Stargate SG1 - Roswell (20 page)

“Colonel, do you want to hear this or not?”

“Sorry, sir. It's just that Thor has always maintained the Asgard were never detected in all their visits to Earth.”

“Yeah, well, he stopped maintaining that after I gave him a souvenir from Roswell.”

“You did?” Carter was staring at him, he could tell even without looking. “What was it?”

“I believe it was the same as you gave me, O'Neill,” Teal'c called from the rear.

“Couple of sizes smaller,” Jack reminded him.

“Jack?” Daniel's voice was definitely accusatory. “What was it?”

“Just a T-shirt.”

“You bought Thor a
T-shirt?”
Carter said, not attempting to hide the incredulity in her voice.

“With the logo,
I
am an alien
beneath a photograph of an Asgard,” Teal'c explained.

“Hey, he liked it!” Jack said quickly. “Anyway, Thor and Heimdall did some checking. They matched the dates to An's disappearance, and figured Loki used what presumably was us banging into their ship as an opportunity for a little academic advancement.”

“Y'know,” said Daniel, “I recall some story about the Air Force recovering several bodies from the Roswell crash. And they later claimed they were test dummies?”

“Army”
Carter corrected, glancing between the HUD and her laptop. “The Air Force wasn't a separate wing of the military until August 1947.”

“I believe they recovered three bodies,” Teal'c amended. “And two survivors, one of whom died at the Roswell Army Air Field hospital soon after arrival.”

Eyes wide, Carter turned in her seat and stared at him.

“I have read a great deal about the Roswell incident,” Teal'c added. “While sources appear largely unreliable, there is nevertheless some consistency.”

“Now, see, this just proves my point to the comptroller squadron that we
need
our subscription to the
National Enquirer.”
At their current rate of descent they could be on the ground in four minutes. Seven if he cut back on the inertial dampeners and diverted power to the HUD, which, under the circumstances, was preferable. Streaks of pink across the eastern horizon warned Jack that the sun would be up real soon, and they needed to find a place to land other than smack bang in the middle of miles and miles of nothing but rocks and sand.

Carter was still engrossed in whatever she'd removed from the transport device. “An was a genetic engineer running experiments,” she said. “He was probably carrying blank Asgard clones. But even an Asgard ship, or in this case, parts of one, would have burned up during an uncontrolled reentry.”

“Some reports from 1947 indicate that several ships similar in design to powered Asgard escape pods were involved in maneuvers, possibly even a pursuit of one another,” Teal'c said from behind.

“That would explain the bodies,” Daniel replied thoughtfully. “Although it's interesting that there's no mention of casualties or wreckage in any of the classified Pentagon documents we were given.”

“C'mon, Daniel,” Jack retorted, scanning the landscape for somewhere to put down. “Fifty years from now some poor sap is gonna be sifting through Pentagon files on the Stargate. program and find they're missing half the planets we visited. Probably a galaxy or three by then, too.”

With very little effort, he was able to fine-tune the HUD to display several data outputs simultaneously, including a three-dimensional terrain matrix, variable heat sources differentiating human and animals from artificial, and the density and nature of vegetation and buildings. Despite the dire nature of the situation they were in—what with messing with timelines and being stranded in the past and all—a part of Jack couldn't help feeling a thrill of anticipation. This technology was a combat pilot's ultimate wish list. With the Ancient gene therapy running at fifty percent success rate, the concept was already being considered for the next generation of hybrid fighters. “Carter, any particular bit of sagebrush you want me to land behind?”

“He beamed himself out.”

That was unsettling. Jack did not like to hear overtones of disbelief in Carter's voice.

“I've just checked the log—it's about the only thing that
isn't
damaged. Loki's ship didn't automatically beam him out. He repaired this—” Carter tapped the scanner and turned to Daniel. “And then he set it to beam himself back to his ship, deliberately overloading it so it would bum out, once he was gone.”

Carter didn't have to say the rest. But for Loki, they could have retrieved Mitchell and Vala. Even with his back turned, Jack could feel Daniel's simmering rage.

He wasn't feeling too charitable himself at the moment. Next time he laid eyes on Loki, Jack decided, diplomatic fallout be damned, he was going to stuff that supercilious little puny-assed weasel into a glass jar, fill it with embalming fluid, and donate it to the Smithsonian.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Daniel Jackson's dark countenance was familiar to Teal'c, and for a fleeting moment he regretted the decision he'd made in requesting Vala's assistance in restoring Loki's breathing. But it was also true that the future had yet to unfold. Despite O'Neill's evident mistrust of General Carter's motivations, Teal'c was confident that she would not have acted dishonorably.

Visibly taking control of her anger, Colonel Carter said, “Teal'c, I know there's no way to be certain what actually happened, but what other rumors are there regarding the survivors of
the
Roswell crash?”

While Teal'c had always considered the stories to be nothing
more than amusing entertainment, it was now evident that some aspects were indeed factual. “One account suggests that the sole survivor lived in a secret facility in Washington DC for ten years. The majority of the stories, however, agree that he either died in the Roswell Army Air Field base hospital or was killed by on over-zealous soldier.”

