Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 77

Chapter 77 - Strange Elf Danger

When Daniel had first heard that the Atlantis Expedition had discovered an “Elf” he had been more than a little excited given how many different myths and legends the species might connect back to. That had been quickly overshadowed however by Vala showing up and claiming to have a lead on a great Ancient treasure. 

Which he would grudgingly admit, though not with Vala in the room, had in fact been well worth his time. Even if it had ended up with him temporarily stuck in the aggravating woman's body.

Overshadowed by all that had been the discovery that the “Elf” was nothing more than an Ancients biological experiment. Something which was callous enough of any act that it really didn't match up with what he knew about the Ancients. Though to be fair, he supposed none of the archeological examples he had encountered so far had been from the “Lantean” period of their civilization.

“That's wrong.” Rayla's voice interrupted his train of thought, and he looked over to see the seated Elf pointing at the third line of the translation on his laptop's screen. “It should be ‘that which was forbidden’ not ‘that which cannot be allowed’.”

Frowning, Daniel flipped through the pages of his most recent journal looking for the relevant notes.

“There's a difference?” Vala inquired idly, looking up briefly from the magazine she was reading on the bed.

“Several.” Daniel confirmed as he found the right page, glancing between it and the screen for a moment as he double checked his work before frowning at Rayla. “Are you sure? Because as far as I can tell the translation is about as accurate as it can get.”

“Yup.” Rayla confirmed with a nod. “It's a contextual difference, like how John uses the word cool even when not describing the temperate.”

Nodding in understanding, Daniel jotted a quick note of correction down in his journal before with a sigh he said the words he knew the young elf was waiting for. “I guess it's your turn then.”

He still wasn’t sure why Rayla had decided to trade her help with translation work for what so far had just been the answer to whatever random seeming question about his life that she could think of. But given just how priceless access to a native speaker of the language was, Daniel wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Are you and Vala having sex?” Rayla inquired.

Even though he wasn't drinking anything Daniel nearly choked, the sheer randomness of the question enough to throw him for a loop. “I'm sorry, what!?”

Vala started giggling, and Rayla glanced over at the bodyswapped woman for a moment before looking back at him with a slight frown. “Vala keeps staring at your butt the same way Teyla does John's. And since they are having sex, I was wondering if that meant you and Vala were too.”

“No!” He answered, the voice of Vala's body unfortunately coming out much more squeaky than he intended.

“Not from any lack of trying on my part mind you.” Vala added in, and he could all hear the grin in his body's voice. “But I figured my gleaming personality will wear him down eventually.”

Unable to help but respond, Daniel turned an affronted glare to the relaxed form on his bed. “I'm in your body!”

“And my body has a really nice ass.” Vala returned in a smug tone as she set the magazine down and took a moment to visibly ogle the body Daniel was currently in. “Among other absolutely fabulous features.”

The annoying part with Vala's aggressive flirting was that even after a few days of hearing that sort of thing from her, Daniel was still completely unable to tell if the woman was being serious or just messing with him. 

“Oh! I get it!” Rayla suddenly exclaimed as she glanced between the two of them with a grin.

Daniel waited for the Elf to explain further before hanging his head and letting out a sigh when it seemed nothing further was forthcoming.

“I think dear Daniel would like to know what you figured out.” Vala suggested impishly, clearly getting a kick out of his discomfort with the whole subject.

“She's Jack Sparrow.” Rayla began, pointing over at Vala before switching her finger to Daniel. “And you're Elizabeth Swan.”

She scrunched her brow together for a moment before turning back to Vala. “Only there's no Will Turner, so Daniel's trying to figure out if he actually likes you, or just the excuse you give him to do more than spend his life doing busy work.”

Daniel frowned, feeling more than a little put out at the comparison. “I'm sorry, what?’

Vala let out a sharp laugh. “I don't know who those people are, but she's got you on the busy work.”

“These are important translations.” Daniel snapped, more than a little tired of the way Vala consistently felt the need to put down his work.

“The tablet I brought you was important.” Vala returned in a smug tone. ”This is…” She glanced over to the desk where Rayla was watching their interplay with interest.

“I’d guess some sort of diplomatic treaty between the Lanteans and a species called the Furlings.” Rayla offered helpfully.

“The type of thing you have your minions do.” Vala finished with a self satisfied nod that made Daniel’s eye twitch slightly in annoyance.

“Or feed into a translation matrix.” Rayla agreed, nodding alongside the body displaced woman.

Rubbing his temples to ward off what felt like a quickly approaching headache, Daniel had to wonder just what it was about him as of late that made everyone seem to think he should be going out and doing things.

“I’m on the waiting list for Atlantis, you know.” He groused. “In fact, I’d probably be going back there with you and the rest if this.” He motioned dramatically down at his current body. “Hadn’t happened.”

“Why?” Rayla inquired, peering over at him with a clear look of confusion on her face.

“Why what?” Daniel asked in sudden suspicion.

“Do you want to go to Atlantis?” She returned, still sounding more than a little confused at the idea. “You’re an archeologist, and everyone I’ve talked to about the job says that archeologists study the ruins and remains of dead civilizations. But Atlantis is a Lantean city that has Lanteans living in it, so what is there for an archeologist to do there?”

A moment of silence passed as Daniel tried to figure out how to answer her in a way that wouldn’t come off as more than a little self-serving.

“He’s probably hoping to hunt down the secrets of the universe.” Vala interjected just as Daniel was about to reply. 

Rayla gave a nod of understanding before crossing her arms and staring at Daniel with an odd look in her eyes. “Eventus said I should tell anyone who asked about that that the great secret of the universe is that the universe is infinite.”

“And the treasure is in the pot.” Vala added with a giggle as Daniel felt his eye twitch.

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Author’s Notes: Next chapter we have Eventus returning the SGC and spending a lazy day identifying stuff on the SGC’s list of recovered ancient shit.