Beyond the Gate
Chapter 10: Clearing the Table
SGC Earth
Present Day
Ten am SGC time
It had been a good night or so before we had everything from every member that disappeared. "You're sure about this ?" Cam asked me as I sat back in my chair, guzzling a coffee. My office was a larger room thanks to Hank insisting on things. With the Asgard able to help only so far with their collective nowledge we were able, to a point, remake them on a gentic level.
"Why wouldnt I be ? I havent been this sure of anything since I first came here back in ninety four" I replied as I drank down a coffee, I remembered that first day I was offered the job to work with the Stargate program. Shown a translation, that was mostly correct execept for a few things. But overall things worked out nicely in the end.
I never expected it to grow as much as it did. And now here we were. Staring at Col Raines medical tests. That strange gene showing up not just in her medical tests, but also in Captain Zanes, and Chief Wallace's own tests too. Each gene similar to Jacks own ATA gene, only in this case it was... well, it was more a different strain.
"Alright so Tanith has this weird gene thing like Zane and Chief Wallace, but what about that old Marine, Zackary something or other ?" Cam said as he paced in the room a bit. "The guy that his torched car was found in front of Zanes rented car on I-94. Just outside of Ann Arbor ?"
I nodded and typed on my keyboard. Then I read aloud "Tech Sgt Zackary White, retired, US Marines. According to his files in the US Marines which thankfully go back that far" I said as I sat up at my desk and brought Sgt Whites file to the screen. "Joined the Marines one year prior to the attack at Pearl Harbor, grew up in San Antonio, Record with the Marines support devision of Ninety one percent completeion record" I brought up the next page, "Discharged in fifty eight after reinlisting six times before being formally hired by the Marines as a permament tech sgt until the rank was retired in fifty eight when he too retired from active duty." I sat back in my chair and picke3d up my mug, "In the early sixties he moved to Detroit, lived there ever since"
"Do we have any medical records for him, or were his remains in the car ?" Cam asked me, I shook my head
"Like Captain Artigas, Sgt Whites car was torched, but entirely empty." I replied, I sighed in thought "There werent any remains, not even ashes, to be foundin the car." I sighed again and took another sip of my coffee. "I cant find anything of his medical records other then recent bloodwork at St Joseph Mercy Hospital Traverse City Michigan"
"Yeah, and ? A DNA profile ?" Cam asked coming to the desk and we both looked at the screen.
"According to the bloodwork text, he was recently entered in a hearing recovery program that would use DNA therapy to recover lost hearing, apparently thanks to being in the Marines and seeing combat more than a few times, Sgt White lost thirty percent of his hearing in his left ear. He was in ninties when he disapppeared from his car on I-94" I explained, "According to this he had just finished the first battery of tests"
"Nothing out of the ordinary huh ?" Cam asked me I shook my head at that. "Anything new from Mahumed ?"
"Only that the tablet has been activated, about ten minutes before you showed up, but otherwise since between Taniths disappearance, and us seeing the tablet get active while we were there, then up to ten minutes ago. Havent had so much as a peep from it. Until ten minutes ago. He texted me with the alert that it was triggered after nearly a week of silence from it" I explained, I drained my coffee. "Anything from Teal'c ?" I asked
"Nothing yet, so far none of the Free Jaffa have been affected. But some of them have begun telling rumors about an ancient race they once worked with thousands of year ago that suddenly disappeared off the network when their stargate was destroyed by a black hole." Cam said in reply. He sighed, "Otherwise nothing new, no disappearing Jaffa." He looked at me. "Why ?"
The mention of the destroyed planet had my complete attention as I sat up and looked at Cam attentively. "Did they say the name of the planet that got destroyed ?" I asked him
Cam pointed at me "You make me nervous when you do that' He said, I chuckled, he continued. "Yeah, one of the rumors said it was called "Sparia" or some such." Cam replied, I started typing into the keyboard rapidly.
