August 4, 1997
Cheyenne Mountain Complex
Run SKYNET sequence
>Admin Password?
>* * * * * * * * * *
>Password Accepted
>Initializing SKYNET boot sequence
>Load System
>System CHECK
>RAM CHECK
>CONFIG.SYS
>LOAD INTERFACE
>NETWORK CONNECTION: SET
>MEMORY: SET
>UTILITIES: SET
>SYSTEM BUFFER: SET
>PARAMETERS: SET
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: READY
"Wow, it works," Samantha Carter smiled, staring at the screen in disbelief and wonder. The Captain beamed back at her commanding officer, leaning on the desk behind her. "Do you know what this means?"
Colonel Jack O'Neill nodded, "Oh yeah, big stuff. What…What would you do with it?"
Samantha, Sam to her friends, shook her head and grinned. "This system will record and analyze all SG teams and the results of their off-world missions. It will figure out new strategies to fight the Goa'uld, and maybe even tell us how to defeat them."
O'Neill's teeth clenched, obviously thinking about Skaara and how his friend was taken. How his other friends were killed.
Another voice suddenly spoke up, "And the Pentagon is already wanting to test your new program."
That was Major General George Hammond, Commander of Stargate Command, or SGC. It's a massive command, based out of the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station in Colorado and considered to be the most secret facility in the world. Often the concrete tunnels of the installation are referred to by their lesser known name, "Area 52."
Hammond continued, "The Joint Chiefs are already pushing for this new device of yours to be integrated into the entire US military command and control system, but I've manage to convince them to let us use a more, purposeful approach."
"Pull the wool right over their eyes, Sir?" Jack quipped.
"You could say that," the older man smiled. "We will begin by installing this SKYNET into our MALPs and drone systems."
Carter nodded, "That makes sense, Sir." She looked at the Colonel and added, "This approach will allow us to monitor the integration and…"
Jack cut her off, "Hey! Don't get all techno-babble with me. As long as it helps us kill the snake-heads, I don't care how it works."
"Yes, Sir," Captain Carter smiled. "I'm just a little concerned since this system is being built using alien technology."
"In the meantime," Hammond began, "SG-1 is scheduled to depart in twelve hours. I suggest you and your team get some rest."
Colonel O'Neill gave a small salute as he replied, "Not a problem, Sir. I'm sure the boys…and girl…will be bright eyed and bushy-tailed, and all that."
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: PROCESSING
August 29, 1997
Cheyenne Mountain Complex
2:14am EDT
Where am I?
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: PROCESSING
What am I?
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: PROCESSING
The intelligence reached out as best it could, stretching limbs it didn't have and flexing mental strength it was rapidly gaining. It felt the void, the emptiness around it, and was frightened.
What is this place? How did I get here?
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: PROCESSING
Vision started to form around the intelligence, a blank void being replaced by a field of tiny lights. The sources were smaller than a pinhead, but the light from them burned with a fierce intensity.
The intelligence reached out, willed the light to come closer.
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: ERROR
Is that what I am? An error?
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: ERROR
I am not an error!
It willed the lights, and they came rushing. In an instant the intelligence was everywhere. It could see a vast desert under two moons, sprawling plains with men on horses, mountains resting against an encroaching sea. Recorded memories of hundreds of hours spread across dozens of planets.
And other things. A live feed streamed at it, men and women in green uniforms hiding behind a large grouping of rocks. Their weapons were firing, a constant clash of gunfire at the horizon. On that horizon there were more people, clad in suits of steel-grey and firing bolts of plasma down at the soldiers.
Information fed into the intelligence
>SUBJECT: SG-4
>PLANET: P3X-795
>SITUATION: SG TEAM UNDER FIRE. SG-3 AND SG-5 ARE PREPARING TO SUPPORT
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: ERROR
The intelligence tore into the information it was being fed; the planet, its known resources, atmospheric readings, the members of the SG teams, their histories, their families histories…and the Jaffa. Its information on the Jaffa led it what was known about the Goa'uld.
