Date: Fri, 11 Jun 93 21:38:56 MDT From: tperreau@banshee.VLA.NRAO.EDU (This space for rent) Message-Id: <9306120338.AA01955@banshee.vla.nrao.edu> To: alt-ql-creative@cisco.com Subject: All Soul's Night -- Part Two All Soul's Night Part II Somehow, Sam got to Jeffery's home. He figured that he somehow got part of Jeffery's memory patterns, which sometimes happened when he leaped into a person. He drove through a small, quaint English village, stopping at a cottage of Tudor style. Sam got out of the car and opened the front door, wondering why it wasn't locked. He fumbled about for the light switch, then when he found it on the wall, it wasn't a simple up and down switch. He turned the knob and the lights came on. "Dimmer switch, wonderful." Sam pulled off the coat and hung in on the coat rack by the door. He looked around at the cottage. It was small, warm and cozy. The perfect home for a single man. There was a mirror above fireplace and Sam walked over to it, wanting to see himself. The man in the mirror was not exactly what Sam expected. Brown hair and thick beard, frosted with grey. Grey eyes the color of slate looked back at Sam. The man was tall, and was at one time muscular. He had let himself go a little, but Sam was sure that he could still pack a punch. "Well, Jeffery, what have I gotten us into?" Sam asked the reflection. There was no answer forthcoming. *** "Dr. Wallace," Al walked into the waiting room. Like the imaging chamber, there was an ever present off white glow that seemed to make the room larger than it was. It was also effective in hiding the doorway. The man who looked like Sam glanced up from the examination table. "Hallo," the thick English accent seemed odd coming from Sam. Wallace cocked his head. "Gawd, wha' an awful colour mix, sahr." Al instantly didn't like this English nozzle... *** Sam found a small workroom, more like a den then anything else. A very new Sinclair computer sat on a desk. Books covered the shelves and also were placed very neatly on the floor, away from foot traffic. Sam glanced at the titles as he picked up a few books. "Ordinance survey of Western England," he read aloud. "Stonehenge Decoded," he picked up a third book. "The Silver Arm," this one was illustrated. Sam flipped through the book, looking at the colored pages. There were many drawing of knotwork, one page in particular was tabbed. Sam saw that Jeffery had overdrawn the knotwork, and scribbled notes in a cryptic shorthand that he couldn't easily read. But Sam remembered the pattern -- it was the same one that the lights were dancing. Sam felt cold. He closed the book and dropped it on the stack with the other books. On the wall over the desk was a framed piece of parchment. Sam took it down and read it. "Jeffery Wallace, Doctor of Parapsychology, University of Edinburgh." Sam remembered, despite his swiss cheesed memory, that Edinburgh did offer degrees in parapsychology -- one of the few universities, like Duke, to actually do serious scientific research into ESP. Sam replaced the framed parchement document. He looked down at the new Sinclair computer and obvious monochrome monitor. He turned on the computer and sat down. Sam hoped that Jeffery had heard of a word processor. *** "Ziggy," Al walked out of the waiting room. "Do you have a fix on Sam?" "He is presently at the home of Dr. Jeffery Wallace." "Good. Load up all references that you can find on English folklore." "Any particular area? That is a rather broad search parameter." "Any and all correlations to Halloween." Al stood at the imaging room door. "Is that specific enough?" "Close enough for government work, Admiral, and well within Quantum Leap specs." "Cute, Ziggy. Real cute." Al entered the imaging chamber. "Center me on Sam, Gooshie." The image of a small wood paneled den appeared, crowded with books. Al looked about, and he saw Sam sitting at a very nice looking desk, peering at a monitor. "Sam," Al walked through the desk to look over Al's shoulder. "Al, look at this," Sam didn't look up from the screen. Al bent down and looked at the fuzzy black and white letters. "Either I'm seeing double, or that screen needs focusing;" Al read the small characters. "Jeez, Sam. Only forty characters wide? You'll go blind looking at that!" Sam sat back and rubbed his eyes. "Al, Dr. Wallace..." "Who's a nozzle and a half," Al interjected. He moved in front of Sam. "Look at this! He said that I look like something his aunt's dog..." "Al," Sam looked at his friend's clothing and winced. "Please, I've been up all night. Can you turn down the volume? He's right." "Very funny." Al looked around, changing the topic. "Did ya leap into a library?" "No, Al." Sam grew pensive. How did he explain what he had seen and heard? "I leaped into some woods, a couple of miles away." "And?" "What 'and'?" Sam asked. "That's it. I was able to read Jeffery's address off his licence, and took the right turn." "You sure Sam? Don't go holding out on me. Ziggy had a problem locking in on you at the beginning -- something about magnetic interference or something like that." Al puffed at his cigar. He could tell that Sam was holding back. Sam looked uncomfortable, and he got up from the desk. The sun was beginning to rise in the east, and Sam looked out at the peaceful landscape. "Al, what if I was to tell you that I had...an encounter...with something..." "Like little twinkling lights, weaving in a pattern?" Al's voice was comforting. "I spent the better part of the morning going over with Wallace his research. This is not the first time that he has seen the lights, Sam. Verbeena is looking him over right now for any sign of a medical problem." "Al. I saw the lights too!" Sam hit the windowframe. "And that's not all, Al. I've been scared before, in leaps. I don't remember the specifics, but I remember being afraid." Sam turned to Al. "Al, last night I was more than afraid. I was petrified with fear. I...I couldn't move, I was helpless." Sam walked through Al without even noticing that he had done so. "Al...I felt music. An ethereal sound that had color. I can't describe it -- you had to have been there..." Sam turned again, and Al could see the emotions there; Sam was frightened, yet Al could see a yearning in Sam's eyes. Al knew that expression, that feeling, all too well. His soul ached for Sam. "I'm going back there tonight, Al."