Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin - SG-1 -Spook Me Multi-Fandom Ficathon 2013
For the 2013 
spook_me Multi-Fandom Ficathon, using the monster prompt: Shapeshifter.
~1400 words, gen (although I suppose you could read a little something J/D into it...)
Thank you to
ivorygates for the beta!
on Ao3
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin
There was no real need to set up a perimeter. There was nowhere for any danger to lurk in this barren landscape. They'd set up their camp on the lip of the large, shallow crater that contained the ruins of what once had been only-slightly-better-ruins, Jack was prepared to bet. Everything else was flat in all directions, and they'd spent six solid hours among the ruins. Nothing lurked below, and there might never have been any life above for all the traces that had been left. Hadn't been left.
A civilization wiped clean. Except for the deep-etched glyphs on the crumbling walls that Daniel had been studying while the rest of them pottered around aimlessly and pointlessly. Jack, stomping along the rim of the crater while Teal'c stomped in the opposite direction, had wished he'd paid more attention in the pre-mission briefing, because he sure as hell couldn't call to mind any good reason for them to be here. Maybe there hadn't been one. Maybe it was just that Daniel's birthday was coming up in a couple of days and Hammond had forgotten to buy him anything, so he thought he'd give him a rock of a planet with some fascinating squiggles for Daniel to drool over.
Daniel was definitely drooling. And he'd requested more time for more drooling. Something about the angle of the light not allowing him to take good enough recordings to work from back at the base. No, no, they really had to spend the night so he could finish in the morning. Jack had been just about ready to tell him to go to hell, but then Carter had piped up, claiming to have found some terribly interesting soil samples back behind the ruins, and wanting to explore further afield when there were more hours of daylight. Jack was pretty sure it was her early birthday gift to Daniel, too, because she wasn't even slightly convincing, but who was he to argue with them both?
So he'd let her send Teal'c trotting back to the 'Gate to make their request, and here they all were, digesting their MREs and listening to Daniel's scary campfire stories while the sun sank. It was almost like being back in the Boy Scouts, except for the part where Daniel could make anything sound boring.
"Now, in Earth mythology, shapeshifter legends tend to follow a different path. They're mostly about humans turning into animals, such as a man turning into a werewolf after being bitten by one. Or a god punishing a human by turning them into a spider, a swan, a swine…'
"Something with an 's'," Jack muttered, poking at the fire.
Daniel ignored him. "Yes, there are stories about doppelgängers, but they're nothing like the legends I'm finding here. Whereas doppelgängers are identical to one specific person, and are attempting to take over their life, these stories are about evil beings that are able to assume any shape they want, and they choose the shape of someone intimately close to their victim. A spouse. Parent. Child. It's not clear to me yet whether they've destroyed the person they're copying. Maybe they would have to, in order to gain enough knowledge to do a convincing impersonation. I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be indistinguishable from the real item. I mean, I've got more than the gist, even with the sections that are missing, but there's still a lot left to translate in the morning. It could just be an endless procession of one loved one after the other, after the other…" He gestured with rolling movements of his hand.
"Surely these are stories only, DanielJackson."
"That's just it, Teal'c, I don't know. I mean, look around." Daniel waved a hand encompassing the vast nothingness of dirt and rock all around them. "There's no logical reason for someone to come here to this forsaken spot and erect buildings that are etched with silly, superstitious stories. The ruins just have to be the artifacts of a vanished civilization. Nothing else makes sense. So what made them vanish? It's safe to assume the Goa'uld brought them here, but what happened to them?"
"We don't know what the rest of the planet is like, Daniel. There could be thriving cultures…"
Daniel nodded in acknowledgment. "Of course, Sam. It's possible. But how often have we seen that happen? And that still wouldn't explain these ruins."
"I'm not following you," Jack said. Not that he particularly cared.
"For these buildings to be the only thing in the vicinity of the Stargate, they have to have been important. Someone put them here for a purpose. Yes, all right, possibly the people who put them here migrated to another part of their world rather than vanishing; certainly. Or…went through the Stargate to another planet. But the fact remains that whatever happened to them, they left behind these specific buildings, with these very specific stories. Warnings, maybe."
"For whom?" Jack said. They all looked at him. "What?" He pointed at Daniel. "He brought it up!"
"Perhaps for you, O'Neill."
"There's an interesting thought," Carter added.
Jack glared at them both. "You know, neither one of you is nearly as amusing as you think you are."
They looked back at him placidly. Okay, Teal'c always had the Jaffa poker face going, but Carter was getting seriously better at concealing her 'I'm getting in a jab at my C.O.' tell. Jack resisted the urge to stick out his tongue at her.
"Jack's impending fate aside," Daniel resumed, "if not a warning, then it's the last record of what happened here. A…a monument to those that were lost erected by those who survived. Or at least survived long enough to construct the monument."
