Words between * * are thoughts by character.

The wormhole opening into P4X-339 shimmered briefly before collapsing into nonexistence as Teal'c and Carter stepped through it followed by O'Neill, then Jackson. A ramp led into a large, well-lighted room. "Wow!" Sam breathed as she surveyed the well-ordered stacks of what could only be scientific equipment filling several shelves and tables.

Teal'c's eyebrows shot up in recognition. "I have been to this place before. It is a Gou'ald facility for the development of their technology. I once delivered artifacts and machines 'acquired' from other species and worlds Apophis had conquered."

"A Gou'ald R&D laboratory!" Carter looked very much the child let loose in a toy store. The Colonel grinned even as he went about ensuring the security of the room. Captain Carter was usually more circumspect, putting soldierly duties ahead of her scientific pursuits, but she was clearly in love with this place. "You know," She said thoughtfully as her fingers ran along the edge of a bank of what looked like computing equipment. "We may have found the Gou'ald version of El Dorado." She almost giggled in delight. "It's as if we've struck gold, scientifically speaking!"

"El Dorado" Daniel explained, noticing the Jaffa's confusion. "The country of the golden man. Its a legendary place that people search for but never find thinking it to be filled with treasure"

"Although most people associate that place with precious metals like gold or with jewelry not with lab. equipment." Jack interrupted the archaeologist's lecture. He and Daniel exchanged good natured glances. Captain Carter just smiled. Teal'c nodded his understanding. Everyone had their own opinions of what constituted treasure and he had no doubts about what the Captain's was. He couldn't comprehend Colonel O'Neill's impatience with her. He had been enslaved for so long to false God's who claimed to possess divine power. Listening to the Captain had a reassuring effect upon him. He didn't have to understand what she was saying. It was enough to know that all things could be explained and that science, not magic; tools, not divine might are what made the Gou'ald powerful. He had also come to understand that anyone could get knowledge of and use those powers.

Carter picked up a device that was sitting by itself on a small pedestal a few steps directly in front of the DHD. It looked like a miniature stargate. Made of the same materials, it had a graduated slide mechanism going all around the outside of it. The ring was small, only seven centimeters in diameter and about two centimeters thick. She held it level with her eyes, trying to decipher the markings engraved around its circumference. She placed her thumb over the slide mechanism and gently pushed it around. It moved easily with a small hiss. *Must use hydraulics.* She thought to herself. When she took her thumb off the slider, though, she nearly dropped it in surprise as the small ring started to vibrate and a dome suddenly shot out over the upturned ring. Quickly, she returned the ring to its place on the pedestal. Then, as if it was a stargate, a vortex of energy was released from the ring, inside the dome. Unlike the stargate however, the vortex did not subside but formed itself into a stable cone. Sam stared at it in fascination. Hesitantly, she touched the transparent dome. It was solid. Picking it up again and looking beneath it, she could see the shimmer of energy through more of the protective transparent material. Frowning, she put the device down and looked around to see if the rest of her team had noticed.

Daniel was inspecting something that vaguely resembled a metronome on one of the shelves lining the wall. The Colonel was examining what he assumed to be the entrance to the lab. Although there was no obvious opening, it was the only wall in the room not crammed with shelves or equipment. Teal'c was studying a console directly in front of the pedestal.

As Carter approached he nodded toward it "I recognize this device."

Daniel turned toward him. "Yeah, me too." He said as he joined the two soldiers. "It looks like the console on the bridge of Klorrel's ship. A control panel maybe?" Teal'c nodded in agreement. Suddenly the console hummed to life, its sides sliding upwards just as the console on the ship had done. In that instant pure energy surged from it, passing a hairbreadth from Daniel and describing a triangle from the console to the wall behind the stargate, containing Teal'c, Captain Carter, the pedestal and the gate in a transparent wall from floor to ceiling.

"What the!?" Jack exclaimed as he saw the light of the energy field flash before him. He approached the wall and touched it gingerly. It felt not unlike the event horizon of a wormhole and his hand was repelled by it's shimmering transparent surface, denying him entry. Sam tried the same thing on her side and was also repelled, the wall effectively cutting them off from each other. "Captain!" O'Neill's tone evoked both reproof and concern. Wide eyed she held up both hands.

"I didn't touch the console, sir!" He looked at the scientist knowingly.

" You didn't touch the console ? What did you touch then?"

Flushing, Sam pointed to the little ring and its cone resting on the pedestal. Jack squinted at it.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Looks like a little stargate." Daniel observed.

"Yeah,it does." Sam agreed. She picked the object up and brought it closer. "At first it just looked like a ring with this slide mechanism here. I touched the slider and this cone popped out. I can't touch it anymore because this protective dome formed over the whole thing..." She shrugged, returning it to the pedestal. "I don't know if it had anything to do with this wall forming though."

"Well.., Captain.., why don't you try touching something else now and see if you can turn it off." He smiled his order.

She stood beside Teal'c looking over the rods that glowed red in the center of the console. "Teal'c, do you know anything about how this works?" She asked hopefully.

The Jaffa sighed inwardly, hating to disappoint his friend. For all the time he had spent in the company of the Gou'ald's many devices, he was ignorant of many of their workings. "I do not." He answered reluctantly.

Sensing his dismay, she smiled sympathetically up at him. "That's OK, we'll figure it out." Turning back to the console, she squared her shoulders and stretched towards the rods with her fingers as she had seen Bra'tec do on Klorrel's ship. Instantly she was thrown backwards as if she had been hit by Hathor's ribbon device. She smashed against the unyielding surface of the pedestal and slumped to the floor, mouth opened wide to pull in the breath that wouldn't come and blinking her eyes rapidly to keep from passing out.

