**I do not own StarGate SG1 or Star Trek nor to I claim to.

-§-

Unscheduled off-world Traveler

Siler came running into the control center, “What’s going on?”

“I am receiving SG-1’s IDC.”  Walter reported.

“What?”  Siler said, “They’re nearly a day ahead of schedule.”

Teal’c’s voice came over the radio, “We have encountered a minor problem.”

Teal’c stepped through the Stargate first.  He was followed shortly by three unfamiliar people.  The first was a confused man in his late 20’s or early 30’s confidently wearing a general’s SG uniform.  Next was a blonde, short-haired teenage girl who wore a baggy colonel’s SG uniform.  Last was a child with freckles, glasses and an SG uniform that was entirely too big for him.  

opening credits

“I suppose I don’t need to tell any of you this, but you all appear to be about 20 or 30 years younger.”  Dr. Brightman informed all of her patients, who were now sitting on beds in the infirmary.  

“What happened?” asked Siler.

“The Stargate took us to an abandoned warehouse on the planet,” preteen Daniel said in his high voice.

“While it looked completely forgotten and abandoned,” Sam started explaining, “There were several artifacts and items of interest  in the warehouse.”

“So you just started randomly using alien devices?”  Siler questioned.

“Hey,” O’Neill shouted, “we were just looking, Carter opened a box and then… well, what did happen?”

“I had no idea that just touching it would trigger the effects of the device, sir.”  Young Carter explained.

“It must have had a wide effect radius,” Daniel squeaked. “I wasn’t standing anywhere near Sam.”

“Then why didn’t it affect Teal’c?”  O’Neill asked, confused.

“It did.”  The doctor said, standing next to Teal’c, examining him.  

“Indeed O’Neill,” Teal’c cocked an eyebrow, “I feel like a healthy 80-year-old again.”  O’Neill and Daniel cocked eyebrows too.

“General, this is exactly why I told you I didn’t think it was a good idea for you to be going out on missions.”  Siler whined.

“That’s why I left you in charge.”  O’Neill said confidently, “you’re ok, aren’t you?”  Siler looked confused.  

“This isn’t going to be… permanent… is it?”  young Daniel whined.

“I don’t mind if it is.”  O’Neill said perkily.  Sam and Daniel both threw him dirty looks.  

“Well I do,” the doctor said sternly.  “I don’t like the idea of your bodies being suddenly transformed and changed in an instant, no matter what the result is.”

“What concerns me,” the teenager said sternly, “is if we really did find a fountain of youth…why was it locked up in the back of a warehouse.”

“I’d like you all to take it easy for the next while until we find out what caused this and what other affects it has.”  Brightman said, looking at her notes, “what I can tell so far is that, while your brains seem unaffected, your bodies are physically younger, so the chemical imbalances that change with age may cause some emotional problems, especially in Daniel and Sam.”

Sam and Daniel’s faces fell to disgust, “You mean I’m going to be a moody teenager again?”  Sam groaned.

“Oh come on Carter!  Aren’t you glad to be a teen again?”  O’Neill offered, “Come on, I bet high school was the best days of your life!”  

Sam gave O’Neill a look that suggested she just ate something sour.  “Your clone made it sound like you had just as swell a time!”

“Actually,” the doctor interrupted, “she’s more like junior high school age.”

“Or… let me guess…” O’Neill finished, “your social skills haven’t changed much since then?”  Sam just rolled her eyes.

“Well, you’re all probably free to go,” The doctor said.  “But please stay on base,” Daniel’s shoulders could be seen dropping through his baggy shirt, she continued, “I’d like someone to stay and help me with some tests, if they don’t mind.”

“I can assist you with that, Doctor,” Teal’c volunteered.

“Well,” O’Neill stood up, “I need to go do some paperwork.  Call me if you find anything out.”

After Jack left, Daniel slowly got off his infirmary bed.  He bobbed a couple of differently ways before he made up his mind where he was going.  Samantha followed moppingly.

-§-

A few hours later found the young teenager in her lab working on her usual projects that usually made her happy.   But she became easily frustrated with one thing or another and threw her equipment aside.  She stood up, paced around her lab anxiously, sat back down and stared at her project.   

“Sam?” A voice came from the hall.  Sam perked up and ran to hug her young friend.  “Ahhh!”  Cassandra said, “what happened to you?”

Sam laughed, “I don’t know, but I hope it isn’t permanent.”  

Cassie laughed.  “Come on!  We’re, like, the same age,

"Actually, I think I'm younger than you."

Cassandra squealed again, "We should do something together!  Let’s go to the mall!”

