Crossing Lost: Getting Here is the Easy Part

He did. I figure he's got enough gifts and quirks left over from being Ascended, being killed by replicator!Carter (and learning to play mind games and protect his memories a bit in that case), and being almost!Ascended again that he probably has a few things buried subconsciously.

It won't last forever; he's just currently in a state of mind where he's more aware and "in touch" so to speak.

IOW, I figure the island hadn't screwed with Daniel enough yet :-)

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starborn-scribe.livejournal.com

No worries. I just felt like commenting. :)

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"Huh?" George glanced up at Verlin. Then back at Daniel, who seemed to be looking at Verlin. Her gaze bounced back and forth a couple of time. (Oh, now that's just now fair! People are developing superpowers while I watch now!)

"Uh...he's got curly hair and--well, he looks a lot like that guy that plays Chief O'Brien on Star Trek."

Verlin seemed about to speak, but he suddenly turned and looked at George. "I look like who, now?"

George ignored him. She eyed Daniel suspiciously. "Why? What does he look like to you?"

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"Um, curly hair, round red face, and um, I really *shouldn't* be seeing him, should I?" Daniel asked quietly. He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. When he looked again Verlin was still there, right next to George, looking a little more sour than he had a few moments ago.

"You're seeing spooks now Daniel?" Jon smirked.

"Thank you, Jon. When you put it like that, you make me sound so sane," Daniel said dryly. He muttered, "It's not like it's the first time I've seen things I'm not supposed to see."

"Now who's not making you sound sane?" Jon asked.

Daniel glared, then realized he was glaring which made Jon widen his smug smile. (Definitely Jack in annoying miniaturization.) Daniel peered back at Verlin, then looked at George. "This is what you *always* see? I mean, he doesn't look like a ghost. He looks, well, real."

"I am real," Verlin protested.

Daniel blinked. He was not going to admit that he could *hear* the ghost as well. "Um, and as much as I have a ton of questions for you, George, I think I'm going to focus on the more pressing problem of the pillar."

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"Nope, he's a ghost," George said, waving her arm through Verlin to make her point.

"Hey!" he yelled, moving away. Then he stopped and looked at George. Daniel meanwhile said something about getting back to work on the pillar.

"How can you do that?" Verlin asked.

"Do what?"

"Wave your hand through me that way? I know you can touch me. So how can you do that?"

"Trade secret," George said. Truthfully, she hadn't ever really thought about it. She just did it. Grab the ghost when it suited you, ignore them when you felt like it. Simple.

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OOC: If this doesn't make sense, fine thing. It just popped into my head with the whole "I see dead people" post up there and the co-existing fandoms everywhere else :) Came out a bit long but..

Now that he had an idea of where the ghost was, Jon couldn't resist this new form of entertainment. He ambled into that general area, hands in his pockets as tried to find any strange sources of cold or resistance.

"He's a ghost," George pointed out sarcastically, earning herself a 'who, me?' look of innocence before rolling her eyes. "Oh no, you're not obvious at all. And you're nowhere near him, either."

"Saw me coming, huh?"

"Just possibly."

"Damn." Jon shrugged and went back to his post. There were a couple of questions hanging over his head about her version of the afterlife. "So how does this Reaper thing work? You die, but you don't.. move on?"

She grimaced, muttering something about the value of keeping mouths shut. "Something like that. And it's a light. You get Reaped, then you walk into the light."

Jon stared incredulously. "I hate clichés. Don't make them real!"

"Yeah, well maybe yours will be a black hole," George replied bluntly.

"I'll take the light," he deferred quickly: black holes were just a little too much like déjà vu. Oh yeh, like walking into a light isn't! That wasn't the point of query though. She'd explained about people being trapped before, and the fact that Vermin wasn't going anywhere until he was ready, which left: "What if you die but you're not permanently dead?"

"CPR doesn't count. If you're meant to die die, you'd be on a list and someone would Reap your soul beforehand -" George glanced sharply to her right. "That wasn't my fault!"

