Archaeology (20a/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 Chapter15a-- 15b Chapter16a-- 16b Chapter17a-- 17b Chapter18 Chapter19a-- 19b
XXXXX
Chapter 20: Shifu
XXXXX
26 April 2001; Control Room, SGC; 1000 hrs
"You look tired," Sam said when the unauthorized off-world activation alarm summoned them into the control room. "Late night?"
Daniel watched Jack yawn his way up the stairs behind Teal'c. "Something like that."
"Who is it?" General Hammond said.
"It's..." Sergeant Harriman turned around to face them with a frown. "SG-1, sir."
"Hello," Jack said.
"How can that be?" Sam said.
"Let's find out," the general said, then ordered, "Defense teams stand by. Open the iris."
As the iris opened, something fluttered through the wormhole and landed on the ramp, rolling to a stop just as the Stargate deactivated again. Daniel leaned forward to see what it was, and it looked almost like...paper?
"Stand down," the general said, and they followed him into the 'gate room. "What is it?"
Jack stepped up the ramp, picked it up--it was paper--and returned, reading it silently. "Well?" Daniel said impatiently.
"You tell me," Jack said, handing it to him.
Daniel took the paper, surprised when he saw reddish splotches on the note. "'Under no circumstances go to P4C-970,'" he read aloud. "'Colonel Jack O'Neill.' That looks like your handwriting."
"It is my handwriting," Jack said as Daniel handed the note over to Sam. "And that's my signature."
"Though you sent no such note," Teal'c said.
"This looks like blood, sir," Sam said.
"Have Dr. Fraiser analyze it," the general ordered. She nodded and handed the note to an airman, who headed away in into the corridor.
"General," Jack said, "wasn't '970 one of the next ones on our mission list?"
"Not anymore," the general said. "I'm not taking any chances. I want P4C-970 removed from the dialing computer immediately. Dismissed."
Daniel didn't argue but couldn't figure out what had just happened or why. "Um..." he said.
"Under very specific circumstances," Teal'c told him, "the Stargate can allow travel through time. SG-1 experienced such an event before you joined us."
"Oh, right," Daniel said, remembering a report he'd read about that. General Hammond must have been remembering the same thing to have accepted the warning so readily.
"I wonder why you sent it," Sam said, looking at Jack. "I wonder when."
"Yeah," Jack said, sitting down on the ramp. "You gotta wonder."
The klaxons sounded again, and Jack leapt off the ramp. "Unauthorized off-world activation!" Sergeant Harriman called. "Security teams to the 'gate room."
As the security team poured in again, Daniel followed his team back out and up the stairs. "What now?" Jack said.
"Remote signal--it's the Abydos special code," Harriman said. As Daniel turned and started for the stairs again, he added, "We're receiving a transmission from the MALP!"
Daniel sighed and moved back to the console, where Skaara's face appeared on the screen, looking serious. "Hello?" Skaara said into the MALP camera. "Can you hear me?"
Sergeant Harriman moved aside for Jack to reach the microphone, just as General Hammond returned to the control room. "Skaara--it's O'Neill. We hear you."
"You must come," Skaara said. "There is a child here who appeared in...in a sandstorm. He says he is the son of Sha'uri. He says he is Harsesis."
"Wha--" Daniel took the microphone from Jack, but then the only thing that came out of his mouth was, "What do you mean, 'he says?' How old is he?" Shifu should be less than three years old now, and definitely not capable of appearing in storms.
But Skaara only shook his head. "It is not possible; I do not understand it. My sister believes he speaks the truth, but I am uncertain if she is being deceived."
Jack leaned forward and said, "Skaara--you said he appeared in a sandstorm?"
Nodding and wide-eyed, Skaara said, "This part, I saw with my eyes. There was a storm--we heard the name of Sha'uri on the wind, so we went to see. When the winds disappeared, a boy stood there, untouched by the sand or the wind. We do not know what to believe."
"We have to go," Daniel said, turning to the general. "Sir?"
"Dan'yel," Skaara added, "some of us heard your name, too. The boy is with Sha'uri now, but he has asked to meet you. If he is not who he says he is, how could he know of you?"
"Any Goa'uld who tried hard enough could find out your name," General Hammond said, looking troubled, but he said, "You have a go, but be careful--this could be a trick."
"We're coming, Skaara," Daniel said. "Wait for us."
XXXXX
26 April 2001; Nagada, Abydos; 1100 hrs
"I am Shifu," the boy said, looking at SG-1, then turned around and looked up at Sha'uri, who stood behind him. "I am Harsesis."
