CHAPTER SEVEN
His mind trying to figure out a way that he was going to get out of this and help his team, Daniel lifted his gaze to the tall weeds beside him. Would they be tall enough to hide him? There really was only one way to find out.
Slowly, Daniel got to his feet, being careful to remain crouched low. With his knees flexed and his back bent over at almost a right angle to the rest of his body, he began to move forward. Every step was a struggle as he fought to keep his profile as low as possible, yet also tread only on the weather-worn and broken stones of the road. Within minutes, his back felt like it was on fire, the muscles screaming at him to straighten up. He almost lost his balance several times while stepping over patches of grass. Every time he looked ahead to the spot in the road where he would no longer be in the Jaffas' eyesight, it barely seemed to be any closer. Would he even make it there before the Jaffa caught up to him?
At right around the time that Daniel became positive that he wasn't going to make it, he did. Slowly, he straightened, gasping at the pain that flared hotly through his back, a few vertebrae popping loudly. He could foresee a trip to a chiropractor in his near future.
Giving himself no time to recover, Daniel took off at a slow trot, still having to be careful where he stepped. Time was of the essence now. The Jaffa would have gained a lot on him, and if he didn't make it to the ruins soon, they'd reach a point in the road where they could see him.
At last, he reached the spot on the road closest to the ruins. He studied the ground between him and the structure. Muddy from the rain, it would show his footprints like a neon sign with big red letters saying, "He went this way!"
Daniel looked further up the road. If the ruins were the reason why the Jaffa were coming this way, they would go no further than this. They might not see his footprints if he approached the ruins from a few yards further up the road.
Deciding that it was the only thing he could do, Daniel continued up the road another six yards. He then stopped and took off his shoes. In his stocking feet, he ventured into the weeds, trying to disturb them as little as possible. He also tried to ignore the feeling of his wet and muddy socks. At last, he made it to the paved area around the ruins. He put his boots back on and headed for the entrance, breathing a sigh of relief. He was home-free now. All he had to do was jump forward in time to the same day that SG-1 and Jacob left on the mission and get Hammond to send troops back to a point in time shortly before Jack and the others would be arriving back on Estrania. They could deal with any Jaffa in the city and at the gate, clearing the way for Jacob and Daniel's team.
Reaching the entrance of the ruins, Daniel stepped inside, the remote in his hand. He pressed the button, and the door opened. As he took another step, he heard a sound off to the right. He turned to see what had made it.
"Oh, shit," he gasped.
"All I can say is that Daniel better not have done what I told him not to do and gone into one of those buildings," Jack said as they approached the Stargate.
"He said that he wouldn't, sir," Sam responded. "He wouldn't break a promise unless he had no choice."
"Ah, but, now that I think about it, he didn't actually promise."
"Even so, sir, I still think that he'd do what he agreed to."
Sam stopped before the DHD and dialed the address for Estrania, and the four of them strode through the gate. They came out the other side to the shocking sight of Daniel's camp in shambles, everything strewn about on the ground. There was no sign of the archeologist.
"Crap. This isn't good," Jack said, his stomach tightening.
Senses on alert and weapons raised, they moved forward, spreading out a bit.
"Someone really tore this place apart," Sam said, terribly worried about what might have happened to Daniel.
"O'Neill." The others turned to Teal'c, who was staring down at the ground. "There is a footprint here in the mud."
"Daniel's?" Jack asked.
"No. It belongs to a Jaffa."
Sam gasped. "Oh, no."
The tightness in Jack's stomach was now a hard knot. Jaffa had come through the gate, and Daniel had no weapons except his sidearm and no one to help him.
"Dammit, my instincts were telling me that we shouldn't have left him here alone," he said. "I should have listened to them."
"This footprint was made some time ago," Teal'c said, deeply concerned for the safety of his friend, "perhaps two days."
"Which means that, if they got Daniel, they're probably long gone." Jack really did not want to think about what might have happened to his best friend.
"He might have managed to escape," Sam said hopefully. "He knows this city really well. He might have found a hiding place."
"Then where is he? If the Jaffa were still here, there would be some guarding the gate."
