~ internal speech
bold is symbiote talking with symbiote voice
Sam POV
We have copied much of the research, including the very important one on how to create a symbiote queen.
If all goes well, Jilinet will be a queen! This is so strange to think of! It is wonderful for the Tok'ra, and I am very happy they will no longer be a dying race.
For myself... I don't really know how I feel about - perhaps - becoming host to a queen... with all that entails. That is not something I need to worry about yet, though, so I decide to push that aside for now. There are more immediate concerns.
We decide we have spent enough time checking out the research this Goa'uld scientist is working on. We cannot risk being caught now, not with this information. We must first get it to the Tok'ra, before doing anything else!
We make it back to our chambers, then go to the secret room where we have hidden an encrypted communicator and a small portable computer that we brought from the Tok'ra. The computer is only to be used under the most dire circumstances, or for extremely important or urgent information.
The possibility of getting the Tok'ra a new queen must certainly qualify as important enough to risk a small danger of being discovered. We both agree on that.
Jilinet fires up the communicator, and when they have acknowledged in the other end, she tells them to be ready to record a data stream. She then connects the small computer to the communicator, plugs in the data crystal with the data on, and when the Tok'ra acknowledge they are ready to receive, she clicks 'send'.
~That will take a long time to send, since it encrypts everything heavily and attempts to send a little at a time at random intervals, preferably when the data stream can be masked by other disturbances, which it can detect. Like when Apophis receives or sends communications as well. It will hide with those.~
~But it's night and he is... I don't know, asleep, in his sarc, or with some of those female slaves...~
~Yes. However, as a system lord, there will be many messages coming in and going out, even when he is asleep. His servants will be answering some things that have easy answers not requiring his personal response, and they will be sending out messages for him as well. Perhaps ordering various goods. Since not all planets follow the same night/day cycle, the messages arrive at all times.~
~Of course. That makes sense.~
~It is not yet that late, and we can do nothing about the speed of the data transmission. We could go and check out the prisoner, if you want?~
Sure, we can do that.~
To be honest, I'm not that interested right now. Or...I'm interested, but I think I've got more than enough excitement for one night. On the other hand, there is not likely to be a better opportunity for a long time, so... we should go check it out.
Again we met no one in the corridors. We pass the place where we had met Karte, and there is a small piece of cloth.
~What is that?~ I wonder.
Jilinet picks it up. ~Part of Karte's robe. We probably tore it when fighting him.~ She pockets it.
~Why would you keep that?~
~You never know when it might come in handy.~
We walk on through the corridors. All is quiet - except for the occasional, very unsettling, scream that comes from the quarters of the visiting Goa'uld. Fortunately, they are mostly too far away, but near the turn-off of the corridor that leads to the scientists labs and to the stairs to the cell block, they can be heard.
I shudder, and push the thought of what is happening to the slaves and slavegirls away.
~Jilinet... why have they put the scientist's labs just beside the door to the stairs down to the cells? Isn't that a bit strange?~
~I have not seen it done before, that is true, but while it could be a coincidence, I suspect there is a good reason for it. Most likely the scientist had need of some...test subjects, from time to time, and then it was useful to have the cell block nearby.~
That sounds really ominous! Do you think he's done any experiments on the prisoner that's down there right now?~
~Probably not...unless he is still working on refining his zatarc-programming. That could be one reason for keeping a Tok'ra prisoner, I suppose.~ Jilinet frowns. ~Actually, now you mention it...the cell with the prisoner in was immediately under one of the large apparatuses in the lab. That's probably a coincidence, though.~
~Let's...check out that machine first, shall we?~ I suggest. We are just outside the door to the lab anyway.
Jilinet sighs, then nods. ~Yes, agreed.~
~You are sure it is just creating a stasis field?~
~Yes... if I understand it correctly, and I'm pretty sure I do, then that is what it does.~ I look at the readout on the display once more, then check out the computer just beside the machine. ~Looks like it's actually keeping a stasis field in the cell below. That's odd...no mention of any experiments done on the prisoner, though. Why would they have a stasis field for the cell?~
~I have no idea. The machine is also running, so I am guessing the field is active. We should go check it out. The cell, I mean.~
Soon we are standing before the door to the prison cell that is occupied. The door is locked, but with a special lock. It can be opened by someone with a key - or by someone with naquadah in the blood, in which case you just need to touch it the right place. Weird.
