"Ham?"

"It's better than eating MRE packages…"

Duck shrugged, but went back to eating his sandwich and didn't complain again. It was true that most of their bartered foodstuffs were fairly nondescript items; lots of hams (because hams could be salted or smoked and would last a long time), potatoes, grains (which several of the Atlanteans were learning to make into bread) other vegetables; canned, bottled and dried. They were bland – although the cooks were learning some interesting seasoning tips from the Athosians – but it was better than going hungry.

The four of them were back on the Jumper, sitting in the cargo area where they could stretch out a bit more comfortably than if they were in the cockpit area, and Mitchell and Sanders were munching their way through the lunch that had been brought to them – which even included a couple canteens of coffee.

"Did you see anything else from above?" Melony asked Sheppard, who was sipping from one of the canteens.

"There are a few places that looked sort of clear off in the distance – further from this area of the flows, though – so I don't know if you want to go check them out. It's pretty hazy, what with the rain and all, so we didn't get a lot of sight-seeing done."

"I'd rather check the ground around here."

Sheppard nodded.

"We'll have to do it on foot, then."

Since that was pretty much what Melony and Sanders had expected, they both nodded, although Mitchell turned to Carson.

"Do you want to stay here?"

He was the one that had the sore ankle, after all, and with the shielding on the Jumper, it wasn't like they'd have to worry about something sneaking on board and eating him while they were gone.

"Do you think I'd be in the way if I came?"

Meaning, did she think he'd slow her down.

"How's the ankle?"

"A little sore…"

She frowned, but then nodded.

"I'd rather you stayed off it for a while. We won't be gone long."

He nodded, accepting her decision without complaint, because he knew that she had actually thought about it before deciding.

"I could look around this area…"

"Not alone," Sheppard said before Mitchell could.

"If I found anything I could call you…"

"Not alone," Melony agreed, firmly. "If you want to, you can use the ship's sensors and see what you can find in the area while we're gone, but I don't want you to leave the Jumper."

He sighed, but nodded again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Are you sure this is where you want to put the power couplings, Doctor McKay?"

McKay scowled, even though the person speaking to him was an attractive woman that he personally wouldn't have minded spending a little time getting to know better – except for the fact that she was questioning him. He hated it when people did that.

"If it wasn't where I wanted to put it, then I wouldn't have set them there in the diagram, now, would I?"

He couldn't help that the response sounded annoyed and arrogant. It was just the way he was. Even with attractive women.

She shrugged, and handed him over the conduit, which had been attached to the power relays already and was ready to be connected to the main power supply that was coming from the thermal room. There were several safeguards, but this was the main one – and the one Rodney was most proud of. Short of the entire place blowing up – which was a possibility considering what Mitchell was planning on using it for – there was nothing that could destroy or interfere with her power source once he had it connected. And it would last forever – or as long as the thermal energies did, which amounted to basically the same thing, really.

"Are we ready?" McKay asked the room in general, and only rhetorically. He knew everything was ready, because he, himself, had checked it all out personally to make sure it was.

There were assorted nods all around, and he scowled when he noticed that no few of the technicians were holding their breath all of the sudden. Such small faith… He knew better, and after making sure that the last connector was attached, he hit the power button.

There was a soft whirring noise as the main power pack for the first set of diagnostic tools came online, and then a moment later and echoing one from the sensor monitor right next to it. Success.

Rodney couldn't help the pleased smile that came to his lips, even while he watched the others breath excited sighs of relief.

The secret lab was up and running – and a day earlier than he'd told Mitchell it would be done.

"Good job, people," he said, willing to give them a small amount of credit for the work they'd put in. After all, he couldn't have laid and strung all the wires himself. They pretty much ignored him, but he didn't even notice. He was already heading towards the lava tube that led out to the ravine, so he could radio Mitchell – or Sheppard, or whoever was out and about – and let them know what he'd accomplished.

OOOOOOO

"What's that smell?"

Sanders shrugged, looking over at Mitchell, who was just as perplexed as Sheppard.

"Smells like… wet dog…"

A lot of wet dogs, if it was that potent – and there weren't any dogs around.

The three of them had left the Jumper only ten minutes or so ago, and had walked straight into where the sun would be if there weren't so many low clouds dumping drizzle on them. They'd pushed their way past trees and brush, some fairly well spread out, but some so close together that it was a bit of a struggle. Now on the heavy humid air there was a definite unpleasant odor, and they'd all stopped, looking at each other and debating if they even wanted to know what it was.

"Your call," Sheppard told Mitchell, who frowned and shrugged.

"We might as well take a look, I suppose."

She pulled her Beretta out of her holster, though. Just because it smelled like wet dog, didn't mean it wasn't something big and nasty, and she definitely wanted a bit of firepower in her hands – especially since the trees and bushes in this area were so close together that their P-90s weren't much use.

The others followed her lead, and a moment later they made their way through yet another screen of vines, branches and all sorts of unnamed greenery – as well as more coffee bushes from the looks of it. Without warning, the sodden ground gave way beneath the three of them, and they went tumbling forward crashing through the last of the branches and into a pool of warm – almost too hot – water.

There were several startled bleats, and Melony came up out of the water sputtering, her Beretta still in her hand, and her free hand coming up to clear water out of her eyes. And found herself looking into the huge brown eyes of several Moks, who were just a surprised to see her as she was to see them.

Sheppard and Sanders both surfaced, shaking water out of their eyes and looking around as if to find out who had pushed them in, and they both froze as well. They were in a hot spring of some sort, and had apparently found the rest of the Mok herd, because at least 20 of the creatures were belly deep in the large pool they'd just fallen into, and all of them were staring at them.