Fic: A Call To Arms 3/5 StarGate SG-1/StarGate: Atlantis
A Call to Arms
By: Lopaka Tanu
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Stargate.
Fandom: Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: Martouf/Daniel
Category: Slash. Open AU.
Warnings: Violence, Language,
Summary: In the sudden silence that has filled the galaxy after the Goa'uld were wiped out, life for those who survived the war is stagnating. The Tok'ra are now trying to prevent the former slaves from killing themeselves and everyone else. Colonization of the galaxy has provided the SGC with a distraction, giving everyone something to do. It is to this that Daniel has come home to.... and from this he wishes to flee. _______________________________________________________
Turning up the music as the next song started to play, Sam swayed slowly to the beat. Holding the half empty glass to her chest, she closed her eyes. It just wasn't the same. She pressed the volume button again, driving the music up so loud it was vibrating the fabricated wooden floor beneath her feet.
It had been an eventful day in the lab and she felt like celebrating. Nothing quite felt like being able to successfully build something almost completely alien. They were using earth technology and had finally fine tuned a generator that could actually provide a back up system to the Tok'ra provided equipment. Her best efforts weren't quite good enough to be a possible main power source just yet, but they were on the right path.
That was worth celebrating.
Putting a little more swing in her dance, she tossed her growing hair. In the past two weeks she had decided that her already chin length hair could finally grow out again. Twirling her hair over her knuckles, she twisted it in to a curl. "I wonder what I would like with curls." The music drowned out her voice and she let go of her hair.
Noticing that the glass was half empty, she downed the rest of the liquid and moved back over to her open liquor cabinet. Adding more ice cubes and of the scotch, she hummed tunelessly along with the music. There was bound to be a good song coming up next, she had heard this CD enough to know that, and she wanted to be prepared to dance to it.
Tomorrow she had to fix the generator's cooling coils and replace a broken power node on the original generator so the mining could continue in sector 7G. Sam absently wondered if the fat man in charge of safety was actually as competent as he seemed or if he was lazy oaf. Perhaps she would install a security camera in there to keep an eye on him. Safety was important if she wanted to continue living on this rock.
Suddenly her song came on and her thoughts switched back to dancing. It was better this way. Swinging her hips, she jammed along with the heavey metal that tried to make her deaf and probably would if she wasn't wearing specially designed earplugs. So what it would drive her neighbors batty, who were they going to complain to, the air? Birds and animals would just have to learn to get along with her music or get going.
The opening of her door caught her attention and she moved over to it, hand out to accept the already lit joint. Gesturing to the cabinet, she waved Petrikov and Merryl in. "Time to party!" Shaking along with the music, Sam bounced back to stand in front of the radio. It was definitely going to be a busy night.
Fighting the urge to scream, John tightly clutched his P-19. While the other three men were easy going about the sight of the gate springing in to existance, John was about to piss himself. So he had heard all about it, the very real existance of it in front of him he had not been prepared for. This was going to take some getting used to.
Jack watched his new team members with some trepidation, their first mission through the gate as a whole and he wasn't sure what to expect from them. "All right, campers, lets move out."
"Yes, sir." Falling back in to his training to overcome his fear, John saluted and moved up the ramp towards the gate behind Daniel. Since the training wasn't exactly doing the trick, he decided to focus on the way Daniel's pants clung to his ass. He remembered what it was like to be that young, how a tight pair of pants were a guy's best ticket to getting laid. Granted, thirty-two wasn't old, but it wasn't young either.
Yes, the eighties were a good time to be young in. Fast cars, loose women, MTV, all that and suspenders were cool. Before he knew it, John was splashing through the event horizon and his body was freezing. Falling through the other side, he shivered. "What the hell was that?"
Rolling to a stop next to John, Rodney had his own shakes to deal with. "That... was the..."
"First trip through the worm hole is always a little rough." Standing off to their right, Daniel ignored them in favor of studying the circle of light in the center of the black room. "Don't worry, your next trip through should be a lot smoother."
"That's comforting." Frowning, John beat at his arms while sitting up. It was a moment more before he got any feeling back in to them.
