Fic: The Pacific Rim, Chapter 13
Jed talked to reporters for a few minutes before boarding Air Force One. He’d intended to start back to work immediately, but then Abbey suggested (repeatedly) that he take a nap. It had been a late night, after all, what with the conspiracy to keep Danny from winning another Pulitzer.
So he slept for a few hours before heading into his office, where C. J. was waiting for him. “What do I have today?” he asked.
“The team from Stargate Command,” she replied. “You’ve wanted to talk to them since you heard they were back on Earth.”
Jed put on his glasses and lifted a page from his desk. “I’m sensing mockery.”
“No, sir,” C. J. said. “But you probably ought to meet with them and talk about something other than opera.”
“Bring ‘em in,” he replied. C. J. moved to a door and opened it, and seven people walked into the room. “And what’s wrong with opera anyway?” he asked.
“Just not my cup of tea, Mr. President,” C. J. replied as she exited.
“What about you, Major Sheppard?” Jed asked. “Doctor McKay? General Alexander?” He paused, walking around his desk. “I’ve never really understood people who say opera isn’t their thing. So it’s in another language. Most of the world speaks another language. Doctor Weir speaks five, but they’re only words, right?”
“Yes, sir,” Elizabeth replied.
“Only words,” he repeated. “Just things on paper. Just the foundation of human society. Or are they?” He turned to the dark-skinned woman, Teyla, looking strangely out of place in her Western clothes. “Do we reach for words alone?”
“No,” she replied, tipping her head to one side. “We reach for ideas. For dignity and honor. For family, in whatever form it comes.”
“That’s right,” Jed answered, nodding. “Put it another way, Doctor McKay.”
“We reach for music,” the scientist said. “The more perfect truth.”
“What makes the angels weep.” He looked back at Elizabeth, who was smiling a little. “It’d be one thing to hear Calaf say he’ll win Turandot’s love, but when you hear Domingo sing ‘Vincerò! Vincerò!’. . . The spirit of humanity is captured in thoughts too beautiful and complex for our lowly words, so we had to borrow a higher form of truth-telling. And that spirit is dignity and honor, family and love. Grasping at a point of light so dim we hardly believe it is there, and, when reaching it at last, searching the skies for the next challenge to conquer.”
He placed his hands on the desk behind him and leaned back. “You have gone farther than any group of people from this fair planet and made friends amid distant stars,” he said, with a glance at Teyla. “You’ve learned so much, and you’ve only begun to scrape the surface.” His eyes rested on Elizabeth, standing tall and smiling proudly next to John. “You’ve made mistakes. We all have, and we’ll continue to, but you must remember that you have good people with you, and supporting you here on Earth.”
At his last words he looked over the rest of the group, seeing silent affirmation of his words. “There’s a poem,” he began, “about flying. Anyone know it?”
“‘Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth,’” Colonel Carter began quoting, “‘and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds,-and done a hundred things you have not dreamed of, wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.’”
“That’s the one,” Jed replied. “Anyone know the rest?”
“‘Hov’ring there,’” General Hammond continued, from the back of the room, “‘I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung my eager craft through footless falls of air. . . Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace where never lark, nor e’er eagle flew-”
The general stopped suddenly, and Jed glanced at John. The major didn’t hesitate. “‘And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod the high, untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand and touched the face of God.’”
Jed put his hands in his pockets and glanced at Elizabeth. “Maybe words aren’t such imperfect vessels after all,” he said.
“Perhaps not, Mr. President,” she replied.
“We’re no longer under the threat of Anubis,” he said, walking around his desk again to retrieve a cloth bag. He set it on the desk and beckoned the four from the expedition closer. “Generals Hammond and Alexander, along with Colonel Carter, have informed me that the threat to Earth - to the whole galaxy, in fact - is so diminished that the reason we sent you to the Pegasus galaxy no longer exists.”
“Sir,” Elizabeth said, beating Teyla to it, “we have an obligation to the people of the Pegasus galaxy, now that we’ve awakened the Wraith. And I believe. . .”
“Yes?” Jed prompted.
“I believe we still have something to accomplish there for our own people,” she finished. “I don’t believe our charter was limited to just defending Earth.”
