she shouted as she turned, looking for the exit.
She jumped as she caught a bit of a reflection of herself in the metal along the door frame. Puzzled, she walked closer and peered intently at herself. Why was she was wearing these white, loose-fitting clothes that that looked so much like scrubs? And why did she look like a man?
The door opened and a man of indeterminate age bounded into the room, nearly colliding with her. He was dressed casually in khaki pants and a bright blue jersey. He carried a colorful handheld computer in his left hand. He raised his right hand in a placating manner.
“What the hell is going on?” she demanded. “Where’s my team?”
“You’re perfectly safe,” he said in a reassuring voice.
She was not placated. “Who are you? Where’s my team?” She asked again.
“My name is Al Calavicci. I’m part of Project Quantum Leap. We’ll get you back where you belong as soon as we can, but we need some information from you in order to do that. Could I get your name?”
“Captain Samantha Carter, U.S. Air Force. That’s as much as I’ll say.”
Al lowered the computer that he had held poised for action. He gave Sam an appraising look. She would require convincing before she would be willing to cooperate, but at least she was not too terrified to interact with him.
“Captain Carter, I’m Admiral Al Calavicci.” He placed a slight emphasis on admiral. His voice and stance became subtly more authoritative. He pulled his ID from a pocket and handed to Sam to examine. He was pleased to see that the rank had gotten her attention. “My partner, Dr. Sam Beckett, is the creator of Project Quantum Leap.”
“Sam Beckett?” Sam repeated, her interest piqued.
Al’s expression sharpened. “You know him?”
“I’ve never met him, but I’ve read his work. He’s brilliant. I wanted to recruit him for my own work, but he fell completely off the grid a few years ago and we couldn’t make contact.”
As Al tried to decide how to respond to that, the computer in his hand beeped softly and lit up. He glanced down to read the information. He chuckled softly. “Speaking of falling off the grid, we can’t find any record for you after 1996. You--oh!... this is strange. You also appear in the historical record as having been arrested as a suspected spy in 1969. Which is quite an accomplishment, considering that you had only been born the year before.”
“1969. We really did travel back thirty years,” Sam said to herself.
“You’re taking that news remarkably in stride.” Al gave her another appraising look.
“I’m not taking in stride being yanked away from from team, and,” she looked again at her reflection, “apparently yanked out of my body too.”
“It’s a perception filter. You’re still you,” Al said absently as he looked again at his miniature computer. He hit it impatiently a couple of times, evidently hoping to jar more information from it.
In spite of the situation, Sam smiled at the sight. It reminded her of Colonel O’Neill and she found that oddly reassuring.
Al looked at Sam again with a renewed focus. He considered for a moment. “What do say we put our cards on the table? Your work is classified?”
Sam hesitated. The reference to Dr. Beckett intrigued her. The Admiral appeared to be a bit unorthodox, but she had become accustomed to officers who took a creative approach things. She would need more information to solve her situation. She decided to take a chance.
“Very classified. Yours?”
“Yes,” Al nodded.
“What are you working on?” Sam and Al asked each other simultaneously.
“Time travel,” Al answered.
“Wormhole travel,” Sam said at the same time.
“Time travel?” Sam repeated.
“Wormholes?” Al asked simultaneously.
Each stared at the other incredulously.
“Is your project why my team and I were thrown back in time?” Sam asked tersely.
“Absolutely not.” Al looked at his computer. “But your jump in time is probably what brought us together.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’ll summarize as succinctly as I can. Sam had a theory about time travel within individual lifetimes. He built this facility to turn the theory into reality. After the government started demanding result,. Sam was determined to prove his theories before he lost funding. He stepped into this accelerator and activated it before it was really ready. That’s when things went a little caca. He moved in time, but he did it by leaping into the life of another person. To the people around him, he still looked like the person he replaced. Meanwhile, the person that he leaped into replaced Sam here in the accelerator. Ziggy--that’s the name of the artificial intelligence that Sam created--worked out that Sam needed to put something right that had gone wrong in that person’s history and that once it was put right, Sam would leap out again.”
“Really? Did that work?” Sam made little attempt to disguise her skepticism.
“Yes, he leaped out when that situation was fixed. But he leaped into a new person’s life. Ever since then, he’s been leaping from life to life to put right what had gone wrong. Whether it’s God, or fate, or some other force of the universe at work, we don’t really know, but we’ve never been able to bring him home.” Al sighed. “I can appear to him as a hologram. He’s the only who can see me. That keeps us linked. For each new leap, Ziggy uses the information we gather to calculate the odds of what he’s there to change and then we figure out how to do it. What we need to do now is figure out what needs to be changed so that you can go back and Sam can move on.”
“Sam considered for a moment. “I always believed that one of the rules of time travel would be not changing history. But if what you say is true, maybe your mission is to return my team to 1999,” she said thoughtfully.
“Ziggy can determine the odds. Do you want to meet her?”
“The artificial intelligence?”
“Yes.”
“I’d very much like to meet her,” Sam said eagerly.
“Come on,” Al gestured and led the way out of the chamber. He paused outside the entrance to pick up the cigar that he had left there.
Sam looked around the spacious laboratory, taking in computers, electronic equipment, and white boards.
“Greetings, Captain Carter,” a melodic voice said.
“Uh, hello. Ziggy?” Sam said.
“Yes. I am the intelligence keeps everything running.”
Sam looked at Al who shrugged back at her. “She has a bit of an ego. Why Sam saw fit to give her one, is something I’ll never understand.”
Sam smiled. “It’s nice to meet to meet you Ziggy,” she said.
“Captain Samantha Carter, U.S. Air Force. Born in 1968. You hold a doctorate and are an astrophysicist. In 1996 you transferred from the Pentagon to the Cheyenne Mountain facility in Colorado Springs. Officially your work involves deep space telemetry. I have found references to something called the Stargate Program, but I have not yet been able to access anything about it.”
“You’ve failed Ziggy?” Al teased.
“I have not failed,” Ziggy said icily. “I have not yet succeeded.
“The information is of the highest classification,” Sam acknowledged. “I’m not surprised that you’re having trouble.”
“We will need you to fill in the gaps,” Ziggy said.
“Yes,” Sam said hesitantly. “I suppose so.”
“You still don’t trust us, Captain,” Al commented.
“Well it’s all a little far fetched,” Sam admitted. “Of course few people would believe what I do for a living if I told them. What year is this, anyway?”
“2008,” Al told her.
Sam exhaled softly.
“I should really catch up with Sam. Captain, Ziggy can give you access to information to confirm everything I’ve told you. The sooner you help us, the sooner we can help you get back where you belong. We need your help.”
Sam looked around the facility. She turned back to Al and studied him intently. She could see that he was barely containing his impatience. She had the sense that he was of a type who typically sprang into action in an instant. She was again reminded of Colonel O’Neill. This helped tip the balance.
“It would seem that I don’t have much choice. I’ll do what I can, sir,” Sam told him.
“Thank you. If you’ll work with Ziggy, I need to get to Sam. Ziggy will communicate with me through this computer.” Al indicated the device that he still held in his left hand.
“Yes, sir,” Sam said again.
Al nodded and entered the accelerator.
“Shall we begin, Captain Carter?” Ziggy said.
***
“Teal’c?” the older man asked, baffled.
“Where is Captain Carter?” Teal’c asked Sam.
“I don’t understand, Teal’c. She’s right here. Sam?” the younger man appealed to the object of Teal’c’s accusation.
I get to use my own name, Sam smiled to himself. And apparently I’m a woman. He looked Teal’c’s unfriendly face and sobered instantly.
“I’m Sam,” he tried to sound confident.
“This is not Captain Carter,” Teal’c insisted. “Can you not see that she has been replaced by a man?”
“I cannot,” said the older man.
Teal’c stretched out his shackled hands to grip Sam at the juncture of his shoulder and neck. “How did you switch places with Captain Carter? Where is she?”
Al joined Sam. He took in the sight of Teal’c’s stern expression and the tight grip maintained on Sam. “Sam. Making friends?” Al asked lightly.
“That’s not helping,” Sam growled under his breath.
Al waved his cigar in acknowledgment. “You’re Air Force Captain Samantha Carter. You’re an astrophysicist and part of a classified program at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs.” Al paused to look at Sam appreciatively. “And you’re a knockout.”
