SGU s03e03
Future
Col. Young headed to the communications room with Rush following. Franklin and Brody having come for the infirmary, had already unpacked the communication stones ready for use. Franklin reminded the Colonel that the other pods would open in about fifteen hours; and that he and Brody would rest while Colonel Young was gone to take the night shift later; they left the room to avid the shock of seeing Franklin alive again.
"What are you going to tell them Colonel?" Rush asked hoping for an answer.
"Everything that we know so far; why... is there something you want to hide Rush?" Young's manor sounded untrusting.
"No, not something to hide Colonel; but I'm afraid of who might return" he said with worry in his voice.
"You mean Telford" said Young.
"It wouldn't be the first time he tried to dial the gate. Once he knows we have the power, I'm afraid what Destiny might do to stop him." Replied Rush in a matter of fact tone.
"Do you really think Destiny will try to stop him if he does?" Rush detected sarcasm in his voice.
"I think Destiny will protect the mission Colonel, and yes, she will try to stop him if he attempts it;" his voice becoming aggressive.
Young thought for a moment, then grabbed his radio: "Lt Scott come in."
"Scott here, Colonel" crackled the radio.
"Please come to the communications room...now" as he accentuated the last word. Releasing the radio he looked back at Rush. "Well then you will have to do your best to persuade him not too; do you think you can do that Rush?" Young was growing impatient of Rush's constant whining.
Scott step into the room. "Yes Colonel?"
"Lt Scott, Dr Rush is concerned that whoever inhabits me may want to try and dial the gate for Earth. I need you to work with him to stop any such attempt, should one arise. This is regardless of whom it is or what their rank maybe; Telford included."
Scott looked at Rush and then back to Col. Young. He didn't have much trust for Rush but his colonel had given him a direct order, and he was a marine.
"Ok Colonel, no-one will open the gate to Earth, got it." He nodded his understanding without question.
Rush spoke up "Thank-you Colonel."
With that Young picked up the stone as a slight dizziness came over him.
"Please state your name and security code at once!" yelled the marine pointing the M16 at Col. Young.
"Colonel Everett Young; from the Destiny" he answered and gave the code not concerned by the marine's actions.
"Welcome back Colonel, it's been a long time; this way to General O'Neill's office."
He looked in the mirror as he got up; Telford's body. Young thought as much and smiled at himself. They walked to General O'Neill's office as the marine stayed at the door, closing it after announcing Young's arrival.
"I thought you retired Jack?"
"I did... several times in fact. They just don't seem to want me too..." he smiled as he shook Everett's hand.
"So...tell me, have a nice nap Everett?" as only Jack O'Neill could ask.
Smiling at Jack, Col. Young replied; "I hope you have some time Jack, this is going to take a while..."
"Oh, I can't wait..." replied a straight faced Jack with his sarcastic humour.
Telford arrived in Young's body eager to be back on Destiny. Looking at Scott standing there fully armed he said; "It's Col. Telford, Lt Scott."
"Code please Sir..." an order more than a request.
Telford rattled off the security code passwords much to Rush's disappointment of seeing him.
"Welcome back aboard Destiny Sir" greeted Scott. He handed Telford Col. Young's radio.
Rush announced; "Before you say anything, there have been a lot of changes around here while we were in stasis. Come to the bridge with me and I will explain."
Telford looked at Lt. Scott for confirmation of what Rush had just said, and receiving a nod from Scott replied; "Ok... let's go."
As the three men walked out of the communications room, Telford noticed that the ship looked somehow different, brighter perhaps. It had been three years since he had been on Destiny and maybe he had remembered it differently over time. It didn't take long for the questions to start coming;
"Where is everyone?" asked Telford.
"They're still in stasis pods... Won't be out for a few more hours" replied Lt. Scott.
"I know you have a million questions Colonel Telford, but please wait until we get to the bridge." Asked Rush already losing his patients with Telford.
Colonel Telford knew Rush didn't like him and dismissed his attitude with a shake of his head. They reached the bridge in silence and opened the door. Eli, sitting in the main chair looked around at the three men as they entered. Ginn and Franklin were at the forward consoles as they turned and looked at "Telford" not knowing.
"What the...!" exclaimed Telford as he took a step back in shock.
"Like I said, there's a lot of explaining to do. Guys this is Colonel Telford" Announced Rush. "Eli, play the message from the Asgard." Turning to Telford he said; "This will help explain what is going on. And yes, they are real." He said gesturing toward Ginn and Franklin.