"Sam!" Daniel exclaimed as he stepped forward to help his friend only to be rebuffed by the force field separating them. Eyes never leaving her, his hands searched the wall for an opening, but there was none to be found. "Sam! Are you all right!?" Sam gasped as her lungs finally allowed air into them, helping to quell the dizziness.

"Captain Carter are you injured?" Teal'c's large frame swam into view as he knelt by her side, deep voice etched with concern. She tried to focus on him through the stars and dark spots. As soon as she was able to breathe normally, she allowed Teal'c to help her to her feet.

"Wow!" She shook the numbness from her arm vigorously. "I guess you need the insulation of a ribbon glove or of a Gou'ald to touch that thing." She grimaced ruefully. The console's rods had stopped glowing and smoke appeared to be escaping from behind them. She glanced at Teal'c then back at the mess, shaking her head. "Uh, sir? I think I may have shorted it out." She looked apologetically at her commanding officer.

Jack sighed in frustration. He knew it probably wasn't Carter's fault. All things considered he wondered that she could understand any of this alien stuff. "Just.., try not to kill yourself getting us in there with you. I think we've spent enough time at the science fair." He was torn between watching the Captain and looking for signs that all this commotion had attracted unwanted attention. Carter seemed to be all right but he and Daniel were still cut off from them and, if escape might prove necessary, from the stargate as well! Even as he was thinking this, suddenly a group of Jaffa came pouring through a doorway that he could have sworn wasn't there a second ago. Taken completely by surprise, he didn't even have time to raise his gun or shout out a warning. The Colonel took a staff blast full in the chest and was flung into a nearby shelf, the equipment falling over his dead body. Daniel, whose arms were still above his head against the energy wall was struck in the back, the force of the blast pushing him up against the wall which immediately repelled him and he fell to the floor, spread eagle and very dead.

Teal'c and Sam stared in shock at the scene playing out before them, their reactions slowed by the incredible swiftness of the attack. Finally recovering, they brought their weapons to bear against the Jaffas, but to their astonishment, they merely glared at them, making no move to attack. Sam backed away from the pedestal towards the DHD, realization dawning that neither the Jaffa nor their weapons could penetrate the force field. With Teal'c covering her, Carter dialed in the symbols for Earth and put her hand on the activator. As she pulled out the GDO and tapped in her iris code, she noticed a tall figure enter the lab. She stared up at him. He was human but easily two and a half meters tall. He wore a long white gown and it was obvious that he was the Gou'ald in charge around here. Instead of a helmet, his shoulders sported a pair of great long wings and around his head what appeared to be a disk of purest gold, the Gou'ald's favorite precious metal from what they had seen. Without a glance at the two dead men outside the force field he stormed up to the console eyes flashing in rage as he took in the damage. Instead of fleeing through the opened gate,

Sam slowly approached the Gou'ald, head cocked in recognition. "Hadit!"

The Gou'ald regarded her with contempt. "You know of me Tau'ri? Who told you about our plans for you?" He spat the question. "Hum?! Was it the Tok'ra filth that once inhabited you?"

Sam was startled by his words. "How did you know I had been taken by a Tok'ra?" *How do I know who he is? Am I having a memory of Jolinar's without even realizing it?* As if in answer, a vision from her former symbiote's memories flooded her mind. A vision of an incredibly tall Gou'ald with great wings attached to a glowing solar disk. The Gou'ald was with another system lord whose symbol was the osprey. *Ra? No! Heru'ur!* The tall one was holding a device in his hand and Heru'ur was blessing it. Sam's eyes snapped back into focus, interrupting the vision as she recognized the device. It was the miniature stargate that she had handled! She looked at it, then at Hadit.

Understanding coming to both of them simultaneously, the Gou'ald screeched through barred teeth as Sam reached for the device. "No!!! You will not take it from me a second time, traitorous spy!" He raised his left hand to reveal a ribbon device that had what looked like a tiny stargate in the center. Teal'c leapt between Sam and the enraged Gou'ald, eyes wide, staff weapon charged and ready to fire upon him. Sam grasped the device from the pedestal and ran for the still open wormhole. The Gou'ald shrieked in fury and powered up the ribbon device. It shot out a spike of energy that slowly ripped through the wall, twisting the very molecular structure of the air as it bore down on them. Backing away to join Captain Carter at the gate, Teal'c reacted without thinking, firing his weapon at Hadit. Too late, he realized that the energy blast would not penetrate the force field. Instead it ricocheted madly about the space enclosed by the field, striking Carter on the shoulder just as she entered the wormhole. Teal'c ran up the ramp and disappeared through the event horizon of the outgoing conduit. The screams of the Captain and of the livid Gou'ald mixing with his own anguish as he realized what he had done. Throughout the trip through space-time, and the ripping apart and reassembling of his body, he relived the deaths of those who had become his closest companions. He had been powerless to help Daniel Jackson and Colonel O'Neill and he may have personally killed Captain Carter! He fervently wished that he could remain imprisoned in the wormhole; just reward for his crimes. *Perhaps the iris is malfunctioning today.* he hoped bitterly as the wormhole released him safely into the SGC.

"Off world activation! Incoming travelers." Lieutenant Simmons announced evenly, though nobody was presently off-world and only SG-1 was preparing to leave. He had seen it all, sitting at this post and few things surprised him anymore.

"Sir! It's SG-1's signal!"

OK, that was somewhat surprising, what with Captain Carter sitting right here beside him and the rest of her team present in the control room. SG-1 looked at each other inquiringly.

"Bra'tac?" General Hammond asked no one in particular. Carter looked up from the monitor that revealed the status of the wormhole.

"Could be sir, although he may have company. The monitor shows two travelers."

"Open the iris." Hammond commanded. Leaning down to speak into the microphone he barked. "Security forces stand ready."

