"Elizabeth?" Dr. Beckett said as he approached her in Gate ops.
"Thank you, Colonel. Atlantis out." She tapped her ear transceiver and raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes, Carson? Do you have some news?"
"Aye, I do. Can I talk to you for a moment?" He tilted his head toward her office. She nodded and headed for it.
Realizing Elizabeth was walking away, McKay looked up from the computer and hurried after them. "Wait, wait. What's going on?"
Beckett said nothing until they were in her office. "Well, just as we thought, that is John Sheppard."
"Really? You're sure?" McKay asked, half surprised.
The doctor winced and nodded his head. "And, just as we thought, it isn't."
"Excuse me?" Elizabeth frowned at him.
Beckett held up one hand. "The man that came through the Gate is John Sheppard. We've matched thirteen of thirteen loci in the standard DNA test. Along with the fingerprints, retinal pattern and dental chart, I am certain it's him. The thing is that his DNA is a match for the Sheppard that came from Earth three years ago. What's missing is the protein marker from the retrovirus, the tooth he chipped a few months ago is no longer chipped, and a couple of scars that John got since he's been here are gone. It's him, three years younger, but it's him."
"What about the…?" McKay waved at his cheek.
"Rodney, those scars are still fairly new. John said he got them when the Jumper crashed. The level of healing would be about right."
"I would think the Ancient's medicine would have done a better job of healing the injuries." Elizabeth observed.
Beckett shook his head slowly. "You have to remember the Ancients had been at war for some time. From what I've read in the database, their resources were severely stretched. The Major's injuries are healed well beyond what they would have been using our medicine."
McKay dropped onto one of the chairs. "Oh, my God. I knew it. I didn't really believe it, but I knew it."
"Well, who did you think that was, Rodney?" Beckett stared at him in exasperation.
"I was kind of hoping that something happened during transit in the wormhole." The astrophysicist looked at them. "Sheppard, our Sheppard, is definitely not in the buffer of our Gate. There's no trace of him in there."
"Rodney, please tell me John might be in the Gate on 749." Elizabeth looked at McKay.
His expression was bleak. "I hope so."
She looked back at the doctor. The tension in his whole being told her there was something more. "Carson? What is it?"
He bit his lip, eyebrows knitted in a deep frown. "I need to do more tests, but I'm afraid there may be a problem."
"What do you mean?" McKay
Beckett just shook his head. "I hope it's nothing, but I want to make sure before I say anything."
Elizabeth only partially hid her distress. "John's in the conference room with Teyla and Ronon."
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"Well, am I who we think I am?" Sheppard raised an eyebrow at the doctor and Elizabeth as they entered the room.
Beckett nodded. "Aye, you are Maj. Sheppard, the one who went back ten thousand years."
"Well, that's a relief." He grinned then noticed the serious expressions. The grin faded. "But? There's a 'but', right?"
"It's probably nothing, but I just want to do a few more tests, if you don't mind, Major."
"Yep. There's always a 'but', isn't there?" Sheppard stood up. Teyla and Ronon followed suit. "You don't have to baby sit me. Just send…"
"Dr. Weir? Sorry, I'm late. We had a…" Someone new entered and stopped dead. "Colonel. I was told there was a problem and you weren't back yet."
Sheppard turned and held out his hand, the scars now plainly visible, and noticed. "Wrong Sheppard, Major."
"Maj. Lorne, this is Maj. Sheppard." Elizabeth was unsure how to explain this without going into great detail. The short version just didn't do the situation justice. "Do you remember the woman found in the stasis chamber here almost two years ago?"
Lorne was trying not to stare. He forced himself to look at her. "Yes, Ma'am."
"Well, for one thing, Maj. Sheppard was not killed in the crash after all. He survived and some time later became trapped in the Stargate on M5R-749." She swallowed hard. "We think Col. Sheppard is now trapped in the Gate there."
"Excuse me? Col. Sheppard is trapped in the Gate?" Lorne glanced swiftly at Sheppard.
