Chapter 15 – Secrets Revealed
Sam kept a careful watch as they traversed the dark underground tunnel, looking for anything she might find that would enable her to escape with JJ. So far, all she had seen were the dark walls lining the tunnel. It was even devoid of lights; the only illumination coming from the torch that Beroni carried in front of them.
It didn't take long for them to reach their destination. Without warning, the tunnel opened up into a small, rectangular room which was lit by scones placed around its interior. In the far corner, she could just make out a few stone steps that appeared to led upwards.
Sam noticed several scientist's instruments lying haphazardly around the room, and her heart quickened; now if only she could find a way to distract these two men long enough to try and find some kind of tool that would prove useful!
That scenario didn't seem likely to come anytime soon, as the High Chancellor gripped her arm securely and led her to a corner of the room, where a small alcove sat. There was just enough room for three people to fit into the alcove, but they didn't enter it quite yet. Sam gazed in curiosity at the intricate engravings adorning the archway into the alcove. Among the inscriptions that she couldn't translate, there were several detailed pictures carved into the stone. As she leaned closer to take a look, she noticed one of the carvings was of a small child, sitting in a throne like chair and gazing upward. Sam stole a glance at the High Chancellor, who nodded knowingly at her.
Quickly averting her gaze, she also noticed the four red jewels, two on either side of the archway. Three of them appeared almost dull in appearance; the fourth was gleaming brightly and seemed to have a small depression in its center.
"Is this room the secret chamber?" she asked the High Chancellor, wanting to gather information as well as stall for time.
"No, Colonel, this is just the anteroom. It is here," he pointed at the alcove, "Where we believe the secret chamber to be hidden. The inscriptions in the upper level of the temple told of this place. We found the stairway hidden behind a faux panel, near the southwest corner. The stairs led us to this small room, where a few select scientists uncovered the alcove." He smiled in apparent pride at the work his scientists had been able to do in a relatively short amount of time.
"Have they tried to enter this secret chamber?"
"Yes, they have attempted many times to gain entrance, but all to no avail," he frowned.
Sam shot him a puzzled look, shifting JJ in her arms as he was beginning to squirm. "Then how do you expect us to get in there to find whatever it is you are looking for?"
Beroni turned to her, a bit of arrogance back in his tone. "You will not get us in there, Colonel Carter, your son will."
The High Chancellor shot Beroni an irritated look before explaining to Sam. "The prophecy says that only the child of three shall be able to gain access to the secret chamber. In addition, there is a powerful apparatus within this chamber that will help us save our people from the evil ones."
Sam let her eyes roam back and forth between the two men, an expression of disbelief on her face. "Has it occurred to either one of you that there might be nothing left in that chamber, if there is one at all? This temple is centuries old, who's to say that the secret chamber wasn't cleaned out long ago? And how would anyone know that, at this point in time, there would be a child who would fit this so-called prophesy?"
The High Chancellor's features hardened at her cynicism and her continualquestioning. "We have studied the ancient writings much longer than you have, Colonel Carter, and many of the prophecies uncovered have come true for our people. If there is even the slightest chance that these evil ones are real, I intend to do whatever I can to save my people," his biting tone gave her pause, but then she thought of her son and stood tall.
"Even hurt an innocent child?" she challenged him, recalling his promise less than an hour earlier not to do so.
He narrowed his gaze at her. "I promised you JJ would not be injured, but you must cooperate with me. Come," he grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to the alcove. "JJ must touch the crystal that stands apart from the others."
Sam hung back, wary of letting her baby touch anything in this ancient temple. Her mind scrambled for a diversion, anything that would stall this moment and allow either Jack and the others to get here, or her to escape on her own. JJ chose that moment to let off a wail of protest. He was upset over many things; the cold air in this dark room, the unfamiliarity that surrounded him, and most of all, the tension he felt emanating from his mother. He wanted his displeasure known and was not shy about letting everyone in the small room hear it.
Sam bounced JJ lightly in her arms, ignoring the look of annoyance Beroni shot her way. All of a sudden, a thought came to her; one that might offer a least a chance to stall them. Clearing her throat to gain their attention, she said quite firmly, "Before we do anything, I have to see to my son. I didn't have enough time this morning; I need to nurse him." Sam didn't let her gaze drift from that of the High Chancellor's and witnessed a slight flush creep up his neck at her words.
Although JJ was now 9 months old and eating many solid foods, Sam still nursed him once in the morning and once at night. They both enjoyed the added closeness that the experience gave them. In addition, Sam felt the longer she could provide him with natural milk, the healthier he would be in the long run.
The High Chancellor had not even stopped to consider the possibility that she might still be nursing her son, and felt some chagrin at the thought that he might have interfered with this important mother-child ritual. Nodding his head at her unspoken request, he led her to a stone bench that sat against the wall, close to the alcove. Sam sat down, cradling JJ so that he lay sideways in her arms. At the scuffling of feet, she looked up to see both Beroni and the High Chancellor watching her anxiously. Raising her eyebrows, she asked shortly, "Do you mind? A little privacy would be nice."
Both men cleared their throats, their cheeks reddening as they turned away and wandered back to the alcove. Sam smiled to herself as she raised her tunic, tucking JJ underneath so he could begin nursing. Men, they were pretty much the same no matter what planet you landed on! They didn't mind staring at a woman's chest, but once she started to nurse a baby, they got all flustered. Truthfully, that is what she had been counting on. So as JJ nursed, she scanned the area around the bench, looking over the array of tools that had been left by the Makesh scientists.
