Archaeology, Natural Disasters and You [Closed]

[hi_there_aliens]

The trip down revealed that Taleen was going to be of several things, none of which were pleasant. Arid, pale with a light dusting of red from the rocks, and yellow-white grass that extended in plains all the way towards far off mountains . There was a giant gash in the land near the orb landing area, which resolved itself into a massive canyon as the party drew closer. Spider webbing out across the top of the canyon were signs that a civilization had once flourished here. Traces of broken pillars and half submerged buildings, as well as what looked like a downed ship that had embedded itself in a massive building. There was no movement visible amongst the ruins now. As the dry wind blew through the stonework, it would became clear that they were walking into a mass graveyard.

Not somewhere you'd want to spend your vacation.

For some people, this was going to be a field day.

According to the scans and what little records they had, there hasn't been a sentient being around for hundreds of years. The majority of native wildlife had moved out of the area, seeking refuge. The land looked dead already. In the sky above, several specks of light twinkled in the sky, growing bigger with each passing hour. In a few days, it will be raining fire.


[Closed to Daniel, Eleventh Doctor, Sofia, Jamie, Hoshi, Howard, Billy, the Master, River Song, Cassie, Tom]

Comments

I will take both, ha ha?

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel came wandering up, putting the boonie on at the same time. It blocked out the sun a little, but not nearly enough. Too bad he didn't have his clip-on shades. The funny thing about waking up, naked, on Stacy was that you didn't have time to pack the necessitates. Actually, he had them when he'd gone through flying through the Stargate. 'Had them going' in being the keywords. Daniel was also pretty sure he'd had them when he'd hit the SGC ramp too, come to think of it.

Now he was on a dig without anything remotely appropriate to protect his eyes from the sun damage.

His optometrist was going to kill him if he ever got back.

The Doctor looked both a little unhappy to be attached to an archaeological dig, and offended by whatever Captain Eneesh just said. The Captain, he noticed, was being a lot more helpful, barking out orders at the other crew and helping out on occasion as she made her rounds at the growing base camp.

"What was that all about?"

[makeherblue]

The Doctor turned. "She's being a...well, a bug. She thinks she's right. And that Jamie must know something about nuclear fallout just because she says so."

He grumbled and hemmed and hawwed to himself, annoyed and quite happy letting Daniel Jackson know just what he thought about that. He looked the human over. Boonie hat, military clothes (he did like the vest -- the rest, not so much) and over all, as good shape as could be expected. He liked that about humans. Bounce back from anything, humanity. The bouncy balls of the universe! Only with, well...more hair and glasses and on-and-off-again taste in hats and anyway, he was sure Daniel Jackson was here to talk about Something and if it was Gallifrey again, he couldn't expect to get too far with those questions. The Doctor smiled at Daniel as he stepped away from wreckage half sticking out of the wall.

"Right, so. Your dig. Yours and Rivers. I'm afraid to see what you two are going to come up with," he went on, sounding anything but afraid because right now he was more curious than anything else.

He would just...insist he wasn't curious and never could be with archaeology, not at all. Not even on a planet he'd never been on with a mess of civilizations he never set eyes on before.

[hi_there_aliens]

"She seems nice to me," Daniel shrugged. The Captain had been nothing but pleasant on the trip down. "I doubt there's any fallout here." Yet. Once the meteors hit and set off a chain reaction in the environment and air, probably blotting out the sun with the debris too, who knew what would happen? "Stacy didn't pick up any harmful radiation on the initial scans."

This was the man, after all, who had blocked a merchant from a possible sale on a planet where money was everything, all by essentially hijacking a customer. The Doctor seemed like he meant well, but it sometimes it was hard to tell what he thought of everyone around him, whether he saw them as individuals or amusingly alien oddities. Whatever John's problem was with the Doctor, there might be something to it. The Doctor's clone had corroborated parts. There was also the planet he'd destroyed. Even now, he couldn't imagine him destroying an entire civilization. He didn't look like the type of person.

The Doctor was eccentric. Daniel also knew from experience that eccentricity didn't usually win people over. "Hopefully we'll come up with a lot. What did you do to set Eneesh off?"

