Chapter 18

"What's the matter, Viorel?" Daniel asked.

She took a seat on one of the settees placed around the living quarters before she answered. "No one ever asked me if I missed my home before, until Major Carter did."

Daniel sat down next to her. It seemed to him that her delicate, childlike features had aged in these few hours.

"I have always thought of Kalam as my home until today," she went on. "But now-" She bit her lip. "I tried to sleep for a while, and I dreamed of a strange place. When I awoke I knew it was my home planet. And I began to remember things." She paused, thinking.

"What do you remember?" Daniel prodded.

"I…I remember green."

"Green?"

"I think we lived in a forest. There was a waterfall. And I remember helping a woman cut up vegetables into a pot hung in a fireplace. Do you think that was my mother?"

"It's possible."

"Dan'l." Her hands twined in her lap. "This is a better place, isn't it?"

Daniel looked at Teal'c and sighed. She wanted reassurance that he couldn't give her. "Viorel, your people take children away from their families, from their homes. They make it so they can never have children of their own. I don't think I'd call that better."

"But we give them health and long life!"

"That's true, but at a terrible price. How old are you, Viorel?"

"A little over seven hektons."

Seven hundred years old! "And how old is Bok'n?" he asked.

"He and the other magistrates are over fifty hektons."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Five thousand years."

"They are among the Old Ones, who were here when Silak'ha was discovered," Viorel said. "Everyone who is not one of the Newcomers is that old."

"And they'll live forever, won't they?" Daniel said.

She sighed, resigned. "We are taught since childhood to keep it secret because others would want to take it from us. They would send armies to attack us. We are taught that everyone wants to have eternal life and achieve Unity."

"The price you pay for Unity - the elimination of sexual differentiation - diminishes the appeal considerably," Teal'c said.

Viorel looked at him, then down at her hands. "I realize that now. I discerned that you seem to enjoy your sexual differences. I am beginning to understand why." She looked at Daniel, and her gaze roamed over him with the same frankness it had in the car, and with not a little adoration. It struck Daniel that the magistrate was developing a schoolgirl crush on him, and he felt momentarily at a loss.

"Silak'ha is a dubious gift," said Teal'c. "Your people have lost their ability to reproduce and their numbers are diminishing due to the inevitable accidents."

"That is not the only cause of our population decline." Viorel looked down, clearly uncomfortable. "Many people cannot bear to live forever, so they…they take their own lives."

They were silent a moment. "Many?" Daniel said.

"More and more. Five of my brethren from my homeworld have committed suicide. Magistrate D'nae lost his parents the same way thirty hek'tons ago. Hardly a family on Kalam has been untouched by such tragedy."

"I'm sorry." Daniel reached out and touched her shoulder. "Viorel, maybe you could help the new children, the ones who are to be given Silak'ha tomorrow."

"Help them how?"

"Help us get them back to their parents."

Furrows appeared in her smooth forehead. "But why do you want to help them return to lives of misery?"

"These children led happy lives," Daniel said. "And their parents love them and miss them terribly."

"Do you really think so?"

"Do you not miss your brethren who took their own lives?" asked Teal'c.

"Yes," she said in a small voice.

Daniel said, "Magnify that tenfold. That's what it feels like for a parent to lose their child. Colonel O'Neill knows. He lost his son in an accident. I'm sure your own mother never stopped grieving for you until the day she died."

Viorel stared at him, but her eyes were unfocused, as though gazing at something else. They were among the prettiest green eyes he had ever seen, and he felt immensely sad that she would never know romantic love.

"You're remembering your mother, aren't you?" he said. She nodded, silent. "Will you help these children, Viorel?"

"I don't know how."

"Perhaps you could persuade the Wydra to halt the initiation rite," said Teal'c.

She looked shocked.

Daniel said, "It would give us some time."

"Time for what?" she said.

"To negotiate for the release of the children."

"I cannot do that."

