Chapter 6: Down the Rabbit Hole
Two hours later, Sheppard had to admit Rodney had a point. He and Ronon had fashioned two perfectly decent shovels, and had dug down through several feet of gravel. They had actually hit a metal bottom, and it did have seams on it, implying it was made to open. But that was it. They got no further. No amount of thinking "open sesame," yelling, pounding, or shooting (over McKay's protests) had made it open. And to top it all off, he now had a rather nasty cut on his arm where a piece of flying rock had hit him. He hated to admit that Rodney had been right about the shooting.
McKay, of course, had no problem admitting he was right. "I told you that was a stupid idea," he said, watching Teyla bandage Sheppard's arm. "If the metal—or whatever that is—is strong enough to withstand having tons of gravel on top of it, then it's strong enough to ricochet bullets right into—"
"McKay," Sheppard interrupted, "Not helping."
"Well, all I'm saying is—"
"McKay," Sheppard said again, with slightly more authority, "Still not helping."
"Fine," Rodney muttered, wandering over to his pack. Moments later, he was back. He threw something at Sheppard. He was just quick enough to catch it. "Here," Rodney said, and threw one at Ronon as well.
Sheppard looked at it. A power bar. Rodney was feeding them? Why? He looked up suspiciously. "What's this for?"
Rodney rolled his eyes. "It's for eating. You peel off the wrapper and put it in your—"
"I know that," Sheppard interrupted, "But why are you giving it to me?"
"You mean instead of keeping them all for myself?" Rodney snapped back. "Because you haven't eaten, that's why! You're welcome, by the way!"
"Thanks," Sheppard muttered, somewhat taken aback. Rodney must still be really mad about yesterday. But that really didn't explain why he was feeding him. Now he was more confused than ever. "How many are left?" he asked, waving the power bar.
Rodney shrugged. "Enough, assuming we don't have to stay here more than another day or so. I tend to come prepared."
Sheppard grinned at that. Yes, he did. "Good for all of us," he said. Rodney gave him an odd look, as if trying to gauge the comment for sarcasm, but didn't say anything.
Sheppard looked up at the sun while Teyla finished tying the bandage. It was already starting to get hot, and it would only get hotter. It looked like they now had no choice but to travel along the line of one of the tunnels and try to find a door. But after yesterday, he didn't want to lead is people—especially Rodney—on the Sunshine Death March if he could help it. They could go a couple of hours, but then they would have to stop for the afternoon. "Gonna get hot," Ronon said, as if reading his mind.
"So we should get moving," Sheppard said, struggling to his feet. "McKay, which tunnel is most likely to lead to a door?"
McKay snorted. "As if I could possibly know that. But you know what? With our luck, it's probably at the end of the longest tunnel, back that way." He gestured at the path they had blazed over the last two days.
Sheppard felt a chill, despite the gathering heat. He really didn't want to go back that way, and be reminded again of how he had nearly killed his teammate…his friend. "Ok," he said, "So we don't know. What about the tunnel that ends the closest to where we are now?"
Rodney shrugged. "Couple kilometers that way." He waved his hand at about an eighty degree angle from the other tunnel.
Sheppard shaded his eyes and peered at the dense jungle. "Works for me. Shall we?"
"It is as good a plan as any," Teyla said.
"Is it straight?" Sheppard asked Rodney.
"Er, what?" the scientist asked, confusedly looking up from his scanner.
"The tunnel. Is it a straight shot from here to the end?"
"Oh," Rodney said. "Yes."
"Good. Ronon, would you take the first turn blazing the trail?" The runner nodded and started off. "Rodney, how long will that power supply last?"
Rodney looked down at the cobbled-together contraption. "The way I'm abusing it? Several hours at best, and probably a whole lot less than that. Not to mention, we don't really know how long Ancient power supplies last, or how much of a charge they keep after ten thousand years—"
"Then why don't you shut it off for a while?" Sheppard suggested, interrupting him. "We know where we're going. When we get close you can power it up again."
Rodney nodded and wordlessly started disassembling it. Sheppard waited until it was stowed in Rodney's pack again, then reached to grab the pack.
Rodney was quicker, grabbing it up and shouldering it. "Oh no you don't," he said, glaring. "My pack, I'll carry it!"
Sheppard shrugged. Fine. But any sign of heatstroke… he tried not to think about it. But that reminded him. "Hey," he called, causing Ronon to stop hacking at vines and Teyla to turn to look at him, "We'll be going for a couple of hours, until it gets too hot. I want everyone to drink plenty of water. And tell me if you feel anything's wrong…I'll listen this time." The last he said softly enough that only Rodney could hear. He couldn't tell if he had, though, because the scientist had his eyes averted and his face carefully neutral. Great. "Rodney—" He started.
