Caleb couldn't help the laugh as Chris told him how he'd discovered the programme, it seemed everyone he met had a different story to tell. A different take on how they got recruited and sometimes he wished he had such a interesting story to tell about how he got recruited, all he really had going for him was that he was one of only a handful of Brits that worked for the SGC, they're definitely wasn't that many of them.

The smile he got on his face as he spoke of Claire was different from the joking around one he usually wore, anyone that knew him would be able to pick up the difference. But he just sort of half shook his head, he knew he shouldn't really speak of the relationship the two of them had, although they weren't shouting it from the rooftops, he did find they were a lot more discreet when it came to being back at the SGC to being on Atlantis.

“The good doctor disagrees with me on a lot,” he replied smiling at Chris, “But she has access to pointy objects so it's best to stay on her good side at times.” It was a joke that he had ran with since meeting Claire, just every time he was talking about her to someone else that was what he'd say, god knows what the other newer recruits actually said to her once they finally met her.

He could just about see a terrified newbie not wanting to go see Claire because of his comment, not in a bad way of course, but in the way that she would stick them with something.

“Really bad to light on fire?” parroted Caleb back, “You make it sound like you actually tried to set the Gate on fire, which am going to guess you didn't, unless I need to start warning people about the pyromaniac we have on the team.” He was joking, his tone was light, anything to make the Airman relax a little more, it hadn't gone unnoticed that the bloke was nervous.

He couldn't blame him for being nervous really, it was a big step to go through the Stargate, to a different planet where most rules just basically didn't apply and you ended up relying on your more basic training to keep yourself and the other members of whatever team you were in safe. There wasn't exactly a manual for this kind of job, they made you sign on the dotted line and then you just got on with it.

“Don't worry about rambling, you get use to it,” Caleb said, reassuringly, “There is a mixture of Military and Civilians, if one isn't rambling then you can be damn sure the other will be.”

He couldn't count how many times he had met an overeager Civilian, or a rather overeager military personnel who just wanted to talk about what was happening. When he had first joined it had been something he hadn't actually expected from people, but it had grown on him, he now just worried when either of them groups weren't rambling on about something because it usually meant that something was wrong. Very wrong.

There was a mischievous look that crossed Caleb's face as Chris asked about the debauchery ways off an outpost, oh he could give the bloke some advice, some tips, but well he wasn't one for scaring off the newbies.

“Oh all kinds, all kinds of debauchery will be happening, you'll be lucky to get any work done at all,” he said, keeping a perfectly straight face for all of two minutes before he broke into a loud laugh. “Am sorry I shouldn't rib you like that, you'll be fine, just trial and error my friend.”

Not that he was sure that anything of the sort was going to be happening on this outpost, he was sure that they were all going to be kept very busy and away from each other. An if he knew some of the higher ups he himself wouldn't be able to see much of Claire either, it was going to be a very long few weeks.

Caleb offered a shrug at Chris questions, sure he could have stayed with the Navy, gone on to become a higher rank with them, signed on there secret dotted line. But then he wondered would he have ever gotten to the Stargate programme and all that, that had given him, because at the end of the day he was a better person for joining up the SGC.

For moving his entire life onto land and being more land locked , than he would have been had he stayed at sea, he knew for a fact he would still have been hopping from bed to bed instead of a steady relationship had he not joined.

“Lets just say, there is other things that keep me land locked now,” he answered, not willing to give much more away.

He might have been making friends with Chris, but he wasn't about to divulge too much about himself to someone he had just quite literally met. He very rarely showed much of himself to anyone, people knew him from most of the rumours, he liked it that, he was going to keep it that way.

“So is there anyone waiting for you back home?” Caleb asked changing the subject completely as they continued trudging towards there final destination. “Or do we need to see if we can set you up with one of the lovely people on base?”

Chris broke a little grin as the man next to him laughed. It was good to know if anything, that people here weren’t robots, and weren’t the hardasses he’d worked for in the past. Everyone was different, yes, but Chris got a good vibe from this man. At least, that was how it was for this man. Maybe it was a British thing.

