From: Coast2C@aol.com Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 21:39:54 -0400 Message-ID: <960430211725_387212900@emout13.mail.aol.com> Subject: Convergence: Part 8 of 25 Convergence by Dana Anderson Part 8 of 25 (Author's Notes and Disclaimer found in Part 1) * * * * Jenna surprised them again eight days later when she reached leap six hundred sixty three in the outline. She had been working on her data input from eight a.m. to noon every day, the maximum four hours Al had allowed in his instructions. Al had spent some extra time reviewing the data after his last conversation with Dr. Beeks and had finally caught up. He was now more or less reviewing her input as it became available. He arrived in his office at nine one Monday morning in mid December and checked for the new data. He whistled to himself when he realized she had begun her entries that morning with leap thirty six; the first leap she had skipped. Jenna had continued the pattern, filling in the data for the ten other leaps she had previously ignored and then proceeded with leap six hundred sixty three. By noon she had completed the entry for leap six hundred eighty without skipping an entry. Al dropped by Dr. Beeks' office after he had finished reading all the new input and advised the psychiatrist of the news. They had Ziggy display the entries for the eleven leaps that had been skipped previously and looked them over together. "In ten of the eleven leaps she avoided detailing she had leaped into a child." Dr. Beeks observed. "In the other she took the place of a woman who was married to an abusive husband. It isn't hard to guess why she didn't want to revisit those leaps." "But the ten leaps when she was a kid didn't involve any abuse that she mentioned in the data" Al objected. "True" the doctor said. "But even if she's wasn't being kicked around she would still feel powerless and be reminded of her own childhood." Al nodded. "Sam hates leaping into kids almost as much as leaping into women and he had a great childhood. I guess it's a lot worse for Jenna. Why do you think she filled in the data on these leaps now instead of waiting until she got to the end?" "Probably" Dr. Beeks sighed "because she's trying to avoid or prepare herself for something worse near the end of the outline." "Great" Al groused. "Something to look forward to." * * * * A few days later Al saw evidence that it was something she was avoiding. Up to and including the day Jenna had filled in the information for the previously skipped leaps, she had been entering data for an average of thirty leaps per day. On December 17th she entered data on twenty seven leaps. The next day the total dropped to twenty five, then twenty two, then eighteen. By noon on December 21st she had entered the data for only twelve leaps. This brought her up to leap seven hundred eighty four. Evidently, Dr. Beeks had been following Jenna's progress as well. She appeared in the doorway to Al's office shortly after noon on the 21st and announced, "Well, I guess tomorrow's D-Day. You gave her a minimum limit of ten leaps worth of data a day and she only has eight leaps left. She either has to finish the job or disobey your order." "She'll finish" Al insisted, with more confidence than he felt. "Will you still be here tomorrow?" Al asked. "Yes" Dr. Beeks replied. "I'm not heading home until Wednesday." "Ah hah" Al crowed. "I knew you wouldn't miss the party tomorrow evening. This is your best chance to observe your charges at their most uninhibited, in public anyway; the annual project Christmas party." "Absolutely correct" the doctor confirmed. "But you'll have a ways to go to top your performance from last year. And if you do I'm not sure the rest of us will be able to handle it." Al feigned shock and surprise, giving her his patented 'Who, me?' innocent as a lamb look. Dr. Beeks dissolved into laughter and tossed a pile of papers at him. * * * * Al arrived at his office at eight the next morning, both eager for and apprehensive about the data he expected to see from Jenna in the next couple of hours. He pulled up the outline of the last eight leaps on his terminal, left it in alert mode and turned back to his own work. Ten minutes later his terminal beeped. The detail for leap seven hundred eighty five had been entered. His terminal beeped six more times in the next forty five minutes. Each time he perused the new information and filed the data on leaps seven hundred eighty six through seven hundred ninety one in Ziggy's archives. After that, a half hour passed without a sound. He finally stopped even pretending to work. "Ziggy, is Colonel Tyler still in her lab?" he asked. "Yes, Admiral" the computer responded. "She is logged on at her computer terminal." Al sighed. He was good at