"Jack!" Daniel called loudly, causing Jack to turn from his perusal of the area. They had all been searching the temple for the last fifteen minutes, finding nothing but crumbling stone and a few discarded tools belonging to the Makesh scientists who worked in the temple.
Jack came over to the archaeologist. "What is it Daniel?" The use of his full name reinforced for Daniel how tightly strung Jack was right now, and how desperate he was to find Sam and JJ.
"This section," Daniel pointed to what appeared to Jack to be plain gibberish, "Says that the secret chamber resides in darkness. I assume it means underground, as this part says there is a hidden stairwell behind a wall that moves." He turned to look at his friend, his eyes alight with excitement. "Somewhere close to these inscriptions, we should find a wall, or a panel that is not solid. Behind it, I think we'll find a stairway leading down."
Jack nodded briefly before turning to the room. "Back here everyone." When they had all assembled, Jack relayed Daniel's news and they spread out, everyone pushing against the walls and carvings around them. Jacob transmitted up to Thor to tell him of their latest progress. He hung back as he listened to further instructions from Thor.
"O'Neill, I've found it," came the deep voice of Teal'c, moments after they began their search. Everyone rushed over, Jack joining Teal'c at the panel and pushing hard at the edge that was not flush with the wall. With a sound of rock scraping against dirt, the panel moved slowly, swinging inwards like a door. Malem came to lend a hand and the door moved open further, finally coming to a stop as it rested against a back wall.
Daniel came forward with his flashlight and shined it into the opening the three men had just created. He turned with a smile to the others. "A stairway, just as the inscriptions indicated."
Jack pulled his zat out of its holster, Teal'c following suit, and turned to the group. "Okay people, we're going down with weapons at the ready. Do not fire unless absolutely necessary. And for God's sake, watch out for Sam and JJ. I don't want them getting caught in any cross fire!"
"Hold it Jack," Jacob stepped forward, still holding the Asgard communication device in his left hand. Jack frowned at the delay, ready to argue, but was stopped by Jacob's next words. "Thor says he might be able to get a bio reading on Sam and JJ from here, but first I'm going to try and disrupt the energy source that is being emitted."
Jack nodded his ascent and stepped back from the stairs, letting Jacob stand under the archway that had been created by the inward thrust of the previously hidden door. They waited with baited breath as Jacob pointed the scanner into the darkness below. He and Thor had engineered it earlier on Thor's ship and both were confident it would do what they hoped. The only sign that the scanner was doing anything at all was a low humming noise and a blinking light on its surface. After a few moments, Jacob turned off the device that was in his right hand and brought the communication device back up. "Anything Thor?" he spoke into it, waiting as patiently as possible for the alien to respond.
Finally, "I am sorry, Jacob Carter," came the alien's disembodied voice. "The energy wave is still too strong for me to get a reading. Perhaps once you are at the bottom of the stairwell, we will have more success."
Several sets of shoulders dropped in disappointment, but Jack stepped back to the front of the group, his determination evident in both the set of his jaw and the stern tone of his voice. "Regardless of what Thor can or can not detect, we go down there. If anyone has any qualms about doing this, I won't hold it against you for waiting up here."
When no one spoke up or backed away, he nodded at them, a look of gratitude flashing briefly in his eyes. "All right then, I'll go first, then Teal'c. Janet, you and Malem come next." He handed Janet a gun but refrained from giving one to the young Makesh man, just in case. "Daniel, you and Jacob take the back. Voices off. If anyone's down there, I don't want to alert them to our presence."
The six of them moved quietly and efficiently in line and got ready to walk down the brick stairs that led far below. The only noise to be heard was the quiet scuffle of feet as they made their way closer to the secret chamber; and hopefully to Sam and JJ.
When Beroni and the High Chancellor moved away to give her some privacy, Sam turned her back to them, continued to nurse JJ, and quickly skimmed the ground in front of her, looking for a tool or weapon that might come in handy. Spotting a pointed object that strongly resembled an awl, but with a thinner point, she bent over and picked it up, tucking it hastily under the folds of her sleeve.
She glanced back at the two Makesh men, noticed that they were deep in conversation within the alcove, and pulled out the two beads that contained the transmitters. Working with one hand, as she had to keep hold of JJ, she was able to pry the beads apart to reveal two tiny metal discs. Sam wasn't exactly sure what she could do with these discs but somehow, she figured she might be able to use them to send a signal of some sort.
Maybe they were like batteries; if she put the opposite poles together, perhaps they would send off a stronger signal, one that her father or Thor might be able to pick up with their scanners. It was worth a shot. Sam pried the back off of one transmitter and the front off of the other, quickly piggybacking them together so that their inner components were touching. She fumbled a bit with the tiny parts before hearing a click that told her they had successfully been joined together. Then she put them back in her pocket, turning when she heard the High Chancellor clear his throat.
"Are you finished, Colonel Carter?"
"Um, not yet. About five more minutes," she answered as she quickly hid the tool once more in the folds of her tunic. If the transmitter didn't work, at least she had something to use as a weapon.
"Five more minutes is all I will allow you. Then we must gain entrance to the secret chamber," he stressed, his impatience at this latestdelay clear in his voice. The High Chancellor returned once more to the alcove, but this time didn't take his eyes off of the Colonel. He was beginning to get an unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach.
A/N: Slowly building to a climatic conclusion...or so I hope! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews so far and for sticking with this story!