From: Coast2C@aol.com
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 21:37:22 -0400
Message-ID: <960430213539_387234244@emout15.mail.aol.com>
Subject: Convergence:  Part 24 of 25

Convergence
by
Dana Anderson

Part 24 of 25      (Author's Notes and Disclaimer found in Part 1)

*               *               *               * 

If Joe had been surprised at the intensity of Al and Jenna's bond 
before, he would have been astounded upon observing them together 
when they returned from their honeymoon.  Ziggy had alerted Sam 
when Al's car entered the parking lot and Sam had come upstairs to 
greet them.  The newlyweds climbed out of the car and took their 
luggage out of the trunk.  Although their burdens did not allow them 
an opportunity to touch one another as they approached him, Sam 
had the distinct impression that they were holding each other in 
their arms.  When Sam reached out to take their bags, Al put his 
arm around Jenna's shoulders and she put her arm around his waist.  
Their movements were fluid and unconscious; almost instinctual.

Sam smiled.  "Welcome back" he said.  "I've got a surprise for you."

Al glanced at Sam, then at Jenna.  "We could make a run for it" he 
suggested.

"Courage, love" Jenna replied.  "Maybe it's a good surprise."

Sam didn't give them any hints, but smiled inwardly in anticipation.  
Three shifts of construction workers had labored for over a week and 
Donna, Tina and Verbena had completed the finishing touches on 
the surprise only this morning.  The trio turned into the west 
corridor on Top Deck level and Sam led them past the solid wall 
that once was the entrance to the southwest quarters.

"Hey" Al said.  "You sealed off the door to Jen's quarters.  What a 
neat idea!  If she gets mad at me she won't have anywhere to run to."

Sam grinned as he stopped at the door to Al's quarters and put the 
luggage down.  He opened the door with a flourish and gestured for 
the couple to precede him.  Al turned to Jenna, lifted her in his arms 
and carried her across the threshold.  Sam followed them in and saw 
that Al had halted in the middle of the expanded living room.  Al 
and Jenna were glancing around in astonishment at the almost 
miraculous changes.  Al set Jenna down on her feet.  Both of them 
turned to look at Sam.

"Your wedding present from Tina and Gushie, Betty and Joe, 
Verbena, Donna and me" Sam explained.

Al and Jenna explored their new quarters with growing joy.  Al's old 
quarters had been converted into a den, a larger living room and 
dining area and part of an expanded kitchen.  The rock wall between 
the two balconies had also been removed.  Jenna's quarters had been 
used for the remainder of the kitchen, a large bedroom with a walk 
in closet and a huge bathroom with, in addition to the normal 
fixtures, a Jacuzzi tub large enough to hold at least three people.  
The presence of this last feature caused Al to look back at Sam 
in amazement.  Sam blushed and cleared his throat.

"That was Joe's idea.  Once he suggested it all the women jumped on 
the bandwagon" Sam said.

Jenna stood and stared at the inviting expanse of sunken porcelain.  
Finally she turned back to look at Al.  "This calls for an extension of 
our honeymoon.  And Joe can just forget about anything else he 
thinks he owes me" she said firmly.

Al turned to Sam.  "Thank everyone for us, pal.  I'll see you in a day 
or so" he said bluntly.

Sam, always sensitive to a hint, left without delay.  He could hear 
water running in the tub and giggling before he reached the front 
door.

*               *               *               * 

A day and a half later, Sam was just finishing his breakfast when he 
noticed Al saunter into the cafeteria.  He caught Al's attention and 
his friend brought a carafe of coffee along with his tray of food as he 
joined Sam at the table.

"Hi, Al" Sam greeted him.  "Where's Jenna?"

"Morning, Sam" Al said, pouring coffee for both of them.  "She had 
another genius attack.  I couldn't get her interested in the idea of 
breakfast so she's probably in her lab by now."

"Sorry" Sam said.  "I guess that was kind of an abrupt end to your 
honeymoon."

Al shrugged.  "End of the honeymoon, maybe; but I have a feeling 
that I'm going to enjoy married life just as much, if not more."

"I wouldn't be at all surprised" Sam agreed.

Sam filled Al in on the progress of the project overhaul while Al 
finished his breakfast, then the two of them rode the elevator to the 
office level.  

Sam had rearranged the space allocation here as well.  He and Al 
and Jenna each had a private office with doors opening from a 
common hallway.  Across the hall was a door into a glassed in and 
soundproofed lab with table and desk space sufficient for both Sam 
and Jenna to share.  The two men paused in the hallway.  They 
could see Jenna sitting at one of the computer terminals, scrolling 
through a long text file.  Al put a hand on one of the double paned 
windows.  He couldn't feel any vibration, but wasn't convinced 
this meant the room on the other side of the glass was quiet.

