Galileo's Burden, Phase Alpha: Bungle in the Jungle

[cityship]

((PLOT POST! READ IT!))

Stacy's voice rang out through the corridors of the ship, announcing that a message had been received and would be played on the Obs Deck momentarily.

The message was patched through a few minutes later, shown on a holographic screen. It was shot in very poor video, from a very old communicator frequency.



A woman wearing a blue veil over her face appears on the screen. She speaks in a soft and cultured voice, bowing deeply before she begins.

“Greetings to the crew and command of the Transmigration 9. My name is Reda, revered mother of the village of Avania III on the planet Orya."

Reda pauses, bowing once more before removing her veil and revealing the face of a beautiful humanoid woman.



"It… pains me to ask for the help of outsiders, when we have so little to offer in return, but I beg of you. Please aid us. My people are becoming sickened by an ailment we have never seen before. It seems to come differently for all who suffer from it... some have fevers, some strange dreams, some begin to speak madness while awake. But no matter how it develops, they grow weary. Their faith weakens and they die, disgraced and turned from the eyes of the great goddess Avani."

Reda folds her hands together, frowning worriedly. "I have heard of your ship's great deeds even in such a small and isolated planet as Orya. Though I am hardly worthy of asking, I know there is no one better to ask for a favor such as this. What I ask is for… those who have knowledge."

"My people know little of the universe outside their village. They do not know what you know in the ways of medicine. Our shamans are not equipped to deal with a threat of this magnitude. We seek those who can help us ease our suffering. We have little to give in return for your help, but what we have is faith… enlightenment and enrichment of the soul, which we will gladly share with those who come to visit us."

Reda smiled softly, shaking her head. "I will understand if you deny my request. I ask much of you and cannot give much myself, but should you assist us, I will do what I can to help you. I will see to it personally that those who come to our help are taken care of and shown the greatest hospitality. My own Chosen soldiers will protect them, and if they should help us in our time of need, I will do everything in my power to aid your efforts against the Ohm. You have my word as a devout child of Avani."

The revered mother bows once more, kneeling down before the camera. "I will be happy to speak with you if you require more information. Please... I beg of you, help my people."

Comments

Tamil

[cityship]

Of the victims of the Burden, only a young male named Tamil is lucid enough to hold anything resembling normal conversation with the doctors and researchers from Stacy's crew.

For a given definition of "lucid," anyway.

Re: Tamil

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

Peter entered the area and found a seat near the boy. "Hiya. Tamil right? I'm Peter. I'm one of the people who's here to try and help."

[cityship]

Tamil gazed at the stranger with those dark eyes of his.

"The sky people," he repeated, nodding his head. "We were told of the sky people."

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

"I guess that's a good a description of us as any." Peter replied, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Beings described as "sky people" were viewed with a certain amount of reverence on Earth that Peter wasn't exactly comfortable being associated with.

"The reason I'm talking to you is because we may need your help. We're going to try to cure you and everyone else of the Burden, but to do that we need to know exactly how it's affecting you and where it might've come from. I need you to tell me as best you can how you're feeling, and if you can, recall anything strange or out of the ordinary happening before you realized you were sick."

[cityship]

Tamil's eyes widened at the question and at last he nodded.

"I turned my eyes from Avani," he said, with a bizarre half a smile. "I doubted Her and She punishes me."

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

'Oh hell" Peter thought. Of course the guy was going with a theological explanation. What was worse was that he couldn't outright deny it as a possible theory, given all he'd seen.

That said, he vastly preferred a scientific solution, but Tamil was what he had. Peter'd have to work with him to figure it out.

"Why, exactly? You don't have to answer if you don't wanna. But I'm pretty good at reading people, and you seem like a nice enough guy. I'm having a hard time figuring out why Avani would wanna punish you."

[cityship]

Tamil sat up a little bit on his cot, looking around as though checking to make sure that nobody else was listening.