He smiled. “Neither do I.”
He reached into the bag then, but paused. “My wife always tells me to give people things,” he said. “Apparently it’s some form of apology or gratitude or something, and I suppose this could be an apology for sending you off to the feeding ground of the Wraith. Or maybe for making you come along on this trip and causing you all kinds of inconvenience.”
He pulled two books from the bag. “I found these in a bookstore the other day,” he said. “They’re collections of photographs of Sydney, some of the most famous pictures in the world. Teyla, I’m sure your people are going to ask you to tell them of your visit to this world. I thought you might like to show them some of the places you saw.”
Jed held the books out to the young woman, who looked quite startled by the offering. “Thank you,” she said, as she stepped forward gracefully and took the books from him. “My people will be anxious to hear of Earth. I am sure these will be very useful.”
He smiled a little and nodded to her. “Rodney, John,” he continued. The two men looked away from Teyla. “Elizabeth tells me you’re quite the chess masters, and that a man named Zelenka was the only one who decided to take a chess set to the Pegasus galaxy.” Jed pulled two boxes from the bag and handed them to the men. “Chess sets,” he said. “And I expect a game with each of you before we land.”
John was grinning. “Yes, sir, Mr. President.”
McKay was still staring down at the box. “Sir,” he said, “I’d like to take this opportunity to say I would have voted for you if, you know, I’d been an American citizen.”
Jed laughed and nodded. “Yes, Doctor,” he replied, “I’m sure you would have.” He pulled the last and smallest item from the bag. “Elizabeth,” he said, “this is for you.”
She recognized it as a jewelry box immediately, and she had a puzzled look on her face as she opened it. Then she gasped. “Sir. . .”
John looked over at it. “Wow,” he said.
Elizabeth lifted a necklace from the box, a simple, silver cross with a blue stone set in the center. “That stone is an opal,” Jed explained. “Apparently Australia is the only place in the world where opals are naturally found in colors other than green. I didn’t know that. Anyway, the fire in that stone is remarkable.”
“It’s beautiful, sir. Thank you,” Elizabeth replied softly. “I don’t know what else to say.”
“Just don’t forget who you are, Elizabeth,” he said. “Or where you came from.”
She put the necklace back in the box and closed it. “Yes, sir.”
“Well, I’ve got one more order of business before I kick you all out of my office,” he said. “General Hammond, are you ready?”
“Yes, sir,” the older man said, coming around the group.
Jed picked up a piece of paper from the desk. “You’ll have to bear with me. This is the first time I’ve done this,” he said. He adjusted his glasses and proceeded. “The President of the United States, acting upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Air Force, has placed special trust and confidence in the patriotism, integrity, and abilities of Major John Sheppard.”
He hazarded a glance up and saw the shocked look on the major’s face, as well as the widening smile on Elizabeth’s. “In view of these special qualities,” he continued, “and his demonstrated potential to serve in the higher grade, Major John Sheppard is promoted to the permanent grade of Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force, effective on this day, by order of the Secretary of the Air Force.”
Then the President came around the desk again, where he and Elizabeth stood on either side of John, still looking somewhat dumbstruck. There they removed the gold insignia on his shoulders and replaced them with the silver oak leaf clusters of his new rank. “Son,” Hammond said, “if you’ll raise your right hand and repeat after me. ‘I, John Sheppard’.”
John did so, his voice reflecting heightened nerves. “I, John Sheppard-”
“‘Having been appointed a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force’.”
“Having been appointed a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force-”
“‘Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend’.”
“Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend-”
“‘The Constitution of the United States’.”
“The Constitution of the United States-”
“‘Against all enemies, foreign and domestic’.”
“Against all enemies, foreign and domestic-”
Jed looked around the group as the two men recited the oath. In the back, General Alexander looked on with respectful attention, and Colonel Carter seemed impressed. Teyla was engrossed by the sight, while Rodney seemed quite pleased that his colleague was being promoted. Next to John, Elizabeth was smiling proudly.
“‘That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same’,” Hammond continued.
“That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same-”
“‘That I take this obligation freely’.”
“That I take this obligation freely-”
“‘Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion’.”
“Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion-”
“‘And that I will well and faithfully discharge’.”
“And that I will well and faithfully discharge-”
“‘The duties of the office upon which I am about to enter’.”
“The duties of the office upon which I am about to enter-”
“‘So help me God’.”
John took a deep breath. “So help me God.”
Hammond nodded, and John saluted him sharply. The general returned the salute, and then shook John’s hand. “Congratulations, Lieutenant Colonel,” he said, smiling.
Jed then stepped in to shake his hand next. “Congratulations, Colonel,” he repeated.
The new colonel still seemed a little shell-shocked as the congratulations continued, including an odd kind of salute from Teyla which involved touching foreheads. Jed shot a confused look in Elizabeth’s direction. She merely shook her head and suppressed a laugh. Then John was back at her side, and she kissed his cheek. “Congratulations, John,” she said.
“You were in on this,” he replied.
“A little.”
“All right,” Jed said, “party’s over.”
The group started filing out, but then Jed thought better of it and said, “Colonel Sheppard, Doctor Weir.”
The two turned around, though John less quickly than Elizabeth. Adjusting to the new rank was going to take a while. “Sir?” Elizabeth prompted once the others had closed the door behind them.
“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to chairs on the other side of the room. They did so, and he sat across from them. “Elizabeth,” he continued, “are you scared?”
“I used to be,” she said. “Every day. I was always worried that something I said or did was going to lead to someone dying.”
“What changed your mind?”
“It sounds terrible, but I realized that that was going to happen whether I was in charge or not,” she replied, with a glance at John. “I had to do what was best for everyone, because I couldn’t save them all.”
Jed nodded. “Would it surprise you to know that there were many people inside and outside the White House who wanted your name on the short list of potential nominees for the Vice Presidency after Hoynes resigned?” he asked.
Elizabeth suddenly sat up straighter. “I’m very surprised to hear that, sir,” she said.
“You didn’t make the short list because you weren’t ready for that kind of leadership,” he explained. “But I’ve always known you have it in you.”
“So you selected me for the SGC and the Atlantis expedition. . .”
“To get you ready,” he finished. “I threw you in the deep end, but that’s what you needed. This is going to be your office someday, Elizabeth. I’m going to have the great pleasure of voting for you, and you’re going to be President of the United States. And you’ll do great things, just like you’re doing now.”
She was a long time in responding. “I’m flattered, sir.”
Jed stood, and they followed. He shook her hand. “It’s been good to see you again,” he said. “And sorry about the near-death experience with the press.”
Elizabeth laughed. “What came of that?”
“Danny talked to C. J. again,” Jed replied. “He’s dropping it for now, but I think we can all rest assured that when this story breaks, it’ll be in his hands.”
“I don’t know about you, Elizabeth,” John said, “but I think I’ll be glad to be going back someplace normal.”
“You call a city with semi-sentient technology in a galaxy with life-sucking aliens normal?” Jed asked.
“Compared to operas and state dinners and bloodthirsty reporters, yes, sir.”
Jed laughed. “Go get some sleep,” he said. “I’ll see you in a few hours for that chess game.”
They headed to the door, and as John was closing it behind them, Jed called, “Colonel?”
He opened it up again and stood in the threshold. “Yes, sir, Mr. President?”
“I know I don’t need to give you this order, but keep her safe out there,” he said. “I need you to make sure she can come back someday and serve her country as well as she’s served her world.”
John nodded. “Yes, sir.”
He shut the door quietly, but then there came a knock from the room’s other door. “Yeah,” he said.
The door opened. “Sir,” C. J. said, “Donna’s here to see you.”
“Come on in,” he said. The two women entered, and he waved them over to the seats where John and Elizabeth had just been. As they sat, he asked, “How are you today, Donna?”
“A little confused, sir,” she replied. “C. J. just made me sign something that has to be the longest non-disclosure form ever.”
“Probably is.” He leaned forward. “Donna, how much did you figure out?”
“About what, sir?” Donna asked, pushing stray hair behind her ear.
“About Doctor Weir and our other guests.”
The woman flushed and opened her mouth several times without saying anything. “Donna?” C. J. prompted.
