Aberrant: Stargate Universe - SG21: Mission to P2X-313

[Rorx]

Gwyn paused before commenting, "Our Tribe has encountered another offshot of the main Goa'uld line that lives in partnership with their hosts rather than total dominance of the host. My associate was trying to determine which was the case with your line."

"If I may, I have another question. If you gather your information in secret and none know of your existence, then none can consult with you. So to what purpose do you gather the information? Within my culture Libraries are most frequently storehouses of informatiion open to all to consult and learn from the collected knowledge and wisdom. That is not to say that there is not other storehouses of information that are kept secret for any number of reasons."

[Adrian Moss]

Caine waited for them to answer the question. It was't one that he would have asked, but it was one he was aware of. The fact would always remain with the Goa'uld that they were parasites adn that they needed to destory one person's life to gain their own, more advanced one. How they responded was crucial to how well the SGC could work with them. Would they just be parasites, or could they be something more.

[Mr Fox]

Comprehension spread on the faces of the Goa'uld. "Ah, I see. You mean these bodies. Actually these bodies were cloned and grown. Our father was not sure what the consequence of our queen's changes would have and whether or not we would be able to take hosts since we were purposefully not given the aggression of others of our race, so these bodies never had a personality or a life without us."

He continued, "As for the purpose of this Library it was because Lord Ra wished it preserved that there might be a record of his greatness. If he intended to share the knowledge someday he never made it known to us, but I very much doubt that he did."

[Adrian Moss]

Caine nodded at the response to Olivia's question. Not exactly a horror story, but still tragic and flawed. He lets his unhappiness show in his face.

"That you have consented to show us this library shows your own grasp of knowledge and its possible uses."

Motioning with his hand,

"Can we carry on with the tour?"

To Olivia,

"Doc, questions are welcome, but the nature of our hosts should not be open to further dicussion. We know what they are and our present circumstance is not concutive this argument. Let's see the things here we do not know about. Clear?"

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Yes, sir," Olivia said, "but we had to know, since we seem to have a clear policy on who we deal with, based on how they obtained their hosts." She seemed a bit irked to those who knew her well, but remained composed.

She turned to their hosts and said, "May we see your data on your cloning technology? We have some interest in the field, and allies who also are keenly interested in breakthroughs in the area."

[Mr Fox]

Three spoke up from the rear of the group, "Yes, that information is part of my sphere knowledge. I can show you what we have."

One continued to lead the group through the pyramid. Level after level and room after huge room was filled with books and works of art of various forms. Much of the art was very normal to human eyes and standards, no doubt that the works were created by slave cultures and pillaged by Ra. The odd thing was that there were actual books, not computer disks or crystals in the Goa'uld fashion. Early in the tour Five pulled one of the books off the shelf and handed it over for inspection. The title was in a combination of a gate address and Goa'uld script. The book itself was made from some very durable leather like material on the cover but the pages were made of some kind of plastic like grey film with the words burned into the surface so that there would never be fading over time.

"This is an early work, during the second millennium of the library's existence, it concerns the founding of the Abydos colony."

As team examined the book it was apparent the back cover also contained a small data crystal that could be inserted into a Goa'uld data terminal.

[Adrian Moss]

"Three, how soon will your brother be ready to travel with us back through the gate? We have a limited time my particular group can stay here."

Looking at the books, Caine can not help but be awed.

"What you seven have done is nearly beyond description. YOu have done work that exists, I'm sure, no were else in the galaxy. How many years have you been working on this and how many technological phases does this work go through?"

Man, I will no lose this. I have got to deliver this to Stargate Command. This could help us end the war and allow us access to the technology of the Goa'uld - which could transform life on earth.

[Mr Fox]

"Lord Ra commissioned the building of the Library on the 1000th anniversary of his reign. We were brought into existence upon to supervise and oversee the work. It is now the 13,437th year of his reign." He looked saddened then amended, "Pardon, it would be if he still reigned. So we will have been alive and performing our tasks for 12,437 years. I am not sure of your meaning on your last question. What do you technological phases? Are you referring to the production of our books or something else?"

[Adrian Moss]

"I was refering to phases such as books then digital storage and finally the data storage devices used today. I see you have at least two of the three."

Caine looks around.

