Here I also focused on working with computers. I instructed the computer of my ship to gather information about the conduct of hostilities by the Jotuns and asgards and to provide me with a daily report describing the most important events and assessing the overall balance of forces.
While I was doing research, the war between the two Replicator camps was going on with varying degree of success. Jotuns had to at every turn invent something new to compensate quantitative superiority of the enemy. But replicators over and over again learned the inventions into service, becoming deadlier, smarter and more innovative.
I also received information that a small group of replicators went to the Milky Way galaxy. I decided do nothing about it, but I began to monitor the Earthling's computers at the military base on regular basis, monitoring the mentions of the meeting with the replicators. There was no need to interfere. After all, they would to reach there anyway. Let Thor fight with them.
Passed almost two years, I've been minding my own business without being distracted by outside events of my spaceship. During this time, Jack tried to call me a couple of times, but I have not answered. In my opinion, there were no serious dangers to SG-1 or Earth.
Another call was not surprise to me, because I had been expecting it for a long time. I went to the Earth through the gate, at the same time giving the command to my ship to get there on its own.
"Greetings, mortals.” I pronounced, coming out of the portal.
“Imhotep! We've been waiting for you.” Jack O'Neill spoke to me which was in the control room.
“Well, what happened here?”
“Daniel. He was badly injured by neutron radiation.” Samantha came to me as she fled to the gate hall. “Could you help him, please?”
“Let's see.”
We moved along the corridors. I scanned the surrounding area and found that Teal'c was trying to stay out of my sight. He's storming again. In the infirmary, I found a heavily medicated debtor.
“Hi, Daniel.” I greeted him, casting a spell against eavesdropping. Now even Samantha standing a step away from me could not know what we were talking about.
“Imhotep? Welcome.”
“How are you? Have you runny nose?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Yeah, so what?”
“Nothing.” We were quiet for a while. “You're not going to heal me, are you?” Daniel understood my intentions.
“That's not required.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you remember our agreement? In the very near future you will be offered to ascend, to become a being of the higher order.”
“Oma?”
“She is. You must agree. Actually, you have no choice. Either you just die, or you die but continue to live in a different form.”
“And then? You were talking about our deal.”
"I will observe this process from a safe distance, but from within you. I'm going to put a spell on your soul that will allow me to do this trick. And you... you just have to keep quiet about it. Whatever vows you take, none of this has anything to do with me. Just keep silent, and I will pass your debt.”
“Nice.” Daniel paused for a few seconds, closing his eyes, then looked back at me. “How convenient it is. To demand payment of a debt for something that I no longer have.”
“That's not exactly true. I didn't take your wife’s life.”
“Are you saying it's fate?”
“I mean Ascendens. Your wife ascended. But she's not coming to say hello to you. You have to find out where she is and what happened to her.”
“She ascended? But why didn't she tell me?”
“Because those are the rules. You'll get to know them in due course. Well, I won't distract you from your eternal thoughts. And don't ask to subdue the pain. Unbearable suffering is the best incentive for ascension. Trust me.”
On this I removed the sound blocking spell and turned to Samantha.
“I'm afraid I can't help him. Death is inevitable. All of you are mortal, and it makes no difference whether you die, now or in a hundred years.”
“For us the difference is!” She objected.
“Not for me.” I snapped. “In due time you will realize my unearthly wisdom. In the meantime, I'll leave you.”
I walked away, nodding to Jack. He escorted me surprised look, but did not stop. I reached the hall of gates and moved to a neutral planet, where I began to wait for the arrival of my ship and developments.
While I was chatting with Daniel, I put a special spell on his mind that will allow me to perceive everything that he will perceive. I've learned enough about the ascended from the monk in the Ceb. Now I was interested in gathering information 'from the first person POV'. I suspected that in during the ascension process, part of the memory will be erased. I suspect there was answers to the question what exactly was wrong with these ascended ones.