“This is going to sound really silly, but I’m just going to. . . throw it out there,” she said. “Is it possible that they’ve been - that they’ve been on another planet?”
She winced as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Jed resisted the urge to laugh. “How’d you come to that conclusion?” he asked.
“Well, that Teyla woman was just strange, but I’ve met plenty of strange people, so that wasn’t really an issue, even though it was weird that they’d put a nomad on an Air Force research team,” Donna replied, talking rather quickly. “But Doctor Weir. . . She didn’t realize her credit card had expired four months ago. I’ve never heard of anyone not noticing that. And if she were on a diplomatic mission, well, we usually reimburse people for that kind of thing, so of course she’d be using her credit card.”
“Yeah, but,” C. J. said, “how’d you figure outer space?”
“Something weird came across Josh’s desk a while ago,” Donna continued. “Something about a reporter doing a story on how we had a spaceship and we were covering it up. The story got killed, but I remembered there was a name attached to it. Prometheus.”
“The name Danny got,” Jed supplied.
“Yes, sir,” Donna said. “And there was something else Doctor Weir said. When C. J. had me keeping them away from the press, she said she hadn’t been near a photographer in a year. There’s no way you can get away from photographers anywhere on the planet, especially if you’re someone as high-profile as her, so I started wondering if there was any way she wasn’t actually on the planet.”
Jed chuckled. “And here I thought if anyone ever figured it out, it’d be Toby.”
Donna’s mouth fell open. “This is some sort of joke, right?”
“I had the same reaction, Donna,” C. J. said gently.
“I’m impressed,” Jed added. “And since you already had to sign the non-disclosure form, I might as well tell you the rest.”
“There’s more?”
“Quite a bit more. Might as well send out for coffee.” He looked up at C. J., who nodded and headed out of the office. “Donna,” he continued, “in the course of an archaeological dig in Giza in 1928, a device known as the Stargate was found. The Stargate allows for instant transmission of matter from one gate to another. Interstellar travel. For the last eight years, a top-secret military team has been operating out of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, traveling to other planets.”
Donna blinked. “Seriously?”
Sitting back in his chair, the President laughed. “Don’t worry,” he said. “It gets a lot more unbelievable from here.”
Chapter Twelve
So he slept for a few hours before heading into his office, where C. J. was waiting for him. “What do I have today?” he asked.
“The team from Stargate Command,” she replied. “You’ve wanted to talk to them since you heard they were back on Earth.”
Jed put on his glasses and lifted a page from his desk. “I’m sensing mockery.”
“No, sir,” C. J. said. “But you probably ought to meet with them and talk about something other than opera.”
“Bring ‘em in,” he replied. C. J. moved to a door and opened it, and seven people walked into the room. “And what’s wrong with opera anyway?” he asked.
“Just not my cup of tea, Mr. President,” C. J. replied as she exited.
“What about you, Major Sheppard?” Jed asked. “Doctor McKay? General Alexander?” He paused, walking around his desk. “I’ve never really understood people who say opera isn’t their thing. So it’s in another language. Most of the world speaks another language. Doctor Weir speaks five, but they’re only words, right?”
“Yes, sir,” Elizabeth replied.
“Only words,” he repeated. “Just things on paper. Just the foundation of human society. Or are they?” He turned to the dark-skinned woman, Teyla, looking strangely out of place in her Western clothes. “Do we reach for words alone?”
“No,” she replied, tipping her head to one side. “We reach for ideas. For dignity and honor. For family, in whatever form it comes.”
“That’s right,” Jed answered, nodding. “Put it another way, Doctor McKay.”
“We reach for music,” the scientist said. “The more perfect truth.”
“What makes the angels weep.” He looked back at Elizabeth, who was smiling a little. “It’d be one thing to hear Calaf say he’ll win Turandot’s love, but when you hear Domingo sing ‘Vincerò! Vincerò!’. . . The spirit of humanity is captured in thoughts too beautiful and complex for our lowly words, so we had to borrow a higher form of truth-telling. And that spirit is dignity and honor, family and love. Grasping at a point of light so dim we hardly believe it is there, and, when reaching it at last, searching the skies for the next challenge to conquer.”
