From: Zakharin Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative,alt.tv.quantum-leap.creative Subject: For Tomorrow We Leap part02/? Date: Tue, 09 Jul 1996 14:50:19 -0400 Organization: Voicenet - Internet Access - (215)674-9290 Message-Id: <31E2A9EB.1B16@voicenet.com> For Tomorrow We Leap By Boris Zakharin Part 2/? This is revision 2 to part 2. Part two contains an explanation of the new time keeping system. This system really exists as a proposal by the DTA to the US Congress and other governments worldwide. Most information used in that part of the story is obtained from Popular Mechanics Magazine May 1996 issue. Part two also contains parts of my dream about Quantum Leap. This is one of my two dreams about QL. I only remember the other one vaguely. In it, Sam dies. The part about the butterflies is from the (first) dream. Sam's sleeping with Donna, new in this revision, may or may not make a minor or a major difference in the rest of the story. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Sam didn't want to go to bed at first, but was persuaded by Donna who longed for such a long time to sleep with him and gave up at last. Sam had to admit, this was the most enjoyable experience he had since... he didn't even remember when. Donna woke up early in the morning, but Sam was very tired because he didn't sleep for over 24 hours. When he did wake up, the first thing he wanted to know was what time it was. Upon his inquiry, Ziggy said, "It is 334 tim." Sam was enraged at the Parallel Hybrid Computer so much that he almost wished he had never created it. "What do you mean?! Tell me in human terms!" Sam roared. Ziggy said, "This _is_ human terms. Look at the printer. I printed out the outline for the new timekeeping system." Sam spent some time looking over the content of the papers. It briefly illustrated the changes proposed to the timekeeping system. Here is its content. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Brief outline of the decimal time system (DTS) A. A year starts on the Spring Equinox (this year: March 21 2000). B. Years are numbered from the year 000 or 4600002000 (coincides with the year 2000 CE) 1. Reason: The Earth is ~4600000000 yars old B. A year consists of 36 weeks 10 days each. C. Days are numbered, not named (from day 001 to day 360). D. A day is divided into 1000 tims E. Each tim is divided into 1000 militims. F. It is now ~8:00 am old time * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "For tomorrow we leap" day 001, 4600002000 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Upon reading this, Sam groaned. It would take less than a minute for Ziggy to just say all this. Sam almost screamed, "When is the meeting on the usefullness of project Quantum Leap?" Ziggy said, "250 tim... or 6pm today. Meanwile, I suggest you start on your other major goal, fixing the retrieval program." Sam almost lost his temper. Ziggy had the worst habits of any parallel hybrid computer he knew. Sam asked Ziggy if she had any other important things to tell him upon which Ziggy replied, "Your shoe is untied." Sam followed Ziggy's suggestion. He spent three hours in a row working on the retrieval program. At the end of this time, he called Al into his lab. "Al!" He said, "I think I got a breakthru here! You see, as a male leaps, his tendency is to leap into the past. Although in all probability he will eventually leap home, his Quantum instability will pull him back to the past eventually. A female, on the other hand, tends to leap into the future towards her death. If the same time and place has two people leaping, one male and one female, they will be pulling each other close to the present and will have much more probability of being retrieved. You see, our retrieval program will only work effectively if the leaper in question is less than two years away. If we send a female leaping, she and I will be pulled together and such a condition will likely be fulfilled before long." Al got really excited. He asked, "So why can't you retrieve yourself now?" Sam shrugged his shoulders, "No can do. I am already here." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Sam spent the rest of his time preparing for the meeting at six. He worked on creating a mini accelerator to show his achievements of travel through time on butterflies. Al was debating with himself whether to announce Sam's discovery. "After all," he thought, "the chances can't be *much* higher than 3%, can they?" He desided to ask Ziggy. "Ziggy, what are the chances of the retrieval program working if Sam were in 1999?" "67.4%, admiral." "Ziggy, what are the chances of the retrieval program working if Sam were two years away?" Ziggy replied, "50%. Face it, admiral, you will have to send another leaper through time." After hesitating some more, Al finally called a meeting and announced Sam's discovery. Donna quickly volunteered. "The last time I have seen Sam was well over five years ago. I worried to death when Sam was in trouble. I must be the one to leap with him." Al thought, "Well, there is more than a quantum physical attraction between them, that's for sure." Out loud, however, he just said, "I know exactly how you feel, but you just can't give in to your feelings like that. There are often times when I just want to jump into the accelerator and leap into sam. But this will not always help." Unfortunately, Donna was the only candedate. No one else wanted to actually risk her life just for Sam's return. Besides, Donna didn't want to even hear about anyone else going except her. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "The court is now in session. I trust you know what the case is about. Unless any of the project staff prove otherwise, it is assumed that the project is a big fake. Since, as you claim, no one remembers their history being altered, I assume that the only way to prove the reality of the project is to popularly demonstrate time travel. If proof is not found, the project will be abolished as of Midn... I mean 000 tim day 002 year 000." The new judge for the job was not familiar with Sam in the least. Judge Bob was a stern unbendable old white man. He had gray hair and green eyes with not a bit of sympathy in them. Sam was finally called to the witness stand and began. "You see, your honor, a person's life is like this string." Sam pulled out a string and started to show the string theory on the string. He connected the ends together and balled the string in a way that parts of the string were touching other parts of the string. "...Then he could 'leap' from point to point within his own lifetime," Sam concluded. Seeing that no one was at the least convinced, Sam proceeded to the practical phase of his testimony. "You see, this is a mini version of my accelerator and these are regular butterflies gently tied to a string. I apply a beam from the accelerator to the butterflies. As you see, your honor, they start to dissappear and appear at irregular intervals. In fact, they are leaping." Sam demonstrated how the butterflies could be tracked in time using Ziggy's handlink. He also showed that the butterflies can be retrieved. "It is quite simple to retrieve these butterflies since their lifespan is less than a week. When we try to retrieve a human being, however, it gets problematic because the retrieval only works when the object/being is less than two years away." The judge hesitated and said, "Let's say that those butterflies really did *leap*, as you call it. How do I know this really works on humans? As the old saying goes, you've got to see it to believe it. I suppose the only way to prove that you really *do* travel through time, is to travel through time myself, er, ourselves. Can you arrange so that we 'leap', all present here, that is and see it for ourselves?" "Oh boy," Sam said. He realized that things were not going well. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To be continued . . . -- Boris Zakharin zakharin@juno.com Editor, Quantum Leap Mailing List Zakharin.QLML@juno.com My family zakharin@voicenet.com My homepage including QLML online http://www.voicenet.com/~zakharin "Those who dance with the devil are bound to get burned" -Al the devil, "The B**gi*m*n", Quantum Leap