Sam was studying the disassembled components of her walkie-talkie. She had had a brilliant (if some-what far-fetched) idea on how to make a long-range communication device. It involved a slight reassembly of the pieces, along with some serious modifications, additions, and a significant power boost.
While she contemplated the possibilities, Daniel was telling her about some of the more impressive aspects of Avea's home. "And all this stuff was resting on force-shield shelves! It was unlike anything I've seen. And the bowls and bowls of everything! There are so many substances there, it could take years to-"
Sam interrupted him when an idea struck her. "Force shields? As in, made up of energy and probably has a nice power source?"
Daniel blinked in surprise. "I would assume so."
That sparkle came into Sam's eyes that indicated the scientific side of her brain was operating at 190 miles per hour. "That's great! I bet I could use that to replace the battery, which would solve our biggest problem here- I can MacGyver something for the rest of the re-build, but that one almost had me stumped. I'm glad you said that. Now, if I can go ahead and assemble the rest of this…we're going to need something to direct the frequency and something to bypass this connection here…"
She continued with her overly enthusiastic techno-babble, and Daniel realized it would be pointless to try to tell her anything else at this point, so he just watched and listened wondering how in the world she was going to convert this 2-mile range plaything into something that could broadcast to outer space.
Jack had fallen asleep accidentally, and Avea was taking a brief break. After all, it was almost lunchtime, and all this hard work gave her an appetite.
She called Teal'c into the room. His reaction to her revealed self earlier was about what she had come to expect from the Stoic One: he had simply raised an eyebrow and maintained his silence.
"Do you require assistance?"
"No, thank you. I just wondered if you're hungry, and if you might check with Daniel and Major Carter to see if they are. I am almost finished here, and personally I've worked up an appetite."
"I doubt that Major Carter will wish to leave her project. I am prepared for lunch, and it is likely that Daniel Jackson will be as well. Did you have something in mind?"
"Well, I think there was enough food left over from breakfast to also be lunch."
Teal'c nodded and left to go check with his friends. He was right about Sam not wanting to leave her project, but she saw the opportunity to talk with Avea about the technological possibilities and she was actually starting to get hungry. Soon enough, they were all seated around the now low-burning campfire in the first cavern of the cave munching on the morning's leftovers.
"Major, what is it exactly that you've been working on?" Avea asked between bites.
"Well, it's actually just a modification to something we already have. I'm hoping that I can convert the transmitter in my 2-way radio into a long-range broadcasting signal, and—theoretically- I should be able to modify the receiver to be able to handle much stronger signals, so we can hear things being broadcast from space."
"Impressive. How is it going so far?"
"I'm having a little trouble coming up with some of the extra pieces I need. There's not enough wire in the unit itself to connect to everything I need it to, and for that matter, I don't even have everything I need yet." She paused for a moment to take another bite. "Actually, I was kind of hoping you might be able to help."
"What is it that you need?"
Sam then proceeded to list and explain several things Daniel and Teal'c were unfamiliar with, but they knew this was exactly the language engineer-Sam spoke, and apparently Avea understood every word. A power source was the first thing on Sam's list, and it was followed by some random things like various connector wires, some type of "plate", and a few other things. When Sam finally stopped, Avea pondered briefly before answering.
"I think I can help you, especially with the power source. The energy used to provide light in the interior cavern comes from a device plenty strong enough for you, and I believe I can find some sort of conductor you can use. The rest may take some thinking." They continued eating in silence for a few minutes before Avea spoke again. "Out of curiosity, why are you trying to build this?"
Sam started to answer, then shut her mouth. The SGC knew what planet they had come to, and they almost definitely would realize that they were stranded. After a moment of tense silence, Teal'c answered.
"If we can communicate to the Tau'ri that we are indeed still alive, we may convince them that they do indeed need to come to our rescue. We may also be able to learn when we should expect a ship."
Sam looked a little surprised, and Daniel was wearing an expression that said "yeah, what he said." Avea smiled and nodded as she finished eating.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go finish with Jack, and then, Major Carter, I will come help you in any way I can." She then bowed politely and exited to the back.
Sam stepped back to admire her work. The immense contraption that sat between her and Avea resembled something from an 80's 'alien invasion' movie, but it should be functional enough. Avea's not-so-small power source was sitting on a small boulder, and it had several wires running between it and another similarly-sized apparatus that also was seated on a large rock. This one, however, consisted of a tangle of wires and something that resembled a rather large satellite dish.