He placed his hands on the desk behind him and leaned back. “You have gone farther than any group of people from this fair planet and made friends amid distant stars,” he said, with a glance at Teyla. “You’ve learned so much, and you’ve only begun to scrape the surface.” His eyes rested on Elizabeth, standing tall and smiling proudly next to John. “You’ve made mistakes. We all have, and we’ll continue to, but you must remember that you have good people with you, and supporting you here on Earth.”
At his last words he looked over the rest of the group, seeing silent affirmation of his words. “There’s a poem,” he began, “about flying. Anyone know it?”
“‘Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth,’” Colonel Carter began quoting, “‘and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds,-and done a hundred things you have not dreamed of, wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.’”
“That’s the one,” Jed replied. “Anyone know the rest?”
“‘Hov’ring there,’” General Hammond continued, from the back of the room, “‘I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung my eager craft through footless falls of air. . . Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace where never lark, nor e’er eagle flew-”
The general stopped suddenly, and Jed glanced at John. The major didn’t hesitate. “‘And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod the high, untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand and touched the face of God.’”
Jed put his hands in his pockets and glanced at Elizabeth. “Maybe words aren’t such imperfect vessels after all,” he said.
“Perhaps not, Mr. President,” she replied.
“We’re no longer under the threat of Anubis,” he said, walking around his desk again to retrieve a cloth bag. He set it on the desk and beckoned the four from the expedition closer. “Generals Hammond and Alexander, along with Colonel Carter, have informed me that the threat to Earth - to the whole galaxy, in fact - is so diminished that the reason we sent you to the Pegasus galaxy no longer exists.”
“Sir,” Elizabeth said, beating Teyla to it, “we have an obligation to the people of the Pegasus galaxy, now that we’ve awakened the Wraith. And I believe. . .”
“Yes?” Jed prompted.
“I believe we still have something to accomplish there for our own people,” she finished. “I don’t believe our charter was limited to just defending Earth.”
He smiled. “Neither do I.”
He reached into the bag then, but paused. “My wife always tells me to give people things,” he said. “Apparently it’s some form of apology or gratitude or something, and I suppose this could be an apology for sending you off to the feeding ground of the Wraith. Or maybe for making you come along on this trip and causing you all kinds of inconvenience.”
He pulled two books from the bag. “I found these in a bookstore the other day,” he said. “They’re collections of photographs of Sydney, some of the most famous pictures in the world. Teyla, I’m sure your people are going to ask you to tell them of your visit to this world. I thought you might like to show them some of the places you saw.”
Jed held the books out to the young woman, who looked quite startled by the offering. “Thank you,” she said, as she stepped forward gracefully and took the books from him. “My people will be anxious to hear of Earth. I am sure these will be very useful.”
He smiled a little and nodded to her. “Rodney, John,” he continued. The two men looked away from Teyla. “Elizabeth tells me you’re quite the chess masters, and that a man named Zelenka was the only one who decided to take a chess set to the Pegasus galaxy.” Jed pulled two boxes from the bag and handed them to the men. “Chess sets,” he said. “And I expect a game with each of you before we land.”
John was grinning. “Yes, sir, Mr. President.”
McKay was still staring down at the box. “Sir,” he said, “I’d like to take this opportunity to say I would have voted for you if, you know, I’d been an American citizen.”
Jed laughed and nodded. “Yes, Doctor,” he replied, “I’m sure you would have.” He pulled the last and smallest item from the bag. “Elizabeth,” he said, “this is for you.”
She recognized it as a jewelry box immediately, and she had a puzzled look on her face as she opened it. Then she gasped. “Sir. . .”
John looked over at it. “Wow,” he said.
Elizabeth lifted a necklace from the box, a simple, silver cross with a blue stone set in the center. “That stone is an opal,” Jed explained. “Apparently Australia is the only place in the world where opals are naturally found in colors other than green. I didn’t know that. Anyway, the fire in that stone is remarkable.”
“It’s beautiful, sir. Thank you,” Elizabeth replied softly. “I don’t know what else to say.”
“Just don’t forget who you are, Elizabeth,” he said. “Or where you came from.”
