Archaeology, Natural Disasters and You [Closed]
The trip down revealed that Taleen was going to be of several things, none of which were pleasant. Arid, pale with a light dusting of red from the rocks, and yellow-white grass that extended in plains all the way towards far off mountains . There was a giant gash in the land near the orb landing area, which resolved itself into a massive canyon as
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He turned. Then he paused. For one long, pained second, Daniel took in what the other man (John wasn't it? From the library?) was wearing. A frown crossed the archaeologist's face. He hoped this wasn't John's idea of a joke, because it wasn't funny. How many times had first years admitted to him that they'd really gotten into archaeology because of Indiana Jones, of all people. It wasn't even like the movies were right, in fact, it portrayed the complete opposite of what archaeology was. Archaeology wasn't destroying temples just to get to one artifact. Not to mention that temple had not only been untouched for years, it, amazingly enough, had perfectly preserved traps! It wasn't getting into car chases or grabbing artifacts out of the country without talking with the authorities, and it certainly wasn't skipping out on classes you taught to essentially go bounty hunting for a black market. Indiana Jones was a one-man walking disaster, capable of destroying archaeological sites and artifacts everywhere he went.
And who the hell carried a whip anyway?
Adjusting the boonie, and squinting against the sun, Daniel looked down at the dig list he had. He didn't remember John showing interest, but there, sure enough, was his name.
"John. Can I help you with something?" Daniel asked politely. He had to find out what John was annoyed about in case it affected the dig.
Actually, what Daniel really wanted to do was ask him what happened in the library. Daniel had woken up on the floor, alone. He'd had a splitting headache that dwarfed the canyon over there too. Everything was kind of fuzzy: at best, he could bring himself to remember some of the rush of memories. Not everything, but enough to know something had happened in that room. He hadn't fainted or something. There were a lot of questions. Number one being what even happened. Then what happened to John? The only thing Daniel could recall was that he'd been complaining about the Doctor earlier like a jilted boyfriend.
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He noticed Daniel's eyes looking him up and down, and gave him a wide smile that was not completely forced. Ah, someone truly 'appreciated' the outfit he'd gone to such lengths to procure.
"Not at all... Daniel, was it? I'm happy to be here," the Master said through his teeth. "Just a little worried about the weather, if you know what I mean." He peered at the other man with shrewd eyes even as he spoke affably, wondering just how much Daniel remembered of their previous encounter besides the alias he'd given.
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It wasn't like he was extremely particular about the title, but there was something about John that rubbed Daniel the wrong way. Maybe the sense of arrogance he got off the man the last time they talked. It probably had everything to do with the way he'd talked down to Daniel about not knowing about the works of Sha'kk-sper, like someone from 90's Earth was ignorant for apparently not being either extremely well traveled in the universe or able to go to the 45th century. Stargate or not, they hadn't found a way to jump time just yet. He glanced up at the sky, namely at the specks of light that, if you didn't know what they were, or the danger, would have looked like especially bright stars. "We should be fine. Captain Eneesh is monitoring their approach. We'll be out of here before they hit."
If that was all there was to John's problem, then they should be okay. It was probably too late to have some words with him about what was appropriate to wear to a dig though. Sending him back to Stacy to change would just eat up valuable time. Now Daniel just had to assign him somewhere for the first day, and hope John could follow directions. But first...
"Actually, I was looking for you."
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Inwardly he wondered if Captain Eneesh was one of the tall insectoids arguing with the Doctor earlier, or one of Daniel's imaginary friends. It was hard to tell.
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He should have seen it coming. He'd been warned not to give the lecture even, and he'd ignored it anyway. Maybe his "trouble sense" was rusty.
Daniel's fingers absently tapped the side of the clipboard, a quiet one-two three-four, one-two three-four, as he studied the other man. He'd figure out how to deal with John's ego in relation to the dig later. If he couldn't work well with others on the more sensitive jobs, Daniel would just have to pair him up with someone who would monitor him. Maybe the Doctor.
Right now he had something else in mind. "Yes, I wanted to talk to you," Daniel said. "I wanted to ask you what happened in the library."
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He watched Daniel's fingers tapping for a few seconds before realizing the man was waiting for him to respond. The Master's eyes slid up slowly to meet Daniel's. There was a cold fury in them, barely contained.
The library. Was that where it had happened?
