Chapter 28: Growth
Sheppard suppressed a groan as he was hefted up once more, the damaged muscles in his abdominal wall and shoulder were both screaming for his attention as they were pulled in ways they shouldn't be, especially before they were fully healed. He felt the blood running down his chest and knew that he as torn at least a couple of stitches, Keller was going to murder him when he got back to Atlantis. Once again the men holding him started to move before he had managed to get his feet under him and he was left scrambling to get his feet coordinated enough to take his weight and keep up with the minions. He must be have been more tired than he thought because it took a surprising amount of time to achieve and when he finally did he saw the man in charge watching him with an amused smirk on his face. That was the face of someone who enjoyed watching other people suffer.
Sheppard just glared back at him making it clear he was not fazed by the man's attitude. The man's smile just deepened until he resembled a shark. "For some reason you produce more energy than any other provider we have ever used so you will be put in the power chamber as often as my technicians say is safe. At least until we find another among the new batch who provides a similar amount of power."
Sheppard sighed inwardly as they approached a door he had not been through before, if they didn't find a way to get out of here soon he probably wasn't going to have the strength to move let alone fight.
The shark continued to speak, indicating his second in command. "Harvey here thinks that you and the others will be more cooperative if you understand the stakes, I'm dubious myself but sometimes it pays to keep the underlings happy." Sheppard was dubious as well; he didn't think anything they showed him would change his feeling towards the whole process. He watched with curiosity as the shark palmed a remote of some sort and keyed in a couple of buttons. Sheppard noticed the familiar look of more ancient technology. He wondered how the man could use the device, in his experience any device that was small enough to carry, regardless of whether or not it had been activated, needed the ancient gene to operate.
The door slid open and Sheppard was ushered into the room. He stopped just inside the door, not entirely sure what he was looking at. The room was very large and filled with hundreds of tubes. Each tube was roughly a meter high and half a meter in diameter. They all had a pipe attached to the top which, when he followed them back, Sheppard saw that they appeared from the walls and ceiling, coming from somewhere else all together.
Turning his attention back to the tubes Sheppard noticed a familiar blue liquid, it was what the liquid was enveloping that Sheppard was struggling to decipher. Some of the tubes appeared to have nothing in them but as Sheppard continued to look at various tubes he started to notice various sized, blurry blobs in the liquid.
He allowed his vision to wonder further along the line of tubes and as he did he saw the blobs begin to solidify and sharpen until about halfway down the row he was standing in. He realised he was looking at infant children suspended in the liquid. He managed to suppress his gasp of horror as he continued to look but only just. He could see child-shaped forms that ranged in size from tiny up to about the size he would associate with a toddler that was about a year old.
After inspecting the tubes further away from where he stood that had the older infants in them Sheppard took an unsteady step towards the nearest tube. This tube contained a very underdeveloped embryo; all that was visible was a tiny pulsing heart and some vessels that Sheppard assumed would eventually form the main venous system and central nervous system.
The man in charge allowed Sheppard a couple of minutes to have a good look at the sight in front of him before he started to speak; "In the past our people found this form of reproduction to be far more efficient. Over time it became necessary to continue with this form as our bodies have adapted and it is no longer possible for us to reproduce naturally. It has made us a superior race but it does mean we require a large amount of energy that our own technology cannot provide us."
Sheppard snapped out of his stupor to reply "That doesn't give you the right to kidnap people from other planets and enslave them for your own purposes! You could just ask different planets for help, I'm sure that you would find someone who has technology more advanced than yours who would be willing to help..." realising that continuing down this track could risk exposing earth's level of technology, compromising any future rescue mission he backtracked, changing the direction of the conversation. "What about the people who built this... ship? I'm assuming your people didn't given that you don't seem to be able to operate all the technology..." he deliberately hesitated to make himself seem ignorant and slightly unsure of his assumptions. He didn't want to betray the fact that he had extensive knowledge in the said technology. Every little scrap of information he in turn gained from them was a win in his mind.
"We would never stoop to asking inferior races for help!" the leader exclaimed effectively ending the conversation and leaving Sheppard in no doubt he was in serious trouble, along with all his fellow captives. His natural response however was to just shrug awkwardly and comment; "It doesn't seem very superior to me having to rely on another race's technology for the continued existence of your own population."
In hindsight this may have not been the best thing to say to the unstable man but this thought did not cross Sheppard's mind until he found himself sitting on the floor, his eye smarting from where a fist had connected with it and blood pooling where the skin above his eye had split. From where he sat on the floor he heard the second man say to the head man "Pietor we really should try to avoid damaging the providers where possible." The voice was hesitant but Sheppard sent a silent thanks to the man.
