Chaos Theory: Chapter Three

About twenty seconds before Jade had yelled to the Colonel, Jack had noticed something in the distance before him. He rose his P-90, sighting the small speck in the woods, and his eyes widened as he watched a small golden glow nearing him.

"J'AFFA!" Jack shouted, jumping out of the way and firing at the J'affa as the energy staff's blast went whizzing by Jack's head.

He heard Carter scream, and he rolled onto the ground, turning to watch as Carter took an energy blast in her side.

"NO! Carter!" Jack shouted again, letting a round of bullets riddle the J'affa's body. He heard the sound of more blasts, and he watched as Teal'C's staff launched blast upon blast towards the J'affa.

"O'Neill!" Teal'C shouted as he rushed to the fallen Carter, checking her pulse. "Major Carter is injured! We must abandon our position!"

"I'm not leaving Daniel and the Doctor!" Jack shouted back as he took cover behind a tree.

"O'Neill, we will be of no use to Doctor Jackson and Doctor Andros if we are dead!" Teal'C hoisted Carter up with one arm, and he held her in both arms, looking over to a
series of caves near the ruins. "O'Neill!" He called again, Jack turning to look at where Teal'C was watching.

Jack nodded, and he turned, firing another round at the now six J'affa nearing them. "GO! Get her in there!"

Teal'C nodded, and he glanced behind him, then beginning to run to the caves. As energy blasts impacted into the ground near him, Teal'C fianlly reached across the length of wet grass to the caves. Once inside, Teal'C laid Carter down on the stony cave floor, checking her pulse again. Erratic. He turned to look at Jack, and watched as Jack sprinted as fast as he could to the caves.

Eventually, he dove inside, just as a blast impacted the roof of the cave, and Jack rolled into the cave near Teal'C, covering his head as rubble pounded into the ground just behind him.

"Can you see anything?" Daniel asked as he continued to run his fingers along the walls, trying to find some sort of crack to help them escape.

"No... well, yes, maybe..." Jade sighed, her finger running down the characters as she read it. "I'm sure there's got to be some way to open the doors... but, I can't find it."

"Maybe there isn't a way to open it from the inside." Daniel crouched down, searching the floor, one finger pushing up his glasses. "A booby trap, perhaps? It might only be able to be opened from the outside."

"We'd better hope not..." Jade sighed, turning to face Daniel. "Besides, why would anyone go through so much trouble to booby trap for some dead guy?"

Daniel, through the dark, paused and slanted hsi gaze to glance at her, mulling over what she said, stopping in his examining of the floor to think. She had a valid point... what purpose would be served by trapping someone in the ruins of a tomb? He opened his mouth to offer explanation, but as he turned, he watched as Jade's lips parted, and a small "Oh" escaped them.

"What is it?" Daniel asked, standing and inching his way over to her.

"If that makes sense... than... I think the way out is..." Jade turned and walked back to where Daniel had been standing, her hand sliding to a piece of the scroll. With a wince that was seasoned of a scientist forced to do the unthinkable, she grabbed the scroll and ripped it off, revealing a second keypad, covered in katakana.

"Um..." Daniel pursed his lips, shrugging and crossing his muscled arms over his chest.

"Huzzah..." Jade said under her breath, grabbing her PDA and checking it.

"What is it with you and that thing?" Daniel asked before he could stop himself. "Isn't it harder to record?"

"Not necessarily." She replied smoothly as she ventured to access her translation of the walls. "Recording is a little slow, but I'm used to the mini-keyboard. Besides, it's much easier than carrying around a big, black book." Jade seemed to realize what she had said, and she turned to look at Daniel, and he almost thought she blushed, the darkness making confirmation impossible. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, Dr. Jackson. I mean, whatever you want."

Daniel wasn't sure if she had meant it as an insult or not, so he simply shrugged.

A few seconds of uncomfortable silence passed, and slowly, Jade turned back to her work, beginning to press her finger down on the ancient keys, slowly one by one.

"Y'know..." Daniel said softly as Jade worked, his gaze on her curously. "I know you don't know me very well, but..." Daniel's gaze fell to the floor, and he shrugged, leaning against the wall. "You don't have to call me Dr. Jackson. Daniel works..."

Jade turned, smiling as a slight rumble resounded and the wall where the keypad had been begun to slide up.

"In that case... I insist that you call me Jade. I, unlike you, am a nobody. You, unlike me, are a huge somebody. I only call you Dr. Jackson out of respect." With that, Jade

turned to look at the new passage hopefully leading back out. "Let's go." She said, putting away her PDA and beginning to climb through the new doorway.

"O'Neill, are you injured?" Teal'C asked as he helped Jack up, the cave blanketed in near darkness.

"I'm fine." Jack replied tersely, picking himself up off the ground and brushing himself off. "Carter?"

"She is still unconsious." Teal'C responded, his staff on the ground near him as he checked Sam's condition.

Jack switched on a flashlight, placing it near the rock-covered mouth of the cave and then turning to look at Sam. "Shit..." He whispered as he looked over to Sam. He scrambled over, and he ran his hand down her fatigues to the blast. He ripped open her uniform to look at her side, and he winced as he saw a wound in her skin. But... it wasn't fatal. At least, it wouldn't be if they could get back to SGC soon.

"Her injury does not seem fatal." Teal'C assessed, speaking Jack's thoughts. "In that case, I suggest you and I try to find a way out."

Jack sighed, taking off his cap and then nodding. "Right. Let's look around."