"If I were making something like this, I'd have the gate at the other end set up to only accept connections from this one gate, or a limited selection of gates. Otherwise, there's little point in having this atrium area.

Still, the MALP will hopefully reveal something interesting about the other place. And if we're being watched, somehow, they should already know that the MALP is just a means for us to safely venture forth, so, if they aren't inherently hostile, they should leave it alone, I guess."

The MALP trundles through the wormhole, and arrives on the other side almost instantly. Within a few seconds, Lizzie and Karen are picking up the MALP's transmission.

The image that appears shows the stargate sitting on a stone platform. In the background, you can see large stone statues that resemble those back on Easter Island on Earth. As the MALP's camera swings around to show the gate, you think you saw one of the statues move.

After the MALP confirms there's a DHD there and transmits the view of the stargate so  you can compare the symbols, the camera swings back around and you can see the 'statues' again. This time you can definitely tell that they are moving. You can see maybe two dozen of them, and they all seem to be moving. Their movement seems rather slow and ponderous, as if they really were statues that were walking.

Unlike Easter Island, these 'statues' do not look weathered or old, and, in fact, sport a lot of color, particularly in the 'hats' that they are wearing.

Coleman looks over Lizzie's shoulder to see what's going on.

"Hey, those are those big head things from that island. Does anyone know anything about the human culture there? Might be important. Woah... they're moving. Well, let's keep the gate open as long as we can to see what they do... Obviously, if they crush the MALP, they may not be all that welcoming."

"I'm not an expert by any means," Jason answers, "but I did read about Rapa Nui a year or so ago. There is no native human culture there any more. Slavery, tribal wars, and disease wiped them out."

"No one has yet been able to decipher the Rapa Nui language. The last people that knew it were removed from the island and died without ever passing it on."

"Yes, you're right," said Kyle, who'd found Easter Island fascinating the one time he'd managed to get there.

"It appears that resource management wasn't one of their talents. They used up all their trees and were unable to replace them. Then they couldn't build boats to fish."

He looked curiously at the MALP images.

"Yes! The statues - the mo'ai in their native tongue - are believed to have been much more colourful than they are now. They are supposed to depict deified ancestors of the people who made them... aringa ora ata tepuna, they said. They made about 900 between 1250 and 1500 CE. Stories, oral history, say that those people with great divine power could command them to walk - a king named Tuu Ku Ihu moved them with the help of the god Makemake, who is the creator of humanity and a fertility god. That's significant in that the statues were supposed to watch over communities and ensure their food supplies..."

Kyle was almost babbling in excitement... and looked ready to leap straight through the Stargate to investigate further.

Karen shakes her head. "Those things always gave me the creeps." She listens to Kyle and smiles at his enthusiasm.

"Interesting. Can we activate the MALP's communication system? Maybe you can try to communicate with them, Kyle? Perhaps find out if we're welcome to come to visit? We'll, of course, want to update the SGC before we actually head over there, but it seems we at least have something interesting to tell them now."

 Lizzy kept her laptop monitoring the moving Statues, she was amazed she watched and listened to the others. She knew nothing about Easter Island she then watched the video to see what else she could pick up on the Statues and where they where at.

" There are even some stories in the mythology that the statues on earth used to move as well. "

"I think the question here is: how are they moving?" Jason adds.

"Are these things alive? Are they machines? Are they androids? No, that's not the word I mean. Synthezoids! That's it! Synthetic beings that aren't robots or machines."

"Wait a minute. Let me find it... Ah, here it is--the MALP's speaker system. You know, I don't think that's ever been used before. Go ahead, Kyle. Your radio is linked to the MALP now."

"I'm not sure we're going to go there, though. That gate has the same symbols as this one, which means there's no Point of Origin. Well, not that we can determine. So, unless the moai give it to us, we'll be stranded there."

"Check me on that, Karen? Do you see any symbol that's different?"

He transfers the data from the MALP to Karen's computer via wifi.

Kyle stepped up, hoping that he'd remeber enough of Vananga Rapanui - the Rapa Nui way of speaking - to make sense. If, that is, the mo'ai could hear as well as move.

"Iorana."

'Hello' was always a good beginning, and the first thing he tried to learn in any new language.

"Peke koe? Ka ha’aki’aki, ana hanga koe."

IF (a big if) he recalled aright, he'd asked them how they were and if they'd tell him their story, please.

Karen confirms that the symbols on the two gates are identical.


Even as Kyle begins to speak, one of the moai walks over to the MALP and bends over to stare directly into the camera lens.

He (it?) doesn't seem to be startled by Kyle's words.

"The Fifth Race." it says in reply... in English, though it does have an odd accent.

"Greetings. We are the Furlings. Do you wish to visit us?"

