Date: Thu, 1 Jan 1998 11:49:37 +0000 From: Heather Markham Subject: Aliquantum Salio - Chapters 20-21 "ALIQUANTUM SALIO" by Heather Markham CHAPTER TWENTY Sam and Scully had just entered the long, oddly designed geometric passageway of the main entrance to the underground chambers. Scully trailed behind Sam looking in wonderment at the futuristic design of the place. She moved over to the wall, touching the illuminated surface with her finger tips, "Wow, look at this place, look at this surface material! Mulder, what is this place?" she enquired conversationally. Sam hardly heard her, his thoughts were filled with those of being home at last. Suddenly he caught sight of Al standing at the end of the corridor, in front of the elevator. He noticed Al's red suit and what he first took to be a multi coloured red and white shirt. He sprinted up the passageway to greet his friend, a huge grin on his face, he assumed Al had come to meet him. As he neared his best friend, he reached out his arms to hug him. Al put up his hands in an attempt to stop him and began a warning, "No, Sam, stop, I'm..." it was too late, he winced as Sam stumbled awkwardly forward and through him, Sam's arms and hands closed on thin air, he hit the elevator door behind Al. "Sam, Sam, I'm sorry kid but you didn't give me a chance to stop you." Sam turned back to him, his expression one of surprise and questioning. One eyebrow raised as a question mark, "Al, why aren't you real? Why are you a hologram here?" He paused, scrutinizing Al's clothes, the sudden realization hit him that it wasn't a multi-coloured shirt that Al was wearing at all. Concern for his best buddy creased his face into a worried expression. "Al, you're covered in blood. Are you okay, are you hurt or something? Is everything all right?" "Sam! Ohhh Sam, boy am I glad to see you! Yeah, I'm okay....now, but listen, we don't have much time, this leap, well, this part of it anyway, is for you. You've got to save yourself from getting killed." he looked down at his watch, "In exactly six minutes time." Sam's eyes darkened, "What? What do you mean, I get killed? What's going on, what's happened?" Al sucked in a breath through his teeth and blow it out with a puff of his cheeks. "You've got to change history for yourself and Mulder. Almost an hour ago, you showed up here, went down to the Control Room, there was a terrible accident and you both got shot. Oh, and Langly's down there too, he was the nozzle that caused all this trouble." Sam pointed at the blood stains on his friends shirt. "Is....is that my blood?" his expression showed a momentarily look of horror, he gasped a little, his voice shacking, "Is that really my blood all over you? Oh Al, I'm so sorry, you must have been going out of you're mind with worry but why didn't you warn me the first time round?" Al gave Sam a look of sympathy tinged with guilt, "I'm sorry kid but the Imaging Chamber was knocked out and our guest had us all held at gun point, we only just managed to get it up and running in time for this warning. Come on, we don't have much time, I'll fill you in on the way down." Sam pushed the elevator button, the door slid open with a hiss. Scully had been making her way slowly up the passageway, examining the strange interior. She had, by that time caught up with him and was puzzled at his odd behaviour. "Mulder, what on earth do you think you are doing? Why are you talking to yourself?" Sam stepped into the elevator and motioned her to join him. He pressed the button for level ten, the elevator began its decent. He stared at her for a moment, wracking his brains for a plausible answer, he still wasn't sure how much he should tell her about himself and the place. He hoped that maybe everything could be resolved without her having to find out about his time travelling leaps. Al noticed Sam's discomfort and broke off from his account of what had gone wrong to offer his advice for an explanation. He tapped at his ear with the hand that held his well chewed cigar, "Tell her you're linked to a security computer by an audio transmitter in your ear." Sam gave him a bemused look that said, Oh come on, she's never going to buy that one. Al nodded to him, waving his cigar in the air, "Go on, try anything for now, we'll think up somethin' better later on. Well...have you got a better idea? Oh and tell her Langly's in trouble that's why you're in such a hurry." Sam shrugged, sighed resignedly. He copied Al's actions, tapped at one ear and spoke to Scully, "This complex is run with the aid of a hybrid super computer. It oversees all the security functions. I'm patched into its communications system via an audio transmitter." He ended the sentence by giving her a weak smile. Scully eyed him up and down suspiciously, shook her head and replied, "Mulder, you get worse! When did you pick up one of those little gizmos?" "Never mind, I'll tell you about it later." Al interjected over Sam's last few words, "Don't forget to mention Langly." Sam glanced at him and back to Scully. "Right now Langly's in big trouble, we have to get to him fast." Sam studied her face, it seemed as though she was prepared to indulge him at this particular time. The elevator arrived at its destination, Al and Sam rushed towards the Control Room. Scully