52
When in the Course of Unhuman Events
Evree suddenly paled, doubled over, and then collapsed.
"What in the hell?" Jack asked in astonishment as he caught the crumpled form before she hit the floor. "Carter," he barked. "Get Doc Frasier out here, on the double."
&&&&&
A meeting had been called.
"Dr. Frasier," Hammond began. "I know that you probably want to get back to your patient, so why don't you give your report first, then you can return to her."
Janet gratefully rose to her feet. She really did want to be monitoring Evree's condition. Besides, O'Neill was giving her the strangest looks. "Well, I'd just finished checking on her," she started out. "And as far as I could tell, everything was fine."
"If everything was fine..," Jack just couldn't keep his mouth shut. "Then why did Evree collapse like that?"
"Because she's been deliberately delaying giving birth," Frasier explained in a rush. "From what she says, for a very long time. Years, in fact, a lot of them."
"She doesn't look pregnant." Daniel felt like a fool the moment the words left his lips. Evree was the pregnant one, not Draylea.
Everyone was pretty much equally stunned. Even, Sam realized, her own father.
"Selmac?" she said quietly, addressing the symbiote.
Jacob's head shook slowly, but it was the voice of the Tok'ra that issued from his lips. "I have heard of queens who could control the birthing process before. But never to the extent that Evree claims." Jacob looked questioningly at the doctor. "Could I have a slightly more precise measurement of time, Dr. Frasier? If you know it."
"The best I can give you," Janet replied. "Is that Evree said she was just coming into reproductive maturity when Ahriman took over. And that he's the reason she refused to give birth to her young. She didn't want them to be under Ahriman's control." Frasier sighed. "And it wouldn't be a particularly optimal solution for her to have them now, either. We simply don't have the facilities that could keep her young alive and healthy until they were ready for hosts."
"I'd like to think that if she's waited this long, she could wait a while longer," General Hammond remarked without much conviction. "So why do I have the feeling that's not the case?"
"Evree has to give birth to her young soon," Dr. Frasier stated bluntly. "If she doesn't, both she, and they, will die."
&&&&&&
"How are you doing, Evree?" True to his word, Hammond had let Janet leave the meeting as soon as they got all the pertinent information she had.
"Evree.., rests," Draylea explained quietly. "It's not exactly like sleep, more like suspended animation. It was only by doing that as much as possible that she could delay things so long." A tear formed in the host's eye, and she swiped it away. "Even dormant as she is now, I can feel her pain. I think that her being awake and aware with little respite for the past few days was what made the matter more urgent."
"But she can't stay in suspension for too long, can she?" Frasier said. It was only half a question at best. She was pretty sure that she already knew the answer, or close to it.
In confirmation, Draylea shook her head. "From what Evree has told me, a few hours at best, now," she replied. "And now you see why it was vitally important that she get away from Ahriman. But if you can't find a place where she can birth her young in peace, with facilities to care for them, then all she has suffered will be for nothing."
"We're working on it right now," Frasier promised, and hoped that it was true. For she had the feeling that after waiting so long, if Evree couldn't birth her young in safety, she would die with them.
&&&&&
"I can't believe that even your doctor was unaware that Evree was a queen." Selmac had dominated the conversation as far as the seat next to Sam was concerned. "And more to the point, would you have offered her asylum if you had known?"
"Wait a minute," Daniel broke in. "Doesn't the fact that she doesn't want someone like Ahriman to have access to them cut her some slack? I can't believe that she would have put herself, and them through this if there wasn't something that wasn't.., well, your run of the mill Goa'uld in there."
"Even the mother of the Tok'ra started out as Goa'uld," Teal'c pointed out, trying to be fair about it. He still didn't trust Evree, but even he was willing to admit to prejudice on the subject.
"And right now, the Tok'ra are the only ones who would be able to equip us with incubators and the like so that Evree could give birth," Sam added.
