Chapter 4
Chapter 4
March 16, 2004
Lee brought the glasses up to his eyes again. Yes, he was right, there was Jeremiah and Kurdy's jeep heading to the mountain's entrance. With the pandemonium of their return and the group from the ring, he'd have enough time to drive out to Millhaven and see Major O'Neill. He shook with the need to verify that the man inside Thunder Mountain was not from Valhalla Sector. He had put his life on the line to protect Markus Alexander. It couldn't blow up in his face now.
After the big door closed, sealing off the inside of the mountain, Lee hopped into his vehicle and left for the rendezvous. He was stopped once on the town outskirts, his pass inspected, and allowed to proceed. This was new and the heightened security made him wary.
He continued on, parking his car on the side of the street, and headed for the officer's club. It was a house, with a main room for food and drink and rooms upstairs for sleeping. If O'Neill and Kawalsky were in town, they'd be inside, flirting with the help.
"Hey, Chen. Come on in and have a beer!" O'Neill's familiar voice greeted him jovially when he pushed the main door open.
Lee saw the two majors sitting on a couch next to the front window, mugs of beer in their hands, and the remains of lunch beside them. As he got closer, he noticed that the magazine they were looking at showed rivers and men with fishing poles, not the naked women he had expected.
"Tell me, have you fished around here?" O'Neill started off. "This old Outdoor Life shows a stream here in your mountains that supposed to have the best brown trout fishing around."
"I don't fish," Lee remarked without enthusiasm.
"Too bad. We’ll have to find some of the locals," Kawalsky suggested. "Bet they could point us in the right direction."
"They might run in fright, once they look at that graying mass on your head," O'Neill countered.
Kawalsky snorted. "Look who's talking. You've got more gray hair and years than I do."
Lee looked at O'Neill. This O'Neill did look a little different. Both O'Neill's had short hair, but this one looked like he cut it himself. It was jagged and a bit longer than the one in the Mountain. This one also looked younger, or perhaps just softer. But they were still enough alike to be identical twins. It was bizarre. That "alternate reality" explanation Markus had given the Council was looking a little more credible.
"So, why did you need our expert services?" O'Neill asked, breaking into Lee's thoughts.
Lee felt tongue-tied. He'd been so sure there was only one O'Neill, he hadn't thought beyond a no-show. "There's a base up north taken over by a charismatic madman named Michael. Markus believes there's a nuke there. I just thought Valhalla Sector ought to grab it first," Lee explained, trying to appear helpful. In truth, Jeremiah and Kurdy had already taken care of the madman and there'd been no nuke, just a lot of conventional bombs. But it would serve to get O'Neill out of the way, and give him time to think.
"No problem," O'Neill replied flippantly. "Taking down charismatic madmen is our specialty."
Kawalsky took out a map and Lee showed them which base. The two majors listened attentively, and then Kawalsky folded up the map. "We'll leave first light tomorrow."
Lee nodded and was about to leave, when O'Neill stopped him. "Speaking of charismatic madmen, what's Markus Alexander like?"
Lee's heart fluttered in agitation. Shit, what brought this on? "He's suspicious. Smart. Has to think through all his options before deciding what to do."
"That's not what I meant," O'Neill persisted. "Does he have a chance of defeating Valhalla Sector?"
Lee decided to take a small chance. O'Neill and Kawalsky were not in favor with the brass and never had been, so he thought he might test the waters a little. "That's not what he's about. He doesn't want war; he wants to bring people together. To rebuild, not destroy." Lee cleared his throat and waited to see how the soldiers would react. He hoped he hadn't said too much, but it was hard, when he believed so strongly in what Markus was trying to do. He hadn't intended to fall for it when he'd been assigned to infiltrate Thunder Mountain, but he had.
"So he's not out to conquer the country?" Kawalsky asked with a doubting face. "That's what General Waverly believes."
Lee couldn't help a laugh. "I can't imagine anything Markus would like less."
O'Neill grunted, frowning. Then he shrugged his shoulders as if dismissing the whole discussion, calling for another beer.
Lee sat back in his chair, pleased. The two men were mulling it over, and that could only be good for Thunder Mountain.
_-+-_
Daniel had nothing to do. He wanted to contribute, but his skills were not as immediately useful as Sam's. She'd gone off early in the morning with several of the mountain's engineers to begin her work with the power and distribution systems. Daniel was no engineer, but he knew it was a massive undertaking. But if Markus was ever going to let them open the gate, the whole thing had to be upgraded. Jack seemed to think Markus was denying them the way home just to be mean, and Daniel had heard him mutter "Damn Tok'ra" at least twice last night. But Daniel felt reassured that Markus wanted to protect his people, even if it was at the cost of letting them go home quickly.
