Perspective
By
Denise
It was quiet. That's what was wrong. Sam looked up from her computer and the planetary data she was analyzing. Her desk lamp, the muted blue of the screen and a flickering vanilla candle were the only illumination in the room.
She took a deep breath, put her arms over her head and stretched, sighing as the bones and muscles in her back popped and stretched. She reached by her keyboard and took a sip of her soda, grimacing as she realized it was luke warm and going flat. Looking at her watch she saw it was 0600. 'Oh boy, I've been here all night. At least we don't have a mission tomorrow, make that today.'
The Colonel hated it when she or Daniel yawned their way through a briefing. Definitely time for a nap. She honestly didn't know if it was good or bad there were so many empty bunks here. Since every SG team had their own rooms, and she had her own private room,(there were good things about being the only girl) it made it far too easy to spend days on end here. And three hundred feet below the surface, night and day were often only distinguished by the little A's and P's on the non-military issue clocks.
She saved her files, turned off the computer and blew out the candle in a wisp of smoke. Locking her lab, she walked out into the hallway.
Walking down the deserted, dim corridor, she stopped by the room Daniel used as his office. Sam looked in the window and cracked a grin at the sight of Daniel slumped over his computer. Evidently she wasn't the only night owl here. She opened the door into Daniel's organized chaos.
Laid out on every surface were books, printouts and ...rocks? OK Egyptian rocks, hieroglyphs. Picking one up she recognized the signs for Ra, Hathor, and Osiris. "Oh boy," she muttered again. Careful not to wake him, she peeked over Daniel's shoulder and read his computer screen:
Yet another failure. All my research indicated P2Y4701 was Kheb, but we found nothing but assorted natives with a very un-Egyptian lifestyle. Why can't I find Kheb! It was the last thing Shau'ri asked by to do and I keep failing. Every planet we search that isn't right is one more chance Apophis has to figure out Heru'ur didn't take the boy. And ditto for Heru'ur. I feel like I'm playing Russian roulette here with a child's life. If I have to watch the baby I delivered become a heartless host to a monster I honestly don't know what I'll do. I was helpless to save Shau'ri, my wife, who I promised to always protect. I had to let her go back to that bastard Apophis and do NOTHING again!! I have to find this child! Even if it is the last thing I do...
"Holy Hannah." Sam closed her eyes for a second and shook her head. Making up her mind she took a deliberate step back, bumping a book to the floor with a thud.
"Huh? What," Daniel muttered as he jumped awake.
"Sorry Daniel. Didn't mean to wake you." (Yeah right) "You have got to stop working so hard. They might recruit you."
"Sam, what are you doing here?"
"Well I saw the light and decided to come in," Sam said moving some books to sit on a stool.
"What time is it?" asked Daniel fumbling with his glasses.
"0610."
"Why do you guys have to use that stupid o-hundred stuff?"
"To confuse you scientific types."
"Ouch, that was low."
"Sorry, been hanging around the Colonel too long. Daniel, no offense but you look like hell. When was the last time you went home?"
"Huh," Daniel muttered as he got up and began to dig through some papers.
"Daniel," she walked over and stopped him in mid dig, "Have you been here since we got back?"
"Well not..." he started, a guilty look on his face.
"Daniel, we'll find him."
"When?"
"Look, trust me, I'm an astrophysicist, I know these things. We literally have millions of possible planets, thousands with stargates. It'll just take time."
"Time we probably don't have."
"I thought the Colonel was the pessimist in the group."
Daniel jumped up, dumping a stack of books to the floor with a crash. "Dammit Sam I don't need a lecture on attitude from you!"
"No, what you need is to get the hell out of here and get some perspective on this!" Sam yelled back.
"What I need is to find the child!"
"Daniel, do you realize if Dr. Frasier or the General find out how this is affecting you, you'll probably find yourself banned from this base. Look at yourself. You haven't changed clothes since we got back three days ago. It looks like you've been collecting food samples from the commissary, and I can tell you THAT is a serious health hazard, and you haven't shaved in days. Trust me, the stubbled look isn't for you."
"Is it really Wednesday?" asked Daniel rather sheepishly rubbing his rough face.
"Actually Thursday morning. Tell you what Daniel. I have an idea. Why don't both of us get away from here for a while. I've got just the place. Fresh air, sunshine..."
"OK," he relented, "only if there is a drive-thru between here and there."
"Deal. Meet you top side in 15?"
"Make it 20."
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"Are you sure this is a good idea?'
"Look Daniel, I've done this a dozen times. There's nothing to worry about."
"Can you just keep both hands on the wheel?"
"Well, how do I eat?" Sam asked, popping the last of her biscuit sandwich in her mouth.
"How about when we get there?"
"It'll be cold by then. Daniel relax. Believe it or not I do know what I'm doing."
"Sam, I just don't want to survive life and death light years from home only to fall off a mountain right here on Earth."
"Daniel, mellow out and enjoy the view."
"Why exactly are we doing this?"
"Eating breakfast?"
"No, driving up a mountain."
"It'll be a nice change of pace. Look, usually we spend half our day buried inside a mountain. Just once don't you want to get on top of one?"
"Sam, it's not smart to take a person who's afraid of heights 14,000 feet up."
