D for Don't Touch
My entry for sg_fignewton's Alphabet Soup!
Title: D is for Don't Touch
Genre: Gen
Rating: G
Word count: 1,309
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Not my characters
Summary: Cameron Mitchell learns firsthand the best way to make an archaeologist angry.
-----
A waterfall of grainy dust fell away under Cam's fingers. He stepped away from the ancient stone wall and hastily brushed his hand against his BDU's, casting a nervous glance at Daniel.
The good doctor didn't look up from his notes. "Don't. Touch."
"Sorry," Cam offered, looking over the wall again. It was covered in some pretty intricate carvings - symbols and decorative filigree that Daniel assured him were all part of the same language. It was a language he was having apparent difficulty identifying, however.
"How's it coming?"
Daniel grunted and lifted his head to squint up at the wall. The alcove they stood under was all part of the same open-air stone structure, and the sun was just past its zenith, casting short but sharp shadows.
"That good, huh? Anything I can help with?"
"Yeah." Daniel looked back down at his notes. "You can stop talking."
Cam raised a hand in surrender and stepped away, turning to look out over the field of rubble and ruins they were in the midst of. "I wonder how the silt deposits analysis is going," he wondered aloud, trying to imagine Teal’c standing in watch, equally bored, as Sam collected river silt on the other end of the valley.
"You still think this is more exciting?" Daniel asked with good humor.
Cam turned back toward Daniel and the wall. “Eh. I didn’t wanna get my boots wet.” One of the designs looked a bit more deeply engraved than the rest and its shape made Cam think of a doorknob. He lifted his P-90 and poked it gently.
The wall snapped as if on a spring lever and whirled around impossibly fast, rotating 180 degrees. Daniel was hit with the far left side and thrown toward Cam, his body slamming into the unadorned wall behind them. The ground under Cam's feet seemed to be connected to the mechanism and he was lurched forward, the wall crashing into his pack and throwing him into the pitch dark.
-----
“Mitchell!”
The voice seemed to be coming from very far away. Muffled. Distorted. Cam groaned and put a hand to his head, trying to open his eyes.
Except his eyes were open. They were open wide, trying to draw in any tiniest bit of light they could. But he was in complete blackness.
“Cam, can you hear me?”
He almost couldn’t make out the words, they were so muffled. Cam coughed, cleared his throat, and shouted back, “Yeah, I’m here.”
A brief pause. Then, “are you okay?”
Cam felt around him, trying to sit up. Nothing felt broken, but his neck was sore from whiplash and his right knee and wrist were tender from landing. The ground beneath him was the same dusty stone he had been standing on outside. He stretched a hand forward, coming into contact with what he assumed was the wall. He could feel the same grooves and etchings of symbols he had seen when on the other side.
“I think so,” he called back. “Bit of a crick in my neck, but otherwise fine.”
“Can you push the same button? The one you weren’t supposed to touch?”
Cam snorted and rose to his knees, gingerly feeling along the wall, trying to find the same shape he had seen before. The awkward doorknob. “Hang on.”
It took a few minutes, but he eventually found what he was sure was the symbol. He pressed gently with his forefinger.
Nothing.
He pressed again, but there was no movement, no sound.
“Cam.”
“I pushed it. Did anything happen?”
Another pause. “No, nothing happened over here. Are you sure it’s the right one?”
“I’m positive,” he called back even as he continued feeling around with his hands. He came to it again and pressed it, just to be sure. But the wall remained immovable.
“Jackson, how do I get out of here?”
-----
The sun was three quarters of the way across the sky and the shadows were growing long. Daniel sat with his elbow on his knee and forehead resting on his palm, head at an uncomfortable angle as he looked at his notes. There were no symbols on the new side of the wall that had presented itself. The stone was smooth and flat and frustratingly devoid of anything resembling writing. All Daniel had to reference were what few notes he had managed to take.
“Okay, what’s the next one?” he called.
After the initial shock of the situation wore off, Cam had eventually remembered that he had a flashlight and had been trying to help Daniel with further translation efforts. But it wasn’t going too well.
“It looks like an upside down pitchfork with two mirrored S’s and a really stretched out H.”
Daniel closed his eyes tight and shoved his pencil into the crease of his notebook’s open pages.
“Jackson?”
“Hang on.”
“Listen. I know this maybe isn’t your preferred route here. But can I just shoot the damn thing?”