"As magnificent as this is, I know my time here is limited. Can we see the chambers were you create your 'brethren'?"

[Mr Fox]

One responded, "No, we have only the one process. The book portion is for permanent hard copy to stand up to long periods of time without fading or deteriorating, the data crystals in the back are so that the information can be accessed via terminal and uploaded as needed, or requested by Lord Ra."

"This way to the chambers of rejuvenation."

((OOC: Sorry, have to log right now. This post to be continued.))

[Mr Fox]

The chambers of rejuvenation were quite a large area in one of the lower levels of the pyramid. The first and largest room of the area was dominated by one of the gold resurrection Sarcophagus. In the rooms beyond, stood other equipment that the SG teams have not seen before. One chamber held horizontal tubes seven feet long by three in diameter with cloned hosts floating in them hooked up to medical displays. There were perhaps 20 such tubes in all.

Three explained, "We always have hosts prepared should the need arise. Even with the Sarcophagus a host body breaks down over enough time and must be replaced. We have also found that resurrection has certain detrimental side effects over time if the host is not swapped every thousand years or so."

"Do you have any other questions here?" Two asked.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Yes, are these all the tubes you have? And would technicians be allowed to watch you awaken or create a clone? Just observation alone would be a great benefit," Olivia said. She still looked nervous, but she had calmed enough that she was able to be civil, or at least pretend to be civil.

She stared inside a tube, a little creeped by the fact that the man sleeping inside was not really asleep, nor was he really a man. He was created, a living doll made as a Goa'uld suit. She repressed a shudder as she listened to One, Two and Three's answers.

[Adrian Moss]

Caine looks to Two.

"I'm not qualified to ask you the proper questions about this place, but our People have experts in the field that could learn properly from this place."

"I do need to know how soon your brother can be ready to leave with us. We have a window of opportunity before we are missed. I think we've seen enough to make a positive dialouge with your Library so that it is preserved, your peace only marginally disturbed, and you being allowed to proceed with your Purpose."

"This endeavor is too great thing to be endangered ... to allowed to be threatened. I will stress this to my Leaders. I am sure that each person on my team will stress this to their respective members in their fields."

Caine was trying to put the brethren at ease with a bit of flattery and open appreciation of what they had accomplised. He realized what this could mean for the researchers on Earth. What it could mean for civilzation on Earth. All they had to do was not blow it.

[Mr Fox]

"You may watch the process if you wish. We do not wish you to leave until you have our brother awakened to travel with you," Five spoke.

One added, "Tonight you may enjoy Ra's personal chambers if you wish as his conquerors. It will be a few hours before we can begin the process, in the mean time you may rest or continue to browse the library."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia glanced at Caine, and the answer was in her eyes: browse. Of course, he really didn't need to see that; he'd know what her choice would be, well before she'd 'told' him what it would be. It was Olivia, after all.

Still, she stepped close and murmured, "Will the general let us stay that long? And will we be able to bring over Lee or someone else who knows more about this?"

[Adrian Moss]

"I'm a bit afraid of losing you, Olivia. This library has you and your experience written all over it. I can't say I wouldn't understand if you broke my heart and left."

To One,

"Specialist Jenings-Izumi would like a guide to examine the sight better."

He looks to Cam and Gwyn.

"I imagine most of my team would. I'll stay here, watch and record. I see this as a critical step in Goa'uld evolution."

[Mr Fox]

Most of the Goa'uld look curiously at Caine when he says that last.

Seven questioned, "How do you mean a critical step in our evolution?"

While at the same time Cam sidestepped to Olivia and said quietly so as not to disturb the discussion, "I will watch your back and go with you."

[Rorx]

Gwyn nods to the two leaving, "I'll stay here with the Major."

No point splitting more than we need to. They seem peaceful enough for now, but who can tell what they could be like in 5 minutes?

Turning to Seven he comments, "I believe Major Caine was referring to the use of mentally blank hosts. It is a practise that would be more acceptable to most members of our Tribe, than the current domination of a previously free thinking person practised by the more common Goa'uld."

To the Goa'uld in general he asks, "I don't suppose I could look at a book outlining the techniques used to go from the original genetic material to the full host body while we are waiting and observing the awakening of your brother?"

[Mr Fox]

"Certainly." Four lifted hand and issued commands into his Hand ribbon device for the book to be brought. "It shall be done."