Daniel looked from the boy's face to Sha'uri. With one hand on the boy's shoulder, she said, "He speaks the truth."
"Jack," Daniel said, "could you guys give us a minute?"
Jack hesitated, giving Daniel a warning look. "We'll be right outside," he said. With a nod to Sam, Teal'c, and Skaara, he led the way out of the house and let the curtain fall shut behind them.
The boy was quiet when Daniel turned back to look at him. Lowering himself to one knee, Daniel studied the boy's face intently, searching for similarities to the baby he'd cradled for days and weeks and months, but he finally admitted, "I don't, uh...recognize you." That slight tilt of his eyes, perhaps, but if this was indeed the same person, then he had changed far too much.
"I grew like the weeds," the boy said.
Right. They'd found nanocytes in him when he'd been at the SGC. The age difference was possible, he supposed. But--"How do you know?" Daniel said, looking up at Sha'uri.
She looked a little uncertain, but she said, "A mother knows. I can feel it."
Daniel wished very much that that could be enough for him, but the Goa'uld had tried to fool them before, and they'd used human children. "But--"
"Kal'ma kree shashan," the boy said, watching him calmly. Daniel rocked backward onto his heels. "Kal'ma ta'i or'intani... You recited this when I refused to sleep, as an infant. You called me sinu'ket--your small brother."
"Shifu?" Daniel breathed, reaching out tentatively to touch the boy's shoulder. "What...it's really..." He snatched his hand back, scrubbing it through his hair. "I've been hoping I'd find you somewhere..."
"Now he has found us," Sha'uri said, smiling down at her son. "He came here to learn about us--his mother whose blood he carries and the brother who cared for him."
Swallowing, Daniel said, "You remember? Even from when you were...a baby?"
"I am Harsesis," Shifu repeated patiently, as if that were enough to explain it.
At that, Daniel looked up sharply to see Sha'uri return the look, nodding determinedly. "Then, if you are Harsesis," Daniel said carefully, "does that mean you also have all of the knowledge that Apophis and Amaunet had?"
"Oma taught me to forget," Shifu said.
"Oma Desala," Daniel clarified. "From Kheb?"
Shifu nodded once. "She is my teacher." Daniel stood and looked around, almost expecting--hoping and dreading at once--to see a glowing light appear, but Shifu continued, "Oma teaches that, ultimately, a man travels his chosen path alone."
"You have forgotten all that the Goa'uld knew?" Sha'uri said, glancing at Daniel. She was the one, after all, who'd first told them what the Harsesis might mean in the war against the Goa'uld.
"Shifu," Daniel said, "do you remember the SGC? You lived there before, for a short time."
It took a moment, but then Shifu nodded. "There were many people there who wore white robes."
"White...? That's right--you spent most of the time in the infirmary," Daniel said, smiling at the memory. "And the nurses and Dr. Fraiser made sure you stayed healthy."
"Yes," Shifu said.
"But we also know why you've been able to grow so fast, and I'm worried it might still be happening. If it is, you would grow too old too quickly." He looked past his brother at Sha'uri and added, "Would you mind coming with us to Earth to see about that?"
Sha'uri's expression became alarmed, and she nodded behind Shifu's back. "I would like to see the SGC again," Shifu said. "It was once my home. Can my mother come, too?"
"Of course," Daniel said quickly. "I don't want to take you away from her. And you've never seen it, Sha'uri--you'll be able to speak with General Hammond and...everyone. Is that okay?"
Sha'uri nodded again. "I would like to see this place, too."
XXXXX
26 April 2001; VIP Room, SGC; 1700 hrs
"Dr. Fraiser says that you're in no physical danger," Daniel said, climbing onto the bed to sit opposite Shifu as Sha'uri sat beside the boy. "So that's good."
"Shifu," Sha'uri said, looping a hesitant arm around his shoulder, "you know who Apophis is."
"He is the one who fathered me," Shifu said solemnly.
Daniel glanced at Sha'uri, who didn't look back at him. "Yes, that's...yes," Daniel said. "Do you know that he's hurt a lot of people?"
Shifu looked up into Sha'uri's face. "He hurt you."
For a moment, Daniel thought she wasn't going to answer, but then she said, "Yes, my son. He hurt me."
"And he hurt you also," Shifu added, turning to Daniel.
"He's hurt a lot of people I care about," Daniel agreed. Perhaps ignorance would not have been better, but he couldn't deny that there were times when he missed the days when he'd had his parents, known nothing of the System Lords, and dreamed about legends instead of trying to fight them. Daniel had chosen this life and the SGC in the end, but Apophis had ripped that other life and Abydos from him first. "We're doing everything we can to stop him, Shifu, but he's become very powerful, and we need your help."
