A Matter of Time
[Fade In:
SPACE SCENE.
P3W-451. Planetary sunrise as seen from space. Pan to the right and see a yellow star, similar to Earth's sun. As pan to the right continues, we see that this star system is a binary, with the yellow star orbiting a white dwarf companion. Around the white dwarf flows a continual stream of matter leeched from the yellow star. A few minutes later, the white dwarf collapses and becomes a black hole, which begins to pull asteroid-like matter into its gravity well. Its orbit takes it extremely close to P3W-451.
Fade from space view of P3W-451 to its surface.
We see a figure dressed in gray running toward an unrevealed destination. The reason he's running is also unrevealed. As pan up from his feet, we see that he's accompanied by two men and a woman, obviously a team. The figure in the lead looks back over his shoulder at his companions. We can see the patches of the SGC/Earth symbol on their shoulders. All the voices are distorted because of their closeness to the black hole.]
MAJOR BOYD: Come on!
[All four of them continue running toward their destination. One man loses his footing in the sand and stumbles, falling face first. His team leader stops to help him up, grabbing him by the collar. The captain reaches the summit of the hill first and starts down it, with his teammates following him.]
CAPTAIN: It's right on top of us!
BOYD: Dial home, Captain! That's an order!
[All four of them are panting and heaving as they struggle to get up a hill to an unseen object. As the others reach the summit and go down a small incline to reach the object, the female stumbles. Major Boyd helps her up and over the hill ahead of him. The camera cuts to a view of a Dial Home Device. The captain reaches the DHD first.]
CAPTAIN: We're not going to make it!
BOYD: We'll make it! Dial now!
[He rolls up his sleeve, revealing a GDO. He looks back at something that's obviously scared the four of them, back to his team and then back to whatever they see.]
[Fade to exterior scene of Cheyenne Mountain, two guards dressed in cammos are walking in front of the entrance to the mountain and a humvee is parked nearby.]
[INTERIOR.
SGC CONTROL ROOM.
Jack and Sam standing in front of a map in the control room. ]
JACK: Look, I know I should know this by now. I swear it'll be the last time I ask. These wormholes we go through, they're not always there, right?
SAM: No, sir. It can only form between two open gates.
JACK: What's with the worm part? The worm thing. I-I don't get that.
SAM: That's just a metaphor.
JACK: Right. I knew that.
[Sam puts the pad she's holding down on the desk and turns back to face Jack as she begins to gesture.]
SAM: Imagine the galaxy is an apple. We burrow our way through the apple like a worm, crossing from one side to the other instead of going around the outside.
JACK: Okay.
SAM: Now, of course, the diameter of the apple is just a two- dimensional representation of space-time and well, the hole isn't a hole per se, but an interdimensional conduit . . . (Looking at Jack, she sees the blank look on the colonel's face.) Colonel?
JACK: Okay. (He closes his eyes and shakes his head.) I'll be all right.
[The sound of the Stargate's inner bevel turning and the red lights begin to flash, signaling an incoming traveler. Lieutenant Graham Simmons gets up from a nearby desk where he's working and heads toward the control room.]
GRAHAM: We've got an incoming unscheduled traveler.
[Sam and Jack follow him.]
FEMALE VOICE: Closing iris.
[Graham sits down in front of the main dialing computer and looks at the monitor.]
GRAHAM: Getting a signal.
JACK: Who've we got out there?
GRAHAM: SG teams 4, 6 and 10 are the only units presently off world, sir.
[Graham turns and looks at Jack over his shoulder, then turns his attention back to the screen in front of him.]
JACK: Daniel's with 6, isn't he?
SAM: Yeah, he's on a dig on P3X-808.
GRAHAM: Computer can't identify the signal. It's not a GDO transmission.
[Simmons turns and looks at Sam and they both turn their attention back to the screen.]
SAM: Let me hear it. (She listens closely to the signal.) Intermittent RF pulses, low frequency.
[The camera centers on the computer screen in front of them and Graham reaches up to activate the external computer speakers so they can hear the signal. General Hammond enters the control room.]
HAMMOND: What do we got?
JACK: Don't know, sir. Some kind of signal.
SAM: There's a repeating signal. Lieutenant, play it through the computer. We can run it a lot faster.
GRAHAM: Trying 200 percent.
[The lieutenant types the command into the computer.]
