by Anne
Disclaimer: The characters of Daniel Jackson, Jack O’Neill, Sam Carter, Teal’c, General Hammond, Janet Frasier, Apophis and anybody else you recognise from the SGC do not belong to me. Neither does the concept of the Stargate, SGC, and the Goa’uld and any thing else related to the series Stargate SG1. They belong to Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Products.
The characters of Methos (a.k.a. Adam Pierson), Joe Dawson, Connor MacLeod and Duncan MacLeod belong to Panzer/Davis, Rysher/Gaumont Television. So do the concepts of Immortality, the Game and the Watchers.
Likewise the characters of Adam Newman, Megabyte Damon, General William Damon, Ami Jackson, Jade Weston, Kevin Wilson or any names or events linked to the Tomorrow People TV series do not belong to me either. They are the property of Roger Damon Price, Thames/Tetra and ITV Television.
“What do you mean, can’t?” Daniel was having trouble not yelling his question. What was wrong with these kids?
“If we send back what he hurls at us, it might kill him. That’s why.” Megabyte sounded quite testy. “It’s the no killing problem.”
Daniel stared at them in disbelief. He remembered Damon saying that the Tomorrow People couldn’t kill, but surely this was taking things just a bit too far. He ducked again as he asked the next question. The air was beginning to crackle with electricity as a result of Ramiis’ attack. “You are kidding, right? Tell me you’re kidding. This guy is going to kill us!”
Adam shook his head. “Quick, behind this rock. I wish we had a bit more light, at least then it would be easier to find somewhere to hide.”
The three of them lay there, panting. Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose, a nervous habit he had picked up when he was younger, and tried to think. “ I wonder what Ramiis is using as his power source,” he said. “ I mean, it must be taking an awful lot of energy to run this place.” He remembered something. “ The Stargate is still open, right? Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to take part in this mind-merge of yours. Maybe he’s still able to connect to his power source through the wormhole.”
“Of course,” exclaimed Megabyte. “The power source is the box. Daniel, do you remember what happened to the box? Try and remember.”
Daniel reached back into his memories; the memories of what he had thought had been dreams. “The box went through the Stargate, I seem to remember Adam Pierson kicking it through the Gate. Maybe Ramiis is keeping the Gate open somehow?”
“So all we have to do is distract him long enough, so that your friends can close the Stargate, and disconnect him from his power source. When his psyche goes back to wherever the rest of him is, this landscape should disappear as well,” Adam theorised.
“Oh, is that all?” asked Megabyte sarcastically. “ Simple, really, any ideas of how we’re going to distract him? He doesn’t really look as though he’s the distracting type.”
“Think, Megabyte. It was your idea. Positive versus negative.” Something clicked inside Adam’s mind. “Hey, what do you say, we add a bit of light and colour to this place?” He turned to Daniel. “Now, you can follow my lead.”
Ramiis hurled another energy bolt. It was as he had always suspected. All telepaths were cowards. They did not even possess the courage to defend themselves. Maybe when he had defeated them he would present them to his lord, after all. It would be a fitting presentation. Apophis would be very pleased with the capture of one of the members of SG1 as well. Very pleased.
Ramiis felt the intrusion of another psychic force into his landscape. Someone was daring to try and change his realm. He could sense brightness and light permeating the overall feeling of darkness. How dare they? He pushed back against the intruders, noticing the dirt under his feet, now seemed browner in colour, instead of the black it had been previously.
Daniel tried to imagine the surrounding landscape coming to life with a burst of light and colour. His mind thought back to PX251, that planet had been like Eden. Guess you were right about hidden snakes, after all, Jack, considering all the trouble that’s been caused by what we found there. He smiled as he heard Ramiis cry out in rage. It looked as though Adam’s plan might work, after all.
Adam felt the beginnings of a headache forming; he was feeling very tired. Through the link he could feel that Megabyte was reacting the same way. To his surprise, Daniel seemed relatively unaffected. Even though the archaeologist was adding his energy to the merge, he didn’t seem to be feeling the same side effects. Maybe it was because he wasn’t a Tomorrow Person.
[I don’t think we can keep this up much longer,] ‘pathed Megabyte. [I’m getting some strange vibes coming from the ship. I think it’s feeling the strain as well.]
Daniel felt surprised at Megabyte’s comment. The boy sounded very tired, yet he himself had just been thinking the whole thing was a lot easier than he thought it was going to be. He opened his eyes and looked around. The landscape itself was changing; black and white was slowly being replaced by colour. The ground underneath him was growing green grass, and red flowers were beginning to blossom on the trees. The trees themselves were no longer black and white, but varying shades of brown and green. The black sky had turned blue, and he could see white clouds forming.
