"Welcome again to Earth." The General refrained from using her name, unsure of who he was talking to.

"Thank you for agreeing to this exchange. I expect it to be most informative for both our peoples."

"So, Anise." It was the symbiote speaking after all.

"Why don't we get started, hmm?" Jack O'Neill stepped forward to take her arm.

"I'm sure the doc wants to check you out so let's go, alright?"

Anise nodded, casting a look toward Daniel. "Will you be accompanying us, Doctor Jackson?"

Like he would miss it. "Yes."

She smiled, pleased with herself.

"Me too." Major Carter spoke up. There was no way she was going to let that barbie doll alone with the two men, especially not Co...., uh, well, she just wasn't going to let the woman alone with her teammates. Either of them. Not singling anyone out or anything.

"Off to see the wizard then." Jack said, leading the troupe through the door and into the corridor. Throwing a look behind him to Carter, he caught her eye, grinning. She returned it with one of her own. This was going to be a great week.

*******

"Colonel O'Neill." It was Freya speaking now. "Where is the infirmary?"

"Level 19." They were stepping into an elevator now, and Jack pressed 22 on the pad.

"Then why are we going to level 22?" They had already been to 21, 24, 16, 25, 17, 23, 15, and were currently leaving level 20, alternating using stairs and elevators.

"Uh, because.."

"It is an Earth custom." Daniel interrupted smoothly.

"People use this method of transportation to allow ourselves time to think, and not to rush about to much in our day. It keeps us from being stressed out. Oh, here we are. Stairs, I think this time, right Jack?"

"Right Daniel."

"Yeah," Sam piped up. "We need to 'think' on level 14."

"Why must you walk all this way?" Freya was still confused.

"Uh, different levels represent different things." Jack may have mocked Daniels interest in cultures and customs, but it was sure coming in handy now.

"For example, a level may represent a layer of your life. You examine a different aspect of life at each different level."

"I see." Sam almost felt bad for doing this; for tricking the Tok'ra woman like they were. But then she remembered the armbands Anise had been so eager to try on the team. And how that incident had led to another incident (The-one-that-was-not-to-be-mentioned-or-ever-thought-of) which had also involved Anise. Yeah, that pretty much removed all guilt.

"What are you examining now?" She asked, looking around to the three members of SG1.

"We're on the stairs right now." Sam told her. "When you're in transition you don't have to think about anything."

"Oh."

"What will you think about on level 14, Major Carter?"

Persistant little bugger, wasn't she? "Uh, I'll think about how to recalibrate my naquadah generator so that it will...."

"Does that not defeat the purpose of this exercise?" Freya interrupted, looking at the three humans.

"I thought this custom was to relax your mind from the worries of the day. If you take the time to think about your work, that does not seem to spend this time wisely."

Okay, this wasn't working out right. "Uh.. Well, what I meant, was that I'll think about how the generator represents life in general. Even though the calculations seem to be correct, everything doesn't always fit into place like it should."

"I shall think about that as well, then."

"You do that."

"I do hope that we have many more levels to go, before we reach our destination. I haven't been using my time correctly, so I shall start now."

Great. She was enjoying it. SG-1 exchanged a weary look. They really had to come up with some better plans.

TBC

Author's notes: I'm horrible at coming up with ideas for this, but I do love this idea. :-) Can't wait to see what someone, or someones can come up with!
Jessica

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