Archaeology (15a/30)
Title: Archaeology ( Table of Contents)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I gain nothing of material value from this.
Pairings: Gen
Chapter1a-- 1b Chapter2 Chapter3 Chapter4 Chapter5 Chapter6 Chapter7a-- 7b Chapter8 Chapter9a-- 9b Chapter10 Chapter11 Chapter12a-- 12b Chapter13a-- 13b Chapter14a-- 14b
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Chapter 15: Aftermaths
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20 December 2000; Infirmary, SGC; 1300 hrs
Daniel walked into the infirmary the next day but stopped when he saw Janet finishing what looked like a post-mission exam on SG-12. Major Ferretti saw him in the doorway and hopped off his gurney as soon as he was done.
"Hey, Daniel," Ferretti said. "You need the doctor?"
"Yes, but I can wait until everyone's done," Daniel said.
"No, no, we're all fine," Ferretti said, concerned. "You look like hell. What do you need?"
Bemused, Daniel said, "Uh...thanks. But I'm not here for myself--I just need to ask Janet to look at a Goa'uld symbiote that we think we have in the lab."
"You think you have," Ferretti repeated.
"It's in a jar," Daniel explained. "We think." Ferretti's eyebrows rose, but he didn't ask any more. "So...your team's not hurt or anything?"
"Regular checkup from a regular old boring mission," he answered. "Hey, uh...I've been meaning to say. I know you were close to Dr. Rothman, and I wanted to say I'm sorry."
"We lost a lot of people on that planet," Daniel said evenly. "I'm sorry, too."
"Yeah," Ferretti said.
Daniel cleared his throat awkwardly and wished Janet would finish faster.
"Okay, new topic," Ferretti said. Daniel smiled reluctantly. "You said you've always wanted to go to Egypt, right?"
"Um..." Daniel said. "Yes. And one day maybe I'll to do it without leaving blood on the floor of a temple." He was getting used to not using his right hand--the pain was more than enough to stop him when he forgot--but using his left hand for everything still felt clumsy enough to make it impossible to forget something had just happened.
"Ri-ight," Ferretti said, scratching his head. "As long as you guys are all okay. You are, right?"
"The others are off-world. They wouldn't be if they weren't okay."
"If it were up to me," Janet said, walking up to them, "they wouldn't be off-world, either. There's a reason we don't like to assign so many missions a week, even when everyone's not injured. Major, everyone on your team is fine. What's going on here?"
Ferretti waved as he collected his men and left. Daniel nodded back, then turned to Janet and said, "We have a canopic jar suspected to have a Goa'uld symbiote in it. They're working on getting an MRI image now, but the general would like you to examine whatever's inside. It's in a closed lab, because the seal looks like it was damaged, but not enough to allow something as big as a symbiote to escape...so we're not sure what to expect inside it."
She nodded briskly. "All right, then. Let's get started."
...x...
SG-5 and General Hammond were in the lab when they entered. "Well, here it is," Major Pendleton said, pointing at the screen. It looked like an outline of the canopic jar, and, inside it was--"That's a Goa'uld if I've ever seen one. Sorry it took us so long--we had trouble figuring out the right relaxation times for proper contrast, but I can tell you right now that whatever medium it's suspended in is not water. We recommend no direct skin contact with it until it's identified."
"Embalming fluid?" Janet asked.
Lieutenant Barber shrugged. "Maybe, but it'll be a lot easier to tell once we get a sample of the liquid. What would that be, like formalin?"
"No, no, Osiris was alive in his jar," Daniel said. "Maybe it's some medium that can keep a symbiote alive outside of a host or a Jaffa. Janet, I know you've been trying to perfect a water-based formula for that but haven't--"
A thought struck him. He'd seen a formula that could do that--he'd swum in it, even, and drunk and breathed it.
"Daniel?" Captain Lithell prompted after a moment.
"I need to go back to P3X-888," Daniel said.
