Divergence (Stargate SG-1 story)
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Divergence |
| Author(s): | ELG |
| Date(s): | 2000 |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | slash |
| Fandom: | Stargate SG-1 |
| External Links: | |
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Divergence is a Stargate SG-1 Jack/Daniel story by ELG.
It was published in the zine Event Horizon.
Reactions and Reviews
This zine story doesn't turn out as one might expect, and it is all the better and far more interesting because of it. Our SG-1 team are visited by an alternative SG-1 team. Much to our Jack and Daniel's shock, the Jack and Daniel of SG-A are a couple and assume the same of Jack and Daniel. With the idea firmly denied, Jack likens his reaction as somewhat similar to the surprise of 'a pink elephant landing on the bonnet of your car'. The teams pair off: the Sams to discuss astrophysics; the Teal'cs the Goa'uld; the Jacks weaponry and strategies; and the Daniels culture and archaeological finds. The two Daniels avoid discussion of the relationship but, when they finally finish their work, they find Jack angrily accusing his alternative of taking advantage of the other Daniel. It's obvious that, unlike the other doubles, they have not enjoyed each others company. Despite this, another meeting is set up, and it is there that the teams discover the major differences between them, which mainly concern Daniel. The alternative Daniel never experienced death on the Goa'uld ship, or became addicted to the sarcophagus, or travelled through the alternative mirror, or went insane with Machello's inventions, and so on.The final, and I consider the best part of the story, is where Jack and Daniel discuss their alternatives and the differences between them. ELG has written the alternative Jack and Daniel as a happy and contented couple, although Jack does rather snidely refer to the alternative Daniel as the 'Stepford' version. Eventually Jack and Daniel come to the agreement that despite their ups and downs, and the horrors that SG-1 have lived through, they wouldn't change anything, least of all their friendship.
There is a lot of subtle humour in this piece and the ending is consistent with the impression we are first given - that Jack and Daniel are friends but that they have never wanted to see each other in terms of being lovers. In this way it is both original and very different from other stories, especially considering it is in a J/D slash zine.
The shifting POV at the beginning threw me initially, although it did settle down into Daniel's POV by the end and was better for it. ELG has Sam explain "entropic cascade failure" in terms of the teams having only a few hours together before the effect starts to kick in, rather than the forty-eight hours we are given in the series. I also couldn't believe that the alternative Jack and Daniel would find it appropriate to mention their relationship in front of General Hammond and the other team members but, these complaints aside, this is an amusing and clever story that ends up celebrating the Jack and Daniel friendship.[1]
Event Horizon - my favorite ELG story called Divergence is the single most interesting story I've ever read. It's what happens when an alternate SG1 team comes through the Quantum mirror and the Gen/Het Jack and Danny meet the slash Jack/Danny ...... and explore each other's POV's and how it impacted their lives. [2]
I read this fic in a zine and loved it. The Jack and Daniel of canon universe are so well characterized and I adore their vocal sparring. Despite loving J/D slash I think this story is a wonderful advert for Jack and Daniel friendship. *g*[3]
References
- ^ Reviews by Ali
- ^ quoted anonymously from a mailing list (June 6, 2003)
- ^ "Stargate SG-1 Recs Part 2 - slash (mostly J/D), gen and het". Archived from the original on 2023-02-20.