[Note: Spoilers for 'One False Step'.]
- - - - -
Virgo (August 23 - September 22)
Avoid alternative music, today. Also, try to find what's making that nasty smell in the fridge, before it gets worse.
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Daniel frowned as he watched the footage on the TV screen. He touched his hand to his temple. The headache was back, along with a low, nagging ache in the pit of his stomach.
How could he have been so stupid... so naïve? The oldest story in the archaeological books. Stranger comes to a new land and brings with him all manner of new diseases. For God's sake, it was a basic archaeological principle. The decline of the Inuvialuit following contact with whalers, Russian traders and infected southern tribes. The fallout from Peruvian slavers on the Rapanui people of Easter island. European colonisation of Australia. God. It never ended.
The difference was that this time it was him. Daniel Jackson. He had managed to do with a sneeze and wave what explorers before him had needed smallpox laden blankets and rat infested ships to accomplish.
Daniel stared blankly at the video monitor, not even really watching it anymore.
How many options had there been? Disease? One of them could be nursing a cold and not even have realised it. Drugs? Well, aside from Daniel's antihistamines... yeah, and he sneezed all over one of the aliens. Maybe it was something like the Land of Light, but this time the antihistamine interfered with the natives.
Daniel got up from his seat and dialled Janet.
"Doctor Fraiser."
"Uh, hello. It's Daniel."
"There's no change, Daniel."
"Yes, no. No. That's not why I'm calling. I was thinking. I... I sneezed and I was thinking that maybe the antihistamines could have..." He rolled a hand, trying to articulate his thoughts.
"Like the Land of Light? I thought of that. So far, the tests have not revealed anything."
"But then..."
"Daniel, I know. I'll keep you apprised. How are you feeling?"
Like I've just destroyed a planet. "Fine. No, just... just let me know."
"Of course."
He dropped the phone before she could say good-bye and then threw himself back in the chair, staring at the screen. The pain in his eyes was starting to rise again.
Jack entered the room, looking around at the tape and then back at Daniel.
"What are you looking for?"
"I don't know. Something. Anything."
Daniel got up and paced quickly across the office, checking through the tapes. One of these had to explain this. Jack was doing his concerned look.
"Daniel, we can't always expect things to go the way we want them to."
He stopped short at that. "To go the way we want them to? I mean, one wrong move, one false step, and a whole fragile world gets wiped out?" It bubbled up, boiled up and spilled over. He slammed his hands down and swept the offending papers and tapes off his work desk. "We are killing a whole race of people here! How can I not care?!"
The pain in his head spiked, stopping him in his tracks. He froze in place, hoping it would go away. Jack, of course, noticed immediately.
"What?"
"My head hurts again." He closed his eyes and sighed. Just reward for destroying a world. A symbiotic thing, he supposed. Give and take on a galactic scale. There are some mis-steps that can't be undone. Some actions you can't take back. Daniel Jackson, intergalactic explorer... intergalactic menace.
Jack was there, at his elbow, steering him toward the infirmary. For Jack, the world would come later. Now was all about making sure Daniel was looked after.
- - - - -
Virgo (August 23 - September 22)
Avoid alternative music, today. Also, try to find what's making that nasty smell in the fridge, before it gets worse.
- - - - -
Daniel frowned as he watched the footage on the TV screen. He touched his hand to his temple. The headache was back, along with a low, nagging ache in the pit of his stomach.
How could he have been so stupid... so naïve? The oldest story in the archaeological books. Stranger comes to a new land and brings with him all manner of new diseases. For God's sake, it was a basic archaeological principle. The decline of the Inuvialuit following contact with whalers, Russian traders and infected southern tribes. The fallout from Peruvian slavers on the Rapanui people of Easter island. European colonisation of Australia. God. It never ended.
The difference was that this time it was him. Daniel Jackson. He had managed to do with a sneeze and wave what explorers before him had needed smallpox laden blankets and rat infested ships to accomplish.
Daniel stared blankly at the video monitor, not even really watching it anymore.
How many options had there been? Disease? One of them could be nursing a cold and not even have realised it. Drugs? Well, aside from Daniel's antihistamines... yeah, and he sneezed all over one of the aliens. Maybe it was something like the Land of Light, but this time the antihistamine interfered with the natives.
Daniel got up from his seat and dialled Janet.
"Doctor Fraiser."
"Uh, hello. It's Daniel."
"There's no change, Daniel."
"Yes, no. No. That's not why I'm calling. I was thinking. I... I sneezed and I was thinking that maybe the antihistamines could have..." He rolled a hand, trying to articulate his thoughts.
"Like the Land of Light? I thought of that. So far, the tests have not revealed anything."
"But then..."
"Daniel, I know. I'll keep you apprised. How are you feeling?"
Like I've just destroyed a planet. "Fine. No, just... just let me know."
"Of course."
He dropped the phone before she could say good-bye and then threw himself back in the chair, staring at the screen. The pain in his eyes was starting to rise again.
Jack entered the room, looking around at the tape and then back at Daniel.
"What are you looking for?"
"I don't know. Something. Anything."
Daniel got up and paced quickly across the office, checking through the tapes. One of these had to explain this. Jack was doing his concerned look.
"Daniel, we can't always expect things to go the way we want them to."
He stopped short at that. "To go the way we want them to? I mean, one wrong move, one false step, and a whole fragile world gets wiped out?" It bubbled up, boiled up and spilled over. He slammed his hands down and swept the offending papers and tapes off his work desk. "We are killing a whole race of people here! How can I not care?!"
The pain in his head spiked, stopping him in his tracks. He froze in place, hoping it would go away. Jack, of course, noticed immediately.
"What?"
"My head hurts again." He closed his eyes and sighed. Just reward for destroying a world. A symbiotic thing, he supposed. Give and take on a galactic scale. There are some mis-steps that can't be undone. Some actions you can't take back. Daniel Jackson, intergalactic explorer... intergalactic menace.
Jack was there, at his elbow, steering him toward the infirmary. For Jack, the world would come later. Now was all about making sure Daniel was looked after.