I'm back! And here's a new chapter! Whee! If anyone has anything that they want to share with me, even if it's negative, please feel free. And thank you to those who have reviewed, and even those who are just reading. I'm glad you're sticking with me :)
Chapter 4
"So in his reality, there's no such thing as the goa'uld?"
"Well if there is then they may still be back in that pond where they originated from." Daniel said with a small smile.
"General, it is very possible that is the case. According to Commander Shran, he's never ever seen a Stargate before, and there's no mention in his people's history of there ever being one seen." said Jonas, "If there's no Stargate, the goa'uld could easily have never moved beyond the Unas on their planet. Even if they did, even if they could build a Starship capable of travelling at the speed of light or faster, there's a very good chance that they'd never have reached the sector of space that the Commander's planet and indeed Earth are located in even though he's from a hundred years into the future, well his realities future."
"Lucky bastards." Jack muttered, twirling a pen between his fingers. Both Jonas and Daniel pulled very odd expressions at this statement. "What? Not so lucky?"
"Not really. Shran told us that when they were beginning to send ships into space, at the level of say NASA, their planet was invaded by a green skinned race called the Orions, that tried to take over the planet and enslave the Andorians, who up until then, had no idea that they weren't alone in the universe."
"So that must have been a shocker for them."
"Oh yeah." Jonas nodded emphatically
"What happened?" asked Sam.
"The Andorians are a self proclaimed warlike and violent species, although they've never had a world war interestingly enough, anyway when the Orions came the Andorians apparently fought back. According to Shran, the Orions tried to massacre them and they massacred them right back. Forced them off their planet. Ever since then apparently the Andorians and Orions have hated each other with a passion, wasting no opportunity to kill one another."
"Actually, Commander Shran says that the Andorians have difficulty getting along with any other species. He told us about this species called the Tellerites. Their culture apparently is based on arguments."
"Arguments?"
"Yes sir. Apparently they love insulting each other, and to not insult them is a sign of disrespect."
"That's nuts!" Jonas shrugged,
"That's what he told us." Daniel shrugged
"He says there are a few good species, there's ones call the Betazoids, and he says he personally has a fondness for humans, or pink-skins as he calls us."
"Apparently he's the voice for humans on the Andorian council."
"He is!" Jack exclaimed, "Could have fooled me." Both Daniel and Jonas chuckled, knowing what Jack meant. Jack suddenly frowned slightly, "You said there were green skinned aliens?"
"Yeah." nodded Daniel,
"Is it just me or does that universe sound like the universe of the jelly babies?"
"Jelly babies sir?"
"Green skinned people, Pink-skins, Blue-skins, what? Are there yellow and red and white?"
"I've never seen a blue jelly baby Jack."
"Would probably be raspberry." Jonas chuckled, "Mm, that sounds yum actually."
"Everything's yum to you Jonas! You liked that raw blue meat of Shran's."
"Sir, it tasted like beef."
"It did?"
"Yessir, cooked beef."
"But it was raw."
"I know." Jonas grinned at him, "I told you to try it."
"No way am I eating something that's raw and blue! No chance!"
"Not like you could considering Shran ate it all last night."
"Alright people." General Hammond drew them back to their original topic. "Is Commander Shan willing to share some technology with us?"
"I'm afraid not sir, his people have a strict rule about primitive races."
"Primitive?" repeated Jack, "Sir, I object to that phrase!"
"I'm sure you do Colonel, nevertheless, I suppose the rules are the same as the Tollans?"
"Pretty much sir. And he made a good point, apparently it can be quite damaging to share advanced technology with species, giving them things they may not be ready for, I mean we've seen it for ourselves. Orlin did that and the whole species was wiped out."
"By the Ancients! Not by each other."
"Still they probably would have wiped each other out or other planets, either way it was giving them the Ancient weapon that lead to their death."
"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind one of those phasers, they looked pretty cool."
"I wouldn't recommend you try it Jack, it's only got a kill setting."
"… Damn."
Jonas and Daniel headed back to their lab, to try and translate the text. When they got there they found Shran inside, watching Jonas' fish with curiosity, lightly tapping the glass with one finger.
"Do you think they like it in that tiny bowl?" he asked without moving.
"Well considering their memory erases itself every three seconds and so everything is new to them all the time, does it really matter?" Daniel smiled,
"I guess that's a fair point." Shran straightened up. "I'm so glad to be out of that infirmary, I was bored out of my mind."
"How are your ribs?"
"They're fine, still broken, but they'll heal."
"Is there something we can do for you?" Daniel asked, meaning to be pleasant but it came out sounding a little impatient. Shran's antennas drooped slightly,
"I'm not allowed back into the gym, so my choices were to come here, go to my quarters where I'd be bored and alone, or the mess which I'd rather not go to, since I'm not hungry. At least here I won't be stared at."
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." Daniel said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "That should pass in a day or so." Shran shrugged,
"Most species react like that because of our skin tone, apparently its very strange. I don't see what's so strange about it." Jonas and Daniel smiled sympathetically. "I'll go." Shran said abruptly. "It's obvious you're busy."
"No, no. Stay, it's ok." Daniel quickly told him, stepping in front of him hands held in the air.
