Lost In Time
Part III
Present Day
Heero had his doubts. Oh yes, even he had his doubts from time to time… and this was one of those rare moments. After he'd heard that the year was 2002 instead of After Colony 195, he'd tracked the signal coming from Earth, blocked all further communications and headed towards the place where the signal had been coming from. Yes… there it was, on the Northern part of one of the smaller continents… United States, Heero thought, I believe the country was called the United States. I can't land anywhere in the vicinity of the place where the signal comes from, it's too populated…wait, there's a forest nearby…
"Major, the President wants to know the exact location of the Falcon…"
Sam glanced at a screen, and replied back to the General, "Currently, it's still heading towards Colorado Springs, not Cheyenne Mountain… but a bit more southern."
"Why?" Daniel suddenly asked.
"Huh?"
"Why does it do that? I think it knows perfectly well that we're situated here-" Daniel pointed at the blue dot on the screen, "-and not somewhere… there. It makes no sense, if it wanted to attack us, why not do it right away?"
"Because it's day? And it doesn't want to be seen by the Colorado Springs inhabitants?" Sam guessed, "But that doesn't add up either, except for…"
"What, Sam?" Jack asked curiously.
"Well, think about it," Sam replied, "Why doesn't it want to be seen by the people of Colorado Springs? It risked a great deal of exposure by just approaching Earth – after all, Challenger III has spotted it when it was just in orbit around Earth. But… if I'm guessing right – and that's guessing that there was no place it could hide itself from the people in the shuttle. But, here on Earth, there are plenty of places it can hide…"
"… but how come he knows the people of Earth have never encountered aliens… in person, I mean. After all, you told him via the transmission that he wasn't the first extra-terrestrial encounter we've had," Daniel added, "There's no way you can tell that by just looking at a planet."
"So…" Sam said, "It either knew the majority of the people of Earth hasn't encountered extra-terrestrials yet, or it was taking a huge guess."
At that moment, the General put down the phone. "I sure hope it's the latter, because otherwise, we have not only Apophis, but yet another threat to Earth on our hands. Doctor Jackson, Major Carter, as soon as the Falcon lands on Earth, I want you to take four units with you and head towards it, see if you can prevent it from doing any damage to Earth."
"Yes, sir."
"Dismissed."
"So, next question," Daniel said, as he and Sam walked towards the Humvees currently parked outside the SGC, "How are we going to communicate with it? And what can we expect? How large is the thing?"
Sam shrugged, "I have no idea. I have all the necessary equipment with me to communicate via radio, but I don't know if that'll work. I don't know what to expect, the photograph from both Deep Space Radar Telemetry and Challenger III showed nothing but a great blur with wings, so I can't tell you about its size either. It's pretty large though, I think."
"So, if you had to take a guess?" Daniel asked, "Five, ten meters?"
"Yeah, something like that. But we won't know for sure unless we get to it as fast as we can," Sam answered, entering the Jeep.
The archeologist soon followed.
So… plan of action, Heero thought, as he landed Wing Zero in a forest on the southern edge of a pretty big city. Situation unknown, environment familiar though unknown, allies unknown, enemies unknown. The people I communicated with, should arrive any moment now. Question: are they allies or enemies? Next question: is it wise to show them technology more than two hundred years ahead of them? Won't I change the course of history then? Alright, I already did, stupid question, but won't I change it even more?
I have to, Heero answered his own mental questions, There probably my only way back…unless there is another way – unless Wu Fei was transported here as well.
On the other side of the Earth, in the depths of the Indian Ocean, ninety-five kilometers off the Malaysian coast, a fishing boat headed home after three days of hard work… unbeknownst to the fact that on the bottom of the same ocean, lay something unlike the five fishermen had ever seen. It did not move, but that would soon change…
"There's the forest, Major Carter," the airman driving the Humvee said to his two passengers, "Do you want me to drive into the woods or park the Jeeps just outside the edge of the wood?"
"Park it," the Air Force Major replied, and continued to everyone as they'd stepped outside, "I want SG-units two, five and ten with me on reconnaissance, and SG-8 on stand-by here at the Humvees, in case anything goes wrong – they'll be able to warn the SGC. Got that?"
"Yes, ma'am," sounded several voices in unison.
"Alright then," continued Sam, "Let's move out!"
