Chapter 23: Visibility

Sheppard groaned, he had been unable to sleep for any length of time as he had been woken frequently by bouts of coughing as his body tried to purge the remaining liquid from his lungs. As he tried to make himself more comfortable on the padded floor he realised the ship felt different; he had already identified the hum of the ship as the familiar hum of ancient technology but it was distant and inaccessible as though someone had turned the volume down and you had to strain hard to hear it. There was no sense of motion in space but Sheppard could still tell that they had stopped travelling; it was in the way the ship seemed to sigh in relief at the chance to stop travelling even if it knew it would only be for a short time. He didn't know how he knew this but he was certain he was right and it led to questions such as how long had these people been living on this ship travelling the universe and abducting people.

Turning over carefully, mindful of his weak, healing, shoulder he realised that both the O'Neils were watching him from where they lay. "Sorry if I woke you" he said sheepishly.

"We were already awake," Jack told him "How are you feeling?"

"Better." Sheppard said realising it was the truth, he still had the cough but he no longer felt as weak as a newborn kitten. He wondered how much of this was down to his accelerated healing and how much was down to just being able to rest for a while.

"Do you want to try eating something?" O'Neil asked.

Sheppard just shook his head. There was a bang in the corridor and Sheppard looked out through the Perspex front of their cell and into the one opposite. He sat up in alarm "Where are Ronon and Dave?"

"We don't know," O'Neil admitted "They were taken a few hours ago." Seeing the look on Sheppard's face he continued; "we didn't wake you as there would have been absolutely nothing you could have done and you needed your rest." Forging ahead before Sheppard could think to interrupt he added; "Me and Jack have very little connection with our ancient gene but even we can sense this ship is ancient technology. When it comes time for it we need you in the best condition possible, we all know you are our best option to take control of the ship."

Sheppard deflated a bit, he couldn't argue with the logic of the statement. Looking back across at the cell he could have sworn he heard the muffled footsteps of a large group of people. It took him a minute to get to his feet but by this time he was sure he could hear people moving. He moved to the front of the cell and then to the corner furthest from the noise as this position allowed him the fullest view possible down the corridor.

They were only a couple of cells down from where Sheppard stood and he could clearly see his brother and Ronon from where he stood. They were sweaty and dirty and looked quite quiet but they also looked unharmed. Sheppard watched the group as they came closer, stopping at each cell to deposit a couple of people each time. Watching them move he became happier in the knowledge that they were moving freely and without pain.

When the group stopped in front of his cell and it was David and Ronon's turn to enter their cell Sheppard became aware of the fact that nobody had given him a top to replace the one that had been removed in the exam room earlier. Some of the members of the group had noticed his marred torso and as they exclaimed others turned to look. Feeling self conscious he wrapped his arms around himself as best he could backing away, not willing to reveal his back, grateful when Jack and O'Neil stepped in front of him to shield him from sight. That didn't stop him seeing the look of pity in his brother's eyes. For some reason this made him mad, his brother had been dying of cancer the day before, he shouldn't be the one feeling pity for him.

Ronon and David were returned to their cells and the rest of the group was moved on. When they were out of sight Sheppard turned his back on the world outside their cell, he couldn't take much more of his brother's sidelong glances. "I'm getting real bored of this really quickly" he admitted.

"Maybe you should sit down John." O'Neil said.

John looked over his shoulder to see O'Neil studying his back; he had quite rightly deduced that John was in quite a lot of pain from wrapping his arms tightly around himself. Sighing in frustration he shrugged off the proposition and began to pace the cell. "We need to find a way out of here sooner rather than later; I've never been good at playing the peaceful captive for long."

"Tell me about it" The O'Neils echoed then O'Neil turned to Jack and said "You missed out on some doozies."

Jack just smiled "Just you wait till I'm older, old man." Sounding very mature for his teenage years before completely shattering that image by sticking his tongue out. The group just dissolved into laughter.

The lights went out suddenly as all the ships power cut out in one moment. A minute later the power had been restored but the jovial mood that had filled the cell just a minute before was now long gone. Lucas also chose this moment to start crying. Sheppard went to pick him up but O'Neil got there first; "Do you really think that's a good idea?" he asked first indicating Sheppard's shoulder and then adding "Is it worth risking skin to skin contact?"

Sheppard sighed in frustration "I hadn't thought about that, this could get really old really fast and could be really compromising out on operations unless I manage to get control of it." He admitted now thoroughly depressed. Thinking of something he continued "We really need to keep that kid away from their so called power chamber though, I don't want him to go through that sort of trauma if we can avoid it..."

"Agreed" Jack said and O'Neil nodded to indicate he agreed, bouncing the bawling toddler to quiet him before picking up something that was very similar in size and shape to a bottle to give to the boy quieting him as he guzzled whatever was inside the bottle. Once he was sure the tot had a good grasp on the bottle he turned to Sheppard and said; "You've seen more of this ship than either of us, have you got any starting points?"

Sheppard thought for a minute eventually shaking his head, annoyed with himself. "Thinking about it they were careful to make sure I didn't see much of importance, I'm not really even that sure how the doors are opened... I suppose we should see if there is any way of taking advantage of the power outages, maybe see if there is a way to get the cell door open with or without power. Once we are out of the cells I should think we will be in a better position to take control of the ship. It might be worth finding a way to see if Ronon and his knives can find a way to open the doors, with bars on their cells he has more access to any exterior panels that there might be. I'll try to find a way to force a connection with the ship; it's ancient so it must have a neural control network... these people seem to have found a way to bypass it though."

"Sounds like a good start." O'Neil admitted placing his squirming bundle on the floor before giving him something brightly coloured and jangly that he assumed was supposed to pass as a toy. As the tot started to happily play where he sat he added; "It might also be worth seeing if we can't find out a bit more about these people and where they found the ship and why they are always on the move, numbers might help as well..."

"The other thing I think we need to consider is from the way they were talking earlier I'm pretty sure they have video feeds of every cell. I'm not sure about sound but until we know for sure we need to be cautious, especially when we try to communicate with others. If they think we are up to something then they will probably try to separate us; there's certainly enough free cells on this level for them to go as far as locking us up individually."

"Noted." O'Neil said considering the implications of their actions and how to bypass the security. "Maybe we can use this little one and his mother to our advantage; I would never put them in any danger but we may be able to cause a commotion long enough to communicate with the others."

"We would need to find a way to get the front of the cell open first." Jack added

"I don't think that's going to be a problem" Sheppard completed, looking up the O'Neils could see that he had gone pale and both moved towards him expecting him to collapse again but he just shook his head and instead they turned to see what he was looking at.

Standing in front of their cell were the same group of guards that had bought Sheppard back not long before. The front of their cell opened and this time instead of indicating that Sheppard should come they pointed at O'Neil. The lights flickered and the guards looked up, worry flashing across their faces before they became more insistent that O'Neil hurry up.

Sheppard sent a parting few word of advice as O'Neil turned to exit the cell squaring his shoulders as he did; "It going to sound like terrible advice but don't fight it just take a breath... it might hurt less that way..."

A/N: This chapter has not been beta'd as i wanted to get it out to you as soon as it was finished so any mistakes are entirely my own. On a side note keep the reviews coming they really are whats driving me to keep writing at all around my work load :)