Author Notes: I'm glad people like this story! Thanks for the support!

Chapter 3

Every day, three klaxons. Every day, that disgusting drink. Every day, that horrible voice. Every day, they woke up as clueless as when they had been knocked out.

In the first few weeks, the humans still put up resistance, much to the guards disgust. More than one time, Jonas and Kera had been waiting in the cell, only to receive a sharp shock as somewhere in another part of the facility Vala made her feelings known. The worst time it happened, maybe the third week in, Daniel had sat with her while the rest of them were sleeping off the day's pain. "You need to stop this."

"I have no idea what you're talking about- Ow!" She jerked away when his clean-up of her head wound touched a particular sore spot; one of the guards had been especially annoyed this time.

"I'm barely touching you." Daniel dismissed, although he brought the strip of bloody cloth to rest in his lap nonetheless. "There's only so long they'll put up with it before they do something more permanent. I know you're not stupid Vala – you know what they mean by 'removal from the program.'"

Vala shrugged, looking determinedly at the floor, "Maybe I want to be removed from the program."

Daniel froze, before roughly grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him, "You don't mean that. You hear that damn voice as well as I do. We're in this together. One is removed, the whole group is. One fails, we all fail. We're not alone here. You've got us, and if we can get through this, so can you."

By Daniel's standards, it hadn't been his best speech, but it had worked. In the same display of unity that Kera and Jonas had already begun practicing, she made sure to keep a hold of Beren's arm when they were forced out for the day. They may have ended up unconscious regardless, but at least they had not been alone.

Over the weeks, the humans of the facility fell into a state of despondency. They no longer resisted the morning's routine, many often gulping down the ration to stave off hunger. It was not until the sixth week – as counted by Vala's wall tally – that Renn proposed a rather disturbing idea. What if they were not actually unconscious all day? What if they just didn't remember? Injections and tests should not have left their muscles aching as they did, and the way none of them were wasting away from the lack of movement, rather the opposite in fact, suggested something else was going on. There had to be a reason behind all this.

Daniel was inclined to agree. Only a few days after Renn's suggestion, Jonas had woken him up in the middle of the night, frantically bombarding him with questions about the SGC. They had discovered, much to their disturbance, that there were many holes in their memory. They remembered faces, but it was becoming increasingly hard to place names, and gradually, the people and faces were disappearing too. In week eight, Vala revealed she could no longer remember her surname. The others realised they were the same. The facility, their cell and each other had become their past, present and future. They knew they had lost many things, but all the memories were firmly out of their grasp.

Over the weeks, Daniel's eyesight had improved, and was now almost 20/20. He was not the only one to notice changes. Despite the one-day ration, all of them felt stronger, the Type A men especially, while both Vala and Beren had noticed an increasing alertness and reaction time. Jonas and Kera's change was perhaps the most disturbing one. Both would jerk awake a split second before the first klaxon sounded at its full volume, their hearing so much sharper, and both made hardly a sound when they moved, Jonas falling into almost as much silence as the mute girl. As a side effect of this, while Kera still spoke no more than she had on the very first day, her movements were rapidly becoming as easy to read for them as it had been for Renn, a trait that was transferring onto their ability to read each other. Not whole sentences or conversations, of course, but emotions, one-word thoughts displayed as body language in a manner that now seemed so obvious. Somewhere within this change, Daniel had become the person they turned to. Outside of their cell, no one failed to notice the decline in Groups, and this only spurred their sense of unity further.

Gone were the days when, with memories of their individual lives, they kept their distance. They all slept together now, all in one corner of their cell. Not long after, Vala stopped her tally.

Monotony became routine, and so the month, week or day when Jonas shook Daniel awake was unclear. At first Daniel had been mildly surprised – Jonas spoke so little of his own volition nowadays. They had sat quietly in the opposing corner of the cell, so as not to wake the others, waiting for Jonas to speak.

The smaller man bit his lip, eyes uncertain, before he raised them to meet Daniel's, "I woke up today." At Daniel's confused frown, he tried to explain better, "After the gas. I don't think I was very with it, and I don't think they knew I was awake. They were talking about moving me back to the cell."

Daniel's eyes widened, "You remember..?"

Jonas nodded, "They were speaking really quietly, but I could still hear them." He gave Daniel a weak smile, before his face became grim once more, "They were talking about the program reaching its end, and how 'she' would be choosing soon once they had begun the final stage."

