INT. CREEK MOUNTAIN/LEVEL 28/OPERATIONS ROOM – DAY
Having come down a spiral staircase, Catherine, Daniel, Barbara, and Meyers enter the operations room. Located directly beneath the briefing room, the operations room is lined wall-to-wall with advanced computer equipment and staffed with a handful of civilian technicians. Sitting at a large computer console set up in front of a large bay window overlooking the gate room is MITCH STOREY and JENNY TAYLOR-ALLAN, the two senior technicians responsible for the operations of the stargate itself. Both around the same age as Daniel, Mitch – with his shoulder-length hair, short beard, round glasses, and blue cap – is obviously the Bohemian/hipster type, while Jenny – with her long, thick brown hair, purple sweater, and close-fitting black pants – is more the girl next door.
CATHERINE: Monitors up.
JENNY: (activates the main computer monitors) Monitors are up.
CATHERINE: Mitch, want to bring up the details on the centre monitor, please?
With a push of a button, the primary monitor comes to life, displaying a live-feed video image of the portion of the stargate’s inner ring positioned directly under the gate’s topmost jewel.
MITCH: I’ve got details on.
CATHERINE: Let’s give the wheel a spin.
MITCH: No problem.
Mitch enters a command into the console and an apparatus of motorized rubber wheels clamped around the bottom portion of the stargate begins to operate, turning the heavy inner ring in a slow clockwise direction.
MEYERS: You found this thing in Egypt?
CATHERINE: Yes. My father found it buried under the coverstone when I was a child. It’s composed of a crystalline element unlike any found on Earth. (beat) Okay, Mitch, let’s take it for a test drive.
Mitch enters a new command into the console, initializing the dialling sequence which will encode the eight symbol address into the stargate. The ring turns until the tile bearing the first glyph is positioned under the topmost jewel, at which point both it and the bottom left jewel split open, the central crystals, the engraved grooves running along the sides of the jewels, and the glyph tile suddenly lighting up with a white glow. The jewels snap closed and a low harmonic HUM begins to resonate from the stargate.
JENNY: Chevron One is holding. Chevron One is locked in place.
The topmost chevron goes dark again and the ring slides to the next glyph. As the next three glyphs are entered into the gate, with Jenny calling one each out, the harmonic tone emanating from the stargate builds in both pitch and volume.
BARBARA: I can only guess how many volts it takes to fire that puppy up. (to Barbara) Do you pump direct or alternatin’ current into the ring to make it run?
CATHERINE: Neither, actually. As far as we can tell, the stargate is completely self-powered, requiring no external power source for operation. The only power we need supply is to the apparatus which turns the dial, and that is rather minute.
JENNY: (cont’d) Chevron Five is holding. Chevron Five is locked in place.
As the fifth chevron is engaged, the tone coming from the gate changes to such a pitch and volume that both the room containing it along with the operations room begin to vibrate violently, causing everything not bolted or otherwise secured down to dance and jitter around. As Mitch’s open can of root beer rattles its way off its perch, Daniel grabs it, keeping its contents from spilling all over the place.
MITCH: Gracias.
DANIEL: De nada.
JENNY: (cont’d) Chevron Six is holding. Chevron Six is locked in place.
MEYERS: (worried) I take it these vibrations are a natural part of the gate’s operation?
CATHERINE: This is why we’ve never entered the full combination into the gate before. (beat) When Project Giza was first incepted, we weren’t operating here under Creek Mountain but in a laboratory in a base in Missouri. The laboratory walls weren’t built to withstand the intense vibrations; only two glyphs in, the entire wing in that section of the base collapsed. (beat) Many were injured and killed, including the researchers who were working on the gate. (beat) Afraid that the device might have been a weapon of some sort, we decided to put off entering the full combination in ‘til we learned more about it.
JENNY: (cont’d) Chevron Seven is holding. Chevron Seven is locked in place.
BARBARA: (nods toward the gate) Here it comes.
As the rooms continue to rattle, the eighth symbol in the address is rolled into position under the topmost chevron. Both it and the top right chevron snap open, lighting up along with the glyph tile.
JENNY: (cont’d) Chevron Eight is holding ….
The two chevrons snap shut and the harmonic tone again builds. The topmost chevron goes dark.
JENNY: (cont’d) Chevron Eight is locked in place.