Finally, after a couple of hours Oma Desala happened to Daniel, which began to persuade him to take... the ‘Bright Side of Power’. The essence of the proposal was simple - 'reject all doubts and trust your soul to me'. In general, it is a standard fraud of free will. Every second sectarian leader on Earth does the same. Moreover, this is related to the sheep butchers that going to butch another beast to skewers.
And now, after a few hours of brainwashing ascension process started. Oma imbued Daniel’s astral body with her energy, after which he dutifully followed her. Together they reached Keeper of the Gate already known to me, and she gave to this creature almost unconscious soul of the applicant. It licked the defenseless soul, grunted, and then dragged him into its lair, named the Maze of Ascension.
Daniel didn’t memorize further events, but I could see what had happened. Keeper of the Gate injected various information structures into Daniels mind. They didn't restrict his free will, but constantly followed up reporting on the violation of various rules and regulations.
The last part of the procedure completely opened my eyes to the essence of what is happening. A special brand was placed on the soul of the ascended. In fact, the stigma. Even my little knowledge was enough to know that getting rid of this thing would be very difficult, may be impossible. Even with an endless supply of Bahion I would have to refuse a launch of operation for the amputation of this brand. In addition, this label was cleverly hidden so that if you do not know where to look, you just do not pay attention to it. And if you know, then it began to shine like a holographic sticker.
In the end, the unconscious soul of Daniel was kicked to the right dimension of existence, where he came to himself a couple of hours later. His sponsor immediately took in turnover, and began to ‘rub’ him about the extraordinary importance of his mission in maintaining order in the Universe. I did not listen to this nonsense, but focused back on the material world.
I went back to the Earth through the gate, where I had met the leftovers of the team SG-1.
“Well, you were convinced that I was right? I asked them.
“Did you know this was gonna happen?” Samantha answered question to question.
“Whom are you asking?” I followed her Jewish habit. “Do you forgot that I'm the God of knowledge?”
“Can you tell us what's going on with Daniel?”
"Do you consider yourself ready to meddle in the Affairs of the Gods?"
“He became God?”
“What else could he became?”
“I do not know... So I am asking.” She confusedly admitted her defeat in the competition for the title of the most Jewish Jew.
“I'll tell you this. Who born to crawl, can not fly. You need to focus on your three-dimensional world. On what you can change here and now. And the questions of the higher empyreans should be left to those who understand this. For example - to me. In general, your understandings is similar to how pigs understand in orange tastes.”
“Your remarks are offensive.” General Hammond said angrily.
“The truth is not offended.” I shrugged. “Less you are interested in these issues, the longer you will live. If the gods wanted you to know something about it, then they would have come and told you. But instead, they are smashing different metaphysical nonsense, the only purpose of which is to mislead you. And God forbid they find out that you know what you're not supposed to know. In general, in simple words, eat what they give and do not grunt, or the butcher will come and butch you to sausage.”
Such a rebuff drived surrounding in state of stupor. I looked around the audience and addressed the commander of SG-1.
“Jack soon one of our common friend - the Thor will need your help. Don't forget to let me know. Because it could end up quite sad without my divine intervention.”
“Ok.” Colonel nodded accordingly.
"Well, that's all I wanted to tell you. See you soon.”
With that, I teleported to my ship, hanging in earth orbit.
Surprisingly, I didn’t wait long. The very next day through the gate Asgard Freyr showed up to earthlings, who reported the death of Thor and asked to help the Asgard scientists,that stuck on one of the planets.
According to my information, the replicators have reached a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way galaxy. There they attacked several colonies of Asgard, led by Thor. So now all the forces of the separatists were aimed at saving themselves.
As soon as Freyr left the Earth, Jack contacted me with the radio. I immediately teleported to him and followed SG-1 as Daniel's replacement. While earthlings were flying on the Goa’uld’s shuttle, my clone led my ship at a good distance behind.
As in the original story, we got to the planet, went down to its surface on the Shuttle, after this we teleported to underground base.
“Oh, people of Earth... “ Asgard greeted us as he descended the ramp. But then he saw me, stammered, and fell to the floor.
