For notes, warnings and disclaimers see chapter 1
Chapter
5: Monkey See, Monkey Do
(Daniel's POV)
Okay, I think we are just about out of subjects we can safely explore without mentioning what happened earlier today between Sam and Narim. The thing is that while I don't want to push Sam too hard I do realize that putting this off won't really help matters. Of course, at the same time I can also relate to the reasons why she is trying so hard to avoid this particular conversation.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask.
"Want? Not really," she says, glaring at me.
"You know what I mean."
"Yes, you mean that we are going to talk about it whether I want to or not but I still don't know what to say. It was unexpected to say the least," she explains.
"I figured that much."
"It wasn't bad, it was just that..." she trails off.
"Just that what?" I prod.
"Just that I don't know how I feel about any of it. I know you got there for the end of it but..."
"But what?" I push, again.
"Before he kissed me Narim gave me something... a Tollan device I know I should have turned over to Maybourne but I didn't," she admits, not meeting my eyes.
"Okay, I'm afraid I still don't understand," I say, wondering what that device could possibly have been and what did it have to do with any of this.
"It was a sort of emotional recorder, for lack of a better term," she explains. "It showed me exactly what he felt for me and the truth is that the whole experience was kind of surreal."
"Surreal how?"
"Well, first of all there's the fact that experiencing someone else's feelings first hand can be a little disorienting. I don't know if that would have been the case for a Tollan as well or if the fact that such technology is commonplace in their world would mean that they can distance themselves from the whole experience and process the information in a more rational fashion but for me it was something I didn't really know how to deal with. The funny thing is that in a really twisted kind of way that device made it possible for me to understand the reaction the inhabitants of some planets we've visited have had to our use of video. I mean, we can understand what those images represent and we can understand that they depict something that happened earlier or something that is happening elsewhere, but for people who have lived all their lives without ever imagining that it is possible for reality to be reproduced by vivid, moving images, the whole experience may be all but impossible to conceptualize," she explains and I decide not to point out the fact that we are not talking about that while still trying to get this conversation back on track.
"In other words, you were given the opportunity to experience Narim's feelings for you and as a result you found out the hard way that you didn't exactly have the frame of reference necessary to successfully separate those feelings from your own?" I ask.
"Something like that," she admits. "They felt so real but at the same time I could tell that they weren't my feelings and on top of that I was having a very hard time trying to make some sort of sense out of them."
"What do you mean?"
"I could feel that Narim cared for me but I couldn't really tell if it was love or more of a crush. I think it was more of a crush but I had no way to be sure. Either way it felt good... I didn't feel threatened or anything like that. Sorry, it's just that it is hard for me to explain this," she says, shaking her head. "As I said, it was very different from anything I had ever experienced before and I didn't really know how to respond to any of it."
"And then he kissed you."
"Yes. It was tentative at first. I think Narim wasn't sure how I was going to respond. He explained to me that it was a custom from his world and then I told him that we do the same thing here. Then he kissed me again and that's when you walked in on us," she explains, obviously more than a little uncomfortable with the emotional aspects of this.
"Interesting to think that something as simple as a kiss may require an explanation," I say, realizing that Sam could probably use a distraction just about now and taking my cue from the fact that she seems to be determined to keep this one one hundred percent rational.
"Yes, but I still think it is almost universal. I mean, we do it and so do the Tollan and..." she trails off.
"And the people of Simarka?" I ask, knowing that it has to be said.
"Yes, but that was so different. In fact it was kind of a textbook example of how the same gesture can be used to convey two very different meanings."
"That's probably to be expected," I remind her. "I mean, let's face it, non-verbal communication can overcome the language barrier more often than not, I should know. After all, I may be a linguist but I've lost track of how many times I've found myself playing charades to try to get my point across... and I don't just mean off-world. Besides, when it comes to something as primal as kissing the truth is that we can't even trace the origin of that practice though it may well predate the emergence of homo sapiens as a species. I'm not talking about its specific cultural associations, of course, but the bottom line is that the physical gesture of kissing is remarkably similar to the grooming behavior observed in quite a few primates."
"And from that perspective it would probably make sense for such a universal gesture to be found on most other planets," she finishes for me.
"Exactly. In fact it is interesting that Narim would feel the need to explain that custom to you in the first place," I say.
"Why?"
"Because that would seem to suggest that --in spite of how technologically advanced the Tollan are-- they are unaware of just how universal that particular gesture happens to be, though maybe that is to be expected," I remind her before going on. "Sure, here on earth it is easy enough for us to trace its origins back to a time before our own species evolved and from there we can easily extrapolate that the practice is likely to be found on most planets inhabited by man because it is something that can almost be described as an instinctive behavior but the Tollan, for all their technology, probably have a huge gap when it comes to their own past. After all, they haven't exactly had access to our fossil record and much less have they had an opportunity to study other living primates that are evolutionarily related to them."
"Actually, up until I took him to the surface and he saw a bird, Narim had never even seen a live animal before," says Sam.
"In other words it is safe to say that the Tollan's isolation was probably much greater than we ever imagined?" I ask, realizing what that comment actually entails.
"Uh?"
"Well, they were obviously familiar with the workings of the stargate but the thing is that most of the worlds we've visited so far seem to have their own flora and fauna," I remind her. "That means that, if Narim had never even seen an animal before, then chances are his people had never really attempted to explore other worlds, or at least they hadn't done it in a very long time."
"And that also begs the question of how could they possibly have survived for as long as they did in such a broken ecosystem," adds Sam, the scientist in her suddenly coming to the forefront. "I mean, I hadn't really thought about it before but even if they could synthesize some form of nourishment, to inhabit a planet without plants would be virtually impossible."
"And if there are no animals, plants would soon become extinct as well," I finish for her.
"Pretty much," she agrees enthusiastically, the tension of the earlier part of our conversation obviously forgotten.
