It took Howard a long time to convince himself to come back down here, but Daniel had been understanding enough, so Howard figured he owed an apology for panicking and bolting the way he did. Now that he's mustered up the nerve to return to the room with the creepy sharkophagoose (alright, he's not even trying to remember exactly what it was called, something starting and ending with S), he's left trying to figure out what exactly he'll tell Daniel.
"I have this thing about death," he says to himself, trying out how it sounds. He wants to sound reasonable and sympathetic but not vulnerable and damaged.
'I had a zombie in my basement. Also, I got stuck in a corpse trench on a mission. And helped bury kids after animal attacks on my world. And one of my friends on the ship is a zombie, but uh, it's okay when she does the whole undead thing since she takes it in stride.'
He pushes his med kit through the crack ahead of him, having vowed to never travel unprepared. Besides, it has granola bars and shoelaces in it, which are perfect for chewing on when things get stressful. He thinks he might have left Daniel's pencil in the room with the life-death torture machine, which might constitute reason enough to return on its own. It wouldn't do to waste that.
"I have this thing about death because my life is really weird," he says out loud. He twists his way out of the crack again and unclips himself from his rope. He realizes that he's not quite sure how Daniel got in here, although he suspects it was from higher up, from the collapse in the wall a way up.
And then he remembers that he's wasting time looking around the main chamber because some basic instinct of his doesn't want him to go back in the same room with a torture machine. Or near the tower with the mummy right behind the door. He runs a hand over his forearm and feels goosebumps there. His mouth feels dry and sticky.
"Daniel? Dr. Jackson? Yo, Indiana Jones in Space, you here?" He takes a deep breath, slings the med kit over his shoulder and, walking as lightly and tentatively as a deer would towards water, heads into the hidden chamber with the sarcophagus.
Re: Daniel Jackson || Sub Temple B - Sarcophagus Hidden Chamber
"I have this thing about death," he says to himself, trying out how it sounds. He wants to sound reasonable and sympathetic but not vulnerable and damaged.
'I had a zombie in my basement. Also, I got stuck in a corpse trench on a mission. And helped bury kids after animal attacks on my world. And one of my friends on the ship is a zombie, but uh, it's okay when she does the whole undead thing since she takes it in stride.'
He pushes his med kit through the crack ahead of him, having vowed to never travel unprepared. Besides, it has granola bars and shoelaces in it, which are perfect for chewing on when things get stressful. He thinks he might have left Daniel's pencil in the room with the life-death torture machine, which might constitute reason enough to return on its own. It wouldn't do to waste that.
"I have this thing about death because my life is really weird," he says out loud. He twists his way out of the crack again and unclips himself from his rope. He realizes that he's not quite sure how Daniel got in here, although he suspects it was from higher up, from the collapse in the wall a way up.
And then he remembers that he's wasting time looking around the main chamber because some basic instinct of his doesn't want him to go back in the same room with a torture machine. Or near the tower with the mummy right behind the door. He runs a hand over his forearm and feels goosebumps there. His mouth feels dry and sticky.
"Daniel? Dr. Jackson? Yo, Indiana Jones in Space, you here?" He takes a deep breath, slings the med kit over his shoulder and, walking as lightly and tentatively as a deer would towards water, heads into the hidden chamber with the sarcophagus.