From: livengoo@bcvms.bc.edu
X-From: rkwong@engin.umich.edu (Roberta Chi-Woon Kwong)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.quantum-leap.creative,alt.ql.creative
Subject: "Leap of Faith" part 8/?
Date: 19 Apr 1995 17:41:05 GMT
Message-Id: <3n3hvh$7it@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>

This is being posted for the author, who doesn't have access to
this group. Please direct all comments to livengoo@bcvms.bc.edu.
This story is also currently appearing in alt.tv.x-files.creative.

No re-formatting has been done in this section.

-----------------------------------------

Subject: Leap of Faith 8/?

Like always, no profit, no intentional infringement, 
property Chris Carter, Bellisarius, do you get as 
tired of reading disclaimers as I do of writing them? 
Can we just assume the small print, people?  Okay. 
 All the print, it's just too small to see.  Take my word 
for it.

Heh.  Okay, here we go.  Get your popcorn ready, 
here's Leap of Faith 8/?  All the rest of it was 
still hanging around the last time I reviewed the 
list, so you should be able to get the background 
pretty easily.  Story copyright livengoo@bcvms.bc.edu.
Go ahead and send me mail, I love it!  The death 
threats because I post too many short pieces too 
slowly are my favorites!  Send the killer boy scouts, 
I'm ready for 'em.  Now, for our featured attraction:

*******************
The rental car was waiting in the parking lot when 
the taxi pulled in.  Sam wasn't sure how many tens 
he threw at the driver, money was *not* the main 
thing on his mind right then.  It took a lot less bullying 
to get the manager to open Mulder's door for him this 
time, but this time the hiking clothes were gone.

Scully's laptop sat on the table where Sam had left it, 
but now it was open.  He begrudged the seconds needed 
to boot it up, but it was obvious Mulder had left 
something on it.  Sure enough.

"Scully, I'm really sorry to do this to you again.  I know 
you don't like these notes," understatement of the decade.
  "I'm off chasing my demons again.  Maybe I'll finally 
find the truth.  I just can't let you find it with me.  You've 
been burned badly enough chasing after my nightmares, 
Please, stay here.  Don't tempt fate again.  I'll talk to you 
when I can."

He hadn't signed it.  Maybe he just hadn't wanted to 
leave his name to a sterile typeface.  Sam didn't care.

"Damn-him-damn-him-DAMN-him!"  Sam seldom gave 
in to profanity, but nothing else came close to how he 
felt right then.  He shut the thing off and raced to his 
room.  He didn't have time, but he'd never be able to 
tackle that climb in Scully's suit and heels.  He dressed in 
a frenzy, finally belting on Scully's holster and pistol and 
bolting out the door to the car.  He wrenched the ignition 
on, and slammed it into gear, leaving tracks as he roared 
out of the parking lot and headed the way he knew Fox 
Mulder had to have gone.

Sam was halfway there, his forehead furrowed and his 
stomach clenched with anxiety when his own ghosts 
showed their faces.  For once he didn't wonder how Al 
and Scully managed to look like they were riding in the 
car.  He had other things on his mind.

"He gave me the slip."  Sam got it out before Al could 
even ask the obvious.  "He left a note," Sam distantly 
noticed Scully's curse, an echo to his own, "and he's 
heading up that mountain."  The blacktop ate the late 
summer twilight, the grass smelled dry and hungry in 
the lingering space between afternoon and evening.  
Sam had the surreal feeling that time was holding still,
 but he knew it was really moving much faster than he 
wanted.

"We'll get a lock on the kid and come back to guide you."
Al's voice was thankfully calm.  Both Sam and Scully 
needed that anchor against their own fears.  Sam finally 
glanced sideways while his friend barked orders to 
Gooshie.  "I take he does this to you a lot."  She nodded 
as the two holograms vanished.  Sam floored it.

***************************
Fox Mulder was terrified.  It didn't matter, it was 
something he simply had to accept.  He carefully 
shut the car door and locked it, using the small, 
normal motions as a kind of charm against evil.  
He'd need every advantage he could get, even the 
ones he didn't believe in.  

