CHAPTER 18

There was a click and the door opened with a grinding noise. A low growl was heard and was soon followed by a large animal walking by the door.

"Told ya." Ford said.

They waited to see what the animal was while Lara gave a quick look inside. She dashed out quickly with a overgrown alligator on her heels. She turned around on the ground and pulled her guns. They all opened fire anyway taking the large creature out. They had to back up several feet though. Even with the staff weapon, it still kept coming at an impressive speed. It took three shots from the staff weapon to kill it along with their bullets.

"Was that what I thought it was?!" Jack exclaimed.

"I think so sir." Carter said stepping back.

"Must be something in the water." Daniel said.

"They grow that big since no humans are around to keep them from growing that big. You don't see alligators get this big in Mississippi or wherever they are at because of population control." Ford said trying to make them think about what they just said. "When they get to big or out of hand, their turned into bags or whatever else they decided to make."

"That's a reptile right?" Mel asked. "I've only seen pictures so far."

She had taken her hood down when they came in and had also participated in the shooting.

"Yeah. But why there is one here, I'm not sure." Lara said. "They're not indigenous to this region. I expected bats."

"So did I." Ford muttered.

"Bats? They'd actually attack us?" Jack said.

"Yes. There isn't much else to eat in here so we end up on their menu."

"Ugh." Jack muttered.

"Not dark enough though. Maybe further in." Lara said. "Let's go. That was the only one."

They entered a room that must have been twenty by twenty feet. A long and deep tunnel led out of the room from what Lara could tell. It was probably seven or more feet deep and a good fifteen feet wide. There was a channel of water running through the tunnel. Some fish were present in the water along with bones that would need computer equipment to identify. Another passage continued forward but had a metal gate over it. There looked to be another room or hallway beyond that. The floor also looked funny.

"You're not going in that water are you?" Ford said looking down the passage. One direction went into a dark turn and the other looked to have a lip to crawl onto. The other side of the lip looked like there was a ladder that led up.

"You've got to be kidding." he muttered.

"What is it?" Jack said looking down the tunnel. Carter had went across a small bridge and looked at the metal gate.

"We might be able to blow this gate sir."

"Bad idea. Trust me." Ford said still kneeling down near the water as he looked. "There's a switch, most likely, on that lip which opens a trap door that leads up the ladder there in the wall. From there…I don't really know. Could be another trap, attack, or a long path to getting this door open."

Lara looked down the tunnel as well and put her guns away. She dropped into the water right in front of Ford splashing water into his face, on purpose. She swam up the tunnel while Jack laughed as Ford stood up. He spit some of the water out and wiped his face with a groan. Daniel and the others, except Teal'c cracked up. They heard a clank and then watched as Lara disappeared from view as she climbed the ladder.

"This might take awhile." Lara yelled.

"Thought so." Ford said.

"How long do you think?" Daniel asked.

"Oh……compared to her other adventures………anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours."

"Couple of hours?! I'm going with her. Who's coming?" Jack exclaimed.

"Not me." Mel said. "I'm not going into the water unless I don't have a choice."

"I'm staying. This coat becomes much heavier with water."

"Me too." Daniel said.

"I'll stay here sir. You go ahead."

"Teal'c?"

"I will follow you O'Neill." he said getting in the water.

"Hopefully see you soon." Jack said following. They disappeared moments later.

"I'm glad you didn't want to go. This coat doesn't help me in water. I just sink." Ford said going over to the metal gate. He tugged on the gate seeing it was more than securely in place. "I could probably yank this off, but I think there would be consequences."

"Such as?" Carter asked.

"I really don't know and don't want to think about it."

"I don't mind waiting." Daniel said.

"Let's hope it doesn't take to long." Carter said.

Ford looked around the room as Daniel and Mel sat down next to a pillar near the wall.

"What are you doing?" Carter asked.

"Looking for a hidden door which I believe is right here." he said running his finger along a line. He felt the outline as he made a complete square. "This door definitely opens outward. I don't have the equipment to open this. One, to tight to the wall and two probably needs a switch to open it."

"I think I know why you don't use or won't use explosives." Carter said.

"Huh?"

"Might bring the roof in on us. This looks old enough that an explosion would cause it to collapse."

"True. But that wasn't the real reason."

Jack and Teal'c followed Lara down a long passage that turned to the left and went straight again. It then turned to the right and came to a large opening. The way they needed to go was still there but they needed to jump to it. Time had gotten to this section and there was a large chunk missing in the hallway. They walked to the edge and looked down. There was some light showing the ground, but not enough to risk climbing down by rope. They also couldn't tell how far from the floor they were. Jack removed a flare and let it drop. He watched as it finally hit the ground after almost twenty seconds.

"That's far."

"Very far. I'd say fifty to sixty feet." Lara said after also looking.

"Move over." she said walking back so far then making a running jump. She caught the edge and climbed up.

"Whoa!" Jack exclaimed. "We have to jump that Teal'c."

"Indeed." he said tossing the staff over to Lara.

Lara caught it without a problem and moved out of the way. Teal'c got a running start and managed to land just inside the opening.

"Nice." Lara exclaimed.

Teal'c nodded and moved next to the wall. He took the staff back and waited for Jack. Jack looked down again then spun his gun so it was behind his back. He took a longer running start and jumped. He caught the edge like Lara, barely, and then let out a groan as he crawled up. His shoulders felt yanked on, but he wasn't going to let it show. "What's next?"

"We may have to do this again." she commented as she walked off.

"Bring it on then. I can handle it." Jack said trying to ignore the ache in his arms.

