(Author's Note: To the IDoJ fans, as of this date, it's ASSUMED this is true about Jeannie. There's something surprising coming down the pike. Don't panic.)

02 AUG 2004 The Stargate

They were all gathered in the briefing room, O'Neill, Jacob/Selmak, SG-1, Nelson and Healey. Roger had asked Daniel to do his report on the ruins they'd found via the UAV first, so he could devote the rest of the meeting to the geological findings in his report.

Daniel finished his report, and gave Healey the floor. Roger got his materials together on the whiteboard holder, and turned to face them.

"We may have to do this as quickly as possible, General, the sooner the better."

"Why's that, this activity you were scanning, the information from SG-9?"

"Yes, sir, we may be witnessing the beginning of a cataclysmic volcanic eruption on P2X-899. All the data are pointing to it."

Jack looked around at the others. "Cataclysmic? A volcanic eruption? Mt. St. Helens all over again? People survived."

"Yes, sir, that they did. This is nothing compared to Mt. St. Helens, though." He put up a chart. "This is the VEI, the Volcanic Explosive Index. If you look at the examples, St. Helens was a 5 on a scale of 1 to 8." He pointed to 8. "THIS is cataclysm. This is what we call a caldera volcano. The last one to blow was 74,000 years ago. No modern human has ever witnessed one. It's believed there are only seven on the entire planet. It's said it would be the loudest sound ever heard by humans."

He couldn't hide his excitement. "If this IS a caldera getting ready to blow its cork, and we can get the data, this could be the chance of MANY lifetimes, not just one! The way the Richter scale is logarithmic, so is the VEI. A 5 compared to an 8 is like night and day. St. Helens is a mere pop to an 8."

He put more charts, notes and pictures up, showed them the atmospheric analyses, the soil samples, the quake information they had. "This is it, increased quakes, both in frequency and magnitude, toxic gases in the air, in the soil. It's probably been going on for months, and Jeannie and her 'friends' are most likely unaware of the danger they're in!"

He showed the picture of what appeared to be the caldera rim. "The ruins are on the RIM of what's probably the caldera itself!" He was excited, yes, but he was also apprehensive, to think of his friend and Tony's love in that much danger.

"We can't delay, sir, it could go in an hour, a day, a week, nobody knows, since we've never seen one actually erupt!"

O'Neill stood up. "All right, Colonel Carter, gentlemen, you've got a go. Get the gear you need and head out as soon as possible." He turned to Jacob. "You going to hang around until they get back, see what you or Selmak can tell about that technology?"

"Yes, I hope they won't be TOO long, given the nature of the conditions there!"

They were ready to go. Roger had a few instruments, in addition to the typical off-world gear. SG-1 had taught them the tricks of the trade, to traveling off-world, and now it was finally happening. The adrenalin was flowing, his heart was racing, this was it. A mere step through the watery glaze, and you're on the other side. No blazing torch under you, no 3-day trip, no fiery re-entry, no splashdown. He was going to be on another planet in the Galaxy, a planet much like Earth, many light years away. Light years. Never in all his dreams did he imagine this happening!

He looked at Tony, who was as eager to step through as he. "This is incredible, Tony!"

His best friend looked at him. "Roj, in all my years as an astronaut, I could never have dreamed of this... LIGHT YEARS from Earth!" Roger smiled. True to form, he and Tony were thinking much alike.

They waited impatiently as Walter announced each glyph being coded in. This was ADVENTURE, not collecting rocks, delivering scientists. Danger, too. Very real danger. Tony and Roger had some combat experience, not like a Special Ops soldier like O'Neill, but they'd been in their share of mix-ups. They were rarin' to go, especially Tony. He could sense he was close to finding Jeannie, no matter what. Or die trying.

O'Neill and SG-1 were listening to the two talk. They always loved watching people's reactions as they first went through the Gate. Daniel remembered when he and Jack had guided Dr. Catherine Langford through, what a moment it was for her. After all those years, she was finally going to get through the Gate.

