Disclaimer: Stargate (II) Productions, ShowTime/Viacom, MGM/UA,
Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions own the creative
work Stargate Sg-1 and its characters. No copyright infringement intended.
No money made the story is mine and I always put my toys away.
Author's note: First stargate fic of mine. Almost my first fic (since I'm not owning up to certain fandoms). Apologies in advance.
The lamps are low. Half-light flickers across the walls and ceiling, creating kaleidoscope patterns of soft autumn, fleeting shadows and warm tones. The numbers watch at me innocently from the page, universal constants that unlock universal truths stare back at me as I try to find the linking phrase. I almost expect them to blink.
I like it like this. The half-light gives my mind room to manoeuvre, half the world blocked out, the rest distilled to the basic elements. Numbers, letters, truth, love, faith. When I was younger, I remember the magic of the witching hour, the way the wind almost seemed to have waited with baited breath. Waiting for the world to choose, light or darkness, sun or moon. Of course the choices were always even, another constant like the symbols on this page. Symbols that represent almost everything my life has become. Almost.
Some things cannot be expressed by numbers. Many have tried, the statistics of meeting the right person, the chemicals and endorphins that trip the pleasure circuits of the brain. Even they can be distilled back to numbers, protons, neutrons and electrons. Bonded together with a universal energy, held until only the strongest forces can break them apart and even then, the release of energy destroys all in it's wake. I think I know how they feel. But still, they cannot define in numbers what drives these elemental forces and I for one would not try to. Some mysteries are best left unexplored, just watched as they unfold around you.
So I watch, as my hand rearranges these numbers into sensible patterns, towards the inevitable solution. The thrill of the chase is there, the feeling of power as I unravel yet another facet of the stargate, another point to me against the elements that allow us travel. The iris, a sightless eye that sees more than we could ever imagine gives up another one of it's secrets to me and I smile, stretching out my muscles that bitterly complain of hours spent watching my mind travel further than they ever could, whist they stiffened from lack of movement. I stand and wrap my arms around myself, hugging my jacket back against my body, warding off the slight chill that settles over the complex this late at night.
Then I smile again. Behind me I can feel another pair of eyes watching me, staring with a heated intensity both electrifying and familiar. I don't even have to turn around, a smile seen without sight and a touch felt without substance. He moves behind me and arms cross over mine Gently prying my touch away, setting his own around my stomach, warm skin sending shudders through me. Gently he turns me around and I willingly settle into this embrace, feeling my constant, something that my many numbers and his many words still cannot adequately express. I look up. The light reflects off his glasses, like firefly patterns and there am I. I see myself staring back at me, watching him.