Nefertum straightens up, though his jaffa stay where they are. He flashes both myself and Lady Heset a mildly curious look but doesn't comment. Historically, this is the time when new underlords would be introduced to the others. He might not recognise me by sight, but the only odd thing is that we're standing up here with Bastet rather than that there are other goa'uld around.
"I thank you for your hospitality, and look forward to our discussions."
A clear indicator of their favour with the System Lord, perhaps, or just representative of their newcomer status. Not letting them far from her sight, you dig?
As far as I know, Nefertum's thing is medicine and perfume. If you've got a disease ravaging your workforce or your jaffa have come down with something that their prim'ta can't cope with, he's your man. Physicians from his world are often attached to the fleets of other underlords and even Bastet's fleet uses some. He's also the source of most of the floral displays that decorate Bastet's palace.
Bastet makes a gesture of polite dismissal, and-
An interesting alignment of proficiencies. But not unsurprising given that they were often associated in
ancient cultures. After all, the processes of making perfume and the work of crafting early medicines were not all
that different, I bet...
"Jaffa, KREE."
-Nefertum's jaffa rise to their feet as he walks calmly in the direction of one of Bastet's functionaries, who will escort him to his quarters.
Interesting. Would he be dismissing his guards, and putting himself in the hands of the host's? Quite a sign of trust. Though they probably won't go far.
Scan.
Oh dear.
"You have a concern, Lord Mammon?"
Ah, she's noticed his eyes glow when he used his 'device', then.
Because you don't remain a major goa'uld for thousands of years without being aware of the people around you.
"Yes, Lady Bastet. Though I think it would perhaps be best raised in private?"
As in, with no-one around at all. Because this place is
hardly private.
Bastet looks around at the ceremonial greeting area, the notables of Bubastis filing out now that the last greeting ceremony is completed. A handful are subordinate goa'uld, administrators of individual cities on Bubastis or technologists, but most are human priests, functionaries or merchants. Around us are her jaffa bodyguard, their leader with Bastet's cat emblem embedded in her forehead as a piece of solid silver. Bastet's First Prime is above us with the home fleet to ensure that no one can use this opportunity to make a decapitation attack. Heset's First Prime is also with us, a nervous man clearly unused to having a boss who isn't a psycho.
Just a
small courtly gathering.
Or perhaps he's heard the rumour that I'm the one who removed his former god. That would explain the sidelong glances.
"If Lady Heset did not have my full confidence then I would not have appointed her."
In other words, she's fully cowed into submission, and thus unlikely to consider rebellion anytime soon.
I give her a shallow bow, moving my eyes to Heset to indicate that I am including her in the apology. "As you will."
An orange barrier appears around the three of us, though I'm careful that it's not obviously being projected by the ring. Heset looks around, noting its exact dimensions and the fact that her bodyguard just got cut off. Bastet only looks at the part of the barrier closest to her, and seems… Pleased about it?
Good to see he's managed to get his head around filament use and discreet projection points. Probably emerging from the soles of his feet.
"Speak."
"When I met Lord Am-heh, I could not help but wonder what the cause of his anomalous behaviour was. Upon closer examination I observed notable lesions on certain parts of his brain." And with his knowledge of biology to draw upon, I know exactly what that meant. "The parts damaged relate to self-perception and mood regulation. Damage would most likely cause megalomania and paranoia. Gods usually have a high opinion of themselves and their abilities, but paranoia is a little more obvious."
Heh. Yes, I can see him being concerned about whether his little passenger Construct Lantern could cause the same sort of behaviour in him...
"I hardly see how that concerns us now."
"Since I do not know what caused his condition, I thought to see if any of your other underlords have similar characteristics. If one was being poisoned, for example, if would be worth knowing in advance of the symptoms appearing."
Though managing to poison one without his kind of advantages would be risky in the extreme. Never mind affecting multiple.
"And Lord Nefertum has those signs?"
"With the exception of Lady Heset, we all do." That gets me a slightly slow blink of shock. "The moment I.. realised, I corrected it in myself, but… Yes. No one is overtly symptomatic as yet… But since I don't know the cause, I can't say why that is or how or if the condition progresses. I can fix it in every case, but that would involve me gaining permission to alter the sufferer's brain. And their host's brain. Which won't help with the paranoia."
