They were sorely disappointed when, instead of a door opening before them, a beam of light almost like a laser burst forth from the crystal and landed three feet in front of the door. They all jumped back in shock as the laser hit the ground, spitting up gravel and dirt and leaving a small hole in its wake.
From the other side of the door, they heard Sam cry out in alarm and the sound of a loud implosion as something hit the door from her side.
Chapter 9 – A Roll of the Dice
"Shit!" Jack muttered, trying to slow the pace of his heart, which was still beating rapidly. Tripping over his feet in his haste to get to the door, he crouched down and called to Sam through the hole in the door. "Carter! Are you OK?" Getting no response, he called louder, "Answer me, damn it Sam!"
"I'm…I'm fine sir. Just startled… that's all." Jack had to strain to hear the quiet reply as it came through the door. Sam's eyes stayed locked on the far wall, where a section of wall had opened once Daniel had pressed the last symbol. A crystal, smaller than the one outside but the same shape and color, had glowed yellow and shot a laser-like beam of light directly at the door. The door on Sam's side now bore the blackened mark of a blast. Had it been open, anyone on the other side would have been dead before they hit the ground. Sam shut her eyes against that particular image and worked to still her beating heart.
"What happened?" Jack continued, not trusting that she was "fine" as she kept insisting.
"Uhm, the wall kind of opened up and an energized beam of light shot out from a crystal," she breathed slowly trying to regain her equilibrium. "It hit the door." She paused before adding. "I don't think Daniel pushed the symbols in the right order."
"Ya think?" Jack quipped sarcastically, throwing a disgruntled look at Daniel, who merely shrugged in apology. "Crap! Carter, it might take us a bit longer to figure this out. How are you holding out…and I want the truth, Major," Jack emphasized her rank.
"I fine, really sir. Just tired and sore, nothing life threatening," came her muffled voice.
Jack debated a moment before replying. Knowing he could do nothing about it right now, he took her word for it. "OK. We'll try this again as soon as Danny here figures something out. Sit tight."
Sam made a noncommittal grunt as she stared at the newly revealed panel on the opposite side of the room. Instead of staying seated on the ground however, Sam slowly got to her feet, clutching her side as she did so, and wandered over to the section that had opened up rather suddenly. As she got closer, Sam could see the opening contained two panels put together, like the doors of a cupboard, but they were fused together. Inlaid in the doors were the six numerical symbols she guessed Daniel was currently decoding. Just above them, were the two symbols she had touched on the wall in the upper corridor; the ones which had precipitated her tumble down the ramp.
Sam raised her hand to touch the symbol of the circle with an intersecting triangle inside, then drew back suddenly, recalling what had happened the last time she had touched the same engraving in this temple. She spared a glance at the skeleton in the corner and shuddered before turning her attention back to the wall.
Raising her eyes to the small yellow crystal, Sam stepped to the side as she realized it was still glowing brightly. Her eyes went back to the symbols: Daniel's solution, whatever it was, had obviously been incorrect. But what was the right answer? There were any number of combinations possible, and if this rather elaborate security system activated each time the wrong combination was pressed, they could all run into some serious trouble.
"That's pretty," came a soft voice behind her. Sam spun around to look at Grace, who was once more in the room with her and looking up at the yellow crystal.
Sam closed her eyes briefly; she must not be doing as well as she assured the Colonel if she was still seeing this child. When she opened her eyes again, it was to find the girl's steady gaze on her face, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Play with me," she stated, tossing a pair of dice up into the air and catching them with cupped hands.
Sam shook her head and turned back to study the panels. "I don't have time to play with you, Grace. If I don't help Daniel figure this out, I could be stuck here forever."
"You should rest. Come on, we can play with the dice. We each roll one and see who gets the higher number," she insisted once more. "Then we can add the numbers together after we each roll a few times."
Sam ran a hand tiredly through her hair. "Look, I can't play, OK?" Sam repeated, even as she leaned against the wall, trying to still the dizziness that had crept up on her once again.
Grace, ignoring Sam's refusal to play, tossed one die high into the air, then let it land at Sam's feet. "Five! I rolled a five! You try now."
Sighing, Sam accepted the die that was placed in her hand and let it drop unceremoniously to the ground, not showing any interest in what number it landed on.
"You got a six! You win that time! Let's try again," Grace chortled happily as she gathered up the dice once more. Turning them over in her hand as she brushed the dirt from them, Grace's smile turned into a look of concentration. "Six numbers, six sides of a dice. I wonder who first invented dice and what kinds of games they played." Then she looked up at Sam. "If you put all the numbers together on one die, what do you get?" she asked with a tilt to her head.
"21," Sam automatically responded, still thinking about the numerical symbols in front of her and wishing this hallucination would go away for good so she could think. Then something she had said hit her…21. The total when you added up the numbers 1 through 6. It was also the total number of panels in the main temple!
Sam turned to Grace, her eyes wide with inspiration. "Twenty one! There are 21 panels upstairs; the numbers 1 through 6 add up to 21. Those are the numerical symbols that Daniel is working on. It's got to be a simple matter of putting the first six numbers in numerical order! It's a test…only those who are worthy can open the door. Perhaps meaning those who can figure out their mathematical system!"
Grace smiled and nodded her head. "Math can be fun, can't it?"
Sam returned the grin before making her way across the room as quickly as possible. She heard the voices of Daniel and Jack arguing about something but didn't bother to wait. Leaning heavily against the door, she called out, "Daniel! I think I know the combination!"