SAM: Go 6.
[Graham types her order into the computer and it becomes a signal it recognizes as Graham and Sam look at the monitor.]
GRAHAM: Computer now recognizes the signal as SG-10's iris code.
JACK: That's Henry Boyd's team.
[Simmons turns to look at Sam. The shot then turns to Hammond.]
HAMMOND: Why would their code be coming through so slowly?
SAM: I have no idea, sir, but if we don't open the iris--
JACK: The next thud we hear will be Henry Boyd's team.
[Graham's looking at Hammond as the general and Jack talk.]
HAMMOND: Do it.
[The lieutenant turns back to the computer and types in the command. The iris slowly opens.]
JACK: Come on, Hank. The door's open.
[The wormhole abruptly fades out.]
HAMMOND: What happened?
SAM: I don't know, sir.
JACK: General, SG-1 would like the rescue mission.
HAMMOND: Not yet, Colonel.
JACK: Hank would do the same for us.
HAMMOND: I know he would, if and when I gave the order. (Hammond looks at Graham.) In the meantime, I want a probe on the ramp and ready to go ASAP. (Graham gets up from the chair and leaves the control room to see to the preparations of the probe.) Colonel, have units SG-1 and 3 geared up and standing by.
[Jack and Sam leave the control room to see to prepping the two rescue teams. Hammond turns to look at the Stargate, then turns to leave the control room.]
[End Teaser.]
[Opening
INTERIOR CORRIDOR OF CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN.
Hammond and Sam are on their way to the control room, followed by Jack and Teal'c.]
HAMMOND: SG-10 was on a routine exploratory mission of P3W-451.
SAM: It's a binary system. We just recently discovered it.
TEAL'C: Were there any indications of an enemy attack?
HAMMOND: None. One thing Major Boyd's team reported was that whatever indigenous life there may have been on 451 recently became extinct. They were trying to determine the cause. In the event I authorize this mission, SG-3 will back you up.
JACK: In the event, sir?
GRAHAM: Chevron 3 encoded.
HAMMOND: Let's see what the pictures the probe sends back. Make the proper threat determination.
JACK: General--
HAMMOND: You could gate into an ambush for all we know.
JACK: I recommended Major Boyd for this command. Now, if he's in trouble, I want to go in.
HAMMOND: I'm aware of that, Colonel.
GRAHAM: Chevron 4 encoded.
JACK: Yes, sir.
GRAHAM: Chevron 5 encoded.
TEAL'C: Major Boyd is a capable warrior, O'Neill. You trained him well.
JACK: Yeah.
GRAHAM: Chevron 6 encoded. (He continues to watch the dialing computer's monitor.) Chevron 7 locked.
[The Stargate opens and the MALP heads up the ramp and goes through the wormhole. On the other side, it begins transmitting images of what it sees back to the SGC.]
HAMMOND: I don't understand. It's just--
JACK: Red, sir.
HAMMOND: Are we receiving telemetry?
GRAHAM: Yes, sir, but at an even slower rate than before.
SAM: There's an image here. Input the video feed into the computer, but compensate for a longer light wavelength. Step it up in 20 millimicron increments.
HAMMOND: Captain?
SAM: Sir, it's possible that the image we're receiving from the probe has red-shifted, distorted toward the infrared end of the spectrum
HAMMOND: Why?
TEAL'C: The same reason their codes came through so slowly.
SAM: Yeah, whatever that is.
GRAHAM: It's working.
JACK: What the hell's going on, Hank?
TEAL'C: Is something pursuing them?
HAMMOND: See if you can play back the video transmission in real time. We need to find out--
GRAHAM: This is all we've received so far, sir. 11 frames of digital picture in the last 6 minutes.
SAM: That represents a fraction of a second.
TEAL'C: Perhaps a malfunction?
JACK: No. The picture tells us everything we need to know. That team is in trouble, probably under attack. Permission to go in, sir?
SAM: Negative, sir.
JACK: What do you mean, 'negative?'
SAM: I'm sorry, Colonel, with all due respect, but if I'm right, we can't help them. Now the camera may still respond to commands. See if you can tilt it up and give us a wider angle. (Graham types the command into the computer.) I think I know what Major Boyd seems so afraid of. (The MALP camera tilts up and we see a blurry patch of sky that Sam points at.) There. Isolate that area and digitally enhance.
