Chapter 5

Ahntas was certain that he was a dead Ghenta. After the Stargate closed, he was escorted by Tau'ri with weapons into a room and left there. It was very plain and cramped, and he had a hard time feeling comfortable in such a small space. A Tau'ri might have been comfortable, but a Ghenta had no hope of enjoying a prolonged period in that room.

Even more worrisome were the expressions on everyone's faces when they looked at him. After working so closely with Dannul and the other Tau'ri for the past several weeks he had become quite adept at reading human facial expressions and every face he saw did not look happy to see him. For the first time in his life, Ahntas fully understood the word "alien." Here, he was an alien, and not considered a life form equal to the Tau'ri. He was an outsider, and he could tell that he was not trusted.

His largest worry was Dannul. He had become quite attached to the little Tau'ri and felt responsible for his well-being. What had happened to make him like that? The only cause he could think of was their old friend, Korh. Korh was a researcher for the government of Ghenta, and while good at his job, he was unscrupulous in many ways. Often, if he felt he should do something, then he did it without a thought to the consequences or what effect it would have. The only results he focused on were the results he wanted (and those that would reflect well on him), and Ahntas had a strong suspicion that Korh had carried out an experiment that Tehere had vetoed the day before.

Korh had wanted to learn about the way the Tau'ri mated and reproduced, but Tehere had told him that he was not going to carry out such an experiment since they did not know what effects it would have on the Tau'ri. Unfortunately, it appeared that Korh had carried out the experiment after all and that he'd chosen Dannul to perform it on.

How was he going to explain to the Tau'ri just what had happened? The Ghenta had the technology to simulate a lover and measure the subject's reactions (the technology was used in examining Ghenta sexual response and analyzing health effects), but what effect would that technology have on an alien race? Remembering Dannul's catatonic condition, Ahntas felt it was safe to assume that it was clearly a negative response. Even worse, it appeared to be detrimental. How could he explain to them and Dannul that there was no person with him the night before but just a mental construct created by one very unethical scientist who had "peeked" into Dannul's brain? What was even worse, how could he make Dannul understand that his body had responded to something that had been fed into his mind, making him think it was real?

Ahntas, you are in the worst trouble of your life.

Space

"How are you feeling, Daniel?" Dr. Frasier asked, standing by his bed. "Do you feel like talking a little bit?"

Daniel shook his head.

"I meant just talking to me, telling me how you're feeling, that sort of thing," she persisted. "I know you don't want to talk about what happened to you yet."

"Yet," Daniel croaked. "You make it sound so inevitable. If I talk about it, then I'll have to think about it, and I'm not sure I can stand that."

"Well, I'm no psychiatrist, but I think that talking about it might make you feel better. You know you can talk to me, don't you?"

Daniel nodded. "I know. I just…don't want to. Not right now, and not to anyone. You understand?" he added hopefully, praying she wouldn't insist.

She nodded. "Well, if you need a listening ear, I'm right here, and if I happen not to be here, I can be here very shortly. Would you like anything to eat or drink? Colonel O'Neill told me that you guys left the planet before breakfast this morning, and it's past lunchtime now."

Daniel shook his head. "No, thanks. I don't think I could eat."

"Well, how about drinking? You need to keep your fluid levels up."

This time, Daniel nodded. "Just something…cool, I guess."

"All right, I'll have the commissary send something up for you. In the meantime, try to rest a little. Go to sleep if you want, and I'll be back to check on you later."

Daniel nodded, and after giving a nurse orders to keep an eye on him, Dr. Frasier headed to General Hammond's office. Hammond had ordered her to keep him apprised of Daniel's condition and to inform him of anything that changed. Well, something had. Daniel had finally acknowledged the people around him and had begun talking again. Those were changes, and his condition was improving. Slowly, yes, but improving.

"Any idea of what happened exactly?" she heard Hammond saying as she reached the door.

"Sure, I can tell what happened," O'Neill answered. "Somehow Daniel was…raped by…something."

"That's pretty vague, Colonel," Hammond pointed out.

"Well, it's a vague situation," O'Neill muttered. "We didn't exactly stick around to ask questions, sir. We were thinking about Daniel's well-being, and we figured that we had to get him out of there. He was afraid of it happening again."

"I'm not saying that you didn't do the right thing," Hammond told them as Frasier stood at the open door. She could see Teal'c and Major Carter sitting very quietly beside Jack, listening. "I'm just saying I wish we had more information about what happened. That's all." He spotted Dr. Frasier and motioned her into the office. "Dr. Frasier. How is Dr. Jackson?"