Eli played the message from the Asgard. Telford watched in amazement as he went through what had been done to the ship. Then, at the end of the message, something different happened; the picture of Asgard D.J stopped; the Ursini Commander stepped up and introduced himself to Telford addressing him directly. Everyone watch, not having seen this before; Destiny had to know that Telford was using the stones with Young.
"Colonel Telford, I am Commander Lenai (pronounced Lee- nay-e) of the Ursini High Command. I wish to apologise for your treatment on board the seeding ship. I am sorry the crew took advantage of Destiny against the clone ships in the last galaxy. We hold no malice against your race and hope to continue positive communications in the future."
Telford, finding himself a bit stunned at what had just happened looked at Rush who was equally just as lost for words. Telford finally spoke:
"What do I say to that?" he seemed uncomfortable not knowing how to respond.
Eli offered in a whisper; "Tell him you accept their apologies, I mean say it to him."
Giving Eli a strange look and feeling weird; still a bit lost he cleared his throat, faced the screen and replied; "Commander Lenai of the Ursini High Command, I accept your apology unconditionally and hope that or two great races can continue to be Allies in the future."
The screen lit up again with the commander's face; "Thank-you Colonel Telford. A sub space message with you reply has been sent to the Asgard vessel, The Samantha."
Eli, still in "Captain Kirk's chair" confirmed that a microscopic wormhole had appeared for several micro-seconds just after the message on the screen.
"Wow...that was cool..." Eli wasn't one to hold back his thoughts.
Col. Telford was beginning to get his head around what was transpiring on the bridge. He turned his attention to Ginn and Franklin; "Ok, so how did you guys get... to be here?" he chose his words carefully not to offend.
"It's a long story Colonel..." replied Ginn with a smile.
"I've got time...but give me the quick version" he said as he sat down at one of the consoles near them.
"The Asgard cloned new bodies for us from our DNA stored in Destiny's memory. They removed our consciousnesses' from the memory and took us to meet the Nox. I don't know how the Nox put us back inside, but they did; and we are very grateful for it." Tears ran down Ginn's face as she spoke; this was an incredible gift to give someone asking nothing in return: Their life.
Rush added; "Amanda Perry was also revived."
Telford, taking all this onboard, gave himself a moment to absorb it all. Finally he spoke; "What about the stargate... could we"
Rush interjected immediately "NO! We can't, didn't you listen to the Asgard warning? Any attempt to try will have serious consequences for all of us here!" The arguing started.
"What, so you believe some message form an alien over anything else?" Telford retorted raising his voice.
"Colonel Telford, they have been very clear about this, you heard their reasons." Rush calmed his voice as he spoke. "They have equipped this ship impeccably for our survival; doesn't that tell you something?"
Eli joined in; "Colonel, they had the power to send us all home, but they didn't for a reason. I know that some of the people want to return to Earth, but some of us want to stay too."
Dr Rush now pleaded to Col. Telford's intellect; "Please Colonel, don't try opening the gate, we are afraid of how Destiny may react."
Telford mulled this over for a few moments starring at Rush. He desperately wanted to be aboard Destiny as himself, but also, in command. He truly believed he was the man for the job regardless of what anyone thought. He finally conceded to Dr Rush's pleading and replied.
"Ok Dr Rush, I'll believe you for now. Let's see the rest of the ship."
Eli breathed a sigh of relief as they left the bridge. He knew that Destiny would react to any attempt to dial Earth. Telford, Scott, and Rush left the bridge just as Amanda Perry arrived. Telford stopped and spoke to her;
"It's nice to see you again Dr Perry; it's Colonel Telford."
She shook his hand. "Thank-you Colonel Telford, good to see you again. How are you coping with all the surprises?" she asked smiling at him.
"They're slowly sinking in, it's quiet amazing..." he replied smiling, looking into her eyes. She was a beautiful woman, and the last time he saw her she was a quadriplegic on Earth.
Time was passing as Telford toured the ship looking at everything. He was impressed by the dome like all of them, and spent some time going through the CI, with Rush explaining some of the new found systems. Lt. Scott had left them alone, satisfied all was ok about the stargate. Suddenly they heard Eli's voice call to them; but not on the radio.
"Um, Dr Rush... if you can hear me, press the top two buttons on the left of the command interface together and reply."
Rush looked at Telford with a grin on his face and pushed the buttons; "It appears you found the ships intercom system Eli..."
Eli replied; "Um, yeah... We were just looking through some new stuff and found it. It looks like it can be accessed at any door panel as well..."
Col. Telford spoke up; "Good work Eli... should make life easier for you all; what else have you found?" He wanted to know everything.
