Chapter 5
Carter glanced over from her work at the main console of the ship at the sound of laughter from the other side of the room. The section of the room Julia had initially tried to hide from their view was a makeshift nursery with a large blanket spread across the floor where the boy could play or sleep. At the moment, Daniel was sitting with him, arranging blocks in elaborate towers that the child would then knock over with squeals of delight. Sam had never really thought about Daniel as a parent, but he had slid so naturally into the role it almost seemed as if it had always been that way. She couldn't help smiling as she looked at father and son playing together, but the smile faded as an unwelcome voice interrupted her reverie.
"This file contains all the information on births, deaths and matings. It has been supplemented over the years with information on those individuals who have exhibited signs of the madness. As you can see, those descended from the line of Bacchus are the first to show signs of the madness. As that line intermingles with others over the course of time, more and more people are affected. And it seems that the combination of the lines of Bacchus and Janus cause the most violent episodes of the madness."
Aurora shook her head sadly as she pored over the information and pondered what Larinda had said. "So you had hoped that adding more pure human dna would dilute the contaminated goa'uld dna sufficiently to stop the outbreaks of madness."
Larinda shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "It was the only solution we could come up with. Obviously, from the exponential growth of the problem in the last three generations, allowing the continued intermingling of these bloodlines was only making the situation worse, especially when those already of the combined lines of Bacchus and Janus mated with others of the same lineage. This one here, who was the result of two successive generations of such matings, suddenly two weeks ago, without having displayed any previous signs of trouble, took a knife and butchered his wife and four children before turning the blade on himself. Witnesses who saw him stagger onto the street covered in their blood said that before he died he was screaming about having to kill the strange creatures that were taking over their bodies."
"Genetic memories of the goa'uld coming through," Carter interjected. "Memories of their atrocities in other times on other worlds."
"So the only way to purge this genetic memory is to purge the goa'uld dna completely?" Aurora asked.
"That would certainly be the best way," Carter responded with a disbelieving laugh, "but it would require completely rewriting the dna of every person on this planet. I don't think even Niirti could have pulled that one off."
"Maybe not," Aurora said thoughtfully, "but we may have one advantage she did not. Please explain to me again how this process of rewriting the dna works."
Several hours later, Daniel sat on the blanket with his back braced against the wall, cradling his sleeping son in his arms. He looked down tenderly at the slumbering figure cuddled against his chest and tentatively brushed a lock of dark blond hair back from the child's face.
Julia came over and kneeled beside him. "I should put him to bed now. He's had quite a bit more excitement today than usual. He should sleep through the night without waking."
"It's okay," Daniel said softly. "I'll hold him." He hadn't let the boy out of his sight since he'd first seen him and he didn't intend to do so now.
"You must be very tired yourself," Julie said gently. "It has been a very difficult day for everyone. You should rest."
Daniel shook his head. "I'm fine."
Julia bit her lip worriedly. "If you were to fall asleep and roll over on him without realizing it . . . ."
Daniel looked assessingly at her, his initial suspicion that she was only trying to get the child away from him shifting to speculation. "You've been the one taking care of him."
"Yes," she said. "When his mother is occupied with her other duties, she leaves him in my care. He is such a sweet child. I have grown very fond of him." Her eyes filled with tears and the look of sadness she cast Daniel was heartbreaking, "You're going to take him away with you, aren't you? That's why you don't want to let go of him. You're afraid we'll try to hide him from you."
"Yes," he answered directly, not bothering to try and lie about it.
She wiped a tear from her eye. "I suppose it is for the best. Larinda fears for his life if he stays here. Some of the others sense that he is different. She is afraid that as the madness seizes more and more of them, their violence will be turned against him. She has fought so long and so hard to protect him."
Daniel's arms tightened protectively around the child. He had a hard time restraining himself from stating the opinion that his mother was one of the people the boy needed the most protection from. But he didn't need to say it, Julia saw it in his face.
"I do not know or understand all that happened when you were here before," she said. "But I can tell you are very angry with Larinda for the things she has done. I cannot tell you that you are right or wrong to be angry. I can only tell you that since Daniel was born, her only thought has been to protect him. Everything she has done since then has been to make this world a better, safer place for him.