"Oma has taught me to forget the evil I once knew," Shifu told them again.
"We know," Sha'uri said, "and if we did not have to, we would never ask you to think of such terrible things. But I have only a few memories from Amaunet; it is not enough in our battle."
"The Tok'ra have a way to help you remember," Daniel added. "Maybe, with their help, you can just remember things like...like how their technology works or what their weaknesses are."
"And perhaps this...Oma could help you to forget again," Sha'uri said.
"If the instrument is broken, the music will be sour," Shifu said. "Oma teaches the true nature of a man is decided in the battle between his conscious mind and the desires of his subconscious. Oma teaches the evil in my subconscious is too strong to resist, and the only way to win is to deny it battle."
Daniel closed his eyes briefly, quashing the familiar frustration he remembered from speaking with the guardian of the temple where they'd first met Oma Desala. "But we can't deny the battle with the Goa'uld. They'll kill us if we don't do something. They'll hurt more people."
"Oma sees much," Shifu said. "Oma says that your path is unclear."
Sha'uri exchanged a glance with Daniel. "This...Oma has been watching us?" she said, looking unsure whether to be wary or defensive about this other Mother.
"You fight the Goa'uld," Shifu said, and this time, he was looking at Daniel.
"I'd rather not have to fight," Daniel said carefully, "but we don't have a choice."
Maybe this was why Shifu had been drawn to the two of them, aside from connections of blood and memories. Skaara had found a way to return to life on Abydos, but Daniel was still at the SGC and Sha'uri was actively trying to help the SGC mining efforts. If Oma Desala had been watching them--and he didn't doubt she could--she must know that they were the ones with connections to Shifu who were most likely to want to use his knowledge against the Goa'uld.
"You have chosen a path that led to me because of this?" Shifu said.
"Yes," Daniel said. "I have been looking for you."
"You must release your burden before you can find your own way again."
"I released you to protect you," Daniel said, folding his hands in his lap, because he'd thought that was what the temple guardian had meant the last time they'd met, when he'd said to release his burden. But he'd mentioned hate, too, and seeing beyond what was before them, and choosing a path...
Things had been so much simpler when Shifu had been a baby.
"As did I," Sha'uri said.
"We have to fight the Goa'uld however we can," Daniel said. "I chose this path to honor the ones who have already been lost."
"And perhaps this is my role in this battle," Sha'uri added. "There is more to lose than the three of us in this room. The Goa'uld cannot be allowed to win."
Shifu turned again to study her. "I understand," he said.
"You do?" Daniel said, leaning forward.
"Yes." Shifu reached out with one hand to touch Daniel's forehead and with the other to touch his mother's. And then the world became dark.
Janet's face was the first thing Daniel saw when he opened his eyes. She turned away immediately and picked up a phone to say, "Colonel, he's awake."
"What happened?" Daniel said, frowning when he couldn't quite piece together--
(...met tal arik kek ...)
"--talking to the boy," Janet was saying, "and then you both suddenly collapsed."
Daniel sat up, shaking his head to clear it of--
(...naquadah satak hatak...)
--the haziness remaining. "Sha'uri?" he said, turning his head just in time to see his sister sit up in a nearby bed.
"Dan'yel? Shifu?" Sha'uri said. "What happened?" As Daniel watched, she squeezed her eyes shut, then suddenly opened them again, catching his gaze with her own. "Can it be...?"
"Hey," Jack said, walking in and looking between the two of them. "How're you feeling?"
"Fine," Daniel said with dawning understanding as images and memories and words he didn't know flashed through his mind. "We're...fine."
"Fine," Sha'uri repeated distractedly.
"What happened with Shifu in there?" Jack said.
"We asked him for anything that could help us fight the Goa'uld," Daniel said, looking at his hands and almost expecting them to look different, now that he could almost grasp what it was that made them unable to use the most useful of the technology they'd seen.
"Yeah?" Jack said.
"He gave it to us," Sha'uri said, looking at her own hands, and Daniel remembered with a sudden flash of envy that, while he might be unable to use Goa'uld technology, Amaunet had died within his sister's body, and she could use it--she could use anything they could make, and they could make just about anything now. "We know everything--not just knowledge passed on by a queen Goa'uld to her spawn, but all the knowledge gained over millennia."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Everything?"
"Well--" Daniel started.
(...in orbit...)
"--not yet," he finished, then tapped his temple. "But Shifu gave it to us. At least..." He thought for a second. "Not Amaunet, I think. But Apophis's memories, yes."