"Rodney is working on it."
"If you'll excuse us?" Beckett broke in as he edged towards the door.
"Yes, of course. I'm sorry." Elizabeth was apologetic. She glanced at Teyla and Ronon.
Ronon saw her unspoken request. "I don't mind staying with him."
"Nor do I." Teyla smiled gently.
"What's going on?" Lorne asked in confusion.
Sheppard held up one hand as he started to follow Beckett. "Don't look at me, I just got here."
"Major, I'll fill you in." Elizabeth said quietly. She knew Beckett needed time for the tests, and one more person tagging along was not going to help. She waited for them to get well out of earshot before recounting what they knew so far.
"Whoa. So it's certain that is the Maj. Sheppard who went back in time?" When she nodded, Lorne shook his head slowly then glanced towards the ops area. "Col. Sheppard?"
"Rodney thinks he could be trapped in the Gate buffer on 749, but our Gate could be connected somehow."
"So, we can't dial out or in?" He exhaled heavily. "I take it the Daedalus is picking up the off-world teams. When is she due back?"
"She's on her way to them now, and will be back here in a little over two days. She'll take Rodney and a team back to the planet to get John out."
He knew better than to ask about the chances of the plan working.
----------
"I suppose you saw a fair bit of the infirmary…" Beckett began to ask…"before."
"You've redecorated." Sheppard looked around as they walked through an area of the infirmary he didn't see earlier. He suddenly realized Beckett might expect a response. "Hmm? No, not really. They patched me up and got me out quickly. There were a lot of wounded people coming through here so they needed the space."
"Oh, yes, of course." Beckett desperately tried to think of something to talk about. This was uncomfortable for him. The man walking beside him was Sheppard. The expressions and mannerisms were exactly the same. So, too, were the ready smile and easy gait. It was very uncomfortable. "Uh, I examined the wounds when you came in. You got them in the crash, right?"
"Yes."
"They're quite far along in the healing process, but I didn't see any evidence of stitches. If you don't mind my asking, how did the Ancients close them?" Beckett led them into an open area and indicated an exam table. Sheppard perched on it.
He shook his head and twisted his arm to examine the long scar. "To be honest, I really don't know what they did. When I woke up, I was covered in some kind of bandage. It hurt like hell for the first day, but after a day or so, they took the bandages off and everything was pretty well closed up."
Teyla and Ronon waited nearby. They, too, were still having difficulty accepting the situation. She had the advantage of knowing the other Weir, of having time to understand a little of what happened so long ago. Ronon, though, was taking it in on a gut level. The Sheppard he knew was trapped in the netherworld of the Gate and this copy was here instead.
A moment later, a nurse entered with a covered tray. She set it on a wheeled table and pushed it next to the doctor. He pulled the cover off to reveal a venipuncture kit with four vacuum tubes. Sheppard sighed as he pushed up his sleeve. "And, here I thought I wouldn't have to go through this again."
Beckett gave him a small, brief smile then began the preparations to draw blood. "Sorry. I'll make it as quick and painless as I can."
"Take your time. It seems I have a lot more than I thought I did." He said with a lopsided grin but it faded quickly. Even from the little Sheppard knew of him, Beckett was too quiet and somber. Something had him worried. "What's going on?"
Beckett took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak. He closed it again and shook his head as if making a distasteful decision. "I don't know. Like I said, it may be nothing, but I want to be sure."
"Sure of what?" The Major persisted.
Beckett looked into the steady hazel eyes he knew so well. The perfect duplication was unnerving. It was hard to look into those eyes. He tried to cover his discomfort by concentrating on the task at hand.
"There was an anomaly in the blood panel. I need to run a few more tests to determine whether there really is a problem or the sample was somehow contaminated."
"How long will it take?"