And that only because Heset's new to her posting, I bet. And thus relatively newly joined?
Bastet considers the issue.
"You have proof?"
Very sensible of her, asking for more information. Even if his 'Ancient Device' is highly effective, she's no doubt worried about what poking about in her head might do to her.
"I have my scans of Lord Am-heh and the scans I took of everyone else. Those scans can be confirmed by anyone with a kara kesh. Interpreting them would require a high degree of familiarity with both goa'uld and human physiology, but I am hardly the only one with that familiarity."
She nods. "And you believe that it is caused by poison?"
Of a sort... Of a
sort...
"I.. considered it, but I doubt that anyone could poison all of us. Since Lady Heset in unaffected, it may be that there is something that all goa'uld in this region are exposed to sporadically which she has not been. My next step would be a careful investigation of all stargates and farmlands, but consulting Lord Nefertum first would be most sensible. His expertise far outstrips mine."
"The sarcophagus." Heset looks slightly surprised as Bastet and I both look at her. "I.. observed that those gods who use it frequently begin exhibiting such symptoms. I had been suspicious for a while, and limited my own usage."
Ah, well done, young lady... Well, I
assume young, but due to the nature of the Sarcophagus use...
The sarcophagus is a remarkable medical device, capable of repairing most physical injuries. Even death, as long as the head is mostly intact. Goa'uld tend to keep them to themselves and their most favoured servants. I don't actually own one because I couldn't understand how it worked. Still can't, actually.
Bastet looks at me. "Is that possible?"
And Mammon has a
far better device to keep him young and healthy, after all. Whereas many Goa'uld are too vain and foolish to not refrain from regular uses to maintain youth and vitality...
"Possible? Certainly. The sarcophagus might well have some sort of defective scanner which causes cumulative neural damage." I shrug. "I'm afraid that my knowledge of the technology is not good enough to say for certain."
She weighs me up for a moment, then turns to Heset. "Use your kara kesh to examine my brain."
"Yes, my lady."
Ah, she's not so far gone that she can see how it would go eventually for her. A wise woman.
Heset raises her right hand, the jewel on her palm glowing as a pale orange beam briefly linking it to Bastet's head. Curious how much Bastet trusts her. I haven't seen her around the palace before, but it's not as if I know all of Bastet's subordinates. After a few seconds Heset lowers her right hand and raises her left, a green holographic image appearing in the air over her signet ring. An image of Bastet's central nervous system appears, human host and goa'uld. It them zooms in, displaying the same minute lesions which I detected.
I bet the two hosts are related by blood. Or the symbiotes. They've got to have a bond that sidesteps the usual Goa'uld arrogance and paranoia. ...Or, as suggested, she's a spy.
Guess we'll see later?
Bastet inhales sharply.
"Someone is acting against us."
No, you're just using technology not really designed for what you're using it for...
Or that could be the paranoia, but I just nod as she turns to me.
"Remove the damage at once."
And that shows impressive trust on her part, though the logic of the situation is pretty clear. If she comes down with a case of the Dead while Mammon is there, he's going to be a
significant suspect. And he can't deal with the heat that would bring on his world.
I raise my right hand, a construct kara kesh appearing and radiating orange light over her face. Honestly, it's an easy fix, because psychotic System Lords are how worlds burn and that's a bad thing. Once done, I lower my hand and dismiss the construct.
Bastet frowns. "I feel no different."
Of course, now he's going to be stuck doing it for everyone she wants him to, unless their medical experts can suggest another treatment, other than the obvious 'stop using the Sarcophagus'.
I nod. "That's to be expected. In your case the lesions were small. You may note a few minor changes in your behaviour in the coming days, but I mostly wanted to prevent the changes from worsening. What would you like me to do about the others?"
"Could you mend them covertly?"
Ah... So that they don't even realise they were affected by anything, hmm? Bastet keeping some secrets up her sleeve for later, no doubt.
"With a little difficulty..?" I nod cautiously. "Yes."
"Do so. Now return us all to my palace. We have more to discuss."
Caught me by surprise, but really, why would she let so many underlings with potential for foolishness into her palace proper? So this place is more of a gathering hall, a place for visitors to gather... A
hotel, basically.
