theliar | transition into the future (for not_a

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transition into the future (for not_a_conartist)

[[continued from this log]]

Vala bit back a pontiff smile, because if there was anything a con artist knew, it was not to give away all of her secrets right away. She tried to remember the Earth saying Mitchell had taught her; "Don't show all your cards." Vala would, most decidedly, be keeping her cards away from Neal for a while.

It was funny, in a quaint sort of way, how humans had all these hang ups about time travel and whatnot. Vala learned quickly that the SGC was far from the ordinary, and most humans didn't have half the idea how utterly insignificant they were in the scheme of the universe. It was absolutely endearing.

"Come along," she chirped, turning back to the door. "We should drop by my room and pick up some supplies. After all, we don't know what we're getting into, and the first step to adventure is to always be prepared."

Mostly, Vala wanted to make sure she had everything she needed in the case that there was something shiny, rare and/or valuable that she may need to, er, liberate. "Some water," she chatted idly, "a first aid kit. And, oh, some of those delicious granola bars from the kitchen. Have you tried those? They're really good."

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Neal smiled and nodded. Well, they'd managed to come to some kind of conclusion that seemed to hang in the air between two innocent people. Too bad Neal was hardly innocent. His body was relaxed and whatever that planet had tried to do on their exit seemed cured. A small panel on the wall lit up near them, indicating that he would be eligible for medical release in two hours.

"Well... that's certainly impressive. Space hospitals are pretty nice..."

Drugs or not, that sentence sounded like it had been said by a madman, at least in Neal's ears. He'd missed out on his ascent into space and spent the entirety of the trip unconscious. It didn't seem like a fair break and he was admittedly a little disappointed. When he voiced this, it wasn't an act.

"Seems pretty unfair I didn't even see a moment of my first... space flight. Guess we'll have to try again when I'm not dying all over the floor."

Vala looked happily at the message. Granted, it hadn't given her quite as much time as she'd hoped; she had wanted a chance to get a closer look at the space station while Neal healed up. Mostly in hopes of finding some loot.

But she would settle for what she had, and if it meant heading out in 2 hours, she would deal with it. "Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to make up for it. I don't think we have to go back to the castle if we don't want to."

There was certainly nothing keeping her there. With Daniel gone and the only other friend she had made right there with her, she didn't feel any obligation to go back.

"When you are feeling up to it, we could go look out a window if you want."

"After what I went through for us to get away from that... place... Just... pass." Neal shook his head. Like Hell he'd be going back. "Wonder if I get to meet an alien..."

Though he'd glimpsed a few alien life forms before they'd taken off, his attentions had mostly been on Vala when they arrived. Once the con started, Neal had to force himself to turn off the curiosity until the job was done. Now, it was seeming like the job was done, though they didn't have much of a direction of where to go moving forward.

"Oh, so there are windows. Good... wasn't sure."

After the light flashed again, there was another message in English.

Proceed to 738-42 for accommodations while patient Caffrey, Neal recovers.

"Wow... People in the future sure are generous..." he observed. Later, after the drugs, it would bother him.

She was about to inform him happily that he had already met an alien when his train of thought continued and then they were both distracted by the new message. Confused, Vala stared at the screen.

"A little too generous," she muttered. She didn't like this - the longer they had to stick around, the more likely it was that someone would start asking questions she and Neal hadn't scripted answers to. Maybe she should go over, explain patiently that this was all a mistake and it was better for them to move along.

And if that didn't work, a little walk would help her plan a quick escape route, too.

"No one mentioned accommodations to me," she told him, honestly. She started to stand up. "I'll go speak with them and see what's going on."

Edited 2011-11-15 06:03 (UTC)

There wasn't another messaged, besides the continually illuminated time until his release and where they could go to after that happened. It was a good thing Vala's sharp mind was on the details while Neal was under the weather. If they'd walked into a set-up and he'd missed it, he would have been furious with himself. When she moved to go outside, there was an expectant nurse walking by. It was was if she was used to the questions Vala had yet to ask.

"It's just part of our system. You don't have to worry, no one will bother you except in case Mr. Caffrey requires medical assistance," came her almost drone like response. She clearly had better things to do than bother to explain more details to yet another person who had arrived without the introductory speech.

Meanwhile, Neal was starting to doze unintentionally. There wasn't much he could do to help her, and he was relatively sure any attempts he'd make would be botched until he was under his own volition once more.