"We'll see." she said smiling as she walked away.

They had another small jump that was around the right corner that led to a ledge. Lara looked out across the expanse seeing several large pillars with flat tops. She pulled out a pair of night vision goggles and looked around.

"There is another switch but it's on the other side. Think you can make it boys?"

"No problem." Jack said with not as much confidence as before.

Teal'c only nodded and waited for her to proceed. Lara looked the different pillars over before putting the goggles away.

"You want to stay alive, follow me and stay away from the other pillars. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am."

"It's Lara, not ma'am."

"Okay, Lara."

"Good Jack." she said jumping forward.

She jumped to the next one on her right and pulled a flare. Jack and Teal'c jumped forward and followed her along. Half way through one of the pillars Lara landed on shifted some. She looked around with the goggles and noticed she picked a bad pillar. She was about to tell them when a familiar chirping noise caught her attention. She pulled her guns searching for the noise. Her flare rolled off the top and fell to the ground far below. Jack saw Lara pull her guns so he got his from behind his back. Teal'c looked around and fired as he saw something move. He fired a few more times as several more objects came from the darkness. Jack saw it was a lot of bats and began shooting as well. Lara fired and jumped to the pillar behind her as several got to close. She had to jump back to another and fired again as the pillar under her collapsed on itself. Several more jumps later and an empty clip they had quit coming or were dead.

Ford had given up trying to open the door and was just sitting next to the others. They heard gun fire and started to get up.

"Sit down. From the angle of the sounds, I'd say they ran into a lot of bats. Here, I'll show you. Jack?" he said into his com.

"We're fine. Just a bunch of blood thirsty bats as you figured."

"Okay. See."

Carter and Daniel sat back down.

After getting off the line, he looked to see Teal'c had already moved forward several pillars. He followed along and finally reached the other side. Lara was looking around with a flare. Off to their right was a wall with a small switch and the left had a set of eroded steps leading down. Lara pulled her guns when she heard another noise. Teal'c and Jack got their weapons up quickly as they listened. It was coming from below. Lara shook her head and put her guns up as she pushed the switch. A noise was heard off to their left and a door opened. Some doors below opened as well. Lara moved down the wall slowly with her guns pulled. They had to jump a few small distances but made it to the ledge with the open door. Lara looked around the corner seeing a large web. There was another switch behind it along with a ladder.

"There's a very large spider around here somewhere." she said glancing around. The guys looked around as Jack asked how big.

"Big enough to eat a dog. Maybe even bigger than that."

"Whoa!"

Lara took her flare, cleared a path with it and tossed it forward. The spider came down on the ceiling from the laddered area. Lara was about to fill it with lead when Jack grabbed her arm.

"Let Teal'c deal with this. Saves ammo."

She stepped back as Teal'c aimed his staff. The spider moved forward as they backed up allowing it to come out on the ledge. It was very large. Large enough they'd have to step on it to get around it. That was until Teal'c blasted it off the ledge.

"Nice shooting Teal'c."

Teal'c nodded and looked over the ledge to see if it was truly dead. Seeing nothing coming up he followed them in.

Daniel was telling them about things he found in the hidden lab on Mel's world when there was the sound of something hitting the ground on the other side of the gate. They heard moving around earlier but couldn't see anything. They all began to fear the worst, except Ford.

"Wait there, it's probably a large bat or something."

"Colonel?" Sam called through her com anyway.

"Ugh!!! That's disgusting and freaky." Ford said backing away. "Thank god it's dead. I'd hate to deal with that."

"I'm here Carter. What's up?"

"Did someone fall?"

"No. Something else did though. Why?"

"Cause you just dropped a dead and disgustingly enormous spider on our steps!" Ford said through his com line. "I hate spiders! Warn us next time."

"From what I can tell, we're somewhere above you. At least that's what Lara says." Jack said.

"We'll probably see you soon then. I found a hidden door I can't open."

"Sir. We've noticed movement down here. We heard a few doors open and something came out of them. If you open this gate we may have company." Carter said.

"Use your discretion Major. We'll be along as soon as we can."

"Yes sir. You're right. That is disgusting Ford." she said only glancing at it.

"I really hate spiders." he said turning away with a shudder.

"So do I." Daniel muttered turning away from the site.

Lara pushed the switch in the wall which opened another door above her. There was a set of stairs leading down to a wall or possibly door. Jack was talking to his team as she climbed up. Teal'c watched the way down to see if the door would open. Lara yelled down she would be a minute and they heard her boots thud away. Lara came to the edge seeing she would have to climb out on the wall and slide over to a ledge up above. It was high enough that she could jump down to where she was at instead of climbing again. She shimmied over and climbed up. Once she got on the ledge, bats came from above. She quickly pulled the lever on the wall and turned around with a jump. Landing on the ledge below she sprinted as the ledge she was on gave way to her forceful landing. She spun around and grabbed the ledge instead of climbing the ladder. Teal'c moved over as she dropped down. The bats came by the opening but didn't come in. Lara looked at the wall below seeing it hadn't opened.

"What did I miss?" Lara asked no one as she looked around.

Jack slowly moved out to where the spider was blown off and looked around. The bats where down below and apparently attacking something. He looked up the way they had just came noticing a level in the wall that wasn't there before.

"Hey Lara. Was this here before?"

"No. I hate hidden switches." she muttered jumping over the distance and climbing up.

She pulled the lever and jumped over to Jack. As they started back, Ford's voice was heard through the com. Lara realized what he meant and ran past them.

Ford was looking out the gate when the hidden door began to open. The gate also opened. Oh hell!

