2.
A/N. If anyone out there is a physicist, I apologize in advance for the half-baked physics in this chapter..grin.. and would welcome correction. The rest of this story has been researched to death,honest. Thanks for reading.
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Sam glanced uncertainly at her CO. Something was definitely up. He'd been surprisingly quiet…even…polite... while she, Bill Lee, and Anthea Harris had briefed him and General Hammond.
Huh. Maybe the idea she'd had to keep the scientists in the room to a bare minimum of three, including herself had had some effect. Then again, knowing the Colonel, probably not. For him, three was a full house.
She thought back, correcting herself. The Colonel hadn't been polite at first. He'd been his normal crusty self for the first half hour, as in cynical, sarcastic and abrupt, while Harris and Lee outlined the technical details of the problem. But then he'd suddenly gotten quiet, very quiet, and actually asked a question; a reasonable question that was seriously on topic.
It'd been strange, no, more than strange. It had been flat out weird. He'd actually been interested in what they were talking about.
That is, until Lee, encouraged, began to clarify the detail. Sam grimaced. It was never good to go into scientific detail with the Colonel, unless, of course, you were deliberately trying to annoy him. She grinned. Yep, then it definitely worked. She counted to six before the Colonel interrupted Lee again. Huh. Six was actually pretty tolerant.
Something definitely was up.
"I got it, Lee. You detected two 'glowy emissions,'" he italicized using his fingers to make his point, "from the surface at the exactly the same time but in two different locations, both in the middle of nowhere. One in the Glen Canyon Reserve and the other in," he looked up at the presentation screen, " Butler Wash in southeastern Utah."
Bill just couldn't help himself. "They're not simple emissions, Colonel, there's no known phenomena that could create muons on Earth. Beyond cosmic rays out there," he pointed vaguely upwards, "there's no known natural occurrence. We have replicated muons under controlled conditions in accelerators like Fermi Lab or CERN, but even then there's nothing that could support the speed of decay that we observed, not to mention the lack of residue. We should be able to identify some spread according to the lines of the Michael Decay – that is, electrons, electron antineutrinos and muon nutrinos but there's nothing. It's as if –"
"Ah." The Colonel raised his hand, silencing Lee. "Carter?"
She shrugged. "Yes, sir, we've detected 'glowy emissions' from two different locations on Earth's surface at exactly the same time – exactly on the fall equinox. And there's been nothing since. We were only able to detect them due to the new Asgard technology Thor provided after the Replicator incident last month."
"You mean the present Thor gave you after you saved their little grey butts with the O'Neill actually worked?" The Colonel grinned at her, diverted.
She smiled back. "I think so, sir, but it's hard to be sure. The technology Thor provided is still within the framework of the Protected Planets treaty. It's not much more than a …home security system… that lets us know something unusual is occurring. And it did pick up something unusual; just not where we expected. The emissions are definitely from Earth, not space."
"So… maybe not so useful. You sure they're not just noise and a natural phenomena you," he glanced around the table, " scientists have never identified before?"
She grinned, relieved that the Colonel was back to his normal crusty self. She glanced at Lee and Harris, who had started to bristle under the Colonel's cynicism concerning all scientists, and interrupted Harris before the woman was annihilated.
"Yes, sir. As much as we can be."
"As much as you can be?"
She shrugged, seriously considering the question, ignoring his tone. "It is possible that they are a normal phenomena that we've never detected before. But the fact that the both occurred at the same time," she checked her notes, "on September 22 at 1930 hours exactly, makes that extremely unlikely."
"But possible."
She ground her teeth. OK, maybe she did have some sympathy for Lee and Harris; the Colonel was nothing if not persistent. She acknowledged the possibility of his question. "It is possible."
He stared at her, considering. "Uhuh. But you don't think so."
She shrugged, refusing to restate the obvious and take the Colonel's bait.
Denied a victim, the Colonel tried another tack. "So, if not natural, alien communication device?"
"Unknown, sir, but unlikely. The emissions… melted into the surrounding areas, with no directed pulse. The best way I can describe it is that it's like something or someone flicked a switch. Something was turned on, and then off, quickly. We think the energy readings are a by-product of that activity, not the event itself."
"Weapon?"
She cocked her head, thinking. It was a reasonable question, especially from a threat assessment. "Possible, but again, unlikely. The dispersion was almost instantaneous and even the Asgard technology hasn't been able to detect any additional residue."
"Some sort of new Goa'uld nastiness? "
"I don't think so."
"Then what?"
She grinned. "We don't know. That's what makes it interesting. It isn't like *any* alien technology we've seen so far; Asgard, Orbanean, Ancient, Replicator, Goa'uld, Tokra, Knox, Tollan ..." She paused, gathering her breath, smiling to herself at the implication. "It's a completely new phenomena."
The Colonel put his chin on his hand, considering her. "Which is why you want to check it out, even though the Asgard doohickeys say there's nothing there anymore."
She held firm. "Yes, sir."
General Hammond cocked his head at the Colonel, clearly waiting for his assessment. Sam held her breath.
The Colonel glanced at her, his eyes assessing and then turned back to Hammond. He shrugged and said mildly, "Couldn't hurt to look, sir. It's Earth, after all. "
"Agreed. I'm recalling you from leave, Colonel. If Drs. Lee, Harris and Major Carter are correct, we have an unexplained phenomenon on Earth that could be of alien origin. We need to know what it is and conduct a threat assessment."
"Understood, sir."
The General continued. "And as you will be on Earth, I want the mission to be covert. We don't need the local populations wondering why the USAF is suddenly interested in the southwestern wilderness when there's no immediate or apparent threat. Send the orders to recall Dr. Jackson and Teal'c after this briefing. They can join you and Major Carter upon their return."