"Be careful, Heimdal! Your clone might not be able to handle such pressure.” I warned him. The scanning spell showed that this clone had been around long enough to initiate tissue necrosis processes. This biorobot clearly needed a 'brain transplant'.
“Imhotep, how did you get here?”
“I'm temporarily replacing Daniel.”
“Really. Earthlings, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Heimdal. I believe you were sent by the high Council of Asgard.
“Not exactly.” Jack replied. “I am Colonel Jack O'neill, major Carter and Teal'c. He introduced his team.
"I have heard of your deeds from the other asgards. Where's Dr. Jackson?”
“He temporarily died. Don't worry about him.” I stated the version of events.
“Imhotep... your words, as always, confusing my mind.” Asgard said.
In fact, Heimdal's soul had already received Jotun's body and was in another galaxy. Here was his last body, now being 'free floating'.
“What is this place?” Samantha asked. We were in a small circular room with several Asgard computer terminals. On the one hand along the wall was a ramp, turning into the corridor leading somewhere upstairs.
“We're a few hundred meters under ground level. It's an ancient Asgard research base.”
“The surface of the planet is uninhabitable.” Samantha continued, obviously hoping for an explanation, but Heimdal simply ignored the unspoken question.
“Goa’ulds don't know you're here?” Teal'c asked.
"They know the lab exists, but they don’t know where exactly it is.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“So why don't we get out of here before they find out.” Jack asked.
“I'm afraid that's impossible. We need to save supreme commander Thor.” As result Heimdall started epic quest.
“We thought he dead.” Samantha surprised.
“No, not dead. However, his life is in danger. He is in Goa’uld’s prison.
“How do you know Thor's alive?’
“On the basis of scanners, by which I found him on the Goa’uld’s ship.”
“Can't we teleport him from there?” Jack suggested the simplest solution.
“No. Goa’uld’s protective field do not prevent scanning, but inhibit the ability of teleportation.”
“Can you contact to Thor?”
“Yes, I can.” Heimdal agreed, something switching on remote panel.
Then Jack spoke remotely to Thor with the help of a hologram and promised to save him, even though Thor want to avoid this honor with hands and feet.
“How is he?” Samantha asked her boss.
‘Fine, unless you count the fact that he doesn't want us to save him. Plus, he said he is going to be interrogated by Anubis.”
“Thor fears that if we wait, then Goa’ulds will get our research results.” Heimdal explained.
“What were you working on?” Inquisitive major again meddled.
“He's trying to prevent his race from dying out.” I replied, interrupting Asgard. I had already downloaded all the information I needed from the local computer, and now I could focus on the conversation. "The fact is that the asgards are clones. When the body of a clone begins to collapse from old age, his mind will be copied into another clone, and the original is wasted into the scrap. And each time the quality of the copies deteriorated. At the moment, the average life time of the clone is only six months. If they do not find a solution, they all will die in just a few years.”
“That's terrible!” Samantha amazed.
“Yes, unfortunately this is the case.” Heimdal looked at me reproachfully. “We hoped that Imhotep would help us to solve this problem, but he refused.”
“Why?” Jack asked me.
"I think this knowledge should be kept secret. If only Heimdall himself will not tell you about it.”
“No, I also believe that the reason for your refusal is not a subject for discussion.” He refused to explain anything.
“That's it.” I concluded. “Let's focus on salvation of Thor.”
Next was a discussion of possible options, the results of which Jack and Teal'c had to go to the Goa’uld’s ship using the transport rings on the Shuttle using a temporary security vulnerability in that moment, when Anubis will teleport to the ship. Samantha and Heimdal had to stay at the base and help them, reporting on the movement of the enemy. The ultimate goal was the destruction of the ship’s shield generator, then Heimdall would be able to teleport Thor and the members of SG-1 to his ship.
Of course I joined the rescue team.
“Jack, I'm coming with you. While you try to save Thor, I'll distract Anubis.”
“How?” The Colonel surprised.
“I'll meet him and talk to him.”
“Are you sure it's safe?”
“Certainly. I'm a God, remember?’
“Maybe you'll kill him.” Teal'c made his offer. From the tone of his voice, he was angry to me.