Though she didn't want to admit it, he was right. If Daniel had avoided getting caught, he'd be here waiting for them.
Jack reached for his radio, but then decided against trying to contact Daniel. If some of the Jaffa were still here, alerting them to Daniel's location might not be a good idea.
"We need to get back to our time," Jacob said.
Jack turned and glared at him. "Right now, Jacob, I'm a little more concerned about Daniel than in getting that thing back to the SGC."
"I'm worried, too, Jack. I didn't say that because I want to get the matrix module and blood sample back to the SGC. If we go back to our time, we might be able to find out what happened to Daniel. If he was taken captive, the news would eventually reach Stargate Command, and the Tok'ra might know something as well."
Sam nodded. "I agree that's what we need to do, but I have to wonder how this has affected the timeline. There's no telling how news of the capture of a flesh and blood Daniel might have impacted history."
"Well, I guess we'll find out when we get there," Jack responded. "Let's leave everything here that we don't need so that we can move faster."
They left the cots and other unneeded items and headed out.
"If Daniel Jackson was captured and taken to a Goa'uld, they may now know about the time travel device," Teal'c stated.
"Daniel's strong, T," Jack said. "It would take a hell of a lot to break him."
"Indeed, O'Neill. However, there are ways other than torture for a Goa'uld to obtain knowledge."
"You mean making him a host," Jacob said.
Jack shook his head. "Don't say that. Don't even think it."
"I guess we'll know when we attempt to go back home," Sam said, almost feeling sick with worry.
"How so?"
"If a Goa'uld found out about the device, they'd take it, which would make it impossible for us to go forward in time any further than when they took it. If we manage to get all the way to the correct time, that means they couldn't have found out about the device." She had a sudden, horrible thought. "Oh, God."
Everyone else turned to her.
"What is it, Sam?" her father asked.
"In Daniel's report about the things that happened while he was back in time, he said that a Goa'uld named Enlil came to Estrania, wanting Egeria to spawn for him. He spotted Daniel and decided that he wanted him for his new host. Daniel said that he was planning on killing himself to avoid being taken as a host because he couldn't let the Goa'uld find out about Earth and the time device."
"You are thinking that Daniel Jackson would take his own life if he believed that there was no other way to avoid capture," Teal'c said grimly.
Everyone fell silent, thinking about the possibility that Daniel's dead body might be lying somewhere amidst these ruins.
"If that . . . happened, we could undo it, couldn't we?" Jack asked. "We could just go back in time to three days ago. Then we'd be here to help him out."
Sam shook her head. "I'm afraid not, sir. The time device wouldn't allow it. According to what Daniel pieced together from the writing, the device keeps a record for each traveler and will not allow anyone to overlap their own trip, meaning that because we've already come back to this time, we couldn't come back again."
"Then we'll send another team back!" Jack almost yelled, starting to feel a little desperate.
Sam's head now nodded. "That might work, sir."
No one said anything more, every one of them thinking about what might have happened to Daniel.
'This isn't fair,' Sam was thinking. 'We couldn't have saved Egeria only to lose Daniel. He's supposed to be here, eagerly waiting for her consciousness to be put in Ria's body. Now, he might never get the chance to see her.'
They'd made it about halfway to the edge of the city when they caught a flash of movement up ahead. Quickly, they headed for cover. Crouched behind the remains of a wall, they waited, each of them hoping that it was Daniel they'd see. Instead, they were surprised when SG-5 and half of SG-11 came into view.
Breaking cover, SG-1 and Jacob stepped forward.
"Sir," greeted Major Harper, the leader of SG-5. "It's good to see you, Colonel. We didn't know if the Jaffa were gone."
"How did you know about the Jaffa?" Sam asked.
"Doctor Jackson told us."
"Daniel's okay?" Jack and Sam asked at the same time.
"Yes, sir, ma'am."
"Where is he?" Jack asked.
"Back at the SGC. He managed to make it to the time device and returned to our time. He told us about the situation here. We were supposed to be at the gate when you got here, but I guess we were off in our timing."
"Why didn't Daniel come through with you?" Sam questioned.
