Osiris' Memories
We were particularly proud of our plan for Isis. It was hard to spawn offspring individually instead of in a large group, but the manipulation of memory we performed would have been needlessly complicated if there had been more than one larva. When she was done, we knew we had done well.
It was dangerous for us here now. But when Ra smelled a rat, he looked for one. He never once thought that poor, powerless Anukis would cause him trouble, so we never crossed his mind. And we took precautions to ensure that we never did.
Isis grew, and her memories drew her to the one called Osiris. He was cruel, but she endured, because we kept her strong. There were two others, Seth and Nephthys, that they were close to. But everyone knew that Nephthys hated Seth above all others, and desired Osiris. The pot stood simmering on the fire.
And Nephthys seduced Osiris, and drew him from Isis, and my daughter knew the Time had come. For in his dalliance with Nephthys, Osiris had awoken in Seth great jealousy, and made him an enemy.
And as we had hoped, Ra himself stepped in to play.
....................................
The satisfactory noise that his pen always made when he hurled it across the room in frustration was drowned out by the ringing of his phone. For the briefest of moments, he was tempted to send the phone after the pen, but common sense prevailed.
"Jackson...... Who?......Never mind, I heard you the first time......Well, it's kind of a reflex......Of course! Have someone bring her to my lab......Oh, she's got clearance......Yes, I''ll be here......Thank you." Airmen!
Daniel looked around his lab and realized that he wasn't exactly ready for company. Every note he'd ever taken on the Goa'uld letter system was scattered haphazardly on every available surface, weighted down here and there by long abandoned coffee cups. The chalk boards were covered in glyphs that made as little sense now as they had two weeks ago, and his computer had so many files running for cross-referencing that he was surprised it hadn't spontaneously combusted in protest. Oh well. It wasn't like she'd never seen a lab before.
It was harder talking with Sarah Gardner than he ever let anyone know. He was genuinely fond of her, moreover, in some odd, Goa'uld inflicted way, he loved her. But every time he saw her, she remembered that Sarah had been saved and Sha're had not. Sarah had needed him badly those first few weeks after they'd caught Osiris. It had been a lot to deal with, and he had gotten her through it. There were still nights when his phone rang at three o'clock in the morning and he listened while she cried. If she was troubled enough to actually come to Colorado, it must be bad.
Daniel was surprised then at the calm, pulled together woman who walked through his doorway. He nodded dismissal at her SF escort, and tried desperately to think of something to say. Sarah faced him across his overflowing lab bench and placed a single silver necklace on top of the papers.
"I've a puzzle for you, Daniel." So much for small talk.
"Um, really? Uh, how are you?"
"I'm fine, Daniel," she smiled. "I have a student who graduates at the end of this term. She's an absolute genius, and Stephen and I have been pulling every string we can think of to get her to stay in Chicago for her Masters, but she's set on Edinburgh."
Daniel wasn't sure what, if anything, he was supposed to say, so he gestured to an empty chair, and took one himself.
"I had her into my office to chat yesterday," Sarah took the seat. "I've been desperate. Anyway, I noticed her necklace and asked if I could see it. She was very reluctant to give it up, I finally convinced her. When she left, I had a good look at it."
Daniel reached out and picked up the pendant in his hand, bringing it up to his face to look at it. It was a silver disc with a black border Daniel was pretty sure was obsidian. The craftsmanship was exquisite. In the centre of the disc, was a cartouche.
"I'm at a loss, Daniel," Sarah said. "It's an address, origin Earth, but Osiris has no memory of where it goes."
Daniel's jaw dropped, his expression falling into one Sarah recognized as ''brew coffee, long night ahead''.
"And I can't remember what the symbols mean. Or, I can't translate them anyway. But I feel really weird when I look at it."
Daniel remained frozen for approximately two more seconds, and then he stood up abruptly, knocking over his chair. He turned to his desk and rifled through the papers he found there until he produced his pictures of the cartouche from Abydos. Sarah, distracted by the sudden flurry of movement, finally looked at the blackboards, and her eyes widened. Before she could voice her questions, however, Daniel was back at the table, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Look!" He pushed the pictures at her. "Except for the origin chevron, they're identical."
"But what does it mean?"
"I have no idea."
....................................
"So you're telling me that symbols like you found on Abydos showed up here on Earth?" Hammond asked incredulously, fiddling with the file folder in front of him.