"I looked at the sky," he said, whispering conspiratorially and motioning for Peter to move in closer. "The sky where you came from. I looked at it, though they told me not to. I looked for hours and I thought I wouldn't get caught. But Avani saw the skylight in my eyes and She decided to punish me."

He looked almost amused at the idea.

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

Peter moived closer, and given the importance the other seemed to place on the fact's secrecy, whispered back. "Tamil, I'm from a place where some days and some nights, all we do is look at the sky. There's no punishment for it, or disease that happens because of it."

"I've seen stuff out there that makes the idea that you're being punished seem at least possible, but if it is the real answer I'm not sure we can help."

Peter racked his brains, trying to come up with something. If the sky was really part of the answer, what could've come from it that would cause thi-his brained jumped. From these people's perspective, he came from the sky. What was he to say something else couldn'tve.

"Tamil," He whispered again. "When you looked at the sky, did you see something up there that wasn't the sun, moon, or stars?"

[cityship]

Tamil was still very wary of other people around him, and wouldn't speak until he was sure only Peter was listening.

"I was looking for something," he said. "They told me not to, but I did anyway. I was looking for Daena."

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

"Why? And who or what is Daena?" Peter asked curiously.

[cityship]

Tamil went quiet, refusing to answer the question for a moment.

"We are not allowed to speak of Her. Avani forbids it."

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

"She also forbid looking at the sky Tamil. You're already in trouble, and on top of that you just spoke of Daena. If this is Avani's doing, I'm not sure there's worse trouble you can get in for telling me more."

[cityship]

"But Samso died," Tamil said in a hushed voice. "Samso spoke of Her, and Avani struck him down."

(hope it is okay to reply to Tamil, if not I can delete. Or another patient?)

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel found his way to the makeshift quarantine after awhile. Just like the rest of the village, there was a complete lack in anything high-tech or even science related. He found it a little surprising that they even let them bring their own stuff into the village. It could be considered a form of contamination, and that was at best, and a form of desecration or lack of respect for their values, at worst.

Out of respect for the sick, Daniel left the majority of his stuff at the landing. It wasn't going to be too hard to get to if he needed it. The archaeologist doubted they were going to take any of it, if the way he caught some of the people eyeing it was any indication. The Oryans had already shown an open-mind and patience just by tolerating it in the first place. Daniel didn't want to step on their toes more than necessary.

It didn't take too long to find the one he was looking for. Daniel knelt.

"Hello. Are you Tamil?"

Just fine!

[cityship]

Tamil opened his eyes. He was suffering from a fever, and had a cold compress made of rags pressed against his forehead.

"Hello," he said. "I'm Tamil. And you are the skyman too, right?"

Woot!

[hi_there_aliens]

"Yes, I suppose I am," he hoped he wasn't going to regret answering it like that. It was the truth, they did come from the sky, but if they started insisting they were gods, he was going to have to set them straight immediately. He didn't care what any of the other scientists thought about that, much less if they were tempted to take advantage of it. Too bad for them, but not on his watch. "My name's Daniel."

Daniel looked at the compress, and after a moment, slowly lifted his hand so Tamil could see what he was doing. The archaeologist gently touched the back of his first to fingers to it, checking the temperature, if it needed to be changed for a new one. He thought it seemed fine but fine was relative and he was coming from a Tau'ri perspective. Maybe it wasn't fine for them.

"How're you feeling? Do you need me to get you anything? Blankets? Another compress?"

[cityship]

"No, I am fine," Tamil assured him. "I am tired of drinking the water in this tent, but my grandmother says I am lucky my eyes didn't burn out in Her wrath. I'll drink all I must."

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel sat down, crossing his legs. Maybe a fever was (slightly) more universal than he thought. So was the wisdom and doomsaying of grandmothers. Not that Daniel had much experience with having a living one, much less one that took care of him or had anything to do with him growing up, but you could take a wild guess.