"You cannot understand what it is to be of our kind. Harmony is only achieved by allowing each aspect of our personality equal freedom. To attempt to subsume one of the personalities for a long period of time causes intense internal conflict. The other personality struggles constantly to be free. Larinda has held Lysandra at bay for two years now. No one in our history has ever been able to accomplish such a thing without being driven mad."
"Do you want me to feel sorry for her? Is that it?" Daniel asked concentrating his gaze on the sleeping child. "Am I supposed to admire her selflessness? She created this situation by lying to me, manipulating me, using me, then tossing me away like an old rag when she was through with me, and now I'm supposed to be impressed by the fact that she's actually done her duty as a mother and done the right thing for the child she tricked me into making with her. I'm sorry I can't accommodate you."
"I'm not asking you for anything but understanding," Julia said forcefully, "understanding that she has suffered for the things she has done and the mistakes she has made. Perhaps you believe she deserves all that has happened to her, but she was only trying desperately to do the right thing for her people, even if it meant doing wrong by you."
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one," he said bitterly. "I've heard that excuse used so many times to justify unconscionable conduct. The goa'uld even use it to justify the atrocities they commit. Sorry, try to sell it somewhere else. I'm not buying."
"That choice is for you to make," Julia said sadly, "but I must remind you she is still his mother and he loves her, so whatever choices you make about her and this situation will have a lasting affect on him. Do not let your anger at her ever allow you to forget that."
Daniel stared at her for a few moments, then finally nodded his understanding.
Julia touched two fingers to her lips then gently brushed the kiss across the sleeping child's forehead before getting up. "If you change your mind and decide to sleep, I will be here to watch over him. In the meantime, I'll be gathering some data from the computer. I do not know if you have heard the news, but Aurora believes she has found an answer to our problem. She, Larinda and Samantha will be working in the laboratory section most of the night, with O'Neill and Teal'c watching over them, so you should be able to rest here undisturbed.
"Your other two men are still just outside this door. For what it's worth, O'Neill told them to shoot anyone who attempted to remove the child without your consent."
Good ole Jack, Daniel thought gratefully, always one step ahead of me. He shifted position until he was nestled snugly in a corner and wouldn't be able to fall over if he eventually slept. Adjusting the small blanket wrapped around the child so it completely covered him, Daniel settled the boy more comfortably on his chest and closed his aching eyes to rest them for a few minutes.
When Julia glanced over to check on them a few minutes later, both father and son were fast asleep. After debating for a moment, she decided to let them be and returned to her work.
A blinding flash of light in front of his face woke Daniel with a start. It took him a moment to remember where he was and what he was doing there. He looked down at the source of the pressure on his chest and couldn't help smiling as he saw little Daniel rubbing his eyes as he yawned and then stretched his little arms and turned expectantly toward the main room with a big smile lighting up his face.
"I'm so sorry, Daniel. I didn't mean to wake you two up. I didn't think the flash would go off with all the light in here already," Sam Carter apologized. "The two of you just looked so cute, I thought you'd like your first father/son picture." She offered him the digital camera as he yawned and stretched his own arms, trying to get some feeling back in them after lying in the same position all night.
Daniel looked at the picture on the small monitor on the back of the camera and couldn't help smiling. Seeing a potential new toy so tantalizing close, the boy popped up in his lap and stared curiously at the picture. He looked from Daniel to the monitor, then back again, his forehead creasing in concentration. He pointed at Daniel and said, "'apa." Then he looked back at the monitor and pointed to Daniel in the picture and said, "'apa?"
"That's right. I'm papa and that's a picture of papa. And who is that with papa in the picture?" Daniel asked pointing at the small boy sleeping on his chest in the picture.
The child looked up at him perplexed.
"Daniel," he said pointing to the boy. Then pointing at the boy on the monitor, he repeated, "Daniel."
The boy's eyes widened and he peered closely at the monitor again. "'anyel?"
"That's right."
"'anyel and 'apa?"
"Yes."
"'ama?"
Daniel's smile faded. "No, I don't have a picture of mama. Maybe we can take one later, okay."
"O'ay."
Just then the double doors to the room swished open and Julia entered carrying a tray. The boy was on his feet and had shot across the room to her before Daniel could even react.
"'uli, com see 'anyel and 'apa," he said excitedly.
