Message-ID: Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 20:44:00 +0000 From: Heather Markham Subject: Aliquantum Salio - Chapters 4-6 "ALIQUANTUM SALIO" by Heather Markham CHAPTER FOUR "Mulder, what took you so long. What's with the cab, where's your car?" Sam was well used to making on the spot excuses, he shrugged, "I had to take it in, something wrong with the brakes." She gave him a pained expression, "Come on let's go." Scully moved to the passenger side of the car and got in. Sam climbed into the drivers seat next to her. He turned to look at her, smiled and said, weakly, "I guess this means I'm driving, huh!" Scully gave him a searching glance and replied, "Don't you always." "Yeah, I guess so." Sam felt very uncomfortable, firstly, he didn't yet know where he was supposed to be going and secondly, because he felt that Scully probably knew Mulder extremely well and it might be hard to keep his true identity from her. Sam turned on the ignition and edged the car into the traffic, he silently wished that Al was with him and could tell where he was supposed to be going. Scully sat quietly beside him for a few minutes, then turned to him with a quizzical grin on her face, "Mulder....are you sure you're alright this morning." "Yeah, I guess so. Why?" Sam couldn't think of anything better to say.....he thought he would just wait and see where the conversation led him. Scully was still studying his face, "Well, it's just that you're driving and I haven't told you what we're supposed to be doing and where we're going yet." Sam, suddenly felt rather stupid, his face reddened slightly. "Well, Dana, I thought you sounded in a hurry. You said you would fill me in on the way." Scully's face changed and her jaw dropped a little. "Mulder.....you called me Dana! You only call me that when there is something wrong....is it something to do with last night? Is it something to do with Samantha...do you want to tell me about it?" Sam felt even more uncomfortable than before. He squirmed a little in his seat. He had obviously made quite a faux pas. He assumed they were close enough to call each other by their first names. He was positive he had judged their relationship to be one that was closer than just ordinary working partners. He struggled to find the right words to answer to her. He remembered that Al had said something about his sister Samantha, being kidnapped when he was little but why would he still be thinking about that and how much would Scully know about it. He looked away from her and out of the window. "Sorry, Scully. I guess I'm not feeling myself today. I just had a rough night that's all. Too many bad dreams....I didn't sleep too good." he flustered, at least that statement was true. He hoped that would be a good enough reply and thought that perhaps it would be better if he didn't engage in too much conversation until he had found out more about Mulder, as he now was. Scully turned to him, her eyes soft and sympathetic, she touched his hand gently but briefly. "Well, if you're sure you're alright now, I guess I better fill you in on the details. I've booked us onto an early morning commercial flight to New Mexico. So you'd better take the next intersection to the air port. Sam glanced quickly over at Scully as he drove along and enquired, "Well, what's the problem this time. What's Langly gotten himself into now?" "Byers dropped this file round early this morning. He was more than a little concerned for Langly's safety." Scully opened a folder she had been carrying, withdrew a few photos and some typed notes. She Looked at them while she spoke, "Langly and one of the Lone Gunmen's contacts, a man called Boris Churnik, were following up on some information about UFO sightings and strange aerial lights out at a location in the desert." she scanned the map reference Byers had given her. "You know, it's not all that far from the Los Alamos military air-base." Scully looked at Sam waiting for a typical Mulder comment but when none came she continued "That's one of the reasons that Byers is concerned. They took Langly's trailer-van and went down to investigate the area two days ago. After arriving, they were supposed to phone in every six hours. They lost contact with them eighteen hours ago. The last time Langly contacted Byers or Frohike, he told them they were going to check out a government research station or something that they'd found. He told them he'd taken some pretty weird photos." Sam took a guess that Langly must belong to some kind of UFO investigation group and as such was probably used to getting himself in and out of all kinds of tight spots. "Langly is used to looking after himself." said Sam, then he asked casually, "Where exactly were these sightings and what do you know about the research station." Scully answered without looking up. "It's at a place near Stallions Springs, close to the place where they tested the first atomic bomb....the actual place is called Stallions Gate. I've heard rumours before that there's some sort of secret government research facility hidden out there. It could be the research station he spoke of." Sam suddenly stiffened with shock and broke out in a cold sweat as he remembered that was where the Project was situated. His mind raced as he thought about the implications of this leap! Surely, they couldn't be investigating his own project....Project Quantum Leap..... That would certainly explain some of the strange lights! Scully shuffled the photos and held them over for Sam to see and continued, "These are some of the photos Langly and Churnik were following up on. These are of the glowing balls of light that were observed streaking across the sky above the desert just to the east of the town." Scully studied the pictures and then scanned through the notes. She then pointed out the photo of the mountain out-crop where the Project was located. "This one appears to show some kind of blue lightening emanating from a mountain. You know, Mulder, it does look like a perfect place to site a secret installation. Although, these photographs don't show any signs of a facility." Sam glanced over at the pictures. He recognized the area of the