followed, running along the strange corridors to keep up with Sam. She couldn't understand what was going on, why he was being so vague about everything. She'd also noticed a change in his manner. Somehow he'd seemed different ever since they had arrived here. He obviously knew his way around the place, She couldn't quite put her finger on it but she had the disturbing feeling that it was almost as if he belonged here but that couldn't be true, if he had been here before, worked here before, it must have been years ago, way before she knew him. How come he'd never mentioned the place to her before? Now she came to think about it, over the last couple of days he had been a bit odd. She looked about the place as she ran, trailing behind him, if things seemed a little odd then, they were really beginning to turn weird now! The quantum physicist arrived at the Control Room, Al stood in front of him barring his way. "Sam, if you're to change history, you're going to have to make sure Scully doesn't use her gun." Scully rushed up beside him, he turned to her, paused and said slowly, "This is it! Showdown time!" She frowned at him, pulled her gun from her pocket and gave another of her questioning looks. Al shouted at him, "No...no..you mustn't let anyone use a gun in there. Take the gun away from her!" Sam put a hand on her shoulder, "You're going to have to give me your gun, on no account can we use guns in there." She raised her voice and replied anxiously, "No way, Mulder!" Sam tightened his grip on her shoulder, "Scully, Dana...you've always trusted me in the past......haven't you?" She nodded, "Then trust me now.....give the gun to me." He held out his other hand. Scully frowned at him for a few moments longer, indecision showing in her eyes, she was pointing her gun at him. Slowly she relented, turned the gun around and handed it to him, "I hope you know what you're doing Mulder, for both our sakes. Anything could be going on in there." "It's alright, I have a pretty good idea as to what's happening. I know what to do." He tapped the side of his ear again. "Besides, didn't I ever tell you, I have an invisible friend who watches over me, kinda like a fallen guardian angel." He glanced over at Al, who smiled at him, his eyes shining with pride, "Aw cut it out Sam, I do my best kid, I do my best." Sam turned back to the door, he hoped he would know what to do, the thought of being killed...again, scared the hell out of him. As he called to Ziggy to open the door, thoughts of death plagued him. He'd faced death many times before, he had been in some very tight scrapes and near misses but seeing his own blood spattered all over his best friend had been rather disconcerting and had created a somewhat nightmare impression on his mind. He prepared himself as the door swished open. He stepped into the room, followed closely by Scully. The quantum physicist looked around the familiar room taking in the tense situation, his gun was held tightly in his hands but pointing down towards the floor. Mulder, in Sam's blood soaked body was standing in front of a conduit pillar across the room. As Sam entered through the doorway, Mulder swung the aim of his gun from Al to point it directly at him. It felt strange to to see himself like that, wounded, the features of his own face contorted with pain, anger and fear. He could see a terrible darkness behind the eyes of the other man. He knew he would have to tread very carefully if he were to avoid a similar accident to the first one. Scully, reacted to Sam not pulling his gun on the distraught man. She raised her voice to a shout. "Mulder, use your gun for God-sakes." "No Scully......not this time." fear showed in her face and voice, "You're going to get us both killed!" Sam shook his head and spoke quietly and steadily, "No, no....I'm not. I have to talk him out of it, it's the only way." Al's hologram floated through between Scully and Sam, he stood there, hand-link gripped in one hand, cigar in the other. He was monitoring the situation carefully and offering advice. He walked across to Mulder and took a close look at the wound. "Sam....talk to him or keep him talking for as long as you can, with his wound and loss of blood I don't think it will be long before he collapses." Mulder was weakening fast, he felt he was loosing a grip on reality. He saw ghostly, insubstantial images of the man he knew as Al, floating across the room towards him, wavering in front of him, close to his face. He shook his head in an effort to clear his vision, sending a shower of beads of sweat from his hair and brow. The images of the dark haired little man kept plaguing him, fading and wavering in and out of his vision. The real Al's jaw dropped open, not only had Sam and Scully turned up but he had, too. His eyes widened with astonishment as he looked across at the hologram of himself in the blood spattered shirt and suit, his nose and face wrinkled into lines of revulsion at the sight, "Jeez Louise, what happened to my suit? It's all covered in icky stuff." He shuddered at the thought of all the blood, took a pace forward, "What the hell? What's going on here?" He glanced across to Gushie and Verbena, "Do you see what I see, do you see me, too?" They looked back at him blankly. "No, I guess you don't, only me and