Portal Scifi

I’m a big fan of Stargate, because who isn’t? I love the idea of exploring an expansive galaxy of civilisations, each vying for power in one way or another. Perhaps it’s a little cliche that Earth ends up as the top dog in multiple galaxies, but you can chalk that up to a majority of the intended audience being humans.

The mythical themes used as a starting point do feel a little outdated these days though, and I’d love to see another take on the idea of alien worlds, without having to rely on humans in fancy hats.

Concept: A team of mathemeticians and scientists deduce a theoretical way to create a traversable wormhole, with practical levels of technology. Widely dismissed by the scientific community at large, they manage to secure funding from the military, who are seeking unconventional solutions for national defence, with an admittedly low chance of success.

During the initial testfire of the newly constructed gate terminal, something seems wrong - while the main gate successfully opened, the secondary gate, intended to receive the wormhole, doesn’t respond.

Then the computer systems go haywire.

Some kind of computer virus is transmitted through the gate’s wireless systems, hijacking the control software, and sending everyone present into a panic. Moments later, a pair of robotic constructs emerge from the wormhole and open fire on those who are closest. Only a few military personell are present, but they react fast enough to disable one construct, and force the second to retreat back into the gate. The emergency power shutoff is pulled, closing the gate and stopping thr virus’ actions.

Cut to four months later, and a new gate terminal has been built in a military bunker - the death and destruction, as well as the alien tech obtained from the incident, has lead the military to decide that the aliens are a threat, and not acting would leave humanity as sitting ducks. Too many known unknowns, and unknown unknowns, means the gate is now the most important piece of tech on Earth.

The exploration teams have only one option: open the gate randomly, and accept that it may be a one-way trip.

…anyway, that’d be an epic opening. I can see the explorers returning from the first destination in under a week, because that world is cautious, but friendly. Through diplomacy, they’d be able to confirm that many civilisations exist, the one accessed in the first incident is hostile, and there are a number of warring factions that use gate-like technology to travel the stars.

Most importantly, the friendly world is willing to trade the ability to control the gate’s destination to some degree, for a copy of the virus that hijacked the gate terminal. Exactly why they want it is not clear - they simply dodge the question.

The friendlies are not altruistic, of course - they’re playing the long game, as more allies capable of gate travel will naturally benefit them in their fight with the Machine Empire…

P.S. The gates would naturally be kept top-secret from humanity at large, right? But the scientists who initially dismissed the wormhole idea would most likely notice that the team working on it suddenly went quiet, and that one or two of their junior members had suddenly died, only to be buried with military honours.

It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together. The fact that all published research from the team has vanished all but confirms that they succeeded. Some prying eyes from the humans may become an issue at some point, but one or two take the deductions a step further: A wormhole could theoretically reach anywhere in the universe, and it’s possible that something was found on the other side. It’s possible that a rival group manages to build a gate using what few scraps of research persist…