Crossover Challenge #3
Challenge #3: Trouble With a Capital T
Quantum Leap & Stargate: SG1 (disclaimer: don't own them, just borrowing their likenesses)
With a Capital T’
Dr. Sam Beckett leapt into a new soul in a swirl of blue plasma. His vision cleared, revealing a military style locker room.
A young man in fatigues and round glasses stuck his head in the door. “Hey Sam, the briefing’s about to start.”
Sam hit his head on a locker door looking for a mirror. Not his own likeness, but a woman with short blond hair also dressed in fatigues stared back from the glass.
A second man stuck his head in the door.
“Carter, are you coming?” He had short salt and pepper hair and a no-nonsense expression to go along with his fatigues.
“I’ll be right there-sir.”
It seemed to be the right response. The man nodded and left.
“Al?” he called to the empty room. “I could use a clue.”
“Here, Sam,” said the holographic image of his friend and handler back in the Imaging Chamber. He was dressed garishly for the surroundings, but as no one but Sam could see him, it hardly mattered.
“Good thing we found you quickly.” He looked relieved. “Before Cheyenne Mt. blows its top.”
“Oh boy.”
*
Sam took a seat while Al filled him in on everyone at the table. “General Hammond runs something called Stargate. Ziggy’s still trying to crack the lid on that. It’s got more security levels than Quantum Leap.”
Al consulted his handset. “Colonel Jack O’Neill heads the team,” he said, indicating the fellow with the salt and pepper hair leading the briefing. “Dr. Daniel Jackson is-” he gave the handset a slap. “An archaeologist, it says. And that’s T’ealc.” He indicated the large, silent fellow eyeing Sam strangely. “Oh, I don’t like him, Sam. He looks like trouble.”
“Ok, we leave for Alpha Base as soon Carter’s little experiment is finished tying up the Gate.” O’Neill said, turning to Sam. “And that will be when?”
“Stall for time,” Al said, frantically punching keys.
“Ah, shortly sir,” Sam stalled, smiling wanly.
“I’ve got some new artifacts to catalog anyway,” said Dr. Jackson. “Want to give me a hand with them, T’ealc?”
The meeting broke up. T’ealc was the last to leave, towering over Sam. “You are not yourself, Dr. Carter,” he said cryptically.
“How does he know, Al?”
“Ziggy’s got something,” Al said. “And you’re not going to believe this!”
Sam studied the large ring through the observation glass as Al filled him in on the Stargate project.
*
“Al, I can’t go through the Gate.” Sam’s Swiss cheese brain worked out the ramifications of stepping into a wormhole.
“You can’t go through the Gate!” echoed Al, studying his hand link. “Ziggy says it could sever your connection permanently. We might never find you again if you leave the planet.”
Sam had no intention of leaving the planet. This was stranger than time travel. “Then you’d better hurry up and find out what I’m supposed to do on this Leap.”
“Working on it, Sam.”
*
Sam tried to make sense of Dr. Carter’s experiment. His astrophysics was a little foggy, but near as he could figure it used something called a Dialing Devise to check for anomalous wormhole addresses. The idea was to exclude any unstable ones from the rotation, narrowing the possibility of finding usable addresses and flagging the really dangerous ones. He wasn’t too clear what made them dangerous, but unpleasant possibilities came to mind.
“Have you seen T’ealc?” O’Neill asked, looming over his chair.
“Last I heard he and Dr. Jackson were looking at some artifacts.” The thought of alien artifacts was tantalizing, but he couldn’t let himself get distracted. Something catastrophic threatened the project and he didn’t have time to dally.
O’Neill frowned. “They’re not answering the comm.”
The blare of a claxon galvanized them into action, and Sam followed O’Neil down the corridor toward Jackson’s lab. They found him slumped over his workspace.
“Daniel, you all right?” O’Neill helped him to his feet.
“It’s T’ealc,” he said groggily. “We were examining an unusual obelisk when his eyes went all snaky and he hit me. I think it activated ‘Junior’ somehow. He’s headed for the Gate room.”
They pelted from the lab.
“He’s not there, Sam,” said Al, popping in at Sam’s elbow. “He’s locked that dialing thingy onto a very unstable wormhole and it’s going to cause a feedback loop. This place is going to blow!”
Sam split from the others, taking the corridor to Carter’s lab.
T’ealc looked up, his eyes glowing weirdly yellow. He stood over the keyboard with a funny looking weapon in his hand.
“I knew that guy was trouble,” Al said. “What’s with the eyes?”
“You are not Dr. Samantha Carter,” T’ealc said to Sam. “As a former Gu’ould host, you should have been incapacitated by the artifact. Just as the shova has been rendered helpless in my presence.” Tealc spoke as one possessed.
“You’ve sabotaged the search program,” Sam said, moving slowing to get a clear view of the screen. There wasn’t much time to act, assuming Sam could fix it.
“I have,” said the not-T’ealc, turning to follow Sam with his weapon.
So he didn’t see O’Neill when he fired from the corridor. He crumpled to the floor and Sam rushed to the console.
“There isn’t much time!” Al said, unhelpfully.
Sam’s mind raced. Formulae flooded into his brain as he worked through the cascade of information. “I know what to do,” he said, fingers flying over the keys.
“Well I should hope so,” said O’Neill laconically from the doorway. Medical personnel trouped in and retrieved the unconscious T’ealc.
“We’ve got two Tok’ra down in the visitor’s wing,” Daniel said. “Funny how you weren’t affected, Sam, being a former host and all.”
“Euw.” Al pulled a face. “Dr. Carter had one of those alien parasites in her body?” He clicked some keys. “That’s why she couldn’t stop the overload in the original timeline, Sam. She was out cold.”
Sam nodded and the room faded to blue.