Message-ID: Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 14:45:56 +0100 From: Heather Markham Subject: alternus-tempus.p09 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The area site of the previous nights events had already been cordoned off. The cave and surrounding terrain had been thoroughly searched and inspected. Nothing out of the ordinary had been found and there had been no further sightings of the strange black creature. The sheriff decided that wasn't unusual, the animal was rarely seen during the daylight hours, somewhere, it had gone to ground. There would be little chance of finding it until dusk. As far as he was concerned all he and his special task force needed to do was flush it out and kill it...end of story! No more big cat..no more problems! It was a simple answer to solving the solution of dealing with an unknown dangerous animal. The three Special Agents arrived on the scene and made their way to the site of James Hutton's death. Mulder had already played inquisitor on the journey down, he was very eager to see the beast for himself. He, like Sam and Dana, wanted to make sure the animal wasn't killed, although his motives were very different to that of the time traveller. Sam knew what Mulder was like, he knew only too well how Mulder's mind worked and what he'd want from all this. There was a great possibility that he would get in the way of his plans but for the moment, he needed Mulder's unique ability to search out, to sense the supernatural. He needed Mulder to help locate the creature. Once that was done, Ziggy would be able to centre Al on the animal, the observer would be able to guide Sam directly to it. The last part of the plan was tricky, somehow they were going to have to get the wounded animal to cooperate and return to the cave. Once inside, a trace device activated from the Project Centre would lock the creature and the quantum physicist together, if the process worked properly, it should also activate the opening of the time rift. What came next depended on fate, God and the joint genius of Sam's brain and Pendrell's hyper thought state. It wasn't the first time the scientist had felt fear but this time terror was beginning to grip his stomach, sending his pulse rate racing and bringing him out in a cold sweat. This was something which had never been attempted before, it was almost like stepping into the accelerator for the first time, although back then, he trusted the process and programs to work, he hadn't expected things to go wrong and trap him without means of retrieval. Now, he knew things rarely went as planned, he was far more pessimistic, this time he was all too aware of the dangers ahead of him. Could he really rely upon the hastily devised retrieval process. His mind was twirling with thoughts, anticipations and fears, added to which were now the thoughts that he could be wrong. What if the creature was dangerous? What if it wasn't as intelligent as he'd assumed it to be? What if it couldn't or didn't want to cooperate. Fear was heightening his perception of the situation, his thoughts were almost over whelming him.....God, what if he was wrong! What if the creature was a mutant hybrid, the result of an earthly experiment? What if he tried to open a non-existent portal...would that instigate a new one...what would happen then, what effect would it have on the surrounding area? He had to collect himself together......it was too late now to back out. Coward was a word he didn't like, he wasn't a coward, he'd never been one and he wasn't going to let fear of the unknown beat him this time. This may be an unusual situation but then he'd spent the last two years being in situations nobody else had ever faced. Albert Calavicci was with Sam as he sneaked away from the group of people talking to Scully and Mulder. Al could see the uneasiness in his friends manner. "Take it easy kid, everything's gonna be okay," then he muttered to himself with fingers crossed behind his back, "I hope." Thankfully, Sam didn't hear the last two quiet words. "Al, I am right here, aren't I? That thing does belong in a different dimension....it isn't just a new specie of mammal, a mutant or something. An animal which has adapted so well to blending in with its surroundings it's actually developed trans-invisibility." The older man knew his friend was nervous of the situation, he was nervous enough himself but for his friend's sake he tried not to show it. "Sam, you are right. Daniel, Gushie and Ziggy have been working on this with you, they all agree that your theory is right. And don't forget, I saw that thing disappear before my own eyes, I saw the telltale, blue quantum signature halo the creatures body as it vanished." Sam took a deep calming breath, "Yeah, I know. I'm just a little jumpy that's all. It's kind of like leaping for the first time, only, at least the last time I knew I was gonna end up in my own dimension." As Sam talked, Al kept a watchful eye on Mulder as he talked with the sheriff and a few of the huntsmen. He seemed to be annoyed about something, he and the lawman had been bent over the bonnet of the police car, studying a map of the forest and surrounding area. Mulder's voice was raised and he was now waving his arms around angrily, gesturing to the forest around them. Dana, had detached herself from the embroiled discussion and was trotting towards them. Al nodded over Sam's shoulder towards her, "I think things are just about to heat up, here comes your young lady friend now." Sam spun round towards her. She stopped and glanced back to the others, "It seems the sheriff is hell bent on killing the creature. Mulder's trying to get him to cooperate in capturing the thing. They've already done a sweep of this end of the forest and so far they've found nothing. They want to wait until tonight but Mulder wants the hunt reinstigated straight away. He wants to concentrate on searching closer to here. He thinks it's still in the area, waiting