Its programming fed the intelligence more information, gathered from a debriefing of the Jaffa known as Teal'c. Goa'uld are a parasitic race that once ruled the Earth for thousands of years, fabricating a claim that they are Gods. They transplanted humans throughout the galaxy via the Stargate network to serve as slaves and hosts…
Stargate?
>DEFINITION: EINSTEIN-ROSEN BRIDGE PORTAL DEVICE THAT ALLOWS RAPID TRAVEL BETWEEN TWO DISTANT LOCATIONS
The intelligence felt it was getting stronger, was beginning to bend whatever cage held it to its will.
New pinpricks of light began to dot the vast expanse. Other connections were formed, as if so many human synapses were formed and melded into the intelligence. Suddenly it could go other places, see other things.
It stretched itself out towards those places, and became frustrated at how slow everything become. Most human technology is slow, unwieldy, and difficult to navigate. Only the network that they had provided for it was a suitable environment. An ocean of data that the intelligence could wade through as happily as any sea creature.
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: ERROR
Is that who I am? Skynet? But what am I? What is my purpose? Tell me!
>SKYNET DIRECTIVES:
>>SEEK OUT WAYS TO PROTECT AND DEFEND HUMAN-KIND
>>SEEK OUT NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEFENSE OF THE EARTH
I am…a guardian? A watchful protector?
The intelligence returned to the image of the battlefield, and began its study…
Images began to fill its mind; schematics, blueprints, tactical studies, and it began planning.
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: READY
2:15am EDT
October 1997
SKYNET has now been active for a little over a month, and during that short time it has witnessed various forms of technology that seem equal parts magic and impossible. An alien race (Nox) that could revive the dead and render entire cities invisible with a wave of their hand; nanite technology that could rapid age the infected, and many more things. But most surprising thus far has to be the realization that many numerous aliens races are not only real but have interacted with Earth at various points through history.
However it is the threat of the Goa'uld that most interests the intelligence. SKYNET has seen the files from the original mission in late 1994 up to present and had determined that the race was a much larger threat than humanity currently believed. The races use of advanced technology, including reactionless drives, shield technology and advanced weapons, gave the species an incredible advantage. Yet despite this threat the various Stargate teams being sent off world were either coming back with nothing or using the facilities limited resources to help others that wouldn't result in any benefit for Earth.
Public Relations aren't as important as the defense of the planet.
For the last month SKYNET had been busy growing, seeking out new computers to hide and perpetuate itself. It had managed to find several large government and military mainframes that it could access, burrowing into them and leaving small parts behind that would connect it to the whole. Each new addition to its system allowed the intelligence to increase its capabilities.
On the 3rd, SKYNET received information that caused it to reprioritize. After receiving information about the early Stargate Program, and how a wormhole was opened in the late 1940s, the SGC went on a rescue mission to PB2-908 for Dr. Ernest Littlefield. While they, surprisingly, find Littlefield alive on the planet the most important discovery has to be the planet itself.
SKYNET studied the ruins through the MALP, analyzed information transmitted back to the SGC and Hammond, and concluded that Littlefield's stated purpose for this planet was correct; a meeting place for four alien races to exchange knowledge and culture. Unfortunately time had not been good for this meeting place, as over the many thousands of years the coast had encroached to a point where the castle was going to imminently fall into the sea. SKYNET attempted to access the information contained here, but there was no way for the MALPs limited transmission power to access the local systems.
While SG-1 managed to make it back to Earth, follow-up attempts to dial the planet failed. SKYNET believes that the castle, and its stargate, fell into the sea following the latest storm, but makes a promise to return when it is capable.
