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stargatefan.com : episodes > season 2 > next episode: 1969

Inside the Gate Room of the SGC, several technicians are working around the Stargate, when the alarm klaxon blares and the announcement is heard "Unauthorized incoming traveler!" Soldiers quickly assemble, guns pointed at the activating Gate. The iris is closed. SG-1 scrambles to the control room with General Hammond, as the General inquires of the Gate technician, "Who is it?"

"No idea sir! SG-5 and SG-14 are out but neither is due back until tomorrow," the technician replies.

"No iris code?"

"No, sir!"

Suddenly the iris opens and can not be closed; the computer program is somehow overriding all commands. All eyes are on the Stargate as a young boy walks calmly through, and the wormhole disengages. The General orders the boy to be searched, as O'Neill suggests that Carter do it as "She can detect... other...stuff..." Sam examines the boy, who does not respond to her questions, and she determines he is not Goa'uld or Jaffa and has no signs of naquada...he seems clean.

At last the boy speaks, "I am here to warn you!"

Dr. Frasier examines the boy in the infirmary, "As far as I can tell he's human and poses no threat to us. He's pretty weak, probably malnourished."

Sam asks him, "What is your name?"

The boy responds looking beyond her to Jack, "Your name is Colonel O'Neill."

Jack is caught off guard, "How did you know that?"

"My mother told me," the boy answers gesturing off into an empty corner of the room.

"Your mother?" Jack asks.

"Yes! She says I am to speak only with you."

Jack is more composed now, "These people are my friends, you can trust them."

The boy is insistent, "Mother says to speak only to you."

"Really? Why me?"

"Because Mother has observed you and determined she likes you," is the boy's simple explanation.

Looking warily about the room, Jack responds "Well, thank you Ma'am! How long have you been watching me?"

"For many weeks."

"Weeks!"

"Yes! She first saw you on another planet and she followed your team through the Stargate at that time. She observed you all until your team returned with the one called...Toonane. Based on your actions at the time, Mother believes you are the only honorable leader among your people. It was only your team that did not want to steal Toonane's mineral," the boy finished with a sigh.

Jack asks again, "Then why not trust the rest of my team?"

"Because you are the leader, Mother insists I speak no further unless it is with you alone!"

Everyone else clears out of the infirmary room, leaving Jack with the boy. "So, what do I call you?" Jack asks making conversation.

"I don't have a name."

"What's your mom call you?"

"Son…"

"Not much of a name!" Jack answers with a slight smile.

"No, it's more of a description," the boy responds matter-of-factly.

"Yes, it is."

"Mother says you too have a son."

"Had one...he's gone now," Jack brings himself to answer with a haunted look in his eyes.

"What was his name?"

Reflecting a moment, Jack lovingly says "Charlie."

The boy is happy with this, "Charlie...I like Charlie...it's a good name. Can I be called Charlie?"

"Ya...sure...if that's what you want," Jack allows him.

"OK, Colonel O'Neill, I'm Charlie!" the boy proudly declares.

"So, where are you from?"

"A planet called Reetalia."

"A nice place?"

"Used to be...until most of the Reetou were destroyed by mean creatures with glowing eyes."

"That's the Goa'uld...sorry to hear that."

"That's why I'm here, to warn you."

"Thank you Charlie, but we already know about the Goa'uld.

"Not the Goa'uld - it's the Reetou rebels that intend to eliminate you!" the boy explains.

In the briefing room, Carter reveals she has done an analysis of the iris control mechanism - it behaved as if control was being commandeered from the main computer by an override, as if it were being controlled by another keyboard somewhere.

Hammond asks if there is anything more on the boy.

Jack answers, "Best as I can tell, he survived a Goa'uld massacre."

Janet indicates, "That would explain Mom. She's a natural defense mechanism. He wants to believe she never left him...that her spirit is always with him."

Daniel wonders, "How did he know about the Salish?"

"How'd he know about my kid?" Jack asks incredulously.

"Think he's some sort of psychic?" Daniel asks.

Teal'c has other concerns "For the immediate should not our concern be of the planned Reetou attack?"

Carter responds, "That doesn't make sense! The Goa'uld attack the Reetou so the Reetou rebels attack us?"

Hammond is growing frustrated, "We need to determine the validity of what the boy has told us. Teal'c accompany Colonel O'Neill and determine if the boy's description of the attack on the Reetou follows usual Goa'uld tactics."

