"This mist sticks around for long, we'll have trouble getting to the gate to report back on time" said Cameron, peering from the confines of the narrow entrance hall.
"This rock face isn't going to make it easy to make radio contact with the malp either added Sam "If we don't report in ourselves SGC will dial in that way and try and contact us"
"Maybe I should make my own way there, report in"
"I don't think that's a good idea. That's a thick fog, you could easily get disoriented and lose your way. The gates a good two hours walk from here"
"So we wait it out?"
"When the SGC don't hear word, they'll be able to pick up from the malp what the conditions are like. They should come up with the conclusion that we're stranded here for the time being. Send help when they can, by which time we should be able to get out of here and make contact anyway"
"How come no scans picked up on this weather change in the first place" said Cameron, miffed to be stuck inside a small enclosed place with dust tittering down its walls with every move he made
"Time of the year. Freak occurrence, who knows" replied Sam shrugging her shoulders "The weather changes constantly on earth, only we can judge it because we have weather channels, systems monitoring it every second. We don't monitor the changes of weather on every planet we visit. This may be a yearly occurrence, a weekly occurrence, a monthly occurrence. Or it could happen once every fifty years and we just happened to be here at the time. With no natives to this planet, and SG-6 not reporting any such change, we had no way of knowing it would happen"
They retreated further into the temple, and settled themselves in for the wait, both hoping it would pass quickly. Daniel and Parker had retreated into the farthest room, having found some interesting etchings.
"That does not sound good" muttered Cameron, sitting up sharply and cocking his head, looking over at Sam. She returned his look with a frown and stood, gun poised.
A low rumbling sounded once more, a few moments after, the noise muffled by the walls of the temple.
"What the hell..." started Cameron
"Ssh" Sam raised her hand to silence him and edged towards the doorway listening. The thick fog blocked any view to the outside, but the rumbling could be heard louder. Cameron pressed in close behind her, also listening. Silence answered them, but Sam stood still, the uneasy feeling she had been feeling, rising back up inside her. The rumbling happened again, this time sounding more distinctive and clear.
"Thunder?" asked Cameron
Sam had thought the same thing, the change in the weather from hot warm sun to dark sky and fog certainly leant a logical solution to the sound.
"Yeah" answered Sam softly in agreement
"Thankfully we've got some nice shelter here, if its followed by wet weather" sighed Cameron, lowering his gun and returning back into the main hall. Sam stared outside, unable to muster as easy going a feeling as Cameron about the situation. She listened once more, as another low rumble occurred, it seemed to be growing louder. Backing up into the hall, Sam leaned on a wall and crouched down with a slight uncertainty.
"I'm gonna check on how Parker and Jackson are doing" declared Cameron standing and pointing his light to the doorway at the other end of the room. As he crossed the small space, a louder rumble echoed through to them, and this time the old temple walls responded by showering dust down over them.
"Holy crap" muttered Cameron under his breath, swinging his light back to the entrance "Looks like we may be in for the long haul by the sound of it"
Sam stood and dusted off her shoulders, watching dust mingle down in front of her from the ceiling. She pointed her light upwards and gazed at the high ceiling, her light swallowed up by the darkness, unable to provide her with much of a view of the roof.
Cameron disappeared into the narrow corridor leading to the end room and left Sam alone in the main hall. A few moments later her radio crackled into life.
"Sam you may want to come and check this out" said Cameron through the radio.
Making her way towards the corridor, another roll of thunder rumbled outside and this time she felt a shiver of motion run under feet as more dust crackled down from the walls of the temple. Sam was feeling more and more uneasy about their situation and made her way down the narrow corridor. She was about to suggest perhaps retreating back outside, when another rumble echoed down to her, louder than the others and this time she was knocked off balance by the thunder as the foundations shook beneath her. This part of the temple was towards the west side, and if it looked unstable from the outside, she doubted with this type of activity distressing the old walls, that the inside was stable either. She caught her balance on one of the walls and coughed as dust filled her mouth and nose as it stormed up around her.