"Because he was injured, ma'am."
"You said he was okay!" Jack yelled.
"It isn't serious, sir. He sprained his wrist."
"How did he sprain. . . . Never mind. I'll ask him myself."
The leader of SG-11 looked down at the case Jacob was carrying. "How did the mission go, Colonel?"
"Beautifully. Went off without a hitch. Come on. Let's get the stuff we left at the gate and get out of here."
As they began to walk, the thought went through Jack's mind that he should have known that, if there was going to be trouble on this mission, it would be Daniel who'd get into it.
Daniel stood in the control room, impatiently waiting and worrying about his teammates.
Right after arriving back in the present and telling Hammond about the Jaffa, Daniel suddenly realized something. If his teammates had run afoul of the Jaffa on Estrania and come out the losers, it would be recorded in history. The SGC would already know, for the capture or killing of three members of SG-1 would be pretty big news. Not only that but it would also be pretty confusing news to the earlier version of Jack, Sam and Teal'c and would probably have radically altered the course events. After thinking about it for just a few seconds, Daniel started getting a headache from the confusing tangle of paradoxes.
However, just because history seemed to indicate that Jacob and his teammates weren't captured or killed, that didn't mean that they'd escape unharmed. Daniel really wished that he could have gone with SG-5 and 11, but Janet had flatly refused to allow it, pointing out that, with his sprained wrist, he wouldn't be able to properly hold a firearm.
The archeologist stared at the bandages around his right wrist. All things considered, he was extremely lucky that he got off the planet with only a minor injury, but he was too busy thinking about what injuries his teammates might suffer if the Jaffa were still there when they arrived. Would the two teams Hammond sent be enough? They had been the only ones available, so there hadn't really been an option to send more, even if three teams would have fit inside the circle. Again, Daniel cursed the injury that had kept him from going along. Yes, he would have been only one more person, but he'd feel a whole lot better if he was there rather than here.
The sound of the Stargate beginning to dial had Daniel's head jerking up. A moment later, he heard footsteps and looked over to see Hammond coming down the stairs from his office. The general came up to stand beside him.
As the wormhole was established, the eyes of both men went to Sergeant Harriman.
"Receiving IDC, sir," he said. Then he smiled. "It's SG-1."
Daniel was immediately heading for the stairs to the gate room. He entered the room just as the FRED came rolling through, SG-5 right behind it, followed by SG-11, then, at last, his teammates and Jacob. By that time he'd been joined by General Hammond.
"Welcome back, SG-1," the general greeted.
"Thank you, sir," Jack responded. He turned to the fourth member of his team. "Good to see you, Daniel," Jack said.
"We were really worried about you when we came through and saw the condition of the camp," Sam told him.
Daniel frowned. "SG-5 and 11 weren't there yet?"
"No, they ended up running a little late," Jack replied. "I guess whoever was doing the thinking didn't quite manage to think the right time."
"Then I guess the Jaffa were gone."
"Yep. Nary a one around to cause trouble. You were the one who got to have all the fun."
"Yes. Lucky me."
Jack pointed at the archeologist's bandaged wrist. "So, care to tell us how you got that?"
"It's not important right now. It can wait till later." Daniel's gaze fell upon the case sitting on the FRED. "You got it?"
Jacob smiled. "We got it."
"No problems at all," Jack said.
"That's good to hear," Hammond said. "Okay, go take care of your post-mission checkups. We'll debrief in one hour."
As Sam, Jack and Teal'c got their checkups, Daniel joined Jacob in the room in which the cryogenic chambers had been set up, stopping briefly to hand over Egeria's blood sample to Janet, who would properly store it.
The archeologist's gaze went first to Patricia, who looked so small inside her chamber, then to Ria, the occupant of the second one.
"How are they doing?" he asked Doctor Bill Lee.
"Good. There was no problem transferring Patricia's consciousness mind into the active matrix module, and the vital signs of both her and Ria have been holding steady." He looked down at the case Jacob had set on the floor. "So, you got it. This is going to be exciting. Transferring the entire knowledge of a Goa'uld queen into a human brain is going to be interesting."
