Misplaced distrust: chapter 10
Author's note: It's been a long time hasn't it? And I apologise for my tardiness with this story; things just got a bit nuts around here, and now its exam season. Plus its pick the prefects time at my school, and head girl, so it's been speeches galore at my house. I've done all I can do now though and I'm ready to start writing again.
"It was awful Sam. She pinned me in with replicator blocks, I couldn't move."
Daniel lent in close and Sam wrapped her arms around him.
"I'm here Daniel, just let it out."
"She wanted to know what I remembered from my ascension, I told her I couldn't remember, and she knew I was telling the truth once she fished around in my head. But she didn't stop."
He was shaking gently, and his hands were clenching tightly, but Daniel's voice was becoming stronger.
"She amused herself looking through my memories, and she picked the worst ones to make me relive. Again and again."
Sam thought back to the gamekeeper, she knew which memories would feature highly on Daniel's most hated list.
"Every time there was something different to it. At first I just saw the stone fall on them, but it got worse. She could alter my perception and she made me do it. I pulled the rope lose that let that stone fall. I killed my parents!"
Daniel jerked backwards; tears were rolling down his cheeks, mixing with the dust and leaving clean streaks.
"Shhh Daniel, calm down. You know that never happened right?"
Sam held his chin in her hand, forcing him to look up, his eyes met hers and she smiled gently.
"Daniel, you are one of the most compassionate, caring people I know. You would never be capable of something like that, and you know it. What happened to your parents was a terrible tragedy, and there was no way you could have stopped it."
Sam pulled him close, and he relaxed onto her shoulder.
"Just get some rest Daniel, we need to get out of here soon."
"Yeah," He sighed. "I can't wait to get home."
'Home', she thought, 'is looking a lot closer now.'
SG-15 and Teal'c had made good time. They were nearing the site of the temple, and the group had slowed to listen to Teal'c.
"Colonel Carter and Doctor Jackson may well be down there, so none of you are to fire a weapon unless I say it is clear. I believe the creatures these people fear are Unas. Altor's book tells of a bright light that fell to the sky, and shortly after these creatures made their first appearance. That may well have been a ship that crashed. The Unas may have already been native to the planet, or not. It is irrelevant. Our priority is to find Colonel Carter and Daniel Jackson. I will approach first."
The members of SG-15 nodded.
Teal'c picked up his staff and silently approached the tree line. He looked out to the clearing where the temple was and his heart sank. At least twelve Unas wee crowded around a hole in the ground. Reaching for his radio he called SG-15.
"Take out the Unas at the surface." He ordered.
Daniel was stirring gently, and Sam shifted slightly under the new pressure. She looked down at is face, and the lines around his eyes that had been so prominent in the past few day seemed to have eased slightly.
'Maybe the guilt was getting to him', Sam thought, but out loud all she did was softly call to him to wake up.
"Come on Daniel, we need to get out of here sometime soon."
He moaned gently and turned his face away. But she was insistent.
"Daniel, I'm hungry and I know you are too, plus you have a broken leg. Trust me we need to get out of here."
She sat him up against the wall, and forced him to look up at her.
"Listen carefully. There is a wall around the corner, where there are lots of carvings. I have found two catches and I don't know which one will help us out of here. For all I know, if I press the wrong one we drown; so I need your help. Can you do that?"
Daniel blinked blearily, but nodded an affirmative. Sam sighed in relief and slipped her hands under his arms and heaved. He stumbled slightly as he rose, but stood balanced on one foot. With one arm slung over her shoulder, and leaning to the right to counteract his weight, Sam led Daniel round to the larger chamber. She directed them in the direction of the wall, and came to a stop in front of the carving.
Daniel's eyes raved over the figures, and he reached out to touch them. Sam watched as he gently felt around the wall, and he found exactly the same recess she had, in a tenth of the time.
He pressed gently on one of the switches and a panel slipped open across the room.
"How did you know?" Sam asked him.
"Simple." Daniel said. "I chose the left side because here the man is pointing to a tunnel and a garden beyond. But look at the right."
Sam leant in closely; there was a thin man who was reaching for a light high up on the wall, whilst sand seemed to be pouring in around his feet.
"It didn't look like a safe choice." Daniel shrugged.
Sam hugged him tightly.
"Wait right here while I go and get our weapons and packs. I'll be two seconds."
She was back within seconds.
"I couldn't hear any Unas at the wall anymore. Do you think they gave up?"
"I have no idea. Maybe, but I doubt it. We'll soon find out. I think this passage leads to the surface."
And together they stumbled over to the steps that lead upwards.
Teal'c stood over the bodies, with SG-15 grouped around him.
"Sir that is definitely the pit that Colonel Carter and Doctor Jackson fell into, but there's no sign of them."
Teal'c frowned. What could have happened?
"Scout the area around the temple, there must be some sign of them."
'There's certainly no way they climbed out of there.' He thought.
The steps were steep and earthy. This encouraged Sam as she suspected they were making their way back up to the surface, but it was hard going for Daniel. She was helping all she could, and had dropped all but her weapon on the climb, but she was tiring too, and his weight was feeling heavier and heavier.
Her head brushed against the ceiling, and soil fell onto her shoulders and down her neck, causing her to shiver.
But the light was slowly becoming less yellow from their torch, and more silver, like moonlight. And they climbed the last of the steps and saw a final wall with a sliver of silver light forming a doorway through the cracks.
"There should be one last catch left." Daniel told her. "To the left of the door probably."
And sure enough, after five minutes feeling in the nooks, Sam found it. Right where Daniel said it would be. She pressed it firmly and the wall slid aside leaving the two of them stood facing a team of soldiers holding up guns, all of whom turned to point them in their direction.
"Colonel Carter?" One asked. And when the weapon was lowered she saw it was Major Collins of SG-15.
"Teal'c we found them!" He shouted.
And round the corner of the temple Teal'c came running. He ran straight to Daniel and eased his arms round his waist, taking the weight off of Sam. Another member of SG-15 came and took her gun, in exchange for a canteen. The two were led away in the direction of the city, and as she looked back Sam realised they had come up on the other side of the temple, almost opposite to the pit they had fallen in.
Wooh! a new chapter. Again; I am sorry for the delay. Reviews are still welcome. Does anyone care about the story anymore?