People still talked about what had happened to Dr Enayla and SG-19 – in whispers mostly. How the mild mannered, quiet, unobtrusive, mousey little scientist had become the hero and the price she'd paid for it. Some – made too uncomfortable about how she was a constant reminder of the horrific things that could happen to you off-world – even joked about how she was the phantom of the SGC. That she was down there somewhere playing on her pipe organ, plotting something or other. Daniel viciously shut down that talk whenever he encountered it.
So many SGC personnel – not only the SG teams – had experienced the effects of various alien viruses and all sorts of embarrassing and painful and traumatic transformations that were related to gate travel. Everyone knew it could happen again but no-one wanted to think about what would happen if such effects were irreversible. A few people had even admitted to Daniel that if such effects were irreversible they'd rather have them be fatal as well. Who wanted to spend the rest of their lives as a caveman or out of phase or as a host to a Goa'uld? Who would want to live if they ended up looking like Dr Enayla did now?
It was the mud on that planet that had done it. The mud that had almost claimed the lives of the three marines as it sucked them down. The insidious death-trap that had lain hidden within the peaceful rainforest. Even once they'd been freed from it's clutches, it had left with them a great sickness that nearly claimed each of them several times following their return to Earth.
Dr Enayla had made contact with the mud as well but she did not become ill. She had rescued her trapped team-mates with her quick thinking. Ropes and logs transformed into a makeshift platform upon which she lay and from that vantage point she was able to drag them out one by one until at the very end – just as they were almost all safe – her construction had itself succumbed to the alien mud and disintegrated, dumping her entire body beneath the surface. The team leader had managed to drag their scientist out of the muck by the hair and the four of them somehow made it back to the gate.
Despite not knowing her particularly well, Daniel had gone to see her when he'd heard what happened. Everything he'd been told did nothing to prepare him for the sight of her. He had swallowed down the bile with great effort, determined not to let her see the sudden crawling revulsion he'd felt. She looked like she was still covered in mud. Drenched in it. Her hair was a mess of gluggy dreadlocks. Visions of swamp monsters from movies he'd seen as a child swam into his mind.
The thing that was so sickening wasn't because she was covered in mud but because she wasn't. It was like it was coming from within her. From beneath her skin. Here and there patches of her skin looked shredded and bark-like. Daniel had forced himself to stay there with her and talk to her. Even if his compassion hadn't compelled him, he thought perhaps her eyes would have. Amidst all that muck he could see two grey pools of fear and despair and panic. So he stayed. For Janet too, because he could see the devastation on her face since she'd had to tell Dr Enayla that there was nothing she could do. The changes to her DNA were permanent.
Daniel had visited her a few times before she'd imposed the ban. Since then he felt like he'd failed somehow. Maybe there had been something he should have said that would have made all the difference. But there wasn't. What could you say to make something like that better? She wouldn't even be able to leave the SGC ever again. Never be able to see the places on Earth that she so much wanted to save. Never have any sort of real life. This went beyond disfigurement.
At least she could still work, Daniel told himself. It was something. And over time, gradually her emails to him had become less formal and professional and she'd actually started to respond to some of the things he wrote about. Just general enquiries about how his head was feeling after that last go round with a ribbon device or wondering how Jack was doing after he'd done in his knee again.
Sometimes she asked about things that made him realise that other people must also be feeding her news. Or maybe she was just reading mission reports. It made him feel slightly better to think that even though she was hidden away down there seemingly isolated from everyone she was still aware and included to some degree in what was going on. Even more importantly that she was still interested in what was going on. Not just the things that related to her own projects.
Daniel knew it made Janet feel a little bit better as well. She still struggled with her inability to help Dr Enayla. Daniel knew that Janet continued to work on a solution even when it seemed apparent there was none. She also was no longer allowed to see Dr Enayla but every now and then she managed to persuade the scientist to at least send her a blood sample on occasion as well as keep Janet apprised as to her general health.
Daniel sighed, reading the latest email again. He was happy he'd been asked – not that she'd actually asked for anything specific – but there were actually other linguists who were more fluent in Celtic than him. His talents were spread across the nearly 30 languages he knew – others were more specialised in certain ones. Perhaps he should be suggesting this to her. However, she'd asked him to come so that's what he would do.