Lost and Found

CATEGORY: Action/adventure

SEASON: 3

SPOILERS: Just about anything up through the end of third season is fair game.

RATING: R (for violence)

DISCLAIMER: They're not mine, I'm just borrowing them for awhile.

NOTES: Thanks to all the folks on AlternateReality, AlternateRealityfic, and Singularity, as well as those who dropped me notes off my web page, for helpful feedback and encouragement.

SUMMARY: A rescue mission becomes anything but routine when Sam, Janet and Makepeace are trapped inside a pyramid filled with mysterious and deadly secrets.

With her face buried so deeply into the pillows, the twin sounds of the alarm clock and Sam's heartfelt groan were muffled to Janet's ears. They were still loud enough to wake her, and even if they hadn't been, the shifting of Sam's warm weight against her as she reached over to silence the offending appliance would have been enough. With a sigh, Sam molded herself more tightly against Janet's back.

"Mm-hmm. I got up, took a shower, got into my uniform, put my face on, and now I'm sitting in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper."

"You let me sleep in, that's nice," Sam said, placing a light kiss against the nape of Janet's neck.

"Nope," Janet said, smiling. "You got up, too. First you did a load of laundry, then you cooked me breakfast, and now you're doing the dishes."

She felt Sam shake with laughter behind her, and joined in after a few seconds. "Ah, domestic bliss," Janet added, sending them both into another fit of giggles. Finally, reluctantly, Janet sat up, rubbing her eyes. They really did have to get up.

"Come on," she said, tugging the covers away from Sam's body. "Do you want to leave first this morning, or shall I?" The words were spoken lightly, but Janet felt a pang of bitterness course through her. She hated having to hide her relationship with Sam, making sure they rarely, if ever, arrived at the base together, always watching themselves in public.

"I'll cook you breakfast," Sam said sleepily, hugging her pillow. "So you can head out first." When Janet turned to give her a look, Sam opened one eye, then sat up. "I can cook eggs," she said. "Jeez, you burn one pan of lasagna around here and you're branded for life," she added good-naturedly, swinging her long legs over the side of the bed and reaching for a pair of sweat pants. "How do you want your eggs?" she asked.

Janet gave her another dubious look, then shrugged. "Over easy?" she asked, hopefully.

Sam hesitated for a moment, biting her lip, then grinned over at her. "You're sure you don't want them scrambled?"

"Scrambled," Sam repeated, running a hand through her hair and heading for the door. "I'll go wake Her Highness up."

When she stepped into the kitchen, Sam was just the finishing the eggs. Janet walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around Sam's waist. "Good morning," she said, squeezing slightly, before letting go and taking a seat at the small table in the breakfast nook.

"Sam, I'm impressed. These aren't burned, or runny, or anything," Janet teased as Sam placed the plate in front of her. She'd actually been expecting the worst.

"Ha, ha," Sam said, making a face at her. "What's on your schedule for the day?" she asked, sitting and taking a sip of coffee.

"Everyone's here for a change, so unless someone slips on a bar of soap in the shower it should be a pretty quiet day catching up on charts for me. What about you?"

"Uh-huh," Janet said, nodding. "I got the whole story. From both sides. According to the Colonel, Daniel zigged when he should have zagged."

Sam nodded. "And Daniel insists that the Colonel told him what move he was going to do, then changed his mind at the last minute."

"I have no idea," Sam said with a shrug. "I was sparring with Teal'c. One minute the colonel was telling Daniel to keep his hands up, the next Daniel was sprawled out on the mat with a bloody nose. He was such a baby about it, too," Sam added.

"I mean, if I had a dollar for every bloody nose I got in combat training I could pay someone to build my reactor for me. I guarantee Daniel will mention it today when we get to the workout room."

"Well, he's male. And a civilian. He can get away with complaining about it."

"Hey, speaking of hand-to-hand, you're probably due for a refresher," Sam added, grinning. "Maybe you should drop by during our session today."

Janet fixed her with a wide grin. "So, when do you guys go out again?" she asked brightly, obviously changing the subject.

Sam just laughed, then waved a finger at her. "You're going to lose your gate clearance if you're not careful," she warned.

"It's not like the medical teams ever go through unless the area's secured," Janet said.

"Yeah, but we both know an area can go from secured to dangerous without warning. The medical teams have been lucky so far. The requirement's there for a reason, Janet." She reached out and touched Janet's hand. "And I'd feel better knowing you were up on at least the basics."

With a sigh, Janet nodded, touched by Sam's concern. "You're right, of course. I'll talk to Major Sands about it today," she promised, recognizing the wisdom in Sam's words.

"Good. As to your other question, we're sending a MALP through to P3R-1257 later today. If it sends back anything interesting, we'll check it out right away."

They both looked up as Cassie stumbled into the room rubbing her eyes. Janet glanced at her watch. "Oh, you are going to be so late. The bus'll be here in half an hour and we can't drive you in if you miss it."

Sam looked a little guilty. "I ate the last of it last night," she said apologetically. "That's why I offered to make breakfast," she added, smiling at Janet.

"Well, there isn't any cereal," Janet said. "We'll go grocery shopping tonight after work. How about some toast?"

"I don't want anything," Cassie said dramatically, then got up and left. Janet rolled her eyes at the girl's retreating back.

"She'll change her mind once she's dressed," Janet said, getting up and smoothing out her skirt. "Just throw the dishes in the dishwasher. I'll take care of them when I get home."

Sam caught her arm as she moved past her toward the garage, then stood and wrapped her arms loosely around Janet's waist, pulling her close and kissing her.

"You know," Janet said, resting her arms on Sam's shoulders, "We're going to see each other at the base in an hour."

"I know. But I can't do this," she said, nuzzling the soft skin just below Janet's right ear, "on the base."

Janet closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax against Sam for a moment. Sam reached up to cup her face gently with both hands, bringing their faces together to kiss her once softly, then again with such tenderness that Janet gave serious thought to going in late this morning.

"Or that," Sam observed pressing her forehead against Janet's once they parted. Janet was delighted to see that Sam was more than a little breathless. "And I think if you don't leave right now we're both going to be really late for work," she added, her voice a little ragged.

"Right," Janet sighed reluctantly, slipping away from Sam. As tempting as the thought was, she knew it wouldn't be a good idea. It was definitely time to leave.

Sam hustled a still-grumbling Cassie out to the school bus then made her way to the base. The guard at the front gate informed her that the base was on red alert and that her presence was requested in the control room. The elevator down into the bowels of Cheyenne Mountain took forever, or so it seemed, and Sam rushed impatiently through each security check point. Red alert could mean anything, from MALP telemetry that indicated Goa'uld activity on a planet, to an unexpected incoming wormhole, to an overdue or injured SG team. Upon reaching the SGC Sam picked up her pace through the corridor until she was practically running.

Dashing into the Control Room she quickly acknowledged General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill, who stood looking grimly down into the Gate room. "What's happening?" she asked, glancing out the observation window and noting that the iris was still open and the gate was inactive. The red alert wasn't because of an incoming wormhole then.

"A tunnel in the pyramid SG8 was investigating on PT7-393 collapsed about half an hour ago. Major Hilling is dead." At that, General Hammond's eyes dropped to the floor for a moment before he continued. "Doctor Lewis and Captain Smith are trapped. Lieutenant James made it out and was able to get a message through to us. I'm sending a medical team through, along with SG3 as backup."

"Daniel and Teal'c are getting geared up." O'Neill added. "You should do the same. We'll stand by as backup." Sam nodded, but when she turned to go, her gaze fell on the Stargate just as Janet and several members of the medical staff, dressed in fatigues and flack jackets entered the room carrying several large pieces of equipment. She froze as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks. A medical team meant Janet, Janet and a collapsing building that killed and injured and trapped people. Their conversation of just a few hours ago about the danger to medical teams echoed through Sam's mind, seemingly mocking her just as Janet turned and indicated that her team was ready to go. She did not react to Sam's presence in the Control Room, though Sam knew she could see her easily.

Swallowing, Sam blinked, and tried to reign in her emotions. Deliberately turning away from Janet and the activating Stargate, she faced Colonel O'Neill. "I'll be ready in ten minutes," she said.

Sam shook her head quickly. "I'm fine, Sir. I'm just...I play...used to play...racquetball with Major Hilling..." She allowed her voice to trail off. It wasn't a lie, not exactly. Fred was a good officer, and her friend, and the thought that he was dead made her feel sick inside. But she couldn't tell O'Neill the real truth, not without getting herself and Janet drummed out of the military. For the sake of appearances she could be concerned without being overly concerned. Janet hadn't even gone through the gate yet and she had a job to do just like Sam did. The most she could do was pray for Janet's safety and be ready to go in case anything happened.

Reluctantly, O'Neill nodded again, effectively dismissing her. As she walked through the hallways, absently passing technicians and security personnel, Sam's mind was in a turmoil. This is supposed to be the other way around, she told herself, recognizing the irony of the situation. Janet had never said a word about it, but for the first time Sam wondered if this was how Janet felt every time she went through the Stargate with SG1. Sam had faced down Goa'uld as well as superior technology and all manner of danger since joining the SGC. She had felt afraid in those situations, but it was nothing compared to the sense of panic the though of Janet going off into unknown danger was causing at the moment. It was nearly debilitating.

"Get a grip," she muttered to herself, telling herself that the feelings of helplessness at the prospect of doing nothing but waiting was feeding into the panic. Sam once again marveled at how much of this Janet had to deal with on a fairly regular basis, and resolved to sit down and have a long talk with her about it once this was all over. Just a short time ago they'd been laughing about the domestic turn, complete with a moody pre-teen, their relationship had taken. Sometimes Sam forgot just how dangerous their jobs were, took for granted the small, everyday things. And now she was being reminded, in what could potentially be the worst way possible.

"SAM!" Daniel's sharp exclamation cut into her thoughts as she collided with him in the hallway. She noted that he wasn't dressed yet, and that he was holding several photographs in his hands. "Sorry, sorry," he said, stepping back quickly. "Did Jack fill you in?"

"Yeah," she said. "The medical team was just going through when I left the Control Room," she added after a few seconds, hoping Daniel didn't notice the way she had to force the words out, despite her best efforts to sound casual.

But Daniel was too pre-occupied with the photographs in his hands. He looked up at her, his eyes wide. "We have to..." He pushed past her. "I've got to..."

"Got to what? Daniel?" Sam asked, grabbing him by the arm. He waved the photographs in her face as if that explained everything, then tried to shrug out of her grip. "Daniel?" she asked again, tightening her fingers around his forearm.

Daniel sighed in exasperation, then shoved the photographs into her hands. "The pyramid SG8 was investigating looked like a pretty standard variation on the Egyptian pyramid. We've seen them on dozens of planets. When I looked at these photographs a couple days ago I gave them the usual warnings about secret passages and booby traps and so on. Lewis was with them, and she's a pretty good archeologist, so I didn't think there'd be any problems."

Daniel held up his arms and waved his hands in the air in frustration for a moment. "I don't know. It could be that it's just collapsing because it's old. Or there was seismic activity. But maybe not. They could have tripped something. There are legends of traps that could cause entire pyramids to collapse into rubble to prevent grave robbing and desecration. I've never actually seen it but--"

"You think they might have triggered a trap?" Sam interrupted, wincing inwardly at the note of hysteria she heard creep into her voice. "General Hammond is getting ready to send a rescue team into that pyramid," she added hastily. "They may have already left," she added, shoving past Daniel and rushing down the corridor. God, she had to stop Janet.

"That's what I was trying to tell you," Daniel said from behind her. "This is all my fault. I should have..."

"It's not your fault, Daniel," Sam said over her shoulder. "You couldn't have known."

"Yeah," she heard him say quietly. "But Jack asked me if I wanted SG1 to investigate this and I said no. I didn't tell him why, but I thought it looked pretty boring, and I wanted to spend some more time with the artifacts from PR6-857. Maybe if I'd..."

"Then one of us would be dead and two of us trapped," Sam said angrily, pushing the image of Janet coming to her rescue if things had happened differently abruptly away. "Daniel, it doesn't matter why, and there's no point in blaming anyone. It just happened, and we have to stop it from getting any worse."

She and Daniel found General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill still in the Control Room. Sam wasn't surprised; she knew General Hammond would stay there until the situation was resolved one way or the other. The Stargate stood still and silent, though the number of technicians still moving around in the Gate Room indicated that it had probably just disengaged.

"General, you have to call the teams back," Daniel said. "Or at least let us go out there to help."

"I can't be sure, but I think SG8 may have triggered a booby trap of some sort. You can't send any more people in there."

"It may be too late for them," Daniel said quietly. "The whole pyramid may be coming down."

Hammond was silent for a moment, his lips pressed into a thin, tight line. "I won't accept that, Doctor Jackson. You said you can't be sure about this, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir," Daniel said, quietly. "But surely you don't want to send anyone else to their deaths if I'm right."

"Sir," Sam interjected. "Let SG1 go. Daniel can help determine whether or not it's safe for people to go into the pyramid, and he can help us to disable any additional traps if there are any."

Hammond took several long moments to mull it over, while Sam made a conscious effort not to shift nervously from one foot to the other. Finally, he looked over at O'Neill. "Colonel?" he asked quietly.

Sam watched as O'Neill looked first at Daniel, who looked back at him intently, then at her where he lingered for a moment. She tried to keep her expression neutral. Finally, he turned back to General Hammond. "Request permission to join SG3, Sir."

"Yes, Sir," O'Neill said. Turning to Sam and Daniel he waved his arm at the doorway. "You heard the man. Fifteen minutes. I won't add that the two of you should be dressed already."

Sam didn't need a second invitation, instead opting to sprint down the corridor. Behind her, fading into the distance, she heard Hammond say "Open it up, Lieutenant. Get Colonel Makepeace on the line."

The thing Janet liked the most about Stargate travel was stepping through on the other side. Never a big fan of roller coasters, she'd decided early on that this was the mother of all rides. Usually, her trips through the Stargate left her little time to marvel at the thought of standing on another planet light years away from her own, and this one was no exception. Lieutenant James, sporting an ugly gash on his temple, stumbled toward her as soon as she stepped through. Janet had just enough time to set down the case of medical supplies she was carrying before James practically fell into her arms. Propping her up with her shoulder, she waved to two medics to give her a hand, and together the three of them eased the lieutenant down onto the ground. As Janet pressed two fingers against the injured man's wrist, she was vaguely aware of Makepeace and the other members of SG3 quickly securing the area.

"We've got to get back in there," Lieutenant James said urgently, trying to pull his arm away. "The whole damn thing is going to come down."

"All right, Lieutenant," Janet said, soothingly. "First, lets get you taken care of." She turned to one of the medics standing beside her. "Get that head wound cleaned up, and check his vitals. Colonel Makepeace is going to want to talk to him in a few minutes."

Turning, Janet quickly scanned the area. The Stargate was located about 100 meters from the entrance to an enormous pyramid. A smooth stone walkway lead into the pyramid, and in the distance Janet could see a thin haze of dust lingering at the mouth of a large square entranceway at the base of the structure. For as far as the eye could see there was nothing but the rough, low hills, scrub brush and cactus-like plants of a desert. The pyramid was the only sign of civilization for miles.

It was hot, very hot, and Janet made a mental note to herself to remind everyone to drink plenty of water. She didn't have time to waste treating people for dehydration on top of everything else.

"Get the first aid station set up over there," she ordered pointing to a flat, clear area about halfway between the Stargate and the pyramid. Confident that her people knew what they were doing, she jogged quickly over to Makepeace, intent on getting his assessment of the situation.

Makepeace acknowledged her presence with a curt nod, but before Janet had a chance to speak to him the Stargate suddenly came to life behind them. Makepeace put a hand on his radio and waited. Sure enough, after a few seconds, General Hammond's voice came on the line.

"Medical is getting set up. My men have secured the Stargate and the surrounding area. Doctor Fraiser and I were just about to take a closer look at the entrance to the pyramid."

"Negative on that, Colonel. You are to wait for SG1 before sending anyone into that pyramid. That's an order."

"Yes, Sir. Makepeace out." The Stargate remained active, meaning, Janet assumed, that SG1 would be coming through soon. And as irrational as it was, she couldn't prevent a brief flash of anger from passing through her. She'd seen the look on Sam's face earlier, the worry in Sam's eyes broadcasting out to her even from a distance. She'd deliberately chosen not to acknowledge it, and had, in fact, been relieved when Sam had turned away. Their relationship was difficult enough without one of them being over-protective of the other. As hard as it had been in the past, Janet had always made a conscious effort never to interfere with Sam's duties as a member of SG1, no matter how dangerous those duties might be. She expected the same respect and professionalism from Sam in return. Instinctively Janet knew that the sudden change in plans was Sam's doing, and Janet decided she'd better have a damn good reason for it or there'd be hell to pay later.

"Lets go talk to your patient, Doctor," Makepeace said, drawing Janet abruptly out of her own thoughts. The two made their way back toward the Stargate.

One of the medics was just finishing bandaging the wound on James' forehead. Janet noted that it was fairly superficial and didn't look like it would even require stitches. However, she was still concerned about the possibility of concussion, and listened intently as the medic filled her in on James' vitals.

"Thank you," Janet said, pulling a stethoscope out of her pocket in order to do a more thorough examination. "Any dizziness, nausea?" she asked, holding up one finger for the lieutenant to track with his eyes.

"I'm fine," he said impatiently. "Why aren't you in there digging them out?"

"Want to tell us what happened, Lieutenant?" Makepeace asked, ignoring the man's question.

Sighing, James shook his head. "I have no idea, Colonel. One minute we were on our way toward the main chamber. At least that's what Lewis thought. The next thing I know the whole place is shaking. There was a...a huge stone, and...it fell...on Major Hilling..." The lieutenants voice was becoming strained, his movements increasingly agitated. Janet shot Makepeace a warning look.

"So you just walked straight down that passageway there," Makepeace said, turning and indicating the opening at the base of the pyramid.

"Lewis and Smith are still alive as far as you know?" Janet asked. "Do you have any idea what condition they were in?"

James took a deep breath. "I don't think it was good, Doc," he said, licking his lips. "Smith got knocked down by a bunch of rubble. And I think part of the wall fell on Lewis. I heard them coughing, so I know they were still alive."

James nodded. "I must've passed out as soon as I put out the call for help," he said helplessly. "But yeah. I was watching the rear."

"Okay, Lieutenant," Janet said. "You just sit here and rest for a few minutes. I'm going to send you back to the SGC."

"No, No!" James said, jumping to his feet. "I have to stay. I have to stay!"

"Sit down, Lieutenant," Makepeace barked at him, and James instinctively sat back down. "You'll do what the doctor tells you to do."

"Yes, Sir," James said, reluctantly. As Janet pulled Makepeace aside, she saw James pass a shaking hand across his eyes out of the corner of her eye. The sooner they got him back to the infirmary the better, she thought.

"He got out," Janet said as soon as they'd moved away from James. "That means the passageway might still be clear. We have to get in there," Janet said, glancing past Makepeace's shoulder at the entranceway to the pyramid. "Lewis and Smith could have severe internal injuries. They may not have much time."

"They may be dead," Makepeace said grimly. "For what it's worth, I agree with you, Doctor, but you heard what General Hammond said. Nobody goes in there until SG1 gets here." He paused, his eyes sliding over to the Stargate and Janet sensed that he was choosing his words carefully. "But, you are the CMO," he said slowly, his eyes moving slowly back to hers. "Is it your medical opinion that we need to get to those men right away?"

They were skirting dangerous territory, and Janet knew it. They had standing orders from the base commander. A medical over-ride of said orders was not something to be taken lightly, and was, really, an over-ride that would be on incredibly thin ice. But Janet also knew that every second they stood around waiting for SG1 to arrive put those trapped people one second closer to death. General Hammond was back at the base; she and Makepeace were here, dealing directly with the situation. They couldn't afford to wait.

"Lets go get them," she said quietly, marveling at how easy the decision was once she had a co-conspirator. But when Makepeace hesitated momentarily, Janet licked her lips and added "I take full responsibility."

To her surprise, Makepeace grinned at her. "Ah, to hell with that, Doc. Hammond can hang both our butts out to dry for this one. I'm not in the mood to sit with my thumb up my ass waiting for O'Neill and his little band of misfits." Whatever small part of Janet bristled at the unprofessional way Makepeace spoke of SG1 was swallowed up by her immense relief at the prospect of doing something, even if it was nothing more than determining how badly the passageway keeping them from the injured men was blocked. Makepeace was right; it beat sitting around on their hands.

Makepeace whistled sharply to two of his men, as Janet called out instructions to the medical team. Then the four of them ran quickly up to the entrance. Janet glanced back, once, at the Stargate and wondered how mad O'Neill would be when he arrived to find them gone. Then, putting that thought, along with the thought of how worried Sam was going to be about this, Janet turned and followed Makepeace into the dark, dusty tunnel.

"Come on!" Sam barked at Daniel from the doorway of SG1's dressing room. "We were supposed to report to the Gate Room five minutes ago. The Colonel and Teal'c are waiting." Sam had spent the last five minutes urging Daniel to get ready faster and had even tried to help him with the buckles on one of the equipment belts. He'd slapped her hands away angrily, glaring at her.

"All right, all right," Daniel said impatiently, shrugging his pack onto his shoulders and slapping his hat down onto his head. "Lets go." He folded the handful of photographs from the MALP in half and tucked them into the cargo pocket of his pants as he followed Sam down the hallway.

Sam barely noticed Daniel struggling to keep up, despite his longer legs, as she strode quickly to join O'Neill and Teal'c for weapon check. An airman handed her a sidearm, which she quickly tucked into a holster at her side. This was followed by her usual rifle which was slung over her shoulder and immediately became a part of her body. Sam did these things automatically, with an ease borne from having done these exact same motions hundreds of times before.

In a way, the familiarity, the routine of getting ready for a mission was calming her down, and she wondered if perhaps she'd over-reacted. Just because Janet was out at the scene of an injury didn't necessarily mean that she was in any immediate danger. Makepeace would keep her safe, she thought. And Janet wasn't impulsive or reckless, Sam reminded herself. She'd be fine. They'd go through the Stargate and find everyone waiting for them on the other side and everything would be fine.

"OK, kids," O'Neill said genially, and Sam put an immediate stop to her mental babbling, "Lets go give Indiana Jones a run for his money."

"SG1," Hammond said over the loudspeaker. "You have a go. Report back every hour."

Sam stepped through the Stargate without waiting for O'Neill to give her a go-ahead signal. Whatever his reaction to that slight breach of protocol, it was lost in the sudden cold and sickening sense of motion that accompanied travel through the wormhole. Normally, Sam tried to focus on the nearly instantaneous journey through the wormhole, memorizing and cataloging each passing sensation, no matter how fleeting, for later study.

But not today. This time what was waiting on the other side was far more important than giving her scientific mind minute facts to mull over late at night when she couldn't sleep. She'd feel better once she saw with her own eyes that Janet was safe and sound.

Just as she stepped through the event horizon to the other side, Sam had a revelation. None of this would be worth doing without Janet, she realized. She wondered just when it had happened, tried to pin down the exact moment when the journey, all of this, had become worthwhile only because she had someone important in her life to share it with.

But there was precious little time to reflect on this new awareness, this unfamiliar surge of emotion, as she stepped away from the event horizon and into the hot, dry air of PT7-393. There would be time for reflection later; now it was time to get to work.

Out of habit, she scanned the area. Two of Janet's medics stood near a makeshift first aid station tending to a pale, dusty and distressed-looking Lieutenant James. Two members of SG3 were watching the perimeter, rifles slung casually over their shoulders. Except for a slight breeze, everything was quiet.

As Daniel, Teal'c and O'Neill emerged through the Stargate Sam felt her heart start to hammer in her chest. The pyramid was off in the distance, and neither Janet nor Makepeace were anywhere to be seen.

As if confirming her thoughts, O'Neill stepped up beside her and said, "Looks like Makepeace started the party without us." His tone was light but forced, and Sam detected more than a little irritation behind his words.

"Doctor Fraiser must be with him," Sam said quietly, impressed with herself that her voice was neutral, giving nothing of her inner turmoil away. When this was all over, Robert Makepeace, colonel or not, was a dead man, Sam decided. Providing Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond didn't finish him off first.

Reaching up, O'Neill switched his radio on. "Makepeace!" he yelled into it. "This is O'Neill. Makepeace, report in!"

The four of them stood there for a moment, listening intently. There was a surge of static, then Sam was certain she heard Makepeace's voice but couldn't make out anything intelligible.

More static, and unintelligible gibberish. Finally, O'Neill switched the radio off in frustration. "We'd better get after them. Daniel, time to do your stuff. Carter, any idea why the radio isn't working?"

"Uh, there could be a substance inside the pyramid causing interference. A power source, or a particular type of mineral. I'll have to look around inside to be sure."

On the way to the entrance, O'Neill paused to talk to the medics who were tending to James. Sam had to grind her teeth to keep herself from sighing in frustration when one of them confirmed that Makepeace, Janet and two members of SG3 had gone into the pyramid to see how bad the damage was, and if possible get the wounded people out. Impatiently, she decided she couldn't wait for James to finish his story, and started to make her way along the path that lead to the only visible entrance to the massive structure.

"Carter!" O'Neill called out sharply after she'd moved only a few steps in the direction of the entrance. Drawing up, she closed her eyes for a moment, then turned and faced her commanding officer.

"You got a hot date in there or something?" he asked, though there was little humor in his voice. His words made her blood run cold.

O'Neill shrugged. "Wait here with the medics. Daniel, Teal'c and I will check out the passage."

"But, Sir..." Sam started to protest. There was no way she was waiting out here.

"That's an order, Major," O'Neill snapped, moving past her. "Doc wanted James sent back to the SGC. Make sure he gets a warm send off, then hold down the fort. And make sure to report in to General Hammond at the top of every hour. We'll be as quick as we can."

Sam bit her tongue to prevent herself from any further protest, and nodded. Mutely, feeling completely helpless, she watched as the rest of her team made its way to the base of the pyramid. At the entrance, they paused to discuss something that Sam couldn't hear, Daniel consulting the photographs he'd carried with him, before they finally disappeared from view.

With a sigh, she turned back toward the temporary first aid station and motioned toward James. "Is he ready to travel?" she asked the medic standing closest to her.

The medic had just helped James over to the DHD and was preparing to dial when Sam felt a tremor run through the ground. It wasn't enough to throw her off balance, but the vibration traveled up her legs and body, setting her teeth on edge. Instinctively, she turned back toward the pyramid, her legs pushing herself toward it without any conscious thought. Dimly, she saw that the two members of SG3 were also running toward the entrance.