Daniel frowned. "Do you think there will be a problem? I mean, it's not going to be anything like what happened when Jack got the Ancient download, is it?"
Bill shook his hand. "No, no. The amount of data we're talking about is a mere fraction of the amount that was downloaded into Colonel O'Neill. A human brain shouldn't have any trouble at all holding all of Egeria's memories and knowledge. We should go easy, though. We'll want to give Ria's brain a chance to absorb all the data. I'm going to recommend that we do the transfer at a slower rate than normal, just to be on the safe side, you understand."
Jacob nodded. "When a Tok'ra blends with a host, they don't share all their memories at once. It would be too overwhelming to the host. They do it bit by bit, letting the person get accustomed to all the new stuff."
"Exactly."
"Has Ellan arrived yet?"
"I have," replied a voice from the entrance. The others turned to see a tall, thin Tok'ra enter the room. The scientist came forward, his eyes focused upon the case. He knelt before it and laid a hand upon it almost reverently. He then looked up at Jacob. "Did you tell our queen that she would live on?"
Jacob shook his head. "I couldn't. We had to make sure that she didn't say or do anything differently from what she did in the previous version of history."
Ellan got to his feet. "Of course. When will the transfer take place?"
"Once Doctor Fraiser and my daughter can be here, which I assume will be after the mission debriefing."
Since the mission to get Egeria's consciousness was accomplished without any problems, it didn't take very long to debrief. Then, however, came the debriefing for Daniel's little adventure. He had already briefly explained what happened to Hammond, but his teammates were dying to know.
"Fortunately, I wasn't at camp when the Jaffa came through," he said. "When I saw a big storm approaching, I decided to take shelter under the roof of one of the buildings instead of sitting it out inside my tent."
"So, you did go inside one of them," Jack said. "I just knew you would."
Daniel stared at him. "No, Jack. I told you that I wouldn't do that. I just sat on what you'd probably call the porch. It rained for several hours. When it finally stopped, I decided to go check on the camp."
He went on to recall what happened after that up to the point where the six Jaffa began heading toward Daniel's position.
"It is likely that the Jaffa were going to examine the Furling ruins," Teal'c stated.
"Yeah, that's what I figured."
"So, what did you do?" Sam asked.
"It had suddenly occurred to me that, if the Jaffa were still there when you guys got back, you'd be in big trouble. That's when I knew that I absolutely had to get to the time device so that I could come back to this time and get help sent through to you. I knew that if I could make it just a couple hundred yards further up the road, the Jaffa wouldn't be able to see me anymore. The problem was that, where I was at that point, I knew that I'd very likely be spotted if I started walking again. The weeds on the side of the road were quite high, so I crouched down as low as I could and managed to make it to where I'd be out of sight. It took a while, and my back was killing me, but I made it. Then I covered the rest of the distance as fast as I could. Unfortunately, when I went inside the Furling ruins, I discovered that I wasn't alone in there."
Jack sat up straight. "You mean a Jaffa got there ahead of you?"
"Uhhh, nooo, it . . . wasn't a Jaffa."
"Then what was it, Daniel?"
"I have no idea. Some kind of animal, an extremely large carnivorous animal, or at least I'm guessing it was carnivorous based upon the size of its teeth and claws."
"Oh, boy," Sam said.
"I don't know who was more surprised, it or me." Daniel paused. "I'd say me. Once it got over its surprise, I guess it decided that I looked like I might be a good meal and came at me. I couldn't shoot it because my shot would be heard by the Jaffa, so I took the only other sensible course of action and ran like hell. I'd already opened the door to the chamber with the remote, so that's where I headed. I'd almost made it when the thing must have caught the leg of my pants with its claws. I went sprawling, which is how I got this." He held up his bandaged wrist. "Thankfully, I fell right into the chamber. I didn't waste any time hitting the button on the remote. I guess the thing saw the door coming at it and jumped back."
Jack shook his head. "Only you, Daniel, would run into both a small army of Jaffa and an alien carnivorous wild beast on the same mission."
