Chapter 13: The Pits

Sheppard and Rodney took the lead again, with Teyla and Ronon following behind. By unspoken agreement, Sheppard watched the ground, while McKay watched the ceiling. They both kept uneasy watch on the walls. Unlike the side tunnel, this one wasn't exactly straight, curving first right, then left, just enough to block their view of what was in front of them. It was very frustrating. Sheppard was really starting to hate this place. Not that he had ever liked it. But the twists and turns were just the icing on the cake.

"Stop," McKay said suddenly, throwing out an arm. Behind them, Teyla and Ronon stopped as well. Sheppard followed Rodney's gaze to the ceiling. "Do you see it?" Rodney asked.

"No," Sheppard admitted. It was hard to see anything beyond the lights. They weren't terribly bright, but it was still hard to stare into them. No, wait…what was that? It looked like a small square of glass in the ceiling, ahead of them. "Good eyes, McKay," he said in admiration.

"Not really. I just took a really good look at the last one," Rodney said, waving a hand. "I'll bet you it triggers as we walk under it."

"So we don't walk under it." Sheppard looked back up at it, then around the corridor. "Triggers what, though, is the question."

"And how do we disarm it, is a better question," Rodney pointed out.

They searched gingerly around the room until Teyla made a little exclamation of discovery. Sheppard looked where she was pointing at the floor. Oh. The seam between the rocks was a little deeper alone the middle of the corridor. Trap door. "How the hell are we going to get past this?" he muttered in irritation.

"Can we go around it?" Ronon asked, still leaning heavily on Teyla.

Rodney poked gingerly at the edge of the room. "Doubt it," he said. "Looks like the trapdoor goes right to the edge of the hallway."

"God, it never ends, does it?" Sheppard demanded in irritation. "I tell you, after this I'm pretty lukewarm on the whole Ancients-are-genius thing."

"Well, at the very least I no longer subscribe to the Benevolent Ancients Theory," Rodney agreed. "What possible purpose could this serve?"

"It is obviously to keep out intruders," Teyla said.

"Yeah, intruders with the ATA gene, though," Sheppard pointed out. "Which, ten thousand years ago, would be the Ancients. And yet, THEY built it!"

"I wonder…" Rodney mused, looking up at the ceiling. He snapped his fingers rapidly several times. "Sheppard: when that light glowed, who was passing under it?"

"We were," Sheppard said slowly.

"And Ronon already had. It didn't trigger for him!"

Sheppard narrowed his eyes. He saw where Rodney was going, but it didn't make sense. "What if there was just a delay, and it was actually tripped by Ronon?" he asked. That seemed just as reasonable.

"Only one way to find out," Ronon pointed out, shaking off Teyla and staggering forward.

Both Sheppard and Rodney caught him before he could pass under the sensor. "Are you crazy?" Rodney demanded, voice a half-octave too high. "What if I'm wrong, nitwit?"

Ronon gave him a look. "And when was the last time that happened?"

Rodney sputtered as Sheppard grinned. "But…I was just guessing, and it was shaky guesswork!"

"So let's make it less shaky," Ronon said, trying to walk forward again.

"Stop, Ronon. That's an order," Sheppard said. This was crazy. McKay had a point, and he might be right, but Ronon was being a complete idiot to try and test it this way. He gave the runner one last glare before letting him go. He figured if anyone would obey an order, it was Ronon.

"So we need to disable the sensor somehow," Rodney was saying. He also had let go of Ronon, who stood broodingly ignoring them.

"Yes, but how?" Sheppard asked, returning his gaze to the ceiling.

Rodney began rummaging through his pack. His search didn't look like a rummage for a particular object, however, so much as grasping at straws. "There's got to be something…" he muttered.

"Colonel, stop him!" Teyla shouted suddenly. Sheppard whirled to see Ronon halfway across the trapdoor, walking directly under the sensor. Before he could stop her, Teyla had run past him to stand next to Ronon.

Sheppard started forward automatically, when a hand on his elbow stopped him. He turned to look at Rodney, who was staring at the pair in front of them. "They're fine," he breathed. "Look."

Rodney was right. They were both standing under the sensor, and it wasn't activating. Well, wasn't that interesting. "The better Ancient trap," Sheppard breathed. He looked at Rodney.

Rodney looked back. "It is, isn't it? This place uses Ancient technology, but it can be used by non-Ancients. THAT'S why there was a 'reset' button that Teyla could use!"

"So what about the door, though?" Sheppard asked. "That was standard Ancient technology."

"I thought so, too," Rodney said slowly, "but now I'm not so sure. Maybe it only looked like it, or maybe it was part of a trap that was malfunctioning. On the other side it was ordinary wiring. No crystals. I didn't get it then, but it makes sense now."

"So basically," Sheppard said, looking at Ronon and Teyla, who were now across the pit, "They're perfectly safe, as long as they stay away from us."

Rodney nodded glumly. "You know, this is the first time in my life that I've actually regretted getting the gene therapy."

Sheppard nudged him affectionately. "What about when you thought you'd starve to death wearing that shield?"

Rodney made a face. "I still didn't regret the gene, I just regretted the shield."

"So now what?" Ronon called to them from across the trapdoor.

Sheppard turned to Rodney, who looked back at him. "Yes, now what?"

Rodney looked back up at the ceiling. "We still need to disable the sensor."

"Meanwhile, maybe they should go on ahead and let Atlantis know what happened to us," Sheppard said. He hated splitting up, but it seemed like the safest choice for Ronon and Teyla, and they should get medical help as soon as possible, especially Ronon.

"I don't know," Rodney argued. "We've already seen that some of these traps don't work properly. It may not be completely safe for them either."

