5:32.
Daniel stared at the clock in his bedroom. No longer blinking, it was a
steady red glow that didn't change nearly quickly enough. Daniel's mind was
spinning wildly with memories that hadn't shown up for years. Things --
*people* -- that he'd almost forgotten.
5:33.
"This is impossible," he muttered, rubbing his face. He couldn't do this. He
couldn't go in. He couldn't -- "Dammit." Adam. Peter. God, if it had been
anything else, any other situation, he wouldn't even waver in his certainty
that they were the same person. But Adam had *died*.
5:34.
...hadn't he?
Daniel shook his head. It wasn't a matter of having been *told*. He'd seen
Adam, touched him. Adam was dead. And without a sarcophagus, no one could
get over that.
5:35.
This wasn't about him, Daniel told himself firmly. It wasn't about either of
them. It was about those scrolls, the translation. The knowledge.
5:35, still.
Daniel scrubbed at his face again and sat up with a sigh. Maybe getting some
work done would take his mind off of the -- other stuff. And at this hour,
the base would be quiet. Quieter, at any rate, than later in the day.
5:36, and he stood up and stumbled into the shower.
6:11, he was at the base.
He made it down to his office and dropped his things off, then relocked the
door remembering the incident from the other day. It still made him mad.
He felt invaded enough without walking into his own office and finding his
bestfriend reading his journals.
Next stop, the scrolls.
It seemed that Peter had continued working without him. The tense problem AND the syntax
problem. Peter had started retranslating it based on the new information.
Several words jumped out at him "My god." He whispered to himself.
"This is... wow."
He had to tell someone. Tell everyone, maybe. He had his phone up and Jack's
extension half-dialed before he remembered what time it was. Instead, he
dialed down to the security desk.
"Let me know when either Colonel O'Neill or General Hammond sign in."
"Yes, Doctor Jackson," the airman on duty said, and Daniel hung up, focusing
back on the translation.
When the phone rang a little over an hour later, Daniel jumped. He'd lost
himself in the translation, in what Peter had done and in what he himself
could translate based on the current knowledge. The more he found, the more
he felt like this was a dream. It had to be a dream. Nothing else would
explain how incredible a find this was.
"Jackson," he mumbled into the phone.
It was the airman from the security desk. "General Hammond just arrived."
"Thanks," he said, and tapped his pencil against the notebook he was writing
in.
He got up and went to seek the General out. When he got to his office he
knocked hesitantly. When he heard a faint, "Come in," he opened the door.
"Good morning Sir."
Hammond looked up surprised, "Dr. Jackson, you're here early."
"Uh, yeah. Making up for yesterday."
"Right." There was an awkward silence in the room, "Did you want to speak to
me about something?"
"Uh yes sir." Daniel stepped all the way into the room and started speaking,
"I was going over Dr. Adams notes, he ah..." he blushed, "made significant
progress yesterday."
"What did he find out?" The general asked.
Daniel got up and started pacing. "Well, it seems these scrolls speak of
an ancient gathering place, a place of knowledge. Now I thought that was
interesting considering that this culture doesn't usually have that sort of
thing at this level of development. Mostly there are oral traditions passed
down from father to son, mother to daughter. Sometimes there's an
information gatherer. Someone who-"
"Dr. Jackson, could you please."
Daniel stopped pacing and started leafing through the notebook he had
brought with him. "Sorry, it's just.. it's.. Like I said before, an ANCIENT
gathering place. Originally I mistook that for a simple noun. After the work of Dr.
Adams it became clear that it's a proper noun. Meaning, THE Ancients."
Hammond was leaning forward, listening with great interest, "What does this
mean, Dr. Jackson?"
He took a deep breath, "I think we may have found another Heliopolis."
Hammond just stared at him. "Care to elaborate?"
"Heliopolis," Daniel repeated impatiently. "P3X-972. Ernest's planet.
Meaning of life. General, this could be what we're looking for. This could
be *everything*.
"And if I recall," a dry voice said behind them, "the last 'everything' we
found collapsed around us. And nearly killed *you* in the process."
"Morning, Jack."
"I take it you found something good," Jack said, and then added, "Yes or no,
I don't need details."
"Well, I do." Hammond was still staring at Daniel. "I don't want to risk
people until we're sure what we're facing."
"General--" Daniel protested.