Sam attempted to glare at Al and give a reassuring look at the other three men at the same time.
“And,” Al chuckled wryly, “get this, you’re normal time period is 1999, but somehow you and your team got thrown back to 1969.”
Startled, Sam forgot all about trying to pretend that he was not interacting with Al. “What? How?” he asked, looking directly at him.
“We’re still figuring that out.” Al punched some buttons on his computer and began reading new information that was being sent. “You work for a program called Stargate Command. You are part of a team called called SG-1. It’s led by Colonel Jack O’Neill. The other members are Daniel Jackson, who is an archaeologist, and the gentleman holding on to you is Teal’c. You’ve all just been taken into custody as suspected spies.”
Sam looked around at his companions, mentally matching the names to his companions. It was then that he noticed that Daniel and Jack continued to stare curiously at Teal’c, while Teal’c was looking rather fixedly in Al’s direction.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“You can see me?” Al asked, astonished.
“Indeed.”
“And he can see me,” Sam said.
Al stared at his electronic device. “It must because he’s an alien,” he decided.
“Alien?” Sam said. “Like, alien alien?”
“Alien-alien,” Al confirmed.
“Would someone tell me what the hell is going on!” Jack finally said impatiently.
Al and Sam looked at each other. “Based on the conversation I had with Captain Carter, I think we should tell them,” Al said.
“You sure?” Sam asked.
“Yeah.”
Sam turned to Jack. “Teal’c is right. I’m not Captain Carter. My name is Sam Beckett.”
Jack’s expression hardened. “Where’s Carter?” he asked.
“It’s not where so much as when,” Sam said.
“”When?” Daniel asked, confused.
Sam winced as Teal’c grip tightened. “She’s in 2008.”
“Explain,” Jack said coldly.
“It all started years ago when I began theorizing about time travel. Imagine a ball of string--”
“Ah!” Jack raised his hands in protest. “Just what’s relevant. Five sentences or less.”
Sam exhaled and thought for a moment. “A time travel experiment went wrong a few years ago. Instead of traveling in time as myself, I leaped into the life of someone else. I stay in that person until we fix what went wrong in that person’s history. My partner, Al Calavicci appears to me in the form of a hologram that usually only I can see and hear. We believe that God or some other force is what sends me from one life to the next.”
All three members of SG-1 leaned back, absorbing what Sam had told them. Teal’c released Sam.
“Calavicci,” Jack said. “That name seems familiar, but I can’t place it.”
Al had been staring hard at Jack. A look of recognition suddenly registered on on his face.
“Lieutenant Jack O’Neill was part of the escort company when I returned from Vietnam with other released POWs. He sat next to me on the flight home,” Al told Sam.
“Do you remember accompanying an ex-POW home from Vietnam?” Sam asked Jack.
“Yes,” Jack said slowly. “He was a marine, right?”
“Navy!” Al exclaimed.
“Navy,” Sam repeated.
“I remember that he looked forward to getting home to Bess.”
“Beth.” Al and Sam spoke together.
“Beth. How is she?”
Al became very busy studying his computer. Sam did not reply.
“I’m sorry. I’ve been there,” Jack said.
“I know,” Al said quietly as he read his computer. “I’m sorry too.” He turned to Jack. “I’ve never forgotten how considerate you were on the trip home.”
“Al says thank you for being a good travel companion on the way home,” Sam said.
Jack nodded. “Did he stay in the Navy?” he asked curiously.
“He did. He became an astronaut and an admiral.”
Jack unconsciously sat a little straighter.
“So how do we get our Sam back?” Daniel asked.
“We have to figure out the wrong that needs to be put right. Al?” Sam said.
Al was reading the information that was now flowing rapidly into his computer. “Ziggy says that there’s a 98.7 percent chance that you’re here to make sure that SG-1 returns to their own time.”
“How did they get thrown into the past to begin with?”
“SG-1 is an elite team with Stargate Command.” He paused to give the computer a frustrated slap. “They travel to planets throughout the galaxy using an ancient device known as a stargate. The stargate is a portal that creates wormholes that allow for instantaneous travel from one planet to the next.”
“Wormholes?” Sam asked with interest.
“Hold on a second,” Al said, cocking his head and listening. He walked out of view. A few seconds later he reappeared and placed a holographic sheaf of papers on the floor in front of Sam. “Ziggy and Captain Carter put together a tutorial for you on stargates and the program.”
Sam quickly read through the information while the others traded confused looks. “Wormholes only go one way,” he said. “Interesting.”
“Yes, fascinating,” Jack said dryly.
Sam finished reading and looked at SG-1. “You were using the stargate when you went back in time?”
“Yes,” Daniel said. “We stepped through the gate and instead of traveling in space we traveled in time. For a minute we were in both 1999 and 1969, and then we were just here.”
“And it’s important that they get back,” Al said. “When they went back in time it changed the entire course of the program. You read that General George Hammond was the commander, and that in the early days of the program SG-1 met Teal’c, who joined them and began a rebellion against the Goa’uld.”
“Yes,” Sam said.
“When they went back in time, all of that history changed. They met Lieutenant George Hammond who they managed to convince to try to help them. He was caught and discharged from the Air Force. SG-1 never made it home.” Al gave an annoyed sigh and hit his computer again. “Teal’c sacrificed himself by removing his larval Goa’uld and killing it so that it could not take over anyone here. Since Hammond wasn’t there, a different commander oversaw the start of the SGC. When SG-1 and SG-2 were overdue in their return from their joint mission to Chulak, he locked them out and the program was shut down. The Jaffa rebellion against the Goa’uld ended before it could begin.”
Teal’c, who had been listening intently dropped his head as Al finished his recitation. Jack and Daniel watched his dismayed reaction curiously.
“What?” Jack asked.
“If we do not return, it will be as if everything that we have done never happened,” Teal’c said.
“Then let’s get back,” Jack said. “How do we do that?”
“Captain Carter believes that there was a solar flare at the instant you used the gate,” Al said, still reading from his computer. “She says that she theorized at one time about using the gate for time travel and that one of the theories involved solar flares. Stepping through the gate again at the precise instant of another flare should get you back home.”
“Great,” Jack said sarcastically when the information was relayed to him. “All we need to do is find a gate and arrange for a solar flare. Piece of cake.”
“Captain Carter and Ziggy have located the gate in storage at an armory in Washington, D.C. According to the record of your arrest, it’s August 4. Ziggy will look for any solar flares that will be occurring soon.”
“All right, then,” Jack said when Sam repeated Al’s news. “All we need to do is escape, make our way to DC, find the gate, and go home.”
“Piece of cake.” Daniel echoed Jack’s earlier comment.
“Indeed,” Teal’c said.
“It gives us a chance,” Jack told them. “I’m not sure where we’re being taken, but they’re probably going to try to split us up when we get there, so we’re going to have to act fast,” he speculated.
“He’s right,” Al said. “You’re headed toward Cannon Air Force Base.” He checked his watch. “You’re still a few hours away, but there’ll be pit stop soon. That’s going to be your best chance.”
“Will they let us out when we stop?” Teal’c asked.
“No,” Al said, checking the computer. “But Lieutenant Hammond will be watching you during the stop. According to the historical record, that’s when you took your chance to escape.”
“We must again somehow convince General Hammond to help us,” Teal’c said.
“Yes,” Al agreed.
“We’ve got to make sure he doesn’t get in trouble over it this time,” Jack said.
“How do we do that?” Daniel asked.
Jack thought for a moment. “Is our gear going with us?” he asked.
Al checked the computer. “It’s in a second truck following behind.”
“Yes, it’s following behind,” Sam said relayed.
“If we can get ahold of a zat, we can incapacitate them long enough to escape. We need to make it appear that Hammond is as a victim along with everyone else,” Jack said.
“And then we head for DC?” Daniel asked.
“That’s the idea,” Jack told him.
“Are we even going to be able to get to the gate if we make to DC?” Daniel wondered.
“We’ll worry about that when we get there,” Jack said.
“And will it power up? It won’t have been used for centuries,” Daniel fretted.
“One thing at a time, Daniel,” Jack told him.
“From what I was reading, there should still be a residual charge within the gate itself, even after all this time,” Sam said. “If we can find a way to introduce a strong enough charge of electricity, it’ll be like priming a pump. It should be able to produce enough of a charge to engage once.”