Gathering the three men of SG-1 into his office, Markus offered coffee. Daniel accepted gratefully, even though both Jack and Teal'c refused. To Daniel's eye, Jack seemed tense and suspicious about the meeting, as though Markus was planning to spring more bad news on them. Instead, Markus gave a little smile as he sat down. "Last night," he said, "I thought of some questions I had about the military, which I hoped you could answer."
Jack was taken by surprise and lifted his eyebrows curiously. He shrugged. "Sure. I guess even if you grew up in here, it's not like you had anyone to ask."
Markus beamed, looking proud that Jack understood his problem. "Exactly." He went on to lead Jack and Teal'c in a discussion of the military and its tactics. Daniel just watched and listened. Jack was lured into enthusiasm, and even Teal'c started getting into it. Markus put in a question once in a while to direct the response, but mostly he just listened intently, sipping his coffee.
Daniel decided to leave. The other three barely noticed.
He wandered out, hoping to talk to the people who lived under the mountain and utilize his expertise in learning more about their culture.
He found Elizabeth in the gate room. She was sitting at one of the tables, papers in front of her and chewing on a pencil absently. He'd been introduced to her last night at dinner, and there was something about her that reminded him of Sha're. Not that Elizabeth looked much like Sha're, having darker latte skin and big hazel eyes. But they both had that same soft-spoken kindness that covered a will of steel. He could easily imagine Elizabeth in Sha're's place during the rebellion against Ra.
She looked up to see him enter. "Ah, Markus bored you silly, I take it?" She gestured vaguely upward toward the briefing room window.
He smiled and shrugged. "I'm not military, so I wasn't much help. But I was curious about how this place works. How you all live."
She popped up from her bench. "I can show you."
"You look like you're doing something --" he tried to demur, but she was having none of it. She made a disgusted face, folding the papers and putting them in her pocket.
"I'd love a break. Come on."
Their first stop was the school.
"There are about seventy kids over age three and they all go to class," she explained. "We teach them math, science, reading, and history. The older ones also apprentice in the various departments."
"What about foreign languages?" Daniel asked.
She shrugged. "There's not much practical use for other languages in here."
Daniel raised his brows and joked, "So there's a practical use for history?"
Instead of smiling she grew serious and quoted, "'Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.' When you intend to rebuild the world, you don't want to make the same mistakes your ancestors did."
"And that's what you're doing here?" he asked. "Rebuilding the world?"
She nodded. "That's what Thunder Mountain is for, Daniel. That's why we're here, why we were saved. As Markus likes to say, if we don't build a better world out of the ashes of the old, then all our parents died for nothing."
Daniel nodded slowly. "He's got some big plans, doesn't he?"
She smiled, bright in her enthusiasm. "Oh yes. And soon we'll --" But she stopped and glanced at him. "Sorry. I don't know if I should tell you."
"Are you talking about the St. Louis meeting?" he asked. "Markus told us yesterday after dinner."
"Good," she laughed a little in her relief. "We're not very good about secrets, and I'm doing a lot of the transportation coordination, so it's always on my mind. The meeting is a big step. Over a hundred local leaders have agreed to come."
"I'd love to attend," Daniel commented wistfully. He'd mentioned it last night, but Jack had said it wasn't a good idea. Daniel hadn't wanted to get into an argument with Markus there, so he'd let it go. "It sounds fascinating, watching history in the making."
"Well, Markus has warned us not to expect too much. These are all people who would shoot each other, and you, over five gallons of gas, so they're not exactly the Founding Fathers," she answered, and then changed the subject back to the school. "Did you have any other questions?"
Daniel shook his head, wondering how much of what she said was exaggeration. But she clearly didn't want to talk about it anymore.
He was about to tell her it was all right and ask about books, when a voice called from behind them. "Elizabeth!"
Daniel turned to see another man jogging up to them. He was dark-skinned and muscular, with long braids tied behind his head. His eyes lit up as they looked at Elizabeth. In fact his whole body seem to radiate joy as he came up to them.
"Kurdy, back so soon? I thought you --" she smiled at him, but looked confused.
"Introduce me to your friend," Kurdy asked with a thread of possessiveness in his voice.
