Chapter 7: Rock and Roll

Rodney stopped in his tracks, nearly causing Teyla to collide with him before she caught herself. "What was that?" He had definitely heard something. Something behind them.

"What did it sound like?" Sheppard asked.

"Scraping," Rodney answered, turning to look nervously the way they had come.

"Perhaps the rock moved back," Teyla said.

"Great, so now we're trapped down here!" Rodney said, feeling the familiar fingers of claustrophobia clutch at his chest and drive his voice up an octave.

"Relax," Sheppard said. "We do have the Stargate down here, and I'm sure the Ancients would have built a way to open the door from the bottom if we really need to go back out that way."

Rodney took a few calming breaths and nodded. He opened his mouth to say something more when a really, really loud scraping, rumbling sound began behind them. "Ok, tell me you heard that," he demanded, flattening himself against a wall.

"I heard it," Sheppard said grimly, pointing his P-90 back down the tunnel. The sound had resolved itself into an ominous rumbling. Everything began to vibrate, and the noise got louder, ending in a loud THUNK.

"Earthquake!" Rodney whimpered, pressing himself harder against the rock. A moment later, though, he realized he was wrong. In the dim light back down the tunnel, he saw that the 'thunk' had been caused by a huge boulder descending from the ceiling. And now, it had begun slowly rolling in their direction.

"Run!" Sheppard yelled as the boulder started picking up speed. Rodney didn't have to be told twice, and neither did anyone else. They dashed down the tunnel, Ronon helping Teyla, whose ankle was slowing her. But they were both still faster than Rodney. He was running as fast as he could, but he was weighed down by his pack, and frankly, he admitted, he could probably be in better shape. Maybe Sheppard had a point about it being a good idea to work on his stamina if he was going to be on off-world missions.

Behind him, he heard the boulder picking up speed. He ran, gasping, watching the others get farther and farther ahead. He blinked the sweat out of his eyes. No wait, that wasn't right. Sheppard seemed to be slowing down. Soon they were running side-by-side. "What…are you doing?" he demanded breathlessly.

"What do you mean?" Sheppard asked. "Did you expect me to leave you behind, McKay?"

"So instead…both of us…will be crushed to death," Rodney panted. "Much…more…logical."

"Save your breath," Sheppard suggested, glancing behind them. "Shit! Run faster!"

To Rodney's amazement, that actually worked. The adrenaline generated by the tone of Sheppard's voice actually spurred him to move faster. So fast that when a hand reached out from the wall and grabbed him, he almost fell flat on his face. He yelped as he was drawn towards the wall, until he realized the hand that held him was Ronon's. The runner was pressed into an alcove in the wall, and Teyla was behind him. "Colonel!" Ronon shouted.

Sheppard had already seen what was going on, though, and had stopped. He hurriedly wedged himself into the alcove as well. There wasn't really enough room for two people, let alone four, and Rodney tried very hard to keep from hyperventilating as he was crushed between Ronon and Sheppard. He couldn't see a thing around the Colonel's flak vest. He could, however, hear the boulder. The rumbling grew louder and louder, and he squeezed his eyes shut as it was right on top of them.

Then, the noise began to recede as it passed them and continued rolling down the tunnel. Everyone stayed frozen for a second, then cautiously stepped back into the tunnel. Rodney looked at Sheppard, who had been standing closest to the boulder. The Colonel's face was ashen and he was shaking slightly. The front of his vest looked a little scuffed, too. Rodney shuddered at how close the boulder must have been to him. "Colonel?" he asked, concerned. "You ok?"

Sheppard swallowed. "Too…damned…close," he breathed. "What the hell was that about?" he yelled, looking at the ceiling as if the answer was there. At least the yelling was bringing color back to his face.

Teyla limped over to him. "I believe someone did not want intruders," she said.

Sheppard looked down at her. His panic attack seemed to have receded, which was good, because seeing the usually-in-control Colonel crack at the edges had really unnerved Rodney. "Teyla, how's the ankle?" Sheppard asked, concern in his voice.

"It will be fine." Teyla assured him.

"Especially if we have to do any more of that," Rodney muttered, staring at where the boulder had gone.

"I don't hear it anymore," Ronon commented, following Rodney's gaze. He was right. The rolling had stopped. That either meant it had gotten too far away to hear, or that it had hit something. Either way they should be ok as long as the tunnel kept tilting downward.

"Well," Sheppard said, clearing his throat. "That was horrible. Shall we see what else the Ancients have in store for us?"

Rodney took the lead this time, as it appeared to be the safest place to be. Well, that was assuming the threats would all come from behind, come to think of it. He really wished his scanner was still working. Speaking of which…

"Well, at least we know what the high-energy areas are for," Sheppard commented to him, apparently reaching the same conclusion he had.

Rodney nodded. "Quite possibly."

"What?" Ronon asked, not catching on.

"It's booby-traps," Rodney explained. "That boulder came out of the ceiling right about where the first high-energy area was."

"I don't suppose you noticed where the other ones were?" Sheppard asked hopefully.

Rodney shook his head and regretted the loss of the scanner all the more. "No. I didn't have time. But there are at least four more areas between here and the main—" he broke off. "Oh, no," he breathed, stopping dead in his tracks.

Sheppard stopped as well. "What?" he asked, eyes wide.

Rodney swallowed, looking at the stone he was standing on, which had just sunk about a centimeter under his foot. "That," he said.

Sheppard followed his gaze. "Oh shit."

"What is happening?" Teyla asked, sounding frightened.

