Message-ID: Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 14:44:35 +0100 From: Heather Markham Subject: alternus-tempus.p06 CHAPTER NINE Sam and Dana were just coming to the end of their journey, he drove the car through a tunnel of evergreen trees, sunlight dappled the road and glinted into their eyes. The car emerged out into an area of beautiful open countryside, grass meadows and small paddocks. In the middle of the setting, framed by tall leafless trees and against a backdrop of rolling hills, stood the ranch house, barns, stables and old bunk house. It was a large wooden house, much bigger than he'd expected, painted a dazzling white, complimented by a front porch veranda and surrounded by a white picket fence. A small herd of pinto ponies cantered from one side of a small coral to the other as he slowly drove the car past them and up the driveway. As they neared the house, he noticed that a double swing seat and a rocking chair stood on the porch. The picket fence enclosed a neat garden and lawn. He guessed this touch had been added at the insistence of Daniel's mom and sister to make the place seem more homely and less like a working ranch. A brand new jeep and an old truck stood between the big barn and the house. Sam drove the car along side them and parked. He beamed over at Dana, disentangled himself from the seat belt, opened the door and slid out from the driving seat. He gestured around at the ranch, "Well, this is it, the Pendrell residence." Hurrying round to open the door for her and taking her hand he curtiously drew her out to him. He slid an arm around her waist and stood there gazing at the scenery, smelling the familiar scent of farms and horses, revelling in the sunshine and filling his lungs with the fresh, crisp, unpolluted spring-like air. The scenery on the way up had been pretty spectacular, but this, this place was something else....it couldn't have been in a more idyllic spot. He'd spent his childhood and most of his youth on a farm, he didn't consider it would be too difficult to show her around, a ranch wasn't that different from a farm. He sighed deeply, a wistful look in his eyes. Dana heard him, "Have you been away from here long?" He thought back to an incident in the hospital...Daniel's older sister had remonstrated with him over the fact that he'd not visited them in quite a while, almost a year in fact! Thinking about it now and looking around at Pendrell's childhood home made him feel homesick. The next time Al showed up, he was going to urge him to say something to Pendrell, to remind him of the importance of seeing his family while he could, not to take it for granted that they'd always be there, to warn him not to let work come before family. He desperately missed his own family and couldn't even phone them. It was at times like this that things really got to him. Sighing again, he replied, "It seems like an eternity. Come on, I guess I'd better start the tour." With that, he steered her towards the house. Just as they reached the gate to the little garden, a tall dark haired man, clad in jeans and thick sheepskin-lined denim jacket and cowboy hat, came out of the barn carrying a sackful of feed. He yelled over to them. "Hey! Danny! Hi there....it's great to see you!" Sam and Dana turned in unison to see who it was. The man hurried across to them, he appeared to be somewhere in his late forties. He looked of Native American Indian descent, his shining black hair was long and pulled back in a pony tail. Dumping the sack on the ground, he clamped both arms around Sam, grasping him in a friendly bear hug. Sam winced slightly as the pressure from the embrace caused his wound to ache. He guessed the man was one of the hired hands and he obviously knew Daniel very well. The Indian man let go and held him at arms length, looking him up and down, "How are you? Sorry, I didn't come visit you in the hospital, I wanted to but things have been pretty hectic around here for the last week or two. My spirit was with you." Sam grinned broadly at the man, "It's great to see you too, I'm feeling fine, now." The other man shoved his hand in his pocket, drew out a small carved wooden protection totem and placed it in Sam's hand, "I made this for you, keep it with you and it will protect you from harm, in the future." Sam inspected the small wooden animal, it had been beautifully and very delicately carved, he wished he could keep it and carry it with him through his leaps but like everything else, it was transient, like everything else, it would soon be left behind. This man obviously thought a great deal of Daniel but as yet, he didn't know his name, "Thanks, it's so beautifully made....I er, I don't know what to say!" Pendrell's old friend stared into his eyes, a slight look of puzzlement showing in his expression, "Don't say anything, just keep it for as long as you can. I think you're going to need it!" Sam smiled and turned to Dana gesturing with his hand, "I should have come down here more often, but you know how it is with work and everything...it's terrific to be back. I just thought I'd take advantage of my time off while I could and bring my friend Dana...Dana Scully down to see the place, show her the new foals while the folks are away." The man smiled, his eyes glinting, he chuckled and pumped Dana's hand, "Ah huh, well glad to meet you Dana, Dana Scully any friend of Danny's is a friend of mine. I'm very pleased to meet you. I'm Joe Blackcrow, did he tell you? I've know him for years, ever since he was a kid?" She shook her head and smiled from Sam to the man, "No, he did not....you'll have to fill me in with all the little anecdotes from his past. I'm sure the pair of you had lots of fun together." The other man laughed and slapped Sam playfully on the back, "Hey, how come you didn't tell her about your old pal Joe Blackcrow...oh well, never