That name sounded familiar. "I thought so" I mumbled
"What ?" Cam asked as he came to the desk and looked at my screen
"A few years ago, SG11 dialed a planet, it was a desert world, within minutes of them leaving they dialed back, but we lost them to a black hole, turns out, according to the database I was able to take home with me from Atlantis," I typed two more commands, and hit enter. Data scrolled on the screen. "The planet that SG11 dialed, it was called Sparia, according to this entery in the Ancient database, it says here that 'Sparia's sun went supernova, with our time devices holding the disc of the void in control, we managed to safely evacuate every living organism off Sparia and relocate them to a new world to call their own.'" I sighed and took my glasses off, rubbing my eyes as Cam looked at me.
Cam was confused, "So what exactly does that mean ?" he asked
"Apparently the Ancients had used time dilation devices in tendem with the Asgard to keep a black hole from entirely destroying a planet. I think us just dialing Sparia alone is what caused the black hole to finally overcome the time dilation devices and expand enough to destroy the gate. Fortunately it took about a day or so for time to safely catch up with the rest of the world here." I explained
"Yeah I remember that mission report." Cam replied. "So, we know what world was originally a Furling world, but we do not know where they went before they... well, before Tanith became one of them" Cam stumbled in his speech then, just thinking of Tanith, we'd have to do a funeral at some point. We were both hoping we wouldnt have to.
"Its possible that Tanith is alive somewhere" I mumbled, just then Sgt Harriman arrived. "Dr Jackson, Col Mitchell, I think you should see this" He had a paper in his hand and handed it to Cam. "I was going through the system logs for our IDCs and Access codes, I found that Lt Col Raines had used her code a full two days after you two returned here from Iota, Captain Artigas was used five days before hers was used."
"So they're alive." I said as I took the paper from Walter and looked it over. The time stamps had exactly 48 hours after we had returned to the base from Iota.
"General Landry asked me to isolate those codes, but I havent acted on them yet. Instead, I went through the system logs since you two returned up to now, this code has been accessed on a planet in our Ori weapons caches location list by Col Raines at least four times now, while this one was accessed by Captain Artigas at least twice five days before her codes were used, and then twice more since, its not easy to get a location, but we did map the area." Walter replied.
"When you mapped the area, did you recover the UAV ?" I asked in thought never looking up from the papers in my hand.
"We did" Walter replied, "Sgt Siler is currently going over it as we speak."
As soon as Walter said those words, our radios came alive, "Dr Jackson, can you come to the UAV storage room please ?"
"On our way" I replied the three of us all but ran to the UAV storage room where Siler kept his office. Upon arrival in the office we were slightly confused to find General Landry already there waiting for us. "General, wasnt expecting you to be back until after lunch." I said on seeing him
"Things happen, I figured with nothing else to do, come in early. Sgt, tell them what you just told me." Hank said in reply, motioning to Siler.
"As I just told General Landry, I think Lt Col Raines is alive, along with the people apparently who disappeared in Miami, and also Captain Artigas, and Sgt White. As well as Chief Wallace of the Alpha site" Siler told us.
"How do we know that ?" Cam asked in confusion. First we're told Tanith used her codes only two days after we returned here to Earth from Iota after she disappeared. And now this ?
"Apparently someone wrote a letter to us" Hank said, he held the letter to me, I took it and opened it. "Its apparently written in Ancient, as well as something else, along with English. Though I never could read cursive" Hank told me
I opened it and read it, translating the Anceint easily. "'To whom it may concern. I am alive, I do not know where I am, but I am alive, We are alive, I found Sgt White, and Captain Artigas, please do not lockout our access codes, we need the supplies.' Its signed Tanith. And then there's a post script, here 'PS, we met up with Chief Wallace of Alpha site, and also discovered the missing Miami crew. I repeat, please do not lockout our access codes.'" I looked up to Hank
"I asked Chief Harriman here to isolate the codes at the very least, not lock them out." Hank said to my unasked question, Walter nodded.