Chris noted the subtle changes that came over Caleb as he talked about Claire. He wasn’t familiar as to why, but he noticed at least some of them. Of course, skirting around the subject made Chris more curious, but he respected the man’s bounds. Some people just didn’t want to talk personal on the first meet. Most people, actually. Regardless, he listened now. It might be useful sometime down the road.

He raised an eyebrow at the speech about pointy objects. Two things came to the forefront of his mind. First, his slightly irrational phobia of needles and sharp pointy sterile things gave him pause, but then he spoke the second one. “Might makes Right, as the saying goes. And Doctors have a lot of might.” He didn’t mean what he said about might, as his tone indicated, but he generally found that Doctors were too overprotective of patients. It was better to mollify them… by ensuring everyone else took their meds and stayed for observation.

Chris didn’t directly answer the man at first. He simply raised his eyebrows once and lowered them, a slightly coy grin on his face. He was noted at times for his particular proclivity for pyrotechnics, but all of his stuff he did was off duty, and not critical. Although his overt tone was light and joking, he still was nervous underneath. For him, the most calming thing he could do in new terrain outdoors was to burn something. To sit, and watch the little orange tongues of flame lick away and eat the wood around him. It smelled good, it looked good, and it produced heat. If he had any kind of authorization to burn, he would tonight.

“I guess you’re right,” he said, nodding, but finding a way to hold his tongue. It was probably going to be a matter of the Civvies complaining and rambling about the Military, and the head honchos of the military rambling and whining about the Civvies. Such was life. “The question is, which side will be complaining more.

He nodded as the man noted the “many types” of debauchery that would be happening on the outpost. He was completely taken in before the man’s guffaw. He then realized how tricked he’d been. He give the man a look of being absolutely done, but his eyes were alight with sarcasm.

“Any idea what we’ll ACTUALLY be doing?” He asked, giving the man a pointed look. “All work and no play?”

Caleb again skirted around his questions, but Chris didn’t mind. “Hey, I don’t mean to pry.” he said, keeping a ghost of a smile on his list. “But reasons are good to have, no matter what they are.” he said, dropping the train of thought.

When he heard the question about his own family, he shook his head. “No, not really. Parents are divorced, and I haven't seen either of them in a few years.” he said, shrugging. “As to anyone else, we’ll see what happens.” he said, with a chuckle. “I mean, who knows how long we’ll be here, or I’ll be here.” he said. He’d floated around a few places, but he’d never started to set down roots or make contacts much outside of his job at the last places he’d been. Part of him always wanted to be ready to get up and move at any time. The other half was told to shut up.

It was always a bit strange to Caleb to be walking on an 'alien' world just having a general conversation with someone, it reminded him of the people he worked with back on Atlantis whenever the moment called for it someone would be making a joke somewhere. Of course everyone always knew to be professional when the time came, but here on the Beta site it felt more relaxed to Caleb, maybe it was the lack of life-sucking aliens that did it, he didn't know, he just knew despite how long the walk way he was enjoying the fresh air, the warmth of the planet and making a new friend in the process.

He smiled at Chris, “Might makes Right, please don't go telling the docs that,” he joked back, “Trust me give them that much power you won't ever escape from the infirmary again.” Not that many people spent a lot of time down in the infirmary, it just felt like a lot longer when you were injured and all you wanted to do was curl up in your own quarters.

There had been a instance of that happening to him at one point or another, nine times out of ten all he wanted to do was go to his quarters, lick his wounds in peace. Yet the doctors very rarely let anyone do that and if half the rumours were true then the other SG teams were not nearly as bad as SG1. Caleb was glad he wasn't quite that bad, he might complain loudly but that was about it.

Caleb watched as the pyromaniac joke seemed to go over not that well, or rather that was what he thought as the other bloke ducked his head. Caleb had managed to somehow put his foot in it, he was good at that at times, sometimes his own joking came across a bit annoying at times. He was definitely an acquired taste at times and knew that not everyone found him charming.

He didn't reply to the 'setting stargate on fire' thing again, he wasn't going to push much more than he had and he already felt a little like he had stepped over some line. He looked up at the sky as they continued to walk across this strange terrain, it wasn't often he got to just look at the sky, relax as he headed towards a destination on a mission.

