Way #50 -- The Performance
"Careful. Good, yeah. Tie it tight." Teal'c tugged on the strap and gave it another knot for good measure. Jack gave it a testing tap. It thumped a nice, hollow, deep sound.
"Excellent."
He waved, "Ok, over there, we can finish those off now."
Jack and Teal'c stood in a rather lush forest-- green was everywhere, the canopy above them nearly blotting out all sunshine, wild ferns and climbing vines and all sorts of little flowers. They were in part of a clearing they had made for base-camp, a piece of canvas strung along a good 2/3s of the area, closing it off as a sort of private room. Their packs sat on the ground, a fire was crackling in the center, and all sorts of interesting items were strung about their 'room'.
Jack tapped the large hand-crafted drum again and smiled, "Yeah, this'll be perfect."
"Guys, have you seen my lap--"
Carter came around to the canvas opening and stopped, staring.
"Top? . . . what did you guys do to this place? You've got it trashed!"
"Uh, we'll clean it up," Jack stammered, shuffling to put himself in front of the drum, blocking Carter's view.
"What, did you get bored or something?"
"No. No-no-no. Not bored, we're working on a very important project. Right Teal'c?"
The Jaffa nodded. "Indeed."
"We'll get it all outta your way in a few hours. No worries."
"What is that?" Carter asked, pointing behind Jack. He blinked innocently.
"What's what?"
Sam entered the area and went behind Jack to pull the object out from behind him.
"That."
"Oh. Well, uh . . ."
He tapped it and it thu-dunked. Carter regarded him suspiciously.
"A drum?"
"Yeah."
Carter shook her head and backed off,
"Ok, I'm not even going to ask this time."
She hesitated at the exit.
"Although, I'm surprised at you, Teal'c. I'm not sure why you're helping him."
"We are taking part of a respected Tauri tradition, MajorCarter. I wish to learn more of your culture."
She smiled slightly.
"Well. Good luck with that. Keep in mind the Colonel's version might be slightly slanted."
"Hey. Uh, Carter. Carter . . ." he smiled winningly at her. She suddenly felt uneasy.
"What?"
"We, uh . . . we still have a part to fill, and--could really use your help, you know."
She shook her head firmly,
"No way, nuh-uh. I will not get involved in this."
Jack shrugged. "It would be your loss, Carter."
She turned and headed out.
"Considered me lost then."
"You'll come around. I know you're too curious to ignore us," Jack dangled as she left.
"Ok, never mind her. I'll talk her into it later. We got practice to do, Teal'c."
Teal'c nodded.
"I am ready for training, O'Neill."
Carter suddenly stopped tromping through the underbrush and mushrooms, turning around to glance back at the canvas-room strung up to the trees. The firelight cast visible silhouettes onto the canvas of Jack and Teal'c. She could hear Teal'c's deep baritone as he attempted to sing something.
"Ok, right, draw the middle part out."
"Ah-weena-wey, ah-weena-wey, ah-weena-wey, ah-weena-wey--"
"Yes, good-- but it's like, it's like uhweenuhwhay, uhweenuhwhay, y'know, got to have the right rhythm."
"Perhaps you should play the baseline O'Neill."
"Ooh, yeah, good thinking. Ok, here we go. Remember, twice, and then switch, ok?"
"Indeed."
Carter shook her head and made herself turn around and keep walking. She would not get involved. They were in charge of their own crazy affairs.
Teal'c's singing voice sounded strange as she hiked through the trees, as if she had somehow stumbled upon an eerie native settlement.
The world they were currently camping on was fairly warm and humid--Like a Jaffa Warrior's sweaty armpit!, as Jack had eloquently stated-- and didn't make for the best sleeping conditions. Of course they had seen much worse, so it wasn't too much to tolerate in comparison. At least there weren't any giant bugs on this world. Daniel had unzipped his sleeping-bag so that he was laying on it like an open-face sandwich, his head half-buried under his pillow, nose nuzzled into the inner-lining of the bag. He could smell everything on this world, because it was at just the right level of heat and humidity to bring out a cornucopia of stenches. Dirt, bugs, plants, that weird tree-sap, the dirty laundry in the corner of the tent, hell, even Sam's electronic equipment half a mile away, probably. Mostly it was just sweaty smelling in the tent, with the tang of body odors and maybe some smoke from the campfire. Yeah . . . smoke . . . mm . . .
