To Dance Between the Raindrops: A Snowflake's Waltz - Chapter 25
To Dance Between the Raindrops: A Snowflake's Waltz
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this Stargate SG-1/Sanctuary crossover story but my altered headspace. Stargate SG-1 belongs to Gekko Film Corp, MGM, Fox, various individuals and companies and whoever owns them. Sanctuary belongs to Damian Kindler, Amanda Tapping, Martin Wood, The Beedie Group, Tricon Films & Television, Space and whoever else owns bits and pieces of it.
Spoilers: For SG-1, to the end of series; for Sanctuary, up to the episode “Pavor Nocturnus” (Season 2, Episode 5). Everything after that is up for grabs.
Summary: Sam and Cassie go Christmas shopping in New City ...
To Dance Between the Raindrops: A Snowflake's Waltz
Chapter 25
“I’m curious, Dr. Magnus,” Daniel began as they all settled down in the library again after the non-disclosure forms had been signed. “Where were you in 1928?”
Sam studied Jack out of the corner of her eye; to anyone else, he appeared relaxed, even indolent sprawled there on the delicate, antique settee. But Sam could see the tension in his face ... in the clench of his jaw.
Magnus froze for a moment and Sam was drawn to the introspective look on her face. She wondered if that was the way she, Samantha, looked when she was thinking.
“I was in South America then-the Amazon to be precise,” she replied with a faraway expression that made her look years younger. “I was studying a rare species of Earth Elementals from about February 1928 to the summer of 1929. The tribes who lived there referred to them as the Spirits of the Forest and believed that they were responsible for making the plants grow and maintaining a healthy balance in the ecology.”
“And were they?” Jack asked.
She met his gaze and held it unwaveringly. “To an extent, yes; they could affect plant growth. But their role in the rainforest is far deeper than that-you can say that they are its guardians, its protectors.” Magnus turned her gaze to Daniel again. “Where are you going with this, Dr. Jackson? What do my whereabouts, from over three quarters of a century ago, have to do with anything?”
“Around that time, did you ever hear about a giant stone artefact-a large ring being discovered buried on the Giza plateau not far from the Great Pyramid?”
A strange look ghosted across Helen Magnus’ face. “No,” she replied thoughtfully with a crooked, little half-smile. “Not at that time, but after the Second World War, James-Watson that is-brought it up. He discussed with me a classified project involving a large stone ring that his good friend, Ernest Littlefield, had been working on with a Dr. Peter Langford, an archaeologist of some renown. However, Ernest was killed in a lab explosion-”
“Oh, for crying out loud!” Jack exploded and Sam couldn’t help but chuckle. “Does no one think about operational security?”
Magnus grinned and relaxed back in her seat with a chuckle of her own. “So that’s what this is all about,” she said eyes twinkling merrily. “James and I figured Langford had found the Shau’pi … the Ring of the Gods spoken of in the Chronicle and other ancient writings. It was also known as Astria Porta-the Portal to the Heavens or Gateway to the Stars-”
“Aw crap!” Jack closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as the others laughed nervously in utter disbelief. “That’s it!” Jack ranted. “I give up-Daniel, she’s all yours.”
“Dr. Magnus, if you and James Watson knew what the artefact was-why didn’t Watson let Ernest know?” Daniel asked curiously. “You said they were friends.”
Magnus nodded. “They were-in fact, James was planning to recruit Ernest into the Sanctuary Network as his protégé after the war, much in the same way he eventually recruited Declan,” she replied.
Sam’s eyes flicked to the stony-faced man standing behind Magnus; she and Declan hadn’t said a word to each other since the revelations of the night before.
Magnus smiled fondly. “I remember that Ernest had a positively uncanny knack for numbers and patterns,” she said. “He would have made an excellent addition to our team. However, he’d sent that covert message asking for James’ help only weeks before he died-James was known in certain circles as a great thinker and a solver of arcane puzzles. By the time we received it and figured out what Ernest was referring to, it was too late. Things were chaotic for quite a while after the war-we were still in London at the time, rebuilding, and well, there was no such thing as instantaneous communications back then. When we tried to get in touch with him through our own covert channels, we learned that he had died. We snooped around a little and found he’d been involved with a classified project that Langford was spearheading for the United States government, so-”
She gave a little shrug. “We backed off-decided that if Ernest couldn’t figure it out, perhaps they weren’t ready to figure it out.” Her mouth tugged up in another knowing little smile. “I take it you’ve now figured the Shau’pi out.”
