Fanfic: Vala's Hope PG-13, 1/1
TITLE: Vala’s Hope
AUTHOR: Matt
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: Vala discovers that what she thinks is fiction isn’t always the case, and receives an unexpected lesson about good and evil on our small, blue planet.
LONG INTRO NOTE: I’ve not written any fiction in close to 5 years, but I decided that perhaps I should participate in our Month of Love challenge. After all, I do host the challenge and try to persuade the rest of you to take part. After signing up, I hit the proverbial brick wall. What could I write about?
A long time ago, I wrote a long piece based off the episode where Vala insults a Senator at an important hearing in Washington, DC. Daniel and Vala visited the National Archives and Vala, as with many immigrants to the USA, liked the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. I wondered what else Vala might like about our planet, which reminded me of how Jonas Quinn loved watching the television. He loved the Weather Channel. What shows might Vala like?
This started as something light and fun. I had the first several lines written very quickly. I didn’t know where it was going, or that my mind would take a darker turn. Before I knew it, I had written a very serious conversation between Vala and Daniel. I saved it to my little travel drive and vowed to return to it. After all, I had plenty of time.
But time got away from me. I’ve always put home and family before almost anything else. I also review fiction for various publishers. Before I knew it, I had a stack of book reviews to do, some international flights to sort out, and my home just kept looking worse and worse. Then I got ill and lost an entire week. Finally, my computer began flashing warnings that a hard drive failure was imminent. (Thankfully, the machine is still functioning.) But I had committed myself to a date in the challenge, and I was going to stick to that commitment.
As a result, what you’ve got here is something I’ve literally just finished writing. It hasn’t been beta read. The only editing it has received has been what I’ve done as I read through it. I did do some research using Gateworld, which led to me getting sidetracked on other aspects of SG-1. So yes, this is very rough. When all is said and done, however, this is the first fanfic I’ve written in several years. Who knows when I’ll write the next piece?
The equivalent of the vocuum was called a teevee. Unlike the vocuum, however, you could at least change the channel if you didn’t like what it was showing or what the talking head on it was saying. Since Vala was restricted to the base, it proved to be an adequate method of passing time. There were so many channels and so many different subjects. Often, she would push the little channel button on what was called a remote until she found something to capture her interest.
The news proved to her that this world was just like any other. Poor people, rich people. War, criminals, politics.
The weather was useless to her. The only way she’d be leaving this facility any time soon was via the Stargate.
After what Qetesh had put her through, soap operas were boring.
Earth’s portrayal of space and aliens was interesting. Although she was enjoying the one called Far Scape, and thought Yotz was a marvelous addition to her language. There was also that one lead who looked a little bit like her Daniel.
Speaking of him, she preferred to do her watching without him. If he was in the room when she was doing what he called he could get quite excited if she passed by a program about history or archaeology. She didn’t care much for those, thought they were boring. They were all about funny people wearing funny clothes and weren’t exactly her idea of fun. Although watching Daniel when he disagreed with what was being said on them could be very entertaining.
By far, the ones she liked best were the kind that involved the solving of a puzzle. Especially if there was a reward for someone at the end. The problem was that she often couldn’t decide what was real and what wasn’t. There were shows about crimes where she just couldn’t tell. Often she thought she was watching fiction only to find she’d been watching something called a doc u mentry. There were also programs that seemed to be a mix of both acting and reality. And these would all often be on the same channel. It was just so confusing.
There was a show on now, involving space ships within the planet’s atmosphere crashing into buildings. No, wait, they were called airplanes. Vala was fairly certain it was fiction and it was intense, but it wasn’t the best crime drama she had seen. She couldn’t work out why the makers had shown the viewers the second airplane crashing into a building and not the first. Wouldn’t the first have been more dramatic? Or was the second airplane more dramatic because no one expected two? Nor did she understand why the shot kept being replayed?
“Oh, come on,” she muttered impatiently. “Get on with it. What happens next? Give me the who and why.”
There was a knock at the door. Knowing there was only one person who ever came to visit her, Vala beamed briefly before wrinkling her nose. No doubt he’d prefer to watch something more educational.
“Come in, Daniel,” she called. “But I’m watching this crime show and it’s rather interesting. “ She turned and caught sight of Daniel’s face. “Why darling, whatever is the matter?” He looked pale. Was he ill? She tried to get him to her bed - just in case he was ill of course - but he stood still, his attention focused on the tiny television screen. The second airplane was again crashing into the tall building.
