Reading Time: 94 Minutes
Title: Fighting for Freedom
Series: Priceless
Series Order: 8
Author: SASundance
Fandom: NCIS, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Criminal Minds
Genre: Crossover, Dimension Travel, Family, Future Fic / Post-Canon, Hurt/Comfort, Science Fiction
Relationship(s): GEN
Content Rating: R
Warnings: Hate Speech, Major Character Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence-Graphic, Violence-Against Children/Child Abuse, Rape/Non-con/Dub-con, Mind control, Character Bashing, Non-consensual Drug Use, Discussion of Vaccine Hesitancy, and the rise of Conspiracy Theories, Discussion of Unethical Medical Research/Experimentation
Author Note: British spellings and grammar conventions. Minor crossovers for Eureka, JAG, Criminal Minds and Leverage
Beta: Aussiefan70
Word Count: 130,000
Summary: Time is running out for Earth to contain a threat of apocalyptic proportions seeking to enslave its entire population by creating a planet of mindless zombies. Despite the gravity of the threat, the Earth and its interplanetary allies have banded together, determined to thwart it, but they encounter resistance from an unexpected quarter, forcing a rejig of a part of their plan. Meanwhile, Homeworld Command’s plan to bring down The Trust once and for all is yielding an impressive amount of raw data, when a mysterious Goa’uld disrupts their operation and threatens the life of Tali DiNozzo in Atlantis.
Artist: Germankitty
Chapter 5
Early on, right at the start of a full day of VaDS committee meetings, Carolyn Lam gave Jack his marching orders down to the SCG to grab pie and equilibrium after the topic of vaccine hesitancy had been raised, and the epidemiologists informed them the problem was a whole lot bigger than first realised. As a family friend, he was in no doubt that she swiftly put two and two together, arriving at why Jack reacted so uncharacteristically. Obviously, she knew about his Achilles’ heel; anything child welfare-related was a trigger point for him after enduring the devastation of losing his son, Charlie.
So, she’d called a timeout, then sent him off for a time-out with a look he’d correctly interpreted as, “And don’t return to your head is on straight again!”
As it was a medical directive, he dutifully complied, mainly because he recognised his reaction to the anti-vaxxers was like an outraged father (or a grandfather), but inappropriately, as the head of Homeworld Command tasked with saving the Earth’s population from slavery. Cool heads needed to prevail.
Thankfully, as the head of the MCD –238β vaccine subcommittee, Lam quickly recognised the huge hurdle they faced in vaccinating a specific cohort who had rejected vaccines as unsafe, unnecessary, or that the side effects outweighed the benefits. The rest of the committee, however, were shocked by the scale of the problem after the epidemiologists brought the sheer numbers of anti-vaxxers to their attention this morning. Carolyn didn’t think Jack was the only one who benefited from the time-out. People were a lot more collected after they reconvened, able to understand how the SGC’s role in preventing invasions by giant insects wanting to transform humans into bugs and the deadly Plague created by the Ori Priory might have contributed to the mess they were facing now.
Of course, having worked previously at the Centres for Disease Control, she’d already known there was a large cohort of vaccine-hesitant people, but was frankly too busy to give it much thought until now. That obviously was a huge problem, and the two epidemiologists had done an excellent job of presenting how serious vaccine hesitancy was going to be. Plus, their recommendation that psychologists be brought in to explain the psychological profile of an anti-vaxxer was brilliant because Aoife, the head psychologist on Atlantis, just happened to be there on the base.
Carolyn couldn’t help being amused by just how fast Daniel had scooted out of the meeting when Jack suggested he find Dr O’Shea and give her a heads-up. He probably already knew that the next agenda item would be the logistics of rolling out the vaccine to the civilian population. A crucial but highly detail-oriented component that was also very technical. With that in mind, she suggested a ten-minute break for coffee, so they could stretch their legs.
~o0o~
As Jack grabbed a coffee, he admitted he’d already known about the existence of citizens opposed to vaccines that existed in pockets around the world. He had done for years, but the sheer magnitude of that group had caught him completely off guard. Of course, he reminded himself, since Carolyn had worked for the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, she was far more qualified to understand the complex topic of vaccines and diseases. She didn’t seem all that surprised when the epidemiologists raised the scope of the anti-vaxxer problem.
Still, it was somewhat galling to think that he was so damned focused on the task of manufacturing sufficient doses to vaccinate the entire population so they didn’t end up as mindless zombies; he hadn’t seen this coming. Although surely no one could have anticipated that the Gang of Eight would react so irresponsibly, because he sure didn’t.
Living, breathing, yes, but in effect, slaves forced to live without free will, whose only desire in life was to obey their masters, was unthinkable until now. Even in totalitarian regimes, people were capable of independent thought, even if they weren’t free to act or speak freely. Slaves who, in Paula DiNozzo’s alternate reality, helped Shen conquer their Earth. However, O’Neill needed to cut himself a little slack; he couldn’t be expected to understand (or remember) every aspect of the plan; he was supposed to be the big-picture guy. It was the scientists who were supposed to keep him honest by making sure crucial details didn’t get overlooked, all highly trained experts in their own fields.
As the medical director overseeing the MCD–238β vaccines, a singularly massive task, and an old family friend, he was grateful Carolyn discreetly yet firmly sent him off to get his head on straight earlier on. Apart from Danny or Paul, no one else would have dared to throw him a lifeline. Daniel wouldn’t have hesitated to ‘wrangle him’ normally; goodness knows he’d done so plenty of times back when they were on SG-1 together. But like Jack, his head wasn’t entirely in the game, not since taking on the task of parenting his alternate self’s twins.
As for Paul, because of Jack’s higher rank, his 2IC would have had to be sneaky about it when he delivered him a kick up the butt. He might fake an emergency to pull Jack out of the meeting so he could refocus. However, as a civilian (much like Danny), Carolyn was uniquely placed to order him around, particularly as a doctor. Jack was glad that she’d been there for him. Even a three-star general needed to get his head back in the game when he was about to lose it, particularly when the fate of the entire world and the lives of a precious bunch of children from an alternate reality were depending on them to save the planet…yet again. Honestly, it was a heavy burden to carry.
So, Jack had obeyed the doctor’s orders, obediently heading down to his old stomping ground. He’d deliberately avoided thinking about where they’d left off when they’d called a halt to proceedings for a coffee break. Smirking that she’d figured out his psyche well enough since their close collaboration on the MCD –238β mission, Jack resolved to keep a better eye on her, too.
She and Hank had a troubled relationship, and the fiasco with Shen Xiaoyi’s honeytrap sure hadn’t helped their father-daughter relationship any, especially when they finally seemed to be getting on better. As for Jack, he was absolutely gutted by Hank’s behaviour; he could scarcely believe his old buddy would be so stupid, so he could barely imagine how Carolyn felt about it. The only consolation was that the run-of-the-mill personnel at the SCG generally didn’t know about Caro’s relationship with Hank since she’d long ago adopted her mom’s last name back when she was a kid.
Anyway, after calling on reinforcements (Aoife O’Shea) so they could hopefully start working on ‘creative, non-linear solutions,’ as Alex frequently referred to problem-solving, and Penelope liked to call analogical reasoning skills, he’d taken Dr Lam’s orders very seriously. By determinedly disengaging from the issue facing them and indulging in pecan pie, it had worked a treat, restoring his equilibrium and sunny disposition. Okay, perhaps that might be exaggerating just a tad, but to be fair, the extent of the anti-vaxxer issue had shocked him to the tips of his combat boots. The break just gave him time to hide his turmoil, but surely that was still progress?
Learning that this group of whack-jobs were much more than a smattering of the population, which had been his previous assumption, rattled him badly. Triggering him in a way that only something to do with kids being harmed had the power to do. Like when he abducted Merrin from Orban and very nearly caused an interplanetary diplomatic incident. When it came to kids, he’d always been gung-ho about children’s rights, even if the USA or Earth didn’t feel like it was in their best political interest to object.
Losing Charlie amped up Jack’s reactions even more, to the point where he ignored direct orders from General Hammond to protect Merrin. She was a young girl who’d been chosen at birth as a Urrone, who received nanites for the express purpose of acquiring highly technical scientific and academic data from the leading scientists on Orban. Once filled with their collective knowledge, her nanites were harvested in a ceremony and distributed to everyone in their society, sharing the Urrones’ knowledge and benefiting the whole population.
Which had all sounded really great… in theory. That was until you looked a little below the surface, when Teal’c learned that Tomin, a youngster the Jaffa was sharing his vast knowledge of the Goa’uld race, recognised the incredible threat they posed to Orban and its people. With the crucial value of the data Tomin acquired from the Jaffa warrior’s vast experience as Apophis’ First Prime, now stored in his nanite-rich brain, the young boy had pressed for an accelerated harvesting ceremony to share everything he’d learned about the Goa’uld amongst his people, recognising its importance.
The problem that he and Teal’c had with how the Orbanians acquired knowledge occurred when they saw Tomin after the harvesting ceremony. The young boy, yet to reach puberty, had been left an empty husk after the nanites’ removal. Oh, he was treated well enough, his physical needs catered for certainly, but just like all Urrones who had gone through the Averium (nanite harvesting), the lad would spend the rest of his natural life existing as a nonverbal infant, unable to learn even the most basic of skills, needing to be cared for, even though physically he would mature into adulthood.
Teal’c and Jack were both fathers (although Charlie was deceased), and rather unsurprisingly, the two men had a violent aversion to the practice of sacrificing a Urrone child for the betterment of the rest of the society. It was why he’d abducted Merrin and taken the youngster to Cassie’s old school, wanting to teach her how to be a kid and have fun. Honestly, he hoped to convince her to request asylum with them on Earth. Ultimately, he failed to persuade her, and to his deep despair, she insisted on returning home to pass on her nanite knowledge.
Inadvertently, Jack taught her about didactic learning by taking her to school, a method still practised on Earth but long since abandoned by the Orbanians. Thanks to Jack’s sheer pigheadedness and Merrin’s foresight about what Earth’s learning methods could mean to her fellow post-Averium-Urrones, it had fundamentally changed lives. Post-Averium-Urrone children were all educated now at schools, their learning beginning immediately after their Averium Ceremony.
The thought of kids’ lives being threatened or sacrificed, that was always going to be a huge red flag that triggered Jack’s insanely protective nature, and he was about to apologise for it, either. So, hearing Dr Yap cite statistics published by the American Academy of Pediatrics that the rate of parents who refused one or more recommended vaccines increased from 9.1% in 2006 to a truly alarming rate of 16.7% in surveys in 2013, truly sickened him. Yes, the rate of vaccine refusal enraged Jack as Charlie’s dad (and now Sarah’s grandad), and equally and even more pertinent to the imminent threat they faced, it left Lieutenant General Jonathon O’Neill filled with a terrible rage. They were trying to save the whole damned planet from becoming mindless automatons, so it wasn’t surprising that this statistic had seriously freaked him out.
Initially, their estimate of the number of people who might refuse the vaccine after they started running the numbers, after the Gang of Eight’s insane declaration a couple of days ago, was based on a much smaller proportion of the population than the figures the epidemiologists hinted at. It wasn’t melodramatic to state that their whole plan was now in jeopardy of failing at the last post.
Luckily, their off-world Allies didn’t seem to have this problem vaccinating their populations. Orban and the remnants of the Langarian people (who, they’d help relocate when the Ori destroyed Langara) were already fully vaccinated, no exceptions. What’s more, both planets were hard at work manufacturing extra vaccines to ensure that everyone else in the Milky Way galaxy was protected from Lucius Lavin’s accursed potion, too. It never occurred to them that there might be people who would refuse to take the vaccine.
Eventually, all the people of the Milky Way (and hopefully Earth if they survived) would turn their attention to the Pegasus galaxy and ensure that everyone there was protected. Right now, Jack knew that if Earth fell prey to Shen and her cronies, their allies in the Milky Way would be their last best hope to save Earth and their galaxy. Jack hoped like hell that they weren’t needed, because he never wanted to see his home planet fall.
Of course, plans were already in place for an emergency evacuation of their personnel to facilities that had long ago been set up off-world, in the event of a cataclysm like the one they now faced. Leaving Earth, however, was a last resort and would be an admission that they had lost the war. It meant they were left with no other option but to switch to guerrilla tactics if they had any hope of taking back the planet and freeing those enslaved.
He thought back a little nostalgically to his mistaken belief that the biggest obstacle they were facing was how to vaccinate everyone on the planet without alerting Ambassador Shen Xiaoyi that they were on to her. It was realistic to think that, as the danger of alerting them was real. If it were to happen, Shen could swiftly activate the Chinese population, which overall was 1,412,120,000 people. Although the young and the old would not be a physical threat (they hoped), it still amounted to a staggering number of people who could be turned into mindless zombies willing to obey orders to kill, to invade and infect surrounding countries.
And as terrifying as the prospect of well over a billion zombies attacking them was, as a parent, Jack admitted to himself that he found the statistic quoted by Yap that sixteen percent of US parents in 2013 refused one or more vaccines for their children to be equally terrifying. Because if those figures quoted were accurate, that number went well beyond the herd immunity, making it possible to eradicate some of the deadliest diseases that had decimated their world before the advent of vaccines. He felt fury at the adults who chose not to vaccinate, disappointed to learn that the percentage of parents refusing vaccines had increased since that flawed, corrupt piece of pseudoscience masquerading as empirical research got published in the Lancet. Even years after Andrew Wakefield’s study into the MMR vaccine and autism was debunked by unimpeachable research, it continued to influence parents into avoiding immunising their kids, putting lives in peril.
Jack might like to pretend he was dumb, but he was far from stupid. Ever since the advent of pundits on podcasts, influencers on blogs and social media, and even before that, TV celebrity doctors and wellness gurus touting, among other things, vitamins, herbs and nutritional supplements, people have become far more suspicious of orthodox medicine and science-based evidence. Thanks, in no small part to these health and fitness gurus, down-on-their-luck celebrities, influencers masquerading as concerned citizens, and charlatans, all screaming hysterical warnings about “BIG PHARMA”!