Pietor was unrelenting however, "There are other providers Harvey, don't forget that. Now get it up, it's almost time for the changeover." Sheppard went cold, not just with the realisation that he was shortly to be resubmerged, but also with the depersonalisation Pietor had used in regards to him. This was a very dangerous man to piss off. He could feel himself shaking as he was pulled to his feet, the pain in his shoulder from the process all but forgotten. Perhaps slightly vainly, he hoped that the shaking he could feel spreading over his body was not visible to his captors.
The man called Harvey was stood behind him and as he was pulled to his feet Harvey snapped at the two men manhandling him "Careful with him, there's no reason to do more damage than necessary." Once more Sheppard sent a silent prayer of thanks to the man and for the first time in months he was thankful for the implants in his back betraying things he wouldn't readily admit to.
He was marched back through the ship passing through another couple of doors and down a corridor that had several people going about their business. Sheppard's escort and his marred torso drew a few sideways glances but many people seemed to act as though they were an invisible buffer that needed to be passed but not observed. It was however, interesting to see the fear that many people displayed in response to Pietor who walked slightly ahead of their small group, it would appear that the captives were not the only group that were mistreated by the man.
They very quickly reached a familiar door and Sheppard was glad that he had had a lot of practice schooling his features into a neutral mask over the previous few years because he didn't want to let on to the trepidation he was feeling; he now knew this process wasn't going to kill him or indeed physically injure him but that still didn't stop the sense of dread that filled him as the door stood open.
His entourage ushered him into the room and Sheppard's gaze was immediately drawn to the liquid filled tank in the center of the room. From where he stood he could see the vague outline of a fully grown man floating suspended in the liquid. He remembered that O'Neil had been taken earlier. The further into the room he was guided the more O'Neil's outline solidified. It made sense as he hadnt been brought back to their cell before Sheppard had been taken. What did surprise Sheppard was that he realised that he could see O'Neil's head tracking their movement though the room. O'Neil turned his head to see who was in the room, the movement was weak but still coordinated and it was obvious that O'Neil recognised Sheppard. This led to the further realisation that O'Neil had managed to remain conscious and aware during his interment in the tank.
Looking back around the room he saw Pietor watching him closely, so decided to show no emotion at all. The man look irritated by his failure to illicit any sort of reaction from Sheppard and instead turned to the technician growling "Get the other one out."
One of the technicians hit a button and the announcement warning personnel to prepare for power change sounded. Sheppard tensed, the recognition that he was about to be put back in the tank finally truly hitting home fully. He realised that this time he had two guards standing directly behind him, one on either side ready to grab an arm each, whilst another two stood by the tank ready to pull O'Neil out.
Sheppard knew that this wasn't going to kill him but he was far from ready to make it easy for his captors. The two guards nearest the tank unlatched the top and quickly reached into the tank yanking O'Neil out. The power throughout the ship went out and in the blue glow of the room Sheppard could see that O'Neil had needed no encouragement in expelling the liquid from his lungs where he now lay on the floor. This was all Sheppard had a chance to observe before someone stepped up behind him, he felt something pressed up against his neck but before he could muster a reaction he felt his body go rigid as electricity passed through it. It was not enough to knock him out but after several seconds the electricity abated and his muscles unlocked and he went limp, slumping to the ground.
From where he lay he could see O'Neil, who was now on his knees, still coughing up liquid. He looked up and Sheppard knew that O'Neil had just seen what happened from the way his eyes blazed with fury. This was all he had time to see as the four guards took a limb each and picked him up. He managed to suppress the sob of desperation that he could feel welling up inside him as he was carried closer to the tank; he wasn't willing to let Pietor know how miserable he was.
As he was lowered into the liquid he closed his eyes, he didn't want to see what was happening around him. As he was fully submerged he felt the hands that had been holding him release him and from the miniscule ripples in the liquid he could tell the top of the tank had been shut. Going against every instinct in his body he exhaled and then, hoping that the voluntary ingestion of the liquid would be less painful, he inhaled. The liquid still burned painfully as it filled his lungs but it definitely didn't hurt as much as it had the first time. Trying to regulate his breathing in the unnatural medium Sheppard began to drift towards unconsciousness driven by exhaustion, both mental and physical. Just before he drifted off he thought of drifting off in his own bed at home with his friends and family nearby.
A/N: Had a bit of free time this weekend so managed to get a couple of chapters typed up :) On a side note 3 very freak fatal accidents have occurred in the past 24 hours and I cant seen to get them off my mind. My thoughts truly are with the victims and their families and friends... remember people live life as if there is no tomorrow, no regrets!