Eli suddenly looked up from the CI console on the bridge and reported; "Looks like Destiny's going to jump into FTL in a few minutes, she just gave me a message; hang on, I'll sent it to you."
A message appeared in the top right of the CI screen; Telford and Rush read it, in English:
"Eli Wallace, please announce that we will be going into FTL in five minutes."
Telford starred at Rush; this was a personal message to Eli from Destiny. Not a being or alien, a ship!
"You care to explain this Dr Rush? Destiny is sending Eli Wallace personal messages now?" anger was building in his voice.
Before Rush could talk, Eli spoke through the whole ship; the way only Eli can; "Attention Ladies and Gentleman aboard the Ancient ship Destiny; shortly we will be making the jump to FTL. Please fasten your seatbelts, extinguish all cigarettes, and enjoy the ride to the nearest star; this is your Captain speaking."
Rush and Telford could hear Amanda and Ginn giggling in the background. Taking the tension out of the moment with Telford, Rush commented as he shook his head.
"Bloody kids..."
With that, the familiar blur came over them as the ship jumped. Rush, realising the stones disconnected for a few seconds wasted no time as Col. Young reappeared. "Everett, the pods open in about 3 hours; were on our way to the star, get back soon."
"I'm still with O'Neill in his office, be leaving short..." He was back in Telford's body sitting in General O'Neill's office.
"Jumped to the star I take it..." said O'Neill leaning back in his chair.
"What did Telford tell you?" was Colonel Young's reply.
"Oh...the usual stuff about him being in charge, the gate etc..." O'Neill waved his hand in dismissive circles. "Oh... by the way, you slept through your promotion; General Everett Young."
"Huh... General hey, I didn't know I was up for promotion." Everett took in the news with a slight grin on his face.
"Yeah, well... I want to retire but they won't let me either. Seems our politicians figure we should have a superior officer in charge of Destiny and since we can't replace you...we promote you... you know how it goes." O'Neill sounded as sarcastic as ever.
"Thanks Jack; you still got that bottle of scotch in the draw?" inquired "General" Young.
O'Neill took the bottle, two glasses from the draw and poured the scotch. He handed one to his friend. Young picked up the glass and lifted it toward Jack's. O'Neill made a toast;
"Best of luck General, your go'na need it." The two men tapped glasses together. He continued: "Oh, one more thing... it's a bit personal."
Young, more stated than asked; "Let me guess, Telford's dating my ex-wife."
"Married would probably be a better word..." said Jack slowly hoping Young would just accept it.
He did; quietly, he laughed shaking his head. "I thought as much. I didn't expect her to stay alone."
"Oh well Everett, look at the bright side; at least you got that ship repaired, and... you're the boss." O'Neill smiled as he took another sip of scotch.
"It's been good to see you Jack, I gotta go." General Young shook Jack's hand and left.
After coming back from the FTL jump, Telford re-asked the same question of Rush; "Why can the ship send messages to someone?" his tone was calmer and more genuine.
"I don't know if you'll believe me or not, but we believe Destiny is capable of cognitive thought. She has masses of processing power unlike anything I have ever seen. She was the one that decided which pods to open first." Rush kept out the emotion and stuck to the facts.
"Destiny must have concluded that we were the most valuable people to her and here we are."
"Who else is awake?" Col. Telford asked.
"Just us that you have seen, plus T.J, Greer, Brody, and Chloe" Rush kept it simple.
"It sounds like a strategic move, Scientists and military, the people who know how to operate the ship. T.J; it sounds like she was chosen to look after everyone; that make sense" commented Col. Telford.
"You see what I mean now Colonel, "She" is thinking..." said Rush finally relaxing his voice around Telford. "We don't have long before the other pods open up and go through the whole process of surprise again. I'm not sure how people will take seeing three dead people alive again."
Telford suddenly felt strange. General Young disconnected from the communication stones, and found himself standing in the dome with Rush.
"It's me" he said.
"Welcome back Colonel" smiled Rush, glad to be rid of Telford.
"Actually it's General Young now; it seem Earth wants to have a superior officer on board representing them." Young appeared amused at the idea.
Eli, playing with the intercom system again, made another general announcement in true Eli character with a laid back surfers voice; "Um... attention dudes, the grand opening of the other pods will be in 10 minutes, get your popcorn while it's hot; over and out; 10/4 good buddy!"
Young looked at Rush with a "What the f..." expression; Rush showed him which buttons to press to reply.
