Nicholas Rush had never felt more free in his life.
Ever since he was small, his only wish had been to learn. He wanted to know things, he wanted to discover things, he wanted to see things. Earth had always seemed a rather small venue for such ambitious ideals. He wanted to fling open the doorways to the stars and uncover every one of their secrets as well.
Upon his introduction into the Stargate program, Rush thought he was where he needed to be. The Stargate program was researching new and fascinating possibilities across hundreds of worlds every day and for a time, he thrived. He even went off-world a time or two. And yet... he still felt trapped on his own planet. As if Earth, even an Earth opened by the stargate, was still too small to hold him.
Destiny, though...
Destiny was freedom.
Hunter Riley had never felt more trapped in his life.
Ever since he was small, he had lived on a farm. There had been fields and trees and wide-open sky all around. The world had stretched before him, as far as the eye could see, and Riley saw that it was good. This enormous planet was his oyster and he was free to explore in it. He never wanted anything more.
Upon his introduction into the Stargate program, Riley found out that the Earth was a lot larger than he had previously thought. Honestly, it overwhelmed him for a while. It became routine, after a time, but Riley still got restless under the mountain, indoors away from the sky. Getting posted to Icarus Base was worse, because even when he did see the sky, it wasn't his sky. But he could always go home again.
Destiny, though...
On Destiny, he was trapped away from the sky for good.