Caleb drew his attention back to Chris when he heard the other bloke speak again, he nodded his head, “Trust me its not the complaining you have to worry about,” he said, as though parting some kind of sage advice, “It's when the complaining stops. Usually means something is wrong and you either need to start running or taking cover.”

It was true, several times when the teams he'd been on had quietened down was when someone had either gotten hurt, something bad was happening, or they had to run. Normally it meant there was running involved, actually for someone who didn't do a lot of running as part of a work out routine, Caleb had done a damn lot more running since he'd joined the programme. He really should see about starting to run more on his downtime, he knew on Atlantis there were people that did circuits of the place, even at the SGC there would be people doing laps around some of the less busier areas.

Caleb laughed along with Chris, before shaking his head at the question, “Nope, am afraid not, was told to suit and boot up,” he said, holding out his arms, “An here I am. They'll either tell us once we get there or let us continue to guess. Sometimes the guessing is the best part.”

“All work and no play makes for very dull people,” he said, smiling. It was one thing to work, it was another to enjoy the work and he definitely enjoyed his work, he didn't want to ever find himself giving up this life style. Sure it might be dangerous and he might end up more injured than if he had ever stayed under the water, but damn if it wasn't thrilling.

Caleb listened as Chris told him about his family, about the no one in his life and it kind of struck a chord with Caleb, he realised that Chris was kind of him a few years ago – except Caleb had jumped into every bed he could find in every port – and he didn't feel bad for the bloke. It was always a choice of how people acted, he had acted in his own way due to his own past, but when Chris had said what he'd said, Caleb sort of saw himself there for a moment.

Shaking his head, he plastered a smile on his face – bright, charming, - put an arm across the blokes shoulder and said, “Well am sure I can help you out there, might be here a while,” he nodded towards the others in their little group, “There's a few am sure that wouldn't mind getting to know you.”

Chris grinned, nodding. “Can do, mum to the docs,” he said. “I mean people avoid them so much they must get desperate to keep the few visitors they have in,” he said. Thankfully, other than his physical, he’d avoided all the pokes, pricks, prods, and punishment that came with the infirmary. And the less time he spent there, in his opinion, the better.

He hadn’t meant to ruin the pyro joke, but to more allude that he lit things on fire far more often than he should. Or perhaps his meaning hadn’t been clear. In his bag, he had enough fire making materials to make pretty much anything from a campfire to a kiln, if given enough time. He had no issues with the person next to him himself, just Chris’s own pathetic attempt at a joke backfiring spectacularly. Such was his way.

He nodded, taking in the man’s advice. “So noted,” he said, thinking. If both the Scientists and Military agreed on something, it was quite often a bad sign. “Is this experience talking, or just general rule of thumb?” he inquired, trying to judge. “But hopefully there’s nothing out here, so we should be safe, right?” he asked, although the answer as probably “You’re never safe”. Comforting, to be sure.

Chris didn’t know much of the past history of the SGC, beyond the basics. He hadn’t had time to read mission reports, save a few from SG-1, but even then he found it hard to believe all of what he read. But, as Chris feared, nobody knew exactly what they had signed up for. “Well sure, guessing is good, but if I’m going to be doing something, I’d sure like to know what it is. Nothing like missing a deadline because you didn’t know it existed,” he said, a slight tone of annoyance at a past event in his voice. He’d fixed that issue a while ago, but it still irked him that it had happened. “Well, got any good guesses, then?” he asked, still poking around for any type of information, either speculative or confirmed.

He nodded, acquiescing the point. “Fair enough. But idle hands make the devil’s work,” he said, firing back at one idiom with another. It was this kind of repartee that he enjoyed in his work, and often found himself wanting more of, in certain moods. Other times, he preferred blunt, to the point, and direct statements. It all depended on his mood and the subject, usually.

He didn’t protest as the man threw an arm over his shoulder. He grinned a bit. He wasn’t used to the level of personality and uniqueness from a military unit, but he wasn’t complaining. It was good to feel like he was in some place that let people be themselves, not mindless automatons. He gave a short nose-laugh, as he nodded his head and sighed. “Yeah, we’ll see. Who knows,” he started. “I’m not sure about anything at this point… Except keeping the Doctors happy,” he said, with a grin.

