1928, Giza, Egypt
Seven-year old Victoria Wong ran through the shifting sands of the camp. Something was going on over the hill—something important, judging from the workers who were dropping what they were doing to go see what was going on.
Her father was a soldier in the Imperial Green Standard Army, on leave to go visit his friend, Hans von Leiningen, an archaeologist from Germany. Dr. Hans was conducting a dig in Egypt near the pyramids, which was why they were in Giza.
She made it to the top of the hill, and there she saw what the commotion below was all about.
The workers were pulling on ropes, dragging something out of a depression in the sands—no, raising it upright. It was large, metallic, and above all, circular. The ring was lined with thirty nine inscriptions and seven triangular…things. It was old, older than anything Victoria had ever seen before – older than even the pyramid behind her.
“Mein gött,”
said Dr. Hans.
Bill Wong had no words. He spotted his daughter on the hill and walked over to her, handing her a necklace of ancient Egyptian origin.
“This is important,”
he said, “I’m sure of it.”
1994, Munich, German Empire
“And so, from my analysis of the archaeological digs in Giza, I conclude that the pyramids are much older than the generally accepted consensus,”
said Daniel Lehrer, lecturing to his Archaeology 236 “Introduction to Egyptian Archaeology” students at the University of Munich, after gesturing at his almost indecipherable writing on the blackboard behind him.
The class was silent for a few minutes. One student raised his hands.
“Herr Lehrer, does that mean that little green men from Atlantis built the pyramids?”
he asked.
Everybody burst into laughter immediately. Within seconds the entire lecture hall was empty. Daniel sat down in a chair. Did he just throw away his entire academic career for a chance to revolutionize humanity’s knowledge of a small section of desert?
Yes, yes he did.
There was a knock on the door at that moment.
“Come in,”
Daniel said.
An elderly Chinese woman stepped inside, carrying a small folder.
“Are you Doctor Daniel Lehrer of the University of Munich?”
she asked.
“Yes,”
replied Daniel, “You saw my lecture?”
“Yes,”
said the woman, “My name is Victoria Wong, and I’m here to offer you a new job.”
Daniel slammed his fist down on the table. “Are you mocking me?! I can still save my career!”
“No you can’t. The Dean was just here. He talked with me a little bit. You will be stripped of your teaching credentials and PhD tomorrow, as you have ruined your reputation in the academic community and archaeology in general and embarrassed the entire university. So if you don’t accept my offer, you’ll be living in the streets in two days.”
Daniel looked at her. “What are you offering?”
“The chance for you to continue the research you were just discussing, only now you will work for the
Luftstreitkrafte instead.”
Daniel wondered why the Air Force would be interested in the pyramids. Could it be some giant government conspiracy or something? He didn’t care, as long as he had a job…
“Where do I sign?”
***
Daniel inspected the pictures taken in 1928 of the giant ring and the stones found near it, looking at the hieroglyphics inscribed on the stones.
“A German archaeological dig found the ring in 1928 in Giza,”
Victoria explained, “It was first taken to Istanbul for analysis by scientists there. When the Second Weltkrieg broke out and the Ottomans betrayed the Kaiser, it was smuggled out to Austria-Hungary, where research continued in a secret project authorized by the Habsburgs. It was moved to Bavaria when the Anschluss took place.”
“Where is it now?”
asked Daniel.
“It is located on the lowest floor of this facility, which as you know was built inside Watzmann Mountain for use as a nuclear bunker.”
“May I take the time to remind you, doctor, that all of this is strictly classified?”
said Captain Johann Fischer of German Special Forces, “You are not to tell anyone outside this mountain of what you are researching.”
“Yes, sir,”
said Daniel.
He examined the hieroglyphics some more. It was in some dialect of Ancient Egyptian, one of the older ones. Some words were missing, but he could barely grasp the meaning of the remaining words.
“A…million…years…into…the…sky…through…the…Stargate…is……Ra.”
Looking at the inscriptions on the ring, he realized they represented constellations.
The ring was a gateway to another planet.
“Do we have any astrophysicists here to help me explain what I am about to say?”
asked Daniel.
“Actually, we have a one Lieutenant Stefan Wagner, who has a degree in astrophysics, transferring in from Frankfurt,”
said Victoria.
“When’s he going to arrive?”
said Johann.
“
She will arrive in an hour,”
said Victoria, “I suggest that you boys get ready.”
