Chapter Seven
"Hey, Sam."
"Hey, Daniel. Where's Taja?"
"Sleeping. Afternoon naps are a bit of a religion around here."
Sam looked up from her laptop and forced a smile. Sitting on the stone dais she had her back leaning up against the Stargate. Daniel shifted his weight uncomfortably, looking like he wanted to say more, looking like he wanted to apologize.
"How...um...how's Jack?"
"I'm furious."
Daniel startled as Jack got up from where he had been sitting in the shade of a banyan tree. Sam sighed as Daniel took a step away from Jack's murderous glare. She had asked him not to come, but he insisted. Being a General he tended to get his way, actually when she thought about it he had always tended to get his way.
"Gen..."
"Quiet, Carter."
"Jac..."
"That goes double for you, Daniel." Jack snarled. "How could you do this?"
"You think I meant for this to happen?"
"I don't care what you 'meant to happen'. Because of you Carter could be dying."
"Thanks, Jack, I didn't spend all last night awake thinking about that." Daniel hissed. "She my friend too you know."
"And she is still right here," Sam growled "so stop talking like I'm dead already."
"Sorry." Daniel muttered.
"You should be!" Jack snapped. "You've exposed Carter to some horrifying disease that kills women! All in the interest of 'archeology'."
"I don't know what you're expecting of me, Jack. I came here to try and find a way to get that Naquadah and that's exactly what I did."
"I didn't expect you to..."
"Guys!" Sam barked. "Please. This isn't solving anything. Besides, Daniel hasn't 'exposed' me to anything."
"You can't know that." Jack replied.
"Sir, contagious neurological diseases don't strike a single sex. There has to be something else going on here."
"Sam's right, it really doesn't make any sense that it's a slow acting virus. The men would be affected too."
"You know for a couple of smart kids you can really be close minded sometimes." Jack grumbled. "We aren't on Earth, the normal rules don't apply. What if this is something that feeds off estrogen or something? I mean we came across that one disease that fed off histamines, which if I'm not mistaken was totally bizarre."
Everyone was quiet for a moment, lost in their own thoughts. Daniel closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples. Sam actually felt guilty for coming here and ruining his little paradise, but as much as she hated to admit it the General had a point.
If this was a virus, she'd never be able to return to the SGC and she had already had a gruesome glimpse of her future. Daniel and Jack were just staring at one another when the Gate suddenly sprang to life. Sam gathered up her laptop and with Jack's help got to her feet.
Teal'c was standing by the DHD, generally keeping out of this. The other's joined him to await word from the doctors of the SGC. The vortex snapped out at them and established a shimmering worm hole.
"General?" Jack's radio crackled.
"I'm here."
"Well, I have good news and bad news." Dr. Brightman announced.
"I hate it when you say that."
"I'm sorry."
"How about some good news."
"The good news is that there is no sign of bacteria, virus, tissue breakdown, or any other testable pathology in either Colonel Carter's samples or the blood and spinal fluid samples taken from the natives."
"And the bad news?"
"Well..." Dr. Brightman paused. "There is no sign of bacteria, virus, tissue breakdown, or any other testable pathology..."
"I don't understand." Jack admitted.
"It means she has no idea what's wrong." Daniel supplied.
"It's very difficult to treat a disease if you can't diagnose it." Dr. Brightman said. "I need more information."
"What kind of information?"
"What course the disease takes, if everyone has the same symptoms, how long does it take to run its course, has anyone ever recovered, is there dementia or just ataxia, does every woman die of it..."
"Doc, the only people who know those answers speak gibberish."
"It's not gibberish." Daniel growled.
"Whatever, we don't understand them."
"I don't know what else I can do, General." Dr. Brightman admitted. "We really can't risk bringing one of the victims to the SGC. If we don't know how it's spread we may not be able to contain it. The samples themselves were dangerous enough as it is and I recommend sending them back through the Stargate to dispose of them there."
"The SGC has been put at enough risk as it is, Sir." Sam pointed out. "I've been here and back before. I don't recall having contact with anyone, but we've already exposed the SGC as much as we dare."
"Yeah." Jack sighed. "Bringing anyone who is sick back is out of the question."
