Oliver looked from the device in his hand to his surroundings with a frown. "Where are you?" he muttered as he turned a slow circle in an attempt to figure out where the signal he was picking up was coming from. "Ah ha, there you are."

He tramped through the tall grass across a clearing and into the trees on the other side where he found a small structure in the center of a little clump of trees. He walked around it while he checked the readings on the device. "Interesting." The structure was around six feet tall and resembled an obelisk, though the top was slightly rounded instead of coming to a point. It was made of an unidentifiable material and seemed to be smooth without a panel of any sort.

A small frown appeared on his face and he stepped back from the device. "All right, so how do you work?" He jumped back when the device beeped and a beam scanned over him from head to toe. It beeped again and a small panel slid open to reveal a pad of some sort. He wished Van was here to decipher the writing on the keys.

"Okay, let's see if we can figure out how you work then, shall we?" He set his pack down and began pulling tools from it. Once he had everything he needed he began working on taking the control panel off so he could study the inner workings.

"Definitely Lantean," he muttered as he began testing the control crystals to figure out what did what and when.

Lee stopped and dropped behind a rock. She scooted over and peered around the side. Two Alliance soldiers were methodically searching the area. Probably for her. Nesrin didn't want to give her a chance to find Oliver and free him.

"Good luck, bitch because I am going to get my brother back." She slipped down onto her belly and scooted forward so she had a clear shot around the edge of the rock, took aim and fired. One of the soldiers reared back and fell. Before his companion could react, she fired a second time. The man spun and fell face down beside his buddy. She remained where she was, her finger hovering over the trigger. Neither man moved. Seconds ticked by and turned into minutes. Once she was certain neither man was playing dead, she rose and went to where the two men lay, kicked at them both to satisfy herself they were truly dead and then stripped them of what weapons she thought might be useful to her. Her ammo was limited, the Alliance weapons would be a big help. She rolled the bodies behind a clump of bushes and started in the direction she had been going before the two men appeared.

According to the detector, Oliver was on the other side of a small rise and in a little valley. She hoped to God Nesrin had been stupid enough to leave only a man or two to guard him. If he was in the middle of one of their camps then she was going to have a more difficult time retrieving him. She crept up the rise and dropped down to crawl to the crest and peer over it so she wasn't silhouetted against the sky. The little valley below was empty. There was a small strand of trees across the valley and it appeared as if Oliver was in the trees which made things more difficult for her because she wouldn't know what she was dealing with until she was almost on top of them.

"All right, hang in there Ollie I'm coming for you." She slipped over the crest of the rise and started down into the valley. Nothing moved and no one stopped her. Her nerves were twitchy as she entered the trees. This felt like one hell of a trap waiting to spring on her. Why else would they let her get this far so easily?

The little forested area was quiet save for the sound of insects and other small animals. She tipped her head and listened. She could hear what sounded like Oliver muttering to himself. She checked the display on the tracker. Oliver was up ahead through a small stand of trees. Her steps slowed as she crept closer, she made certain to keep at least one tree between her and the clearing beyond the trees so she wasn't spotted by any guards. She pressed her back to a tree and sucked in a deep breath before she turned slowly to look around it into the clearing.

Oliver sat on the ground beside a small tree, his tools spread out around him and several diagnostic devices balanced on his lap. He looked at the tree then down at the tablet he held, then to the device on his left knee before he then cursed at the device on his right knee.

"Dammit, why don't these readings match? That's impossible," he muttered and began tapping at the screen of the tablet.

Lee slipped around the tree and moved closer to where he sat. "Oliver!" she hissed at him.

He glanced over his shoulder at her. "Hey, Lee, do we have to go back already? Can't we stay a little longer, I need to figure this out."

"Where are the guards?"

"Huh, guards?" he asked absently and he lifted the device from his left knee and scanned the tree. "There has to be another control panel."

"Oliver, where are the guards? Did you see Nesrin?"

He looked up at her. "What? Why would I see Nesrin? Go away, I need to figure out what this device does."

"Oliver, come on we have to get out of here before the Alliance soldiers come back!"

"The Alliance isn't here, leave me alone so I can figure out how this device works!"

"That's a tree, Ollie. You are studying a tree!"

He snorted. "I think I know the difference between a tree and an Ancient device."

She bent and began stuffing his tools back into his pack. He slapped her hand away. She grabbed the front of his vest and hauled him close. "I am trying to save your ass so stop being a dick, Oliver!"

He slapped her hand away when she grabbed the tablet and stuffed it into his bag. "Stop it, I'm not done yet!!"

"The Alliance soldiers could come back any time so shut up and get moving!" She shut his pack and shoved it at him. "Put it on and let's go."

"The Alliance isn't even on this planet!" he whined.

"I saw them grab you, Ollie. They're here!"

"No one grabbed me, I've been here this entire time trying to get this device to work." He waved a hand at the small sapling.

She shook him. "That is a tree dammit!" She hauled him away while he complained.

"No! Lee, come on, this is important!"

