Stargate Universe | Eli Ascending

3.

Eli was already moving, turning to leave, when the compartment hatch closed. "Come on. This isn't fair." 

He turned back around and the being was still there, still pointing at the chair. 

"We've tried to help, to point you in the right direction. Yet, every time we point your leaders make the wrong choice. Destiny needs a heart, a center through which it can operate and repair. You're that center." 

"I'm not supposed to be here," Eli said. He was circling the room, the chair. On closer inspection, the compartment had a lot going for it to include what looked like six stasis pods and a handful of consoles that looked as though there was access to a lot of the ship. He moved to one of the consoles and touched it, hoping it would respond and come to life. It didn't. 

"First you sit in the chair. Then you will understand." 

"Are there going to be little drill thingies that go into my head and, you know, make me crazy?" 

"This isn't one of those chairs." 

Nodding, Eli worked his way closer. He sat down, the chair comfortable, and watched as the room seemed to come alive. A light beamed down on top of him, locking him in place and scaring him pretty good. This was followed by a panel rising out of the floor in front of him, rising to meet his face. His eyes focused on the panel and a flash of brilliant, pure white light enveloped his consciousness as he lost awareness of the room he was in and found he was consumed in what had to be a transfer of information to and from Destiny's core systems. 

He didn't know how long he was connected or, for that matter, did it really matter. When the panel retracted into the floor, he was aware of Destiny in a way he'd never understood before. There was so much more to the ship, its mission, what the Ancients had planned for it. Eli was awash in information and, as he looked around the room one more time, he was perfectly aware of exactly what the Ancient writing meant, including intended and not just the literal translations Rush, Stargate Command, Dr. Jackson, and others had relied on. 

"I know Ancient," he said. "Wow. Like, I really know it. Did you download a massive database of information into my brain? General O'Neill had something like that done to him. Whoah! Wait a second. This is serious if that's what you did. Everyone, and I mean everyone, says it almost didn't end well for General O'Neill. Something about little grey men coming to the rescue. I don't know about you, but the little grey men equivalents we've run in to so far aren't all that friendly and, let's be honest, they've repeatedly tried to kill us or get us killed. Not exactly my favorite plan." 

"The chairs are each designed for a specific purpose," the being said when Eli paused to take a breath. "If this General O'Neill sat in one and almost perished, it was because the chair wasn't adjusted for a specific need and too much information was transferred. However, Destiny is a semi-sentient ship that needs direction and orders. We cannot maintain Destiny and need someone who has maintained a corporeal status to continue the work we've been forced to abandon." 

"Wait. We?" 

The being waved a hand and the stasis pods opened. Inside each of them was a body that glowed and eyes that opened. They were men and women who'd aged for thousands of millennia and who, to Eli, clearly looked as though they could fall apart at any moment. 

"We, the first crew of Destiny, charged with being guardians and ensuring the ship was ready when it was time, are about to fulfill our rights as Ancients and ascend so that we might one day rejoin our people." 

"Ascended beings? So, how are you guys still here? I mean, from what I've read and heard ascended beings are made of pure energy who aren't restricted to ..." 

"We were able to achieve a partial state of ascension millennia ago," the being said. "However, we are no longer able to leave our chambers without either completely ascending or dying. Destiny needs you. The ship needs someone who will act as protector, guardian, and guide." 

"So, kind of like a partner-pilot in a symbiotic kind of way. Am I permanently connected to the ship, melded together with one mind and one purpose kind of thing?" 

"In time, your questions will all be answered," the being said. "Right now, I must use what little remaining ability I have to show you what must be done to save your crew and restore Destiny for its crew." 

***

"When launched," the Ancient said, "Destiny followed thousands of ships sent into the universe ahead of it. These ships were designed to explore the galaxies and possible routes Destiny might one day take and to seed solar systems and planets with Stargates." 

The Ancient told Eli about the evolution of Destiny and the Ancients desire, the same desire that seemed to exist in all astrophysicists and people who look to the stars, to find the answers to the universe. What happened in the beginning? How it formed? And, one day, what would eventually happen when everything came to an end?

"Our plan was to find answers and to seek out new knowledge, people and societies, and to find ways to carry our race and progeny far beyond our natural realms. We wanted to, one day, discover answers to all of the questions surrounding our existence." 

"Destiny's mission is to find an answer like 42?" 

The Ancient trained her eye on Eli and he shut up. 

"We wanted to know what was beyond the natural life of our people." 

Eli didn't know how to ingest all that he was hearing. Most of it made some sort of sense, a desire to live beyond the natural life cycle - as these Ancients had done. However, that Destiny and this crew were effectively abandoned didn't help when compared against the remote possibility of getting home. 

"What about communication with home?" 

"You already have that?" 

"What about going home?" he asked.

"We never intended to return home. There is nothing there for us except ascension." 

"Was there even a plan?" 

"The plan was to discover," the Ancient said.