Sheppard let Mitchell split them up. The Major didn't know how she wanted to do things, and since this was her project, it was only fair to let her run it. A slight gesture from him told her to do what she wanted, so she did. She split them up in groups of two; Sheppard and Beckett, Teyla and Ford, and her and McKay.

She could see the disappointment in Beckett's eyes when she made the assignments, but she ignored it. There was a time to be distracted and a time not to be – and Carson was a distraction. For more than one reason. Her feelings for him aside, Talon still didn't trust him – and pretty much didn't want to be near him – and although the symbiote was doing his best to allow Melony to make her own decisions about the doctor, he couldn't hide that contempt from his host. They were just too close.

"We're going to go check out this tube," She told the others, pointing to one of the four tubes that led from the cavern – or into it, depending on how you viewed it. "You guys check out the other two – forget about that little one for now – and keep in contact."

There were assorted nods, and Melony and McKay headed into the largest of the tubes – which was big enough that they didn't have to duck, but that was about it.

"You won't get a dart in here," Rodney said, shining his light above them and running his hand along the ceiling – which was easy to reach.

"Nope."

"What are we looking for, then?"

"I don't know… I just want to see where it goes."

"Has it occurred to you that it might 'go' to a volcano?"

She smiled.

"That's not likely, but yes. I don't plan on walking that far. I just want-"

"Wow."

They both stopped and looked at the small cavern they'd come upon. There was light in here, because the far wall was glowing, and giving off a warmth that made sweat bead on their foreheads immediately.

"Lava?" Melony asked.

McKay shook his head.

"It's not hot enough to be lava – or if it is, then the walls are insulating us from the worst of the heat. I'm not a geologist, but it's nothing I've ever heard of or seen before."

Maybe there's another lava flow somewhere on the other side of the wall

"Talon thinks there might be a lava flow on the other side of the wall."

McKay shrugged, and looked back at her.

"Are you absolutely certain you want to put your secret base in the middle of an active lava flow?"

Melony walked over to the wall and pulled her knife from the sheath on her belt. She tapped it against the wall and frowned. It sounded solid to her, even though it looked like it was going to melt and run off.

"The wall is solid."

McKay didn't need her to tell him that; he could hear just fine. He walked over to stand beside her, and put his hand close to the wall. The heat was intense.

"That's crazy. If it's that hot, then why isn't it melting?"

He actually sounded annoyed.

"Maybe it has a higher melting point than we're used to…" Melony said, shrugging. "You said yourself it could be made out of butterfly wings..."

McKay ignored that.

"If it conducts heat as well as it seems to, we could have just found your power source."

Melony had been thinking the same thing.

"It wouldn't take much to rig something up…"

"An infant could do it." McKay agreed.

She looked around and saw another tube going off in another direction from the little cavern.

"There's another tube, but the walls are too hot to go any further, I think." Not without protective gear.

"I agree." McKay was still looking at the wall, a distracted expression on his face. He pulled out his knife as well and started poking at the all with the point. It just made a dull noise. "It's definitely solid…"

"Let's go see if the others have found anything."

Rodney nodded, and the two of them turned and headed back the way they'd come, wiping sweat from their faces. One thing was certain; Melony and Talon wouldn't freeze in their little lab.

OOOOOOOOO

When they returned to the main cavern – as Melony was beginning to think of it – they found it was empty. Since they knew that no one was in the smallest of the tubes, they picked one of the others at random, and headed for it, figuring to have a look around.

"You know," McKay said as they walked. "It's really a good thing you're not claustrophobic, because this place is about as underground as you can get without actually being underground."

"I'm beginning to wonder just how far it goes," Melony said. "The surface of the flow only goes for a few miles, but these tunnels – tubes – could go on for far longer. Grass and trees could be covering the rest of it."

"It's always possible that there was some huge eruption hundreds of years ago that leveled the place," McKay said. "Grass and other plantlife would have easily grown back by then. If given enough time, and the wind carries enough soil to promote growth to the rest of the flow, the entire flow could be covered in grass and trees once more and no one would ever know there was a lava bed under it at all. Especially since it's not reading on the sensors."

"Then it's a good thing we didn't wait another hundred years," Mitchell said, smiling. "Otherwise, we would-"

A light shining in the tunnel ahead of them drew her attention, and a moment later Ford and Teyla came into view, their flashlights bobbing with every step they took. The Lieutenant smiled at them, and Melony thought he looked a little excited.

"Find anything?" He asked.

"Yeah. A steam room. How about you?"

"Come and look," he said, Teyla already turning and heading back deeper into the tube. "You tell me."

Curious, Melony looked at McKay, who shrugged. What could they have found? It was, after all, tunnels and hot walls. There wasn't all that much more to the place. They both followed, curious.