Stole Soul Picnic 7/?
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Chapter 6
To Infinity and Beyond!
Sam studied the little box in his hand as he and Dean escorted Henry toward the conference room. Then he looked up and saw that the same star-like design that covered most of the front of the box also adorned Henry’s tie tack. “Henry, what is that?” he asked, pointing to the tie tack.
Henry startled a little and ran a hand over his tie. “It’s our symbol, the Aquarian Star, representing great magic and power. They say it stood at the gates of Atlantis itself.”
Sam and Dean exchanged a look, and Sam cleared his throat to keep from giving anything away.
But Henry glanced over at Dean, who was still wearing his newly issued SGC uniform jacket, and frowned at the patch on his left shoulder. “Am I allowed to ask what that symbol means?”
Dean just looked at him, his mouth a straight, unimpressed line.
Henry sighed. “I’m sorry. I just... feel very out of my depth here.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” And Dean went back to looking straight ahead.
As they approached the conference room, Sam heard an old man’s voice saying, “This feels like a conference table, Inias. What’s going on here?”
“It is as I told you,” Inias replied. “I brought you here to meet with Henry Winchester about the box you gave him.”
“You could have brought Henry to me!”
“Unfortunately,” Dean said as they walked in, “he’s not the only one who needs that information.”
Sam noted in passing that the window down to the Gateroom had been shuttered. That was good; it wouldn’t do to have Henry asking questions about the Gate if he didn’t have clearance. He was already getting put out by the fact that almost everything he asked about was classified.
The old man, who was seated on the far side of the table and staring into the distance, stiffened. “What are you talking about? Who’s there?”
“Larry,” Henry said, pushing past Dean to go to the old man’s-Larry’s-side. “Larry, it’s me, it’s Henry.”
Larry’s eyes widened, but he turned his head as if tracking by sound and not by sight. “Henry!” He grabbed Henry’s hand as Henry knelt next to his chair, then ran his fingers across Henry’s face quickly. “Henry, thank God, after all these years!”
“I know. I’m sorry. I was trying to reach my son. Instead, I came here, to my grandsons. That was Dean who spoke earlier, and the other man who’s just come in is Sam.”
Larry blinked. “You have grandsons? I... I had no idea. Forgive me; had I known you would be away so long, I would have tried harder to keep in contact. Not that a blind man could have done much for them,” he added bitterly.
Henry sighed. “Your mind matters more than your eyes, my friend. But they seem to be all right. And so is Josie.”
“Josie!”
“Yes, Abaddon followed me here, but someone trapped her and exorcised her. Josie’s all right. She’ll join us in a moment.”
Larry nodded. “Now I see the need for the long table, Inias. Forgive me.”
Sam cleared his throat. “Actually, Mr. Ganem, it’s not just the four of us who need to talk with you.”
Larry frowned. “What do you mean?”
But before Sam could explain, Gabriel came in, supporting a tall woman-the aforementioned Josie, Sam assumed. She’d been given a clean, unmarked uniform to change into, but while she was walking under her own power fairly well, she still looked pretty pale and traumatized. And they were followed a moment later by Landry, Daniel, and Teal’c. Landry shut the door and introduced everyone.
Larry shook his head and sighed. “I’m sorry, Henry, Josie. I... I can’t reveal any secrets in the presence of people who aren’t members of the society.”
Dean and Henry both looked ready to object, but Daniel leaned forward. “No prize is worth attaining if you can never share it,” he said in a tone that made it clearly a quote. “There would be no point.”
Larry frowned. “Where did you read that?”
“I didn’t read it,” Daniel replied. “A very wise man once said it to me. His name was Ernest Littlefield.”
Larry, Henry, and Josie all looked shocked at that.
Landry inclined his head. “Perhaps you could tell us what you know about Dr. Littlefield, Mr. Ganem.”
Henry looked over at Larry. “Wasn’t he a friend of Dad’s?”
Larry nodded. “It’s not particularly a secret, at least from our end. Ernie was working with a man named Langford, an archaeologist. Langford had uncovered an artifact in Giza in 1923, the, uh... ‘Doorway to Heaven.’”
Josie looked even more startled and glanced toward the covered window. “The chappa’ai,” she whispered and shuddered.
Landry clearly noticed, but all he said was, “Please continue, Mr. Ganem.”
Larry leaned back in his chair a little. “The government took an interest in the Doorway in the early part of 1945, and they asked Langford to see if he could get it working, just in case it could be used as a weapon of some kind. Langford wanted to be sure there was no danger of the Doorway causing supernatural problems, since it had been buried shortly after the Egyptians revolted against the god-king Ra.”
“So he approached the Men of Letters?” Sam asked.
“Yes. Ernie was more of an Egyptologist than the rest of us, so he took the case. I gather there was a bit of a spark between him and Langford’s daughter, as well,” Larry added with a wry chuckle. “But it wasn’t to be. The researchers had difficulty powering the Doorway without overloading the generators they were using, and one day there was an explosion in the lab. Ernie was killed, and the program was abandoned.”
“That was what Dr. Langford told his daughter,” said Landry. “But we happen to have some footage of the final test.”
He pressed a button on a remote, and sepia-toned footage began to play on the big monitor at the far end of the table, showing technicians manually dialing the Gate. Sam wasn’t sure whether he or Salim was the more intrigued by the process or the more impressed by the fact that the researchers successfully got a lock, and they both felt a mixture of amusement and horror when one of the scientists, who looked a little like their Atlantis colleague Dr. Carson Beckett, handed off his clipboard and accepted a jumpsuit and diving helmet.
But Henry leaned forward and pointed to the screen. “That man. That’s Dr. Littlefield.”
“You recognize him?” Landry asked.
Henry nodded. “I was still in high school, but I remember him. We’d met a few times.”
“What’s happening?” Larry asked. “I can’t tell what I’m hearing.”
“The Doorway looks like it’s filled with a huge pool of rippling water-but it’s vertical. Dr. Littlefield’s put on a diving suit, and they’re attaching the oxygen hose. Now he’s walking into the pool....”
On the film, the Gate shut down, cutting Littlefield’s lifeline. Henry and Josie gasped, and the film ended.
“What?” Larry demanded.
Henry shook his head. “The pool... it just vanished. And Dr. Littlefield with it.”
“It wasn’t a pool,” Daniel explained. “It was a portal. We got the artifact working again in the mid-’90s and used the film to figure out where the portal led.”
Larry frowned. “Which was?”
“A repository of ancient knowledge so advanced, it was mind-boggling. He’d spent fifty-two years exploring it and still barely scratched the surface.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because we brought him back. Him and his journal. I recorded as much of the information as I could on video, but we arrived just before a major storm that was about to destroy our only means of returning home. I tried to convince the others to let me stay and keep working, but in the end, Dr. Littlefield helped get me to leave.” Daniel sighed. “We tried to go back after the storm, but the portal wouldn’t connect.”
“We are still studying the information we were able to retrieve,” Teal’c noted. “But Ernest Littlefield was correct. We could have gained nothing from that repository if Daniel Jackson had chosen to remain and continue his study, for we would have had no way to renew contact.”
Larry’s sightless eyes dropped toward the middle of the table for a long moment, and then he sighed heavily. “Where is the box, Henry?”
“In safe hands,” Henry replied, sparing Sam a tiny smile.
Larry nodded. “Can someone hand me some paper and a pen?”
Daniel slid his notepad and pen across to him.
“Inside the box is the key to every book, object, scroll, spell collected for thousands of years under one roof. It is the supernatural mother lode.”
“And Abaddon wants the key to get to that knowledge?” Daniel asked.
Josie nodded a little. “Mainly, she wanted all of us dead.”
Larry scoffed. “Abaddon was a hired gun. But that knowledge... can you imagine what she would do with that?”
“So how do we stop her?” Dean asked.
“You don’t.” Larry felt for the pen and wrote down a set of coordinates. “Take the key to this location. Then throw it inside, shut the door forever, and walk away.”
“Why?” all the other humans in the room chorused with varying levels of horrified confusion.
“Because it is the safest place on earth, warded against all forms of evil and impervious to any entry except by the key. We cannot let Abaddon have it.”
