Lost in the Library by donutsweeper (crossing challenge)
Title: Lost in the Library
Author: donutsweeper
Rating: G
Word Count: 1344
Fandoms: SGA/Discworld
Summary: The team was exploring a library mentioned in the Ancient database when they took a wrong turn and ended up somewhere else.
“Is it just me, or did we take a wrong turn somewhere?” McKay looked around nervously. “Are we lost? I think we’re lost.”
“It’s a library,” Sheppard pointed out. “How lost can we get?”
Ronon shrugged. “Bookcases changed.”
“See,” McKay cried out, gesturing wildly.
“Rodney, maybe we’re just in a different wing. Or maybe they had to rebuild some of it after an attack.” Sheppard tried for a calming tone in hope of relaxing McKay a little. It didn’t work
“Smells different too.”
McKay stopped walking and turned to Ronon. “It smells different? Really? You can tell? I don’t smell a thing, but, then again, that might be allergies, with all this dust and mold. Do you think there’s mold? We didn’t test for mold, but of course a test wouldn’t help if we’ve been teleported somewhere.”
“You had to encourage him, didn’t you?” Sheppard grumbled at Ronon. “Rodney, I don’t remember any flashes of light, do you?”
“No,” McKay admitted softly.
“Then we haven’t been teleported.” Sheppard nodded. “Case closed.”
“I believe we are no longer in the library of Manibria as well, Colonel.”
“Oh, not you too.” Sheppard rubbed a hand over his face. “Look, I know Elder Dhrace warned us about people going missing in the stacks and,” he makes quotes in the air with his fingers, “the ‘dreaded peiapei slither beast that leaps out at devours unwary travelers whole’ but, it’s books. In a library. No fancy tech to be found, ancient or otherwise.”
“We should head back,” Teyla cautioned, “before we have gone too far.”
“What do you think, Rodney? You were the one all fired up to come here in the first place.”
“There was a note in the database saying that when the Ancients had questions that they couldn’t find the answer to they came here,” McKay gestured wildly around him, “to this library! They came here! Don’t you understand the significance of that?”
“I do, Rodney. Believe me, I do. But these are books.”
“And your point is?”
“There’s no USB port to plug into, no handy way to download all this information. And unless you want to read about,” Sheppard grabbed a book off the shelf at random, “the Architectural Achievements of Bergholt Stuttley Johnson: The Inverse Genius At Work I don’t think this library is going to be a lot of help.”
“So? It’s got to be organized, somehow. We just need to find a catalogue for it. There’s got to be some sort of system.”
Sheppard shoved the book back in its slot before taking a long look around. “We’ve been exploring for three hours already, and haven’t discovered it so far, maybe we should-” He broke off when saw Ronon stiffen and draw his weapon. Sheppard had his own weapon out before he could even think about it twice and, like they’d choreographed it the entire team reacted, front and rear covered, eyes above them and ready for any kind of attack.
The shadows parted enough to reveal someone walking towards them from deeper within the library. No, not quite walking, more like lumbering, almost as if he were swinging forward, using his knuckles to push himself off the ground.
Sheppard lowered his weapon, not much, just enough to appear a little less threatening. “Hello? Can we help you?”
“Ook,” the not quite man said.
“I’m sorry.” McKay stepped closer. “But did you say ‘ook’? Because, I mean you’re acting like you know your way around this place, and I’ll be the first to admit that maybe we’re a little lost, or a lot lost, although Sheppard here just seems to think that even though we’re wandering in the biographies section now when we’d been in the etiquette section only the stack before that we’re just slightly misjudging our actual location, but he’s always hopelessly optimistic when it comes to things like that no matter how many times he’s been proven wrong.”
“Rodney,” Sheppard hissed when McKay paused to breathe. “Do you mind?”
McKay rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said with a loud sigh, “be my guest.”
Sheppard gestured at the team to stay where they were and approached the newcomer cautiously. “Do you work here?” he asked once he was eye to… well, not eye to eye, but close enough to see the sort of person clearly.
“Ook,” was the reply.
“Oh really? A librarian?”
“Ook!”
“Oh, the Librarian. Sorry. That’s weird, because we spoke to Elder Dhrace a bit earlier and, no offense, but he said he was in charge here.”
“Eek.”
“We didn’t know.” Sheppard jerked a thumb back at the rest of his team. “They were right after all. Wait a second, how’d we cross over into your library?”
The Librarian gave a sort of shrug. “Ook.”
“Huh. You don't say. Interesting. The people on my world have similar ideas about knowledge and power.”
“Ook?”
“No, we were on a planet called Manibria. Big library there, takes up nearly a whole island.”
“Sheppard!” McKay called, “Can he help us or what?”
“I’m getting to that, Rodney,” Sheppard called over his shoulder before turning back to the Librarian, “The database that led us here, it suggested that we might be able to find some of the answers we were looking for in this library.”
“Ook. Ook,” the Librarian said, a little sadly.