"Colonel! Better start running. It's a timed door!" Ford yelled into the com line. "Carter, you and Daniel try to keep that door from closing!" he said holding the gate up in its niche.

It didn't feel like it wanted down, yet. He pulled the Vash special and kept it ready as he heard movement out there.

Carter and Daniel leaned into the door as Teal'c started down. Lara suddenly came around the corner and rushed past as did Jack and Teal'c. Then the door pushed against them. They managed to move out of the way in time. Ford was having difficulty though. The gate was trying to come down and for some reason doing a great job. Ford was already on his knees.

"Hurry please!"

They crawled under quickly as Ford kept pushing against it. It would normally be easy to move something like this, but being fragile metal and only an inch thick he had to keep sliding his hands so the gate didn't impale him or bend and then impale him. Once everyone got through, Ford noticed he was stuck. Pulling as he moved in a sliding fashion he brought the gate with him as it lowered. It was bent permanently as he got off the ground. If they had to go back, he could rip it apart, or at least bend it out of the way more.

"You okay Ford?"

"Just fine Jack." he said wiping his hands off.

A loud roar, actually several loud roars made them become alert again.

"That sounds familiar." Lara said pulling her guns.

"What's out there?" Jack asked.

Everyone had their weapons ready and pointed into the darkness.

"Cover your eyes." Ford said aiming his grenade launcher into the darkness. "Flare."

They looked away as a loud thunk reverberated in the large room. Ford dropped the empty shell from the launcher and put it away. They all had a better look at the room with the flare slowly falling from the air. They were not alone.

"How did lions get down here?" Daniel asked.

"A question that most likely will never be answered." Ford said pulling the Vash special again.

They gave a confused look to which he shrugged. Another roar brought them back to reality.

"What do you usually do Lara?" Carter asked pointing her gun.

"Shoot'em. They always attack."

One of the lions turned now noticing them all. It started running toward them as did others.

"Oh boy." Jack said. "Conserve ammo people." he said firing a few rounds.

Within seconds the nine lions were all taken out. Lara seemed to have followed his advice since she only fired twice. Seeing there was nothing else in the room, they started forward slowly. A very large column or pillar as it once was, was blocking their path. They had the choice of walking around it, or going over it. Jack looked it over seeing it would be possible to climb over. Lara found the route rather quickly. As they started over a whooshing sound was heard.

"Something's burning." Jack said sniffing the air.

"You're right sir."

"No way." Ford said coming over a large section. "This is just prime."

Lava was pouring from the floor where a large section of the pillar impacted the floor and broke through. There were several sections that were safe to go across and other's you would never get near. A large flare up of lava blasted into the air a good fifty feet from them. The heat wave was intense even from that distance.

"That's a little hotter than I can take!" Mel said pulling on her collar.

She undid a few buttons and opened her robe. Another blast of heat came at them blowing Jack's and Mel's hat off.

"Whoa! Where did it go?" Jack said looking around.

Mel noticed that her hat was blown several feet back the way they came. The other problem was lava was flowing around the fallen pillar. Her hat was inaccessible. "Oh well. It was old anyway."

"Where's mine?"

"I think it burned Jack and we'll be joining it if we don't move." Daniel said following Lara.

They jumped onto the same spots she did finally getting off and running away from the lava. It seemed to be pooling in around the toppled pillar and going no were else. With the lava pooling it allowed for some light in the darkened room. They got to the other side finding one door with a passage way leading off to the right. There was a switch next to the door. Lara informed them that it was most likely a trap. They left it alone as she said she was checking the small passage way. Lara found two holes in the wall that were a couple of feet apart. She looked in both and tried the switches. She found out quickly that she had to do both switches at once. Seeing as the holes were small she needed one of the women.

"I need your help Major…..I'll get it……Carter."

"Sure." she said following along.

Lara told her what to do and Carter tried, but her arm was a bit to big. So they called Mel. Ford followed her in while the other guys stayed watching the door. Lara told them that when the switches were pulled that the door should open since she couldn't see anywhere else to go. Ford looked around the small room as Lara told Mel to put her hand in the hole and turn when she did. Mel shrugged and put her hand in as Lara did the same. As they turned the switches, two bricks came and clamped onto either side of their wrist. Just enough to keep them from moving. When they tried to pull their hands out, they couldn't. A hidden panel opened to their left as a grinding noise was heard behind them.

That doesn't sound good.

Sounds familiar. It's a trap!!!!

"Hey Carter. There looks to be a door sliding closing where you went. Better hurry out of there." Jack's voice said over the com.

"I'll go and stop it." Ford said moving away.

Carter turned keeping a watch on the hidden door that was opening. The other two ladies couldn't fight back if they had to since their hands were busy. Ford saw it closing quickly and was about to move forward when Hercules yelled in his head to stop.

"Why?!" he said aloud as he stepped forward. His head began buzzing and he backed off quickly. "Colonel! I can't get near the door!"

"What?!" Jack yelled running over.

Carter heard Ford yelled and came rushing around the corner. She saw Ford shrug to Jack in a sorry way as he stopped short of hitting the door. It came down quickly and suddenly. Jack reached up and he yelled through his com.

"Are you alright in there?!"

"We're fine Colonel. We should have the door open in a moment."

They walked back over to the other two seeing the ladies rubbing their wrist.

"The door closed when this one opened I see." Lara said.

"Yeah. Can you try reversing it?" Carter asked.

The two tried again, several times and different ways, but no success.