“I believe Sam Beckett is correct,” Teal’c said.
“There you go,” Jack said.
They fell silent for a few minutes.
“Hey,” Daniel said suddenly. “How come Teal’c can see Sam and Al and we can’t?”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed.
“Probably because he’s an alien,” Sam said. “Al’s and my brain waves were incorporated into the computer program that powers the Leap project. Because our brain waves are tied into the computer, Ziggy--the computer--was able to create the hologram of Al that I can see. We’ve also had the experience of animals or very young children being able to see him. Since Teal’c isn’t human, his perception field must also be just different enough to see past the filter that makes me look like Captain Carter and allows him to see Al.”
Daniel nodded.
“How do you intend to persuade General Hammond to assist us?” Teal’c asked.
“Talk until we convince him that we’re legit and worth the risk,” Jack said
“If we did it before, I guess we can do it again,” Daniel said.
“We have to make the most of it this time,” Jack said.
The van decelerated and came to stop. A few minutes later the back door opened and a young officer stepped in. He wore a nameplate that identified him as Hammond. He closed the door and took a seat.
Jack, Teal’c, and Daniel all looked at him eagerly. He looked back warily.
“No funny business,” Hammond said briskly.
“We wouldn’t dream of it,” Jack assured him.
“It is an honor to meet you as a young man General Hammond,” Teal’c said gravely.
“Teal’c--” Jack made an involuntary gesture, then subsided.
“You must not have gotten much training if you think I’m a general,” Hammond said sardonically. “You’ll have to do better than that if you’re trying to flatter me.”
“But you will be a general and we’ll know you when you are,” Daniel said.
“Sure,” Hammond shook his head and chuckled mirthlessly.
“We will,” Jack told him. “In about thirty years.”
“What?”
“That’s about how far back in time we’ve traveled,” Jack explained.
“You’re not spies. You’re lunatics. Or you just think I’m stupid enough to believe this nonsense.” Hammond looked disgusted and stood up.
“Wait, please,” Daniel pleaded. “We can prove it.”
“This should be good,” Hammond smiled wryly.
“It’s 1969?” Jack asked.
“August 4th,” Hammond confirmed.
Jack looked at Daniel. “What happened in ’69?”
“There was the moon landing. That was just a couple of weeks ago, right?”
“Everyone knows that!” Hammond said, unimpressed.
“But not everyone knows that you watched it at your father’s bedside in his hospital room a couple of days after he had a heart attack,” Jack said.
“How... how did you know that? Hammond wanted to know.
“Because we know you. And you’ll know us in thirty years. Please, sir. We need your help. I promise you won’t regret it.” Jack was at his most pleading and earnest.
Lieutenant Hammond stared at him for a long moment. He looked at Daniel, Teal’c, and Sam who also wore expressions of entreaty. He hesitated. Then he came to a decision. He took the keys from his pocket at leaned over to unlock Jack’s handcuffs.
“I don’t know why I’m doing this. I hope I’m not making a mistake,” Hammond said softly.
“You are not,” Teal’c said.
“What are you going to do?” Hammond asked.
“I think it’s best if you don’t know,” Jack told him. “Let’s just say that we’re trying to get back to where we belong.”
“Or when we belong, as the case may be,” Daniel chirped.
Sam smiled at him. Jack grimaced.
“We don’t want to hurt anyone, but we’ve also got to incapacitate the guards,” Jack said.
Hammond hesitated and held up a zat. “We were passing this around earlier. Would it help?”
“Perfect.” Jack said, taking it in hand.
Hammond peeked out the back door of the van. “They’re all coming back now,” he said.
“Okay,” Jack said. “Call for help.”
“What?”
“The dangerous foreign agents that you guard have inexplicably freed themselves,” Teal’c said.
“Got it.” Hammond jumped out of the van. “Help!” he shouted.
The other guards ran toward the van. Jack shot each of them with the zat as they approached the van. Soon SG-1 and Hammond stood in the midst of several unconscious men. Quickly, Teal’c and Jack placed the personnel in the back of the van.
“Is our gear in that other truck?” Jack asked Hammond.
“Yes,” Hammond confirmed.
Jack trotted to the other van and jumped into the back. After breaking the lock on the metal box inside, he retrieved another zat and their GDO. He fired a zat at the box three times, disintegrating it and its contents.
“That takes care of the physical evidence that we were here,” Jack said as he hopped out of the van.
“Sam!” Al said. “Ziggy says that there are two solar flares coming up. August 10th at 9:15 am and August 11th at 6:03 pm.”
“O’Neill. We need to get to the gate by August 10th or 11th. Al says that there will be a solar flare on each of those days,” Teal’c said.
“Understood,” Jack nodded.
Sam turned to Lieutenant Hammond. “Do you have a pen and paper?”
Curiously, Hammond dug a scrap of paper out of his billfold and handed it to Sam along with a pen.
While Sam scribbled the dates and times that Al had provided, Jack turned to Hammond.
“Do you have any money?” Jack asked.
Hammond looked inside his billfold. “Some,” he admitted, fingering it.
Jack did not give him time to think. “Thanks,” he said taking it out of Hammond’s hands. “I’ll pay you back, with interest. You have my promise.”
Sam added an IOU to his note and handed it and the pen to Hammond. “You must remember these dates. Here’s a note for reference.” Sam held up his left hand. “Years from now, you’ll see us leave for a mission when my palm looks exactly like this. When we do, we’ll need to know these dates. You’ll have to decide how best to send that information with us, but it’s crucial that you do it.”
“Send these dates with you when you have a healing cut,” Hammond sounded dazed. He folded the note over twice and tucked it into his sock.
“That’s it. I know it doesn’t make sense now, but it will. Everything is going to be all right,” Sam reassured him.
“And you’ve got to keep everything you’ve seen and we’ve said a secret,” Jack added.
Hammond gave a bark of laughter. “Who would believe me?” he asked. “I’m not sure I believe any of this. I do like the sound of General Hammond though.”
“As do I,” Teal’c told him.
“Anything else?” Hammond said.
“Nothing. We’re out of here. And I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, but it’s to keep you from being court-martialed.”
Jack raised his zat and fired. Teal’c caught Hammond as he collapsed and laid him gently in the truck with his fellow officers.
They looked around. As improbable as it seemed, no one was in sight or appeared to have seen anything that had just transpired.
“Now what?” Daniel asked.
“We get to DC,” Jack said.
“How?” Daniel wanted to know.
Jack set a brisk pace away from the scene of their escape. “We could always hitch,” he said.
“Hitch?” Teal’c questioned.
“It’s a way of getting rides when you don’t have transportation of your own,” Daniel explained. “You hold out your thumb as you walk along the road to signal that you’re looking for a ride and sometimes people stop and pick you up.”
“That does not seem very reliable,” Teal’c commented.
“It’s chancy, because if someone comes by who discovers that we’re wanted we could end up right back where we started,” Sam cautioned. “But I don’t have a better idea.”
“About ten miles to the northwest, there are are railroad tracks. Ziggy says that you could stow away on an eastbound freight train,” Al suggested.
“Riding the rails, eh?” Jack said when Sam had relayed Al’s information.
No came up with an idea that they liked better so Al, who had already been so essential to their escape, continued as their guide as they pressed on.
Near Albuquerque, he directed them onto their first boxcar. Eight train changes, one thirty six hour layover, and one seven hour delay for a stalled train later, they arrived in Baltimore at 6:00 on morning of August 10th. They slipped wearily off the train, and worked their way stealthily out of the rail yard.
“We’ve got about three hours to get to Fort McNair,” Jack said, checking his watch.
“Or 36 hours if we miss the first flare,” Daniel commented.
“Let’s aim for making the first one,” Jack said.
“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed.
“How are we going to get there?” Daniel asked.
They all looked at each other uneasily.
“Can’t we just borrow a car?” Sam finally said.
“Would that not be considered stealing?” Teal’c asked.
“Well, we wouldn’t be keeping it,” Daniel rationalized. “If all goes well, we’ll be thirty years away from the crime and the car would get back to its owner eventually.”
“If you’re caught, theft will be the least of your problems anyway. If you succeed, the theft won’t matter,” Al commented.
