|
First Contact Isn't Easy by Jb
"Uhhh… Sir? They’re all, umm, unclothed…" "I can see that, Carter. I’m not sure I like the way they’re looking at us. Daniel? It’s your show…" The only thing worn by the members of the large group of people encircling SG1 were their identical facial expressions of intense consternation. While they were not making any aggressive or unfriendly moves, the dark-skinned natives nevertheless were not exactly welcoming the newcomers, either. The four members of SG1 stood back-to-back, looking outwards upon the surrounding circle of forty-some-odd mixed gender representatives of the indigenous population of P2X556. "They appear to be surprised, O’Neill. Perhaps they have never had visitors come through the Stargate." As Teal’c spoke, most of the natives jumped back a few paces, and a few of them pointed at him and began to quietly vocalize to one another. Quickly, the low buzz of conversation spread throughout the group and in a matter of less than a minute, one of the natives stepped forward. Looking directly at Teal’c, the man waved his hands in front of his own face and spoke loudly, decidedly anxiously, in what seemed to be a totally alien language. "Daniel? Feel free to jump on in here…" Daniel fervently wanted to tell Jack to just shut up. When they had first stepped out of the Stargate and found themselves facing the startled group of natives, the core behavior of the group seemed to be just that… surprise. SG1 had quickly found themselves at the centre of a wide circle. Then Sam had spoken, and immediately Daniel had sensed the formation of a latent tension, the curious surprise seemingly widening to include more than just a touch of nervousness. With Jack’s longer speech Daniel had noted a definite shift in attitude, and not for the better. Now Teal’c had just gotten a very definitive response, and Daniel needed a moment to piece together his own impressions. His first impression had been that these people needed to be approached cautiously, slowly, with great discretion. There was something about the way they had initially looked at SG1… surprise, a touch of wariness, but also with a mixture of what seemed to be incredulity and confusion, as well. They had not seemed afraid, though, at first… and Daniel had found himself confused at the enigmatic expressions facing him, at the intense gazes that continually, repeatedly, traveled up and down his entire body. It was almost as though they were trying to figure out some sort of very challenging and very important puzzle… But then his teammates had spoken, and the elusive but entrancing mixture of expressions that he was struggling to interpret had swiftly mutated into more familiar ones of anxiety and fear. He thought back to another world, where they had encountered the body-painted, androgynous non-vocal alien race which they had almost killed off in error. Daniel had spoken at one of them right off the bat – a simple ‘Hi’ – and the response he had gotten had taught him a lesson. Since that time, unless there was a dire need to establish immediate verbal communication Daniel tended to hold off for a few moments and let the people they met on new worlds get used to his physical presence before he spoke. That also gave him the chance to assess their response to that presence, to decide on the best way to initiate more formal contact. The rest of SG1 knew that, now. He supposed he could forgive Sam her faux pas, though. It wasn’t every day that they emerged from the Stargate to find themselves immediately encircled by close to fifty totally naked, completely hairless but all the same completely human aliens. In fact, it wasn’t anyday that that happened… until today. And these natives were definitely about as human as they could get… it wasn’t hard to see that. With some embarrassment Daniel was suddenly aware that he had been staring at the particularly well endowed young woman who stood directly opposite him… who was also staring at him, although without any of the earthy appreciation he now realized he had been feeling. He felt his face flush and as he quickly looked away he thought he saw her eyes widen. He turned his attention back the native who had approached them. The man stood there, wringing his hands together in what now was clearly a universal expression of apprehension. The rest of SG1, Daniel found, were getting restless; he was the subject of numerous quick, sharp glances. Then an elbow abruptly impacted his side, and Jack hissed at him. "Well? How long are we going to just stand here?" The native man jumped, but held his ground. Conscious of the need to avoid showing his teeth, Daniel spread his lips into as widely benign a smile as possible, and muttered under his breath to