Author's Note: Anakin who? (Just kidding! No, Shawn will not be flying the ships) Jack himself would come out of my computer and beat me to death for doing that, and then round on all of you who suggested it!

~*~

Shawn stared. It was exactly like he'd known it would look. Round, covered with symbols and almost daunting. It wasn't really all that big, and it didn't light up, it wasn't glowing, and there weren't any laser guns or weapons of any sort anywhere on the thing, but he knew what it did, and it was awesome. He walked all around it, recognizing the symbols for what they were, and knowing that if he put them in the proper sequence on the dialing device he'd open a gateway to someplace else. Someplace that could be close by, or that could be millions of miles away.

"Wow."

He reached out and touched the cool metal, but knew his touch wouldn't do anything to it. He could dance naked in the middle of it and nothing would happen unless he dialed an address. And Shawn didn't know any addresses. Not that he would have attempted it, anyways. That would definitely have been on Thor's list of 'reckless' items. Not to mention Jack had told him to be good.

He traced one of the symbols with his fingers, and wondered what it would look like if the Gate were activated. His memories didn't tell him that. His mind didn't have a picture of the event horizon. Only that it would show up, and that it was a way to other worlds. It was amazing to the boy. Entranced, he sat down on the floor in front of it, looking up at it, completely lost in thought.

"You should not be in here."

Shawn almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of the gentle voice coming from behind him. He scrambled to his feet, hurriedly, grateful that it was Thor that was entering the room and not Jack. Jack would have killed him. Or at least been really, really mad at him. Which would have been much worse. He realized as he stood that he was stiff from sitting, and vaguely wondered how long he'd been there, lost in thought.

"I didn't do anything," Shawn said, quickly.

"I did not say you did," Thor replied. "However, you must be aware of the dangers inherent with such a device as the Stargate."

"I know. I didn't plan on using it."

"Why not?" Thor asked. "Because you did not know an address? Or because you were concerned that O'Neill would not approve?"

Shawn didn't like being on the receiving end of questions like these.

"Both. I-I wouldn't know where to go even if I knew how to get there." He said. 'And Jack doesn't even know I know about the Stargate, so he'd be furious if I did. Besides, I wouldn't leave him and Sam."

"You are fond of O'Neill, are you not?"

"Yes. Him and Sam." Shawn didn't know why the Asgard even had to ask.

"He would not want you to put yourself in danger." Thor told the boy. "This device is as dangerous as they come, especially if someone did not know what they were doing. It requires more than the address to a destination to be able to use it wisely. You could do much damage with it. And to do so would put yourself into far more danger than you know."

"I wouldn't do anything to make Jack angry." Shawn had once done just that, and had had the full force of Jack's anger lashed at him. It had been the worse moments of his life. Then and now.

"Good." Thor's gaze was unblinking, but Shawn thought he detected triumph in those dark eyes. Or maybe it was the set of the Asgard's shoulders. "Come. O'Neill has called to check in, and I told you that I would inform you."

"You won't tell him, will you?"

"Tell him what?"

"That I was here." Shawn said, gesturing at the Stargate. "That I was looking at it."

"I will not."

"How many people do they have on the ships, now?" Shawn asked, as they walked down the corridor towards the bridge.

"About a quarter of their population." Thor said. "Most of the city has been cleared, and the farms are next. We will be putting the animals and their owners onto the Freighter that is coming inbound into the system now. That way all the creatures can be kept together to make it easier on the Pe'aoli when it comes time to separate them."

"That makes sense."

They entered the bridge, and Thor went to his chair and thumbed the communication device.

"Colonel O'Neill?"

"Yeah, Thor. Did you find him?" Jack's voice was slightly tinny, but it made Shawn grin to know that O'Neill was thinking about him even when he was doing something else.

"Indeed."

"Hi, Jack."

"Hey, Shawn. How ya doing?"

"I'm okay. How are you and Sam?"

"Oh. Same shi – stuff, different day. I've told the same guy three times that he'll have to leave his kitchen sink, since he can't bring the rest of his kitchen. What have you been up to?"

"Just looking around the ship." That wasn't a lie.

"Staying out of trouble?"

"Of course!"

Jack snorted. "Make sure you eat some lunch, okay? And none of that crap Carter says Thor eats. We'll be there around supper time."

Shawn didn't have a watch, so he looked at the chronometer on the bridge hull. It told him the time in Asgard numbers, but he didn't have a reference for when that time was set to. It obviously wasn't Mountain Time.

"Okay, Jack."

"O'Neill out."

~*~

"He's being good?"

"Says he is. Thor didn't say otherwise."

Carter shrugged. There wasn't much they could do about it if he were misbehaving. They certainly didn't want to bring him down to the surface. If the Goa'uld returned...

"He's probably bored, Sir. Too bad we couldn't give him a project to work on. Something to keep him occupied."

"You're the genius, Carter," Jack told her. "Think of something."