Chapter 3
Daniel couldn't help gaping as she led him through the maze of passages that made up the temple. Although he'd been up and about inside the structure for three days now, he was still not allowed to wander alone and had seen none of the inner chambers. The intricate carvings and decorations were an archaeologist's dream come true, and he could tell from the changes in the stone and carvings that they were now entering the oldest section of the structure. As they passed fresco after fresco full of beautiful carvings, he felt the first stirrings of real anger and resentment that he'd been cooped up in the newer sections of the building and away from such incredible treasures.
"This place is amazing," he said, hurrying after Larinda, who despite being almost 6 inches shorter than him, set a pace that made it obvious she was anxious to keep him moving. "I'd like to be able to study these carvings and inscriptions in more detail."
"I thought you were anxious to get back to your friends," she responded with annoyance.
"I didn't realize those things were mutually exclusive," he shot back.
She stopped in front of a door, her hands fisted at her sides as though she were fighting for control. She took a deep breath, then another and finally raised her hand to activate the doorswitch.
Daniel had to restrain the nervous laugh that wanted to force itself out when the doors opened. It was the central chamber of a goa'uld ship – a very old, very worn goa'uld ship, but a ship just the same. He wondered idly whether the thing could still fly or if the locals, not knowing what it really was, had effectively trapped it inside as they built the temple around it. They had certainly done wonders with the interior he thought, looking at the fine tapestries on the walls and the statues, frescoes and murals adorning every available space.
Larinda nodded to a woman sitting in one of two ornate chairs facing what would normally be the control station for the ship, and the woman rose quickly and left the room. Daniel's eyes flew over the control panel, taking in as much as he could while he had the opportunity. Many of the functional components were silent, with no telltale lights or sounds to indicate they were even operational anymore. Larinda pointed to a particular light on the panel. "This light comes on and an alarm goes off when something is coming through the portal."
"What if no one is here?"
"This is the temple of the god Janus," she snapped. "Someone is always here to serve our master's needs."
Daniel wasn't sure what he'd said that had made her so irritable, so he remained silent and turned to look at some of the decorations instead. The carvings were disturbing, depicting men and women with two heads and 4 arms coming out of a single torso as if they were being born by being torn in half.
Larinda watched as he intently studied the drawings, a perplexed look crossing his face as he moved closer to study a particular image or symbol. She could almost feel the time rushing by, setting an inexorable trap for her. Tonight was Janalia. Even though she did not intend to participate, he needed to understand what was happening – in case something went terribly wrong.
"You wanted to know about my people," Larinda said softly from his side.
Daniel looked at her in surprise, having been so engrossed in the images on the walls he'd forgotten she was there. Silently she handed him a large book. It was obviously very old but lovingly cared for. The ancient writings were difficult to read in spots but he was soon fully engrossed in the incredible story it had to tell.
Daniel wasn't sure how long he'd been reading when he finally closed the book, but he found that the hand he'd rested on the cover was trembling. He looked at Larinda, who had been sitting there watching him the entire time he read, and felt as though he were looking at a complete stranger. "What . . .? Who. . .?" How could he even begin to ask the questions that were going through his mind?
She gave him a strained smile. "What am I? Who am I?" Those are very good questions and not easy ones to answer as you've discovered. Right now, this minute, I am Larinda, priestess of the temple of the mighty god Janus. Tomorrow . . . tomorrow I might not be."
"Your people are shapeshifters?" he asked, trying to wrap his mind around the concept.
"Once we were, yes," she responded sadly. "From what I've read in the ancient texts and what has been passed down through the line of priestesses, it appears our people were once very happy. And very free to be whoever or whatever they wanted to be. They welcomed strangers from other worlds with open arms, because who could really harm a being that could be humanoid one moment and part of the air or ground the next? We feared no one and nothing. And that arrogance was our undoing.
"One day a stranger came, a human, or so my ancestors thought. They had met humans before and had found their passion and intelligence fascinating. Theirs was an easy shape to take on and our people enjoyed interacting with them. So when this one, who seemed friendly, curious and eager to know all about our kind came, she was accepted without concern or fear. But it was a trap. For how could they have known she was a god who had come to punish them for their sins of vanity and arrogance."