On command the security detail in the gateroom assumed a defense posture, the opened iris increasing their vigilance.

The gate spit out its first traveler who came hurtling through the event horizon to bounce painfully on the middle of the ramp and roll all the way down to the end of it, landing in a heap at the feet of one of the soldiers. In a fluid motion the man followed her with his gun, training it on the prone body at his feet, not even flinching through his shock at seeing whom he was pointing his gun at or at the sight and stench of her still smoking wound. The second traveler followed shortly, staggering to a stop midway down the ramp, eyes filling with remorse when he caught sight of his companion.

Captain Carter shot from her seat and stared in disbelief at the scene in the gateroom below. Lieutenant Simmons shifted his gaze between the two women, his mouth opening and closing without forming words. *OK,* he thought, his mind racing. *This is a surprise!*

Hammond reacted quickly. "Close the iris!" SG-1 was out the door and headed for the gateroom before the iris had sealed itself. The security team had pulled away somewhat from the unexpected arrivals but were no less alert.

Daniel was the first to burst into the gateroom and without hesitation he knelt down before Sam's unconscious double. Impatiently waving away the business end of the gun he yelled "We need a medical team down here!" Teal'c and the Colonel came to a stop on the ramp looking incredulously between the injured Captain and the subdued Jaffa. Teal'c was transfixed by the scene before him. All of SG-1 was here! Including another Captain Carter and himself! Sam arrived last and gulped in horror as she saw the gaping wound that covered the left shoulder blade of the woman at her feet, exposing the bone in places.

"Make room people!" The General ordered as he saw Doc. Frasier and her team approach at a run. The security forces yielded, standing against the wall to allow room for them. Janet saw the look of horror and confusion on Captain Carter's face, then, as she bent over her patient, Janet did a double-take! The injured woman was...Captain Carter, unconscious in Daniel's arms! She hesitated only a second as her medical discipline took over. "All right, can someone tell me what's happened here?"

"Looks like we've got visitors from an alternate reality Doc." Daniel suggested. He looked up at Sam. "But we're not really sure yet." Her face paled as she stared in wonder at her twin. She nodded and shrugged in one movement. "Sounds like as good an explanation as any why another one of me and of Teal'c would be here..." Daniel helped lift the injured Captain and placed her gently face down on the gurney. He and Sam helped wheel the bed out of the room to the infirmary.

"Doctor Frasier!" As she prepared to follow her team Janet heard Teal'c call to her in obvious anguish. At his tone, she stopped, turned and was shocked this time at seeing two Jaffas. Janet looked around the room perplexed. "Another double?! How many are there?" She studied the stricken man, "Are you alight...Teal'c?" stumbling on his name.

"Will Captain Carter survive?" The doctor smiled encouragement. "She took a bad hit, but she'll be all right. Why don't you come to the infirmary too. We'll need to give you a check up anyway and you can see her for yourself." She spoke gently to the distraught Jaffa. Maybe the security of routine would help relieve his anxiety, that is, if a medical examination after gate travel was routine where he came from. He nodded, already relaxing from the news that his Captain would be all right.

General Hammond stepped aside to allow Teal'c to pass. "We'll debrief in the infirmary if you don't mind, Teal'c." He said softly. The Jaffa seemed to be physically unharmed and in spite of his emotional discomfort, the General was anxious to know what had just transpired here. He looked at the General and nodded solemnly.

Teal'c fell in step beside this copy of himself, regarding him with curiosity. He wondered if another Dr. Jackson and Colonel O"Neill were a part of his double's team, and if so, what had happened to them. It was obvious that they had been attacked by Gou'ald. *Did you lose the rest of your team?* He sympathized with him. *If we are as alike on the inside as we appear to be on the outside, then you are suffering from a pain more intense than any staff burn could deliver. *

Colonel O"Neill walked abreast of the two Jaffas. "So, Teal'c, how're things in your world? Having a bad day, I take it?" Teal'c shot him a look that made Jack instantly regret his remark. *Of course he's having a bad day you idiot!* Teal'c studied the facility as he strode toward the infirmary. It all looked exactly like his SGC right down to its sarcastic Colonel! Could this be another reality? He did not feel it to be so, and yet, how else could he explain their situation? Jack studied the new Teal'c intently. He had obviously been upset at seeing his Captain Carter hurt and, if his team was composed of others, would have been dismayed at having to leave them behind. He wondered if that meant he had a double in this Jaffa's world that was in trouble, or worse... Eyes darting from one Teal'c to the other, he would be hard pressed to tell which one belonged to his reality. *They're even dressed alike with the same military issue equipment! Could there be identical realities? I'll have to ask Carter. Hey, I wonder if Sam and I are married or something in their world? I'll have to ask,...Naw, maybe I'd better not... Still...*

Sam Carter woke to hot searing agony! And movement. Gritting her teeth against a scream she tried to open her eyes but quickly closed them tightly as a wave of dizziness rolled over her. She decided to fight one sensation at a time. Dimly she became aware of voices around her. Familiar voices, one in particular. The voice of a woman in authority giving orders to her staff. *I'm in the infirmary.* She realized with relief. Movement stopped briefly but not the activity around her. "OK, people be careful! On the count of three. One, two" *Oh God, this is gonna hurt!* "three!" They lifted her from the gurney on to a bed. This time the scream won.

"Janet!" She sobbed. Janet lost no time cutting the sleeve off Sam's jacket and inserting the IV., her aides already having placed saline solution and painkillers in reach of the Doctor. She spoke soothingly to the woman as she expertly set up the drip and injected a powerful painkiller into the IV. tube. She sat in a chair near Sam's face and looked at her. Holding tightly to her quivering hand she placed her other firmly on Sam's head.