Daniel was asleep, and yet some part of him must have been conscious to be contemplating the smell of campfire smoke. Unless he was dreaming. He was uncertain at the moment. He stretched out with his mind, striving to discern the scent of coffee from the smoke . . . charcoal . . . no coffee yet? His thoughts floated back towards less sentient matters, toward a sticky, damp oblivion of sleep. Then something tried to bring him out of it again. It was a rhythm. Just white noise at first, at the back of his mind, but he gradually became more aware of it. He pondered what it could be.
Fwuuuuzooop! The unmistakable sound of the tent flap being pulled back, somebody was going out or coming in. The rhythmical chika chika chika grew louder as somebody shuffled about. Then a deep, hollow thud thud thud thud started in time with the other noise. That was enough to catch Daniel's attention. He unmooshed his nose from its spot and he chanced to try and glance crookedly upwards towards the tent-flap. His vision showed him a slightly fuzzy, sideways view of two men crouched at the entrance of his tent, barefoot with frizzy fern fronds wrapped around their ankles.
"Hhhum?" he mumbled into his pillow in genuine confusion. The feet slowly marched with the rhythm and entered his tent. He realized the chika-chika-chika sounded like a rattle of some sort. A rattle and a drum. And barefooted dancers. Where was he again?
A strange, unrecognizable voice cut through the heavy air of the green tent. It was singing. Daniel blinked, his expression squinting into confusion, and attempted to drag himself upright so he could see. He managed to pull his head above the pillow and lean against it, so that he was lying on his back partially tangled in the bag, gazing upwards. The two men looked alien-- they were wearing fern frond skirts around their waists, wrists and necks, which clicked with little rattle-things, and feathers and grasses were sticking out of one's hair, the other sporting an elaborate headdress-like hat. One of the men, dark and tall and huge, was shaking a pair of rattles, the other with a big drum strapped around his waist, thumping it with both hands, warbling in an alien tongue.
"S-s-Sam? Uh . . ."
The first one threw his head back and howled his lyrics, and Daniel finally recognized it as English;
"In the jungle, the miiiy-tee jungle, the loin sleeps to-nnniiight. . . . iin the jungle, the miiiy-tee-jungle, the loin sleeps tooo-niiiight . . . ."
In an incredibly deep baritone, the other chanted beside him,
"Uh-wheena-whuh, uh-wheena-whuh, uh-wheena-whuh, uh-wheena-whuh, uh-wheena-whuh, uh-wheena-whuh. . ."
They started moving again, dancing around the tent, Daniel's gaze following in stupor. Hopping, skipping, shuffling about, the leader was shimmying his butt so his skirt rattles ratta-tat-tatted and the drum strapped around his waist swung about in an almost obscene manner. He hammered into the drum with gusto, his partner dutifully marching in a rhythmical, disciplined manner in his wake. By the time the two had reached Daniel's side of the tent and were dancing behind him, the dazed archeologist was getting a little worried. He held very still and tilted his head back nervously to gaze up at them, seeing an upside-down image of the crazy natives.
RAT-tat-tat-tat-tat! The drummer shook his mohawk of feathers exuberantly, and bucked his hips so the drum went thu-dunk! Then he playfully cocked his head, eyebrows shooting up sky-high, and grinned openly down at Daniel. All Daniel could do was let his jaw hang open.
"Whuh--Juh--Jack?"
The bizarre costumed man he saw upside-down above him winked and clucked his tongue humorously, then enthusiastically continued his song-and-dance, his backup vocals-- Teal'c-- following loyally behind. They danced around the whole perimeter of the messy tent, Daniel watching with an absolutely dumbfounded expression on his face. Then, almost as quickly as they had arrived, they were gone, prancing out of the tent and vanishing into the alien forest. The noisy singers gradually grew distant and then the sound ceased, save for the birds and bugs and ruffling trees. Daniel just laid there for a few minutes in silence.
He could still smell the smoke from the campfire, laying there, staring up at the green roof of the tent, feeling his damp t-shirt and boxers clinging to his skin. He was pretty sure he could smell coffee now too. Muted sunlight streamed in through the open tent-flap. The day was beginning on this world.
"Sam?"
Daniel leaned up into a sitting position.
"Sam, am I crazy or did I just see all that?"
He bit a lower lip. He could have just been dreaming. He did tend to have some pretty bizarre dreams when he was sleeping off-world.
"Sam?"