Chapter 5
"Ra? As in the Egyptian god Ra?" Professor Langford asked incredulously.
"Yes, Professor. Ra. We're sure of it." Ernest said.
"Are you saying that Ra was real?"
"Not at all, Professor. Well, not a real god, in any case. More likely, an alien entity who either assumed the identity of Ra or inspired him in the first place. Either way, the wording of the title for this place, coupled with the obvious signs that the Egyptian text was added later, suggests that this Ra entity captured it from its previous owners, and, apparently, abandoned it later."
"Ernest, do you realize the implications of what you're saying? If he didn't assume the identity of Ra, if he actually inspired the Egyptian belief system … It's safe to say he isn't the only one. After all, the ancient Egyptians were polytheistic. And we have no idea how long whatever kind of alien Ra may have been lives for. For all we know, Ra is traipsing around some other corner of the galaxy right now."
"Professor, thinking about it has kept me up all night. I know what I'm saying. I understand the implications of what I'm saying. Also, I know it may be based on circumstantial evidence, but a recurring thing in Egyptian mythology is animal heads on human bodies. Horus and Thoth, for example, both had bird heads."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying, son?"
"I think I am, Professor. It's entirely possible that the Eagle Warrior you caught on film is a servant of one of those 'gods.' I know it's not a pleasant thought, but we have to consider the likelihood of it. If nothing else, it's possible that his religion worships the same entity."
Sergeant Hammond and Ernest were sitting at a table, hunched over some diagrams that one of the engineers had made. It was a map of the area surrounding the gate room, including the recent fortifications. They were talking about further possibilities for defense when two people, one a soldier, the other an engineer, walked over. The engineer cleared his throat, and Ernest and Don looked at them. The engineer was clutching a notepad nervously.
"Something you boys want to say?" the sergeant asked. The two subordinates nodded. "Well, don't just stand there! Spit it out."
The soldier, a corporal who's nametag read Simmons, spoke. "Sir, I've been thinking about how to defend this place better, and so has Alfred here. We were talking, and we realized something. There are two main ways to handle the risk of an alien invasion through the Stargate. Repulsion, forcing them to retreat or surrender…"
The engineer, Alfred, took over. "And prevention, keeping them from coming through in the first place." he placed the notepad down, showing that the page it was open to had a diagram on it. "I give you the Stargate Incursion Prevention System, or SIPS. You see, we drill into the ceiling above and immediately in front of the Stargate, sink some hooks into it. We put a bar on those hooks. Coming down from the bar is either a grate of bars welded together on this side, or a solid plate, again, welded together from smaller segments sent through the gate from Earth. You attach a cable to the bottom of the cover, which then runs up to a pulley suspended from another beam. It goes over the pulley, and connects to a motorized winch. When the cover is lowered, anything that comes through will hit it and rebound into the gate, thereby being neutralized. For added security, drill some holes into the dais and attach some bolts to the plate that can slide into the holes to anchor it at the base so it doesn't just swing open. Now, the obvious downside is that you have to wait until the gateway is established to drop it, or the energy wave will vaporize the barrier."
"So, standard operating procedure would involve dropping the barrier every time a connection is made?" Hammond asked.
"Yes, sir. And before you ask about the possibility of friendlies coming through and getting bounced back in, I've already thought of that. You give each group that you send through a radio and a single-use return code that they have to send over the radio to have us lift the barricade. It could be a code phrase or even just a bit of Morse code. Either way, something that would definitively verify the identity of the team coming through."
"Lowering the barrier mechanically with the winch would be slow." Ernest said.
"That's why you have a winch that you can just flip into an unlocked, free-rotating setting. Gravity and the barrier's own weight will slam the door shut." Alfred said.
Simmons spoke. "Also, sir, we need to conduct an experiment regarding the gate. The results of this experiment will determine the viability of an additional defensive possibility."
"What kind of experiment?" Hammond asked
"We want to shoot a bullet at an open gate from behind." Simmons replied
"What?" Ernest interjected.
"So far, we've observed that the gateway appears to only deposit matter out of one side. Add to that the fact that you can't see through the portal when it's active, and think about the possibilities. You can set up a weapon behind the gate. It opens, enemies somehow blast their way through the barrier, they come through … and a machine gun mows them down from behind. Sending some kind of protection through first isn't going to work when the threat comes from behind. But that will only work if objects can pass through the back of the wormhole unaffected." Alfred said.
"I'll talk to Earth about the experiment. Just one bullet, right?" Ernest asked
"That's right. At least, to start with." Simmons said.
"What?" Hammond asked.
