A Stargate in Dunwin
By Skye Silverwing
Chapter 1: An Auspicious Occasion
It was a warm and sunny day in the forest that surrounded Castle Dunwin. As usual, the Forest's most fantastical of creatures, the Gummi Bears, were going about their business in one of their favorite areas to relax in the forest, the Great Ring Pool.
The Great Ring Pool was a beautiful pond, edged by a stone ring etched with symbols unlike anything that appeared anywhere else in their world. The still, clear waters sparkled beautifully in the Sunlight, though they were marred by a large boulder that pierced the plane of the water in the middle of the pool.
Today, Gruffi Gummi, the De-facto leader of the Gummi clan, had decided that today was the day to change that. With the aid of Tummi, Zummi, and their human friend, Cavin, Gruffi was going to remove that black stone from the heart of the pool, restoring it to the mirror perfection that the Great Book of Gummi claimed it once had.
Grammi Gummi, the Clan's Matriarch, believed that Gruffi was wasting his time, as the boulder had been just fine in the middle of the pool for as long as she, or any of them, could remember. Still, she did think that the Pool would be a sight to see when the men were done with it, but that didn't mean she approved.
In the interest of keeping an eye on the boys, Grammi had made a picnic and brought Cubbi and Sunni along, the kids being too young and small to be drafted into helping move that big rock by Gruffi, but if the menfolk got into trouble, the young ones would be able to help out.
Gruffi sat behind the wheel of his Crane while Tummi and Cavin attached the Crane hook to the Stone. "Hurry up you two!" The Brown Gummi Bear Barked, "I want this stone out by lunchtime!"
Tummi groaned and as his bigger than average belly growled. "Ohhh, did he have to mention Lunch?" He said, rubbing his belly to soothe it. "Grammi, are you sure we can't start the picnic a little earlier?"
Grammi chuckled at the blue-furred bear's normal behavior. "No, Tummi, we need to wait until lunch time." She said, spreading a picnic blanket over the Small, mushroom-shaped stone table, which was covered in the same symbols as the Ring. "Besides, Sunni invited Calla to the picnic, but the poor girl is busy with her Duties as Princess in Dunwin until Lunch."
Sunni nodded. "Yeah." The Yellow Furred bear agreed, "It would be rude to start without her."
Tummi groaned. "I wish being polite wasn't such hungry work." He muttered.
Gruffi grumbled. "If you don't quit loafing and flapping your gums, we will be lucky if we get this done by dinnertime." He barked. "Now let's get it done."
Zummi Gummi, the magician, studied the stone and then glanced at the brown furred bear. "I am not sure this is a dood igea -er- good idea, Gruffi." He said, "The Great Book of Gummi speaks of grave danger coming from this ring long before the Great Gummies of old had fully established their Civilization here."
Gruffi glared at the older bear. "Now, I don't want any of that old superstition about 'Evil Snake Gods' from you as an excuse not to work!" He said sharply, "If there were really things like that in this pond, one boulder would not have stopped them from coming out a long time ago."
Zummi did not appear convinced, but he moved to the edge of the water.
Gruffi looked at the others pointedly. "Good, now if there are no more objections, let's get this done!" he said, hopping into the small steam-powered crane machine that, with Cavin's help, he and Tummi had just hooked on the base of the Stone. "Now, everyone pull!"
Gruffi revved the crane's engine, drawing its winch rope taught, and Cavin, having just consumed the contents of a bottle of the Gummies' special Gummi-berry Juice, grabbed the rock and hauled it upward, the enhanced strength that the juice gave humans being sufficient to pull with nearly as much force as the winch.
Zummi held up his Great Gummi Amulet and waved his other hand and spoke the magic incantation. "Bumoulder, Rumise, Numow!" Magic enveloped the Boulder, and served to assist in raising it as well.
Tummi waited and watched, because with the others focused on raising the boulder from the pool, it was up to him to guide it safely to the bank.
With much straining and heavy lifting, the stone finally shifted, and rose from its place on the bed of the pool.
Gruffi eyed the gages on the crane. "Easy…" he said, "Easy now… We don't want to drop it, or someone might get hurt."
"Oh, my! Are they started already?" Princess Calla asked as she came around the bend from the direction of the Road. "I had hoped I could at least get settled before they started."
Cavin suddenly paused in his hauling and twisted his neck to see the Princess as she approached, shifting the stone in the process.
Gruffi winced as the shift increased the pressure on the gages of his crane. "Cavin!" he barked, "Be careful! If we lose balance, we could wreck my crane AND the pool."
Cavin nodded, but with the Princess watching, he could hardly think straight. He reset his grip on the stone and heaved, wrenching it from Tummi's grip, intending to impress her with his strength.
Tummi fumbled to regain control, and gave a cry of alarm. "Oh, no!" he cried. "Look out!"
"Good Gracious!" cried Zummi as the spell slipped.
With a heavy thud, the Stone struck the ring that edged the pond and rolled, coming to a stop several feet from the pool with the side that had been buried in the bottom of the pool now muddily exposed to the light.
"Cavin!" Gruffi shouted angrily, "I told you to be careful with that! Grrr… If you damaged the Ring…"
"Hey, Look at this!" Sunni's sudden exclaimation drew all eyes to where she stood beside the stone, as she wiped some of the muck from it with a yellow-furred hand. "It has symbols like the ring!"
