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Chapter Text
trans•la•tion 1 a written or spoken rendering of the meaning of a word, speech, book, or other text, in another language; 2 the process of moving something from one place to another. ORIGIN Middle English : from Latin translatus ‘carried across.’
The video showed a beautiful grassy clearing with a few clusters of flowering shrubs and the occasional group of trees farther out. Near the gate platform was a classic obelisk, and about a half a klick ahead there was a columned structure that, through the grain of the MALP video anyway, appeared to be pure late Hellenic architecture.
The MALP technician had zoomed in on the obelisk, and Daniel adjusted his glasses more firmly on his nose as he settled in to translate the engraved text. Which was actually the easiest translation he'd ever seen offworld. In fact, this was... This was... His eyes tracked faster and faster through the text and his jaw fell open. He ran for the telephone. "Jack!"
~
General Hammond listened attentively to Doctor Jackson's presentation. The slides showed pictures of what looked like a familiar alphabet; and according to the linguist, it was—classic Attic Greek.
"It's the story of the people who came to the P3X-599 through the intervention of the goddess Athena..."
At the mention of a goddess, the general stiffened.
"But I don't think she was a goa'uld," Doctor Jackson hastened to add. "For one thing, this is one of the planets Jack entered from the Ancient repository. It's also not physically located near any known System Lord's territory." He ran his laser pointer through the first part of the text. "Besides, I think she was helping; I think it was one of the advanced races. But, the most amazing thing is who the people were that built this." He turned back to his audience. "They were the scholars from the Library of Alexandria."
"The Library of Alexandria? Burned by Caesar?"
"Yes, sir. I mean no, I mean... Yes, the greatest repository of knowledge in the ancient world—over half a million texts. But it's generally believed now that Caesar didn't burn the Library, only a warehouse; that the library itself survived another four hundred years or so and was actually destroyed in a civil war or by Christian purges, the stories are unclear... Roman persecution of pagans was... Anyway." Doctor Jackson snapped back to the point as he caught the colonel's thin-lipped you're on a tangent look. The general smiled inwardly. Colonel O'Neill would get it through to the loquacious civilian how to get to the point if it was the last thing he did.
"According to this, the goddess Athena came to the scholars to warn them that the library was under threat, and told them to pull together their belongings and the texts that were most important to them. She carried them through the night sky to Mount Olympus, and sent them through a circle of water to a new untouched land. Here." Daniel stretched his arm out towards a slide of the meadow.
Major Carter clarified, "So, an unknown alien came in a ship, carried them across space to the nearest gate world, and sent them through the stargate to this planet."
"Exactly!" Daniel was beaming. "Do you know what this means? The loss of the Library of Alexandria has been considered one of the greatest tragedies to ever befall civilization. If any of the materials they rescued are still on P3X-599, the knowledge that we might regain is... is... incalculable!"
"Doctor Jackson," the general tried to be gentle. "It's been, what, sixteen hundred years? I'd like to know whether those texts still exist. But if you do find them, any time you spend with them would have to have mandate relevance." The general hated having to emphasize the SGC's increasingly limited focus, but politicians and the Pentagon were constantly keeping up the pressure.
"Remember where Alexandria's located, sir," Daniel immediately replied. "If you want relevance, it's highly likely that the Library had the largest collection of ancient Egyptian history on the planet. We could learn much more about the activities of the goa'uld on Earth and what happened to them."
"That's true, sir," Major Carter added. "So far we've been playing catch-up, putting together tiny puzzle pieces as one god or another pops up. If we could put together a real history of goa'uld interference on our planet, more information about them and their interrelationships, we might be able to avoid some nasty surprises."
"I concur," said Teal'c. "The stories of the Tau'ri homeworld have become more myth and misdirection than history."
"Not to mention," Jack chimed in, "somebody out there liked us. We should ask the Asgard, but if Athena wasn't one of our little gray buddies—and they don't usually go in for the Greek IDs—I'd like to know who was carting humans around several thousand years after both the gates on Earth were buried."
"Excellent point, Colonel. I'd like you to contact the Asgard and see what you can learn. Major Carter, prepare a UAV and learn what more you can find out about the planet—see if the aerial view shows any settlements, indications of habitation, or ruins. If everything checks out, you have a mission."
~
Daniel was vibrating with excitement as Sam prepared the UAV. He couldn't wait to see the video. Sam was giving him a fondly tolerant smile. Like she could laugh—she got hyper over quarks.
The MALP video showed a light summer rain coming down, but nothing heavy enough to bother the UAV, at least on a short flight. Sam launched, and the little plane zipped through the gate and climbed in altitude. Then almost immediately blacked out.
"Lightning strike," explained Walter. He'd been watching the video from the MALP and replayed it for them.
"Damn!" Sam seemed chagrined at the damage to the plane, or maybe that she had misread the severity of the weather.
Jack sauntered in. "What's up?"
"The UAV got hit by lightning," Daniel explained.
"Are you sure it wasn't knocked out by the obelisk or something?" Ever since Cimmeria, Daniel had noticed Jack was skittish about weapons hidden in monuments.
"No, sir," confirmed Walter. "Simple summer storm."
"So, now we have a UAV to retrieve. What's our status?"
"Well, sir," reported Sam, "The DHD checks out. Other than traces directly next to the stargate, the MALP hasn't picked up any readings of naquadah, or any other signs of goa'uld presence. Before the UAV went down, it showed a road running in front of the building we can see with the MALP. Impossible to say whether it's currently in use or not. Atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is low and there haven't been more than trace amounts of what we consider to be pollutants. No radio signals on any frequency we can detect. The population either died out, or is very small and probably undeveloped."
"Or they don't generate power the way we do," Daniel interjected.
"Could be," agreed Sam.
Jack got that calculating look. "Turns out the Asgard don't know anything about an evacuation sixteen hundred years ago. I'll ask General Hammond for a go."
~
The moment they stepped on to the planet, the team did their usual professional visual sweep. Carter double-checked the DHD and Daniel scanned the obelisk and its surroundings carefully for any signs of hidden dangers. Jack did the same before giving him the nod to go ahead. They'd learned the hard way to be careful up front, because as soon as Daniel got absorbed...
Daniel reread the side they'd seen on the MALP footage. Then he made a quick circuit of the other faces. Jack pulled his attention away from a landscape that was showing absolutely no sign of danger or attack.
"Carter, Teal'c, go check out that thing..." He waved at the open-walled building in the distance. "Make sure there's no booby-traps." He turned back to Daniel. "So what's the rest of this stuff?" He gestured generally at the writing on the other faces of the obelisk.
