Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 16:21:29 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Slide Before You Leap - part 24 Message-ID: Part 24 Al sat in the interrogation room, waiting patiently for the arrival of the person he knew would be there. He didn't have to wait long. "Al, what the hell do you think you were doing?" Harlow demanded once the door was closed. "The right thing," Al told her plainly. Harlow laughed cynically. "'The right thing'. Bullshit, Al! The right thing would be to have let us do out job. Now, where are they?" Al shrugged. "Don't give me that innocent act," Harlow leered at him. "Where are they?" she asked more slowly. "I don't know, Sheidley, and that's the truth. What's more, I hope you don't find them. What I can tell you is that if you find them after Saturday, you'll have the wrong people because the ones you're looking for will be gone." Harlow shook her head. "You really believe that they're from another dimension, a parallel world." Al nodded. "Yes, I do." She huffed. "Now I know you've lost it." "I'm not insane, Sheidley," he told her. "And if I knew where and when they were sliding, I'd show you." Harlow walked away from him for a moment before turning and facing him. "I can't help you out of this, Al. Unless you tell us where they are, you will be court-martialled. You will do prison time and you wil probably be dishonorably discharged. If you're lucky, you'll only be demoted and do some time."" She approached him slowly. "Al, I don't want you to throw your career away like this. Tell me where they are." Al looked at her firmly. "I don't know," he told her slowly. "How could you not? You've flown them here." "Have I?" Al asked her. "How do you know I didn't drop them off in another town on the way?" "Because we tracked you," she told him. Al sighed. "The last I saw of them was when they dived into the reservoire a few miles from the air field. They're long gone from there by now." "That was five hours ago," Harlow commented. "See what I mean?" Al smiled. Harlow pounded the table. "Damn!" "Now, Sheidley, don't sulk. I won this time. Even if I go to prison, I won." She turned to him. "We'll find them. Don't worry about that." She went to the door and knocked. "Corporal, I ready to leave." She looked at Al as the door opened. "See you around," Al told her. Without a response, Harlow left. ******************************* "Sam, this isn't a good idea without the Admiral here," Max told him as they moved side by side into the Control Room. "How can we contact each other if something goes wrong?" "Something already has gone wrong," Sam told him. "Al should have been here two hours ago. We must assume that they caught him." He turned to him. "I want you to observe." "Me?" Max asked. "We aren't even neurologically linked. How can I?" Sam turned to the control console. "Alpha?" "Yes, Dr. Beckett?" "Scan Dr. Arturo's neurons and mesons and link the pattern with mine and Admiral Calavicci's." "Would this be considered a rush job?" "Yes," Sam answered quickly. "Please, stand away from Dr. Arturo," Alpha instructed. A beam shone down on Max. A minute later, it was gone. "I require a DNA sample," Alpha informed. Sam quickly went behind Alpha and opened a panel. He took out the biomechanical chip and placed it on top on the console. "Let me see the back of your hand," he told Max. Max wheeled himself to him and allowed him to remove a small sliver of skin which Sam promptly encorporated into the chip. He placed the chip back in Alpha. "It is a weak link," Alpha told him, "however, there is now a link between you and Dr. Arturo." "Excellent," Sam said, quickly getting what looked like a white body suit and changing into it. "A Fermisuit?" Max questioned. "You're not doing this now?" "No time like the present, Max," Sam told him. "Which is precisely why you should wait," Max told him. "When you leap, you won't be in the present anymore. You'll be in the past. We must perfect this first, Sam." "How will we know what to perfect if we don't test it?" Sam told him, grabbing the retriever and heading for the Accelerator Chamber from where he would be hurdled into the past. "Well, then, you'd better set your return time for today," Max told him, knowing he couldn't talk Sam out of it."When and where do you want to go?" Sam thought for a moment. "April 8, 1970." The date meant nothing to Max though it was obvious that it meant something to Sam. "What's so special about that day?" Sam didn't answer him. "Let's go," he told him. Sam stepped into the Accelerator Chamber, programming the return date into the retriever. Max wheeled himself closely to Alpha's console and started working on it while Sam prepared himself. Buttons were pushed and the program was activated. Alpha's voice put into Max's activity. "There is an incoming phone call from Admiral Calavicci." "Put it on," Max ordered. "Al, where are you? What's happened?" "I've been placed under arrest," Al told him. "I guess you could call this my onee phone call. I was..." "Al," Max interrupted. "Sam's leaping." "What?" Al exclaimed. "He can't leap yet!" He hesitated for less than a second. "What date?" "April 8, 1970." "What?! Stop him!" "The program is already started! If we try to stop it now, it will kill him!" "Damn!" Al shouted. "I'll try to get there as soon as I can. Just hold the fort until I get there!" The line was disconnected a moment later. ************************************* It took Al a long time to convince Harlow that they had to get to the complex. She finally consented after Al consented to being under constant guard. It wasn't for another six hours, however, that Al finally arrived. "How is he?" he demanded. Max held up the retriever. "It didn't go with him. We moved the person he has leaped into in the Waiting Room. And we've lost his vital signs tow hours after he leaped." "What?" Al said quietly, looking as if he were about to faint. "What about the person in the Waiting Room?" "Well, he looks like Sam but he obviously isn't because he keeps staring at the mirror, touching it then himself." Al exhaled. "Why didn't you stop him from going in there?" "You know Sam. When he wants something, he'll go for it, regardless who tries to stop him." Al took a breath and started towards the Imaging Chamber, grabbing a handlink as he went. "Admiral!" Harlow called out. Al turned around to see his guards aiming their pistols at him. "I'm going in there alone, Sheidley." Harlow shook her head. "No, Al." "Sheidley," Al looked at her warningly. "Lieutenant Thomas Beckett." Sheidley froze for a moment. Finally, her face softened with understanding. "Let him go," she finally ordered. "Thank you," Al told her quietly before entering the room. "Find Sam, Alpha." "I cannot, Admiral." "What do you mean?" Al demanded. "Do it!" "Dr. Beckett did arrive safely on April 8, 1970, into the life of Lt. Thomas Beckett. His brainwaves ceased to transmit two hours after he arrived." "You mean he's dead," Al translated somberly. "Yes, Admiral," Alpha told him more quietly. "What about centering me on him before he is killed?" "I cannot, Admiral," Alpha's melancholy baritone voice told him. "Dr. Beckett neglected to give me that ability. I am as linear as any hum being." Al closed his eyes. A tear slowly rolled down his cheek. "I'm sorry, Sam." He slowly took a breath before returning to the Control Room. "Al?" Harlow said with concern. Al slowly walked towards the Waiting Room. "Al, what are you doing?" "I going to do the hardest thing I'll ever do in my life," Al told her as he walked. "I'm going to tell the man I made a promise to that I failed to keep my promise." Harlow hurried over to him. "Al, this isn't your fault." "Like hell it isn't," he told her as he entered the Waiting Room. "Hello, Tom." Tom looked at him. "Do I know you?" Al shook his head. "Not anymore. But I know you. And your brother Sam." "Is that him in the mirror?" Al nodded. "I have to tell you this but I have to. Sam's dead, Tom." Tom stared at him in shock. "How?" he finally said. "First, sit down. It's a long story." ------------------------------------------ Well, hope you're really liking this because I have to tell you: only one more part to go! Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo! Oh, well. All good things must come to an end. So, if you want to know how it ends, stay tuned! I'll be posting it Tuesday, 9/10/96, so it should be in the Archive by the 11th. I hope. Part 25 - the final part - next week! Kat