"You're kidding." Hargrove responded, incredulous. "How would that even work?"
It had been only an hour since the Colonel and Ahardt had returned, with the recently un-Goa'ulded host in tow. The man had remained unconscious ever since the asgard had apparently 'beamed' the parasite right out of him. Almost everyone agreed that it was probably a good thing, given what he'd been through. The Colonel had had him sent down to the makeshift infirmary before calling this meeting.
Still, all of that paled in comparison to what they'd just learned. All of the Earthlings, along with Cayo, Suna, Jahu, and Prem, had clustered around the Colonel to hear the news.
"I'm a little fuzzy on the details themselves." The Colonel admitted. "Mimir transmitted all the information he had on the machine before he packed up to go home. You'll be able to go over it all in detail," he nodded at Blake and Haley, "but it looks like he didn't have much to send us."
Hargrove could hear the amazement in the few murmurs he could hear from the group. If it was true, it was incredible. "So the reason Earth hasn't tried to make contact with us or broken through that field isn't because they don't know how…"
"But because they don't even know it's there!" The Colonel finished for him. "They're stuck in time, like a fly in amber. If Mimir's theory is right, they exist in normal time for ten hours before the field resets, and then they're back to square one: the moment the machine turned on. Then, ten more hours pass before the next reset, and each time, they're all left with no memory of the last 'loop'. All of our previous theories about these barriers suggested that everyone inside is safe from the rest of the galaxy as long as the barriers hold. Now we know why!"
Haley's voice was faint and shaking. "Are you saying… that I didn't miss Sylvia's birthday after all?" Suna made a noise, and then stepped over to her as Blake put an arm around her.
The Colonel smiled at her. "No, you definitely missed it, but she doesn't know that yet! Only the people inside the barriers are affected; time seems to be flowing normally for everyone else. As far as she's concerned, a maximum of ten hours has passed. No one on Earth even knows we're missing yet!"
A stunned silence pervaded the area.
"What does all of this mean for us, though?" Cayo finally asked, in his typical pragmatic manner. "So you know how this happened. Does that help us in any way?"
"Actually, it does." The Colonel sounded upbeat for once. "The control terminal maintains the ten-hour cycle. That means that whichever Goa'uld it was who found it and turned it on- we're assuming Apophis for now- has to keep it intact and stationary to keep the barriers up. When we find it, all we need to do is enter a specific set of commands that Mimir gave us to shut the whole thing down and put Earth and the other planets back 'on the grid'. We'll finally be able to go home!"
A noise of encouragement passed through the group.
"I guess it beats my idea of clicking my heels together three times." Nelson muttered.
"But how do the asgard know how to shut it off?" Cayo asked. "You said that this Mimir had never seen this device before."
"Apparently, these terminals were in common use, for all sorts of Ancient technology. Mimir gave us the general shut-down code. He thinks it should be effective, and for now, that’s good enough for me."
Hargrove looked around, and then back up at the Colonel. "We're still looking for a needle in a haystack, though. We still have no idea where this terminal is, do we?"
"You're right, we don’t. At least we know what to look for now, though. Also, it's most likely heavily guarded, and the power requirements for something like this must be enormous. The chances that we'll find it have just gone up a huge step."
He looked around at the group, seriously. "We've already accomplished great things out here, and that was with our sharply limited resources and experience. I know that we can do this as well. We're going to take these barriers down, people. Believe it."
-.-
The Goa'uld computer interface had taken some getting used to, but Tony was getting the hang of it. He couldn't read their language, but apparently it had enough dialects to necessitate a translation program of their own. Blake had been able to access it and provide enough information to add English to the list of languages it could translate.
He cycled through page after page of information- his own notes, actually. Once the Matthews had gotten these computers working, they'd discovered that Goa'uld computers were a good deal more durable than the now-badly-worn laptop of theirs. Better even than the old lab computers they'd used on the rain-soaked planet in the first place. The fact that these computers had a nearby power source in the facility worked wonders, too. As a result, he'd decided to start keeping his notes here instead.
Tony paused the display. It had been a busy few weeks since the truth had come out about the barriers, and he’d been thankful for that. For months, he’d been thinking, just one more day. They’ll find a way out, and then we can all go home.
Now, it was all on their shoulders, and he would have to come to grips with that.
Tony shook his head and tried to return his focus to the business at hand. About a week ago, they'd discovered an adjoining barracks structure previously used by the Jaffa, to the north end of the mines. Jaffa accommodations weren't known for comfort, of course, but it was a step up from the sweltering camp outside. As a result, the entire Survivors group had migrated there, and there looked to be room for more. He'd even taken one of Seraus' unused labs as a set of quarters for himself. He'd had to bring in a cot, but otherwise it was reasonably comfortable, and allowed him to do most of his clerical work in relative peace.
