Chapter 3

John and Rodney entered the gloomy bar just as the singer launched into the chorus of Billy Joel's Piano Man:

Sing us a song; you're the piano man

Sing us a song tonight

The bar – for it was obviously one – was done in wood and the electrical lights cast a dimmed yellow light that only seemed to enhance the smoky quality of the room. A long wooden counter filled one end of the room and a number of men sat nursing a drink. Small wooden tables filled the rest of the floor space with only a few extra customers seated at them. Right at the back of the room was an area that was slightly raised and on this was something that could only be called a piano with the pianist seated with his face in profile.

Well, we're all in the mood for a melody

And you've got us feeling alright

The pianist was a slightly pudgy man with longish hair that must have once been dark blonde, but was turning gray. His fingers flew over the keys and his head was thrown back as he happily sung a song he should not have known. A large glass of beer stood half-finished on top of the piano.

Behind John and Rodney the doors of the bar opened and shut as Ronon and Teyla joined them.

"Is that...?" Teyla began, but she was unable to finish the thought – the same one that had occurred to John. Though older and scruffier, the pianist seemed very familiar.

"Nah, he just looks that way," John tried to deny the truth settling over their group.

"Then how do you explain him singing Piano Man at the top of his lungs?" Rodney irritably snapped back.

"McKay does have a point," Ronon pointed out. It was not an easy thought.

They were still just standing there, debating the evidence of their eyes, when the song ended and the pianist instantly went over into another familiar song. In fact, he started right with the familiar Modern Talking chorus:

Atlantis is calling, S.O.S. for love

Atlantis is calling from the stars above

Atlantis is calling, S.O.S. for love

Atlantis is calling, it's to hot to stop!

"Still think it's just a coincidence?" John snapped as the four of them stalked over towards the pianist. At the last note of the small chorus he spun around on his stool and smiled at the small group of Atlanteans. On top of the piano stood a large draft of beer – half drunk.

"You're late," the pianist informed them before promptly falling off his stool. Apparently he had spun too far around and it had made him dizzy. Well, that and the fact that John could smell the alcohol on his breath even from where he was standing.

"I don't drink that much," Rodney – their Rodney – whined as they stood regarding the other Rodney McKay. Or at least, that's what it seemed like. John just knew they weren't going to like the story behind what was happening here.

With the pragmatism he was known for, Ronon leaned over and lifted the other Rodney – the drunk Rodney – from the ground and replaced him on the stool. The drunk man instantly stood up on shaky legs and embraced the tall man. Then her staggered over towards Teyla, who patted his back but looked over his shoulder at the rest of her team with wide eyes. When the drunk man pulled back, she grabbed his sleeve.

"Are you...all right?" she asked him, but then turned her head to the side at his breath. "Are you drunk?" she asked a second question.

"I've missed you guys," the other Rodney happily told her. Then his eyes started to water as he regarded John. "And you, you're alive!" he sobbed. "You're all alive!"

Finally he turned to regard himself and John felt Rodney – their Rodney – stiffen beside him. "Look at you, all young and sexy once more," he told himself. Well, kind of himself. John had been comparing the two Rodneys and it was apparent that the one they had found here on the planet was much older than he ought to be. Or, at least, much older than all of them were right now. Rodney was just a year or so younger than John, but this drunk was perhaps twenty years older. He wore his hair long and pulled back in a pony-tail, even though it started only halfway down his scalp. John grinned: a few months back he and Rodney had had a discussion about hair-loss and John had told Rodney he would probably lose most of his hair as he aged. Rodney had been outraged, but now they had proof!

It was also obvious, John realised, that this Rodney habitually drank too much.

"Well, okay, you're all wondering what's going on here, I bet," the older Rodney told them. Reaching over carefully, he grabbed his mug of alcohol and wobbled over towards one of the round little tables. SGA-1 exchanged quick glances, but in the end John started towards the table and sat down on one of the stool; putting his weapon on the table and within easy reach. Rodney and Teyla followed his example, but Ronon remained standing and with his front turned towards the entrance in silent vigilance.

"'Now Kyle at the bar is a friend of mine,'" the drunk Rodney sang as he mangled the old Billy Joel song slightly. He held his mug up in the air and the barman nodded. Conspiratorially he leaned towards John and SGA-1. "He really gets me my drinks for free," he told them before bursting out in laughter.

"I'm sorry, but this is just absurd," their Rodney exclaimed. "I have the best mind in the galaxy," he added. "I would never try and rot it with alcohol like this," he told them. Other Rodney leaned closer once more.

"You would if you're stuck on this planet for nearly twenty years!" he whispered; confirming John's estimation that somehow this Rodney had had twenty years to age. Though there were probably a number of reasons for this peculiar situation, John thought he would put his money on a time-displacement event caused by an energy surge in the wormhole.

"You have been here nearly twenty years?" Teyla confirmed. Then she narrowed her eyes as she regarded the drunk Rodney. "Then where is the rest of the team?" she demanded.

Drunk Rodney threw his head back and laughed; nearly falling from the high stool. "Dead, all dead!" he cackled. Finally his fit ended and he seemed to sober for a moment. Unfortunately the barman placed four mugs of beer on the counted and handed one to Ronon as well. With obvious joy drunk Rodney reached for his mug, but John deftly moved it out of his way. Drunk Rodney glared at him. "I have to start talking, right?" he accused John.

"Correct," John merely stated. "Begin with why everyone else is dead," he added for good measure. If this was a time-displacement thing they might have limited time to change events. This was, after all, not the first time something like this has happened in the history of gate travel.

"The Descended killed you," drunk Rodney cryptically remarked. "Time and disease took Ronon and Teyla, although little Melena still comes to visit her godfather every now and then," he added.

At this announcement Ronon and Teyla glanced at one another. Melena was the woman Ronon had lost when the Wraith had attacked Sateda years ago and was obviously Ronon's child. John noticed, though, that drunk Rodney hadn't said anything about the child being Teyla's as well. He wondered how thing were going between his two teammates – romantically. Not that he complained or anything. If ever there was a world where romance and the workplace mixed often, it was their world. The unspoken rule was merely that romance should not interfere with work. After all, he and Elizabeth had somehow managed to become the example everyone followed and from the start both of them had agreed they needed to keep their emotions bottled until after – after whatever.

"Who's the Descended?" Ronon asked the question John should have asked. He scowled to let them know he would have gotten there, eventually.

"They are those who didn't ascend," drunk Rodney said as he pulled a face. "They are evil," he added.