A/N: Well, here it is, people, at long last being brought to FFN. The beginning of the revised version of the Stargate Initiative. Differences from the original are relatively minor at first, dates clarified and relative passages of time have been streamlined, certain elements of the previous version that made less sense without clarification have been clarified or altered, minor technical details altered, and typos and grammar errors are now corrected. I've only got a few chapters done so far, and I will be posting those over here every couple of days until I get caught up. I should be over the hump on the biggest hold-up in the writing, and should be able to keep up a revised chapter about once a month or so. No promises, but I'll try.
Prologue
The smallest of changes can bring about the biggest differences. A single life, or even the presence of one small alteration, could bring about great changes. In one universe, their presence or absence might seem innocuous at first, but over time could bring about catastrophic changes or magnificent progress. Here, in one universe, the impact of two small objects in the grand cosmic scale would bring about life-changing events for the inhabitants of several galaxies. Here now is the universe changed by an engineer and a radio …
PB2-908/ES-1 "Heliopolis"- 9,131 B.C.E.
The castle was bustling with various amounts of movement as the construction teams moved with their drones and other tools putting the finishing touches on the location. Oberon, however, was merely standing still, though he was accomplishing more than any of the foremen and their drones. The jutting, clamp-like device was clinging firmly to his head and humming with power, and with a simple thought, he sent several electrical impulses through the machine's wireless interface into the pedestal standing behind him.
Rising to the top of the castle, the new column stood firm and unmoving. Almost a meter in diameter and reinforced with a trinium core, this column was the same as hundreds of others being placed within the castle. He grinned as he deactivated the repository and admired his work. This would be his greatest achievement yet, a location for his people and other advanced races to meet. Its legacy would long outlive him and had been a project he had long worked for ever since he had arrived. He began to circle around the newly-constructed pillar and inspected it for flaws he knew would not be there. His work was perfect, but the inspection kept his mind off the past. Yet he began to remember her once more, despite his best efforts to forget. The memory made his grin disappear as he stretched, shaking his muscles loose after standing still for hours.
It had been more than five years now since he had returned from Atlantis. The war against the vile Wraith was going poorly when he had departed; the Middle Reach had fallen to an assault, and the beasts were coming closer and closer to Atlantis. Many of his kind had started the process of Ascension as the conflict became more and more hopeless.
He grimaced, despite his best efforts to push the sadness aside. He remembered Lirian's smiling face, and the joy he felt when he was with her. Her sunset-colored hair always looked beautiful, especially on the sunny days in their small house. The war seemed so far away and out of mind when he was with her. His engineering work mainly focused on building up planetary infrastructure and so he remained far from the front lines. Still, the two had prepared to ascend and live forever, far beyond any conflict or petty problem the galaxies might offer.
Then the Wraith had taken her on a surprise attack on the inner colonies. While on one of the colony's sister worlds, the Wraith had launched a rapid assault on several inner worlds within the Lantean zone of control. Causing as much damage as possible and taking as many poor souls as they could, the Wraith had torched several of the oldest colonies of his people and fled before the mighty host of the Lantean fleets could arrive and repel them, taking hundreds of thousands, including his beloved.
He had nothing once she was taken; the projects of the Pegasus galaxy lost all meaning and interest to him. Every day, the Wraith made more and more gains, and he loathed to see his work either destroyed or used by his foe. Without Lirian, ascension lost any meaning and joy if he could not be with her. Thus, when several of his compatriots decided to return to Avalon, to flee Pegasus while they could, he opted to return with them. Perhaps the disease had burned itself out and they could rebuild.
Alas, it was not to be. The sickness had taken a greater toll than originally thought when his ancestors departed to Pegasus. His people were still powerful, yet only a shadow of what they once were. Terra and her children were still primitive, and nowhere near to being a potential superpower. Some who came back decided to live amongst them anyway, to breed and pass down a legacy through their genes, others had opted to ascend and live beyond the limitations of the mortal world. Still others continued on, exploring the galaxy, seeding Astria Porta, and building new outposts. In time, they had met several other advanced races in the galaxy and it was decided to create a grand location for all four groups to meet.
