Young Writers Society

In the midst of the panic and the waves of fearful confusion, James was surprised when he heard the disoriented man lie about his name. What did the man have to lie about? Was the man just paranoid, or did he freeze himself in the pod to hide from something or someone? James furrowed his brows.

For whatever reason, focusing on the identity of the man before him started to calm him, and he stood up straight, observing Kalen closely.

"Lying to us isn't a good first impression," he said softly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kalen said, glancing over at James. He must have been a diplomat - though Maahes had obviously idolized them as a childhood, they tended to be some of the best liars among the Alterans.

Maahes took a step forward. Kalen didn't look particularly threatening, so letting the lie go unchallenged didn't seem like a horrible plan. The last thing he wanted to do was make Kalen uncomfortable. He was the last link he had to the culture of his childhood, and he didn't want to seem like a horrible person in his eyes.

Maahes looked between James and Kalen, then awkwardly cleared his throat. "We're not from this planet," Maahes informed Kalen. "We just came to help with checking out these ruins, but there's a small city nearby we could go to. I'm sure they'd love to talk to you."

Kalen ran his fingers through his hair. "That sounds like a good way for me to learn about the present day." He paused. "H-how long has it been?"

Maahes hesitated.

Kalen continued to stare expectantly at him.

"It's been 20,000 years," he quietly said.

Kalen went pale.

"I'm sorry," he added, though he knew no amount of apologies could ever make up for what Kalen had just lost.

James furrowed his brows and looked to the floor when he saw the look on Kalen's face when he was told how long he was in the pod. Even he was shocked to hear the number, not having figured out just how long he was in there until Maahes said it out loud.

He felt a pang of guilt for antagonizing Kalen right after he'd woken up. The man had woken up in a completely different time and reality. That wasn't easy to jump into, and he had no more to say than Maahes did on the matter.

He was sorry too, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Kalen said something, but his voice was too quiet for Maahes to understand what had been said. When neither James or Maahes appeared to have heard it, Kalen repeated his question - though it was barely louder than before. "Did we-did we win?" he asked, looking between Maahes and James for an answer Maahes realized he simply couldn't give. "Did we defeat the Ori?"

Maahes felt a pang of guilt in his essence.

"I don't-I don't know a lot about what happened back then," Maahes said. "You might have, for a time. But the Ori are back, and..." He felt horrible for telling him this when he already seemed to be dealing with so much, but he couldn't avoid telling him the truth. He needed to know. "They're taking over worlds, but I think it's going much slower than before."

Kalen stared blankly at him. Maahes knew that he had understood what had been said; it was just too much for the man to handle. Maahes gave a worried look over in James's direction and slowly began to lead Kalen towards the door. It wasn't good to be stuck in this dark and old place while receiving all of this horrible news - a little bit of sunshine would make him feel at least slightly better.

James wished he could say something, but had no knowledge of the situation to contribute, so he followed quietly, watching over Maahes and Kalen with a worried gaze.

After they left the ruins, it quickly became apparent that being outdoors was doing little to improve Kalen's mood - he still looked like he was on the verge of tears. Maahes guessed he would have cried if he had been alone, and he knew from experience that letting out your emotions was the best way to handle something overwhelming.

He took Kalen and James back into the town. The archeologist was ecstatic when he explained just who Kalen was, but Kalen barely said anything during her seemingly endless stream of questions about Alteran culture. Maahes eventually cut her off and gently suggested that they get him a room like she had gotten for him prior to their arrival, and she hurried off. It only took a short period of time for her to return with the keys to a room in the nearest hotel/inn, and they left Kalen there before returning to the streets of the town.

Maahes looked over at James.

"I'm sorry for overwhelming you so much," he apologized, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "It's usually not as bad as this. Most archeological excavations just involve me looking at old artifacts and literature and translating it for people. It doesn't ever involve finding an Alteran in a pod..."

James looked up at Maahes with a weak grin. It was true that he was overwhelmed, but he was at the point where everything was beginning to bounce off his brain and nothing was sinking in anymore. He didn't think he could take on any more new information.

"It's okay... I'm just glad that of all things, I found myself in your ship," he said with a nod towards Maahes. "I don't know if it's even worth asking why at this point."

He gave a small nod in agreement. Like he had guessed from the way that James had been acting, his friend was overwhelmed - if he was the one from a world like Nye and had ended up somewhere like this reality, he would have likely been just as overwhelmed by everything going on.

"So do you remember what happened last?" Maahes gently asked, not wanting to further overwhelm James. "I don't think it was something on my part. I was just sitting up in the front of my ship."

"I was just-" James paused, and stared out into the space ahead of him with a focused look as he tried to recall.

"I was asleep," he said quietly. "I was working with cowboys. Herding cattle. I was by the fire, sleeping my shift. I woke to the sudden change in atmosphere. Soon as I felt it I was awake. That's all I remember."

That certainly wasn't what he had expected. Maybe it was because he had been so used to James being on the run from something or someone, but he had been convinced that James was probably hiding out to avoid capture from some bounty hunter.

"Okay," he said, giving a nod. That didn't help him that much in figuring out what was going on, but at least it was a start. "Maybe Sam could help figure out a way to get back home? She's great at technology."

James looked at Maahes blankly. "Who's... Sam?"

"Sam is Samantha Carter," Maahes said, a smile starting to stretch from one side of his face to the other. He had forgotten that James hadn't met her! She had only just rejoined their team - making it an awkward six, but they worked well together, so no one objected to it. "She used to be a member of the original SG-1, but left for a short time. She just joined two weeks ago. She's really cool. From what I've heard, she's the one who figured out how to run an artificial system to replace a dialing device!"

James didn't know what that meant, but he found himself grinning simply because of Maahes's smile and enthusiasm.

"Ah. Well, I'd be honored to meet her, then."

"She's amazing," Maahes agreed with a nod of his head. Then he turned his attention back to the street, looking around for some sort of idea for what they could talk about next. When nothing really stuck out at him, he turned and looked over at James. "Is there anything you want to do while we wait for Kalen to settle in? I'm okay with talking more if you want to, but I don't want to bore you." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke.

"It's not boring," James said with a small shake of his head. "I just wish I could more easily understand the uh, things of your world. Even now having seen them, it feels very foreign."