The Amadeus Effect

~~~~~

Jack awoke early the next morning to find the tent already short one archaeologist. He was very much aware that Daniel hadn’t slept well—his tossing and turning, not to mention the odd whimper, had been enough to keep Jack awake and worried most of the night. Something had well and truly ruffled his friend’s feathers last night, and it frustrated Jack that he refused to talk to him about it. Even on a piece of cake mission like this one, he couldn’t afford to have a member of his team performing at less than 100%.

He checked his watch; 06:00 hours—far earlier than Daniel usually got up of his own accord. But Jack supposed he was anxious to get an early start on their trek to the temple.

A few days earlier, the SGC had sent out a UAV to PIK 260 and it had flown over one of the strangest structures they’d ever come across. The main building was a small Egyptian-style pyramid set atop what Daniel asserted was a Mayan temple base. It was surrounded by a medieval-style walled village with Roman-style aqueducts and roadways. Daniel had compared it to a Disneyland theme park, with anachronistic and culturally discordant architecture haphazardly thrown together. The comparison proved fitting, as Jack watched Daniel’s face light up like a little kid’s when Hammond gave the mission a go. It appeared that the anticipation of checking out the temple was more than enough motivation to get the archaeologist out of bed first thing in the morning.

Crawling out of the tent, Jack followed the smell of coffee, knowing it would lead him to Daniel. Sure enough, he found his missing team member busy preparing breakfast around SG-2’s fire. Ferretti and Griff were already awake and sipping coffee as they watched Daniel work.

“Careful, there,” said Griff. “I don’t like my eggs Cajun-style.”

Daniel’s shoulders tightened slightly at the remark and he made a point of not responding. Only when Ferretti called out a hearty ‘good morning’ to Jack did he lift his head from his chores.

Jack gave a friendly wave to the others before returning his gaze to Daniel, who stared back, thin-lipped and tense. Jack hastily bit back the ‘so, what’s cooking’ comment that was on the tip of his tongue, and took a seat by the fire. He began to reach over for the coffee pot, but Daniel got to it before him, swatting his hand away.

“Let me—apparently that’s my job,” he snipped and poured Jack a cup of steaming black coffee amid the snickering of the other men.

“Your sidekick makes a kick-ass cup of joe, Jack,” said Griff with a smirk.

Ooh, this is not a good start to the day, Jack thought as he silently pried the cup from Daniel’s white-knuckled grip. He was about to lighten the mood with a witty comeback when the rest of SG-2 arrived, followed quickly by Carter and Teal’c. Soon the campsite was abuzz with the chatty routine of the morning meal and Daniel’s sullen silence went completely unnoticed—by everyone except by Jack.

Jack knew this was more than just pre-coffee Daniel surliness. Daniel never reacted like this to teasing—there had to be more to it than that, and Jack intended to get to the bottom of it ASAP. If there was bad blood between Daniel and a member of SG-2, he needed to do something about it before things got out of hand.

Fortunately, this was the perfect mission to have a discreet chat with his civilian team member. After breakfast, SG-1 would be packing up and hiking out to the temple, leaving SG-2 at the base camp to stay in radio range with the MALP at the Stargate. There would be plenty of quality team time to root out the problem—one full week before they would have to rejoin SG-2 and head back to the ‘gate.

As SG-2 cleared up after their joint breakfast, SG-1 struck their camp and geared up for the eight-hour hike to the temple. After giving a few last minute instructions to Ferretti, Jack ordered Teal’c to take point and Carter to take their six, so he could have some one-on-one time with Daniel on the way.

But Daniel was setting a gruelling pace, always a step or two ahead of him—like he was expecting ‘the talk’ and was avoiding him like the plague. After an hour spent speed walking through the forest, staring at the back of Daniel’s head, Jack had had enough.

“Would ya slow down, already? This isn’t a race,” said Jack.

Daniel did slow down, letting Jack catch up with him, but he kept his eyes to the ground.

