Chapter 1

The hot sun beat down on the washed up child that lay limp on the beach. Her wet brown hair was in braids touched the sand as the waves kissed her skin. She wore a pink nightgown and a pair of white sneakers. Her small hand grasped a fist full of sand as she started to wake. She squinted to protect her big brown eyes from the glaring sun as she lifted her head and looked around. Not far from her in the surf was the remains of an inflatable life raft that was ripped apart by the reef during the night. She hauled herself up and found her footing on the beach. She looked no more than eight years old. She gazed about the beach hoping to find him.

"Daddy," she cried out. She started to walk up and down the beach looking for her father. But she knew he would not be there after the storm they encountered that had sunk the sailboat and her father with it.

He managed to tie her to the raft as the boat took on water. He told her to stay in the raft as he went below deck for supplies but the boat sank quicker than he anticipated and he never surfaced.

The wind and driving rain whipped the raft about much of the night until it hit a reef and the raft ripped as the waves promptly placed the child on the beach as if being delivered as a gift to the uncharted Pacific island.

She looked upon her new home after a fruitless search for her father on the beach. The island looked much like a volcano and was dotted with lush green palm trees. As she walked she found many coconuts littered about. She heard birds in the trees and strange sounds coming from the mountainous volcano looming above her.

She figured she needed help but didn't know what to do at first. She found rocks on the beach and started to pick them up. One by one she placed the rocks in a line to spell out the word "HELP."

After making her sign she found the volcano made more sounds; strange sounds that seemed odd to her. It growled and grumbled and she heard a distant "bang" sound once in a while. She was parched from thirst and very hungry. She went to the raft and looked for anything to help. She found a small survival kit in the raft. She opened the can and looked at what she had. She discovered a signal mirror, a small pamphlet with instructions, an orange plastic triangle shaped flag, candy and vitamin tablets. She read the booklet, "Do not drink sea water! The salt will make you dehydrated. Suck on candy to ease thirst."

She opened a piece of candy and sucked on the treat.

"Ration out candy and chewable victims," she read some more. "Use signal mirror and flag to signal for help." She glanced about the island, "Help!" she got no reply. She continued to read, "Do not swim in shark infested water." She glanced up and found the tall fin of a shark patrolling just off the reef. She then read some more, "If you find land make a signal fire using mirror or by rubbing two sticks together." She glanced about her feet, "I found land." She looked at her mirror and flicked it back and forth. She blinked and shied away as she shined the light into her eyes. She then dropped the mirror and rubbed her eyes trying to get the spots to vanish. In a few minutes she could see normal again. She dropped to her knees feeling defeated and began to cry, "Daddy!"

All she could hear was the chirping of birds and buzzing insects in the nearby topical forest. She wiped her tears and picked up her mirror once more. She was still thirsty and needed water. She had to push forward. She had no choice for no one was there to help her. She thought she heard her father's voice for just a moment. She looked about but no one was there. She then heard his voice in her memory.

"Izzy," the voice began, "For our trip we have to bring our own water. Once we get to port we can buy more." She could see a picture of him in her mind. He was tall man with light brown hair and brown eyes. He often wore blue jeans and a t-shirt with Navy printed across the chest. He kneeled down to her level upon securing the water jugs on the boat, "What do you do if we end up stranded, Izzy? Do you know?"

She shook her head.

He assured her, "You find plants, streams and collect rain."

Suddenly her recollection stopped and she knew what she had to do. She had to find water. The island had plants; perhaps it also had a fresh water stream. She looked deep into the bush before her and forced herself to take a brave step. She took another step and then another. Before she knew it she was in the dark forest of the island. Her heart raced in fear as she pushed herself forward. A bird suddenly flew away near her and she jumped. She nearly ran back out but managed to control herself.

"I'm a brave girl," she cried supporting herself. She continued to walk deeper into the wild area.

In short time Izzy, short for Isabelle, found a small waterfall coming out of the side of a wall of rock near the base of the volcano. The waterfall flowed down to a small gather pool and was led away by a stream of water through the heart of the vegetation. She cupped her hands and took a sip. She found it was fresh water and it quenched her thirst. Upon getting her drink she decided to walk around the strange, nearly perfectly shaped rock wall. She soon came to a cave in the rock. She stood outside squinting in. She was too afraid to walk into the cave for it seemed ever so dark and menacing to her young eyes.

"Hello," she called out timidly.

She heard a loud groan and the "thunk" sound from within. Scared she took off running away from the cave. She kept looking back expecting to see some kind of monster coming after her but nothing was there. As she neared the beach she tripped and landed on her hands. She skinned her palms as she broke her fall. She remained kneeling just looking at her skinned hands. She began to cry as she figured her father would not be there to save her. After crying for a number of minutes she pulled herself together and stood back up. She went to the surf to wash the dirt from her wounds. She then gathered what was left of the raft and propped it up with some sticks to make a shelter. She then sat down under her raft and looked at the wide deep blue ocean before her. She was trapped on the island with no one in sight. She didn't know what lurked on the island and feared an unimaginable beast would attack her and perhaps eat her. She spotted the fin of the patrolling shark once more as it looked for food on the reef. She shivered at the thought of being eaten. Her stomach rumbled from a lack of food. So she began to rock herself back and forth hoping that somehow her father would swim to the island and rescue her.

A Day Later

A day had passed and Isabelle stayed by the beach and only went deep into the bush to get more water. She gathered coconuts and found seashells with sharp edges to help break into the coconut for food. She found the shells made a good knife but she had to be careful or she could cut herself. She tried to make fire but failed miserably. She noticed the wind had changed direction and a large black cloud over the horizon. She attempted to make her raft shelter strong for that cave was just too scary for an eight year old.

