SGU s03e02
Surprise
Exiting the worm hole, the Asgard ship slowed to a complete stop just off the bow of Destiny. The Jackson was still connected to her hull and the repairs were now in the final stages. It had been eons since Destiny was in this condition and the Ancients would have been proud of how she had survived her million year journey across the universe. The Asgard and Ursini had preformed an incredible upgrade to her systems, without losing Destiny's "personality". Four more beings materialized on the bridge of Destiny.
"Welcome back" greeted the Ursini on the bridge. Amanda immediately noticed a slight time sync difference from the Ursini's mouth to his sound. He continued, addressing the issue.
"Destiny is able to convert any spoken language to that which you understand. The more difficult the translation, the longer the delay may be, but over time you won't notice it so much." He returned to the CI console to complete his work.
Asgard D.J took over the conversation. "We have been upgrading all of Destiny's systems while you have been resting. Shall I explain more?"
The three humans nodded; they were in awe of the work that had been done in the past 4 months.
"We have increased the original power storage by 200% allowing longer FTL travel time between galaxies. As the universe is expanding, the distances are becoming greater and more power is required to cross."
Franklin interrupted. "Wow, 200% increase... that's massive!"
Asgard D.J bowed his head and continued explaining in simple terms. "Several of the power storage generators were badly damaged, that is why you could only raise 40% power. This new power will not be accessible to the gate room as we have said."
Although tempted by the obvious question again, Frankland kept quiet. His time with Nox had shown him a different perspective of the universe, and although he missed Earth, he wanted to stay with Destiny. The Asgard resumed his explanation of the upgrades.
"We have increased the shield capacitors to withstand bombardment of small stray asteroids and any drone ships you may encounter in the future. They will be effective against an Ori ship, as we have learned there were several abandoned after their awakening."
The mention of the word "Ori" was enough to send shivers through the three humans on the bridge. Although the Ori were gone, it was absolutely possible that abandoned ships had been taken over by other factions and races. Even the remaining Asgard were concerned about this; the Ori ships were powerful vessels and dangerous in the wrong hands.
Franklin again interrupted. "Can Destiny defend against an Ori ship attack?"
"Franklin!"... Amanda scolded him for interrupting again. Not fazed by Franklin's interruption, the Asgard calmly replied to his question.
"We have upgraded all the weapon systems aboard Destiny, with the main weapon now capable of penetrating Ori shield technology."
Franklin kept his thoughts to himself, but his smile spoke volumes without words. The universe was dangerous enough without having to deal with stray Ori ships run by power hungry factions like Lucian Alliance. The thought of being able to destroy an Ori ship gave him great comfort.
Ginn asked Asgard D.J further questions. "What about the life support systems? Have they been repaired?"
"We were impressed with your attempts in the dome to produce sustenance and oxygen. The vegetation has been replanted with many of the varieties that were originally there, and some new ones we have found useful. Would you like to see?"
Asgard D.J turned and walked out of the bridge with Amanda, Ginn, and Franklin in toe. It felt strange for them to be walking around Destiny again after being liberated within her systems for some time. The ship still looked the same as it had with the bluish glow of the cold bulkhead walls, but now all the lighting had been fixed bringing more details out of the gloom. Control Interface units were gleaming from their recent upgrades with seats having been installed around them; a few more creature comforts for Destiny's uninvited human crew.
They reached the dome and waited for the Ursini botanist to join them. He opened the door;
"Oh my God!" whispered Amanda with bated breath, "This is incredible!"
Before them the dome was full of plant life, some reaching toward the top. Strange varieties of fruits hung low from the branches of luminous blue trees. The air was fresh and clean, with the scent of unusual flowers engulfing their senses. The dome had become alive with plant matter form many worlds across the universe. The Ursini botanist pointed at the garden and smiled;
"All the fruit is safe for your species. We have updated the database with their medicinal and chemical structures. Some of your hybrid plant species are showing outstanding progress, so we have taken samples for our own further study."
They could tell that the Ursini botanist was very proud of the garden he had helped create. Ginn faced him and expressed her gratitude for the amount of work they had achieved. She placed his bony hand between her own; he looked down at her hands feeling the warmth on his.