“We’re in big trouble if we’re caught. Car theft won’t make much difference,” Jack said.
“What?” Jack asked when Sam and Teal’c both stared at him.
“That’s almost exactly what Al said,” Sam told him.
“Great minds,” Jack said.
“Ordinarily I’d have Carter do the hotwiring. I guess I can do it,” Jack said.
“I’ll do it,” Sam said.
“Okay, then. Let’s find a car,” Jack said.
They watched as a railway worker arrived for his shift. He parked in a far corner of the parking lot and entered one of the buildings.
Sam made quick work of starting up the station wagon that the owner had helpfully left unlocked. By 6:45 they were on the road and on their way to Fort McNair.
By 8:15 were within a mile of the base. They stopped and prepared to leave the car behind. Daniel was busily scribbled a note before stepping out of the car.
“What are you doing?” Jack asked.
“Letting whoever finds the car know that it should be returned to the train station in Baltimore.”
“Okay.” Jack dug their remaining cash out of this pocket and left it in the glove compartment. “Let’s go.”
Following Al’s lead, they took a circuitous route onto the base and to the large storage building that housed the stargate. They entered the building and came face to face with a surprised soldier who was walking out.
“Who are you and what are you doing here,” he demanded.
“It’s part of the secret war games exercises, Seargent,” Jack said.
“What war games?”
“It wouldn’t be much of a secret if everyone knew, now would it?” Jack said.
“No.” Jack had sounded so authoritative and the guard was so surprised that he was almost convinced.
“We’ll secure the building, son. You stand guard outside,” Jack said.
The guard started to obey, then thought better of it. “Wait a minute...” he began, turning to Jack.
From his other side, Teal’c shot him with a zat. Daniel and Sam dragged him quickly to a supply closet while Jack and Teal’c made quick work of opening the crate that held the stargate.
“Wow!” Sam said as he joined Jack and Teal’c just as the crate fell away from the gate.
“Where do we go?” Jack asked the group at large.
“Oh, uh,” Al started punching buttons on his computer. “Captain Carter says that you need to dial the same location that you did before: P2X-555.”
“And that’ll get us back?” Jack asked
“It should,” Al said.
“Should?”
“Do you have a better idea?” Daniel asked.
Jack shrugged. “No.”
Teal’c and Daniel began to dial the gate manually.
“How are we going to power this thing?” Jack asked.
Sam looked around the storage hanger. His eye fell on several jeeps in at the far end of the building. “There,” he pointed.
“Gotcha,” Jack said.
Sam and Jack ran across the floor to the jeeps. They found jumper cables in the toolboxes, started two of the jeeps and drove them near the gate. They hooked the cables to the gate and began revving the engines.
For a tense moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then the first chevron lit up. Sam watched in fascination.
“Ziggy says this is it Sam!” Al said. “The history has changed. SG-1 makes it back to 1999. Lieutenant Hammond was never implicated in your escape and eventually he becomes General Hammond and takes over Stargate Command. With him in charge, SG-1 isn’t locked out when they are overdue from their first mission to Chulak. Teal’c arrives with them and Jack convinces Hammond to let him join SG-1.”
Al started talking faster as the second and third chevron lit up. “Two years later when SG-1 leaves for their mission to P2X-555, General Hammond slips Captain Carter a note, telling her to keep it in her vest pocket. Lieutenant Hammond finds that note, which convinces him to help them. The note gives them the dates and times of the solar flares.”
The fourth and fifth chevron locked. “SG-1 hitches across the country with a young couple on the way to Woodstock. They visit Catherine Langford to learn the location of the stargate. In fact, Daniel’s and Sam’s visit to Catherine is a catalyst for her to push for renewed research into the gate. Years later Catherine visits one of Daniel Jackson’s lectures and remembers when a young man who looked just like him and spoke with a curious accent visited her in 1969 to ask about the stargate. That helps convince her to recruit him when the military decides to try to get the stargate to work. Daniel comes up with the final insight that leads them to open the gate.”
The sixth and seventh chevron engaged and the gate engaged.
“Awesome!” Sam exclaimed. His expression was one of pure delight.
“Whoa!” Al said.
“The Stargate Program makes an enemy of the Goa’uld, but they also find powerful new friends and allies. Eventually there’s a new galactic order because SG-1 was there to light the spark and the Goa’uld are overthrown,” Al concluded his historical recitation.
Daniel entered SG-1’s iris code in the GDO.
“Let’s go!” Jack said
“Wait!” Al called.
“Wait!” Sam and Teal’c repeated.
“Why?” Jack asked.
“Why?” Sam asked Al.
“You have to enter the wormhole at exactly the right time. Thirty more seconds will do it,” Al explained.
“The timing must be precise,” Teal’c relayed. “We must wait thirty seconds.”
“I hate waiting,” Jack said.
“Fifteen seconds,” Al said still watching his computer.
Sam cast his eyes upward. “Please don’t let me leap before I get to enter the wormhole.”
Teal’c and Sam watched Al. He raised his hand.
“Get ready,” Sam said.
SG-1 moved to the threshold of the gate.
Al began counting. “Five, four, three, two, one, GO!”
“GO!” Sam and Teal’c repeated.
They ran for the gate just as two guards burst through the door to the storage facility.
To Sam’s everlasting joy, he got to experience entering the wormhole before he leaped from Captain Carter’s body.
***
SG-1 descended the ramp dressed in sixties attire.
“Yes!” Jack exclaimed. “We’re home,” he said with a salute for General Hammond. “Thanks to one sparky young Lieutenant Hammond.
“How did you know, sir?” Sam asked.
“When I was a young lieutenant, I was ordered to escort four people out of Cheyenne Mountain. In the vest pocket of one I found a note with my name on it. Needless to say, I followed its instructions,” Hammond explained.
“But you couldn’t have known when to give it to me,” Sam said.
“No, not until I saw the cut on your hand. Remember when I took your cuffs off?”
“Then you’ve been waiting for this to happen,” Sam realized.
“Ever since we met. I almost didn’t let you go,” he admitted.
But if you didn’t, you would have changed your own history,” Sam said.
“it’s going to be a long debriefing, people. We’ll start in one hour.”
Yes, sir,” said Jack.
Oh, by the way Colonel... with interest, you owe me five hundred thirty nine dollars and fifty cents.”
“Yes, sir,” Jack said. He followed the General out of the gate room.
***
“Al, is it my imagination or is your computer running more smoothly than usual?” Sam asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Al said. “While she was here Captain Carter made an adjustment to one of the codes. Now Ziggy interacts much more smoothly with my computer.”
“Ziggy couldn’t do that herself?”
“Well, she says she could have but chose not to. The rest of us think she’s saving face,” Al said.
“Sam Carter would have been great for our project,” Sam said. “Is she still with the Stargate Program?”
“Oh yes,” Al said. “She’s a lieutenant colonel. She’s currently doing R&D at Area 51. “
“Maybe our paths will cross again. That would be nice,” Sam said and then turned his attention to his new situation.
Our paths will cross again, Al thought. When he had told Sam that Captain Carter had adjusted his computer, he had left unsaid that she had also spent her time in the lab reviewing the coding and formulas for Project Quantum Leap. She had believed that she was on the track of a minor flaw in one of Sam’s equations that might have been preventing his return home. She had leaped out before she could examine it more closely.
Al had a theory that Sam’s leap into SG-1 was about more than returning them to their proper time. What if it was also about putting the Quantum Leap Project in the path of someone who could help them bring Sam Beckett home? That’s why he had made a call to the Air Force requesting Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter for a consultation. She was due to arrive next week.
Author:: suzannemarie
Characters:: Classic SG-1, Sam Beckett, Al Calavicci
Rating: G/Gen
Word count: 6543
Spoilers: Episode specific for 1969
Written for SG-1 Crossover Alphabet Soup (SG-1/Quantum Leap)
Summary: Sam Beckett leaps into SG-1's leap back to 1969.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and all of it’s characters, etc. are owned by people who are not me. People like MGM, SciFi, etc., etc. This story is just for fun. An homage if you will.
Notes: I'm ordinarily a stickler for canon. There's one exception. I refuse to acknowledge the final few minutes of the final episode of Quantum Leap. That may or may not a be factor in this story. My apologies for that particular blind spot.