Ok, ghostly grudge issues, but still not what he was angling at. The CPR answer probably covered anything to do with sarcophagusses.. sarcophagoi.. sarcophagi!.. anyway, that part Jon could deal with, but what about the whole Ascension deal? "Ever seen anyone come back from the light?"

"Jon.." Daniel warned.

"Simple question!" Jon protested helplessly.

George looked between the two of them intently. "If you're truly dead, you've walked into the light and there's no way back - not that I know of - and no, I don't know what comes next. If you're undead, you find out about it PDQ. If you're neither dead nor undead, the paramedics will work their magic shortly. And finally, if you're dead and haven't been Reaped, you're stuck in a nasty rotting corpse until someone like me comes along. That clear enough for ya?"

Blinking from the onslaught, Jon ran the words through his head a couple more times. There was a loophole in there, he knew it: the whole "trapped in body" aspect. Daniel's Ascension hadn't left a body behind, so he wasn't trapped in it - kinda - and the rest - so none of SG1 had ever really died? Sweet, but my head hurts..

Suddenly Jon wished that he'd never asked, because it only brought out more questions. If Jack's soul got Reaped, would he be dragged along for the ride by default? That would suck, and what about the other way round? What about all the servicemen and women killed in the middle of nowhere, or off-planet? Souls got got left behind now and then, that was clear enough from the hike to Faith's plane! Worse - what did Charlie see before walking into the light? Himself, dead? Please, no..

"Yeah. I think. Thanks," he replied dully.

Ignoring his juggling stones, Jon sat down on the concrete and began his own form of meditation: dismantling and reassembling the gun. Next time he'd keep his questions to himself.

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George watched Jon sit down and start taking his handgun apart. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything. Maybe--much as it pained her to admit it--maybe Rube had a point about not letting people know the truth. Jon wasn't panicked, but he wasn't a happy camper either.

"He's seen more than he's letting on," Verlin said. George glanced at him but didn't answer immediately.

Verlin was right. George wondered about Jon's question regarding people coming back from the light. She was willing to bet good money that it wasn't an idle question, not from a fellow castaway on this island. What had he seen? And where?

"Who hasn't?" she finally said. Jon had reduced the pistol to a collection of pieces. Now he began to reassemble it.

"What of people who die in remote locations?" George turned and found Ash standing there.

"What about them?" George asked.

"Mountain climbers. Ships that go down at sea. That kind of thing," Ash said. "How do you handle that?"

"An excellent question," Verlin agreed. George noticed that Jon's hand hesitated every so briefly over a piece of the gun before he continued. He gave no other sign that he was listening.

"Look," George said, "except for here on the island--don't ask me why--nobody dies without a Post-it. If your name's on a Post-it, somebody will be there to take care of you. Preferably before, but they'll be along."

"But what if--" Ash began.

"Ask Daisy!" George said. "I've only been at this for--"

Ash's eyes widened. Jon looked up suddenly. Verlin asked a question, but George didn't pay any attention to it. (Oh shit!) George thought.

"Uh, I mean--uhm...shit," George finished lamely. (Daisy's gonna kill me.)

OOC: I wrote George snapping "Ask Daisy" and went on for a bit before I remembered that Daisy's status was a secret. So clearly, George forgot as well. These things happen.

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Jack was listening to the conversation as he examined the inner workings of the pillar besides Daniel. Daniel was fun to flirt with, as he never really took it seriously either. No harm in making the offer, but Jack knew when to step back from bounderies.

"There's always someone to do the job." Jack offered up to the conversation. "Look, I've known agents to die in little backwatert planets thousands of years from their own timeline. I'm sure the cases of being forgotton or unreachable is pretty rare. No one snatched me before I died. I don't remember much about being dead, but there was no lingering trauma."

Jack shifted. "This thing has a crystal matrix. Energy crystals like this are not native to earth any more than this tech is. Wonder what they do when they run out of batteries?" Jack switched topics easily enough to talk and keep working.