for things to quieten down so it can get back to its lair." She paused to look around the densely wooded forest. "But, it could be out there anywhere. How the hell are we going to find it, where do we start?" Sam took out his own map and a small compass, he turned the paper around, aligning it north whilst contemplating the surrounding woods. "Mulder could be right. He seems to have an inherent ability to seek out things of this nature, to know about them. For now, we'll follow his lead, see where it takes us." She stared at him, "And then what?" "And then, I guess we're going to have to distract him for long enough for me to make contact with the creature...get it back to the cave without anyone trying to stop us." Doubt began to creep in, she searched his eyes, "I..I don't know...it could be dangerous. I still don't understand how you think you can get it back to where it belongs. What are you planning to do?" "I'm sorry Dana, I can't tell you that right now, you're just gonna have to trust me on this one, if and when I get it back, I'll explain everything to you then." Dana was still uncertain about the situation. "Are you sure you want to face that thing again, are you sure you want to take the risk? Why not just let Mulder and the others trap it? You can help it later." He took hold of her arm, "Please Dana, at least let me try. It's a sentient creature, it may be highly intelligent. It's from another dimension, you know what they'll do to it if it's caught. They'll ship it off to some high security laboratory and that's the last we'll ever see of it! I have to try and help it, but if I'm wrong and it is dangerous, and my plan to get it home fails...then I'll do it his way." Mulder ended his conversation with the lawman and jogged over to join them. He spoke directly to Sam, "Hey, come on, let's go take a look in that cave. Show me where it is. I want to see the place for myself!" He stabbed a thumb in the direction of the police car, then to Dana he added, "We're not going to get too much cooperation from him, he doesn't see why this case should even warrant us being here. He just sees this as a wild animal hunt, nothing more." Sam narrowed his gaze, stared over at the man, nodded to Mulder and led the way, following the tracks he'd made the previous night. Skirting around the thorn thicket he led the small team out into the clearing in front of the low rocky ridge face. Sam paused to point out the exact location where Blackcrow had wrestled with the huge, alien animal. "Over there! That's where the incident took place.....I fired a shot into the air to distract it, it turned to face me, then ran off into the cavern." Without comment, Mulder quickly moved across to the place Joe and the animal had tussled. He lost no time in finding the tracks left by the beast. Bending down he placed a hand beside one of the deep paw prints and whistled through his teeth. Dana and Sam followed him to the spot. Mulder looked up at Sam a slight expression of surprise and awe showing on his face, "You faced this thing off? You didn't try to shoot it?" "Nooo, I told you before, I think this creature is intelligent. I believe it was just defending itself." Mulder considered the fact as he inspected the sets of large, deep paw prints. "Okay, lets see what's inside there." The team of three FBI agents stood at the opening of the gloomy bolthole. Sam and Dana, one step behind Mulder and Al was one pace behind Sam. Taking out and switching on his torch, Mulder cautiously stepped from the sunlit-filled clearing into the dark opening. The powerful beam of light illuminated the beast's sanctum, light reflected and glistened off the slimy, dirt encrusted walls of the damp musty chamber. The cave was empty, not even so much as a bat or beetle lingered or scurried in this dark retreat. Flicking the torch slowly from side to side, he traced a pattern of light back and forth across the muddy floor of the entrance mouth. The ground and the tracks had been churned up by the careless boots of the team of searchers. Cautiously trying not to disturb the tracks any further, Mulder moved deeper into the cave, noting that the wall at the far end of the beast's shelter ended in a small vertical fissure, not big enough for even a mouse to squeeze through. He bent to closely study a deep set of tracks leading up to the far wall. Sam and Dana tagged close behind. Sam was more interested in the formation of the cave, whether there seemed to be anything odd in it's structure, whether there was anything to indicate it being different in any way. Al, walked ahead of the small team and called Sam over to join him. "Hey, take a look at this." Carefully edging around Mulder, he moved towards the back of the cave where his friend was standing. Al was inspecting the small fissure in the rock wall. As his holographic hands passed over the crack, blue light sparked and surrounded them. Sam raised his eyebrows at the phenomena. Then, shining his own torch beam across the rough slippery rock walls he noticed an ancient Indian cave drawing depicting a strange animal hunt. The area of the drawing had been rubbed smooth by the hands of the ancients. Scored deeply across it were the scratches, old and new, left by the creatures or creatures like it, in a futile effort at getting home. Al pointed to them, "Hey, you could draw all kinds of conclusions from these but do ya think this temporal dimensional weakness thing could have existed here since those days?" Sam lowered his voice to a faint whisper, "It's possible, but I doubt if it's the same creature, it wouldn't have lasted this long. It's certainly possible that over the centuries, other animals could have wandered in here while the weakness was active and they could have gotten stuck." Another thought sparked in his mind, and he spoke with awe, "Think what this place could be used for! Think would we could do if we built a Project Centre on this very spot. The natural phenomena could be