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Story Hour
The Cheyenne Mountain Irregulars: A Stargate Story Hour. Updated 7/20
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<blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 2826789" data-attributes="member: 10689"><p><strong>Episode 2: Don't Drink the Water. Part 4 - Time, Space, and Blueberries</strong></p><p></p><p>Dawn was dim and chilly when it finally broke over P2X-435, casting gray light over the barren landscape. </p><p></p><p>“You know, this sort of looks like Cape Cod,” Kathleen mused, as she looked around at the sandy hills and scrubby evergreens. </p><p></p><p>“I was thinking Jersey pine barrens,” Joe grunted. “Hey – blueberries.” He pointed at one of the bushes near the spot where the group had camped, which was covered with what looked very much like blueberries. Joe clambered to his feet and started poking through the thin branches.</p><p></p><p>“Don’t eat them!” Reinhart cried. Joe, his hand poised to pick one of the berries, gave the lieutenant a hard look and a sardonic quirk of a smile.</p><p></p><p>“Look, maybe <em>you</em> won’t have any ill effects from eating them,” Kathleen conceded. “But I’m not going to do it until I’m sure they’re safe. And I still don’t recommend it, even for you. But <em>you</em> get to be the one to take the samples to send back to the SGC,” she added, passing the Tok’ra a small plastic vial. Joe stared at the vial, then at Kathleen, then shrugged and popped a blueberry in his mouth before dropping one into the vial. Kathleen rolled her eyes and turned away with a sigh. “Right. It’s almost light enough to get the UAV, I think.”</p><p></p><p>“Will you need the assistance of everyone?” Ked’rec spoke up, from where he was sitting cross-legged and straight-backed.</p><p></p><p>“No, I think Reinhart and I can get it. Ked’rec, you and Mr. Healy can scout out the area downstream while we’re running the UAV.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, sir,” Joe said, with a shrug of a salute. </p><p></p><p>Kathleen shot him a look. With Joe, the line between serious and sarcastic was so thin that it was sometimes hard to tell which was which. Was he following the trend of the newer recruits, who often called everyone ‘sir’ regardless of gender? Had something gotten lost in translation from Orieth? Or was he mocking her? All that Kathleen could find to say in response was “It’s ‘ma’am.’”</p><p></p><p>Joe just grunted, and moved off to follow Ked’rec downstream along the bank of the brown river.</p><p></p><p>**</p><p></p><p>Half an hour later, both the ground and aerial surveys were completed. The UAV, sent upstream in the direction that SG-14 was believed to have gone, returned images of a village about twelve kilometers north of the gate on the other side of the river - a small cluster of houses, surrounded by agricultural fields – and a few kilometers beyond that, a swampy wetland area. But it was a spot closer to the gate that caught Kathleen’s attention.</p><p></p><p>“What’s up with those trees?” she asked, pointing to a roughly oval-shaped region, spanning both sides of the river, where the trees appeared to be of a different texture.</p><p></p><p>Reinhart squinted down at it. “I’m not sure, ma’am. But it’s on the way to the village, so we’ll run into it if we go there. It doesn’t look dangerous or anything, just…different.”</p><p></p><p>Joe had his hands full of blueberries when he returned, and tossed one ostentatiously into his mouth. Kathleen noted, unhappily, that they smelled like <em>very</em> good blueberries. While Joe chewed, Ked’rec reported, “The water becomes lighter as it goes downstream. There are several other streams that join it along the way – they contain clear water, and therefore dilute the concentration of whatever is making this stream brown. Other than that, there are no notable features in the distance that we traveled.”</p><p></p><p>“Right.” Kathleen nodded. “It’s more likely that SG-14 went upstream, then, towards that village. Let’s go north.”</p><p></p><p>**</p><p></p><p>The sun rose higher as Ked’rec led SG-17 north on a path through the scrubby evergreen forest that he followed with confidence at every turn, but which none of the others could even begin to guess at. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: DarkOrange"><em>We should mark our trail</em>,</span> Orieth thought, with the beginnings of anxiety rising at the idea of moving into unfamiliar territory. <span style="color: DarkOrange"><em>We must make sure that we will be able to find our way back!</em></span></p><p></p><p>Joe shrugged off the feeling as best he could, but the uneasiness lingered. <em>Fine. Wouldn’t hurt</em>. As he tore the ragged strips of cloth to make trail markers, he found himself meticulously writing the time on each. <em>What’s that for?