These two were the first astronauts to ever do so, so their observations were different. They'd been to space, been to the Moon, another world entirely. They knew the math, knew that the likelihood of them going light years away, in their lifetimes, was nil. Until that fateful meteor hit their space shuttle, and changed their lives forever.

"Chevron Seven... LOCKED" came Walter's voice, and the wormhole event horizon burst forth, like a crystalline waterfall, right at Tony and Roger.

"WHOA!" They exclaimed simultaneously.

O'Neill clapped them on the shoulders. "It's a Kodak moment, gentlemen, take your time. The first time's always the roughest," and he winked at Carter, Jackson and Teal'c, again trying to make the two newcomers nervous.

Sam smiled at Jack and turned to Roger. "Roger, fiery re-entry... thousands of miles an hour... radio blackout... this is NOTHING compared to what you've already done, remember?"

"SG-1, Majors Nelson and Healey, you've got a go. Enough rubbernecking."

"Yes, sir," the two said, as they followed SG-1 up the ramp. Teal'c and Daniel went through first. Sam grabbed them both by the arms, and said, "Up and out, gentlemen, once the Gate is opened and people moving through, we can't hang about too long!"

And with that, she pulled them through.

02 AUG 2004 Jeannie

She moved around the "room," if that's what you could call it, picking up the used dishes. Her exile on this goddess-forsaken world had gone on for four interminable weeks. She kept track of the days, the hours, the minutes, since she'd last seen her Master. Anthony. She had to stop calling him that, even in her own mind. Habits of so many years.

Her cousins were over at the Atrium, as they'd dubbed it, playing Jackals & Hounds, a favorite for thousands of years. Every night, without fail, for untold years, they've ended their evenings this way. No reason to break tradition now, on another planet.

The oldest cousin, Yusel, laughed uproariously at his younger brother, Hamal. "Got you, brother!"

The younger scowled, rose up and stomped off. Like he did every night.

Don't they ever get tired of that, Jeannie wondered. Every night, same thing, Yusel wins, Hamal stomps off. Going to sulk in his usual place, his corner where he'd set up his sleeping accomodations.

For one being used to any comfort, any desire at her whim, this was torture. She couldn't do things just by blinking them. Her cousins had confiscated her Gifts, she was weak, she was (dare she say?) "normal." For the first time since she reached the Age and had received her Gifts, as was her right, a daughter of a noble house. Now, she was nothing.

She set the dishes down with a slam, and Yusel looked at her.

"Cousin, those are all we have, do NOT break them! Those blasted quakes are breaking everything!"

She turned pleading eyes to him, once again begging, "PLEASE honored cousin, let us go HOME then!" Ha, honored cousin, she thought. But if she even insinuated anything but utmost respect, he would beat her, as was his right.

His black eyes drilled into her. "NO! Not until the poison of that" and he oozed the name out "NELSON is out of your mind, your heart. He is not worthy of a daugher of our house!"

"He IS worthy! He loves me! He is strong, intelligent, as required. He is brave, he goes to the stars, the Moon, in their own craft. That is not brave to you? He does not need to use the Gifts to make himself a wonderful man!" She regretted it the instant she said it.

He reached across and cuffed her for insolence. She rolled with it, to take the sting away, knowing she'd spoken out of turn.

She slunk back to where she'd slammed the dishes down, ashamed of her reaction. The dishes were important, and Cousin was right, the quakes were destroying everything. Yusel and Hamal, though, were unafraid. They had their Gifts, they could do whatever they wished. They deliberately did not. They were not afraid, but they knew that she, without her Gfits, was terrified, helpless. They'd get her to crack, get her to forget about this, this... PERSON that had so fascinated her for years.

If that was the condition for their leaving back to Earth, then here they'd stay. Tony was forever in her heart, no passage of time would change that.

She squealed and ran into the open when another quake hit. This one was again stronger than the previous. She looked around at the terrain, the cliffs that dropped so abruptly, just a short distance away. Something was happening, she could feel it. The quakes had grown more numerous and more intense the last couple weeks, beginning regularly just days after their arrival.