Carter shivered dramatically and looked around at the gradually deepening gloom. "You can't seriously believe any of this, Daniel. Those stories are horrifying. Just imagine it. A person you love and trust…devouring you in some creepy, not entirely spelled out way. I mean, come on!"
Charlie flashed into Jack's mind, and the back of his neck tingled. He rubbed it. Not gonna go there. There weren't any blue crystals here, anyway. But he could see…yeah, he could see how you'd never see it coming from someone that close to you.
"We've seen shapeshifters ourselves, Sam. The beings on Tonane's planet, Xe'ls and the others, assumed the shapes of animals that were totems of his tribe. They turned out to be completely benevolent, yes, but they are evidence that things we might not be entirely comfortable accepting can still be very real. Who's to say this planet's legends aren't just as real?"
Carter just smiled.
"I for one do not believe it."
"Thank you, Teal'c!" Jack said.
"Of course, one must always be prepared to discover that one has been in error," Teal'c continued, with a glance at Carter that made her smile grow broader.
Jack scowled. "Let's leave the creepy-ass nasties down on the crumbly walls, shall we? Please." He drained his mug of coffee and stood up, stretching, determinedly dismissing the nonsensical heebie-jeebies. One revolution of this worthless planet took about thirty hours, and they'd put in their time, whether night had completely fallen or not. "You've got first watch, Carter. I'm gonna turn in."
"Yes, sir."
Jack headed for his tent. "Don't stay up late, Daniel," he tossed over his shoulder.
"No, I won't, I…Jack!"
Jack spun on his heel, hearing terror in Daniel's voice.
There were three Daniels now. Two sitting where Carter and Teal'c had been moments before. One stumbling backwards toward him. Jack pulled his sidearm and pointed it.
"J-J-J…"
"Don't move," Jack warned.
The two faux-Daniels rose slowly.
"Don't move!"
Daniel bumped into him, pressed against his side. "Jack!"
Jack swallowed the lump in his throat. The faux-Daniels moved sideways, to circle around the fire. "I said, don't…"
"Don't," Daniel said. He gripped Jack's gun hand. Ice. His touch… "Don't shoot."
The others were coming closer.
"You wouldn't shoot me."
The flames of the fire danced before Jack's eyes. Some other flame flickered maliciously in Daniel's eyes as he laughed in Jack's face.
"You would never shoot me."
Jack's weapon emptied itself into the air as the three laughing Daniels took him down.
~~~~
…now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.
The Book of Daniel
Chapter 5, verse 12
This entry was originally posted at http://sid.dreamwidth.org/286695.html.
(there are currently
comments at Dreamwidth.)
spook_me Multi-Fandom Ficathon, using the monster prompt: Shapeshifter.
~1400 words, gen (although I suppose you could read a little something J/D into it...)
Thank you to
ivorygates for the beta!
on Ao3
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin
There was no real need to set up a perimeter. There was nowhere for any danger to lurk in this barren landscape. They'd set up their camp on the lip of the large, shallow crater that contained the ruins of what once had been only-slightly-better-ruins, Jack was prepared to bet. Everything else was flat in all directions, and they'd spent six solid hours among the ruins. Nothing lurked below, and there might never have been any life above for all the traces that had been left. Hadn't been left.
A civilization wiped clean. Except for the deep-etched glyphs on the crumbling walls that Daniel had been studying while the rest of them pottered around aimlessly and pointlessly. Jack, stomping along the rim of the crater while Teal'c stomped in the opposite direction, had wished he'd paid more attention in the pre-mission briefing, because he sure as hell couldn't call to mind any good reason for them to be here. Maybe there hadn't been one. Maybe it was just that Daniel's birthday was coming up in a couple of days and Hammond had forgotten to buy him anything, so he thought he'd give him a rock of a planet with some fascinating squiggles for Daniel to drool over.
Daniel was definitely drooling. And he'd requested more time for more drooling. Something about the angle of the light not allowing him to take good enough recordings to work from back at the base. No, no, they really had to spend the night so he could finish in the morning. Jack had been just about ready to tell him to go to hell, but then Carter had piped up, claiming to have found some terribly interesting soil samples back behind the ruins, and wanting to explore further afield when there were more hours of daylight. Jack was pretty sure it was her early birthday gift to Daniel, too, because she wasn't even slightly convincing, but who was he to argue with them both?
So he'd let her send Teal'c trotting back to the 'Gate to make their request, and here they all were, digesting their MREs and listening to Daniel's scary campfire stories while the sun sank. It was almost like being back in the Boy Scouts, except for the part where Daniel could make anything sound boring.
"Now, in Earth mythology, shapeshifter legends tend to follow a different path. They're mostly about humans turning into animals, such as a man turning into a werewolf after being bitten by one. Or a god punishing a human by turning them into a spider, a swan, a swine…'
"Something with an 's'," Jack muttered, poking at the fire.
