O’Neill liked Daniel. Sort of. He was a geek, sure, but dammit, he was likeable! Plus, he had saved O’Neill’s life, so he’d earned a few Brownie points for that. He had some good qualities, he was enthusiastic, determined, dedicated, and he knew a lot of stuff that came in handy among the people they met on their travels. Languages, local customs, that sort of thing. Having him on the team was a good thing. Mostly. If he could just learn to follow orders, that would help, but… Well, call it a work in progress.

So yes, O’Neill liked Daniel, he was almost sure of that. The main problem was, most of the time he couldn’t understand a word Doctor Jackson was saying. They spoke the same language, at least in theory, but even so, when Daniel talked, ninety percent of what he was saying seemed to go straight through O’Neill’s brain without finding anywhere to settle.

They came from totally different worlds. O’Neill was career military, while Daniel was so steeped in academia it practically oozed from him. Their differing life experiences were creating a communication barrier between them, and O’Neill had no idea how to overcome that. How could the team operate smoothly if two of its number spent most of their time lost in translation, trying to understand concepts they had no frame of reference for?

So far, they’d managed to muddle through, and everyone was still in one piece, but sooner or later, their communication issue was going to cause serious problems.

“Can’t you just speak plain English?”

Daniel stared at him, confused. “I thought I was.”

“No, you were speaking geek again.” O’Neill had managed to follow the first couple of sentences, but beyond that, comprehension had gone off the rails.

Taking his glasses off, Daniel rubbed at the bridge of his nose and sighed. “That’s how I always talk.”

“I know; that’s the problem. I need a translator. Flash cards. Something!”

“Stick figures? Pictograms?”

“If they’ll make what you’re saying make sense, sure, bring ‘em on.”

“I’ll try to simplify.”

“That’s all I’m asking.”


The End