Daniel stepped around the structure, scanning the texts. "They're the same story as on the Greek side, written in the other major languages in use in Alexandria at the time—Latin, demotic Egyptian and Hebrew. No hieroglyphics, no alien languages."
"And you're sure there's nothing about 'Don't touch this' or 'You must prove yourself by trial' or 'Beware the ancient enemy' or..."
"Nope. Just pretty much a big old thank you to Athena, who seems to have dropped them off and never come back." He pulled out the videocamera and started documenting all four faces.
He'd just about finished when Carter radioed from the other structure. "Daniel, I think you and the colonel should see this."
As they approached, Daniel ran an appraising eye over the open-air roof, supported by columns. He muttered under his breath something about post-Alexandrian era, Corinthian columns, Nilitic influence and decorative motifs, but all he said when he turned to Jack was "Pretty much exactly what I would expect to find in Ptolemaic Egypt."
Jack had his own observation. "Looks to be in pretty good shape. If this place has been abandoned, it wasn't too long ago."
Daniel nodded agreement and mounted the few steps to see what it was Carter was excited about. It was hard to miss—a large slab tilted at an angle for easy reading, covered in text. This text, though, was raised letters cast on a thick metal sheet. Daniel got his frown of concentration as he read through it, much more slowly than the obelisk. Jack eyed the road on the far side of the structure while Daniel puzzled out the words.
"This monument was erected by the first settlers of Neocosmos, um, New World—that must be what they called this place—ten years after their arrival." He dropped to a rapid mutter: "historians, mathematicians, architects, scientists, artists, poets, engineers, philosophers, physicians..." More muttering: "masons, carpenters, farmers, smiths..."
Daniel looked up. "This text isn't the same as the Attic Greek on the obelisk. It's more like Koine Greek with some of what seems to be Coptic in here and some Latin, plus what appears to be linguistic drift. In some ways it's more similar to koinoteron than our modern Greek is, but there's been more adoption of foreign words. I'm only guessing at some of it."
Attics, coins, what did it matter? "Daniel." Jack put his dad voice on. "What does it say?"
"Oh. It accounts events after the obelisk was raised. Apparently Athena had given the scholars three days to gather a mix of workers and artisans to come with them, and the first several years were devoted to creating a home here. Praise for the pioneer forebears kind of thing."
Jack grunted. "Huh. You know what it reminds me of? When you're going down the highway and stop at one of those historical markers. Cast bronze thingies."
"You're right sir!" Carter lit up. "Or when you went on a school field trip to the oldest building in town, with the big plaque."
"Yeah, exactly! They look just like this. Er, without the Corinthian columns," Jack amended. "Maybe it's more like the monuments in DC."
"Yeah," Sam agreed, looking up at the ceiling.
"Daniel Jackson, do you think it is likely that the settlement was successful? That the descendants of the settlers are still here engaged in the pursuit of knowledge?" Teal'c asked.
"Well, just to be able to cast this metal plate, they would have to have gotten pretty far advanced beyond simple survival." He ran his fingers over it. "This structure has been tended to and there's no vandalism or indication later generations have refuted the message. Barring very recent disease or civil war or disaster, it's very likely the descendants are still here."
"That would make it far more likely that the ancient scrolls they brought from Earth would be preserved, would it not?"
"Good point, Teal'c. Let's take this to General Hammond. Daniel, keep reading that thing and write up a translation for the general. If he lets us send the UAV through and keep going, you're on for translation, so get as familiar with the language and culture as possible. Carter, keep an eye out here while Daniel reads. Teal'c, let's grab the UAV and run a perimeter check. Back here in twenty." Daniel nodded distractedly.
Other than the UAV, there was nothing more exciting than a few unfamiliar birds and small animals in the area, and a short scout up the road revealed only that it wound a fair way over rolling hills, but that no destination could actually be seen without traveling it much farther.
Once Jack and Teal'c returned to the historic marker, Daniel gave a succinct, for him, summary. "The rest of the text goes on to talk about the accomplishments of the historians and scholars and artists in rebuilding the cultural equivalent of what they left behind. As you might expect from who the founders were, the society seems to focus on intellectual and artistic achievement. The workers were respected for the initial 'survival' aspect, but then mentions of them pretty much drop."
"Slaves?" asked Teal'c.
"No, I think more of a stratified society, or caste system. Scholars and artists on top, then skilled craftspeople, then unskilled labor."
"What about soldiers or military?" asked Sam.
Daniel wrinkled his brow. "It seems that guards came through with the original settlers, but I don't think any actual soldiers. The Earth they left was no stranger to war and armies. The Library of Alexandria itself was founded by Alexander the Great after his conquest of Egypt, and of course there was the Roman conquest. Military tactics were a legitimate area of scholarship, as well as war stories being prevalent in the arts. But here, there were no other nations to attack them, unless they splintered themselves. Nothing like that's mentioned here, though, and as I said, this was written well into their history."
"Gods? Priests? Taboos?" Jack asked. Most of their offworld trouble came from the same old things.
"Other than the mention of Athena on the obelisk, not really. There's no temple structure here, or any calls to worship. The settlers' population would have included pagans, Jews and Christians, at least. Many of the scholars were basically agnostic, and claimed whatever was politically expedient. You'd think, actually, that being transported across the galaxy by a goddess would have created an Athena cult, but the closest I see are exhortations to rationality, learning and arts. I'm guessing that this Athena who rescued them told them that upholding her ideals should be their thanks, not worship."
"That would rule out a goa'uld, definitely. Well Daniel, all scholars, no soldiers—sounds like your kinda paradise."
"Or, Elysium, perhaps?" Daniel tried.
Jack rolled his eyes at the history joke and clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, wanna radio Hammond and ask if you can look for locals?"
"Do you even need to ask?" Carter was laughing and Daniel had a huge grin.
~
Once Hammond heard the consensus that any population would likely be academically oriented and peaceful he gave them seventy-two hours. He also gave Daniel the lead; this was now officially a diplomatic mission. The team took a look at the road, and picked a direction.
A few klicks later, they noticed that the natural landscape had changed to orchards. "These look tended," Jack said. "Eyes open, people."
The orchards gave way to a vineyard, and Jack halted the team in the road. They scanned through the rows of grapevines, but didn't find any workers, so resumed travel.
Next they came to cultivated fields, and here they did spot someone tending the plants. The woman startled as she raised her head to find four oddly dressed strangers on the road, but Daniel gave her a friendly smile and stepped forward. Time for the old peaceful explorer routine. Jack listened as Daniel carefully pronounced out a greeting, but he understood nothing more than "Daniel Jackson."