"Anyway, I figure there's always someone to do the job. Plummer, waste management, Reaper. Even in nature, someone or something fills in where needed. It isn't worth brooding about." Jack hadn't actually touched anything yet. He was more getting a visual feel of the equipment.

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Daniel tuned out the extraneous conversation. His focus was translating the Ancient language, hoping to figure out the code. He did hear Jack's comment about the crystals. "I'd say that they probably don't use this method often enough to worry about it. Or, they've got a contact. The latter is actually a good thing."

"How so?" Ash piped up. "It means the bad guys can call for reinforcements."

"Exactly," Daniel nodded. "But it also means that the reinforcements *can* get here, temporal flux and every other bit of oddity aside. If there's a way in, there is also most definitely a way out.

"But right now, we just need to find a way *in* to the women." Daniel pushed several plates in slow fashion. Nothing happened, not even a buzz or a whirr.

"Instead of seeing ghosts, I need to see the future," Daniel mumbled.

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"No no no, you do not wish for a freaking brain tumor just so we can get wherever we're going more quickly. This is a Post-It free zone, even if we do seem to have two Reapers gunning for us," Jon responded darkly, finally reloading the firearm. Jonas had been an over-enthusiastic pain in the ass, but near-death was too high a price for those visions he'd had.

He shrugged at George apologetically. It wasn't her fault she became undead (apparently) and at least Ash hadn't automatically translated that into 'zombie'.

"I don't suppose your grim ju-ju extends to y'know, disabling the enemy, kiss of death or anything like that?"

"No!"

Cringing, Jon lifted his hands in surrender as he wandered back over to the pillar. He needed to get that foot out of his mouth real soon. "Sorry. Just checkin'. Uh, Daniel - that gene thing. Is that likely to be any help here?"

Or.. am I just getting in the way again?

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Watching Jon walk away, George thought about the question. Despite her immediate denial, she wasn't quite so sure about that. If she yanked someone's soul out when they were still alive, what would happen?

She knew it could be done, Roxy had done it once. George had never managed to get the full story out of Roxy or Rube, but Roxy had been in the doghouse for a while for doing that. It wasn't something George was willing to experiment with on people she liked, but--in an emergency, face to face with the bad guys?

Maybe.

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fikgirl.livejournal.com

An hour passed. An hour passed and Daniel was no closer to figuring out the riddle of the pillar than he had been an hour earlier. Random combinations did nothing; Jon tried touching it, interacting with it in the hopes that the ATA gene would affect it but his efforts proved futile as well. Jack was ready to dismantle it with the hope that reverse engineering would enable them to figure out the proper coordinates, or the last coordinates punched in. All in all, everyone was growing frustrated and annoyed or just plain bored.

Daniel was beginning to think that they should pack up and move over ground, particularly since they'd long ago lost the element of surprise.

"We should continue the rescue above ground," Daniel told those still below ground with him. "It's great if we can find some way to get this pillar to work, but we're losing time while trying to figure it out. We know that we have a guide to the women, one that we can take over ground. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea for half of us to go that route, and a few to remain behind with the pillar.

"Jack, do you think that you or the Doctor could rig a way for the two groups to remain in radio contact? Maybe re-wire a few cellular telephones?"

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"The biggest challenge for that would be a power source. You've been preserving your radios for just that reason."

Jack then grinned and became animated, gesturing as he spoke. "But this pillar has a crystaline power source we could convert. If nothing else we can make sure no one else can use it for a while at the same time we can salvage parts. If we get Rodney working with us we can manage something."

He looked around at everything else in the room. "Might be other things we can salvage as well, at a later time."

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"...so I drank the potion, said the words and here I am."

"Did you say them correctly this time?"

