Translations (7/19)
Title: Translations ( Table of Contents)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I gain nothing of material value from this.
Pairings: Gen.
Chapter1 Chapter2 Chapter3 Chapter4a-- 4b Chapter5 Chapter6 Chapter7
XXXXX
Chapter 7: Chal'ti
XXXXX
24 October 1997; SGC, Earth, 1800 hrs
When the corridors began to empty for the day as usual, Daniel made his way to Teal'c's new quarters, just a couple of doors away from his own. Teal'c thought his previous room was 'adequate,' but Jack had insisted that it simply wasn't right for him to stay in a holding cell. Even Daniel, who was unused to what normal Tau'ri accommodations were like, had silently agreed that the cell was particularly unwelcoming.
Shortly after he knocked, Teal'c's voice called, "Enter." Daniel pulled the door open and poked his head in. Teal'c didn't usually perform kelno'reem until later in the evening, but it still always felt less intrusive if he checked first before moving inside completely.
"Teal'c?" he asked. "Are you busy?"
"Tek'ma'tek, Daniel Jackson. It is not necessary to ask that each time," Teal'c said.
"Right," Daniel said as he slipped in. "I mean, thank you. And tek'ma'tek, Teal'c."
Teal'c's eyes flicked to the tablet Daniel was carrying. "Have you come to ask about the book?"
"What book?" Daniel's eyes dropped to the stone in his own hand. "This? This isn't a book, it's just a single--wait, is this a book?"
"Indeed."
"But it doesn't..." He turned the tablet--the book--over, peering more closely at it. "Is there something you have to do to, well...turn the page?" He mimed flipping a page with his hands. There didn't seem to be any notches, and they'd have noticed any buttons. Maybe there was a slot and they had to insert something and make it open. Or maybe that was why it was shaped so distinctly, and there was something they had to touch, so that...
"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said. Daniel stopped examining the object. "Another device is needed to change the image currently displayed."
Displayed? The words looked--and felt--carved into the stone. "Really?" he said, dubious. "I don't understand how that works."
"I regret that I cannot explain the technology--only how it functions."
"That's okay," Daniel said distractedly, because he didn't really care about how it worked so long as it did work and he could find out what it said. They just had to get the other device...oh. His heart sank as he thought over the artifacts SG-2 had brought back. "I don't suppose the...page-turning device looks like one of these?" He indicated the tablet.
"It does not," Teal'c told him. "It resembles a smooth, round stone, approximately the size of a fist."
Nothing that SG-2 had brought back remotely fit the description, aside from the made-from-stone part. "There's no other way to read the rest of this?"
"There is not."
Perhaps they could go back to the planet to look, in case they'd missed something. "Well, it's good to know," he decided. "Otherwise we would have thought this was everything." Teal'c inclined his head in acknowledgement, and Daniel remembered why he'd come to begin with. "Oh, I actually came here to ask you about some words, if that's okay," he explained, holding up the tablet in one hand and his notebook and pen in another. "There's a lot I don't know," he admitted, "so for now, I only brought one tablet. Uh, book."
It didn't take long to go through the words he didn't know, and, upon Teal'c's invitation, he remained sitting opposite the Jaffa on the floor to practice conversing. The grammar of Goa'uld wasn't difficult, but he knew it would take time to build up a solid, usable lexicon.
"You are determined to learn this language," Teal'c said nearly an hour later, the harsh plosives and sibilants rolling off his tongue slowly out of consideration for Daniel.
"Yes," Daniel answered, then, because a one-word answer seemed too easy, added, "I am determined to learn it."
"Will you allow me to ask a question?" Teal'c said. Daniel nodded, so he continued, "I thought that you would avoid mention of your enemy, yet you study them instead. Why?"
With anyone else--even Jack, Sam, or Robert--he might have given the quickest, simplest answer. With Teal'c, though, it felt wrong to hide something when the Jaffa had been so open with him, and Daniel didn't want Teal'c to think him dishonorable. The full answer was too complex for him to express and concentrate on what words he was speaking at the same time, and it was important to him that Teal'c not misunderstand, so he switched back to English.
"At first, it was just to have something to do," he explained. "You knew something that I could learn, and it was a distraction from..." From his parents, and his brother, and everything else, but his eyes wandered automatically to Teal'c's mark of slavery.
"You attempted to distract yourself from thinking of Apophis when you looked at me," Teal'c said bluntly.
No, it's not that, Daniel almost said, but it would have been a lie. "Yes," he admitted. "But that's changed now."
"Do you no longer see Apophis in my brand, Daniel Jackson?"
"No, I don't," he said and was surprised to find it true, if only partly. "Well, yes, I do," he had to add, "but not only Apophis; not anymore. It's just...part of you. Your history. Your rebellion."
He had never seen Teal'c look so off-balance. It wasn't his facial expression, which was even more rigidly frozen than usual, but his eyes that seemed to be asking. "I came through the chaapa'ai to your home," he said. "It was I who led the attack."
Daniel flinched slightly at the reminder, but he shook his head. "You're different now."
"Daniel Jackson--" Teal'c hesitated, then said, "I do not seek to cause you pain. We need not speak of this now if you--"
"No!" Daniel interrupted without thinking, then repeated more calmly, "No. What were you going to say?"
