Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1993 21:55:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Brian Willard Subject: QL : The Next Generation, Part 2 To: alt-ql-creative@cisco.com Message-Id: <01GZYS5L3L9E9S3WPZ@UNCA.EDU> Organization: University of North Carolina at Asheville X-Vms-To: IN%"alt-ql-creative@cisco.com" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT The Next Generation Part 2 by Brian Willard "Alice Through the Looking Glass" For Richard Jackson, it had just been one of those days, but very bad considering it was only Monday. Entering politics was risky, especially for a businessman. His campaign to get elected to the San Diego City Council was getting tougher by the day. That morning he had met with a group of journalists who had numerous questions for him, especially his wife Connie. A man of fifty-two, he felt like he was being tortured. The media was bad enough, and it's worse when you're married to it. As he rolled his black Volvo into his driveway, he found another car parked on the drive. He pulled around it over to the garage, where he found that his wife was already home, and she was waiting for him at the back door. "Beth's here!" she called to him as he stepped out of his vehicle. "So I noticed. What's up?" "She wouldn't say. She wanted us to be together when we heard what she had to tell us." "Okay, I'll be there in a second," he said as he went back in the open car door and reemerged with his briefcase and thermos. He walked up the stairs that led to the back door, kissing his wife as he entered the house. "She's waiting in the living room," said Connie, "I'll be there in a moment. Go make yourself comfortable." "Okay," Richard replied, with little enthusiasm. He moved slowly into the large room adjoining the dining room, his body aching from having to run between press conferences. He plopped himself down in the large leather recliner and loosened his tie. Beth was sitting patiently, but not too relaxed, on the sofa. Connie entered the room and had a seat next to her. "So, what's the big news? Something wrong between you and the Admiral?" "Uh, no," replied Mrs. Calavicci, "It's about Alice. I think we may be able to help her." Richard and Connie Jackson looked at her curiously, and then Mrs. Jackson turned to look at her husband. It was unusual that her best friend was suddenly telling her that her daughter might be saved. From brain cancer. "How?" asked Connie, beginning to get choked up again. "A friend of Al's thinks he may be able to help. However, success is not guaranteed. The chances are about 50/50. Since we can't really ask Alice, you are given the heavy decision." Connie and Richard sat silently for a moment. Connie knew she could trust Beth, and if Beth thought that it might work, then it definitely had chances. She didn't want to lose another child, but she knew if she didn't try something, Alice would die anyway. Her daughter had been in a coma for almost 2 months now, because of a brain tumor that had developed when Alice was 18 years old. "What do you think, Richie?" she asked her husband, though she was sure that she wanted to give it a shot. "Well, we are running out of choices," replied Mr. Jackson, "and time. What exactly is involved in this operation? I mean, if she does make it, she's already lost a lot of memory." "I have to be honest with you, Richard. We don't know," said Beth Calavicci, "the operation will be performed by Dr. Beckett, the Nobel Prize winning physicist. It will involve some cybergenics, from what I hear." "What's that?" asked Connie. "It means that Dr. Beckett will have to repair the cancer with artificial intelligence. In essence, she'll have a mini- computer in her brain. We don't know exactly what the end result will be. If she makes it, she may be the same as she was before. She may act differently, think differently, and she might even be smarter. It's hard to tell. That's why this is going to be such a tough decision." "At this point, we're willing to try about anything," said Richard, after getting the approving nod from his wife, "When would the surgery be?" Beth knew this one would really be the kicker. "Tomorrow. Dr. Beckett is...on a tight schedule. Will that be a problem?" "No," replied Richard, "I only have one conference tomorrow, and it's only a minor one. I can arrange a representative." "Okay," said Beth, trying not to forget anything Al had told her, "I've got two plane tickets with me. The flights are for nine tonight...we took a gamble, but figured you'd probably want us to try. The surgery won't be in a hospital, but at Dr. Beckett's own private laboratory in New Mexico. We'll be flying Alice out early tomorrow morning on a private jet. The operation will be at ten tomorrow morning." "How long will it be after the surgery before we know of her condition?" asked the politican-hopeful. "We're not sure of that either. Hopefully not long. Come on, I'll help you guys pack." "Will you be going to New Mexico also, Beth?" asked Connie. "Yes. I'll be on the flight with Alice tomorrow morning." Beth spent the next half hour helping her friends pack a few clothes and other necessities. She had felt very odd asking her best friends if Sam could operate on their daughter. She knew it was a very touchy situation with them, and she hadn't been sure how they would react, but they had taken it very well. As for the plans for Alice to work for the project, well Beth thought it was better not to clutter the Jacksons' minds at the time. Just the hope that their daughter might survive had them in enough of a frenzy. She just hoped, for Connie and Rich's sake, that all went well. And somehow she knew it would. ******************************************************** After their flight to Albuquerque, the Jacksons were escorted to the small town of Socorro, where they spent the night at a hotel. Connie fell asleep quickly, but Richard didn't have such luck. He stayed up for a few hours, worrying about the fate of his daughter. He had been plagued by insomnia on and off ever since Alice's tumor was first diagnosed. He walked over to the window and looked out at the vast dunes of the desert beyond the town limits. As he looked to the southeast