Sam was still twenty meters away when an enormous cloud of dust shot out of the entrance, engulfing and billowing around her. Her mouth and nose constricted from the fine coating of dirt, causing her to gag convulsively. Stubbornly, she forced herself to push forward, ignoring the pain in her eyes and throat.

A solid, hulking shape materialized abruptly in front of her, and it was all Sam could do to veer out of its way. It took her a moment to realize it was Teal'c, with Smith slung over his shoulders. Sputtering and choking, Daniel and O'Neill, both supporting people, staggered in his wake. It took only a cursory glance for her to ascertain that neither of the soldiers being aided out of the pyramid was Janet. Before she could move past him, however, Teal'c placed one heavy hand on her shoulder and forcibly guided her off the path to the edge of the cloud.

"Don't know," O'Neill said, releasing his charge and leaning over, coughing violently. "Lewis is dead. Fraiser and Makepeace are still in there."

"We have to go after them!" Sam said, panic suddenly giving strength to her limbs. But before she could move O'Neill grabbed her wrist.

"It's no good," he gasped, shaking his head. "It's blocked. Big slab of rock. Nobody's getting in or out through there.

She was lying on the lumpiest, most uncomfortable mattress ever made, Janet decided. It felt like a boulder was digging into her back just below her left scapula, and her body was twisted at the waist at an awkward angle. For several long moments, she struggled to remember why on earth anyone would put rocks in her bed.

That was the problem, she realized, her eyes snapping open; she wasn't on earth. Her light, still clipped to the front of her vest, though the clear plastic lens had cracked revealed a ragged expanse of ceiling directly above her.

For a moment she was still, carefully assessing her physical condition. Aside from the discomfort of the rock beneath her, there didn't seem to be any significant damage. She wasn't in any pain, her arms and legs were relatively free of debris, and both feet twitched immediately when she tried to move them experimentally.

Satisfied that she was uninjured, Janet sat up slowly, flexing her limbs. When she was sure everything was in working order she slowly got to her feet and scanned the immediate area, hoping that everyone else had gotten out safely. Green and Ramirez, supporting Smith, had been ahead of them, Makepeace bringing up the rear, when the tunnel had begun to collapse around them.

Turning to her right, which she thought was the way out, though she realized it was easy to get turned around in the dark, Janet saw that the way was completely blocked. Shifting around, her light panned across the expanse of dusty tunnel, but she saw no sign of anyone.

"Makepeace?" she called, surprised at the way her voice rasped in her throat. She pulled her canteen off her belt and took a small sip, rinsing the dust out of her mouth. "Makepeace?" she called again, pleased that her voice sounded stronger.

"Over here..." she heard him call out from just outside the range of her light, the words groaned more than spoken. Cautiously, Janet crept forward, certain that even more of the tunnel would start to cave in on her any second, until she spotted a patch of dusty tan fatigues lying amidst a clutter of cinder-block sized rocks.

"God, you're a mess," Janet observed as she fell to her knees beside him. Makepeace was lying on his back, his face streaked with blood and dirt. There was no rubble on top of him, but his right leg was bent at an awkward angle beneath him; Janet didn't need to be a physician to know it was broken. Blood poured from a wound at his hairline too, streaming across his forehead and dripping down his temple.

"Did Green and Ramirez get out with Smith?" he asked, though the last few words came out as a choked cough.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Colonel," Janet said grimly as she shrugged her pack off her shoulders. Opening it, she reached inside and pulled out a medical kit. "That leg can't feel too good," she observed, scrabbling through the kit until she found the morphine.

"This'll take a few minutes to work, but it should help." She was going to need to set that leg, she realized. She could use one of the aluminum support rods from her pack as a splint. It was still going to hurt like hell and they only had so much morphine. Who knew how long it was going to take before the rescue teams managed to reach them.

"Well, for what it's worth, I think we both did." She used a piece of gauze to wipe the blood away from his head wound, noting that it looked fairly superficial. "Here, keep pressure on this," she added, grabbing his hand and pressing it to the pad of gauze at his forehead.

"Look, Doc," Makepeace said, pulling the pad away. Janet immediately pushed his hand back into place. "Go on. Maybe there's another way out of this place. If you find it, you can send someone back for me."

"Colonel, I'm not leaving you," Janet said firmly. As if to emphasize her words, she shifted to sit beside him, resting her chin on her knees. "They're going to get us out of here. While we're waiting, I'm going to set your broken leg as soon as the morphine kicks in."

"Don't you 'Doc" me!" Janet waved a finger in his face. "We'll get out of this, all right. You just have to stay with me until help gets here. Can you do that?"

He was quiet for a moment, and Janet was certain he'd seen through her bravado. She spoke with far more confidence than she felt, but she also knew she had to keep his spirits up if they were going to have any chance of making it. After a long moment, he nodded slowly. "OK, Doc," he said. "I'll give them twenty-four hours to get us out of here. This time tomorrow, if we're still stuck down here I want you to try and find your own way out. Something tells me this pyramid isn't done with us yet. There's no sense in both of us dying down here. That's an order."

Reaching down, Janet snapped his flashlight off, realizing that they both needed to start thinking about the long term. That meant conserving as many of their supplies as possible. "We'll make that decision tomorrow," she said quietly.

She heard him sigh in exasperation. "Boy, defy one order and it all goes to your head, doesn't it?" he said, though Janet caught the good humor in his voice.

He grinned weakly up at her. "Good enough to know I don't want you touching my leg with a ten foot pole," he said.

"Ooh, is that another order I can disobey?" she asked. She emptied her pack and used her field knife to cut away the nylon holding the rods in place. Freeing two of them, she set them on the ground beside her and leaned forward, getting onto her knees beside him again. Grasping his ankle, she paused, placing a hand lightly on his chest. "This is going to hurt."

Makepeace made a good show of it, but by the time the bones slid back together he had thrown his head back and was screaming at the top of his lungs. Janet wasn't doing so great herself--his yelling in the close space unnerved her, and she found she was soaked with sweat by the time she finished.

"All right," she panted, leaning against the wall opposite from where Makepeace was sprawled. "You did good. Try not to move it." She crawled over and quickly splinted his leg, using the aluminum rods and strips of nylon she'd cut from her pack.

"Don't suppose I can get another shot of morphine," he asked as she worked, his voice strained.

Janet shook her head. "We don't have that much. I think it's a good idea to try and make it last as long as possible."

Swallowing deeply, Makepeace reluctantly nodded. "Guess I'll have to find some other way to take my mind off the pain, then," he said. "What's our supply situation?"

Janet liked that. Checking supplies gave them both something to do, even if it was for only a short while. She listed the items she'd pulled from her own pack, then went through his, dismayed at the limited amount of items they were carrying. They had food, water and limited medical supplies for a few days. And that was about it. The SGC better engineer a rescue soon, Janet thought. Every time she looked into Makepeace's eyes she knew that he realized it too, though neither one gave voice to their worries.

"You ought to turn your light off," Makepeace said. "We should only turn it on when we need it," he added, almost apologetically. Janet didn't like the idea of sitting around down here in the dark. But she knew he was right. Slowly, she reached up and thumbed the switch.

The darkness was oppressive, a sudden physical presence pressing down on her. Janet didn't think she'd ever been in such complete and utter darkness before, not even late at night deep in the heart of Cheyenne Mountain. There was always a light on somewhere there, no matter what time of day it was. Here, there was nothing--Janet couldn't make out even the faintest outlines of shapes around her, and knew that no amount of time down here would help her to adapt to that.

"You should try to get some rest," Janet said quietly. Leaning forward, she shrugged out of her vest, then took her jacket off, draping it across his chest. That was actually about the last thing she wanted. What she wanted, if she couldn't have light, was for Makepeace to keep talking to her, to use his voice as some sort of buoy in the darkness. She felt ridiculous for feeling this way; she hadn't been afraid of the dark since she'd been a child. But now, even though Makepeace was less than two feet away from her, she felt absolutely alone. The thought terrified her.

"That's a pretty superficial wound," Janet said after a moment. "I don't think there's any danger. I'll wake you up every few hours, just in case. How's that?"

Makepeace was silent for a long time, and Janet was certain he'd dozed off. Then his voice floated out of the darkness. "If it's all the same to you, Doc, I think I'll stay awake for a while longer." Whether he sensed her fear, or was unnerved himself, Janet didn't know. Any protest she might have had died on her lips, however. She'd be glad for the company.

"Suit yourself, Colonel," Janet said softly. "But if you get tired, just go ahead and close your eyes."

"You mean other than follow orders?" she asked innocently, earning a soft snort of laughter from her companion.

If there'd been light, she knew he'd be able to see the dubious and suspicious expression on her face. "You first," she said slowly.

To her surprise, Makepeace chuckled loudly. "Fair enough. I'd ask Carter out."

Janet felt her jaw drop in shock. This was a surprise. Makepeace was a pretty hard-nosed marine, and it had never occurred to Janet that he'd be interested in anyone at the SGC, least of all Sam.

It must be the morphine talking, she decided, finding her voice again after several seconds. "Really," she said flatly. It sounded lame, even to her ears, but she didn't know what else to say.

"I figure what the hell, what have I got to lose. The worst she can do is turn me down."

They were quiet for several minutes, Janet taking the time to digest this new side of Colonel Robert Makepeace. Usually she prided herself on being unflappable; very little surprised her anymore. Then again, usually she was in her infirmary where everything was safe and familiar and, most importantly, well-lit instead of trapped inside a pyramid on a planet located thousands of light years from earth.

"You're turn," Makepeace said softly, cutting into her thoughts. "What would you do differently today?"

Janet didn't answer right away, taking a few moments to really think about the seemingly innocent question. There were so many things she'd do differently, she realized. Things she might not ever get to do again if their present situation got even the tiniest bit worse. She'd give in to temptation and take Sam back to bed, she thought, thinking about their brief farewell of just hours ago. She'd take her time making love to Sam, savoring every kiss, every caress, not wasting a single second worrying about being late for work.

The images that thought provoked brought the sudden sting of tears to Janet's eyes. There were so many things she had to say to Sam, feelings she hadn't taken the time to even begin to sort out until this moment. They'd fallen into a comfortable pattern, one that was too easy to take for granted. The thought that Sam might not be there someday, might not make it back from some mission, had certainly crossed Janet's mind from time to time, but she'd quickly clamped down on those feelings, pushing them aside to deal with later. Never once did she imagine that she might be the one to not make it back. Either way, it was something almost too unbearable to contemplate.

Janet was overwhelmed with a sense of loss, and for a moment struggled to find an adequate, neutral answer. She reached up and angrily brushed the tears out of her eyes. "I'd--" she began, the paused to swallow. "I'd say goodbye to Cassie. I didn't say goodbye to her this morning before I left for work." That's because she'd simply assumed she'd see Cassie later today. Her answer seemed to epitomize all the regrets suddenly surging through her. When she got out of this, Janet decided she and Sam had a lot of things to talk about. "I don't think this is a good topic for discussion," she added, her voice tight. She didn't add that if they kept it up it was only a matter of time before she'd burst into uncontrollable tears. That was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment.

If Makepeace was going to say anything, it was cut off by a sound, faint at first, but gradually growing louder. Janet shifted, instinctively turning her head in its direction. Listening intently she finally identified it as a grinding noise, and realized it was the sound of stone sliding slowly across stone.

Sam hovered nervously at the edge of the medical tent, watching as O'Neill, Daniel, and the two members of Makepeace's team were checked over by one medic. Another attended to Smith, who was laid out on a small cot located in one corner of the makeshift facility.

Normally, O'Neill protested loudly about submitting to any medical procedure, but at the moment he sat silent, deep in thought. She found herself almost wishing he would start complaining; another part of her knew that if he did it would only make Janet's absence even more noticeable. She wasn't sure she could deal with that at the moment.

As if sensing her anxiety, O'Neill suddenly lifted his head, gesturing her over. "Carter, take Wendell and check the perimeter of the pyramid. Check everything. The original survey said there weren't any openings other than that one," he added, pointing over Sam's shoulder to the now-blocked entranceway. "Lets just double check that."

"Shouldn't Daniel come with us?" Sam asked. Daniel, who stood nearby, paused from drinking from his canteen.

Daniel shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I want to take a close look at the UAV photographs."

"No, and I don't think Makepeace or Fraiser did when they went in either. Whatever caused the initial collapse has probably made everything unstable."

Sam definitely didn't need to hear that, she thought, as she heard O'Neill mutter "Great, just great." An image of Janet, bleeding and broken beneath a pile of rubble, rose unbidden to her mind; with a shudder, she forced it away. She fiddled with her radio for a moment, attempting to hide a sudden tremor in her hands. "We'll check in every fifteen minutes, Sir," she said, then motioned to Wendell.

Focus, Sam ordered herself sternly as she and Wendell made their way toward the pyramid. Panicking wasn't going to help anyone, least of all Janet. Doing her job would. Over the comm she heard Ramirez, presumably under orders from O'Neill, attempt to contact Makepeace. As before, there was nothing but static.

She and Wendell began carefully examining the wall of the pyramid near them, as well as the ground beneath their feet. It really was enormous, Sam thought, taking a moment to tilt her head back to look up at the peak far above her. It was also built from enormous blocks of stone, and Sam couldn't even begin to imagine how they had been placed. To distract herself, Sam contemplated the physics of building something like this without the benefits of technology.

The base of the pyramid, as well as the walls as far as she and Wendell could see from the ground were blank and featureless. In addition to looking for seams, cracks, structural weaknesses or hidden passages, Sam kept a careful eye out for any type of writing. But there was nothing, just dusty beige stone that matched the sand around it. The only thing that broke up the landscape were the small, dark brown clumps of scrub brush.

Several hours later, they were, by her reckoning, about two thirds of the way along the far side of the pyramid when her comm suddenly came to life. She had caught intermittent chatter, as well as continued attempts to raise Makepeace. Now, Daniel's voice crackled from the radio, and Sam detected a note of excitement in his voice.

"Did you find something?" she asked, not daring to hope that perhaps he'd found a way in.

"I'm not sure, but the UAV photographs show a small opening about halfway up the opposite side of the pyramid," he said.

"Halfway up?" she asked, her eyes rising involuntarily to look. "Daniel, that doesn't help us very much."

"Jack sent back to the SGC for mountain climbing gear. The opening might not be big enough to enter the pyramid through, but I thought we could send a camera down, try to get a look at the place. With any luck, Makepeace and Janet made it to the central chamber. As soon as Teal'c gets back we're heading out your way."

It was a slim chance, and Sam felt her heart sink when she realized that this was all Daniel had managed to come up with after several hours of studying the photographs. Not, she reflected bitterly, that she had done much better. She and Wendell had turned up absolutely nothing, and her sense of fear and anxiety were growing with each passing moment.

Janet could be dead, a small voice whispered. And now, with nothing to do except sit around and wait for the rest of her team, Sam was having a hard time keeping those thoughts at bay. "Do we know how long it is until nightfall?" she asked Wendell in an attempt to distract herself. Her voice sounded strained to her ears.

Wendell shrugged out of his pack, and pulled his canteen off his belt. "The MALP indicated the days were pretty long. We've got about nine hours of daylight left, I think."

Sam breathed a sigh of relief. At least they wouldn't have darkness to contend with. And then, before she could stop herself, she wondered how dark it was inside the pyramid. "They've got flashlights," she said abruptly, more to herself than to Wendell.

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "If they're smart, though, they'll use 'em only when they need 'em. It's gotta be pitch black in there." He paused, and took another sip. "I sure hope they're alive." He said it quietly, softly, almost as if he were uttering a prayer.

Sam found that that simple statement nearly undid her. Standing abruptly, she moved several feet away from the pyramid, and stood with her back toward Wendell, desperately willing herself not to cry. It took several long moments, but she finally drew a deep, shaky breath. "I hope so too, Sergeant. I'm going to check the base along the rest of this side. Wait here."

She went further than just the remainder of the side they'd been searching, taking the time to check the wall around the corner from them. It gave her something to do, and kept her away from an emotional breakdown she couldn't afford to have in front of Wendell. It was foolish, she knew, to wander off by herself, but she remained in radio contact with Wendell, and was close to his position when O'Neill radioed that they were nearly there.

"Look," Daniel said as soon as they arrived. He held one photograph out and pointed. Looking closer, Sam saw a dark square against the rock.

Shrugging, Daniel folded the photo again. "Impossible to say without knowing more about the people who built it. The Great Pyramid at Giza has openings similar to this that line up with the stars that make up the constellation Orion."

"Oh, yeah," O'Neill said, coming to stand beside him. "I think I saw something about that on the Discovery Channel once."

"Anyway," Daniel said after giving O'Neill a long look, "It won't be easy, but we should be able to scale the side and check it out."

"Right now, it's our only bet," O'Neill said. "Ready to do a little rock climbing, Carter?" he asked her.

"Teal'c thinks you're the logical choice to go with him, since you're the lightest. You'll carry the surveillance equipment up once he's gotten a line run."

Sam didn't need a second invitation. She quickly pushed her pack off her shoulders, then shrugged out of her flack jacket. "Lets go," she said.

"I will go first, Major Carter," Teal'c said as O'Neill helped her into a harness. He was holding a heavy hammer in one hand.

"Lets go," she repeated urgently. If he had an opinion about any of this he didn't offer it; his expression remained as impassive as ever. Approaching the wall, he reached up and used the hammer to drive a heavy spike deep into the stone. Sam watched as he created footholds using the spikes up the side of the pyramid. Once he reached the opening, there would be not only a ladder of sorts leading up to the hole, there would be a line. This was the hard part-when Teal'c was finished, getting to the opening would be relatively simple, though it would probably not accommodate very many people at any given time.

As Teal'c slammed the hammer against another spike Sam had a sudden, horrible thought. She nudged Daniel. "Should he be doing that? It might set off another collapse."

"I thought of that," Daniel said. "But I don't think it's a problem. The stones are pretty thick, and will absorb the vibration. Besides," he added with a shrug, "we don't have very many options. After you left Jack went back into the tunnel to check out the blockage. If they're still alive, we'll never reach them through there."

Sam lifted her eyes up to where Teal'c clung, high above their heads, to the wall of the pyramid. If this didn't work, if the small camera they were going to run into the pyramid didn't show Janet alive, Sam wasn't sure what she was going to do. They didn't have many options left.

Finally, Teal'c radioed down that he had reached the opening and Sam started up. Well, she thought ruefully, it had looked easy when Teal'c was doing it, but she found that pulling her own weight up, even while bracing against the makeshift footholds driven into the side of the pyramid, was more difficult than she had thought it would be. At the edge of her vision, as she concentrated on keeping her balance, she saw Teal'c surreptitiously brace himself more firmly against his foothold and begin to assist her ascent.

With a final tug, she stood next to Teal'c at the opening. Taking a moment to look around she saw that there was nothing but rough desert for miles. Daniel, O'Neill and the rest of the team were small specks below her and Sam was suddenly reminded of how dangerous a tumble down the face of the pyramid from here would be. As if to reinforce her thoughts, Teal'c clipped her tether to a metal ring nearby then tugged on it firmly to make certain it would hold.

It was a little windier up here, but not too much more, and Sam found it wasn't too difficult to reorient her center of gravity to feel fairly safe and well-balanced. Glancing down she examined the opening before them. It wasn't very big, maybe a foot and a half tall by two feet wide, and ran down at a steep angle into the pyramid. Only the first few feet were illuminated by the sun.

She had a sudden thought. "Sir?" she said, quickly thumbing her radio to life. "I think I can fit down this shaft."

"I'll keep it in mind," O'Neill said dryly. "Get that camera down there, and see if you can raise them on the radio."

The camera they were sending down was a small, lightweight, digital camera that could send a wireless signal across fairly substantial distances. With any luck, it would boost any radio signals from inside the pyramid as well. Teal'c tied one end of the rope through a metal hook on top and Sam sighed in exasperation. "I told the guys when they designed this thing to put it on a motorized rod so we could control it, but somebody, somewhere got a little cheap. We're not going to be able to pan it around very easily."

Reaching over, she snapped on the lamp, and Teal'c began lowering it carefully down the shaft. Next to him, Sam watched the camera's progress on a small, handheld monitor. The image was crisp and clear and revealed a blank, featureless shaft. At least it indicated that the shaft was the same size all the way down, she thought, thinking that was a good thing; not only could she probably get down it, but they could get Janet out this way as well.

The image jumped abruptly, and became distorted by static as the camera dropped free from the shaft. Sam watched as the picture wobbled a bit, before gradually stabilizing, though the static didn't go away.

"Whatever's blocking the radio signal is interfering with the camera," she observed, holding out the monitor for Teal'c to see. "Not as badly though." She squinted closely at the monitor image. It was difficult to make out, but Sam thought the camera was dangling inside an enormous chamber. The light on the camera was powerful, but the far walls were only barely visible, and she couldn't tell how far beneath the camera the floor was.

"Colonel Makepeace," she heard Teal'c intone into his radio. She waited with baited breath, hoping that they'd get some signal. At first there was nothing but static. Then they heard a voice, unintelligible and male.

"Lower the camera a little further," Sam said quickly, hoping that that might clear up the signal. Teal'c complied quickly, and they tried to raise Makepeace again. This time, they were rewarded.

In frustration, she grabbed the radio from Teal'c hands. "Say again, Makepeace. Your signal is breaking up."

It was like Makepeace hadn't even heard her, she thought. He was shouting into the radio, with only the occasional word coming to those outside. "...RUN! Get-..." Sam heard that word and nearly dropped the radio. Run? Why was he telling her to run?

And then it dawned on her. Makepeace wasn't telling her to run; he was most likely telling Janet to run.

The pistol Makepeace had shoved into her hand skittered across the floor as Janet fell hard across a pile of rubble. The first two times that had happened she'd been lucky, with only a few bruises to show for it.

This time, not only did she lose the gun, she heard the fabric of her fatigue pants tear, and felt something sharp slice into her knee. For a moment she lay there panting, watching the light attached to the front of her chest play eerily across the dark tunnel with each gasping breath she took.

Behind her, she could hear...sounds. Frantically, she willed herself not to try and decipher them any further and instead shifted, her eyes scanning the debris for her handgun. It was wedged beneath a block about two meters from where she now sprawled. She'd have to get up to get it. Normally she hated weapons, even though she'd been trained to use them. Now, she wanted nothing better than to find a secure corner somewhere and cower in it, clutching the hand gun.

First things first, she ordered herself, shifting into a sitting position. With one hand she focused the light on her wounded leg; with the other she pulled the flap of her fatigues to the side. A jagged shard of stone protruded from the soft flesh on the inside of her knee, blood already streaming from it.

She'd left the medical kit behind when Makepeace had ordered her to run. But she still had her field knife attached to her belt, which she used to cut several strips of fabric from the bottom of her tshirt. They were filthy, but they would have to do until she had time to get a proper dressing on the wound. With any luck, the shard hadn't penetrated deep enough to slice any major blood vessels or tendons.

Makeshift bandage ready, Janet grimaced, then reached down and quickly plucked the shard of rock from her leg, slapping a wad of fabric over it and applying pressure. It stung, but it didn't seem to hurt too badly, though Janet knew the adrenaline pumping through her system was taking care of that at the moment. Tossing the sharp object aside, she checked the wound, which continued to bleed sluggishly, then finished bandaging it.

Before getting up she paused again to listen, hearing stealthy, frightening sounds. For one panicked moment she imagined that they were nearby, moving in her direction and she hastily fumbled for the switch of her light.

Bad idea, she realized, as she was plunged once again into total darkness. But she remained there for a moment, sitting rigidly, holding her breath, listening for even the slightest sound of something coming for her out of the darkness.

As she sat straining to listen she imagined that whatever it was, and she'd only gotten a brief, terrifying glimpse of it before she'd bolted, knew she was waiting for it and had ceased all movement itself. It lived in total darkness, she reasoned. Therefore, it had to rely on other senses. Janet pictured it, hunkered down, supernatural hearing picking up her thundering heartbeat with little difficulty, its heightened sense of smell detecting the tang of fear and blood and sweat as it radiated off her.

That thought was too much. With shaking fingers she snapped her light back on, half-expecting to see some horrifying creature leap out at her as soon as she did so.

But there was nothing, nothing but dust and stone walls, and she breathed a deep sigh of relief before climbing painfully to her feet. A stream of fire shot down her injured leg which she ignored as she bent to retrieve the pistol.

She forced herself to move more slowly, not only because of her leg but because she realized running around in a panic would likely get her killed. She needed to calm down. More importantly, she needed to think.

What would Sam do? she asked herself. Maybe it would help if she could figure out what a more experienced field officer would do in her place. Granted, she reflected, Makepeace's first instinct had been to order her to run, an order she'd actually obeyed without hesitation. She couldn't decide if splitting up was a wise tactical move or not. On the one hand, since whatever it was had been heading directly toward their position, getting her out of harm's way had probably been a smart move. However, now she was out here on her own and while she had some combat training, she didn't delude herself into thinking she'd been at all adequately trained for this.

Her conversation with Sam about this very topic just a few hours ago flickered across her memory, almost mocking her. Yep, when she got out of this, she'd definitely sit down and have a long talk with the general about training the medical teams. That is, she thought grimly, if she still worked for General Hammond after blatantly disregarding orders. She didn't even bother to ponder whether or not she'd get out of this pyramid; she couldn't afford to think that way. Besides, she thought, allowing herself a small smile, Sam was somewhere outside. If anyone could devise a way to get them out safely, it was Sam. It was up to her to stay alive long enough for Sam to get her out.

Picking her way carefully through the passageway, which Janet noted was becoming more and more clear as she moved along it, she went over her options. She didn't really want to think about whatever it was here inside the pyramid with them, but if she was somehow going to survive this, Janet realized she'd have to. She remembered Sam's voice crackling brokenly over the radio just seconds before...something...had moved into the space near them. They hadn't turned on their lights, Makepeace concerned that the light would give away their position.

Upon reflection, Janet realized that in the total darkness she'd felt something approach their position. Felt it in the displacement of the air molecules around her, in the rise of gooseflesh on her arms despite the hot dry air. Whatever sixth sense humans had evolved to detect someone or something sneaking up on them had kicked in, full force, and Janet felt the familiar discomfort, like a weight, tingle on her back and shoulders.

Then it, whatever it was, had screamed, a protracted, bone-rattling shriek that had overwhelmed the space they were in. The sound, accompanied by a blast of fetid air, had reverberated along the tunnel and she'd clapped her hands over her ears in an attempt to block the sound. But Makepeace had had other ideas. He'd grabbed her hand, slapped his handgun into it and had ordered her to run, giving her a hard shove on the backside with his good leg for added measure.

Janet paused in her trek through the tunnels, the memory causing her fingers to tighten their grip on the handgun. Her palms were sweaty.