"She wasn't a god," Daniel interrupted, "she was a goa'uld, a symbiotic alien that extends its life by living inside a human host."
"What do you mean?" Larinda asked dumbfounded. "How can you say such a thing? I have read the text you just read many times and it does not say any such thing."
"I know it from first hand experience. My people first learned about the goa'uld almost ten years ago. We've been fighting them ever since, trying to maintain our freedom while helping those on other planets whom they have already enslaved. During that time we discovered that the goa'uld have been taking humans from our planet for millennia and transplanting them across the universe. It is one of their most common tricks to pose as the 'god' worshipped by the people they are trying to enslave to encourage their obedience and discourage resistance. It generally works because they usually prey on less advanced cultures that are easily fooled by the tricks of their superior technology. I don't understand why it worked on your people, though. The book says she tricked them, but it doesn't say how."
"She found a way to trap them, to keep them from being able to change form. Once locked into a single form, they were at her mercy. Without the ability to shift, they were susceptible to injury, sustained torture, even death."
"Sounds just like someone I know," Daniel murmured thoughtfully, rubbing his hand across his forehead, which had suddenly begun to ache with tension. "I don't see any name given to this being in the text. Do you know what she was called?"
"No one ever speaks her name. When the evil one fled and Lord Janus granted us his protection, it was under the condition that she be banished in word and deed forever."
"Does the name Nirrti sound familiar?"
Larinda's face paled. "Don't! You mustn't!"
"It's all right. She's dead."
"She is a god, how could she be dead?"
"I've met her in person and she is no god. Just a very evil goa'uld. And I know she's dead because my friends were there when it happened."
"If you were not there yourself, how can you be sure? Such evil is not easy to destroy."
"Believe me, my friends made sure."
"But I don't understand. If she was not a god intent on punishing my people, why would she do such terrible things to them?"
"I expect she was experimenting -- trying to engineer a superior host for the goa'uld. And what better host could there be for someone masquerading as a god than a shapeshifter? Can you imagine the power it would have given her over lesser species if she could manipulate her shape at will? They would have fallen at her feet in terror. It also would have made it easier for her to escape from danger while still appearing godlike. And it would have given her incredible power among the other goa'uld."
"But the text says she stole our ability to shapeshift as a punishment."
"But it doesn't say anything about her being able to shapeshift after she supposedly stole the ability from you, does it? The text has been written to highlight her godlike abilities. If you read it eliminating that bias, it's pretty easy to guess what actually happened."
Larinda only frowned at him, perplexed.
"Look at this passage here. It reads as if there was a valiant fight between the first shapeshifter captured and the god trying to steal its power. What it really says is that her first experiment failed miserably. See where it talks about her placing the 'power stealer' into the shapeshifter but it falls out the first time. She made the mistake of attempting to introduce the goa'uld symbiote directly into the shapeshifter. The shapeshifter simply shifted around it. With no dedicated central nervous system for the symbiote to attach itself to, it simply fell to the floor.
"But she learned from that mistake and, as you said, developed the technique to trap your kind in one shape. That had its own problems because once the shapeshifter was released from the field she used, it could shift again, leaving the goa'uld on the ground again.
"According to the text, that's when she introduced the human element, bringing in the 'vessels of life.' My guess would be that she realized she couldn't take over a shapeshifter directly, so she kidnapped humans from Earth's Rome, brought them here and put the humans and shapeshifters together."
Larinda's voice was hollow as she picked up the story, "She forced them to mate."
"I expect there was genetic engineering to help the process along," Daniel added. "That seems to be one of her areas of specialty."
"But because the resulting progeny were part human, part shapeshifter, they only had limited shapeshifting abilities," Larinda said. "What would be the point? And she told them she had done it deliberately as a punishment. Why?"