"The pain should go down soon, Sam. We're just going to dress your wound now." Sam held her breath and blinked at her friend through her tears. Janet looked up at the nurses and nodded. Sam hissed, her whole body tensing as the cold salve touched her smoldering flesh. She fixed the Doctor with a wide eyed stare until the salve's numbing effect took hold. Finally, she felt her body relax and closed her eyes in relief, murmuring her thanks.

Captain Carter stood between the bed and the men, trying to take everything in, gritting her teeth in sympathy at the woman's pain. The two who came through the gate were dressed exactly like her SG unit. The woman on the bed had called the Doctor 'Janet'. They shared exactly the same hairstyle as well. What were the chances that there could be an identical alternate reality? *Not quite identical* Sam corrected herself, shuddering. *I've never taken a hit like that before.*

Seeing that the injured Captain had been taken care of, General Hammond began. Turning to the two Jaffas, he was somewhat taken aback by the fact that they looked exactly alike right down to their stance and expression. Even their clothes and equipment were identical ! Would he be able to identify his Teal'c if this proved to be a ruse?

"All right Teal'c." Hammond tried to look at both Jaffas at once so as not to let on he didn't know which he should be addressing. "Tell us what happened."

Roshan walked several paces behind her master, surreptitiously surveying her surroundings. The opulence of this place contrasted greatly with the more austere, sterile environment of the research facility she had been working in of late. She shivered slightly at the power evident here. This was the palace of the great Ra.

Only, Roshan knew well, Ra was dead. His son Heru'ur had taken his throne, not because he had defeated his father in honorable battle, but because he had died at the hands of the Tau'ri! *How fitting,* Roshan smiled to herself *that the very species who had been conquered by Ra had been the ones to chase him and all the Gou'ald from their home.*

Now they appeared to have progressed to the point of being able to seek out and destroy this enslaver of the galaxy. The Tau'ri homeworld was well known to all Gou'ald but they had buried their stargate after expelling their enemy, with the help of other species secretly working with them. Even a large contingent of her own warriors had hidden in wait behind the solitary moon of their world, to waylay a Gou'ald assault from space. It had been a satisfying victory that day. Roshan remembered even though she had not been personally present, but her symbiote's host at the time had left an indelible memory that filled her with pride. They had helped free the homeworld of the hosts that day, and to friend and enemy alike, the Tau'ri world held special significance. Both sides were loath to disturb it.

Now, though, things were different.

Talk of the Tau'ri had begun to circulate among the Gou'ald again. The demise of Ra, of course, and also, the fact that Aphophis was being harassed by them.

"Pity they couldn't crush that snake!" Jolinar spat into Roshan's thoughts.

"I know, my friend." She sympathized. Most of the valiant warriors that had served under Jolinar to save the planet the Tau'ri called Earth were later wiped out when the serpent Aphophis joined Ra to do battle with her. Obviously, the Tok'ra weren't the only ones to use operatives, the Gou'ald must have planted a spy in among them. What was to have been a surprise assault turned into a deadly trap for the Tok'ra.

Their loss had been great indeed...

The Horus guard lined the walls of the great hall of Ra, five men deep for the entire length of the throne room. Every head of the house of Horus was present along with their allies. *Apophis is conspicuous by his absence.* Jolinar noted *I hear there is no love lost between him and Heru'ur these days.* Roshan answered *If not the Tau'ri maybe the Osprey will eat your snake, eh my friend?* Roshan's thoughts returned to the ceremony at hand. This was an important occasion indeed! Just what did Hadit come up with in his laboratory back on Behedet? She had no doubt that she would find out today. The Gou'ald so enjoyed boasting...

Captain Carter woke with a start from her pain induced vision. "Roshan! I'm so sorry!" She cried out piteously as the vision faded. Slowly, through ragged breaths she became aware of her surroundings. "Teal'c!?" She called urgently.

"I am here Captain Carter." He answered immediately, having never left her side during the debriefing.

"Teal'c we've got to talk to the General. Earth's in a lot of trouble!" She tried to raise herself up off the bed but fell back with a gasp from the pain in her shoulder.

"Hey, hey! Easy there Captain!" The doctor exclaimed. "I didn't give you permission to do any pushups."

Sam groaned. "Janet, I've got to get up. Please, help me."

The doctor frowned. "You're not going anywhere just yet. The General can come to you."

"As a matter of fact I'm right here, Captain." A pair of dress trousers appeared before Carter's eyes as General Hammond lowered himself onto a chair to bring himself level with her face. He stared into her earnest blue eyes. "What do you have to tell me?"

Captain Carter took a deep breath and tried to straighten up as much as her position on the bed would allow. "General Hammond, sir! P4X-339 is a Gou'ald military facility that is planning a strike against Earth. They've mastered time travel sir! They plan on going back to before we got the gate up and running in order to enslave the Earth again!"

Stunned silence greeted her news. Suddenly it was broken by a sharp gasp. "Roshan?! You were having a vision of Jolinar and her host Roshan?!"

Sam's eyes narrowed in confusion. *Who was that?* A familiar hand reached out to grasp hers.

"You were taken by Jolinar too?!" She looked up at the face attached to the hand and fairly jumped to a sitting position. She was looking at...herself!? Sam blinked rapidly as she took in the incredible scene before her eyes. The shock of seeing another SG-1 and the pain of her sudden violent movement caused her to fall backwards in a faint.

"Colonel! Dan..." Colonel O"Neill jumped forward and caught her before she fell off the bed. Gently he replaced her onto her stomach. He looked up at his Captain. "Nice going Carter!"

