Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Story Notes: This chapter was a bit fun for me as to have the reactions of those around Dr. Jackson!
AN: Tell me what you think.
MOUNTAIN COMPLEX, TWO WEEKS LATER, DAWN INSIDE THE RESEARCH LAB
An exhausted Daniel listens to his dictated notes at a table in front of the cover stones. The table is covered with reference books, paper, candy wrappers, and a coffee mug, as well as the dictaphone.
DANIEL on recording- "Completed search of cuneiform and other pre-dynastic hieroglyphics. No matches whatsoever. I've exhausted all reference material in comparing the symbols on the cartouche against all known writing samples from the period pre- and post-. Still no similarities...I'm never gonna get paid."
Daniel shuts off the recording. He goes over to the coffee pot to refill his cup, only to find the carafe is practically empty. Daniel shuffles out of the lab tiredly with the carafe. A guard sits by a desk with his feet propped up, reading a newspaper.
GUARD admonishing- "Uh-uh-uh."
Daniel flashes his ID badge, and the guard settles back with his paper. Daniel goes to the water fountain and refills the carafe, glancing around and noticing the front page of the guard's paper has an article title "Orion Upclose" with a quarter page photograph of the constellation. He stops filling the carafe and moves over to the paper. He grabs that page out of the guard's hands and rushes back into the lab. The guard is still sitting there as Daniel's head appears again in the lab door window.
DANIEL-"Can I borrow this?"
Daniel grabs a marker and starts filling in the lines between the stars of the constellation. He then climbs the stair-ladder to compare his drawing with one of the glyphs. They match.
DANIEL-"Orion."
Later that day four military cars enter the mountain. Inside Parker and Kawalski hurry down a corridor. Daniel follows, his hands full of large rolled up papers and a coffee mug. He gulps down the rest of his drink and leaves the mug abandoned on one of the pipes that line the corridor, hurrying to catch up. Parker enters the briefing room ahead of both Kawalski and Daniel. Several military officers, Myers, Shore, and Catherine are already inside.
DANIEL-"Hi, hello."
Some military nod in greeting.
KAWALSKI indicating a chair-"Right here."
CATHERINE-"Jackson, I'd like you to meet General West."
West approaches and puts out his hand. Daniel shakes it.
DANIEL-"Oh, hello. Oh, right. General."
West moves to his seat. Daniel tries to put down his things, nodding to another military man.
DANIEL-"Hello. Okay."
WEST-"So, you think you've solved in fourteen days what they couldn't solve in two years?"
DANIEL surprised- "Two years?"
WEST-"Any time."
O'Neil enters and goes and stands next to Parker. Daniel starts passing around several of his rolled papers.
DANIEL-"Um, I have some stuff for you to look at. Just, um, pass-pass them down. Um, you'll have to share them, cause I um..."(he chuckles nervously and continues)"...Sorry, I—Sorry, I don't have enough of those. But, anyway..."
He sits and starts looking at his own copy, starting to sound more confident.
DANIEL-"Okay, all right, we're obviously looking at a picture of the cover stones. Now, on the outer track, these figures that you would believe to be words to be translated were, in fact..."
He stands again and shuffles his papers, pushing some larger pieces aside and into some people next to him to roll out a star chart.
DANIEL-"—sorry about that—were in fact star constellations. Now these constellations were placed in a unique order forming a map or an address of sorts. Seven points to outline a course to a position."
Daniel turns to the metal wall behind him, on which a picture of the cover stones has already been taped. He tapes up another paper and begins to draw on it. O'Neil lights a cigarette and Parker rolls her eyes at O'Neil shaking her head in the process.
DANIEL-"And uh...to find a destination within any three dimensional space, you need six points to determine the exact location."
Daniel draws a cube and places a dot in the center of each of the six "sides" of the cube and then draws lines between them all to intersect at a spot in the cube.
WEST-"You said you needed seven points."
DANIEL-"Well, no, six for the destination. But to chart a course, you need a point of origin."
He draws a point some distance from a cube and then a line to where all the cube spots intersect.
MYERS-"Except there's only six symbols in the cartouche."
DANIEL-"Well, the seventh actually isn't inside the cartouche, it's just below it, here designated by a little pyramid with two funny neat little guys and funny little line coming out of the top."
He circles an upside down v that has a symbol above its apex and two human-like figures on each side of the "v" shape and then proceeds to draw it again roughly on the wall next to his chart while he talks. When finished, he laughs at his bad drawing. No one else laughs, yet, Parker smirks at the drawing.