She didn't know how she'd managed to avoid the creature. She didn't even recall switching her light back on. Makepeace's push had nearly sent her sprawling onto the floor, but she'd somehow managed to keep her balance. At one point she remembered instinctively ducking and rolling as something swished past her head. Then she'd sprinted, full-tilt, ignoring bumps and bruises from various falls, until she'd hurt her leg.

Janet wondered if the sound the creature had made was an attempt at communication, or some form of echo-location. That brought to mind the picture of an enormous bat, mouth hanging open to reveal sharp, vicious teeth. With a shudder, she forced the image from her mind.

Makepeace must've done something to distract it, she realized, drawn attention to himself so she could slip past it to relative safety. She hadn't heard any gunfire, but that didn't mean anything; she'd been pretty single-minded in her flight, concentrating solely on putting as much distance between herself and it as possible.

Which meant, she realized with a pang now that she had time to think, that she'd left a seriously wounded man to deal with some unknown, and possibly lethal monster. She wasn't combat trained by any stretch, but Janet suddenly felt like a coward.

She stopped, straining to see what was up ahead of her, then looked over her shoulder, back the way she'd just come. Though she'd run pretty blindly, she thought the tunnel had run straight away from where she and Makepeace had gotten caught by the collapse. If not, if there were twists and turns that she'd been oblivious too, she was fairly certain she'd be able to backtrack using her own footprints in the dust.

Turning again, she scrutinized the tunnel ahead. Her light didn't penetrate far, but it looked like it began to slope gently up about five meters ahead of her.

So, the question, Janet realized, was whether or not she kept going forward toward what could possibly be a way out, or turned back and went to see whether or not Makepeace was still alive.

The answer should have been simple. Makepeace was wounded; as a doctor her place was at his side, where she could do the most good, even if that meant endangering herself. She didn't know her way around the pyramid. For all she knew, she could stumble into a trap, or become hopelessly lost, doomed to spend whatever little time she had before dehydration, starvation and infection set in wandering around aimlessly.

Squeezing her eyes tightly shut for a moment, Janet shook her head in an attempt to clear it. God help her, but she really didn't think she had the courage to go back and find out what had happened to Makepeace. Not when that meant the possibility of running head on into whatever it was in here with them.

For a moment, the breath seemed to stick in her throat, as she felt overwhelmed by a wave of despair. Her light cut a bright, dust-filled swath through the darkness around her, but did little to reassure her, reminding her instead of what horrors might be lurking just at the edges of the beam. With a small choking sound, she stumbled backwards, slamming abruptly against the wall. Her fingers shook as she quickly slipped the safety of the gun off, then she held it in front of her with two white-knuckled hands.

Janet repeated this to herself three times, like a mantra, before she was actually able to move. Then, swallowing hard, she forced herself to push away from the wall and turned back. The darkness of the tunnel behind her seemed to skulk after her, and she had to will herself not to whirl around. Her steps sounded preternaturally loud as small pebbles crunched beneath her feet. Her left boot squeaked when she walked, too, she realized. So much for being stealthy.

Her trail was ridiculously easy to follow, her boots having left clear marks behind in the dust. That turned out to be a good thing, Janet realized, when she saw a pitch black gap in the wall to her left. So, there was at least one passageway off of this one, she realized. As she neared it, she turned quickly before she lost her nerve, panning her light into the tunnel. It looked the same as the one she was currently in and was, thankfully, empty. At least as far as she could tell.

Nonetheless, its appearance unnerved her. She hadn't even registered it in her flight, and there was no telling how many she'd passed. If there were more, each one was a potential death trap. For a moment her steps faltered, and she seriously considered turning back to try and find a way out.

She was still trying to make up her mind when the ground began to vibrate beneath her feet, sending the small pebbles littering the floor dancing. Instinctively, she crouched to the floor, throwing her arms over her head to shield herself from falling debris.

But there was nothing. After a few moments, the shaking stopped, and Janet cautiously lowered her arms, then rose to her feet. The movement had displaced a few very small stones, but it appeared as though the pyramid had found some structural stability and had stopped collapsing. At least her part of it, she thought with relief, realizing that that might not be true with respect to Makepeace's location.

She'd only moved a few steps forward when a familiar sound make her pull up short, body tensed. It was the same sound of stone slowly grinding against stone that she and Makepeace had heard shortly after she'd set his leg. That had been hours ago, though, but she wondered if the movement had released the monster somewhere deep inside, and it had just taken its sweet time finding them.

Oh God, she thought in panic, what if the pyramid was letting another one out of whatever cage it kept them in? The vibrations must be caused by some release mechanism, she thought, cold sweat suddenly trickling down her back. Breaking into a slow jog, Janet expected to hear that nightmarish shriek again any second.

The increased motion caused her wound to bleed freely, she realized as she felt a warm trail ooze down her calf. But there was no time to stop and check the bandage; she was spurred on by an almost biological imperative to keep moving, as though, if she stood still, bony fingers would clutch at her from the shadows.

Darting past two more openings in the tunnel wall, she doggedly followed the trail of her own footsteps in the dust. She couldn't believe she'd actually come this far, and told herself the trip had probably seemed much shorter because she'd been filled with terror. Not that she wasn't feeling much the same at the moment, she thought ruefully; this was just a slightly more controlled form of terror.

Janet had never considered herself the shrinking violet type, confident in her training and her own sense of duty. But right now she would have been overjoyed to stumble across a very much alive and armed Makepeace. Or better yet, she thought, Sam, coming to her rescue, materializing out of the darkness before her with a way out already in the works. As wired as she was at the moment, Janet thought hysterically, she'd have to be careful not to shoot Sam on sight should she really suddenly appear. Or Makepeace, for that matter.

Without warning, her swinging flashlight beam briefly illuminated a flash of beige directly in her path, just before the light dipped to the floor again. Reflexively, Janet's finger jerked against the trigger, and the shot roared through the tunnel before she was even aware of what she'd done. The recoil nearly knocked her off her feet, and it was several moments before she was steady enough to focus the beam of her light with one trembling hand down the tunnel in front of her.

When she did so, her jaw dropped in amazement, and she stepped forward slowly.

Right where her trail told her there shouldn't be one, there was a solid wall of stone.

"God damn..." The wind sent snatches of O'Neill's voice up to Sam as he pulled himself hand over hand up the side of the pyramid. "Son of a..." She spared him a quick glance as Teal'c moved to assist his ascent. "Crap..." she heard him yell loudly as Teal'c hauled him abruptly up to stand just beneath her position. He wobbled momentarily, then found his balance and glared up at her. "Remind me to kick Makepeace's ass when this is all over," he snarled. Then, as an afterthought, he added, "And Doc Fraiser's too."

Despite her worry, Sam ducked her head and smiled, knowing she wouldn't want to be in either Janet's or Makepeace's boots when SG1 succeeded in getting them out of the pyramid.

"Let me see the video," O'Neill demanded. Wordlessly, Sam handed him the monitor, pressing the play button with her thumb. He watched it twice, then handed the monitor back to her. "He's alive, at least."

"I believe Doctor Fraiser is alive as well," Teal'c observed. "That is who Colonel Makepeace was ordering to run."

O'Neill squinted up at her. "How do you figure that, Major? The tunnel could just be collapsing again."

As soon as she said it, Sam felt her face flush. Of course O'Neill was correct that there was more than one explanation for what they'd heard. She was mortified that she hadn't considered that possibility as well. After she and O'Neill had nearly died in the Antarctic she'd thought long and hard about what she could have done to get them out of danger faster, and had realized that if she'd simply tried another address she and O'Neill would have been rescued that much sooner. But fear and worry had locked her into a particular solution and she hadn't been able to break out of it. Had it not been for Daniel, they would have certainly died. Now her concern for Janet was clouding her judgement again, something she couldn't afford at the moment.

If O'Neill noticed her embarrassment, he kept it to himself. "You really gotta stop being such a pessimist, Carter," he teased good-naturedly before leaning down to examine the shaft carefully.

"Sir, we can get Doctor Fraiser out through here," she said urgently. "The radio's no good. Someone's going to have to go in and find them."

Shaking his head, O'Neill looked back up at her. "I don't know, Carter. It looks pretty narrow. Not that you don't do a fabulous job of maintaining your girlish figure, but I don't want you getting stuck."

"I won't get stuck," she said quickly. "Look, sir, the camera's useless," she said, waving the monitor under his nose, "and the radio is dead. Unless you've got a better idea, this is the only way we're going to get to them!" Her voice rose to a shout as she spoke.

"And what if it starts coming down again?" O'Neill yelled back at her. "Then what, Carter? You've been hot to get inside this thing since...since before we left the SGC."

"Shouting will not help Colonel Makepeace or Doctor Fraiser," Teal'c intoned quietly behind her.

"I know that!" O'Neill said loudly, then raised his hands in frustration. "I know that," he repeated quietly. "But people going off half-cocked, without a plan, is what got us into this mess in the first place."

O'Neill was right and she knew it. However, it didn't change things. There was still only one way into the pyramid at the moment.

"So, lets make a plan," O'Neill continued, calmly. "Carter, assuming, just for a second, that you can fit down this shaft, then what?"

Drawing a deep breath, Sam nodded. "Then, I stay attached to the line and scan the immediate area," she said. "The radio should work at the bottom of the shaft, and you can still pull me back up if there's trouble. If everything's clear, I'll start searching for them."

"The second," Sam assured him, meaning every word. She'd knock Janet out and put her in the harness by force if she had to, she thought.

"That doesn't help Makepeace, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. If you can find him at least we'll know he's got air, and we can get supplies to him. He'll be fine until we can dig him out." There was a strange expression on O'Neill's face as he talked about Makepeace, and Sam realized he was looking pointedly at her. She had no idea why until O'Neill added, softly, "We'll get him out, Sam."

It was the uncharacteristic use of her first name that startled her at first, O'Neill's actual meaning taking another moment or two to sink in. When it did, she gaped at him for a moment, her eyes wide. "Makepeace?" she blurted out, without thinking. "You think..." she stopped and frowned helplessly at him. "What exactly do you think?" This was neither the time nor the place to be having this conversation, but she was so taken aback that she couldn't help it. She'd never really thought O'Neill was particularly intuitive about people, but he'd obviously noted her strange behavior since this mission had begun. And, truth be told, he wasn't that far off base with his assumptions. He just had the wrong person in mind.

Before O'Neill could answer her, Sam blinked, then looked away quickly. "Never mind," she said quickly. This was definitely not the place to have this discussion. "I don't want to know," she added, shaking her head. O'Neill was probably basing some of this on disgusting locker room talk that she knew she didn't want to know about.

Teal'c had remained silent throughout the exchange, shifting only so he could attach a rope securely to her harness. "Pull twice on the rope, Major Carter, if you wish me to stop feeding the line," he said, helping her to sit down so that her legs dangled down the shaft. "Pull once when you wish me to resume."

"Take your handgun. We'll send the rifle and your pack down as soon as you get to the bottom," O'Neill said, then fussed over her harness for a moment before straightened. "Be careful, Carter," he added simply. "Keep your radio on and don't take any unnecessary chances. Get in, extract the doc, and get out, is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir," Sam said, then nodded to Teal'c, who shifted until he found a comfortable, but firm stance, and held the rope ready in his hands.

With one hand, Sam reached up and turned her radio on, then clipped a light to her sleeve, snapping that on also. After a quick communications check, she placed her hands on either side of the opening, leaning forward to rest most of her weight on them. Bracing her feet against the sides of the shaft, she slid forward and lowered herself, with Teal'c help, into the shaft.

It was a tight fit, she realized as soon as her pelvis passed through the opening. A very tight fit. If Teal'c slipped and dropped her she'd have some serious scrapes and brush burns on some interesting portions of her anatomy. As it was, her hips dragged uncomfortably against the rough sides of the shaft, her fatigues riding up. There was no room for her arms to rest at her sides, so she wrapped her hands loosely around the rope above her head, ready to signal Teal'c if she needed to stop her descent for any reason.

The flashlight on her sleeve offered some illumination once the tiny amount of daylight that managed to make its way into the shaft had faded, but it mostly cast weird, disconcerting shadows around her, reminding her of just how tiny the space she occupied was. If she didn't end up mildly claustrophobic from this it would be a miracle, she thought ruefully.

Sam wondered if Janet suffered from claustrophobia, and realized that she had absolutely no idea if she did or not. It was something they'd never talked about, and Sam added it to her list of things to discuss once this was over. There was so much she didn't know about Janet...

If the other woman was bothered by small spaces, she told herself, hoping to distract herself from darker thoughts, then she would simply have to deal with it long enough for Teal'c to pull her out of the pyramid. That was all there was to it.

After what seemed like an eternity, an eternity filled with nothing but the rough tunnel wall passing slowly before her eyes and the sound of her own breathing, Sam felt her hips slip out of the shaft. Breathing an enormous sigh of relief, she waited until her body was entirely free of the shaft before tugging twice on the rope. Immediately, her descent halted, and she hung, suspended, in a large chamber.

The air was hot, hotter than it had been outside, and dry. She swayed slightly, her body turning in a slow, lazy circle while she unclipped her light from her sleeve and held it out in front of her. Panning the beam around, Sam saw that she was in an enormous, rectangular room made of the same beige colored blocks of stone that composed the outside of the pyramid. The floor was a good four meters below her, and by her estimate, the shaft opened into the ceiling in the exact center of the room. Openings set into the center of each of the four walls lead out of the room.

"Carter?" O'Neill's voice crackled faintly over the radio, distorted by static.

"I'm in, Sir," she said quickly, hoping he was picking up her signal. "It's an empty chamber, but there are doors leading out of the room. Lower me slowly." For good measure, she tugged firmly, once, on the rope.

As she felt Teal'c comply with her request, O'Neill's voice sounded over the radio again. "Any sign of Makepeace or Fraiser?" She couldn't help but detect the faint note of hopefulness in his voice.

"Negative, sir," she said. "Judging from the dust, nothing's been in this room for centuries. Tell Daniel it doesn't look like a burial chamber."

"Like you'd know what one is supposed to look like," O'Neill said sarcastically just as her feet touched the floor. She waited until she had a good three meters of slack before she signaled for Teal'c to stop.

"Carter, we're going to lower your weapon and pack down, now," she heard O'Neill say. She pulled her handgun out of her waistband. There was nothing threatening in her immediate vicinity, but Sam remembered, with a shiver, that her first assumption had been that something else was in here with Makepeace and Janet. Better to be safe than sorry, she decided.

Looking up, she saw a tiny rectangle of sky far above her head that was all but obliterated when something, presumably her equipment, was lowered into the opening. In a few minutes it dangled a few feet from her, and she hastily unhooked it. Her handgun went back into its holster, and she hastily slung the rifle over her shoulder, feeling immediately better now that she was adequately armed.

Thumbing her radio, she called for Fraiser or Makepeace. No static, but no voices either. It was possible that they had their radios off to conserve the batteries.

"Sir," she said into her radio, knowing he'd heard her failed attempts to contact the missing officers. "Permission to start searching for Fraiser and Makepeace."

"Affirmative," O'Neill said after a long pause. "Be back here in fifteen minutes, though," he added.

"Yes, sir," Sam said. She quickly slipped out of the harness, dropping it to the floor directly beneath the shaft, then turned in a slow circle, looking at the compass on her watch. "North, south, east or west?" she asked aloud as she shrugged her pack onto her shoulders.

With one last glance up the shaft at the sky, followed by a last check of her compass, Sam hefted her rifle and began walking west, deeper into the pyramid.

For a moment, Janet simply stood staring at the wall that shouldn't be there before it dawned on her that she was effectively trapped in a dead end tunnel. With a horrified choking sound, she whirled around, gun brandished in front of her and stared intently down the tunnel.

There was nothing, no movement or sound. After a few minutes, Janet lowered the gun, her hands shaking, and slipped the safety back on. As jumpy as she was at the moment she realized she'd be more likely to shoot her own foot off than anything else.

Reluctantly, she turned back and examined the wall that now blocked her path. It was made of dusty, rough-hewn blocks identical to the ones that formed the walls to either side of her. Were it not for her footprints in the dust, including one cut in half by the wall, she might have been able to convince herself that she'd taken a wrong turn somewhere. But unless there was someone else, aside from Makepeace who couldn't even stand much less run anywhere, wearing government issue combat boots running around this pyramid, she thought ruefully, then these had to be hers. Just to make absolutely certain, she carefully checked her new footprints against the ones she'd been following. They were a perfect match.

Determining this didn't make her feel any better, Janet realized. Makepeace was now effectively trapped between this wall and the debris blocking the tunnel, wounded and with his air supply potentially cut off. That was assuming he was even still alive, she thought grimly.

To distract herself, she carefully examined every inch of the wall, attempting to find a release mechanism. This wall moving must have been the grinding sound she'd heard just after that last tremor, she realized. Whatever was causing the pyramid to shake was setting off whatever defense mechanisms the builders had put into place.

All her search revealed, however, was the chip in one of the blocks caused by the bullet she'd fired at it in her panic. After a few minutes she gave up.

Running one hand through her hair then rubbing the back of her neck, she drew a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. As she dropped her hand, it snagged on the antenna of the radio attached to the front of her vest. For a moment, Janet stared down at it as if she'd never seen one before, then looked up and sighed in exasperation.

It was a long shot, she knew. The radio hadn't worked when O'Neill had tried to contact them from outside the pyramid. But maybe, just maybe, she thought hopefully, whatever was causing the interference wouldn't affect the radio from inside. There was a chance she could raise Makepeace. She'd feel better knowing that he was still alive, at least.

With one hand she hastily turned the dial. The small radio instantly came to life and she felt a burst of sheer joy run through her as she heard Sam's voice.

"Sam!" she said into the unit, wincing at how loud her voice sounded in the enclosed space.

"Janet?" Janet could plainly hear the relief in Sam's voice. "Janet, are you all right?"

"It's good to hear your voice. I'm fine," Janet reassured her hastily. "I have a minor leg wound, but I can walk. Makepeace is badly injured though. A broken leg." Then, before Sam could reply, a horrible thought occurred to her. "Sam, are you inside the pyramid?"

"Sam, you've got to be careful. There's something else in here. I didn't get a good look at it, but it came at us."

"All right," Sam said, and Janet could hear her trying desperately to reassure both of them. "Stay with Makepeace. I'll find you, OK? Just stay put."

"I'm not with Makepeace," Janet countered, ignoring Sam's order to stay put and began walking forward. "He ordered me to run, which...I did. After I fell and hurt my leg I decided to go back for him, but the way is blocked."

"No, a wall." During this entire conversation she hadn't heard a peep from Makepeace. He'd had his radio on when she'd last left him, so he was either unconscious or...

"I have to check in with O'Neill," Sam said after a few moments, and Janet was grateful to her for cutting off that train of thought. "As far as you know, you're still in the main tunnel, right?"

"All right," Janet said, stopping. She knew Sam would leave her radio on as well, and suddenly felt immeasurably better at just having voice contact with someone else. It was kind of like wanting Makepeace to stay awake and keep her company in the dark, she realized. There was nothing worse than feeling completely alone.

"I know you will," Janet said softly. She didn't add that she hoped Sam would find her before whatever was in here with them did. At the thought, Janet felt her throat tighten slightly. "Just...just be careful, OK?" She'd never forgive herself if anything happened to Sam because of her.

The radio fell silent. After a few moments Janet leaned against the wall, feeling suddenly very drained of energy. To give herself something to do, she checked the bandage on her leg, noting that the bleeding had slowed down again. And it was beginning to throb painfully, she realized. It was hardly surprising; the sudden fatigue and the pain meant that whatever adrenaline rush she'd been operating under had finally worn off.

After about five minutes her radio came to life again abruptly, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Janet listened to Sam report in, smiling at the side of the conversation she could hear as Sam declined to relay some choice comments from O'Neill once he found out she was probably listening. As far as she was concerned, she could wait, knowing both she and Makepeace were due for a few well-deserved reprimands.

It was quiet again, and Janet assumed Sam was making her way back deeper into the pyramid. Janet could picture her, weapon clutched in her hands, making her way cautiously through the tunnels. She nearly smiled at the thought, telling herself that any second now she'd spot Sam's light bobbing in the distance.

"Small consolation," Sam said, and Janet could almost hear her smile. "But I think the Colonel wants you out of here almost as badly as you do."

"I'll bet he does," Janet muttered. "Can we talk about something else? I'd rather not have to deal with that until I have to."

"I don't know," Janet began. "What do you think is blocking the radio?" she asked, glancing around.

"The Colonel asked me the same thing. I have no idea, but there must be something in the outer walls of the pyramid that interferes with the signal. Some kind of shielding or something."

"Yeah, just on the outside, though. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation. The question is why?"

Janet smiled to herself, listening to the excitement in Sam's voice as she tried to solve the problem. "Maybe they didn't want their teenage daughters tying up their phone lines," she offered with a chuckle, thinking about the arguments they'd been having recently with Cassie about that very subject.

She heard Sam snort with laughter. "Actually that may not be very far from the truth," she said. "Your signal was really distorted when we tried to raise you from the Stargate. And even when I spoke with Colonel O'Neill just a few minutes ago there was a lot of static. Whatever it is, it pretty effectively blocks signals from going in or out, even at very short ranges. Even the video signal from the camera we sent down first was affected."

"So this whole place is one big trap," Janet observed, not feeling at all comforted by Sam's analysis. "Between the moving walls and the shielding, it's designed to keep whatever gets caught inside it completely cut off from the outside."

"Well, Doctor Glass-half-empty, it could also have been designed to hide something."

"Oh yes," Janet said sarcastically. "A giant pyramid right next to the Stargate is so inconspicuous."

"There might be pyramids all over this planet, for all we know," Sam said. The UAV didn't show anything, but its range isn't that--"

"Shhh!" Janet said suddenly, her body tensing. She'd heard a sound in the tunnel ahead. "Sam, stop walking for a minute," she whispered, tightening her grip on the gun. Hopefully, when Sam stopped the noise she was hearing would also stop, indicating that Sam was close by.

"What is it?" she heard Sam ask urgently. In front of her, Janet could hear clicking and shuffling moving in her direction. "Janet?"

"Shit, oh shit," Janet said frantically. She had to get to one of those side tunnels she'd passed earlier. If she didn't, she'd be trapped. There was no telling what might be waiting for her in those other tunnels, but it was better than waiting around like a sitting duck in this one.

Without warning, that horrible shriek reverberated around her. Pouring on an additional burst of speed she hadn't known she was capable of, Janet sprinted forward. Her light swung crazily in front of her, and she nearly missed the side tunnel, her feet almost slipping out from beneath her as she took the right turn as quickly as possible. She was dimly aware of Sam shouting something at her.

Janet heard it move into the tunnel behind her, heard its clacking, flapping sounds of pursuit. It was faster than she was. She sensed rather than heard it closing in on her and knew with a horrible certainty that she would not be able to outrun it.

Another turn up ahead, she realized, catching sight of the wall in the arcing beam of her light too late to effectively negotiate the corner. She bounced roughly off the wall in front of her, angling left and slamming into the opposite wall before spinning around to face the way she had just come.

It was in that moment that Janet caught her first real glimpse of what was chasing her through the dark and sincerely wished she hadn't as fear sweat immediately broke out all over her body. Her legs gave out beneath her and she slid helplessly to the floor.

It was an insect, she thought wildly, her mind almost unable to comprehend its size. Its bulk nearly filled the tunnel and it looked like a cross between a beetle and a praying mantis. Unable to tear her eyes away she used her legs to push herself away from the monstrosity. But it moved almost faster than she could see, leaping forward to land on top of her.

Its abdomen pinned her legs beneath it as serrated forelimbs landed on either side of her head. She was screaming now, trying to bring the gun still miraculously clutched in her right hand up to defend herself. An enormous triangular head swung forward, just inches from her own, and she realized with horror that its jaws were working rapidly, a vicious vertical slit for a mouth oozing saliva as it leaned over her.

Just as her fingers found the safety on her weapon its jaws retracted abruptly to reveal a black, lolling tongue. The shriek this time was deafening. And accompanied by a fine mist which sprayed into her face, stinging her eyes and mouth and nose with needle sharp pricks.

Venom, she thought as she felt her awareness start to slip away almost immediately. It was killing her, Janet thought. It was probably going to eat her. She forced her numbing lips to move one last time as the tunnel, as the horrible vision wavering above her, began to fade away. "Get out, Sam," she mumbled. Sam had to get out; she had to save Sam from this, she thought. Janet wanted to say more, so much more, all the words of love and commitment that she'd always meant to say but somehow had never gotten around to actually speaking, all those cliched phrases that now seemed so true and so important.

But the poison was spreading quickly; it was difficult to breath, impossible to speak. She could no longer move.

The last thing she was aware of was the sense of motion, of the ceiling sliding away just as her eyes closed.

The passage she was walking along curved gently, and sloped perceptibly down. The ceiling, a good meter above her head, and walls were made of the same featureless beige stone she'd seen on the outside of the pyramid. The floor was composed of densely packed dirt, a small trench worn by the passage of many feet running down the center.

She tightened her fingers around the barrel of her gun and squinted ahead, trying to see as far down the tunnel as was humanly possible. It occurred to her that she should have asked O'Neill to send down a pair of night vision goggles, and Sam made a mental note to do just that when she checked in again.

With a frustrated sigh, Sam reached up and pressed her thumb against her radio. She'd been trying to raise Janet for nearly five minutes with no results. The radio was still working, of that Sam was certain. Erratic tapping and shuffling noises echoed from it, sounds that weren't helping Sam's imagination.

Despite her best efforts, Janet's last words kept replaying in her head. Her scream, followed by another, unworldly shriek that must have come from the creature in here with them had been unnerving enough. But not nearly as unnerving as the slurred, mumbled, yet no less urgent plea from Janet.

Sam knew, with an absolute certainty that was based on nothing more than a deep-seated instinct that Janet had warned her away because she'd been dying. Or thought she'd been dying, Sam stubbornly corrected herself. She hadn't come this far to give up hope now, she reminded herself.

As if to reinforce her determination, Sam picked up her pace, determined to examine as much of the tunnel she was in as possible before turning back to report in. As tempting as it was, Sam didn't dare miss the check-in; maintaining her escape route and her contact with the outside were vital, especially if Janet had been injured in some way. A little bit more than five minutes remained, and she decided she could double-time it back to the chamber.

By her reckoning, she hadn't actually moved very far away from the check-in point, since she'd stopped moving for a few minutes when Janet had been attacked. A quick glance at the compass on her wrist confirmed the gentle turn of the passageway she followed, since the needle now pointed southwest; it had been pointing due west when she'd first started out.

With a reluctant sigh, Sam pulled up short, and decided to turn around, breaking into a trot. She'd fill O'Neill in, then ask to increase the check-in time. If she had to keep running back every fifteen minutes she'd never find Janet.

