Fic: Coda (part one)
Mar. 7th, 2008 01:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
so_jangtitle: Coda
rating: PG-13 (mature themes)
pairing: Elizabeth/John
notes: In music, D.S al Coda means you repeat and skip sections until you find the coda. This fic is a little odd, but it's part of that theme. Spoilers for "This Moral Coil", "Lifeline", "Adrift". For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dana_cz (if it's way more angsty than what you wanted, I'll write you another.)
"War and Peace" was written by Leo Tolstoy. I only quote him because he is fabulous.
"We need to meet," Elizabeth said calmly, as if she hadn't been missing for weeks. "I'm sending you a 'gate address," she disappeared from the screen for a moment as she interfaced with the MALP. "I'll be there, alone, unarmed, you may search me if you wish." Her hair was piled up on top of her head and she was wearing a dull gray shirt he didn't recognize, but it was her.
Rodney's smile of relief was gentle and bright; just seeing her alive had gone a long way towards assuaging his guilt. Ronon twisted his gun and nodded. Carter looked relieved even though her lips remained tight. Teyla's eyes were on him and John couldn't think of anything in the world to say. He wanted- needed- to tell her how much it meant to see her alive.
Instead, he faltered and his throat went dry. "See you soon," John murmured dumbly as she nodded.
"it's good to see you too," Elizabeth's words were soft and hopeful but John felt her smile dig into him. There was something in her voice that he'd been missing and his chest was getting tight.
John tried not to feel the sweat on his palms as he turned to Carter. "Well? When can we go?" he demanded impatiently as he looked at the rest of his team.
"The planet needs to check out before anyone leaves the city," Carter began with all of the restraint he wasn't feeling. "I'll send a MALP."
"Okay," John nearly tripped over her words as he started out of control. "I'm just going to go get dressed."
Ronon shrugged and followed John. "It'll be good to have her back," he offered in an optimistic growl. His gun hissed as it sank back into his holster.
John's fingers itched for a gun, grenades, or the controls of a jumper; anything that meant he was doing something instead of waiting desperately in safety while she was out there alone. Ronon's huge hand thudded on his shoulder and shocked him out of his thoughts.
"Knew we'd get her back," Ronon muttered hopefully as he passed him on the way to the armory. Ronon didn't need to change clothes, he probably just needed more guns.
John ducked into his room and ripped off his city clothes and started pulling on his off-world uniform. He didn't change his socks and forced his boots through the legs of his pants instead of unlacing them. The fabric caught and he swore as he He had to get back to the 'gate. Pulling on his jacket and lifting his tactical vest, John actually took his time with the vest. Equipment was important, even if he was just hours away from finally seeing her again.
He needed equipment because something was about to go wrong. He couldn't just get lucky enough to bring her back in one piece. He'd been so close to having everything. Hell, John would have almost given back the ZPM to have had her.
Shoving his knife into the holster, John threw the vest over his shoulder and headed for the armory. Teyla's soothing voice rang through the hallway as he slipped into the darker room.
"You need to let go of this being your fault," she reminded Rodney as his fingers fumbled with a clip for his pistol. ARGs were their primary weapon on this trip, but it never hurt to be prepared. "What happened to Elizabeth was her choice and you have to honor the decision she made the put your lives before hers."
"We'd make the same choice," Ronon agreed as he sighted down his gun one last time before he was satisfied.
John snapped clips into his vest and collected a few grenades. Looking over his team, his eyes landed on Rodney. "I was in charge," he ended the debate firmly. Holding up his hand towards Rodney, he sighed again weakly. "I let you give her the nanites. I let her go on the mission. I let her get away," he looked down at his ARG as he finished. "I lost her." It only took a moment to drag the wall back up, and only then he trusted himself to make eye contact again. "We'll get her back."
Carter's voice rang in his ear, summoning them all back up to control. John felt the weight of his rifle settle into his hands like he was sinking. It was about time they got her back.
The planet Elizabeth specified was sickly hot and the humidity in the air clung to their skin as soon as they arrived. The air stank of rotting vegetation and swamp muck. A thick mist covered the ground and John didn't want to know what was in it or what could possibly be crawling around his feet as he squished towards the high ground.
Teyla searched the area calmly over her ARG and tilted her head towards a solitary figure near a large tree. Ronon pretended not to be paying attenion and nodded with her as he lazily checked the perimeter.
Rodney swatted at the small, reddish flies that were swarming around them and sighed. "Forgot bugspray," he complained as he ran up behind them after sending the MALP back through. "Hopefully this is just a meet-and-greet and take her back home?"
"Unfortunately not," Elizabeth's voice rang out behind them. surprising all of them as Ronon whirled and leveled his gun. The ARG clicked as he cocked it tight.
"You said alone," John threatened as the cold feeling sank so hard into his stomach he was worried it would never let go. If this was a trap-
"I am alone," Elizabeth corrected as she stepped from the brush and held up her hands. For some reason, her hair was suddenly shorter. As if she'd cut it down to a pixie length after sending her message. It haloed around her head and John was still distracted by her curls when a second Elizabeth emerged at her side.
"So am I," the second Elizabeth continued as she held up her hands. Her hair was down and hanging in heavy curls on her shoulders.
"And I," a third voice, Elizabeth's voice, added as she stepped out as well. Her hair was back in a ponytail and she was a little slower to lift her hands, as if she loathed to do so.
"We're not going to hurt you," the Elizabeth voice behind them promised levelly as she stepped up directly between John and Teyla. She was the one from the video. Her hair was piled neatly on her head. All four of them wore the same gray scrubs, reminding John vaguely of escaped convicts. He loosened his death grip on his ARG and wished his skin was drier. His throat certainly was, even in the wet air of the forsaken jungle planet.
Ronon drew another gun and kept two of them in his sights. Teyla covered the others. John tried not to think about how wrong it felt to be staring down the barrel of a gun, even an ARG, at Elizabeth.
"Please come with us," the last Elizabeth suggested gently. She was the one with her hair up, and the one who seemed to be the de facto leader. "We can get out of the bugs and explain ourselves."
"The bugs aren't even biting you," Rodney pointed out anxiously as they all tried to figure out what it meant.
All four of the facsimile Elizabeths flashed silver for a moment before returning to their natural state. All of their features, their hair and even their clothing were suddenly solid pieces of burnished metal.
Ronon's guns didn't budge at all. His lips were in a tight line, as if he'd known this was coming. Rodney's hand twitched and his disappointment was dark on his face.
"We don't have anything the bugs want," the last Elizabeth, the leader, explained with a hint of sadness. "If you intend to help us, if you want to help her, please come with us now. Her time is limited."
"Her?" John asked weakly as he nodded to his team. He'd tried to prepare himself for finding Elizabeth again. He'd tried mentally to be ready for whatever horrors she had been dealing with. The replicator-elizabeth-quadruplets were well outside what he'd prepared for.
"The original Elizabeth," Rodney realized suddenly. "She's still alive. She's still alive and you have her, right?"
"She is here," the first one, the short-haired one, answered grimly. "You may want to call your medical team now and tell Keller to start packing." The tone was Elizabeth's but she walked slightly differently, almost as if she had a bit of a swagger in her shoulders. Ducking the branches and silently pointing them out as she went, that Elizabeth led the way through the jungle.