Yet the massively lucrative wellness industry, with its potions, herbs, wellness machines, alternative “ALL NATURAL” vaccines, detoxing, crystals and whatnot, never acknowledged the elephant in the room apropos the lack of meaningful regulation in the production of these natural substances. There was nothing to stop vendors from selling impure substances or even substituting entirely different ingredients than stated on the label, and with no standardised dosages, they could be potentially dangerous. Often, wellness influencers made grandiose or even false claims and offered unqualified medical advice about their products, with sometimes nothing more than dodgy anecdotal data about their Aunt Bettys’ miraculous recovery to back up the efficacy of their own brand supplements and potions. Nor did they ever acknowledge the monolithic proportions of the wellness industry with celebrities, former celebrities, influencers and pundits raking in billions each year in profits that one day could rival “Big Pharma’s ” corporate influences and power, yet with a damn sight less scientific or regulatory oversight.
Not to be cynical, but it translated into big profits. To Jack, at the very least, it seemed like a paradox, if not out-and-out hypocrisy, that people who were so suspicious of the motives of the pharmaceutical industry and its lobbyists would turn around and be so trusting of the motives and trustworthiness of a megalithic, billion-dollar wellness industry.
Which was not to say that Jack didn’t personally use herbal medicine or supplements if he felt they were appropriate. Lord knows his Gran, Gudrun O’Neill nee Losnedahl, grew up in rural Minnesota. A well-respected herbalist and healer, she learned a huge amount about natural medicine from native healers, including the Dakota and Ojibwe tribes. Although well respected by her neighbours, especially when it came to delivering babies, she charged very modest sums for the potions she made from plants she grew in her garden. Her intention had always been to use her knowledge of natural and folk medicine to help heal her family, friends and neighbours, not become rich off their ill-health and suffering.
As a young boy, Jack was sent from Chicago to live with his grandparents in Minnesota due to one of several outbreaks of polio after his little sister May contracted the disease. She was paralysed and died after a week of hospitalisation, and his mother never recovered from May’s death, so Jack stayed with his grandparents for the rest of his childhood. As a youngster, he frequently helped his grandmother tend her garden, growing and harvesting Gudrun’s medicinal plants as well as much of the fresh produce they ate.
As he grew a bit older, Jack would help her brew and distil the plants in her kitchen over her wood-burning stove. They would also produce gallons of tinctures and pounds of unguents and salves, such as golden seal and calendula creams that were incredibly popular with the locals. He saw firsthand how incredibly effective they were for various ailments, and on lots of occasions as he grew up, he experienced their usefulness for sore throats, coughs, tummy upsets and the like.
Gudrun insisted on getting the polio vaccine as soon as it was available in Minnesota. Jack and his grandparents were among the first people in their area to receive the long-awaited polio vaccine that saved many lives, but it came too late to save May O’Neill. His mother’s cousin, Robbie, was too busy working, and he didn’t get vaccinated, ending up in an iron lung because his respiratory muscles were paralysed and he couldn’t breathe. Robbie spent the rest of his life trapped in the iron lung, dying prematurely and regretting the day he blew off his vaccine appointment because of a job that he couldn’t do any longer. Jack was grateful beyond words for his Gran, who’d ensured they were vaccinated against the horrible disease ruining lives and killing people like his innocent baby sister, who at 17 months of age had only just started to speak.
Jack’s acceptance of the effectiveness of folk and natural medicines, aside from growing up with his grandmother and her knowledge of Nordic and Native American medicine, was also strongly influenced by eight years on SG-1. They’d encountered a great many civilisations on the planets they visited, both extremely advanced, like the Ashen people and others who could only be classified as much less advanced, primitive like the People of the Light, but all of them had their own forms of healing. That also included the Goa’uld, who’d appropriated Ancients’ technology like their Sarcophagus and handheld healing devices, even if they didn’t understand the underlying science behind their usage. Nor had they ever bothered trying to understand the technology or that of any other stolen tech, being an essentially lazy race in addition to their inherent narcissism.
So, Jack didn’t discount the efficacy or the attraction of folk medicine and natural modes of healing. He was also no hypocrite when it came to Big Brother, always having held a healthy dose of scepticism for “The Man,” so he was not blind to the dangers of unquestioningly accepting Multinational Pharmaceutical Corporations’ motives, which he believed weren’t altruistic so much as wealth-building. Jack acknowledged that scepticism needs to be applied equally, though. That meant being realistic about the wellness industry’s investment in creating corporate wealth for shareholders and companies, not being naive and pretending they were altruistic. He wasn’t even averse to corporations making money, but when you sought wealth by promising to cure people, the Wellness Industry should be held to the same standards of rigorous oversight and R&D as so-called allopathic medicine was.
Taking the word of others on ‘Faith’ did not end well in his experience, having rattled around several galaxies. He’d encountered too many individuals, ever ready to exploit those who were weaker, more trusting, or just plain desperate, and the Goa’uld and Ori and others who sought to fill the void they’d left after being defeated were always hungry for power. This was kind of how Earth had found itself in this mess with the MCD–238β compound: a bumbling baker in a simple society in the Pegasus galaxy accidentally stumbled across a herb. Carter was frequently the first one remind people that serendipitous discoveries were far more common than many people believed, leading to incalculable discoveries which frequently resulted in positive consequences for humanity.
He remembered how Sam’s blue eyes would sparkle with glee while lecturing SG-1, despite her valiant attempts at self-restraint, aware they didn’t share the theoretical astrophysicist’s boundless enthusiasm for science. Feeling a sharp stab of pain at these memories, Jack ruthlessly tamped down his sense of grief. He wished they had Carter there to give them advice on how to save the people and their planet, just as she’d done so many other times in the past.
Except that this time they weren’t trying to save Earth from evil aliens, just save them from evil fellow humans trying to seize control of their fellow citizens. Feeling a rising tide of emotions: anger, panic and despair due to the unreasonable demands placed upon their mission by the Gang of Fools, Jack stomped on his feelings as being a luxury he could not afford. The cost of failure was too high for him to indulge in tantrum-throwing. He must keep a clear head!
Jack knew that the key was to focus on the separate parts of the mission and not get overwhelmed by the magnitude of what they faced. Failure was not an option for them, he reminded himself for the umpteenth time. Instead, he had to concentrate on getting the MCD –238β vaccine disseminated without alerting Ambassador Shen.
By now, the Brains’ Trust generally agreed that Lavin’s potion probably wasn’t contagious; contact must take place between the subject and a primary source. However, it was also possible that the Chinese scientists could have modified Lavin’s potion to make the infection rate much more efficient than the original formula. As Carolyn was quick to remind everyone, Shen gained access to the MCD –238β compound years before they did.
Elizabeth Weir’s cover-up of the Lavin Foothold situation for her selfishly obsessive need to remain in Atlantis and study how to Ascend came at a terrible cost for Earth’s populace. Surrendering Lavin’s potion to the IOA Representative Shen, while downplaying the serious effects of his herb, in exchange for Weir not losing her position as Commander of the Atlantis Expedition, had given Chinese scientists years to experiment. They were incredibly fortunate that Lavin’s herb hadn’t been used on Earth’s population before now.
One of the first things Carolyn Lam and Dr Lee explored was just how easy it would be to create a mechanism so it could spread like an infectious agent and hasten the process of controlling everyone on Earth. The bad news was apparently it wasn’t all that difficult, which was why they were taking this threat so seriously.
After debriefing Paula DiNozzo, Thora Edwards and Heather Murphy from the alternate Earth who’d turned up on their doorstep several months ago with a bunch of kids from the resistance, despite dissent amongst the scientists, Dr Lee was convinced that Lavin’s potion was probably weaponised in that reality. He cited how quickly the infection seemed to have spread across the globe to back up his theory. As truly unwelcome as that news had been, Jack conceded, if he had been tasked with turning the world’s population into mindless zombies, logically, he’d do so as quickly as possible to prevent any countermeasures or rebel resistance from forming and posing a threat to the plan.
Pairing MCD–238β’s mind-controlling qualities with an infectious agent or virus to spread through Earth’s population was something Jack insisted that they needed to take seriously, and it had been factored into the plan right from the outset of their mass production process.
As to the vaccine, everyone had risen to the challenge magnificently, and manufacturing had been operating at maximum levels, three shifts per day, allowing them to produce the vaccine in sufficient quantities for everyone on Earth in double-quick time. Of course, the vaccine production team wasn’t resting on its laurels. They had allowed themselves to celebrate for exactly 24 hours, having a celebratory dinner and 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and then they all got up and started again. Everyone in Pegasus Galaxy where they were working, away from the prying eyes of the IOA, The Trust and Shen were mindful that there were a lot of planets in the Milky Way (and, less urgently for now), in the Pegasus galaxy that also needed the vaccine, too. And so, after the single day off, they buckled down, and their work continued!
Meanwhile, the two Scientists on loan from DARPA, Dr Holly Martens and Dr Douglas Fargo, proposed that Homeworld Command opt for several different methods of mass-dispersing the vaccine to speed up the process. This was in addition to the conventional techniques they already had on hand. Thanks to Dr Lam’s experience at the CDC, her medical vaccine team had, quite early in the process, identified and developed alternatives to the original injectable vaccine used to save Atlantis, developed by Drs Beckett and McKay to save Atlantis. Scientists now had an oral vaccine, a nasal aerosol spray, as well as an injectable form. It was anticipated that the oral and nasal inoculation would be useful for children and needle-phobic individuals.
By now, almost all the military, their immediate dependents and roughly half their extended families had received the vaccine, and it was anticipated that another two weeks should see the rest of their extended families given the MCD –238β vaccine. Aside from relatives who were anti-vaxxers, which hopefully wasn’t a high proportion. Almost all First Responders had received their vaccinations, and they would begin vaccinating First Responders’ families in the next few days.
This vaccine schedule was being mirrored around the world in every country that participated or had been read in on the Stargate program, with the notable exception of China. Even though, based on Intel and the recent experiences of their refugees from the alternate reality, it seemed more likely than not that Ambassador Shen was not collaborating with the Chinese government. At least, not those who were high up in the party. However, the powers that be had ruled there was just too much at stake to risk informing them of the plans, just in case the intelligence was wrong, and Shen’s were complicit in the scheme. For maximum safety for everyone, they must assume the worst-case scenario and prepare accordingly.
Meanwhile, Dr Lam’s medical teams were busy conducting mass training of the military troops and first responders who would carry MCD –238β vaccine kits in preparation, should the worst occur. If any of Shen’s zombies attacked them, countermeasures were in place to defend themselves, should Homeworld’s mass-vaccination measures fail or an attack came before everyone was immunised against Shen’s compound. Although the Gang of Eight vetoed the use of mandatory vaccination without the consent of known anti-vaxxers, apparently, if the planet were in danger of falling, then it was okay to give them the MCD –238β vaccine to people despite any philosophical objections to vaccines, but only if they were already zombies.
Hypocritical much? Jack was utterly furious with the extremely thin ethical line the politicians were walking, but he just didn’t have time to waste arguing with them, especially when the President seemed loath to overrule them. If only this had happened during President Hayes’s last year of his two terms in office, Jack was confident that he wouldn’t have been he wouldn’t have been anywhere near as cautious as their new president, but it was what it was, and there was no time to waste getting angry about it, Jack reminded himself yet again.
Dr Martens had really punched above her weight, and Jack did appreciate the president loaning her and Fargo to Homeworld, even if he was pissed at him caving to a bunch of lily-livered politicians. After all, they were only concerned that the anti-vaxxers might threaten their re-election; he, on the other hand, was terrified that there might not be any more elections, ever again, if Shen’s plan succeeded.
Meanwhile, one of Martens’ first developments on joining the program had been MCD–238β vaccine pens, like EpiPens that delivered adrenaline, except the pen used disposable cartridges of vaccine designed to be easily loaded and administered by non-medical personnel, making vaccinating a piece of cake, even during physical confrontations with those who were already zombified and violent. She’d accelerated production of these devices using 3-D printing technology that was light-years ahead of anything that the rest of the scientists on the project had seen. The pens were already being distributed to Law Enforcement as they continued to produce more MCD–238β vaccines for their use.
Of course, there was still the elephant in the room that no one wanted to acknowledge: if a group of Shen’s compromised ‘zombies’ were to attack using lethal force, what was the plan? Could the military or first responders use force to defend themselves or other civilians, and if so, how much force would be acceptable? It was a real moral and ethical dilemma, since none of those affected by that damn drug of Lavin’s asked to be infected by it. But O’Neill had already seen at various trials on Atlantis that, while none of those affected had asked for it, they’d all admitted they would have killed without compunction if ordered to.
This was where the two scientists from DARPA were modifying technology developed in Eureka, combining it with the Goa’uld zat gun’s stun mode to create weapons that the military and law enforcement could use if it were necessary to take down combatants without killing them. While stun guns already existed in policing circles, these hybrid weapons were definitely next-generation and much easier and safer to use than the older tasers. Front-line troops and cops were being trained right now to deal with the threat, having been warned that any hint they were training to stop Ambassador Shen’s plan would inevitably result in acceleration of her attack on the planet with horrific consequences.
As worldwide vaccine programs to other countries’ governments were handed out dire warnings about what could (and indeed had already happened in alternate realities), it was hoped everyone would be sufficiently scared of the terrorist threat to keep their mouths shut. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but trying to vaccinate nearly eight billion people was a massive operation. Of course, frontline troops weren’t told about the Stargate Program or that this mind control drug came from another planet in another galaxy, either.
Hopefully, that would remain classified, although Homeworld Command was fatalistic about the possibility it might be declassified by Shen if she decided she had nothing left to lose. This was why there was a separate plan by special forces to apprehend and detain her off-world, overseen by Colonel Davis, and code-named Enticement. But the best-laid plans… yada, yada, which was why a strategic plan had been developed a few years ago to manage the declassification situation, should the need arise.
Finally, there was their last line of defence, the Paddington Bombs, aka the Rhino-Viral busters, meant to infect anyone who hadn’t been vaccinated yet, to save them from being turned into mindless zombies, should the worst come to pass. They had also been manufactured on Belar and shipped back to Earth, ready to be dropped from the air, should the worst happen.