Jack. "You should watch your tone of voice, you know. And I don’t think you guys should do any more talking for the moment." But Jack was, after all, Jack. "Oh yeah? So who’s going to do it, then? I don’t like being surrounded and it seems like you’re on strike or something…." Okay, fine, then. Daniel firmly pasted the benign smile in place, and took a few steps forward. The response was instantaneous… the native yelled, jumped backwards, and an excited babble rose from the others. Daniel looked in surprise at the frightened faces and many upraised arms and fingers that were pointed in Teal’c’s direction. Then it hit him. These people were all dark-skinned, just like Teal’c… and they were all very much hairless, over their entire bodies; bald-headed, just like Teal’c. "Teal’c… can you…" It was really hard to talk while trying to hold a face-splitting toothless smile in place. Daniel gave it up for a lost cause and dropped the smile. "Can you please slowly sidle on over here… uhh, but don’t talk just yet, okay?" As Teal’c moved to obey, the group around them shuffled nervously. Daniel put his hands out, palms up, to his sides and indicated that Teal’c should do the same. "I think they’ve never seen light-skinned people before… and probably not people with heads full of hair, either. They seem to identify a little better with you than with me." Teal’c was there next to him now, one hand palm out in front of him, the other still gripping his staff weapon. Seeming encouraged, the group’s apparent spokesman once again inched forward out of the crowd. Facing Daniel and Teal’c, the man once again spoke, this time waving his hands not only in front of his face, but also up and down in front of his own chest. "Okay… Teal’c, point to yourself and say your name…" Daniel was whispering, trying to keep his voice audible only to Teal’c for the time being. These people seemed much more accepting of the Jaffa than of the rest of SG1. Teal’c complied, pointing to his own chest as he clearly enunciated his name. Daniel felt gratified when the native repeated the gesture, stepping forward and pointing at Teal’c’s chest. His gratification changed to outright excitement when the man, still pointing at Teal’c’s chest, boldly stepped forward until he was within touching distance and abruptly, loudly, uttered a passable imitation of Teal’c’s name. Despite himself, Daniel grinned widely and he felt his head nodding vehemently. The native appeared a bit taken aback, but he stayed where he was. Slowly, with great caution, the man pointed at Daniel’s chest. "Teelik?" Daniel shook his head. He pointed to his own chest, and said "Daniel", then pointed to the native and asked "You?" The native backed away with a look of surprise, then paused. He twisted around and chattered for a moment with members of his group, before turning back to Daniel. The man patted his own chest with his hands, shook his head, and looked at Daniel with an expression Daniel was very familiar with… it was one of Jack’s favorites, after all. With a raised eyebrow and sardonic twist of the lips, it was an expression which said, in no uncertain terms, that the person on it’s receiving end must be totally and completely crazy. Daniel was quite disappointed when the native turned away, directing his full attention back to Teal’c, once again pointing to the Jaffa’s chest and confidently repeating the local equivalent of the Jaffa’s name. But then the native did a curious thing. He pointed to Teal’c’s chest, then to Teal’c’s feet, and then to Teal’c’s face and repeated the name, but as an interrogative this time… "Teelik??" Confused, Daniel shrugged at Teal’c, and the Jaffa confirmed it, pointing first at his own chest and then his face while saying his own name. The native nodded with a satisfied look, and Daniel was aware of a murmur of approval passing through the crowd. He heard Teal’c’s name mentioned by many different voices. This was… strange. Daniel wasn’t entirely sure just what the natives had gleaned from this conversation, but at least they had demonstrated the ability to understand individual identity and make an association between Teal’c and the verbal designation which was his name. It was disturbing, though, that the man had not demonstrated the same facility with regards to Daniel himself. He wondered if it might have something to do with his appearance; perhaps his pale skin and hair were so foreign that it would take more time for the natives to feel confident enough to acknowledge him. Suddenly, Daniel thought of his glasses. Perhaps his glasses – certainly as foreign an object on this world as there ever would be – contributed enough to their perception that he was dissimilar to Teal’c, and to themselves, that