Sam can see me!" He had a comical, perplexed expression on his face as he tried to work out the odd events going on before him. "Jeez...Louise! Somethin' really terrible must have happened. I must have come back to help change things! Boy, this is real weird!" Both incarnations of Al watched intently as Sam edged forward, he had begun talking to Mulder, trying to calm him down. Mulder didn't appear to be interested in listening to him, he halted Sam with a gesture from the gun, turned his attention to Scully and called across to her, his words sounded harsh and cracked, "Scully, Dana, it's me....please..... help me!" It dawned on Scully, that she knew the other man, she recognized him, "Dr. Beckett? Dr Beckett, is that you? I don't understand, how do you know my name?" Mulder's eyes had turned from darkness and despair to one of pleading, "No, Scully.....I mean it's me, Mulder!" He waved the muzzle of the gun at Sam and scowled, "He's Dr Beckett! They've been doing time jump experiments here, only they messed up big time. Somehow they switched our bodies, he's leaped into me. Scully, you have to believe me, I'm trapped in his body. I woke up here in some weird blue cell two days ago. I was shot trying to escape. You must have noticed that his behaviour was different to mine!" She looked from Mulder to Sam and spoke quietly, "Mulder, what's he talking about, no-one can time travel. Even if that is the eminent Samuel Beckett, the technology for time travel doesn't exist yet. This can't be happening, We're not in the future, nor is he! I don't believe it! He must have gone mad!" Sam was still staring at the man who possessed his body. He thought it best to keep quiet, to let Mulder spend a little anger before trying to calm him down again, he didn't want to antagonize the already irate man any further, anger, fear and aggression were dangerous, uncertain emotions to deal with. He considered the pacifying option as being the best tool for this scenario. "Please, calm down, put the gun away, you won't achieve anything here by using that gun. We can help you. I can help you." Scully turned to Sam and shook his arm for further explanation, he looked at her sadly, glanced at the holographic image of his best friend and looked back at Mulder. The real Mulder's vision was beginning to darken around the edges, he had to get her to believe him soon. Although his head was swimming he had caught her quiet words. "I'm not mad, Scully! Just look around this place, look at the technology they have here. They have their own, damn, quantum time accelerator. Look, this is like possession combined with time travel. Think Scully, remember Eddie Blundht, remember Jack Willis and Warren Dupre? Dupre stole Willis' body at the point of death, he was able to live in the other man's body but he couldn't pull off acting like him. You must have noticed something odd about him?" He paused and gestured with his gun, "Here, they steal peoples bodies throughout time in order for the good Doctor there, to time travel. Scully look at me, look into my eyes, I'm in here." Scully's eyes were wide with disbelief at the possibility, "How can I believe you, this is all too fantastic to be true!" "Ask him your birth-date......go on ask him. Odds on he can't tell you." She turned her gaze to Sam, Al was feverishly tapping at the hand-link, he read off the string of data, "Er...yeah, here it is Sam....tell her it's the twenty-third of February." Sam took a breath, and gave her the answer. "February...twenty-third." Mulder frowned, "Okay, ask him how you celebrated your last birthday." Al looked aghast as he realized there was no way Ziggy would have that information in her data banks, "Oh God Sam, we don't know that!" Sam remained silent, he didn't know what to say, her birthday wasn't amongst the flashes he'd had from Mulder's memories. He didn't have the answer and he wasn't about to even begin trying to bluff his way round the question. He looked down, wiping the sweat from his brow with the flat of his palm. Mulder's voice was filled with anger as he shouted across the room, "He can't tell you because he doesn't know! We were at a bar, as a surprise, some of the guys from the department brought a small pink cake with a sparkler stuck in it, I gave you a key ring as a present, it was an Apollo Eleven key-ring! It was the day Max Fenig died in a plane crash.Scully....I'm the real Mulder....he's Sam Beckett!" Scully looked across at Sam, rage and incredulity heightening the pitch of her voice, "Tell me it isn't true!.......tell me you damned son of a bitch!" Sam flinched at her words, he didn't want to answer her but he had too, there was no other way. He hung his head and nodded, "I'm sorry Dana, I'm so sorry....." His words were cut short by hers, "What have you done to him? What have you done!" She moved towards Mulder, he had slumped with relief and exhaustion against the pillar. Before she could reach him an armed guard had stepped into the room behind Sam. Langly had been standing up against the wall behind Sam and Scully, from his vantage point, he was the first to see the guard enter. The armed man rushed into the room taking stock of the situation as he saw it, his gun was already drawn and aimed at the wounded man, the only person in the room to be