~ is internal conversation between host and symbiote
bold is symbiote speaking with symbiote voice
Sam POV
We are lying on the bed, desperately trying to sleep for a few hours before dinner. We are exhausted, Jilinet particularly, even more so than after the last treatment.
~What about Martouf and Lantash?~ I ask, when we have forced ourselves to sit up, feeling somewhat groggy. My stomach growls for food. ~Should we not talk to them?~
~When we have swept the room for recording devices we will open the secret door and tell them we are safe... and ask about the data crystals.~
~I guess that makes sense. Let's sweep the room?~
Jilinet nods, and tiredly stands to do that.
We made a very thorough sweep of the rooms, using a Tok'ra scanner disguised as a ring. We found two surveillance devices - one that only recorded sound, and one that recorded video as well. We quickly smashed both.
After making sure there were no other bugs in the rooms, we double-check that the door out is locked, then pushes the table before the secret door aside, then moves the curtain that hangs before it. I knock on the door, in the agreed-upon pattern. After a few moments, I open it.
Inside Martouf and Lantash are waiting, looking at us with a relieved expression.
"We have been very worried for you, our beloveds. We heard sounds as if the room was being searched by Jaffa, and then many hours passed..." Martouf says, pulling us close and kissing us.
"I know, and I'm terribly sorry we couldn't tell you we were okay. Yeah, our room was searched, and Sef'lar - that's Apophis's scientist - his lo'tar had planted two bugs. That is, surveillance devices." I explain.
Martouf nods, a worried and tense expression on his face. "You are safe now, though. Right?"
"Yes. Sef'lar suspected us of stealing his data crystals, and that's the reason he had our rooms searched. Not because he suspected us of anything else."
Martouf nods. "I see. I took the data crystals. I am very sorry to have done so, if it caused you danger. I had hoped it would save you from having to give yourself to Sef'lar."
"And it did! I'm very grateful you managed to take those data crystals!" I tell him. "Thank you!" I hug him close. "You musn't endanger yourself like that, though..."
"The danger was minimal. I am greatly relieved you do not have to surrender to Sef'lar's lusts." He kisses me.
We talk for a little longer, then Jilinet and I leave. We are very hungry and need to get some food. There is only just food enough in storage in the secret room, so we will not take any of that. Martouf and Lantash need it. We do not know how long we will have to stay here, and we don't know how much food we can steal and give them.
"It's really fascinating stuff!" I observe. Jilinet and I, and Martouf/Lantash, are studying the content of the data crystals on the Tok'ra computer we have. It's interesting to read about how the Goa'uld Ral'ket created Goa'uld queens so many millennia ago, when the first Goa'uld had left their original homeworld.
"Very." Martouf agrees. "It would seem that Ral'ket made a great many changes to the symbiotes, in order to create a queen. The Tok'ra scientists will be fascinated."
"They had problems because they were so few, also. Their genetic diversity was too low, and they needed to adapt quickly to the new hosts that they took on other worlds." I note, reading. "Wow! He solved it by making it so the queen could use DNA - erh, that's code of life - from the host species, and include it with her offspring. A side-effect of this is what causes the harcesises."
"Yes. They couldn't make it so the DNA transfer is only one way. It's unavoidable. Both ordinary symbiotes and queens affect the host's code of life, including that in their eggs and seed. The children of the hosts will have symbiote code of life, and it cannot be avoided. Well, that means the Tok'ra scientists can stop trying to find a way to do that!"
"They have been trying to stop that from happening?" I ask.
"Yes. Some of the Tok'ra hosts want children, but while the Tok'ra do not have a law against harcesises like the Goa'uld, it is very dangerous for such children - and for the Tok'ra. The children would carry all the knowledge of their symbiote parents, which is certainly something the Goa'uld could misuse. Aside from that, those children would not be innocent. They would know about the horrors of the Galaxy."
"Well, little symbiotes know of that! Yes, I can see the problems, including the danger to the Tok'ra, and I do realize our kids will fall in that category. Regardless, I am convinced all will be just fine, and I must admit I even... like the thought that the child I am carrying is the biological child of all of us." I kiss Martouf. "I love Lantash and you."
Martouf smiles happily. "Lantash and I agree, and we do not worry as much as some other Tok'ra may. We will protect the child and raise him with love and support. He will be a good person." He kisses me.
It is late evening, and we read only a little more before we go to bed. After making sweet love, we fall asleep in each others arms.
Several weeks pass, with weekly treatments by Sef'lar. It is intensely unpleasant - and uncomfortable, due to Sef'lar's behaviour, but he is not trying to force us to sex, at least.
It is stressful having to live in Apophis's palace, and having to always been on guard - and sharing our meals with Apophis. Jilinet is getting more and more tired, and she can feel her body change now. It worries me, but I have to hope it is part of the 'normal' process that will make her a queen.
I am now more than two months pregnant, but Jilinet is making sure I feel little of the ill effects that most women would otherwise. I have no morning sickness at all, for instance.
Apophis is keeping up the increased guard around the palace and the Stargate. That means there is no way for Martouf and Lantash to escape - not that they want to. They insist they will stay here for as long as we have to. It is dangerous, and worries me all the time that they will be discovered, but their presence is also comforting. It is the only real comfort - well, aside from the knowledge that I am carrying their child, and the presence of Jilinet. She is becoming a very good and close friend.