[Ed had been expecting Ziva to jab at him again. He was pleasantly surprised to hear a compliment instead. He shrugged.]

Yeah, well, you can't make any progress if you're stuck with your head in the sand.

[Ed's picturing playing cards but he's certain those aren't the kinds of cards she's talking about.]

Ok, so a couple questions. What are these astrometers and such made of? What about them lets you harness this aether stuff? And what are the cards you mentioned? They're not paper playing cards, right?