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Anyone who thought that Elizabeth was made of stone was wrong. She simply did a good job of pretending as she oversaw the effort to figure out exactly what had gone wrong with the gate. They lost a perfectly good MALP to Talbyn forces while trying to determine whether or not John had made it into the gate in the first place. All the evidence the science team could collect pointed to the fact that he had.
"The energy signatures from the gate indicate that it was still transmitting when it shut down," Rodney told her as he gave her a report. Elizabeth put it down on her desk, returning her hands to her lap before anyone else could see that they were shaking. "We know that something was still in the wormhole, and we can only assume…it was Colonel Sheppard."
"Do you have any idea what caused this to happen?" Elizabeth asked him, doing her best to force her voice to stay steady. "W-what would have caused the energy fluctuations we recorded or the gate to shut down prematurely?"
"It looks like the overload caused the shutdown, most likely as an automatic safety precaution to prevent damage to our power systems. And we know the Talbyn weapons were highly unstable. They likely caused the overload."
"And there's no…no possible way to get him back?" Elizabeth asked, just to be sure.
Rodney seemed to struggle for a moment with the answer. "Once the wormhole ceases to exist, all matter inside does the same," he finally said. Elizabeth nodded once.
"How long will you need to make a final report?"
"I-I'm not sure. Another day or two, probably."
"I'd like to include the results in our weekly upload to SGC tomorrow." Rodney nodded.
"I'll do everything I can." Rodney turned to leave, and then stopped. "Elizabeth?" he asked. "I'm…truly sorry." She bit back the tears threatening to escape.
"Thank you."
The Atlantis gate room was pretty quiet, empty but for a few city personnel. All of that changed, however, when the Stargate lit up.
"Incoming wormhole," one of the lieutenants in the control room called out. "Shield raised."
"I'm getting an IDC," another man reported. "This can't be right…" The highest officer currently on duty also happened to be in the control room, and was looking at the code on the screen. "What should I do, Major?"
The officer toggled on his radio. "Security team to the gate room," he ordered. "Lower the shield," he told the lieutenant once he could see the security force beginning amass down below.
The shield fell, and moments later, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard stepped into the room. He instantly froze, however, upon seeing several gun barrels in his face. "Whoa. What the hell is going on here?"
"Who are you?" one man in the team asked. Or rather, John realized, it was a boy, because he didn't think he could even be eighteen years old. "How did you get one of our identification codes?"
"It's MY identification code," John shot back. "Stand down," he ordered the team, but none of them moved. "That's an order."
"Who are you to give US orders?" a girl in the group, no older than the boy, spoke up.
"I'm the military commander of this facility!" That didn't seem to have any impact. "Am I in the twilight zone or something? Where the hell is Elizabeth?"
That seemed to be the wrong thing to say; the boy took a step foward, aiming for his head. "Who are you?" he asked again.
John sighed. "Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard. You want my serial number, too?"
"Our father was killed before we were born," the boy replied, indicating with a tip of his head that the girl beside him was the other part of 'we'. "You can't possibly be him."
John did a double take. "Your what?"
"He looks just like Mom's picture," the girl realized, her weapon lowering.
"Abbie," the boy started, but she cut him off.
"We should have his identity verified, one way or the other."
"I know damn well who I am," John shot. "My question is who YOU are." The boy ignored him.
"Take him to the infirmary," the major that was up in the control room called down to the security team. "Jonathan, Abigail, you stay here. I'd imagine the Colonel is going to want to talk to you once he arrives."
"Yes, Sir," they chorused. One of security officers used his gun like a prod to get Sheppard moving, and they exited the control room.
John was glad to see one familiar face enter the infirmary, although upon laying eyes on his patient, Atlantis' Chief of Medicine looked like he'd seen a ghost.
"Carson!" John called when he saw the other man. "Would someone please tell me what is going on around here? I've got my own soldiers – although I don't recognize any of them – with guns pointed at me, and two little smartasses – who I also don't know – that decided today would be a good day for practical jokes. And where is Elizabeth?"
"Calm down, John," Beckett told him. He studied the doctor carefully for a moment.
"You look different."
"Aye, I'd imagine I do. You, however, haven't changed at all."
"Okay…Was I supposed to?"
"What's the last thing you remember before arriving in Atlantis?"
John frowned. "Running for my life on Talbyn. They weren't too happy with us."
Carson sighed. "Aye. Colonel…you didn't JUST leave Talbyn."
"Excuse me?"
"It…it's been eighteen years since that day."
John's mouth opened, but no sound came out for a long moment. "You're in on the joke, too, huh?" he finally asked. "Where's McKay? Is he around here somewhere with a camera?"
"John. This isn't a joke."
And there was something about the tone of his voice that let him know Carson really was telling the truth. John stared at his hands for a long moment. "Eighteen years," he slowly repeated.
"Yes…I'm going to need to examine you, and then Colonel Garrett requested your presence in his office."
"Colonel who?"
"The commanding officer of the city."
"What happened to Elizabeth? Where is she?"
"She's here. But you're not going to be seeing anyone until you've been checked out." And as much as he didn't like it, he had no choice but to relent.
TBC...