armed with a weapon. Langly could see the man taking aim, he had to save his friend's life, he made a quick decision and sprang forward knocking the man forwards. The real Al, could see what was about to happen and shouted a warning, "No...don't shoot!....Look out, Sam!" The holographic Al was standing rigid with horror "Nooooo, Sam, no! My God it's happening all over again! Goddamn it Gushie didn't I tell you to keep the guards outta here!" It was an automatic reflex for the trained F.B.I Agent to respond to the guard's armed intent. Mulder closed his finger around the trigger and fired an aimed shot, it missed its intended target. The guard tumbled forward, pushed by Langly, the bullet from the guards gun accidentally loosed and pinged across the room to lodge in the conduit pillar an inch above Mulder's head just as Mulder's last ounce of strength gave way. The awful sounds of the gun shots rang and reverberated around the room. Mulder staggered forwards and collapsed into Scully's arms, she sank to the floor from his weight. Langly lurched back and slid slowly down against the wall, leaving a thin trail of blood behind him on the surface. He folded into an unconscious heap on the floor, blood trickled from a small wound on his head. Dr Beeks and Gushie ran to his aide. Scully was cradling Mulder in her arms, tending to his wound and shouting commands at Gushie and the technicians, telling them to bring in a medical team, fast. Sam hurried over and knelt beside her. She glared up at him, there were tears in her eyes but there was venom in the timbre of her voice, "He was telling the truth, wasn't he!" It was a statement not a question, "You're not who you said you were, you're not Mulder, you're Samuel Beckett!" The anger in her words softened as she controlled herself, "You told me to trust you, why....why did you carry on letting me believe you were him? Was it really that important, just to hide this." she gestured around the control room." Her words hurt Sam more than she could have known. He was all ready falling in love with her....no, he already loved her. If only he could have told her who he was, if he'd been allowed to tell her about the Project. He wondered sadly, would she let him explain things now? Would she accept his words? Would she ever forgive him or trust him again, he doubted it. He sighed resignedly, "I'm so sorry Dana. Please let me try to explain.......I didn't steal his body, I never wanted to interfere in his or anyone else's life. All I ever wanted to do was time travel. Things went wrong Dana, I have no control over my leaps. I have no control over who I end up in, all I know is, I'm put there for a reason. I don't expect you to believe me Dana, but God or fate or something plays a big hand in all of this, I'm sort of guided. The reason for this leap was to help Langly, to save him from something." Sam turned his head to look at the unconscious figure being nursed by Verbena, "Only, for some reason, it seems Langly keeps getting himself into more trouble and this time he got hurt and I couldn't prevent it." She didn't answer him, she was still busily seeing to Mulder's wound. It felt odd looking down at her taking care of the other man in his body, he almost wished he was the other man. Samuel Beckett slowly stood up, surveying the shocking and confusing scene in the room. Both Al's dashed across to join him, they simultaneously let out sighs of relief, at least Sam hadn't been injured and Mulder was still alive. Both of the brightly attired men stared at one another for a few seconds, the real Al, regarded his image closely and frowned, "Jeez, Sam, do I really look like that? I'll have to go on a diet or somethin." His other self, cackled and replied humourously, "Don't worry, it's like TV, it adds 10lb's to you." The comment was lighthearted enough to pull Sam from his wistful thinking. He looked at Al, a huge grin spreading across his face, his eyes sparkled and the lines at their edges creased with laughter, "Ohhh Al, it's so good to see you," He reached forward and both men hugged each other tightly, "It's so good to have you back Sam, and all in one piece." A sudden squeal from the holographic Al's hand-link interrupted the two men's reunion, they turned to see what was happening, the holographic image was wavering, fading in and out of sink. Sam and the real Al looked on as the image of Al in blood soaked clothing began to fade completely away and was replaced by one of him in unstained clothes, his suit and shirt were now fresh and clean. The holographic image looked down at his clothing, looked back at Sam, smiled broadly, cocked his head to one side, waved and said "Bye bye Sam, all done for now." and vanished. The medical team brought further distractions to Sam and Al's greeting as they burst into the room pushing two hospital trolleys. One team of paramedics rushed across to help Scully and Mulder, the other was being directed by Verbena. Scully quickly took charge of the team, helping to lift Mulder....or as Sam saw it, his own, limp body onto a trolley. She was hooking up an I.V. before allowing the paramedics to move the injured man. Langly, although still unconscious, apparently hadn't been too badly injured, the other paramedics had already wheeled him away accompanied