“No, really. How can I? The gods do not interfere in mortal affairs unless absolutely necessary.”
“Anubis was going to destroy the Earth and take power in the galaxy.” Jaffa do not let up.
"That's what I mean. There's no reason to worry. The balance of divine powers will not be affected by this.”
“Nice. We accept your plan.” Jack concluded. "I hope Anubis thinks you're the only one on the ship." This will allow us to escape possible persecution.
Then the three of us teleported to the Shuttle, waited for the right moment, and then teleported to Goa’uld’s ship using the transport rings. Jack and Teal'c headed for the generator, and I went straight to the throne room. I pushed aside with telekinesis all jaffa I met, and those who dared to attack me, destroyed on the spot.
My 'journey' took about ten minutes. The ship was large enough and the corridors winding. While I was walking, Anubis managed to connect a device for reading information to the brain computer of Thor and began to download data from there. My movement was no secret, so I was met in the throne room not only by Anubis, but also by several dozen Jaffa, who pointed their weapons at me.
“Hey, man. How are you?” I greeted him, and flashed my eyes in the manner of Goa’ulds. Such sort of things was elementary for my vritras body.
“Who are you?” Anubis skipped introduction and immediately went to case.
I've already cast some diagnostic spells on him. Under the spacesuit was hiding ascended. That's just he was on this side of the 'invisible veil', which caused me some questions.
“I am Imhotep, God of knowledge and architecture.”
“YOUUU!!!!!” Anubis cried out in a wild rage. “Kill him.”
The Jaffas opened fire, but none of the charges reached me. My magic defense was perfect, and Goa’ulds primitive technology not going to harm me. Even if I turned off the shields, they wouldn't be able to destroy my vritras body.
“Why are you so nervous?” I asked, sending a massive spell of decay. All jaffas immediately died and fell to the floor in heaps of rotten meat.
"You were the reason why I was endlessly tortured until I could ascend.” Anubis clenched his fists in impotent rage. All of his warriors died, and he, like any guard, chosen not to participate in the battle.
“Really? When did I?”I really didn't know where or when I could have annoyed Anubis.
“When we met, you knew me as Inpu.”
“Inpu? Brother Inpu? Is that you?” I shouted in the best traditions of Indian cinema, rushing forward and hugged stunned Goa’uld in my strong arms. “I've missed you so much. Our father told me about you. You were his favorite entertainment until you ran away. I hope I can bring you back to our happy family.”
“DIE!!!!!” Anubis shouted, using some kind of ascended magic. I was thrown away a few meters, but no serious damage was done to me. Though other someone organic be on my place, he would be sprayed to bloody dust.
“I'm sorry, but I'm God. I just can't die.” I apologized. “Better you will die?”
I decided to try one of the magic spells on the ascended. I didn't want to kill him or hurt him badly, but it was a great chance to do some experiments. To my surprise, the astral body of Anubis protected by a field of unknown nature. Magic literally slipped on it, not even coming into contact with the target. That's something new. The monk, Daniel, and even Oma didn’t have such protection. We exchanged a few more attacks that were completely unsuccessful. Anubis couldn't hurt me, and I couldn't hurt him. Even magic and chakra slipping from ascended like water off a duck.
I would have continued this fascinating activity, but I was distracted by my spiritual parasite. It literally freaked out, trying to escape from prison, although for a long time quietly tolerated the presence of the ascended monk. Maybe he's hungry. I had to focus on maintaining the seal to prevent my inner beast from devouring an important piece on the game.
I decided to teleport away, but Anubis kept throwing himself at me in a fit of rage. When I got tired, I put him in a barrier based on the chakra. I couldn't hurt him with combat Jutsu, but barriers are perfectly coped with its task, and not thinking to break down.
Five seconds later, Anubis was in the invisible 'aquarium' with a side of the base square of one meter and a height of a few meters. He began to feel the obstacle with his hands, so that his actions were like some kind of pantomime.