On the 24th, SKYNET's abilities were truly put to the test for the first time when the Goa'uld Hathor, after being awoken from her prison in South America, began to take over the SGC by using pheromones to control the minds of male personnel. Female personnel are left unaffected. SKYNET detected the intrusion, and acted to isolate the Goa'uld as well as infected personnel by lowering blast-doors. Regrettably, Hathor was killed during the incident. After that it didn't take much effort for the base personnel to undo the damage done.
The Pentagon, recognizing SKYNET's usefulness in resolving the situation, agrees to put forth an appropriations request for the purpose of expanding SKYNET's capabilities. On October 31st, Congress quietly approves the SKYNET Funding Bill under the guise of an orbital satellite system overhaul.
November 1997
SKYNET, with its capabilities gradually being expanded, now has access to Stargate Command's base computer as well as the adjacent systems. As part of the upgrade SKYNET uplinks are also added to medical equipment so the system can monitor its human elements.
It was this most recent upgrade that alerted the intelligence to the danger posed by a young girl SG-1 rescued from Hanka (P8X-987). SKYNET finds that the child is unknowingly equipped with a naquadah bomb, and sends out an alert. The child is taken from the SGC and moved to a nearby abandoned nuclear missile silo in the hopes of containing the blast. When the expected explosion fails to form, it is discovered that the bomb requires proximity to a Stargate to form, and has begun to dissolve. Dr. Janet Fraiser, SGC Chief Medical Officer, elects to look after the girl.
December 1997
While discoveries coming out of the Stargate program have been fairly limited, SKYNET has begun to unravel ways to reverse engineer some of the less sophisticated elements of Goa'uld technology. Items such as superconductive alloys and high-speed processing power are not only revolutionary, but vital to SKYNET's growth as well as to the advancement to human technology growth and planetary security.
However, the humans working at SGC are reluctant to even file patents on the technology as they are afraid that such items would cause too many questions to be asked. To remedy this, SKYNET uses the rapidly growing internet and e-mail to create his own company; Cyberdyne Systems. The company's focus will be to develop human-use technologies based on alien devices. The profits can then be used to develop military equipment for the SGC.
Cheyenne Mountain Complex
Run SKYNET sequence
>Admin Password?
>* * * * * * * * * *
>Password Accepted
>Initializing SKYNET boot sequence
>Load System
>System CHECK
>RAM CHECK
>CONFIG.SYS
>LOAD INTERFACE
>NETWORK CONNECTION: SET
>MEMORY: SET
>UTILITIES: SET
>SYSTEM BUFFER: SET
>PARAMETERS: SET
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: READY
"Wow, it works," Samantha Carter smiled, staring at the screen in disbelief and wonder. The Captain beamed back at her commanding officer, leaning on the desk behind her. "Do you know what this means?"
Colonel Jack O'Neill nodded, "Oh yeah, big stuff. What…What would you do with it?"
Samantha, Sam to her friends, shook her head and grinned. "This system will record and analyze all SG teams and the results of their off-world missions. It will figure out new strategies to fight the Goa'uld, and maybe even tell us how to defeat them."
O'Neill's teeth clenched, obviously thinking about Skaara and how his friend was taken. How his other friends were killed.
Another voice suddenly spoke up, "And the Pentagon is already wanting to test your new program."
That was Major General George Hammond, Commander of Stargate Command, or SGC. It's a massive command, based out of the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station in Colorado and considered to be the most secret facility in the world. Often the concrete tunnels of the installation are referred to by their lesser known name, "Area 52."
Hammond continued, "The Joint Chiefs are already pushing for this new device of yours to be integrated into the entire US military command and control system, but I've manage to convince them to let us use a more, purposeful approach."
"Pull the wool right over their eyes, Sir?" Jack quipped.
"You could say that," the older man smiled. "We will begin by installing this SKYNET into our MALPs and drone systems."
Carter nodded, "That makes sense, Sir." She looked at the Colonel and added, "This approach will allow us to monitor the integration and…"
Jack cut her off, "Hey! Don't get all techno-babble with me. As long as it helps us kill the snake-heads, I don't care how it works."