She laughed at him and said, "I can see you both just fine from here, honey," but she put down the tray and allowed him to lead her over to where Daniel was still sitting with the camera. She looked at the image in fascination, "what wonders your people possess. Is there a way to take the image from there and put it on paper."
"Sure," Carter responded. "You can put it on photo paper and frame it, or on a mug or a calendar or anything else you want. You can even put the image file on a computer and have it show up on the screen. There are lots of things you can do with it once you have the image in the camera."
"Would you do something for me," she asked, looking at Daniel.
"What is it?" he asked warily.
"Would you take an image of me with Daniel and give it to me on a paper so I can have it when he's gone. And give one to him so he'll remember me."
There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment, before Daniel finally said, "Sure, we can do that." But he handed the camera to Carter to take the picture, while he walked across the room claiming the need to stretch his aching body.
When the picture had been taken, Sam walked over to him, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, sure," he said absently, running a hand distractedly through his hair. "It's been a wild couple of days, that's all. And some things are more complicated than I expected." He glanced briefly over to where Julia was attempting to get the excited child to sit and eat his breakfast.
"How's the research coming?" he asked. "Julia said you had some kind of breakthrough yesterday."
"That's an understatement. Aurora came up with an idea that's just crazy enough to work, but only if we can isolate several key genes very quickly."
"Sounds complicated. What's the plan?"
"Aurora thinks the mistake Larinda and her people made is in trying to dilute the goa'uld dna with human dna. She thinks using shapeshifter dna is the more effective method. But," she added, "she doesn't want to simply use it to dilute the goa'uld dna, she actually wants to use it to overwrite the goa'uld portions of the dna."
"Is that possible?" Daniel asked.
"Theoretically? Yes. Practically? I don't know. The key is in isolating the genes containing the goa'uld dna coding."
"Where will the shapeshifter dna come from? Won't we need an awful lot of it to fix everybody? We're talking about thousands of people, right."
Carter was silent for a moment.
"Sam?" Daniel asked suspiciously.
"That's the crazy part," she said hesitantly.
"Oh, there's something crazier than that first part?"
"Aurora wants to dissolve herself into individual particles of dna that will be absorbed into all the inhabitants of this world. She thinks she has just enough mass to produce enough particles for everyone. That dna will be programmed to overwrite the goa'uld coding, and possibly the human coding as well, allowing the shapeshifter dna to become dominant in all the people again. They may never be exactly what they once were, but they'll be a lot closer than they are now."
"You're right, this is a whole lot crazier than that first part," Daniel said clearly flabbergasted by the news. "How soon do you think this can happen?"
"We're shooting for tonight. Since it's the night of the regularly scheduled Janalia, all the people will already be in one place. It'll be a lot harder to find an excuse to get them all in one place again, and there's too much danger of missing someone if we try to do it when they're all dispersed around the city. And we certainly don't want to have to wait around here another month."
"Yeah, I'm all for getting out of here as soon as possible," Daniel said. "I want to get Daniel home and settled right away. I've got a lot of decisions to make as far as what's best for him."
"Like whether or not it's a good idea for him to have a father who's disappearing for days or weeks at a time zipping across the galaxy on top secret missions," she asked.
"Yeah," he said. "That's one of the big ones. You know my parents died when I was only 8 and my grandfather, Nick, was too busy traveling the world searching for crystal skulls and mysterious giant aliens to pay any attention to me. I don't want my son to have to spend his whole time growing up being cared for by strangers."
Sam put a comforting hand on his arm. "You have to do what's best for the both of you now. We all understand that. I know when Pete and I get married, if we decide to have kids, that's going to be a really difficult question for me to face. I've already been thinking about it and I don't know what I'll do. I guess I won't until the time comes. But, I can tell you, seeing you with little Daniel the last two days, if my kids are that cute, I can't imagine ever wanting to leave them."
"I seem to remember hearing something about terrible twos, so I guess we'll find out soon enough if the cuteness lasts."
Sam laughed at that. "I think I remember my brother complaining about that stage with all of his kids. Don't worry, we'll help you get through it."
"Thanks, Sam. I really appreciate it. I don't think any of this has really hit home yet. I mean, I don't know anything at all about kids. I didn't have any brothers and sisters growing up. What do I know about being a father?"
