"Captain Carter. I believe we should attempt to find Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson as soon as is possible."
She nodded. "I didn't like the way that sounded, either. So... If they just came in, why aren't they here?"
They had both turned to look at the other end of the hall, where they had entered the ruins. There was no sign of the two other members of their team.
There was no sign of the door, either. Although morning light shone in through a long row of narrow windows high up in the wall, there was no light to be seen where the door should have been. The lower part of the wall looked dark everywhere in the hall.
Teal'c leaped up and began walking towards the doorway. Captain Carter followed, and soon took up jogging, and then running. By the time they reached the spot where the door had been, it was clear that their way out was hopelessly shut.
The edges of the former doorway were still clearly discernible from the stone wall, but where the opening had been, there was only smooth stone. Teal'c pressed his shoulder against it and pushed with all his might, but it wouldn't budge.
He moved back, aimed his staff weapon at the block of stone and shot, despite Captain Carter's alarmed exclamation of "Teal'c, wait!"
The stone was too thick. The staff blast left little more than a darker spot on it.
"Whoever sealed the door did so very quietly. I did not notice anything out of the ordinary during the night," he told her.
"Maybe it wasn't anyone in particular. It could've been some age-old security technology. I mean, look at all the plant growth in here. It looks like this place's been abandoned a long time ago."
"Perhaps so. Nevertheless, it is clear that Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson are not in this hall. If we are indeed within the same ruins, then we must venture deeper inside to search for them."
"That's what we'll do. I can't see any signs of anything that could help me to get the door open here. No access panels or such. But look at the wall across from us--there are two doorways there, and they're both still open."
Teal'c had noticed them as soon as there had been enough light in the hall to reveal the whole extent of it. The hall was square-shaped, and on the wall across from the door out stood two identical doorways, probably leading deeper in to the ruins.
Sam flicked on her radio. "Colonel? We're clearly not in the same part of the building than you. We're caught inside. The door's been sealed behind us."
"Carter, this really isn't a good time-" O'Neill started, and stopped abruptly, his voice fading into a groan. "Daniel, can't you-" he barked, before he apparently realized to let go of the transmit-button, and the sound was cut off.
"All right... I wonder what that was about," Sam muttered to Teal'c, who merely cocked an eyebrow.
A moment later, O'Neill's voice came through the radio again. "Sorry, Carter. Bad timing. So you said you're--what, caught inside?"
"The doorway's blocked. We'll have to look for another exit."
"Damn--so, we're not as near to you as we first thought. Well. Just go ahead, and keep me informed."
"We will. But sir... If I may ask--what's going on in there?"
"Well, we had a rough night. The dino got us. Then, we got it. I broke a leg, and Daniel's trying to help, which isn't... Well, you know how it is. Never mind. We'll hang on. At least our door's still open."
"If we're in the same ruins, we'll find you sooner or later. Until then... Take care, sir, Daniel."
"You too. O'Neill out."
"It appears their escape was not as successful as ours."
"Yeah, it clearly wasn't, so we'd better find them fast. Which door should we pick? Left first?"
"Whichever, Captain Carter."
They walked across the hall, noting once again how big it was. There was enough space for a bunch of dinosaurs. The doors were large enough that a dino could fit through them, as well. If the Tyrannosaur had followed them to the ruins, it might've come in as well. But they had managed to lose it, and it had followed O'Neill and Daniel instead. Luckily, it sounded like they'd survived its attack without any immediately life-threatening injuries.
When they reached the doorway, Sam spent a while examining it and the surrounding walls. No sign of any technology here, either, no way to access anything that might open or close the door. They'd just have to take the risk and hope that they'd not get shut in again.
Sam lead the way through the doorway, into another large hall. It was pretty much the same as the previous one, with stone walls, narrow windows high up, and plants growing on the ground. There were some carvings on the walls, though, which had been missing from the first hall. And the far end of the room was very different.
