Chapter 3 –Down We Go
Jack began the slow descent down the steep path leading to the mines, biting back a curse as small rocks shot off the edges of the path when he momentarily lost his footing. He heard the tell tale signs behind him that Carter had also slipped and heard an echoing gasp from above. Jack glanced up. Morren and several other council members were leaning over the top edge of the ravine, carefully watching the progress of the woman behind him. Down below, a contingent of miners was also watching their approach, concern for the woman behind him evident on all their faces.
Sam was slowly edging her way along as well; her concentration so focused on the path in front of her and on what she might find down below that she didn't hear the gasp nor notice her commanding officer's halt in progress. Daniel was still at the top, quietly conversing with Morren, while Teal'c had just begun his own descent to the bottom. Both team mates looked down quickly, worried that something had happened to their friends. They were relieved to find both Jack and Sam still on their feet, although they were puzzled as to why Jack had stopped mid-way down the ravine.
Recalling Teal'c's rather ominous words about the Perovians preferred method of punishment, Jack stopped where he was and waited for Carter. When she was within a few feet of him, he held out his hand and waited for her to take it. Sam looked up in surprise when she saw the hand in front of her. She frowned at him, then said, "Sir?" the question evident in her voice.
"Just thought I'd lend you a hand, Carter," Jack replied, making the commentsound rather nonchalant, but not quite meeting her gaze.
Sam's frown deepened. "Why?" she asked, clearly puzzled.
He rolled his eyes. "Because it's rather steep here, Major, in case you haven't noticed."
Samtook in their surroundings, then looked back at him. "No disrespect intended Sir, but we've traversed worse conditions than these, and you never felt the need to stop and help me before. Why now?"
Jack sighed. Now was not the time to tell her how many times he had wanted to help her, but had refrained from doing so. "Well Carter, I've also never had the threat of what could be a rather nasty punishment hanging over my head, should anything happen to you. And, seeing as we have an audience," he indicated the people above with a nod of his head, "I'd really like to avoid making this one of those 'first time for everything moments', if you get my drift." He paused, then looked her directly in the eye. "So please Major, allow me to assist you and maybe we can both get out of here in one piece." He held his hand up a bit higher and waited expectantly for her response.
Sam looked at his hand again, then looked up to the top of the ravine. Her eyes widened at the number of people carefully watching their progress. It didn't escape her notice that their entire audience was of the male persuasion. Sighing, she turned back to him and put her right hand in his outstretched left one. "I'm really starting to hate these patriarchal, alien societies," she mumbled quietly.
"Yeah well, they're not exactly at the top on my list either, Carter," Jack replied.
From behind Sam, came the concerned voice of Teal'c. "You have ceased your descent to the mine. Are you experiencing difficulties, O'Neill?"
Jack gave Sam a small smile and squeezed her hand lightly. "No problems, T. Just having a little chat with Carter here. Watch your step, it's kind of unstable. And maybe wait up for Daniel. Don't want to see him tumble over the side and break something…again."
"I will proceed with the utmost caution, O'Neill, and assist Daniel Jackson if necessary," Teal'c replied. "We will reconvene at the bottom."
"Okey dokey," Jack replied, then turned his gaze back to Sam. "Ready Carter?"
"As I'll ever be, Sir," she sighed, feeling the slightest bit of embarrassment that her CO felt the need to hold onto her and help her down the path. She firmly pushed the thought out of her mind that she rather enjoyed feeling the warmth of his hand in hers.
"Hey," he squeezed her hand again, waiting for her to meet his gaze. He knew this was difficult for her and wanted to ease her mind. "I have the utmost faith that you could climb Mount Everest in a bikini if you wanted to, Carter. We're just helping each other out here, OK?" When she reluctantly nodded her agreement, he cocked his head to the side in thought. "Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing that bikini thing, should you want to try it someday," he gave her a sidelong grin.
Sam chuckled at the expression on his face. "In your dreams, Sir."
He grinned back, glad to have made her smile, but not daring to mention that some of his dreams had starred a certainblond major wearing said bikini. Giving one final squeeze to her hand, he turned and began to slowly make his way back down the path. They shuffled along sideways, his grip on her hand tightening whenever either one of them slipped a bit. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to travel, he thought to himself as he chanced a glance at their entwined hands. Not bad at all.
They were almost to the bottom when Sam lost her footing and almost fell to her knees. The only thing keeping her up was Jack's tight grip on her hand. A loud gasp went up from both up above and down below. Sam closed her eyes, willing away the flush of embarrassment that wanted to arise of its own accord, then looked up into the concerned eyes of her CO.
"You all right, Carter?" he asked quietly as he helped her to her feet.
"Just peachy, Sir," she mumbled as she brushed at her dirty pants. Jack bit back a grin at the comment.
"Well, let's take it easy the rest of the way, okay? We don't want you landing on your ass in front of your adoring crowd, now do we?" Jack cant his head to the side, indicating the rather substantial group of miners who were watching the remainder of their climb with rapt attention.
Sam sighed. "Oh great. Just when things couldn't get any worse."
He turned to her with a look of mock horror. "Don't you know you're never supposed to say that? It's almost like asking for the sky to fall in or something."
Sam allowed a small smile to escape as she replied. "Actually, Sir, the sky can't fall, per say. The sky, or inner atmosphere, is made up of various gases, which are lighter…"
Jack held up the hand that wasn't holding hers. "Ack! Carter! You know what I meant! Just…don't invite doom like that." He gave her a glare but his eyes were twinkling. "That's an order."
Sam's smile spread. "Yes Sir."
They continued the last few feet to the base of the ravine. Both the miners at the bottom and the contingent of delegates at the top all let out a sigh of relief and a brief round of applause at their safe arrival. Sam rolled her eyes at the display and snorted under her breath, "Give me a break."
