Melonyville was exactly as Daniel remembered it. It was hot and dry – almost the exact opposite of the planet they'd collected the ship on, since that one had been pretty much tropical.
The trip through the atmosphere was smooth, which was all to the good as far as Daniel was concerned sitting in his folding chair held to the deck with only a couple bracers and some inertia dampeners keeping it where it was, and Melony set the craft down with only the slightest of jolts.
"I don't see the Stargate," Daniel said, looking around as the two of them got out of the ship through a small airlock type door on the side that vanished when not in use. She'd set them down in a small canyon, and rocky walls rose up a hundred feet or so on either side of them. This left them in a gully about 70 feet wide at the most. A good place to stop, but not anything that looked familiar to the archeologist.
"The Stargate is on the other side of the planet."
"What are we doing on this side then?"
She smiled, and walked over to one of the walls, her hand going to the device on her wrist once more. As Daniel and Mitchell watched, the rock in the wall seemed to melt, forming an opening in the cliff about fifty feet high and seventy feet wide. A very large opening. Easily big enough for Melony's little ship to go in.
"Wow..." Daniel walked over to stand next to Mitchell, who was waiting for him. "Did you and Talon build that?"
She shook her head. "It's about 400 years older than I am. Talon decided he needed a private place where he could do research, on a desolate planet with no life forms in case something went wrong. So he searched around, found this planet and built it. With help from his host, of course."
"A secret laboratory, huh?" Daniel asked.
"The other Tok'ra don't even know about it."
"Really?"
"If they knew about it, then any spy might know about it as well, and that could bring down the system lords or countless others looking for some technology to steal. And there's a lot of technology in there. Most of it brand new, and a lot of it dangerous."
"What if someone finds out about it?" Daniel asked as Mitchell started into the opening. He followed her, feeling the same vibration a moment later that he'd felt when he passed through the bug zapper thing on Fugly.
"The lab is protected the same way Fugly is," she said, unnecessarily, unaware of the shivers that ran over Daniel when he realized that he'd have been fried if he hadn't already been introduced to the ship – and apparently all the other shielding as well. "No one can come in without us knowing about it. And as soon as we go through, the wall will look solid again."
"What about the ship?"
"It's cloaked already."
They passed through the opening, which was completely dark. Melony uttered a word in a language Daniel didn't know and didn't recognize, and the lights suddenly came on, bathing them both in a warm, welcoming glow. He gasped, despite himself. In the dark, they'd walked into a huge room that could only be called a hanger. It was about eighty feet high and just plain massive, and Daniel decided the entire cliff he'd seen had to be pretty much hollow in order to hold this room.
There were a couple of very tiny crafts – about the size of Daniel's car – and these were parked neatly along on wall, near a row of blinking lights and some kind of panel that ran along the wall next to the vehicles, or ships. Whatever they were. Daniel wasn't sure. Then he saw that there was a space that was obviously where Fugly was parked, and next to that space was a ship that looked exactly like the small craft they'd flown to the planet.
"Colonel... is that another Fugly?" Daniel asked.
She nodded. "It's the prototype to Fugly. It's the first ship Talon designed to use the crystals we harvested, and if anything, it's deadlier than the one we're using now."
"So why not use it?"
"It doesn't have the range that Fugly does. The engines are good, but they're not modified to use the crystals for an extra power boost – which is how Fugly manages to make long journeys in about half the time. Otherwise, we'd still be drinking coffee on the bridge watching the stars go by."
She went over to stand by it, running a hand almost fondly over the bottom hull.
"Once I blow up Fugly, though, I'll use this ship to go round up the Jaffa and make sure they know I'm still alive and in charge. If something should happen to me, you can show the others where it is, and Major Carter can study this one, and hopefully make a few more."
Daniel rather hoped that wasn't going to be necessary. He was pretty fond of Colonel Mitchell, and the more time he spent with her, the more he liked about her. And not just the fact that she shared his interest in coffee.
"We'll try to keep that from happening, though, right?" He asked, pointedly.
She smiled.
"I plan to be around a long time."
Good.
"So what do we need to do here?" Daniel asked.
"I need to check the power processors on Fugly, and load some supplies that we couldn't get on Earth. We'll also need to calibrate the fail safe device so that it'll respond you as well as to myself, and we can't do that while the ship is under power, or we'll blow ourselves up."
"That would be bad," Daniel agreed.
"Well, let's get a bite to eat while we're here, and I could use a nap before tackling anything too complicated." She didn't really need much of a chance to rest just then, but despite the copious amounts of coffee they'd consumed, Daniel looked like he was dragging a bit. Better to let him have a chance to rest now.