The negative attitude might have a little something to do with it. They didn't need the Doctor to supervise them. They knew what they were doing, and this place was the biggest archaeological find he'd seen recently, a candy store of bones, shards and buildings. Daniel could barely contain his own excitement.

[makeherblue]

That was so very human! No fallout yet was much more accurate! There was no telling what one of the bugs or the crew could do if they happened to dig in the wrong area and he was tempted to point out that you know, Daniel Jackson, it wasn't as if Stacy was here to do a close-range scan of what was under the surface.

And that was why the Doctor thought he was here. Give the place a good up close and personal sonicing.

The Doctor looked offended at Daniel's question. "Me? I didn't do anything. She's just...particular. She's a bug, you know," his voice dropped to a whisper. "Funny ideas about properiety, I suppose. And kilts," he added. He looked like he was about to say more, possibly about how Daniel shouldn't go sticking that trowel into any positronic clusters if they happened to dig any up, when he glanced over Daniel's shouder, saw something he didn't quite like, and blanched.

"Actually! I'll check in with you later. Over there looks good enough!" The Doctor was suddenly in a hurry, running over his words. He reached out, shook Daniel's hand, peered over the human's shoulder again and then before Daniel could react, the Doctor was already making himself scarce.

The rapid beat of heavy footsteps behind Daniel tipped him in why the Doctor made a fast retreat as Captain Eneesh came skittered toward the expedition leader - or so it said on the orders she had, her great big eyes fixing on that marvelous hat of his for a moment. It was so - so official, which was wonderful and all except for that fact he didn't have a kilt and now she was admittedly confused on the chain of command here. A proper expedition leader really should have a kilt and a hat. Something easily seen from a distance or in the middle of a swarm! It would clear up any misunderstandings. Fleshlings and their bizarre conceptions of order. Eneesh clicked her mandibles as she watched the Doctor go and if it was possible for a bug to narrow her eyes, she would be making a very, very good effort. She finally turned to Daniel.

"Is he bothering you? I can send Fourteenth to keep him in line," she clicked and gurgled.

[hi_there_aliens]

The Doctor looked offended like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar who'd just been accused of stealing. It wasn't a good look on him.

The Doctor's gaze drifted over his shoulder, and before he could blink, the Doctor basically booked it right in the middle of a conversation. Daniel was left staring at thin air. What the hell just happened? He hadn't even gotten to assigning him somewhere, so why had the Doctor felt the need to bail? There wasn't any other way to describe it. The man had fled, retreated faster than the Alamanni army before Emperor Aurelian.

And there was the cause. Eneesh came up behind him, limbs clicking and clattering. As traveled as Daniel was, he'd still never seen anyone quite like Eneesh. Hopefully it wasn't going to be a problem, but it would take time to get used to them, especially in how to read body language. Or not committing some taboo or rude motion accidentally in front of them. He craned his head upwards. He was never going to get used to how tall Eneesh and her people were. Eneesh's eyes, all facets of them, reflected his boonie as she glanced at it appreciatively. He thought it was appreciative, at least. If he read the way she twitched her neck right.

That look, the deathly disapproving one at the Doctor, however, he could read perfectly.

"No, no, he's fine," Daniel said quickly. He looked at the Doctor's retreating back. He wasn't about to turn him over to her care yet. "I just have to assign him something to do...." Assuming the Doctor would even do something he was assigned to. He looked around at the camp that was rapidly forming. "Your crew is impressive, Captain. I've never seen anyone so efficient."

[makeherblue]

The bug rubbed her feelers together, not quite able to hide her pleasure at Danieljackson stating -- and rightly, too! -- sheer fact. Observant fleshling. No wonder he was given the responsibility of the hat and expedition leader.

She liked him. Why, he'd make a much more competent mate than the Doctor.

