"The universe is currently believed to be about 13.8 billion earth years old... but that doesn't mean much if you don't know how long an earth year is," said Kyle.

Coleman does as directed and gets back out of the room. "Well, presumably there is security because there's something interesting there. I guess we could try taking out the drones, though who knows how difficult they would be to destroy. The other option would be to keep looking to see if we can find some sort of interface into the computer, then one of you guys could put our faces into the system?
I'm inclined to think the latter would be the better course of action, after all we can always try to former if we have no luck. But it is pretty hard to unshoot bullets in order to get the security alert back down."

"What about it, Carter?" Jason asked. "Any chance of hacking this alien computer?"

He also cast a glance at Sarnak. He still didn't trust the man. There was no way for them to know if the dead body was one of these people, and no way to know if the mind that they transferred into this human body was actually from the corpse.

Sarnak had yet to give them any reason to distrust him, but there were still too many unanswered questions.

"Perhaps I can assist you, Carter," Sarnak offered. "I don't think there is a language translator built into this system, and it would take too long to install one. Maybe I can translate as you... how did Jason put it? Hack? Into the computer?"

In reply to Sarnak (msg # 652):

" yeah sort of aggressive intrusion and programming. "


computes 27
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:09, Wed 26 Apr 2017.

"Sounds like a plan, at least we can try it out!"

"Alas, nothing more seems to be coming back to me," Sarnak said, "but I'm learning your language and culture by osmosis."

It's slow going as every time Carter hits a key, he has to translate what pops up on the screen. Some things just don't translate well, so it's two steps forward and one step back.

23:19, Today: Sarnak rolled 25 using 1d20+5 ((20)).

Apparently, he knew or remembers more about his species' computer techniques than he thought he did!

As Sarnak guessed, it is rather slow going. The difficulty is identifying what the programmers called something and then translating it into English. Sometimes codes or symbols or icons are used, in which case it's hit-or-miss.

Fortunately, Carter and Sarnak never trip the self-destruct sequence, since it normally can't be done accidentally.

After about an hour, they think they've deactivated the security system. It was easier than inserting alien IDs into the computer, as that entailed biometric scans and then some sort of command and medical override authorization.

What deactivating security doesn't do, however, is give access to the research records. That takes another hour!

But then you are through. Sarnak, though, has to translate.

This was a biological research facility. There were a dozen projects going on simultaneously.

Project Isolation was trying to find a way to make the Sha'kri immune to the Goa'uld, so that a Goa'uld could not enter them and take over their mind. Estimated at perhaps 50% completed.

Project Bug-Out was trying to find a way to force a Goa'uld out of a host (specifically a Sha'kri host) without killing the host. Estimated at 27% complete.

Project Elimination was trying to find a way to kill just Goa'uld. Completed.

Project Great Shield was trying to find a way to keep the Goa'uld off the planet completely. Estimated at 21% completed.

Project Subversion was trying to find a way to make some other (lesser) species more attractive, more functional and more practical for a Goa'uld. Estimated at 7% completed.

"Fantastic work. We need the data for that completed project. The others too, if we can get it, but that one is priority; Stargate command is going to want that.

Once we have whatever data we can get, we should make it a priority to get it back to the SGC; if that means setting up a transmitter to transmit it whenever our next check-in is due, that works and would allow us to continue our exploration, but if we have no other way, I think we should head to the gate and dial out to send it back. The SGC needs this info, even more than it needs whatever we can glean from the power source for this base."

In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 657):

" Yeah, this isn't my field. But all of these ideas seem important. "

"All of the ideas are important, but an egg in the basket is worth 2 in the bush; that's why I said to prioritize the completed research over incomplete. It is also why I want to prioritize getting this data back over trying to reverse engineer the power supply; it could be great, but this data is already here, in hand."

It quickly turns out that the group does not have sufficient memory to transfer any but a small part of the files found. They are very extensive files, covering years of research into a dozen different fields of study and several avenues of research.

Fortunately, Sarnak is able to identify one of the Sha'kri equivalents of a thumb-drive, albeit a bit larger than that. It's about the size of a credit card, but an inch thick. It also is completely wireless.

With a bit more effort, Carter and Sarnak get the data downloaded into the thumb-drive. There are two problems with that, however: it won't be able to be transmitted, and it will still need translated at the other end.

"Ok, folks; let's get back to the gate. This data is top priority.

Sarnak; would you be willing to accompany us back to the SGC, assuming we get the go-ahead?"