As he placed his hand on the pillar's smooth stone, Oberon remembered his surprise when he had been given control of the project. The design he had been given was that of an ancient citadel, but the actual construction and fabrication would fall to him. The engineer who was originally working on the project wanted to use simple stones to maintain the authentic look of the place and over time let it fall to the natural elements should it go into disuse. Once Oberon arrived, the engineer was delighted to have someone else who could take over and had later ascended. However, Oberon would not let this place fall. Though alliances and political machinations might render this location moot, the building would still stand. This grand repository and meeting hall would be his mark left on the galaxy; before he died, he wanted to leave something meaningful behind. Slowly, he reworked many parts of the original design, introducing small bits of trinium reinforcing, improved weather-resistance technologies were installed, the cliff face was braced against the erosion of the nearby sea, and the electronic systems were given multiple redundancies. Eventually, the outpost could even be given a city-ship variant shield, if the need for the now-reduced supply of Potentia in Pegasus were to wane or if an alternative could be found. The stone may wither over time, but the location would stand for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years. A place of peace and knowledge, it would be his small legacy to leave behind…
Chapter 1
United States, 1945
"Doorway to Heaven." That was the translation of the name of the massive device in front of Ernest Littlefield. The ring-shaped device was being rotated to lock onto the destination they'd found while he himself was being suited up in standard diving dress with a slight modification. In addition to a wired communications system, the diving helmet had been modified with a radio transceiver taken from the classified Joan-Eleanor system used to communicate with agents in the field in Europe. The radio unit had been altered so that he could hit the push-to-talk button with his chin and then speak. He'd been surprised by this; even the Navy didn't have access to wireless systems for their suits. He suspected that his father-in-law-to-be had pulled some strings with his friends in the OSS to get the experimental unit. Before he had prepared to suit up, he remembered what Professor Langford said: "I'm not worried about what's beyond that doorway, I'm worried about the hell my little girl will raise if I don't bring her fiancé home"
He was still smiling at the comment as they fitted the helmet over his head, carefully moving several wires and an antenna to ensure the radio was working, while providing room for the air hose to pump oxygen into the helmet. As the last seal was tightened, he stood. The Doorway had been activated, and he slowly walked up the ramp. Pressing the "transmit" button on the radio, he began to speak. "This is Doctor Ernest Littlefield. Can you hear me?" he asked, then released the button.
"We're receiving, Doctor Littlefield. Proceed." the voice of Paul Langford said.
"Proceeding." Ernest said as he walked up to the Doorway. "I am entering it now." he said as he began to step through the gate, talk button depressed. When he completed stepping through the gate, he found himself in a completely different chamber. "Professor Langford, I've arrived in some sort of chamber. No evidence of being underwater like we thought it might be." he said.
Suddenly, the light behind him vanished; looking back, the rippling surface was gone, to be replaced only by the sight of the empty ring. Looking further, he saw the severed remains of his air hose. Panic gripped at him as he held his breath, unaware of if there were any toxins in the air. After several excruciating minutes, his lungs burned and he was forced to take a deep gulp of air. Taking several more, he was surprised to find that the air that was coming in through the severed hose was quite breathable.
Taking several steps forward, the place he was in felt very similar to the conditions of the warehouse. His weighted boots clanged heavily as he stepped forward on the raised dais that held the gate. Grunting, he unlatched the heavy boots and left them in front of the Doorway. Disconnecting the useless hose, he left the porthole in the back of his helmet open to let the fresh air in.
With that, he began to explore the immediate area. He was in some medium sized chamber, the Doorway was held up on a dais, and about twenty feet away was a curious-looking pedestal. Walking over, Ernest saw that it had a dull red center dome, and a variety of tabs with intricate symbols. Reaching down, he pressed one the symbols at random and was surprised to see it light up, and through the din of his helmet, he could hear a loud hum. Pressing several more, he was curious about their illumination. He soon found, though, that he could only illuminate seven at a time. Pressing further, he placed his hand on the red center. It began to glow for a brief moment as a whirling sound filled the air, but stopped a moment later. The glowing dome dimmed at the same time. Pressing another random set of seven, he tried again, and was met by the dull whirl and glow that ended in less than a second.
Looking to his left, he saw several open windows. Walking over, he looked out to see a vast sea, and that his location was precariously perched over a steep cliff. He heard the waves crash against the cliff face with a thunderous roar as the sun made the water sparkle. The sun was hanging high above the sea, which was strange since he had departed in the early evening back in the warehouse.
"Where the hell am I?" Ernest asked himself as he rested on his elbows looking out over the sea. He had decided to remain in the room for a while in case the professor tried to contact him.