“Well, that’s a start,” said Jack. “I don’t suppose you feel like telling me…”

“No.”

“Okaaaaay. Change the subject. Got it,” said Jack. “So—do you think this temple we’re going to was built by the Goa’uld? Or are we looking at Michael Jackson’s latest incarnation of Neverland Ranch?”

Daniel shuddered visibly at the thought, but it had the desired effect—now he was at least looking Jack in the eye. “Almost definitely Goa’uld,” he answered. “Most likely, though, this is only a secondary stronghold. No nearby dwellings for Jaffa or human slaves. There are no indications of habitation anywhere except in the walled village, and that wouldn’t be nearly large enough to house an army. More than likely this temple is abandoned…unless it’s still being used on special occasions, and we’ve come between events. The truth is, I won’t know for sure until we get there and I have a chance to check things out.”

“So this could be some kind of Goa’uld convention centre?” asked Jack. “Well if it is, let’s just hope there’s no special occasions planned for the immediate future.”

Daniel smiled at him—the kind of brilliant, glowing smile that only came out when the topic of discussion turned to his area of interest. Jack recognised it and prepared himself for a long lecture.

Daniel didn’t disappoint. Jack half-listened as phrases like ‘cross-pollination of cultures’ and ‘misappropriation of indigenous deities’ were bandied about, punctuated frequently by boisterous hand gestures. Jack nodded and ‘hmm-ed’ and pretended to give a crap, but mostly he was just relieved that Daniel had snapped out of his funk. It looked like he wasn’t going to have to have that heart to heart with him after all.

By the time they broke for lunch, Daniel was back to his scholastically-excited self. He ate quickly and fidgeted restlessly as he waited for everyone else to catch up. Yep, Jack thought, things were back to normal in Daniel-land.

The second leg of their trip should have been a relaxing jaunt through the woods, seeing as they’d covered a lot more ground than they’d expected to before lunch. But Daniel was anxious to get a good look at his temple while they still had a couple of hours of sunlight left.

Conversation was light and bantering—the kind that left part of the brain free to stay alert to any possible threats while being interesting enough to make the time fly by. Teal’c was explaining a Jaffa children’s game, meant to hone skills of stealth and speed. Jack pointed out that on Earth the game was called ‘knock-a-door ginger’, and the kids who played it usually got into trouble. Teal’c countered, claiming that Jaffa children never got caught—such a thing would mean certain death at the hands of the offended party. Carter laughed, assuming the deadpan Jaffa was pulling their legs, but his poker face gave nothing away. Jack decided Minnesota was a better place to grow up.

They made the eight hour hike in roughly six and a half hours, and when the forest opened into a wide clearing of tall grasses, they caught their first glimpse of the anomalous temple, nestled snugly in the ‘v’ of the valley. Only consideration for his elders prevented Daniel from sprinting the rest of the way to the walled structure below. Jack smiled and shook his head—it was like holding the leash of a hyper spaniel. Daniel the spaniel…had a ring to it, Jack decided, and his smile spread wider across his face.

There was nothing Jack could do to stop Daniel from dodging past Teal’c once they got close enough to the massive Roman arch that marked the entrance to the village. By the time the rest of the team caught up with him, Daniel was already groping the masonry.

“Huh,” he muttered, blowing what looked like a century’s worth of dust from an engraving in the stone archway. “See this? This is strange—it’s mostly Latin, but there’s also Goa’uld, Celtic, Greek, and Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs mixed in. If I had to guess based on this, I’d say it’s a kind of trade language—like pidgin English.”

“Fascinating,” said Jack, a tad facetiously. “You do realise this is just the front door, right? At this rate it’ll be Christmas before we get inside.”

Daniel shot him a distracted glance and went back to studying his doorway.

Sam shared a look of amusement with Jack. They both knew this was Daniel’s show—the rest of them were just the back-up singers on this trip. Jack walked right past the preoccupied archaeologist and joined Carter and Teal’c who were already heading through the arch and into the village beyond.

