It’s her, but at the same time, it’s not. Major Samantha Carter stares at Doctor Samantha Carter in fascination. As much as they might look a lot alike, if you disregard the hair, they’re not, thanks to completely different life experiences, in different… realities, she supposes. Both are indisputably real, but they clearly differ in significant ways. It’s not just that this other version of herself never joined the military.

In a way, Sam kind of envies her other self. Because Dr Carter isn’t military, there was nothing to get in the way of her developing a relationship with her reality’s version of Jack O’Neill, something that would be against protocol in her own reality. They were married, ‘were’ being the operative word since Dr Carter is also recently widowed due to the Goa’uld attack on her earth. An attack that was defeated on this earth, thanks to Daniel finding himself on an alternate earth a few months ago.

Okay, perhaps she’s not quite so envious after all. To love and then to lose, and to not even have time to grieve because you’re desperately trying to find a way to save your entire planet… No, she wouldn’t want to be in Dr Carter’s place.

But she will help, in any way she can. She’ll work alongside this other version of herself, help her to contact the Asgard in her own reality. Maybe this other earth can still be saved. The idea of defeating the Goa’uld in another universe has a certain appeal.

She’s only sorry that no matter what they do, even if they succeed in saving Dr Carter’s world, there’s no way to restore her Jack to life. But maybe they can ease her other self’s pain just a little if her husband’s life wasn’t sacrificed in vain.


The End