10 JUNE 1940

OFF THE FLORIDA KEYS

He could not stop laughing. He also had a problem with wiping that huge, kid like, grin off of his face. Indy found it somewhat annoying so he finally asked, “what’s your problem?”

Cameron Mitchell snickered, “oh nothing much Jones. It’s just that when I joined Stargate Command, the last place I ever saw myself winding up was fishing off the back of Earnest Hemmingway’s yacht.”

That was disturbing to Indy on so many levels. He actually had to ask, “are you telling me that, in the future, people know who Ernie is? He‘s, famous?”

“Oh,” Cam perked up even more, “hell yeah. He’s considered like the most definitive American writer or something like that. I mean I never personally read any of his stuff but, I remember seeing his daughter in that movie when I was ten. Oh man was she…”

Indy interrupted him at that point. He really didn’t want to know any more. He also did not bother to vocalize his thought, which was, this news was more than enough reason to want to change the time line. Indy settled on changing the subject, “it’s gone too far now Mitchell. We can’t stop it.”

Cam dropped his giggling and became sour, “you just had to ruin it, didn’t you? OK, yeah Jones, I don’t see how we’re going to put the cork back in the bottle. I mean, unless you can figure out a way to get the French to surrender to the Germans now that the war is over. Course, I got a feeling that might not be as hard as it sounds.”

Indy felt a tug at his reel but it proved to be false. He eased back down in his chair and replied, “I’m not talking about the world in general. I just mean the little project that FDR has cooked up. If everything else is as screwed up as you claim it to be…”

“Wait a minute here Jones,” Cam became offended. He reached over and poked the guy in the arm, “ever since I had the displeasure of needing your help, has anything I’ve told you turned out wrong?”

Indy did not skip a beat in answering, “you mean like that little bit about World War Two ending in 1945?”

That completely stumped Cam. He suddenly realized how that just might look. Then he rallied back with, “did, or did not, the Nazi’s invade Poland when I said they would?”

Indy looked away from his reel and lifted his sun glasses as he leaned over and accusingly replied, “which could make you nothing more than a high level Nazi that leaked the info to gain my trust.”

Cam was stunned. He sat there gaping as his eyes wandered off to one side. Then he snapped back in a perky kind of way, “point.” He then sighed as he sunk back in his chair, “but you know I’m not.”

“Course I do,” Indy told him. He had no great love for Nazi’s and with good reason. “If I had thought that, Mitchell, I would have killed you a long time ago. Besides, no Nazi agent would have been as sloppy as you were.”

“Hey!” Cam grumbled, “you know, if you had come along like I told you, then, we might not have had those problems when Achilles got to Boston.”

Indy leaned over again and pointed to himself as he replied, “and somebody had to be waiting on you to clean up your mess. You never said anything about a big hole in the side of that ship.”

Cam became even more frustrated, “well how was I supposed to know that would happen! Besides…”

Kathy Langford came walking down from the open bridge. She had been trying to sun bathe but, she could no longer ignore the bickering. Both men shut up when she settled in between their chairs. Then she dropped her pleasant demeanor and added a little bickering of her own, “you two take the cake, do you know that? I’m not even going to mention that you’re squandering the work that my father devoted his entire life too. I’m just going to mention that you two literally have the entire world sitting in the balance and all you can do is squabble like a couple of school boys.”

Cameron was the first to pout, “he won’t let me forget about one little hole, in one old rust bucket, that I didn’t even put there. All the while he, ole MacGyver the World War Two Generation, went and sank a whole ship with a bullwhip, a signal flare, and a number two pencil.”

Kathy was not sure she really believed that. She gave Jones a questioning glance and he defended himself, “he’s exaggerating. It wasn’t a ship. It was a U-boat.” At that point Kathy decided she did not want to know.

Instead of dragging it out Kathy quickly changed the subject, “guys, why don’t we forget about what we can’t do and concentrate on what we can? Does that sound more like a plan?” Neither man commented so she went on, “how long before you think they can turn the ring on?”

Indy, “a few months.”

Cam, “never.”

