Chapter 6

After four days the teams returned. The information they had gathered wasn't conclusive, but there seemed to be an intricate but regular pattern of energy being emmitted from somewhere beneath the surface of the planet. Scouting the vicinity hadn't lead to any discoveries, and Sam was suggesting that any action in that place had been, or was, going on underground. They had left the measuring equipment to gather more data while they went back to the base.

The atmosphere during the mission had been strained, the russian team members mostly tending to themselves, talking amongst each other around the camp at night. Jack's diplomatic skills didn't help the situation, though the others had done their best to act inclusive to their colleagues. Most of them were willing to partake in the work, but they weren't friendly and seemed to find it hard to accept being supervised by the americans. Daniel wanted to put at least some of it down to the language barriers, but Jack had made up his mind: the russians just sucked. If Hammond wanted him to drag people from Russia around on other planets he would have to give him some that at least did as they were told, without looking like they wanted to kill him.

When Daniel returned to his office he rejoiced to see it empty again. Apparently Noli had finally moved in to the room around the hall and he had his place to himself again. He roamed around his bookshelves for a while, looking for a particular source - the scratches on the rock SG-9 had brought might resemble something he'd seen before, if they were at all residue from writing, and he wanted to check it out. He found the book, sat down and put his feet up on the edge of the desk and started turning pages, reveling in the peace and quiet.

He found the right place and started reading up on the old language.

Finally, it was easy to concentrate again. Nice and quiet.

He looked at pictures of symbols. It was very interesting.

He looked at pictures of other symbols.

It sure was quiet.

He looked around the office.

He looked in the book.

He looked at his watch.

Damn, it was quiet.

He turned some pages.

He was pretty sure he didn't have a clock in his office, but even so he could almost hear one ticking. Slowly.

Daniel sighed at himself, gave up and went for a stroll down the hall. To no surprise he ended up outside Noli's new office. The door stood open and he peeked inside. Noli was at her desk, actually looking quite serene. She had somewhere got a hold of a larger wooden chair instead of the usual office ones, and she was sitting with her legs pulled up on one side, leaning on her elbow and tracing a pen across the pages of a densly written notebook. When Daniel cleared his throat she looked up, her face breaking up into a smile as she saw him.

"Heya, you're back. How was it? Come in, share." She waved him over and Daniel pulled up the rejected office seat to the opposite side of her desk. "Everything go ok?"

"Yeah, I guess. We didn't find anything on the surface but your gadgets seem to be working." Daniel looked around. This place looked different than his. The walls had some sort of terracotta color and there was a rug on the floor. The light in there was warm and bright.

"Place looks nice", he said.

Noli beamed. "They let me paint it. Or, they obeyed me when I told them to paint it."

Daniel looked up. "Lighting's good."

Noli glanced at the ceiling. "I guess."

"My room's a little darker."

"Yeah, I noticed, actually." There was a short pause.

"So, what are you doing now?"

"Oh, I'm, trying to find the origin of the markings on that rock from PX3-110. Got something similar in an old book." A second passed. "I should... probably..." he mumbled and started getting up, gesturing towards the door. Noli leaned forward.

"Can I see it?" she asked. "The book I mean. I already saw the rock."

Daniel lit up. "Sure, I'll go get it." Noli smiled and he went to retrieve the book. When he came back she had cleared a little space opposite of her and he sat down and showed her what he'd been looking at.

They talked for a little while, then Daniel noticed something interesting among the pictures, something that might be a lead. He stopped and stared at the page for a moment, tracing one of the markings with his finger.

"Hey, can I borrow a pen?" he asked.

"Sure." Noli handed him one of her pens and found an unused notebook to go with it. As Daniel fell into deep concentration she smiled and returned to her own work.

When an hour or so had passed Daniel looked up from his notes and glanced around. Something was different. None of that disturbing fidgeting had been going on for a while. He glanced over at Noli. She was altering her attention between her notes and her laptop, making changes and typing things in. But the pencil in her hand wasn't tapping on anything. She wasn't shifting around and she hadn't interrupted him with questions the whole time. He let out a silent snort of surprise. Apparently she did have the ability to focus for more than ten minutes at a time. A small hope rose in him. Maybe this was the way she normally acted. Then he started wondering what it was that had made her so edgy the days before. Perhaps she had just been nervous about the project. Though she hadn't seemed to be when she talked about it. OD-ing on caffeine maybe, but then again he hadn't actually seen her drink any coffee at all. Could she be coming off drugs?

Noli looked up and saw Daniel staring at her with a thoughful look. She stared back.

"What?"

Daniel blinked. "Oh, um... nothing. I was just... thinking. Noli smiled at bit doubtfully.

"Time for a brake maybe?" she suggested.

"Yeah..." Daniel wrinkled his eyebrows. "I'm gonna go down and have another look at the rock." He got up, looked around at the desk and then motioned to tear the pages he'd been writing on out of the notebook. Noli waved her hand. "Take the whole thing. I've got more." He thanked her and left, wondering what kind of strange impression he'd just given.

Noli smiled to herself as she continued rearranging formulas. She liked these people. Both Sam and Daniel seemed very kind and open-minded, but also Jack and Teal'c had something about them she found sympathetic, even though she hadn't talked to them much. It would be fun to get to know them better - she only wished she was able to work fully out in the open.

A/N: Reviews are love!