Daniel became aware that he was laying on the floor, easing himself up he flinched as he pushed his hand against the ground for support. Sitting upright he pulled his hand closer to his face. In the dim bluish light he could see that his finger was black and swollen, remembering how the Furling had pushed it back causing it to break.

"Looks like they've decided to use a more... primitive approach," said Anna's voice from nearby.

Daniel could hear the smile in her voice. Judging from how she had said the word primitive the Furlings had obviously had the same chat with her. Peering in the dimness Daniel could make out Anna sitting cross-legged a few feet away. He pulled himself up, surprised that he didn't feel as bad he thought he would, especially as he remembered the device the Furling had pressed against his skull sending an electric charge through his head. He was pretty sure he had blacked out from the pain. Yet now all he could feel was the throbbing in his hand.

Going over to Anna, he sat down next to her. He could now see that her bottom lip was cracked and bleeding, and she had bruising on her neck. "You okay?" Daniel couldn't see any other obvious injuries, but that didn't mean that they weren't there.

"I'm okay. Though I hope I don't look as bad as you." Anna smiled faintly to let him know that she really was okay.

"If you feel like I do, I think you'll be okay." Daniel gave her a faint smile back, then winced slightly as he moved his hand.

Glancing down, Anna saw Daniel's hand, the smile leaving her face. Leaning over she gently picked up his hand, slowly turning it over looking at the damage. Putting it carefully back down she stood up and started searching through her BDU pant pockets. Eventually she found a navy blue hair ribbon. Kneeling back down, she eased his middle fingers together and carefully but firmly wrapped the ribbon around them.

"Sorry," she said seeing Daniel trying not to flinch. Tying the ends together to hold it in place she sat back looking at her handiwork. "How's that?"

"Actually it feels a lot better. Thanks." Daniel had to admit that the throbbing had eased.

"Good." Anna stood up again, looking towards where she knew the opening was. "The Furlings are coming back." Anna turned back towards Daniel, going over to him. Kneeling down on one knee she rested her hand on his leg. "Later you will understand."

"What...?" Daniel barely got a word out when he felt a dizziness come over him, Anna's face became blurry, for a minute he thought he saw...

With that last thought Daniel fell forward, Anna catching him as he did so. Briefly cradling him in her arms she gently laid him down, before standing up again facing the opening.

Suddenly the opening appeared revealing a Furling, who came into the room. Even though Anna couldn't see it's face she could tell that it glanced down to where Daniel laid, before turning its attention to her.

~*~*~*~

"What's the problem, Sam?" asked Cameron leaning over Sam's shoulder to look at the console.

"There's some kind of security encrypted sub-routine which is preventing us from accessing Thor's program."

"The Furlings?"

"Most likely." Giving a nod, Sam carried on pressing a variety of keys. "Look this could take awhile..."

Cameron recognizing the look on Sam's face, knew that it was best to leave her to it, there was nothing he could do help her. "Okay. Keep me up-to-date."

~*~*~*~

Anna bit down hard on her bottom lip, holding onto the scream that was building up inside. She could taste the blood from it. Her legs had given out on her and she was on her knees. Suddenly the searing pain stopped as the Furling pulled away the small device from the side of her head. As the pain subsided she unclenched her hands, falling forward onto hands, breathing hard.

"Unfortunately for you , you have a strong threshold of pain. You will suffer greatly."

Anna raised her head. "What can I say,... I'm a sucker for punishment."

"Where is the entity?"

Pulling herself into a kneeling position, her behind resting on her heels, Anna looked up at the Furling. "You keep asking me that, and I keep telling you I don't know." Anna put her hand up to mouth wiping some of the blood away. "The one we found died, moved on, went away... I don't know. But its gone."

"And yet you are here."

"You mean this galaxy? We're curious, its part of who we are. We like to learn about things. Something we share with you." Anna pulled herself to her feet and looked at the Furling.

"You are nothing like us."

Anna looked at the Furling, staring into it's helmet, into where she remember its eyes were. "No, we're not. All that knowledge you've gained and yet you understand nothing. Somewhere along the way you lost... compassion?... the ability to feel?... hope?"

"They are irrelevant."

"Yes, I guess they would be to you. Is that why you killed the Ancients? Because they understood something that you never could. It must of really pissed you off that they learned about ascension. All that knowledge so far out of reach."

Suddenly the Furling moved grabbing Anna by the throat, it held tight squeezing slowly. "Touched a nerved, haven't I? But it's not just about ascension. You want... more." Anna felt the squeezing easing just a fraction, though the Furling still held her tightly. "What is it that you want from the entity? What do you think it knows?"

"It knows everything."

"No-one, no being can know everything, you do know that, don't you?"

"It knows. We saw. It will tell us everything."

"And then kill it? Because you can't let it live, can you? Only the Furlings can know, anyone else is gotten rid of." The Furling let go of Anna's throat and swung it's arm back hitting Anna on the head, sending her flying across the room.

Anna laid there for a second, her head throbbing, blood in her mouth. Rolling over onto her back she looked at the Furling, her eyes glistening with tears. "You don't get it do you! You can't learn from it! How can you learn. You think you have the answers but you don't even know what the questions are. Your looking for something you can never find."

The Furling went over to her putting it's hand on her throat, holding firmly it dragged her up pushing her against the wall, her feet off the ground. It brought it's head close to hers. "But you can."

~*~*~*~