Sam was playing with the baby dragon. Or maybe, Cassie mused as she watched them, the baby dragon was playing with Sam.
It had returned with Cassie and Jack to the pyramid. Jack had made a token protest at getting horizontal but he had settled on his sleeping bag and stayed relatively still while she had healed him. His bruising was easy to repair and Cassie was pleased to see him roll back onto his feet without the movement causing pain. He had given her a sincere thank-you.
Daniel took advantage of their presence to head over to the far side of the room to study the walls, leaving them to look after Sam.
The dragon had somehow managed to tease the notebook away from Sam and was happily chased after the pencil she kept throwing for it. Sam was apparently enjoying herself and the dragon seemed happy enough so...her eyes went to Jack without thinking.
Jack watched warily as the dragon rolled over on its back and unashamedly let Sam rub its belly. He seemed to sense Cassie's regard and looked over at her, raising a scarred eyebrow in a remarkably scary imitation of Teal'c.
Cassie picked up Sam's discarded notebook. She flipped through it and blinked at the scrawl of numbers. Every page was covered with formulae as though Sam was trying to work something out or trying to hold onto what she could remember.
'Some of it is flight calculations for the 302s.' Jack said with studied casualness, glancing at her from over the rim of his mug. 'There's some astronomy. I made out naquadah generator fuel ratios and Daniel apparently recognised one calculation as part of the proof of the intergalactic bridge.'
'How come she remembers all this but she's...' Cassie struggled for a description.
Jack shrugged. 'Who knows how Carter's brain works?' He motioned with the mug towards Daniel. 'He thinks she held onto the numbers somehow when they attacked, but now she's just trying to make sense of them.'
'And while she's trying to make sense of the numbers, she just ignores everything else including take care of herself?' Cassie clarified.
Jack didn't bother to reply.
Cassie bit her lip and set the notebook aside. 'Do you think she knows? I mean, do you think she understands what's happened to her?'
Jack's lips twisted. 'I hope not.'
She flinched.
Jack sighed heavily. 'If she remembers the numbers, I think there's a good chance deep down she remembers everything, Cassie. But how much she's aware of right now...' He shrugged. 'I don't think she knows otherwise she'd be better.' He tilted his head. 'Maybe.'
Cassie nodded slowly. It made sense; in a Jack O'Neill kind of way.
Jack peered into his mug and set it down. 'I'm going to head out and get some air.' He got to his feet and stretched. He took a couple of steps towards Sam and crouched. The dragon watched Jack as he placed a hand on Sam's arm.
'Carter, come on. Time for a walk.'
The dragon leaped to its feet and hovered anxiously.
Jack stared at it. 'You want to come too?'
It gave a huff and looked over at Cassie.
She felt a rush of hope; it wanted to stay with Sam. Cassie nodded slowly giving it her permission.
'OK, Puff.' Jack said slowly, his eyes narrowing at the interplay between them. 'You can come but you're cleaning up your own mess.' He tucked Sam's hand into the crook of his arm and led her out. The dragon bounded after them.
'We are not calling it Puff,' muttered Cassie under her breath. She rubbed her arms and got to her feet, suddenly feeling at a loss. She missed the company of the baby dragon but she couldn't be too displeased at how it had attached itself to Sam. She considered how its soothing empathy had helped Sam in the night; maybe it was helping her somehow with its playing - bringing Sam some peace from the relentless numbers in her head.
Her eyes caught on a movement at the far end of the room. It was Daniel; he was immersed in his study of the walls. She wandered over and stood just behind the archaeologist as he examined the picture on the wall intently.
'Daniel, what are you doing?' She asked, curious.
Daniel started as though surprised to find him behind her. He briefly looked at her over his shoulder before he turned back to the wall and gestured up at the pictures. 'These mosaics are telling the story of the reign of the Goa'uld Queen who built this pyramid. It's fascinating.' He turned and pointed at the far corner. 'They show how she was exiled by Sokar and banished to the far corners of the galaxy. How she found this planet which was rich in naquadah and discovered the dragons.'
'The dragons are native to the planet?' Cassie asked, her interest rising.
'Yes, and I think there are signs that they were – are – sentient.' Daniel gestured wildly towards the wall. 'According to the history here, the Goa'uld attempted to enslave the dragons as beasts of burden but they attacked. There was a war but the dragons lost and the matriarch, the Dragon Queen, was placed under some kind of mental control by the Goa'uld. A collar of naquadah was placed around her neck.'
He made a motion with his hands as though choking someone. 'Actually, there's a...' he walked along one wall and back to another.
'Here.' He pointed at a brilliantly realised picture of a silver dragon wearing an ornate collar. 'I think that controlling the matriarch enabled the Goa'uld to control all the dragons although it's not clear whether this was because they didn't want their matriarch to be harmed or whether there was a domino effect.' He stopped, pausing for breath.
Cassie examined the walls and pointed. 'This is when the Goa'uld went to Cartegia.'
