"I do not live in the Great Nest," Whisper'wind replies to Sarah. "It is a meeting forum where all can speak their mind."

"I do not know of this tek'nolo'gee of which you speak. If it is like your tools and weapons, then, no, we do not have that."


As Marcus may have read in the reports, the point of origin symbol for every triangle DHD that has been encountered so far was always the symbol at the very bottom. He has no problem dialing home.


There is plenty of room on the top of the mountain so that the outwash from the stargate doesn't threaten anyone. If the original stargate builders put this one here, they took that into account.


James has no problem setting up the ropes. The second one is a safety line for those getting lowered on the winch. He's not really going down to the ground, but to a ledge next to the large domed nest. Once down there, it's a tricky few steps around the nest to the entrance because there's no railing. It's a long way down, but not that far to the next nest below.

Sarah ahhs softly, content to continue talking while the others do their bit around her, "I'm surprised.  The Great Nest seems to have been constructed with metal?  Did your people build it?"

Cormac is staying quiet as the others converse or perform their respective jobs. He is still trying to mentally run through so e of his earlier anthropology classes that were not too specific to Celtic culture. He really wanted to figure out who if any these being were descendent from even if it is merely a cultural liniage.

Del'noc listens and watches with the setup of the climbing gear and how James uses it. He can't understand the bird-creature anyway, so he ignores it for now, except for occasional glances at the body language of the thing. He is down on one knee near the ropes to provide cover if needs be, awaiting his turn.

Whisper'wind seems a bit surprised at Sarah's comment, but then glances down at the large domed nest below him.

"The Great Nest is made of sticks, like all our nests," he replies. "If you mean this tek'nolo'gee is the builder's craft, then I suppose we have some. The Great Nest was the largest nest my people had ever attempted. The Great Builder Starwing had claimed he had figured out how to do it, and so he had, for once the building began, it quickly became apparent that his plan would work. It took a year to build the Great Nest, for the sticks had to be gathered from far away."


Cormac, after listening to the conversation for awhile, finally comes to the conclusion that the culture from which this one may have evolved was not religious in nature. There are simply no religious terminology or references in anything that Whisper'wind says.

That alone is interesting. It means it was possibly transplanted before the rise of the Roman Empire, probably from one of the Italian provinces. It is clearly Latin, but it lacks the formal religious structure that eventually caused the decline of it as a spoken language by everyone.

There is no archaeological evidence that anyone has ever found on Earth indicating that this species could have evolved there. Therefore, the language and possibly the culture had to have been transplanted to here.


Del'noc has no problem picking up the techniques that James is using to climb. It is not unlike what the Jaffa use, but the technological tools that the Tau'ri bring to it make it so much easier. Even the devices themselves are rather simple--clever, but still simple: d-rings, o-rings, carabiners, descenders, ascenders... and the synthetic ropes and straps themselves.

James radios "Mind your step down here and for future mission I'm going to bringing rope" Jamnes will wait till the others are down

"Okay, Sarah, you're next," Randall interrupts her conversation with Whisper'wind. "I hope you aren't afraid of heights. We'll lower you down on the winch."

Randall then fastens the second safety rope to Sarah, and hooks the winch cable to her. Fortunately, the webgear they were issued for holding all their items was also capable of functioning as a climbing harness... not the best, but fine for makeshift situations like this.

Sarah wasn't getting anywhere quickly with regards to the metal construction - but what she was getting was the feeling that the metal was probably some sort of external influence on the lives of these avian folk.  Maybe a left-over from some previous civilisation?  She hoped that at least as a hidden agenda was hardly something she'd like to contemplate with these people.  "Ok Whisperwind.  I'll be at the bottom soon enough and we can continue our conversation there."  She then turned to Randall and nodded.  "Ok.  I'm ready."

Kylie waited her turn to descend.  She was glad for the help of the clamps and the second rope, as she wasn't a particularly strong climber.

There are no mishaps when the SG-X3 team climbs down to the ledge below and then carefully walks around to the opening of the Great Nest. It is not a big opening, since it is meant to minimize the wind and presumably rain that would blow through it. Clearly, the bird-people would have no problem landing on the ledge, folding their wings and then walking in.


About six feet in there is a secondary wall that's only about 10 feet long. You can walk around either end to enter the 100-foot diameter main chamber of the Great Nest.

Whisper'wind hovered outside while James climbed down, and continues to hover there until the whole team is down and moved inside. Although he says nothing, you get the impression that he might be providing some sort of lifeguard service... in case someone fell.