Given the length of the days the initial MALP survey had indicated, Sam guessed the pyramid was located somewhere near the planet's equator. It was doubtful that they were north or south of that and that the planet was very large because the gravity was essentially the same as earth's. Being at or near the equator also explained the heat, Sam thought. And, unlike most of the ancient pyramid builders on earth, Sam realized, the builders of this pyramid had aligned theirs to the magnetic north, rather than true north. Unless, Sam thought, the planet had a perfectly vertical axis, in which case true north and magnetic north would be exactly the same.

She'd have to remember to mention all this to Daniel, noting that while this information was interesting and might potentially be useful in orienting herself inside the pyramid, what she was really doing was finding a way to occupy her mind. It definitely beat worrying to death about Janet, which was the only alternative.

Before she could wonder if Janet had a compass on her, she felt a familiar vibration pass through her legs. She stopped abruptly, pressing against the wall and looking up warily at the ceiling. This tremor was much subtler than the one she'd felt outside, though it went on for several long seconds before subsiding. Thankfully there'd been no further collapse, at least at her location, though she wondered about other, less stable areas of the structure.

Looking at her watch again, she realized she had less than a minute before she was supposed to be back in the chamber to contact O'Neill. The length of tunnel she was currently in looked indistinguishable from other sections, but she was certain she was near her starting point. A quick check of her compass indicated that she was now facing almost due east. The doorway should be just up ahead.

Well before she reached it, however, she knew she was in trouble. Janet had mentioned that her way had been blocked by a door that had suddenly appeared. Now, Sam suddenly found herself in exactly the same predicament.

Her light illuminated the wall of blocks from several meters away, but she walked cautiously forward anyway, glancing warily around. When she was within a few feet of it, she reached out and pressed the tips of her fingers against it. She hadn't really expected it to be a hologram, or something insubstantial, but it had been worth a shot.

But it was a wall, a real, solid, impenetrable wall. Or a force field that damn sure felt like a wall, she thought irritably.

"Damn!" she exclaimed, exhaling sharply. "Colonel?" she called into the radio. "Colonel O'Neill, can you read me?"

Nothing, just the same disconcerting sounds she'd been hearing since she'd lost contact with Janet.

"Damn!" she said again. After a moment, she gave the offending wall a good, solid kick for added measure. "This is just great," she said aloud, turning back the way she'd just come. Now she was trapped in here along with Janet and Makepeace.

And a rampaging monster, she thought ruefully, resting her finger on the weapon's safety.

"I guess that solves the check-in problem," she added, knowing that O'Neill was going to go ballistic when she failed to signal him. She now had time to search for Janet as long as she wanted. Of course, with no way out it didn't really matter.

Sam was suddenly, horribly reminded of Jolinar, of the sickening sense of being trapped, of being cut off from everyone and everything. At the time, she'd screamed and ranted and raged against Jolinar, trying desperately to free herself from the prison her own body had become. But Jolinar had refused to yield, had snapped short answers to her frantic questions, taking whatever information from Sam's mind that she needed with no permission and little effort.

With a shudder, Sam closed her eyes, swallowing against the tightness suddenly constricting her throat. This was not the same thing, she told herself. Then, she'd been helpless, completely and utterly helpless, dependent on the Colonel and Janet to save her. Here and now, she had choices. She wasn't helpless. She was armed. She could move freely. And most importantly, Janet needed her, needed her to be strong and smart and in control, not mired in choking fear and lingering despair.

It was too bad, she mused bitterly, as she turned and started back down the passage, that she didn't have more ready access to Jolinar's memories. Most of the time the thought of one of the Tok'ra's hidden memories popping up filled her with a sick sense of dread, no matter how helpful the information might be. But at the moment, rather than simply remembering the fear and the helplessness that had overshadowed her brief stint as a host, she desperately wished that experience would provide her with something useful.

Like a ready-made map to the inside of this pyramid, complete with a "You are here" red arrow and illuminated exit signs, she thought. The mental picture made her smile grimly as she continued forward.

Striding down the passageway again, Sam forced her attention back to the tremor she'd felt just before discovering she, too, was trapped. It could have been seismic activity, as Daniel had surmised. Perhaps there'd been an earthquake, and they were experiencing increasingly milder aftershocks.

But the suspicious appearance of a wall blocking her way out told Sam that the tectonic plates of this planet were probably not the culprit. There must be some mechanism at work, she surmised, operating on a timer or tripped by some unseen trigger. She'd have to ask Janet if she'd felt any tremors before her path had been blocked.

She'd made a note of the time when the last tremor had occurred; she'd need at least another two to determine whether or not they were on a timer. And even if she did manage to work out the schedule, that wouldn't really tell her much about where blockages were likely to occur since she had no real sense of the pyramid's internal structure. And two more avenues cut off could only mean being more trapped, she decided.

First things first, she ordered herself. She needed to find Janet as quickly as possible. Not just wanted to find her, needed to find her. Sam needed to hold her tightly, feel the heat of her body and the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, needed to run her fingers through Janet's hair and hear the sound of her voice. The need for all the tactile reminders of life was physical, beyond companionship or loneliness or being afraid of the dark.

The passage was beginning to straighten, the gentle incline flattening out. It was becoming wider, too, Sam noted, panning her light along the walls and ceiling, though the construction remained exactly the same as everything else she'd seen. It was a good sign, she decided, even though a part of her knew she was grasping at straws.

The shallow path continued down the center of the passageway, but Sam instinctively kept near the wall. She felt less vulnerable with the bricks protecting her right side.

"Colonel?" she called again into the radio, hoping that the change in the pyramid's internal structure might allow a signal through. "Janet?" There was nothing but silence from the radio; even the strange noises had ceased.

The walls on either side of her suddenly sloped away and she found herself standing on the edge of a large open space. Pointing her light up, Sam saw the ceiling slope up and away from her, as if it were domed. The walls on either side appeared to curve in the distance.

With her field knife, Sam made an X in the wall nearest to her, then began walking the perimeter of the open space. Sure enough, the room curved around, and after a few minutes, Sam found another opening, similar to the one she'd entered the area from. A quick glance at her compass showed that this opening led east into the pyramid. As she expected, she found similar openings leading north and west, and finally ended up at the south entrance, where she'd come in. This circular chamber was considerably larger than the rectangular chamber above.

Leading out from the center of each entrance was that shallow trench, each one running into the center of the room like a guide. Sam found it oddly comforting to find a chamber that mirrored the exits of the room at the bottom of the shaft. It didn't really help her much, but she was hopeful that one of the other passages would take her back up to the chamber where she could contact O'Neill.

Standing still at the south entrance for a few moments, Sam strained her ears for any sound, knowing that there would be no cover the minute she ventured away from the wall. Hearing nothing, she shrugged and decided to take the chance. She'd check out the center of the room, then take the north passage to see where it would take her.

She'd only stepped a meter or two toward the center when her light revealed a tall, wide, stone column. Four paths lead directly to it. Walking slowly around it, Sam was amazed to find a narrow opening on the path leading from the north entrance. Cautiously, she leaned forward and peered in.

The inside of the shaft was hollow, and lined with gleaming metal. She was delighted to discover that the reflective surface augmented her small flashlight beam, illuminating a large section of the shaft. A narrow circular stairway spiraled down the center, accessible by a precarious walkway leading from the entrance. Twisting, Sam panned her light over her head. The steps ended a few meters above, into open space. The shaft, however, continued above that for many meters.

Turning to look down, Sam clutched the edge of the doorway. The shaft seemed to spin down forever, twisting into inky blackness that not even the mirror-like metal could help to illuminate.

With a sigh, she stepped back. It was tempting to investigate where the stairs led, but she decided it would be more prudent to investigate the other passages leading from the room first. It would take precious time, and there was no telling what further tricks the pyramid makers had up their sleeves to trap and confuse unwanted visitors. By the time she finished exploring the other passageways she might not be able to get back here either.

But looking down at the depressions worn into the floor, Sam suddenly had the oddest feeling that all the other passages would be similarly blocked, as if the pyramid itself were guiding her steps and wanted her here at this spot. It was a foolish notion, she told herself. She'd been hanging around with Daniel for too long.

With a final glance back at the stairway and a small prayer that the doorway into the shaft would miraculously remain open while she was gone, Sam turned and began walking north.

The first thing Janet became aware of was something feathery caressing her cheek. She smiled, thinking about how much she loved to lie in bed enjoying Sam's light, teasing touch. Sam had a soldier's hands, covered in scars and calluses and small wounds. But Janet never stopped marveling at how soft they could feel fluttering against her skin, touches so delicate they felt more like the ghost of a caress rather than the real thing, simultaneously evoking a swirl of pleasure and the aching need for something more substantial.

But something was wrong. As awareness slowly and painfully returned, Janet frowned. Her mouth felt thick and dry, and it was as if lead weights were holding her limbs down. With a supreme effort, she managed to lift one hand, brushing feebly at the side of her face. Her fingers made contact with something solid resting a scant centimeter or so from her head.

It took a few seconds of careful probing to figure out what it was, and when she did, Janet pulled away, snatching her hand back as if it had been burned.

It was a humanoid skull. A few tufts of hair clinging to mummified skin had been brushing against her cheek. Pushing herself up on one hand, Janet turned away quickly and sat up.

Bad idea, she realized, quickly squeezing her eyes shut again as a wave of nausea rolled over her. Awareness faded abruptly for a few seconds, then came crashing back when she tried to open her eyes again. She hadn't felt this bad since the morning after the last exam at the end of her first year in medical school. In fact, she thought, pulling her knees up and leaning forward, closing her eyes again, she was fairly certain this was far worse. She breathed deeply, alternating between willing her stomach to keep its contents and forcing herself not to think about the new friend she'd regained consciousness next to.

After many seconds her stomach lost the battle. Turning on her side she vomited convulsively, curling up miserably as her body was wracked with dry heaves. Patients under anesthesia often got nauseous, and she wondered if the chemical properties of the insect toxin likely causing this were similar. Whatever had been in that giant bug's breath, Janet realized she was having a rather severe reaction to it.

Not as severe as dying from it, she reminded herself, She'd been certain she'd been drawing her last breaths as she'd lost consciousness. At the moment, however, as her body shuddered under another onslaught of nausea, death was definitely preferable.

"Janet! Janet!" It took a few seconds for Sam's frantic voice to filter through her misery, and at first she couldn't fathom where it was coming from. Then it struck her.

Of course. Her radio. She'd left the channel open earlier, to stay in contact with Sam.

"Sa...Sam?" she finally managed, before contending with another bout of dry heaves. Her voice was weak, nothing more than a whisper and she had trouble forming the words. Not surprising, she thought grimly, under the circumstances.

For some reason, perhaps because the situation was so serious, Janet was struck by the utter silliness of the question. She tried to laugh, but it came out as a breathless wheeze.

"Do I-" She coughed, her already abused abdominal muscles protesting vigorously. "Do I sound all right to you?" she finally managed.

She heard Sam sigh deeply. "It's good to hear your voice," Sam said, the relief lacing her tones clear to Janet over the tinny distortion caused by the radio. "I thought..."

Sam didn't finish her sentence, but Janet nodded slowly, knowingly. "Yeah," she rasped. "Me to." They shared a moment of silence.

Cautiously, Janet shifted until she was in a sitting position. The dry heaves seemed to have subsided for now, but her surroundings continued to spin disconcertingly. Her head ached horribly. She spent several moments drawing in deep breaths, wishing she still had her canteen. Her mouth tasted foul and she was hot and thirsty.

Taking a moment, she looked around her, then immediately wished she hadn't. Skeletons, partial and whole, filled the space around her. Piles and piles of bones, some with leathery bits of flesh still clinging to them. A mountain of dead bodies rose to her left, smaller mounds scattered nearby. She was sitting in a small hollow, nothing more than a clearing where the bones had been pushed back to reveal the floor.

Janet was not squeamish, not by any stretch of the imagination, but she could feel her skin crawling, the horror of the sight instantaneously raising gooseflesh on her arms and the back of her neck. She had to get out of here and she had to get out of here now, she thought frantically, knowing that at the moment she was not strong enough to stand.

"It's a big bug," she said finally, tearing her eyes away and focusing intently on the toe of her boot. She'd rest, regroup, get her strength back and get as far away from this new horror as possible. "Like a praying mantis. Huge. It attacked me, sprayed some kind of chemical in my face. I thought it had killed me." That last was admitted in a small voice, her feelings of loss and helplessness as she'd lost consciousness suddenly overwhelming her. She didn't want to die here. "How long was I out?" she asked, changing the subject in hopes of calming herself.

"An hour and a half," Janet muttered. She'd been lying in this subterranean burial chamber surrounded by humanoid remains for an hour and a half. This was all getting to be too much; she didn't have much in the way of either physical or mental reserves left. Janet seriously began to fear turning into an hysterical, weeping lunatic. An hour and a half, she thought. Sam must have been beside herself with worry.

"Colonel O'Neill let you stay?" she forced herself to ask, thinking that if she could keep the conversation going she'd regain some of her equilibrium. How many times would Sam have checked in over the course of ninety minutes, she asked herself.

"Well," Sam said slowly, "He didn't really have much choice." Janet smiled at that, in spite of herself. She'd encountered Sam's stubborn streak herself, and knew it was a force of nature to be reckoned with. But Sam's next words surprised and disheartened her. "I can't get back to the shaft chamber. There's a wall blocking the way."

"Yeah, it did. And I'm guessing from your question that it did for you too."

"There hasn't been anything since. I don't know if it's operating on a timer, or if we're somehow setting it off." Janet could hear the frustration in Sam's voice. "Where's the bug now?"

Janet had been in the process of passing a badly shaking hand across her brow, noting that she was sweating freely now. She'd need to worry about dehydration, especially with the vomiting. The question made her stop dead, her hand still in mid-air. She could hear the blood pounding in her ears, her body responding to the sudden fright caused by the thought that the giant instinct might still be nearby.

"I don't know," she whispered, hearing the tremor in her voice. She should look, but she was suddenly too afraid to move.

"Janet, it's all right. It'll be all right," Sam said, quickly, soothingly. "If it was still nearby, you'd probably know by now. You don't hear anything, do you?"

Janet held her breath, straining her ears. There was nothing, and after a minute or two she breathed a deep sigh of relief. "I don't hear anything," she said. It was gone; it had to be gone.

"No," Janet managed to choke out as she surveyed the gruesome landscape again. She debated whether or not to describe where she was to Sam and thought better of it. Sam was trapped in here now, too, probably with that horrible insect stalking her; there was little point in filling her head with dreadful images of what might happen to her. "I'm out in the open though," she said hesitantly. "I can't stay here."

If Sam detected the note of hysteria in her voice she kept it to herself. "Any sign of Makepeace?"

"No." But it did occur to her that if he wasn't already dead, Makepeace was probably around here someplace as well. The thought sent a surge of strength coursing through her limps and she rose unsteadily to her feet.

Janet instantly regretted the action, but ground her teeth together and fought to keep her balance as the world around her faded away again. "I will not fall down," she muttered between clenched teeth. "I will not fall down." The thought of collapsing into one of the nearby piles of bones was more than enough impetus to keep her on her feet.

Janet smiled. "I'm going to find a more secure position, then look for Makepeace," Janet advised, shuffling toward what looked like a path through the debris.

Janet felt an hysterical giggle bubble up in her throat, not quite sure what recourse she had against the big bug anymore. She wished she was still armed, but given how spectacularly she'd performed with Makepeace's handgun earlier it was probably pointless anyway. Hiding was always an option, provided the bug didn't have other sensors it used to locate prey. What she really wanted to do, she thought pausing for a moment to sway unsteadily, was to curl up into a tiny ball somewhere so she could sleep it off.

Wherever this was, it was huge, a vast chamber. Fighting down a wave of disgust, she clambered quickly over a pine of bones, hoping desperately that the path continued on the other side. Thankfully, it did.

She'd only proceeded a few more meters forward when she spotted three things simultaneously. The first, instantly absorbing all her attention, though she filed the other observations away for later, was a dusty, bloody leg clad in a familiar tan fatigue. Darting forward, Janet breathed a deep sigh of relief at the sight of Makepeace sprawled face down atop a dusty skeleton.

Pressing her fingers firmly against his carotid artery she was doubly relieved to feel a pulse, slow and weak, throbbing against the tips of her fingers. Given his wounds the insect's venom must have had an even more devastating effect on him, possibly putting him in a coma. However, considering how bad she still felt it was probably a blessing that he was unconscious and unlikely to wake up anytime soon. Turning him gently over, she grasped the ankle of his good leg and dragged him carefully off the pile of bones and onto the path. She noted that he had his pack and rifle still slung over his arm. They'd have a few supplies and a weapon until Sam found them.

"I think so," Janet said, not relishing the idea of dragging Makepeace's heavy bulk around the pyramid with her.

"Good. Find a secure position, then the two of you wait there. This'll be easier if you stay put and let me find you. There's no sense in both of us wandering around getting more and more lost. We'll find a way out of here together."

Her spirits buoyed by the confidence in Sam's voice and the discovery that Makepeace was still alive, Janet turned her attention to the other two things she'd noticed. One was a mound of round spheres that she instantly recognized as a clutch of eggs. They were encased in a gray slime and when she moved closer, holding her light up to it, shadowy shapes inside the eggs began to move about frantically. Hastily, stifling a small gasp of horror, Janet pulled back.

It was suddenly clear. The insect had been out hunting, looking for food. But not for itself. It had dragged them here because it was procuring food for its offspring. That meant, she realized numbly, that all the bones here belonged to people who had met a fate similar to the one intended for herself and Makepeace.

Moving away hastily, more determined than ever to find a secure location, Janet wondered where all these people had come from. They couldn't all possibly have come through the Stargate, wandered into the pyramid, and like a mosquito caught in sap became trapped inside, food for a freakish nightmare.

That question was answered in part by her final observation. Her light had revealed a wall with several pitch-black openings directly in front of her. Upon further investigation Janet realized that she was looking at the front of a house, and that that house stood next to another, and another, and another. An occasional street broke the line of houses, and when Janet looked down those she saw other buildings, dwellings and shops and office, all silent and empty and filled with dust and death.

Janet turned slowly in a circle, staring about her in wonder. All the bones here had come from people who had lived and died in a city inside a pyramid.

Resting one hand on the thick stone doorframe, Sam leaned forward and pointed her flashlight beam down the shaft. The light gleamed off the steps. Straining forward, she looked for but did not see an opening within the limits of her light. With a sigh, she pulled back and clipped the flashlight back onto the front of her vest.

Down was the only direction left; her search of the three other passages leading from this room had taken her to the same type of featureless wall she'd discovered blocking her way in the tunnel she'd originally explored. So down she must go. If this shaft lead nowhere, if this opening should close, if that giant insect should find its way in after her...

So many ifs and none of them good, she thought grimly as she stepped gingerly onto the narrow crosswalk that connected the doorway to the stairs. It seemed sturdy enough, and Sam quickly traversed the distance and began her descent. She was thankful that, despite no handrail and no visible signs of support, the spiral staircase felt very safe and stable. Every so often, she twisted her body so that her light illuminated the steps above her head, straining to catch any sign of movement. There was nothing, only the sight of the dark square of the doorway sliding further and further into the distance.

The echo of her steps rattled all around her, making her nervous that she'd miss other sounds that would alert her to the presence of danger. But whatever metal lined the walls seemed as adept at reflecting sound as it did light. Sam smiled at the sudden mental image of the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz rapping his knuckles on his chest only to have the sound reverberate hollowly down the length of his body. That was what this was like, she decided. She was climbing down the inside of the Tin Man's leg. Maybe, if she was lucky, at the bottom she'd find her heart.

"Sam?" Janet's thin, distorted voice suddenly echoed around her, as if she'd been reading Sam's thoughts.

"Yeah?" She took a moment to reflect again on how grateful she was that Janet was still alive. She'd tried not to think of the alternatives, during that long silence during which Janet had been unconscious. She'd never tell Janet this, certain that she'd never appreciate the sentiment, but the sounds of retching that had sounded over the radio a short while ago had been music to her ears.

There was a slight pause on the other end. "Just checking," Janet said. "Makepeace's vitals are weak but stable."

She heard Janet groan softly. "Remember how sick you got from eating the casserole thing they made for you guys on P9X-444?"

"Worse. I think food poisoning would be a step up. I just hope the fact that I'm conscious and able to move means the toxin is wearing off."

"I'm sure that's the case," Sam said quickly, trying to sound positive. If Janet and Makepeace had both been poisoned then they were under an even greater time pressure to get out. Of course, Janet would know more about this than she would, but until they managed to find each other there was little point in expending energy worrying about it.

"Just hurry up, will you?" There was a note of panic in Janet's voice. "There's no telling where Beulah is."

Sam had to smile at that. "But...Beulah? I have to know who Beulah is. Or was."

There was a tiny pause on the other end. "My social studies teacher in seventh grade," Janet finally confessed. "She was a million years old, and she had these long, bony arms. And she used to spit when she talked. It seemed appropriate."

"Very," Sam said, laughing. The sound bounced off the walls around her. "But how do you know it's a she?" she asked, deciding that it felt better to keep the conversation going.

"Well, considering what happens to the males, I'm sure they all wished that was the case."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. You know," Janet began, and Sam detected a note of hesitation in her voice. "I found some eggs..."

"Meaning there's a headless male bug wandering around?" Sam asked before she could stop herself. She immediately bit her tongue in regret. Great, she chided herself. That was an image neither one of them needed under the circumstances.

"Very funny," she heard Janet admonish. "That's just what I needed to hear. I don't know how close they are to hatching, but I think Beulah brought us down here as food." Sam felt her lip curl in disgust at the thought. Then she heard Janet sigh. "I guess I should do something about the eggs," she said, voice thick with distaste. "I have no idea when they're going to hatch."

"Probably a good idea," Sam said. At that moment, she caught sight of a black rectangle out of the corner of her eye. She paused and looked down, careful not to lean over too far. The last thing she wanted was to pitch headfirst down the length of the shaft.

It was an opening. By her estimates, it was a good twenty meters below her current position. She'd already traveled down the shaft a fair distance, she thought, grateful to know for certain that the stairwell didn't lead to a dead end.

"Listen, I just found another tunnel. You go take care of the eggs, then stay with Makepeace. We should probably think about conserving our radio batteries a little," she added reluctantly. "I'll check in with you in ten minutes, how's that?"

"I don't like it," Janet said quickly. "But you're right. Makepeace has most of his gear with him, so we've got spares of everything. But until you get here, you should be careful. In more ways than one."

Quickly, she trotted down the steps separating her from the opening, unclipping her light and brandishing it in front of her as she crouched in front of the doorway.

Unlike the opening above, this one was wider and lead directly into a tunnel. No catwalk connected the stairwell to the tunnel either. She'd have to jump if she wanted to get across. The gap wasn't that wide; if she missed she'd certainly fall, but was confident she could use the stairs to break her fall. It would hurt, but it beat the alternative of tumbling down to the bottom.

Slinging her rifle over her shoulder, Sam took a step back to lean against the central column that held the stairs. Drawing a deep breath, she pushed off and launched herself across the gap. Her feet landed solidly on the other side, stirring up a small cloud of dust. Within seconds she'd unslung her rifle, clutching it firmly in her hands as she moved forward.

Whoever the builders of the pyramid had been, Sam decided, they had an incredibly boring sense of aesthetics. She found herself in a tunnel as non-descript as all the others she'd been in since finding her way into the pyramid. Same gray blocks, same dirt floor. The only thing that had stood out architecturally was the stairwell she'd just vacated.

She'd traveled only a few meters when she let out a low groan of frustration. Another damn wall! This tunnel led nowhere, or had been blocked off the last time the pyramid had started shaking. "Dammit!" she breathed in frustration, striking the wall with her fist. This was starting to get irritating.

For lack of anything better to do, she began panning her light along the ground, near the base of the wall, looking to see if the displacement of the dirt would indicate which direction from which the wall had slid. It wasn't particularly meaningful information; it was more to satisfy her curiosity. Besides, she told herself, at this point, since she was coming up basically empty with respect to a way out, any information was useful information.

The only thing of interest to note, she realized quickly as she examined the edges of the wall, was that the seal was incredibly tight. While the builders were very boring with respect to décor, they were obviously master engineers. The precision needed to create moving walls that fit this well was extraordinary, especially a fit that was this good after who knew how many ages had passed.

She was just straightening, preparing to turn and resume her trek down the stairwell when the floor beneath her feet began to shudder gently. "Here we go again," she muttered. Sam turned and stared at the wall in front of her, confident at this point that the roof wouldn't come tumbling down on top of her, and hopeful that the shaking might move the wall in front of her out of the way. Maybe something would work out in her favor for a change.

As she stood watching, the vibration gradually tapered off. To her delight, the tunnel was filled with a loud rasping sound, and the wall in front of her began to slide with excruciating slowness to the right. Sam leaned forward, peering into the tunnel that was slowly being revealed in front of her.

"Holy Hannah!" she breathed as she watched the movement in front of her. It hadn't been a simple wall blocking her way, she realized. As she stared, she saw that the wall facing her, the one that had been blocking her way, was attached to another wall at a right angle that stretched back and formed the right wall of the new section of tunnel in front of her.

That meant... Sam took a step back in shock. That meant that either the tunnel she was in, or the tunnel she was now looking down had moved. The whole tunnel, not just a dividing wall. The movement must have been just subtle enough and the interface between the pieces smooth enough that she hadn't been aware of it. In a flash of insight, Sam realized that the hidden, interlocking parts of the pyramid were probably lined with the same highly polished metal she'd seen in the stairwell.

It was mind-boggling. Whole pieces of the inside of this pyramid moved around, not just a random wall or two. While outside, she'd marveled at how such an enormous structure could've been built. She hadn't even begun to appreciate the magnitude of the feat. It was like some giant, interlocking puzzle.

Now she had some idea about how. The next obvious question to ponder was why.

Before she had time to address the question, the beam of her light caught movement in the tunnel in front of her. Beulah, she realized, her mind stumbling for a moment over the size of the insect bearing down on her. Janet was right; it did look like a praying mantis, Sam thought numbly, its outer shell an oily green that gleamed in the beam of her light. It put on a burst of speed, and scuttled to run along the side of the tunnel for a second, then in a flash was running along the roof, its enormous abdomen hanging down as its head bobbed and weaved above her.

For a moment her legs refused to move, though she knew it would be on her in seconds. Reflexively, she lifted her weapon, switching the safety off in one smooth motion as she did so, and opened fire. The round of bullets echoed loudly in the small space. Beulah spasmed when several rounds impacted against her exoskeleton, and she faltered for a moment, slowing her approach.

Sam took the delay to turn and sprint back to the stairwell. She couldn't let it get above her. If she could lure it into the stairwell, then get above it, she might be able to fire enough rounds into it to kill or seriously wound it and knock it down the shaft. If she was especially lucky, the slippery surface of the metal would make it difficult for Beulah to navigate.

