Too Much To Pretend
by Mirwalker
DAY THIRTEEN
"Good morning everyone," welcomed Weir as the last of those attending the slightly expanded senior staff meeting settled around the conference table two days later.
Having lost interest in most of the agenda immediately, Rodney typed quietly through the beginning of the gathering, only half paying attention as the others gave their updates:
Carson reporting that Major Lorne was healing very well physically—swelling and bruising largely dissipated, and his arm mending nicely; but still no signs of consciousness despite varied external stimulus exercises. "Concerning, but not hopeless," was the ultimate update the McKay thought he heard.
The Head of Medicine continued with an update on their Wraith prisoner, whose moniker had apparently stuck as "Michael." His physiology had settled into a visibly human appearance, though pale and likely having some fundamental atrophy as his musculature adapted; but still a clearly Wraith voice and consciousness. Perhaps the gross physical changes were outpacing the finer details like speech and thought. Should those catch up, Weir wanted to loop in Expedition psychiatrist Kate Heightmeyer, to work on the social aspects of his transition.
Teyla was up next with glad pastoral tidings about preparations beginning for the new growing season on the mainland. She hoped to work with Weir and Sheppard to arrange time to go and help in the planting and eventually the harvest. She assured them all that the Athosians would welcome any additional, friendly hands during this important annual cycle.
Sheppard assured her that they'd find lots of folks who'd enjoy helping out and the change of scenery. And speaking of, almost all of the recent arrivals had completed their off-world certification, with just a few civilians still working on their armory training. Normally, Major Lorne handled that process; but the Colonel was actually enjoying getting to work with the fresh shots for a change. "In fact, one new botanist…"
"Boring! My turn," shouted the Head of Sciences, jumping into the breath break with a flourish of keystrokes on his tablet. Having caught it, he drew their attention to the large monitor on which his just-completed presentation was fading in dramatically. "I take us now from the mundane, to the marvelous: the latest, greatest advance in stargate travel: the Single Anchor Wormhole, or… 'SAWgate'!"
Complete with sound effects, an animated graphic of a table saw blade spun onto the screen, dissolving into the shimmering puddle of an event horizon.
The convened faces blinked at him. Sheppard covered his mouth in a poor attempt to hide his grin. Zelenka rolled his eyes and clutched at the bridge of his nose. Ronon and Teyla looked at one another, confirming that the other didn't catch the reference either.
"Kind of looks like a ninja throwing star too…," mumbled McKay, a bit deflated by the lack of adoring reaction from his colleagues.
"Rodney," smiled Weir pleasantly, "I take it you have an update on the project uncovered on Meerux?"
"Yeah," the physicist acknowledged, inhaling deeply and shifting from hurt to haughty. "You all know that I determined that the pair of labs on Meerux and Meerol was part of an Ancient research project trying to develop… SAWgate travel." He gestured meekly toward the screen again. "On further review of those logs, I have concluded that the Ancients in those facilities were running into exactly the problems I'd anticipated: computational complexity and raw power demands creating a control nightmare of exponential proportions."
"Although, we guess the energy needs could, theoretically, be met by sheer number of ZPMs," interjected Zelenka.
"Theoretically?" asked Weir.
"Yes," explained McKay, retaking the lead of his presentation. "If it were simply a question of quantity, the Ancients would have had no problem stringing together enough Zed PMs. However, controlling that energy, getting it to do what you want is the problem. In the existing network, the Gates and DHDs act like control valves of sorts, giving you multiple control points to channel and focus the wormhole-generating energy. The catch here is that without the second, fixed end in the stargate circuit, the calculations and control software needed to maintain and exactly direct all the single-source energy are mindboggling. Even for my immense mind."
The polite stares around the table reminded him of both the undergraduates he'd taught during his doctoral program and his neighbor's terrier—amicable but clueless; and so he resumed the presentation as he narrated the graphics. "Think about water in a garden hose: the motion of the water is defined by the endpoints, flowing along a pre-determined, if potentially flexible path between the two fixed ends. Open the spigot, and water flows where it's supposed to; no problem, no further action needed. That's a very simple, low-tech metaphor for the Stargate system."
"And the city and ring transporters, as well," added Zelenka.