There was a brief pause, and then, "Okay...random," Barber said.
"I know you want to finish Dr. Rothman's project, son," the general said, "but--"
"No, the formula," Daniel said. "I mean--there were Goa'uld living in...in rivers there. And it was potable, and seemed just like water, but clearly not just plain water. If we knew what it was that was keeping them alive and could compare it to--"
"We'll discuss it later, Mr. Jackson," the general said firmly, the same way the Jack said it, meaning 'no.' "For now, we have to deal with Isis, and all we know is that there's a liquid in there, which may or may not be similar to what sustained the Goa'uld on P3X-888. And we have to assume the symbiote might still be alive or might wake up once the jar is opened. Captain Lithell, do you know anything about the jar itself?"
"It looks like it's just plain ceramic, sir," Lithell said, "the kind of thing you'd expect to find in ancient pottery from that region of the world. From the outside, there's nothing extraordinary."
"Except the Goa'uld writing," Captain Jameson added.
"It doesn't say much more than the Osiris jar did," Daniel said, looking at the jar. "Setesh banished Isis and Osiris to oblivion."
"The part about Isis isn't in the myth I know," Jameson said, "but supposedly, Isis went to great and magical lengths to try to save Osiris after Seth banished him, so it's not inconceivable that Seth eventually..." He gestured toward the jar. "...got fed up and put her in here, too."
"Well," Janet said, studying the scanned image, "at least it's still in the jar and wasn't let out accidentally at some point. Before I try to take it out...if it's alive, should we keep it that way?"
"Excuse me?" Pendleton said. "Keep it alive?"
"I'm not sure we've ever developed a proper protocol for how to deal with sentient Goa'uld prisoners," she said stiffly. Daniel had studied Earth's international laws of war, however, because he'd wanted to understand where he stood with regard to them, and he knew that the Goa'uld had not signed the Geneva Conventions or other Tau'ri treaties. There was wide disagreement on how international humanitarian law should, could, or had to be applied to alien races and nations.
The general sighed. "What else do you suggest we do with it? We can't get information from a symbiote without a host, and I'm not sure experimentation on it would be any more ethical than killing it."
"Whatever information Isis has probably predates the Goa'uld-Tok'ra split," Daniel said, "so much of that could be learned from our allies. And if we're not killing her, the only way to keep her alive is to implant someone."
There hadn't been an order anywhere in there, though. Janet still looked indecisive, until Lieutenant Barber pointed out, "The seal's been damaged. It might be dead already."
"Take it out, Doctor," the general ordered. "And be careful."
"Yes, sir," she said. She moved behind the glove box and added, "A Goa'uld symbiote on its own isn't strong enough to break through this box. If it tries to get through the gloves, I'll withdraw, but I don't think its teeth could get through, even if it were at full strength and health."
"Which it's probably not if it's been in that jar for...how long?" Lithell said.
Sensing their eyes on him, Daniel shrugged but said, "Osiris was shocked that there was no Goa'uld ruling Earth, so I guess thousands of years."
"That's messed up," Barber said. "No way should something be alive in a jar after that long."
A loud, squelching noise stopped their discussion. "Ugh," Pendleton muttered as Daniel leaned closer to see Janet lay a glistening, wet symbiote at the bottom of the glove box.
"It's dead," Janet said a moment later. "We can stop worrying."
"Wow--she's a queen," Daniel said. "A biological female, I mean."
"Well, Isis was a goddess of motherhood and fertility," Jameson said as Janet lay the symbiote flat on the surface and picked up a scalpel. "How can you tell?"
"The pectoral arch is prominent enough to show even through the tissue layers, which is unusual in gender-neutral modern Goa'uld," Daniel said, backing away to sit down abruptly when he remembered kneeling in the soil and saying this to Robert. "And, uh, and the dorsal curvature...uh..."