linked into our time process....we could step into any time or dimension when ever we wanted! All those other worlds!" The Project Observer rolled a cigar between thumb and finger, narrowed his eyes and replied slowly, "Yeeaah, the government would love that, they'd probably take over the project just so's they could use the other dimensions as land fills." Sam shot him a cold stare, Al just spread his hands palm up and shrugged. Mulder was more concerned with the scratch marks and prints left behind by the animal on the cave floor. He crouched over the tracks, fingering the muddy prints, looking at the length and depth of the claw imprints, then he noticed something even stranger. He called the others to join him, indicating the strange anomaly which he'd found. He swept a hand out in from of him, towards the huge paw prints, "Scully, what's wrong with this picture, here?!" She stood next to him, looking at the perfect set of paw prints which appeared to stop mid pace. She and Sam knew what they might find before entering but Mulder hadn't been let in on all of the theory. She shrugged, "I..I..er..don't know. Perhaps the dirt got spread around when the men came in here last night hunting for the thing?" He stared at her for a moment, discounting her explanation, then called, "Pendrell, what do you make of this? The prints just stop! Vanish! When you said the creature came in here and disappeared, I didn't think you meant it literally." Sam reluctantly turned from inspecting the etched drawings of a group of stick men hunting some form of huge dog and joined Mulder and Scully, to peer down at the tracks. He opened his mouth to speak but his words were cut short by the sudden sound of a shot gun going off, somewhere outside, "What the hell?" Mulder was already half way out of the cave, calling back to them he yelled, "I told the sheriff to inform his men to make a warning shot if anyone got sight of the creature. Come on!" Sam, Dana and the unseen observer raced after him into the clearing. Another shot rang out. Mulder pulled his gun and yelled into the forest, "Hey!...... What's going on? Where are you?" His question was answered by the distant sounds of men shouting. He stood momentarily, listening, getting a bearing on the sounds. "They must have seen something." he pointed north towards the thickest part of the trees, "The noise came from over there." With that he darted into the deep, mist filled forest. They caught up with Mulder in a clearing about a mile into the forest. A group of armed men with dogs were discussing the situation with the FBI agent. The dogs were barking furiously but wouldn't take up the scent. One of the sheriff's men had seen the creature, had taken a lucky shot at it and had wounded it, adding to the pain and agitation of it's old injury. Momentarily, it had been stunned but had managed to limp away into the thick covering undergrowth. Dana had joined her partner in trying to coordinate a proper search of the area. Sam, needing to speak with his friend, hung back from the gathering of huntsmen. "Al, can Ziggy run anther check on this time line, see if there are any reports on big cats being found in this area?" Al took out the handlink and hurriedly tapped onto the keys, it sprang into life immediately, Al raised his eyebrows in surprise at the sudden cooperation of the small device. A stream of information scrolled across the data screen. "Yeah, she's found somethin' relating to this event...according to a local newspaper report carrying tomorrow's date, that creature was found and shot dead at Newmans heights.....hang on, she's giving me map coordinates...let me see your map." Sam took out the folded map and opened it out, spreading it across a flat topped tree stump. "What time? Does it give a time?" Al continued to read, "Uh huh, in ..." he paused to check his watch, "about an hour and a half, maybe a little more...the report wasn't too particular with exact details." "We can't let that happen! Show me where?" Al glanced from the coordinates to the map and pointed, "Newmans heights, it's on the other side of the rise, behind the cave, looks like it intends to double back from the search party. Hang on...Ziggy's got somethin', she says there's a short cut," he paused to turn in search of the right direction, "there's a track just off to the left of here...." he pointed off through a patch of closely standing thin limbed trees, "right there Sam. It should take you back to the exact location...before they do." Sam left the map where it was and accompanied by his friend, carefully picked his way through the dense trees and thick bushes on his side of the clearing and out onto an old track. Al was still concerned with the new data. "Wait, there's something else...there's a message from Gushie." Sam quickened his pace into a trot, "What is it? We don't have time to wait." His friend jogged beside him, panting with the effort of keeping up with the long legged stride of his best friend. "Ya gotta wait, kid. He says they need more time, there's a glitch in one of the old retrieval arrays. It keeps blowing out. They need time to fix it before you make contact with the creature and leap out!" Sam stopped suddenly and rounded on his old friend, "What! Nooo, not now...." He turned his gaze to the sky, "Please God, no glitches, not now, I don't have the time." He was hesitant and seemed to be making a decision, "Okay, so there's an extra risk but I have to take the chance, this is the reason I'm here now, I can't fail now. Tell Gushie to get everyone on to it....'cos I'm carrying on!" With that he turned and raced full tilt down the track. Al stood staring dumbfoundedly at the figure of his friend fast disappearing into the forest. He threw his hands up in a gesture of annoyance and despair. "Goddammit, Sam wait for me!" Al had no intention of wasting energy in trying to catch up with his athletic friend, to save time and effort he simply centred in on him. He found Sam