Chapter 5

Author's note: This is a quickie. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, bless you all!

Sam had finished explaining the situation to the other teams, and showing them the technology on the floor of the cave. Now they were trying to figure out a way to lower both the rescue equipment and SG members down to where Jonas and Jack were, without setting off the Booby trap. Sam took one of the tent poles out of Teal'c's pack, and proceeded to get as close as she dared to the end of the segmented plate.

"Teal'c, hold onto my feet, will you? As much as I want the Colonel and Jonas back safe and sound, I don't want to join them down there."

"As you wish. Please advance with caution Major Carter."

Sam laid down on her belly and Teal'c grabbed a hold of her feet. She used the tent pole to prod the last segment of the plate closest to the edge. Nothing happened. She pushed harder down. Still..nothing.

//I thought for sure that it was triggered by pressure. //

As she relaxed her grip on the tent pole, she heard a barely audible click, and the plate segment disintegrated right before her eyes, leaving her eight inches closer to the newly formed edge.

Sam was excited however, this was good news.

"Okay Teal'c, pull me back." Sam stood up and brushed herself off. "The bad news is, is that the plate seems to be pretty sensitive in relation to the amount of pressure exerted on it. The good news is, it only triggers when the pressure is released."

SG's 9 and 13 were listening intently. Since they did not go on daily missions with Major Carter, and the life of their beloved Colonel was on the line, Sam could see that they were all trying extra hard to understand what she was saying.

"In other words, we have to keep whatever weight we apply to the plate equally distributed, and constant. It won't break away unless there is a shift in weight, or the pressure is removed entirely. So let's get to work."

Instead of sending just one rescuer down at a time to aid the rest of SG-1, two of them went that weighed about the same amount. So that required both teams to work together simultaneously to lower both the equipment and their other team members. Carter kept constant vigil on the plate, also making sure that each man going down had exactly the same equipment. One member from SG-9 and one from SG-13 were carefully lowered on either side of the plate, instead of at the middle, to distribute their weight evenly. When they reached the spot where the Colonel and Jonas had landed, Sam hailed them on her radio.

"Major Berle, this is Major carter. I need both you and Captain Grant to leave your harnesses on. Do not disconnect from the ropes. We have to keep as little slack in the rope as possible to maintain the weight distribution. You'll have to work very carefully. Major, do you copy?"

Berle reached for his radio. "Understood, but Major Carter, how are we supposed to get the stretcher up to you if we are still connected to the ropes?"

" We are sending down a second set of harnesses and ropes. Use the second harness on Jonas and we will pull him up. His injuries aren't significant enough to require the stretcher. When he gets up here, we will lower the other set of ropes. Connect them to either side of the stretcher, and then we will pull the Colonel up too. When he's all the way up and out of the way, we will pull you and Captain Grant up. But please, keep as little slack in the rope as you can at all times. We'll do our part to try and keep you stable."

"Understood, Major, we'll do our best. Berle out."

"Thank you Major Carter." Grant chimed in.

"What took you guys so long?" Jack inquired of the two rescuers.

"We got here as fast as we could sir." said Grant "How are you doing?" His eyes flitted from the Colonel to Jonas and back again.

"We are just two happy campers, hangin' out here in the Goa'uld version of the Bat cave. And I got to tell you; Jonas is terrible at I spy." Jack smiled tritely. "Seriously though. We've been splatted like bugs on a windshield. How do you think we're doing?"

"Understood sir. The Captain and I Just need to assess you and Jonas's injuries, and I need to put this collar on you to stabilize your neck."

"Yeah, I know the drill Major. Hey... You don't happen to watch hockey at all do you?" Jack wasn't too hopeful

"Yes sir actually I'm quite a fan. In fact, if we get you back to the SGC soon enough, I have tickets to the Avalanche game tonight. My girlfriend is a diehard fan too, and we have some great seats. Second level, center ice."

Jack fumed quietly as he watched Jonas being hauled up to safety.

" Um..Sir?" Major Berle looked at the Colonel. "Why were you playing I spy in the dark?"

============================================================================

"Well, Colonel, you have a bone fragment of Lumbar vertebrae number five that is compressing your spinal cord. It is definitely repairable, and once the fragment is removed, you should regain normal function. I don't see any damage to the spinal cord itself, so the loss of sensation should only be temporary. We'll just take you in to surgery, and have you fixed up in no time. You also have another concussion, which we do have to keep an eye on, but in a few weeks you're going to be as good as new. You were very lucky sir."

Janet Frasier couldn't help but wonder if the Colonel wouldn't be so lucky next time.

// I thought they were just going on a routine mission. So much for my weekend. At least Cass has plans. Ah well, duty calls. //

"Hey doc?" muttered the groggy Jack. "Not that I care right about now," as he saw by the clock that face off was only moments away, "but how's Jonas?"

"Well sir, he has bilateral tibia and fibula fractures, and a pretty severe femur fracture on the right side. Some scrapes and bruises, but I think he fared a bit better than you did. He too, should be up and around again in six to eight weeks. So it looks like you two will be getting quite a bit of well-deserved downtime!"

"No offense doc, but I have had about all the DOWN time with Jonas that I can stand being stuck in that crater, or whatever it was, and now you are telling me I have to spend the next EIGHT weeks in here with him?"

"About that, sir. Maybe more or less depending on how well your recovery is going."

Jack groaned.

============================================================================