Project immediately. It was a photo taken from the other side of the mountain, the dark side as it was often referred to. He swallowed and tried to act as nonchalantly as possible. "Could just be lightening, Scully. The heat out there in the desert can cause pretty weird weather conditions." Scully continued to study the photos. "I'm not so sure about that Mulder, I've never seen lightening like that before. Look, there are no clouds in the sky." Sam was desperately trying to think, should he try and stop her...the F.B.I. from investigating the Project. Was that why he was here? Was he really here to save Langly or Churnik, or was the leap for himself? Was it a God-given chance for him to somehow get home. His thoughts and feelings were performing cartwheels in his head. Where was Al, why hadn't he come back yet? Ziggy must have known about this all along, perhaps that's why she wasn't letting on too much about this leap. Sam tilted his head heaven-wards and mouthed a silent plea. "Oh Al, please where are you.....what should I do?" Scully brought him from his private thoughts. She was looking closely at him, she reached over and slowly brushed the back of her left hand gently across his cheek. "Mulder you really don't look too good. You've gone very pale, you're having cold sweats. You're not feeling ill, are you? Do you want me to drive?" she asked anxiously. Sam's mouth had gone very dry, he tried to swallow, cleared his throat and answered "No, I'm okay.....really...really, I'm fine." He decided it was best if he just went along with things until Al arrived and could advise him. He didn't want Scully to become any more suspicious about his behaviour than she already was. He forced himself to brighten a little, tried to appear more relaxed. He loosened himself up a little and settled into a more comfortable driving position. "I was just thinking, wondering, the photos of the aerial spheres of glowing lights are not at the same location as that mountain out-crop at Stallion's Gate...they may not be connected. The government facility, may be doing some kind of research that's causing the electrical phenomena. The other lights could be the military, testing some kind of new air-craft. They do tend to do that out in the desert area, you know that, Scully." Scully raised her eyebrows and looked across at Mulder. A smile began to spread across her face. Sam gazed at her briefly, he noticed how really lovely she looked when she smiled. She saw something in his eyes, tilted her head then said, "So now who's the sceptic?" That last line said a lot. Sam's quick mind told him that, that coupled with the fact that there were several weird posters on the walls back at Mulder's apartment, plus what Al had said about the real Mulder back in the Waiting Room raving on about being abducted by aliens, must mean that he was the believer in this partnership and Scully was usually the sceptic! He grinned broadly at Scully and forced a slight chuckle and said, "Just testing, Scully" She pulled a face at him and settled back into the seat. They arrived at the airport in good time. Sam had managed to act the part of Mulder fairly well for the remainder of the car journey......well, he'd had plenty of experience and practice at that. How many years had it been now, how many leaps had he made......he couldn't even begin to wonder at that and he certainly couldn't remember...he wouldn't even try to. Sam thought he could put the spare time to good use and would freshen up in the wash room, also hoping that Al might choose that particular opportunity to show up again and impart some more knowledge of this leap to him. Sam called to Scully "Er...will you excuse me a minute, I'm just going to....er...to freshen up before we board the plane." Scully looked over her shoulder and grinned broadly at him and joked, "I don't know Mulder...I can't take you anywhere!....Okay, I'll go and pick up the tickets, but don't be too long." He found the men's room, pushed open the door and found it to be empty, he was just about to check whether the stalls were vacant, when there was a sudden explosion of brilliant blue-white light emanating from a door which seemed to have opened in space and time, right in front of him. The walls of the wash room seemed to float away into a grey mist, the floor felt as if it were vibrating. The figure of a small, thin, grey gangly-armed humanoid was silhouetted by the blinding light. Sam gasped and stepped back as if pushed by a strong physical force. A sudden feeling of terror and panic rose from the pit of his stomach and wanted to scream it's way out of his throat. He tried but found that his voice was paralysed by an illogical fear. He threw up an arm to shield himself from the sight and the feeling. Al suddenly appeared and seemed to walk out through the same door, walked right through the image of the alien creature. In an instant the apparition and the light vanished. The fear began to recede in cold waves down his spine as he caught sight of his best friend. Al looked anxiously at Sam and moved close to him as if to catch hold of him. It was an automatic reflex. His face drooped into a look of helplessness as he suddenly remembered he couldn't help steady his friend. "Sam, What ever's up? You look like you've just seen a ghost or somethin'?" Sam swayed, caught hold of the rim of the sink behind him, gasped again and gulped down deep breaths of air. Small pieces of someone else's memories... Mulder's memories leaked into his mind. "Al, didn't you see that, couldn't you feel it?" Al looked at a loss. He'd never seen Sam appear so shaken up before. "I'm not sure what you mean. What in Gods name did you see?" Sam breathed hard, turned away and stared at the reflection of Mulder in the mirror over the basin. "Al, I have a sister." Al chewed his cigar and searched Sam's expression reflected at him in the mirror. "Yes, Sam, you do have a sister...her name is Katie. Do you remember anything about her?" he asked gently. "Al, she was abducted by aliens. I watched her being taken by them." Sam spun around to face his friend. The older man saw a terrible look of pleading, guilt and remorse in his best friends