For notes, warnings and disclaimers see chapter 1
Chapter 15: The End of the Innocence
(Daniel's POV)
"So, how did it go?" I ask as soon as I open the door. I know this is it, this is where I'll find out if Janet is going to go along with us... and I am all too aware of the fact that if she doesn't Sam will almost certainly find herself in a world of hurt.
"As you said, she's doing reasonably well under the circumstances. There remain some problems that need to be addressed sooner rather than later, of course, especially the fact that she is having trouble sleeping, but the truth is that what caught me off-guard was what she was threatened with," she says, shaking her head.
"I know what you mean... when she told me... I kept hoping that she was talking about something else but..." I trail off.
"Tell me something, Daniel, as an archeologist and an anthropologist working at the SGC and knowing what you know about off-world civilizations, do you think that is something we are likely to encounter again? Is it something I as a doctor should prepare myself for the possibility of having to deal with in my infirmary... and I don't mean just as a threat but as a real medical condition? Is it possible that I may actually find myself having to deal with a woman who's been infibulated in my infirmary?" she asks.
"I wish I could tell you 'no' but the truth is that the answer to that question may well be 'yes'," I say, knowing that she deserves the truth. "From what I saw in Simarka, theirs was a culture that seemed to have evolved from a single Mongol tribe that was taken from our world a long time ago and due to their isolation their society showed very few signs of divergence from that original source... and yet what Turghan was threatening to do is something that can actually be traced back to Ancient Egypt. The way I see it that means that the practice must have a different origin, that it is something that was adopted after they were taken from our world, and as far as I can tell the most logical explanation for that has to do with the fact that the Shavadai and the other clans are in fact the descendants of a population that was taken there by the Goa'uld and that it was through that contact that those cultures acquired some Egyptian traditions. After all the Egyptians are by far the civilization that is most intimately associated with the Goa'uld in the first place."
"And seeing how it was the Goa'uld that were responsible for the existence of most extraterrestrial human cultures then it is only logical to assume that the inhabitants of Simarka were not the only ones who came in contact with that particular tradition, right?" she asks.
"Exactly, so the question then becomes more one of how many other cultures still follow that particular tradition... a tradition that, by the way, in some places here on earth is said to be intended to prevent the 'demons' from entering a woman's body."
"Are you suggesting that it's not just a tradition that may have reached some other cultures via the Goa'uld but rather something that may actually have evolved as a defense against them in the first place?"
"It's just a theory, one I had never really even considered before last night and one that might be wrong --after all, I don't think the Goa'uld are likely to have encouraged a practice that worked against them in the first place-- but it is a possibility we may have to contemplate," I admit. "The thing is that if that is the case then I wouldn't be surprised if the practice were to turn out to be fairly widespread."
"I won't lie to you, Daniel, I'm worried about that. I agree that pulling Sam from SG-1 would almost certainly be a very bad idea right now as far as she is concerned but at the same time I have to say even I am questioning the wisdom of having women out there under the circumstances. You do realize that something like that would be mostly irreversible and would undoubtedly have life-long consequences, don't you? The most I could hope to do as a doctor in a case like that would be to try to conceal the damage through plastic surgery but that is something that would only solve the cosmetic problem."
"I know," I say, "and I also know that that may just be the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we may encounter out there and you may want to be prepared for whatever else the gate may throw at you as a doctor."
"You call that the tip of the iceberg?" asks Janet, sounding utterly horrified.
"Okay, so maybe that wasn't the best way for me to phrase that but yes. I guess what I'm trying to say is that up until now your main concerns have been potential Goa'uld infections and alien diseases, especially those diseases that could possibly trigger a pandemic here on earth where the population would have no natural immunity against those pathogens," I explain before going on. "Now, don't get me wrong here, I understand why those scenarios have to take priority, after all, the Aztecs do provide us with a very graphic example of how a powerful empire can be all but destroyed by the introduction of an 'alien' disease into a vulnerable population. The thing is that even though those things have to take priority we should also have kept in mind that Goa'uld parasites and infectious diseases are just a token of the things we are likely to come across out there. Whether we like it or not human actions do pose their own kind of danger and that is one risk that we have been neglecting up until now.