“Oh yes,” she continued. “Another show I’ve discovered. Don’t know what it is, but I’m quite enjoying it. I have to say, using an airplane as a weapon of mass destruction is quite ingenious. I don’t know that I’ve even seen a Tel’tak intentionally used in that manner. It’s usually an accident or as a result of pilot error. I mean, what Goa’uld would sacrifice himself? What good is the glory if you’re not around to see it?”
It was at this point that Vala realized that Daniel hadn’t actually said anything since his arrival. She stopped talking and that was the moment he looked at her, looked at the TV, and then snatched up the remote and turned the screen to black.
“You think that was CSI or another of those crime dramas?” he demanded.
“Well, I knew it wasn’t CSI, darling. I hadn’t yet seen that pyramid building, and the lighting is too bright. But there are so many of these shows that it’s hard to...”
“Vala, that was real.”
“What?”
Daniel closed his eyes momentarily and then sat down on her desk chair. “That was real, Vala,” he said, more softly this time. “The plane going into the skyscraper actually happened. That’s actual footage. About four years ago, four planes were hijacked by terrorists. Three of them were deliberately crashed into buildings. Almost three thousand people died. One of the buildings attacked was a military facility. Friends of friends of mine were killed there.”
Vala sat down on her bed in shock. “You mean, people actually did this? I thought I was watching something made up, fiction. I never thought...” Her mind was a rush of thoughts. She also felt sick at knowing she had been entertained until she’d learned the truth. “How could they do that to their own race, Daniel? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Ah, the key word there is race. We’re talking about two different races.”
“Let me put it this way, Daniel. This was not an attack from another planet, from an alien race as you would say. This was the human race doing it to themselves. It’s something I would expect petty gods to do for fun.”
He nodded at the now silent television. “They did this in the name of their god.”
“What?”
“The people that did this. They were religious terrorists. For them, it was their religion versus... the others.”
“Religion? What good does religion do for anyone except give power to certain beings, like the Ori?”
“You saw it, Vala. It gives people hope.”
“Hope.” She shook her head.
Daniel smiled and got a certain look in her eye. He was about to go into lecture mode. “Let me tell you a story, about a woman named Pandora.” Yes, a definite lecture was coming.
“Someone you know?”
“Not exactly. She’s from a very long time ago. Actually, I’m surprised you haven’t heard of her.”
“Should I have?” The name didn’t sound familiar.
“Hmm? Well, if there was a Goa’uld named Pandora then maybe. They seemed to like taking names from ancient Tau’ri mythology after all. Anyway, according to Hesiod, a Greek poet, Pandora was a human woman created by the Greek gods...”
“You mean the Goa’uld.” Daniel was telling her a story about the Goa’uld and hope?
He hesitated. “To be honest, I’m not sure. Remember, this is mythology so we don’t know if it was true or not. It might have been a parable, a made up tale to make a point.”
“So, why tell me about it?” She grinned. “I’m sure you know much better bedtime stories than this.”
Daniel shook his head at her obvious flirtatiousness. He might try to pretend it didn’t affect him, but she knew it did. It was what made teasing him so much fun.
“Okay, look. Pandora’s creation isn’t important but the jar, or box as many people call it, that’s connected with her is.”
“Daniel, please, I could die before you get to the point.”
She received an eye roll for her comment. “Putting it simply, Pandora had a box that was supposed to remain sealed. But she or someone else opened it and evil was released into the world. By the time the box was closed, only one thing was left inside. Hope.”
“That’s just stupid.”
“Why?”
“Well, it seems to me that this Panda...”
“Pandora.”
“Pandora. Whatever. It seems to me she could have been a bit more discerning about what she removed from the box. If I’d been her, I would have only removed the good stuff. You’re saying that because she only released the bad stuff, the people of this world are still looking for that hope and they find it in religion.”
“It’s one theory. Another version of the tale says that the jar contained blessings. When the jar was opened all the blessings were lost forever except for hope.”
“So people already have hope?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel, that’s just confusing.”
“I know.”
She thought about the time she spent imprisoned in her own body. At first, she had hoped - somewhat naively - that it was only a temporary situation and that she would soon be free. Then she had hoped for death. Neither of those hopes had come to fruition, until the Tok’ra had found her. By then, hope had gone. But she was alive, and perhaps there was a reason for hope.
“The people in those buildings didn’t have hope.”
“Some did. Because of their faith, their religion, they had hope of something after they died. Many religions believe in some form of life after death.”
“Is there such a thing? Really?”
Who knows? We’ll only find out after we die.” Daniel smiled sadly. “We can only believe that it helped them in their suffering.”
Vala felt the need to point out the obvious flaw in his earlier story. “A suffering that wouldn’t have existed if she hadn’t opened that box, jar thing.”
