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 Training With SG-1

Chapter 8

"Feel like moving on?" Sam asked wearily.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure." Casey muttered, still lying on her side, one arm beneath her head.

In spite of the circumstances, Sam grinned broadly. "You’ve been hanging around Tony Sabotti too much," she chuckled.

"Huh?" Casey asked, sincerely confused.

"Your ‘yeah yeah, sure sure’ comments. Pure Tony Sabotti," Sam explained.

"Really? Wow, I didn’t even realize," Casey replied, almost apologetically.

"It’s not a big deal," the colonel assured her. "In fact, it’s kinda funny. I’m going to have to start paying attention, to see who else is saying that."

"Let me know if you find anyone," Casey replied. She looked over her shoulder, then shivered slightly. "Now what?"

"Maybe we’ll find the way out now," Nyan said hopefully.

"We should be so lucky," Casey sighed.

Sam was the first to stand. She frowned slightly. "Hey, do you feel that?"

Casey and Nyan scrambled to their feet.

"There’s a breeze right here," Sam said.

"It feels good," Casey replied.

"A breeze means an opening of some sort," Nyan added.

"Let’s go," Sam said. Nyan was right, if there was a breeze, that meant a door or a window or some sort of opening. And that opening could mean escape from this damned maze!

Daniel tried to fight down the panic that grabbed him when Casey walked out of the corridor where flames were still belching from the walls, and completely disappeared from sight.

"Shit!" Jack hissed. He pounded the glass in front of him. Sam disappeared from view. "Shit!"

When Nyan was no longer visible, the three men in the upper room exchanged worried glances.

"Now what?" Daniel asked.

"We find a way out of here, that’s what," Jack replied.

The archaeologist looked around. Half of the room was glass window. The other half, stone wall. The only way out seemed to be the same way they’d arrived, only that was now blocked off by more stone wall. "Okay. How?"

"Give me a minute," Jack groused.

After being in the narrow corridors of the maze for well over an hour, it was a shock to find themselves in a large, open room. The ceiling was at least thirty feet above them, and was a fantasy of paintings, each depicting a knight in the midst of some sort of battle or task. The floor was white marble, and white marble pillars supported the high ceiling. The walls were covered in silk damask in the lightest of cream colors. Benches covered with silk pillows lined the walls. In the very center of the room was a large, round fountain.

"Holy Hannah," Sam whispered.

"Wow!" Casey exclaimed.

Nyan’s eyes went wide as he looked from one side of the room to the other.

"Do you think the water is safe?" Casey asked, heading for the fountain. The giant marble feature took up nearly thirty feet of what had to be a fifty-foot wide room. Six levels rose from the pool, each one getting smaller as they moved higher. The very top bowl was at least twenty feet up, and was still a good six feet in diameter. Water shot out of the top of what looked like a stone tulip that rose from the center of the highest level, then dropped down into the bowl beneath it. The water flowed over the edges to the bowl below it, and then to one below that, until the final bowl emptied into the pool itself.

"Only one way to find out," Sam said. She dropped her pack, dug for her medical kit, then withdrew a test strip that would let them know if the water was safe. The strip went blue immediately. "Well, according to this, it’s fine."

Casey dipped a fingertip into the cool liquid. "Feels okay." She took a tentative taste. "Seems…sweet, almost."

Immediately the three began to quench their thirst. Once their bellies were full of water, Casey peeled off her boots and socks, and climbed into the pool. "Oh, goddess," she moaned, "this feels great!" She leaned over to splash water onto her arms.

Sam looked at Nyan and grinned. "Strip off the boots and socks, Nyan. Last one in is a rotten egg!"

He wasn’t exactly sure what the colonel meant by ‘rotten egg’, but he jumped into the pool at the same time she did.

For a few minutes, the three were too busy cleaning the sweat and grime from themselves to wonder about their missing teammates. They had made it through a maze filled with dangers. For just a few moments, they needed to recuperate…and celebrate...just a bit.

After making a circuit of the round room three times, Jack slammed his fist against the nearest window. The three of them had checked every inch of the room…three times. Nothing. No way in, no way out…there wasn’t even a hint of where that damned painting had come from. Nothing but solid brick wall, or the windows that offered a ring-side seat to the horrors of the maze below.

"We’re missing something," Daniel muttered. "There has to be a trap door or something."

