Chapter Three

'Have you heard of mirror galaxies?' Jack O'Neill enters a series of codes into a computer console and a section of the field station wall seems to dissolve into a 3D image of a galaxy.

'Ummm.. yes, I think so. Just a theory, though?' Daniel replies, staring at the galaxy.

'No, never heard of it.' Agnes is still in a state of shock, looking around the interior of what, from the outside appeared to be a lorry parked up at a motorway service station and, once inside, has morphed into something from a science fiction movie. ' And I don't believe for one minute that story you spun on the way here about the hoard being being a matter of national security. What is this place? '

'This? Oh, it's a portable field station for Stargate Command, it's designed to blend into the local environment, in this case, a truck. The Mirror Galaxy Theorem was proposed by Dr. McKay, the idea being two galaxies, connected by a Stargate, over time would mirror events happening in the other one, through a very complex set of quantum level events triggered by the gate... never quite understood that part, anyhow... a team based here in the UK have been working on looking for these mirror galaxies and recently discovered an event mirroring one happening here, now.'

'What? Wait a minute... what is Stargate Command?'

Jack ignores Agnes' question and continues with his explanation 'There is an eclipse due on the equinox in the northern hemisphere here, the same thing will happen there, with this sun and its solar system. It's in Mirror Galaxy 03, MG3, not very a very catchy name...'

'It has a gate to here?' Daniel examines the small pinpoint of light Jack is indicating at.

'We don't know, the idea is the team working on this theory find galaxies which could be candidates and then we look for solar systems within them like ours. So far, only a handful of galaxies have been found and this is the only solar system mirroring ours. We were looking for possible gate sites when you and your friend here start swapping emails about coins.'

'What are you both, some kind of sci-fi nerds?' Agnes is beginning to feel there is another entire side to Dr. Daniel Jackson, a side she is only just seeing. A horrible thought occurs to her. 'Have I been abducted?'

'What? No...no. This is all true, weird and alarming but true... I remember when I first found out about Stargate Command...look, you are free to go at any time...' Daniel is interrupted by Jack.

'You are most definitely not free to go and what we are discussing is top secret.'

'What?' Agnes can't believe what she is hearing.'This is ridiculous! I came here to try and find answers about the coins and this... this is preposterous!' She tries to exit the lorry only to find the door has no internal handle. 'LET ME OUT!'

'Agnes, wait... its OK, really. I can vouch for your safety. Are the coins connected?' A thought occurs to Daniel as he tries to placate her and stop her hammering on the door.

'We don't know. I was checking out the earthquake sight on a whim it might be a gate emerging when I saw this person, one Robert Bowden I believe, he was acting very strangely.' Jack downloads a photo of Rob Bowden onto the screen from his phone.

'Wait... I know him!' Agnes stops hammering on the door and walks over to the screen. 'Rob Bowden, he found the hoard! Then disappeared. What's this?' Agnes notices a small shiny object on his hand, glinting in the sunlight. Is it another coin?'

'No, it's a gold ring, with an image of an unknown creature on it.' Jack zooms the image in on the ring.

'He was at the hill? Too much of a coincidence, he must be there for a reason.' Agnes runs through all the possible connections she can think of through her mind. 'If the ring is part of the hoard and it led him to the hill, then the coins could be linked to that site. Which means, if the earthquake hasn't destroyed everything, there may be more there, or other artefacts pointing to where and who created them. We need to get to the hill!'

'Not tonight, the light will have gone and the earthquake has attracted a lot of attention. We'll head back out there tomorrow, tonight I want you both to come back to headquarters with me. Meet the team.'

'Back to Colorado?' For a moment Daniel is thrown by Jack's answer.

'No, Stargate Command UK. It's not too far from here.'

'This isn't Stargate Command?' Agnes glances around the lorry.

'No, this is a truck. Let's go.' Jack presses a button beside the door and it clicks opens as he gestures to Agnes and Daniel to leave.

Rob Bowden stops running at the bottom of the hill just long enough to see if the man is following him but he is nowhere to be seen. Rob breathes heavily, feeling a stitch beginning to nag under his ribs from the sudden exertion. It had been a risk to so openly approach the dragon's lair and he needed to take better care next time. For now he needed to lie low, get his head straight, think up a plan. Looking round for somewhere to stay out of sight, he spots a small barn a few fields away. That would do, he could lie low there for now. In his pocket the lead box feels particularly heavy, as though the ring inside is loathe to leave the hillside and is trying to drag him back there. Back to the dragon. Rob clenches his fists at his side and takes a deep breath, ignoring the weight of the small box and starts walking to the barn, keeping his eyes firmly away from the ruined hill behind him.

Commander Jack O'Neill can barely stop a smile from spreading across his face at the bewildered look at his two companions as he leads them the few hundred feet from the portable field station into the motorway service station coffee house, past the queues to a small service door near the rear of the cafe. Wait till they see SGCUK. He punches in a code into the key lock and the door opens and the three of them step into what looks like an service elevator. 'Hold on to your hats, this thing is fast.'

Agnes and Daniel feel their stomachs rise and their knees give as the express elevator plummets the four stories down to stop with a slow smooth hiss. The door opens and nothing could have prepared Agnes for the sight that greets her. SGCUK is a vast split level cavern hewn from the bedrock with metal walkways, gantries and offices sectioned off in glass, cement and high tech multi-screen walls. Here and there are what look like army personnel working away at computer consoles and in the middle of all this is a huge, curved screen with what looks like an image of the universe across it like the one in the truck. Jack notices her look of shock and leans in to whisper to her, 'Crazy huh, like we fell down the proverbial rabbit hole.' His comment barely registers as Agnes tries to process the scene in front of her. She realises Daniel is already striding across the floor of SGCUK towards a person he seems to recognise and, without knowing why, Agnes hurries after him leaving the Commander to catch up with them.

'Teal'c!'

'Indeed. It is me, Dr. Daniel Jackson. It is good to see you again.'

'You too, you too. Teal'c, I'd like you to meet Agnes Dale. Agnes, this is Teal'c...of Chulak... a planet far from here.'

But just as Agnes starts to realise that Daniel isn't joking and the statuesque figure being introduced to her really is an alien, the Commander catches up with them and intervenes. 'No time for chitchat, the team is all waiting in meeting room One, this way.' And with that he hooks as arm under Daniel and Agnes's elbows and drags them off towards a meeting room set into the rear rock face of the cavern.