“Consider it a counter balance. Since there is evil, it’s good to have hope. There always has to be a balance in life.”
She snorted. “Right, through religion. But these beings used religion for evil. Which sounds painfully familiar.”
“It can be both good and bad, Vala. Man has used religion for power since time began. And yes, I accept your experiences with the Goa’uld doesn’t put religion and worship in a good light. But there are many people on this planet who use their religion and their faith for good purposes.”
“Such as?”
“There are hospitals, charities, schools and other organizations that were founded by religious groups. They believe in helping the poor and the hungry, and to help people better their lives. They have various motives, of course. Some like looking good to others while some see it as something their religion requires of them. But they are helping others. That’s some of the positives about religion. Many of them teach about having faith, hope, and love.”
“I’ve not seen much of that.”
“I can imagine you haven’t. But perhaps one day you will. I hope you will.” That was her Daniel, always trying to find the positive in something. She knew he’d been through a lot, had seen some of the worst the universe had to offer, but he still remained charmingly - she wanted to roll her eyes at the word that came to mind - hopeful.
“What happened to those people in those buildings and airplanes, Daniel, is that the worst evil you’ve seen?”
He was a silent for a moment and Vala could tell he was thinking about her question. “I don’t know,” he said at last. There are so many examples of it. Is one type of evil worse than another type of evil?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Ooh, that’s deep.”
“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”
It wasn’t something she wanted to contemplate. She’d had too much time over her long life to think about good and evil. She wanted to think about lighter things. And she didn’t want to think any longer about what she had seen before Daniel had arrived. “And you spend way too much time being deep and serious. I don’t want to be deep and serious. What’s for dinner?”
Thankfully, Daniel recognized her subject change for what it was. He stood up, pushed the chair back under the desk, and pushed his hands into his pockets. “I suppose that means you want to go eat.”
As they headed out the door, Vala had one final thing to say on the subject. “Perhaps I do have some hope, Daniel,” she said, tucking her arm through his.
He looked at her, as though intrigued by what she might say. Perhaps she’d come up with something deeply philosophical despite her earlier words. But she couldn’t do that to him. Life could not be serious all the time, and it was fun picking on him.
“I can always hope that you’ll take me out for a gourmet meal one night.” She batted her eyes at him.
“Yeah, right, Vala,” he said with a laugh. “Not in a million years.”
FINIS
AUTHOR: Matt
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: Vala discovers that what she thinks is fiction isn’t always the case, and receives an unexpected lesson about good and evil on our small, blue planet.
LONG INTRO NOTE: I’ve not written any fiction in close to 5 years, but I decided that perhaps I should participate in our Month of Love challenge. After all, I do host the challenge and try to persuade the rest of you to take part. After signing up, I hit the proverbial brick wall. What could I write about?
A long time ago, I wrote a long piece based off the episode where Vala insults a Senator at an important hearing in Washington, DC. Daniel and Vala visited the National Archives and Vala, as with many immigrants to the USA, liked the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. I wondered what else Vala might like about our planet, which reminded me of how Jonas Quinn loved watching the television. He loved the Weather Channel. What shows might Vala like?
This started as something light and fun. I had the first several lines written very quickly. I didn’t know where it was going, or that my mind would take a darker turn. Before I knew it, I had written a very serious conversation between Vala and Daniel. I saved it to my little travel drive and vowed to return to it. After all, I had plenty of time.
But time got away from me. I’ve always put home and family before almost anything else. I also review fiction for various publishers. Before I knew it, I had a stack of book reviews to do, some international flights to sort out, and my home just kept looking worse and worse. Then I got ill and lost an entire week. Finally, my computer began flashing warnings that a hard drive failure was imminent. (Thankfully, the machine is still functioning.) But I had committed myself to a date in the challenge, and I was going to stick to that commitment.
As a result, what you’ve got here is something I’ve literally just finished writing. It hasn’t been beta read. The only editing it has received has been what I’ve done as I read through it. I did do some research using Gateworld, which led to me getting sidetracked on other aspects of SG-1. So yes, this is very rough. When all is said and done, however, this is the first fanfic I’ve written in several years. Who knows when I’ll write the next piece?
The equivalent of the vocuum was called a teevee. Unlike the vocuum, however, you could at least change the channel if you didn’t like what it was showing or what the talking head on it was saying. Since Vala was restricted to the base, it proved to be an adequate method of passing time. There were so many channels and so many different subjects. Often, she would push the little channel button on what was called a remote until she found something to capture her interest.
The news proved to her that this world was just like any other. Poor people, rich people. War, criminals, politics.
