Heliopolis - October 13th, 1997
Lightyears away from earth, SG1 and their guest stepped out of the gate.
"Piece of cake," Catherine patted Jack on the shoulder.
O'Neill looked around before commenting, "Did that feel smoother?"
"Yeah, that was practically seamless, even after Sam worked on the frosting issue we used to have there was still a little hitch, but that felt..." Daniel said.
"Like stepping through a door." Jack completed. "Well, there was that whole gate recalibration and diagnostics thing that Carter accidentally set off," Jack said.
The room they emerged into was mostly clean and clear with some minor damage from part of the roof falling in by the DHD, but only lit with natural light from tall thin windows covered in geometric patterns on either side of the room. The floor gently sloped down from the gate and leveled into a short ten meter path across the room and up a broad series of steps to the DHD, about halfway between the gate and the DHD two side paths went down towards openings on opposite sides of the room from each other.
"It's hot in here," Daniel said.
"Can't say much about the lack of air conditioning," Jack agreed.
"Indeed, I suspect that the opening in the roof there contributes to the unfavorable conditions," Teal'c pointed to the breach in the roof by the DHD.
"Oh my," Captain Carter exclaimed, having spotted the very man they'd come looking for, his modesty only saved through being backlit by light streaming in from the left-hand entrance he was standing in.
Carter turned away looking off towards the DHD.
Ernest looked at all the visitors he'd received in confusion walking towards them.
"Aw. For cryin' out loud," Jack muttered.
"Dr. Littlefield?" Daniel said, moving towards the aged man.
"Ernest?" Catherine blushed.
Ernest slowly shuffled the rest of the way to Daniel and lifted a single barely usable spectacle lens all that presumably remained of the glasses he once wore.
"Hello, I'm Daniel Jackson," Daniel tried to converse.
The aged scientist glanced at the ring of the stargate.
"Yes, we came through the... uh... stargate, from earth," Daniel continued.
Ernest slowly lifted a hand and reached out to Daniels shoulder before giving him a firm push.
"Yes, we're really here," Daniel said.
Doctor Littlefield pulled Daniel into a back cracking hug and choked back a sob, "It's about time."
The spry old man released Daniel and hugged Jack next and then Teal'c.
"Oh, boy," Carter muttered nimbly, moving out of range while Doctor Littlefield was preoccupied with Jack and Teal'c.
"Daniel, do something," Jack said.
"Doctor Littlefield?" Daniel said, pointing towards Catherine.
Ernest released Teal'c and shuffled over peering into Catherine's face.
"You don't recognize me?"
"Cah—Catherine?" Littlefield stuttered, and turned quickly walking into the depths of the building. "Hmph."
"Fifty years. That's all he says," Doctor Langford looked a little sad.
"I'll just, I'll go and follow him," Daniel said, pointing down the path to the other opening through which Ernest had disappeared.
The damage he'd observed in the gateroom appeared to have been limited to there, the air growing drier and cooler as he followed the sound of Ernest's shuffling footsteps into a comfortable looking room with a bed and warm overhead light.
"You're still here?" Ernest said. Sounding as though he'd had every expectation that the encounter in the gate room had been a product of an overactive imagination or heat stroke or possibly something he'd eaten.
Startled, Daniel whirled around from where he stood next to the bed only to look up and away again.
"You wouldn't happen to have something to wear, clothes perhaps?" Daniel said.
"Oh! Clothes, yes, going home," Ernest's face showed a hint of embarrassment as he recalled that clothes were necessary and he wasn't wearing any. Daniel continued to look up and away while the elderly man shuffled back around the corner, where he'd left the tattered remnants of the old diving suit he'd worn. It was now just the cloth pieces that he pulled into place over his head.
"Yes, home, we're bringing you home," Daniel said.
"Such a long... Did no one... so much time," Ernest said.
"It's a long story. Is there anyone else here? Other people?" Daniel asked.
Ernest shuffled to an alcove in the wall and shook his head at Daniel sadly.
"You... You've been alone? This entire time?" Daniel asked.
Ernest pushed on a section of wall sliding it open to reveal some sort of fruit that he handed to Daniel.
"Yes," Ernest said.
- A new line has appeared -
Catherine lowered herself to a sitting position on the steps up to the dial home device and looked at the stargate.
"I don't know what I expected. So close all this time. I mean, I can't believe he's right here. Alive!" Catherine said.
"He seemed like he was having trouble dealing with it too," Sam said, and sat next to her.
"Light years in an instant, and I felt forty years younger coming through that stargate," Catherine chuckled. "You think you're old and someone reminds you how to have wonder again."
"The heart should never grow old," Sam Carter hugged Catherine.
"I can't even begin to fathom. Such a long time. I don't even know... couldn't guess what he's been through," Catherine said.
"Why don't you go find him and Daniel, talk to him and find out," Captain Samantha Carter suggested.