John lifted his radio. "Atlantis," he began slowly, still not quite sure how to explain himself. "We've found some 'friends' and we're going to need a medical team. It seems Elizabeth's in pretty bad shape."
The facsimile at his side nodded sadly as she listened to his report.
"I'll have Keller prepare her team immediately," Carter's voice came back. "Take care of yourselves."
"Will do," John answered mechanically. The Elizabeth at his side looked bemused.
"They replaced me with Carter?" she asked lightly ducking around a branch and protecting his head from the hanging moss as she led his feet through the muck. "Not you?"
"Didn't want it," John shrugged and kept his head down. "You said me?" he wondered as he slipped and caught his balance on the slimy trunk of a nearby tree.
"I have parts of her memories," the leader-Elizabth explained as she offered him a hand. Normally, John would have anticipated the strength of her grip, but this was a Replicator. She pulled him up the hill in a single burst of energy. "Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish myself from her and I'm afraid I do not always succeed."
"She's also the youngest," short-haired Elizabeth explained as she stared off into the jungle, listening to the same creature Ronon had been watching. "It's a large feline, around three meters long. They are aggressive and foul-tempered but they definitely have their uses.."
"Must be easier when it doesn't actually want to eat you," Ronon mused dryly as he kept his eyes on it. "I wouldn't."
The short-haired Elizabeth was almost amused. John remembered seeing that smile cross her face and suddenly he was unbelievably homesick for her and the balcony.
"The youngest?" Teyla asked the facsimile closest to her. That one had spoken little and seemed content just to listen to the group.
Shoving her dark hair back from her face, she nodded once and started to explain. "The Asurans created Alpha," she pointed up at the short-haired version walking with John, "They were trying to create a replicator that could ascend. One with Elizabeth's memories."
"Did they succeed?" Teyla wondered numbly. John could hear the concern in her voice and hoped Elizabeth hadn't been treated as badly as they all feared.
"In a way," she said pointing to her chest. "Alpha awoke without any of Elizabeth's memories and was forced by the Asurans to take them from her. Elizabeth was stronger than they believed, and the two of them were able to come up with a truce. I was made second and when they exposed me to Elizabeth, she gave her memories freely."
"Alpha and Beta realized they could hear each other," pony-tailed Elizabeth interrupted impatiently. "Elizabeth can hear all of our thoughts, but we can hear each other when we share proximity. It is a side effect the Asurans never planned for. Delta and I both have parts of Elizabeth's memory and it has taken some time for us to realize, but we have different parts. She thinks our separate personalities emerged because she was selective each time."
"She is the original Elizabeth?" Teyla asked as John, Rodney and Ronon listened silently.
"She is the hybrid, part human, part Asuran," Gamma explained quickly as Alpha and Beta exposed the nanite-constructed camouflage hiding their base. A mass of tree branches and moss flashed silver and pulled away from a small structure reminiscent of Asuran desigh. "The Asurans have tried to duplicate your modifications, Doctor McKay, but so far, we are their failures."
"They're not just letting you live on this planet," John interrupted as he felt his feet find metal beneath them instead of muck. "You must have escaped?"
"It became necessary to remove Elizabeth from her situation," Alpha answered curtly as she waved them all under the camouflage. "Her nanites were starting to fail and the Asurans were considering terminating the entire experiment."
"So you broke out?" Ronon asked suddenly impressed. "Five of you, unarmed?"
"We are more efficient as a collective than the Asurans," Delta explained calmly as she led Rodney and Teyla towards what seemed to be their lab. "It worked to our advantage."
"Keller's team will be here soon," Ronon reminded John as he took in the metal walls of the structure. "She'll need a guide."
"We will take him back to the 'gate," Alpha volunteered as Beta jumped to follow.
Ronon's nod to John said he could handle the situation. John couldn't focus and deferred to Ronon's opinion.
"Where's Elizabeth?" he asked weakly of the one called Delta.
"Back here," Delta indicated with her hand as she walked with him to a sealed room in the back of the compound. "The large felines are predatory and several times at night they have attacked, even through the camouflage. Keeping her here was the safest course."
John watched as Delta's hand, which was so familiar, disappeared into the wall for a moment and released some kind of lock. "Is she a prisoner?" John demanded as the sick, cold feeling returned to his stomach.
"She requested to be locked in," Delta explained with a softening of her eyes that looked nearly human. "As a collective, the minds of the four of us can resist most attempts the Asurans make to control us. She is still human."
"Does she know you contacted us?" John asked as he waited in the hallway. His feet were suddenly heavy, as if he was still in the muck outside.
"She does not," Delta answered honestly as she leaned against the wall. "She will be angry with us when she realizes what we have done, but I believe she will be happy to see you."
"So I just?" John hesitated in the doorway and looked from her to the darkness behind.
Delta waved him on with a patient look that reminded him suddenly of Teyla.
"Right," John finished more to himself than anything else. He'd been ready for her to be part of the Replicators. He'd been ready for her to be dead, John had admitted that to himself and steeled himself to the fact that it might happen. He wasn't sure he was ready for this. How could he face her after he'd let her stay gone so long?
There was a noise from inside the room. A voice, her voice, but worn and tired instead of fresh and mechanical. He let it lead him in. John's eyes took a moment to adjust, the lights were lower there. She was in the corner, hunched against the wall. Her arms were wrapped around her chest and her eyes were closed. Her lips moved slowly but the sound had stopped.
Setting down his ARG and removing his vest, John crossed towards her.
"I can hear your boots," Elizabeth muttered weakly without lifting her head. "I can hear them, but I know they aren't there."
"Elizabeth--"
John's voice hit her like a physical blow and she crumpled back. "You aren't real," she insisted as she started to open her eyes. The lids seemed to heavy and John could see her struggle etched on her forehead.
"I'm here," he countered as he took another step towards her and the thin mattress the replicators must have created for her. "I'm really here."
"Don't play this game," she pleaded as she shook her head at him. "Children, please, it's harder than you know."
Kneeling down by her side, John reached for her cheek. He didn't usually touch people. She'd nearly given him a heart attack when she'd hugged him that first time, but now he needed to know she was there. He needed to feel she was real as much as she did.
His hand connected with her cheek and she startled. Her own hands flew up and weakly batted it away. John held on, moving his feet beneath him and giving her his other hand. Her hands slid over and around it, taking it in before she opened her eyes.
"Please don't," she murmured in a whisper so faint he had to lean closer to hear. "Please--"
"Elizabeth," John called her back putting both his hands on her face. "I'm really here."
Grabbing the back of his arm, she dug her thumb into it until a tiny trickle of blood broke the skin. Lifting her thumb and staring at it, Elizabeth started to shake. The trembling came from somewhere within and the only thing he could think of was to hold on. She pushed off from the wall and nearly crashed against his chest. John hit the wall in the corner and let her sink against him.
His arms went around her shoulders and stayed there. Soundlessly, Elizabeth folded closer, seeping into his body. He ran his hands over her shoulders as she fell into his lap. Her hands clung to her chest as she collapsed down to him. One of his legs was behind her and her head was heavy on his thigh.
"Sometimes, when I'm really desperate, I think you're here," Elizabeth explained as if she were talking to a ghost. "Sometimes they feel it. Sometimes I can't block them out and they try to make me feel better. Sometimes one of them looks like you and I can't--"
"It's me," he soothed as he tried to turn her head towards him. "I'm here." Her skin had grown more pale and John wondered if she had seen the sun at all since her capture. Her eyes were overly bright and her lps were dry. Her face was thin, but she seemed to be well fed. Her hair was clean, but dull and limp as he ran his hands through it meditatively.
