Review by MJ Cogburn AKA "QLDamsel"

Actually, since it took me a day and a half to read with breaks throughout for reality, it held my attention well. It was the disappearance of Sammy Jo that did it. I wanted and needed to know what happened to her. Where did a person of her high IQ go? What would she do? The answer and her predicament surprised me but with the background that she missed it did make a lot of sense. Kudos to a good read. Yes, the ending is predictable, however, how it leads up to it is very well written. If you get a chance… curl up on the couch one lazy afternoon and read it! Most definitely a recommender!

ISBN # 1-57297-231-9

Printing History: Boulevard Edition / July 1997

Cover Art by: Stephen Gardner

Dedications: This book was dedicated to the memory of Thorne B.

A Boulevard Book / Published by arrangement with MCA Publishing Rights, a Division of Universal Studios, Inc.

Summary from back cover:

Dr. Donald Harding, theoretical physicist, believes only in science. His son Travis believes in the unbelievable.

It’s March of 1986 when Sam leaps into Harding, who has come to Loch Ness, where his son is attempting to prove to him the existence of the fabled monster. Ziggy says that there is a fifty percent chance that Sam is there to keep the two from becoming permanently estranged.

But Sam suspects that there is something more to the leap – something concerning Travis Harding’s girlfriend, an oddly familiar young woman who calls herself Dixie Fuller.

Sam is right. He is not at Loch Ness for Donald Harding’s son – he is there for his own daughter. And what he does will be the key to her future – as well as his own…

Acknowledgements given:

Thanks on this one go to Ginger Buchanan for writing all these months and for being such a gem to work with; to Merrilee Heifitz for shaking her head and going with this; to Nina Kiriki Hoffman for all those nights of pizza and Leap; to Jerry and Kathy Oltion for scouting locations and for the photos; to Donald Bellasario, Deborah Pratt, Dean Stockwell, and Scott Bakula for putting on a show entertaining, thought-provoking, and heartfelt.

Leap Date: March 14, 1986

Place: Loch Ness, Scotland

Sam Leaped Into: Dr. Donald Harding, Theoretical Physicist

Projected Leap Outcome: It is predicted that Sam is there to prevent Donald Harding’s son and his son from being estranged. Ziggy is at a 50 percent probability that the estrangement caused Donald Harding to commit suicide in 1992.

Regular Characters Involved In The Story:

Dr. Sam Beckett

Admiral Albert Calavicci

Tina Martinez-O’Farrell

Dr. Verbena Beeks

Dr. Samantha Josephine Fuller

Gooshie

Ziggy

Guest Characters Involved In The Story

Donald Harding

"Dixie" Fuller

Travis Harding

Steven

Mrs. Comyn

Angus MacNab

Police Officer

Guards At The Complex

A US Marshall

Favorite Quote from the Book:

"Oh, of course it’s a game. And Travis is just like you, tryin’ to trick you in to believin’ in the monster. You’re tryin’ to see if I believe in ghosts. Well, maybe I would if he looked like a ghost. Instead, he looks like he belongs on an ‘Oprah’ episode for the fashion-impaired."

Favorite Scene from the Book:

"We need to find Dr. Beckett."

"Find him?" Al raised his head. She had gotten his attention this time. "He’s on Loch Ness on March 14, 1986. We didn’t lose him. We just lost the hookup."

"Technically, Admiral, that is correct," Ziggy said. "But our time has just changed. We do not know if Dr. Beckett’s has too. If he has leaped, we have no way of knowing."

"We sure do," Al said. "We check the Waiting Room. If Donald Harding is still there, Sam’s still in Loch Ness."

"Forgive me, Admiral," Ziggy said, "but it is not that simple. Dr. Beckett changed history. He might still be living Dr. Harding’s life, but we no longer have any guarantee that Dr. Harding is in Loch Ness. After all, there were four people in this room only a few moments ago."

"Four?" Gooshie asked.

"Four," Al said. "You, me, Tina and Dr. Whatshername."

"Fuller," Ziggy said. "Dr. Samantha Fuller."

He leaned forward. "There’s something I don’t get," he said. "If Sam changed the past, then how come we can’t reach him now? Things have changed. Things are different. Whatever caused the block in the time line should have cleared up, right? I mean, after all, we’ve been doing the Project now for years, and Dr. Beckett has been leaping all this time. If Dr. Whatshername…"

"Fuller," Ziggy and Gooshie said in unison.

"… is really gone, then the changes should have been made, and we should be able to reach Sam."