"I think you should have specified something less than 100% sound 
proofing, Sam" Al said, shaking his head.  "This way, you have no 
idea what you're facing before you open the door."

"I thought of that" Sam replied.  He stepped over to the door and slid 
back a small panel revealing a narrow slot and releasing a wave of 
ear splitting rock and roll.  Sam winced and quickly closed the panel 
again.  He wiggled a finger in one ear as he turned to Al.  "What 
was that?"

"A Hendrix guitar solo, I think" Al said.  "I don't know which 
song."

Sam sighed.  "I don't suppose she would consider changing the 
record to 'Man of La Mancha' or 'South Pacific'."

"I doubt it" Al agreed.  "But if you plan to share a lab with her you'd 
better come to some kind of compromise."  He turned to enter his 
office, then swung back to face Sam again.  "Oh, one more thing.  
Her taste in opera is really terrible.  I'd avoid that option if I were 
you."

"Thanks for the warning" Sam said.  "Ziggy" Sam addressed the 
ceiling.  "Please lower the volume of the music in the lab by fifty 
percent."

As he entered his office, Al caught a glimpse of Jenna swinging 
around in her chair to view Sam entering the lab.  Al decided that 
catching up on nearly two weeks worth of paperwork wasn't the 
most stressful activity at the Project this morning.

When noontime rolled around, Al rose from his desk and stretched.  
He stepped out into the hallway and looked into the lab.  Jenna and 
Sam were at separate computer terminals about ten feet apart.  Al  
couldn't see any signs of blood or other evidence of a physical 
confrontation.  *So far, so good,* he thought.  

He moved over to the door and gingerly slid back the panel, 
prepared to slam it shut if necessary.  The sound of The Everly 
Brothers' 'Bye Bye Love' wafted out at what Al considered to be a 
civilized volume.  He slid the panel shut and opened the door.  

Al walked quietly over to stand behind Jenna.  He wanted to see 
what she was working on so diligently before he decided whether or 
not to disturb her.  When he saw that she was scrolling through a 
list of song titles, and deleting most of the entries, his mouth 
dropped open.  Al moved over to a position behind Sam and saw 
that his friend was deleting entries for the entire repertoires of one 
heavy metal group after another.  Al was stunned.

"That's it" Al announced, startling both Sam and Jenna.  "I'm 
docking both your paychecks for the entire morning."

"Come on, Al" Sam argued.  "We had to find some common ground 
before we could work together.  Besides, considering we started with 
all the music of the 17th through 20th centuries we've made 
incredible progress."

"Yes" Jenna said, in support of Sam.  "And we've already written a 
program for Ziggy so that she'll only play music that appears on 
both our lists when we're both in the lab and from the songs that 
aren't in common and from the correct list when only one of us is 
here."

Al looked from one serious face to the other.  Two certified 
geniuses;  America's finest brain power on the hoof, so to speak, and 
this was their top priority.  

"Thick as thieves, I see" Al sighed in surrender.  He began to 
appreciate how Dr. Beeks felt as he noticed Sam and Jenna 
exchange smiles.  "Okay, but I expect to see some serious brain work 
going on in here tomorrow or you're both fired."

Jenna rose from her chair and kissed Al's cheek.  "You're such an 
understanding boss" she said.

"I just hope the government doesn't have this place bugged" Al 
growled "or we're _all_ out of a job."

*               *               *               * 

By the next day Jenna and Sam had waded into serious brain work 
indeed.  Sam had already gone through nearly half of Ziggy's 
programming, but he insisted that Jenna start from the beginning 
and check his work.  From what Al observed over the next few 
weeks, Jenna was faster at going through the material than Sam 
except for her need to stop from time to time and get details of the 
theory behind some of the programming.  

They used the computer terminals for only a short while.  Although 
they both expressed regret for the trees they killed, neither of them 
could stand to stare at the monitors for even half as long as they 
could maintain concentration on printed pages.  Al became used to 
the sight of the huge stacks of computer printouts piled in the 
corners of the lab and Sam and Jenna each pouring over their 
current printout on opposite sides and ends of the same lab table.

When Sam had finished his first run through of the program, 
without uncovering anything suspicious, he started at the beginning 
again.  While he paid close attention to every line he spent extra 
time wherever Jenna had written either questions or comments in 
the margins.

*               *               *               * 

One afternoon, Al entered the lab with something other than lunch 
on his mind.  He walked over to stand behind Jenna who was seated, 
as usual, on her stool at the work bench.  Al moved closer to her 
until his body made contact with the portion of her body that was 
above the level of the stool's seat.  He knew it would only be a matter 
of time before she became aware of his presence and, unless she had 
lost all sensation in the middle of her back, what he was thinking 
about.  Al was not disappointed; a new record of four seconds.  