"They're like children," she continued as her eyes struggled to focus on his face.
"Or puppies with replicator IQs and your face?" he tried to help her explain.
For almost a second, she smiled. "Any face they want. My mother, Simon, Rodney, Oberoth," Elizabeth's voice weakened and her eyes closed again. "You."
"Elizabeth?" John demanded shaking her slightly as he tried to bring her back. Her skin felt strangely dry and smooth, like a snake.
"Head hurts," she complained in a sigh as her hand moved weakly towards her temple. "I go in and out. I can't remember things, can't move my legs rwhen I want to. The children think it's because my body is starting to reject the nanites. They're inferior, Rodney tampered with them too much."
He put his cool hand on her forehead and wished desperately there was something he could do for her. His eyes were stinging, like they had in the infirmary when Keller had tried to prepare him for the worst, and John found himself wrestling with the possibility that he'd found her only to lose her.
"He'll fix them," John insisted optimistically and with enough force to make her smile. "Keller's already on her way."
"The children-" Elizabeth's sudden moan cut her off and she bit her lip. "They tried to help me." Her hand went to her stomach, and for a moment John thought the pain was radiating from there. "They tried to remake me. Fix me the way they can fix themselves." Fumbling for his hand, she dragged it down to her stomach and held it there. "If something happens, I want you--"
"No," he interrupted firmly as he tried to figure out why she was holding his hand desperately against her stomach. Feeling the softness of her flesh through the abused fabric, John tried to keep his hand away. "No, we're not talking like that."
"Take me back to my mother," she whispered as her tired eyes sought his. "John--"
"Elizabeth--"
"I was ready to die," she offered softly tightening her grip on his fingers. "I remember the glass, and the light, and Keller and you--" Elizabeth fought with her throat, as if she was having trouble remembering how to speak. "I don't know if I'm ready to live again."
"You're coming home," John insisted finally as he leaned closer to her head. "You're going to live and you're going home. That's the way it has to happen."
"I don't know-" she sighed and her hand lost its death grip, "-it sounds nice."
The door hissed open and Keller rushed in. She was alone, so Carter must have decided not to risk more people than she had too. The poor doctor looked a little shell-shocked from her experience with the replicant Elizabeths, but she was quick to shake it off.
Elizabeth had lapsed slightly further out of consciousness, but she managed to smile minutely at Keller when she realized it was the doctor examining her.
"Her blood pressure's too low, her heartrate is sluggish, her endocrine system is elevated, her nervous responses are all off," Keller rattled off her list to herself as she shoved her blonde hair back out of her eyes. "Electrolytes are nearly too high. Blood glucose is low. Her entire autonomic nervous system is going haywire."
Delta whispered something to Keller and the young doctor's eyes widened in shock.
"You've confirmed this?" she demanded as she started taking Elizabeth's pulse again. Her blue eyes were huge with surprise and John knew he had missed something.
"Gamma and Rodney are working on the data right now," Delta explained softly and John watched her concern as she looked at Elizabeth. She'd been right to explain them as children. Delta could have a conversation with the maturity and intelligence of an adult, but here with Elizabeth she looked like a child that was loosing her mother.
"We were trying to reprogram her nanites," Delta explained as she knelt a slight distance back from Elizabeth and John. "We thought we might be able to get them to repair and regenerate her damaged tissues before they failed and she died."
"But they didn't understand the command?" Keller asked as she ran her handheld scanner over Elizabeth's still form. "They short circuited or something?"
"They did exactly as they thought we had commanded," Delta explained sadly. "They remade Elizabeth with a perfect brain."
"If she has a perfect brain why is she in and out of consciousness like this?" John demanded through his confusion. Elizabeth's hand tightened again and she tried to communicate something through her eyes. She was still holding his hand against her stomach. There was something he wasn't seeing.
"John," Keller began slowly. "The nanites remade Elizabeth from the beginning, from scratch, and put her the only place they could."
John looked from Keller to the Delta version of Elizabeth and felt like everyone in the room knew something he didn't. "I don't--"
Elizabeth cut him off. "John, the nanites impregnated me."
"With herself," Keller added as John felt his head spin. Elizabeth was staring up at him, needing him to understand and be real and solid. He looked away for a moment, and tried to find the answers in the gray metal wall. He smiled at her as reassuringly as he could. Keller and Delta were talking quickly, supposing and hypothesizing but all he could think was that for some, odd, reason, he was jealous.
"Why did you cut your hair?" Rodney asked finally when he couldn't hold back his curiosity.
Elizabeth, the one who had cut her hair so it was nearly as short as John's, grinned and slipped off the chair by the door. Teyla watched her and tried to decide if she had seen this side of Elizabeth before. "Needed to look different," she explained as she sauntered over to see what he was doing. "In the beginning, it was just me and her-"
"Always brings this up," Elizabeth Gamma, the one with the ponytail who was showing Rodney their data, rolled her eyes. "Like she's somehow better because she was first."
"I was just wondering about the hair," Rodney tried to save himself.
"She can't help it," Beta explained as she sighted a spot on the wall and threw an impossibly sharp blade at the metal. "None of us can," she finished as Ronon got up and mimicked her throw. His was better and he started correcting her aim.
"What do you mean?" Teyla asked as she ran her hand along the edge of the gleaming computer console.
"We all imprinted on a different memory," Gamma explained without looking up and Teyla suddenly realized why she seemed so familiar. She even tapped her fingers like Rodney did when he was annoyed. "Alpha happened accidently, Elizabeth was thinking about John when Alpha tried to take her memories."
"We are like blank slates when they create us," Delta explained as she emerged from the room John had disappeared into. "Alpha was programmed to take Elizabeth's memories anyway she could. Elizabeth thought of John, and she gravitated towards the memory. In a way, Alpha is as much John as she is Elizabeth."
Teyla met her eyes and saw something of herself in the green eyes that should have been Elizabeth's. "And so with the rest of you," she realized as she looked around. Beta was pointing out the large feline to Ronon and planning some kind of attack. Gamma looked up from her work just as Rodney realized they didn't have enough power.
"Would you mind?" Gamma asked with a wave of her hand. "We're going to need raw materials."
"Got it," Beta nodded as she tilted her head to Ronon. "Ready?"
"I'll be back," Ronon called towards Teyla, who was in charge when Sheppard was away as far as he was concerned.
"What are you using for power?" Rodney asked Gamma as he checked the fluctuations in the computers. "No ZPM?"
"We couldn't risk stealing one," Gamma explained as she nudged his hand towards the outputs he wanted. "We use deconstructed matter to power small generators. Biologic matter works as well as any, and the energy Beta will absorb has it's uses too."
"It also keeps her from driving you crazy if she's busy," Alpha pointed out as she dragged her feet over towards the back room. "They okay?"
"Yes," Delta insisted as she straightened her grey shirt. All of them were dressed the same, in simple grey scrubs. Teyla wondered if that was why they all were so careful with their hair. Even as copies of the original, they needed to tell themselves apart on some level. "I think he was something she's been waiting for."