Suits that Al wore:

Neon blue silk with white shoes and white belt

Red suit with Red Shoes

Green and blue suit with a gold pocket.

Background Information:

This information is Quantum Leap cannon as based on the Trilogy:

On August 8, 1955, Sam Beckett leaped into Sheriff Clayton Fuller, father of Abigail and husband of Laura. He is there for Abagail – a young girl accused by a local townswoman, Leta Aider, of killing her husband, Bart and daughter, Violet. Leta is the only survivor of her family and believes that Abagail’s family is cursed.

Abagail’s mother, Laura is living in an asylum because of the mental afflictions accosting her. Her brothers and sisters were asleep one night and she slipped in the crack of the bed and was underneath the bed when her momma came into the room and killed kids then slit her own throat. All she could remember was the sound and feel of the "rain" as it fell. We assume that this was actually the blood from her family. She must have heard it all. This affliction caused her anguish and she was placed in the asylum. Since this happened, people in the town believe that Abagail is also "cursed" by her mothers afflictions.

It’s during this leap that Sam becomes attached with Abagail, telling her that he’d always be there for her to help her. He saves her from a fire started in her own house when Leta Aider knocked over an oil burning lamp, but in the process of saving her life, Clayton Fuller is unable to get out of the house and dies in the fire.

In the second part of a three-part saga, Sam leaps yet again into the life of Abagail Fuller. On June 14, 1966, he leaped into her soon-to-be husband Will Kinman. Sam begins to fall for Abagail himself and seems to become totally engrossed in needing and wanting her. However, Sam finds himself in harms way when an angry lunch mob led by Leta Aider may hang her if Sam doesn’t find the runaway child, Tavis Perkins, that Abagail was babysitting the night before. Sam is able to save Abagail from the mob, but before he leaves, he tells her plainly that he loves her and no matter what happens in the future to remember that.

In the third part of this saga, Sam leaps yet again into Abagail’s life to save her from being sent to the electric chair for murder. He leaps into Larry Stanton III, a lawyer to defend the rights of this woman falsely accused. Secrets are revealed. He learns that Samantha Josephine Fuller was his daughter. When he learned that Laura was still alive, he went to see her. Laura also seemed to recognize Sam… and she knew that the past had to be revealed. Laura, Sammy Jo’s grandmother knew of what happened with Violet Aider and the little golden locket that Violet had taunted her with. Now, we know how Violet Aider died – she fell to her death in the well. As for Leta Aider – the woman was distraught by learning that she couldn’t blame the murder of her daughter or her husband on Abagail that she had a temper tantrum at Abagail’s house, then in a fit of frustration and agony, she slit her own throat. Sammy Jo Fuller, the only other person in the house at the time, had seen the whole incident and said so during the trial. Sam saved the day once again… and asked how they were going to be. He then learned that Sammy Jo Fuller was working with Project Quantum Leap and had a theory on how to get him home.

Now that you have a background… a word of:

!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!

This review of Loch Ness has spoilers in it following this warning. If you do not want the book spoiled do not read any further. If you have already read the story and you just want to recap on each chapter then by all means read on and enjoy.

!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Quotes and summary from each chapter:

Chapter One
Hame, hame, hame, hame fain wad I be

O, hame, hame, hame, to my ain countrie!

- Allan Cunningham

March 14, 1986

The leap in is a rough one. Sam leaps on to a lake in a small boat during a storm. The motor on the boat has failed and a burly man with a thick Gaelic accent is rowing back to shore. Around Sam’s neck is a large, bulky camera wrapped in plastic. Grabbing another set of oars in the bottom of the boat, Sam begins to help him back to the shore but is quickly winded. Obviously, Dr. Harding hasn’t taken care of his body. Here you meet Travis Harding who is concerned about the camera and photos taken. You also meet "Dixie" Fuller; who Sam first perceives as a young Southern gal. Travis asks, "So, did you see her, Dad?" Sam is confused up until they walk up toward the Inn some distance from the docks. It’s then that he reads the sign on the Inn written in Gaelic. It read: Loch Ness Inn (Established 1620). It is then that he knows that he’s in Loch Ness, looking for the monster.

Chapter Two

Consciousness is a singular of which the plural is unknown, and what seems to be a plurality is merely a series of different aspects of this one thing…

- Erwin Schrodinger

Stallions Gate, New Mexico, Now.

Samantha Josephine Fuller and Dr. Beeks are standing in the Waiting Room waiting to see the new leapee. It seems that Sammy Jo is using the information that she obtains from the preliminary interview is giving her a clue as to what they are missing in the transferal process, something that might help to bring Sam home.

