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SG-1: Translations Lost In (Time)
Title: Translations Lost In (Time)
Genre: SG-1, Gen, Team, Episode Related
Spoilers: Season 10, Episode "Unending"
Rating: PG-13
Synopsis: He's certain it holds the answer.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, people with a lot of money do. I'm just taking them out to play.
“Damn it!” Daniel grunted in exasperation, slamming closed the book in front of him and tossing it to the side. He leaned back in his chair, his glasses quickly joining the book so he could scrub at his tired eyes.
“Is there a problem?” Teal’c calmly inquired from the doorway. Daniel had not even noticed his approach, as wrapped up as he was in his frustrating work.
“Daniel’s stuck,” Vala sad succinctly, earning her a glare from the man in question. She was perched on the desk beside him, leaning back on her palms as her legs swung wide in arrhythmic circles.
“It will come to you, in time,” Teal’c promised.
“But I want it now,” the linguist pleaded, knowing just how spoilt and petulant he sounded. He gestured to the display before him, the elusive runes still lit up in their precise rows and columns. “There’s just so much there. To know that I knew it, that I figured it out once before...”
“All of that knowledge, just out of your grasp, yada, yada,” Vala mimicked, her hand making mocking mouthing motions with her words.
“It will come to you, in time,” their friend repeated. “You had many years on the vessel, your time spent focused on this task. You cannot expect it to come to you so easily,” he reasoned. It was not the first time he had said as much, and both knew it would most likely not be the last.
Daniel studiously put his glasses back on, not bothering to clean them. Those words, at least, made sense, but it did not change how maddening he was finding his current situation. “What if it’s important? What if this randomly chosen text is the key to defeating the Ori, or solving any number of other problems we have been working on for years, or even decades?” he tried.
Teal’c glanced over at the text in question, smiling knowingly. “If this is what I believe it to be, you will find it most enlightening with regards to the Asgard.”
“See? That’s exactly what I mean!” the other man exclaimed, his hands moving with restless energy. “This database, these texts, we’re talking about the Asgard’s legacies. They entrusted them to us. If we can’t translate them, if we can’t figure out what message they are trying to share with us, then what’s the point?”
“You will discover their message, in time” Teal’c assured him. “Would you not rather unravel their mysteries for yourself, enabling you to obtain a deeper understanding of their works?”
Daniel looked up sheepishly through his glasses. “Would you think me a lesser person if I said ‘no’ to that question?”
Vala hopped down and slapped him on the arm. “Listen to Muscles,” she chided. “Aren’t you the one who told me there are no free answers? If you let him do it for you, it would be like cheating, and we all know how you feel about that.” She raised her eyebrows in silent challenge for him to make a comment.
He reluctantly nodded and pulled the book back towards him. “I guess,” he muttered. “Just don’t expect me to like it,” he groused, but there was no malice to his tone.
That seemed to settle it as far as she was concerned. “Good,” she nodded. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, the big guy and I have a dinner date, and no stuffy book types are invited.” She punctuated her words with another nod, linking her arm through her escort’s.
“Aliens Night Out?” Daniel guessed.
“Something like that,” she winked in agreement. “Muscles won’t tell me who I hooked up with on that ship, and trust me, if we were there for so many years, it would have had to be someone, right? So I figure I will just have to use the old fashioned way of trial and error until I find that someone right for me.”
Daniel’s eyes widened in both amusement and horror. “You’re going to...?”
“Yep,” she smiled gleefully. “Each and every one of you until I get it right. Don’t worry, I might not ever make it to you. I might find Teal’c and I were meant to be. Or, possibly, Mitchell, or even Sam. Landry’s a bit old for my type, and I have the feeling both you and Colonel Carter would have been too wrapped up in all your boring research to have much time for anything else,” she babbled, truly enjoying herself.
“But you’re willing to...” he started, only to be cut off again.
She put her hand over her heart and tried to look solemn. “It’s my duty. I could not bear to tear the team apart with all of you fighting over me, so I must find my true love and resolve this as quickly as possible.” A wicked gleam came to her eyes as she added, “And if I happen to have fun while trying to figure it out, so be it.”
That got a chuckle out of him. “Go, off with you,” he ordered, making shooing motions towards the door. “Far be it from me to keep you from your sacred duty.”
She laughed along with him, a pleasant, light sound he heard far too little of in recent months. “I’ll stop by later to see how you’re doing,” she promised before grabbing her larger teammate’s arm and pulling him out the door.
Daniel contemplated the doorway and his friends for a moment before returning his attention to the texts before him. “And I’ll probably still be here,” he mused.
It was months later when he finally finished the translation of that particular selection of texts. Other projects and missions stole pieces of his time, but he found himself returning whenever he had the chance. When he finally figured it out, after so many long hours locked in his office with his team intermittently at his side or throwing him out, he did not know whether to shout in elation or groan and hang his head.
Teal’c was correct, the text was most enlightening with regards to the Asgard culture. It was an encrypted collection of their most treasured hoaxes and practical jokes. Suddenly their fascination with a certain former teammate made so much more sense.
End.
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