He groaned as he leaned back. His head was hitting the rough golden material of the wall.
They really needed to come up with their spontaneous Plan F.
"Any ideas?" Jack asked in the group as he didn't reach any conclusion on his own. He hoped for Carter's brilliant mind so he was immediately drawn to her.
"Getting out would be nice start" the answer came from captain-obvious Daniel.
"You don't say" Jack went along with a sarcastic tone in his voice. Daniel nodded. "Let me rephrase my question then: any ideas HOW?"
"How about opening the door first." Jack didn't even want to react anymore to this stupidity. He understood Daniel was pissed, as was he. But the attitude of his archaeologist sometimes drove him crazy.
As it seemed that Teal'c would not jump into the conversation Jack turned yet again to his 2IC in hope for a really constructive idea. He hoped for the best.
"There is no panel to hijack, Sir" Carter informed him as her eyes wandered around the walls. Then she turned to Teal'c. "Is there the possibility to reach for the wire from this side of walls?"
Teal'c shook his head. "You only have access to the controlling of the door via the panel outside the cell."
Of course you have – so much for this idea!
But Carter wouldn't have been Carter if she would stop thinking here. To be honest Jack would have been surprised if she ever even once stopped thinking.
He observed the Major as she again eyed the walls. She suddenly stopped at the installed lighting for the cells. "There may be a possibility" she said as she focused even more on the lights.
Jack and Daniel changed looks with each other and Daniel's eyebrow moved again. They both had learned to let Carter do her thing without questioning it. And even if they did they only would be confronted with so much techno babble they would never understand anyway.
As there was no seating in their cell these was no way Carter could reach the lights on her own as they were at the ceiling. Carter was 5'9 and thus not a small woman, but of course way to small to reach the ceiling. Not that the men could do either.
"Teal'c, I may need your help" she started.
"How can I be of assistance?" the Jaffa replied immediately and stood up. Jack and Daniel eyed the whole situation sceptically.
"I need to climb on your shoulders to reach that." She pointed on a small lid right next to the lights.
Teal'c didn't voice any disagreement and just bent down. With agile movement Carter was on his shoulders and Teal'c straightened himself with ease again. Jack was astonished by the Jaffa's power. Carter was in perfect shape but still not a weight to be underestimated. He was glad she hadn't asked him as he wouldn't have been able to lift her that easily but you mustn't tell her that.
With her new position on the broad shoulders of Teal'c Carter was able to reach the lid. With her pocket knife she opened it with a cracking sound. Good for them the doors were so heavy the sound wasn't heard outside to draw attention.
She asked Daniel to take the lid from her as she needed both hands to work. The archaeologist reached for the metal and stood in waiting next to Teal'c. Jack felt left out and marched over to them.
He now understood what his 2IC was up to. From under the lid a large number of wires in many different colours had appeared. Maybe one of them was powering the door.
Carter reached into the opening and began her tests to figure out if one was powering the door or all wires were for their lights. As she played with a red one their lights started to flicker.
"Eh, Sam, you know that there are no windows in our cell, do you?" came the more than expected commentary from the archaeologist.
She stopped in her works and smiled down to him. "And believe me I'm as eager as you are to not sit here in the dark." After Daniel's "You know, just saying." she just resumed her work.
But of course the light shut down. They were all left in the dark.
"Eh, Carter?" Jack was asking in the dark. He couldn't see her anymore and somehow just talked into the direction he assumed her to be.
"Sorry, Sir", was her only answer and then roaming was heard. While they waited to see again Jack could lively see Daniel in front of him, eyebrow raised with a very pissed face on meaning something like "What have I just said?!" or "Are you even listening to me at all?!". Wouldn't their situation been so dire Jack would have actually smiled.
With a little click Carter managed to stick the wire back into its base. Almost immediately the lights flashed up again. Relieve washed over all of them. The possibility of not only sitting in a cell but also in darkness was something no one would have wanted.
"Sorry guys" Carter apologized yet again.
"Keep working on it" Jack simply said. Carter confirmed the order and Teal'c repositioned her hold on her. Jack and Daniel decided to sit back down again.