But, as usual, the cousins were not concerned. They had their Gifts, they could blink away to the Chaapa'ai and to safety whenever they wished, leaving her behind to locate her own Gifts they'd secreted away. She had tried to discreetly locate them the last few days, desperation driving her on. If Yusel caught her, she'd get a sound beating for her efforts.

They left her to her own thoughts, out in the open, looking around and waiting for the next quake. After a few minutes of standing there, a wind wafted her way from the cliffs, and she sensed a very mild, almost non-existent odor. She curled her nose and upper lip at the disgusting smell. Ugh, rotten eggs? Here? In the woods?

She looked back to the ruins, the hovel they'd called "home" for the last four weeks. Yusel was playing a solo game, Hamal was doing his post-game sulk. They weren't paying attention to her. She wandered away from them, toward a clearing, afraid of things over her head if another quake hit. And it would. It was almost possible to predict them, they were coming with such regularity.

She stopped at the barrier they'd set her. This far, no further, Yusel decreed. And he'd know, too. She gazed in the distance, toward where she knew the Chaapa'ai was. So close, and yet so far. All she'd have to do is run for it, dial home, get through the Gate. She knew the address, of course. All children of her people were taught the address for Earth.

But even if, by small chance, she DID get to the Gate and dial home, what would happen on the other side, in that room of concrete and steel? How would she explain herself?

She continued on, face down, shuffling her feet, kicking a particularly attractive rock she found, when she heard it. In the distance, toward the Gate. A buzzing sound. She quickly looked back, to see if the cousins were following her. They were not.

She couldn't go past the barrier, but she could go right up to it. She got as close as she could, and looked, scanning the horizon for that buzzing sound. She looked up, and to her complete amazement, she saw a little plane. She began to jump up and wave madly, not making too much noise, trying to get someone's attention, little knowing it was unoccupied. But something was happening, someone was at the Gate!

Could it be ANTHONY? Hope beyond hope! It couldn't be though. He knew nothing of the Chaapa'ai, and she could not have told him. It was one of their strictest Laws: Do NOT discuss the Chaapa'ai with outsiders, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. As much as she loved Anthony, she could not break that training.

She knew other races knew of their Gate system (she had to think it was THEIR Gate system, after all), and wondered who'd come through. The Nox? The Asgard? Some of those horrid Goa'ulds? She shuddered, thinking about them. She'd never met one, but she'd heard about them. An inferior species who enslaved HUMANS to be hosts, guards, servants. She hated them. That was something else engrained in her from her earliest days, that and the Laws.

Any of her people who attained the Age and received their Gifts had nothing to fear from the Goa'uld, but they were used to scare children, horror stories told around the fire.

Her keen eyesight kept watch on the little plane, as it buzzed around in a circle back and forth. Little did she realize that it was her friend Roger Healey at the controls! It approached the ruins, the precipitous cliffs to her left then turned back. She made one more futile attempt to be seen, but it was already heading back toward the Gate. Her hopes dashed, her depression returned.

She turned around to go back to the cousins and their humbled abode.

The next day, after a sleepless night thinking about the wondrous little plane she'd seen, Jeannie got up to do the drudgery, as always. Her cousins could pop in whatever they wished for comforts, so the food was laid out for her to finish preparing. Of course, they don't do it already COOKED as she'd done for Anthony so many times. They wanted to make her WORK, to do something besides mope. So she set automatically to preparing the mid-day meal.

And then another quake hit. It didn't just shake the ground back and forth, the land actually BUCKLED! She was frozen in place, helpless to move, just trying to keep her balance. The columns of the ruins moved both up and down, and sideways, and she was amazed that any land could do that to such a solid structure. She didn't realize that the land that they, and the ruins, were on was loosening, separating from the continental shelf. Her cousins seemed unconcerned, they merely stepped away into the clearing to wait it out, leaving her to her terror.

Maybe this would drive that PERSON from her, a survival instinct, Yes, yes, Anthony who? Just let me go HOME!

When the columns stopped their little dance and her feet were no longer paralyzed, Jeannie ran outside, again to the spot she'd spied the plane. She was so terrified, so exhausted, and coming off the adrenlin rush, that she found a comfortable spot under a tree and fell asleep for a short time.