he saw a greenish- blue light peering from beyond one of the larger hills. He could swear it looked like an aurora, and somehow he knew that that was where they were going, and that there was more to this surgery than he and Connie knew about. He dismissed his worries, told himself that everything was going to be okay, and soon fell asleep. ******************************************************** As they entered the Trinity complex, where Project Quantum Leap had been silently going on for the past five years, the Jacksons were immediately awestruck. Their jeep entered a long tunnel under a large sand dune, and one could easily feel the descent after entering the one-ended tunnel. They had gone about a mile in the tunnel before they came to a gate. The driver of the jeep, whose name was Gooshie, pressed a button on the dashboard and the gate opened. They went further into the tunnel, and the lighting was now all artifical...and somewhat eerie. They came to the end of the long drive and hopped out of the jeep. In front of them stood a huge metal wall, with an equally large metal door. Gooshie pressed another button on the jeep and the door slowly rolled open. They entered a long corridor with dim flourescent lighting and ventilation ducts everywhere. The bulky door clanked shut behind them and they followed Gooshie down the zig-zag hall. They came to the end of the corridor, and there was an elevator. Gooshie entered his ID card into a slot and the doors parted, revealing a octagonal shaped compartment. They entered and the cab went down. Richard had no idea how far down this was going, but he knew he was now deep beneath the earth's surface. The elevator finally came to a rest and when the door opened, Richard saw the most unusual thing he had ever experienced. Once again everything was octagonal, including the room they had just entered. Hanging from the high ceiling was a large sphere, which appeared half-transparent and half- reflective. Directly below the sphere was a large table with panels flashing different colors. The four bare walls were mirrored, giving flawless reflections that created infinitesmal images. The other four walls had octagonal doorways. The elevator was behind them. The doorway across the room and the one to their right were blocked by metal doors, but the doorway to their left was doorless. Gooshie walked them over to the Waiting Room. "Go ahead and have a seat here. Dr. Beckett has already completed the operation. He's doing the final checks and we'll come get you when we're ready." Richard and Connie sat down in the plush lounge seats which had been put in the Waiting Room to make it seem more hospitable. They sat there and talked quietly for about twenty minutes or so until the metal door across the room, which led to the Acceleration Chamber, retracted into the ceiling. A handsome, clean-shaven man stepped out and walked over to the Jacksons. "My name is Sam Beckett. Please, come with me." "Is she okay? Will she survive?" asked Connie worriedly. "She's going to be just fine," the doctor replied. The Jacksons got up from their seats and followed Dr. Beckett over to the Acceleration Chamber. There were many people in the makeshift operating room. Al and Beth Calavicci were there, as well as Gooshie, Tina, Verbena, and Donna Beckett. Alice lay still on the table, her hair pulled back in a strange- looking plastic net. There were no apparent scars or incision marks. "I thought the surgery was over. There aren't even any marks on her," said Richard, not convinced that anything had been done. "We used lasers to heal all the incisions," commented Sam Beckett, "she should awaken soon. She's just a bit groggy from the medication we gave her." Alice Jackson suddenly moaned and rolled over on her side. Her parents looked at each other and then everybody exchanged hugs. The girl slowly opened her eyes after two months of sleep. "Where am I?" she creaked, surprised by the sound of her voice, "What's going on?" "You're alive, that's what!" exclaimed her mother, throwing her arms around her daughter, "And your cancer is gone!" "You mean the tumor? Gone? How?" she asked, yawning. She tried to sit up in bed but found she didn't have the strength. "Dr. Beckett did it!" her mom said, expressing her delight and pulling Sam next to her. "So, Al, what happens next?" asked Richard Jackson. "Well..." *********************************************************** Alice sat in her wheelchair drinking some tea her mom had made her as the rest of the project personnel were busy shutting down the Trinity complex. She was in what Al had told her was the Waiting Room. She loved Al Calavicci. The Calaviccis had been friend with her parents for as long as she could remember, and their daughter Pamela was her best friend. Al had told her to stay in the Waiting Room and watch for a lady to appear. She still didn't quite know who she was waiting for, but she fully understood the workings of her new job. She was to be the personal observer for a Dr. Samantha Jo Fuller, who was leaping around in time. She would appear in the form of a hologram to give Dr. Fuller assistance. She knew everything about the world during the twentieth century, much more than she ever remembered learning. Admiral Calavicci had told her that a computer memory bank had been implanted in her brain, and that she was now legally a genius. While all of this seemed unreal to her, it all somehow made sense. They had to move the project because the government cut their funding, so they moved all of the memory banks from their computer, Ziggy, into her brain. It was all very logical, for her brain had ample power to keep up the memory, certainly better than trying to pay astronomical power bills. They would be moving the entire project to Colorado, near where Pam went to school, and Alice was very excited. She couldn't wait to see the expression on her friend's face when she saw her. Yes, Pam was in for a real surprise. Part 3 coming next week... ***************************************************************** Brian Willard | "Revenge is mine, thus sayeth the hologram!" UNC-Asheville | Dr. Sam Beckett - The Leap Back *****************************************************************