DANIEL-"Anyway..."
CATHERINE-"He did it."
MYERS-"No. That symbol isn't anywhere on the device."
DANIEL-"Uh-what device? Um?"
West looks to O'Neil, who shrugs.
WEST-"Show him."
Shore squeezes Catherine's hand as they both smile. Kawalski stands and goes over by Daniel, pressing a button. The metal "wall" Daniel has been using as a dry erase board is actually a blast shield that rises. Daniel looks out of the window into the room beyond. The Stargate sits there. A metal ramp is in front of it, and various personnel are working around it. Catherine comes up to stand beside Daniel.
DANIEL-"What is that?"
CATHERINE-"It's your Stargate. Come, Jackson."
She moves away. After another moment, Daniel follows.
COMPUTER VOICE-"Personnel, report to command center."
Myers, Daniel, and Catherine enter the control room.
MYERS-"Monitors up."
WOMAN-"Monitors are up."
MYERS-"Mitch, you want to bring up the details on the center monitor, please."
MITCH-"Yep. I've got details...on."
He punches a few keys. A computer monitor shows an image of the Stargate with seven blank boxes to the right and it reads "idle". The Stargate spins around. Shore has now joined the others in the room. On one screen close up images of all the constellation glyphs can be seen. Daniel notices one glyph in particular, the "pyramid" with a circle above it.
DANIEL-"Hold it!"
They stop the Stargate spinning.
DANIEL-"Wait. Do you have a...um...sorry."
He looks around, spotting a marker in Mitch's pocket and grabbing it.
MITCH-"Hey, hey, hey, don't...!"
Daniel has already begun drawing his little stick figures on the actual monitor screen.
DANIEL-"Two figures on either side, praying beside a pyramid with the sun directly above it."
MYERS amazed-"He's right. It was in front of us the whole time."
Catherine reaches for a phone and dials an extension.
CATHERINE into phone-"General West, Jackson has identified the seventh symbol."
West, O'Neil, Kawalski, Parker, and the rest of the military brass are still watching from the briefing room window. West is on the phone.
WEST-"Go ahead."
JENNY-"Programming seventh symbol into computer. Chevron One is holding. Chevron One is locked in place."
MITCH-"Power output at 23 percent."
JENNY-"Chevron Two is holding."
FEMALE COMPUTER VOICE-"Engaged."
JENNY-"Chevron Two is locked in place."
MITCH-"Holding at 35 percent."
Inside the gateroom - TECHNICIAN-"All right, we've got a Condition Red at the Gate. Evacuate all personnel."
The technicians hurry out of the room before the doors seal shut.
DANIEL-"It was under the cover stones?"
CATHERINE-"Yes. My father found it. 1928. Made out of a mineral unlike any found on Earth."
JENNY-"Chevron Five locked in place."
MITCH-"79 percent."
A shaking starts, rattling the coffee cups and equipment. They continue typing.
JENNY-"Chevron Six is holding. Chevron Six is locked in place."
CATHERINE-"This is as far as we have ever been able to get."
The computer monitors go crazy with output as the seventh chevron is dialed — the Earth point of origin. The shaking is so hard, someone has to hold the telephone on the desk.
MITCH-"We have to override manually."
JENNY-"Chevron Seven is..."
FEMALE COMPUTER VOICE-"Sequence complete."
JENNY-"Chevron Seven is locked in place."
As everyone watches in the control room and briefing room, the Stargate activates with a giant vortex streaming outwards front and back, leaving a vertical wall of water. Catherine says something unintelligible over all the other noise.
WEST via intercom-"Send in the probe."
Guards enter the Gate room and technicians set up a treaded probe to go through the Stargate. West's aide Johnson calls down to the control room.
Myers answers the phone inside the control room.
MYERS into phone-"Yes, sir?"
JOHNSON-"Record all information from the Stargate."
The probe ambles up the ramp towards the Stargate.
JENNY-"Clear inner silo for approach."
GATEROOM TECHNICIAN-"Clear inner silo."
The guards exit the gate room. The probe continues to move up the ramp. It pauses before the event horizon and sends through an arm. The arm continues to extend, then the probe appears to be pulled through the Stargate.
SHORE-"It's guiding itself. Can you believe it?"
The computer describes a lot of illegible data as a device tracks across a star chart.