A minor quake, so soon after the large one, startled her awake, adrenalin pumping in again. She couldn't keep this up, it would kill her, the terror, the shaking. The slightest little tremor made her heart rate shoot up. She had to remain strong. She was not going to give in to her cousins, she would NOT disavow Anthony Nelson! There was not a thing he could do to help her, so she had to help herself. By waiting it out with the cousins. They'd bore of this soon enough, in a month, a year, they weren't going to want to remain here on the horrid little planet.

She got up to go back to the ruins, crinkling her nose once more at the rotten egg smell. It was stronger this time. She didn't know the significance of that smell, she only knew it was MOST unpleasant! As she turned toward the ruins, her back toward the Gate in the distance, she failed to notice the party of people off in the distance, approaching their temporary home.

A few hours later, Yusel looked up from the game he was playing.

"Jeannie, tonight is your night to choose the meal, what'll it be?"

She knew what she WANTED to say, what she wanted it to be... but dared not speak it. She didn't feel like eating any way.

"Whatever you wish, honored cousin, I will be happy to prepare for you and Hamal." she said meekly. She walked to the table that was suddenly laden with food, Yusel's sneer following her. Good, she'd maintained the proper attitude.

Yusel didn't know how close he'd come to death just then.

"Whatever you wish, honored cousin, I will be happy to prepare for you and Hamal," Tony Nelson heard her say. They'd been there, watching the three, for a while, planning their strategy. With the two men having their Ancients devices, the SG-1 team, Healey and Nelson couldn't just burst in.

When Tony saw the look on Yusel's face, sneering at Jeannie with such contempt, he almost put a bullet in the man's head.

Carter saw him reach for his firearm, and grabbed his hand. She hissed at him, motioning him to remain still. He paused, as if pondering resisting her order, and Sam stared him down. He nodded his head in acquiescence. This was her show, he'd never been off-world before, she'd had way more recent experience in covert operations like this. He was confident she knew what she was doing, especially since he saw Daniel and Teal'c follow her unquestioningly.

He continued to watch, marking every move Jeannie made. She looked so vulnerable, so gaunt. She's not been eating, Tony thought. She must have been terrified all these months, now these quakes happening more and more. He nervously looked behind him, at the cliffs. The rotten egg smell, the sulfur dioxide, was stronger than when they came through the Gate. His olfactory lobes hadn't blanked out the smell, as often happens, like they were telling his brain, BAD BAD, get away, not hiding this odor!

A small quake interrupted his reverie. Not like the one that slammed them soon after they came through the Gate, thank goodness! Tony looked at Roger. And his best friend did NOT look comfortable. That small quake had felt a little different, in a way Tony couldn't identify. He wasn't a geologist, either.

He slunk over to Roger, and whispered, "Roj, what was that? That felt different, not the usual motion."

Carter turned to listen, as did Daniel and Teal'c. Roger was looking at his instruments. "Oh, this isn't good. Not good at all."

"What, Roger?" Sam demanded in a loud whisper.

"That last one, that little one? That's not your normal quake, that was a harmonic tremor."

They looked at him blankly.

"Harmonic tremors, look," and he showed them the graphic on his instrument, "are a steady wiggle on the graph, not a small one, peaking, then subsiding again. It indicates magma movement. It's probably been going on for a while, too."

He looked at Sam, the fear clear in his eyes. "Sam, we can't delay much longer. We've got to get Jeannie somehow, and hightail it back to the Gate."

Tony set his gear, his firearm, everything down, stripping down to his black pants, black t-shirt and black boots. He was going in, now. Carter watched him, knew what he was going to do. He had the stealth to do it quietly, but he couldn't let Jeannie know they were even there, or else her reaction would give them away. Slip in, slip out is what he'd planned.

The remaining four watched Nelson as he silently moved among the rocks and columns, slowly working his way toward the main "living area." Jeannie, of course, was unaware of his presence. He worked his way closer to the two cousins, watching them, seeing if they did something unusual to show where their Ancient devices were.