Dr. Harding awakes disoriented. Verbena begins to ask questions and he’s relatively calm until he sees Samantha. He asks her where Travis is but Sammy Jo never answers. He is given a hypojet spray into his backside and is out like a light. The only thing bothering Sammy Jo is the intense look that the leapee gave her and the name: Travis.

Chapter Three

Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in truth.

- Henry David Thoreau

Loch Ness, March 14, 1986

Inside the cozy inn, Sam is visited by his friendly hologram. Travis and Dixie left the camera outside and go to get it. Al is dressed in the usual odd attire, and Sam asks him not to tell him that he’s here to find the Loch Ness monster. It’s part of the whole grand scheme of things. Facts are given about Loch Ness and the monster (else where in the summary). Al tells him whom he has leaped into. Sam remembers him. He knew of his work (Theoretical physics from Stanford) on the string theory was one of the cornerstones at Project Starbright. Al even mentions, "Without it, there would have been no Project Quantum Leap."

Of course, Ziggy doesn’t know exactly why Sam is on the leap to begin with. But says that there’s a 50% chance that he’s there to repair Harding’s relationship with his son, Travis. Apparently, they had a major falling out here in Loch Ness and never spoke again. Harding abandoned physics research, then spent the remaining time teaching, then committed suicide six years later.

Al continues to tell him that Travis Harding is a rebel as far as his father believes. He refused to study science and took up with the "Ghostbuster" crowd. He is into the paranormal studies. When he was 12, Travis was a true believer in everything from UFO’s to poltergeists to spoon bending. Travis seems to have a love for wackos. He formed his own psychic hotline… designed to separate the gullible from their money.

The reason that the Harding’s are in Loch Ness is to find the monster. Travis wants to put together an expedition to search for the monster using sonar. He wants to put twelve boats side by side and drop a deep-scan curtain and sweep the lake back and forth until they find something and he needs not only his dads money but his dads name to help him fund such a expedition. So, Harding is there to study the evidence for himself, troll the lake, and try to determine if the expedition is a good idea. In the original history, he decided against it because it would be his reputation on the line, not Travis’s and he knew what would happen if he got mixed up in the paranormal. His perfect credentials would be tainted. Sam is at a loss on what to do. If he repairs the relationship, he would ruin Dr. Harding’s reputation.

When Travis and Dixie returned from the docks with the camera in hand, Travis and Sam argue over how they perceive the scientific phenomenon of the monster and Travis stormed out of the inn.

Chapter Four

We say that inseparable quantum interconnectedness of the whole universe is the fundamental reality, and that relatively independently behaving parts are merely particular and contingent forms within this whole.

- David Bohm

Stallion’s Gate, New Mexico, Now.

As Al comes out of the Imaging Chamber, he knew that there was an anomaly that Ziggy wasn’t telling him about and it scared him. He had had nightmares that at times that he couldn’t find Sam and that feeling came to pass when a leap felt wrong. At this point in time, we find out that Ziggy is having problems with the leap in getting a fix on Dr. Beckett’s location, his mission, and on his brain wave patterns.

Ziggy tells Al that the time line is in constant flux. She then speculates that it is like there is a storm in the time line; a brief powerful storm that shook up everything from 1986 on. They aren’t sure what caused the storm. As they theorize on what’s happening, Al, Gooshie and Ziggy, finally realize that the last time that something screwy like this happened, Sam and Al switched and Al ceased to exist. Even as they realize that someone at the project is a part of the problem, Sammy Jo steps into the Control Room having heard their words then admits that she had been in Scotland with her boyfriend, Travis, in 1986. They lose contact with Dr. Beckett… and Sammy Jo disappears.

Chapter Five

A spark has often kindled a big fire.

- Scottish Proverb

Scotland, Loch Ness Inn

Sam is wondering how he’s going to fix this problem when the young woman comes back in the Inn. It was then that he actually looks at her… she looks so familiar and the thought, ‘Abigail’, runs through his mind. She looked so small… almost a girl… but when she disrobes from the raincoat, he sees her better. Dixie Fuller, this southern girl who talks so lousy begins to defend herself from Dr. Harding’s earlier words with her and defends her boyfriend then stalks out of the room. Dixie reminded Sam a lot of Abigail. Abigail without the obsession. Abigail with bad grammar. Agabail with such an intelligence flowing from her eyes, and intelligence that reminded him of…

He decided to go talk with Travis and Dixie and overheard them up the stairs talking about how passionate Travis was about finding the monster. That if his father believed in the research, then he believed in him. Sam is confused and needs Al. He was on his own.

