The area around the dome had sprouted more sorts of antennae, and other instruments than Jack would have believed existed. SG-1 and SG-4 had been joined by a dozen scientists of various sorts—all of whom were busy trying to figure out what was generating the field, and if there was any way to block its influence—and half a dozen Marines, sent to baby-sit the scientists. So far, no one was having any luck. The field had kept re-appearing at shorter and shorter intervals, each time covering a greater area. The last activation, nearly nine hours ago, had exactly filled the dome. The five minute warning alarm had sounded, four minutes ago. Everyone was clear. Now they were going to learn if the field was going to stop at the dome.
Carter counted down the last seconds, and the field appeared, right on schedule. This time it had expanded nearly one and a half metres outside of the dome: its edge right where a stake had been driven into the ground. There was a line of similar stakes, stretching back toward their camp site.
"Doesn't look like it's going to stop," said Jack. "Have we learned anything about how it works?"
"I still haven't made much progress with the inscriptions," said Daniel. "I think that the central column is some sort of control console for the device, but I haven't been able make out how it works."
"How about you, Carter?"
"We're starting to pick something up from underground," said Major Carter. "There seems to be some sort of power generator down there, but we haven't found any indication of a way to get down to it. There are no signs of any tunnels, or access ports. Whatever it is, is generating massive amounts of energy though."
Jack walked back toward the camp, looking at each stake as he passed it. Each one was marked with the time that it was expected that the field would reach it, and how long it would take for the field to reach the Stargate, from that point. He stopped just short of the half way point, almost a hundred metres from the dome.
"Alright campers!" he called out. "We've got two days before the field gets to here. If we haven't figured it out by then, we're clearing out! From here it will take seven and a half hours for the field to reach the Stargate, and I want everyone long gone from this world before that happens! Any questions?"
They started to break camp at sunrise, two days later. They still had a few hours before the deadline that Jack had set, but no one had made any more progress, and no one expected to. They struck the tents, and loaded most of their heavier gear onto their FRED transport, to send back to the Stargate.
Jack watched as the field activated again, this time its edge right at the stake that he had applied a coat of red spray paint to. The interval between activations had dropped down to about an hour now, and the field was growing by more than ten metres each time.
"Alright! That's it!" he called. "Everyone but SG-1 gets out of here now!" He turned to the senior NCO of the contingent of Marines who had been sent to ride herd on the scientists. "Sergeant Callahan, take everyone back to the Stargate, and send them home. Radio me once everyone's through."
"Yes Sir!" said Callahan. "You people heard the colonel! Let's get moving!"
"Um, Jack, why are we sticking around?" asked Daniel.
Jack pulled a block of C4 out of his pack. "We tried it your way. Now we're going to try it my way."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Carter.
"No," said Jack. "That's why we're getting everyone else out of here before we try it."
"If we blow it up, we may never learn how it works," said Daniel.
"If it stays on, we won't ever learn how it works, either," said Jack, "and we may never be able to come back here."
"Indeed," said Teal'c. "It would appear that we have little to lose."
"Everyone's out, Sir," Sergeant Callahan reported over the radio. "All present in the SGC."
"Alright," said Jack. "We're going to wait until after the next activation before we set the charge. That'll give us about forty minutes before the next one. Call us back then, to see if it worked."
General Hammond's voice came over the radio. "Very well, Colonel. Good luck. SGC out!"
Jack placed the block of C4 against the base of the column inside the dome. He flipped the switch that armed its radio controlled detonator. He jogged out the door, and the couple of hundred yards back to where the rest of SG-1 was waiting, near where their camp had been. He joined them behind a couple of fallen logs that would give them a little protection, if the explosion was larger than anticipated.
Jack pulled the radio trigger from his pocket. He flipped open the safety cover for the arming switch, and pressed it. He flipped open the cover for the trigger switch. He looked around at his team. "Everybody ready?"
They hunched down lower behind the logs. "Ready, Sir," said Carter.
"Alright then!" Jack ducked too, as he pressed the switch.
There was a muffled chuff from inside the dome, and a cloud of dust shot out the door.
Jack looked up. "Well, that was anti-clim—"
KABOOM!