Of course David and Nelson had jumped at the chance to start recruiting again, now that they had more space. They'd actually jumped the gun a bit and made arrangements for more food to be forwarded their way from the Deuca before they'd come to him. They'd even convinced one of the local Hovakians to go with them on their recruiting runs, to explain what the Survivors had done for his planet.
Tony smiled, remembering his attempt at dressing them down for their zeal. He couldn't blame them for being go-getters. Everyone had been cooling their heels on Hovak (figuratively speaking; it was still well over a hundred degrees outside during the day) for over three weeks now, after all. The Survivors had grown up a great deal since those first days at the Redoubt. They were now predators, and predators tended to get restless when confined.
News about the Soma Voco, or SV as he'd shorthanded it, was being kept under wraps. If the Matthews were able to get a series of transmitters working, he'd consider replacing the radios, but until then, it was just extraneous information. The new Deuca guns were another matter. The first batch of plasma-based P90s, or PL90s, had arrived yesterday during the 'gate's regular 'Deuca supply window', and Ahardt had started training people with them. Despite Hovak's apparent secrecy from the Goa'uld, Tony had agreed with Hargrove that the original 'gate security measures were still necessary. By now, every one of the Survivors knew how to shut a 'gate down using its DHD, and how to start it back up again.
Tony sighed. Proxen Thalus had made it clear that the majority of the Deuca were more interested in staying hidden from the Goa'uld than opposing them; he knew that the Proxen and his supporters were just using the Survivors to exact some vengeance on the Goa'uld.
He was fine with that. Still, it implied that receiving continued food, medical supplies and now weapons relied completely on the Proxen's abilities to keep his 'friends' in line. The Pyrta had explained that Thalus was one of the oldest members of their government, and had commanded a lot of power for a long time. Tony could only hope he'd be able to keep it up.
He backtracked to another entry concerning the Hovakians. The Conclave leaders were still being cautious, but many of the younger folks had been asking a lot of questions of him and his people. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep them out of the fight for long.
Consider putting Hovakian recruits through initial training to get a feel for their skills. He laboriously typed in. The Goa'uld 'keyboard' had only twenty keys of sorts, and responded to a very light touch, so he'd had to learn a whole new means of typing. He almost burst out laughing as he thought back. If he'd been told, back on Earth, that this would be one of the problems he'd have to overcome in half a year's time…
Apparently Hargrove hadn’t had the same difficulties. Tony could hear the classical music he’d recorded being played through the mountain’s comm system. It was faint, but it was there. Everyone, especially the ones not from Earth, seemed to be enjoying it.
A message popped up on the screen in Goa'uld, before the computer translated it. Tony reflexively checked his watch before remembering it was useless here. With a sigh, he stood and started putting on his boots. Time to go to work.
-.-
A few hours of putting out brush-fires later, Tony was finally on the last one: a meeting with Archie over the distribution of medical supplies or something. They all tended to blur together like some kind of impressionist painting in his mind.
To his surprise, Nelson came trotting up next to him. "Hey, boss."
"Nelson." He nodded at him. Amusingly, Tony realized that he hadn't thought of the man as 'Major Ahardt' in quite some time. Perhaps the brass back on Earth would disapprove, but Tony had found it very hard to keep things formal ever since they'd been cut off. "What happened to recruiting from the Hovakians?"
Nelson snorted. "About like you expected. It seems the Hovakians are a dry well after all. With your permission, Desousa and I will start taking trips to the planets we haven't gotten to, yet."
"Of course. Just make sure you take one of the Deuca along to wipe Hovak's 'gate coordinates. The last thing we need is to move again."
Nelson nodded, but seemed reluctant to head off again. Tony walked with him quietly for a short while before inquiring. "Are you all right?"
"Fine. I guess." He shook his head. "It's just this time-loop thing. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."
Tony gave him a sympathetic glance. "I know what you mean. It threw me at first, too. In a strange way, though, it kinda makes sense."
"Oh?"
Hesitating only briefly, Tony launched into it. Most of his subordinates might find his religious views boring or uncomfortable to listen to, but Nelson had always taken them in stride. "I keep thinking about some of the Bible stories I studied back on Earth. The ones about freaky things happening with time, anyway." He smiled. "In one of them, the sun stayed still in the sky for a full day, and another one even describes the sun going backwards! Ever since I was a kid I always believed in those stories literally, and I can't help but wonder… what if those were early tests of this Ancient device? What if the ancient Hebrews saw something like that, and ended up writing it down? After all, ‘a day was as a thousand years, and a thousand years were as a day to God’ is in the Bible." He sighed. "I don't know if that helps, at all."
Nelson gave him a long look. "Actually, I think it does a little. I don't know if I'd call this situation Biblical, but it's pretty high up there." He laughed lightly. "Besides, ever since I found out about the Stargates, you and I have shared at least one belief."
Curious, Tony looked back at him. Nelson had never shown any interest in religion or spirituality, at least as far as Tony had seen. "What's that?"
"The belief that absolutely anything is possible."