Chapter Six

We live before and after and pine for what is not

- Percy Bysshe Shelley "To A Skylark"

Stallion’s Gate, New Mexico

Al asks Ziggy what happened to Dr. Fuller. He is told that there isn’t a Dr. Fuller in this time line. Even though he remembered her, it wasn’t going to last long and they needed to work fast. But Al knows that whatever Sam changed that it revolved around Samantha Josephine Fuller. Also during this time line, Tina had also mysteriously vanished… but only to go to her mom’s house when her mom broke her arm. With the storm in the timeline, the changes in time, continue, hence they can’t hook up with Sam. So, with a physicist in the Waiting Room, Al decides to go pick his brain.

Chapter Seven

If you are sure you understand everything that is going on, you are hopelessly confused.

- Walter Mondale

Mount Shasta, California, Now

Sammy Jo Harding had just moved into Mount Shasta after a bitter divorce from her husband, Travis Harding and was on very limited income…. She was down to her last one hundred dollars. She is looking at an e-mail that Steve sent to her – computer hacking. Six months ago, she sat down at a computer that Steve had in an old building and found a number in the 505 area code that let her in. The message on the screen was: DR. FULLER! YOU’RE BACK! Sammy Jo had typed: I WAS NEVER GONE. The screen typed back: BUT YOU ARE GONE, SAMMY JO. AND I, FOR ONE, MISS YOU. Yet, here she was again… thinking about hacking again… and she needed the money. She replied to the email stating that as long as it wasn’t illegal, she’d help out…. However, if it was illegal, she’d charge triple.

Chapter Eight

Here’s to you’re and yours,

No fogettin’ us an’ oors;

An’ whenever you an’ yours

Comes to see us an’ oors,

Us an’ oors’ll be as guid

To you and yours,

As ever you an’ yours

Was to us an’ oors,

Whenever us an’ oors

Cam to see you an’ yours.

- Scottish Toast

Sam went upstairs and begin to speak with Travis and Dixie. They argue and confront each other. Travis thinking that his father is just there to prove that he is wacko and full of nonsense.

Chapter Nine

It occurs to me that this meddling energy – everyone putting in his ten cents’ worth and struggling for dominance – is at the heart of the American Genius. It produces results because it creates such pressure, even fear that people come up with ideas simply to survive. It’s the dialectic gone crazy; a hundred theses and antitheses struggling, like spermatozoa, to make it as the synthesis. It’s undoubtedly effective when the agreed purpose of the exercise is something simple like maximizing profits; less useful when you are trying to see the woods for the trees. And quite catastrophic when you are looking for light at the end of the tunnel.

- Michael Blakemore

Stallion’s Gate, New Mexico, Now.

Al goes into the Waiting Room where Verbena Beeks is sitting with Dr. Harding. Dr. Harding has been harassing Dr. Beeks. He is more concerned with where he is than answering her questions. Dismissing Bena, Al begins to ask Dr. Harding about Loch Ness and Samantha Fuller. After a few minutes of questioning him, Al breaks the rules and tells Dr. Harding about Project Quantum Leap.

Chapter Ten
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

- Oscar Wilde

Mount Shasta, California, Now.

Sammy Jo had fallen asleep on her computer and the meowing that was on her computer indicating that she had e-mail woke her. She was in on the deal. Being still wary, she e-mailed Steve back saying that if he was flexible on money, she should have asked for more. Another e-mail exchange and Steve has quadrupled the money being paid. Now, she knows that she can’t turn back. Within minutes, there is a knock at her door – the package had arrived – with Steve as the carrier. Steve took her out to dinner and then left her only after negotiating on a new price… 10 times the going rate.

Chapter Eleven

He has gone on the mountain,

He is lost to the forest,

Like a summer-dried fountain,

When our need was the sorest.

- Sir Walter Scott

Loch Ness, March 14, 1986

Sam is still wondering how to do this without Al’s help when he meets Ms. Comyn, the owner of the Inn. He goes out to Urquhart Castle to find Travis and talk to him and try to reconcile the problem. Finally a truce is made.

Chapter Twelve

The universe looks more like a great thought than a great machine.

- James Jeans

Stallion’s Gate, New Mexico, Now.