"Is he talking yet?" Jack demanded.

"Well, his condition is improving, and he has spoken to me, but he refuses to talk about what happened to him since talking about it means he will have to think about it," she said, entering the office and sitting down in the first available chair. "He doesn't want to eat, but I've convinced him to drink something. What I'm most worried about--and it goes without saying--is his mental well-being. Physically, he's fine. Whatever it was that happened to him has had a profound effect on him, and the fact that he's refusing to talk about it is not a positive sign. Closing all of that emotion away is asking for trouble. That's something every pre-med student learns in undergrad psych courses. He needs to talk about what happened and come to terms with it. Avoiding it…well, it's only going to cause him problems. He may be thinking about it right now, dwelling on what happened, and we can't help him work through it because he won't talk about it to us."

"So I should put in a call to Dr. Mackenzie," Hammond said, still looking concerned.

"No, that'll just make him think that we think he's crazy!" Jack protested. "Right now, he's probably feeling pretty worthless, and that'll just make him certain he's worthless!"

Teal'c looked at him. "Explain, O'Neill."

"Wait, I understand," Sam jumped in. "He's probably wondering why he didn't try to stop what was happening or fight against it or resist in some way, so he may have drawn the conclusion that he's weak. Calling in Dr. Mackenzie might confirm to him that he's weak. I mean, why call in Dr. Mackenzie if he weren't weak somehow?"

"I understand," Teal'c said, looking thoughtful. "But we all know how strong Daniel Jackson is. Daniel Jackson has done many things laudable in a warrior, let alone a scholar, and he knows all he has done. Why should he think he is weak?"

"Well, because of what happened," Sam explained. "Daniel may be feeling that he's weak for allowing what happened to happen."

"It was not his fault," Teal'c pointed out.

"He may believe it is," Sam persisted. "Sometimes, Tau'ri believe that bad things happen to them because they've done something to make them happen or because they did nothing to prevent them."

Teal'c nodded. "The same views occur on Chulak also. I see."

"Well, the main question now is, what do we do to help?" General Hammond asked. "Do we call in Dr. Mackenzie? None of us are really counselors, and we're certainly not trained for dealing with this sort of trauma."

Janet looked very thoughtful. "What if we had Dr. Mackenzie and someone else work with Daniel? Someone very close to him? Someone he trusts?"

Everyone looked at Jack, and he quickly realized what they were thinking. "I'm all for it," he said. "Right now I'll do anything to help Daniel feel better, but what if we went one step further?"

"I don't understand your meaning, Colonel," General Hammond said as patiently as he could.

"Well, Daniel's been pretty disconnected for a lot of his life," Jack explained. "Lost his parents, that whole thing, but he had a family on Abydos. Now that Skarra's back there with Kasuf, he's got two family members there: a brother and a dad. What if we brought them here to see him? Remind him that he doesn't have to go through this alone? You know, we'll stand with him, but there are others out there who care about him, too. What do you think?"

"I think you and Major Carter have a go for a mission to Abydos," was all that General Hammond said. "We'll send a message and as soon as we get a response, you'll go and see Kasuf and Skarra. Good idea, Colonel. In the meantime, I'll get a hold of Dr. Mackenzie and Teal'c and I will talk to this Ahntas who came back with you. Maybe we'll learn something. Doctor, please keep an eye on Dr. Jackson. Dismissed, everyone."

With something to do, everyone felt a bit better about the situation, but unspoken among all of them were worries about Daniel and what ramifications Ahntas' presence would have on the SGC.

Space

O'Neill always liked going to Abydos. After Sha're's death and Skarra's return home, the SGC had given Kasuf a GDO just in case they needed to come through the Stargate, and the SGC had set up an early warning system designed to let the Abydonians know when the gate was in use. They fired up the gate to let the Abydonians know they were coming, shut it down, and waited. Then, when they were sure that someone had had time to get to the gate, they fired it back up and Jack and Sam headed through.

Once they'd reached the other side, they saw the two people they were hoping to meet: Kasuf and Skarra.

"O'Neill!" Skarra said, his face breaking into a grin. "It is good to see you!"

"Good to see you, Skarra," O'Neill told him, pulling the younger man into a one-armed hug. "How's life?"

"I am to be married!" Skarra told him, his smile growing. "Father found for me a bride!"

"Well, congratulations! Kasuf, good to see you. Congratulations!" Sam told him, shaking his hand. She had to fight down a laugh once she saw Jack's dumbstruck face. Oh, of all the times to need a camera!