by Dr Beeks, Gushie, the guard and one of the technicians. Sam turned to Al, draping his arm across his friend's shoulder, "I hope they'll both be okay, do you think we should follow them down to the hospital wing, do you think I should go and see Dana." Al shook his head, "I'm sure both casualties will be fine. If there are any problems Ziggy will let us know. I think you ought to give Scully a little time to get used to things. I'll go and see what's happening in the medical wing later on. We should know by then how the two men are." Sam nodded gloomily, "Yeah, I guess you're right" The noise and confusion of the events were beginning to recede down the corridor and away from the Control Room. Al reluctantly, disentangled himself from Sam's friendly embraces and called over to the two remaining technicians, "I know you guys must be itching for a break but we've gotta get the Imaging Chamber back on line." Sam gave Al a quizzical look and raised an eyebrow. Al nodded towards the Imaging Chamber, "Sam, I've still got one last thing to do, I've got to go back, to warn you about Mulder so that things stay this way." He paused to slap Sam playfully on the back, "Ya know, I thought things were going to turn very nasty there, for a while! That was one hellova shock to see myself like that." Sam was still grinning at his friend, "I guess you saved my life.....I guess you're going to save my life, again, where would I be with out you," he stepped towards his best buddy and gave him another bear hug, almost lifting the smaller man from his feet. Al enjoyed the indulgence of the interaction for a little while longer before breaking away again. He smiled coyly, dropped the now, spent cigar from his fingers and nonchalantly ground it out with the toe of his shoe, "Aw, Sam. Cut it out, will ya. I only do what any guy would do for his best buddy." "Yeah, well, I happen to think you do a little more, and put up with a lot more than most would." Sam looked around the familiar surroundings once again, his eyes shining with happiness "I'm finally home.....Ohh, Al, I finally made it home and I haven't leaped out yet so I guess this leap was for me after all, I'll have a chance now to work on the retrieval program, to put everything right." he gasped slightly at the thought, "Al, I could soon be leaping home for good." "Ohhh, Sam I certainly hope that's true." Al looked at his watch, it was nine forty-five. He called over to the technicians, "We have about forty minutes to get the Chamber operational." The technicians glanced at each other worriedly, "Admiral, I think we may need some help here. We really need Gushie back, he's the only person who knows the system well enough to adjust the imagery arrays." Sam looked at Al and over to the technicians, a glint in his eyes, "oh, no, he's not, I know it better than anyone. I'll get the Chamber and the holographic arrays up and running in no time." CHAPTER TWENTY ONE Fifty minutes later Al stepped jauntily from the Imaging Chamber with a pleased and triumphant look upon his face. He strode over to join Sam, who was now helping the technicians to power down. He gave his friend a clap on the back and beamed, "We did it Sam, we changed history, we can all relax now." Sam, turned and caught his old friend in another tight bear hug. The two men revelled in each others physical contact for a few minutes. Suddenly Al's stomach grumbled, the noise was loud enough for both men to hear. He pulled away from Sam and rubbed at his tummy expressively with one hand, "Hey, did you eat yet? All this action has worked up an appetite, come on...lets go eat before you loose yourself in your work." "Ah, no....I don't think I could eat, I'm far too excited. Anyway, I've got far too much to do." Al gave him a look of admonishment, "Come on Sam, you can't work on an empty stomach, we can talk while we eat. You're not going to deny everyone the chance to welcome you home, are you? I'm certainly not going to lose the opportunity to have a good long chat with you, there are also things we need to discuss about this leap, and besides, I Tina will probably be waiting for you in the canteen. She'd never forgive me or you Sam if we didn't go down and see her first. I think she wants to show you off to a couple of her new friends." Sam relented and laughed, "Okay, okay, I guess I can spare a few minutes to eat.......and I guess I would like to go see Tina, meet up with everyone and take another look around the old place first. Sam enjoyed brunch much more than he'd expected. He found he had been ravenously hungry, Al had been right, all the excitement of the day had helped to work up a terrific appetite. It wasn't the food that had pleased him so much, although, it had been pretty good and in pretty good surroundings too, it was being home, being with Al once more. He had revelled in the company of his old friends. Verbena and Gushie had come to join him. Tina had introduced him to all of her new friends, of course, they didn't know what he really looked like but Tina knew, she'd once told Al that she thought Sam was very cute. Everyone laughed when she commented that she thought he looked just as cute in Mulder's body too, that it sort of suited him. The news of his arrival had quickly spread around the Project Centre. All