The weather was useless to her. The only way she’d be leaving this facility any time soon was via the Stargate.
After what Qetesh had put her through, soap operas were boring.
Earth’s portrayal of space and aliens was interesting. Although she was enjoying the one called Far Scape, and thought Yotz was a marvelous addition to her language. There was also that one lead who looked a little bit like her Daniel.
Speaking of him, she preferred to do her watching without him. If he was in the room when she was doing what he called he could get quite excited if she passed by a program about history or archaeology. She didn’t care much for those, thought they were boring. They were all about funny people wearing funny clothes and weren’t exactly her idea of fun. Although watching Daniel when he disagreed with what was being said on them could be very entertaining.
By far, the ones she liked best were the kind that involved the solving of a puzzle. Especially if there was a reward for someone at the end. The problem was that she often couldn’t decide what was real and what wasn’t. There were shows about crimes where she just couldn’t tell. Often she thought she was watching fiction only to find she’d been watching something called a doc u mentry. There were also programs that seemed to be a mix of both acting and reality. And these would all often be on the same channel. It was just so confusing.
There was a show on now, involving space ships within the planet’s atmosphere crashing into buildings. No, wait, they were called airplanes. Vala was fairly certain it was fiction and it was intense, but it wasn’t the best crime drama she had seen. She couldn’t work out why the makers had shown the viewers the second airplane crashing into a building and not the first. Wouldn’t the first have been more dramatic? Or was the second airplane more dramatic because no one expected two? Nor did she understand why the shot kept being replayed?
“Oh, come on,” she muttered impatiently. “Get on with it. What happens next? Give me the who and why.”
There was a knock at the door. Knowing there was only one person who ever came to visit her, Vala beamed briefly before wrinkling her nose. No doubt he’d prefer to watch something more educational.
“Come in, Daniel,” she called. “But I’m watching this crime show and it’s rather interesting. “ She turned and caught sight of Daniel’s face. “Why darling, whatever is the matter?” He looked pale. Was he ill? She tried to get him to her bed - just in case he was ill of course - but he stood still, his attention focused on the tiny television screen. The second airplane was again crashing into the tall building.
“Oh yes,” she continued. “Another show I’ve discovered. Don’t know what it is, but I’m quite enjoying it. I have to say, using an airplane as a weapon of mass destruction is quite ingenious. I don’t know that I’ve even seen a Tel’tak intentionally used in that manner. It’s usually an accident or as a result of pilot error. I mean, what Goa’uld would sacrifice himself? What good is the glory if you’re not around to see it?”
It was at this point that Vala realized that Daniel hadn’t actually said anything since his arrival. She stopped talking and that was the moment he looked at her, looked at the TV, and then snatched up the remote and turned the screen to black.
“You think that was CSI or another of those crime dramas?” he demanded.
“Well, I knew it wasn’t CSI, darling. I hadn’t yet seen that pyramid building, and the lighting is too bright. But there are so many of these shows that it’s hard to...”
“Vala, that was real.”
“What?”
Daniel closed his eyes momentarily and then sat down on her desk chair. “That was real, Vala,” he said, more softly this time. “The plane going into the skyscraper actually happened. That’s actual footage. About four years ago, four planes were hijacked by terrorists. Three of them were deliberately crashed into buildings. Almost three thousand people died. One of the buildings attacked was a military facility. Friends of friends of mine were killed there.”
Vala sat down on her bed in shock. “You mean, people actually did this? I thought I was watching something made up, fiction. I never thought...” Her mind was a rush of thoughts. She also felt sick at knowing she had been entertained until she’d learned the truth. “How could they do that to their own race, Daniel? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Ah, the key word there is race. We’re talking about two different races.”
“Let me put it this way, Daniel. This was not an attack from another planet, from an alien race as you would say. This was the human race doing it to themselves. It’s something I would expect petty gods to do for fun.”
He nodded at the now silent television. “They did this in the name of their god.”
“What?”
“The people that did this. They were religious terrorists. For them, it was their religion versus... the others.”
“Religion? What good does religion do for anyone except give power to certain beings, like the Ori?”
“You saw it, Vala. It gives people hope.”
“Hope.” She shook her head.
Daniel smiled and got a certain look in her eye. He was about to go into lecture mode. “Let me tell you a story, about a woman named Pandora.” Yes, a definite lecture was coming.
“Someone you know?”
“Not exactly. She’s from a very long time ago. Actually, I’m surprised you haven’t heard of her.”
“Should I have?” The name didn’t sound familiar.
