Chapter 26: Processing

Mitchell looked up as he heard footsteps heading down the corridor once more. This ship was a hive of activity; they had been given some of the food that had been collected on the planet only a short while before. Deciding to be cautious, as they didn't know whether they would react badly to the alien food, Mitchell had been the only one to try a very small amount. The rest they had secreted in their little washroom. If by the time the next meal had arrived he had not suffered any ill-effects they would all eat some of the previous meal while Mitchell tested any new food provided.

Looking across at the other cell Mitchell could see that, as he had been the last couple of times he had checked, Sheppard was sleeping fitfully whilst Jack occupied the toddler. O'Neil still wasn't back. As they had when collecting a foraging group the footsteps stopped at intervals until Mitchell could see another group of people filling the hallway.

When they reached their cell Mitchell and Ronon watched with keen eyes but as far as Mitchell could tell none of the guards in the hallway had any form of control for the cell door. When the door opened Mitchell and Lily were motioned out. As they continued down the corridor Mitchell said in a low voice to Lily; "If we get separated don't panic just do as you are told and keep your head down ok?"

Lily nodded mutely, he could see that she was doing her best to keep it together. Trying to get her mind off things he asked "how old are you?" she looked young and he was satisfying his curiosity

"I'm 22" she admitted quietly "Me and my boyfriend just got engaged, we were going to get married as Edinburgh castle in two months time." Seeing that this line of thinking could quickly go against the aim of his original question Mitchell quickly jumped in "Don't worry we'll have you back in time for your wedding." Looking around to make sure no one was listening he added "I can only think of a couple of occasions where any of our teams have been missing for more than a week; we never leave a man, or woman, behind."

Lily just nodded again, Mitchell could see the doubt in her eyes but he couldn't think of anything else to say that could possibly help. Trying to put himself in her shoes he could see that what he had said may not be the most comforting thing to say.

They picked up more people from cells before being led out of the corridor with the cells. Again as they left the corridor Mitchell watched to see how the door was controlled but once more other than a guard muttering under his breath Mitchell didn't see any of the guards do anything that could be replicated to open the door. He was starting to think that they had a central control room, which was going to make life difficult as they would have to first locate and then access the room to gain control. Of course if they did manage that it was also an advantage as they could maintain control of the ship even with very small numbers.

By this point they had been taken beyond the infirmary that Mitchell had explained John's condition in and were in a large transporter much like the one that Ronon and David had described. However, when the doors of the transporter opened once more it was not to a hanger but to a large open foyer that had a number of corridors leading off it. This one was full of people, most of who walked with purpose.

None of the people who moved before him had guards with them and mixed in with them were young children, maybe four or five years old, who ran around underfoot playing and shouting. All the people wore a similar dark coloured uniform made of a sturdy looking material; even the children wore a miniature version.

Mitchell realised they were finally seeing the population of the ship. As they were herded out of the transporter Mitchell watched the reactions of the population. Very few people looked their way and those that did did so with a cold detached look on their faces. The only individuals that showed any interest in them were the children who would run over to look curiously at the group before running off giggling when they were shooed away by the guards. This whole display told Mitchell a lot about the people who lived on the ship; they were used to using prisoners and were not surprised by their presence. Whatever they were being taken to do would be a prime opportunity to gather some intel.

When their group were in the centre of the foyer the guards stopped them and moved among them dividing them into three smaller groups. As Mitchell expected he and Lily were put into separate groups and he gave her a reassuring smile as one of the technicians he recognised from the SGC came over to stand beside her. Looking around he realised he recognised several other people as either people who worked closely with those he knew who had the ATA gene or some family members he had met at various barbeques and parties. Some of these people ended up in his group.

When the guards had finished grouping people they too split into three smaller groups and began to herd people down separate corridors. Looking at his group he realised that they had been sorted by build; given that everyone in his group was well built he could only come to the conclusion they were being used for some sort of physical work. As they walked someone discreetly moved through their group until Mitchell found himself walking next to Kowalski from SG-5. He was in workout gear and Mitchell had a good idea of what he had been doing before he was beamed up. "Kowalski, you seen many other personnel from the SGC?" he kept his voice low and tried to look like he wasn't talking to anyone in particular, they had somehow ended up in the centre of their group and Mitchell wasn't sure whether to chalk this up to pure dumb luck or a stroke of genius on the part of their sub-consciousnesses.

Kowalski nodded "I was sparring with Connolley from SG-9 when we ended up here but I haven't seen him since and when going past some of the other cells I'm pretty sure I saw two of SG-13, Dere and McDermott, and some of the scientists from the SGC as well but I'm not sure what their names are. My cell is halfway down the corridor so I haven't had a chance to look in a lot of the cells yet. I was sent down to a planet earlier and when they were collecting people I'm pretty sure I saw General O'Neil and..." he paused not sure about saying the next thing. "Sir I thought I saw Colonel Sheppard but that can't be right unless Atlantis has been attacked as well..."

Mitchell sighed; "No Sheppard was on earth visiting family, you did see him, I'm in the cell opposite Sheppard and the General."