"Thank-you so much, I promise that we will do our best to continue your work."
She released his hand and stepped back. If the Ursini are capable of it, Amanda was sure he was blushing from Ginn's humble gesture. He smiled again then turned and went on his way. Ginn asked Asgard D.J another question.
"Can we see the pods?"
Asgard D.J motioned the way. He knew it was time to put the humans into stasis pods. Destiny was almost complete with only testing of the faster than light-speed engine to be completed. The FTL drive had been upgraded to propel the ship faster with less energy consumption, helping Destiny across the expanding universe. The solar collectors had been replaced with newer versions that were more efficient, along with the sub light engines having been repaired with their capabilities increased. Destiny was ready to continue her mission.
Ginn walked past the pods looking for Eli; Amanda found Nicholas's pod and stood with her hand on the screen beside his face. Franklin looked at Rush and just shook his head gently remembering what he had told Rush while in Destiny's memory bank. Ginn finally found Eli in the next corridor. He was frozen with a slight grin on his face that made her smile; she was falling deeply for Eli and she knew it.
Asgard D.J walked up behind Ginn;
"Destiny saved him; he was found in the storage workshop for the pods. He concluded that the stasis pod here was not repairable after several attempts." He said as he pointed to the empty pod. "His stasis is intact. You have feelings for him don't you?" Ginn smiled at the Asgard; you couldn't put much past the little greyish coloured aliens.
"Yes I do, I love him."
Asgard D.J spoke to all of them;
"It is time for all of you to enter the stasis pods. We will soon be finished and Destiny will continue her mission."
Without question, Ginn got into a pod that had been placed directly across from Eli. If something went wrong and she was going to die for a second time, then she wanted to be looking at Eli when it happened. Amanda and Franklin got into the pods next to Eli and Ginn. Before closing the doors Asgard D.J gave them some more information.
"We have left instructions about the upgrades of Destiny for when you come out of stasis. There is a stargate in the next galaxy that has the power to dial 9 chevrons, although we do not know which solar system it is in."
He turned to the controls on Ginn's pod and the door slid down. Franklin was next, and then Amanda. Before the door was closed she said to the Asgard:
"I want to thank-you for giving me a second chance at life again."
"You are welcome... Dr Amanda Perry". He closed the door.
The Jackson undocked from Destiny's hull and moved to the port side. Asgard O'Neill's ship "The Samantha" sat to Destiny's starboard. The 3 vessels moved off under sub light engines, communicating engineering data from destiny's refurbished engines. Satisfied with the systems check all three ships came to a halt. The Jackson was the first to open a worm hole and disappear into the blackness of space. Asgard O'Neill, watching from his command bridge, gave Destiny back her independent control. He watched silently as she readied for the FTL jump; then she was gone. The Ursini Commander spoke to O'Neill:
"Do you believe the humans will follow the mission?" he gently inquired. O'Neill Replied;
"There race has proven to be explorers, showing concern for free will and the greater good in the past. Destiny will learn from their natural inquisitive nature and will to survive."
O'Neill handed The Samantha to the Commander. With the bark of a few orders, a worm hole opened up and swallowed the ship.
Destiny's voyage continued forward, her new power and navigational upgrades showed that she would arrive in the next galaxy about the same time as originally planned. There was another twenty Earth months of FTL travel until it would be reached. Now that there was more than enough power in her systems, Destiny ran full checks on all that had been done. She had full control over everything including the stasis pods; Destiny had grown fond of her human crew and had come to understand them better than they had realized. Both Nicholas Rush and Eli Wallace had come to believe in her as an entity of her own right. They seemed to have concluded that this was where they belonged and wanted to see the mission through.
Colonel Young was another that had began to understand, although his main concern was for his people and getting them home. He had proven to be a leader who listened to reason, learned from his mistakes and his military tactics had saved them all more than once. She had found that he was struggling with life aboard, turning to alcohol to reduce the pain. Destiny had seen inside his mind and knew he had made many mistakes since coming onboard, and was still grieving for his marriage. There was a lot of time to process all this information as she continued across the black void of nothingness; the FTL drive humming away in the darkness. Time was passing and she would reach the new galaxy soon.