"It sounds like whatever this is it has a very long incubation," Dr. Brightman broke in "it may be twenty years before Colonel Carter shows symptoms if she is infected."
"In any case, I need to stay here until we have a better idea of what is going on."
"Alright, send the samples through. We'll get rid of them. Make sure we decontaminate the SGC and personal as best we can. In the meantime try and think of something, anything, and get back to us."
"Yes, Sir."
A few minutes later a sealed steel biohazard box on wheels rolled its way through the Stargate. After the Event Horizon snapped shut everyone just stared at the inactive Gate. Eventually Daniel couldn't handle the silence.
"I'll figure this out, I swear." Daniel promised. "Just give me a little more time."
"You're wasting time right now." Jack snarled.
The look of shocked hurt that flashed across Daniel's face brought Sam close to tears. He started to say something, but decided against it. Sam tried to catch his eye to silently apologize for Jack's behaviour, but he wouldn't look at her. Turning away Daniel walked back off towards the village.
When Daniel was out of sight Jack dragged his hands through his silver hair and growled in animal frustration. Sam looked to Teal'c, but he was just standing there as stoic as ever. The Jaffa was like a living representation of Sweden: neutral in all wars between Jack and Daniel.
"Sir...you shouldn't be so hard on Daniel. This isn't his fault."
"I know." Jack admitted in a low mumble.
"Then why are you treating him like this?"
"That I don't know."
Daniel knew, and he was just as angry with himself as Jack was. With a heavy heart he returned to where the whole village slept through the heat of the day. As he walked past the Kanra part of the village he could only pray that he hadn't inadvertently condemned Sam to the same fate.
Taja was just beginning to wake when he stepped into her primitive home. Seeing that he had returned she reached over to a low table and lifted up a necklace with a single animal tooth on it. She forced a smile, but she could feel Daniel's uneasiness.
"Dan'el." She said simply as she held it out to him.
"Ni." Daniel shook his head. "I don't want it."
"Tas, tas." She insisted.
"Ni. What I really want is for you tell me everything about Kanra."
"Da." Taja said sadly as she put the necklace down.
"I'm sorry." Daniel forced a smile and held out his hand.
Taja brighten immediately and gave him the trinket. Not knowing what else to do with it he placed it around his neck with the other one. For the first time he took a really close look at the necklace he was already wearing and noticed something odd.
"Taja...this necklace, these bones...they aren't human are they?"
"Nu?"
"Bones." Daniel pointed to one of them and then to his own finger. "Are these human bones?"
"Da, da." Taja replied tapping on the back of her hand.
"I guess that shouldn't really surprise me. It's a good way to keep the dead close, and you seem to lose your loved ones at a young age."
Taja just smiled.
"Taja, do you know how Kanra is spread?" As Daniel said 'Kanra' he made a motion as if spreading something around.
"Ni." Taja shook her head sadly.
"Do you know what causes it?" Daniel asked and then sighed. "Of course you don't, why would you? This is impossible, how can we talk about this if I don't know the words?"
Taja looked at Daniel quizzically. He suddenly had a thought, a way to ask about the Kanra. He brought her outside to a place that had soft soil. Kneeling down he began to draw in the dirt.
"Dan'el?"
"It's my family tree." Daniel explained. "I want to know about your family. Wegu. Family."
"Da."
"The circles are female. Wen. Female. The squares are male. Gnu. Male."
"Da, da."
Daniel drew out his small family tree while Taja watched. She was giving him her full attention and seemed to follow along. When he was done he encouraged her to do the same.
Taja nodded and began to draw in the dirt as well. Daniel was afraid at first that she'd just copy his, but it quickly became clear that her own family was much larger than his own. When she was done she sat back and waited for further instruction.
"Okay...um...well." Daniel struck a line through his drawing. "My parents are dead. Uru. Death."
"Da."
"Who has died of Kanra in your family? Kanra uru?"
Taja looked over her drawing. Starting at the top she began to draw strikes through the circles. Each time she did she whispered 'Kanra'. At one point she actually drew a line through one of the men in her family and marked it with 'Kanra' as well. However the terrifying pattern soon became clear.
"Almost every female in your family has died of this."
"Da. Ren Kanra uru." Taja sighed.
"My god...what if this is genetic?"