“Oh yeah, they get very upset when you try to leave before they want you to,” he joked back, he also knew the doctors got a bit upset when you pulled stitches or went back to work before the allotted time. He had done just that, gone back to work before he was allowed when he'd first joined, thought he had gotten away with it, until Claire had caught him. At least he hadn't split her very fine handiwork she had done, he was just a bit more sore than usual back then.

It seemed the joking about the pyromaniac stuff seemed to fall flat very quickly, he hadn't meant it to go that way, had wanted to just make the other bloke feel a bit more at ease on this very alien planet but it seemed he had failed. Caleb decided not to mention it again, he wasn't going to bring it up, he'd move on, forget the conversation actually every happened, it was going to be the best way.

“Rule of thumb and experience,” he answered with a shrug, “You stick around long enough at the SGC and you'll hear the stories, probably won't believe them, but you'll hear them. When neither side has an answer you know you're in trouble.”

It had very rarely happened to him, once or twice on Atlantis, less when he'd been at the SGC, but he'd hear the rumours. The fact at times no one had an answer and everything went bit crazy and people got hurt. He made a point of making sure that was never going to happen to him, or at least that is what he told himself anyway.

When the airman asked if they were safe out here, he just looked at him for a moment, the Beta site had been deemed safe, it wouldn't have been classed as the Beta site if it wasn't. But there was a part of him, a part of him that knew that no where was exactly safe, you couldn't one hundred percent say anywhere was safe. Not even your own home on Earth, to think that would land you in more trouble than actually landing on a Goa'uld mother ship with no weapons and no backup – thankfully not something that had actually ever happened to him – to speak of.

“Am sure it'll be as safe as we can make it,” he answered sincerely, he wasn't going to sugar coat it for the bloke.

Caleb noted the hint of annoyance in Chris' voice as he spoke of the fact he had no idea what they were doing on the Beta site, it wasn't like he was given exactly what they were doing, why they were doing it, he had sat through the same briefing that the Airman had, had seen the same docket that had been given out to everyone. If the higher ups didn't want them to know something, they weren't going to know it, he might be slightly more relaxed in his rank than some of the others, but he still took orders, still respected them, still followed them. It was just he did it with a bit more of a smile, and a more relaxed approach than what people came to expect of a military bloke.

“Good guess, they need our skills for something,” he answered with a shrug, “They're trying to set it up as an outpost right? So common sense says that they need everyone with every kind of skill set going, regardless of whether we find something or not. Planet's pretty damn big, you don't know what you'll come across.”

Caleb was thankful when the conversation seemed to drop back to the lighter subjects, he took his arm away from Chris, laughing as he did so. It seemed he had completely terrified the bloke into going to the infirmary in the near future, oh Claire was so gonna have his ass for that he was sure.

“Now that is definitely a rule of thumb, keep the Doctor's happy,” he said, mischief clearly in his voice, as he laughed again.

Chris nodded as the man spoke. Thankfully, he’d spent most of his time far away from chaos and the unknown, and so his experience with Doctors and medics was woefully inadequate for the familiarity he would acquire in the SG Programme. Of course, the next statements cast a more foreboding shadow on the whole situation. “Well there’s a lot about this place I still don’t believe, so I’ll just add those to the list,” he said, shrugging. “Just means more problems to be solved and overcome. And keep each other safe,” he tacked on to the end, nodding.

He didn’t know what was running through Caleb’s head, but whatever it was Chris was just as well not knowing. There were still things he’d rather not have to process until he had to- and the idea of things like loss of family wasn’t a pleasant thought. They were out here to find a way to fight and survive, not put the whole planet in peril or duress. The planet had been occupied at least once before in history, if Chris remembered his crash course in “ancient earth reeducation,” but of course history was what they made of it.

“As safe as they make it…” he parroted, nodding softly to himself. Not exactly an inspiring message, but it was true. “I guess that’s why the site’s so far from the Gate?” he asked. “At least give us a few minutes to prepare, or to keep it hidden?” he asked. He wasn’t a military tactician, he didn’t know things like battle tactics- he was just a cog in the vast machine of the SGC, and by part, the Earth’s collective experiment.

