A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. Enjoy!
An hour later Rodney found himself in the observation area that sat above the isolation room. In the center of the room, John Sheppard was lying on the bed, yet at the same time Colonel Sheppard was standing next to him. While the two Sheppards looked identical in certain areas there were remarkable differences which set the two apart. Most notably the other Sheppard had his long dark hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. He also sported a large bushy beard and glasses which could only be described as 'nerdy'. The standing Sheppard was scrutinizing the other's appearance as he subconsciously scratched at his newly bandaged forearm. Rodney could tell he was sizing him up, trying to determine if he were a threat. But the unconscious man on the bed looked about as a threatening as a pineapple at the moment.
Colonel Carter, along with Teyla and Ronon were present for the informal debriefing that Keller was giving in regards to the 'other' Sheppard.
"All tests indicate that he…" Keller indicated the man on the bed "is just as much John Sheppard as our own John is."
"No doubt," Rodney grumbled, "he is from an alternate reality." He was not looking forward to the reprimands that would be coming his way from short haired Sheppard or Colonel Carter.
"Why is he unconscious doctor?" Carter asked looking concerned.
"I haven't been able to figure that out. It's probably a side effect from transferring to this universe, but I'm afraid to give him a stimulant until I know the exact cause of his condition. I recommend that we wait for a few hours and see if he wakes up on his own. If he doesn't we'll need to consider other options."
Teyla was examining the other Sheppard closely, "Is he otherwise healthy?" Her eyes never left the form of the still man.
"I haven't found any evidence of trauma, but I'll know more once he's awake."
Colonel Carter smiled at Jennifer. "Thank you doctor, please keep me apprised to any changes in his status. McKay, I'd like a word." She was no longer smiling.
Here it comes, Rodney thought as he followed Carter somberly out of the room.
They were barely out the door before Sam said accusingly, "How did this happen?"
Rodney released a long breath, how had this happened? "I don't know, but I am certain that my machine had nothing to do with it."
"Are you forgetting Rod?"
Why was everyone bringing up his failures today? "This is completely different. This time there was no need for a bridge connecting realities. There is no conceivable way this," he paused, "man could have been brought here because of us."
"I'd think by now, Rodney, you would start dealing with the inconceivable."
"No, it's just not possible." He replied stubbornly. "For all we know the other Sheppard came here on his own. His timing could be purely coincidence."
Seeing Carter raise his eyebrows he remarked, "Hey, you're the one who brought up inconceivable."
"But the device you were using is virtually identical to the one that was responsible for Rod's appearance, you're sure that no bridge formed?"
"I told you, it's not possible. The device may have some of the same pieces but it's been reformatted so to speak. The hard drive is the same but the operating system is completely different. The modifications to stop exotic particle formation have changed the rules of physics, not thrown them out altogether." Carter nodded and Rodney watched as what he had said sunk in. Rodney had to admit that there were certain advantages of having Sam Carter as his boss. Besides the fact that she was hot, she actually understood what he was talking about when he launched into explanations about new experiments.
"Alright, for the time being I'll at least accept the possibility that it's not your fault, but I still want a full report on the matter."
That was to be expected, after all, on Atlantis you practically had to write a report about every bowel movement. Rodney chortled as he thought about the implications of such a rule.
"Something funny, McKay?"
"Nope, just hungry." He said as if hunger were the ultimate answer to everything.
"When was the last time you ate?"
Hmm, that was a good question. Surely this morning, but… he couldn't remember. "Oh god!" he exclaimed, "I have no idea. I think I feel dizzy. Do I look pale?" He asked in a panic-stricken voice. But before Sam had time to respond he was speeding off to the mess hall without so much as a wave.
XXXX
"Planning to eat away your sorrows McKay?" Ronon asked eyeing Rodney's overflowing food tray as he approached the table at which the rest of Ronon's team was already gathered.
Putting on his best 'why would you joke about something like this' face Rodney said, "For your information I haven't eaten in at least the last twelve hours. My blood sugar could be dangerously low." He then unceremoniously stuffed a hunk of bread into his mouth, chewing with relish.
Ronon exchanged a look with John but they both wisely kept their mouths shut. Instead Ronon said, "So, another Sheppard?"
"Yeah and how about that hair?" The colonel's eyes shone with good natured amusement, "and that beard."
Teyla unsuccessfully stifled a laugh. "It is quite a change from your clean cut appearance, John."
"Yeah," Sheppard replied slowly. "But you know what I don't get, why was he wearing glasses? I have 20/20 vision, why wouldn't my alternate self?"
The question was clearly directed at Rodney who stopped his reenactment of the human eating machine long enough to respond. "Well, you know that there is potentially a different reality for each different choice we make in our lives, which is why there are a near infinite amount. There's been speculation that a different reality may exist for each way two genetic sequences could become intertwined during the whole cycle of life thing. So that means endless combinations of allele differences within the human body which then result in different phenotypic expressions for each gene the person carries. Maybe your double, just got an unlucky combo of your parent's genes."
Ronon simply shook his head, not understanding most of what McKay had said. He was more interested in – "How'd he get here?"
Sheppard glared pointedly in McKay's direction, but he was once again stuffing his face. By the time McKay looked up all three team members were watching him, "What? I don't know any more than you do."
Ronon snorted.
"You know what I mean." McKay said feigning exasperation. He was saved by further explanation when John's radio went off.
"Dr. Keller to Col. Sheppard."