Daniel ignored him. "Yes, there are stories about doppelgängers, but they're nothing like the legends I'm finding here. Whereas doppelgängers are identical to one specific person, and are attempting to take over their life, these stories are about evil beings that are able to assume any shape they want, and they choose the shape of someone intimately close to their victim. A spouse. Parent. Child. It's not clear to me yet whether they've destroyed the person they're copying. Maybe they would have to, in order to gain enough knowledge to do a convincing impersonation. I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be indistinguishable from the real item. I mean, I've got more than the gist, even with the sections that are missing, but there's still a lot left to translate in the morning. It could just be an endless procession of one loved one after the other, after the other…" He gestured with rolling movements of his hand.
"Surely these are stories only, DanielJackson."
"That's just it, Teal'c, I don't know. I mean, look around." Daniel waved a hand encompassing the vast nothingness of dirt and rock all around them. "There's no logical reason for someone to come here to this forsaken spot and erect buildings that are etched with silly, superstitious stories. The ruins just have to be the artifacts of a vanished civilization. Nothing else makes sense. So what made them vanish? It's safe to assume the Goa'uld brought them here, but what happened to them?"
"We don't know what the rest of the planet is like, Daniel. There could be thriving cultures…"
Daniel nodded in acknowledgment. "Of course, Sam. It's possible. But how often have we seen that happen? And that still wouldn't explain these ruins."
"I'm not following you," Jack said. Not that he particularly cared.
"For these buildings to be the only thing in the vicinity of the Stargate, they have to have been important. Someone put them here for a purpose. Yes, all right, possibly the people who put them here migrated to another part of their world rather than vanishing; certainly. Or…went through the Stargate to another planet. But the fact remains that whatever happened to them, they left behind these specific buildings, with these very specific stories. Warnings, maybe."
"For whom?" Jack said. They all looked at him. "What?" He pointed at Daniel. "He brought it up!"
"Perhaps for you, O'Neill."
"There's an interesting thought," Carter added.
Jack glared at them both. "You know, neither one of you is nearly as amusing as you think you are."
They looked back at him placidly. Okay, Teal'c always had the Jaffa poker face going, but Carter was getting seriously better at concealing her 'I'm getting in a jab at my C.O.' tell. Jack resisted the urge to stick out his tongue at her.
"Jack's impending fate aside," Daniel resumed, "if not a warning, then it's the last record of what happened here. A…a monument to those that were lost erected by those who survived. Or at least survived long enough to construct the monument."
Carter shivered dramatically and looked around at the gradually deepening gloom. "You can't seriously believe any of this, Daniel. Those stories are horrifying. Just imagine it. A person you love and trust…devouring you in some creepy, not entirely spelled out way. I mean, come on!"
Charlie flashed into Jack's mind, and the back of his neck tingled. He rubbed it. Not gonna go there. There weren't any blue crystals here, anyway. But he could see…yeah, he could see how you'd never see it coming from someone that close to you.
"We've seen shapeshifters ourselves, Sam. The beings on Tonane's planet, Xe'ls and the others, assumed the shapes of animals that were totems of his tribe. They turned out to be completely benevolent, yes, but they are evidence that things we might not be entirely comfortable accepting can still be very real. Who's to say this planet's legends aren't just as real?"
Carter just smiled.
"I for one do not believe it."
"Thank you, Teal'c!" Jack said.
"Of course, one must always be prepared to discover that one has been in error," Teal'c continued, with a glance at Carter that made her smile grow broader.
Jack scowled. "Let's leave the creepy-ass nasties down on the crumbly walls, shall we? Please." He drained his mug of coffee and stood up, stretching, determinedly dismissing the nonsensical heebie-jeebies. One revolution of this worthless planet took about thirty hours, and they'd put in their time, whether night had completely fallen or not. "You've got first watch, Carter. I'm gonna turn in."
"Yes, sir."
Jack headed for his tent. "Don't stay up late, Daniel," he tossed over his shoulder.
"No, I won't, I…Jack!"
Jack spun on his heel, hearing terror in Daniel's voice.
There were three Daniels now. Two sitting where Carter and Teal'c had been moments before. One stumbling backwards toward him. Jack pulled his sidearm and pointed it.
"J-J-J…"
"Don't move," Jack warned.
The two faux-Daniels rose slowly.
"Don't move!"
Daniel bumped into him, pressed against his side. "Jack!"
Jack swallowed the lump in his throat. The faux-Daniels moved sideways, to circle around the fire. "I said, don't…"
"Don't," Daniel said. He gripped Jack's gun hand. Ice. His touch… "Don't shoot."
The others were coming closer.
"You wouldn't shoot me."
The flames of the fire danced before Jack's eyes. Some other flame flickered maliciously in Daniel's eyes as he laughed in Jack's face.
"You would never shoot me."
Jack's weapon emptied itself into the air as the three laughing Daniels took him down.
~~~~
…now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.
The Book of Daniel
Chapter 5, verse 12
This entry was originally posted at http://sid.dreamwidth.org/286695.html.
(there are currently
comments at Dreamwidth.)