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icarusThe Walls of Jericho - 7 (from part 1 here)
by Icarus
They stared up at the glowing arch where it crested about six feet above their back trail. It was black directly underneath, about a foot and a half wide, with little crawling glimmers of orange embers. The upper surface glowed with a shifting red-yellow-orange light as the lava flowed up, and then over, their trail.
"Whoa," Daniel said.
"What the hell?" Jack said, stepping closer to peer under it. Nothing was holding it up, though the area around the arch was certainly toasty. "Okay. Even I know lava's not supposed to do that."
"I guess the natives were serious when they said the trail would stay clear," Daniel said, gazing over the length of it, nonplused. It was broader at the base where the lava flowed freely again.
"Teal'c and I checked for forcefields, or anything within our realm of science or Goa'uld technology that could explain it. I've no idea why this is happening," Carter said, managing to sound at once frustrated and awed.
"Well, the why of it is pretty obvious." Everyone turned to stare at Daniel. "I mean, I don't know how they do it, but it seems pretty straightforward. This trail leads to the stargate, and anyone using the stargate would need to keep the path open." Daniel blinked at them. "If the Ancients manipulated time and space when they built the stargate system, I'd think repelling a lava flow would be small change compared to that."
"Carter?"
Sam shrugged. "It seems plausible, sir. Anyway, I can't find any sort of mechanism here. Maybe the natives know of some sort of… abandoned control room we could study."
"The natives were clearly familiar with the properties of this particular path," Daniel added, bobbing his head in agreement.
"Okay. So one more item on the to-do list: king-sized lava lamp number two. The answers are still that way. Let's head out," Jack gestured back towards the campsite.
It was good to know that they were probably safe all last night. Though he didn't like to rely too much on alien technology; it tended to go squirrelly on you when you least expected.
Later on the hike, Daniel stepped up to walk alongside him. "Jack?"
Jack didn't look over, keeping his eyes fixed on the disappearing twilight trail. It twisted ahead through the mountains.
He made of point of not slowing down or matching Daniel's stride, and answered in a taut voice, "You don't ever learn, do you Daniel?"
"What?" Daniel paused, his mouth open. Understanding dawned. "Oh. No no, it's not about that -- I have a theory."
"A theory." Jack risked a glance in his direction. Daniel had one of those wide-open 'starry-eyed' looks on his face. Uh-oh.
"Yes," he nodded. Jack really knew better than to encourage the man in his flights of fancy. "Since the Ancients were allied with Asgard I imagine they probably had a similar value system. They may have protected primitive sentient life, just like the Asgard protect humans now."
"From the Goa'uld?" Jack said, squinting doubtfully. "I thought those guys weren't around back then."
"Well, from whatever. Maybe from the lava flows here. This world must have been pretty rough place." Daniel peered down the trail. "Up until now I haven't had any proof. But this trail - and anything else like it - might be it. These people could owe their very survival to the Ancients."
Jack failed to see the relevance, but couldn't resist the lure of argument. He shook his head. "Or… the Ancients could have been long gone, and the locals simply took advantage of their handy-dandy little road."
Which squared more with how Jack had seen things work. Much as he liked the Asgard, they were the exception that proved the rule. But in Daniel's happy little universe all aliens were good guys until proven otherwise.
"Yes, yes I know, I need something else, some record or other protection…"
"Daniel…." Jack said warningly and stopped, catching on. "We're here for mining. That's it. This is not an archeological field trip."
"But, Jack…."
"No pet theories. No side ventures." Jack strode resolutely in the direction of the alien village. There was no point in reminding Daniel about 'mission objectives' and 'orders.' It always fell on deaf ears.
He vaguely recalled that this was what had started their fight in the first place.
Part VIII here. More coming soon!
by Icarus
They stared up at the glowing arch where it crested about six feet above their back trail. It was black directly underneath, about a foot and a half wide, with little crawling glimmers of orange embers. The upper surface glowed with a shifting red-yellow-orange light as the lava flowed up, and then over, their trail.