Really, Jack concluded with a quiet sense of satisfaction, all of the scientists and military personnel had done a truly magnificent job manufacturing the vaccine, the dispersal mechanisms and the Rhino bombs. Shame that their politicians had chosen to think of themselves rather than the fate of the planet.
Chapter 6
Meanwhile, the meeting agenda had turned to Drs Martens and Fargo’s lab on Balar, where hundreds of robots based on the so-called Deputy Andy Robots were being assembled. Their role was to vaccinate groups of people via an aerosol mechanism in highly populated cities, and it had the scientists and logistics people waxing lyrical, and Jack tuning out. Not because the Lieutenant General was anti-science per se (just that he hated scientists who chose five-syllable explanations when two or three-syllable words would suffice), with one blonde exception. He rationalised that he hated the unnecessary jargon, but because he already had all of the knowledge of the Ancients parked, taking up space in his brain, even if it was blocked off by the Asgard so his head didn’t explode. That was true enough, but he also knew, even before he was stupid enough to get the Ancients’ database downloaded twice, that he hated long-winded scientists long before that.
Initially, the robots were all going to be exact replicas of the original Sheriff Andy who’d been used in Eureka, Oregon, until John Shepard had a quiet word in Jack’s ear. Apparently, Lieutenant Colonel Lorne was creeped out by the idea of a platoon of Deputy Andy robots that looked like his twin brother (aside from the fact that the robots were always grinning, like lunatics who’d escaped from the asylum), and O’Neill could relate to the lieutenant colonel’s uneasiness.
After all, when SG-1 visited the planet Altair, way back in their first year, the only remnant of the advanced alien civilisation was a vast underground facility. It was the only thing still standing long after everyone had died, apart from the sole caretaker, Harlan, who insisted on keeping the place running. Jack had been absolutely livid when he discovered that Harlan had created robotic doubles of himself and the rest of the team without their consent, copying and then transplanting their consciousness into robotic duplicates while they were unconscious.
Harlan seemed quite perplexed when they weren’t happy about it, calling it a “gift” of immortality, but Jack wasn’t the least bit grateful. He was extremely uncomfortable around his robot double, so he could totally get where Lorne was coming from. Yeah, so okay, Sam and Daniel didn’t seem nearly as bothered by having robot doubles, unlike Jack, who was creeped out by it and reacted with anger.
After Sheppard brought the subject up of an army of Lorne look-alikes, O’Neill decreed that they needed robots with assorted racial features, different genders and a wide variety of ages to blend in as they intended for the robots to be deployed in countries that were not aware of the Stargate Program or their regimes were considered too unstable to keep the information about Shen’s zombification of the world classified. Aside from having all those creepy robots wandering around, which would increase their odds of being caught if they all looked identical, it made much more sense not to make it easy for authorities and/or enemies to round up the rest of the robots. The aim must be to thwart detection of the robots and the plan for as long as possible.
It was this argument that had partially mollified the robots’ creator, who had initially been resistant to creating robots with differing features. Not that it was up to Dr Fargo, still, Jack suspected he’d been dragging his feet on the changes. Thank goodness that Dr Martens had stepped up in his absence while he’d returned to Earth, consulting on some ongoing project for DARPA and she’d had the genius idea for the head of the ISBI to assist her with the Andy robots. The pair had certainly outdone themselves, although he wasn’t clear what promted Holly Martens’ change of heart.
~o0o~
The Pegasus Galaxy, several weeks ago:
Dr Martens was hard at work in one of the Ancients’ surprisingly well-equipped labs on Balar, that the two DARPA scientists had seconded to work on the MCD–238β vaccine program quickly appropriated on their arrival. She and Fargo were assigned to Homeworld Command to come up with coming up with multiple vaccine dispersal systems. Holly was currently hard at work on the incredibly lifelike robots, which would be one of their main methods of distributing the vaccine to the general public that would make them immune to the mind-controlling effects of the 238β compound. They’d already modified hundreds of drones to deliver the modified liquified version of the vaccine into the water supplies of people living in remote areas or in places where it was hard for strangers to infiltrate. The drones were a simple yet effective solution, and using the cloaking technology of the puddle jumpers, Douglas had ensured that the drones were also undetectable when delivering the vaccine to water supplies as small communities tended towards paranoia. As for the robots, not surprisingly, any actual dispersal issues involving the Andys had been swiftly dealt with by the pair of scientists who both had plenty of expertise in robotics.
The issue of mass inoculating the populations of cities and large towns was still being developed, with no timeline yet, on how long they had before Shen X started to put her plan into play, which was making the job quite stressful to get them ready in time. The overarching objective had been to find ways to distribute the 238β Vaccine to as much of the planet’s population as possible, the exception being for the Chinese Military and Law Enforcement, who may or may not already be under Shen’s mind control. Exhaustive tests by the medical research team had established early in the program that the vaccine worked best as a preventative, but, with those already under the mind-control effects of the synthesised compound known as MDC-238β, it was less effective.
So, the search was on by the medical research teams to find a much more reliable version of the 238β Vaccine that could be given to victims already infected by the Zombie-like drug, like when the whole Atlantis base had been taken over, with one lone exception. To date, there haven’t been major breakthroughs, and one of the difficulties they faced was that the scientists didn’t have access to the exact strength or modification that Ambassador Shen’s people might have made to the original drug, nor were they likely to unless the situation shifted radically and one of Shen’s people defected, which was highly unlikely. The other unknown factor about Ambassador Shen’s version of Compound-238β was whether it had also been modified to extend the control effects to her colleagues so that it wasn’t necessary for her to be in frequent proximity to those previously affected by the drug.
Of course, at this stage, this was pure conjecture. Yet, after speaking to the three adult refugees from Earth’s alternate reality, particularly the federal agent, and analysing their reports of Shen’s alternate-reality self in their existence, Holly thought the conjecture about modifications seemed a distinct possibility. As the military arm of the research operation pointed out, tactically, it would make little sense for them not to have weaponised it up the wazoo and also to have made its temporary effect last much longer, as it would waste a lot of time, constantly having to reinfect their slaves. Just as the proximity factor seemed logical, too.
Comparing realities wasn’t proof, because they knew each alternate reality did have differences ranging from subtle to extreme. What the refugees’ observations proved in their world was that their Shen overcame these structural weaknesses in the drug to create a devastating weapon, and they would be foolish not to assume Shen Xiaoyi weaponised the compound in this world, too. Therefore, the Homeworld researchers had agreed to proceeded as if this were a given, using the maxim, ‘prepare for the worst and hope for the best,’ as their mantra.
Until they had a solution for dealing with the Chinese military (which scarily numbered in the millions if you included their reserves, and for the record, Homeworld did), just on their own, they posed a huge potential threat to the planet if they were already enslaved by chemical mind control. Indeed, the problem seemed almost insurmountable, which was why General O’Neil had created another group of scientists and military strategists. Their brief was to come up with an effective means of containing the Chinese Military if they couldn’t overcome any long-lasting effects of her version of Compound-238β and Holly had a couple of ideas about how to attack the problem.
Meanwhile, Douglas had gone back to Earth to report on an ongoing DARPA project they’d worked on, prior to this secondment, and to attend a Dispersal Committee, where everyone agreed it would be better for Fargo to go and for Holly to remain behind and work on the robots. Honestly, she had been completely cool with that plan, as she understood people weren’t entirely comfortable around her. In his absence, Holly spent a lot of time thinking before she sent a message to Fargo to bring back something from the Department of Defence they had stored there from Eureka, feeling it might be just what they were looking for.
She had really taken to heart Colonel Sheppard’s arguments about their robots needing to be more diverse and representative of the planet’s inhabitants. Hundreds of robots would be useful in lots of towns and cities. Hundreds of Andy robots, though? Not so useful if they wanted to maintain secrecy.
John was correct, they needed robots in all shapes and sizes, different races, genders, and ages who could blend in and appear to be everyday people, relatable, approachable, making it easier to disperse the MCD–238β vaccine to as many individuals as humanly possible. And wasn’t that just the height of irony regarding relatability, Holly had mused as she started feeding physical characteristics and features into her printer, to create as diverse a range of robots as possible, given their attenuated time frame.
Today, as she worked almost on autopilot, the scientist decided to talk to Alex Paddington about deploying the robots since they’d need legends for the Andys, even if they were only basic ones. She was realistic enough to concede that neither she nor Fargo was good at all that interpersonal stuff. Working for DARPA, Holly had access to Paddington’s personnel file, although his jacket was highly redacted. Even she couldn’t read the full file despite her clearance level which was through the stratosphere, which made her pretty curious, but not enough to pry because she was far too busy at the moment to snoop.
However, one of the skills he brought to the job, which was unredacted in his file, was that of an undercover specialist. So, setting up backstories for their robot dispersal units should be a walk in the park for him. He was far too easy to talk to, and she could see what an asset that would be in his job, in getting witnesses to trust him, even when he wasn’t undercover. Knowing he was here on Balar right now, having transported a prisoner to the planet’s incarceration centre, set up by the Interstellar Bureau of Investigation, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to pick his brain. Holly sent him a message asking if he could drop by her lab before he returned to Atlantis and received a prompt reply that he’d drop by soon.
Deciding to hold off on her printing of bodies for the latest batch of the Not-Andy robots until after she spoke with him, she turned her attention to her latest idea for maximising the distribution of the 238β Vaccine. Since Fargo had been delayed due to issues arising from the Dispersal Committee, she was starting to miss him because he never treated her like a freak. However, several of their Allies, specifically the UK, Spain, Singapore and Canada, were keen to set up factories to mass-produce drones for 238β Vaccine dispersal and needed technical advice from her partner. Holly knew this was excellent news; the more dispersal drones they had, the better the coverage in remote outlying areas. Drones with their cloaking abilities made the threat to allies’ military far less dangerous if it came time for engagement.
Goodness knows, the problem was the sheer scale of the military in China, which was enough to scare anyone should they come under Shen’s mind control drug. It scared Holly!
Thanks to Asgard beaming technology, travel times between the four nations were significantly less than flying there commercially. So, Doug’s delay in returning to the Pegasus galaxy was likely to be only a few days, not a week or more. Which was great since time was their enemy, but besides all of the altruistic stuff about saving the planet, it was lonely working by herself in the lab. She’d gotten used to having Douglas around. Not that Holly was exactly upset that Fargo returned to Earth, and she didn’t.
She had never felt terribly comfortable around people, even before the disastrous Astraeus Mission to Titan, which, it turned out, had never been real, as the shadowy entity known as The Consortium had faked the whole mission to Titan. In her opinion, the Consortium was equally evil, plugging Holly and the rest of the Astraeus crew into a scarily real virtual-reality construct to gain unfettered access to the minds of a bunch of genius scientists. When they return to Eureka four years later, although in reality, only a month has passed. The Consortium, led by her former boss, now had access to some of the most creative brains on the planet; they intended to profit from the Eureka scientists’ ideas and inventions.
The virtual reality world had been so flawless that none of the Astraeus’ crew, despite all of them having genius-level IQs, realised their consciousnesses were plugged into a constructed reality. If not for the fact that a doctor was unknowingly stranded on board before their take-off, and the added weight hadn’t been factored in when The Consortium did their calculations, Holly wouldn’t have twigged about what they were experiencing. Then she never would have been murdered, either, she mused sadly.
While the folk at Global Dynamics in Eureka had recovered her consciousness and, thanks to access is to a new generation 3-D printer, had eventually been able to create an artificial physical body for her, she wasn’t fully alive in the carbon-based existence sense that most people believed to be normal. Which was usually why most people were uncomfortable around her, although the people in Atlantis and even the SGC in Cheyenne Mountain had seemed less freaked out by her, and it felt so nice to be accepted.
While she had originally taken on the task of finding a way to deliver the 238β Vaccine via mass-dispersal systems, to help save the world, it wasn’t her only motivation though. Martens also came here, hoping to explore alternative ways for her to exist. One such possibility was Asgard cloning techniques; their data on their program had been gifted to the SGC before they committed mass suicide due to too many generations of cloning. While Holly tried not to think about it too much, the prospect of having a biological body to house her consciousness thrilled her more than she could express.
Sighing, the former rocket scientist/turned Zombie mind controlling problem solver resumed studying research she’d saved in a file. She was still studying the data on her monitor when Alex Paddington turned up, knocking on her lab door and politely waiting to be invited inside.
It was a common courtesy that Holly appreciated, since she knew that, like Colonel Sheppard and General O’Neill, he could override any lock on Atlantis with his ATA gene. While this was Balar, the lab she and Fargo had appropriated when they first arrived had formerly belonged to the Ancients, who had abandoned it millennia ago. Undoubtedly, Alex could operate the technology here too, including locks.
So, she welcomed his politeness and said as much after inviting him in.
He shrugged it off, grinning at her. “Well, of course, it is the polite thing to do, Holls. I don’t appreciate people barging into my office when I have confidential files or evidence strewn around. Besides, charging into laboratories in Atlantis, and I suspect it’s the same on Balar too, you run the risk of getting covered with green, disgusting slime when something unexpected explodes in your face.”
Thinking about some of the crazy scientists at Global Dynamics in Eureka, Holly couldn’t help chuckling. “Yeah, good point,” she conceded.
Alex took in the data on the computer screen, and Holly could tell that his interest was piqued. However, he quickly turned his focus to her, looking into her eyes, which she greatly appreciated since some people acted like she was a freak.
“So, you said you wanted to ask me something. Do you need a ride back to Atlantis? Belle wants to watch the Powder Puff Girls with you again.”
Pulling up a second laptop with data on it regarding the robot dispersal model, she shook her head. “I was talking to Colonel Sheppard yesterday when he flew me over here. He pointed out that manufacturing a whole lot of Andy models would make it harder to fly under the radar. Facial recognition would be more likely to notice thousands of them moving across the Earth. He suggested we needed greater diversification of the robots, age, race, gender…that sort of thing.”
Alex nodded as he considered what she’d said. “Makes it easier to blend in. The colonel is correct; the last thing we want is to set off security alerts, which result in chatter that Ambassador Shen or her cronies might get wind of, then launch an attack before we’ve finished inoculating all the civilians,” he said.
Holly considered what he said, “Yes, I can see that now, but Fargo and I weren’t really thinking about that, only the mass dispersal method, which I believe is sound.”