mind, plenty of time to catch up on old times now you're here." He swept an arm around in front of him, "Well, you sure picked a great day for a visit." he stepped back and looked from one to the other, "You..er..you two an item?" Dana looked down and blushed slightly, then glanced back up at Sam took his hand and replied, "Yes, I suppose we are." Sam felt a sudden surge of warmth, he put his arm around her shoulder and cuddled her close to him and beamed, "We've known each other for quite some time at work but it took my er, little accident to finally get us together." Joe chuckled, "About time you got yourself a young lady friend, and might I add...a very beautiful young lady at that!" Dana looked away in embarrassment, a bemused smile on her face. She wasn't that taken with flattery. Sam noticed her squirm and hurriedly changed the subject, looking round he asked, "Where are the new ponies?" Joe was still smiling, "Oh, they're tucked up at the back of the stables out of harms way. They're your pop's pride and joy. I think he intends to use them to entice the kids over when they're older....you know your Pop." Sam replied in agreement, "Yeah, Pop, kids, horses and ponies seem to go together." "That's true enough, you and your sisters were never out of the saddle when you were kids. Personally, though, I think your Pop has jumped the gun a little, it's gonna be a few years before Jo's twins are old enough to ride. Come on, lets go see 'em." He heaved the sack back onto his shoulders, turned and strode off in the direction of the large brick stable block. Sam and Dana trailed after him. Joe led them to a stall at the far end of the building, the scent of fresh hay and horses mingled in the warmth of the stables. He flung down the sack of grain. Shafts of sunlight streamed in from high windows, catching the clouds of dancing dust motes spiralling up from the floor. He reached into his pocket and took out a small brown paper bag of sugar lumps and handed it to Dana. "Here give them a couple of these you'll be their friend for life. Real cute ain't they?" Two young black foals stood side by side nuzzling close to their mother, they looked up to see who was watching them. Dana leaned over the half door, stretched out her palm offering the treat and clicked her tongue at them. The two young animals wandered over and shyly took the sweet treat. She stroked and patted them, "Oh they're beautiful. How old are they? What are they called?" "They're two months old, that one's called blaze for obvious reasons, the other's called Night." Sam reached up behind Dana, to rub at the foal's noses. "Joe, while we're here, I thought maybe it would be nice if we took out two of the horses, I could show Dana around the area." Dana turned to Joe and cut in, "I haven't ridden since I was little, have you a gentle horse, one that Daniel could lead?" The man's eyes darkened with concern, he rubbed a hand across his chin, "Well now, any other time'd be great but I'm not so sure it would be a such a good idea at the moment, what with everything that's been happening around here." Sam wondered what could be amiss, "Why, what's wrong....the horses are okay aren't they?" "Oh yeah, sure, they're fine, didn't your Pop tell you? There's some kinda wild animal roaming around out there. It's been attacking the stock around here for the past couple of weeks. Killed two of Coggin's sheep last week and brought down a steer three nights ago, that's why most of the stock are coralled up here and the best horses are all stabled. It's why the mare and foals are tucked away, safe and comfy at the back, here. Matter of fact, your Pop was in two minds as whether or not to go see your sister right now but your mom convinced him the ranch was in good hands." Joe busied himself with the other horses, checking their feed, he continued to speak as he worked, "The thing came right up into Mr Fowler's yard two nights ago, made a real mess of the chicken house." Sam stared at Joe as he began to consider if he was here to save someone from the clutches of a wild animal. "A wild animal, out here? Are you sure Fowler's not exaggerating, panicking? You now what wild dogs can do! Joe shook his head, "Yeah, I know some folks are prone to exaggeration and panic but it had to be a real big animal to bring down a steer. It was badly mauled, the wounds were pretty extensive. Clawed from the backbone right down to the stomach on either side. A couple of odd things though, there were two huge fang marks each side of the neck. No way was it an ordinary dog." Dana stood quietly, listening with interest, "Could it be wolves or coyotes?" Joe laughed throatily, "No, ain't been any around in years, not since my grandfather's days!" She considered the facts. "Has anyone given an accurate description of the beast?" "Kind of, Fowler and his son ran out after it as soon as their dogs started howlin', it was too dark to see anything too clearly, just said it was big, black and had bright green eyes, kinda glowing. He took a shot at it as it ran off but reckoned he missed, said it was real fast. There was blood on the ground outside the chicken house though, which means it must already be wounded. Funny thing, he reckoned they chased after it out towards the woods and it just disappeared." Dana raised an eyebrow, "Disappeared...you mean they lost the trail?" "No, I mean it literally disappeared, least ways that's what they reckon. They followed the thing's tracks as best they could and caught sight of it heading towards the woods on the other side of the hill. It sorta stopped, looked at them, then nothing, it vanished! The tracks stopped right where they lost sight of it." Dana had stopped petting the foals, the related events had captured her interest. She and Sam had trailed after the stockman as he'd worked his way back up the line of stalls, checking the