"The fact is that cultural differences and alien traditions may well prove to be just as dangerous as anything else, at least as far as the individual team members are concerned. The problem is that there is just no way for us to anticipate all the different possible scenarios we may find, though I can almost promise you that quite a few of them won't be pretty. Let's face it, what we are encountering out there are the descendants of our own ancient civilizations and human history is not a pretty place. I know it's not a comforting thought but it is a fact. This incident between Sam and Turghan is just one example of what may be waiting for us out there. In fact in that regard the Goa'uld may well turn out to be the least of our problems," I warn her.
"What do you mean?" she asks.
"Let's take the consequences of Sam's beating at Turghan's hand as an example. Do you realize that he used a flogger that had been specifically designed not to scar her back because that would have caused his property to lose value?"
"That's insane!"
"It may seem insane from our perspective but not from his... and the truth is that Sam was lucky that that was the case, otherwise the consequences of that 'punishment' could have been far more devastating than they were," I remind her.
"Somehow that is not reassuring," says Janet, all but glaring at me.
"I know but luckily at least we got a warning here, a reminder of the fact that we really need to be more vigilant because our rules don't apply out there," I point out. "The thing is that in terms of torture there is a clear distinction between causing pain and causing damage... and when it comes to torture at least the Goa'uld's technology enables them to stimulate a person's nerve endings without harming the tissue at all. That means that they are in a position to cause massive amounts of pain without causing any damage at all and that is an unexpected blessing as far as our people are concerned. To the Goa'uld humans are little more than cattle and in a really twisted way that may serve to keep us safe. They see us as slaves or as potential hosts and even though they have no qualms about killing us, it serves no purpose for them to maim us. That means that as excruciatingly painful as a ribbon device can be --and in spite of the fact that it can actually kill under extreme circumstances-- for the most part its use has no long term consequences. With human cultures that won't usually be the case... and even when their goal is to inflict pain, for the most part their technology will not enable them to do that without inflicting some damage along the way. That's what I meant when I said that, at least in terms of physical torture, the Goa'uld are less likely to pose a threat than the less advanced human civilizations, where a certain level of damage to the victim is to be expected even under the best of circumstances."
"Okay, I'll try to keep that in mind and I'll see what I can do to make sure I'm ready to deal with whatever the universe decides to throw at me in terms of returning SG teams but getting back to Sam, any idea of what we are supposed to do about her?" she asks, bringing the conversation back to the source of our more immediate concern.
"Do you agree that ideally we should try to keep General Hammond from pulling her from SG-1?" I ask.
"Absolutely, the only problem is that I am also worried about whether or not by trying to protect her we may be putting other women at risk here," she says. "Sam has made clear what she wants and we should respect that but if we do as she wishes and handle this situation discreetly --which I agree is the way to go in her case-- we may well end up putting other female members of off-world teams at risk, women who may well have made a different choice if they had been given a chance, women who would have come to a different conclusion if they had been provided with the facts necessary to make an informed decision. That's what I'm worried about and I'm afraid the general is likely to feel the same way."
"Actually I do have an idea in that regard," I tell her, knowing that she does have a point about that.
"You do?" she asks, sounding rather surprised.
"Well, it's not a fully developed plan just yet, if that's what you are wondering," I warn her, "but I think we could simply come up with something that could enable them to get that information without really disclosing the source of that particular concern."
"But wouldn't it be obvious?"
"Not necessarily... at least not right now," I say. "It would have been obvious seven months ago, right after we returned from Simarka but now, with a little luck, we should be able to figure out a way to pull it off without making it all that apparent. The Simarka incident took place a long time ago and they may not connect it with any recommendations issued seven months later. All we would have to do is to explain the Egyptian connection, no need to mention Simarka, Sam or any of our off-world experiences at all. The hard part, however, may be figuring out how to get General Hammond to agree to go along with it in the first place."
"And that's still the big if... especially because I think that at least for the time being we would probably be better off minimizing the relevance of Turghan's threat," says Janet.
