Disclaimer: I don't own them yet, but it's the first thing on my list once I become Empress of the Universe.
AN: Alrighty then! After another grueling and mostly unexpected business trip I'm back!
Huge thanks are due to Waves, my beta. Sadly, this will be her last chapter for some time. She recently deployed to the Persian Gulf on her ship and communications just aren't reliable enough for regular and/or speedy updates so she has bowed out. Good luck and Godspeed!
In her place, I'd like to welcome her sister, Adimral Lily. (Yeah, I know, the one that's NOT in the Navy has the nickname of Admiral. Go figure.)
I did mention that I hate muses, right? Apparently mine has some sort of weird love/hate relationship with Martouf because even though this takes place after The Curse (as evidenced by Jack thinking of Sarah and Osiris back in chapter 2), Martouf is still alive. I didn't do it on purpose and I don't get it either. Just . . . pretend like Martouf didn't die in this reality. Does that make this an AU? Hmm . . .
At any rate, I just thought I should clear that up. If I ever revise this someday, I'll probably write him out, but for now he'll stay. Lantash is just that good at reversing the effects of a double zat blast.
Yeah . . . that's it . . .
Acting One's Age
by Keaira
Chapter 13 – A Little Story
"I want coffee!"
"You're too young for coffee, Danny."
"I am not," a petulant voice protested.
"I'm your doctor and I say you are."
"Pleeease?"
"No. And puppy dog eyes aren't going to work on me."
"Pleeeeeeease!"
"Daniel. Would your mother let you have coffee?"
That stopped the conversation as well as the footsteps.
After a moment Danny said, "Well . . . noooo . . . But my dad would!"
"Well I'm not your dad. The answer isn't going to change. No coffee. Now come on. General Hammond's waiting on us and it's a bad idea to keep generals waiting." The footsteps resumed and shortly thereafter Janet's head was visible on the stairs followed by the rest of her and the remaining three members of SG-1.
A disgusted sigh and a pout was Danny's response and Hammond shook his head with a smile. It seemed some things would never change.
With Janet's help the three of them took seats on the side of the table facing away from the Gate room. Janet sat in the seat next to Hammond with Daniel on her left, Jack next to him, and Sam on the end.
Teal'c sat across from Daniel with Martouf across from Janet. She'd protested his involvement on the grounds that he too had a strong emotional attachment to Sam and that it might jog unpleasant memories—she wanted their memories back, just not in such a way as to cause trauma—but couldn't argue that they needed a Tok'ra representative and that it was yet another delay to request someone else. She'd been overruled by Hammond and the discussion had been ended.
She still wasn't happy, but so far there didn't seem to be any negative effect. In fact, besides a sunny smile from the blonde child there didn't seem to be any effect at all. But Sam had smiled at pretty much everyone they'd met this morning. So far, her memories—good, bad, or otherwise—hadn't shown any obvious signs of return.
Janet relaxed marginally and started to turn back to the briefing when she noticed Jack's expression. He was scowling in an eerily familiar way that usually indicated another alien was flirting with his 2IC. Right now his death glare was being leveled at Martouf.
The Tok'ra in question had been watching Sam closely until he apparently felt the heat of the glare being sent his way. He met Jack's eyes and his brows rose in question but Jack just stuck his tongue out and then looked at Danny who was tugging on his sleeve.
She arched an eyebrow. Was that a manifestation if his dislike for Martouf, for Tok'ra in general, or for something more personal than that? Or was he just being a little snot?
She sighed and rubbed at her temples. Trying to figure out what they did and did not remember and what was a coincidence and what wasn't was going to give her a headache.
"Doctor Fraiser?" Hammond questioned, concern in his voice.
She smiled at him reassuringly. "I'm fine, General. Should we begin?"
"Yes. We should."
She nodded and cleared her throat, drawing all attention to her.
"Okay. We're going to talk about what happened to you this week. Danny, why don't we start with you. Do you remember coming through the Stargate?"
Danny nodded.
"We were visiting Saanchi."
"Who is Saanchi?"
"He's the leader of the village."
"What was the village like?"
"Um . . . There were houses . . . made of mud I think, but they might have been a very soft stone . . ." He shrugged. "I'm not sure."
Janet smiled. "That's okay. Can you remember anything else you saw in the village?"
Danny spent the next half an hour describing the village and the things they'd seen. Janet wasn't an anthropologist or an archaeologist, but it sounded to her like these people were pretty young culturally speaking. Not that that precluded their abilities to turn SG-1 into children, but so far it didn't seem to be a technological cause.