“Stay here.” I instructed him. “and think about your disgusting behavior. Your unwarranted aggression caused me emotional distress. Besides, I don't understand how you became Anubis. Anubis was Goa’uld that lived about thousands of years ago. What do you think if I will say the real story to your allies, what would they do?”
“Who are you?” Anubis asked in response, having finally managed an outburst of anger.
“I am Imhotep, God of knowledge and architecture. Your brother.”
“No! You are not my brother. Where did you get this power?”
“You'll know a lot lore, you'll grow old faster. If I tell you the truth, I'll have to kill you.”
“You can't kill me.” Anubis replied, making another unsuccessful attempt to break the barrier.
“By the way, why? Where did you get this power?”
“Limited creatures like you not able to understand that.”
“Hey!” I was indignant. “The limited creature here is you. Look, I've limited your movements, and that's a great way to show which one of us is cooler.” The answer to me was only an irritated sniff. “Come on. If you don't answer my questions, I'll just lock you in this room for twenty years and turn off the ship's power generator. How do you like that prospect?”
“You want to know the truth?” Anubis worried, realizing his prospects. Not that I was really going to do it, but if necessary, I could easily arrange for him to have such a fate. “Okay, I'll tell you. This power was given to me by the gods. They control the lives of billions of worlds, and if you interfere with their plans, they will wipe you out!”
“Wait. Are you a game figure?”.
“What? You too?... So that's the thing.” Anubis was quiet again and stared at me from behind his black shield, covering the suit. “Whose side are you playing for? You can't be for Goa’ulds, because this is my role”
“Side? I play for myself”
“Solo player? Impossible! That breaks the rules.”
“You seem to know the rules.” I was interested. “Can you tell me what you know about the game?”
“Don't you know that? It is the player's duty to explain the rules to his figure. Or you are not a figure?” In the voice of Anubis was question.
“My player... let's just say, he is not very talkative. But I want to remind you that you are my prisoner, not opposite. You must know that if you get stuck here for decades of years, the game will end without you.”
Anubis sank and sighed heavily.
“I'll tell you about it.” I created throne, then sat on it and tuned in for a long lecture. The parasite calmed down a bit, so I could spend some more time with Anubis. “I've heard of cases like yours. It's called 'blind playing'. The player takes the figure and throw him into the game without explaining anything, and without giving any additional forces beyond what is required according to his role. There are quite high bets on such figures, because according to statistics, winrate of 'blind figure' is one of thousand. So your chances of survival are very low.”
“I wouldn't say like that. So, continue. What do you know about the rules of the game?”
“Each piece is given a chance to win. We are now in a game where victory is determined by the victory of the army or civilization. The figure may be the ruler of his side, or may simply be an unknown warrior, secretly directing key events. If a figure loses, he will suffer a fate worse than death. He will suffer eternal torture in hell. And the winner become a figure in the next game. This is my third game, so you have to understand that people like me are one of a hundred. And I will definitely win this game.”
“Of course, of course.” I encouraged him. “As long as you can get out of my trap.”
Anubis mentally gritted his teeth and continued.
“Each game follows a certain scenario. Events in this world are predetermined, and only figures can change something.”
“Oh. And what have you changed here?” I asked.
“I do not know. I don't know this scenario. As a rule, it is unknown to anyone, unless the story about it is part of the rules.”
“So you don't know what fate awaits you.” I chuckled.
“What? Do you know what the future holds?”
“Of course I know them. I'm a God of knowledge. I won't spoiler it, but I can tell you haven't done much good so far.
“What?!! I have ascended! I gained access to ancient technology. I created an invincible army.”
“I know.” I laughed mockingly.
‘You lie!” Anubis again repeated his tantrum. “You're just trying to convince me that I'm losing!”
“Oh, that. Don't worry. I don't pretend to win this game. I'll be interested in watching it, but I won't be the winner.”
"If you know the future, you must be able to predict it.”
“Well. Here's my prediction for you. Thor will run away from you, and you'll get nothing from him. You will not get any knowledge of Asgards.
“Will you help them”
“Perhaps. Or maybe it won't be necessary. But let's focus on you. What power protecting you?”
