A/N: It's been brought to my attention that the meaning of the term "professor" differs between different countries. Simply put, in the US it's a title and in Sweden it's a degree, and since the point of Noli Brennan's title is to show how proficient she is in her field I'm changing it to "doctor". Sorry for the inconvenience.
Chapter four, just a shorty:
Chapter 4
Daniel was still ambivalent about Noli's random presence in his office. On the one hand, she kept interrupting his train of thought as she came and went, moved her squeaky chair around and tapped her pencil on the desk, and he wasn't getting as much done as he wanted. A hint of frustration was growing inside of him over this. On the other hand, when they both trailed off from their respective work and engaged in conversation, she seemed to be empathetic and curious. And one morning, when Noli had just come in and seated herself to start the day's work, he got another hint of that side of her personality.
Daniel was looking at old engravings describing goa'ulds and one people's perception of them that seemed unusually sober. Noli tilted her head to get a better view of the pictures. She thoughtfully gestured at them.
"Symbiotes", she said.
"Right."
"And they're evil, basically." Daniel nodded. He started telling her about their traits and behaviour, illustrating with examples from SG-1's own experiences with the creatures. Noli seemed saddened.
"The universe is abusing itself", she said slowly, looking down at the engravings. Then she looked up, smiling a little embarrassed. "That probably sounded crazy."
Daniel looked at her.
"No, actually, it didn't. If you want to take the notion that everything's connected a step further..."
"Then everything is the same", Noli filled in. "There are no borders between matter, and everything in the universe, is the universe." She laughed. "Sounds so flakey." Daniel smiled.
"It's true though." He was surprised. Maybe this physics professor was closer to understanding the world as he saw it than he first thought. If only she could stop fidgeting with things while she worked.