Losing himself in his thoughts, Ernest began to think of Catherine; their wedding was scheduled for three months from now. He wanted nothing more than to be back wherever she was and hold her. Would he ever get back? Could the professor find him? A small sense of fear and loss began to creep into the back of his head, but he quickly shook his head as best he could with several pounds of brass restricting his finer neck movements. Looking behind, he noticed several sets of different glyphs on the wall. Some looked like a language he had never seen before, while others looked strangely like Egyptian hieroglyphs. Was he somewhere in the Mediterranean, perhaps? Some kind of lost island in the seas by Egypt? Walking over to the wall, he placed a hand over the symbols and squinted. Near the top were various hieroglyphic symbols and other texts that looked to be a derivative of the Egyptian language, yet behind the symbols, seeming as though someone had attempted to etch them out were another, more faded set of symbols. Looking down, Ernest saw the Egyptian text used less and less and the older text appeared more and more. Strangely, the flow of the older symbols seemed to look more like the symbols on the pedestal and Doorway rather than the hieroglyphics.
"That's weird," he thought as he looked at the two. The presence of two different language sets would seem to imply that one group had originally inhabited the area, before another group moved in, yet the older texts didn't resemble any forms of writing that would predate the Egyptians. Hell, from what he remembered of the Professor's lectures, only the Mesopotamians had beaten the Egyptians to some kind of written language, and this text didn't look anything like cuneiform. Perhaps it was a derivative of an ancient form of Minoan hieroglyphs; it would make sense, especially if he was in the Mediterranean.
Lost in thought, Ernest wasn't paying attention to the rest of the room. When the doorway began to activate once more, he didn't notice. After the third chevron on the gate was locked, he suddenly woke up to his surroundings as he suddenly heard a faint whirl, similar to the sound when he pressed the tabs on the strange pedestal, except the sound continued for far longer. Looking to the Doorway, he saw the arrows along the outside slowly beginning to light up. One by one, they began to glow orange and the whirling sounds continued. He also heard the strange lighting sounds emanating from the pedestal. Running over, he saw several of the tabs beginning to light up on their own. Three were already activated, and soon a fourth followed, then a fifth, then a sixth, and then the final one illuminated. The pedestal's core began to glow a bright red.A loud noise, that sounded like a large lock being unlocked, echoed through the room. Looking up at the ring, Ernest heard a loud kawoosh and saw a bright blue wave of some kind of energy extend outward from the device just like it had when it was activated in the warehouse. He noticed that the boots he had left on the dais were obliterated by the vortex of energy as it slowly retreated and formed the gently-rippling pool of energy and light in the center of the ring. After several seconds, the radio in Ernest's helmet began to crackle to life.
"Hello? Hello?! Ernest, it's Paul. Are you there?"
Pressing his chin to the strap, Ernest replied as a huge surge of relief welled within his body. "Paul, it's Ernest! I'm here!"
"Ernest, it's good to hear you. Now, we have no idea how long this will stay open. I recommend that you return as soon as possible." his future father-in-law responded with a small note of relief in his voice.
Looking at the smoldering remains of his boots in front of the ring, Ernest eyed the pool in the center with suspicion. "We don't know if that's possible, Professor. This thing has a lot of unknowns and dangers. I left my boots in front of it, and the waveform that emerged when we dialed the Doorway disintegrated them. For all we know, the passage only works in one direction at a time. Give me a moment; there is plenty of rubble here. I'm going to throw a piece back through the doorway. Let me know if it arrives, and I'll come back through if it does." Ernest said. He walked over to a small pile of broken stones and chipped masonry and grabbed one of the larger pieces, then walked toward the Doorway.
"Throwing it through … now." he said, and let the rock fly. It vanished into the pool of light with a ripple. After several seconds, the radio crackled once more.
"Ernest, nothing came through." said the professor, a slight tone of disappointment in his voice.
"Then transit isn't possible in both directions. I'm stranded here." Lifting his chin so the radio wouldn't transmit, he looked at the ring he could not enter. "Oh, god … I'm stranded here." he muttered quietly to himself.
"For the time being. Try to see if there's any way to activate it from your side after it closes." Professor Langford said quickly in a reassuring tone. "We'll attempt to send supplies through soon. We'll keep the radio apparatus here and will contact you regularly."
"What are you going to tell Catherine?"
"I don't know, Ernest. I'll tell her what I can."
"Thank you, Professor."
"Ernest, I swear to god we're going to get you home, son. I'm not leaving my daughter's fiancé to die in some rat hole in the middle of nowhere. Do you need anything apart from the basics? The men are already getting ready to send a crate through."
"Yes .. Send a couple more radios in case this one breaks. Also, I could really use some pants and a shirt; walking around in this diving suit is going to get mighty uncomfortable after a few days."
Several minutes passed, and then a medium-sized crate came through on a small dolly. Running up to the dais, Ernest grabbed the crate and wheeled it down the steps of the dais. As he pulled, the professor's voice once again filled his helmet.