Jenna looked up from the computer paper and leaned her head back 
against his chest.  Al put his arms around her from behind and 
leaned over to kiss her neck and whisper in her ear.  

Sam was so involved in his work that it was nearly ten minutes 
before he became aware that something unusual, for the lab anyway, 
was going on.  When he looked up, he saw that Jenna was seated on 
the lab table with Al standing in front of her.  Jenna's knees were on 
either side of Al's hips, their arms were around each other and they 
were thoroughly involved in a kiss.  

Sam blushed and cleared his throat.  There was no evidence that 
either of them had heard him.  *At least they're still fully clothed* 
Sam thought.  When Sam began to see signs that this might not be 
true for much longer and that the computer printouts on the table 
were in imminent danger of disarray, if not complete destruction, he 
spoke up.  

"Jeez, Al; get a room, will ya?" Sam complained.

The Calaviccis straightened up, somewhat, and looked at each other.

"A complete lack of subtlety" Jenna remarked at the interruption.

"And no respect for privacy, either" Al added.

"Well...to be fair, it's his lab, too" Jenna said.

"Okay., Sam" Al agreed.  "You win.  We're out of here.  Don't 
expect her back today; but look on the bright side.  You can probably 
listen to the score from 'Man of La Mancha' at least a half dozen 
times before five o'clock."

"Wait a minute" Sam cried, as the couple walked arm in arm toward 
the door.  "Did you finish with that printout?"

"Sorry, Sam" Jenna replied over her shoulder.  "Severe lack of blood 
flow to the brain."  Al chuckled as he closed the door behind them.

The overture to 'Man of La Mancha' began playing through the 
speakers in the lab.  Sam shook his head.  "Those two are _way_ too 
much alike to get along that well" he observed aloud.

*               *               *               * 

Al had only been in his office for a short time the next morning 
when he found it necessary to have a talk with Gushie.  Al realized 
that, since they had retrieved Jenna, he had only been to the Control 
Room once or twice; so, rather than call the head programmer down 
to his office, Al decided to stretch his legs.  He rose from his chair 
and stepped out into the hallway.  As he turned to move toward the 
main corridor, something about the view he had caught of the lab 
attracted his attention.  He halted and swung toward the nearby 
glass partition to see if he could figure out what was bothering him.  

At first, the scene inside the lab seemed absolutely normal.  Jenna 
and Sam were in their customary positions, with their usual intent 
expressions on their faces and the ever present stacks of computer 
paper in front of them.  Just as Al began to suspect he had been 
imagining things, he realized what was different.  Jenna was not 
flipping through the pages of her printout at the pace that never 
ceased to amaze Al, considering the complexity of what she was 
reading.  In fact, she was not paging through the paper at all.  She 
was sitting bolt upright on her stool holding a single page of 
computer paper in front of her face.  She was completely immobile 
and Al was almost positive she wasn't even breathing.  The hair on 
the back of Al's neck immediately stood at attention and he had to 
shake himself before he could bring himself to walk over to the door 
and enter the lab.  

The music was well below the volume level that was normal for 
Jenna when she was working alone, but it was still loud enough that, 
given the level of distraction of the two scientists, Al was able to get 
all the way to Sam's side before his friend became aware of his 
presence.  Al reached over and touched Sam's arm, then pointed to 
Jenna.  

Sam looked at her for several moments.  "Is she even breathing?" 
Sam asked.

"Probably" Al replied.  "Or she would have fainted by now."

"How long has she been like that?"  Sam inquired.

Al sighed.  "I was going to ask you the same question.  I only 
noticed it a few minutes ago."

"Should we do something, or just wait?" Sam wanted to know.

"I think we should wait" Al replied.  "Both of you have always come 
out of it on your own and I don't see any reason to tamper with 
success."

"I want to see what she's looking at" Sam stated.  

The two men circled the table and stood on either side of Jenna.  
Neither of them touched her, but both looked carefully at the page of 
computer paper she held in front of her face.  After a moment, Sam 
met Al's gaze over the top of Jenna's head.  The quantum physicist 
shrugged.

"Maybe she had a flash that has nothing to do with that" Sam 
proposed.  "I've gone over that part of the program twice and didn't 
see anything unusual about it."

"It's wrong" Jenna said, startling both the men.

"What did you say?" Sam inquired.

"It's wrong" Jenna repeated, blinking and looking around.

"What's wrong with it?" Sam demanded.

Jenna climbed off her stool and paced up and down for a moment 
wthout answering.  Roy Orbison's 'Pretty Woman' started to play 
through the speakers.  "Cut the music, Ziggy" Jenna ordered, then 
continued to pace.