“The correct pronunciation is Chappa’ai, DoctorHelenMagnus, and I am Teal’c,” Teal’c said with one of his polite little bows. To Sam’s surprise, Magnus rose and bowed formally to him.
“Thank you, Teal’c,” she said, “for the correction and for honouring me with your name. Tell me, whom did you serve as a Jah-fah general?”
Even Teal’c stared at her this time, his mouth agape with shock. She reached for his hat, asking for silent permission; he bowed his head so that she could remove it.
“I saw a bit of your tattoo when Declan knocked your hat askew last night,” she said, running gentle fingers over the golden symbol adorning Teal’c’s forehead, as her own people stared at them in surprise. “I didn’t realise its significance until now. According to the Chronicle, Ra took the greatest warriors from the strongest tribes from Nubia to China and as far north as the Rhine. He changed them-making them even stronger. He then bestowed these Jah-fah armies on his siblings as prizes in return for their loyalty to him as Lord above them all. Each warrior was tattooed with a unique crest upon his forehead, depending on whose army he served in. But the tattoo of the generals of each army was slightly different-for it was made of pure gold.”
“I served as First Prime of Apophis,” Teal’c replied, eyes wide with respect. “But I no longer serve the Goa’uld ... the False Gods. JackO’Neill offered me a chance to free my people from thousands of years of servitude and slavery, and in the last decade, our team-including SamanthaCarter, DanielJackson, ValaMalDoran and CameronMitchell-indeed, all of the SGC have helped me to do so. Now, few Jaffa still serve the False Gods-most of the Goa’uld are dead.”
“Goa’uld?” Kate asked in confusion. “False gods?”
Magnus smiled shrewdly. “Yes, Apophis is another name for the Ancient Egyptian god Apep or Apepi,” she said. “Brother to Ra and also known as the Serpent of the Nile.”
“But not even Egyptians believe in those gods anymore,” Kate complained. “So where in the world would you find people who’ve served Ancient Egyptian gods for thousands of years till now?”
“Most likely nowhere in this world, Kate,” Helen Magnus replied with a wide grin; holding Teal’c’s gaze as her newest employee gaped in confusion. “What is the name of your world, Master Teal’c?”
Teal’c bowed again to her, acknowledging her correct deduction. “My homeworld is called Chuu’lak, DoctorHelenMagnus.”
“His homeworld?” Declan said incredulously.
“Oh my God!” Will gasped simultaneously, eyes shining in wonder. “So the Astria Porta-”
“Is literally a ‘portal to the stars’, William,” Magnus said. “And the United States military has been using it to explore other worlds.” As the Sanctuary team digested her words, she turned her gaze to Sam with a smile that softened her features. “You’ve walked upon alien worlds, haven’t you, Samantha.”
“Yes,” Sam replied quietly, surprised at the undeniable pride she read in the other woman’s eyes.
“Oh, how marvellous,” Magnus said, obviously enchanted by the thought. “What a brave new world you live in.”
“Actually, Sam is the one who created the dialling program that works Earth’s Stargate, Dr. Magnus,” Cassandra said proudly, chuckling as Sam blushed. “The original device that dialled the Gate was lost.”
“Well, it was Daniel who translated the cartouche that gave us the first Gate address, and he found the library containing other addresses in the Stargate system,” Sam said trying to deflect the older woman’s impressed scrutiny.
“But you’re the one who kept the whole jerry-rigged get-up running for more than a decade,” Jack said obviously revelling in his friend’s discomfort at being the centre of Magnus’ attention. As Sam started to protest again, he cut her off. “Yeah, yeah ... there are other scientists on the project, but you do seem to be the one who pulls our fat out of the fire most of the time.”
Sam felt herself blushing deeply again at Jack’s praise as Will Zimmerman said, turning his discerning gaze to Cassie with a smile, “I guess we know now why knowledge of you is classified, Cassandra-you’re an alien as well, aren’t you.”
“Yes,” the young woman replied as the other Sanctuary natives stared in shock.