About thirty minutes later another boy slave entered carrying the book reverently and placed it in Four's waiting hands. He in turn offered it to Gwyn. "As you can see, it takes time to retrieve information and deliver it to locations distant from where it normally rests, but the system works well and in all our centuries of operation we have never lost a book."

While Gwyn and Caine waited for the ceremony to start, Olivia and Cam were escorted out by Three to browse the library. Once the group had made it to the lift, Three asked, "What would you like to see?"

Cam deferred to Olivia, "You're the librarian, you choose first."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia was caught in the delight of a librarian; so much information at her fingertips that she literally didn't know where to begin. "Do you have books on Lord Ra's origins and long, glorious life?" she asked. "I'd like to know more about him."

She hoped that they would provide information on Ra that would lead to more discoveries like this.

[Adrian Moss]

"As the Specialist said," Caine responded pointing to Gwyn. "We consider a races humanity - how it treats other sentiants to be important. To many of us it is the most important factor in race relations. I am sure you will learn about this, as you add knowledge of us to your Library."

He scanned the room then pulled out his camcorder.

"I would like to record this for posterity and the knowledge of my People."

[Mr Fox]

The Librarian's didn't seem to have any issues with Caine's recorder, if anything they seemed to become just a touch more friendly. "That is a very odd device, how does it function and in what way does it record?" All of the seven who were present seemed quite curious although it was Three that spoke.

___

Four looked at Livy an cocked his head in curiosity. "This entire edifice is to one degree or another a testament to and record of Lord Ra's greatness. I am afraid you must be more specific on what you wish to read about."

[Adrian Moss]

"It transfers the visual and auditory image onto a solid state/non-crystal file storage device that then can be read by a different device that takes the imputted date and recreats the sound and image of what we see down to high resulotion. I'm sure it appears primative to you, but our recording technology remains behind yours."

"From our experiences your techology can be adapted to ours, so you should have no technical difficulties having information transfered to whatever means you require."

Technically it was true. Technically they could record thier informatin. Getting permission from General O'Neil on the other hand ...

[Rorx]

Seeing as they seem happy about the camcorder's, Gwyn get's one of his out and pages through the book they supplied him to effectively get a copy of it while they wait. As he does so he looks out to see if it is in the 'modern' form of Goa'uld or one of the more ancient dialects that he has seen in Daniel's and Tealc's reports.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Alright," Olivia said, nodding. "That's fair. I'd like to see the book or books regarding the reseeding of the humans across the galaxy. That's where we all come from, at the root of things."

It was a chance to see some of Earth's history, from a totally different point of view.

[Mr Fox]

Gwyn finds that the dialect is a bit out of date, but perhaps not as much so as some of the earliest things Daniel had found.

Meanwhile preparations proceeded at what appeared to be a snails pace, but that was due mostly to everything being automated. All the many things were being done by the machines and devices. In all there just wasn't that much to see and record before the implantation itself.

When the time came it was fairly anticlimactic. Seven, took a Goa'uld larva from a stasis jar and placed it in a vat of fluid for a few minutes to let it get it's bearings then pressed a few buttons on a console. One of the horizontal tubes drained of fluid and opened. Seven took the larva in hand and walked over to the body and opened it's mouth and the larva slid inside. A few seconds later the eyes lit up in the way Goa'uld do and the body started breathing on it's own.

One looked to Caine, "You may stay further if you wish, but our brother will need to clean himself and attend to other bodily functions. Otherwise I can show you to Lord Ra's chambers."

______

Olivia's wish was granted and she and Cam were shown to another section of the massive library. "This is the history of the early seeding of your race among the stars."

The room was easily fifty feel long and 15 wide and both walls were floor to ceiling books. The ceilings were 10 feet tall as well. There were hundreds of books in this section alone. Luckily the librarian pointed to one end at the top. "There you will find the book regarding the discovery of the Tauri homeworld and the books follow mostly chronological order from there. Toward the end much of the information was given second or third hand after the Tauri revolt. Lord Ra was very disappointed with the Tauri and what we know from that point was a result of his spies reports from among the other System Lords who made occasional visits by ship to cull more slaves."