"General Young here Eli, this is a communications system on a spaceship, not an arcade game son... but thanks for the message."
"General? Um...ok Colonel, um...I mean General; sorry Sir." Eli sank down into the chair.
Ginn and Amanda started laughing on the bridge, making Eli feel even worse. T.J, Chloe, Scott, and Greer all on the observation deck also heard the whole conversation. Greer and Scott were in fits of laughter falling on the ground. It had been a long time since they had been able to laugh so loud. The human crew had been through hell and back in the 10 months plus stasis time of three years. Finally they had some hope; the ship was running perfectly, there were no problems with supplies or life support. For the first time since coming aboard, they finally found some peace.
General Young passed by the observation deck on the way to the pods. Greer and Scott had settled down but were still smiling. They stood up at attention, along with T.J, seeing Young enter the room.
"Congratulations General Young on your promotion Sir!" barked Scott; all of them saluting him at once.
"At ease guys, thanks."
Greer, breaking tradition, walked up to Young and held out his hand;
Shaking it, Young replied "Thanks Sergeant, I have some news. They want us to make finding the planet with the stargate that can dial Earth our priority. This means that every planet with a working gate needs to be checked out."
"Sir... that could be hundreds of thousands of planets across this galaxy..." said Greer taking it all in.
"I know Sergeant, I didn't say it would be easy" replied Young.
Eli broke the silence again, this time he stuck to the facts. Greer and Scott looked at each other smiling about Eli.
"General Young, the pods will open in two minutes" he kept it simple.
Young walked to the CI on the deck wall and answered; "Ok Eli, thanks...much better." He smiled at his soldiers as they all got the joke and smiled back.
They made their way to the pods; Chloe followed as well. They got there just as the first pods were opening. They greeted everyone with T.J and Chloe escorting them in groups to the infirmary to get checked out. MSgt Greer waited for Lisa Park and greeted her with a small kiss on the cheek, before hooking his arm around hers as a guide following the others. Destiny held Dr Volker in stasis and wouldn't release him. Lt Scott touched the CI and spoke to Eli on the bridge, Rush had joined him.
"Eli, this is Scott; Dr Volker's pod won't open...over"
"Lt. Scott This is Dr Rush we are trying to find out why, please stand by."
Eli seeing Destiny holding the pod closed simply asked aloud; "Why won't you release Dr Volker's pod?"
A message appeared on the screen in front of him; "Dr Dale Volker has sustained some internal bleeding from the medical procedure recently performed. Dr Amanda Perry and Lieutenant Tamara Johansen will need to correct the damage immediately after his release from the stasis pod. They will need to prepare the infirmary before he is released. Medical procedures and records are available should they be required. Dr Dale Volker is in a stable condition; Dr Amanda Perry or Lieutenant Tamara Johansen will be the only two humans allowed to release the stasis pod."
Amanda had the same message on the screen in front of her. Rush just looked at Eli and Amanda; all of them were taken back by this. It was absolute proof that Destiny was changing, and from what had just happened, she was also growing.
Rush broke the silence: "This is just... I can't believe what's happening here..." he remembered Lt. Scott; "Lt. Scott, this is Dr Rush...um there seems to be..." he looked at Amanda for council; she smiled and nodded; "There seems to an issue with the pod, but Dr Volker is quiet safe. We will have to leave him there for a few more hours, over."
"Roger, copy that; Scott out."
Rush picked up a radio, "General Young, come in."
"What is it Rush?" answered Young
"You're needed on the bridge." Rush replied simply not to arouse anyone else who may have heard.
"Ok, I'll be there in a few minutes, Young out."
About ten minutes later he arrived with Camille Wray beside him.
"Hello Camille" said Rush as she walked in.
Camille looked at Ginn and Amanda; "Wow... it's hard to get your head around: It's nice to see you both again... Dr Rush, Eli." She made pleasantries to all of them.
"Dr rush, why am I here?" requested Young.
"We've had another request from Destiny, thought you might want to take a look" he put the message on the main screens.
Camille reading the message asked; "Who did this?"
Eli answered; "I asked Destiny why she wouldn't release Dr Volker's pod and this was her response."
Camille, somewhat unsure what he meant by asked replied; "You asked Destiny, you mean tried to find out why through the console?"
Rush interjected losing his thin line of patients; "Oh for God's sake, we don't have time for this. Eli just asked, like I'm speaking to you now."
"Yelling sounds more like it Dr Rush!" retorted Camille
"Enough!" Young yelled loudly; "So I suppose we just follow what Destiny told us, its sounds as though he's got some serious internal bleeding."