“Cassie, is there something you neglected to inform me about?” Jack said in exasperation.
“Would you believe it just sort of came out?” she replied sheepishly. “They knew I was a telepath and possibly more, and they were asking questions I couldn’t answer, so I told them I was classified.”
Magnus nodded. “Cassandra is unlike any Human telepath I’ve had the privilege of knowing through the Sanctuary Network,” she said. “She has excellent shields and control over what she tunes into from other people, unless a strong surface thought intrudes, or is directed specifically at her-”
“You mean your telepaths have no control?” Cassandra cried in horror.
“Some eventually learn how to shield their thoughts after a fashion,” Magnus said quietly. “But many hear all thoughts, all the time from everyone within a certain radius of their position.”
“But-but that’s insane!”
“Many do go insane, Cassandra,” Magnus replied quietly, holding the young woman’s stricken gaze. “The rate of suicide among telepaths is very high. Others are misdiagnosed with schizophrenia or with a host of other mental illnesses and spend years in institutions, where, even if we do find them, it is generally too late to help them. And there’s a limit to how much we can help those we do manage to find in time. The best we’ve been able to do with many of them is to teach them to concentrate on one person at a time and how to ignore the rest within their personal space, rather like the way you would concentrate on someone you’re speaking to in a crowded room. Even so, most do prefer to live extremely solitary lives, keeping people away from their personal space as much as possible, because once someone comes into their line of sight, they are inundated by a flood of thoughts and images that are not their own.”
“Is there no one to teach them how to shield their minds?” Cassie asked desperately now.
“How, Cassandra?” Magnus asked gently. “How does a deaf person teach a hearing child to speak or to sing if there are no hearing people around? How can they correct errors in pronunciation, tone and pitch if they cannot hear the mistakes or even know that a mistake has been made in the first place? They can read books to try to understand and explain sound in the abstract, but they cannot know. And we don’t even have books to consult in order to help our telepathic children,” she said, frustration very evident.
“Older telepaths are of limited help because many can’t stand to be in the same room with others, while those who can tolerate it have only what they’ve learned from us to impart on younger telepaths and it doesn’t work in every case. We have found, however, if three telepaths can learn to work in concert, they can support each other … they can help each other filter out the background noise and one might catch things that the other two might miss when they need to shield. They’ve created a cadre of teachers amongst themselves to help younger telepaths. But not all telepaths can learn to accomplish this and they must begin when they’re relatively young or as soon as possible after they begin to manifest their abilities. But most are not found until they’ve spent years in institutions, lost in a haze of drugs and other ineffective or downright barbaric treatments. However, all Human telepaths we know of come to their abilities with no shields, and for some reason I’ve yet to discover, it’s not something they naturally know how to do.”
“You indicated that your mothers taught you how to shield your mind, Cassandra,” said Declan McCrae speculatively, studying the shocked, silent group from the SGC. “Can you explain how?”
“No, I believe I said that my mothers taught me manners,” the young woman replied smiling. “They taught me not to go dipping into people’s minds without permission and they taught me how to ask permission. The shields were pretty much there from the beginning-they just taught me how to strengthen them when I needed to so that I’m not overwhelmed.”
“How?” Helen Magnus croaked looking from the two women to their daughter and back again. “As I understand it, other than Samantha’s Source Blood induced ability, neither of you is a natural telepath.”
Sam and Janet looked at each other and then turned their gaze to General O’Neill.
“Oh for crying out loud!” he exploded and Cassandra burst into giggles.
“Sam sort of built me a bio-feedback machine in our garage,” she said fighting to bring her laughter under control. “Mom helped her customise it to my physiology. It can be tuned to my telepathic brainwaves and helped me to refine my control over my abilities.”
“But we’ve also tried bio-feedback with our telepaths with very limited-and ultimately little-success,” Magnus said as she stared at them in confusion.
“That’s because you’re probably missing a few special add-ons that aren’t usually available on commercial bio-feedback machines,” Cassie replied with a grin. “Sam’s had some experiences that gave her special insight into my abilities, and being a physicist, she realised that there was a subspace component to my telepathy, which she and Mom hadn’t accounted for when they first built my machine. She found a way to compensate for it.”