All this time they had been moving down a warren of different corridors and Mitchell was beginning to appreciate just how big the ship was, more like a city than a spaceship. Everywhere they walked the habitants of the ship could be seen in their strange black uniforms. Occasionally they came across a group of children and Mitchell was starting to think that children were only allowed to associate with others their own age as they never saw a group of children that looked like they varied in age by more than a few months. Looking around to check that no one was listening to their conversation he continued, pushing thoughts of children to one side "anyone you see from the SGC, tell them to stay near the front of their cells where possible, that way when they come for workers you will be chosen. The more we can interact and communicate the more likely we are to successfully pull off any sort of plan we devise. They have been quite careful about keeping military looking people apart in cells but they might be less careful when picking workers."

Kowalski angled his head and Mitchell took this as agreement. Before they could continue their conversation their group was halted at a huge vault-like door. One of the guards turned to address them; "this is our food processing centre, you will be tasked with a number of different jobs. Ensure there is no wastage as a food shortage will be felt by you long before it affects the rest of the ship." With that the vault door was opened and their group was ushered into a cavernous room that looked like it too could have been a hanger bay at some point in a very distant past.

As the group moved in they saw a smaller group of 'citizens' dressed slightly differently to the others they had seen in that over the top of their black uniform they wore grey protective suits. As the prisoners came through the door the citizens came forward and indicated that one to three people should come with them. No words were spoken but their desires were clearly made through body language.

Mitchell's small group was led over to where numerous bags of fruit had been piled. The worker pointed at a bag and then indicated that they should pick up a bag. When each of the group had hauled bags over their shoulders their 'citizen' then led them a further hundred meters into the cavern and indicated that they should empty the bags into a large machine and then discard the bags into another container.

When the bags were emptied into the machine it whirred to life and they could hear a squishing sound from inside before they saw a mushy liquid substance emerge from the machine via tubes that disappeared down into the floor. Their guide indicated that they should return and collect more bags.

The bags were heavy but not unbearably so and they soon settled into a steady rhythm. This gave Mitchell a chance to study his companions. The clothes they wore were unlike any he had ever seen people on earth wearing although given the similarities between the two he figured he was safe in the assumption that they were from the same planet. They had long, off-white, tops that reached to just above the knees over the top of deep-red coloured trousers. This in itself wasn't that unusual but attached to the top were long strands of multi-coloured fabric. The fabric was only attached at one end so it hung down and swung freely as they moved. It was slightly hypnotising in a psychedelic way, he could imagine that in the past the colours had been bright and vibrant but now they were faded and dirty.

"How long have you been here?" he asked one of them as they walked together towards the machine. The man looked at him briefly, probably taking in the cleanliness of his clothes. "It is hard to keep track of time here," he admitted after a minute. "Since we were captured another two batches of people have been obtained. Not long ago I overheard two of our captors commenting on the fact that it had been several months since they last came upon a suitable collection planet so at least that long."

"Who are they?" Mitchell enquired curious to see how much this man had learnt in his time on board.

"I do know that they are a nomadic people who obtain supplies from the planets they pass. I have seen no food production on board in the time I have been here. I also know they have been running for generations but they have been running so long I am not even sure even they know what they are running from anymore."

Mitchell nodded, realising that he had been expecting an answer like that. "What about what we are doing now? Why are crushing perfectly good food?"

Again the man's answer left much to be desired. "I do not know; I do know that we are only ever supplied with food that has not been processed, I do not know where this food goes when processed."

Realising that this man did not know much about their captors Mitchell changed tracts and began to ask about the man's planet. He quickly established that they had a stargate on their planet so space travel was not a new phenomenon to them but as Mitchell questioned the man he realised that he may well have been from an entirely new galaxy, he had not heard of the goa'uld, replicators or the wraith. Either he was from a different galaxy or his planet had been very lucky. Although they had come across the occasional planet that had been untouched by destructive species' but this was generally due to advanced technology or their gate being newly discovered during archaeological digs, much like earth's gate had been. As far as Mitchell could tell this was not the case for this pair, leading him to the conclusion that they were a long way from home, more so than others on the ship.

As they worked he asked them about their culture, their planet and their experiences visiting other planets. As they talked Mitchell confirmed that they were indeed from another galaxy. As soon as the two began to describe their dealings with an alien culture where the being were small and grey Mitchell began to suspect that they may be from the same galaxy as the asgard. The fact that they hadn't been attacked by the replicators could probably be attributed to the fact that the replicators had spent most of their time trying to destroy the asgard.

By the time their guards indicated that they were done they were hot, sweaty and tired but they had processed most of the bags of food they had been told to and whilst Mitchell had learnt little about their captors he had learnt a fair amount about the strangely dressed pair they had been working with. As they were led back to their cells he made sure to note where Kowalski was incarcerated and tried to identify other SGC personnel. He managed to identify at least a dozen soldiers and scientists from his brief glances into the cells on both sides of the corridor. As he was ushered back into his cell he was relieved to see that Lily was already back and she looked unharmed. When he was back in the cell he listened to Lily describe how she had been taken to a place where uniforms were washed. As she described the size of the place and all the different uniforms from child sized right up to adult size Mitchell came to the conclusion that there were a vast number of people living on this ship and, even though there appeared to be a lot of prisoners on board from what he had seen and heard, they were still vastly outnumbered by their captors.

Looking over at Ronon he could see that he had come to the same conclusion. This would make escape more complicated.

A/: To make up for so long between short chapters and a thanks for the reviews...