Wavelength, by Nanda (PG)
Rec Category: Teamy goodness
Pairing: none
Category: team, gen, humor, action/adventure
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: nandamai
Author's Website: Nanda's Lament
Link: Wavelength
Why This Must Be Read: I love early S1 team fics, when they're still fitting themselves together and they possess that special wonder about their explorations through the Stargate. In this wonderfully original fic by Nanda, written for the sg1teamficathon, the team meets their first ever real aliens - and run into a little trouble along the way.
There's some great team moments as they carefully assess the situation and try their best to communicate, including the hilarious conclusion that poker-faced Teal'c is actually better for the job than open-faced, smiling Daniel. Stick figures, insect delicacies, speech outside the range of human hearing... and the final universal conclusion, that they're obviously doing this job because it's fun.
Teamy goodness. There's nothing like it. :)
“Beetles,” she said. “I think they’ve been grilled.”
And didn’t that sound wonderful. “Let me guess,” Jack said. “Anthropologists eat the local cuisine, too?”
Daniel shoved more stew and bread into his mouth. “Well, they do.” He leaned toward Carter, took out one of the bugs, and tossed it in his mouth. It sounded crunchy. “Deep fried grasshoppers are a common snack in Thailand.”
“I so did not need to know that,” Jack said. He noticed that Teal’c had made no move toward dinner.
Carter handed her bug to Daniel and turned her attention to the other bowl. “I don’t think I did, either, Daniel,” she said.
“Caterpillars are a staple in central Africa.”
This conversation was getting more disturbing by the second. “Okay, I definitely did not need to know that. Thank you for the culinary lesson, Daniel. Let us never speak of it again.”
Daniel grinned and took another bug. “It looked like an important dish, Jack, the way he placed it. It would be rude to leave it untouched.”
“There’s your assignment, then,” Jack said. “Eat up. Unless Teal’c is -”
“I am not.”
“They’re really not bad, guys,” Daniel insisted.
Carter was rapt, staring at Daniel. He offered her a bug. “Maybe next time,” she said.
Jack had a troublesome feeling that there would be a next time. Lots of next times, even. He probably should have thought of that, and many, many other things, before he signed the dotted line.
The vegetable mush wasn’t bad, though. Jack made Teal’c eat some, too, and they all shared the water. Luckily, Daniel had kept a few purification tablets in his vest.
Jack got them all back on topic as they finished the bread. “So. Any ideas on how to communicate with them?”
“Sign language?” Carter said.
Daniel shook his head. “I’m afraid we’d come up against some other body language issue we don’t know about.”
“Perhaps we could draw in the dirt,” Teal’c said.
“What if they have a prohibition against writing, like on Abydos?” Daniel asked.
“They might,” Carter admitted. “I don’t think we have a lot of options, though.”
Jack agreed with her. “Daniel, how long would it take you to learn the basics of Squeak?”