"Yes," allowed McKay. "But let's say that you now have a high powered-hose, connected only at one end to the water main; it's going to flail all over the place, dangerously, unless you put a lot of attention and energy into holding it steady and on target. Or, better yet, think about how hard it is to control the water stream just by placing your thumb over the end of a hose; aim is clumsy and takes a lot of pressure and precise control to maintain. That's what a Single Anchor Wormhole would be like. More or less."
"What about your hyperdrive?" asked Ronon. "Best I can tell, that doesn't operate with fixed points anywhere along the trip; and we don't get lost."
"Except that the hyperdrive generator is along for the ride between travel points; so we are constantly monitoring and adjusting at every point. Stargates are initiated and terminated from an origin point; they aren't generated or managed mid-stream. Quantum apples and oranges…" McKay had clearly lost interest in trying to dumb down the explanations for the audience. "Look, I could make you all pop-up books trying to explain why it's hard to make it work, but right now just accept that it is really, really, really hard.
"So, given that problem, the logs mention the Ancients' trying some sort of alternative anchors: No Stargates and all the resources that go into building and placing them. Rather, something smaller and simpler, sort of like our locator transponders that allow sensors, including beaming technology, to locate and lock onto our personnel. I suppose they'd figure out some way to plant an anchor on the site where they might want to open a wormhole, and then direct the wormhole there."
"But doesn't that defeat the purpose of opening a wormhole wherever you want? If you've placed an anchor at the destination, doesn't that mean that you're already there?" posed Sheppard.
"Yes; but beacons are relatively much simpler to place than thirty-two tons of naquadah and a DHD. And, while the possibilities are fewer, they still include almost anywhere you've ever been, or can drop or smuggle a beacon."
"And the Ancients got this beacon technology working?"
"We don't know. As we've not come across any known examples, it's obviously not in widespread use; but Royce may have found us a starting place, literally, in the Meerux files."
"Um, Rodney," stage-whispered the Czech physicist, nervously pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "There is the… other issue."
Supportive expressions around the table melted away as they focused on the Head of Sciences.
"Thank you, Radek," the Head sneered, unable or unwilling to meet Weir's raised eyebrows and Sheppard's smirk. He rushed through the obligatory, but undoubtedly unpopular explanation. "Royce also found a passage in the Ancient database noting that, while there was confidence that the necessary control mechanisms could eventually be developed, the entire concept was abandoned nonetheless. With the Wraith's adopting use of the Gates to deny escape to attacked worlds, it was decided that the risk of Gate-based omnipresence falling into their hands was too great, and the benefits for Lanteans insufficient for that risk and its power costs. So, the SAWgate was something they couldn't, or more accurately, didn't make happen."
Sheppard's grimaced glare spoke the gathering's clear feeling of "sort of important; could have mentioned that earlier."
"Rodney, you reported that Dr Royce found indications of where the beacon testing was taking place," interrupted Weir, looking up from her own tablet. "So I'm assuming that the physics lessons today are part of a pitch for us to check it out and see if we might be able to make it work nonetheless."
"Bingo!" grinned McKay, glad that he had in fact made his point.
"No disrespect meant, Rodney," delicately interjected Teyla. "But beyond the Wraith concerns—which are considerable—our most recent attempt to revive an Ancient experiment resulted in the destruction of the Dorandan homeworld and its star system.(1) Is it wise to again assume that we can succeed here when the Ancestors could or would not?"
"Rodney, let's say you can single-handedly outperform an entire race of advanced beings," queried Beckett diplomatically, as their resident genius opened his mouth to defend said genius. "What if the technology fell into Wraith hands, and put virtually any location on the menu?"
"If we were so concerned about Ancient technology getting into Wraith hands, we'd just destroy the City or dismantle the Gate here. But we haven't chosen that extreme defense. No, going without the technology is not the answer; it's simply a matter of keeping control of it. And that's what Sheppard and his men are here for."
Sheppard nodded a sarcastic thanks at him.
"The possibilities here are literally nearly infinite," insisted McKay. "I mean, imagine the good we could do when the Wraith dial in to block escape from a cull. We open an alternate wormhole to insert teams or a jumper. If the Gate is located in a dangerous or well-guarded location, we can dial our teams a door that sidesteps that danger. Or, should something happen to a stargate entirely, like when then Colonel O'Neill was trapped on a planet when its gate was thought destroyed by a meteor strike;(2) the planet is no longer entirely off the grid. If we can learn from the Ancients' successes and mistakes, every planet, in fact everywhere, could be added to the network."
