General Hammond was not in his office and the briefing room was empty. Scooting over to the broad window Daniel gazed down into the gate room and saw the General deep in conversation with Dr McKay and Dr Zalenka. He waved furiously and called out but the toughened glass was sound proof as well as explosion proof. Tutting in frustration Daniel wheeled round, clattered down the spiral stairs to the control room, nodded to Sargent Harriman, ducked out into the corridor and practically threw himself into the gateroom.
"Dr Jackson?" said Hammond in surprised tones, more than a little taken aback by Daniel's explosive mode of entry. "What brings you here?"
"Hi" Daniel panted, out of breath. "Looking through mission reports. Had idea." He paused, gulped air, swallowed briefly and wondered fleetingly how he could become so unfit in less than a week.
"Take your time son" Hammond advised calmly.
"The gate" Daniel began "won't work 'cause line's engaged." He sucked in another gasp of air and looked round eagerly, willing them to follow his train of thought, but saw only blank faces. Waving his hands urgently in an attempt to make up for the deficit in his speech he continued, his explanation punctuated by rough breaths "When the Gould attack, they typically … dial in to prevent their victim from … dialling out."
General Hammond's expression notched up another level of seriousness. "Dr Jackson, are you suggesting that we are under attack from the Gould?"
"Sort of, yes" Daniel replied, feeling weirdly triumphant and fearful at the same time.
Dr McKay raised a hand in a parody of respect and Daniel turned to him with an expression of forced patience. "Um one - slight - flaw in your plan" McKay said conversationally, "If aliens were dialing in then we would have an incoming wormhole. Big shiny thing. Like a puddle." He turned theatrically and gestured to the ring behind him. "No wormhole."
Daniel shook his head. "No, not necessarily," (McKay looked sceptical) "Not if they were dialing in to the other gate."
Hammond looked at him sharply? "The alpha gate?"
"That would be the –uh - second problem with your theory." McKay butted in. "The EX-alpha gate was incinerated by the force of passing unshielded through the Earth's atmosphere."
Daniel ignored his sardonic expression and turned to address the General. "We know that if two gates are in close proximity then one supersedes the other. Anyone dialling in automatically connects to the dominant gate. The gate doesn't need to be powered in order to receive an incoming wormhole. The power is supplied by the dialling gate."
"But the alpha gate was destroyed in the Earth's atmosphere." Hammond said, echoing McKay.
"Do we know that for sure?" Daniel asked with a piercing gaze "Because naquidah is incredibly tough..."
Dr Zalenka nodded thoughtfully and General Hammond turned to McKay. "Is it true that it could have survived re-entry?" he asked gravely.
"Well it is theoretically possible yes" said McKay, frustration in his voice. "But I'd say that it is highly unlikely. It is much more likely that…"
General Hammond cut him off brusquely. "Dr McKay, if it is a possibility then we must take that threat seriously." He looked from one scientist to the other "Is there any way to be certain?"
"Any gate activated on earth would cause an identifiable power spike." Zalenka said helpfully, speaking for the first time. "We should be able to identify it using the base computer."
"And we haven't seen anything." McKay said tersely.
"Of course we haven't actually been looking for it." Zalenka corrected. "We've been looking at the gate itself, we haven't been scanning for global anomalies."
"Do it" Hammond ordered.
"It may take some time" Zalenka cautioned.
"Of course it will take time" McKay added grumpily "Have you any idea how much data we are going to have to work though?" Sighing heavily he picked up his computer with a resigned air. He was tired, stressed and - much as he was loath to admit it - a little rueful that Daniel had thought of a possibility that he hadn't. He knew he had been overly defensive but somehow he just couldn't seem to help himself.
As Zalenka and McKay headed through into the control room Daniel and General Hammond were left alone.
"The question is…" Daniel said slowly "who is trying to dial in?"
"That is what I fully intend to find out" General Hammond said.
But Daniel didn't hear him. He was gazing meditatively at the gate as another disquieting thought occurred to him. He had made the assumption that someone was deliberately blocking the gate, dialing in to stop them dialing out. But, he suddenly realised, it didn't have to be that way, there was another possibility. SG-1 were trying to come home and if and if they dialed and connected to a gate that was lying on the ocean floor somewhere then… Involuntarily he sucked in a sharp intake of breath. With no MALP telemetry to guide them SG-1 would be stepping through blind. He felt suddenly sick as his stomach tightened, and all the triumph of solving the puzzle evaporated in an instant leaving only and icy feeling of dread that seemed to start in his chest and seep out along his veins. A vision of Sam saying eagerly 'Wormhole established. Transmit the IDC' and Jack cheerfully announcing 'Come on kids, we're heading home' sprung into his head. 'No' Daniel whispered silently as he watched them step through the wormhole and into the silent depths of the ocean.
So, has Daniel solved it... are SG-1 in danger of death by drowning?
Sorry this is turning into one massive fic. It will end soon(ish!)
Do feel free to be critical in reviews - I'm keen to learn what works and what doesn't.
Thanks to those who have pointed out errors. It hasn't been beta'd and I'm posting pretty much as I write it so there may be a few.