Chapter One: Stranger Things

Thanks Ashali for the beta.When Colonel Frank Cromwell first joined the Stargate program, he at first thought that it was an extremely elaborate joke, or an exercise in lateral thinking. It turned out that the Stargate program did involve a whole lot of flexible thinking as well as lateral thinking, and not only that.Some people can't be convinced of an absurd but true thing easily. So he had the privilege of seeing technological marvel up close and personal as part of his briefing though he had the unfortunate luck of exchanging barbs and arguments with Colonel O'Neill. That man was never happy to see him.Apart from having to dealing with an estranged serviceman from time to time, he mostly focused mostly on training. His team and himself studied the layout until they knew it like the back of their own backyard. Next, they studied the various scenarios that the various exploration teams and the command encountered to date, such as the seven foot tall Jaffa slave soldiers and their snake masters, sapient crystals, non-cooperative advanced humans, and even tree-hugging aliens. In short, anything could happen when you're part of Stargate Command.And here he was. Something did happened to him. He got sucked into a blackhole and was supposed to be dead. Instead, he realized that he was on some sort of movie set.The two men in front of him groaned as they got themselves up. He had no idea if they hostile or friendly. In truth, he didn't know what to do in such a situation.What languages do they speak? What is a stargate doing here on a set? Maybe this is time travel? Whatever the case may be, he didn't have a whole lot of time to ponder. Weirdly, they didn't look too alien to him either, even though everything felt slightly off."I come in peace?" Cromwell said hesitantly."Oh, look, it's Colonel Frank Cromwell!" the thin man said, though he still looked dazed."Frank who?" the fat man asked."The guy who got sucked in by a black hole saving Stargate Command," the other responded automatically."Oohhhh."Cromwell raised his eyebrows in confusion. It was as if they were talking about the past. Maybe they're filming a documentary? If so, why are they allowed access to an actual stargate?"Excuse me? What year is it?" he asked as his first question here."Two thousand fifteen."Shit. He had been thrown seventeen years into the future!"Wait a minute? Did you hire the original actor to play Frank Cromwell?" the fat man queried the thinner man."I did not- Oh!" the thin man realized, "Did we just got knocked out by something flying at us after a whirlpool unexpectedly splashed out from the stargate?""Hmm...now that I think about it. Yes.""And where does this man came from? I did not invite him to the set."The duo glared at Cromwell more intently. "Who the hell are you?" the fat man demanded.Cromwell blinked, uncomprehending of the situation he found himself in. Two thousand fifteen? Nineteen ninety-eight. Time travel? That has got to be it. But what about the stargate? Who are those two men? What are they doing with a highly classified machine? His mind raced about trying to see what he should do next.Finally after an impasse of about a minute, Cromwell finally answered. "I am Colonel Frank Cromwell of the United States Air Force. I believe I just traveled seventeen years into the future via the stargate. Now please tell me how the hell you acquired this device behind my back?"The fat man turned to the thin man, "I thought you told me that this stargate is just a prop!""I swear! I thought it was just a prop too!" the thin man said. "Look, there's no fucking way that a stargate can possibly be real anyway! It's fucking fiction! You of all people should know that faster than light travel violate the laws of physics. Frank Cromwell is fiction! FICTION! None of all that should be possible!""Wait? I am fiction?" Cromwell challenged as he stepped closer."If he isn't a trespasser," the fat man reasoned, "Then he's Frank Cromwell. In the flesh.""And so what if I am? I have half a mind to restrain the both of you and call for my superior for possession of federal property."The thin man put his hand up, gesturing for Cromwell to stop. "Look man, what if we show you irrefutable truth that you're fiction!?""By showing me a movie?""No, but I have all ten seasons of Stargate SG-1 on my laptop, two hundred fourteen episodes in all if I remember correctly.""What? How is that possible? There's no way you can fit all of that in a computer.""Moore's law! I mean Kryder's law. Whatever the law may be, you should accept that I can do this in two thousand fifteen. What year you came from? I don't have the exact timeline in my head.""October nineteen