standing amid a clump of trees which were islanded away from the thicker part of the forest, a small grassy glade surrounded them on three sides, behind them grew a densely forested part of the woods leading up an incline to the rock strewn rise above the creatures lair, half a mile away. Sam had hurriedly searched the immediate area and had found nothing. In the distance, they could hear the sounds of the search party gathering pace, turning and heading their way. Sam was pacing back and forth in front of a large conifer tree, "There aren't many places it can hide here. The glade is too open." Al circled the thick girthed trunk of the tree, peering across into the woods as he walked. He came up behind his friend, "I don't understand it either, it has to be here somewhere. Ziggy gave pretty precise coordinations." Suddenly the cell phone Dana had given him earlier, warbled in his pocket. He took it out and flipped it open, putting it to his ear to listen. "Pendrell, it's me, Scully. I thought you were with us....where the hell are you, are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm up at a clearing close to a place called Newmans heights. I kinda figured the creature might try to out-smart the search party, double back and head for the cave from the opposite direction. I haven't caught sight of it yet but I'm sure it's around here somewhere." Dana was on the move with the hunt, she answered him breathlessly, "You could be right, that's Mulder's guess too. Listen, the locals have gotten wind of what happened last night, a whole bunch of towns folk and farmer showed up, they've hooked up with the sheriffs search party and they're headed your way, they're pretty riled up, if you want to get to this thing first then you're going to have to hurry......just be grateful the dogs won't follow the scent, otherwise they'd have been on it already." Sam stared towards the sounds of the oncoming hunt, he could hear the wide band of hunts men beating at the undergrowth as they came. "Dana....please, I need a little more time to find it. I need time to get it back to the cave. Can you distract the hunt away from this area?" "My-God, you're not still seriously intending to help that thing. Daniel it's too dangerous and besides if you do manage to get it back to the cave how in the name of God do you expect to help it? If it couldn't get back itself how do you intend to help it?" Sam breathed slowly, he wanted to explain but couldn't and time was fast running out, "Please, I can't explain right now but I know what I'm doing, trust me on this one....just help me.....please Dana....?" His words came straight from his soul, she could tell from the tone of his voice that he desperately needed her help. Indecision furrowed her brow, she'd never lied or tried to deceive Mulder before. She made her decision, "Okay but Daniel....." "Yes?" "Be careful! I don't want to lose you!" Sam closed his eyes momentarily, these could be the last words he'd ever hear from her. He swallowed hard, "Don't worry, I will......and Dana, whatever happens, remember.... I love you." "Daniel? Daniel, you sound strange...is everything okay?" "Yeah, yeah, everything's fine...I'll be okay." "Leave the cell phone open, that way I'll be able to hear what's going on..." Sam reluctantly cut her words off, he couldn't let her hear him talk to Al or let her know what was about to occur. Faking an intermittent, crackling signal, he replied, "Sorry, Dana, your.... gnal's braking up.....can't hea....you." He could here the fear, anger and frustration edging her voice, "Pendrell, damn you, don't you try and pull a Mulder on me...you..." He drew the phone from his ear and flipped the cover shut, cutting off the call. Scully was still yelling at him, "Daniel....Daniel?" A noise of frustration escaped her lips as she realized the call was over. She cursed, stuffed the phone back into her pocket, drew her gun and fired a shot into the air. Half a minute later Mulder broke through the spiny of trees and raced to her. He stopped, panting for breath he asked, "Scully, did you see it, which way did it go?" Feeling more than a little flustered she quickly pointed in the opposite direction from the time traveller and his companion, "I...I saw it over there. It was huge. It saw me and loped off that way." Mulder searched her eyes for a moment, "Are you sure?" "Yeah, positive!" Mulder had been working closely with her for over two years, he knew her very well, he could tell something wasn't right, "Are you okay, it didn't come at you or anything?" she glanced away towards the group of armed men who had followed her partner, "No...no, I...er.. it just surprised me that's all I..er..wasn't expecting it to be quite as big as it was." Mulder stared at her for a moment, narrowing his eyes he asked, "Where's Pendrell, I didn't see him back there with us, was he with you. Is he around here some place?" She turned to face him, hoping he wouldn't see the lies hidden in her eyes, "Yeah, he was with me, he's around here somewhere." Mulder persisted, "Did he see it?" "No, I don't think so.....Look, I'm okay..now go, or you'll never catch up with it. Even though it was wounded, at the rate it was going it could be miles away within minutes." The FBI man, turned his attention back to the search party, directing them off in the new direction. Sam and Al had heard the shot and had listened as the noise of the hunt changed direction away from them. Sam stopped pacing, huffed an irritated sigh and leaned back against the broad conifer trunk in order to think. "Al, where the hell is it, are you sure Ziggy got the facts right?" Al nodded, "Yeah....well, pretty sure..as sure as Ziggy can ever be sure." Sam blinked, his mouth dropped open slightly, "You mean she could be wrong, we could be in the wrong place? Aaaal!" "Okay, okay, perhaps I can get Ziggy to centre me in on it, then we'll know for sure." Sam slapped his forehead with his palm, "Doof, why didn't I think of