“Right.” John looked at the water, a last look before the light switched off and left them again in utter blackness. He heard the sound of wet cloth as she put the flashlight away.
In the dark, Teyla took his hand. “Ready?” she asked.
“Ready,” John said. “Three deep breaths and then we go.”
“All right.”
One. Two. Three.
They plunged into the frigid water and were swept away.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Get back!” Ronon whispered.
Though he was already pressed tightly to the stone wall, Radek attempted to make himself even smaller. He could see very little ahead of them through the bulk that was Ronon, but Radek could hear the others.
There were voices coming down the corridor that their corridor branched off from, three or four men’s voices raised in argument.
“I said we should have gone that way.”
“Shut up, twerp. Unless you’d like to take me on, ok?”
There were heavy footsteps. Radek could see Ronon’s shoulders tensed, his stun pistol at the ready. If the strangers turned into their corridor they would get a surprise.
“How about that way?”
The footsteps paused and they considered.
“No, this way!”
It seemed that they decided to stick with the main corridor. They went past, the sounds of their passage loud in the dim light.
When the last noises had faded away, Ronon moved, holstering his pistol again with a grin. “Not so bright. Any enemy would hear them a mile away.”
Radek let out a deep breath. “They would be the first contestants, it seems. We are beginning to reach the part of the maze where the games are being played.”
“Or they’re beginning to reach us,” Ronon said. “These are the guys in front. They’re probably the most dangerous because they probably screwed over plenty of other people to get here, and they’ll turn on each other before the end.” He straightened. “Ok. Let’s get back in the main corridor and keep following the cables.”
Radek looked up. “They are bundled now,” he said. “See how they are tied and painted over? We must be getting close.” He set off down the corridor, in a hurry to reach the control room.
Ronon grabbed his shoulder. “Stop!” he said. “Watch where you’re going!”
Just ahead of Radek the floor disappeared. Instead of smooth corridor floor there was a drop of seven or eight feet to a second floor lined with spikes of bright steel cut in sharp snowflake points. And on them…
Radek looked away, swallowing hard.
“One of those guys was careless,” Ronon said. “We can’t be.”
Radek very deliberately looked over at the floor on the opposite side, not glancing down at all. “How can we get across?” Ronon could probably jump, fit as he was, but Radek harbored no illusions about his ability to jump across the pit without the same unfortunate consequences as the contestant below.
Ronon grinned wolfishly. “You know that movie Sheppard had us watching last weekend on DVD? The really good one?”
“I do not,” Radek said. He tended to avoid movie night unless something he particularly liked was playing, as two hours of watching cars blow up bored him senseless.
“Where the guy says, ‘Never toss a dwarf’ and the other guy just picks him up and flings him?”
“Oh, that movie,” Radek said with a sinking heart. “You are not seriously considering…”
“No problem,” Ronon said, picking him up under the arms. “Easy peasy, as Beckett says.”
“Put me down! Put me down right now!” Radek shouted. “Do not…”
And then he was flying through the air, then smacking face down on the floor on the other side, his arms flung out to protect his glasses. The wind knocked out of him, Radek lay on the floor trying to catch a breath. Behind him he heard a scuffle, and Ronon knelt down beside him.
“Sorry. Maybe I threw you a little too hard.”
Radek rolled over, hoping that no bones were broken. “That was not funny.”
“It got you across, didn’t it?” Ronon offered a hand to help him up.
Radek gingerly uncurled. His legs seemed to work. He glared at Ronon over the top of his glasses. “Do not ever do that again.”
“You could jump,” Ronon said.
“I cannot.”
“Then don’t complain,” Ronon said. “You’re across, aren’t you?”
He hauled Radek to his feet. “Come on. We’re following cables, right?”
“Yes.”
Unfortunately, the body in the pit was not the last one they found. A little further along they found a man who had been hit over the head with something large and heavy. Perhaps, in the infirmary in Atlantis, he might have been saved, but here his breath had already stopped.
“This game is not so much fun,” Radek said grimly.
“Neither is being a Runner,” Ronon said. “Unless it’s fun for the Wraith.” He ranged ahead, checking the floor and walls for more traps. Radek sincerely hoped he found them without tripping them. But perhaps the men who had already passed this way had tripped any booby traps that had been set.
There were cameras, of course, and now it was impossible to avoid them entirely in the main corridor. Hopefully, the Wraith would conclude they were just regular contestants in the confusion of criss-crossing corridors. Still, they moved swiftly and tried to stay out of the light.
“Stop,” Radek directed. “I need to have a look at this.” Along the ceiling the mass of cables ran into a small box and then exited on the other side. They ran a few feet further along, then disappeared in a small hole in the side wall at ceiling level.
“What is it?” Ronon asked.
“That is what I am trying to ascertain,” Radek said. He craned his neck to see better. “The cables disappear into a solid stone wall? That does not make sense. Why would they go to such trouble? Drilling through stone is very difficult, and they have just fastened the cables to the ceiling elsewhere.”
Ronon came back. “Are we out of the cameras?”
Radek glanced down the hall. “Just barely. I do not think that one can see us.” He put his hands to the wall as far up as he could reach beneath the drilled hole. Yes. As he thought. “Ronon, put your hand to this wall and tell me what you feel.”
“Nothing,” Ronon said, running his hands over the uneven surface. “What am I supposed to feel?”
Radek took his other hand and put it to the wall three feet away, smiling. “Do you see?”
Ronon nodded cautiously, looking at the section of wall in front of him. “It’s not cold. The stone is cool over here.”
“Stone does not heat easily,” Radek said. In fact, the temperature in most deep caves stays around ten degrees Celsius year around. It does not vary much, away from the surface. It does not get much colder unless it is in a very intemperate climate, nor much warmer. But this section of wall… He ran his hands along it beneath the cables. This section of wall is warmer. It is not made of stone.
Ronon ran his hands over the surface. Claster painted to look like stone?â
We have found our door, Radek said. This is a false surface. What is beyond it I do not know, but something has been hidden.
The control room?
Possibly. Or a technical closet, which would be nearly as good. Radek looked at it speculatively. If it is a server closet or one where the camera cables attach to a power source, we are in business.
If it's the control room there could be Wraith in there, Ronon said, drawing his pistol. You get back around the corner.
What are you going to do? Radek asked.