Date: Thu, 10 Jun 93 23:34:02 MDT From: tperreau@banshee.VLA.NRAO.EDU (This space for rent) Message-Id: <9306110534.AA03047@banshee.vla.nrao.edu> To: alt-ql-creative@cisco.com Subject: All Soul's Night -- Part I All Soul's Night Part I Sam felt the icy fingers run down his spine as he lept again. The scenery shifted between the blink of an eye. He blinked, aware that it was night. A nearly full moon shed it's light through leaves, which scattered the light and made the world less brighter than it should have been. Sam tried to remember where he had been. Already, Iona was fading in his memory. He remembered the wind swept isle, then a sound like a chorus of angles singing, then a man by a river -- a man who looked like himself. "Tom..." Sam struggled to hold onto the memory, and he felt it fade away. Gone. Nothing but emptyness. Sam put his hands to his eyes and felt wetness there. Sam felt something on his eyelids and he wiped them. He looked at his hand, and saw that he had wiped off two four leafed clovers. They were damp, and he touched the moisture to his tongue. It was water, not tears. Sam looked down at his clothes, usually his first indication of who and where he was. He was wearing a tweed jacket, the kind with the elbow patches. He had on a warm woolen sweater and slacks. Something that one did not tramp around the woods in. Sam reached into his coat pocket, where he found a wallet. He opened it up and squinted at the licence in the dim light. "Jeffery Wallace," he said. It was then that he noticed that the woods were quiet -- too quiet. Sam looked around and saw a clearing ahead. He headed there, putting the wallet away. The clearing was surrounded by woods, and it was dominated by a small hill. Lush grass carpeted the ground, along with some low shrubs. Sam could see his breath in the air, but he didn't feel cold. He pulled out the wallet again and took a closer look in the brighter light. Jeffery Wallace was from England, Sam saw. Then something attracted his attention. He looked up, and felt his mouth drop. Lights. Dozens of lights, of all different colors. Dancing and weaving around the hill top. They moved in a complex pattern, one that Sam thought he had seen before. The lights grew brighter and dimmer, but never went out. Music. Sam heard music. Distant, but clear. Coming from the hill. Then Sam realized that the music was coming from within the hill. Something from his past clicked, and he glanced at his watch. It was an older style watch, not digital. Sam didn't care. He was more interested in the time and date. The watch didn't give the year, but had a small window for the month and day. It was just slightly after midnight, on October 31st. "October 31...All Hallow's Eve..." Sam swallowed as the lights danced for him in time to the music. "Halloween." He felt icy fingers pierce him, and for once in his life he wished that it was a leap, but it wasn't. Sam watched the lights, entranced and frozen with a fear he never felt before. It reached out and touched his soul, and he shuddered. From deep within, Sam jerked away from the scene and bolted from the hill. He heard the music follow him. A haunting tune that promised pleasure, if he only turned around. He burst from the woods and ran into a parked car. Sam assumed that it was his, or rather Jeffery's. He opened the left door, and was puzzled why there was no steering wheel. He saw it, on the right side of the car. Sam slid in and slammed the door. He gripped the steering wheel with maniacal strength and started up the car. He ground a couple of gears until he found first and drove away. He looked back in the rear view mirror, and sighed. He didn't see any lights following him. Nor did he hear any music. He pulled over and rested his head against the wheel. He was covered with sweat, and his heart was racing. "Oh, boy..." *** "What do you mean, 'I can't get a positive lock'?" Al yelled at the swirling lights. "You got that microfusion doohickey and new software from those nozzles from the future, and you still can't find Sam?" "Admiral, it is becase of the improvements that I am able to get at least a partial lock on my father," Ziggy's voice was filled with worry, and Al raised an eyebrow. Almost never did Ziggy refer to Sam as 'father,' at least not to Al. "I don't have a full lock, but I have a location and date." "Good." "Dr. Beckett is near Wells, England. The date is October 31, 1982." "England? On Halloween?" Al shook his head. "And where the devil is Wells?" "Close to Glastonbury, Admiral. The reputed burial site of Arthur Pendragon." Ziggy formed a small holographic map of the region, which floated above the control pedistal. Al and Gooshie looked at each other, then at the hologram. "Er, one of your...improvements?" Al asked. "Yes." Ziggy sounded proud. Spatial co-ordernates appeared, showing latitude, longitude, elevation, true north, magnetic north, and a time index. The map zoomed in on a small woods, and the crystal sharp detail grew blurry. "What's wrong?" "A magnetic interference, Admiral. Highly localized, and very strong. It's strange, but it seems reminicent of the time that Dr. Beckett leaped into the copilot who was in the Bermuda Triangle." " 'Reminicent?' " Al looked at Gooshie. "I don't like the sound of that, Ziggy." "Magnetic and gravitonic patterns are similar, Admiral." Ziggy's lights twirled. "Ah. Dr. Beckett has emerged from the woods and is driving away at a high rate of speed." The scene shifted, following a car down a dirt road. "I now have a positive lock on Dr. Beckett. You can enter the imaging room at any time, Admiral." Al leaned back away from the small hologram and lit his cigar. "In a few minutes, Ziggy. I want to go talk to the guy that Sam replaced." "Dr. Jeffery Wallace, Ph. D. in parapsychology. He vanished without a trace on October 31, 1982." Ziggy provided the information. "No body, no trace of foul play, and no known enemies. The police were at a loss to explain what happened. Eventually they closed the case as 'Missing, presumed dead'." Al felt shivers run down his back. "Keep a lock on Sam. I'll be back in a few minutes."