Van was muttering to himself as he attempted to translate things.

"SG-1, how are things going down there?" Colonel Sheppard asked.

Mal sighed. "As well as can be expected when translating a language no one has spoken in several millennia, I think Dr. Walsh may have a stroke any minute."

"I will not!" Van protested.

"It's also extremely boring, sir!" Lee called out when Mal went to respond.

Colonel Sheppard chuckled. "I remember thinking much the same thing everytime Dr. McKay began gushing about something. We'll check back in with you in another hour, Atlas out."

Lee groaned. "Remind me to put a deck of cards in my pack so I can at least play solitaire during times like this."

"Ah ha!" Van shouted.

"I'm assuming you found something, Dr. Walsh?" Mal asked.

"You only call me Dr. Walsh when you think I can help with stuff," Van muttered. "And yes, I did."

Mal looked at Lee. "Do I?"

She shrugged. "I thought it was when you were annoyed with him."

Van sent them a glare. "I think I've found the Gate addresses for the four races."

"And what does that get us?" Lee asked. "We've already had the discussion about how they're all kinda gone in one way or another."

He pointed to the Ancient text on the wall. "We know where the Ancients went." He turned and pointed to the Asgard text. "The Asgard are extinct." He pointed again. "The Nox are peaceful and they consider us too young to deal with on their level. They buried their Gate so no one can visit their world again. That leaves the Furlings." He moved to the last wall and placed a hand against it. "If they're still out there then we should find them. If they're willing to teach us then we'll be able to defend ourselves in the future. At the very least we'll get to meet one of the four."

"The four?" Mal asked.

"The Alliance of the Four Great Races," Van answered. "The United Nations of the stars is what Dr. Jackson called it."

Lee stood and dusted her pants off. "Great, fabulous, does this mean we can leave?"

"In a minute." Van grabbed his radio. "Colonel Sheppard?"

"Yes, Dr. Walsh, what is it?"

"What are the chances the Atlas has a cargo hold large enough to beam up the entire device and the platform it sits on?"

"I can't say without some idea of how big it is and how heavy it might be."

"I'll need a science officer to help with that," Van replied.

"Coming right up."

Lee sat back down with a groan just as light flashed and a woman was left standing in the spot when the light retreated. Lee and Mal listened as she and Van discussed dimensions and weight for the next half hour. She was beamed back up to the ship to make preparations to beam up the device.

Van rubbed his hands together. "I hope this works."

Light flashed and they were beamed into a large cargo hold. Van squealed. "Perfect!" He touched the device and it lit up. "I knew the power source was internal!"

Lee rolled her eyes and headed for the door. "I'm sure Dr. Jackson will love the fact you decided to bring it home with you. You're in charge of it, Van. Feed it, walk it, take it out for potty!" she called as she left.

Mal shook his head and trailed her out of the room.

Lee watched Van as he strode back and forth across the room. "I feel like we've done this before."

"This is so immensely exciting! Dr. Jackson is going to be thrilled we were able to take the device with us! We can preserve all of that information! We can document it and learn from it. It's just so—"

"Amazing," Lee finished for him.

"Yes!"

"Van, you should get some sleep."

"Sleep? How do you expect me to sleep?"

"You've been up for thirty-two hours, I think you need sleep."

"Pfft, no I don't!" he insisted.

"Van, you're going to start hallucinating or lose your mind. You can't go more than three or four days without sleep."

"Maybe normal people, but I'm not normal."

"You got that right," she muttered. "All right, well if you're going to be in here pacing then I'm going to go find something better to do."

"Bye, have fun!" he called in a sing-song voice as she left.

She grumbled her way to the ship's infirmary. "Hey, Doc, can you give me a hand with Van?"

"Sure, what's the issue?"

"He hasn't slept since we left the planet. You think you could give him something?"

She arched a brow. "You want me to knock him out?"

"Yes, please. He's driving me nuts and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it spreads to the rest of the crew."

She frowned. "Not sleeping?"

"No, of course not. He won't shut up about that damn device and how excited Dr. Jackson is going to be. He hasn't slept in over thirty hours and I think he's starting to lose it."

"All right, let's see what we can do."

They returned to the room where Van was currently carrying on a conversation with himself about what he should say to Daniel when they got back.

"Ah, Dr. Walsh."

He looked at them. "Oh, hello, Doctor. Is there a problem?"

"No, not at all. Can I speak to you for a minute?"

"Of course." He moved to where they stood.

"You need some sleep, Dr. Walsh."

He flapped a hand in the air. "Nonsense, I'm fit as a fiddle." He frowned. "Where did that saying come from? How fit can a fiddle be? I mean I guess if strings are broken it wouldn't be fit, but honestly I think fit as an all star athlete is a more apt comparison, don't you?"

She stared a moment before finally nodding. "I think it's time for a nap." She slapped him on the arm and he squealed.

"What was that?"

"An injection to help you sleep." She held up the autoinjector syringe.

He staggered a step toward them. "That wasn't fair!"

Lee caught him when he tripped. "Nope, it wasn't but you deserved it. Time to get some rest, Van." She and the doctor helped him down the corridor to his quarters and got him into bed.

"I hope the Furlings have big teeth and eat you," he murmured before he passed out.

She grinned at the doctor. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem, let me know if you need anything else."

"I will, thanks again." She stared down at Van a minute before she left with a shake of her head.

Van would continue to both worry and express his excitement until they got the go ahead to visit the Furling homeworld. Dr. Jackson would probably be excited too. "Great, two nerds fangirling at once. Just what I need."

"What do you need?" Mal asked as he fell into step beside her.

"To watch Dr. Jackson and Dr. Walsh fangirl over the fact they have the device so they can study it and the Gate address to the Furling homeworld. Actually, I don't need that, I need a way to avoid it."

He laughed. "We can hide in the commissary if necessary."

"They'd find us," she grumbled.

"You're probably right."

"So, where is fangirl Walsh?"

"I had the Doc sneak up on him and give him an injection to help him sleep. He was getting a little wacky."

"Wackier than he already is? It's a shame that I missed it."

"You didn't miss much, sir. It was a lot of exclaiming in excitement and him planning out how he's going to explain everything to Dr. Jackson by holding a conversation with himself."

"I will be certain to tell General Carter you deserve a commendation for your valor in the face of boredom."

"Har har, so funny."

"Let's go get something to eat."

"All right. I missed dinner thanks to Van." She grinned. Despite her complaints about being bored by Van's fangirling, she had to admit the possibilities for that device were overwhelmingly amazing. If they were able to find the Furlings and they were willing to teach them about their technology and help them advance it would be worth listening to Van's boring lectures.