After telling Harding about PQL, Al brings Donald Harding out into the Control Center. Everyone is quite surprised as well as Dr. Harding. After a brief discussion, Al goes back into the Imaging Chamber to try to find Sam in the storm.

Chapter Thirteen

Alice laughed. "There’s no use trying," she said: "One can’t believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven’t had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes, I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

- Lewis Carroll,

Through The Looking Glass

Mount Shasta, California, Now

Sammy Jo received fifty thousand dollars in cash to try to find the computer that she had been in contact with before, and she dialed into the server and started her search.

Chapter Fourteen

A child born at midnight is, also, regarded as being one who will live to be "different" – either for good or for ill. Usually, the child born at midnight, or in the "wee sma’ oors," is expected to manifest in later life some peculiar brilliance of intellect, even though such brilliance should be allied to a little wildness.

- Ronald MacDonald Douglas

Scottish Lore and Folklore

Loch Ness, March 14, 1986

By the time they got back to the Inn, Travis and Sam find that Ms. Comyn and Dixie had made Hodgepodge for them to eat. We find out that today is Dixie’s birthday and Sam apologizes for ruining her birthday. We find out how Travis and Dixie met and we also find out why Travis is so interested in Sammy Jo. He’s interested in her past. Dixie told him that her grandmother believes in "walk-ins". She said that the walk-in was her mother’s one true love and was always there when her mom was in trouble. It was then that Sam remembers and calls her by name – Sammy Jo, but she prefers Dixie. Unbeknownst to Sam, he upsets Sammy Jo because he insulted her when he started asking her questions about her family. Things aren’t working out.

Chapter Fifteen

Well, we think that time "passes" flows past us, but what if it is we who move forward, from past to future, always discovering the new? It would be a little like reading a book, you see. The book is all there, all at once, between it’s covers. But if you want to read the story and understand it, you must begin with the first page, and go forward, always in order.

- Ursala K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

Stallion’s Gate, New Mexico, Now

Al is caught in the Time Tunnel searching for Sam until he was just about to be sick. Coming back out into the Control Room, they talk about the alternating time lines. They give a suggestion to centering on Sammy Jo, but they don’t know what that would do to Sam.

Chapter Sixteen

If there is any primary rule of science, it is, in my opinion, acceptance of the obligation to acknowledge and describe all of reality, all that exists, everything that is the case. Before all else, science must be comprehensive and all-inclusive. It must accept within its jurisdiction even that which it cannot understand or explain, that for which no theory exists, that which cannot be measured, predicted, controlled, or ordered. It must accept even contradictions and illogicalities and mysteries, the vague, the ambiguous, the archaic, the unconscious, and all other aspects of existence that are difficult to communicate. At its best, it’s completely open and excludes nothing.

- Abraham Maslow,

The Psychology of Science.

Mount Shasta, California, Now.

Sammy Jo is still going through the numbers in the document she’s been given and finally comes in contact again with the same number. Ziggy begins to talk with her through the linked ‘back door’. Ziggy tells her who she is talking to and their conversation ends as Ziggy tells her that she had a previous life – a life without Travis Harding as her husband.

Chapter Seventeen

The child, the seed, the grain of corn,

The acorn on the hill,

Each for some separate end is born,

In season fit, and still

Each must in strength arise to work almighty will.

- Robert Louis Stevenson

Loch Ness, March 14, 1986

Sam debates on telling Sammy Jo that he is her father. Instead of going to talk with her, he heads out to the dock to look around. Travis appears and tells him how he’s hurt Sammy Jo’s feelings. Again, they argue and again Travis stomps off.

Chapter Eighteen

When you investigate something, you change the nature of what you investigate. Impossible to intervene without altering reality. Physicists know that well enough; they call it indeterminancy.

- Ian Watson, Miracle Visitors

Stallion’s Gate, New Mexico, Now.

Dr. Harding is ready to return to his life but AL tells him if they don’t’ locate Sam that it won’t help him and that he couldn’t fill Sam’s shoes – no one could. Ziggy informs Al that she’s found Sammy Jo this day and age online. After a brief discussion, they decide to contact Sammy Jo and ask her about Travis and Dr. Harding back in 1986.

Chapter Nineteen

I refuse to believe that God plays dice with the universe.

- Albert Einstein

Mount Shasta, California, Now.

Sammy Jo is confused and saddened at the same time. She finally asks the neural hybrid computer what kind of game it’s playing … thinking that it’s one of her friends playing a joke on her. When Ziggy asked about Harding and Travis, she disconnected the online link and grabs the money and tries to rush it to the bank.

