Halley shook her head. "Keep your hands up, Van or I'll sock you in the nose."

Van stepped back with a groan. "I'm never going to get the hang of this."

"Come on, you've only been at it for a little bit. I've been boxing since I was in high school. You can do this. You're improving, you're a long way from where you were six months ago."

"I appreciate the pep talk, Halley, but I'm not a combatant, I'm a scholar." He took a seat.

She laughed and sat beside him. "You are both, Evander."

He snorted. "You're delusional."

"I've read the mission reports, Van, you are a hell of a lot more than a guy with his nose in a book. You're brave and you're smart, don't sell yourself short." She nudged him with an elbow. "You are also adorable."

"Great, I'm a puppy." His shoulders slumped.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, you're hotter than Harrison Ford in Raiders. I'll get you a fedora and a whip so you can be the ultimate archeologist."

"You are not funny." His grin argued that point.

"All right, enough resting back to boxing. This time keep your hands up or I swear I'll break your nose and make you rugged in addition to adorable."

Lee stuck her head into the room. "Hey, Van, we have to leave in forty minutes." She nodded to Halley with a grin. "Lieutenant Ogden."

Halley grinned and waved. "Hey, Captain."

"Oh, crap I totally forgot about the mission to P2Z-033." He looked at Halley. "I'm so sorry, can we finish later?"

"Of course. Remember to keep those hands up." She playfully bopped him on the nose.

"I will." He took a moment to remove his boxing gloves and then hurried from the room.

"Soooo ... when's the wedding?" Lee asked as they walked down the hallway.

"The wedding? What wedding?" Van sent her a look full of confusion.

"You and Ogden," she replied.

Van stopped dead. "What are you talking about? She's helping me with my hand to hand combat skills, that's it."

Lee burst out laughing. "The woman likes you, Van. It's obvious. You should ask her out before she figures out you're one of the nerds she avoided in high school at all costs."

He scowled at her. "That isn't funny." He glanced back toward the gym. "You really think she likes me?"

"She didn't bop you on the nose to be cute, Evander, she wanted to touch you."

"She's wearing boxing gloves! That isn't exactly sensual or whatever."

"Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

Van hurried to catch up to her when he realized she'd begun walking while he was staring back at the gym. "Are you sure?"

"Van, which part of 'trust me' do you not understand?"

"Coming from you, all of it."

"Hold up, are you saying I'm not trustworthy?" she asked.

"Don't answer that, Van," Oliver told him as he stepped out of the locker room. "Lee, you can be trusted but only if something shiny doesn't wander through your line of sight. Once it does, you become distracted."

"Seriously?"

"He's right," Van told her. "You are also very single minded. Once you set your mind on something you tend not to waver from that path."

"I am not!"

"Do you want to discuss the Naquadah incident?" Van lifted his brows.

"I hate you both. I'll see you in the Gate room," she grumbled.

"We may have upset her," Oliver said as he watched her stomp away.

"She'll survive." Van looked at Oliver. "Do you think I should ask Halley out?"

"Like on a date?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, on a date!"

"Go for it, the woman seems quite enamored by you."

"Enamored, really, Oliver?"

He shrugged. "Fine, she has the hots for you. Better?"

Van grinned widely. "Yeah, it is."

Oliver left with a roll of his eyes.

Lee hurried to catch up to Mal as they walked away from the Gate. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Captain, for the billionth time, I'm perfectly fine. If I wasn't then Dr. Grayson wouldn't have cleared me to return to duty."

"How's your wrist? Your ankle? Does anything hurt?"

"Lee, stop trying to mother him, the man is fine!" Oliver shouted from where he and Van walked several paces behind them.

Mal stopped and turned to her. "I'm fine. I swear to it. If I discover at some point that I'm not all good, you will be the first to know. All right?"

"Okay, but I'm still going to ask you. I know you and you won't tell me if something is wrong."

"And you're different how? You wouldn't tell me if your hair was on fire."

"I think you'd notice that."

He grunted. "The point is, we both downplay our injuries, Captain, it's who we are so you can back off and let me be. If it gets to the point where I don't think I can do my job, I'll let you know."

She sighed. "I'm overdoing it, aren't I?"

He held his hands up a good distance apart. "Just a little."

"Sorry, but we almost lost you and it scared the shit out of me."

"Hey, I understand, but you need to calm down. This is our job, Captain. If you can't handle it ..." he trailed off.

"I can. I'm sorry, sir, but that was the first time I've ever come close to losing a commanding officer. Hell, to losing anyone I've worked with. I've never been assigned to the front lines anywhere. You may have seen combat but I was mostly involved in recovery, cleanup and holding down the fort missions. I've been in a few skirmishes but nothing big. This is all new to me."

"Could have fooled me, you've done well in the combat situations we've ended up in."

She shrugged and followed when he began walking again. "I didn't say I didn't know what I was doing. I trained hard for the position I wanted, it's not my fault no one ever gave it to me." She grinned. "Until General Carter that is."

"Keep up the good work, you're doing great."