[The image focuses into that of a black hole as seen from the perspective of the MALP and SG-10. Everyone turns to look at Sam.]
HAMMOND: What am I looking at?
JACK: That's a black hole, sir.
SAM: A newly formed one by the looks of it. P3W-451was orbiting its companion star. The orbit's probably pulling them closer and closer.
HAMMOND (a confused look on his face): Why don't hey just gate out of there?
SAM: They're trying to, sir, but the closer you get to a black hole--
JACK: Time slows down.
TEAL'C: It almost appears to stand still.
SAM: From our perspective, yes, but you have to remember that time is relative. As far as SG-10's concerned, only a few seconds have passes. They're still trying to save themselves.
HAMMOND: What will happen to them?
SAM: Well, sir, the time dilation is a result to the intense gravity, which is directly proportional to their proximity--
HAMMOND (somewhat annoyed at her detailed explanation): Captain!
SAM: Sorry, sir. Their bodies will be pulled apart by increasing tidal forces.
TEAL'C: They did manage to activate the Stargate once.
SAM: Yeah, but from their perspective, it couldn't have been open for more than a second.
HAMMOND: Is there nothing we can do to save them?
JACK: They've had it, sir.
HAMMOND: You know that for a fact, Colonel?
JACK: No, sir. I don't, but have a look at Major Boyd's face. What does that say to you?
HAMMOND: Very well. (He turns to look at Graham.) Disengage the Stargate.
SAM: Sir. By some fluke of Stargate technology, we are witnessing something that the laws of physics say we can't possibly witness.
JACK (somewhat sarcastic at her morbid sense of curiosity): We are witnessing good men dying in slow motion, Captain.
SAM: You're right.
HAMMOND: Shut it down.
[Graham inputs the order, but the computer flashes the following
message:
Stargate shutdown sequence incomplete
Cannot disengage
The young lieutenant looks at the screen and tries again. Twice.]
GRAHAM: Sir, it won't disengage.
HAMMOND: Try again.
GRAHAM: I already have, sir. Twice. It won't shut down.
(Jack stares at the Stargate, uncertain as to what's going on.)
[End Act 1.]
[Open Act 2
EXTERIOR: CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN. A team of United States Air Force Special Forces operatives are met by a young sergeant stationed outside the mountain.]
MAN: Go! Go! Move! Move!
CROMWELL: Sergeant, how long have you been out of contact with this facility?
SERGEANT: Coming on four hours ago, sir. But it was 'funky' for a while before that.
CROMWELL: Is that proper military terminology? What exactly does 'funky' mean, Sergeant?
SERGEANT: Everyone was talking real slow, like when the batteries die on your Walkman.
CROMWELL: Uh huh. (He points to a nearby hole covered with a metal lid.) Will that shaft take me directly to Sub-level 28?
SERGEANT: Yes, sir, but I don't know how you're going to get down there.
CROMWELL: Not to worry, we brought our own transportation. (He gestures to the shaft cover as his men come over. One of them produces a length of rope.) Gentlemen, hook 'em up. Begin. (One of the men opens the shaft cover and Cromwell shines a light down it as well as his gun.) Clear.
[Hammond is sitting in his office and picks up the red phone that will connect him with the President.]
HAMMOND: This is Major General George Hammond. I have an urgent matter to discuss with the President.
[He looks at the phone curiously, puts down the receiver and then leaves his office.]
SAM: Sergeant, try disconnecting the super-conductive interface.
SILER: Already tried that, Captain. It's stuck.
SAM (as she turns to Teal'c): Teal'c, Siler could use a hand.
TEAL'C: I will assist.
HAMMOND: Captain Carter.
SAM: General. I was just on my way to report, sir. The capacitors should've fully discharged by now, but somehow, the gate is drawing power directly.
HAMMOND: Isn't there supposed to be a theoretical time limit to how long a wormhole can be maintained?
SAM: Yes, sir. We just passed it.
HAMMOND: Then how is this possible?
SAM: Well, since time is passing more slowly on P3W-451, relative to Earth, we're experiencing a paradox the Stargate was never designed for.
HAMMOND: Why in God's name is it doing that?
[The surface of the wormhole begins to shimmer and ripple in a way they've never encountered as they watch it.]
SAM: I have no idea, sir.
JACK: It started just after you got online with the President.