horses feed as he went. "Mmm, that's spooky...could just be that the thing ran over hard ground, that would explain the tracks stopping suddenly. What does the sheriff have to say about it? Joe rubbed at the back of his neck and moved along to the last stall, "Reckons, it's probably some escaped big cat got out of a zoo somewhere or escaped from some travellin' circus. Could've even have been someone's pet, got too big too handle and took off. Might explain why no-ones come forward to report it...they might be scared of incurring a heavy fine or somethin'." Dana considered that to be a possibility but was still concerned about the fact that a big wild cat was roaming around a populated area, "Did you get a look at the tracks yourself?" "Yeah, must admit, I've never seen anything quite like them before, they were real big. Ya know, there have been stories of wild animals around here before....I remember one from..oh, must be about fifteen years or so back, everyone was convinced back then that the thing was a wild Puma or somethin' but those prints were about twice the size and looked kind of odd." "Odd, how?" Joe stopped what he was doing and stared at her. "I'm not sure, more of a gut feelin' the claw marks looked ...I don't know, not quite right. And they were right about the tracks indicating the thing had vanished before it got to the woods" Dana raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Oh, why?" Joe's eyes had darkened again. "The ground around there was pretty soft and muddy, it had rained earlier that day. If the thing had run into the woods, it would have been easy to track it!" Dana had begun to treat the account as if it were another FBI case. "Could you take us out there, I'd really like to take a look at those tracks myself." Joe shook his head, "Sorry, it rained heavily again next night, washed everything away, nothing to see now." Joe had finished checking the horses, she wandered after the man as he walked back out into the sunshine, she shielded her eyes from the sudden glare of light. "Pity, I'd have liked to have taken a look. What about the sheep carcasses and the steer, what happened to them?" "The vet took them away for incineration." "Uh huh, very convenient." Joe looked from Dana to Sam and grinned. "You can tell she works for the bureau!" Sam was becoming increasingly worried, he didn't want Dana getting caught up in something which could be dangerous. He was beginning to regret sending Al away quite so soon, he could have asked him to check up on other reports for this time period and to ask if anyone had been hurt by a wild beast. "Are you sure the horses are safe where they are?" Joe gazed around at the secured corals. "The stock should be safe up near the house. Ben and Phil will be patrolling every night with the dogs and rifles just to make sure. Me and some of the locals are meeting up tonight to coordinate a proper hunt. If there are enough of us, we should be able to flush the thing out." Dana couldn't help thinking about the case, it almost sounded like an X-File. "Be careful out there, you don't know what you're dealing with." "Oh, we'll be careful alright and if anything weird happens, I'll remember to let you know. Are you staying here for the weekend?" Sam hadn't considered the idea, before he could reply, Dana answered, "No, I don't think so, we both have to be back in Washington tomorrow morning." Joe thought for a moment, turned to Sam and added, "Look, I've got to go over to see old man Fowler, would you and Dana like to come along with me in the jeep. Fowler would love to see you, his misses'd love to meet Dana and I bet she's bound to put on a spread for lunch. We could come back the scenic route and take in the rest of the place. We could stop off on the way back, you could show Dana our special look-out post up at Elm Bluff ridge...you remember...the place I used to take you kids," he turned to Dana, "it's a pretty spectacular view. What do you say?" She grinned, "It sounds wonderful. We could always have that picnic this evening." Sam agreed and soon they were on their way over to visit the next farm. The afternoon passed very pleasantly. Their visit to the Fowler's farm had been enjoyable and interesting. They'd discussed farm life in general and they listened to tales about the 'beast' while eating a fine lunch provided by Mary Fowler. She was a big bustling woman with grey hair tied up into a tight knot on the top of her head, she giggled a lot and obviously enjoyed her own cooking. Joe had told them of Indian myths concerning great, wild beasts and of how the Seminole people had legends about 'Ghost Panthers', which preyed on people and deer and could only be killed by spears which had been blessed by the Holy Man. Mrs fowler had told them that her father had handed down tales regarding strange creatures. Intriguingly, the tales spanned several decades. It seemed that the creature turned up regularly roughly every ten years, killed a few sheep, or pigs, even a steer or pony if it was hungry enough and then just seemed to disappeared from the locality. As far as the stories had gone, the beast had never actually attacked a human, but then there was always a first time. As of yet, no one had got real close to it but Sam knew only too well that a frightened, cornered animal was unpredictable and should be handled with respect. That part of the discussion led to him warning Joe to tread carefully when they were out tracking the thing. CHAPTER TEN After lunch, Joe had driven them around the beautiful locality, showing Dana all the different places where Danny and the two girls had played as youngsters. Sam was glad that for once he didn't have to play tour guide and do the driving. The Indian man was good company and laughed a lot. He hadn't needed much persuasion to impart all the little, embarrassing things that had happened to