The personnel in the operations room take in one, collective breath, anticipating the end result of the dialling sequence. Nothing happens. The stargate, eight of its nine chevrons and eight of its thirty-nine glyphs glowing white, just stands there, motionless. After a minute the stargate disengages, the chevrons and glyphs returning to their previous darkened state and the harmonic tones dying down to nothing. Seeing this, everyone in the operations room releases a collective sigh, clearly disappointed.
BARBARA: (dumbfounded) The map, the translation …. We were certain!
Daniel just stares at the ring of iridescent black stone, his right hand on his hip and his left on the back of his head. Uncertain, he turns to Mitch.
DANIEL: Start the ring back up.
Mitch turns to Catherine, his eyes inquiring.
DANIEL: (irate) Just start it up!
CATHERINE: (shrugs) Humour him.
Mitch obeys. Once again the inner ring of the stargate starts spinning. His eyes intent on the centre monitor, Daniel watches as the glyph tiles slide across the screen. As a certain glyph slides into position, the Egyptologist holds his hand up.
DANIEL: Stop!
Mitch complies and the ring ceases its motions. There, front-and-centre, is a glyph resembling a large inverted “V” with a small circle perched atop its apex.
FLASH CUT TO
A shot of the coverstone’s cartouche.
There, situated directly beneath the cartouche, is a hieroglyphic depiction of two human figures with tall staffs at hand standing on either side of a pyramid.
FLASH CUT TO
A close up shot of Daniel’s face.
DANIEL: I can’t believe we missed it!
BARBARA: What?
Daniel turns away from the monitor to his three colleagues.
DANIEL: The combination consists of nine symbols, not eight! We were missing the ninth symbol!
MEYERS: But there’s only eight symbols in the cartouche.
DANIEL: No, no, don’t you see? The ninth symbol isn’t in the cartouche – it’s below it!
Turning back to Mitch, Daniel reaches into the front pocket of the senior technician’s denim vest and pulls out a fat black permanent marker. Uncapping it, he begins to draw on the monitor displaying the arrow-shaped glyph.
MITCH: (alarmed) Hey, hey --!
On both sides of the glyph, Daniel draws a pair of stick figures holding staffs.
DANIEL: Two figures … praying beside a pyramid … with the sun directly above it.
Catherine, Barbara, and Meyers close in around the Egyptologist, peering at his handiwork. With Daniel’s additions, the glyph is now an almost-exact copy of the engraving under the cartouche.
MEYERS: He’s right.
BARBARA: Can we be sure the sequence is complete now?
CATHERINE: Only one way to find out. (beat) Mitch?
MITCH: I’m on it.
Mitch programs the ninth glyph into the computer and then re-initializes the dialling sequence. Once again the inner ring rotates, Jenny calling out as each of the glyphs in the address are encoded into the stargate. As the chevrons lock on, the harmonic tones and vibrations begin to build again.
DANIEL: Let’s hope this is it.
The first eight symbols have been entered into the stargate, leaving only the ninth symbol. It’s wheeled up under the topmost chevron, lighting up as the pronged clamp snaps open then closed again.
JENNY: (cont’d) Chevron Nine is holding. Chevron Nine is locked in place.
The harmonic tone issuing from the stargate reaches its crescendo as the remaining thirty glyphs and all the designs etched on the stargate’s surface light up with white light. Without warning, silver energy comes swirling into existence within the mouth of the stargate, cascading into a churning pool of glowing mercury, which then bursts outward like a geyser turned on end, rushing toward the great bay window leading to the operations room with a big KAWOOSH. Several of the personnel leap back, crying out with fear at the approaching torrent of incoming energy. Just as quickly as it came shooting out, however, the windsock of liquid energy reverses itself back into the torus of the stargate, forming a vertical pool of gently-rippling, silver-coloured light. Behind that pool stretches an invisible corridor leading to a destination 4,500 light-years distant.
MITCH: Tres cool.
Going over to a computer monitor, Barbara watches a red crosshair move across a map of the nearby universe. The crosshair soon comes to stop on a familiar-looking region of space.
BARBARA: (smiles) The beam’s locked itself onto a point in the M37 cluster.
DANIEL: (nods) 4,500 light-years away.
JENNY: (reading a monitor readout) It’s got mass. It could be a moon or a large asteroid.
A phone hanging on the wall left of the bay window starts ringing. Walking over to it, Catherine picks it up and raises it to her ear.
CATHERINE: Yes?
INT. CREEK MOUNTAIN/LEVEL 27/ BRIEFING ROOM – DAY
Gen. West, O’Neal, and Lt. Anderman stand at the bay window, looking down at the stargate. Anderman is the man talking to Catherine over the phone.
