Stargate Hastings

Chapter Three: The Stamford estate

When the serving girl returned to clear the table. Richard said, "Inform the staff that I do not wish to be disturbed, please Clarissa. Mr Elden will give me any assistance if I require it".

"Yes my Lord". She replied, then left the room.

"Now then James my man, where were we?... ah yes evidence". He indicated the table they had just eaten at and asked "Could you move the table over to there please James?" He pointed to the opposite wall and added "and would you please lock the door old man?".

Jim did as his friend asked, then returned to him "Will there be anything else, my Lord?".

Richard was glad to hear James making a joke, maybe his friend was not as far gone as he looked. "Yes actually. There are other ways into the lower levels but it would take more time for us to arrive that way and in my condition it can be difficult going the long way around. Do you see the wall that you just moved the table away from?"

"Yes". Jim replied.

"Do you see the alcove that goes around that wall?" Richard pointed it out to him.

Jim could see the alcove that ran around the wall, it curved slightly at the top corners. "Yes I see it".

"Good, now feel at the bottom left hand corner of the alcove" James started doing as he asked. "you should feel a circular outline. It is very faint but it is there".

"Yes I feel it, now what?"

"Push it, you will need to use considerable force".

He did as his friend asked. It did not move at first but as soon as it started moving it became far easier. When he had completed the task he heard a sound from behind the wall.

Richard then told him to repeat the process in the top right, bottom right and finally, top left corners. When he pressed the final stone button, he heard a sound similar to the one he had heard coming from the staircase. Only he did not hear the sound of gears as before, this time he only heard a chain, a very big chain. "Believe it or not. As loud as the noise his in here now. If you were in any other room but this one, you would not be able to hear it at all. My ancestors were really quite extraordinary!"

The sound continued for at least a minute, when suddenly he heard a Clunk! A moment after that he heard a second chain, only from a higher position behind the wall. The wall itself then started to raise and as it did a stone carriage appeared with enough room inside to fit them both quite easily. "Shall we?" Richard asked.

Jim could not believe what he had just witnessed, he had seen some amazing sites in his time on the sub continent but nothing he had ever seen had amazed him as much as this. He suspected, that this was just the tip of the iceberg and wherever this stone box would take him, would be more impressive still. "After you".

Once they had entered the elevator carriage, he instantly noticed that they were travelling far slower than he had expected. "Are we supposed to be going this slow?" he asked his friend.

"Yes the weight that raises the carriage is a little heavier than the one that takes us down and as we descend the weights that brought the carriage up, will ascend. I do not know how it actually works but that was how my uncle explained it, on the day he revealed my families legacy to me".

"Why does he dress like a butler and what did you mean by this place is a convenient fiction?"

"My uncle was the head of our house before me, although officially I was the heir to my families fortune. When it was all revealed to him on his return from service, he had held little interest in seeking out the Stargate. So rarely came down to the archives".

Jim stopped him there, "Why were you both made aware of all this, after you returned from service? I do not understand that part".

"My family felt it important that anyone let into the secret, would have to have proven themselves in combat. My uncle had to leave the service because his daughter needed a parent, which was deemed a more than satisfactory reason for resigning his commission and I myself would not be aloud back into combat even if I wished it. As for the reason he is dressed as a butler, well that is because all of the staff on these grounds, are members of the Hastings's clan".

Jim laughed at what he had just been told "Are you telling me that the girl who served us our meals, is a member of your family? And why does your uncles grandson sound like he's been dragged in off the street? Is that all just for show as well?".

"Yes she is the daughter of my cousin, You will meet Tom's mother soon enough and that should answer any questions you have".

Jim noticed a gap appear between the floor of the carriage and the wall, signifying they were nearly at their destination. With him distracted Richard added, "The estate is named for the role played by my family, at the battle of Stamford bridge".

"Your family fought in that battle?".

"No but the men who did fight in that battle, were manoeuvred into doing so by my family. My family fought at the battle of Hastings as our name would suggest". As he said this, they came to a stop and the two men left the stone elevator.

The last thing Jim was expecting was a corridor with men dressed in khaki fatigues. They were of a kind that looked far more comfortable than the uniforms worn in the army. "Well you've surprised me again".

"I am sure there are plenty more surprises to come. If we just go down this corridor, the proof that you wish to see will be revealed". Richard started heading in the direction he had indicated and Jim followed him.