Sam made a face.  As you can imagine, the mall probably was never Sam’s idea of a good time.  “I can’t leave the base, we don’t know what all has happened to us.”

“So you’re trapped here?”  Cassie groaned.

“Yeah, but is won’t be so bad if you’re with me,” teen Sam said happy.

“Let’s go do something crazy, like flirt with the really hot officers.”  The alien teen said excited.
Sam made a face, “I don’t think I should hit on my fellow officers.”

There was a pause while Cassandra thought about what to do next.  "Hey... I saw O'Neill..."  Sam perked.  "He's pretty hot now that he's not an old man."

Sam looked offended and uncomfortable.  "I dunno, he looks weird.  I liked him better when he was older."

"What?" Cass teased.  "I know he's your -superior- officer, but you can at least admit he's good looking." Sam blushed "Come on, admit it!  Don't you think he's quite the attractive guy now?"

"No..."  Sam hesitated, "He's definitely hotter with a little white hair."  Sam went red, and then both girls giggled.

-§-

The door to O’Neill’s office opened.  The young adult General looked up from his work to see no one at the door, but then he realized that he was looking a couple feet too high.  Short little Daniel came in and plopped himself in the chair in front of Jack’s desk.  Daniel had found the uniform closet and pulled out the smallest clothes he could find.  They were still too big for him but fit him much better.

“Can I help you sonny?” the general asked.

“Stop that,” Dr. Jackson grumbled, “This situation may be funny for you, but I don’t appreciate being treated different from everyone else just because I’m like a nine-year-old!”

“Well… you have to admit, you do have some handicaps now.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t reach the stuff on the top shelf, whatever.  What I don’t appreciate is everyone talking down to me!”

“Well, it’s not like they have much choice…”

“They talk to me in a childish tone of voice and treat me like I don’t know anything…” While the kid ranted, the General nodded his head in sarcastic agreement.  “I know more about ancient ruins then they will ever know!”

“Definitely.”

Daniel paced up and down the room for a bit and finally sat down.  After a pause Daniel said, "Wanna go do something?"

"I'm busy right now, Danny, why don't you run along and play some ball."

Danny pouted and stormed out of the room in a fit.  As Daniel was leaving, a messenger came in, "The doctor wants to meet you in the infirmary."

-§-

"I have some good news and some bad news."  Dr. Brightman said to the members of SG-1 who were sitting on beds.  Nurses were going around getting blood samples from them.  "As far as I can tell, you will remain this age for the next few days, but after that you will age."

"What's the GOOD news?"  O'Neill asked with disappointment.

Daniel and Sam both reacted grudgingly to that comment.  Daniel's jaw dropped with a disgusted sound like, "ech!"  Sam looked like O'Neill's remark had been a dart that hit her between her shoulders and deflated them.

"The BAD news is that I've discovered why the device was in the back of warehouse."  Brightman continued, standing next to Teal'c with a notepad in her hand, taking notes, "The fact is that, right now, your cells are aging but in a slower than normal rate.  In a couple of days that rate will speed up to faster than normal, then faster until you are older than you used to be and getting older fast!"

Now O'Neill looked really worried.  "Not again,"  he grumbled.

"Wow,"  Sam’s face turned from disappointed teen to intrigued scientist, "That brings new definition to 'exponential growth'."

Danny chuckled but said with a grumble, "Don't get too excited."

O'Neill glared at Carter, "Are you ever not thinking too much?"

Carter sneered at the general.  The doctor came over to O'Neill and checked his blood pressure.  O'Neill smiled and blinked at her flirtatiously.  "So does this mean I'll only be your age for a sort time?"

The doctor let go of his wrist, and he looked disappointed.  Sam turned away quickly, her shoulders were reinflated.

"No, General, this means, that in a couple of days you'll be older than you were before, and, by the end of the week, if we don't find some way to stop this," the doctor stuttered, worried, "you'll be dead."

“Deja vu,” grumbled O’Neill.

Commercial Break

Still in the infirmary.
"I'm going to take these blood samples and run some tests, to try to find some ways to slow the aging."  The doctor left the room, followed by some assistants.

After a pause, SG-1 was still sitting there, thinking about leaving.

“I know this might sound weird, but I never noticed how hot Dr. Brightman was before...”  Jack said defiantly.  Sam took in a sudden breath.

Daniel gave him a look of disgust, "She's working under you!"

"I am in agreement with O'Neill," Teal'c said.

Sam shook her head, jaw dropped.  Danny rolled his eyes, “Sounds like we’re not the only ones with chemical imbalances...”