"So you'll just have to do what everyone else does and have a sustained period of on the job training. Besides," she laughed, "there are tons of books on the subject and you're pretty good at research."
He laughed too, and she was glad to see that it was a relaxed laugh. The strain that had been all too evident on his face the last few days seemed to have melted away, replaced by a sense of peace and contentment she didn't remember ever seeing in Daniel before. It was almost as if he'd found something he'd been searching for all of his life and was finally able to settle down and stop looking.
Jack O'Neill strode into the central room of the temple later that afternoon, his P90 settled under his arm, only to stop dead in his tracks at the sight that met his eyes. Teal'c, who was following directly behind him, also stopped, his raised eyebrow the only sign of his surprise. Daniel Jackson was on all fours on the floor with little Daniel on his back. Jackson was making a whinnying sound and occasionally shaking his body, sending the little boy into a gale of hysterical giggles.
Daniel finally noticed Jack and Teal'c standing there and said, "Oh, hi, Jack. Hi, Teal'c."
"Hi, Daniel. Whatchadoin'?" O'Neill said as casually as he could manage.
"Giving Daniel a horsey ride."
"Oh. Okay."
"What's up with you?"
"Me? Oh, we just got back from sending a message up to the transport station. I had Hamilton move some reinforcements in up there in case we end up having serious trouble tonight."
"Sounds like a good idea. Have the girls made any more progress on the genes."
"They think they're pretty close. Unfortunately, there's no way to test their theory. Once Aurora commits to doing this, she has to dissolve her entire body at once. There's no way for her to do it on one person separately first."
"Then we better hope they get it right or we could have a huge mess on our hands."
An hour later Aurora arrived at the temple chamber. "Hello, Daniel."
"Aurora," Daniel said with a smile from his seat on the blanket helping little Daniel sort some colored blocks. "It's good to see you. How are things going? Have you made progress?"
"We believe we have found the answer. We can go ahead with our plans tonight at the Janalia."
"That's good," he said, handing the boy a blue block.
"Daniel, there is something I must discuss with you. It is potentially very serious."
Daniel's smile faded, "What is it? What's wrong?"
Julia appeared from behind Aurora. "Why don't you let me sit with him for a few minutes while the two of you talk," she suggested.
Daniel felt a wave of unease go through him as he unfolded himself from the floor and walked to the other side of the room with Aurora. "What is it?" he asked.
"When we do this thing tonight, we must make sure every inhabitant of this planet receives the altered dna."
"Okay," Daniel said, not understanding the implication of the remark.
Aurora looked pointedly at the child playing with Julia.
Daniel's mouth dropped open. "I don't understand. He's fine the way he is. He doesn't need to be changed."
"Many of the others seemed fine before exhibiting the madness. Most showed no signs of trouble whatsoever until they reached their 20s or 30s. We cannot risk allowing even one infected person to carry this plague into the universe. And I am told you intend to take him away with you to your planet. Are you willing to risk the lives of all of those on your world if you are wrong?"
Daniel set his face in a stubborn line. "And from what I've been told, all the trouble is with people who are the product of intermarriage among the progeny of the various goa'uld. Larinda is a direct descendent of Janus, one of the line of priestesses that was purebred from his lineage. Since she doesn't have harsesis in her background, she couldn't have passed it on to the boy. Besides, what is this process going to do to these people? If you turn my son into a full shapeshifter, there's no way I can take him home."
Aurora looked troubled. "Daniel, as good as the recordkeeping has been here, nothing is infallible. It's very possible there could be impure blood in Larinda's background that she's not even aware of. I share your memories of Lysandra and you must admit that she is not the most stable entity in the universe. That poison may very well be in your son. Are you willing to risk that?"
He glared at her, remaining silent.
She sighed heavily. "This may all be moot anyway. There may be an even bigger problem than that."
"Such as?" he asked coldly.
"You are of the Ancients," she said.
"You said that before."
"If he, being from you, is also of the Ancients, there may be nothing I can do for him. As I told you before, their power is much greater than that of my people. I would not be able to overwrite that dna even if I wished to do so. And if the goa'uld portions have bound to the Ancient dna," she shook her head.
"Is there a way to find out?"
"May I touch him as I touched you before?"