She put the necklace back in the box and closed it. “Yes, sir.”
“Well, I’ve got one more order of business before I kick you all out of my office,” he said. “General Hammond, are you ready?”
“Yes, sir,” the older man said, coming around the group.
Jed picked up a piece of paper from the desk. “You’ll have to bear with me. This is the first time I’ve done this,” he said. He adjusted his glasses and proceeded. “The President of the United States, acting upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Air Force, has placed special trust and confidence in the patriotism, integrity, and abilities of Major John Sheppard.”
He hazarded a glance up and saw the shocked look on the major’s face, as well as the widening smile on Elizabeth’s. “In view of these special qualities,” he continued, “and his demonstrated potential to serve in the higher grade, Major John Sheppard is promoted to the permanent grade of Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force, effective on this day, by order of the Secretary of the Air Force.”
Then the President came around the desk again, where he and Elizabeth stood on either side of John, still looking somewhat dumbstruck. There they removed the gold insignia on his shoulders and replaced them with the silver oak leaf clusters of his new rank. “Son,” Hammond said, “if you’ll raise your right hand and repeat after me. ‘I, John Sheppard’.”
John did so, his voice reflecting heightened nerves. “I, John Sheppard-”
“‘Having been appointed a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force’.”
“Having been appointed a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force-”
“‘Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend’.”
“Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend-”
“‘The Constitution of the United States’.”
“The Constitution of the United States-”
“‘Against all enemies, foreign and domestic’.”
“Against all enemies, foreign and domestic-”
Jed looked around the group as the two men recited the oath. In the back, General Alexander looked on with respectful attention, and Colonel Carter seemed impressed. Teyla was engrossed by the sight, while Rodney seemed quite pleased that his colleague was being promoted. Next to John, Elizabeth was smiling proudly.
“‘That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same’,” Hammond continued.
“That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same-”
“‘That I take this obligation freely’.”
“That I take this obligation freely-”
“‘Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion’.”
“Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion-”
“‘And that I will well and faithfully discharge’.”
“And that I will well and faithfully discharge-”
“‘The duties of the office upon which I am about to enter’.”
“The duties of the office upon which I am about to enter-”
“‘So help me God’.”
John took a deep breath. “So help me God.”
Hammond nodded, and John saluted him sharply. The general returned the salute, and then shook John’s hand. “Congratulations, Lieutenant Colonel,” he said, smiling.
Jed then stepped in to shake his hand next. “Congratulations, Colonel,” he repeated.
The new colonel still seemed a little shell-shocked as the congratulations continued, including an odd kind of salute from Teyla which involved touching foreheads. Jed shot a confused look in Elizabeth’s direction. She merely shook her head and suppressed a laugh. Then John was back at her side, and she kissed his cheek. “Congratulations, John,” she said.
“You were in on this,” he replied.
“A little.”
“All right,” Jed said, “party’s over.”
The group started filing out, but then Jed thought better of it and said, “Colonel Sheppard, Doctor Weir.”
The two turned around, though John less quickly than Elizabeth. Adjusting to the new rank was going to take a while. “Sir?” Elizabeth prompted once the others had closed the door behind them.
“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to chairs on the other side of the room. They did so, and he sat across from them. “Elizabeth,” he continued, “are you scared?”
“I used to be,” she said. “Every day. I was always worried that something I said or did was going to lead to someone dying.”
“What changed your mind?”
“It sounds terrible, but I realized that that was going to happen whether I was in charge or not,” she replied, with a glance at John. “I had to do what was best for everyone, because I couldn’t save them all.”
Jed nodded. “Would it surprise you to know that there were many people inside and outside the White House who wanted your name on the short list of potential nominees for the Vice Presidency after Hoynes resigned?” he asked.
Elizabeth suddenly sat up straighter. “I’m very surprised to hear that, sir,” she said.
“You didn’t make the short list because you weren’t ready for that kind of leadership,” he explained. “But I’ve always known you have it in you.”
“So you selected me for the SGC and the Atlantis expedition. . .”
“To get you ready,” he finished. “I threw you in the deep end, but that’s what you needed. This is going to be your office someday, Elizabeth. I’m going to have the great pleasure of voting for you, and you’re going to be President of the United States. And you’ll do great things, just like you’re doing now.”