"To reinforce her image as a god. She wouldn't have seemed very godlike if she admitted she hadn't planned that outcome. And it worked out for her because those progeny were much better candidates to be hosts for the goa'uld. I'm sure Nirrti expected that, given enough time, she could overcome the problems through genetic engineering and create a compatible host with full shapeshifting abilities."
"But what about Lord Janus?" she asked. "The text says she introduced a power stealer into the first of the progeny and that was how he was brought to life, but later the two gods fought for control of our people. He won, but she escaped and he followed to wreak his vengeance on her for what she had done to our people."
"It's hard to tell from what's here, but my guess would be another unexpected outcome. She probably underestimated her ability to control him once his symbiote had been placed in one of the progeny." Daniel examined the console closely again. "Do you know how to operate this? If Niirti did leave in a hurry, she may have left some of her research here. It would be helpful to know exactly what she was trying to do."
Larinda pressed several controls on the console and lights began to blink. "It is the primary duty of the priestesses to keep track of the births, matings and deaths among our people. We put all of the information in here."
As Daniel read the information that scrolled across the screen, he felt a queasiness grow in his stomach. Finally, he turned away from the screen in disgust.
"What's wrong?" Larinda asked with concern.
"What's wrong?" he responded numbly. "The experiment never ended. The line of priestesses has been continuing her research for her all of this time. So much detailed information about births, matings, deaths, all linked to specific lineages . . . which combinations of genes result in the most stable progeny, or the most unstable. If she walked back in here today, Niirti could pick up right where she left off."
"I don't understand. What do you mean?" Larinda asked with alarm. "We keep this information to ensure the birth of several from the pure bloodline of our god in each generation. It must be so or there would be no one left undamaged by the tainted bloodlines."
Daniel rubbed his head again, trying to fight back the monumental headache that was developing at the thought of what Niirti had done to these people. How could he explain to Larinda that she was a glorified lab assistant, genetically engineered to make sure someone sane was there to continue gathering all the data until someone came by who knew what to do with it all.
Reading the expression on his face, Larinda cried out, "Then all that I have believed, all that I have dedicated my life to has been a lie." Covering her face with her hands, she began to cry.
Daniel remained silent, not knowing how to comfort her. "I'm sorry," he finally said leaning over to take her in his arms.
She cried against his shoulder for several minutes before finally regaining control. "I'm sorry. This has all been a terrible shock," she whispered, the pain so evident in her eyes melting his heart. As he leaned over to kiss her, a chime sounded. She turned from him guiltily, brushing the last of the tears from her eyes before pressing a button on the console.
The young woman Larinda had dismissed earlier entered carrying a tray with a pitcher of water, two glasses and several small cakes. "Would you care for something to eat and drink before the ceremony, Priestess?" she asked solicitously. "It will begin in an hour and you have been here for many hours without nourishment."
"Thank you, Julia, but we will not be attending. Miranda will be conducting the ceremony. She has advised Consul Octavius of the change in plans."
"Yes, priestess," the girl murmured, clearly surprised by the news, as she hurried out of the room.
Larinda rubbed her aching head wearily with one hand as she reached for the pitcher with the other. She poured two glasses of water and handed one to Daniel with one of the cakes, then took the same for herself.
"Why is the ceremony so important?" he asked as he quickly devoured the cake and downed the glass of water before reaching for another of each. "She seemed surprised that you'd miss it."
Larinda took a long drink of water and chewed thoughtfully on her cake before answering. "You know so much already, you may as well know the rest. Before they went to war against each other in the third generation, the one you call Nirrti and Lord Janus were able to eliminate all the true shapeshifters. All that were left of them were the progeny. Lord Janus impregnated many of the females himself, and I assume from what you've said that his DNA would have been affected by the symbiote he carried, putting that into the mix as well. There were also several other power stealers introduced into the progeny of the second and third generations, and they continued to mate with the other progeny until Lord Janus had them executed after Nirrti's betrayal. As additional generations were born and the bloodlines of the various parents continued to intermingle, our people evolved into what they are today."
"Which is?"
"A species of duality. Each entity has two distinct personalities that share the body. And each personality has a distinct identity down to different body size and shape, hair and eye color. In some the personalities are not even of the same sex."