Colonel Carter took a moment to consider his words before responding. “According to the log, Vala locked onto four signals—ours—then just before beaming us out, she confirmed a fifth indistinct signal. There appears to have been either a ghosting of that signal, which she could have easily mistaken for a weak Doppler shift, but I've just analyzed it and it's a distinct, sixth signal.” Her gaze took in O'Neill, Daniel and Teal'c. “Sir, that could be An. If I'm right, he's still aboard the crashed escape pod.”

“Don't those things have transport devices?”

In order to effect repairs to an Asgard ship some years earlier, Teal'c had familiarized himself with the vessel's schematics.
“I
believe you are correct, O'Neill.”

“Given the speed at which Loki managed to jury-rig the time machine, An may be able to help us,” Colonel Carter conceded. “Assuming he's still alive and the second signal was—is—not from a clone.”

Daniel Jackson removed his glasses to polish the lenses. “Personally, Sam, I'd sooner you fix the thing than allow another Asgard anywhere near it.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth.” O'Neill nodded agreeably.

Colonel Carter appeared troubled by that declaration. “Assuming the escape pods do have transports on board, An should have beamed himself out, but he didn't,” she said. “Why?”

“Loki was severely injured,” Teal'c reminded her. “Perhaps An, too, was injured.”

Daniel Jackson leaned forward. “Jack, do we have enough power to take a sweep over the crash site?”

“Why? Crashing isn't enough for you? Now you wanna go sightseeing as well?”

Colonel Carter checked the output on her laptop. “If you can maintain our height, I think we can risk using the HUD.”

While outside it remained dark, the view on the HUD shifted with a blur, bringing up an image of dry mountains speckled with vegetation. “Just north of the Capitan Mountains,” O'Neill observed. “I'll see if we can pick up the wreckage.”

The HUD obliged, and two signals appeared, separated by what the scale on the image indicated was approximately thirty miles. While both signals were equally powerful, that which appeared at the foot of the mountains displayed a single dot, whereas the second signal to the northwest was scattered, as if to indicate wreckage over an area of what Teal'c estimated was approximately twenty acres—a fact that came as no surprise to him.

“Wow.” Colonel Carter was examining closely the data that appeared on the HUD. “No question that's the same composite material the Asgard use in their ships.” She pointed to the single, cohesive signal. “Sir, can you zoom in on that?”

An insert image appeared in the corner of the HUD, and expanded on an area that Teal'c realized was lit up like a Ha'tak construction site. The image telescoped further until he could distinguish several military vehicles, a flatbed truck and. a great many people running around, apparently aimlessly.

“Crap,” O'Neill muttered. “Someone beat us to it.”

Daniel Jackson peered at the display. “Some weather balloon.”

Confirming Teal'c's initial assessment, Colonel Carter said, “That's definitely a powered escape pod from a Beliskner class Asgard ship.”

“Okay, we got something.” O'Neill adjusted the setting. “Two Asgard life signs just outside the pod.”

“Hopefully one of them is An,” Colonel Carter observed. “And we don't end up with a pair of clones.”

“We can't just land the jumper and order the military to hand them over,” Daniel Jackson reminded them.

Colonel Carter gave the transport device a look that signaled her displeasure. “Loki knew we were looking for An. I'm certain, now, that he sabotaged our transport and probably the time machine, too, to prevent us reporting what he'd done.”

“Teal'c,” O'Neill said, “you're officially our resident expert on all things Roswellian. What are we seeing, here?”

“Many scenarios, have been suggested, O'Neill. However this would appear to support the claim that the escape pod was detected by modified SRC-584 mobile radar units situated at White Sands. Upon realizing the escape pod had crashed, members of the military were dispatched to contain the area.”

Daniel Jackson's gaze shifted from the HUD to Teal''c.
“I
thought some rancher found the Roswell saucer?”

“I believe you are referring to the Corona site, northwest of the mountains toward Albuquerque, where a second escape pod was destroyed upon impact.” Teal'c pointed to the scattered signal. “The military failed to detect this crash. The rancher, Marc Brazel, reported his discovery to the Sheriff of Roswell several days later.”

O'Neill studied the primary crash site in silence for a moment and then shook his head. “With the jumper crippled, there's no point trying to recover the Asgard, even supposing we could get near the pod with the Army running around trying to lift it onto a flatbed.” He adjusted the settings, zeroing in on the debris scattered over the Corona site. The image further narrowed on a smaller concentration of wreckage above an escarpment.

“Sir,” Colonel Carter asked. “Try and fine tune it for Asgard biological material.”

The sight of human or Jaffa remains subsequent to a crash was not new to Teal'c. Given the wide debris field, he expected to see little of value, but it did not surprise him when four Asgard corpses lying crumpled against the rocks came into sharp focus, for that was exactly the condition in which Brazel had reported them. Other than animal predation, the bodies were largely intact. “It would appear they leaped from the pod just prior to impact.”