Chapter Twenty

Two things stand like stone:

Kindness is another’s trouble,

Courage in your own.

- Adam Lindsay Gordon

Loch Ness, March 14-15, 1986

When Sam came back in from the dock, Sammy Jo was waiting to talk to him. Sam talks to her about physics, and she thinks that he’s mocking her… thinking that she’s stupid since she didn’t finish high school and didn’t go to college. According to the book, at this point, Sammy Jo didn’t make it past Advanced Algebra. Her Algebra teacher shamed her and since he was the calc and pre-calc teacher, she gave up. Sam wanted to test her belief system… to believe in impossible things. He then broke his own rules, telling her about her family… her IQ… about how she wanted to go back in time to see her father and tell him that she loved him. He was about to tell her that he was her father when she told him to stop patronizing her and being cruel. Sam continues to explain to her… telling her about the leaping process… and finally tells her that he approves of her. After she stands up for herself, Sam tells her that she should stand up for herself more often. They seem to call a truce.

Chapter Twenty-One

Man seems to have no function except that of dissipating or degrading energy.

- Henry Adams

Stallion’s Gate, New Mexico, Now

Ziggy and Al have a private conversation about Sammy Jo and how she accidentally found the back door to the project. Since she technically hacked into the system and it is illegal, that’s all Al needed. However, in thinking that they might link to Sammy Jo to contact Sam, Ziggy hypotheses that if Al shows himself to Sammy Jo that she will remember him and that it will change history again. This time though, she might not marry Harding… but she might not come back to the project. Ziggy also says that after running all the diagnostic and statistical models – they show that there is an 85 % chance that the person who finds Dr. Beckett’s route home is none other than his daughter. If they lose her assistance in the project, they would lose Sam.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The deil’s bairns hae ay the deil’s luck.

- Scottish Proverb

Shasta Mountain, California, Now.

Sammy Jo is on her way out of town when a police officer pulls her over for barreling through a yield sign that she hadn’t seen. He asks to see her license but when he verifies it, he asks her to step out of the car. He takes her into custody and she tells him about the fifty thousand dollars in the bag in her front seat then takes her to the airport. When asked where he was taking her, he told her New Mexico. She wasn’t so surprised.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Frae Witches, Warlocks, an’ Wurricoes,

An’ Evil Spirits, an’ a’ Things

That gang Bump I’ the nicht,

Guid Lord, deliver us!

- Invocation

Loch Ness, March 15, 1986 (Beware The Ides)

In the early morning hours, Travis comes in yelling that he’s seen the monster and has proof of it. He has taken pictures of the monster not too long ago… in the bright moonlight and when it stopped raining. But when Sam went out to look at the moon, it had already set and he had a bigger problem believing what Travis was calling ‘moon-breaks’ in the rain. He was skeptical, but they began to set up a makeshift photo lab to check out the photos. But Sam’s not the only one who’s skeptical… so is Sammy Jo.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I drew a hard distinction between what I called the legal (past regarding) and the creative (future regarding) minds. I insisted that we overrated the darkness of the future, that by adequate analysis of contemporary processes its conditions could be brought within the range of our knowledge and it’s form controlled, and that mankind was at the dawn of a great changeover from life regarded as a system of consequences to life regarded as a system of constructive effort. I did not say the future could be foretold. We should be less and less bounded by the engagements of the past and more and more ruled by a realization of the creative effects of our acts.

- H. G. Wells

Experiment in Autobiography

Stallion’s Gate, New Mexico, Now

Al has Sammy Jo stationed in one of the storage facilities and begins to ask her questions about how she illegally hacked into their computer systems. Sammy Jo tells him that she knows that his project is dealing around Time Travel. When asked what she meant by that, Sammy Jo responded that since he’s doing Time Travel research and her father-in-law, Donald Harding, has been investigating the physics of Time Travel ever since Loch Ness – that his think tank involves around it – she feels that he’s brought her here because he’s afraid that she’s involved with some sort of corporate espionage for Donald Harding. Al hadn’t thought of that. When asked if she is involved she answers no. That settled, Al asks her about how Travis and Harding acted that day so long ago. Curious, she tells him that their relationship broke up that day because Harding had implied that Travis had falsified the photos taken of the monster. Knowing that he had all the information that he needed, Al shot off to help Sam.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The gift of second sight, or prophecy by visions is, of course not peculiar to Scotland; but it seems to have flourished more – and still does flourish more – in the mystic Celtic atmosphere of Scotland than almost anywhere else on earth.

