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By the time SG-10 traveled to P3W-451, Dr. Jessica McLeod had been a member of the team and SGC’s Astrophysics Department for a few months.
The telemetry the M.A.L.P had sent from P3W-451 included spectacular images of a complex binary star system in the distance, and strong traces of burned naquadah in the soil. The morning before the mission McLeod, had refreshed her knowledge on the possible radiation levels one might find in orbiting binaries. But she already knew what the naquadah traces indicated: they were the remains of superheated naquadah plasma shot from Jaffa staff weapons. She had seen the dark, charred stains on the ground a few times and was prepared for the possible dangers of gating into enemy territory.
SG-10 was a good choice for a combined military and science mission. Not only could McLeod hold her own, but also her commander, Major Henry “Hank” Boyd, had been hand-picked by none other than Colonel Jack O’Neill. In fact, if the scuttlebutt was correct, Hammond and O’Neill were grooming Boyd as a possible commander of SG-1 when its present leader retired a few years down the road.
McLeod respected Boyd and felt safe under his command. In spite of serving in war-torn countries for many years, and now at the SGC, Boyd, a man still in his mid 30s, managed to have a happy family life, hadn’t lost his religious faith or his kindness, and was smart enough to let her do her job. She considered herself lucky.
The one thing about the mission to P3W-451 that gave McLeod a nagging feeling was the levels of dead bacteria and life in general that the M.A.L.P. had reported around the Stargate. Perhaps it was a result of Goa’uld activity, but it could be the effects of radiation which had already dissipated. Sensors indicated the atmosphere was safe and perfectly normal, so she would have to solve this riddle on site. Moreover, if the mission panned out, it had the potential for becoming a dual project for SG-1 and SG-10. She couldn't think of anything more exciting than to be able to work side-by-side with Sam Carter. After all, a bit of hero worship never hurt anyone.
With her backpack loaded with scientific equipment, McLeod followed her SG-10 teammates through the Stargate: Colonel Boyd, Captain Roger Watts and Lieutenant Jonathan Reed. The Stargate was perched on top of a rocky outcrop and was surrounded by dunes that extended all around them.
“Okay, everyone. Let’s go up there and take a look-see,” ordered Boyd, signaling at a very high dune. “We’ve been asked to look for signs of life, so pay attention.”
Carrying their packs they climbed down, and moved up again, stepping unsteadily on the loose sand of the hill. The view from the top revealed a low line of mountains in the distance preceded by a series of rocky outcrops, which were at least five klicks away.
“If there is anyone left here, they might be up there,” said McLeod, pointing towards the distant cliffs.
“I haven’t seen any signs of movement around the gate,” added Watts. He was the one in the team with the best skills for reading the ground for tracks. “I mean, nothing at all. Not even little bugs. At least, it’ll be good to sleep without stuff crawling all over us!”
“Watts, Roger, let’s go down there and set up camp,” said Boyd pointing at a wide, flat space between the dunes. “McLeod, do your thing.”
McLeod sat down on top of the hill and took a pair of solar glasses from her pocket. She finally allowed herself to look directly towards the orbiting stars through the heavy dark filter of the glasses, designed to protect her eyes from sunlight damage. There was quite a bit of incandescent gas wrapped around the stars.
After taking her solar glasses off, McLeod descended towards the incipient camp, where an open table was already waiting for her to begin work. Watts and Roger came loaded with two large boxes, out of which they took parts to assemble a couple of short, fat telescopes, a radiation sensor, and a radar, all linked to a couple of computers.
While Boyd collected soil samples around the area, McLeod connected two laptops to the equipment, and began to receive data from the stars slowly rotating above her. She observed the numbers and oscillating charts and thought that something was not right. The light of one of the stars was dimming. Was the telescope not well connected? She double checked all the wiring, but the equipment was working normally.
Then, other indicators began to change. There was no mistake. The certainty of what she saw seemed to rest its heavy weight on the pit of her stomach. One of the stars was visibly collapsing on the screen, the yellow ball slowly growing redder, smaller, and loosing its normal structure. She reached for her radio.
“Colonel Boyd, we have a big problem,” she said, trying to control her panic. What if the explosion whipped out their side of the planet? If they survived, the gamma radiation alone would obliterate the ozone layer and expose them to deadly cosmic rays.
“What is it, doc?”
“There are signs that one of the stars is about to go supernova.”
Boyd came running and looked at the screens.
“The star is slowly shrinking. But it’s weird, it’s almost like it’s loosing its mass without imploding,” said McLeod looking at the numbers flashing on the screen.