they posed an impediment to the natives accepting him. Daniel reached up and whipped the glasses off his face. Bedlam. Total bedlam erupted. The man who stood not three feet in front of Daniel abruptly let out a blood curdling scream and leaped backwards. In his haste to get away, he fell over his own feet and lay on the ground, pointing up at Daniel, repeatedly screaming "Dinel ! Dinel !" The people immediately in front of Daniel gaped at him with horrified expressions on their faces before they too attempted to run, screaming like banshees, out of his immediate vicinity. Daniel was stunned. However, even with all the fuss, as the panic spread like wildfire through the crowd and SG1 found themselves at the centre of total chaos, one small still-working part of Daniel’s intellect acknowledged that the native had, after all, made a correct association between Daniel’s spoken name and his individual identity. In short order, SG1 was once again surrounded, but this time by a terrified mob of shaking naked bodies whose hands wielded rather large and ominous-looking rocks and sharp sticks. "So, guess it wasn’t you that wrote the book on how to impress people and make friends, Daniel?" Clearly, Jack was not impressed, nor feeling very friendly. He hefted his MP5, slowly fanning it around the circle. With dismay, Daniel noticed that Sam was doing the same thing, and that Teal’c had raised his staff. Daniel looked around him at the threatening gestures of the native people, at the outright fear on their faces, at the incongruously almost humorous weaving, bouncing and bobbing of their various unencumbered anatomical parts. What had happened? Surely he hadn’t done anything that would cause such tremendous upset? All he did was to remo… Ooooo… remooove his glasses… Daniel’s heart leapt to his throat and his eyes grew wide as his agile mind made one of those great intuitive leaps for which he was well known. All of a sudden, the implications of the extreme reaction to that seemingly inoffensive gesture hit home, and Daniel understood not only the full context of the alien’s interaction with himself and Teal’c, but also just what was behind that odd mixture of emotions which he had seen on the natives’ faces immediately upon their arrival. Okay, okay… reminding himself not to jump to conclusions too quickly – which was something else Daniel knew he had a reputation for – Daniel figured he had best hurry up and test out his theory before someone got killed here. Slowly, he bent forward, reaching as far out in front of himself as possible without actually taking a step forward, and gently placed his glasses on the ground. He stepped back a few paces. It only took a moment. She came out of the crowd, taking small hesitant steps, her body held in a hunched-over, self-protective, somewhat self-conscious posture, her eyes averted. Daniel recognized her to be the young woman who had been in front of him just a few moments ago, before… before he had inadvertently – stupidly – scared the heebie-jeebies out of everyone. Other members of her community hissed urgently at her, desperately gesturing for her to stop, to back away, to leave it alone… Daniel mentally crossed all of his fingers and toes. This time, as he stared at her it was with full knowledge of what he was doing. He really needed her to look at him, to look at his face, at his eyes. Still with her eyes averted, she reached out with her stick toward the glasses. Tentatively, the stick came forward, closer, closer… then back a little, then forward… closer… Daniel felt an almost uncontrollable urge to shout ‘go, girl… go!’ He sucked it in. And then she was there, prodding the glasses with the tip of the stick. It was so quiet that Daniel could hear the faint ‘tink’ of the stick tapping on the glass of one lens. Her whole body was tense, as rigid as the crude weapon she held, instantly ready for either fight or flight. She seemed surprised when the glasses, in response to her pokes, did… nothing. She gave them a stronger poke, pushing them a few inches across the dirt, and then – oh God, finally – brought her eyes up to Daniel’s face. She stared at him, searching his face carefully, her own expression one of intense thoughtfulness. Daniel sensed increasing interest on the part of the group surrounding them, and an unfortunate corresponding increase in the tension of his teammates, but he didn’t dare take his attention off the young woman; to turn his eyes away now might disturb her concentration. He desperately hoped she could understand… Abruptly, she raised the stick high and with a huge outburst reminiscent of the battle cry from the movie Lawrence of Arabia she leapt forward, attacking the poor defenseless pair of glasses with all