Jack grinned at her and released her hand. "Nice to know how many people care about you, isn't it Carter?"
Sam just shook her head and walked past him, muttering quietly. "Oh yeah. Gives me warm fuzzies, Sir."
Jack chuckled, then watched his 2 IC do what she did so well. She jumped right in and began to explain to the men gathered what needed to be done; and she started doing it. In a few moments, Teal'c and Daniel joined him near the entrance to one of the larger mines, all three of them carefully observing Sam as she discussed her plans with the miners. Jack looked over at Daniel. "Morty OK with things so far? No plans for public pain and humiliation on my part after that little slippage, is there?" The light tone of voice was in direct contrast to the real anxiety clouding his eyes.
Daniel looked at him with a frown that disappeared with dawning understanding. "Uh, no, Jack. Morren," he emphasized the name, "Was quite pleased with the proceedings thus far. I'm sure he'll be much happier once Sam is safely back at the top, though."
"As will we all, Danny," Jack replied, gazing once more at Sam, who held the group of miner's in rapt attention.
"It appears that Major Carter has the miners acquiring sustenance from her upturned hand," Teal'c observed quietly.
Daniel cast a baffled expression at the Jaffa. "Huh?"
"I think he means Carter has the miners eating out of the palm of her hand," Jack offered with an amused grin toward Daniel.
"Is that not what I just said, O'Neill?"
Jack chuckled. "Ah, yeah, T. That you did." He watched as the men gathered closer around Sam, listening intently to her every word and nodding in agreement to whatever she had just said. He shook his head in disbelief. "How does she do that? I mean, the big Kahuna up theredidn't even want to let her down here, but now…" he waved his hand at the display in front of them.
Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "She's Sam," he replied, as if that were all the answer that was needed.
In fact, it was, for Jack just nodded his head in agreement. Noticing the group begin to enter the darkened mouth of the mine Jack sighed. "Come on campers, can't let Carter have all the fun now, can we?" And the three of them followed the large group into the deep, dark mine.
Two hours later, Sam was feeling jubilant…for the first time since she had set foot on this planet. The mine was turning out to be the rich source of Naquadah that they were hoping for, the miners were more than accepting of her presence among them, and she finally felt a part of this mission, not in the way she had before. And even though Jack and Teal'c both kept in close contact with her, Sam wasn't too bothered by their protective presence. She knew it was just as much for the mission's sake as for hers, so she put up with one or other them almost constantly at her side.
Although she finally did draw the line at Jack fiddling with her equipment. More than once, she had to take something out of his hands and issue a rather firm, "Please Sir, this equipment is highly sensitive." He'd shrug his shoulders, hand it back, and have something else in his hands within a few moments.
Her commanding officer seemed to be at the last of his patience. For the third time in as many minutes, he called to her, "We almost done here, Carter? We know the naquadah's here, for crying out loud, how many more energy readings do you need to take?"
Sam sighed before answering him. "Just a few more minutes, Sir. I need to establish where the most prolific vein is and also ensure that where we set our explosives and ultimately dig will cause the least amount of damage and ensure the best results."
"Well, let's hurry it up, shall we? As I recall, the days here are quite a bit shorter than on Earth. And I don't think we really want to try climbing that ravine in the dark, do we?" he cocked an eyebrow at her as he said the words. Even in the dark mine, with only the light from the lanterns illuminating his features, Sam could clearly read the message he was trying to convey.
"Uh, no sir," Sam agreed. He wasn't the only one worried about possible recriminations should something happen to her. Sam turned and began to take her final readings as quickly as possible. She took several steps away from the group before she stopped and frowned. The device in her hand began to emit an erratic pulse wave, alerting her to something out of the ordinary.
Sam turned to mention the anomaly to Jack, but found that he had turned his back and appeared to be in deep conversation with Jorahn, the lead miner. Teal'c was currently on the opposite side of the mine, examining something on the ground with Daniel. Sam turned back to the narrow corridor just in front of her. There was something down there that was playing havoc with her electromagnetic device. While she was fairly certain that the most likely source was the Naquadah within the mine, according to her readings, there might be a much larger deposit than they had originally thought. And it was just within reach.
Knowing how much time would be saved later if she could at least determine an approximate source right now, Sam cautiously began to make her way down the narrow corridor in front of her. She was only planning on going a little way in, just scoping things out so to speak, and then she'd head back and getthe others to accompany her.
Sam's attention was riveted to the device in her hand and she narrowed her eyes, trying to make things out in the darkened corridor. Lanterns hanging on the wall dimly lit the way, although they were more sparsely spread out than the ones in the larger cavern had been. Every now and then, one lamp was totally dark, casting areas of the corridor into almost complete blackness.
She had only gone about ten yards down the corridor when the ground under her feet shifted, scattering loose rocks and dirt from under her. Sam felt herself falling, gasped loudly, and reached out with her left hand to stop her fall. She caught the wall of the narrow corridor in the palm of her hand and grasped frantically with her fingers, trying to find a hold somewhere. Her right hand tightly clutched the device, not wanting to lose the expensive piece of equipment, and so was ineffectual in helping her stop the downward momentum she was feeling.
In what was only a matter of seconds, but felt like minutes, Sam's left hand found a protrusion to grasp on to, which she did so with great effort. Her momentum was immediately stopped and she froze, willing herself to breath steadily once more. She had only fallen half a foot, but those few inches of her hand dragging across the rough stone of the cavern had already done their damage.
Sam stood still where she was, fearing that any movement might create a much larger landslide beneath her feet. When several moments passedand nothing else happened, she slowly and carefully pulled her hand away from the wall. She winced as she felt the deep burn of a cut and the wet stickiness of the blood as it slowly dripped from her palm down her fingertips to the loose soil beneath her.
TBC