The woman frowned in concentration as she picked over his words, and questioned him back. Daniel puzzled over her reply, then nodded, smiling. "Her translation of my Koine Greek into the contemporary vernacular sounds right," he reported.
She lit up too—no one could resist the Daniel Jackson in full-on charm mode. But she looked confused. They could all easily interpret her question from the gesture: "Where did you come from?"
Daniel pointed back down the road as he answered.
The woman's jaw dropped in astonishment. Daniel tried translating her rapid-fire response to the others. "I think she wants to know if we come from Athena, and whether Athena is returning."
Jack watched her face. "She doesn't seemed frightened about the idea, just..."
"Incredulous," put in Carter.
"Yeah. Well, it's been millennia. Athena's probably about as real to these people as Ra would have been if he'd landed in modern Egypt." Daniel turned to the woman and tried explaining to her that they were not sent by the goddess, merely ordinary mortals who used the same means of travel Athena used to bring her people here. She seemed a little reassured, though still amazed. However, travelers she could apparently deal with.
"Matta," she introduced herself. Daniel shared her explanation that her family owned the farm around them.
"Daniel Jackson," he introduced himself again, with some more Greek. Her eyes widened at his introduction, and she dipped her head in deference.
"What did you tell her?"
"That I'm a scholar of ancient history."
"Guess they do respect the eggheads here. What'll you say about the rest of us?"
"Well, that you're the leader of exploration who guards our safety in our travels, that Sam is a scientist and mathematician, and that Teal'c also guards our safety."
"Sounds like a plan. Just make sure they don't send Teal'c and me off to segregated quarters or anything."
"Well, she's a farmer, and she's talking to me. Egyptian royalty used to require very strict protocols and submission, but Greek and Roman societies were pretty democratic."
"Yeah, but Alexandria is in Egypt," Jack pointed out.
"Well, physically Alexandria was in Egypt. Politically it was part of the Roman Empire. Socially it was multicultural, one of the most tolerantly diverse cities in history. But most of the Mediterranean still had a strong Greek influence from the days of Alexander's empire, especially the intellectual world and most especially in 'his' city."
"All right, all right—get on with it. Let's hope they're still democratic."
Daniel introduced the rest of the team to Matta. It seemed she couldn't help staring at Daniel and Carter.
"Impressed with your brainpower?" Jack teased.
Daniel questioned Matta gently, and she blushed and responded with a question of her own. Daniel ducked his head and smiled before replying. He explained, "She was a little surprised to see Celtic scholars. I don't think there are blue-eyed blonds here. At the time of the Library, the northwestern European barbarians were more interested in fighting the Romans than intellectualism. I assured her that the Celtic, Germanic and Slavic tribes are very civilized these days."
Matta encouraged them to follow her on the road. Daniel passed on the message. "She's taking us to the village, where she can contact the city so that the scholars can welcome us."
"That makes a nice change from being welcomed by the local justice," Jack observed wryly.
"I concur," answered Teal'c. "I think I have done more exploration of alien prison cells than I would have preferred."
Jack did a better job of hiding his smile than Carter. Teal'c was getting the hang of humor, but Jack wasn't going to admit it.
Daniel chattered away with Matta as they walked, occasionally turning to Jack to pass on tidbits of information about the rural towns, and the main city—Museopolis—that they would be visiting. There was a smaller coastal city and a mining outpost also. The team perked up at the report of mines—maybe there would be more than Daniel's dusty old scrolls to negotiate for.
Jack had him ask about conflicts. Daniel confirmed with Matta that there had been no other visitors, through the gate or otherwise, since the original settlers had arrived. As far as internal politics went, Matta's version of civil war turned out to be a few historic occasions when various philosophical factions had vied to be the primary ideology among the scholars. But generally the rule was tolerance for diverse schools of thought; there had never been a serious disturbance among the people themselves and warfare was unknown outside of histories from the Old World.
"Imagine all the people..." Jack sang John Lennon quietly off-key.
"Yeah, basically," said Daniel.
"We'd be out of a job, sir," Carter said. Not as if it were a bad thing.
"Peaceful world?" said Jack. "You could spend all your time in the lab, and I could spend all my time fishing."
"Even if there were no war on your world, O'Neill, there would still be the goa'uld to contend with," pointed out Teal'c.
"Spoilsport," muttered Jack. He abandoned his reveries about Minnesota and continued scanning their surroundings and catching Daniel's snippets of info.
Carter was behind them, studying the farms as they walked and pointing out to Teal'c various Earth crops among some unknown ones. "They must have brought seeds with them when they came, as well as domesticating some of the edible native vegetation."
The party came to a neat, whitewashed village arranged in a grid around a central plaza. Matta showed them to what seemed to be a local cafe and arranged food and drink for them, then explained in rapid-fire local dialect what she had learned from the visitors to the people around her. Jack tensed as everyone started clamoring at once, but Matta shouted them down. Daniel shared that she was chiding them to please behave civilly around their honored guests, and that she was going to contact the city.
An older woman stepped forward and Matta bowed. She gestured for Daniel to come and introduced the woman as Selka, a biologist and evidently a well-respected member of the village community. Daniel bowed also, and repeated his introductions of the SG-1 team. Selka nodded at them but didn't lower her face as Matta had done when meeting them. Instead she smiled broadly and stepped forward eagerly to welcome them. Jack knew a scientist when he saw one—Selka had the same look on her face that Daniel did when he was faced with a new cartouche.
Matta slipped out, apparently to notify the scholars in the city of their unusual visitors, and Selka joined their table. Jack sampled the snack tray while Daniel repeated their story of exploration. Selka was not nearly as astonished as Matta had been that SG-1 had come through the stargate. Daniel relayed her explanation that for the past few centuries, the Neocosmans had suspected that the stone ring might be some sort of machine, but didn't want to damage it while examining it in case the "Athena" who brought their ancestors here wanted to return.
"Sounds like they're onto the fact that Athena was some sort of non-divine visitor from elsewhere," noted Jack, passing Daniel a goat cheese thingie.
"I'm getting that impression," he agreed, taking a bite.
"Good. If they've already figured out the life on other planets bit, we'll have an easier time explaining the goa'uld and the information we're looking for here. Let's save that spiel for the city, though."
Daniel turned his questioning to their hostess, asking Selka about her work. Not surprisingly for a rural scientist, she specialized in plant biology, and it was soon apparent that she was well aware of genetics and DNA. Jack was amused by Daniel's flailing for words as Selka and Sam got him into the middle of an increasingly detailed scientific discussion.