"It would require much discussion," Selmac observed, rising. "Evree, no matter what she has said or done, is still Goa'uld. The Tok'ra might have difficulty dealing with the concept of helping her. She could just be manipulating us all to her own ends."
"Of course she is," Jack remarked. "But if we get set up here, we, not Ahriman, not even Evree will have control over what happens with the little wrigglies."
"A little crudely put," General Hammond commented. "But true nonetheless. Please, Selmac, see if you can persuade the others to give us the equipment we need. It may be an utterly unique opportunity, and we'd be fools to let it slip by."
"And it does explain why Ahriman wants her back so badly," Selmac mused. "Even to the point of trying to track our craft."
"When exactly were you going to inform us of that particular development?" Teal'c demanded.
The Tok'ra blinked. "Since the ship's defenses ejected the tracer the moment we left normal space," Selmac replied. "Neither I nor Jacob considered it necessary to pass the information on. After all, there was no real threat. We Tok'ra take great pains to keep our whereabouts secret."
"The Tok'ra are great pains at keeping a lot of things secret," O'Neill grumbled. "You want to shake a leg there? Evree's not getting any better while we sit here and jabber."
"As you say." The Tok'ra bowed formally. "I will inform you as soon as a decision is reached."
&&&&&&
"Have the Tau'ri acceded to our demands yet?" Ahriman queried. Time was getting short. Anubis would be here soon, and he was expecting to take possession of his queen. A queen that Ahriman no longer had under his control.
"No, Lord, they have not," his second in command informed him. "In fact, the humans have not communicated with us as all since we delivered your ultimatum."
"Contact them again," Ahriman ordered. "Remind them of their certain fate if they continue to hold our queen hostage."
The underling bit his lip to keep from betraying his reaction to the remark. There wasn't a living being on the planet that believed that Evree was being held hostage. She having so very obviously left of her own accord. Nevertheless, orders were orders, and Ahriman in a rage was something to be avoided. "As you will, Lord."
"As I will, indeed," Ahriman muttered, watching the retreating back. "As Anubis wills. Or else we shall all be dead." He was beginning to wonder if perhaps his bargain with Anubis had been a rash one. But he had never dreamed that Evree would ever manage to escape. And still without having borne her young. It was utterly incredible that she had managed to do so, and showed, at least to Ahriman's eyes, the lengths the queen would go to in order to spite him. But somehow, he would manage to retrieve her. And then, she would long for the days when Ahriman had first subdued her. Then, he had treated her as a queen deserved. It was only her intransigent behavior that had earned her the subsequent years of chastisement. He was sure she would fare even less better in the hands of Anubis. And it would serve the willful little queen right.
&&&&&
"Did any of you guys have any idea that Evree was a queen?" Jack asked as they left the conference room.
"To be honest," Daniel replied. "I didn't have a clue. Even the few times that she and I spoke in Goa'uld, she was very careful not to use the tenses that would give me a clue as to what she was."
"The same would hold true for myself," Teal'c interjected. "Added to which, Major Carter and I have been away much of the time that she has been here."
"And yet now," Sam mused. "I feel like I should have been able to guess. It's the only thing that explains a lot of what we didn't know. Like why Ahriman is so hot to get his hands back on her."
"I just wish we knew whether or not she is all that she seems to be," Daniel remarked. "On one hand, if she is anything like the picture that she's painted for us, she could be the next Tok'ra queen."
"And if she isn't," O'Neill responded. "Then we've just bought ourselves a whole lot of trouble."
"We could not have left her as she was in good conscience," Teal'c pointed out. "To see something so fragile being tormented so. Is this what you refer to as a masculine stereotype?"
"Not me," Jack replied quickly.
"It could be," Sam commented. "And it's quite possible that Evree knew about that 'masculine stereotype', and played to it."
"So we still don't know if she's legit or just playing us," Daniel said quietly. He had been building a tentative friendship with the Goa'uld queen, and didn't much like the possibility that she'd been using his good will against them all.
"No, we don't," O'Neill replied. "I wonder if we ever really will."