"That's right," Janet said, glancing briefly at him when he trailed off. "It's characteristic of the queen of the species. And, skeletal structure aside, I'm seeing the right reproductive organs in here."
Pendleton narrowed his eyes and leaned over for a quick look. "If you can see its organs, it's not dried up or...or even rotting away. It's really intact."
Janet nodded, not looking away as she peeled back tissue layers. "It could have died yesterday."
"So it wasn't embalmed; it was actually kept alive and only died when...I guess when the seal was broken," Captain Lithell said.
"Well, the important thing is that it's dead and, as far as we know, there are no other Goa'uld or Goa'uld artifacts in that museum's collection," the general said.
"I'd like to know what chemical or technology was involved in keeping it alive and docile, sir," Janet said, finally looking up and pulling one hand out of the glove box.
The general nodded. "I'm interested in knowing that, too," he said. "Analyze the liquid in there and anything else you can about that jar, but continue to be careful until we know what it is."
"The Tok'ra know stasis technology," Daniel offered, starting to push himself to his feet. "I can go ask Martouf if he's familiar with anything like this."
"Sit down, Daniel," Janet said before he could stand. "Lieutenant, please go ask Martouf to come down here."
...x...
"This is a two-layered construct," Lantash said once they'd pulled the jar back out of the glove box and onto the bench. "It is disguised to look from the exterior as though it were a normal, human-made jar, but the interior is a Goa'uld containment vessel."
"What's that?" Janet said, pointing inside the jar.
In answer, Lantash held it up to the light. "It seems to be a naquadah power source. This vessel was undoubtedly meant to act as a stasis chamber, probably to hold Isis prisoner eternally. It malfunctioned when the seal was broken."
"Why not just kill it?" the general asked.
"For the same reason that Sokar did not kill Apophis when he had the opportunity," Lantash said.
"To shame them?" Janet said. "Pride?"
"That's probably part of it," Daniel said. "But we think it's also for the sake of the godly façade. Many Jaffa don't think it's possible to kill a god, but if they see System Lords killing each other, they'd start to wonder what makes the Goa'uld gods when they can die. So we've generally seen System Lords get imprisoned instead--in 'magical' canopic jars and sarcophagi, things like that."
"It is for that reason that the rise of the Tau'ri has been so disturbing to the Goa'uld," Martouf added, not looking away from his work. "Before the death of Ra, System Lords were occasionally defeated, but their deaths have rarely ever been recorded, or, at least, confirmed. The Jaffa rebellion might otherwise have started sooner."
"Still, it's kind of a bad habit, isn't it?" Barber said from where he was watching one of the scientists run chemical tests on the liquid from inside the canopic jar. "Sticking live enemies in boxes or holding them prisoner for eternity, I mean. That sounds like a bad idea just waiting to backfire."
"Apophis did end up taking over Sokar's army," Daniel agreed. "And Setesh is dead while Osiris has...'awakened,' and will return to make the rivers of Earth run red with blood."
There was another short silence. "When did you get so morbid, Daniel?" Barber said, looking like he wasn't sure whether to be amused or disturbed. "You used to be all chipper and caffeinated when I met you."
Suppressing the odd reflex to make a morbid joke about the word 'morbid' and dead people--which seemed initially very funny, given recent events, and then very horrible for the same reasons--Daniel defended, "She said it, not me. Or he. Do we call Osiris a 'he' or a 'she?'"
"Osiris has always taken a male host," Martouf said after he'd put the canopic jar back down. "That he has taken a female one this time means only that he was desperate. He may not remain in her if a male host is available, but if he does, he cannot help but be influenced by the host's qualities."
Reminded that they were talking about an innocent host who'd slipped through their fingers only yesterday (literally, in his case, with her blood running through his fingers), Daniel laid his head down on the bench to watch quietly as Martouf explained the stasis device to Barber and someone else walked around with a vial full of liquid for testing.
"So," Janet said quietly, watching alongside him. "What's this about P3X-888?"