He described their meeting with Saanchi to the best of his ability and how the man had been very welcoming. Then he mentioned a special dinner held in SG-1's honor and their return home. He had no clear remembrance of approximately six hours of time in there, but it was possible he had just been asleep. Janet didn't believe so, but if he didn't remember then there was little they could do to force it at this time.
Upon questioning Sam and Jack they learned little more of value. Sam recalled the women's skill with weaving and dyeing, but the rest pretty much confirmed Danny's telling. Jack only recalled a really cool dog-like creature they weren't familiar with beyond the basics Sam and Danny shared.
Three sets of expectant eyes turned to Teal'c, and three sets of indifferent and slightly bored ones wandered around the room.
"I cannot recall anything of value beyond that which has already been recounted."
"What about the six hour window?" Janet asked.
"I am sorry, DoctorFraiser. My memories are also inaccessible for the time specified. I recall walking away from the village in company with the rest of SG-1 and Saanchi, the village headman, but after that my next memory is of waking up from a deep state of kel-no-reem in Saanchi's house. I cannot be sure of the exact time, but six hours is close to what I would estimate."
"Saanchi was going to show us something!" Danny suddenly piped up.
"What?" Janet asked as all eyes went to him.
Finding himself suddenly the focus of attention, Danny slid down in his chair, his expression embarrassed and apologetic. "Sorry," he said softly. "I didn't mean to interrupt."
Janet smiled reassuringly. "It's okay, Danny. What was Saanchi going to show you?"
Seeing he wasn't in trouble, he sat up again and concentrated, his face scrunching with the effort in a very Daniel Jackson-esque way.
After a few long moments he shook his head. "I don't remember."
She patted his hand. "It's okay. But if you think of it let us know."
He nodded and frowned once more, obviously trying to recover the lost memory.
They questioned the kids for another half hour before it was obvious that they were bored and there was no point in keeping them any longer. The two SFs currently assigned to them escorted them back to the playroom set up for them while Martouf, Hammond, and Janet continued the briefing. Teal'c also opted to stay, though he wasn't sure what he could contribute.
"What do their medical examinations show?" Hammond asked.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary. They reflect a perfectly healthy five-, six-, and seven-year-old human with the genetic material of three members of SG-1. The only differences I can see are due to their age variations. I did several brain scans of various kinds but it's the same story. Nothing out of the ordinary for their age and who they are."
"What about Teal'c?"
"He's the same if allowances are made for Jaffa physiology. He's a perfectly healthy Jaffa approximately twenty-two years of age, but with the difference in human and Jaffa ages, I can't be sure of that number. Junior has regressed to a stage just past the point of implantation for a larval Goa'uld. But what that means since Teal'c seems to have regressed further, I don't know.
"Blood work shows no foreign substances—including nanites—or indications of infection, either viral or bacterial. MRIs, PET scans, tissue samples . . . there is no medical symptom that I can detect that indicates they are anything but what they appear to be or that they have ever been different from what they are."
"Thank you, Doctor. If you think of any other test to run or anything else, please let me know."
"Of course, sir."
"This sounds like nothing the Tok'ra have ever encountered before," Martouf said when attention shifted to him, "but then as far as Lantash and I know the Tok'ra have never been to this planet. I do not believe it is one the Goa'uld are aware of."
"We didn't think so," General Hammond said. "This planet came from the Ancients' database downloaded into Colonel O'Neill's mind. We were hoping this problem had been seen on another planet, though."
"As I said, it is not something I have heard of. We could use the memory recall devices to try and recover the memories during the lost six hours though," Martouf suggested. "It is likely that whatever caused this happened during this time."
"I would advise against that, sir," Janet said immediately. "We don't know why they don't recall their adult selves. Perhaps whoever did this did it on purpose. There is a certain amount of sense to the idea. Can you imagine being five years old and recalling everything in thirty-five plus years of life? Including the death of your parents and your wife, not to mention the various foster homes in between and being laughed out of the one place you felt at home, the one connection you had to your parents? Or being a prisoner of war in the Gulf War and returning to your family only to have your son shoot himself with your gun when he was about your age? What about the death of Sam's mother and her father's cancer? We won't even go into the things that have happened to them since joining the program. Whether it was intentional or just a side effect of the regression, I don't know that encouraging them to remember is a good idea. Not until we solve the regression in age—which might fix the memory problem all by itself."
"I'm inclined to agree, Doctor, but what other choice do we have? You said yourself you can find no medical cause for it. We can't solve the regression in age without knowing what happened."