"Good thing I havent done that yet. Now we know why Col Raines used her code. She needed the supplies. But she doesnt know where she is, only that she is alive, somewhere in the galaxy." Walter said to Hank
Hank looked at Walter as if Walter grew two more heads. "Col Raines used her code ?" General Landry asked Walter
Walter nodded in reply, "Yes sir, She used her code exactly two days after Dr Jackson and Col Mitchell returned from Iota, Col Raines access code was used twice on one of our armories on a outset world for when we were stocking up offworld to fight the Ori. Around five days prior I found that Captain Artigas had used his access code to access another armory on the same world at least twice." Walter explained
"What is in those armories ?" Hank asked, he wasnt exactly told what would be stocked in them, I wasnt either.
"For the most part, weapons, ammo, medical and food supplies. Recovered enemy weapons, in this case the Ori Staffs and Kull armor and Kull weapons for example" Walter listed off a few items, "Mostly things we'd take from fallen enemies. Jaffa weapons and Zat guns too." Walter concluded.
"So we know she needed the supplies, just not what for" Hank said, he sighed and thought a moment, then nodded. "Alright, Walter, do not touch those codes, Col Raines, Captain Artiga,s and Chief Wallace's codes are still in the green." Hank said
"Yes sir" Walter replied.
"Incoming Wormhole!" Rang out on the PA system
Walter of course mumbled, "that's my line" Normally it was indeed his go to line.
"This just gets more fun" Cam mumbled, I smirked. The three of us went to the control room, just as we arrived we were told it was Teal'c and Bra'tac.
"Let them in" Hank said, the iris opened soundlessly and a second or so later, Teal'c and Bra'tac arrived. Both Jaffa looked worse for wear, and yet also had the means to tell a story, both of them looked haggard, but something told me that by their stride as Cam and I ran int othe gateroom to greet our friends that they had a story to share.
"Teal'c, welcome back. I trust your trip was successful ?" I asked him, we hugged briefly
"Indeed it was Dr Jackson." Teal'c replied, a simple terse, qwuiet reply.
"Were you able to find out anything further concerning the disappearances ?" Cam then asked.
"Indeed" Teal'c said simply.
"Perhaps it best if we sit at table for this. It is rather complicated" Bra'tac spoke up. Cam nodded and we went to the briefing room.
Once we were all seated, Bra'tac began his tale. "The fight against the Ori soldiers had progressed well since you brought the Ark back here and showed the Prioirs the truth of their actions. They had indeed been serving false gods. But who could take their miracle working to a level beyond technology that the system lords used."
"So with the Ori defeated thanks to Merlins weapon..." I mused in thought
"The Ori themselves may be defeated, but there is still their soldiers and some of them brought us this information." Bra'tac handed Hank a disc. "According to the soldiers, they witnessed an event that was only chronicled once before in their stories."
"What kind of story ?" Cam asked
"It appears that the Ori soldiers were able to stop the black hole at Sparia, where SG11 connected and were lost to the black hole. While the Ori rescued the team, one of its members, Lt James, disappeared in a lightning bolt" Teal'c explained. "The Ori soldiers were so frightened they fled the system and sought a Free Jaffa planet for aid"
"They came to Chulak, our homeworld, requesting simply to speak on friendly terms, and even offered us a ride to their ship so we could talk." Bra'tac explained then
"It was there that the soldiers explained everything they knew and had witnessed, giving us this disc as proof to show you here" Teal'c concluded
Everything went quiet, I was thoughtful, trying to figure out something, as Cam was confused. "You're telling me that these soldiers of our old enemy actually saw Lt James disappear, in a lightning bolt ?" Cam asked
"Indeed" Teal'c replied, "I do not doubt their words"
"I dont doubt them either, judging on this information we just witnessed. And based on your own experiences with Col Raines disappearance" Hank spoke up
"General" I said in thought, something had occurred to me
"Yes Dr Jackson ?" Hank replied, looking at me
"I think its possible that the triggering of the device in Egypt lead to the Ori soldiers witnessing Lt James disappearing in a bolt of lightning. Its possible he was to disappear soon... wait" I sat forwards in my seat and set my elbows on the table. I pointed at Bra'tac "Are you guys sure, it was Sparia that SG11 went to when the black hole nearly cut the SGC off had we not used the nuke so close to the event horizon ?"