"We have to continue on without them then. I've encountered this sort of situation before, not a lot like this, but similar." Lara said. "I also advise against blowing the door open. If that pillar made lava come up, then an explosion could end it all for us."

"Unfortunately you're right." Carter said. "Colonel, we can't get the door open. Blasting it won't work either since it might bring more molten rock up. And Ford can't get it up either. He's trying though."

"I knew we should have just pushed the damned button anyway." Jack muttered as Carter finished.

He responded back telling her that Daniel decided to try anyway and found that the button did indeed open the door.

"It's more than likely possible that these two opening will meet up somewhere. For now we have little choice but to continue on." Lara said.

Carter relayed the information back to Jack.

"Great. Just great. Okay Carter. Since we have little choice you're going to be in charge while we are separated." he said. "At least Ford can keep a watch on all of you."

"Ouch." Ford muttered seeing the looks on the ladies faces.

They did look at him in that way only women can.

"Hey, I didn't say it and wasn't going to. In my eyes you could easily beat all of us men."

That seemed to back them off him somewhat.

"Very funny Colonel. We'll meet you later then." Cater reported back.

She didn't let it on, but she was glad that he was here. Ford did notice though by the look in her eyes.

"We should be going." Lara said.

Three beautiful women. Interesting time we shall have. What will you do if you all get stuck somewhere you can't ever get out of?

Get your mind out of the gutter!!!

It was a passing thought you had as well.

No it was not!

Yes.

No!!

Yes.

Shut up.

After Jack signed off, he directed them forward, content that Lara had explained to Daniel some of her adventures as to what to look for and things like that. They walked down a long hallway keeping watch to see for anything that might be hidden or might attack. When they entered and gone several dozen feet, the door closed on them and the hallway lit up with small torches along the top of the wall. Jack grumbled and told them to just move out. The walk ended up being a good half hour. They ended up in a large room with what looked to be large chess pieces. Massive torches near each corner of the board lit the room with light.

"This is nice. Very different." Jack said looking around.

They walked around the massive board to find a smaller version of the chess game. Daniel looked around finding a large door with intricate drawings and writings, in Chinese of course.

"Carter come in?" Jack said as Daniel tried to read the wall.

When he got nothing he had the other two try. They got static as well.

"I think that being underground is causing the radio trouble Jack."

"Let's hope so. Anyway, what's it say Daniel?"

"Well it's an old Chinese style…..late to the B.C. area of history possibly…maybe …not really an area I studied."

"Okay Daniel…..I get it. It's very old. What does it say?"

"Basically, from what Ford has helped me learn of Chinese, it says one must play the game and win in order to open the door."

"That simply. Great. Who's going to play?"

"I can." Daniel said.

"Alright then. Go for it." As Daniel approached it occurred to him that there must be a catch. "Wait Daniel. What's the catch to all of this? What happens if we lose?"

Daniel walked over and moved a pawn forward one space as he spoke. It was the pawn in front of the knight on the Kings side. "Poison gas probably. Not really sure. That part of the inscription is damaged by time and erosion. Enough is there to make out saying failure is death."

"Great."

"We can't go back and we can't wait for anyone to come to us and the only way out is to go forward by beating this game." Daniel said removing his hand from the pawn. As soon as he did a pawn from the other side moved one space forward. The one in front of the rook on the Kings side.

"Whoa!" Jack said watching the larger board. The pieces that had been moved were moving on the large board. "Wait Daniel. I don't think we actually need to beat the game."

"What? What do you mean Jack?"

"Look at the board." Jack said climbing up onto it. "Even though they are white and black squares, some of them are a little different."

He pointed to a few of them that X marks in them, a line to each corner. From the looks of it, they opened downward. The first square with the X was Queen Knight three. The next square was King Bishop four and the last was King Rook five.

"Maybe if we can get some of the pieces here on these, the doors will open. Or maybe it's just certain pieces."

"It could also be that going on those places could bring our death." Daniel said.

"That's a possibility. Go read the wall some more before you continue."

Daniel walked off to read as Jack tried jumping on those sections. Nothing happened but they sounded different from the other tiles. Hollow like.

An hour later, Daniel finally figured it out. "Okay, here it is. The game is basically rigged with traps." he started saying.

He decided to explain it in terms Jack would understand since Jack was giving him that look when he just wanted the important stuff he would understand.

"Three traps anyway. The three X marks are places we have to hit in a certain order. If square three is landed on by either player before square one is hit square two will never open to allow the game piece to land inside to trigger the switch that opens the door. If a piece lands on square one, square three never opens. You have to get a piece on square two first then one on square three followed by square one on our next turn. If my pieces, the white ones, land on the three squares with the marks, then the door opens. If the black pieces do that, we die. We can reset the game however, unfortunately so can our opponent."

"Wait. Let me guess, there's a limited number of times we can reset?"

"Yes. Three times. Our opponent has the same amount. Now if we win however the doors will open. The marked squares are just another way."

"Who came up with this tactic?!" Jack yelled in frustration at the room.

"It didn't say."

"It was a rhetorical question." Jack said sarcastically as he rubbed his face. "This is going to be so much fun. Let's get on it."

"Already been thinking about that. This will take some time you know."

"The sooner we quit yapping and get on this game to sooner we get out." Jack said pulling Daniel back over to the game.

"What are you going to do Jack? Sit and watch?"

"Actually Daniel. I am a really great chess player."

"Say what?" Daniel asked in surprise.

"Never mind how, just help me here."

Lara looked into the opening in the wall to see a slanted floor that turned off to the left. She looked at their feet.

"I hated the sliding parts. Usually had to jump at certain times." Ford muttered. "I'll go first."