Jack and Daniel abruptly stopped their argument and looked to the door, then back at each other with surprise and a bit of chagrin. For while they had been arguing about how to go about figuring out the combination, Sam, who was injured, had been figuring it out on her own. In all actuality, it didn't surprise either one of them a bit that she had come up with the answer before either of them.
"Carter?" Jack was the first one to speak. "I thought I told you to stay put."
"Well, technically, sir, you said to sit tight, which isn't exactly the same thing as staying put." Jack rolled his eyes while Daniel grinned and Teal'c smiled at her comment. "But I couldn't just sit there and do nothing," Sam continued. "There are two small panels that were revealed on this side when you tried the first combination, Daniel. They contain the numerical symbols for the numbers 1 through 6, as well as the symbols that I …uh, touched, before I fell down here."
"That's what we've got on this side, Sam. Well, just the numbers, but they're placed in a random order on the wall," Daniel answered, wondering what she had figured out.
"Same thing on this side. When you add the numbers up, what do you get Daniel?" she asked, her excitement at possibly solving this puzzle making her voice sound stronger.
"Twenty-one," he replied, then shrugged at Jack who was frowning at him questioningly.
"And how many panels are in the main room of the temple?" Sam continued.
"Twenty-one," Daniel repeated before his eyes lit up. "Jeez Sam, you don't think?"
"Yes, Daniel, that's exactly what I think!" she replied.
"Uh, somebody want to tell the rest of the class what they think the answer is?" Jack asked with impatience.
Daniel turned to explain. "The numbers 1 through 6 add up to 21…the exact number of panels in the main chamber. We just need to press the numbers in numerical order!" He turned back to the door. "Ascending or descending order, Sam?"
Sam chuckled, which turned to a cough then a gasp as pain racked her body. They had to wait until she had caught her breath to reply. "What do you think, Daniel? These are the Ancients we're talking about right?"
Daniel grinned. "Yeah, right. They are a bit more interested in ascending than descending. What made you think of this solution, Sam?" Daniel asked curiously.
Without thinking, Sam began to explain. "Well, there's this little…" Sam turned back to where Grace had been standing and was not surprised to no longer see her there. Turning back, she tried to cover herself, "Uh… little game I used to play with dice when I was young. I got to thinking of the numbers on a die and…it just came to me," she finished lamely, glad they couldn't see her face right now. For all of them would certainly know that she wasn't telling them the whole truth.
"You're thinking of games at a time like this, Carter? That really doesn't instill a whole lot of confidence in me, you know," Jack said, his lips quirking in a small grin even as he said the words. The thought of her playing games with dice as a child was just too amusing. Maybe he should take her to Vegas some time!
"Sorry, sir." Her answer was followed by a small gasp of pain, as her recent movement across the room caught up with her.
Jack's face turned serious when he heard her gasp again. "Carter? You alright?"
After taking several deep breaths, Sam was able to reply. "Yeah, Colonel. Just got a bit winded, that's all."
The three men once again shared a look of worry before Jack responded to Sam. "Ok, Carter. We're going to try your solution. I want you to move away from the door, and this time when I say stay put, I mean stay in one place and don't move. Got it?"
"Sir, there is chance this isn't the right combination. If another laser hits the door…" she didn't continue.
"I know, Carter. We'll move back from the door as well. Now get moving; I'm sure you don't' really want to spend a whole lot more time in there, do you?"
Sam smiled, "Not really, sir," she replied, before moving to her previous position several feet from the door and settling gratefully once more on the ground. Her brief period of experiencing a second wind seemed to be coming to a rather abrupt end. "Ready sir!" she called out as loudly as she could.
"OK, Carter. Hopefully this will do the trick!" Jack called back. Then he nodded to Daniel to proceed, making sure that he and Teal'c had moved out of range of the crystal.
Daniel took a deep breath, and pressed the symbol that signified number one. Slowly and carefully, he repeated the process until he came to the last symbol. Shooting Jack and Teal'c a hopeful look, he stated, "Well, here goes nothing," and pressed the final symbol.
Once again, the crystal above the door lit up, but this time, no beam of deadly light came shooting out at them. Instead, after a moment of complete silence, they heard the unmistakable sound of a lock clicking open. The door swung open a mere inch before coming to a stop.
Jack advanced, weapon raised, and gave Daniel a nod. "Sam? You OK?" Daniel called from his side of the door. He gave a sigh of relief when he heard her reply in the affirmative.
"Carter? Anything happening on your side?" Jack asked as he came to the slightly open space between the door and the wall. He didn't want to open the door just to get annihilated by a laser beam! Teal'c had come to stand behind him, his staff weapon held at the ready should they encounter something unexpected on the other side of the door.
"No, sir." Sam replied. "The light's still glowing, but no beam of light has come out. I heard the door unlock; I can come over and open it now," she stated, starting to raise herself to her feet.
"Negative. Carter!" Jack ordered quickly. He didn't want her to aggravate her injuries or be in the way should they need to act quickly. "Just stay put – we're coming through."
Sam sank back down onto the pile of hay and waited. Meanwhile, Jack gave a nod to Daniel, who reached over and slowly pulled the door open. Jack raised his Zat and did a quick sweep of what he could see from the door, his flashlight seeking out the darkened corners of the room. When he spotted nothing dangerous, he nodded once again at his companions then entered the room more fully, letting his eyes sweep the area to the right of the door until they came to rest on the blond woman leaning against the wall, a smile of relief lighting her face.
Thanks so much for all of your assurances that you are still reading and enjoying this fic! It got me motivated to get another chapter out even though I have been attending inservices the last two days! I have quite a bit of the story left so this is my no means the end! And yes, Grace will show up a few more times but sadly, she does not have an older brother named JJ in this particualr story:)