“Subspace?” the Sanctuary leader croaked, blue eyes wide with shock. “My God!”
#
Chapter 26
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this Stargate SG-1/Sanctuary crossover story but my altered headspace. Stargate SG-1 belongs to Gekko Film Corp, MGM, Fox, various individuals and companies and whoever owns them. Sanctuary belongs to Damian Kindler, Amanda Tapping, Martin Wood, The Beedie Group, Tricon Films & Television, Space and whoever else owns bits and pieces of it.
Spoilers: For SG-1, to the end of series; for Sanctuary, up to the episode “Pavor Nocturnus” (Season 2, Episode 5). Everything after that is up for grabs.
Summary: Sam and Cassie go Christmas shopping in New City ...
To Dance Between the Raindrops: A Snowflake's Waltz
Chapter 25
“I’m curious, Dr. Magnus,” Daniel began as they all settled down in the library again after the non-disclosure forms had been signed. “Where were you in 1928?”
Sam studied Jack out of the corner of her eye; to anyone else, he appeared relaxed, even indolent sprawled there on the delicate, antique settee. But Sam could see the tension in his face ... in the clench of his jaw.
Magnus froze for a moment and Sam was drawn to the introspective look on her face. She wondered if that was the way she, Samantha, looked when she was thinking.
“I was in South America then-the Amazon to be precise,” she replied with a faraway expression that made her look years younger. “I was studying a rare species of Earth Elementals from about February 1928 to the summer of 1929. The tribes who lived there referred to them as the Spirits of the Forest and believed that they were responsible for making the plants grow and maintaining a healthy balance in the ecology.”
“And were they?” Jack asked.
She met his gaze and held it unwaveringly. “To an extent, yes; they could affect plant growth. But their role in the rainforest is far deeper than that-you can say that they are its guardians, its protectors.” Magnus turned her gaze to Daniel again. “Where are you going with this, Dr. Jackson? What do my whereabouts, from over three quarters of a century ago, have to do with anything?”
“Around that time, did you ever hear about a giant stone artefact-a large ring being discovered buried on the Giza plateau not far from the Great Pyramid?”
A strange look ghosted across Helen Magnus’ face. “No,” she replied thoughtfully with a crooked, little half-smile. “Not at that time, but after the Second World War, James-Watson that is-brought it up. He discussed with me a classified project involving a large stone ring that his good friend, Ernest Littlefield, had been working on with a Dr. Peter Langford, an archaeologist of some renown. However, Ernest was killed in a lab explosion-”
“Oh, for crying out loud!” Jack exploded and Sam couldn’t help but chuckle. “Does no one think about operational security?”
Magnus grinned and relaxed back in her seat with a chuckle of her own. “So that’s what this is all about,” she said eyes twinkling merrily. “James and I figured Langford had found the Shau’pi … the Ring of the Gods spoken of in the Chronicle and other ancient writings. It was also known as Astria Porta-the Portal to the Heavens or Gateway to the Stars-”
“Aw crap!” Jack closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as the others laughed nervously in utter disbelief. “That’s it!” Jack ranted. “I give up-Daniel, she’s all yours.”
“Dr. Magnus, if you and James Watson knew what the artefact was-why didn’t Watson let Ernest know?” Daniel asked curiously. “You said they were friends.”
Magnus nodded. “They were-in fact, James was planning to recruit Ernest into the Sanctuary Network as his protégé after the war, much in the same way he eventually recruited Declan,” she replied.
Sam’s eyes flicked to the stony-faced man standing behind Magnus; she and Declan hadn’t said a word to each other since the revelations of the night before.
Magnus smiled fondly. “I remember that Ernest had a positively uncanny knack for numbers and patterns,” she said. “He would have made an excellent addition to our team. However, he’d sent that covert message asking for James’ help only weeks before he died-James was known in certain circles as a great thinker and a solver of arcane puzzles. By the time we received it and figured out what Ernest was referring to, it was too late. Things were chaotic for quite a while after the war-we were still in London at the time, rebuilding, and well, there was no such thing as instantaneous communications back then. When we tried to get in touch with him through our own covert channels, we learned that he had died. We snooped around a little and found he’d been involved with a classified project that Langford was spearheading for the United States government, so-”
She gave a little shrug. “We backed off-decided that if Ernest couldn’t figure it out, perhaps they weren’t ready to figure it out.” Her mouth tugged up in another knowing little smile. “I take it you’ve now figured the Shau’pi out.”
