Chapter 3
Gadarus, Atlantic Ocean
Project Ahrmuhgedn Initiated, Day 2
Sam rubbed tiredly at her face as she watched the second hand mark the end of twenty-four hours and the line of Ancient text on screen changed by one character. She was so familiar with Ancient numerals by now that she knew the screen now read:
PROJECT AHRMUHGEDN INITATED. SEQUENCE 2 ENGAGED.
Twenty minutes later a voice cracked over the headsets they were all wearing, “Colonel Carter report to the bridge. Repeat, Colonel Carter report to the bridge.”
Scrubbing a hand through her disordered blonde strands, she straightened from her sitting position with a crackle of her spine. Rolling her neck and shoulders, she left the room the scientists were camped in and trotted to the area that had been identified as Gadarus’s bridge. Upon entering the spacious and artistically designed area, Sam’s footsteps slowed at the grim-faced group that awaited her arrival.
“Sir?” Sam inquired as she made eye contact with her commander.
“We were just informed Colonel,” Jack reported quietly, “that Prometheus and the three BC-304s report a golden haze formed around the planet at the Kármán line, six minutes after Armageddon’s Sequence 2 was activated.”
“Sir?” Sam prompted knowing in her gut there was more.
“As of that moment, none of the Asgard beaming technology installed on those ships is able to beam anything onto or off Earth. They tested it and are able to beam between ships and the space station.”
“It isn’t just some interference with the beam tech is it Sir?” Sam asked hesitantly but somehow already knew the answer from the general’s sombre gaze.
“They have attempted to drop to within the mesosphere and are unable to penetrate the haze barrier.”
“I see Sir,” Sam said quietly. And she did see. All too clearly the situation she and other individuals of the programme on the terminate list were in now that their evacuation route had been cut off by the very program they were fighting to stop.
“Inform the marked members of your team, your plane departs in twenty minutes,” Jack said resolutely as he began to turn back to the terminals he was working at.
“Sir!” Sam protested looking flustered when the general looked back at her with a disapproving air. “Sorry Sir, but I really think I can break this code.”
Jack studied her measurably. “Do you really think so?”
Sam squared her shoulders. “Sir, yes Sir.”
Jack pinched the bridge of his nose as he deliberated. “Alright Carter, I’ll give you one more day. Tell your team that those who wish to leave now, their plane departs in twenty minutes. If they choose to stay, they will leave tomorrow at the same time.”
“Yes Sir. Thank you Sir,” Sam responded with enthusiasm.
“Thank me by stopping this Armageddon Colonel,” Jack said dryly as he turned away again.
“Yes Sir,” Sam responded firmly before departing the bridge. She would need every second of the twenty-four hours the general had given her and there was not a moment to waste.
. . .
Twenty-four hours later Sam and the other marked scientist, Dr Jamison, that had chosen to take the second plane stared resolutely at the line of Ancient text that had once again changed on the main computer screen.
PROJECT AHRMUHGEDN INITIATED. SEQUENCE 3 ENGAGED.
Shortly afterwards the general, dressed in a flight suit, appeared in the doorway of the room where all the scientists had been working for the past twenty-six days on Ahrmuhdegn’s code.
Jack held up a hand to forestall any of Rodney’s chattering in response to his appearance as he locked eyes with Sam.
“Time’s up Carter, I’ll see you and Dr Jamison on the plane in twenty,” Jack said pointedly.
“Sir?” Sam looked puzzled at his flight suit.
“I’ll be piloting the craft,” Jack currently interpreted her look and tone of question. “I’ve been ordered to return to SGC. Plane Carter, twenty minutes. Don’t be late.”
Stiff-shouldered Sam gave a curt nod of her head in acknowledgment of his order. Only once the general had departed did she allow herself a moment to squeeze her eyes tight as guilt and failure churned in her stomach. She had failed, not just the people of Earth, but the general.
And that last failure seemed to weigh heavier on her than the first.
“Sam,” Rodney spoke when she’d opened her eyes again and gave her a hesitant half-hearted smiled, “we’ll break this. You’ll see, and when you get back from the Alpha Site spa, you can laud my accomplishment.”
Sam gave a weak smile at Rodney’s attempt at levity that was just so him, but didn’t voice her doubts. It had been twenty-six days. If she couldn’t break this code… if she and Rodney couldn’t break it… what chance was there?
Exchanging quiet goodbyes with Rodney and the other scientists that would remain, Sam went to go gather her things. After finding Daniel, she exchanged one last goodbye. Of all the farewells, the one exchanged with Daniel felt the most awkward as always before they had faced crises together, as a team.
As the general had ordered, eight minutes later she and Dr Jamison were in the helicopter that was flying them to one of the multiple US Navy aircraft carriers encircling Gadarus. Once onboard the carrier, they were directed by its crew to the flight deck where a small passenger jet was already idling on the runway.
As the twenty-minute deadline rolled around Sam, Dr Jamison, and a few other of Weir’s civilians tiredly trudged onboard the plane. Once on board, they were ordered to strap in and sleep during the nine-hour transatlantic flight. It was an order that Sam gratefully followed as she had reached her exhaustion threshold more than twenty-four hours ago.
