Jack didn't even have time to finish his thought before the Unas backhanded Daniel, sending the younger man flying into Teal'c who staggered into the wall. Hauling his 2IC out of the way, he shouted, "Daniel! Teal'c!" To his immense relief the pair were already standing up, Whereupon Teal'c threw himself at the Unas, ignoring the fact the alien was obviously stronger than he was. "Daniel take Carter, and get out of here!" he yelled, before taking a breath and body-slamming the huge alien with as much force as he could muster.

Teal'c wrestled with his adversary, only too aware he would be unable to defeat it. This creature was many times stronger than he was, and without weapons, the best Teal'c could hope for was to delay it. He dodged sideways as O'Neill crashed into the creature, throwing it off-balance. It speedily recovered however, and aimed a mighty kick at O'Neill. As Teal'c ducked another thunderous punch, he prayed to whatever divine entity might be listening, that their sacrifice might allow the rest of the team to survive.

"Sir!" Carter yelled, struggling against whatever had just grabbed her arm again.

"Sam will you calm down! Its me!"

"Daniel we have to help them!"

"And we will Sam, the alien said the only way to get out of this is for you to complete this challenge right? The best way we can help them is to get through this as quickly as possible."

Sam tried to pull her arm away again, the yells and gasps she could hear seemed unnaturally loud in the blackness, "And the Colonel and Teal'c could be dead by then!"

"Sam I'm not a soldier, and you're in no condition to defend yourself let alone them, now come ON!"

Blinking away tears from her useless eyes, Sam allowed herself to be pulled onwards, cursing every step of the way.

Daniel gritted his teeth, the effort of trying to stay upright and move forward almost too much for his throbbing head. Keeping a hand on Sam's elbow, he found himself hard-pressed to prevent her falling every few steps. The sky, visible outside the windows in the roof was darkening, way too fast Daniel noted, to be natural. Holding his injured wrist to his chest, he pulled on Sam's sleeve with his good arm and together they stumbled on until…

"Oh this is NOT good."

Jack swayed on his feet, trying to collect his scattered wits together enough to throw a counter punch. The Unas was bigger and uglier than any he'd seen before. And unlike Daniel's friends, it wasn't interested in talking. He and Teal'c were going to lose this fight. It had already landed several solid blows on Teal'c giving the Jaffa's face the appearance and consistency of mashed up Jello. Not that Jack felt much better, his stomach felt like a welding flame, and he was reasonably sure he'd cracked a few ribs. Half-falling to avoid a punch, he tried to estimate how long they'd been at it. Five minutes? Ten? Long enough for Carter and Daniel to escape?

Seeing Teal'c take yet another punch to the jaw, he decided, it would have to be. Daniel was injured, and wouldn't be able to defend Carter on his own. And without her sight she wasn't going to get them out of here. The fact he and Teal'c were now probably no better off than his teammates briefly occurred to him but he pushed it aside.

SG1 were sticking together.

"Teal'c, lets move!" the shout pierced through the fog in Teal'c vision. It was hard to think, hard to concentrate on anything except the pattern. Punch, swerve, crouch, kick, over and over. Training with Master Bra'tac, "In battle there are no second chances." He would fight, and when he faltered he would die. The Unas would drive a clawed fist through his heart and end this. His life, his legacy, and that of his companions.

That could not be allowed to happen.

O'Neill was pulling back, "Teal'c RUN, move it!" Teal'c could not respond, as he slammed into the Unas, sending it crashing into the wall, a hand was on his arm, "NOW Teal'c!"

And suddenly he was running, following O'Neill down the corridor.

And the Unas came pounding after them.

Sam frowned, her expression hiding the fear she was feeling. "Daniel, talk to me, what's happening."

Silence and then, "Sam, there's a…chasm."

"A what?"

"A gap, really wide. The whole length of the corridor in fact."

"How far across?"

A sigh, "Far Sam." A pause, "There is a beam however."

Warily Sam asked, "A beam?"

"Yeah…remember you said you had a pretty narrow one in basic training?"