Teal'c remained where he sat and bowed his head, but this time, he left his eyes lowered. "I am to blame for the abduction and deaths of your kin," he said. "Were we on Chulak, you would be fully within your rights to take my life as payment."
Daniel shivered, unsettled by the even words, and swallowed. "We are not on Chulak," he pointed out, then shivered again, even more horrified by the realization that a very tiny part of him was disappointed about that. He had never thought of himself as a vengeful person, but never before had he had reason to be. With the passage of days and weeks, the nauseating terror he had felt at the thought of his last night on Abydos was slowly turning into a desire, burning to do to the Goa'uld what they had done to him and his people. Teal'c might be on their side now, but he and his kind were still linked inextricably with the Goa'uld.
"Nevertheless, I would not move to stop you," Teal'c said. "Nor would I fault you for placing blame on me."
"You are a friend, Teal'c," he said, loudly, to drown out the whispers of resentment that he thought he'd already wiped away. "A friend. Not my enemy. It's Apophis's fault. You...you had no choice."
Saying it aloud hurt and ripped open the still-raw pain of loss, but the words helped, too. Apophis's fault. Teal'c is a friend. Teal'c is safe. Tau'ri is safe. Words mattered. He knew how to say the same sentence countless ways in each language he knew and make it mean something different every time. Words were important. The more he said it, the more he would believe it, without reservation.
"If you're asking for forgiveness..." Daniel started.
"I cannot ask forgiveness before you know the fullness of my crime against your kin," Teal'c cut in, almost gently.
"Don't tell me," he said quickly, desperately.
Teal'c paused, then said, "If that is what you wish."
It was what he wished, but it also made him feel like a traitor to everything he knew. He had been raised to seek knowledge and truth, and what would it mean if he ignored this so easily?
Worse, it was hard to stop himself from wondering if Teal'c was the one who had killed...well. Wondering whom Teal'c had killed, because he didn't doubt Teal'c had used his weapon that day. Wondering if Daniel had seen it himself, in truth, and didn't dare to remember.
"I don't want to know if you...if my parents, or anyone else...died...at your hand," he managed. He chose his words carefully, because words had meaning, and he wanted the meaning of these words to matter. "You...gave the orders to the other Jaffa. Because of that, my parents...some of my people were killed, and Skaara and Sha'uri and I were taken away. It doesn't make it better or worse if you were the one who used the weapon."
"Indeed." There was no open remorse on Teal'c's face, but Daniel had spent hours sitting with the Jaffa, talking to him and watching him, and he could see the tight discipline that held the mask in place.
"I for--" He had to clear his throat and try again. "I forgive you for that." And then Daniel wanted to cry, as if he were betraying the dead, but there was relief as well, and he had cried enough recently; he would not shame himself in front of Teal'c. He breathed, slowly, once, twice, and when he next spoke, his voice was stronger. "But Apophis didn't give you any choice. And you still fought him and saved us even though you didn't know Jack would ask you to stay, and you still fight with us. That's...that's important. So you are a friend."
And when he finally released the breath he had been holding, it was like releasing a pressure he hadn't noticed before, because he didn't need any more people to be afraid of, but he was more than ready to have another he could call friend.
Teal'c finally raised his eyes from the floor and stared at him until Daniel began to feel nervous. He forced himself to stay still, knowing how important this was to the other man. Teal'c drew himself up to sit tall and straight and said, solemnly, "Ona rak mai'ya teal'c. I have pledged myself and my strength to the Tau'ri, and now I offer the same to you, Daniel Jackson."
"I don't want your strength," Daniel said, his voice small. "It's not like that. I don't want something in exchange."
"I have chosen my path--I am a free Jaffa. My offer is made of my own will."
Daniel bit the inside of his cheek, trying to decipher the meaning behind these words. This was an extension of friendship, in a way--not to an equal, perhaps; here, Daniel was someone weaker who needed protecting, but it was also the only thing Daniel could give back, at least in part. "I don't have any strength that you don't already have, but I promise I won't stop...opposing the Goa'uld. I hope your people can be free, too."
Teal'c answered very seriously, "Your people were freed from Goa'uld rule. You are a reminder to those who are still slaves that there is hope for a better life. And I am grateful for the skills that you provide to those who fight the Goa'uld. You would do well to remember that all strength is not measured on the battlefield, Daniel Jackson."
And just like that, Daniel was the student again, and Teal'c his teacher. He relaxed, more comfortable in this role than in that of confessor. "You stay with the Tau'ri to fight against the Goa'uld. I just want to do the same," he said earnestly.
"You will stay to fight with the Tau'ri after your year has passed?"
Daniel started. "No--I didn't mean that. I want to go back to Abydos. But I want to help oppose the Goa'uld. They have taken...a lot from my people."
Teal'c's eyes bored into him. "You will continue the war against the Goa'uld after you return to Abydos?"
He opened his mouth to say, 'yes, of course,' then closed it.
The Tau'ri did not know nearly enough yet to win this war, but they were learning and growing stronger already. Abydos was nowhere close in its capabilities; they had none of the advantages that Earth did. "I wouldn't be able to help from Abydos," he realized with a sinking feeling. "I would be helpless."