"He has been waiting as well," Teyla reminded her as she watched Gamma and Rodney bicker before realizing how to coax most of the data onto his portable. Alpha was just pacing back and forth. When Teyla looked away, the sounds of boots on the floor were so much like John. "How long have you been running?"
"Thirty-eight days," Gamma explained grimly as she kicked the base of her computer.
"Can that really help?" Rodney asked her with a tiny smile of amusement.
"No," Gamma sighed as she tapped her fingers anxiously. "Not in the slightest, but these are no where near as good as the ones on Atlantis and it made me feel better."
"You've never been to Atlantis," Rodney reminded her as he finished wiping everything off of his palm computer. "I think I have enough space. How's that compression algorithm?"
"Better than yours," Gamma snapped back and Rodney looked stunned for a moment.
Alpha started to laugh as she leaned against the wall next to Teyla. "This is better than her fighting with Beta...it's almost like having a prettier version of Rodney to fight with Rodney," she whispered to Teyla through her chuckling.
Rodney turned around and glared at the chuckling Elizabeth next to Teyla. "You're not really her you know," he retorted petulantly. "I don't have to do what you say."
"You never really did anyway," Alpha reminded him lifting her knife and checking the point lazily. Gamma shrugged and nodded a little.
Rodney sighed and turned back to the computers. "Zelenka's never going to believe this--"
"The fetus," Rodney struggled through the explanation back in the conference room on Atlantis. "Elizabeth, I mean, the fetal Elizabeth, is a perfectly healthy embryo of four weeks gestational age."
John couldn't focus. He'd barely allowed Carter to drag him out of the infirmary to attend this meeting, and he still didn't see how his opinion mattered. He wasn't a scientist. He should be sitting with Elizabeth, keeping her spirits up while Keller's baffled people tried to keep her brain from melting into goo.
"Our Elizabeth, however, is not in as good shape," Rodney continued with the cool scientific tone he used when he was deathly afraid. "Her synaptic pathways are already starting to degrade and the nanites taking over those functions work sporadically at best. I know sometimes she may seem normal, but underneath it, her brain is starting to die." He paused and fumbled with his computer for support. "Again."
"What are our options?" Carter asked gently steering the conversation in a more positive direction.
"We may be able to use the stem cells of the fetus- Elizabeth- fetal Elizabeth--" Rodney stumbled and Carter nodded simply.
"Stem cells?" she continued to lead him.
"We may be able to implant them into her brain and hope they work better than the nanites at replacing her brain cells," Rodney explained as Delta nodded to him. The presence of the replicant-Elizabeths had the city twisted up into equal parts confusion and amazement.
Alpha and Beta had little patience for science and were training with the Marines and Ronon. Gamma couldn't be dragged out of the lab and was staying there with an escort. All of them had a marine with an ARG by them at all times. Delta had Lorne himself for this shift and the major was holding his on her subtly enough that she kept her dignity.
"That will involve terminating the embryo," Keller explained in case anyone in the room hadn't known. "Rodney and I don't like the odds of the stem cells succeeding. "
"Stem cell research is years behind where it should be because of the United States and their--" Rodney cut himself off and let Keller explain the second option.
"Elizabeth will not survive to carry the pregnancy to term," Keller explained with a physician's cool handling of the truth. "She might survive a few weeks, maybe a month or two, but she will never live long enough to carry the embryo long enough."
Delta's face was impassive and John wondered what was going on behind the mask. Elizabeth was the closest thing she had to a mother, and she'd was partially responsible for that mother's untimely death. Perhaps even twice over if the embryo didn't survive as well. That had to be messing with her head, robot or not, she was still part Elizabeth in there.
"Rodney and I think we can transfer the embryo to another host," Keller continued as calmly as she could explain the irrational procedure. "Everything I've seen so far suggests that Elizabeth would then grow up again physically as a normal human child."
Rodney chimed in suddenly, startling John out of his wondering what Elizabeth had looked like as a child. "Colonel Carter has volunteered to be the surrogate, should this become our best option," he said as the eyes in the room shifted to Carter. Clothes rustled and people were moving in their chairs uncomfortably.
Teyla saved the other woman. "I volunteered, but the difference in age between my child and the embryo is too great," she explained as she nodded to Carter. "Colonel Carter then decided due to the delicate nature of the situation, she was the best choice."
"Jack-" Carter stopped herself reflexively before she let herself continue. "General O'Neill and I have the necessary clearances and possibly the closest to the correct experience required to raise a child that might have the brain of an adult with a PhD and knowledge Atlantis."
The idea that General O'Neill and Colonel Carter were involved was possibly the oldest piece of gossip in the Stargate program. Having it abruptly proved true in a meeting was obviously throwing Lorne and Zelenka off their trains of thought. John hadn't been in the SGC long enough to hear more than rumors, but again, he felt the odd surge of jealousy so strangely that he wasn't sure what it was at first.
"The last plan is the most farfetched," Delta began when the room had quieted. "The other replicants and I believe we can modify your hibernation chamber to speed up cellular time instead of slowing it."
"We can essential put Elizabeth on fast-forward," Rodney added in. "Rush her through the pregnancy before her mind fails on her."
"We can prevent her brain from degrading by putting her in a deep coma when we place her in hibernation," Keller answered John's question before he got a chance to ask it. "Her body and the body of the child will still age, but her brain will have stopped."
"We considered putting Elizabeth in a coma now," Delta elaborated as Rodney's mind worked on the hibernation chamber. John could see him thinking and was grateful again for the scientist's intelligence, not that he'd admit it. "But her condition is too fragile to depend on it remaining stable for nine moths."
"Hibernation is different?" John asked and tried not to feel like the stupid kid in the room.
"We can selectively activate and deactivate parts of her metabolism," Keller tried to explain hopefully. "The stress on her body will be significantly less than if she were to remain in a coma in real time."
"When she comes out," Rodney faltered but continued as his hands twitched nervously. "We should be able to put the baby, Elizabeth, back into the hibernation chamber and return her to the correct age. The replicants--"
"If the child does not have her memories, we believe Elizabeth will be able to transfer her memories into the new body," Delta explained for Rodney. "Much as she was able to give her memories to us. This would also be a direct transfer, so it should result in a true reproduction of the Elizabeth you knew."
"And the replicants?" Teyla asked from the back of the table. "Where will you go?"
"Provided we can prove we pose no threat to you or Atlantis," Delta paused and John saw Elizabeth in her wry smile. "We wish to be allowed on our way. We have many ways we could be useful to Atlantis and Earth without being locked up by the IOA."
"Has this been discussed with Elizabeth?" Carter asked as she took control of the meeting.
Rodney's eyes dropped to the floor. Delta looked concerned as well and it was Keller who spoke.
"Elizabeth herself believes she is compromised," Keller began darkly. "We weren't sure she would even allow us to consider plans that let the pregnancy continue unless she was helped to understand the embryo is free of nanites."
"Which it is," Rodney interrupted. "It's completely healthy, a prefect recreation of Elizabeth as she was and there's nothing we can find that suggests she won't continue to grow that way. I know it's a long shot, but if we can work the hibernation tube like Delta and Gamma think we can-"
"We can have her back," John finished grimly as he left his chair. All his thoughts, the scattered mess of his conscious mind, collapsed into knowing Elizabeth could come back. "I need to--" The chair creaked for a moment in the silence before Carter nodded.
