A/N: I just saw Season 2's Grace Under Pressure and I swear TPTB like to take walks through my head, first Duet and now this! I won't spoil anything though. No wonder it's feeling crowded in here.
Now that I've shocked the hell out of all of you with the last one, let's move on, shall we?
-- not beta-d --
Chapter 14-Breathing
"Did you just…"
"Yeah." The Garin look-a-like peered across the few feet that separated him from Rodney.
Rodney looked around the model of the Gateroom his mind conjured up, "Weird."
"Very. It was as if… time skipped."
Rodney knew exactly what the… man… was referring to. They had been in the middle of a conversation about if the rest of the team would keep Copy-Rodney somehow when the world slipped away, including them. But now they were back… "I'm dying. That's the only explanation. The other instance where it felt like my heart stopped and then this time-"
"The brain stopped."
"Lack of oxygen. Oh god…"
"But coming back both times would suggest there's someone helping."
"Carson? But then we'd be back in Atlantis." Hope flooded through Rodney.
"It's possible."
"I hope so. Damn I really don't want to die."
The manifestation of Rodney's subconscious ran his fingers through his hair, "And I would like to stop being thought of as Garin."
"I was not thinking-"
He was cut off, "Yes you were."
"See! That's exactly what I mean! He could do that!"
"Logically, since this is a type of dream, I, as your subconscious, could too."
Rodney took a moment and he asked quietly, "He's completely gone, right?"
"Yep."
"So… I'm just going to conjure up that beach and blondes now."
The Garin look-a-like smiled, "I like that idea."
---
Carson couldn't believe what was going on. Didn't he warn Peter and Radek not to make a copy of Rodney in the first place? And then they did, albeit without meaning to. Radek said he deleted the copy, but it turns out he didn't. And now he had the former one-and-only Rodney McKay lying in a coma in ICU and a Runner wanting to put into a coma. Add that to the Wraith victims and Stackhouse… speaking of Stackhouse… why exactly did the Wraith stop?
The young man never had been in that position before…
He's the only one know to survive it, other than Ronon.
Huh.
Carson formulated the beginnings of a theory as he walked over to Elizabeth and John who were peering down at a still Rodney. Elizabeth had forced John into a chair beside the bed in the small room. Rodney had a blood drip, IV drip, respirator, heart monitor, and electrodes for brainwave patterns, which thankfully he had. The room was empty except for them and Carolyn checking the monitors and drips.
Despite the way the Chief Scientist looked, he was physically going to be fine as far as Carson was concerned, whether or not it would still be him when he woke up was another question. He had stopped breathing on the table in surgery, and it scared the Chief Medical Doctor more than he would let on.
"Elizabeth?"
She turned to see him right next her. "Carson."
"Ronon wants me to put him into an induced coma to talk to Rodney…Two I guess you could call him."
John looked up at Elizabeth who looked back at him. John asked, "So Ronon told you about the copy?"
"No actually."
"Then how do you know?" John's head hurt from thinking.
"I have eyes and ears all around my infirmary, Colonel. Anything that happens within these walls, I know about." Carson winked at Carolyn who gave him a half smile back.
Elizabeth caught that signal and responded, "Oh is that right?" She wasn't surprised at all and half smiled herself.
John realized it also, "Having the nurses spying on us now?"
"If one of them happens to be sent out of the operating room for something and overhears a conversation they think I should know about, then it's not spying."
"You walk a fine line between doctor, spy, miracle worker, and dictator-with-a-needle, Doc." John quipped.
"How else would I know about your abundance of 'escape' attempts?"
"But there's never anyone around-" Crap, he just confessed to all those times he vehemently denied trying to leave.
Carson was amused, "Mmmhmm. I thought so. Back to Ronon now."
Elizabeth was looking at Carson, but out of the corner of her eye kept Rodney in sight, "I understand why he feels the need to talk to Rodney, but is such a drastic measure really necessary? Couldn't they switch off control and one of us can relay information?"
"Honestly, I'm worried about the toll that would take on his body. There are risks with an induced coma, but in my opinion they would be less than that. We don't have much time."
Elizabeth thought for a few moments and whispered, "Alright."
---
Lorne and Teyla walked briskly down to the secluded brig and passed the outside guard as the door to the room opened. Captain McIntyre and the other two men on his team were still standing guard.
Jim stood at the far end of the cell, his hands crossed behind his back and his long white hair falling on his back and shoulders, contrasting with his black coat but matching with the shade of his skin. He was breathing slowly, and in short breaths. The bowl of garlic was placed, or kicked, into the opposite corner.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lorne whispered to Teyla.
She nodded, keeping her eyes on the Wraith, "I must." She stepped close to the bars adjusting her sling as Jim noticed their presence and turned around. He saw Teyla and kept his position.
She took a deep breath and lowered her head. When it came up she stared at Jim, her face contorted with calm concentration.
"What are you doing?" Jim looked suspiciously and in a moment Lorne swore he saw fear come into the features on the Wraith's face.