SG-1 ducked back down behind the logs. Jack felt gravel sized pieces of stone pelting against him, and the logs shuddered as larger rocks hit them. After a few seconds, everything went quiet.
Jack looked around at his team. "Everyone in one piece?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah, I think so," said Daniel.
"I'm fine, Colonel," said Carter.
"I am uninjured," said Teal'c.
Daniel was looking back toward where the dome had been. "So…Are you sure you used enough dynamite there, Butch?" he asked.
"It wasn't the C4 that did that," said Carter. "It seems to have triggered some sort of secondary explosion."
"Ya think?" asked Jack.
"Well, it's a good thing I got pictures of everything," said Daniel. "I don't think we'll be putting that back together. So, do you think it worked?"
"I guess we'll have to wait around for another forty minutes or so to find out," said Jack. He looked around. He could still see the drifting cloud of dust from the explosion.
The field suddenly appeared: a blue hemisphere centred on where the dome had been.
"Uh, Carter, that seems to be early," said Jack. The field had already vanished again. "Did anyone notice how big it was?"
"The marker stakes have been knocked down, but I estimate that the field had a radius of 140 metres," said Teal'c.
"And the next one?" asked Jack.
Carter pointed to a stake about 20 metres away from them. "That stake's still standing."
"Okay…well, maybe that last one was just its last gasp, but I think maybe we should start to mosey back toward the gate," said Jack. "Just in case."
"That sounds like a good idea," said Daniel.
They all gathered up their packs, and started to move in the direction of the gate. "So, if that was just a glitch, and we're back to the old pattern, how long until the next one?" asked Jack.
Carter glanced at her watch. "About thirty-two minutes, Sir."
"Right, no real rush then." Jack kept looking back over his shoulder as they moved across the clearing to where the old road back to the gate entered it.
The field flashed on again.
"Carter?" asked Jack.
"Run, Sir!"
They ran.
They ran along the path with Teal'c in the lead, and Jack bringing up the rear. "How long have we got, Carter?" he called.
"I estimate twenty minutes, Sir!" yelled Carter. "I didn't really get an accurate timing on that last activation!"
Okay, five kilometres in twenty minutes. Not too bad. Over flat, even terrain Jack would consider a run like that to be a nice warm-up. Trouble was that this terrain was neither flat, nor even. They were running up hill over broken ground. Jack's knees were already starting to bother him.
He concentrated on the run. He didn't look back to see if he could catch a glimpse of the expanding field. Looking back wouldn't do him any good. He had to keep his eyes ahead, watching the ground, seeing where he would place his feet. A misstep, and a twisted ankle now could kill them all. He knew that he wouldn't leave any member of his team behind, and they wouldn't abandon him, even if he ordered them to. They were all going to make it, or none of them would. He knew that Teal'c could have left them all far behind, but he wouldn't.
The ache in his knees was getting worse, especially the left one. He ignored it. He concentrated on the run: putting one foot in front of the other, over and over. Ignore the pain. Ignore the burning in his lungs.
He spotted the gate about a hundred metres ahead of them. Teal'c finally put on a burst of his true speed, sprinting ahead to the DHD. He punched in Earth's address as the others came up the hill more slowly after him.
The gate was still spinning when Jack reached it. He could finally pause and catch a couple of deep breaths of air into his lungs. He looked back toward were the ruin was.
He could see the field. It was still a long way away. It was pulsing on and off about once a second now: each time visibly larger than the next, and the time interval was shrinking.
"We've only got a few seconds, now!" yelled Carter. "It's about to begin its explosive expansion!"
Jack heard the gate whoosh open behind him. He punched SG-1's IDC into his GDO. "Go!" he yelled.
Carter, Daniel and Teal'c vanished into the gate. Jack dove through it on Teal'c's heels.
"Close the iris!" he yelled as he rolled on the ramp in the SGC. He didn't know if the field could extend through the gate, or if the iris would do any good if it did, but he figured it couldn't hurt.
It didn't really matter. The wormhole had winked out before the iris was fully closed.
Jack lay on the ramp, his chest heaving as he tried to get more air into his lungs than was humanly possible. "I'm getting too old for this crap," he gasped.