The Colonel broke in. Hammond raised his eyebrows at the unexpected interruption. "Sir, about Daniel and Teal'c…"
"Yes, Colonel?" Hammond prompted the Colonel when he suddenly stopped.
"Nothing. Sorry, sir." The Colonel seemed to come to some sort of decision. His next comment was mild, but firm. "Carter, you're with me."
Lee interrupted. "Sir, Harris and I -"
Hammond broke in. "Denied. Sorry, son, but we need to be sure that this stage of the investigation is kept as quiet as possible. Major Carter will serve as scientific recon on this assignment and communicate with you as needed." He glanced around the room. "Thank you, Doctors. Dismissed."
Sam watched as Lee and Harris left the room, clearly disgruntled about not being included, but also accepting of the situation. She closed down her laptop, disengaged it from the conference room's projector, and waited.
General Hammond turned to the Colonel. "I'm sorry about revoking your leave, Jack. But all other SGC teams are either off world or scheduled for departure. I don't want to reschedule a mission. We're shorthanded as it is. And if there is alien technology on Earth, SG1 is the most experienced team to understand it and nullify the situation. "
"Not a problem, sir. I understand."
Hammond sighed. "Good. Keep me informed." With that he stood, gesturing them to remain seated as he left the briefing room.
"Sir?"
"Yeah, Carter?" The Colonel looked up thoughtfully from his notepad, where he had been...who knows what, but she suspected doodling. He was clearly distracted.
"I- nothing, sir."
She waited.
"So, Carter, off to the southwest."
She swallowed. "Yes, sir, sorry, sir, but as you can see it is important."
"Of course I can." His words were mild, but his tone conveyed clearly enough to her that he was disgruntled about the entire situation. She winced. Truth be told, she was feeling kind of guilty about getting the General to revoke his leave, but it was just so-
"-damned fascinating, right?" She started as the Colonel finished her thought for her. He grinned at her knowingly. "Got a plan?"
She smiled back, relieved. "Yes, sir. Both signatures are in desert country, the red rock canyons of the southwest Four Corners, and even though the Butler Wash location is actually the more isolated of the two, it's more easily accessible. I think we should start there."
"Nope."
She stared. "Why not?"
"Because I prefer the other."
She cocked her head, surprised. " I don't think you understand, sir. Glen Canyon Reserve is over a million acres of wilderness. The canyon itself stretches out for nearly two hundred miles, just in the north south direction. It's huge. The GPS location we've identified is totally isolated within that, in a tributary canyon called Davis Gulch, one of over 80. And given that Glen Canyon has been dammed, the source of the emission is probably underwater. It will be a lot more difficult to investigate that site as it's going to require wet suits and -"
He interrupted. " I understand perfectly, Carter. Glen Canyon and its tributaries were drowned in the late 50s due to the 'damning' of the Colorado River, if you'll pardon the pun, in order to provide water for the LA types, and Vegas. It's known as Lake Powell, although it's not really a lake. What it is is a huge, humongous reservoir, as you said, over two hundred miles long."
She stared at him, slightly shocked at his knowledge of the area and then gave it up. Who knew what the Colonel was going to fixate on and remember… or why.
He seemed slightly surprised himself that he'd said so much. He clarified. "The 'lake' itself is now a recreation spot for sports.. uhh.. people." He paused. "Actually pretty popular for that part of the world."
"Sir, the fact that it's a popular place is why we shouldn't start our investigation at the at that site. Butler Wash is totally isolated. "
His smile was intoxicating. "Nah, Carter. You've got it wrong. Even Lake Powell is empty wilderness. Sure, there are tourists there in the summer, but those 'million acres' you mentioned around it are desolate and wild, no matter what time of year. Not many people visit that, ever. And it's mid-October. The tourists will be gone from Powell and the water still warm." He cleared his throat. "And there are fish in that lake."
He grinned again, thinking. "Yep, blue skies, water, red rocks, isolation, and fish. I can handle that."
So… that was her answer. He remembered that Glen Canyon had been flooded because it was now… great fishing.
She nearly rolled her eyes, but caught herself at the last minute. He was her CO, after all.
She grimaced. She should know by now that he wouldn't take a scientific mission very seriously. Damn. And he was clearly not taking this one seriously at all. She thought back to when he'd started actually being polite in the briefing. It was right after Lee had mentioned locations and Glen Canyon. Double damn. He really, really, really wasn't taking this seriously at all.
She cleared her throat. "You do know this is not a vacation, right, sir?" Oh jeez, where had that come from? Her tone had been… annoyed. She was five seconds away from justifiably being reamed out for insubordination.
But the Colonel just grinned. "Ya think?"
Oh yeah. She was so going to pay for the Colonel being recalled on what he thought was probably a colossal waste of time. She could see it right now.
But it wasn't a waste of time. She was sure there was something; something that might be useful. There was something there. Something interesting. She felt it in her bones. And the data was there - she was … nearly positive that the energy signals couldn't possibly be natural – that they were alien in design.
On the other hand…she was nearly positive, not completely. She shook her head, thinking. This was Earth, for heaven sakes. Maybe she'd just been on too many missions with too many energy signatures she couldn't understand and had jumped the gun. Maybe, maybe … the Colonel had a point. He'd asked the right questions, and she had to agree with his initial threat assessment. On the face of it, it was negligible. But the data…
She started, suddenly surprised out of her funk when the Colonel got up and pulled his briefing notes together. "Logistics details to me in an hour, Major. We need to go …fishing. "
As he rambled out of the room, grinning, she did roll her eyes.
Fishing. Yeah, that was terrific. They were going fishing. She sighed, shook her head to clear it, and started planning logistics.