“Oh yeah, I can see how that’d be a problem. You’re sure then?” The Librarian nodded. “That’s understandable. No hard feelings.” Sheppard offered his hand which was encompassed and slightly mauled by the Librarian’s. “Good-bye then.”
“Ook,” replied the Librarian, adding an “Ook,” and a slight wave as Sheppard returned to the others.
“Well?” McKay demanded. “What did he say?”
“He gave us the directions back to the library we came from. Apparently, you were right.” Sheppard began walking back in the direction they’d come.
“Of course I was right. What was I right about?”
“We wound up in his library by accident. Something about knowledge and power and l-space, whatever that is.” Sheppard shrugged. “We have to find where the biographies end and then turn right.”
Ronon nodded. “Makes sense. Words have power. And there’s a lot of words here.”
“But, that’s it? That’s all you got from him? We were in the wrong library? He couldn’t, oh I don’t know, help us out? Give us some of the information we were looking for?”
“Nope,” Sheppard said, looking at the names on the book jackets as he walked past, “Johnson, Leonard, going in the right direction at least.”
“Nope? What do you mean, ‘nope?’ We walked all this way for nothing?”
“He can’t let us borrow any of the books, Rodney. Ha, Ridcully, now we’re getting somewhere.”
“What?” McKay’s voice practically squeaked. “Why not?”
“We don’t have a library card,” Sheppard answered matter-of-factly.
“Oh, right. That makes sense, I suppose, it isn’t easy to get one.” McKay stopped suddenly and grabbed Sheppard’s shoulder. “A library card. Seriously?”
“Oh yeah,” Sheppard agreed, “Very important. That and not mucking about with the nature of causality, that’s a big one.” He continued walking and pointed to one of the books on the shelf. “Vetinari. We should be almost out of here.”
“Nature of causality? Like we would ever-”
“Time travel,” Sheppard interrupted.
“Well, not really, and that’s a minor-”
“You blew up a solar system,” Ronon pointed out.
“Not all of one,” McKay grumbled.
“Rodney.” Teyla put her hand on his arm. “I am certain that the Librarian was only doing what he thought was best. Now we should get back, I do believe Elder Dhrace had mentioned something about a feast once we were done exploring the library.”
“A feast?” McKay’s eyes lit up.
“Yep.” Sheppard pointed to the break in the bookcases. “Here’s where we took the wrong turn before, come on.”
“I wonder if there will be any peanuts,” McKay said as he turned the corner, “I have a craving for peanuts.”
There was a soft “Ook” that echoed through the stacks behind them, and Sheppard offered a quick wave before continuing on their way.
Author: donutsweeper
Rating: G
Word Count: 1344
Fandoms: SGA/Discworld
Summary: The team was exploring a library mentioned in the Ancient database when they took a wrong turn and ended up somewhere else.
“Is it just me, or did we take a wrong turn somewhere?” McKay looked around nervously. “Are we lost? I think we’re lost.”
“It’s a library,” Sheppard pointed out. “How lost can we get?”
Ronon shrugged. “Bookcases changed.”
“See,” McKay cried out, gesturing wildly.
“Rodney, maybe we’re just in a different wing. Or maybe they had to rebuild some of it after an attack.” Sheppard tried for a calming tone in hope of relaxing McKay a little. It didn’t work
“Smells different too.”
McKay stopped walking and turned to Ronon. “It smells different? Really? You can tell? I don’t smell a thing, but, then again, that might be allergies, with all this dust and mold. Do you think there’s mold? We didn’t test for mold, but of course a test wouldn’t help if we’ve been teleported somewhere.”
“You had to encourage him, didn’t you?” Sheppard grumbled at Ronon. “Rodney, I don’t remember any flashes of light, do you?”
“No,” McKay admitted softly.
“Then we haven’t been teleported.” Sheppard nodded. “Case closed.”
“I believe we are no longer in the library of Manibria as well, Colonel.”
“Oh, not you too.” Sheppard rubbed a hand over his face. “Look, I know Elder Dhrace warned us about people going missing in the stacks and,” he makes quotes in the air with his fingers, “the ‘dreaded peiapei slither beast that leaps out at devours unwary travelers whole’ but, it’s books. In a library. No fancy tech to be found, ancient or otherwise.”
“We should head back,” Teyla cautioned, “before we have gone too far.”
“What do you think, Rodney? You were the one all fired up to come here in the first place.”
“There was a note in the database saying that when the Ancients had questions that they couldn’t find the answer to they came here,” McKay gestured wildly around him, “to this library! They came here! Don’t you understand the significance of that?”
“I do, Rodney. Believe me, I do. But these are books.”
“And your point is?”
“There’s no USB port to plug into, no handy way to download all this information. And unless you want to read about,” Sheppard grabbed a book off the shelf at random, “the Architectural Achievements of Bergholt Stuttley Johnson: The Inverse Genius At Work I don’t think this library is going to be a lot of help.”
“So? It’s got to be organized, somehow. We just need to find a catalogue for it. There’s got to be some sort of system.”