HAMMOND: I never got through to the President.
[Graham turns and sheepishly looks over his shoulder at Hammond.]
GRAHAM: Beg your pardon, sir. It seems we've lost communication below Sub-level 24.
HAMMOND: Where is the nearest secure phone above that?
GRAHAM: NORAD, main level.
HAMMOND: I won't be gone long. In the meantime, Colonel--
JACK: Understood, sir. (Jack gets up and looks at the Stargate, an idea in mind. He then looks at Sam, a curious look on his face.) Carter, what would happen if we simply pull the plug? [The two of them look at the shimmering Stargate. Cut to the main power vault of Cheyenne Mountain. Siler and Jack are staring at a panel of circuit breakers.]
JACK: Carter, we reached the main power vault.
SAM (as she looks at Graham): We'll isolate the capacitors first.
GRAHAM: Panel 6.
SAM: Colonel, pull breakers 90 through 94 on panel 6.
JACK: Roger that. Stand by.
SAM: Stand clear, people. I have no idea what this is going to do.
TEAL'C: We must vacate this area.
JACK: Alright. We're kind of shorting out up here.
SAM: Main breaker?
GRAHAM: It'll overload.
SAM: We've gotta do it. Colonel, pull the main breakers.
JACK: On one. 3. 2. 1.
[Jack and Siler pull the main breakers, which causes a feedback of power. Teal'c and Siler are both injured.]
SAM: Colonel, are you all right?
GRAHAM: Medical emergency to the gate room.
SAM: Colonel, are you all right?
JACK: Siler's hurt. Did it work?
SAM: Negative, sir. Even with the power cut, it still won't shut down.
JACK: How's that possible?
SAM: It must be deriving its energy from the black hole itself. (She turns to look at Graham.) Get a med team to the main power vault. We gotta get these fires out!
GRAHAM: Med team to the main power vault.
FEMALE VOICE: The Mountain is now on emergency internal power.
SAM: Help is on the way.
TEAL'C: Do not concern yourself with my injury.
SAM: You're badly burned, Teal'c, even for you.
TEAL'C: Look at the Stargate.
[Sam walks over to the Stargate, takes off her dog tags and holds them up to the wormhole. She watches as they're pulled into it and then she whirls around to look toward the control room.]
SAM: Lieutenant, close the iris!
GRAHAM: It's an outgoing wormhole. Nothing can come through this way.
SAM: Except for the black hole's gravity. Now close it! That's an order!
GRAHAM: Closing the iris.
[Hammond is in the elevator on his way to NORAD main level. As he reaches the main level and steps out of the elevator, a bright light is shined in his eyes as a young major recognizes him. The major steps in front of the men to keep them from shooting the commander of the SGC.]
PAUL DAVIS: Hold your fire! It's the general!
HAMMOND: What the hell's going on? Who are you?
PAUL: Major Davis, sir. I'm with the Office of the Joint Chiefs. If you'll come with me, please.
HAMMOND: What are these men doing in my facility?
PAUL: We were under the impression that there had been an alien incursion, sir. A Special Forces team had already been sent down before we understood what was going on. If it's all right with you, sir, I'd like to brief you on the way to your aircraft. Time is of the essence.
HAMMOND: We've got an emergency situation Major! I'm not going anywhere until I talk to the President!
PAUL: He wants to talk to you personally, sir. Your aircraft is standing by on the tarmac. It is urgent that we leave immediately.
[Hammond relents as the meaning of Paul's words finally sink in. He gestures for the major to precede him up the hallway and out the door.]
HAMMOND: Lead the way.
[Cut to a semi-dark corridor within Cheyenne Mountain. Janet Fraiser is running through the darkness, on her way to a medical emergency in the gate room. She stops when she sees the sparks from the cutting torches as whoever is using them finally breaks through the metal. The doctor is accosted by Cromwell and his team.]
CROMWELL: Freeze! Up against the wall! Move! Move! Tags! (He looks at the tags she hands him.) Doctor Fraiser.
JANET: Yeah. Who the hell are you? Put that down!
CROMWELL: Colonel Frank Cromwell, Air Force Special Operations. Five hours ago, all contact was lost with this facility. I am here to find out why.
JANET: Colonel, I have been called to a medical emergency.
CROMWELL: My superiors have reason to believe the SGC had been overrun by alien hostiles.