that!" Al was already tapping into the hand-link. "Gushie, can ya centre me on that damn creature....." Before he'd even had chance to finish his sentence, he disappeared and reappeared two feet to the left of Sam. He blinked, looked round in astonishment, grimaced and thumped the colourful link device with the flat of his hand. Sam's eyes widened as a long black rope-like tail slowly uncoiled from the branches above them to dangle behind his friends head. The snake-like limb flicked back and forth like that of an agitated domestic cat. "Al, don't move.....I think we just found it!" the older man frowned, "Huh? Where?" Sam slowly extended his arm, finger pointing up to the overhanging branches, speaking quietly and slowly he said, "Up there, above you." Together, the two men slowly backed off from the tree, tilting their heads to follow the tail. The beast was lying full length along one of the strong boughs. It was licking at a wound at the top of one fore leg. The time traveller edged back further, his eyes not moving from the sight. The huge dark form of the hound cat turned its head to regard them, it's gaze flicked between the two motionless men. Al tilted his head towards his friend. "Careful kid, I don't like the look of it at all. It ain't no pussy cat and that's for sure. Goddammit, it looks worse in the daylight than it did in the dark......or maybe that's just 'cos I can see it better." His friend shushed him, "It can see and hear you, remember." The older man had forgotten that detail, he lowered his voice, "Thanks for reminding me....but at least it can't hurt me. You on the other hand could be dinner....go real careful here, it don't look friendly to me, it could go for you!" Sam was only too aware of how dangerous the situation was, "Don't worry I'm not about to annoy this thing." He moved two paces forward, the thing acknowledged the movement with an angry flick of its tail.....a low growl rumbled in its throat. Al reached out to put a hand on Sam's shoulder, he cursed as it passed right through. The creature was watching them intently, it blinked at the anomaly and shifted position. Sam noticed the reaction, "Did ya see that? Although it can see you it recognised you're not a dense structure." Al raised his eyebrow and blinked, "Is that what I am? Nice to know you think so highly of me." It was a flippant remark, aimed at lightening the tension and his own nervousness. Sam ignored it. A thought suddenly occurred to the Observer, "Hey, Sam....." "Yeah?" "Where's your gun?" The intrepid time traveller patted at his pockets. "I..er..I don't have one." The cigar dropped from Al's fingers. "You didn't bring a weapon? How stupid is that?" Sam carefully turned his head to look at his friend, "I didn't want to kill it, the whole reason I'm here is to rescue it!" The creature was staring at Sam, it's eyes turned from green to yellow, they seemed to burn into his mind. "Al, I think it's trying to communicate. Don't move." "Don't worry Sam, I wasn't about to." The scientist wasn't picking up thought patterns but he could sense feelings of despair, confusion, pain and anguish. A burst of strange jumbled images flashed before his minds eye. Images from the beasts world. It was intelligent! Perhaps the creature had been trying to seek help from Joe and Jim but hadn't managed to break through their barriers of fear. The two friends watched as it slowly crawled along the branch, raised itself to a crouch and leaped the ten foot to the ground, landing six foot from them. It stood, jaws open, blood covered lips drawn back over yellow stained fangs. Thick dark crimson blood trickled from its fresh wound. It swung its huge head from side to side, watching them, waiting. Slowly and carefully Samuel Beckett moved a few paces closer. Extending open hands towards it and using the softest of voices he spoke reassuringly to it, "I don't know if you can understand me but it's okay....it's okay... I've been sent to help you, not harm you.....I want to help you if I can." The luminosity of the monstrous hound cat's eyes intensified. It sat back on its haunches in an almost passive gesture but continued stare unblinkingly at him. Sam moved as close as he dared. "If you can understand me, I need you to follow me back to the cave. We don't have much time....I have to get you out of here." The beast swung its head from Sam to regard Al, it flicked its tail against the floor agitatedly. The observer shrugged, "Guess it senses something odd about me." Sam moved away from the animal and joined his friend, showing he was no danger. Suddenly, the big black creature got to its feet and slowly limped past him. It stopped, turned its great head towards the two men and waited. Sam spoke carefully, still keeping his voice calm and quiet, "I think it's got the message, I think this is it. Al, I need you to go back to control, inform Gushie and Pendrell that I've made contact and everything is going ahead as planned. Tell them to start up the initiation arrays and the accelerator and be ready." Al shook his head and stood his ground, "Sam, I ain't leaving ya alone with that thing, what if it turns on you? You might need me?" The creature had reached the top of the ridge and had it seemed to be waiting for the scientist. Sam stared towards the figure of the creature silhouetted against the pale blue sky. "I'll be okay, and anyway, you couldn't help me even if something did go wrong......but I do need you to go check everything's ready." Al wasn't so sure, his face was creased with anxiety and uncertainty, "Okay...but I don't like it.....I'll be back as soon as I can...don't do anything stupid...if you..." Sam cut his friend short, "I'll meet you back at the cave. Now go, quickly.....I can hear the hunt turning back this way." With that the time traveller loped off up the rise to follow the injured animal and Al disappeared back into the Imaging Chamber. Mulder had directed the search party towards the direction Scully had