2025

~*~

2005

I rolled to the side and felt a sharp pain slice into my left arm. I glanced at the blood soaking into my sleeve before jumping to my feet. He showed surprise on his face at my agility and speed.

"For an old man, you are quick," he taunted.

I grinned, "Don't let this grey hair fool you," and thrust with my sword. At the same time, I hooked my boot around his ankle, tripping him over, and he fell with a crash onto his face. I fell to my knees, one of them firmly pressed into his back and my sword at his throat.

"Do you yield?" I panted out.

He tried to rise, so I pressed the blade into his throat until I saw beads of red blood fill along the sharp edge.

"Yes," he said.

"Louder, so they all hear," I pressed my knee harder into his back to make my point.

"Yes, I yield Mariam, widow of Eimon, to Jack O'Neill," he yelled.

"Not as old as you think," I carefully removed the sword and slowly stood up.

A large shout rose up as one from the crowd, and then they swarmed around me drawing me closer to Mariam. She looked confused and a little hurt at what had happened. I quickly scanned the crowd for Alexander. I saw a tall dejected figure slowly drop his sword to the ground and walk away.

"No," I rasped.

Drawing in a deep calming breath, I held up my hand to quieten the crowd. A hush fell over the townspeople.

"Who Challenges me to the right of Mariam, widow of Eimon?" I bellowed.

I watched as Alexander stopped in his tracks and turned around. I started to walk towards him and stood just two feet from his fallen sword. More quietly I repeated my question, "Who Challenges me to the right of Mariam, widow of Eimon?"

I looked directly into my friend's eyes; a look of hope and pride met mine. He quickly stepped forward and snatched up his sword.

"I, Alexander, will challenge you, Jack O'Neill for the right of Mariam, widow of Eimon."

Immediately, I dropped to a crouch and started to circle around him, with him following suit. He made the first lunge at me and we clashed swords.

"I will stitch that up later, Jack," he muttered to me as we broke apart, referring to my injured arm.

At first I thought the fight would be short, that I would have to take a dive early on, but I was wrong. This man was an excellent swordsman, just not well practiced. I found myself tiring very quickly. After fighting Thomas, no rest and my small injury it was taking its toll on my body. Sweat dripped down into my eyes, I was concerned that I would get too tired and make an error and hurt this kind man. But, again I was wrong. Just as I was ready to take a dive, pain exploded in my knee and I came crashing down to the ground. Alexander was kneeling on my chest, sword at my throat.

"Do you yield?" he asked in between drawing in large gulps of air.

I nodded as the pain in my knee was making it too hard to speak.

"Jack, you have to speak," he whispered.

"I yield," my voice sounded tight with pain.

A half-hearted cheer went up as the townspeople weren't quite sure what had happened.

Alexander slowly stood up and helped me to stand. I grimaced as the movement sent a sharp shooting pain into my damaged knee.

"Oh," he said, as he looked at me and saw my pain. "Did I do that?"

"Yup. You won fair and square on that one," I said.

Finally, after hopping alongside Alexander, we got to Mariam, who was crying.

"What were you thinking of?" she crossly asked, still wiping at her eyes.

"Mama?" Eimon ran up to us. "The ceremony." He looked at us puzzled, saw the blood on my arm then looked at Alexander. Just before he took his mother away, he gave us a quick smile. "Talk to you later, Jack."

"Can we be excused?" Alexander asked.

Eimon nodded and smiled at us again, "You will come to the celebrations?" We both nodded in unison.

Alexander quickly helped me to his house as it was the closest out of his and Mariam's. He kept a small room specifically for patients and he helped me in onto a low couch. I noticed he washed his hands thoroughly before attending to my arm. He cleaned the wound and started to sew up the sliced flesh of my upper arm. He had previously swiped the area with some liquid that deadened the nerves to his administrations. One of his servants brought in a tray with a jug of wine and two goblets on it. It was just what I needed as I was parched.

"Please," he pointed to my pants, "remove those. I need to look at the knee." I obliged and he started to prod and poke at my swollen knee. When he had finished he sat down with a tired 'oomph'.

"What's up, Doc?" He ignored my use of Doc; he was used to me by now.