Vala didn't get much more out of her conversation with the nurse than that. But, for the most part, she started to suspect it really was just standard protocol. She wouldn't let her guard down, that was for sure; but it seemed silly to turn down such good hospitality when given the opportunity.

Rounding back into the med bay, Vala paused for a moment and watched Neal nod off. She leaned against a doorway and crossed her arms. In all honesty, she really did feel bad about him being in this situation, and she couldn't deny that it was her fault. A lifetime ago, she wouldn't have hesitated to leave with or without him, if it meant she could get off the space station and away. Working for the SGC had given her a rather strange idea of loyalty, and she just couldn't imagine abandoning Neal to whatever the space station fated him to.

So it was in that moment that she, apparently, decided she wasn't going anywhere without him. Sometimes, she really hated being a good person.

"We're staying here tonight," she told him.

Neal had just started to slip into drug induced dreams. It was one of those 'waking reality' type of dreams that had him back on Earth, in the 2000s, trying to recapture something long gone. When Vala's voice pierced through his dream state, he was awake again, trying to recall whatever it was he'd been dreaming about to no avail.

His eyes fixed on Vala across the room and Neal was embarrassed to admit to himself that he had no idea how long she'd been standing there.

"Are the 'accomodations'" he added some air quotes as he'd done at the castle, just for Vala, with a grin, "to your liking or are we about to be... dinner. If aliens celebrate dinner..."

Vala laughed and moved back to sit in the chair, crossing her legs and leaning back casually. She was still a little on edge, but she suspected acting like she didn't have a care in the world would help put Neal to ease.

"Don't worry, these don't look the types of aliens who eat people." Or burn them alive or take their bodies to be unwilling hosts by false gods. All of which were perks in Vala's book. "The nurse wasn't very forthcoming, but maybe when we check in they'll have a brochure..." Her only concern was that these people had any affiliation with the planet they left. But even if they did, all Vala and Neal had to do was maintain their lie, stall any complex questions and leave as soon as possible. She just hoped he was up for the challenge.

"Don't worry, these don't look the types of aliens who eat people." Or burn them alive or take their bodies to be unwilling hosts by false gods. All of which were perks in Vala's book. "The nurse wasn't very forthcoming, but maybe when we check in they'll have a brochure..." Her only concern was that these people had any affiliation with the planet they left. But even if they did, all Vala and Neal had to do was maintain their lie, stall any complex questions and leave as soon as possible. She just hoped he was up for the challenge.

It was probably better that Vala kept that last part about body possession to herself. Neal was adjusting uncommonly well, as he often did, but the details of the nastier things in the universe were something he could have been spared until he was recovered. When his counterpart suggested a brochure, he laughed just a little.

"Do they even have paper? I mean... in the future, or space, or wherever... Are we in the future?"

Though he couldn't believe he was asking these questions, and it wasn't under the duress of injury, he wanted the information. It was a little daunting thinking they might not only be thousands of miles from earth but years as well. If he needed to adjust, now was the time. Neal didn't want to wait on the bad news.

Vala just laughed. "I am fairly certain we are in the future. But you're probably right... I'm sure they've progressed to using something much more ecologically friendly like data pads or something."

She'd seen quite a few advanced races in her time; even if Earth tended to be on the more technologically advanced side of the scale, there were a number of planets where the humans had evolved at a quicker pace. Daniel had always seemed to suspect that, unhindered, Earth technology would have evolved in more or less in the same direction, and Vala had ventured to agree with him on that count. In a way, she felt like she had seen Earth's future during her number of adventures, and this space station didn't seem to venture too far from her expectations.

"I imagine this must be a little strange for you. I don't know how easily I'd believe it myself, if I hadn't already been to other planets. Time travel is a first for me, though." Well, more or less.

"A little strange is an understatement," he said, starting to sound just the slightest bit more coherent. "But after the castle I'm starting to think either I've gone mad and I'm committed. If not that, well then I have to believe my own eyes right?"

Neal Caffrey was definitely the type of guy who was fully subscribed to 'seeing is believing.' He could count the number of people he trusted on half of one hand and even then he still kept many secrets. There was no one Neal trusted more than himself, so if he was experiencing it the con artist had no choice but to believe.

"If I'm cray though, at least my subconscious has given me a very attractive fake wife?" Neal looked amused. "Though I'm not real sure where said subconscious would have invented that accent. I guess it came from all those interplanetary travels?"