Danny as a youngster. Sam had sat there, next to Dana feigning embarrassment. It wasn't hard to do, he just thought about all the funny and stupid things that had happened to him as a boy, back on the Beckett farm. They arrived back at the ranch house at around five o'clock and drew up close to the house. Sam and Dana climbed from their seats. Dana turned to Joe, "Why don't you come and join us for the picnic?" He smiled but flapped a hand at her, "No, I have things to do. I've got to pick up Bill, then head over to Max Burnett's place to meet up with the others. This hunts got to be organized carefully. This time we aim to catch the thing!" Sam pointed back at the house, "You sure you don't want to join us for a quick bite to eat first?" The other man shook his head, "I'm sure, I'm running late as it is," he paused, laughed and rubbed a hand across his stomach, "and besides, I can still feel lunch." He extended his hand towards Dana, she took it and he grasped it in both of his, "It was nice meeting you Dana Scully...make sure he comes to visit more often, get him to bring you down when his folks are around, I know you'd all get on real well." Dana let go his hand and stepped back saying, "I will, you can be sure of that. Oh, and take care with the hunt!" Sam stepped forward ducking his head down towards Joe and shook his hand firmly, "It was great seeing you." Dana wandered towards the garden gate while the two men finished saying their goodbyes. Sam walked over to join her in a final wave goodbye as the jeep pulled away and headed back up the driveway. Taking out a set of keys from the pocket of his pants, he led her to the front door, unlocked it and pushed it open. He was as intrigued and as eager to see the place as she was, it looked even bigger on the inside than it did from the outside. The hall was wide with highly polished wooden stairs running up from the far end. It was spacious, partly open-planned and had lots of big wide windows. The furnishings were comfortable, a mix of modern and antique western. Sam took advantage of the fact that Dana had never visited the place before and pretended to know the layout by leading her from one room to the next gesturing around and stating the obvious, 'This is the lounge and ...oh, and this is the downstairs bathroom'. In this way he quickly managed to find the kitchen which was at the back of the house and faced west, overlooking the trees and hills. They crossed the room to gaze out of the window at the setting sun. The sky was just beginning to grow dusky. Pink, orange, purple and scarlet clouds drifted across the rapidly darkening sky. Sam wondered if the kitchen had been built here specifically to give a good view of the evening sunsets. The kitchen looked well used and homely, there was a sweet scent of vanilla in the room, he guessed Pendrell's mom baked lots of cookies and cakes. Utensils hung from hooks on the polished wood panelled walls, bright copper pans stood in rows on various shelves. A huge double stove stood against the far wall. He could imagine the Pendrell family sitting around the large table in the centre of the room, eating and laughing together, enjoying breakfasts and suppers. He could tell there was a lot of love in this house. He began to feel homesick once more. He was brought back to earth by Dana's touch on his shoulder, she gazed along with him at the beautiful sunset. "It's a beautiful place to live, you must have had a very happy childhood here? You know, when I visited you in hospital and your parents were there, I could tell you all had a strong family bond, your mom and pop looked as thought they'd shared a lifetime of happiness together.....Do you think, we'll be like that in twenty years time?" The emotion within him tightened his throat, all he could manage was a nodded response. Sliding an arm across her shoulder and drawing her close to him, he kissed her lightly at the top of her head. He knew the answer to her question didn't really include him, it was a painful thought, one which he wished she hadn't mentioned. He sighed heavily, he would have to come to terms with the fact that soon, very soon he would be gone. Sam's expertise in finding things he needed in strange settings made it easy for him to pretend he knew where things were kept. If he looked in the wrong place or couldn't find something, he just used the excuse that his mom must have rearranged things..again! However, the large fridge needed no finding. Al had told him it should be well stocked and he was right! There were plastic boxes containing cut-salads, there was a ham on the bone and sliced cooked meats and a large sugar-coated apple pie...the famed apple pie. Dana reached in and took it out, "Sam, I 'm inclined to agree with Joe about lunch, I can still feel a little of it myself, it was more of a feast than lunch, much more than I'm generally used too. I'm not really that hungry right now. How about you?...I think just this pie and maybe a sandwich." Sam wasn't that hungry either, "Yeah, I guess that'll do us fine." She rubbed at her neck, "I feel a little dusty from the trip, I'd like to go freshen up a little. "Yeah, sure, you remember where the bathroom is?" She nodded, "Yeah but where's the pool, you haven't shown me that yet?" Sam grinned, he hadn't found it, that was why, "Ah, that's kind of a surprise, go on, you go freshen up, I'll show you after. I'll wash up here and then get things started." With that she left him to himself and the food. He quickly scrubbed his hands in the hot water of the sink, prepared the picnic and loaded a tray with the pie, a pitcher of home-made lemonade and an assortment of sandwiches. He stood scratching his head for a moment, the pool room must be built on the side of the house as an extension, but which side? Suddenly there was a familiar kerchunk noise and Al stepped jauntily from