"Yes, General Hammond," Sarah said.
"How are we supposed to find out what they say?" Jack demanded. "Visit the planet?"
"No," Hammond said shortly. "We're not flying blind into this one."
"I hate to suggest this, but why don't we ask the Tok'ra?" Daniel said reluctantly. "I mean, it could be a code or something."
"I don't know about that, sir," Sam chimed in. "I've been running the symbols through every decryption programme I can get my hands on. As far as I can tell, it's not a code."
"Should we not use all of the means at our disposal?" Teal'c asked. Jack sighed.
"General, even if the Tok'ra can't help with the letters, they might be able to go through Osiris' memories. See if he remembers anything." Sarah stiffened at Daniel's suggestion.
"Dr. Gardner," Hammond began.
"I'll do it," Sarah cut in. "If Osiris can do any good, I'll do it."
"Major Carter, Dr. Jackson, signal the Tok'ra."
....................................
"Selmak is the oldest. She'd remember if anyone did. I'm sorry, Sam," Jacob said. "Still, I get the oddest feeling that I am missing something really obvious."
"That's OK dad, maybe the memories will turn something up."
"Is Dr. Jackson able to work the memory device?"
"I've given him a crash course. He'll be able to ask he right questions and that's half the battle. There'll be a technician standing by."
"I'm always nervous when you people play with technology."
"Careful, dad. Your prejudices are showing."
Jacob Carter laughed. "Come on, Sam. Let's go to the Commissary. Selmak's taken a liking to maple syrup and you can't really get that anywhere else in the galaxy."
....................................
"Okay, Sarah, I need you to concentrate." Daniel spoke very calmly. "Let Osiris' memories come. Don't fight them."
Sarah relaxed in her chair and furrowed her brow in concentration, which slightly aggravated the pain at her temple. A series of images flashed before her closed eyes.
"Oh God." Dr. Jordan, the curator, the technician. "Stephen......"
"Not there Sarah!" Daniel interrupted sharply and the images disappeared. "You have to go farther back."
"It''s dark. And I can't move!"
"Farther back, Sarah. Before the canopic jar."
"There were four of us, and we all hated each other." Sarah''s voice deepened and Daniel started. "My queen was proud and not afraid of Ra. Seth was weak and ambitious. He would sell his allegiance to anyone. Nephthys wanted everything and would do anything to get it. She sought me."
"Was Isis jealous?" Egyptian mythology had always given him goose bumps. To find out the bits of it that were controlled by the Goa'uld gave him a full out case of the willies.
"No. She was too proud to be jealous. I spurned Nephthys, but Seth was angry that his wife would seduce me. Ra was gone and I began to mass my strength, but Seth betrayed me. He had a dinner party, and killed me before the wine was drunk."
"Was there a sarcophagus?"
"I was a little busy being dead at the time!" It was no end of weird to hear Sarah's sense of humour in the voice of the demon that had possessed her.
"Think!"
"Yes! Yes there must have been. Isis and Nephthys must have put me in it, because when I woke up they were there and I still had the same body."
"Then what happened?"
"Seth came and put me in that damn jar!"
"Sarah, you must be missing something. Please, you have to think. What did Isis do?"
"I can't, Daniel!" It was Sarah, not Osiris, who spoke. "He's too real."
Daniel bit his lip and knelt in front of her. He took her hands in his.
"Osiris is gone, Sarah. You watched the autopsy. We burnt the remains ourselves. On the mountain, remember?" She nodded. "He's gone, just a shadow in your memory, and you have to flush him out."
"Isis came to me," Sarah continued after a few minutes. "She opened the sarcophagus a bit too early. I was alive and aware, but unable to act. Nephthys came afterwards, and there was a fight. Isis fled. For almost a year, I hid from Ra and Seth in Nephthys' house, and then she too betrayed me. Seth came and brought me to his palace. Isis was there too. They wanted her to tell them where she'd hidden something, but she refused, even under torture. The last thing I remember is being pulled from my host and forced into the jar."
"Are you sure?"
"No. Nephthys said something to me, full of spite, before I was entombed."
"What?"
"She said 'This is your punishment, my brother. For what you and your whore have done. Know that we will find him and kill him.' ; 'Who?' I demanded, and she replied, voice dripping with malice, 'The child. The boy. The one they call Harceisis.'"