"Then just try to postpone the rite. Just talk to the other magistrates. Tell them the vials aren't ready. Anything to give us some time."

She shook her head, her red braids dancing from side to side. "No, I can't. Everything is ready. The surgeons have been called."

Daniel felt a cold fear grip him around the chest. "What do you mean, surgeons?"

"It is part of the rite." She stood suddenly. "I have to go."

Daniel jumped up and grabbed her arm. "Wait! Why do you need surgeons?"

She sighed. "For the operations."

"What operations?"

She tried to pull her arm from his grasp, but Daniel gripped it more tightly. "Please let me go," she said, frightened. "I will call the guards."

He released her, but stepped between her and the door. "Viorel," he said, trying to control his voice, "please don't call the guards. Just tell us. What operations?"

She looked over Daniel's shoulder at the door, then at Teal'c, as though begging him to help her. But he stood there implacably, waiting. Finally, her voice tight, she said, "The operations of excision."

For an interminable second the linguist refused to understand the word. Then he looked at Teal'c and saw that his ebony skin had turned gray. And Daniel knew that the word meant exactly what he thought it meant.

~o~

"Everyone ready?" said Jack.

"Yes, sir," said Carter.

"Yeah," said Jacob.

"Almost."

O'Neill sighed and turned around. "Garan?"

The kid was hefting the pack onto his back. Settling the burden on his shoulders, Garan said, "I'm ready now. I still think I should have a gun, though."

"We've already talked about this. You'd be more of a danger than an asset if you had a weapon. You're lucky I'm even letting you come along, but that's only because I don't want to let you out of my sight."

"No, it's not," argued the youth. "You need my help with the children."

"Yeah, well, whatever. Do you know your orders?"

"Yes." Garan sighed exaggeratedly. "Do exactly what you tell me to do."

"Right. Let's move out."

Outside they were met by the ghostly light of three of the planet's four moons, which had risen since O'Neill and Carter's arrival at the cargo ship.

"Crap." Jack turned to the others. "Black faces." He, Jacob, and Carter immediately reached into their kits and rubbed blacking on their faces. Then Carter showed Garan what to do.

Wispy clouds drifted across the faces of the moons as the four moved silently through the arid countryside. The temperature, typical for desert nights, had dropped dramatically from the afternoon and Jack was grateful for his layers of heavy cotton. But he began to worry about how they would keep small children warm.

They made quick progress and soon were at the bridge crossing the river. The city rising on its hills was dark and silent, only streetlights illuminating the night. Once they had made their way across the bridge and into the city proper, they avoided the well-lit main streets and kept to the darker side streets. They saw no one; the city was sleeping soundly.

"I've never seen a town so dead," Jacob said.

"I guess no sex means no night life," Jack said, and he heard Carter snort.

They moved steadily uphill until they reached the plaza where the dark ring of the stargate lay like an eye staring up at heaven. Skirting the shadows at the edge of the plaza, they made their way to the Hall of Wydra. Two guards flanked the main entrance, their weapons held loosely in their arms. The guards appeared more ceremonial than a real defense force, but Jack preferred not to engage them. He motioned to the others, and they crept around to the back of the building. The rear entrance, which Jack had noted on their way to the children's building, was unguarded.

He pressed the door's control panel. Nothing happened. "Carter?"

Pulling out her knife, she pried off the cover, baring the control circuits and crystals. She withdrew a smaller tool from a pocket and fiddled with the insides for a long minute. There was a snick, and the door moved an inch, then stopped. "Damn," she muttered.

Jack motioned to Jacob and Garan, and the three men grabbed the edge of the door and pulled. The door inched slowly open, until at last the space was wide enough to squeeze through.

The building was silent. They moved through corridors to the stairway and climbed to the floor where the guest quarters were. Peering around a corner Jack saw halfway down the corridor four guards posted outside a room.

~o~

Something propelled Daniel off the settee where he had apparently dozed off. Some kind of noise. But what? Heart pounding, he tried to remember what the noise had sounded like. Then he heard it again, coming from outside their quarters. The sound of zat fire. Jack must be here!