_____
He blinked and began a swift inventory of his situation and surroundings: green military fatigues and boots, his hands shackled in front of him. A healing cut on one palm itched.
He was seated on a bench in the back of some sort of van. Looking around, he saw three men in similar attire. Across from him, a youngish man with shaggy brown hair was looking earnestly at an older man with graying hair who wore a cross expression. He looked to his right to see a formidably large black man with a gold emblem that appeared to be imbedded in his forehead.
The large man suddenly started and stared intently at the person to his left. His expression hardened. “Who are you?” he demanded.
Taken aback, Sam Beckett stared back. “Oh boy,” he said under his breath.
***
Bewildered, she looked around the small, featureless chamber in which she unexpectedly found herself.
“Hey!” she shouted as she turned, looking for the exit.
She jumped as she caught a bit of a reflection of herself in the metal along the door frame. Puzzled, she walked closer and peered intently at herself. Why was she was wearing these white, loose-fitting clothes that that looked so much like scrubs? And why did she look like a man?
The door opened and a man of indeterminate age bounded into the room, nearly colliding with her. He was dressed casually in khaki pants and a bright blue jersey. He carried a colorful handheld computer in his left hand. He raised his right hand in a placating manner.
“What the hell is going on?” she demanded. “Where’s my team?”
“You’re perfectly safe,” he said in a reassuring voice.
She was not placated. “Who are you? Where’s my team?” She asked again.
“My name is Al Calavicci. I’m part of Project Quantum Leap. We’ll get you back where you belong as soon as we can, but we need some information from you in order to do that. Could I get your name?”
“Captain Samantha Carter, U.S. Air Force. That’s as much as I’ll say.”
Al lowered the computer that he had held poised for action. He gave Sam an appraising look. She would require convincing before she would be willing to cooperate, but at least she was not too terrified to interact with him.
“Captain Carter, I’m Admiral Al Calavicci.” He placed a slight emphasis on admiral. His voice and stance became subtly more authoritative. He pulled his ID from a pocket and handed to Sam to examine. He was pleased to see that the rank had gotten her attention. “My partner, Dr. Sam Beckett, is the creator of Project Quantum Leap.”
“Sam Beckett?” Sam repeated, her interest piqued.
Al’s expression sharpened. “You know him?”
“I’ve never met him, but I’ve read his work. He’s brilliant. I wanted to recruit him for my own work, but he fell completely off the grid a few years ago and we couldn’t make contact.”
As Al tried to decide how to respond to that, the computer in his hand beeped softly and lit up. He glanced down to read the information. He chuckled softly. “Speaking of falling off the grid, we can’t find any record for you after 1996. You--oh!... this is strange. You also appear in the historical record as having been arrested as a suspected spy in 1969. Which is quite an accomplishment, considering that you had only been born the year before.”
“1969. We really did travel back thirty years,” Sam said to herself.
“You’re taking that news remarkably in stride.” Al gave her another appraising look.
“I’m not taking in stride being yanked away from from team, and,” she looked again at her reflection, “apparently yanked out of my body too.”
“It’s a perception filter. You’re still you,” Al said absently as he looked again at his miniature computer. He hit it impatiently a couple of times, evidently hoping to jar more information from it.
In spite of the situation, Sam smiled at the sight. It reminded her of Colonel O’Neill and she found that oddly reassuring.
Al looked at Sam again with a renewed focus. He considered for a moment. “What do say we put our cards on the table? Your work is classified?”
Sam hesitated. The reference to Dr. Beckett intrigued her. The Admiral appeared to be a bit unorthodox, but she had become accustomed to officers who took a creative approach things. She would need more information to solve her situation. She decided to take a chance.
“Very classified. Yours?”
“Yes,” Al nodded.
“What are you working on?” Sam and Al asked each other simultaneously.
“Time travel,” Al answered.
“Wormhole travel,” Sam said at the same time.
“Time travel?” Sam repeated.
“Wormholes?” Al asked simultaneously.
Each stared at the other incredulously.
“Is your project why my team and I were thrown back in time?” Sam asked tersely.
“Absolutely not.” Al looked at his computer. “But your jump in time is probably what brought us together.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’ll summarize as succinctly as I can. Sam had a theory about time travel within individual lifetimes. He built this facility to turn the theory into reality. After the government started demanding result,. Sam was determined to prove his theories before he lost funding. He stepped into this accelerator and activated it before it was really ready. That’s when things went a little caca. He moved in time, but he did it by leaping into the life of another person. To the people around him, he still looked like the person he replaced. Meanwhile, the person that he leaped into replaced Sam here in the accelerator. Ziggy--that’s the name of the artificial intelligence that Sam created--worked out that Sam needed to put something right that had gone wrong in that person’s history and that once it was put right, Sam would leap out again.”
“Really? Did that work?” Sam made little attempt to disguise her skepticism.
“Yes, he leaped out when that situation was fixed. But he leaped into a new person’s life. Ever since then, he’s been leaping from life to life to put right what had gone wrong. Whether it’s God, or fate, or some other force of the universe at work, we don’t really know, but we’ve never been able to bring him home.” Al sighed. “I can appear to him as a hologram. He’s the only who can see me. That keeps us linked. For each new leap, Ziggy uses the information we gather to calculate the odds of what he’s there to change and then we figure out how to do it. What we need to do now is figure out what needs to be changed so that you can go back and Sam can move on.”
“Sam considered for a moment. “I always believed that one of the rules of time travel would be not changing history. But if what you say is true, maybe your mission is to return my team to 1999,” she said thoughtfully.
“Ziggy can determine the odds. Do you want to meet her?”
“The artificial intelligence?”
“Yes.”
“I’d very much like to meet her,” Sam said eagerly.
“Come on,” Al gestured and led the way out of the chamber. He paused outside the entrance to pick up the cigar that he had left there.
Sam looked around the spacious laboratory, taking in computers, electronic equipment, and white boards.
“Greetings, Captain Carter,” a melodic voice said.
“Uh, hello. Ziggy?” Sam said.
“Yes. I am the intelligence keeps everything running.”
Sam looked at Al who shrugged back at her. “She has a bit of an ego. Why Sam saw fit to give her one, is something I’ll never understand.”
Sam smiled. “It’s nice to meet to meet you Ziggy,” she said.
“Captain Samantha Carter, U.S. Air Force. Born in 1968. You hold a doctorate and are an astrophysicist. In 1996 you transferred from the Pentagon to the Cheyenne Mountain facility in Colorado Springs. Officially your work involves deep space telemetry. I have found references to something called the Stargate Program, but I have not yet been able to access anything about it.”
“You’ve failed Ziggy?” Al teased.
“I have not failed,” Ziggy said icily. “I have not yet succeeded.
“The information is of the highest classification,” Sam acknowledged. “I’m not surprised that you’re having trouble.”
“We will need you to fill in the gaps,” Ziggy said.
“Yes,” Sam said hesitantly. “I suppose so.”
“You still don’t trust us, Captain,” Al commented.
“Well it’s all a little far fetched,” Sam admitted. “Of course few people would believe what I do for a living if I told them. What year is this, anyway?”
“2008,” Al told her.
Sam exhaled softly.
“I should really catch up with Sam. Captain, Ziggy can give you access to information to confirm everything I’ve told you. The sooner you help us, the sooner we can help you get back where you belong. We need your help.”
Sam looked around the facility. She turned back to Al and studied him intently. She could see that he was barely containing his impatience. She had the sense that he was of a type who typically sprang into action in an instant. She was again reminded of Colonel O’Neill. This helped tip the balance.
“It would seem that I don’t have much choice. I’ll do what I can, sir,” Sam told him.
“Thank you. If you’ll work with Ziggy, I need to get to Sam. Ziggy will communicate with me through this computer.” Al indicated the device that he still held in his left hand.
“Yes, sir,” Sam said again.
Al nodded and entered the accelerator.
“Shall we begin, Captain Carter?” Ziggy said.
***
“Teal’c?” the older man asked, baffled.
“Where is Captain Carter?” Teal’c asked Sam.
“I don’t understand, Teal’c. She’s right here. Sam?” the younger man appealed to the object of Teal’c’s accusation.
I get to use my own name, Sam smiled to himself. And apparently I’m a woman. He looked Teal’c’s unfriendly face and sobered instantly.
