sg_five_things | Prompt 102.05

Entry tags:

prompts,
set 102

Prompt 102.05

Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Participation is open to all. If this is your own prompt, you're free to write to it (please do!). Post your list as a comment to this post, adding additional comments if you exceed the character limit. It's OK to post as Anonymous, then come out later or not as you choose. Responses will be screened until August 2 to see what people come up with independently. You can still respond to the prompt after the August 2 unveiling.

General info and a place to ask questions: the comm 'welcome' post.

Technical-support questions: tech help.

Suggestions: the suggestion box.

To supply a new prompt: the open call for prompts.

Subject-line spoiler warnings for new SGU eps. Thanks!

August 2 is the official due date. If you're posting a response after the unveiling announcement on August 2, please copy the link to your comment, click on the 'set 102' tag, and reply to the post 'Set 102 Responses Unscreened' with the link to your new comment-response. That helps people find and read and comment on responses that weren't there when they cruised through right after the reveal. Pimp the link in your journal, too, if you want to let your flist know you've posted something new.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1. Elizabeth is listed as the first leader of Atlantis, but the history books rarely contain any details about what she actually did. There's a name and a photo and a list of credentials, but somehow, there's never any mention of her brave negotiations with the Genii or the way she forged a thousand trade links that kept Atlantis alive during that first year without contact, or even her role in getting approval for the Expedition in the first place. And there's certainly no mention of the way her protocols and the enduring relationships she developed in the Pegasus Galaxy saved Earth years later during the War. Instead, all of the material on Atlantis focuses on the military-scientific exploits of John and Rodney, and the peaceful, diplomatic activities somehow fade into obscurity.

2. Sam does better in the history books--a lot of space goes to discussing her role in getting the Stargate Program off the ground, and her various scientific contributions as a member of SG1 and at Area 51. Much less space is given to discussing her time as a soldier. Somehow, the decisions that led to the pivotal role of the Hammond during the War end up attributed to her first officer. Sam is said to have retreated to her lab during that final battle, trying to perfect a weapon that she'd actually finished days earlier.

3. The official story, dutifully repeated in the history books, is that Colonels John Sheppard and Cameron Mitchell died off-world in the line of duty--two more lives sacrificed to save Earth during the War. The reality...well, the reality involves undercover operations and alternate dimensions and alien medical technology and psychic bonds, and fervent prayers by a number of people that they really were dead. Or happy and together and not suffering.

4. Some books insist that the SGC had once possessed the secret for eternal life (now lost, possibly during the War), and had chosen to limit access to that technology to its senior staff. The supposedly ageless senior staff might have laughed at that, if any of them had still been alive to hear those stories. (It wasn't eternal life--just extended. And it mostly wasn't the senior staff who were the recipients. They didn't need it enough to pay the price.)

5. The books say that Cassie accidentally started the incident that forced the Earth-wide reveal of the existence of the stargate. In truth, it was a carefully calculated move on her part, driven by her conviction that the long term survival of Earth required that people learn what was going on, and her certainty that the governments of Earth were not going to let go of that information in time.

The rest of reported history suggested she'd been right.

Edited 2010-08-01 06:18 (UTC)

I'd really love to read this whole story, but every snippet was perfect on it's own in telling what was important. #2 is the one that got me the most, and I'm not really that much of a Sam fan.

I'm glad you liked it! I'm wondering if I could make it all fit together in one story. It would be angsty, I think, but it might be fun.

All of these rock but I seriously want the whole story for #3 and what really happened to Cam and John.

*sends cam and john to bat their pretty eyes in your direction in the hope you might consider telling it at some point*

Thanks!

I think John and Cam would have one of the most depressing stories in the whole angst-filled piece. I'm not sure they'd be batting their eyes to get me to tell that ;)

Cassie saves us all! \o/

I see a similarity with you and

bluflamingo, with the women's stories in particular not being told fully or correctly. That makes future history books a lot like past history books! :-/

Well, reality did serve as a source of inspiration when responding to this prompt! As it sometimes will. (Thinking about it, I could have gone the other way and had the men misrepresented--Sam as the one who got things done on SG1 rather than Jack?--but I think that's been done. Not necessarily in Stargate, but in SF writing in general. Of course, so has this, but the other is only funny through its unexpectedness.)

Instead, all of the material on Atlantis focuses on the military-scientific exploits of John and Rodney, and the peaceful, diplomatic activities somehow fade into obscurity.

Oh, you mean kind of like how it is on the show?

These were all great, but ooh, Cassie! I love that she's the mastermind! It's fitting that the girl from another world gets to be the one to finally tell the truth.

Oh, you mean kind of like how it is on the show?

I may possibly have been thinking of the show when I wrote that one...

Cassie saving the world by forcing the reveal of the Stargate was the first one I came up with. Originally I had her start a war (forcing her to make the bitter choice between some people dying now in a war she was sure Earth could win, and everyone dying later because no one knew), but then made the rest war-themed, and so she ended up with an "incident" instead. I'm imagining lots of posturing and ships in Earth's skies, but no shooting.

Very very nice story, especially #1, #2 and #5. And i'm curious as to what actually happened to John & Cam. I second (or third, or foth) the request to write more!

Thank you!

In order to write what happened to John and Cam, I'd have to actually figure that out, instead of just throwing a bunch of suggestive terms together! But I'm pretty sure it was related to #4 too...

number five - that would make one heck of a story!

That's the one that I think would be easiest to write out of all of them, so I may actually get to that one eventually.

Oh ouch. You amaze me for being able to make me cry with so few words, and also make me so angry for the way Elizabeth and Sam are treated by history.

Or happy and together and not suffering

I want to believe this ending. Even if it was awful to get there, I don't want to imagine that they ended up dead after all of it.

Thank you so much! That's such a wonderful thing to hear. Not that I was necessarily setting out to make you cry, but still.

I notice we both took similar paths when it comes to how women get treated in the history books. Too much experience with real life to draw on, I suppose.

Very good! #3 and #5 were especially powerful.

I love this! Very well done!

Thanks!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Prompt 102.05

Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC