Ch.110

By the time shit went down on Madrona with the touchstone device I identified as Furling terraforming technology, I'd barely completed the forty-five new armbands and was about to present them. It had taken so long because I was working on a DHD for the control room and downloading all the programs from the busted DHD's crystals. Sam herself was working on a reactor to take the base's power requirements off the grid officially. So we ended up taking a trip to Area 51 where we met Colonel Maybourne.

I wasn't a fan because he repeatedly hummed an annoying tune both out loud and in his head. I told him that if his attempts were to keep me out of his head, he might at least consider picking a better tune or taking singing lessons for common curtesy's sake. When we found the stargate was made of plastic, he was focusing really hard on keeping me out and told the men to escort us out.

We left and I helped track the stargate with our own, telling them we didn't need anymore favors. I pinpointed it and got an address before we went there. The team tried to flee and passed out, all four of them. They were arrested, the gate and DHD were taken and the touchstone was returned to Madrona.

I offered to watch them and read their surface thoughts while the interrogators asked questions. General Hammond agreed and soon I had a good idea of everything, even if they hummed the same damned annoying tune as Maybourne. I got on the computer and downloaded a ton of information on the Trust, the companies and all those involved with information available.

I passed the memory card to General Hammond and told him that it was a big issue for his government and Senator Kinsey was involved, but there were others who were likely involved as well. I shrugged. "There's not much to go on proof wise, but it's enough to raise questions if whoever you share it with isn't involved."

He took it and asked if there were any other copies. I passed him three more saying. "I have one myself in case they come for Sam and I or Teal'c's family. I'm not so naive as to believe there isn't a plan in place to make us disappear via an accident or something."

He nodded saying it was probably prudent before asking how far up it went. I shrugged. "I can't tell with just this. It may not be all the people involved and likely isn't, just the ones who keep in regular contact like Maybourne."

He agreed and I let him decide what he was going to do with his information. Weeks later Daniel called a meeting for an inscription I immediately recognized as ancient in origin. I spoke up then. "Nou ani Anquietas. Hic qua videum. We are the Ancients. This is the place of our legacy."

Daniel asked. "That's what it says?"

I nodded. "You've found an ancient repository of knowledge left by my people sometime before they left to the Pegasus galaxy or after we returned. I wasn't apart of that group that insisted on leaving such things behind, but there were enough. Basically it's all the knowledge my people held."

"From the secrets of the stargates as you put it to intergalactic ships, technology, culture, history, everything we knew including the copies of my memories I shared with them when I joined them. For earth it is a great find, but even with the best of your technologies, it will take you many millions of years to decipher it all and make use of the information inside, if you can make an interface capable of downloading all the knowledge."

General Hammond and everyone was excited so I turned away from the screen to see their jaws having dropped a bit. I raised an eyebrow. "I take it this is important to you even though it'll be a long time before you're able to make use of anything you learn?"

Sam smiled. "Yes, and I'd like to ask you to help us make an interface."

I chuckled before sighing when they asked what was funny. "Sorry, it's just, as an ancient I can interface with it directly and you asking to make an interface is a bit like asking for a child."

Sam blushed and said maybe later before asking if I'd help. I brought out my laptop from my pack, slid it to her and sighed. "It's hardwired into the wall and the floor. If someone with the ATA gene or genetic lock as I call it steps over that circle on the floor, the interface will show itself. Then anyone not an alien like a Jaffa or goa'uld can access the repository with that. The device will reach out and try to grab the first person that meets the requirement by the head. It's meant for direct neural downloads, but if someone wears my suit, the suit will act as an interface while holding that laptop and download everything into it."

Sam asked. "Can the laptop hold that much information?"

I gave her a droll stare and she stopped. "Right, dumb question. Of course it can."

I sighed. "No, not entirely dumb. The issue is that I can't do it. If I wear the suit the information will be directly downloaded to me because my mind is equipped to handle it. The real issue is whoever wears the suit will have to download something from the database into their mind. They can't really choose, but I can smooth the process over from the outside and make it something innocuous like the ancient's languages and how it's evolved over time."

General Hammond asked. "Why can't you do it?"

I grimaced. "Because I already had the entire contents of a repository downloaded into my subconscious before and if I do it again the information will be lost for good from the rest of you, locked away in my subconscious with everything else I've forgotten. It was one of the first things I received when I joined the Ancients because my body can handle it without dying. I spent the better part of a century in a coma while my mind and body were recoded and I became an ancient genetically and mentally. The process would've killed even them and none of them had ever held such vast amounts of information, let alone taking it in all at once."