She didn't even pause at the doorway leading into the shaft, noting gratefully that it was still open. She pushed off with her toes and leapt into the shaft, landing heavily on the stairs. The momentum carried her forward and she slammed her shin sharply against one of the steps, but somehow managed to keep her balance.

It was only a few meters behind her, she realized, so she took off, taking the steps two at a time in the hopes of putting as much distance between herself and it as possible before she opened fire. It had other plans, she quickly realized, when it began crawling up the outside of the stairwell, using the gaps of the spiral as footholds. Within seconds it was just behind her.

Sam spun, kicking out with all her might at the enormous triangular head rising just above the ledge at her feet. Her boot connected with solid exoskeleton and its head rocked back savagely. The momentum of the kick knocked her off balance, and she fell hard against the steps, panting heavily. Just as she lifted her rifle to open fire, it hauled its body up, thorax scraping across the sleek metal as it heaved itself forward.

Aim for its mouth, she thought frantically, clutching her rifle with one hand while trying to push herself away from it with the other. She couldn't afford to have it breathe whatever anesthetic it used on its prey on her. Before she could squeeze the trigger, it braced its body with one enormous back leg and swung a vicious-looking serrated forelimb at her head. She got the rifle up to deflect the blow just in time, but the force of it knocked the weapon from her hands and sent it clattering down the shaft.

There was no time to get her handgun out of its holster. Leaning back, she lifted her leg and slammed it into the insect's head again and again, hoping she could keep it off balance enough to push it over the side. It wasn't working. Instead, it was pulling itself up inch by inch to tower over her, lifting one of those lethal limbs, preparing to bring it crashing down on her.

She gave it one last, hard kick, then rolled quickly to the side just as that forelimb smashed down against the steps leaving a small dent. Without thinking, intent simply on getting away, Sam pushed up on her hands, digging her feet into whatever toeholds she could find behind her, including the insects shoulder, and pushed herself forward, pitching over the side.

Beulah made a grab for her leg, but just missed, and Sam found herself falling headfirst down the gap in the shaft between the staircase and the wall.

After Sam signed off to check out the new tunnel, Janet stood for a moment, quietly fingering the object she'd found in one of the buildings of the underground city. She'd been looking for a safe hiding place, one that was as far removed from the clutch of eggs as she felt she could reasonably drag Makepeace's unconscious form. One that had a limited number of access points and enough dilapidated furniture to use as a barricade should it become necessary.

Most of the buildings in the immediate area were offices or stores. None contained any humanoid remains, which struck her as odd.

Even curiouser, she'd found statues of all different sizes in every building, all variations on the same theme. Turning the one in her hand over, she swiped her thumb across it, wiping away a remaining layer of dust and examined the figurine closely.

It looked like Beulah. This one was not particularly well crafted, rough-hewn and homemade. But others that she'd seen had been obviously fashioned by skilled artists, ornamental representations of Beulah with intricate inlays of marble. By her estimate, just in Beulah statues alone, there was a small fortune down here, since many of them were adorned with precious gems and metals.

Janet wondered why. Why on earth (or anywhere else in the galaxy for that matter) would the people who had lived and died here all have kept figurines of the giant insect that had, in all likelihood, destroyed them? It didn't make sense.

Maybe it was a cult of some sort, a bizarre Beulah-worshipping cult, she thought. People did a lot of strange things in the name of religious beliefs. One only had to look at the zealotry of some of the people on Earth, both past and present, to understand that. Was it so farfetched to believe that these people, who were sophisticated enough to build this massive pyramid, also worshipped a gigantic praying mantis?

With a shrug, Janet slipped the small carving into the cargo pocket of her fatigues, thinking she'd show it to Sam when Sam managed to find them. In the meantime, she still had things to do. She paused to wipe her lips with the back of her hand, squeezing her eyes shut briefly. Since waking up, she hadn't started to feel any better, which was worrisome. Her head still ached horribly and her stomach wasn't much better. To make matters worse, she felt as though there was barely any strength in her limbs, and the world kept fading away periodically. It was all she could do to stay on her feet. That toxin running through her system was probably affecting her vestibular system, accounting for the hangover-like symptoms and the vertigo.

Despite the grisly carnage all around her, there was thankfully no smell other than a dusty staleness. Whatever had happened here had happened so long ago that no odor of death and decay lingered. Given the way her stomach felt at the moment, that was no small blessing, she thought.

Her first order of business was check on Makepeace again, making sure the splint on his leg was still intact and that no further damage had been done by being moved so unconventionally. After that, she'd take care of the clutch of eggs, then drag Makepeace to the safety of the building she'd scouted out a short while ago. Then, it would just be a waiting game, hoping that Sam managed to find them before either she or Makepeace succumbed to the poison and died.

There was a disturbing thought, she reflected grimly. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

But it was comforting to have a plan of action, she thought, as she knelt beside Makepeace and ran her hands gently over his injured leg. Miraculously, the bones hadn't shifted much since she'd first set them.

She was just getting to her feet when she heard a sound behind her. She spun around. Frantically, she scanned the area around her, wondering just what in the hell she thought she was supposed to do if Beulah decided to make a reappearance.

She and Makepeace were in a large, open area, possibly the central square of the city, or an open marketplace. Faces with empty eye sockets and grinning teeth looked impassively back at her, the shadows caused by her light giving her the eerie impression that the heads were turning, tracking her search. But beyond that, Janet detected no sign of real movement.

There it was again, somewhere in the distance, an erratic staccato beat, sounding almost like weapon fire.

Janet straightened, craning to see even deeper into darkness threatening to engulf her small light. Sam, it has to be Sam, she thought as her heart began to pound in her chest. But Sam would only be firing her weapon if...

Oh god, Beulah, she thought, spinning around and snatching up the automatic rifle Makepeace still had looped haphazardly over his shoulder. She ran toward the sound, leaping over piles of bones without any care or thought, all weakness and nausea momentarily forgotten. Sam was nearby and possibly in trouble. She was the reason Sam was even here and in danger in the first place. Janet's only thought was to get to her as quickly as possible.

Reaching the edge of the clearing, Janet paused to listen, holding her breath and willing the blood pounding in her ears to stop. Silence. For a moment, she faltered, the arm holding the rifle dangling limply at her side as she strained her ears for some sound, some clue that would tell her which direction to go in.

A single metallic clang sounded ahead of her and just to her left. In an instant, she took off in that direction, sprinting down a wide, dark alley between two buildings. She ignored the thought that there might be something dangerous lurking in a hidden alcove or hiding behind a corner. Sam could be hurt or dying and that was all that mattered.

The last house in the alley extended out from a rough rock face that made up the outer wall of the chamber in which the city was located. Next to it, directly ahead of her, was what she initially thought was another building. Its outer wall was curved, and there were no windows. A heavy metal door stood wide open, and Janet skidded to an abrupt halt as her light reflected off of shiny metal.

Hearing distant bangs and clatters, Janet moved forward cautiously and peered in. A rifle, exactly the same as the one she now clutched in sweaty palms, lay at the base of a circular staircase.

Instinctively, she looked up. High above her head, maybe a hundred meters away, a light was weaving crazily along the gap between the wall and the stairs, the beam bouncing off the myriad of reflexive surfaces in the shaft. It took her a moment to realize that the light was dropping far too rapidly and in too much of a straight line for it to be someone running down the steps. Had Sam dropped her light, she wondered for a moment, trying to push away the horrible thought that Sam might still be attached to it.

Of their own accord, her legs started to move, as another burst of adrenaline shot through her. She took the steps two at a time, somehow managing to keep looking up without tripping against the steps and falling herself. Maybe I can catch her, she thought frantically, even as the more practical part of her mind realized that notion was ridiculous. In all likelihood, she'd be pulled over the side and they'd both fall to their deaths if she tried that.

But at the moment, she didn't know what else to do, and there was no way she could stand at the bottom and watch helplessly as Sam slammed into the floor and broke her neck. Instead, she thought giddily, she could join Sam as they both took a fatal header off the steps.

Sam's strangled cry echoed in her ears, and Janet refocused her attention on the light above her head, even as she willed her legs to move faster. A small shriek tore from her lips when Sam's light swung abruptly to the side and spun into the stairs with a sickening thud that made the stairs beneath her feet shudder. The light twisted and rolled for a few seconds, then stilled.

The muscles of her legs were beginning to tremble, and it felt like she couldn't pull any air into her lungs, but Janet kept moving as fast as possible up the stairs. But even as she ran steadily closer to Sam, she knew she'd never reach her in time. Janet could just make out Beulah in the light reflecting off the walls, the giant insect creeping steadily toward Sam's limp form.

"No!" Janet screamed, then winced as her shout echoed along the length of the shaft. Her only chance was to draw Beulah away from Sam. "Here!" she yelled again, unclipping her light from the front of her vest and waving it above her head.

That did the trick, Janet realized, as Beulah paused, then craned her neck to stare down. For a second, Janet thought Beulah looked almost curious. Janet ground her teeth and slipped the safety of the weapon off, lifting it to her shoulder as Beulah began to clamber down the outside of the stairwell.

"That's right, Beulah," Janet yelled. "Come a little bit closer so I can shoot you." As a doctor, she'd taken an oath to do no harm. But she was fairly certain that didn't include giant insects who spat venom and collected people for baby food, she thought bitterly. There was no way to scare Beulah off and save Sam and herself. Or Makepeace, for that matter. It had to end here and now, she told herself, and at the moment, she was the only one left standing to finish it. It was up to her.

Beulah was moving fast, almost too fast, and in the shifting light it was difficult for her to maintain her aim. And, to be truthful, while she hadn't quite been Maggie's Drawers, she'd passed marksmanship training with the lowest possible score. If she managed to get everyone out of this, she promised herself she'd spend a little more time out on the firing range.

First things first, though. Janet forced herself to wait until Beulah got close enough so that not even she could miss. She wanted to run away desperately, though, she thought, thinking that the flight part of the fight-or-flight instinct was alive and well in her at the moment.

"Close enough," she whispered, squeezing the trigger. The barrel jerked in her fingers and the stock slammed into her shoulder as a stream of bullets hit Beulah square in the head. Surprised, Janet backpedaled a step or two, then fought to keep her balance as she nearly pitched backwards over the side.

Beulah was still coming, though Janet could see that one of the projectiles had torn through her jaw, leaving the mandible hanging grotesquely off to the side. Another had taken out Beulah's left eye. Biting her lip, Janet squeezed the trigger again, spraying dozens of bullets into Beulah's face and upper body. At this range, the bullets effectively penetrated the exoskeleton leaving devastating damage paths in their wake.

Janet was starting to wonder just how many rounds it would take to put an end to Beulah, when Beulah abruptly lost her footing, tumbling the last few meters down to the curve of the spiral near Janet. Janet didn't react quickly enough, thinking she had finally killed Beulah, but the insect managed to recover as it hit the steps in front of her, swinging one massive back limb around to knock Janet's feet out from under her.

With a small scream, Janet dropped the gun and scrabbled desperately for a handhold as her body fell over the side. She'd probably survive a fall to the bottom at this height, but she'd definitely break a few bones. Just enough to allow Beulah to finish her off once and for all, she thought frantically, before going after Sam again.

At the last second her fingers hooked around the edge of one of the steps and she hung on desperately, legs dangling in the air below her. She had to hold on. Not only that, she thought as she tried to pull herself up over the edge, she had to get to the gun, which was wedged between two steps just a few feet away, and finish the job. If she let go, there was a chance she'd drop down a level or two, but she didn't trust herself to keep her footing on the uneven surface of the stairs. And even if she did manage to keep her balance, the rifle would be too far away for her to get to it.

She was just starting to swing her leg up onto the steps when Beulah lumbered forward, spraying her with clear, sticky blood that oozed from dozens of bullet holes in her head and thorax. One vicious forelimb shot forward and dragged across her back and shoulder, leaving a trail of fire as it sliced deeply into her flesh. Janet sucked in a deep, pained breath and nearly lost her grip as warm blood began to ooze down her back.

She was gasping for air, each ragged breath causing agony to flare in her back even as she felt her fingers slipping. Beulah's blood was pooling on the steps, making everything slippery. Beulah raised that forelimb again, and Janet braced herself for another attack, knowing she could not let go, no matter what. She had to hold on.

But the blow never came. Beulah faltered for a moment, limb raised high in the air as a spasm seemed to shudder through her. With a lurch, her massive abdomen rolled over the side and collided with Janet's body, nearly knocking her precarious hold loose. For a moment, the two hung there, side by side, Beulah's massive frame sliding lower and lower as Janet struggled to pull herself up. Dimly, Janet noticed that Beulah had stopped moving. Hazarding a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw that Beulah had extended her long back legs down so that she practically stood, precariously balanced between two rungs of the spiral.

The sight gave Janet an idea. With a small prayer, Janet swung her legs to her right, digging the toes of her boots into whatever footholds she could find. Keeping one hand wrapped tightly around the rim of the steps, she used the other to grab onto the exoskeleton that covered Beulah's neck and shoulders, fingers digging roughly into bullet holes. Beulah made some sound, a disgusting, wet wail that came out more as a sigh than a scream.

Janet was past caring, past all awareness as she felt Beulah buck beneath her, trying to shake her off. Grimly, she pushed even deeper into her gruesome handholds, determined to hold on, to use the shattered exoskeleton as a ladder. "I'm not letting go," she shouted, as if that would somehow matter. The rifle was just a few feet away; if she could just hold on, could just pull herself up a few feet more...

Bracing one boot against a ridge that ran down the center of Beulah's back, she hauled herself up and against the back of Beulah's head, pressing it roughly into the stairwell. With a final push, Janet pitched forward and sprawled gracelessly onto the steps, wincing as the edges dug into her ribcage as she slid downward for a second or two.

She'd done it, she thought, not quite believing that she'd actually managed it. Running now on pure adrenaline and anger, Janet pushed herself up and crawled up the steps toward Beulah on her hands and knees. The rifle was still there, and in a second, Janet had it tightly in her hands and was leaning over Beulah's ruined head, the barrel pointed right at what was left of her mouth.

Beulah lifted one limb, arcing it forward to defend herself. Janet clambered back as the sharp edge just barely missed her forearm. She discarded any doubts she might have had about finishing this once and for all and darted forward while Beulah was trying to recover her balance to shove the barrel of the rifle into her mouth. Without a second thought, she squeezed the trigger.

Beulah's head rocked violently back on her shoulders as the bullets tore through to whatever ganglia might be controlling her hunting instinct. With a cry, Janet released the trigger and shoved the gun forward with all her might, experiencing an almost primal sense of satisfaction as she felt tissue give way. Beulah gave her head several hard shakes, but Janet refused to let go, her grip so tight around the barrel that she half expected to see the bones and tendons of her knuckles pop out of her skin at any second.

Beulah took one final, futile swing at her. With all her might, Janet wrenched the end of the gun to the side. There was a loud crack as Beulah's head nearly came loose from her long thin neck. Janet yanked the gun free and prepared to open fire again.

Beulah gave one last twitch, then simply dropped away from the stairwell, falling into the darkness below.

For several long moments, Janet stood there, peering over the side. Her mind registered a distant thud against the backdrop of her hammering heart and gasping breaths. The pain from the wound on her back resurfaced suddenly and throbbed in time with her heart.

She had to go down and make sure the job was finished, she thought. As her arms and legs started to tremble, she swallowed and looked down at the battered weapon in her hands.

"Janet?" a quiet voice said from behind her. Startled, having forgotten that anyone else in the world but herself and Beulah even existed, Janet whirled, bringing the rifle up. "Hey, hey! Watch it," Sam said, lifting her hands in the air.

All Janet could do was stare at Sam as the trembling in her hands got worse and worse. She couldn't lower the gun, she couldn't speak. She couldn't let go.

Janet watched mutely as Sam walked slowly down the few steps between them and curled her fingers around the barrel of the rifle, gently pulling it toward her and turning it to the side. Janet simply followed the gun, closing the distance between them until she was close enough to feel the heat of Sam's body. Her fingers were wrapped so tightly around the weapon that Janet was certain they'd never come loose. "I have to hold on," she whispered, dully.

Sam nodded slowly, as if that explained everything, then reached down and began to carefully pry Janet's stiff fingers away from the trigger with a gentle, reassuring touch. As her right hand slipped away from the rifle, Janet felt a momentary panic set in. Sam wrapped a hand lightly around Janet's wrist, and guided her hand forward. Without thinking, Janet tangled her fingers tightly into the fabric of Sam's flack vest. After that, it was surprisingly easier to let go of the gun, Janet thought, as her left arm wrapped around Sam's neck, fingers curling tightly around Sam's collar. She buried her face against Sam's neck, thinking she was never going to let go.

"It's okay," Sam whispered in her ear as Janet felt Sam's arms slip protectively around her waist. "Hold on to me now," Sam said. "Just hold on to me."

Sam tightened her arms around Janet, still in awe over the battle she'd witnessed just moments ago. Janet trembled violently against her. Sam didn't need to see Janet's hands to know that the other woman was maintaining a knuckle-white grip on her, fingers screwed tightly into the fabric of her fatigues. There was a lot left to do, but Sam was content just to hold Janet. For the moment, nothing else mattered.

"I thought--" Sam choked, remembering the awful disorientation she'd experienced after falling over the side of the staircase, landing face down with her head lolling over the edge. "I must've blacked out when I hit the stairs," she continued.

Janet was slowly beginning to calm down, the shaking subsiding and ragged breaths evening out. Sam continued to speak soothingly into her ear. "I got down here as soon as I could, but there was nothing I could do..." The raw terror she'd felt watching Janet battle with Beulah was unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. She'd been forced to stand by helplessly, afraid to fire her weapon for fear of hitting Janet. And too afraid to intervene in the narrow arena in which the fight took place. She might have been able to tip the balance in Janet's favor, but she just as easily might have distracted the doctor, thereby giving Beulah the advantage.

In the end, she'd stood there momentarily paralyzed by fear and indecision, watching as Janet finished the giant insect off.

And now it was over. At least this part of it, she amended. Lifting one hand, she moved to massage the rigid muscles in Janet's shoulders, only to feel Janet flinch sharply as her fingers encounter sticky wetness. Inspecting her hand, Sam found it was coated with red blood. Instantly, she began to gently disentangle Janet from her. "You're hurt," Sam said softly, when Janet began to mutely protest. "I need to see how bad."

That seemed to break whatever spell Janet was under, and she pulled her face away from Sam's shoulder, staring up at her, eyes still wide with fear. She looked awful, Sam thought, her face and hair streaked with dust and sweat and Beulah's blood. Janet's eyes were glassy and bloodshot, too, and Sam was reminded of the anesthetic Beulah had used on her.

Sam frowned, placing her hands on Janet's shoulders and urging her to sit on a nearby step. "For what?"

Janet looked up at her for a moment, blinking in confusion, before shaking her head. "For worrying you. For getting you stuck in here. For getting Makepeace wounded. For disobeying orders." She paused, swallowing hard. "For everything. This is all my fault. You could've been killed," she added, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Well," Sam said gently, leaning down to brush the hair back from Janet's forehead. "I'm fine, and I'm going to stay fine." She glanced meaningfully behind her. "You took care of that." When Janet opened her mouth to protest, Sam cut her off. "And Makepeace will be fine, too. We'll get him out of here. As for you, you'll be fine too, once you let me take a look at that wound."

Janet looked like she was about to say something more, and Sam waited expectantly. But whatever it was, Janet apparently decided against it, because she closed her eyes, and nodded slowly, shifting so that her back was turned toward Sam.

"It went right through your flack vest," Sam said, gently pushing the torn fabric aside. "It's going to need stitches when we get back to the SGC." She panned her light over the ragged incision running diagonally across Janet's right shoulder and upper back. "You're going to have a really sexy scar," Sam added lightly.

"Yeah, but will I be able to play the violin?" Janet asked shakily, stuttering over the words. Sam could see her literally trying to get a grip on herself, and felt oddly reassured.

Sam paused, placing one hand gently on Janet's shoulder. "Uh, speaking of straight men..."

Janet nodded. "He's down there. I can find my way back to where I left him."

"Right," Sam said. "My pack is up a ways. I'll just run up and get it..." At her words she watched Janet's shoulders tense. But before Sam could utter any quick words of reassurance, Janet nodded. "I'll be right back," Sam said softly, then took the steps two at a time until she reached the pack she'd shrugged out of when she'd come to her senses after the fall.

When she bounded back down the steps, Janet had one hand over her shoulder, fingers gingerly probing the wound. "It's going to be difficult to put a field dressing on this," she observed, wincing as she moved her arm away. Sam took a seat behind her and opened the pack, pulling out the first aid kit and flipping it open. Then she helped Janet ease the shredded flack vest off her shoulders.

"I already know this is going to sting," Janet informed her, allowing Sam to peel her tshirt up to expose her back. "So just get it over with."

"They say doctors make the worst patients," Sam observed dryly, then set about cleaning the wound, doing her best to be gentle. "There's Tylenol in here."

Janet shook her head. "I don't dare," she replied, then hissed as Sam dabbed at the deepest part of the wound with a disinfectant-soaked piece of gauze. "I still feel like I've got a hangover from whatever Beulah sprayed in my face. It's probably safe enough, but I don't want to risk some kind of interaction." Janet's words tumbled quickly out of her mouth, and she wrapped one hand tightly around the edge of the steps. "That's enough," she groaned after a few seconds. "That's as clean as you're going to get it under the circumstances."

"Not quite," Sam replied, continuing to minister to the wound. "Paybacks are a bitch, Doctor. Just remember this the next time you dump disinfectant into the cut of some poor, unsuspecting astrophysicist."

"Yeah, yeah." Janet's tone was sarcastic, but Sam knew that the conversation was helping Janet to focus on more immediate concerns rather than dwelling on self-recrimination. "Point taken. And I want it noted that I'm resisting the urge to make any 'playing doctor' jokes at the moment."

Sam didn't respond to that, but her lips quirked into a smile, taking the humor, strained as it was, as a good sign. "Remind me to give you my hangover remedy when we get back," she said instead, laying several pieces of clean gauze over the gash and taping them carefully into place. "Your vest is ruined," Sam said, fingering the blood-soaked material, then began removing her own vest. "And your shirt's not much better. You'd better take my jacket."

"I left mine with Makepeace," Janet said, pulling her tshirt down over her back. "It seems to have disappeared. He managed to hang onto his weapon, but he lost my jacket."

"Typical jarhead," Sam observed, draping her jacket over Janet's shoulders. "No fashion sense." She helped Janet to her feet, then shrugged her flack vest back on.

"I guess I shouldn't complain," Janet said softly, resting one hand lightly on Sam's arm. "If I hadn't been armed..."

Sam reached down and took Janet's hand, squeezing her fingers lightly. "But you were," she said softly. It was an odd feeling, to be on the other end of the argument she'd had with O'Neill more times than she cared to count. She was always one to ponder the alternative, worry about what she should have or could have done differently; the Colonel was never one to dwell on the past, at least as far as she could tell, preferring to just accept how things worked out, whether for good or ill. Sam recognized the pragmatism, undoubtedly borne of weary experience, in O'Neill's attitude. "And she's dead," she continued, soothingly. "You killed her, and it's over. Now we've got to focus on getting out of here, OK?"

When Janet finally nodded slowly, Sam flashed her a reassuring grin. "Come on," she said, swinging her pack over her shoulder. Leaning down, she picked up the battered weapon Janet had used to finish Beulah off, and held it out to the other woman. Sam waited patiently as Janet reluctantly took it, giving her a strange look. She'd retrieve her rifle either on the way down, or at the bottom of the shaft, depending on where it had ended up. In the meantime, she felt it was only right that Janet hang on to Makepeace's weapon, especially considering the fact that she'd put it to very effective use only a short while ago. Together they started down the steps, Janet falling into step behind Sam.

Neither spoke during the descent, the shaft filled with the sounds of their boots against the metal of the stairs. As they neared the bottom, Sam sensed that Janet had slowed. She turned, and grasped Janet's hand. "It's OK," she whispered. Below them, Beulah's enormous carcass lay sprawled on the floor, her abdomen partially blocking the exit. "She's not moving."

"She could be faking," Janet said, and Sam heard her stifle an hysterical giggle.

"I don't think so," Sam said softly, using her light to point to Beulah's ruined head, which lay a good half a meter away from the carcass, completely severed. "Remind me never to piss you off," Sam added, admiration echoing in her tone.

"You know," Sam continued thoughtfully, walking to the bottom of the steps and pulling a slightly resistant Janet behind her, "This planet's gravity is almost exactly like Earth's. There's never been any indication in the fossil record of insects this size. Even that thing that stung Teal'c on BP63Q1 was only a foot long or so." She crouched down to examine the insect's inert form.

"So Beulah didn't evolve here, is that what you're saying?" Sam glanced up, Janet looked like she wanted nothing more than to get as far away from Beulah's remains as possible.

"I think it's a possibility," Sam added, rising and nudging Beulah's abdomen with the toe of her boot. "I'm not an evolutionary biologist," she added, biting her lip thoughtfully. "But I suppose there could be selective pressure for an insect of this size."

She stood pondering Beulah's still form for another moment or two, then shrugged. "We'll worry about that later," she said finally. "Let's go find Makepeace."

Glancing around, she spied her weapon lying just off to the side and quickly retrieved it. Stepping over Beulah, long legs making the task fairly easy, she turned and grasped Janet's upper arms, half-helping, half-lifting her over the carcass. She took a moment to steady the other woman before taking her hand and leading her down the alley.

At the edge of the alley opening out onto a huge clearing, however, she stopped short, barely feeling Janet collide with her. Staring out in horror, she panned her light slowly from left to right, then turned to look questioningly at Janet. "You woke up here?" she asked weakly, forcing herself not to look back out at the sea of bones in front of her.

Janet nodded mutely, pressing her lips together into a thin, tight line. Sam reached out and slipped an arm lightly around the other woman's shoulders, mindful of the gash on her back. Pulling Janet slowly to her, she pressed her cheek against the top of Janet's head, unable to contain a small shudder. "God, why didn't you tell me," she admonished quietly.

With a small shrug, Janet placed her hand on Sam's chest. "Knowing wouldn't have made any difference. You'd have just worried even more."

Sam couldn't even begin to imagine what it must have been like. But now, seeing the grim tableau with her own eyes, she understood the note of panic in Janet's voice that had filtered over the radio. "God..." she breathed again, pressing her lips to Janet's forehead before releasing her. Janet had had a pyramid fall on top of her, been attacked by a giant insect that looked like a reject from a 1950s B movie, awoken in this grisly place, and then been the victor in a duel to the death with that same monster. Any one of those elements, Sam was certain, would have been enough to reduce her to a babbling idiot. While Janet hadn't exactly taken all this in stride, she was holding up remarkable well, all things considered.