- A new line has appeared -
Daniel followed Ernest out of the bedroom and down the hall to a new room. The old man handed him some handmade papers that appeared to have been made using local reeds; it was yellowed with age and covered in hash marks.
"Last day," Ernest seemed a bit shocked at the idea.
"You kept track of the days," Daniel said, a bit stunned at the thought of fifty years worth of days being counted up.
"As best as I could, I may have missed a day or two," Ernest said.
"Have you been able to figure anything out about who lived here or built this place?" Daniel asked.
"Heliopolis, Alexandria, Athens, Rome," Ernest listed off ancient cities
"Heliopolis?" Daniel asked.
"Repository, philosophy, astronomy, diplomacy, linguistics, natural science," Ernest rattled off.
"Places of learning, centers of culture, of civilization, of diplomacy, and leadership, meeting place... listen, are there any Egyptian hieroglyphs anywhere? Any symbols related to Ra? That would be a very important thing to know," Daniel said.
Ernest shook his head and then retrieved a second set of papers bound into a journal of sorts and handed it to Daniel.
"Four distinct languages. Writing is unlike anything on Earth. Catherine says they're probably alien," Daniel read out loud.
"Catherine says?" Daniel paused and asked mostly rhetorically.
"She found me long ago," Ernest muttered.
"We walked for miles today and still found no signs of civilization. Catherine seems concerned, but I am not. As long as she is here with me, I will never feel alone. It seems impossible, but everyday we're here together, I love her more," Daniel continued reading.
"Father lied to me," Catherine appeared in the doorway.
"O-oh," Ernest shuffled, unsure how to take Catherine's sudden appearance.
"I'll just—" Daniel marked where he was at with a finger and shuffled past Catherine and out of the room.
"You — here — real," Ernest stuttered.
"Yes, This isn't easy for me, either," Catherine said dryly.
"Y—you—you look—uh—different," Ernest stuttered again.
"We're old, Ernest," Catherine said.
"You—We—we had a wonderful life together!"
"I spent the past fifty years believing you were dead, Ernest. We didn't have a wonderful life," Catherine said, bitterly.
"You forgave me," Ernest said.
"I was never given that chance," Catherine replied.
"Oh," Ernest blinked, eyes suspiciously shiny.
- A new line has appeared -
"Empty, abandoned and in need of some touching up, but it could be a pretty sweet place. Though it's seen better days, if you know what I mean," O'Neill commented observing one of the tall support pillars holding the vaulted roof above them.
"Doctor Littlefield has been alone since he got here," Daniel said quietly.
"Wow," O'Neill replied.
"Indeed," Teal'c commented.
"The structure seems sound enough," O'Neill said.
"Someone shored up the cliff face a long time ago or there would've been more damage," Ernest said, entering the room with Catherine.
A distant rumble of thunder rattled the advanced materials used in the place of glass in the window frames.
"A storm approaches," Teal'c said.
"Sounds big," O'Neill said, looking through the windows to see if he could spot the thunderhead.
"Yearly seasonal monsoon," Ernest said, unphased.
"Yearly?" Carter asked.
"Yes, I usually stay in the display room for the duration, this place is sturdy enough aside from that," Ernest points to the structural damage by the DHD.
"The general has to be getting concerned, kids, we should probably let him know what we've found," O'Neill said.
"Indeed," Teal'c said.
"So soon?" Daniel asked.
"The cliff side looks like it can handle a few more years, but we should still check in with home," O'Neill confirmed.
"I tried for years to make it work," Littlefield commented.
"The glyphs?" Daniel gestured at the DHD. "We call this the Dial-Home Device. Basically, you enter the correct address and—"
"How about we just show him?" Colonel O'Neill interrupted.
The group ascended the steps and gathered around the dialing pedestal only to be presented with a mess of broken crystals, the red dome shattered into pieces and the central power crystal dim.
"That's not good," O'Neill said, pulling out his little remote control wondering if it might have something that could help since it seemed to have picked up on the gate diagnostic. He fiddled with the menus hoping there might be a gate dialer in amongst the options.
"I'm thinking that we should consider using something with more mobility like the kino instead of the MALPs. It was obviously unable to spot the damage from there with the steps being in the way," Carter said. "Or maybe get a flying camera for the MALPs to carry?"
"Ya think?" O'Neill said.
"Well, since we're going to be here a while, I'd like you to see something," Ernest said.
"What's that," Daniel asked.
"Come on. It's the safest room there is. You know? Especially in a storm," Ernest said.
The two proceeded deeper into the complex until they reached a vaulted room with a high ceiling and a sloped amphitheater ring around a central theatron or stage area, at the cardinal points of the stage stood four stone monoliths and in the center of the pillars a pedestal with a large crystal.
Ernest walked directly to the device in the middle and activated it. The four distinct and alien texts appeared on each monolith.
