Lost in the Desert with Chaka
Nothing looked familiar. They were truly and rightly lost on this planet. Daniel wasn't even sure which planet they had been dumped on. He'd woken up, not remembering how he got here or how he even got ambushed. Last thing he knew, he was investigating a group of ruins on a jungle type planet with the team.
This was as far from the jungle as one could get. There was desert and large rocks as far as the eye could see. They were in the shade of one of the larger rocks, the bluish type sun beating down on them.
Chaka's never even seen a desert before, so waking up here had been a shock, to say the least. However, Daniel's presence is somewhat reassuring - together, the two of them stand a better chance of surviving, and besides, he knows Daniel's clan is going to be looking for him.
When he checked Daniel over, he didn't seem to be injured - though, Chaka's attempts to wake him are met with a groan and an attempt to curl into a ball, so he figures it's probably better to leave Daniel in the shade to finish sleeping off... whatever was done to them; he doesn't have any more memory of how he ended up here than Daniel does. In the meantime, the top of the rock they're next to is the highest vantage point he can spot, so he climbs it to get a look around. At first, he doesn't see anything except more rocks and dust, but eventually, he notices something gleaming off in the distance - not diffuse, like a heat mirage; instead, it looks like highly polished glass or metal. It's going to be a hell of a walk to get there, though.
When he clambers back down, he notices Daniel is starting to come to. Immediately, Chaka's by his side.
"Daniel? Are you all right?"
Daniel squints as he tries to get himself into a sitting position, rubbing a hand over his face "...Chaka? What happened, how..." Switching over to Chaka's language, "How did we come here?"
Chaka helps him sit up; even though he knows humans can't shrug off - drugs? Zats? Probably the former, since he still can't remember most of the day before he found himself here - as easily as Unas, it's still difficult not to be unduly concerned
"I was hoping you remembered."
He looks back out at the desert.
"Have you been to this place before?"
Great. No way of knowing who brought them here...or where "here" was, for that matter. "Only remember waking here."
Daniel carefully gets to his feet, standing up on the sand under him as he looks around. It's unbearably hot and will probably get hotter, depending on how long a day lasts on this planet. He shades his eyes and looks around. "Looks a little like Abydos... Not Abydos though, no moons." He points up at the sky and lack of moons there.
Well, at least they've figured out where they're not - though, apparently, Daniel's spent time on a world like this before, so at least one of them has some idea of what to do when stranded in the middle of the desert.
And no signs of life nearby. I saw something on a hill off to the north-northeast, though - was shining like glass, (because they don't have the technology to make it, the Unas don't have a word for it) or maybe metal. Out here, it's likelier to be a crashed spaceship than anything that's actively inhabited, but either way, it might contain something useful.
"Did you? Where did you see it?" Daniel asks Chaka to point it out. They really should find some shelter from the sun. Heat stroke out here would prove fatal and who knew how far away sunset would be. "We should find some shade."
"I'll show you."
The rock is easier to climb on the other side, though that's not saying much. Chaka has to jump for the handhold, his claws gouging into the rock as he pulls himself up. Since it's obviously not a maneuver Daniel is going to be able to imitate, Chaka offers his hand to help him up.
"It looks like it's a ways off, though." He spots the gleam again, points it out. "There."
Daniel takes the hand up gratefully, not nearly as balanced as Chaka as he scrambles up the rock. He takes out a small pair of binoculars from his army vest and peers off in the direction indicated. He can just about make out a structure, though its difficult to tell if it's a ship or a building. Either would be good for keeping the sun off though.
"Far away, but we can make it. ...I hope."
"There's one way to find out."
He slides down off the rock, digging his claws in again to control his descent, and pauses to see if Daniel needs a hand.
"So who would have done this to us, and why?"
Chaka doesn't even know anyone who owns a spaceship - which is likeliest how they got here, given that there doesn't seem to be a stargate anywhere for miles - and he lives in one of the few backwaters the Lucian Alliance hasn't started invading yet, so the reason why they're here probably has nothing to do with him.
Daniel does better coming down than he did going up. "I'm not sure, they didn't even identify themselves." Which was a little disconcerting. There wasn't any evidence that they were being watched either. Which meant they possibly had been left here to die.
Daniel starts walking through the sand towards the object they had seen, hoping it will be shelter from the sun. He's not sure how Chaka's people do in extreme heat but he knows he probably won't last a day out here. It was hotter than Abydos by far.
Chaka probably won't fare much better than Daniel - the Unas are descended from a semiaquatic species, so he's much better adapted to cold and damp climates than hot and dry ones. Ordinarily, it would be better for them both to wait until nightfall to travel, if there was any guarantee that it would come; however, there's the very real possibility that the planet they're on is tidelocked.