"Makepeace is that way," Janet said, pointing between two piles of bones, then moved to lead the way. Sam forced herself not to wonder where all these people had come from. It didn't require much imagination to make an educated guess, but the scale of the carnage was almost overwhelming. Better to stay focused on the plan of action, she told herself sternly. Find Makepeace, find a way out, in that order. She'd worry about the how and why of this place once everyone was safe.

Janet was still feeling dazed and disconnected as she and Sam slowly made their way back to where she'd left Makepeace. Glancing over her shoulder she could almost see Sam trying not to think about all the skeletons around them. And clearly losing the battle. For her part, she just felt numb; she'd already had to deal with so much already today.

Frowning, she glanced down at her watch. Just how long had they been trapped in here, anyway, she wondered. It felt like forever, like there was no other reality except this dark place. In truth, nearly ten hours had passed, and Janet wondered who General Hammond had sent to stay with Cassie, since both she and Sam were off world.

She felt another hysterical giggle bubble up in her throat. Off world. Given the circumstances, that was such an understatement it was laughable.

"How much further?" Sam asked, effectively distracting her from that train of thought. Luckily, she didn't have to even formulate an answer as she caught sight of Makepeace up ahead. Lifting one arm, she pointed. "Is he still alive?" Sam asked softly.

"He was when I left him," Janet answered, picking up her pace and kneeling beside the wounded man. She pressed her fingers to the underside of his chin, and felt him stir slightly. "Yep, he's still with us," she said.

"Let's get him out of here," Sam said, taking a moment to glance around her.

"There's an empty building back that way," Janet said, twisting to point behind her and to her left, feeling a painful twinge in her back as she strained the wound. Keep busy and try not to think too much, she lectured to herself.

"This was a city." Janet heard the note of hollow despair in Sam's voice and nodded slowly. "God..." Sam breathed. "All these people..." She watched Sam turn in a slow circle, as if she were trying to take it all in. Janet knew how she felt. "You know what? I don't think we're in the pyramid anymore."

Janet paused, resting her hands on her knees for a moment, and looked up at Sam in confusion. "Not in the pyramid?"

Sam shook her head. "The pyramid isn't big enough to house a city of this side inside it."

It was all very confusing. Janet resisted the urge to rub her forehead, instead turning her attentions back to her patient.

"I think we're under the pyramid." Sam was intrigued by the idea, Janet could tell. Her tone had taken on that same excited energy it got when she was really making progress on solving a problem.

But there were more practical matters to consider. "How does knowing that help us get out of here?" she asked, checking the strips of nylon holding the splint on Makepeace's calf in place.

She watched as Sam considered the question carefully for a few seconds. "I'll walk the perimeter," she said finally. "Maybe there's an exit somewhere."

Makepeace groaned loudly at that moment, and began moving his head from side to side. Janet passed a hand over his forehead, noting that he felt cool to the touch, then checked his pulse again. "Don't try to move. Open your eyes slowly," she instructed, cupping her hand over her light so as not to blind him. His eyes open a fraction, only to close again quickly, and he moaned loudly.

"I'm gonna be sick," he muttered thickly, and Janet quickly rolled him onto his side as he began to wretch violently. She took a moment to offer a small prayer of thanks that he hadn't regained consciousness before she'd gotten back to help him. If he'd gotten sick while lying on his back, he'd have asphyxiated on his own vomit. She should've rolled him on his side before running off, she admonished herself bitterly, thinking that she was really batting a thousand today.

"That sounds familiar," Sam quipped, and Janet shot her a dirty look. "He must've gotten a bigger dose of the stuff than you did," Sam added, ignoring the look.

Janet shrugged. "Makes sense. That would explain why he's been unconscious longer." Janet felt a wave of sympathy for him--if he'd gotten a larger dose he was almost certain to feel sicker than she did, and that was hard to imagine.

"What's the situation?" he managed to croak after several long moments, once the worst of the nausea had passed. "You the cavalry, Carter?"

"Something like that," Sam said, with a smile, then preceded to fill him in on what had transpired while he'd been unconscious. Though he had stopped vomiting, Janet kept Makepeace on his side, one hand pressed supportively between his shoulder blades.

"No shit, you killed it, Doc?" Makepeace asked, shrugging her hand off and moving to sit up after Sam finished telling him about Beulah's last moments. It was meant as a compliment, but there was no mistaking the note of doubtful incredulity in his voice either.

"We're going to get you out of this clearing and into one of the buildings," Janet said, deciding she didn't really want to talk about Beulah anymore. If Makepeace had noticed the bones strewn all about them, he hadn't shown any indication of it. But he quickly nodded in agreement, and leaned heavily against the two women as they assisted him to the empty building Janet had found earlier.

"You two are on perimeter duty," he said, once they'd gotten him settled. Sam immediately began to protest, but Makepeace cut her off. "You each go in a direction and meet in the middle. The bug's dead, and Doc has already proven that she can handle herself in case there's another one." That wasn't entirely true, Janet thought giddily. She didn't particularly want to be on her own again, not so soon after finding Sam. "Give me your sidearm, Major. I'll monitor things from here while you two look for a way out. Check in every five minutes."

"You and I both know, Major, that Hammond's probably got the entire SGC working to get us out of here. I intend to meet them at least halfway. If that means splitting up to find a way out of here faster, then so be it." He leaned heavily against the wall, clearly drained by the conversation. "You have your orders, Major. Move out."

Janet watched as Sam stiffened, then, with a curt nod, turned and exited. Taking a moment to sling Makepeace's rifle over her shoulder, Janet reluctantly followed. Things were supposed to be better once Sam found her, she thought. Instead, here they were splitting up again, about to set out on a terrifying hunt through a dark and dangerously unfamiliar city. A few paces outside of the building, well away from Makepeace's position, Janet reached out and grabbed Sam's wrist tightly.

Instantly, Sam's eyes filled with sympathy, and she nodded. Then she reached out, cupping Janet's cheek with her free hand. "You can do this," she said simply. "I don't like it either but Makepeace is right. This'll go faster if we split up." From the look in her eyes, Janet knew this was the last thing Sam wanted to do at the moment.

Lifting one hand, she placed it over the one Sam had pressed against her face. "What if there's another Beulah?"

It was a lie, Sam's voice sounding far more confident than the expression in her eyes indicated. But Janet clung to it anyway, certain she'd never been more grateful to be lied to in her entire life. Closing her eyes, she took a moment to lean into Sam's touch, drawing much needed strength and reassurance from such a simple gesture.

"You're right," she finally murmured, pulling Sam's fingers away from her face with a small sigh, but she continued to maintain the contact between their hands. "We'd have seen some sign."

Sam nodded, releasing her hand after giving it one final squeeze, then lead her down the narrow avenue that lead to what the rocky wall that ran around the city. "We'd better get going. Right or left?" she asked.

Janet thought for a moment, inspecting both directions carefully. Both were clear for several meters, then blocked by buildings built right into the rocky wall. "Left," she said. "I guess we search the buildings along the way?" she asked, swallowing shakily, not liking the idea at all.

"'Fraid so," Sam said. "Don't spend too much time, though. Just give them a once over."

With a nod, Janet stepped past Sam, giving her one last meaningful look before moving away. She could feel Sam's eyes on her as she strode along the passageway, her light glinting off the uneven rocky surface of the wall to her right.

Too soon for her tastes she reached the first structure built into the outer wall of the city. Gratefully, she noted that it was a single story, which meant she didn't have to climb any stairs to check out a second floor. She could get by with shining her light in through the entrance without having to actually go inside. That was fine by her, she thought.

Empty, a few pieces of smashed furniture littering the dusty floor. The walls were bare save for a drawing on the ceiling. Curious, Janet held her light up to examine the artwork more closely and saw an outline that was suspiciously Beulah-shaped.

"Ladies," Makepeace's voice crackled over the radio, startling her and causing the light to shake unsteadily in her hand for a moment. "Anything to report?"

"Nothing, sir," she heard Sam say. "I've passed two buildings, but they were both empty. No sign of any exit."

"Same here," Janet said, backing away and moving past the building, pausing only to flash her light down the dark alleyway running away from the wall to her left.

Left once again with only the sound of her ragged breaths, Janet picked up the pace, thinking that she'd meet up with Sam again that much sooner if she just moved a little faster. This whole business was unnerving, everything too dark and too quiet and too exposed.

Another building, this one a dismaying three stories tall. The ground floor had been a shop of some kind, the walls lined with dusty, ruined display cases, all empty. A dilapidated spiral staircase stood in one corner of the room, several of the steps missing, or cracked nearly in half. The whole thing looked unstable and ready to collapse should she breathe on it too heavily. Glancing around, it was obvious the staircase was the only access to the upper floors of the structure. Sam had told her not to take any chances. With one last long look at the staircase, Janet decided that trying to negotiate it was simply too risky, and backed out of the building.

Five check-ins and four buildings passed uneventfully, and Janet was beginning to think neither one of them was going to find anything remotely resembling a way out. And the passage of time had done nothing to calm her nerves either. If anything, she was beginning to feel more and more uneasy with each passing minute, unable to shake horrible images of the three of them dying of thirst in here, three more carcasses to add to the countless others already littering the city. It was a gruesome, disheartening image, made all the worse for its vividness.

Doggedly, she pushed the image out of her mind and pressed on. At the rate she was going, she was becoming her own worst enemy, and would end up paralyzing herself if she didn't focus and try to get a grip on herself. Looking around, she noticed that the alleyways and avenues were expanding, the number of buildings diminishing.

Walking past yet another dilapidated, empty building Janet found herself standing on the edge of what appeared to be an enormous clearing. The outer wall of the city continued to curve ahead of her to her right, but other than the cluster of buildings she'd just passed, there were no structures in her immediate vicinity. Panning her flashlight around in the empty space, the beam revealed only dusty, bare, pavement as far as her light could penetrate.

She hadn't liked walking past dark, menacing alleyways, always afraid of catching some furtive movement out of the corner of her eye, something darting through the spaces between the buildings. Somehow, though, this huge empty space was even more disconcerting, making her feel small and vulnerable. But she forced herself to take it as a hopeful sign--maybe she was close to an exit and prayed it wouldn't be locked, or blocked in some way. Thousands of people had died down here--surely if they'd had a way to escape, they'd have taken it, she thought.

Walking cautiously forward, acutely conscious of the sound of her boots thudding against the floor, Janet held Makepeace's rifle in front of her with one hand and reached for the radio with the other. It wasn't quite time to check in, but Janet knew this was worth reporting.

"I think so. Not an exit, but I'm in a clearing. I'm still following the outer wall of the city, but there aren't any buildings nearby. Wait a minute!" Up ahead, the uneven rock wall had given way to a black gap. Unconsciously, Janet slowed her steps, then stopped, her light trained on the irregular hole in the wall. "There's an opening, just ahead."

"Stay where you are," Sam said. "Colonel, I'm going to double back and find Doctor Fraiser."

"Affirmative, Major. Keep checking in, though. Doc, grab some cover and sit tight."

Makepeace and Sam signed off, and Janet stood looking around the empty space for several long moments. "Cover," she muttered. "Right." In the end, she decided to double back herself and meet Sam halfway, deciding there wasn't a hope in China that she was going to investigate that gap herself. It might be a way out, it might be nothing, it might be some kind of dangerous trap. An unbidden image of a headless Beulah lurching out of the darkness make her experience a creepy sense of being tracked by something lethal lurking just beyond the limits of her light. She broke into a panicked run, ducking gratefully past a building on the edge of the clearing, taking a moment to lean heavily against the wall.

Sam would be here in a few minutes, she told herself. They'd check out the tunnel, discover it was a way out, and this business would be done with once and for all. Janet told herself that the only thing she had left to worry about was what General Hammond was going to do to her for disobeying orders. Given everything that she'd been through today, that suddenly didn't seem so worrisome.

Janet was shaking badly now, unnerved by her over-active imagination. It was like the old Saturday morning cartoons, bloodshot eyes appearing from the shadows the second the intrepid junior sleuth walked past. A sound, any sound right now would be enough to cause her to have a heart attack and die right on the spot, she was certain.

The eyes, she couldn't get away from the eyes. Janet spun, frantically searching the darkness behind her, before whirling to search in front of her again. They were there. She could feel them, creeping closer whenever her back was turned, scuttling away from the light whenever she faced them.

Sam was pretty certain she'd never run this fast in her entire life, not even on the obstacle course in basic training with Sergeant Morris dogging her heels every step of the way while screaming insults about pathetic scientists into her ear. In less than half the time it had taken her to travel the length of her portion of the route she was back at the starting point.

Once there, she slowed momentarily, debating whether or not to check on Makepeace, then decided against it. That Janet might have found the way out gave Sam every reason to hurry, anxious not only to get out of there herself, but to get Janet out as well.

If the truth were told, just about any reason would've been sufficient for her to abandon her own search to team up with Janet. She'd been against splitting up in the first place but had agreed with Makepeace that finding a way out had to take priority over everything else. Janet hadn't said anything, but Sam had detected a discernable note of frayed nervousness in the other woman's voice as she'd spoken over the radio. Given everything she'd been through today, Sam could certainly understand why Janet might be close to cracking up from stress and resolved to move even faster.

A fast pace and no stopping to quickly search buildings made up for a lot of time, and it wasn't long before Sam thought she was close to Janet's position. As she ran around a building she saw Janet's light waving in the distance.

Something was wrong. Janet's light was swinging back and forth, as if she were searching frantically for something. The sight made the hair stand up on the back of her neck. Surely Janet would have contacted her if she'd run into any real trouble. Maybe she'd dropped something.

Still, Sam slowed, tightening her grip on her rifle and approaching cautiously, aware that Janet's nerves were probably on a hair trigger, and that she was armed. Walking forward slowly, Sam saw Janet on the very edge of her flashlight beam. For not the first time Sam wished they could at least find some lights--being in the dark was making this that much worse. Janet was spinning frantically, searching the darkness as if she were expecting something horrible to come out of it. She wasn't carrying Makepeace's rifle anymore, Sam noticed.

As if sensing Sam's light, Janet turned and held her light up, shining it directly at Sam. Squinting, Sam shielded her eyes with one hand, keeping the other on her rifle. "What's wrong?" she whispered.

"Sam?" It was the pleading note in Janet's voice that drove Sam forward. Janet met her half way, grabbing her shirt and shoving her into the shelter of a hulking building. Sam was so shocked that she simply let Janet push her against the wall. There, she huddled against Sam, clutching the fabric of Sam's tshirt tightly in one fist.

"Where is it?" Sam asked. There had to be another Beulah somewhere nearby. That was the only explanation for Janet's behavior that Sam could come up with. Glancing down, she saw that Janet's eyes were tightly closed, her breathing deep and ragged. She wanted to wrap her arms around the other woman, offer some small comfort, but Sam was too afraid to let her guard down, let go of her weapon even for a moment.

"There's nothing there," Janet breathed quietly. It sounded to Sam as though Janet were trying to convince herself of that, rather than stating a fact. "Nobody's watching..."

Frowning, Sam put one hand on Janet's shoulder, surprised to feel her flinch and nearly pull away. "What's going on?" she asked, beginning to get really frightened.

"I think-" Janet started to choke out, then swallowed, forcing her eyes open. Her words were halting, punctuated by long pauses. "I'm cracking up. I'm delusional--paranoid." She laughed crazily then, and Sam was certain she'd never heard a more ghastly sound in all her life. "A few lucid moments."

Sam felt a chill slide up her spine, and she tightened her grip on Janet's shoulder. She'd seen Janet like this once before, after she and O'Neill had been infected by Machello's anti-Goa'uld devices. At the time Sam had been amazed by Janet's ability to think rationally and logically under the circumstances. Hell, she'd even done better than Warner and he'd been stone cold sober at the time.

This had to be so much worse, Sam realized. Then, despite the effect of the devices, they'd been in a familiar place surrounded by equipment and people to help. Here, they were trapped inside a nightmare. "Are you sure?" she asked, pulling away slightly, forcing the other woman to look up at her. It was understandable, all things considered. "You're sure you didn't see or hear something? Anything? Movement?" There had to be a rational explanation for this.

Well that was disturbing, Sam thought, resisting the urge to glance over her shoulder just to make sure nobody was there. Not just the image Janet's words evoked, but the fact that the words seemed to confirm Janet's diagnosis. She thought back to the incident with Machello's devices. Janet had been delusional there, too, terrified that Sam was a Goa'uld.

But there'd been a definite source of it then, the tiny slug-like devices that had entered her body, heading straight for the central nervous system.

She had a sudden thought. Reaching for her radio she signaled Makepeace. "How are you feeling, Sir?" she asked.

"To borrow a phrase from your commanding officer, Major, I'm feeling 'just peachy.'"

"Both you and Doctor Fraiser were exposed to a toxin from Beu-from the giant insect that brought you down here," she began. Next to her, Janet leaned back, blinking up at her in shock. "You were both unconscious, then violently ill. Doctor Fraiser is experiencing delusions-"

"And you're wondering if I'm feeling the same way," Makepeace cut her off. "Not yet, but I'll be sure to let you know. Is Fraiser with you now?"

That puzzled Sam for a second. Why would Janet throw away her weapon if she were afraid? Then it dawned on her. At some point, Janet had figured out what was happening, at least on some level, and also knew that Sam was on her way. She'd thrown away the gun to avoid injuring anyone, most of all Sam. Swallowing past a thick lump in her throat, Sam nodded, then signed off, telling Makepeace she'd contact him in a few minutes. She'd never have been able to toss her weapon had their circumstances been reversed. Her weapon was so much a part of her that she rarely ever noticed it was there, even when she was holding it ready.

"What do you think?" she asked, hoping to distract Janet, who was glancing furtively around her again. "Is my hypothesis plausible?"

"Unless you see a lot of people lurking in the shadows," Janet said shakily. "It's very plausible. Whatever it is, it could've metabolized into some kind of hallucinogen. But just between you and me, I think I've finally just lost it."

"I guess we'll know if Makepeace starts seeing things," Sam said lightly. "It's not too hard to let your imagination run away with you here," she added. "But, if there's one thing I've learned about you, it's that you're not given to paranoid delusions without some outside intervention. I'm willing to bet I'm right on this one, and your symptoms will wear off soon." The more she thought about it, the more Sam was certain she was right. Janet had been through a lot, but she couldn't imagine any circumstance that would cause Janet to lose her sanity, not without some intervening agent.

Janet closed her eyes, and leaned briefly against Sam for a moment. "Not soon enough," she whispered. "I just want to go home," she added, straightening.

"You and me both," Sam said, slipping her arm around Janet's shoulders, pressing her close for a moment. Janet had been through enough. Sam wasn't leaving her side again until they found a way out, and she was determined to get Janet out of here as soon as possible. "Come on"

Slipping out of the building, Janet in tow, Sam made her way to the edge of the clearing. "Holy Hannah!" she exclaimed as she panned her light around, amazed at the size.

Sam didn't answer, just reached behind her and took Janet's hand, then followed the wall until they both stood near the opening. "You'd think they'd have used this if it was an exit," Sam said, trying not to think of the piles of bodies she'd seen when they'd found Makepeace.

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would they want to stay here and be killed?"

Janet was silent, and Sam paused briefly to look at her. She was frowning, staring intently at her hand where it was clutching Sam's flack vest. Deciding that Janet was trying to focus her thoughts, Sam opted to drop the subject for the time being. Instead, she crept forward, shining her light into the tunnel. She felt Janet tense, and didn't blame her one bit. Sam didn't have a drug in her system, yet she felt like something was going to jump out at her any second.

It was a long expanse of tunnel, the beam of her light not even reaching the end. And unlike all the other walls and tunnels she'd seen, this one was far from featureless. Along the curved walls and floor were carvings, figures and symbols etched deep in the stone, covering every inch. Daniel would have a field day in here, she thought, stepping into the tunnel.

They walked slowly, Sam studying the etchings carefully, sighing in exasperation. "I can't make heads or tails out of this," she said after a few moments. "It's all Greek to me."

Stopping, she held her light up to a set of markings in a panel set apart from the rest. Glancing first left, then right, Sam realized this special panel was in the exact center of the tunnel. Behind them was the enormous clearing they'd just left; ahead was a door made of the same reflective metal she'd seen in the stairwell.

Sam examined the panel carefully, looking for any sign that it was a door or control panel. Or just something, she decided. Puzzles were all well and good, but this whole place was far too cryptic for her liking. It was well past time for there to be something simple and straightforward, she decided.

But the panel, despite the markings and the frame that set it apart from the other walls, was keeping its secrets to itself. Reaching out, Sam brushed her hand over one of the glyphs, fingertips lightly tracing the pattern.

Instantly, the entire tunnel came to life, each pattern and figure suddenly glowing with dull orange light. Behind her, Janet gasped sharply, staring around her in amazement. In mere seconds, the eerie light faded. But when Sam touched the wall again, the etchings briefly flared to life once more. "Cool!" she breathed, smiling and activating the wall again. Daniel was going to love this!

"You see it, too?" she heard Janet breathe in relief behind her. "I thought I was hallucinating."

"You're not hallucinating," Sam said reassuringly. "I don't know what it does. It might not do anything."

"Meaning it might just be art?" Janet asked, her voice tight as she reached out to activate the wall. But when her fingers made contact with a long, spiraling glyph that ran up the wall and partially over their heads, the patterns remained dark and inactive to her touch.

"That's interesting," Sam said, touching the same glyph Janet had just tried. The walls came to life briefly around them. "Touch here," Sam instructed, pointing to a small pyramid-like etching. She watched in curiosity as Janet's fingers moved across the wall.

"What do you think it is?" Janet asked, drawing her fingers back as if they'd been burned when the glyphs remained dark to her touch.

"I have absolutely no idea," Sam said, resisting the urge to touch the wall again. For all she knew, this was a control panel and they were completely restructuring some part of the pyramid.

Sam shrugged. "It could be the naquada in my system. Or the protein marker Jolinar left." She didn't need to voice the thought that immediately passed through her brain; if the wall was reacting to either of those elements in her blood, then they were now dealing with some kind of Goa'uld technology.

"It could be anything," Sam said, pushing that thought away until they had more evidence one way or the other. She stopped and looked down the hallway, at the shiny door at the other end. "Let's go check that out," she said, indicating the door with her light. Reaching out, she wrapped Janet's hand tightly in hers and lead the way further down the tunnel.

Janet could see their reflections against the door, distorted weirdly by the overlapping beams of their flashlights. It reminded her of the mirrors in the funhouse at a local street fair in Colorado Springs that she and Sam had taken Cassie to see. The three of them had stood in front of a mirror that had given her short, stumpy legs and a long, skinny torso. Cassie had loved it.

Swallowing, Janet allowed Sam to lead her forward until they stood just in front of the door. Automatically, Sam began to pan her light around, searching for a control panel to open it. For her part, Janet remained close to Sam, fighting the urge to check the dark tunnel behind them, hunting for those eyes she was still certain were there, watching them.

Sam had to be right about the substance Beulah had knocked her out with. While a part of her still wasn’t sure she wasn’t losing her sanity, the larger part of her hoped desperately for an alternative explanation. And it did make a certain sense, though Janet found herself in the perverse position of actually hoping that Makepeace started manifesting symptoms similar to hers soon. Then, at least, she’d know for sure.

Abruptly the glittering blockade in front of them dropped noiselessly into the floor. Sam’s arm shot up in front of her, and Janet was forced to take a step away from the opening.

"I guess that was it," Sam said before Janet could ask her if she’d found the control or if the door had just opened on its own. "Finally, something that looked familiar." There was a note of triumph in her voice. Sam kept her eyes fixed on the dark, open space in front of them, and Janet was grateful to be shielded protectively behind her.

Peering out around Sam’s shoulder, Janet followed Sam’s flashlight beam as it tracked through the opening. "It looks like a lab," Janet whispered, eyes sweeping over an array of equipment that had clearly not been used in many years. Some of it she recognized immediately, the sort of stuff you’d find in any advanced biochemistry lab. Others pieces looked completely unfamiliar and alien to her.

Janet felt Sam shift forward, and saw that she was examining the doorframe to their left carefully. "Looks like there are controls on both sides," she said after a moment. "But, just to be on the safe side, lets make sure. See if you can close the door. All you have to do is wave your hand in front of that panel there."

Stepping away from Sam, Janet reached out and passed her hand in front of a small circular panel set into the wall. Instantly, the door rose and the entrance to the lab was blocked once again. While it by no means explained why the wall hadn’t worked for her, Janet felt immeasurably reassured to find she could activate the door. She had a pretty good idea what Sam had in mind.

"Good," Sam said, nodding in satisfaction, then opened the door again. "I’m going to go in and see if the controls on the other side of the door work."

"I’ll give you thirty seconds," Janet said. Unless this was another bizarre design of the pyramid builders, she’d be able to open the door if the controls on the other side didn’t work. She hoped they did, however, since she didn't particularly relish the thought that one of them would have to wait here while the other searched the lab. Even if they kept the door open, the thought was still disconcerting.

As it turned out, there was no need to worry. Sam stepped through, closed the door, then quickly reopened it, reassuring both of them that they wouldn’t become trapped inside the lab and that they could both investigate it. Janet was just as glad Sam had been quick--she wasn’t feeling any less paranoid than she had been, but Sam’s presence reassured her beyond words.

"You’d think," Janet said as she stepped into the chamber, "that if there’s power for the doors, there’d be power for lights or something."

"You’d think," Sam agreed with her, then turned to examine the walls. Craning her neck, Janet saw that Sam was looking closely at a series of switches set into the wall just inside the room. "You don’t suppose?" she asked, glancing back at her.

Janet watched Sam consider it for a moment, then she slowly reached out and pressed one of the buttons. With a hum, a row of bright white lights came to life directly above them. They shone intensely for a moment, then faded to a dull yellow. The two women stood there, tensely waiting for the light to fade completely, but the room remained lit, and after a moment, Janet breathed a huge sigh of relief.

She felt Sam’s hand land on her shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. "Yeah," she said knowingly, then pressed the remaining three buttons, flooding the room with light.

As the far end of the room was illuminated, Janet reflexively let out a small shriek as she spotted a familiar, hulking shape in the corner. Instantly, Sam was in front of her, pressing her back against the wall, rifle held up ready. Dimly, in between a sense of raw terror, Janet felt a wave of relief that Sam saw it too wash over her.

For several long moments, she stood huddled against Sam’s back, frozen in fear. At any moment she expected the giant insect to rise up and make its way toward them on long, spindly legs.

But there was no movement, no sound. It just sat there, unmoving, lying on a massive table. Black eyes stared emptily at them. Slowly, Sam lowered her weapon and stepped forward.