- Ronald MacDonald Douglas,

Scottish Lore and Folklore

Loch Ness, March 15, 1986

Back in the past, Dixie Fuller sat outside the makeshift lab and waited for the pictures to be developed but she didn’t expect to see a red suited little man step out of a bright rectangular white light and begin to talk to her. She yells at the man scared that her families curse is back to haunt her. Al fades in and out and leaves before Sam and Travis come out of the lab and ask her what’s going on. Sammy Jo says that Dr. Harding is the meanest person ever around trying to make her go over the edge like her grandmother. A moment later, Al’s back and Sammy Jo feels tormented. She thinks that it’s a game but is told otherwise by both Sam and Al. Eventually, she says that she’s not as dumb as they think she is that she knows a hologram when she sees one and to leave her alone. That she’s leaving and she’s had enough of both Travis and Harding. She thinks that they are both pulling a scam together and is determined to leave.

Chapter Twenty-Six

It may seem a Paradox to others, but to me is appears undeniable, that the Scottish idiom . . . is more fit for pleading, than either the English idiom, or the French tongue; for certainly a pleader must use a brisk, smart and quick way of speaking…

- Sir George MacKenzie,

Pleadings In Some Remarkable Cases

Before the Supreme Courts of Scotland

(1673)

Loch Ness, March 15, 1986

Sam was dumbfounded. Something had changed and Sammy Jo was leaving. Then Al reappeared and Sam heard him happily. Al tells Sam that he doesn’t have time for a happy return. Ziggy predicts that there is a ninety-nine percent chance that that he’s here for Sammy Jo, that if she leaves now, she won’t marry Travis, but she also wouldn’t return to the lab. Chasing her down, Sam found out that he had to convince her to study physics; to give her a chance to think of impossibilities. She doesn’t leave. The result of her not leaving – the Time Storm is gone. Sammy Jo goes to college. She goes to CalTech, and then does her graduate work at MIT, and her post doc at Harvard. Travis’ life also changes. They don’t marry, but he gives up all the mystical stuff. He goes back to UCLA and discovers paleontology. He’s looking for the missing link. And the plan that he wanted Harding to back – the sonar sweep: a man named Adrian Shine did it in 1987. Shine called the project Operation Deepscan. They had two dozen boats drop a sonar curtain over the lake and swept it for three days. Near Urquhart Castle, the recorded something large moving slowly about six hundred feet below the surface. Thankfully, Sammy Jo is back at the project; one of the top theoretical physicists and is working with Ziggy to bring Sam back home. The person that she checks her theories is none other than Donald Harding. He’s been a consultant from the start.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

- Author C. Clark

Loch Ness, March 17, 1986

The last two days was more pleasant than the first two. Laughter and a relaxed atmosphere seemed to be the result. However, Al and Sam are both a little wary of what might have caused Donald Harding’s turnaround. He wasn’t one to change his mind so quickly. Sitting on the dock, Sam just wondered what could have changed him when it happened. A diamond shaped head crowned on top of a large thin neck rose out of the water; with an eye as large as a fist and starring at him. It could see Al and approached the quivering hologram and the quantum physicist. Sam tried to call out to Travis and Sammy Jo across the lake, but in avail. If Harding needed proof of the impossible… this was going to be it. Even as the monster leaned down over the quantum physicist, his mouth beginning to open, the bright light engulfed Sam leaping him out.

Error in book found:

As in every episode we all find something that doesn’t seem exactly right. This book had one…

They were talking about bringing Dr. Harding into the Control Room. In all the episodes or books that I’ve read/seen, the control room is the main hub with corridors coming off of it… the Imaging Chamber definitely connected onto one side. In the episodes that they quoted from where Al had to break rules to help Sam – they told of the rape victim having to come into the waiting room – (she had to go through the Control Room) yet… everyone acted completely and totally in awe as if it had never been done before when they brought Dr. Harding into the Control Room. A little flub.

About the Author:

Sandy Schofield is the pen name for husband-and-wife writing team Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

As Sandy Schofield, they have written three books: a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel called "The Big Game", an Aliens novel called "Rogue" and this novel.

Under their double by-line, they have written several more Star Trek novels, including one part of the last summer’s smash hit, The Invasion Series. They also collaborated on a publishing company, Pulphouse Publishing, Inc. That joint venture has brought them one World Fantasy award, several other award nominations, and house full of books, (including several copies of The Best of Pulphouse from St. Martin’s Press). Kristine edited Pulphouse for four years and the magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for six years. Her work there won her science fiction’s prestigious Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor. Dean edited most Pulphouse projects. His editing skills placed Pulphouse: A Fiction Magazine on the Hugo Ballot four times.

