Title: Dry as Dust #4/100
Fandoms: Stargate SG-1/Bones #2 of 2
Sequel to "The Thunderstones"
Characters: Temperance Brennan and Seely Booth (Bones)
Original SG-1 Team
Prompt # 84 dry
Dry as Dust by Karen
Temperance Brown had seen bones, many, many bones throughout her career as first an antrhopologist and later as in the foreseniscs crime lab of the
FBI; but she had never seen fozziled remains preserved with this degree of perfection as these.
Embedded into the hilt of the spear as well as used as a design motif for several daggers and long swords was the coiled form of some kind of heavy-bodided snake with a neck that stretehed out like a fan.
Curious and a little disturbing. The weird thing about the bones was the fact that those little snaky desings cropped up in the bones as well. That definitely should not happen, even to people dead and gone centuries ago.
She had run the carbon dating computer model on them so many times than she could recite the data gathered in her sleep.
Which should be more than enough to submit a report and put this case to bed, so to speak, so why then is she is still not satisfied to release the information and the dusty old relics to the dispatched team of Airforce officers. Something does not add up here, and she wishes she could so readily figure out exactly what that something is.
She's worked with Seely Booth long enough to know that he is as anxious as she is to get the answers to their questions, but not to the point where he is breathing down her neck trying to read the data over her shoulder.
It's an annoying habit of his that she told him when they first met that she would not put with, and he did as she asked.
"Anything yet, doc," he interrupted, with that annoying, knowing grin, 'Cause by my watch inquiring minds want to know' stage went by over an hour ago."
"Actually, yes," she replied. "I was just considering the best way to phrase this. Were you ever a sci-fi fan before going into law enforcment?"
"Yeah, but that's just between me and you."
"Well, have I got an eye-opener for you. I finished running the carbon dating and all the other tests on the bones and artifacts we found in those caves."
"And? Booth prompted, noting the fine lines in furrowing her brow.
"And that spear is giving off a lot more kinetic energy than it should ever since Colonel O'Neill put his hands on it. Weird and puzzling don't even begin to cover it."
"Maybe they know something we don't." Booth suggested it causally before it finally clicked inside of his head what bothered him most about the entire assignment as well as the military officers.
"They're playing it way to cool, withoholding information about bones and rocks, and I don't like it."
"I assume that means you want to get to the bottom of whatever it is that they're hiding from us?" Brennan said.
"You read my mind." He smiled.
"Well, I don't think the Airforce, no matter what kind of
secret project they're running out in Colorado would go to all this trouble for a bunch of Dark Ages Celtic artifacts."
"Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't at least one member of the team they sent some kind of Egyptian archaelogist, at least I remmeber reading that in the file they sent over to the main office."
"Yeah, that would be Doctor Daniel Jackson, and he's got credentials in other fields such as lignuists and antrhopology. I knew I recognized that face from somewhere. It's been a while, though."
"What did you mean about the sci-fi part. I don't know much about the Celts, but I do know that they were good at making tools, weapons, and other stuff. But not to the point where it merit the rating of alien tech, right?"
"I would think that, also, if not for the weird energy readings I'm getting off of this stuff. So, folks, your guess is as good as mine right now." Dr. Brennan shook her head, peeled off her white plastic lab gloves and wiped her brow with the back of her hand.
"Those energy readings, are they dangerous?" Booth asked.
"No, no," Brennan muttered, "jus very puzzling."
Meanwhile Colonel Jack O'Neill and his team sat cooling their heels in room dubbed 'the Waiting Place, which was essentially a small staff break currently empty of all occupants except for them.
"For crying out loud," O'Neill muttered, "What is taking them so damn long?"
"Relax, sir," Major Carter said, "Look on the bright side, at least if anything does go wrong, or they start asking questions, we'll be covered that we followed the procedures that they asked of us."
"Remind me again why Hammond wanted us to find thse artifacts?"
"Because the Tok'ra believed them to be connected to the Gou'ald and they want them retrieved."
"Right..." O'Neill replied, "Much more of this I think I'm going to start breaking out the lyrics to "Somewhere over the rainbow."
"Ah, let's not, Sir," Carter haistly said.
"Why not?" Teal'C asked.
"One, because Jack can't sing, Teal'C," Carter said, "Two, because I've heard that song one two many times that I can recite it in my sleep. And three, giving these Feds the impression that we're crazy is not going to help our chances of getting out of here with the artificats."
"You know, when she's right, she's right." Daniel smiled.
Jack groaned. "Don't have to tell me twice."
"They are our allies, after all, Jack. And looking at from thier perspective it's not such an unreasonable request. I'd like another look at that spear myself," Doctor Jackson added.
"Not now, Daniel," O'Neill said.
At that moment both agents entered the room, the former carrying a printed out sheaf of doucments, the latter carrying a box with a sample of the bones that held the embedded snake design in his arms.
"Well, well, here we are." Booth announced. "Let me get right to the point there seems to be a failure to communicate between our departments, which is fine, we're in law enforcment and you're in the buisness of protecting our country. "
Seeley Booth had just opened his mouth to add a stinging rubke for keeping him, his partner and department in the dark when he paused and noticed that the big fellow, Teal'c's hat had slipped down on his head to show the top of his forehead. Etched into the skin there was a large golden sigil in a script that he had never seen before. "Okay, that's different'' he thought.
"I fail to see the point," Teal'C interrupted.
"Its his way of getting us to 'fess up and tell him what makes those bones in the box so important," Carter said.
"We must not!" Teal'C lurched to his feet and shoute: "We cannot risk the chance of the weapons might fall into the the wrong hands or gain the knowledge of how to weild them reaching our enemies."
"Dude, you have got to stop doing that," Daniel said.
"Weapons?" Dr. Brennan echoed.
"Uh, Dr. Brennan, he just means the ancient weapons, you having historical and monetary value, you know how it is," Daniel began.
"I don't think I buy that any more than you do, Doctor Jackson. Why don't you try the truth for a chance, hmm?"
"I don't know about this," Daniel whispered.
Look, the truth is we need the stuff more than you do right now, and we need to get out of here as soon as possible," Jack said.
"And yeah, they're weapons, and I don't care how old they are. The entire truth behind why and how we
learned about them is classfied, and I don't think you'd
believe us if we told you everything and we can't."
"Look, if you want your boss to contact our boss, fine and
dandy, but like Colonel O'Neill said, we're just not at
liberty to reveal everything we know or suspect about the
weapons," Carter added.
"I just might." Booth shrgged and set the box down on one
of the tables. "I changed my mind, I really don't want to
know the full details of what you folks are ut to. Just take the stuff and get the hell out of my sight."
"I don't like it, but I guess I can live with it," Brennan
said. "I'd hate to take the fallout if this decision backfires on me, so whatever happens I don't want learn that they're beingb used for the wrong reasons, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Ma'am." Jack nodded.
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