eyes. Sam gasped again, he was still shaking. "I couldn't stop them Al....I tried....but I couldn't stop them! How could I let them take her?" he implored. Al frowned and put out a hand as if to console him. "Damn." he muttered quietly under his breath. He stopped and let his hand drop to his side. "No, Sam, she wasn't abducted by aliens. Where on earth did you get that idea?" Sam's expression changed, he looked totally perplexed. He pulled himself upright and answered "But I saw her, Al. I saw them!" "No Sam, you're wrong. She's all grown up now. Don't you remember?....Think Sam.....Don't you remember?" Sam shook his head, a sudden shiver, an after-shock tremble ran through him. He tried to explain what he had just seen, it wasn't easy. Sam turned on the cold tap and splashed water onto his face. Tiny droplets of water dripped from his brow onto his eyelashes, he blinked them back as he stumbled across to the roller towel. He buried his face in the material and dried himself off. "Al, there's something very wrong here. Who's memories am I getting? Who's memories are filling my mind....my own or...Mulder's? Earlier, when I was was alone in Mulder's apartment I looked out of the window and recognized Washington D.C. Were they my memories. Have I been to Washington Al?" "Yes, you have been to Washington, once during a leap and several times as yourself...before we got the Project off the ground." Then Al suddenly realized the connection between the alien encounter and the kidnap story in Mulder's file. "Jeezus...I think I know what's happening Sam. I think Mulder believes his sister was kidnapped, abducted by aliens! I know it sounds off the wall but this guys history is pretty weird. Perhaps, that's why he's still searching for her after all this time.....I think he feels guilty that he didn't stop it from happening. Although, it was hardly his fault, he couldn't have done anything to prevent it...he was only twelve at the time. Let me check with Ziggy but I think you're getting Mulder's memories. It's happened before." Al looked down at his feet and looked a little awkward. "Sorry kid, I guess, you wouldn't remember that either!" He took out the handlink, his fingers danced over the brightly coloured keys. The colours flashed. He looked back up at Sam, his brows knitted in a deep frown, "Ziggy say's you're suffering from a personality and memory merge with Mulder. You're psychosynergizing with him!" Sam pulled himself together and asked anxiously, "How can that be?" Al took a slow intake of breath and replied. "Mulder has an extremely dominant personality. Ziggy says, she's detected that he has a very strong bioplasmic field frequency.....in other words he has a very strong personality aura." Al paused. Sam narrowed his eyes and nodded for Al to continue. "You remember I said our new arrival freaked out...Well, first off he thought we were all aliens and we'd abducted him." Sam interjected. "That figures." Al went on, "Anyway, when I arrived back he accused me and Beeksie of working for some covert government organization. He thought we were trying to brainwash him. He became quite disturbed and aggressive. We thought we had him quietened down but then he became agitated again. We.....well, in the end we had to sedate him..." Sam was glaring at him. "You did what!" Al quickly added "Yeah, I know you don't like us doing that to our guests but we had to do it, we've done it before. We thought it would give him a chance to settle down. There are things Ziggy can't find out about this leap and I need some answers from Mulder. You're going to need all the help you can get on this leap, Sam. It was the only way. Unfortunately, the dosage of the sedative was quite strong." Al looked up at Sam apologetically, "I really am sorry Sam. We had to do it. At least it should give him the time he needs to re-adjust, time to sleep. Verbena said he needed sleep real bad." Sam considered what Al had told him, then questioned. "So why am I getting flashes of his memory if he's asleep." Al tapped onto the keys of the handlink again. A pained expression on his face, he then unceremoniously thumped the side of it. It squealed in reply. "Ziggy say's Mulder's mind is so strong, it doesn't stop exerting itself even when sedated. In fact sedating him seems to have the reversed reaction.....sorry kid....his mind is trying to assert itself. It's some kind of defence mechanism against the threat of brainwashing. God knows where he learned to do that......you're picking up on it. Your masons are attuned very closely to his." Al gave his friend a look of compassion. "I don't quite know how to tell you this but his personality, might get stronger. You're going to have to control it. Don't lose too much of yourself to Mulder. You must keep a check on yourself. I know it's going to be hard, Sam but you've done it before." Al stopped, looked around and listened to the noises coming from beyond the washroom. "Hey, you're at the airport, where are you going, Sam? I know I'm usually the one to tell you what's going on but this leap is real weird. Tell me everything you've learned from Scully about this case case." Sam rubbed at his eyes and began pacing the floor, "Ohhh Al, you're never going to believe this.....I'm here to search for two guys...er, their names are Langly and Churnik.....they've gone missing while investigating reports of UFO's and strange lights.......at Stallion's Gate.....they've gone down to the Project! I'm.....we're going down to New Mexico, to investigate Project Quantum Leap!!" Al's jaw dropped, his mouth opened and his cigar fell from his lips and promptly disappeared into thin air, "You've got to be kidding.....no, you're not are you! Why in God's name didn't you say so before? Does that mean you'll be paying us a little visit?" Al's expression changed from one of surprise, his eyes darkened as he thought about the possibility of his words, "Aw Sam, that's great news for you but I don't like the sound of anyone coming out to investigate the Project, particularly, the F.B.I. it could mean big trouble! It could stir up a whole kettle of rotten fish. So, what'cha gonna to do." "I don't know what I'm going