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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 2246655" data-attributes="member: 10689">Episode 1: Closer to Fine. Part 3 - Down the HatchThe sandstone block sat at the top of a square shaft leading down through the dirt floor of the basement to a dusty surface about ten feet below. A light at the top of the shaft illuminated a rope ladder that the Russians had rigged up, and shone dimly down to the red sandstone floor that lay beneath the gray rock and dirt walls of the shaft.“I leave it in your hands, SG-17,” said General Andreyev. “You may contact me at the Stargate Headquarters if you need any further assistance.”“Yes, sir,” said Kathleen. “And thank you.” A sudden flash of movement at the corner of her eye drew her attention away from General Andreyev, and she held out a restraining arm in front of Hramov, who was already moving towards the shaft. “Hold on, Doctor. Not so fast.” He began to protest, but she pushed ahead. “We have no idea what’s down there, or how dangerous it is. What we do know is that our team is much better equipped to deal with it. I want you to stay in back. It’s for your own safety,” she persisted, raising her voice over the beginning of Hramov’s sputtering objections. “We will go first, and we will be in charge, and if we tell you to get back, you will listen. Understood?” She held his gaze steadily, until finally, grudgingly, the archaeologist nodded and withdrew to the rear of the group, a frown settling on his face.Letting out a relieved breath, Kathleen turned back to the rest of the team. “All right, Ked’rec, you go first. Make sure that it’s safe.” As the Jaffa slung his staff weapon across his back and turned towards the ladder, she added, “And just in case – when you get to the bottom, kneel.”Ked’rec gave a sharp, silent nod. He set one foot on the top rung of the rope ladder, then pushed off the side into the air. A foot touched one side of the stone wall, a hand the other, as he somersaulted down the narrow passageway, nimbly slipping past the stone walls in a flurry of motion to finish on his knees at the bottom, weapon raised.Even Hramov looked impressed.“Well?” Kathleen called.“It appears to be safe, Major Fitzgerald. The room is deserted. There are three doors and more inscriptions, but no sign of any danger.”“All right – down we go,” ordered Kathleen. “Reinhart, you’re next, then Mr. Healy, then Dr. Hramov.”Leading from behind, Joe thought, with a scornful mental sniff.She could be watching our backs, Orieth suggested mildly.Joe’s only response was another snort, this time aloud, as he clambered down the rope ladder.The shaft opened up into a rectangular room, built of the same incongruous red sandstone that made up the inscribed block. Three tall sandstone doors indented the wall, each inscribed with Goa’uld-looking hieroglyphics. Kathleen and Orieth could tell, though, that only one of the doors had symbols that actually meant something. “It says the same thing as the inscription on the capstone,” said Kathleen. “Stand back, Dr. Hramov.” she interrupted herself to say, stepping in front of the scientist again. “Don’t touch anything until we’ve had a chance to check it out.  Mr. Healy,” she said, turning back to Joe, “why don’t you see if there are any mechanical devices on these doors – booby traps, anything like that.”Joe stepped up to the center door and knelt down, his knees letting out only the slightest of protesting creaks. One hand went up to the sandstone surface, and his fingers fanned out across it, feeling over the contours of the carved symbols. Don’t you start, he warned Orieth. Not now.I would not dream of distracting you, Orieth replied, faintly hurt. Although if this were built by a Goa’uld, I would be rather more familiar with these sorts of mechanisms than you are. Therefore, if you require any assistance…Shut up.Joe closed his eyes, banishing everyone else from his world for a moment, and letting himself slip almost into the same state of mental quiet that he got when he worked on his car. “Got it,” he said aloud, after a long moment, and reluctantly opened his eyes and turned back to look at the others. “There are three slits, right here.” He pointed to a spot on the center door.  “Looks like something could come out of them.”Kathleen narrowed her eyes, peering across the room at the door, but not going any closer. “Like what?”Joe shrugged. “Dunno. Knives, maybe.” He jerked his head back at the opposite wall. “They’d hit back there.”Ked’rec knelt in a smooth crouch, running a hand lightly over the wall at the spot where Joe had indicated. “There do not appear to be any marks on this wall. If the trap has indeed been set off in the past, it was either did not hit the wall hard enough to leave a mark, or something that would not leave a mark at all.”“I’d like to spring the trap, ma’am,” Joe said.Kathleen shook her head quickly. “Negative, Mr. Healy. What if it’s gas that comes out of those holes?”Again, Joe shrugged. “I can take it.” Kathleen hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, I guess you can,” she agreed quietly. Then she raised her voice again and said,  “All right, Dr. Hramov, back upstairs.” With a resigned sigh, the archaeologist turned to climb back up to the main room. If it were possible to slouch up a rope ladder, Hramov would have been doing it.“The rest of you, too,” Joe said. “Better if I’m the only one down here when whatever it is happens.” With equal reluctance, the rest of the team returned to the main room, leaving Joe downstairs.Alone in the subterranean tunnel – well, as alone as he ever was – Joe knelt behind an upturned crate, bending down behind the wooden slats to protect himself from whatever might come out of the door. In one hand, he held a long stick, which he extended gingerly towards the buttons on the center door. Upstairs, Kathleen leaned over the edge of the hatch, peering anxiously down at Joe. Reinhart held his breath. The stick touched the buttons, with a faint hollow sound of wood against stone……and nothing happened. Joe could barely hear the soft click from deep within the stone door that came just before the door swung loose and opened a tiny crack.“Nothin’ there,” Joe called up to the others. Still cautious, though, he leaned forward to use the stick to pry the door open a little further. “Yeah, there’s the trap. I can see it now.” He stood up, letting the crate clatter to the ground with an abruptness that made Hramov jump at the noise echoing off the sandstone walls.  A few moments was all that it took for Joe to disable the mechanism on the opposite side of the stone door. “Would’ve been blades,” he added. “Little springloaded things. Would’ve gotten you right in the chest. All clear now.”“That was amazing!” Hramov gushed, clambering awkwardly back down the ladder even before Joe had finished the ‘all clear.’ “Where did you learn to do that? Never have I seen such a thing!”Joe shrugged. “School.”“What kind of school teaches that?”School of hard knocks, pal, Joe thought, but all that was out loud was the dry chuckle that he produced with his own amusement.“And here they were always telling us that American technical schools were never as good as Soviet ones,” Hramov chattered on, rushing up to stand next to Joe. “Perhaps they were not so bad after all! You must have gone to a wonderful technical school! Will you show me how you did that?”Still at the top of the ladder, Kathleen directed Ked’rec down next with a quick hand gesture, drawing Reinhart aside for a moment. “Lieutenant,” she said quietly, “I’d like you to keep an eye on Dr. Hramov. Make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble. Or cause any.”Reinhart nodded. “Already planning on it, ma’am.”“Good.” Kathleen’s head was turned towards the opening in the floor, directed at the sound of the archaeologist’s voice even though he could not be seen. “There’s something about him that I don’t trust.”“If I can speak frankly, ma’am – I don’t entirely trust him either.”Meanwhile, Hramov was still gushing at Joe. “You are most skilled! Are you sure you cannot teach me how you did that?”Without a word, Joe turned his back on the archaeologist, barely glancing up as Reinhart scrambled down the ladder. “Is it all clear, Mr. Healy?” Kathleen asked, climbing carefully down after the lieutenant. “Yes, ma’am.”“Good. Then in we go.”</blockquote>

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