Stressing his point, McKay laid his tablet on the conference table and leaned toward them all across it. "Look, as with Project Arcturus, the dates on the database entries we're reviewing indicate that this research was happening toward the later parts of the war. Resources were thin, attentions divided and time short; they may not have had enough of any of those things to succeed. We're not in that dire a circumstance—yet—but could stand to gain the same benefits by picking up where they left off."
Faces remained slightly skeptical, despite and perhaps because they better understood the situation.
"If we can't make it work, then nothing but a little time is lost; and at least we won't have skipped a possibility to give us an edge. And if it does work, we'll just have to be as careful with its security as we are with the continued existence of Atlantis, and the Pegasus Gate itself." He looked pleadingly at everyone around the table, finally resting his gaze on the contemplative Expedition leader.
"Given the potential and the very real concerns, Rodney, I assume you have a specific proposal today?" she allowed.
"Royce and I have worked out a gate address where we believe the final phase of SAWgate R&D took place. All I'm asking is for a jumper team to have a look."
"Just reconnaissance?" suggested the likely pilot.
"I'd need time to make sense of anything we find; so I promise no immediate action without checking in with you, Elizabeth."
Weir looked to Sheppard for his thoughts; and he thumb-shrugged his best nothing-to-lose-for-trying. Knowing the meaning as well, McKay looked back at her, as she took a breath, placed her palms on the table and gave permission for "Intelligence gathering only, Rodney. And Dr Royce has accompanied a day team to the mainland today; so I'd like Radek to go with you as well." She eyed both scientists intently, "You are not to attempt anything other than data retrieval. Understood?"
They both nodded agreeably, as they packed up their tablets in anticipation of prepping for the flight.
"Thirty minutes, in the Jumper Bay," Sheppard announced, knowing they'd head directly without a reminder to take some time to get ready.
"Carson," added Weir as the meeting broke up, "Let's go talk with Dr Heightmeyer."
The Jumper came out of the Spacegate and cloaked immediately, just in case. A quick scan read the system as all clear; but as deep as they were in Wraith-dominated space, Sheppard intended to keep them hidden until they didn't have to be any longer.
Below them, a large, barren and crater-pocked planet wobbled slowly, and beyond it, a wide but sparse asteroid belt circled.
"I'm picking up metallic debris in the asteroid belt, most heavily concentrated a few hundred klicks away," shared McKay pointing in a direction without looking away from his ubiquitous tablet and the Heads Up Display it was wired to. "Just beyond the orbit of the Gate."
Sheppard turned the ship in the direction his navigator had indicated, figuring he would get more detail as the details were available. As they skirted the edge of the planet's ring, the 'asteroids' came into clearer focus; and many of them were clearly not just space rock. "Rodney, is it just me, or does that look a lot like pieces of an Ancient satellite and a hiveship?"
The observation brought the other three members of the team up to see for themselves, both curious and anxious at the apparent find.
"At least one hive, if not several; and based on the mass of just the remnants, I'd say the Ancient station was much larger than the weapons platform beyond Atlantis."(3)
"The near-Gate orbit would make sense for a technology proving ground," suggested Zelenka from his own brightly lit tablet. "Easy Gate access and control as the SAWgate anchor, and easy escape if things went wrong, as they seem to have gone."
"This asteroid field?" McKay waved a hand toward the front window as if he hadn't heard or cared about his colleague's conjecture. "It isn't one. It's the remnants of the Ancient facility, the hiveships, dislodged pieces of the planetoid below us and probably a second, smaller moon that's been completely destroyed."
"The result of a battle?"
"Or did another Ancient technology wipe out another civilisation?"
"The former," stated McKay, ignoring the potential jibe. "The damage patterns on both sets of wreckage—carbon scoring, structural bowing, etc—indicate both external and internal impacts, and that means weapons strikes and explosive decompressions. I'd say the Lantean station and the hiveships took each other out."
"And the popped and swiss-cheesed space rocks?" asked Sheppard.
"I don't think they're related. We don't have any other examples of either Ancients or Wraith having planetkiller weapons; this station was big, but no Death Star."
"Rodney, are you seeing what I'm seeing in the planetary debris?" asked Zelenka.
"Echoes of Alderaan, and millions of minds crying out at once?" gallows-chuckled McKay.
"Less 'force,' and more naquadah, actually."
