“And leave aside the question of what kind of military readiness drill involves needing a helicopter deep inside an underground base,” Hammond said.
If Jack had been standing there, Hammond was fairly sure he would have pointed out that being a military project by definition meant it didn't necessarily have to make sense. Siler might have thought the same, but he wasn't about to say it.
“Leaving that aside, yes, sir.”
“Very well,” Hammond said. “Have you got the platform set up on the other side of the gate?”
“We've got it set up,” Siler said, but he looked unhappier about that. “I wouldn't like to use it more than a couple of times, though. It's very hard to anchor something securely on that piece of rock that'll take the kind of weight we're talking about. It has to be level, so that we can put the thing through on a wheeled handling platform and know it's not going to roll, and if we can't drill permanent anchors and level the actual rock
â”
“I'd prefer that we be able to put the site back the way we found it,” Hammond said. “We are guests on this planet, and right now we're already uninvited ones.”
“We'll get it done, sir,” Siler said, although he looked like he'd rather argue. Hammond had noted a certain tendency in engineers to want to begin solving problems by leveling anything in their way. It was one he didn't feel like encouraging.
“I'm sure you will,” he said.
Janet emerged into the gate room in field gear, shouldering an oversized pack. “I'm ready to go, sir,” she said.
“I'm afraid your ride's not here yet,” Hammond said. “I'm told it should be incoming soon. I'm sure SG-1 will be glad to see you.”
“I'll be glad to see them,” Janet said. “I hope all we need to do is give them a ride home.”
“I hope so, too,” Hammond said. “However, the last information we have suggests that SG-1 may be being held prisoner. Even fitted out with jump seats, the biggest helicopter we can get in here is only going to seat eight, and that's counting you and the pilot. I'll send two Marines with you for backup, but you're not going to be able to fight your way into any kind of highly guarded facility.”
“Understood, sir,” Janet said. “I'm hoping that we can make radio contact when we get in range and get a better idea of their situation. It may be that SG-1 can escape on their own if they've got anywhere to go once they do.”
“Knowing Dr. Jackson, it's also entirely possible that they've talked their way out of the situation, and you'll find them having tea with a bunch of pirates,” Hammond said. “Just watch yourself. It's an unknown situation.”
“Sir, if you could just step this way,” Siler said, steering them tactfully out of the way of the helicopter handling platform that was being wheeled into the room. Hammond didn't know where Walter had gotten his hands on one of those so quickly, but he wasn't about to ask.
“Come along, Dr. Fraiser,” he said. “Let's let these people work.”
D
aniel expected Reba to insist that he make the second trip down the cliff to fix a rope for their descent
â
he was getting the picture from Teal'c's expression that asking him to repeat the climb first might not be a good idea
â
but she shook her head and hammered in spikes at the top of the cliff herself, clipping the rope to them securely before swinging herself easily down over the edge of the ravine.
“Don't think it's out of the goodness of my heart,” she said, still hanging onto the edge. “I'm not about to trust myself to your rope.”
Daniel refrained from pointing out that she'd expected Teal'c to trust himself to the even more dubious security of a rope held by her men. Now that it seemed there was some chance again of actually finding the Ancient device, he didn't want to strain her temper too far.
He waited impatiently while she made the descent, which took long enough that he was considering trying to lean out far enough over the ravine to tell whether she had begun exploring the tunnel system without him when he heard her call up from far below, a wordless yell that her men seemed to take as a signal.
“You two go down first,” Yassi said, brandishing a zat at them.
“I would really like it if you didn't threaten us while we're climbing,” Daniel said.
“I won't need the thunderbolt while you're climbing,” Yassi said, his scarred face twisting in a smile. “I can just kick rocks down on your heads if you make trouble.”
“I am uncertain how much trouble you expect us to cause while descending a rope,” Teal'c said, but he moved to the edge of the cliff. Reba had grudgingly leant them carabiners to clip themselves onto the rope she'd anchored at intervals down the cliff, so that if they lost their grip on the second rope they were using as a handhold, there was only so far for them to fall. Assuming that her anchors held, and that their makeshift rope harnesses did.
Unfortunately, there wasn't any way to find out other than trying it. Daniel waited for Teal'c to start his descent, and then lowered himself carefully over the edge of the rocky ledge, and began making his way down.
It was a nerve-wracking climb, made no easier by having to watch where he put his feet to avoid kicking rocks down on Teal'c's head. He was glad when he could finally unclip from the fixed rope and swing himself into the safety of the tunnel mouth, letting go of the other rope and stretching his cramped hands.
“I think this is my workout for the week,” Daniel said.
Teal'c's mouth quirked, and he looked for a moment as though he were going to make some teasing reply about what Daniel considered strenuous activity, but then he remained silent, his expression sobering. Daniel wished again he'd been able to think of some better story to tell Reba. Teal'c was no doubt right that showing too much friendliness to Daniel would be bad for their cover story, but it was still disheartening.
“I thought I'd have to wait all afternoon,” Reba said. “Maybe we should have just dropped you off the cliff. Tied to a rope, I mean, don't start with the complaints again.”
