S is for Stay
For Jonas Alphabet Soup. "S" should probably be for "Sodding work getting in the sodding way". So a short fic without meaning:
"Someone remind me what the Kelownan for 'stay' is, because the word I'm using sure isn't working."
Jonas could imagine this was being said with fingers drumming against the side of the rifle, as if Colonel O'Neill was two subconscious steps from fixing the situation by shooting something. Presumably not him, considering the angle.
Sam's face peered over the edge above him.
"Don't move," she said. Rather unhelpfully he thought. He could see, behind the concern, Sam automatically working through the equation of weight, distance and planet's gravitational pull, and subtracting it from a century old tree root. "Jonas, don't move we'll get you up."
"I wasn't planning to," muttered Jonas.
"Oh, does 'don't move' work? Because I was thinking that means the same damn thing."
Jonas looked down, and immediately regretted it. It was a funny thing that he could happily sit in a spaceship miles above the nearest piece of land without any problem, but put him a hundred feet up, dangling from on the side of a mountain? Actually, it wasn't very funny at all. And the tree root didn't look as sturdy as he first thought. Still, from the snatched observation of his position the drop probably wouldn't kill him. Permanent disability wouldn't too amusing though. He wondered how much it would hurt.
Okay. He really needed to take his mind off his situation.
"There isn't a direct translation for the word 'stay'," he replied, "and I did stay in the area. The area just kinda moved."
Colonel O'Neill replaced Sam over the edge of the mountain. He was lightly holding on to his P90. Ready for action. "Whad'ya mean there isn't a word for 'stay'?"
"Not a single word which means exactly the same thing." There was a solid looking piece of rock sticking out of the mountain. If Jonas stretched he could probably use it to reach that ledge on his far right. "You know, English is quite complicated."
"There isn't a word for.... Are you telling me that you never stay in one place on your planet?"
"No." Jonas eased himself along the root. "It's just there isn't a word we use in the same way you do."
"So, when I tell you to stay you have no idea what I'm saying?"
"I can grasp it from the context." And your facial expressions, Jonas added to himself.
"Unbelievable." Colonel O'Neill turned away to speak to his team-mates, momentarily forgetting Jonas' life or death situation "Did you hear that? They don't have the word 'stay.'"
"Don't they, sir?" Jonas stretched toward the rock. "That's quite surprising." He could hear Sam's slightly incredulous tone overriding the worry about the serious state he was in. She was going to ask if he was being somewhat untruthful later.
"I know! Stay is not a word."
Jonas put a foot on the ledge. "Not every word exists in every language," he called up.
"Every useful word should exist in every language. T, you guys have a word for 'stay.'"
A large vine looped its way down to Jonas' position.
"I believe 'kree' to be most sufficient."
"Someone remind me what the Kelownan for 'stay' is, because the word I'm using sure isn't working."
Jonas could imagine this was being said with fingers drumming against the side of the rifle, as if Colonel O'Neill was two subconscious steps from fixing the situation by shooting something. Presumably not him, considering the angle.
Sam's face peered over the edge above him.
"Don't move," she said. Rather unhelpfully he thought. He could see, behind the concern, Sam automatically working through the equation of weight, distance and planet's gravitational pull, and subtracting it from a century old tree root. "Jonas, don't move we'll get you up."
"I wasn't planning to," muttered Jonas.
"Oh, does 'don't move' work? Because I was thinking that means the same damn thing."
Jonas looked down, and immediately regretted it. It was a funny thing that he could happily sit in a spaceship miles above the nearest piece of land without any problem, but put him a hundred feet up, dangling from on the side of a mountain? Actually, it wasn't very funny at all. And the tree root didn't look as sturdy as he first thought. Still, from the snatched observation of his position the drop probably wouldn't kill him. Permanent disability wouldn't too amusing though. He wondered how much it would hurt.
Okay. He really needed to take his mind off his situation.
"There isn't a direct translation for the word 'stay'," he replied, "and I did stay in the area. The area just kinda moved."
Colonel O'Neill replaced Sam over the edge of the mountain. He was lightly holding on to his P90. Ready for action. "Whad'ya mean there isn't a word for 'stay'?"
"Not a single word which means exactly the same thing." There was a solid looking piece of rock sticking out of the mountain. If Jonas stretched he could probably use it to reach that ledge on his far right. "You know, English is quite complicated."
"There isn't a word for.... Are you telling me that you never stay in one place on your planet?"
"No." Jonas eased himself along the root. "It's just there isn't a word we use in the same way you do."
"So, when I tell you to stay you have no idea what I'm saying?"
"I can grasp it from the context." And your facial expressions, Jonas added to himself.
"Unbelievable." Colonel O'Neill turned away to speak to his team-mates, momentarily forgetting Jonas' life or death situation "Did you hear that? They don't have the word 'stay.'"
"Don't they, sir?" Jonas stretched toward the rock. "That's quite surprising." He could hear Sam's slightly incredulous tone overriding the worry about the serious state he was in. She was going to ask if he was being somewhat untruthful later.
"I know! Stay is not a word."
Jonas put a foot on the ledge. "Not every word exists in every language," he called up.
"Every useful word should exist in every language. T, you guys have a word for 'stay.'"
A large vine looped its way down to Jonas' position.
"I believe 'kree' to be most sufficient."