Soon the rain started and the wind took the makeshift shelter away in a swift gust. She found the surf was rising as the waves were beat by the gusting wind. She went deeper into the tropical forest for protection but the wind made more coconuts fall from the trees around her. She was dodging falling coconuts as she ran deeper into the forest. She came to the cave. It seemed quiet but the wind was getting worse and coconuts were hammering the ground near her. She didn't want to get hit with debris and she forced herself into the cave.

Once inside she found it was quiet and calm. She walked deeper into the cave and soon lights mounted on the walls illuminated with a soft yellow glow. There was light and the cave didn't seem so scary. She got to the end and discovered a golden door. Her hands ran over the door looking for a knob and it suddenly peeled back and opened. She stood shocked and amazed at the same time. Slowly she walked into the room still wearing her tattered pink nightgown and sneakers. As she entered the area lights automatically illuminated the darkness. She got to the middle of what appeared to be a large room. Standing by the far wall was a large ring.

Isabelle didn't know what a Star Gate was nor what it did. She slowly approached as she explored. Her hands ran over the stone feel of the Gate's housing. It felt much like the stone on the outside walls. "Wow!" she exclaimed. She slowly walked on continuing to explore. She found a set of stairs and walked up the room above. There she discovered what appeared to be some kind of control board. Lights blinked about the panels that were all around her. She looked at the symbols on the board but she didn't know what they were for. She noticed the symbols matched the symbols on the ring below. Izzy continued to explore not understanding what she discovered. She went down a hallway that led to another room. She walked inside and found it was empty except for this strange hole in the wall. She walked up to the hole and peered inside wondering if it was a porthole from a ship.

Instantly a metallic set of hands reached out and grabbed her head and pulled her in. She saw a bright light as she struggled to get free. Upon releasing her just second later Isabelle fell to the floor unconscious.

Next Day

Izzy woke to a pounding headache. She managed to push herself up from the floor and gingerly walk from the room back down the hallway. She got the control room above the Gate and found sunlight was illuminating the entire area. What looked like volcanic rock from the outside were in fact windows. As she looked out she could see the tops of the palm trees that were swaying in the breeze. She rubbed her head and oddly found she knew what ring did. It made a portal to other rings that were located on other planets. She found she could read the symbols and the strange alien language.

"This is weird," she told herself. As her headache eased she found herself at the computer of the Ancient Outpost and reading off a manifesto list. She found a map of the outpost and a number of levels that went under the ocean surface. She discovered the outpost's control room complete with a pilot's chair was on the last floor under the water but despite how hard she tried she could not figure out how it worked. She found her mind was filled with memory gaps after the exposure the device.

She closed her eyes trying to recall her parents. She remembered her father went below deck and never returned as the boat sank. She briefly remembered having a mother but nothing else about her. For a moment she couldn't even remember her name.

"What's my name?" she asked herself. "It's…Izzy." She could not recall her full name. She was still hungry and knew she needed to eat soon. She looked down at her dirty tattered nightgown much to her dismay. She then found a list of storage units. She started off to the storage unit in hopes of finding something useful in her quest.

Later That Day

Izzy stood before the Gate in a brown man's tunic that was so big on her it resembled a dress. She found the alien clothing and shoes and tried many different articles on. The trousers were all too big on her but she did find a pair of small brown shoes that fit. She also discovered all sorts of alien gadgets including an article that resembled and wristwatch but was a remote dialing device for the Star Gate. Lacking any food in storage Isabelle decided to gather a sack full of coconuts and take them off world to trade for food. Though the outpost's computers and sensors detected satellites in orbit, Izzy could not figure out how to communicate with the satellites to get out an SOS and get help. For some reason her attempts to call for help were mysteriously stopped and she didn't know why. So, she figured she could use the Gate to find food instead.

The Star Gate established before her just as the Ancient information wandering about in her young mind told it would. She felt strange for she knew it was sight to see but oddly is was familiar and even basic. She chose a destination that she determined lacked coconuts and thus would be eager to trade. She walked up the stairs and into the event horizon armed with nothing but a remote dialing device and a bag of coconuts.

Chulak

The leader of the Free Jaffa, Bra'tac looked on as the Star Gate came to life in the distance. He fully expected to see SG-1 but instead was surprised to see a child in pigtails walk through the Gate. He looked on curiously as she gazed about and made her way to the Jaffa.

Izzy came to Bra'tac for he looked the friendliest to her. She tried to say hello but the word came out, "Salveses," she gave a funny look wondering where that word came from.

Bra'tac replied, "Child." He wondered what strange tongue she spoke.

Izzy found as the knowledge unwind she had trouble speaking coherent sentences. "Trade cocoes."

Bra'tac asked, "You wish to make a trade?"

She reached into the sack and retrieved a coconut. She held it before him, "Trade?"

"What is this child?" he retrieved the coconut. He looked upon it curiously and then down to her.

She stood making a hand to mouth gesture for she wasn't sure why her speech seemed off at the moment. She figured it was simply due to hunger.

"You hungry, child?" he asked her.

She nodded.

He figured she was poor and sent out by her parents to gather food off world. He gave an assuring smile, "I can give you some food." He added brightly, "For some of these fine cocoes."

NOTE: I have no way of telling how popular a story is with readers. If I get a review or pm asking to not delete a story I will keep the story up. Simply make a request and I will keep the story up regardless. Thank you.