JANET: All I can say is that they've been misinformed.
CROMWELL: Hell, from what I've read about what goes on in this place, Doctor Fraiser--hell, you could be one of them for all I know. Move out! Take the six!
[EXTERIOR SCENE
Night and a light rain is falling. We see a jeep and a humvee driving down the road leading from the mountain. Focus on the interior of the jeep.]
PAUL: We were hoping that someone such as yourself would come back up and confirm our hypothesis.
[Hammond glares at Paul, who doesn't react to the general.}
HAMMOND: Which is?
PAUL: We now know that the SGC is experiencing what is called time dilation. Time is quite literally passing slower within the facility than it is topside.
HAMMOND: That would explain the communications problem.
PAUL: Yes, sir. We also know that there are only two things according to relativity that would cause this effect: velocities near the speed of light or extreme gravity.
HAMMOND: Approximately ten minutes ago, we established a wormhole to a planet at or very near the event horizon of a black hole.
PAUL: Since time is more or less at a standstill on the other side, you've been unable to disengage the Stargate. That was our hypothesis, sir. Keep in mind we've had a few more hours than you have to thin about this. They'll be conferencing you with the President aboard the aircraft, sir.
HAMMOND: Thank you, Major.
PAUL: Good luck, sir.
[Aircraft takes off with the general aboard, headed for Washington D.
C.
End Act 2.]
[Open Act 3.
BRIEF EXTERIOR SCENE, THEN CUT TO INTERIOR SCENE. Infirmary. Jack and some medical technicians come in wheeling a gurney with Sergeant Siler, who was injured in the main power vault. Sam is with Teal'c, checking on his condition after being burned earlier.]
JACK: Siler took a pretty good hit. How're you doing, Teal'c?
TEAL'C: I suffered simple electrical burns, O'Neill. Nothing more.
SAM: He'll be out of commission for a few days.
[A rumbling sound is heard throughout the complex. Jack looks at Sam.]
JACK: Carter?
SAM: Gravity waves. Colonel, I assumed that the wormhole itself would insulate us from the black hole's gravitational field, but it seems that our space-time has begun to warp just like on P3W-451.
JACK: Will you stop that?
SAM: We're in trouble, sir.
JACK: Thank you. Think of something.
[Jack leaves the infirmary.]
SAM: Yes, sir.
[In the corridor, O'Neill runs into Fraiser and the Air Force Special Operations team. Janet calls out to Jack and Cromwell steps forward.]
JANET: Colonel!
CROMWELL: Clear!
JACK: Cromwell?
JANET: You know this buy?
JACK: Oh, yeah. (To Fraiser as he gestured up the corridor.) Go. Go on. (Janet leaves as he faces Cromwell.) It's been a while.
CROMWELL: Yeah. Five hours. Got everybody pretty worried upstairs. Where's the general?
JACK: What's the five hours?
CROMWELL: That's how long this facility's been out of contact with the outside world. Pentagon suspected alien hostiles.
JACK (sarcastically): And they sent you?
[They head for the control room overlooking the Embarkation Room. Cromwell gets his first view of the Stargate.]
CROMWELL (whistles): So, this is the Stargate. What's the problem?
JACK: We gated to a planet that's being sucked up by a black hole. Very bad. Very dangerous.
CROMWELL: And why is that?
JACK (sarcastically): Things tend to get sucked in.
SAM: Took the liberty of closing the iris, sir.
JACK: Captain Carter, Colonel Cromwell. He's come to rescue us. I wouldn't count on it.
CROMWELL: Pentagon was concerned you were under alien attack when we lost contact.
SAM: How long ago was that?
CROMWELL: A little over five hours ago. Why?
SAM: My watch reads 1330 hours. What does yours say?
CROMWELL: Running slow, Captain. It's almost 1900.
SAM: Damn it. Colonel, I have to get off this level.
GRAHAM (his voice distorted): Captain Carter
[Carter turns at the sound of Simmons calling her name and walks over to the control room's glass window.]
SAM: What is it, Lieutenant?
GRAHAM (voice distorted): The field is expanding. I'm reading over 7 gees at the iris.
SAM: Keep your distance, Lieutenant. Sir, for some reason, the warping of our space-time seems to be in advance of the gravitational field rather than as a result of it. It's probably a lensing effect generated by the Stargate itself, but I can't be sure.
