CHAPTER THREE: BY ANONYMOUS

Taking a more stabbing like grip on the stick, the doctor shoved one end against the stone...and pushed....A tiny growling noise grew in his throat as he forced the stick down on the stone from his awkward angle....and let out a pleased shout as it finally responded.

Another KA-THUNK echoed through the room, and suddenly everything was moving again. The walls cranked and trembled, rocks shifted and lifted and slid noisily, and the whole structure shook as the two halves of the split floor drew back together.

Rodney dropped the stick and grabbed for Sheppard again with both hands, lowering his head as the rocks encasing his left knee started moving, his eyes closing in an ineffective attempt to pretend the stones weren't scraping the skin off his leg.

John, meanwhile, was watching the far side get closer, ignoring the tightening of Rodney's grip as the scientist reacted to the pain from his knee.

"All right," Sheppard said, the plan already formulated in his mind, "You're going to have to swing me."

McKay's eyes opened as he choked out the operative word, "Swing?"

"Yeah."

"Which way?"

Sheppard arched an eyebrow up at him at what he perceived to be a really dumb question, "Back and forth," he stated. Wasn't it obvious?

"Back and forth?" McKay ignored the look, returning it with one of his own, "What does that mean? And don't say to and fro!"

"Left and right! Aren't you supposed to be a physics—"

"Well you could have meant towards the opposite side!"

"Well I didn't! And we don't have time­—"

"Okay, okay, and if I start to slip?"

"You're going to have to get that leg out of that spot soon enough anyway, right? We'll have to take the chance."

"Good point, good point. In fact, my knee is....Owowowowowow...."

The edges were about four feet apart now.

"Start swinging!"

Rodney started to swing the man to the left, then right, then back again, the motions creating a larger and larger arc. The major helped, using his legs. Suddenly, the rocks shifted where Rodney's knee was, and he only had a split second of warning before he had to rip his leg up out of the hole before the two slabs of granite slammed together, punctuating the movement with a yelp. Immediately, he slid forwards towards the edge of the floor, the swinging hastening his movement. By pure luck, his left foot found a crevice which, for a brief second, gave him enough leverage to finish swinging the major up almost perpendicular to the quickly closing gap.

Almost simultaneously, Sheppard let go of Rodney with his left hand.

"Let go!" he shouted, and Rodney didn't need to be asked twice. He released the major's right arm on the upward swing just as Sheppard slapped the left hand down on the left side of the moving floor, the arm bent, and the right landed a split second later on the side Rodney was on. Like a gymnast on parallel bars, the major used his arms to propel himself up and out, his legs completely straight, and then over onto his left side, just as the two sides of the floor slammed together. He rolled away from Rodney, finally ending up lying on his back....

And Rodney cried out as his left foot got crushed in the "crevice" he had found.

Without concern for the consequences, the scientist fell back and slammed his hand down on the red tile again...

Opening up the floor for a second time.

KA-THUNK!

"What the...." Sheppard felt himself strewn about like leaves on a windy fall day as the moving floor threw him towards the opening again. "Rodney!" he shouted in annoyance, this time actually managing to get his feet under him and successfully running and diving for the open doorway on his side of the growing gap.

The scientist, meanwhile, pulling his now aching foot out as soon as the rocks shifted apart, acted in mirror image to the major, stumbling backwards into the doorway they had originally entered the room by. He looked across at Sheppard, half crouched on the other side in his own doorway, confirmed visually he was all right, then focused all his attention on his own misery. He slid down onto his rear and clutched at his left knee and foot, both of which were sending stinging, rippling threads of pain up and down his abused left leg. The pants were ruined, shredded by the rock, as was his skin underneath, and he felt a little light-headed when he lifted up one hand to find it stained with blood.

Sure it was superficial but...ooh...wooziness.

Shaking himself out of it, he focused on palpitating the knee, guessing he hadn't broken it, just bruised it badly. Taking a deep breath, he convinced himself it looked worse than it was and forced the light-headedness away. Ripping off the bottom half of his left trouser leg, he wrapped it around the knee and tied it off. His foot ached inside the boot, but the pain was already becoming dulled.

A moment later, the grinding of the wheels controlling the floor stopped, and the room stilled.

Sheppard sighed, standing up a little shakily. He tapped his toe on the remaining two feet of flooring left on his side of the hole, then inched outwards. Stopping, he looked over at Rodney, to see the scientist breathing heavily and leaning forward with his knees bent and his head pressed against them. He grimaced at the obviously bloody left knee.

"You okay?"

McKay sighed and looked up, "Peachy," he replied sarcastically, "You?"

Sheppard nodded, then the concern on his face became a glare, "Damn it, McKay, what in God's name possessed you to open the floor for again!"

McKay shrugged, ignoring the tone, "Oh, sorry. Got my left foot caught. It's okay, though." He looked past his knee to his left foot, flexing it inside the boot.

Sheppard tried to maintain the glare, but Rodney looked so pathetic, he just sighed. "Oh...well...don't know if you noticed, but I'm on the wrong side. The way out is on yours."