Teal'c had taken up position beside the door, poised for action. Daniel glanced at his watch. Two hours and five minutes since Jack had radioed. One hour since Viorel had left their quarters.

She had explained the reasons for the operations, seeming to think that would calm their outrage at her stunning news, concluding, "They will be sedated. They will feel no pain. And they will be given painkillers during the recovery period."

"That's not the point!" Daniel said.

Viorel looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, but it is our way."

"It's the wrong way," said Daniel.

"You must endeavor to stop it," said Teal'c.

"I cannot!" she cried. "I have no power to do so." Her eyes filled with tears, and she pushed her way past them to the door.

Daniel stopped her. "Viorel, please. Remember your home. Remember your mother! Stop these operations and help the children return to their mothers."

She'd called for the guards to open the door, and then she was gone.

Daniel now took post opposite Teal'c. He pressed his ear against the door and listened. Silence. Then he thought he heard a scratching like a tool on metal. Then nothing.

Then, "Daniel! Teal'c!"

"O'Neill!" called Teal'c.

"Carter's trying to open the door."

Then Sam's voice, "Dammit. It worked on the other door."

"We don't have time for this," came Jack's voice again. Daniel heard a zat, then "Crap." Apparently the zat gun hadn't worked on the door controls either.

"Great." It sounded like Jacob this time. "Now you broke it."

Daniel looked at Teal'c anxiously, then at the door panel on their side. They had tried fruitlessly to open the door earlier. Maybe if they tried again…

"Daniel, Teal'c, stand aside!" came Jack's order.

Quickly they retreated to the far end of the room. A moment later there was a sizzle and a muffled detonation, and where the door latch had been was a smoldering hole.

Jack pushed open the door. "Hi, guys."

"Greetings, O'Neill," said Teal'c. He and Daniel stepped into the hallway.

Jacob said, "The explosion probably set off a silent alarm, Jack."

"I know. Couldn't be helped."

"They'll have a battalion of security forces headed our way."

"I know. But it shouldn't be a problem. They're a peaceful society, no experience with warfare." He handed zats to Daniel and Teal'c while Sam retrieved the weapons from the downed guards. "Garan, give Daniel and Teal'c the C-4 in your pack." He began to lead them down the corridor.

"Jack," Daniel said, trotting along behind him. "There's something else we learned."

"What?"

"We found out the children aren't just going to be given the drug tomorrow. They're…" Over his shoulder he saw Garan jogging toward them and he hesitated. Something about the innocence of Edora caused him to equivocate. "Um, they're going to be surgically altered."

Jack pulled up suddenly and whirled around, Daniel almost barreling into him. "What!?"

"Well, ah," glancing at Garam as the rest caught up. "Viorel told us that Silak'ha wasn't one hundred percent effective on some of the races the Kalam 'liberated.' So now they take more drastic measures to ensure that the children are 'desexed,'as they call it."

Jack just stared in shock.

"Holy Hannah!" Jacob said. "Are we talking about cas-?"

"Yep," Daniel said.

Teal'c added, "The females undergo a corresponding procedure."

"Oh, God," said Carter.

For a long moment Jack stood frozen in the middle of the corridor where he had halted, his face drained of color, his fingers clenching his P-90 white-knuckled. While Daniel had had time to absorb the horror, for his friend it must have felt like being slammed into by a 20-ton semi.

A second later blood rushed back into Jack's face as fury welled up. His expression hardened into stone. "Dammed savages," he ground out. The next second he was sprinting for the stairs. The others hurtled after him.

Behind him Daniel heard Garan's bewildered voice. "What are you talking about? What are they going to do?"

"I'll explain later," Daniel tossed over his shoulder, his voice almost drowned by a sudden noise.

Claxons were blaring across the city as they emerged from the building, the rhythmic clamor reverberating with the pounding of Daniel's heart.