"Yeah, just lucky, I guess. Anyway, I locked down the door so that it wouldn't open after I went forward in time. Once I got to this time, I made it back to the gate and came home. I wanted to go back with SG-5 and 11, but Janet wouldn't let me, though I did have to go to Estrania with them to show them how to use the device."
Jack turned to Hammond. "Sir, I'm assuming that, given what happened, you didn't let Daniel take that last trip back to the gate by himself."
"No, I didn't, Colonel. There weren't any other teams available, so I sent a couple of SFs for company." The general looked about at everyone. "If there's nothing else, you are all dismissed. Major Carter, I do believe that they are waiting for you at the cryogenic chambers."
Sam and all three of her teammates went up to Level 21 and to the room where the cryogenic capsules were. Already there were Jacob, Janet, Bill Lee and Ellan, one of the scientists who'd helped adapt the technology to work with a symbiote.
"We have begun the process of reconnecting the matrix module to the empty capsule," Ellan said.
Sam stepped forward and helped with the rest of the process.
"Okay, now comes the dangerous part," she said once they were finished.
"Dangerous part?" Jack inquired.
"Taking Ria's body out of the other capsule," Janet replied. "Normally, a sleeper's body is kept in cryogenic suspension until their consciousness has been restored. The problem is that to remove someone from a capsule without their consciousness present has some risks. It's never been done before. Though the autonomic nervous system should keep her heart, lungs and other bodily functions working, I can't predict what kind of reaction there might be. Her brain will be a completely blank slate, more so than even a baby in the womb. We are going to have to get her into the other capsule as quickly as possible."
Sam nodded. "We're ready when you are, Janet."
Daniel, Jack and Teal'c stood back out of the way as the others got to work on the process of moving Ria's body. Janet watched the life sign readings like a hawk as the woman was brought out of cryogenic suspension. The second it was complete, Ellan and Jacob carefully lifted her body out of the capsule and put it in the other one. Then the process was reversed, and she was returned to cryogenic suspension.
"All right. That went well," Janet said approvingly. She checked the readings. "She seems to be holding steady. I think we're ready for the transfer."
Upon hearing that, Daniel couldn't keep himself from taking a step forward. He never took his eyes off the proceedings as Egeria's consciousness was slowly downloaded into Ria's brain. As Bill called out the rate of progress, Daniel's heart rate climbed, his body growing tense. A part of him couldn't believe that this was actually happening, that, very soon, he'd be reunited with Egeria.
After what seemed like forever, the transfer was complete, and the woman who was now Egeria was revived from cryogenic suspension. She was laid on a gurney and wheeled to one of the private infirmary rooms.
"Shouldn't she be waking up?" Jack asked.
Janet shook her head. "This was to be expected. If it was Ria's own consciousness that had been put back in her brain, yes, she would wake up almost immediately, but her brain needs to adjust to not only having a new consciousness in it but one with vastly more knowledge and memories. It might be an hour or two before she awakens. We'll keep monitoring her vitals, and I'll have a nurse stay in the room."
"I'll stay," Daniel immediately said.
Janet turned to him and saw how his eyes remained on Egeria.
"Okay. Then I guess it'll be Daniel who keeps her company. I will contact everyone the moment she wakes up."
Everyone except Daniel left the room, Jack being the last to leave. He looked back and watched as Daniel went up to the bed and took Egeria's hand in his. Wondering what all this might mean for his team, the grey-haired man then turned and left.
Unfamiliar sounds gradually filtered into Egeria's consciousness. Then came the feeling of lying on a soft surface. A bright light was shining through her eyelids.
Slowly, Egeria's eyes blinked open. Through blurry vision, she could make out the shape of a face above hers. A familiar, gentle voice was speaking to her. As her vision cleared, the face came into focus.
"Daniel?" she whispered, unable to believe her eyes.
He smiled down at her. "Yeah."
Egeria blinked a few times. "Am I dead?"
The archeologist laughed, recalling that she asked that same question last time. "No, you are very much alive."
"But I do not understand."
"There is a lot to explain, but, right at this moment, what you need to know is that this is real. I'm really here, you're really here." He clasped one of her hands between both of his. "It isn't a dream, or a vision, or anything else."
