“But I thought the Asgard zapped it out,” Jack said, trying to understand.
Enki shook his head. “Remember the back-up systems. Your computer was abruptly unplugged, but the information was saved onto a back-up drive. You didn’t need to be worrying about information you weren’t ready for, so it was temporarily turned off. As you become ready for it, more and more will be made available to you.”
Jack blinked, looking around inside his head. “I’m turning into an Ancient?”
“You have the genetic code of the Ancients,” Enki said. “Many people do, they just don’t realize it. You were the only one who was available to download the information. Anyone with the gene could have done it, you happened to be there.”
“So my ancestors were Ancients?”
“Yes,” Enki nodded. “When they left Atlantis and returned here for the remainder of their lives, they mated with the locals. Their genes were spread into your pool.”
“Can we identify those with the gene?” Jack asked. The last thing he needed was some warlord with the gene to start stealing Ancient toys and using them to dominate countries. They had plenty of Goa’uld to deal with, they didn’t need Ancient warlords.
“Sure, but do you want to?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, why is Nate a secret?”
Jack leaned back in a chair, looking at him. “Because he’d be taken apart by scientists and the technology duplicated.”
“Do you really think this planet can sustain any more of a population if clones, or even an extended life, became the norm?” Enki asked.
“No. We are barely sustaining as it is.
“And what would happen if everyone with the gene had access to the information contained in your brain?”
“We’d destroy ourselves.”
Enki slowly nodded. “Children with guns, Jack.” Jack winced at the memory.
“And you’ve been trying to force me to grow up.”
“Yes. You must, Jack, you are the key to the next evolutionary leap. The few times you have attempted to make a unilateral decision, it backfired, didn’t it? But when you made decisions based on council from those close to you, you have gained ground. The two most important people in your life are already with you. With their help, you will learn to use that information in a positive, judicious manner. Sometimes the decisions you will need to make won’t be pleasant ones, they may even feel as though they are destroying you, they may make you feel as though you are the cruelest person on the face of the earth, but you need to make them.”
“Enki, I just turned fifty-five,” Jack reminded him. “What kind of decisions will I be making when I have maybe forty-five years left? I’d like to retire for good in about ten years.”
“Jack, what was the lifespan of an Ancient?” Enki asked.
Jack shrugged. “I don’t know, that’s a Daniel question. A couple hundred years?”
“Close enough. Have you ever wondered why some families live longer than others? Along with this gene, you have information. Your brain has more neuron connections than anyone else on this planet. You are actually the smartest person alive, smarter than anyone in your history, you just don’t have access to the information. Yet. Nor would you understand the information; you’d only be able to follow the instructions. One of those people with you DOES have the brains to understand the information, and the other person is your wise council to help you to learn HOW to use the information. I’ve been trying to get you to learn how to access that information at your own will and your own speed, but you are fighting me on it. You have a few more than forty-five years left, Jack; if you want to make them count, stop fighting. Everything you have been asking me to do, you can do.”
“Like you curing David of his allergies?” Jack asked. “Don’t think we haven’t noticed him starting to eat everything in sight, and not one skin rash.”
“Not my doing, didila.”
Jack swallowed hard.
Chapter 26
The month went by quickly, and the addition to the house was finished none too soon as the children began getting on each other's nerves. The paint in the new master bedroom had just barely dried when the adults started moving their stuff in. The teens spread out and now only had to share a bathroom instead of a bedroom with the younger children. Jack didn't know what they were complaining about; he had to share his room with two other people, and one baby off to the side in a nursery.
If anything surprised them, it was the news from Cassie that not only was Nate on board the Heaven’s Bow, he was now sharing space with Shara. All three adults in the house stopped to look at her. Sharing space? Yes, she told them. Nate got it into his mind to give Shara a try. He liked it. And since one Jonathan O’Neill on Earth was more than enough, and he didn’t know what to do with himself, he decided to join the Anunnaki warriors, starting with Shara and his bed.
“Well, that’s certainly not a Jack thing,” Sam said after a moment. She asked Cass if she was alright. Cassie was fine.
They were currently without a nanny again; the first nanny was unable to deal with aliens popping in and out at all hours, and the second nanny was caught with her hands in the drawer. Specifically, Jack's desk in his den. He had woken up with a sudden sense of wrongness and went to investigate. He followed the light into his office and found the nanny going through his desk files. He zatted her, had his night guard take her to the base for questioning, and went back to bed.
Major Davis was beside himself when Jack got to the office, but Jack wasn't blaming him; the woman got through the security check of two countries. She was screaming for her consulate representative. Jack informed her that since her government had agreed to the HomeWorld Security contract, and she was caught pawing through the desk of the Chief of HomeSec, he had jurisdiction over her, not her home country
Jack had made it clear from the start that his office was not to be entered unless he was in there and he gave permission. No one was to enter even to clean the room. Daniel and Sam's dens were off-limits, too; even the children knew that. So, they were nanny-less again with Jack and Daniel taking turns walking around with a baby attached to their chest. Olivia wasn't minding it, she had begun to coo and seemed to be enjoying the sound of her own voice; it didn't hurt that the big people carrying her seemed to find it cute, too, and were rewarding her with additional snuggling.