"I'm not saying we won't check it out," Hammond said. "I don't want to risk
my entire research staff if they'll end up speaking only the language of the
Ancients and hijacking the Stargate to go where we really shouldn't be able
to."
Daniel glanced at Jack, smiled a bit ruefully, and then said to Hammond,
"Sir, can we at least check it out?"
"I could send SG-1." The General looked at Jack, who nodded his agreement.
"Doctor Jackson, prepare a mission briefing; we'll meet at 1100 hours.
Dismissed."
Daniel started to leave, then hesitated and turned back. "I'd...sir, if it's
all right, I'd like to request that Dr. Adams come with us."
Jack shot him a sharp look, and Daniel flushed. "He's good with the
language. Better than I am. Given the complexity of the information, we'll
need him along."
"He doesn't have combat experience," Jack said immediately.
"Neither did I, when I started."
"That was different."
"It was not."
"Gentlemen!" Both Daniel and Jack jumped at Hammond's bark, and fell silent.
"I will take your request under advisement, Doctor. Colonel, I am aware of
your reluctance. I will make my decision before the briefing. Is that
clear?"
"Yes," Daniel mumbled. Jack looked sullen but said, "Yes, sir."
"Dismissed."
Daniel shot an undecipherable look at Jack and brushed past him.
"Daniel, can we talk?"
"I need to prepare for the briefing," Daniel said, evasively. "Sorry."
Jack stared after him. "Sure you are," he muttered.
*************************************************************************
"Sir, do you know what this briefing's about?"
"Carter, why is it everyone always takes me for a fountain of knowledge? Why
is it everyone always looks to me for the answers? Is it my rugged good looks? Or just that air of information that lingers around me?"
"It could be that for some unfathomable reason, someone put you in
charge," a voice said from the door.
"Daniel! Good of you to join us, and only--" Jack glanced at his watch.
"--ten minutes late this time."
"Thank you Jack, for that stunning display of wit." Despite the teasing tone
there was still some anger underneath Daniel's jibe.
"So, what have you and your little rocks been talking about?"
"Artifacts."
"Whatever."
"Gentlemen." Said a deep voice from the head of the table.
Blushing slightly, Daniel said, "Sorry sir."
"Go on son."
"As I told the General earlier, the translations that Dr. Peter and I have
been working on revealed something very interesting."
"Translations from what planet?" Teal'c asked.
"P2X-568. They appear to be some sort of journal. The person who wrote them
was some sort of explorer. On one of his explorations he found a place of
ancient knowledge. At first I thought this had to be a mistake, oral
tradition usually take precedence. It takes a great - I guess you
could call it an industrial revolution - something that makes it easier
to mass-produce writing. But even then, it's more likely for the oral
tradition to keep a strong hold-"
"Daniel!"
"Sorry. After working out some syntax problems, I discovered that it was a
place of knowledge OF the ancients. A Heliopolis."
Carter leaned forward in interest, "Really, that' amazing."
"Hold your horses Carter. We don't even know if we're gonna go back there
yet."
"But sir, the scientific implications. If this really is another Heliopolis,
can we afford not to go? Can we even afford not to find out?"
"No, I don't think we can," a new voice added from the doorway.
"Dr. Adams." Jack practically sneered, "How rude of you to join us
uninvited."
"I'm a very polite person once you get to know me," Adams said, giving Jack
a smooth, predatory smile. "And I don't show up uninvited."
"I asked Dr. Adams to join us," Hammond said.
"Great. Just great. Hey, what's next, inviting Colonel Kennedy to lead a
team?"
"Colonel, I don't understand your attitude."
"Yeah, well, I don't understand *him*. Daniel's a perfectly good linguist.
He's done all right so far. Is he suddenly braindead?"
"I am perfectly capable," Daniel snapped. "I am also capable of knowing when
someone," gesturing at Peter, "is better at his specialty than I am. And I'm
capable of accepting help."
"From him."
"Yes. From *him*. God, Jack, what is your *problem*?"
"My problem is--"
"Gen. Tle. Men."
Peter, who had been watching with confused amusement, ducked his head with a
smirk.
"Colonel, this is not a permanent assignment. Dr. Adams *will* be
accompanying you on this mission. Any questions?"
Though technically a query, the last sentence had the air of an order.
Jack glared at the table and said, "No, sir. Perfectly clear, sir."
"Good. With your *permission*, Colonel," Hammond suggested sarcastically,
"we will continue the briefing now."
