Free SG1-17 Sunrise by J. F. Crane Page A

rear, casting a glance at the soldier watching them with serious eyes. Neither spoke, but in the gloom Jack saw an honest face and gave the man a nod. Tanner did the same, then spun on his heel and returned to his men.
    Clearly there was much more going on in the Ark than met the eye.
    And Jack hated that.
    Gripping his weapon more tightly, he followed his team. As he rounded the corner, he saw Rhionna crouching in the middle of the road, staring at the pavement.
    Jack drew closer. “What’s going on?”
    Tension in her face, Carter shot him a look. “Secret passage.”
    “Not secret,” Rhionna said, grunting with effort as she lifted a heavy metal plate from the road. “But hidden from these
òinseach
.”
    The foreign word held enough bile not to need translation. And, anyway, Daniel didn’t seem to be paying attention. His gaze was fixed on the gaping black hole Rhionna had just opened up. “Down there?” he said with a rasp in his voice.
    Jack felt something thump hard in his chest, a beat of alien panic. Jonah’s panic. Carter shuffled her feet, fingers turning white where she grasped her weapon. And Daniel glanced up at the night sky as if drawing strength.
    He remembered, like half a half-forgotten scent, his first day in the mines. Except he’d never been in the mines and it wasn’t really his memory.
    Other memories were, though; memories of unremitting labor and lightless, stifling heat. The tasteless slop, the constant hunger, the hopelessness—
    “What’s down there?” Carter’s voice broke into his thoughts.
    Rhionna looked up, the distant light of a dozen television screens catching in her eyes. “They are service tunnels—engineers use them to maintain the city’s water and sewage systems.”
    “No boiler rooms, then?” Jack said, mostly for the benefit of his team.
    Daniel’s mouth curled toward a bitter smile, but Carter’s gaze remained locked on the metal ladder leading down into the dark.
    Rhionna frowned. “Boiler rooms?”
    “Never mind.” Jack took a breath and pushed the memories aside—over the years he’d grown accustomed to locking certain thoughts into little dark rooms, and this was no different. “You wanna tell us where we’re going?”
    He met Rhionna’s gaze, taking the measure of her. She stood up, unfazed by his scrutiny. “Outside the Ark. This is the only way to leave. You will have to trust me, Jack O’Neill.”
    “I guess I will.” He flung a look at Teal’c, who nodded—it wasn’t exactly approval, more like agreement, but it was welcome; Teal’c’s instincts were always on the money.
    “There is light in the tunnel,” Rhionna said, without waiting for more of an answer. She swung onto the ladder, slipping down fast and sure, and Jack was reminded of a firefighter.
    “I’ll take point,” he said, stepping onto the ladder and testing his weight on the iron rungs; they felt solid. “Teal’c, cover our six.”
    With that, he started to climb down and tried not to imagine the crushing weight of a mile of ice above his head.
    * * *
    Sam had never in her whole life felt claustrophobic. Yet, as she reached the bottom of the ladder and blackness pressed in around her, her breaths came short and sharp. She grabbed her weapon, the weight in her hands familiar and comforting, but the clamor of the power plant still echoed in her mind and incipient panic clawed at her chest.
    Then light flared, a magnesium-bright lantern held aloft by Rhionna. Sam forced the tension in her shoulders to ease and in the bone-white glare saw Daniel squinting and turning away. He looked strange with his short hair, less like Daniel and more like Karlan.
    She didn’t like it down here, in the depths.
    “I don’t like it down here.” Daniel’s words were all but drowned by the scrape of metal on stone that ricocheted down the tunnel. Teal’c had shut the manhole cover.
    Sam took a breath and let it out slowly.
    “This way.” Rhionna turned to lead them out into a