"Go," she allowed.
and part two
rating: PG-13 (mature themes)
pairing: Elizabeth/John
notes: In music, D.S al Coda means you repeat and skip sections until you find the coda. This fic is a little odd, but it's part of that theme. Spoilers for "This Moral Coil", "Lifeline", "Adrift". For
dana_cz (if it's way more angsty than what you wanted, I'll write you another.) "War and Peace" was written by Leo Tolstoy. I only quote him because he is fabulous.
"We need to meet," Elizabeth said calmly, as if she hadn't been missing for weeks. "I'm sending you a 'gate address," she disappeared from the screen for a moment as she interfaced with the MALP. "I'll be there, alone, unarmed, you may search me if you wish." Her hair was piled up on top of her head and she was wearing a dull gray shirt he didn't recognize, but it was her.
Rodney's smile of relief was gentle and bright; just seeing her alive had gone a long way towards assuaging his guilt. Ronon twisted his gun and nodded. Carter looked relieved even though her lips remained tight. Teyla's eyes were on him and John couldn't think of anything in the world to say. He wanted- needed- to tell her how much it meant to see her alive.
Instead, he faltered and his throat went dry. "See you soon," John murmured dumbly as she nodded.
"it's good to see you too," Elizabeth's words were soft and hopeful but John felt her smile dig into him. There was something in her voice that he'd been missing and his chest was getting tight.
John tried not to feel the sweat on his palms as he turned to Carter. "Well? When can we go?" he demanded impatiently as he looked at the rest of his team.
"The planet needs to check out before anyone leaves the city," Carter began with all of the restraint he wasn't feeling. "I'll send a MALP."
"Okay," John nearly tripped over her words as he started out of control. "I'm just going to go get dressed."
Ronon shrugged and followed John. "It'll be good to have her back," he offered in an optimistic growl. His gun hissed as it sank back into his holster.
John's fingers itched for a gun, grenades, or the controls of a jumper; anything that meant he was doing something instead of waiting desperately in safety while she was out there alone. Ronon's huge hand thudded on his shoulder and shocked him out of his thoughts.
"Knew we'd get her back," Ronon muttered hopefully as he passed him on the way to the armory. Ronon didn't need to change clothes, he probably just needed more guns.
John ducked into his room and ripped off his city clothes and started pulling on his off-world uniform. He didn't change his socks and forced his boots through the legs of his pants instead of unlacing them. The fabric caught and he swore as he He had to get back to the 'gate. Pulling on his jacket and lifting his tactical vest, John actually took his time with the vest. Equipment was important, even if he was just hours away from finally seeing her again.
He needed equipment because something was about to go wrong. He couldn't just get lucky enough to bring her back in one piece. He'd been so close to having everything. Hell, John would have almost given back the ZPM to have had her.
Shoving his knife into the holster, John threw the vest over his shoulder and headed for the armory. Teyla's soothing voice rang through the hallway as he slipped into the darker room.
"You need to let go of this being your fault," she reminded Rodney as his fingers fumbled with a clip for his pistol. ARGs were their primary weapon on this trip, but it never hurt to be prepared. "What happened to Elizabeth was her choice and you have to honor the decision she made the put your lives before hers."
"We'd make the same choice," Ronon agreed as he sighted down his gun one last time before he was satisfied.
John snapped clips into his vest and collected a few grenades. Looking over his team, his eyes landed on Rodney. "I was in charge," he ended the debate firmly. Holding up his hand towards Rodney, he sighed again weakly. "I let you give her the nanites. I let her go on the mission. I let her get away," he looked down at his ARG as he finished. "I lost her." It only took a moment to drag the wall back up, and only then he trusted himself to make eye contact again. "We'll get her back."
Carter's voice rang in his ear, summoning them all back up to control. John felt the weight of his rifle settle into his hands like he was sinking. It was about time they got her back.
The planet Elizabeth specified was sickly hot and the humidity in the air clung to their skin as soon as they arrived. The air stank of rotting vegetation and swamp muck. A thick mist covered the ground and John didn't want to know what was in it or what could possibly be crawling around his feet as he squished towards the high ground.
Teyla searched the area calmly over her ARG and tilted her head towards a solitary figure near a large tree. Ronon pretended not to be paying attenion and nodded with her as he lazily checked the perimeter.
Rodney swatted at the small, reddish flies that were swarming around them and sighed. "Forgot bugspray," he complained as he ran up behind them after sending the MALP back through. "Hopefully this is just a meet-and-greet and take her back home?"
"Unfortunately not," Elizabeth's voice rang out behind them. surprising all of them as Ronon whirled and leveled his gun. The ARG clicked as he cocked it tight.
"You said alone," John threatened as the cold feeling sank so hard into his stomach he was worried it would never let go. If this was a trap-
"I am alone," Elizabeth corrected as she stepped from the brush and held up her hands. For some reason, her hair was suddenly shorter. As if she'd cut it down to a pixie length after sending her message. It haloed around her head and John was still distracted by her curls when a second Elizabeth emerged at her side.
"So am I," the second Elizabeth continued as she held up her hands. Her hair was down and hanging in heavy curls on her shoulders.
"And I," a third voice, Elizabeth's voice, added as she stepped out as well. Her hair was back in a ponytail and she was a little slower to lift her hands, as if she loathed to do so.
"We're not going to hurt you," the Elizabeth voice behind them promised levelly as she stepped up directly between John and Teyla. She was the one from the video. Her hair was piled neatly on her head. All four of them wore the same gray scrubs, reminding John vaguely of escaped convicts. He loosened his death grip on his ARG and wished his skin was drier. His throat certainly was, even in the wet air of the forsaken jungle planet.
Ronon drew another gun and kept two of them in his sights. Teyla covered the others. John tried not to think about how wrong it felt to be staring down the barrel of a gun, even an ARG, at Elizabeth.
"Please come with us," the last Elizabeth suggested gently. She was the one with her hair up, and the one who seemed to be the de facto leader. "We can get out of the bugs and explain ourselves."
"The bugs aren't even biting you," Rodney pointed out anxiously as they all tried to figure out what it meant.
All four of the facsimile Elizabeths flashed silver for a moment before returning to their natural state. All of their features, their hair and even their clothing were suddenly solid pieces of burnished metal.
Ronon's guns didn't budge at all. His lips were in a tight line, as if he'd known this was coming. Rodney's hand twitched and his disappointment was dark on his face.
"We don't have anything the bugs want," the last Elizabeth, the leader, explained with a hint of sadness. "If you intend to help us, if you want to help her, please come with us now. Her time is limited."
"Her?" John asked weakly as he nodded to his team. He'd tried to prepare himself for finding Elizabeth again. He'd tried mentally to be ready for whatever horrors she had been dealing with. The replicator-elizabeth-quadruplets were well outside what he'd prepared for.
"The original Elizabeth," Rodney realized suddenly. "She's still alive. She's still alive and you have her, right?"
"She is here," the first one, the short-haired one, answered grimly. "You may want to call your medical team now and tell Keller to start packing." The tone was Elizabeth's but she walked slightly differently, almost as if she had a bit of a swagger in her shoulders. Ducking the branches and silently pointing them out as she went, that Elizabeth led the way through the jungle.