***
Stefanie Wagner, a trained pilot like her hero Ilse von Richthofen (cutting her blond hair short just like Ilse did when she fought in Vladivostok during the Second Weltkrieg in 1933), was also the Air Force’s leading expert on astrophysics. When she arrived at the conference room, she was expecting to help out an old man read his stuff and explain the science parts.
She was wrong.
“Hello, Lieutenant Wagner,”
said Daniel, shaking her hand.
She was surprised at the sight of the young man before her.
“So this is the guy we got, sir?”
she asked Johann.
“Yes,”
said Johann.
“So what was it you called me over to discuss?”
Stefanie asked.
Daniel pointed to the messy notes next to the pictures.
“I need you to explain how a wormhole works,”
said Daniel.
“Why?”
“I don’t know, but they probably should know how this thing works!”
“What’s a wormhole?”
asked Johann.
“Well, sir, first think of space as a piece of paper. Imagine that you want to get from one corner to the other, but it takes time. With a wormhole, you just fold space and put the corners next to each other, reducing travel time. This gate, if I’m reading the notes right, takes in seven coordinates chosen from the inscriptions on the inner ring, which can spin from what the Austrians have determined. Six of them help define the destination point, and the seventh is a point of origin, to help plot a path. I think it has something to do with those triangular things on the outer ring.”
“If this is a portal to Gött knows where, where does it go?”
asked Victoria.
Daniel looked straight at her. “To Ra’s home.”
***
The Prussian General Staff approved of an expedition through the Gate a week later, aware that the people sent through the gate could potentially discover new technologies for use in the German Empire and abroad.
Daniel was excited at the fact that he was selected to be part of the expedition. He didn’t carry much besides an ancient Egyptian necklace Victoria gave him, a notebook and pencil, and a few camping supplies.
“Guten tag,”
said Johann, standing in the doorway to Daniel’s study.
“Oh, hey,”
replied Daniel.
“Doctor, what do you think we’ll find on the other side?”
asked Johann. “Aliens…robots…Syndicalists?”
“Maybe a few Soviets,”
joked Daniel.
Johann hardly laughed at that.
“What? Don’t you want to go where no man has ever gone before? Go further than George Wong ever did?”
Daniel said.
Johann looked him in the eye with an empty stare, one of someone who had lost everything.
“My five-year-old son accidentally killed himself with my own loaded gun two years ago,”
Johann said, “Ever since he died, I’ve felt that it was my fault that I let him die and couldn’t do anything about it. I’m only on this mission because of him.”
At that moment, the loudspeakers crackled. “Expedition team, proceed to the embarkation room.”
Stefan jogged past Daniel’s study. “You boys hurry up and get ready!”
she said.
They gathered in the embarkation room, where the ring in its entirety was situated in the middle of the room, with cables and motors hooked up around it and a ramp leading to its center.
“Alright, hit it! I want this to be over with quickly,”
ordered Johann.
The technicians pushed some buttons, and the gate lit up. The inner ring began spinning, lining up the destination coordinates to the chevrons one by one.
“Dienstgradabzeichen ein, verschlüsselt.”
“Dienstgradabzeichen zwei, verschlüsselt.”
“Dienstgradabzeichen drei, verschlüsselt.”
“Dienstgradabzeichen vier, verschlossen.”
“Dienstgradabzeichen fünf, verschlüsselt.”
“Dienstgradabzeichen sechs, verschlüsselt.”
“Dienstgradabzeichen sieben, verschlossen!”
With a whir, the gate activated, spewing out a large vortex of unstable particles which annihilated the sensors directly in front of the gate. The vortex subsided, revealing a shimmering watery blue portal enclosed by the ring.
The unmanned rover sent ahead of the team started up the ramp, approached the puddle, and vanished from the planet with a small slurp.
“Receiving telemetry now,”
said a technician.
Preliminary scans showed that there was a breathable atmosphere on the other side, as well as some obviously manmade structures.
“Alright, team, let’s move!”
said Johann.
The expedition started up the ramp towards the active gate.
“Fascinating,”
said Stefan.
“Oh, for crying out loud, move Lieutenant!”
said Johann.
The soldiers stepped through the gate and vanished, leaving Daniel alone in the room.
He started up the ramp and turned to look at Victoria, sitting in the control center above.
She smiled and mouthed, “Gött mit uns.”
He took a deep breath and stepped through.
He then realized he shouldn’t have taken a deep breath.