Sam, Henry, and Daniel all looked ready to protest, but Landry held up a hand. “We’ll see to it that the secrets of the Men of Letters are well guarded, Mr. Ganem. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Larry nodded. Then he took a deep breath and raised his head, turning it a little as if listening for something. “Inias?”
“May I take him home now, Hank?” Inias asked Landry.
Landry nodded. “You may. Thank you, Inias.”
Inias put a gentle hand on Larry’s shoulder, and they vanished.
Daniel turned to Landry. “General, surely you’re not-”
“One thing at a time, Doctor,” Landry interrupted. “I have a few questions for Miss Sands first.”
Josie drew in a ragged breath and nodded. “Yes, sir?”
“How did you know the word chappa’ai?”
She gestured toward the window. “Abaddon saw it. She was surprised you’d gotten it working.”
That was met with a chorus of groans and curses.
“Why did Abaddon attack the Men of Letters?” Landry pressed.
Josie shrugged. “Like Larry said, she was hired. Not that she needed much convincing; she was already ticked off about some experiments I’d been helping to record. A priest in St. Louis was trying to find a way to cure demons. And when he found it... she killed him. He’s the one who told her about me.”
“So who hired her?” Henry asked.
Josie shook her head. “All I got was a name. Zachariah.”
Sam, Dean, and Gabriel all swore at that.
But before the conversation could continue, Inias returned, looking frazzled. “He’s dead.”
“What?!” everyone exploded.
Inias slumped down in the chair Larry had vacated. “I was on my way back here when I sensed Abaddon approaching the Ganem house. I turned back and found her possessing his wife, but she killed him and fled before I could stop her.”
Dean uttered a sharp Goa’uld curse.
“Did she learn anything from him?” Gabriel asked.
Inias shook his head. “There wasn’t time. I’m sure of that.”
Landry turned to Josie. “Did she already know what the box is?”
“No,” Josie replied. “She knew the box was important enough for Henry to run with it, but that’s all.”
“So she doesn’t know about this... repository of knowledge?”
“No. As far as she knew, all the members lived in Normal and were going to be at the initiation that night.”
Sam looked at what Larry had written. “These coordinates are in Kansas, I think.”
Gabriel nodded once. “All right, we’ll work with what we have. Heaven can handle Abaddon. But since she knows about the Stargate, it’s a cinch she’s going to head up these demons that are working with the Lucian Alliance.” He snapped his fingers, and Henry and Josie gasped in pain. “That gets you two off her radar, so as far as she knows, you and the box are still here, and she can’t get to you. That frees you and these muttonheads”-here he pointed to Sam and Dean-“up to go check out that repository and find out why Zach was so anxious to keep John and the boys away from it.”
Henry’s eyes widened. “Wait, why would-”
“Get the boys to explain it tomorrow. And Hank, there’s a chance she’ll make a play for Homeworld Command before we can catch up to her.”
Landry nodded. “I’ll alert the Pentagon. Dr. Jackson, please see to it that Mr. Winchester and Miss Sands sign non-disclosure agreements and give them the standard video briefing. Teal’c, see to their quarters.”
“Yes, sir,” Daniel replied as Teal’c bowed his head in acknowledgement.
Henry looked even more confused. “Whoa, what-but-”
Landry turned to him with a hint of a smile. “Your initiation’s been rewritten, Mr. Winchester. We’ll need help from you and Miss Sands, so to save your grandsons the trouble of telling you everything, Dr. Jackson will bring you up to speed on the Stargate program. You’ll have time enough to catch up on everything else later.”
Dean reached for the notepad with the coordinates. “We takin’ the Hammond or....”
“No, I’m afraid the General Hammond’s unavailable. But if that location’s in Kansas and you’re on your way to Sioux Falls in the morning, I expect you can drive!”
Startled, Dean glanced at Josie and Henry and pulled an Oh, MAN! face, then looked away and seemed to discuss something with Dishon for a moment.
He wasn’t expecting to have to spend so much time with your grandfather, Salim realized.
Or to bring him with us to Bobby’s for Thanksgiving, Sam agreed. Never mind Josie-I mean, she seems pretty nice, but she’s a total stranger.
Salim hummed thoughtfully. Well, perhaps Bobby can help provide more of a buffer between Dean and Henry. And perhaps he can help them see eye to eye, at least a little better.
Sam glanced at Henry and back at Dean. I sure hope so. Might help me like the guy a little better, too.
“Dean,” Gabriel said, pulling Dean out of his internal conversation. “See you Thursday?”
Dean nodded. “Uh, yeah, sure. And bring Cas.”
Gabriel chuckled.
Landry nodded once. “All right, people. Dismissed.”
As the angels disappeared and Daniel and Teal’c took charge of Henry and Josie, Dean stood and stalked out of the room. Sam gathered up the coordinates and started after him, but he wasn’t able to catch up before Dean disappeared into the elevator. So Sam waited impatiently for the elevator to return, then headed toward their quarters-but Dean wasn’t there when he arrived. Cursing, he dropped the notepad on the desk and ran back toward the elevator, trying to figure out where Dean might have gone.
Does he remember that you did not drive back when last you were here? Salim asked.
Sam frowned. He-he should.... But they both knew Dean’s tendency to act without thinking when his emotions were getting the better of him, and he’d been handed a hell of a lot of shocks in one day. So on Salim’s hunch, Sam headed up to the main entrance.
And sure enough, Dean was standing just outside the door, looking lost and shivering a little in the frosty air.
“Dude,” Sam said as he came up behind his brother. “What are you....”
“She’s not here,” Dean said miserably. “I forgot.”
“Who, Lisa?”
“Baby.”
Sam’s heart sank. “Seriously? You were gonna sleep in the car in weather like this?”
Dean just looked at him, weary and heartsick.
Sam sighed. “C’mon. Let’s get some coffee and rest inside where it’s warm, okay? You’ll see Baby... tomorrow or the day after, depending on how far out of the way we have to go to get to the Men of Letters’ hideout. Lisa, too. And Bobby’ll be here in the morning.”
Dean’s answering sigh seemed to come from somewhere around his toes. “Okay.”
“Hey.” And Sam pulled Dean into a hug.
Dean returned it and relaxed for several seconds before pulling back with a grumbled “Get off me, you giant girl.”
Sam huffed and let go but smiled, knowing that meant Dean was feeling at least slightly better. And they stayed in step all the way to the mess hall, where the cook had saved Dean the last piece of pie.
There were two things Dean couldn’t do anymore now that he was Tok’ra again: sleep normally and get drunk. He could, however, let his mind rest while Dishon was driving, and on this particular night, Dishon not only encouraged him to do so but also, when he had trouble, gave him the push he would ordinarily have sought from a bottle of Jack. As a result, he wasn’t hung over when Dishon woke him the next morning... but he didn’t feel any better about anything.
At least, he didn’t until Salim informed him that they’d found the location of the coordinates, which was in Lebanon, Kansas, and wouldn’t add more than a couple of hours to their overall drive time, and that Bobby was waiting for them in the mess hall. Dean barely waited long enough to tie his boots before heading for the elevator-with Sam at his side this time.
Sure enough, Bobby was sitting right by the door, nursing a cup of coffee, and got up to hug them both when they came in. As they sat down, though, he looked at Dean. “Hell, son, didn’t you sleep at all last night?”
Dean sighed. “Yeah, Dishon made me. Didn’t help.”
“What’s goin’ on?”
Sam got their trays as Dean got Bobby caught up. As he finished, he shook his head. “I just... Bobby, I don’t know what to do.”
Bobby gave a facial shrug. “Way the hell above my pay grade, son.”
“Oh, thanks.”
But before they could continue talking it over, Daniel and Teal’c came in with Henry and Josie, both of whom looked exhausted, pale, and very badly shaken. They’d probably been up all night, and Dean realized Daniel must have given them a lot more than the standard ‘aliens are real’ rundown. Teal’c shepherded them through the line to get breakfast, but Henry ordered only coffee and toast, and Josie didn’t get anything but tea.
For the first time, Dean actually felt kind of sorry for his grandfather.
“Hey,” he said to Henry as the four newcomers sat down at the hunters’ table. “How you holdin’ up?”
Henry met his eyes and sighed. “I understand now what Sam meant about things I shouldn’t know.”
“You okay?”
“I don’t know. Dean, I don’t understand. Your being hunters is one thing, but how could you and Sam accept possession?”