"Whoa," Daniel said.
"What the hell?" Jack said, stepping closer to peer under it. Nothing was holding it up, though the area around the arch was certainly toasty. "Okay. Even I know lava's not supposed to do that."
"I guess the natives were serious when they said the trail would stay clear," Daniel said, gazing over the length of it, nonplused. It was broader at the base where the lava flowed freely again.
"Teal'c and I checked for forcefields, or anything within our realm of science or Goa'uld technology that could explain it. I've no idea why this is happening," Carter said, managing to sound at once frustrated and awed.
"Well, the why of it is pretty obvious." Everyone turned to stare at Daniel. "I mean, I don't know how they do it, but it seems pretty straightforward. This trail leads to the stargate, and anyone using the stargate would need to keep the path open." Daniel blinked at them. "If the Ancients manipulated time and space when they built the stargate system, I'd think repelling a lava flow would be small change compared to that."
"Carter?"
Sam shrugged. "It seems plausible, sir. Anyway, I can't find any sort of mechanism here. Maybe the natives know of some sort of… abandoned control room we could study."
"The natives were clearly familiar with the properties of this particular path," Daniel added, bobbing his head in agreement.
"Okay. So one more item on the to-do list: king-sized lava lamp number two. The answers are still that way. Let's head out," Jack gestured back towards the campsite.
It was good to know that they were probably safe all last night. Though he didn't like to rely too much on alien technology; it tended to go squirrelly on you when you least expected.
Later on the hike, Daniel stepped up to walk alongside him. "Jack?"
Jack didn't look over, keeping his eyes fixed on the disappearing twilight trail. It twisted ahead through the mountains.
He made of point of not slowing down or matching Daniel's stride, and answered in a taut voice, "You don't ever learn, do you Daniel?"
"What?" Daniel paused, his mouth open. Understanding dawned. "Oh. No no, it's not about that -- I have a theory."
"A theory." Jack risked a glance in his direction. Daniel had one of those wide-open 'starry-eyed' looks on his face. Uh-oh.
"Yes," he nodded. Jack really knew better than to encourage the man in his flights of fancy. "Since the Ancients were allied with Asgard I imagine they probably had a similar value system. They may have protected primitive sentient life, just like the Asgard protect humans now."
"From the Goa'uld?" Jack said, squinting doubtfully. "I thought those guys weren't around back then."
"Well, from whatever. Maybe from the lava flows here. This world must have been pretty rough place." Daniel peered down the trail. "Up until now I haven't had any proof. But this trail - and anything else like it - might be it. These people could owe their very survival to the Ancients."
Jack failed to see the relevance, but couldn't resist the lure of argument. He shook his head. "Or… the Ancients could have been long gone, and the locals simply took advantage of their handy-dandy little road."
Which squared more with how Jack had seen things work. Much as he liked the Asgard, they were the exception that proved the rule. But in Daniel's happy little universe all aliens were good guys until proven otherwise.
"Yes, yes I know, I need something else, some record or other protection…"
"Daniel…." Jack said warningly and stopped, catching on. "We're here for mining. That's it. This is not an archeological field trip."
"But, Jack…."
"No pet theories. No side ventures." Jack strode resolutely in the direction of the alien village. There was no point in reminding Daniel about 'mission objectives' and 'orders.' It always fell on deaf ears.
He vaguely recalled that this was what had started their fight in the first place.
Part VIII here. More coming soon!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2004-12-27 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-27 07:04 pm (UTC)Icarus
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Date: 2004-12-27 07:10 pm (UTC)This isn't a mega-fic, and I plan to have it complete fairly soon. It's just helping me to plow through, posting bit by bit, in drabbles.
Icarus
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Date: 2004-12-28 11:42 pm (UTC)Told'ya.
:)=