Daniel shook his head. "Everyone thinks I'm insane again."
"Of course we don't, Daniel," she chided. "But if you think about it a little, I'm sure you can understand our reservations about sending anyone back there."
"Look," he sighed. "I know what you think. This isn't some...issue about Robert or anything like that, all right? There are rivers full of symbiotes. There are caves full of people with an intimate understanding of--and hatred for--those symbiotes, which has developed over thousands of years of slavery, predation, and coexistence--"
"People?"
"What?"
Janet turned to look down at his face. "You said 'caves full of people.' Those were Unas."
Daniel sat up, looking self-consciously around at the many people in the lab who hovered close enough to hear and were studiously not listening. "We call the Tok'ra 'people.' We call the Jaffa and the Asgard 'people.' It just means they're intelligent beings we deal with and respect, not exclusively humans."
"Okay," she said, setting her hands on her hips. "What about the fact that these Unas were ready to kill and eat you, from what I hear?"
"Yes, well," Daniel said. "They've had a change in leadership."
"You have good reasons to want to go?" she said. "Solid scientific initiatives?"
An odd shiver tried to work its way up his spine. He'd never initiated any scientific initiative, really, not completely on his own. "Yes," he said, sounding a little less sure than he felt.
"Can you write it out in a proposal?" she continued. "Lay out the reasons for Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond?"
He nodded, scowling at his bandaged hand again. "Yes." It might take him a while, with his fingers on medical leave, but he'd get the return mission approved; he'd just have to make sure he did it through the proper routes and prove this was logical, not emotional and irrational.
"That's how you need to go about things," she said, and he realized she wasn't encouraging or discouraging, exactly, but telling him that he didn't have Robert as his safety net now. He couldn't blurt an idea to his officemate and hope it was enough to get approval.
"I understand," he said.
"Daniel, can we step outside for a minute?" Janet said, a hand on his arm. "Let's leave the chemists to their work. I think that liquid's some kind of sedative; they're going to have a field day trying to synthesize it."
Wary of what she wanted but not willing to make a scene, Daniel stood and followed her, not just into the hallway, but into a quiet corner of the infirmary.
"I'd like you to make an appointment to speak with Dr. Mackenzie," she said.
"No," Daniel said immediately, and then, "About what?"
Janet spread her arms. "About any of the things you've been through in the last week, Daniel, or whatever you might be feeling now. I think it would help to talk about it."
"I'd rather not. Please don't make me."
She folded her arms over her chest and stood looking up at him, in that way that always made him feel like she was the taller.
Daniel felt himself trying to lower his gaze and stopped deliberately. "What is it that you think is going to happen if I don't talk to one of the psychiatrists?" he said. "Sometimes you Tau'ri say 'psychiatrist' like they're a...a cure for everything."
"It's not about anything happening," she said. "It's--"
"It's just for my own good," he said. "To work through things. To get an unbiased opinion. Is that what you're about to say?"
Janet sighed. "Yes," she said. "That is...more or less what I was about to say. And would it really be such a bad idea?"
"I'd just...really rather not," Daniel said again. "Janet..."
"Hey, guys," Jack's voice called from the end of the hall. They turned to see the other three members of SG-1 walking toward them. "We're back. What's up?"
"Not much, Colonel," Janet called. "The situation with the Isis canopic jar is contained--Daniel and I have been comparing notes about Goa'uld symbiotes, particularly the queens, since he's familiar with their skeletal structure but not as much with their other physiological adaptations. In fact, we've isolated--"
"Ah!" Jack said, holding up a hand. "Doc--I've already got a headache."
"Yes, sir," Janet said.
"Thank you," Daniel said quietly.
"Talk to someone," she answered under her breath, just before the other three came within hearing distance. "Colonel, anything I need to know before I start in with the needles?"
"Um..." Jack said. "I don't like needles, if that counts."