Sheppard looked around. "Well…at least stepping ON it didn't trigger anything," he said in what Rodney was sure was supposed to be a comforting tone, although if it were, it failed miserably.

"Oh great! So now as long as I keep standing here, we're all perfectly safe," Rodney said, voice rising again. He was panicking, but he felt somewhat entitled. This had quite possibly been the worst two days of his life. Well, the worst since Kolya had taken over the city…no wait, there were the days surrounding the Wraith attacking Atlantis…or maybe…Well fine. But these last two days, particularly the last few minutes, were right up there.

"Calm down," Sheppard said, patting his arm. "We'll think of something."

"Fine. While you think of something, I'll just be over here standing on what is probably the trigger for a really, really nasty and horrible way to die!" Rodney snapped back.

"Will someone please explain to me what is going on?" Teyla demanded, losing some of her usual calm.

"Trap," Ronon said by way of completely useless explanation. At least he himself seemed to know what was happening, though.

Rodney forced himself to calm down enough to grit out, "The rock I'm on moved when I stepped on it. So obviously when I step off of it, it's going to trigger something."

"How do you know that?" Teyla asked.

"Because that's always how it works," Sheppard said from where he was poking at the base of a wall.

"What are you doing?" Rodney asked.

"Looking for a rock."

"It would take a hell of a rock to displace my weight," Rodney pointed out.

"Hell of a rock here a minute ago," Ronon said dryly. Rodney glowered at him. Now was not the time to discover the Satedan had a sense of humor.

"Uh-oh," Sheppard commented. He had stopped moving.

"Oh please don't tell me," Rodney said, rolling his eyes.

"'Fraid so," Sheppard said glumly, looking at the rock he was standing on, which had just shifted down. "Ronon, Teyla, don't move, ok?"

"There are more trigger rocks?" Teyla asked, standing as still as possible.

"There any way to tell which are which?" Ronon asked. He shifted to look down at the rock Rodney was standing on, which looked just like any other rock on the floor. But Ronon apparently saw something, because he nodded to himself, then started across the floor towards Sheppard, studying rocks as he went.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rodney demanded. "He said not to move!"

Ronon ignored him and kept going, occasionally stepping out of his way to avoid a rock, until he came to stand by Sheppard, studying his rock. He nodded in satisfaction. "Got it."

"Care to share with the rest of the class?" Rodney asked as calmly as he was capable.

"Trigger rocks are a different color," Ronon explained. "More gray." Rodney looked at the rock he was standing on, which was gray, then at the surrounding rocks, which were gray. "Ooookay, whatever you say," he said skeptically.

"I didn't step on one, did I?" Ronon pointed out.

"Well, how lovely for you and Teyla! Now you can get out of here while Sheppard and I blow ourselves up when we collapse from exhaustion standing on these rocks!"

"Rodney!" Sheppard snapped. "That's not helping."

"Well, excuse me for having a well-deserved panic attack!"

"Ronon, Teyla," Sheppard said, ignoring Rodney, "You two get out of here. Go far enough down the tunnel that whatever happens to us…doesn't happen to you."

"We are not leaving you here!" Teyla exclaimed, appalled.

"What can you do to help?" Sheppard asked. "As Rodney pointed out, there's nothing heavy enough to prop these rocks when we step off. Besides, I have a plan."

Teyla still looked at him, unsure. "But…"

"That's an order if it makes it any easier," Sheppard said. "Ronon, get her out of here. Teyla, unless you can see the color changes like he can, step where he tells you to step."

"Are you certain about this?" she asked. Ronon was already coming back towards her, eyes intent on the rocks beneath his feet.

"Sure I'm sure. Trust me." Sheppard smiled.

Rodney snorted. He had a pretty good idea of what Sheppard's plan was. And as terrifying as it was, it really was the only option, and they definitely needed to get Teyla and Ronon out of the way.

He and Sheppard watched as Ronon and Teyla made their way hesitantly down the tunnel. They stopped about a hundred meters away. "No more trigger rocks," Ronon called back by way of explanation. "This far enough?"

Sheppard waved in response, then turned to Rodney. "Ready?" he asked.

Rodney shivered. "Just to be clear on this plan, the idea is to run like hell, correct?"

Sheppard grinned. "I knew you'd understand." The smile fell. "Unless you have a better idea," he said quietly.

There it was again. It was creepy. If Rodney didn't know any better, he would swear Sheppard kept deferring to him to make decisions. What was going on? Rodney blinked. Well, now wasn't the time to try to figure it out. There really wasn't anything else they could do. "No, I don't have a better way," he said. "Do you think that both rocks do the same thing?"

Sheppard shrugged. "I really hope so."

Rodney snorted. "Unless what they both do is explode, in which case I kind of hope yours doesn't."

"Mine? Why?" Sheppard asked, confused.

"Because yours is between me and my escape route," Rodney explained.

"Oh," Sheppard said, looking back at his rock. "Well, maybe you should go first, then."

"Right. And then if it triggers a volley of arrows, you die. No thanks. We go together."

Sheppard looked at him a moment, then nodded. "On three?"

"Wait, wait!" Rodney said, holding up a hand. "On three, or after three?"

"Oh for the love of—" Sheppard bit off, but his smirk was back. "ON three. On the number three, we both run like hell."

Rodney swallowed. It felt like a whole field full of butterflies were trying to escape his stomach. "On three," he managed.

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three!" Both men leapt off their rocks and began to run, as the world exploded around them.