"Well, time to go!" Rodney said with painfully fake cheerfulness. He walked briskly after Ronon, leaving Sheppard and Teyla to follow in his wake.
This was going to be a long, long hike, Sheppard thought morosely.
The jungle growth was so thick that it took them nearly two hours to arrive at the spot above where the tunnel ended. Everyone was slightly out-of-breath and red-faced, and the day was really starting to heat up. Sheppard had been forcing water on his people, much to their annoyance. They had each consumed almost two canteens full. Luckily, they had passed several streams where they could refill their water, although he was starting to worry they hadn't brought enough water purification tabs. They only had six left. But they now all had full canteens, and hopefully they would soon be in the tunnel and headed for home.
Rodney had the scanner reattached to the power supply of the life-signs detector, making it look something like Frankenstein's monster meets a laptop. He was standing in the small clearing they had reached, turning slowly in a circle, emitting the occasional "uh-huh," and "hmm."
"Well?" Sheppard asked, finally unable to contain himself.
Rodney gave him a look. "Well, this is where the energy signature—and therefore the tunnel—stops," he said. "Well, actually…" he walked a little farther, to where a boulder sat mostly hidden by the dense undergrowth, "This is where it stops. Just under here."
Sheppard came to stand at his side, regarding the boulder. "I'll lay odds this is the entrance," he said.
Rodney sniffed. "If there even is one here," he said doubtfully.
Sheppard reached out to touch the boulder. Open, he thought at it. Nothing happened.
Rodney walked to the side of the boulder. "If you were telling it to open, Colonel, then it didn't work. No energy increase at all."
"Plus, nothing opened," Sheppard pointed out.
Rodney gave him a look, but didn't say anything. Seriously, the lack of snappy comebacks had started to worry Sheppard. He hoped that nothing in that huge brain had been fried by the fever.
"Perhaps there is a hidden entrance?" Teyla suggested.
With no better plan, all four people began to hunt around the boulder, Rodney hampered by his refusal to put down the cobbled-together scanner. Ronon and Teyla forced their way to the far side of the rock, pushing through thick vines. Sheppard searched around the base on the near side. Rodney was apparently looking at the rock surface itself.
Sheppard was the one that found it: a small lever, nearly hidden beneath the rock and years' accumulation of leaves. "Found something," he said, and immediately reached to pull it.
"Colonel, stop! I don't think that's a good—" Rodney started, reaching out to stop him. It was too late, though, as Sheppard had already pulled it. The lever flipped with surprisingly little resistance, and then the boulder began to move. It slid away from them with a grinding sound, forcing into the vines and into…oh damn!
He heard a yell from behind the boulder as it collided with Teyla and Ronon, who were still back there. There was more grinding, some yelps, and some really, really unsettling scraping and crushing noises. Sheppard and Rodney leaped around the rock as it settled to a stop.
Sheppard was afraid of what he would find, and consequently, Rodney beat him to the far side of the rock. The scientist actually dropped his scanner—an act that made Sheppard's blood run cold—and reached out to Teyla, who was half-sitting at the base of the rock. Ronon, for his part, was standing, but seemed to be pinned between the rock and a tree, just to the left of Teyla.
"Ah, sorry," Sheppard said weakly. "You guys ok?"
Rodney gave him a dirty look from where he was trying to dig Teyla's legs out of the soil that had ploughed up behind the boulder. She was wincing, but helping him, and seemed relatively intact. Ronon just grunted. He didn't appear to be in pain, but then he never would, and he was definitely pinned.
"Of course they're not alright!" Rodney snapped. "You just crushed them with a giant boulder!"
Oh, god, I've done it again! Sheppard realized with a sick feeling. First he nearly killed Rodney, then he nearly killed the other two. And interspersed with that, he had spent two hours futilely digging in the gravel, when McKay had told him it wouldn't work. Feeling a little nauseous, he hurried over to help, squeezing behind Ronon's tree to try to get him free.
"I'm sorry, guys," he panted as he tried to get Ronon unstuck. "It just kind of seemed like a good idea at the time."
"It is alright, Colonel," Teyla assured him, although the effect was ruined somewhat as she gasped with pain at something Rodney did to her leg.
"We're not dead, so don't worry about it," Ronon assured him.
Sheppard decided to let it go for now.
Several minutes later, all four Atlantians sat panting, once more in the clearing. A quick assessment had shown that Teyla has a twisted ankle and Ronon had bruised ribs, but no one had broken anything. Thank god for small favors. "So," Rodney panted, glaring at Sheppard, "the next time the genius astrophysicist tells you not to do something, what do you do?"
"I listen to the genius astrophysicist," Sheppard said meekly. Partly, he was starting to see Rodney's point. But also, he wanted to see how Rodney would react to him actually admitting it.