"SG-4 was right," Sam said as SG-1 stepped into the infirmary. "There's still a huge, measurable increase in sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere, but it doesn't seem to be at toxic levels, at least not where the main villages are. There are traces of other chemicals, too, and while they've mostly dissipated by now, it looks like the Enkarans would've been killed where they stood if the ship had reached their village."
"Sulfur dioxide?" Janet said, frowning as she picked out SG-1's medical records and gestured for Jack to take off his jacket. "As a byproduct of something, some combustion process?"
"Well, there's a lot of naturally-occurring sulfur in the soil," Sam said, "and the ship burned through everything in its path. Colonel Ivanov thought it was some sort of chemical warfare. Their report said they found a substance that reacted with sulfur and released the oxide. In fact, they found some microbes in the soil--"
"Biological and chemical warfare?" Janet said, looking alarmed.
Jack shrugged. "They didn't have time to identify anything--one village and part of another had already been destroyed by the time they'd been called to help, and the Stargate was close to going, too. But after the ship went down, SG-4 managed to decontaminate what was there, so there's no danger from the microbes anymore."
"Huh," Janet answered. "You know, sulfur dioxide is an odd choice of chemical weapon."
"But would it be sufficient as a weapon?" Teal'c said.
Janet raised her eyebrows, then shrugged. "At very high levels, sure, almost any gas could be sufficient, and SO-2 can be toxic. If nothing else, it could have consequences on their environment and on those already ill, possibly more than they could survive in the long term."
"I guess it would be efficient, too," Sam said. "Instead of having to synthesize or isolate a large amount of some chemical and release it, they just burn the land and let oxidation finish the job for them."
"I hope someone's working on trying to clean things up and monitoring environmental conditions," Janet said.
"SG-7's been assigned," Jack said.
"But why did this happen?" Daniel said. "Who even knew there were people on that planet, and who'd want to kill the Enkarans?"
"If we could've seen the ship before Lieutenant Marchenko managed to destroy it..." Sam said, then shook her head. "Anyway, the images we got from the MALP don't correspond to anything I've ever seen."
"Nor do I recognize such a ship," Teal'c said.
Jack scowled at the needle in his arm. "Well, this might be one time when we'll never know. The Enkarans are safe for now. That's what's important."
"But just in case," Sam added, "we're continuing the search for another planet that could support Enkaran life, and if SG-7 reports that conditions seem to be worsening, we can evacuate them in time. And it might be less hectic this time around--we'll be able to help them start building first before they have to move in."
"Glad to hear that, Major," Janet said. "Your arm, please?"
When they'd finished and were pulling their jackets back on, Daniel took a breath and said, "The general says we have no missions for the rest of this week and couple of days off after that."
"Thank god," Jack muttered, sounding genuinely relieved.
"I was going to go home this weekend," Daniel said to the floor. "Already asked the general. So I can check the...the mines, and...make sure things are still safe. Check in with Skaara and Sha'uri. You know."
"Sure," Jack said easily. "Sounds like a good idea."
"Do you want to come?" He glanced up. "I mean, I know it's near Christmas, so maybe you--well, Sam might have plans. But I thought I'd ask, since the wormhole will be open anyway, and with the DHD, we won't even be using the SGC budget to dial."
"I don't have plans," Sam said. "You think they'd mind a few extra guests?"
"Hey," Jack said. "How come I might not have plans?"
Daniel mustered up something he thought might resemble a smile. "Do you?"
Jack made a face. "No," he said.
"And there's no mining team there now," Daniel said, "so the SGC house is open, and if it's not for some reason, we can take shelter in Ra's pyramid. It's not like there's a lack of space, and--"
"I'm in," Jack said.
"Me, too," Sam said.
"And I," Teal'c added.
"But, just to warn you," Jack added, "there will be trading of embarrassing stories about you with your family."
Somehow, that didn't seem as unappealing as it sounded like it should. "That's okay," Daniel said. "Okay."
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Continued in Part b...