Teal'c enters the boy's room, Charlie becomes agitated and runs about screaming
Charlie: "Jaffa!"
Jack to Teal'c and snidely remarks: "Get that a lot?"

Then to Charlie he adds, "Charlie! It's OK!"

Charlie is hysterical, "He is a Jaffa! He wants to kill me!"

"No!" Jack tells him. "He's a good Jaffa! He saved my life one time! He hates the Goa'uld as much as you do."

"NO!" the boy continues to be disturbed.

"Oh for cryin out loud!" Jack voices his frustration now. "Look, mom! You said you trust me, right? Well, Teal'c is OK, in fact all my friends at the base are OK!"

"She is over there," Charlie indicates to the other side of the room from where Jack is speaking.

"O...kay…" Jack tentatively responds.

"Mother agrees to trust only you...and the other members of your team!"

"Good! Thank you!" Jack enthusiastically responds, as he introduces Teal'c to Charlie. Teal'c becomes visibly disturbed, almost in a state of shock, and he backs out of the room stating, "I am sorry, O'Neill, I must leave this room!"

Jack finds Teal'c in the hallway, "What's the matter?"

"My symbiote became agitated when I entered the room...In all my years I have never experienced a symbiote so disturbed. There is something unusual about this child, O'Neill. I advise you to use extreme caution in his handling," Teal'c tells Jack.

"I was planning on it," Jack adds.

"You have seen it yourself, in the hands of the Goa'uld a child is no more than a potent weapon."

Janet now enters the hallway, "I didn't find any threat to us, but the poor kid is in worse shape than I thought. Several of his major organs have congenital defects. It's like Mother Nature put him together in a hurry and got everything just a little wrong...heart valves, renal functioning, lungs... without aggressive medical intervention, he won't live to be much older than he is."

Jack wants to know, "Can you help him?"

"Maybe, but he may be beyond anything our medicine can do. There's one other thing ...Charlie's CAT scan...this is the part where normal human have what is called the reticular formation - it determines alertness - our perception of things. Charlie's is twice the size of ours. That could explain why he knew you had a son, and my also explain why he had such and effect on Teal'c's symbiote."

Jack is doubtful, "So, what...he's got ESP? Some telekinetic thing going on?"

Janet is equally suspicious, "I don't know, I'm a skeptic on such things... but…"

Jack finishes, "It would explain a lot."

Back in the infirmary, Jack asks, "So, Charlie, tell us why the Reetou want to attack us."

"It's not the Central Authority of the Reetou, it's only the Reetou rebel faction," Charlie explains.

"Alright, why do the rebels want to attack us?"

"Because the glowing eyed people attacked the Reetou!"

Daniel responds, "The Goa'uld…"

"The rebels believe the glowing eyed people are too powerful to be destroyed directly...they can only be destroyed by ...attrition," Charlie hesitates as he speaks, clearly interpreting for his mother.

O'Neill: "Attrition? What does that mean?"
Daniel: "Ah, attrition is the gradual diminuation of strength or numbers..."
O'Neill: "I know what the word means. I meant in CONTEXT!"

Realization dawns on Carter "My God! They must want to kill all possible hosts! If the Goa'uld have no new hosts to infest, they'll eventually die out!"

"By attrition" Daniel adds.

"Yes!" the boy responds.

"That's insane! There are billions of possible Goa'uld hosts across the galaxy!" Sam comments.

Teal'c adds, "And they are not all human!"

"Mother agrees," Charlie states, "that is why the Central Authority of the Reetou has sent us here."

Daniel steps forward with some questions, "Charlie, I am curious...are you a Reetou?"

"No, I am of your species."

"Is your mother a Reetou?" Daniel continues.

"Of course."

"And is that why we can't see her/"

"Yes."

"Well, if you are one of us, why can you see her?"

Charlie looks toward his mother and smiles, "Because I am special."

"Special...how?" Daniel needs to know more.

"Mother created me to serve as an intermediary."

"She created you?"

"Yes! She hoped I'd be older before we came, but my accelerated growth caused my body to begin failing, so we had to come sooner."

Hammond is mystified, "Captain, is it possible there's a creature standing here that we can't perceive?"

Sam tells him, "Theoretically sir, yes! According to Quantum physics, matter exists both in particles and waves. If the Reetou waves are exactly 180 degrees out of phase from ours, then their light and sound waves would be undetectable by us."

