Said that we could have it all
kept pushing cause you wanted me to fall
now it's time that you let go
diving in to the black hole.
Black Hole - Christina Novelli & Craig Connelly
Four weeks nothing went seriously wrong and John even stops worrying about going to the crazy planet. Since they placed the MALP they have been checking the footage continuously and there never was any activity or problem with the reception, so Sam approved a mission to go back and explore more of the ancient structure. A lab of some sort as Rodney had figured out from the translations by now.
Just to be safe John decides to take Lorne and his team with him. You never know in Pegasus.
So, they all gather in the gate room and McKay checks the MALP footage.
"Everything is clear. We can go through."
John looks up to Carter and receives a nod. "Okay, people. Move out!"
John's mood plummets to murderous when he came out the gate on the other side.
"Rodney!" he turns to glare at the scientist who moves as fast as he can to the MALP.
"I don't understand. We are where we wanted to go. The MALP is here…." Great. Trailing off. Never a good sign.
"McKay! You better make sense fast."
"The date is 26 years in the future. I can't explain how. When we checked before everything was alright."
"And how are we supposed to get back now?"
"Dial Atlantis and ask?" Lorne tries but gets a glare from McKay. Asking for help was never Rodney's strength.
"Rodney, do you think you can figure it out when you are in the lab?" John asks and points in the general direction of the ancient structure.
"Yes. That is the best idea I heard in weeks!" Rodney replies and John can barely manage to not roll his eyes. He orders Lorne and his men to set up camp near the lab and get everything ready for a longer stay on the planet. John can see it in all their faces. None of them is happy to be stuck in the future.
Even Marty McFly had a way back home.
John makes his way to the ancient outpost with Rodney and Ronon. The former runner is always on guard, especially here. Since they found the tracks back in their time this planet and the people in hiding are his white whale.
"Buddy keep it down. Rodney checked. No one is here." Nonetheless John takes turns with Ronon and team Lorne to keep watch. He knows that they probably will be stuck here for a couple of days.
If not weeks.
Day seven starts different. John wakes up to his radio and major Lorne's voice "McKay found something. You better come and see this for yourself!" John gets up and ready in the blink of an eye and runs to the structure. When he enters the main chamber, he sees something, very much like the display when he accidentally activated the chair in Antarctica.
"Someone gonna explain this?" he looks at Rodney who looks like the cat that ate the canary.
"Yes, this is our way home. It looks like this planet is in the middle of two black holes and only keeps together because of this structure and some sort of recharging ZPM system. By the way: We need to do more research on the ZPMs here!"
"Sorry, did I just hear black holes? How is that supposed to help us get back home?"
"Ah, here comes the best thing: The black holes and the planet somehow revolve around each other in cycles." McKay points to the moving parts of the hologram. "And if my calculations are correct, we can get home in about two hours."
"Thank god. We are leaving in two hours! Lorne pack up."
"No, we need to stay here. We need to find out more. And maybe we can meet the future team again and learn more." John rolls his eyes. Rodney is excited, and he can understand that to a degree but there is one thing he knows. "We need to get back and inform Carter. After that, we can maybe go back here, and you can do more research if she approves."
Three hours later they are sitting in the conference room and Samantha Carter has listened to everything they said. She even endured Rodney's lengthy explanation of time travel through wormholes and black holes. Now she looks like she is thinking carefully about what to say next. And John has to admit, he is curious about that too, because if they don't get permission to do more research on the crazy planet Rodney will be unbearable.
"Time Travel is really dangerous, and I have half a mind to forbid you to do more research and block the gate address in the dialing computer." Sam starts and holds up a hand to silence Rodney when he starts spluttering. "But if the ancients found a way other than solar flares, we need to know more about it. You can go back there and do more research, but I have three simple rules: First of all, every mission report gets command code encryption. That means to say, head of the expedition, head of military, head of science department and CMO and it needs at minimum three of these to access the files. Second, no contact with future persons if it can be avoided and three no changing the timeline in any case; that includes giving or asking for names! And just to be safe, from now on you only go to that planet in disguises!"
Sam looks around the table and everyone nods in agreement, even Rodney seems to agree. The colonel really knows what she is talking about, having traveled to the sixties and some far away future before and if the stories are to believed ancient Egypt in a different timeline. Sometimes he really wishes he never learned about the stargate and all that crazy stuff and was still flying choppers from and to McMurdo.