"You remember getting a look at them?"
Chaka doesn't have any idea who they might be dealing with - though, he might at least be able to help talk Daniel through figuring it out.
Daniel shakes his head, keeping walking. This heat was unbearable. He pulls out a handkerchief, tying it over his head to keep some of the sun off. "Didn't see anyone."
He squints up at the bluish sun...odd for a sun to be blue. "Must be something in the atmosphere..." he mumbles to himself, not really sure if the Unas would understand anyway.
Their footprints side by side are the only tracks visible. The people who dumped them here must have been thorough in hiding their influence.
Chaka is already panting in the heat, his throat fluttering in an odd, completely inhuman way.
"Then I hope your clan can figure out who took us and where we are. Whatever the thing we're heading toward is, it doesn't look like a chappa'ai."
It's probable that there isn't even a stargate on this planet - the star's bluish color is typical of younger main sequence stars, meaning that the planet might not have even been remotely habitable at the time that the Ancients were placing them.
Daniel gives him a worried look at that noise, a hand to his arm. He hadn't heard him pant before, not like that. "You ok? Chaka?"
He has sweat dripping off of him as he walks. The object they're walking towards is starting to look a little bigger, waves of heat obscuring it from being seen completely.
"I'm fine."
Like humans, Unas are endotherms; however, unlike humans, they don't sweat. Instead, convergent evolution has left them with a set of thermoregulatory mechanisms more similar to those of birds than mammals. The way he's flexing his hyoid draws air across his mucous membranes, dispersing more heat by evaporation than just panting would.
"What about you? You're losing a lot of water."
There are a few other species on Chaka's planet that do sweat, though - and most of them, he's hunted before - so it isn't something that's completely alien to him.
Good to know he was ok. Daniel mops his brow with a sleeve, a smile across his face. "Yes, I know, it helps cool me off. Only have to worry if I stop, er, losing water."
That object in the distance sure doesn't seem like it's gotten any closer. Daniel checks his watch out of habit, hm it's nighttime on Earth.
Chaka is still dubious - he's never seen any creature sweat that profusely before - but Daniel is a lot more knowledgeable about what's within normal parameters in this climate for humans than he is.
He glances over when he sees Daniel checking his watch - Chaka may not know how to read it, but he does know what it's used for.
"About how long has it been since we were taken?"
This was as far from the jungle as one could get. There was desert and large rocks as far as the eye could see. They were in the shade of one of the larger rocks, the bluish type sun beating down on them.
Chaka's never even seen a desert before, so waking up here had been a shock, to say the least. However, Daniel's presence is somewhat reassuring - together, the two of them stand a better chance of surviving, and besides, he knows Daniel's clan is going to be looking for him.
When he checked Daniel over, he didn't seem to be injured - though, Chaka's attempts to wake him are met with a groan and an attempt to curl into a ball, so he figures it's probably better to leave Daniel in the shade to finish sleeping off... whatever was done to them; he doesn't have any more memory of how he ended up here than Daniel does. In the meantime, the top of the rock they're next to is the highest vantage point he can spot, so he climbs it to get a look around. At first, he doesn't see anything except more rocks and dust, but eventually, he notices something gleaming off in the distance - not diffuse, like a heat mirage; instead, it looks like highly polished glass or metal. It's going to be a hell of a walk to get there, though.
When he clambers back down, he notices Daniel is starting to come to. Immediately, Chaka's by his side.
"Daniel? Are you all right?"
Daniel squints as he tries to get himself into a sitting position, rubbing a hand over his face "...Chaka? What happened, how..." Switching over to Chaka's language, "How did we come here?"
Chaka helps him sit up; even though he knows humans can't shrug off - drugs? Zats? Probably the former, since he still can't remember most of the day before he found himself here - as easily as Unas, it's still difficult not to be unduly concerned
"I was hoping you remembered."
He looks back out at the desert.
"Have you been to this place before?"
Great. No way of knowing who brought them here...or where "here" was, for that matter. "Only remember waking here."
Daniel carefully gets to his feet, standing up on the sand under him as he looks around. It's unbearably hot and will probably get hotter, depending on how long a day lasts on this planet. He shades his eyes and looks around. "Looks a little like Abydos... Not Abydos though, no moons." He points up at the sky and lack of moons there.
Well, at least they've figured out where they're not - though, apparently, Daniel's spent time on a world like this before, so at least one of them has some idea of what to do when stranded in the middle of the desert.