Sam’s eyes flashed furiously. “Tok’ra blending is wholly unlike possession,” Salim snarled, startling Henry and Josie badly. “I will never treat Sam the way Lucifer did.”
“Uh, Henry, Josie, this is Salim,” Dean explained. “He’s Sam’s symbiote. This is our friend Bobby Singer, and-” He broke off and stepped back. “Greetings, Henry Winchester,” Dishon said as he brought Dean’s head up. “My name is Dishon.”
Dean couldn’t tell who was more likely to faint, Henry or Josie.
“Uh, sorry, guys,” Daniel said, plainly feeling awkward. “I thought a clinical description of the Apocalypse would save you having to explain it later.”
Bobby smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I’da done the same thing. These idjits are just a little raw this mornin’, that’s all.”
Teal’c quirked an eyebrow. “Indeed.”
Henry pulled himself together and pressed on. “You say it’s nothing like possession, yet you speak with my grandson’s voice.”
Dean mentally rolled his eyes.
“The Tok’ra do not suppress the host’s consciousness,” Salim stated flatly. “Sam is aware and can take back control at any time. He can even-” His head bobbed. “-finish his sentences for him,” Sam concluded. “Not that we do that often, except to show off, but it does demonstrate just how conscious I am even when Salim’s in control.”
“We’ve saved their lives,” Dean added, “and they’ve saved ours, enough times that I think we’ve all lost count. And the only time they’ve done something without our consent, it was to save Gabriel’s life.”
“The Goa’uld are like demons. They even tell their human subjects that nothing of the host survives, just to justify stealing meatsuits. But the Tok’ra aren’t like that. They choose not to dominate.”
“Give it some time,” Bobby recommended, seeing that Henry was still skeptical. “You’ve had a hell of a lot dropped on you the last few hours. Gonna take some time to get a handle on all of it, I know. But I’ll tell you this: if I thought these two were a problem, I’da killed ’em both a long time ago.”
Henry sighed unhappily and picked at his toast.
Dean frowned at Bobby. “How the hell did you expect to do that?”
Bobby’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, I’da figured something out, believe me.”
Which meant, Dean knew, that even if the thought had crossed Bobby’s mind, he’d dismissed it as soon as Salim had healed his back and restored his legs. Dean couldn’t help smiling fondly at him.
The rest of the meal was pretty quiet, as was the entire drive to Lebanon. Henry and Josie really had been up all night, so they were asleep before the Chevelle even reached the Colorado Springs city limits. Sam was stuck in the back with them, and even if Dean had felt talkative, Bobby didn’t have much news that they hadn’t already gotten at the SGC or any advice on how to handle Henry or Ben. Bobby stopped for gas and picked up lunch at a drive-through, but otherwise, they drove straight through until they reached the location Larry had given them.
Dean didn’t think much of the place as the five travelers piled out. All he could see was an old, maybe Depression-era, dam or power plant or something on the hill above them and a short set of stairs that led down to a door set in a bricked archway. Sam got the box open but offered to let Henry do the honors; Josie went in first, followed by Dean, Sam, Henry, and Bobby. The door opened into a short hall, which led to a balcony overlooking a much larger space. Said balcony led to what looked like a hall to the left and a staircase to the right.
Josie shone her flashlight around quickly as she reached the balcony. “I don’t see a switch. Maybe there’s a breaker box downstairs.” And she turned right and started down.
But the brothers paused at the top of the stairs, recognizing a familiar hum in the back of their minds.
“What?” Henry asked, stopping beside them. “What are you... sensing?” The pause must have meant that he’d sensed it as well.
“There’s Ancient tech in here,” Dean replied quietly. Glancing around didn’t tell him much, though. On, he commanded.
The lights flared to life, revealing a mid-century command center at the bottom of the staircase, complete with lighted map table.
“Huh,” said Sam. “I would have thought it would start automatically. It does most places.”
Dean shook his head and started down the stairs, with the other men on his heels. “No, no, whoever built this place must have known non-gene carriers like Josie would be using it.”
“So dual controls, one set for the non-carriers and one set-”
“-for the legacies,” they concluded together and looked at Henry.
Henry gulped. “I-I-I don’t understand. What are you talking about? What gene?”
“The Ancient Technology Activation gene,” Sam explained. “People who have it can operate certain kinds of alien technology, even with mental commands. That’s how Dean turned the lights on. That... that buzz in the back of your head? That’s the tech’s neural interface, letting you know it’s there.”
“What buzz?” Josie asked. “I don’t hear anything.”
“That’s ’cause you don’t have the gene. The tests you had at the SGC showed that, but this just confirms it. We do-in fact, Dean and I got it from both sides of the family.”
Dean frowned. “But here’s the thing. Okay, assuming that one of the Men of Letters who built this place was an Ancient, like Janus or somebody... what are the odds of the other Men of Letters, besides Henry’s dad, having the ATA gene?”
Sam shrugged. “Probably pretty slim.”
“So why even put in the Ancient controls in the first place?”
“Maybe this place wasn’t built just to protect knowledge. Maybe it was built partly to protect us.”
“Well, I think I know where we might be able to find out,” Henry said and walked past Sam and Dean toward another room that Dean hadn’t really looked at yet... a beautiful Depression-era library.
Bobby whistled, and Sam let an appreciative Goa’uld curse slip.
Dean nodded. “Sammy, I think we found the Batcave.”
As Henry made his way to the card catalogue and started flipping through it, the others began roaming through the library, glancing at shelves and examining artifacts. Dean, however, kept looking at the architecture, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu.
Does this place remind you of anything? he finally asked Dishon.
Somewhat, Dishon replied. I suspect strongly that whichever Ancient helped build it was Lantean, but I have no idea how that might be.
Maybe he was like Merlin, ascended for a while and then descended to join the Men of Letters.
Dishon pondered the idea. Yes, that could be.
“Dean,” Sam said and motioned Dean over to a bookcase toward the back of the room, near an alcove that inexplicably housed a telescope. “Look at these.”
Dean looked at the books Sam was pointing out and frowned. “They’re in Ancient.”
“In ancient?” Josie echoed, joining them. “What does that mean?”
Sam ran his finger down one of the spines, showing the gilded title that would look like just a pretty geometric pattern to the untrained eye. “The language of the Ancients, the Gate-builders.”
“I might have something,” Henry stated, and they all turned to look at him and he at them. “And you’re in the right area, I think. See if you can find the journal of James Haggerty.”
Sam started skimming spines but stopped before he reached the end of the Ancient section. “Huh.”
“What?” everyone else asked.
“This book-the title’s in two languages. In English, it says Journal of James Haggerty, but there’s Ancient on either side... no, it’s not a title, it’s a message. ‘For those with eyes to read: The journal of James Haggerty, born Janus of Atlantis.’”
Dean uttered a surprised Goa’uld curse. “So it was Janus. Explains a lot.”
“Explains a hell of a lot, including why this place is so well hidden. And the power-you think maybe they’ve got a ZPM?”
“I think,” Bobby interrupted, “we ought to take this one journal and get this show on the road. Somethin’ tells me we ain’t gonna make it to Thanksgiving without any more trouble from Abaddon, and the sooner we get back to Sioux Falls, the better I’m gonna sleep.”
“But-” Henry objected, but Sam immediately pulled the journal off the shelf, and he and Dean started toward the stairs.
“If Bobby’s turning down time in a new library,” Sam stated, “it means we need to go.”
“But we’ve only just-”
“Landry promised Larry we’d keep the place safe,” Dean said. “Best way to do that is to stay away from it until we know we’ve got Abaddon stopped. Come on. We can come back later.”
“But Gabriel-”
“Gabriel hid you guys, I’m guessin’ the same way Cas hid us, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t followed. Let’s go.”
Sam grabbed Henry telekinetically and started pulling him with them toward the exit. Josie hurried to catch up. Sam also grabbed the key out of Henry’s pocket and tossed it to Dean, who waited long enough for Josie to clear the door before thinking Off and locking the door behind them.