“The correct pronunciation is Chappa’ai, DoctorHelenMagnus, and I am Teal’c,” Teal’c said with one of his polite little bows. To Sam’s surprise, Magnus rose and bowed formally to him.
“Thank you, Teal’c,” she said, “for the correction and for honouring me with your name. Tell me, whom did you serve as a Jah-fah general?”
Even Teal’c stared at her this time, his mouth agape with shock. She reached for his hat, asking for silent permission; he bowed his head so that she could remove it.
“I saw a bit of your tattoo when Declan knocked your hat askew last night,” she said, running gentle fingers over the golden symbol adorning Teal’c’s forehead, as her own people stared at them in surprise. “I didn’t realise its significance until now. According to the Chronicle, Ra took the greatest warriors from the strongest tribes from Nubia to China and as far north as the Rhine. He changed them-making them even stronger. He then bestowed these Jah-fah armies on his siblings as prizes in return for their loyalty to him as Lord above them all. Each warrior was tattooed with a unique crest upon his forehead, depending on whose army he served in. But the tattoo of the generals of each army was slightly different-for it was made of pure gold.”
“I served as First Prime of Apophis,” Teal’c replied, eyes wide with respect. “But I no longer serve the Goa’uld ... the False Gods. JackO’Neill offered me a chance to free my people from thousands of years of servitude and slavery, and in the last decade, our team-including SamanthaCarter, DanielJackson, ValaMalDoran and CameronMitchell-indeed, all of the SGC have helped me to do so. Now, few Jaffa still serve the False Gods-most of the Goa’uld are dead.”
“Goa’uld?” Kate asked in confusion. “False gods?”
Magnus smiled shrewdly. “Yes, Apophis is another name for the Ancient Egyptian god Apep or Apepi,” she said. “Brother to Ra and also known as the Serpent of the Nile.”
“But not even Egyptians believe in those gods anymore,” Kate complained. “So where in the world would you find people who’ve served Ancient Egyptian gods for thousands of years till now?”
“Most likely nowhere in this world, Kate,” Helen Magnus replied with a wide grin; holding Teal’c’s gaze as her newest employee gaped in confusion. “What is the name of your world, Master Teal’c?”
Teal’c bowed again to her, acknowledging her correct deduction. “My homeworld is called Chuu’lak, DoctorHelenMagnus.”
“His homeworld?” Declan said incredulously.
“Oh my God!” Will gasped simultaneously, eyes shining in wonder. “So the Astria Porta-”
“Is literally a ‘portal to the stars’, William,” Magnus said. “And the United States military has been using it to explore other worlds.” As the Sanctuary team digested her words, she turned her gaze to Sam with a smile that softened her features. “You’ve walked upon alien worlds, haven’t you, Samantha.”
“Yes,” Sam replied quietly, surprised at the undeniable pride she read in the other woman’s eyes.
“Oh, how marvellous,” Magnus said, obviously enchanted by the thought. “What a brave new world you live in.”
“Actually, Sam is the one who created the dialling program that works Earth’s Stargate, Dr. Magnus,” Cassandra said proudly, chuckling as Sam blushed. “The original device that dialled the Gate was lost.”
“Well, it was Daniel who translated the cartouche that gave us the first Gate address, and he found the library containing other addresses in the Stargate system,” Sam said trying to deflect the older woman’s impressed scrutiny.
“But you’re the one who kept the whole jerry-rigged get-up running for more than a decade,” Jack said obviously revelling in his friend’s discomfort at being the centre of Magnus’ attention. As Sam started to protest again, he cut her off. “Yeah, yeah ... there are other scientists on the project, but you do seem to be the one who pulls our fat out of the fire most of the time.”
Sam felt herself blushing deeply again at Jack’s praise as Will Zimmerman said, turning his discerning gaze to Cassie with a smile, “I guess we know now why knowledge of you is classified, Cassandra-you’re an alien as well, aren’t you.”
“Yes,” the young woman replied as the other Sanctuary natives stared in shock.
“Cassie, is there something you neglected to inform me about?” Jack said in exasperation.
