A Dream Given Form

Chapter Five

"A techno-mage?" said Sinclair, incredulously.

Ivanova had returned to Sinclair's office. She felt it best to deliver this particular piece of bad news in person.

"Not a real one," she said. "Just some kid who bought himself the robes and the books and a whole lot of bad luck."

"How long is the clear-up going to take?"

Ivanova shifted uneasily. "That's what I came to tell you. There's very little real damage to the room itself – that's easily fixed."

"But...?" prompted Sinclair.

"But," said Ivanova, "he left us a little present. I've got the people from SG-1 taking a look at it now. Can you believe that guy Daniel even suggested that this might be the reason they're here?"

Sinclair leaned back in his chair, thoughtfully. "Well," he said, "they did walk here through the Jumpgate from an alternate Earth, years in the past, on a mission they received from Ambassador Kosh in a dream, so I imagine anything's possible at this juncture."

"Point taken."

"So what's this problem SG-1 is looking into for us?"

"I'm not sure," said Ivanova, "but it looks bad. As far as we could tell from looking at the kid's notes, it's some kind of portal or rift in space – and it's getting bigger."

"Bigger? What sort of time scale are we talking about here?"

"Difficult to say, but from the rate of expansion, it'll breach the room in less than a day."

"Haven't we got any of our own people on it?"

"To be honest," said Ivanova, "I didn't see the point. Colonel Carter is an astrophysicist and Daniel Jackson is an expert on deciphering ancient languages like the ones in our wannabe techno-mage's books. We don't have anyone better on the station."

Sinclair stood up. "I'm not happy about leaving the safety of this station in the hands of strangers like this. Are you absolutely sure SG-1 can handle this?"

"They'd better," said Ivanova. "They've not got much time left before they're unable to return home."

"Okay then. We're just going to have to see what they can do."

----

"There's nothing we can do," said Jack.

Daniel looked up from the tome he was studying and scowled. "Jack, this is why we're here. We have to be able to do something."

"Daniel's right," said Sam. "I mean, we show up right when this happens, with the skills required to fix it – Daniel can translate the texts, then I can work out the –"

"Space stuff," interrupted Jack, "yeah, I know. But come on, we've only got about fourteen hours before General Hammond expects us back."

"Which is almost how long it'll take for that thing to start doing damage," said Sam. "It can't be coincidence, sir."

"It's all coincidence!" cried Jack. "Okay, okay – you and Daniel have got the skills, there's no doubt about that, but then explain this: what are Teal'c and I here for?"

"Perhaps there's a magic word that needs to be said in a really sarcastic tone of voice?" muttered Daniel into his book.

Jack waved a finger at Daniel, momentarily lost for words. "That's..." he started. "That's no way to talk about Teal'c."

"Perhaps," said Teal'c, feeling himself being dragged into the argument and looking for a quick escape, "we are here for a different reason, O'Neill. One that may be found elsewhere on the station?"