"I'll only be in your way."
"No please, stay." Jonas joined Daniel in his attempts to keep the Andorian there. "We're only doing translations… at least we're trying to."
"Actually, we're translating text from the place we met you."
"Oh. So you've had no luck in figuring out how the device works?"
"Unfortunately no. We're hoping that the text might give us some clues to it, maybe even explain how it works."
"Any idea why it worked on one side and not on the other?"
"I'm afraid not." Shran sighed, his antennas drooping lower. He walked away and skimmed his fingertips across the table. Suddenly he paused and looked down with a frown. He lifted up a piece of paper and stared at it a deep frown on his face.
"Jonas? Is this from that hall?" he flipped it in his fingers and showed them a photo of the ceiling painting.
"Yeah it is. It's a painting on the ceiling, why?" Shran looked at it again with a deep frown.
"That is Andoria." He jabbed the picture with his finger. "That's my home!" Jonas and Daniel shared a look and then both hurried over to Shran.
"Are you sure?"
"Completely. I've seen this image enough times. There's Andoria in the foreground, and Geleri the Gas Giant, and Hangele is the moon beside her. This is a traditional painting, ancient symbolisation!" Jonas took the picture and looked it over and then glanced at Daniel. Daniel, seeming to read his mind, grabbed a few more pictures and gave them to Shran.
"Can you read this text?" Shran looked it over and frowned deeper. Then he said,
"No." and handed them back to Daniel who looked crestfallen. "Not this way anyway." Shran smirked at the elated look on Daniel's face and the massive grin on Jonas'. "I can translate it at the site though, this writing is supposed to be read by touch."
"So I was right it is a form of Braille!" Daniel exclaimed, then explained to the confused Shran, "A form of writing maybe used by blind people that's read by touch, rather than eyes."
"That's exactly what it is and I can read it, but I'm out of practise and it'd be much easier if I could touch it as that was the way I learned it."
"Of course, sure. I'll contact General Hammond." Daniel practically skipped across the room as he went for the phone. Shran watched him with a raised eyebrow.
"Is he always like that?" he asked Jonas, who chuckled.
"Oh yes, yes he is."
"So we're leaving tomorrow?" Shran clarified as he pushed his human food around the plate, trying to control his stomach. This stuff did not look appetising at all.
"Yeah, General Hammond gave us the all clear." Daniel nodded.
"May I ask a question?" Jack spoke up, his eyes fixed suspiciously on Shran. Shran met his eyes levelly.
"Go ahead."
"How can you read this writing? You're not blind." Shran narrowed his eyes at him and said calmly,
"When I was seven years old I became ill with a severe, and often fatal, childhood disease. One of the symptoms is blindness, which can be permanent if the child isn't cured in time. As it was it took me many months to get my sight back, so I learned the script to be able to read again." Jack blinked.
"I see." he said softly, feeling Daniel's irritated gaze on him, "What? I'm entitled to ask a question."
"He's right, he is." Shran said, pushing away his tray, deciding that mashed potatoes were just not something he wanted to try. "He is entitled to ask a question. He's also right to be suspicious. For all you know I could be part of an elaborate scheme to get you back to that planet and lead you to your doom. I know I'd feel the same way if our positions were reversed." Shran leaned back in his seat with a smirk.
"Thank you." Jack jerked his hand at Shran as he spoke, "See he gets it. And he's the new guy!"
"So tell me more about these Goa'uld." Shran leaned forward again, resting his arms on the table.
"Like what?"
"There's something I don't quite understand. You said they prefer human hosts."
"Yeah."
"But you also said that these hosts don't come from earth. So where do they come from?"
"We didn't tell you?"
"Not that I remember."
"Well over two thousand years ago the goa'uld did live on earth, and they took human slaves and took them to thousands of other worlds. That's actually what we do a lot of the time. Meet the cultures of the other humans in the galaxy." Shran stared at Daniel wide eyed.
"Did you just say that this galaxy is populated almost entirely with humans?"
"Well I don't know about almost entirely, but yes, there are cultures of humans all over the galaxy." Shran's antennas were stiff and he slowly sat back, his eyes fixed on the table.
"I think I just had an epiphany." he said dazedly. Jack frowned,
"What?"
"I think I know what that machine really did."
"Oh?" Shran nodded numbly.
"It killed me and sent me to a hell where I'm surrounded on all sides by pink-skins." He tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. "You spirits have a sick sense of humour!" he exclaimed. He then dropped his head forward and groaned, shaking it. Jack rolled his eyes, and glanced at Teal'c who seemed amused, judging by the way his eyebrow was raised.
"Humans aren't that bad." Shran raised his head, then rested it in his hands. He gave Jack a dark look.
"I've encountered humans six times in four years. Each time something's always happened. A space fight, a potential war about to occur, hostage situations. So maybe humans aren't that bad, but they are definitely bad luck." Jack opened his mouth to contradict that statement then paused and considered his own adventures through the Stargate. He couldn't deny that, his team at least, had a lousy track record. Shran smirked to himself. "See, even you can't disagree with me."
/giggle/ I hope you're enjoying Jack and Shran's interactions as much as I am.
Review and an update will come quicker!
Night's Darkness