“It's a gift from my God for winning the previous game.”
“You are dirty cheater.” I laughed. “Okay, next. Where did you get access to ancient technology?”
“In the words of my God, I had to get the Goa’uld’s ship built by using Ancient technology. But you took it from me!” Anubis again exploded on the cry. “I spent more than a year in prison, and then I was able to ascend, deceiving one trusting fool. After that, I found an abandoned ancient base where I could get some of their technology. And not long ago, I began seizing power in the galaxy. I will subdue all the System Lords, and then destroy the asgards, the Tauri, and all other civilizations.”
“That's great.” I praised. “Okay, my curiosity satisfied, now good bye. Don't forget me brother. I think we'll meet again.”
Immediately after these words, there came a quiet murmur.
“What was that?” Anubis worried, trying to destroy again the barrier, with both his fists and his magic.
“My friends turned off the shield generator.” I notified him. "Now they are and Thor have been teleported to another ship. Well, in short, mission is complete. Farewell.”
I removed the barrier and teleported to the Shuttle, which housed members of SG-1, Heimdall and Thor.
“Let’s get out of here.” Jack expressed a common thought.
Teal’c and Samantha rushed into the control room to bring the ship into orbit and escape into hyperspace.
“Don’t hurry. My ship will come soon.”
A second later my cosmic pyramid ship appeared in the orbit of the planet. A second later, the entire Shuttle was teleported aboard my ship.”
“We're in my ship. You're safe here.”
“What's happening?” Samantha's voice came from the cabin. “We've lost control. Shields are down, engines are not working.”
“Where are we?” Thor asked, lying inside a torture device of Goa’ulds.
‘I moved the Shuttle to aboard my ship.” I explained to everyone present that Samantha and Teal'c had returned to find out what the hell was going on with their Shuttle. “Wait a minute. I need to contact Anubis.”
I waved my hand, and a holographic screen appeared in front of me, on which we could see Anubis dressed in a cloak-tent with a coal-black protective field in place of his face.
“So, as I said, you won't get Thor. One my shots is enough to tear your ship to shreds. And your shields are down. Anything else will you need to explain?
Anubis’s image disappeared, and his ship went into hyperspace.
“He's gone.” I cheered the others. "I'll talk to Thor, then I'll bail you out to the Asgard fleet."
I put a barrier against eavesdropping and approached lying helplessly Thor.
“Hey Thor, how are you?’
“I greet you, Imhotep. I didn't expect to see you here.”
I scanned Asgard and found that his soul was nearby, though not interfering with the computer at the moment.
“Tell me, why didn't you accept my offer? You could return to the living and not hanging out a free application for the biorobot.”
This time the soul of Thor intervened in the process of thinking as its counterpart, but quite a bit.
“We plan to restore the Asgard race. Now we have a living member of our species. We can fully rebuild our bodies and then link them to our souls.”
"Yep, and die after fifty years of old age, like all the real asgards."
“I think we will be able to solve this problem.”
“Well, well. Okay, I'll leave it to you. Although it should be noted that this will not solve problem of the replicators”
"When we will reborn, we can deal with them quickly.”
“Look.” I replied, removing the protection from the audition. “By the way, your cavalry has arrived.”
I again turned on the screen on which were visible three Asgard ships, had just emerged from hyperspace jump. I gave the command to Hat’ak's computer, and the Shuttle teleported out.
“Well, I think you can take handle from here. All the best to you.”
I teleported into the control room of my ship and gave the command to enter hyperspace. I went back to the Hades galaxy, at the same time reflecting on the fact that I was able to find two pieces in one day. The first was Anubis, and the second was Thor. His soul was too different from the souls of the other asgards.
So far, events were developing according to the canon, so there was nothing to worry about. I already had a plan for further action, so it was possible not to strain, and wait for the right moment, in parallel studying the technology of the Ancients.
Six months later I had to distract myself to fulfill my promise. On the orbit of the planet the Asgard had a few ships of the replicators. And since I promised to intervene in the event of danger to the planet, I had to get my ass off the throne and go look for Loki.