It was much bigger than it looked from the UAV feed, Jack thought. It was set up like a castle fortress, the thick stone wall protecting not only the temple, but also the small collection of buildings that made up the village. In its day, the village would have comfortably housed a few hundred souls, but it had long since been abandoned. Windows and doorways gaped open, the inner darkness yawning out at them as they passed.

The fortress wall deadened all sounds, lending the vacant town an eerie quality that almost had Jack spooked. Even to Jack’s untrained eye this place was strange. There was no sense of harmony—there were so many jarring architectural anomalies that it was like walking through a carnival funhouse—all wrong angles and warped curves. It was like ten different architects got together to design a town and couldn’t agree on a damned thing. Thatched roofs abutted stone and tile roofs—marble and brick, mud and wood—all of it battled for dominance in the cramped streets of the village.

Jack caught a glimpse of Daniel as he finally entered the walled village and wasn’t in the least bit surprised to find the other man’s jaw hanging open.

“Wha…? Wow!” Daniel exclaimed, his eyes trying to take in everything at once. “This is… Wow!”

“So that’s how you silence a linguist,” said Carter, her eyes twinkling in the late day sun.

“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed, “Daniel Jackson does appear to be at an unusual loss for words.”

Daniel didn’t even hear them; he was too busy looking everywhere, absently brushing his long bangs out of his eyes every time the wind whipped them into his face. Jack had been pestering him to get a haircut—kept telling him that long hair simply wasn’t practical in their line of work—but Daniel refused. He’d even resorted to wearing a bandana on his head, rather than cut off his bothersome locks. Jack had once asked him why he was so insistent on keeping his hair long. Daniel’s one-word answer had been ‘Shau’ri’. Enough said. If he was doing it for her, who was Jack to argue? In any case, he kind of thought it suited him.

Jack, Carter and Teal’c scouted ahead, ensuring there was no threat, while Daniel took his time soaking up his new surroundings.

“Carter, it’ll be getting dark soon,” said Jack. “We should set up camp near the temple so Daniel can get an early start tomorrow.”

Carter looked back over her shoulder to where Daniel was still stumbling along after them, so awestruck that he wasn’t watching where he was going. “Good idea…but do you really think you’ll be able to hold Daniel off until morning?”

Jack followed her line of vision and had to fight back a smile—she was right, Daniel would be champing at the bit to get a look inside the temple before they called it a day. “Point taken,” he said, and kept walking.

Teal’c and Sam found a suitable spot and efficiently went about setting up camp. Meanwhile, Jack rounded up Daniel. As he’d expected, the archaeologist was not about to leave the temple unexplored until morning. It took a while, but Jack finally managed to convince him that a quick sweep of the temple was all they would be able to accomplish before dark. It would be enough time to go in, get a feel for the place and decide where to start in the morning.

“Oh, and one more thing—Teal’c and I go in first to make sure it’s safe,” said Jack as the two of them approached the temple entrance where they’d set up camp.

“I really don’t think that’s necessary,” Daniel argued. “This place has been abandoned for hundreds of years, by the looks of it.”

“Yeah…it’s always the quiet temples that grow up and bite ya in the ass,” Jack pointed out, and Daniel couldn’t argue with him—they’d had their share of surprises when it came to supposedly ‘safe’ places.

So, after a rushed dinner, Jack and Teal’c left Carter and an impatient Daniel behind and headed into the temple. With no outside light reaching beyond the open entrance, it was necessary to turn on their flashlights, the thin bands of light slicing through the blackness.

Jack was almost disappointed. There were no bad guys, no booby traps, no mounds of treasure waiting to be looted…nothing. Just a bunch of deserted, echoing chambers. The only saving grace, at least as far as Daniel was concerned, was the fact that most of the walls were decorated with more of that pigeon language he’d found so fascinating.

“Getting any bad vibes here, Teal’c?” asked Jack after they’d done a thorough sweep of the place.

“Vibes?” asked Teal’c, trying out the odd word on his tongue.

“Yeah—you know—heebie-jeebies? Willies?”