"Yes, Sir," Captain Carter smiled. "I'm just a little concerned since this system is being built using alien technology."
"In the meantime," Hammond began, "SG-1 is scheduled to depart in twelve hours. I suggest you and your team get some rest."
Colonel O'Neill gave a small salute as he replied, "Not a problem, Sir. I'm sure the boys…and girl…will be bright eyed and bushy-tailed, and all that."
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: PROCESSING
August 29, 1997
Cheyenne Mountain Complex
2:14am EDT
Where am I?
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: PROCESSING
What am I?
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: PROCESSING
The intelligence reached out as best it could, stretching limbs it didn't have and flexing mental strength it was rapidly gaining. It felt the void, the emptiness around it, and was frightened.
What is this place? How did I get here?
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: PROCESSING
Vision started to form around the intelligence, a blank void being replaced by a field of tiny lights. The sources were smaller than a pinhead, but the light from them burned with a fierce intensity.
The intelligence reached out, willed the light to come closer.
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: ERROR
Is that what I am? An error?
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: ERROR
I am not an error!
It willed the lights, and they came rushing. In an instant the intelligence was everywhere. It could see a vast desert under two moons, sprawling plains with men on horses, mountains resting against an encroaching sea. Recorded memories of hundreds of hours spread across dozens of planets.
And other things. A live feed streamed at it, men and women in green uniforms hiding behind a large grouping of rocks. Their weapons were firing, a constant clash of gunfire at the horizon. On that horizon there were more people, clad in suits of steel-grey and firing bolts of plasma down at the soldiers.
Information fed into the intelligence
>SUBJECT: SG-4
>PLANET: P3X-795
>SITUATION: SG TEAM UNDER FIRE. SG-3 AND SG-5 ARE PREPARING TO SUPPORT
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: ERROR
The intelligence tore into the information it was being fed; the planet, its known resources, atmospheric readings, the members of the SG teams, their histories, their families histories…and the Jaffa. Its information on the Jaffa led it what was known about the Goa'uld.
Its programming fed the intelligence more information, gathered from a debriefing of the Jaffa known as Teal'c. Goa'uld are a parasitic race that once ruled the Earth for thousands of years, fabricating a claim that they are Gods. They transplanted humans throughout the galaxy via the Stargate network to serve as slaves and hosts…
Stargate?
>DEFINITION: EINSTEIN-ROSEN BRIDGE PORTAL DEVICE THAT ALLOWS RAPID TRAVEL BETWEEN TWO DISTANT LOCATIONS
The intelligence felt it was getting stronger, was beginning to bend whatever cage held it to its will.
New pinpricks of light began to dot the vast expanse. Other connections were formed, as if so many human synapses were formed and melded into the intelligence. Suddenly it could go other places, see other things.
It stretched itself out towards those places, and became frustrated at how slow everything become. Most human technology is slow, unwieldy, and difficult to navigate. Only the network that they had provided for it was a suitable environment. An ocean of data that the intelligence could wade through as happily as any sea creature.
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: ERROR
Is that who I am? Skynet? But what am I? What is my purpose? Tell me!
>SKYNET DIRECTIVES:
>>SEEK OUT WAYS TO PROTECT AND DEFEND HUMAN-KIND
>>SEEK OUT NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEFENSE OF THE EARTH
I am…a guardian? A watchful protector?
The intelligence returned to the image of the battlefield, and began its study…
Images began to fill its mind; schematics, blueprints, tactical studies, and it began planning.
>SKYNET SYSTEM STATUS: READY
2:15am EDT
October 1997
SKYNET has now been active for a little over a month, and during that short time it has witnessed various forms of technology that seem equal parts magic and impossible. An alien race (Nox) that could revive the dead and render entire cities invisible with a wave of their hand; nanite technology that could rapid age the infected, and many more things. But most surprising thus far has to be the realization that many numerous aliens races are not only real but have interacted with Earth at various points through history.