“I’m Sam,” he tried to sound confident.
“This is not Captain Carter,” Teal’c insisted. “Can you not see that she has been replaced by a man?”
“I cannot,” said the older man.
Teal’c stretched out his shackled hands to grip Sam at the juncture of his shoulder and neck. “How did you switch places with Captain Carter? Where is she?”
Al joined Sam. He took in the sight of Teal’c’s stern expression and the tight grip maintained on Sam. “Sam. Making friends?” Al asked lightly.
“That’s not helping,” Sam growled under his breath.
Al waved his cigar in acknowledgment. “You’re Air Force Captain Samantha Carter. You’re an astrophysicist and part of a classified program at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs.” Al paused to look at Sam appreciatively. “And you’re a knockout.”
Sam attempted to glare at Al and give a reassuring look at the other three men at the same time.
“And,” Al chuckled wryly, “get this, you’re normal time period is 1999, but somehow you and your team got thrown back to 1969.”
Startled, Sam forgot all about trying to pretend that he was not interacting with Al. “What? How?” he asked, looking directly at him.
“We’re still figuring that out.” Al punched some buttons on his computer and began reading new information that was being sent. “You work for a program called Stargate Command. You are part of a team called called SG-1. It’s led by Colonel Jack O’Neill. The other members are Daniel Jackson, who is an archaeologist, and the gentleman holding on to you is Teal’c. You’ve all just been taken into custody as suspected spies.”
Sam looked around at his companions, mentally matching the names to his companions. It was then that he noticed that Daniel and Jack continued to stare curiously at Teal’c, while Teal’c was looking rather fixedly in Al’s direction.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“You can see me?” Al asked, astonished.
“Indeed.”
“And he can see me,” Sam said.
Al stared at his electronic device. “It must because he’s an alien,” he decided.
“Alien?” Sam said. “Like, alien alien?”
“Alien-alien,” Al confirmed.
“Would someone tell me what the hell is going on!” Jack finally said impatiently.
Al and Sam looked at each other. “Based on the conversation I had with Captain Carter, I think we should tell them,” Al said.
“You sure?” Sam asked.
“Yeah.”
Sam turned to Jack. “Teal’c is right. I’m not Captain Carter. My name is Sam Beckett.”
Jack’s expression hardened. “Where’s Carter?” he asked.
“It’s not where so much as when,” Sam said.
“”When?” Daniel asked, confused.
Sam winced as Teal’c grip tightened. “She’s in 2008.”
“Explain,” Jack said coldly.
“It all started years ago when I began theorizing about time travel. Imagine a ball of string--”
“Ah!” Jack raised his hands in protest. “Just what’s relevant. Five sentences or less.”
Sam exhaled and thought for a moment. “A time travel experiment went wrong a few years ago. Instead of traveling in time as myself, I leaped into the life of someone else. I stay in that person until we fix what went wrong in that person’s history. My partner, Al Calavicci appears to me in the form of a hologram that usually only I can see and hear. We believe that God or some other force is what sends me from one life to the next.”
All three members of SG-1 leaned back, absorbing what Sam had told them. Teal’c released Sam.
“Calavicci,” Jack said. “That name seems familiar, but I can’t place it.”
Al had been staring hard at Jack. A look of recognition suddenly registered on on his face.
“Lieutenant Jack O’Neill was part of the escort company when I returned from Vietnam with other released POWs. He sat next to me on the flight home,” Al told Sam.
“Do you remember accompanying an ex-POW home from Vietnam?” Sam asked Jack.
“Yes,” Jack said slowly. “He was a marine, right?”
“Navy!” Al exclaimed.
“Navy,” Sam repeated.
“I remember that he looked forward to getting home to Bess.”
“Beth.” Al and Sam spoke together.
“Beth. How is she?”
Al became very busy studying his computer. Sam did not reply.
“I’m sorry. I’ve been there,” Jack said.
“I know,” Al said quietly as he read his computer. “I’m sorry too.” He turned to Jack. “I’ve never forgotten how considerate you were on the trip home.”
“Al says thank you for being a good travel companion on the way home,” Sam said.
Jack nodded. “Did he stay in the Navy?” he asked curiously.
“He did. He became an astronaut and an admiral.”
Jack unconsciously sat a little straighter.
“So how do we get our Sam back?” Daniel asked.
“We have to figure out the wrong that needs to be put right. Al?” Sam said.
Al was reading the information that was now flowing rapidly into his computer. “Ziggy says that there’s a 98.7 percent chance that you’re here to make sure that SG-1 returns to their own time.”
“How did they get thrown into the past to begin with?”
“SG-1 is an elite team with Stargate Command.” He paused to give the computer a frustrated slap. “They travel to planets throughout the galaxy using an ancient device known as a stargate. The stargate is a portal that creates wormholes that allow for instantaneous travel from one planet to the next.”
“Wormholes?” Sam asked with interest.
“Hold on a second,” Al said, cocking his head and listening. He walked out of view. A few seconds later he reappeared and placed a holographic sheaf of papers on the floor in front of Sam. “Ziggy and Captain Carter put together a tutorial for you on stargates and the program.”
Sam quickly read through the information while the others traded confused looks. “Wormholes only go one way,” he said. “Interesting.”
“Yes, fascinating,” Jack said dryly.
Sam finished reading and looked at SG-1. “You were using the stargate when you went back in time?”
“Yes,” Daniel said. “We stepped through the gate and instead of traveling in space we traveled in time. For a minute we were in both 1999 and 1969, and then we were just here.”
“And it’s important that they get back,” Al said. “When they went back in time it changed the entire course of the program. You read that General George Hammond was the commander, and that in the early days of the program SG-1 met Teal’c, who joined them and began a rebellion against the Goa’uld.”
“Yes,” Sam said.
“When they went back in time, all of that history changed. They met Lieutenant George Hammond who they managed to convince to try to help them. He was caught and discharged from the Air Force. SG-1 never made it home.” Al gave an annoyed sigh and hit his computer again. “Teal’c sacrificed himself by removing his larval Goa’uld and killing it so that it could not take over anyone here. Since Hammond wasn’t there, a different commander oversaw the start of the SGC. When SG-1 and SG-2 were overdue in their return from their joint mission to Chulak, he locked them out and the program was shut down. The Jaffa rebellion against the Goa’uld ended before it could begin.”
Teal’c, who had been listening intently dropped his head as Al finished his recitation. Jack and Daniel watched his dismayed reaction curiously.
“What?” Jack asked.
“If we do not return, it will be as if everything that we have done never happened,” Teal’c said.
“Then let’s get back,” Jack said. “How do we do that?”
“Captain Carter believes that there was a solar flare at the instant you used the gate,” Al said, still reading from his computer. “She says that she theorized at one time about using the gate for time travel and that one of the theories involved solar flares. Stepping through the gate again at the precise instant of another flare should get you back home.”
“Great,” Jack said sarcastically when the information was relayed to him. “All we need to do is find a gate and arrange for a solar flare. Piece of cake.”
“Captain Carter and Ziggy have located the gate in storage at an armory in Washington, D.C. According to the record of your arrest, it’s August 4. Ziggy will look for any solar flares that will be occurring soon.”
“All right, then,” Jack said when Sam repeated Al’s news. “All we need to do is escape, make our way to DC, find the gate, and go home.”
“Piece of cake.” Daniel echoed Jack’s earlier comment.
“Indeed,” Teal’c said.
“It gives us a chance,” Jack told them. “I’m not sure where we’re being taken, but they’re probably going to try to split us up when we get there, so we’re going to have to act fast,” he speculated.
“He’s right,” Al said. “You’re headed toward Cannon Air Force Base.” He checked his watch. “You’re still a few hours away, but there’ll be pit stop soon. That’s going to be your best chance.”
“Will they let us out when we stop?” Teal’c asked.
“No,” Al said, checking the computer. “But Lieutenant Hammond will be watching you during the stop. According to the historical record, that’s when you took your chance to escape.”
“We must again somehow convince General Hammond to help us,” Teal’c said.
“Yes,” Al agreed.
“We’ve got to make sure he doesn’t get in trouble over it this time,” Jack said.
“How do we do that?” Daniel asked.
Jack thought for a moment. “Is our gear going with us?” he asked.
Al checked the computer. “It’s in a second truck following behind.”