"Thank you, sir." She glanced back at her brother and Van. "Van, what are you doing?"

He looked back at her from where he was crouched. "Look, I found a cat!"

Lee glanced at the feline that was sitting primly behind where Van was crouched. The thing was roughly a meter tall, with fluffy spotted fur and little black, furry tufts sticking up from its ears. "That's not a cat, that's a mountain lion posing as a housecat. Where did it even come from?"

Van shrugged. "I don't know, I turned around and it was following us."

Oliver stared at the cat. "It's definitely a domesticated feline. If it wasn't then Van would be dinner by now." He turned to look at Lee. "We are on an alien planet, it would stand to reason that the animals would vary from what we see on Earth."

"Yeah, I know that. Rocky sort of gave that one away," Lee replied sarcastically.

"I still can't believe you named the killer squirrel," Van called back to her as he held out an energy bar to the cat. "Come on, are you hungry? It's all right, we won't hurt you."

"It's likely to hurt you if you keep speaking baby talk to it," Lee told him. "Come on, we have fun-filled ruins to explore. Doesn't that thrill you more than a cat, Van?"

He set the energy bar on a rock, sent the cat a wave and followed Lee. "Sorry that I happen to think cats are worth the time and effort. They're highly intelligent."

"Yeah but you can't train it to fetch the paper," Lee answered.

"Contrary to popular belief, cats can be trained. It takes a little more effort to train cat is all," he told her.

"You have a pet cat, don't you?" Lee asked.

"I did."

"Did?"

He sighed. "He passed away two years ago. I haven't had it in me to get another one."

"I'm sorry, Van, I didn't mean ..."

He waved a hand at her. "You didn't know." He frowned. "Didn't you have a cat?"

"Yeah, when I was in middle school. Technically, it was my mom's cat but she liked me better." She grinned.

"Whoa," Oliver exclaimed.

Van looked in the direction Oliver was staring. "That's an understatement."

The structure they were staring at stood in the distance, reaching for the sky. It was made of some metallic material intermixed with stone here and there. The building was circular with windows that winked and shimmered in the sunlight.

"I can't believe the windows are intact," Lee commented.

"I suppose it depends on what they're made of," Van said. "Come on, let's go!" He took off running.

"Van, slow down, what if there's booby traps?" Mal yelled. "Great, this is what happens when we let the puppy off the leash."

Lee chuckled. "I got him." She ran after Van.

Mal shook his head. "Great, now the ADHD squirrel is chasing the puppy. Perfect."

Oliver laughed. "We better catch them before they get into trouble."

When they caught up to Van and Lee they were already inside the structure. Oliver let out a whistle and tipped his head back to look up. "How high is the ceiling?"

"I don't know but come look at this. This is Furling writing." Van pointed to some writing on the wall. "This was an outpost of some kind dedicated to knowledge."

"Like what?" Lee asked.

"Knowledge, learning." He waved an arm in the air. "Everything!"

"So library, museum, what?" Lee asked.

"I think it's a little of both. This was their way of spreading knowledge. How they helped other races evolve. This is amazing!"

Oliver was nodding. "I think this is the first evidence we've found of a higher race actively spreading their knowledge. Most of them we've seen are reluctant to share with cultures they feel are not as evolved as they are. They fear what those races will do with the knowledge."

"Great, so more boring alien history and high-tech stuff," Lee grumbled. "I think I'll go see if I can get that cat to eat me before I die of boredom."

"Oliver, can you come help me? I think this might be a computer interface," Van said.

"Sure, let's have a look."

Lee groaned and dropped down to sit on the floor. "That's nerd for, 'we're going to be here for a while.'"

Mal chuckled. "You two entertain yourselves, the Captain and I will check out the area and make certain it's safe."

Lee jumped to her feet. "Yes, good idea, sir! Let's go!" She ran for the door.

"Radio if you need anything," Mal told Van.

Van looked at him. "Can you contact General Carter and see if we can get some supplies? I'd like to stay a couple of days and document this if she doesn't need us elsewhere."

"Since I'm on limited duty, I'm sure we have the time," Mal told him.

Van nodded. "Thank you!" He turned away when Oliver called to him.

Mal left the building. Dr. Grayson had released him for duty on the condition that General Carter keep him away from any missions that have an immediate threat of danger for a couple of weeks. Hard to predict in their line of work, but things like this recon were high on the list of, we probably aren't going to die on this one. Since SG-5 had been here already and documented that the planet was uninhabited and the structure should be looked at more closely General Carter felt it was a good mission for them to take on.

He found Lee waiting outside. "Come on, let's head back to the Gate and check in. Van wants equipment and permission to stay for a couple of days.

"Noooo! Do we have to?"

He laughed. "Yes, we do. This is part of our job, Captain."

"The boring part. I can feel my muscles atrophying as I slowly die."

"You'll survive." He strode off in the direction of the Gate.

She looked around. "Here, kitty kitty! I swear I taste delicious!" she called.

Mal chuckled and shook his head.