He slid a coin out of his pocket, and began turning it over in his hand, rolling it through his knuckles as he went. It didn’t have much of a purpose- just some old rounded piece of metal, any etching or paint flecks long since faded away. Now, it was just a silver disk, kept around because of the feeling of cool metal on the skin, plain and boring. He’d have to reetch it sometime.

“Fair enough,” he said, shrugging as he flipped the coin in the air and caught it. blank he thought, then realized the folly of this, with two identical sides. Same result every time. No winner. “Just hope we get there soon, or anyone who comes to visit is gonna need to walk a day to get there. And nothing takes the fun out of a new home like a long driveway. Pain in the ass to plow,” he said, thinking back to some of his winters in the UP of Michigan, but with no context it might seem a bit strange.

“So tell me, all this talk of me finding a special person to spend time with, you got any stories in that department?” he asked. If they had to trudge forward, they might as well get some entertainment.

“You'll have a damn long list by the end of it,” Caleb joked right back, he still had his own list of stuff he didn't quite believe he'd seen, it had gotten a lot longer since he'd gone out to Atlantis.

He did however nod in acknowledgement of the Airman's comment about keeping each other safe, that was probably the one big thing Caleb had found with everyone new he had met at the SGC. No matter there skills, profession etc., they all wanted to keep people safe, it seemed that, that was a standard requirement to join the programme. He had the same thing, wanting to keep people safe, but his was tucked away safely, he only showed the skilled, charming weapons expert people had come to know and expect of him. Well everyone but Claire, but that was different and not something he was going to divulge at the moment.

Caleb smiled at Chris as he replied, “Yeah keep away from the Gate, gives us time, unless they come in ships of course,” he didn't mean to come across as sarcastic, his sarcastic side very rarely showed, maybe it was all the walking they were doing. It did feel like they had been walking for a few hours now.

“Sorry, didn't mean that,” he said, “I supposed they keep us away from the Gate so that it's not obvious we're here, there's plenty out there that have ships though, so just because we've walked for a while, don't go thinking it's completely safe.”

Caleb wasn't meaning to scare the new recruit, but he'd seen a few people go around thinking everything was fine only to land themselves in trouble, damn he'd done the same when he'd first joined. Gone off world that first time, gotten himself a one way ticket to the infirmary, because he had been a bit too cocky, a bit too full of excitement.

It seemed that Chris had done talking for a moment, especially if the coin he was flipping around was anything to go by, Caleb watched as the piece of metal seemed to flow almost smoothly across the other mans hands. Caleb himself had never picked up a habit like that, sure he was pretty good with his hands, he had to be, but he'd never found himself fiddling with anything like that, not even in a nervous tick kind of way.

He did however have to laugh as Chris said it took the fun out of a new place if you had a long drive, “Trust me you get use to that,” he said, “A long walk to and from the stargate, it keeps you fit,” he was joking of course.

At the question about whether he had anybody or not, Caleb realised he hadn't actually ever been asked that before, everyone knew of him and Claire, or rather everyone knew the rumours about him, then when he'd started going out with Claire it had just sort of become common knowledge on the base. He forgot that there would be new people coming into the programme that wouldn't know of him, his reputation or what had happened in the gym a few years ago.

So yeah he was kind of stumped for a moment, him and Claire had always kept things discreet, well as discreet as they could, and he didn't want to lie to Chris, but he didn't want to tell about his relationship either. Or at least not name, names so to speak, it was an odd place to be.

“I will tell you this, there is someone,” he answered, almost tripping over his words, “someone very close to me, but before that, lets just say you don't want to sleep with a Jaffa, they leave bruises.” he smiled at Chris, there that was good enough.

“That’s what digital lists are for. No point killing trees,” Chris said with a smirk. His list was plenty long already, in his head, and he’d never been off planet before. His list also had rather high on it that the place had been able to remain a secret after all this time.

“But,” he started, thinking. “I noticed we don’t have an iris here, at least not that I saw. I may have missed it,” he said, thinking back. “Doesn’t that, I dunno, kinda seem like something that’d be important in a place like this? I mean, it couldn’t hurt…?” he asked, becoming less sure of himself as he rambled on. It just seemed like he was missing something obvious, something that he would be informed of like Chris was the dumbest ditz that ever lived. “No 302’s?” he asked, an eyebrow raised. This little defense for Humanity’s key safe harbor didn’t seem wize. It was almost asking for trouble.