"Cameron," she said softly, receiving no answer, she pressed her fingers to her radio "Mitchell, I suggest we retreat back to the main hall, this part of the temple isn't safe and the thunder rolls are getting louder and closer together."
"Agreed" came back the reply, before another crash shook the foundation walls once more and knocked Sam against the wall she was leaning on. Sam spun as she felt something hard fall behind her, and shone her light onto the floor, making out large pieces of rock lying at her feet.
"Pick up the pace people, the roof isn't going to hold much longer" she ordered urgently into her radio. All she received was a crackled signal.
"Mitchell...Parker...Daniel"
The walls shook once more and propelled her further along the corridor. Lifting her hands she covered her head as more fragments of rock dissolved from overhead. She stumbled forward into the room and spied Parker grasping hold of one of the walls.
"Parker, you ok" Sam had to raise her voice over the noise as the foundations creaked and another rumble could be heard
Parker nodded and Sam could see a gash on his head and blood starting to trickle down his forehead. At least he was standing and responding, she turned her attention to the other two men.
"Daniel? Cameron?"
"Over here"
Sam peered in the direction of Daniel's voice and made out another doorway at the far side.
"May be our only way out" Daniel shouted over to her.
Sam made her way quickly over to Parker, as he leaned heavily on the wall, pressing a palm to his forehead. Propping him up with arm about his waist, Sam propelled the both of them across the room towards Daniel. They stumbled over fallen ceiling as the ground shook beneath them and finally reached Daniel.
"Mitchell's went ahead already, check how safe it is," said Daniel when they reached him. Sam shone her light back into the room as more rock fell from above and the walls slowly crumbled.
"We may not be able to wait for him to come back. We can't get back the way we came in, the roof was coming down behind me" replied Sam, summing up the situation. For now the vibrations seemed to have paused. Deciding to wait a few moments for Cameron, she propped Parker up against the wall and reached for her radio once more.
"Cameron?" she shouted into it "Mitchell this is Carter, come in"
Radio crackle was all that replied and as another vibration shook the room, Sam realised they had no choice. With a mere glance at Daniel he entered the dark hallway and she grabbed hold of Parker once more who was becoming clearly disorientated from the knock on his head. As the made their way along the corridor, the floor dipped and sloped downwards and Sam had to lean against the wall, holding onto Parker as the shaking underfoot caused them to lurch forward.
"Daniel you ok" she yelled in front of her
"Yeah, this is getting steeper though, watch your footing" Daniel yelled back to her
Sam shone her light in front of her, catching a glimpse of Daniel's back. Standing straighter once more she continued on, aware the vibrations weren't getting any easier as they descended downwards. The walls were starting to change from the smooth walls of the temple, to harder rock like the crevice and Sam deducted they were descending into the crevice itself. Perhaps some sort of passageway had been hewn into the rock leading to the temple. It caused more problems however as the rock falling on top of them was less prone to dissolving into crumbling dust and instead pelted hard against them. Bowing her head and shifting her grip around Parker's waist Sam continued on slowly.
It was then that she heard a yell ahead of her, before it was drowned out by the sound of falling rock behind them.
"Daniel?" she shouted ahead of her, shining her light and not seeing him ahead "Daniel"
Shouting more urgently, Sam propelled herself forward, Parker in tow. The ground shifted even steeper before them and Daniel couldn't be seen. Sam forced herself not to panic over the prospect of Daniel having lost his footing and slipping down the pathway. The walls still closed them in sheltering them from the outside, but the corridor was wide enough for someone to easily fall and roll down at quite a speed if they weren't careful. Sam paused as the slope started under her feet and loosened her grip of the Lieutenant, moving ahead of him as a barrier.
"Ok Parker were going to take this nice and slow ok." She ordered, bracing herself with a hand on the rock face and her other hand shining the light at her feet.
Slowly they made their descent on uneven ground.