his old friends and colleagues had come down to the small restaurant canteen to welcome him back, some were a little taken aback, thinking that he was back for good in his own body, others merely made passing comments like Tina's, ribbing and teasing him playfully about his temporary appearance. He'd laughed with them but deep inside, he wondered if it were really true, was he finally going to be allowed to stay for good, was this really the beginning of the end of his loneliness, his seemingly eternal struggle to get here, to get back home to some sort of normality, a normal life......although, even if he continued leaping under controlled tests, his life would never be what you could consider completely normal but that would be a small price to pay for his dream of time travelling and being able to return home virtually whenever he wanted. Sam, Al and Gushie talked together as they walked along the maze of corridors back to the Control Room and Sam's private lab room. Thoughts and questions were flooding Sam's mind. He still needed to understand what this leap had really been all about and what had caused the mysterious power surges and fluctuations. Sam looked from Al to Gushie and back, his hands were trying to convey his questions, "I still don't quite understand why I'm still here. Oh, I'm very grateful that I am but I saved Langly once and I didn't leap, then he goes and gets himself hurt again, I didn't manage to prevent that and I'm still here," he paused from walking, looked at Al, his eyes wide, sparkling, filled with hope, "I haven't leaped out....I'm here," he grinned broadly, turned a full circle on the spot and gestured around, "I'm home, so this leap must be for me..." Al cut his words short, "Don't tempt providence Sam, this has been one crazy leap," He pursed his lips and frowned at his friend, "Ziggy hasn't been a great help in all this either, she doesn't know what's going to happen next, she can't predict what's in store for you, any more than we can." he shook his head, "I still don't feel easy about any of it. I've got this queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach." Gushie glanced at Al, grinning, laughter in his voice, "Admiral, that's more likely to do with the brunch you just ate!" Sam grinned at both men and laughed lightly, "Yeah, that's certainly possible." Al shook his head and chuckled but his face still showed traces of concern, "Okay, okay, I know, I guess you could be right, it's just that I care about you. More than anyone else, I would like this leap to be for you, you know that. I guess, I'm just being cautious that's all." Gushie could tell the two friends had things to discuss in private, he shuffled his feet and excused himself, "Dr Beckett, Admiral, Please excuse me, I have quite a few things to attend to, I have to contact all the technicians and get them back to the Control Room ready for work and instructions. I'll meet you there." Al looked at him absently, "Okay, good idea, see you later." The two men slowly began walking again, following the now rapidly disappearing figure of Gushie. Sam was still concerned about the leap, "Al, ask Ziggy if she has any new data on this leap." Al took out the hand-link and was just about to key-in, he stopped and looked across at Sam, "Why don't you ask her yourself, we'll be at the control centre in a few minutes?" Sam suddenly remembered where he was, "Oh Al, I almost forgot, yeah, I guess I could, but why wait?" Al shrugged, keyed in the question and read of the string of data, his face re-shuffled itself into a look of bewilderment, "Ziggy says there's nothing new, nothings changed, you're still here to save Langly from somethin' terrible." Sam looked bewildered too, he absent mindedly scratched at the back of his head, "But Langly's safe, now, isn't he?" Al nodded in agreement, "He should be, according to the medical report, the bullet only grazed his skull. It knocked him out but it's only a minor injury. He should make a fairly quick and full recovery." Sam was still puzzled by the strange course of events. "The power surges, have you discovered the cause of them yet? Has it been corrected?" Al pulled a face as he sucked at his cigar, it had gone out during the course of their conversation. He took out his gold lighter and considered the question as he re-lit it. "No, we still don't know what caused them. Gushie has been running a continual diagnostics program, all he came up with was the fact that the cause was external to the project. There was no pattern to them either. Hell, we still may be in for more of them and there's no way we can predict them or prevent them." Sam didn't like the thought of that at all. "Al, if I can re-adjust the program, if I'm going to put the retrieval sequence back on line, I'm going to need every ounce of energy we can summon for the accelerator to work......I don't know what would happen, if the power cut out half way through the initiation or the sequencing! At the very least it could be extremely dangerous. If it happened during the beginning of a retrieval program, Mulder and I could end up lost in time for good or worse, our molecules could be scattered through-out time!" Al half closed his eyes and grimaced at the thought. Sam continued, "Can we patch everything through