Jack is growing more uncomfortable with where the discussion is heading, "So... what...prepare for an attack by an invisible army?"

Teal'c observes, "If there is a Reetou in this room, it came through the Stargate and it is capable of controlling the iris!"

Hammond asks Charlie, "How did your mother control the iris?"

"Mother came through weeks ago...she observed how you control your iris, then when the time came...she opened it for me!"

Daniel concludes, "So, the Reetou can operate things in our phase!"

"Yes." Charlie confirms.

Jack needs another opinion, "Carter?"

Sam reasons, "It is possible sir, but doesn't seem likely."

Charlie lets them know, "Mother is growing impatient with your narrow-mindedness." Suddenly an energy blast appears out of nowhere and flies across the room, destroying a piece of equipment.

Jack speaks first, "I assume that came from…."

"Mother…" Charlie finishes.

"Mother" Jack repeats.

Back in the briefing room Hammond asks, "Theories? Questions?"

Sam begins the discussion, "Seems obvious this Reetou exists."

"Here's a question!" Jack asks, "How do we deal with an invisible threat?"

Carter adds, "We need a way to detect them."

Teal'c points out, "My symbiote can detect this creature."

"OK.. limited helpfulness there," Jack brushes him off.

"Explain," Teal'c demands.

"Can it tell us where exactly in a room a Reetou is? The number? What they're doing?"

"It was not that specific...it only detected a presence…"

"So...limited…" Jack ends the discussion.

Teal'c plows along undaunted, "Perhaps if my symbiote can detect this creature, the Goa'uld can also detect them."

Daniel agrees, "That's a good point, they had to see them to wipe them out!"

Teal'c makes a powerful suggestion, "Perhaps the Tok'ra can sense them!"

The Tok'ra are signaled and Sam's dad comes along with several other Tok'ra.

Jacob: "Hello, Sam."
Carter: "Dad. We have a little bit of a situation and we may need Selmac's help."
Jacob: "Selmac, Selmac, Selmac! I thought maybe you just wanted to see your old man."
Carter: "I do, Dad."
Hammond: "But this time we do need your symbiote, Jacob."
Jacob: "Nice to see you too, George."
Hammond: "No offense, old friend."

Hammond tells Selmac/Jacob Carter there may be a Reetou at SGC. Selmac reacts quickly, sending one of his men back to retrieve a weapon.

Jack visits Charlie yet again, "Charlie, how're ya feelin'?"

Charlie responds, "Tired...really tired…" just then he hears the others coming and says with a greatly irritated tone, "For cryin out loud!"

O'Neill reacts with pleasured surprise to hear him. Charlie is very afraid of Selmac. Jack reassures him, tells him he is Tok'ra and everything is OK. Jacob grabs his head and leaves the room - he knows there is a Reetou in there. The other Tok'ra has returned with the weapons. The Tok'ra weapons reveal a large, bug-like creature in Charlie's room. Charlie begins to scream, "Please! Don't hurt her!"

Sam reminds them, "She could have hurt us a long time ago if that's what she intended."

Hammond orders his men, "Hold your fire!"

Jacob also insists, "Tok'ra...kree!"

Jack is overwhelmed and says to Charlie, "Whoa...I owe you an apology!"

Charlie tearfully tells Jack, "I wouldn't lie to you!"

Jack adds, "I know that...I'm sorry!" He then asks Charlie and his mom to stay in that room until he gets back. He promises they won't get hurt.

Yet again, the group meets in the briefing room, trying to decide what to do.

Carter tells the group, "Even though we can't see them, these Reetou can definitely see us!"

Teal'c reacts, "Which puts us at a definite strategic disadvantage. I can understand why the Goa'uld would want to eliminate them."

Jack snips, "They're Goa'uld, Teal'c...that's their job!"

Jacob demonstrates the TER weapons (Transphase Eradication Rod). The TERs are capable of exposing and terminating Reetou. Jack asks him not to terminate the Reetou that is at SGC...he promised the kid. Jacob goes on to describe the methods used by the Reetou rebels. They operate in terrorist squads consisting of 5 suicide infiltrators. Usually they target Goa'uld planets. Earth weapons are not as good as TERs, but might slow them down a little.

Jack muses, "Without the TERs we'd be shooting at...nothing!"