"Sir, You have to believe me! Teal'c and I are not from another reality. We left this reality at 08:00 today and arrived at our destination on P4X-339. We were caught in a sort of temporal field caused by this thing that I fiddled with." She indicated the dome covered ring on the table and looked guiltily at the Colonel. "Somehow we were propelled back in time to moments before our departure." She sighed and winced as she tried to bury her neck in her shoulders. "Why you are here..." she gestured to SG-1 seated across the table from her. "I can't explain, but I know , that we did not come to an alternate Earth!"

"I agree with Captain Carter." Teal'c added. He had felt it too. He knew he belonged to this reality. If his Captain believed it then it must be so. He sat beside her in the briefing room that they had moved to as soon as Sam had recovered from the shock of seeing SG-1 whole. Doctor Frasier sat in the seat to her left, ready with more painkillers if her patient became agitated again.

*She certainly acts just like our Sam!* Janet thought as she regarded her.

Sam gave her twin an impatient look. "How else do you explain that we are identical in every respect, including us being host to Jolinar?' Carter opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again as no logical answer presented itself. Deep down she admitted that it was possible, but if her twin was actually her and had actually experienced all this... an unsettling feeling about her own existence crept over her.

"OK," Daniel interrupted their confrontation "You said that the Gou'ald on P4X-339 or...'Behedet'... was Hadit." He consulted the well-worn book he had run to get after Teal'c had mentioned the Gou'ald's name in the infirmary during his debriefing. "Hadit, of the family of Horus, therefore...'Ra'...usually depicted as a solar disk with a great long pair of wings and hovering over important scenes in Egyptian art He assured that Horus would be ...omnipresent." He looked up from his reading. "It does sound like he would be the Gou'ald to dabble in temporal mechanics."

Both Carters nodded agreement the only ones in the room oblivious to the identical movement. Both reached for the ring at the same moment and upon noticing the other, both hesitated.

Sam opened her hand generously. "Be my guest, I've already played with it." As her twin had done on P4X-339, Sam hesitantly tapped at the transparent dome before picking it up in her hands and looking at its underside. The Captain smiled at her double's action.

"From the vision of Jolinar." she cocked her head and frowned in thought. "Actually, it was more a memory of Roshan's....Hadit had found this device and recognized it to be a time gate. Roshan was a Tok'ra operative in the facility on Behedet where the time gate was being developed. At a ceremony to bless the time gate Heru'ur bragged that they would go back to before the Tau'ri used the star gate and they would reclaim their rightful place among the rebels and avenge Ra. During the feasting after the ceremony, Roshan managed to get her hands on the device and escape. She hid it somewhere she considered safe and returned to the Tok'ra with the news that Hadit had mastered time travel. It was shortly after her return that she had to run to Nasya."

"The spy Cordesh having alerted the system lords of her whereabouts." Jack supplied.

"Yes, sir." Sam swallowed. "Hadit, it would seem, kept tabs on all his slaves with some kind of...signal marker, so he was able to find her when she did not follow the Tok'ra but went on to Nasya." She closed her eyes, remembering.

"Roshan's killer wore a tattoo with Hadit's symbol.... The man who died in my arms was the one who killed that Jaffa while trying to save Roshan." She rocked in her seat, grimacing with grief. "But she was too badly injured even for Jolinar to help." With difficulty, she regained some composure. "At that time, the Nasyian man, Gabrian, agreed to help Jolinar..."

Captain Carter, though not experiencing the vision, felt connected to what her counterpart was saying. She recognized her story as the truth about how Roshan had died. The room was silent as both women looked away, eyes filled with pain. *How different the Tok'ra are from their own brethren the Gou'ald!* Teal'c marvelled. *No Gou'ald would feel such compassion at the way a host was treated, yet, fellow feeling must be strong in the Tok'ra if both Captains so grieved the loss of persons they had not met.* After a moment the General spoke, his voice gently urging the Captain to continue. "You said Roshan hid the time gate?" Sam looked at him and continued. "Yes, sir, but it must have had a homing device on it because Hadit obviously found it again."

"Could there not be more than one of these devices in his possession?" Teal'c asked from across the table. Sam shook her head no, remembering.

("No!!! You will not take it from me a second time, traitorous spy!")

"I didn't get that impression from what Hadit said back at the lab."

"It would appear that Hadit was continuing his mission to attack Earth when we arrived." Teal'c suggested.

"But, you messed up his plans by fiddling with that thing back on 339." Colonel O"Neill finished for him. Sam looked at the Colonel feeling the pain of her guilt rumble inside her at the sound of his voice.

"Yes sir..." her voice cracked slightly. "I think that the console back on P4X-339 was somehow tuned to the time gate. When I played with the slide mechanism I must have activated a temporal field around Teal'c and I and the stargate." She shrugged "I must not have set it back very far in the past, and that is why we showed up just minutes before you were to go through."

Hefting the device in her hand, Carter mused. "A future event cone." All eyes turned to her. She looked at her twin, eyes gleaming as understanding hit her. "You and Teal'c are the starting point of a future event cone!" She explained. "An event cone....It's a way of explaining cause and effect in space-time. Think of the ripples that are created on a pond when a pebble is thrown in. The ripples spread out in ever widening circles as time goes on..."

"If you picture that in 3 dimensions you see a cone." Sam continued. "The pebble, the cause or event, would be like the point, and the future, the effect, would be represented by the widening base of the cone."

"You fiddling with the time gate became the pebble or event that set the ripples in motion. OK, and the effects are ...?" Daniel asked. Carter held up the device as if it was the stargate. "The effects are what we're experiencing since Teal'c and ...," she gestured to her other self.

"I...,came through the gate." Hammond rolled his eyes. It was hard enough keeping track of who was who without Captain Carter referring to another as herself! *Life has gotten a lot more complicated with just one Carter around.* he thought, wondering if weirdness was naturally attracted to the young scientist. As it was, the stargate program made all the cold war intrigues he had been a part of look like children's games. *I can't imagine how much more complicated two of them would make my life!*

His musings were interrupted by a light rap at the door.

