The first thing Justin Stewart noticed as a steady and somewhat annoying electronic beeping tone. He knew he knew that tone, but he couldn't place it. Next, he heard the murmur of conversation happening just below his hearing threshold. He took a breath and let the scents come to him, sterile and antiseptic, with a touch of medicine and mint that he always associated with hospitals and medical centers. A second breath carried in scents of salt water and fish. Feelings began to filter in, he was lying on his stomach and his back felt hot and tight with the tingling itch of healing. The tingling ran from the small of his back up his spine to his shoulders, following the edge of his scapula to his shoulders and down both arms to his hands. He twitched a hand and felt rough sheets under his fingers. Soft enough to have been used and washed a few times, but still stiff from being new.

Something was wrong, he knew, something didn't feel right. He relaxed and listened to his body, letting the sensations slide over him. Finally, he twitched his hand out of annoyance. He couldn't figure out what was wrong and lying down healing had never been his favorite past time. Then he went still, because his hand had twitched, not his leg. Justin had always been moving as a kid, but it had been his legs more than anything, always there had been somewhere to go, something or someone to see. He tried to move his leg, but it wouldn't. He whimpered as it clicked.

He couldn't feel his legs being healed, but his spine was. He couldn't move his legs with his mind. Justin went back in his memory, skipping memories until he reached the start of the panic.

It had been Regula that had thrown him, assigned from the Eltarean Ranger Studies Program to the Ranger Tech platform on Regula, Just ha d been young and eager six months ago. Classes were going to start up again soon and Justin was preparing to leave. Then the pirates had attacked, without warning and in such numbers, that Regula's weak defenses had been hard pressed to stop. When the Tech platform had been threatened, the team had followed protocol, setting the self destruct, locked by Justin because he was an Earthian Human and the lease likely to be genetically matched among the raiders.

Then the others had fled, until the last pod was set to deploy. He'd ordered them to go, knowing he would be fine, but not giving them the assurance they craved that he would be safe. Help showed up at the last minute, even as Justin had used every trick short of actually morphing to keep it intact. The arrival of the defense groups had led Justin to cut the self destruct, only to realized that he was still screwed, because after so long, the only place to shut it off was also on fire. He had gone, despite being ordered by everyone to get out.

He remembered shutting down the self destruct, and trying to get the fire suppressors active before realizing that the console he was using was about to suffer an energy overload. He'd run for it, because former Ranger or not, he wouldn't have survived standing so close to the console when it went. He'd been steps from the door when he'd spotted the vortex in his path, had hesitated, and then been shoved through the portal by the shockwave from the explosion.

"I don't understand," someone said, "what do you mean?"

"I mean he is healing at an incredibly fast rate. I've never seen such a fast recovery before."

Justin decided that now would be a good time to get out of his head and back into the lad of the living. He moaned and began to move. "Sounds like he's beginning to wake up," someone, a woman, observed quietly.

Justin opened his eyes and found that he was looking at a soldier with a gun. He studied the man, who was watching him nervously. He didn't recognize the uniform, but the American flag on his arm did tell Justin that he was probably back on Earth. He swallowed and met the man's eyes, "Why do I get the feeling that I'm not in Kansas anymore?" He asked quietly.

"Probably because you aren't," the soldier replied, a hesitant smile on his face for the joke. Then he looked up, "Doctor Beckett, he's awake."

Another man appeared in his line of sight, "Hello," he said cautiously, giving the soldier a nervous look. "I'm Doctor Carson Beckett lad. Do you know who you are?"

Justin smiled tightly, "My name is Justin Stewart," he replied, "I was born in California, but I haven't been there in a few years. Not since I turned eighteen." He shifted slightly, "I'm allergic to acetaminophen and penicillin and I'd like to know what happened to me because I'm not sure I can feel my legs."

Dr. Beckett reached over and touched his arm slightly, "That, I can explain," he said, "you arrived in the Gate Room on fire. The numbness you feel is a result of the burn gel we used on your legs because of their extensive burns. Your back and shoulders weren't as burned so we didn't use the gel there." He picked up a file, "Thank you for telling me about your allergies, I'll make a note of it in your chart."

Justin nodded, "Now then, where am I? I know that I'm not on Regula, or anywhere else in the League. Your soldier has an American flag on his uniform, but you're Scottish, and I've never seen walls like that on Earth. I remember the portal, although I'm still not sure where it came from."

Dr. Beckett glanced at the soldier, who just looked right back at him, "I think there are people better able to explain that fully and they'll be here soon. Now, I have a question to ask you," he looked at Justin for a long moment, "how can you heal as fast as you appear to be healing? According to your blood work, you're human."

Justin closed his eyes and summed up his standard lie, "I'm just a fast healer, Doc, nothing magical about that. My dad said I got it from my mom."

"I don't believe that," Dr. Beckett replied, "you've gone from having severe burns to looking like you've gotten a sunburn in three hours."

"Three hours," Justin repeated, "that's not possible." He was a retired Ranger, he shouldn't heal that fast, even if he did heal faster than most retired, unpowered Rangers. He pushed himself up and onto his side, "Did I have a bag when I showed up here?" He asked, "It was a brown messenger bag with a navy strip and blue beading on it."

"Aye," Dr. Beckett replied.

"May I have it," Justin asked, "I need to see something." It's not possible, he thought.

Dr. Beckett bit his lipped and looked across the room, and relaxed, "I'll get your bag," he said, "as long as you stay in bed."

"He's awake then?" Someone, clearly American, asked.

"Aye, Major," Dr. Beckett said.

Justin turned to find another soldier approaching the bed, "That hair can't be military," he blurted out before he could stop himself.

"It is," the man said, "I'm Major John Sheppard, I'm the military commander here."

"Justin Stewart," Justin replied, blushing at his thoughtless remark, "Formerly of Earth." He shrugged, "At least, where I come from I'm formerly of Earth. I'm not sure where I am on this side of the portal, though."

"Not on Earth," Major Sheppard replied, "this is Atlantis."