From: Sean Smith X-From: rkwong@engin.umich.edu (Roberta Chi-Woon Kwong) Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative Subject: "Quanta" part 4 Date: 17 Apr 1995 22:00:02 GMT This is being posted for Sean Smith , who is having some difficulty posting from his account. Please direct all comments to him. Apologies if any line noise remains in these posts. -------------------------------------------------- The next morning Sam Beckett looked through the subdued suits Agent Mulder had hung in his closet. The shirts were plain enough, but the ties were varied and vibrant. Finding the most neutral one he could, Sam looped the tie around his neck, and turned to the bathroom mirror to knot it. He nearly jumped through the roof of the motel room when he saw the black-clad form standing behind him, cigar smoldering in his hand. RAl! Jeez, donUt sneak up on me like that.S RItUs kinda hard not to sneak when your a hologram, Sam.S RNever mind that, what took you so long? IUve got a lot of news for you!S RThatUs good, cause ZiggyUs still drawing a blank about why youUve leapt back to...S Al consulted his handlink, RJanuary fifteenth, 1995.S RYeah, well, I think I know why.S RReally.S Al drawled the syllables out. RReally. IUve leapt into Samantha MulderUs brother, Fox this time. And he grew up to be an FBI Agent.S Sam smiled at the shocked look on AlUs face as he held up MulderUs badge. RI'm here to solve Fox's case. Ha, I stumped you _and_ Ziggy, Al!S RThatUs not such a good thing. ZiggyUs had a hard time locating you. It seems sheUs run into some kind of interference in some Zeta-whatzit, or something. And IUve got bad news about Fox.S ROh, no Al,S Sam leaned forward earnestly, RFox was such a good kid...I thought he was going to be okay after I leapt out of there.S RYeah, well he flipped out when he leaped, and had to be sedated. We didnUt know who he was Ttil you told us. HeUs been mumbling something about a TlightU and TScullyU since he came around.S RI leapt in as a police helicopter was shining a light on us in the car. And Dana Scully is his partner.S RThe redhead getting dressed next door?S Al smirked and pulled on his cigar. RYes, she has red hair. And why were you watching her get dressed?S Sam stopped dressing long enough to shoot Al an aggrieved look. RYou know...doing a little research on Federal procedures... figures...that kind of thing.S His smirk grew wider, and an impudent spark lit his eyes. RAl, thatUs terrible!S RYeah mister goody-goody? Well, now I know why they were out in the dark together. I remember getting caught by the fuzz with Eileen once. Or was it Irene?S He was almost instantly lost in thought. RNonsense. According to Dana, they were staking out the military base.S Sam fought for a moment, trying to fit the shoulder rig for MulderUs pistol to his own broad frame. ROh, Tstaking out the base.U Is that what itUs called these days?S Now Al laughed at the pained expression on SamUs face. RUm, Sam, IUve gotta go...Dr. A-S Al caught himself, as he nearly said the name of SamUs wife. The leaps had holed Dr. BeckettUs memory, and so he knew nothing of the personal life heUd abandoned in the future. RUh, Dr. Beeks just called for me. You just be careful Sam, weUll try and figure out what you have to fix before you can leap.S Adm. Calavicci tapped his handlink, and glowing portal snapped into existence behind him. He took a step backward, through the doorway, and it closed, leaving no trace anything had been there. Once again, Dr. Sam Beckett found himself alone in the motel room, and he knew no more than he had the night before. * * * Al jogged through the halls of the Project, heading back to the Waiting room. Donna and TBena were taking care of Fox, and Ziggy had some new data about the history of the leapee. And Al had the sneaking suspicion that things would move fast from here. Al slowed as he entered the Antechamber. His inauspicious introduction to this poor guy still rang in his head. Especially where it hit the floor. Touching the door panel, he called out to Verbena on the other side. RHey there, baby. Can I come in now?S He mixed good helpings of flirting with respect. He figured it would help her bad mood. She waved at the one-way mirror, gesturing him in. Fox was lying in the bed under a large knit shawl, and Donna leaned over him, stroking his hair. Dr. Beeks turned away from