the back-up system while it's on line? We have to stabilize everything as much as we can." Al shook his head, "Sorry Sam, the first thing we tried to do, was to stabilize the control console, it wasn't enough! But it's not the drops and fluctuations we've been worried about, it's the damned power surges, they're somethin' else. Gushie, said they were way of the meter, the last big one blew out damn near everything! They turned the final corner and walked the short distance to the private lab room adjacent to and connected with the control centre, the two friends stopped outside the door to Sam's lab workshop. Sam turned to Al and gave him a searching, questioning look, "Do you think it could have anything to do with the experimentations being carried out at the Los Alamos facility? The last time I was here I heard rumours that they were experimenting with new forms of alternative energy. It's quite likely that they've made huge advances in that field over the past two years?" Al considered it, "No, I don't think that could be it, we've never had this kind of problem before. Anyway, they're too far away to affect us here." Sam replied quickly, his hands making expressive gestures, "Not if they're trying out wave energy, incorporating their research with ionosphere tests. They could be part of the HAARP set-up!" Al didn't think that could be the answer but it was worth following up on. "Okay, I'll make some discreet enquiries but even if I come up with something positive, it's doubtful that they'll admit to anything, not to us anyways." He continued to think about the possibility, "Ya know, if it was to do with them, don't you think it would have affected the local area too. The motel complex would have been hit by the power-outs." Sam stared at Al, transfixing his eyes with his own, he felt a little awkward at mentioning it but it had been playing on his mind, bugging him, he needed the opinion of his best friend, "Al, do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials, not little green men....but real beings from other worlds? 'Cos something pretty weird happened to Langly out in that desert and something equally weird caused Churnik's death! Could it be possible that something's up there," he glanced skywards, "some alien space craft could be to blame for everything going on here? That something out there has an interest in all of this, that some kind of unknown propulsion energy could be causing the power surges and fluctuation?" Al was staring back at Sam, his eyes narrowed and darkened, his mouth opened slightly in astonishment, as he regarded the question, "Aw, Sam, come on......that's garbage! You're letting yourself get caught up in Mulder's paranoia!" He stabbed the cigar in the same direction Sam had, towards the sky. "If there was anything up there, I'm sure Ziggy's defence systems would have detected it." Sam relaxed a little, "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you're right, forget I mentioned it, right now there are other important things to worry about. There's work to be done and I may not have much time." Sam turned to the lab door, Al felt inside his pocket for his keys, drew out a jangling bunch, disconnected one and handed it to his friend. "I kept it for you." he said shyly. Sam took it from him, looked at it turning it over in his hands, he smiled, hugged Al tightly once more, clapped him on the back then drew back from him, holding him at arms length by the shoulders and beaming at him, "You never gave up hope did you? All through those times when I despaired of ever getting back here...you never gave up hope. You really are some guy!" Sam let go of Al and walked slowly into the lab room, his room. He looked around at the familiar scene, this room was almost as strange in its appearance as the rest of the centre. Three of the walls were white, one was a deep blue polished glass projectional holo-screen, where Sam created his visual equations and programs. There were small cameras and audio receptors in each corner of the ceiling. These were directly connected to Ziggy, they were the eyes and the ears of the hybrid super computer. This was the only other place in the facility apart from the control centre, where Sam could link in with the main control console and interact with Ziggy visually. It was also the only room in the whole of the facility that contained a three dimensional holographic data display unit. This was where all the radical ideas and hard work had begun. A large oak desk stood in front of one wall which was fitted with shelves and bookcases of varying sizes, they were lined with books on quantum physics, quantum mechanics, books by Einstein and Bohr. Nestled neatly amongst them were note pads, reports, essays and exercise books filled with Sam's own theories and probabilities. The wall next to it had a long laboratory bench pushed against it. Here stood his personal computer and all his other bits of paraphernalia. He took off his jacket and replaced it with a white lab coat which he took from a hook on the wall. He walked across to his old desk, picking things up, inspecting them, remembering all his old apparatus and gadgets. All the holes in his memory were quickly filling in. Al stood in the doorway and watched silently, it felt so good to see the