“Yeah, it just needs tweaking,” he agreed. “So, you want the ISBI to help with getting around security, such as immigration issues?”
“No, the powers that be have already determined that the robots are going to be beamed in and back out when they need topping up with extra vaccines, so we don’t have to worry about getting them through customs. What I need are ideas for basic backstories for them, and your file says you are an undercover specialist,” she explained.
Holly’s body was extremely life-like, although it was not functionally capable of experiencing real sensory input as anything but code. She knew this, but the glower which the highly affable head of the ISBI directed at her was so arctic that Martens swore she could feel it freezing the fake hairs on her 3-D printed body.
“My jacket is classified for a damned good reason, Dr Martens,” he said, his clipped speech cluing her in despite her normal social ineptness that he was extremely angry. “You have no business accessing it!”
Holly hastened to reassure him. “Look, Alex, um…Associate Director, I think you misunderstood. Despite having a top-secret security clearance, I could only read your highly redacted personnel file, which mentioned that one of your special areas of expertise was in undercover work. No details, not even a hint if you were a handler or an operative, and whoever redacted your file, they knew what they were doing.”
She could see him visibly relax, so she explained further. “I just need someone to help me figure out how to make these robotic dispersal units fit in so that they don’t draw attention to themselves. I’m not good with people stuff.”
“Okay, well that’s good to know. Guess I owe Paul a solid,” he said cryptically.
Holly didn’t understand his ambiguous comment, but she’d never been the most socially intelligent person. “So, will you help me?”
“Sorry, I overreacted, but I don’t want to paint a bigger target on my back than there already is. I have a daughter who depends on me now,” Alex explained.
“It’s fine, and I would never endanger like your daughter; she’s quite a character.”
Taking a deep breath, he continued. “Okay, so a minute ago, you said that you wanted these robot dispersal units to blend in and not draw attention to themselves.”
Holly nodded, relieved to have averted a huge social faux pas with the undercover specialist whose expertise she sorely needed to tap into for the robots. “Exactly. So, do you have any ideas?”
“Sure, I do, but before we get started, I want to correct an assumption. Sometimes, the best way to blend in is to stand out,” he said enigmatically.
Holly looked at him in obvious confusion. “That makes no logical sense. What are you talking about?”
With a mischievous grin, he explained. “Tourists tend to stand out. For example, a group of female college students travelling together have a perfect excuse to engage with the locals. Asking for directions or suggestions about where to eat or buy the best cup of coffee.”
Holly nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“Then there are the good-looking, talented buskers performing in cities, who can attract audiences while an assistant passes the hat around, soliciting donations and moving through the crowd and is basically ignored and could be dispersing the vaccine. Or a parent who has misplaced an inquisitive child, who can stop people in the street and ask if they’ve seen them without attracting undue suspicion,” he explained.
“That’s brilliant,” Holly praised him, beaming. “I’d have never thought to program the Andys to do any of that stuff,” she admitted.
“In large cities, you could send in robots posing as a tour group. The more diversity, the better, because tour groups tend to be boisterous, some people can be obnoxious and some individuals definitely don’t blend into the background,” he explained further.
“Oh, I like the way you think, Alex. Just let me get those ideas down, and then we can talk about developing individual legends,” she enthused.
For several hours, they worked, creating backstories that would assist the robots blend in when in various countries as they immunised civilians using aerosol-based dispersal. He explained it was crucial to tailor personas to the type of mass-dispersal situations they were targeting. Large metropolises required a different type of person than people living in provincial towns. Cultural and religious factors need to be considered when developing legends, since it wasn’t a one-size-fits-all situation.
He also explained some of the tricks of the trade that would help the robots fit in, clothes and accessories that Holly didn’t have a clue about, not understanding why designer labels might sometimes be a necessity while in other settings it might not matter so much or it could even work against them.
“When we figure out how much clothing and sizes and all that stuff, my agent, Amelia Barnes, who’s training at FLETC right now, can go shopping and bring it back with her,” he offered obligingly.
“That would be greatly appreciated, Alex. I never really liked shopping, and now it’s a nightmare,” Holly admitted. “And if I sent Fargo to shop, it would be a complete disaster.”
“Yeah, I get that. It’s no problem. Pretty sure between Amelia, Penelope and the General’s people, they will get everything right and enjoy spending someone else’s money,” he predicted, thinking of Walter Harriman and Rachel Sparkes, before glancing at his watch and across at the screen of the first computer, which Holly had been working at when he came in some hours ago.
“Well, I’m gonna have to fly soon. I promised my daughter I’d take her swimming after school today,” he said. “And if you need more help with this stuff, just let me know, and we can set up a time. But before I head back to Atlantis, can I ask you something?”
Holly nodded. “You absolutely can. I really appreciate all your help, because you think about parameters and variables when deploying the Andys that wouldn’t have occurred to me. Oh, and I’m so going to take you up on your offer for more help,” she told him gratefully. “What do you want to know?”
“Okay, so call me nosy, others have, but that data you have been reading about canine police dogs in China? Are you thinking of developing canine robot dispersal units and sending them to Chinese cities, along with humanoid robots?” he asked curiously.
“I was gathering data to see if it was feasible,” the rocket scientist confirmed. “Why are you asking?”
“Because if you do come up with robot dogs, can I put in an order for some for Atlantis? I’d love to have a real-life corporeal K9 unit, but right now, some impediments prevent it from moving forward. Plus, aside from the ISBI, I’m certain the Search and Rescue field units would welcome robot dogs to help locate missing team members when they are off-world,” he said, keeping one eye on the time.
“Huh, I never thought about that, but sure, we could definitely do that,” Holly said pensively as her brain calculated the possibilities. I guess some of the scientists are objecting to the introduction of a species from another planet?”
“Yeah, that, and the people who argue dogs don’t belong in a city with very few outdoor facilities. Some say they’ll poop and pee everywhere, and then there are the veterinarians who say that there aren’t adequate environmental enrichment facilities to cater for their physical and emotional needs. While those factors can probably be overcome in time, bureaucracy takes eons to work through. And meanwhile, we could search the city for contraband or find someone trapped off-world a lot easier if we had the scent ability of even one K9 robot,” he explained.
Holly had listened carefully. “Yeah, that makes great sense.”
“Do you think there’s time to spare to get the K9 dispersal units up and running for the vaccination mission?” he asked, fully aware that time was probably not on their side but eager to have some robotic dogs to help with searching for contraband.
Homeworld had bought them another month, maybe two, by delaying the deployment of the Sun Zu, the BC 304 ship that had been promised to the Chinese government. O’Neill had been stalling, telling them that they’d had a breakthrough vis-à-vis its weapon technology that had been gifted by the Asgard, and the aeronautical engineers at the Beta Site had, after years of trying, finally figured out how to integrate it into all the Daedalus-class warships. Colonel Chekov and the Russians were playing along with Homeworld con, bitching to Ambassador Shen about having the Korolev in drydock while the modifications were made to their 304, so hopefully Shen didn’t smell a rat.
Showing what an outstanding tactician General O’Neill was, he’d offered to let the Chinese have their warship sooner, but without the modifications to their weaponry. He said that since they were still completing their warship, they figured it would be easier to do the modification now rather than later, but it was up to the Chinese. Unsurprisingly, China had leapt at the prospect of being among the first ones to have the new weapon installed, although predictably, they had still quibbled about all the delays.
“Yes, I believe we do. Although it probably wouldn’t be feasible if we were starting from scratch,” Dr Martens replied. “But robot dogs were commonplace in Eureka from as far back as the late noughties. I told Fargo to bring back all the specs and the prototypes to Atlantis when he returns in a few days. I just found what I think is a replicating device on Balar in an unused laboratory. If I’m right and the machine is functional, that means we can mass-produce all the components quite fast,” she explained with a smile. “A week to ten days tops if the replicator is working.”
Alex returned her grin. “That’s awesome news. And are these dogs realistic, or do they look like the robot dogs PJ is working on in his robotics class?”
“Indistinguishable from the real thing. Fargo reckoned that the new sheriff in Eureka was fussing about them being allowed into the local café when he first arrived, saying it was unhygienic. He didn’t have a clue,” she said. “Not until Fargo’s real Shih Tzu peed on his leg, proving Douglas had bought a sentient dog, trying to cheat in the faux dog show,” Holly said, sharing an incident that occurred before she arrived in the quirky town, but was a part of the town lore.
“Okay, so that sounds promising. And seriously, now that I think about it, it could definitely be useful as an addition to the humanoid robotic dispersal teams. He read through the bullet points again, but more critically than he had before.
POLICE DOGS in CHINA
- China has developed a specialised police dog (K9) apparatus working with police departments.
- The K9 unit utilises centralised training. Unlike decentralised models used in some countries, China’s K9 training is overseen by the Ministry of Public Security.
- The breeds used are mostly Kunming dogs (a Chinese breed specially developed in Yunnan province for police and military roles). Although they also use imported breeds such as German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois.
- Chinese police dogs are deployed prominently in public security operations, including transportation hubs and major public events.
- Long-term, one-to-one partnerships between handlers and dogs are emphasised to maximise operational effectiveness.
“So, the second bullet point really works in our favour if we are churning out a mass of these robot dogs,” he said thoughtfully.
Holly cocked her head, curious about what he was thinking. “How so?”
“Well, we only have to find the training manual used by the Ministry of Public Security and use it to program the K9 robots, and they’ll fit right in,” he explained.
“You’re right. I’ll get someone at DARPA on it,” she grinned.
“And really, that last bullet point plays in our favour too. In some K9 units, numerous handlers work with the same dogs, but the other cops are less likely to pay attention to unknown dogs and their handlers because of the one-to-one relationship they foster. Plus, it will give us access to areas with large crowds of people within China that we might not have accessed otherwise,” he concluded.
“Good points,” Holly nodded, pleased that he didn’t think her plan for K9 robots was too weird.
“Hey, Holls, ” he said, informally, and she grinned because no one had called her that in the longest time. Maybe middle school!
“Yeah, Alex?”
“Have you thought about creating robot dogs in other breeds that aren’t such intimidating breeds? It might be a good way to vaccinate kids and dog lovers who’ll come to pat the dogs”
“Yeah, that is next on the dog-list for other countries. Shame it won’t work for China though,” she said, pensively.
“Why not?”
“People aren’t allowed to own dogs in China unless you are a foreigner or can afford to buy an expensive dog license.”
“That might be the law, Holly, but I was in Shanghai some years ago, and there were plenty of dogs. Although they are supposed to be small breeds, I saw the odd golden retriever, husky or a Samoyed too.
“You were in Shanghai, Alex? Sightseeing?” Martens asked curiously, wondering if he had been undercover.
“Law enforcement conference,” he lied, because in truth, Anthony DiNozzo had been hunting down The Calling’s Daniel Budd, who orchestrated the shooting by proxy of Gibbs using one of their radicalised teens. And what the hell was it with those asshats and their self-important names: The Calling, The Trust, The Brotherhood of Doubt and The Consortium – the mob who’d tried to kill Holly and almost succeeded. All of them were obviously trying to sound respectable or impressive when nothing could be further from the truth.
“Oh, well that’s cool then! It sounds like we can also beam down robot dispersal dogs into major cities in China as long as they are the right breeds, then,” she enthused.
Then, after finding the Ancients’ replicator (at least Holly thought that’s what it was), and having the brainwave about K9 robots, she was seriously thinking of building robot-dispersal bovines for the hugely populated Indian cities where cows wandered around the streets, speeding up the inoculation process there. Maybe Brahman cows, they were so cute looking!
~o0o~
Cheyenne Mountain Complex – two and a half weeks later
General O’Neill watched as Dr Fargo left the room, having given a comprehensive report on the state of dispersal robots before hurrying off to Britain, who’d set up their own drone dispersal factory. They’d requested Fargo’s expertise due to some issue they were having with the cloaking device that he and Dr Martens adapted from the Atlantis puddle jumpers. Odyssey would beam him in, and he also planned to check in with the Spanish drone factory as well. Of course, while Fargo had a legitimate excuse to drop into the SGC, report to the VaDS committee and skip the rest of the meeting, Jack was sure he was still rather miffed at Jack’s decree that the Robots had to be representative of a cross-section of humanity.
Fortunately, Sheppard had also had a word in Dr Martens’ ear, explaining the operational reasons why they needed them to come in all shapes and sizes. She’d been very reasonable and had immediately gotten on board, teaming up with Alex, who helped her to develop backstories and profiles for a wide variety of locations, situations and continents. Probationary Agent Amelia Barnes, Penelope, Walter, Paul, and his aide, Captain Sparkes had been hitting the shops to ensure that the robots were effectively attired for their undercover roles.
Overall, the DARPA scientists’ report to the committee by Dr Fargo had been extremely positive. Both the dispersing robots (nicknamed as the Not-Andy-Robots), and a significant number of K9 robots were already back on Earth in a Army warehouse under tight security. Plus, the Atlantis Artificial Intelligence entity known as PJ and his students, as part of their robotics course, had begun helping to build the Eureka K9 robots, and their numbers were growing at least threefold. Of course, all the kids on Atlantis wanted their own robot dogs as pets (and quite a few adults, too), but they would have to get in line behind the ISBI and the Atlantis Search and Rescue teams, Jack smirked. He approved of their plan, because every kid needed a dog, which was what he told Cassie when he gave her a dog after they rescued her twelve her old self from Hanka. She was the sole survivor of a horrific plague on her planet, engineered by that evil Goa’uld bitch Nirti.
Plus, there was the drones they would start deploying to remote places or where strangers would attract unwelcome attention, to add the vaccine to the town water supplies. Most were completed, too. The scientists working on Balar, and now here on Earth in four countries to build sufficient quantities, were doing an outstanding job. Dr Fargo had proudly reported before he rushed off that their allies’ drone production numbers were steadily growing.
Now it would depend on logistics and subterfuge to keep Shen Xiaoyi and her co-conspirators from learning that Homeworld was onto them as they began rolling out the vaccine to the civilian population worldwide. However, everyone agreed China’s mass vaccination program would be left until last as it posed unique challenges. What increased the degree of difficulty was that they were simultaneously vaccinating the rest of the planet without tipping them off. Their best hope was a mass dispersal program, via air and water, but if Shen’s people got even a whiff of it and had the mass-contamination plans ready, that could be a disaster. Still, it was naïve to think that they could surreptitiously vaccinate well over 7.5 billion people by stealth and get away with it before it was complete.