ninety-eight," Cromwell answered. "What is your name?""This is John Swift, a Silicon Valley billionaire, and I am Vincent Sinclair, just a humble science fiction author," the fat man introduced the duo."I am going to get my laptop," Swift said."No. I am following you, and your associate will come with us. I am keeping my eyes on both of you," Cromwell demanded.A moment passed as Swift thought about the demand, "Yes, I see no problem with that," Swift affirmed.With that the trio made their trek across the pristine flooring toward the exit of the massive warehouse. When they finally arrived outside the Berkovitz electric car, Swift took out his car fob, allowing the door handle to fly out."Whoa!" Cromwell said in surprise."No other car on the road sports that kind of feature, it's a signature of Berkovitz Electric," Swift explained briefly.The colonel asked himself, but then decided that line of thought wasn't important right now.The billionaire fished out a slab of metal with the bitten apple logo on it. It looked sleek and smooth, completely contrary to his expectation. In his experience, laptops were bulky portable computers usually made with grey plastics, not the thin slab of metal."What the hell is that?" Cromwell asked again."Like I told you, a laptop computer. I am sure you have Steve Job back on your Earth?"The soldier nodded. It confirmed to him who the maker of the laptop was. He didn't live under a rock."Let's head back in, to the second floor," the billionaire announced.The trio headed back into the warehouse, with the Colonel's mind burning with technological possibilities. He wanted to get back home, but he also wanted to stay here and partake in the changes that had occurred seventeen years after the fact.When they arrived at the set's meeting room, it was almost the same in its details. The special operator briefly thought that they had stolen this look from Stargate Command, but he corrected himself that they probably got it from the television series. He pushed it all down to focus on the evidence.Booting up, the startup sequence was very nice looking, and the login screen and the desktop did not disappoint. It was beautiful to look at.The billionaire quickly navigated to a folder and loaded an episode for viewing, "A Matter of Time"."This is the episode where you die in a black hole. You won't have any trouble watching it?" the billionaire questioned."No, not at all," Cromwell said. "When I let go of that rope, I thought I was going to die anyway."Immediately, the television show revealed a Stargate Command that clearly wasn't the same as his. For example, the stargate lacked all the symbols needed and the addresses were too short. He realized that this is a science fiction series designed to entertain people, not a documentary of Stargate Command. Even so, he couldn't help but be jarred by some of the differences.What didn't change was the people. Everyone looked pretty much the same. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the men who were trapped by the black hole, and he was reminded constantly of his own regret through interactions of his own character with the fictional version of Colonel O'Neill. Even his own death was basically on spot."What do you think of it, Colonel?" Sinclair wondered.Cromwell sniffed a little before answering, "Obviously entertainment, but the gist of the story is preserved. This episode was not the first time we met. My job required me to understand the layout of the base and to partly understand the operation of the stargate and how SGC operates.""So the television series can't fully be relied on as the gospel truth then," Swift reasoned out."Well, I am convinced that you think I am fiction," Cromwell moved on, "but I want to go home."Swift sighed as he rubbed his forehead,"Of course you do. But I have no idea how to get you home. Or how I acquired this stargate. Or if you're a simply a figment of my imagination! It's a dream come true that you're real. You're not my childhood dream but you're close to it. I was in my twenties when the first startgate episode aired... I don't know.""Relax, he's not your figment of your imagination. I am here," Sinclair tried to assure the billionaire."Thanks. But you could be a figment of my imagination too. Right now, I just realized the horrible implication of my favorite science fiction series coming true.""And what's that?" the airmen wondered."The System Lords. Replicators. The Ori. The Wraith. A good story needs a villain, and a series like stargate required a villain on a galactic scale." Swift shook his head, "This is not an adventure, but a nightmare.""I never thought of it that way. This was just the world we live in. Though I never heard of those