SLAVE OF THE GOA'ULD
Chapter Ten "Are you sure she won't be angry if we wake her?" Jenny said as she and Meren approached Ankhsenamen's sleeping quarters. "I do enjoy having a head." "We have no choice, we have to tell her what the Doctor found out," Meren said. "She might be angry but we'll just have to take that risk." Jenny nodded. Meren told her to wait before opening the door and slipping inside. Jenny looked around, nervous that Aye or Horemheb would walk up at any moment and seize her. To her relief, Meren opened the door and beckoned her inside. Ankhsenamen was sitting up in her chair, giving both of them an annoyed look. "I hope this is important," she said to them. "Yes, Mistress, we found out something that we think should be brought to your attention," Meren said. He explained what they found in the embalming room and what Aye and Horemheb did. Ankhsenamen looked a bit dubious when Meren explained about the secret tunnel and Jenny finally stopped him. "Please, Mistress, just come and see," she said. "We think you and your husband are in danger. Can't you look at it?" "Very well, I will go with you," Ankhsenamen said, rising from her chair. "Just show me where it's at." Jenny breathed a sigh of relief. She and Meren walked with Ankhsenamen as she walked towards the courtyard. Rose sat on the floor and watched while the Doctor walked around the room, feeling the walls and making sure the doors truly were gone. He sighed angrily when he couldn't find any sign of them and went back to Rose. "We're walled in," he said, sitting down beside her. "I s'pose we're going to stay here until they take us up to the mothership." "Doctor, that thing in your head, have you ever seen it before?" Rose said. "Seen one? No, not personally but my people fought them for eons. I thought they were all extinct but apparently not." "And it's inside your head now?" Rose said, her stomach turning at the thought. "Yup," the Doctor said, tapping the side of his head. "That's how they survive. They need a host to inhabit. They would possess someone and control them. Most of them pretended to be gods on other planets and they got the locals to venerate them and that led to their enslavement. Gallifreyan legends said that the Goa'uld were wiped out long before humans came along but apparently the historians got it wrong." "And the moment you try to escape, that thing takes control of you," Rose said. "Yes. So even if I did find a door, I probably wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. The moment I tried to open it, on goes Sekhmet again. It'll be the same for the remote control to your restraint. If I try to free you, I lose my free will." "And she can hear us," Rose said angrily. The Doctor nodded. "Can she read your thoughts?" Rose said. "Probably, which is why I'm being careful with my thoughts. Not only with escape plans but also personal, private stuff I don't want broadcast to the universe. Although I'm sure Sekhy had a peek at that when my mind was asleep. But the point is, until this thing is removed, I'm helpless." Rose half expected Sekhmet to jump in and crow about that but to her surprise, she remained silent. She's probably gloating silently though, Rose thought. Oh Doctor, I need to find a way to free you from this thing since she's probably monitoring your thoughts now. If there even is a way to get rid of her. That last thought chilled Rose to the bone. She didn't want the Doctor to spend the rest of his life being possessed by some eel creature but she didn't want to see him die either. She realized that at the moment she was also helpless since any action by her could trigger Sekhmet and with the Doctor asleep and not able to intervene, she figured the Goa'uld would snap her neck without a second thought. She felt her spirits sinking and looked at the floor. The Doctor, reading her body language, put his hand on her back and scooted closer to her. "Don't give up," he whispered in her ear. "Not yet." Rose nodded and bit her lip when the Doctor kissed her cheek. She put her arms around him and snuggled against his chest while he watched her. "This way, Mistress," Meren said when they entered the embalming room. They walked over to the center of the room and he and Jenny began to feel around for the trapdoor while Ankhsenamen watched. Then Meren found a corner and he and Jenny began to dust off the sand while Ankhsenamen stared at it in shock. "You were right," she said. "By the gods, what are those two doing building secret tunnels under the embalming room?" "They mean you harm, Mistress," Jenny said. "That's why we had to show this to you. I don't know what those two are planning but it can't be good." "I've never trusted them but I never expected them to commit sacrilege by building directly under the embalming room. We must go to my husband and tell him of this." "Wait, Mistress, you must come with me first. I believe you're in far more danger than he is right now," Meren said. "Come with you? Where?" Ankhsenamen said. "To my spaceship." Jenny did a double take. "Wait, did you say spaceship?" Jenny said, not knowing if she heard him right. He turned to her and both women gasped when his eyes began to glow. "That is exactly what I said," he said in a deep voice. "By the gods, what witchcraft is this?" Ankhsenamen said, putting a hand over her heart. "It is not witchcraft, I am from a race called the Tok'ra," Meren said. "Against Ra?" Ankhsenamen said. "Your name means against Ra. You are against the gods?" "I am against the false gods. The beings who possess others and pretend to be gods. They are called the Goa'uld and I have reason to believe that either Aye or Horemheb or both are possessed by these beings." "What about you? You look possessed," Jenny said. "My race is similar to the Goa'uld, however we chose to rebel and fight them. I live within Meren but we share a symbiotic relationship and share this body. A Goa'uld takes over the body and controls it completely." "But if Aye and Horemheb are possessed, they're not talking like you are and they don't have the glowing eyes," Jenny said. "The Goa'uld can control the host so it appears he's normal but they're in control at all times." "And you're…the being within this body?" Ankhsenamen said. "Yes, I am Tarek. I am the Tok'ra within Meren's body." "How long have you been in there?" Jenny said. "Since he was a young boy. I was inside him before he came to the royal court and I have been guarding and guiding him ever since." "And you can help us?" Jenny said. "I can. I have a way to extract the Goa'uld from Aye or Horemheb so they can be destroyed. But you must come with me first. I want you to meet other Tok'ra." "But what about the Doctor and Rose, we just can't leave them here," Jenny said. "If they are with Aye and Horemheb, they may already be prisoners," Tarek said. "I want to know something, Jenny. I sense that Rose is human, although there is something about her that seems otherworldly but I can hear two hearts beating inside the Doctor's chest. There are a limited number of species who have two hearts so do you know what he is?" "He said he was a Time Lord," Jenny said. She noticed Tarek fell silent upon hearing that. "Two hearts? Time Lord? What's going on here," Ankhsenamen said when no one spoke. "Your majesty, Jenny, come with me to my ship. If the Doctor is a Time Lord and he's a captive then we have a bigger problem than I thought."
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