SHORE-"The thing has locked itself onto a point somewhere in the Kaliam galaxy."
JENNY-"It has mass. It-it could be a moon or a large asteroid."
DANIEL-"Where are we on that map?"
CATHERINE points-"Look down."
Daniel moves to the far end of the star chart where a red square box is. Then follows to where the trajectory guide is now sitting.
CATHERINE-"That's right, Jackson. It's on the other side of the...known universe."
JENNY-"We're-we're losing the signal!"
The wormhole (Stargate) shuts down.
A little later in the control room one screen shows video from the probe. It's pictures of a room, and another Stargate. West and O'Neil stand with several others analyzing the data.
WEST-"This is the information the probe sent back to us. Freeze and enhance. You can clearly see the 'gate on the other side. Both 'gates must have functioned as a doorway between our worlds."
JOHNSON-"These readings tell us it's an atmospheric match. Barometric pressure, temperature, and most importantly, oxygen."
One computer monitor shows reading results of "Life Support Possible." Daniel is looking at another screen showing close ups of the chevrons on the other Stargate.
DANIEL-"These markings are different. They don't match the symbols on our 'gate."
WEST-"That's why we may have to abort. This project is for naught without a reconnaissance mission."
JOHNSON-"Once on the other side, we'd have to decipher the markings on their 'gate, and in essence dial home in order to bring the team back."
WEST-"Based on this new information, I don't see how we can do that."
DANIEL-"Well, I can do that."
Johnson, West and O'Neil look at Daniel. Kawalski looks over with a half-smile and Parker with a raised eyebrow.
WEST-"Are you sure?"
Daniel looks back over at the unique Chevrons.
DANIEL-"Positive."
O'Neil looks around at the others, then walks out.
O'NEIL muttering to West as he passes-"He's full of shit."
WEST to Daniel-"You're on the team."
A guard sits at a table and the nearby door opens and the guard stands to attention as O'Neil enters. He signs in at the guard's desk, and the guard opens a door labeled 09-Y. O'Neil enters the room to stare at the fossil of the jackel-headed men. While he looks at the creature, West and Parker walk up behind him.
O'NEIL-"You understand this complicates things."
WEST-"That's why I wanted you, Jack. We've opened a doorway to a world we know nothing about."
O'NEIL- "What about Parker?"
Parker steps up beside O'Neil.
PARKER- "I'm your back-up."
Inside the research lab Daniel packs his suitcase full of books with titles like "Egypt Before the Pharoahs." A couple of Fifth Avenue candy bars are also inside. Catherine enters.
CATHERINE-"Jackson."
Daniel is oblivious to her presence until she taps him on the shoulder. He turns and smiles.
DANIEL-"Hello. Hi."
CATHERINE-"I have something for you."
DANIEL-"No. I—"
CATHERINE-"Yes. I found it with Stargate when I was a child. It has brought me luck."
She places the Eye of Ra necklace into his palm. He looks at it.
CATHERINE-"You can bring it back to me."
Daniel nods.
Inside the gateroom military personnel pile up a small mechanized rover with equipment.
JENNY in the control room-"Back up storage, reserve power...on."
The personnel packing the equipment evacuate the gateroom. Jenny and Mitch continue to run through their checklist in the control room.
In the corridor just outside the gateroom O'Neil approaches his team, geared up and armed for the mission.
KAWALSKI-"Ten-hut!"
The squad stands at attention as O'Neil inspects them. He looks at his watch.
O'NEIL-"If anyone has anything to say, now's the time to say it."
At the far end of the line, Daniel sneezes and pulls out a handkerchief. Everyone turns and looks at him as he blows his nose loudly. Parker smiles holding in a laugh.
FEMALE COMPUTER VOICE in the control room- Vector tracking set.
The team enters the Gate Room, O'Neil in the lead. The wormhole is already active. O'Neil nods to one of the men, who activates the remote for the equipment rover. It enters the vortex. The men continue to follow O'Neil up the ramp, Daniel in the rear. O'Neil pauses for a moment then steels himself and enters. One of the men behind reaches for a religious medal under his collar and kisses it before following.
FEMALE COMPUTER VOICE- Molecular deconstruction confirmed.
The only one left is Daniel, who pauses at the event horizon. He runs his hand along the event horizon, studying its effect as he pulls his hand in and out. He then closes his eyes and puts his head in. And he then experiences the wormhole effect.