'Yes.' Daniel's fingers hovered over a line of hieroglyphs. 'It says that she had discovered Cartegia scouting for Sokar but without his dominion over her she decided to claim it for herself.' He nudged his glasses up his nose. 'She brought slaves to mine for her.'
'The Cartegians.' Cassie surmised. She looked around the walls and gestured. 'Is there anything about the Cult here?'
'No,' Daniel said slowly, 'but then the Cult only happened on Cartegia because the Goa'uld abandoned the human women she kept around as spare hosts.'
Something about the way he said it made Cassie pace away anxiously.
'Something's troubling you.' Daniel commented, shoving his hands in his pockets.
Cassie whirled to a halt and looked back at him. 'I think about what Kitana did in trapping in Sam, in trapping us and I know she's...a bad guy - woman - but,' she grimaced, 'I can't help thinking Kitana had a point.'
'Ah.' Daniel said. He waited a moment. 'About what?'
'She said that we were only interested in our own agenda. That we didn't care that her ancestors had been given to the men as chattel, raped and...and married against their will.' Cassie spoke quickly; the words toppling out one on top of the other. 'She said we didn't care that it still happened to the women on Cartegia.'
Daniel's brows rose at the last sentence but despite the pained look in his blue eyes, Cassie could tell he was giving her words serious consideration. 'I can see how she must feel that.' He said eventually.
'But?' prompted Cassie. Her anger flared when he remained silent. 'She was right; we don't care?'
'It's not that we don't care, Cassie, it's just...' Daniel grimaced, 'complicated.'
'So explain it to me.' She demanded.
Daniel gestured for her to join him and they sank down in front of the wall into cross-legged positions.
'Look, we made a lot of assumptions about Cartegia.' Daniel admitted. 'We'd just got past the plague on Earth; just lost the Prometheus...and then the Odyssey made an emergency stop for some repairs when we were aboard one time, and we found Cartegia.'
'You made first contact.' Cassie said. 'Didn't you question them about their society?'
'Enough to establish that while they had a medieval society, there was a justice system and the majority of their laws were fair. Beyond that, it wasn't - isn't - our place to make a judgement about their society.' Daniel said firmly. 'Admittedly, we should have dug deeper and done more research, and then we might have realised about the true origins of the Cartegians and the internal issues they have with the Cult. But we had a war to fight. There just wasn't time.'
'It doesn't make it right.' Cassie muttered.
'No,' agreed Daniel, 'it doesn't.' He sighed and leaned forward. 'And I don't personally agree with the way the Cartegians treat the women in their society. I even discussed the issue with Goy at the new treaty signing. Now, I know about the Cult, I can understand why the men have worked so hard to maintain a patriarchal control but I would prefer they adopted a different approach.' He paused. 'And as an anthropologist, I have to respect that the inequality is part of their society just as the planet Juygu has a matriarchal society which doesn't allow their men to vote or Calli where the women hold the warrior positions and ban men from doing so.'
'If Kitana had come to you and asked for sanctuary though...' Cassie let the question trail away.
Daniel shrugged. 'If she had lodged a complaint regarding the equality of women in her society and a wish to leave...we might have listened. As a Goa'uld sympathesiser though,' his nose wrinkled, 'we might have requested the help of the Tok'ra in finding them a new home in a very remote part of the galaxy without a Stargate.'
Cassie nodded slowly. 'What will happen about Cartegia now?'
'Well, if Jack has his way we'll go back, rip up the treaty and dance on it.' Daniel said with a touch of exasperation. 'But seriously? I can't see the IOA or the SGC wanting to retain Cartegia as an active ally given the danger to SGC personnel now.'
She sighed, propping her elbows on her knees and leaning forward to rest her chin on her clasped hands. 'It's just...I was thinking that if I was on Cartegia I would probably be in the Cult too. I mean, especially since I wouldn't know about the Goa'uld not really being Gods.'
Daniel nodded enthusiastically. 'If I was young, female and living on Categia, I'm sure the Cult would appeal to me too. It is the active feminist movement despite the religious association with the Goa'uld.'
Cassie waved at the walls around them. 'Why did the Goa'uld abandon them anyway?'
'I think the Goa'uld lost control of the Dragon Queen and,' Daniel said, 'when that happened, she lost control of all the dragons. Like I was saying, I think the Dragon Queen and all the other dragons are connected somehow.'
'You mean like telepathically?' Cassie realised.
Daniel nodded, without looking at her; his eyes scanning the walls with its myriad of images again. 'Maybe.'
'I think you're right.'
Her words had his head snapping round again. He looked at her quizzically. 'Really? Why?'
Cassie lifted one shoulder. 'The baby dragon communicates with me empathically.'
Daniel stared at her. 'It...you...' he motioned wildly, 'how?'
Cassie shrugged. 'I don't know, I just...,' she sighed, 'every so often I'll get this wave of emotion from it; comfort if I'm upset or gratitude when I healed it.' She gestured, warming to her subject. 'Last night, I woke up because it had picked up on Sam's nightmare and I could feel her emotions through it but then, it soothed her.'