The boys spent the drive back to Sioux Falls explaining to Henry and Josie how the last Ancient out of Atlantis had come to be revered as the god of doors and transitions, what the SGC knew of Janus’ inventions and experiments, and why it might make sense for Janus to have hidden himself on Earth as this James Haggerty character. Bobby tuned them out, keeping an ear out for his phone but otherwise keeping his whole focus on the road. He didn’t know why he had such a strong sense that they needed to keep clear of the bunker for the time being, although part of it might have been worry for Lisa and Ben. But there was something his gut was telling him about Ancients, some kind of danger that had come up before....
“Y’know, I wonder if there’s stuff stashed in there that’s not even in the Atlantis database,” Sam was saying.
“What,” Dean asked, “like, stuff the SGC can use? Stuff Janus developed after he came back to Earth?”
“Yeah. I mean, like, when Daniel and McKay found his lab in Atlantis, they found out how to manufacture the communication stones-”
Bobby suddenly swore. “That’s it. Those stones. If Abaddon can get someone into the Pentagon....”
“Destiny,” the boys chorused and lunged for their phones.
Sam called O’Neill; Dean called Cas. It was a testament to how well Bobby knew Cas that he didn’t drive off the road when Cas unceremoniously appeared in the middle of the front seat. But the angels hadn’t encountered any demons trying to get into the Pentagon, and O’Neill said the next scheduled stone use wasn’t until Wednesday. So with Cas being duly warned, Bobby pushed on home.
No sooner had they arrived, though, than Dean grabbed his and Sam’s pack and announced, “We’ll be at Lisa’s.” And before Bobby could do more than sigh, the boys were headed to the Impala with Janus’ journal in tow.
“Was it something I said?” Henry asked meekly.
Bobby sighed again. “Well, my house ain’t as big as it looks”-never mind that it had housed as many as six guests more than once. “And Dean’s girlfriend lives here in town. He probably figured it’d be easier on everyone if they gave y’all a little more space.”
Henry nodded sadly.
“Been a long day. We’d best head inside, let y’all get to bed.”
Henry and Josie both wearily agreed to that. Bobby put her in the boys’ room and him on the couch, and they were both asleep before Bobby could even bring himself to consider letting Josie borrow one of his late wife Karen’s winter nightgowns.
Tuesday was slow. Sam got to work scanning Janus’ journal so he could make secure copies-one for Bobby, one for the SGC-and Dean decided to avoid everything by helping Lisa get an early start on her part of Thanksgiving dinner. That left Bobby to take Henry and Josie shopping for clothes and necessities and to help them get caught up on everything they’d missed in the last fifty-odd years. While Josie chose to explore the Internet cautiously, Henry pressed Bobby for particulars about John and about the boys’ childhood, and Bobby filled in all the gaps he safely could.
Then, just to be on the safe side, he locked the Chevelle’s steering wheel and removed the starters from all his other vehicles that would run. Henry was still there Wednesday morning, so Bobby assumed the precaution had either worked or been unnecessary.
After breakfast, Bobby gave Henry and Josie permission to browse his library and went to Lisa’s to check on the boys. And it was a good thing he did, because he hadn’t been there two minutes when Samandiriel showed up.
“It’s started,” the angel said and zapped the three hunters to Washington without any further explanation.
“Hey, whoa!” Dean yelped. “What the hell’s going on?”
A quick glance around told Bobby they were outside the Pentagon. “Abaddon’s tryin’ for the stones?”
Samandiriel nodded. “We don’t know whether she’s disabled any of the wards in the building, or if she even can, but she has warded the building against angels. If she or another demon gets past us, we will need you to pursue it.”
Sam nodded once. “All right, look, can you use a radio?”
“I believe so.”
“Awesome. Why don’t we go on in to Homeworld Command, try to beef up the wards, that kind of thing, and you can radio us if something comes through.”
“Very well-”
But Samandiriel didn’t have a chance to finish his thought. A horde of demons appeared, and a host of angels revealed themselves in a defensive line around the building. In no time flat, the battle was on.
“GO!” Samandiriel yelled and ran to join the fray.
Bobby and the boys sprinted inside and made their way to Homeworld Command as fast as they could.
“Who’s scheduled to use the stones today?” Dean demanded as soon as they blew through the door.
“Dr. Dacosta,” the receptionist replied. “She’s been here since 7, but she’ll be leaving for Destiny any minute.”
“Uh-oh,” Sam stated, looking up at the ceiling, and pointed upward. The ceiling tile above the doorway that bore a devil’s trap was cracked.
Bobby and Dean swore, and all three hunters charged toward the stone room, where Dr. Dacosta was indeed waiting, a palm-sized smooth black stone sitting on a lighted base on the desk in front of her. She looked up and smirked, her eyes going black. “Well, well. I didn’t believe it. The Winchester boys are back on Earth.”
“And you’re stayin’ here,” Dean snarled.
She laughed. “You can’t make me.”
“We’ll see about that.”
The demon lunged toward the stone. Sam threw her backward telekinetically, and Bobby snatched the stone off its base...
... too slowly, as a split second after his hand touched it, he felt a jolt and was suddenly looking at a completely different room. A quiet curse slipped out-and he cringed at the female voice it had come out in.
A tall blonde in a black uniform who looked eerily like Josie-T. Johansen, her nametag said, and the collar insignia proclaimed her a first lieutenant-looked at him warily. “Dr. Dacosta?”
“’Fraid not,” Bobby replied. “Name’s Bobby Singer. We had a slight problem at Homeworld Command... Dr. Dacosta’s got an uninvited passenger. I was tryin’ to get that black stone off its base to keep the demon from gettin’ here.”
“Excuse me,” said an educated Scotsman’s voice, and Bobby turned the head he was borrowing to see a scruffy, scrawny, slightly long-haired fellow frowning at him. “Mr. Singer? My name is Nicholas Rush-we’ve not met, exactly, but I was at Homeworld Command....”
“During the Niveus raid, right,” Bobby interrupted with a nod. “So that’s what you look like for real.”
Lt. Johansen slapped a hand over her eyes. “Mister Singer. Chloe’s probably seriously freaking out.”
Bobby grimaced. “Sorry.”
“Mr. Singer,” Rush continued, “are you suggesting that demons are trying to infiltrate Destiny?”
“Not suggesting, telling. It’s a long story.”
“How would they even know about us?”
“We can’t be too sure about anything, but near as we can tell, this particular group of demons has been workin’ with the Lucian Alliance.”
Lt. Johansen looked at Rush in alarm, but Rush shook his head with an incredulous laugh. “I can’t believe I’m about to ask this, but... how do we stop them?”
“Well, we’re doin’ what we can on our end, but there are a couple of precautions you can take. Got a piece of paper?”
“Yeah, sure.” Rush fished a notebook and pencil out of his vest pocket and handed them to Bobby.
Bobby flipped to a blank page and began drawing a basic devil’s trap. “First line of defense, draw one of these in here and another one around the Stargate. I’d suggest tryin’ to etch it into the metal, as deep as you can, maybe fill it with salt if you’ve got any.” After he’d finished that drawing, he moved on to the anti-possession sigil. “This one you can use to make necklaces, or even tattoo it over the heart. Prevents possession, in case one of ’em smokes out or tries to ride one of your people back from Earth.” Once that sketch was done, he wrote Gabriel’s Enochian exorcism at the bottom of the page. “And this should send ’em back where they came from, even from here. Pronounce it like ecclesiastical Latin.” With that, he handed the notebook back to Rush.
Lt. Johansen bit her lip. “Is... will Chloe....”
“Ah, she’ll be all right,” Bobby replied. “My boys are with her. She’s safe enough. But I probably should be gettin’ back.”
She nodded. “We can end the connection from here.”
“Er, thank you, Mr. Singer,” Rush said awkwardly.
Bobby nodded in acknowledgment, and Lt. Johansen flipped a switch. There was another jolt, and he found himself back on Earth, Dean just finishing the Latin exorcism and Sam keeping the demon’s host pinned to the far wall of the stone room. As Dean uttered the final word, the demon shrieked and billowed out of Dr. Dacosta, and Sam quickly caught the poor woman as she collapsed against his telekinetic force. Bobby set the stone in its case and switched off the base.
Once everybody had caught their breath, Dean looked over at Bobby with a disbelieving grin. “Chloe?!”
“Shut up. Idjit.”
Sam grinned and Dean threw back his head and laughed, and Bobby could almost swear he heard the damn Tok’ra laughing with him.