Suddenly, the light dimmed slightly as if a cloud was passing overhead, but the sky remained blue.
“The other star is beginning to be affected too. It’s loosing mass. What the hell?”
Boyd looked at the members of his team and ordered them, “Let’s get out here!”
“What? What?” asked Roger, looking at the sky. “Oh my god!”
Above them, the star began to collapse in slow motion into a series of blinding flashes and its blazing matter formed into a slow moving accretion disk spiraling towards the dark center.
“It’s a black hole!” said McLeod, her heart already breaking.
“You mean, the star is imploding into a black hole?” asked Boyd.
“Yes. No, this whole region of space, this entire solar system must be falling into a massive black hole. The gamma radiation of nearby stellar explosions must have killed all life here. The two suns are already too close to the event horizon. We need to leave now!”
A tremor shook the ground, pulling them away from contemplating the horror happening in the heavens above them.
“Come on!” shouted Boyd running towards the gate.
“It’s right on top of us,” said Watts, running behind his commander, “We are not going to make it, sir!”
“We’ll make it. Dial now!” ordered Boyd as Watts got to the DHD and began frantically pushing Earth’s coordinates. Once the gate connected he sent the GDO code, but nothing happened.
“Watts, are you sending the code?” asked Boyd, concern visible in his face.
“Yes, sir, but they not answering us.”
“Do it again!”
“What are they waiting for? Don’t they realize we’re in an emergency?” said Reed as he and McLeod arrived running, his breathless voice tense with fear.
Unable to sustain the connection the gate suddenly went out, to the consternation of SG-10. As they tried to dial out again, the gate activated with an incoming wormhole.
“Sending the GDO code again,” said Watts, then noted that SGC probe coming through the gate and stopping, its camera pointing towards them. “Sir, I think they can see us.”
Boyd pulled the small vehicle away from the gate, stood in front of the camera and shouted, “Stargate Command, why haven’t you opened the iris for us? We request IMMEDIATE evacuation. This is an EMERGENCY! We must dial out again NOW. Do you copy? WE ARE NOT READING YOU!”
In spite of his impassioned plea, their radios remained silent. Once in a while they could hear intermittent static, but nothing else.
“McLeod? What’s happening?” asked Boyd, his face now contorted by panic.
“I’m not sure, sir. There must be some kind of gravitational interference. I’m not receiving anything. We don’t have a lot of time left. We won’t be able to dial out unless they break the connection.”
A stronger tremor shook the ground as the sky became noticeable darker. All the members of SG-10 were thrown to the ground and raised their eyes towards the sun, but the brightness of the explosions blinded them. McLeod put on her solar glasses, only to see the sun being peeled of its glowing layers by a relentless black hole which was now considerably closer to their planet.
She took her solar glasses off knowing that there were enough bursts of gamma rays escaping to be lethal. As the sky became darker, all of them were able to see the lensing gravitational effect wrap the incandescent gasses around the massive black hole so that it seemed like a an enormous eye looking at them from the heavens. Outside its unnerving stare, they were surrounded by a myriad points of lights. The planet was in a dense cluster of stars that had fed their radiant bodies to the massive singularity rushing through space towards them.
The ground shook more violently and the light breeze became a strong, steady wind, blowing sand around them.
“We don’t have much time left!” exclaimed McLeod, crawling toward her teammates. “The second star is very close to the event horizon and is being eaten up by a massive black hole. There was no way we could’ve known this was gonna happen. I’m sorry, but this planet is next.”
“There MUST be something we can do!” said Reed, his tearing eyes searching for hope.
“We are out of options. It’s like we’ve fallen down a well without a possible exit. Our proximity to the event horizon is slowing time down for us,” explained McLeod, her voice loosing resonance in the increasing wind. That’s why the SGC can’t communicate with us. We must look to them like we’re frozen in time.”
“How will it … is it gonna be fast?” asked Boyd.
“No quite sure. We are exposed to bursts of gamma rays and the air will become hard to breath. There’ll be violent tremors and earthquakes as the planet is pushed out of orbit by gravity and eventually ripped apart by tidal forces.”
There was no much else that needed to be said. Everyone accepted that this was the end. They huddled together sobbing by the light of the active Stargate, which had led them to such a cruel destiny. Boyd began praying out loud. His teammates said goodbye to life in the quiet center of their hearts, before the very air caught on fire and the ground under their feet shattered into a thousand pieces.
The End