the animated aggression and zeal of a WWF wrestler going in for the kill. Quickly, Daniel spread his arms wide to either side of him in an attempt to restrain his friends. But he need not have bothered. The fierce attack didn’t last long; the hapless glasses succumbed quickly and the threat was over almost as it had begun. Teal’c stood with one eyebrow raised, his mouth slightly open in surprise. Jack, his weapon held high and aimed right at the enticingly buxom victor of the battle of the century, simply grunted. "She… broke your glasses." Sam stared at Daniel. She repeated it. "She broke them." Apparently, Sam was so overcome by confusion that it seemed that was all she could think of to say. "She broke your glasses?" Daniel, though, was anything but confused. He felt his excitement well up again, and with an effort pushed it back down. He watched as the woman poked the smashed glasses, and then as she peered intently at his face. Slowly he brought his hands up to his face, to his eyes, and nodded at her with raised eyebrows, mouthing that it was okay... that everything was okay. She turned to look at her people, and abruptly scuttled away to join them. A conversation ensued, during which there appeared to be much disagreement, concerned shaking of heads, and arm waving. "Uh, Danny? You want to tell me why she attacked your glasses?" Jack was at his shoulder. "Yeah… she thought, well, see, I’m pretty sure they all think…" Daniel was interrupted by movement in front of him. The male who had acted as spokesman earlier was back. He approached Daniel and gestured first at his own head, and then at Daniel’s. "Dinel?" Daniel nodded, touching his own face and repeating his own name. The native took a deep breath, appearing to steel himself. Abruptly, he reached out and grabbed a fistful of Daniel’s hair and pulled, hard. It… hurt a lot. All in the very same instant, Daniel let out a sharp cry of pain and surprise, Jack leaped in front of him, and the native jerked his hand back and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him. "Daniel Jackson… he pulled your hair." Blinking furiously to clear his eyes of the tears that had sprung up from the sudden pain, Daniel sighed. "Yes, Teal’c, I know." He watched as the man huddled with others of the group, animatedly discussing their latest amazing discovery. "Uh, Daniel? Why… did he pull your hair?" Sam now had something else she could say. Jack was silent. Daniel turned to the Colonel, to find that expression staring at him. That one; the one that said that this was just far too weird to be tolerated, and it was all Daniel’s fault. That worried Daniel somewhat; if Jack thought this was weird now, he certainly wasn’t going to like what was probably yet to come. Opposite them, the huddle broke and a group of four natives, including the original male and the Vanquisher of the Glasses who Daniel had decided he would never wish to meet up with in a dark alley, cautiously approached. They didn’t seem very happy. They pointed at Teal’c, and then the woman jabbed a finger sharply toward Teal’c’s chest while indelicately manhandling her own attributes with her other hand. The male intoned loudly, firmly, "Teelik." At the precise moment that Teal’c nodded and pointed at his chest, saying equally as firmly "Teal’c", Daniel shook his head definitively and said "No". Surprised, all three members of SG1 turned and gaped at Daniel. Jack spoke first. "No? He’s not… himself?" The aliens, intelligent enough to know that they had just received two entirely different responses, looked more than just a little bit fed up. Daniel sympathized with them. Just when they thought they had it figured out, the very beings they were trying to understand couldn’t seem to give them a straight answer. He turned to face Jack, Teal’c, and Sam. "Look, just let me deal with this, okay? They don’t understand… they think…" "Uh, Daniel?" Sam was pointing behind him. Daniel turned to find himself face to face, up close and personal, with the female native. As soon as he was fully facing her, with a panicky look she quickly thrust out her hands at his chest, gave him a quick shove which send him staggering backwards, and immediately turned tail and ran. The male called out "Dinel?" as she did so. Daniel vehemently shook his head and waved his hands in a negative gesture. "Daniel… she, she pushed you… what’s going on?" Sam was getting into her stride now. The natives were getting restless. Daniel could sense their impatience, and their worry. The very desperation of that last act – it must have taken a lot for the woman to approach and actually touch him like that – told Daniel that he probably should clear up this misunderstanding sooner rather than later. "They