the Imaging Chamber, "Hey, Sam you'll never guess what......hey, that pie looks delicious, I can almost smell it, pity I can't sample a slice, reminds me of a girl I once dated. She was taking cooking lessons and I used to get to sample all her cooking, she used to make pie like that but she used to do this thing with whipped cream and..." He paused for a moment, "Where's Dana?" "She's just freshening up before we have this picnic, if you can call it that. We had lunch with neighbours, it left us rather full. I'm supposed to take this through to the pool side, you can save me the task of finding where it is." Al wrinkled his face into a look of thought. "Yeah, the pool...it's at the back of the house, I remember Daniel telling me about it, apparently, it's a kinda special place of his sister, she had it built to her own specifications and furnished it. I'm kinda eager to see it myself. Come on, pick up the tray and follow me. It should be right down the hall." He trotted up the hall and indicated to a door at the far end, tucked away just behind the stair case. Sam followed carrying the laden tray. He nudged the door open with an elbow and together they walked in. For a moment they stopped in the dusky light to take in the warm, steamy, unexpected beauty of the room. The pool was quite large and was housed in what looked like a cross between an English conservatory and a green-house. The long walls were white, wide frosted windows ran the length of both sides and the far wall of the pool. The roof was arched and was made of the same kind of frosted glass as the other windows but was tinted blue. The pool was surrounded by large terracotta-potted ferns, palms and flowering lilies, which obviously had flourished in the warm steamy atmosphere, giving a tropical feel to the atmosphere. The area in front of the pool where they were standing, was built on the style of a raised deck with a bamboo half rail separating one half of the area from the pool. Two pool recliners stood to the left hand side, between them stood a circular cane table. On the right side was another larger table and several rattan chairs. Two wide steps led down from the deck to the pool. A set of wide steps at the right hand corner of the pool led down into the invitingly warm water. Sam turned to Al in amazement, "Daniel wasn't wrong when when he said this place was special, I can see Kelly put a lot of herself into the design of this place. I have the feeling she uses this place as often as she can to entertain her friends." Al nodded as he continued to stare around at all the little added details, like the lantern lamps hanging along the wall and the tiny strings of fairy lights which had been strung carefully along the walls, up close to the ceiling. "Boy I'd love a place like this, so romantic. I wonder if our budget would stretch to having one of these built back at the Project.....for leisure reasons you understand....swimmin's very good for the relief of stress." Sam quickly moved across to the smaller table and set down the tray. Turning to his friend and giving him one of his lop-sided querky grins he replied, "Ohh, yeah sure, I can just imagine your ideas of leisure and relieving stress!" Al grinned and cackle hoarsely, "Well, it's the best way I know." He turned to look at a brass panel on the wall, "Say, look here, I think these are the lighting switches." Sam walked over to investigate, he flicked on two switches, the place was suddenly and overwhelmingly, illuminated from above by a series of bright strip lights which ran the length of the pool. Added to this sudden glare were the softer yellow lights coming from the hanging side lanterns. Smaller lanterns also hung in the corners of the deck area, another switch revealed these. He played with the switches again and turned off the strip light, the glare was replaced buy a much subtler light. Another switch illuminated the coloured, sparkling fairy lights, which twinkled and reflected in the shimmering water. This added even more of a romantic atmosphere to the setting. He flicked the last switch into life, the blue tiled pool was floodlit from beneath the water by soft green water lamps. Al took a puff of his cigar and walked down the steps to the edge of the pool, "This place is really somethin, ain't it! I'd love to bring Tina here." He sighed loudly. Sam followed him down to the pool edge, knelt down and dipped his finger into the water. "They must keep the water warm all year round for the plants." He stood up, flicking the water from his hands, as he quickly walked back across the deck area and towards the door, "Hell, I almost forgot, Dana will be wondering where I am. Come on, we'd best go back to the kitchen...hey, what was it you were going to tell me when you first arrived?" Al jogged a little, to keep up with the long-legged stretch of his friends hurried pace. "Oh yeah, guess what Pendrell's doing...no, you'll never guess...so I'll tell ya. He's got your old PC in the waiting room, he and Gushie have patched it into Ziggy....." He paused to search for his friends response, his quantum physicist friend's eyebrows had raised considerably, he was about to speak but Al continued quickly, silencing any questions, "You're not going to believe this, he's trying to figure out a way of correcting the retrieval process." "He is?....Can he do that? I knw yu said he was clever but is he that clever? Oh, Al if he could do that I could...." Al silenced his friend once more, he had an even more important piece of information, "Yeah, great ain't it! And yeah, I do believe if anyone can do it, he can. But, that's not all, listen to this.... he has this crazy theory about projecting a quantum field outside of the accelerator in an effort to build a time machine we can use to actually travel in time." Sam stopped dead and whistled between closed teeth, "What! Al, do