He froze. Jeannie was walking within two feet of him. It was all he could do to keep from jumping out and grabbing her into a huge hug, but he contained that instinct. Now more than ever, he had to think soldier, not astronaut, not officer and gentleman.

Jeannie paused as she was carrying the tray of food to her cousins. She sensed something, something she couldn't define, a presence. It was warm, it was loving. She closed her eyes, remembering that feeling, of Tony holding her in his arms, of laughing at her as he wiped ketchup off her face at their last, fateful picnic. She basked in that glow for a moment, when her cousin's harsh voice interrupted her.

"JEANNIE!" he yelled.

She started, almost dropping the tray. "Apologies, honored cousin." And she hurried to serve them.

Tony paced alongside her, behind the fallen columns, silent as a leopard, getting closer and closer to her and her wretched cousins. If he saw him speak that way to her ONE MORE TIME, he thought... and then it happened.

Jeannie tripped on a piece of rubble, pitched forward and spilled the entire tray of food on her cousin Yusel.

He screamed as the hot liquid, the wine, the roast pig landed on him, and before Jeannie could duck, he slammed his fist in her face, throwing her back.

Time stood still. All was motionless. Tony saw red, literally saw red, as he launched himself at Yusel, slamming the bigger man in the face, putting body and soul behind it. The man was so startled he had no chance to reach for his Gifts, as his instinct demanded. They were so much a part of him, by now, that he didn't know what to do without them. All he could do is yelp in surprise at this person who suddenly burst from the shadows, slamming fist after fist into his face, his stomach, preventing him from reaching anything to fight back with.

Tony couldn't stop. A part of him, the small part remaining rational, watched while it seemed like someone else's fist was pounding, pounding into the man cowering on the floor. Blood was flying everywhere. He didn't know whose it was, and didn't care. He continued on, time still motionless for him, the adrenalin pouring into his blood, driving him on. All the weeks, the months of misery, fear, worry were pouring out of him into this pathetic fool on the ground, that had dared lay a hand on HIS Jeannie!

SG-1 and Healey had been pacing along behind Tony, after the close-encounter with Jeannie. Something was going to happen, and soon. Roger followed behind Sam, who was leading the way. They got within feet of the men, Tony and Jeannie when Jeannie suddenly tripped, her cousin slammed her in the face, and something very black and very fast moved out of the shadows.

They watched while Tony beat the man down, then Carter decided it was time to interfere. She was tempted to let Nelson continue, after all this man had done to Jeannie, but if he continued he'd kill the guy. She motioned to Teal'c to go pull Nelson off the half-dead man.

Hamal, all this time, was watching the antics, after the initial shock of someone bursting from the debris. He smiled inside, It's about time someone beat that bastard down. And it was Jeannie's man to do it. As was his right. How he came to be here, he had no idea, unless through the Chaapa'ai. How he came to learn of it was a mystery as well, that he hoped to figure out.

He wanted to get off this hellfire rock as soon as possible, this was the turn of events that he'd needed. He waited to see what the others would do.

Teal'c grabbed Tony by the scruff of the neck, and effortlessly lifted him off the man on the ground. Knowing that Nelson would strike out blindly at him, he held Tony at arm's length, not allowing the slightly shorter man to reach him. He was in a rage, gone berserk. Teal'c understood. Great warriors had that trait, when the right cause, the right trigger was tripped, they were fighting machines. He looked at Major Nelson with a new respect, biding his time, patiently waiting for Tony to come out of it.

Jeannie remained on the floor, barely conscious, hearing sounds, voices, Tony, Roger. She was dreaming. Yusel had done it this time, given her a concussion, she just knew it. A pretty blond woman was standing over her, waving something nasty smelling under her nose, a handsome young man with glasses was there too, smiling down at her. Then she peered past the young man and saw Roger Healey.

"ROGER!" Staggering through the vertigo, she threw herself into his arms, crying and laughing at the same time. She looked wildly around, bringing on another wave of dizziness, but she didn't care. She saw a large man dangling Anthony, almost off the ground! Now it was her turn to have the adrenalin hit. She flung herself at the man hurting her Anthony, trying her hardest and meanest to get him to let her man go, to no avail.

