Sam folded her arms over her chest. "That isn't good enough. I need answers!"

Rodney shrugged. "Without the 306 to examine we have no idea what went wrong! It's like trying to fix a toaster from 3000 lightyears away! Impossible!"

"I thought for you impossible only takes a few minutes?" She raised her brows.

"Yes, okay, so I might have said that ... at some point. But I'm serious, we have nothing to tell us what happened! All we do know is that he vanished. It can't be done!"

"He vanished after he entered the hyperspace window, Rodney, that certainly can tell you something!"

"Fine, fine, I'll go back and take a look at the data we received from the computer before he vanished." He turned and stomped from the room.

She dropped into the chair behind her desk with a sigh. They needed Colonel Hughes back. The IOA was all over this. They wanted answers. Most of all they wanted to make certain he hadn't been captured and compromised. Dr. Walsh and Captain Kain seemed to be in her office every five minutes asking for news. They had both moved onto the base so they could be here if there were any developments. The radio equipment had been moved from RBA to here so it could be monitored around the clock by SGC personnel. Van and Lee took most of the shifts. Dr. Grayson had to order them to take a break and get some sleep on more than one occasion since the Colonel's disappearance six days ago. Neither paid attention to the doctor.

Van looked up at Lee. "Go fish."

"Dammit, I was certain you had some threes in your hand." She took a card from the pile in the center of the table.

"Uh ... you have any jacks?" he asked.

"How do you do that?" She handed over the cards.

"I have a good memory."

They went back and forth for several minutes before Van won. For the eighteenth time in a row.

"Why don't we play something else?" Lee grumbled. "Like poker."

Van snorted. "I'm not an idiot, I don't want to lose my paychecks for the next six months."

"I'm offended that you think I'd take you for that much." She placed a hand over her heart and affected a wounded look. "You're the one who cheats, Mr. I Have A Good Memory."

Van chuckled, stacked the cards and shuffled them. "So now what?"

Her eyes went to the radio. "More waiting."

Van deftly shuffled the cards, cut them, and shuffled them again. He carefully squared the deck so it was all even. "Do you think he's going to come back?"

"Come on, you know Mal, he'll do everything possible to get back here."

Van looked up at her. "Unless he's dead. The hyperspace drive could have malfunctioned and shut down mid-transport."

"Van, stop trying to rationalize his death. Mal is alive and he'll come back."

A small smile touched his lips. "You didn't call him Colonel."

She rolled her eyes. "He isn't here, dork, I don't think it matters. He'll be back, Van. He'll be back."

Van nodded and began dealing cards. "Five card draw, kings wild."

She laughed. "All right, but we aren't betting cash, I don't want to be accused of fleecing you!"

Mal glared at Dr. McKay. "I fed you twenty minutes ago!"

"I'm not a cat, you can't shove a bowl at me twice a day and leave it at that. I need a massive amount of calories. Intelligence burns calories! If you want me to figure this out then feed me!"

Mal grumbled. "Fine, I'll go to the store. Do you need anything else while I'm out?"

"Let me think about that," he said, paused and sent Mal a glare. "Yeah, how about you let me leave and get on with my life?"

"Not until I can get home and get on with my life!"

Rodney muttered beneath his breath then looked at Mal. "Fine then, find me some help. Intelligent help that understands more than the basics of science! I can't do this alone."

"The great Dr. McKay needs help? Never thought I'd hear that."

"Just find someone!"

Mal waved as he left the hanger. He had no fear that Dr. McKay would run off while he was gone. He was too fascinated by the 306 to leave, despite his grumpy attitude. He climbed into the Jeep and left the base. The guards had backed off once they'd seen Rodney. He'd signed autographs, smiled and posed for pictures and told them he'd been brought in to examine the plane. Since he was an international television star they couldn't fathom that he'd lie about having permission to look at the 306.

"Right, who do I get to come to help?" His fingers drummed the steering wheel as he waited for the stoplight to change. He sat up straighter in his seat. "Lee's brother!" Oliver wasn't exactly happy with him in this time and place, but he was a scientist at heart. He'd come. He found a grocery store and stocked up on food then went to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex and stared at the gate. He couldn't wander back onto base after he slipped off of it. Vala, despite her laid back attitude, would throw him in the brig and leave him there to rot. How could he get to Oliver? In his world Oliver resided on Atlantis. The gate opened and a vehicle pulled out, paused, then turned out of the driveway.

Mal grinned. "Thanks for the help, Oliver." He pulled away from his surveillance spot, made a u-turn and followed Oliver's car to a diner half an hour's drive from the base. He watched Oliver park and head inside. He followed him in.

As he slipped into the booth across from Oliver he grinned. "Hello, Dr. Kain."

Oliver glowered. "Go away, I don't want to talk to you."

"Come on, that's not nice. I need your help to get home."

"I don't find you the least bit comical. My sister is probably dead and you keep up this charade that you're from some other dimension or whatever."

"Another reality. Which, by the way, you agreed was probably what happened."

Oliver grumbled.

"Come on, I know you want your sister back and if I could bring her to you then I would." He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and slid it across the table to him. "This is all the information I have from my reality about the Alliance and what happened on the mission your sister didn't come back from." He tapped a finger on the paper. "This is what happened to my team. In my reality, Lee is alive and well."

Oliver stared at the paper. "You're sure?"

