Then why didn't you just say 'tools', Daniel? Howard rolls his eyes and curls his lower lip in thought before chewing the eraser-end of the pencil. "No, no tools. You'd think, much rock as there is around here, there'd at least be like, chisels or something, but nothing. Maybe they had wicked claws or stonemasons on subcontract."
When Howard's involved, 'smart-ass' is usually a safe bet. If not, the second-best qualifier tends to be 'weasel'. Up until recently, he was fine with both of those labels.
"Does it matter? Meteor shower's going to take it down in a few days. A self-destruct sequence would at least be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of sight for these things. Not that I'd want to be inside when it does, obviously." He wipes the algae off his finger and onto the floor next to the drain. "Algae, huh? Wonder if it's edible. Earth algae's pretty good for protein."
He follows Daniel's flashlight to the pipes in the wall - small, well-hidden, and it looks like they go up higher than he can reach. He feels along one of the lower pipes, looking for any indication or a seam or notch or something to d more than just transport the water. He runs his other hand a bit above it, trading sight for touch in the shadows and the dark of the wall's surface. He's skilled with his hands and despite the callouses he's built up, good at identifying things tactually. After sundown, light was a rare commodity back home. Fires were dangerous; batteries, scarce.
"Hey, you read hieroglyphics?" he asks as he runs his fingers over grooves in the rock that feel too uniform to be scratches, then pulls his hand back to see that they're in no language he can read (a category which pretty much encompasses English and pig latin). He pulls his little notepad out of his pocket, holds a piece of paper flat over the symbols, and rubs the lead of the pencil widely across the surface, leaving an imprint on the page. White on dark grey is infinitely easier to read than black on black. He rips the page out and holds it out to Daniel. "Don't see no mechanisms, but there's wingdings over here."
If Daniel's goal is to get Howard engaged, it's accomplished between the fact that Howard is a kinetic learner and that he does well when his natural curiosity is encouraged. He's also studying Daniel as much as the door puzzle. Daniel in his element is much more confident than he was back before they were sent to Galilee, and there's something pedagogical about him that Howard can't tell if he dislikes or not. Howard half figures Daniel already knows what to do and is letting Howard figure it out on his own...for what? An ego boost? A test of intelligence? Simple curiosity?
Re: Daniel Jackson || Sub Temple B
When Howard's involved, 'smart-ass' is usually a safe bet. If not, the second-best qualifier tends to be 'weasel'. Up until recently, he was fine with both of those labels.
"Does it matter? Meteor shower's going to take it down in a few days. A self-destruct sequence would at least be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of sight for these things. Not that I'd want to be inside when it does, obviously." He wipes the algae off his finger and onto the floor next to the drain. "Algae, huh? Wonder if it's edible. Earth algae's pretty good for protein."
He follows Daniel's flashlight to the pipes in the wall - small, well-hidden, and it looks like they go up higher than he can reach. He feels along one of the lower pipes, looking for any indication or a seam or notch or something to d more than just transport the water. He runs his other hand a bit above it, trading sight for touch in the shadows and the dark of the wall's surface. He's skilled with his hands and despite the callouses he's built up, good at identifying things tactually. After sundown, light was a rare commodity back home. Fires were dangerous; batteries, scarce.
"Hey, you read hieroglyphics?" he asks as he runs his fingers over grooves in the rock that feel too uniform to be scratches, then pulls his hand back to see that they're in no language he can read (a category which pretty much encompasses English and pig latin). He pulls his little notepad out of his pocket, holds a piece of paper flat over the symbols, and rubs the lead of the pencil widely across the surface, leaving an imprint on the page. White on dark grey is infinitely easier to read than black on black. He rips the page out and holds it out to Daniel. "Don't see no mechanisms, but there's wingdings over here."
If Daniel's goal is to get Howard engaged, it's accomplished between the fact that Howard is a kinetic learner and that he does well when his natural curiosity is encouraged. He's also studying Daniel as much as the door puzzle. Daniel in his element is much more confident than he was back before they were sent to Galilee, and there's something pedagogical about him that Howard can't tell if he dislikes or not. Howard half figures Daniel already knows what to do and is letting Howard figure it out on his own...for what? An ego boost? A test of intelligence? Simple curiosity?