Chapter 2

"It's an absolute dream", doctor Brennan marveled as Sam led her into the gate room. Sam had decided to make a quick stop with her guest at the heart of the base before proceeding to the lab. "And you monitor the alpha fluctuations with a DST-program?"

"That's right." Sam was smiling to herself at doctor Brennan's unconcealed fascination. "Doctor Brennan..."

"Noli, please. Call me Noli." The doctor was making her way up the ramp, her gaze locked on the dark gray gate that was looking slightly ominous.

"Noli. Um, the gate's not going to be activated for a few hours so I thought we might come back later, when SG-9 is scheduled to return, and you can see it in action."

"That'd be great..." Noli was standing inches from the gate with only half an ear directed at Sam. She slowly raised her hand, and paused when her palm was mere millimeters from the surface, as if she was checking the temperature of a hotplate. Then she calmly pressed the flat of her hand against it and leaned in, resting her temple on the surface above.

After a few, for Sam slightly awkward seconds, Noli stood up straight and let her hand fall to her side. She turned and walked back down to Sam looking quite content.

"Just wanted to say hi."

Sam nodded, trying to neutralize her face. She supposed what Noli had just done wasn't quite strange enough to count as strange, yet she got the feeling that, well, it was. But every scientist is entitled to a certain amount of excentricity, she thought to herself. In any case she soon forgot about the whole thing as they proceeded to the lab, absorbed in conversation.

When SG-9 returned in the afternoon Sam brought Noli to the gate to watch it in action. She watched the computer readings in deep concentration, and after grilling the team with questions about how it felt to go through the wormhole the doctor turned to Sam with an array of technical ponderings. Sam was happy to answer, or discuss together with Noli when she didn't have the immediate answers, but she was surprised that her new colleague wasn't more interested in the foreign world the team had just visited. So was Daniel, when he came down to have a look at the large object mostly resembling a rock that SG-9 had brought with them to be examined.

"It sounds like you're more fascinated that wormhole travel is at all possible than the fact that there are countless other worlds out there full of aliens", he mused, his own mind trailing off into space.

"Well, I never really doubted that... Felt like an alien enough times myself, you know?" Noli sounded cheerful, but for a short moment a cloud chased across her eyes. Daniel and Sam smiled a little hesitantly. Noli seemed a bit embarrassed and changed the subject, crouching at the big rock. "So, is this anything?" she asked, turned to Daniel. He got down next to her and squinted his eyes. "Well", he started and trailed its surface with his fingers. "This looks like it might have had something written on it... Or, maybe not..." The rock really was very anonymous and he wasn't quite sure why the team had brought it back. "Sometimes you can recover..." He interrupted himself as Noli seemed to have lost interest in what he was saying and was staring intently on the rock, her hand hovering over the surface and then landing flat on it. Her expression softened, and after a moment she let go and stood up.

"I think you should keep it. Who knows, maybe it's something", she said.

"Ok..." Daniel was a bit surprised that Noli should have an opinion on the subject, but gathered it was the curiosity of a layman speaking. "By the way", he remembered, "they're setting up an office for you but it's not done yet, so general Hammond said you should bunk up with me."

Daniel wasn't overly excited to be sharing his office; it might be interesting having this newcomer around, but it might also get annoying. As long as she didn't get in the way too much he guessed it would be alright for a little while.

Upon leaving Sam talked to Daniel. "Did you see that?" she said quietly. "She did the same thing with the stargate."

"What?"

Sam gestured. "The... touching. She put her hand on it."

Daniel looked at her. "Ok?"

Sam realised how it sounded. She gave up and said: "It's probably nothing. I just took notice, that's all."

"Maybe she's just a touchy-feely kind of person."

"Yeah." Sam didn't feel convinced, but couldn't find any rational reason to feel suspicious.