"It may be that we will discover other methods that you could employ from your home world," Teal'c said neutrally. "But it will prove more difficult."
"I want to help. I want to kill the Goa'uld. I hate..." He broke off. "But...I want to go home, too." He searched the Jaffa's face for any sign of an answer, wishing someone would simply tell him which was the right choice. Teal'c expression revealed nothing, and Daniel's anxiety mounted. "Teal'c, what do I do?"
"No one can decide for you," Teal'c told him, and he felt himself shrink lower where he sat. "But you have no need to make decisions today," the Jaffa continued, his tone surprisingly kind. "Use your time here to learn and observe. You have time, still, before the chaapa'ai on your home world opens."
"I have time," he repeated, mostly to himself, not quite hearing.
"Daniel Jackson, if you are to make a choice, you will need longer than a scattering of days to do so," Teal'c said. "You will know when the time comes."
"You didn't need time," Daniel said. "You decided in minutes to help us."
"On the contrary," Teal'c said, "I waited many years for that day to come. The only decision I made in haste was that of trusting you and Colonel O'Neill."
That was an odd way to say it. Jack was understandable--Teal'c and Jack had the same kind of unyielding honor, even if it had different rules or showed itself in different ways. There was a fierceness about them, in their stance and in their words. But... "Me?" Daniel said. "Why would you trust me?"
"'Ne way na ga we,'" Teal'c answered in his odd Abydonian accent. "You declared that day to a System Lord that you would not kneel to a false god. O'Neill stood unafraid in the face of grave danger. You both showed courage and loyalty to the boy who was chosen as a host. I believed then that your people would be the ones with the courage stand and to defeat Apophis."
"'You believed then,'" Daniel said. "And now?"
"And now that I have seen the Tau'ri's strength of spirit, my belief in them has only grown."
Daniel considered his words. "If you waited many years, did you always know that the Goa'uld are not gods? Do all Jaffa know?"
Teal'c seemed to consider the question for a long time before saying, "That is indeed a difficult question to answer. Many Jaffa believe they serve true gods. There are others who suspect the truth but believe they have no other choice. I know with certainty that there are some who wish to oppose the Goa'uld but have been unable to act."
"Then why not gather them all together? Spread the truth, and...and fight back!"
"It is not so simple, Daniel Jackson."
We did it, he thought. We did it against Ra, with a handful of boys and slaves with no knowledge of war. "Why not?"
"Any who rebel are named shol'va: traitor. The Goa'uld and their loyal Jaffa would never allow a shol'va to live. If every rebel Jaffa revealed himself, every one would be killed without question. A dead Jaffa accomplishes nothing for our cause."
"You took the risk and survived."
"I had nothing left to lose that day," Teal'c said. "The risk had to be taken."
But, he wanted to protest, but...
But Abydos had been lucky. They had had surprise and help from the Tau'ri after millennia of complacency among the Goa'uld. This, now, with the Jaffa...it was much bigger. "Who taught you?" he asked. "How did you learn the truth about the Goa'uld?"
"Tek'ma'tae Bra'tac."
Daniel blinked and turned around, as if someone could have entered without his notice. "Uh..."
"Tek'ma'tae is a title as well as a greeting," Teal'c said, in the tone that Daniel was learning to mean he was amused. "Bra'tac was my master."
"Your master?" he said incredulously. "You served another master before Apophis and he told you the truth about the Goa'uld?"
Teal'c looked confused for a minute before his expression cleared. "The word 'master' in this language has more than one meaning. A tek'ma'tae is a teacher. He is a master who trains the young ones, the chal'ti. Master Bra'tac showed me that what the Goa'uld would have us believe is a lie."
Interested, Daniel said, "Then he might have taught it to others, too, when they were students. When they were chal'ti," he added, trying out the new word.
"Perhaps that is so," Teal'c allowed but did not elaborate.
Out of things to say, Daniel sighed and looked back down at his notes. His glance passed the clock that stood on Teal'c's desk, and he realized it was late. He had almost forgotten that Teal'c still needed to kelno'reem tonight.
"Well...thank you for spending time with me. Rel'tor'key," he said, wishing he could do something more useful than saying 'good luck with your rebellion.'
Teal'c inclined his head again. "Until tomorrow."
"Lek tol," Daniel said in farewell, then tried, "Tek'ma'tae Teal'c."
"I am no master on this world, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said, raising an eyebrow.
"You're my teacher," Daniel insisted. "I'm learning from you."
Teal'c studied his face. Daniel lifted his chin stubbornly. Finally, Teal'c's mouth moved in what could have been a smile. "Very well. Lek tol, chal'ti."
Warmed more than he could explain even to himself, Daniel stood and bowed before leaving the room.
XXXXX
25 October 1997; SGC, Earth, 0630 hrs
"No one will mind?" Daniel asked, stepping warily into the gymnasium.
"This area is not currently in use," Teal'c stated.
"What if someone comes and wants to use it? Someone official."
"Then we shall leave. Now, kree lo'sek."
Ready yourself, Daniel's mind translated for him. Obeying his own words, Teal'c stepped onto the training mat and looked at him expectantly.