"Sounds great."
The trip through the atmosphere was smooth, which was all to the good as far as Daniel was concerned sitting in his folding chair held to the deck with only a couple bracers and some inertia dampeners keeping it where it was, and Melony set the craft down with only the slightest of jolts.
"I don't see the Stargate," Daniel said, looking around as the two of them got out of the ship through a small airlock type door on the side that vanished when not in use. She'd set them down in a small canyon, and rocky walls rose up a hundred feet or so on either side of them. This left them in a gully about 70 feet wide at the most. A good place to stop, but not anything that looked familiar to the archeologist.
"The Stargate is on the other side of the planet."
"What are we doing on this side then?"
She smiled, and walked over to one of the walls, her hand going to the device on her wrist once more. As Daniel and Mitchell watched, the rock in the wall seemed to melt, forming an opening in the cliff about fifty feet high and seventy feet wide. A very large opening. Easily big enough for Melony's little ship to go in.
"Wow..." Daniel walked over to stand next to Mitchell, who was waiting for him. "Did you and Talon build that?"
She shook her head. "It's about 400 years older than I am. Talon decided he needed a private place where he could do research, on a desolate planet with no life forms in case something went wrong. So he searched around, found this planet and built it. With help from his host, of course."
"A secret laboratory, huh?" Daniel asked.
"The other Tok'ra don't even know about it."
"Really?"
"If they knew about it, then any spy might know about it as well, and that could bring down the system lords or countless others looking for some technology to steal. And there's a lot of technology in there. Most of it brand new, and a lot of it dangerous."
"What if someone finds out about it?" Daniel asked as Mitchell started into the opening. He followed her, feeling the same vibration a moment later that he'd felt when he passed through the bug zapper thing on Fugly.
"The lab is protected the same way Fugly is," she said, unnecessarily, unaware of the shivers that ran over Daniel when he realized that he'd have been fried if he hadn't already been introduced to the ship – and apparently all the other shielding as well. "No one can come in without us knowing about it. And as soon as we go through, the wall will look solid again."
"What about the ship?"
"It's cloaked already."
They passed through the opening, which was completely dark. Melony uttered a word in a language Daniel didn't know and didn't recognize, and the lights suddenly came on, bathing them both in a warm, welcoming glow. He gasped, despite himself. In the dark, they'd walked into a huge room that could only be called a hanger. It was about eighty feet high and just plain massive, and Daniel decided the entire cliff he'd seen had to be pretty much hollow in order to hold this room.
There were a couple of very tiny crafts – about the size of Daniel's car – and these were parked neatly along on wall, near a row of blinking lights and some kind of panel that ran along the wall next to the vehicles, or ships. Whatever they were. Daniel wasn't sure. Then he saw that there was a space that was obviously where Fugly was parked, and next to that space was a ship that looked exactly like the small craft they'd flown to the planet.
"Colonel... is that another Fugly?" Daniel asked.
She nodded. "It's the prototype to Fugly. It's the first ship Talon designed to use the crystals we harvested, and if anything, it's deadlier than the one we're using now."
"So why not use it?"
"It doesn't have the range that Fugly does. The engines are good, but they're not modified to use the crystals for an extra power boost – which is how Fugly manages to make long journeys in about half the time. Otherwise, we'd still be drinking coffee on the bridge watching the stars go by."
She went over to stand by it, running a hand almost fondly over the bottom hull.
"Once I blow up Fugly, though, I'll use this ship to go round up the Jaffa and make sure they know I'm still alive and in charge. If something should happen to me, you can show the others where it is, and Major Carter can study this one, and hopefully make a few more."
Daniel rather hoped that wasn't going to be necessary. He was pretty fond of Colonel Mitchell, and the more time he spent with her, the more he liked about her. And not just the fact that she shared his interest in coffee.
"We'll try to keep that from happening, though, right?" He asked, pointedly.
She smiled.
"I plan to be around a long time."
Good.
"So what do we need to do here?" Daniel asked.
"I need to check the power processors on Fugly, and load some supplies that we couldn't get on Earth. We'll also need to calibrate the fail safe device so that it'll respond you as well as to myself, and we can't do that while the ship is under power, or we'll blow ourselves up."
"That would be bad," Daniel agreed.
"Well, let's get a bite to eat while we're here, and I could use a nap before tackling anything too complicated." She didn't really need much of a chance to rest just then, but despite the copious amounts of coffee they'd consumed, Daniel looked like he was dragging a bit. Better to let him have a chance to rest now.
"Sounds great."