"Well, that is all I can offer, sorry." Holding out his camera, Daniel began to scan the inside of the chamber searching for entrances. "Do feel free, when you can, to help me search for an exit." Moving around the chamber, he avoided the light. A part of him felt like that it was the smart thing to do.
Having had enough of this, Rodney slowly climbed to his feet. When he fell back down, he cursed and rolled in to the circle of symbols on the floor. "Damn, ow!"
Behind Daniel, the black wall rippled and a black disc appeared on the surface with a glowing circle in the center. Hearing the sound, he turned around, hand going to his weapon's holster. Catching Jack's eye over the camera, he motioned towards the black disc.
"I see it. Go ahead, I'll cover you." Having pulled his own power coil, Jack aimed it towards the disc. His P-19 would have been preferable, but there was no doubting the effect of Carter's little toy.
Bringing the camera up so he could record it, Daniel scanned it from a distance first. He frowned when the camera suddenly went static. Directing its lense away from the disc, the image returned to normal. "I can't record it with the camera, it must be putting off too much energy interferance."
"Then I should examine it first!" Rodney tried to sit up again only to find that his body still refused to stop shivering. Teeth chattering, he glared at the stargate.
Jack checked McKay over once then shook his head. "Go ahead, Daniel. McKay, it will still be waiting for you when you get up to it."
"Fine, but any discoveries are named after me!" Shaking again, Rodney laid back down. This was positively the worst feeling of his life. How damned cold was it in this chamber that he still couldn't warm up enough. Much to his anger, Sheppard was already on his feet.
Daniel rolled his eyes. Stepping up to the disc, Daniel studied the out side ring for any symbols. There weren't any that he could find and the whole thing was beginning to drive his inner sense insane. Glancing up at the colored glass in the center of the disc, he was hit with Jolinar's memory of this chamber.
There were twelve of them, only four human. They had fled through the gate to avoid the System Lord Ra's grasp in to this unknown gate address. One of their group had passed through the light and moved towards the disc. He had placed his face to the disc.
Eyes widening, Daniel tried to back away from the disc, but the black substance of the disc reached out faster than he could move and enveloped his head. He brought his fists up, trying to knock it free but it tightened until it solidified around his head and neck. Bright flashes of light filled the glowing glass and his eyes were forced open. Just as suddenly as it started he found himself falling to the ground of the chamber.
"Daniel!" Rushing to his friend's side, Jack raised his weapon to fire upon th device. He soon found his hand restrained by another, softer one. Glancing down, he saw who it was and glared. "McKay, I swear, if you don't let go!"
"You can't destroy it! If you do, we won't be able to find out what happened to Daniel." Climbing to his feet, he used Jack as a pole. The shivers had subsided for the most part. Gaining in strength, he forced Jack's weapon down so they could lift Daniel to his feet. "We have to help Dr. Jackson."
"Fine. But if that thing starts to attack us again, you're my shield." Bending down, he placed one hand under Daniel's arm to drag him away. "Get our backs, Captain! McKay, dial Earth!"
"I'm fine, Jack." Shaking his head, Daniel tried to stop the world from spinning. His head was throbbing and his tail bone hurt where he had fallen on it, but other wise he felt fine. Being dragged by his friend wasn't good for his tail bone. "Let me go, I can walk by myself!"
"Not now, Daniel we have to get out of here. Why aren't you dialing the gate, McKay?" Hauling Daniel to the gate steps, he glared over his shoulder at Rodney. This wasn't the first time the man had defied him, but it would be the last time.
Grabbing Jack's fingers, Daniel twisted until he was quickly dropped. Rolling over, he crawled to the DHD and started pounding on the symbols. When he raised his head to see Jack, he returned the frown. "They don't know the symbols yet." Putting one foot under him, Daniel thrust himself in the air. Then he nearly keeled over as he collapsed half over the controls. "I hate my life." Reaching to his wrist, Daniel activated the IDC.