Mal grinned at him. "She was very upset that she couldn't join me on the test flight. I'm sorry now that I didn't argue for her participation, perhaps if I had you'd believe me." He sighed. "Come with me and take a look at the ship, if you decide I'm still a lunatic then you can leave and Dr. McKay can continue working on it by himself."

"Dr. Rodney McKay? The Dr. Rodney McKay? Rodney McKay who hosts Science for Idiots?"

"Yes, that Rodney McKay."

Oliver slid from the booth. "Why didn't you say so? Let's go."

The waitress appeared with a smile. "What can I get you, gentlemen?"

"Nothing, just remembered a very important meeting, sorry!" Oliver gestured toward the door. "Let's go, Colonel!"

Mal slipped from the booth with a chuckle and followed Oliver to the door. "We can take my Jeep. Unless you want to follow me."

"I'll follow you. No offense but I want the option to make a getaway."

Mal laughed. "No offense taken." He left Oliver standing beside his car and went to climb into the Jeep. Once Oliver was settled in his car, Mal led the way back to the base and the hangar. "I'm back. I brought food and help!"

Oliver hurried past him over to the ship. "Whoa, what is this thing?"

"It's the X-306. A fighter ship that's capable of interstellar travel. At least it's supposed to be. Something went wrong when I engaged the hyperdrive and the window opened. I jumped but not to where I was supposed to. I ended up here instead," Mal told him.

"Wait, are you saying this is a spaceship?" Oliver stared up at the sleek black craft.

"Yes, it is."

"Whoa."

"Yes, so fascinating. Where's my food?" Rodney snapped.

"Relax, I'll bring the groceries in." Mal left them to talk science and returned a few minutes later lugging a dozen or so grocery bags. He set them on the little coffee table in the corner that sat in front of a battered sofa and recliner that the guards had scrounged for them when Rodney told them he wanted to work around the clock and he wasn't going to leave until he studied the entire ship. Two small refrigerators they'd taken from a couple of unused offices sat against the wall, along with a microwave, coffee maker, and a hot plate. He began putting away the groceries.

Rodney wandered over and began rummaging in the bags. He released a shriek and jumped away from the bag he'd been going through. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Mal glanced into the bag. "Uh, no, why?"

"Dr. McKay is allergic to citrus," Oliver called out. "Everyone knows that!"

"Well I didn't know." He yanked the bag of oranges from the grocery bag and set them on top of one of the minifridges. "Relax."

"Relax? I'm highly allergic. Like death level allergic," Rodney told him.

"Right, I'll remember that from now on. It might have been nice if you informed me of your allergy."

"Everyone knows!" Rodney shouted.

"Obviously not everyone!" Mal retorted. "Have your snack and get back to work."

"Hey, is this wire supposed to be here?" Oliver yelled.

Rodney spun. "You took off the panel! Don't touch anything that's a delicate machine!" He rushed over to where Oliver stood beside an open panel on the side of the ship, a wire held between his thumb and index finger. "You're going to mess something up!"

"How do you expect to fix it if you don't actually look at the internal workings?" Oliver asked.

"It's a process, all right? I have to inspect each element and figure out what it does before I can break it down. It's important!" Rodney insisted.

"Or you could just start messing with things and see what happens," Oliver replied.

"No!" Rodney shouted. "That isn't how I do things!"

Oliver yanked the wire he was holding. It came loose with only a small amount of resistance and he arched a brow at Rodney. "A little loose to be important, don't you agree?" He peered into the opened panel. "It was attached here but I don't think it was meant to be here. Look."

Rodney stepped closer and looked at the panel. "This isn't good."

Oliver prodded the assembly. "It looks unfinished."

"Why?" Mal asked from where he stopped several feet behind them.

"It's an extra wire. One that appears as if it isn't supposed to even be in this component." Rodney frowned and leaned closer. "He's right, this looks unfinished."

"Okay, Doc, then how did it get there?"

"No idea. Maybe it was supposed to go to something then we changed the plans and the wire was never removed. That would explain why this looks unfinished. If the plans were changed and a component removed it would leave a space that wasn't supposed to be there. The wire might have been missed when the piece was removed. It could have caused a short circuit. Tell me exactly what happened when you activated the hyperspace drive. Exactly. Do not leave out a single detail," Rodnye told him.

"All right. I did my preflight check on the ground, everything was good so I got the all clear to take off. Once I was in space I checked in with flight control on the ground and let them know I spotted the Helios."

"Helios?" Rodney asked.

"Yes, it's one of our big interstellar ships."

"You have interstellar ships?" Rodney asked with a frown.

"Yes, don't you?"

"No, after the war with the Wraith ended no one saw a point in building more. Go on, what else do you remember?" Rodney waved a hand at him to continue.

"I entered the hyperspace window and electricity crackled along the outside of the ship. I traveled here somehow. I ended up at the same point in space I left from, but I was no longer home, I was here."

"Electricity? You're certain?"

"Yes, I thought it was a side effect of the stronger hyperspace drive."

"No, I don't think so." He spun away. "Come help me!" He motioned Oliver over and began shouting orders that made no sense to him, whatever Rodney was saying Oliver understood because he began scurrying around grabbing tools for Rodney. He left them to their work.

He needed to get home. There was no telling what they thought happened back in his reality. For all he knew they believed he was dead and no one was even looking for him.