"She?" Daniel frowned. All of the guards they had seen were men, from what little they could tell.

Jonas fidgeted, "Daniel, they said something else too. It was like they were listing something."

"What?" Daniel asked the question patiently.

"Two for strength, two for speed, two for stealth." Jonas recited. Daniel paled, and Jonas knew the man understood it the same way he had. He continued, "But there are seven people to a Group."

Nothing more was said other than Daniel telling Jonas to go back to sleep. He himself remained awake until the first klaxon rang out clear.


They didn't tell the others, and the conversation fell into the background for a few days. Until Drek started to get ill. At first he had just been more tired than usual, but soon his hacking cough kept them awake most nights with worry. And then they all started to feel the effects of whatever it was – and they weren't the only Group either. Nearly every person they walked with in the mornings seemed to be reacting to whatever this illness was.

And then one night, Kera jerked awake, heart beating frantically. To her right, Jonas was already sitting up, while the others slept on. One look at the other man confirmed he had heard something too. She gently extricated herself from Vala's entangled leg and Renn's thick arm, her muscles tense. Jonas followed suit. What had it been? It was bad, both of them knew that. It was far too early to be the morning klaxon.

They focused in the dark silence. There it was again, the same sequence of muffled noises, getting closer, louder. Kera swallowed, reaching behind her and pressing a hand on her brother's collarbone. He awoke immediately, "What is it?" His voice was hoarse from the illness, and his eyes flicked between the pair.

At his words, the others began to wake up groggily. All of them tensed when they saw how agitated Jonas and Kera were, and their worry was only heightened when both flinched simultaneously, as if they could hear something the others could not.

And then they all heard it, causing them to rise to their feet in alarm.

"What is it?" Beren's voice was hushed. Long gone were the days when he was too proud to show his fear.

"I have no idea." Daniel drew his words out, a gentle hand coming to rest on Jonas' shoulder to pull him back to the group, while Renn grasped Kera's arm.

Booted footsteps, and their door was scraped open. Immediately, all seven were blinded by an intense light, preventing them from seeing who was on the other side of the door. "How are they faring?"

Daniel had to try very hard not to react to that. The voice was so inhuman, deep and reverberating, but with an oddly feminine quality. And it was so...familiar? His hand on Jonas' shoulder tensed unconsciously. "There are three in Type A, so we gave them a stronger dose of the virus. Types B and C are coping within the acceptable parameters, while Captive 4 within Type A is coping above the average for the dose. Captives 1 and 6 are the worst, with Captive 1 at a marginally better performance rate than 6. Recommend progression to the final stage."

The statistics went right over their heads, although some of the references did jog a few distant memories that belonged at the very beginning.

"Very good." It was hard to determine emotion in that voice, but Daniel had a feeling it was satisfied, "Kill him."

The command was such a shock that a sizzling yellow light had already impacted Drek in the chest before any of them could react. Vala and Beren caught his fall as Daniel and Renn both leapt forwards in an almost instinctual reaction, only to impact the door as it was slammed shut, both yelling at the tops of their voices before they realised it would be no use.

Vala was talking rapidly to Drek, while Beren seemed to be in shock, having caught the man without actually realising what he was doing. Kera's mouth was open in a silent scream as tears ran down her cheeks; Jonas was holding her back, staring numbly at the dying man on the floor.

Renn bent and gently helped Beren up while Daniel took his place. Vala's voice choked, unable to think of anything more to say as the light left Drek's eyes. She was shaking, practically vibrating with untold anger. Looking up at Daniel without removing her arms from around Drek's neck, her voice was cold, "Why?"

Daniel knew they always expected him to have the answers, and so he replied the only way he could, "They only wanted six."

At some point that night, Jonas, Beren and Kera had fallen into a disturbed sleep, curled up together in a corner. Daniel had managed to finally pull Vala away from Drek so Renn could lay the body against one of the walls. They had nothing to cover him with, only able to close his eyes to show their respect. Renn had moved to sit with the other three, a silent watchdog, and Daniel knew that from now on, he and Renn would be taking turns to sleep. The night wore on, and still Vala would not sleep, her eyes permanently fixed on Drek's body. Finally Daniel was forced to break the silence. He knew Vala, and he would be damned if he would let anything else happen to his family, "Promise me you will be calm tomorrow."

