A/N: Extreme apologies for the extended wait, but my simple replacement of modem turned into an internet fiasco, involving over a week with no internet. So I'm writing this now in expectation of when the internet will be back, so that I can post both chapters successively to make up for time lost. Thank you all for your patience, and reviews, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 8
"What?!" Jack couldn't help but blurt out.
Exchanging confused and shocked looks with the other members of SG-1, Daniel turned back to Neolaía and frowned. "And you're okay with this?" He could barely wrap his mind around it.
"Your confusion is understandable. We never expected you to accept our way, you are not evolved enough. With time, perhaps you will come to understand the truth in what we say." She had begun to sound almost patronizing, allowing the others to indulge in the whims of the young and uneducated.
"So, you said before that this girl," Daniel pointed to her body. "This girl was afraid of this change, this Union." He practically spat the word. "She didn't want this to happen, and yet you did it anyway? How is that any better than the goa'uld?" He shook his head, disgusted.
Neolaía returned the gesture, sans disgust, and tried to explain. "We know this is difficult for you to understand, but in the end the girl accepted this Union as the right thing to do. She was afraid, and we will not disguise the fact that the Union itself is a bit unpleasant. But before she was merged she understood and allowed this to happen." Seeing the skeptical looks of the others, she continued. "We would not lie to you."
"How are we to be certain of your truthfulness?" Teal'c spoke, joining the conversation.
"Have we done anything to cause you to distrust us?" Neolaía countered. SG-1 exchanged looks for a while, realizing that she had not.
"Hold on, 'a bit unpleasant'?" Jack snorted. "I bet I know what that means. How 'unpleasant' was it, exactly?"
After a moment, the young woman spoke. "The pain was severe, but fleeting. We assure you, it did not cause undue harm." She spread her arms as if to say, 'I'm here aren't I?'.
"Of course it didn't cause undue harm, because that girl is dead. She doesn't remember the pain because she…is…dead!" Jack was beginning to lose control. The idea that someone could do that to a child, and feel no guilt was…unbearable.
"Jack." Daniel reached out to rest his hand on the colonel's shoulder, but Jack only brushed it away.
"No, Daniel. I'm not just gonna ignore this." He turned to his friend. "In fact, I can't believe you're not jumping all over her, yourself." He threw up his hands and walked over to the cell door.
"Jack, she's right. We can't possibly understand how being what she is, being Union, is like. Her culture is so unlike ours, the way her people see things is so different, it's impossible to truly see the big picture, here." He tried to get Jack to turn back and look at him, but it didn't work.
"We are grateful for your attempts to understand us. Please, tell us of these 'goa'uld'." The young woman broke the silence, directing her question to Daniel. "We can sense they are like us, having merged with another life-form to bring themselves closer to the Great Union, but they do not acknowledge us as kin. We do not understand."
"But if your people spent time on Earth, before, you must have come in contact with the goa'uld. They ruled our planet for thousands of years." Daniel said in a surprised tone.
"Like we said before, we did send emissaries to the planet you call Earth, and they spent much time there, but only a few returned. They merely said that your world was not yet ready for the next step and would say no more." She pondered for a moment. "Something must have happened to cause them to think they should not speak of these goa'uld. It is not like our people to withhold information from others on the path to the Great Union."
"Perhaps they believed that had they told you of the goa'uld, more of your people would be sent to attempt an alliance, and they did not wish any blood to be shed." Teal'c offered up, receiving a nod from Neolaía.
"In any case, I did have another question for you, Neolaía." Daniel injected.
"When don't you?" Came a mumbled retort from near the cell door. Daniel sent a glare to the back of Jack's head.
"Anyway, what was the name of the girl, and if the amphelos have names, of the plant that merged to create you?" Daniel continued.
This received a furrowed brow as Neolaía stood in thought. Eventually, she shook her head. "We have no memory of this girl's name, and amphelos do not have names, they live collectively." Eyes widening for a moment, she turned her gaze to all of SG-1. "What of our kin? We have not been told their fate, but we fear the worst."
The others were startled by her subject change; Teal'c was the first to recover. "If you are referring to the two men who were with you, we believe we found them in a ditch in the woods surrounding the village and temple."
The young woman slumped, leaning against the wall for support. "It is as we feared." Looking Teal'c in the eye, she said, "Were they separated? Please, tell us they were not separated!"
Confused, Daniel spoke up. "Separated, what do you mean? They were both in the ditch together, side by side, if that's what you were worried about."
"They both had large growths of vines covering their bodies which we discovered to have come out of their skin." Teal'c added to the description.
Neolaía let out a satisfied sigh, and smiled weakly. "They were not separated, that is good. It would have been unbearable to think they had died for nothing."
"What do you mean?" Daniel asked.
"The vines growing out of their bodies were the amphelos that had merged with the human body. This is how they reproduce. When a person who has become Union dies, they are placed out in nature, above ground. The amphelos extend themselves outside the body and grow into a great burial shroud over the body. From this shroud, new amphelos are born. The vines mature and at a future date, become Union with a human. A single Union can bear an average of six new amphelos upon their death." She sighed again. "Our kin have seeded this planet so that one day, these people may also reach the Great Union."
"Not if the goa'uld come out with some nice weed killer, they won't." Jack added, obviously still angry at the woman. Daniel started to say something back. "C'mon, Daniel. These guys sound like parasites to me. Right up the goa'uld's alley."
Through all their talking, the group had failed to hear the Jaffa approaching. Suddenly, there was a group of Jaffa at the cell door, pushing Jack away and opening it. "Coming to let us out, how nice of you." Jack said sarcastically. The Jaffa merely pushed him roughly away.
