Anythingdrabble Challenge 57 - Doorways

[m_findlow]

Title: Doorways
Fandom: Stargate (movie)
Characters/Pairings: Daniel Jackson, OC
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 57 - Entrance at anythingdrabble
Summary: Daniel wishes he knew what he was looking at.

Daniel didn't even bother to cringe as the black substance met his lips. He'd been too tired to notice that when he'd poured the coffee into his mug that the heating element wasn't turned on. The brew was not only weak and bitter, but also stone cold now as well. Obviously the soldiers that kept an eye on his every move weren't coffee drinkers, or else they knew where to go to get real coffee, and probably some half decent food as well.

It didn't seem to matter that he was locked inside a top secret military installation. The weren't letting him out of their sight. Not that it seemed like anything around here was of the sensitive nature. The place had that air of disuse, like it was a project that had long ago ceased receiving any real funding. Wasn't that why he was here? Catherine had told them he was the best in his field. All they saw was the down and out archeologist who hadn't penned a successful paper in years. He no doubt came cheap, which was ideal for their purposes. He wasn't even sure they were expecting results from him. Still, at least it was paying him something. He hoped.

He took the coffee back with him regardless. If the MP noticed his desperation for the caffeine fix, he didn't show it. What Daniel really needed was a breakthrough.

The mystery of why the military cared about some ancient cover stones was irrelevant. What bugged him was that the markings on them simply didn't translate. All they'd managed was the inner track of writings. Not a dooway to heaven, as Myers had thought, but a Stargate, whatever that was. An entrance to another place in any case, he surmised. All of Egyptian mythology was based on the pharaohs building great pyramids to enable them access to the afterlife. The higher they went, the closer to the gods one could be.

Only this writing predated any Egyptian civilization by five thousand years at least. Perhaps if they had some other samples of the writing, or whatever had lain beneath the cover stones, he'd have more reference material to work with. A little help from the other archeologists wouldn't have gone astray either. He was only realising now that he hadn't made many friends since his arrival. Only Catherine seemed sympathetic towards him. It wasn't his fault they'd mistranslated the hieroglyphs, using outdated and poor quality references.

A soldier stepped across his path as he'd been absently wandering back, taking a wrong turn.

'I'm sorry sir, but that section is off limits. Authorized personnel only.'

'How can you tell?' Daniel joked. 'All the doors around here look the same.' The MP failed so see the humor in his comment.

'It was a joke,' he said, though it didn't change the expression on the man's face one bit. 'Yeah, okay, forget I said anything,' Daniel apologised. He had enough problems. Colonel O'Neill would be expecting his report tomorrow.