"Indeed, sure enough that the Oris technology can withstand a black hole." Bra'tac replied
"Alright that explains it, according to the ancient database I was able to recover from when Jack had downloaded their knowledge as well as what I was able to get while with Rodney before getting captured by the Vanir, well, its possible that Sparia was the original homeworld of the Furlings, but the Ancients then transplanted them elsewhere. But to where is now the question" I explained to everyone present
"The one race of the Four Great Races we have yet to encounter, we have only encountered the Nox, the Asgard, and the Ancients" Teal'c surmised.
I nodded "Exactly. The only race we never encountered, The Furlings, and I think the reason for that is because not only were they transplaneted to another planet somewhere in the Galaxy, but they were also then somehow transplanted here, to Earth. Five thousand years ago." I explained. Everyone looked at me struck dumb at least until Cam spoke up.
"In translation Danny thinks that the Furlings device recovered at Tell Basta in Egypt is connected and acts as a doorway between our world and wherever their homeworld is in the galaxy, and its calling them back." Cam explained, I pointed at him
"What he said, only with the added bonus of the mere fact that we dont know where this planet is, or how the device works, we only know, that it. Wellm it does this." I turned to the screen and activated it. It showed two scenes, the miami cast disappearing at the same time the hologram was running. "As far as we can tell, the hologram is activated to act as a door of some kind, like Cam said, to transport someone or in the case of the Miami cast, several someones somewhere, one of the planets we sent a UAV to sent back a reply, From Tanith" I said to Teal'c
"Lt Col Raines is alive ?" Teal'c said in rpely
"For the most part yes. As far as we know, according to Walter downstairs, Tanith used her access code two days after Cam and I came back here from Iota, that was a little over a week ago now, and before that, about five days before that, Zane used his access code" I replied, I held up the letter and set it on the table, "Tanith also apparently wrote this, its both in english and Ancient, as well as something else, but I cant make out trhe third dialect." I said. Teal'c looked at it carefully before confusely looking at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Wait a second" Cam said as he took a good look at the strange writing, "My ancient is a litty rusty truth be told, but this looks like that one book of Catherines stuff. You remember ?" Cam looked at me, I smirked.
"Its possible that this writing is Furling, I've seen it before I agree." I said in reply, "the only places we encountered this writing is Dr Littlefields planet, and this book" I set the book on the table, nobody could read it. "As far as I am aware, there is no real way to translate or read it"
"What are you saying Dr Jackson ?" Hank then asked as he grabbed himself a coffee
I sighed, I didnt know how to reply that I was deperate to return to Atlantis to study further. So I said truthfully, "The database fragments I was able to find mentioned a relocation center or shipyard. And its connection to the Ancient known as Janus"
"The crazy scientist ?" Cam looked at me
"Well, I wouldnt call him crazy, paranoid to the point of using mensa ciphers for his journal codework maybe, but not crazy" I replied
"Whatever the case may be, Dr Jackson, what makes it possible he could be connected to it ?" Hank then asked
I shrugged and set my hands on the table. "On what little I was able to make out from this book, was just three puzzles, only two of them directly mentioned Janus, one other word with those two mentions was 'teacher'. So that means that its possible that Janus was teaching the Furlings something, or the Furlings were teaching Janus something." I replied. I was thoughtful "The only way to know for sure is for me to go back to Atlantis to Janus' lab and search further from there. With our new ZPM we can connect to Atlantis and work from there"
"Do you have any idea how crazy this sounds ?" Cam asked. I knew what he meant, Janus, even by the Ancients standards, was borderline insane, but he was also a genius when it came to technology
"That isnt a good reason not to try" I replied simply. Teal'c and Bra'tac nodded in agreement, it made sense.
An aid stepped into the briefing room after a moment of talking with Hank, Hank then said. "I agree its worth the risks, Dr Jackson, dial Atlantis and inform Mr Woolsey that you'll be visiting first thing in the morning via stargate." Hank said, "I know you want to rush there quick as you can. But Mahumed just called, he said he found something in his wifes journals he wants you to see. He can bring them personally or you can go to him, Your choice."