"No," Sha'uri said, not at all doubtfully. "Only Amaunet's."
("...almost time, my love," he whispered. "I have found you a new host.")
Daniel stared at her. "Shifu gave you Amaunet's memories and me Apophis's."
Sha'uri tilted her head, then nodded. "I know all that the queen knew."
Queen.
The queen always withheld knowledge from her spawn, out of spite and jealousy; no infant Goa'uld knew as much as a queen. Not questioning how he knew that with such certainty, Daniel countered, "And I know all that the most powerful System Lord knew." Tactics, inventions...Apophis had known a lot of things Amaunet hadn't.
And yet, Amaunet had hidden things from him. Apophis hadn't known whether knowledge of Kheb had slipped accidentally into Sha'uri's mind or if Amaunet had deliberately planted the idea. Actually...Daniel wasn't sure, either, whose idea it had been. Sha'uri could be sneaky, too.
"Okay, whoa," Jack said, slicing a hand through the air. "So...she has Amaunet in her head again--sorry," he added to her, wincing, but she didn't seem to notice, "and you've got Apophis."
"We're not hosts to parasites, Jack," Daniel said. "Their knowledge, but we're in control."
"All their knowledge," Jack repeated infuriatingly. "Right now."
"It's coming; it just...it'll take a little time. We can win this war--I can see it right now..." He squeezed his eyes closed, searching through the thoughts flitting through his mind. "It's almost there. I can beat them, Jack."
"We," Sha'uri corrected, swinging her legs off the bed and standing up to give Daniel a piercing look. "We will beat them."
"Right," Jack said. "So."
The schematics for part of the design snapped into place. Daniel fumbled in his pocket until he found his notepad and pen and started to sketch it. "Look, here," he said, closing his eyes briefly until the image became clear again. "This is the..." He paused again.
"Okay," Jack said, reaching out slowly to grasp the notepad. "Look, obviously, you two are--"
"Dammit, Jack!" Daniel snapped, pulling it back. "You don't understand. You wanted the knowledge of the Goa'uld? Now we've got it, but it's coming in...odd...leaps, so I'm having trouble putting it into words. Inertia," he said, finishing his sketch. "The...what do they call it here--you need inertial dampeners if people are in it while it's launched into--where's Sam?"
Daniel stood and checked to make sure he hadn't left anything behind him on the bed before heading out of the infirmary and toward the briefing room, where General Hammond, Sam, and Teal'c were all waiting.
Before he could say anything, though, Sha'uri said from behind him, "General Hammond, we can protect our planets from the Goa'uld."
"Sam," Daniel said, sliding his notepad across the table to her. "You've been working on figuring out the inertial dampening systems and the propulsion on the X-302 project, but even with Martouf's help, you've stumbled in several places."
"That's tr--oh my god," she said, staring at it. "Did you draw this? Just now?"
"That is only a very small portion of what will be needed to complete our project, and not even the main part," Sha'uri said. "We must--"
(shol'va)
"--first determine all the necessary steps. Then, I and Dan'yel will devise a plan to carry out what must be done."
Daniel found his gaze drawn to Teal'c, then looked away, confused by the rush of hate-fury-traitor that rose in him as he turned to General Hammond instead. "Uh...I'd...you should contact the President, sir. We'll need a lot of resources, but trust me: this is the end of the war against the Goa'uld."
"Wait, wait...just...hold it," Jack said, standing in their way as both of them tried to leave the briefing room. Daniel suppressed a swell of irritation but held his ground. "So the Harsesis just magically transferred the information to you?"
"Saying the word 'magically' doesn't make it more absurd," Daniel said. "You saw what Oma Desala could do. She made him forget the secrets of the Goa'uld; why couldn't he make us understand in turn?"
"You're not worried at all about the fact that he somehow--"
"No, Jack!" he scoffed. "Did you hear me? This is our way out of this war. People will stop being killed by the Goa'uld..."
"We are wasting time," Sha'uri said. "Come, Dan'yel--we should go somewhere we can discuss the details of our plans."
Her words chafed--like he was to obey her--but he said only, "Let's go to my office. Sam, come with us. I'm not familiar enough with all Tau'ri capabilities to know what we can expect from...our people."
Our people.
The SGC was his people, but beyond that? He answered ultimately to a Tau'ri leader of a Tau'ri country. He was a Tau'ri citizen by right of blood. Abydos knew Dan'yel already, but if he played things right, perhaps the Tau'ri would know him, too, and would finally acknowledge--in every way--all that he had done and would do. And as thoughts churned in his head, he remembered and saw and knew exactly why so many System Lords set Earth as a target.