John lifted his radio. "Atlantis," he began slowly, still not quite sure how to explain himself. "We've found some 'friends' and we're going to need a medical team. It seems Elizabeth's in pretty bad shape."
The facsimile at his side nodded sadly as she listened to his report.
"I'll have Keller prepare her team immediately," Carter's voice came back. "Take care of yourselves."
"Will do," John answered mechanically. The Elizabeth at his side looked bemused.
"They replaced me with Carter?" she asked lightly ducking around a branch and protecting his head from the hanging moss as she led his feet through the muck. "Not you?"
"Didn't want it," John shrugged and kept his head down. "You said me?" he wondered as he slipped and caught his balance on the slimy trunk of a nearby tree.
"I have parts of her memories," the leader-Elizabth explained as she offered him a hand. Normally, John would have anticipated the strength of her grip, but this was a Replicator. She pulled him up the hill in a single burst of energy. "Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish myself from her and I'm afraid I do not always succeed."
"She's also the youngest," short-haired Elizabeth explained as she stared off into the jungle, listening to the same creature Ronon had been watching. "It's a large feline, around three meters long. They are aggressive and foul-tempered but they definitely have their uses.."
"Must be easier when it doesn't actually want to eat you," Ronon mused dryly as he kept his eyes on it. "I wouldn't."
The short-haired Elizabeth was almost amused. John remembered seeing that smile cross her face and suddenly he was unbelievably homesick for her and the balcony.
"The youngest?" Teyla asked the facsimile closest to her. That one had spoken little and seemed content just to listen to the group.
Shoving her dark hair back from her face, she nodded once and started to explain. "The Asurans created Alpha," she pointed up at the short-haired version walking with John, "They were trying to create a replicator that could ascend. One with Elizabeth's memories."
"Did they succeed?" Teyla wondered numbly. John could hear the concern in her voice and hoped Elizabeth hadn't been treated as badly as they all feared.
"In a way," she said pointing to her chest. "Alpha awoke without any of Elizabeth's memories and was forced by the Asurans to take them from her. Elizabeth was stronger than they believed, and the two of them were able to come up with a truce. I was made second and when they exposed me to Elizabeth, she gave her memories freely."
"Alpha and Beta realized they could hear each other," pony-tailed Elizabeth interrupted impatiently. "Elizabeth can hear all of our thoughts, but we can hear each other when we share proximity. It is a side effect the Asurans never planned for. Delta and I both have parts of Elizabeth's memory and it has taken some time for us to realize, but we have different parts. She thinks our separate personalities emerged because she was selective each time."
"She is the original Elizabeth?" Teyla asked as John, Rodney and Ronon listened silently.
"She is the hybrid, part human, part Asuran," Gamma explained quickly as Alpha and Beta exposed the nanite-constructed camouflage hiding their base. A mass of tree branches and moss flashed silver and pulled away from a small structure reminiscent of Asuran desigh. "The Asurans have tried to duplicate your modifications, Doctor McKay, but so far, we are their failures."
"They're not just letting you live on this planet," John interrupted as he felt his feet find metal beneath them instead of muck. "You must have escaped?"
"It became necessary to remove Elizabeth from her situation," Alpha answered curtly as she waved them all under the camouflage. "Her nanites were starting to fail and the Asurans were considering terminating the entire experiment."
"So you broke out?" Ronon asked suddenly impressed. "Five of you, unarmed?"
"We are more efficient as a collective than the Asurans," Delta explained calmly as she led Rodney and Teyla towards what seemed to be their lab. "It worked to our advantage."
"Keller's team will be here soon," Ronon reminded John as he took in the metal walls of the structure. "She'll need a guide."
"We will take him back to the 'gate," Alpha volunteered as Beta jumped to follow.
Ronon's nod to John said he could handle the situation. John couldn't focus and deferred to Ronon's opinion.
"Where's Elizabeth?" he asked weakly of the one called Delta.
"Back here," Delta indicated with her hand as she walked with him to a sealed room in the back of the compound. "The large felines are predatory and several times at night they have attacked, even through the camouflage. Keeping her here was the safest course."
John watched as Delta's hand, which was so familiar, disappeared into the wall for a moment and released some kind of lock. "Is she a prisoner?" John demanded as the sick, cold feeling returned to his stomach.
"She requested to be locked in," Delta explained with a softening of her eyes that looked nearly human. "As a collective, the minds of the four of us can resist most attempts the Asurans make to control us. She is still human."
"Does she know you contacted us?" John asked as he waited in the hallway. His feet were suddenly heavy, as if he was still in the muck outside.
"She does not," Delta answered honestly as she leaned against the wall. "She will be angry with us when she realizes what we have done, but I believe she will be happy to see you."
"So I just?" John hesitated in the doorway and looked from her to the darkness behind.
Delta waved him on with a patient look that reminded him suddenly of Teyla.
"Right," John finished more to himself than anything else. He'd been ready for her to be part of the Replicators. He'd been ready for her to be dead, John had admitted that to himself and steeled himself to the fact that it might happen. He wasn't sure he was ready for this. How could he face her after he'd let her stay gone so long?
There was a noise from inside the room. A voice, her voice, but worn and tired instead of fresh and mechanical. He let it lead him in. John's eyes took a moment to adjust, the lights were lower there. She was in the corner, hunched against the wall. Her arms were wrapped around her chest and her eyes were closed. Her lips moved slowly but the sound had stopped.
Setting down his ARG and removing his vest, John crossed towards her.
"I can hear your boots," Elizabeth muttered weakly without lifting her head. "I can hear them, but I know they aren't there."
"Elizabeth--"
John's voice hit her like a physical blow and she crumpled back. "You aren't real," she insisted as she started to open her eyes. The lids seemed to heavy and John could see her struggle etched on her forehead.
"I'm here," he countered as he took another step towards her and the thin mattress the replicators must have created for her. "I'm really here."
"Don't play this game," she pleaded as she shook her head at him. "Children, please, it's harder than you know."
Kneeling down by her side, John reached for her cheek. He didn't usually touch people. She'd nearly given him a heart attack when she'd hugged him that first time, but now he needed to know she was there. He needed to feel she was real as much as she did.
His hand connected with her cheek and she startled. Her own hands flew up and weakly batted it away. John held on, moving his feet beneath him and giving her his other hand. Her hands slid over and around it, taking it in before she opened her eyes.
"Please don't," she murmured in a whisper so faint he had to lean closer to hear. "Please--"
"Elizabeth," John called her back putting both his hands on her face. "I'm really here."
Grabbing the back of his arm, she dug her thumb into it until a tiny trickle of blood broke the skin. Lifting her thumb and staring at it, Elizabeth started to shake. The trembling came from somewhere within and the only thing he could think of was to hold on. She pushed off from the wall and nearly crashed against his chest. John hit the wall in the corner and let her sink against him.
His arms went around her shoulders and stayed there. Soundlessly, Elizabeth folded closer, seeping into his body. He ran his hands over her shoulders as she fell into his lap. Her hands clung to her chest as she collapsed down to him. One of his legs was behind her and her head was heavy on his thigh.
"Sometimes, when I'm really desperate, I think you're here," Elizabeth explained as if she were talking to a ghost. "Sometimes they feel it. Sometimes I can't block them out and they try to make me feel better. Sometimes one of them looks like you and I can't--"
"It's me," he soothed as he tried to turn her head towards him. "I'm here." Her skin had grown more pale and John wondered if she had seen the sun at all since her capture. Her eyes were overly bright and her lps were dry. Her face was thin, but she seemed to be well fed. Her hair was clean, but dull and limp as he ran his hands through it meditatively.