Sheppard shoved the book back in its slot before taking a long look around. “We’ve been exploring for three hours already, and haven’t discovered it so far, maybe we should-” He broke off when saw Ronon stiffen and draw his weapon. Sheppard had his own weapon out before he could even think about it twice and, like they’d choreographed it the entire team reacted, front and rear covered, eyes above them and ready for any kind of attack.
The shadows parted enough to reveal someone walking towards them from deeper within the library. No, not quite walking, more like lumbering, almost as if he were swinging forward, using his knuckles to push himself off the ground.
Sheppard lowered his weapon, not much, just enough to appear a little less threatening. “Hello? Can we help you?”
“Ook,” the not quite man said.
“I’m sorry.” McKay stepped closer. “But did you say ‘ook’? Because, I mean you’re acting like you know your way around this place, and I’ll be the first to admit that maybe we’re a little lost, or a lot lost, although Sheppard here just seems to think that even though we’re wandering in the biographies section now when we’d been in the etiquette section only the stack before that we’re just slightly misjudging our actual location, but he’s always hopelessly optimistic when it comes to things like that no matter how many times he’s been proven wrong.”
“Rodney,” Sheppard hissed when McKay paused to breathe. “Do you mind?”
McKay rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said with a loud sigh, “be my guest.”
Sheppard gestured at the team to stay where they were and approached the newcomer cautiously. “Do you work here?” he asked once he was eye to… well, not eye to eye, but close enough to see the sort of person clearly.
“Ook,” was the reply.
“Oh really? A librarian?”
“Ook!”
“Oh, the Librarian. Sorry. That’s weird, because we spoke to Elder Dhrace a bit earlier and, no offense, but he said he was in charge here.”
“Eek.”
“We didn’t know.” Sheppard jerked a thumb back at the rest of his team. “They were right after all. Wait a second, how’d we cross over into your library?”
The Librarian gave a sort of shrug. “Ook.”
“Huh. You don't say. Interesting. The people on my world have similar ideas about knowledge and power.”
“Ook?”
“No, we were on a planet called Manibria. Big library there, takes up nearly a whole island.”
“Sheppard!” McKay called, “Can he help us or what?”
“I’m getting to that, Rodney,” Sheppard called over his shoulder before turning back to the Librarian, “The database that led us here, it suggested that we might be able to find some of the answers we were looking for in this library.”
“Ook. Ook,” the Librarian said, a little sadly.
“Oh yeah, I can see how that’d be a problem. You’re sure then?” The Librarian nodded. “That’s understandable. No hard feelings.” Sheppard offered his hand which was encompassed and slightly mauled by the Librarian’s. “Good-bye then.”
“Ook,” replied the Librarian, adding an “Ook,” and a slight wave as Sheppard returned to the others.
“Well?” McKay demanded. “What did he say?”
“He gave us the directions back to the library we came from. Apparently, you were right.” Sheppard began walking back in the direction they’d come.
“Of course I was right. What was I right about?”
“We wound up in his library by accident. Something about knowledge and power and l-space, whatever that is.” Sheppard shrugged. “We have to find where the biographies end and then turn right.”
Ronon nodded. “Makes sense. Words have power. And there’s a lot of words here.”
“But, that’s it? That’s all you got from him? We were in the wrong library? He couldn’t, oh I don’t know, help us out? Give us some of the information we were looking for?”
“Nope,” Sheppard said, looking at the names on the book jackets as he walked past, “Johnson, Leonard, going in the right direction at least.”
“Nope? What do you mean, ‘nope?’ We walked all this way for nothing?”
“He can’t let us borrow any of the books, Rodney. Ha, Ridcully, now we’re getting somewhere.”
“What?” McKay’s voice practically squeaked. “Why not?”
“We don’t have a library card,” Sheppard answered matter-of-factly.
“Oh, right. That makes sense, I suppose, it isn’t easy to get one.” McKay stopped suddenly and grabbed Sheppard’s shoulder. “A library card. Seriously?”
“Oh yeah,” Sheppard agreed, “Very important. That and not mucking about with the nature of causality, that’s a big one.” He continued walking and pointed to one of the books on the shelf. “Vetinari. We should be almost out of here.”
“Nature of causality? Like we would ever-”
“Time travel,” Sheppard interrupted.
“Well, not really, and that’s a minor-”
“You blew up a solar system,” Ronon pointed out.
“Not all of one,” McKay grumbled.
“Rodney.” Teyla put her hand on his arm. “I am certain that the Librarian was only doing what he thought was best. Now we should get back, I do believe Elder Dhrace had mentioned something about a feast once we were done exploring the library.”
“A feast?” McKay’s eyes lit up.
“Yep.” Sheppard pointed to the break in the bookcases. “Here’s where we took the wrong turn before, come on.”
“I wonder if there will be any peanuts,” McKay said as he turned the corner, “I have a craving for peanuts.”
There was a soft “Ook” that echoed through the stacks behind them, and Sheppard offered a quick wave before continuing on their way.