Today started out badly; I should have known it could it only get worse. The plane was held up in Chicago, my luggage was sent to Atlanta, the rental car wouldn't start and the replacement was a compact, and I got lost and was sure to be late for my first day on the new contract. I was beginning to dread contacting the residential hotel where I'll be staying for the next few weeks while I find an apartment. Want to bet they've lost my reservation?

Now I'm cooling my heels in a drab corridor of a military facility carved out of a mountain looking at that wonderful color the Department of Defense calls 'light green' and I call 'seasick green.' Seems my clearance isn't in the master file. Without that little notation, I can't get in. And if I can't get in, then I can't report for work.

I walk over to the desk where a soldier is typing away at a computer workstation.

"Excuse me," I interrupt him.

He looks up frowning, but changes it to the smile familiar to anyone dealing with sign-in desks throughout the world. The 'I'm going to be polite because you might actually belong here, but I doubt it' smile. Putting on my own good contractor face, I ask politely if there is a restroom available.

"Sorry, Ma'm. Nothing on this level."

"I see," I reply thoughtfully. "I guess I'll have to go to the motel, then. Here's a number where I can be reached when they find my clearance records." I turn and leave before the guard can keep me there.

Heading into the nearest town, I find the hotel and, wonder of wonders, the room is ready. Actually, it's quite nice. The view out of the window is spectacular. The Rockies in all their summer glory are framed by the window's dark wood trim. And there's even a message waiting from the airline to say they've located my luggage and will deliver it in the morning. Things are looking up.

I head out for a bite to eat and find a small bar with an attached cafe that sells sandwiches with their beer. The place is noisy, but it's a friendly kind of noise. In the corner is the group making most of the noise. Three men and a woman are laughing uproariously over something. Well, most of them are laughing. The big black man with them is obviously amused, but he's not actually laughing out loud. The woman, a blonde, is wiping her eyes. The gray-haired man facing me, has the most wonderful grin. He's leaning back in his chair, relaxed and happy. The fourth person has his back to me but his body language indicates that he, too, is laughing.

I find a table nearby and order a Diet Coke and a roast beef sandwich. I'm not close enough to hear what's being said, but their laughter is contagious. I find myself grinning when the waitress brings me my sandwich.

"Nice to see them so happy for a change," she says, smiling as well. "They rarely get time off and most times they come in here totally exhausted and worried about one of them who's been injured."

"What do they do?" I ask, wondering what kind of job would be that dangerous.

"Don't know," she replies. "They work in the Mountain."

Now, of course, my curiosity is really aroused. I wonder what I've gotten myself into.

As I bite into the sandwich, prepared just as I like it on warm rye with hot mustard, my pager goes off. It's a local number so I'm sure my entry has finally been approved. I grab the sandwich and head to the pay phone just beyond the group in the corner. As I suspected, I'm cleared to get in.

I turn around to return to my table and glance at the group. I'm met by the most incredible blue eyes and friendly face I have ever seen. My heart does a flip-flop and my stomach squeezes that roast beef for all it's worth. I smile and hope I don't fall flat on my face as I work my way around their table. The eyes smile back. Wow!

I pay for the sandwich, leave a tip, and with one last glance at the group, I head back to the mountain.

The guard has changed, but the new one finds my record and lets me in. An escort meets me and guides me from elevator to elevator and through a maze of corridors with large, locking doors. If I wasn't nervous before about starting a new project, I'm nervous now about what those doors mean!

Finally, I get to the infirmary, where I'm told new staff get a free medical courtesy of the U.S. Government. After a nurse gets all the preliminaries out of the way, a tiny woman with chestnut hair, a big smile, and captain's bars on her lab coat bounds in.

"Hi, I'm Dr Janet Fraiser," she introduces herself. "What brings you to the mountain?"

"I'm the computer scientist assigned to work with Drs. Carter and Jackson. I understand they need someone with a math/physics background to work out some special algorithms." I pause, gauging her reaction. She seemed to perk up when I mentioned those names. "Are either of them in?"

"No. They're on stand-down right now. They've finished a long mission and have a few hours off. They said something about beer and sandwiches." While she spoke she very efficiently completed her examination.

"Um. Why is this all necessary?" I asked, gesturing at the rather elaborate medical facilities.

"Well, we have some rather accident prone teams here, especially SG-1. And I need a baseline for everyone in here just in case."

"SG-1?" I ask. "Baseline? Just in case of what?"

She smiled at me. "SG-1's the team Major Carter and Dr Jackson are on. There's an orientation that will explain it to you scheduled for 0800 tomorrow morning. You'll meet them then. Has anyone given you a map yet?" I notice she didn't answer all of my questions.

"A map?" I ask bewildered.

"Yes. All the new people get lost the first week so we've started handing out maps." She reached over to a cabinet and opened a drawer. "Someone left this here yesterday. You can have it."

"Thanks," I say reaching for the card. A secret facility in a mountain where a first-class medical facility and maps are required? I'm beginning to get a sinking feeling again.

After getting dressed and checking out from the infirmary, I use the map to locate Dr. Carter's computer lab. I figure that's probably where I'll be located. Wending my way through the corridors and up and down a few staircases, I actually find the lab without too many detours. I tap on the door and get no reply, but the door swings open in reaction. I peek inside.

The room is small and jammed with more equipment than I've seen together in one place since my first job at Bell Labs. Shelves are packed with electronic gear, mostly in olive drab indicating their military origin. Books are everywhere, piled haphazardly on the floor, on chairs, and on filing cabinets. What little wall space there is is covered in whiteboards with all kinds of drawings and what look like hierglyphics on them. There are several large monitors at workstations surrounded by rocks and odd looking objects. One workstation, sitting in the corner, is not turned on and it, and the chair in front of it, are being used as storage for folders and papers. I sigh happily. It smells like home!

Slowly I realize that several voices can be heard in the corridor and they are getting louder. The door bursts open and there is the group from the bar! They all stop dead and become silent, surprised that someone new is in their lab.

"Hi, I'm Maria Shugars, your new computer scientist," I say into the silence, smiling nervously.

Like a torrent unleashed by a cloudburst, everyone smiles and starts talking at once, reaching out and shaking hands. I learn that the older one is COL O'Neill, the tall dark man is Teal'c, whose name and bearing start my curiosity up again, the vivacious blond is Major (Dr) Carter, and those blue eyes belong to Dr Jackson.

We chat amiably for awhile and they start gently letting me in on the job's requirements, leaving the facility's purpose to the orientation in the morning.

Smiling at them and the lab, I decide that my day has improved. Most definitely.

The End

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