"I should know something by tomorrow morning." Beckett placed a ball of cotton over the spot where the needle entered the skin, loosened the rubber strap and pulled the syringe from Sheppard's arm. He dropped the needle into a waste receptacle then taped the cotton to his arm. He smiled his best bedside smile but avoided looking into those eyes. "Now, I want to get you under the scanner again. It won't take long."
"Doc…Carson." Sheppard dipped his head a little and kept his voice low. "It's okay. I know that this is weird. Believe me, I understand."
Beckett suddenly realized that the situation must be monumentally more difficult for the man sitting in front of him. He relaxed a little and nodded. "Aye, I should imagine so. I'm sorry. Now let's get you under the scanner then you can go get a bite to eat."
He paused for a moment then looked sharply at Sheppard. The Colonel was always hungry. A maddeningly efficient metabolism and seeming inability to sit still for any length of time made the pilot burn calories quickly. Beckett had always been a tiny bit jealous of his friend's capacity to eat whenever and whatever he wanted and not gain an ounce. It was worrying him that this Sheppard hadn't once mentioned being even a little peckish.
"You must be getting hungry by now." He asked as they walked to the room that housed the scanner.
Sheppard thought for a second and shook his head once. "No, not really."
"When was the last time you ate?"
"Oh, about ten thousand years ago, give or take." The wry response was fast.
"You know what I mean."
The Major drew his brow down in thought. "It was several hours before I went into the Gate, so relatively speaking it was about twelve, maybe fifteen hours ago."
"Well, I suppose being stuck in the Gate all that time has probably played havoc with your appetite." Beckett led him through to the room with the scanner as he spoke. "I'm sure it'll come back as soon as you've settled down. How are you feeling?"
Sheppard tilted his head slightly to one side and back. "A little tired, but okay otherwise."
"What time of day was it when you entered the Gate?" Teyla asked.
"Oh, um, it was late afternoon there. We'd already covered the evacuation of two other planets. We arrived about 24 hours earlier. It was a huge agricultural research station. More than 20,000 people originally lived on the planet. By the time we got there, about 6,000 were left, but it was taking too long to get them out. The Wraith were just over a day away so the Perollinum and Fincorius were dispatched to cover the evacuation."
"Did everyone come to Atlantis?" Beckett asked, trying to figure out how long it would take that many people to come through the Gate.
Sheppard shook his head. "No, the Gate here was alternately receiving evacuees from a dozen planets and then sending them to Earth. Most of the people were routing through other planets where they would be safe until the Gate here was free. It was a logistics nightmare."
"Were you able to get everyone off the planet?" Ronon's deep voice startled them. He had been quieter than normal, if that was possible.
The Major glanced over his shoulder at him, his expression darkening. "No. We lost at least several hundred on the ground, more than a dozen Jumper pilots and about a hundred crew on the Perollinum and Fincorius. Some on the ground were taken by the Wraith."
"Culled." Teyla stated flatly.
"They've taken a lot of Athosians, haven't they?" He asked gently before he got up on the exam table under the scanner.
"Yes, many of my people have been culled over the years." She did not elaborate. It was better left for another time. She thought they should return to his story. "Why would they wait so long to abandon an agricultural research station? Was it so important?"
"There was some technology the Ancients didn't want to fall into the hands of the Wraith. From the little I could gather the research was to do with trying to find a way to affect the organic elements of the Wraith ships."
Sheppard didn't see the expressions of interest on their faces as he settled himself on the table.
"Do you know if they were successful in their research?" Teyla kept her voice calm.
"I got the impression that they were expecting a breakthrough. That's why they stayed so long. They wanted to get the results of a couple of experiments that were nearly finished. The Ancients were also determined to get as much of their equipment out of there that they could or destroy it. I didn't get details, though. It was a little chaotic."
"Yes, of course." Teyla said thoughtfully. "If you do not mind, I need to speak with Elizabeth for a moment."
Beckett nodded, understanding what she meant. "I need Maj. Sheppard to be quite still for this, anyway. We'll be here a while yet."