She put a hand on his arm, and used her other to gesture toward Daniel. "This is Doctor Daniel Jackson. Daniel, this is Kurdy--"
"Doctor?" Kurdy interrupted again. "Doctor of what?"
"Archeology," Daniel responded, invoking as much friendliness as he could.
"Archeology?" he repeated in disbelief. "Right. The universities don't give degrees since the Big Death. The professors are dead."
"Yeah, well, I don't come from around here," Daniel replied evasively.
Kurdy crossed his arms, radiating suspicion. "Sure, you're from Valhalla Sector."
"Kurdy!" Elizabeth scolded, looking very uncomfortable
"What's Valhalla Sector? The only Valhalla I'm familiar with is from Norse mythology. It's what they call heaven." Daniel's mind started to race. Maybe Thor had made contact with this Earth after the Big Death, to save them from the Goa'uld. Maybe it was now a protected planet?
"Believe me, Valhalla Sector is no heaven."
Kurdy refused to say more and turned his attention to Elizabeth. Daniel wanted to ask more questions, but wasn't sure how to phrase them without making Kurdy even more suspicious of them. He'd have to ask Markus.
_-+-_
The colonel left the bathroom and headed toward what they called the cafeteria, located in the gate room. The whole concept seemed wrong. He wanted to have his gun in hand while eating in case the gate started to activate. But oops, no gun. Markus had them confiscated. He had, however, given back everything but the weapons, explosives, radios and the GDOs. Jack decided he couldn't blame him for keeping those things, and was definitely glad to get his own clothes back. Luckily the vials of tretonin they all carried had also come back, so Teal's was safe for several months. Jack had been interested to realize that someone had figured out that the GDO was a transmitter, despite not really looking like one.
Teal'c waited patiently near the open hatch to the stairwell. "Are we ready to join the others for lunch?" the Jaffa asked.
"Hope Carter is done tinkering with the power. Having the lights go out while being interrogated wasn't my idea of a good time."
Actually, being interrogated -- which was what it had been, even though Markus had just wanted to 'ask a few questions' -- was never his idea of a good time, although at least he'd been comfortable. For two hours Markus had picked his and Teal'c's brains on US military tactics under various scenarios.
Jack had cooperated, because he had the distinct feeling that the questions were not hypothetical at all. As the questions continued, Jack had started to see the pattern and realized that Markus was looking for strategies for how a well-armed but small group of people might resist or even take the fight to a better-armed and larger group.
When Erin had come in to fetch Markus for a meeting, Jack had never been so glad to see someone in his life. He felt wrung out, drained of every drop of information, and yet Markus had smiled at him before leaving. "I look forward to continuing our conversation, Jack," he had said.
Jack shuddered at the memory. How someone who spoke so softly could be so damned relentless amazed him. But even more, how that same person could ferret out things that he could have sworn he had never even learned, not to mention forgotten, boggled his mind. Ba'al-boy had nothing on Markus' interrogative ability.
"I'm suddenly very glad that Markus is a Tok'ra in our reality," Jack commented to Teal'c. "Can you imagine him as a Goa'uld?"
"The prospect is indeed quite … disturbing, O'Neill," Teal'c said, leading the way down the stairs.
"Oh yeah. 'Disturbing.'" Sometimes Teal'c's choice of words could be really too funny. He chuckled as they emerged into the bottom floor. "Wonder what they'll serve today? Last night's stuffed cabbage wasn't too bad. Beat anything our commissary serves."
They entered the room and gathered their food. When he turned to look for a place to sit, Jack noticed Erin talking to a guy he hadn't seen before. Her lunch tray was on the table, but she was standing with her arms folded, as the guy ranted at her. Jack's protective instincts rose within him. He strode purposely over to the duo putting on his most intimidating face.
"…can't be trusted," the young man was saying. He was wearing a curious mix of an olive BDU jacket, brown sweater, and leather pants. Short brown hair and at least two days worth of stubble framed a narrow face that looked older than his years.
Erin saw them coming and cleared her throat, stopping the guy from saying more. "Hello, Colonel O'Neill. Mr. Murray."
"Murray," Teal'c corrected, not hiding his distaste for the name.
"Hey, and I'm just Jack," O'Neill said. "You're not the Major Gant we know."
"Major Gant? You buy all that shit?" the young man accused, then focused his attention on Jack. "You're from Valhalla Sector, aren't you?"
"And you would be?" Jack asked nicely, sort-of. The kid had an attitude problem and a chip on his shoulder, Jack could tell that much already.
"Jeremiah," he answered shortly.
