Mess Tent

Dr. Klaus von Braun

Entering the tend Braun grabs some coffee before sitting down at an empty table with his PDA in hand. Feeling rather agitated that he is unable to figure out what the stone circle was used along with looking through his PDA for any information reguarding it but not reaching much headway. Placing his PDA on the table Braun rubs his temples before taking a drink of his coffee and once more goes back into his data.

Findy MacLean

Findy says, "I think we might be getting ahead of ourselves here. In the first place, we can't dial anywhere, as we don't know what the symbols represent, and our odds of getting a correct combination through guesswork are infinitesimal. We'd need to decipher those. Although I do think sending the SALP through the rings on the Hammond is a good idea, to see if we can get it down by the gate, we can't get the survivors through that way right now. It's colder there than it is here, and the lack of air would be a problem. Either we need to navigate the planet to get the crew to the gate, or, if there's a ring system there, we could rig up a few environment suits and send a crew to try to make the Hammond's ring room sufficiently clement for us to bring everyone through that way. But whether the crew is there or here, we still can't dial the gate without knowing what the symbols represent, and in particular which one is the point of origin."

Captain Micheal Wantanabe

"Don't they write that down near the rings some where? The point of origin?" The Army soildier chimes in.

Major Eileen Thorsson

The Nordic-appearning blonde woman nods to Captain Morgan. "While the gate is wildly different than what we've found before, and the location is...unknown...the wormhole is still a wormhole. We should act on the assumption that the 'Gate can only remain open for 38 minutes, the same as every other 'Gate, until we have information otherwise."

She pauses, listening to Findy, and then scowls to herself.
"Why the bloody Alterans didn't have the bright idea of setting up the gates to automatically dial their own point of origin, I'll never know..."

Noticing the entrance of Dr. von Braun, the 'to herself' is removed from her scowl.
"Good of you to join us, Herr Doktor. What revolutionary scientific discovery has been made today?"

Dr. Klaus von Braun
Still looking intently into his PDA "I just cant figure it out" he mumbles to himself before glancing towards Thorsson, "I am still doing research on a few things, not that you would understand,"

Captain Sarah Morgan

"Safe enough assumption on the gate," she agrees, trying to not let her frustration get the best of her. "I'm not going to pretend to know anything about astrophysics, but I wasn't talking about the gate or wormholes and how it may or may not be different."

"I was more referring to the ring transporters. Sure the ones we know are line of sight, but who says these play by the same rules? Nothing else here does. I think we all agree that the eleven chevrons on the gate suggests that they were doing something rather novel here. Let's not limit ourselves by what we have seen before. We have to keep our minds open."

"So how about someone with some math and physics skill..." Sarah spares a glance at the recently arrived von Braun and at Findy. Conceptually what she was proposing made all the sense in the world, at least in her mind. When the Hammond was on the far end of its orbit, just about anything on the planet would be closer to the rings on the planet than the Hammond. They'd mentioned a relay point before, she thought. It only made sense to try and see what happened. "needs to figure out when the Hammond is farthest from us and then try and operate the transporter.... send Findy's robot on through and take a looksie. Worst case what... we get no connection. Best case it lands us up by the gate. And in between at least we learn something."

Bethany smiles to Findy. "Give me a few hours with my digital pics of those monoliths, and I bet I can get you your point of origin. You just have to figure out how to get us from here to there." She takes a sip of coffee and looks toward von Braun. "Indeed, Santa Klaus, we're all dying to know what you've come up with..."

Bishop had been sitting back listening, not particularly understanding anything being said but taking mental notes in case it came up in the future. The warmth had begun to return to his extremities, and even more so now that a smile cracked his face after Bethany's Santa Klaus comment.

Findy MacLean

"Assuming no one objects, or can offer a reason why not, then I expect I should get tell the engineering team we need to get working on the possibilities of using the Hammond's rings to try to ring over to the other site. Tricky, but not impossible. If we come up empty, then we can always build ships." She looks over at the doctor as well, wondering what von Braun may have been up to, with a look of fascination on her face. Unlike most of the others, she didn't seem to mind (or perhaps notice) his abrasive nature, and simply admired him for his scientific breakthroughs.

Dr. von Braun continues his work in silence, oblivious to Findy's attention, so she heads off to the engineering lab to work on her next task--trying to get her little robot up close to the strange 11-chevron gate that seems, at the moment, to be the survivors' best hope for getting home--or anywhere else, for that matter.



Several relatively uneventful days pass. The fourth day is unusually warm--perhaps what passes for a thaw around here--and water drips from icicles around the roofs of all the buildings in camp. The top layer of snow turns slushy, making everyone's boots sodden and uncomfortable. The engineers are putting the finishing touches on their calculations while pressing the more able-bodied and bored airmen to clear a path to the transport rings. The work is to be split between two teams, one stationed at the transport rings and the other up at the Stonehenge to deal with the mechanics of dialing.

Dialing is perhaps the most complicated part. Despite her best efforts, Bethany is only about half certain she has worked out the correct sequence of glyphs, and Dr. von Braun's acerbic attempts to "help" haven't boosted her confidence. She looks decidedly nervous and fidgety as Major Thorsson enters the Mess Tent to conduct the pre-event brief.