"There's nothing to be afraid of. Your feet will never leave terra firma. Besides driving up Pikes Peak is perfectly safe. Thousands of tourists do it each year."
"Thousands of people bungee jump, but it isn't for me."
"Look only eight more miles to go. Just enjoy the view and watch out for Sasquatch."
"What!?"
Sam choked back a giggle and pointed to the road sign: SASQUATCH CROSSING.
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Sam glanced from the barren gravel road to her companion. She just knew there would be finger marks on the side of her jeep. She hadn't seen a grip so tight since Teal'c had his hands around Fro'tac's throat. She saw Daniel close his eyes each time the switchback road seemed to run off the mountain. They were above 11,000 feet, above the treeline.
"Don't believe in guardrails around here do they?"
"They can't. They have to plow like nine months out of the year. The snow would just push the guardrails of the edge."
"Now that's comforting."
"We're almost there. The summit's just a mile or two away."
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Sam parked the jeep and turned off the engine. This early in the day they were just about the only people on the mountain. Daniel got out of the car.
"Whoa."
"Lightheaded?"
"Yeah."
"It's just the altitude. Don't move too fast and you'll be just fine."
"Brrr. Glad I grabbed a jacket," Daniel remarked as he put on and zipped his up, "Is it always this cold up here?"
"We're 14,000 feet up. It's always cold and windy up here. There's also not much to block the sun. It'll warm up. Come on. What I wanted to show you is just over here"
Sam walked past a memorial and towards the gift shop.
"Don't tell me we just drove the road from hell to pick up a nick-knack."
"No. But their donuts are great."
Daniel followed Sam across the barren rocky ground. His scientific mind noted how lifeless it was. From somewhere he remembered nothing but lichen grew this high.
"Uh...Sam, you're not going to like climb down or something like that?" he asked as she kept walking towards the edge.
"Come on. There's even a railing here. You won't fall off."
"Very funny."
"Look down. What do you see?"
"Down...Lots of down," he said, closing his eyes against the sight.
"Come on Daniel, focus."
"OK, Colorado Springs."
"Right, the city, and the highways and buildings and with a little imagination people. Even Cheyenne Mountain off in the distance. But straight down, see those rocks?"
"We're on a mountain. It's all rocks."
"The red ones way down at the base of the peak. That's Garden of the Gods."
"Really?" Now Daniel was interested as he leaned over for a better look.
"Yeah really. You've been there before?"
"Sure, there's a great jogging trail around there."
"Right. Those rocks are hundreds of feet high. Nice and steep. I've even seen a few suicide jockeys climbing them. From the ground they're impressive and insurmountable, at least to most people. Confused the hell out of the pioneers. No one could figure out how those big red rocks landed in the middle of all this granite."
"OK Sam. Geology lesson aside, is this why you dragged me up the worst 19 miles of road I've ever seen, to look at some rocks?"
"No and yes. Daniel, from the base those rocks are incredible, inspiring and intimidating. They're an impossible puzzle. But from up here, they're a pile of rocks."
"Right, rocks."
"Hold out your hand."
"What?"
"Trust me. Hold out your hand." Daniel followed her lead. "Now close one eye and stick out your thumb."
"This is stupid."
"Maybe. Stick out your thumb and put it over the Garden. It goes away."
"What goes away?"
"It goes away. The biggest hunk of rocks around and you can make it disappear behind your thumb."
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, in front of the door, beside the door. I saw that episode of Will & Grace. Just what does it mean?"
Sam turned away from the view and turned towards Daniel. "Look, I know finding the harsesis is important to you and it's important to all of us but you can't let it consume you."
"It isn't consuming me."
"Yes...it is. Daniel you're obsessed with finding the child. You're letting it eat you up, overwhelm you. You need to get some perspective here."
"Sam, you didn't drag me all this way for a lecture did you? If so I'll just be going now." He turned to walk away. Sam grabbed his arm. "Daniel, I'm not going to lecture you but you need to step back a take a look at yourself. If you keep going on like this you'll burn out. Then who will be left to take care of the child? Do you want Maybourne to get his hands on him?"
"No but..."
"Daniel, we'll find him. Maybe not tomorrow or maybe not next week, but we will find him. Remember, we have an advantage, we know to look for Kheb. Apophis doesn't know that. We have a head start."
"After we find him, what then?"
Sam shrugged. "Well as Master Bra'tac is fond of saying, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Daniel turned back to the panorama below him. He held out his hand and stuck out his thumb. "It really does go away, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, it sure does," Sam agreed
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"How do we get off this rock?"
"I thought you liked rocks?"
"Little ones. So how DO we get down?"
"Same way we came up."
"No guardrails?"
"No guardrails. We'll be fine if my brakes hold."
"IF?"
"Kidding. Hey how about one of those donuts before we drive down?"
They left the railing and turned to walk towards the gift shop. "Sounds good. You know Jack keeps referring to Shau'ri's child as Harry?"
"Harry? Poor kid. How'd he come up with that?"
"He said it rolled off the tongue better than Harsisus or the child."
"If I know the Colonel, he calls him Harry because Harsisus isn't in the spell check and he doesn't want to ask how TO spell it."
"Probably," Daniel agreed with a chuckle, "Sam, thanks."
"You're welcome."
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