"Maybe we could minimize it at first, at least until the general comes to terms with the first part of this whole thing and then we could try to inform the other women of the SGC. So, any idea of what you are going to tell General Hammond about that?" I ask, knowing that we have to come to some sort of understanding here, otherwise we would be running the risk of contradicting each other and that is something we definitely can't afford.
"As I told Sam, I'll use the word 'circumcision' and hope he doesn't really know what I'm talking about. I mean, I deeply respect the general but he is a military man who is unlikely to be all that aware of what is essentially a woman's issue. Let's face it, in the eyes of the military FGM usually refers to a shoulder fired anti-tank missile!"
"You are kidding me, right?" I ask.
"I wish I were but I'm not. The Dragon's designation was FGM-77 and the official name of its successor, the Javelin --which only went into production a couple of years ago-- is actually FGM-148... so much for the military's awareness of human rights issues," she says, shaking her head. "The good news is that taking that as our guideline I think we can pretty much count on the general underestimating the seriousness of the situation, after all, he is likely to have a mental image of what a 'circumcision' entails that we can use to our advantage here. All we would have to do in that regard is to be careful not to set the record straight."
"Okay, so that should take care of at least part of the problem, that's the good news," I say. "The bad news is that I'm afraid that's going to be the easy part."
"What do you mean?" asks Janet.
"Well, even if we can get the general to underestimate the seriousness of Turghan's threat there is still the whole issue of telling him that Sam was raped, keeping him from having her reassigned and keeping him from ordering her to talk to MacKenzie," I remind her.
"I know."
"By the way, Sam did warn you about the fact that she's not willing to let Dr. Warner take the blame for her silence, didn't she?" I ask, knowing that that is something that could end up getting us all in trouble.
"What! Do you have any idea of how much harder that's going to make explaining her silence in the first place?"
"Believe me, I know, and I know it's not fair to you but it was the only way I could get her to agree to this in the first place. You know her, she'll take a major fall herself before she allows someone else to take a minor one on her behalf."
"I know but the whole explanation for her silence is based around the fact that Dr. Warner is a man so I don't see how am I supposed to keep the explanation intact without making it his fault somehow," growls Janet.
"Well, technically speaking the fact that he is a man is not exactly his fault, so that's not something he can be blamed for," I tell her, knowing that I'm walking a very fine line in that regard. "Still, if you can come up with some way to explain how he could possibly have failed to notice that there was something wrong from a medical perspective in the first place that would probably help. Anyway, if it makes you feel any better, I can tell you that you've got by far the best part of the deal here."
"What do you mean, Daniel?" she asks, sounding rather surprised.
"You just have to explain why even though Sam kept quiet because of Dr. Warner her silence wasn't entirely his fault, I have to explain why what Turghan did to her shouldn't be considered enemy activity in the first place... do you want to trade?"
"No, thanks, how are you planning on doing that?" asks Janet.
"With a lot of anthropological double talk, that's how, but even with that it's going to be a tough sale," I tell her.
"I imagine it will."
"Don't worry, as I said, I can handle it. The problem is that just as with explaining why the fact that this wasn't discovered from the very beginning wasn't Dr. Warner's fault, explaining why it wasn't enemy activity is not going to be the trickiest part of this whole thing," I remind her. "I'm afraid that the trickiest part for both of us is going to be trying to convince General Hammond to allow Sam to remain in SG-1 in the first place. Now, the way I see it, if you can cover the medical reasons why pulling Sam from the team would be a bad idea in terms of her recovery I think I can handle the anthropological reasons why keeping women out of off-world teams could easily backfire in terms of the SGC as a whole. I mean, after all we do have some ammo thanks to what happened when Hathor tried to take over the base a couple of weeks ago.
"That is something we can definitely use to our advantage here," I go on. "I was thinking of mentioning the possibility of an all male SG team running into a queen off-world. Let's face it, seeing how the GDO codes are our first line of defense that is a situation that could easily render that first line completely useless... and that is just from a tactical perspective. The thing is that seeing how Hathor's attack is probably pretty fresh in the general's mind I don't think that's a possibility he is likely to be willing to overlook. On top of that there's the fact that all male teams are unlikely to be effective if they were ever to come across a matriarchal society and that would basically make a female presence a must. That's another thing that we may want to keep in mind."