"What?" piped McKay, diving back into the sensor readings from his own funny. "He's right. There are traces of naquadah all over the planetoid's surface, and scattered throughout the debris ring."
"Were these worlds mining sources for the mineral?" pondered Teyla.
"No," agreed the two scientists at the same time.
"Jinx!" McKay jumped the tie breaker, smiling. "These amounts are probably too small to indicate natural ore deposits. More likely these are remnants of stargate-related technology… like SAWgate beacons. It makes sense that the Ancients would make them from a familiar substance, like naquadah." He scrambled to adjust sensor settings on the jumper console. "I wonder if we're picking up remains of the beacons where they opened wormholes. There might be a beacon intact, or at least some sizable pieces; take us in closer!"
"Are you sure it's safe?" hesitated Sheppard.
"Yes," barked his copilot, as if his instruction hadn't carried enough permission and assurance. "Unless there's a Wraith ship lurking out there, there's nothing left of what we can detect to pose anything other than a collision danger." He turned back to his pad, and continued to think aloud. "So the Ancient station must have controlled the spacegate as the fixed anchor, and directed the other end of the wormhole toward beacons on one of the two planetoids. Like the Meerux and Meerol labs, only in the open and without personnel at your target site, in case something went wrong."
"Looks like something did go wrong," reminded Dex. "One target is gone, and the other is all carved up."
"Well, it's obvious that the craters are the vortex damage from opening wormholes too close to the surface..."
"Or within the planet. Precision of aim would be incredibly difficult."
"And the longer gashes?"
McKay and Zelenka punched their instruments wildly, focusing on those areas and readings as they worked to determine what may have happened there.
Zelenka looked up over his glasses, "Elevated—"
"Plus rotation, yeah," agreed McKay, neither man feeling the need to state more of the obvious.
I got this one, nodded Dex to Teyla and Sheppard. "Wanna explain to the rest of us?"
"Huh?" wondered McKay aloud. "Oh, right. Um, almost every Gate we've encountered before has been fixed in place: either to the surface of the planet, the deck of a ship or in a geosynchronous point in space above a planet. The gate and thus the wormhole don't move relative to their immediate surroundings.
"But without an actual gate at the receiving end, the open SAWgate wouldn't necessarily move with its destination. Unless the Ancients developed a way to compensate, we could be looking at absolutely fixed wormholes, opening at or above the planet's surface as the planet rotated underneath them."
"Kind of like landing a helicopter on a moving ship? The chopper has to adjust for the constant movement of the deck…," observed their multi-qualified pilot.
"More like continuously hovering above the moving deck, with a radio-controlled chopper and on an interplanetary scale; but, yes," acknowledged McKay. "And if it wasn't lined up perfectly, for the split seconds it exists, the opening vortex, and even the active event horizon, could literally drag across the surface of the ship. Er, the planet here..."
"And they would wipe out or suck up everything they ran across," followed Dex.
"Power, precision aim over distance, and now dynamic, real-time in situ adjustments… We are nowhere near that level of spatial management!" bemoaned Zelenka.
Everyone stared out at the miscellany of wounds on the planetoid, indicating a large number of imperfect attempts.
"So, did the Ancestors succeed?"
The two scientists turned back to the readings again. McKay narrated, "The other planetoid must have been much smaller, and was eventually carved up completely by bad aim and dragged wormholes."
"Or at least weakened so that gravitational forces…" added his colleague.
"Or the firefight finished the job, yes."
"But some of those gouges are enormous…" interjected Sheppard.
"Maybe they couldn't control the size of the wormhole at the unanchored end; we've only seen wormholes contained within Gates, standard or super-.(4) Too large a vortex would have wiped out or catastrophically damaged the smaller planet."
"So this is a weapon," concluded their Satedan military specialist.
McKay turned to the Satedan with a look of sudden realization, "Everything is a potential weapon to you, isn't it?"
Dreads nodded at him unapologetically, as the pilot turned the Jumper back toward the heaviest concentration of Ancient debris. "So, in addition to all the aim, reach and control problems you've alluded to previously, we now have wormhole size and relative motion to contend with. Geez, Rodney; you're really setting yourself up for a doozey of miracle making this work…," quipped Sheppard.
"One magic trick at a time, please. Let's see if there are any beacons even somewhat intact after the testing, this firefight and likely Wraith scavenging…"
"You think the Wraith may have discovered a beacon?" worried the Athosian.
