'I don't believe you,' Jack O'Neill stated flatly to the being in his head as he sat on the floor with back propped against the wall. He was currently bouncing the Goa'uld communication orb in his hand against the opposite wall, the metallic sphere eliciting a high-pitched 'ping' sound as it hit the blue crystal wall then to the floor before returning to Jack's hand. The Tok'ra had established a very thrown-together, cramped temporary tunnel system on the moon in the Pelnami system and its small confines were about to give Jack cabin fever. Unfortunately, a walk to clear his head was out of the question... the atmosphere on the moon's surface was unbreathable, effectively trapping anyone unless they wanted to ring out of the tunnels and up to a tel'tac. Jack had given up hoping for that when he was flatly told he could not take a tel'tac out for a spin.

–Your bodies are not that fascinating to us, Jack, you'll just have to trust me on this.–

Jack bounced the orb off the wall again, caught it, and tossed once more in a pattern, one that had held for at least an hour already. 'But come on... you're telling me if you jumped into the hottest woman in the world you wouldn't? Not even if the host was fine with you checking her out, doing a little... exploration?'

–No, and I find the assumption the Tok'ra would be so perverse insulting.– Jack smirked congenially, because despite Aetom's words he did not sense indignation from the symbiote.

Jack launched the orb again toward the far wall, producing the vibrating 'ping-ping' that had begun to form a sing-song rhythm. 'Nothing perverse about it, Aetom, the human form is a beautiful thing.'

Aetom rolled his eyes, –Then why have you not asked if I have ever fondled the bodies of my male hosts?–

Jack's toss-catch-toss rhythm faltered before resuming, tinted with the mirth of Aetom's reaction to his host's stutter. 'That's sick, Aetom, and if you do have this little fetish it's not something I want to know about.'

–You need not be concerned, Colonel O'Neill, I have never 'checked you out'.–

'What, like there's something wrong with me?'

Aetom smiled, –You continue to assume that I am male.–

Jack stopped again, 'You mean you're not? I mean, I thought sna...symbiotes had that whole genderless thing going.'

–Biologically, yes, but often symbiotes, both Goa'uld and Tok'ra, develop a preference for the gender of their hosts. After enough time in the bodies of one sex, a symbiote can take on psychological traits of that gender, even identify themselves by the label of male or female.–

'Yeah... but... so you're not a guy?'

Aetom was enjoying himself, blatantly teasing, –I did not say that, but I might not be.–

Jack tossed the ball against the wall again, beginning to sense Aetom was playing with him, 'Well, if you were a chick then I would really want to know why I hadn't been violated. I'm not that bad looking, you know, in fact some might call me distinguished.'

–I believe that is a Tau'ri way of saying aged.–

'Watch yourself, pal.'

Aetom chuckled.

'So... seriously. You've never been in a woman and just, you know...'

–O'Neill, you are a different species from my own, and while a Tok'ra may admire the strengths of your mind your bodies are not attractive to us. It would be like you finding the body of a female Unas sexually appealing.–

Jack grimaced at the notion, recalling the scaly green monsters that Daniel had such an affinity for.

Aetom, intentionally turning Jack's earlier words against him, taunted, –I am certain the male Unas find their females quite beautiful.–

Smiling, Jack threw the ball against the wall again. His eyes darted up to the figure moving into the room as he caught the orb on the rebound. Jacob stood looking down at Jack, first hints of a questioning smirk on his face. "What are you smiling about?"

Jack lifted two fingers away from the communication orb in his hand and waved abstractly at his head, "Aetom; what's up, Dad?"

Jacob shook his head, watching Jack throw the orb against the wall again. "That's not what those are for, you do know that, don't you, Jack?"

Jack turned the orb over in his hand, fingers brushing over the scratches and pock marks his handling had put into the sphere which had been smooth and unmarred days ago. "Aetom said the Tok'ra don't use them. Anyway, I'm bored out of my skull," then he stopped to smile again at himself.

"Jack?"

Jack waved it off, "Aetom just conjured up a strange mental image for that saying. So, stop by to play catch?" His tone was hopeful, almost childlike, as he brandished the communication orb.

Jacob snorted, "No, I didn't. Heard you talked to the council today."

