trans_9 | How to develop a butt of STEEL through copious amounts of reading [Open]

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How to develop a butt of STEEL through copious amounts of reading [Open]

After the explosive end to the conversation on the spacewalk, Daniel had wandered around in something like a daze for the next hour. What just happened? The conversation ran over and over in his head. Vala left, stormed off to his office. The mummy, not to mention the rest of the lab, was probably in danger but he couldn't bring himself to care as much as he should. First Eva, which, while not nearly as explosive, had been awkward on both their parts. He hadn't exactly made friends with Kerrigan or Midna. At the rate he was going, he'd be surprised if there was anyone on board he didn't piss off by the end of the week. Par for the course for Doctor Jackson.

He couldn't bring himself to work. When Daniel finally did sit down at the next set of artifacts, he found himself instead doodling spirals in his notes. Tapping his pencil or staring out the door. Fidgeting like an antsy kid. Anything but actually working. The look on Vala's face right before she stormed off drifted up every single time. For a second there, it felt like real hate. It wasn't that he didn't care. It was that he couldn't fully emotionally wrap his head around a future he hadn't experienced yet. Nothing would ever be the same as being there.

He could try though.

The Media Library was one of the easier places to locate. Getting access to the files wasn't nearly as hard as he'd expected. Apparently he still had clearance to SGC files out in the middle of dimensions. There was something to be said about the government's determination to maintain classification and secrecy even with the world destroyed. You almost had to admire it.

Daniel stepped into one of the rooms and picked out a terminal. Just as the librarian said, files from 2006. A lot of them. Mission reports mostly, although he had a recommended supplemental file that he knew was his. Future his. He could tell without even reading it; the five-hundred page length attached to it kinda gave it away. Daniel frowned down at the numbers. There wasn't any way he could read all these in one day, but that's what all nighters were for. That was the good thing about college. It prepared you for long hours night after night, fueled only by what had to be deadly amounts of coffee.

The temptation to look up the rest of the files was particularly strong. He could look up other mission reports from before too, all he had to do was take a few steps back the way he came and request files. Or do a search for 'Abydos', 'Sha're', 'Apophis' to narrow it down. If only he had the name of the Goa'uld in her...

He wasn't here for her or himself. Leaving the door open for fresh air, Daniel pulled up what he guessed was Stacy's idea of a chair, then mentally prepared himself for the long haul. Sore butt and back, here I come, Daniel thought.

...Just as soon as he figured out this terminal.

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Howard has been skulking around Stacy for a while now, mostly due to the kerfuffle on the omnicomms, although talking it through with Zouichi has calmed him down about that just a little. Mostly this has meant more scavenging work out in the city, but since he pushed a broken, three-wheeled golf cart several miles back to the Warehouse, his shoulders and lower back are sore enough to guarantee he needs to do something sedentary for a few hours.

Clearly, this means scouring the Media Library for driver's ed tapes. Just relaxing and leaving his mind easy prey to his thoughts is absolutely out of the question.

Whether or not he's doing anything suspicious, he still feels compelled to look over his shoulder and take note of every person in the Media Library, which is how he notices Daniel. Howard's not unfamiliar with Daniel's body language - Daniel looks, from the bend of his back to the tension in his shoulders, like he's preparing for a long while studying something.

Maybe an interruption wouldn't be totally unwelcome.

"Hey. How's the head?"

He got it turned on. That was the only plus so far. Five minutes in and he was still fussing with this thing. Daniel usually managed computers better than this, if you defined 'this' as 'not so embarrassingly bad for a geek'... but in his defense, there were computers and then there was a Stacy terminal. Distantly, he thought he heard someone talking. Daniel squirmed, trying to extend his reach. Don't help him. He had this. Or at least he wanted to learn it himself since he couldn't count on always having a helping hand nearby.

"Oh. Hi." The archaeologist was nearly bent double trying to fiddle with the back of the computer. What came back was a few muffled curses and an 'ow' in the mix. "I'm good, it's good."

Although why the librarian was asking him about his head was- Daniel messed with a few connections, fingers jiggling cords to make sure they were secure, and yes, the power was on and- Wait, that wasn't the librarian. He drew himself up from the pretzel he'd worked himself into. Daniel's hair stuck up in a few places.