"I don't think you would have. It's one of those things you need a proper hive for. No offense, Danieljackson," she added. "We'll be done setting up before nightfall, I think. Now, I know the brief said we shouldn't expect any wild beast attacks, but I can give you Ninety-Eight and Ninety-Nine as a personal guard if you need the extra protection. Perhaps another for Jamiemccrimmon and Doctorriversong. "

She motioned for him to follow him back to the mostly finished camp so she could show him how to use the doors and other bits. They'd tried their very best to come up with beds for the fleshlings but unfortunately it was difficult to put yourself in a fleshling's claw coverings and so it probably wasn't as good as whatever they had back on Stacy. Eneesh ducked her head into the nearest hive structure, her hind legs sinking into the floor as it gave and it was becoming apparently was shortness was so valued -- the ceiling was low, tunnel low, and Eneesh was one of the few bugs who could fit relatively comfortably in it. In other words, if there was a crisis, she could be the most useful in terms of getting from point A to point B in a real hive.

"What do you think?"

[hi_there_aliens]

"None taken," Daniel said. The news that they'd be done with the camp before nightfall was better than he'd hoped. Eneesh wasn't kidding. Her people almost looked like they were swarming the site. Whenever a section moved off, more of the camp was miraculously completed and in place. Amazing.

Oof, he didn't like her suggestion. She meant well, but no, he didn't want bodyguards. Waste of hands that could be on the dig too. It was bad enough when he had Jack hovering over him half the time. Not all planets had Goa'uld or something out to kill them, but Jack seemed to think so, because the man spent the rest of the planets watching him work and looking antsy, hand on his gun like he was expecting trouble. Daniel preferred to avoid it this time if possible.

"No, I'm good, thanks. I'd rather Ninety Eight and Ninety-Nine help on the dig or packing and shipping. It's more efficient that way," Daniel added. "Maybe you can see what Jamie or Doctor Song think."

Daniel followed after Eneesh when she made a strange motion at him, and was gratified to find he'd guessed right. Their version of "come with me". He didn't think he had quite the limbs to replicate it. It was a good thing that "short" for Eneesh's people was still taller than he was. Daniel didn't have to duck to get into the structure, but it felt a little claustrophobic. He'd gotten over it for the most part already, years of going through digs and tombs squashing the urge. The squishy floor was new. Daniel's feet sank in just a little. The tunnel smelled faintly of almonds.

"It's great. What did you use to make it?" Daniel looked down, tried to pull his boot out to see if his foot would leave a hole or if the floor would fill in. "You mentioned a proper hive earlier. If you don't mind me asking, how do you communicate with each other? Are you telepathic?"

[makeherblue]

Ah. She liked you even more, because the fleshling was right. It would be more efficient if her crew could do what they were here to do and not spare extra claws for guard duty. She shook her head in agreement, her mantis head twitching from side to side in that rapid jerking motion that Danieljackson would find was common to every single bug on her ship.

"We used a common byproduct called ---tttt---t " Eneesh said. Good luck translating that. Maybe it was best he didn't know. "'Telepathic'? What is that? Is that another word for markers and relays? Network? Do you have 'network' in your native language?"

Think all your Earth bugs, Danieljackson, only bigger, smarter, and the only plus is they were not quite as warlike if you could get past the huge exoskeletons. Eneesh stalked about the room, inspecting its construction and pulling at random protrusions. A slab of the same material slid out at the far end. Now, she hoped they had research it right about fleshling accommodations and their other needs. Her species didn't need these "bed" things and they had worked with what they could on such short notice. Eneesh chittered.

"Bed," she said simply. "This."

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel tried the word out anyway. He failed miserably. It was better than thinking about what Eneesh meant by "byproduct". He hoped it was byproduct as in bee vomit/honey, and less the other alternatives he could think of. Actually, it was better just not to over think this one. It was a nice, well-constructed hive, a testament to her people's engineering, and definitely not constructed out of possible vomit-or-worse.

This wasn't helping. The smell that he thought was pleasant before now took a subtly unsettling turn.

"Telepathic. It means to communicate with another using just your minds," Daniel said, trailing after her as she checked the room. He watched as she poked and prodding everything. "Yes, we have the that word in our language. What do you mean by marker and relays? Do you mean you communicate with scent and pheromones?"

He touched the bed with a finger. Poked it. It squished under his finger, and when he pressed down a little harder, gave off a puff of the suspicious almond smell. "Yes, I see. It's a nice one."