Verlin elbowed George, jolting her out of her reverie. "Uh...did you say it right this time?" she echoed. God, she was bored. When she hitched a ride on the Orb Express, she expected to be involved in a harrowing adventure to rescue Daisy and the others--not stuck sitting around in a dank tunnel...cave...whatever while the eggheads tried and failed to hack an obelisk.

Ash frowned. "Why does everyone always ask me that?" He sighed theatrically. "Yes, I said the words." Pause. "I may not have gotten every single syllable right, but I said 'em. Basically."

While the eggheads puzzled over the obelisk the rest of the group had nothing to do but wait. Jon had made a crack about the military not being the only organization where "hurry up and wait" was the operating principle. George thought that was an odd comment coming from a kid who was maybe just barely old enough to join the army--and who clearly hadn't because he sure as hell wasn't old enough to have finished a hitch. But it wasn't odd enough to be worth following up.

One of Ash's comments about zombies and the Necronomicon, on the other hand, had caught Verlin's attention. Somehow George had gotten drafted as an interpreter, passing along Verlin's questions. Fortunately, Ash was a long-winded guy when you got him talking about his favorite subject--himself--so George could tune out large portions of the conversation.

"Never mind that," Verlin said. "I just find it...implausible that second-rate professor at a backwoods university could have gotten his hands on the Book of the Dead. George? George!"

Oh. Right. Translate. Ash glared at where he thought Verlin was sitting, though he was off by a couple of feet. "Hey, I'm just telling you what I saw. He had the book there in the cabin and he'd recorded some of the translations. That was a really stupid move, I tell you."

"Fascinating," Verlin said. "That book was last known to be in England, in the possession of Rick adn Eve O'Connell. The Council lost track of them during the Second World War. Clearly, they must have traveled to America. I wonder..."

Verlin went on, but George stopped listening. She wondered how much longer the waiting would go on.

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And, let's play name that crossover ... hmm....

*scratches head*

*wonders if squirrely time could land Rick and Eve on the island*

*snicker*

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between this and the Winchester's tackling Jeepers Creepers... ::grin:: I LOVE it.

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rwarner.livejournal.com

LOL....the two recent Mummy movies are amongst my favorites. :)

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fikgirl.livejournal.com

"The O'Connell's supposedly uncovered the ruins of the legendary city of Hamunaptra, the 'City of the Dead.' Unfortunately, the only proof of this was their word, as the city could never be found again, and -" Daniel spoke as he worked on the obelisk, stopping when he realized that his words revealed that not only could he see Verlin, but hear him as well. Daniel finished by swearing in Sumerian.

"How does a common soldier know such things?" Verlin scowled. Evidently it didn't occur to the ghost that Daniel had never said he could hear the man, only that he could see him.

"I'm an archaeologist and a linguist. Which would be the reason that I am translating the writing on this pillar and the reason that I would be well-versed in matters of an archaeological nature. Legendary though it is, Hamunaptra is of great archeaological significance and personal interest," Daniel answered automatically. Then groaned. (And I'm defending myself to a ghost.)

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"Hamunaptra? Typical architecture of early 13th century BC, except for the booby traps, of which there were many. They actually did a lot mummification there, with one of the main temples set there for years. That's how it originally got the 'City of the Dead' title."

Jack moved back to let Daniel work. He'd salvage those power crystals as a last resort.

"That and it was one of the main treasuries, so the royal dead could be burried with full ceremony." Jack grinned. "Good vacation spot if you're into gold and silver and want to risk your neck. I always preferred galactic credits. After all, some planets have more gold than we have slate. But the statues were really impresive. Twenty feet tall. Seti never did do anything understated."

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Oh, he had his moments, Jon snorted. A house near Seattle was a hefty downgrade anyhow.

Daniel glanced up. "Wrong Seti, Jon. This one was a pharaoh."

"What d'I say?"

Jack carried on without missing a beat. "'Course there was a hint that Imhotep built the place for him, threw in all those lovely tricks and treats.."

Jon muttered. "'Wrong Seti,' he says."

