NOTE: I've really been neglecting Foundling lately haven't I. Well I've been away but I've hand written a lot. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up by the end of the day. This is where things start to happen and I'm settling a bit more into the voices and how I'm comfortable writing. Oh, and don't worry, we get to meet the foundling soon enough.

I don't own Stargate or any of the characters I've written about…yet…

Mitchell, Carter, Teal'c and Vala walked down the steps of the Stargate on P23-723. They stopped in a line at the bottom of steps as the event horizon dissipated.

"Well," said Vala, fanning herself with her hand. "Does anyone else feel like they've just been hit in the face?"

"Yep." Said Mitchell as he pulls on a pair of sun glasses. "Definitely reminds me of Australia."

Teal'c crouched down and took up a handful of the fine brown dust. "This seems a most unlikely place for any people to settle and create a village."

Mitchell turned to look at him. "Now that you mention it, I doubt you could grow a weed in this heat let alone enough to feed a population."

"Well the climate may not have always been like this." pointed out Sam as she pulled out a devise from her vest pocket. "When the village was first built the climate could have been quite temperate." She activated the devise and cheeked the read out. "As for right now we've got a temperature of 42 degrees Celsius and a humidity reading of around 65%."

"Well regardless," said Vala as she flicked her hair over her shoulder, attempting to regain some composure in the stifling conditions. "it's hot and there's enough water in the air to quench the thirst of the galaxy." She walked off towards the remains of the village, oblivious to the looks she was getting from her team mates.

*****

"I never thought I'd actually say this but what I would give to get back to the SGC." Vala was sitting down on the ground with her back against the remains of an old wall. Fanning herself with her hand, she attempted to look as forlorn as possible.

"Suck it up Vala; we've been here twenty minutes." Cam was sick to death of Vala's moaning.

"I wouldn't be complaining if there was actually something interesting on this dust ball but all we've done since we've got here is walk around and wait for someone to jump out at us and say: Hey look at me," she put on a mock enthusiastic tone, "come with me and take you to the devise that is going to end all of your troubles."

"Carter," Cam whined, "please, please tell me that you're getting something, anything.

"Wait…" Sam was pouring intently over one of her devices. "There it is again…"

"Does that mean there is something here?" Cam sounded hopeful and went behind her to look over her shoulder.

"Well, I guess so." Sam started to slowly turn on the spot as she looked and the palm size screen, "There's an intermittent energy ready, probably a bit of a way off, and it's coming from…" she came to a halt and pointed at a large bank of trees around two hundred metres away, "…that way."

Cam went over to Vala and roughly pulled her up. "Looks like Carter's just showed us the way. Teal'c, you found anything?"

Teal'c was sanding a bit of a distance away inspecting the remains of the village. "There are some tracks, however they are not recent and they all lead in the opposite direction. I also believe that they are not Jaffa, they may be villages from another planet foraging."

"That's good enough for me." said Cam, "Let's go."

*****

Behind the bank of trees stood the remains of a castle. It resembled many of the medieval castles over Britain; solid and hulking. There was a large keep surrounded by mismatched towers. It was both imposing and weighed heavily in its surroundings but at the same time, even though it had survived more intact than the rest of the village, was far from whole. What must have been the largest tower, making up nearly a third of the structure was nothing more than a pile of cracked stones and the rest wasn't in great shape either.

"Well," said Vala, halting her volley of complaints. "That is something."

"The readings coming from inside." Sam gave a small sigh, "We are defiantly have to bring Daniel back in."

"I don't know." Said Mitchell cheerfully, dropping his pack onto the ground, "we can always look inside for a bit before we go home and make that call."

Vala barely stifled a laugh. "Are you kidding, it looks like it could fall down at any moment and I'd rather it not be on top of my head."

Turning towards Vala, Teal'c took up the role of reasoning with her. With Daniel out of the picture they had been taking turns. "From all appearances this structure has stood for hundreds of years. I believe that it is safe to safe to assume that it will survive one more day." As he turned away he showed a rare piece of humour by adding "and you."

After doing a double take Vala pouted and bouncing a fist off Teal'c's arm, earning herself a sore fist.

"Okay, let's get going." Said Mitchell, straightening up with a fist full of glow sticks.

The team set off. As they got closer they noticed that the castle backed onto a step cliff.

"It looks really out of place, doesn't it." Noted Sam. The others all nodded or made some sort of affirmative noise. She was right after all, the sight of a castle that would be right at home in the damp and cold of England or Scotland in the middle of this arid environment was a bit unsettling.

NOTE: Please review…you know…if you want to…