Next
Chapter 6
To Infinity and Beyond!
Sam studied the little box in his hand as he and Dean escorted Henry toward the conference room. Then he looked up and saw that the same star-like design that covered most of the front of the box also adorned Henry’s tie tack. “Henry, what is that?” he asked, pointing to the tie tack.
Henry startled a little and ran a hand over his tie. “It’s our symbol, the Aquarian Star, representing great magic and power. They say it stood at the gates of Atlantis itself.”
Sam and Dean exchanged a look, and Sam cleared his throat to keep from giving anything away.
But Henry glanced over at Dean, who was still wearing his newly issued SGC uniform jacket, and frowned at the patch on his left shoulder. “Am I allowed to ask what that symbol means?”
Dean just looked at him, his mouth a straight, unimpressed line.
Henry sighed. “I’m sorry. I just... feel very out of my depth here.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” And Dean went back to looking straight ahead.
As they approached the conference room, Sam heard an old man’s voice saying, “This feels like a conference table, Inias. What’s going on here?”
“It is as I told you,” Inias replied. “I brought you here to meet with Henry Winchester about the box you gave him.”
“You could have brought Henry to me!”
“Unfortunately,” Dean said as they walked in, “he’s not the only one who needs that information.”
Sam noted in passing that the window down to the Gateroom had been shuttered. That was good; it wouldn’t do to have Henry asking questions about the Gate if he didn’t have clearance. He was already getting put out by the fact that almost everything he asked about was classified.
The old man, who was seated on the far side of the table and staring into the distance, stiffened. “What are you talking about? Who’s there?”
“Larry,” Henry said, pushing past Dean to go to the old man’s-Larry’s-side. “Larry, it’s me, it’s Henry.”
Larry’s eyes widened, but he turned his head as if tracking by sound and not by sight. “Henry!” He grabbed Henry’s hand as Henry knelt next to his chair, then ran his fingers across Henry’s face quickly. “Henry, thank God, after all these years!”
“I know. I’m sorry. I was trying to reach my son. Instead, I came here, to my grandsons. That was Dean who spoke earlier, and the other man who’s just come in is Sam.”
Larry blinked. “You have grandsons? I... I had no idea. Forgive me; had I known you would be away so long, I would have tried harder to keep in contact. Not that a blind man could have done much for them,” he added bitterly.
Henry sighed. “Your mind matters more than your eyes, my friend. But they seem to be all right. And so is Josie.”
“Josie!”
“Yes, Abaddon followed me here, but someone trapped her and exorcised her. Josie’s all right. She’ll join us in a moment.”
Larry nodded. “Now I see the need for the long table, Inias. Forgive me.”
Sam cleared his throat. “Actually, Mr. Ganem, it’s not just the four of us who need to talk with you.”
Larry frowned. “What do you mean?”
But before Sam could explain, Gabriel came in, supporting a tall woman-the aforementioned Josie, Sam assumed. She’d been given a clean, unmarked uniform to change into, but while she was walking under her own power fairly well, she still looked pretty pale and traumatized. And they were followed a moment later by Landry, Daniel, and Teal’c. Landry shut the door and introduced everyone.
Larry shook his head and sighed. “I’m sorry, Henry, Josie. I... I can’t reveal any secrets in the presence of people who aren’t members of the society.”
Dean and Henry both looked ready to object, but Daniel leaned forward. “No prize is worth attaining if you can never share it,” he said in a tone that made it clearly a quote. “There would be no point.”
Larry frowned. “Where did you read that?”
“I didn’t read it,” Daniel replied. “A very wise man once said it to me. His name was Ernest Littlefield.”
Larry, Henry, and Josie all looked shocked at that.
Landry inclined his head. “Perhaps you could tell us what you know about Dr. Littlefield, Mr. Ganem.”
Henry looked over at Larry. “Wasn’t he a friend of Dad’s?”
Larry nodded. “It’s not particularly a secret, at least from our end. Ernie was working with a man named Langford, an archaeologist. Langford had uncovered an artifact in Giza in 1923, the, uh... ‘Doorway to Heaven.’”
Josie looked even more startled and glanced toward the covered window. “The chappa’ai,” she whispered and shuddered.
Landry clearly noticed, but all he said was, “Please continue, Mr. Ganem.”
Larry leaned back in his chair a little. “The government took an interest in the Doorway in the early part of 1945, and they asked Langford to see if he could get it working, just in case it could be used as a weapon of some kind. Langford wanted to be sure there was no danger of the Doorway causing supernatural problems, since it had been buried shortly after the Egyptians revolted against the god-king Ra.”
“So he approached the Men of Letters?” Sam asked.
“Yes. Ernie was more of an Egyptologist than the rest of us, so he took the case. I gather there was a bit of a spark between him and Langford’s daughter, as well,” Larry added with a wry chuckle. “But it wasn’t to be. The researchers had difficulty powering the Doorway without overloading the generators they were using, and one day there was an explosion in the lab. Ernie was killed, and the program was abandoned.”
“That was what Dr. Langford told his daughter,” said Landry. “But we happen to have some footage of the final test.”
He pressed a button on a remote, and sepia-toned footage began to play on the big monitor at the far end of the table, showing technicians manually dialing the Gate. Sam wasn’t sure whether he or Salim was the more intrigued by the process or the more impressed by the fact that the researchers successfully got a lock, and they both felt a mixture of amusement and horror when one of the scientists, who looked a little like their Atlantis colleague Dr. Carson Beckett, handed off his clipboard and accepted a jumpsuit and diving helmet.
But Henry leaned forward and pointed to the screen. “That man. That’s Dr. Littlefield.”
“You recognize him?” Landry asked.
Henry nodded. “I was still in high school, but I remember him. We’d met a few times.”
“What’s happening?” Larry asked. “I can’t tell what I’m hearing.”
“The Doorway looks like it’s filled with a huge pool of rippling water-but it’s vertical. Dr. Littlefield’s put on a diving suit, and they’re attaching the oxygen hose. Now he’s walking into the pool....”
On the film, the Gate shut down, cutting Littlefield’s lifeline. Henry and Josie gasped, and the film ended.
“What?” Larry demanded.
Henry shook his head. “The pool... it just vanished. And Dr. Littlefield with it.”
“It wasn’t a pool,” Daniel explained. “It was a portal. We got the artifact working again in the mid-’90s and used the film to figure out where the portal led.”
Larry frowned. “Which was?”
“A repository of ancient knowledge so advanced, it was mind-boggling. He’d spent fifty-two years exploring it and still barely scratched the surface.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because we brought him back. Him and his journal. I recorded as much of the information as I could on video, but we arrived just before a major storm that was about to destroy our only means of returning home. I tried to convince the others to let me stay and keep working, but in the end, Dr. Littlefield helped get me to leave.” Daniel sighed. “We tried to go back after the storm, but the portal wouldn’t connect.”
“We are still studying the information we were able to retrieve,” Teal’c noted. “But Ernest Littlefield was correct. We could have gained nothing from that repository if Daniel Jackson had chosen to remain and continue his study, for we would have had no way to renew contact.”
Larry’s sightless eyes dropped toward the middle of the table for a long moment, and then he sighed heavily. “Where is the box, Henry?”
“In safe hands,” Henry replied, sparing Sam a tiny smile.
Larry nodded. “Can someone hand me some paper and a pen?”
Daniel slid his notepad and pen across to him.
“Inside the box is the key to every book, object, scroll, spell collected for thousands of years under one roof. It is the supernatural mother lode.”
“And Abaddon wants the key to get to that knowledge?” Daniel asked.
Josie nodded a little. “Mainly, she wanted all of us dead.”
Larry scoffed. “Abaddon was a hired gun. But that knowledge... can you imagine what she would do with that?”
“So how do we stop her?” Dean asked.
“You don’t.” Larry felt for the pen and wrote down a set of coordinates. “Take the key to this location. Then throw it inside, shut the door forever, and walk away.”
“Why?” all the other humans in the room chorused with varying levels of horrified confusion.
“Because it is the safest place on earth, warded against all forms of evil and impervious to any entry except by the key. We cannot let Abaddon have it.”
