Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 16:39:36 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Whale ch 19 Message-ID: Chapter 19 "Hey, Sammy." Sam sat up from his bed in the hotel. For a brief moment, he was confused as to which Al was speaking until he saw Al sitting straight-back beside the bed, his hair much grayer than his younger counterpart. He smiled widely. "Al!" he exclaimed. "Isn't this great! I've leaped into myself the day before we got funding for the project! I mean, I have never leaped so close to the project before!" "Sam, calm down a bit. Okay? You don't want me to think you're... I mean, you don't want him..." ""I know what you mean," Sam responded with a smile. "Don't worry. Your counterpart went to get something to eat. He didn't have anything on the plane." Al raised his eyebrows. "And you did?" Sam shook his head. "I don't remember. I don't think so but I'm not very hungry right now." "Ah," Al commented. Sam looked carefully at the Admiral, noticing that he sitting. He looked at Al with concern. "I've never seen you sit on the job before," he commented. Al laughed slightly. 'Sure, you have. You just Swiss-cheesed it." Sam frowned at his answer, mostly because Al didn't look him in the eye and say it. "What's wrong?" Al shook his head. "Nothing." Sam glared at him. "Look me in the eye and say that." Al rubbed his face slightly. *Why is he so damn observant?* He looked at his friend. "Okay. There are some minor problems but nothing to be concerned about." "What problems?" Sam questioned. Al hesitated. "You remember that bomb Zoe put on Ziggy?" Sam raised his eyebrows in surprise. Al exhaled. "Obviously not. Don't worry about it, anyway. The situations taken care of. I just received some minor injuries when I handled it. I'll be up and around in no time." "Are you sure?" Sam questioned with concern. Al nodded. "It's nothing a couple of nights with Tina won't solve." Sam frowned at him. "Why are you sitting, in that case?" Al huffed. Time to 'fess up to the truth. "Because I hate wheelchairs and Dan - Dr. MacArthyr - says that I have to stay off my feet as much as possible for the next two months." Sam raised his eyebrows at his companion. "Minor injuries? Sounds a lot more serious than you're letting on." Al looked at him firmly. "That doesn't matter right now. What does matter is why you've leaped into yourself on August 8, 1990. By the way, Happy Birthday." "Thanks," Sam answered. He smiled slightly. "You know, Al, leaping into myself...." He exhaled gently. "I'm going to be able to relive the most important day of my career." Al sighed. "Yeah. That's if you're still alive tomorrow." Sam frowned at Al's comment. "What do you mean?" Al looked at his friend, seriousness in his eyes. "According to Ziggy, there's a ninety-six percent chance that you'll be killed in the next forty-eight hours." Sam sat on the toilet seat, a bit shocked by Al's words. "My sentiments exactly," Al commented to Sam's expression and actions. "What happens to me, Al?" he asked quietly. "We're not sure," he responded with equal quietness. "You're not sure?" Sam questioned with a hint of confusion. Al was silent for a moment. "So far, all we know is that Zoe has leaped into someone in this time period and is going to kill you and we only know that because history changed so drastically. It was either you accidentally kill yourself or someone else, another leaper, murders you. We don't even have any idea who she's leaped into or where she is." He shook his head. "Ziggy's really scared about this, Sam. And so am I. We all are." Sam took a breath. "Al, if Zoe kills me, there won't be a Project Quantum Leap, will there?" Al shook his head. "No, there won't be and everything that you worked so hard to change will return to exactly the way it was before. That will leave Alia to do whatever evil she has to do," he finished with emphasis. "Alia?" Sam responded with a confused frown. "But we freed Alia." "Sam, if you don't create Project Quantum Leap than you can't be there to free Alia. She'd still be trapped doing another person's evils." He took a breath, consulting the handlink. "Ziggy says that, because of your death, fifteen people die in the next nine years who weren't supposed to. Everything goes completely out of whack! But, because you die, Zoe has no reason to kill you so you AREN'T killed. But then she has a reason to kill you, so you ARE killed." He hit the handlink in frustration. "Al, you're not making any sense." "Tell that to Ziggy," Al told him. "I'm just telling you what she's telling me." Sam thought for a moment. "Wait a minute. Actually, it does make sense." Al huffed. "Well, I'd sure appreciate it if you'd explain it to me." "If I am killed, I won't be able to create Project Quantum Leap," Sam started. Al nodded. "Right." "If I don't create Project Quantum Leap, then I'm not a threat to Zoe and her people which means that they'd have no reason to kill me. So, I won't be killed." Al sighed. "I still don't get it." Sam didn't hear him. "The space-time continuum wouldn't be able to handle such drastic strains, switching from one possible future to another. It could cause Armageddon!" Al frowned. "Wait. What are you talking about?" he asked, a sinking suspicion in his gut. He was hoping Sam wasn't saying what he was thinking. "A time paradox," Sam explained. "One so severe that it could possibly mean the end of our galaxy or even the universe as we know it." Al frowned. "That's what I thought you were saying." He closed his eyes. "Damn! And I bet that computer of theirs knows about it." "If Ziggy knows it, Lothos probably knows it too." He took a deep breath. "I'm not going to let it happen, Al. I need to know where Zoe is." Al shook his head. "Ziggy hasn't a clue. It's all part of the Random Event Theory. Because there's another leaper involved, she can't be certain when or where you're going to be killed because the other leaper keeps changes the odds on us. It's like playing a game of chess without rules and with an invisible opponent: you just don't know what is going to happen until it does happen." Sam frowned at him. "If that's the case, I'm a dead man, Al." Al looked at his best friend with determination. "Not if I can help it, you aren't." He took a deep breath. "Sam, I'd watch my back if I were you. Don't trust anyone because Zoe could be anyone! And I mean anyone! Promise me that you'll do that, Sam." Sam nodded. "I promise." "Good," Al replied firmly. "Now, I've got to go and talk to the other you in the Waiting Room. Maybe he knows something to help us through this. God knows we need all the help we can get!"