Sand and Stars...

[ascend_jackson]

Who: Daniel Jackson and Ardeth Bay
When: After Daniel's network conversation with Ardeth
Where: Lobby and Library
What: Ardeth and Daniel decide to meet up.

Comments

[medjaiardeth]

Ardeth saw a man curiously studying the reception desk and watched him for a moment before approaching.

"Are you Doctor Jackson?" he asked.

He certainly seemed like an archaeologist, similar to one of the Americans who had accompanied O'Connell's party to Hamunaptra.

[ascend_jackson]

Daniel looked up when he heard some one speak. "Yes, I'm Doctor Jackson, and you must be Ardeth Bay?" He stood up from investigating the desk and arched an eyebrow as he saw Ardeth's face.

"Forgive me if this seems rude, but why do you have the word for... protector, it looks like, tattooed on your forehead?" He offered his hand for a handshake as he asked.

[medjaiardeth]

Ardeth cocked his head slightly. Of course the man could read heiroglyphics. So could Evelyn O'Connell, but she'd never commented.

Ardeth shook the man's hand almost tentatively, withdrawing before speaking.

"Because it is what God has given me life to do," he replied simply. "My people have always borne the sacred marks of our calling."

[ascend_jackson]

"He gave you life to protect?" Daniel gave the man a quizzical look, "What, or whom, are you supposed to protect?" A thought crossed Daniel's mind, and he looked a little surprised, "The soldiers of the Goa'uld known as the Jaffa, have a tattoo, or even a gold emblem if they attain the position of first prime, of the god they serve, on their forehead; I wonder if there is some connection between the practices..."

[medjaiardeth]

Ardeth looked at him curiously.

"Once we protected the Pharoah himself," he replied, answering the first question because he had no idea how to even approach the second. "Three thousand years ago, we were charged with the protection of the necropolis Hamunaptra. I expect you have heard of it."

[ascend_jackson]

"Hamunaptra?" Daniel tilted his head a little in thought, "I think I have heard of it, unfortunately I don't know that much about it. In most of the texts I can recall it was briefly mentioned and nothing else. Though I think I saw a man at a lecture, before I was asked to help decode the Stargate, ranting about it being cursed...He was escorted out of the building before much of anyone could ask him anything." Daniel arched an eye brow, "So you were to protect the necropolis?"

[medjaiardeth]

"We were to protect mankind from the curse," Ardeth told him in all seriousness, but with a hint of a smile, because he could tell Doctor Jackson had not put much stock in the word of the ranting man.

"But the curse was not on the necropolis. The curse was on one being, who was once a man and had become a dangerous creature, and had been buried in the necropolis after the murder of Seti I." He watched Doctor Jackson's face for his reaction. "If the city could be found by outsiders or tomb robbers, the creature could be released and all of the world would be endangered."

[ascend_jackson]

Daniel was a little dumbfounded, "And here the SGC thought most of the threats were from outer space..." The comment made half to himself. "Well, guess not every one who is called crazy is wrong. I know the feeling of having a theory that was considered crazy and being proved right. Unfortunately, I signed a non-disclosure agreement when I joined the SGC, so I can't publish anything I've found out..." Daniel's brow furrowed a little at this thought.

[medjaiardeth]

Ardeth was a little pleased to notice that the man had barely flinched at the notion that Ardeth's job was, essentially, to scare off archaeologists and kill the ones that refused to go.

"It is better to do the real work of protecting your people in secret than to write about it for acclaim," he said.

[ascend_jackson]

"True, though I wish the 'protecting' part was a little less painful," Daniel rubbed his hands thinking of how he had saved the people of Kelowna, "I've had my fair share of having alien weapons fired at me...most aren't that pleasent." He seemed to snap out of the thoughts in his head, "Not that your job is with out it's hazards."

[medjaiardeth]

"Hamunaptra is rumoured to harbour a vast treasure," Ardeth told him. "Those who come seeking it bring more and bigger guns each year and are not easily dissuaded. We lose many men in every encounter."

[ascend_jackson]

"Treasurehunters..." Daniel thought for a moment, "I'm not sure how much of a detterent or consolation this will be," He tried to think of how much to say, "Another war is brewing in Europe, and it's a big one."

[medjaiardeth]

"Another world war, or so I've been told. If the last one is anything to go by, it will keep Europeans neither occupied with their own problems nor off our shores," Ardeth commented.

[ascend_jackson]

"Right, this place doesn't grab from one time period." Daniel's eyebrows rose and then scrunched together, "If anything this one might be worse...I'm just not sure how much I can ethically divulge. I've only dealt with time travel a few times, though both were accidental and I only remember actively participating in one of those events."

"So what kind of public rooms does this hotel have, aside from a rather..." Daniel paused as he remembered seeing the Abydosian lizard there, "eclectic banquette hall?"

[medjaiardeth]

"Too many to count," Ardeth told him. "A conservatory, a swimming pool, smaller eating establishments, a bar, a library... you get the idea. Anything your heart desires but freedom."

[ascend_jackson]

"A library!?" Daniel looked at Ardeth in surprise, "This place has a library? That certainly sounds interesting if our 'host' has the same variety in books as they do in foods."