Jack nodded firmly and proudly, “Yeah, I think I’m feeling more... libidinous.”  He and Teal’c exchanged smirks.

Sam rolled her eyes.  She stood up off her bed, looked at the guys for a second, shook her head irritated, turned quickly and stormed out of the room muttering, “men!”

"What was that about?"  O'Neill asked.

"I don't know,"  little Daniel said, "I didn't understand teenage girls when I was a teenager..."  O'Neill nodded in agreement.

There was a pause.  Daniel jumped up.  "Wanna do something?"

"Go play some ball!"  O'Neill said annoyed.  

Daniel gave him a dirty look and then teased back, "Wanna come with?"

O'Neill’s face suddenly fell silent and solemn as young Daniel reminded him of someone else,  "...No...w-well, I better get back.  SG-8 is due back soon."

-§-

O'Neill and Teal'c were in the gateroom to greet SG-8.  

"What happened to you?"  8's commander asked O'Neill.

"Just trying a new hair dye, what do you think?"  When the rest of the team was through the gate, O'Neill said, "meet me in the briefing room at 1300 hours for debriefing."

"Sir?"  teen Sam called over the speaker.  She and Daniel had been in the control room.  Sam was at a computer where she was comfortable.  Danny was standing on a chair so he could see.  O'Neill turned to look at the control room window.  Jack just saw Sam’s concerned expression.  She looked at him, and then the Stargate.  It was still on.  

Jack got serious.  "Close the iris!"  He yelled as he ran to the control room.

Teal'c grabbed the gun of a nearby guard.  He and the other guards became very alert, guns ready, around the gateroom.

Up at the control room, O'Neill asked Sam and Walter, who were at the computers, what was going on.

"There's been at least one impact on the iris..." Sam said.  Watching the computer screen.  The sensors spiked again.  "Two..." Sam waited, and the gate shut down.  

"Sir, I think it's obvious that something else came with SG-8."  Siler said serious.

O'Neill ran for the intercom, "Attention, we have a foothold situation, seal off the base!"

Alarms rang, soldiers ran for guns and technicians locked out the computers.  Suddenly shots were heard.   Everyone grabbed for their gun.  Daniel didn't have one, so he ran for cover, which was easy for him, as small as he was.  

Suddenly aliens decloaked with guns firing small energy blasts, hitting first O'Neill, then Siler was down, Walter hit the floor, Sam took a hit, sending her into the desk before she hit the floor, until every human was down.  The scene zoomed in on the aliens who weren't very tall and had large, round ears.

commercial break

Sam woke, slowly, painfully.  There was a blast mark on her shirt.  She grabbed her shoulder with pain.   She looked around.  She was in one of the spare quarters on base.  In the room was also Cassandra.  Sam moved to try to wake her.

"groan where...?"  Cassandra opened her eye slowly, "Where are we?  What happened?  I saw people being shot by... by nothing and...."

Sam spoke in hushed tones, "We have been invaded by aliens of some sort."

Cassie said scared, "What happened to everyone?  Why didn't they kill us?"

"I don't know, but I'm not complaining."  Sam went to the door, it was locked.  She looked out the window.  "Where is everybody?"  She asked worried.

Cassie shrugged.  "What should we do?"  

Sam looked around the room.  She looked at the electric boxes, the camera, getting ideas.  "Well, we're kids, so they won't expect much from us...."

"Why do you say that?"  Cassie asked?

"Because they left no guards at the door."

"How do you know they aren't just invisible?"

"Hmm... I don't know.  But I have an idea that might even the playing field."  Sam glanced up at the camera again.  "Give me a hand."  And the girls started moving furniture.

-§-

The Stargate activated.  Several of the aliens came through, bringing with them O'Neill and Teal'c.  O'Neill and Teal'c looked dirty and exhausted, like from hard work.  The shorter aliens pushed O'Neill and Teal'c until they were in front of the shortest alien, presumably their leader.

"This is...." He said to his guards, "the leader of the Hoomans?"  He sneered at O'Neill with disapproval.  "But he's soo... young!"

"What can I say, I'm a child prodigy.”  O’Neill smugged.  Teal’c cocked an eyebrow, “My name is Captain Jean-Luke Picard and from the United Federation of Earth I warn...."

"Quiet Hooman!"  An alien thug hit Jack with his weapon.  "And this,"  the thug sneered, "He says is his first officer, Commander Riker!"

Jack smiled proudly, Teal'c cocked an eyebrow, the aliens frowned.  

The leader spoke up.  "I am Ferenk, Master of the Orador Slave Commission."

"What are you doing with my people!?"  Jack yelled before the alien hit him again.