"Okay, that's part of it... and the fact that Sam has requested to remain a member of SG-1 after what happened in Simarka is probably something else that the general is going to be willing to take into account," says Janet before going on. "The problem is what's going to happen if the general decides to go through MacKenzie. Somehow I fear that he could do a lot of damage and Sam has made it pretty clear that it's not something she's looking forward to."
"Any ideas on how you are going to handle that particular problem?" I ask, knowing that it is a medical issue and therefore it is going to be up to Janet to handle it in the first place.
"I'm not entirely sure. I got her to agree to the fact that she may have to see him in order to remain a member of SG-1 but I still hope I will be able to talk General Hammond out of it," she explains.
"How?"
"By using the gender card among other things but I'd rather not go into those in detail," she tells me. "The truth is that while it is important for us to present a unified front when we talk to General Hammond we have to approach him from different perspectives and I don't want us to come in sounding like we've rehearsed every last detail of what we are going to say. I don't mean that we should try to hide the fact that we've talked things through from him but..."
"But you feel that too much agreement between us might cause the general to feel he is being played and react accordingly?" I ask.
"Exactly."
"So, how much of what we've talked about here are we going to be sharing with the general?"
"I think the way to go would be once again to fill him in on the generalities but not the details," she says. "It would probably be safe for us to leave it at the fact that you talked to Sam and got her to agree to talk to me. After that we shared our professional opinions, came to an agreement and informed him as soon as we could. There's nothing there that should raise any eyebrows, not really. It would also mean that we aren't so much going in there with a battleplan but rather with an agreement on some basic facts based on the information we have from our respective fields. I know MacKenzie remains a bit of a threat but in spite of that I'm fairly comfortable that I can neutralize him without too much trouble, at least for now. Luckily he is technically under my 'command', the problem is that I fear that the general may decide to bring him up to speed on what's going on and, even if I can keep him away from Sam for the time being, that could turn into a bit of a problem at a later date if he is not happy with that particular decision."
"How so?" I ask, more than a little worried.
"Mandatory evaluations." she says. "Dr. MacKenzie is a proud man and even though I can probably talk the general out of forcing Sam to talk to him, he could really give her hell in those if he takes offense at the fact that her case wasn't referred to him in the first place. Sure if he gets too out of line she'd be able to fight back and request a second opinion but it wouldn't be pretty."
"And with a classified project with a limited personnel such as the SGC where is she going to get that second opinion from in the first place, right?" I add, seeing where she's going and not liking it in the least.
"Exactly. We have one staff psychologist working with us at the mountain with the necessary clearance and who knows about the existence of the stargate, that's all. That's one of the elements that is serving to complicate the current situation in the first place and it is one that may also come back to haunt us later. Let's face it, for Sam to be able to request a second opinion it would first be necessary for her to request a second psychologist and getting that approved won't be easy."
"In other words, this situation is far messier than I had originally anticipated due to the ridiculous amounts of red tape we have to contend with?" I ask with a sinking feeling.
"I'm afraid so. Our choices are very limited. That is one of the things I suspect contributed to Sam's decision to keep quiet in the first place and I'm afraid that up to a point her fears may have been justified."
"So what you are saying is that I may not have been doing her a favor when I pushed her to come forward?" I ask, feeling rather guilty.
"I'm not sure. As you said, the stress was beginning to get to her so I'm not sure how sustainable her previous position really was, but the truth is that things probably won't be getting any easier for her any time soon and she's really going to need you to be there for her."
"Whatever it takes," I promise, knowing that I'm the one who got Sam into this mess and determined to do whatever is necessary to get her out of it.
I don't realize until long after Janet is gone that she said 'she's going to need you', not 'she's going to need us'... and somehow I suspect that that little pronoun is going to come back to haunt me.
Author's notes: Hi guys, okay, first of all thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them. Also, I wanted to apologize for a rather dry chapter. I know it's not exactly a lot of fun but I'm afraid it was a necessary evil. Sorry about that.
Alec