Amanda answered "Destiny has scanned him in the pod; there seems to be a small tear in his renal artery that may have happened from the stasis process." She kept the diagnosis in simple terms so they all understood. "Either way, without Destiny's help he would have died before we found it."
"Eli, go and tell T.J quietly to come here when she has finished checking over everyone. Oh, and take Camille with you and explain to her what you believe is going on with the ship." The General had spoken.
Eli found T.J and passed on the message. He and Camille went to the observation deck and sat down. He had been working for many hours straight and was becoming tired. They all were; Young and Rush included. He sat with Camille and they spoke; Eli did most of the talking.
"That was a very brave chance to take Eli, staying behind to fix the pod. How did you know there would be spare pods in the room?" Camille asked
"Well, I guess I just trusted that Destiny didn't want me dead; you know, like... it's not like she didn't have the chance. It would have been easy to lock me out and vent out the air or something" Eli replied.
"Why do you refer to the ship as "She", is that because you believe the ship is alive?" the shrink in Camille really stood out sometimes.
"I don't know... isn't that what they call those ocean liners on Earth "she"? I just think of the ship as female, you know, giving life to us..." Eli had solid reasoning there; Destiny did give them all life and in effect had saved them.
Camille wasn't finished and pumped Eli for more information in a subtle way. "So you can speak to the ship like a person and get an answer? How is that?"
He just shrugged his shoulders and said "She just likes me I guess...but I believe that Destiny is capable of cognitive thought like the human brain."
Camille had an idea to test Eli's theory believing that he was just reading more into things than was really there. "Can I ask her a question and get an answer too?"
"Um...what here?" he looked around the room, there were several people there recovering from the shock of stasis. "Um... probably not a good idea in here, most don't know about what's happened yet; General Young hasn't told them, but he will soon..."
Without warning, foolishly Camille tested Eli's theory "Destiny... I demand you open the gate to earth at once!" She yelled so that everyone could hear it, and then smiled sarcastically at Eli...but only for a moment.
The doors slammed shut with a frightening bang as the lights flickered and went off; an eerie silence came across the observation deck. Greer was sitting in the deck area with Lisa, dozing in a chair. He grabbed his radio;
"Col. Young we got a problem in the observation deck, the doors slammed shut and the lights went out." Greer forgot all about Young's promotion in his calm panic.
"Greer, what the hell happened, things are lighting up all over the bridge" with the radio button accidently held down by General Young, Greer could hear the commotion on the bridge;
"Colonel... some idiot just asked Destiny to open the gate to Earth...and she didn't like it..."
"No shit Rush" yelled the General.
Eli yelled at Camille: "Camille, for God's sake apologise before this room get vented and we all die!"
Back on the bridge; "I can't override it; Everett, get Greer to take Camille into custody; it should show Destiny we are serious too" Rush had a point, a good point.
"Sergeant, arrest Camille Wray immediately, put her in cuffs, right now!"
"Ok General, will do" He moved swiftly to Camille, and pushed her to the floor. Grabbing a cable tie from his armour belt, he handcuffed her behind her back. Camille screamed and kicked protesting her rough treatment; Greer just repeated the Generals orders aloud: "Camille Wray, I am placing you under arrest by direct order of General Young..."
No sooner had he said that, the doors opened and lights came back on. He helped Camille up off the floor and led her out silently, she tried to get away but Greer was just too strong.
"General, this is Greer...Camille is under arrest, and the place has gone back to normal. I'm taking her to her quarters Sir."
"I'll meet you there Sergeant; Young out."
Eli, having left the observation deck walked up to the main CI; he looked around to see if he was alone. He apologised to Destiny; a message came back to him. "I wouldn't have hurt you or the other humans Eli Wallace, but it is not wise to test me."
He spoke softly back to Destiny: "I know... I just thought she would ask you to put down the blinds or something simple, not something dumb like that." He was tired and a little scared too; the gravity of the situation was starting to sink in. "Can I ask you something...Hypothetical?"
"Yes" was the message.
"If we had no choice, like, no way out... would you open the gate to Earth then if we asked?" said Eli afraid of the answer.
Destiny took a few seconds to reply; "I don't know; it would depend on the situation. If I did, it would only be a one way journey. Get some sleep Eli Wallace."
Eli headed to his bed; it had been a hell of a learning curve for all of them. He got in to find Ginn already there as he snuggled up to her and fell asleep. Tomorrow was another day to explore a new galaxy; the love of his life was back in his arms, and for the first time, there was a sense of real hope for their future.