Daniel glanced over his shoulder once more, still feeling like he was in here without permission, though he wasn't even sure if he or Teal'c needed permission. He eyed Teal'c's confident stance, the bulging muscles even more evident now that he was out of uniform. Teal'c could probably snap him in half without trying.
Still, he couldn't back down now; he'd asked for this. After too many days in either Robert's office or his or Teal'c's room, with nowhere to run like he'd been free to do outside Nagada, he needed to move. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to learn, just in case. No one said that a scholar had to depend on others to protect him if he could protect himself. If Teal'c thought he had strength, he would prove that he did.
"Okay," he said to steel himself, and stepped forward.
"Have you studied the art of combat previously, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.
"Not really. My brother taught me to wrestle and fight with a knife, a little, but that was all."
"Then we begin from the beginning. No weapons. I will teach you the art of lok'nel."
Lok'nel was...slow, at least at first. It was a far cry from the quick, rough fighting he'd learned from grappling first with Skaara and later with Tobay, Bolaa, and others. That had been about quick strikes, tight holds, elbows thrust into ribs and sand kicked into faces. Lok'nel was slower, but more controlled. Part of him was impatient with the pace, but another was quietly thrilled at the skill involved, at how meticulous it was, at the precision needed for every move.
He started by simply watching and mimicking, the way he learned languages by listening and imitating. Teal'c stood beside him, and he watched from the corner of his eye, trying to move exactly like the Jaffa, each motion perfect, each sequence executed correctly and...
"This is not only a form, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c interrupted. "You study each move too closely and forget that you are fighting."
"But I'm not fighting," he pointed out. "There's no one to fight against."
"You move as though afraid to take a wrong step. Do not hold back. A precise hand means nothing if there is no will or strength behind it. Now, kree ka...Kree!"
He still felt sloppy, but Teal'c nodded once, sharply. "Better," he said. "Begin again. Without flailing your limbs this time, chal'ti." Daniel flushed a little at the rebuke but stepped back into position.
The next time it was, "You forget where your feet are. Your arms are useless if you cannot stand."
Then, "Adequate. Now faster. Kree!"
Again and again, until finally, Teal'c called, "Ta'i. Ar'ee kree."
Daniel stopped obediently. Despite the speed (he'd sped up, but he was still doubtful he'd ever win a fight by moving that slowly) he was breathing hard and his muscles were starting to ache with fatigue. He was beginning to be grateful that he hadn't had to try anything against Teal'c, who could surely crush him with a single hand, when Teal'c announced:
"Now, Daniel Jackson, I will be the attacker. You must learn to fall."
I know how to fall, Daniel thought apprehensively. Getting back up might be a problem.
The first few times, Teal'c maintained a steady arm to guide him the whole way down to the mat, until he understood which part should hit the floor first and how to bend his body. The attacks, when they started, were much slower than what they both knew Teal'c was capable of, but they weren't gentle so much as controlled, just like everything about the Jaffa: under constant, tight control. Daniel somehow doubted young Jaffa were taught this way, but if Teal'c was going to be more cautious with him because he was a human and more breakable, he wouldn't complain.
But even knowing all the parts to the sequence, it was hard to do everything properly and smoothly. It was like having all the sounds that made up a word but not knowing how they fit together and overlapped, so it ended up just a jumble of sounds that vaguely resembled language.
"Your arm must make contact before your back," Teal'c reminded him, pulling him up into a crouch again.
"You cannot be stiff when you fall," he heard when he panicked and curled up on the way down.
The next time, Teal'c's voice added, "Your arm must stay straight. Follow the direction of my movement; do not try to resist directly against someone stronger than yourself."
"I'll never do this right," Daniel grumbled.
"Then you must practice. Kree ka." He returned to his crouch and waited for Teal'c to knock him over again.
It was right at that moment that Jack's voice called, "What the hell!"
Daniel yelped in surprise and flinched, making an ungainly topple to the mat. He managed to slap his hand down first to absorb some of the impact but still felt the breath leave him in a whoosh.
Teal'c's arm was under his back instantly to help him sit back up. Daniel gasped a few times, then said, "That was better, yes?" and pushed himself to his feet.
"Indeed," Teal'c said, his eyes scanning to assure himself that there was no harm done, as he did each time. "But a fall such as that could still cause you injury in less controlled situations, if you twist in that way."
Then Jack, dressed in his BDUs, was looming over him, and then turned and somehow managed to loom up at Teal'c. "What the hell was that?"
"It is part of the technique that all young Jaffa learn," Teal'c informed him, unruffled.
"Daniel is not one of your Jaffa!" Jack snapped.
Daniel stared at Jack, then looked to Teal'c, who did not seem to understand what the problem was any better than he did. "I believe humans use similar techniques to prevent injury while training," Teal'c said. "I have observed Captain Carter and yourself employing them."
Jack was not appeased. "Teal'c, you're twice his size!"
"No, he's not," Daniel said defensively, wishing he wasn't still panting. He might be smaller than either Teal'c or Jack, but he wasn't that small. "He was being careful. I mean, really careful. We didn't do anything dangerous."
Jack whirled on him now, and Daniel was taken aback to see how livid the man was. "He wouldn't have to mean to hurt you."