Kathy sighed. She slapped her forehead and then decided to ask Mitchell the next question, “if you don’t think they can open it then what’s the problem?”

“It’s the same thing I’ve said all along,” Mitchell continued.

Indy added, “and you’re going to tell us again I’m sure.”

Ignoring the comment, Cam continued, “you guys don’t have the computer power you need to make that gate work. We barely got it working with nineteen nineties technology.”

Kathy did not appreciate the condescension even if it might be true, “we have computers Mister Mitchell.”

“Rats in cages on wheels darlin,” he replied. Cam also had to add, “your most powerful computer couldn’t run the beta version of pong. It’d probably melt down on Facebook.”

Jones was not so convinced, “yeah but you’re the one who keeps telling us that it’s as simple dialing in the seven correct symbols. Get them in the right order with the point of origin on the end and the thing lights up like the fourth of July.”

“If you have all of the parts,” Mitchell countered, “which you guys don’t have right now. That’s why we were looking for that crystal. Speaking of which…”

“My best information is,” Indy replied, “it’s not in Poland any more. The other thing, the one that the crystal came out of…”

Cam nodded, “the DHD.”

“Yeah, Dial Home Device?” Indy just shrugged at the name, “well it’s right where you said it was only… No way we can get to it there.”

“Like I told you Jones,” Cam looked up at Kathy, “like I told your old man. We get that crystal and sit on it, and nobody is going to open that gate until they’re suppose too.”

Indy just mumbled, “so you assume.”

Kathy took off her sun glasses and looked down at Mitchell, “I still don’t get it Cam. Why not just go ahead and open it now? You keep saying that’s what we eventually do anyway. The timeline is already broken, so, why not?”

“Because my dear,” Cameron felt something tug at his line but he ignored it, “we barely survived what was out there with twenty-first century technology. I’m afraid that B-17’s and P-40’s won’t stand up to Death-gliders and Al’Kesh.”

“They might have to,” Indy said in a half mumble. When he noticed the strange looks he was getting he went ahead and said what was on his mind, “I’m afraid I don’t share your limited appraisal of our current technical prowess. They’re making damn good headway. I agree that it might have taken them decades to figure it out but, you’re selling their source a little short.”

Kathy put her hands on her hips and demanded, “who is this guy anyway? He has to be one of yours Cameron.”

“Oh,” Cam rolled his eyes, “so this is my fault too? I told you, I got a good look at him. He’s a kid. Hell, he’s a fat kid. I’d never laid eyes on him before that night and I’m pretty sure he didn’t come from the SGC.”

“Ok,” Indy replied in a thoughtful manner, “then that makes him some kind alien, right?”

When all eyes went to Cam he blew up with, “how should I know? I’m not the one on the inside here! Jones, you’re the one that is supposed to be getting all this crap, not me!”

Indy remained rather calm as he replied, “they won’t let me anywhere near him. As a matter of fact, they won’t even admit he exists. I doubt there’s even a hand full of people, even counting the top guys in the program, that know where the information is coming from.”

Kathy became very determined, “well we’ve got to find out. Any way it goes, for whatever reason, we need to know who that guy is. Indy, somebody you’re working with has to know.”

Cam leaned back and seemed quite approving of Jones being put on the spot by a spunky teenager. He added, “the lady has a point Jones. Somebody has got to be talking to him. Who would?”

“Well there is one man,” Indy said but then he dismissed the idea. When it was obvious his two conspirators wanted him to continue he did, “it’s a long shot. This guy they brought in, Trevor Grant. He’s some kind of physicists that specializes in the Einstein Rosenberg Bridge, whatever that is.”

Cam nodded, “sounds like we’re on the right track here. Put in simple terms that means wormholes.”

“Yeah but,” Indy continued, “I don’t see anybody trusting that guy, even if Einstein personally recommended him. He comes off as being a little too sleazy if you ask me.”

Cam smiled, “maybe that’s exactly the kind of guy you’d trust with a secret like that.” When he got funny looks Cam simply explained, “if he ever told anybody, who’d believe him?”

Indy nodded and replied, “all right then, what’s the plan?”