"No way to get to that ceiling," Jack groused, looking up at the wooden beams some fifteen feet above his head.

"The floor, maybe?" Daniel offered.

The men began to examine the tile floor. Fifteen minutes later, frustrated, and not a little worried, they returned to the center of the room.

"I’d suggest praying, because that’s the only thing we haven’t tried," Daniel said wearily. "But I don’t think it will help."

Before Jack could reply, the room began to move. The shift was subtle at first. "Now what?" the general groused.

For fifteen minutes they watched as the maze below them slowly disappeared, replaced by nothing but brick wall.

"Sort of like the restaurant in the Space Needle," Daniel mused. He and Casey had planned to eat in the revolving restaurant, but hadn’t had the chance. The team trip to Seattle saw them visit the Space Needle, but they had decided to eat at Ivar’s on the Seattle waterfront instead.

"Not helping," Jack complained.

It was difficult to tell when the room had stopped moving, so slowly and smoothly had the room turned. The grinding sound of stone against stone had them whirling to face the stone wall. Once again there was an opening…once again stairs could be seen.

"Let’s get the hell out of here," Jack declared.

The men grabbed the packs they had dropped earlier and rushed for the stairs. None of them were sure the doorway would remain open for long.

Scrambling down the curved stairway, their leather boots slapped against the stone steps, echoing loudly around them.

Sam stopped splashing. "Wait a second…stop," she said, a slight frown on her lovely face.

Casey and Nyan stood still.

"Do you hear that?"

Tilting her head to one side, Casey listened carefully. "Sounds like a herd of elephants stomping around."

"Seems to be coming from over there," Nyan said, pointing to an ornately decorated door.

The three climbed out of the fountain and hurried to get socks and boots back on their feet. The sounds were getting closer. Their weapons were in hand, aimed at the door…

Daniel stopped…more than just a bit winded from the speed of their descent…and stared at the plain, wooden door. He glanced over his shoulder. "Well?"

"We either open that door, or go back up those stairs. I am not going back up," Jack replied.

"There is no other option," Teal’c agreed.

With a deep breath, Daniel reached for the wooden latch. He lifted his P90, ready to fire if necessary. Jack and Teal’c flanked him, their weapons ready as well. He slowly pulled on the latch…

Casey swallowed when the ornate handle on the door began to move slowly. The door swung open…

"Holy shit!" a familiar voice exclaimed.

"Daniel!" Her weapon clattered to the marble floor at her feet. She launched herself across the room and into the arms of the man she loved.

"Casey!" He met her halfway, sweeping her into his arms, burying his face in the warm silk of her hair. Her arms were locked around his neck, her legs around his waist. He shifted his hold, his hands cupping her shapely derriere.

Jack gave Sam a crooked grin, and sauntered to where she stood, mouth agape. His index finger caressed her jaw, then slid beneath her chin. "You’ll catch flies that way, Colonel."

Sam smiled, in spite of the tears she could feel forming in her eyes. She hadn’t even fully raised her arms to hug him when she felt herself crushed against her husband’s chest. She held tightly, almost afraid to let go…fear that if she did, he would disappear in a puff of smoke.

Teal’c nodded at Nyan. "It is good to see you well."

"Glad you’re okay, too," Nyan replied.

"Where have you been?" Casey demanded, once her lips had left Daniel’s.

"Locked in a tower room," Daniel replied.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Well, we had to work our way through a damned maze," Casey said.

Daniel’s smile faded. He swallowed, hard. "I…we…know. That tower room had a bird’s eye view of that maze."

Casey frowned. "How?"

"We figure the ceiling was made of some sort of two-way mirror," Jack said.

"Then you saw-" Sam started.

"Ever hair raising second," Jack confirmed.

Her fingers caressed his handsome face. "Oh, my poor Daniel," Casey whispered. "That couldn’t have been easy."

"No, it wasn’t," Daniel admitted, proud of himself for keeping his voice from breaking.

"That was your test," Casey said.

"We figured as much," Daniel agreed.

"Damned cruel if you ask me," Jack muttered. He turned to look around the room. "Okay, there’s a pair of doors over there. I suppose that’s the only way out of here?"

"Unless you want to work that maze backwards," Casey quipped, nodding at the narrow door that she, Sam, and Nyan had emerged from.

"No friggin’ thank you," Jack declared. "Let’s see if we can’t find a way out of this nightmare."

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