"Turning them into slaves... of course.  The price for good hard labor is high these days.  Even the Guoa’uld will pay high price for intelligent and military trained officers as yours."

O'Neill growled.  "You won't get away with this!  Our world's military is probably already on its way, and when they get here, no one will be left standing!"

"Ahh, but will your people even shoot you?"

"They will do what is necessary to ensure the freedom of this world."  Teal'c said.  

"But what about your children?"  O'Neill and Teal'c looked confused.  "Your two girls, will your people kill them too?"  Again, another confused look between them.

"What are you going to do to them?"  Jack asked with deep concern, remembering that Sam was one of them.

"Nothing, if you cooperate.  We want your codes."

"Oh, ok"  Jack said easily, "my Cereal number is F-r-u-i-t L-o-o-p."

"I need you to unlock you computer system!"  The alien yelled frustrated.  

O'Neill turned to Teal'c for help.  Teal'c spoke up.  "We will need our doctor."  O'Neill looked at him confused.  "She is the only one who knows how."

-§-

Later, as a couple of really dumb guards were taking Teal'c and O'Neill to holding cells, Jack asked, "Sure, save the doc?"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, "If we are going to stall for time," he said in a hushed voice, "like I assumed you planned...."

"Oh yes, of course,"  O'Neill said unconfidently.

"Then we are going to need Dr. Brightman to be able to continue working on a cure.  We will not last for much longer."

"Ahh.. right..."  after a pause Jack spoke up, "where's Daniel?  He wasn't at the mining camp on the other world..."

-§-

With some hair clips from Cassie's hair, some shoe insoles and a fist full of feathers from a pillow, Sam and Cassie were able to take out the lights in their room and the surrounding main lights in the hall by tripping the breaker.

"There," Sam said, "when the aliens see that something’s up, they'll send someone in..."

"Uh,.... Sam?"  Cassie tried to interrupt.

"...You see, because we can't go out there, there are emergency lights, but now in here... the playing field is fair with those invisible aliens..."  Sam ranted.

"Uh, Sam?  Why do we want an alien in here?"

Sam paused, lips tightened in confusion.  The door knob shook.  The girls ran to the wall to hide in the shadow.  It jiggled for a while, frightening the girls, until finally the door opened.  At Sam's signal, they pounced the intruder and strangled the small alien with glasses...?

"Daniel!?"  Sam stopped.

"Oh hi!"  He said in his high voice, “I thought you were in here... but the lights..."

"She tripped the breaker," Cassie pointed fingers.

"What's going on?"  Sam asked.

"I've been able avoid the aliens by hiding in small places... since I am now... small.  They've taken everyone to another planet, slave labor, I think."  Danny said.

"General O'Neill?"  Sam asked with young concern.

"He's here, so is Teal'c, and they're bringing the doctor."

"What do they want with them?"

"They want access to the computers."

"I doubt they'll be able to crack my code."  Sam said, "If fact, I'm worried that if help is on it's way from outside, they might have trouble breaking it too."

"What?  Is it something like JackIsHot?"  Daniel pestered.

"What?!"  Sam yelled at the little boy.

"Oh come on Sam!  As a teenager, your easier to read than Russian!"

"Shut up you little mongrel!"

"Little!  I'm only like three years younger than you!"

Sam sneered and shoved her hand in Daniels face, messing up his oversized glasses.

"Quiet!"  Cassie said suddenly.  They grew silent and listened to the footsteps in the corridor.  They sunk into the shadows and held still.  The footsteps entered their room.

It was quite the ambush.  The two kids who had combat experience repeatedly misjudged the length of their limbs and usually ending up tripping over themselves.  The one who really was a teen was somehow able to get the alien's gun and shot the alien, as well as Daniel's hand.

"Ow"  was all they could say after the ambush had finished.  Sam looked at Cassie impressed while Daniel look at her angrily as he soothed his poor little stunned hand.  

"Well," Sam observed, "we now have an invisibility device and a stun gun."  

Cassie blinked, "what should we do with them?"

"Better yet," Danny observed, "what shall we do with him?"  He pointed at their stunned alien.  

"Alright,"  The 13-year-old colonel took charge as she and little Daniel tied the alien to a chair using shreds of sheets from the bed., "We're going to need TERs, P90s..."

"Not to mention a plan..."  Daniel grumbled.  

"Wait, you mean we're going to go..." Cassie stuttered nervously, "out there?"  She pointed hesitantly at the door.  