"Wait a minute. Why you?" Lara asked grabbing his arm.

Ford knew from that look alone that he opened something he never should have. His mouth for instance.

"I've been tomb raiding as they call it in your universe for a long time. You're not trying to pull that male protect the female thing are you."

"No, that's not what I was trying to say."

"Sure sounded like it." Lara said as she turned to ask the other two. "Did it sound like that to you?"

Mel nodded and Carter seemed to agree since she didn't say anything.

"Oh great. Look, I didn't mean it that way. If you want to go, go." he said waving for her to go.

"What about them? Are you going to protect them that way then? I've seen how close you stay to them. I know about why you stay with Melissa here, but I guessing you stay near Major Carter because of an military obligation. Or is it something more?"

Ford kept his peace instead of exploding. He knew she was this way from seeing her in the movies, comics, and games, but didn't think he'd be on the receiving end of it. He clenched his fist as he talked.

"Okay, I deserved that. I can see how you all would think that way. I admit I want to make sure you're all safe from harm but I also know you can all take care of yourself in a dangerous situation. And I do stay closer to Carter for a different reason."

"They're mated." Mel simply put with a wave of her hand.

"Really now? This changes things. I though the military didn't allow that sort of thing." Lara said.

"We're…courting." Ford said.

He couldn't help using the term that British people use for dating.

"Ford is a civilian aide like Doctor Jackson. And we're not married." Carter said.

"Could have fooled me. You move and have skills I've only seen in military, armed forces, whatever you all call it. At least now I can see why you're being protective. I can live with that. Sorry about making a big deal out of it. I've came across to many men that try that crap."

"No bother." Ford said dismissing it.

"We should get going. Colonel O'Neill will rub it in our face that he beat us to wherever we meet up at." Carter said.

"Now that isn't happening if I can help it." Lara said hopping up and instantly sliding down on her feet.

They followed suit with Ford being last. The sliding floor turned left and continued a good thirty feet then turned right and slid another twenty feet before emptying out into a hallway about five feet off the ground. They all dropped off into a hallway with torches along the walls near the ceiling. Other than dust that looked to have been disturbed lately, nothing looked threatening. Lara managed to land and move out of the way. Carter saw how Lara landed and was able to do the same. Mel dropped off the edge and moved out of the way as well. Ford wasn't as fortunate. He came around the corner and hit his head on the ceiling which changed size on the last run. Lara was short enough to get under as was Carter and Mel, but anyone over six feet would get hit. That ended up being what happened.

"What the…!" WHACK!!

Ford slid out on his back and at the last second used his left hand to grab the ledge as he came out. He let go slowly as he slid down the wall and then tried to stand but couldn't do it as the room spun.

What were you thinking?

Apparently not what I should have.

Great, I had to get an accident prone host.

"Ford?!"

"I'm fine." he groaned. He tried standing up, rubbing his forehead. "That smarts. Help me up."

They managed to get him standing enough where he could hold himself against the wall.

"You okay?" Lara asked.

"Yeah. Going to have a headache for awhile. Whatever idiot built that should be shot." he grumbled rubbing his head. "I don't believe this."

"Can you walk or do you want to wait?" Carter asked.

"No….no. We've waited long enough, besides we haven't went anywhere."

Ford walked along using the wall for bracing as least until the dizziness passed as they followed the hallway. It stretched what looked to be at least fifty yards or more. The hallway opened into a large room that had a few bridges, pillars, and boulders behind traps, obviously. Over on one wall was a ladder leading up that was built into the wall. There was snow and some ice in certain places.

"What is that white stuff?" Mel asked.

She thought about getting closer but figured it might be dangerous. Lara looked at her like she was asking a stupid question.

"What would snow be doing in a place like this?" Carter wondered aloud.

"I'm going to see where this ladder goes." Lara said.

Carter said they should look around the room while Lara looks above.

"It's called snow. Just frozen water but in a different sense. Can't hurt you. Just makes you feel cold." he said picking up a hand full.

"Oh. Well, I have seen frozen water, but not snow before. Heard of it, but…" Mel said.

It was really cold and felt even better when he held it to his head. Mel touched it surprised at the coldness it was. The room didn't feel all that cold.

Carter looked around a rocky column to find the bones of someone. They looked to have died sitting and probably from a lot of pain seeing as the left leg was broken in three places. She looked up to see a hole in one of the bridges way above her. A good twenty foot drop from her guess. He had a pack that had deteriorated with time. In it was ammo that could be used in a .32 caliber gun, a couple of clips worth surprisingly. Food that had since gone bad, some flares, a old medical kit, a old map that had faded beyond even trying to read, a notebook that was tied shut, several old graphite sticks, and a old artifact. Kneeling down she pulled it out. It was a metal square, half a foot by half a foot. There were depictions on it of Samurai fighting along with holes in certain places. A couple of squares holes, three circles holes, and one rectangular hole with a triangle hole in the middle. She was looking it over when Lara came up.

"May I see that Major?"

"Yeah sure. You can call me Carter."

"Thanks Carter. I believe this is a key of some sort."

"It's pure silver with gold etching for the depictions. Why would it be a key though?"

"That I don't know. Maybe this Yu liked to have keys made this way. As for knowing it's a key, experience."

"Makes sense. Oh there's a notebook here too." Carter said picking it up.

She pulled the tie off and opened it to the last part. It wasn't a language that Carter knew.

"Looks like a mix between Chinese, Japanese and other that escapes me. I think I can translate it though."

Carter handed it over and Lara read what she could.