"What's Valhalla Sector?" Jack asked. No one had mentioned the place to him yet, but he wondered why Jeremiah thought he could be from there.
Jeremiah shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, and shifted his weight impatiently. "Isn't that where you're from?"
"Ah, no. We're from here, Cheyenne Mountain, as a matter of fact," Jack told him truthfully. "I've never heard of Valhalla Sector. Why?"
Jeremiah was going to say something sharp, until Erin warned him, "Jeremiah…"
He glanced at her, and his belligerence faded. Letting out a breath, he glanced away. "I think my father's there."
"Your father? What's his name?" Jack asked, curious. Hadn't they said that the older generation was dead?
"Devon Samuels. Doctor Devon Samuels. Medical researcher."
"Nope. Never heard of the guy. I do know a Samuels, but that guy's a prick, so I hope you're not related to him." It had been a good day when Paul Davis had replaced Colonel Samuels as the Pentagon liaison. But Samuels' first name was Albert, not Devon.
Whether he was someone Jack knew or not, Jack wondered how Jeremiah's dad could be from anywhere, considering what he'd been told about the virus. "Why are you asking about this place in a hushed tone? I can almost hear the quotes around it, 'Valhalla Sector'." He said the name in a melodramatic whisper.
Neither Jeremiah nor Erin cracked a smile. Jeremiah glared at him, hostile again. "It wants to take us over; destroy everything that Markus is trying to build and impose military rule. We won't let that happen!" Jeremiah added passionately. "Don't trust a damn word they say, Erin," he warned and stalked off.
"That went well," Jack replied sardonically, watching Jeremiah go. The colonel was actually impressed. Jeremiah seemed loyal and protective, demonstrating that there was true heart under the aggression.
He saw that Carter and Daniel had collected their lunch trays, and he waved a hand for them to come join him.
"Jeremiah isn't known for his tact," Erin tried to explain as she sat by her lunch. "He pretty much says what's on his mind or--"
"That's okay. I'm the same." Jack sat down, motioning for Teal'c to sit also.
Erin looked sorry they had sat down with her. Jack could tell she was really uncomfortable.
"So, tell me," he began, trying to put her at ease. "What is this Valhalla place?"
"Yeah, some guy, Kurdy I think his name was, mentioned it earlier too," Daniel added. "What is it?"
Erin looked even more uncomfortable. She glanced up at the darkened windows of the former briefing room, as if hoping Markus would appear and save her from answering. When no miracle came, she licked her lips. "Well, Jeremiah's right. It's a military base, back east someplace. Apparently some of the Old World survived the Big Death in there. And they've been slowly expanding their reach, taking control of other bases. We seem to be next on their list."
Jack nodded. That was the enemy Markus had been talking about, without ever mentioning by name. "And they're bad guys?"
She stiffened. "Unless your idea of a 'good guy' is killing entire villages and then burning them down."
"What?" Carter demanded in shock. "Why on Earth would they do that?"
Erin gave her a little smile that was not much more than a baring of her teeth. "To hide evidence that they're trying to unlock the Big Death."
"That's terrible!" Carter exclaimed.
"Yeah, well, it's your military." Erin stood up and picked up her tray. "Excuse me. I have a meeting."
The four members of SG-1 watched her leave and then turned back to their lunches.
"Notice how it's now suddenly "our" military," Jack rolled his eyes. But he was troubled by the news. Bad enough that there were ex-military out there and that they were hostile to Thunder Mountain, but to find out that they were intent on bringing back the disease that nearly wiped out human civilization was infinitely worse.
"It can't be true," Daniel said softly.
But as bad as it was, Jack had no problem believing it. "Think so?" he retorted. "Just imagine the scumbags of NID in charge of a place like this. What wouldn't they do?"
"They would attempt to conquer the planet, by any means within their grasp," Teal'c stated.
"Exactly," O'Neill pointed his spoon at Teal'c before taking a cautious sip of the vegetable soup. It was quite good. He ought to ask whether the Thunder Mountain chefs would like to work for the SGC. "I'd like to think that "my military," as she so delightfully put it, is all about truth, justice, and the American way, but it just ain't so."
"Especially when there are no checks on power anymore," Carter pointed out. "There's no government left, no civilian authority, not even any reporters. Who's going to stop them?"
Struck by the question, Jack looked around at the other people eating. No one was sitting nearby, keeping their distance from the strange old people. That was what Jack noticed the most: they were all so young. And, unless he was very much mistaken, they were going to be at war soon. "These people, Carter," he murmured. "That's who's gonna stop them. And we're gonna help."