Daniel thought about it for a moment. "You won't do anything to harm him or to try to change him in any way?"
"Of course not. I would never do such a thing without your permission."
His arms were crossed in a defensive posture across his chest as he considered the situation. Finally, he said with a frown, "all right," and turned and led her back over to the boy.
He leaned over and said to the child, "Come here, sport," and lifted him into his arms. "I want you to say hello to my friend, Aurora."
The boy looked at her shyly and said, "'rora?"
"That's right. Can you shake hands with Aurora to say hello like I showed you earlier?"
The boy reached out his small hand to Aurora and she took it gently. Her skin rippled softly and, for a moment, Daniel could see the ghostly outline of the child's face over hers. Slowly the ripples disappeared and Aurora's face reappeared.
"It is as I feared," she said softly. "He is of the Ancients as you are. There is nothing I can do for him."
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Aurora," Daniel said, "but I consider that good news. If the Ancient dna is as powerful as you say, it should protect him from any affects of the goa'uld dna."
"I hope for your sake that you are right, Daniel," she said. "I must go now. I do not know if I will see you again, so it is best that we say our goodbyes now."
Feeling a flush of guilt at being so self-absorbed he'd literally forgotten the sacrifice Aurora was making for her people that night, Daniel took her hand and said, "Thank you for everything, Aurora. I mean that sincerely. If you hadn't given me my memory back and helped us get through the security protocols to get down here, I might never have found my son."
"I hope all goes well for both of you, Daniel. I truly do," she said gently squeezing the hand holding hers. "I must go now."
After Aurora left, Daniel was troubled by the things she'd said. Feeling they'd had more than enough visitors for one day, he fervently hoped the short amount of time he and little Daniel had left on the planet could be spent in peaceful play. But he'd forgotten one very important person. The doors opened a few minutes later and he looked up in annoyance only to meet the steady gaze of the last person he wanted to see.
"Daniel," she said softly.
"Larinda," he replied neutrally, mentally preparing himself for the argument ahead.
"'ama," the little boy jumped up and ran to her, wrapping his arms around her legs and giggling with delight.
She picked him up and cuddled him against her, tears shimmering at the corners of her eyes. "I do not know what will happen after the ceremony tonight, so I wanted to say goodbye to my son now."
Daniel was surprised and a little unsettled that she had no intention of fighting his plan to take the boy. "Just like that?" he asked.
"I only want what's best for him," she said sadly, looking into the angelic face cuddled against her chest as she brushed his forehead with gentle kisses. "And that is being with you. You have more to offer him than I ever will. Even if we are successful tonight, there is no guarantee of what we will become once the transformation is complete. Aurora cannot tell me if we will still be human or if we will be something else. Since he cannot be changed too," she said, looking sadly at the child, "it is best for him to be among his own kind.
"And I cannot take the risk of retaining this form much longer to remain with him. I grow weaker every day as Lysandra grows stronger. If I refuse the transformation to stay with my son, she will eventually break through my defenses. I cannot allow that to happen. There is great evil in her and I will not allow that evil to touch my child. She wants to kill him to get back at me for trapping her inside of us for so long."
"I won't let that happen," Daniel said firmly. "I won't let anyone hurt him, ever."
"I know you won't," she said. "I'm so glad you came back. I had lost all hope that he would ever be safe. I didn't know how much longer I was going to be able to protect him." She hugged the child tightly to her, tears dripping silently from the corners of her eyes. "I never knew it was possible to love anything so completely," she said, looking at him over the child's head. "Do you understand what I mean?"
Daniel felt a lump forming in his throat, but he forced out a husky, "yes."
"I need to go now," she said, her voice shaking with emotion. The boy looked up at her with concern and she smiled down at him through her tears. "I love you, baby. Now go with papa. He'll take good care of you."
"'ama," the little boy said with concern, sensing something was wrong and clinging to her frightenedly.
"It's okay, baby. Go to papa. Everything's going to be fine. I promise."
Daniel reached out unsteady arms to take the boy from her. The child's lower lip was trembling and tears were threatening in his eyes. He turned those big blue eyes to Daniel, looking for reassurance that everything was going to be okay. Daniel leaned his forehead against the boy's small one and just hugged him close as Larinda walked out the door.