When they took a left turn, they entered a room that had four high calibre gun emplacements and all were of a design he did not recognise. A belt of bullets was fed from one side of the gun, to the other "They fire three fifty calibre bullets per second and the barrel on the top will propel an incendiary or fragmentation grenade, to cause even more carnage down their if required".

Jim was impressed by the description that his friend gave but it was what they were aimed at, that took his breath away. The room they had entered was more of a very large balcony than an actual room and the hall that it looked out upon was comparable in size, to the one he had entered earlier that day but where the first hall had been about extravagance. The hall he looked down upon now, was designed with only practicality in mind.

Where there was a staircase in the main hall of Stamford house, here there was a huge iron frame, that had a circular round plate attached to it via a hinge, the door was in an opened position. Revealing in the centre of that frame, what Jim knew to be the device his friend was describing earlier over lunch. There was a large what looked like stone circle, with a large hole in the centre of it, that seemed to match in size the circular door attached to the frame. He looked carefully and made out some shapes on the stone ring. There were also several triangular protuberances spaced equally around the device, that took away the illusion that the huge ring was made of actual stone.

Richard watched his friend go through the same incredible experience, that everyone who witnessed the awesome vision that was the Stargate, for the first time had. He could not wait to see his face when he saw it activated. "So what do you think old friend, do I sound crazy now".

Jim started shaking his head and laughing in a way that made Richard slightly nervous. "I was beginning to think your injuries had sent you a little eccentric but now I see that you are most definitely insane," before Richard could reply, he continued, "I would tell you to bury it as deep as you can but you have obviously already sent my son through that damn thing... if you were any other man Richard".

The look on his best friends face was not one of hanger but one of a man who had just been disappointed by a dear friend. He was expecting him to go for his throat but the only thing he did was look at him. "He volunteered James".

"That is not it, he his own man and I have no right to decide what he does. It is the fact that if he was not my son, it would have been one of your own family who was sent through that thing, not mine. You want me to be a part of whatever you are planning to do here and my son being involved, gives you the leverage you need to ensure my involvement. I expected better of you but everybody becomes a disappointment given enough time".

"No he would not have been my first choice, my first choice was otherwise engaged at the time. Which reminds me... perhaps I should have asked this earlier but I was hoping that you would be my best man but do not worry about that now. You were my first choice but I decided that sending a single man, who had a knack for learning new languages and experience serving in foreign lands, a man who could prepare and wait. Then when my first choice would be available, him and his team would hopefully have someone on the other side, who knew the language and had gathered enough intelligence to help them complete their mission and return home safely".

"You want me to be your best man? I thought you would have had already married that girl by now. Unless this is a different one of course?". Jim knew she wouldn't have been the first woman to call off an engagement, because her love had returned from war a cripple.

"Yes well, I tried to do the decent thing and release her from our engagement but the woman is as stubborn as a mule and when I finally came to the realisation, that she wasn't going to leave. One thought it would be better if ones best friend was by his side, for morale support of course".

"You really are something. A man does not expect his best friend, to manipulate him Richard. For gods sake man, if these aliens are real... you do realise, that you may have just condemned every man, woman and child on this planet to death or worse and you are asking me to be your best man?".

"What if they rediscover us James? What if they came here and claimed to be our gods? Well I will tell you sir. Half of the world would fight and die, the rest would bow down and be thankful that they no longer had to worship a deity, that they cannot see with their own eyes".

"If I accept, when will I be going through that thing and who will be the other members of my team?".

"When devising a strategy for this mission, it was decided that stealth would be the best way to go. The last thing we want is to be detected by these aliens, if they are still around that is".

"You have reason to believe they won't be?".

"No but there was a chance, that they may have had no further use for the world you would be travelling to".

"Why would they abandon it?".

"We have reason to believe that this world, is one of many that they control and we know the purpose our ancestors were sent to this world, was to mine the ore with which these aliens build their technology. We believed they may have completely exhausted the supply by now and moved on to another world".

"Believed they may have?". Jim asked in a sceptical tone.

"It was over five thousand years ago, that is a long time to be mining a single mineral after all".

"Yes but we can not just assume they would leave even if it was spent, habitable worlds may not be easy to find". Although he thought to himself, that there could many planets like the Earth out there, he had no way of knowing.

"That is why we continued under the assumption, that they were still there my friend. The last thing we wanted to do, is put this planet and its people in danger but to do nothing would only guarantee their eventual enslavement. That is what my family and those who came before them, have been trying to fight against for thousands of years!".