"You do not need to subject DanielJackson, MajorCarter, or ColonelO'Neill to the memory recall devices," Teal'c put in. "I will submit to use of the device. If I can recall the answers we need then we have found our solution. If I can recall nothing then we need not pursue the matter further."
"Thank you, Teal'c."
"I would still like to go down as recommending against this procedure just yet," Janet said.
"Your protest is noted, Doctor, but I believe Teal'c can handle anything he might recall and it might give us the answers we need. I won't order him to do it, but if he willingly submits, I think the risk is worth the possible gains."
"Yes, sir." It was obvious from her tone she still disagreed, but wouldn't push it—right now.
"Then if there's nothing else we'll adjourn to a more suitable location-"
"The infirmary, sir, if you don't mind," Janet said, interrupting the general but not willing to lose total control of the situation. "Just in case."
Hammond nodded. "The infirmary then."
With that the meeting broke up and Janet hurried from the room to make sure her people were ready. She couldn't explain it as anything more than a bad feeling, but she wasn't one to doubt her instincts. She was determined that if they were going ahead with this plan that every possible precaution was taken and as many eventualities as possible were planned for.
Martouf caught up to her and paced her and she repressed the urge to growl at him and all meddling Tok'ra scientists.
"I understand your concern, Doctor Fraiser, but I do believe the risk to be minimal."
"You'll forgive me if my experiences with Tok'ra technology and medicine don't exactly instill confidence in that assessment."
"As I said, I understand your concerns. I will do my best to ensure that nothing goes wrong."
"For your sake I hope so," she said quietly in a falsely sweet voice and then entered the elevator, ignoring the Tok'ra's sudden stop and look of surprise.
"Coming, Martouf?" she asked neutrally. Hammond and Teal'c were giving him odd looks.
He nodded and entered the elevator, but he remained on the far side of the small car and continued to give Janet a wide berth even after disembarking. He wasn't one to question his instincts either and right now they were quite firm in the recommendation that a close proximity to Janet Fraiser was not wise.
He'd just give her a little space.
oOoo
Janet led the way into the infirmary and immediately started issuing orders to her staff which were followed with the usual efficiency. Within a few short minutes Teal'c was seated on a bed and ready to go. After looking at Janet for permission, Martouf pressed the probe against Teal'c's temple and then brought up the controlling device to activate it.
Teal'c sat at the head of the bed, not leaning against the pillow, but able to if he so wished—or if he passed out—and faced the end of the bed where the holographic display was set up. Normally it wouldn't be used to allow the subject privacy, but Teal'c himself had suggested it since one of the others might recognize something he didn't.
With Janet and Hammond on his right and Martouf on his left, they began.
"First we'll begin by recalling your arrival on P2J-612," Martouf said and the display shifted to show Teal'c exiting the Stargate. Ahead of him walked Daniel, Sam, and Jack.
oOoo
"All right, campers!" Jack said. "Welcome to beautiful, lush . . . tree-filled P2J-612."
"Sir, the UAV indicated that the settlement was this direction, approximately fifteen clicks," Carter said and faced the Stargate.
"Did I hear you right, Carter? The village is behind the Stargate?"
Sam smiled good-naturedly at her CO's lightly sarcastic remark. "Yes, sir."
"Well then, let us be off in this new and oh-so exciting direction. Teal'c, take point."
The picture shifted downward to reflect Teal'c's head as he nodded agreement and then the rest of the team went out of view as the path into the woods came into view.
oOoo
"Let's move forward to your entering the village and meeting Saanchi, the village headman," Martouf said.
There was a pause as the picture jumped to their entering the village.
oOoo
It wasn't terribly advanced by any stretch of the imagination, but it was well enough for the people living there and better than they'd seen on some planets.
A wide road led through the length of the village, houses and businesses—and sometimes combinations of the two—lined the way.
The people were curious and friendly, but not overly welcoming. Curiosity seemed to be the order of the day and it wasn't all that different from the way SG-1 was behaving.
Daniel murmured his observations and extrapolations to his teammates much as the villagers seemed to be doing in regards to them.
Jack didn't feel there was any overt threat so his gun was loosely held in his hands, supported more by the clip attaching it to his vest than his grip. He could fire if need be but he wasn't expecting trouble.
Similarly, those with items in hand that might be used as a weapon kept a firm grip on them, but no pitchforks were being brandished.
Sam was looking over the villagers and remarking in some of the clothing she saw. Many of the village women were also apparently remarking on the odd clothing worn by the newcomers, pointing out items and probably speculating on the production of such things.
Teal'c remained silent but watchful, and there were even a few of those in the crowds, too.
Suddenly a small man with a brightly colored toga-like robe stepped out of a building and smiled widely at SG-1.
