Twelve

Evolutions

He nodded to the council when they noticed him move away from the discussion "I apologise, I will take my leave now," without breaking his stride and left the room to return to his quarters. Not long after he went inside there was the sound of someone approaching and waiting by his door moving back and forth uneasily.

He walked out to see her as she turned.

"Carter."

"… I didn't think I should come in," she explained, "and it's Sam. Samantha," she added a little too quickly.

"Samantha?"

She smiled hearing him say it, "yeah, ok," her head dipped slightly and for a second he expected Jolie to come to the fore – was it a subconscious throwback to her blending?

She glanced to his doorway "Can we–"

A group of Tok'ra walked through separating the two of them to opposite walls momentarily as they passed.

Martouf waited then crossed over to her side, "can we…?"

It sounded better when she said it. Lantash thought knowing the moment had passed and so too the opportunity to hear her ask–

That's not what she was going to say, Lantash.

Humour me!

He settled with a different idea.

"Come outside with me."

She nodded and they headed to the rings. He raised his hand to the small of her back.

Rosha, his soul cried.

He dropped his hand, taking hold of it with the other behind his back.

On the surface they walked far away in the opposite direction from the gate and he stopped, "I've been thinking for a while now and it's so clear," he mused.

She looked to him for an explanation.

"I had a dream last night. I don't know if it means anything more than what's immediately apparent but… I'm sure it was you," he watched her reaction, her eyes widening.

"Wow, so did I–" she said but stopped abruptly and looked away. Her discomfort intrigued him, did she too have a mate?

"What happened?" Martouf asked.

After being silent for a long time, the expression on her face changing constantly, She was finally said, "there was…."

"Yes?" he smirked as she lost her cool.

"Well, it…" she began again but fell into her thoughts pacing uneasily and fiddling with her empty holster.

I've got a better one, Lantash suggested as Martouf dwelled for an eternity touching her soft lips, following her jaw line down her neck with his gaze, his eyes pulled back up when she wet her lips. he watched her pace a moment then stood in the way on her return to the place she'd stood before. She crashed into him, snapping out of her escape search.

"What did I do?"

Thoughtful about what he was asking, her eyes absently settled on his mouth with an expression so primal. That instant he knew he had her.

The gentle breeze moved her hair, making her shiver a little and he tentatively moved in walking her to the very edge of the high dune. She grasped his shoulders encouraging him closer. But stuck by confusion in the situation he froze not yielding to her gentle pull.

Embarrassment crept over her features and she knocked him out of the way running away from him in the direction they'd come from. Contrite, he was about to call after her… but he'd forgotten her name.

Martouf closed his eyes, regretting what he had done.

Will we follow her now, friend, and catch her before she gets back?

Yes, Martouf avowed breaking into a sprint.

Lantash's thoughts however returned to Rosha What are we doing?

I don't know.

The sun had quickly risen high and he narrowed his eyes from the light bouncing off it and froze when he saw her standing by the rings The sand was too hot to stand still on and when she heard him move she transported down. Down in the tunnels he found her though she hid well.

He approached, "I must know…" he hesitated but finally pulled her out, "is she still out there?"

She was very uncomfortable and he couldn't help a sad smile as he watched her trying so hard not to look at him.

The mixture of emotion on her face revealed everything. She didn't have to say it. She was trying so hard to avoid looking at him.

"Are you sure?" he was trying to hold himself together.

"Jolinar buried her."

He took deep breaths and leant against the wall for a few minutes before sitting down at her feet on the floor weak and cold with grief his face in his hands.

"Oh god, Martouf I –"

After a moment he looked up into her eyes which were filled with a great need to comfort, with sympathy and regret but he couldn't tell her he was alright, she wouldn't believe him anyway, the blood had drained from his face, it was frozen in shock and there was a soreness in his dry eyes.

"Is there somewhere…" she asked.

He stood up dazed and gathered his bearings before offering his hand to lead her through the corridors to a dim room connected to his quarters. There were no doors, but there was a crystal partition wall between two corresponding doorways. Inset in the floor was an oval swimming pool of irregular shape which they walked around to sit on a large padded leather bench by the wall.