"It is a joy to us, Major Carter," Kasuf said, giving a little bow and smiling. "Why is Daniel not with you? We had hoped to see him."

"Honestly, Daniel's back on Tau'ri, and he's not doing so well," Jack said, allowing his worry for his friend to show. "We were exploring a planet and something happened to him."

"What has happened?" Skarra and Kasuf said together, clearly as worried as Jack was.

"A strange kind of demon forced him to lie with her," Sam explained, using some of Daniel's terms. "He is very hurt in spirit, but I think the strongest hurt is that it wore your daughter's face while it took him."

Kasuf looked horrified and gasped a few words in Abydonian. "Oh, we must go to him immediately! Now!"

"We were hoping you'd say something like that," Jack said. "Dial us home, Carter."

"Gladly, sir," she said, dialling the DHD and the GDO. "We'll be home in no time."

Space

When a Tau'ri and Tilk came to see him, Ahntas felt as if he were watching his own death approaching. The Tau'ri looked very grim, and Tilk looked even grimmer.

"Shia, Ahntas," Tilk said, stepping forward. "Sheh General Hammond. General Hammond tiera por avet Ahntas."

"Ahntas por avet General Hammond," Ahntas said, shifting colors.

"Teal'c, what just happened to him?" Hammond asked, surprised.

"The Ghenta shift colors when their emotion changes. When we entered, he was nervous and he is still nervous now, but he is somewhat hopeful as well."

"Well, good, let's hope he cooperates then," General Hammond said, turning to Ahntas. "Tell us what happened to Dr. Jackson."

Teal'c translated, and Ahntas shifted colors so much that for a moment it looked as if he were a gigantic tie-dye accident, but he nodded and began to speak. When he was finished speaking, Hammond turned to Teal'c, waiting for an explanation.

"He says that a scientist the government had sent to check on their progress with us performed an experiment upon Daniel Jackson without their knowledge or consent, and his present condition is a result of that experiment."

"Go on," Hammond prompted when Teal'c stopped.

"He also said that this scientist, Korh, is very unscrupulous. He was trying to..." Teal'c paused to search for words, and said some Ghenta words. Ahntas replied, nodding, and Teal'c continued. "He was interested in how Tau'ri mate and reproduce. There is a device used by Ghenta doctors that simulates the act of love within a patient's mind, even down to creating physical sensations. He says that since the machine is a Ghenta device, it may have been too difficult for Daniel Jackson to undergo its use."

"That's a very convenient explanation," Hammond pointed out. "How do we know he's telling the truth?"

Teal'c spoke a few words and glared at Ahntas, who shifted colors and said something. "He says he speaks the truth, General Hammond."

"Mm-hmm," General Hammond muttered, wondering what to do now.

"Dannul? Dannul ban?"

"He wishes to know how Daniel Jackson is," Teal'c translated. "What should I tell him?"

"Tell him that he's resting," Hammond said. "And then tell him that we'll be back to talk to him later."

Teal'c gave a small bow and complied, following General Hammond out as he left. When they reached the elevator, Hammond turned to ask Teal'c what he thought, but Teal'c beat him to it.

"Of all of them, Ahntas is the most honest, General," Teal'c said, gazing off into space. "He is also the most...likeable. The most personable. It was very clear to me while on Ghenta that he cared a good deal for Daniel Jackson, and it is clear to me now that he is distressed that harm has come to him. I do not think he is lying."

"I understand, Teal'c, but there has been harm done to one of our people," General Hammond told him. "We have to learn all we can. What do you think? Should we send another team to Ghenta?"

"We were treated kindly," Teal'c said as the elevator opened and they stepped inside. "I do not think any harm will come to anyone who goes there."

"Except for what happened to Doctor Jackson," General Hammond said. "And we can't guarantee that it won't happen to someone else." Hammond paused, shaking his head. "I think that for the time being we'll wait and see what happens. That's all we can really do."

As they stepped out of the elevator, sirens went off, and they arrived in the gate room just in time to see O'Neill and Carter arrive with Kasuf and Skarra.

"Welcome back to Tau'ri, Kasuf, Skarra," General Hammond said, giving a smile to both of them. "Colonel, Major, glad you were so quick."

"A pleasure to see you, General, Teal'c," Kasuf said, bowing. "O'Neill and Carter have explained what has happened. Where is our good son?"

"Doctor Jackson is in the infirmary," General Hammond said, leading the way. "Would you like to see him now?"

"Yes," Skarra said. "Daniel will feel better once we speak with him. I know this."

"I hope you're right, Skarra," O'Neill told him. "Let's go, folks."

Together, they headed to the infirmary.