don’t understand. They misunderstood who… actually, what, Teal’c and I were… now they’re confused and they’re trying to figure us out." Jack gave him the ‘you’re nuts’ look, the same one the alien had given him earlier. "Dannyboy, I’ve been trying to figure out what you are for over two years now. Want to explain that a little better?" Now wasn’t the time to stand around in discussion. The restlessness was rapidly turning into something more ominous. "Okay… look, they almost had us figured out and then we blew it when Teal’c and I each just told them something different. We need to show them that we’re okay… what they don’t know is threatening to them. You can see they’re getting more and more agitated and distrustful…" A rock sailed by. Abruptly, Daniel unzipped his vest and yanked it off, throwing it to the ground. The response was just as he expected. Half of the natives screeched in alarm, and the other half stopped whatever they were doing – which for the most part was readying their arsenal for deployment – and gaped at the vest. Daniel kicked at it and when it didn’t leap up and run around on it’s own, the two natives, the male and female, who had proven their mettle to this point approached the vest, once again tentatively poking with their sticks. Daniel forced a swallow past the lump that had formed in his throat, and stepped forward. He really wished there were another way to do this… Quickly, before he could lose his nerve, he stripped off his jacket and the t-shirt underneath in one convulsive movement and discarded the articles of clothing on the ground at his feet. He ignored Sam’s exclamation and shook off the sudden restraint of Jack’s hand on his arm. The female approached and jabbed at the new miracles which lay there in the dirt. Then she cautiously raised a shaking hand and touched Daniel’s chest. At first, it was the barest of touches, a quick tickle of warmth. Then she placed her hand flat on his chest, pushing at him. He stood his ground as she stared at him, and then was rewarded to see undeniable comprehension flood her face. She gave the clothing on the ground one last shove with her foot and turned to her companion, her hand still flush against Daniel’s chest, and jabbered excitedly. The male turned to Daniel; he had the same understanding in his eyes, but it was tempered with wariness. The man turned to Teal’c, and gestured first at Teal’c and then at Daniel. What the native wanted – more proof – was unmistakable. Daniel felt let down. Darn. The male wasn’t quite willing to take this at face value... but, Teal’c had a womb… Daniel glanced over to see Teal’c looking at him, silently asking, clearly knowing that his womb would cause some problems here. "Teal’c… don’t. Jack… take off your shirt." "What? Like hell." "Jack, please…" The hand on Daniel’s chest was removed and replaced with one on his upper arm… an alien male hand, strong; an almost painfully firm grasp… "Or maybe you’d like Sam to have to do it?" "Daniel… you’re cracked. What the hell is going…" "Jack… " Shit. The pressure on his arm increased. Daniel turned to the natives, and indicated himself, and then Teal’c, Sam, and Jack. "The same, we’re all the same…" The natives didn’t seem convinced, because Daniel was yanked forward and the varied collection of sticks and rocks came up. Jack’s voice, cold and menacing, warned the man to let go of Daniel’s arm. Double-darn. Daniel thought that Jack sure could be an ignorant pain in the butt sometimes. There was simply no choice now… Daniel knew he’d have to do it now… to convince these people that that there was nothing to fear… All right… all right… Daniel told himself to do it, just do it and get it over with… and hope to hell that he wasn’t wrong… Daniel let himself really feel his rising anger at Jack, he let that be his driving force as he squeezed his eyes shut and rapidly yanked his belt free, whipped his fly open, and with a great gulp and an almighty shove proved to these people that they were not some green and black many pocketed much armoured bizarre frightening alien race… And as he heard their gentle mutters of relief and approval and felt their hands all over him, he heard Carter as she finally got it. "Holy hannah! They didn’t know what our clothes were… they thought that when Daniel took off his glasses he ripped off… oh, wow… they thought our clothes were part of us… that we were some kind of creepy yucky spooky…" Daniel sighed, then almost bit through his lip as someone curiously yanked some hair where they shouldn’t. First contact was never easy.
Feel free to contact the author... Within
the context and limitations of the site Disclaimer, Any and All original
characters, situations, story line, dialogue and narrative
|