brilliant quantum physicist back where he belonged. He had personally kept the room clean and tidy. The lab had not been used since Sam's sudden and unexpected departure two years previously. He had often come here, just to stand in the room and remember but he'd never been able to bring himself to use the place. He had wanted to keep it as Sam's own personal, private place, in the hope that in doing so, Sam would one day come back to it. Now that day was here and God, it felt so good just to stand here and watch his friend familiarize himself with everything, to watch him recognize things, to see him regain all his lost memories. He desperately hoped that Sam was right and this leap was to enable him to get home for good. He could hardly bear thinking that his friend could still be snatched away by another leap before finishing the work he needed to do. Sam sat down at the desk, sweeping his hands gently backwards and forwards across the highly polished surface, he paused for a moment, he gasped almost imperceptibly, a shudder ran along his spine, he looked across to Al and motioned for him to join him. Sam's eyes were shining radiantly, brimming with happiness but Al could see just a trace of tears catching on Sam's long dark eye-lashes, "Ohh, Al, my memory has come back, all of it, every tiny thing. Being here has helped to fill in all the missing gaps. I think I know what to do, I think I know how to fix things!" Wired into the desk was a small colourfully lit console, Sam leaned forward and pressed the activation button, bringing Ziggy on line. He stood up and together the two friends walked across to the holo-screen. Sam commanded, "Ziggy, activate screen." The blue wall shimmered, three feet in front of it a hologram of the Star Bright insignia wavered and came into focus. Sam and Al watched intently as the image of the logo appeared to spin around on itself, suddenly exploding into a myriad of tiny stars which spun and danced as they rearranged themselves into a new shape. A face appeared, a beautiful face, a classic face framed by tumbling dark locks of hair. The face smiled shyly, showing perfect teeth. Slowly the face acquired a female body draped in a golden, grecian gown, an equal match for the beauty of the face. Al let out a wolf whistle, Sam nudged him in the ribs. A warm rich voice purred from the lips of the smile, "Welcome home father. Do you like the appearance I have just created for you?" Sam and Al looked at each other, they were both as astonished as each other. Sam wasn't quite sure what to make of it, he turned to Al, a quirky smile on his face, "Since when did Ziggy acquire her own body, a very beautiful body at that! Al just stood there wide eyed. Sam watched as Al circled Ziggy's new image. Sam asked, "Yeah, sure I like it but why, how did you do it?" "I created it for you, as a welcome home present, after all, the old logo was very boring and out of date. I just reorganized the program a little. I'm glad you like it." Al was still inspecting the image, a wolfish grin playing on his face, he chuckled hoarsely, "My God, Sam, she's gorgeous.....I think I'm falling in love with a damned computer!" Sam gave his friend a tolerant look and addressed the new and beautifully improved Ziggy. "Well....I think you look just wonderful but we have work to do right now, can you run the last equations and computations I made....two years ago, I need them for the retrieval sequence." the super computer purred back in a more matter of fact tone, "Of course, Doctor Beckett." The image instantly vanished, a flow of three dimensional data scrolled down from nowhere and hovered in the air. Sam rubbed at his chin and began to study the data. Al could see that his friend was about to become totally absorbed by his work. He walked back to the door, turned to tell Sam where he was going, "I think it's time I checked on our guests to see how they're doing." He paused with a puzzled expression in his eyes, "Ya know, there's still one thing I don't understand. How did Mulder get outta here in the first place. He doesn't have a bio-chip implant, that's still, technically, connected to you." Sam mused over it for a few seconds, "He must have had a ghost image of the chip. Our neurons and masons were kinda connected for a while. It must have been just enough to activate the security systems." Al shrugged, "I guess it's the only explanation." Sam looked across at him, "Please....when you see Dana, would you try to explain things for me. Tell, her I wasn't responsible for what happened." "Don't worry, kid, I'll explain everything.....tact is my middle name ya know." Sam raised an eyebrow, "Well just so long as you remember that you're here and so is Tina! I don't want to find out you've been trying to charm your way into Dana's good books." Al shot Sam a look of indignation, "As if I would!.....Well, maybe you're right, maybe I would." he paused to give Sam a sweet sickly smile and a coarse chuckle, "Okay Sam....she's all yours." Sam put his head on one side and returned the expression. "I'll see you later.......now go! I've got work to do here!" Al beamed back and walked from the room closing the door behind him. He stood there for a second or two, shook his head, laughed and went off about his business. -- Heather Markham