He started speaking in a hurried babble of some foreign language but apparently it made sense to Daniel.
"It's a variation of Latin," he explained and then spoke a few tentative words which were quickly recognized and got enthusiastic nodding from the small man. Then the words changed slightly, but only Daniel still understood them.
Daniel and the man spoke for a few minutes until Jack's patience ran out.
"Daniel?" he asked. "Do you want to introduce us to your new friend?"
"Of course, sorry. Guys, this is Saanchi. He's the headman in the village here." Then he turned to Saanchi and spoke what was obviously an introduction, though they couldn't understand anything but their own names. Jack smiled and waved, Carter nodded and Teal'c inclined his head.
"They seem like real friendly folks," Jack commented.
"Very friendly," Sam said as the village closed in around them, more blatant in their curiosity now that Saanchi had apparently given his approval to welcome them.
Daniel's voice caught Jack's attention and he looked at where Daniel was explaining and gesturing with his hands. Currently he was drawing a circle in the air and pointing behind them back the way they'd come.
Saanchi's eyes widened and then said something soft which spread in a murmured rumble throughout the crowd. Then like a wave, the people all dropped to one knee, bowing their heads.
"Not again," Daniel said with a sigh and reached for Saanchi to pull him up.
He said something, repeating it forcefully when it didn't seem to sink in.
After a moment Saanchi ventured a tentative phrase which Daniel frowned at.
"Well, we're friends of the Asgard."
Saanchi nodded and turned, pulling Daniel along by his hand.
"Daniel?"
"He wants us to go this way, I guess," Daniel said, but allowed himself to be tugged along.
"That way it is," Jack said with a resigned sigh and followed along, the rest of SG-1 falling in behind him.
oOoo
"This Saanchi fellow seems like a nice enough person," Hammond ventured.
"I agree" Janet said. "And it almost seemed like they thought you were someone of great importance."
"DanielJackson theorized that they believed us to be the Ancients."
"He did?"
"Yes. As I watch these scenes, I am recalling more information about them."
"Can you think of anything that might have happened between now and the lost time?" Hammond asked.
Teal'c paused and a sort of fast-forward of various scenes flashed across the display.
"I cannot. I believe that whatever happened to us, occurred during that time."
"Then let's move ahead to that point. You said you recall leaving the village with Saanchi. Daniel Jackson suggested he wanted to show you something."
"He did. There was an Ancient outpost located on the planet at one time. It was in ruins and DanielJackson wished to explore them."
"Did you find anything in the ruins?"
All the eyes were on the screen but when Teal'c didn't respond, Janet looked at him and saw his eyes were wide, but the pupils had contracted to pinpoints.
"Teal'c?"
The display showed a blur of images too messy to distinguish and Teal'c began to convulse.
"Turn it off now!" she bellowed at Martouf, then started yelling for her staff, firing off orders as Hammond backed up.
Martouf stood frozen, but another yell from Janet got his attention and he quickly deactivated the machine and pried it from Teal'c skin.
They'd just gotten the heart monitor up and running and as soon as the device was removed he went from a flatline to a steady beat. He fell limp against the bed, unconscious, but responsive when Janet pulled up his eyelids and shined her penlight in them.
Janet finished a quick check to make sure there were no other major symptoms left to be treated, then pulled back and let her staff go to work.
She continued watching for a moment but the crisis seemed to be past.
Then without warning she whirled and stalked over to where Martouf had retreated to, out of the way of the nurses and corpsmen. Her eyes blazed and her mouth was set in a firm line of anger.
"Satisfied? Obviously, they're not meant to remember what happened in the ruins just yet. We'll just have to find another way."
Hammond's soothing voice broke through and she finally stopped trying to glare Martouf to death. "I agree, Doctor. We haven't yet heard back from the Asgard or Tollans yet. For now, we'll keep an eye on them and see if anything else comes up to give us a new direction."
"I agree wholeheartedly, sir," she said coldly, her words clipped. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to check on the rest of SG-1."
With a final glare for the Tok'ra she left, her heels clicking angrily on the smooth floors.
"General, I hope you don't think-"
"I don't believe you intentionally caused Teal'c harm, son, but Dr. Fraiser takes the care and treatment of the people of this base very seriously. She's as mad at me as she is you, but you can't court-martial her for it. Come on. We'll go find Jacob and tell him what we've discovered and stay out of the infirmary for a while."
Martouf nodded and silently followed the General from the room.
Thanks for your unbelieveable patience! Until next time . . .
"What if the hokey-pokey really is what it's all about?" – Anonymous
-Keaira