"She's probably right, you want to take in as much water as you can when you're sick. You're not allowed to drink outside water brought in?" Maybe they had sterilized the water somehow? Maybe a form of medicine? Daniel didn't quite offer to get any outside water for him yet, careful of stepping outside their bounds for now. "Sorry, 'Her' wrath?"

[cityship]

"I've had enough water," Tamil sniffed, sounding almost put-off at the thought. "The water tastes bad. I just want to sleep now. If my eyes are closed, She won't see it."

[hi_there_aliens]

Okay so water was a no go. Daniel decided not to push it. Although the fact that he thought the water tasted bad seemed important. Either Tamil was much sicker than he looked and it was affecting his sense of taste or there really was something in the water. He discreetly glanced backwards, looking for any sign of guards. He'd like to get a sample of the sick tent's water if possible. Daniel wasn't going to fool himself into thinking he had the talent for rooting out chemical properties or traces in soil and food that Sam did, but there had to be someone on Stacy who could analyze a water sample.

Once again, this 'She' came up. Daniel wondered if that was a trace of fear as he said it or if he was just imagining it. He didn't answer his question either. Did Tamil mean Avani? It seemed possible, divine figures that were either neutral or generally benevolent with a fearsome side weren't that uncommon.

As much as he wanted to let Tamil go to sleep, he did need to try and ask him some questions. It might even save their lives. "Are you feeling well enough to answer a few questions before you do? I'll understand if you don't, but..."

[cityship]

Tamil shifted to roll over on his cot.

"I can answer questions," he said. "I've answered many already but people say I'm good at it."

[hi_there_aliens]

I'll say. You've probably been drowned in questions by now.

"Thanks. If you're getting tired-" ...more tired, Daniel corrected himself silently, and winced. "-just let me know and we can stop any time."

Adjusting his glasses, the archaeologist reached into one of the tactical vest's pockets and dug out a small notepad. He still had the Omnicron on him, which, don't get him wrong, was an incredible piece of technology, but it didn't quite match up to just having the physical, simple thing. The first thing he'd done was track down a notepad and pencil, small enough to take onto the field easily.

Asking him about the more hard-fact areas, like a timeline for the outbreak and the progression of the disease or symptoms, seemed the most logical thing to do, but something in his gut was telling him to purse this other line of thought first. "You mentioned a 'She', that she would see 'it'. Who is She? What happened to you to incur Her Wrath?"

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask what he did, but Daniel opted for the gentler way of saying that.

What exactly did this Wrath entail? And what was 'it'?

[cityship]

"Avani," Tamil replied matter-of-factly, as though the answer was obvious. "Avani is punishing us for turning our eyes away from Her. She is punishing us for straying."

Tamil sat up slightly, taking the cold compress off his head briefly. "Avani protects us, but She will not protect those who do not honor Her."

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel wrote in the pad. So that hunch was right, Avani wasn't necessarily an unconditionally loving Goddess. The fact that Tamil had answered the question without quite making it a personal answer about what he 'did' hadn't escaped him, and well, Daniel did have a stubborn streak in him a mile long, something that caused Jack no end of grief. He could just keep asking the same question again and again, multiple languages if he ever had to, and just word it differently each time until Tamil answered him.

"You should rest," he said, reaching over to gently ease him back down. "You shouldn't strain yourself. You're safe here."

Daniel glanced around at the other sick, to see if they had some privacy. This was obviously a sensitive subject. "So you strayed from her. Or She thought you strayed. Why did she think this? Something must've happened recently to cause people to turn their eyes away...."

[cityship]

"Oh, no, no, no," Tamil said quickly. "No, we haven't turned our eyes from Her! We love Her! We are all Avani's children and we will always serve Her!"

He looked around them as though to make sure that other people could hear him, even raising his voice. "There is no other than Avani! We who have made the mistakes, we who haven't listened, She is punishing us!"