"Enter." He allowed. Lieutenant Simmons walked into the room and carefully closed the door behind him. He tried to keep his gaze on his commanding officer. "Sir, the wormhole is still open from P4X-339."

"Still?" Captain Carter looked at her watch. "It's been over forty minutes!" Simmons swallowed as he looked at the Captains, indistinguishable from each other except for the dressed wound the new one sported.

"Captain," Hammond spoke. "I thought the stargate could only be kept active for thirty-eight minutes."

"So did I, sir!" They shot each other a sharp glance at their simultaneous reply. They looked askance at their General. He nodded his consent and immediately both women rose and followed Simmons to the control room. The men followed at a slower pace. Teal'c rose and walked over to the plate glass window of the briefing room. He stared down at the still glowing chevrons and the sealed iris, his mind seeing beyond to the lab and the bodies of his fallen comrades. He felt a hand on his back and turned to see his double looking at the gate as well. In time they turned and regarded each other solemnly.

"I am certain you did all you could to save them."

Teal'c's face hardened. "I caused Captain Carter's wound!" He spat the words savagely at himself. The other Teal'c was stunned. "As for saving the others, You are me! You would feel the same way." After a moment,Teal'c nodded sadly. The two Jaffas turned back to contemplate the gate.

Graham was somewhat more flustered than usual, having two Samantha Carters at his side, one sitting to his right nursing a burn and the other hovering behind, both hands on the back of his chair. He could see their faces reflected in his monitor. It cut into his concentration. He didn't know what he was supposed to be looking for in the first place. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The wormhole had simply continued active as if it were perfectly normal. "Coming on fifty minutes now." He said, more to make conversation than anything. If he thought the new Samantha Carter would acknowledge his presence anymore than the old one he quickly dismissed it when she shot up out of her chair and raced to the gateroom, grabbing her double as she ran.

"Let's get a reading on the gate." She said to her companion as they entered the gateroom. "I've got a hunch." Sam opened a utility cabinet that contained equipment for the gate. The other woman approached the gate, not going up the ramp but to the side of it. She squinted at the layers of naquada enriched material that composed its structure. "What kind of reading?" Her counterpart called out. Sam touched the gate, a peculiar feeling coming over her. She squinted in concentration. There was something familiar about that sensation... "Bring the TER."

"The Transphase Eradication Device? Why?" Carter asked frowning at the choice. Not waiting for an answer she took a TER from the cabinet and joined her other self at the gate. "Something's not quite right with the gate. I can't see it but ... I can feel it." Carter studied the gate. She reached out her hand to touch it. Presently she withdrew her hand. "I can't sense anything out of the ordinary."

"Maybe you have to be linked by the event cone." She muttered a reply, still concentrating on the sensation. "Aim the TER here, at the side of the gate. I'm hoping it can detect phase changes in time as well as light and matter." Complying, Sam backed away from the gate and activated the TER. Almost immediately the gate appeared to wink on and off, alternating between being engaged with the iris closed and being disengaged with the iris open. Slack-jawed, Sam looked at Carter. Slowly she backed away, putting more of the gate into the TER's field of vision. "What are we looking at Captain?" General Hammond asked as he and the others joined her.

"We're looking at an isochronic event, sir! The one gate existing in two phases of time! " She answered, awed. "Incredible! For some reason, without the TER we can only see the gate that Teal'c and my future selves came back through." Sam ran up to the two Jaffas and unerringly grabbed the arm of the man who had accompanied her through the gate. "Teal'c! Do you know what this means?! It means we can go back to P4X-339 and rescue Daniel and the Colonel!"

"Does it?!" Teal'c asked excitedly, looking up at the gate in flux.

"Whoa! H..how does it mean that?" Carter asked in confusion. Sam turned to her, still holding on to Teal'c.

"The disengaged gate belongs to your time. Your time is slightly before our time. We can't go back to P4X-339 through our gate because it's got an incoming wormhole."

"So you want us to send you back through "our" gate?" Daniel finished. "But will ..."our"..., gate let you go through since you're not really...here..., as far as the gate is concerned?" Daniel shrugged as he asked, unsure if what he said made sense.

"Why wouldn't it? " Sam asked . "Teal'c and I can react with you, we can't walk through walls or anything. The painkillers are having an effect on me. The gate should behave as it normally does with us."

"OK, let's say you do go back to before you touched the time gate." Carter argued. "How can you be sure you won't do exactly the same thing as you did the first time? You may might not even remember having experienced this."

"We may have played out this very scenario dozens of times already." Daniel added. Hammond looked up sharply at him, not liking the direction this discussion was taking.

Suddenly Lieutenant Simmons voice was heard over the intercom. "We've got incoming through the wormhole attached to P4X-339."

"Keep that iris closed Lieutenant!" Hammond yelled back. "Yes sir, but...there's something strange coming through. I, I think you should see this." The group assembled below bolted for the control room. The readings coming from the wormhole were like none they had seen before. Whatever it was, it was growing in mass by adding the very energy of the wormhole to itself!

"Hadit." Teal'c stated. "He is going forth with his plan in spite of our taking the time gate."

Sam nodded. At their inquiring stares he explained to the SG-1 unit that had not been through the ordeal. "Just as we were leaving, Hadit fired something from a strange looking device that penetrated the temporal field and was making its way towards us. It was going so slowly that we were easily able to outrun it. Now it appears to have entered the wormhole."

"What'll happen when all that wormhole energy hits the iris?" Jack asked.

