posi-tion,” O’Neil assured her dryly. “Fine-but I don’t screw over as easily as the old StarGate team leader,” Barbara said. “She was asking what, if anything, I’d heard about the project.” O’Neil’s eyes were suddenly tracking her like a pair of radar-operated guns.
“You spoke with Catherine Langford?”
Barbara shrugged. “Just a little hi-how-ya-doing?- enough to know that she hadn’t been contacted by West. In my book, that stinks, Colonel. The woman spent her life trying to figure out the riddle of the Star-Gate. She hasn’t got much time left-and you intend to keep her in the dark.”
Barbara glanced over to see how Sha’uri was taking all this. She could see the Abydan girl didn’t under-stand everything that was being said, but from the looks of things, she had a healthy suspicion of General West. That was a good sign. Hmmm. She was actually rather pretty, in a delicate way-like a fine-hewn Egyptian statue.
O’Neil actually seemed jolted. He took a moment be-fore he answered her. “Formidable as Ms.
Langford’s organizational qualities are, they’re not what’s needed on this project,” he finally said.
“She couldn’t come out and play anyway,” Barbara said. “She’s broken a hip and is afraid she’s going to get stuck in a rest home. But she did something odd, Colonel. She sent me a present for Daniel Jackson-as though she expected me to see him.”
Barbara reached into the pocket of her jumpsuit and produced a gold chain and bronze pendant. The heavy medallion had been incised thousands of years ago with a symbol that fused a bird’s body with a gi-gantic eye-the Eye of Ra. Dumping it on the desk, she said, “Now that I’ve delivered it, can you give me one reason to stay?”
“You saw that pyramid built over this world’s StarGate.” O’Neil was obviously choosing his words carefully.
“Yeah,” she replied. “A bit more gaudy than sheath-ing the place in limestone, like they did back home.
Reminded me of Vegas.”
O’Neil continued, refusing to respond to her jibes. “You no doubt noticed that this ‘sheathing,’ as you call it, is quite thick.”
“I’ve seen streets that didn’t extend as far,” Barbara admitted. “The artifact was not there when my initial recon-naissance team came to Abydos,” O’Neil continued.
“Wait a second,” Barbara interrupted, her voice sharpening. “You’re not telling me that whole pyramid-“
“Oh, the pyramid was there,” O’Neil said. “But not this so-called sheathing. The stone construction is ac-tually a docking station. But the rest-the section made of quartz material-is a starship. It’s not opera-tional now, unfortunately. Your job-“ the edges of his lips almost rose in a smile-“should you choose to accept it, is to examine the systems on board. See how they work. We’ve found several functional sub-microcomputers on the ship. You’ll be able to get information from them. Sha’uri and her assistants will translate for you. Of special interest are the power plant and engines.”
O’Neil leaned back in his chair, studying Barbara in-tently. “The StarGate is a fascinating artifact, but if we disassembled it to see how it worked, we might end up destroying it. This spaceship offers a complete but nonfunctional stardrive. If you could determine the operating principles-“ “NASA will be going a lot farther than Mars in the next few years.” Barbara gripped the edges of her chair to stop the room from spinning. “An honest-to-Pete starship. Why did-what-?”
“In this case, Doctor, the only relevant question is, ‘How does it work?’ “ The colonel glanced at his watch. “The rest of your team should be arriving within the hour. You’ve already met my aide, Lieutenant Charlton. He’ll serve as your liaison.” For a second O’Neil looked almost human. “I understand you’ve been handed a lot to assimilate. Lieutenant Charlton will show you to your quarters, and Sha’uri
“You spoke with Catherine Langford?”
Barbara shrugged. “Just a little hi-how-ya-doing?- enough to know that she hadn’t been contacted by West. In my book, that stinks, Colonel. The woman spent her life trying to figure out the riddle of the Star-Gate. She hasn’t got much time left-and you intend to keep her in the dark.”
Barbara glanced over to see how Sha’uri was taking all this. She could see the Abydan girl didn’t under-stand everything that was being said, but from the looks of things, she had a healthy suspicion of General West. That was a good sign. Hmmm. She was actually rather pretty, in a delicate way-like a fine-hewn Egyptian statue.
O’Neil actually seemed jolted. He took a moment be-fore he answered her. “Formidable as Ms.
Langford’s organizational qualities are, they’re not what’s needed on this project,” he finally said.
“She couldn’t come out and play anyway,” Barbara said. “She’s broken a hip and is afraid she’s going to get stuck in a rest home. But she did something odd, Colonel. She sent me a present for Daniel Jackson-as though she expected me to see him.”
Barbara reached into the pocket of her jumpsuit and produced a gold chain and bronze pendant. The heavy medallion had been incised thousands of years ago with a symbol that fused a bird’s body with a gi-gantic eye-the Eye of Ra. Dumping it on the desk, she said, “Now that I’ve delivered it, can you give me one reason to stay?”
“You saw that pyramid built over this world’s StarGate.” O’Neil was obviously choosing his words carefully.
“Yeah,” she replied. “A bit more gaudy than sheath-ing the place in limestone, like they did back home.
Reminded me of Vegas.”
O’Neil continued, refusing to respond to her jibes. “You no doubt noticed that this ‘sheathing,’ as you call it, is quite thick.”
“I’ve seen streets that didn’t extend as far,” Barbara admitted. “The artifact was not there when my initial recon-naissance team came to Abydos,” O’Neil continued.
“Wait a second,” Barbara interrupted, her voice sharpening. “You’re not telling me that whole pyramid-“
“Oh, the pyramid was there,” O’Neil said. “But not this so-called sheathing. The stone construction is ac-tually a docking station. But the rest-the section made of quartz material-is a starship. It’s not opera-tional now, unfortunately. Your job-“ the edges of his lips almost rose in a smile-“should you choose to accept it, is to examine the systems on board. See how they work. We’ve found several functional sub-microcomputers on the ship. You’ll be able to get information from them. Sha’uri and her assistants will translate for you. Of special interest are the power plant and engines.”
O’Neil leaned back in his chair, studying Barbara in-tently. “The StarGate is a fascinating artifact, but if we disassembled it to see how it worked, we might end up destroying it. This spaceship offers a complete but nonfunctional stardrive. If you could determine the operating principles-“ “NASA will be going a lot farther than Mars in the next few years.” Barbara gripped the edges of her chair to stop the room from spinning. “An honest-to-Pete starship. Why did-what-?”
“In this case, Doctor, the only relevant question is, ‘How does it work?’ “ The colonel glanced at his watch. “The rest of your team should be arriving within the hour. You’ve already met my aide, Lieutenant Charlton. He’ll serve as your liaison.” For a second O’Neil looked almost human. “I understand you’ve been handed a lot to assimilate. Lieutenant Charlton will show you to your quarters, and Sha’uri
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