"I know!"  Daniel said excited, "You could go...get the..uh,"  he explained with his hands, "and I could go..." He moved his arms very anxiously, full of energy and ADHD  "while you do more of your," he made karate-like moves toward Cassandra, "like you did before... and get more..."

"Daniel!" moody Sam shouted before Daniel could bounce off the wall. Daniel froze, his face grew grumpy.

"The plan is...."  Sam paused, "To get to an armory storage locker and come up with a plan on the way."

-§-

O'Neill and Teal'c were bound and forced to kneel on the floor so the aliens could feel taller.  Ferenk was circling the pair when suddenly the Stargate activated.  Two short stalky aliens came through the gate and threw Dr. Brightman on the floor.  "Your doctor."  They growled.  Though their hands were bound, O'Neill and Teal'c were allowed to go to the doctor.  

"They want us to unlock the computer."  Teal'c carefully tried to explain the situation while the aliens were in earshot.  

"Yeah,"  O'Neill said casually, "so, we might need to start trying to crack the code.... or they might start pointing guns at us."  An alien sneered and pointed his gun at Jack.  The general smiled nervously.

commercial break

All three of the adult officers sat at the computers in the control room and attempted to crack Sam's code, or at least attempted to look like they were attempting to break it.  Their alien captors circled around them, impatiently.  Sometimes an alien would stick his head in to see what Jack was doing.  O'Neill would stop, look at the alien annoyed, and the alien would back off, getting out of the way.  

"Enough!" Ferenk shouted very suddenly.  "Perhaps you need motivation!  Quarm,"  Ferenk called over a communication device, "bring me one of the children...."  He paused evilly, "bring me the short haired girl."  Ferenk's face grew menacing and evil.  The SGC members grew worried, Jack's heart leapt in fear for Sam.  There was a pause.  Ferenk called over his intercom again, "Quarm?"  Ferenk laughed nervously, and then turned away embarrassed, "Quarm?  Quarm wake up!"  All three SGCers cocked an eyebrow.

-§-

All three children ran into a closet, half screaming.  Danny locked the door behind them.

"What happened?"  Daniel yelled at Sam.

"I don't know"  young Sam defended, "The invisibility device didn't seem to work."

"Wouldn't the aliens be able to see each other..."  Cassie humbly suggested.  The other two looked at her.  "I mean... why would they be invisible from each other?"

That gave Sam an idea.  "Of course!  But if I could just change the frequency of the invisibility emitter slightly...."  Sam looked all excited about whatever it was. She toyed with the device while Daniel and Cassandra gave each other a glance.  Danny started pulling down armor and guns off the shelf in the closet.

"There!"  Sam said proud.  The others weren't too impressed.  "This should keep you invisible from the aliens.  Now, we should split up."  Cassie looked terrified at the idea.  "One of us needs to get to the surface, let the reinforcements in, and let them know what's going on.  We also need to free O'Neill..."

"Suuuure,"  Danny grumbled, "save Jackie!"

Sam glared at Daniel for a moment, "And Teal'c and the doctor.  I should get to the computers.  If I can find a way to remotely dial the gate and contact the alpha site...."

"Ok, we get the idea, let's do it."  Daniel said impatiently.

"Alright, I think you and I,"  Sam said to Daniel, "should take P90s and TERs.  Cassie, I want you to take the invisibility device.  Since you don't have combat experience, I want you to be the one who goes to the surface.  Here's the code,"  Sam use the surface of the blank shelf to try to explain the procedure to Cassie, "Take these with you," Sam handed her a handful of TERs.  "Our reinforcements at the surface will not know that they need them, they are what allow us to see people using invisibility devices, like Nirriti."  Sam paused as if waiting for questions, "Okay."  As Sam nodded, Cassandra picked up the TERs and put on the invisibility device.  Sam and Daniel picked up their guns and strategically moved out into the base.  Try to image for a moment, a 13-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy in baggy army drab, militarily signaling to each other, watching each other's back, moving through the halls, shooting TERs and bullets as the kids rushed to save the day.

-§-

The aliens were growing frantic and worried.  Their discovery that the girls had escaped spoiled their plans. Suddenly Ferenk shot O'Neill in the leg.

"Ow!  What was that for."  

"You refuse to cooperate!  I want control of the systems now!"  the room grew quiet as everyone watched Ferenk with awe.  

Suddenly Dr. Brightman stood up.  "I will need to go to my infirmary!"

"Why?!"

"The way to unlock the computer is there!"

"I don't believe you!"  Ferenk growled, "That makes no sense."

"Exactly!" Brightman responded.  After a moment of contemplation, Ferenk nodded.  A thug began to escort the doctor out.