Jacob comments that the best weapon would be advanced intelligence.

Jack thinks "mom" might know where the rebel stronghold planet is, but Daniel thinks it would be dangerous to go there. What if they let more of them through to Earth and don't even know it?

Jacob is certain if they use the TERs, the threat will be minimal, and Hammond agrees they do need the intelligence.

Jack goes to ask Charlie for the information and finds him crying.

"Mother says not to cry," the boy tearfully admits.

Jack tells him, "Crying's OK."

"She says the boys of your culture do not cry!"

"Not true!" Jack insists. "In fact, there's an official list of reasons for which crying is...a good thing!"

"Mother is leaving" Charlie says sadly.

"See! That's a good reason! Mom leaving is number 6 on the list of good reasons to cry!"

"She's leaving as soon as she has told you everything that will help."

Jack asks tenderly, "She's not taking you with her?"

"She wants to leave me here with my own kind."

"For what it's worth, I think she's right...you should stay here...you'd be better off," Jack softly tells the boy.

"I think I belong with you Jack!" Charlie admits. "Could I be our son for awhile?"

"I dunno, Charlie, I don't think you'd want that," Jack hesitates.

"Yes! I do! You'd be great! I can tell!" Charlie says excitedly.

"Let's deal with these Reetou, then we'll talk about it...OK?"

The Tok'ra, SG-1 and SG-12 go to the rebel planet. As they look over a cliff, they witness a huge army of Reetou! After they return, Sam and Teal'c begin installing palm scanners so that the Reetou can't activate the computers. Teal'c and the Tok'ra begin to react in pain and obvious discomfort. Carter hits an alarm button and sets of a Base Alert, Code 9 lock down. The Tok'ra aims his TER and reveals a group of Reetou in the control room. Before he can fire, he is attacked and killed. Teal'c narrowly avoids being shot, retrieves the TER and destroys one of the Reetou. Four more escape however.

These four engage O'Neill, Hammond and Jacob in a hallway - but run off when they are shot at. The lights at the SGC are dimmed for better contrast on the TERs. All access to other levels is also cut off. They begin a sweep of the 3 access corridors in three teams, hoping to corral the aliens. Carter's team encounters a Reetou, which shoots her Dad and one of the SGC personnel (Chu). Sam manages to toss a grenade into an elevator with the Reetou and finishes it off with a TER.

Daniel: "Jack, what happens if they come through the door behind us?"
Jack (spins around with weapon): "What?!" (Sees there aren't really anyone there behind him.) "Don't do that!"

Jack shoots one, but another kills an airman that is accompanying Jack and Daniel and then gets away. With two Reetou still on the loose, Jack and Daniel prepare to enter Charlie's room. Jack signals that they go on 3... Daniel signals back, reminding him, mouthing the words "there are people in there!" Jack mouths "I know!" and again signals on 3! "Hit the deck!" Jack yells as they burst through the door. He is immediately hit in the shoulder by a Reetou and goes down, dropping his TER. Other soldiers fire their guns wildly. Daniel picks up the TER and reveals mother is killing the Reetou that just shot Jack... The remaining Reetou kills her in turn. Daniel manages to find it and fire just before it can react, killing the fifth one.

Jack is squirming in pain on the floor as Janet moves to minister to him, "Easy, sir."

"Alright, that hurts," Jack spits through clenched teeth. "Give me a count!"

Sam says, "I got one."

Teal'c announces, "I also eliminated one."

Daniel adds, "We got two and mother got one...I guess that makes five!"

They move out to check the base, just to be certain.

Jack goes to a shocked Charlie, "I'm sorry…" he hugs Charlie and feels him go limp.

Janet tells Jack that Charlie is dying and Jacob offers for the Tok'ra to take him. It seems to be his only hope, so Jack agrees.

TERs are given to the SGC. Charlie prepares to leave with the Tok'ra, "I wanna stay with you, Jack!"

Jack bends to talk to him, "Jacob's gonna take you to a place where you can get well...I can't do that. But...I can come visit...you'll come visit...OK?"

"I guess," Charlie reluctantly agrees as he is crying.

Selmac reminds Teal'c, "The Reetou are guileful creatures, you are only one, Teal'c. Please be vigilant! They will not give up! They will attempt to send more infiltrators!"

Jack looks on uncertainly as Charlie takes Jacob's hand and leaves with him through the Stargate.

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