Daniel shook his head. It made a sick kind of sense. The goa'uld personalities were too strong to be overcome and the shapeshifters had adapted the only way they could in order to protect their own personalities. "How . . .?" He stopped, not even knowing how to frame the question.
"How do they manage to coexist peacefully within the same body? That is the deepest, darkest secret kept by the priestesses and consuls. They coexist peacefully because they do not know."
Daniel had thought it was impossible for her to say anything else that could shock him, but realized as the words hit him how terribly wrong he'd been. "They don't know? How can they not know?"
"Each personality has the body for a month at a time. On the night of the Janalia, everyone in the city gathers at the coliseum for the celebration, where they are given food and drink that is laced with a strong drug that deadens the will, preventing the current personality from retaining control. Then certain sounds built into the ceremony trigger the transformation. The people have been taught that Lord Janus comes to us at the ceremony and will take some loyal followers with him on his travels but does not always bless them with memories of such adventures. That easily answers most questions that those who notice inconsistencies upon regaining control of the body have come up with. There are more minute details to cover other contingencies, but very few even bother to question anymore."
"So, when this ceremony happens, everyone changes to their other personality? They live their lives for a month, then the following month they change again?"
"To put it very simply, yes."
"And they don't suspect anything?"
She shrugged. "It is impossible to know what people suspect. There are those who have unexpected fits of madness and start screaming about all sorts of impossible things. For most people, as long as it has no noticeable effect on their own lives, they have no reason to ask questions. And they know just enough of our history to fear what else Lord Janus will do to them if they make him angry enough with their questions."
"But you told me Janus hasn't been here in human form for many years."
She just looked at him.
"They don't know that either?"
"Of course not. He is a god. Much can be easily explained away by the vagaries of godhood."
"Does this mean you'll change too," Daniel asked carefully, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice.
"No. That is why I'm staying here. The priestesses and consuls are not chosen, they have been carefully bred directly from Lord Janus' bloodline. Throughout the centuries they have been there to ensure that in each generation there are several who are born of unions between those who are direct descendants of Lord Janus, without the taint of the other bloodlines. Those few know of their Other and have greater control over the transformation. There are even some who have a limited ability to communicate with their Other to prevent power struggles over control of the body at inopportune times."
Daniel felt as if his head was spinning from the overload of information. He took another deep drink of the cold water and leaned back in his seat, pressing the cool glass against his suddenly aching head. The room felt as if it had abruptly shifted and begun to wobble around him. He had the unsettling thought that perhaps the ship had been activated and was taking off when he heard the door open. Consul Octavius was standing there with a small bell-like object in his hand.
"Octavius, what are you doing," Larinda asked, struggling to her feet, her voice slurring slightly. "Why did you bring the chimes here. Miranda was supposed to notify you that I'm not participating in the ceremony tonight. Surely you understand why?"
"I know your reasons," he responded. "I never said I agreed with them."
A rhythmic sound that reminded Daniel of a gong reverberated through the room. "What's going on?" he asked frantically, a feeling of sickness and nausea pressing against him.
Larinda had fallen to her knees, "You drugged the food and water," she hissed. "Why? I need more time!"
"More time for what?" Octavius hissed. "You know what has to be done. You've known from the moment he arrived. And yet you let your feelings for this human overcome your duty to your people. Lysandra will not be so weak."
"No!!" she screamed.
Daniel's vision was doubling and tripling on him but he struggled to his feet to try to help her. As he reached out to her, she saw him and pushed him back. "Get out. Get out now. Before it's too late."
The push sent Daniel sprawling back against the console, and the impact of his body knocked open the door to a storage compartment in its base. He saw the twisted pieces of what remained of the 9mm and zat he'd been carrying before his arrival, but beside them, in perfect condition, was his knife. He struggled against the multiple images clouding his eyes and grabbed the weapon. With it clutched in his hand, he rolled as far from Larinda as he could get before grabbing onto an ornate chest to try to pull himself up. But he stopped, frozen in shock as Larinda's body rippled before him. For a few seconds he thought he saw a face on either side of her head, one capped with Larinda's lovely blonde hair, the other with a rich jet black. Larinda screamed again, and her face faded into a sea of jet black hair.