"I recognize that," Daniel said, pointing to the blocky text.
"And that's norse runes," Catherine pointed to another of the monoliths with projected text.
Ernest poked at the journal in Daniel's hands and flipped it open to the relevant section.
"I believe this room is some sort of meeting place where four alien races denoted by the symbols and distinctive writing on the walls would gather…possibly to share knowledge or discuss relations, like an interstellar League of worlds. Catherine agrees," Daniel read.
"You're right, I would have," Catherine patted Ernest's hand.
- A new line has appeared -
"It could take years to figure out where each of these crystals go," Carter muttered at the mess of exposed crystals scattered around the inside of the DHD.
Teal'c handed her a voltmeter and pointed to the large central crystal, "I believe this to be the power source."
"I'm inclined to agree with you," the captain replied, sticking the probes from the crystal toolkit into the mess and checking her laptop.
- A new line has appeared -
"Well this is new, and yet familiar," Jack said from the edge of the room.
"Touch it," Ernest motioned to the pedestal which Jack swiftly approached. With a brief contact of the crystal a beam of light projected upwards forming holographic images of spheres and shapes rotating around and high into the air above the amphitheater.
"It's quite beautiful," Catherine said in awe.
"Well, if this was the uh — alien United Nations or equivalent—this is more than it seems," Daniel said.
"Huh, atoms," O'Neill said.
"Of course! High School chemistry!" Catherine said.
"Right, graphical representations of the basic elements: Electron probability shells around a nucleus. The number of the electrons and protons indicating the element."
"One hundred and forty-six," Ernest said. "There were only ninety known to man when I left earth."
"This is incredible. I mean, we've only been able to speculate on the actual appearance and structure of an atom," Catherine said.
"Jack, this is the basics of a true universal language," Daniel said excitedly.
"I tried to read it. I tried to understand, but—" Ernest said.
"A hundred and forty-six elements. This could take a lifetime," Daniel ran a hand through his hair.
Ernest raised an eyebrow and snorted, "More than one I'd say."
"Oh," Daniel's voice lost the edge of excitement he'd been pushing.
"Exactly, more than any one person's lifetime, and probably more than any one person alone can truly manage," O'Neill said.
"Don't you know what this could mean?" Daniel asked.
"No, actually," Jack said.
"This could be the key to understanding our existence. The meaning of life."
O'Neill looked up at the floating holographic atoms and then at the four inscriptions before his gaze returned to Daniel. "Or it could just be a very dry treaty between four stuffy old races," He snorted and left the room.
- A new line has appeared -
"How's it goin'?" O'Neill asked Carter, nonchalantly strolling back into the gateroom.
"Well, we think we've got power from the DHD directly connected to the gate. I'm about to run a test. Where's Daniel?" Carter asked.
"Oh, Ernest is showing him a new toy," Jack said.
"Really? What?" Captain Carter asked.
"Some fancy light show that may be the key to our existence or something like that," Jack replied.
"Huh," Carter shrugged and slipped the wire into place around the big red crystal in the middle of the DHD.
A low rumbling hum came from the stargate as it lit up.
"You did it!" Catherine said, spotting the lights on the gate.
- A new line has appeared -
Daniel turned from the representation of the elements overhead back to the stone slabs with the alien texts. "And this is how you knew what this place was."
"Then you recognize it, too," Ernest said.
"Norse Runes; thought to represent the collection of numinous power and knowledge from past generations."
"And the gathering of clans to share a common interest. You know, there's more than just a coincidence here. That means that humans were here centuries, maybe eons ago."
"No, not humans— aliens. Those are from Thor's race."
"Thor was an alien?" Ernest asked.
"Oh, yeah. That's another long story. But a…good one."
"Time to go," Jack called as he reappeared at the entrance to the room.
"What's up?" Daniel asked.
"Carter's got the gate powered, and this meaning of life stuff, won't mean anything if we leave you here with nobody to share it with," Jack said.
"But Jack," Daniel whined.
Ernest reached out a hand and pushed the journal back into Daniel's hands. "He's right, you know, you don't want to be alone here day in and day out gleaning hints of something more but never able to unlock the full message. Besides, I've been here long enough that everything is written down in this."
- A new line has appeared -
"Alright Teal'c," Carter said, watching as the Jaffa carefully spun the inner track around to the first symbol. Rain was pouring through the damaged roof onto the DHD now and filling the internal chamber where the power crystal rested causing shorts and sparks that caused the gate to go dark.
"The power supply is unsteady and insufficient, Captain Carter," Teal'c said.
"Dammit," Captain Carter said.
There was a bright flash followed by a near immediate boom of thunder, and a tree limb blasted through the damaged opening above the DHD, bouncing off the wall before smashing into Captain Carter.
"Carter!" Jack yelled, pulling out his remote control and frantically pushing buttons to go through the menus.