~ is internal speech

bold is symbiote speaking with symbiote voice

A/N: had to redo this a little as someone told me the care symbols/markings in the clothes are different in the US (no number to signify the heat of the water, but dots instead).

Denver, March 1st 2000 (Wednesday)

When they returned to their apartment, they remembered the bicycle and the flat tire. Unhappily they took the repair kit they had bought, as well as the pump, and went to figure out how to patch the hole in the inner tube.

After some difficulty they had gotten the wheel off the bicycle, and then removed the tire and the inner tube. They had just located the hole when they heard someone speaking behind them. Martouf who was the one in control turned to look at them. Three young men and a young woman.

"Hi! You're the new guy in number 4, right?" one of the young men asked.

~The probably mean apartment number 4 in this building,~ Lantash suggested helpfully.

"I am, yes," Martouf confirmed. He rose, realizing they wanted to talk. "I am Martouf." He remembered humans on this planet usually greeted by shaking hands, and looked at his hands. "I apologize, but my hands are quite dirty so it is probably not a good idea to shake hands."

"No problem!" one of the other men smiled. "I'm Jake. This is my girlfriend, Sue."

"Hi!" Sue said.

Martouf bowed his head in greeting. "Hello."

"And I'm Simon."

"My name's Keanu. I live in number 8, together with Simon and Jake. Simon is my brother."

"Ah. Well, hello." Martouf smiled at them, unsure what they wanted.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but we just thought we'd say hi. Are you here to study?" Simon asked.

"I am." Martouf confirmed.

"The same for us. We're all in graduate school. Jake and I study medicine." Sue told him. "What's your area?"

"Uh..." Martouf began, uncertain. ~What do I say? Science?~

~I think that is a bit too general. What about astrophysics? Like Samantha? We will absolutely know more about that than anyone from this world in any case,~ Lantash insisted, confidently.

"Astrophysics," Martouf said.

"Wow. Impressive!" Sue said.

"I'm in mechanical engineering," Simon told him.

"English literature for me," Keanu said. "So, what's wrong with your bike?"

"There is a hole in the inner tube, causing it to leak air," Martouf explained.

"Ah, it's got a leak. Okay. Want help? I've fixed a lot of bikes." Jake said.

"This is the first time for me," Martouf admitted. "I suppose I would not mind some assistance."

"Sure, no problem." Jake said. "Let me look. Did you find the leak?"

"I did." Martouf showed him.

"Pretty big one! You hit a sharp rock or a nail?"

"Rock."

"Hm. Well, we'll patch it up."

They began working, with Jake showing Martouf how to do it. It was much faster than it would have been if Martouf and Lantash should have done it on their own. Soon the bicycle was repaired and everything put together again. Meanwhile, Simon, Sue, and Keanu stood and chatted in the background.

"Thank you," Martouf said. "Please inform me if there is anything I can do to help you in the future."

"No problem. Glad to help." Jake said.

"So, where are you from, Martouf? I mean, you're not from around here, are you? I like your name, but it's - different." Sue said.

"I am from Canada." Martouf told them.

"Canada? I've been there once, on vacation." Sue told him. "It's nice."

Martouf nodded, worried. "My family is not originally from Canada, but from further away. Uh, Europe." He told them, remembering there was a continent called that.

Sue nodded. "Okay. Well, I've never been to Europe, but I'd like to."

They all talked for a little while longer, before saying goodnight and going each to their place. Martouf did get an invitation to a party the following Friday, which he said he would consider.