"I just entered a long corridor with torches that look to stay on indefinitely. My partner thinks that they might be fueled by the magma that flows near here. I don't really know. We came out into a large room, which we're in now as I write this. My partner believes we are close to finding the way to a secret that will give power to save or destroy mankind. When I was sent this strange tablet by my mentor I didn't realize the danger we would be facing. We have been attacked by men wearing strange armor that fire energy based weapons. I have seen electricity before, but never like this. By sheer luck we were able to defeat them." Lara read ahead to find something of more interest. She continued.

"My partner has found a wall with depictions on it like the ones on the metal tablet. We spent a few hours trying to find out which place it would go. When we found what we believed was the place, Marcus took the tablet and put it in the slot. We realized too late that it was not the right place. Marcus was hit by a different electrical attack than the ones that were done by the armored men. He vanished before my eyes and the tablet was ejected from the wall. I………"

Lara said he explained about mourned his friends death before he tried to continue. He spent more time looking at the wall to see where the right place would be. Just in case something went wrong again, he drew out the wall into the following pages near the back of the book. He circled the areas that he and his partner tried.

"When I believed that I had found the place, I put the tablet in. When I heard that noise that came before Marcus was hit, I pulled the tablet out hoping it would stop the attack. When I pulled it out though, I was blown back off the ledge. I awoke later to find I had broken my leg in three places and had other internal injuries. I write this in hopes that the next brave soul that finds this place and reads my journal that they may have better luck than we did." Lara couldn't tell who it was that signed it, but whoever it was did circle the place where he believed it to go.

"That sounds like staff weapons like Teal'c has. The other energy attack he mentioned probably was a blast similar to a zat gun." Carter explained.

Ford was looking at a certain place on the wall from what Carter could tell from her position. His back was to her though. Mel was nearby still fascinated with the snow. Lara picked up the stuff from the old pack.

"I'm going to go look at that wall."

"Be careful. And don't put that key in till I can look to okay."

Lara nodded and started her ascent up. Ford was still looking at a frozen section of the wall as Carter walked up. She looked as did Mel trying to see what he saw. The only noise in they all heard was Lara moving above and the trickling over water in a couple of places. Ford reached into his pocket and pulled a pair of gloves out.

"Your hands are cold?"

"No. Something else." he said putting the gloves on. He flexed his hands a few times. "These are armor plated like the coat. Think like plated boxing gloves."

"What are you doing?" Carter asked as he approached the ice wall.

It looked to be a good three feet thick. She got closer seeing something on the wall behind the ice.

"I'm going to break the ice wall by punching it. Call Jack just in case."

"Colonel come in."

Her response was static. Ford tried his as did Mel who had one and the got nothing.

"Let's hope it's just the fact we are underground. Okay, back up Carter. I don't want you getting hit by flying ice shards."

"Me neither." she said moving over behind a rocky area that stuck out.

Mel got behind it as well. Ford had to adjust a few steps over to keep their twenty five feet distance. Up above Lara stopped to watch and see what Ford was doing. She pulled her binoculars to see how much father up she had to go. Still a good two stories up. She looked back down to see what Ford had found. Carter was talking to him. Zooming in she noticed a line that was just outside the ice wall that went into the ice wall. She then realized it was a frozen over door. A well hidden door. She put the binoculars down a moment to see how far up the wall the ice went and then got up quickly and moved under a ledge as Ford punched the wall hard. It cracked loudly and sent a splintering of cracks up the wall and into the ceiling. Hanging ice cycles shook from their moorings and came flying down. The bridge that had a hole in it broke free as a large chunk smashed into it. It was destroyed instantly making Lara now have to find a new way to get up and down. Carter and Mel covered their heads and ice bounced around. Ford protected himself in his own special way. He punched each piece that came down on him. This all lasted less than a minute. Carter brushed herself off as did Mel. There was ice everywhere.

"Ford?! Lara?!"

"I'm here. I'm going to continue on up. There's another way up that was buried in the ice. It's going to be easier now." Lara yelled down as a few more pieces of ice dropped.

"Ford?! Dammit answer me!"

Her com unit buzzed with static. She tried calling him on the com and got static again. They both walked around the rocky section to find a massive pile of ice where Ford was.

"Ford." she whispered.

"He's alive, just…." Mel started saying alleviated her fears.

The ice started moving slowly and a black hand shot out followed by another. Ford moved the ice around as he tried to get out. He had to push and shove what felt like eternity when he finally saw light again. He pushed harder and got himself extracted out. He was cold, not freezing. Carter reached out and helped him up.

"Okay that wasn't such a good idea." he said shaking himself off.

"You okay?"

"Just fine. Cold, but fine. What about you two?" he said trying to shake the feeling of ice water running down his back.

"We're okay."

"Like you said. Cold but okay." Mel said with a shiver.

Wearing white didn't help her and being white furred didn't help either. Never being in a cold environment like this also added to the problem.

"Well let's see what you've found." Carter said shifting through the ice.

She looked to see a hidden door. There seemed to be a lot of hidden doors lately she thought. What really caught her attention was the depictions on the wall along with a indentation. It had one open spot to hold a certain metal plate. The plate Lara had.

"Lara!" Carter yelled. "We should have given her a handheld."

"Here Sam. Don't strain your voice." he said digging in his coat.

"Where did I put that…..oh here it is." he said pulling a largish gun out. It had a star like point on it. "Where is she exactly?"

Carter pointed as Ford moved to a better position. He saw her looking at the wall. Though he didn't know why. Pointing near her he fired. A long cable came out with the shot and imbedded into the ceiling next to Lara. She jumped and pulled her guns instinctively.

