Title: Triptych
Author's LJ/DWJ: mad_maudlin   mad_maudlin
Categories: AU, Crossover, SG-1/SGA, Moebius, Apocafic, Angst
Warnings: none
Author's Webpage/Fic list: Mad Maudlin at Archive of Our Own
Link to story: Triptych

Why this should be read: I recommend this fic to anyone who has seen Moebius, it is a really well executed story showing three of the possible alternate realities that might have been created by the events in that episode. The dialogue and character voices are all wonderful which makes the whole time travel/AU theme seem even creepier. About 4,770 words.

Matter can neither be created nor destroyed.

John looked at Jackson and Carter for explanation, and they both sighed at him. "We were explaining," Jackson said, stacking up a couple of scrolls and settling them somewhere safe, "that the ZPM was recovered on an archaeological dig in Egypt. Apparently we, SG-1, went back in time five thousand years to steal it from Ra and hide it in a tomb that we knew would be excavated recently, along with a video-taped message from ourselves to ensure we didn't corrupt the timeline."

"You see? You see what I'm talking about?" Rodney said without looking up from the laptop.

John ignored him in favor of a slow whistle. "How'd you pull that off? The time-travel, I mean."

"We found an Ancient time machine," Carter explained. "It's built into one of those, the—"

"Puddle jumpers," McKay said, "and I hope you're proud of yourself, Major, the name's stuck."

"'Cause it's a good name," John said, before turning back to Carter. "So you guys just jumped back in time and—?"

"We didn't," Jackson said quickly. "We meaning us. Because we found the ZPM we didn't...need...to find the ZPM. Um."

"By going back in time, we eliminated our own reason for going back in time," Carter added. "It's a temporal paradox."

"Wrong," McKay said.