Jim noticed that his friend, had the same pride in his voice when he spoke about his family, that his uncle had shown when reciting the families words and decided now was the time to ask again, about what his families mission was. "What have your family been fighting against exactly?".

He thought about how to answer his friend, it was not an easy task to speak with someone about such things but he believed he would not react the way many other people would. "Religion or to be more precise. Religion as an organised entity".

"I would not say what you just did to anyone else if I were you, people can be very touchy about things like that. My father would have beaten the devil out of you, for those words".

"Exactly my friend. My family has no problem with religion in itself, many of my family have been Christians and many are still. Faith is considered a good thing but that faith, should be of the persons own choosing. Our family, upon deciding to find the piece of the device, that they did not already possess, the Stargate itself. They also decided to put their faith in the sciences, so to an extent they engineered the industrial revolution, that we now find ourselves in as a people. Our technology is slightly ahead of the rest of society but we have released the scientific theories behind most of our advancements, so they should catch up soon enough".

"Most?".

"Yes most. Our advancements in weaponry and radio technologies. The weaponry we have held back for obvious reasons. The radio because the longer it takes for them to catch up, the longer our communications will stay secure".

"What is radio?". Jim asked.

"Let me show you". Richard indicated for him to follow him, the balcony/bunker like its above ground counterpart, went around the entire hall except for the space where the Stargate was situated. Jim followed him until they turned left around a corner, to find two guns like the ones on the front balcony, he looked across and could see two more on the balcony opposite. When he turned around, he could see that in the far right hand corner of the room there was a table against the wall, with a machine the like he had never seen before sat upon it. It had a large coil of what looked like copper wire, attached to a large board with various switches and dials on it.

"We can only send Morse code messages at this time but we are getting very close to developing a device, that will enable us to have actual conversations, over vast distances but for now we do have a way of communicating with the other side of the gate. It is how I know your son is both alive and well on his way to completing his part of the mission".

"You are in communication with him then?".

"Not exactly. His mission commenced a little over seventeen months ago, nine months later on the day and time agreed we made the connection again and received his report. He has learned the language and made contact with the locals. They have no idea that he arrived there through the Stargate and he also reported that reading and writing are outlawed by Ra but he has not seen him or any of his space crafts or technology. He did say that the man he has befriended, knows of a secret place, that may be able to help with finding the correct symbols to return your team home and also that the mission's goals are viable".

"And what would those goals be?"

"The procurement of a small but significant amount of the mineral they are mining on that world, any technology that could be found would be a bonus, we can study it and try to understand, how we can use it to advance our own technology and if possible a way to travel to other gates within the network".

"Network?".

"Yes network, we believe there are thousands of gates on thousands of habitable worlds within this galaxy. Our hope is to scout these worlds, with the intention of finding worlds not inhabited by these gods, that we ourselves can colonise. Think of it man, if humanity did not have to fight each other, for new land and territories,. The people of this world would finally have a chance to live in peace".

"You think that having enough land for everyone will stop the wars, you really are insane, either that or you are naive. It is not the pursuit of new lands causing these wars, it is greed and if you give a greedy person the chance to possess more, do you truly believe that they would then share it?". He could tell his friends intentions were pure but the naivety of the man, had shocked him.

"At this precise moment in time? No I do not believe they would but by the time our operation is at that stage, it is hoped that the reforms needed for our society to start moving forward, will be set in motion. Believe me when I say, that we have thought this through in great detail and all variables have been considered".

His family had not wanted to involve the crown in the search for the Stargate but when he had read the journal's kept by the previous men, who had set out to find it. Richard knew he had no choice but to involve them. Although each man had tracked down new artefacts, to add to the already incredible collection. None of them had made any real strides in finding the Stargate itself. In fact the man who had came closest, was the first to actually mount an expedition to find it. He had came within fifteen miles of the actual resting place but in his frustration declared the location to be anywhere but Egypt and that the clues left behind pointing to it being there, were merely a false trail, to ensure the device was never found. For the following three generations his family searched the ancient ruins of Europe and Asia hoping to find a new lead, only to be lead back to Egypt once more.

In his condition he could not go out and gather new artefacts or go in search of the Stargate himself, even if he did discover a possible location to begin excavating. So he decided to go to the one person, who had access to a collection that could rival his own. Queen Victoria herself. He had considered lying to her and making up an excuse for the reason he wanted to see her private collection but telling her the truth solved other problems. Firstly she had the resources to both dig up the gate and transport it back to Britain, all while keeping the entire operation secret.

