A Mini-Midlife Crisis

[hi_there_aliens]

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.

Comments

[hi_there_aliens]

"Sounds like a busy schedule." Yeah, the usual. Eva mentioned something about a maze. Something something GLADOS. "By the way, I'd rather you didn't hurt Menkaure. He might not like you but he's an animal."

Daniel led the way further in when he heard a clattering sound. He turned, and found Marco had discarded the safety gear, like he'd handed him a hand out and not something for his own good. Okay, maybe Daniel wasn't as uptight as some of the professors he knew, but this was his lab until someone said otherwise, and safety did come first. He suddenly turned. Daniel might not have the same intimidating presence as Teal'c or Jack, but he made up for it by being a pain in the ass.

"Marco. I don't want to be a spoil sport, but you need to put those on before you come in. You can either follow the lab rules or you can go back home."

[livestoannoy]

"Yeah, and animals can't be vicious or violent at all," Marco said, just a little darkly. He'd been into plenty of animals to know what they were capable, and what kind of minds they could have. And animal or not, all of nature was built on the principle of kill or be killed.

Maybe if Daniel had been more intimidating, Marco would have just accepted his authority. But Marco had spent a lot of his teens having to ignore the authority of adults; first his father (who wasn't capable of taking care of himself, let alone Marco), and then everyone else, because none of the adults knew about the Yeerk one - and the ones that did were the enemy. Which meant that he wasn't particularly inclined to follow the 'adults know best' philosophy.

"You forgot to mention these 'lab rules' in the first place," he said cooly. "And unlike some people, I don't have any interest in poking at dead people. Only reason I'm in here is because I was trying to get away from your crazy little pet. Funny, you don't seem to have a problem with it running around here."

[hi_there_aliens]

"It's generally the standard for most labs," Daniel retorted. Anyone would know that. "It's not my pet." It just happens to follow me around when it feels like it, he thought. It was probably the other way around. He'd been adopted, or at least, it seemed to regard him as moderately decent. Being a food source didn't hurt things.

And if so, the otter wasn't at eye level to get hit by something. If Marco knew something about animals, more than the average person, then Daniel didn't think he needed to point out that they had better reflexes and instincts than humans. The chances were something would hit either of them and the otter would belong gone.

Daniel walked back over and retrieved the discarded safety gear. He held them out to Marco. "Fine. I'm not forcing you to stay. But if you do want to remain here, you wear these. I'm not having anyone injured in my lab."

[livestoannoy]

"Yes, because the standard totally applies when we're on a living transdimensional spaceship that thinks it's our mother," Marco said, rolling his eyes. "And the otter's not your pet. It's just a coincidence that you named it and let it scurry around your workplace."

Really, Marco would just be wondering what the hell flying objects were doing in an archaeology lab. What were these guys doing, playing volley ball with the artifacts?

Ironic though, in a weird way, that he was so worried about Marco being injured. Fact was, with morphing able to heal all injuries Marco stood a better chance than anyone at not getting long lasting injuries. Not that Marco would mention that. "Keep em. Besides, I wouldn't want to get in the way of you and your girlfriend," Marco said, smirking and stepping backwards, heading for the exit. Hey, archaeology definitely wasn't his thing. Why go to a lot of fuss just to look at some ancient junk?