As the gate activated, Jack felt non plussed about the entire situation. These people, these wacky rejects were his team. This was it, someone up there definitely hated him. Grabbing Daniel by one arm, he helped the man stand up and stumble up the steps towards the stargate. On the other side of the worm hole, the gate room was filled with the standard Marine gunners for a mission gone wrong. He caught the General's eye through the glass and nodded at Daniel.
Shaking his head, Hammond pressed the call button. "Welcome home, SG-1. Report to the infirmary for check ups then the briefing room for debriefing." He was about to release it when an old feeling came over him, something he hadn't felt in a long time. "Just like old times, I see."
Daniel waved at him, or it might have been flipping him off, he couldn't really bring himself to care either way.
Buttoning up his shirt to the collar, Daniel tried to fight off the urge to sneer in anger. These clothes they gave him in the infirmary were always too big. Nothing since he had returned drove him this batty. It was as if they deliberately did this just to see if he would blow a gasket. It wasn't until he noticed the name tag hanging off the cuff button did he understand. "Right, I guess these are my clothes."
"Yes, Dr. Jackson, did you wish us to get you something else?" The attending nurse did her best not to stare at Daniel over her clip board. He was just so adorable in his too large shirt and pants. It reminded her of her nephew in his dad's clothes.
Daniel didn't like the gleam in the woman's eyes one bit. He had a sneaking suspicion about the kind of people hired in to the medical profession here. They all seemed to lack something that made them completely sane in one fashion or other. Janet had been super smart, Dr. Warner was robot emotionally, Dr. Gylespie sucked the filling out of reese's cups before throwing them away. Normal was not something they could be called.
Frowning, he slipped in to his old jacket. These were his predeath clothes, it was no wonder they didn't fit anymore. They were designed for a body that was larger in the shoulder and broader in the body, a body with the muscles one earned from training. It had only been a month, he couldn't be expected to have reached the same mass he was before he took a two year nap.
The very notion that he gained muscle mass that wasn't exactly necessary for his archiological profession would have seemed pure vanity at one time. Now, it just seemed like a pain in the ass not to be able to move like he used to. He would be glad when the work out routine got him back to himself.
Moving away from the annoying nurse, Daniel headed for the infirmary exit. Warner had said he could go after getting dressed. They had run the full battery of tests including a CAT scan and found nothing unusual. So far, all he could think of was the low level of dread his reptile mind attached to the memory of the alien device. The snake that had taken control of him didn't have an irrational fear of it, there had to have been a damn good reason for it to react this way. Not that he could remember, damned memory was shot to hell.
He wasn't about to tell the others about the memories either. Last time he had, they had him locked up in a padded cell with old Doc MacKenzie and his pet farm trying to rake through Daniel's memories of the infestation. A lot of fun that had been. Twenty-six hours of hell he would rather not relive.
Realizing he was still standing there like a fool, Daniel moved around the nurse and for the door. There were other important things he needed to do, like go over the camera's footage in order to understand what had happened to him. Obviously his memory wasn't going to be a big help. When the door opened, he wondered how often it malfunctioned.
There were servos involved, it just occured to him that they might have been here a long time and need replacing. The technology upgrades hadn't reached as far as the automatic doors yet. Perhaps he could lend a hand, he had spent enough time in Rodney's lab lately enough to know a thing or two.
Picking up his pace from a slow walk to just under a jog, he headed for the elevators. Jack had said the debriefing would start when he was ready, which was convenient because he wanted pop in to the archeology department first. The elevator also seemed to take forever. It took Daniel several seconds to realize the lift wasn't going to respond to his thoughts. As he pushed the button to summon it, he chuckled over the silly idea of calling the elevator with a thought.
The elevator ride down to his science level wasn't very interesting. Nor was the walk to the labs. He filled it with quiet thoughts over what exactly the symbols could mean. Waving his pass pen over the lab security check point, he waited for it to open the door. When nothing happened, he stared at it in confusion. He waved it over the sensor again and again, nothing happened.
Daniel sighed in frustration, figuring it might be broken. He would have to stop by the security office after the debriefing. His third and final try had the same result. Shaking his head, Daniel moved back for the elevator. This time he did remember to press the button.