Of course, while it was a drop in the bucket, every person, including the military from every country that participated in the Stargate Program and had gone to Atlantis or Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, Denver, had received the MCD –238β vaccine. This included the Chinese contingent, although they received it as part of another vaccine that had infected SG-18 on a new planet, causing necrotising fasciitis in two of the team. If the worst happened, they had people from China who were already immune to the zombie effects of that damned drug. Jack knew it wasn’t enough, but every little bit helped.
Now, as they were struggling with the ethical dilemmas of vaccinating people without their consent and how the hell they were going to obey their orders to get informed consent from the anti-vaxxer crowd, it was comforting to know that the rest of their painstaking planning was paying off, and the immunisation program had begun. Next week, the next phase commenced as vaccines were rolled out to the general population.
At the extra session of the subcommittee convened tonight to try to understand the psychology behind vaccine hesitancy, hopefully, Dr Aoife O’Shea could answer questions. It would be crucial to formulate a plan on how to deal with known anti-vaxxers in the but they needed to understand their foe (err their target group) first. It was possible that they’d have to look at how to transport a significant portion of the United States population into detention if Ambassador Shen carried out her plan. He hoped Aoife might have some insights or brilliant suggestions, but he certainly wasn’t feeling sanguine about it. In Jack O’Neill’s opinion, it was a topic fraught with moral minefields that might normally take ethicists a decade to consider, and still not resolve what they should do.
The problem he had was that Homeworld didn’t have the luxury of taking a decade. They likely only had weeks if they were lucky, because as soon as the Chinese member of the IOA got wind of the massive operation. It was impossible to keep it from Shen or the Chinese government indefinitely, and when she learned what they were doing, she would act fast.
Crap! Jack hated those asshat politicians worse than Goa’ulds, scientists using six syllable words when two or max three would suffice, and bureaucratic meetings combined!
Chapter 7
Aoife O’Shea stepped out of the Air Force vehicle, expertly driven by an earnest young airman, Jaida Rawlins. Jaida was also acting as Davinia Dixon’s security detail while she was at the SCG. The psychologist found herself in front of a moderately sized home in Colorado Springs, which appeared relatively modern to the Irish psychologist, but then again, she came from a country where there were manor homes and castles like Castlegarde, Malahide, and Howth had been continuously inhabited since the 12th century and had more modest masonry style Georgian homes built in the 1700s. This home, she estimated, might have been built 30 or 40 years ago, which seemed relatively modern to her.
She looked over, smiling encouragingly to Davinia, knowing this must be incredibly stressful for her charge. Aoife noted automatically the teenager’s slightly pinched, nervous expression and stiff posture; her body language instantly warning the seasoned psychologist that she was extremely nervous about her meeting with the Dixons. She was the eldest of the offspring who’d been sent to safety from an alternate reality and had landed in their reality because their own population had been swallowed up by the horrific mind-controlling effects of the MCD –238β compound. It left most of the inhabitants of their Earth as mindless slaves, unable to resist being made to kill anyone who resisted the equivalent regions of China and Korea in their reality. They were killed without compunction if they attempted to resist.
It was highly probable that all the children sent to this reality were orphans, even if they could go home. Paula Muir, Thora Edwards and Heather Murphy were all brutally frank about the chances of anyone at the Area 52 Base surviving after the refugees’ emergency departure from their own world, passing through an alternate-reality device. After their children’s departure, the scientists and military personnel had intended to blow up the Nellis Air Base that contained Area 52, the research arm of Stargate Command and themselves with it, so they couldn’t be forced to work for the self-appointed Emperor General Shen and the people who had taken over the world.
For the children whose parents sacrificed everything to send them here so they could live free from mind control, safe with people who would protect them, encountering people who looked exactly like their parents and family had to be an extremely traumatic and bittersweet experience as the passage between the two realities had been intended to be a one-way journey; they had no way back to their own reality because their parents planned to ensure Shen couldn’t follow them into this reality. For the younger children, the impact, in some ways, was less difficult. Although the disruption to their routines was harder for them to cope with. For the older kids like Josh, Gia and Davinia or Vinia, as she referred to herself, the change of reality, per se, was easier in some ways because their cognitive maturation made it easier to understand that the people who looked like their parents and friends back home were, for the most part, quite different individuals.
Still, it wasn’t easy on them, and their grief was more complex, as they also understood the permanence of their situation and what had likely happened to their parents back home. In many ways, these feelings would need far longer to process than the younger ones’ grief would. Aoife knew they were looking at years of grief work, although she couldn’t say precisely how long, since they hadn’t known this scenario was possible. She wasn’t even sure if it was something you could get over.
Time would tell, and she suspected there would be longitudinal research papers written on this group of youngsters, somewhat like that Seven Up documentary series that followed a cohort in Britain who were seven-year-olds in 1964, checking in on them every seven years. Whether any of those studies would ever be published in scientific journals in her lifetime seemed doubtful. The SGC might one day be declassified if all Hell broke loose and Shen Xiaoyi and her fellow evil-doers unleashed Lucius Lavin’s compound on the world. It would be darned nigh impossible to keep the Stargate secret if that scenario occurred, especially when Homeworld Command and the SCG helped save the rest of the world.
But would the world ever be able to cope with alternate realities? Probably not!
Now, nearly two months after their alt-reality arrivals turned up so unexpectedly in this world, things in this reality felt as if they were reaching a fever pitch. Thankfully, from what Aoife understood, vaccine production was nearing its goal of manufacturing eight billion doses. Complex plans to distribute the vaccine, meanwhile, were being fiercely debated and finalised. Meanwhile, the children had, by and large, settled into Atlantis either into their temporary or permanent foster situations relatively well, all things considered.
Sure, there had been tears, nightmares, tantrums and at times more serious repercussions. Josh DiNozzo (now going by the last name Muir) was suffering from panic attacks and had experienced a few night terrors, though Alex was in a perfect position to help talk him through them, having been there…done that himself. Little Kelvin Austen McKay was having trouble making the transition, not able to understand why Rodney was so prickly around him on the few occasions they’d interacted. The lad was also somewhat confused about his missing cousin Levi from his own reality. Since Maddie Miller was present in their reality (but alt-reality Maddie and Levi were his cousins in his old reality), it was not surprising that he was struggling to cope. An buachaill beag bocht (the poor little lad). Even as smart as he undoubtedly was, four-year-old Kelvin could not be expected to understand quantum physics and multiple realities. Given the disruption and his confusion about the people who looked like, but didn’t act like, the versions from back home, the little boy started regressing, wetting the bed and sucking his thumb.
Riley Faxon was also withdrawn and sad, and the seven-year-old’s appetite was poor. Thankfully, he was responding well to Daniel, although he remained somewhat guarded around Vala. Apparently, she hadn’t encountered Daniel or the Stargate in Riley’s reality. The little boy was happy to be staying with Clare and Nicholas, as his parents spent a lot of time with Daniel Jackson and his fraternal twins before their world started to fall apart. The two boys were currently sharing a room (even though Riley had one of his own) because it helped him to sleep at night. His room was being used as a playroom for the three children.
The only one of the ten children from the alternate Earth who hadn’t moved into their permanent or semi-permanent homes was Davinia Dixon, whose father was currently acting head of Stargate Command at Cheyenne Mountain. Her homeless status was not for the want of offers, of course. Colonel Dixon and his wife, Suzy, had already offered her a home in Denver with their four rambunctious tow-headed boys. However, that was problematic given that they were trying to keep the presence of the thirteen arrivals from an alternate reality quiet at this crucial time. Still, as a permanent option, it seemed like an excellent home for the teen, as her father was part of the Stargate program. In theory, at a later point, she could probably return to Earth and slip into their family with a minimum of fuss if she wanted to.
Unfortunately, Aoife didn’t think it would be that simple, supposing it was actually safe for her to return to Earth. As they already knew, the alternate reality these children had come from was, in many ways, very different from their own, and this was also the case for Davina. In her family, she was the only child of Colonel David Dixon. Suzy was not Davinia’s mother; her mother was from Eritrea in eastern Africa, and her parents met when he was travelling. They’d encountered each other on the island of Madagascar and fell in love and married after what Vinia’s mother described to her daughter as a whirlwind romance of barely two months.
However, in this world, Dave and Suzy had four sons. Dixon admitted to General O’Neill that he had met Lulit, Davinia’s mother, and had a brief but tempestuous affair. It ended amicably when Lulit’s father fell ill, and she returned home to Masmara to help take care of him, and after he died, she married someone in Eritrea. When he attempted to contact her after learning about Davinia, he learned that she had a daughter, Ahlam, but both Lilit and Ahlam had died in a road accident several years ago.
While Suzy Dixon had been read in on the whole situation with Davinia and the other nine children from the alternate reality (after signing one massive NDA), although she initially was shocked and understandably freaked out about the zombie peril facing the world, the warm-hearted mother immediately offered Davinia a home within their rowdy but loving family. Colonel Dixon said his wife would welcome another female into their very male-dominated household. So today was the first time they would all meet, and while living with the Dixons wasn’t on the cards at this stage, for security reasons, Davinia was keen to explore her options. In the meantime, she had received several offers for temporary or even permanent families on Atlantis, where she would live while the threat of occupation hung over Earth’s future.
Heather Murphy, the nurse she had been staying with, reassured Davina that she was welcome to stay with her and Justine for as long as she wanted to. Aoife and A.J. Chegwidden had also offered to foster Davinia, either short-term or permanently, if she decided not to live with the Dixons. As they were already living in the family wing and acting as de facto grandparents to the other children in residence there, it would simply mean they’d need to move into a bigger apartment, something which they were perfectly happy to do.
Dr Umwali ‘Emanuel’ Nkusi, one of Aoife’s colleagues, had also offered to foster her. Aoife thought it was likely she was missing her sister and the niece she helped to raise. Davinia got along with Umwali, too, and O’Shea believed she would make an excellent foster mum for the young teen. And lastly, the children’s teacher from Area 52 in the alternate reality from whence they’d come, Thora Edwards, offered to foster her, permanently or short-term. The teacher had cared for some of the children when they first arrived, and now that the other kids, like Kelvin Austen-McKay, were settled in with their permanent carers, Aoife thought she might miss their presence.
Still, even if moving in with her alt-reality father wasn’t currently an option since she was hidden away on Atlantis, Vinia was still very keen to meet them all, especially the Dixon four boys, which was only natural. Suzy Dixon was lovely, warm and welcoming, making her and Aoife feel welcome. And as they chatted, she explained what had brought her back here to Earth; she was attending an American Psychological Association Conference in California. This wasn’t something she could do when she was the sole psychologist on Atlantis, but now she felt comfortable in leaving Alain and Umwali to cover for her in her absence and it was her first time away from Atlantis in nearly three years.
When Dr Jackson and Drs Lam and Lee had been summoned to attend an urgent, unscheduled MCD –238β vaccine meeting back at Stargate Command, she and Dr Heng thought now was as good a time as any for the Dixons to meet Dave’s daughter from an alternate reality. As a bonus, Vinia would be less likely to be noticed at the SCG, especially dressed in the Atlantis uniform like everyone else aboard the puddle jumper. Besides, Aoife would be there to support her.
While Suzy and Colonel Dixon strove to make Vinia feel welcome, the colonel’s eldest son, Davy, seemed extremely curious about her appearance, having never heard of his ‘cousin’ before. At almost thirteen, he was inclined to ask awkward and annoyingly logical questions, which caused the adults and Vinia some additional stress, since although his mother, Suzy, had been read in, none of the boys had been. For now, Vinia was introduced to them as a cousin. Luckily, eleven-year-old Philip, their second-oldest boy, seemed to have developed a crush on her because she was a skilled basketball player. The two youngest, Hugh, who was nine going on ten, and eight-year-old Simon, just wanted to play computer games with her, surprised that she had only played a few of their favourite games. This seemed to add to Davy’s level of suspicion, but fortunately, Vinia was an incredibly fast learner.
While Dave, Suzy and Aoife kept a close eye on the proceedings, they marvelled over the situation that had brought them together. Suzy was keen to ask about Aoife’s work and Atlantis, although they were guarded in what they could say and needed to speak in metaphors and an improvised sort of code. They had a most pleasant lunch, and later the kids played in the Dixons’ inground swimming pool. They were having a lovely afternoon tea filled with Eritrean desserts that Suzy had made in honour of Vinia’s visit; her thoughtfulness seemed to touch Vinia greatly. There was a coconut cake that the teenager explained was like the official cake of Eritrea and Zigni – a sweet and spicy pastry filled with dates, nuts, and spices. Aoife, who’d never eaten any Eritrean food before, thought they were incredibly delicious. However, Vinia seemed especially excited by what the psychologist learned was a very popular sweet in Eritrea, which she recognised as halva. Vinia explained that halva first originated in Ancient Persia, then spread over the centuries through the Middle East, Asia and Europe. It was made with honey and sesame paste cooked until it was thick, then poured into a tray. Once it was cool, it was cut into small squares and served as a snack or dessert, and it seemed like everyone else agreed with Vinia; it tasted delicious.
Just as they were finishing up the dregs of the excellent Ethiopian coffee that accompanied the Eritrean delicacies. Airman Rawlins informed the Colonel that Aoife’s presence had been requested back on the base. Suzy invited Vinia to stay longer, saying she should spend longer and get to know them all better. Her invitation was enthusiastically supported by Phillip, Simon and Hugh, Aoife, whose job was to observe behaviour, noted that Davey had not shared his brothers’ fervour about his new ‘cousin’. Evidently, Vinia noticed it too because after briefly side-eyeing the Dixons’ eldest son, she politely declined, saying that she was still feeling a little tired from her long journey.
On their way back to the base, she confessed that Davy had been highly suspicious of her sudden appearance. He suspected she was his father’s illegitimate daughter and that his dad must have cheated on his mother with Vinia’s mother. Vinia said she didn’t think he would welcome her presence if she were to live with the Dixons, and that it would place the family under a lot of stress if she accepted their offer to become a part of their family.