Sam, Henry, and Daniel all looked ready to protest, but Landry held up a hand. “We’ll see to it that the secrets of the Men of Letters are well guarded, Mr. Ganem. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Larry nodded. Then he took a deep breath and raised his head, turning it a little as if listening for something. “Inias?”
“May I take him home now, Hank?” Inias asked Landry.
Landry nodded. “You may. Thank you, Inias.”
Inias put a gentle hand on Larry’s shoulder, and they vanished.
Daniel turned to Landry. “General, surely you’re not-”
“One thing at a time, Doctor,” Landry interrupted. “I have a few questions for Miss Sands first.”
Josie drew in a ragged breath and nodded. “Yes, sir?”
“How did you know the word chappa’ai?”
She gestured toward the window. “Abaddon saw it. She was surprised you’d gotten it working.”
That was met with a chorus of groans and curses.
“Why did Abaddon attack the Men of Letters?” Landry pressed.
Josie shrugged. “Like Larry said, she was hired. Not that she needed much convincing; she was already ticked off about some experiments I’d been helping to record. A priest in St. Louis was trying to find a way to cure demons. And when he found it... she killed him. He’s the one who told her about me.”
“So who hired her?” Henry asked.
Josie shook her head. “All I got was a name. Zachariah.”
Sam, Dean, and Gabriel all swore at that.
But before the conversation could continue, Inias returned, looking frazzled. “He’s dead.”
“What?!” everyone exploded.
Inias slumped down in the chair Larry had vacated. “I was on my way back here when I sensed Abaddon approaching the Ganem house. I turned back and found her possessing his wife, but she killed him and fled before I could stop her.”
Dean uttered a sharp Goa’uld curse.
“Did she learn anything from him?” Gabriel asked.
Inias shook his head. “There wasn’t time. I’m sure of that.”
Landry turned to Josie. “Did she already know what the box is?”
“No,” Josie replied. “She knew the box was important enough for Henry to run with it, but that’s all.”
“So she doesn’t know about this... repository of knowledge?”
“No. As far as she knew, all the members lived in Normal and were going to be at the initiation that night.”
Sam looked at what Larry had written. “These coordinates are in Kansas, I think.”
Gabriel nodded once. “All right, we’ll work with what we have. Heaven can handle Abaddon. But since she knows about the Stargate, it’s a cinch she’s going to head up these demons that are working with the Lucian Alliance.” He snapped his fingers, and Henry and Josie gasped in pain. “That gets you two off her radar, so as far as she knows, you and the box are still here, and she can’t get to you. That frees you and these muttonheads”-here he pointed to Sam and Dean-“up to go check out that repository and find out why Zach was so anxious to keep John and the boys away from it.”
Henry’s eyes widened. “Wait, why would-”
“Get the boys to explain it tomorrow. And Hank, there’s a chance she’ll make a play for Homeworld Command before we can catch up to her.”
Landry nodded. “I’ll alert the Pentagon. Dr. Jackson, please see to it that Mr. Winchester and Miss Sands sign non-disclosure agreements and give them the standard video briefing. Teal’c, see to their quarters.”
“Yes, sir,” Daniel replied as Teal’c bowed his head in acknowledgement.
Henry looked even more confused. “Whoa, what-but-”
Landry turned to him with a hint of a smile. “Your initiation’s been rewritten, Mr. Winchester. We’ll need help from you and Miss Sands, so to save your grandsons the trouble of telling you everything, Dr. Jackson will bring you up to speed on the Stargate program. You’ll have time enough to catch up on everything else later.”
Dean reached for the notepad with the coordinates. “We takin’ the Hammond or....”
“No, I’m afraid the General Hammond’s unavailable. But if that location’s in Kansas and you’re on your way to Sioux Falls in the morning, I expect you can drive!”
Startled, Dean glanced at Josie and Henry and pulled an Oh, MAN! face, then looked away and seemed to discuss something with Dishon for a moment.
He wasn’t expecting to have to spend so much time with your grandfather, Salim realized.
Or to bring him with us to Bobby’s for Thanksgiving, Sam agreed. Never mind Josie-I mean, she seems pretty nice, but she’s a total stranger.
Salim hummed thoughtfully. Well, perhaps Bobby can help provide more of a buffer between Dean and Henry. And perhaps he can help them see eye to eye, at least a little better.
Sam glanced at Henry and back at Dean. I sure hope so. Might help me like the guy a little better, too.
“Dean,” Gabriel said, pulling Dean out of his internal conversation. “See you Thursday?”
Dean nodded. “Uh, yeah, sure. And bring Cas.”
Gabriel chuckled.
Landry nodded once. “All right, people. Dismissed.”
As the angels disappeared and Daniel and Teal’c took charge of Henry and Josie, Dean stood and stalked out of the room. Sam gathered up the coordinates and started after him, but he wasn’t able to catch up before Dean disappeared into the elevator. So Sam waited impatiently for the elevator to return, then headed toward their quarters-but Dean wasn’t there when he arrived. Cursing, he dropped the notepad on the desk and ran back toward the elevator, trying to figure out where Dean might have gone.
Does he remember that you did not drive back when last you were here? Salim asked.
Sam frowned. He-he should.... But they both knew Dean’s tendency to act without thinking when his emotions were getting the better of him, and he’d been handed a hell of a lot of shocks in one day. So on Salim’s hunch, Sam headed up to the main entrance.
And sure enough, Dean was standing just outside the door, looking lost and shivering a little in the frosty air.
“Dude,” Sam said as he came up behind his brother. “What are you....”
“She’s not here,” Dean said miserably. “I forgot.”
“Who, Lisa?”
“Baby.”
Sam’s heart sank. “Seriously? You were gonna sleep in the car in weather like this?”
Dean just looked at him, weary and heartsick.
Sam sighed. “C’mon. Let’s get some coffee and rest inside where it’s warm, okay? You’ll see Baby... tomorrow or the day after, depending on how far out of the way we have to go to get to the Men of Letters’ hideout. Lisa, too. And Bobby’ll be here in the morning.”
Dean’s answering sigh seemed to come from somewhere around his toes. “Okay.”
“Hey.” And Sam pulled Dean into a hug.
Dean returned it and relaxed for several seconds before pulling back with a grumbled “Get off me, you giant girl.”
Sam huffed and let go but smiled, knowing that meant Dean was feeling at least slightly better. And they stayed in step all the way to the mess hall, where the cook had saved Dean the last piece of pie.
There were two things Dean couldn’t do anymore now that he was Tok’ra again: sleep normally and get drunk. He could, however, let his mind rest while Dishon was driving, and on this particular night, Dishon not only encouraged him to do so but also, when he had trouble, gave him the push he would ordinarily have sought from a bottle of Jack. As a result, he wasn’t hung over when Dishon woke him the next morning... but he didn’t feel any better about anything.
At least, he didn’t until Salim informed him that they’d found the location of the coordinates, which was in Lebanon, Kansas, and wouldn’t add more than a couple of hours to their overall drive time, and that Bobby was waiting for them in the mess hall. Dean barely waited long enough to tie his boots before heading for the elevator-with Sam at his side this time.
Sure enough, Bobby was sitting right by the door, nursing a cup of coffee, and got up to hug them both when they came in. As they sat down, though, he looked at Dean. “Hell, son, didn’t you sleep at all last night?”
Dean sighed. “Yeah, Dishon made me. Didn’t help.”
“What’s goin’ on?”
Sam got their trays as Dean got Bobby caught up. As he finished, he shook his head. “I just... Bobby, I don’t know what to do.”
Bobby gave a facial shrug. “Way the hell above my pay grade, son.”
“Oh, thanks.”
But before they could continue talking it over, Daniel and Teal’c came in with Henry and Josie, both of whom looked exhausted, pale, and very badly shaken. They’d probably been up all night, and Dean realized Daniel must have given them a lot more than the standard ‘aliens are real’ rundown. Teal’c shepherded them through the line to get breakfast, but Henry ordered only coffee and toast, and Josie didn’t get anything but tea.
For the first time, Dean actually felt kind of sorry for his grandfather.
“Hey,” he said to Henry as the four newcomers sat down at the hunters’ table. “How you holdin’ up?”
Henry met his eyes and sighed. “I understand now what Sam meant about things I shouldn’t know.”
“You okay?”
“I don’t know. Dean, I don’t understand. Your being hunters is one thing, but how could you and Sam accept possession?”
