Organization: Penn State University Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 12:20:34 EDT From: Marshall Ryan Maresca Message-Id: <93203.122035MRM122@psuvm.psu.edu> Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative Subject: Timestorm, Part 1 (repost) Lines: 90 Hey, kids, I'm back (kind of), and am FINALLY putting up more of TimeStorm. Aren't you glad? Of course. I'm reposting part one so you can refresh your memories. Later! Marsh TIMESTORM Part One The fire and lightning filling Sam's body settled, as he was once again dropped somewhere in space in time. "Odd," he thought as he was coming in, "That didn't feel quite right." Sam found himself in a chair, strapped in, with various wires connected all over his body. Memories of Jesus Ortega filled his mind. "Not again. Oh, God, not again!" Sam yelled out. He thrashed and pulled, but the straps were holding him in too well. "Success!" yelled a voice from behind him, "I did it!" "Who are you?" asked Sam, "What are you doing to me?" He started to look around. This was not a prison execution chamber, that was for sure. He was surrounded by electronic equipment, plus papers with scribbled equations on them scattered about the room. Suddenly, a man came into his view. The man was dreadfully excited. He was young, perhaps thirty, but his appearance made him look older. He was skinny, even gaunt, and his fingers were bony. His hair was greasy and disheveled, and he had a patchy growth of whiskers on his face. His eyes looked immensely tired, yet were filled with over- exuberant glee. He was, on the whole, unpleasant, but Sam recognised his appearance since it was one both he and Al had had on more than one occasion when they were pushing the Project with everything they had. "I did it. I brought you in" "What do you mean?" asked Sam, warily, "I've been in this damn chair all day." "Don't be a fool, Doctor Beckett," said the man, "And don't treat me like one. I've finally snagged you out of the streams of time. I've been waiting for you for some time." "Oh boy." *************** "What do you mean you lost him, Ziggy?" asked Al. "Just that, Admiral," Ziggy's cool voice responded, "I was tracking him though the time streams, and he was moving with 97.4% probability to somewhere in Florida in 1976, when there was an energy surge and he dropped out." "Did he leap outside his lifetime again?" asked Al. "The probability of that is a mere 1.3%. I think something else has occured." "Then what? Dammit, Ziggy, give me a theory at least!" "I think Doctor Beckett has been... timenapped." "Timenapped? Ziggy, that's the silliest thing I've ever heard!" "It is the best answer I can come up with, Admiral, and I give its probability at 76.3%. In addition, someone has just arrived in the waiting room. Since I cannot sense Doctor Beckett anywhere in the past, questioning the Leaper may be out only method of locating him." *************** "I'm sure you are full of questions, Doctor," said the man, "But at the moment, I cannot answer them." He went over to a monitor, and looked at it for a bit, "Ah, yes... excellent. Excellent, indeed." He went back to Sam, "You will have to forgive me for being a rude host, for the moment, at the very least." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a hypodermic needle, which he injected into Sam. Sam tried to struggle again, but in a moment he was unable to move. The man undid the straps and wires, and took Sam out of the chair. He carried him to another part of the room, where he handcuffed him to a pipe in the wall. Sam's paralysis passed in a few minutes, but it didn't do him any good. He couldn't get free. The strange man had gone off somewhere, and was now returning, carrying a limp female form. "What are you going to do with her?" asked Sam. "Target body, Doctor," said the man, "Like the one you are in now." Instinctively, Sam glanced around for a mirror, but found nothing. The man had strapped the girl into the chair the same way Sam had been. The man began running around, making adjustments on his equipment, powering things up. Sam could feel a slight, indistinct tug on himself as the girl's body started to glow with Quantum light. The glow grew brighter and brighter, then flashed, and settled again, and someone else was sitting there. Sam's eyes went wide. "Alia!"