“Nice of you to make that clear,” Daniel said. He backed out of the tunnel entrance to let Yassi and the man who followed him unfasten themselves from the rope. Turning to Teal'c, he held out his hand, and Teal'c handed over Daniel's flashlight wordlessly.
“You two stay here,” Reba said to her men. “Make sure no one else comes down behind us to try their luck.”
“Do you not trust your crew?” Teal'c said.
“I'm not that much a fool. All right, treasure hunter,” Reba said. “Lead the way.”
“Okay,” Daniel said. “Let's go see what we can find.” He didn't feel it necessary to mention that the tablets hadn't provided any specific directions for navigating the tunnels in front of them. He'd explored much more elaborate mazes before, and he set a brisk pace, confident that he and Teal'c would both remember how to retrace their path and hoping that Reba might not.
The tunnels were squarely built, clearly not any kind of natural cave system. Not that extensive natural caves were likely in these mountains. Daniel stopped to examine one wall; its facade of dressed stone seemed thin, and he wished there was time to pry one of the panels off and see if there was any evidence of how the rock behind it had been cut.
“What's so interesting about the wall?” Reba said.
“Just wondering how the Ancients built this place.”
“Wonder on your own time.”
And that was a familiar enough sentiment, although Jack didn't generally threaten to shoot him. Daniel turned reluctantly back to the corridor. He stopped as they passed the next doorway, motioning the others to be still.
“What?” Reba demanded.
He could feel the whisper of moving air against his outstretched hand. “Air's coming in here from somewhere. This might be another way out of these tunnels.”
“We'll check it out on our way back,” Reba said.
Teal'c glanced at Daniel, and he suspected they'd both had the same thought. If there was a way out, it was also a potential way in, if Jack and Sam ever showed up. The entrance above might be fairly easy to stumble on, for all he knew, having never gotten the chance to search the city himself. On the other hand, if there had been another entrance to the tunnels, Reba and her men might have tumbled rocks over it and blocked it in their own haphazard search.
Â
There was no point in dwelling on it either way. He led the way further down the hallway, and then stopped in the archway that ended it. Beyond it, the tunnel opened out into a wide chamber, its roof supported by pillars. He swept the light across the room, but it was hard to see much. Something flashed in the light's beam, and he shone it on what proved to be a metal panel curved around part of the pillar.
“That's interesting,” he said, moving in to investigate. “Some kind of light fixture, maybe.”
“It's not shedding any light,” Reba pointed out.
“There may not be a working power supply down here after so long,” Daniel said absently, feeling for any kind of catch or opening in the panel.
“Then how do you expect this device to work?” There was a dangerous note in her voice.
“It's supposed to have its own self-contained power source,” Daniel said quickly. “According to the tablets.” Actually, they said no such thing, and he frankly had no idea whether they'd be able to power the device if they found it, but saying so seemed like a bad idea.
“Hmph. What are we looking at, here? Some kind of palace?”
“More likely a temple,” Daniel said. “Or some kind of place for meditation, or a center for scholarship⦠it's so far out of the way of the Stargate, it's not like this could have been a center for trade.”
There were archways along both side walls of the chamber, but the largest opening was on the opposite wall. He made his way toward it, the pillars throwing their sharp shadows against the wall as he passed them.
Something white gleamed in the flashlight's beam, and he stopped in the large archway, playing the light across the floor of the chamber on the other side.
“Well, this is interesting,” he said. There were bones lying on the stone floor of the chamber near the opposite wall, what looked like several well-preserved skeletons. Even from here, the patchy remains of wool clothing clinging to one of them removed any doubt that they were human.
J
ack jerked awake, momentarily disoriented by the odd shadows around him and the lack of a hard surface under his outstretched hand.
Hammock
, he thought muzzily, and for a moment before he rolled over he expected to see the crowded hammock deck of an Amazon riverboat, and to smell strong coffee and sweat and river water.
The movement cleared his head, even if it made his knee ache threateningly. Not South America, but another planet, and a cold one this morning. Not ten years ago, and this morning he thought he could feel the difference in every sore muscle. He did smell coffee, though, and pursued the smell.
Carter was on the lower deck, nursing a cup of what still smelled like coffee. She smiled when she saw him, and then frowned. That was probably because he was limping, but there wasn't much he could do about that until he worked out the stiffness from spending a couple of hours sleeping in a hammock in the cold.
“Is that coffee?” he asked before she could say anything.
“Instant,” Carter said. “I had some with me, and apparently Keret hadn't worked up the nerve to try it yet.”
“The big chicken,” Jack said. He found another mug, wiped it out with his sleeve, and poured from the kettle of instant coffee that Carter had left to stew on the stove. It was the most terrible coffee he'd had in recent memory, but it made the day easier to face. “I take it Keret's flying the ship?”
Carter nodded. “He traded with me right after you went to sleep. It's stopped snowing, and the wind's calmed down a lot. I think we're out of the path of the storm.”
“I like hearing some good news,” Jack said, taking another swallow of the steaming coffee. “You got any more of that?”