Jack and Teal'c shared a smile as they watched Sam and Selka come alive with excitement. "Well, good buddy, I'm afraid we've found a whole planet full of Daniels and Carters."
"I believe you are correct, O'Neill. I fear we will have to drag them kicking and shrieking back through the stargate when it is time to go."
"Screaming."
"Indeed."
Jack sipped from one of the glasses and discovered it was beer. Good beer. He might do a little kicking and shrieking himself.
Soon Matta returned, and hovered until Selka gestured her forward and kindly indicated she should join their table. Matta smiled shyly, and reported that a delegation of the sophists was on its way from Museopolis and would be there shortly.
~
The contingent of six people from the city approached with welcoming smiles. Selka bowed to them with a respectful nod, and Daniel translated quietly as she introduced him to them as the visitors' lead scholar. Daniel added with relief that she was using pure Attic Greek—easier for him to follow. Selka pointed out Jack as Daniel's alketairo, and Jack watched Daniel's brow wrinkle a bit as he parsed the word. Carter was introduced as a physicist, and Teal'c as her alketairo.
One of the men stepped forward and introduced himself as Kapta. Daniel translated the rest; Kapta was a historian and current Council Chair for the Mousein. The man at his right shoulder was his alketairo, Philip. There was also a linguist, and a physicist—he'd given an extra smile towards Carter—both with their alketairos.
As Daniel briefly translated their intros for the team, the linguist, Miriam her name was, listened with interest, but apparently could make nothing of the English. Speaking of... "So, Daniel, what's this alketairo thing?"
"Well, it seems like the scholars are each paired up with some sort of bodyguard." Jack did a doubletake. The woman with the physicist was about half his size—but then he knew female airmen who worked out with Teal'c. Daniel explained, "Alke-hetairo translates roughly as 'strong companion,' though it's not a term I've ever seen before. But they do treat scholars as the leaders, and the bodyguards are definitely in some sort of service position." Daniel smiled for just a flash before he continued, "And, um, they are apparently assuming that I'm in charge of the team, and that you, Jack, are my bodyguard, and Teal'c is Sam's."
Jack waved off the obvious invitation to protest. "Hey, it's your mission; I am just the muscle. As long as we report in to Hammond as necessary and everybody gets back through the gate in one piece, my job is done. Goa'uld mothership lands, though, I'm taking over."
Daniel blinked a minute. "Well, knock on wood. A millennia and a half without goa'uld—I'd hate to break their streak."
"Indeed." Teal'c seemed pretty curious about a planet that had never known war.
SG-1 gave friendly farewells and thanks to Matta and Selka, and followed their new hosts. "Holy Hannah!" Carter exclaimed. They'd been led to what looked more or less like an electric light rail car. She walked around it a few times, and pestered Daniel with questions to translate, until Jack subtly waved her to get on already.
On the way to the city, they learned the train's power source was electricity primarily generated by wind and micro hydro turbines. "So that's why the atmosphere was cleaner than expected," she mused. "My guess is that they either don't have or they've never exploited fossil fuel resources." She carefully asked the physicist about their knowledge of nuclear physics, and learned that they were well aware of the power inherent in the atom, but that the dangers of radiation kept them from doing more beyond small experiments. "I'm guessing," she said, "that they've developed some remarkably efficient technologies. There's another area we might negotiate for an exchange."
~
The sophists took the team through a tour of some of Museopolis's highlights. Their strange clothes and Sam and Daniel's light hair caused a lot of curiosity, but the people respected their escort of councillors. The population looked like that of most Mediterranean ports: skins in every shade of brown and dark hair in a wide variety of textures. Daniel learned that the initial population of just over a thousand was now fairly stable at sixty thousand, all told. The scholars were shocked to hear that Earth's population was now six billion; it was an almost impossible number of people to comprehend.
On the tour, it was naturally the gymnios—the sporting complex—that attracted Jack and Teal'c. Their guides showed them a sparring gym where various athletes and alketairos practiced. Daniel smiled as he saw the evaluating look on his team members' faces. Come to think of it, even he could see where his training in mixed fighting forms could give him an advantage. He wondered what their hosts would think of himself and Sam, two scholars, showing off martial arts moves. If it wouldn't be too scandalous, they'd have to try it.
The next stop was the erganios, the section of the city for skilled craftspeople and artisans. Daniel diplomatically questioned, and discovered that despite its stratification, the society was indeed democratic. There was universal education in both intellectual pursuits and practical crafts. Personal interest and aptitude were the only requirements for entry into the sophists' class.
Miriam explained that her mother was a horse trainer and her father a tailor. She'd been fascinated by languages since she was young, though, and had easily climbed through the academic rungs. Daniel tested her and discovered they could converse in Latin, Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew. Teal'c and Jack could follow some of her Latin, and Daniel and Teal'c could understand some of her Coptic as well.
As they were wandering through the erganios, Sam made a beeline towards a jewelers. Daniel gave Jack and Teal'c a questioning glance as Sam picked up a ring. They looked as mystified as he was. Sam turned around, holding it up. "Trinium, sir."
Ah. They would definitely have to see about that mining outpost.
Finally the tour headed towards the city center, the highest visible point. Kapta proudly presented the hypatios, the Mousein complex. It contained the university, the library, the museum, the theatre and the seat of the government—the Council.
Daniel was fascinated by the beautiful statue of a robed woman in the central plaza. He felt a tug and heard a "Whoa, hey there big guy," as Jack kept him from walking into a bench.
"Athena?" he asked Kapta.
"No, this is Hypatia." he replied.
"The Head Librarian," Daniel filled in.
"She is remembered in Earth history, then?" Kapta looked pleased.
"She is," Daniel said. Jack poked him, and asked him with a look for an explanation of the statue. With Kapta to confirm the details, Daniel told him about Hypatia, an astronomer and mathematician, and the last Head Librarian at Alexandria. She was an extraordinary intellectual who valued learning and inquiry above all things, but the fanatical Archbishop Cyril convinced his Christian mob that she was a pagan, and she was stabbed to death. According to Kapta, it was the next day that Athena had appeared in the Library and urged the scholars to prepare to flee.
Daniel finally had his opening to ask whether the Neocosmans still had the rescued materials from the Library of Alexandria. To his immense relief, not only were they preserved, but they had been exactingly and painstakingly copied over the centuries, and the information was now accessible in a more durable format.
