Date: Tue, 22 Jun 93 08:51:58 MDT From: tperreau@banshee.VLA.NRAO.EDU (This space for rent) Message-Id: <9306221451.AA05120@banshee.vla.nrao.edu> To: alt-ql-creative@cisco.com Subject: All Soul's Night -- Part 6 All Soul's Night Part VI Al sat in his office. He had seen the determination in Sam's eyes before, first at Starbright, then here at Quantum Leap. He was going to go through with it. He was going to open the doorway. Al looked nowhere in particular, but eventually his gaze was drawn to the photo on the wall. It was of a three quarter's full Earth suspended in space over a stark and barren moonscape. What many people didn't realize, Al thought, was that the moon wasn't colorless. The moonscape was a blended patchwork of colors, caused from refracted sunlight. Still, it was a beautiful image. "Admiral, could I speak with you?" Ziggy's voice came through the office speaker. Al looked up at the standard government issued ceiling tiles. "Huh? Oh, sure Ziggy. I was just sitting here, thinking." Al leaned back in his chair. "What about?" "I have made recalculations, and the prognosis has remained the same each time. I can find no way to give father a better chance to leap safely. I...I've failed, Admiral. I've never failed before...It's a strange feeling." "Join the club, kid. I've made more than one mistake in my life," Al rubbed his eyes. "Things happen. You think that you've got things all under control, and WHAMMO! up pops Murphy and gives you a swift kick in the...er..." "Cojones?" "Ziggy!" Al looked up at the speaker with wide eyes. "If Sam heard you talk like that, he'd pull your voice synthesizer module!" "Sorry, Admiral;" Ziggy sounded anything but sorry, Al noted. "Who is Murphy?" "Murphy's Law. Whatever can go wrong..." "...Shall go wrong." Ziggy was quiet for a half-second. "Did Murphy work for us?" Al couldn't help but to smile. "Good joke, Ziggy. You're timing was perfect." "As always, Admiral. It's nearly midnight." "I know." Al looked over to another photo. This one of him and Sam at White Sands, one of the few times that Al was able to get Sam away from the building of the project. The kid had needed the rest. The kid needed him now, too. Al stood up and straightened out his clothing. *** It was close to midnight. Sam looked around the mound, but could find nothing unusual about it. It looked like a small earthen mound, about 8 feet tall and 20 or so feet in diameter, and it was covered with a carpet of thick grass. Sam sighed and pulled out a small compass, from which he found the eastern side of the mound. He heard the imaging room door open and smiled in relief as Al walked through. Al looked up at Sam with an arched eyebrow. "Don't you think it's kind of late to be playing 'King of the Hill'?" Sam knew that Al was nervous. He always made bad jokes when he was nervous. Sam walked down the hill, his breath steaming in the cool night air. "I'm glad that you're here, Al." "Wouldn't miss this for the world." Al looked at the handlink. "No magnetic interference yet." Sam smiled. "I haven't started the ritual yet," he replied as he pulled out a small zip lock bag. "What's that?" Sam opened the bag up and pulled out two shamrocks. "Four leaf clovers, wet with dew -- so one can see the truth." He crushed the clovers and placed the wet mash against his eyelids. "Looks like eye shadow Ruth used to wear," Al rocked on his feet. "Very funny, Al." Sam put the bag into his coat pocket. "Well, I'm ready -- I think." "Cold feet? No one would blame you if you backed out." Sam shook his head. "I have to do this, Al. It's the only way." Sam began to walk around the mound in a clockwise direction. He made the circuit within a minute, and was standing next to Al. "Well? Anything?" Al responded to Sam by looking at the handlink and shaking his head. Sam made the next two circuits and stopped back at Al. "Well?!" "Nothing. No abnormal magnetic patterns, shifts, or interference." Al looked about. "No twinkling pixels, either." "Pixies, Al. Pixies." Sam ran a hand through his hair. "See if Ziggy has anything to say." Al punched a sequence of buttons, then read the display. "The number three is my...mystical to the Celts. She suggests try three cubs?" Al slapped the handlink, which squealled at him. "Oh. Three cubed times, Sam. Nine circuits." Sam walked around the mound three more times. "Nothing is happening, Al." Sam said as he went past for the sixth time. Al looked at the handlink. "I wouldn't know about that, Sam;" he called out. "Ziggy is beginning to get some anomalous magnetic readings." Al waited a minute. "Sam?" Another minute. "SAM!" "What?" Sam came around the curve of the mound. "You don't have to yell, Al. I can hear you fine." "What took you so long! Did you stop for