them to face Al as he entered. Before he walked far into the room, TBena came up to him, intercepting him before he could cross to the bed. RHeUs asleep now. DonUt disturb him. I just wanted you here so you could talk to Ziggy.S There seemed to be a cloud across VerbenaUs normally smiling face. ROkay, whatUs up here? I presume you heard this guy is that kid Sam saved before?S RYes, we were listening. And Ziggy finally came up with some data on him. If you donUt get over to her soon, sheUll get herself in a snit.S RGreat. A computer prima donna! What next?S RWell, I called you back to drop the other shoe. What weUve recovered of his memory suggests a lot of suspicion in his background. And it seems well founded. He wouldnUt trust anybody here normally. Lord knows about a situation like this.S RGreat.S Al looked around, desperately searching for a solution. RIt gets better. Fox here has _already_ had his memory swiss-cheesed.S RNo kidding, Verbena. We leaped him in, and his mind goes Ca-Ca.S RAdmiral, somehow his mind was blanked before we touched him. Trying to get information from him for Sam to use fixing the past, I found some things. A period right after Sam leapt out of him was erased, twenty-two years ago. As were several more recent periods.S She looked worriedly back at the prostrate figure, and the woman stroking his head. RAmnesia?S RI donUt think so. He has specific patterns of permenantly damaged neurons and synapses whose damaging effects may have been...enhanced...by the Leap. However, itUs the initial injuries that trouble me.S RTBena, honey, what?S AlUs smile seemed a little forced. RThey all match the effects of Project Quantum Leap exactly.S * * * RHello Admiral Calavicci. Did you find out what you were looking for with Dr. Verbena Beeks?" "Sort of. SheUs still trying to put Fox back together again. But I've still got some questions for you." Al always had trouble with Ziggy. It wasn't the disembodied voice floating down from the glowing sphere in the roof of the Control Room. It wasn't that she was a sentient machine. It was the way she saw right through him; he felt like he was twelve again. "There is only a twelve percent chance your first question will be about the results of my search." Her soft voice seemed somehow inappropriate to her precise delivery. "Ziggy, I want-" Al was cut off. "To know why Dr. Gooshie disconnected me from the main controls last night." "_Yes_." She got under his skin just like his third wife. "I activated the Accelerator for our guest." "WHAT! Why in the blue, bleeding-" Al could feel the veins in his temple pound. "Admiral Calavicci, nothing is bleeding, unless your heart rate continues to increase. Due to your...lifestyle... you have a three percent chance of a myocardial infarction within the next ten-point-five-" "Ziggy. The accelerator." His tone brooked no delay. "The zeta-interferon patterns I had detected in my attempt to locate Doctor Beckett matched the residual trail of the only other leaper we've encountered." "Do you mean there's another leaper back there with Sam?" "There is only a one-point-two percent chance of that. There was a thirty-two percent chance that our visitor is the origin of the pattern. With Dr. Beeks' information, that has changed to a sixty-eight percent chance." She sounded proud of herself. "So why in the name of God-" "Would I activate the Accelerator? The individual displayed a great degree of curiosity. I estimated a seventy-percent chance he would enter the chamber. If he was in fact the source of the emissions, then micro-leaping him one minute back into himself would more than likely have cleared up the interference obscuring a positive lock on the location of Doctor Beckett. "There is also a chance that it would restore some or all of his memory, and cure him of the potentially fatal damage Dr. Beeks detected. There was also a chance that recovering his memory would calm him considerably." "What were the odds of success?" She sounded sheepish, "Thirty-one percent." "Then why-" "Would I take such an extreme measure? There was little chance of getting the leapee back into the control room at a later date. We need to know what is going on in Sacramento at January fifteenth, 1995. I located a picture in a database of the woman Doctor Beckett is with." "And..." "And her unidentified body was found January sixteenth 1995." * * *