Colonel Attison was smiling when she returned. Daniel appeared to be hard at work, occasionally getting one of the men to turn the object so he could get a better angle on the minute writing. When the colonel entered, he had both men twisting about at odd angles at his instruction, but they both jumped to attention when she walked in, juggling the box between them before they managed to set it back on the table.
"Well?" she demanded, "Have you managed to translate the writing?" Daniel blinked at her.
"I think…maybe…" Daniel answered, his expression one of deep reflection, "well it was a bit hard without my books, but…it was fascinating, see, how it changes if you turn it in the light, and then, see, I wanted to see how many positions I could get them to turn it in, just because it was fun to see them twist their arms in knots, and then we were going to find Jack, because I wanted to show Jack, but they said I couldn't…" he trailed off, frowning slightly. Colonel Attison marched past him then, grabbing up some of his notes triumphantly. Her triumph, however, was short lived when she started to try and read them.
"What is this!" she demanded, marching up to Daniel and waving the papers in his face, "What language is this written in?!"
"Ah, right, well it's boring if you just use one language, you know, so I decided to use a bunch of different ones at once, just to make it more exciting. Do you know where Jack is?" Colonel Attison just stared at him for a moment, gaping at his wide-eyed, innocent look.
"We need this translation in English," she exclaimed at last, causing Daniel to lean back slightly from the venom in her voice, "Translate this now!" He stared back at her, a puzzled look on his face.
"No, see, I can't, because, because…because I'm not allowed to. Jack wouldn't like it." He watched in fascination as the Colonel's face took on a peculiar red color. When she spoke, however, it wasn't with anger but with a coaxing, almost condescending voice like one might use with an argumentative toddler.
"But Jack wants you to translate this. He told us he wanted you to translate it into English." Daniel stared at her, almost blankly for a moment, and then he smiled.
"You don't know Jack," he answered, and then giggling slightly, he said, "Sorry, sorry, no really, you don't know Jack. He said no translating for evil overlords, snakeheads, or forces of darkness. So…sorry." Attison's eyes narrowed, but Daniel seemed to have lost attention and was now reciting something to himself in what sounded like Latin. Her eyes sparking with contained fury, she grabbed up all of Daniel's notes and spun around towards the door where two uniformed men had followed her. She thrust the papers in their direction.
"Make copies of these. Then get all our linguists working on them. Tell them it's likely a combination of the several languages known by Dr Jackson. Then bring the originals back here." She turned back to face Daniel and his two guards as the others hurried off to do as she asked. Seeing that Daniel was now studying a spider web in a corner, she grabbed him, spinning him around to make him look at her. After giving him a long, hard look, she shoved him back towards the two towering guards. Before she could give any commands, another woman ran into the room.
"We've been contacted by our SGC agent," she announced, and Colonel Attison nodded, turning as though to follow, but she stopped at the door. The turned back towards her prisoner and the two men guarding him.
"Persuade him," she commanded, "I'll join you shortly." Then she left.
Miles away, Sam shifted nervously while she waited for her contact to show. She had finally been released to leave the SGC after three long, tedious days of tests and observation, but finally she had convinced everyone that her obsession of Jack had passed, and that she had nothing but concern for Daniel. Teal'c had been especially hard to shake, but in the end she had gotten her way, and now, free from the facility, she attempted to hook up with some old contacts. Now she was sitting in a booth in a diner, hoping for the agent to show. She didn't have to wait long.
"Word is, you've been cured. That Hammond's lost little lamb has returned to the fold." Sam looked up at the words but didn't turn around to face the voice. It was enough that she recognized it.
"You can't be cured of a belief," Sam answered, "It's either there, or it isn't."
"And what is it that you believe?" the voice asked, sounding mildly curious.
"Daniel Jackson was a danger to the facility. His way of thinking undermined our efforts in the war. And he had the ear of Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond. He needed to be eliminated."
"You desired revenge," the voice said, abruptly, "We gave it to you. What is it you are asking for now?"
"It hasn't worked," Sam answered, "Colonel O'Neill thinks about nothing but Daniel. He is on your trail even now. Everything is for nothing if he gets Daniel back, for you and for me."
"And so you want Dr Jackson…eliminated?"
"And left for Colonel O'Neill to find. He needs closure or he'll never stop looking." The voice chuckled softly.
"I don't think Colonel Attison is ready to give up her new toy. He's been quite…helpful."
"I can pay you. I can provide you with alien technology."
"We have our own sources. Besides, we aren't convinced you haven't changed. How do we know your team isn't recording this conversation right now? This could be a ruse in your attempts to find Dr Jackson." Sam laughed bitterly at this.
"You think Colonel O'Neill would take the risk of asking you to kill his precious Daniel? If this were a set up, you would already be caught." No one spoke for a long moment.
"We will consider your offer," the voice said at last. When Sam finally did turn around, the booth was empty.