Vala knew plenty about not trusting people, and even more so about keeping secrets, and she had also learned all about that the hard way. But even she had enough experience to know seeing wasn't always cause for believing... But she came from a world of holograms and parasitic aliens and ascended beings, and some things were just too much to explain to anyone who was as confused as Neal was right now.

"Actually, I inherited it from my mother," she remarked, but she didn't plan on expanding into any detail. "I assure you, it's not your subconscious. I am definitely very real. Although I wasn't, your subconscious definitely has very good taste." She grinned happily. "Don't worry, you'll get used to all of this."

"Your mother must have been a fascinating lady," Neal mused, finally flashing her one of those smiles he'd been so good with before being a pile on the floor. The shot must have been rolling through it's last phase and was finally leaving him feeling mostly better. Later they'd find a small supply of liquid ingestable pain killers for Neal to take.

"I'm sure I'll get used to it," Neal always did, "...but I think it's going to take a bit."

Vala just shrugged at the comment about her mother. Her fractured family was one of the last things she wanted to get into, and it wasn't something she made an effort to dwell on if it wasn't completely necessary.

"Honestly, I don't have any idea how I would have handled it if I wasn't already used to spaceships and Stargates... Although without all of that, I wouldn't have ever left my home planet, and then I wouldn't have any reason to have to get used to it, would I?" She shot him her own patent charming smile. "But seeing people react to it, well, I don't blame Earth for covering up knowledge of advanced alien races and space travel. I don't think everyone would take it quite as well as you."

"It helps that I was trying to escape that castle and my mysterious captors." Neal didn't explain that he could accept a lot of things in his course to escape prisons, or things like prison. "The motivation was already there. That and... well... I wasn't really awake for the whole space travel part. Pretty sure it's not entirely real to me yet."

That part he wasn't just pretty sure, he was absolutely sure. Vala could tell him they were in space all she wanted, but since he'd passed out before they'd even left orbit, they could just as easily still be trapped in some new weird room in the castle. Weighing his options, Neal was pretty sure he'd rather be in space than back where they'd been, so he had no choice but to get on accepting it.

Internally though, he made a note to seem extra awed at the next futuristic notion, just in case he was doing his con artist thing of adjusting too well to uncertain circumstances.

"It's really a shame you missed that," Vala lied. Neal passing out ended up being the best thing that could have possibly happened; she didn't have to deal with being sneaky about overriding the ship's homing device, or betraying just how much she actually knew about piloting a space craft.

The idea was still to come off as a somewhat clever airhead, and Vala had to remember to keep that in check. She didn't think Neal suspected anything yet, and she didn't want him too. Especially if they were going to be looking at spending an extended amount of time together.

"Once they release you, we'll see if we can find a window. Looking out into space will make it significantly more real than just talking about it."

"It probably is no comparison to standing on top of a sky scraper huh?" he wondered. Neal was already excited, and it wasn't out of line with his con for him to show as much. Grinning just a little, he wondered "Does it still fascinate you? The space travel part I mean. I suppose if it's normal where you're from it wouldn't be especially exciting."

The clock on the wall continued to count down, a warm set of numbers that were positive in their reminder that Neal was alive and about to get released. He was willing to trust that he was going to live if only because he certainly felt a lot better than he did when recovering at the castle. Glancing at Vala, it occurred to him just then that she seemed to make a habit of being around when he was injured.

"You know, I'd have to wonder if you like seeing good looking guys get knocked down a peg or ten," he said, charming bachelor's grin already in place.

Vala smirked at his last comment. She legitimately did feel bad about the lot he seemed to have accrued over the past few days. "Oh, not at all," she replied, her tone almost fond. Meeting Neal had, luckily, been under better circumstances than her first encounter with Daniel; that certainly made manipulating Neal the more easier, because he didn't have any idea what kind of person he was actually dealing with. Daniel had, at least, a little warning.

She glanced up at the clock, thinking about what he had said. "It's always exciting. New places, new cultures, new... artifacts and histories to uncover." She turned back and grinned at him. "I've never been on the top of a skyscraper, however, so I don't have much comparison in that sense."

Neal heard artifacts and histories, but what he really was seeing was profit. The future must have had so much more to steal. He could imagine relics from the right places and planets being worth more than any of his heists had been back home. He listened to what Vala went on to say but as the time crept down to his release, his brain was feeling more and more cognizant and he was putting more time into his future exploiting... the future.