[Rorx]

Gwyn turned to One as his 'brother' collected himself, "Do you take turns in stasis, or do you only re-activate one of your brothers when there is a need for further man-power?"

[Mr Fox]

"There has never been a need to awaken one of our brothers before. We seven have been the guardians of the works of Ra since the library was first built. Every few hundred years we do switch bodies to avoid the side effects of the resurrection process, but that takes only minutes."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia reverently took the book from the shelf and found a place to sit down. Cam, the goa'uld and her situation were forgotten. Hatchins himself could have walked by her and she wouldn't have noticed. She was far too engrossed in the earliest recorded history of her planet to notice something as mundane as the man she'd once feared more than anything else.

[z-Eight]

His first sensation was of being wet. He had been so before, but it was different through the skin of his host. As his body began to expand, to dig out and take over the nerves of the body he had found himself in, Eight learned more and more. He was the first Eight, which made him two numbers. His brother were many, and had been two numbers many times.

These thoughts were unhelpful, he decided. Too complicated, without any real meaning. He resolved to think of something else. He turned his attention to the information waiting for him and he began to Learn.

Learning would always be capitalized, to him. It was important. It was his mission. His brethren collected and he Learned. He would share what he Learned to them, to add to their collecting. Someday, he might be here to help them. But Learning would always be his mission.

Sitting up for the first time, with his new back, he considered the way that this body folded and moved, shifted and slid. Skin caught against itself and pulled, but instead of adjusting himself, Eight let himself feel the sensation of discomfort. His brothers waited patiently for him, letting him get used to the strange sensations of his body.

When he was ready, they took him to the baths. He washed, becoming even more familiar with his body, with its strengths and limits. There were clothes waiting for him, and as he dressed, his brothers told him more about the strange visitors.

[Rorx]

Gwyn continued talking to One as some of the others lead the newly 'hatched' Eight away to get cleaned up etc. "So Eight will have no experience of using a host body, it's strengths and limitations? Did you reach your maturity within a Jaffa before being placed into stasis, or go from growing in water into stasis?"

He looks towards the door by which they left and then back to One, "Forgive the questions, but I wondered what sort of background knowledge, experience and skills that Eight might possess if he is to travel with us."

[Mr Fox]

Three considered a moment. "We did not spend time in Jaffa hosts, Lord Ra wished us to be as insulated from the factors which make our race what we are as possible. He did not wish for us to take the knowledge we were accumulating and use it against him. Still, we must protect this place so we were all given some knowledge of defense and attack and tactics and while we do not have the genetic memory of our parents this basic knowledge in Eight will be somewhat augmented with training programs. I am afraid all the information he will need to acquire will take many hours. Come let us show you to your rooms now unless you wish to wander the library or join your companions."

[Rorx]

Gwyn glances over to Major Caine, before replying, "I think we should catch up with the others before we head to the rooms. I'm sure Olivia will be fascinated by the information you have acquired here."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia was already fascinated by information. They found her on a bench in the library, her nose deep in a book. "We are taking your companions to their rooms for rest while we wait for Eight to become ready for travel. Would you like to join your companions?"

Olivia blinked up at him; she was visibly gathering her thoughts. "Well, unless I can take the book with me, I'd rather stay here and read," she said, smiling. "I mean... this is fascinating!"

[Mr Fox]

The Goa'uld librarian smiled noticeably pleased at her attitude. "You may take as many books with you as you wish, so long as you don't attempt to remove them from the library. They have tracking sensors so that they can always be located within the facility and there are automated defenses that would activate should you attempt to leave with a book. If you wish we could make you copies of several books to take with you upon your departure but they would have to be books deemed non-sensitive. By which I mean they could not contain information about the library itself or technology directly harmful to this facility."

Cam looked up from a book at the discussion, "So we can move books about anywhere within the building and that's ok, so long as we don't try and take them with us. Nice."

Their watcher nodded at the accuracy of the statement. Cam grabbed a handful of books on gou'ald technology that he hadn't be restricted from viewing and looked to Livy, "Ok, lets meet the others at the rooms."

____

Half an hour later the group met up as they were both arriving at the top most floor of the pyramid. If the entryway on the floor below was opulent then this floor was the quintessence of luxury. Every surface, every piece of furniture, and everything in sight was made from the most precious materials and with the top craftsmanship. It still had the Gou'ald style and design, but unlike their normal construction this place literally was wall to wall precious metals and woods, and stone. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that this was Ra's personal sanctuary, his place of security where no others came.