"There is no time to delay," Sha'uri added before following Daniel to the elevator, Sam hurrying behind them.
Sha'uri smiled amicably at Sam as Daniel pushed the button that would lead them to the archaeology office. The last thought he had before the elevator closed was the reminder that there was a reason why most System Lords didn't have partners--they couldn't be trusted.
...x...
It took days--four, precious days--for Sam to understand what they had to do and for Major Davis and the bureaucrats at the Pentagon to realize this was something they needed.
"Obviously," Daniel said when they were finally all gathered at the briefing, "this defensive satellite system requires much more naquadah than is available on this planet, and much more technological sophistication and manpower than is available on Abydos. To that end--"
"I will ensure that as much naquadah as possible is retrieved from our planet," Sha'uri interrupted. "The purification methods you have been using are primitive compared to that of the Goa'uld--I will require your aid to build a refinery on Abydos in order to produce enough material to use. Dan'yel will oversee the operations on Earth."
"Excuse me?" Major Davis said.
"Is there a problem, Major?" Daniel said stiffly. When were they going to realize he wasn't some alien with no standing who could be swept out of sight when they thought him too incompetent? "Perhaps you can explain the construction of these systems instead."
"Ah--" Jack raised a hand. "I...think the good major is just saying you're going to need help from someone who actually knows about this planet."
"And that's true," Daniel agreed. "I have the names of a few people here who can help me." His eyes unwittingly found Teal'c again--
("...within your rights to take my life as payment...")
--and away again. "Sam, I want you to supervise the science effort, of course. We've all just seen recently what happens when the Pentagon sends someone to do it," he added, with a pointed look in the direction of the Pentagon delegation.
"Dan'yel has offered the current research and science SG teams to be at my disposal on Abydos," Sha'uri said.
"That's SG-5, -7, and -11 for now," Daniel clarified, suppressing a thrill of excitement at the eager way some people listened to him now, scrambling to write down his instructions as soon as he said them. "But while Abydos can serve as one of our two main bases of operations, we may still need more naquadah than we'll get there--certainly, we'll be able to work faster if we spread out among other planets. Jack, I'd like you to coordinate the efforts of the other teams in finding enough naquadah."
"What about SG-1?" Jack said.
Daniel shook his head. "We don't need to explore, not when we can win with what we already have. Sam will be too busy, I need you to find enough material to protect two planets, and Teal'c...obviously, there are assignments for which his skills are better tailored."
"Perhaps Teal'c can come to Abydos with me," Sha'uri said abruptly, giving the Jaffa a considering look. "I am certain we could use his skills to help us there."
"We'll finalize assignments by the end of the day," Daniel said. "Keep in mind, everyone--changes will have to be made, on Earth and on Abydos. If it seems daunting, imagine what would happen if even a single Goa'uld mothership attacked us now. No cost is too high when the reward is the lives and safety of all the billions of our people."
"I am told you have hundreds of millions of people in this nation alone," Sha'uri said. "I give you my word that the Abydons will do their part. The Tau'ri must also do theirs."
"Look," Sam said uneasily, "even if we bring in every person in America with enough clearance, it won't be enough to get this done in the timeframe you've set. I know our more advanced allies haven't always come through for us, but I'm positive the Tok'ra would--"
(cowards traitors spies thieves)
"--if only because it'd help them, too, not to mention that we have a treaty with them. And with the Russians, by the way."
"Sam, you know as well as I do that the Tok'ra haven't always held up their end of that treaty," Daniel said, "and we were bullied into a treaty because the Russians were blackmailing us with secrets they'd learned from harboring an NID traitor. How many times have the Tok'ra almost been destroyed from within by a spy? We can't trust them. We don't need them; if we split tasks, I'm sure we could find people with somewhat lower clearance who'd help us complete this."
"And," Sha'uri added, smiling, "I am certain you all know the story of the Tok'ra. Their queen years ago withheld essential knowledge from her spawn, thinking it would protect them, but in doing so, she also limited what they remembered from their ancestors."
"Isn't that what makes them not evil?" Jack said.
"It also makes them...incomplete, Colonel," Sha'uri said. "Their very minds are defective."
"The point is...Sha'uri and I don't suffer from that particular disability," Daniel said. "That's what's so special about the Harsesis. So in a way, you could say we're mentally more advanced than the Tok'ra. We can do this without them."
He turned to Sha'uri and raised his eyebrows in question. She shook her head.
"That's all," Daniel told the others. "We'll have exactly defined assignments for you in the next several hours."
...x...
Continued in Part b...