(Thank you, Wraith816. I hope your friends enjoy the story. I was thinking it might be angst. I wasn't sure if it was sad enough for that. Thank you, JD alien freak.)
Part 10, Alone Together
--Lantash--
The next day we begin our search. Samantha and I head back to the river. I speak quietly to her as we walk. "Elliot and I thought once we could try to escape through the river. The water has to be coming from somewhere. So we went in, and took a swim. We came across a couple problems. The first is the entire area in the wall was filled with water. We nearly drowned ourselves in attempt to escape. After several attempts we discovered a second problem. There is a forcefield. It allows the water down, but wouldn't let us up, and believe me, it was painful."
We reach the area which smells worse than it did yesterday. It was expected, which is why Narim insisted I be the one in control. We approach the water which smells worse than anything else. Swelled bodies float on top. The water is dark, thick, has developed a layer of skin on top, and we have to go in it.
Samantha looks to me. "After you."
To think I felt filthy yesterday.
I head over to the wall, and then step into the river. It reaches to my waist, and I'm glad I didn't eat anything that morning. I feel the wall, and find where the entrance to the tunnel it is. "We'll have to submerge. If this works I want to drain the river."
"Right now the river is hiding this possible escape route from the other prisoners."
"At this point, I don't care." I look towards her.
She gestures towards the hole and repeats. "After you."
I nod, close my eyes and mouth tightly, and go under. I move through the cave which goes straight for about half of a minute of swimming, and then starts to slope up. As soon as it does I find air. When I am able to be on my knees and "walk" up I stop to wait for Samantha. I continue when I see her. "I must say, this is disgusting."
Samantha nods in agreement.
As we continue, we are soon completely out of the water, and can stand.
"We must have already passed where the forcefield was," I say. I look up, and realize we must climb. For this, I give Narim control.
He puts his back against the wall with his hands pointed downward, pressing against the same wall. He presses his foot on the opposite side, and when feeling stable, brings his other foot to do the same. He glances up. "This is going to be a long climb." He slides his back up while pressing with feet and hands. Then brings up one foot, and then the other. Slowly, this is how we make our climb.
--
I can't do this, Narim thinks after about an hour of climbing. He's covered in sweat, which is making his hands slip at times. He rests to dry them off. He has head and muscle aches, and is just plain tired.
You can do this.
I'm tired. I'm sore. I feel like I am going to fall.
If you fall, we'll be taking Samantha with us.
That seemed to encourage him not to fall.
He slowly pressed on, inch by inch, until hitting a grate.
Damn!
"Samantha," Narim calls out. He's out of breath.
"Yeah."
"We hit...hit a grate."
"Would a cut spinner help?"
"You have one?"
"I brought two in case we'd need it."
The cut spinner is the most advanced device us prisoners had. Samantha said it looked like a motorized pizza cutter.
I hear her climbing up, and she hands Narim the device.
Bit by bit, we cut into the rusty grate. Narim's legs start to tremble, but he keep them tight against the wall. Finally, the grate is gone, and he continues to edge his way up. He makes it to the top, and manages to pull and push himself up onto solid ground.
He rolls away, and then turns around to help Samantha up. Then we all collapse.
For a while we just lay there. The ground is hard, it smells, I am soaking from the water and sweat, and I'm in a place I've never been before. Yet it feels like the most comfortable place I've ever been. It's a rest after a tiring task. Samantha is near. Most important, no other prisoner can attack me. I'm going to rest a bit.
---
Narim's eyes open, and we realize we fell asleep. Still sleepy, he gives me control, and then says we should get up. I push to my feet, and look around. We are in what seems to be a small pool. I climb out, and find computers are also in the room.
"Narim?" I hear from in the pool.
"He's up here," I respond.
I hear her climb up, and approach. "Perhaps we can try sending out a distress signal."
"A signal to the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri." I glance to her. "The Tok'ra are more likely to pick it up. The first part of the message should be something to catch their attention."
"First we need to get it working. We also need to tell Pete and Pary about this. How long were we asleep?"
"I don't know. Try working on the computer. I'll go back down, and set something up to bring supplies up here."
Samantha nods. "I guess we'll need to drain the water to bring up food and water."
"I'll handle that." I walk off. "I'll try to be back soon so you can sent a message for the Tok'ra."
I head back to the tunnel, and Narim is glad that I say I would do the climbing down. I slowly position to climb down the same way we got up, and then descend down. It is much easier than climbing up, though I am not looking forward to entering that water again.
--
By night I establish new territory in the prison, which now includes the river area. With only about two dozen prisoners left, who were avoiding the place due to smell anyway, there are no arguments about it. They do give a several glares, mostly to Pete, when we start using there area of the prison as a dumping ground for the water. It's a long smelly process, but soon most of the water is gone.
Afterwards we gather every bit of rags and cloth we have to create a very long rope. It won't be strong enough to hold a person, but it should be strong enough to hold supplies.
I leave before the rope is done to check on Samantha.
--
The climb seems even slower than it was the first time, but we make it to the top.
"I sent out a message," Samantha says as she helps pull me up.
"To the Tok'ra as well?"
"I used some codes I discovered from Jolinar's memories. I was deciding what to say to get the Tok'ra's attention, and the codes just sort of came. At least, I think they were codes. They might be out of date."
"We can send out another message. I spoke to Hovar, and he gave me the most recent codes." After a rest I head over to the computer. "Can you show me what you sent?"
"I sent a written and audio message. I can bring up the written," she says as she types.
The message comes on screen, and I chuckle.
She looks at me curiously. "They aren't Tok'ra codes?"
"They are, but they are about two hundred years out of date." I glance to her. "You seem to be pulling up older memories of hers. I hope you don't start remembering how we met."
"Why is that?"
"We didn't get off on a good start." I type in the new codes into the message. "We didn't agree with certain political aspects of the Tok'ra, and are both very stubborn in our views. We became friends after going on a mission together, and were nearly killed."
I send out the new message, and let out a soft sigh of sadness. "We never agreed in those politics, though obviously that didn't stop a relationship." I pause slightly. "Now that she is gone, I realize she was probably right."
Samantha says nothing, though probably has no idea what to say.
"Samantha?"
"Yes?"
"...I...Are you hungry? You must be. I brought some food and water. You must be thirsty as well." I go back to the bag I had carried, and bring out food and water.
Samantha watches me for a few seconds, knowing that isn't what I was going to say. "Yes, I am." She comes over, and eats and drinks quickly. After our meal, which was filled with awkard quietness, she speaks, "I am going to go to sleep."
"That might be a good idea. I should sleep as well. It's been a very exhausting day."
I wasn't sure what else to say. Finally, we were alone. I could tell her everything I felt and everything on my mind. There were so many things I wanted to say, and some things Narim wanted to say, but we didn't.
Neither of us were ready yet.
to be continued...