Kapta introduced the team to more sophists as they toured the Mousein, some with alketairos and some without. Daniel overheard an alketairo refer to her sophauthentes—her "wise master"? He needed to learn more about the tradition.
Word of SG-1's appearance through the stargate was causing a tremendous amount of curiosity, and only innate politeness was holding the scholars back. Daniel promised his guides he would hold a lecture in the auditorium to answer their questions.
One of the rooms they passed featured the sound of loud singing coming out the door. And yet it was a certain bet this was not the studio of one of the music masters. In fact, it sounded more like a bawdy drinking song sung by a sailor on leave than anything else. Despite the fact the disruption was at odds with the highbrow aura of the rest of the place, their guides looked fondly amused. Kapta knocked on the doorframe, bringing the occupant out to meet them.
"Bacchylides," he introduced himself. His rumpled outfit was stained, his hair stuck out in random directions, but his face was so irresistibly good-natured, Daniel couldn't help but smile and greet him. He introduced the team, and Bacchylides invited them into his studio, which turned out to be full of paintings and sketches. Despite the man's sloppy, casual air, his work was magnificent. The compositions were perfectly balanced, but as Daniel looked more deeply, more nuanced details revealed themselves.
Teal'c studied a work in progress closely. "If I am not mistaken, I believe he is painting glazes of color over a white background, similar to the technique developed by the Pre-Raphaelites."
Daniel and Jack both whipped their heads to stare, then turned to each other, mouthing incredulously, "Pre-Raphaelites?"
"It is a highly effective means of producing jewel-like tones," Teal'c informed them.
Sam was beaming. "I've been encouraging him to watch PBS."
Daniel cleared his throat. "That's, ah, great."
"I find it most fascinating," affirmed Teal'c.
Jack zeroed in on a sketch of a newborn colt, awkwardly trying to stand. He was studying it closely, and turned to give Bacchylides a more considered look. The artist did the same back. "You are an artist?" he asked. Daniel translated the question for Jack, and Jack lit up.
"Of course." Jack said. Daniel raised his eyebrows. "I'm a poet. Translate this for him: There once was a girl from Nantucket—"
Daniel groaned and clapped his hand over Jack's mouth. Jack mumbled a protest. When Daniel freed him, he said, "What? It's not like he can understand."
"Oh, I think he understands just fine." Bacchylides was grinning broadly, and Jack beamed right back at him. Daniel knew they were sunk. These two were going to be the boys at the back of the class with spitballs and pea-shooters.
"We'd better escape," he whispered to Kapta, "before the two of them bring the complex down around our ears."
Kapta smiled indulgently. "I think you're right."
The team ended up in the history department, and Daniel decided that it was as good a place as any to launch into SG-1's "history of the goa'uld" presentation, complete with visual aids, courtesy of Teal'c. He explained that their world seemed to be one of the safest possible, but that they should know of the danger. And he added his hope that the SGC might find information among their historical materials that would provide greater insight into the history of the goa'uld on Earth.
The historians were appropriately astonished and thoughtful; as Daniel had found, and every social scientist who joined the SGC after him, the implications for Earth's history were revolutionary. The historians agreed wholeheartedly to help him look into their Earth material.
They were also, not very subtly, ravenous to hear about the history of Earth since the year 400. Daniel decided with Kapta to give that big lecture the next morning, before anyone burst with curiosity. He also arranged for Sam and Teal'c to travel to the mining outpost with Miriam and her alketairo—Teal'c and the linguist would have the best chance of communicating.
Dinner that night was a celebratory affair, with the entire Council and all the department heads. Miriam sat by Sam and Teal'c, facilitating a convoluted discussion in four languages with a group of scientists. Jack was delighted to see Bacchylides there as well, and to Daniel's complete lack of surprise, they played with their food like overgrown kids. It didn't keep Jack from his responsibilities, though. He checked in with Daniel regularly about what was going on, and was pleased enough with the mission that he embarrassed Daniel with his compliments.
Tired, full and relaxed, the team was shown to guest apartments in the complex. There was a room for each pair, as their hosts had designated them, next door to each other. Daniel thanked Kapta and Philip profusely for their hospitality and bid them goodnight. Then he and Jack entered their room and discovered it had one bed.
"The better to guard your body, my dear," cracked Jack in a wolf-grandma voice.
"I... guess so," said Daniel.
"I have my pack," said Jack. "I can easily roll out my bag."
"What? No, don't be ridiculous. The bed's actually as big as a two-man tent. It's fine."
~
The next day Sam and Teal'c set out with Miriam and her alketairo for the mining outpost, and Kapta prepared Daniel for his lecture. Kapta was wearing a broad sash fastened at one shoulder draped over a particularly nice-looking set of the usual tunic and trousers. Jack caught Daniel eyeing his own BDUs a little ruefully.
"Sorry we don't have your good suit," he said sympathetically.
"Next trip," Daniel said, shrugging it off, and went back to checking his notes with Kapta.
Jack pulled Philip aside and mimed pulling at his own clothes with a grimace, then swept his hand as if drawing a sash like Kapta's over his chest. He pointed at Daniel and gave Philip a questioning look. Philip nodded enthusiastically with a smile, and gestured Jack after him.
There was no doubt Kapta was the head honcho, Jack thought as Philip poked through the man's wardrobe. Philip quickly picked out one of the formal suits, and Jack decided that with a belt it would fit Daniel fine. They brought it back to the guest quarters, and Jack was rewarded with surprised gratitude from Daniel when he gave him the outfit to wear. He deflected the thanks. "You gotta look the part" was all he admitted.
Watching Daniel lecture, though, he was glad he'd given in to the impulse. The auditorium was filled to overflowing with hundreds of scholars. Daniel stood tall and poised, speaking fluently about the course of history after the Neocosmans' departure, and the SGC's discoveries about their place in the galaxy since the opening of the stargate.
This was Daniel in his element. If what they'd learned through the Stargate Program were common knowledge on Earth, Daniel would be one of the world's foremost academics. Jack felt an odd tug inside at seeing him respected here by his peers. In many ways it was a waste of his talents, hauling him around the galaxy, getting him shot at by jaffa. But Jack, selfishly, couldn't imagine doing it without him.
Daniel was besieged by scholars when his lecture was over, and Jack leapt to make sure they wouldn't actually crush in on him. Kapta, too, admonished them to behave, but it was apparent that Daniel was in for a long question and answer session. Still, he looked radiantly happy.
Jack interrupted to check in. "Look, you're going to be tied up here for a while, and I should really get a report to Hammond."