CROMWELL: Don't even pretend you understood that.
SAM: The point is, sirs that time is passing more slowly down here than it is outside the mountain.
CROMWELL: Time is time.
SAM: No, sir. Not according to relativity. Now with the intense gravity field of something like a black hole, time actually slows down.
CROMWELL: We're not in a black hole.
JACK: Not yet.
SAM: But we are connected to its gravitational field through the Stargate and it's expanding in this direction like a bubble slowly expanding outward. That's why I have to leave, sir. I have to contact the Pentagon and try to find a solution before the gravity field extends beyond the gate room.
[Hammond walks down the steps from his office into the control room.]
HAMMOND: I just came from there myself, Captain. Colonel Cromwell, I presume.
CROMWELL (salutes): General Hammond.
JACK: You just came back from Washington, sir?
HAMMOND: There and back again. After someone upstairs managed to explain what was going on to me, we called an all-night session with the President and the Joint Chiefs. I've been gone nearly eighteen hours.
JACK: I thought you were on the phone.
SAM: It means the time dilation is getting worse as the field expands.
HAMMOND: That's the consensus. We set up a command post directly above, right on top of the mountain to monitor the expansion.
SAM: I have to get up there.
HAMMOND: The experts we consulted believe we're going to have to commence an auto destruct sequence to destroy the Stargate itself.
JACK: Sweet.
HAMMOND: They assure me that the gravity field now present around the gate will help contain the blast within the mountain and pose no threat to the civilian population.
SAM: With all due respect, sir. I don't think so.
HAMMOND: If we don't try, we lose the planet right through that.
SAM: We may well succeed in destroying the base, sir, but leave the gate and the wormhole intact. What happens to the planet then?
HAMMOND: Orders have been given at the highest levels, Captain. It is our duty to carry out those orders.
SAM: But, sir--
HAMMOND: The decision's been made, Captain. Don't forget those people up there've been working on this a lot longer than you have. It's what they came up with.
SAM: Yes, sir.
HAMMOND: I'm ordering the complete evacuation of the SGC, effective as of right now. I'll need two volunteers to stay behind in order to give our personnel a head start.
JACK: I'll stay, sir.
CROMWELL: Me too, sir.
JACK: Anyone else?
CROMWELL: Looks like you're stuck with me, Jack.
HAMMOND: Done! It takes two officers to initiate the countdown. (He walks over to the mike and looks out over the gate room.) Attention! This is General Hammond. All personnel are ordered to evacuate this facility immediately! Repeat, all personnel report to the main level immediately! That is all!
[Everyone is shown complying with Hammond's order. Cut to an infirmary shot.]
JANET: Okay. Move it. On my count. 3. 2. 1. Easy. Watch his chest. Move him out! Let's go!
[Cut back to the control room.]
HAMMOND: Wait five minutes, then start the countdown. Good luck.
CROMWELL: Thank you, sir.
SAM: Make sure you give yourself enough time to get out, sir.
JACK: Time. . . right.
[End Act 3.
Open Act 4.
EXTERIOR SHOT OF CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN.
Trucks drive from the mountain and personnel come from doors near the ground entrance.]
SERGEANT: General. We were getting worried.
HAMMOND: How long was I gone?
SERGEANT: 22 hours, sir. General Colin's waiting for you in the command post.
HAMMOND: Thank you, Sergeant. (He turns to look at Sam, who is standing beside him.) By my reckoning, I was gone 20 minutes.
SAM: Well, sir, accounting for time spent coming and going, I would guess that time in the SGC facility has slowed to an average of about 600 percent below normal. When you ordered Colonel O'Neill to wait 5 minutes, you were really telling him to wait 6 hours, maybe more.
HAMMOND: Captain, relativity gives me a headache.
[ Hammond walks into the command tent and Sam follows after a few seconds. Cromwell looks up at the MALP telemetry and sees Henry Boyd. He turns back to look at Jack.]
CROMWELL: Who's this?
JACK: Henry Boyd. Good officer. Smart. Kinda reminds me of Carter a little. This was their first mission as a team.
CROMWELL: He looks scared to death.
JACK: He's on a planet that's about to be swallowed by a black hole and he knows it.