"We are helping, Jack," Daniel said.
"No, Daniel, I mean we are gonna help take down those bastards who've forgotten what the uniform should stand for. These kids don't know battle. We do." He shared a glance with Teal'c, and his brother-in-arms nodded soberly, in complete shared understanding. Then he turned to look at his 2IC.
"Speaking of helping, Carter, how did you do with the power doohickies? Is Markus ever gonna let us open the gate?"
She seemed distracted, and took a moment to answer. "The system is in better shape than I expected, but Markus was right to be cautious. Parts of it are practically cobbled together with hair pins and chewing gum." She paused, and when she didn't continue immediately, Jack raised his eyebrows and motioned with his hand to keep her going. She added, "The power supply is the bigger problem. The generators operate on fuel oil. Nobody would tell me how much they have left, but there can't be much. One naquadah reactor would solve their energy problems, plus power the gate."
"Oo-kay," he said slowly, trying to think it through. She had a good idea. If they could open the gate without using the mountain's resources at all, Markus would have no argument for not allowing it. Plus they'd be giving a very valuable parting gift, and Jack was sure Markus would appreciate it. But he saw a gaping flaw in her plan. "Can you build one with their stuff?" Jack asked, somewhat doubtful that late-eighties technology was adequate to the challenge.
She nodded. "I think so. It'd be easier with modern components, of course, but they've got supplies. The problem is, I need a source."
"Major Carter, is the naquadah in my staff not sufficient?" Teal'c asked.
She shook her head. "I'd need at least ten more. Ideally I'd use five grams of high-state refined naquadah, instead of what's in the staff. It's like gasoline and jet fuel -- same stuff, but different grade," she explained, and Jack was glad he wasn't the only one who needed the Naquadah-for-Dummies version, going by Daniel's sudden expression of enlightenment.
But this all brought up another flaw, which she had apparently already been considering, given her glum face. She knew as well as Jack did that naquadah was not found on Earth. But he asked anyway, "Where are we going to get it if we can't leave the planet?"
She shrugged, not having the answer. But Daniel did. Which really didn't surprise Jack at all.
Daniel offered slowly. "There are probably at least three Goa'uld still on Earth in this reality. Hathor is still hopefully buried in Latin America, and Osiris is in Egypt. But Seth is alive somewhere, probably head of some cult. Given the similarities to our own reality, it's quite possible he's even here in the U.S. What do you want to bet he's got some naquadah?"
Jack finished his soup and wiped his mouth with the square of worn cloth he'd been given for a napkin. There were a lot of "ifs" and "maybes" with this plan, but at least it was a plan. He would like to be home eventually, and without naquadah, that didn't sound like it was going to happen any time soon. "Then we're going to have to ask about Seth, and hope we can find him."
"It might not be as hard as we think," Daniel said. "With what I've heard about the country outside, there are plenty of cults out there. The problem might be picking the right one."
Jack sighed. "I was hoping to avoid the whole nasty snake issue. Markus has enough on his plate, without adding the threat of planetary invasion by evil aliens."
"Assuming this Valhalla place isn't being run by one," Daniel joked, but it fell flat, since they all realized that it could very well be true.
"We've got to tell him, I guess," Jack glanced at the half of a sandwich Carter had left. "You gonna eat that?"
She pushed her plate over to him. "Sir, there's something else. I noticed it today while I was working. You know how in our SGC we have surveillance equipment monitoring the corridors?"
"Yeah?" Jack prompted, warily. Where was she going with this?
"Well, I would think with the power shortage, they would have cut the cameras off long ago. But I saw one move today."
"They don't trust us," Daniel answered.
"That's true, and I don't blame them," Carter admitted. "But that isn't the point. If the cameras had been taken off line, say ten years ago, they shouldn't be working now but they are. Who's controlling them? I can't believe Markus has anything to do with it."
Jack agreed with that. Not just because Markus seemed like a stand-up guy, but because there wouldn't be much need. Thunder Mountain was an enclosed society, and there couldn't be that many secrets. But those cameras could be tapped into by an outside agency, or recordings made within and then shipped outside. "He's got a spy in his midst," Jack concluded. "A spy from Valhalla, I'm betting. This gets better and better. He's gonna love us."
"We need to tell Markus of what we've discovered. I'd personally hate to lose whatever trust we've managed to gain," Daniel argued.
"I agree," Teal'c added. "I too believe Markus is innocent of spying on his people."
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