Chapter 30: Time Passes

Over the next couple of weeks they settled into a form of routine; the O'Neils were left alone much of the time whereas Sheppard was taken every day or two. One day he had been bought back so exhausted that he hadn't woken for over fourteen hours. After this particular incident the boss had been bought by and there obviously must have been some sort of agreement as Sheppard was allowed to rest for a few days.

O'Neil had undergone another session in the chamber and Jack had also been put in but thankfully Lucas had been left alone. As their cells were near the end of the row of occupied cells they had seen all the other people that were taken to the power chamber. Many of them were SGC personnel and all of them had returned with haunted looks on their faces, if they were conscious.

Over in the other cell Mitchell and Ronon had tried to ensure that they had remained on the tasks they had originally been assigned. Ronon and David had ended up going down to a further three planets whilst Mitchell and Lily had tried to get a better understanding of the size and structure of the ship. Every time they were taken to do a different job they would pay close attention to where they were being taken and what else was in the general surrounding area.

Lily was surprisingly observant and very good at forming a generalised picture. They had also managed to establish that for the most part the doors were controlled by someone elsewhere as the guards radioed through to request doors opened. However, a select few individuals seemed to have their own mobile controllers. All this knowledge was stored away for a suitable time.

Going into the third week nothing had really changed. Sheppard was sleeping fitfully, often woken by the wracking coughs that had taken up permanent residence in his chest. O'Neil and Jack were both worried although they would never admit it to the man. They had managed to stuff a small amount of food down him before he had fallen asleep again but it wasn't nearly enough and they could see his ribs starting to show beneath some of the old bruising that was evident from his attempts to stay out of the chamber.

There hadn't been any new bruises for a few days now, it had gotten to the point where he had no energy to stand let alone fight back.

Harvey was stood looking at a very nervous chief scientist Vland. The man was shifting his weight from foot to foot as he waited for Pietor to arrive. Harvey could tell that whatever Vland needed to talk to Pietor about was not going to be what his boss would want to hear.

After several minutes Pietor breezed into the room. "What is it Vland, I'm very busy today."

Vland shuffled from foot to foot a couple more times before Harvey glared at him indicating that he shouldn't keep Pietor waiting. Clearing his throat he said; "we have located two more planets that have gene carriers on them and should reach the first in two solar cycles and the second in seven to eight solar cycles depending on providers. We have travelled much further than we thought was possible in such a short period of time and the new programmers seem to have achieved their job in getting the ship to locate supply and gene planets and to navigate itself based on this information."

"That is good news Vland, so why do you look so nervous?"

Stealing himself Vland continued; "The effective provider is starting to suffer quite significantly physically. I would suggest that we rest him for several solar cycles... perhaps six? I do not believe he will last much longer if we do not but perhaps we could put him into the breeding programme for several days, if we could breed more providers that provide the amount of power that he does it would be very advantageous."

"Very well Vland, you have done good work up to this point so I shall allow you to try this. Allow it to rest for three solar cycles and then choose a suitable female; explain to her that she will not be placed in the power chamber while she is pregnant. Men cannot resist a keen woman but don't get me wrong, in seven solar cycles I want it back in the power chamber."

"Yes Pietor, I will get right on it." Relieved that he wasn't about to be expelled out into the vacuum of space Vland practically skipped out of the room after saying the correct respects to both Pietor and Harvey.

Harvey looked at Pietor; at some point their mission had been lost to time but they were bought up believing that if they were to reach the edge of their universe all their answers would be revealed. Harvey wasn't sure if he even had any questions but that was a doubt he would never reveal to anyone; Pietor was a zealot and if he were to find out his second in command doubted their goals Harvey would very rapidly find himself in a very cold place with no oxygen.

He left when he realised that Pietor was actually in a good mood and the news from Vland had not soured that, no damage control was required today.

A/N: Ive had a few complaints that the chapters are too short, I find it easier to change the perspective of the characters through changing the chapters but I will wait until I am able to post multiple chapters if people would prefer, of the story I have managed to type up so far it is over 42000 words long and 73 A4 pages with still more hand written... I appreciate all the feedback keep it coming often that is what reminds me to stop studying for a bit and do something I enjoy for a few hours :)