Once inside, you can see that there is a circular roof vent at the top, as well as several 'windows'... more like shutters, that can be closed if there's a storm.

Around the room are several dozen perches... horizontal branches on supports interconnected like a maze.

Considering the room she had to wonder at the inner walls.  Were they metal too?  What was the construction like?

Once they were all safely down, she smiled at Whisperwind.  "Surely not as fast as you, but we made it all the same."

Del'noc enjoyed the climb, the physical exertion and the possibility of danger. He didn't relish the thought of dying from a fall instead of combat, however, so took much care in his climb. Once down, he made sure to help anyone else as they came down, should they need it.

After everyone had made the climb, he followed after Sarah, staying back a few steps to allow her to continue conversing with the creature. "I wish that they spoke English or Goa'uld."

Cormac would make his way down the cliff. He had done some rock climbing as a kid but it had been years since he last climbed. He would take his time to descend the cliff. Once down he would walk with Del'noc and when the jaffa mumbles something about English cormac would elbow him slightly. You and me both brother. I can kinda keep up when they are speaking slowly.

Kylie is a little hesitant to do anything that might get an annoyed face turned at her again, so she waits for some signal from Whisperwind before she tries taking a seat anywhere.  Instead, she stays near those that need translation help and explains what's going on as best she can.

James keeps aware his surroundings as they move but again keeps quiet and listens letting Sarah talk

Marcus made it down. Not fun.

He looked over the the building trying to learn about it construction.

The walls are made of sticks. You did notice as you entered that the outer wall was around 12 inches thick, but at least on the end you can see that there is some sort of mortar mixed in with the sticks. The windbreak wall is only about half as thick, but it's fastened to the outer wall at the top corners.

There's no evidence of metal at all.

Upon hearing that Cormac can understand the conversation, Del'noc immediately falls silent again to allow the man to be able to listen. He hadn't meant to disturb or disrupt anything. He wondered what the significance of the elbow bumping him was - whether it was even intentional or not. It didn't seem like a gesture of challenge, so perhaps familiarity or disrespect? He made a mental note to investigate further once back on Earth.

In the meantime, he looked at the structure they were lead to, though it was primitive it was still not a terrible feat of engineering. He was no expect, however.

Cormac would admire the structure. I was most definitely a monumental task and He would have enjoyed the chance to see it constructed and how the organization of the building was implemented along with much of the logistical aspect. To Cormac the interactions of a group in a situations such as the construction of a monument of this scale would imply some form of religion but as He had hypothesized earlier these being had no form of Religion that he could discern. In itself the entire culture and population could be a tremendous case study for him. Sadly he would need a fairly large group observe along with them either not being aware or not acknowledging his presence. That is the only way to get the cleanest results.

So clearly not the nest they'd come to investigate but still interesting never the less.  Sarah waits though for Whisperwind to respond to her and stop and greet the rest of their party - or maybe even introduce them to others of his kind - this was a meeting spot after all?

"Yes, you made it," Whisper'wind replies to Sarah. "Interesting technique. I have seen birds use their beaks to climb up a branch."

"What is that metal creature that came through before you arrived?"


Even as Sarah and Whisper'wind converse, the sound of flapping of wings can be heard, and soon several dozen of the bird-folk enter the Great Nest. They land on the ledge and then walk in, and quickly take up positions on the perch.


"These are the Elders of the Nest. They have come to meet you."

"Quite an apt description, Whisperwind."  She smiles at that.  "As for the metal creature.  It's a tool - part of our technology.  It allows us to see through its eyes and check that it is safe to travel, to breath the air of the new planet, to check that there is a safe place to alight.  Imagine if there had been no ledge?  Or the world was covered in molten rock."  And then to assure him, "It will be returned with us."

Then with the arrival of the elders, she paused and quickly turned to her fellows, "The newcomers are the Nest's Elders who have come to meet us."  She didn't have much more information than that but refocuses on the elders and bows her head to before speaking, "Thank you for taking the time meet with us.   I am Sarah Morgan."  She goes on to introduce the other members of her team - something even those unable to understand will recognise as an introduction when they hear their names spoken.  "We are from a world called Earth and are known by some as the 'Tau'ri'."

James bows towards the elders in respect but keeps quiet

Del'noc followed suit after James Berten and also gave a bow of respect to the elders once it was translated that they were indeed the elders. He waited quietly and listened to the translation as Sarah spoke.

Catching most of the conversation Marcus waited to see if were they came from would cause any sort of reaction from the bird people.