"JEANNIE!" Tony snapped out of it, seeing Jeannie on, of all places, Teal'c's back, wrapping her arms around his thick neck, trying with all her strength to get him to LET GO!

Hamal watched it all.

Teal'c remained motionless, the epitome of patience. The Tau'ri were an emotional, passionate people. He bided his time, waited for all to calm down. Once Jeannie realized this huge muscular man was not harming Anthony, she ceased her struggles, but remained on Teal'c's back, eye level with Tony, who was still dangling at the end of Teal'c's strong arm.

Everyone froze, wondering what Teal'c, Tony and Jeannie were going to do next. Teal'c put Tony down. Jeannie slowly climbed off him, never letting her eyes stray from Tony's.

She looked up at him, not daring to believe he was really there, losing herself in those electric blue eyes she knew and loved so well.

"Anthony? It's really you? I'm not dreaming?" she asked quietly, still unsure, still dizzy from the blow her cousin dealt her.

His blue eyes were misting up as he pulled her close, burying his face in her neck, her hair, letting it swarm over him like had happened so many times before. "Yes, Jeannie, yes, it's really me!"

The two remained that way for a while, and everyone was content to let them.

Hamal approached finally, after witnessing it all, start to finish. These newcomers were trying to disguise any animosity toward him, but weren't succeeding very well. He had to handle this cautiously.

He approached Teal'c, believing him to be the man in charge. Hamal raised his hand, in a gesture of peace.

"Sir, my name is Hamal, younger brother to," and he looked at Yusel's unconscious form, "THAT excrement." He spat.

Teal'c remained silent.

Hamal continued, "He had the idea that Anthony Nelson was not WORTHY of our family, so took it upon himself to rid us of the man. I was opposed to it, but when I realized he was going to do it, one way or the other, I told him I'd come along." He looked tenderly over at Jeannie, still lost in Tony's eyes and arms, oblivious to any distractions.

"I've done what I could for her, without Yusel any wiser. He's a pig, using force, terror, to get people to bow to his ways. It was a pleasure to see him bested by Jeannie's own champion."

Sam and Daniel approached. Roger was hovering near Tony and Jeannie, protectively, as if he needed to guard them from any disturbance.

Hamal turned to greet them. Teal'c spoke up finally.

"This is Colonel Carter, our commander. Dr. Jackson as well."

Hamal bowed to Sam in respect. "Colonel, if I may. Anthony Nelson may not have realized what he's done. In fighting Yusel, the oldest of our family present, he has proven himself worthy to be her mate. In fact, this was one of those rare competitions in which the woman too fights for her mate. When Jeannie attacked your friend here, all she knew was that her man was in danger, and she risked her life, or so she believed, to save him."

He turned again to watch his lovely younger cousin. He'd always felt she was like a little sister to him, and today proved she was quite a fighter, not willing to give up what she truly loved and held dear to her heart. He turned back to Carter.

"It is a rare and blessed union when both man and woman risk the challenge for their mates. This has been a most auspicious occasion. I shall Witness such to my family, make the declaration that he has been deemed worthy."

A quake interrupted Carter's reply. It was bad enough to startle Tony and Jeannie out of their embrace, and they all turned to look at Roger. Hamal looked up, frightened.

He grabbed his own Gifts, held his brother's limp hand, and waved farewell, just before they popped out.

"Dammit!" Carter yelled. She looked to Jeannie, to see if she could beam them, or whatever she did, back to the Gate.

"Jeannie, I'm Colonel Carter. Can you do that for us, get us back to the Gate.?"

Regret clouded her face. "I cannot, Colonel, my cousin hid my Gifts!"

They began to frantically look around. After a few minutes, another quake hit.

Roger yelled, "Sam! We've got four kilometers to run, we can't waste any more time looking!" The desparation was clear in his voice. Something major was happening, and it was happening NOW!

Tony looked down at Jeannie. "Jeannie, we've got to run, can you run with us?"

"But... but... my GIFTS," she looked around, tears welling up.

"Honey, it's now or never. Our lives, or your Gifts, which will it be?"

"You need to ask? Us, of course!"

