Part 5 – This Is Not Good

Early the next morning, Carson entered the cold and sterile room where they performed the routine autopsies. He'd had the unpleasant task of having to do one too many in the last year or so, but this one was going to be the most difficult to face.

Some of his staff had already prepared things for him. Reluctantly lifting the white cover from John's still and stark torso, Carson felt a shiver run up his spine and he started to gag. He thought he could do this but faced with lifeless corpse of a man who had become a good friend, Carson felt his stomach turn. To see John Sheppard lying so – dead - was more than he could take.

Fleeing from the room, he bumped straight into one of his staff and cried. "I can't do it!"

Dr. Biro came forward as she'd half expected it. "I'm surprised you even tried, Dr. Beckett. Look, it's going to be difficult to find anyone willing to do this in Atlantis but Dr. Grison from the Daedalus is on standby in case we had a problem. I'll call him for you."

"Aye, I think that's for the best." Carson murmured as he walked away towards the restroom.

-SGA-

Later that afternoon, Carson received the lab reports and autopsy findings, which had him so baffled that he requested a meeting with all senior staff as soon as possible.

An hour later, they quietly assembled in the briefing room. Elizabeth was the last to walk in and she looked terrible, although they all showed signs of pain and grief. All expect Caldwell who looked his usual efficient self.

Elizabeth would have preferred Major Lorne to be present but Caldwell had insisted that that wasn't necessary. The question of command was still open to discussion as they had yet to inform S.G.C. However, all that could wait until after arrangements for John's funeral, and then there was the question of notifying his next of kin, if he had any.

Elizabeth wearily lowered herself onto her chair. Her eyes showed the signs of hours of crying, her hair hung limp, lifeless, barely combed and she seemed to have aged overnight. She made the mistake of glancing towards the empty space where Sheppard usually sat as if expecting him to be there and her tears resurfaced causing Rodney and Teyla to quickly turn away to hide their own damp eyes.

Taking a deep breath to calm her inner torment, Elizabeth turned to Carson. "What do you have to report?"

Beckett looked suddenly unsure that he wanted to add to her pain but this was necessary. "I've got the reports back and…well, as I said before, he shouldn't 'ave died from that wound. It was deep but it didn't pierce any major arteries. It nicked some smaller ones, missed the stomach by miles and really only punctured muscle and yet he bleed to death in less than five minutes. I've had every test I can think of performed and it appears that he'd become a hemophiliac, overnight."

Ronon looked puzzled. "What's one of those?"

"To put into simple teams, a hemophiliac is someone whose blood fails to clot. Now ya know when you have a cut it bleeds a little and then eventually stops because the blood thickens. It clots." Everyone nodded in understanding before Carson continued. "Now ya have to understand that hemophilia is inherited, however a similar condition can be caused by taking too much of certain blood thinning drugs. Nevertheless, I can assure ya that Sheppard wasn't on drugs or a hemophiliac, so that leaves us with a wee bit of a puzzle as the why his blood failed to coagulate."

Carson paused, looking at his notes. "So we tested his DNA and that came up one hundred percent John Sheppard. We then did other blood tests and the values were quite frankly…bloody dreadful. It seems his immune system was breaking down at a rapid rate as his blood showed a very low level of white blood cells. In fact, they were almost nonexistent like you would expect to find in a patient with advanced AIDS. Once again, Sheppard certainly didn't have that. Then we thought that he may have picked up some other nasty virus or other organism that could have caused these problems but apart from the early onset of infection in the wound, we found nothing. He didn't have any rare or strange blood diseases or cancers or anything and yet… " Sighing loudly, Carson finished. "Quite frankly, I'm totally baffled."

Deep in thought, Rodney asked. "The body was normal?"

"What do ya mean by that, Rodney?"

"You know scars in the right place, false teeth, titanium hip, nuts and bolts, or whatever else John Sheppard had that he wasn't born with."

