: Disclaimer : I do not own Stargate SG-1 or any of the characters in the show. The only character I claim any rights to is Priscilla. Also, the concept I will present here as the way the Stargate system "really" works is my own idea. Just FYI, this story takes place during Season 7 of the show, sometime before the episode "Heroes." Please review, and hope you enjoy!
P.S. – I now accept anonymous reviews, so please please please review!!
Priscilla sat at a computer, one hand on the keyboard. Her shoulders were hunched, her head lolled off to one side, and her eyelids were fluttering wildly. The small, unconnected network held nothing more than the dialing program. Sam started when Priscilla suddenly sat up straight.
"This program is faulty, as I suspected. It will be easiest if I can download the Designation program from an active Destination Designation Device."
"How," ask Sam.
Priscilla smiled. "Simply dial an address that you know will connect. I will be able to connect with the device on that world through the Gateway and act as a link to download the program from the device into your machines."
Daniel held up a finger. "SG-5 is due to check in soon. About five minutes, actually. Maybe less."
"I can perform my duties through that wormhole."
"Will radio signals affect your…link," asked Sam.
"I am unfamiliar with your radio signals. However, I do not think they would cause any problems."
"Still," said Sam, "I think it might be best if we didn't use a wormhole that was carrying radio signals, just in case."
"Then by all means, let us wait for them check in. It may be wise to exercise caution." Priscilla paused for a moment. "I am feeling a strange sensation in my stomach. I am unsure how best to describe it." Just then, her stomach growled loudly.
"You're probably hungry," remarked Jack. At Priscilla's blank look, he continued. "You know, as in you need to eat something."
"I do not recall…eating," Priscilla said slowly.
"Well, since we're waiting anyway, why not grab some lunch," Daniel suggested.
"What is this," Priscilla asked, lifting the apple she had bitten.
"That is known as an apple," replied Teal'c.
"It is delicious," she exclaimed.
"You should try the Jell-O," said Jack. "Here, have some of the blue." He slid a dish across the table.
She took a spoonful of blue Jell-O and whipped cream, and soon made appreciative noises as she savored the flavor. Once she had emptied the dish, however, she remembered that she had a question for Sam. "Some of the parameters you created for your designation program seem somewhat odd. Upon what theories of Gateway travel did you base your calculations?"
Sam explained the theory that the gate creates an artificial wormhole between two worlds.
"Ah, that is where the error lies." At Sam's questioning look, Priscilla began to explain. "You see, the wormholes, as you call them, are not artificial. They exist naturally in subspace, which is smaller than real space. Even the Makers do not know how the wormholes occurred, just that they could use them for instantaneous travel between worlds. When the six destination points and the origination point have been designated, the two Gateways create…ramps, if you will, into the system of wormholes. The ramps create a unique set of particles. The particles that have a positive charge are on the origination ramp. When a person or object enters the event horizon of the ramp, one of these particles attaches to each separate molecule. The particles are self-renewing, so it does not matter how many molecules are being transferred. The bonded particles are released from the origination ramp, where they take the swiftest path to their corresponding negative particles on the destination ramp. The particles cancel each other out in a chemical reaction that pushes the molecules to which they were bonded out into real space through the event horizon of the destination Gateway. In this way, any number of Gateways can be used simultaneously without any molecules ending up at the wrong destination."
Sam nodded, taking it all in. "Ok, but then how is it possible for the matter stream to jump to a different gate if there's an energy spike in the destination gate?"
"The molecules belong in real space. They must be returned there. If there is another active Gateway on the same world, the two would use the same access ramp, so the matter stream will simply use a different Gateway with the same designation. If there is no other active Gateway on the same world, the negatively charged destination particles will seek the nearest ramp within the system. Given the convolutions of the wormholes, the matter stream could end up anywhere in real space, although it will stay within the same branch. As I believe you already know, it takes an extra boost of energy to connect to another branch of the system." Priscilla took a sip of the coffee Daniel had gotten her, and promptly spat it back into the mug. "I apologize. The taste was…unusual."
Daniel grinned. "I guess coffee is kind of an acquired taste."
"Sam, I regret to inform you that the Need is returning and I cannot answer many more questions," Priscilla said, suddenly looking tense. "Was there anything more you wanted to know?"
"Um, I…I guess not. I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions later, after I have time to process the information, but right now I'm still just…wow! I never imagined."
"Very well. May we return?"
There was really nothing exciting to watch while Priscilla downloaded the program. It looked exactly the same as when she accessed the program to determine the best course of action. In less than ten minutes, she was finished.
General Hammond and SG-1 stood directly in front of the Stargate, where Priscilla was preparing to reintegrate.
"I must make my goodbyes now," she said. "The urge to reintegrate is not very strong yet, but it will come more rapidly than the Need did."
"I'm sure Doc Frasier could find a way for you to stay," said Jack. "That is, if you wanted to stay."
Priscilla's smile included all of them. "Until I was generated by your Gateway, I was never in contact with other human beings. You taught me what it is to be human, and for that I am grateful. But I am more than just human. I am a piece of software for this branch of the Gateway system. My humanity is secondary. It is merely an inevitable aspect of what I do. My first purpose, my only purpose, is to maintain my branch of the system. I do not even know if I will remember any of the details of this encounter, aside from performing the necessary repairs."
"Maybe it's been genetically encoded in you to forget any human contact," Daniel suggested. "Maybe you have met other humans before, but you can't remember it."
"That may be so. I would have no way of knowing. But if it is not so, then know that I will remember my time here fondly."
"You could visit us," said Jack. "Or call. Send an e-mail."
"I could activate a Gateway from the world on which I am generated, but I cannot travel through it."
Sam frowned. "Why not?"
"I am created by whichever Gateway requires maintenance. If I attempted to travel to another world, I would be automatically absorbed back into the system and re-generated by the original Gateway. And I lack the means to speak on your radio system."
"Didn't you say you could connect with the DHD on another planet through an open wormhole," asked Sam.
"Yes, that is possible."
"So," Sam continued, "can't you do the same with our computer program?"
"That might be possible."
Jack clapped Priscilla on the shoulder. "So, like I said, e-mail. Sorta."
"If I am generated again within your lifetimes, and if my memories are intact, and if I can connect with your computers, then I shall certainly do so."
Jack grinned. "See? Then we can gate to wherever you are. It'll be a blast. We'll bring cake."
"I would like that, Jack." Priscilla looked at each of them in turn. "If my memory is not removed , I will miss all of you very much." She paused for a moment, looking very awkward. "I researched means of saying goodbye to close friends. I am not sure if I have chosen the most appropriate means, so if I am incorrect, I beg your forgiveness." And before anyone could ask, she kissed each and every one of them full on the mouth, Sam last of all. Then she turned, stepped into the empty gate, and stretched up her arms. As she faded into the same opalescent shimmer that generated her, they all heard a whispered farewell. For a moment, the shimmer looked like a normal event horizon, then vanished.
Jack looked back at Sam for a moment.
"What," she asked, feeling her face turn beet red.
"That was kind of hot," was his only reply before he walked back down the ramp and out of the gate room.
"What," she asked again, this time incredulously. She looked at the other three men standing on the ramp. It was not hot, it was awkward!
Daniel raised his hands defensively, but couldn't quite smother the grin as he walked away, with Teal'c and Hammond not far behind him. Sam looked up at Walter in the control room. Walter shrugged and quickly found some work to do.
"What," she asked one last time, her question seeming almost to echo in the now-empty room.