Daniel looked around bemusedly. "Yeah, this is going to be nonstop geek talk for hours. You'll go out of your mind. Plus, there's the news about the trinium as well as the Library. I think Hammond'll be pretty happy." Daniel consulted with Kapta, who looked at Jack and nodded while he responded.
"Kapta's going to get Bacchylides to take the train out with you. Apparently there's a station that's closer to the stargate. And, uh, Kapta said to promise you that Philip will make sure no harm comes to me."
"Well, I was pretty sure you weren't in danger of anything worse than losing your voice from yakking all day, but, good to know."
~
Kapta had been right, there was a station closer to the stargate. If the team had taken the road in the other direction just two hills over, they would have found a large lake, lightly developed with piers and shade structures—obviously a recreation spot. The train had taken a different route, through another farming village, to end up there.
"Fishing?" Jack asked Bacchylides. He cast an invisible line into the lake and pretended to haul in a fish. Bacchylides nodded enthusiastically, and Jack clapped him in the back with pleasure. "Now, this is the place to be!" He looked back regretfully as they headed to the stargate.
"All right, Backy, wait 'til you see this—this is going to blow your mind." In a way Jack was glad it was his crazy artist buddy who was going to be the first Neocosman to see the stargate in action. The scientists were all going to go buggy for it, and he was sure Carter could be kept busy for a year explaining it all to them, but Bacchylides would get it. There was something about the way the worlds of the galaxy were connected that meant something.
He punched in the address for Earth, and waited for the event horizon to swirl open. Bacchylides was appropriately astonished—it was an amazing sight. Jack radioed in, requesting to report to General Hammond. Bacchylides looked alertly at Jack's radio, with strange voices now coming out of it. Jack nodded. "Yup." He pointed through the wormhole and back again towards himself, following the path of the radio waves. "I'm talking to good old Earth, here. Uh, Cosmos."
"Hammond here, Colonel. I see you have someone with you. I take it you've found the descendants of the Alexandrians?"
"Yes, sir." He gave a full report, and the general was indeed happy. He extended the mission to a week, and scheduled the SGC to dial future check-ins so that Jack wouldn't have to make the trip from the city every day.
After he signed off and the wormhole closed, Backy was giving him one of those appraising looks again. Jack looked back, letting him see the colonel for a moment. Backy nodded respectfully. He wasn't the smartest guy in the Mousein, but Jack would put money on him being the most perceptive.
~
Daniel was still the center of attention when they got back. The discussions had moved to a giant room lined with bookshelves and dotted with large work tables. Groups of scholars had broken off to discuss the implications of what they'd heard on their branches of knowledge. But Jack couldn't understand any of it—even if he'd found Latin scholars, their conversation would have outstripped his vocabulary.
One table he recognized, though. There were maps spread out, and it looked like there were historians or geographers trying to figure out where the Americas were—that was one of the big pieces of history Daniel had shared, in order to explain where they had come from.
Jack wandered over, and they latched onto him eagerly. He took a look—their maps of the Mediterranean were excellent, but the scale was completely wrong for describing the scope of the world. He mimed a large sphere in his hands. Did they have a globe? Someone clued in and ran and fetched him a large papier-mâché ball and some charcoal pencils.
Jack tuned out his audience and sketched in the major longitude and latitude lines. Then he dotted in the locations of all the US Air Force bases around the world—places he knew the longitude and latitude for—and sketched the continents around them. He wasn't going to claim completely accurate coastlines, but he thought he did pretty well. He made a mark on the southeast coast of the Mediterranean. "Alexandria," he pointed out. He turned the globe and marked the SGC. "Colorado." The scholars were fascinated—the distances the modern Earth population took for granted were staggering for them to consider.
Daniel appeared at his shoulder. "Very impressive."
"Oh, this old thing? Just something I threw together."
Daniel gave him a nudge.
"How are you holding up?" Jack asked, "They wear you out yet?"
"I'm still going. But, I'll sleep well tonight, I can say that. How'd it go with General Hammond?"
"He's happy—extended us to a week. Gonna dial in for us so that we don't have to make the trek. But Kapta was right. There's another rail line to a sweet little fishing lake not too far from the gate."
"Huh. I'm surprised you didn't volunteer to keep traveling out for the reports, then."
"What kind of bodyguard would that make me? Dereliction of duty. Tsk."
Daniel snorted. "Like you said, pretty much the only part of my body needing guarding is my vocal cords."
"Well I hope tomorrow they leave you alone long enough so that you can start endangering your eyeballs instead, with the Egyptian history stuff."
"That's the plan."
"Peaceful people, good food, beer, books for you, fishing for me—this is some kind of utopia, isn't it?"
"Well, actually, it can't be. Utopia, ou - topos means 'not place'—it's an ideal place that's literally too good to be true."
"But what if it is true?" Daniel just blinked at him. Suddenly Jack had it. "Eutopia!"
"What?" responded Daniel.
"Eutopia. E. U. You know—if euphoria is the opposite of dysphoria, shouldn't eutopia be the opposite of dystopia?"
Daniel pondered it, and responded slowly, "You know, you're absolutely right."
"Hah." Jack knew it. "You know, I am right every once in a while."
"Of course, Jack." Smart alec.
~
The archives were Daniel's eutopia, though, not Jack's. If there was anything more boring than listening to Daniel rattle on in a language Jack didn't understand, it was watching Daniel read a language Jack didn't understand.
Daniel pored over piles of old material, and Jack went to spar at the gym. Daniel chased obscure references, and Jack hung out with Backy. Daniel got into long discussions with Neocosman Egyptologists, and Jack did his check-ins with Carter and the general.
Carter was thrilled, too. They'd discovered that the trinium deposits were modest, but that the refining process the Neocosmans were using was revolutionary. The process itself was cleaner and more efficient than Earth's, and the Neocosmans were able to exploit more properties from the metal. Carter was making as many notes and recordings as she could to bring back.
~
One night in their room, after dinner, Jack put his finger on something that had been rattling around the edges of his perception. "You know, Kapta and Philip—I think there's something a little Kevin Costner/Whitney Houston about their setup."
"Yeah, I've been getting that, too. It's not something I've asked about; I mean it's not really my business. But you can see why it would happen—the alketairos and their sophauthentes spend so much of their time together. If there is a spark..."
"Makes sense, I guess. Plus most of the people with an alketairo are pretty high up—on the Council, or with important positions in the Mousein. It's probably harder for them to date or find someone to marry. I mean, we've met other lecturers with husbands or wives or... domestic partners."
Daniel smiled. "They just call them husbands or wives; there's no stigma about gays or lesbians getting married here."
