The entire base was silent. There had been TVs brought into every room on the base where their hadn't been one already, Cassie, John, Jack, and the rest of SG-1 were sitting around the conference table, waiting to hear the speech that the President would make that would change all of their lives. It was 9:58. Two minutes left, but none of them could think of anything to say.
John was sitting on the right side of the table, with Cassie to his left, then Sam, Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c. John and Cassie were holding hands under the table. Earth as they knew it was going to fall into chaos, despite anyone's best attempts. They all knew that it was coming. Riots and pickets, politicians using this to get on the good side if people, politicians like Kensey. They didn't even have any idea what the president was going to say: 9:59.
They were all looking around at the table at the faces of people who had been as close as any family as they had faced invasions, end of the world, replicators, countless Gu'auld system lords who wanted them dead, even Cassie had faced a Gu'auld, Hatar. And now the world would know about it. 10:00.
The President stepped in front of the podium where countless presidents had given speeches over the years, but none would effect the world like this one was going to:
My fellow Americans and fellow citizens of the planet earth. I have come before you today representing the leaders of every country in the world. At some point in their life every human has looked up at the stars and has wondered what is up there. I am here to tell you that that question has been answered.
In 1922, Prof. Langford headed an archeological dig in Egypt that resulted in the finding of a strange ring-like device made of a metal not found on earth.
This device remained a mystery until 10 years ago, Dr. Daniel Jackson, an Archeologist who specializes in Ancient Egypt, found out that this, Stargate as it is called is in fact a gate to other worlds. In the years since the Stargate has been activated, teams of Military and civilian groups have traveled to other worlds, all over the galaxy, and have met peoples who's ancestors where from earth thousands of years ago.
I couldn't possibly understand the science behind it, so I will hand you over to Major Davis, who will explain the science to you.
The President walked off stage and Major Davis stepped in his place, "Thank you, Mr. President. The Stargate was invented by an Ancient race of human like beings who existed millions of years before us. They created what we call the 'gate network,' next to me you can see in this diagram, is a representation of our galaxy. Now each of the bright red dots represents a planet where there is a gate on it. We have visited a quite a few of the planets, but there are many left to discover.
"The gate is basically an artificially created wormhole that sends anything that goes through the event horizon, this blue liquid you see here, almost instantaneously to another world. On most worlds, the Stargate has with it this device," the screne showed the gate and a DHD, "this is what we have called a Dial Home Device, or DHD. In it you dial the 7 quordinants that require travel to another gate. 6 if them are to determine the destination, and the 7th is the point of origin. We don't have a DHD on earth, so we have a highly sophisticated computer that does the job of the DHD, but is a lot slower. I will now accept questions,"
As expected every person in the room was jumping up waving their hand. Davis pointed, and one remained standing while the others sat down disgruntled. "Major, is it true that there is a race called the Gu'auld who has attempted to attack our world on a few occasions." Jack sighed and said under his breath, "Oh Boy!"
"The Gu'auld are a parasitical race who uses humans as hosts and slaves. They tried to invade earth a few times, but each times our men and women in the armed forces were able to stop the invasions before they happened. Next question?"
"When are the public going to be able to get a chance to go through the 'gate' as you called it?"
"As of right now, the Stargate is in a secure facility. It's location and the people working on it are all classified. While there may be opportunities later for non-Stargate Command persons to access it, when has not been decided. That is all the questions we have for now. However, more information will be released on a website where you can read about the planets that SG teams have visited, and more information on the technology behind Stargate Travel. Thank you,"
At that, Jack turned off the TV and sighed, "At least Kinsey wasn't giving the intro speech." Everyone in the room was thinking, Amen!, "Well the words out, only time will tell what will happen next."
To Be Continued…