At last she saw something other than tunnel walls and crystal-green refractions on the water ahead. The passage opened out into an immense cavern, far larger than the rock cathedral and filled with mist and deafening noise. Beneath the mist sat the surface of a subterranean lake, black as onyx. The opposite shore was invisible, lost in haze and darkness. To their right, some two hundred meters from the tunnel mouth, the waterfall pounded into the lake, a massive moving column, spraying foam and seemingly burning from within.
"What on Earth…?"
"It's either sunset or sunrise," John shouted over the noise. "That thing's coming from topside, and it's conducting light like a fiberglass cable."
There was her passage to the surface, Elizabeth thought grimly. Some local deity-or, if Radek was right, Charybdis itself-must have been listening in on her thoughts and decided to piss her off. That blood red waterfall would be the last thing she'd see. They had nowhere to go, except back-and even that was doubtful now; in the time they'd been standing here, staring, the water had crept at least an inch up her chest. Chances were that, even if they turned back right now, they wouldn't be able to make it to the rock cathedral. The only choices remaining were either to stay here and drown or to swim out into the lake and drown. She guessed that this was the moment when you were supposed to say, It was an honor serving with you…
Apparently not.
Without a word-or perhaps she simply hadn't heard it over the roar of the water-John let go of her hand and flung himself out into the lake.
"John!"
It was an irrational impulse-after all, what difference would it make? — or perhaps the determination to survive as long as possible and force the others to do the same. Either way, Elizabeth pushed herself off to go after him. A hand snatched the back of her shirt and pulled her back, pulled her under for a second, and she came up spitting and spluttering to stare at Major Sheppard's face, inches from hers.
"Don't!" he shouted. "It's not what you think! Look!"
She scrabbled to regain the ground under her feet, swiped the water from her eyes, and stared in the direction he was pointing. Some one hundred meters out into the lake, John was clinging to something square and wooden, and swimming back toward them.
"A raft...
The Major couldn't possibly have heard her, but he read her lips. "Yeah! If he manages to get it here!"
Good point. The lake wasn't a lake at all, it seemed, but a large underground river. Its rapid current was trying to carry him downstream and away from them. He was kicking hard, gradually gaining ground and aiming for the relatively calm waters of a small recess in the rock, a little over ten meters down from where they were standing. Major Sheppard nudged her and her twin toward the recess to meet him.
As John struggled closer, Elizabeth recognized the `raft'. It was a fence panel, about five by five feet, of the kind they had put up around their experimental rice terrace to keep out animals trying to feed on the young shoots. She figured she knew what had happened. The terrace had been situated on one of the high slopes of the mountain; the east facing slope was ideal, because it caught a lot of rain, but it also lent itself to mudslides. One of those must have destroyed the terrace and carried some of its fencing down into the ravine below and from there into the river, the waterfall, and on into the caves.
Only a few feet out, John got caught in an eddy but managed to snatch the far end of the outcrop that formed a breakwater in front of the tiny bay. Hanging on with one hand, he heaved and kicked himself and the fence panel into the recess. Up close, the raft seemed desperately small. Looking like nothing so much as a very pale drowned rat, John had pulled himself on top and lay there, breathing hard and resting for however many moments he'd be granted.
Not many, she thought. The water kept rising.
She turned around, caught Major Sheppard and her alternate exchanging a glance; some silent communication Elizabeth couldn't quite interpret.
"What are you waiting for?" the Major hollered and prodded her toward the raft. "Get on!"
Elizabeth couldn't say what had tweaked her anten nae-perhaps that quiet exchange, perhaps the odd look in Major Sheppard's eyes. In a flash she realized what he was planning, and she'd be damned if she let it happen. "No!" she yelled. "You two first!"
"Look at the raft!" the Major shouted back. "To paraphrase you, Dr. Weir, `I will not authorize this mission unless I am sure there is at least a remote chance of success.' There isn't. That contraption will never carry all of us. We need to save as many as we can, and that's two."
If we turn back, we'll all die.
The words jumped into Elizabeth's mind unbidden. Her double had known or, at the very least, guessed correctly. Which didn't change the math. Major Sheppard was right. If they all got on the raft, it'd sink. Using it as a flotation device was possible-and completely pointless. Given the water temperature they'd be unable to hold on sooner rather than later, and even if two of them let go, by that point the other two would be too weak to climb onto the raft.
"You go!" She grabbed her double's arm, tried to pull her forward.
With surprising strength the alternate stood her ground. "I didn't agree to Janus's plan to save myself, Elizabeth. Remember? And remember what he told us?" She slid a brief glance at the Major. "The originals have to survive to stop Charybdis from happening."
"What if he's wrong?"
"You know he isn't. There's no other option. Go!"
"I can't just let you die!"
Head cocked, Elizabeth's alternate smiled. "Then don't. Survive."
"You're crazy." It was a low blow and a last ditch effort.
"Even crazy people have lucid moments. Don't waste any more time. Go, and don't look back."
Major Sheppard must have seen the fight drain out of her. He grabbed her around the waist and helped her onto the raft. "Remember the Odyssey? This is Hades. Your double and I, we're the shadows. Always have been. Just make sure you succeed." He grinned and nodded at John who lay sprawled beside her, out cold. "You'll have to wake him. He shouldn't be sleeping given his condition, but don't bring him round before you're past the point of no return. I don't want to have this argument all over again. I'll leave that in your capable hands."
With that he gave the raft a shove, propelling it out into the river. Elizabeth could feel a sharp tug when the current grabbed hold of it and spun it away from the shore. She realized that she needn't have worried about heeding her double's advice not to look back; the two alternates disappeared from sight almost immediately, hidden by the rocks that protected the recess.
Downnver lay uncertainty and darkness, and the latter at least suited her mood perfectly.
Chapter fifteen
"You're kidding, right'? The originals have to survive to fix this Charybdis mess? Do you know what the odds of that are?"
"We'll find out just as soon as you find us a Stargate, won't we?"
Teyla realized how irritable this reply sounded as soon as it came out of her mouth, but she couldn't be bothered to soften it or apologize. She knew exactly what the chances were. She'd known long before anybody else, and she'd lived with that knowledge for thirty-two years. So perhaps she was allowed a little irritability. That aside, she was exhausted, her head was pounding, and the hinges of her jaw seemed to have come loose from all the talking she'd done in the past hours. For once Ronon was nothing if not inquisitive. Not that she could blame him. She had nearly as many questions, she supposed.
"I'm sorry," said Ronon, much to her surprise. As a rule he seemed to avoid apologies. "You look beat," he added.