Sam’s eyes flashed furiously. “Tok’ra blending is wholly unlike possession,” Salim snarled, startling Henry and Josie badly. “I will never treat Sam the way Lucifer did.”
“Uh, Henry, Josie, this is Salim,” Dean explained. “He’s Sam’s symbiote. This is our friend Bobby Singer, and-” He broke off and stepped back. “Greetings, Henry Winchester,” Dishon said as he brought Dean’s head up. “My name is Dishon.”
Dean couldn’t tell who was more likely to faint, Henry or Josie.
“Uh, sorry, guys,” Daniel said, plainly feeling awkward. “I thought a clinical description of the Apocalypse would save you having to explain it later.”
Bobby smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I’da done the same thing. These idjits are just a little raw this mornin’, that’s all.”
Teal’c quirked an eyebrow. “Indeed.”
Henry pulled himself together and pressed on. “You say it’s nothing like possession, yet you speak with my grandson’s voice.”
Dean mentally rolled his eyes.
“The Tok’ra do not suppress the host’s consciousness,” Salim stated flatly. “Sam is aware and can take back control at any time. He can even-” His head bobbed. “-finish his sentences for him,” Sam concluded. “Not that we do that often, except to show off, but it does demonstrate just how conscious I am even when Salim’s in control.”
“We’ve saved their lives,” Dean added, “and they’ve saved ours, enough times that I think we’ve all lost count. And the only time they’ve done something without our consent, it was to save Gabriel’s life.”
“The Goa’uld are like demons. They even tell their human subjects that nothing of the host survives, just to justify stealing meatsuits. But the Tok’ra aren’t like that. They choose not to dominate.”
“Give it some time,” Bobby recommended, seeing that Henry was still skeptical. “You’ve had a hell of a lot dropped on you the last few hours. Gonna take some time to get a handle on all of it, I know. But I’ll tell you this: if I thought these two were a problem, I’da killed ’em both a long time ago.”
Henry sighed unhappily and picked at his toast.
Dean frowned at Bobby. “How the hell did you expect to do that?”
Bobby’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, I’da figured something out, believe me.”
Which meant, Dean knew, that even if the thought had crossed Bobby’s mind, he’d dismissed it as soon as Salim had healed his back and restored his legs. Dean couldn’t help smiling fondly at him.
The rest of the meal was pretty quiet, as was the entire drive to Lebanon. Henry and Josie really had been up all night, so they were asleep before the Chevelle even reached the Colorado Springs city limits. Sam was stuck in the back with them, and even if Dean had felt talkative, Bobby didn’t have much news that they hadn’t already gotten at the SGC or any advice on how to handle Henry or Ben. Bobby stopped for gas and picked up lunch at a drive-through, but otherwise, they drove straight through until they reached the location Larry had given them.
Dean didn’t think much of the place as the five travelers piled out. All he could see was an old, maybe Depression-era, dam or power plant or something on the hill above them and a short set of stairs that led down to a door set in a bricked archway. Sam got the box open but offered to let Henry do the honors; Josie went in first, followed by Dean, Sam, Henry, and Bobby. The door opened into a short hall, which led to a balcony overlooking a much larger space. Said balcony led to what looked like a hall to the left and a staircase to the right.
Josie shone her flashlight around quickly as she reached the balcony. “I don’t see a switch. Maybe there’s a breaker box downstairs.” And she turned right and started down.
But the brothers paused at the top of the stairs, recognizing a familiar hum in the back of their minds.
“What?” Henry asked, stopping beside them. “What are you... sensing?” The pause must have meant that he’d sensed it as well.
“There’s Ancient tech in here,” Dean replied quietly. Glancing around didn’t tell him much, though. On, he commanded.
The lights flared to life, revealing a mid-century command center at the bottom of the staircase, complete with lighted map table.
“Huh,” said Sam. “I would have thought it would start automatically. It does most places.”
Dean shook his head and started down the stairs, with the other men on his heels. “No, no, whoever built this place must have known non-gene carriers like Josie would be using it.”
“So dual controls, one set for the non-carriers and one set-”
“-for the legacies,” they concluded together and looked at Henry.
Henry gulped. “I-I-I don’t understand. What are you talking about? What gene?”
“The Ancient Technology Activation gene,” Sam explained. “People who have it can operate certain kinds of alien technology, even with mental commands. That’s how Dean turned the lights on. That... that buzz in the back of your head? That’s the tech’s neural interface, letting you know it’s there.”
“What buzz?” Josie asked. “I don’t hear anything.”
“That’s ’cause you don’t have the gene. The tests you had at the SGC showed that, but this just confirms it. We do-in fact, Dean and I got it from both sides of the family.”
Dean frowned. “But here’s the thing. Okay, assuming that one of the Men of Letters who built this place was an Ancient, like Janus or somebody... what are the odds of the other Men of Letters, besides Henry’s dad, having the ATA gene?”
Sam shrugged. “Probably pretty slim.”
“So why even put in the Ancient controls in the first place?”
“Maybe this place wasn’t built just to protect knowledge. Maybe it was built partly to protect us.”
“Well, I think I know where we might be able to find out,” Henry said and walked past Sam and Dean toward another room that Dean hadn’t really looked at yet... a beautiful Depression-era library.
Bobby whistled, and Sam let an appreciative Goa’uld curse slip.
Dean nodded. “Sammy, I think we found the Batcave.”
As Henry made his way to the card catalogue and started flipping through it, the others began roaming through the library, glancing at shelves and examining artifacts. Dean, however, kept looking at the architecture, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu.
Does this place remind you of anything? he finally asked Dishon.
Somewhat, Dishon replied. I suspect strongly that whichever Ancient helped build it was Lantean, but I have no idea how that might be.
Maybe he was like Merlin, ascended for a while and then descended to join the Men of Letters.
Dishon pondered the idea. Yes, that could be.
“Dean,” Sam said and motioned Dean over to a bookcase toward the back of the room, near an alcove that inexplicably housed a telescope. “Look at these.”
Dean looked at the books Sam was pointing out and frowned. “They’re in Ancient.”
“In ancient?” Josie echoed, joining them. “What does that mean?”
Sam ran his finger down one of the spines, showing the gilded title that would look like just a pretty geometric pattern to the untrained eye. “The language of the Ancients, the Gate-builders.”
“I might have something,” Henry stated, and they all turned to look at him and he at them. “And you’re in the right area, I think. See if you can find the journal of James Haggerty.”
Sam started skimming spines but stopped before he reached the end of the Ancient section. “Huh.”
“What?” everyone else asked.
“This book-the title’s in two languages. In English, it says Journal of James Haggerty, but there’s Ancient on either side... no, it’s not a title, it’s a message. ‘For those with eyes to read: The journal of James Haggerty, born Janus of Atlantis.’”
Dean uttered a surprised Goa’uld curse. “So it was Janus. Explains a lot.”
“Explains a hell of a lot, including why this place is so well hidden. And the power-you think maybe they’ve got a ZPM?”
“I think,” Bobby interrupted, “we ought to take this one journal and get this show on the road. Somethin’ tells me we ain’t gonna make it to Thanksgiving without any more trouble from Abaddon, and the sooner we get back to Sioux Falls, the better I’m gonna sleep.”
“But-” Henry objected, but Sam immediately pulled the journal off the shelf, and he and Dean started toward the stairs.
“If Bobby’s turning down time in a new library,” Sam stated, “it means we need to go.”
“But we’ve only just-”
“Landry promised Larry we’d keep the place safe,” Dean said. “Best way to do that is to stay away from it until we know we’ve got Abaddon stopped. Come on. We can come back later.”
“But Gabriel-”
“Gabriel hid you guys, I’m guessin’ the same way Cas hid us, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t followed. Let’s go.”
Sam grabbed Henry telekinetically and started pulling him with them toward the exit. Josie hurried to catch up. Sam also grabbed the key out of Henry’s pocket and tossed it to Dean, who waited long enough for Josie to clear the door before thinking Off and locking the door behind them.