"I will assist her."  Teal'c stood up suddenly to go with.  Young O'Neill watched Teal'c pathetically as he was left alone with the aliens.  

-§-

Sam motioned Daniel forward as they slowly moved around a corner.  Suddenly, at the sound of footsteps, little Danny pushed Sam into a closet.

“Hey!”

“Shh!”  Daniel shoved his hand in Sam’s face to quiet her.  They both watched through a crack in the door as Teal’c and Brightman were escorted by squat aliens.  After they had passed Sam pried Daniels hands from her face disgusted.  He rolled his eyes annoyed at her immaturity.

“This is ridiculous!”  Daniel whined, “There must be another way to get to Jack.”

Sam’s eyes went distant, “I have an idea.”

Sam walks out in the middle of the corridor to where two aliens guarded the door into the next section.  

“Hey!  What are you doing out?”  The shorter of the two aliens pointed his gun at the teen-age girls.

Her eyebrows raised with worry, her lower lip started to tremble, and her eyes got big and watery.  “What is it girl?  What’s the matter with you?”

“I want to see my father.”  She cried.  

“What?”

“I want to see my FATHER!”

The aliens looked at each other, back at her.

“I want to see my father!”  She screamed.

The aliens pointed their guns at her and whispered to each other, “What should we do?”

“I want to see my Father NOW!!”  She yelled.

The guards looked confused.

“Now!”  She stomped her foot.  “I want to see him now!”

The guards looked at each other again.

“Now!  Now now now now now now now now...”

“Alright!”  A guard said over her yell.

“...Now now now now now now now now...”

“Which one’s her father?”  The alien yelled at the other.  

“...Now now now now now now now now...”

“I suppose we should just guess and hope we get lucky” He yelled back.

“...Now now now now now now now now...”

-§-

"Now!"  Ferenk turned to O'Neill who was trying to comfort his poor leg, "Once again, unlock the computer and show me how to use your system."  Jack stared down the gun being pointed at him.  

"Perhaps this will change his mind!"  An alien voice came into the control room.  He brought with him a struggling, captured, teen Carter.

"Carter!"  O'Neill jumped out of his seat at the sight of the beat up, capture girl.  Sam broke out of the alien’s arms and ran to O’Neill and hugged him, “Dad!”

Commercial Break

Ferenk didn't like O'Neill and Sam’s sudden movements. He pointed his gun at both Sam and Jack.

“‘Dad?’” Ferenk ask skeptical.  Sam gave O’Neill a worried look.  "Aren't you a little young to have a daughter this old?"  Ferenk questioned.

"What can I say,"  O'Neill shrugged, "I married young."

"You call your daughter 'Carter'?"

"That's her name,"  the general explained, "Carter Picard."  Carter tried to hide her smirk.  Jack continued, "Please, sir, if you let her go, I will let you into the system."

Ferenk growled.  “I don’t believe you.”  He pulled the girl away from the young adult.  The other aliens in the room took aim at O’Neill.  The leader held Sam firmly in his grip.  He took a pointy device out of his pocket and aimed it at Sam.  "Enough with this ‘breaking the code’... you know the code, you just lie!"  The alien sneered.

"No, really..." Jack, tried to sound convincing and serious, but before he could say much more, Ferenk had stabbed the object into Sam's shoulder.  The device sent some sort of shock through her body.  She screamed as her body recoiled with pain.

Jack unconsciously lurched to help her, but the other aliens reminded him of their guns. Jack stood there, helpless, but to watch her be tortured.   He looked weak with concern.  Ferenk pulled the device out.  Sam, looked pathetically up at her superior officer.

"Ahhh,"  Ferenk seemed pleased, “She does seem to mean a lot to you.  Perhaps she really is your daughter.  Perhaps you are capable of telling the truth. Now, show me the system!"  He threatened Sam with the device again.

"Ok, ok,"  he said hesitantly, "I really do need a minute to break this complicated..."

“You lie!”  The alien yelled as he stabbed the device into her shoulder again.  She screamed as her shoulder began to bleed.

O’Neill looked like her pain caused him to hurt in the pit of his stomach.  "Please!"  O'Neill begged.  Sam's eyes shot open with surprise.  "Alright, leave her alone, I'll do whatever you want."  He sounded serious, to the alien, and to Sam.  Sam's eyes begged him not to do it.  

-§-

"We'll need to get those lab results," Brightman told Teal'c as they entered the infirmary.  She said that as she would any other day she had a gun pointed to her back.  

The alien guards sneered ignorantly, "Why do you need lab tests to fix a computer?"