With the only men who had actually seen the Stargate, now stationed here at the estate, ready to defend against any hostile incursions through it. More importantly, if the goal of exploration to multiple worlds was to be realised, his family had more than enough numbers to complete the task but on the other hand, if they were to make an attempt to liberate any of these worlds and the technology that would come with it, her majesty's armed forces would be needed. If colonisation was to be an option, the millions of subjects she reined over, would also be useful.

So he told her everything and was surprised to hear from her, that she already knew that his family was searching for something in Egypt and took great delight in telling him that her people, believed they had found the location of what he was looking for. They had not yet started digging for it because of territorial reasons but it could be arranged if the crown had oversight, of everything that happened regarding the device, if it did indeed do what they believed it would.

The operation of the Stargate would fall under the jurisdiction of the Hastings family but the crown would be able to demand the cessation of all operations, if they deemed it to put the safety of the British empire and the rest of the world in danger. In return her majesty would supply the men needed for off world campaigns. He had agreed to this with conditions of his own, once the Stargate started producing real technological advancements, they would be used to make the lives of all the subjects of the British empire and the world as a whole better and not just the wealthy few who could afford them.

She had agreed to this as well as some other suggestions, concerning the education of the working and poorer classes children. He also demanded something be done about the homeless epidemic, that was infecting the larger cities of Britain. Many of which were former service men who had risked their lives, in her majesty's name.

So he had sent a team, to work with her majesty's. Twelve months later many of the reforms were slow coming but the Stargate was delivered through the tunnel, that's entrance was deep within the estates grounds. It along with the facility that now houses the Stargate were specifically designed over two centuries ago, to allow the gate to enter the under ground complex, that now housed it.

Jim realised his friend still hadn't answered his question, so asked, "Are you going to tell me when and who or not?".

"The when will be twenty six days from today, the who will be revealed soon enough. I do not expect you to give me your answer straight the way of course but I will need to find someone else, if you do decline".

"Cut the crap Richard, you already know I will accept".

"Yes but will you be going to collect your son or will you be going with the intention of completing the mission?"

"My son would not return with me unless the mission was complete anyway. I am in but I would have preferred it, if you had left my son out of it".

"I am sorry old friend but I would do it again without hesitation. There are many competent men on this base and in time they will have the command of their own off world teams, with any luck. I do not need a competent man, I need an extraordinary man. A man who can read a situation on the spot and adapt his plans accordingly".

"You flatter me sir". Jim replied. He could not tell if his friend was just stroking his ego or not, it made him feel uncomfortable.

Richard laughed "You must be joking, the amount of times you pulled us out of danger, when the brass had messed up there Intel or were just plain incompetent and you say I flatter you. What happened to you these past five years James?".

Jim did not want to talk about what had happened, it truly was the stuff of nightmares, a nightmare he relived each night. So he just said "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger Richard". He nodded his head to indicate the chair he was confined to, as he added, "You should know that better than anyone. Stuck in that chair, relying on others to meet your needs and yet you achieved something generations of your family had failed to do". He let out a laugh and continued, "Even if what you have done is crazy, it is still impressive".

"If you do not wish to discuss it, then I understand but I am here for you if you ever change your mind. Talking about these things can help". He changed the subject when he was met with only silence. "Well I think that is enough to take in for one day, shall we head back up to the mansion. Jacob will be performing my uncles duties, I'm sure you would like to freshen up".

"Yes I think I have seen enough for one day".

They made their way back to the stone box that would take them back up to the mansion. As they were walking Jim commented, "Not one of these men has even acknowledged we are here".

"They have their jobs to do and protocols are relaxed, as far as saluting when a command officer enters the room is concerned. This is technically not a military operation and there will be scientists, with zero military experience on the base. They have and will be trained on how to react in a military situation but they are scientists, so cannot be held to the same standards of discipline".

"But you said that only members of your family, who have been to war could be told about the Stargate? This is getting a little confusing".

They arrived at their destination and entered the carriage before Richard answered "I said my family believed that, once the Stargate was found new rules applied". He pressed the stone button that he had pressed previously and they began to ascend at the speed Jim had expected, when they had descended.

Jim already knew what the answer would be, his friend was king of the world and even the most powerful woman in that world, was his to make demands of. He only hoped the power did not go to his head, even the most evil tyrants have started out with good intentions. James Elden was not a man who would stand by and let his best friend become a monster. He just had to live long enough to ensure that would never happen. At least he had a purpose again, he thought to himself.

Richard Hastings simply replied "Whatever rules I decide".