"Howard? What've you been up to?"

Howard raises his eyebrows at Daniel, wondering if Daniel has been sojourning to his own little world some. It isn't safe to be able to be taken so off-guard. Howard believes in some degree of vigilance unless you're sure all the doors are locked and no one's there with you. "Nice hair."

And no, he isn't going to offer to help figure out the terminal - not because he can tell Daniel's got some geekish pride invested in doing it all by himself, but simply because Howard's not especially inclined to help people with their computer terminals.

He waves the data pad in his hand. "Driver's ed and stealing golf carts, if you believe that. You know, in case Stacy ever volunteers me for a Mario Kart race on one of her missions."

"Hey. Doing some light reading?" Zouichi was in the area picking out a few files when he spotted Daniel going into one of the rooms. A musical or two (apparently the Master was very fond of them), some books on the caring and feeding of goldfish, various engineering texts, a film featuring a man named Clint Eastwood (who Jr. apparently thought very highly of).

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen the doctor around since... Galilee, probably. He frowned slightly at the memory. Worst. Mission. Ever. In more ways than one.

Izumi had been thinking on much the same lines and was searching the library for anything on the Digital World, especially Bokomon's book. When she managed to bring something up, she sighed loudly as the translator began its work.

It was only at that point she realized she wasn't alone and she was probably disturbing Daniel.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you! That was rude of me."

Daniel leafed over the cover page of the first report. 2006, and aside from who signed off it, a one general... Landry? it looked about right for an SGC mission report. Daniel barely had time to wonder what happened to General Hammond when he had a visitor. He glanced upwards. Zouchi hovered at the door, and unlike Daniel, his choice of reading and film looked looked, for the most part, a lot less serious. Surprisingly varied though. Somehow Daniel didn't picture the care of goldfish next to engineering books.

It had been awhile. Galilee, right? Probably one of the worst missions he'd ever been on. That was saying a lot when Daniel had the mission to P3X-797 compare against, when he'd spent a good portion as the Infected's chew toy. Or the mission to P4x-983, where he'd-

If Daniel had to count off every unpleasant occurrence of going through the Stargate, he'd be here all night. Glad to see Zouchi was in one piece.

"Oh yeah, 'light' reading." Daniel leaned back into the chair and indicating the large pile of paperwork. He smiled tightly. Mission report after mission report, heaped on top with a good serving of additional reading and research. "Goldfish care and engineering? That's an interesting choice in reading."

"Maybe I'm trying to invent a goldfish walker," said Zouichi, glancing over at the pile. "Actually, what happened was I picked up a few of them on that amusement park planet, and I want to make sure they're well cared for. And I'm trying to help out a little in Engineering, what with all the damage during that last Ohm attack. Mind if I ask why you're spending time going over all that paperwork?"

After all, people usually found other ways to occupy their time here. Then again, for all he knew, this could be perfectly normal behavior for Daniel; he'd been in the middle of research the first time they'd run into each other, hadn't they?

Maybe he should close the door, but at the same time, Daniel found didn't mind the distraction every now and then. Besides, it served to remind him that yes, there was a world outside this pod and outside the mountain of mission reports. He smiled. "You're fine."

He put his hand in between one page and closed it.

"Hi, I'm Daniel."

His leg was doing much better than the day he almost-but-didn't fall on his head, thanks to the Master. If there was anything you could say about Stacy aside from her being a marvelous ship and a bit of a grump (or a marvelous grump), it was that she had some surprisingly decent medical facilities and that thanks to that, the Doctor was only hobbling. Hobbling badly and with an odd habit for veering into walls every now and then, but he'd learned to compensate until he healed and when the reasonable option was to sit and rest, well!

Here he was. Not resting. Not doing the painfully dull.

The Doctor limped and then poked his head into the Media Library. He knew he'd seen a flash of familiar otter tail going this way! And there was Daniel the Otter Soother, not doing a very good job otter soothing and instead poking his head into one of Stacy's info terminals as if it was the latest in academic journals. The Doctor tilted his chin. Really! He would think that little otter next to Daniel was loads more interesting than academic journals!

Why do humans take a special liking to both a good case of adventuring and the painfully dull?