“Hmm? Well, if there was a Goa’uld named Pandora then maybe. They seemed to like taking names from ancient Tau’ri mythology after all. Anyway, according to Hesiod, a Greek poet, Pandora was a human woman created by the Greek gods...”
“You mean the Goa’uld.” Daniel was telling her a story about the Goa’uld and hope?
He hesitated. “To be honest, I’m not sure. Remember, this is mythology so we don’t know if it was true or not. It might have been a parable, a made up tale to make a point.”
“So, why tell me about it?” She grinned. “I’m sure you know much better bedtime stories than this.”
Daniel shook his head at her obvious flirtatiousness. He might try to pretend it didn’t affect him, but she knew it did. It was what made teasing him so much fun.
“Okay, look. Pandora’s creation isn’t important but the jar, or box as many people call it, that’s connected with her is.”
“Daniel, please, I could die before you get to the point.”
She received an eye roll for her comment. “Putting it simply, Pandora had a box that was supposed to remain sealed. But she or someone else opened it and evil was released into the world. By the time the box was closed, only one thing was left inside. Hope.”
“That’s just stupid.”
“Why?”
“Well, it seems to me that this Panda...”
“Pandora.”
“Pandora. Whatever. It seems to me she could have been a bit more discerning about what she removed from the box. If I’d been her, I would have only removed the good stuff. You’re saying that because she only released the bad stuff, the people of this world are still looking for that hope and they find it in religion.”
“It’s one theory. Another version of the tale says that the jar contained blessings. When the jar was opened all the blessings were lost forever except for hope.”
“So people already have hope?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel, that’s just confusing.”
“I know.”
She thought about the time she spent imprisoned in her own body. At first, she had hoped - somewhat naively - that it was only a temporary situation and that she would soon be free. Then she had hoped for death. Neither of those hopes had come to fruition, until the Tok’ra had found her. By then, hope had gone. But she was alive, and perhaps there was a reason for hope.
“The people in those buildings didn’t have hope.”
“Some did. Because of their faith, their religion, they had hope of something after they died. Many religions believe in some form of life after death.”
“Is there such a thing? Really?”
Who knows? We’ll only find out after we die.” Daniel smiled sadly. “We can only believe that it helped them in their suffering.”
Vala felt the need to point out the obvious flaw in his earlier story. “A suffering that wouldn’t have existed if she hadn’t opened that box, jar thing.”
“Consider it a counter balance. Since there is evil, it’s good to have hope. There always has to be a balance in life.”
She snorted. “Right, through religion. But these beings used religion for evil. Which sounds painfully familiar.”
“It can be both good and bad, Vala. Man has used religion for power since time began. And yes, I accept your experiences with the Goa’uld doesn’t put religion and worship in a good light. But there are many people on this planet who use their religion and their faith for good purposes.”
“Such as?”
“There are hospitals, charities, schools and other organizations that were founded by religious groups. They believe in helping the poor and the hungry, and to help people better their lives. They have various motives, of course. Some like looking good to others while some see it as something their religion requires of them. But they are helping others. That’s some of the positives about religion. Many of them teach about having faith, hope, and love.”
“I’ve not seen much of that.”
“I can imagine you haven’t. But perhaps one day you will. I hope you will.” That was her Daniel, always trying to find the positive in something. She knew he’d been through a lot, had seen some of the worst the universe had to offer, but he still remained charmingly - she wanted to roll her eyes at the word that came to mind - hopeful.
“What happened to those people in those buildings and airplanes, Daniel, is that the worst evil you’ve seen?”
He was a silent for a moment and Vala could tell he was thinking about her question. “I don’t know,” he said at last. There are so many examples of it. Is one type of evil worse than another type of evil?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Ooh, that’s deep.”
“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”
It wasn’t something she wanted to contemplate. She’d had too much time over her long life to think about good and evil. She wanted to think about lighter things. And she didn’t want to think any longer about what she had seen before Daniel had arrived. “And you spend way too much time being deep and serious. I don’t want to be deep and serious. What’s for dinner?”
Thankfully, Daniel recognized her subject change for what it was. He stood up, pushed the chair back under the desk, and pushed his hands into his pockets. “I suppose that means you want to go eat.”
As they headed out the door, Vala had one final thing to say on the subject. “Perhaps I do have some hope, Daniel,” she said, tucking her arm through his.
He looked at her, as though intrigued by what she might say. Perhaps she’d come up with something deeply philosophical despite her earlier words. But she couldn’t do that to him. Life could not be serious all the time, and it was fun picking on him.
“I can always hope that you’ll take me out for a gourmet meal one night.” She batted her eyes at him.
“Yeah, right, Vala,” he said with a laugh. “Not in a million years.”
FINIS