trans_9 | A Mini-Midlife Crisis

Where to start? He had to resist the urge to pick at the little square bandage on his forehead or the stitches. Daniel put his hands on his hips, where they couldn't get anywhere near his head, and surveyed what was going to temporarily be his domain. Until he got kicked out, at least, but until then, he was determined to squat here. As makeshift archaeology labs went, he'd worked with less. It was a lot to take in; there were an impressive amount of artifacts from the dig. They probably didn't even scratch the surface of Taleen, but they'd brought back a lot anyway. The room was crowded. Practically overflowing. An archaeologist's wet dream. Maybe not Meaning of Life Stuff, but this could keep a person occupied for months. Maybe years, depending on how thoroughly you wanted to go into it.

Daniel didn't make any motion to begin on any of them. He sat down and looked at the tables.

What the hell was he even doing here? Once the excitement and rush wore off, Daniel realized how inappropriate this was. Talk about a lack of priorities. The fact that he was still thrilled about the prospect of spending a day studying them angered him at the same time as it excited him. Sha're was out there, still a host. Or maybe not, if his universe really had been destroyed. Daniel had a hard time wrapping his head around the concept. Part of him still didn't believe it was true. He wanted proof. Something besides Stacy and the Daligig's word. At the same time, having actual proof only meant that what felt like a terrible possibility became cold, hard fact. Maybe he didn't want to know. It was easier on his sanity if he could wonder if SG-1 was out there still.

And here he was, about to get arm deep in relics and a dead civilization. Like it had any bearing on what was supposed to be the most important thing. He should be trying to get back home or - or do something to help everything and everyone he ever cared about.

Sure thing, as soon as he found some good options. So far, Daniel didn't see anything better than staying on this ship. Even if he found a Stargate, it wasn't like he could abandon ship. It wasn't a matter of attachment but practicality. Where would he go? No point of origin, or maybe they were different, and even if he went back to this Earth, nothing was quite the same. It wasn't his universe. He was better off sticking with Stacy, Daniel had to admit to himself. Everything seemed to converge on her. If anything was going to come up that would help, it would more likely happen around her. That left him doing missions while he was on board, working. Maybe they'd find something on one planet, something that could helped his universe. Even with the destruction of Thor's Hammer, he had a chance to find something to help Sha're.

Daniel took a breath. He stood up. He could make himself useful until the next mission. He had a few things he wanted to study first. The mummy they brought back lay on the table. He was dying to start on it. Or there were the Goa'uld devices.

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Normally Tim didn't spend a great deal of time around the science department-- while he did have an interest in it-- but it was also something that could be useful. To scout out what was going on, see if anything could come in handy for himself. See what people were working on, get a feel for more of the crew...

Investigatory habits died hard.

Out of his costume for once (when studying people it worked to be a friendlier face, frankly), he peeked his head into the department-- and his interests were instantly peaked. He'd not seen something like this in a long time, but...

"Just got back from that dig mission, right?" he asked, giving a smile that was an approximation of shy. Silently asking if he was interrupting too much.

Daniel looked up from the clipboard he was nursing. "Yeah. Been a little busy."

It was surprising how many people were dropping in, although in some cases, like Marco, it wasn't exactly on purpose. Daniel checked to make sure the mummy was covered, and then navigated his way through the sea of tables and shelves, until he was within arm's reach of the new guy.

Daniel held out a with safety goggles. His way of greeting for today. "Daniel Jackson."

Tim showed a bit of relaxation at the more positive response, nodding slightly. That made things easier on him, at least.

"Understandable," he said, looking around a bit more, and stepping slightly further into the threshold of the room. He flashed a smile, and returned the greeting, "Tim Drake. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." Daniel stepped aside to let him in.

"How can I help you? Come to help?" he added quickly. Just a little shameless, but Daniel was getting desperate. Vala's little accident with the mummy ended up having him two hours behind schedule. Maybe he could rope someone in. The rest of the dig crew had bailed on the more tedious aspect of archaeology, which Daniel should've guessed he saw coming, but it wasn't nearly that bad.

Tim laughed quietly at Daniel's questions, and smiled as he stepped into the lab. "I guess I was just looking around," he started. He was technically off shift, even if he was doing his own things still. It could be valuable, as an experience, at least. "Alright, I could try to help out-- I don't know how much I can provide, I'm not really experienced..." He shook his head, taking a glance over the artifacts, but still keeping his distance.

He should probably feel a little more guilty about effectively impressing someone into lab service, but Daniel was getting to the point where he realized he couldn't actually do this all by himself, and that he was getting desperate for help. He should probably give him the chance to gracefully escape though.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Daniel said. "But it's not hard. I could teach you pretty quickly."

Maybe just a little underhanded.

Tim laughed again at that, and nodded. "No, it's okay, you seem like you have a lot of stuff to get through here-- I imagine that'd take time no matter how good you are." He looked around the lab again to emphasize his point, making note of the sheer amount of stuff there.

"Sure. I wouldn't mind learning a thing or two anyway-- my dad was into this kind of thing, but I never really got a handle on it myself." In other words, he was willing to learn. And he was genuinely interested.

He could say that again. Daniel had been so concerned saving as much as he could that he honestly hadn't put nearly the same thought in the workload after. Now he had to admit he was swamped. The problem with trying the omnicomms and recruiting general help was he'd have to teach every single person how to properly do the job and then supervise them all. He only had so many hands and eyes.

"If I could borrow even just thirty minutes fo your time, you'd be doing a huge favor," Daniel told him. Too bad he never got into it, but maybe this would get his interest. "Come this way, I'll give you a run down."

"I can do at least thirty minutes no problem," the teen replied, with a nod. Tim followed after Daniel as he led him away, to show him the ropes. He might remember little bits and pieces from his father's work, but nothing too notable. Daniel'd have to run over everything with him, but at least Tim's a smart kid.

The entire time Daniel ran through the lab and down through the process for Tim, another train of thought was running through Daniel's mind shamelessly. And that was entertaining the idea of slowly building a miniature army of lab assistants. He managed to rope in Crichton, and once you got past the initial tedium of the cataloging itself, it got pretty interesting seeing all the artifacts up close. There was something about being able to see a people's history and personality at every angle, or being able to touch it.

Daniel hoped Tim lasted long enough to get to that stage.

"The only thing that's off limits right now are those," Daniel indicated the back wall, with the only golden things in the room: the sarcophagus, ribbon device and healing device. Then he motioned to the mummy. "And that. If you end up with any questions while working, don't be afraid to ask."

Tim was an attentive student, if nothing else, though in his head he divided his attention somewhat. Still, he focused and actually listened, understanding.

"All right," Tim replied easily, nodding to the instructions. He eyed the objects curiously-- the mummy was obvious, but he wasn't sure about the others (either what they were or what the specific reason might be). He set to work catalouging, something he actually enjoyed to an extent, like organising, and he looked everything over with interest. After a few minutes, though, he did ask, "So you're an archaeologist by trade, then?"

A Mini-Midlife Crisis

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(going to timeskip teaching the actual logging stuff)

(sounds good!)

Re: (sounds good!)

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