Daniel gasped for breath, his body shaking from the horror of what he'd just witnessed. Then the body was moving toward him and, as she got first to her knees and then to her feet, the sea of black hair flowed back to reveal a woman who could have stepped down from one of the statue pedestals lining the walls. He had a quick glimpse of strong aristocratic features, an aquiline nose and wide dark eyes surrounded by ebony hair.
"Lysandra, do you know what's happening," Octavius barked from the doorway.
Something about the man was different, something in his voice, but Daniel couldn't focus clearly enough on him to figure out what it was. The raven haired beauty with the dark brown eyes and the dangerous smile was the more immediate threat.
"Of course," she sneered at him. "I have known all along. Larinda is a fool to think there is any possibility she could control me. I simply watched and waited while she prattled around discovering things she has no business knowing. She is the puppet, not I." Her smile grew wider as she inspected Daniel slumped against the chest, trying to regain control of his wildly hammering heart so he could drag himself to his feet again.
"Stop struggling, human," she said. "It will be much pleasanter for you that way."
"What are you talking about? What do you want with me?"
"Oh, did Larinda leave out that little detail? She's such a stupid little thing. Has no concept of what's really important."
She was moving closer to him as she spoke and Daniel instinctively gripped the knife tighter, shifting it into a striking position.
"I believe I interrupted before she could finish," Octavius said dryly.
"How terribly rude of you," Lysandra laughed. It was a harsh sound, one that held no pleasure, only the promise of pain. "You see, Daniel -- it is Daniel, isn't it? I don't always get every detail clearly through Larinda's muddled little mind -- we have this little problem with genetic impurities mucking up the bloodlines. Nirrti may have been a genius but she was also a fool. She saw that Janus was unable to maintain control over his body and that having to share it with another being almost drove him insane, yet she continued to introduce more goa'ulds into the population. As you must be aware, the goa'uld tend to be arrogant, selfish and completely self-absorbed. Mixing all that goa'uld DNA together makes for an even bigger mess. Unfortunately, it's literally driving our people crazy. We need an infusion of new human genes to dilute the bloodlines. That's where you come in."
She was so close now, Daniel could almost touch her, but he remained frozen, fighting the waves of nausea that continued to worsen. His breath was coming in short, pained gasps. Lysandra frowned down at him. "How much drug did you give him, Octavius. You do know pure humans can't tolerate as much as our people can, don't you."
"I simply provided the pitcher, Lysandra. I have no idea how much he drank. Certainly it would be easier to do this the traditional way, but it's not a requirement."
Lysandra glared at him in fury and before Daniel even realized what had happened she'd turned, swept up the half-full pitcher and hurled it at Octavius. It smashed into the doorjamb beside his head raining shards of glass that peppered his face, leaving spatterings of red blood in their wake. "Fool!!" she screamed at the top of her voice as she stalked toward him. "Have you developed genetic engineering skills in the weeks I've been dormant. Or has Nirrti reappeared on our doorstep to continue her studies?" She grabbed Octavius by the throat and pulled him into the room, shaking him as she continued screaming at him, "I . . . thought . . . not."
Octavius didn't struggle, but instead drew his arm back and smashed her across the face with his forearm. The force of the blow knocked her into the wall, causing her to release her grip from his throat. Daniel felt his blood run cold when the man's eyes flared with light, and he realized that Janus had never left the planet after all.
"You'd best learn your place, daughter," the man sneered, his voice now unmistakably goa'uld. "I know exactly what I'm doing. Nirrti was kind enough to leave her research behind when she disabled the transport device and trapped me on this hellhole." He laughed bitterly, "Of course, that might have been because she was in a bit of a rush since my blade had just missed slicing her traitorous throat. I've had millennia to study that research and I know very well what steps need to be taken next and exactly how to take them."
"I'm sorry, father," Lysandra responded meekly. "I didn't realize it was you. I thought it was still that fool Octavius."