Level twenty-seven was the level the briefing room was on. Moving down the corridors, he noted how heavily guarded the place was. All the excess security had been there when he had been brought back, it just felt like the first time he was noticing them. So many people, it was all so hard to believe there was room.
The briefing room was filled with the expected people. Dr. Warner was back next to Jack, Maybourne beside him. On the other side of the table Rodney and John had left him the empty space next to General Hammond. Grimacing, he took the chair, nodding to Hammond. "General."
"Well, now that we're all here, SG-1, would you care to explain what happened that you were nearly dragging one of your members home again?" Staring at each member in turn, he tried to hide the fact he was highly amused by the prospect of their reputation still holding true. In the past three years he had been running this place, a lot of changes had been made. It was good that some things could be counted on still.
Watching Daniel, Jack took a deep breath. "As usual, it's all Daniel's fault, sir. We were all minding our own business when he looked at something he shouldn't have and got his head stuck. Just as we were about to shoot it, the thing released him and now we are all here. I am sure the Doc can tell you what went on inside Daniel's head, as I'm sure there has to be something other wise he's just a walking disaster."
"Thank you for your vote of confidence, Jack." Daniel crossed his arms and sat back in his chair to give said man his evil eye. He crossed his arms because he had the sudden urge to strange the life from the bastard. "In actuality, it was Dr. McKay who activated the archive. He did so by rolling across the circle of light. It was motion activated."
"I did?" Rodney was surprised his voice could reach that high. Clearing his throat, he stared at Daniel. "What archive?"
"The device imbedded in the wall is an archive of information. The function of which is to download the entire knowledge of the extinct species, known to us simply as the gate builders, in to the brain of those unfortunate enough to look inside. The effects of which are quite immeadiet and irreparable." Daniel finished speaking as he rubbed at the back of his neck. Realizing what this meant, he grimaced. "Oh crap."
"Oh crap?" Jack raised an eye brow. This was in the Daniel Manual under do not use. "I take it that is geek for very bad?"
"Yes, this is very bad." Frowning, he forced himself to let go of the scar. "Or at least it partially is." The looks of the others made it clear he had to elaborate quickly. "The good news is, no one is going to get hurt. The bad news, I think I am remembering."
"Remembering..." Realization hit Jack. "Oh crap." He moved quickly to keep Warner from moving, settling a hand over the man's shoulders. "Stay put, you. There's no need to get the boys in white in here, just yet."
"I wouldn't think about it." His tone implied Warner was lying.
"It isn't much, General Hammond, it just comes to me when I'm not thinking about it. Like something you've forgotten that was unimportant at the time, but when you aren't thinking about it but need it, it pops up." So, that was the extent of his verbal skills after over twenty-eight years on this planet. Truly pathetic in his mind. Daniel shook his head. "The point I am trying to make is that all my inherited knowledge is trapped and only comes out when I'm focused on something that it might have information on. I knew what the archive would do the moment I looked in to, but not before I could stop it."
George would just have to take this one on blind faith. "So what exactly are the effects that make it irrepairable?"
"In theory, the mind would be damaged by the sudden overload of knowledge." By now, Warner was intrigued. He still intended that Daniel get a work up, again, but this new information was proving to be worth his time.
"Not theory. That archive put it in to application over two thousand years ago." Closing his eyes, Daniel tried to hang on to the memories associated with the archive. Some were there, but a lot were missing. He had to settle for what he could immeadietly get out. "There were four humans with us, they are needed for it to activate and work. The archive is warded against Goa'uld and Jaffa. One of the humans approached the archive and had his face encased. Within minutes he was completely incoherent, rambling about the archive and gate, how they were made by the same people. He was catatonic in an hour's time and dead by the end of the day."
Looks of distaste and horror were shared around the table.
"His mind wasn't strong enough to withstand the effect of so much knowledge. Since then, that world has been avoided by the goa'uld. The fact I once hosted one protected me from the effects of the archive. Whoever created the device, knew of the goa'uld and took precautions against their knowledge falling in to their hands." A brilliant flash of light behind his eyes signaled the start of a headache to join the one he had from the mission. "Dr. Warner, if you wouldn't mind, I would accept something now, if that's okay with you, General."