you realize what the outcome of a theory like that could mean?" The brightly attired observer shook his head firmly. "Yeah, yeah, I do. I know it all sounds very H.G.Wells but for one thing it means we could retrieve you during any mission! You...we'd be able to travel in time, safely." Sam paced off towards the kitchen, peered round the door to see if Dana was waiting for him, saw that she hadn't yet returned and quickly walked inside and began the familiar pacing he always did when worried or considering something scientific. He could hardly contain himself. "What's his theorem on stabilizing a quantum field without it being projected within a chamber?" Al stared open mouthed at his friend, "I'm..er..I'm not quite sure of all the details but he said something about using a design similar to the holo graphic projections to emit an electro static field around an object to contain the quantum field." "Mmm, for that to work it couldn't be touching anything, though. It would have to be airborne otherwise the ground would interfere with the field. If something like that could be developed, if a miniaturized version of the accelerator could be made, it could be put into an aircraft of some sorts..." he shook his head in utter amazement, "A time machine...we'd have a proper time machine, just think what we could do!" Al rubbed at the back of his neck in thought. "Yeah, just think what might happen in the future...think what would happen if we put it on a space craft." "That's an extremely interesting idea, if I ever get to build one, I'll name it after you." Albert Calavicci's face glowed, "Aw, Sam, I'm touched...that's real nice" The quantum physicist had stopped pacing, he twisted a chair around from the table and sat on it back-to-front, arms folded on the top of the low backrest, chin resting on his arms., thoughts sparkling in his eyes. "Your suggestion of the space-craft might be the only way to do it. Oh my God, does he realize what he's starting here! Hell, I wish I could get back to the project! How did he come up with all this, it's not exactly his field." "Sam, calm down will ya, first things first, we'd kinda like him to work on the retrieval program before moving on to anything else. It's early days yet, the time-machine is only a theory in his head, these things take a long time to perfect, you should know that better than anyone. And to answer your question, Danny's thought processes seem to have latched into your brain wave frequencies, it's kinda like he has two brains...two genius brains and it seems to have triggered some kind of hyper-thought state. At least that's what Verbena says, but it may burn out before he finishes or you might leap before he finishes the calculations we need to get you home." Sam swung his legs from the chair and stood to face Al, "Yeah, but if his workings are patched into Ziggy's data banks a programme could be put into initiation to extend any initial stages of the theory. This thing might just work!" CHAPTER ELEVEN Dana had freshened and tidied herself up, when the cell phone she was carrying in her bag, warbled into life. she took it out and held it to her ear. "Scully!.....Mulder? Why are you phoning me again?....Uh huh, did I really need to know that? Yeah, well it could have waited until tomorrow! I know UFO's are a passion of yours and what you're telling me is all very fascinating but you could have told me all this at work, tomorrw. Where am I?....I'm out at a place called Elm Bluff....what am I doing...I'm..er...I'm enjoying myself! It is Sunday you know. Why am I here?....God, Mulder you're so nosy, has anyone ever told you that? I know you'd never guess it but I do have a life...well sometimes at least! Uh huh...yeah, uh huh, Mulder, what are you doing, you sound weird, who's that with you? Yeah and if I believe that one, I'll.... Okay, okay, I'm switching my phone off now...okay, see you tomorrow." With that the conversation ended, she flipped the phone shut, stuffed it back in her bag, left the small, neat bathroom and headed back to the kitchen. She walked in to catch Sam pacing the floor, muttering to himself and looking decidedly flushed and distracted. Somehow, he looked odd, different, she stood at the door way for a puzzled moment watching him. "Sorry, I was so long, I had another call from Mulder....are you okay, has something happened?" He spun round to stare at her, searching for a plausible excuse for his behaviour, suddenly, something from his boyhood popped into his head, something he'd once heard his own father discuss with his older brother, a story about a wild beast. "Oh, no, sorry, I...er..I was just thinking aloud about the problem with the wild cat, you know, about what Mary Fowler was saying earlier about the big cat seeming to appear regularly, like it had some kind of regularity to it. I've heard tales before of strange animals which appear and then mysteriously disappear after attacking livestock. In fact, I think I can remember some of the events Joe was talking about from all those years back....I was just a kid, but I remember it scared the hell outa the local folk." She cocked her head to one side and walked over to him. "I doubt if the cycles of appearances are accurate, in my experience, things like this are prone to foaf lore. People like to put strange events into nice little, precise packages, it makes for a better tale. You're a scientist, you don't honestly believe these creatures have any kind of paranormal existence, do you?" Sam was desperately trying to push all thoughts of his conversation with Al to the back of his mind, the magnitude of the concepts Pendrell had envisioned were hard to ignore or set aside, but thoughts and ideas concerning the strangeness of wild beasts were rapidly growing within him and were helping to distract him from the other matter. Al was watching him through narrowed