~That was interesting. Meeting Tau'ri. Perhaps we can make friends with them?~

~Perhaps, but it would be a friendship based on lies, as we cannot tell them who we really are.~

Denver, March 2nd 2000 (Thursday)

~We will need clean clothing very soon. Perhaps we should buy some more?~

~We have already done that several times. I think it is time to find out how the Tau'ri does. We have washed a little of the clothes in the sink, but that cannot be how they do normally.~

~Maybe they have placed where it is cleaned, just like in the tunnels? We have also taken turns working in the laundry there, maybe people do the same here?~

~I believe we would have been told if that was the case. Perhaps we should research it 'online'.~

~Or maybe just ask someone?~

~We can't risk that. It is something I am sure everyone would know! It would be suspicious!~

~All right. You research it 'online' then.~

~I will. I wonder if Samantha has received the letter we sent her yet?~

~Perhaps we should go and see if the stasis jar is still at the museum.~

~I do not believe they would have had time to fetch it yet. Maybe we should wait.~ Lantash sat down at the desk and turned on the computer. ~Let us focus on figuring out how to launder our clothing.~

~You are sure this is the right place?~

~Yes, it is the closest 'laundry' to where we live.~

~All right. What now?~

~We probably need some of that.~ Lantash called Martouf's attention to some vending machines which proclaimed that they sold detergent.

~Detergent? What is detergent?~

~Some sort of soap I think. I have seen it in a commercial on the television.~

~Right, I think I remember that. Okay, so we need that. What else? Do we just stuff everything into one of those machines here? And are they all the same? I mean, some look different.~

~I think those that are marked 'dryers' are used for drying the clothing after washing it.~

~Okay, that makes sense. I suppose we just take the clothes and put as much as will fit into one of the machines, and then fill more machines as needed.~

The laundry place was completely empty aside from them, so there was no one to ask, and no one to follow the example of. They just began stuffing the clothing into the nearest machine.

"It's probably not a good idea to put those coloured socks with the whites - and I doubt that sweater can even be washed here."

"What?" Martouf asked, turning around to see an elderly lady that had entered the place without them discovering it, since they were so caught up in their work.

"Haven't you used a washing machine before? At home, at least?" The woman looked at him from top to toe, with a sceptical expression. "What are you, 25? 26? You should be old enough to know how to do that! Didn't your mother teach you?"

"My mother is dead. She was killed when I was quite young. I am not from this country, and we do our laundry differently where I come from," Martouf explained.

"Oh. I am sorry to hear that! Poor thing! Where are you from?"

~Don't say Canada! I get the impression Canada is not different enough for this!~

"Europe." ~Where? North, south, west, east? Middle? Do you know any countries there?~

~No. I pick... north.~

"Northern europe. Our... laundry machines are very different." Martouf said.

The woman nodded. "I see. Well, I had better help you then, so you don't destroy all your clothing."

"I would be most greatful for that, madam," Martouf said.

"It is no problem at all. See..." She picked up a piece of clothing. "I'm guessing you probably know this, but there are markings in the clothes, on this small patch of clothing, which is usually located in the neck, or along the side near the bottom. These markings tell you what fabric the clothes are made of, the size, and also often care symbols telling you how to launder it."

"That is most useful. So what does the dots inside those symbols mean?"

"Water temperature - one dot is cold, two is warm, and three is hot. That symbol tells you how to dry the clothes."

She kept explaining, and Martouf removed his clothes from the washing machines and sorted it roughly by colour, and by temperature it could be washed at. He then placed the now sorted clothes in the washing machines, and added the detergent.

"Thank you so much for your assistance," Martouf told the woman, when the washing machines were running. "Please tell me if there is anything I can do to help you in return."

"No problem! I enjoyed talking to you. You are a very nice and polite young man." She smiled at him.

Martouf smiles back, and sat down to wait for his clothes to be washed.

When their clothes were clean and dry, Martouf and Lantash carried them back to their apartment. It had taken several hours, but at least they now had clean clothing for a couple weeks - they had ended up buying quite a lot of clothing when they did not know how to launder it.

They spent the rest of the day at the library, reading books about Earth and particularly the country they were currently in.

~Perhaps we had better read some current books about astrophysics as well. If we are to pretend we are studying astrophysics, we should make sure we know how much or how little the Tau'ri know about this subject.~

~Good idea. I believe we should start by going to the university and finding the place where they teach astrophysics. Then maybe they will have a library specifically for that subject and we can look at a few books there, maybe?~

~Let us do that tomorrow, then. I believe it's time to go home and get something to eat now.~