"No, sir. Thanks." Coleman turns to the others; "OK, we need to sit tight for an hour. Let's take up a safe position,and have some lunch."

Kyle's stomach suddenly rumbled, audibly. He'd forgotten about food in all the excitement.

After an hour passes, the stargate activates, and another team comes through--SG-16. They confer with Colonel Hendricks, explain that they have been authorized to take Sarnak and the data to the Alpha Site via a secondary stopover, just in case Sarnak isn't who he says he is.

SG-X2 has two choices themselves. If the colonel thinks there is more to be explored and discovered here, they can stay and investigate.

Otherwise, they can return to SGC, have some down-time while another mission is put together for them.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 676):

" Well, I guess we should be going then. "

"Major, you don't think we should explore any more? I thought there was some further interest in exploring the complex? If you all do not see further value in it, however, then we can head home. It's all sciency stuff, not tactics, after all, so I'll defer to all of your estimations of its potential value."

In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 678):

" Yes, but it is more important to get the pay data through to command. "

"Agreed, but SGC has decided that SG-16 will take care of that operation. They've left it to us to resume our exploration until we feel that we've completed it to our satisfaction. Let's head back, then." Coleman makes eye contact with, then nods to Fox, indicating that he's free to take point again, if he desires.

In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 680):

Jackie frowns.

" Um, sure. Yes, I would like to Explore. "

She looks around alertly and as soon as Fox starts she finds her place in the walking order without thinking.

Once they make it back to the underground facility and back down to the power core area, Coleman addresses the one snag that may make this whole idea a bit of a challenge: "So, without Sarnak, we're going to just have to go on whatever we can figure out with this thing; no translations are going to be readily available. On the bright side, he did help us get those defenses turned off, in theory, so let's check it out."

He then proceeds into the area that previously triggered the defense drones to begin their process of targeting, withdrawing immediately if they decide to not be quite so disarmed as he believed.

As usual, Jason brought up the rear. He and Travis could have changed places just about anywhere. In fact, Travis was probably a bit out of his element here inside this installation. His forte was the wilderness.

The installation was dead, abandoned, and they'd shut down the remaining security system that was still active after all this time. That was some serious engineering. Not to mention a power source that was still viable. He couldn't imagine it was a battery... but if it was, Energizer, eat your heart out!

He kept his P90 drawn, but in a 'ready' position--at the waist and pointed down. There was no reason--yet--to think he'd need to be using it any time soon.

It wasn't... quite... that Travis was uncomfortable indoors... inside... He wouldn't have minded a natural cave so much, but these 'caves of steel' cut him off from his roots, so to speak. In a way, too, he missed Sarnak.

He'd had a... rapport with the man... the mind... he couldn't honestly convince the others that it really was the mind of Sarnak but Travis firmly believed it himself.

He smiled inwardly, though, at the memory. He had something that none of the other members on his team had; it had made him feel... needed... necessary... useful... unique.

Taking the lead to scout ahead was not only something he'd been trained for, but he seemed to have a natural talent for. But that was outside. The wind whispered to him. The trees talked to him. And the animals spoke volumes without saying a word.

Here, the walls were silent from the abandonment of ages. These people had been seriously psionic... he still needed to get back to his tribe... to the elders... and ask them about that. He could speak to the spirits, and the spirits could talk to him, but it was never in such... precise... perfect thought. Was that what the spirits really were? Psionics? Perhaps imperfect psionics? And, perhaps, the elders wouldn't know the answer anyway. They'd consult... commune with the spirits themselves, who, he was sure, would not give them an understandable answer. The spirits moved in mysterious ways. That's what they said about God, too. Perhaps the spirits were just messengers of God. Angels.

Later. Now was not the time for that sort of introspection. In theory, there should be no threat left in this facility, but, just the same, Travis would pause every dozen steps or so, hold up his hand, and listen. He 'listened' with more than just his ears, though.

He'd been surprised the last time when he couldn't hear the ventilation system, yet the facility maintained a fresh atmosphere inside. That was some sophisticated equipment, to be able to turn on and off so silently.

He was really listening for any change in the silence.

As Coleman gets to the generation chamber, he opens the door and looks around real quick, just to make sure there's no new surprises there, then he calls back; "Carter, McGuinness, looks like the coast is clear, so come do your thing. Bjorn and Fox, stay out there and keep a watch; I'll try to stay out of the way here but I'll be on the alert too."

"Right," said Kyle, moving in and beginning to look around curiously.

The lights were off again, probably on a timer when no activity was detected.

And, once again when you enter, the lights come back on.

By now, however, Carter has gotten a better sense of how the Sha'Kri organized things and labeled them.

The six banks of controls are each dedicated to a specific area of the facility. One bank controls power to the labs. One bank controls power to the living quarters. One bank is dedicated to the power-station itself. With a bit of translation, she is able to determine that yet another bank was controlling the solar arrays outside. The lights on that one are on, but all show no input.

