The button called to him. Nay, it sang. Sweet and melodic. An alto, he mused. Just two words. Two words that no one could resist.
'Press me!'
Maybe the song wouldn't be so sweet if the button weren't red. Buttons and red went together like... well, buttons and his finger. Everyone knew that buttons were there to be pushed, so who could really blame him?
It was red, for crying out loud!
And so what if he was always cautioning the others about just this sort of thing. He was the Colonel. It didn't say it on his uniform, but it should. Colonels got to push buttons if they damn well pleased. Besides, it was in Carter's lab. That meant that it had been screened for nasties, and deemed safe enough to keep within the base. That had to stand for something.
And... It was red!
He picked up the small metallic box. A mere three inch cube, with that damnedable shiny red button. They could hardly fault him. Red buttons were like nishta, irresistible and complete mind control. So, he pressed it.
And watched as the shiny red button sunk into the box, and it shifted into a small metallic insect. Jack eyed it quizzically, and could swear it stared back at him with a similar quirky expression. Tiny antennae twitched crookedly.
"Sweet."
Footsteps echoed down the hall, and Jack felt panic. Even though it had done nothing bad, he knew someone was gonna yell at him. So he closed his hand and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the table nonchalantly.
Carter rounded the corner, stopping in the doorway as she saw him standing there. "Colonel."
"Carter."
"What are you doing here?"
His brows shot up, instantly realizing he was overdoing the indignance. "What, I can't just... visit?"
Less than impressed, he saw her eyes travel down to the table behind him. He inched his way more to the center, trying to look innocent. The insect let out a short squeak, sounding none too pleased about its captivity. Carter's brows furrowed, looking to him for an explanation.
He gave a nervous smile, shrugging. "New boots?"
She looked down to his feet, and his gaze followed. He saw the scuff marks on the toes, and the worn creases in the leather. When her stare returned to his face, he shrugged again. Her smile was placating.
"Right." Carter smirked as she held out her hand. He didn't like a smirking Carter; smirking Carter was bad news for him. "Hand it over."
"Why, what ever do you mean?" He stopped short of batting his eyelashes innocently.
"Sir..." Her hand made the give-it-over-now motion. Sighing, he placed the bug in her hand. And he felt a tug of solidarity as it blatted dejectedly. She squeezed its antennae together and the bug shifted back to the innocuous box.
"You left it there!" he stated defensively.
Carter smiled. "Yes. Yes I did, sir. And now Daniel owes me twenty."
"Button, red." He paused for a moment from defending his actions, blinking several times. "Wait, what? Twenty?"
She walked out the door, probably to Daniel's lab. Jack knew that the smirk was still plastered to her lips. He blinked several more times; surely betting on your superiors had to be against some sort of regulation.
"For crying out loud!"