eyes, it was at times like this that Sam needed careful guidance, otherwise he was prone to letting things slip and on this leap it was out of the question. Al moved between his friend and Dana. "Good, Sam, good. That's it, calm down set your mind onto something else. I know you've still got questions but that's all I can tell you for now. Daniel and Gushie haven't gotten very far with anything yet, they're only just beginning the preliminary stages of the process, there are a lot of stages to work through and at the moment we still don't have everything working up to full scratch. Oh, don't forget the pool and the picnic." Sam struggled to suppress the scientist within him. He knew his friend was right. He tried to regulate his breathing while thinking, "Well...don't you think it's odd that the creature just vanished like that! And what about the tracks Joe looked at, if they were as big as he said, they couldn't have been made by any ordinary wild cat, even a mountain lion's prints are not that big and what about the unusual claw marks he spoke of." She sat opposite him, elbow on the table and chin resting in her hands. "I'm just as curious about this thing as you are but I don't think there's anything sinister about it. If Joe and the others manage to capture it or get decent tracks from it, then I'd be very interested to come back down here and see for myself but most tales of this nature are ninety per cent imagination and the rest is down to exaggeration. There's probably a good reason for all those things happening. The fact that it seemed to disappear doesn't mean it actually performed a vanishing act. Wild animals are good at blending in, it's how they survive. If the creature is as big as rumour suggests and it has a long stride, it might simply have leaped out of there and landed on firmer ground." Sam had to agree with her but her last few words...leaped-out, were beginning to set his mind on a different tack, one he would have liked to have discussed but thought better of it at that time, he didn't want to air his suspicions until he'd had a chance to check up on a few facts. "You're right. Sorry, now I'm the one talking about work. Let's forget about that for tonight, we're supposed to be here to relax. Come on, I've taken a tray through to the pool, it's down here." Taking her by the hand he led her into the pool room. "Well, what do you think?" Dana took in the surroundings, the warmth, the soft lights, the shimmering coloured pool, everything was perfect. "Oh Daniel, this is so...it's wonderful, I love it. It's so peaceful, the perfect place to relax and unwind. You didn't tell me just how pretty it is." "Yes it is and it's all my sister's design. Kelly put a lot of thought and work into this place. She spends a lot of time here, sometimes on her own but mostly with her friends." Gently pulling her towards the two recliners and making a graceful bow, he indicated to the small table. "Your picnic awaits.....such as it is. Sorry, it's not exactly what I had in mind." She sat down and made herself comfortable, "This is just fine, but I think I'll just have a slice of the pie for now." Sam sat next to her on the other seat, cut tw pieces and they began chatting about the ranch, his family, her family, things that had happened to them in their past. Al positioned himself cross-legged on the floor beside his friend and helped here and there with information pertaining to Daniel's past. It seemed that the scientist and quantum physicist inside his friend had quietened and was allowing him to enjoy the rest of his time with Dana. Between them they finished of most of the sugarfrosted apple pie but left half the sandwiches uneaten. The conversation moved around to the idea of taking a dip in the pool...this was a suggestion inspired by Al, who thought that a romantic evening such as tonight couldn't possibly end without sampling the warm relaxing water, secretly, it was because he wanted to see the FBI lady in a swim suit, preferably a bikini. Sam had teased him earlier, telling him she had a small tattoo on her body but wouldn't say where, he was itching to discover her secret. He moved up close to his friend's ear, his dark eyes were sparkling with uncontrolled glee, "Go on, ain'tcha gona ask her if she'd like to take a nice, warm relaxing dip in the pool?" Sam pulled a pained expression and swatted him away muttering out of the corner of his mouth, "Aaal! You have a one track mind.... go way!" The Navy man twitched his nose in annoyance but his question was soon to be answered by Dana. She eased herself from the recliner and wandered over to the pool's edge, "Mmm, the water look so inviting, but I don't have a costume. I told you it was a long time since I last swam." Sam rose to join her at the pool edge. Al was als there, he gestured over his shoulder, "Well, that's no problem, while you two love birds were busy eating, I had a mooch around the place, There's a sliding door in the wall over behind that potted palm in the corner. Ya see it just over there?" he pointed to gloomy corner of the deck area, "I think there's a couple of changing cubicles and a locker full of towels, robes and sports stuff. There's bound to be somethin' in there. Go take a look." Sam smiled at her, held her hand and accompanied by his friend, wandered across to casually investigate. He found the door and slid it open to reveal a tiny half door cubicle, a small walkthrough shower and the locker. "Kelly uses this place a lot and I guess she thought of just about everything, she usually keeps a stock of stuff for guests in here. Lets see what we can find." Together they rummaged through the shelves laden with thick blue bath towels, sports shirts, shorts and costumes, plus a cuple of toweling pool robes. Sam found himself a pair of trunks, Dana searched through the ladies costumes, decided on what