"..then got buried alive with a swarm of flesh-eating scarabs for his trouble. Something about doing the dirty with Seti's girl."

"Wrong Imhotep too," he conceded cheerfully. You can't use a sarcophagus on a skeleton. I hope.

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Jack openly winced.

"Glad I left town before the main event. Even I know you never flirt with the king/emporer/pheraoh gender reversed significant other. Quick way to be dead or a eunuch. I can go to tenor, but never plan on reaching soprano, thank you."

Jack shivered. Some things didn't bare thinking about. "I was there when Queen Tuya was still in charge of the wives and concubines. I think Seti was on the throne for five years or so. Course I was there on buisiness, so didn't pay any more attention than I had to."

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Sharing the wince, Jon nodded his agreement. "Yeh, I can see you being reeeeeeally frustrated as a eunuch.. and dead kinda sucks too."

Giving Harkness a sideways glance, Jon decided that he was bored of being bored and went in search of a story.

"Ok, I'll take the bait. What kind of business did you have doing in the depths of ancient Egypt? Don't you people worry about stepping on a bug - one of those scarabs maybe - or whatever it is that sets off the time-space-entropical warpdom?"

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“Not when you’re trained to know what to avoid. I was a Time Agent for years. But this was after my uh… retirement. There was a bit of tech stashed there that really shouldn’t have been there. A weapon. You two might be familiar with the type. You might say it fits in the palm of your hand. Anyhow, I slipped in, retrieved the anomaly and proceeded to sell it to the highest bidder. Of course, the Time Agency tends to BE the highest bidder in these cases. Which is the best part of that kind of deal. Make them look like incompetents and walk away with their money. Of course they didn’t know it was broken until after they bought it. Just as well, it still didn’t belong there.”

Jack leaned against the wall and considered Jon. “You’re a bit young for the kind of placement you and Danny seem to be involved with. Didn’t think that program recruited until a body’s been in service for a few years and proved their character.”

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"Jon had some extenuating circumstances. He effectively managed to be in the wrong place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time depending on whom you ask." Daniel came to Jon's defense, hoping to save the teenager a few moments of pondering, floundering and annoyance. Besides, it was partially his fault that Jon was placed in the hot seat; but at a time like this, Daniel was relying on all useful skills and all the backup anyone could supply and that didn't exempt teenage clones of Air Force Generals.

"What Jon doesn't like for people to know is that he's actually pretty smart, damn intuitive, and very adaptable. He's *mature* for his age, and in case you haven't noticed, he acts like an annoying, aggravating fifty year old man sometimes." Daniel hid his smirk by ducking his head and pressing a few more plates. His motions were no longer random. He had yet to figure out the ultimate code, but had an idea of how it worked. Possibly. "Anyway, circumstances being what they were, Jon recevied intelligence that he otherwise shouldn't or wouldn't have. But he's trustworthy and reliable and always under a watchful eye."

Jon bristled. "I am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"You are too," Daniel argued. "Did you really think that no one, especially *your uncle* didn't know where you'd been hiding?"

Jon wasn't the dense no matter how much he pretended. And Jon Murphy was too valuable of an asset for the Air Force or the SGC to let him out of sight for too long. Not to mention the security risk.

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"Hello, 'under 21' here," Jon grouched, complete with air-quotes. "My uncle got me the damned passport. I check in now and then, but even he's not stupid enough to have me followed."

Daniel raised an eyebrow, eyes still laughing.

"Ok, he's not stupid enough to have me followed all the time." He turned his scowl on Harkness. "And yeah, what Daniel said. I didn't get a choice, and when I did.. there wasn't one. Besides, the Air Force has all the coolest toys these days. What more could a kid want, right?"

"A TARDIS? Travel through time?"

Jon shook his head wryly. Been there, done that.. kinda lived it too. "Not enough adrenalin."

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The thread continues here. (http://community.livejournal.com/crossing_lostrp/84907.html?thread=2820523#t2820523)

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*bangs head on her way out*

shit, brick wall, wrong way.. ho hum..