Jack's other headache revolved around Matthew. The boy had been sullen and mouthy lately; Jack knew the boy was angry and had done his best to be available for Matt. He sent the boy to the gym to work it out constructively, if he didn't want to talk it out, and Jack had been getting reports from Major Bryce that Matthew had a lot of anger inside. Katie had let it all out in the beginning, as did Davy, but Matthew had been relatively steady about it. Too steady. Even Daniel warned Jack to expect an explosion. When Bryce called him and said that Matthew was about to blow, Jack decided to show up at the gym. When he got there, Matthew was light-years away as he pounded on the bag hanging from the ceiling. Jack gave Major Bryce babysitting duty and signaled the men to continue as he kicked his shoes off and walked onto the floor. Jack picked up two training staves and gave Matthew a gentle knock on the shoulder with one. The boy whipped around and paused, not expecting to see his uncle. Jack handed him a staff and took a stance. After a moment, Matthew raised his staff.
Jack didn't hold back. Matthew was clearly surprised when Jack didn't take it easy on him, and he flushed with growing anger. The angrier he got, the clumsier he got, humiliating himself in front of the military. After tripping once more, Matthew gave a low screech in frustration, threw the staff down, and ran at his uncle, pounding him with his fists and crying incoherently. Everyone around stopped and gave them room as Jack stood still and took the blows. When Matthew finally collapsed to the floor, Jack sat and pulled the boy into his arms, letting Matty howl into his chest as Jack gently stroked his hair.
When the howling subsided into hiccups and sniffles, someone plac
ed a tissue box on the floor next to them. Jack took a handful and wiped at Matthew's face. He held the tissues and told him to blow. Jack tossed the tissues and wiped his arm across his own face.
"It's okay to hurt, Matty," he said softly. "I know how much it hurts. You will always miss your mother, but remember the good stuff. Your mom loved you so much. I remember when you were born; she couldn't take her eyes off you. She even yelled at the nurses because they wouldn't let you sleep in her room. She threatened to get out of bed and go get you herself, if they didn't bring your crib in. When the doctor came in to check up on you, you peed all over him and your mother told him it was his own fault for keeping you from her."
"But I must have done something wrong," Matthew whispered huskily. "Even my dad left."
"Oh, God, no, Matty," Jack assured him. He took Matthew's face and lifted it. "Your dad has something called Narcissistic Personality Disorder. That means he isn't capable of loving anyone, not even his kids. That is not your fault," he stressed. "It isn't anyone's fault. It's a mental disorder. And you don't need to worry about having it; you love very deeply."
"Will I get it?" Matthew asked, worried.
"No," Jack shook his head. "Daniel said it's something that develops during childhood under certain circumstances, and if you were going to develop it, you would have already. It isn't hereditary, it's environmental."
Matthew became aware of the presence of others and leaned in. "Will they think I'm a big baby?" he whispered.
"No," Jack said. "Matt, every one of these men has experienced loss, and a man who is unable to cry, is a man I don't want on my team. They know what's happened, and they understand."
To Matthew's further embarrassment, Jack planted a kiss on his cheek before sending him to get changed. Jack winced as he stood, and held a hand at his ribs. He shook his head, telling himself to rethink his decision the next time he agreed to play punching bag.
"Thanks, guys," Jack said to the others in the room, giving them a nod. They murmured their responses as Jack went to find his baby. It took Dr. Edmonds to tell Jack that Matthew's behavior was normal for a teenager; with the triple loss, mother, father, and great-grandfather, he would have been surprised if the kids went through the motions without acting out, especially Matthew, who was at the age where boys needed their father around. Edmonds also told Jack to expect the kids to take blame onto themselves; they didn't completely understand death and loss, so they refocused onto themselves. The Parents had been doing their best to be supportive and assure the kids that no one was at fault. Except the drunk driver. Sam and Daniel were taking care of Jack through his own grief.
"Sir?" Jack looked at Bryce as he slid his shoes on and took his jacket from the hanger. Bryce was cradling the baby like an experienced father. "May I make a personal comment?" Jack nodded. "When my mother died a couple years ago, my kids had a problem with it, too. Their school councilor suggested a private memorial service just for the kids. Each of the kids was to bring pictures and stories and share them with the rest of the family. They could light candles, say prayers, and sing something, whatever they wanted. It helped, sir, they were able to express what they needed to."
"We've had a family counseling session," Jack said.
"Pardon, sir, but that's on an adult level no matter how much the counselor dumbs it down," Bryce said. "The kids aren't up to that level of thinking. They’re only just learning to associate the proper emotion to go along with the thoughts.”
Jack nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you, Major," he said. "I will bring it up."
Daniel was hurriedly packing when they got home. Stacy and Davy were laying on the bed, watching and talking with him. The two were very close in age, only ten months apart, and had taken to playing together. Davy had already confided to Jack in a heated whisper that Stacy was very pretty. Jack agreed and held back his amusement as he reminded Davy that Stacy was now his sister.
