Chapter 10: Realities Away II
"What do you mean you're from an alternate reality?" Elizabeth asked as they were all seated around the briefing table. "How is that even possible?"
"I don't know." Rodney answered with a sigh as he sat in his usual seat. "But it's true. I'm not your Rodney and John isn't your John. This isn't our reality."
"How can you tell?" Carson asked, causing the eyes of the three men to fall on him.
"In our reality you died a couple months ago Carson." Rodney answered with a heavy heart.
"I died?" Carson asked, not believing what he was hearing. "In what? A Wraith Attack? An Asuran Attack?"
"An exploding tumour actually..." John answered with a shrug of his shoulders.
"An exploding tumour?" Carson asked in shock, not believing the manner that he had gone out. "But that's impossible. I extracted the tumour and gave right to the bomb-squad trained marine who was right there. The tumour exploded in a safety container."
"Well in our reality you didn't want to put anyone else at risk." Rodney answered. "And you died."
"The patient-?" Carson asked but he was cut off by Elizabeth.
"Rodney, John- you're here now. How do you know that this isn't your reality?"
"Elizabeth," Rodney began again, his tone taking on a frustrated edge. "I've already told you-"
"That device in the lab-" Elizabeth murmured, interrupting Rodney's ramble. "-it must have been a quantum mirror."
"A what?" Ronan asked.
"A quantum mirror..." Rodney answered, his mind beginning to put two and two together. "...of course. Only, it wasn't like the quantum mirror that the SGC found. This one was a full blown triangle and-"
"-and was the 'gate that is not a gate' I'm betting." John interrupted looking up from the table to stare at the people before him.
His Rodney and Ronan looked worried but the same, Carson- whom John knew wasn't his Carson- looked slightly confused but when his eyes fell upon Elizabeth he was shocked at what he saw. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail that fell to the middle of her back with wisps flying out to frame her hazel eyes. Their eyes met and John could see a pained look in them and he wondered what she had gone through since her John had disappeared.
"Gate that is not a gate?" She asked, breaking the gaze. "Colonel, what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about what Teyla said." John answered noticing that at the mention of Teyla's name Elizabeth's eyes shot up.
"She's alive?"
"She didn't get kidnapped by Michael?" Carson asked, glancing to Elizabeth.
Ronan, John and Rodney just stayed silent- clearly there were many, many things different about the reality that they inhabited.
oOo
Meanwhile in their reality, Elizabeth had just made the most amazing discovery in relation to the device. She rubbed her hands over her eyes in amazement and re-read a portion of the log again to make sure that she had the translation right. She did, and she knew that finding her team would be almost an insurmountable task.
"This is incredible." She whispered leaning back in her seat.
"What is?" Major Lorne asked coming over to Elizabeth to peer over her shoulder.
"This device- it allows someone to interact with alternate universes."
"Really?" Zelenka asked looking up from his diagnosis of the triangle to the small metallic bracelet in Elizabeth's hands.
"Alternate Realities?" Major Lorne asked again. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Elizabeth confirmed with a nod of her head. "Apparently, the ancient who created this was called Theliza and she lost her husband N'joh very early on in the war against the wraith. She was heartbroken and she committed herself to this project-" Elizabeth paused to look at the magnificent triangle. "She created this quantum gate as she called it, to see what else she could have done."
"And, she got this device to work?" Major Lorne asked once more, both intrigued and slightly frightened at the possibility of the power of the device.
"Yes," Elizabeth affirmed, nodding her head again. "She saw many alternate realities, some good- but many bad...many more bad..."
"So, Ronan, Colonel Sheppard and Rodney are in an alternate universe?"
"Apparently." Zelenka stated, slightly shocked as well as he met Major Lorne's worried gaze.
oOo
"Back to this gate thing," Elizabeth sated trying not to think about how different the Rodney and John were as they sat across from her. "You say that it is like the one the SGC found?"
"Yes." Rodney affirmed. "Only what we came through was obviously much more ancient."
"I don't understand." Carson stated with a shrug.
"The SGC theorised after they had destroyed the mirror that it must have been built by the ancients." Rodney explained as he leaned forward on the table. "I would say that we just proved their theory."
"I guess." Elizabeth whispered looking stunned as she sank back into her chair. Her hands shifted positions and John could see that there was an engagement ring on her left hand. "I guess you're not our Rodney or my- our John at all, are you."
"No." John answered sympathetically, though he couldn't take his eyes off the ring. "Elizabeth- are you and Simon engaged in this reality?"
"Simon?" Elizabeth asked in shock, her head shooting up to look John right in the eyes. In them she saw confusion and when her own eyes fell upon the simple gold and diamond engagement ring she realised with a pained heart what he meant. "No, Simon and I broke up after the siege of Atlantis. When we all travelled back to Earth."
"Then who are you engaged too?" John asked confused and it wasn't until he saw the tears brimming in her eyes that his question was answered.
Elizabeth could see that his question had been answered but she felt the need to say it anyways. "You John-" She whispered quietly. "I'm engaged to you."
oOo
Meanwhile, back in their own reality Elizabeth muttered to herself as she continued to read the ancient log. "Oh No."
"What is it?" Major Lorne asked joining the group by the control panel. "What's wrong?"
"This could be a problem." Elizabeth muttered, staring at the ancient symbols.
"What?" Major Lorne asked insistently and she watched as Elizabeth pulled a device off the control panel and held it gingerly in her hands.
"Is that what I think that is?" Zelenka asked, taking a closer look at the triangular device.
"What is it?" Major Lorne asked again.
"This is the control device that will allow them to come home to our reality." Elizabeth whispered, her heart sinking.
"But they do not have it." Major Lorne stated, not believing what she was hearing.
"I know." Elizabeth agreed as she closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "This means that we will have to go after them..."
"You're talking about an awfully small needle in an awful large haystack ma'am." Major Lorne pointed out.
"I know." Elizabeth confirmed. "But we can mount a rescue mission."
"Do we even know how to turn the device on?" Major Lorne asked, his need to do something growing stronger.
"Yes." Zelenka confirmed looking over Elizabeth's shoulder. "It needs to be activated by someone with the ATA gene."
The lab fell silent as all eyes fell to Major Lorne, who just realised what was going to happen. "When do you want me to leave?"
A/N- Hello beloved readers. Seeing on how i'm going away for the next six days I figured that I'd update this little gem one last time before I leave. Thank you to HeartyJessica, Serised, lemons and wraith oh my and Gingercake for reviewing the last chapte.r Ginger- I'm sorry for 'stealing' your idea, I myself borrowed it from one of the season four speculation threads that I came across and lemos- I know threatening my readers is never good but hey it worked didn't it? ;) Oh and readers, please take the time to review this chapter cause I would love to see the review count over 40 by the time I get home. :D Ta ta for now beloved readers, have a good labour day weekend!