December 23

23.

"This should be a peaceful neighborhood - more or less," Jacob said, taking them out of hyperspace.

"Good. Change the settings on the cube and activate it - I am more than ready to say goodbye to this timeline!" O'Neill said.

"I think we can all agree to that, sir," Sam said, activating the device.

The by now far too familiar flash was seen.

"Okay, Jacob, can you tell if things are more like normal? I mean, can you scan the space and planets nearby or whatever?" O'Neill asked. "Listen on all hailing frequencies, or - you know."

"Listen on all hailing frequencies? I'm not Uhura and this isn't the Enterprise!" Jacob exclaimed. "I can't do that! What I can do is set the communication to scan through the entire subspace frequency band, but that doesn't necessarily tell us anything."

"Well, do that, then - and afterwards let us set a course towards Earth," O'Neill ordered.


"Did you find anything?" O'Neill asked when Jacob had finished his scans.

"I found little to indicate whether or not the timeline has been repaired. That may not mean anything, I know. Though, I did intercept a few subspace messages from Ba'al to Bastet, and they seemed more friendly than I would have expected. If they are allies, then this timeline is not as it should be," Jacob said.

"All right. We'll see when we get back to Earth," O'Neill decided. "We've agreed that if everything looks normally back there, then the rest is probably also okay, right?"

"Probably, at least as far as everything in the Milky Way goes," Sam said. "We've been interfering so much with things in the Galaxy that it's unlikely Earth would be unaffected if the rest is changed."

"I'll set a course for Earth," Jacob said.


"Well, at least the planet looked normal at first glance, when we arrived," O'Neill said, after they had landed in the forested, mountainous area west of Cheyenne Mountain. "Lights, cities, communication - all detectable from space."

Jacob nodded. "Yes, and the Stargate is located at Stargate Command, I can sense it."

"Better and better!" O'Neill smiled. "Now we just have to hope everything else is the same too!"

"It's unfortunate we don't have our BDUs - or any kind of regular Earth clothes," Sam said, looking down herself. "We're going to look odd wearing this."

"Well, it is actually clothing from Earth," Daniel pointed out.

"We'd have stood out even more in the Goa'uld clothes," O'Neill said. "If everything is as it should be, we'll be able to get what we need at Stargate Command. Which is just under 20 klicks away, so I suggest we start walking."


"They've got normal looking cars. That's something," Daniel remarked.

They had reached 'Old Stage Road' which was located only a few miles west of Cheyenne Mountain, and they were hiding in the bushes on the side. It was early evening, and it had been a fine day in late May and it was still quite warm.

"Yeah, it can still be zombies when we get there," Jacob said, ruefully.

"Don't be so pessimistic!" O'Neill said. "We've survived until now."

"Do we just walk up to the entrance and say hi?" Daniel wondered. "Or do we assume the worst and call someone we know, or maybe visit them at home first?"

O'Neill weighed the options. "I was going to suggest we just go to Stargate Command, but on second thought, let's take a look at the city first - when we've stolen some more normal clothes. Come on - I know where there is a clothes store not too far away."

"You want to break in?" Daniel asked.

"Yes. Do you have a better suggestion? It'll be fairly late evening when we get there, and I've never noticed any sort of surveillance around the store, so I don't think it'll be that hard. The Air Force can pay them back if this turns out to be the right timeline."


"Okay, who do we visit?" Sam asked, when they had changed to less conspicuous clothing. "Janet?"

Daniel nodded. "That's a good idea. Jack?"

"Sure, I agree. Let's visit Doc Fraiser. We should maybe wait until tomorrow, though. It's nearly midnight."

Sam shook her head. "She doesn't usually go to bed early."

"Let's go, then," O'Neill said, counting the money they had gotten by emptying a small safe they had found in a back room of the clothes store. "Wait... why do these have pictures of Queen Elizabeth the Second on them?"

"They kept British pounds in their safe?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Weird. Maybe the owner is a collector or something." O'Neill shrugged. "I guess we can change them in a bank."


"Who are you? Why do you knock on the door so late?" the man demanded, staring angrily at them from the door opening.

"Uh, doesn't Doctor Janet Fraiser live here?" Daniel asked.

"Fraiser? No idea, never heard of her!" He slammed the door shut.

"Okay, something is clearly different!" O'Neill said, looking at the closed door. "Let's try Harriman instead."

"We already know this isn't the right timeline. Why spend more time here?" Daniel asked.

"Daniel Jackson is correct. We should return to the teltac," Teal'c said.

O'Neill sighed. "You're right. Let's get something to eat first, then we go back. I know a place where the bartender collects coins. Maybe he'll agree to take the money we got off our hands, even if they're new."


"I kind of think there are other differences in this timeline. This bar wasn't a British type pub last i visited," O'Neill said, looking around the place.

Jacob nodded. "Yeah, and it's not like those themed bars either." He shrugged. "They've got good beer, so who cares."

"The bartender did take the money without question," Daniel pointed out. "That's good at least."

"And strange," Sam added. "You know what I'm thinking?"

"You're thinking the US never broke away from the British empire." O'Neill shook his head. "I think I agree."

"Well, anyone up for a game of dart while we're here?" Jacob asked. "Teal'c? Martouf?"


"I have been considering something," Martouf said, as they walked back to their cargo vessel. "You found this timeline-changing device in a Furling laboratory, correct?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, we did."

"Would it not seem likely that they had some manner of determining how far one timeline is from another, and how to change the settings to achieve the one you want?"

"Well, I guess they may have something, but we didn't find anything but this cube. Besides, even if they do have that it wouldn't help us. We do not have a reading for the original timeline," Sam reminded them.

"No, but it does exist - or part of it does at any rate. In your memories and experiences," Martouf pointed out.

"That makes a kind of sense. Would that work, Carter?" O'Neill asked.

"Maybe, but that's so far from anything we have the technology to make that it's completely irrelevant. Unless the Furlings already made such a device," Sam conceded. "Which I guess is possible, but we just have no way of knowing."

"Then I think we should find out. How old was that Furling lab?" O'Neill asked.

"Probably tens of thousands of years old. I see what you mean. Nothing we have done will have changed it in any way. It's also probable that the Goa'uld who owns the Jaffa that interrupted us, Olokun, would not have sent his Jaffa there if this timeline is different. I agree, we should see if we can find anything else in the lab," Sam agreed.