"Stop human."
Teyla gave no reply.
"You will not gain anything from me!" Jim's voice raised in his cage of a cell.
Lorne laid his hand on his 9 mil while McIntyre and his team took the safeties off of their P90s. Teyla kept going.
Jim clutched his head and his breathing quickened as he fought her, trying to push her out.
Time ground by as Lorne watched the scene, a Wraith getting severely agitated by Teyla. It was odd though… he read the last Wraith forced her out… but she said on the way down there that she would be ready for it this time. He'd be lying if he said he didn't get a smirk on his face.
Jim released his head and looked straight into Teyla's fierce eyes as he walked to the bars. They were now only a few inches apart, the shield dividing them.
"I know who you are as much as you now know me, human." With a final thought he threw her out of his mind.
Teyla gasped as pain erupted from her brain and collapsed, her eyes closed.
"That is the price for overstepping your species' bounds." Jim grinned as his own eyes began to droop. That wasn't easy.
Lorne had dropped to Teyla's side to check her pulse as McIntyre called in for a medical team. He stood after Jim's comment, the flame that was burning in him after the death of Stackhouse's team was fed by this act of the Wraith, and he felt like he was going to explode.
"The others will know about Atlantis, and there will be nowhere to hide." Jim's breathing was labored.
Major Lorne drew his 9mil and called to the guard, "Open it." The door was quickly opened, and the shield shimmered. He spoke to Jim sternly, "If you ever do that again," he took aim and fired into his leg, "that will not be the last of your injuries."
Jim hissed when the bullet impacted him.
"How did you board the Daedalus?"
"You do not deserve to know."
Lorne kept his 9mil aimed at Jim, McIntyre behind his with the P90 as backup. He couldn't blame the Major for the shot, after all Sheppard laid more than a few into the last one that was in that same cell.
"Tell me now." Lorne kept his voice loud, and angry.
"Kill me. You will no matter if I tell you or not. I do know about the others that died in here, thanks to the little woman over there. Sheppard will pay." Jim had to talk slowly, it was becoming harder and harder to breathe.
"You're mistaken. If you know so much, you know he will make you pay." Lorne backed out of the cell, it closing in front of him. Jim sunk to the ground, now lying on his side.
The med team rushed through the door and went to Teyla.
Jim passed out to the chagrin of Lorne, who knew that one shot in the leg wouldn't kill a Wraith. He noticed it was still bleeding, not healing. He mumbled, "Shit," for more than one reason.
---
Ronon laid still on the infirmary bed, effectively in a coma as Dr. Beckett looked on. Elizabeth went back to Rodney's side as he made John stay in his bed. The two heads of Atlantis had watched as Ronon slipped from consciousness, on his own accord. The Scottish man was thinking hard about Jim the Wraith (the rumor had already spread) and Stackhouse, a different Wraith and Ronon, and what he was shown by a blonde woman all those months ago…
Out of the corner of his eye he caught John getting out of his bed, "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"
John smirked and laid on his best puppy-dog look, "Just stretching my legs on my way to see Stackhouse."
"Dr. Kushnikov or I never said you could-" Carson paused, he should've know the Lt. Colonel would want to see the young man in addition to Rodney… and he should get something from the Sergeant too, "I'll take you if you sit and wait a moment. I need a few things."
Victory was his, "Alright but you don't need to pack, we're not going that far."
Carson chuckled in his head, "Hold on a moment, Colonel." He headed to the supply room and was back before John could even get out of bed. He noticed that the military officer was having a bit of a problem and offered to help, while really knowing that offering was a bit of a farce because he would have provided aid even if John wouldn't let him. The Lt. Colonel was weak, the hours on the sub took too much out of him more than he would say, but Dr. Beckett knew better.
---
"Hello."
Dr. Zelenka looked up to see Dr. Stroh in front of his desk. Next to him was Garin Trelio's computer. "Hi."
She eyed the Ancient's console, the cover pried off and lying on the floor, exposing the inner workings of the computer itself. "How is it progressing?"
"Well. I've ruled out any programming problems and moved on to the mechanical." He moved over and peered into the innards of the large object - the interlace pattern of clear crystals and long white cords crisscrossing from side to side.
"Are you feeling alright then?"
"Oh yes. Fine. Still a little tingly in some places though." He began to move wires and cords gently out of the way for a better view further into the console, "Everything went well with the repairs on the generators?"
"Yes. It was close with the last one, a few more minutes and the point-of-no-return would have passed." She cocked her head to see what he was doing as she moved closer.
"That would have been a big boom. We'd all be gone."
"Well things have certainly slowed a little."
"If you call me having to find what is wrong with this flabbergasted piece of machinery before Ronon or duplicate-Rodney die, then yes, it has slowed."
"Excuse me?"
Radek looked up at her and saw her confused face remembering that though she knew about the possibility of duplicate Rodney being downloaded into Ronon, she wouldn't know the rest, about the danger of letting them stay that way. He took a breath and proceeded to tell her.