"You know I can't do that." Her tone was emotionless, but Daniel could hear the turmoil beneath.

"So you would vent your anger, and lose Kera? Another one of your brothers? Me?" His voice was calm and soothing.

Vala groaned in confusion and frustration, "But they killed him Daniel! I know he's not the first person I've seen die before, even if they have made us forget, but it was Drek! We can't just do nothing!"

"I doubt we were the only ones to lose someone tonight. I'm sure in some cases whole Groups were removed. I will not let that happen to us. Give me your word, Vala."

Jonas and Kera snapped awake and the first klaxon sounded. Vala sighed, resting her forehead for a second in Daniel's shoulder, "Fine."


Daniel had been right. The numbers had been severely diminished overnight, and there had been no need to take the Types one by one. Drek's body had been removed some point during the day, and whatever happened to them after they were gassed had intensified, as they had awoken as exhausted as if it was the first month. The number of Groups continued to dwindle, and soon there was no need to split them into five each morning.

Daniel and Renn never slept at the same time again, taking watches over the little sleeping huddle. Sometimes when it was Daniel's turn to watch, his mind would supply him with strange flashes of colour and faces; yellow hair, golden symbols and warm eyes older than their owner. But they were always fleeting, and Daniel could not understand why the simple act of taking watch caused them to appear.

Another week passed before once again Jonas and Kera were jerking awake long before the klaxon was due to sound. Yelling could be heard beyond the walls, and weapons fire.

Daniel and Renn were the first on their feet, just in time to see the door swing open to reveal a beautiful woman in strange, delicate clothes, flanked by two men in heavy armour, both with tattoos on their foreheads. "Quickly!" Her voice was softer than anything they had heard in what seemed like an eternity, "If you want to live, you must come!"

All eyes turned to Daniel, who made the decision in a heartbeat; he barely had to nod before they were all moving out the door in what felt like a bizarrely practiced formation.

The corridor was in chaos. The woman's men were easily besting the men in masks, who were all lying unmoving on the floor. More shots could be heard through the facility. She gestured, and led the way in the opposite direction to where they had always gone before. Vala and Beren were quicker than all of them, pausing at intervals to check and wait for them to catch up.

The woman and her two men guided them to a small room with a circle in the middle of the floor. One of the armoured men dragged the six to stand with her in the middle, as the other punched in something on the wall. A mechanical sound and light, and suddenly they were all standing in an entirely different room, ornate, golden and bright.

They were all in shock. What the hell had just happened? It had all been so fast. Daniel turned to the woman, accepting the unspoken desire of the others that he find out what was going on, "Who are you? Where are we?"

The woman smiled softly, "I am Neith. The facility you were in became known to me recently, and I knew I could not allow it to continue." Her smile widened, and Daniel felt Jonas shudder next to him, although why he wasn't sure. From a quick glance, it looked as if Jonas wasn't sure either.

"Well, thank you." He was unsure of how to continue.

Neith continued to smile, gesturing to her men, "Allow my Jaffa to lead you to some quarters. My ship will have us back on my planet by the time you have slept off the shock of tonight's events."

In a daze, they were led to a large room with beds, full of blankets and cushions. None of them really knew what to do once they were left alone, until Vala took the initiative, stalking forward to grab a few blankets before settling in a corner of the room. Beren sat next to her, and soon Jonas and Kera were sound asleep with them, exhaustion and confusion bringing on sleep whether it was wanted or not. Renn turned to Daniel, "What do you think?"

"Jonas didn't like her."

"It was not a reasoned reaction. More of an effect of the situation?"

"Perhaps." Daniel conceded.

"We need her. We know nothing of the world outside that place, let alone all of what was done to us while we were inside it." Renn paused, "You will make the right decision."

Daniel looked up sharply, before nodding, "I will watch; you were awake before."

Renn nodded, and was soon sleeping lightly against the blankets that covered the other four. Daniel moved to sit cross-legged on a bed, giving himself a view of the door and the sleeping group.

Renn was right, of course. He always was. Still, Daniel could not shake the same nervous feeling he felt when he thought of the ornate hallways, clunking boots of Jaffa and that beautiful smile.

To Be Continued...

Author Notes: Well, things are moving very fast for everyone ;) Hope you enjoyed this installment, and I'd love to hear from you!