"I take it you've made some progress with your dig sorting," the Doctor said as he hobbled, limped, (veered away from that wall which was getting dangerously close to a collusion), corrected his steering, and made for Daniel Jackson.

With a sigh, the Doctor flopped down next to Daniel and rubbed at his thigh. It twinged as he swung his head around, birdlike, to focus on what Daniel was doing. The otter sniffed curiously at his feet before it tried to paw at Daniel, wanting to slither up into his lap and starting to look otter-annoyed that Daniel wasn't being much help today.

Daniel's hand flew to his head. Sure enough, some of it stuck up at at odd angles. Not quite the mad scientist look, thank God, but it probably wasn't exactly doing him any favors as coming off as a professional or an adult in Howard's eyes. Daniel hastily brushed his hair back down.

"Mario Kart?" Daniel couldn't look any more blankly at him. What he knew of video games came from Jack and going on about Nintendo, but it wasn't his thing. He could appreciate them as for the social aspect, what they could do to the landscape of today's youth and how it might apply to various cultures, but actually playing them wasn't his idea of a good time.

Nor was hearing about them. Daniel's eyes caught on the data pad. Actually, Howard's timing couldn't be anymore perfect. Howard had to be more familiar with this technology. Maybe he could help him here. "Well in between studying up on driving stolen carts, could I borrow you for a second?"

"Yeah, they did a number on us. It's good you're helping out."

Daniel had to stop and try not to stare at the other man. He was messing with him. He had to be. Not the goldfish walker part, that was obviously a joke. It was the part where Zouchi thought he had to get a book on how to care for goldfish.

And because he just couldn't let the goldfish thing drop,"I don't think you need a book for it," Daniel said. Seriously, Zouichi. They're goldfish. "All you do is feed them and clean the tank."

Goldfish were the type of pet people got when they didn't want to deal with a dog or cat, or if they were trying to teach children responsibility. It had a lot to do with how low maintenance they were.

He wasn't even fully sure what he was doing with this mountain of reports, at least when it came to Vala. She probably didn't want anything to do with him, but regardless, he wanted to do this. Mostly. His butt wasn't going to be thanking him in a few hours. He sighed. "Trying to fix something that was my fault. Long, painful story."

Edited 2011-11-15 14:46 (UTC)

Zouichi shook his head. "Oh, I'm not keeping them in a tank. But even from what I read so far, there are all kinds of factors you need to look out for when keeping fish. Ammonia levels, fungi, fish diseases... oh, and it's important to have adequate plant growth and shelters for the fish to hide. People think that goldfish are short-lived and disposable, but the truth is that with they can live to be ten years old or more. And over 40 centimeters long."

Uh. It was pretty evident Zouichi was really into taking care of those fish. "In any case, as their owner, it's my responsibility to see that their needs are met."

He blinked at Daniel's explanation. "Fix it...by looking at reports? How is that going to solve an interpersonal conflict?" Assuming it was an interpersonal conflict, anyway, but what else would it be about with a sigh like that? Then again, Daniel did seem to take archaeological research rather seriously. It could be about that expedition Howard had been on.

Edited 2011-11-15 16:19 (UTC)

"It's a videogame. You know, little red plumber guy in a golf cart, Rainbow Road, da da da dada da?" It's been a long time since Howard's played videogames, actually, barring the trip to the arcade on Happy Happy Fun World. He keeps thinking he should get back to them, someday, but they aren't quite brainrotting enough to keep him from getting antsy and paranoid, and somehow ever since the FAYZ they've had little rapture for him.

"Anyway, I said I kiped the golf cart, not drove it. It only had three wheels. Believe me, it'd have been a lot easier to drive it." He rubs his shoulder with something of a rueful expression. It took the better part of the day to get that golf cart to the Warehouse, and Howard still doesn't know what he'll use it for yet. Maybe spare parts again.

He shrugs. "Sure. Trouble booting up the terminal? Did you check and make sure it's plugged in first?"

He's teasing Daniel just a little, but there is an insecure part of him that wants to show Daniel up some. He's not sure why, but he wants Daniel to find him competent, and he's still a bit chafed from having his medical decisions disregarded earlier.