she wanted, took a robe and slipped into the cubicle. While she was changing, Sam dressed in red speedos and folded his clothes into a neat pile leaving them on one of the rattan chairs. He sat at the side of the pool chatting casually to Al, idly paddling his toes in the water while waiting for her to reappear. A couple of minutes later she emerged dressed in a black two piece costume but wearing a baggy white tee-shirt over the top. She joined him at the pool-side, still adjusting the baggy top, "Sorry, but all the costumes were a little big for me, so I decided to put this on." Al frowned, "Aww, why, Sam? You and she are alone, what does it matter! Now I bet I won't get to find her cute little tattoo." Ignoring the remark, Sam stood up and moved further along the side of the pool, called back to Dana in a teasing boast, "Hey, how's this for plunge drop!" He pinched his nose, leaped high into the air above the water, tucking his legs beneath him and grabbing his knees. He hit the water, making a huge splash and sending out hundreds of little blue, frothy waves from above his submerged head. Dana laughed and yelled at him as he reappeared, "Show-off! If you think I'm following that, you can think again. I think I'll just take things easy." She slipped gracefully into the warm water causing barely a ripply. Sam took a deep breath and dived his head beneath the surface again. For a few moments, in the dimmed lights and rippling water, she lost track of him, sudden anxiety took her when he failed to resurface, she waded towards the deeper end. "Dan! Daniel, where are you?" He came up behind her, laughing, shaking the water from his hair and splashing her with his hands, "Gotcha! Now that you're wet you may as well swim." She turned to him, her frown dissolved into a smile, his red hair had plastered itself down into his eyes and his nose was dripping, "Just don't do that again." she dipped her arms into the water, laughed and splashed him back, sending a cascade of water into the air around him. He put up his arms to defend himself from the watery onslaught and yielded to her, "Okay, okay....I give in!" Reaching out, he caught hold of her hand, drawing her to him, he stole a kiss. She pulled back, still laughing, "Okay, Mr sports guy, I may not have swum for a while but I bet I can beat you by a length. I'll race you to the far end and back again." He regarded her for a moment then replied, with a sweet smile, "You're on, but if I win I want to claim my prize." She gave him one of her significant looks and asked, "Oh yes, and what would that be?" He leaned forward and kissed her on her forehead, "Another kiss of course!" She grinned, splashed him again, and made off towards the deep end. "Hey, that's not fair, I wasn't ready." Chuckling to himself, he plunged into the water and swam after her. He may be a time-traveller with little time for sports but he was still pretty fit and easily matched her stroke. He didn't want to play show-off again, so slowed his pace deliberately so the she would reach the far side first, then as they swam back into the shallow end, he dived beneath the water, came up underneath and in front of her, sweeping her from her feet and catching her up into his arms, ending the race and claiming his prize. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, then kissed. Her arms encircled his neck, gently he let her slip from his grasp to float in his arms as he moved to wrap them tightly around her waist. As they lost themselves into another, long deep lingering kiss, their feet drifted from the bottom of the pool and slowly they sank beneath the gently rippling, shimmering water. As it closed around them, filling their ears with a liquid silence, the warm green aqueous world carried them away to another dimension of feeling and sensation. They gently bobbed to the surface, took deep breaths and once more let the water close over them, wrapping them in a shared, warm, relaxed, private moment of love. Al had been watching the playful antics of his two friends and was now standing on the pool's edge way across from the two lovers. He was watching and grinning. When Sam was happy, he was happy too. He really would have liked to have been their with his Tina, joining in the fun and enjoying the atmosphere. He thought about her, he could entertain Tina whenever he wanted, but it wasn't often his friend got to relax and really enjoy himself, especially like this. He glanced to the roof and mouthed a silent 'Thank you' to God for allowing his friend this small break from the rigours of his constant, lonely leaping. He glanced back to the pool searched for signs of Sam and Dana. Craning forward over the water he looked for a tell-tale stream of bubbles, he could detect none. Frowning he stepped closer to the edge, "Hey, Sam, Saaam! You two had better come up for air. Saaam! You're both gonna drown if ya don't come up soon." Then a wry grin spread across his face, his dark eyes sparkled wickedly as he said to himself, "Yeah, but what a way to go." Two seconds later the two young lovers bobbed to the surface still kissing, the white tee-shirt she had been wearing was drifting gently in the current of the blue wavelets. His friend had Dana in his arms and was carrying her back towards the shallow end. They reclined against the steps and kissed, the water gently lapping over them. Still smiling, Al nodded to himself, a gentle tenderness in his eyes, "O...kay, I'm outa here. I'll leave you two love birds...or should I say kissing-fishes alone. Guess, I'll go back and check things out for a little while. I'll go see how Danny and Gushie are getting on......Heck..I never did get to see that tattoo!" With that he opened the Imaging Chamber door and stepped from the watery warmth of the pool room back to the scientific surroundings of the Project and the future. -- Heather Markham