"And how long will ever be if we don't find out what, if anything Ahriman has up his sleeve?" Carter murmured. "I wish the Tok'ra would hurry up and answer."
"I wish..," Jack started, then stopped. He had a quick visual of the delicate, unconscious form that he'd held in his arms until she'd been whisked into intensive care. And then added to that thought that she was a Goa'uld. He wasn't quite sure what he wished.
&&&&&
"I fear that it is too late," Evree gasped. Sweat poured from her, or, to be more accurate, from her host.
"The Tok'ra may help us," Janet said. "Just try to hang in there a little bit longer, Evree."
"The Tok'ra help a Goa'uld?" Evree inquired as sarcastically as O'Neill at his best. "I fear that I do not share your optimism, Dr. Frasier. But while I am still capable of speech, I would like to thank you for your care of me. And to request that you would continue to care for Draylea."
"Of course," Frasier agreed. "But I wish that you'd quit talking like your death is a certainty. Doctors really don't like to have patients go and die on them. It's bad for our morale."
Evree forced a grim smile. "I shall do my utmost not to damage your morale," she replied. "But if the Tok'ra do not give aid, and very, very soon, I fear that your morale will be the worse for the wear."
"Is there any kind of drug that you know of that I might be able to administer that would help?" Janet suggested hopefully. All right, not so hopefully. If there were such a drug, Evree probably would have mentioned it by now. Either that, or it wasn't available on Earth.
"I do not believe so," Evree gasped out. "But my knowledge of medical matters is of the smallest. For most ills, Goa'uld simply use a sarcophagus."
"Of course," the physician murmured. "Unfortunately, we don't have one at hand." She glanced at the door, willing it to open to reveal help. What was keeping the Tok'ra? Even a negative answer would at least be an answer. But she didn't like the thought of condemning someone that she'd been treating to death.
"Do not fret, Janet," Evree murmured. "As, I am sure O'Neill would say, one less Goa'uld in the universe could not be anything but a good thing."
"You'd actually be surprised what I might or might not say," Jack said, entering the room. He walked over and picked up the cloth that Dr. Frasier had been blotting the sweat from Evree's brow with and continued the process while the physician busied herself elsewhere in the room. "How are you doing, kid?"
"You refer to me as a child when you know that I am generations older than you?" Despite the pain, Evree couldn't help but be amused.
"What can I say?" O'Neill replied. "When I'm looking at someone that I've pushed in a swing, I tend to think of them as a kid."
"Even a Goa'uld?" Evree asked pointedly. Things were getting confusing again. Here was O'Neill, once more tending to her solicitously. She wasn't sure at this point if she could deal with another rebuff. Then, she reminded herself that she in all likelihood wouldn't be around by the time that O'Neill had yet another change of heart.
"Not just any Goa'uld," Jack corrected her. "Only you." He looked more than a little embarrassed. "What have you done to me, woman?"
"What have I done to you?" Evree stopped a moment, biting her lip to try to quell the pain. Both she and Frasier had decided against any painkillers, lest they do damage to the young she bore. "You are the one that has done something to me. Ever since my arrival here, nothing seems right unless you are with me."
Jack looked definitely taken aback. "That can't mean what it sounds like it means," he mumbled to himself. And totally failed to convince himself.
"I'm not sure what it means," Evree murmured tiredly. "But I feel better when you are near me, O'Neill. Will you stay by my side while I die?"
"You're not dying," Jack said firmly. "And that's an order."
"And what, pray tell, could you do to me if I disobeyed that order?" the Goa'uld replied. Her face went ghost-white as another wave of pain washed over her.
"I think you're missing the point here," O'Neill responded uncomfortably. "I really don't want you to die, Evree. I don't know what else I might want at this point, but I don't want you to die."
"Then I would suggest that we prepare her for birthing as soon as possible." It was Selmac/Jacob and another Tok'ra, wheeling a Goa'uld incubator into the room.