given him. No tracks had been found and the dogs hadn't shown any signs of distress in entering the undergrowth at that point. He came to the conclusion that perhaps the animal had the ability to vanish at will and had performed one of its strange disappearing acts, slipping unseen past them to head back towards its den. He split the search party, sending half towards the area Scully had given and led the other group back towards his original goal. The dogs in his team were becoming agitated and were pulling back from a set of fresh tracks and trail of blood he'd found. One thing bothered him, Pendrell still hadn't arrived back on the scene and he noticed there were shoe prints along side the deep paw prints in the soft ground. He'd known Scully for a long time, he'd never had cause to doubt her before but there was something about her, something about the way she was acting. He knew she and Pendrell were more than just good friends, he sensed they were up to something but what? Whatever it was, he needed to know and intended to find out! he crouched beside the fresh tracks and called her over, "Scully, take a look at this!" She came over to join him and he indicated the foot prints, "These shoe prints were put down at the same time as the animal's...." He tilted his head up at her questioningly, "They look to be about the size of our friendly forensic expert's......is something going on here I should know about?" Scully gave him one of her best enigmatic looks, "What makes you think they belong to Pendrell...they could be anyone's." He stood to look her squarely in the eyes. "Scully, you should know by now that you off all people can't hide things from me.......I haven't seen Pendrell since before we set of with the search party. Scully, I need to know what's going on." She stood silent, contemplating the situation. He caught hold of her arm, "Dana...you said he knew what he was doing, but does he really know what he's playing around with? He doesn't have our experience. Does he have a weapon with him?" "I..I don't know!" "Scully, if he's with that thing he may need our help...if you won't tell me for my sake, for God's sake tell me for his. He may have good intentions at heart but he's not used to being out in the field or dealing with things of this nature. Remember what happened the last time he tried to help someone?" A sudden look of fear darkened her eyes and spread through her. Her fears grew, forcing her to make a difficult decision. "Okay, there is something.....I'd better explain from the beginning, prepare yourself for one very weird story..." CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Ten minutes later the hound cat and the quantum physicist broke through the thicket lined dirt clearing in front of the cave. Both man and beast could hear the sounds of the hunt fast heading back their way. Al was standing just inside the dark entrance mouth. Sam loped across to join his friend. The creature had stayed where it was, its ears were pricked up, it looked from the two members of the Project team and back, to scan the forest. Sam called gently to it, "Come on boy...come on...we don't have much time." The creature swung round to face him, it snarled, it's tail began thumping the ground. The observer looked more nervous than the animal, "Saaam, that damned thing's not some little pussy cat or puppy dawg....." Sam wrung his hands, time was running out, he needed to get the animal into the cave, "What do you expect me to call it! I have to coax it into the cave somehow. We don't have time to try anything else." Al shuffled his feet, "Er...Sam...I don't know how to tell you this but time is something we need a little more of." The younger man turned to stare at him, "What do you mean? Everything is ready, isn't it." Al, stared at the flashing coloured lights on the hand-link, "Gushie has made some repairs but he says there's still a glitch in the array frequency, Daniel's trying to fix it now, but he needs every extra second you can give him." As he spoke, a shot reverberated through the forest. It was close, very close. In an instant the creature made up its mind and bounded past both men into the cave. Sam and his friend turned and raced after it. Sam slowly edged towards the frightened creature. "We have to do this now, we don't have any other choice. Any minute this place is going to be crawling with armed men. Contact Gushie, tell him I have to go through with this, glitch or not." "It's too dangerous, your gonna get yourself killed, kid, your atoms could be spread between here and who knows where. Your physicality could be broken up into a billion different pieces and be spread across all the layers of the multiverse. Couldn't we just hide the thing?" Sam gestured around the small chamber, "There is nowhere to hide it." The creature was backed up against the far wall, it looked terrified. Moving as close as he dared, he positioned himself next to it, bracing his back against the cold, slimy craggy wall. Stretching out a hand he reached to touch the huge black creature, to connect with it at the point of retrieval. It flinched under his gentle touch but remained still. A look of fear and pleading in his eyes, he looked across at his best friend, his voice trembling with uncertainty. "This is it, Al. Say a prayer for me, old friend....initiate retrieval....now." The commotion from the hunt was almost upon them. Mulder and Scully emerged into the clearing and raced across to the gloomy, forbidding cave mouth. Mulder, finger on the trigger of his gun, crept forward. The creature caught sight of the approaching FBI man carrying the small weapon, a sudden flash of betrayal lit its eyes, it reared up onto its back legs. Mulder's fingers tightened on the trigger. Sam's yell filled the cave, "Nooooo, don't shooot!" Al's fingers were feverishly tapping on the keyboard of the small link device. The enraged creature staggered forward in fear, huge paws crashing down upon Sam's shoulders