He wasn't disappointed. Teyla and Ronon both stared at him, and Rodney's eyes got as big as saucers before he caught himself. "Er, yeah," he said weakly.
Sheppard smirked at the reaction. After a moment more of silence, Ronon spoke up. "So now what?" he asked, gesturing at the hole that had been revealed underneath the rock.
Sheppard struggled to his feet and went over to stand at the edge. He flicked on the light of his P-90 and shone it down. The dancing light revealed stone steps leading down to a floor about ten feet below. The passageway was also about ten feet wide, made of smooth stone or stone-like metal. There were lights, casting a dim light. It was enough to see by, but didn't reveal the details of the tunnel as well as his flashlight.
Sheppard glanced up at McKay, then back at Teyla and Ronon, who had staggered over to stand behind them and regard the hole. "So," he said.
"So," Ronon echoed.
"Shall we?" Sheppard said, indicating the hole.
"Not so fast, Colonel," Rodney said, stopping him from where he was about to start down the stairs. "Honestly, it's like traveling with a two-year-old! If you insist on blundering into an unknown tunnel with inadequate lighting, at the very least let me take some readings first."
Sheppard glowered, but did as he was told. After a few minutes of pushing buttons and waving the scanner around, McKay swore and turned it off. "Damn it!"
"What?" Sheppard asked, concerned.
"Power cells are depleted."
"Both power cells, or just the one from the life-signs detector?"
"Yes, both power cells! Did you think that I meant the amplification would only affect the one?"
Well, yes, actually, but he thought it would be prudent not to mention that. Instead, he said, "What did you get before it died?"
"Well, now that the tunnel's open, it's a little more clear. Looks like there are power conduits running along the tunnels, with pretty constant power. It also looks like there are patches of higher power readings, which might be control rooms or devices of some sort." As he went on his face became more animated. Probably the thought of new, cool Ancient devices. Sheppard smiled, watching him. "Biggest source of power is, unfortunately, at the far end of the long tunnel."
"And we care why?" Sheppard asked, focused only on getting his people back safely to the Stargate.
"We care, Colonel, because that power signature is almost definitely a ZedPM, and from the amount of power, it's a nearly fully-charged one." McKay said with excitement and satisfaction.
"Oh wow," Sheppard breathed. "We could really use another one of those."
"Yes, yes we could."
"So, is it safe?" Sheppard asked, indicating the tunnel.
"No clue," Rodney admitted after a moment. "Power readings don't tell me much, and I didn't have time to do anything else. Do you still have a life-signs detector?"
"No, Rodney. You had the life-signs detector, and you cannibalized it for parts."
McKay rolled his eyes. "To get enough power to take readings! Fine, fine. We'll just have to see how safe it is the old-fashioned way." He swallowed and looked down into the hole. "At least it's not dark."
"Are we ready to go now?" Sheppard asked, fidgeting impatiently.
"Ready as I'll ever be," McKay acknowledged. Teyla and Ronon nodded.
Sheppard went down first, followed by McKay, then Teyla, and finally Ronon. He had a hand on his P-90 just in case, and he saw that, surprisingly, McKay had his hand on the butt of his 9mm. Ronon, of course, had his weapon out.
He heard a sharp intake of breath from Teyla as she descended the stairs, and turned just in time to see her stumble, and be caught by Rodney. "You ok?" Sheppard asked.
"I am fine," she said, although she did nothing to shake off McKay's steadying hand on her elbow. "I stepped incorrectly on my ankle."
"Teyla, I'm sorry about that," Sheppard said. "I wasn't thinking about how the rock—"
"Do not worry," she said, with a kind smile. "None of us could have known. I will be fine."
They reached the bottom of the stairs, and Rodney immediately let go of her. Now that they were on the level, she seemed to be able to stand ok. It was just a sprain, after all, and they had wrapped it. But Sheppard decided he should keep an eye on her, and try to keep the running to a minimum. He sincerely hoped it was safe down here.
Rodney came to stand beside him. He gestured in front of them. "That way," he said, although since there was nothing behind them but the stairs, it was pretty obvious. "It's about a kilometer to where this tunnel meets the main one. Then we can decide if we want to go right back to the Stargate and get reinforcements, or to go after the ZedPM."
Sheppard nodded. "So off we go." They headed down the tunnel, which became better-illuminated by the row of ceiling lights as they got farther from the stairs. The floor sloped gently downwards. The walls were smooth gray and brown stone. They were completely dry, which was surprising considering how wet the rest of the planet was, but that was the Ancients for you. It wouldn't do to have their secret underground base get ruined by seeping water. Still, it was amazingly well-preserved for being ten thousand years old. Even McKay seemed impressed, judging from how quiet he was. Or maybe that was just fear.
As the four headed down the tunnel, none of them thought to look back behind them, where a blue light had started to glow.