Long time no see ! Sorry for the delay but Aliceanjee got busy lately ;)
I'd like to thank her cause her work is amazing ! She corrects every little mistake she founds and the story is better that way ! Lucky English readers :p
Enjoy this new chapter ;)
Chapter 2 - First day
"Ben?" My query echoes in the long-standing relative silence of the room. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I can't make heads or tails of this particular word!"
Ben comes closer and whistles low as he takes stock of the progress in my translation work. He is about to say something when Daniel – the one from the elevator – knocks on the doorframe to announce his arrival. I look him over and notice he is wearing green fatigues with a black undershirt, his hair sticking up every which way; a far cry from this morning's put-together coiffure.
"Hello Doctor Conners, I was just wanting to ask about the P3X-898 artefact?"
"Oh hello Doctor Jackson! I'm just done with the preliminary analysis, here you go," Ben states, handing him a folder.
Daniel Jackson… Wait a minute, I know that name! I muse to myself. THE Daniel Jackson? Daniel Jackson the archeologist who published extremely controversial theories relating to the Great Pyramids a few years ago? Daniel Jackson the man everyone thinks is dead, murdered by a government – Egyptian, Russian or American depending on who you ask – so as to shut him up and keep an international conspiracy under wraps? THAT Daniel Jackson?
Ben's just asked him to help with the word I'm having trouble translating, so Dr. Jackson comes closer from his position opposite me and leans over my shoulder.
"Ah, that's a funny symbol, isn't it?" he asks, his mischievous blue eyes smiling at me. Old Egyptian is chock-full of various miscellaneous hieroglyphics, but these are of a slightly different sort.
He then helps me translate the rest of the sentence, as if these strange hieroglyphics were part of a language he'd been fluent in his whole life. After I thank him with a smile, he gets back to his conversation with Ben as I am fully absorbed in the rest of the translation. All of a sudden, a loud voice floats in from further down the corridor.
"Daniel? Daniel? Where the heck is that goddamn archeologist?!"
Daniel sighs and shouts back, "I'm here, Jack!"
A grayish-haired head pops up through the doorframe.
"Daniel! Still hanging out with the eggheads?" Neither Ben nor Daniel seem offended at this statement. "Come on, let's go! Hammond's waiting for us!"
Daniel makes his apologies and exits the room. I must be making my very best goldfish impression – mouth open, eyes wide, face distraught – because Ben's laughter erupts: "You have absolutely no idea at all where you've landed, Alex, have you?"
"I actually don't, no one has really explained what I'm doing here to be honest!" I reply, still astounded.
"Wait until lunchtime then; I'll take you to the mess hall and you'll discover everything there is to know about this base."
I answer with a smile, but I'm still skeptical: I'm not too sure how the mess hall is supposed to help with my understanding of it all. After all, people go to the mess hall to eat and that's it, right?
I have no idea at all about what's going on here, as Ben said earlier. He steers me to the mess hall just before rush hour and we make our way to an already occupied table; he introduces me to other scientists – Felger, Lee, Chloe and others whose names I can't remember – and I sit between Chloe and the interns
I saw this morning, who already seem to know everyone.
"Here comes the show!" Ben smiles as he starts on his meatloaf dish. Chloe looks at me with a small smile and turns her head to the entrance of the mess hall. She brings her chair closer to mine and keeps a running commentary as people come and go. I feel as if I am gawking at celebrities walking the red carpet at the Academy Awards: we are only missing the cameras and the show's host!
"This is Master Sergeant Siler, he's our go-to maintenance man. Kind of our own Tony Micelli, but much clumsier! He's got his own bed in the infirmary as he lands there on a regular basis for burns of every kind… That read-headed Major over there is Doctor Janet Fraiser, our Chief Medical Officer. People sometimes call her 'Napoleonic power-monger' – and by people I mean the very few who dare speak of her behind her back!" Chloe laughs. "Rumor says she's got designs on Dr. Jackson, fro-"
"She already knows Daniel, he came by this morning," Ben interrupts; Chloe nods in acknowledgment.
"Ah, here's you first complete SG team, Alex," Ben says after a few minutes, and everyone takes advantage of the temporary lull in people-watching activities to eat. "That's SG-3 with Colonel Reynolds, Captain Bosco and Lieutenant Peterson; they're possibly the closest to SG-1: as soon as one of the two teams lands in hot water, you can be sure the other one volunteers for – or rather demands! – the rescue mission!"
"But… what's an 'SG team', actually?" I enquire.
Everyone's eyes rest upon me as Ben answers my question.
"Ah, that's right, we should have started at the beginning. An SG team is a unit composed of more or less four members…" That was the signal for an animated discussion as to the exact number of people in an SG team.
"Nothing in the SGC rules imposes four members, that's just the way it usually goes," Ben intervenes before things get too heated. "Anyway, each SG team has a specific task in the field: SG-1's is first contact and exploration, SGs- two and three's is more search and rescue, etc."
I have a myriad questions tumbling in my head, but everyone's face turns away from the entrance as another man enters the mess hall, as if they hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary; I recognize Jack, the man I shared the elevator with in the morning, and for a reason I can't fathom, they all seem weary of him. Now that I think of it, I understand why they're so scared: I'm not quick enough to understand I need to look the other way, and he throws me the darkest look I've ever seen. I am sitting quite a ways from the entrance, but not far enough apparently; I hear Jack purposefully complaining loudly to a blonde woman at his side:
"Your pal Felger still thinks he's at the zoo! He's gawking at us as he would exotic wild animals!"
The blonde Major tilts her head toward our table and giggles softly.
"Carter!" says Jack, exasperated.
"If you don't want me to giggle, stop making me laugh, Sir!" Major Carter states before she helps herself to a couple dishes from the serving line.
"And this is the first half of SG-1, they're the idols here! He's Colonel O'Neill, leader of SG-1, and she's his second-in-command, Major Carter. She's got a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics, and Jay's in love with her!" Chloe whispers in my ear.
"Am not!" Felger indignantly replies.
"Are too!" everyone retorts as a single voice.
Felger blushes but stays silent, as there is no need for an obvious answer.
A balding man enters the mess hall, and silence falls upon the rowdy midday crowd.
"That's General Hammond, he's the base commander. He doesn't usually come here," Chloe dares whisper again.
The man in question walks to SG-1's table and puts his hand on the back of Major Carter's chair before addressing them. Colonel O'Neill answers with a dramatic move as he puts his hands to either side of his own head, but Major Carter smiles and nods to the General.
"Is it normal to be so… familiar? I mean, my father is in the military too, and even with his own team and fellow soldiers, he is far from being that…" I trail off.
"Close?" Ben offers; I nod in reply.
"It's a bit special with SG-1, they get particular treatment," Chloe explains in a factual tone; nothing in her words or attitude actually points to jealousy or any recrimination, though.
Ben takes in my surprised air and adds serenely, "They're more of a family than just colleagues. They've been through a lot together; you'll understand it all much better if you do get a permanent posting with us."
I finish my meal in silence, pondering over all the information I have been imparted until we all make our way back to the labs.