"They're like children," she continued as her eyes struggled to focus on his face.
"Or puppies with replicator IQs and your face?" he tried to help her explain.
For almost a second, she smiled. "Any face they want. My mother, Simon, Rodney, Oberoth," Elizabeth's voice weakened and her eyes closed again. "You."
"Elizabeth?" John demanded shaking her slightly as he tried to bring her back. Her skin felt strangely dry and smooth, like a snake.
"Head hurts," she complained in a sigh as her hand moved weakly towards her temple. "I go in and out. I can't remember things, can't move my legs rwhen I want to. The children think it's because my body is starting to reject the nanites. They're inferior, Rodney tampered with them too much."
He put his cool hand on her forehead and wished desperately there was something he could do for her. His eyes were stinging, like they had in the infirmary when Keller had tried to prepare him for the worst, and John found himself wrestling with the possibility that he'd found her only to lose her.
"He'll fix them," John insisted optimistically and with enough force to make her smile. "Keller's already on her way."
"The children-" Elizabeth's sudden moan cut her off and she bit her lip. "They tried to help me." Her hand went to her stomach, and for a moment John thought the pain was radiating from there. "They tried to remake me. Fix me the way they can fix themselves." Fumbling for his hand, she dragged it down to her stomach and held it there. "If something happens, I want you--"
"No," he interrupted firmly as he tried to figure out why she was holding his hand desperately against her stomach. Feeling the softness of her flesh through the abused fabric, John tried to keep his hand away. "No, we're not talking like that."
"Take me back to my mother," she whispered as her tired eyes sought his. "John--"
"Elizabeth--"
"I was ready to die," she offered softly tightening her grip on his fingers. "I remember the glass, and the light, and Keller and you--" Elizabeth fought with her throat, as if she was having trouble remembering how to speak. "I don't know if I'm ready to live again."
"You're coming home," John insisted finally as he leaned closer to her head. "You're going to live and you're going home. That's the way it has to happen."
"I don't know-" she sighed and her hand lost its death grip, "-it sounds nice."
The door hissed open and Keller rushed in. She was alone, so Carter must have decided not to risk more people than she had too. The poor doctor looked a little shell-shocked from her experience with the replicant Elizabeths, but she was quick to shake it off.
Elizabeth had lapsed slightly further out of consciousness, but she managed to smile minutely at Keller when she realized it was the doctor examining her.
"Her blood pressure's too low, her heartrate is sluggish, her endocrine system is elevated, her nervous responses are all off," Keller rattled off her list to herself as she shoved her blonde hair back out of her eyes. "Electrolytes are nearly too high. Blood glucose is low. Her entire autonomic nervous system is going haywire."
Delta whispered something to Keller and the young doctor's eyes widened in shock.
"You've confirmed this?" she demanded as she started taking Elizabeth's pulse again. Her blue eyes were huge with surprise and John knew he had missed something.
"Gamma and Rodney are working on the data right now," Delta explained softly and John watched her concern as she looked at Elizabeth. She'd been right to explain them as children. Delta could have a conversation with the maturity and intelligence of an adult, but here with Elizabeth she looked like a child that was loosing her mother.
"We were trying to reprogram her nanites," Delta explained as she knelt a slight distance back from Elizabeth and John. "We thought we might be able to get them to repair and regenerate her damaged tissues before they failed and she died."
"But they didn't understand the command?" Keller asked as she ran her handheld scanner over Elizabeth's still form. "They short circuited or something?"
"They did exactly as they thought we had commanded," Delta explained sadly. "They remade Elizabeth with a perfect brain."
"If she has a perfect brain why is she in and out of consciousness like this?" John demanded through his confusion. Elizabeth's hand tightened again and she tried to communicate something through her eyes. She was still holding his hand against her stomach. There was something he wasn't seeing.
"John," Keller began slowly. "The nanites remade Elizabeth from the beginning, from scratch, and put her the only place they could."
John looked from Keller to the Delta version of Elizabeth and felt like everyone in the room knew something he didn't. "I don't--"
Elizabeth cut him off. "John, the nanites impregnated me."
"With herself," Keller added as John felt his head spin. Elizabeth was staring up at him, needing him to understand and be real and solid. He looked away for a moment, and tried to find the answers in the gray metal wall. He smiled at her as reassuringly as he could. Keller and Delta were talking quickly, supposing and hypothesizing but all he could think was that for some, odd, reason, he was jealous.
"Why did you cut your hair?" Rodney asked finally when he couldn't hold back his curiosity.
Elizabeth, the one who had cut her hair so it was nearly as short as John's, grinned and slipped off the chair by the door. Teyla watched her and tried to decide if she had seen this side of Elizabeth before. "Needed to look different," she explained as she sauntered over to see what he was doing. "In the beginning, it was just me and her-"
"Always brings this up," Elizabeth Gamma, the one with the ponytail who was showing Rodney their data, rolled her eyes. "Like she's somehow better because she was first."
"I was just wondering about the hair," Rodney tried to save himself.
"She can't help it," Beta explained as she sighted a spot on the wall and threw an impossibly sharp blade at the metal. "None of us can," she finished as Ronon got up and mimicked her throw. His was better and he started correcting her aim.
"What do you mean?" Teyla asked as she ran her hand along the edge of the gleaming computer console.
"We all imprinted on a different memory," Gamma explained without looking up and Teyla suddenly realized why she seemed so familiar. She even tapped her fingers like Rodney did when he was annoyed. "Alpha happened accidently, Elizabeth was thinking about John when Alpha tried to take her memories."
"We are like blank slates when they create us," Delta explained as she emerged from the room John had disappeared into. "Alpha was programmed to take Elizabeth's memories anyway she could. Elizabeth thought of John, and she gravitated towards the memory. In a way, Alpha is as much John as she is Elizabeth."
Teyla met her eyes and saw something of herself in the green eyes that should have been Elizabeth's. "And so with the rest of you," she realized as she looked around. Beta was pointing out the large feline to Ronon and planning some kind of attack. Gamma looked up from her work just as Rodney realized they didn't have enough power.
"Would you mind?" Gamma asked with a wave of her hand. "We're going to need raw materials."
"Got it," Beta nodded as she tilted her head to Ronon. "Ready?"
"I'll be back," Ronon called towards Teyla, who was in charge when Sheppard was away as far as he was concerned.
"What are you using for power?" Rodney asked Gamma as he checked the fluctuations in the computers. "No ZPM?"
"We couldn't risk stealing one," Gamma explained as she nudged his hand towards the outputs he wanted. "We use deconstructed matter to power small generators. Biologic matter works as well as any, and the energy Beta will absorb has it's uses too."
"It also keeps her from driving you crazy if she's busy," Alpha pointed out as she dragged her feet over towards the back room. "They okay?"
"Yes," Delta insisted as she straightened her grey shirt. All of them were dressed the same, in simple grey scrubs. Teyla wondered if that was why they all were so careful with their hair. Even as copies of the original, they needed to tell themselves apart on some level. "I think he was something she's been waiting for."