Jack waved his hand in a go-ahead gesture, and Hammond looked at Daniel.
"We sent another MALP back through," Daniel said, not looking at either Jack
or Peter. "As with the first MALP transmission, there was no sign of any of
the Ancients'...ah, booby traps, as it were. As far as I can tell, this is
not directly an archive created by the Ancients."
"Scroll fifty-two," Peter prompted.
"I was, uh, getting to that." Daniel passed out sheets, copied versions of
one of the scrolls. "This, I believe, gives instructions to a... storage
facility. It's incomplete. Alone, it wouldn't add up to much, but
considering that this one was found with the others..."
"Yes. Uh. I understand your hesitation, sir," to Hammond, "and fully agree
-- *if* we find something that looks like it was created *by* the Ancients,
we'll, uh..." A sideways glance at Jack. "Exercise full caution. But it
might be a library containing a wealth of information -- cultural,
technological, linguistic, medical -- that we might well *need*."
"And you can't figure it out from here?" Jack asked.
Daniel smiled faintly. "Yes, I can figure out the secrets to the known
universe using a paperclip and a mesopatamian to english dictionary. Never
thought I'd see you turn down the chance to get out, Jack."
"Turning down the chance to play nice with rocks." Jack raised an eyebrow,
"and don't underestimate the usefulness of a paperclip. There's lotsa neat
things it can do."
Peter ducked his head again, smiling.
"And no," Daniel said, "it isn't something I can do from here. OR talk
someone through." Daniel added before Jack could protest, "Some of the
information is probably, quite literally inscribed into the walls. And if
the instructions lead to a place on the planet, as I believe they do..."
"It just seems like a big risk with very little chance for payoff." Jack hedged. "I was the lucky recipient the last time 'round and I don't anything like that to happen again."
"We really should go, sir," Carter said. "This is...this is what we've been
looking for."
"*Maybe*," Jack insisted
"Maybe, yes, but -- if it's not worth the risk to do *this*, then what are
we doing each time we go out?"
"It's not the risk," Jack said. "It's just..." He clenched his teeth,
obviously composing himself. "I trust my team, sir," he said to Hammond. "If
they feel it's worth going, then we go."
"Then you have a go, leave as soon as you're ready."
Daniel stared at the clock in his bedroom. No longer blinking, it was a
steady red glow that didn't change nearly quickly enough. Daniel's mind was
spinning wildly with memories that hadn't shown up for years. Things --
*people* -- that he'd almost forgotten.
5:33.
"This is impossible," he muttered, rubbing his face. He couldn't do this. He
couldn't go in. He couldn't -- "Dammit." Adam. Peter. God, if it had been
anything else, any other situation, he wouldn't even waver in his certainty
that they were the same person. But Adam had *died*.
5:34.
...hadn't he?
Daniel shook his head. It wasn't a matter of having been *told*. He'd seen
Adam, touched him. Adam was dead. And without a sarcophagus, no one could
get over that.
5:35.
This wasn't about him, Daniel told himself firmly. It wasn't about either of
them. It was about those scrolls, the translation. The knowledge.
5:35, still.
Daniel scrubbed at his face again and sat up with a sigh. Maybe getting some
work done would take his mind off of the -- other stuff. And at this hour,
the base would be quiet. Quieter, at any rate, than later in the day.
5:36, and he stood up and stumbled into the shower.
6:11, he was at the base.
He made it down to his office and dropped his things off, then relocked the
door remembering the incident from the other day. It still made him mad.
He felt invaded enough without walking into his own office and finding his
bestfriend reading his journals.
Next stop, the scrolls.
It seemed that Peter had continued working without him. The tense problem AND the syntax
problem. Peter had started retranslating it based on the new information.
Several words jumped out at him "My god." He whispered to himself.
"This is... wow."
He had to tell someone. Tell everyone, maybe. He had his phone up and Jack's
extension half-dialed before he remembered what time it was. Instead, he
dialed down to the security desk.
"Let me know when either Colonel O'Neill or General Hammond sign in."
"Yes, Doctor Jackson," the airman on duty said, and Daniel hung up, focusing
back on the translation.
When the phone rang a little over an hour later, Daniel jumped. He'd lost
himself in the translation, in what Peter had done and in what he himself
could translate based on the current knowledge. The more he found, the more
he felt like this was a dream. It had to be a dream. Nothing else would
explain how incredible a find this was.
