From: akulsum@aol.com (AKulsum) Newsgroups: alt.tv.quantum-leap.creative Subject: QL: Window 1/? Date: 10 Sep 1996 18:26:54 -0400 Message-Id: <514pve$s46@newsbf02.news.aol.com> "Window to the Future" pt. I All was calm at the project. Tina snapped at her gum as she powered down the console. Sam had finally leaped. Al came out of the Imaging Chamber looking like something the cat wouldn't drag in. This last leap had really taken it out of him, and it looked as if he was finally going to get the opportunity to catch up on some of that well deserved and much needed rest. His apricot suit, usually immaculate with the seal of a perfectionist, was wrinkled and sagging with the rest of him. Al tossed the handlink on top of the console and looked at Tina. She knew he had to be tired when he could look at _her_ with a blank gaze. She figured that if Al owed her nothing else, he owed both her and her tight skirt thanks for the energy to make it through the last 36 hours. "Al, I-" "Admiral!" Gooshie's shout echoed in the chamber causing Al to wince, sapping him of the energy even to form an angered reponse. "Admiral," he continued in a more controlled voice, "we have someone outside you might want to meet." "Does it have to be now?" It was Verbeena who spoke, not Al. She had come up behind him and knew how stubborn he could be about his health. Not even Dr. Beeks had cause to worry this time, though. "No, it does _not_," Al interjected, not worrying about if it was or not. All he knew was that he was really more emotionally tired as opposed to physically tired. Hours of watching Sam work his way through a minefield to rescue a child was almost more than he could bear. "Gooshie, I don't care who it is: sign it, or send it away. And if it's _my_ signature you need, forge it!" "But it's the new government liason. And she needs to talk to you immediately about the new budget requests you recently sent in." Gooshie twisted his hands anxiously, waiting for another outburst. "I don't care. She can wait. If she likes, you can put her up in one of our extra rooms for the night. Now, I am going to bed." And with that, Al stormed out of the control room and up two flights to his room. As he showered, he worried. *I can't do much more of this,* he thought as he rubbed himself dry. *If it's not one thing, it's another. I'll deal with it in a few hours.* And with those troubling thoughts in his head, he slipped into an uneasy sleep. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- A mere four hours later, Tina decided that Al might be ready to tackle the problems at hand, and perhaps the promise of a workout later on might get him up and moving. His kind of workout, of course. That kind of went without saying. She went into his room without ringing the bell, even though she knew that usually irritated him. Al had begun to worry a bit that their relationship was leading to yet another marriage. He really didn't have to worry, though...she was no more ready to settle down than he. To her surprise, the light was on and Al was pacing in the room, still wearing the same clothes he had been wearing earlier. "Al?" He stiffened, but did not turn around. "Al," she continued, determined to keep the concern out of her voice, "honey, didn't you sleep?" "Of course I did." His back was still to her and his tone indicated he was prepared for more questions and perhaps a verbal attack. Tina hesitated. Finally, Al turned to meet her gaze. "But you're still wearing the same clothes," Tina persisted, confused by his reaction. Finally, he smiled. "Yeah, well, I was too tired to change, really, and I only woke up a moment ago." He was lying. Tina could tell; she always could. But, knowing Al's temper, she didn't persist. "Well...OK. That government official is waiting for you in conference room B. She's been waiting there and she, like, _sent_ me to get you. Says she's tired of waiting for you. I think this may be big, Al." Al kept his distance from her as he crossed the room to the door. "Lead the way!" Puzzled, and a little hurt, Tina walked by him all the way to the conference room. He usually didn't need to have her there like that, but she sensed an uncertainty she wasn't used to sensing in Al and she stayed with him without comment. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ Senator Marci Reed looked up as the door opened and that bimbo walked in with a rather uncertain looking, short man. *_This_ cannot be the Admiral Calavicci that I have heard so much about!* she thought to herself as he crossed the room and seated himself across from her. Tina closed the door without comment and left. For a few moments, the only sound in the room was the anxious clicking of Tina's heels as she walked down the hall away from the room. Curiously, Al seemed more comfortable in the uneasy silence than he had when he first entered the room. Finally, he seemed willing to break the silence that the senator had let lie. "Forgive me, Senator," he said with a sly grin as he eyed her, "but I have not been myself lately." He laughed a little at that comment, but the senator didn't share his amusement. "Ah....what was it you were here to see me about?" Marci's cold tone held all the reproach for wasted time that etiquette would not allow her to express openly. "Admiral, I have been waiting four hours for you to meet with me. After I was so rudely confined to this room, I would like you to tell me exactly where all of this money is going. It is obviously not going to personel expenses, otherwise you could have sent someone else to take your nap for you." She held up her hand to forestall the inevitable protest. "Admiral, please tell me how it can be that you have been able to effectively run this project for over five years, and I use the word 'effectively' only to give the temporary benefit of the doubt, and now suddenly you need an extra-" she referred to the paper in a manner that clearly indicated that she did not need to "-five hundred thousand dollars a year." Al snorted, "what's an extra five hundred grand in the giant scheme of things?" "It's money that has to come from someplace. Now, all you have to do is show me the figures and explain exactly why you need this money." Al shifted in his seat as if it was suddenly too small to sit comfortably in. "I'm giving myself a raise," he said suddenly with new inspiration. The senator turned loose another glare. If the admiral thought this was the way to win her good graces, he had another thing coming. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ The light of quantum fire died away, leaving no other sound but an unearthly hum which sounded, somehow, familiar. It was only years of never being able to sleep comfortably through the night that alerted him to the change of surroundings and woke him. He was lying on the floor, on a very hard floor. A metal chair was in the corner of the room, but otherwise, the room was empty. Al Calavicci rose slowly to his knees, and then his feet. He swayed unsteadily and grabbed the arm of the chair for support. A pounding headache that he didn't remember having when he went to sleep plagued him and brought a few scattered memories through his mind. He was in his quarters, asleep. Sam had just leaped out of.....of.....well, it wasn't really important. He had just leaped out of someplace and Al was going to bed. He was apprehensive about doing so because of the government representative and- Al snapped to attention. He remembered he had just requested additional funds for his new project and the liason was there to approve, or reject the request. He clung to that one thought, praying it would keep him conscious. Not only was he still exhausted, but nausea had added itself to his headache and he wasn't feeling in the best of conditions. A door so well camouflaged with the wall that he hadn't even noticed it before slid open with a barely perceptible hiss. A dark man in a colorful ensemble entered and glanced down at the smaller man. "Awake? Too bad." With that, he pulled out a small handgun and hit Al with the handle, collapsing him back into darkness.