Sam and Al watched Jenna walk back and forth for awhile.  Finally, 
she stopped and stood still for at least five minutes.  Her eyes were 
closed and she was obviously concentrating so hard that Al was sure 
he would see smoke coming out of her ears at any moment.  

Jenna opened her eyes again and looked at Sam.  "It's not wrong in 
and of itself, but it conflicts with something else I've seen" she 
insisted in a firm voice.

"Can you remember what?" Sam asked.

"No" Jenna admitted.  "I think I'm too close to it.  I don't think I 
would have caught even this much if I hadn't been, uh, distracted 
yesterday and started fresh at that point this morning."

"If a distraction is all you need..." Al volunteered, stepping toward 
her.

"Al," Sam groaned in frustration "don't interrupt her while she's 
thinking."

"Too late" Jenna interjected brightly as she entered Al's embrace.

Sam sighed deeply and put his face in his hands.  He looked up 
again when he heard the door to the lab closing.  *At least I didn't 
have to shoo them out of here this time,* Sam thought.  He picked 
up the paper that Jenna had been so interested in but couldn't find 
anything on it that jogged even the slightest reaction in his mind.  
Sam put the paper down in frustration, then had a flash of 
inspiration.  If it worked for Jenna, maybe it would work for him.  
Sam wondered if Donna was really as bored as she appeared to be 
with the lecture notes she had been working on this morning when 
he had left for the lab.  He decided there was only one way to find 
out.

*               *               *               * 

Jenna was awakened by Al shaking her shoulder.  "Ziggy's calling 
you" he mumbled.

Jenna opened her eyes.  Al had turned on one of the bedside lamps 
and Jenna blinked a few times until she could focus her eyes on him.  
Al was lying on his side, but had propped himself up on one elbow.  
The sight of his tousled hair, sleepy expression and bare chest gave 
her the overwhelming desire to cuddle up to him and stay in bed for 
at least a week.  

"Ziggy, what time is it and what day is it?" Jenna asked.

"It is 3:18 a.m., Saturday, May 21st" Ziggy responded.

"Is the message you have for me a matter of life or death?" Jenna 
inquired.

"No, General" Ziggy replied.

"Then tell whoever is calling that I am not available at this time, 
take a message and I'll get it from you when I'm damned good and 
ready to hear it.  Have you got that?"  Jenna ordered.

"Yes, General" the computer confirmed.

Jenna turned off the lamp and snuggled into Al's chest.   He put his 
arms around her and she heaved a deep, contented sigh; bringing a 
smile to Al's face.  A few minutes later, just as both of them were 
drifting off to sleep, the bedroom light snapped on.

"Jenna, I need to talk to you.  I found it" came Sam's urgent voice.

Al and Jenna lifted their heads and opened their eyes.  Sam, clad in 
a T-shirt and jeans, was standing a few feet inside the bedroom 
doorway.  He had several pages of computer paper clutched in one 
hand and a look of exultation on his face.

"Didn't Ziggy deliver my message, Sam?" Jenna asked in a soft tone.

"Yes, but when I asked her if you were, um, busy, she said you 
weren't doing anything" Sam explained.

Al moaned and dropped his head back onto his pillow.  Jenna 
continued to regard Sam evenly.

"Ziggy was wrong.  I do not consider cuddling with my husband to 
be nothing.  Not by a long shot" Jenna informed him.

"Thank you" Al added from under the covers he had pulled over his 
head.

Sam swallowed and shifted his feet.  "I'm sorry, but I started the 
calculations on the ramifications of the error and they're, well, 
they're overwhelming.  I need you to go over them with me, sort of a 
sanity check."

Al pulled the covers off his face.  "A sanity check is exactly what 
you need, Sam" Al agreed.  "Why don't you leave us alone and wake 
up Dr. Beeks?" he suggested.

"I don't need Dr. Beeks" Sam insisted.  "I need Jenna."  

Al and Jenna looked at Sam for a moment or two.  The previous 
flush of exultation at his discovery had waned and he was obviously 
embarrassed at the situation in which he found himself, however, he 
was clearly adamant in his intentions.  Al and Jenna exchanged 
glances and Jenna shrugged.

"He's not going to go away.  And if we kill him we'll have to find a 
place to hide the body.  In either case, we'll have to get up" Jenna 
reasoned.

Al nodded at the logic of this.  He scrubbed his face with one hand 
and looked back at Sam.  "If we promise not to kill you, will you get 
out of here and make some coffee while we get dressed?" Al 
inquired.

Sam nodded wordlessly and began backing out of the room.

"And Sam" Jenna added.  Sam halted his retreat.  "This room is off 
limits from now on unless you're invited, okay?"  Sam nodded again, 
turned and left.

"And don't hold your breath waiting for an invitation" Al muttered 
as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and started for the 
bathroom.

*               *               *               * 

End Part 24 of 25