Daniel asked. "Then why would they make a repository like this?"

I smiled wryly. "Because if you've reached our level evolution, you can control the flow of information you take in by the repository and regulate it. They never figured anyone not as evolved could find the place or make use of it. Not to mention they'd need Alteran DNA to activate the repository from the wall itself and can't be an alien parasite creature like a goa'uld. Simply put they didn't calculate such things and I wasn't involved because I didn't agree with leaving anything behind for reasons like the goa'uld."

Jack asked. "And who was it that gave the Tok'ra a spanking new base?"

I scowled. "I hid it in a dead star and sealed all access to it and the technology beyond anyone finding it but myself. That's not the same as leaving repositories of knowledge across the galaxy and bases or technology laying around. I advocated cleaning up our own messes instead of leaving them for younger races to stumble across and get themselves killed or dominate the galaxies."

I gestured to the images. "As you can see, I was overruled."

Sam took my hand and said this was a good thing in this case. I nodded slowly before Daniel volunteered to get the full language stuff downloaded into his head. General Hammond asked if if it wouldn't be pertinent to get the technological information first.

I raised an eyebrow. "Well for one, that's the largest portion of the information and even if you were able to safely download it into a human mind without them dying over the course of a few days from the overload, which isn't possible, they'd never understand it all because notes and stuff would be in ancient and likely anything they make would be incomplete enough that one mess up could get this base, country or whole planet killed off depending on what they make."

General Hammond agreed slowly. "Fair enough."

I sighed. "In that case Daniel can write an ancient to English dictionary when he's done or several because the language has evolved over the millions of years as languages do."

He was all for it so we were off to see the repository. There Daniel and Teal'c crossed over the circle and nothing happened, but when Sam did, it glowed to my surprise. I told her to come to me before touching two symbols that turned it off and made the repository disappear. Daniel asked what I was doing and I told Jack to walk across the circle. It activated and the repository appeared.

He stood by Daniel and Teal'c like I asked and I turned it off before asking Sam to walk across the circle again. She did and it glowed briefly before getting stronger and the repository appeared again. She asked what was wrong and I shook my head. "Nothing. I'll explain later."

She nodded and we got on with it. Daniel got his language download while the suit acted as a cable of sorts and sent the rest to the laptop. When it was done the repository went dead and I sighed. "Seems it was a one off."

We headed back to the SGC and I told General Hammond. "In a day or two Daniel will begin to understand both written and spoken Ancient languages new and old. It wasn't a lot compared to the rest, but I recommend the week off with meditation sessions with him and I to help him organize the knowledge. After that he can return to work while working on the translation dictionary or something."

General Hammond asked. "And the laptop?"

I sighed and passed it to him. "It will require something more so I'll need some tools to make a gate booster. Sam, Jack and I will visit the Asgard home world Othala in the Ida galaxy. There I'll make a device capable of interfacing with the computer without stripping the knowledge from it. A sort of interactive AI hologram to speak to and teach your people when it seems you're ready to know something or in case of immense threat from outside forces to release information that will help."

General Hammond agreed and thanked me so I grunted. "Say that when you're down a staff weapon cause I need a liquid naquadah cell from one of them."

He smiled and I got to work while Sam watched and asked questions. She was fascinated by it especially considering I'd released the new armband DHDs to replace the GDOs so she knew me creating something new was big. I drew the blueprints out before working on the device and finishing it by the next morning. After a shower and hooking up the gate booster, I told General Hammond to dial up the first Asgard eight symbol address.

He wished us luck before Jack, Sam and Teal'c went with me to Othala. There they found the Asgard exactly as I'd described them. It was a bumpy ride so we had to stand up after being thrown out. The gate shut off and I asked to speak with Thor.

Baldr introduced himself and said Thor was off world at the moment dealing with the replicator matters. I frowned and Baldr sighed. "Not all the replicators made it to the planet we'd chosen and those that hadn't needed dealt with I'm afraid."

I sighed and asked to speak with the high council as I had a request to use their matter materializer to make an interface for a repository of knowledge my people left behind. Baldr showed us the way and made the arrangements before asking if I knew if anymore of my people were returning or if any survived back then. I shook my head. "None that I'm aware of. The others are content to sit in the clouds and watch or judge others for helping those they deem lower than themselves. I sat for ten thousand years, my ass got numb."