"Sir, even if one bullet can pass through unaffected, we would have no idea if a significant amount of ammo would alter the results. I want to let a machine gun have a couple of seconds of fire." Simmons said.
"We're willing to wait until we've found two additional addresses, so that we can conduct the experiment without risking potential harm to Earth or Heliopolis. Simply put an observation team on either end, and you're good to go." Alfred said.
"We'll pass the suggestion on to Earth." Sergeant Hammond said. "Anything else?"
"No, sir." Simmons said, and the two departed.
Hammond looked at Ernest. "Pretty good suggestion, blocking the gate." he said.
"Yes, it is. I'm sure Earth will approve. They may even implement a similar precaution on their end. Just in case any of the hostiles out there decide to check and see if they can get to Earth … Assuming they have Earth's address, of course." Ernest said.
"We need to start thinking about how we're going to go about exploration when we have more locations to go to." Hammond said. "I've been thinking: take two of the squads, assign linguists and scientists to them, and then start sending them through the gate. Obviously, it's far too risky to send them through to ES-2 right now, since there may be a lot more of those Eagle Warrior bastards there, so I figure we start trying more combinations with the pedestal. Get a few pressurized atmospheric diving suits, make sure they're top-quality models. See if we can get a few more camera probes built and sent out here. If we find a viable connection, send a probe through to confirm that the path is clear and the gate isn't in some position that'll kill someone we send through, then send a gate diver through to test the conditions. Maybe get a bunch of lab rats, put one in an open-air cage, and send it through with each gate diver. If it dies, we know the conditions are fatal, and if it doesn't, we know it's safe to send a scouting team through. I'd recommend we lose identifiable uniforms, though. Any kind of indicator about Earth could be problematic in the event of capture by hostile forces. Eventually, however, we're going to have to risk going to ES-2 in any case."
"Why?" Ernest asked, although he had an inkling of an idea of what the sergeant's reasoning was.
"Information. We need prisoners for that. We'll have to send a team to ES-2 and attempt to capture at least one Eagle Warrior and kill any that we can't take alive; we can't risk word of us getting back to others. Even dead, though, we can still learn things from them; I'm sure some people would love to do an alien autopsy. Take the dead back with us as well as the prisoners, and we can begin knowing our enemy. And maybe leave the enemy wondering what the hell happened. They use energy weapons, after all; what's to say they'll even know about projectile weapons like firearms? As far as they're concerned, it may be like a bunch of their people just disappeared. Maybe they'll wonder at what could do something like that."
"Hmm, that all sounds good." Ernest said as he finished inking down the suggestions. "For the diving suits, enclosed atmospheric systems are a definite plus over the standard diving dress. Don't want to risk a scare like I had when I stepped through. Different uniforms I can get behind as well, I'll see what we can come up with. You mentioned teams for exploration, we'll need to figure out team size and composition. We now have three squads here, so thirty six soldiers. Do we want to send a full strength squad through when we explore? If we're going to be adding a linguist and scientist to the group then we'd have 14 people going through, which while I know I'm not the most well versed person in military matters, could be a bit cumbersome. On the other hand, more people give more security for off world operations, heck we could probably leave a small detachment to guard the gate while another group explores."
"That's a good point, smaller numbers can generally enable faster movement, but leaves more room open for problems to happen. I like the idea of being able to keep some guys around to secure the gate while others go out. Again we'll have to hammer out some more of the details later, and I'll talk to my men to get some ideas, but I think we might have to approach this with a safety in numbers mentality." The two men talked for several more minutes figuring out more details about deployments, compositions and other miscellaneous book keeping matters.
The next day, it looked like the defenses might get their first test, and the 517th would get some more combat. The next scheduled check-in from Earth wasn't for another day, so when the gate started to activate, the automatic conclusion was the possibility of an incursion. The defenses were manned and ready for combat. The energy wave exploded outward, and it had barely dissipated when Professor Langford's voice came over the radio. "This is Professor Paul Langford. Ernest, are you there?"
Ernest answered the call. "Yes, Paul. I'm here. What is it? The scheduled check in isn't until tomorrow."
"Roosevelt's dead, Ernest." Paul gate room, which had been buzzing with murmured speculation from the people present, fell deathly quiet, a comparison which Ernest found oddly appropriate. He couldn't think for a few moments, finally managing a "What?"
"He died earlier today." Paul said. "Truman's taking over. I'm scheduled to brief him on this whole operation tomorrow. He knows some of the details already, I've been told, but not the full scope of things. Not the enormity of the potential threat. I hope that we've got enough to convince him to keep us operational."