"Nothing was going to happen. Jack, you trust Teal'c more than anyone!" And it was true, at least on base--Jack was either dismissive or suspicious of people he didn't know well. Teal'c and Sam, and maybe a couple of others, were the only ones he didn't treat that way.
"This has nothing to do with trust, Daniel," Jack said tensely. "Accidents happen." A look of fear flashed for just a second, then disappeared again behind the rage.
"Jack, I asked him to teach me," Daniel tried, confused. "I don't understand--"
"What happened to not being a fighter, huh? What happened to wanting to be a scholar?"
It took Daniel a few moments to place the conversation he'd had at Jack's house and was stung when he did, partly because he suspected his parents might have felt the same way--they hadn't liked fighting, either. "Of course I still want to be a scholar," he said, "but--"
"That's not what it looks like from here," Jack said. "What's next, practice at the shooting range?"
"I...hadn't thought of that. Are you saying I should--"
"Dammit, Daniel!" Daniel took an unconscious step back. Teal'c moved closer to the two of them, and Jack turned away, raking a hand through his hair.
"O'Neill," Teal'c said, "if you ask me to cease training sessions with Daniel Jackson, I will do as you command."
"What?" Daniel said incredulously, at the same time that Jack said, "Yes, I ask!"
"But," Teal'c continued firmly, "Daniel Jackson's choices are not yours to judge. You do not command him on this base."
"If I tell you to stop, Teal'c--"
"I'll ask someone else," Daniel said, though he hadn't considered that at all before he said it. It was just an angry bluff, anyway, since he didn't think anyone besides Teal'c would be willing to teach him without being forced to do so. Most people in the SGC knew generally who he was, but while he had only ever talked to a few people, he had the impression that their opinion of him ranged from curious to indifferent to disapproving. Maybe Sam would train him. It wasn't unusual on Earth for women to be warriors, and he'd seen for himself that she was more than capable in a fight.
"Yeah." Jack's voice was no longer furious, but he was still turned partially away and didn't look at Daniel. "I'd rather you taught him, Teal'c," Jack conceded. "But I'd also rather that you have...training sessions when other people are in here. Preferably me. Or Carter."
"Jack, you can't--"
"Daniel!" he returned, as if the name itself were an argument.
"That is wise," Teal'c said. "Perhaps Daniel Jackson can then also learn Tau'ri defensive arts."
"Now," Jack said, raising a hand, "that is not what I meant."
"It's just defense, Jack," Daniel said testily, trying to reason despite the stinging feeling of unfairness. "You keep reminding me that I live on a military base. I may as well learn to protect myself."
"You're on base, not on the front lines," Jack said, but he was no longer protesting. "Fine. Your sessions will take place when we're around, is that understood?"
"I understand, O'Neill," Teal'c said smoothly. Daniel scowled.
"Is that understood, Daniel?" Jack repeated.
"I'm not one of your soldiers, Jack," he snapped back, "and you're not my fath--" He stopped abruptly, surprised at himself and a little shaken. Jack looked like he was about to say something in return, but Teal'c stepped in first.
"Nevertheless, Daniel Jackson," he rebuked, "Colonel O'Neill deserves your respect."
Confused by his own actions, Daniel muttered, "Sorry." He was still unhappy with Jack, though, so he turned deliberately to Teal'c and bowed. "Lek tol, Tek'ma'tae Teal'c. Tai'ya teal'c ya daru." Thanking a Jaffa training master translated to an expression of respect for his strength. There was a distinct pattern in Jaffa formalities. There was also an implied snub in the deliberate use of a language in front of someone who didn't speak it.
Teal'c inclined his head in return. "Ta'i kree, chal'ti. Lek tol."
"I told Robert I'd be there this morning," Daniel said shortly in Jack's direction and left. Behind him, he heard Jack ask in a bewildered voice, "What was that?" before he was out of earshot.
XXXXX
25 October 1997; SGC, Earth, 1100 hrs
"Something wrong?" Robert asked as he put a rock aside.
The problem with having no archaeologists on an exploration team, Daniel thought, was that sometimes they didn't recognize what was a useful artifact and what was just a rock. It stood to reason that there were also things the teams would miss while exploring--like, for example, a page-turning device that looked like a rock.
Of course, an archaeologist like Robert wouldn't have recognized it for what it was either, but he might have noticed 'a lack of erosion,' in his own words, and brought it back anyway, even if only for geological or chemical analysis.
"Daniel?" Robert prompted.
"What? No, nothing's wrong," Daniel said, continuing his reading.
"You sure?"
It was unusual for Robert to be paying so much attention to someone less than a thousand years old, so Daniel nodded. "Yes. Why?"
"Because I was going over your translation, and you translated the same word three times, one after another. And in two different ways."
Oh. He walked over to see the pad of paper he'd just handed to Robert. "Sorry. That should be...uh, 'slave.' I don't know why I wrote 'great.' It doesn't make any sense; it's not even the right part of speech. I'll fix that."
"It changes the meaning a little," Robert agreed. "That's okay--it's why we double-check. You need a break?"
"No," Daniel said quickly, embarrassed. "It was just a stupid... I mean, I won't do it again." He glanced up at the clock on the wall to see that barely any time had passed since he'd started, and he was already getting distracted and restless. "Besides, I am taking a break," he pointed out, holding up the book on physics that Sam had scrounged out for him.
