Jack O’Neill—with two l’s, don’t forget—continued along the corridors in his search for the illusive pigtailed teen. The boy hadn’t reacted to well when he heard the Tendo girl’s tale.
Well, as well as one could react, given what had happened. Therefore, Jack felt he could forget deducting some cool-points for dashing away from the infirmary.
“It is possible,” offered Carter. “I mean, nothing states that the flow of time is constant across universes. And the area hasn’t really been thoroughly studied to make an informed conclusion.”
“But it is constant for us across the Stargates, right?” asked Daniel.
“Sure,” replied Carter.
“Indeed,” offered Teal’c. “If not, the Goa’uld would be unable to maintain their empires.”
“So, what? A month here is a minute there?” asked Daniel, trying to wrap his head around the subject.
“If she’s telling the whole truth, most likely,” replied Carter. “in which case—”
“Like Ranma said,” sighed Daniel, rubbing his forehead, “he’s stuck here.”
“Are we sure he went this way?” asked Teal’c, as they continued down the corridors.
“I think I know where a troubled teen will head,” smirked Jack.
“Jack, that isn’t the same for Ranma,” replied Daniel. “I mean, you can count his favorite hangouts on base, on one hand.”
“This is true,” offered Teal’c. “He trains, he studies with Daniel Jackson or Captain Carter, or…” he paused, one eyebrow raised as he recognized the direction they were headed. “I see.”
“See, you just have to get into the kid’s mind,” smirked Jack.
Six empty trays beside him—a Saotome had to eat, no matter what—he laid his head on the table. After all, his world had changed drastically in the last hour.
What a surprise, it was all Nabiki’s fault.
A month a minute; that was what he was looking at. By the time they finished their meal, he’d be old enough to drink in this country. It was very likely by the time they got a plan together, he’d be old and gray. Moreover, by the time they showed up, he’d be a wise, old man on a mountain somewhere while Nabiki was trying to claw her dead corpse out of a casket to get the yen coin he’d tape on the top of it.
Hope was gone for rescue. Everything Nabiki had spoken about during their short conversation stated he was stuck. Maybe he’d find that box on this side—or create it.
Well, that meant he didn’t have to stay near the Stargate anymore … sorta. I mean, I got nowhere else to go. And aside from the Nox, we haven’t met any of the other Four Races that might be able to help me.
Now I have Nabiki here. NABIKI! Man, which Kami did my Old Man piss off … or trick me into pissing off?
Damn it, that show was right. The Gods are petty and cruel. You’d think they’d figure out the fat panda was at fault and leave me be.
“Man, this sucks,” he muttered, head down on the table.
“Well, I admit, things aren’t looking up.”
Slowly raising his head, he spotted his adoptive family, SG-1, standing around his table.
“Only six?” asked Jack, motioning to the trays and stacked empty dishes. Only Ranma could enjoy cafeteria food that much.
“I wasn’t feeling too hungry,” Ranma offered, before his head hit the table again.
“Come on, kid; it ain’t that bad here,” Jack spoke, trying to cheer up the teen. “We have cake.”
“It isn’t totally impossible,” interrupted Carter. “I mean, if time is really as fluid as it seems, and with what she said, it is always possible you could actually arrive before you left.”
“… Really?” asked Ranma, an eye appearing from above his arms.
“… Sure,” she said.
“How possible?”
“Well … I can’t say that. We simply don’t have enough information on—” she stopped, seeing the eye close.
“Way to go, Carter,” sighed Jack.
“Sorry, sir, still new to this.”
“Because the battle appears lost, does not mean you should give up the fight, Ranma Saotome,” offered Teal’c. “There may be other ways for you to return home.”
That seemed to do it, as Ranma’s head slowly rose up. “I ain’t that depressed about what she said.”
“Oh?” asked Daniel.
“It’s the fact Nabs is here,” he said with a small smile, trying to play off his depression.
“Not the friendliest person I take it?” asked Sam.
“No, Carter; no she is not,” stated Jack. “Reminds me a bit of those cheesy conmen you see in old TV shows.”
“I wouldn’t know, sir, I didn’t watch much TV growing up.”
“… Daniel?”
The man just shrugged. TV hadn’t been too important to him when he was younger.
Pausing at Teal’c long enough to receive the ‘Eyebrow’, he turned towards Ranma.
“Hey, I only got to really watch it at the Tendo’s, and that was mostly fighting anime.”
Jack shook his head dejectedly. So sad…
The chitchat however, was soon interrupted by the alarms going off.
“Unscheduled offworld activation.”
“Never thought I’d be happy to hear that,” Ranma muttered, glad to end the awkward conversation, as the five rushed towards the Gateroom.
“Receiving an IDC,” stated Harriman. “It’s the Nox.”
General Hammond nodded. “Open the Iris.”
The titanium shutter in front of the Stargate slid away, revealing the event horizon.
“Welcome to Earth,” Hammond said, as the female Nox stepped off the ramp.
She bowed her head slightly. “Thank you. I am Lemu. I have come to see if the one known as Ranma is ready for another lesson.”
Hammond nodded. The higher-ups were still worried about letting the teen study under the Nox, but the majority still saw it as a way to acquire information and perhaps technology from the only one of the Four Great Races they had met yet. He didn’t like the teen being used like that, but it did offer a way to help protect the world, so for the moment, he would stay silent until things changed.
Besides, for many, what Saotome had done at Area 51 was still fresh on their minds. Bringing pressure on him wasn’t a first choice now, not unless they wanted a repeat of the Incident Classified Beyond Classified.
“Lemu!”
He turned, spotting said boy entering the room, quickly walking over to the Nox female and hugging her. “How are things?”
“Things are well,” she said with a smile. “Are you ready?” she asked.
Ranma opened his mouth to reply, before snapping it shut. “Um … have you talked to Opher?” he asked, remembering the Nox who had been at Heliopolis, making sure his work was good enough to sure up the Meeting Place and helping the scientific teams understand some of the symbols. As far as Ranma knew, he was also the only Nox to know of Nabiki’s arrival.
“He had not returned by the time I was to meet you,” she replied.
“Oh,” he said. “Well … um … you see…”
Chuckling lightly, Jack decided to step in and save the boy from further embarrassment. “What he is trying to say is that another from his world showed up here about a month ago, she just woke up.”
“Ah,” nodded the Nox woman. “Then would it be acceptable if she accompanied us? More information could and would assist us in solving this issue.”
Ranma’s eye just twitched. Nabiki? With the Nox? Well, if they could stand her for a day, they really were saints … or she’d own the planet. And they were such nice people too…
“If she’ll allow it,” offered General Hammond. “Until then, Mr. Saotome can get prepared and we can take you to meet her, if that is okay.”
“It is fine,” replied Lemu. Surely, the Tau’ri woman was not as … odd as Ranma had described in their chats.
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(Posted Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:49)
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