"Jackson," he mumbled into the phone.
It was the airman from the security desk. "General Hammond just arrived."
"Thanks," he said, and tapped his pencil against the notebook he was writing
in.
He got up and went to seek the General out. When he got to his office he
knocked hesitantly. When he heard a faint, "Come in," he opened the door.
"Good morning Sir."
Hammond looked up surprised, "Dr. Jackson, you're here early."
"Uh, yeah. Making up for yesterday."
"Right." There was an awkward silence in the room, "Did you want to speak to
me about something?"
"Uh yes sir." Daniel stepped all the way into the room and started speaking,
"I was going over Dr. Adams notes, he ah..." he blushed, "made significant
progress yesterday."
"What did he find out?" The general asked.
Daniel got up and started pacing. "Well, it seems these scrolls speak of
an ancient gathering place, a place of knowledge. Now I thought that was
interesting considering that this culture doesn't usually have that sort of
thing at this level of development. Mostly there are oral traditions passed
down from father to son, mother to daughter. Sometimes there's an
information gatherer. Someone who-"
"Dr. Jackson, could you please."
Daniel stopped pacing and started leafing through the notebook he had
brought with him. "Sorry, it's just.. it's.. Like I said before, an ANCIENT
gathering place. Originally I mistook that for a simple noun. After the work of Dr.
Adams it became clear that it's a proper noun. Meaning, THE Ancients."
Hammond was leaning forward, listening with great interest, "What does this
mean, Dr. Jackson?"
He took a deep breath, "I think we may have found another Heliopolis."
Hammond just stared at him. "Care to elaborate?"
"Heliopolis," Daniel repeated impatiently. "P3X-972. Ernest's planet.
Meaning of life. General, this could be what we're looking for. This could
be *everything*.
"And if I recall," a dry voice said behind them, "the last 'everything' we
found collapsed around us. And nearly killed *you* in the process."
"Morning, Jack."
"I take it you found something good," Jack said, and then added, "Yes or no,
I don't need details."
"Well, I do." Hammond was still staring at Daniel. "I don't want to risk
people until we're sure what we're facing."
"General--" Daniel protested.
"I'm not saying we won't check it out," Hammond said. "I don't want to risk
my entire research staff if they'll end up speaking only the language of the
Ancients and hijacking the Stargate to go where we really shouldn't be able
to."
Daniel glanced at Jack, smiled a bit ruefully, and then said to Hammond,
"Sir, can we at least check it out?"
"I could send SG-1." The General looked at Jack, who nodded his agreement.
"Doctor Jackson, prepare a mission briefing; we'll meet at 1100 hours.
Dismissed."
Daniel started to leave, then hesitated and turned back. "I'd...sir, if it's
all right, I'd like to request that Dr. Adams come with us."
Jack shot him a sharp look, and Daniel flushed. "He's good with the
language. Better than I am. Given the complexity of the information, we'll
need him along."
"He doesn't have combat experience," Jack said immediately.
"Neither did I, when I started."
"That was different."
"It was not."
"Gentlemen!" Both Daniel and Jack jumped at Hammond's bark, and fell silent.
"I will take your request under advisement, Doctor. Colonel, I am aware of
your reluctance. I will make my decision before the briefing. Is that
clear?"
"Yes," Daniel mumbled. Jack looked sullen but said, "Yes, sir."
"Dismissed."
Daniel shot an undecipherable look at Jack and brushed past him.
"Daniel, can we talk?"
"I need to prepare for the briefing," Daniel said, evasively. "Sorry."
Jack stared after him. "Sure you are," he muttered.
*************************************************************************
"Sir, do you know what this briefing's about?"
"Carter, why is it everyone always takes me for a fountain of knowledge? Why
is it everyone always looks to me for the answers? Is it my rugged good looks? Or just that air of information that lingers around me?"
"It could be that for some unfathomable reason, someone put you in
charge," a voice said from the door.
"Daniel! Good of you to join us, and only--" Jack glanced at his watch.
"--ten minutes late this time."
"Thank you Jack, for that stunning display of wit." Despite the teasing tone
there was still some anger underneath Daniel's jibe.
"So, what have you and your little rocks been talking about?"
"Artifacts."
"Whatever."
"Gentlemen." Said a deep voice from the head of the table.
Blushing slightly, Daniel said, "Sorry sir."
"Go on son."
"As I told the General earlier, the translations that Dr. Peter and I have
been working on revealed something very interesting."
