Chapter 11: Organisation

"I want you to look through all the footage of the new prisoners and find the ones that are sick and injured." The big man named Pietor told the subordinate standing next to him, even as they watched the live footage of the captives in their cells. "Treat the ones that can be mended, leave the ones that will recover of their own accord and dispose of any that we will be unable to return to health."

"Yes Pietor, of course." The subordinate said. He already knew the drill well but it paid to follow the same tried and tested routine with his unpredictable boss; "Is there anything else you wish me to do?"

"Yes, assign someone to check all the cells and assure that any with infants in them have suitable sleeping arrangement for the children, I can't stand the crying."

It was a fine balance between asking too much and asking too little and the subordinate decided that today asking if there was a specific medical technician that Pietor required to carry out the inspection would be taking it too far. Excusing himself rapidly the subordinate went to do as he was told more than aware of the precarious position his recent promotion had placed him in, Pietor previous right-hand men were still unaccounted for.

The subordinate decided that speed was of the essence and within minutes he had sent someone out to arrange child's cots and was sitting with the on-duty technician studying each new arrival as they had moved around the transport hall.

"Could you not have waited five more minutes Harvey?" the technician asked as he tiredly watched how people moved and held themselves. "Five more minutes and Frank would have been the on duty technician."

"Do not complain Geoff" Harvey groaned as he continued to watch the people. "I was not about to keep Pietor waiting any longer than absolutely necessary and anyway this new intake appears to be in fairly good health... I have only spotted twenty three so far that should be looked at more closely and even some of them we are perhaps being overly cautious with."

Geoff could not argue with Harvey's point and within twenty minutes they had singled out a further three people to inspect, bringing their total to twenty six. After they had singled out the sick and injured it had been a simple matter of taking a look at the live footage of the cells to determining which ones had gone where.

Harvey stood up; "I'll take some of my men to go and round these people up, you should go and alert your team, hopefully this will only be brief. I will meet you in examination room three."

Geoff nodded his understanding and the both hurriedly parted ways. The sooner they got this over with the sooner they could go to their respective beds ready for whatever Pietor had planned for the next day.

Looking at the list of cells and the pictures of the people he had to collect Harvey began to walk down the corridor. He could hear sobbing and crying from all around him, he could also soft voices coming from cells, trying to calm the fearful prisoners. It was the same every time they picked up new stock; there was always a frustrating period of adjustment before they achieved anything productive. He stopped at the first cell on his list and, once more checking his list before hitting the door panel, he indicated the teenage girl in the cell that he wanted to the guards he had bought with him. All the people in the cell had backed up against the far wall but the guards efficiently extracted her without any resistance.

The girl looked relatively healthy but had a cast encircling her left hand and forearm, Harvey was hopeful that she would be a simple case of ascertaining when she was due to have the cast removed. Walking down the corridor the group of people steadily grew, there were several old people, several adults, a couple of children and a heavily pregnant woman and all bar one were walking under their own steam, the one exception was being carried by one of the many guards, he claimed his legs didn't work and while Harvey believed this to be the case he had still decided to check the causes behind it to ensure it wasn't some sort of contagion he had never heard of. They were all fairly healthy unlike some of their previous intakes had been and for this Harvey was grateful as it made his job much easier.

One of the last cells that he had to extract a person from had a group of varying aged people in it from a young child to a man with steel grey hair. Looking into the cell Harvey paused as he went to hit the door control; the oldest person in the cell looked far from frail, he looked wiry and dangerous and the look Harvey was receiving from the teen was nothing short of hostile. Normally this would not have made Harvey hesitate but, there was something very similar about the two and he quickly decided they must have been father and son; the way they were positioned made him think that they were being very protective of the two prone figures on the floor. Indicating the sickly looking man asleep on the floor to the guards Harvey hit the door control. The tow conscious men moved forwards as one as if to resist before a look almost simultaneously crossed their faces and they paused as if undecided. As the guards pulled a confused looking man to his feet Harvey felt the need to pacify the pair; "Your companion will be returned shortly and bedding will be provided for the young one." The older man looked past Harvey to the group of prisoners and guards and sighed saying; "Stand down Jack, there's not much we can do at the moment."

The ill man was issued out into the corridor and Harvey once more hit the door control letting out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding as a tangible barrier descended between himself and the two men. He had no doubt that they were both more than capable of snapping his neck if the opportunity arose. He rapidly directed his group down the corridor away from the cell and towards the exam room picking up a final person on the way.