Organization: Penn State University Date: Thu, 28 Apr 1994 18:43:23 EDT From: "Lawrence E. Nagy" Message-Id: <94118.184323LEN101@psuvm.psu.edu> Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative Subject: Highleaper 2 HIGHLEAPER part 2 Al watched his friend's body laying very still on the low bunk. Every time Sam leaped, Al would come here to watch and wait. Al knew that one of these days Sam would sit up and be himself again, not some stranger out of the past. Sam appeared to be illuminated by a very faint blue light. "Here it come's." Al said to his comrades in the control booth. Suddenly Sam started writhe in pain, he clutched his side and rolled from the bunk landing on his knees. Sitting on his heals and leaning back against the edge of the bunk he continued to clutch his side, throwing his head back he screamed in agony. Al turned toward the observation window "Quick get in here he's bleeding." Blood poured out from between the fingers of the hand he clutched to his side. Other parts of Sam's body where also bleeding. Cuts had appeared under Sam's clothes on his arms, torso and legs. Several small scrapes had opened up on his face. The staff pushed Al aside and tackled Sam to the ground. They immediately starting cutting away the white jump suit to get to the wounds. "This is really deep." a female voice said "He's lost a lot of blood." "He's unconscious." another voice said shortly "Get the KIT in here. Let's go we're losing him." During the commotion Al just stood back and watched in disbelief. Was it all going to end this quick, what the hell had he been doing? All of a sudden it dawned on him "Sam, what's happening to Sam?" Al ran toward the imaging chamber grabbing his hand-link off its shelf. "Gushie, center me on Sam NOW." He yelled at the control room. "I'm trying." Gushie's voice came back over the speaker. "But there's a lot of interference, almost as if there's a short circuit somewhere." "I don't care what you have to do," Al yelled "get me there, now!" The imaging chamber door opened revealing Tina in her white project jump suit. She had blood on both hands and down the front of her smock. There were even smudges across her forehead where she had pushed hair out of her eyes. Tears ran down her cheeks, one hand reached up gripping her throat with the other hand supporting it. "The wound was too deep." she whispered "He'd lost too much blood." She hesitated as she sniffled back a sob and tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks, smudging more blood across them. "There really wasn't anything we could have done." Everything started to swirl around Al as Tina turned away closing the chamber door. The room went black, Al stumbled backward in a daze, tripping over his own feet, he sat down hard and in the middle of the floor. Suddenly Al was in the back seat of a car. They were driving down a deserted road at night. Al could see the faint glow of city lights in the distance. Where was Sam? he couldn't see over the high back of the bucket seat in front of him and was about to adjust his position when the driver spoke. "Did I tell you about Michelle?" "No" came a voice from the passenger seat. The hand-link said that Sam was the passenger. Al knew better then to make himself known to Sam right away. Sam's reaction could make his companion nervous to say the least. "She's really great." the young driver said "You know what she calls me? " He never let Sam respond, he just kept talking, "She calls me Richard." he said proudly "She says Richie is a boy's name." "That's good to know, Richard." Sam said. Richie drove on for a few moments, as if contemplating something then said with a grin "You know, Mac, I think we'd better stick with Richie." "What ever you say, it's your name." Al started punching what little information he had into the hand-lank causing it to beep. Sam immediately sat up from his slouched position and looked back at Al. Sam's host had long black hair tied back in a tail. He looked tall with sharp features and dark eyes. He wore jeans and a white t-shirt. The shirt had several blood stained cuts on it. Sam immediately gave Al his patented 'What took you so long look' and said to his companion "Pull over, I need some air." The Trans-Am immediately pulled over and parked in the grass by the side of the road. As soon as the car was stopped, Sam turned to Richie and said "Stay here." He got out of the car and walked into a field away from the car. Al was suddenly beside him. "What took you so long." Sam said trying not to talk directly to his friend. Al was ashen and visibly shaken. "We had trouble in the waiting room." He said. "Sam I've got to tell you something." "What?" Sam was suddenly very concerned. Al very rarely informed him of what was going on in the lab. "What's happened, was someone hurt?" "The man you leaped into," Al said slowly "died soon after he arrived." "Al," Sam said in disbelief "what happened, was it the leap, something really weird happened when I leaped in." "No," Al said and kind of pointed to the rips in Sam's clothes "I think he came that way." "So when I leap out, a dead man leaps back in my place?" Sam said in disbelief. He looked back at the young man leaning against the hood of the car. "He thinks his friend survived that fight." Sam said. "Yea, what happened before I got to you?" Al asked. "It doesn't matter right now." Sam said sternly "Just tell me who I am and what I'm suppose to do." Al shuffled around a bit then said "We don't know." "What?" "Well he couldn't very well tell us." Al said "and they don't come in with ID." Al then beat his hand link several times. "Ziggy is having a hard time tracing this one she thinks she blew some circuits bringing that leap in." Al then smiled with inspiration "Do you have a wallet?" Just look at your driver's license." The suggestion was so simple it was stupid. "Did my multi-million dollar high-bred computer come up with that brilliant suggestion?" Sam asked as he took his wallet out. The wallet was almost empty, some cash, a few slips of paper and a driver's license. Sam looked at the picture, it was the same long-haired man he'd seen in the passenger's side makeup mirror. "Ian McShane." Al said, reading through Sam's shoulder. "Now you have a name. Go run your checks and tell me what I have to do to get out of here." Sam was getting very nervous about standing by the side of street in a torn and bloody t-shirt talking to himself. A sure way to end up in the nut house. Al was just about to open the chamber door when Sam added "Oh, and run the plates on the car, they might give us a little more information." "Ziggy's already got them." Al assured his friend. Sam walked by Richie who just watched him pass. "Let's go." Sam said as he got back in the car. Richie continued to lean on the car with his arms folded in front of him. He seemed to come to a decision and got back behind the wheel. They were soon moving again, where to, Sam had no idea. to be continued.................  ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Larry Nagy 1160 Boyer Rd Erie, PA 16511 I have no doubt at all the Devil Grins, As seas of ink I splatter. Ye gods, forgive my "literary" sins- The other kind don't matter. -- Robert W. Service