Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 16:32:26 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Whale ch 9 Message-ID: PART 2 ZOE Chapter 9 The world swirled around him. Something was wrong. He felt as if he wasn't the person he was supposed to be. As the world stopped, he was more sure about his assessment. His surroundings looked familiar, in an odd way. He had been here before but not for long. He looked around carefully. It was a small room, with a cot and a table covered with nautical maps. The more he looked around, in fact, the more he was certain that he had been here before. A funny suspicion came over him. Standing up, he walked over to a small dresser which had a mirror attached just above it. He looked into the mirror with surprise. He had seen the face in the mirror before but from another perspective. He knew who he was. "Oh, boy." Al slipped the key to his house into the lock gratefully. He was glad he could finally return home to sleep, especially after his long fourteen hour shift. He was certain that the others thought him crazy for actually helping in guarding the secure areas of the complex but, with a lack of sufficient security, he felt he had to put in his two cents worth. He also found long ago that a commanding officer who was willing to do the work his men did often received more respect than those who didn't. In addition, it was kind of a nice change of pace from being in his office for hours at a time. He dropped the bags he brought with him on the couch and took off his jacket. He then started to sort through the bags he had brought home, among which were some groceries he had bought. He quickly put the groceries away, cleaning out his refrigerator as he did so. He then proceeded to the bathroom to take a decent shower. Having washed and shaved, he felt much better than he had felt for a long time. He dressed into his pajamas and returned to the kitchen to prepare himself some dinner before going to bed. It was early in the morning which the viewphone chirped at him. He was tempted to let the answering machine take it but thought otherwise a moment later. The call had to be important for someone to call him at six o'clock in the morning. He yawned slightly as he stood up and walked to the viewphone to answer the call. "Admiral," Ziggy's voice put in the moment Al answered, "you are needed at the complex immediately. Dr. Beckett has made an arrival." Al exhaled. "Remind me to tell whoever is bouncing him around that the human body requires sufficient sleep to properly function." "I doubt that you would be able to tell that piece of information," Ziggy commented. Al rubbed his face slightly. "Never mind, Ziggy. I'll be there as soon as I can." He deactivated the viewphone immediately and stood up to get ready to return to the complex nine hours after he had left it the night before. "What have you got, Ziggy?" "Dr. Beckett arrived at his destination one hour and forty- one minutes ago," Ziggy informed Al as he entered the Control Room. "I was able to locate him within a few minutes of his arrival." Al stopped. "Without questioning the person in the Waiting Room? How?" "Dr. Beckett's neurological link remained strong during leaping. I believe that this is due to the fact that he leaped into a time period close to his previous leap." "When did he leap into?" "August 28, 1988." "Where?" "On a ship in the Pacific Ocean in the region known as the Devil's Sea." Al was a bit worried. *It can't be...* "It's not the Khrushchev, is it?" "Actually, Admiral, there is an eighty-two percent chance that he has indeed leaped onto the Khrushchev." Al exhaled slowly. It wasn't exactly unexpected but Al didn't want to have to deal with the radical and dangerous Alik Roulier and he was certain that neither did Sam. A thought came to Al. "Who did he leap into?" he questioned, wondering if his thought was true. "I do not know, Admiral." Al raised his eyebrows. "You don't know? You've had an hour to find out and you don't know? Didn't Dr. Beeks go in to question the guy in the Waiting Room?" "The person in the Waiting Room refuses to speak," Dr. Beeks told him as she entered the Control Room from the Waiting Room. She seemed slightly upset by Al's questions. "But, whoever he or she is, the person seems to know something and they're not going to tell us what that something is." "Any ideas?" "I don't know," Verbina answered honestly. Al frowned strongly. "Do you think the visitor could be Alik Roulier?" Verbina shook her head. "No. It doesn't fit his profile." She took a breath. "Alik Roulier had a record of having a very bad temper, as you probably noticed in the last leap. This person..." She exhaled. "This visitor is far too calm to be Alik. He or she certainly is not traumatized or confused in any way. It's almost as if he knew precisely what happened and where he was." "That's impossible! Ziggy says that person comes from 1988! There was no Project Quantum Leap in 1988!" "Go and see for yourself," Verbina told him. "I have never seen anyone so calm in my life. It's kind of scary, if you ask me." Al took Verbina's advice and, grabbing a handlink as he went, walked into the Waiting Room. There, pacing the room in a circular pattern, was the familiar visage of Sam Beckett. Again, Al had to remind himself that the person before him was not Sam Beckett. As the Waiting Room door closed, the person turned towards him and smiled. "Finally! Someone worth speaking to, rather than that annoying psychiatrist of yours! I have been waiting to meet you, Admiral Calavicci." Al stumbled back in shock. "Do I know you?" "You should," the visitor told him. "You brought me here. You and Dr. Beckett." Al looked at the person before him curiously. Then, the truth came to him. "Oh, my gawd!" He quickly left the Waiting Room and stopped outside its door, where one of his guards. He quickly made the Sign of the Cross over himself, reviving a very old childhood tradition. "_Angeli e ministri di misericordia, difendeteci!_(*)" The guard looked at Al with curiosity as Verbina rushed from the Control Room to the hallway where Al was leaning against the wall, as if trying to keep himself from fainting. "Al?" shed asked in a worried voice. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!" "If only it were," Al told her softly, staring in front of himself. "If only it were." The words rang eerily in Verbina's ears. (*) "Angels and ministers of grace defend us!" Hamlet: Act I, Scene IV. (Luisa: Thanks for the translation! :) )