Next door to the mining docking bay was a metal working factory. Here the Ancients could process the metal collected by the mining shuttles into sheets of metal, as well as smaller things like electrical conduits. Xander sent a quick report to McKay and Zalenka about it and they moved on.
Eventually, they determined that the whole east tower was various processing facilities. Useful, but not interesting, so they filed a final report with McKay and Zalenka and they moved onto the west tower.
"So what's in the west tower?" Sheppard asked, as they headed to the transport tube.
"According to Atlantis, she's monitoring environments for things like greenhouses. McKay was wondering if that meant the Ancients left food in there. I doubt it, since they needed to eat and planting and harvesting would take time. But since Atlantis has kept the environments steady in them, we may be able to grow some of our own food."
"That's a good thing since the Daedalus can only transport non-perishables and using the Stargate to transport fruits and vegetables is damn expensive."
"True. The scientists need to figure out how the Wraith hold stuff suspended in their darts. If they could figure that out, we could get fruits and vegetables on a regular basis."
"That would mean studying one. Which would mean catching one." Sheppard answered.
"Not necessarily. We've shot down quite a few. We retrieve and repair our downed equipment, but the Wraith grow theirs. We've seen evidence that they just abandon their darts and hive ships when they're too badly damaged. We could just go to one of the planets where we shot one down and retrieve it ourselves."
"Why hasn't that occured to anyone before?"
"Too busy trying to figure out what Atlantis has, maybe?"
"It's a good idea, and since it's your idea, write up a proposal on it and send it to Elizabeth. Copy McKay and Zalenka while you're at it."
"Yes, sir." As they arrived in the west tower. Xander was right, the Ancients did clean out the greenhouses. There was nothing growing in any of them. But there was something interesting in all of them. Seeds. Carefully stored. Grains, fruits and vegetables. The botanists were going to have a field day. Xander sent off a report to Dr. Emil Maxwell, chief botanist for the expedition.
"Once the botanists figure out if we can handle eating and surviving said eating, we can plant these and grow our own food. The Daedalus can bring seeds from Earth, too." Xander said. "I hate Tava beans. I may be from California, but I'm a carnivore, not a vegetarian."
"Same here. Those deer things you and Ronan brought back from your hunt last week tasted great."
"They did, didn't they? Especially roasted. You know, before coming to Atlantis, I'd never been hunting. When Ronan came here, hunting was an important part of his identity as a Satedan. I went on that first one with him, just because I was trying to be a friend. Now we are friends and I enjoy it as much as he does."
"Cordelia doesn't have a problem with you hunting?"
"Are you kidding? Her family is part of a hunting club. She's been hunting since she was a kid. Including hunting in Africa on family vacations. No, she doesn't have a problem with it. Besides, her family are Republicans. Guns, not an issue."
They moved on from the greenhouses to find the next area whose environment Atlantis was monitoring. What they found there put a burn of anger in both men's bellies.
"They went to the trouble of maintaining a zoo and then walked away and just abandoned the animals!" Xander raged.
"I'm seeing evidence that the enclosures have been broken." Sheppard said, softly. "The predators probably broke out, ate the plant eaters and then starved to death. It's not like Atlantis could have done anything about it, either. All she could do is monitor the environment and record their deaths as her sensors registered they died."
"The more I learn about the Ancients, the more I think they're nothing more then self involved assholes. They could have taken the time to move the animals to the mainland. It's not like they were constantly under attack. Sure, in the short term, the ecology would have been impacted, but it would have recovered. And by the time mine and Cordy's counterparts were Ascended, it would have been too late for them to do anything about it. And the Ascended aren't omniscient, they can only be aware of what's in front of them, same as us. Unless they have a connection to a place like Chaya does or I have to Atlantis. All that's left is bones. They left them to starve and rot. Assholes."
"Let's call it a day, Xander. After this, I'm not up for more exploring."
"Me neither. It's nearly six anyway. I'll see if Cordy's hungry."
She was and they gathered up D.J. who had been playing in a corner of Elizabeth and Cordelia's office and headed to the cafeteria, telling each other about their day.
"I finished the negotiation with the leader of the Travelers, Larrin. You know, dominatrix lady?"
"Ah yes, the lady with your attitude and Faith's wardrobe. If I was single, she would be a fantasy come true." Cordelia stuck her tongue out at him.
"Anyway, we're going to help them with repairs to their ships and getting started on colonizing a planet. Their population has gotten too big for their ships to handle. In exchange, we get energy pistols, the schematics for them and they will join us in patrolling Pegasus, which will take a lot of pressure off of us."
"Especially, Lorne and the Wraith Slayer. Congratulations, that's a great deal."
"Thank you. Elizabeth was pleased too and I imagine Earth will be too."
After supper, the little family returned to their quarters, where Xander wrote up his proposal and sent it to Elizabeth and copied McKay and Zalenka. He and Cordelia spent the rest of the evening playing with D.J. before putting her down for the night and discussing their tentative plans for the next. You couldn't make permanent plans in Atlantis, things were always changing.