Above the door to the entrance was Ra's symbol in solid gold. One spoke a phrase in Goa'uld before the doors opened. "Until now, no other than my brothers and I or the lord's personal slaves have ever entered the chambers. I have disarmed the security, but please do not attempt to remove anything from these rooms. Slaves will be outside your doors on watch should you need anything during the night. Or if you wish and the need is urgent simply speak one of our names aloud and we will attend you with haste."

The four Gou'ald that had accompanied you to your rooms made gestures of respect then filed back into the lift and the doors closed. The rooms themselves were large and had very high ceilings and a balcony faced out on every side to give a beautiful view of the desert. From this vantage it was clear that there was no other civilization in any direction as far as the eye could see. Only an endless expanse of sand with an occasional outcrop of stone exposed temporarily by the wind, but even that stone was far off in the distance. Closer to the library was only sand and the entrance pyramid where the stargate was housed.

From a tactical standpoint it did make sense, the exit from the pyramid faced away from the library so no heavy weapons could be brought to bear easily from the stargate without enough time to mount a defense.

The lift down was actually offset to the north side of the rooms leaving all but the very center of the room open much like a loft apartment. Even the lift was small and hardly blocked the view compared to the size of the large room. Olivia with her special senses could tell the room was 123 feet exactly on each side or roughly 15000 square feet of floor space. There were areas in the room that were portioned off besides the elevator that you exited from. There was a large closet of sorts that seemed to contain Ra's clothes and personal items. There was a toilet facility with a deep pool for bathing and relaxing, an area for eating numerous areas for lounging to read or do whatever it was Ra did. Raised on a pedestal was one of the resurrection sarcophagus. Everything in the chamber was done in the finest materials with the finest craftsmanship. Trying to duplicate what you see of the contents of the room would bankrupt a small country easily.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia was more interested in the books until she saw the pool. "Ooo," she cooed, putting the books on a table and taking a closer look. It was walled off by ten-foot tall dividers, and the more Olivia considered the idea, the better it sounded.

She turned to the others and drew herself up to her full five foot, five inches. "I'm taking a bath," she announced as a blush touched her cheeks. "And I'm doing it naked. So no peeking. Right? And Gwyn, no flying over the dividers, right?"

[Mr Fox]

Cam chuckled. "No peaking. Got it." Setting his stack of books next to Olivia's on an ornate desk of some unknown but beautiful wood he found a chair nearby and took a seat.

"Major, you're in charge, but if it's all the same to you, I'm going to scan these books tonight and possibly go back for more. It won't be the same as actually studying and learning the information in them, but it might help and I'll be able to review what I've read later. Photographic memory came with my upgrade."

With the Major's nod he got comfortable and started flipping through the pages of each book spending about a second on each pair of facing pages. He figured at the rate he was going he could memorize about 50 books before they had to get ready to depart in the morning. He wouldn't know anything from any of them, but his recall was perfect so eventually he could reproduce the books and even translate them.

[Rorx]

Gwyn grinned at Olivia, "Don't worry I won't. But I wouldn't guarantee that this place isn't under surveillance."

Having said that he found a table and slowly starts translating the book on cloning technology using data on his PDA, storing the translation back on his PDA.

[Mr Fox]

With out looking up from the book he was flipping through he added, "I wouldn't worry about that, these are Ra's personal quarters. I doubt he would want them watched. Of course I could be wrong."

((Feel free to investigate the rooms. Everyone please give me an Perception + Awareness roll.))

Click to reveal..

(18:43:36) ChatBot: (Cam) rolls 8d10 and gets 7,10,7,2,4,3,5,6.

3 successes

[Rorx]

Gwyn looks up from what he is doing briefly, "True, I guess he wouldn't in the normal course of things, but they did say they'd come if we called for them, which suggests that they may be able to listen to us at least." While talking he looks around the room again.

"After all it's not like there isn't plenty of places to hide such things amid all the decoration here."

Click to reveal..

Per + Awareness = 7 dice

(06:58:22) ChatBot: (Gwyn) rolls 7d10 and gets 4,5,8,1,2,4,5.

1 sux