"It won't hold." The wounded Captain answered with certainty. "Hadit has fired a kind of...temporal.. field ..disintegrator I guess... It'll nullify the existence of "our" gate but the resultant release of energy will probably be enough to destroy ..I don't know..., probably the whole mountain! Sir! Teal'c and I have got to go back to P4X-339 right now!"

"Agreed Captain!" General Hammond nodded his approval of their mission.

"How long before that thing comes through the gate, Lieutenant?"

"Based on the time it entered and the exponential increase in velocity as it approaches, sir, I'd give it six minutes before it impacts with the iris."

"That doesn't give us much time. We'd better get going." Captain Carter urged.

"Right." Hammond agreed "Lieutenant, punch in the co-ordinates for P4X-339."

As Simmons did so Sam handed the TER to 'her' Teal'c. "You'll need the time gate. I'll go get it." She took the stairs to the briefing room two at a time to retrieve the timegate, while Teal'c trained the TER on the stargate, allowing them to see "their" gate engage.

Hammond, meanwhile gave the order to evacuate the mountain. He turned to Simmons. "Lieutenant, I need someone to stay in the control room, just in case things actually go as planned."

"I'll stay, sir." The Lieutenant volonteered decisively. Graham stole a glance at Samantha. Was that a smile of approval?

The General gave him a kindly look. "Thank you, son." He looked at his premiere SG unit. "Try to come back in one piece SG-1!" Turning, he ushered Doctor Frasier out of the control room and of the mountain.

Carter returned with the time gate and gave it to her twin from the future.

"What are you going to do when you get back there?" O"Neill asked.

"Well sir, I was thinking of blowing the place up." She tapped the pocket of her BDU that held the C-4 they were in the habit of carrying with them on missions. "of retrieving the time gate in its inactive state, and" she looked up at her commanding officer "bringing the team home in one piece. I don't know if I'll have time to explain what has happened, sir. I might have to get disrespectful." She grinned.

Jack returned her grin and answered softly. "Permission granted to kick Daniel and my butts all the way back here if you have to Captain."

She saluted and held his gaze a moment, "Yes sir." all the humor gone from her tone. She turned and followed Teal'c out of the control room. The others followed.

"The time gate is the key." Sam explained as they entered the gateroom. "Somehow, it binds Teal'c and me with the Gou'ald world. This device is like ...a string,.... attached to the pebble, the event that started all this. The event can be pulled back to where it had started, hopefully pulling the future back with it." Since it ties Teal'c and me to events that happened on the Gou'ald world before we came through the gate to here, then by going back, we should be able to change that event."

"Rewrite history." Daniel supplied. "Yeah," she shrugged "I'm hoping so."

"Speaking of history, what will happen to us?" Jack asked. Both Sams looked at each other then down at the floor. "Yeah, that's what I thought." He muttered.

Sam opened her mouth to say, *What? Some platitude? He doesn't need to hear that from you! In a few seconds he won't even exist! Save your apologies for the one you'll be bringing back from P4X-339.* "We'd better get going."

With that the pair from the future went up the ramp and, without turning, went through the wormhole. Seconds later the gate shut down. SG-1 looked around at each other.

"You still here?" Jack quipped at his team. "Two minutes twenty seconds before the iris is impacted." Simmons voice told them.

"Ah! Well..., we've got two minutes ... You wanna go out for pizza?"

Teal'c and Carter stepped through the gate, battle ready, only to find Daniel and the Colonel staring at them curiously.

"Where did you guys come from? I thought you were ahead of us." Teal'c and Sam exchanged relieved glances.

"Captain Carter, your wound is no more! It would appear that we have traveled back farther than the event that started with the destruction of this place, just as you had hoped." Teal'c exclaimed, grinning widely.

Carter nodded, looking at the now inactive time gate in her hand. Carefully she placed it in a pouch on her vest. "It's like we've been handed a second chance." *O.K. Carter don't blow it this time.* She stepped up to her commanding officer and taking his arm she spoke forcefully. "We have to leave this place right now, sir!" She turned to Daniel "Daniel, start dialing home. Teal'c, C-4!"

Jack protested. "Belay that order Teal'c. Whoa Captain! What's wrong with you? We just got here for crying out loud!"

Teal'c, ignoring O'Neill's command proceeded to plant C-4 on the console that had generated the temporal field. O'Neill turned to him in astonishment. He and Daniel exchanged looks.

"We don't have a lot of time to explain right now Colonel, just trust us. We've been time traveling. We've been here before. You and Daniel died here, sir. Teal'c and I will die and the whole mountain will be destroyed back on Earth if we don't blow this place up first. NOW!" O'Neill pulled away from her and looked at her strangely.

"What are you talking about!" Daniel sputtered "This place is... like a Gou'ald version of ..."

"El Dorado. We know." Teal'c interrupted. Daniel whirled around to stare open-mouthed.

"Exactly!......How....?" He looked at Carter "Sam, this place is filled with ....." He gestured widely. "scientific treasure! How can you not want to at least ..."

Carter stepped back and drew her zat-gun. She aimed it at the Colonel and said between gritted teeth. "I'm sorry sir, but we don't have time for this. We saw you two die once today, we're not going to let it happen again. You leave NOW on your own power or you'll be leaving on Teal'c's shoulders... Daniel! Dial!"

Jack nodded, not taking his eyes off his Captain. He knew that look and decided she must know something he couldn't. "Do it Daniel" he said. Daniel shrugged helplessly and started dialing. The gate opened and as Daniel tapped in the iris code, she gestured to the Colonel to step through it.

"Let me help you." He offered.

"It's OK, sir, I have my orders." She smiled "They're from you actually. You gave me permission to kick your butts all the way back to Earth if I needed to."