</em></p><p></p><p><span style="color: DarkOrange"><em>We must keep track of the time, as well. If we find ourselves circling back upon our path, it will be helpful to know when we passed this way, in order to reorient ourselves. And if we take that, calculated with the average speed at which we walk…</em></span></p><p></p><p><em>Shut up</em>.</p><p></p><p>About six kilometers north of the gate, the early-morning sun suddenly broke through with surprising strength. Ked’rec, still in the lead, was startled to find himself towering over the tops of the trees. “This is most unusual,” he observed, placid and understated as ever.</p><p></p><p>“I think this is your weird spot on the UAV photos, ma’am,” Reinhart offered.</p><p></p><p>The group was standing on the edge of a large space, irregularly oval in shape and about half a mile across, filled with tiny trees. They looked exactly like the evergreens that had lined the edges of the stream the whole way up the river, except they were only four feet tall.</p><p></p><p>“All right,” Kathleen said. “We need to send back samples of these trees – needles, wood, pinecones, everything.”</p><p></p><p>“They aren’t pinecones, ma’am,” Reinhart replied, already starting to pluck a branch off of one of the little trees. “More like seed pods.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, get those then. And the soil, too. We need to figure out what happened here.”</p><p></p><p>“Looks like scorch marks on those trees.” Joe pointed to a few of the larger trees at the edge of the clearing. Kathleen shaded her eyes against the sun, squinting to follow his gaze as he continued, “Old ones, though.”</p><p></p><p>“Could a spaceship have caused it?” Kathleen asked. “It’s an awfully big diameter, but the Goa’uld have some that are big enough to fit this footprint. If a ship landed here, maybe it released some chemical into the soil that stunted the trees.”</p><p></p><p>Joe closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, Orieth was speaking. <span style="color: DarkOrange">“That would be unusual, but certainly possible, I suppose. Perhaps it was not a chemical, but simply the effects from having the ship burning the soil and resting on it for an extended period of time?” </span></p><p></p><p>No matter how hard they looked, though, there were no more clues to be found. In the end, Reinhart just stashed the samples in his pack, saving them to be sent back to the SGC later on, and the group kept moving north.</p><p></p><p>It was just after 0900 hours local time, by Orieth’s meticulous timekeeping, when the trees cleared away again to reveal a large meadow filled with blueberry bushes, and they saw the man picking blueberries.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ladybird, post: 2826789, member: 10689"] [b]Episode 2: Don't Drink the Water. Part 4 - Time, Space, and Blueberries[/b] Dawn was dim and chilly when it finally broke over P2X-435, casting gray light over the barren landscape. “You know, this sort of looks like Cape Cod,” Kathleen mused, as she looked around at the sandy hills and scrubby evergreens. “I was thinking Jersey pine barrens,” Joe grunted. “Hey – blueberries.” He pointed at one of the bushes near the spot where the group had camped, which was covered with what looked very much like blueberries. Joe clambered to his feet and started poking through the thin branches. “Don’t eat them!” Reinhart cried. Joe, his hand poised to pick one of the berries, gave the lieutenant a hard look and a sardonic quirk of a smile. “Look, maybe [I]you[/I] won’t have any ill effects from eating them,” Kathleen conceded. “But I’m not going to do it until I’m sure they’re safe. And I still don’t recommend it, even for you. But [I]you[/I] get to be the one to take the samples to send back to the SGC,” she added, passing the Tok’ra a small plastic vial. Joe stared at the vial, then at Kathleen, then shrugged and popped a blueberry in his mouth before dropping one into the vial. Kathleen rolled her eyes and turned away with a sigh. “Right. It’s almost light enough to get the UAV, I think.” “Will you need the assistance of everyone?” Ked’rec spoke up, from where he was sitting cross-legged and straight-backed. “No, I think Reinhart and I can get it. Ked’rec, you and Mr. Healy can scout out the area downstream while we’re running the UAV.” “Yes, sir,” Joe said, with a shrug of a salute. Kathleen shot him a look. With Joe, the line between serious and sarcastic was so thin that it was sometimes hard to tell which was which. Was he following the trend of the newer recruits, who often called everyone ‘sir’ regardless of gender? Had something gotten lost in translation from Orieth? Or was he mocking her? All that Kathleen could