to do, yet. Al, I think you'd better go back and do whatever you can to wake up Mulder. I don't think he's likely to tell you much more than I already know....feel, about him but he may be able to tell you something about Langly and Churnik. Does Ziggy have access to any more information about the type of cases Mulder usually works on." Al pressed the handlink keys once again. "Er....yeah, apparently he's assigned to special cases....ya know the sorta thing, the paranormal, UFO's and stuff. These cases are what they call X-Files, he was ranting on about that back in the Waiting Room. He seemed to think someone.... that we, wanted to close his unit down. Unfortunately, most of what we want to know is classified because of the X-Files. I can tell you this though. Something strange was definitely going on in his life." Sam stopped pacing and turned to Al, "Yeah, I've got a pretty good idea what!" he paused, held out his hands and implored "If I'm going to be able to help those two men, I'll need more information. I need to know exactly why I'm here....is it for me or for Scully or is it just to play hero again?" "It's weird Sam, Ziggy's acting real odd. She keeps insisting that she has insufficient data to prove the ends to this leap." Sam looked worried. "It's not like Ziggy to admit defeat so easily." "Yeah, well, believe me kid, she's doing it with poor grace! The last time I made a suggestion to her she went all peevish on me and shut down for half an hour! You'd better quickly fill me in with the rest of the details." Sam continued to give him all the information Scully had told him. When he'd finished Al was still visibly shaken. Sam stared at his old friend, there was a look of desperation in his eyes. "Al, do you think there's the slightest possibility that this leap is for me....a way for me to get back to the Project and correct the retrieval process?" Al had to admit to himself that the thought hadn't crossed his mind. Judging by past leaps it seemed an unlikely situation but then this wasn't a usual situation or leap, who was he to guess? He was feeling really sorry for Sam, all he could do was shrug. It really was anybody's guess. Sam looked away. "No, I guess that would be too much to ask...but it won't stop me trying...at least I have that thought to cling to." then he added, "Even if Ziggy can't give you a definite reason for me being here, at least try to coax her into speculating. Is it to rescue Langly and the other guy, or is it for me to get home. I have to know....Please Al!" Al nodded sympathetically. "Okay, I'll go back and get with Ziggy and I'll ask Beeksie if she can try and waken Mulder. I don't guarantee success. He looked as if he really needed the rest. She might not approve of bringing him round. Hang on in there, kid, I'll give it my best shot. I'll get back to you as soon as me and Ziggy can figure out somethin'. Oh, don't say anything about this to Dana Scully. She maybe a scientist but I get the strong feeling she's not a believer. You have to go on and convince her that you are Mulder and that there's nothing wrong....well, no more than usual. Oh and Sam, don't make a bee-line straight for the Project Centre, I know it's going to be hard but for the time being, you'll have to try and keep our lady investigator well away from here...there...from the Project, if that's possible." He gave Sam a small wave, forced his frown into a smile, although he was actually very worried about his friend, said, "See ya, kid." turned, opened the Chamber door with the handlink controls, stepped through into the unreflective glare and was gone. Sam pulled himself together, straightened his tie, made himself look more presentable and left the washroom. Scully was waiting for him out side. "Mulder? I very nearly came to look for you. You were in there a long time, what on earth were you doing?" Sam allowed a little of Mulder's mannerisms and humour to come through, he tilted his head, grinned and replied, "Do you really want a blow by blow account, Scully." Scully pulled a face and smiled back. "No...I do not. Oh, come on were going to miss the flight if we don't get going." With that they both hurriedly made their way through the bustle of the airport, to the plane. CHAPTER FIVE Sam and Dana, boarded the plane and found their aisle seats. The take off was pretty uneventful, as soon as they were able to unbuckle their seat belts, Dana began reading through various notes and papers she'd brought with her. Sam made himself as comfortable as he could. He settled back and closed his eyes, he still felt drained. He was just on the edge of sleep when Al appeared in the seat behind him. He leaned forward and spoke into Sam's ear, "Wake up Sam, I've got somethin' for you." The sudden words, startled him from his peaceful rest. He opened his eyes and turned to his friend expectantly. Al looked around the plane, "Mmm, she should have got window seats, the view as you fly in across the desert is quite somethin'." Sam, surruptitiously looked across at Dana, he shifted in his seat, so she couldn't see him whispering to Al, "So, what have you got for me?" he asked hopefully. "Ziggy gives a sixty-eight point seven percent chance, that you are definitely here to save Langly from some fate worse than death.....we couldn't find anything out about Churnik...Ziggy wasn't giving any odds on that one. Oh, Yeah, we've also found out that you....or rather, Mulder and Scully have been working together for five years. The two of you have a terrific working relationship but you've never actually got it together. They've never...well, you know, taken the friendship beyond that of purely professional. God knows why not, they seem pretty suited. Verbena says, they have pretty strong emotional ties with each other, they've been through a hell of a lot together since they first became partners. I don't think it would take much to push them together," He paused to gesture with his hands, "just a little bit of expressed warmth and emotion from Mulder and they could be real close. So, be careful Sam, don't do anything you might regret later. Your here to save Langly not to start a romance between her and you." At that moment a young attractive, rather curvaceous air hostess began pushing a small trolley up the aisle, from which she was serving snacks and drinks. Al's head turned and his eye's swivelled to watch her. His eyes widened and sparkled brightly at her approach. He ogled her and smacked his lips, "Oooh Sam, she's cute. Are you hungry? 