Charlie's breath huffed out in a small sigh of shock as he took in the huge structures in the room, but he showed no other signs of how he was feeling. He wasn't sure why he'd been brought here, but he'd learned one thing about working with the military; show nothing. It was the only way for a kid as young as he was to get any respect from the men and few women in the armed forces; be completely professional.

"So, who are you, kid?" asked a weathered older man leaning against one wall. "I'm Colonel Jack O'Neil."

"Dr. Charles Epps." Charlie started to offer his hand, but was dissuaded by the man's snort.

"Right," he said simply, his voice so full of an amused, condescending disbelief that even Charlie couldn't call it anything else.

"I didn't ask for this, sir," he said sharply, tired beyond belief of people questioning his identity because he was so young. He hadn't wanted to be singled out at such a young age. The only reason he'd even agreed was because he wanted to impress Don. However, he was starting to think that wasn't a good reason. Well, how was a sixteen year old supposed to know that? Trying to impress Don, make Don proud, had always been a big part of his life.

He walked a couple of steps away from the condescending colonel and sat on the floor, pulling a new spiral from his backpack, anxious to de-stress and get some of the numbers out of his head. It was half filled in the fifteen minutes it took to find someone who could confirm his identity.

"Charlie?" Dr. Samantha Carder asked with a smile. He looked up.

"Hello, Sam. What'd you do to get put in this hellhole?" His mother would be shocked at his language, but she was back in LA with his dad. Sam just laughed.

"Not liking it here so far?" she asked indulgently.

"Would you like to be somewhere where nearly the first thing said to you is that you're not old enough to be who you are?" Sam glared at Jack O'Neil, who looked sheepish.

"Nobody warned me that the doc comin' in was a kid genius. Come on, Sam, you know me."

"Yes, sir, I do, and you could stand to work on your tact a bit. Come on, Charlie, let's get you settled in."