"I can fix that, but I need to cut it open."

"Wha… pardon?"

He sounded tired and slightly annoyed as he answered, "I thought you would trust me enough to let me cut you open." He shrugged his shoulders.

"No, not that, I've had surgery before. I mean you can fix my knee, permanently?"

"I can't see why not," he replied sounding a little brighter at my reaction, "Many warriors seem to suffer from this problem, and I have fixed quite a few in my time."

"I've had three surgeries on that knee and it still lets me down."

He didn't look surprised at my words. "Yes, but your healer most probably didn't know what I know. There is an excellent drug that will help with the healing, but I won't hide the truth from you, it will be extremely painful for several weeks."

"I'm used to that," I replied.

~*~

As we walked along the cobbled road to the wedding celebrations,   Alexander spoke to me about the challenges, "You had planned this all   along hadn't you, Jack?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, but you could have been killed."

"I know, Alexander, but fighting is what I do. Although you gave me a run for   my money," I grinned at him.

"Yes, sorry about the knee, I didn't know that it was your weak point."

"It's okay, just glad you found it and not Thomas."

I hopped along beside him with my borrowed crutches in companionable silence for a while.

"Why did you do it, Jack?" he blurted out. "At first I thought you wanted Mariam for yourself." He stopped walking and was moving the toe of his sandal through the dust.

"Sorry I didn't tell you, but I was afraid that you and Mariam would stop me and I had to make it look convincing or it wouldn't work." I turned away from Alexander and continued hopping to the wedding.

"But, why, Jack?"

I spun around awkwardly and almost shouted into his face, "Because I owe you, Mariam, Eimon, this town. You have saved my life. I feel whole here, rested and it is like my home," I spoke more quietly, "and because, Alexander, you are my friend - a good friend."

He placed a reassuring hand on my good arm, "Thank you, Jack." I acknowledged him with a small tilt of my head.

"Come on, we have a party to go to and another wedding to plan." A broad smile spread across his face and we continued through the streets to the large hall.

~*~

The party was in full swing when we got there. A faint fragrant smell of incense was in the air from the ceremony, only just beginning to be overpowered by the smell of wine that was in abundance as numerous servants passed it around. I couldn't see any of Mariam's household serving food and wine, and then I spotted them in a small cluster over by one of the tables. They were guests. Once again, I saw the goodness of this woman and her son. I was thankful that Thomas was not going to be a part of this family and spoil something so good.

"Jack!" Eimon called, waving me across. As I hobbled towards him I noticed a large cake made into the shape of a Grecian ship. A large piece of cake sat on a plate that he held out to me. As I took the plate he whispered, "Thank you, Jack," and looked over at his mother who was talking and laughing with Alexander.

I grinned, "They make a great couple don't they, Eimon?"

He nodded and left me to eat my cake.

~*~

The day came when I had to leave. Mariam and Alexander were to be married in six months time. I said that I would try to get back in time, but as it turned out I wouldn't be able to.

I stood by the Stargate having just pressed the middle button of the DHD and looked at the town and the people that had become very good friends. I would miss them greatly. Daniel would have been extremely happy here and maybe one day I would bring him back for a visit. Carter, now, she wouldn't, not a smidgen of technology in sight. Pain didn't quite assault me as much as it had done so previously while I thought of Carter; maybe I had healed after all.

I had said goodbye to these people earlier. My knee, thanks to Alexander, was as good as new and he had assured me that it wouldn't give out on me again. As to the other knee, he had waggled one hand from side to side. I had told him I knew where to come if it did.

Just before I stepped through the vortex of the Stargate, Eimon thrust a folded parchment into my hand, "You may need this on your travels."

"Thank you, Eimon," I shoved the paper into my pocket of my vest and quickly turned away I knew if I didn't go then I might end up staying. As I stepped through the Stargate into another world, I wasn't thinking 'splat' thoughts until I arrived on the other side. But of course by then, it was too late.

~*~

2025

2025

Now, where was I? Oh yes, I had just left Mariam and Eimon. They were good people, I miss them.