"Well," he smiled tightly. "No time like the present. Perhaps we should find someplace to have a nice chat." Some conveniently secluded place.
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Daniel met his eyes, an eyebrow cocking. He almost thought John's look had turned glacial. What was his problem? Daniel could understand worrying about the impending disaster, but now it was something else. He didn't want a fight on his hands, and it helped to know what they'd be fighting over in the first place, but he also didn't want to have to worry about what Smith was doing the next few days.
He thought about putting Doctor Song on him, if not the Doctor, but decided against it. He was the team lead, and any trouble cropping up was his responsibility.
Daniel didn't quite sigh but he did fold his arms impatiently. "Mr. Smith, I have a lot to do right now. Here's as good as any."
It wasn't like this was a paradise either. To an archaeologist, everywhere was good, something to discover and learn, but he wouldn't put any location around here as good for a "nice chat". The air was arid, stale, with a yellow-blue sky and grass that looked like the color had been bleached out, and probably not a living soul this side of the planet.
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For the Master, 'here' really wasn't 'as good as any'. The Doctor was nearby, though he was still arguing with those insectoids. Who had invited them on this trip, anyhow? They were far too close to the Ohm for his liking, and the last thing the Master needed to recall right now was how he'd electrocuted himself for the Doctor's 'greater good'.
"Yes, I can see you're frightfully busy," he drawled. "Perhaps you should get back to your responsibilities. Ooh--" and the Master shaded his eyes with his hand, looking off into the distance behind Daniel. "Looks like someone's not using that trowel quite right. Duty calls, hmm?"
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Daniel tried hard not to judge people without completely getting to know them, but even his patience only went so far. Contrary to what Jack apparently believed, Daniel didn't have the patience of a saint. Something about John said that he wasn't a team player. That alone wasn't a bad quality, being part of the team was more hyped up in the Air Force, but something rubbed him the wrong way when it came to John. It was like everything he said was dripping in patronization and sarcasm, and Daniel couldn't see a single reason why that might be, other than the bad attitude to end all bad attitudes. Why the hell did John volunteer for the dig in the first place?
The archaeologist swiveled to look, and sure enough, John was right. One of Eneesh's crew was using a trowel like a monkey trying to open a coconut with a rock and with about half the finesse. Then the alien tilted his head, stared at it, flipped it in his hands, and tried to use it as a dagger in the ground. The archaeologist cringed. He hoped to God that the alien was hitting dirt and nothing actually valuable in the next few seconds. But he could easily destroy something priceless if he was left unchecked. As much as he hated to admit that John was onto something, he did need to go over there soon.
A few seconds couldn't hurt. Maybe. Daniel looked back towards John.
"Is there any reason you're avoiding the question?" Daniel asked stubbornly.
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"Avoiding? So far," the Master pointed out, "You haven't really asked any questions."
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He was, he decided, going to be the mature one, since only one of them was going to.
"Something happened to me in the library and I was hoping you had more of an idea. Seeing as how you were there too," he added snippily. So much for taking the higher ground.
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He sized up Daniel again, speculatively. It was great fun trying Daniel's patience, but there was the very pressing issue of how much he knew already. The drum beat meant that the human had somehow tapped into the Master's own head in the process, and that was troubling.
"What do you remember?"
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He closed his eyes, counted, and reminded himself to try and remain patient. The only person who'd been in the library with him was this man here, and he was trying to get answers out of him. It helped if he was cooperative.
"Look, you were there. The last thing I remember is you talking about the Doctor and then I was on the floor. You didn't see anything?" Like who was making that drumming sound when he'd come to, to start with. It went away a few minutes after he'd come around, but until then, they'd sounded so real that Daniel, once he'd gotten his wind back, had looked around to make sure the Doctor had secreted a band in the library. If the Doctor could have his wardrobe turn into a bog, Daniel was starting to accept that heck, why not have drums in the library too?
The search hadn't turned up anything. It also hadn't turned up John. Why had he apparently left Daniel on the floor if he'd seen another person just drop in front of them?
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"Other than your... collapse?" he raised his brows, appearing for all the world as if he was honestly trying not to offend. "I'm afraid not. I did try to get help, but," and the Master leaned forward conspiratorially, "You know how the TARDIS was behaving. It was impossible to find my way back."
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He had to concede John had a point. "I'm surprised you managed to find your way out."
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The Master shrugged. "Why not?" he said. "You did."
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