Each bank apparently has 12 of these accumulators within. Each accumulator is about the size of a 55-gallon drum.

Somewhat peculiarly, everyone of the accumulators reads at 98% full.

Another bank is apparently dedicated to 'transportation'. That's Carter's and Kyle's 'interpretation' of the Sha'Kri script.

"Wonder what sort of transportation they had in mind," mused Kyle.

"Can we trace where the power is, or would be, going from here, see what's there? Maybe they charged buggies, or had an underground track connecting their facilities."

"A ride on an alien roller coaster could be pretty fun, you know, if we knew that it wasn't missing rails along the way somewhere."

"Maybe it means 'transporter'," Jason offered. "After all, the Goa'uld had those ring gates or whatever they were. No reason the Sha'Kri couldn't have something similar. And 'transport', 'transporter', and 'transportation' are all variations of the root word, so maybe the translation is bit off."

"It could also mean something completely different than what we think it means. But, on the off chance it is some sort of transport system, we should look around for it. Whatever it is, it gets its power from here."

"Looking around for it seems like a good idea. Plus those of us who aren't getting our brain stimulated can burn off some of our idle energy. Carter, McGuiness, do you two think you can keep an eye out for yourselves here while we go 'lead the way'?"

Travis felt he'd be equally useless helping search through the steel tunnels for this elusive transportation system as he would watching the geeks study the electronic readouts. Still, in case they tripped something unexpected, he felt he could be a little bit more useful here. Besides, he might actually learn something.

"I can find traps and stuff in the jungle, or IEDs in an urban sprawl, but searching for widgets in a high-tech facility is way outside my training," he responded to Coleman.

"Perhaps it'd be better if I stayed here and kept an eye on the geeks."

"Ok, sergeant; you stay and keep a watch on these guys. Bjorn and I will search around for anything else that looks interesting, with an eye towards something that looks like some means of transport. And, by the way, I think they like to be called nerds, not geeks." Coleman smiles and winks at Fox, trying to lighten his mood a little with his jest.

OOC: 12:27, Today: Coleman Hendricks rolled 16 using 1d20+6 ((10)).

In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 693):

" I could have watched out but more eyes are usually better. "

Jackie says as she looks around.

"Actually, I prefer geek," said Kyle, grinning. He started poking around, trying to discover more about 'Transportation'...

They've been down all three of the spokes of this facility--one led to the power station (where Carter, Kyle and Travis are), one led to the labs, and one led to living quarters. Although you haven't been into the living quarters area, there was nothing in the tunnel, but that's the most likely access to any transportation system. There might also be an access point somewhere in the labs.


As Kyle examines the power distribution array that was labeled 'transportation' or some similar Sha'Kri word, he is able to determine (by comparison with the other units) that it is has power available but there is no draw on that power.

Both he and Carter have already learned that the Sha'Kri only had two arms, each ending in the typical 4-fingers and an opposable thumb. So the operation of the controls are designed for that. No doubt there are a few command over-rides that can be initiated to do 'bad' things, but those won't be able to be tripped accidentally.

What it looks like is that the transportation system has been turned off. The 'on' button is in the same place on all the consoles, so Kyle has no problem finding it and touching it.

Suddenly, the whole bank of monitors lights up! It begins flashing through some sequence that goes too fast to fully comprehend all at once, but it seems to be running a diagnostic check on the 'transportation'.

One of the monitors comes to life and displays some sort of spoke-like diagram. It turns out that the 'monitor' is a virtual one; touching it enlarges it to about 20" x 20". The diagram can now be seen to a map, with the spokes apparently being the 'transport' system.

The spokes are green, and radiate out to cities... at least some of them. A few go to smaller unnamed destinations. One spoke only goes about half way, and there's a black area beyond that. There are also a few 'red' sections of the spokes.

And there are two blue rounded-end cylinders displayed at the center.

Finally, there are two lit-up bars at the top of the display. The top green one is obviously the power level--it registers as 98% (estimate as the numbers aren't readable).

The one below it is red, and is currently reading 100%.

"A-hah!" exclaimed Kyle.

"It appears to be a subway system, stretching around most of the planet, or at least the bits the Sha'Kri had settled... and it looks like it's still in working order!"

This was a bit technological for the archaeologist, but he was getting excited anyway.

Since it is the only major area they hadn't explored at all, Coleman heads into the living quarters area, keeping an eye out for any signs of anything that may be used for transportation. He'll take a look into one or two of the actual residences, to see if there are any artifacts within, as if they'd left in a hurry, or if it looks like they had an orderly departure, and, therefore, left little or nothing behind. But his primary interest was in forming a full layout of the facility and determining where any transportation system might be.

While they look around, he makes some idle conversation with his fellow Ranger; "Man, Fox is spooked. I guess I can kinda see why; this place is kinda like a ghost town or something; still alive somehow, but having had no one here in forever. What do you think Bjorn?"