He'd reached the point where he had to begin work on the massive amounts of research Future-Him did. Pulling open the massive file, Daniel plopped it down on top of the rest of the mission reports and began to read. It didn't take long to get completely engrossed in the file. All on the Ancients. The original Gate builders and, while he might not have had a name for them at the time on Heliopolis, one of the Four Races. Daniel turned page after page, picking up speed. At times he slowed down, considering something. Absolutely incredible. He knew it! There was something to be said about validating a theory, although his on the gate builders hadn't been nearly as developed as others, say, the pyramids being older than everyone thought.

At the same time, there was something slightly aggravating when it came to reading a report you wrote in the future. It left Daniel feeling just a little bit stupid. He'd start to come to an excited conclusion or hypothesis on something mid-read, numerous times... and then, sentences later or worse, just after, Future Him beat him to it. He'd completed the thought or figured it out and moved on before Daniel had even finished. It happened with enough frequency that Daniel already started to harbor the tiniest resentment the first two hours in.

Daniel's face remained buried in the work, even with the the sound of webbed feet padding in or the Doctor limping after. The small paws scrabbling at his ankle was a little harder to ignore. Daniel put an arm down without thinking. Menkaure didn't hesitate in taking the invitation. Ow. That was a mistake. Menkaure didn't mean to,and he could tell he was trying to be gentle, but the otter dug his claws into his pants and forearm, and climbed up his leg. Daniel's head jerked up, away from the research. The otter settled on Daniel's lap and resting his furred head on the crook of his elbow, glared at the Doctor.

"Some but I'm nowhere near close to finishing yet. This is for something else." Daniel didn't pet the otter. It was still a wild animal. Nowhere near domesticated, so it wasn't so much he dictated anything the otter did, as it adopted him and came around when it felt like it. If it wanted something, it would let him know. Great. Now it sounds like it domesticated me, Daniel grumbled. "I hope you brought something in way of a bribe for him. I don't want to have to separate you two."

He looked over, finally noticing the way the Doctor rubbed at his leg. "What happened?"

Edited 2011-11-16 07:31 (UTC)

"I'm Izumi," she answered, remembering to bow after a moment. "I guess you found what you were looking for?"

He was wrong. His face could actually manage an even blanker look and Daniel pulled it off with flying colors. It wasn't hard. There wasn't a spark of recognition anywhere in the archaeologist's face. A plumber driving a golf cart on a rainbow road. Howard might as well have spoken gibberish. It would've made more sense. "Sorry. It's not ringing any bells."

Daniel made as if to approach the terminal at another angle, but shot Howard a look over his shoulder that could be described as politely dirty. When most people pegged him as a geek or a nerd, regardless of whether they were right or not (they weren't, in his opinion) most people saw the glasses and assumed technologically savvy came with. Checking the on switch on anything didn't require more than two brain cells. Or a genius. "It was the first thing I checked. It's not responding to any commands. I tried voice commands, the keyboard, everything."

The log in screen for his SGC clearance is frozen mid-load. Luckily, other than the SGC logo, nothing looked too out of the ordinary.

Edited 2011-11-16 07:24 (UTC)

Daniel could now consider himself properly educated on goldfish, their basic facts, and dangers that faced them daily thereof. It...wasn't any more interesting than he thought it would be. There were fish, interesting, bizarre or dangerous fish, and there was goldfish, which deserved a category to themselves. He got the ugly feeling that Zouichi was more than willing to keep going, because this only scratched the surface.

"I think you've got it covered. Easily," Daniel said quickly. Zouichi obviously took it very seriously, so he couldn't think of how these fish could land in any better hands.

The pile of reports and supplemental materials seemed to ask the same question. Wish he knew the answer. "I don't know. It might give me some context, at least. I'm getting measured against future-Me and I lost." Daniel explained, trying to smile. It looked even more forced than before.

He only just started. He was still working on the first mission report, and already had to admit some defeat. He couldn't hold off reading the research, the Ancients appeared to have far too much grounding. "I'm not sure yet. Did you need something?"

Maybe at least he could help her out if she needed it.

Bribes! Him? Really! Did Daniel Jackson honestly think he was that sort of man?

The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out his bribe.