Janus bared his teeth in fury, "I still have enough control that I was able to make him drink before he sent the food and water into them. It becomes easier as the years pass to influence his feeble mind. But I want to be FREE! I'm tired of being trapped in this wretched body and having to deal with that fool. I am a god and I will not continue to live like this!"
Janus stalked restlessly back and forth in front of her trying to calm himself. "And now that you're here to take care of this situation, I intend to take full advantage of the fact that our new friend Daniel's companions have been kind enough to reactivate the transport device. If any pure humans are still there when I get to the transport station, I'll send them down to you. But I intend to hunt down that treacherous bitch, Niirti, no matter how far I have to go or how long it takes. And I WILL make her suffer for what she's put me through all these years. She must have figured out a way to fix this mess by now, and I'll get it from her -- if I have to take her apart piece by piece to get her to tell me."
Lysandra smiled viciously at him. "That may be difficult since our dear Daniel told Larinda that Nirrti is dead, and that his friends had a hand in killing her."
"WHAT!!" Janus screamed, turning angrily toward Daniel, his eyes flashing brilliantly again.
Daniel hadn't let the precious few moments their attention had wandered from him go to waste. Gripping the knife fiercely, he'd pulled himself up, ignoring the nausea and dizziness that wanted to drag him down again. Just as Janus realized he was no longer by the chest and turned toward him, Daniel stumbled through the doorway, pressing the door latch to make it close as he passed and shoving the knife through the control panel to jam the door. It would only buy him a few extra minutes, but he intended to make those minutes count.
He didn't make it far before his stomach clutched violently and Daniel leaned against the wall as he vomited, trying to keep from falling. Almost immediately he felt relief from the dizziness and nausea. Realizing he'd purged some of the drug made the cramping in his midsection almost bearable. What kept his stomach knotting was the realization that had just hit him of what Nirrti had really been trying to do. There could only be one reason for mixing all that goa'uld DNA together. She'd been trying to make her own harsesis -- children with the genetic memory of all their goa'uld forebears.
The fact that Janus didn't seem to realize what she'd been up to was little comfort. The madness gripping these people may have been a result of the genetic engineering, but Daniel also feared it could be a result of receiving a flood of memories they couldn't understand or interpret. What if Nirrti had succeeded after all? If it had worked, having all that knowledge at the disposal of any one goa'uld would make them unstoppable. He knew he had to find a way to get this information back to Stargate Command, but had no idea how to go about doing it. He still didn't know where he had been found, let alone how to get back there or even if there would be a way to get back to his people from there if he did find it.
The temple was eerily quiet as he passed into the newer section and Daniel realized that the ceremony at the coliseum must still be going on. Making his way quietly to the outer ring of the complex, he avoided the main entrance and instead found an open ground floor window leading to a terrace. He climbed out quickly and stumbled toward town, where he thought a stranger would be less conspicuous among the drug-maddened crowd.
He'd almost made it to the coliseum when his vision began to blur again and the nausea returned. The adrenaline rush that had gotten him out of the temple was fading and with the drug making a fresh assault on his already battered system, it was all he could do to remain on his feet. He heard the faraway sound of gongs from the coliseum. Almost immediately screams rent the air. People started pouring out of the building and Daniel watched in fresh horror as the bodies contorted into strange shapes. His blurring vision made the hellish scene even worse, multiplying the number of features on the already nightmarish figures struggling and screaming around him.
Daniel pressed himself against the side of the building, trying desperately to hide from the chaos around him as his body felt like it was being ripped apart from the inside. There was nothing left to vomit. He could only struggle against what the drug was doing to his body and not give into it. And he was very afraid he was going to lose the struggle.
"DANIEL! DANIEL!" he heard the frantic voice calling him from a distance. It was Larinda's gentle voice, not the harsh, brittle one of her Other, but he made no movement or sound to attract her, the memory of Lysandra calling Larinda her puppet still fresh in his mind. The world around him started to grey out again as he slid to the ground, but this time he couldn't stop it from engulfing him.