'Cos, she's serving itty bitty snacks and stuff. Boy! Look at the size of those cream puffs! Awww, Sam, it's times like this that I wish I wasn't a hologram. I'd love to get my hands on those!" Sam, looked over at the tray of proffered goodies. "Al, she's not serving cream puf..... Al! Get your sleazy little mind out of the sewer and try at least to keep your mind on the problems in hand." Al was still leering, he gave Sam a roguish grin, "Yeah, well, that's exactly what I was doing. I was just thinking about keeping my hands on something." Sam rolled his eyes, gave his friend a sharp, long suffering look and cut him short. "Do you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Langly and the other guy? It would be very helpful if Ziggy could tell me where I could find them." Al, reluctantly drew his attention from the hostess, "Party pooper," he muttered, as he tapped at the hand-link, "No...nothing on them yet." "Well, perhaps you'd better go back and see if you can find out anything" implored Sam, then he asked "Why did you come back, if you didn't have anything for me?" "I just thought I'd keep you company, keep you outa trouble." Al turned and peeked over at Dana. Sam caught his meaning. He grinned lopsidedly, "You.....help to keep me outa trouble, sheesh, that'll be the day. Oh, and for your information, I don't intend to get into anything with Dana!" Al grinned back at him and gave him the look that said, `yes, Sam, whatever you say, Sam'. "Okay, Sammy boy, I can take a hint. You take advantage of the rest of this trip and get some rest. It takes about four hours to get all the way out...here...." Al's holographic image started to waver, he began to fade in and out. Sam couldn't make out the last few words. Al's expression, what he could see of it, was one of extreme annoyance, he was tapping furiously at the handlink and appeared to be yelling at someone. Then suddenly he faded out completely and vanished. Sam wondered what on earth was going on back at the project, Al had never faded out before. He began to get a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something just wasn't right, he hoped it wasn't anything too serious. He would be needing Al to come back with more information as soon as he had it. He closed his eyes once more and settled back trying to calm his jangled nerves. He decided it would be best to do as Al had suggested and use the time to catch up on a little rest...if he could? Sam wriggled in his seat. Small commercial planes certainly weren't built with too much comfort in mind. He'd been sitting in the seat for the best part of four hours, despite the discomfort of the seating, he had managed to catch up on a little well deserved sleep. Although he was now fully awake, he kept his eyes closed and pretended to sleep on. He needed the time to sort out things in his mind. For the first part of the journey, Mulder's memories had returned to invade his thoughts and dreams. He tried to separate the flashes of the other man's past from his own swiss-cheesed recollections. Perhaps that was partly why he was receiving so many of Fox's memories, because his own mind retained so few of his own. He had also been picking up on the other man's feelings and personality. Al had told him that he might have problems because of the strength of the other man's character. He had found it harder than he'd expected, to separate his own feelings from those of Mulder's. He now felt he could understand why Mulder had reacted the way he had back at the Waiting Room. During his life, even before he had become a special investigator for the F.B.I. he'd had more than his share of the unexpected......and far more than his fair share of lies! He thought about the information Al had given him, that Ziggy had finally come up with something useful and that he was here to save Langly from some terrible fate. He mused over what his older friend had said about Mulder and Scully's relationship, he must have got the data wrong. He couldn't believe that their friendship was purely a working, professional partnership, one of merely shared mutual concern between colleagues. He was certain there was more to it than that, something far deeper. He could tell that Mulder felt very strongly towards Dana......unless, of course those feelings were his own! His thoughts returned to Al's appearance on the plane and the fact that it had been cut short by something that was happening with Ziggy. Al had faded out during mid-sentence. It had never happened before, He wondered whether it was something to do with the close proximity of the time lines, never-the-less, it had been very disconcerting and was more than a little worrying, especially as that had happened hours ago and Al hadn't reappeared yet! He guessed he would have to persevere on his own until they had got things sorted out. He made a silent plea to the God that had sent him here, a plea to put things right soon or at least to give him some help. From past experience, he considered that it was a prayer which probably wouldn't be answered. Sam opened his eyes, stretched his legs and arms as much as the confined area would allow and yawned, involuntarily. He resigned himself to the fact that he would have to sort things out for himself .....again! With that thought he began to feel more like his old self again. He sighed, glanced at his watch, it was just coming up to one o'clock, he looked across the aisle to where Dana sat. "We should be arriving soon." he said, it was more of a question than a statement. Scully looked back at him and gave him one of her rare smiles. "Well, look who's back with us." she said. He returned the smile broadly, raising his eye brows. She continued, "Well, you have been pretty quiet this trip, not like you at all!" "I was catching up on some sleep but now I'm wide awake and ready