Jack kept frowning, but unfortunately had to agree that the Major was right. It looked like they would be going for a little stroll in the air vents, whether they liked it or not.
Chapter 7: Building Bridges
Daniel caught on quickly to what they had in mind. "Uh, slight problem. Just how are we going to get up there?" Jack frowned. He hadn't thought about that one yet. A glance at Teal'c was rewarded with an upraised eyebrow. This time, the Jaffa didn't have any ideas to pull out from his sleeve.
"I have an idea, sir. We might need the rope, I mean the thread, from before." Carter headed over to the keyboard, and disappeared behind it. After a moment, she reappeared, and seemed to be struggling with something she was dragging across the table. Teal'c moved to assist her without hesitation, and within moments the two had pulled a long flat object into view. Even from this distance, Jack could see the numbers and increments on the 12-inch wooden ruler.
"Great," he said sarcastically, "Now we can all see how much we've grown."
Sam just rolled her eyes, Daniel coming beside her to look at the ruler curiously, the coil of thread he had just gathered from their climb neatly looped over his shoulder, the harnesses they'd made gathered in one hand. He also carried the sewing needle, which he passed to Teal'c. "Jack, I think it just might work."
The Colonel stared back blankly.
"O'Neill, I believe that Major Carter intends to use her measuring stick to create a bridge for us to cross to the storage tower. Once across, we can climb to the ventilation access panel," Teal'c explained as if it were all readily apparent, and from the quick grin Carter shot him, he was right.
Realization dawned on the Colonel's face. "Well what are we waiting for, lets get this show on the road. Lead the way Dorothy."
Each of them grabbed an edge of the ruler, and with the four of them carrying it; they had no trouble bringing it to the edge of the table closest to the shelf.
Jack was eyeing the gap. "You sure this will work Carter?" he asked dubiously.
"I think so sir," she replied distractedly, studying the space they had to cross and the ruler.
"You think so?"
She blinked, and turned to face him. "We have to try sir."
Jack studied her a moment, then nodded. It would have to work; otherwise, they'd have to climb all the way back down to the floor, then back up the shelf. All in all, it would take them several hours at least. "Ok. Lets do it."
It took a bit of careful maneuvering, but fortunately the shelf was just a bit lower than the tabletop, so they were able to slide the ruler out and let it drop onto the shelf. They all breathed a sigh of relief when the ruler came to rest against a box on the shelf, a little less than an inch of it overhanging each surface.
Surveying their handiwork with his arms crossed over his chest, Jack grunted. "Ok, one at a time kids. I'll go first." If the makeshift bridge were to give out, he wanted to be the one to test it out. No one could offer any argument, as the team leader, it was his prerogative to take point should he desire it. Without any disagreements, Jack started across, the width of the ruler actually comfortable to walk on, and the slant wasn't too bad. Making it across easily, he waved to the others. A few minutes later they were all across and standing on the shelf.
Teal'c was already surveying the shelf supports and Jack went to join him, Carter and Daniel following. The shelves were metal, held up by four metal supports. Each support bore a series of holes about an inch apart, so that shelves could be raised or lowered. He knew that the shelves were a little over a foot or so apart. Cluttered with Carter's doohickeys and tools, there were four shelves to reach the airshaft. The shelves would make nice places to stop and rest, but Jack was unsure how to get to the next shelf since the holes were just a little bit too far apart to use for climbing comfortably. It seemed Teal'c had an idea though.
"Whatcha doin' buddy?" Jack asked, curiously watching the man tie the thread around the center of the needle, dropping the coil of thread on the shelf and hoisting the needle experimentally, a bit like a javelin. Something clicked in Jack's mind and he quickly grabbed Carter and Daniel by the arm, pulling them back to give Teal'c a bit of space.
With a nod to O'Neill, Teal'c took a step back, planting his body in a throwing position, hefting the needle back. Fluidly, he launched the needle up, and it flew, the thread trailing behind it. Plink. The needle just barely missed the hole under the next shelf up and dropped, Teal'c grabbing hold of the thread before it could fall very far, quickly coiling the line up and preparing for a second throw. They held their breaths collectively, as the needle sailed through the air before going cleanly through the hole. Teal'c pulled back on the line and the needle clinked against the hole lengthwise, holding the line up.
"He shoots, he scores!" Jack crowed, slapping Teal'c on the back. Daniel whooped, punching a fist into the air and Carter grinned. Teal'c bowed, a slight smile on his face.
"Harnesses folks." Ordered Jack, already untangling his. It didn't take long to sort them out, and Jack had them take the same order they'd used climbing the table. With the holes along the way, the climb was actually easier since they had places to rest a foot or sometimes hold onto. This time, there were no problems, and after Jack joined them on the first shelf, Teal'c reached down, unhooking the needle and coiling the rope up again for the next throw. Carter and Daniel poked through the shelf a bit, but found nothing of any use, all of the objects were too heavy for any of them, even Teal'c, to lift.
They repeated the throw, climb, and throw process for the next three shelves, until nearly an hour later they were at the top. The air vent was only about two feet above the top shelf, and Teal'c easily made the throw with his needle, wedging it between the grates of the vent cover, which looked big enough for them to fit through. Before they started the last leg of the journey, Jack ordered them all to take five.
"We'll need to make finding water and more food our priority when we get out of here." Carter nodded at the Colonel's words, familiar with the rules of survival. Teal'c was also nodding but Daniel looked slightly confused.
"Shouldn't we let someone know what happened first?" he asked. Jack decided to let Carter field this one, exchanging a quick look.
"Daniel, we'll have no idea what sort of conditions we'll be facing out there. I was assuming that the power being off in my lab was just standard procedure due to the energy emission, but it's possible that there could be something affecting the entire base. Also, it will be hard for us to attract attention, and might even be dangerous since people may not notice us. It may take some time to find a way to let someone know where we are and what happened." Daniel nodded at Sam's explanation in understanding.
"So until then, we have to be careful, stay low and off the main ways." Jack gazed at each of them in turn; satisfied with the looks of understanding they gave back. He stood, dusting his palms unnecessarily on his pants, and then clapped his hands together. "Ok campers, lets move out."
One by one, they climbed the rest of the way and slipped through the grate covering the air vent. Standing together, they looked down the seemingly immense cavern like space of the ventilation system. It was darker inside the duct, even with the glow of Carter's tiny flashlight. In the distance, a rectangular patch of light could be seen in the floor of the shaft, likely the opening into the corridor. Jack ordered Carter to cut the light off and save the batteries since it wasn't giving them much light and the duct was empty. She nodded, and put the light away.
"Well, we're off to see the wizard," said Jack cheerfully, starting off down the shaft towards the patch of light, the others falling into step behind him.
