Chapter 19: Trough the Gate

"How are you doing this?" Pansy asked in awe as one Chevron after another began to light up, locking each symbol of the address.

As soon as all seven necessary Chevrons had locked in, the gate shook, and an unstable vortex of energy formed that could disintegrate anything in its way. This release of energy happens because of the difference between the needed amount of energy to form a wormhole, which is so massive, and maintaining one, which requires a far smaller amount.

The unstable vortex receded and settled into the stable Event Horizon, which looked like a puddle of blue liquid inside the Ring of the Gate.

Opening his eyes, Harry began to explain, "Our ancestors began a few million years ago to develop superhuman traits, a lesser form of our own magic."The earliest trait they developed manifested itself in varying degrees in every member of their race: telepathy. From then on, their technology was, by standard, equipped with a neural interface that they could access with their unique telepathy. Of course, since we are so closely related to them, our mind arts act in a similar way, and we can control the technology of the ancients through telepathy. But it takes a bit of practice, since the mind arts are not naturally developed but trained for us."

"So I can learn it too? "She clarified.

Harry, meanwhile, was controlling one of the flying eyes through the gate. "Yes, with a bit of work."

"Useful." She muttered as she looked at the flying eye, "Wouldn't it be better if they were cloaked?"

"They would be; it's definitely something we should add. But that would at least require Naquadah, and I don't want to use up the small amount we have." His logical reply was, "For now, they do their job."From what I remember, this world is part of the Domain of Nirrti. Although she placed a few human slaves there to reproduce and populate the planet, there aren't any useful resources on that planet, so it wasn't of great importance."

"Still, this could have changed in the last few thousand years. Maybe she is using it as a military outpost or something." Pansy pointed out that they were imprisoned for a very long time; a lot could have changed.

"Maybe, but Goa'uld aren't the smartest. Or do you remember to go out of your way to fortify the Stargate with a defensive facility or at least guards if it wasn't your Crown World?" Harry asked, and Pansy shook her head. "See, Goa'uld aren't really the smartest anymore."

Not a moment later, he received the data and a video feed from the eye on the other side of the gate: "The atmosphere is breathable for humans, easily for us. There are no guards around the gate; it doesn't look like it was used recently. It must have been a while since someone visited this world."He noticed as she checked the surroundings of the other stargate with the flying eye.

"Well, it seems that this planet was forgotten by the Goa'uld Empire, or there would have been at least a path from the Gate." Looking over his shoulder onto the screen, she noticed

"Good for us. Let's go and get it."

Traveling through the gate felt like his soul was speeding through a winding tube in space until they were rematerialized on the other side. Arriving in a lush green world, large spans of forest surround them.

"It felt different than I remember it." Pansy said as she materialized beside him.

"Goa'uld are not sensitive to the zero-point energy around us, while wizards are. You felt what happened to your body in much greater detail, since you were now through your soul consciousness during the whole transition." Harry explained, having already expected that; this had been an exciting point of research for many scholars of the ancient race during their evolution, once they began to perceive the world in far greater detail.

"Well, it felt actually nice, so it wasn't bad. Where should we go?" She asked him while looking around.

"The facility with the device is that way. I can also feel a human settlement in that direction. While we shouldn't make contact, we can read a few minds for some intel." He decided. They weren't sure how connected this world is to the Goa'uld Empire, and even if it was forgotten, someone could come for a visit anytime. Tipping the System Lords off was something they didn't need right now; after all, they were System Lords once themselves and could be perceived as a threat by the current ones or an easy target.

The human settlement was quite primitive, still using only cold weapons. It would take a while for them to discover how to use Stargate. Neither was the population of that planet too big. There were at most around 50,000 people populating the planet, split into bigger and smaller villages. At least from what he could tell based on the information in their minds.

It was also as they had expected; it's been a few decades since Travelers came through the Great Ring, as they called the Stargate. But from what he learned from the village leader's son, Wodan, his mind is that they still believe that Nirrti was a goddess who would arrive if their people were in great need.

This was absolutely something Nirrti must have told their ancestors. From what he knew from Osiri's memories, Nirrti was obsessed with the idea of a Hok'tar host. She even took a student of an ancient called Lilith host and backstabbed that ancient to gain her knowledge.

That scheme was only partially successful; that student had only a bit of knowledge, while Lilith was too powerful for her to take over. Still, the powers of Lilith were what caused Nirrti to obsess over Hok'tar.

If she only knew what Harry was. Maybe that could be exploited in the future. Without a doubt, Nirrti will come here one day, spread a plague or something, and under the guise of helping them, use them as experimental subjects. That was a scheme a Goa'uld would set up.

Hopefully, she hasn't discovered what was on this planet yet. Once they gathered a bit of intel from the villagers, Harry and Pansy continued towards their main target. From the minds of the villagers, he knew that a part of the old research facility was still standing.

"This is the ruin of a temple, not a research facility." Pansy pointed this out as they arrived at an old stone ruin.

"I admit the early architectural style of the Ancients is quite an acquired taste. But when they arrived at the Milky Way Galaxy, their numbers weren't great. They preferred an efficient building style with abundant materials like stone. What really matters is the power of their technology. And they became better later on. You should see what their flying cities looked like." Harry explained while looking at the stone structure.

"Flying City?" Pansy wondered.

"Not important right now. Since the facility is still sealed, there is a very good chance that what we are looking for is still inside." Harry said as he walked towards a supposed wall of the structure. With his mind, he activated the entrance mechanism.

Revealing that the wall was, in reality, a door as it slid open.

They stepped into the research facility, but most of the things inside were corroded and turned to dust. After all, it had been a few million years since it was in use.

"Are you sure that we will find here what we are looking for? What even is this place?"She asked as she looked at the corroded interior.

"This planet is still a very diverse biotope, with many different lifeforms populating it. The Ancient researched Genetics here. Evolution was a major goal of their culture, so this facility was important to them. And its main device is still here. While most of the things here were nothing more than furniture, that wasn't important and could easily be replaced. They constructed their technology to last." Harry said as he waved his hand once they entered a wide room.

From below the floor, a stone hatch opened and a strange round platform appeared, with an accompanying control console.

"This is the Genetic Manipulation Device," Harry said as their target lay in front of them.

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