It was dead. As she gradually got over the shock of terror, Janet saw that this insect was practically mummified, little more than a dry husk. As they moved closer, Janet noticed massive bands of metal bending around what had once been dangerous limbs and a massive body. A smaller band clamped the insect’s neck to the table, and had obviously been designed to restrict head movement.

Curious now, Janet drifted past Sam, moving closer to the hulking carcass. While every detail of her battle with Beulah was stamped indelibly on her brain, it was almost a relief to examine what she’d fought and killed in such a detached, clinical setting. Her eyes passed over the enormous abdomen, noting that it was smooth and unsegmented and entirely encased in an exoskeleton. Six legs, including massive back limbs rose out of a thorax covered in distinct plates. She really did look like an enormous praying mantis.

Especially the head, Janet thought, moving even closer, barely noticing when Sam put a restraining hand on her back. Also covered in exoskeleton, the head was triangular, with enormous dark eyes on either side. Due to the state of decay, however, these eyes were sunken in and looked as though they might crumble to dust if she breathed on them too hard.

It was the mouth that caught her attention. A clear mask had been forced over the lower part of the insect’s head, heavy clamps on either side forcing the powerful mandibles apart. A tube ran from the mask, and Janet followed it to an apparatus that looked decidedly familiar.

"They were distilling the venom," she breathed in wonder. In med school, she and her roommate had joined in a friendly challenge from a few other students from her year. The still had taken up most of their tiny kitchen, but they’d become rather infamous for their home-made hooch.

This setup was slightly different, but certainly recognizable. It was comforting to know, Janet decided, that there was a certain universality of technology, even all the way on the other side of the galaxy.

Sam stepped closer and looked over her shoulder, examining the apparatus closely. "This place just gets weirder and weirder," she observed after a moment.

Next to the distilling apparatus were a row of parchment scrolls laid out neatly from end to end. Sam was quietly fingering one of the scrolls, and Janet noted that flakes of the paper were coming off on Sam’s fingers. "I don’t dare open one," Sam said finally, pulling her hand away. "But the way these are arranged on this table, I’d say they were used for some kind of ritual."

"Wait a minute," she said, suddenly digging into her pocket. "I found this in one of the houses," she said holding up the rough-hewn figurine of Beulah she’d found. Sam took it and examined it curiously before handing it back to Janet. "There’s a small fortune in Beulah statues down here. Maybe some giant bug worshipping cult lived here. If the venom has narcotic properties, maybe they were using it to induce visions or something."

"All those people," Janet breathed, looking at the scrolls. "You don’t think…"

Janet saw what had to be a mirror of her own expression of horror slowly cross Sam’s face. "Mass suicide?" she finally asked weakly.

"Or mass murder," Janet added. "I thought they’d all been dragged down here as food, but there are too many of them." She tried to remember if she’d seen any sign of trauma on the bodies, but finally gave up, admitting to herself that she hadn’t exactly been paying attention.

They both stood for a moment trying to digest the scope of it all. Then Sam closed her eyes and ducked her head. "Come on," she said. "All that happened a long time ago. Lets search the rest of this place. Maybe we’ll find a way out or a map or something."

Sam was right, Janet told herself. Whatever happened here, it had happened a very long time ago. Nodding, Janet forced her gaze away from the giant insect sprawled across the table and swept the room with her eyes.

Like everything else in this pyramid, this room was huge, a large crescent-shaped chamber curving around the opening of the tunnel. Rows of tables, each with equipment on them fanned out, with the distilling apparatus and scrolls in the corner. On the walls, Janet saw more of the same type of drawings she’d seen in at least one of the buildings she’d checked.

Sam had moved to the other side of the room and was leaning over a box that sported a black panel on the front. It was caked with dust. "You know," she said as Janet moved to examine a piece of equipment she couldn’t even begin to fathom, "This place is probably a technological gold mine."

Nodding, Janet gently pulled open a drawer in the workbench she was near. "It’ll take us years to figure out most of this stuff," she said, pulling out what looked like a typical PDA, complete with stylus. "I recognize a few pieces, but most of it is pretty advanced, and in pretty bad shape." She turned the pad over in her hands looking for a power switch, but found nothing. The back and sides were completely smooth. Pulling the stylus free, she pressed it experimentally against the small screen, signing when nothing happened.

Sam could probably make this work, she thought darkly, thinking about how the glyphs in the wall had refused to light up to her touch. What piece of the puzzle that was, Janet had no idea. Maybe it was some kind of weird testing apparatus to see who might have been inadvertently exposed to the agent in Beulah’s venom.

"Senator Kinsey still harasses General Hammond about finding useful technology. I’ll bet a million dollars that we’ll find lots of useful technology here," Sam said, smiling over at her. "Not to mention the fact that this pyramid is pretty much an engineering marvel all by itself."

"Great. Then he’ll be in a good mood when he court martials me and Makepeace," Janet said without missing a beat. She laid the PDA-like device down on the lab bench in disgust and moved on.

By her estimation, nearly an hour had passed since she’d started imagining eyes staring at her out of the darkness. Having light and having Sam nearby were helping her to focus and she didn’t feel quite so panicked or on-edge as she had been. She wondered if perhaps the drug was beginning to wear off, and she hoped so. The thought that the inhabitants of the city might have been distilling it to make it stronger made her shudder abruptly. It was more than potent enough for her.

As she stepped around another of the seemingly countless work tables that filled the room she glanced down at the floor and recoiled quickly, nearly losing her balance. Before she’d completely stabilized herself, Sam was at her side, grasping her elbow. "I’m all right," she said, indicating the floor in front of her.

At their feet was a small black circle set into the stone. Instinctively, Janet looked up, to see if there was one in the ceiling, noting that Sam was doing the same. There was, a circle of the same shape situated directly over the one on the floor.

After a moment, Janet joined Sam in looking at the circular panel, staring deep into the blackness. Squinting, Janet tried to see if there was any machinery or circuitry hidden behind the panel.

It was a perfect, matte black and the longer Janet stared into it, the more she felt like she was staring into some endless, black void. She imagined that if she stood there looking into it long enough it would eventually suck her soul down into it and she’d be trapped.

Abruptly, Janet straightened, the thought sending a chill through her. She moved to grab Sam’s arm, thinking to pull her away from whatever it was they were looking at.

"Just a minute," Sam said, shaking off Janet’s arm. Janet watched in horror as Sam reached out and waved her arm over the panel on the floor, then they both jumped back when the air in front of them suddenly crackled with energy. "I thought so," Sam said triumphantly, and Janet spared her a quick, annoyed glance, thinking Sam could have at least given her some warning. Quickly though, her attention was drawn back to the panel.

Floating in front of them, with the Stargate in the foreground, was a perfect, three-dimensional image of the pyramid, complete with sprawling city underneath.

Sam walked slowly around the floating image, one part of her mind noting that there'd been no dust on the panel nor had the activation of the image stirred any up despite the fact that the room was filled with dust. The image was detailed right down to the smallest stone block as far as she could tell at this scale. Gingerly, she stretched her fingers out again to see what would happen.

The image didn't change, but a column of colored squares appeared to the left of the image as she stood facing it, and an empty window appeared on the right. None of the colored squares were labeled, and none of the colors were repeated.

"Alien Tetris?" Janet asked dryly, her face framed between the image of the pyramid and the colored squares.

"Function buttons, I'm guessing," Sam replied, lifting her hand to sweep the tips of her fingers through the blue square at the very top. With any luck, this was a map and that big red "you are here" dot she'd fantasized about earlier would miraculously appear.

"O-kay," she said slowly. "Maybe I'm on the wrong side. You try it." Sam watched as Janet looked like she'd rather bolt from the room than have anything to do with this, but she reached up quickly and touched the blue square, again with no results. "Now try the one just below it."

That square was yellow and when Janet's fingers passed through it, the solid walls of the pyramid suddenly melted away to reveal the internal structure, leaving only a wire-frame representation of the outer shell. The internal structure was mildly transparent, revealing a complicated, layered internal structure.

"That's more like it," Sam said, her eyes flicking to the window that had opened up alongside the pyramid. Figures were scrolling rapidly from left to right across it. "These must be schematics of some sort," Sam observed. There was no hope of deciphering them, not without Daniel anyway, so she turned her attention back to the pyramid.

There was a huge inverted cone suspended inside the pyramid, she realized quickly. That explained the moving walls and tunnels. The entire inside of the pyramid could be realigned along a central axis, presumably the circular stairway she'd taken down to the city. At the apex of the cone was the square room she'd entered, with the sloping tunnels she'd followed curving along the outside of the cone.

"This is…" Sam paused, unable to come up with a suitable word to describe what she was seeing. She finally gave up and shrugged helplessly. Waving one hand, she beckoned Janet, who moved to stand beside her. "There's a shaft that drops into this room," she explained. "Teal'c and I climbed up the outside of the pyramid and then he lowered me down into this room. I took the west tunnel down to here," she said, one finger following the translucent tunnel to the larger, domed room in which she'd found the circular stairwell.

"That looks like the tunnel Makepeace and I entered," Janet said, pointing to the base of the pyramid. "You can even see the debris blocking the tunnel, but I don't see a clear route back to it, or back up to the room at the top," she said, frustration evident in her voice.

It occurred to Sam that it might be a good idea to give Janet something to do while she examined the pyramid's schematics. She was sure she could find a way out, given enough time. Straightening, Sam put a hand on Janet's shoulder. "Look," she said. "It's going to take me awhile to figure this out. Why don't you check in with Makepeace, then finish looking around in here, OK?"

Janet nodded, pursing her lips. "In other words, you'd like me to get out of your hair for a few minutes."

"Just for a few minutes," Sam added, a smile quirking her lips. She watched as Janet moved a few yards away and activated her radio, before turning her attention back to the schematic. As soon as Janet had pointed out the blockage in the tunnel Sam had realized that this was a current map of the pyramid, rather than some map of it in an idealized state. She hadn't decided yet if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Glancing up at the scrolling figures in the window again, Sam wondered why it was that nearly every culture they met spoke perfect English, yet few of them actually wrote in English. Instead, they usually wrote in some form of Latin, or Chinese, or some obscure dialect that she was sure only Daniel had ever heard of. He could probably stand here and look at this for about thirty seconds, then begin translating without any problem.

No such luck for her, though, she thought, turning her attention back to the cone as she walked slowly around the display. It looked like that entrance at the base was the only main entrance. Were it not blocked, Sam saw that it led to a small central chamber, basically a smaller version of the domed room she'd found. Unlike the domed room, however, which had only four exits, this room had dozens entrances, all leading to a complex maze of smaller tunnels. A turn of the cone just a few degrees clockwise would cause the entire configuration of the maze to change. Sam imagined this was some sort of waiting room where people entering the pyramid waited until the cone had moved to allow access to other areas.

Janet cleared her throat and Sam realized she was standing nearby, an amused expression on her face. She'd completely tuned Janet's conversation with Makepeace out.

"Makepeace OK?" she asked, just barely managing to turn her attention away from the display.

Janet's smile broadened into a grin. "Oh, he's doing better than OK," she said. Sam frowned in confusion. "He just told me there were lots of pretty flowers growing in the garden he's sitting in," she said. "He's high as a kite right now."

Sam's eyes widened in surprise. "Flowers?" she asked incredulously, for the life of her completely unable to imagine Makepeace hallucinating flowers, then a slow grin spread across her face. "When Colonel O'Neill hears about this, Makepeace will never live this down."

"What I want to know," Janet said in exasperation, "Is how come he gets the good trip and I get the bad one?

"Look at it this way. At least it confirms my theory about the venom. Do you think we should go back for him?"

Janet shrugged. "He seems calm enough. I think he got a bigger dose than I did, but it should wear off soon."

"Speaking of which, how are you feeling?" Sam asked, chagrined that it hadn't occurred to her to ask before now.

Again, Janet shrugged. "I'm getting there," she said simply, then looked quickly away. "How are you doing?" she asked, obviously changing the subject.

For a moment, Sam considered pressing the issue. Janet did seem to be doing better, calmer and she'd lost that aura of being just on the edge of hysteria.

After a moment, however, Sam decided to let it go. Instead, she turned back to the display. "You were right. The only way out seems to be blocked. It doesn't matter anyway," she added. "The cone's positioned away from the entrance. We'd need to find a way to move it to get out that way, not to mention moving the rocks.

In frustration, Sam reached out and flicked her finger at the shape of the slab blocking the tunnel as if that would somehow clear the path.

"Shit!" she yelped, stepping back as her finger connected with something that felt surprisingly solid. Before Janet could say anything, however, Sam reached in and did it again, only to experience the same sensation. "I can feel it!" she exclaimed, explaining quickly to Janet.

More cautiously this time, Sam reached in and ran the tip of her finger along the top of the tunnel. This time she noticed a slight resistance when her fingers passed through the now transparent outer walls. The tips of her fingers met even more resistance along the outside of the main tunnel, but when she pressed more firmly, her fingers slipped through the outer wall and into the image of the tunnel. Gingerly, she probed the rock with the tip of her index finger. "This is so cool!" she breathed.

After a few minutes of probing, the rock shifted slightly. As it moved, it turned a bright red and began pulsing, but remained on the display. Experimentally, Sam pushed it back to its original position. It continued to glow and pulse.

"Do you think this is some sort of control panel?" Janet asked, hovering near her elbow. "Maybe it's a maintenance panel of some sort."

"Could be," Sam said. "If I can figure out how to turn the cone, I could push that rock into the waiting room. Then there'd be a clear path out of here. Question is, how do you turn the cone?"

"You could try using your fingers," Janet said haltingly, giving her a wry smile. "I mean, it worked on the rock. Theoretically it should work on the cone, too.

Sam had to admit it made sense. She pressed her fingers lightly against the lower edge of the cone and tried to push it around. It didn't budge and her fingers slipped through. Several more attempts yielded similar results.

With a grimace, Sam reached up and wrapped her hand loosely around the apex of the cone. The first few attempts to turn it were unsuccessful, but on the fourth try Sam saw the display shift slightly counterclockwise. As soon as it moved, it too turned red and began to pulse.

"That's it," Janet said, quietly cheering her on. "You just need to turn it a little more."

Slowly, millimeter by millimeter, Sam managed to turn the cone so that the tunnel from the room lined up perfectly with the exit. "We can get to it from here," she said, pointing to the stairwell. That's where I ran into Beulah."

"Yeah, that does seem odd," Sam said, continuing to study the image. "We don't even know if this is a control panel," she said with a sigh. "This could just be some kind of interactive map or something."

Before Janet could finish her sentence, Sam nodded. "Or maybe you have to save your work first. Make all the changes you're going to make, then activate the program."

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Sam turned and favored her with a grin. "I'd better move the rock, then we can try to figure out how to activate it."

Now that she'd had a bit of practice, Sam had an easier time moving the rock. In a few minutes she had it pushed safely to the side of the waiting room. "Now," she said slowly, stepping back to admire her handiwork. "The question is, which one activates the program. Assuming there's a program to active, that is."

"Try the blue square again," Janet said. "It didn't do anything the first time we touched it. Maybe it's the save button. Save square. Save…whatever."

After a moment of thoughtful consideration, Sam nodded. "If it works, my new favorite color will be blue."

"Here goes nothing," Sam said, and lifted her hand, passing her fingers through the blue square at the top.

For nearly a minute, nothing happened as both women waited with bated breath. Then Sam felt the barest of a tremor pass through her legs. A quick glance at a nearby table showed that a complicated glass and metal apparatus was trembling minutely, not enough to cause any damage but a clear indication that something was happening. She tightened her fingers around Janet's. "I think it worked," she whispered. "I think it worked."

After a few more seconds, the display returned to the neutral tan and yellow it had been originally. The pulsing stopped, and the outer walls of the pyramid gradually materialized. In moments, the display looked the same as when they'd originally activated it.

Janet released her hand and slipped one arm around Sam's waist, hugging her tightly for a minute. When Sam glanced down, she saw that Janet had her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"I just have one more question," Janet said after a moment. "And it's a pretty hideous question."

At first, Sam couldn't figure out what Janet was talking about. Then it dawned on her. "Who was moving thing around while we were in the pyramid being chased by Beulah?" she said after a moment. She practically had to force the words out of her mouth as her throat tightened in dread.

She didn't want to let go of Sam. Nor did she want to open her eyes. It was tempting to stay just like they were, safe, until someone on the surface figured out that the path was open and came down to get them.

When she felt Sam's hand shift to her shoulder, and squeeze reassuringly, Janet knew it was time to go. Still, she lingered for a moment, until Sam broke the moment by stepping away.

"Yeah." Sam's voice was resigned, and Janet could tell that Sam didn't like the idea any more than she did.

Swallowing past a suddenly dry throat, Janet took a deep breath. "You have to stay," she said.

At that, Sam reacted almost explosively by moving halfway across the room and pacing angrily. "You are in no shape," she said after a moment, but Janet saw by the look in Sam's eyes that she agreed. Janet loved the fact that Sam was going to argue about it with her anyway.

"You're right," Janet agreed, nodding. "I'm in no shape to stay here and defend this position if there's something else down here."

"We could build a litter," Sam continued. "The two of us could carry him out of here together."

"The pyramid's mechanism could be automated. There might not be anything down here."

"And we don't know that it isn't, either," Janet countered. "Trust me, this is the last thing I want to do right now," she admitted. "But you know I'm right. You have to stay here and make sure the way stays open. Under the circumstances, I should be worrying about you instead of the other way around."

Sam tilted her head back and sighed again. "I promised myself I wouldn't leave you alone again," she said tightly.

"You're not. I'm leaving you." When Sam gave her a sharp look, Janet hastily added "Temporarily."

Janet knew Sam had exhausted all of her arguments, and after a moment of silence, Sam finally nodded, posture slumped in defeat. "You're sure you can do this?" she asked, glancing up.

"I can do this." Janet didn't need to add that they really didn't have much choice. Nor did she need to add that since she felt responsible for the mess they were in this was the least she could do.

She straightened and squared her shoulders, trying to appear a lot more confident than she felt. She'd spent the better part of the day reacting, on adrenaline, on instinct, on fear. It was a bitter irony to be in a position to finally act only to discover that the mere thought of it just left her feeling small and scared.

Janet nodded, forcing her legs to move. "I know where I left it. I'll check on Makepeace on my way to the stairwell."

"The main entrance is due north. When you get to the waiting room, use the compass on your watch."

Sam wasn't telling her anything she didn't know, merely prolonging the inevitable. Janet began walking toward the entrance.

As she moved past, Sam caught her arm, and pulled her into a loose embrace. Janet allowed herself to relax against Sam for a moment. There were so many things she wanted to say, but the words suddenly weren't there. In that moment, Janet realized she didn't want to say them in a moment of fear or weakness. Somehow that just felt too easy, too trite. Like some kind of movie cliché. It wasn't that she wouldn't mean every word under these circumstances, but she suddenly wanted the moment to be perfect, to be safe and warm and quiet. This place definitely qualified as "none of the above."

Sam seemed about to say something else, then clearly changed her mind. Janet had a pretty good idea what was on Sam's mind--they were oddly in synch at times, and this moment was no exception. Now she really did feel like she'd suddenly been thrust into some old black and white film. "Just be careful, okay? Don't stop for anything."

"I'll be back before you know it," Janet said, forcing herself to take a step away from Sam, watching as Sam's arms dropped almost helplessly to her sides, then moved instinctively to her rifle.

There was nothing more to say. With one last, slow nod, Janet turned and made her way to the entrance. Once there, she resisted the urge to look back, knowing that Sam's eyes would track her into the darkness for as long as possible.

Janet made herself maintain a reasonable pace, thinking that the last thing she wanted was to use up all her reserves and end up collapsing in exhaustion halfway between here and the entrance. Makepeace's rifle was lying in the pile of debris she'd tossed it into earlier. She'd been dropping and picking guns up all day, she thought grimly. By her estimation, aside from basic training, she hadn't spent as much of a single day handling a weapon as she had today. Even that incident with Hathor hadn't compared.

Makepeace was slumped against the wall of the building they'd carried him into, sound asleep. Under the circumstances, Janet couldn't blame him. Sleep sounded like a pretty fine idea to her too, she decided, thinking that she'd sleep for a week once she got out of here. Between the physical and mental stress not to mention the drug, it was nothing short of a miracle that she was still standing. But she didn't have the luxury of quitting just yet, no matter how much she envied Makepeace.

Beulah's carcass was still blocking the entrance to the stairwell, and Janet nearly tripped leaping over it. She steadied herself against one of Beulah's legs, then recoiled as if burned, hastily wiping her hand against her fatigues.

The climb up the steps was interminable. Without the adrenaline to give her strength, her legs and lungs soon burned with the exertion. She paused to rest, though didn't dare sit down for fear she'd never make it to her feet again. Glancing up, she strained her eyes hoping to catch sight of the entrance to the waiting room Sam had told her about. The impression of a black opening several meters above her head spurred her on.

There was no walkway. Sam hadn't mentioned that the walkway was missing, Janet thought in panic. She wondered if there had been one and it had fallen off, or if the inhabitants had put it in place only when they needed it.

Not that it mattered. It was nowhere in sight, which meant she'd have to jump. All things considered, it was probably the easiest thing she'd been called upon to do all day, other than remain unconscious while a giant insect dragged her into an underground mortuary.

Forcing herself not to think about being found dead at the bottom of the shaft alongside Beulah, as if they'd made some weird death pact, Janet drew a deep breath and breached the gap, landing neatly on her feet on the other side. Without so much as a backward glance, she took off again, experiencing a familiar sense of deja vu as she pelted down the dark corridor. Hadn't she already done this today?

Gratefully, Janet saw that the tunnel opened into a large room after a short distance and she burst through the entrance, pausing to bend at the waist, resting her hands against her bent knees. She was close. All that was left was to find the tunnel that lead due north, the one with the light at the end of it, and she'd be out. And more importantly, she could get people down to Sam and Makepeace and they'd be out too.

There was nothing but the sound of the blood pounding in her ears and the breath rasping in her throat. She thought she saw a faint glow ahead, the barest outline of the opening. But she couldn't tell if it was real or a product of her own desperate imagination. Hopefully, it was real. The alternatives, that she'd gotten lost, turned around in here somehow, or the configuration of the pyramid had changed during her journey, or that she was still hallucinating were just too awful to contemplate.

Just as she was about to stop and try to figure out of she'd taken a wrong turn she spotted something crumpled and tan lying on the ground, barely visible amid a pile of rocks. Her jacket, the one she'd covered Makepeace with at the start of all this. It seemed so long ago, but the sight caused her to quicken her pace. She was definitely heading in the right direction.

When she finally stumbled out of the pyramid and glanced around she thought that General Hammond had moved the entire SGC here. Equipment and people were everywhere, including two soldiers presumably standing guard at the entrance who reacted immediately to her presence.

She was so out of breath she could barely stand up, and leaned gratefully on the arm of the nearest airmen. What activity there'd been just prior to her arrival suddenly seemed to intensify. She was dimly aware of motors and shouts and lights as she was lead to the medical tent her people had been setting up as she'd entered the pyramid with Makepeace.

O'Neill and Daniel were there too, weaving in and out of her field of vision as a medic tried to examine her and general chaos seemed to surround her. She felt disconnected, caught in a weird, disorienting fog.

"Doc, DOC!" O'Neill said sharply, snapping his fingers in her face several times. Janet wanted to slap him. "Where's Carter and Makepeace? How the hell'd you get out?"

"It's a long story, Colonel," she finally managed to gasp out. She started to tell him how to get down into the underground city when Denise Fischer, one of her medics, grasped her arm and began to prep it for an IV. Angrily, she pushed her hands away. "I'll take you down--" she began, and moved to stand up.

"Not a chance, Doc," O'Neill said, and she felt firm hands on her shoulders forcing her back down. "The radios work inside the pyramid. Carter can talk us through. Take care of her." This last was said with a pointed glance at the hovering medic. When Janet started to protest again, O'Neill cut her off. "That's an order, Doc. You do still know how to follow those, don't you?"

Then he was gone, Daniel trailing in his wake as O'Neill began barking orders at everyone. Fischer was back, rubbing antiseptic across her arm, leaving a damp, grubby patch amid the dust and seat and blood she was covered with. Another medic, and Janet couldn't remember his name all of a sudden, was in front of her, shining a light into her eyes. She wanted to slap him too, she realized, never fully appreciating how annoying that was until now.

"Makepeace has a broken leg," she informed Denise, barely noticing the slight prick as the woman began the IV. "We've both been exposed to some kind of insect toxin. It rendered us unconscious and seems to have some narcotic properties. You should probably--"

While she was speaking, two airmen stepped into the tent carrying a stretcher between them, which they placed carefully onto the floor. It wasn't until Fischer began helping her onto it that she realized it was for her and immediately began to protest.

"I have to wait for Major Carter and Colonel Makepeace," she said, moving to pull the IV needle out of her arm. It was getting in the way.

"They're in good hands, Doctor," Fischer was saying soothingly. "We've got to get you back to the SGC. They'll be fine." She grasped Janet's hands firmly with her own.

She realized struggling was useless. "Look, I'll just lay here quietly until they come out," she said pulling her hands free and holding them up as if to ward off any further attempts at restraint. "I just have to wait until they get out." She had to be here when Sam came out. She couldn't let them take her back to the SGC. Janet knew she was being irrational but she didn't care. She couldn't leave until she knew Sam was safe. She just couldn't.

"Of course I would," Janet said without missing a beat. It was a lie of course. She'd probably sedate her patient if she didn't cooperate, but she had no intention of telling Fischer that.

Fischer looked dubiously at her. "I'll be fine," Janet whispered, determined not to beg. She was staying and that's all there was to it. "Just until they come out."

After an eternity, Fischer finally turned and waved the two airmen away. "If I see you get up off that cot you'll go right through that Stargate," she warned in a tone that brooked no arguments. Fischer reached behind her and pulled a light blanket out of a trunk, taking a moment to fuss with it after she spread it across Janet. "I'm glad you're okay," she said simply. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you up when they come out."

As Fischer busied herself getting things ready for Makepeace, Janet sighed in contentment, thinking how wonderful it felt to be lying down, especially on something soft and clean. Before long, despite her best efforts, it became a struggle to keep her eyes open. Now that she was safe and warm, her body demanded rest and wasn't going to give her a choice in the matter. Janet drifted off to sleep.

Sam stood between O'Neill and Daniel just inside the stairwell. Two airmen had placed Makepeace, who was still asleep, on a stretcher and were in the process of taking him to the surface.

"That's a big bug," O'Neill said, nudging the giant carcass with the toe of his boot.

"Get out of here!" Daniel interrupted, his eyebrows raising in shock. "Janet killed it?"

O'Neill nudged the insect again, and Sam noted that he was unconsciously rubbing his rear end with one hand. "I can believe it," he said under his breath. "SG10 and SG6 have the place secured and will do a thorough search. If there's anyone or anything else here, they'll find it. Daniel, are you staying are going?"