[Fade from Major Boyd's face on the monitors to Sam working on some calculations on a dry note board in one of the tents topside. An airman offers her a cup of coffee, which she takes, and a doughnut, which she does and then puts back into the box as she licks the glaze off her fingers.]
SAM: Uh--no, thank you.
TEAL'C: Perhaps with rest, the answers will come.
SAM: Hey, Teal'c. You know anything about quantum gravity?
TEAL'C: Nothing.
SAM: Apparently, neither do I.
TEAL'C: What do these equations represent?
SAM: Probably a life's work. I don't have that much time, unfortunately.
TEAL'C: How may I be of assistance?
SAM: We're experiencing a time dilation in a radius wider than the gate room itself. Most of the SGC in fact and it's expanding. But it's all happening in advance of the gravity field that's causing it. Now according to everything I thought I knew about relativity that is just not possible.
TEAL'C: Yet it is so.
SAM: Right. If it wasn't, we'd be pulled apart by now. You know, they're proceeding with a plan that makes assumptions about gravity and space-time with absolutely no regard for the fact that it completely contradicts our observations.
TEAL'C: I see.
SAM: In other words, Teal'c, they don't really know what the hell's going on, so they're just going to blow it up. There doesn't seem to be a damn thing I can do about it.
[Fade in to the control room as Jack and Cromwell get ready to set up to initiate the auto destruct.]
JACK: Let's get set up. Computer needs your authorization code before it'll accept the command. go ahead and enter it.
CROMWELL: Maybe now you know how it feels.
JACK: You done?
CROMWELL: Roger that.
JACK: When the time comes, hit the 'enter' key on my mark and then run like hell.
CROMWELL: Got it.
JACK: Two minutes.
[Cromwell turns to look at Jack, who still has his back to him. Cut to a computer image of the gate room displaying the expansion of the time dilation field. Sam's image is seen on the screen. General Hammond joins her.]
SAM: Gravity field extends to the blast doors of the control room now, sir. It's not good.
HAMMOND: I take it you still believe our plan isn't going to work?
SAM: To be honest, sir, I'm afraid the gravity field will dampen the effects of the explosive. We'll lose the SGC, but the wormhole will be intact. What's left of the mountain will collapse into the wormhole. Six months after that, the state of Colorado. Six months after that-- At least Daniel'll live out there.
HAMMOND: If you're wrong, and for once I hope you are, we can restart the SGC with the second Stargate at Nellis and in time we--
SAM: Wait a minute. Sir, that's it. We do use a bomb, but we focus the energy of the blast. When Colonel O'Neill and I were sent to the Antarctic gate, it was because we were under enemy fire.
HAMMOND: It caused an energy surge.
SAM: Yes, and that surge caused the wormhole to jump from one destination to another. If we can channel enough energy in the direction of our Stargate, it should cut the connection with the black hole and cause the matter stream to jump to any gate along the way.
HAMMOND: Leaving our Stargate connected to some other world.
SAM: Yes, sir, but then all we have to do is shut it down. Sir, we have to stop Colonel O'Neill.
[Fade back to the control room. Jack has entered something into the computer by keyboard and is straightening up. He glances at the monitor on which Major Boyd's face is still displayed. He then walks over to a console and glances at his watch.]
JACK: One minute.
CROMWELL: Maybe the last one. We used to be friends, Jack.
JACK: Yep.
CROMWELL: I was sick to my stomach when I found out you were still alive. I wanted to go back for you.
JACK: Why don't we just do this and get the hell out of here, alright?
CROMWELL: Someone dropped a dime on the incursion. You got hit, you went down. I made a judgment call to save the rest of the team.
JACK: And I saw you take off. And then I saw four months of my life disappear in some stinking Iraqi prison.
CROMWELL: I thought you were dead!
JACK: You thought wrong! What do you want? You want me to forgive you, is that it?
CROMWELL: Yeah, I guess I do.
JACK: Well, that's tough. What happened to "nobody gets left behind"?
CROMWELL: Well, what about him?
JACK: That's an entirely different scenario.
CROMWELL: That is the exact same damn thing, Jack.
[The glass from the control room windows begin to shatter and is drawn toward the Stargate. Sam, and Siler walk into the control room.}
SAM: Don't activate the auto destruct, sir. It won't work. I have another idea.
[End Act 4
Open Act 5.
Siler and Sam lower rope to allow Cromwell and Jack to travel down the length it to the Stargate.]