In the next second, Daniel's arms were full as Egeria threw herself into them. He pulled her close and just held her as she began to cry.
After nearly a minute, she lifted her head. Her fingertips caressed his cheek.
"My Daniel," she murmured, smiling through her tears. "Tell me this is truly not a dream."
"It's not a dream, Egeria. I swear it's real, all of it."
Overjoyed, Egeria filled her gaze with every inch of his beloved face. She wanted to pull his lips down to hers, to kiss him again and again. It took a monumental act of will not to do so.
It was then that it finally penetrated her thoughts that she was in the body of a host. But something was wrong. She could sense no other consciousness within the body. And then she realized something else. She could not feel her symbiote body. All she could feel was the human one.
"What has happened? I appear to be in a host, but there is no other consciousness with me, and I have no awareness of my symbiote body."
"Um, yeah. It's a really long story. I'll tell you the whole thing later on. Right now I'll just say that the body you're in is . . . on loan to you. We copied your consciousness into it. It belongs to a woman named Ria, who volunteered to let you use it for a while. Her consciousness is being stored temporarily. Once some friends of ours show up, we're going to clone your symbiote body with the DNA from the blood we took from you, then your consciousness will be transferred into it."
Stunned, Egeria absorbed the shocking revelation. Her eyes met Daniel's. "But what about you? How can you be alive?"
"Ah, well, that's another long story. Here. Let's get you sitting up in bed."
Daniel raised the back of the bed to a seated position, and Egeria settled against it. That's when she noticed that his right hand and wrist were wrapped in bandages.
"You are injured."
Daniel glanced at his hand. "It's nothing serious, just a mild sprain."
Egeria looked around and saw that she was in a room with unfamiliar equipment, some of which were attached to her via wires.
"Where am I?"
"You're on the first world, Egeria, Earth." Daniel paused. "My homeworld."
Surprised yet again, the woman stared at him, her eyes filled with questions.
"When you met me, I had accidentally traveled back in time, Egeria, from this time. For me, it's been only three years since we said goodbye on Estrania."
Egeria was amazed by the revelation. She could understand, though, why he had kept this a secret. If the Goa'uld had somehow found out, they would have destroyed Earth to prevent its people from becoming a future threat.
She shook her head. "It is all so incredible. There are so many things I want to know, so much I want you to tell me."
Daniel smiled. "That will have to wait, I'm afraid. I need to get the doctor in here so that she can check you out. Oh, by the way, you'll want to speak in some other language besides Goa'uld. The translator in the gate won't work for it, and I'm one of the few people here who understand it."
Daniel got on the phone to Janet. She arrived around a minute later.
"Egeria, this is Doctor Janet Fraiser," Daniel said. "She's the Chief Medical Officer here."
"It is an honor to meet you," Egeria greeted in Latin, which the gate translated.
Janet smiled. "Well, thank you. I have to say that it's quite an honor to meet you, too. So, how are you feeling?"
"I am feeling well, although it is strange to feel only this human body rather than both it and my symbiote body."
Janet asked some more questions and did a brief examination.
"Well, you seem to be doing just fine," she announced. "I'd better notify the others." She got on the phone and talked for a couple of minutes. As she hung up, she said, "They're on their way."
Within a matter of minutes, Daniel's teammates, Hammond, Jacob and Ellan were all there, Sam's father being the last to enter. When Egeria saw him, she held out her hand to him.
"Selmak."
The Tok'ra came forward and took her hand, smiling. "Egeria," he said in Selmak's voice. "It is so very good to see you again."
Egeria pulled him to her and wrapped him in a joyful hug. "I did not think that I would ever see you again."
"Neither did I." Selmak pulled back slightly. "I cannot tell you how glad I am that you are back with us."
She smiled and released him, studying his face. "This host you are in, he has a good face. I would like to meet him."
Selmak's head bowed for a moment as Jacob took over.
"Hello. I'm Jacob Carter. It's a pleasure to meet you. Selmak's told me all about you."
"It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Jacob. Have you been Selmak's host for long?"