Zummi and the others moved quickly to gather around the stone. It appeared to be some sort of crooked table, with two concentric rings of raised plates, each bearing a symbol, all around a red crystal set in the middle.
"Fascinating." Zummi said, pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket. "These are indeed the same glyphs from the ring. I wonder what it means."
Gruffi resolutely inspected the ring for damage, and was pleasantly surprised to find none.
Calla moved to Cavin's side. "Are you alright Cavin?" she asked, noticing that he was carfully hiding his left hand.
Cavin kept his hand hidden, but gave the princess a smile. "It is nothing." He said, concealing a gash incurred when the rock hit the ring. "Just a scratch."
Calla took hold of the boy's hand and pulled it out where she could see. "That is hardly nothing, Cavin." She said, her prim voice laced with concern.
Without another word, she tore a strip of cloth from the hem of her dress, and proceeded to bandage the protesting boy's wound. "There." She said, tying the knot, and holding onto his hand while inspecting her handy-work and trying not to look like she was enjoying the feel of his hand in hers.
Cavin endured the Princesses attentions with a stoic look that was belied by the pleased grin that split his face when she was not looking.
Sunni noticed the two's behavior and whispered something to Grammi, and the elder Gummi smiled at her. "They'll figure it out eventually, Sunni, dear." She said, with a smile. "Just give them time." Sunni smiled.
Calla looked out over the calm waters of the Great Ring Pool. "It truly is prettier without the stone in the middle, isn't it?" she said softly, "I wonder if the Great Gummies built it with a purpose?"
They all fell silent for a long moment, looking over the still water of the pool, and then they moved to the picnic blanket, their lunch commenced.
.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.
"Chevron One Encoded."
Major Samantha Carter yawned widely as she sipped her coffee and watched through the observation windows of Stargate Command, as the Ancient Device that gave the base its name whirled and spun through another series of symbols collected from the list of Gate Addresses stored in the Base Computer.
"Chevron Two Encoded."
It had become base routine to run through the coordinates for planets that had failed to connect on previous attempts during the downtime between missions and scheduled check-ins from the Off-World teams, to make sure that those Stargates had not somehow been opened.
"Chevron Three Encoded."
The night crew, including Samantha herself, was currently going through their fourth page of Gate Addresses so far, and, being honest with herself, Major Carter did not really expect any to connect tonight either. It was just the Protocol, and her shift to deal with it.
"Chevron Four Encoded."
Hers and Walters, of Course. Sam often wondered if the little man ever actually found the time to sleep. It seemed that whenever the Stargate was active, Walter was there, calling the status as each chevron locked, Loyally maintaining his post, even now, in the dead of night.
"Chevron Five Encoded."
Letting Walter's voice fade to a droning buzz of white noise, Sam pondered the continuing war against the Goa'uld, a Race of Snake-like Parasites that gained power by pretending to be Gods and stealing technology from more advanced Races.
"Chevron Six Encoded."
Time and Time again, the Goa'uld had threatened the safety of the Planet Earth. And time and time again, they had failed thanks to the quick actions of the SGC, and specifically her own Team, SG-1. Headed up by Colonel Jack O'Neal, and Supported by Doctor Daniel Jackson, an archeologist, and Teal'c, a former Jaffa that had joined them in rebellion against his former Gods.
"Chevron Seven... Locked!"
Samantha jolted out of her thoughts as she heard the now familiar rush and saw the flash of the Stargate opening and establishing a wormhole. She looked at Walter, who looked back at her and nodded.
Sam sighed slightly. "I'll tell the General." She said.
.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.
"The MALP only sent back a few moments of video foot before the Planet's gravity asserted itself and pulled it back into the vaporization field, telling us that the Stargate is lying on its back." Carter explained to the General and the other members of SG-1. "We sent a UAV to find out more about what we got back was a rather promising. Daniel?"
Carter stepped aside and the archeologist, Daniel Jackson stood to address the table. "What we found is what appears to be a Medieval society, similar to what one might have expected in England circa 1000 AD." Daniel reported, "But that is not what we found so interesting." He pulled up several grainy images. "Several ancient ruins dot the landscape, and aerial imaging showed us this:" He zoomed in on certain glyphs on the side of a large ruined structure on a rocky outcrop. "These glyphs match the style of some of those we found on Heliopolis… It matches the language of the Furlings."
General Hammond gave Jackson a speculative look. "Doctor Jackson, are you telling me that the Furlings could be alive and living on that world?" He asked.
Daniel gave him an apologetic look. "Well, all of the instances of their architecture we have been able to spot with the UAV have been Ruined." he replied, "But at the very least we should be able to find some evidence of what happened to them, and maybe even learn where they went."
General Hammond nodded. "Teal'c, Colonel O'Neal, anything to add?" he asked.
The Jaffa, Teal'c, regarded the General with a level gaze. "The Jaffa have long sought the Wisdom of the Furlings in the service to our former Goa'uld masters." He said, "It seems fitting that we should find them, now that those false gods have become our enemy. Perhaps the Furlings will hold the key to defeating the Goa'uld once and for all."
Jack leaned back in his chair and looked at his team. "I am with all of you." he said simply. "Let's go find the Fuzzy guys."
Hammond nodded. "Then you have a go."
.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.
A. N. Not sure if I am going to finish this one. Or even continue it. I suppose it will depend on the amount of feedback I get. As always, I love constructive criticism.