waiting, but didn't enjoy it one bit. Then he had an idea. "Ziggy, how much information do you have on the accident Colonel Tyler was involved in on September 1st, 1989?" "I have detailed data on the incident as it occurred in both timelines" she replied. "Let me see everything you've got" he demanded. It took him an hour to review both reports and highlight the differences for himself. Then he had Ziggy access some personnel files and personal histories for a number of people in both timelines. He read and compared this data for another half hour, then leaned back in his desk chair and scrubbed his face with both hands. He displayed the outline entry for leap seven hundred ninety two on his terminal again. The details still had not been entered. Al glanced at his watch. It was eleven thirty a.m. Twenty minutes later, when he was almost desperate enough to break something in order relieve the tension, his terminal beeped. He dove for his chair and began to scroll through the data. A short time later, he entered Dr. Beeks office. He was not surprised to see that she had the detailed report for leap seven hundred ninety two displayed on her computer screen. "It must have affected her deeply to record this" Dr. Beeks said in a soft, sad voice. "Ziggy says she reported for her noon meal on time" Al said. It sounded absurd even to himself. Dr. Beeks produced a sardonic laugh. "Business as usual. Just following orders. No big deal. Right?" "You know that's not what I meant" he nearly apologized. Al took a seat in the chair at the end of her desk. "I know it won't be party time for another four hours, but I think I need a drink" he admitted. "Have you got anything stronger than herb tea around this place?" Dr. Beeks opened the credenza behind her desk and produced a bottle of bourbon and two glasses. She poured them each a short drink and handed Al a glass. Al took a sip and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again he had a serious expression on his face. "I'm going to break a rule I made for myself" he said "because I have some information I think you might need. Jenna changed history when she leaped back into herself. Changed it to an extent that she produced a completely separate timeline, which is the reality we are in now. You already know that much. In the original timeline, forty two people were exposed to the biological agent and all but one of them, Jenna, died. When the decontamination team entered the secured area, they found forty one bodies, but no Jenna. They hushed it up by saying that forty two bodies had been recovered and buried a weighted coffin in a grave next to her husband's in Arlington." He paused for another taste of the bourbon and then continued. "In this timeline, thirty seven people were exposed and she was still there and alive when the decontamination team came in. They hauled her off and locked her up and things went as Ziggy told you when we talked about this before." "In both timelines her husband died" he went on. "But, also in both timelines, two of the M.P.s who were caught in there panicked when the gas was released. One tried to open the outside door and the other tried to activate the emergency ventilation system. Jenna stopped one of them and her husband disabled the other. If both of them hadn't been there I don't know how many more people would have died." He looked at Dr. Beeks and she saw the respect and admiration in his eyes. "When she leaped back there she knew her husband was going to be killed and that she might die too, or maybe leap again." "She really is a lot like Sam, isn't she" Dr. Beeks said quietly. "Yeah" Al agreed. He took another drink from his glass. "The other five people who were killed the first time were all young soldiers on her staff. September 1st, 1989 was a Friday before the three day Labor Day weekend. Everyone was probably looking forward to the possibility of getting off early. In the altered timeline, just before she left for the day, Jenna ordered those five people to remain and do a proper clean up of the lab. They were all under twenty three years old, married and had at least one kid. I checked their personal histories in both timelines. Their families have much better lives than they would have if she hadn't changed history for them." He drained the last of his drink and left without another word. * * * * When Al checked with Ziggy regarding Jenna's current whereabouts the computer advised him that she hadn't returned to work after lunch, but had changed into exercise clothing and left the complex. "Yeah" Al repeated to himself. "A lot like Sam." Whenever Sam got so frustrated with a leap that he couldn't even talk to Al, he ran. He bolted for the horizon and didn't stop running until he had exhausted either his anger or his