scoring deep claw marks through his jacket. He buckled at the knees, sliding down against the wall under the full force of the beasts strength. A brilliant green light crackled around the interior of the cave, Mulder flinched back taking his finger from the trigger and shielding his eyes from lights intensity. Dana was behind him calling to who she thought was Daniel Pendrell. Al watched as the light crackled and sparked from wall to wall, sending showers of debris and dust into the swirling air. A spiralling mist of colours formed at the point just in front of the fissured wall. It grew larger and larger, engulfing the creature and the time traveller. The figures of Sam and the animal wavered, fluctuated, a sudden blue flash exploded around Sam, it crackled across his body, arching his back, it sparked from him to the terrified animal. The swirling colours mingled, sparked against each other, a vortex opened, the rift in time and dimensions widened, drawing the quantum physicist and the beast into it. Man and beast seemed to elongate and stretch thin. Al, Mulder and Scully watched in astonished silence as the vortex swallowed them and snapped shut. The swirling stopped, the colours dissipated and were gone. The dirt and debris dropped to the floor in sudden stillness. A tension in the air grew once more, the ground trembled slightly. One final explosion of blue light filled the chamber, it danced from floor to ceiling, crackled along the slimy cave walls. A tiny pin-prick of central white light beamed from within it, Pendrell was spewed from the central point of the explosion and fell to the ground, bleeding and unconscious. The two stunned FBI special agents, were gaping open-mouthed at the scene which had just taken place. Scully was the first to move, she hurried across to the inert figure of Pendrell laying in a crumpled heap on the ground. She gathered him into her arms, "Daniel...My god...are you okay?" He opened his eyes to look questioningly up at her. "Wha...what the hell happened, where am I?" Relief was rapidly replacing her fears, "You did it...I don't know how but you did it." Daniel blinked, "Did what, I can't remember anything?" Mulder scrambled over to join them, he looked from Pendrell to Scully but said nothing. Daniel Pendrell smiled, he'd awakened.....arrived, cradled in the arms of the woman he loved, his memories of Project Quantum Leap were fast disappearing but his shared memories of Sam's time with Dana were still with him...those he would never forget and if he played his cards well enough....well, Dana just might not notice the difference and if she did, he could put it down to this event. His quick mind had also informed him that a little bit of localized amnesia wouldn't go amiss, what he couldn't explain he could conveniently forget. Still cradled in her arms, Daniel struggled into a sitting position, tentatively he leaned forward to brush his lips against hers, she responded and kissed him. Mulder grimaced and turned away to walk, despondently, back into the clearing, another mystery had just escaped him. Al had been closely watching the incredible events. Sam had succeeded in getting Pendrell and Scully together but he, Al, still had one more thing to do. He walked to the back of the cave and aligned his hand with the cave drawings, the blue light he'd detected when he'd done this before was gone, the portal was closed for ever. That part of the operation had also been successful but had the rest? He punched the keys of the hand-link, nothing happened. Sam should have been pulled back to the cave for final and immediate retrieval. He paced around the cave for ten minutes, searching for telltale sparks which might indicate his friends quick leaping in and out...nothing, zip, zilch, zero! He was thumping at the handlink and shaking it as he went. Suddenly the lights on the small console sprang into life, it squealed and moaned, he punched at the keys and disappeared from that time line forever! Admiral Albert Calavicci ran from the light of the white imaging room into the control room. Gushie and the technicians were huddled around the control console, one of the panels was open, smoke was pouring from it. "What the hell's happened here? Where's Sam, is he here?" Gushie turned to face Al, his eyes were bulging. "I warned you we needed more time, the retrieval process blew out the temporal frequency adjustments and the trace device.....Admiral...the Waiting room is empty..we....we don't know where Dr Beckett is. Ziggy has lost all trace of him...." he looked away, stuttering, "I'm..I'm afr..afraid he might be de..dead....or worse...scattered! Al stared at the distraught technician for a few seconds, swung round to look at the damaged control panel then started pacing the room. "That's not possible, it's never been empty before. And I won't acccept that Sam's dead." He yelled up the super computer, "Ziggy what's happening, do you have a lock on Sam yet? Where is he?" The doleful tones of the computer filled the room, "I'm sorry Admiral, I felt a disconnection at the point of retrieval, without the trace signal I have no way of tracking Dr Beckett or telling if he is alive or dead." Al yelled up angrily at the computer. "Just because he's not in the waiting room doesn't mean he's dead, it could just mean the process has been messed up a little, he could still turn up...right?" The computer sighed, "It's a possibility Admiral. But I have to warn you, he could be trapped in an alternate reality, another dimension. I'm using all my resources to find him but without the necessary repairs to the control centre, it may take some time to lock onto the correct quantum signature and the longer he's lost to us, the less chance we have of locking on to him." "Ziggy, what about retrieval, is there still a possibility of that?" The computers sad tones added to the disappointment of its words, "I'm sorry Admiral, but part of the program was damaged, I am working on it as we