“Not only that, Dr Aoife, but I’d feel extremely guilty about all of the secrets I’d have to keep from the four boys, especially Davy, knowing that he thought his dad had cheated on his mother,” she concluded unhappily.
“I agree that would be a very difficult situation to have to live in,” Aoife acknowledged sympathetically. “Likely it didn’t help that you are called after your father, too.”
“My mother told me that for four generations it was a tradition that the firstborn son in my father’s family was called David Dixon. When my Asra…my Mother gave birth to me, she told me she nearly died. Although the doctors managed to save her life, they had to take out her womb, which meant she could never have another child, and so she chose to call me Davinia to uphold the tradition in my father’s family because she couldn’t ever have a son,” she explained.
“Well, that was a beautiful, kind gesture,” Aoife said, smiling. “But I can see without understanding where you’ve come from, it could look highly dubious for you to turn up like this with a feminised form of the Colonel’s name, claiming to be a long-lost cousin.
“Yeah, my name and sudden appearance probably do look very suspicious to Davy,” she said, grimacing. “They seem like a really nice family, and I don’t want to cause trouble for Suzy or Dave, either,” she said rather wistfully.
She then fell silent, settling back in her seat to enjoy the ride from Colorado Springs to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Occasionally, she would comment a little sadly on the differences between her reality and this new one that was her reality now, as Aoife remained unusually quiet, wondering why her presence was required back on base. Her biggest concern was that Ambassador Shen and her people had already begun launching a weaponised form of Lucius Lavin’s compound to infect the world. Granted, if things followed the path they had in Vinia’s reality, they would begin with the Asia region. Yet they’d already seen that the two realities had considerable variances existing between them. Aoife still had extended family in Ireland, not to mention her former husband and his spouse, who were closer than family. She worried about what would happen if the MCD –238β vaccine wasn’t deployed in time to save the people she loved back in the Emerald Isle.
She was grateful when they arrived back at the mountain to find not only Dr Jackson waiting for them at the first security checkpoint, but Colonel Paul David, who was second-in-charge of Homeworld Command, with orders from General O’Neill to expedite her return.
“Uh oh, this does not bode well,” she muttered under her breath. “Please let everyone back home be okay.”
~o0o~
Carolyn had called a break in the meeting, seemingly pleased with the slow but steady progress with the deployment methods available. They had a number of methods of vaccinating the general population and would be getting underway in a matter of days as vaccinating the world’s population discreetly would take time and finesse. The edict delivered by the legislative branch of the US government after President Walsh (or his political advisors) caved to their demands was a blow that no one saw coming. Dr O’Shea had been called back on base to consult with the committee. Daniel and Paul had taken it upon themselves to brief Aoife O’Shea when she returned. They’d explained succinctly about their need for her expertise in understanding the psychological profile of people who exhibited vaccine hesitancy, and Jack was supremely grateful for them taking on the task, as thinking about the subject made his blood boil after his stoush with the Gang of Eight.
Caro called an extended break to the meeting at 1600. They would reconvene at 1900, and she sent Jack on his way, hopeful that Dr O’Shea would have advice on dealing with the anti-vaxxers, before reminding him firmly to keep his eyes on the prize. He knew she had a point; he must stay focused on the bigger picture, so he’d deliberately grabbed an early dinner in the SGC commissary. He’d soon gathered a few of the old-timers, including Sergeant Siler, Lou Ferretti, now a full-bird colonel, and Lacy Stewart, a nurse who’d worked in the infirmary for years with Cassie’s mom, Dr Janet Fraiser.
They spent the duration of the meal, pleasantly reminiscing over old times and past missions. The menu consisted of citrus trout almondine with salad, plus butterscotch torte for dessert, because a meal at the SCG without dessert wasn’t a true meal, even though he’d eaten pie already today. Jack felt himself relax somewhat as it was an enjoyable meal, good food and good company as they swapped stories, often of an embarrassing but mainly harmless nature, about their past exploits mainly. By unspoken mutual agreement, they kept the conversation light since it was apparently obvious to the trio, who had all known their former CO a long time, that the weight of his responsibilities as the Director of Homeworld Command was wearing heavily upon him.
Even though they didn’t know any details of what had brought him to Cheyenne Mountain, they all knew that Jack didn’t attend meetings that lasted all day and on into the night, merely because he enjoyed nitpicking over trivial matters. In fact, he absolutely despised meetings unless they absolutely couldn’t be avoided. So, knowing him like they did, he figured it wasn’t too difficult to work out that this one was important and unavoidable.
Although he had made a Herculean attempt to not only forget about the tin-foil hat brigade while he ate dinner and spent time with friends, mostly succeeding, he was less fruitful in blocking out the glass dishes filled with blue jello, presently mocking him in the commissary. When he grabbed his piece of butterscotch torte from the chiller section, he tried desperately not to think about Carter, who loved her blue jello with a passion he had never understood. Of course, it was easier said than done trying not to think about her, even if he’d had way too much practice in these last few months. It was always somewhat easier to forget the mysterious disappearance of the crew of the 304 Daedalus-class warship, USS George Hammond (named in honour of their much-loved deceased commander), captained by Samantha Carter, when he was back at the Pentagon.
When he was on Atlantis and encountered little Riley Faxon, Sam and Joseph Faxon’s son from the other reality, it was even harder. Likewise, here at the SCG, trying not to think about her disappearance was impossible, really, as this was where their team served together for eight years. Although his and Sam’s relationship had been purely professional during their time as SG-1, they had realised about three years in that they had feelings for each other. Feelings that were never acted upon, as they’d agreed that the threats to Earth’s existence and its people must take precedent over their personal feelings.
Jack suddenly felt like he was drowning in the maelstrom of his emotions, all of them competing for dominance. He knew without an iota of doubt that he had almost reached the threshold of experiencing an anxiety attack, something that hadn’t happened since he was held captive in Iraq for four months of sheer hell. Not even during his torture at the hands of Baal when he killed him and revived him so many times, Jack lost count.
A panic attack was categorically NOT an option – at least not here, hence Jack decided he needed a distraction. Maybe taking a walk topside would help him escape the ever-present memories of Carter that kept dogging him. Taken separately, he could usually wrestle them back into the mental box he used when they were on the same team and not acknowledging their feelings for each other. Sadly, being back here with Daniel by his side in this current crisis seemed to exacerbate their power over him. No doubt due to the thousand and one insignificant little reminders of Sam in the mountain that came crashing down on him. Like sitting at their table, explaining some improbable theory that turned out to be true, while she ate that damned blue jello like it was nectar of the gods.
The harder he fought to repress his grief and despair over her disappearance, the more random but treasured memories kept flooding into his consciousness. How dumb was it that Jello would be what pushed him over the edge? It was making it almost impossible to focus on the War on Happy Zombies, and he couldn’t permit it. There were too many innocent lives at stake for him to indulge his own tragedy.
Perhaps the fresh air and some exercise would let him catch his breath and wrestle his memories back under control again. Impulsively, he decided to kill two birds with one stone and see if Davinia Dixon would like to stretch her legs outside. She’d been warned to keep a low profile while she was at the SCG, as they didn’t want word of the contingent from the alternate reality leaking out and tipping their hand to Ambassador Shen.
Their plan up until now was to keep Shen in the dark and feed her mushroom compost, i.e. a bunch of dodgy information to keep Shen Xiaoyi well and truly distracted, and so far, it seemed to be working. They’d bombarded her with massive amounts of data on the Pegasus plant that had extraordinary healing qualities as catalogued by the Athosians. Next, they’d whetted her appetite further by dumping gigabytes of secret research studies and notes from Ronin Dex’s annihilated home planet, Sateda, where Dex’s second cousin worked at a munitions factory in Research &D looking for new technology to defeat the Wraith. Tech that was still being tested when the Wrath wiped out virtually their whole population. They hoped that it would keep her focus off discovering their real goal.
He owned Ronin and Teyla a big fruit basket since it had been essentially their hard work, along with the Lantean artificial intelligence entity Janae Progenius, that had dummied up the massive quantities of scientific and credible-sounding data that was ultimately nonsense, crafted purely to whet her appetite. Its sole purpose was to distract her from any slip-ups and odd happenings as they began implementing their counterplan to save the planet (and galaxy) from her megalomanic aspirations to rule.
As for Davinia Dixon, who was smuggled back here to the SCG under the guise of being part of the personnel who returned to attend the meetings being held about the new ‘wonder drug’ being developed in Pegasus. However, Dixon had called him a while ago, asking if he could find out what went wrong with the ‘meet and greet’ between Vinia and the Dixon clan today. At first, Jack protested strongly to Dave that adolescent females weren’t his forte, but Dave retorted that he’d turned out to be a pretty damn good surrogate father for Cassie Fraiser.
Honestly, Jack thought Aoife was a better choice for the mission; she was female…duh, and a psychologist… well, double duh! But Dave had pulled the “Please General, do it as a favour to one of your loyal subordinates who had your six when the Goa’ulds were trying to destroy the Earth schtick!
But honestly, what could he say to that? Aside from, “Low blow, Dave, and yeah, okay, he’d give it a go. Just don’t expect too much.”
Still, he felt like shit, and based on Dave’s request, Vinia hadn’t had a good day either, so maybe they could both use a diversion, even if she didn’t want to talk to him. After all, she barely knew him.
So, now armed with a mission to distract him from his grief and fear about Carter, he ducked into his VIP quarters, changing out of his dress blue uniform and into standard SGC fatigues, in this case, the olive drab BDUs that gave him a comforting sense of familiarity. Next, he wheedled some extra small ones out of Airman Rawlins for Davinia with instructions to have the youngster change and come with him on a secret mission.
Knowing she was probably going out of her mind being cooped up, since he’d learned that she was an athlete back in her home reality who’d been cooped up for months in their tunnels in Area 52, Jack had a plan to get her topside without attracting undue attention. While he was waiting for her to change out of the Atlantis uniform that she was wearing to merge in with the rest of the Pegasus galaxy gang and into generic BDUs to fit in with the rest of the SGU, Jack made a quick detour to the SGC security office. And bingo, he was lucky to find yet another old timer on duty!
Having explained his plan, which already had approval from the On Duty Base Commander, Lt Colonel Louis Ferretti, Master Sergeant Martinez shook her head in mock exasperation.
“Fine, General. But please don’t break a leg. I’m hoping to get a week’s leave for my daughter’s second baby in two months. Colonel Dixon hasn’t signed off on it yet,” she said forebodingly.
Going along with her joshing, Jack replied cheerily, “Such insubordination, Marty! I’m shattered! I’ll have you know that I’m not completely decrepit just because they shipped me out to Washington.”
As she chuckled, he told her, “And if Colonel Dixon refuses your leave, then forward it to Colonel Davis, and I’ll sign off on it. In fact, I’ll steal you away from this joint. Come and work for me at Homeworld Command,” he bantered, half seriously.
By the time he made it back to the VIP section of the staff quarters, Davinia Dixon and Airman Rawlins were emerging from one of the rooms set aside for the Atlantis contingent’s use during their stay at the SCG, while attending meetings.
“Where are we going?” Vinia asked curiously.
One look at her puffy eyes and Jack could see she’d been crying. Instantly, he forgot his heartache, just wanting to make her feel better. He could tell that Dave was right; things hadn’t gone well today, despite his and Suzy’s determination to make her feel welcome.
“On a secret mission,” he said mysteriously, chivvying the teenager along the corridor after handing her security/chaperone, Airman Rawlins, her own special set of written ‘SECRET’ instructions. Essentially, he needed her to clear their way to the emergency escape hatch on level 27 without being seen.
Jack knew that MSgt Martinez would still be monitoring their progress from the VIP quarters to the emergency exit via security cameras; he wanted to avoid running into randoms on the base and attracting unnecessary attention. He trusted her; Martinez was solid, but he wasn’t as certain about all of the newer personnel assigned to the SCG. They really could do with having a DiNozzo clone down here at Cheyenne Mountain to ferret out the spies undoubtedly planted here by The Trust, damn them! Probably the IOA had their own spies here as well, undoubtedly furious that Homeworld was keeping them out of the loop regarding what they’d been told was a breakthrough in a new cancer treatment in the Pegasus galaxy. The sheer number of moles sent to Atlantis lately made it almost certain that they had infiltrated Stargate Command, too.
Besides infiltrators, Jack was sorely in need of a diversion, and by the look of her, so was Ms Dixon. As for the airman, Jaida Rowlins, assigned as Vinia’s security detail on the base, tasked with ensuring Vinia maintained an extremely low profile, her security vetting had been carried out by the redoubtable Captain Rachel Sparks, his priceless assistant. While Rawlins had been declared pristine and above reproach, being double-checked by Penelope Garcia in between her supervising the Matter of Trust Caper and giving Rawlins the Garcia tick of approval, Jack was still keeping a wary eye on her, too. So far, Airman Rawlins was doing an excellent job shadowing her young charge.
Of course, Jack, as a veteran of Black Ops, with a highly nasty and suspicious mind that had ultimately helped to save his six on numerous occasions, didn’t trust anyone right now. So, Jack planned to have the airman reassigned to Atlantis when Davinia returned to the Pegasus galaxy, just in case she inadvertently spoke about her young charge. He wanted the ISBI, especially Alex, with his uncanny nose for sniffing out spies, to check her out, too. If there were even a shadow of a doubt on her trustworthiness, she would remain on Atlantis until the vaccines had been distributed because they were being exceptionally cautious. He was not taking any chances about Davinia’s true origin leaking out at this late stage of the game.
When they had successfully traversed the several levels without running into anyone, Jack felt relieved when they reached the emergency exit, and Vinia gave an excited squeal.
“Awesome. It’s the emergency hatch where Janet Fraiser and Paul Davis managed to climb down and save the SGC when those aliens that duplicated everyone on the base except her,” Davinia exclaimed animatedly.
Jack grinned, “Yep, the very same emergency hatch.”