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starborn-scribe.livejournal.com

This entire thread is hysterical! XD

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Waiting to see what George makes of them. LOL.

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George listened silently to the conversation between Daniel, Jon and Jack. Ash and Verlin's mention of the Necromno.... Nacrononi...Book of the Dead and its keepers had really kicked off a bizarre conversation. Even Ash and Verlin seemed to be amazed.

(So...) George thought, (Captain Jack has visited ancient Egypt. Okay. He's a time traveler like the Doctor and Rose. Check. And he apparently works--or worked--for some kind of time police agency. He seems more like a time bandit, actually. Heh. Time Bandits. Or Time Robbers--Time Cops and Time Robbers. Or Time Raiders. Lara Croft, Time Raider!)

George shivered. The mental image of Captain Jack shoulder to shoulder with an Angelina Jolie look-alike, surrounded by ancient Egyptian tomb guards, trading witticisms while they escaped with some unlikely treasure was more than she could handle.

(Anyway. Cap'n Jack also seems to think that Daniel and Jon are either working for them or with them, or something. Well...that would explain why a linguist and archaeologist would be working with the military. But it still doesn't explain the unit patches.)

George spent a couple of minutes trying to work out how the Time Cops could be identified by the initials SGC, but she couldn't do it. It just didn't fit. Maybe she was barking up the wrong tree. Maybe SGC made perfect sense as an acronym in a different language. Or 51st Century English.

She sighed and gave up. Not enough information yet. She also shifted uncomfortably. The tunnel floor was hard and cold.

"Are you guys close to getting this show on the road? Inquiring minds want to know."

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"I don't know how much longer this is going to take," Daniel apologized. "We might be at a standstill until Rodney gets here. I would like to propose my original suggestion when everyone gets back: Split into two groups. One can set out on foot, the other can stay here *in case* we activate the pillar. We'll have Chris and his orbing ability to move back and forth between the two groups. . . provided he doesn't tire himself out."

(Too bad the other teleporter is one of the kidnappees. *That* would come in handy too.)

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Jon scrubbed his face as he ran over the options in his head, weighing up which group to volunteer for if it came to a split. Daniel could take pretty good care of himself (as could McKay - allegedly - who also had the mysterious gene) so it might be worth traveling by foot.

"Sure -" He stopped abruptly as the ring transporter activated, snapping at anyone in the main corridor as he picked his angle. "Everyone get in with the pillar!"

By the time the rings rose Daniel and Harkness had also taken up positions with their own weapons, but all three lowered their aim when the distinctive sound of McKay mid-tirade echoed through the corridor.

"And who are you going to answer to when-!" McKay cut himself off, blinking like an owl. "Oh. We're here."

"Is your head far enough out of your ass to notice? Congratulations!" Molly rolled her eyes and made what appeared to be a frustrated getaway, closely followed by the rings' other passengers.

Jon surprised himself by feeling a little defensive of the scientist, but refrained from commenting. "McKay, your toy is just through there - woah -"

"How many times do I have to explain that these machines are incomparably sensitive?" the man sniped, barging past anyone in his way. That reset button obviously worked quickly. "Who knows what kind of damage you might have done by the simple act of breathing.."

The arrogant posturing trailed off as he approached the pillar and stared at it like he'd just found an oasis.

"So.." Jon began, sidling up with his hands in his pockets. McKay looked ready to turn on him again so he put on his Colonel face and cut him off. "Hey! Just wishing you luck, Rodney, I know you just got here. You can quit whining too - you know you're going to enjoy this more than pulling a radio apart, so get on and do your thing."

"My 'thing'?"

"Ya, your thing," Jon echoed right back, smirking. "Figure out the puzzle, save the girls, gain thanks from otherwise hostile natives. This enemy is only human, Rodney: it should be a piece of cake by your standards."