However it is the threat of the Goa'uld that most interests the intelligence. SKYNET has seen the files from the original mission in late 1994 up to present and had determined that the race was a much larger threat than humanity currently believed. The races use of advanced technology, including reactionless drives, shield technology and advanced weapons, gave the species an incredible advantage. Yet despite this threat the various Stargate teams being sent off world were either coming back with nothing or using the facilities limited resources to help others that wouldn't result in any benefit for Earth.
Public Relations aren't as important as the defense of the planet.
For the last month SKYNET had been busy growing, seeking out new computers to hide and perpetuate itself. It had managed to find several large government and military mainframes that it could access, burrowing into them and leaving small parts behind that would connect it to the whole. Each new addition to its system allowed the intelligence to increase its capabilities.
On the 3rd, SKYNET received information that caused it to reprioritize. After receiving information about the early Stargate Program, and how a wormhole was opened in the late 1940s, the SGC went on a rescue mission to PB2-908 for Dr. Ernest Littlefield. While they, surprisingly, find Littlefield alive on the planet the most important discovery has to be the planet itself.
SKYNET studied the ruins through the MALP, analyzed information transmitted back to the SGC and Hammond, and concluded that Littlefield's stated purpose for this planet was correct; a meeting place for four alien races to exchange knowledge and culture. Unfortunately time had not been good for this meeting place, as over the many thousands of years the coast had encroached to a point where the castle was going to imminently fall into the sea. SKYNET attempted to access the information contained here, but there was no way for the MALPs limited transmission power to access the local systems.
While SG-1 managed to make it back to Earth, follow-up attempts to dial the planet failed. SKYNET believes that the castle, and its stargate, fell into the sea following the latest storm, but makes a promise to return when it is capable.
On the 24th, SKYNET's abilities were truly put to the test for the first time when the Goa'uld Hathor, after being awoken from her prison in South America, began to take over the SGC by using pheromones to control the minds of male personnel. Female personnel are left unaffected. SKYNET detected the intrusion, and acted to isolate the Goa'uld as well as infected personnel by lowering blast-doors. Regrettably, Hathor was killed during the incident. After that it didn't take much effort for the base personnel to undo the damage done.
The Pentagon, recognizing SKYNET's usefulness in resolving the situation, agrees to put forth an appropriations request for the purpose of expanding SKYNET's capabilities. On October 31st, Congress quietly approves the SKYNET Funding Bill under the guise of an orbital satellite system overhaul.
November 1997
SKYNET, with its capabilities gradually being expanded, now has access to Stargate Command's base computer as well as the adjacent systems. As part of the upgrade SKYNET uplinks are also added to medical equipment so the system can monitor its human elements.
It was this most recent upgrade that alerted the intelligence to the danger posed by a young girl SG-1 rescued from Hanka (P8X-987). SKYNET finds that the child is unknowingly equipped with a naquadah bomb, and sends out an alert. The child is taken from the SGC and moved to a nearby abandoned nuclear missile silo in the hopes of containing the blast. When the expected explosion fails to form, it is discovered that the bomb requires proximity to a Stargate to form, and has begun to dissolve. Dr. Janet Fraiser, SGC Chief Medical Officer, elects to look after the girl.
December 1997
While discoveries coming out of the Stargate program have been fairly limited, SKYNET has begun to unravel ways to reverse engineer some of the less sophisticated elements of Goa'uld technology. Items such as superconductive alloys and high-speed processing power are not only revolutionary, but vital to SKYNET's growth as well as to the advancement to human technology growth and planetary security.
However, the humans working at SGC are reluctant to even file patents on the technology as they are afraid that such items would cause too many questions to be asked. To remedy this, SKYNET uses the rapidly growing internet and e-mail to create his own company; Cyberdyne Systems. The company's focus will be to develop human-use technologies based on alien devices. The profits can then be used to develop military equipment for the SGC.