~I have seen that done before. It is not all that unusual.~ Jilinet insists.
She touches the lock in the right way, and it unlocks. We open the door. As soon as we step inside we can hear the faint humming from a stasis field. The light comes on as we step closer to the end of the room where the prisoner is still lying on a bench of some kind.
He is enveloped by the stasis field, but he is completely naked. We both gasp as we see his face.
~Martouf? It is Martouf? How can that be? Why?~
Jilinet just stares at him for a moment, then stretches out a hand and touches the stasis field. ~I...I do not know.~
~Can we go into the field and examine him?~ I frown. ~He looks like he still has the wounds from when...when we shot him. As zatarc. It looks worse, though.~ I feel as if my heart is getting squeezed.
~We...cannot go in there. If we succeeded in entering, we would become unconscious. We, too, would be in stasis.~
~Of course.~ I realize, still staring at Martouf. I can feel tears running down my face. I don't know if they are mine or Jilinet's, but she is in control. The emotions from both of us are powerful, though. Such pain.
~Anise removed the metal fragments...the bullets, from your projectile weapons. That is why the wounds seems worse. She barely started healing them, though, and Lantash also was not allowed to do so yet, but was kept unconscious...until a decision could be made.~
~I can sense Lantash, but the signal is weaker than I would have thought.~
~Yes, our blood still react with the naquadah in his, whether in stasis or not, but he is unconscious, and likely weakened, which means the energy signature is low.~
Decision...they were kept in stasis on the Tok'ra base?~
~Yes, Anise and some others wanted to let Lantash heal Martouf, and help with a healing device. Others - Ren'al mainly - wanted to remove Lantash and examine Martouf's brain. She argued that it was too dangerous to risk Lantash's life, and that an autopsy needed to be done so we could learn about the zatarc programming. Then we were suddenly told Martouf's relatives had come for his body and taken it, and Lantash with it. That they were both dead and buried.~
~I doubt Martouf's relatives would know where to find him - or even that he did not die or become a Goa'uld host when he was taken from his home world twenty years or so ago!~
~Yes, that is true, and I did not believe them. Others also did not, but what could we do? That was the information we got, and Ren'al is an important member of the Council. She has many followers.~
~Could she been in league with Apophis?~
~Probably not...but she may be covering up incompetence, and she is more ambitious than is good. She tend to feel the end justifies the means - any means.~
~Tanith, maybe?~
~Possibly. I do not know too much of what has happened in the tunnels the last few weeks before taking you as host. I was in a tank, as you may have been told, and was only informed of some things.~
~We need to save Martouf and Lantash! A sarcophagus can heal them, right?~
~We do not use the sarcophagus, and besides, how would you get them to it? Where would we hide them?~
~What will Apophis do with him? Why is he still in here? In stasis?~
~Probably...the scientist wishes to examine him to learn the effect of the zatarc-programming. That could be why he is here and still mortally injured and in stasis. Then, afterwards, Apophis may have him healed in a sarcophagus, if possible, unless the injuries from the examination proves too great, and then 'interrogate' him.~
~You mean torture him! The damn scientists will cut in his brain to look at the result of his handiwork, and then they'll see if the sarc can still fix him up! If it succeeds, Apophis will have him tortured for information... endlessly, until they go mad! No, I will not permit that!~ I 'scream'.
~I do not enjoy the thought either, you know how I feel for them! Also, I would not want that for anyone! Do you not realize I would want to save them as much as you? But we cannot risk it!~
~Yes we can! We turn off the stasis field, carry him to the sarcophagus, and then hide him in the secret room in our quarters. You did say Apophis didn't know about that!~
~True, but I am not certain the sarcophagus will have time to heal this many injuries in time...not before everyone in the palace starts waking up...~
~How long before that happens? The servants won't be interested about what happens with the sarcophagus - we get Martouf some servant's clothing, and then sneak him to our room. Please?~ I almost beg her.
Jilinet thinks it over for a long time. ~Yes.~ She finally says. ~We will try that.~
