2 The Escape

"...Incredible," I blurted out, eyes widened in shock, as I admired the scenery right outside the triangular viewports of the spaceship's bridge.

It was a tunnel, wide and expansive, cutting right through the fabric of spacetime. Space seemed to bend and warp, pulsating gently, creating brilliant streaks of bluish-white light that shifted and morphed into distinct and disorienting patterns with each passing moment.

Hyperspace was, for lack of better words, beautiful. It was so breathtaking I was thoroughly mesmerized and captivated.

It was as if I was glimpsing at the very essence of the universe itself. I couldn't take my eyes off it, couldn't even think of anything else.

It was as if all my problems had been washed away, and just watching as the spaceship journeyed through it made everything feel so small and insignificant, but in a weirdly good way.

It was almost hypnotic, and the longer I gazed into it, the more disorienting and confusing it became, as if my mind wasn't equipped to handle or understand its existence, and suddenly my head began to throb.

I grimaced, tearing my eyes away from it as the throb intensified. The next second, it intensified again, transitioning into a headache that made me grab my head in pain.

"Ah!" I yelled loudly in pain, stumbling to the side and grabbing my head with both hands as the pain skyrocketed the following second.

I'd never experienced pain like this before. It felt like someone was hammering my brain with a sledgehammer continuously, the strength or weight of the strikes increasing with each passing second.

The pain was so intense that it brought me to my knees, my body trembling, making me scream continuously in agony with all my might, my fingers clawing at my head as it hung low, my senses hazy and disoriented.

Without warning, memories, waves of memories started popping up inside my mind. They were memories of another life, another person's thoughts, experiences, knowledge, wisdom, etc. The very things that made up the essence of a sapient being.

The information was vast, so vast that it seemed almost infinite as more and more memories poured out of the deepest recesses of my mind, and as it continued, the pain became so unimaginable that I couldn't even scream again.

But then suddenly, as if my brain had decided it was full, the flow of memories or information ceased or came to a pause. Then everything stopped.

The pain, the dizziness, the shaking, everything instantly came to an end. It was as if it had vanished, like it was all an illusion. The pressure or strain I could feel in my mind was the only indication that it actually happened.

My heart was racing, heartbeats pounding so rapidly that I could hear it clearly. I was breathing heavily, my breaths labored, and my chest heaving up and down like I'd just run a marathon.

Pools of sweat snaked down from my forehead, soaking my tunic and drenching my body, increasing my discomfort. Slowly, as I gradually calmed down, my mind began to clear.

And with it came a flood of emotions such as disbelief, shock, fear, and understanding as slowly my brain began to process all the things that had just happened as well as the vast amounts of information that seemingly erupted out of my brain.

"Oh no, this can't be possible," I murmured shakily as my eyes swept the room that now felt incredibly familiar. A room I now knew everything about.

It was a wide room with black and gold walls adorned with inscriptions, marble flooring, and a high ceiling.

There were two slanted golden pillars with similar inscriptions on the right and left sides of the room, extending from the floor to support the ceiling, and in front of the walls behind me stood proudly four silver and gold sarcophagus-esque metallic pods.

There was a waist-length golden pedestal a few feet away from me that had a circular device fixated on it. Ahead of it were two comfortable-looking chairs in front of two separate consoles that had oddly shaped red orbs jutting out of them.

This was the bridge of a Tel'tak, a Goa'uld cargo ship, something that wasn't supposed to exist in real life because it was the stuff of fiction, coming from a sci-fi show I grew up watching.

"...I'm in Stargate? How is that even possible?" I muttered shakily, wide eyes open in disbelief, as my mind shifted through the information I now possessed.

Raising my left hand, I examined the exquisite triangle-like device fitted snugly on my middle and ring finger, and immediately, I knew what it was.

It was a Harakesh, the device used exclusively by a group of Goa'uld called Ashrak. Despite its size and harmless look, it was a very dangerous weapon utilized by the Ashrak for assassination and other kinds of nasty stuff.

It was something that shouldn't also exist but here it was on my hand, staring right at me. According to my new memories, I was an Ashrak called Orion, or at least this body was.

In some weird cosmic mistake, I was now in the body of an Ashrak, a dead one at that. From what I could glean from Orion's memories, he was hired by Morrigan to assassinate one of Heru'ur's most trusted underlords, a Goa'uld named Verdon, the governor of one of Heru'ur's many industrial worlds.