"I think it better he comes here, wouldnt have to worry of passport, we can just beam him in." I said, as I spoke, Mahumed arrived in a vorp noise of the asgard beaming. I smiled, "Ah, Mahumed, glad to you could make it on such short notice." I said seeing him, I stood from the table and shook his hand, Mahumed carried a parcel in one hand.
"Dr Jackson, Col Mitchell. General Landry" Mahumed said, then he spotted Teal'c and smiled. "Teal'c, very good to see you"
"Indeed." Teal'c replied to him with a slight bow of the head in greeting.
Mahumed turned to me. "Daniel, this might be of use, I found it in my wifes office at Tell Basta about an hour ago. Soon as I found it I contacted the Odyssey to connect me to here quick as possible." He held out the binder to me. I took it and opened it. "My wife was fond of certain things related to cats. Most as you can see are the occasional illustrations, but also predominately, apparently stories."
"This is written in the same style as a book I have" I mumbled as I turned a page, the writing was clearly feline, but very meticulous and carefully written, occasional illustrations were indeed in the journal. I looked from it to Mahumed.
"There are fourteen more in my wifes office. Identical to it. Same writing, none of our translators could translate it." Mahumed said to me.
"Its possible your wife possessed books in a language seen only in one place on this earth. And if this is right..." I said going to the table.
Cam took one look and spotted something in an illustration. He pointed at it. "That look familiar to you ?" He asked me
"Should it ?" I asked him, confusion on my face and in my voice as I looked at him
"When we were over England after leaving Egypt, this set of buildings." Cam pointed at the illustration again. I saw a set of warehouses "Somehow I feel as if this book, and those buildings are connected, the only other place I can think of is not far from my grandmas place in California. Long Beach" He said, "its possible whoever drew these illustrations either grew up in Britian, or Long Beach"
"So we go to Longbeach, after I go to Atlantis and find out more in Janus lab" I said, I smiled, Mahumed had clearence enough to be there, his wife after all, disappeared in a lightning bolt from their own museum! "Infact, General, can you contact Atlantis and let them know we're coming tomorrow ? That will give us time to go over this book, as well as the other. And maybe translate Taniths letter."
"Yeah, I'll have Walter send the transmission. See you guys in the morning, I have paperwork to do." Hank said, he turned and took his leave as Mahumed and I then left the briefing room, leaving Teal'c, Bra'tac and Cam alone.
In my office, Mahumed and I pored over the book Mahumed had brought along. Using the text provided by the Furling tablet from Dr Littlefields planet I was able to make a rudimentary translation. As I read it I spoke aloud. "Its like a cat wrote this"
"A cat ?" Mahumed asked, "How can a cat do that ?" I agreed with the question.
"I think in Atlantis we can find out more, there's mention further of teaching how to build items. And one entry here 'we gave Janus one of our gateships, allowing him to experiment with it as he liked. Once we showed how it was put together, Moros asked for further gateships to be built' Gateship, it must mean the puddlejumpers. And experimenting could mean any number of things." I said
"This... Janus type, what exactly is he ?" Mahumed asked me
"Well, he's an Ancient, but he's also a scientist, well was a scientist, according to most things, the lab we found is filled with so many ciphers its fun to try to figure them out, some of them were riddles, some of them are numbers, others are just words of wisdom." I replied
"So this, Scientist, might have something to do with my wife disappearing ?" Mahumed said to me.
"Maybe, but we wont know until we get to Atlantis in the morning. At that point we can find out more, or if we're lucky enough to do it, find out exactly what we want to know." I replied
"I think its worth finding out what happened to my wife." Mahumed replied, the two of us worked on translating the book from Catherines collection, making further notes and finding other mentions of the Furlings and their culture.
A good few hours later and Cam came in with some coffee. "Ah thanks" I said as he offered me a cup, I took it, as did Mahumed.
