Major Simi and jojobevco: For all our technology, why didn't we see this coming? In either Hearts and Minds or Fruition, the Vs hack into our systems and hide the breeding fleet. I'm thinking they did the same thing for the first 29 ships (or it was just a great place for the story to start). Also, think about how other races in the galaxy reacted to one another. The Goa'uld are forever trying to one-up not only other Goa'uld, but other races like the Asgard. The Vs on the other hand were pretty isolated, developing their technology, their weapons and their ships with little (if any) outside influence, so yes, they are on different wavelengths. Do they know about SGC? No. I did toy with the idea of making Kinsey, Woolsey, or both sleeper agents, but decided it wouldn't work. Kinsey loved power, making Anna consider him a threat (death by tail anyone?), and Woolsey strikes me as spineless. And one of them has children not sure which.
stark40763: Maybe. Once it comes out that the Vs sure as hell aren't angels, other humans may be put off by the knowledge of yet more aliens out there somewhere, some of them dangerous. Erica and the Stargate . . . that will definitely be happening.
Lisa observed Tyler's memories along with the boy in question, noticing a few things that stood out. Tyler's sister May enters his memories when he is four; when Tyler was six, May showed him a drawing of a grey ring with a circle of glyphs and nine trapezoidal figures evenly spaced around it. It seemed familiar. When Tyler is eight, May disappears. The arrival of her mother pushed these thoughts aside.
"Did you find what we're looking for?"
Lisa shook her head, "There's just so much." A few seconds passed, "What does it all mean? It doesn't seem to serve any purpose."
"Human memories contain emotion, not just information. That's why they can be difficult to interpret."
"Why aren't our memories like that?"
"Our species is designed for efficiency. We're not burdened by emotional imprints like humans." A few more seconds passed, "We have what we need. Tyler must calm her fears, loosen her hold on him."
"And he will be free from her."
"And you my daughter, will be free to fulfill your destiny."
"What about his sister?"
Anna blinked, "Explain."
"She enters Tyler's memories when he's four and vanishes when he's eight." The drawing she kept to herself, at least for the time being.
Anna was silent, considering her options. "Find out how close they are. We can use their connection to either drive them apart or bring her to us."
After explaining the effects of the memory chamber, Lisa asked about May, and Tyler was only too happy to explain.
"She's not really my sister, we just adopted her."
Lisa tilted her head, "I don't understand."
"Something happened to her parents and the FBI got involved. I found her in our old car one morning when I was four, Mom and Dad loved her and we adopted her. She stayed with us for a few years until Mom tracked down a living relative to take her in. She went with to live with him when she was nine."
"And you never saw her again until now?"
"She wrote lots of letters in the beginning, but that stopped once she got more comfortable where she was. I'm glad she came to visit, I missed her."
"You don't think she abandoned you?"
"She didn't have much choice. Technically Daniel's her guardian, he's like her dad's cousin or something . . ."
"There was something else I noticed. When you were six May drew this strange grey ring with glyphs around it. What was it?"
"Oh yeah, I remember that one! First she called it Astria Porta, something weird I couldn't pronounce, then she just called it Stargate."
Lisa blinked and asked, "Chappa'ai?" She didn't like the word, much less actually say it. It made her feel aggressive, but she ignored it.
Tyler stared at her, "I think that was it. Weird name huh?'
"Very strange." Lisa agreed, mouthing 'Astria Porta' and then the word 'Stargate'. That was impossible, if Earth had such a thing, the Vs would know about it right?
"How does she feel about you being a Peace Ambassador?" she asked, changing the subject.
"I don't know. She doesn't get up until I'm gone."
"She's alone all day?" Lisa didn't sound accusatory, just curious. Tyler cringed. Was she lonely? Did she hate him for being on the ship so much, basically ignoring her? What if she went back to Daniel and Aunt Sam's early? I bet they pay attention to her.
"Yeah, she's alone all day. And I wanted to spend more time with her before she went back home, but with me on the ship all the time . . ."
Lisa smiled, seeing an opportunity, "Invite her to the ship with you next time. Explain your duties as a Peace Ambassador, tell her how much you enjoy it." Seeing him glance at the jacket and about to speak, she continued, "Perhaps without the jacket. If she is lonely she might hold us responsible and the jacket would emphasize that."
"But you haven't done anything to her!" Tyler exclaimed angrily.