“Yes, it’s following behind,” Sam said relayed.
“If we can get ahold of a zat, we can incapacitate them long enough to escape. We need to make it appear that Hammond is as a victim along with everyone else,” Jack said.
“And then we head for DC?” Daniel asked.
“That’s the idea,” Jack told him.
“Are we even going to be able to get to the gate if we make to DC?” Daniel wondered.
“We’ll worry about that when we get there,” Jack said.
“And will it power up? It won’t have been used for centuries,” Daniel fretted.
“One thing at a time, Daniel,” Jack told him.
“From what I was reading, there should still be a residual charge within the gate itself, even after all this time,” Sam said. “If we can find a way to introduce a strong enough charge of electricity, it’ll be like priming a pump. It should be able to produce enough of a charge to engage once.”
“I believe Sam Beckett is correct,” Teal’c said.
“There you go,” Jack said.
They fell silent for a few minutes.
“Hey,” Daniel said suddenly. “How come Teal’c can see Sam and Al and we can’t?”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed.
“Probably because he’s an alien,” Sam said. “Al’s and my brain waves were incorporated into the computer program that powers the Leap project. Because our brain waves are tied into the computer, Ziggy--the computer--was able to create the hologram of Al that I can see. We’ve also had the experience of animals or very young children being able to see him. Since Teal’c isn’t human, his perception field must also be just different enough to see past the filter that makes me look like Captain Carter and allows him to see Al.”
Daniel nodded.
“How do you intend to persuade General Hammond to assist us?” Teal’c asked.
“Talk until we convince him that we’re legit and worth the risk,” Jack said
“If we did it before, I guess we can do it again,” Daniel said.
“We have to make the most of it this time,” Jack said.
The van decelerated and came to stop. A few minutes later the back door opened and a young officer stepped in. He wore a nameplate that identified him as Hammond. He closed the door and took a seat.
Jack, Teal’c, and Daniel all looked at him eagerly. He looked back warily.
“No funny business,” Hammond said briskly.
“We wouldn’t dream of it,” Jack assured him.
“It is an honor to meet you as a young man General Hammond,” Teal’c said gravely.
“Teal’c--” Jack made an involuntary gesture, then subsided.
“You must not have gotten much training if you think I’m a general,” Hammond said sardonically. “You’ll have to do better than that if you’re trying to flatter me.”
“But you will be a general and we’ll know you when you are,” Daniel said.
“Sure,” Hammond shook his head and chuckled mirthlessly.
“We will,” Jack told him. “In about thirty years.”
“What?”
“That’s about how far back in time we’ve traveled,” Jack explained.
“You’re not spies. You’re lunatics. Or you just think I’m stupid enough to believe this nonsense.” Hammond looked disgusted and stood up.
“Wait, please,” Daniel pleaded. “We can prove it.”
“This should be good,” Hammond smiled wryly.
“It’s 1969?” Jack asked.
“August 4th,” Hammond confirmed.
Jack looked at Daniel. “What happened in ’69?”
“There was the moon landing. That was just a couple of weeks ago, right?”
“Everyone knows that!” Hammond said, unimpressed.
“But not everyone knows that you watched it at your father’s bedside in his hospital room a couple of days after he had a heart attack,” Jack said.
“How... how did you know that? Hammond wanted to know.
“Because we know you. And you’ll know us in thirty years. Please, sir. We need your help. I promise you won’t regret it.” Jack was at his most pleading and earnest.
Lieutenant Hammond stared at him for a long moment. He looked at Daniel, Teal’c, and Sam who also wore expressions of entreaty. He hesitated. Then he came to a decision. He took the keys from his pocket at leaned over to unlock Jack’s handcuffs.
“I don’t know why I’m doing this. I hope I’m not making a mistake,” Hammond said softly.
“You are not,” Teal’c said.
“What are you going to do?” Hammond asked.
“I think it’s best if you don’t know,” Jack told him. “Let’s just say that we’re trying to get back to where we belong.”
“Or when we belong, as the case may be,” Daniel chirped.
Sam smiled at him. Jack grimaced.
“We don’t want to hurt anyone, but we’ve also got to incapacitate the guards,” Jack said.
Hammond hesitated and held up a zat. “We were passing this around earlier. Would it help?”
“Perfect.” Jack said, taking it in hand.
Hammond peeked out the back door of the van. “They’re all coming back now,” he said.
“Okay,” Jack said. “Call for help.”
“What?”
“The dangerous foreign agents that you guard have inexplicably freed themselves,” Teal’c said.
“Got it.” Hammond jumped out of the van. “Help!” he shouted.
The other guards ran toward the van. Jack shot each of them with the zat as they approached the van. Soon SG-1 and Hammond stood in the midst of several unconscious men. Quickly, Teal’c and Jack placed the personnel in the back of the van.
“Is our gear in that other truck?” Jack asked Hammond.
“Yes,” Hammond confirmed.
Jack trotted to the other van and jumped into the back. After breaking the lock on the metal box inside, he retrieved another zat and their GDO. He fired a zat at the box three times, disintegrating it and its contents.
“That takes care of the physical evidence that we were here,” Jack said as he hopped out of the van.
“Sam!” Al said. “Ziggy says that there are two solar flares coming up. August 10th at 9:15 am and August 11th at 6:03 pm.”
“O’Neill. We need to get to the gate by August 10th or 11th. Al says that there will be a solar flare on each of those days,” Teal’c said.
“Understood,” Jack nodded.
Sam turned to Lieutenant Hammond. “Do you have a pen and paper?”
Curiously, Hammond dug a scrap of paper out of his billfold and handed it to Sam along with a pen.
While Sam scribbled the dates and times that Al had provided, Jack turned to Hammond.
“Do you have any money?” Jack asked.
Hammond looked inside his billfold. “Some,” he admitted, fingering it.
Jack did not give him time to think. “Thanks,” he said taking it out of Hammond’s hands. “I’ll pay you back, with interest. You have my promise.”
Sam added an IOU to his note and handed it and the pen to Hammond. “You must remember these dates. Here’s a note for reference.” Sam held up his left hand. “Years from now, you’ll see us leave for a mission when my palm looks exactly like this. When we do, we’ll need to know these dates. You’ll have to decide how best to send that information with us, but it’s crucial that you do it.”
“Send these dates with you when you have a healing cut,” Hammond sounded dazed. He folded the note over twice and tucked it into his sock.
“That’s it. I know it doesn’t make sense now, but it will. Everything is going to be all right,” Sam reassured him.
“And you’ve got to keep everything you’ve seen and we’ve said a secret,” Jack added.
Hammond gave a bark of laughter. “Who would believe me?” he asked. “I’m not sure I believe any of this. I do like the sound of General Hammond though.”
“As do I,” Teal’c told him.
“Anything else?” Hammond said.
“Nothing. We’re out of here. And I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, but it’s to keep you from being court-martialed.”
Jack raised his zat and fired. Teal’c caught Hammond as he collapsed and laid him gently in the truck with his fellow officers.
They looked around. As improbable as it seemed, no one was in sight or appeared to have seen anything that had just transpired.
“Now what?” Daniel asked.
“We get to DC,” Jack said.
“How?” Daniel wanted to know.
Jack set a brisk pace away from the scene of their escape. “We could always hitch,” he said.
“Hitch?” Teal’c questioned.
“It’s a way of getting rides when you don’t have transportation of your own,” Daniel explained. “You hold out your thumb as you walk along the road to signal that you’re looking for a ride and sometimes people stop and pick you up.”
“That does not seem very reliable,” Teal’c commented.
“It’s chancy, because if someone comes by who discovers that we’re wanted we could end up right back where we started,” Sam cautioned. “But I don’t have a better idea.”
“About ten miles to the northwest, there are are railroad tracks. Ziggy says that you could stow away on an eastbound freight train,” Al suggested.
“Riding the rails, eh?” Jack said when Sam had relayed Al’s information.
No came up with an idea that they liked better so Al, who had already been so essential to their escape, continued as their guide as they pressed on.
Near Albuquerque, he directed them onto their first boxcar. Eight train changes, one thirty six hour layover, and one seven hour delay for a stalled train later, they arrived in Baltimore at 6:00 on morning of August 10th. They slipped wearily off the train, and worked their way stealthily out of the rail yard.