“I am unfamiliar with those terms, O’Neill.”

“Never mind. My gut says this place is clean. Not much to write home about, is there?”

“Indeed. I believe Daniel Jackson will be greatly disappointed,” said Teal’c.

Jack grunted in response and headed back outside. Daniel was waiting at the entrance, looking so excited that Jack couldn’t help toying with him…just a little.

“Sorry, Daniel—can’t let you go in there,” he said, which resulted in one of the best pouts he’d ever witnessed.

“Um…why?”

“There’s way too much dust in there, and with your allergies…” Jack said, petering off at the end.

Daniel crossed his arms and glared at his C.O. “Jack!”

“It’s fine. It’s safe. It’s boring as hell. Go—knock yourself out,” said Jack with a dismissive wave of his hand, but as Daniel rushed past him, he quickly added, “Two hours. If you’re not out in two hours I’m coming in after you, and I’ll drag you out kicking and screaming if I have to. Understood?”

“Yeah. Thanks!” Daniel shouted back, the light from his work lantern bobbing along in the darkness beyond.

As the sun’s light faded from the alien sky and a smattering of pale moons rose to take its place, Jack kept checking his watch impatiently. Sure, he’d given Daniel two hours, but he’d honestly thought the archaeologist would go in, see that there was absolutely nothing of interest in there and come right back out again. But he’d been in there for two hours and…eleven minutes, according to Jack’s watch, and that meant he’d have to keep his word and go in after him. As he got up from his spot by the fire, Teal’c rose as well.

“Do you require assistance, O’Neill?” he asked.

“No, T., I think I can manage Daniel by myself—even if he is kicking and screaming.”

Jack wandered through the jet black corridors of the temple, calling out to Daniel as he went. After several wrong turns, Jack finally saw the faint glow of Daniel’s work lantern.

“Daniel!” he shouted.

“Here, Jack!” Daniel called back.

One more turn and Jack found himself in the temple’s smallest chamber. It was so small it was more like an alcove than a chamber, but it was cram-packed with more of that weird writing. He should have known Daniel would be there. And he should have anticipated that Daniel would think it was the coolest thing since waffles, and wouldn’t want to leave.

“Time to call it a night, Daniel,” said Jack, rocking up on the balls of his feet.

“Just a few more minutes, Jack…I think I’m really close to something here.”

“Now, Daniel—you’ll have all day tomorrow to play with your new toy.”

“But…”

“It’ll still be here in the morning,” said Jack. “Promise.”

Daniel sighed, and quickly finished jotting down a few notes in his journal. He then grabbed his lantern and followed Jack out.

Jack wasn’t really interested in the steady stream of facts and theories pouring out of Daniel’s mouth as they walked, but he was listening closely enough to catch the important parts. Daniel thought this was an abandoned Goa’uld trading post, where everything from human slaves to the latest pilfered gadgets were bartered. And Daniel also thought he may have found a reference to a hidden storage chamber where the most valuable goods were kept to safeguard them against theft. It was a long shot that they would find anything in it—the rest of the temple and the surrounding village had been thoroughly cleaned out—but Daniel still felt it was worth a look.

Daniel’s mood was infectious, and by the time they went to bed there was a distinct Christmas Eve atmosphere in the camp. Jack took first watch and was very surprised to find Daniel fast asleep in the tent when he turned the watch over to Carter.

He wasn’t surprised, however, to find Daniel gone from their tent at the crack of dawn the next day. Jack crawled out of the tent and immediately questioned Teal’c on the whereabouts of their missing team member. As if he didn’t already know where he was.

“When I relieved Daniel Jackson of his watch duties he informed me that it would be pointless for him to attempt to go back to sleep, and wished instead to return to his work. I did not see any harm in it.”

“How long has he been in there?” asked Jack.

“It will soon be three hours,” Teal’c replied.

“Alright. We’ll give him another hour, and then drag him out for some breakfast.”