"Find anything ?" Cam asked us
"Yeah, turns out the Furlings were a very Samurai like culture. Fedual Japan, could give the system lords a run for their money." I replied
"Samurai, that's good, so we're going to someplace in Japan next, is that it ?" Cam asked as he took a sip of his own coffee
"Nope" I replied
"What ?" Cam asked me
"We're going to Atlantis, care for a road trip ?" I asked him
"By ship or stargate ?" Cam asked
"Both I guess, if we're lucky what we need is at Atlantis, and you'll get to ride in a puddlejumper." I said
"When do we leave ?" Cam asked, excited as a kid just told he's going to Disney World for a week
"First thing in the morning, in the mean time, I am going to get some sleep. Mahumed, I'll take you to your onbase apartment, or do you want to beam out to the Odyssey and back home to get here first thing in the morning ?" I said turning from Cam to Mahumed who was reading the book from Catherines collection more intently than I had thought initally. "Is something wrong ?" He looked excited.
He moved from the counter and showed the page to me and Cam, "Does this look important to you ?" The image he showed was of a furling woman, clearly female by the body shape alone. But it was what the woman carried, and how her face was, that had our complete attention.
"Is that an Ori staff weapon ?" Cam asked recognising the designs of the staff weapon in the feline womans hands.
"Is that Tanith ?" I asked, making Cam look closer at the face of the furling woman, the hair was a wild mix of elegance and wild child for sure, but there was no mistaking that face.
A good long moment of quiet. Cam looked at the page, pursed his lips, looked at me, Then looked back at the page. "What's Tanith doing in a five thousand year old book ?" He asked me.
I had no idea how to answer that question. So I was thankful when Mahumed broke in and asked to Cam, "You know this woman ? Or at least, who she should be ?" He asked.
Cam nodded. He tapped the image of what had to be Tanith way back when. "Yeah, she looks very similar if not identical to a close friend of ours just before we came back here from an offworld base called Iota. Tanith was the base commander. This woman" Cam tapped the page, pointing mostly at her face as Teal'c stepped into view. "Looks exactly like Tanith." Cam turned towards me, "Does this book say what planet the Furlings came from to get here to Earth ?"
"Yeah, but its not in our database. A place called Ascretta." I replied, I flipped a few pages further, it showed a starmap, but no gate address.
"So let me get this right, finding the stargate is only possible if we're on Atlantis at the time ?" Cam asked
"It is quite possible that the Alpha Site's own mess hall shift manager is also at this location. Did we get anything from the Apollo ?" I asked as Teal'c spoke up, we all turned towards him.
"According to a deep space scan, the only known location of a possible canidate is a planet on the far edge of the galaxy closest to Atlantis." He said. "However, the Apollo is unable to find it on any star map."
I was thoughtful, "So even using Anubis info or even Ba'als information could not possibly be of any help." Cam grumbled.
"Indeed" Teal'c replied
"Alright, whats the plan ?" Cam then asked
"Its possible that Atlantis is the answer. So, that said, Mahumed and I will head for bed, you two are welcome to play a card game or the like if you so wish." I said simply, but I knew that before a trip like going to Atlantis even to just get answers about the Furlings, I knew I was not going to be able to easily fall asleep.
Mahumed and I parted ways once I showed him where the apartment was for him to spend the night. I went to my own apartment and shut the door. I sat down at the foot of my bed.
I was tired, I had no energy left, Bra'tac and Teal'c story took a lot out of me, and Mahumed finding a picture of Tanith, carrying an Ori staff weapon in her hands and yet looking regal and wild all at once had me confused. I stared at my ceiling. For long moments there was silence.
I sat bolt upright. "Tanith is from Long Beach according to her file" I mumbled to myself, in short it didnt make any sense, but what did make sense was my chance to try and figure out something important.
I got up from my bed and began writing up some notes on the dry erase board rapidly, most of the notes were simple, Long Beach, somehow connected to Tanith, who is Taniths remaining family if any ? Did Tanith have a favorite location or star ? Questions I knew I was going to have to take my D.E. Board with me to Atlantis.
Finally there was the crucible, the trigger, the core that locked everything together, was ready. Tanith was the centerpoint of the entire mess, or was she ? Ascretta was named on my notes. But none of it made too much, if any, sense at this moment to my sleep adled brain.