Coming from this half of the contraption were four additional wires that connected to the original, if somewhat open, handheld walkie-talkie. Occasionally, it would pick up on some static or a few jumbled words from some passing transmission, but so far there had been nothing interesting beyond the fact that it actually worked. Sam had called to Daniel, who was sitting inside, and he came out to see their impressive feat. After looking at it for a moment, he asked an obvious question.
"So, what now?"
Sam blinked.
"Well, apparently the signal has to pass fairly close to this receiver for us to be able to hear it, so the reverse is also probably true. If we were to just start talking, there's no telling who might pick us up, or if anyone would, for that matter. I think the best idea is to try to aim it at Earth and hope someone is coming from that direction. That way, even if they aren't, the signal will hopefully reach the SGC in a few hours, or maybe a day or two depending on how far away we actually are."
"Do we know which way Earth is?"
"Not yet, but hopefully tonight the stars will be out and I'll be able to exactly calculate the best time and direction to try to get a signal back to the SGC."
"So we've got a couple of hours."
Sam shrugged. "Yeah."
"Well, this is just a thought, but maybe we could go try to find the local people. If they aren't too far, we should have time."
Finally Avea spoke to answer him. "That would not be wise. The people are not likely to receive you well."
"Why is that?"
"They are not a trusting group, and they may believe that you are responsible for the destruction of the Stargate, as you call it, if they learn of your presence."
"There's an idea, then," Sam said. "We should really go see if the gate is still in one piece. That's only about a 15 minute walk from here."
"I'd kind of like to stay here with Jack and Avea," Daniel interjected, and Avea raised an eyebrow at the fact that apparently she was expected to stay here.
"Works for me." With that, Sam headed inside to retrieve Teal'c, and when they came back out, Sam reached into one of the pockets on her vest and pulled out a pocketknife. Daniel immediately knew its purpose, and he explained to Avea as he took the knife from Sam.
"Jack gets bored very easily, so he won't be such a pain in the neck if we give him something to whittle."
Avea laughed, and Sam and Teal'c headed off in the direction of the previous day's firefight.
When they were gone, Daniel turned to Avea. "You never answered one of my questions."
She tilted her head a little, and raised an eyebrow. "Which one?"
"When you asked if I had a family, I asked why you wanted to know. You never told me."
Avea's cheeks turned a slightly pinker shade of purple. "I was curious."
"Then why are you blushing, if that's all it was?"
He already knows; he just wants me to say it. Humans can be so frustrating some times. She spit her answer out so fast that it was almost unintelligible. "I-was-curious-about-whether-or-not-you-have-a-woman-of-your-own."
Daniel smiled to himself, then took a couple of steps toward Avea so that the two were standing closer than usual. "Not currently, I don't."
He cupped her chin again like he had in the treehouse. They stood like that for several seconds, and somewhere in the back of both their minds it registered that if anyone was to look at them right now, they would be greeted with a strange sight indeed. A relatively tall human man apparently about to kiss a very short purple being with pointed ears and wings would definitely be just cause for a double-take.
Avea closed her eyes, enjoying his touch, and then just as he was leaning down toward her they both heard something.
"Hellloooooo!"
Jack, I'm going to have to kill you! Daniel quickly released her, and both stepped back.
"I'm coming, Jack!"
Avea noticed the frustration in Daniel's voice and smiled to herself as she watched Daniel locate a rather large stick and take it inside to check on Jack. She followed him.
Once inside, they found Jack propping himself up on the table, with his good leg hanging off the side just swinging. He noticed that both his friend and the Purple One looked a little pink around the cheeks, and though he raised an eyebrow at Daniel, no one mentioned it.
"Where are Carter and Teal'c?"
"Ah, they went to check on the Stargate. They should be back in an hour or two."
"Oh…Did Carter get that thing built?"
Daniel nodded. "Yes she did, but we can't use it until at least after dark. She said she would have to use the stars to calculate the position of this planet and Earth and their relationship, or something to that effect. You know how she gets when she's excited about some new technology." Daniel shrugged, and Jack looked at him rather pointedly.
"You're one to talk."
Daniel shrugged again sheepishly. "Yeah, well…anyway, Sam left this for you since she knew you'd get bored." He handed Jack the stick and knife.
"Why that wonderful Major." He grinned as he accepted it.
Avea handed him another drugged cup of tea, and then she and Daniel sat down against the wall to keep Jack and each other company as Jack alternated between sips of tea and making a mess of woodchips on the floor.