"So?" McKay tipped his head back, resting it against the granite door frame, closing his eyes again, "We'll just close it again."

"Hunh," the major grimaced. After a moment, he looked down and grabbed the P90 still hanging from his vest and checked it out. Once sure it hadn't been damaged, he lifted it up and turned on the flashlight.

"What are you doing?" Rodney asking, turning his head at the click of the light and opening his eyes again, adding a touch sarcastically, "You going to shoot me for opening the floor again?"

"Ha, don't tempt me," the major replied, sliding a little closer to the edge on his side. "I just wanted to see how deep it is." He shone the light down into the darkness of the gaping hole, following the wall down, "Call it morbid curiosity. I want to know how close I...." He trailed off as the flashlight caught the bottom.

"Came to 'splat'?" Rodney finished, pushing himself up onto his feet. "Yeah, I can understand that." He grabbed for his own weapon, still not used to carrying it, and turned the light on. It wasn't until he looked up again that he saw the major's expression.

Or rather, lack of one.

Sheppard was interesting. He reacted to most things with a smile, an arched eyebrow, or a quip of some kind. He also got angry at things--usually Rodney--but never for sustained periods. But this was something new. Never before had McKay seen Sheppard with no expression at all.

"What is it?" he asked, the words almost a half whisper.

Hazel eyes lifted to meet his. There was nothing there but sorrow.

Rodney limped over to the edge, the left knee sore but functioning, and peered down, following the edges of the wall as Sheppard had done. In a moment, he had the light focused on the same spot as the major.

For a few moments, he didn't say anything. He just moved the flashlight around to see more of the hidden room below. Finally, he had to ask--to confirm what he was seeing.

"Were they...were they children?"

"Yeah."

The hole was a pit, about twelve feet in depth, eighteen feet long and ten feet wide, the latter being how far away McKay was currently standing from Sheppard on the far side. The floor was stone, but there was mud and moldy, dead straw down there as well. There were also bones--hundreds of bones. McKay counted about thirty skulls on his first pass, all small, all fairly intact. Age was indeterminate, but some might have been babies and others as old as nine of ten. There was still clothes on some of the skeletons--dresses on some--and there were also toys down there. Closer inspection showed holes in the walls, possibly air vents, long since clogged up by earth, fungi and growth.

"How old are the bones?" Sheppard asked, looking over at McKay.

The scientist shook his head, "I don't know. Old. I mean, based on the rate of decay and the fact that this is a fairly sealed chamber, which probably helped preserve these bones and fabrics...let's just say really old. I've seen the catacombs in Rome, and the bones were preserved there in those chambers for close to two thousand years....But the air is also wet and....Look, this is not my bailiwick, major. Beckett's really the one to answer that, not me."

"Think the people on this planet knew about them?" There was anger there, with a undercurrent of fury the scientist had never heard in the major.

McKay shrugged, looking at him honestly, "How am I supposed to know that? But, if these are as old as they seem...probably not. This whole temple," McKay indicated the room with a wave of his hand, "is ancient and clearly hasn't seen life in its walls for, I don't know, hundreds of years? Who knows." He shook his head sadly, looking back down into the pit.

"Why were they down there?"

Mckay sighed. Why did they always assume he knew the answers to these things? He really had to learn to stop answering when people asked him questions—it only got him into trouble. He lifted the flashlight to examine the walls of the pit more carefully...and paused when he came to a painting of sorts. It looked like a half sun...but were those meant to be people beneath it?

"I've seen that image like that before," Sheppard said softly. "On Athos. It's a Wraith ship."

McKay frowned, letting his light trace more of the image, then some of the others nearby. Paintings covered much of the walls, and an idea coalesced in his mind.

"I think," he said slowly, "someone put these children here...to hide them."

Sheppard frowned, "What?"

"From the Wraith. But something must have happened. For some reason, the Wraith...they must have killed everyone left above ground, because no one came to free the children. Eventually...they died."

The major's eyes closed, and, abruptly, he turned the light off on his flashlight.

"That's enough," he said coldly. "Close it back up."

"Close it up?" McKay looked confused, "But shouldn't we...." he looked down into the darkness, and grimaced at something he could see glowing green down there. He pointed his light at it, but the lichen, or whatever it was causing the surreal light, faded instantly.

"They're already buried. This is their tomb, McKay. Let them be."

Rodney closed his mouth, lips forming a thin line, and he nodded. "Go stand in the doorway," he directed sadly.

Sheppard nodded, walking back to the stone frame and bracing himself.

McKay shut his flashlight off, paused for a moment, then looked down. He cleared his throat and started speaking very softly.

"Do not stand by my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints upon the snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain and
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am that swift uplifting rush,
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand by my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die."

Sheppard said nothing when he was done, until McKay looked up and caught his eye. The major nodded.

"That was nice."

The scientist shrugged, "Don't know who it's by. I memorized that when my...well...anyway, I just wanted to say something to remember them." Turning, he limped over to the red stone, took one more look at Sheppard to make sure he was ready, then hit the stone.

And that's when the roof came down.

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TBC

A/N – come on, you knew it couldn't be that easy!