He found it hard to remember that the whole battle was being fought on the psychic plane. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was on some planet, somewhere. The whole place seemed so real. He glanced over at Adam and Megabyte and was shocked at what he saw. They seemed so pale; sweat was dripping down their foreheads, why wasn’t he feeling that way himself? It must be because it was their powers that were driving the link; he was only able to take part because of their input. The Stargate might have increased their powers, but obviously there was still a limit to how long they could sustain that level before it began to drain them.
Ramiis himself was beginning to show signs of wearying as well. He had lost that confident, smug look. It had been replaced by a look of anger.
“You cannot win against me,” he shouted. “This is my realm, my rules are obeyed here, not the rules of nature.”
“Something’s happening, Colonel. I’ve got control again. I’m attempting to close the Stargate, now.”
“Hurry up, Carter. I don’t like the look of these kids, whatever they’ll doing in there, I don’t think they can keep it up much longer.”
Doctor Frasier looked up at O’Neill and shook her head. “Their vital signs are dropping dangerously low, Colonel. Even their breathing seemed laboured.”
“Daniel seems fine, Doctor,” called out Methos. “He’s still not coming around, but at least he’s in no immediate danger.”
O’Neill noticed the immortal seemed to know what to look for as he checked Daniel over. He made a mental note to ask whether he had ever had any medical experience. Carter let out a cheer and he suddenly realised that the wormhole was gone, replaced by the heavy steel of the iris. The iris that was supposed keep out hostiles - hopefully that now included Ramiis.
Daniel groaned and sat up. He became aware of Methos leaning over him, and noticed the concern in his eyes. “Adam and Megabyte?” he asked.
“They’re coming around,” called out Frasier. “Take it easy, young man,” the last comment was directed at Adam who was trying to sit up. “Whatever you’ve been through, it’s taken a lot out of you.”
Adam still looked pale and a bit shaken, but at least he was conscious. He looked around as though he couldn’t quite believe where he was. “It worked,” he breathed.
“Megabyte?” Damon shook his son. “C’mon, wake up!”
“Dad, is that you?” Megabyte opened his eyes, and noticed that they were back in the Gateroom. “Ramiis, is he gone?”
“You tell us,” replied O’Neill. “ I don’t know what you guys did while you were in that mind-merge thing but it worked. We got control back of the Stargate and Carter closed it down.”
“I’m presuming when the wormhole closed, he lost contact with his power source and with it the gateway to Earth. His mind, his psychic presence, whatever you want to call it, must have gone back through the Stargate to wherever he was physically. I suspect he’s trying to explain his failure to Apophis, even as we speak.” Daniel put forward the most plausible explanation he could think of.
“What do you think Apophis will do to him?”
“That’s open for debate,” replied O’Neill. “He might kill him outright, or just torture him for a while to teach him a lesson. I have this nasty feeling though, that maybe we might not have seen the last of Ramiis. Oh well, I suppose that’s one more enemy to add to our ever growing collection.”
“How did you get him to loosen his grip on the Stargate, anyway?” Carter had entered the Gateroom and was following the conversation, with interest.
Adam smiled weakly. “I’m not sure you’d believe us if we told you, Major.”
“I’ll believe you,” chipped in O’Neill. “After all I’ve seen lately, immortals, Tomorrow People and the like, I’d believe just about anything.”
Methos coughed. “Yes,” he said. “That’s the other thing that’s worrying me at the moment. You now know about the existence of my kind, and theirs.” He gestured towards Adam and Megabyte.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about that, son,” Hammond replied. “We couldn’t have saved the Stargate if it wasn’t for you people. We’re not about to betray your trust.”
“But what about your reports?” Methos knew how pedantic the military were about their reports.
“I’m sure George can write them in such a way that the events of what happened are reported properly, but make sure that some of the important details are kept deliberately vague. I’ve had a lot a practice at doing that myself over the last few years.” Damon smiled affectionately at his son and Adam.
Methos decided that obviously he was going to have to trust them, after all he could see that Damon would be looking out for any ‘breaches of security’, and SG1 seemed to have a lot of practice at keeping secrets. “Anyway, he said, “you were going to tell us how you managed to distract Ramiis long enough for Sam to close the Stargate?”
[You can tell them, Megabyte, I can tell you’re dying to.]
“Okay,” said Megabyte. A grin formed on his face, as he thought about what to say. Adam groaned. He knew that look…
His friend started to explain. “ You see, a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…”
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