"I don't know what they gave you but that is not some Ancient device, it's a goddamned tree!" She cursed when she spotted a group of Alliance soldiers advancing across the valley. "Shit, we're going to have to try and work our way around." She switched directions and skirted the edge of the trees. "Dammit, where are they coming from?" She hauled Oliver behind some bushes and watched as the two groups came together in the center of the little valley and held a conversation. "Probably comparing notes," she muttered.

"Lee, I need to go back and take a closer look at that device."

"If I have to tie you up and carry you over my shoulder I will," she snapped at him.

"That's not nice," he told her sadly.

"Shit." She grabbed his arm and hauled him away quickly as the men turned and started toward them. "How in the hell are they tracking us?"

"Who? There's no one there!"

She darted around a tree and he followed. "How do you not see two dozen Alliance soldiers in the center of the field?"

"How do you not see an extremely obvious Ancient device?" he snapped back at her.

She shoved through the trees and came to an abrupt halt. "Great, we're screwed." She looked back over her shoulder. She could hear the men approaching. They would pop out of the trees any second now. "We have no other option." She gave Oliver a shove off the small rise and he fell with a shout before he disappeared beneath the surface of the lake less than three meters below them. She took a running leap from the rise and smacked into the water. She came up with a gasp and started swimming toward the opposite shore. Oliver was already well ahead of her.

They crawled up onto the shore and laid there sucking in deep breaths.

After several minutes she sat up. "Ugh, why does my head hurt all of a sudden?" She held her head in her hands.

Oliver remained flat on his back staring at the sky. "Mine does too." He shifted and sat up to pull his pack off his back. He sorted through it until he found the detector. "That's odd."

"What's odd?"

"The power reading from that device is gone."

"That's because it didn't exist, idiot." She shook water from her P90.

"It was there."

She sighed and stared across the lake. "Where are the Alliance soldiers, they should have made it to the spot we jumped from by now."

"There were no soldiers," Oliver told her.

She looked at him. "Okay, this is weird. You saw an Ancient device that wasn't there and I saw Alliance soldiers that weren't there. What the hell does that mean?"

"Maybe we were hallucinating?" he asked.

She frowned. "Why would we be hallucinating?"

"Beats me."

"What's the last thing you remember before you went to find that device?" she asked him.

"Uh, we were walking through that field of flowers."

"That's the last thing I remember too. Then the Colonel said he spotted someone and I remember very little after that."

"Same here." Oliver groaned. "My head really hurts."

"It has to be the flowers."

"Great we found hallucinogenic flowers, look at us go."

She rolled her eyes. "Funny."

"Hey, it's better than your giant man-eating squirrels."

"True." She grabbed her radio. "Colonel, where are you?"

"Radio silence, Captain!"

She scowled. "There's no reason for radio silence we're the only ones on this stupid planet. Where are you?"

"I told you I need radio silence. He isn't stupid, I'm sure he's monitoring our frequency, now shut up so I can get us out of here alive!"

"Colonel, there's no one here but us."

"Elias is here and the bastard is stalking me! I need to get to the Gate and radio the SGC and let the General know that the information Elias gave her that proves we're selling tech gathered off-world to enemies of the U.S. is false. Now shut up!"

"Sir ... Mal, listen to me, Elias isn't here, you're hallucinating. The flow—"

"If you can't follow a simple order, Captain then I'll make it easy on you." There was a click.

Lee cursed. "Colonel? Colonel Hughes! Dammit!"

"What's wrong?" Oliver asked.

"He turned his radio off." She hit her radio again. "Van?"

There was silence for several minutes before he answered. "What is it, Lee, I'm kind of busy."

"Where are you?"

"I am in a state of being busy!" he replied.

She grumbled. "Van, just tell me where you are."

"I'm having a lovely conversation with Trentnis and Vyphe."

"Who?"

"They're Ancients and they're giving me all this wonderful information! I know how to properly build a ZPM now!" he told her cheerfully.

"That's great, where are you?"

"I honestly don't know. But they have a house and we're having tea and sandwiches!"

"I got him," Oliver told her and held up the life signs detector.

"Stay put, Van, we'll be right there."

Oliver led the way, they trekked around the lake and skirted the field of flowers. They found Van sitting on a rock talking to another rock and a lizard that was sunning itself on yet another rock.

"All right, Van, conversation is over, let's go."

"Not now! If you need to go back then go, I'm staying here." He looked at the lizard. "So, these are the plans to build a Stargate?" He gestured toward a leaf on the ground in front of him. The lizard stared at him silently. "All right, thank you, I appreciate all your help. Oh, really?" He grinned.

Lee grumbled, bent and grabbed one of Van's arms, lifted it, bent and picked him up so he was across her shoulders.

"Lee, put me down, I'm not a sack of flour!"

"No, you weigh a hell of a lot more. For a scrawny little linguist you weigh a lot." She looked at Oliver. "Get us back to the lake."

"Don't need to."

"What do you mean you don't need to?"

He pointed through the trees. "There's another one through there. I think the planet is dotted with them all over."