"Go ahead, son. Be sure to mark all this down and whatever you can remember in your mission report. You and Dr. Warner are dismissed." Hammond sat back in his chair, politely waiting for them to leave.
Standing, Daniel glanced over at Maybourne. "Colonel, I can't seem to get in to my lab, is the sensor malfunctioning?"
Checking his hand held device, Maybourne frowned. "Actually, Dr. Jackson, you've been moved from the main Archeology lab to a secondary one on level 15 near the Technologies department. Authorization signed by Dr. Weissman and approved by the head of the division, Major Gussman."
"What?" Jack was the first to speak up, but he wasn't the only one to react in anger. Turning on Harry, he nearly came out of his seat. "What's the big idea behind this crap, Harry?"
"I didn't do this, Jack." Using the wand that came with the device, he back tracked through the system codes. "Someone's been playing the shell game with my security authorizations." Standing, Harry closed his device and put it back in his pocket. "If you will excuse me, General, I have a flunky that just earned himself a one way trip to hell, express. No one fucks with my machine."
"Don't bother, I'd prefer to work alone anyways." Moving for the door, Daniel nearly broke the handle to get it open. He was followed by Harry and Warner.
Hammond slid a hand over the lower half of his face. This was getting out of hand. "Colonel, get your team's mission reports on my desk ASAP. Captain, tell Major Gussman that I would like to see him and this Dr. Weissman in my office immeadietly. I'll schedule the follow up briefing for friday. Dismissed."
Stepping to the center of the Curea hall, High Chancelor Trevelle crossed to her seat at the head of the Curea. Of the fifty-nine member governing body, she was the most important and they would not start the meeting without her. Taking her seat, she banged the gavel to start the meeting. "We may begin anew."
Stepping forward, the gray haired Jhuatal carried the crystal page that read off his agenda for the assembly. "We are instructed by the conflaguration that planets in the Obedos sector of space might contain trace ammounts of Trinium. While our resources here on Tollana do not appear to be jeopardy for the next two generations, one day our supplies will run low. They caution that we do not lose sight of possible new sources."
"Agreed." Smiling benevolently at the represenative of the conflaguration in the booth next to Jhuatal, Trevelle inclined her head. "Is there any further recomendations that they wish to present at this time, member?"
Jhuatal shared a look with the represenative and nodded. "There is. Conflaguration requests the resources to launch an expedition to planet 20140589 for the survey and establishment of mining. A recent scan provided that a large deposite of Tritanium Ore has been located on the planet's surface. Since there is a scare quantity on Tollana and our ships are in need, they offer that we obtain it before it becomes critical."
A quiet approval of a well presented offer spread through the Curea.
Trevelle, sensing the acceptance, nodded. "The conflaguration may have one survey craft at their disposal. If the scans of Tritanium Ore are proven, they may approach the Curea for mining ships and equipment again in one year's time."
Jhuatal was not entirely pleased with the recommendation, but accepted that was the nature of the Curea. Their time was better spent on more urgent matters than the mining of a far distant world that may or may not hold a necessary elemant. True, the Tritanium was necessary, but they were not about to need more than what they had. Sitting down, he smiled at the conflaguration represenative. They had done good today.
Running a hand through his still wet hair, Daniel tried not to let show his anxiety over the new location of his lab and office. It was made harder by the fact that he had to ask twice to even find the damned thing. He could hardly fault the archeology department for their choice of Siberia. Then again, he could hate them all with a burning passion for this snub.
It wasn't his fault that everything they thought they knew was wrong and that every thing they were supposed to know they were completely clueless on. There were certain things you had to accept before you became a part of this project that so many of the people here refused to acknowledge. The fact that the ancient gods were real, they still disputed. Many of the people here had come after the goa'uld were gone, so they believed the tells to be fanciful at best.