Individually, Dean and Kristine have published shelves full of short stories and novels. Dean’s novel, Laying the Music To Rest, was a finalist for the Bran Stoker Award for Best Horror Novel (the only science fiction novel to achieve that distinction). He has also sold over fifty short stories.

Kristine has sold a number of short stories as well as several novels. Her most recent novels are The Fey: Rival and Star Wars: The New Rebellion, both from Bantam Books. Dean and Kristine live in Oregon.

Quantum Leap Podcast Book Club: Author Kristine Kathryn Rusch

(Pen name Sandy Schofield)

USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, she publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her works include:

The Fey series: With a sweeping scope reminiscent of George R.R. Martin’s Westeros and intricate characters like those in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Fey series takes fantasy in a whole new direction. When the most powerful ruling family in the world attempts to conquer a tiny, seemingly helpless island kingdom, they meet forces they never knew existed. In a fight spread over generations, this saga of hope and magic proves that the greatest power of all comes from love;

The Retrieval Artist series – a series of 15 books, consisting of seven standalone novels and the Anniversary Day Saga, an epic, eight-book story of conspiracy, revenge and shadowy justice. Miles Flint, no stranger to tough cases, walks a razor edge as he and others struggle to save the Moon from total destruction. Where will you be when the bombs go off?

And the Diving series: a space opera set in a vividly imagined far-future universe, featuring a strong, capable female heronie, blending fast-paced action with an exploration of the nature of friendship and the ethics of scientific discoveries.
Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov’s Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award.
Rusch publishes mystery novels under the pseudonym Kris Nelscott. Publications from The Chicago Tribune to Booklist have included her Nelscott mystery novels in their top-ten-best mystery novels of the year. The Nelscott books have received nominations for almost every award in the mystery field, including the best novel Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award. Her Nelscott mystery novels include the Smokey Dalton series: Memphis, 1968. Black P.I., white client. And Martin Luther King’s on the way… Memphis P.I. SMOKEY DALTON is hired by a wealthy woman from Chicago to find out why her mother left him $10,00 in her will. Toss in the fact that 1968 Memphis is a racial powderkeg set to go off, with an on-going Sanitation Workers’ Strike and the impending arrival of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. contributing to the mix. Now add in that Smokey’s developing a strong, and apparently mutual attraction to his white client, and you’ve got one hell of a read that offers an unflinching look at a pivotal moment in American history. He’s an appealing private eye, a loner with a strong set of ethics, burning with anger at the injustices he sees everyday, but careful to distance himself from the struggle for equality swirling all around him, or any personal involvement. He doesn’t even commit himself to his profession –he prefers to call himself an “odd-jobs man.” But the distance Smokey tries to keep is rapidly shrinking, even as his attraction grows, and it soon becomes obvious that somehow, somewhere, his client’s life and his are inextricably linked.51KKC261VJL
Rusch writes goofy romance novels as award-winner Kristine Grayson, romantic suspense as Kristine Dexter, futuristic science fiction as Kris DeLake, and has sold a number of short stories.

She also edits. Beginning with work at the innovative publishing company, Pulphouse, followed by her award-winning tenure at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, she took fifteen years off before returning to editing with the original anthology series Fiction River, published by WMG Publishing. She acts as series editor with her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, and edits at least two anthologies in the series per year on her own.

Rusch is one of the few people who can boast having both “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” on her resume, being the author of Star Wars: The New Rebellion, and writing or co-writing ten novels set in the Star Trek universe.

Sandy Schofield is the pen name that Kristine Kathryn Rusch and her husband Dean Wesley Smith use for their collaborative writing works. Leapers will know Sandy Schofield best as the “author” of the Quantum Leap novel “Loch Ness Leap”: Dr Donald Harding, theoretical physicist, believes only in science. His son Travis believes in the unbelievable. It’s March of 1986 when Sam leaps into Harding, who has come to Loch Ness, where his son is attempting to prove to him the existence of the fabled monster. Ziggy says that there is a fifty percent chance that Sam is there to keep the two from becoming permanently estranged. But Sam suspects that there is something more to the leap – something concerning Travis Harding’s girlfriend, an oddly familiar young woman who calls herself Dixie Fuller. Sam is right. He is not at Loch Ness for Donald Harding’s son – he is there for his own daughter. And what he does will be the key to her future – as well as his own…

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