Fourteen men (and women) altogether drew out their weapons and headed into the woods… The sun was setting, but little did they know that the sun wouldn't be the least of their problems…
Damnit, Sam thought after fifteen minutes straight stumbling over rotten trees, It's so dark I can't see a goddamn thing in here…If we keep going like this, we're screwed…We need a new strategy…
She grabbed her comm, and whispered, "Message to all SG-teams, listen carefully, I repeat, listen carefully. Our current strategy isn't working, I suggest we split up and meet back at the Humvees at twenty-one hundred hours. SG-two, head east – SG-five, take the west. Meanwhile, Dr. Jackson, me and Lieutenant Travers, from SG-ten, will take the southwest, and the rest of SG-ten, you take the southeast. Copy that?"
"Affirmative."
"Yes, ma'am!"
After she'd heard the Lieutenant she'd just assigned to accompany what was left of SG-1, confirm his arrival, the three of them headed out towards the southwestern part of the forest.
"Ssshh…" whispered Daniel, after another forty-five minute's walk, "Do you hear that?"
Major Carter and Lieutenant Travers stopped in their tracks, taking in their surroundings and carefully listening to the environmental sounds. It was half past eight, and with the little time they had left, Sam was getting a little impatient. "What should I hear?"
"Don't you hear it? It's like some sort of… mechanical… hum…"
"Mechanical?" the Major asked bewildered, "You don't think that…"
"Holy shit…" Lieutenant Travers suddenly exclaimed, "What the hell…"
Daniel and Sam quickly ran up to the Lieutenant. "Sam," the archeologist said, knocking on some kind of metal wall, "What do you think this is? And… what's it doing in the middle of a… forest?"
All three SGC-employees looked at each other, as if they were suddenly realizing something important – and they were. As the three of them slowly looked upwards, neither one of them could believe what they were seeing. Right in front of their eyes, if it wasn't some kind of illusion, was a…
What the hell…? Sam thought. I don't believe it… is that… a robot?
"Is that a robot?" Daniel said the exact same thing his teammate had just been thinking a couple of seconds before, "Or am I seeing things?"
"I see it too, Doctor Jackson," the Lieutenant confirmed, "You're not seeing things."
Sam couldn't believe what she was seeing either. "But… technology like that… I'm… that's… it's…"
"Unbelievable? Incredible?" Daniel finished for her, "Yeah, I'd say unbelievable… I mean, we've seen Replicators and the like, but…"
"So," Lieutenant Travers interjected, "Were we supposed to communicate with… that?"
"Eh, I guess so," his commanding officer, Sam, answered, "Let's try it the old-fashioned way first?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Sam, what do you mean, the old-fashioned way?" the archeologist asked bewildered.
"Oh, just yelling," Travers answered instead.
"Would you mind giving it a shot, Daniel?" Sam asked, "You're usually way better in those 'we-come-in-peace-speeches' than I am."
"Sure, why not…" the Doctor in question replied.
You couldn't make him easily laugh. No, Heero wasn't that kind of person. However, this situation was just so plain stupid, that it even managed to bring the faintest trace of a smile on his face. Three people, two men and a woman – all three in what looked like standard military outfits, were standing in front of Wing Zero – exclaiming how 'they couldn't believe what they were seeing'.
They think Zero is artificial intelligence… Zero's pilot thought – and for a moment there, he could've sworn that he heard Zero giving an affirmative 'hum'. Yes, Heero truly believed that there was more to this Gundam that met the eye, although he had yet to find out what that 'more' could be.
"… Hello, my name is Daniel Jackson…" he suddenly heard, "… we want to welcome you to our peaceful planet, called 'Earth'. I can assure you that we won't do you any harm, as long as you don't do us any harm. We want to establish a peaceful relation between our people and hopefully, your… your… 'people'… as well."
"… We do hope that you understand that our species are not in the possession of any kind of advanced technology, and the majority of our people have never encountered any alien species before," a woman continued, "…but there are handful of people who have, and they – we – would like to find out more about yo–"
However, Sam abruptly stopped talking, as she saw the Falcon's eyes lit up a bright green, and though Heero didn't do anything ('… there was more to this Gundam that met the eye…' ), Sam understood – without knowing there was a human pilot inside the 'robot' – that she was treading a very thin line there.
"…I can assure you that we won't let you fall into the wrong hands…" the blonde woman replied, "… because if we were in your situation, we'd also probably be afraid of all kinds of scientists in white lab coats pulling some plugs on us –"
Ha, Heero thought, If they'd only know who built the Gundams in the first place.