body. Al pushed some paperwork around on his desk for a while but couldn't focus on anything. He wasn't in the mood for a party, either, but his attendance was semi-required. It wouldn't be fair to the people who had done such an excellent job over the past year not to receive the thanks of the Project Administrator in person. He decided a shower and change of clothes might help his state of mind but before he left his office he turned back to his computer terminal. He accessed some files he had been reviewing earlier and printed them out. He folded the pages of computer paper into a small square packet, put it in his pocket and left the office. * * * * The shower and change of clothing had revived him to a certain extent, but the mood of the party dispelled the remainder of his gloom almost immediately after he arrived. It never ceased to amaze Al that he and Sam had somehow managed to assemble a group of people who, for all their celebrated brilliance and scholarly achievements, really knew how to party. He made the obligatory rounds; expressing his appreciation for their past years' work and wishing those who were about to go on leave a pleasant vacation. By the time he had made one circuit of the room, the party was in full swing and the cafeteria packed to near capacity. He helped himself to the buffet, grabbed another glass of punch and began another round of the room; this time in search of entertainment. An hour and a half later he declined another dance by pleading exhaustion and retrieved his glass from a table at the periphery of the room. He didn't see any available chairs, so he leaned against the back wall of the cafeteria and prepared to quench the thirst he had worked up after twelve consecutive turns around the dance floor. While surveying the crowd, he caught sight of Jenna near the entrance. She was in uniform, had a plate of food in her hand and looked completely overwhelmed. He started to work his way across the room, but was delayed by the density of the crowd and the exuberance of the celebration. By the time he reached the spot she had been occupying she was gone. He looked the crowd over again but didn't see her. He shrugged his shoulders and accepted another offer of a dance. Some time later Al felt in severe need of a cigar, so he worked his way back to the doorway and left the party. He decided he would rather take a walk outside than return to his quarters. When he stepped outside the main entrance he stopped for a moment to light up, then stretched his legs by walking over to the edge of the parking lot. Al looked up at the sky, but the lights from the parking lot were too bright to allow him a clear view of the stars. He decided to head for a shelf of rock that was a few yards away on the other side of a pile of boulders that would block the glare from the lights near the entrance. It had been his favorite spot for a quiet smoke before he had found himself residing in quarters that allowed him to enjoy a cigar without leaving the complex. He had almost reached his destination by the time his eyes recovered from the dazzling brilliance of the lights he had left behind. He had been concentrating on his footing during his journey and when he looked up to get his bearings his eyes caught a glimpse of movement. Al blinked and refocused his eyes. He approached the low shelf of rock and spoke to the shape he could now recognize as a person seated there and leaning back against the incline of the mountain from which the shelf protruded. "Mind if I join you?" he inquired. "Be my guest" Jenna replied. She shifted slightly to her right on the shelf to allow enough room for Al to seat himself beside her. Jenna resumed her position with her back against the mountainside and her head flung back so she could observe the sky. Al took a few puffs from his cigar, producing a cloud of smoke. "Is my cigar bothering you?" he asked. "No, it's fine" she responded. Al leaned back against the mountain to get the same perspective she had. The stars were really putting on a show tonight and the moon had risen far enough above the horizon to give the desert around them a ghostly glow. They sat there in companionable silence long enough for Al to finish his cigar. While he smoked he reflected on the fact that, with some people, silence could be almost painful. In this case, it seemed natural and comfortable. He hated to break the spell, but Dr. Beeks would skin him alive if she found out he had missed this opportunity to get Jenna to talk about what she had been going through lately. If Al had thought a little longer about what to say, his rational mind probably would have rejected his first impulse. As it was, he followed his instincts. "So," he asked brightly. "How was your day?" Her head snapped forward