Chapter 86

Suspendisse Cursus

On command the jumper's communication system began transmitting a coded beacon signal to the ground below. The broad spectrum transmission pulsed into the atmosphere to the ground below. On the forth cycle of the broadcast data was transmitted to the jumper from a point three hundred miles to their east. On the heads up display the position of the signal being received was shown on the digital map.

"Ok I have target lock on the signal. Seems to be coming from a canyon" stated Major Grant.

"Estimate we'll be there in two minutes" replied Reynolds.

"Want to change that fifty percent prediction" asked Mackenzie.

"What you're saying is really bringing down the mood in here" replied Mead with a smile.

Slicing through the atmosphere the jumper quickly covered the distance to their destination. Quickly shedding altitude the jumper entered a massive canyon similar to the Grand Canyon on Earth, only much deeper. The deep red hue of the rock and soil on the canyon walls flashed by as the team navigated the jagged tear in the landscape.

"From what I'm seeing we're right on top of the transmitter boss" said Grant.

"And I am officially not flying" answered Reynolds as the jumper's automatic pilot routine kicked in.

At a constant pace the jumper nimbly maneuvered through the confines of the canyon. The four men aboard drew a sharp breath as the jumper instead of turning to follow the canyons bend continued straight towards the canyon wall rising before them. Instead of the horrific impact they all expected the jumper passed through the holographic canyon wall. At impressive speed the jumper followed the smoothly polished large tunnel they had entered, noting that the tunnel angled downwards to an incredible degree. One minute later the jumper stopped in what looked to be a jumper receiving bay. Coming to rest alongside several much older shuttles similar to those found aboard Destiny Reynolds opened the rear ramp.

Exiting the jumper the SG team fanned out. Doctor Mackenzie with an ancient hand scanner took readings of the large subterranean room around them. Judging by the size of the room it had to be at least eight hundred yards wide and five hundred feet tall. The walls, floors, and ceiling of the dome shaped room were all highly polished.

"I've got energy readings popping up all over the place. They seem to be coming from that direction" said Mackenzie pointing towards the set of large metallic doors one hundred feet away.

"Then that's the direction we're going" replied Reynolds.

"Big creepy hole in the ground, what secrets do you hold" Mead asked the air.

"Look at those doors! They are big enough the Yamato could fit through them" excitedly said Major Grant.

Coming to the large metallic doors the men were in awe of the sheer size of them. The engineering involved for such massive doors with almost no seam was staggering. Unfortunately no path through said doors was visible.

"Are you telling me we came all this way to find the ancients long lost world record metal door" asked Mead.

"Not the time Mead. Instead let's find a way around them" replied Grant.

"Over to the left. That looks like a transport platform like on Atlantis" suggested Reynolds.

Walking over to the platform the men all agreed it did in fact appear to be a transport platform. From their time on Atlantis the four men were sure of their discovery. Stepping inside the platform they noted that instead of a map to pick their transport destination like on a city ship instead they had a sole blue button. With a snicker Mead pushed the button and the four were quickly beamed to another location.

"Ok, the scanner is showing we're on the other side of the door" said Mackenzie.

"Yeah, I get that. Take your eyes off the scanner and look around" replied Mead.

"Now that's impressive as hell" said Grant.

"The ancients did everything big. Let's figure out what this place is. Move out" ordered Reynolds.

Standing on an elevated platform the men looked around at all before them. Below they noted the presence of extremely large sh.i.p.s lined in a row fanning out to the right and left. Between the elevated platform they now stood on and the sh.i.p.s below all types of gantry equipment could be seen. At the end of their walkway the men noted stairs rising towards what they hoped was a control room. Making their way to the stairs the doctor took as many photos as possible to doc.u.ment every detail.

Climbing the stairs to the control room the men noted the facility ran in both directions as far as the eye could see. This place was truly massive. From the look of things below it appeared that the facility was totally automated. What looked like loading equipment was noted above the sh.i.p.s to the right of the staircase, and conveyors above the sh.i.p.s to the left. Entering the command center the men noted the room bore a vague resemblance to NASA mission control. Detecting multiple carriers of the ATA gene the room's data terminals and systems sprang to life. Quickly taking a seat Doctor Mackenzie began reading the information found on the display screen before him. Moving from work station to work station the Doctor quickly took all the information before him in.

"Doc you want to fill us in" asked Reynolds.

"We always knew this place had to exist, we just didn't know where it was" laughed Mackenzie.

"What place is that" asked Grant.

"Gentlemen, you're standing in the facility that built our galaxies star gates and DHD's! But that's not all, I mean this place is a lot more if I'm reading this correctly" exclaimed the Doctor.

"Ok the suspense is killing me here. Get to the a lot more part already" urged Mead.

"From the look of it we have multiple facilities combined in one. To the right we have a star gate and DHD production facilities, to the left we have ore loading equipment for the cargo sh.i.p.s below, underground we have an incredibly large automated mining operation, and above this room is some type of research and development area" stated Mackenzie.

"How big of a mining operation are we talking about" asked Reynolds.

"This is where they mined the minerals for our galaxies star gates. It's probably where much of the material to build Atlantis came from as well as Arkos. This isn't just naquadah. Its trinium, neutronium, and palladium. Huge amounts too. The mine is fully automated it looks like. Let me check something" said Mackenzie.

Sitting at the data terminal the doctor began to rapidly scroll through data screens looking for answers. Several times the man would jump the data terminal next to him before continuing his almost hyperactive computer search. In ten minutes he had his answers.

"Feel better now" asked Mead.

"Funny. Ok, the sh.i.p.s below were used to deliver star gates all over the place it seems. They can also be used for ore delivery. They too are automated. The ore is brought up from below, refined, and loaded on these sh.i.p.s for delivery. It's an incredibly efficient way to do things" said Mackenzie.

"Ok that covers that. Let's go check out the star gate production area, and then we'll call this in to Yamato" said Reynolds.

With a facility schematic in hand the four men quickly found their way to the star gate production area. Lined up one after the other in neat rows stood ten Milky Way model gates. On the other side of the cavernous subterranean room was what appeared to be a DHD production line. Looking over everything the team was awestruck by the scale of everything.

"Ok, I get that this is a big find, but with the seed sh.i.p.s can't we already build gates? I fail to see how this changes anything" drawled Mead.

"It changes things incredibly. The gates themselves are not the big find, but the ability to mass produce the superconductors involved is. Same with the DHD's but the ability to mass produce the fusion power cores for them is again a very big deal" answered Mackenzie trying hard not to let his frustration show.

"Ok you two, that's enough. Let's go call this in. People from the SGC are going to want to see this and I mean like yesterday" said Reynolds.