After a few minutes Carter hadn't made any progress so far. Jack was surprised.
"Carter, how's it going?"
"Not as good as I hoped" she answered as she whipped the sweat of her forehead. Her position on Teal'c's shoulders was uncomfortable as she had to maintain her balance thus her muscles had to work all the time. And working somewhat over one's head wasn't much of a relief either.
Jack stood up and marched to her side. He patted Teal'c on his back to show him he's doing a great job holding Carter for like ten minutes now without complain. Teal'c just nodded with his head. "What's the problem?" he asked.
"The circuit for the door seems not to be here with the rest of the wires" she explained "It looks like this is nothing but the basic power supply for light and ventilation."
Daniel stood up. "Then maybe you should come down finally before you accidentally cut our life support here."
"To be honest" she started "This may be our best chance after all."
Jack didn't understand. "To cut our life support?"
Now even Teal'c showed a reaction as his eyes moved up to his burden on his shoulder. And even Teal'c could give the eyebrow when it was needed.
"It might sound crazy, Sir, but this could be worth a shot." She looked down to the guys "I could create a system overload with my pocket knife. This spark would get these wires to burn through and with luck create a failure feedback for the main system of the ship. This will cause an alarm in the system protocol, that…"
"Agh!" Jack was waving his hand like a mosquito was annoying him. Carter stopped mid sentence.
"So you hope to destroy the supply in hopes that they will come and check on us?" Daniel tried to summon up Carter's techno babble.
"Is this a wise idea?" Teal'c remarked.
"Yeah, is it?" Jack was somehow getting more uneasy because of Teal'c's reaction to the idea rather than by the idea itself. Not that he liked the idea any better because he highly doubted the pompous lord would ever come and check on them.
"Just think about it, Sir" Carter kept going with her idea "Dareios wants to trade us for some greater goals. And with this in mind we are much more valuable to him alive. He would never have us dead on his account for he may not be able to achieve his goals later on."
That made sense, Jack thought, but still, he wasn't too pleased about the idea of having their life support cut. Jack looked to his boys, but they also didn't know what to say about this plan.
"Any Plan C?" Jack asked after a while. After failed Plan A and too risky Plan B he was now open for anything.
"Or – we could also just wait for them and try to overwhelm them" Carter suggested with a little hesitation. After her dismissed idea she became somewhat cautious to propose yet another idea.
"Yeah, and when did this ever work?!" Jack neglected the idea. But to be honest this may be their best chance after all.
Jack looked up to Carter who somehow looked a little broken up on Teal'c's shoulders. "Get down here for now" he ordered her.
Not as agile as before she slipped down Teal'c's back. He helped her into a good and safe stand. "I'm sorry, are you alright?" she asked the Jaffa. The tall man only bowed a little and smiled. Again Jack patted him on the back.
The awkward silence started between them was deafening.
Carter was biting on her lips because she didn't want to bring up any more ideas to be dismissed. Teal'c looked more stoic than ever and even Daniel seemed lost.
Jack buried his face in his hands. "Agh!" he groaned. This was really pissing him off right now. He didn't know what to do.
On one side Carter's idea wasn't the worst. Her thinking actually made a lot of sense as their captor needed them alive to make a successful trade. But on the other hand was it worth the risk? He felt like gambling with the life of his team.
"You know" he started, "I don't want to have us all dying on this plan."
"Yes, I wouldn't us either" Daniel encouraged this statement "And we will if it fails."
"I never said it would be without risk" Carter responded with little voice. It seemed to Jack she wasn't so happy with her idea at all anymore.
"But the costs may be too high in comparison for the outcome" Teal'c concluded.
Thus the idea was officially rejected by everyone.
"Jack, I really think we should go with waiting and try to overwhelm them as soon they come fetch us" Daniel reminded him about Carter's other idea.
"Yeah" Jack responded with a groan "We actually should."
But even if they were able to overwhelm their guards, what were they to do then?
Haa, when had it started to go this downhill? Jack groaned.