Carter was just emerging from her tent when the hour was up. She took a quick glance around. “Daniel’s already at it?” she asked.

“You betcha,” Jack answered. “Been at it for hours already—I was just about to go in after him. It’s time for breakfast, whether he likes it or not. I’ll sit on him and force-feed him if I have to.”

Carter laughed at the image Jack had created in her head and had to admit that at times they’d come close to doing just that. When Daniel set his mind to something it was damned hard to get his attention—even to eat.

Jack strode through the temple purposefully, his flashlight trained dead ahead as he manoeuvred through the dark corridors. The building’s layout was fairly simple, and he knew exactly where he’d find Daniel. So it was a bit of a shock when Jack arrived at the little alcove with all the writing to discover that it was no longer such a little alcove. The back wall was gone, and a long, dark, featureless hallway stretched out where it used to be. Jack knew instantly that Daniel had found his hidden storage chamber, and anger flared up inside him. He’d drilled it into Daniel that he should never blindly wander into unknown territory without backup. It was stunts like that that could get them all killed.

“Daniel,” he growled as he marched down the corridor. Part way down, he could see Daniel’s work lantern emitting a soft glow from one of the side chambers about halfway down the hall. “Daniel!” he called out again, this time louder. And when there was still no answer, a tinge of worry crept into his voice as he shouted again, “Daniel!”

He rounded the open doorway at a dead run and his shoulders sagged with relief to see Daniel, alive and well, standing and staring at some old statue in the middle of the room. The archaeologist was so consumed with the artefact that he hadn’t noticed Jack’s arrival.

Jack quickly scanned the chamber for threats, but found nothing to be concerned about. The room was a veritable garage sale of Goa’uld and alien technology, and for the life of him, he couldn’t see what was so fascinating about the relic Daniel was staring at. And come to think about it, Daniel still hadn’t clued in to the fact that he was no longer alone—the guy was a walking, talking security nightmare.

Jack walked right up to him and barked, “Daniel!” Still no reaction. His worry meter jumped off the scale, and Jack grabbed his friend by the shoulders, spinning him around to face him. “Daniel—look at me!” he ordered.

Finally, Daniel blinked and focused on him. “Jack! Hi,” he said, confused, as a very concerned-looking Jack cupped his cheek before giving his hair a serious ruffling. Daniel ducked his head away, pretending it bugged him. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d still be sleeping.”

Jack peered closely into Daniel’s eyes. For a moment he thought they looked a little weird—like there was a dark shadow passing over the blue of his eyes—but it was gone so quickly that he chalked it up to a trick of the light.

“I was sleeping…an hour ago,” Jack said, remembering why he’d been so angry. “You’ve been in here for hours. And what were you thinking, coming in here without backup? You know the risks!”

“And I took the necessary precautions,” Daniel claimed, patting the radio at his shoulder. “Anyways, I only just found this place a minute ago. I haven’t even had a chance to look around yet.”

“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to look around after breakfast,” Jack said, trying to retain some of his grumpiness, when mostly what he felt was relief that Daniel was safe.

“Breakfast?” Daniel gave him an odd look and glanced down at his watch. His lips pursed and his brow furrowed up in a frown. “That’s weird…”

“What’s weird?”

“I could have sworn I just got here…”

Jack shrugged. “Since when have you ever been able to keep track of time when it comes to stuff like this?”

Daniel’s brow creased even further for a moment before he, too, shrugged and gathered up his gear. Jack was right—he’d been known to get lost in a translation for hours without a clue to the passage of time.

As they were about to leave the cluttered chamber, he cast one last glance at the Romanesque bust he’d been so drawn to. Aside from the unusual, gold-speckled stone it was carved from, there was very little of interest about it, as far as he could tell. He couldn’t say why he’d been so fascinated with it in the first place.

The hollow eyes of the bust seemed to darken briefly as Daniel turned away and followed Jack out of the chamber. The inscription, carved in gold along the base of the bust, which Daniel had completely failed to notice, read “Amadeus”.