“Would you believe it just sort of came out?” she replied sheepishly. “They knew I was a telepath and possibly more, and they were asking questions I couldn’t answer, so I told them I was classified.”
Magnus nodded. “Cassandra is unlike any Human telepath I’ve had the privilege of knowing through the Sanctuary Network,” she said. “She has excellent shields and control over what she tunes into from other people, unless a strong surface thought intrudes, or is directed specifically at her-”
“You mean your telepaths have no control?” Cassandra cried in horror.
“Some eventually learn how to shield their thoughts after a fashion,” Magnus said quietly. “But many hear all thoughts, all the time from everyone within a certain radius of their position.”
“But-but that’s insane!”
“Many do go insane, Cassandra,” Magnus replied quietly, holding the young woman’s stricken gaze. “The rate of suicide among telepaths is very high. Others are misdiagnosed with schizophrenia or with a host of other mental illnesses and spend years in institutions, where, even if we do find them, it is generally too late to help them. And there’s a limit to how much we can help those we do manage to find in time. The best we’ve been able to do with many of them is to teach them to concentrate on one person at a time and how to ignore the rest within their personal space, rather like the way you would concentrate on someone you’re speaking to in a crowded room. Even so, most do prefer to live extremely solitary lives, keeping people away from their personal space as much as possible, because once someone comes into their line of sight, they are inundated by a flood of thoughts and images that are not their own.”
“Is there no one to teach them how to shield their minds?” Cassie asked desperately now.
“How, Cassandra?” Magnus asked gently. “How does a deaf person teach a hearing child to speak or to sing if there are no hearing people around? How can they correct errors in pronunciation, tone and pitch if they cannot hear the mistakes or even know that a mistake has been made in the first place? They can read books to try to understand and explain sound in the abstract, but they cannot know. And we don’t even have books to consult in order to help our telepathic children,” she said, frustration very evident.
“Older telepaths are of limited help because many can’t stand to be in the same room with others, while those who can tolerate it have only what they’ve learned from us to impart on younger telepaths and it doesn’t work in every case. We have found, however, if three telepaths can learn to work in concert, they can support each other … they can help each other filter out the background noise and one might catch things that the other two might miss when they need to shield. They’ve created a cadre of teachers amongst themselves to help younger telepaths. But not all telepaths can learn to accomplish this and they must begin when they’re relatively young or as soon as possible after they begin to manifest their abilities. But most are not found until they’ve spent years in institutions, lost in a haze of drugs and other ineffective or downright barbaric treatments. However, all Human telepaths we know of come to their abilities with no shields, and for some reason I’ve yet to discover, it’s not something they naturally know how to do.”
“You indicated that your mothers taught you how to shield your mind, Cassandra,” said Declan McCrae speculatively, studying the shocked, silent group from the SGC. “Can you explain how?”
“No, I believe I said that my mothers taught me manners,” the young woman replied smiling. “They taught me not to go dipping into people’s minds without permission and they taught me how to ask permission. The shields were pretty much there from the beginning-they just taught me how to strengthen them when I needed to so that I’m not overwhelmed.”
“How?” Helen Magnus croaked looking from the two women to their daughter and back again. “As I understand it, other than Samantha’s Source Blood induced ability, neither of you is a natural telepath.”
Sam and Janet looked at each other and then turned their gaze to General O’Neill.
“Oh for crying out loud!” he exploded and Cassandra burst into giggles.
“Sam sort of built me a bio-feedback machine in our garage,” she said fighting to bring her laughter under control. “Mom helped her customise it to my physiology. It can be tuned to my telepathic brainwaves and helped me to refine my control over my abilities.”
“But we’ve also tried bio-feedback with our telepaths with very limited-and ultimately little-success,” Magnus said as she stared at them in confusion.
“That’s because you’re probably missing a few special add-ons that aren’t usually available on commercial bio-feedback machines,” Cassie replied with a grin. “Sam’s had some experiences that gave her special insight into my abilities, and being a physicist, she realised that there was a subspace component to my telepathy, which she and Mom hadn’t accounted for when they first built my machine. She found a way to compensate for it.”
“Subspace?” the Sanctuary leader croaked, blue eyes wide with shock. “My God!”
#
Chapter 26