Everyone looked a little annoyed, especially Elizabeth but Carson looked confused. "The Colonel didna 'ave false teeth, Rodney, or a replacement hip but he did have scars. What are ya getting at?"

Rodney shifted slightly, almost nervous. "That the body we have in the morgue may not be our John Sheppard."

"I've already told ya that the DNA proves it is." Carson stated.

"Yes, yes, I know but I think it's time for our long overdue mission report to…to…err…what it they name that miserable planet?"

"Capella," Teyla helpfully supplied.

"Yes, Capella and its mad scientist, so where do we begin." Rodney stated as he began to relate the events that were already two days old.

Everyone listened intently as Rodney with a little input from Teyla and Ronon finished his report. "So what do you think? Is it possible that that Tyrell woman could have copied our Sheppard and kept the real one?"

Elizabeth's heart was pounding. "How can we find that out?"

In a shot, Carson was out of his seat. "There's only one bloody way and that's go over that body with a fine tooth comb. But if it's a copy like ya say, Rodney, maybe it copied the scars as well?"

Rodney looked a little worried. "I'm hoping that isn't the case, so why don't we go and have a look."

-SGA-

Fifteen minutes later, Carson and Rodney entered the freezing cold morgue. Neither of them wanted to pull out the draw that contained the body of their friend but Rodney had already convinced himself that this wasn't their John Sheppard and if they were going to get the real one back then they needed to know for sure.

Carson slowly pulled back the metal shelf and uncovered the body. Convinced or not, Rodney suddenly found he couldn't look as Carson turned the corpse over to examine its back. When Carson yelled with joy, Rodney turned back to face him. "Ya were bloody right, Rodney! Mystery solved, no scars and I'm betting we'd find other things if we looked close enough but I'm convinced."

However, their jubilation was somewhat damped as they gathered with the others a while later to discuss how the hell they were going to get Sheppard back?

-SGA-

He woke with a start not knowing who he was or where he was for a minute or two. Then the fog cleared as he slowly sat up to survey his surroundings. Everything seemed the same as he remembered, opulent bed, huge guestroom, fully clothed. Fully clothed! However, not in his uniform, John noted, as he looked down in shock at the white tunic and pants that he now wore. His weapons weren't anywhere in sight and he started to have a very bad feeling as he jumped off the bed and went in search of his teammates.

Walking barefooted, he carefully opened the door next to his were Rodney should have been but he was greeted by the sight of a neatly made-up bed and no sign of the Canadian. The next two rooms proved to be just as empty.

Trying not to panic, John quickly walked towards the dining area hoping to find his team having breakfast but once again, he was greeted with a quiet emptiness and genuine anxiety started to set in. A fear that amplified when the servant he'd met before approached him and said. "If you'd like to come this way please, Master Sheppard, Mistress Tyrell is waiting for you."

Having no choice but to follow, John moved behind the man as he lead the way through numerous passageways towards what John now realized were Lena Tyrell's private quarters. However, instead of going into the office, the servant escorted John into the lavish living room and left him there.

A few minutes later, Dr. Tyrell entered and carefully shut the door behind her. Dressed in red, she certainly made an attractive picture but John turned his thoughts to another woman who liked to dress in red and wished with all his heart that he were back in Atlantis. "What have you done with my team?" he questioned angrily.

"They are safe and back where they came from."

"I don't believe you. They would not have left without me, so I'm asking again. What's happened to my team?"

"And I'll tell you exactly the same as I did before. They've gone home."

John couldn't believe what she was saying. "They wouldn't do that, not without me…not unless you forced them to. What did you do them, knock them out and…?" John stopped as all sorts of horrible scenarios played in his head.

Tyrell was smiling but as before, it was unpleasant to see. "Oh my dear, darling John, they didn't leave without you. I kindly made them a copy and I've kept the real one for myself," she purred as she moved to caress his face.

John moved back out of range, sickened by what she'd told him. "I hope you don't mean that?"