----------
Sheppard was feeling the length of his day. Relatively speaking, he'd been up for more than 36 hours, and his body was dealing with the adrenaline draining excitement of devastating battles over three planets in a few days. Beckett finally let him go again after another two hours of tests. The doctor wanted him to come back to the infirmary to rest after this discussion. Teyla and Ronon were under very strict instructions to bring him back within three hours.
They took him straight back to the conference room after he declined the offer of a meal. Instead, he drained one bottle of water and most of another. The nearly empty bottle sat on the table in front of him. Elizabeth and McKay were there, too.
"Some of us were ferrying the crew down from the Perollinum after she was damaged and couldn't make the jump to hyperspace. The only way for them to escape was through the Stargate. The Fincorius was doing her best to keep the Wraith from destroying the carrier while we got her crew off. All of the Jumpers were either doing that or engaging the Wraith fighters."
"Darts. We call them Darts." McKay interjected quickly.
"Darts, then." Sheppard glanced at him as he continued his story. "I know only what I told you before. The Ancients were working on some kind of weapon that would degrade the organic nature of the Wraith ships. I don't know how close they were to getting what they were after."
"Well, this is probably a waste of time." McKay commented sarcastically.
"Rodney." Elizabeth warned. She didn't have the patience for his attitude today.
"Look, they were tight-lipped about the project. I wasn't supposed to be there, remember? I only found out what I did because there were a couple of scientists on board that were going to Denasus to help remove some of the equipment. They were excited that Janis's time machine worked, so they were happy to talk to me. They said two of the experiments were very promising, but that's all."
"You mentioned that some of the research was in agriculture. It is curious that they would do experimentation on a weapon against the Wraith at the same location." Teyla wondered aloud. "Would it not be dangerous?"
The Major shrugged. "It could be there was something in the research that pointed them to the possibility of a weapon. Who knows? I gave up trying to figure out why the Ancients did a lot of things they did really fast. They had some weird ideas about a lot of stuff."
"Yeah, I'm with you there." McKay agreed. He thought for a moment. "This is a long shot, but have you ever heard of a ship called the Aurora?"
He shook his head. "No. Why?"
"Well, she was carrying a communiqué that was supposed to reveal a weakness in Wraith technology. I was just wondering if the work on 749 might be related to it."
"Sorry, I just don't know." Sheppard frowned at McKay. "Have you found out anything about getting your Sheppard back?"
McKay pushed his chair back and stood up. "No, and there isn't much I can do until we get to the planet."
"Okay, it's late. I think that's enough for one day." Elizabeth stood up and smiled at Sheppard. He was noticeably weary. "Dr. Beckett said you are supposed to go and get some rest. I should think you must be exhausted."
He sighed and stood up. "Yeah, it's been a long day."
----------
The doctor finally shooed Teyla and Ronon out of the infirmary just before midnight. Maj. Sheppard had been sleeping for more than two hours and there were plenty of staff to keep an eye on him, including one particularly large, burly male nurse who'd just come on duty.
"If you two want to take up babysitting duties again tomorrow you'll need to get a meal and a good night's sleep." Beckett said as he herded them to the door. "You can come back in the morning, but not too early. I'm going to let him sleep as late as possible."
Teyla stopped and turned on him, suspicion in her eyes. She kept her voice low. "Is there a problem?"
Beckett just shook his head. "We've barely begun to get the test results back. For heaven's sake, the man's just spent ten thousand years in a crystal array. I just want him to get rest, real time sleep and rest. Now go, the both of you."
Ronon glanced back as they walked down the corridor. "There's something wrong, isn't there? I mean, more wrong than that being the wrong Sheppard."
"I believe so. Maj. Sheppard did not seem well."
They walked in silence for a few minutes before he asked, "Do you think John's still there?"
She looked up at him, her face unreadable. "Yes, and I believe that Rodney and Radek will find a way to bring him back safely."
He studied her, eyes narrowed in thought. After several seconds, he seemed to come to a decision and nodded. "Okay."