Destiny dropped out of FTL just over 20 months later. For the ship it had been a journey time of just over two and a half Earth years; for the crew of humans it had been three. Sensors were detecting a solar system with a hydrogen filled star about two light years away; that would be perfect for a full recharge. She scanned the cosmos for signs of danger and satisfied that they were safe, began the process of unlocking the pods. Destiny knew it would take the humans some time to recover from there induced sleep before they would be back to their best. It would only take a few days in FTL to reach the star and continued toward it at sub light speed to give them time. They would need time to adjust and understand what had taken place while in stasis; she was in no hurry to move forward.
Destiny had decided to open the pods in stages with the most relevant people first; Young, Rush, Eli, Chloe, T.J, Amanda, Greer, Scott, Ginn, Brody and Franklin would all be released within moments of each other. Destiny needed scientific and military minds before she needed people like Camille Wray; she had decided to keep Dale Volker in longer because his medical condition had deteriorated from the stay in stasis. The others would be release some hours later. Not to play favourites, she released all the pods at the same time. There was some coughing and stumbling as her new found crew emerged.
Eli stared at Ginn rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
"Hello Eli..." she said with a warm smile.
He rushed to embrace her and felt the sensation of her face against his.
"How... I... Um... what..." he stammered more than questioned as he held Ginn's embrace.
"It's a long story Eli, but I am real." She whispered to him. Nicholas stood in front of Amanda with a similar reaction, but words failed him.
"We have a lot to explain", Amanda said as Col. Young shook his head in disbelief at the sight of the three ghosts.
"I'll bet you do" replied Rush turning to Col. Young who was now taking stock of waking up.
"Rush, we need to check the ship first and find..." Amanda cut him off;
"The ship is fine, in fact better than fine; that's what we need to tell you."
The others that had just awakened arrived on the scene. Everyone was still getting over the shock of seeing Amanda, Ginn, and Franklin alive again as Amanda began to explain about what had happened to them and the ship.
"So... your bodies are all genetic copies of the originals." Said Rush in a scientific manor. Franklin responded;
"Perfect in every way" he mused.
"I knew the Asgard cloning technology was good, but this... is remarkable" replied Rush still smiling broadly at Amanda.
Eli hadn't let go of Ginn's hand and he was squeezing it tightly; she rocked it softly to allow him to relax. Col. Young was just content to listen for the moment, amazed by what had transpired.
"So the whole ship has been repaired?" he asked.
Franklin took over from Amanda and continued.
"Yes and there's more; we have full power and more but before you ask, we cannot use the gate to dial Earth. This is a strict condition of the Asgard."
Young, perplexed at this statement didn't bother to ask why as Franklin continued with the Asgard's reasoning's.
"Destiny has a mission and we were not invited in the first place. They believe if we have the power to dial Earth at will, it will jeopardise the real mission. They were concerned that Earth would simply take over Destiny for our own purpose."
Col. Young nodded his understanding and added; "What about the people who want to leave?"
Franklin replied; "The Asgard has told us that there is a planet with a stargate in this galaxy that has the capability of dialling Earth, and when the time comes they will assist. However, they don't know which system the planet is in. That was the last thing we were told before being put in stasis."
Again Col. Young nodded accepting for now that this was the case. He asked another reasonable question;
"Why didn't they just send us all home?"
Amanda answered that one. "Destiny wanted us to stay. They uploaded the ships entire memory and found how Destiny had evolved with us being onboard. Those that want to leave can, but I know many have found that they wish to be here now."
Things were starting to sink in now and Col. Young began to take charge again. He called out to Greer and Scott;
"Ok Lieutenant; Sergeant, go get the radio gear from the armoury and see what needs charging. Most of the equipment will be flat."
Eli interrupted; "Um Col. Young, I found an armoury in the forward decks before I made it to the stasis pod. There were heaps of ancient weapons and suits and..."
Young cut him off; "Thanks Eli, but we don't have time for that right now, we need to know where we are exactly." He said turning to Rush.
Rush, still coming to terms with Amanda standing in front of him finally replied.
"We need to get to the bridge Eli and find out where we are."