"That's true," Sheppard allowed, "but they're still safer without us." He said the last grimly. He hated that. He had never been a liability to the team before, especially not because of his genes.

"This really bothers you, doesn't it?" Rodney asked him.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Sheppard shot back.

"Of course, but I'm not the team leader," Rodney said, unruffled. "It's got to bother you more."

Sheppard took a deep breath, deciding it wasn't the right time to try to pull the shreds of his dignity back together by arguing about it. "Teyla, Ronon," he called.

"Colonel?"

"You two need to get back to the gate and Atlantis. Apparently you can pass safely past the traps. You can send back help—just make sure no one with the ATA gene comes. Make sure they bring rope."

"We cannot leave you here!" Teyla exclaimed, horrified.

"Teyla," Sheppard said reasonably, "we're pretty much stuck here. You're going to be much more help if you send back help. And Ronon needs a doctor, soon."

"I'm fine," Ronon protested weakly, but there wasn't much force behind it. Teyla looked at him and apparently saw Sheppard's point. "Very well. We will send back help as soon as possible." With that, they left, disappearing around a corner.

"Pretty much stuck here?" Rodney said as soon as they were gone. "Oh ye of little faith."

"So you've got a way to disable the sensor, then?" Sheppard challenged.

Rodney's face fell. "Well, not exactly. Give me a minute!" He paced back and forth, looking at the floor. "Hmm," he said finally, stopping.

"Hmm?" Sheppard prompted. 'Hmm' could be good.

"This way, Colonel," Rodney beckoned. Sheppard followed him a few paces, stopping when he stopped. "There, that's far enough."

"What's this about?" Sheppard asked.

"I'm going to try something, and I didn't want you standing on the trapdoor when I did," Rodney explained, picking a rock up off the floor.

"That's reasonable," Sheppard said.

"Glad you think so. How's your aim?" Rodney handed him the rock.

"Good enough for this." Sheppard said, and threw the rock at the sensor. It hit with a satisfying impact, shattering. With a horrible grating sound, the doors fell away, revealing a deep pit. "Was that…supposed to happen?"

Rodney shrugged. "I wasn't sure, actually. But we disabled the sensor."

Sheppard grimaced as they both peered into the pit. "I suppose…"

"Are those…spikes?" Rodney asked, swallowing.

Sheppard was about to reply in the affirmative when his radio crackled to life. "Colonel, please respond!" came Teyla's worried voice.

"We're here. We're fine. Just testing a theory." Sheppard said.

"That is…good, then," she said. "Please try to test them in a less worrisome manner in the future."

"What have you got?" Sheppard asked, glad they could at least communicate by radio.

"Nothing so far. We will keep you informed. Teyla out."

He turned back to Rodney, who had inched over to the side of the pit. "McKay, what are you doing?"

"Well," Rodney said, pointing, "See how the doors are pretty thick? I was thinking we could use the hinge side as a sort of ledge to walk along."

Sheppard looked where he was pointing. They were indeed thick: nearly six inches. So McKay was suggesting walking twenty or thirty feet along a six-inch ledge, which could move at any moment, and with a face full of spikes as the reward for failure. "Ah, not so sure that's a good idea," he said.

Rodney gave him a look. "Of course it's not a good idea! Do you have a better one?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," Sheppard said, pleased at the startled look this got him from McKay. "We wait for help to arrive."

Rodney sagged. "Yes, I can see that. Less chance of death by spikes. I just really, really want to get out of here." He sat heavily on the floor. "I mean, I really, really do."

Sheppard sat next to him. "I don't blame you. So do I."

"Rodney," Teyla voice broke in. "Do you read?"

"I'm here," he responded tiredly. "What is it?"

"We have encountered a closed door. We do not know how to get it to open."

"What's it look like?" Rodney said, perking up. It was amazing how his whole face lit up when he was given a scientific puzzle to solve.

"It is like the other doors. It comes down from the ceiling. We do not see any panels, nor anything on the ceiling that could be used to raise it."

"No panel? Are you sure?"

"I do not see anything that does not look like wall. Ronon is testing the wall to see if anything does not sound like wall."

"And there's nothing on the ceiling?" Rodney frowned. "That doesn't make sense. Their other traps seem to have a reset switch. Teyla, do you still have the flashlight?"

"Yes, Rodney. I have tried using that, but all I see is the trigger panel. The one that glows blue."

"Is it glowing blue right now?"

"No. It is dark."

"That's got to be it. Can you get up to it?"

"No," Teyla said softly. "Ronon cannot lift me."

Rodney covered the mouthpiece of his radio. "We need to help them," he told Sheppard.

"By walking across thirty feet of six-inch wide trapdoor?" Sheppard asked, covering his mic as well.

"Again, we're back to 'what choice do we have?'" Rodney said with a shrug.

"Teyla," Sheppard said, looking at McKay, "We're on our way. Just sit tight."

"But you are stuck on the other side of the pit," she said, sounding confused. "How will you cross?"

"Rodney found a way," Sheppard said. He broke the connection. "You sure you wanna do this?" In truth, Rodney didn't look so good. He was pale, dirty, and bruised, with dark circles under his eyes. And his limp was getting worse. Sheppard was no better off, he realized. And now they were trying amazing feats of balance? Were they nuts?

"I'm not the one who nearly fell off the rock," Rodney said, giving him a tired smirk.

"Hey!" Sheppard protested.

"Besides," Rodney said, turning serious again, "A pit is big. I can handle big. It's small…not so good with small." He shuddered, and Sheppard was reminded once again of the walls-closing-in thing.

Sheppard stood up. "Here goes nothing."