"Sure."

"Think thinner."

Oh boy. "How wide Daniel?"

"Maybe four inches?"

"Okay, that's thin."

"Well we have to cross somehow."

"Daniel, last thing I saw, you were having trouble standing, I don't think tightrope walking is the best idea for you right now."

"Well what other option do we have? We've gotta get across somehow." Daniel was sounding almost angry, his grip on her elbow tight. Sam swallowed,

"Let me go across on my own."

"What?"

Gritting her teeth, "Daniel, even blind, my balance has got to be better than yours. Not to mention I don't get vertigo, remember?"

"Forget it Sam. I'm coming with you." A tug on her sleeve pulled her sideways. "We'll sit down."

She could have laughed, "What?"

"Look dignity not withstanding, it's the safest way to get across, we can sit down and shuffle across. It's the only way because I am not letting you carry on alone." Before she could protest, "Jack would kill me for one thing."

She couldn't help but smile, "Okay Daniel, but if these BDU's get dusty, I swear your paying the bill."

A soft chuckle, "It's a deal."

Daniel was worried. Sam was in front of him, and they were making slow and steady progress across the beam. But not fast enough. They were still about thirty meters from the end, and even sitting down it was hard to balance. What was worse, every minute or so tremors wracked the beam, and they were getting stronger. As they began for the fourth time, Daniel tightened his grip, and prayed to one of the several hundred gods he knew about for SG1's unprecedented luck to hold. He was slightly surprised however when it did.

"Daniel? You still there?" Sam's anxious voice called back to him from a couple of meters ahead. After an unsteady and somewhat nerve racking start, she had quickly got used to the beam, and was moving a lot faster than Daniel. 'I guess not being able to…not see the bottom stops you being so worried about falling off ' he thought wryly. "Still here Sam!" He called out reassuringly, and hearing her exhale in relief, began to move forward again. One slow shuffle at a time.

"Come on Teal'c, move it!" Jack O'Neill yelled to his teammate, frantically trying to ignore the pain throbbing in his ribs. The Jaffa kept stopping to beat back their attacker who was following at a far more rapid pace than they could run. Teal'c threw a low kick at the feet of the Unas, successfully knocking It over. With a glance towards his friend, Jack nodded, and again began to run. If Daniel and Carter didn't die he was so going to kill them for this.

Teal'c was in pain. His face burned with the effects of the creature's latest attack, every muscle ached, and his weary limbs pleaded for rest. It was as much as he could do to keep running now. Following O'Neill, Teal'c reflected another attempt to stop the Unas from pursuing his friends would probably kill him.

Then he would die.

Sam heard the noise before Daniel saw its cause. A growling, and thunderous footsteps, accompanied with yells and occasional shouts of pain. Her heart sank; the Unas was after them. Straining her ears, she could identify the shouts as the Colonel's, she could have cried in relief.

"Sam, we have to get moving NOW!" Came Daniel's suddenly panicky voice.

"Why? What's happening?" though she could guess.

"Jack and Teal'c are on the way, but they brought a friend. We're going to have to get up and run the rest of the way."

"Daniel, please tell me your joking!"

"Sam look, its only another fifteen or so meters till the end. I'll be behind you every step of the way, but if we don't move now, Jack and Teal'c are going to die and us with them."

The final sentence was enough to get her struggling to her feet. They would NOT die because of her. Never.

Daniel shut his eyes as he slowly stood up. Ahead of him Sam was already on her feet and beginning to walk forward, albeit very slowly. At the start of the beam, fifty or so meters away he could faintly see struggling shapes. They had to move faster.

"I'm right behind you Sam, just keep going!" He encouraged, trying to ignore how incredibly high up they were. 'Fainting is NOT an option Daniel' the Jack O'Neill in his head asserted. He prayed he would yet hear the real one grouch at him again. They were only ten meters from the end now. They were going to make it.

Vibrations began in the beam, the shaking becoming stronger.

'Now you knew that was the wrong thing to say didn't you?' The mental Jack scolded.

"No!"