That metal cable wasn't there before. Lara thought.

She looked down seeing them gesture for her to join them. She knew she had to slide down a few ropes in the past, but never this far at this angel and especially on a cable. Her hands would be burnt for days if she tried that.

"If you think I'm sliding down this, your crazy!" she yelled down.

She started over to the wall when Ford yelled something. She looked over seeing something sliding up fast. She rushed over and caught it as it bounced off the ceiling. It was a cable clamp, but different from what she normally had ever seen before. As dangerous as it looked she decided to try it. Using the two handed clamp she slid down at a slow speed. It didn't take long though. As she dropped off Ford released the clamp and put it in his coat. He had a little more trouble getting the cable to come undone.

"It comes back?" Lara asked.

"It's not like Batman's who always leaves one behind. It's stuck. Watch your heads." he said yanking it out.

The cable came back into the gun pretty fast but it still hit the ground. Carter didn't remember seeing that when she had the coat on.

"Where was that when I had the coat?"

"In that trunk. I figured this would come in handy. It fits down here." he said placing it in a holster in the bottom of the coat. Left side.

He closed the coat back up and despite all the weapons and ammo he carried, Carter was still surprised that from the outside, the coat looked like a extra long trench coat. Couldn't tell he was packing enough to blow up a small building.

"Okay, I'm down here now. What is it?"

"That metal plate goes here." Carter said pointing at the opening on the wall.

Lara pulled the plate out and looked over the area. She said thanks and put it in. Nothing happened. She tried pulling it out and felt it give some so she pushed. Then the door opened. They looked to find another passage way. They proceeded down it seeing as it was the only choice. As they came to the turn, Lara stopped them quickly. The floor in front of them wasn't there. Lava was, though be it a good fifty or more feet down. They couldn't jump this and Ford's cable gun couldn't help them.

"This is just prime." Ford muttered looking down.

"What?" the ladies said in unison.

"That the second time you've said that." Carter said.

"Never mind."

"Stay here. I should be right back." Lara said. She found the niche between the ceiling and the wall and started sliding across. "I'll…..grunt…..let you….grunt…..know if….grunt…you need……grunt….to come across."

Ford bit his tongue to keep from laughing. It was funny seeing she did grunt just like the game. She dropped off on the other side and looked around the corner.

"Stay there. I'll be a moment."

She walked into a small room finding two tablets on the two pedestals. She could tell something was up though. It looked to easy. She looked around the room first finding nothing but blank walls. She touched them both lightly, left then right and vise versa. Nothing happened. She picked them both up and placed them in her pack. Nothing still happened. She walked back out and started sliding across again. Ford saw her coming back over and went back to watching the lava. Just seemed fascinating and being pretty far down it wasn't giving off much heat. He looked at the walls and noticed the lava was rising.

"What did you find?" Carter asked.

"Two more of those tablets. They must go up top."

"Well, we better hurry then. This lava is rising."

"What?!" Lara exclaimed.

They all looked seeing it was indeed rising. Not fast, but enough they should hurry. They hurried out and followed Lara up the ladder. They ran across the bridge and then climbed a few broken blocks sticking out of the wall. From there they passed over another bridge and climbed another ladder. At the top of that ladder was the broken bridge and a ledge leading to a double metal door that was off to their left. It wasn't possible to see the doors from the floor. The doors were a good twenty feet high by twelve feet wide. They weren't opening under Ford's pushes either.

"I think they open by coming outward." Carter observed.

"Great. Okay Lara. Get ready for a long climb." Ford said.

"What? Are you crazy. I'm not climbing that cable."

"What do you suggest then? I throw you across!"

"That would work."

"You're kidding?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"That sliding across that lava pit tired my arms out. Even with this danger, I can't climb that cable."

"Okay then."

Lara backed up to the edge of the ladder they came up and had Ford kneel down where the bridge gave out. She ran forward and put her foot in Ford's hand. As soon as her foot was in his hands he pushed making her jump go farther. She caught the edge where the other side of the bridge was and climbed up. She ran over to the ladder and started up to the wall she was at earlier. Ford pulled the cable gun again with the clamp and fired it. Lara got up top and pulled the plates keys out. Ford looked down seeing the lava had poured out. With the ice in the room, steam was building quickly. He wasn't the only one who felt the heat. Mel was sweating as was Carter. He was just beginning to feel it. Hercules was somehow managing to keep his body temp in check. Lara was having trouble. There was five places to put these and nothing in the notes helped to show where they went. She tried one spot and dropped to the ground quickly. Nothing happened so she got up. The gold area had lit up. She looked around trying another area and dropping again. Two zat blast came out of the walls on each side and ended up hitting the places where the shots came from. The walls turned black from the weapons burning out behind the walls. Lara noticed this and smiled as she got up.

"So simple, but maybe not." she said taking the plate that had fallen out.

She looked harder and placed it in a different slot. The gold lit up and she turned to see the large door open. Ford slid the clamp back up and she came down quickly. He caught her and set her down as he pulled the cable out. It spun back in quickly as he pushed her forward. They all rushed in through the doors quickly. As they came through the doors closed and a large slab of metal came down over the doors locking them in.

"I think that is to keep the lava out." Ford commented looking at the metal cover.

"I'd have to agree. This room is well kept." Lara said.