Robert glanced at the textbook. "How much of that are you getting?"
Sam had worried about that, too, not knowing how Daniel's education matched with what students on Earth learned. "Enough," he answered. "It's very basic, and I understand the math. It's interesting."
Shaking his head, Robert went back to checking the translation. "You're such a geek, Daniel. Suit yourself. You've worked on this thing more than enough." After a few minutes of companionable silence, he said, "So, I noticed you hang out with SG-1 a lot. Is that because of your language lessons with Teal'c?"
For some reason, it hadn't occurred to Daniel until recently that the three people on SG teams whom he knew around here were all on SG-1. "I just happen to know all of them, and they let me stay around when they're not busy." He thought guiltily for a moment of how Jack had actually invited him into his home, and then he'd been disrespectful to the man. Jack had been unreasonable first, though. "We escaped from a prison together," he explained, "and I guess the first SG team was basically formed out of that."
"You escaped from prison?"
"A prison off-world," he clarified. "Teal'c was the guard. That's how we met him. You didn't know that?"
Robert shook his head. "You know what, someone needs to put together a history lesson for people who got here late. The stories get crazier every day around here." It sounded like a throwaway comment, but Daniel made a mental note, anyway, to suggest it to someone. Sam, probably. It was a good idea, and Robert would probably forget he'd had it in another hour if he became busy with something else. "Did you hear about SG-5? They met these pacifist aliens who can make things invisible--had a whole city floating in the air. I forget what they called themselves. Something dark, I think."
Daniel had heard about that--rumors about aliens tended to sweep through the SGC like wildfire. "Dark? Oh. Nox." The rumors about the Nox said that they were a good people, but he wasn't completely convinced. "I just don't understand how someone could be so powerful and not want to use it to do anything."
"That's why we call them pacifists, Daniel."
Personally, he thought that was impractical, and maybe even selfish. Ra would still be in power if they'd believed in pacifism. "I understand they don't want to hurt people, but at the very least, if someone tried to kill you, wouldn't you try to kill them back?" He thought about his word choice, then amended, "I mean, I don't see what's wrong with defending yourself."
"Hey, I'm with you," Robert said. "But we're not them. Maybe they're too advanced for things like that."
Daniel scowled. He bet they wouldn't be 'too advanced' to help people who could use their aid if they'd been invaded by the Goa'uld. Then he felt bad, because he wasn't trying to wish the Goa'uld on them, either.
"Crap," Robert sighed in frustration, sitting back in his chair.
"What?" he asked, mentally filing 'crap' away with Skaara's preferred 'yi shay' and Jack's occasional 'damn.'
"I wish there were some easy way to say how old these were," he said, gesturing at the Goa'uld tablet-books. "It would give us some context for the writing on them."
Daniel lowered his book. "There's not an easy way?"
"Well, I'd normally want to try carbon-14 dating," Robert explained. "But it only works on something that was alive at some point, and I don't see any traces of that here. A lot of other methods depend on knowing exactly what conditions are like on the planet--radiation, events that affected rock formation, a history of temperature changes, oxygen levels..." He shook his head.
"And we don't know any of that for the planet," Daniel summarized.
"Yeah, that's the problem. I mean, we can have people measure radiation levels, temperature, and all of that now, but we'd never know if it's been changing over time. And for something this old, that could be important."
"Oh. And even if we knew somehow, for this one planet..."
"...it would be different everywhere else. We're not familiar with anything except what's on Earth, and we already know the air composition is slightly different on some of the planets, so... Wow," Robert said, looking stunned, "this job is going to be more complicated than I thought."
"Sam knows things about how stars and planets got created," Daniel told him. "Could you tell from that?"
Robert made a face. "Nah. I'll talk to the astrophysicists, but I doubt they'd have exact enough data on the timescale we care about. In fact, I don't know how we can ever get more than an extremely rough estimate about the timing, with huge uncertainty. We could be off by orders of magnitude. Or we'll have to resort to dendrochronology to try to guess for short time periods. Assuming all plants are similar to ours."
Dendrochronology? "The...the study of tree...time?" Daniel said, trying to guess the word's meaning. "What?"
"Using tree growth to calibrate your scale for dating. Tree rings? No?" Robert said. Daniel stared back blankly, so he offered, "I'll explain it to you sometime. I don't know how useful it'll be to us, but it'll be good for you to learn the concept anyway."
The particular planet they were looking at had been abandoned, but they didn't know why, or how, or when. Since it had been a Goa'uld planet, everyone wanted to know more about it. "So we have to hope we find planets where there are people," Daniel said.
There was a pause. "People?" Robert frowned, considering. "Like...people might've kept records of planetary conditions."
"Why not? People have done it on Earth; they might have somewhere else, too. And if we know about the planet's history with...uh, radiation and all that, you can use those other methods you talked about, yes?"
"Possibly," Robert said slowly. "So if we can put approximate dates on certain events, we can sketch out a timeline and see where things like this"--he swept a hand toward the tablets--"fit into the timeline. That's what you're talking about."
"Yes. Like fitting pieces into a puzzle."