"He has been waiting as well," Teyla reminded her as she watched Gamma and Rodney bicker before realizing how to coax most of the data onto his portable. Alpha was just pacing back and forth. When Teyla looked away, the sounds of boots on the floor were so much like John. "How long have you been running?"
"Thirty-eight days," Gamma explained grimly as she kicked the base of her computer.
"Can that really help?" Rodney asked her with a tiny smile of amusement.
"No," Gamma sighed as she tapped her fingers anxiously. "Not in the slightest, but these are no where near as good as the ones on Atlantis and it made me feel better."
"You've never been to Atlantis," Rodney reminded her as he finished wiping everything off of his palm computer. "I think I have enough space. How's that compression algorithm?"
"Better than yours," Gamma snapped back and Rodney looked stunned for a moment.
Alpha started to laugh as she leaned against the wall next to Teyla. "This is better than her fighting with Beta...it's almost like having a prettier version of Rodney to fight with Rodney," she whispered to Teyla through her chuckling.
Rodney turned around and glared at the chuckling Elizabeth next to Teyla. "You're not really her you know," he retorted petulantly. "I don't have to do what you say."
"You never really did anyway," Alpha reminded him lifting her knife and checking the point lazily. Gamma shrugged and nodded a little.
Rodney sighed and turned back to the computers. "Zelenka's never going to believe this--"
"The fetus," Rodney struggled through the explanation back in the conference room on Atlantis. "Elizabeth, I mean, the fetal Elizabeth, is a perfectly healthy embryo of four weeks gestational age."
John couldn't focus. He'd barely allowed Carter to drag him out of the infirmary to attend this meeting, and he still didn't see how his opinion mattered. He wasn't a scientist. He should be sitting with Elizabeth, keeping her spirits up while Keller's baffled people tried to keep her brain from melting into goo.
"Our Elizabeth, however, is not in as good shape," Rodney continued with the cool scientific tone he used when he was deathly afraid. "Her synaptic pathways are already starting to degrade and the nanites taking over those functions work sporadically at best. I know sometimes she may seem normal, but underneath it, her brain is starting to die." He paused and fumbled with his computer for support. "Again."
"What are our options?" Carter asked gently steering the conversation in a more positive direction.
"We may be able to use the stem cells of the fetus- Elizabeth- fetal Elizabeth--" Rodney stumbled and Carter nodded simply.
"Stem cells?" she continued to lead him.
"We may be able to implant them into her brain and hope they work better than the nanites at replacing her brain cells," Rodney explained as Delta nodded to him. The presence of the replicant-Elizabeths had the city twisted up into equal parts confusion and amazement.
Alpha and Beta had little patience for science and were training with the Marines and Ronon. Gamma couldn't be dragged out of the lab and was staying there with an escort. All of them had a marine with an ARG by them at all times. Delta had Lorne himself for this shift and the major was holding his on her subtly enough that she kept her dignity.
"That will involve terminating the embryo," Keller explained in case anyone in the room hadn't known. "Rodney and I don't like the odds of the stem cells succeeding. "
"Stem cell research is years behind where it should be because of the United States and their--" Rodney cut himself off and let Keller explain the second option.
"Elizabeth will not survive to carry the pregnancy to term," Keller explained with a physician's cool handling of the truth. "She might survive a few weeks, maybe a month or two, but she will never live long enough to carry the embryo long enough."
Delta's face was impassive and John wondered what was going on behind the mask. Elizabeth was the closest thing she had to a mother, and she'd was partially responsible for that mother's untimely death. Perhaps even twice over if the embryo didn't survive as well. That had to be messing with her head, robot or not, she was still part Elizabeth in there.
"Rodney and I think we can transfer the embryo to another host," Keller continued as calmly as she could explain the irrational procedure. "Everything I've seen so far suggests that Elizabeth would then grow up again physically as a normal human child."
Rodney chimed in suddenly, startling John out of his wondering what Elizabeth had looked like as a child. "Colonel Carter has volunteered to be the surrogate, should this become our best option," he said as the eyes in the room shifted to Carter. Clothes rustled and people were moving in their chairs uncomfortably.
Teyla saved the other woman. "I volunteered, but the difference in age between my child and the embryo is too great," she explained as she nodded to Carter. "Colonel Carter then decided due to the delicate nature of the situation, she was the best choice."
"Jack-" Carter stopped herself reflexively before she let herself continue. "General O'Neill and I have the necessary clearances and possibly the closest to the correct experience required to raise a child that might have the brain of an adult with a PhD and knowledge Atlantis."
The idea that General O'Neill and Colonel Carter were involved was possibly the oldest piece of gossip in the Stargate program. Having it abruptly proved true in a meeting was obviously throwing Lorne and Zelenka off their trains of thought. John hadn't been in the SGC long enough to hear more than rumors, but again, he felt the odd surge of jealousy so strangely that he wasn't sure what it was at first.
"The last plan is the most farfetched," Delta began when the room had quieted. "The other replicants and I believe we can modify your hibernation chamber to speed up cellular time instead of slowing it."
"We can essential put Elizabeth on fast-forward," Rodney added in. "Rush her through the pregnancy before her mind fails on her."
"We can prevent her brain from degrading by putting her in a deep coma when we place her in hibernation," Keller answered John's question before he got a chance to ask it. "Her body and the body of the child will still age, but her brain will have stopped."
"We considered putting Elizabeth in a coma now," Delta elaborated as Rodney's mind worked on the hibernation chamber. John could see him thinking and was grateful again for the scientist's intelligence, not that he'd admit it. "But her condition is too fragile to depend on it remaining stable for nine moths."
"Hibernation is different?" John asked and tried not to feel like the stupid kid in the room.
"We can selectively activate and deactivate parts of her metabolism," Keller tried to explain hopefully. "The stress on her body will be significantly less than if she were to remain in a coma in real time."
"When she comes out," Rodney faltered but continued as his hands twitched nervously. "We should be able to put the baby, Elizabeth, back into the hibernation chamber and return her to the correct age. The replicants--"
"If the child does not have her memories, we believe Elizabeth will be able to transfer her memories into the new body," Delta explained for Rodney. "Much as she was able to give her memories to us. This would also be a direct transfer, so it should result in a true reproduction of the Elizabeth you knew."
"And the replicants?" Teyla asked from the back of the table. "Where will you go?"
"Provided we can prove we pose no threat to you or Atlantis," Delta paused and John saw Elizabeth in her wry smile. "We wish to be allowed on our way. We have many ways we could be useful to Atlantis and Earth without being locked up by the IOA."
"Has this been discussed with Elizabeth?" Carter asked as she took control of the meeting.
Rodney's eyes dropped to the floor. Delta looked concerned as well and it was Keller who spoke.
"Elizabeth herself believes she is compromised," Keller began darkly. "We weren't sure she would even allow us to consider plans that let the pregnancy continue unless she was helped to understand the embryo is free of nanites."
"Which it is," Rodney interrupted. "It's completely healthy, a prefect recreation of Elizabeth as she was and there's nothing we can find that suggests she won't continue to grow that way. I know it's a long shot, but if we can work the hibernation tube like Delta and Gamma think we can-"
"We can have her back," John finished grimly as he left his chair. All his thoughts, the scattered mess of his conscious mind, collapsed into knowing Elizabeth could come back. "I need to--" The chair creaked for a moment in the silence before Carter nodded.
"Go," she allowed.
and part two