something?" "No." Sam looked at Al. "I walked around the mound. It only took a minute." "Sam, something weird is going on. It took you over three minutes to make the circuit. Maybe you should stop now." "Can't, Al. Only way." Sam walked off. He went behind the mound and Al triggered the counter on the handlink. Five minutes later Sam came around from the other side. "Five minutes that time, Sam." Al showed Sam the handlink readout. "You didn't stop for anything? You're not pulling my leg because it's Halloween, are you?" "No, Al. Honestly. I'm just walking around the mound. One more time, then I'm done." Sam walked off. Al watched Sam disappear around the backside of the mound. The landscape went slightly fuzzy, and Al looked about. "Ziggy? Gooshie?" "Interference, Admiral;" Gooshie's voice came over the handlink. "Wait a second, we're boosting the power." The landscape became sharp again. Sam felt like he was walking uphill. The mound seemed to be only 20 feet around, yet miles across. With every step forwards, he seemed to take three steps back. Finally he walked around and saw Al. "Al, there is something strange going on here." "You're telling me. Look;" Al pointed at the mound. Sam turned his head. There was a point of light floating in midair. As they watched, the point inflated to the size of a ping pong ball, then arced to the ground, forming a lightning-type gash of brilliant white light. Sam heard the music coming from within the gash. "Al, don't you hear it?" Sam looked at Al. The holographic image was derezzing, and Sam could see that Al was shouting at the handlink. The image all but faded out, then came back. "Sam! You've got to leap!" Al looked at his friend. Sam shook his head. "Not yet...it isn't the time." Whisps of light emerged from the gash and floated about Sam. They ignored the image of Al, floating through him. He looked down at one as it passed through his stomach. "Damn." He looked at Sam. He was surrounded by dozens of the lights. They were all colors of the rainbow. Sam looked up at Al, and nodded. He took on the faint blue aura that preceeded a leap. "Ziggy! Now! The retrieval program!" Al shouted. "Running..." Ziggy replied. Sam leaped, exploding into a million shards of light. The gash flared and widened, forming a cave in the mound. Al squinted in reflex to the bright light as the quantum effect vanished, only to leave Sam and Wallace standing side by side. "Ziggy!" "It's no use!" Ziggy wailed through the handlink. "There's too much interference!" "Shut down the imaging chamber!" Al yelled, his pulse racing. "Divert all power!" "I could shut down the entire west coast and not have enough power!" *** Sam was standing next to Jeffery. Wallace smiled at Sam. "Dr. Beckett, I presume," he held his hand out and Sam shook it. "Dr. Wallace." Their attention was drawn to the cave-like opening from which light spilled forth. Tiny motes of light danced around them, weaving and bobbing to an sound that filled the air. "Chance of a lifetime, Dr. Beckett. To visit a whole new world. A whole new culture." Wallace looked into the cave. "This is what I've spent my life looking for..." "Sam!" Al yelled. Sam turned and looked at the faded hologram. "Don't!" Sam walked over to Al, watching the man. A wave of emotions washed over Sam, and he smiled at the faded hologram. "Al. I've got to...you can't hear the music..." Sam looked over his shoulder. Wallace had already entered the cave, his features were blending in with the light. Small motes of light tugged against Sam's clothing, calling him in. Sam turned to face Al again. "Well, you weren't there to see me leap, so I guess this kind of makes up for that. Thanks, Al. Thanks for being there, when I needed you. Thanks for being my friend," Sam gave Al a half smile and followed Wallace and the lights. "SAM!!!" Al cried out, stunned. He wathced Sam bend over and enter the cave. His features grew faint, but Al was sure that Sam looked back at him and smiled. Suddenly the cavern closed up, winking out to a small point of light that faded away. "FATHER!!!!" Ziggy wail echoed throughout the imaging room. The scene of England wavered and vanished. Al punched at the handlink and got no response. "Gooshie! Get me out of here!" Al yelled out, hoping the microphones were working. Slowly, the door opened. Al ran out and into the control chamber. He looked up at Ziggy, and stopped short. There were no twinkling lights; the sphere was dark. "Gooshie?" Gooshie punched away at a keyboard, a frightened look on his face. "All higher level function are dead, Admiral. It's not a system crash -- all of the lower level routines are still active. I don't know, but if I was a doctor, I'd say that Ziggy went unconscious;" he looked away from the monitor. "Or dead."