The boys spent the drive back to Sioux Falls explaining to Henry and Josie how the last Ancient out of Atlantis had come to be revered as the god of doors and transitions, what the SGC knew of Janus’ inventions and experiments, and why it might make sense for Janus to have hidden himself on Earth as this James Haggerty character. Bobby tuned them out, keeping an ear out for his phone but otherwise keeping his whole focus on the road. He didn’t know why he had such a strong sense that they needed to keep clear of the bunker for the time being, although part of it might have been worry for Lisa and Ben. But there was something his gut was telling him about Ancients, some kind of danger that had come up before....
“Y’know, I wonder if there’s stuff stashed in there that’s not even in the Atlantis database,” Sam was saying.
“What,” Dean asked, “like, stuff the SGC can use? Stuff Janus developed after he came back to Earth?”
“Yeah. I mean, like, when Daniel and McKay found his lab in Atlantis, they found out how to manufacture the communication stones-”
Bobby suddenly swore. “That’s it. Those stones. If Abaddon can get someone into the Pentagon....”
“Destiny,” the boys chorused and lunged for their phones.
Sam called O’Neill; Dean called Cas. It was a testament to how well Bobby knew Cas that he didn’t drive off the road when Cas unceremoniously appeared in the middle of the front seat. But the angels hadn’t encountered any demons trying to get into the Pentagon, and O’Neill said the next scheduled stone use wasn’t until Wednesday. So with Cas being duly warned, Bobby pushed on home.
No sooner had they arrived, though, than Dean grabbed his and Sam’s pack and announced, “We’ll be at Lisa’s.” And before Bobby could do more than sigh, the boys were headed to the Impala with Janus’ journal in tow.
“Was it something I said?” Henry asked meekly.
Bobby sighed again. “Well, my house ain’t as big as it looks”-never mind that it had housed as many as six guests more than once. “And Dean’s girlfriend lives here in town. He probably figured it’d be easier on everyone if they gave y’all a little more space.”
Henry nodded sadly.
“Been a long day. We’d best head inside, let y’all get to bed.”
Henry and Josie both wearily agreed to that. Bobby put her in the boys’ room and him on the couch, and they were both asleep before Bobby could even bring himself to consider letting Josie borrow one of his late wife Karen’s winter nightgowns.
Tuesday was slow. Sam got to work scanning Janus’ journal so he could make secure copies-one for Bobby, one for the SGC-and Dean decided to avoid everything by helping Lisa get an early start on her part of Thanksgiving dinner. That left Bobby to take Henry and Josie shopping for clothes and necessities and to help them get caught up on everything they’d missed in the last fifty-odd years. While Josie chose to explore the Internet cautiously, Henry pressed Bobby for particulars about John and about the boys’ childhood, and Bobby filled in all the gaps he safely could.
Then, just to be on the safe side, he locked the Chevelle’s steering wheel and removed the starters from all his other vehicles that would run. Henry was still there Wednesday morning, so Bobby assumed the precaution had either worked or been unnecessary.
After breakfast, Bobby gave Henry and Josie permission to browse his library and went to Lisa’s to check on the boys. And it was a good thing he did, because he hadn’t been there two minutes when Samandiriel showed up.
“It’s started,” the angel said and zapped the three hunters to Washington without any further explanation.
“Hey, whoa!” Dean yelped. “What the hell’s going on?”
A quick glance around told Bobby they were outside the Pentagon. “Abaddon’s tryin’ for the stones?”
Samandiriel nodded. “We don’t know whether she’s disabled any of the wards in the building, or if she even can, but she has warded the building against angels. If she or another demon gets past us, we will need you to pursue it.”
Sam nodded once. “All right, look, can you use a radio?”
“I believe so.”
“Awesome. Why don’t we go on in to Homeworld Command, try to beef up the wards, that kind of thing, and you can radio us if something comes through.”
“Very well-”
But Samandiriel didn’t have a chance to finish his thought. A horde of demons appeared, and a host of angels revealed themselves in a defensive line around the building. In no time flat, the battle was on.
“GO!” Samandiriel yelled and ran to join the fray.
Bobby and the boys sprinted inside and made their way to Homeworld Command as fast as they could.
“Who’s scheduled to use the stones today?” Dean demanded as soon as they blew through the door.
“Dr. Dacosta,” the receptionist replied. “She’s been here since 7, but she’ll be leaving for Destiny any minute.”
“Uh-oh,” Sam stated, looking up at the ceiling, and pointed upward. The ceiling tile above the doorway that bore a devil’s trap was cracked.
Bobby and Dean swore, and all three hunters charged toward the stone room, where Dr. Dacosta was indeed waiting, a palm-sized smooth black stone sitting on a lighted base on the desk in front of her. She looked up and smirked, her eyes going black. “Well, well. I didn’t believe it. The Winchester boys are back on Earth.”
“And you’re stayin’ here,” Dean snarled.
She laughed. “You can’t make me.”
“We’ll see about that.”
The demon lunged toward the stone. Sam threw her backward telekinetically, and Bobby snatched the stone off its base...
... too slowly, as a split second after his hand touched it, he felt a jolt and was suddenly looking at a completely different room. A quiet curse slipped out-and he cringed at the female voice it had come out in.
A tall blonde in a black uniform who looked eerily like Josie-T. Johansen, her nametag said, and the collar insignia proclaimed her a first lieutenant-looked at him warily. “Dr. Dacosta?”
“’Fraid not,” Bobby replied. “Name’s Bobby Singer. We had a slight problem at Homeworld Command... Dr. Dacosta’s got an uninvited passenger. I was tryin’ to get that black stone off its base to keep the demon from gettin’ here.”
“Excuse me,” said an educated Scotsman’s voice, and Bobby turned the head he was borrowing to see a scruffy, scrawny, slightly long-haired fellow frowning at him. “Mr. Singer? My name is Nicholas Rush-we’ve not met, exactly, but I was at Homeworld Command....”
“During the Niveus raid, right,” Bobby interrupted with a nod. “So that’s what you look like for real.”
Lt. Johansen slapped a hand over her eyes. “Mister Singer. Chloe’s probably seriously freaking out.”
Bobby grimaced. “Sorry.”
“Mr. Singer,” Rush continued, “are you suggesting that demons are trying to infiltrate Destiny?”
“Not suggesting, telling. It’s a long story.”
“How would they even know about us?”
“We can’t be too sure about anything, but near as we can tell, this particular group of demons has been workin’ with the Lucian Alliance.”
Lt. Johansen looked at Rush in alarm, but Rush shook his head with an incredulous laugh. “I can’t believe I’m about to ask this, but... how do we stop them?”
“Well, we’re doin’ what we can on our end, but there are a couple of precautions you can take. Got a piece of paper?”
“Yeah, sure.” Rush fished a notebook and pencil out of his vest pocket and handed them to Bobby.
Bobby flipped to a blank page and began drawing a basic devil’s trap. “First line of defense, draw one of these in here and another one around the Stargate. I’d suggest tryin’ to etch it into the metal, as deep as you can, maybe fill it with salt if you’ve got any.” After he’d finished that drawing, he moved on to the anti-possession sigil. “This one you can use to make necklaces, or even tattoo it over the heart. Prevents possession, in case one of ’em smokes out or tries to ride one of your people back from Earth.” Once that sketch was done, he wrote Gabriel’s Enochian exorcism at the bottom of the page. “And this should send ’em back where they came from, even from here. Pronounce it like ecclesiastical Latin.” With that, he handed the notebook back to Rush.
Lt. Johansen bit her lip. “Is... will Chloe....”
“Ah, she’ll be all right,” Bobby replied. “My boys are with her. She’s safe enough. But I probably should be gettin’ back.”
She nodded. “We can end the connection from here.”
“Er, thank you, Mr. Singer,” Rush said awkwardly.
Bobby nodded in acknowledgment, and Lt. Johansen flipped a switch. There was another jolt, and he found himself back on Earth, Dean just finishing the Latin exorcism and Sam keeping the demon’s host pinned to the far wall of the stone room. As Dean uttered the final word, the demon shrieked and billowed out of Dr. Dacosta, and Sam quickly caught the poor woman as she collapsed against his telekinetic force. Bobby set the stone in its case and switched off the base.
Once everybody had caught their breath, Dean looked over at Bobby with a disbelieving grin. “Chloe?!”
“Shut up. Idjit.”
Sam grinned and Dean threw back his head and laughed, and Bobby could almost swear he heard the damn Tok’ra laughing with him.
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