His thoughts wandered again... if they actually ended up spending years alone together on this planet... he wondered if she would ever tell him what had actually derailed her original 'astronaut plans'.
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Ch 13: CHARTING STARS
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"That one is Hathor," Jack proclaimed.
"Jack, I really don't want to think of Hathor every time I look up at night," Sam protested while rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, but look," and she looked over to see the silhouette of his arm against the night sky. The two of them were lying on some extra sleeping bags in the middle of their clearing. Naming constellations. Ostensibly to map the night sky in order to help them navigate when and if they had to travel at night. But in reality, they were both enjoying themselves a bit.
They'd taken to spending an hour or so doing this every evening. Taking advantage of the fairly nice weather and general lack of heavy cloud cover. And they didn't have to worry about what to talk about.
It was a little like seeing shapes in the clouds on a sunny day. It was a little whimsical. They could get a little silly. And they could have a little harmless fun with each other... especially when one of them claimed to see the stars connecting to form a shape that the other just didn't see! Or... at least refused to admit to.
They'd already agreed on a set of stars in the form of an elaborate soldier's shield, and named it Teal'c.
A set of stars in the outline of a swan was named for Janet.
An outline of a flower was named for Cassie.
A set of stars that sort of came together in the outline of a monkey... and Jack insisted that they name it Daniel. Although Jack did appear affectionate with his Spacemonkey appellation for the archeologist, Sam still felt that it was her duty to at least voice an objection. Jack didn't take her seriously, however, as he was learning to recognize the smile in her voice even in the dark... so he knew that she thought it was funny, even if she would never admit that to Daniel! So Jack insisted on his Daniel/Spacemonkey constellation.
They each took turns transferring their mapped constellations onto paper. If they were here long enough, Sam was planning to set up a computer program with declination and azimuth coordinates that would plot the night sky with their mapped and named stars and constellations.
They each scanned the glittering sky as their watches progressed. Looking for any notable or easily recognizable constellations that appeared as the stars rotated past. If either of them identified a new grouping, they would sketch the star configuration and then note the time and general location in the sky.
Slowly they were mapping their new perspective on this portion of the galaxy.
With countless hours spent wondering and thinking about those left behind... friends, family and loved ones. Wondering about the SGC, US politics, as well as both planetary and interplanetary situations. Wondering about the Asgard, the Tokra, the Rebel Jaffa, and many of the other peoples that they'd met in their travels.
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"Now you tell me that that doesn't look like a wicked snake!" Jack challenged after he'd finished explaining the grouping of stars that he proposed calling Hathor.
"Yes, it does look like a snake," she had to agree, "but it's really just a wiggly line... and we could make snakes like that all over the place... and I really really don't want to see a bunch of Goa'uld all over the night sky," she elaborated on her objection.
"Really, really?" he echoed her words to poke a bit of fun at her.
"Would you rather have the multi-syllabic technobabble?" she returned quickly, but he recognized the smile in her voice again and wasn't worried.
Silence descended between them as they each scanned the sky for more recognizable groupings that they could use and name. Jack was allowing himself to relax a bit. He wasn't holding himself so consciously apart from her each and every moment.
"Jack?"
"Mmmm, yeah?"
"How about that group over there?" and her arm stretched across his view of the night sky, pointing across his body and to his right. "There's about fourteen medium-bright stars in a rough circular ring, just above the tops of the trees," she gave him an initial orientation.
He scanned the area for a moment and then he thought he saw what she was describing. They were both getting pretty good at recognizing what the other was visualizing when it came to their game of astronomical dot-to-dots.
"I think I got it...," he was still examining the cluster, "What...?" he started to ask what she thought it looked like, but then he had an idea what she was seeing... "A baseball?" he asked.
"Yes!" he could hear the pleasure in her voice. Pleasure that he saw it the same way that she did. That her 'baseball' really did look like a baseball. And it did... there was a wiggle of 9 fainter-stars across the middle that looked just like the stitching on a baseball.
"A baseball it is!" He proclaimed for her. "Now what do you want to call it?"
Silence answered him for a moment and he pulled his gaze down from the night sky to glance over at her in the dark.
She was still looking up and her voice was softer than before, "Well, I thought you might like to call it Charlie - but we can call it something else if you want," she suggested and he could hear the trepidation in her voice.
Charlie! His thoughts stilled and his breath caught for a moment. Charlie. Absolutely perfect was his internal reaction. They'd named 11 of their new constellations so far... after mutual friends and colleagues. But they'd both shied away from anything too personal for either of them. But the baseball grouping for Charlie... was perfect.
The silence in the clearing suddenly crashed in on him and he realized that he hadn't answered her. And she wasn't pushing, she was just waiting... probably hoping that she hadn't overstepped some invisible personal line between the two of them.
"Charlie is perfect, Sam," and he let a little tenderness in his voice reach her through the dark. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. I'm glad you like it... I actually saw the baseball the first night we were here, and when we started naming our own constellations, Charlie just seemed like the perfect name... but... I figured it should be your decision, and I wasn't sure how you'd feel about it," she stumbled a bit trying to explain, but he already knew and understood. Charlie was a sensitive topic and the two officers were just beginning to get to know each other as casual friends. Neither of them wanted to upset the delicate balance that they were currently maintaining between respect, professionalism and a growing personal friendship.
A few moments of silence passed while he struggled to word a reply that wasn't too mushy, "Thanks," he finally mumbled and then he had a feeling that she was giving him one of those soft smiles, but it was too dark for him to confirm or deny his suspicions... and he knew that if he shined his flashlight at her he'd only earn a scowl for blinding her night vision.
More time was spent in quiet, companionable silence and then Jack started to notice that he was getting cold. From years of experience, he knew that once he was starting to get cold that Sam would have been cold for some time. "Come on, I'm getting cold, let's call it a night," he avoided pointing out that he knew that she was probably freezing, because he knew that she'd just deny it. When she didn't object, he knew that his assessment was correct. Although she'd taken to bundling on extra clothes when they lay out at night, he knew that lying on the ground motionless would sap the heat right out of them no matter how many clothes either of them wore.
"'Night Jack," she sent softly over her shoulder as she crawled into the tent where their bedrolls were set up.
"'Night," he sent after her as he set to stoking the fire and walking around a bit to wake up for his shift. Setting a pot of water on for some tea, he settled his P90 in his arms as his eyes scanned the camp status. Noting where they'd left certain objects, automatically noting the comforting winking lights of the security system, and scanning the surrounding trees for anything moving or out of the ordinary.
Ten minutes later, his first patrol of their small area complete and his tea steeping, he sat back against a rock and looked back at the stars.
His eyes went unerringly to Charlie's baseball.
Not too far from Oz, he noticed with a small smile.
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TBC
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