to go... and much more like my old self." he replied and winked at her. Scully raised her eyebrows in dismay. There was definitely something different about him this trip but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She let the feeling pass. Sam was absolutely right, the aircraft was just coming in to land. A disembodied voice told the passengers to fasten their seat belts. The plane descended and made a relatively gentle landing. CHAPTER SIX They left the airport in a hired car, Sam drove and after a short discussion on the best route out to Stallions Springs, he settled himself into a comfortable conversation with Scully. She was a fascinating woman and he enjoyed chatting to her. Her scientific mind was an almost equal match for his and he was curious to learn of her opinions on as many subjects as he could. He was curious to learn of her opinions of time travel. Dare he broach the subject. He eased it into the conversation. "Scully, have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel in time? Do you think it would be possible, someday?" Scully frowned as she stared out of the windscreen at the dusty road ahead, a look of thought on her face. "I would have thought you would know my opinions on that subject, especially after the we were involved in the case concerning that alleged time traveller a couple of months ago......Jason Nichols." Sam looked surprised. "We did? I mean, we did, yeah." She pursed her lips and continued, glancing at him side ways as she did so. "It can't be done, at the moment it's not a viable practice. It's beyond the levels of human endurance. No-one could ever survive the extremely high temperatures generated by the active quanta flows. I wrote in my thesis..." Something from Mulder's memories made Sam cut in, to echo her words "You wrote that, common sense may rule out the possibility of time travel but the laws of Quantum Physic's do not. Yes I remember, so how can you rule it out as a possibility?" He allowed her to continue. "I don't completely rule it out. Yes, I concede, that one day, theoretically, it may be possible but we're a very long way off from that time. I know you believe it to be an imminent possibility but I'm not so sure and besides, think of all the implications of time travel." He glanced quickly in her direction, cutting into her reply, "Perhaps, you were more open minded when you were younger." He didn't know why he'd said that, it must have come from Mulder's memories. Suddenly, Al appeared in the back seat of the car, sitting between Sam and Scully. He leaned forward and waved to Sam in the reflection of the rear view mirror. "Hi, ya, Sammy boy!" "Al!" Exclaimed Sam. In sudden reflex he turned slightly to Al. As a consequence, the car swerved across the road a little. Scully shouted to him "Hey, Mulder! Watch where you're going, this is not the kind of place I'd care to get stranded in... What's an Al." she added, as Sam's concentration was brought back to the rocky, scrub lined desert road ahead. He used the line he usually used to get himself out of this frequent predicament. He glanced at Al in the rear view mirror and gave him a sly, impish grin, "I was just about to say a'll be damned if there isn't something annoying buzzing about in the back of the car....I hate mosquitoes!" He brought his right arm up and pretended to swat at something close to the back of his head. Al, scowled and muttered something under his breath which Sam didn't care to hear. Sam continued to talk conversationally. "But what if it were possible. What if someone came up with a way to travel with out having the problems of enduring the extreme temperatures of Quantum Travel. If a way was found so that the time traveller's body was unaffected." "What, you mean, like using a time machine!" She grimaced slightly and gave him that look, the significant one she used as a question mark. "No, not with a time machine. Theoretically, the laws of physics allow for the possibility of one thing to be in two places at once. Have you ever considered what it would be like to trade places with someone else, someone from the past. To live their life for a short time and see the past through their eyes. What if science came up with a way to time travel by transferring and combining, one mind and body into the mind and body of another, in the past! You would be able to witness or alter history as it was being made!" Al, was sitting rigid in the car, his eyes narrowed, his face clearly anxious. He was wagging a finger at Sam and trying to reprimand him. "Don't you go discussing this with her. Stop it Sam...do you hear me. Don't get too involved in the subject!" Sam took no notice, he caught sight of Al's admonishing glare in the mirror and smiled sweetly at him. Scully picked up the debate and continued, "Mulder, that sounds an awful lot like body-snatching, possession, stealing someone's life. I don't care much for the idea of Walk-in's and it sounds as if that's what you're suggesting." Al cut in again, he was really agitated. He waved his hand about, emphasizing every word he spoke by stabbing the lighted end of his well smoked cigar directly at Sam. "Don't say anymore, remember, she's a special investigator. The base may not be a secret but the Project is! You shouldn't tell her anything....uh uh. Remember the Projects got a code one, security level. If you arouse suspicions in her Sam, she's bound to follow them up....especially if you take her out there, er...here. Don't say a word more, nothing Sam, no, nadda, zip, zilch, zero!" He ended the conversation by indicating zip motions at his mouth. Al didn't like the way the conversation was heading at all. He never liked his friend being drawn into this kind of debate and he never, ever liked him to tell anyone, who or what he was, there was always that slight possibility that it could change history and render all Ziggy's data useless. Not that she had anymore data. Things had gotten really weird back at the project. The power kept fluctuating. It had caused more than a few blown circuits, it had even fried a couple of computer chips, thankfully, not in places of extreme importance. Even Al wished this leap