Kyle, while fascinated by the place, found it somewhat less interesting when it turned out to be a bioscience laboratory. He nodded to Coleman and turned to go.

"Whether Sarnak is willing to return to Earth with us may be a moot point," Jason spoke up.

"We still have no way of verifying the source of the mind that is now residing in this body. I don't think Command will let it through. At the most, we might be able to take him to a neutral site and have the Tok'ra verify that he's not a Goa'uld in sheep's clothing."

"They are more likely to bring a crypto team through and he can help them decipher it here on Waterfalter."

Jason follows Kyle out of the room.

"I would be glad to return to your planet," Sarnak replied then. "There is nothing left for me here. Perhaps my memory loss is a blessing in disguise, for I find I do not miss my people. At least, not as I think I probably should."

"They have been gone such a long time, there is no one among them that I would know. And I have been without company for so long that perhaps my mind has blocked that out to preserve my sanity."

"On the other hand, I look forward to meeting with these Tok'ra, whoever they are. What little memories of this host's mind I have been able to dredge up does not know this term of which you speak. Are they great seers?"

Travis shook his head sadly. Although he knew that the others did not understand talking to the spirits, and that he had essentially vouched for Sarnak, they could not be sure that he, Travis, was not being duped... perhaps by a Goa'uld, or perhaps some other entity.

As they began to exit the facility, he quickly took the lead to use his scouting abilities to make sure the way was safe.

"You're correct, of course, that they'll want to make things secure, but I figured I'd leave that sort of details up to the SGC. At any rate, until we get this data to the gate, they won't know that we need such plans." With that, Coleman herds everyone forward to follow Fox's lead. He takes up rear guard, in an abundance of caution.

Retracing your steps, the team heads back to the Otter-folk's home, where the stargate is.

Although there's no real need to go back in through the emergency rear exit, the alternate route to the interior would be diving under water again.

You find Crom waiting for you in his 'throne'. It's not much of a throne really, just a plain stone seat.

There are a number of Otter-folk in the room as well, talking among themselves and doing mundane things, such as teaching one of the young.

"I hope everything went well," Crom said to the team. "I do not wish to pry, but if there is anything that you can share with me, it will be appreciated. I would not wish any harm to come to the Cromar from ignorance."

"It's not that we don't want to tell you, Crom," Jason replied, jumping the gun a bit on the colonel, "it's just that we don't yet know what we found. We're still investigating it. You probably never had to deal with a chain of command, but we do."

"There's a saying in our military: if an officer tells you to jump, you jump... and ask how high on the way up! Oh, we've got discretionary authority for little things, but The Big Question gets shuffled up the line to our boss, and then he has to decide if he needs to pass the decision up the line to his boss, etc."

"We have no intention of abandoning you or your people."

"What we can tell you is that the old city is no longer haunted. We were able to get the spirit out. So your people are safe to go there... well, mostly. We haven't explored the whole place yet, so we don't what's really there. Some of the structures could be on the verge of collapse from decay. Just didn't want your people to think it was suddenly some giant playground."

He'd probably said what the Colonel would have said, but this way, the Colonel doesn't have to make excuses. Jason could now take the blame for any misinformation.

Coleman nods. "For now, we need to get back to our world, so we can start figuring out what it is that we've found."

Coleman leaves it to the more diplomatic types to cross all the ts and dot all the is to make sure they can come back; the bosses will likely want to send a team to investigate the labs and power source more closely. If it weren't for the apparent value of the data they found, he wouldn't be trying to get back quite so quickly. But priority is priority.

With nothing left to be said, Coleman heads over to the DHD and starts dialing. Once the gate is open, he first radios, speaking as quietly as he can and still be heard; "SGC, this is Coleman. We think we may have something interesting to bring back. We'd also like to bring back someone who help translate whatever it is we found. If you could prepare to receive a visitor who has not been pre-screened, we'd appreciate it."

If he's given the go-ahead, he dials his IDC into his GDO and waits for the all clear.

[["This is General Hammond, Colonel,"]] came the response over the radio. [["I understand. Dial back in half an hour. It will give me time to make the necessary arrangements."

"Can you give me some idea of what it is you are bringing back? Just need to know who I may have to wake up to look at it."]]

"Some kind of super alien thumb drive with sciency stuff, along with some sort of possessed being capable of translating the language that the paydata is in."

[["In that case, Colonel, we'll dial back in an hour, and send you a team to do further evaluation."

"Anything else?"]]