She was a long time in responding. “I’m flattered, sir.”
Jed stood, and they followed. He shook her hand. “It’s been good to see you again,” he said. “And sorry about the near-death experience with the press.”
Elizabeth laughed. “What came of that?”
“Danny talked to C. J. again,” Jed replied. “He’s dropping it for now, but I think we can all rest assured that when this story breaks, it’ll be in his hands.”
“I don’t know about you, Elizabeth,” John said, “but I think I’ll be glad to be going back someplace normal.”
“You call a city with semi-sentient technology in a galaxy with life-sucking aliens normal?” Jed asked.
“Compared to operas and state dinners and bloodthirsty reporters, yes, sir.”
Jed laughed. “Go get some sleep,” he said. “I’ll see you in a few hours for that chess game.”
They headed to the door, and as John was closing it behind them, Jed called, “Colonel?”
He opened it up again and stood in the threshold. “Yes, sir, Mr. President?”
“I know I don’t need to give you this order, but keep her safe out there,” he said. “I need you to make sure she can come back someday and serve her country as well as she’s served her world.”
John nodded. “Yes, sir.”
He shut the door quietly, but then there came a knock from the room’s other door. “Yeah,” he said.
The door opened. “Sir,” C. J. said, “Donna’s here to see you.”
“Come on in,” he said. The two women entered, and he waved them over to the seats where John and Elizabeth had just been. As they sat, he asked, “How are you today, Donna?”
“A little confused, sir,” she replied. “C. J. just made me sign something that has to be the longest non-disclosure form ever.”
“Probably is.” He leaned forward. “Donna, how much did you figure out?”
“About what, sir?” Donna asked, pushing stray hair behind her ear.
“About Doctor Weir and our other guests.”
The woman flushed and opened her mouth several times without saying anything. “Donna?” C. J. prompted.
“This is going to sound really silly, but I’m just going to. . . throw it out there,” she said. “Is it possible that they’ve been - that they’ve been on another planet?”
She winced as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Jed resisted the urge to laugh. “How’d you come to that conclusion?” he asked.
“Well, that Teyla woman was just strange, but I’ve met plenty of strange people, so that wasn’t really an issue, even though it was weird that they’d put a nomad on an Air Force research team,” Donna replied, talking rather quickly. “But Doctor Weir. . . She didn’t realize her credit card had expired four months ago. I’ve never heard of anyone not noticing that. And if she were on a diplomatic mission, well, we usually reimburse people for that kind of thing, so of course she’d be using her credit card.”
“Yeah, but,” C. J. said, “how’d you figure outer space?”
“Something weird came across Josh’s desk a while ago,” Donna continued. “Something about a reporter doing a story on how we had a spaceship and we were covering it up. The story got killed, but I remembered there was a name attached to it. Prometheus.”
“The name Danny got,” Jed supplied.
“Yes, sir,” Donna said. “And there was something else Doctor Weir said. When C. J. had me keeping them away from the press, she said she hadn’t been near a photographer in a year. There’s no way you can get away from photographers anywhere on the planet, especially if you’re someone as high-profile as her, so I started wondering if there was any way she wasn’t actually on the planet.”
Jed chuckled. “And here I thought if anyone ever figured it out, it’d be Toby.”
Donna’s mouth fell open. “This is some sort of joke, right?”
“I had the same reaction, Donna,” C. J. said gently.
“I’m impressed,” Jed added. “And since you already had to sign the non-disclosure form, I might as well tell you the rest.”
“There’s more?”
“Quite a bit more. Might as well send out for coffee.” He looked up at C. J., who nodded and headed out of the office. “Donna,” he continued, “in the course of an archaeological dig in Giza in 1928, a device known as the Stargate was found. The Stargate allows for instant transmission of matter from one gate to another. Interstellar travel. For the last eight years, a top-secret military team has been operating out of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, traveling to other planets.”
Donna blinked. “Seriously?”
Sitting back in his chair, the President laughed. “Don’t worry,” he said. “It gets a lot more unbelievable from here.”
Chapter Twelve