"So... you like naquadah reactors, blowing up sun's, flying alien ships semi-hazardously and riding motorcycles... which brings me back to my original question," he summarized, "Would you have been happier stranded on a planet such as Phyithilian?"

"That's not a fair question, Jack," she said as she stood up from the fire, "Each planet has its own plusses and minuses," she finished cryptically as she headed off to get their sleeping bags out for their nightly stargazing session.

- - -

- - -

Ch 19: TECHNOBABBLE

- - -

He sat in front of the fire for a few more moments before heading over to join her. Musing over his memories of Phyithilia... mixed with the images of that lake just down the valley... and images of her typing away on her computer that early morning... and showing him the digital image panorama when they'd reached the lake. And then images of her typing away again this evening, just before their discussion about Phyithilia.

And then it hit him. The answer was blindingly obvious.

Her words echoed in his head. "Are you sure that you really want to know?"

Technobabble.
The answer was technobabble.

She was trapped here thousands of light-years away from her life, her family and friends. Trapped here away from almost everything that had defined Sam Carter. The military. Technology. Motorcycles. Planes. Doohickeys.

But her mind was still revving along.
Clickety, clickety, clickety...
...the sounds of the keys echoed silently in his mind.
She was still thinking.
She'd never stop.

But as things stood right now, she had no one to talk to... or at least no one who would listen. He'd always set a frame of reference where he made it clear that he didn't want to hear it. That he'd simply trust her conclusions. But there's always been others she could talk with... chatting excitedly about the wonders of the universe and how it worked.

So, he couldn't give her a motorcycle or a plane or even a bunch of cool alien doohickeys to play with... but he could listen. He could at least do that.

With his mind made up, he got up from the fire and went over to join her for their nightly stargazing.

- - - - - - - -

"Hey," he said softly as he crawled into his sleeping bag beside hers.

"Hey," she returned softly, her eyes not leaving her scan of the heavens.

"Find any new ones?" he asked.

"Not any good ones," she responded.

"Well then, you have to tell me the bad ones," he prodded hopefully.

Her eyes slid sideways at him and she shook her head negatively and then returned her gaze to the sky. "No way, you'll laugh."

"No, I won't. Honest Injun," he tried for an innocent voice, but she was looking at him suspiciously. "C'mon, Sam, spill – or I'll just pester you about it all night," he mock-threatened.

She sighed. "Fine. All I've picked out tonight are some groupings that I think look like... a little fluffy sheep and another looks a rubber ducky...," she stopped indignantly at the sounds of snorting coming from next to her. She narrowed her eyes and realized that that was fairly ineffectual when the target had ducked into his sleeping bag. "Jack! You said you wouldn't laugh," she tried a threatening tone, but it was hard to threaten a snorting, shaking sleeping bag.

"Big Bad Intergalactic Spaceship Pilot sees Giant Rubber Ducky and Cute Fluffy Sheep," he mocked a news headline from still under the covers of his bag. It was a testament to their changing relationship that they could be a little silly with each other. If only for a few moments. If only here at night under the stars. But the day's main work was done, and they could try and relax and let go of their responsibilities and professional decorum. They could enjoy a bit of light-heartedness.

"I think I will name the Rubber Ducky constellation O'Neill," she declared in a serious tone that sounded suspiciously like she was channeling Teal'c.

The sleeping bag's shaking motion stilled, "You can't do that, we have to agree on the names and I will never agree to letting you name a rubber ducky after me," came the disembodied voice.

"Yeah, well... I'm the one entering the data into the computer... so I may just have to make a few judgment calls of my own," she returned lightly.

"You wouldn't," he challenged.

"You laughed," she returned archly.

Slowly his head peeked out of the top of his bag. "Pax?"

She looked sideways at him and then back up at the stars. A few moments of silence passed as she made him wait. "Pax," she finally agreed.

"So, where is this Rubber Ducky, anyway?"

"Jack...," the threatening tone was back.

"OK, then how about the Big Fluffy Sheep?" and he sounded like he was trying to hold the giggles down.

"No giggling, Jack," she admonished.

"That's my line," he protested. "And besides, I wasn't giggling. That was chuckling."

"Sure, Jack," with the tone of long-sufferance that women used with men whenever they acted like he was.

- - - - - - - -

He let a half-hour or so pass before trying out his new idea. They were still stargazing and they hadn't named any new constellations tonight. The night was mostly quiet with a little idle chatter between the two of them.

"So, Sam, I was wondering... how the heck do you know the direction to Earth from here?" he kept his tone conversational.

But she didn't fall for it. She just looked over at him to make sure that he hadn't morphed into someone else. "Jack?" she asked.

"How do you know how far we are from Earth... and which direction it is from here?" he asked again and tried to look very interested.

She narrowed her eyes at him and looked at him suspiciously. "It's just a lot of math and physics," she replied.

"Like what?" he prodded.

"Jack, are you asking for the explanation? The technobabble?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I guess I am," he tried to sound nonchalant.

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"Why?" he repeated back.

"Yes, why?" and in her tone he could hear her eyes rolling.

"I just... Look, we're most probably going to be here a long time... and well, I figure I should expand my horizons a little. You're kinda like my own personal electronic PDA encyclopedia," Whoops, too far there. Or maybe not, she actually seemed to relax when he came out as his old derisive self.

She studied him for a moment or two longer. Trying to assess his motivations. Apparently giving up on figuring him out, however, she reflexively fell back on her training and responded to the request of her superior officer... even one who was apparently a little off in the head.

And for the next 20 minutes, she explained the geometry of their location with Earth, the new Alpha Site, and several other new worlds. She explained how the SGC numbering system helped her identify which part of the galaxy each planet is located in. She tried to describe how she visualized the 3-D map in her head. How she was able to mentally turn the 3-D map around in order to be able to visualize how it would look from a different angle.

And that was the part that he found the most interesting. The math and physics didn't intrigue him, but when she tried to describe how her mind worked – that he found riveting. She on the other hand, found it a bit uncomfortable, and retreated back into the math and the physics explanations as quickly as she could.

And so it went.

He had found his gift to her.
He would let her share her thoughts with him... her technobabble.

And then he realized something exceedingly important.

She lit up as she progressed through her explanation.
She needed this release desperately.
Intellectually, that mind that was Sam Carter needed this stimulation and outlet.

He wondered what would have happened to their relationship if he'd continued to stifle and deny her the opportunity to talk about these things with the only other person on this planet. Himself.

"Jack?" Uh oh.

"Yeah?"

"You don't want to hear any more do you?" she asked knowingly and with a hint of amusement.

"Actually, I do," and she looked astonished. "Just not tonight," he qualified. "I think my brain is full," he went for the humor and was rewarded with a smile.

"Ri-i-ight," she responded with obvious doubt and he smiled in the dark.

It was going to take awhile to convince her that he was serious.

- - -

TBC

- - -

Author's Note: Portions of the end of this chapter follow the theme of the wonderful short fanfic "Night Sky" by Joolz, which can be found at wwwdotgeocitiesdotcom/joolz4me/NightSky.htm (just replace the dots with periods)