Col. Young grabbed T.J's hand and pulled her gently to him; then embraced her. "We'll be fine Everett, I missed you." She whispered in his ear.
All of them walked off toward the bridge with Eli telling Ginn his own survival story. They opened the bridge door and stepped inside. Rush immediately sat in the main chair and powered up all the systems for a comprehensive check up. A message greeted him on the screen that surprised him somewhat; it read
"Hello Dr Nicholas Rush, I have something to tell you."
Col. Young, seeing Rush's reaction; "What's wrong...?"
"Destiny has something to tell us" he said at bit perplexed looking up at Young.
With that the main control screen reflected what was on the console in front of Rush. An image of Asgard J.D appeared on the screen; everyone payed close attention. He introduced himself and began to explain what had happened while they were all in stasis. Everyone listened carefully as he went through the upgraded systems one by one with simple terminology. Apart from the odd scientific gasp, no-one spoke. It only took about fifteen minutes for the breakdown of the repairs and upgrades. At the end, Asgard D.J spoke about the stargate.
"We know that you are wondering why the stargates power wasn't boosted. As a species, you must realize that the greatest good for the greatest amount of beings must be the order of the universe. Countless worlds will benefit from Destiny's mission and in or judgment, some of your leaders and others that may come along, will only have their own interests to serve."
Allowing a few moments for this to sink in, the Asgard continued;
"Destiny has requested that you stay onboard, as she is also learning from your actions; you are not a threat to her as long as you wish to remain aboard and follow the mission. The gate countdown clock will not be accessible to you, although control of the ship in general will be."
Rush and Young looked at each other with a "what next?" expression. The screen reverted back to normal, and a beep got Nicholas's attention. There was a star about two light-years away and Destiny had already plotted a course for it. Before he could speak, a message flashed on the console from Destiny. "Remaining stasis pods to be opened in 20 hours. FTL delayed until crew adjusts"
Rush spoke to Young; "Destiny has plotted a course to a star about two light years ahead. She won't let us open the stasis pods for another twenty hours. She is also delaying an FTL jump to give us time to adjust to everything."
Col. Young appeared agitated but agreed. "It sounds like Destiny has our best interest at heart. Ok T.J, I need you to check everyone here just as a caution. We've been asleep for quite a while and I need to know everyone's ok."
T.J answered with a simple "Yes Colonel..." as the group followed her, headed toward the infirmary.
Rush, Eli, and Col. Young stayed behind as the others left with Young holding them back saying; "Not yet, I want to know what's happened, it can't be real."
"Col. Young", Eli said, "This is real... I had help from Destiny when I was trying to get into a pod and she turned off the artificial gravity for me... because I asked for her help, not to turn it off."
"You mean through a CI?" replied Young.
"No, I asked her just like I'm talking to you now."
Rush interjected; "What Eli is saying is exactly what I have come to understand, Destiny is alive! She has more brain power than all of us put together."
"You mean Artificial Intelligence?" asked Young sounding confused.
Eli explained: "Yeah, it's sorta like AI but more human, it's more cognitive thought than AI. The same way our brain neuro-network works."
"Ok, I still don't understand exactly what you mean, but will this be dangerous; that's what I need to know!" He said in full military tone.
Rush, still with his head in the console looked up and answered with a blasé tone:
"As long as we follow the Asgard's warnings about the gate and time clock, we should be fine. I defiantly wouldn't try to dial earth again, that's for sure!"
Young looked at Rush weighing up his answer. "Hmmm... so now were just along for the ride."
Eli stepped back into the conversation sensing the tension; "The Asgard weren't known to tell lies, I think we should focus on trying to find the planet that has the potential to dial earth. They said that they would help us when the time came... at least it gives people hope."
Young replied "Your right Eli, it should be our focus for the time being..." surrendering his thoughts of an easier way out. Satisfied for now they all were safe, he turned his attention to more pressing concerns like power, food, water, and life support. He asked Eli and Rush for a sit rep of their supplies. Eli tapped away at the CI in front of him.
"Um, power is at an incredible 65% of full capacity, and its way more than we use to have. The shields are steady at 30% and all weapons are functional and ready to be charged... Life support at 110% of capacity..." commented Eli in a surprised manor.