. . .
Nine hours later Sam blinked sleepily up at the general’s co-pilot, Captain Lutteral, as he shook her shoulder.
“Ma’am, General O’Neill would like you in the cockpit,” Lutteral said sotto voce as not to awake any other of the noisily sleeping civilian scientists and specialists.
“What?” Sam mumbled under her breath before her head cleared enough. “Alright Captain, I’ll be right there.” As Lutteral retreated back to the cockpit, Sam shook her head to clear it further and only fumbled once while unbuckling her seatbelt.
Standing she rolled her neck and shoulders and gave her head and body another shake before walking to the front of the airplane. Entering the cockpit the vision through the windows suddenly had Sam wide awake and staring.
“Sir?” Sam couldn’t keep herself from instinctively inquiring as she stared at the profusion of buildings punctuated by massive, old growth trees the plane was circling.
“Welcome to Andrews Air Base, Colonel,” Jack drawled sardonically. “We’ll be landing just as soon as they clear a strip for us.”
“Sir?” Sam repeated again.
“You know yesterday by the end of Sequence 2 that started at Gadarus and swept westward around the globe, all the world’s water and air had been purified of pollutions?” Jack asked in a conversational tone.
“Yes Sir, if one equates Gadarus with Greenwich, which is the Prime Meridian, the Ancient program covers fifteen longitudes per hour of the traditional 360 longitude degrees matching the twenty-four main time zones on Earth—”
“Akh!” Jack cut her explanation off before she could even get started. “Well, today the land is doing a Jumanji.”
“Jumanji Sir?” Sam’s brow crinkled as she attempted to figure out what the general was talking about. It was Daniel that occasionally used foreign words, not remembering all the time that just because he knew the word that did not mean his audience did as well.
“Yeah, that film where they play that freaky board game—the boy turns into a monkey and the house turns into a jungle inside? The point is Carter, all native vegetation and vegetation patterns are being restored and growing through everything. I am sure the tree-huggers are ecstatic,” he finished sarcastically.
Sam felt it was prudent not to answer, or comment, on the general’s last remark. “Why didn’t you wake me Sir?”
“No point Carter,” Jack replied as he checked instruments on the panel in front of himself, keeping a particular eye on the fuel level. “There was nothing you can do, and it did more good for you to sleep than worry about something you couldn’t do squat about.”
Sam eyed the fuel level herself. It was the reason they were attempting to land in Andrews and not flying to a still unaffected area westward, as they’d only been given enough fuel for the transatlantic flight as such flights usually were. “Sir, how much longer will it be for them to clear a strip?”
Jack peered through the window at the ground. Below a line of vegetation was being cleared underneath the chainsaws of base personal to the side of the former runways. The reason the runways weren’t being cleared, was because of the ruptures in the tarmac from the trees sprouting up.
“Not much longer Carter,” Jack reported. “Why don’t you go wake up your geeks and make sure everyone is firmly strapped in and prepare them for a bumpy ride. Depending on how well they cut down those trees, we may lose the landing gear—if not the bottom of the plane—while setting down.”
. . .
“Welcome to Andrews Sir,” the colonel greeted crisply as soon as the general disembarked from the plane that Jack had managed to land in reasonably one piece.
“Colonel Forrest,” Jack read the man’s nametag with a touch of amusement. He cast his gaze down the hastily cleared runway at the scattered bits of landing gear that he had indeed lost and inquired drolly, “Invite your relatives for a visit did yah? Think they could have chosen somewhere else beside the runway to park?”
A look of first confusion and then surprise at the general’s levity flashed across Colonel Forrest face before smoothing out again. “Ah… if you and your party would follow me Sir. I understand you are to check in with your superiors upon landing and then continue on your way.”
“Yeah, about that,” Jack fell into step beside Forrest as the colonel led the group through the undergrowth free, mature forest that now occupied Andrews base. “How exactly is that happening? Get on our way I mean, considering that highways are turning into forests as we speak and you lost your aircrafts to metal eating trees.”
“The waterways are still free Sir. We hope to get your party far enough west to get ahead of the advancing forest so that you can secure a craft at Louisville to get you to Peterson.”
“Speaking of the advancing forest,” Jack said sombrely, “what is the casualty count so far?”
“Surprisingly low Sir. Most deaths are on overpasses, bridges, and roads and injuries from falling building parts.”
“How is that possible?” Jamison put the question forward from behind Jack and Forrest as they reached the buildings.
“We are uncertain,” Forrest answered as he ushered them indoors, “but it seems the higher concentration of people, the less amount of trees sprout.”
“Makes sense Sir,” Sam chimed in from behind as they edged past a tree growing in a hallway. “With the Ancient device being a eugenics program it is counterproductive for genetically approved humans to be killed while the program is preparing the environment.”
“I’m glad it makes sense to someone, because it certainly doesn’t to me.” Jack muttered beneath his breath. “Carter, make sure you and your crew eat will you? Forrest, to the phone.”