would come to an end soon. Sam refused to be silenced, he really wanted to hear the rest of Scully's thoughts on time travel. "Well, these are only thoughts here but what if you were able to enter into someone's life for the better, to help them out of a disastrous situation or to cause them to avert a tragedy? Think of the good you could do!" Scully pursed her lips, a look of consideration spread across her face and then passed. "No, Mulder, that just wouldn't work. How could a time traveller know when someone needed help? If you went back in time to try to help someone out of a particularly lethal or tragic course of events, you would alter history. Therefore, the situation wouldn't have arisen to be recorded in the history books! History wouldn't have recorded a time line in which that person would require help!" It was a good argument, one which Sam found difficult to explain, he couldn't very well discuss the fact that he was a time traveller and that he and Al believed that his journeys were directed and overseen by God or fate or something, to correct mistakes in history! Even someone who had strong beliefs and religious convictions would find that one hard to buy. Al's signal began to break up again, his holographic image wavered, he looked like a TV directors rendition of a dream-sequence. Sam wondered what information he'd come back to tell him but couldn't very well ask him anything, without Scully becoming very suspicious. He guessed if it was really important Al would just have told him and made arrangements to come back at a more opportune time. He nodded his head and said, "Just supposing for the sake of argument that you could trade places with others from the past, would you try it if you could? Would your curiosity for the science of history force you to attempt it?" "No, I don't think so, there would be too many risks involved with an experiment like that. What would happen to the soul...mind...of the person who's body you'd entered. What if something went wrong and they couldn't retrieve you, you couldn't get home! You would have to live their life for evermore. You would be trapped in that piece of history." That struck a particularly painful cord with Sam and he felt a little uncomfortable about it, "Yeah, well, I grant you, there could be problems in the beginnings but all scientific research has its problems and dangers, you know that, but if it was tested and found to be safe......" Scully shook her head, she was in deep thought, staring into space. She took over the conversation before Sam had a chance to finish his sentence. "You know, to be able to travel in time like that, you would have to accelerate the soul or the bioplasmic field of that person through small packets of quanta.....but to do that....." she paused and drew in a deep breath, "you'd need some kind of large accelerator chamber, just to make the leap." At this point Sam's eyebrows were raised as high as they could possibly go without being in danger of disappearing off the top of his forehead and his eyes were sparkling brightly. Al, however, was having a coughing fit and had gone purple in the face. He was desperately trying to stop himself by bouncing up and down and thumping himself on the chest... which wasn't helping! She continued, "But you wouldn't know what would happen in the future, so, if you changed something, you wouldn't know if you had succeeded in your task." "Ah, but what if there was a way to keep you informed. A way for somebody to keep track on your progress without actually coming back and connecting with you physically!" "Well, I suppose, if the aura of your real body was back in the future, an observer could be linked to the frequencies of your mind, aligned with your masons and neurons. I think you'd need some kind of bio-chip neural implant for that though. The observer could appear as a hologram! You know, Mulder, I'm beginning to sound like you." She chuckled to herself as she looked over to him. Al stopped coughing and was listening intently to the conversation. "Sam, she's a genius, she thinks like you. Be careful now. Don't whatever you say, tell her about the existence of the Project, you know the rules, Sam!" Sam was still beaming from ear to ear, he was thoroughly enjoying this. He noticed she had returned to her thoughts once again, he could almost hear her mind mulling things over. "You know, travelling in time using quanta or bioplasmic field transference might mean that you would be limited to travelling only into the past or future." she turned slightly towards him, tilting her head onto one side as she did so, she searched his face for a reaction to her theories. "Imagine a piece of string as being your life time, the ends being your birth and your death, tie the ends into a loop and ball it, everywhere the string touches would represent the days of your life touching each other out of sequence. Therefore, you could travel by leaping from one time to another wherever it touched...backwards and forwards within your life-time." Sam glanced quickly at Al's reflection, both friends faces expressed astonishment but then she threw in her piece de resistance. "It's okay, Mulder, none of this is new thinking. I read it in a science journal written by an eminent quantum physicist...a Doctor Samuel Beckett. Of course this is all theoretical, I don't think it would actually be practical." Al's mouth opened in sheer amazement, the cigar dropped from his mouth for the second time this leap. He ignored the fact and remained in utter shock, however, the cigar must have landed in his lap, his expression changed to a look of sudden panic, as he began flapping about and looking as though he'd just set light to a very important part of his anatomy! "She's read your work!!" he spluttered. "She's heard of you!" Sam was in seventh heaven, at last he'd found someone who knew and understood his theories. "Yeah, I've heard of him, pretty neat guy, huh, Scully." he teased. She smiled back at him, Mulder wasn't generally this communicative of his thoughts, she too, was enjoying this debate. "A genius, yes and a Nobel Prize winner and I believe he was a medical doctor too. I saw him once