"My God, McGee", exclaimed Abby as she threw down the headphones, "You must have sleep apnoea. Have you heard this?" she switched on the speakers.

McGee flushed a little from his perch on the stool next to her, "Abbs, I was sick", he mumbled, "and they gave me something that really knocked me out."

"Well, it's going to take some time to drag the background conversations out of that bit", she huffed, "And you still grind your teeth, by the way: I told you that you should still wear that retainer."

McGee grimaced; this was going to be a long afternoon.

"And this bit!" she shrieked, "What's with all the whale noises. No wonder Willy wanted to be free."

"I was sick", McGee defended, "I had been throwing up for hours, give me a break."

"But this", Abby moved the recoding forward, "Is my personal favourite".

McGee rubbed his hand across his forehead wearily. "I had to go, Abbs, what was I meant to do?"

"So I'm thinking of releasing two recordings", Abby enthused, "one with the background noise and one entitled 'McGee's body noises'."

McGee shook his head. He was still fairly tired after his ordeal and not really in the mood for all this. He folded his arms on the bench and sunk his head wearily on top with a sigh. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel some residual ship motion even though he was on terra firma again. At least he didn't feel queasy any more.

"You know what would really help me out?" said Abby brightly.

"Me going home and sleeping for a week?" he ventured hopefully.

Abby's smile widened "Yes! That's it! Fantastic idea, McGee!"

"Excuse me?" his head popped up. Conversations with Abby were rarely linear.

"I need to filter out these noises to get to the ones I want", Abby reasoned, "If I can model the snoring, the teeth grinding and the stomach thing, I can match the sounds and eliminate them."

McGee was staring at her in horror. "You want me to wire up tonight so you can tape every sound I make? Again?"

"No", said Gibbs materialising at the door, "I need it sooner than that. Every moment we wait that ship and that killer are moving further out of range."

"OK, OK", Abby jumped up excitedly, "Let's see if you can snore into the microphone".

She held the device up to McGee's mouth, "Come on, let's hear it…" she urged.

"No, no, no", he backed away from her, climbing backwards off the stool, "What about some form of self-cal: we can model the snoring from the loud bit in the beginning and then use that to clean up the later bits when the snoring is fainter."

Abby paused for a moment, "A valid suggestion, my dear McGee", she began, calculating as she spoke, "Except there is a lot of loud talking mixed in with that initial snoring which will contaminate the signal. Now come here, my pretty." She thrust the microphone under his nose.

McGee looked down hesitantly at the device and then up at Abby. "I'm not sure how I do it?"

"Well, lie down on your back then", Abby suggested pulling him to the floor, "that makes it easier to make the noise".

"Abbs I can't do this," he protested weakly.

"Yes you CAN", she assured him, "You can do it in your sleep!"

"Very droll"

He lay down and attempted a snort. Abby frowned at him.

"No, no", she complained, "it has to be exactly the same. Think Fourier analysis, I need those frequencies."

He closed his eyes and tried again but no matter what he tried, he could not seem to even approximate the noises on the tape.

"It's no use", he said finally, "I can't do this, you'll just have to wait until tonight."

"Look, you're really tired", she said in the silk smooth tone of a hypnotist, "why don't you just lie down in the back there and when you fall asleep, I'll sneak around with the microphone."

McGee looked at Abby's predatory smile and flaring eyes and never felt more acutely awake. Every sense was exquisitely alive and tingling, possibly with fear. He wasn't entirely sure Abby wouldn't rip out his jugular for good measure if he managed even a minute of unconsciousness in her presence.

"I ah, don't think I could do that now", he said eyeing her warily.

"Why not!" Abby was incredulous, "You were ready to drop a moment ago and now you won't even sleep for the job. Think of it as sleeping your way to the top."

"Maybe we could just find a model on the internet", McGee suggested, jumping up, his hands diving for the keyboard.

"No, it has to be your own personal frequencies", Abby reminded him, "What about hypnosis?"

"Wouldn't it be just easier to…"

"I have a better idea," said Gibbs from the door.