"You." The leader, Joren, from before said. He pointed at the woman. "My lord demands your presence. Come." When she didn't move, the other Jaffa approached and forcefully grabbed her by the arms and began hauling her out of the room.
"Hey! Give her a break!" Daniel stepped forward, putting his hand on the shoulder of one of the Jaffa holding her. The Jaffa flung his arm up, brushing Daniel's hand off and impacting with his face, making him fall back. Jack and Teal'c rushed over to their fallen friend. "I'm fine, I'm fine!" he gasped, brushing away their ministrations. By the time they had settled down, the Jaffa had already left the room and locked the door. They could hear the sounds of their boots receding back through the complex.
"Well, that was smooth." Jack commented, as he and Teal'c helped Daniel to his feet.
"Jack, I couldn't just let them treat her like that, no matter what my personal feelings are." Daniel brushed invisible particles off his clothes, then gingerly touched his nose, which was bleeding slightly. "I know her lifestyle sounds…strange but we can't just judge her because she's different."
"Oh, no. Never judge. Even if she did sound like a communist traveling minister from hell. Never judge." Jack groused. Daniel only frowned back at him. Teal'c seemed to be pondering over the comment.
They all stood there silently for a few minutes, presumably planning some type of an escape. Just as Jack was settling down against the wall, Daniel decided to speak up, making Jack jump and almost lose his balance. "Did you notice she used the singular personal pronoun in her dreams?"
After regaining his composure, Jack deigned to answer. "Well besides the fact that I have no idea what a singular personal pronoun is, no I didn't notice. Because in case you hadn't noticed, she was speaking a different language!"
"I believe the singular personal pronoun is a word replacing a proper noun or name with words such as 'I' 'me' and 'my'." Teal'c supplied, quite out of the blue.
Frowning in surprise, Daniel glanced over at him. "That's right, Teal'c." Turning back to Jack, he continued. "So, anyway, when she was dreaming she spoke that way, but when she's awake, she uses a plural personal pronoun, such as 'we' 'us' or 'our'." He added for clarification. "Doesn't that make you think that there may actually be a part of the host girl remaining?"
"Neolayer did say it was a memory. I'm sure all her memories didn't convert to hive mind when she changed." Jack said.
"Neolaía, Jack." Daniel instinctively responded. "But dreams also reflect the subconscious, and if her original personality was still buried there, it could sometimes express itself in dreams."
"If you're trying to make me like her, it's not working." Jack observed. Daniel opened his mouth to say something, then just let out a heavy sigh. Getting back to business, Jack started talking again. "Okay, we need a plan."
"A plan for what?" Daniel asked, still gingerly rubbing his nose.
"Think, Daniel. A plan to get out of here!" Jack tried to be patient with his obviously spaced-out friend, but it was difficult.
"Will not the SGC send a search party when we fail to report as scheduled?" Teal'c offered.
"Well, yeah." Jack reluctantly agreed. "But that doesn't mean we just sit here on our horribly sore asses waiting for them to show up. We need to take action!" He seemed to be warming up to his own enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, before any of them could get into the enthusiastic escape-planning groove, a group of Jaffa returned to the cell, ordering them all to their feet. It seemed Belenus wasn't finished with them yet. They were reluctantly led out of the cell, through the winding corridors, and back to the familiar throne room. Upon entering, they saw that Neolaía was slumped over before the gilded throne where the goa'uld sat. She didn't look so good.
Belenus looked up as they entered the room. "Ahhh. Now perhaps some progress can be made." He gestured disdainfully at the crumpled figure before him. "She doesn't seem to want to cooperate, but I'm sure that an enterprising group such as yourselves wouldn't hesitate to give me the information I seek."
"I know you're a bit out of the loop here, but us and the goa'uld don't get along. So no thanks, I think I speak for all of us when I say I'll pass." Jack said defiantly. He was grateful that the Jaffa hadn't pushed them to their knees this time.
The goa'uld frowned, a bit disappointed. "Why would you defend such a being as this? You said yourself that you are enemies of the goa'uld, and yet you are friends with Ninsar?" SG-1 gazed back, a bit confused. "Whatever this creature has told you, she lied. She is just like the goa'uld. Tell me what she has told you! Tell me where she has come from!" Belenus had begun to lose his temper, leaning forwards in his chair.
The team wasn't sure what to do. Belenus had definitely hit a chord. Was he actually acknowledging that Neolaía and her people were evil, maybe even parasitic? Could she have lied to them? Daniel regained his composure first. "Even if we wanted to tell you where she came from, we couldn't. Because she didn't tell us!" He received a jab in the back from a staff weapon for his outburst.
"Aughh! Fine. If you will not tell me, I will find a way to make you talk!" Getting to his feet, Belenus gestured to his Jaffa. "Gather the villagers, prepare the ceremonial square. We are having a burning." With that, he marched out of the room, his robes swishing behind him.
The Jaffa set to work, some leaving to begin preparations, the remainder pulling Neolaía to her feet and herding her and SG-1 out of the temple. None of them knew who was being burned, but either way, it was not good.
Neolaía shook uncontrollably, and as Daniel got a look at her face, he saw that her eyes were wide with fear and shock. He couldn't decide whether to feel sorry for her or happy that she was suffering. Just the fact that there was indecision was enough to make him ashamed.
A/N: Okay, now I'm back in the groove of things, again, the first authors note was written before my internet came back, so if it sounds odd, that's probably why. Hopefully these two chapters had enough amazing revelations to make up for the time you spent waiting for them. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next! Let me know how you liked it!