LT. ANDERMAN: Send in the probe.
INT. CREEK MOUNTAIN/OPERATIONS ROOM – DAY
MITCH: (turns to Catherine) What is it?
CATHERINE: (covers the receiver) They want to send a probe through.
INT. CREEK MOUNTAIN/LEVEL 28/EMBARKATION ROOM – DAY
The large, thick door to the room slides open, allowing ten armed airmen to enter. As they take positions around the gate, their guns levelled at the glowing puddle, a pair of officers wheel a Mobile Analytical Laboratory Probe – or MALP – into the room. Positioning it before the ramp leading up to the stargate, they switch control over to a technician working in the operations room.
INT. CREEK MOUNTAIN/LEVEL 27/BRIEFING ROOM – DAY
LT. ANDERMAN: Record all information from the stargate.
INT. CREEK MOUNTAIN/LEVEL 28/EMBARKATION ROOM – DAY
Its treads rotating, the MALP begins rolling forward, climbing the ramp up toward the open stargate. As it reaches the rippling mirror-like surface of the puddle, it stops. Moving forward toward the liquid energy, the mechanized arm immerses itself into the puddle with an accompanying electric-like sizzle. As the arm disappears past the torus of the gate, the technician in control of the MALP kicks it into overdrive, pushing the probe in after its arm on a course for the unknown.
INT. CREEK MOUNTAIN/LEVEL 28/OPERATIONS ROOM – DAY
Her dialogue with Anderman finished, Catherine hangs up the phone, refocusing her attention back on the stargate.
CATHERINE: (to Daniel) It’s starting to get exciting, isn’t it?
DANIEL: (to Mitch) What’s happening now?
MITCH: We’re waiting to see if the probe can send data back through the gate.
DANIEL: (turns to Catherine) How long have you people been working on this?
CATHERINE: The stargate was unearthed when I was ten years old, in '67, but the Egyptian government didn’t release it until '83. Then we had to wait for the British to hand it over. When we finally got hold of the gate, we had to wait to get our financing. (beat) It wasn’t until '04 that Project Giza was finally approved to go ahead.
DANIEL: But then that accident happened.
CATHERINE: Correct ….
Tears suddenly begin to well up in the woman’s eyes. Though she tries to wipe them away before Daniel can spot them, the renegade Egyptologist notices anyway.
DANIEL: (frowns) What’s wrong?
CATHERINE: I told you the research team directly responsible for the experiment on the stargate that day died in the cataclysm.
DANIEL: Yes ….
CATHERINE: I didn’t tell you that my fiance, Ernest, was the team leader.
DANIEL: (shocked) God ….
CATHERINE: (cont’d) Project Giza was put on hiatus following the accident and the stargate placed back into storage. I only managed to convince the people at the Pentagon to reopen the project three years ago.
JENNY: Something’s coming through!
Everyone in the room, their eyes transfixed on the monitors, watch as the first images from a world 70,000 light-years away come to life on the primary monitors. There, from the MALP’s point-of-view, can be seen the stone walls of a long chamber stretching past a peculiar-looking pedestal to a ramp leading to another chamber beyond.
DANIEL: (points at the pedestal) What is that? Can you zoom in on it?
The image of the pedestal grows larger as the MALP’s camera zooms in. While its ultimate function still cannot be determined, it’s clearly composed of the same iridescent black quartz as the stargate, its engravings glowing the same white light.
DANIEL: Could we get a better look at it? Wheel past it then turn around?
MALP OPERATOR: Let’s see.
The MALP begins moving forward, and without much effort the probe is directed around the pedestal. As the probe is turned around, the people watching the monitors are afforded a clear view of the pedestal. On a slanted, pronged dais, two rings of thirty-eight panels are arranged around a glowing white central hemisphere, each panel engraved with glowing glyphs identical to those found on the Earth stargate.
CATHERINE: (awed) That was what was missing at the dig at Giza. That was what they used to control it.
MEYERS: Let’s get a look at the gate itself.
The operator pans upward away from the pedestal, allowing them a clear image of the activate stargate on the other side. Like the Earth stargate, it is installed close to the back of its room, a short platform of steps leading up into the energy-filled torus. As the operator starts to zoom in on the crystalline ring, the picture begins growing fuzzy.
JENNY: We’re losing the signal.
The stargate suddenly disengages, the energy pool unravelling into nothingness and the chevrons and engravings going dark.