speak. However, it might require Dr Beckett's supervision with the alterations to the retrieval process alignments." Al shook his head in annoyance, "Goddammit, Ziggy if he could be here to help you correct the damn process we wouldn't need it!" "Sorry, Admiral! But if you feel that way, then I have nothing more to say." The silence was deafening. Al, huffed in utter and sheer annoyance, hurriedly moving across to the gathering of technicians, he asked, "Gushie, is there anything I can do to help speed things up a little?" It was Bettenhoff who turned to him, he had worked with Al for several years, they weren't exactly terrific friends but he knew Al very well, he knew how much Sam meant to him and understood that he needed something to do. Indicating one of the fused circuit boards he answered, "Yes, I could use a little help with this." Bettenhoff explained what needed to be done. Thankful at something to do, Al immersed himself in the repairs. Four hours later the last of the hurried repairs were finished, the fused circuits had been replaced, several new processors had been fitted, the accelerator had been checked and reinitiated. They were ready and waiting for Ziggy to employ the tracking device and try another attempt at retrieval. Al had gone back to pacing the floor, the team of technicians had initiated the start up process, every one was waiting for the hybrid super computer to lock onto Dr Beckett's frequency signal. The coloured lights flashed and pulsed from within the hanging globe which was the computer's central brain. Ziggy addressed the room, "I have a lock on Dr Beckett, the trace signal is weak but I have him. I have attempted to realign the retrieval process. However, I must inform you, it only carries a sixty percent cent chance of success." The final words from the computer added to the tension in the control room, all nerves were stretched to breaking. The lights on the console flashed in sequence, the accelerator whined with a high pitched hum. Gushie was watching the control panel...the figures on the display screen began a count down sequence ....7....6...5..4..3..2..1. Gushie leaned forward and pushed the central control switch. To the group of watching scientists and technicians, the passing seconds seemed like hours. The process continued, the lights on the console pulsed, then flashed, then wound down to a slow regular rate. The computer's voice floated down to them once more, "Initiation sequence complete, Dr Beckett is no longer trapped in an alternate dimension. The retrieval process however...remains to be seen. I have a trace on Dr Beckett's vital life signs, they are good but they do not compare to those in the waiting room." Verbena Beeks careered into the room, almost knocking over the Admiral. "Al...come quickly, we have someone in the waiting room.....you're the only one who can tell if it's Sam." Al ignored the computers last remark and accompanied by the projects psychiatrist, he dashed the short distance to the waiting room. He paused, took a deep breath and entered the room. He stared down in amazement at the inert figure peacefully laying on the reception bed. Verbena stood next to him, "Well, is it Sam?" she asked anxiously. Al shook his head in disbelief, "I don't believe this....it ain't Sam! Beena, guess who we have here?" The time traveller was drifting in a pale purple light....it felt as if he'd been here forever. Memories of the creature's strange world were fading from his memory. This was a comfortable, warm place but it wasn't the limbo plane he usually spent his inbetween time. He closed his eyes and let the soft currents of purple cloud carry and support him in oblivion. Suddenly the colours shifted, he began to spin, his body felt as if it were being sucked down some vast plug hole. He clamped his hands tightly around his head. The sickening spiral whirled on. He was sucked painfully from the cosy comfortable warmth, down and down until he was dumped unceremoniously into the life of his next host. Slowly he opened his eyes, his vision was still blurred, he quickly closed them, rubbing at them with balled fists. He felt sick and an awful droning, pumping siren noise was filling his head. He tried to calm himself, drew in several deep breaths, the nausea subsided. He opened his eyes once more and found that he was sitting behind the wheel of a car in front of a set of city traffic lights. The lights were showing green and the noise was that of the other cars hooting behind him. He shoved the car into gear, edged forward out of the way and drew into the nearest convenient parking space. Leaning forward, he tilted the rear view mirror towards him, He peered at the reflection in the narrow strip of mirror, "Ohhhh, Mmmmy God!" Al had dashed to the imaging chamber and was already with him, sitting on the back seat. "Welcome back, kid! It's not exactly home but by now it sure ought to feel like home." Sam turned to look at his friend, grinning inanely. "Is this possible? I'm back in Washington.......I'm really who I think I am?" Al beamed back at him chuckling uncontrollably, "Uh huh, ain't it a kick in the butt!" Sam turned back to the mirror, "Ohhh, Boy. I don't believe this." THE END...... ........No, it's just another beginning...... And so ends the second of five proposed "Quantum Leap" cross-over stories. With thanks to my son, Scott for his help with "The X-Files" infromation and also, thanks to my friend Joan Jobson, who has helped with encouragement. This is beginning to sound like a speech at an awards ceremony.....I would also like to thank, Scott Bakula for portraying Sam with such passion, to Dean Stockwell for his wonderful portrayal of Al, to Don Bellisarius for creating QL and bringing us so many fantastic hours of TV fun, last but not least, to Chris Carter for the X-Files and the characters of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully........this could go on forever.....so, I'd better stop! -- Heather Markham