"Roger said this thing, that we're perched right next to, could blow, any minute, any hour.. we've got four kilometers to RUN for the Gate, are you up to it?"

She looked into the love in his eyes. "If you hold my hand, I'll be the wind!"

Roger looked at Sam again. "Sam... "

She understood. "Okay, folks, we're going for a sprint, like we did in college and the Academy. Unload everything we don't absolutely need. The GDO is all we REALLY need!" She watched while everyone lightened the loads they carried.

Roger needed his equipment. He turned to Teal'c. "Can you help carry this? If I lose all that data, this will have been for nothing!"

He realized how that sounded, turned to apologize to Jeannie. She smiled her understanding at him. The world was exploding around him, pure exhiliration for a geologist. He smiled back, hefted the instrument he was going to run with, and they all headed out.

As they hit the trail back to the Gate, loping along at an easy pace, the worst quake Jeannie had felt her whole time there hit. And it hit HARD! They all tumbled to the dirt.

Roger screamed, "Run, run, don't let that bother you! Think of the Gate, focus!"

The quake had one benefit: adrenalin. They didn't take much encouragement to start real sprinting, not just loping.

Another quake, more rotten-egg fumes, and the lava bombs began to fall.

"OH SHIT! This might be it, folks!" Roger yelled. They didn't think they could, but they ran harder. And set the sprint record on P2X-899.

Sam never thought she'd be so happy to see a Gate. The MALP was still there. The lava bombs hadn't reached that far as yet. Roger turned to look behind them, toward the caldera rim, a red glow challenging the sun's rays for brightness. He was torn between witnessing something no modern man had ever seen, or diving through the Gate that Daniel was dialing up. Survival won out this time.

"SAM! Come here, let me get this set up to record all we can, so it can send it through the Gate!"

She ran to his side, and they manipulated the instruments he now recognized, attached to the MALP. "If we have that 38 minute window, and this thing blows, we can record the only caldera volcano ever witnessed erupting!"

Daniel had finished dialing the Earth address, and sent the SG-1 signal through. "Come ON! We've gotta GO!"

Taking one final look over the MALP, one last look behind him as the horizon seemed to explode, Roger stepped back through the Gate, Sam's hand in his own.

02 AUG 2004 to 05 AUG 2004 Aftermath

P2X-899.

At precisely 11.53.26Z, the cap on the magma pit of the caldera volcano exploded, destroying the MALP, the DHD, the Stargate and everything within a one thousand mile diameter. The wormhole had remained open, with 1.7 minutes to spare.

Tony and Jeannie.

They returned to Cocoa Beach soon after Healey's volcano (as they were calling it) erupted and the excitement died down.

The news had already circulated about the ejection, splashdown and recovery of the two Endeavour astronauts. The adjustments made to the Command Module for rapid egress, following the Challenger disaster, had proven effective. The two men were rescued near a remote island of the Pacific.

Tony and Jeannie were greeted by Dr. Bellows and his wife, and many friends and coworkers. Tony announced that Jeannie had agreed to be his wife, while they were enjoying a lovely vacation after the Endeavour incident.

They also tendered Major Healey's regrets, that he was retiring to take a professorship at the University of Colorado, teaching Geology and Planetary Sciences.

Roger and Sam.

Major Dr. Roger Healey was the first and only geologist to ever witness the cataclysm of a caldera volcano erupting.

Jacob/Selmak made it clear that they did not object to his and Samantha's on-going and blossoming relationship.

By the end of this extraordinary day of firsts, Roger Healey was walking the halls of the main level of the SGC, near the conference room.

He went in to gaze at the Stargate, the embarkation room in muted darkness, only dim emergency lights glowing.

What a change that fateful Endeavour trip had been! The day had started like any launch day for him and Tony. Excitement, butterflies in the stomach, a deep buried terror, wondering, Is this the day I die?

Lying back in the pilot's and commander's chairs, seconds away from the torch going off under them, Tony and Roger looked at each other. They did their traditional thumbsup as the countdown ticked down, little realizing they were embarking on a whole new chapter in their lives.

SG-1.

The adventure continues...