~*~

2005

For the first time that I could remember, I threw up as soon as I arrived on the other side. It wasn't as though the ride had been turbulent in any way; it was more nerves I think. The thought of going 'splat' on the other side, sort of hit me as I jogged down the steps from the Stargate. Jonas had a lot to answer for.

I pulled out my water bottle taking a large swig to wash the foul taste out of my mouth and I spat into the grass on the edge of the forest.

"Ooooh, trees!" I exclaimed sarcastically and then wiped my mouth on my sleeve.

The grass had grown high up around the Stargate, no sign of tracks anywhere. "Well that must be a good sign," I muttered to myself. I found I really missed company; apart from my sad adventure on the mud planet I hadn't been on my own much yet. This was something I was going to have to get used to very soon.

Wading through the long grass, I made my way around the forest. A little wary of what might lurk in those dark depths, I kept well away from the edge of it.

After a short walk, I came upon a wide well-traveled looking dirt road. I started walking along, looking for any signs of civilization on either side of the road. After four miles, it petered out into long grass - now this was weird. Looking behind me, I noticed the dirt road had disappeared and there was only long grass there. I rubbed my eyes and looked around me. There was no sign of a dirt road. I quickly looked at my feet, trodden down grass under boots was all there was to see.

"What on Earth?" I pulled off my cap and rubbed my head, and pulled the cap back on again, "Oh for crying out loud." I turned 180 degrees and started walking back the way I had come skirting the forest in the same way. I found the way difficult as the long grass was hard to push through. This was one peculiar planet. Checking the sun for position, I noticed it had moved. Instead of being behind me, it was now in front of me. The forest was still on my left, so unless the forest had sprouted legs, hopped over me and taken root on the other side, the sun must have moved.

"Okay, Jack… Take big deep breaths. Just keep the forest on your left and you will be fine."

The shadows began to increase very quickly as I watched the sun move faster than I have ever seen a sun move before. I was sure it got faster as it got closer to the horizon. Deciding that being out in the open during the night was not going to be a good idea, I looked for some shelter. The trees were definitely not an option, so I chose a small outcrop of rocks opposite the forest. Nestling my back against hard rock, I pulled out my emergency blanket, choosing to leave my sleeping bag rolled up tight and settled down for the long or maybe short night. I was not going to sleep; this planet was giving me the creeps.

I woke up as I suddenly fell flat on my back. The rock had moved and behind me was a large cave. Pulling out my flashlight, I shone it quickly around me. All I could see was long waving grass. Not liking clear space behind me, especially when I am on my own, I turned the flashlight into the cave. It was full of doohickeys - and I mean full. There were heaps of them stacked on shelves right up to the ceiling. Quickly standing up, I moved into the cave. There were zat guns, healing devices, energy crystals and what looked like information crystals too. There was machinery that I had never seen before. In the centre of the cave was a large pillar that was about eight feet tall. It was decorated by six large panels, which looked like they were made of glass. They reflected the light from my flashlight making colours dance around the room.

The strange behavior of the planet momentarily forgotten, I moved away from the pillar, and started searching through the different objects on the shelves. I made sure to be careful of what I touched and opened, I'd had enough of long legged-spiders for this year.

This was amazing, there was no way in the world that I would be able to take all this back by myself. I would have to return to Earth, tell them the coordinates and send in a retrieval team. That is if I could find my way back of course. Walking back to the entrance I looked out into the night, it was still pitch black. I quickly checked my watch; I had been asleep for twelve hours. That couldn't be right. The more I thought about how this planet had worked, the more I was concerned about what was going on and more importantly how I was going to find the Stargate.

Deciding that I couldn't do anything until daylight, I moved back into the cave. Tucked behind a box of zats, I recognized a small contraption. It was almost identical to the one that I had found on the mud planet. Moving cautiously, I reached out and touched it. It lit up with rows of lights up one side and then down the other. As I withdrew my hand, it emitted a high pitched squealing noise and a yellow light came on. Startling me, I fell back against the pillar in the centre of the room. The shelves started to spin around me getting faster and faster. I felt a familiar wave of nausea as lights started to dance around the room dipping and swaying. Closing my eyes to the swirling room, I sank to the floor.

~*~