He had noted the Sarcasm, but hadn’t paid it much mind. “I understood the gist,” he said, shrugging, his whole pack shifting rather awkwardly as he did so. He hurriedly fixed it, hoping his mistake hadn’t been noticed by too many people. Chris chastised himself in his head. ’Weight distribution, dumbass. It’s important…’

He continued to flip through the metal, still drinking in the details of his surroundings- the amount of dust kicked up by the air, the fauna around, any noises of animals or wind, the temperature, humidity… and then up. The clouds, sky, and space beyond. His vision also took in the unnatural visitors to this haven- The men and women in uniform and otherwise, their packs, each one packed just slightly different, all the same gear but each with a unique touch to it. He flipped the disk slightly, nabbing it out of the air in front of him with his left hand and continuing to flip it, slower and more deliberately. This wasn’t as smooth, as he wasn't by design left-hand dominant. But he learned to adapt.

“Oh, so now they’ve gone from locking us in a mountain far from the sun and breathing reprocessed air to caring about our fitness?” he asked, laughing a bit to that. “That’s Doctor logic for you, alright. Can smell it a mile away,” he said, but he was mostly joking. “Well, I’ve needed some fresh air. At the least it’ll do me good.

He raised an eyebrow at the secrecy. “I see,” he said, trying to figure things out. “Well, far be it from me to intrude on the Senior Enlisted.” he said, thinking he got the ranks down right. “I’ll also take your information under advisement… though you have just told me you’ve gotten it on with a Jaffa before,” he smirked, good-naturedly. “Very Captain Kirk of you, exploring Strange new…. I think I’m just gonna leave that one there.” he cut himself, before he said something that would either trigger a fight or end with Chris losing his control on his laughter.

Yeah, this guy’s alright… he thought, before smiling broadly.

"To be honest I don't think we have that problem of running out of trees any time soon," Caleb replied, smiling at Chris, "There is lots of planets with trees on."

He might have been joking around, but Caleb kind of knew what Chris meant, there was still a lot of 'save the planet' stuff that happened back on Earth, some of it he agreed with - they should be doing a bit more to preserve the planet they lived on - and some of it, well some of the ideas he just thought were kind of ludicrous.

Caleb had to give the bloke his dues, he definitely was switched on to what was missing on the Beta site, even Caleb himself couldn't say that he'd thought of the iris thing. Of course as technically minded as he was, he wasn't quite that far advanced, at the end of the day he was more used as a general dogs body than anything else.

An extra pair of hands that was often called upon when he was needed and he kind of liked it like that, sure leading the odd team here or there was enjoyable and he enjoyed the responsibility that gave him, but he also enjoyed the times when he could say he was a 'member' of the team. To not have that responsibility handed to him.

"Honestly, I hadn't thought of that," Caleb admitted with a shrug, his pack making some noise as it moved along his back, "To be honest you wouldn't have seen the iris if the planet had one when you stepped through, because you wouldn't have come through, you'd have gone....well you would have gone splat."

He didn't mean to sound so callous, so crude about it, but really there was not any other way he could put it and not make it sound like he was making stuff up. Of course if he was honest with himself he didn't think he was correct in saying you'd go splat, if he remembered his 'lessons in stargate 101' - as he liked to call it - he was sure there wasn't enough room to actually materialize on the other side when the iris was closed. He was sure, he'd ask someone later, if he remembered.

"I haven't seen any 302's, but then again they might already be here," he answered, again with that same sort of friendly smile and shrug, "Don't forget we are coming into this, people have been here a while already."

Maybe he wasn't the best person for Chris to be asking all his questions to, he had enjoyed speaking with the bloke so far, enjoying the odd joke, the odd banter that was thrown between the two of them and Caleb knew that he would enjoy working with the other bloke. He just felt kind of inadequate to answer the questions that Chris as throwing at him, giving him a question on an weapon any day and he knew he'd be able to answer that with no hesitation.

Caleb was glad when the conversation steered away from complicated questions, or rather awkward questions to answer and back onto the light hearted stuff. He could deal with that, he could answer them with no problem.

