RATING: G
CATEGORY: D&J, est.. relationship, S&J implied, future story
ARCHIVING:
SPOILERS: 1969, 2010
SEASON/SEQUEL: Fifth and Final story in the 'Prophet' series.
SUMMARY: Cassie's thoughts after the events of '1969'
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and places are the
property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret productions. This
piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes
and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously
unrecognised characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the
author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental
and not intended by the author.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
And, of course:
Lucy, ('cause :))
Kat: Queen of Commas, official fic-war proof reader
and the world's most fabulous beta ;)
Bryn, sweetie, you are *so* it ;)
Dedication: To Karen, who suggested a series and
inadvertently sparked a war ;)
Feedback: Oh, come *on*. It's the last in the whole
*series*! ;)
I watch the four figures as they ascend the ramp, the
shimmering blue wormhole swallowing them quickly,
rippling only a few seconds as proof they were ever
here, then disengaging, ripping itself apart from the
centre, and the room is silent.
***
~Hello, Jack.~
They had turned, confused, to face me as I entered the
long-deserted Gateroom. Their eyes widened, uncertain
as they fought their disorientation, at a loss to
establish my identity or how I knew them.
~Daniel. I hardly recognised you with hair!~
More puzzled looks, but it was true. My adopted father
had long ago gone bald, as hairless as Teal'c in his
old age before he passed away. My mother used to
laugh, affectionately reminiscing about the way he
looked when they first met; long, light brown tresses
that she claimed gave him a distinctly puppy-ish look.
When he began to lose his hair, he had
smiled ruefully and complained that he would have to
start borrowing Teal'c's collection of hats before he
went out. Looking at him now, I can barely
associate the young man I remember from my teenage
years so long ago with the self-confessed 'old coot'
who had been so much a part of our lives for so long.
~Do we know you?~
Ah, yes...but not as well I as I know you Jack. I
fought my grin as he gazed at me, fighting to find
some familiarity in my face. He wouldn't understand,
in those early years of the Stargate program, the
years I knew he had travelled from, he still found it
difficult to come to terms with such concepts as
travelling to the future.
~Sam will recognise me.~
And, of course, she did. She was the only one who
could. The time they existed in, I remembered, was one
some years before Daniel and Janet's marriage. A few
years, in fact, before they were even together. He
doesn't know me now as well as he will come to.
~Cassie's thirteen years old!~
I can't help but smile at the figures in front of me,
so... young. Young, in comparison to me. Young, in
relation to the family I had grown up in, the people I
had watched fall in love, marry, and have children of
their own. Young, in the eyes of a world so far
advanced from their time. They had once called me
young, too young to understand, but as I look at
them now, Jack so bemused, Teal'c stoic as ever,
Daniel hanging back in confusion, and Sam, fresh
faced, smiling and innocent, I once again realise that
I see the things they don't, things they cannot.
~I've been expecting you my whole life, in fact. You
entered the Stargate a few seconds too soon, so the
flare threw you far into the future.~
My whole life. Waiting for this day to come. I
wondered, as I watched them grow old and myself older,
what it would be like to see them again as
they *were*; I tried to remember them, remember every
detail as the years passed so it wouldn't come as too
much of a surprise. But... they were so *young*.
~When I was old enough to understand, Sam explained
what happened, and that I'd be the one to send you
home.~
She had taken me aside one day, in my early twenties
when I was still studying, exploring the world of
astrophysics and waiting for the day I could take my
place in the Stargate program, and she had told me.
About the way the Gate could be used for more that
interplanetary travel, the mysterious note that had
come from a future that never was, and four
travellers who, one day in the far, far future, would
appear through an abandoned Stargate from decades long
past, a slight miscalculation, and how I must be the
one to put it right.
~Like a self-fulfilling prophecy.~
A self-fulfilling prophecy, indeed. My entire life, my
prophecy has stretched in front of me like a long and
winding road, my future a path that at times I *knew*
I could see, knew I could understand from my
point in time. But now, now all I could see was my
past, and their futures, mingled together in ways I
doubt they could possibly imagine. Teal'c,
so determined to fight the good fight, not knowing
there and then if he would win or lose, live or die. I
knew. Jack and Sam, standing there, so...military,
even in their hippie gear. I nearly laughed when I saw
them for the first time. They were so confident, but
so naive. They had no idea what lay ahead for the two
of them, no knowledge yet of the barely concealed
feelings that raged beneath the surface, behind the
carefully constructed walls of rules and regulations.
And Daniel. Standing on that ramp, in the distant
future, he was still a married man on a mission to
find his captured wife. He had no way of knowing, of
imagining even, the future that lay ahead for him.
The voyage of discovery that he would embark upon, my
mother at his side. They had been happily married for
many, many years, and I smiled at the memory.
I had been right, long ago, when I predicted that
their relationship would never grow stale, never lose
that first romance. It had remained, until the very
end, in their lives and in their family. Even as I
stared at him, I could see my sister's bright blue
eyes and long brown hair reflected in his appearance.
They all seemed so *young*.
I wished I could tell them what lay before them, the
pleasure and the pain, the joy and the dark times. But
she had warned me, when she told me of time-travel,
that I must *never* reveal my secrets, that I could
not tell them anything that would hint at their
futures, for danger of changing them completely. Time
was a dangerous substance, she told me, and was not as
linear as many people would like to think. It was
enough that I should send them home and complete the
cycle, and I saw the disappointment in her own eyes
when I told her as much as she stood on that ramp.
Your orders, Sam.
Your orders.
~I will tell you this. Your journey's just beginning.~
A journey that would take them to the far reaches of
the galaxy, and through the full spectrum of human
experience. A journey they had no way of predicting or
imagining. A journey that would lead me here, to this
darkened room over half a century later to greet them
once more, briefly, then send them on their way.
***
And so I stand, staring with unseeing eyes at the
empty Gate, those old days swirling around me in
images and voices long ago lost or forgotten, the
embarkation room alive with the ghosts of the past.
For a few moments, I was a true prophet, with
knowledge of a future yet to unfold and lives yet to
be led. Then I straighten myself and clear my head,
smoothing down the rustling white gown that enfolds my
body, my fingers tapping lightly on the stone in the
centre of the dialing device on my hand. I smile in
satisfaction at the Gate, giving the shadow-clad room
one final glance before turning on my heel and
sweeping through the doorway to the future.
~Finis~
Copyright (c) 23 April 2001, Nike A. Johnston
E-MAIL: [email protected]
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