What gauled him the most was the fact these bastards had complete control over everything that went to the committee. That had been a surprise to him, that there was a committee deciding what was worth exploring and what was not. If it wasn't approved by the committee, it didn't happen, period. That was another thing he was angry over.
What was once an appeal to an intelligent man who saw the need in exploration had turned in to just another business venture bogged down in bureacracy. To put it simply, it was purely rediculous. They had to submit forms, they had to submit a grant purposal, they had to make a full presentation, a cost effectiveness, proove the whole thing was cost effective, make sure the insurance forms were completed, and heaven help them if something came up that put them over budget. What kind of moron had instituted these kinds of changes?
He wasn't sure, he hadn't gotten past the requisition forms for clearance so he could access those files. It was as if they had deliberately set it up so that he could get no where. Then again, these were the people who were in charge of the largest deficet in the world.
Sighing in frustration, Daniel glanced about his new lab. A talk with Harry and his personal inventory check list had netted him everything from his old labs and apartments. Most of it had been in storage, but some of it had been mysteriously doled out to other base scientists. That had been a bigger bullshit story than most of the crap they believed in.
It was so neatly done, everything of his in neat little boxes spread around the room. It was all nicely labeled, efficiently placed in their boxes that too were labeled. He would just have to check on the list and there it was, the location and the box it was stored in. Very military. Though, he would deny it upon pain of death, Daniel found the efficiency a good idea.
Setting the delicate PDA down on his lab top, he moved towards his camera. At least while he was here, he could get the digital work up done for his post mission report. Checking the power supply, he was happy to find that there was enough juice left in it to allow the download to his laptop. Next came the digital images. That was where his rage spiked and had Daniel throwing the camera at the wall.
All of it had been erased.
Storming to the side of his lab where the comm switch had been installed, he clicked the red security button. "Let me speak with Colonel Maybourne, now!"
"I am sorry, Dr. Jackson, but the colonel is in a security briefing at the moment." The female voice on the other end of the line was military efficient as well. "How may I help you in his stead?"
"The data in my camera from my mission has been deleted. I want to know who had access to my camera." Releasing the switch, he clenched his hand in anger. He absently wondered just who he was going to kill first.
"That information is classified level 5, you are only cleared for level 4, Dr. Jackson." Her voice only slightly wavered in a show that stating the obvious was beneath her.
"What is your name?" Pulling out a pad and paper, Daniel readied to write it for her tomb stone. The bullshit had finally gone too far.
"Sorry, Dr. Jackson, but you are not authorized for that information. Please contact us again if you have any thing to report of importance." The speaker in the wall whistled then shut off.
Gritting his teeth, Daniel closed his eyes and tried to fight off the increase in his head ache. Unable to calm down, he lashed out in a fit of anger to the closest object, the call button. Grabbing it by the face plate, he ripped it off the wall. When the face plate crumpled in his hand, he glared at the wall socket.
Inside the socket were extra wires and plugs. He recognized the function of several of them, one being a wall port for a modem. Grabbing his laptop and the modem wires, he plugged them in to the socket. Daniel set about accessing the local intranet with speed that surprised even himself. The encryptions were surprisingly easy to override.
Once he had full access, Daniel brought up the intranet information to see what he had access to. It was the communications net for the science labs. Imputting the data for the archeology department, he called up the material handling lists. Who had handled his equipment after he had handed it over to the archeology department before going to the infirmary?
Two names came up, one was the security officer who had delivered it to him and the other was his new archnemesis. Dr. Weissman had been a very busy lady recently. Calling up her personal computer files, he was hardly surrprised to find copies of several of his files. He also found his missing camera footage. It was so badly degraded that nothing he could access was worth any information. She had saved them to the smallest size and then changed their format several times for what he assumed was security reasons, thus corrupting them beyond repair.
His entire mission had been a waste of time. Realization filled a part of his mind that wasn't bent on retribution that this woman was a fucking bitch for no apparent reason, at least not one he could think of. Daniel quickly back tracked to the start of her files, a plan already forming in his mind. Since she felt the need to make his life as complicated as possible, he could at least return the favor.