He didn’t add that in this reality, it was Sam and Teal’c who were impervious to the effects, possibly due to Junior, the Jaffa’s symbiote and Carter who’d briefly had the Tok’ra, Jolinar of Malkshur sharing her body. The pair, along with Colonel Harry Mayborne, had saved the base, and hadn’t that stung to have to thank the smug bastard!
“So, I understand you’re quite an athlete, young lady. I figured you might be up for a bit of a climb, so we can go and hang out topside and watch the sunset? Whada ya say?”
She grinned. “Oh wow, that would be blow,” she blurted out.
Cassie had very recently explained to him that ‘be blow’ was the equivalent of ‘lit’ for the youngsters from the Area 52 Alt-Real (as Alex had begun referring to the refugees), as Jack returned her grin. He was happy to see her previous depressed state replaced by a genuinely happy smile.
Suddenly solicitous, she paused. “That’s if you are feeling up to it, Mr O’Neill. Isn’t it a long way up to the surface?”
He chuckled at her inquiry. He was not quite sure whether he should feel insulted that she thought he was so decrepit that he couldn’t make it or appreciate her caring nature. He settled for valuing her thoughtfulness.
Mock pouting, he said, “Thanks for your concern, Miss Dixon, but a year or so ago, Vala Mal Doran healed my creaky old knees, and now I’m feeling as good as new,” he assured her cockily.
He started climbing spryly up the metal rungs of the emergency hatch ladder. Maybe not with the agility of a twenty-year-old, but certainly much easier than he had moved for a long time. When they reached the top, he might have felt a bit breathless, but better than he’d hoped when he came up with the crazy plan to cheer up the adolescent.
Davina soon followed, exiting the escape hatch and throwing herself down on the grass a little breathless despite her youth, her security escort right on her heels. Rawlins sank onto the soft grass beside her.
The teen let out a big sigh. “Wow, for an old guy, you’re pretty fit,” she said admiringly, before looking mortified. Um… well, not that you’re really all that old, or anything,” she stammered as Jaida grinned evilly at her faux pas.
Jack wasn’t sure whether the airman’s grin was due to Vinia’s embarrassment or because the teen just told Jack he was old. He realised that to a 14-year-old, he must seem incredibly ancient. After all, he was Sarah’s grandfather (well, obviously that was in another reality), and he was pleased to see Davinia acting more like herself. At least the self he’d observed on Atlantis when he had time to hang out there, which was not as much as he liked. One day, Jack O’Neill hoped to spend a lot more time with the kids. Thanks to spending time with Joshua DiNozzo at the safe house back in Washington, he learned that his alt-real self was something of a de facto grandparent to the kids during their months hiding out in the tunnel system in Area 52, under Nellis Air Base.
After they caught their breath and their limbs stopped protesting, the trio watched the sun set. It reminded him of many other sunsets he’d spent up here topside at the mountain with his old SG-1 team, and he wished they were here with him now. Sometimes Janet and Cassie joined them, and they’d occasionally bring a picnic basket up there when there was a full moon or an astronomical event like a lunar eclipse or even a partial planetary lineup. You might think that after travelling through the Stargate to all those foreign planets and the extraordinary things they’d experienced, that they’d be blasé about a moonrise or astrological goings-on in their own tiny solar system in the Milky Way, but none of them had ever become jaded about what was out there.
Just as he was wondering how to keep his promise to Dixon and ask Vinia what had gone wrong today, she beat him to it.
“Mr O’Neill, can I ask you something about today?”
“Yeah, sureyabetcha, Vinia. But only if you call me General Jack,” he reminded her, playfully at her as she giggled tentatively.
Her big doe eyes flickered toward her chaperone before glancing back at him, again. “I’m sorry, I keep forgetting,” she apologised.
Jaida stood up and pulled some earbuds out of one of the numerous pockets in her BDUs and produced her iPod, the one the security department permitted her to use, having blocked its internet connectivity before returning it to the airman.
“Hey, don’t mind me. I’m going for a stroll and listening to some music, Vinia. You two have a nice chat, paint ya nails, braid your hair, keep your girlish secrets,” the airman teased her charge and elicited a shy little smile from Vinia.
“But I’ll keep you in my eyeline,” she reassured the young girl, saluting Jack sharply, before discreetly removing herself from earshot.
Chapter 8
Vinia had been trying to decide what she should do. Today had been hard…much harder than she expected. Not that she expected it would be easy, going to meet the man who looked just like her father, but wasn’t. And she’d been right, it wasn’t easy, not even a tiny bit, but then everything was hard.
She knew that she could talk to Dr O’Shea about what had happened. She was terribly kind and fierce, even though she was not exactly all that big. Although her personality seemed to take up a lot of space, physically, Aoife was generally the shortest adult in the room. And Vinia planned to talk to her later tonight, if they remained at the SGC, even though that hadn’t been a part of their plan; yet plans change. And she was aware enough of what was going on around her to appreciate that something had changed, and it wasn’t just because Aoife’s visit with the Dixons had been cut short or because Vinia declined to stay, either.
She wasn’t a kid anymore, but she wasn’t considered an adult either and at this point in time Vinia was glad, because she honestly didn’t feel ready to decide on her future. Unlike the rest of the kids who had travelled through the interdimensional device into this reality, aside from Josh DiNozzo, who was now using his mother’s maiden name of Muir, the others were still too young to grasp what their future would be. But she was old enough, and she knew that there would be no going home…this was their future now because there was nothing left for them in their own world, nor were their families coming here to be together because they couldn’t. Even if any of them were still alive, which was very unlikely, she thought with a sob.
She had already thought about talking to Dr Heng about all this stuff, which was weighing on her like a brick. She’d already talked to him quite a bit over the weeks since they arrived. About how it sucked to be the eldest of the group and feeling like she had a responsibility to look out for the younger ones, especially the ones like her who ended up in limbo because the mirror people of their parents were too different, like Kelvin’s dads, who weren’t even together, or they were missing, presumed dead like Riley’s parents. Even though Clare and Nicholas’s mom was dead in this world, at least their father’s mirror image had welcomed them with open arms. It was still hard on them, but at least they had each other, she supposed. The two babies, Mikelle and Sarah, probably had the easiest adjustment, too young to know what was going on or remember a different life, but Gia had been doing it tough.
An orphan brought up by her great uncle Charles, he was dead in this world, and apparently, her mirror parents in this reality had died along with their baby Georgina in a car crash when she was less than a year old. General Jack had served with Major Kowalsky, and he considered Gia family and had apologised for not being able to provide her with a home. Gia and Vinia had understood, like Josh did, that he was the head of Homeworld Program here. He was fighting to make sure that Emperor General Shen couldn’t turn everybody into mindless slaves, like what had happened on her planet. It was hard, but Gia understood he had a very important job to do, saving the world. Still, his former wife, Sarah, who called herself Lauren, which was her second name to avoid having two Sarahs in their family, had offered to foster Gia because she was family to the O’Neill’s. So, to everyone’s surprise, the grieving girl said yes.
And that just left her, fourteen-year-old Davinia Dixon, even though she had a mirror dad who was still alive, and he knew about the Stargate Program. On the surface, it seemed like it shouldn’t be a problem for him to become her guardian, but unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple. At least temporarily, General Jack wanted to keep the Area 52 group of interdimensional travellers hidden on Atlantis, which no longer existed in Vinia’s reality. In this world, Dave Dixon worked at the SGC; he was the boss. So, she needed a temporary guardian on Atlantis, and she had been genuinely moved by the people who offered her a home and to act as her guardian.
She was currently staying with Heather Murphy and her eight-year-old daughter, Justine. Although she had been an only child, Davinia didn’t mind the current arrangement, but she did miss her mother and their very close one-on-one relationship. She was also mindful that Justine was used to being an only child, and that she wasn’t just an only child, but Heather was her sole parent. There was no dad, and Justine was used to being the centre of her mother’s whole universe. Even though she was a nice kid and claimed she didn’t mind sharing her mother, Vinia thought that if their roles were reversed, she might feel a little bit jealous if she had to share Lulit’s attention with someone else.
Aside from Heather, others had already offered her a home with them, and she felt grateful, if genuinely confused about what to do when they got back to Atlantis. Even if the Dixons lived on Atlantis or if it was safe for her to return to Earth, Vinia had realised today after meeting with them that wasn’t going to work, which meant she needed to look at her options and figure out what would be best for her. Dr Heng was very easy to talk to. He’d shared a little of his own life story in a refugee camp for years, waiting to find a permanent place to call home, so he understood some of the issues that the Area 52 kids were facing. But mostly, he was a good listener, and Vinia was learning that sometimes that was all you needed when you had a lot on your mind. Not someone to tell you what to do…or more accurately, to tell you what THEY thought you should do. You needed someone who could really listen and help YOU figure out what you needed.
When Mr O’Neill…General Jack, she corrected herself mentally, dragged her off on his crazy secret mission to scale the escape hatch so she could get some fresh air without having to go through the security rigmaroles when they attracted attention to her being here that were best avoided, she remembered conversations she’d had with him over the last couple of months. She compared them to the time she spent with Sarah O’Neill’s grandfather back in her reality; how he had lots of time to listen to them when the rest of the adults were all off trying to save the world. And in the end, when the world was lost, he just helped to save the kids.
The two men seemed to be worlds apart, one focused on protecting Sarah and all the other kids and keeping them from being scared or bored. He played games with them and told them stories about the things he’d seen going through the Stargate to other worlds. Then, there was General O’Neill, off to Belar or back to Earth, focused not just on saving Sarah or the rest of the kids on Atlantis (and not just those who’d come from Area 52 but their own reality’s kids, too) but totally determined to save Earth and other worlds in their Milky Way and the Pegasus galaxy.
She got it. General Jack was a soldier trying to save everyone, and thanks to him and Belle’s dad, his reality stood a good chance of being saved, unlike theirs. He had a great deal of responsibility resting on his shoulders, yet despite the burden he must face (especially knowing what was in store for them if Shen Xiaoyi carried out the plan as she’d done on their world), he still made time to give her an adventure. She would be bragging to Josh, Gia and Justine when she got back to Atlantis about their ascent to the surface of the SCG via the emergency escape hatch, since they were the only ones old enough to appreciate what a treat he’d arranged for her, to reenact the trek of Janet Fraiser on SG-1 with Major Paul Davis.
Maybe she’d tell Jack Hotchner, too; he was old enough and sweet…and okay, he was kinda cute as well as very smart. Pushing aside that embarrassing thought, Vinia decided that General Jack didn’t seem so unapproachable and soldierly anymore, and a lot more like Sarah’s devoted caregiver back in their own reality. She wouldn’t hesitate to talk to Mr O’Neill about this stuff, so maybe General Jack could help her decide where she was going to live and, probably more important, with whom. It was a big decision
“Mr O’Neill, can I ask you something about today?”
“Yeah, sureyabetcha, Vinia. But only if you call me General Jack,” he reminded her, for the umpteenth time.
Now after her minder, Jaida Rawlins, thoughtfully wandered away to give them some privacy, listening to music that had a really loud bass beat, she could hear, even though Jaida was wearing those tiny earphones she’d called earbuds, Vinia found herself unsure how to get started.
Finally, General Jack took pity on her, asking in a friendly conversational way that reminded her of their O’Neill, “So I hope this isn’t too nosy, but Dave seemed to think today did not go so well?”
Vinia found herself tearing up. “No, it didn’t.”
“Ya wanna talk about it? Must have been weird. Those four kids of theirs are pretty full on when they are together, especially if you aren’t used to being with boys,” he said astutely.
“Oh, the boys were nice,” she said honestly. The two youngest reminded me of Nicholas and Riley, well, kind of.”
“Ah ha. Well, that’s good because the Dixons were afraid that they might have overwhelmed you. Suzy thought that there was tension between you and Davy?”
Vinia snort-sobbed before wiping her eyes with the back of her hand in anger, and General Jack offered her a handkerchief with the assurance, “It’s clean, pinkie swear.”
Accepting it gratefully, she deflected, asking, “Is pinkie swear like a thumb vow?”
He chuckled, linking his little finger with hers. “A pinky swear or some people call it a pinky promise, made by linking pinky fingers like this, is a promise made by two people. It’s meant to signify that a serious commitment has been made to keep their word and to demonstrate trust and sincerity,” General Jack explained. “Is that like a thumb vow where you come from?”
She smirked. “Yeah, its kinda like that, except we don’t link thumbs, we press them together. So if you break your word, what happens?”
“Well then, people discover that your word means nothing, and no one trusts you anymore. Although in some places, it used to mean that you could cut off the vow-giver’s pinkie if they broke their vow,” he told her seriously.
“That’s gross.”
“I take it that it isn’t a thing where you came from?” he asked curiously.
“No…but seriously, although losing a pinkie would be terrible and gross, a thumb would be worse; it’s crucial,” she observed with a grimace.
“Too true, but there’s always your big toe, it works pretty well.” Seeing her confused expression, he explained, “Doctors can sew a big toe onto the stump if you lose a thumb, so you can still hold stuff.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that. It’s nasty, but it kinda blows at the same time,” she observed, accepting his handkerchief and making good use of it.
As General Jack regarded the teen calmly, she shrugged. Aoife already knew. What harm was there in sharing?
“Davy thinks his dad was having an affair with my mother and cheated on Suzy. Behold, I’m proof that his dad’s a twice-timer,” she explained. “He’s just protecting his family, especially his mother,” she murmured, not wanting him to get into trouble.
“Wow, that’s one he… erm I mean it’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it?” General Jack asked, thinking quickly.
She decided it was probably a rhetorical question but responded anyway. “Definitely a helluva a stretch. Unless someone had already cheated before. But what made Davy majorly suspicious is the Dixon family tradition for the last four generations that the firstborn son is always called David. When my mother almost died giving birth to me, she learned I would be the only child, so she decided to uphold the tradition in my father’s family and call me Davinia,” she explained.
“Yeah, okay, I’m seeing how he might have gotten the wrong end of the stick.” Seeing her look of genuine confusion at the mention of trees, General Jack clarified. “It means that he might have the wrong idea.”
He was scowling. Vinia hoped she hadn’t got the eldest Dixon son into trouble since this wasn’t his fault. If it was anyone’s fault, it was Emperor General Shen Xiaoyi who had destroyed her world and sent their group uninvited into Davy Dixon’s reality.