He laughed at the remark, "Well you know doctors they tell you one thing and you either have to do something different or they change their minds."

He had great respect for the medical staff that worked at the SGC, had come to rely on them more than he had actually ever thought he would, and knew they worked damn hard to make sure that you made it to the next day. So yeah he could joke around about the doctors not knowing what they were doing, about them changing their minds and all that kind of banter, but he knew he still had the biggest respect for what they did and that wasn't going to change. Besides some of the medical staff joked just the same as him about their own jobs.

Caleb couldn't quite make out the tone Chris was using when he called him 'Senior Enlisted', he thought the bloke was joking, had a small inkling that the bloke was joking, but something stopped him from replying straight away. Caleb never shared his private life, which meant that he wasn't about to share anything about him and Claire to this person, he just wouldn't divulge that information.

So the one thing he did comment on was, "That would be Chief Petty Officer Kirk thank you very much," he said, joking tone very clearly in his voice. Actually thinking about that, he very much was Kirk, except he didn't get to fly a spaceship, well not yet, the spaceship flying was very much down to the air force officers more than him.

He had to laugh at the joke though, because he really couldn't wait to tell Claire about the comment, oh he was going to use that comment so many ways to her.

"Yeah I think you should, before you land yourself in hot water, am sure there is some form of menial work I can find for you now," he said, still completely joking with the bloke, if he was back on Atlantis he would have made sure the other members of the team ribbed the bloke about it as well.

Not that he ever very much considered hazing the new ones, no way....or rather not on Earth anyway.

Chris shrugged again. “Fair enough.” he said, but didn’t pursue the issue beyond that. He wasn’t a hippy-dippy type person, but he saw no use for waste. He didn’t have major views beyond that himself, but some things he saw for material or superficial gain just made no sense.

He had to keep himself from being overly critical of the plans here- he knew damn well everything had been more than taken care of and planned for- almost every circumstance or possible malfunction taken into account. There was no thing that wasn’t here that people much higher than him thought wouldn’t need to be here.

Throughout his head, he thought of all the things that he would have added. If he’d had an infinite choice of things to have here, he’d probably have increased the firepower significantly, or maybe gotten some of the base subterranean. Less open, more fort. The same solution as people who had designed bomb bunkers- going below was safer and cheaper. An odd thought for an Airman, but a practical aspect. Still, it bothered him. The lack of offensive options visible, the lack of “air” power for this base, and the lack of protection on the giant “insert-an-army” hole.

“Well, yeah. I guess that’s true but wouldn’t there also need to be an Iris control unit, or some way to receive a GDO code? And I didn’t see anyone transmitting a code, though I’ll admit I was more petrified in place than anything else.”

He himself didn’t have clearance or the need to know a set of codes, at least not yet, but he knew the basic design and process. Wormhole, Transmit Code, Open Iris, Go through, close iris, end wormhole. Basic and simple. If you didn’t... well, Caleb took care of that for him. Splat.

Of course, this was Chris. He had quite a few useless facts stuffed up from his history as a bookworm. Recently, though, he’d learned an interesting fact. The Stargate’s Iris was 3 micrometers from the event horizon… and a virus took less than one seventh that space, so a biological agent could theoretically get through the Iris intact. But that brought into question wormhole theory, and Chris was out of his depth there.

“Yeah you’re right again, I guess.” he said, chuckling nervously. “Guess leaving the relative safety of a mountain designed to withstand cold-war era Nukes does make this wide-open space seem a bit threatening… especially knowing what’s out there.” he said. But even then, he’d expect to be able to see something by now.

“But…” he said, starting and recovering his grin a bit, “You’d think they’d have some wheels here to make the trek from the Stargate a little less… walky.”

At the shared joke about one of Earth’s popular series, his grin stayed on his face. “Well, we should be there soon. I hope. We’re not machines, at least, those of us who aren’t marines aren’t machines.”

He realized now as they walked, he’d not asked the man’s history. He obviously had some experience with gate travel, and back on Earth he’d heard some talk about Atlantis. But as to what else there was, he was at a loss. “So… I gathered you’d been to Atlantis, what’s it.. Ya know, what’s it like there? I’ve never actually talked to anyone who’s come back from there much.”