Sheppard tapped his earpiece. "Here doc."
"He's awake".
"We're on our way." Sheppard replied as he stood to leave. Ronon and Teyla rose as well. McKay began to follow, doubled back to grab his sandwich, and then hurried to catch up.
XXXX
The team arrived at the observation deck of the isolation room to find the doctor and Colonel Carter already waiting for them. Rodney immediately moved towards the window and looked down at the man now sitting upright on the bed with his legs hanging limply over the side. He was surveying his surroundings with confusion but did not seem alarmed. "Have you talked to him yet?" Rodney asked.
"No, we thought it best to wait for Colonel Sheppard." Carter said.
"We figured he might take the news best if it came from a familiar face." Jennifer added. She motioned unnecessarily to the Colonel. "If you don't mind?" She walked towards the door.
"Not at all." Sheppard said in his usual offhand manner.
Rodney was just about to follow when Sam called him back. "Not this time, McKay. The doctor thinks we should limit the amount of people he is exposed to. We don't want to overwhelm him."
"Yes, right." Rodney turned back to the window and watched his CO as he entered the isolation room. Sheppard was staring intently at the man on the bed. He scratched the back of his head ruffling up his already spiky hair. Dr. Keller had pulled out her ever present penlight and was shining it in the man's eyes.
The man on the bed was tense. He was apparently so surprised by the arrival of his alternate self that he didn't even move when Keller shone the penlight in his left eye.
Jennifer began the conversation, "Colonel Sheppard, I'm Dr. Keller and I suppose you know who this is," she said looking back at the short haired man.
The man on the bed looked at his alternate self blankly and asked in a rather timid sort of voice. "What's going on? Who is this imposter?"
Keller looked taken aback, but the standing Sheppard replied, "I'm you."
At this, the man's expression changed from confused to terrified. "Where did you come from?"
"Sorry Colonel," Keller started, "but the question is; where did you come from?"
"Why do you keep calling me colonel? Where's Dr. Beckett? Why am I being held in this room?" The man asked, his words rushing out in a torrent.
On the observation deck Rodney's stomach twisted uncomfortably. This Sheppard clearly was not aware he was in an alternate universe and in his universe Carson was still alive. In the isolation room the bearded Sheppard seemed to be having some sort of mild panic attack. Not that Rodney could blame him.
Dr. Keller was standing over him asking him to lie back and relax. The Sheppard Rodney knew was standing awkwardly to the side not knowing what to do. He stood swaying as if torn between trying to help his alternate self or to stay out of the way. It looked like action won out in the end as he strode over to the bed, laid his hand on the struggling man's shoulder and said, "We are going to explain everything. But first you need to calm down."
At this the struggling man stilled, but he still had more questions. "Where am I exactly?"
Without preamble the standing John replied, "You are in an isolation room in Atlantis. But this isn't the Atlantis you know. You are in an alternate universe."
At first McKay thought that the man was going to have another panic attack but then he broke out into laughter. He exchanged a bemused look with Sam and over his shoulder he heard Ronon say, "He must have been hit on the head on the way here."
As odd as it was to observe the other Sheppard laughing hysterically as Keller and Colonel Sheppard stood watching, Rodney felt a bit better. At least the man didn't look scared anymore.
"Dr. McKay to the science lab." Rodney jumped slightly as a voice sounded in his ear. He had been so absorbed in the events taking place below him, he had forgotten about the mess that was currently the main science lab. "I'll be right there Zelenka," he replied. Glancing one last time at the isolation room, the scientist swept out of the room.
XXXX
Walking back into the science lab, Rodney found a much different scene then had been there that morning. The billowing smoke had disappeared and so had most of the personnel. In fact the lab was only occupied by one Radek Zelenka.
"Where is everyone?" Rodney asked, not bothering with a greeting.
"Lunch," Zelenka replied with an innocent expression.
It was at that moment Rodney's stomach gave a very audible growl. "Of course, other people actually get to finish their meals." Rodney scowled and grabbed a power bar off one of the tables. "Have you found anything new?"
"Yes, there are some very interesting findings." Zelenka turned his laptop so they both could see the screen. "See here?"
"Whoa, that's different." Rodney's eyes traced the wave pattern on the laptop screen. There was a stupendous spike right before the data stream ended.
"It is quite incredible. We were not inputting anywhere near that amount of power into the reactor. That means…"
Both scientists turned to look at one another. Rodney couldn't hide his smile, "It works."
"And in the microseconds that the reactor was operating at that level we extracted ten times the power contained in one ZPM."
"Zelenka, I can't believe it actually worked."
"It exploded McKay." Radek made a small explosion sign with his hands, "Boom."
"Yeah well, we weren't expecting nearly that much power output." The maniacal glint had returned to Rodney's eyes, "Next time we'll be prepared to control the power use. We just need to make a few calibrations." Rodney said pulling the laptop towards him, pecking at the keys.
"Do you think it's a good idea to mess with this?"
"What?" McKay snarled at him. "Jealous you didn't come up with it?"
"Perhaps you forgot. We brought someone from an alternate reality here."
"How many times do I have to say it? Not. My. Fault." He punctuated each word with a violent gesture in midair.
"Fine," Zelenka said defeated, "but until we know how he got here, we should leave the reactor alone."
"I didn't say I was going to turn it on, did I, hm? I'm just going to make a few adjustments…" He trailed off, already deeply absorbed into the laptop.