"Right, okay. But still, why aren't any of the sofa-thinkies married?"
"Maybe it's like Catholic priests on Earth—the sophauthentes are supposed to serve the society? All I've learned is that the alketairos choose their sophauthentes. I don't know whether the alketairos only choose from among the rising leadership, or if it's that anyone an alketairo chooses automatically becomes considered as worthy for leadership. Whichever way it works, having an alketairo is definitely a status symbol. I'm afraid we're giving them the wrong impression about my status, and about yours, by pretending that's what we are."
"Hey, you said it—it's a status thing. You're the top scholar at the SGC." Jack refrained from adding he should be the top scholar on Earth. "If this is what they want to recognize your position, fine. It gives you the authority to negotiate from an advantage."
Daniel looked doubtful. "Are you sure you're okay with it?"
"Yeah, fine. I get to work out at the gym, and stand around doing my dumb soldier thing. How is this different from a normal day?"
"And serve my food at meals." They'd caught on to that pretty quickly, observing the pairs around them.
"So what? I don't have to cut your meat or hand-feed you peeled grapes. It's not a big deal."
"All right." Daniel still looked dubious. But it was only another three days; Jack was fine with it.
~
Carter and Teal'c came back the next day, loaded with information. After they briefed Jack and Daniel, Jack sent them back to the SGC to report in with the general, and get the engineers going on the new technology.
Once they were gone, though, time really dragged. Not that Carter and Teal'c had even been in town with him, but now he knew they were back on base, checking in with everybody and keeping busy. Jack? Jack was just standing around while Daniel played library dervish. Dealing with boredom was just part of life in the military; but the fact was some days it was harder to take than others, and he was having one of those days.
Unfortunately, as per usual, Daniel was the convenient outlet. Jack might have been a wee bit abrupt that evening about demanding Daniel be wrapped up and ready to go in two days' time. Of course Daniel was argumentative back, also as per usual. Jack played his authority card, which he really should know by now never worked on Daniel. No, Daniel just shot back a bunch of snide remarks about the limitations of the military mindset while positioning himself as the voice of ultimate reason. And... well, the upshot was Jack grabbed the sleeping bag from his pack and stormed to the far corner of the room, because there was no way they'd share a bed that night without throttling each other.
~
Daniel was just waking up and Jack was rolling up his sleeping bag when there was a knock at the door. Daniel called out in Greek an invitation to enter. Jack glanced up to see Philip come in just far enough to deliver what Daniel said was the news that there was breakfast on the east patio this morning. Jack saw Philip stiffen as he took in Jack on the other side of the room from Daniel, still in bed.
While Daniel was accepting the invitation, Jack caught a brief look of reproach before Philip schooled his expression and bowed slightly to both of them.
"Well that is the last damn straw," Jack snarled after Philip left.
"What?"
"Now I'm getting attitude because I wasn't glued to your side all night. What? Are there assassins, wild animals, some danger in the Mousein apartments I should know about? Maybe I should just wake up every two hours and check you haven't caught a chill or had a bad dream. We are going home tomorrow, and if you come back, you can just bring yourself along a better servant, because obviously I'm not it."
Daniel did that stubborn tightening of his lips thing when Jack mentioned the end of the mission, but he agreed about the servant thing. "They do seem a little preoccupied with how well you hover over me; it's not exactly fun for me either. But why is it bothering you now? You usually love to do the overprotective thing."
"Hey, when there are unknown natives, weird technologies or rampaging system lords, it's all I can do to keep you from getting killed." Daniel just raised his eyebrows. "Or not," Jack admitted; Daniel had been killed, more than once. "But we're in the middle of a peaceful, civilized society that's safer than freaking Switzerland. What the hell business is it of theirs where I sleep?"
Daniel didn't bother to answer, though. It looked like he was still in a slow burn over Jack's hurry to get home. Instead he just pulled on his clothes with a clipped "Breakfast outdoors today," and headed out the door without looking back. Jack sighed and followed; he'd been ready for breakfast for the past half hour.
And it rankled, but Jack also knew pissy looks from their hosts would be even worse if Daniel showed up at breakfast alone. As much as he enjoyed flouting convention, their mission was to ensure good relations with the Neocosmans, and good relations hinged on the brainiacs respecting Daniel.
"Another fine mess you've gotten us into, Stanley," he muttered to himself as he followed Daniel down the hallway.
~
The rest of the day, while Daniel was nattering away with Kapta and assorted councillors, Jack hung in the background mentally cataloging the contents of his refrigerator and composing his post-mission grocery list, making bets on next season's hockey standings, ranking favorite Simpsons episodes, and generally calling on decades of experience in staving off mission boredom.
The other alketairos chatted quietly among themselves or hung on the words of their sophauthentes, but once again Jack was out of that loop. Daniel occasionally updated him on negotiations for future visits from SGC personnel and the possibility of establishing an Earth facility on the planet, but as Jack could have predicted with this crowd, they appeared to be veering off frequently on tangents. The geek squad was going to have a blast here.
That afternoon when Jack took off to check in with the general, he mimed the question to Philip, would he keep an eye on Daniel for him. Philip agreed immediately with a nod, but Jack could tell by the worried look in his eyes that he had noticed Jack and Daniel weren't speaking any more than absolutely necessary. Whatever. It was a relief to get the hell away for a while.
Not that there was great news from base. According to Hammond, SG-3 had sustained some injuries while offworld, and SG-9 had caught some alien virus that was keeping Doctor Fraiser tied up in knots. Jack halfheartedly put in an offer for himself and Daniel to stay on Neocosmos, away from base, but Hammond assured him that SG-9 was thoroughly quarantined, and that he was missing the manpower—he'd welcome having Daniel and Jack home.
Jack reported back to Daniel, "Hammond needs us home," along with the news from the base. Daniel just gave him a curt, tight-lipped nod of agreement, and returned to his conversation.
That night they bathed and changed into borrowed formal clothes for a huge dinner. All the scholars and their companions that they'd met shared good wishes, toasting and celebrating the end of the visit. Jack was glad to have Bacchylides sitting on his right, and "talked" as much as possible with him around the language barrier while keeping Daniel's plate and glass full.
Daniel was in full bloom, slightly flushed from the wine (which Jack was making sure he didn't refill too quickly). In his element, with scholars and friends, he was as happy as Jack had ever seen him, and he did feel a little bad for Daniel's sake that they were being pulled away. Not bad enough to plead with General Hammond for an extension, though.