“We’ve got about three hours to get to Fort McNair,” Jack said, checking his watch.
“Or 36 hours if we miss the first flare,” Daniel commented.
“Let’s aim for making the first one,” Jack said.
“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed.
“How are we going to get there?” Daniel asked.
They all looked at each other uneasily.
“Can’t we just borrow a car?” Sam finally said.
“Would that not be considered stealing?” Teal’c asked.
“Well, we wouldn’t be keeping it,” Daniel rationalized. “If all goes well, we’ll be thirty years away from the crime and the car would get back to its owner eventually.”
“If you’re caught, theft will be the least of your problems anyway. If you succeed, the theft won’t matter,” Al commented.
“We’re in big trouble if we’re caught. Car theft won’t make much difference,” Jack said.
“What?” Jack asked when Sam and Teal’c both stared at him.
“That’s almost exactly what Al said,” Sam told him.
“Great minds,” Jack said.
“Ordinarily I’d have Carter do the hotwiring. I guess I can do it,” Jack said.
“I’ll do it,” Sam said.
“Okay, then. Let’s find a car,” Jack said.
They watched as a railway worker arrived for his shift. He parked in a far corner of the parking lot and entered one of the buildings.
Sam made quick work of starting up the station wagon that the owner had helpfully left unlocked. By 6:45 they were on the road and on their way to Fort McNair.
By 8:15 were within a mile of the base. They stopped and prepared to leave the car behind. Daniel was busily scribbled a note before stepping out of the car.
“What are you doing?” Jack asked.
“Letting whoever finds the car know that it should be returned to the train station in Baltimore.”
“Okay.” Jack dug their remaining cash out of this pocket and left it in the glove compartment. “Let’s go.”
Following Al’s lead, they took a circuitous route onto the base and to the large storage building that housed the stargate. They entered the building and came face to face with a surprised soldier who was walking out.
“Who are you and what are you doing here,” he demanded.
“It’s part of the secret war games exercises, Seargent,” Jack said.
“What war games?”
“It wouldn’t be much of a secret if everyone knew, now would it?” Jack said.
“No.” Jack had sounded so authoritative and the guard was so surprised that he was almost convinced.
“We’ll secure the building, son. You stand guard outside,” Jack said.
The guard started to obey, then thought better of it. “Wait a minute...” he began, turning to Jack.
From his other side, Teal’c shot him with a zat. Daniel and Sam dragged him quickly to a supply closet while Jack and Teal’c made quick work of opening the crate that held the stargate.
“Wow!” Sam said as he joined Jack and Teal’c just as the crate fell away from the gate.
“Where do we go?” Jack asked the group at large.
“Oh, uh,” Al started punching buttons on his computer. “Captain Carter says that you need to dial the same location that you did before: P2X-555.”
“And that’ll get us back?” Jack asked
“It should,” Al said.
“Should?”
“Do you have a better idea?” Daniel asked.
Jack shrugged. “No.”
Teal’c and Daniel began to dial the gate manually.
“How are we going to power this thing?” Jack asked.
Sam looked around the storage hanger. His eye fell on several jeeps in at the far end of the building. “There,” he pointed.
“Gotcha,” Jack said.
Sam and Jack ran across the floor to the jeeps. They found jumper cables in the toolboxes, started two of the jeeps and drove them near the gate. They hooked the cables to the gate and began revving the engines.
For a tense moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then the first chevron lit up. Sam watched in fascination.
“Ziggy says this is it Sam!” Al said. “The history has changed. SG-1 makes it back to 1999. Lieutenant Hammond was never implicated in your escape and eventually he becomes General Hammond and takes over Stargate Command. With him in charge, SG-1 isn’t locked out when they are overdue from their first mission to Chulak. Teal’c arrives with them and Jack convinces Hammond to let him join SG-1.”
Al started talking faster as the second and third chevron lit up. “Two years later when SG-1 leaves for their mission to P2X-555, General Hammond slips Captain Carter a note, telling her to keep it in her vest pocket. Lieutenant Hammond finds that note, which convinces him to help them. The note gives them the dates and times of the solar flares.”
The fourth and fifth chevron locked. “SG-1 hitches across the country with a young couple on the way to Woodstock. They visit Catherine Langford to learn the location of the stargate. In fact, Daniel’s and Sam’s visit to Catherine is a catalyst for her to push for renewed research into the gate. Years later Catherine visits one of Daniel Jackson’s lectures and remembers when a young man who looked just like him and spoke with a curious accent visited her in 1969 to ask about the stargate. That helps convince her to recruit him when the military decides to try to get the stargate to work. Daniel comes up with the final insight that leads them to open the gate.”
The sixth and seventh chevron engaged and the gate engaged.
“Awesome!” Sam exclaimed. His expression was one of pure delight.
“Whoa!” Al said.
“The Stargate Program makes an enemy of the Goa’uld, but they also find powerful new friends and allies. Eventually there’s a new galactic order because SG-1 was there to light the spark and the Goa’uld are overthrown,” Al concluded his historical recitation.
Daniel entered SG-1’s iris code in the GDO.
“Let’s go!” Jack said
“Wait!” Al called.
“Wait!” Sam and Teal’c repeated.
“Why?” Jack asked.
“Why?” Sam asked Al.
“You have to enter the wormhole at exactly the right time. Thirty more seconds will do it,” Al explained.
“The timing must be precise,” Teal’c relayed. “We must wait thirty seconds.”
“I hate waiting,” Jack said.
“Fifteen seconds,” Al said still watching his computer.
Sam cast his eyes upward. “Please don’t let me leap before I get to enter the wormhole.”
Teal’c and Sam watched Al. He raised his hand.
“Get ready,” Sam said.
SG-1 moved to the threshold of the gate.
Al began counting. “Five, four, three, two, one, GO!”
“GO!” Sam and Teal’c repeated.
They ran for the gate just as two guards burst through the door to the storage facility.
To Sam’s everlasting joy, he got to experience entering the wormhole before he leaped from Captain Carter’s body.
***
SG-1 descended the ramp dressed in sixties attire.
“Yes!” Jack exclaimed. “We’re home,” he said with a salute for General Hammond. “Thanks to one sparky young Lieutenant Hammond.
“How did you know, sir?” Sam asked.
“When I was a young lieutenant, I was ordered to escort four people out of Cheyenne Mountain. In the vest pocket of one I found a note with my name on it. Needless to say, I followed its instructions,” Hammond explained.
“But you couldn’t have known when to give it to me,” Sam said.
“No, not until I saw the cut on your hand. Remember when I took your cuffs off?”
“Then you’ve been waiting for this to happen,” Sam realized.
“Ever since we met. I almost didn’t let you go,” he admitted.
But if you didn’t, you would have changed your own history,” Sam said.
“it’s going to be a long debriefing, people. We’ll start in one hour.”
Yes, sir,” said Jack.
Oh, by the way Colonel... with interest, you owe me five hundred thirty nine dollars and fifty cents.”
“Yes, sir,” Jack said. He followed the General out of the gate room.
***
“Al, is it my imagination or is your computer running more smoothly than usual?” Sam asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Al said. “While she was here Captain Carter made an adjustment to one of the codes. Now Ziggy interacts much more smoothly with my computer.”
“Ziggy couldn’t do that herself?”
“Well, she says she could have but chose not to. The rest of us think she’s saving face,” Al said.
“Sam Carter would have been great for our project,” Sam said. “Is she still with the Stargate Program?”
“Oh yes,” Al said. “She’s a lieutenant colonel. She’s currently doing R&D at Area 51. “
“Maybe our paths will cross again. That would be nice,” Sam said and then turned his attention to his new situation.
Our paths will cross again, Al thought. When he had told Sam that Captain Carter had adjusted his computer, he had left unsaid that she had also spent her time in the lab reviewing the coding and formulas for Project Quantum Leap. She had believed that she was on the track of a minor flaw in one of Sam’s equations that might have been preventing his return home. She had leaped out before she could examine it more closely.
Al had a theory that Sam’s leap into SG-1 was about more than returning them to their proper time. What if it was also about putting the Quantum Leap Project in the path of someone who could help them bring Sam Beckett home? That’s why he had made a call to the Air Force requesting Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter for a consultation. She was due to arrive next week.