"Perfect, let's go then."

"Lee, can you please put me down? This is extremely rude. I was having a lovely conversation and you ruined it."

"Trust me, I didn't ruin anything." She tromped after Oliver until they reached the lake. She walked into the water and dumped Van into the lake.

He came up spluttering. "Ow, why does my head hurt?"

"It will get better in a few minutes," she told him. "It was the flowers. You were hallucinating."

"No I wasn't. I was talking to a couple of Ancients."

"Trust me, you weren't."

He struggled out of the water and sat on the shore where he waved the tablet at her. "I took notes. They told me about ascension and how to build a ZPM safely. Here, these are the notes I ..." He trailed off. "Something happened, this is all gibberish." He scrolled through the entirety of his notes. "How can this be?"

"It can be because you were talking to a rock and a lizard," she told him.

"No, I saw them."

"It's that field of flowers we walked through," Oliver told him. "We should get a sample of one before we head back to Earth."

"Yeah, great, let's do that after we find Colonel Hughes." Lee waded back to shore. "We need to find him before he gets hurt. He thinks Elias is here hunting us."

"How in the hell would his brother even get here?" Van asked.

"It doesn't matter, Elias isn't here, he's hallucinating. We need to find him. Oliver, can you track him?"

"Give me a few minutes to see if I can find him." He stared at the multi-sensor for several minutes. "I've got him, he's moving toward the Gate. Not very quickly but he's moving."

"Great, let's move." Lee gave him a nudge.

Oliver walked a step or two behind her and gave her directions. They skirted back around the field of flowers and moved toward the Gate. "He's in the trees over there." Oliver pointed.

"Okay, stay behind me."

"I'm not an idiot, Lee, I can defend myself."

She sighed. "I know that, Ollie, but the Colonel has no idea what is real and what isn't, he might fire on us without realizing it's us." She lowered her P90 and pulled her Zat.

"What are you going to do with that?"

She looked over her shoulder at Van. "If the Colonel won't listen to reason then the safest thing to do is put him down before he can hurt anyone. I'd rather Zat him than shoot him."

"Excellent point."

They stepped into the trees. "Over there, that direction," Oliver told her and pointed off to her left.

"Colonel?" she called.

"Mal?" Van shouted.

"Do you guys think it's a good idea to go around shouting when the man thinks he's being hunted by his crazed step-brother?" Oliver whispered.

"Hopefully he'll know it's us," Lee replied.

"If you think I'm going to make it easy for you to hunt me, Elias, you're wrong!"

"Colonel, it's Captain Kain! Elias isn't here! Please come out!"

"Nice try, asshole, but I'm not falling for that!"

The three of them hit the dirt when Mal fired on them.

"Yeah, great, let's try and talk it out with him!" Oliver snapped. "Cause insane hallucinations are totally reasonable!"

"Shut up, Oliver!" Lee moved around the tree she was hiding behind. Her eyes swept over the trees searching for the Colonel. "Oliver, where is he?" she whispered.

"To the left directly behind that big ass tree over there."

"Great of course he found the biggest fucking tree to use as shelter," she grumbled.

"The man isn't an idiot," Van said.

She stuck her Zat into the waistband of her pants in the center of her back, unclipped her P90 and stood.

"Lee," Oliver hissed.

"Stay put and if ... if things don't go well get your asses back to the Gate and tell the General what happened." She stepped out from behind the tree and held her arms out from her sides. "I'm coming out, Colonel." She bent and placed her P90 and her sidearm on the ground. "I'm unarmed." She saw him peer around the tree.

"Where's Elias hiding?"

"He isn't here, Colonel. I don't know where he is. It's just me, you have my word."

"Where are Van and Oliver?"

"In the trees waiting to see how this plays out," she shouted.

He laughed. "Right, and the minute I step out Elias shoots me. What did he promise you, Captain, huh? Is he going to tell General Carter the plan to sell alien tech was all my idea and you three had nothing to do with it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm here so we can go home," she shouted.

"We can't go home, Elias has made certain of that!" he yelled.

"Colonel, we need you to come out." She had no idea how to talk him down, he was deep in his delusion. He'd gone into the field first so he'd been exposed much longer than the rest of them before they all took off to follow their hallucinations. "Van is hurt, Elias got to him. Oliver and I were able to rescue him but we need you, Colonel. We can't do this without you. We're a team."

He poked his head out. "Van is hurt?"

"Yes, sir, knife wound," she told him.

He moved further out from behind the tree. "Where?"

"Left leg, upper thigh. It's bleeding badly."

He came out into the open and moved closer to her. "We need to bind the wound so he doesn't bleed out," he told her.

"Yes, sir, we do."

He stopped several yards from her, his P90 aimed at her. "Lead the way."

"Yes, sir. Follow me." The moment his eyes flicked to the trees behind her she went for the Zat and pulled it in a swift, fluid motion and fired at him. He folded and hit the ground in an unconscious heap. "Oliver, find the closest body of water! Van, get out here and help me with the Colonel!" she shouted.