and there was just enough moonlight for him to see the look of complete astonishment on her face. Then she began to laugh. She laughed until tears began to roll down her face and she was nearly doubled over with the effort. Her laughter was so infectious that Al chuckled along with her until she started to choke. Al clapped her on the back a couple of times. "Hey, take it easy" he cautioned. She gasped, stopped coughing and sat back upright. Al looked closely at her. The moonlight reflected from the tracks the tears had made on her face and he could see a glint of amusement shining in her eyes. "Just swell, thanks" she said. "How was yours?" "Tolerable" he replied. *Until a few minutes ago,* he added mentally, *now I'd rate it as outstanding.* "I saw you at the party earlier but by the time I made my way through the mob you were gone." "I wasn't in a party mood. I only went to get some dinner" Jenna told him. "What kind of mood are you in now?" Al asked. "More cheerful than I've been in a long, long time" she replied. "Well, let's go back in then" he suggested. "I think I can manage one more dance." "Sold" Jenna agreed. But when they rose and headed back toward the main entrance to the complex, Al became aware that she was favoring one side as she walked. "You're limping" he observed. "I guess I overdid it on my run this afternoon" she admitted. Al wondered if one of the improperly healed fractures Dr. Beeks had mentioned was in Jenna's right leg and shuddered. "Well, I guess you'll have to give me a rain check on the dance" he said. "How about a drink instead? It might be just what the doctor ordered for that leg." "I can see you haven't been administered to by Dr. Ambrose recently" Jenna commented. "But I won't tell him if you don't." "He's at the party, but I wouldn't worry about him cutting anyone off tonight. He was three sheets to the wind the last time I saw him" Al confided. * * * * By the time the two of them reentered the cafeteria they saw that the party had wound down significantly. As Al fetched drinks for himself and Jenna he noticed that most of the severely diminished crowd consisted primarily of people who were members of the skeleton staff that would keep the Project running over the holidays. Al didn't see anyone whose vacation had begun with the end of the day shift a few hours earlier. "I hate to sound egotistical" Al began as he sat down next to Jenna at a table and delivered her drink "but I guess everyone took my departure in search of a cigar as the signal to disband." "That's all right" Jenna said. "It was a little too crowded in here earlier for my taste anyway." Al's handlink beeped. "Admiral, will you come to the Control Room, please?" Ziggy's voice queried. "Timing is everything" Al muttered under his breath. "What?" Jenna said. "Nothing" he replied. Then to Ziggy "I'll be there in a minute." He rose from his chair and held out a hand to Jenna. "Why don't you let me escort you back to your quarters. You don't want to miss curfew, you know" he half joked. She looked at his hand for a moment, then up to his face. Al was just about to drop his hand back to his side when she put her hand in his and leaned into his grip slightly as she rose from her chair. "Thanks" she said, simply. They walked to the elevator in silence and when they reached the door of her quarters she opened it and turned back to face him. "Thanks, Al. For everything" she said. She looked down at the floor as if she were unsure whether to go on or not. Al waited until she met his eyes again. "I've never known anyone else who would have known exactly the right thing to say to me tonight" she added quietly. Al felt about ten feet tall. "I have one more thing for you" he said. "I guess you could call it holiday greetings a little early." He reached into his pocket and produced the folded papers he had printed out in his office earlier that day. Al handed her the small square packet. "Merry Christmas" he said and left. Jenna closed the door to her quarters and got ready for bed. She returned to the living room, turned the stereo on, lowered the volume to a soothing level and sat down on the couch. She picked up the packet of paper Al had given her and unfolded the pages. The names were all familiar to her and each one conjured up an image in her mind of the fresh young face of a person she once knew. Mentally she saw them working diligently in her lab, laughing with friends at the mess hall or arguing good-naturedly about whose turn it was to make coffee. Jenna read the two conflicting reports of their personal histories and those of their families. When she had finished, she folded the papers carefully. "Merry Christmas" she whispered to the empty room, turned out the light and went to bed. * * * * End Part 8 of 25