Baldr didn't get the joke, but he understood it was a crude human one. Sam just smiled before we met with the Asgard high council. Jack had questions for the Asgard council after they granted my request and they explained the replicators, how they faced them and how they were worse than the goa'uld. Odin himself told Jack that they weren't proud of having to hold off on helping the Milky Way galaxy but their own race was facing extinction even if the replicators are beaten now.

I received a shipment of trillions of tons of raw materials taken from replicator blocks rendered inert. I made the interface device and programmed it after Sam before asking Sam to stand still. She did so and I scanned her with my suit before showing her the scans. I moved my hand over the scan and zoomed in before she noticed where.

She asked if we were pregnant and I shook my head before changing the analysis of the scans and sighing. "One of your ancestors was an ancient, like Jack's was, only I suspect he has quite a few ancients in his family tree with how strong the repository responded to him. I suspected you were pregnant and it was reacting to the baby before but it seems you have a pedigree of someone I knew. Would you like to know who?"

She nodded and I smiled before touching her hand. A small pinch later and the DNA sample was loaded into my suit before it was compared to the knowledge of all those I knew from back then. I raised an eyebrow and held up a hand as it projected an image with the suit. The female appeared and I told her. "Her name was Ganos Lal, but it appears from earth's records that you would know her as Morgan Le Fay."

Sam frowned. "Wasn't she a bad person?"

I snorted. "Hardly. In fact she and high chancellor Moros were lovers. I don't know what her and Moros or Merlin as you'd know him were doing, but no, she was a friend. In fact Drogon saved the life of her sister, Morgause, when the war came to an end before we fled. The last cruiser transport was inbound and the wraith were trying to destroy it or capture them for food when Drogon flew to the edge of the atmosphere and stuck his massive head into space to release a wave of fire akin to a solar flare. Dozens of wraith hive ships were destroyed, the cruiser made it through and it nearly killed Drogon before-"

I flinched and shook my head as blood dripped from my nose. I shook my head slowly stopping myself. "Anyways, Ganos Lal challenged Moros on the council as a good council should always have the argument for both sides. He may have painted her as evil, but she wasn't. She was a bit cold to him, but she cared and cared a lot about everyone and everything. She was with me in advocating returning to Atlantis and the Pegasus with a fleet manned by everyone to systematically wipe out the wraith. Neither of us liked the thought of leaving the people there to the tender mercies of a race that would use them like cattle."

I cupped Sam's face. "She was a good woman and a good friend. To answer your unasked questions, no, we were never more than friends. I had lovers but no love if that makes sense. Lanteans weren't monogamous, they were scientists that knew it went against nature for such things despite them being able to feel and live so deeply."

Sam gave a wry smile before thumping my chest and asking if I had any descendants on earth. I shook my head. "No, I had standards and as cute as cave Sam was, I didn't shake a cave with anyone throwing poop and bashing heads with wooden clubs for sport and laughs. Cavemen and women weren't a kink of mine no matter how desperate. I didn't have any descendants amongst the Lanteans or the early cavemen of it helps."

Sam rolled her eyes saying. "Standards?"

I shook my head. "Hygiene. I'm not a neat freak and I can't catch diseases, but I wasn't screwing others that had fleas and other issues no matter what reasons it's for, at least not willingly anyways."

She rolled her eyes and I held her in my arms asking her hesitantly. "Are you sad that it wasn't what we both thought?"

I put my hand over her stomach and she shook her head before sighing. "Ok, maybe a little, but with how low a chance it was to begin with-"

I kissed her and pulled back, looking into her eyes. "We'll start trying as soon as we get home. I told you before that I'd give you anything and deny you nothing and I meant it."

She smiled and agreed meekly before I turned and found Baldr there. He gave me a stone like that he had in his hand and I left with him for a bit to help them find all Lantean knowledge of cloning and genetics in their own repository of knowledge. I told Baldr that I wasn't a genetics expert, but I knew what was in there and at the very least they needed live tissue samples from one of their people from before the genetic degradation began. I told him I hoped they came to a different conclusion, but if I meet another ascended I'd pass their request and need to them to get them help.

He thanked me and gave me a communication stone saying the first was for me to come and go as needed and the second was in case a situation arose that I couldn't deal with myself. He said the high council would be watching the situation there and once ships were available, reinforcing the treaty at the very least. I warned him that I sensed not everything was well and a goa'uld with ascended or ancient knowledge may be working behind the scenes in the Milky Way galaxy so even if they did their best, their weapons may not always be effective.

His eyes went wide and I wished his people the best before giving him the knowledge of Pym particles and technology to shrink their own supplies from the massive replicator near extinction event.