"Translations from what planet?" Teal'c asked.
"P2X-568. They appear to be some sort of journal. The person who wrote them
was some sort of explorer. On one of his explorations he found a place of
ancient knowledge. At first I thought this had to be a mistake, oral
tradition usually take precedence. It takes a great - I guess you
could call it an industrial revolution - something that makes it easier
to mass-produce writing. But even then, it's more likely for the oral
tradition to keep a strong hold-"
"Daniel!"
"Sorry. After working out some syntax problems, I discovered that it was a
place of knowledge OF the ancients. A Heliopolis."
Carter leaned forward in interest, "Really, that' amazing."
"Hold your horses Carter. We don't even know if we're gonna go back there
yet."
"But sir, the scientific implications. If this really is another Heliopolis,
can we afford not to go? Can we even afford not to find out?"
"No, I don't think we can," a new voice added from the doorway.
"Dr. Adams." Jack practically sneered, "How rude of you to join us
uninvited."
"I'm a very polite person once you get to know me," Adams said, giving Jack
a smooth, predatory smile. "And I don't show up uninvited."
"I asked Dr. Adams to join us," Hammond said.
"Great. Just great. Hey, what's next, inviting Colonel Kennedy to lead a
team?"
"Colonel, I don't understand your attitude."
"Yeah, well, I don't understand *him*. Daniel's a perfectly good linguist.
He's done all right so far. Is he suddenly braindead?"
"I am perfectly capable," Daniel snapped. "I am also capable of knowing when
someone," gesturing at Peter, "is better at his specialty than I am. And I'm
capable of accepting help."
"From him."
"Yes. From *him*. God, Jack, what is your *problem*?"
"My problem is--"
"Gen. Tle. Men."
Peter, who had been watching with confused amusement, ducked his head with a
smirk.
"Colonel, this is not a permanent assignment. Dr. Adams *will* be
accompanying you on this mission. Any questions?"
Though technically a query, the last sentence had the air of an order.
Jack glared at the table and said, "No, sir. Perfectly clear, sir."
"Good. With your *permission*, Colonel," Hammond suggested sarcastically,
"we will continue the briefing now."
Jack waved his hand in a go-ahead gesture, and Hammond looked at Daniel.
"We sent another MALP back through," Daniel said, not looking at either Jack
or Peter. "As with the first MALP transmission, there was no sign of any of
the Ancients'...ah, booby traps, as it were. As far as I can tell, this is
not directly an archive created by the Ancients."
"Scroll fifty-two," Peter prompted.
"I was, uh, getting to that." Daniel passed out sheets, copied versions of
one of the scrolls. "This, I believe, gives instructions to a... storage
facility. It's incomplete. Alone, it wouldn't add up to much, but
considering that this one was found with the others..."
"Yes. Uh. I understand your hesitation, sir," to Hammond, "and fully agree
-- *if* we find something that looks like it was created *by* the Ancients,
we'll, uh..." A sideways glance at Jack. "Exercise full caution. But it
might be a library containing a wealth of information -- cultural,
technological, linguistic, medical -- that we might well *need*."
"And you can't figure it out from here?" Jack asked.
Daniel smiled faintly. "Yes, I can figure out the secrets to the known
universe using a paperclip and a mesopatamian to english dictionary. Never
thought I'd see you turn down the chance to get out, Jack."
"Turning down the chance to play nice with rocks." Jack raised an eyebrow,
"and don't underestimate the usefulness of a paperclip. There's lotsa neat
things it can do."
Peter ducked his head again, smiling.
"And no," Daniel said, "it isn't something I can do from here. OR talk
someone through." Daniel added before Jack could protest, "Some of the
information is probably, quite literally inscribed into the walls. And if
the instructions lead to a place on the planet, as I believe they do..."
"It just seems like a big risk with very little chance for payoff." Jack hedged. "I was the lucky recipient the last time 'round and I don't anything like that to happen again."
"We really should go, sir," Carter said. "This is...this is what we've been
looking for."
"*Maybe*," Jack insisted
"Maybe, yes, but -- if it's not worth the risk to do *this*, then what are
we doing each time we go out?"
"It's not the risk," Jack said. "It's just..." He clenched his teeth,
obviously composing himself. "I trust my team, sir," he said to Hammond. "If
they feel it's worth going, then we go."
"Then you have a go, leave as soon as you're ready."