9th October 1999
13:38 MDT
"…is our lab."
Major Carter opens the door and leads the way inside.
I look around the science laboratory/workshop with some interest. It's far more sophisticated than anything I ever worked with at school, though thanks to Am-heh the partially-disassembled goa'uld devices on display are more familiar than the human analytical machines being used to study them.
"Mine's better."
"Maybe you can show me if I visit Syrania."
"I'd be happy to. You, I'm happy to invite." I frown. "Do you really have time to do research as well as your field missions?"
Her eyebrows rise for a moment. "Without wanting to say anything I might be called to testify about in the Hague, most of our missions are focused on finding technology to help with defending the Earth. Taking what I find apart and working out how it works is a part of my field missions."
"Ah." She looks curious. "Goa'uld are sometimes accused of only being able to copy technology that other species developed. It's pleasant to watch humans do things in the exact same way."
"It's not.. quite the same."
"I-" I nod. "-think it is. We dig up ancient technology, you dig up ancient technology…"
"But I've got access to teams of thousands of people who can work on reverse engineering anything we find."
I nod. "Which is why I'm trying to develop a similar technology base. Literally any goa'uld can outperform any human scientist, but we can't beat those numbers. We've stagnated as a society."
"And that's why you're trying to carry out an industrial revolution."
"And why I'm happy to talk to Earth. Or the United States, at least. My ideal solution involves the System Lords agreeing to leave Earth alone and for both sides to respect one another's borders. Fighting you doesn't get us anything, it just-. Apophis attacked you because you killed Ra and he wanted to establish his credentials before the other System Lords as Ra's successor. But Heru'ur wasn't ever going to decide not to fight him, so… Who was he trying to prove himself to? I haven't been able to check everywhere, but were you even using your stargate between your original journey to Abydos and the time when Apophis attacked you?"
"Setting up Stargate Command took-."
I nod. "You weren't, right. So he just.. stuck his arm in a meat grinder to prove a point… To himself, because he still hadn't gotten over Ra becoming Supreme System Lord ahead of him. I really wish you people hadn't killed Ra."
"He was planning to send a naquada-enhanced nuke through the stargate to Earth."
"And how did the nuke get there?"
She considers that for a moment, then shrugs awkwardly.
"Besides, if you rotate the stargate so that the open end is facing the ceiling, sending the bomb through probably wouldn't work. He'd think the Earth had a new crater, Earth would be fine, and your team could just dial back after he left."
"Did Ra know Earth's location?"
"Yes, of course he did, but he did nothing with that knowledge for three thousand years."
"Why?"
"Why? Because he had what he needed and Earth didn't have any rare resources." I shrug. "Usually, leaving human-inhabited worlds to their own devices doesn't cause problems. You must have seen enough worlds that the goa'uld have abandoned to know that."
"We're not the only technologically advanced human world."
"Sure, but how many are advanced enough to have faster than light travel? Because that's the point where they actually become a problem. With anything else, a mid-tier underlord can bombard them into dust with a single ha'tak. Or an asteroid and a couple of rocket motors."
"Apophis sent two ha'taks to Earth and we're still here."
"Yes, and no doubt you could do that again tomorrow with no warning-." I bow my head. "I'm sorry, that was unnecessarily threatening. And I know about your favoured status under the Protected Planets Treaty, and the System Lords are nowhere near ready for a new war with the asgard. But… You do need to understand that the only reason you're still here is that no one who could have dealt with you bothered to do so for three thousand years."
"We're working on that."
"You've seen our ships, our hyperdrives and you've got naquada. Given your industrial power, you could probably start building your own ships within a few years." I shake my head. "Honestly, through… It seems to me that you'd be best advised to cut down your stargate usage. You need to keep buying raw material that can't be found on Earth, but every encounter with us risks drawing attention that you're not ready for."
She doesn't look impressed.
"Now, once you have a few ships, things become different."
"You said that you can't sell us a ha'tak, and that's the only goa'uld ship that can fight other ha'taks."
"No, but I could get a team onboard a functioning ha'tak. Even a shipyard that was constructing one. You would have to pretend to be a human from Syrania who was there to learn the 'higher mysteries', but Lord Mahes already knows what I'm trying to do. He wouldn't question it. You could learn our ship-building techniques directly."
"And what do you want in return?"
I take a step closer, maintaining eye contact. "I'd need to be able to show Lord Bastet that the studying was happening on Syrania, so you would have to be based there. And teaching my people everything that you learn."
She glances aside. "I don't speak Akkadian. I don't think any of our scientists do."
"So we teach my people English. We'll have to do that anyway. I'll even throw in goa'uld tools and equipment."
"That's-. An interesting offer. I-."
The laboratory door opens and Teal'c enters, taking a moment to consider the two of us before speaking. "General Hammond has asked me to inform you that the stargate is available. You may return to Syrania."
"Shol'va-." I smile, taking care to make it obviously awkward. "Teal'c." He raises his eyebrows, looking unimpressed. "I have an offer for you."
"I am not interested."
"Now now, hear me out. You hate the goa'uld, yes?"
"We have been your slaves for nine thousand years."
"And I don't like you because you want to break the oath your ancestors made while still keeping all of the benefits. But it occurred to me that if you gave up those benefits, then you wouldn't have that moral obligation. And since you hate us and all our work, you must hate the fact that we have such an impact on your physiology. So how about it?" I extend my left hand in mock-benediction. "I can remove your prim'ta and all of the biotech supporting it from your body. Right now. You can carry on your life as an untainted human, with no obligation to the goa'uld. You wouldn't even be a shol'va any more. You'd still be a traitor, a backstabber and an oathbreaker, but only to your fellow servants of Apophis."
I step closer to him, reaching out with my glowing left hand.
"I can just-."
He takes a step backwards away from me. And I smile.
"So I was right. You want the benefits but don't want to pay the costs. How contemptible. Please let General Hammond know that I will be returning shortly."