Menkaure's whiskers twitched at the impressive rubber-band ball presented to him, those beady black otters eyes of his glittering, and then snap, he'd sunk his little fangs into it and pulled the ball to himself possessively. To show how pleased he was with his new toy, the otter turned on Daniel and headbutted him in the chest, trying to shove the rubber-band ball at him in that "look, human, make yourself useful" way. Lovely fella. The Doctor reached out to scratch the otter behind his ears and glanced up when Daniel asked about his leg.

"Took a tumble or five," the Doctor said. He had to wonder though -- if he'd landed on his head, would he have regenerated into that ginger woman, like his clone? Daniel would like him in ginger, he thought. The human seemed sensible like that. "Now what's this? Ancients and gates and dusty tech, and are you sure those calculations are right?"

The Doctor pointed at something on the terminal, cocking his head to the side as he studied at Daniel had been reading. It looked terribly dry to him.

Sure, Daniel, like you've never made someone's eyes glaze over while discussing archaeology. Zouichi tilted his head slightly in acknowledgment, then moved on.

"Future you," he repeated. "There's someone here from further along in your timeline?" Come to think of it, that was the situation Jamie and Victoria were in. "If they told you you'd be more impressive or competent in the future, why would that be a problem? Doesn't it mean you'll grow as a person. It sounds better than remaining static."

Howard shakes his head. "No Mario? Your universe must suck." Which is only funny to Howard because of how little respect he has for his own universe. He'd trade away his memories of Mario Kart for a more normal hometown, straight across.

Howard grins at Daniel and cocks his head to the side with the affect of perfect, oblivious, did-I-say-something? innocence before sitting down at the computer. "I don't know, man. Computers are hard. You do know we went seven months without electricity back home, right?"

He goes with the Stacy equivalent of a Control-Alt-Delete and brings Daniel back to the main screen of the terminal, though not the SGC log-in screen. "So what exactly were you trying to get it to do before it threw a pinwheel-of-death bitchfit?"

"I'm just waiting for mine to translate," she answered, giving a nervous smile. "It's not in either language I speak, and I think the ship needs more time to get it finished."

Where did he even get that- you know what, Daniel didn't want to know. The Doctor was one of those people who would never stop baffling him until the end of time. Asking questions only lead to answers or more questions that didn't make sense. He was just going to go with it. It wasn't like he hadn't given Jaime an apparently bottomless sporran (one that he was just the tiniest bit jealous of), so he had the technology and know-how to make a giant rubber band ball appear out of his pockets.

Looked like the bribe passed the otter's test. Daniel watched, breath held, as the Doctor put his hand out to pet the animal. Then let it out in a little sigh of relief once the Doctor retained his hand. Daniel pushed the rubber band ball back to the otter. He wasn't up to figuring out if they even played fetch. Sorry Menkaure, but Daniel was on a mission.

"Down a flight of stairs?" And five times? Considering the man wanted to hunt a otter through Stacy's bowels, he shouldn't even feel surprised anymore.

Daniel looked at the screen, which had one of the reports, one of the very classified, top secret reports open, and one of which the Doctor was about to look at fully.

"Uh, never mind this," Daniel hurriedly switched the screen to something else, like just the cover of one of the reports. How he even got Ancients and a gate system off of the screen from a less than a second glance was impressive. Not to mention a little frightening. "Actually, I was hoping to get some advice on something. All hypothetical, I mean."

Daniel sat up straighter, attention caught. "Do you know what language it is or is it completely alien? Maybe I can help."

"Yeah, someone who says they work at the same place I do. She just got here."

The day archaeology gets upstaged by goldfish is the day Daniel was out of a job. Maybe gladly. Luckily he didn't see that ever happening.

Daniel laced his fingers together, chin resting on them, and looked thoughtfully up at Zouichi. That was one way to look at it. An optimistic way that he could see some points to. He didn't think Vala saw it that way.

"I suppose so, but right now, I think I'm being judged against um, 'me' and found lacking."

He shrugged. It wasn't the first time someone had an unflattering opinion on him, but it was the first time Daniel been compared so harshly against a future version of himself. Normally he could let it roll off his back; the job was more important, but for some reason, this was different. Maybe if he delved into every single file, he'd get a better picture of what she'd been through and who she expected.

Edited 2011-11-17 07:16 (UTC)

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How to develop a butt of STEEL through copious amounts of reading [Open]

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