Robert looked more cheerful at the thought of that. "Huh. That's not a bad idea, actually."
Daniel mulled it over more carefully, then said, "It's a pretty...circuitous way to do it, though. It would take a while before we had enough data even to start that."
"Well, sure. This isn't exactly a short-term project," Robert said, sounding unconcerned. "We'll have to be going over this a long time--for years, probably. Hey, it's almost like having job security. That's a weird feeling after a decade of non-tenured, post-graduate work."
("You will stay to fight with the Tau'ri after your year has passed?")
"Right," Daniel said hollowly, and sighed. "A long time."
He stared at his book without really reading it until Robert finished and put a stack of papers aside. "Daniel, can you type these up? When you want a break from your...break, I mean."
Daniel took the papers silently and sat down at the computer.
XXXXX
25 October 1997; SGC, Earth, 1300 hrs
Jack was in the commissary when Daniel and Robert stopped for lunch. Robert found Dr. Lee sitting with one of the translators, a captain whose name Daniel couldn't remember who had been helping Lieutenant Hagman with something that looked like early Chinese pictograms. Daniel declined when he was invited to join them--Dr. Lee had seemed mostly unconcerned with him so far but not actually condescending; on the other hand, he was less sure about what other personnel thought of him.
There was an unoccupied table that Daniel quickly claimed, but he'd barely sat down before a tray was placed in front of his. Jack dropped into the opposite seat.
Remorse and embarrassment ran through him as he remembered the scene that morning, but annoyance and confusion at Jack's reaction were stronger and kept him from lifting his head.
"I was pretty surprised this morning," Jack said mildly.
"So was I," Daniel grumbled back, raising his eyes enough to glare. "I don't understand why you were so angry."
"Well, I didn't realize your Goa'uld lessons would be taking place in the gym. I got out of the changing rooms and heard someone yelling 'Kree.' And then I ran in and saw you about to get a nice kick in the head. What d'you expect me to think?"
"It wasn't in the head, and he barely made contact," Daniel said before he had time to think about it. "I didn't consider that," he admitted. "But then, when you saw that nothing was wrong--"
"There was something wrong. Your technique needs work," Jack told him.
"I'm learning," Daniel said defensively. "And you distracted me."
"You let yourself be distracted. Not a good idea if you're ever in a fight."
"Well, that's why--wait, I thought you didn't want me to get in a fight."
"I don't," Jack said sharply. "I'd rather you geeked out with Rothman or Carter all day. I don't want you to get hurt."
Daniel sighed in exasperation and pushed his tray aside. "Jack...it's Teal'c."
"Even Teal'c can make mistakes, Daniel, no matter how careful he is. He's still only human."
"No, he's not!"
Jack paused. "Well, no. But what I meant is--he's not infallible. And if someone ever slipped up, you could be hurt pretty bad."
"You and Sam practice with Teal'c," Daniel said.
"Me and Sam are trained for it," Jack countered.
"Well, then, that's why I should practice," he said reasonably. "So I'll be trained for it, too."
Jack narrowed his eyes at him, then changed the line of conversation. "Carter thinks I overreacted," he said.
"You talked to her?"
"She thinks it would be safe enough to do drills alone with Teal'c if you want." Daniel noticed that he didn't say he agreed.
"Did you talk to Teal'c?" Daniel asked pointedly. "You were acting like he was an enemy. In the beginning, you kept telling everyone you'd trust him with your life."
"I do," Jack said.
"Well, you should tell him."
"I think he knows, Daniel."
"I think you implied something else this morning, Jack!"
Jack picked up his cup. "You can be really annoying sometimes," he said, and took a sip.
Caught by surprise and a little hurt, Daniel retorted, "You only said that because you don't have a logical argument."
"And way too confident," Jack added. "You're right, though."
Daniel paused to run that through his brain. "I know I'm right," he said slowly, wondering if he'd heard right.
"See?" Jack said.
He didn't, exactly, but asked, "Then it's okay for me to continue learning from Teal'c?" He wasn't sure why he was even asking--Jack didn't have authority over him, after all.
"I can't stop you from doing it," Jack corrected, as if reading Daniel's thoughts. "But...I'll admit that if you ever get into a situation when you have to protect yourself, you might as well be prepared. And Teal'c's probably one of the best fighters here, so he's not a bad choice for a trainer."
"So...okay. Uh, thank you." It was nice to have Jack's approval, even if he didn't need the permission. If nothing else, Teal'c had to answer to Jack. "I won't get hurt," he said again.
"Yeah," Jack answered, after a brief hesitation. "Now, these sessions will be in Teal'c's spare time. He has obligations to the SGC. And...Carter and I have more duties than he does, but if there's downtime, she said to tell you that we're willing to practice with you, too."
"She said that?" Daniel asked. Then, more cautiously, "You are?"
"You can only go so far with drills. Eventually, you'll learn to spar, and when that time comes, I'd rather you faced someone a less than a foot taller than you," Jack said.
Daniel's face grew warm. "I'm not that short," he grumbled, a little self-consciously, because he had spent most of his life on Abydos playing with the older boys and had only recently begun to catch up to them in height.