Jack's eyes shot wide open. Then he narrowed them in recognition of the words he most likely would have used if he had ordered her to do such a thing.

"Teal'c and I can take care of this." She said softly as she took the C-4 from his vest pocket. Jack and Daniel approached the gate and waited, unwilling to leave their teammates. Sam placed Jack's C-4 on the pedestal and the one from her pouch on the DHD. Teal'c placed a charge on the wall where the Jaffa assault had originated. Daniel shrugged and withdrew his charge. Looking at Jack he repeated what he had said on another occasion where they had used C-4 against the Gou'ald. "As long as we're gonna make a dent..." And he placed it on the stargate. As Teal'c approached the DHD, Carter pulled the timer device out of her pack and said "I'll set it to go off 15 seconds after we leave.

Just as she set the activated timer down on the dialing device, Jack yelled. "Look-out!" That same group of Jaffas that had killed their teammates the first time were converging upon them again! This time, though, they were ready. Teal'c managed to kill two of them while Carter ducked down behind the DHD. From his place on the ramp Jack took out another. He pushed Daniel through the wormhole to safety. Carter stunned one from her place on the floor. Teal'c finished him off.

She stole a glance at the timer. Nine seconds! "We have got to go!"

Just then Hadit entered the room, face contorted with rage. Sam froze when she saw the Gou'ald responsible for Roshan's death. Desperately, Teal'c reached down and scooped her into his arms. Racing for the gate, he grabbed Jack with his other arm. Staff fire accompanied them as they tumbled through it. Two Jaffa followed. Another approached the DHD to examine what the humans had left there. He picked up the timer and frowning, showed it to his master. Snatching it from his hand the Gou'ald examined it. *Three seconds?!* He looked up in dread realization.

Teal'c, O"Neill and Carter came hurtling through the gate, falling and rolling down the ramp in a tangle of arms and legs.

"Close the iris!" Daniel yelled as soon as he saw his team. The iris was closing before he got the words out, Lieutenant Simmons not needing any prompting.

Immediately two dull thuds were heard as their pursuers hit the titanium shield. As the three stood to their feet, the force of an intense explosion hit the iris with a mighty whump! knocking Carter back down to her knees. Breathing hard, as if she had just run a marathon, she stared gratefully at the gate as it disengaged. Looking up at her teammates, all of them, safe in the SGC, she grinned widely.

Teal'c beamed down at her and, lifting her to her feet, gave her an enthusiastic bear hug. "We succeeded this time, Captain Carter!"

Daniel and Jack exchanged bemused glances. "Hello?" Jack waved at them. "I hate to break up this little celebration you two have going, but, would you care to fill us in on what just happened here?"

Teal'c cocked his head at O'Neill, grinning madly "We are celebrating your safe return, Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Jackson! As well as the defeat of a powerful Gou'ald and the continued security of the people of the Tau'ri!"

"All that! Well! I'm sure that's great, but we're gonna have to bury Carter if you don't let go of her, Teal'c." Jack remarked.

Suddenly the big Jaffa realized that he still held the Captain in what must seem to her a death grip. Setting her down gently on her feet he apologized, embarrased by his complete loss of self-control. "Did I injure you Captain Carter?" Sam rubbed her tender ribs and grunted

"No! No, I'm fine, really." Daniel looked around curiously. "So..., where is everyone?"

"General Hammond ordered the mountain evacuated." The four looked up at the control room at the sound of Simmon's voice. "Both the other SG-1 and the other gate disappeared soon after your wormhole opened from P4X-339. The temporal disintegrator didn't have time to come through the iris."

Daniel and Jack stared at each other.

"Other SG-1?" Jack mouthed. "Other gate?" Daniel mouthed back.

"Welcome back SG-1!" Graham grinned warmly as he looked down at the beautiful sight. Sam smiled up at him, giving him a 'thumbs up'. He didn't even blush.

Jack stepped between Teal'c and Sam and draping an arm over each shoulder, steered them towards the door. "Time travel? Other SG-1s and stargates?"

Daniel joined them at Sam's side. "Yeah, and what was that you said about Jack and me being dead?"

Teal'c answered. "We will be happy to tell you everything..." He smiled at Captain Carter. "Again."

The End

Epilogue:

The drill had been removed from the hundred meter deep shaft it had bored out of the frozen alien stone and packed away near the stargate. Captain Connor's team, hampered by their bulky space suits, in slow deliberate movements, attached the chest to the FRED's winch and lowered it down to its new home at the bottom. Filled with every conceivable form of insulation and signal dampening equipment, the chest held at its heart the tiny ring of naquada enriched trouble. Carefully the team of engineers replaced the columns of compacted rock and soil they had extracted, sealing the time gate in its tomb until such time as the humans could find a way to use it wisely, if at all.

It was painstaking work, but Connor's team made sure that they had left no trace whatsoever of their presence on P5C-353. Not that the former occupants would mind if they used their dead planet as a burial ground for dangerous artifacts. It took several trips through the gate to get all the equipment and personnel back to the SGC. Now, alone, Captain Connor turned once more to take what he hoped would be his last look at the place. Satisfied that he had left it as he found it, he turned and vanished through the wormhole. Presently the gate disengaged and once again the dead, airless world was plunged into darkness.

One hundred meters beneath the surface, a tiny pulse beat out a signal that the chest full of equipment proved powerless to contain. In the end it was the soil of the planet that had the greatest dampening effect, so much so that when the signal finally breached the surface, it was too weak to travel very far. No one from space would ever be able to detect it.

However, if one had determination, and resources, and equipment, and...time, and came through the stargate, looking for it, the signal would lead them here. Meanwhile, the time gate lay in its bed, beating like the new heart of the planet, patiently awaiting its next user. It was only a matter of time...

© July 26, 1999 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

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