Tenth Gate [Video]

[forsometimenow]

Who: Jennifer Keller and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: N/A
When: Now

A year, huh... [Jennifer looks distant and sounds a little sad.] How... [She hesitates.] If you've been here for a while, what kinds of things do you do to cope when you're really, really missing home? Because I've been thinking about my friends back home a lot lately, and having been the only person from my world here this entire time... [She trails off, and decides to just wait for responses.]

Comments

[dancingmd]

Yes! And... it's a perfect opportunity for you to try something from my world, if you'd like? It's called synthehol, and I've been making it for Crowley here.

[forsometimenow]

I'd like that. See, sharing things with each other... it's one of my favorite things about being here.

[dancingmd]

[Beverly smiles, then sort of ... Gently pushes her towards a booth.] Excellent! You go sit down then and I'll bring the drinks. And maybe a snack?

[forsometimenow]

Sounds good. And... thank you.

[dancingmd]

Always.

[Another soft smile, and then she's off to the bar! She returns with two pale pink drinks in hand, complete with tiny umbrellas and curly straws(Crowley's touch, of course). They look similar to frozen daiquiris, but they won't taste exactly like any Jennifer might have had on Earth. Still fruity, though, and deceptively sweet. Beverly sets the glasses down on the table, looking very satisfied with herself.]

There we go, two Ferengi Stardusters!

[forsometimenow]

Looks good. [Jennifer raised her glass.] Here's to friendship... and to all the crazy shit we've been through in the past year.

[dancingmd]

[That elicits a small laugh from Beverly and she tinks her glass against Jennifer's before taking a sip.]

So... what do you think?

[Jennifer will notice it certainly tastes alcoholic yet there's something a little... different about it.]

[forsometimenow]

I like it. It's... not exactly like anything I've tasted before, but it's good. What's in it?

[dancingmd]

Synthehol. It's an alcohol substitute that mimics the taste and some of the more pleasant effects of alcohol, but does not cause intoxication and isn't addictive. I've been producing some here for Crowley, for people who would like to come to the bar for socializing but don't drink alcohol, for whatever reason.

[forsometimenow]

Now THAT sounds handy. [She took another sip.] A nice way to have the social aspect of drinking without the negative effects. If the future of my world turns out to be even half as awesome, humanity's in for a great time. [She winked.]

[dancingmd]

[She laughs.] Well it's not all fun and sunshine but I think you'd like it a lot.

[forsometimenow]

True enough... but still. The idea of humans and so many others living in harmony, working together... back home, all we had were the Wraith, and they wanted to eat us most of the time.

[dancingmd]

We have an enemy like that as well... though eating us is not their goal, instead they want to assimilate us into their collective consciousness.

[She frowns.]

But I do think it is that inter-species cooperation that will save us, in the end. Humans could not face down the Borg alone.

[forsometimenow]

I agree... and we were working toward that. Assimilation into collective consciousness, though... I'm not sure if that sounds better or worse than being food. [She sipped her drink again.] The Wraith are sentient and incredibly intelligent- they can't help their biology. I was working on trying to remove their need to feed on life energy, since they otherwise have digestive systems capable of digesting normal food, but hadn't yet succeeded.

[dancingmd]

So... they're corporeal, but they need to feed on energy to survive still? I have... encountered energy beings who needed a corporeal host but that's not quite the same thing.

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer nodded.]

They evolved from a species of bug called Iratus- and young Wraith can still eat and digest like a human does, but at some point, they become dependent on sucking energy from living beings. We still don't 100% understand the biological process yet, but needless to say, the humans of the Pegasus Galaxy lived in fear of the Wraith.

[dancingmd]

Does the energy have to come from other sapient beings? Or can they take from animals?

[forsometimenow]

It seems like they can only feed from humans. It was getting to be a huge problem for them and for us because there were many Wraith and not enough food to go around, so they'd set their sights on invading Earth. We managed to stop them, though.

[dancingmd]

[Beverly swirls her glass, staring at the liquid thoughtfully.]

Do you think they'll come back?

[forsometimenow]

Maybe- if they can figure out a method of intergalactic travel that doesn't take weeks and find Earth's precise location. Otherwise they're stuck in the Pegasus Galaxy. The one ship that DID manage to get to Earth was an anomaly.

[dancingmd]

The Pegasus Galaxy?

[Beverly raises her eyebrows, impressed.]

That's two and a half million light years away from Earth. Quite an accidental trip to make.

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer grinned.]

I'm not entirely sure how it works, but the Wraith ship that did make it got ahold of 3 ZPMS- a very rare power source- so they were able to make the jump through hyperspace to reach the Milky Way. I think. Rodney would be able to explain it better than I could. But the chances of another Wraith hive doing the same thing are slim to none because such a jump requires an enormous amount of power due to the distance, yes. A Stargate can overcome that, but they also require a lot of power to make the jump and they're physically too small for a lot of ships to go through.

[dancingmd]

That's good...and at least you know how they got here, so you'll be better prepared in the future. I take it then, that Earth mainly depends on the Stargates, not starships?

[forsometimenow]

The Stargates are our main means of interplanetary travel, yes. We do have ships capable of making the journey, but going from the Milky Way to the Pegasus Galaxy takes 3 weeks each way. We did briefly have a waystation comprised of Stargates linking the Pegasus gates to the one on Earth that reduced travel time for a few hours, but it was dismantled after the Wraith broke in.

[dancingmd]

[Beverly... stares.]

Three weeks! That's all?