"You kinda are," Jack informed him, but with a teasing smile. Then his face grew unusually serious. "I hope you never see another battle again, Daniel. But we all thought Abydos was safe when we went through, and it wasn't. We thought this base was safe, with all our security measures, and it wasn't enough. When you get back home, we won't be around to try and protect you. You understand?"
The reminder of danger made his stomach drop. "Yes," he answered, ashamed now at his tone and for almost throwing Jack's own loss of his son in his face earlier. "I'm sorry I said...sorry for being disrespectful."
Jack snorted. "You're fourteen--I hear that's in the description. Don't make a habit of it." He started to stand.
"Wait, Jack, I wanted to tell you..." He waited until Jack sat back down. "I never got to thank you for my parents' journals."
"I'm just passing them along," Jack said. "They're yours."
"It's not 'just' anything, Jack," he said. How could he explain how much it meant to see his father's spiky script again, or his mother's tight, tiny letters? "Their books were important to them. I didn't have anything when they took us, so I thought everything was gone or lost, or... My parents used to write things all the time, and...and it's good to have them," he finished, frustrated, because what kind of student of language could he be if he couldn't find the words to express why this mattered so much to him?
But Jack said, more quietly, "I get it. I just wish I could have...saved more."
Daniel shook his head but didn't trust his voice. When Jack stood up again, clapping him on the shoulder, he forced out, "Jack, could you..." He stopped to clear his throat. "Could you tell me what they were like when you knew them?"
The hand on his shoulder went very still. "I have a better idea. How 'bout you tell me about them sometime?"
Abruptly, Daniel discovered that he wanted to very much, and he nodded gratefully. "Yes. Okay. Sometime."
XXXXX
25 October 1997; SGC, Earth, 2030 hrs
Daniel had tried kelno'reem before. The first time, he had been so tired and upset that he'd fallen asleep against the wall of Teal'c's old cell. The second time, he'd been more alert but hadn't lasted more than a few minutes before starting to shift uncomfortably, unused to sitting so still for so long. The next time had been even worse, and he'd given up, studying quietly from his notebook until Teal'c had come out of his own deep meditative trance. Sam didn't think kelno'reem was possible for humans, but humans meditated in many cultures, even if they couldn't reach the exact state Jaffa could.
That night, he decided to try again. SG-1 was scheduled for a mission with SG-3 the next afternoon, and Robert would be going off-world with SG-2 to the abandoned planet where they'd found the Goa'uld tablets. The place had been deemed safe enough for a civilian, and he was hoping to find the missing page-turning device. Apparently, naquadah and its potential for weapons technology was enough to convince the general and his superiors that it was important.
Daniel, on the other hand, was left with little to do and was feeling on edge. Teal'c noticed his restlessness during their Goa'uld lesson that evening and invited him to join kelno'reem.
"Where did you get candles?" Daniel asked, wondering if the military actually kept stores of candles somewhere.
"Captain Carter procured them for me," Teal'c answered, steadily lighting a single one and setting it on the floor between them. "Do you remember the element required above all others to achieve kelno'reem?"
Daniel's lips twitched into a sheepish smile as he remembered his last failed attempt. "Silence."
Teal'c closed his eyes. Daniel watched for a moment, fascinated as always by how easily the Jaffa's expression slipped off into the tranquility that marked his reaching a state of harmony with his symbiote. For himself, he looked into the candle flame until glare reminded him that he was still wearing his glasses--when had he stopped noticing them?--which he slipped off and laid gently on the floor beside him.
Staring hard at the flame made his eyes burn, so he relaxed his focus, letting his vision blur and ignoring the ache of muscles that were lightly bruised from learning to fall.
Falling physically was surprisingly hard. Letting go of his thoughts, mentally, felt like a sort of falling as well.
Discipline. He wasn't a child anymore; he could do this.
When he let his eyelids fall closed, the image of the flame was still burned into the back of his eyes, and he could imagine he was sitting by the fire on a cold Abydonian night, huddled lethargically against the warmth of people around him--who they were, precisely, didn't matter, as long as they were there. Kasuf's voice was a steady murmur in the background, and he didn't know what story the man was telling this time, but it didn't matter, because he knew them all already. The walls around him were familiar, and he couldn't place whose dwelling this was, but it didn't matter, because the walls were welcoming.
He lost himself in the quiet murmur of laughter and storytelling, the warmth of the fire and his family at his side...
Home.
Then, some time later, there was a different warmth on his shoulder as Teal'c gently shook him until he opened his eyes.
"It has grown late," Teal'c said. "I replace sleep with kelno'reem, but you cannot. It is time to rest, Daniel Jackson."
The candle had been extinguished. The walls were gray and cold. The room was silent.
And yet, Teal'c's hand was gentle on his shoulder. The quiet felt natural and companionable. His mind was calm and oddly content, and he found himself smiling at the bittersweet memories for the first time.
Daniel picked up his glasses, stood, and bid Teal'c a quiet goodnight.
From the next chapter ("Exotic Diseases"):
Janet knew what it meant that she was the one person in close contact with everyone who had what was potentially a contagious disease. If she was going to figure this out, she had to do it fast before she ran out of time.
She huffed exasperatedly. An exotic disease specialist, indeed...what would her colleagues outside the mountain have said about this job? 'Insane' didn't quite seem to do it justice.