"Well, even if this fight was a draw, unlike the Ancients, the Wraith have been around and active in the past ten thousand years to come back and look. But, as we haven't had any spontaneous Wraithholes open up, I'm guessing they either didn't find anything or couldn't figure out how to make it work. Regardless, if we can find enough of the technology for us to re-engineer it… Well, that's a lot less miracle I'll have to work on my own."
"But, if the vortex can destroy small planets, wouldn't it have taken out any beacons it was aimed at?" asked Dex, intrigued but still not convinced at the chances of finding this tactical advantage.
"It wouldn't make sense to build them only to be destroyed by the wormhole; single use beacons would be wasteful and foolish."
"On an interplanetary scale," smirked Sheppard.
"Yeah," grimaced McKay, aware that the needle was getting smaller and the haystack, growing. He took a deep breath, and wished aloud, "In the hopes that the Wraith didn't find it all, or didn't recognize its importance, let's take a look at some of the more likely densities of naquadah, and then check the satellite debris for anything beacon-ish."
The entire team looked out the scattered rocks and structural pieces, wondering if not hoping whether the answer to the expanding potential and problems of this technology was out there.
"Knock, knock."
Weir looked up from her files and laptop. "That was quick."
"Not much to see really," explained Sheppard as he dropped into his regular seat across from her. "And since we didn't leave the Jumper, no post-mission medical either."
"No SAWgate genesis, huh?" she deduced, sitting back in her chair to hear the update.
Sheppard quickly described what they'd seen and surmised on the three hour tour. "On the way back, Radek and Rodney did have the idea that Wraith culling beam technology might provide some kind of insight on the dynamic aiming issues, since they're designed to pick up moving targets. And Zelenka will go back with a team tomorrow to salvage a few pieces that Rodney thinks look most promising for a further look, either for its engineering or its data potential."
"You don't look hopeful."
He shrugged unenergetically. "As handy as this would obviously be, I'm not that sure it's gonna pan out. While we now have evidence that the Ancients were able to open SAWgates, we still don't know exactly how; and even if we can, they seemed to be struggling mightily with it." He sighed and picked at the hem of his shirt. "That space garbage looked pretty decrepit; so unless Royce has better luck with those Meerux logs…"
Weir half-smiled, "Well that will have to wait until at least tomorrow evening. He's apparently quite the hit with the Athosians; and they've insisted he spend the night and keep interviewing tomorrow."
"Chocolate," deduced Sheppard matter-of-factly.
"Pardon?"
"He took them chocolate," smiled the Colonel. "Don't get me a wrong; Royce is a nice guy, great with people. But he's also wicked smart about it." Weir still looked a little confused, so he explained. "I understand that he used most of his inbound personal cargo allowance on the Daedalus to bring boxes of chocolate, an assortment of hot-off-the-presses international sport and celebrity magazines, and various knit socks—classically popular and scarce items on frontline military postings." The career soldier chuckled at memories of his own past haggling for such prized goodies from home. "He's a great conversationalist, but has also used his familiarity with the military barter market to… shall we say, sweeten his introductions. Teyla suggested the candy bars would be of greatest interest in the village."
Weir smiled at the unsubtle, if very successful diplomacy of the new staff member. "Speaking of Teyla, I thought it might be nice to ask if she wanted to accompany the jumper over tomorrow morning, if you don't have anything more pressing here…"
"No; that sounds great. I know she'd appreciate it; and I've got plenty of paperwork backing up with Lorne still out. Any news there?"
Weir shook her head. "But I was planning on checking in on him, Carson and 'Michael' on the way to dinner. Care to join me?"
"Sure," he brightened. "All that talk of chocolate…"
"I could use some nice new socks," mused Weir as they waved to the control room staff on their way down to the Dining Hall, via the Infirmary.
NOTES
1. In Trinity (SGA 2.06), McKay's insistence that he could make the Project Arcturus weapons system successful ultimately led it to overload, taking two-thirds of the solar system with it.
2. A Hundred Days (SG1 3.17).
3. The team discovered an Ancient weapons satellite 15 hours' Jumper ride from Atlantis in The Defiant One (SGA 1.12), and later used it against the approaching Wraith fleet in The Siege, Part 1 (SGA 1.19).
4. The Milky Way Galaxy Ori Supergate was first seen in Beachhead (SG1 9.06), several months before this story's post-Coup d'Etat (SGA 2.17) setting.