 Lizzy is recording the video feed and when the Fifth Race or Furlings spoke, she had to visit these beings, life based on stone? she had to examine these amazing beings. Lizzy says to the group," Now I was not expecting that, they can talk and are intelligent. Sir we must go what we could find out from one of the Fifth race. But also we must contact SGC before we go correct?" Lizzy was still amazed and wanted to meet these amazing beings.

Kyle was surprised. They'd understood! Even better, it appeared that they spoke English. (How come, he wondered, but he'd get to that later.)

"Yes, please. We'd love to come and meet you," he said.

If their Stargate had the same symbols as this one, he reasoned, he could get home by dialling Earth - just as they would from here - even if he couldn't get back to where they were now.

"We are human beings and come from a planet called Earth. When would it be convenient for you for us to come?"

"The Asgard designated us the Fifth Race," Jason said. "Doesn't that mean the Furlings are in touch with them?"

"I'm guessing the Ancients are the First Race. That leaves the Asgard, the Nox, and these Furlings in between us and the Ancients."

"You have arrived at the Entry Point. Do you not wish to take the next step here now?" the Furling responds to Kyle.

"Your machine is clever. It reminds me of the Ancients and the Asgard. No surprise that the Asgard thought  you had the potential to be the Fifth Race."

"Come. You are welcome here."

"I'd be delighted... but my friends want to call back home to Earth to say what we have found first."

He looked round at the others.

"Shall I go ahead? They seem eager to meet us, it seems a bit rude not to take them up on their invitation... You can call home to the SGC and follow."

Maybe not protocol, but hey... he'd asked not just gone straight ahead as he wanted to!

"Surely they would recognize the need to call home before coming through, Kyle."

Then Coleman speaks into the comm system; "Uh, hi. This is Lieutenant Colonel Coleman Hendricks. I'm in charge of this expedition, but, of course, I have a boss as well, who we'll need to check in with before we can proceed. Is your gate on this same planet? My boss is going to want to know that before authorizing us to come visit. Also, do you have any rules regarding visitors that we need to be aware of?"

"Understood, Lieutenant-Colonel-Coleman-Hendricks," the Furling replies, running Coleman's rank and name all together. It isn't clear if he understood that some of it was your rank and some was your name.

"You may call me Bresh. And, yes, we are on this world. However, you can not dial the astria porta here directly. It is only accessible from the gate you are currently at."

"Why would we have rules about visitors? Common sense and come in peace would be inherent, wouldn't they?"

"Yes, I believe those are generally accepted as the norm. However, for example, in the mission debrief for the first contact with the Nox, it seemed that they had an expectation of total pacifism that the team that met with them did not fully understand, and that led to some misunderstanding. I simply wanted to make sure to avoid any similar misunderstandings.

So, Bresh. We'll disconnect the gate and make contact with my superior. We should dial back in short order. Thanks for your hospitality and understanding."

Once the Furlings acknowledge this, Coleman asks everyone to stop transmissions, so that the wormhole will close, then asks Kyle to dial up the SGC so they can report in.

 Lizzy was watching and recording everything on her laptop, she wanted too jump through right away with Kyle as well but her Military side said, we need to follow protocols. Once Coleman said close everything so they could close the gate, she disconnected the signal from her laptop so the gate would close. She was excited meeting a new alien race, she couldnt wait to meet them, one of the 5 races they might have amazing information for us at least she thought.

Kyle did as directed, allowing the first wormhole to close and then dialling for Earth, establishing the link and sending the correct code from the GDO.

"SGC, this is SG-X2 reporting in as scheduled. We discovered that this gate is a landing location with another address to get to the main gate. We dialed that and discovered that the other end is inhabited by animated Easter Island face statues. They are able to speak English and claim to be the Furlings. They have invited us to come to visit, but I told them I needed to check in first.

I would advise that we go ahead and visit."

Coleman turns to the others "Please share any of your observations that I failed to report."

"The mo'ai - the Furlings - state that they are elsewhere on this planet, but their gate is only accessible from here not from off-world."

Kyle knew that normally you could only have one gate per planet, he thought it was something to do with the point-of-origin system, but he tried not to think too much about gate tech, it made his head hurt! However, someone might find it interesting that they'd found a way around it.

Jason didn't know what to make of the whole thing. Furlings! He found that hard to believe, but, then, why not?

"The Nox can build stargates, can't they?" he offered. "So why can't the Furlings?"

"As I understand it, if there's more than one gate on a world, one is always the primary. It's probably because of the coordinate system they use. Remember, it's not an absolute coordinate system. So, if you take another gate to that same world, you can't access it until the other gate has been removed and you use the second gate to dial out so that it resets."

"It sounds like the Furlings have just reprogrammed the symbols from this gate to access the other one. Really, if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. You'd never dial this gate's address from here! That's why they put the stones around the perimeter... to tell you that!