'Incredible.' Daniel murmured. He crossed his arms over his chest. 'Are you sure? I mean, you have been through a lot in the last few days and...'
'I'm not making this up, Daniel.' Cassie said firmly.
'But when you arrived, you didn't feel anything from the dragon that, uh, snatched you?'
'No,' Cassie allowed, 'but maybe that's because it wasn't attempting to communicate with me.'
'Why haven't any of us felt anything?' Daniel asked.
'Maybe...maybe it's like the healing device. Maybe you need naquadah like it does to feel it.'
'The dragon has naquadah in its blood?' Daniel questioned, blinking.
Cassie nodded. 'Not a lot, just enough that I can feel it when its close. Jack felt it too. He thinks it could be a Goa'uld.'
'Unlikely.' Daniel frowned. 'If naquadah is part of the equation,' he mused out loud, 'that could explain why the dragons we encountered focused on Sam. She has the most naquadah in her blood and she's female. They probably assumed Sam was the leader.'
'But if they tried communicating with her telepathically, she wouldn't have been prepared for it,' Cassie theorised, 'it might have felt like they were screaming at her.'
'And it caused a psychic overload.' Daniel frowned. 'That makes sense.'
'Do you think they'll help us with Sam?' Cassie asked, her mind leaping ahead. If the dragons could repair the psychic damage they had caused...
Daniel shrugged. 'I don't know. I mean, it's possible if they knew what had happened that they might be able to help her but we would have to have some way of communicating with them, and it's possible that they might communicate just empathically like...' he waved towards her.
'I think that's because he's a baby.' Cassie said.
As if he knew they were discussing him, the dragon walked back into the room, flopping down beside her with a growly oomph. She absently patted its head.
'We can't be sure.' Daniel said, looking at the dragon with renewed interest.
'Can't be sure about what?' Jack questioned as he ushered Sam back into the room. He set her down by the smouldering brazier and handed her a note book. She happily began scribbling.
Daniel exchanged a cautious look with Cassie as they got to their feet as Jack approached them.
She folded her arms firmly over her chest. 'I think Daniel's right.'
Jack placed his hands on his hips. 'About?'
'About the dragons trying to communicate with Sam.' Cassie held up her hand as Jack's brow lowered ominously. 'Just listen before you freak out.'
'I do not freak out.' Jack protested.
Daniel looked at him in disbelief.
Jack waved a hand. 'Just tell me what you've got.'
They went back through their findings and thoughts. Jack listened intently. Eventually they stumbled to a finish.
Jack rocked back on his heels. 'There are a couple of flaws in your theory.'
Daniel frowned. 'Such as?'
'Well, for a start, I have naquadah.' Jack pointed out. 'Yet the dragons didn't try to communicate with me.'
'Because you're a man.' Daniel rejoined. 'They're matriarchal; they assumed Sam was our leader. If anything they probably thought you were her consort.'
Cassie had to look away to prevent herself from smiling.
'But when she collapsed...' Jack argued.
'You started shooting.' Daniel pointed out. 'At which point they left. It probably explains why the other dragon didn't try talking with Cassie either.'
'OK,' Jack conceded, 'but it doesn't change the fact that I haven't felt anything from Puff.'
'Puff?' Daniel's brow creased in confusion.
Jack pointed at the baby dragon.
'We're calling him Puff?' Daniel checked.
'No, we're not.' Cassie said firmly.
'Whatever we're calling him, it – whatever,' Jack made an impatient gesture, 'I haven't felt anything from it.'
Cassie looked at him bemused.
'Actually, that might be another reason.' Daniel said thoughtfully. 'We know Cassie's DNA, and the DNA of her people, was manipulated by Nirrti. It's entirely possible that she's slightly more advanced than us genetically. She might have latent telepathic abilities.'
Jack raised his eyebrows.
'So you think it's the combination of my advanced physiology and the naquadah?' Cassie murmured. 'I just haven't had my brain scrambled like Sam because of what Nirrti did to me?' Her disgust edged her words.
Daniel lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. 'I don't know but it's possible. After all, if we assume...'
Jack lifted a finger effectively cutting off Daniel as though he had asked out loud for him to shut up. 'How does this help Carter?'
'Maybe if we could find some way of communicating with the dragons, they would be able to fix the damage they caused.' Cassie suggested.
'So you're suggesting we go in search of them and ask them to help?' Jack checked.
Cassie winced at the incredulous scepticism in his tone. 'Maybe?'
Jack looked at Daniel.
'It's got to be worth a try.' Daniel said quietly.
Jack looked towards Sam. She was rocking back and forth; writing away in the ubiquitous note book. Cassie saw Jack's concern glimmer out of the dark depths of his eyes for a brief moment before he slammed his mask back in place.
'Yeah.' Jack turned back to them. 'It's worth a try.'