Jack, pouting, turned back to throwing the orb against the wall, "Yep... well, Aetom did. Still peeved they wouldn't let me make a recording for General Hammond... now I'm going to have to sit through the same debriefing AGAIN."

Jacob took a step further into the room, watching the communication orb fly against the wall then bounce back into Jack's hand. "I came to tell you good news and bad news, which would you like first?"

Jack paused, thinking, then said, "Bad first."

"Okay... the Tok'ra don't have a new host for Aetom yet."

"Oooh, Jacob!"

Jacob held up his hands, "It's not my doing, Jack, hosts are always scarce. It just might take a little while."

Jack sighed, gloomy, "Well, what's the good news?"

Jacob walked over to the wall opposite Jack and sat down on the floor facing the colonel. Jack's eyes lit up, a smile teased at the corners of his mouth, and he tossed the orb toward Jacob. Jacob caught the metal ball and looked down at it. He shook his head as he studied the advanced technology scuffed and scratched like a dime-store baseball under the idle colonel's care, then threw it back to Jack. "The good news, the surveillance of the planet hasn't turned up any sign of Goa'uld so you could get to send a message back to Earth as early as tomorrow."

"Sweet."

Jacob and Jack tossed the orb back and forth in silence a few moments before Jacob spoke, "How you doing with the whole symbiote thing?"

Jack gave a half shrug.

"Come on, Jack, I know what you think of Tok'ra symbiosis, in fact I think every Tok'ra and Goa'uld in the universe does. I'm surprised you haven't asked us to cut your head off yet."

Jack smirked, pensive a moment as he tossed the orb to Jacob, then sighed, "It's a lot like junior officers' quarters, I guess. You set a few ground rules with you roommate to get him to stop leaving his underwear on the lamp shade and his half-eaten liverwurst sandwich on the desk for a week," Jack suddenly made a twisted face, causing Jacob to stop a moment, but without explanation Jack's sour expression vanished and he held out his hands for the orb. Jacob assumed another peculiar exchange between Jack and Aetom, either that or Jack wasn't taking to the Tok'ra diet well.

Jack commented casually, "I guess it's not as bad as I thought it was, and Aetom's a pretty decent Tok'ra to have stuck in your brain... but that doesn't mean I want to have him hanging around indefinitely."

Jacob nodded, knowing Jack's opinion was fair enough given the circumstances, "Coming from you, I think Aetom should be flattered."

Jack smiled oddly, "He is... Aetom is a 'he', right?"

Jacob frowned at the question, "He's always taken male hosts, why?"

Jack shook his head, "No reason, just settling an argument."

Companionable silence lapsed again, the orb continuing its lazy arch from human to human, this time interrupted by Jack suddenly speaking. "Jacob?"

"Yes?"

"Is there any reason I can't go home tomorrow?"

Jacob cocked his head faintly, "What do you mean?"

"Instead of just sending a message back to Earth, can't I just go? I could come back when they've found a new host for Aetom."

Jacob smirked, "Aren't having fun at Tok'ra camp?"

Jack rolled his eyes, "You could put it that way. I don't know how you stand the monotony, not to mention some of the company. You know, some of the Tok'ra here could really use a weekend in Maui."

Jacob smiled, "Well, if you wanted to go on Tok'ra missions I think you'd find the lifestyle much more interesting."

For a second Jack perked up, like he might be considering work as a Tok'ra secret agent, then he simmered, "All due respect, sir, I'd just rather sleep in my own bed and have some pizza and a couple of beers. You can keep your Tok'ra Bond stuff."

Jacob chuckled but was inwardly finding the inclination to relent to Jack's request. When Jack remembered he'd been a general, treated him like a superior officer, he really wanted whatever it was he was asking for, even going to the extreme lengths (for Colonel O'Neill) of being respectful.

"I'll have to see what the council says about that, they might have some reason for not wanting Aetom idling away on our primitive little planet wasting his skills, but if you can persuade your symbiote you'd probably have a good chance of convincing the council. After a mission as long as Aetom's the council is usually pretty lenient to a Tok'ra's request."

Jack nodded, gaze seeming to phase out of his immediate surroundings, and Jacob left him in silence, mechanically throwing the communication orb back and forth with the spaced out Air Force colonel while Jack and Aetom obviously discussed the matter.