"No, not really, just a few years."
Egeria's eyes went to the other Tok'ra in the room. "And who is this?" she asked with a smile.
Ellan came forward. "I am Ellan, My Queen," he replied in a tone of reverence.
"Ellan." Egeria searched her memory, but found no remembrance of the name. "You are one of my children born when I was in hiding?"
"Yes, among the last ones."
Egeria nodded. Many of the Tok'ra chose their names after they were blended with their first host, which meant that she knew only some of the names of the children she gave birth to in those last few years. That saddened her, and she hoped that, now, she would get the chance to meet many of them.
She turned to Sam and Jack. "I know your faces. You were with Selmak on Pangar."
"That's right," Sam confirmed. "I'm Samantha Carter."
"Carter?" She glanced at the host of Selmak.
"Sam's my daughter," Jacob explained.
Sam gestured toward Jack. "This is Colonel Jack O'Neill."
Teal'c stepped forward. "And I am Teal'c."
Egeria studied him carefully. "Teal'c. You are the First Prime of Apophis."
The Jaffa's face darkened. "I am no longer. Apophis is dead, and I am a free Jaffa who swears no allegiance to any false god."
"Teal'c fights with us against the Goa'uld," Daniel explained. "So do a lot of other Jaffa, and more are being added to their ranks every day."
"This is wonderful news," Egeria said. "I am deeply honored to meet a Jaffa who had the wisdom and courage to see the Goa'uld for what they are and chose to serve them no longer."
Teal'c inclined his head. "And I am greatly honored to meet the Goa'uld who rejected the evil of her own kind and chose to fight against them."
Daniel introduced Egeria to General Hammond, who welcomed her to Earth and to the SGC.
"I am pleased to be here," she said, "but I must know why this thing was done. Why did you copy my consciousness and place it in this body? You said that it was to save thousands of lives."
Daniel looked at Janet. "Is it okay if she gets up?"
"I don't see why not. I'll get her a robe."
Once Egeria had been disconnected from the life signs monitor and had donned a robe and a pair of slippers, Daniel led her to the room with the cryogenic capsules, the others following.
"This is Patricia," the archeologist said as they came up to the occupied capsule. "She is being kept in a state of cryogenic suspension, which is somewhat like what Ra did to you."
"She appears to be ill," Egeria said, frowning.
"She's dying," Janet explained, "from an illness we can't cure."
"As are thousands of other children on her planet," Daniel said. He turned to the woman beside him. "Egeria, Patricia and her people are the descendants of the human inhabitants of Estrania."
Egeria drew in a sharp breath. "My people?"
Daniel nodded. "In fact, Patricia is a direct descendant of Titus. Around fifteen hundred years after you sent them through to their new home, their population was decimated by a plague. Though the plague eventually came to an end, several years later, it appeared in a different form, or at least that's what we suspect."
"The new form affects only children below the age of puberty," Janet said. "It strikes one in twenty children and is always fatal."
Filled with deep sorrow, Egeria stepped forward and touched the glass front of the chamber.
"And there is nothing that can be done?" she asked.
"Well, that's where we're hoping you will come in," Sam replied. "You see, the people tried to cure the sick children with the sarcophagus you left with them, but, for some reason, it caused instantaneous addiction. We think that has something to do with the disease. The children couldn't survive the withdrawal, and they all died."
"I thought of the drug you took when you used the sarcophagus," Daniel told the black-haired woman. "We're hoping that if we inject the kids with the drug before putting them in the sarcophagus, it'll prevent them from becoming addicted."
Egeria nodded. "Yes, it is likely that it would do so, although they will be in great pain."
"We can manage the pain with drugs," Janet said. "It's far better than the alternative."
"Yes, and they will have to use it only once, so the pain will be temporary."
"Then you'll give it to us?" Jack asked.
Egeria turned to him. "Yes, of course. I only hope that you will be able to make it with what you have available to you."
"If there are any ingredients that we can't get on Earth, the Tok'ra can probably get hold of them," Jacob said.
Determination hardened Egeria's features. "Then let us get started immediately."
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