I think Gale knows more about the hatch than he's letting on. I could be dead wrong tho. It's possible the baloon man was coming to relieve one of the hatch men. We still don't know who the original hatch men are. We know one is named Kelvin. That's it. Desmond needs to get his butt back to this series. Where the heck is he anyway? As for the flashback: Good eye. That IS Sayid's woman.