"Um, I think I'm going to stay and have a look around the lab. I want to supervise the transport of those scrolls."

She'd filled the time waiting for some sign that Janet had made it out safely, too afraid to call her on the radio for fear of slowing her down, by pacing nervously from one end of the room to the other. Her eyes had been drawn repeatedly to the display in the middle of the room, certain the configuration would shift unexpectedly.

When O'Neill's voice crackled over the radio she'd been overjoyed. She was glad nobody was around because she'd actually done a little dance, both because help was on its way and because the fact that O'Neill was talking to her meant that Janet had gotten safely out, a fact that O'Neill had confirmed immediately.

Once she knew O'Neill was on his way she'd filled the time by searching through a few more of the lab benches, making a concerted effort not notice how her hands were shaking with relief. She hadn't been aware of quite the level of stress she'd been under until she knew Janet was safe.

"Sir?" Sam began, as she and O'Neill began the long climb. For an advanced engineering marvel, it should have elevators or transporters or something, Sam thought. "How's Captain Smith?"

"Alive," O'Neill said, but his voice was grim. "He's probably going to lose most of his right arm. But he's alive." After a moment, he added, "I told Hammond that Makepeace and Fraiser made the right call. Smith would be dead now if they hadn't gone in and started out with him when they did. It was just bad luck that they got caught inside."

"That too," O'Neill agreed. "Besides, this way the Doc will owe me one and I can't wait to collect."

After that, they both fell silent, intent simply on getting to the top. Sam wondered if Janet had been sent back through the Stargate. She'd been doing better, but Sam thought she still looked like death warmed over just before they'd parted. Somehow, though, she knew Janet would be there, waiting for her, when she finally stepped out of the pyramid.

Sure enough, as soon as Sam stepped through the main entrance, to a rousing cheer from the gathered SGC personnel, Sam spotted someone near the medical tent waving frantically, trying to catch her attention. "Go on," O'Neill said softly behind her. "Escort Makepeace and the doc back to the SGC then get some rest. We can debrief tomorrow."

With a nod, Sam turned to go. "Carter?" she heard O'Neill call. When she turned, he gave her a small nod. "Good work."

Sam smiled at him. "I didn't really do anything, Sir. Doctor Fraiser actually did most of it," she said, then paused when O'Neill sighed in exasperation.

"Now, how did I know you were going to say that?" he asked, though Sam sensed it was a rhetorical question. He stared at her expectantly.

"Thank you, Sir," Sam said after a brief pause. "I'll see you back at the base."

When she reached the medical tent, Janet was sitting up, a blanket bunched around her waist. For a moment Sam paused uneasily, noting how small and tired and dirty she looked. She was snapping orders about Makepeace's care to two harried-looking medics. Regardless of how she felt, she was at least behaving somewhat normally, Sam thought. Still, she'd feel much better when they got her back to the SGC and the doctors in the infirmary had a chance to check her out to make sure there'd been no permanent damage.

"I sear to God, Doctor Fraiser," a dark haired woman that Sam recognized but couldn't remember her name finally said, rounding on Janet in frustration. "I don't care if you outrank me, I'm going to sedate you if you don't lie back down and be quiet."

"What seems to be the problem here?" Sam interjected, stepping into the tent.

"Major Carter," the medic exclaimed. "I was just trying to get Doctor Fraiser to go back to sleep. The cheering when you came out woke her up."

Janet didn't say anything, but Sam saw her face flood with relief. Sam moved to stand beside her, pressing her back down onto the mattress with one hand. Janet didn't resist, and Sam sat down on the edge of the cot. "You look terrible," Sam said, a smile creeping across her face.

"Good. Colonel O'Neill ordered me to escort you and Makepeace back to the SGC." Turning to the exhausted medic, she asked "Is everyone ready to travel?" Before Janet could answer the question Sam held up one hand to silence her and listened intently to the medic.

"Yes, Ma'am." Sam could hear the gratitude in the woman's voice. "Their both stable and their vitals are good. We just need to transfer Doctor Fraiser to a stretcher and we're ready to go. I've assigned people to staff the station while the teams are still inside the pyramid."

"I can walk," Janet protested, but Sam thought it sounded pretty feeble at best.

"But you're not going to," Sam countered quickly, helping Janet onto the stretcher. "So just lie here and suffer. We'll be home before you know it." Sam took an extra minute to tuck the blanket around Janet's shoulders while a medic hung the IV on a small pole attached to the stretcher. At her signal, airmen lifted both Janet and Makepeace and the small group began to make its way to the Stargate. Sam fell into step next to Janet, and after a few minutes felt Janet's hand slip out from under the blanket and grasp hers.

Just before the Stargate blossomed into life, Sam glanced down at the woman laid out on the stretcher, smiling when she realized that Janet was fast asleep again. She wondered if it was possible to sleep while travelling through a wormhole, and figured she was going to find out one way or the other.

"All right, Doctor," Warner said, making a few notes on her chart. "You can get dressed now. It looks like the worst of the infection has passed. You're lucky."

Janet had to agree. She felt pretty lucky to be alive, lucky to be home, and lucky to be in relatively good condition. Warner, who had insisted on her care himself, told her she'd developed a nasty infection in the wound on her back, despite the fact that it had been tended to. Between the resulting fever and her own exhaustion, she'd slept for nearly a day and a half. She dimly remembered waking periodically, feeling hot and disoriented, but always reassured to find Sam slumped in a nearby chair.

"How are Colonel Makepeace and Captain Smith doing?" she asked, shrugging into a sweatshirt one of the nurses had loaned her.

"They'll both be fine. Unfortunately, we had to amputate Captain Smith's right arm just below the elbow. We're transferring him to the base hospital today for further surgery. He'll start physical therapy and rehab later this week." Janet sighed with regret, thinking if only they'd been a little quicker, they might have gotten him out in time to save his arm.

"Resting comfortably. Like you, he needed to sleep off the effects of the toxin, and he'll be on leave until his leg is out of the cast, but I expect him to recover fully. Once you return from leave," Warner said pointedly, "I'll have his charts on your desk, along with the chemical analysis of the insect venom. Until then, Doctor," he added, with a smile, "I'm prescribing a few days of rest for you."

That wasn't a surprise to Janet. She'd have prescribed the same thing herself, and nodded in agreement.

Warner looked like he expected her to argue, and seemed disappointed when she didn't. "Colonel Makepeace wants you to stop by before you leave. And Major Carter wanted you to stop by her lab as soon as I released you. You know, roughly three-quarters of the base has called to find out how you were doing since you got back. You're very popular. But I mean it about going home and resting. Everyone's under strict orders not to keep you too long today."

Makepeace was sitting up in bed, flipping through a magazine. "Hey Doc," he greeted her when she stepped around the curtain. She reached immediately for his chart.

"How are you feeling, Colonel?" she asked, flipping through it quickly. Satisfied, she hung it back on the hook at the end of the bed and moved to stand beside him.

He sighed. "Been better," he said, waving at the heavy cast on his leg. "Been worse, too. How about you?"

"Better than you," she said with a smile. "But I think the nursing staff will be happy to see me go home," she added, ruefully.

That earned a chuckle from Makepeace. "So it's true, what they say about doctors."

"Anyway," Janet said, mindful that Warner was hovering about and would probably shoo her away at any moment, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah, I did," he said. "I've got something for you." He leaned over and picked something up off the floor, handing it to her with a grin.

Janet stared at it for a moment, speechless. Finally, she managed to recover her voice. "I like the pink bow, Colonel. Did you learn how to make those in home ec class?"

That earned a loud chuckle. "I'll have to ask Ferreti. It was his idea," he said. He took the battered rifle from her, turning it over in his hands. "You put it to good use down there so I thought you should have it. Ferreti told me to tell you that he'll paint 'Insect repellant' on it for you if you ask him really nicely."

"Very nice, Colonel," she said, taking the weapon again. "I'll hang it on my office wall, right next to my medical school diploma." Secretly, she was rather touched by the gesture, but she knew better than to embarrass Makepeace or Ferreti by letting on that she knew it was anything more than a joke.

"There's one more thing," he said, leaning back and folding his hands behind his head.

"I spoke to General Hammond earlier today. I told him it was my decision to go into the pyramid."

Janet stiffened. There was no way she was going to allow Makepeace to take all the blame for that. "That's not what happened and you know it, Colonel," she said sharply.

"It's already done," he said. "He was pissed off, but apparently O'Neill told him we saved Smith's life. Is that true?"

Janet sighed. "Yes," she said, thinking that it was good thing that the officer was still alive. But she felt a sense of keen regret over the fact that he'd had a limb amputated and was looking at a long stretch of recovery and rehabilitation. "He would've have bled to death if he'd gotten trapped. Which he would have if we hadn't gone in when we did. But it doesn't change the fact that we disobeyed a direct order. We, Colonel. Not just you."

"No, it doesn't. But let me take the heat for it," Makepeace said. "Rumor has it you're up for promotion soon. With all due respect, Doc, I don't want to be on the receiving end of any shots you're going to give out after being passed up for promotion. This is purely an act of self-preservation."

She shook her head in mock consternation. "Marines are just so delicate. You never hear the Air Force personnel complaining about getting shots."

"Oh yeah, like O'Neill isn't the biggest baby of all," Makepeace snorted. They both smiled at that one. O'Neill was infamous for complaining loudly and often about the various medical procedures that the SG teams had to undergo on a regular basis.

She still didn't feel right about this. Hammond probably wasn't going to initiate any disciplinary actions under the circumstances, but it still felt wrong. She started to say as much to Makepeace, but he held up a hand to silence her.

"If it'll make you feel any better," he said. "You can owe me a favor, how's that?"

Makepeace suddenly found the opposite side of the room fascinating. "Uh, you remember what I said in the pyramid, when we were talking about things we wished we'd done?"

"Yeah," Janet said slowly. She had a bad feeling she knew where this was going.

"Well, I was just thinking, since you're such good friends with Major Carter that you could, you know, put in a good word for me."

She carefully released the breath she was holding. "Oh," she began helplessly, thinking that if he'd ever wanted to nail her with a practical joke, this was the mother of all practical jokes. At the same time, she knew someone like Makepeace would never be able to appreciate the irony. "I won't make any promises," she said finally. "But--" What on earth was she going to tell Sam, and what one earth was Sam going to tell Makepeace when he got around to asking her out?

"Great," Makepeace said quickly. He held out his hand for her to shake, which she did after a moment, wondering if Sam would ever forgive her for this one. "Then we're even," he said. "Just in time," he added as Warner stepped in and flashed her a stern look.

"I believe Major Carter was looking for you, Doctor," he said, waving her from the room.

With one last look at Makepeace, who nodded in her direction, she left, making her way out of the infirmary, pausing long enough to drop the rifle off in her office. There was no way she'd get it out of the mountain, not without a fuss, so it was better off there than anywhere. Besides, she told herself, maybe she would hang it up on her wall, after all. She figured she'd earned it.

Sam and Daniel were sitting across from one another in Sam's lab, the entire workspace between them covered with papers and photographs. Both turned to look up at her when she entered, and Janet found she couldn't help grinning herself when Sam's face lit up at the sight of her. Instantly, the other woman stood and ushered Janet over to her seat.

"Daniel and I were just going over the initial survey reports on the pyramid," Sam explained, pulling up a stool and sitting beside her.

"Well, I can't promise to answer all of them, but I think we have a pretty good idea what was going on down there. First of all, you were right," Daniel said, pulling a photograph toward them.

Janet leaned forward to examine it closely. "This is one of the scrolls?" she asked after a moment.

"Yes," Daniel said, frowning at the photo. "We lost three of them during transport, but the rest are intact. They were using the narcotic properties of the insect venom as part of a religious ceremony. It appears to be similar to some of the shamanistic rituals, vision quests, found in some Native American cultures. A preliminary examination of some of the skeletons found in the square don't show any trauma or violence. Doctor Lambert thinks the people in the city may have been poisoned. There's a fountain in the main square where we found most of the bodies."

"So, either someone had a bad trip and told everyone to poison themselves, or he or she just did it and the population knew nothing about it until it was too late," Sam added. "They definitely weren't insect food."

"It's still horrible," Janet said, shivering. "All those people…" Even if she hadn't seen the aftermath with her own eyes, the scale of it would've still sickened her. "Did the survey teams find any sign of anyone else?" she asked, hoping to change the subject. "Or any signs of any more insects?"

"No on both counts," Daniel said. "Though we did bring back a few of those eggs you found."

"What?" Janet asked, outraged at the notion. They'd actually brought back the eggs of that monster here to earth. That had never occurred to her and she immediately had a dozen questions about the safety of such a move.

"I disagreed, too," Sam said. "But the HAZMAT teams are following level 5 protocols. They're down on Level 42."

"What idiot ordered those eggs brought here?" Janet asked, still angry that she hadn't at least been consulted about it.

"Oh," she said, glancing over at Sam who was looking down at the surface of the table, a smile curving her lips.

"So there may be millions of Beu--those things on the planet," she observed.

Daniel shrugged. "Possibly. Doctor Lambert suggested that the insect may have been reproducing asexually, and survived by eating its own young. When one got too old and died off, the last clutch of eggs would fight amongst themselves until one was left."

Janet felt her lip curl in disgust. That was far more detail than she needed, though some part of her recognized that under less personal circumstances she'd have been fascinated.

"Sam thought the insect might've been brought there, rather than evolved there. Did you find anything to suggest that?"

"No," Sam said, shaking her head. "But Daniel thinks that two, possibly three different cultures, each with a different level of technology, built or inhabited the pyramid at different times. Daniel?"

"First you have the pyramid builders. Obviously a very technologically advanced culture. I think the pyramid might've been a fortress of some sort. The limited access to it suggests that to me. With the city underneath, which I think was put there by the same culture but at a later time, you could hide out there and be self-sustaining for a very long period of time," Daniel explained. "A race on the verge of being wiped out might've gone to ground there."

"But wouldn't you expect records of some sort, then?" Janet said. "Unless the important thing was for them to preserve either their leaders for some short period of time, or their genome for some longer period of time."

"Right," Sam said. "The truth is, we may never really know who built that pyramid, or why they built it, but we can make some educated guesses. I think it was probably abandoned, maybe once it was safe for the people it was built for to come out. After that, another race took it over as a research facility."

"Among other things. The survey teams found a lot of equipment, not just in the lab we found, but in a couple of other buildings in the city. It looks like it was some kind of genetic engineering facility."

Janet sat back, staring at Sam in shock. "They created Beulah?" She glanced over at Daniel, noting that he raised his eyebrows in surprise at the name, but remained silent.

"The cult," Daniel said. "The least technologically advanced of all. The fascinating thing is, were these three different groups, all distinct and separate from each other, or were they all variations on the same culture? Picture this," Daniel said, his eyes suddenly seeing something a million miles away and a million years ago. "Your race is at war, on the brink of extinction. You gather together your greatest scientists and engineers, pull together the last of your resources to save the very best your culture has to offer. Artists, scholars, scientists, leaders. You create a bunker for them where they'll be safe until the conflict is resolved one way or another. Well, guess what? You win, but only after a long time has passed and you've paid a terrible price. You resolve never to let it happen again, so you decide to create a weapon. A terrible weapon. A plague of locusts, if you will."

"Only it backfires," Janet said, suddenly realizing where Daniel was going with this. "You create something that has the potential to be the perfect weapon, only to have it turn against you."

"And it does. It destroys your civilization. And out of what's left a new, more primitive culture arises, a civilization whose mythology centers around seeking shelter in a miraculous structure, a violent conflict, death and destruction and the hope of deliverance by a powerful being."

The three of them sat in silence for several long moments, until Daniel shrugged, picking up one of the photographs again. "That's one possibility, anyway. There are a few other scenarios that are equally plausible." What Daniel was not saying, Janet knew, was that without any explicit written record of what had happened, all of this was speculation at best. It was all interesting, but give her a good, real scientific puzzle to work with any day, she thought.

"In any case, we found enough advanced technology in there to justify the expense of the Stargate program for the next century at least," Sam said with a smile. "Congress will be very happy."

"Not that we found. I'm guessing disuse and seismic activity were to blame. We haven't even started deciphering the interactive schematics, but I think there's some kind of self-correcting mechanism. That might explain it. You might also be interested to know that there are matter transporter systems all through the pyramid. That's how the rock got moved out of the entranceway. We could've gotten out of there at any time, had we known where they were and how to work them," Sam said.

Daniel rose, gathering up papers in a huge pile. "If you'll excuse me, I have a report to write," he said. "I'm glad you're both okay," he said sincerely, then left the two women alone.

"And you have some leave to take," Sam observed, touching her sleeve lightly. "I'll take a break and give you a ride home."

"Okay," Janet said, smiling happily. "But first, I have a favor to do for someone, and I'd rather do it in an area under surveillance."

"Because you may decide to hurt me when you hear what it is and I want some evidence."

At that, Sam raised her eyebrows. Janet took a deep breath. "What do you think of Robert Makepeace?" she asked innocently.

Sam stared at her in shock, her mouth opening and closing for a moment. "He didn't?"

Sam tilted her head back and sighed in exasperation, then looked down at Janet, a mischievous smile on her face. "Actually, I think he's kind of cute," she said after a moment, ushering Janet out of the lab. It was Janet's turn to raise her eyebrows in surprise. "For a jarhead," Sam added as they walked together down the hall and toward the elevator together.

"What do you think?" Sam asked as the elevator doors closed in front of them.

After she'd dropped Janet off, she'd reluctantly returned to the base to finish her shift. Thankfully, Daniel dropped by her lab and the two of them had gone over his report on the pyramid. He'd come up with at least a dozen other scenarios to explain what they'd found in the pyramid, but she could tell that he'd settled on the one he'd outlined to her and Janet earlier that day as the most likely explanation.

She envied him his ability to rely so heavily on instinct and intuition. There was a lot of that in her work as well, and she was well aware that Janet's field required instinct, too, but she had to admit that she much preferred pondering the specific scientific details. Daniel seemed to have a special gift of intuition, and Sam had no doubt that in the coming weeks and months, as more and more of the pyramid's secrets were revealed, the evidence would substantiate Daniel's theory. A part of her, however, remained skeptical that they would ever know the whole story.

Once her shift was over, Sam make one brief stop in the infirmary, then hurried back to Janet's house. When she entered, she heard Cassie and Janet arguing about something in the kitchen, though judging from the tone of voice, it was a fairly good-natured argument.

Sam had known the minute Cassie had stubbornly eaten the hot dog without the bun that the kid was a picky eater. As it turned out, she only liked fried chicken and pizza, despite an effort from both of them to get her to try new things. At the moment, however, Sam was content to sit at the kitchen table and watch as the two negotiated between Chinese and pizza rather than help Janet out. Her family was safe and that was all that mattered.

Sam shrugged. "I could cook," she said, knowing that she would be immediately over-ridden.

"Okay, you win. Pizza it is," Janet said quickly when Cassie turned and gave her a triumphant look.

"You play very dirty," Janet said, pulling a menu out of a nearby kitchen drawer. "I want anchovies on mine."

"Ew, yourself," Janet said. "Either we get anchovies on the pizza or we order Chinese."

"And you said I played dirty," Cassie admonished. "Half anchovies. Sam, what do you want on yours?"

"I stopped by to visit Makepeace," Sam whispered later, as they lay together. Janet had one arm around Sam's waist, and her head rested on Sam's shoulder.

"When are you going out with him?" Janet asked sarcastically. Sam lifted one hand to stroke Janet's hair lazily.

"Friday," Sam said. She felt Janet stiffened and lifted her head to look up at her.

"You're joking," she said. Sam saw Janet's eyes searching her face frantically. "Tell me you're joking."

After a moment, Janet laid her head back against Sam's shoulder. "You'd better be," Janet admonished gently. "Did he ask you out?"

Again, Janet lifted her head and stared up at Sam in exasperation. "Sam! You know that'll be all over the base by tomorrow!"

"No it won't," Sam replied smugly. "I reminded him about all the pretty flowers he saw in the pyramid. He'd just as soon that never gets mentioned again, so he agreed to keep the whole thing just between the two of us."

They fell silent for a time, happy to just have a little bit of time to relax together. Almost unconsciously, Sam kept running her fingers through Janet's hair, thinking about how soft it felt and how close she'd come to never sharing another moment like this with Janet ever again. The thought was almost too painful to contemplate.

Sam looked down at Janet, thinking about all the things she wanted to say. The other woman was still, her breathing deep and even. Sam was certain she'd fallen asleep, and continued quietly stroking her hair. She supposed everything she needed to say could wait until morning.

"I love you," Janet whispered. Sam's hand froze, rested there against Janet's head. She was unable to speak, barely able to breathe. "I never said it before and I should have," Janet continued, not looking up but Sam felt Janet's arm curl more tightly around her waist. "I couldn't before we got together. Then, after we did, all those times you went through the Stargate and got into trouble, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. But when I thought I might be the one not coming back I regretted that I've never told you how much I love you."

"You do," Sam breathed. "Every single day," she added, thinking she was going to cry. "And I'm sorry."

"I never understood what it must be like for you, what it's like to be the one left behind. I'm ashamed that I never looked at it from your perspective before."

Janet took a moment to digest this bit of information. "It's hard," she said, finally. "I can't lie about that. Every time you go through the Stargate…"

Her voice trailed off, and she looked away, her eyes suspiciously bright. "I may not come back," Sam finished softly for her.

Janet nodded slowly, then frowned. "But it's your job. I accept that. It's a job you love." She looked away for a moment. "A job you love more than me."

There was no bitterness, no recrimination in the way Janet said it, but the denial bubbled up to her lips immediately. "No," Sam said, shaking her head, pulling away from Janet and slipping out of the bed, pulling away from the very idea. "That's not true. How could you even think that?"

"It's okay," Janet said, rising to her knees and lifting one hand to press her fingers against Sam's lips. "It's okay."

"No, it's not okay!" Sam said explosively, pulling away again. "It's not okay. If that's what you think, I'll quit right now. There are plenty of things for me to do at the SGC. I don't need to go through the Stargate."

Janet lowered her arm, a troubled frown on her face. "I'm not asking you to quit."

They were both silent for several long moments, both staring warily at one another. Sam had always imagined that these self-aware, revelatory moments in a relationship were supposed to be enlightening and strengthening. This was anything but, she thought, her stomach churning with turmoil.

"Can you stand there and tell me you'd honestly quit? For me? Honestly?" Janet asked. "I love you for saying it, but I don't think it's true. I wouldn't want it to be true."

Sam thought about getting angry, about storming out of the room. But she knew none of those things were the answer. She took a few moments to gather her thoughts. "I realized something the other day," she said. "I was getting ready to go through the wormhole, and I didn't know if you were alive or dead. All I knew was that I didn't want to do this, any of this, without you."

"You only just realized that?" Janet sank back down onto the mattress and grabbed a pillow, hugging it to her chest.

That wasn't the reaction she was expecting, and it made her feel defensive. "Well, it's not like you go through the Stargate every day," she said, feeling like this whole conversation had spun out of control.

"No," Janet admitted, wrapping her arms more firmly around the pillow. "But the base has been attacked a couple of times, been invaded. It's not exactly safe."

Sam began pacing back and forth in front of the bed. After a moment, she stopped and spread her arms helplessly. "What do you want me to say?" she demanded angrily. "You're job is just as risky as mine is. There, does that make you feel better?"

"That's not what I'm saying and you know it," Janet retorted. "This is about our jobs," she continued. "But it's about us, too."

That made her pause, and she felt a sliver of fear pass through her. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked. Had it all become too much for Janet? Had this brush with death heaped one too many problems on an already difficult relationship? "Do you want to stop seeing each other?" She asked the question before she gave herself any time to think about it. All she knew was that the mere suggestion of calling it quits hurt like hell.

Janet froze and stared up at her. "Is that what you want?" The words were spoken slowly, leaving Sam with the impression that Janet was choosing her words very carefully. They stayed like that, warily eyeing each other for several long minutes. Sam didn't know what to say.

She finally gave up trying to come up with something, and leaned over to snatch up her shirt from where it lay draped over a chair. "I think," she began, shrugging into it. "I'm just going to go home." She was running away, but she couldn't think of what else to do. Maybe if she left, the problem would sort itself out on its own. She was certain she'd only make it worse if she stayed.

Janet closed her eyes, and seemed to deflate. "I didn't mean for this to turn into a fight," she said. "I just want us to be honest with each other."

Sam paused, hand resting on the doorknob. She spent several seconds debating with herself over what to do. One slight twist of her wrist and she could be out of here, put some distance between herself and the emotion turmoil in the room.

But she couldn't quite bring herself to do it. Instead, she exhaled slowly. Keeping her grip on the doorknob she glanced back at the other woman. "Do you want to?" she asked quietly. "Break up, I mean?" She didn't want to know the answer, certain it would be one she didn't want to hear.

Sam actually thought she was going to collapse on the floor in relief. Instead, she released the doorknob and turned to face Janet, walking a few paces into the room. "No." She mouthed the word rather than spoke it.

Janet's whole body sank into the bed with relief. She released the pillow and rolled onto her back. "Why would you even think I'd want to--" she began, then broke off.

Sam closed the gap between them, and sat down on the edge of the bed. Licking her lips, she managed to find her voice. "Because I wouldn't blame you," she began. "I don't know how you stand it," she added. "I don't think I could do it if our positions were reversed." Sam was beginning to realize she was in way deeper than she'd ever intended to get. At the same time, she also realized there was no backing out now.

"You'd manage," Janet said, then reaching out to place her hand on top of Sam's where it rested against the mattress. "Just like I do. The truth is, we both have very dangerous jobs. And neither one of us has bothered to take the time to really acknowledge all that that means. Or the fact that we're in a relationship that for all intents and purposes does not and cannot exist. If the worst should happen, there'll be no meaningful support for the one left behind. There'll be plenty of people who'll say 'I'm so sorry your friend died' but nobody will understand what it truly means."

Sam thought her heart was going to break, and she quickly gathered Janet up in her arms. "How can I fix this?"

"You can't," Janet said quietly. "There's nothing to fix. It's just what is. Going through the Stargate is a calculated risk every single time. And we both have jobs to do, jobs that neither one of us can't not do. There's no way to fix this." Janet pulled away and fixed Sam with a piercing look.

"We need to stop taking things, even the little things, for granted," Janet said. "And we need to be honest with each other about what we're doing, and why we're doing it." Janet closed her eyes, and sank back down, pulling Sam with her.

"We just love each other," Janet whispered, holding her tightly. "We have to not be afraid to love each other no matter what happens," she said after a few moments. "And we pray for the best."

Sam swallowed hard, afraid that that might not be enough but determined to try. "I love you," she whispered, pressing her lips against the soft skin of Janet's neck. "I love you so much."