Swimming to civilization

Carter kept moving. She only made it a little way before she came to shore. She crouched, first poking her crowbar into the water, then, when that turned out fine, tentatively prodding it with her fingers. It did seem to just be ordinary water.

You could never be sure on an alien world. There was no sign of any negative reaction though, and even if there was something subtly wrong with it, there were also plenty of side-effects to waiting around in the middle of nowhere. Now she'd reached the shore, climbing a small hill from the crater the Theseus had ended up in, it did look like she was on an island.

Carter looked out. It did look like there was land on the other side of the water, from what she could see. She just had to get there.

Grimacing, she turned back around and headed for the Theseus. She had more to scavenge if that was the case. Most of the tools were of no use, but swimming was harder if she wanted to keep bringing her supplies with her. She should've thought this through sooner.

She went to the straps that she'd used to secure herself for re-entry, braced herself, and pulled. After a few good tugs she got them free, falling back on her ass as she did. Grunting, she sat up, and got to work.

Two straps, and two tools she was bringing with her. The canteen of water, she fashioned it onto a kind of pendant, the strap holding it over her neck and letting the supply bounce between her boobs as she walked. The other strap, she tried in tight loops over one toned thigh, then walked out with the crowbar in hand. Only when she'd made it again to the shore did she put it to use, squeezing the crowbar in between strap and flesh so she could carry it in a sheath hands-free.

"I'll take 'Things I never thought I'd use my survival training for, Alex,'" Carter muttered to herself, adjusting the crowbar so it lay over her outer leg, not wanting to run the risk of any intimate jostling if it was on the inside.

She knelt by the stony shore, splashing the water a few times, sniffing it in case it did seem worrying. Eventually she decided to just take the risk and dove in.

She was a good swimmer. She kept her head above the water; while she was comfortable with it, she didn't want to get any in her mouth or eyes. Instead she swam, arms and legs moving in practised motions, kicking her way ahead.

Despite her best efforts, there were waves. She tried to ride them as best she could, but the ever-shifting current saw more than a few come down atop her. she kept her mouth closed always, and screwed her eyes shut when she saw water coming, otherwise keeping them open to focus on the far side of whatever body of water this was.

As she got closer, she made out something that looked distinctly artificial. Daniel would've probably done a better job at identifying it with some place and era of Earth's history, the best Carter could say was that it was familiar. Spurred on, Carter kept swimming.

The canteen rattled against her chest, the momentum with which she moved forwards keeping it pulled back and held against her. The crowbar offered little challenge to her progress.

It was relieving, in a way, washing off the sweat and mess that had accumulated itself upon her over the journey.

By the time she made it to land, several waves saw her short hair soaked through. Still, gratefully, she made it to land again, after what felt like half an hour of exertion. She inhaled deeply, pulling herself up onto he rocky surface. This world didn't seem to have any beaches in the conventional sense, just sheets of stone with small puddles of water every now and again. It reminded her more of the interior of some cave, despite the fact she was in the open air.

She scraped her knees as she crawled out onto the rocky surface, gasping and panting. She rolled onto her back for a moment, basking in the moment of relief, before remembering she was on duty. Quickly, Carter sat up, feeling rivulets of water run down her body. She patted herself down, wringing out her blonde hair, clearing her eyes, and doing her best to get rid of any stray droplets. She'd just flicked her hand down over her ass when she spotted movement.

Sam changed posture, suddenly wary of some alien attack. One hand went to the crowbar, poised to pull it out from the straps, and she glanced around.

What she saw, instead, was a human, or at least one of the many races of human stock out there. There were two, male and female, who looked younger, staring with wide eyes at the nude soldier who'd just pulled herself up onto land. Carter found herself blushing.

Carefully she removed her hand from the crowbar, to show she was no threat, and instead moved her arm to cover her boobs. She chewed her lip for a moment, considering what to say. Strangely none of the first contact manuals ever proposed an answer for what to do when meeting aliens with her modesty protected only by her arms.

"Hello?" she tried.

They stared at her. This was ridiculous, she didn't even know for sure if they understood the language, though honestly an alarming number of species did.

Maybe she should ask if they had a Stargate. That would at least get things over with. Or clothes, clothes could be a priority too. She reddened as the two strangers stared at her.