"Of course, I mean it. I was being very generous, don't you think. I mean, I could have killed them and still kept you."

"Why the hell do you want me?" John asked, although he had a bad feeling he already knew the answer.

"New blood, John," she answered leaving him cold as his guess had been right on the ball. "However, seeing as you can't ever leave here again, I'll tell you all our problems with the duplicates and then maybe you'll understand."

"I doubt it," John muttered.

Tyrell chose to ignore him. "I'll put it to you truthfully. The copying process turned out to be flawed and the duplicates are unfortunately weak and sickly. My first copy died after only two weeks, so the doctors worked quickly to understand the problem, and although nothing much could be done to improve the situation, they developed a sterile environment for me to live in, namely this dome. I have to be very careful and take a cocktail of drugs to keep my body fit and well." Pointing to the ceiling, she stated. "The whole of Sanjava is sealed and protected from the outside world. The air is purified, the water and food I eat is specially produced to be free of all contaminants."

"Wait a minute, you said you'd copied me and send it back with my team?" John asked. "How long will the double last?"

"That will all depend on how contaminated your home planet is," she answered him, "Although, I estimate about a month or so. You know you never did tell me where you come from?"

"And I'm not telling you now, Doctor, but don't you think my people are going to put two and two together when the copy suddenly drops dead on them? We have a very good doctor and he'll soon realize it's a fake." I hope, John silently thought.

The Tyrell woman suddenly burst out laughing turning John's insides cold again. "What difference would it make? They would never be able to penetrate this complex. Believe me, people have tried over the centuries, and they all failed. Get used to it, John, this is your new home and I'm either your keeper or your mistress but that's up to you. And don't even think about trying to escape, the whole of Sanjava is staffed by my most loyal people and each room has hidden surveillance day and night."

"Even this one?" John had to ask.

She smirked at him but didn't answer. "I expect you're wondering why I chose you and not the other one...err…Dr. McKay?"

"A little, although I'm glad Rodney does not have to go through all this."

"Oh…how very noble of you, John." She purred reaching out for him again, Sheppard quickly sidestepped. A hint of annoyance flashed in her eyes. "Enough of this nonsense, I chose you because I had you scanned during the decontamination process. You're an Ancient aren't you?"

John could have laughed out loud at that but decided to remain neutral and play along. "So what if I am?"

"Then I'd like to know where they've been hiding? The Ancients disappeared over ten thousand years ago. Where did they go, John?"

"Oh, you know, here and there." He certainly wasn't about to tell her about Earth and Atlantis. "How the hell should I know?"

"Because you've got the Ancient gene, so that makes you one of them," she stated with conviction.

"I see, so that makes all the other humans in this galaxy with the gene, Ancients too?" He hoped he had her there.

"No, of course not, they are inferior just like your Dr. McKay. You're the first human I've found with a strong and pure gene which means you're an Ancient."

John had to end this now. "I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm as ordinary as they are and up until a couple of years ago, I'd never heard of the Ancients. Why is it so important anyway?"

"Power, John. I have always wanted to unite with an Ancient and together we would destroy the Wraith and rule the galaxy." There was utter madness in her eyes when she spoke leaving John appalled. "We rule this small world but it is no longer enough. Join with us, John and we'll conquer worlds."

"Who are we?" He asked gathering as much intel as possible.

"Why my followers of course, but you haven't meet them yet, how silly of me. Come I will give you a guided tour of your new home and introduce you to all the others. Although, my doctors already know about you, as they made your double."

A sudden horrible notion flashed through John's mind. What if he wasn't the original? What if the doctors had made numerous copies of him and they were all waiting to come to life when he was dead?

His thoughts drifted to his colleagues and friends back in Atlantis. Of them having to watch his doppelganger die, thinking it was him. The bad feeling grew as he realized just what a mess he was in this time and a hollow sensation spread as he wondered if he would ever see Atlantis or his friends again.