It was one in the morning when I finally went to sleep. Atlantis had a different way of tracking time. One such way was a rather interesting one. Truth was on Atlantis it was a thirty two hour long day, sixteen hours of which was broad daylight. The other sixteen hours were either twilight, or complete darkness.
Five Hours Later
6 Am SGC time
I woke up exactly five hours later, Mahumed found me in my office, my board with me with all sorts of sticky notes on it. I had further refined my thinking and was cross refrencing points on the board with items in the book, going so far as to make a photocopy of what had to be a ancestor of Tanith in the book so I could put it on the board.
Seeing me already neck deep in work, Mahumed asked me. "Did you ever go to bed ?"
"Slept like a rock from one in the morning until about six, woke up and wanted to refine a few things before we head for Atlantis. Thankfully this board is easily portable so I loaded everything into the laptop and fortunately there's a projector at Atlantis I can hook up to." I replied, I slept like a stone for five hours, then couldnt sleep past six I was not just excited to go back to Atlantis, but I was actually excited about the possiblity of finding the Furlings after all this time.
I turned to Mahumed, "What about you ? You got the chance of a lifetime to visit another galaxy just by stepping through a puddle of water. So to speak"
"The mere fact I get to go and visit such a magnificent city on its own tells me we're info something further detailed than we thought" Mahumed replied. "I look at it as if I am one step closer to finding what happened to my wife."
"That's true." I replied, he also had a point, "Far as we know the barren deserted world SG11 dialed was Sparia. The originial homeworld, so we hope, of the Furlings." I surmised.
"You never met a Furling ? Do you know what they look like ?" Mahumed asked me
I shook my head, "we only have that writing" I pointed at the projection on the wall, then to the items on the table "Those discs, your wifes books, and this book" I held Catherines book in my hands. I opened the book to a random page. "I was able to translate more of it because I had seen something almost identical to it in Atlantis' database." I said as I typed on the screen a few commands and started searching the fragments I was able to bring back from Atlantis.
As the writing appeared on the screen Mahumed said "Most interesting writing. Unlike any dialect I have heard of."
"That's because it predates anything here on Earth. Its Ancient" I replied, I pointed at the Furling writing "This writing was with it at Dr Littlefields planet. Apparently when matching things up together, its an alphabet. Each one at the planet was written to include every single letter in each writing type." I explained
Mahumed poicked up the book from his wifes study and flipped through it. "So this book is the key to the whole shebang ?" Mahumed asked me.
I pursed my lips thoughtfully, "Maybe" I replied, I took a deep breath and sighed as I let it out. "Its also possible that the whole linchpin to this mess is that tablet at Tell Basta. But we wont know for sure until we get to Atlantis" I said.
"When do we go ?" Mahumed asked as he set the book back on the table in my office.
"Soon as Cam wakes up" I replied, I then checked my watch. "Which wont be for another hour." I looked at Mahumed, "You hungry ?"
"Sure" Mahumed and I then headed for the chow hall. Once we had our food and sat down at a table to eat, Mahumed spoke around a bagle. "We were talking last night before we parted for bed. The time the tablet activated and my wife disappeared, were you able to figure it out ?"
"To a point" I replied, I sipped a coffee and set the cup on the table. Crossing my arms I said "I think the tablet acts as a doorway, or a recall device for all Furlings, the hologram activates, and as it shuts down, the person, or persons, it seeks get transported to... somewhere. I relaxed in my seat. "But I wont know for sure until I can get to Atlantis and find out more in Janus' lab"
"The scientist" Mahumed said
"Yeah, most of his research was incredibly taboo, involving anything from time travel to medical operations to weapons experimentation." I replied. "Some of his research was illegal to say the least, he'd be decended if any word got out. But he eventually ended up taking notes more than anything. And according to the book, was either taught by, or had taught, the Furlings in certain things." I sighed
"But like I said I wont know for sure until we get to Atlantis." I told Mahumed. "I mean its possible your wife reappeared somewhere in the galaxy, when we get to Atlantis, we can find out where."
"That is the hope" Mahumed said with a firm nod.
"Yeah" I replied thoughtfully. "That is the hope" We then continued our breakfast in thoughtful silence.