It was a simple matter to access her translator program, no doubt created to help the lazy cow do something she could never hope to do on her own meager credits. He had snooped at her personal file while there, two degrees, one doctorate. Pathetic! Typing out the string for her personal archive address in the translator's imput, Daniel snickered to himself. He was going to get in trouble for this, that was a given.
It took him a moment to decide what language he was going to use. Anything already in the translator could concievably revert the text back to English. It would require a new language with unknown characters. He had a device for this. Much to his surprise, they had spared him enough funds to aquire for him a drafting pad linked to the computer. You drew the image on it and the computer displayed it for you.
Quickly plugging it in to the laptop multiport adapter, he picked up his pace. It wouldn't be long before someone found him in their computer files considering how anal Maybourne was. Activating the drafting board on the laptop, he began to draw the characters and save them to the translator program. After all eight-six characters were imputted, and their values attributed to their english counterparts, he activated the translation key.
It took six minutes before all the database was translated. Saving it to a sub directory, Daniel deleted Dr. Weissman's personal database. He then set up the translated version in its place. One last access of the translator program had him erasing the language from its database and his use of it. He then back tracked through the SGC's mainframe and out of it.
When he signed off the intranet, he closed the laptop quickly and leaned back against the counter. His body shook from adrenaline over his illicit actions and fear of being caught. Laughing, he had to clutch the table top to prevent himself from falling over. The sudden opening of his lab door startled Daniel so much he lost his grip and fell to the floor.
It was a slightly amused Rodney that stood over the cackling Daniel. "What do you find so funny, Dr. Jackson?"
"Hello, Rodney!" Daniel waved at the man from his place on the floor. He seemed to find that highly amusing and cracked up further. Blinking through the tears, Daniel peered at the other man. "How can I help you?"
"I was just coming over to see if you were settling in all right and if you had anything to keep you busy." Glancing about the lab, at the Spartan conditions, Rodney made 'hmm' sound. "I see they weren't even decent enough to give you a snack bar."
Daniel exploded in to laughter again before putting on a serious expression. He tried for an authoritive tone. "I'm pretty sure granting that would bring about the apocalypse, Dr. McKay."
"Probably right." Clapping his hands together in anticipation, Rodney smiled upon Daniel. "What say we get to work on some of these devices that have mysteriously turned up on my work bench in the past twenty-four hours?"
Observing at the way Rodney nervously avoided looking him in the eyes, Daniel began to wonder just why he was so uncomfortable around him. "Is there any thing specific you need my help with?" He saw Rodney was about to spook and head back out and ammended what he was saying. "I mean, if there is something specific you will need my help on, I have to get my books. They aren't light and I want to make sure I get the right ones."
"Oh, um, not really. I was just kind of hoping you could solve... Actually, I was bored and wanting some company!" Rodney slapped a hand to his face leg in frustration, looking up. "Sorry, that came out a little loud. I was serious about the company thing. Plus, there might actually be something you could do in there." Glancing about the lab, Rodney once again noted the bare lab tops. "That is if you aren't busy."
"No, I'm free." Gesturing at the floor around him, Daniel giggled again. "You mind giving me a hand up?" In anticipation, he held up a single hand.
"Sure." Rodney took the hand, braced his legs and jerked with all his might. Much to his surprise, Daniel came flying up off the floor and directly at him. Eyes about to pop out of his head in surprise, Rodney brought up his other hand to catch Daniel before the both colided. Rodney fell over backwards with Daniel on top of him with a whomph.
Daniel quickly rolled off Rodney. Grasping the labtop, he tugged Rodney to him. His hands rand over Rodney's body searching for damage despite the fact he too was out of breath. Finding nothing out of place, he released Rodney. After he caught his breath once more, he whispered at Rodney. "Sorry about that."
"My fault!" Grunting in pain, Rodney climbed to his feet. He waved Daniel off when he tried to provide assistance. "Let's not touch each other. It seems we are too dangerous."
"Let's go see about your lab equipment." Trying to be cheerful, Daniel climbed to his feet and aimed for the door. He was followed by a limping Rodney.