~
As elated as Daniel was through dinner, when they returned to their room, a slight depression settled over him. He silently checked that his gear was ready for the next day and changed into boxers and tee shirt. Sitting up in bed, he curled over his journal, ignoring Jack. Jack took the hint, and rolled out his sleeping bag again.
Just their luck, no sooner was Jack setting up on the far side of the room when Philip came by their room. He took in the sleeping arrangements at a glance and became visibly upset. "Jack," he started, but stalled at the language barrier.
Daniel couldn't figure out what was wrong with Kapta's alketairo, and approached him. Philip kept his eyes on Jack, facing some inner struggle. Finally, he turned to Daniel, blushing deeply.
"Please forgive me for speaking of this in your presence. I wish to talk to Jack, alketairo to alketairo, about the rift between you and him, but I cannot without your translation."
"The rift? Philip, don't worry about it. We fight all the time, but we always patch things up." Philip looked faintly scandalized while Daniel gave Jack the translation of Philip's mission and his response.
Jack raised his eyebrows. "They are seriously, seriously into this."
"No kidding."
Philip eyed Jack's sleeping bag and begged of Daniel, "Please, do you wish reconciliation? Ask him if he wishes reconciliation."
"Um, Jack? Philip wants to know if we want reconciliation."
"Well, yeah, sometime. I didn't think that we were never going to speak again."
"Yeah, that's what I figured, too. But it seems to be a big deal here. A really big deal." Daniel knit his eyebrows in puzzlement.
"I'd rather not rock the boat, with more teams coming and an offworld facility agreement on the line. Tell him yeah, sure. Besides, it's not like we were going to start carrying on a blood feud. It's just one of our little things." Jack hesitated. "Right?"
"Yeah. I mean, sure, I was pissed, but life with SGC is full of disappointments. I'm used to it." Crap. He hadn't meant to whine with self-pity. He'd burned his bridges as an academic scholar a long time ago, and the SGC was still the most amazing opportunity for study, despite the constrictions of the military.
Jack just said, "So tell him yeah, we'll, whatever—reconcile."
Daniel translated, and Philip's face relaxed with relief. He smiled and held out his hand towards Jack, gesturing for him to follow. Jack looked at Daniel and shrugged, and trailed after him.
~
Jack followed Philip to his apartment. Kapta wasn't in the outer rooms, but the bedroom door was closed. Philip motioned Jack to sit in a small lounge and brought out a tray of sweets for them to snack on, then busied himself with making a small pot of tea.
Jack looked around. "Hey, this is nice. Is this by Bacchylides?" Philip looked up at Jack's voice and followed his gesture towards a framed sketch of Philip and Kapta. He smiled in affirmation and made some comment in Greek. "Yeah, it's really you," agreed Jack. The drawing did capture beautifully the trust and love between the two. Their setup was weird as hell, but Jack admitted it seemed to work for them, and felt a quick pang that his own marriage hadn't survived its stresses.
Philip passed Jack a cup of tea, and Jack saluted him with it. "Cheers." It was more pungent than the usual herb teas they'd had—whew!, very pungent—must be an after-dinner treat. Jack was pretty sure that real tea only came from China, so the Alexandrians wouldn't have had any to bring with them, maybe had never had it. Daniel would know how established eastern trade routes were in 400 AD—he'd have to ask him.
Philip asked him something, but all Jack could catch was "Daniel" and what sounded like the word he'd been using when he came to their room, so Jack raised his cup again and toasted, "To reconciliation." Philip looked extremely pleased; apparently he recognized the word Daniel had been using in translation. "Okay, guess we're back in the good graces."
He drained the cup and set down it down, and resisted snagging another little pastry. "Look, this has been swell, but we have a long day tomorrow. Gotta wrap things up, trek home, get poked by the doc, debrief. You know how it is. I'm just gonna..." He crooked his thumb back towards his room. Philip nodded and rose with him to walk him back.
~
Daniel raised his eyebrows at Jack's return. "So?"
"So," Jack replied.
Philip peeked quickly around the room and saw, as Jack did, that Daniel had put away Jack's sleeping bag while he was gone and was now sitting well to the left on the bed. Philip gave them both a radiant smile and backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Jack nodded towards where the sleeping bag had been and crooked an eyebrow at Daniel. Daniel shrugged.
Jack shrugged back.
"So?" Daniel asked again.
"This whole culture/subculture thing is your area, but my guess is the bodyguards have their own little support system. I think I just got tea and sympathy. But, still..." He gestured, trying to find the words. "Still focused on me knowing my place."
"Ladies' sewing circle? Kaffeeklatsch?"
Jack gave him a mock glare. "Don't even start."
Daniel felt a knot of tightness ease a little. It was actually good to be talking again. Of course they would have gotten there anyway, on their own. He put down his journal. Jack changed into his boxers and tee shirt and climbed into the other side of the bed, and they said their goodnights after lights out.
~
Jack's voice woke him, calling him from far away. As Daniel regained consciousness, he realized Jack's voice really was far away—he was on the other side of the room again, but sounded terrible.
"Jack! What is it?" He checked his watch; he'd only been asleep about an hour.
"I feel sick; I don't know what's wrong." In the light Daniel could see that Jack looked pale and sweaty. He jumped to go and check on him.
"What are you doing out of bed?"
"No!" Jack held up his hand before Daniel could approach. "Don't... don't come close. What if this is some kind of flu, something contagious? I don't want you to get sick."
Daniel paused. "Is it like a flu? Or maybe you just ate something that disagreed with you. I feel fine, though... What are your symptoms?" He was torn between going over to help Jack and being held back by Jack's obvious reluctance to letting him approach.
"Feverish, achy, tired. Feel weak. Just... can you get a doctor? Maybe they know if there's something going around."
"Of course. I'll be right back! Hang on."
He rushed to Kapta's apartment, sorry to wake them at midnight, but more worried about Jack than anything. Philip answered the door in a night wrap, and Daniel could see Kapta in the bedroom doorway. "Come quick, please," Daniel begged. "Jack is sick." Daniel saw Philip and Kapta exchange a very puzzled look.
Kapta asked his alketairo, "Are they not reconciled?"
"Yes! They said they wanted to. Jack was here. He participated..."
Daniel didn't know what the hell they were talking about. If he was still angry with Jack, would he be pounding on their door at midnight in his underwear, frantic over his welfare? Well, actually, he would; he was never so angry with Jack that he wished him ill. For more than a second or two.
"Just, come! He needs a doctor!" He explained Jack's symptoms as they rushed back to the guest quarters, and his heart sank as Kapta and Philip exchanged an even more puzzled look.
Just please be okay, Jack.
~