"The generators are about to run out of fuel over here; we'll try and contact you in a day or two, three at most. Ernest, have you seen anything that might help you get back?"
"Yes; there's some strange pedestal near the gate. It has the same symbols as the gate, and has tabs that light up whenever you press them. It might just be some kind of announcement screen, but it might be my best chance." he said.
"All right, sounds good. I'll make sure the techs keep everyone away from the gate in case you call in so no one gets hit by the vortex. We'll check in soon, Ernest … Good luck."
With that, the Professor's voice cut out as the Doorway turned off. Alone once more, Ernest opened the crate and took out two backpack radios, several tins of rations and water, and a fresh uniform. Quickly changing into the lighter fatigues, Ernest Littlefield stepped over to the pedestal. He rubbed his hands together, and then began to press the symbols.
"Just like a telephone number." he muttered to himself as he completed a set of seven symbols and pressed the red center. The tabs emitted their loud sound as he pressed each one. After he completed the set, he placed his hand on the red core, and heard the faint whirl start up, only to die. Cursing, he input another set of seven. "Let's see if I can dial home..."
For nearly a week, Ernest tried hundreds of different combinations, too obsessed with the prospect of returning to even leave the chamber, but to no avail; none formed a connection. Frustration was beginning to well within him as he furiously jabbed in another set of seven symbols. When he pressed the red crystal, he expected the small whirl and silence that had greeted him so many times before. He was surprised instead when the crystal glowed a fierce red and a loud kawoosh emanated from the gate, creating the cool blue portal.
Jumping with joy, Ernest ran over to his helmet; it was time to radio the professor the good news. "Professor! Professor! … Paul, it worked; I'm coming home!" he yelled into the microphone as he put the helmet on. He began to sprint to the gate, eager to throw himself through and be back home. Just as he began to climb up the dais, a thought crossed his mind that forced him to slow down, and then stop just inches from the shimmering hadn't the professor radioed back? Why hadn't anyone radioed back? The past four times the base radioed him, it was the professor who responded, or at least a radio tech that was monitoring the gate 24/7, according to Paul's last transmission, so that Ernest could talk to someone if he figured out the sequence. But no one was talking to him.
Tentatively, he pressed the chin strap again. "Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me?" He called, but received no answer.
Swearing, he unfastened his helmet and went to one of the backup radios that had been sent. Turning a couple of knobs and checking the power, both of which were fine, he tried again. "Hello? Hello? Base? This is Doctor Ernest Littlefield. Do you copy?" he called into the speaker, but got only static.
Now, he was faced with a dilemma. The base wasn't responding, but the Doorway was open. Maybe there was an outage at the base and they couldn't respond. Perhaps the tech had to take a head break. The possibilities were endless, yet Ernest's gut told him that there was something more. A conversation he'd had with the professor the day before he walked through the Doorway.
"If it's some kind of lock, why thirty-nine symbols? Why not just six?" Professor Langford asked.
"They're not combinations; they're destinations! And we just found one!" Ernest replied.
Maybe this wasn't the destination to the Doorway at the warehouse at all. Maybe this was a third Doorway, one that was somewhere else entirely.
He went over to crate, pulled out a pad and pencil, and wrote the combination down; no sense in losing it. For the next half-hour, Ernest continued to use the radio, but to no avail. All three were working, but no one was responding. After slightly over a half-hour or so by his reckoning, the Doorway shut down on its own.
Sighing, Ernest leaned against the wall and slowly slid down, covering his face with his hands. Freedom … it had been so close, but he just didn't want to chance it. He'd have to ask the professor about it when he dialed in tomorrow for their scheduled resupply. Standing up, Ernest walked over to the window. For the past week, the nights had been decidedly overcast, but now it looked like the clouds were letting up for the evening. At least, he could try to approximate his location with astronomy, though his skills were a bit rusty from his boy scout days.
Looking up into the clear night sky filled him with relief and wonder, the clear air felt good to his lungs, and the stars shone like beacons that could help him find his way home. Grasping the sides of the window hole, he looked out to try and get his bearings. It took him a moment to adjust to the cool air in his face, but eventually he was able to see more clearly as his eyes adjusted to the wind and darkness as further, he felt a familiar warning of dread begin to curl up in his stomach… Where the hell was Polaris? Hell, he shouldn't even see the South Star. Where were the Dippers? Sirius? Scorpio? Orion? He could find none of the familiar constellations or stars, and while he thought he might have been on the other side of the world, he saw absolutely no familiar locations in the night sky, none at all. Searching more, he realized something even more grave: He couldn't find the moon.