“Where are you going?” Jack asked, laying the baby in the middle of the kids. Matthew came in and lay next to them, giving his baby sister his finger to hold.
“Ethiopia,” Daniel said. “Something was found at a dig. Where’ve you been?”
“In town. They can’t do this dig without you?” Jack asked.
Daniel dug through his pile of books and opened one.
“Listen, Jack, and tell me what this reminds you of,” Daniel told him. He absently paced as he read,
“The spies were told that most of them lived to be a hundred and twenty years old, while some even went beyond that age….. Also, last of all, they were allowed to behold the coffins of the Ethiopians, which are made (according to report) of crystal, yadda yadda…. Then they place the body in a crystal pillar which has been hollowed out to receive it, crystal being dug up in great abundance in their country, and of a kind very easy to work. You may see the corpse through the pillar within which it lies; and it neither gives out any unpleasant odor, nor is it in any respect unseemly; yet there is no part that is not as plainly visible as if the body were bare….”
“That was written around 430BCE by Herodotus, Jack,” Daniel said, looking up. “Over two thousand years ago. What does it sound like to you?”
Jack stared at him.
“Don’t give me that,” Daniel warned him, shaking a finger. “Think about it. Crystal pillar, Jack, able to see a body through a crystal pillar and the body doesn’t decay. If you don’t get this, I will personally smack you on the head with this book.”
“One of those Ancient preservation thingies?” Jack asked, wiggling his fingers. Daniel held up his arms in Touch Down and howled. Although they had no idea why they were clapping, the children cheered, too. “And the dig team thinks they found a site with one of these suspension chambers?”
“Yup!” Daniel nodded eagerly. “The site is on the list that Inanna supplied after the Heaven’s Bow was done charting the planet.” There were actually a few spots on the planet that indicated naquadah. Most of what had been found, so far, wasn’t much more than bits and pieces of blown up ships. A few spots were extremely far into the crust of the planet, taken down during earthquakes, or covered in lava flows, and something odd was in the Alps. That one didn’t quite match, so it wasn’t urgent.
Daniel rounded up an archaeological team from the SGC and flew out on the red eye. Per the HomeWorld Security protocols, anything that followed the criteria set down by Daniel was automatically put on hold until he could examine it. Jack called the Yard and told them to prepare for a gift from Daniel.
Jack was working out of the house the next day when he answered the front door. He found a young woman standing there.
“I have an appointment with Dr. Jackson,” she explained, seeing the blank look on his face.
“Oh. I’m sorry, he left the country early this morning,” Jack told her. “Something came up at the last minute. Is it something I can help you with?”
The young woman seemed a little impatient. “Well, we were going to discuss the Anunnaki,” she said. “I represent a group of woman who have questions before filling out the on-line application.”
“I’ll do what I can, if you’d like to come in,” he invited her. She agreed and he stepped aside for her to enter. He introduced himself.
“Ateret Levy,” she said, taking his hand. “Are you sure about this, General O’Neill? You must be busy.”
“Only diaper duty,” he told her, nodding toward the piled pillows on the couch. She went over and stroked a chubby cheek with a finger. “And please call me Jack. That’s Olivia, and at the moment, she’s responding to princess, baby-cakes, or goddess.”
Ateret smiled, slightly more relaxed, and sat.
“I’m sorry Daniel skipped out on you,” Jack said. “He had an unexpected call this morning. He’s usually more attentive.”
“Well, then, General… Jack, I don’t want to take up too much of your time so,” she reached into her bag, taking out a piece of paper. “There is a group of us, mixed Middle Eastern and North Afr
ican and, quite frankly, we are tired of all the crap. We want out. The main thing that is attracting us to the Anunnaki is that they are refusing to consider religious peoples for their society. My group is made up of Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and we are tired of religion destroying our lives and our families. We are spiritual, each in our own way, but not religious. We come from hard working families; farming is no secret to any of us. We would like to know more about the Anunnaki, though.”
Jack held up a hand, feeling out of his depth. “How about I make this easier?” he asked. He touched the pendent on his shoulder. “Inanna, could you or someone come down and speak with this young lady in front of me? She has some questions about this whole colonizing thing.”
Inanna and Ninurta beamed in, quite happy to get into details with the enterprising lady and her list of questions. Jack played host, amused at the big warrior making faces at the tiny baby, and worked in his office when he wasn’t needed. Inanna and Ninurta knew their way around the house, if they needed anything.
Much to the disappointment of the warriors, the cotillion didn’t go so well. The warriors didn’t know how to do the modern dances, and the young ladies were, for the most part, intimidated by the large men. About twenty men had been hooked up, but there were about sixty or so waiting. Jack thought it was interesting that the twenty that were fixed up, had ladies that were a little older than most of the wanna-bes. Thirty to thirty-five was the average age of the women. At first, the men were concerned; children were the point of the mission. Sam had to assure them that women were having children much later in life, up until almost fifty. The men were surprised and agreed to widen their search; they did prefer a more mature partner, and had better luck once they looked at slightly older, more settled women.
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