Daniel’s eyes snapped open and he glared at the blank wall. “You’re not going to destroy an entire structure because you were stupid enough to poke things you weren’t supposed to.”
“Jackson, come on! We aren’t making any headway here, it’s just a wall!” There was a brief pause in which Daniel drew his legs together and rubbed his face with both hands. Cam continued, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for preserving significant archaeological finds and studying them for the benefit of Earth and your log book, but you said yourself you couldn’t figure out the language.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Doesn’t mean anything?! Jackson, you are the best damn linguist this side of the universe, if you can’t figure out a written language in five hours, I bet my great aunt’s ashes it’s not an actual language. Hell, it could be ancient finger paintings for all we know.”
“Then why was the wall booby trapped?”
Another pause.
-----
Cameron was getting a headache. He had turned his flashlight off to preserve the battery, but he was getting more and more trigger happy by the minute. The last thing he wanted to do was piss Daniel off, but things were getting ridiculous. He did admire the doctor and his skillset. He had already saved his life on a number of occasions. But he was beginning to see why Colonel O’Neill and Daniel butted heads so often.
“I don’t know why the wall was booby trapped,” he called through the stone. “But I’ve felt all over this closet space and haven’t found a single death trap. Or treasure chest,” he added. “I think it’s safe to say whoever put this in place is long gone, along with whatever they were trying to protect.”
There was a muffled, longsuffering groan through the wall.
“Jackson?”
No response.
“Jacks-“
“Shut up, I’m paying my last respects.”
-----
The sound of gun fire was oddly tinny until the bullets burst through the thin stone at last, echoing loudly and shattering the wall across the alcove floor and peppering the wall across the way. To his credit, Cam stopped after there was a large enough hole to work with and punched a few smaller pieces away, dropping his gun, then his pack through, then climbing out one limb at a time. Dust covered his hair and shoulders, soon coating the rest of his uniform as well.
Daniel merely watched, arms crossed, as Cam got himself free and readjusted. He hoisted his pack, eyeing Daniel cautiously while reclipping his AK-47 and brushing some of the dust off of his shoulders. He got himself settled, sniffed, shrugged his shoulders and faced Daniel squarely, standing with as much esteem as possible.
The silence stretched for a time. The shadows grew longer. A tumbleweed bouncing along in the background would not have seemed out of place.
“….You mad?”
Title: D is for Don't Touch
Genre: Gen
Rating: G
Word count: 1,309
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Not my characters
Summary: Cameron Mitchell learns firsthand the best way to make an archaeologist angry.
-----
A waterfall of grainy dust fell away under Cam's fingers. He stepped away from the ancient stone wall and hastily brushed his hand against his BDU's, casting a nervous glance at Daniel.
The good doctor didn't look up from his notes. "Don't. Touch."
"Sorry," Cam offered, looking over the wall again. It was covered in some pretty intricate carvings - symbols and decorative filigree that Daniel assured him were all part of the same language. It was a language he was having apparent difficulty identifying, however.
"How's it coming?"
Daniel grunted and lifted his head to squint up at the wall. The alcove they stood under was all part of the same open-air stone structure, and the sun was just past its zenith, casting short but sharp shadows.
"That good, huh? Anything I can help with?"
"Yeah." Daniel looked back down at his notes. "You can stop talking."
Cam raised a hand in surrender and stepped away, turning to look out over the field of rubble and ruins they were in the midst of. "I wonder how the silt deposits analysis is going," he wondered aloud, trying to imagine Teal’c standing in watch, equally bored, as Sam collected river silt on the other end of the valley.
"You still think this is more exciting?" Daniel asked with good humor.
Cam turned back toward Daniel and the wall. “Eh. I didn’t wanna get my boots wet.” One of the designs looked a bit more deeply engraved than the rest and its shape made Cam think of a doorknob. He lifted his P-90 and poked it gently.
The wall snapped as if on a spring lever and whirled around impossibly fast, rotating 180 degrees. Daniel was hit with the far left side and thrown toward Cam, his body slamming into the unadorned wall behind them. The ground under Cam's feet seemed to be connected to the mechanism and he was lurched forward, the wall crashing into his pack and throwing him into the pitch dark.
-----
“Mitchell!”
The voice seemed to be coming from very far away. Muffled. Distorted. Cam groaned and put a hand to his head, trying to open his eyes.
Except his eyes were open. They were open wide, trying to draw in any tiniest bit of light they could. But he was in complete blackness.
“Cam, can you hear me?”