villains that you mentioned.""They only get more terrifying as the series progressed. Replicators are swarm of self-replicating Von Neumnan machines. They like to eat technologies and they are practically unstoppable. The Ori are an ascended race of people with fanatical desire for more worshippers. The Wraith are space vampires."The Colonel arched his right eyebrow. "Space vampire?""Yep. Space vampire. They suck the very youth and vitality out of you, allowing them to live indefinitely. They preyed on the humans of the Pegasus galaxy.""Sounds terrifying. But are you going to assist me in getting home?""Does it have to be now?""As soon as possible.""Do you know the address to your Earth?""No. Why would I need to know that?""Damn, this is going to be harder than I thought. Follow me to the operation room."The operation room that hung over the stargate below did not disappoint, as the set very much resembled Stargate Command's operation room, and yet was modernized for two thousand fifteen. He assumed that it was, given the big flat screens displays that dominated the workstations."Well, the monitor said that the fake protocol was overridden," Swift said as he sat down. The monitor was showing a whole lot of texts on a black background, but nothing else, unlike Swift's laptop, which had a desktop and a recognizable graphical user interface. Strangely, it seemed that this obscenely wealthy man was very comfortable in this environment, "And....not good. It recorded a connection, but not an address.""How are we going to get Cromwell home if we don't know the address? Assuming that we can actually dial it, of course," Sinclair said."We don't," Swift responded. "Not until I figure this out." The billionaire typed in a couple of command into the console, "And viola! Apparently, there's already addresses that were 'explored', but I am not betting them on their safety. None of them are designated as Earth or an off-world bases."Cromwell frown. He wasn't going to get home."I saw a rover in one of the other room. Maybe you can use that to explore the gate addresses," Sinclair suggested."Sure. There's a panel on here made specifically for sending in and controlling a MALP," Swift said, before turning to the airman, "Colonel, there should be a rover in the garage situated next to the gateroom. Let go retrieve it."Being a security conscious man, it didn't take long for him to grasp the implication of everything he had heard and seen so far. "Wait!" Cromwell suddenly shouted. "Are you sure it's a good idea?""How is it not a good idea?" Swift inquired. "We're going to get you home, and to do that, we need to explore the galaxy for clues.""You said that my universe is a dangerous place. We're not going to just waltz around without precaution and a proper backup.""Oh," Swift caught on, "I see what you mean. But what do we need now?""We're going to need to talk to your government, particularly the commander-in-chief. They're going to take possession of your stargate here.""Wait? What!" Swift shouted indignantly."Must I remind you of the national importance of this alien device right here.""You mean, planetary importance," the science fiction author corrected pendantly. Cromwell ignored that remark."But I paid...like five thousand dollars for it! You can't take it away from me.""You got to be kidding me. Do you know what nat-" Sinclair briefly interrupted with, "planetary!" before Cromwell continued, "security mean? Your ownership of the most valuable engineering and scientific marvel pale to the importance to the lives of the people on Earth."Swift backed down. "Got it. You know, it's still so much to take in. The implication slipped my mind."Without warning, the gate started rotating again."What now?!" Cromwell said in alarm as Swift's eyes scanned the console for the pertaining message, "We need to get the iris online, now!"Swift rapidly typed in a series of command futilely to try to shut down the connection, "We don't have the iris installed! I am trying to shut down the stargate!""Well? Do any of you have guns?""No," Swift replied."I do not have a gun," Sinclair said."GOD DAMN IT!"Cromwell, took out his pistol and went down the stairs before the gate connected."I CAN'T SHUT IT DOWN!" Swift shouted at the top of his lung.With final chevron locked, the gate connected and the whirlpool splashed out. Moments later, an old styled MALP rolled into view. The Colonel still did not lower his gun down.Then, nothing happened."We're getting a signal from the rover!" the billionaire reported, "And it's looking at you, colonel!"For the second time in his very short stay, the Colonel once again felt puzzled as he stared at a vehicle that can only come from Stargate Command.