Episode 2

28/3/2034 10.00am

There is stunned silence in the control room as SG1, Mahonney, Bo and the gateway technician's stare at the image on the monitors. Immediately the ATV is recalled and the remaining members of SG1, accompanied by Bo Didley, prepare to go through.

Unsure of the atmosphere JJ dons a respirator and headlight and passes through the gate, closely followed by Schultz, Gomez, Kapek and Bo. Those with implanted filters quickly confirm that the area/room contains a breathable, if stale, atmosphere. Kapek establishes communication with SGC, however the newly built unit fails to connect and Kapek spends the next 20 minutes faultfinding. Whilst Kapek curses the remaining four spread out and take stock.

As Gomez, Schultz and Bo inspect the bodies a noise is heard from behind the gate, JJ, who is astride the collapsed walls/rubble reacts first, shouldering his M90G he sees the glint of an eye and fires a single shot. Schultz attempts to stay his hand, she too saw the movement in the corner but having seen the gnawed marks on the corpses she's pretty sure that whatever it is its more scared of them than they are of it. The round strikes home with deadly accuracy - cross off one dead vixen, from beneath the pile of leaves can be heard the whimper of several young cubs. Chastised by Schultz for his rashness JJ simply shrugs and continues his search of the alien body half buried in the rubble. The figure is wearing overalls not dissimilar to those worn by two of the human corpses. Again like the overall clad bodies it, and its fellow non-human, has died violently, its wounds being many and mainly consisting of blade slashes and heavy blows. Both aliens are armed with some sort of pistol, ever rash JJ picks one up, points it at the wall and pulls the trigger, there is a faint click and a sigh of relief from the rest of SG1.

Assessing the situation, both JJ and Gomez conclude that the pistols are a energy weapon, however they are without doubt designed to be used by a six fingered hand. As with the alien bodies, the humans wearing overalls have died from blood loss caused by knife wounds and bludgeoning. Unlike the aliens however they themselves appear unarmed. The three other humans all appear to have died from blast damage presumably caused by the energy weapons, they appear to have been armed with the distinctly home-made blades, clubs etc.

Study of their surroundings suggests they are probably in an underground bunker, dirt, rock and roots can be seen where blast damage has ripped away the cladding/partition walls. Taking stock, a number of bodies are present, two distinctly alien - six fingers, stocky, little if any neck, completely hairless, no eye lids etc. There are five, assumed, humans - two are dressed in overalls whilst the remaining three are attired in a mixture of T shirts, jeans, jackets etc all of which are heavily repaired, patched and worn. Assessing the state of the corpses and the conditions within the room Schultz estimates that the humans have been dead at least 10 years but less than 20.

JJ having searched the bodies and their tattered clothes announces he can find nothing to identify any of the humans but comment is made that the overalls have insignia on the breast. There condition unfortunately however is poor and they can't be read. Kapek meantime has located and corrected the commo fault and is now recording images of the room's contents. Realising that the amount of data is limited by the memory size of the recording equipment he turns his attention to jacking the unit to transmit the recorded data.

Schultz and co continue their investigate the bodies and clothing etc. Whilst comments are made in respect of likely ages, origins etc of the humans, a tattoo containing Germanic script is found on one of the males, it dawns on SG1 just how alike the two overall clad figures are. Even in death and despite the passage of time, they could be twins. Looking closer, scaring can be seen behind the left ear of both of the overall clad corpses; the scars take the form of a bar code. Checking the remaining bodies reveals similar markings but in distinctly different pattern.

Kapek announces that they now have a direct link to upload data, although only temporary it should suffice their immediate requirements. Continuing the search JJ and Kapek head for the LH doorway, Schultz and Gomez the right whilst Bo, roping himself to the gate itself clambers over the rubble blocking the passage.

Entering with caution, Schultz and Gomez find themselves in smallish room lined with banks of screens, two desks complete with workstations are also found. The corpse sprawled across the floor however takes initial attention. As with the overall wearing figures in the gate room this body too has been violently hacked to death. Not surprisingly a bar code is found behind the ear and it looks like it wasn't twins after all, it was triplets. Searching the room it is clear that someone didn't like computers, the monitors have been staved in, the bank of screens smashed and the draws etc ransacked. Inspecting the keyboards it, like the pistols, has clearly been designed for an extra digit, furthermore the configuration of the keys and the text/symbols present bare no resemblance to any known script.

JJ and Kapek scramble through the partly blocked LH doorway, entering carefully it is quickly established that this and the rooms beyond are living accommodation for the bunker crew. Moving on the two enter barracks, freshers, mess room etc all exhibiting blast damage/melee. Several more bodies are discovered, all human, clothed in overalls, all have died similarly to those encountered elsewhere. It is clearly apparent that all the overall wearing corpses, are identical.

Whilst the others search beyond the doorways Bo eases himself over the collapsed roof and into a corridor, shining a torch around the corridor continues with steps rising beyond the range of the torch. Easing forward several more bodies are sprawled along the passage, unlike those within the bunker these have all been ravaged by nature. All are dressed in patched, mismatching clothing and despite their condition they appear to have been killed by burn/energy blasts. Returning to the main chamber SG1 regroup, consider their next move and try to piece together what the hell happened. Amongst other things alien abduction, Pink Floyd tours and cloning are tabled. Schultz has Kapek relay a request to Mahonney to arrange for a recovery team to come through and retrieve the bodies, pc's etc. Additional photographs of the bodies are uploaded to SGC to allow comparison against FBI/Interpol missing person records.

Schultz takes the decision to press on and SG1 retrace Bo's earlier route and clamber into the corridor. Passing the corpses the group continue along and up the steps, bearing left, daylight can be seen. Scouting forward Gomez can see a pair of steel doors, which have obviously been blown open from the other side. Brushing aside natures ingress, Gomez peers out of the open door, beyond can be seen a partly cleared are of open ground with trees beyond, lots of trees. Caution aside JJ pushes the door back and steps into the light, no gunfire, no energy blasts, just bird song.

SG1 emerge into the daylight, poking about several more rag clad bodies, minus ID, are found in the tree line, it is difficult to assess how they died. Gomez comments that there appears to be an overgrown trail leading away from the clearing, some 30 yards along the path a third body is discovered. Gomez adds that the trees around the clearing have suffered considerable blast damage at least 10 years ago. JJ decides that a better view is required, aided by Bo, he scrambles up into the lower branches of a tree on the edge of the clearing and begins to climb. With only the occasional slip he eventually reaches canopy level but is disappointed to see only more trees in all directions. Glancing skyward however he is alarmed to note that despite it being a sunny day, there is apparently no sun in the sky. Passing this information to his companions he begins his decent, which, unexpectedly, suddenly becomes much quicker than intended. Falling some forty feet JJ is remarkably lucky as the many branches he encounters in his downward plummet arrest his fall such that he suffers only bruising of body and pride.