She walked ahead to get a better look. At the far end of the room lay a flight of massive stairs, ascending to another level of the ruins, pretty high up, since the rooms were so high.
"I do not think we should proceed to another floor."
"Me neither, Teal'c. Let's go check the other doorway."
The way back to the first hall was still open, so they retraced their steps, and walked through the right-hand doorway instead. It opened into a hall that seemed identical to the left-hand one, except for one big difference. There were no stairs in this hall, and no exits either, except for the doorway they'd just come through. It was a dead end. They'd have to try the stairs. They had nowhere else to go.
"O'Neill out," Jack finished the short radio conversation with Carter.
"All right, it's all done. I hope it'll hold," Daniel told him, pulling down his cut pant leg to cover the makeshift splint. "I think Sam could do a better one."
"Probably, but looks like we might not meet her and Teal'c in a while, so this'll have to do."
It'd taken Daniel quite a while to tend to Jack's leg, and Jack had hated pretty much every minute of it. First of all, he hated being the one who needed to be tended to. It had also hurt more than he'd expected. He considered himself quite used to broken bones, but it didn't make the pain any easier to endure. At least it looked like a nice, single, closed fracture, just one very painful swollen section in his leg. The skin was intact, nothing sticking through it. Could've been a lot worse.
From the look of it, he had sprained his ankle as well. He and Daniel agreed that it probably wasn't broken. Now, with a splint on the broken part of his leg and a taped ankle, walking should be a bit easier.
Daniel sat down next to him, his back against the wall. Jack heard him take a deep breath, which suddenly turned into a gasp of pain.
Jack had no idea of the extent of Daniel's injuries. He'd seemed relatively unharmed, walking and using both his hands and speaking normally. Still, it was clear he wasn't perfectly all right. Of course he wasn't. The Tyrannosaur had tossed him against the wall and he'd fallen all the way down, of course he was hurt, and Jack would need to know how badly.
Daniel's pack rested on the ground next to Jack, and it sported an impressive row of teeth marks. He was really glad Daniel had taken his pack, because without it, those holes would've been in Daniel's sides.
"All right, Daniel, it's your turn now. Or mine, however you put it. You got to prod my leg, and I intend to return the favor."
"Jack... You don't need to, it's not that bad. I'll last till we get back."
"Daniel, come on. It might take a while before we get anywhere. We're over a day's walk away from the gate. Just give me a clue here, will ya? Where does it hurt?"
"Umm, well, I think I might've cracked a rib or two when I fell."
"Let's take a look, shall we?"
Looking very reluctant, moving slowly, as if it hurt quite a bit, Daniel squirmed his way out of his mud-covered jacket. He peeled up his damp T-shirt to reveal an extensive pattern of reds and blues on his right side. It seemed to continue even further both upwards and down.
"Your hand's all right? And shoulder? Everything moving like it should?"
"Yeah, everything moves, though it doesn't feel all that nice. It'll be fine. It's a miracle, really, that I didn't dislocate my shoulder, I kind of landed on it, after all."
"So, about those ribs..."
Jack hated doing this, but he had only one way to find out, so he went on, running his fingers over the bruises and pressing gently to locate the fractures. Daniel was clearly doing his best to appear indifferent, but without much success--he kept flinching involuntarily, groaning and gasping. Of course, Jack had been pretty much the same when Daniel had worked on his leg.
"All right, I'm counting two broken ones. I'm going to tape them, it's going to hurt, but it'll help the pain. So, the ribs are the worst? Anything else I should know about?"
Daniel shook his head, looking a bit pale in the scant light pouring in through the narrow windows. Jack eyed his exposed chest carefully. As far as he could see, it was moving evenly enough. His breathing seemed strained, but that was understandable. Broken ribs weren't a new thing to Jack, either, and he knew how bad they felt. The most important thing was, he didn't see anything really worrisome, anything that'd suggest serious internal injuries. Not that he wanted to underestimate their current trouble, but they could've been a lot worse off.