"Try seeing it from her point of view Tyler. She came to New York to visit her other family, but neither you nor your mother are home much. That alone is enough to drive her away permanently. Talk to her, make sure she knows how important she is to you."
Tyler nodded and went home, unaware of Lisa's satisfied smirk.
After reassuring his mom he wouldn't leave her and telling her he'd joined the Peace Ambassadors, he dropped off the jacket in his room and knocked on May's bedroom door, mentally rehearsing the speech he'd worked on the whole way home.
May opened the door, and Tyler noticed she looked a little pale.
"Can, can I talk to you for a second?"
May lifted one shoulder but let him in anyway.
"I've been ignoring you, and, I'm sorry. It isn't fair that you came all this way from Colorado?" Tyler began, continuing when May nodded, "And you've been all by yourself here. I don't want you to leave because, because-"
May cut him off, seeing Tyler's little spiel for the Lisa-suggested trick it was, "I'd like to believe you Tyler, but apparently your girlfriend and the Vs are more important."
Tyler almost got mad, because the Vs hadn't done anything wrong, but Lisa's words came back to him, She came to New York to visit her family, but neither you nor your mother are home much.
Taking a deep breath, he knew May's feelings on the subject were justified. And maybe she was snappy because she wasn't feeling well. He left to get ready for bed, deciding talk about the Peace Ambassadors in the morning.
At midnight May heard a cough, then Tyler's heavy footsteps pounded into the bathroom and he threw up noisily. Erica padded after him, peering around the doorway before following.
"Oh Ty. Again?"
He nodded. A few minutes later they walked back to his room, and Erica went searching for a bucket and a towel. May heard distinct mutterings about a fever and not going to work that day, and then pretended to be asleep when Mom checked on her, making sure she wasn't sick too.
What's wrong with him? May thought as her dorky brother ran into the bathroom and threw up again twenty minutes later.
A vision hit her then, and she saw four images:
Human DNA as it should be, a complete double-helix.
Tyler's DNA, missing substantial chunks.
Visitor DNA from a fifty-year-old sample named Alpha, much more complicated than a human's. Visitor DNA from Sarita Malik, more complicated than Alpha's.
May swore under her breath, the V's were fast-tracking their own evolution!
Tyler was up and down the rest of the night. Mom took his temperature again in the morning and called the doctor, then called her boss and told him she wouldn't be coming in that day. While she was on the phone, May checked on Tyler.
"You look better." He rasped, propping himself up and grabbing the plastic cup of water on the table next to him.
"And you look like hell." May said, leaning against the doorframe. She could sense remnants of the Ori plague in his blood, weak but effective thanks to his lack of DNA. She sensed something else familiar, but would need to get away in order to identify it without freaking him out.
Tyler chuckled dryly, "Yeah I know." He was quiet for a minute before asking, "You wanna hear about the Peace Ambassadors?"
"I guess."
And Tyler was off, explaining what Peace Ambassadors did, the things he'd seen, and how nice the Vs were to any human they came into contact with. May humored him by asking questions, not noticing Mom listening from the top step.
Erica was a little surprised at her son's interrogation at the hands of her daughter. Some of May's questions were very specific, especially about the engine room. Almost every morning she was sending a manila envelope to Daniel, saying he wanted to be kept up to date. Erica wanted to explain how the Vs couldn't be trusted, but wasn't ready to put her daughter in the middle of a war.
"Hey you two."
"Hi Mom."
"I'm going into town to pick up some Advil, both of you stay here okay?"
"Okay."
As she walked out the front door May asked, "Duct tape, a rope, or chains?" and Tyler's loud, "Stay the hell away from me!"
She chuckled to herself as she got in the car.
May confiscated Tyler's phone that morning, and wasn't too surprised when it vibrated later, Lisa's number on the caller ID. Not knowing or caring how the hell she had a cell phone, May answered.
"Hello?"
"May? Why do have Tyler's phone?" Lisa seemed surprised.
"He isn't feeling well. I don't know how long it will take him to get better, but I'm sure he'll let you know when he does."
"Alright. Tell him I'm thinking about him and I miss him." She hung up.
Yeah I'll tell him. Have to tie him down first. She thought, sitting down to a late lunch. She'd just taken a sip of lemonade when what she sensed earlier came back to her. Spewing lemonade across the table, she finally knew what made her feel off around Tyler. The ATA gene, inherited from Erica. Being genetically screwed with appeared to have weakened it some, but it was present nonetheless.
"Oh hell."