Fandomweekly Challenge 74 - Signs in the sky

[m_findlow]

Title: Signs in the sky
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG.
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 74 - Into the forest at fandomweekly
Summary: Daniel is the only one interested in what lies around them rather than what lies overhead.

Jack poked their small campfire with the end of a stick. ‘This is nice don't you think? A nice quiet planet with nobody trying to kill us or take us to their leader. Should've brought marshmallows.’

Daniel's eyes cast up from the depths of his book. ‘You say that now. Tomorrow you'll be bored out of your mind.’

‘Well, it's digging up rocks and getting excited about markings on trees, Daniel. Of course it's boring.’

He temporarily shut the book, using his finger to keep place. ‘There's indications that the people who lived here are descended from Gallic culture. This whole forest is full of their markings, most of them in a language similar to Welsh. Doesn't that excite you even a little bit?’

‘Actually? No.’ He lay down on his back, resting his arms under his head. ‘Now that is worth looking at,’ he said, nodding up at the stars twinkling between the trees.

Carter smirked. ‘I always forget that you have an interest in astronomy, sir. Did you ever consider the space program?’

‘Too much math for me, Carter. I'm a point and shoot kinda guy.’

Teal’c cocked his head curiously. ‘Has not being a member of the Air Force required you to fly, O'Neill?’

‘Oh, sure. But you know… Don't put me in charge of a rocket ship. I can barely operate a blender.’

Carter broke into a smile, looking skyward. ‘Which constellations do you recognise, sir?’

‘We're on an alien planet, Carter.’

‘We're still within a known sector of space.’ She pointed up at a particular spot. ‘What about that cluster of stars over there?’

‘Hollywood?’

Carter shook her head. ‘It's Orion’s Belt, sir.’

‘Huh,’ he muttered.

Daniel paused over his reading again, looking up at where she'd been pointing. ‘I thought Orion's belt was three stars in a line?’

‘From our perspective, yes. But in actual fact the constellation is made up of at least nine different stars. It's just that most of them are not visible to the naked eye. Only the three brightest ones can be seen.’

She picked up a stick from the ground and began drawing in the dirt, lit by the orange campfire flames as they crackled and snapped. ‘See, this is Earth in relation to where we are now, and this is the cluster of stars that make up Orion's belt. Whilst we see a series of stars that appear to be in a direct east west line, at this angle where we are now, they become bunched together. And, because we're closer to the stars that make up this particular constellation, we see more of them without the aid of a telescope or more sensitive deep space equipment.’

‘Who is this Orion of which you speak?’ Teal’c asked. ‘I do not know of this Goa'uld.’

Daniel's eyes brightened at the question, his book of Gallic history long forgotten. He adjusted his glasses as he moved into a cross-legged position. ‘Oh, uh, well, Orion was believed to be the son of Poseidon in ancient Greek mythology. He was a warrior and a great hunter who legend said could walk on water.’

Jack grimaced. ‘Daniel, I think you're mixing your religious tales.’

Daniel ignored him. ‘He was fabled to have gotten drunk one night and raped the King's daughter Merope. As punishment, Merope’s father blinded Orion and it was only by venturing sightless all the way to Lemnos that he was able to find someone who could heal his vision. He returned to seek his revenge on Merope’s father but couldn't find the king who was in hiding, fearful of Orion’s skill with bow and arrow, so he instead left to seek other adventures. He then fell in love with Artemis and they hunted together for many years. Orion was said to have boasted that there was not a creature on Earth he couldn't kill. Artemis was the sister of Apollo, who was so enraged by the inappropriateness of their friendship that he asked Gaia, Mother Earth, to create a creature that Orion couldn't kill, and so she created the scorpion, which speared him through the heart with its tail. Zeus then committed both Orion and the scorpion to the stars.’

‘And they all lived happily ever after,’ Jack added.

‘Thank you for your explanation, Daniel Jackson.’

Daniel leaned his elbows on his knees. ‘For all we know Orion might not have been a Goa'uld at all. There's every possibility that he was in fact some kind of Jaffa warrior.’

Sam nodded. ‘I suppose that's possible. He was meant to be a great hunter and warrior after all. That doesn't sound like any Goa'uld we know.’

‘Yeah, cause a Goa'uld has never talked up their achievements or taken credit for things they never did,’ Jack snipped.

Daniel appeared thoughtful. ‘If Artemis was the sister, or even a wife, of a system lord it would explain why Orion was set upon to be killed. A love affair between Orion and Artemis maybe?’

Teal'c frowned at his teammates. ‘I have never heard of a Goa'uld doing such a thing. They believe everyone to be beneath the Goa'uld.’

‘Well, maybe it's just a nice story to tell the kiddies.’ Jack returned to staring up at the night sky. ‘So, it's Orion’s Belt Buckle?’

‘Orion's cluster would be more accurate, sir.’

‘I still prefer belt buckle.’

Teal'c let his own gaze turn upward, though his expression made it impossible to tell if he was fascinated by it or not. ‘What is the preoccupation with naming stars in your culture?’

‘People on Earth used the stars for navigation for thousands of years,’ Carter explained. ‘Long before they discovered the Earth wasn't flat and that magnetic poles existed which allowed them to use compasses, latitude and longitude to navigate. I guess naming the stars just made it easier.’

‘I do not understand. How does one navigate then during the day when they are not visible?’

‘Maps,’ Jack blithely replied, pulling his cap down over his eyes.