find to say in response was “It’s ‘ma’am.’” Joe just grunted, and moved off to follow Ked’rec downstream along the bank of the brown river. ** Half an hour later, both the ground and aerial surveys were completed. The UAV, sent upstream in the direction that SG-14 was believed to have gone, returned images of a village about twelve kilometers north of the gate on the other side of the river - a small cluster of houses, surrounded by agricultural fields – and a few kilometers beyond that, a swampy wetland area. But it was a spot closer to the gate that caught Kathleen’s attention. “What’s up with those trees?” she asked, pointing to a roughly oval-shaped region, spanning both sides of the river, where the trees appeared to be of a different texture. Reinhart squinted down at it. “I’m not sure, ma’am. But it’s on the way to the village, so we’ll run into it if we go there. It doesn’t look dangerous or anything, just…different.” Joe had his hands full of blueberries when he returned, and tossed one ostentatiously into his mouth. Kathleen noted, unhappily, that they smelled like [I]very[/I] good blueberries. While Joe chewed, Ked’rec reported, “The water becomes lighter as it goes downstream. There are several other streams that join it along the way – they contain clear water, and therefore dilute the concentration of whatever is making this stream brown. Other than that, there are no notable features in the distance that we traveled.” “Right.” Kathleen nodded. “It’s more likely that SG-14 went upstream, then, towards that village. Let’s go north.” ** The sun rose higher as Ked’rec led SG-17 north on a path through the scrubby evergreen forest that he followed with confidence at every turn, but which none of the others could even begin to guess at. [COLOR=DarkOrange][I]We should mark our trail[/I],[/COLOR] Orieth thought, with the beginnings of anxiety rising at the idea of moving into unfamiliar territory. [COLOR=DarkOrange][I]We must make sure that we will be able to find our way back![/I][/COLOR] Joe shrugged off the feeling as best he could, but the uneasiness lingered. [I]Fine. Wouldn’t hurt[/I]. As he tore the ragged strips of cloth to make trail markers, he found himself meticulously writing the time on each. [I]What’s that for?[/I] [COLOR=DarkOrange][I]We must keep track of the time, as well. If we find ourselves circling back upon our path, it will be helpful to know when we passed this way, in order to reorient ourselves. And if we take that, calculated with the average speed at which we walk…[/I][/COLOR] [I]Shut up[/I]. About six kilometers north of the gate, the early-morning sun suddenly broke through with surprising strength. Ked’rec, still in the lead, was startled to find himself towering over the tops of the trees. “This is most unusual,” he observed, placid and understated as ever. “I think this is your weird spot on the UAV photos, ma’am,” Reinhart offered. The group was standing on the edge of a large space, irregularly oval in shape and about half a mile across, filled with tiny trees. They looked exactly like the evergreens that had lined the edges of the stream the whole way up the river, except they were only four feet tall. “All right,” Kathleen said. “We need to send back samples of these trees – needles, wood, pinecones, everything.” “They aren’t pinecones, ma’am,” Reinhart replied, already starting to pluck a branch off of one of the little trees. “More like seed pods.” “Well, get those then. And the soil, too. We need to figure out what happened here.” “Looks like scorch marks on those trees.” Joe pointed to a few of the larger trees at the edge of the clearing. Kathleen shaded her eyes against the sun, squinting to follow his gaze as he continued, “Old ones, though.” “Could a spaceship have caused it?” Kathleen asked. “It’s an awfully big diameter, but the Goa’uld have some that are big enough to fit this footprint. If a ship landed here, maybe it released some chemical into the soil that stunted the trees.” Joe closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, Orieth was speaking. [COLOR=DarkOrange]“That would be unusual, but certainly possible, I suppose. Perhaps it was not a chemical, but simply the effects from having the ship burning the soil and resting on it for an extended period of time?” [/COLOR] No matter how hard they looked, though, there were no more clues to be found. In the end, Reinhart just stashed the samples in his pack, saving them to be sent back to the SGC later on, and the group kept moving north. It was just after 0900 hours local time, by Orieth’s meticulous timekeeping, when the trees cleared away again to reveal a large meadow filled with blueberry bushes, and they saw the man picking blueberries. [/QUOTE]
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