"As near as we can tell, the inhabitants of P3X-95-A are hunter/gatherer types – nomads of a sort…"

Daniel paused to make sure he had everyone's attention, and then continued when he saw that he did. More or less. Jack was sitting beside Ian, who had one of the folders Daniel had made up open on the table in front of him, and both of them were watching him. Teal'c was seated on the other side of the briefing table, watching as well, and both Jack (the dog) and Jaffer were under the table – probably licking themselves since they had no reason to pay attention.

"What do they have that we need?" Ian asked, proving that he'd been paying attention.

"The people themselves… nothing."

Jack raised an eyebrow at that.

"Then what are we going there for?"

"Because when SG-10 went there on the first exploration trip, they found this…"

Daniel dropped a rock on the table. It landed with a slightly metallic thud, and Jack reached out to pick it up.

"Rocks?"

Before he could say something about earth having lots of rocks of its own, Daniel spoke up.

"They're not rocks, Jack. I mean, they look like rocks, yes, but they're not."

"What are they?" Teal'c asked.

"We're not positive, but it shows every sign of being some sort of energy source."

"Excuse me?"

This was from Ian, who looked up from the folder he'd been flipping through. If there had been a new energy source being experimented on in the SGC, he would have known about it. Aside from Sam, he was probably as involved as anyone when it came to what was going on in the labs.

Daniel smiled, and turned towards the wall, which held a monitor. A moment later it turned on, and there was a photo of a wall of some sort – or maybe just a slab of granite or some other stone – showing carvings in the wall. Carvings of representations of people holding what might have been the rocks, and standing around a roaring fire with a very small pebble on the very bottom of it.

"If the rocks in the picture are the same as these found by SG-10, then the people that live on the planet use them – or used them – as an energy source."

"Like coal?" Ian asked.

Daniel shrugged.

"I had a couple guys try to burn one of the stones, but it's not flammable."

"So…?" Jack asked. "What does that mean?"

"It means if the rocks are an energy source – and I'm inclined to believe they are because of these carvings – then we need to find out how to use them."

"Did you try soaking the rock in lighter fluid or something?" Ian asked, looking back at the picture. The rock was definitely on fire...

Daniel shook his head.

"I thought it'd be better to see if we could find out what use the natives put the rocks to before we started experimenting." He pointed to the picture on the wall. "It looks like this huge fire is fueled by only one very small rock."

Ian had to agree with that, and he caught the ramifications immediately.

"So it has the potential to be a potent power source…"

"They could be as potent as nuclear fusion for all I know," Daniel said, shrugging. "We just won't know until someone goes and checks it out."

"Which is where we come in," Jack said.

Daniel nodded.

"What kind of people are these hunter/gatherers?" Teal'c asked. "Are we to ask them to demonstrate the usage of their stones…?"

"I'm not really sure," Daniel admitted. "SG-10 didn't have much opportunity to observe them, so all we really know about them is that they travel quite a bit – although we're not sure if there are more than one tribe so to speak – or if the entire population of the planet are concentrated in that one particular area."

"Are they aware of the gate?" Hammond asked.

"We don't know."

"We don't seem to know very much," Jack complained.

"That's the whole point of exploring, right?" Daniel challenged.

Jack scowled, but he had to admit that yeah, that was the whole point of exploring. Ian grinned.

"So, this mission is simply a fact-finding one," Hammond said, taking control of the briefing. Daniel took a seat next to Teal'c, reaching for the folder he'd dropped on the table before standing up. "What you're going to do is check out these people, and assess whether or not you think it's safe to approach them openly. Either way, you'll report back and notify us of your intentions. If they turn out to be aggressive, or dangerous, then I want you to try and get more samples of Doctor Jackson's rocks, and we'll just do our own experiments on them."

Jack nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"Experimenting on our own isn't necessarily the best plan, Jack," Daniel said. "If these stones are as potent as I believe they could be, then there's always the possibility that we'll blow the mountain up around us if we make a wrong move."

There was a happy thought.

Hammond stood up, effectively ending the briefing.

"Go get geared up, SG-1. You'll have 48 hours to find out what you can about these people – and then I want you back here to report."

"Yes, sir."

Hammond looked at Ian.

"I don't have to remind you to do what you're told?"

Ian scowled. This was the same question Hammond had asked him before every mission offworld since the first time he'd allowed him through the gate. Ian had a perfect memory, for Christ's sake – and Hammond knew it. Of course he didn't have to remind him.

"No, sir."

"Good."

Still scowling, Ian stood up as well, and followed the rest of the team out of the briefing room.