at a science convention several years ago. He had a brilliant mind, he seemed so fervent in his beliefs in time travel. Then he seemed to drop out of the lime-light. No-one seems to have heard of him for several years. There were a few rumours that he'd had an accident during one of his experiments and that because of it, he'd become some kind of recluse. Others said that he spent all his time on research and rarely left his private laboratories. There was even gossip that he'd entered into a secret government project, that there had been problems and for some reason they kept him hidden. What ever the reason, it's a shame he's not on the science circuits anymore, he had a lot of radical ideas.......I wonder what really happened to him." she added in conclusion. Al's holographic image started to waver and fade in and out again. "Er Sam, Ziggy's having terrible problems back here. I came to tell you that we've been getting strange, unaccountable power spikes...it keeps destabilizing Ziggy's power buffers. Gushie is running a full diagnostic. And if that's not bad enough, Ziggy's really gone and blown a fuse this time...she keeps saying it's all the fault of aliens...I think she must be getting some feed-back from Mulder's mind or somethin'." His attention was suddenly drawn to look down at the handlink. "Hey, Ziggy's giving me somethin' here......the guy's you're looking for," he looked up at Sam in surprise. "We've fou...d....., the...va....in.....a.." The hand-link squealed and screamed, yellow and blue sparks spat from within it. The last Sam saw of Al, he had let the handlink drop from his grasp as if he'd received a shock from it. Suddenly Al's image flickered, he was engulfed by a brilliant blue, white light, his hair seemed to stand on end surrounded by a halo of diffused yellow light, his image was suddenly silhouetted by blue electro static discharge and then he vanished! Sam cursed silently, what had his friend been trying to tell him? Where were Langly and Churnik and how had they located them? His attention was drawn back to earth by the loud rumblings of his stomach. He realized that he hadn't eaten since the snatched mouthful of food he'd grabbed back at the apartment. Scully heard the noise. "Mulder, have you eaten today?" "I guess not." he replied and dipped a hand into his pocket to bring out a handful of sunflower seeds. He began nibbling them and flicking the husks out of the window. A large billboard came into view, `Stallion Springs Welcomes You'. The dusty terrain gave way to a more built up area. He reached into his pocket and pulled out another handful of seeds, as he did so, the match-book he'd put there earlier that morning, dropped from his pocket. Scully reached down and picked it up, opened the flap on the small packet and studied it, "Look at this...where did you get this?" she asked. "Oh, I picked it up from in front of my apartment door this morning. I guessed someone must have dropped it or pushed it under there sometime last night." "Why didn't you mention it before, did you look at it then?" she quizzed. "No, not properly." He shrugged, looking rather sheepish. She looked at him with a slight look of surprise and concern. "Mulder, you don't usually ignore things like that! What is it with you today? Look, here... the address and header is for `The Mirage Motel and Diner' at Stallions Gate, bit of a coincidence, wouldn't you say! God, Mulder, I don't understand what's gotten into you today. Are you sure you're okay? Your not going down with something weird are you? Oh, no....tell me you haven't been trying out any illegal substances again?" He gave her a weak smile, "No! No, of course not. Sorry, Scully, I guess I wasn't thinking very clearly this morning. I told you I wasn't my usual self, didn't I. What can I say?" he paused to glance at the match book, "Is there anything else on it?" She turned the match book over. "There's a number written on the back....1121...does that make sense to you?" Sam shrugged "No, it doesn't seem to ring any bells but I know the diner, it's on the other side of town. Let's hope we find out more when we get there." he paused and added "You must be hungry too. Look, I don't think we're going to find out much here," he gestured at the large, expansive, tinsel town. "I doubt whether Langly would have stopped off here, this place is too big, let's head out to the diner, we can eat there. If I remember rightly they do a mean batch of barbecued ribs and a terrific pumpkin pie...almost as good as Mom used to make!" he remembered the taste and smell of his mom's blue ribbon, winning, pumpkin pie, it made his mouth water. "Okay, whatever you say, Mulder......I didn't know you'd been out this way before. You never said!" "It was a long time ago." he replied, "Anyway, you don't know everything about me, you know." He smiled at her as he said it. She had a strange feeling about him, something she was picking up on but couldn't describe. His mannerisms and expressions seemed a little different. She gave him a smile in return and said "No, I guess I don't." Although, it had in fact only been a little over two years, it seemed a life time ago since he was last here. Parts of his swiss-cheesed memory were returning. Being so close to the project seemed to be having unusual effect of helping him fill in some of the gaps in his mind. He thought about the diner, he knew it well. It had been a favourite watering-hole and pick-up joint of Al's. He'd spent quite a bit of time there himself, at the beginning, when they were just getting Project Quantum leap off the ground....he sighed...those were the days. Days when he was home, days when he'd actually had spare time, time to take short vacations and visit his family. If this leap worked for him, then maybe, just maybe, he might be able to find a way to get back home. He said another silent prayer to the God that had sent him here. He took the match book back from Scully and tucked it back into his coat pocket. The numbers 1121 had sounded familiar to his swiss cheesed memory but he hadn't wanted to say anything to Scully yet, he had the idea it was somehow linked with the Project. -- Heather Markham