He managed to do it but not before he was captured and tortured slowly for days using his own Harakesh. He escaped after finding a way to kill Verdon, stealing this ship and jumping into Hyperspace.

But not before it took a couple of shots from the Ma'Tok staffs of Verdon's Jaffa. He had completed his mission and escaped certain death, but the damage had already been done.

With no healing device or sarcophagus lying around to heal the damage done by the torture beam of his own weapon, the only thing he could do was lie down and die painfully in the cargo hold.

Then somehow, I came along and took over his body or, more specifically, the body of his host. It was unbelievable, even as the memories played in my mind, the whole thing still felt surreal, like I was in a dream.

Right here in my mind was the full history of his life. All the things he'd done in the five hundred years he'd lived were fully accessible to me in crystal clear detail. I even had all his knowledge and the understanding to use it.

It was as if I was him and he was me. The only difference being I couldn't feel what he felt, at least not all of it. The satisfaction he felt after killing Verdon was there as well as the rage he felt after being tortured but it was very faint and almost not there.

It was hard to put into words what I knew and could see in my mind. There was just so much knowledge. The scientific knowledge alone was so advanced that even given a thousand years humans wouldn't begin to understand even half of it.

Unfortunately, there were some things I could see also that were so horrifying, i could only assume my brain was so tired to process them fully, leaving my sanity and mental health intact.

Aside from that, the most important thing was that I finally understood my situation. I didn't want to believe it, but it was the undeniable truth. It was all too real to be anything else than reality.

I was here. I existed. I could feel, sense, and think it, so it had to be real. I had been reincarnated or transmigrated into the Stargate universe in the body of an alien. Fiction had now become my reality.

I sighed weakly as the realization set in, bringing a grim smile to my new face. I had died and come back to life. It was kinda funny the more I thought about it.

I didn't know why but knowing I'd just died didn't hit or affect me like I thought it would. Sure, I felt a little uneasy about the whole thing but overall, I was okay, happy even.

Maybe it was all these new memories and experiences or even the fact that I had no one left back at home who I'd left behind but I felt fine, a little mangled up, but nonetheless, I was alright.

After all, I'd been given a second chance at life, a chance to start afresh in a whole new exciting universe. It could be fictional or not, I didn't really care.

Besides, at this point, who knew whether it was my universe that was rather fiction and this the true reality? Either way, I didn't give a damn.

This was the opportunity of a lifetime, or was it lifetimes? Anyways, it was something anyone would literally kill to have and I was glad to have it.

I didn't know why I'd been given this chance or who or what brought me here or gave me this gift, but I was extremely thankful and would always remember it.

When I was a child, I'd always wanted to change the world for the better, in one way or the other. It was a dream I'd thrown at the back of my mind after growing up and learning the harsh realities of life.

But now, with the things I knew, I could easily make it a reality and do so much more. And that was what I was going to do, even if I had to die trying...

Smiling, I shook my head gently and took a deep breath, inhaling some of the chilly air into my lungs, and exhaled slowly, clearing up some of the ache in my head and slowly rose to my feet, looking at the control consoles ahead of me flashing with blue sparks of electricity.

"It's time to check out what's going on with this ship," I commented, taking a step towards the consoles. "Hopefully, the Ma'Tok blasts didn't do too much damage," I added, smiling wryly, but before I could proceed further, the ship started shaking violently.

I stumbled unsteadily to the side, crashing into one of the slanted gold pillars in the room hardly with my shoulder and winced from the pain.

Quickly, I grabbed onto the edges firmly with my hands for support as the ship shook like it was experiencing an earthquake, three escape pods tumbling to the ground with a bang.

"This doesn't look good." I clicked my tongue and frowned as the shaking continued, my body shaking with it.

The sparks increased in intensity, and the circular device on the golden pedestal that served as the source of the beeps began flashing bright red and bellowed one distinct beep as the shaking came to a halt.

Immediately, fear coursed through my system as instinctively, I understood what it meant. A timer had been set for the self-destruct sequence.

"Shit!" I cursed and quickly went to it, my head bent as my hands fell on the sides of the pedestal. Immediately, I started reading the symbols on the small screens ringing it that indicated time in Goa'uld.

"This is bad, really bad," I ran my fingers through my messy hair as I realized how much time the ship had left, my eyebrows knitting together as anger welled up within me.

The timer had been set to ten minutes. Meaning, in just ten minutes, this ship would blow up into pieces, taking me with it. Orion didn't do this so it must've been the damage the ship took when it was escaping from the Jaffa.