“But even if Davy hadn’t decided that I’m the result of his dad cheating on his mother, who he adores, I don’t think I could live with the Dixons, as nice as they all are. Being there with them and hiding everything I know, where I’ve come from…” she stopped, overcome with emotion.
General Jack put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a comforting hug, although she wished her dad were the one there, hugging her. She missed him so much. Using General Jack’s handkerchief, she wiped a few tears away from her eyes, savouring the feeling of being protected by someone safe. And that’s when she realised that she did trust this O’Neill, who was very different from the one she had known back home, but kinda the same.
“Suzy’s lovely, and she was very kind to me, but if I lived with them, it would be a constant reminder that my mother isn’t here. I mean, I know that she is either dead back home or she has been enslaved, and it would be a constant reminder. And I don’t think I could stand it,” she confessed, expecting him to argue.
“Tell me about her?” he asked gently, surprising her instead.
“She was Eritrean, and she lived in the capital, Asmara, before she married my dad. She was a doctor specialising in infectious diseases, and she finished her training in the States of United America after they got married.”
“So how did they meet? Did she come here for medical school?”
“They met in Madagascar on vacation. Do you want to see what she looks like?” Vinia asks shyly.
“Yeah, suryabetcha,” he replied excitedly, sounding like an overgrown kid.
She produced the small passport-sized photo she carried with her everywhere. It was the only one she’d managed to bring with her to this reality of her enat (mother), along with another one of her father, holding her when she was born. They were all she had time to grab when they had run to Area 52 to hide from the SCG which had been overrun by zombies.
General Jack took her mother’s photo respectfully and studied it carefully before responding. “She is very beautiful. What is her name?”
“Lulit Hirut. Lulit means jewel.”
“And what does Hirut mean?”
“She who is beautiful,” Vinia giggled a touch hysterically; her emotions still raw.
Jack pulled a small snapshot of a young boy from his wallet and passed it over. “That’s the last one I have before Charlie died,” he said as she inspected the photo.
“He’s a cutey,” she said, handing it back to him respectfully. Vinia could tell from how dog-eared it was that he must have looked at it a lot. “You must miss him.”
“Yeah, I do.” General Jack said shortly.
After a pause, he continued, “So, where do you want to live on Atlantis? Do you want to live with Heather? You know she said you’re welcome to stay with her and Justine.”
“I know that, and I’m truly grateful to her, but I was an only child. My mother almost died having me, and I’d feel a bit jealous to have to share, and I don’t want Justine to feel like she’d been pushed aside, you know? Plus, I love Heather; she is a sweetheart, but she’s white like dad and knows nothing about African hair.”
“African hair?” General Jack’s eyebrows shot up in…disbelief…or confusion.
“It’s a thing, trust me. Dad had tried his best. When Mama was at work in the lab, and he had to take me to school, his attempts to tame my hair had been a nightmare for both of us.”
Which was true as far as it went, but Vinia would gladly let her dad deal with her hair for the rest of her life if it meant she got to spend it with her parents again in their own reality.”
“The day he finally managed to braid it for school, AND we arrived before the bell, was a source of great pride.”
Even after the Triumphal Hair Braids, mornings with her dad in charge were usually still disasters more often than not. And yet, what she wouldn’t give to have her parents back again, even if her dad was absolutely rubbish at doing her hair, and which was a source of much pride and angst to Vinia.
“So, explain what the difference is, like I haven’t got a clue,” he said seriously.
“But you don’t have a clue,” she gasped, starting to laugh.
“Pre-zactly,” he said with a cheeky grin. “So, explain it to me. Please?”
So Vinia gave him the short explanation she’d used on her dad several times because the man was seriously thick when it came to African hair. She explained that each strand was thicker and curly because, in general, African hair follicles were more oval than Asian or Caucasian hair; this resulted in curly hair. It also tended to produce more sebum, but because their hair was so kinky, it didn’t get evenly distributed, which was why their hair tended to be more brittle and prone to breakage. Finally, she explained that African hair strands were flat like a ribbon while Caucasian hair was thinner and more rounded.”
“As to the cultural aspects of African hair braiding, well, maybe we’ll save one for another time,” Vinia uttered very seriously.
“Yeah. Good plan. I already got a three-hour lecture from Daniel when Teal’c started rocking his hair braids,” Jack said with a mock shudder. “Did you know that African slaves in America used them as a form of secret communication? And that hair braiding dates back at least as far as Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia?”
Vinia stated, laughing as she imagined Dr Jackson delivering that lecture. He did tend to get carried away when he got started…in both of their realities. She found herself wondering if there was a reality where he was more reticent about sharing information.
“Anyway, African hair is a thing,” she said firmly.
“Okay, so I guess that means we can cross Dr O’Shea off the list, too, since I’m guessing she doesn’t get African Hair?”
“Probably not, although she’s very kind too, and she’s a great listener, and I love her accent, even if sometimes I can’t understand her,” Vinia couldn’t help it; a giggle burst forth. “But most importantly, since she’s only been with Mr Chegwidden for a little while, I’d kind of feel like I was intruding,” she said with a sigh. “They make a cute couple, even if they are umm…kinda old.”
He nodded, obviously understanding exactly what she meant. Now that their relationship was common knowledge, they did tend to have eyes only for each other.
“And Dr Nkusi? She offered to foster you, and she understands African hair,” he asked seriously.
“Oh, Umwali is lovely. She’s so sweet and kind. But she isn’t sure if she’s going to be staying on Atlantis permanently. She has family back in Maori Land… umm I mean New Zealand, and well, I’d kind of like to stay close to the other kids and Paula, Thora and Heather if possible.”
“Yeah, that’s understandable,” General Jack said. “So how about Thora? She’s happy to become your permanent guardian. She knows about African hair, and you wouldn’t be pushing any other kids aside. You won’t feel like you’re intruding on a romance, either,” he said jokingly.
Seeing a strange look on her face, he said, “Wait, is she seeing someone on Atlantis? How did I not know this?” he said in a whiny voice that reminded her of four-year-old Kelvin Austen-McKay.
“No,” she said. “But if the moon eyes she and Agent Rossi keep making at each other are any clue, then I’d say it’s probably only a matter of time before they get together,” she grinned.
“I take it you’d be okay with that if you were living with Thora?”
“Yeah, I think I would. Somehow, it’s different because I already know her pretty well from our world, and she’s been on her own for a long time. Besides, Agent Rossi spends half the year going back to see his family on Earth. He seems to make her happy. Just like Cassie and Evan,” she gushed.
“My Cassie and Evan?” he pressed. “In your reality?”
Vinia felt alarmed. Just about everyone in the family quarters on Atlantis knew about them seeing each other. Sarah… umm, Lauren knew, so the eldest of the Area 52 kids watching their romance unfolding just assumed that General Jack did too.
“Oops, I thought you knew,” she said nervously. “They’re soooo cute together, and he’s really good with Baby Sarah too.” Sensing her climbing buddy didn’t seem over the moon about it, she changed the subject quickly.
“Little Belle thinks her Daddy and Paula are going to get together too, and she’ll be her new mother, but I don’t think so,” she rushed on, changing the subject. “They do care about each other a lot, but I think that Nikki Jardine and Agent Alex will probably end up together one day, even if they can’t see it yet,” she said confidently.
He seemed to recover from the news that his adopted daughter, Cassie, was dating the handsome Lt Colonel Lorne. General Jack teased her a little stiffly. “What about you, Vinia? Has anyone caught your eye, maybe Josh?”
Vinia started to blush; she couldn’t help it. “Not Josh. Living together for those months underground back home and then here on Atlantis, even though we are all separated now, we all still feel like siblings, kind of.”
Which was the truth, although when she first met Joshua DiNozzo, Vinia kind of thought he was sweet. Aside from him becoming like a brother to her and being much younger than her, she had found herself sort of crushing on Agent Alex, which was so weird because he was old enough to be her father. But he was hot!
It was also really weird because she’d never thought of Josh’s dad that way, but with his dirty blonde hair and blue eyes (and she’d seen him in his running gear, and he had a great body for someone so old), well, there was no way she would tell General Jack that.
Trying not to think of Agent Alex’s dimple, she realised Jack wouldn’t let it go, so she said shyly, “Well, not a crush, exactly. But Jack Hotchner and I are good friends. He’s teaching me how to fence.”
Which was true. She watched Colonel Sheppard fence (who was someone else who was pretty hot for an old guy), she conceded, somewhat embarrassed, and he was pretty good at it. He coached Jack, who was also very proficient at the sport; he probably could compete if he were back on Earth. Afterwards, Jack Hotchner offered to teach her how to fence if she wanted to learn. Which of course she did, after seeing fencing for the first time and loving it. It was kind of like dancing and self-defence combined. Which was also how she came to ask Torren’s mother to teach her the fighting style she used, with sticks she called bantos rods.
Okay, so Teyla was a talented athlete, and Vinia admired her physique. Plus, it hadn’t escaped her attention that Agent Alex was taking lessons with Teyla. Torren’s mother was so expert, she could easily beat the massively man-mountain, Ronin Dex, and barely break into a sweat. Josh decided to join Vinia in a weekly class with Teyla Emmagan. Not so much because he was really into martial arts, but Vinia suspected that he might have had a bit of a crush on Teyla, even if she was Torren’s mother. But Vinia could see why he might have a crush on her if he did, she was beautiful with her latte coffee coloured skin tone, wiry musculature and her copper-coloured hair
Soon after Josh started attending Bantos training, Gia had decided that being able to defend herself was something her Great Uncle Charles would have approved of and Lauren had encouraged her. Now Maddie Miller and Justine Murphy decided that they wanted to learn self-defence too. She supposed that having been forced to travel to a distant alternate reality, leaving behind everyone they loved, had affected all the kids and made them feel insecure. As for Maddie, she and Justine had become BFFs; wherever Justine went, Maddie was there too.
Dr Heng had encouraged them to take up sports or dance classes, and some of the Lantean kids also took piano lessons. Jack was really talented on the piano, and he was also taking extra musical theory and robotics classes. Maddie’s dad, Kaleb Miller, was talking about starting some drama classes; one for the little ones and another group for the older kids, and said he was might also form a drama club for the adults to put on plays, which sounded like fun. If they had to hide out here while Homeworld Command saved this world, then Vinia decided that Atlantis wasn’t such a bad place to be.
Plus, she’d been the only kid hiding with her parents at Area 52 reality who was bi-racial, and Thora Edwards was the only person of colour, she’d felt close to her. Atlantis, especially in the family unit had a diverse group of people, though. Umwali was from Rwanda, in Africa. Nikola Jardine (although Belle’s dad called her Nikki), Thora, and Teyla weren’t Caucasian and Miko, was from Japan. Thankfully, she wasn’t the only bi-racial kid, here. There were a few other bi-racial offspring, Torren Emmagan, Kazumi Zelenka and Nikola’s daughter, who was due sometime in the next month, had a Caucasian father like Vinia did. She snorted at the thought of the new arrival. Belle Paddington was driving them all mad with the count down, waiting for Erica Leigh to be born.
Plus, there were the Athosian guides, many who lived on Atlantis in the family quarters , like Teyla and Kanaan and they were constantly meeting aliens from other planets like the Orbanians. And lots of other nationalities in the military and scientists, whom they didn’t know. All in all, it was a pretty cool place if they couldn’t live in their own world, she supposed rather wistfully as a wave of homesickness washed over her.
Breaking into her thoughts, General Jack asked gently, “So, I’m no mind reader, Kiddo, but it sounds like you might have decided to live with Dr Edwards.”
And she realised with a start that maybe she had already decided. After going back and forth about it for so long, she realised that it felt right to live with Thora. She was too old for anyone to replace her mother, but Thora felt like she was already a friend, and maybe that was what a fourteen-year-old refugee from an alternate reality needed.
Giving General Jack a quick hug, she grinned a little sadly, thinking of everything and everyone she’d lost but feeling more at peace, deciding that General Jack had hammered it about what she’d decided. “Yeah, I think you might be right,” she agreed. “Thanks for listening to me.”
“Anytime, kiddo.” He touched his ear and patted his shoulder. Anytime I’m around, and you need someone to listen to you, or ya need a shoulder to cry on, I’m your guy,” he said, holding up his thumb. “Thumb vow,” he promised as she completed the familiar oath, noticing idly that his thumb was extra-long and the top joint bent backwards, just like Mr O’Neill’s had back home.
As they prepared to make their way back down the emergency hatch with Jaida back on her chaperoning duties, Vinia definitely felt more at peace about her future.
Just before he opened the hatch, she asked impulsively, “Do you think Colonel Dixon will understand why I can’t live with his family?”
“Yeah, Vinia, I think he will.”
“I don’t want him to think I’m jealous of his family or anything, and I don’t want Davy to get into any trouble,” she explained earnestly. “He’s just looking out for his mama and his family.”
“Yeah, I get it, and I think Dave and Suzy will too. For what’s worth, Kiddo, I think they’ll both be very proud of you. I know I am,” he said, opening his arms and offering her another hug.
As she fell into his arms with a hiccup-like sob, and he squeezed her tight, he said, “Would it be okay if I borrowed that photo of your mother for a bit when we go down to the VIP quarters. I’ll just have our friend here make some copies of it, in case something happens to it, so you don’t lose her,” he gestured at Jaida. “And maybe we should make copies of that one of you and your dad,” he said with an odd expression in his eyes.
Now it was Vinia’s turn to throw her arms around him and give him a grateful hug. She knew he understood how precious that photo was of her mother, because even if Lulit was still alive back home, she was as good as dead to her, since Vinia was stuck here, in this different reality. And if alive, Lulit was under the mind control of Emperor General Shen.
“Cassie and Baby Sarah are lucky to have you, General Jack. I’ll be very relieved to have a couple of spare copies of Lulit’s picture and Dad’s, too. Thank you so much for everything,” she told him gratefully.
“What are friends for?” he told her lightly, but she knew that it was really a promise to protect her and look out for her and what was left of her family, which were the other kids and the three adults who came here via the interdimensional device, including Baby Sarah.
Vinia reckoned it made him family, too!
Notes: Enat ~ Tigrinya for Mother