"I need to test the blood samples and determine the exponential rate of growth," Dr. Brightman said knowingly.  

"Oh, ok."  The aliens agreed.

While the aliens had their attention drawn toward Brightman, Teal'c sixth sense detected something mysterious in the room.  He covertly moved to the mysterious table, where he felt himself being handed a gun by a small freckled hand.

-§-

Finally Ferenk was convinced.  He let sam go.  As soon as Sam was released, she ran to O'Neill and hugged him.

She said nothing as she hugged him, tears welling up in the eyes of the teen.  O'Neill responded comforting his 'daughter', "It's ok.  Everything's going to turn out alright, you'll see."  Jack and Sam looked at each other.  Their gaze held, Sam blushed, Jack smiled.  

Ferenk coughed.  "Now..."  he held up the sharp device warningly, "The computer!"  

O'Neill looked at Ferenk menacingly, but for only a moment.  "Ok."

He sat down at the computer, typed in his Brigadier General's code that override Sam's Lieutenant Colonel's code.  

Ferenk smiled creepily, “Now... show me how to use it!”

“Oh, see,” Jack smiled widely, “It’s really quite simple.  We have what we like to call a ReadMe.”  O’Neill pointed out the text file to the alien leader.  

But the alien did not seem impressed.  He growled and said, “Show me!  Show me how to use it.”  He waved his gun higher.

“You mean...”  O’Neill asked shocked.  “That you can’t read English?”  There was a pause.  “But you speak it.”

-§-

Meanwhile, on a desert alien mining planet, Siler took a break and stood on a rock.  Walter grumbled at his lazy co-worker, and knocked him off the rock with his shovel.

-§-

“I’ll tell you what,” O’Neill stood up from the computer and motioned Sam to the chair.  “I’ll have my daughter type while I explain to you what she’s doing.”  Ferenk looked confused and emphasized his gun he was holding.  O’Neill explained, “She types faster than me...”  Ferenk didn’t look convinced, “You know, kids and computers these days...”

As O’Neill shrugged, Sam was already whizzing through the system, she was doing alright, despite the fact that she had a bleeding shoulder.  “Now, see, what she’s doing?”  O’Neill spoke to Ferenk, “This is how we use the Stargate.  She’s loading up the dialing protocols of the...mainframe harddrive software...filibuster.”  Sam smirked, but didn’t let Jack’s technobabble nonsense slow her typing. There was a pause as O’Neill tried to figure out what to say next.  “You do know what a dialing program is, don’t you?”  O’Neill turned to the alien.

Ferenk hesitated, “...Of course!  Continue!”

Sam initiated the dialing sequence.  While the chevrons were locking, Sam opened another window having to do with base security.  Jack tried to keep up.  “See, what you need to do next, is while the gate dials, you need to set up your linear... binary output of the...Dell.”  While he spoke, he automatically tore some fabric from his sleeve and pressed it to Sam’s bleeding shoulder.  She winced in pain, but tried to focus on the task.

Sam opened another window for communication transmission.  Since the alien couldn’t read, Carter typed up a message, right in front of him, that she intended to send to the Alpha Site.  

“See, now, we have this really cool feature here, see?  We can send communications through the gate.  Now, pay attention to how to do this.  See this way we can go explore new worlds and new civilizations...” Sam smiled as she typed away.  Jack smiled to see her smile.  “And we can send them a message before coming through, like, ‘This is Captain Jean-Luke Picard of the USS Enterprise of the United Federation of... Earth... Would you like to know more?’  It’s good to send messages like that, you know, like ‘We come in Peace’...”   

Of course the message Sam really sent was more like, “Foothold situation, send reinforcements, bring TERs.”

The gate finished dialing, the wormhole established, the message was sent.  

“See?”  O’Neill smiled, “Isn’t that great?”

Ferenk looked at the wormhole, to the computer, back, and then at O’Neill.  Slowly, realization came to his face.  “Wait a minute... what did you do?  What did you do?  Shut it down.  Shut it down!”

Sam quickly shut down the gate.  O’Neill tried to cooperate.  “We didn’t do anything... we just showed you...”

Ferenk suddenly stabbed the sharp device into O’Neill’s arm.  He screamed as electricity shot through his body.

“Sir!”  Carter leaped out of her seat and tried to help her superior officer.

“I don’t believe you...”  Ferenk growled, he pointed his gun at O’Neill, who had dropped to the floor, and Carter, who was tried to help him, “you lie!  Like, why does your ‘daughter’ call you ‘sir’?”

O’Neill groaned, “Don’t your children have any respect for their elders?”