One of the nasty blasts must've caused a malfunction in the self-destruct mechanism, triggering an unsolicited self-destruct sequence.

I had to stop it and stop it fast.

Otherwise, my beloved second chance would end up being my last. Biting my lip, I quickly moved away from the pedestal and advanced to the control console on the left.

I held back a yelp as I got shocked the moment I touched it, my right hand getting numb. Shaking it, I forced the numbness out of my hand and moved it to touch the red orb.

The orb instantly flashed red as the neural interface activated, linking my mind to the control interface of the ship.

The console hummed, and a wide and crystal clear yellow holographic HUD popped up in front of me, showcasing the ship's schematics that were color-labeled, indicating signs of structural damage, as well as the key control systems of the ship.

With the grace of an expert, as if I'd done this a thousand times over, I used my mind to shift through the unneeded data and controls until I got to the system that linked the consoles to the ship's computer core.

Another loud beep echoed from behind me, signaling one minute gone, as I tried deactivating the self-destruct sequence to no avail, increasing my frustration.

Countless thoughts and ideas flashed in my mind as I began to think of a way to solve this problem.

The mechanism was malfunctioning just as I expected. The link it had with the computer core had been severed, leaving it out of sync with the rest of the ship's systems.

The only way to stop it now was to head to the engine room at the back of the ship and fix it, but I had neither the time nor the tools for that job.

If I wanted to survive, the best course of action was to jump ship. Looking back, I glanced at the sole escape pod standing proudly in front of the black and gold wall near the entrance or the cargo hold.

But where? Where could I go? The pre-plotted course would take days to reach, and there were no habitable star systems directly in that route.

The only thing I could do or try was to plot another course. There were bound to be other star systems nearby, systems outside this hyperspace lane that'd have hospitable planets.

The ship's database had starcharts I could search, and with luck, I should be able to find at least one habitable planet nearby that I'd be able to escape to using a pod before the ship exploded.

But it was very risky. Even if I did find a habitable planet, there was no guarantee it would be suitable enough for survival.

I could end up on a desert planet with sand stretching for miles on end, a barren or desolate freezing wasteland, or worse, a green primordial planet with human sized bugs that would use me as an incubator until their children eventually grew to eat their way out of me.

There was really no way to be sure. Anything could happen.

"Not like I have any other choice. The alternative is far worse," I sighed helplessly, pulling up the star charts with a thought, as another beep resounded. "I just have to take a chance and hope for the best."

Scrolling through the known systems and planets nearby, I paused, an eyebrow raising in surprise when I saw one particular solar system that had one particular planet.

"Tauri...that's Earth. Part of Ra's domain," I said as I selected it, making a three-dimensional image of the familiar blue-green planet pop up on the HUD.

If I were a Goa'uld, I would probably not have even considered it, but luckily, I wasn't one and borrowing the words of Dorothy, 'There's just no place like home.'

With a wide grin spreading across my face, I immediately got to work. Plotting the new course for the ship, I leveraged the ship's advanced computer core and started creating and implementing a new algorithm that would save me and bring me out of this mess.

Thousands of lines of complicated Goa'uld coding flashed continuously on the HUD as I created the new algorithm as quickly as I could, beeps resounding behind me as each minute passed, loudly reminding me of the limited time I had left.

"...And done!" I muttered as I inputted the last line of code into the system and removed my hand from the orb after activating the program.

The next second, I turned and swiftly ran towards the standing pod. A beep sounded as I pushed the button at the center of the pod, revealing its dark and spacious insides as it opened up like a casket.

Quickly, I moved into it and it closed automatically, covering me in darkness and cold. The ship trembled slightly as it came to a sudden stop, and immediately, I felt the pod being released, free-falling and moving downwards.

All of a sudden, I heard a deafening and frightening boom that reverberated everywhere, rattling my ears, and accompanying it was a large and powerful shockwave that assaulted the escape pod and me within it, making it quake terribly.

The force of the wave knocked my head roughly to the front of the pod, creating a hard and very painful collision that made me extremely dizzy and hazy.

I could hardly feel anything as my eyes slowly began to close by themselves, my vision darkening as a high-pitched whine rang in my ears, making me nauseous.

As the pod continued its descent, I could faintly feel the insides of the pod heating up and finally relaxed, smiling weakly, as I realized the pod had broken into the atmosphere.

"...It worked," I managed to whisper, just before my eyes closed, and I sunk into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.