And no signs of life nearby. I saw something on a hill off to the north-northeast, though - was shining like glass, (because they don't have the technology to make it, the Unas don't have a word for it) or maybe metal. Out here, it's likelier to be a crashed spaceship than anything that's actively inhabited, but either way, it might contain something useful.
"Did you? Where did you see it?" Daniel asks Chaka to point it out. They really should find some shelter from the sun. Heat stroke out here would prove fatal and who knew how far away sunset would be. "We should find some shade."
"I'll show you."
The rock is easier to climb on the other side, though that's not saying much. Chaka has to jump for the handhold, his claws gouging into the rock as he pulls himself up. Since it's obviously not a maneuver Daniel is going to be able to imitate, Chaka offers his hand to help him up.
"It looks like it's a ways off, though." He spots the gleam again, points it out. "There."
Daniel takes the hand up gratefully, not nearly as balanced as Chaka as he scrambles up the rock. He takes out a small pair of binoculars from his army vest and peers off in the direction indicated. He can just about make out a structure, though its difficult to tell if it's a ship or a building. Either would be good for keeping the sun off though.
"Far away, but we can make it. ...I hope."
"There's one way to find out."
He slides down off the rock, digging his claws in again to control his descent, and pauses to see if Daniel needs a hand.
"So who would have done this to us, and why?"
Chaka doesn't even know anyone who owns a spaceship - which is likeliest how they got here, given that there doesn't seem to be a stargate anywhere for miles - and he lives in one of the few backwaters the Lucian Alliance hasn't started invading yet, so the reason why they're here probably has nothing to do with him.
Daniel does better coming down than he did going up. "I'm not sure, they didn't even identify themselves." Which was a little disconcerting. There wasn't any evidence that they were being watched either. Which meant they possibly had been left here to die.
Daniel starts walking through the sand towards the object they had seen, hoping it will be shelter from the sun. He's not sure how Chaka's people do in extreme heat but he knows he probably won't last a day out here. It was hotter than Abydos by far.
Chaka probably won't fare much better than Daniel - the Unas are descended from a semiaquatic species, so he's much better adapted to cold and damp climates than hot and dry ones. Ordinarily, it would be better for them both to wait until nightfall to travel, if there was any guarantee that it would come; however, there's the very real possibility that the planet they're on is tidelocked.
"You remember getting a look at them?"
Chaka doesn't have any idea who they might be dealing with - though, he might at least be able to help talk Daniel through figuring it out.
Daniel shakes his head, keeping walking. This heat was unbearable. He pulls out a handkerchief, tying it over his head to keep some of the sun off. "Didn't see anyone."
He squints up at the bluish sun...odd for a sun to be blue. "Must be something in the atmosphere..." he mumbles to himself, not really sure if the Unas would understand anyway.
Their footprints side by side are the only tracks visible. The people who dumped them here must have been thorough in hiding their influence.
Chaka is already panting in the heat, his throat fluttering in an odd, completely inhuman way.
"Then I hope your clan can figure out who took us and where we are. Whatever the thing we're heading toward is, it doesn't look like a chappa'ai."
It's probable that there isn't even a stargate on this planet - the star's bluish color is typical of younger main sequence stars, meaning that the planet might not have even been remotely habitable at the time that the Ancients were placing them.
Daniel gives him a worried look at that noise, a hand to his arm. He hadn't heard him pant before, not like that. "You ok? Chaka?"
He has sweat dripping off of him as he walks. The object they're walking towards is starting to look a little bigger, waves of heat obscuring it from being seen completely.
"I'm fine."
Like humans, Unas are endotherms; however, unlike humans, they don't sweat. Instead, convergent evolution has left them with a set of thermoregulatory mechanisms more similar to those of birds than mammals. The way he's flexing his hyoid draws air across his mucous membranes, dispersing more heat by evaporation than just panting would.
"What about you? You're losing a lot of water."
There are a few other species on Chaka's planet that do sweat, though - and most of them, he's hunted before - so it isn't something that's completely alien to him.
Good to know he was ok. Daniel mops his brow with a sleeve, a smile across his face. "Yes, I know, it helps cool me off. Only have to worry if I stop, er, losing water."
That object in the distance sure doesn't seem like it's gotten any closer. Daniel checks his watch out of habit, hm it's nighttime on Earth.
Chaka is still dubious - he's never seen any creature sweat that profusely before - but Daniel is a lot more knowledgeable about what's within normal parameters in this climate for humans than he is.
He glances over when he sees Daniel checking his watch - Chaka may not know how to read it, but he does know what it's used for.
"About how long has it been since we were taken?"