The room was very large with enough light to be Hollywood lights. There was little if any shadows. There was a pair of doors on the left side of the room behind the three pillars and another pair behind another set of three pillars on the right side. One more set of large gold doors were in front of them. The entire room had a gold tint to it down to the stairs they were on that lead down to the doors in the middle of the room. As they walked down the stairs they noticed that the pillars were open. There was a Samurai warrior in full battle armor standing inside the base.

"Nobody move." Ford said. "These things will come to life and attack us."

"Yes, they will. But when is the question." Lara said pointing her guns at them.

Carter was pointing hers at the left side while Lara had the right. Mel had the left side. Ford walked over slowly and put his hand on the armor as he put the barrel of his Vash special into the eye socket. When he pushed on the armor nothing happened.

"There in a state of suspended animation. They won't move until we do something specific." Ford stated backing off.

"Any idea what that might be?" Carter asked.

"Not a clue. Probably something to do with the opening of the doors."

"Well let's see what we need to do to get them open." Lara said putting her guns up.

Ford moved his revolver to his left hand. Carter let her rifle drop and Mel put her pistol in the holster. They looked over the doors in the middle seeing a metal bar leading into the top of the door where they met. The bar was attached to a metal pulley system that ran across the top of the door. One pulley system went over to the doors on the right side of the room and the other went to the doors on the left side. Carter said she was going to try the Colonel again. When she got static, Ford and Mel tried getting nothing. They decided to try again later.

"I'm assuming from experience that we have to flip, pull or push something behind those doors. Once that's done on both sides, the bar is raised and we can go through." Lara said.

"How do we open the doors?" Carter asked.

"We have to look around. Something will pop up somewhere."

"Pop up?" Mel asked.

"That's a figure of speech meaning we'll find something." Ford explained.

Ford and Mel took the right side while Lara and Carter took the left. They both looked around the doors and walls finding nothing. Carter turned around seeing three open area's in the backs of the pillars. She yelled to Ford and Mel to see if they saw some on their side of the room.

"No. There is places where an opening might be, but they're closed right now." Ford said as they walked over to see what Carter had found.

Lara was looking at the differences in the three openings. They all had small handles on them and were in different places. The first pillar had the unusual switch pulled out past the wall. The second was pushed in to line up with the wall and the third was pushed in past the wall.

"I don't see any sign of what order they are to be used. They can be pushed, pulled, or left where they are. At least we know they're in the wrong order right now. I usually go by process of elimination."

"Works for me." Carter said.

"I'll keep watch." Ford said pulling his shotgun out. "Mel can you take the first one?"

"Sure, but why?"

"I'm keeping watch on these Samurai. If you all get it wrong they are bound to come out after us."

"How good a shot are you?" Lara asked.

"That's right. You weren't there when I blew up that boulder."

"That was you everyone was talking about?" she asked bewildered. "Where's the rocket launcher? Leave it in car?"

"No." Ford said offended as he pulled his personal cannon. "This did it."

Lara took it and surprised Ford even more when she didn't drop it.

"Impressive weapon. Certainly nothing I've ever seen. Must be a hell of a weapon to hit a target a four miles." Ford nodded as she continued. "I'll have to try is sometime."

"It would probably take your arm off. Dislocated mine on my first time. But that was many years ago." he said taking it back.

He moved in front of the pillar with his shotgun pointed at the Samurai warrior and then signaled he was ready.

"We'll try with them all out and go from there, okay."

Carter and Mel nodded. Lara and Carter pulled and then waited. Nothing had changed. Ford glanced back seeing the other Samurai had not moved either. Lara tried pushing on the doors and when that failed she went back over to the switch.

"Okay lets try all in."

They pushed and a click was heard. They looked around but didn't see anything. Ford could swear the guy in front of him moved but he didn't do anything when Ford tapped him so he waited.

"Let's try opposite of what it was originally."

They moved the switches and waited. Nothing happened.

"Push them all in again and feel if the switch does something." Lara said. They did that and the click was heard again.

"Mine felt like it was…fitting into something." Carter said.

"That click sounded like it was on the other side of the columns behind us." Ford said.

Lara moved across the room and took a look. The panels on the other otherwise of the room on the column opened. Each panel had four sets of numbers. The numbers were placed on top of each other. The first had 4,3,2,1...3,2,4,1...1,3,2,4. The second panel had the numbers 4,1,2,3.…1,2,4,3.…4,2,3,1. The last had the numbers 2,1,4,3...4,2,1,3,…4,3,1,2. Lara was still looking at them when Carter walked over. She looked at the numbers trying to figure it out as well.

"This is tricky." Lara said tapping her chin.

Ford and Mel were looking at them as well but not making much sense of what they meant either. Carter pulled out a notepad and started making calculations. It didn't take her long to see what it was.

"It a math problem! Here. Over on the side those switches only go in or out in three ways, in a sense, right. Look at how these numbers turn out. The switch I was on clicked when pushed all the way in or could be called setting three. Look at the second panel here. The numbers all add up to be odd."

"You're right." Lara said noticing. "4 and 1 and 4 are 9. 1,2,2, is 5. It's a pattern."

"Yes. Broken down they make either the numbers 1,2, or 3."

"I see it." Ford said. "This is a puzzle that would have took a long time for those not math inclined. The answer is 2, 3, 1."

"Right. We just have to move the switches to those settings and the door should open." Carter said.

"Let's get on with it then." Lara said.

They put them in those places and there was another loud click from behind them. The doors did open that time.

"We did it." Carter said.

"Good work Sam. I think had we tried the elimination tactic, not that it wouldn't have worked, these stiffs would have attacked us."

"Thank you Carter. You saved us a lot of work and a fight." Lara said.

They moved off the steps and headed through the doorway.