He let go of her hand and knelt down at the edge of the pool to drink some cold water from his cupped hands and wash his face. He got up and sat next to her, leaned his head back against the wall letting the water slide down his neck.

He turned his eyes to see her sitting very still and staring at him and wondered whether the Tok'ra did seem strange to her after all.

He managed to speak, "it's not a complete surprise."

Sitting in silence he held every memory of Rosha, the joy of their love now sharp splinters tearing out of his heart.

A little while later he tried to talk again, "Its quite pleasant in here."

"Yeah," she whispered.

"Traditionally the baths wouldn't be so private but we've adapted the system due to the danger of heat signatures being detected. The water can only be made warm so steam isn't a problem to our belongings in adjoining rooms," he knew he was babbling.

"This is more like a swimming pool than a bath."

"As our numbers decline… accommodation here becomes more… luxurious…" he trailed off wiping a shaky hand over his brow.

"Well that's something, right?" she held her breath a moment then bent forward sobbing.

He cleared his head and gathered her up to lean against him in his arms.

"Do you miss her too?"

She didn't answer for a very long time, "yeah I'm starting to."

Could it be true?

They said no more, staying together in the room throughout the night and when morning came they drifted off to sleep lying tangled together on the bench.

On waking the next evening they meandered sluggishly into his room.

"You wouldn't mind if I take these boots off? they're not designed for this floor."

"Go ahead."

"Please, sit down," he gestured to the bed and smiled, though sadly, at Lantash's sudden outburst.

"Sorry, I'm not used to entertaining," he said kneeling to untie his boots. He pulled them off and stood up throwing them against a wall so they fell to the floor in a corner.

She opened her mouth to say something but then she saw the purple bruise with radial black veins running outwards on his calf as he turned away to toss his gloves onto a chest of drawers.

"I was chased through a rainforest a few days ago by Apophis's Jaffa," he said dismissively when he saw where her attention was.

"I think we've been there – the Nox world. But we thought they buried their gate after we left."

"The ah… 'Nox' may have more than one world in that case."

"That would make sense with their control over the gate."

"What control?"

"They seem to be able to operate the gate with the power of their minds."

We owe them our gratitude.

"Do you think they are our future evolution?"

"By what Dr. Faiser tells me: human evolution is impossible since all genetic mutation is destructive."

He sat down on a low table opposite, "What do you think?"

"Mathematically speaking… she's right."

She was going to leave it at that but he nodded for her to go on, "Well, for even a worm to be formed from an amoeba 39x10 to the–" she stopped to yawn, "power of 20 alterations are needed in its genetic code. That would take ten trillion years to produce at a rate of one change per second. That's about 500 times the age of the observable universe.

"For an ape to evolve into a man its 3X10 to the power of 520 changes.

Stretching her toes, "the total volume of the universe in terms of the diameter of an electron isn't even over 10 to the power of 124. Its… beyond all imagination," she said, eyes sparkling.

Her passion for the subject was infectious, "they must be a different species then."

She smiled for a moment thinking, "Daniel would disagree with you on that, I think. He believes we might have an untapped power within us that would be capable of what the Nox have achieved. The only problem, he says, is that we don't have the language to understand and develop what we have in any real way… He'll be over the moon when I tell him it's not all lost."

"I understand what you're saying, but Nirrti has been working with… its not easy to describe. What do you call the twisted strands of … biological instructions?"

"DNA."

"Ok… she's trying to attach information to the DNA."

"Who's Nirrti?"

"One of the lesser Goa'uld system lords."

She nodded, "a virus?"

"I think so. I don't know for sure."

"But anything like that would result in cancer or dea…" she raised her eyebrows, "Oh."

"Yes, its not really an issue since she has a sarcophagus."

"So it works?"

"No, I don't believe it does."

"Why's that?"

"I only wish I knew." He touched the side of his head, "Its all in here. Somewhere. Lost."

He paused, "do you know what its like to be searching within yourself for the rest of the pieces and realise they probably lie a galaxy away?"

She bowed her head, smiling, "yes!"

"You have to go back," she stated surely.

"To have all the pieces," Martouf said to her.

"I know."