"Never been on top of a skyscraper but you've flown in space...?" Neal laughed a little at that. It took all kinds apparently. "So where are we in space anyways?"

"Spaceships are a little more common where I come from than Skyscrapers," Vala explained.

Vala hadn't moved too far part trying to see if she could get a free meal out of the evening, so she hadn't quite reached the level that Neal had. If nothing else, they had a ship, and Vala could make do beyond that.

"I don't know," she admitted. "We weren't in hyperspace that long. I would have to get access to the ship to see if I can coordinate our location..." She paused and laughed nervously. "Hopefully no one will ask me any questions about the ship."

"I suppose space ships are now going to be more common all the time then. Shame, you're missing out on the incredible view."

Soon enough Neal would have a real and true concept of a breath taking view. For now though, he was content to imagine what he assumed would compare to pictures he'd seen taken from the International Space Station. Only, without Earth in the frame. That thought, it ached just a little. He wasn't sure he had a home to go to anyways, but it was a little daunting he might be one of the last humans left and certainly the last of any he knew besides Vala. Vala, he wasn't even completely convinced she was from Earth and human anyways, he just hadn't been ready to ask.

Just as Vala mentioned coordinating their location, a panel lit up on the wall closest to her. It would appear that the ship could understand English and was more than happy to explain where they were, which at the current moment was multiple galaxies quite far away. The distance they were from Earth could only have been at a Stargate level.

Vala stared at the panel as it explained their location, trying to disguise the look of alarm on her face and doing a really terrible job.

She'd seen a lot of technology in her time. Even with the most advanced Asgard technology, it still took them three weeks to get to the Pegasus galaxy in hyperspace. She and Neal hadn't been in hyperspace anywhere near that long, which meant only one of two things; the first being the planet the castle was on was a lot further away from Earth than they had ever believed, or that ship was more advanced than anything Vala had ever seen.

Vala explained as much to Neal. "I've never seen instantaneous travel of that magnitude with anything other than a Stargate," she finished, pressing her lips together. "And honestly, I don't think that ship's systems were near that advanced. There is something really strange going on here."

There was that word again. Stargate. He was pretty sure she'd tried to explain the concept long ago at the castle but, admittedly, Neal had been far more convinced of her insanity than anything else at the time. Not that he would admit to having half listened, or that that he saw any value in reminiscing about how legitimately sane she was and he'd been the one entirely wrong. None-the-less, he was going to have to get a lexicon going of all the words he'd been hearing since coming to the future.

Before he could implement his plan of further pretending to be an airheaded millionaire and going on a fishing expedition about Stargates without seeming too interested, Neal saw that look on Vala's face. Something in features had shifted from light nerves regarding the ship to a look nothing short of dread. Neal wasn't sure that 'something strange' really matched the expression the brunette had.

"You're a terrible liar, if that fear in your eyes is any indication," he teased her. "Define... travel of that magnitude."

Neal wasn't sure he wanted to know just how far in space and time they'd gone, but avoiding the information wasn't going to change reality.

Laughing nervously, Vala shrugged and tried to think of a way to explain this to someone who came from a world where intergalactic travel wasn't an everyday occurring.

It was strange to her. She's grown up on ships and traveling through 'gates and everyone at the SGC took it all as easily as she did; after all, they'd been at it long enough. But the rest of the world was different, and it confused her. Sure, it had taken only a few hours of television and conversation with Teal'c to grasp the fact that most people on Earth wouldn't deal with the idea that they weren't alone in the universe very well. They had a hard enough time dealing with their next door neighbors, never mind having to stomach the constant threat of a busy universe that, more often than not, would be more than happy with the annihilation of the entire planet.

But a long time ago, the Goa'uld had gone to Earth and taken a bunch of humans and spread them all over the galaxy. Sure, she wasn't from Earth, but she was still human, and the fact that most of Earth didn't realize the number of distant relatives they had scattered across the stars was confusing to her. Earth was very, very small. But she imagined, to people like Neal Caffrey, it was big enough to make the rest of universe inconsequential.

"We're lightyears away from Earth. Stargate travel is instantaneous because of the method it uses; basically, your molecules are separated so that you can travel through a wormhole to the connecting Stargate. Hyperspace works differently, and while it's fast, it's not that fast. What happens in seconds through a Stargate often takes weeks at hyperspeed. We're not even in the same galaxy as Earth, Neal. However we ended up here, well, I can't explain it." And with that, she shrugs again.

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transition into the future (for not_a_conartist)

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