"How can life support be 110% Eli?" Questioned Rush sceptically.
He scanned through more information on the CI then said: "The dome... it's producing more air than we can use. The whole ship has full life support; we could go safely to any part of it. All of the ships directional elevators are also working."
The three men just looked at each other with the same thought. Young spoke first;
"Not without my permission you don't" was his stern reply; "There will be plenty of time to explore later, for now we need to make sure everything's ok."
Greer opened the bridge door and stepped in bringing three radios with him.
"Sorry I'm late Colonel, T.J gave me a once over before I could get here." He smiled
"That's ok son, it's our turn now anyway." Young look at Rush and Eli and motioned them to go and get checked out. Reluctantly, Rush got out of the chair and followed Eli to the infirmary; Col. Young tagged along too.
They found Scott and Chloe on the way; they were catching up with each other through an intimate embrace. Eli coughed:
"Oh... um... sorry Colonel" he said as he let her go. Chloe's smile was trying to hide her embarrassment of being busted. Young just smiled and said nothing continuing on his way.
Eli pass a sly comment to Scott as he walked by; "Get a room..."
In the infirmary T.J had the guys get on a bed and lay down as she examined them one at a time. Not one to be told what to do, Rush started playing with the CI unit above the bed. T.J seeing him out of the corner of her eye scoffed at him;
"I said lay down..."
"Hang on a minute" said Rush then added, "T.J did you know there where full anatomical files on thousands of different species in here? There seems to be a whole database of related illnesses as well."
Catching her interest, she looked over at him. "We did get a lot of info from the volcano planet's databank."
Rush continuing to look, replied "This is not from there; they didn't have files on other species."
Young cut in; "Could it be from the Asgard?"
"More than likely Colonel... it appears that they have decided to help us with our journey." Rush said as T.J forced him to lie down.
A crackle came over the radio; "Colonel Young, this is Greer come in"
"Go ahead Sergeant."
"Um sir, you are going to want to see this for yourself; I'm at the dome with Ginn and Franklin."
"Lieutenant Scott, did you copy?" asked Young through the radio.
"On my way Colonel"
"Are we done here T.J?" Young asked:
T.J replied "All good Sir."
The three of them raced out toward the dome and met up with Scott and Chloe along the way. They reached the dome and hit the door button. An incredible rush of air passed through the opening door causing them to almost gasp. The sight before them was nothing short of impressive; no longer the garden that the Ursini had attended so carefully; it was a full jungle complete with its own atmosphere. They all stared in amazement at the cloud that formed high above in the dome.
"Oh my God... this is... wow... incredible..." Chloe tried to get words out but they just didn't do this justice.
Greer walked out of the jungle on what was the very overgrown path, carrying some strange type of fruits. "This is amazing Colonel, there is food everywhere and it's raining inside!"
Ginn came out of the jungle behind Greer holding more different varieties of vegetables and fruits. "The Ursini told us that everything in here was safe for humans to eat and use. They said that it is all in the database." Eli moved to help her carry the food.
"We should still check what we don't know before eating it though" cautioned Colonel Young; as always the safety of his people came first.
Rush looked on impressed at how the Ursini had managed to create a complete botanical eco system in a dome of a spaceship.
He looked at Eli; "Any wonder life support was at 110%." He walked up to a CI on the wall and checked the database on what had been done. "Colonel, it appears that all the Co2 produced is being pumped into the dome to be converted to oxygen and nitrogen by the plants. The atmosphere is then pumped to the rest of the Destiny; in effect we now have a full biological life support system that is endless, it is truly amazing." Rush continued his search on the screen, there was more. "The ship can also produce our own water by combining Hydrogen and Oxygen. It then appears to be absorbed and filtered by the ground to collect minerals. It's as good as any water on Earth." his scientific tone taking over.
Young was starting to realize just what the Asgard wanted for Destiny. A crew; not only a crew to run the ship, but someone to input more than Destiny could. Human influence was required to help with the journey, and most of all, to teach Destiny. He was starting to understand the importance of the mission and their relationship with it.
It was time to contact Earth.