Alexa would have felt the urge to laugh if there wasn't such an overlying danger to the situation, "What is going to be done with the duplicate?"
"We need to remove him from Ronon first. What happens after that hasn't been decided yet." He kept looking through the insides of the console for anything amiss.
"It is an odd situation. The only difference between the duplicate and our McKay is that the copy is missing a few months of memory."
"And has had a different experience from today." Radek zeroed in his focus on one particular wire…
"How exactly is a consciousness stored in the console?"
Radek responded while investigating the loose wire, "In a binary string of coding."
"Any way to read that coding?"
"Yes, there was a program installed that could essentially analyze the consciousness, pick it apart, separate sections." He peered closer into the console, "I think I found the problem."
Alexa's curiosity switched from one aspect to another, "What is it?"
"This cording was not attached fully."
"After thousands of years, I suppose something could jiggle out."
Radek had a flash of the memory when he and Peter Grodin were wheeling the console into the infirmary those five months ago… "More like a wall got in its way."
---
Ronon looked around once his eyes opened. He was a little dazed at first as he looked around the area, taking in the familiar surroundings. The mantle where a host of items rested, including several sizes and colors of candles and figurines. In the wall were what displayed like television screens stuck on one image of a person.
A large area rug covered the almost-black tiled floor in rich, earthy colors. The rest of the room contained deep brown furniture that was worn from years of use and extremely comfortable.
He was home, and was not alone.
He spied Rodney the same time the scientist saw him.
"McKay."
Rodney stood about six feet from the Satedan on the opposite side of the room, "Ronon… why are you here, and what is here? This isn't Atlantis, so it has to be your mind, but then you're here so you'd have to be in a coma, but then why isn't it all white… with trauma and two consciousnesses…"
"McKay."
"What? Oh, I was just uh… thinking out loud a bit there. You were going to say something?" He scanned the room with his eyes, the last thing he remembered was voluntarily giving control back to Ronon.
"I thought we needed to talk."
"About what? I'm sure Carson and Radek are about ready with that mad-man of an Ancient's computer right about now then I'll be out of your," He motioned to his head, "hair… head really."
"That's not what you want."
Rodney looked over at what he could only describe as a brown leather chair, "How would you know what I want, hmm? I've known you for a grand total of a few hours and most of that was spent not talking to you."
"I know you don't want to die." Ronon watched as the scientist sat down in the chair.
Rodney scoffed, "You know nothing about me."
"Your survival instincts are almost as good as mine."
"Oh really? And how are yours?"
"I was hunted by the Wraith for seven years." Ronon shied his head away as he opted for his mother's small couch. He looked like a giant sitting in it.
Rodney's face fell, "Well then, yea, that's a … terrible."
"If there is one thing you don't want to do is be erased."
"What are my other options? I can't stay here. I'm a copy … what does that make me? A person? I'm data from a hard drive."
"You think and talk as an independent person."
Rodney sunk into the back of the chair, "This is all very sweet of you, but unless you have another idea I don't see what the point of this conversation is. Just let me… go out with some dignity. I've had a long past few days."
"There was talk of something called cloning."
A light sparked in his eyes, "Really? A new body…I'm assuming the Asgard would have something to do with it but uh, the other…original me can't be too thrilled about the idea of there being two of us. I'm sure as hell not."
Ronon spoke with reluctance in his voice, "He's not exactly… awake right now."
"What's wrong? He's dying isn't he?"
"Beckett said he's not but when he wakes he might not be the same."
"Fabulous, we have a brain damaged Rodney McKay and a Rodney McKay from five months ago. I swear this is way too Outer Limits for me."
"Outer limits?" Ronon's eyebrows rose questionally.
"It's a T.V. show that deals with scientific situations that get out of control and pretty mind blowing. I have all the DVD's to the original 60's series and the new ones too. You should watch it, expose you to some Earth culture."
"And this duplication of a person reminds you of this show?"
"One in particular, from the newer series. Not as good in my opinion which is worth, well, quite a lot actually. There was a couple who developed the technology similar to Trelio's. The husband scanned the wife and later on she ended up in an accident or something, in a coma. He was told she was going to die so he used the technical data and made a clone. But then his real wife woke up and naturally there couldn't be two of her and one of him."
"What did they do?"
Rodney shrugged in response, "Made a clone of him."
"A pleasant ending."
"Actually, yea I guess it was, but I couldn't ever live as 'the copy', the 'duplicate,' or the 'clone.' I just can't. There can be only one McKay."
"Another one of me would be…odd."
"To say the least. How long have you got until Carson wakes you up?"
"Forty-five minutes."
"I wonder how much time that really is to us."
"Either the same, a lot, or a little."
Rodney scoffed, "Thanks, a lot of help that was." He took a deep breath and continued solemnly, "Listen, I don't want to go through this again. Make sure they… that Zelenka actually does his job this time."
Ronon nodded and then the world disappeared.
A/N: We're trucking along here. As usual, leave me something, thanks!