When Ferenk realized that young adult O’Neill was going to continue to be incooperative, he grabbed Sam, pulled her away from Jack and threatened her with the sharp device, “Do as I say!”

O’Neill started to get up, he looked like he was going to spring for Sam, but the alien thugs in the room moved close to him, reminding him of their guns.  “Okay....”  He painfully started to get up.

“Now!”  Ferenk yelled as he stabbed the torture device into Sam’s arm.  She screamed, O’Neill looked like it took all of his energy just to keep his knees from crumbling at the sight of Sam’s torture.

Suddenly the door burst open.  In charged invulnerable Teal’c blasting the thugs in the room down before they could blink. Danny rolled in, dodging to the side, Brightman did the same for the other way.  The three took out the other aliens and surrounded Ferenk who held Sam hostage.  Ferenk held Sam warningly.  They stared each other down for a little while before Teal’c got sick of it, used his great aim, missed Sam and hit Ferenk in the shoulder.  Ferenk released his grip on Sam, screaming.  Jack moved to help support the injured teen.

Ferenk growled, “You won’t get away with this.”  He pulled out a comm device, “reinforcements to the control room!”

Swarms of aliens came into the control room.  Teal’c, Brightman and Danny were forced to drop their guns.  There was a tense standstill.  Suddenly, the Stargate activated.  All the aliens’ attentions were drawn to the window.  Over an comm came an alien’s voice, “Sir!  They’ve broken through.  They’ve sent an army from the surface!”  The aliens knew the fight was over when an army started filling through the Stargate.

-§-

Back in the infirmary, Brightman tended to Carter and O’Neill’s wounds when Teal’c entered the room.

“Well...”  Dr. Brightman broke the silence. “That was exciting.”

“Indeed.”  Teal’c said.

“I have a question.”  O’Neill said suddenly, “Why don’t we put TER’s in the gateroom?”

Teal’c and Brightman looked at him confused.  Carter looked excited by a new idea.

“You know,” O’Neill said. “Those things that let us see invisible... things...”  He looked for signs of understanding from the others, “We should put those by the gate.”

Young Sam’s face turned to her trademark look of discovery and design, “We can connect the devices and attach them to the computer so they automatically send out pulses when...”

“Carter!”  Jack stopped her, “...my shoulder hurts.”

Just then a voice, a young but deep voice, came in through the hallway, “I just received word that they finished putting the remaining aliens to work in their own slave labor force...”  Daniel looked up when he entered the room to realize everyone was looking at him.

“Danny!”  O’Neill declared proudly, “You hit puberty!”

“Yes... a stage of my life I was hoping not to repeat....”  His eyes darted.  Sam cocked an eyebrow at him approvingly.  The general caught glimpse of it and frowned.

He cleared his throat, “Yes, um, I think I’m going gray... is there anything...”  He was afraid to ask.

“I’ve been working on some theories,” The doctor started, “and I think the only solution lies with the fountain of youth...”

“You mean, the device that did this to us... in the first place?”  Daniel’s voice cracked.

Sam’s eyes widened.  “I see, if we could calculate the rate of our aging as compared with the devices initial de-aging, we might be able to calculate the exact time we should activate the device again, and in a sense, counteract it’s own original purpose...”

“So...”  O’Neill started, “could this be counteracted, say, now, while I still have color in my hair?”  

“No sir,” Carter explained, “We’d have to do it when we are our exact original age, or else the counter effect of what the device did to us at first would not be balanced...”

Immediately the two girls sat down together, excited, trying to do the math, theories and calculations.

Daniel and Teal’c left the room.  O’Neill paused to watch the girls who were so excited about calculations and science before he too left.

-§-

Later, in the commissary, adult Daniel sat down at the table Carter was already eating at.  “Well, I think I have a couple of younger officers to go beat up now... for treating me like I was two...”

Sam smiled, “Well, I hear that we’ve actually met the government of the world with the device on it... their starting talks.  I think they’ll put off mentioning out little...mishap for a while.”

Daniel laughed.  Cassandra came running into the cafeteria.  “Sam!  Oh no, you’re older than me again.”  They laughed.  

Sam smiled, “Does that mean things would have been different between us if I was still young?”  

Cassie smiled, “No.”  They hugged.  Cassandra ran to grab some jello.  Teal’c and O’Neill wandered in.  

“Well!”  O’Neill said confidently, “I feel no different!”

The SG-1ers just glanced at each other.  Daniel stood up, pulled a chair out for O’Neill and offered it to him.

“Be careful, Dad...”  Sam teased, “You might not be able to get back up again.”  O’Neill just sneered at her as he sat down.