A/N: Here's a humorous look at the events of 'Meridian' thought Daniel Jackson's goldfish. 'Ling Ling/Damien' was created by my friend Jeff and used with his permission. Spoliers for 'Meridian'. Insert something witty about not owning the 'Gazette', 'Avalanche's' or 'Stargate'. Please Read and Review.
The day began as any other, people going about their work, discussing the previous evening's events and what not. Jack tossed the Sports section of the Colorado Springs Gazette down next to the fish tank. "Heh, the Avalanche's won, not like it matters to Daniel, come to think of it, it really doesn't matter to any one here." He muttered to himself. A bubble floated past his face, "Oh good, here comes Space Monkey."
"Hey, the Avalanche's won," Daniel said glancing at the paper, "How much do I owe you?"
"You won't get the chance to pay quite yet, now hurry up. We gotta leave in five minutes."
Daniel put down the paper and grabbed the fish food, "How's Ling Ling today?" Daniel asked the fish as he fed him.
"I'm in a bowl, how do you think I am! Oh, and quit calling me Ling Ling, my name is Damien, Fish of the Underworld! I've got the mark of Lucifer under my left fin."
Daniel lifted the lid of the tank and shook a few of the multi-colored flakes into the water; Damien looked at it for a second and decided to try eating it.
"What is this garbage? I demand steak." The small goldfish nibbled at the flakes some more. "On second thought, these shall suffice. You may live. For moment."
Damien finished his flakes and made for the castle inside the tank. It was the first time he had seen it there.
"Funny, I didn't see Daniel put this here. None the less it shall make a good lair. Let's see, it's got a sturdy outer wall, archer towers, a bridge, this ought to be very nice from the inside." He swam inside, and quickly exited, swearing under his breath
"Stupid plastic castle, that's the fifteenth time today." He looked back and forth for a while and then looked behind him. "Hey a castle, when did I get that?" he went to explore, "Sixteen." He muttered to himself as he swam out. The average memory span of a goldfish is three seconds. Being a fish of the underworld though, Damien had one that spanned five seconds. This was the reason that he had trouble remembering what it was that had been eating at his mind all morning. Hearing Daniel and Jack talk about the mission helped trigger his memory. Daniel was to meet someone named Jonas this morning, and they were look at some reactor.
"Ah. Now I remember what I was supposed to do."
He quickly swam to the bottom of the tank and retrieved a list of names. They were separated into two columns. One labeled "live", and the other labeled "living impaired". Damien hated the word "dead", it was such a downer. With a flick of his fin Daniel's name went over to the "living impaired".
"Done and done." Damien thought. "He's lucky I liked those flakes, he could have gotten something much worse."
With that Damien disappeared in a puff of gold dust. The chamber collapsed with the pressure and a bigger wave radiated outwards. The scientists all collapsed.
Daniel, in what was nothing more than a fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate, coincidence, was on the other side of the glass.