The New and The Old

It was a cold and miserable day to be flying. The winds blew heavily, threatening to take the chopper down; and General Jack O'Neill wished he was somewhere else, instead of holding onto his seat praying for the flight to be over. It was a typical day in Antarctica.

"So how long have you been a pilot?" He murmured, making small talk. The smile that graced his pilot's face made his day go from being shit, to being tolerable.

"I would have to say the better half of my life, sir." Replied Major J. Sheppard. As they came around a mountain, they could see the dome of the research centre that was their destination. "ETA about five minutes out, sir."

Nodding Jack, sighed and leaned back, his teeth clenching as his stomach rolled with the inevitable horror of landing in a blizzard. But luckily for him, he had one of the most experienced and talented pilots in the northern hemisphere.

****

In a room decorated in a style that was beyond Earth's understanding a man sat in a chair, his eyes begging to be let out.

"You see? Nothing."

The man from the chair jumped up and started to walk off.

"Carson, get back here."

The man in question, shook his head. "Nothing happens! It's a waste of time!" Looking up just in time to see who he was about to walk into. "Excuse me, Dr Weir."

His colleagues looked at each other and blocked his path.

"We've been through this. I'm not your man." The man named Carson complained, trying to skip around the other two in the room. But before he could move another step, the other male in the room pulled him back to the chair, "Keep moving."

"I'm a medical doctor."

The man groaned, impatient and wanting to be in the mess hall, stuffing his face full of food, rather than babysitting the ever-shy doctor. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

Carson scoffed, "I break these things."

"This device has survived for millions of years. It will survive you." He pushed Carson into the seat. "Now sit down, close your eyes and concentrate."

Carson sighed, his face one of despair realizing that he had been outwitted. Closing his eyes, he tried to envision anything, a star or even a map of something. Squeezing his eyes shut really tight, he concentrated as hard as he could, he'd thought he'd never concentrated that hard ever; not even in a major surgery. Suddenly the chair tilted back, glowing a light blue underneath him.

The drone that a fellow scientist had been working on unexpectedly lit up, an eerie yellow before taking off, bouncing off the walls and up the make-shift lift before blasting its way through the glass dome.

As he watched in horror, the sound of glass breaking echoed through the building. "What did I do?" He asked petrified staring up into Weir's face.

****

Jack sat in the chopper, watching as the mountains disappeared and more spouted out of nowhere. He was still reeling over that Major Sheppard actually liked being in the cold forsaken country. Shaking his head, he lost interest and zoned out. That was until a distressed voice came over the radio.

“All inbound craft, we have a rogue drone that could seek a target on its own. Land immediately. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill.”

Turning to look at his company, the Major gritted out a groan as they caught sight of the foreign object flying through the air, heading straight for them.

“It’s too late. Hang on!”

All that could be heard was the clattering chuff-chuff of the helicopter, black against the bright, silver sky. Major Sheppard maneuvered the machine with such caress that the passenger swore they would surely crash. Wildly the machine rose up and over the hill dipping swiftly towards the valley before coming to rest with a sudden thump that felt like it was going to sink into the ice.