McKay drew himself up, chest puffing out a little. "Well yes, I suppose I do make a significant contribution -"

"Great!" the teenager interrupted, spinning on his heel as he walked back to the rings. Ego-pandering was not his favorite pastime. "I need some fresh air. Anyone else need fresh air?"

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"It is getting a bit stuffy down here." Molly looked in the direction McKay had gone. "It's bound to get worse once the Doctor gets back."

She looked over at Tara, who was aparently still recovering from the transporter thing. "Yeah, it's freaky, or cool, and I haven't figured out which yet. You want to stay down here or wait uptop with us. By the way, as I understand it... uptop is a couple miles away. We didn't just go underground, but to a different part of the island."

It was a lot to take in. But Tara had proven very resiliant so far. "My kind prefer the sky above us. And while I may currently live in a cave, I'm still happier in the open."

Oops... Molly realized she had spoken a bit too freely to Tara with Jon there. With any luck he'd still be muddled from all the rest and have missed that.

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aliencrabcakes.livejournal.com

/WHOA! That was freaky-cool!/ Tara thought wide-eyed as she stared at the rings (or at least where they should be), the enclosure, the pillar, and anything and everything else her eyes fell upon. She smiled at McKay's tirade. Molly found him insufferable, and she could understand why. But Tara thought he was kinda cute and entertaining, in a childish insecure way.

...You want to stay down here or wait uptop with us... Oh, Molly was talking to her. She didn't notice with all the sensory input invading her mind. "My kind prefer the sky above us. And while I may currently live in a cave, I'm still happier in the open."

/Oops/, Tara looked quickly from Molly to Jon. Maybe he hadn't noticed what she said...She quickly tried to cover for Molly, "Yeah, we know all about your 'kind'. Some of us can have minds that love to fly around in the sky like yourself, but others prefer to remain rooted to the ground in the 'real' world." She said as she laughed. "I'd better go topside with you in case that kite flies too high!"

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Molly's eyes thanked Tara, but then she wrinkled her nose a bit. "Wait a minute.... are you calling me an airhead?"

Maybe compared to the eggheads. She laughed a bit, to let Tara know she wasn't serious.

In truth she usually had more patience with McKay and others, but her nerves were stretched, like everyone else. She had to rein back that temper of hers before she permanantly pissed someone off.

"Come on, Tara, Jon, we wanna ride the lightening again. You should start selling tickets." Molly gently elbowed Jon's ribs then looped her arm through his. "Does this make you the elivator bellhop guy?"

She was entirly to comfortable invading Jon's sapce. But then he was the only one on the island who likely knew where her tattoo was. If he'd even noticed it.

She reached out and looped her other arm through Tara's. "Let's go off to see the wizard of Odd."

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One thing the "ring transporter" wasn't was subtle. Loud, bright and unmistakeable in operation. It was also the source of the only excitement in well over an hour. When the stone rings vanished into the floor again--and that was truly weird--it left McKay, Tara and Molly standing there.

George got to her feet with only a groan of two from sitting on a hard (cold) stone floor for the last hour. It quickly became apparent that some of them were going to leave again. George wanted in. She'd had enough of hanging around in the tunnel waiting for something to happen.

"I wanna go too," George announced. "Come on," she said to Verlin.

Verlin frowned. "Why? I'd prefer to stay here."

"Because..." George said. She thought fast. "Because if I don't drag you along, the transporters won't move you. You're a ghost. You're not really there, so there's nothing for the rings to grab hold of. So unless you want to stay here when everyone else rings away--or whatever--you're stuck with me."

Which was total bullshit of course. Or at least George assumed it was bullshit. She hadn't actually tested the theory, so maybe it was true. And maybe pigs would fly out of Verlin's ass too. But nobody else was in a position to argue the point.

"Fine," Verlin said, making his annoyance clear. He got lightly to his feet. One of the benefits of being intangible--you didn't get a numb butt sitting on a cold stone floor.

"Okay," George said, turning to Molly and Tara. "We're ready to go."

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