SAM: The g-suits should help you withstand the higher gravity on the way down.
CROMWELL: What's this bomb we're delivering?
SAM: It's a shaped charge. We want to focus the explosive force toward the wormhole, hopefully with enough energy to cause it to jump, like what happened to us in Antarctica.
JACK: Right. Where is it?
SAM: They're modifying the warhead's yield to my calculations and it's being flown in from Travis.
CROMWELL: How long's all that going to take?
SAM: Well, sir, with any luck, about 5 minutes, relatively--
JACK: Relatively speaking?
SILER: Anytime you're ready, sirs. I don't know how much longer that iris's going to hold.
SAM: They have to wait for the bomb.
[Teal'c comes in carrying a bomb.]
JACK: You got better quick.
TEAL'C: It has in fact been several days.
JACK: Yeah. I knew that.
SAM: Everyone who doesn't have to be here should go topside.
JACK: Cromwell.
TEAL'C: Cannot the bomb be detonated by remote?
SAM: It has to be set a certain distance from the gate and at an exact angle. The timer can't be set until they're into position because of the variance in time dilation.
CROMWELL: Man, she is--
JACK: Way smarter than we are. I know.
[Cromwell and Jack begin sliding out the line toward the Stargate as the others watch from the control room.]
CROMWELL: Just like old times, huh, Jack?
JACK: Oh yeah. Black holes, wormholes. Just like old times.
[Outside shot of General Hammond standing in front of a tent. Lieutenant Graham Simmons walks up to him and offers him a cup of coffee, which he takes.]
GRAHAM: Sir?
HAMMOND: Thank you, Lieutenant.
GRAHAM: Do you think they'll be able to shut it down, sir?
HAMMOND: We'll know sometime tomorrow.
[Graham leaves and the general drinks his coffee. We cut back to the control room and see Cromwell and Jack sliding down the ropes. Sam, Teal'c and Siler watch from the control room.]
JACK: Oh, yeah. Yeah. We're pulling some major gees now.
CROMWELL: I feel like I put on a couple hundred pounds.
JACK: I wasn't going to say anything.
TEAL'C: They appear to be moving very slowly.
SAM: Only from our perspective.
SILER: Ah, Captain.
[Control room glass shatters and heads toward the two dangling men.]
SAM: Colonel! Colonel, look out! Colonel! (Echoing through the room.)
CROMWELL: Did you hear that?
JACK: Look out!
[Glass comes flying toward them and a piece lodges in Cromwell's line.]
CROMWELL: Are you all right?
JACK: This is close enough! Set the timer! 20 seconds!
CROMWELL: We won't make it out.
JACK: 20 seconds.
CROMWELL: Set!
JACK: Do it!
(The iris gives way and Jack almost gets drawn into the black hole.)
CROMWELL: I got you!
JACK: Get up there and arm that damn bomb!
CROMWELL: I've got you! Just climb!
JACK: Just arm the damn bomb!
CROMWELL: Why?
[As Jack struggles to hold him, Cromwell looks at him, a calm and peaceful look on his face. He knows that if Jack holds onto him, he'll end up taking both of them into the black hole. When Jack's grip fails, Cromwell doesn't try to latch on to him. He falls into the black hole and Jack climbs up the rope to set the bomb.]
SAM: Teal'c, pull him up!
[Teal'c starts to pull Jack up and Siler assists him. Fade to white as the bomb explodes and then into a view as Jack awakens in the infirmary.]
DANIEL: Hey, Jack. Did I miss anything?
JACK: I made it?
HAMMOND: We all made it, thanks to you and Captain Carter.
JACK: How?
SAM: Teal'c managed to pull you far enough away from the bomb before it went off.
JACK: Thanks.
TEAL'C: You are welcome.
SAM: The majority of the blast energy went right where it was supposed to. The wormhole jumped to P2A-270 and once it did that, we shut it off.
JACK: Good thinking, Captain.
SAM: Thank you, sir.
HAMMOND: A new trinium-strengthened iris is being installed right now. We should be back in business in no time.
JACK: What day is it?
DANIEL: Well, this might be a little difficult to accept, but since you reported for duty yesterday, two weeks have actually gone by.
JACK: Two weeks? Think I'll sleep in.
HAMMOND: You do that.
[Fade out and end credits.]