He almost couldn’t make out the words, they were so muffled. Cam coughed, cleared his throat, and shouted back, “Yeah, I’m here.”
A brief pause. Then, “are you okay?”
Cam felt around him, trying to sit up. Nothing felt broken, but his neck was sore from whiplash and his right knee and wrist were tender from landing. The ground beneath him was the same dusty stone he had been standing on outside. He stretched a hand forward, coming into contact with what he assumed was the wall. He could feel the same grooves and etchings of symbols he had seen when on the other side.
“I think so,” he called back. “Bit of a crick in my neck, but otherwise fine.”
“Can you push the same button? The one you weren’t supposed to touch?”
Cam snorted and rose to his knees, gingerly feeling along the wall, trying to find the same shape he had seen before. The awkward doorknob. “Hang on.”
It took a few minutes, but he eventually found what he was sure was the symbol. He pressed gently with his forefinger.
Nothing.
He pressed again, but there was no movement, no sound.
“Cam.”
“I pushed it. Did anything happen?”
Another pause. “No, nothing happened over here. Are you sure it’s the right one?”
“I’m positive,” he called back even as he continued feeling around with his hands. He came to it again and pressed it, just to be sure. But the wall remained immovable.
“Jackson, how do I get out of here?”
-----
The sun was three quarters of the way across the sky and the shadows were growing long. Daniel sat with his elbow on his knee and forehead resting on his palm, head at an uncomfortable angle as he looked at his notes. There were no symbols on the new side of the wall that had presented itself. The stone was smooth and flat and frustratingly devoid of anything resembling writing. All Daniel had to reference were what few notes he had managed to take.
“Okay, what’s the next one?” he called.
After the initial shock of the situation wore off, Cam had eventually remembered that he had a flashlight and had been trying to help Daniel with further translation efforts. But it wasn’t going too well.
“It looks like an upside down pitchfork with two mirrored S’s and a really stretched out H.”
Daniel closed his eyes tight and shoved his pencil into the crease of his notebook’s open pages.
“Jackson?”
“Hang on.”
“Listen. I know this maybe isn’t your preferred route here. But can I just shoot the damn thing?”
Daniel’s eyes snapped open and he glared at the blank wall. “You’re not going to destroy an entire structure because you were stupid enough to poke things you weren’t supposed to.”
“Jackson, come on! We aren’t making any headway here, it’s just a wall!” There was a brief pause in which Daniel drew his legs together and rubbed his face with both hands. Cam continued, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for preserving significant archaeological finds and studying them for the benefit of Earth and your log book, but you said yourself you couldn’t figure out the language.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Doesn’t mean anything?! Jackson, you are the best damn linguist this side of the universe, if you can’t figure out a written language in five hours, I bet my great aunt’s ashes it’s not an actual language. Hell, it could be ancient finger paintings for all we know.”
“Then why was the wall booby trapped?”
Another pause.
-----
Cameron was getting a headache. He had turned his flashlight off to preserve the battery, but he was getting more and more trigger happy by the minute. The last thing he wanted to do was piss Daniel off, but things were getting ridiculous. He did admire the doctor and his skillset. He had already saved his life on a number of occasions. But he was beginning to see why Colonel O’Neill and Daniel butted heads so often.
“I don’t know why the wall was booby trapped,” he called through the stone. “But I’ve felt all over this closet space and haven’t found a single death trap. Or treasure chest,” he added. “I think it’s safe to say whoever put this in place is long gone, along with whatever they were trying to protect.”
There was a muffled, longsuffering groan through the wall.
“Jackson?”
No response.
“Jacks-“
“Shut up, I’m paying my last respects.”
-----
The sound of gun fire was oddly tinny until the bullets burst through the thin stone at last, echoing loudly and shattering the wall across the alcove floor and peppering the wall across the way. To his credit, Cam stopped after there was a large enough hole to work with and punched a few smaller pieces away, dropping his gun, then his pack through, then climbing out one limb at a time. Dust covered his hair and shoulders, soon coating the rest of his uniform as well.
Daniel merely watched, arms crossed, as Cam got himself free and readjusted. He hoisted his pack, eyeing Daniel cautiously while reclipping his AK-47 and brushing some of the dust off of his shoulders. He got himself settled, sniffed, shrugged his shoulders and faced Daniel squarely, standing with as much esteem as possible.
The silence stretched for a time. The shadows grew longer. A tumbleweed bouncing along in the background would not have seemed out of place.
“….You mad?”