He didn't have a pack, he was traveling light.  His 
cell phone had rung constantly so he'd thrown it 
into the trunk.  He knew it was Scully, trying to talk 
him into waiting.  He felt guilty about ditching her, 
and about leaving her yet another of those horribly 
melodramatic notes.  A brief smile crossed his face, 
she could probably write a best-selling gothic novel 
around those stupid notes.  He hadn't wanted to leave 
without saying ANYTHING to her, and he simply couldn't 
let her come with him.  Guilty as the notes made him 
feel, it was nothing to how he'd felt when she'd 
disappeared.  He just couldn't take that risk again.  If he 
could have found his answers without taking any risks 
himself, he would have.  That just wasn't possible, so he 
took a deep breath and started up the mountain, keeping 
a wary eye on the deepening shadows for the soldiers he 
expected were patrolling these woods.

***********************************

"Okay, Sam.  He's about twenty minutes ahead of you, 
but he's got to take it slow because of the guards.  
With me scouting ahead you should be able to go a 
lot faster."

Al was back, and alone.  "What about Scully?"

"She wanted to be here, but Ziggy's gonna need 
every kilowatt to keep me running point for you.  
If she's here we can't work at any distance and you 
won't be able to go fast enough.  Once we're up there 
I'll bring her back in."

"Good.  She deserves to be there, and I'm afraid 
we're going to need her."  They rode in silence then.  
Al had no information to give, and neither one felt 
much like talking.  Sam was scared for himself, they 
had no idea what would happen if he failed, and just 
as scared for the two FBI agents.  He wasn't sure why, 
but by now they both felt like friends, and Sam didn't 
leave his friends in the lurch.

It took fifteen minutes of forever to pull onto the 
shoulder behind Mulder's abandoned car.  Sam tried 
the cell phone one more time, but the buzzing from 
Mulder's trunk told him how successful he'd be.  He 
couldn't afford a chance call with guards around, so 
he left the phone with his car.  He wouldn't have breath 
to spare for phone calls anyway. 

Al took point, as far ahead as he could stay and be in 
sight, and they traveled.  Al would direct Sam, sometimes 
diverting or stopping him, and they made time.  Sam 
puffed hard, regretting Scully's small frame again, and 
the time it would take her to tackle this hike, but Al 
assured him he was overtaking Mulder steadily.  It was 
dark up here by now, on the back side of the mountain. 
 By the time they reached the peak it would be full dark.  
Sam shut his mind off and climbed, just climbed.

*************************

Mulder had come in range of the peak.  He'd had to 
stop several times, frozen, waiting for a guard to pass.  
There was still enough light that they weren't using 
night-sight goggles and that fact probably saved him 
more than once.  

The last twilit gloom hung to the peaks, warming the 
scented gloom and the clouds of gnats that swarmed into 
his eyes.  He stood carefully, quietly, and took a moment 
to simply accept the beauty of the place.  It wasn't right 
to face his fears without taking a piece of this with him.  

As the last blue-violet light deserted the crest, Fox 
Mulder let go of the evening and turned to what he had 
come to find.  

****************************

"You're almost there, Sam.  Take a break and catch 
your breath, I need to go find the kid and make sure 
we're still on his track.  According to Al, Sam had 
narrowed Mulder's lead from twenty minutes to less 
than two.  Scully's blood was really pounding in his ears, 
he felt like he'd taken the trail at a run, and wasn't far 
wrong at that.  Gnats buzzed him, attracted by the sweat 
that matted the auburn hair and rolled down Sam's face.

Al was back.  Sam couldn't muster the breath to ask, he 
just looked at his friend and waited.  "Okay, he's close to 
where you two were the other night.  He's under cover of 
a batch of brambles, I think he's trying to decide on the 
best route down to the Unidentified Sitting Object."  Sam 
wasn't in the mood for Al's sense of humor.  He heaved 
himself back onto his feet and followed the hologram into 
the shadows.

Lights flared ahead of him, and the hum of generators.  
The big, military spotlights were back on.  Good and 
bad, it would light Sam's way and confuse the light 
amplifying goggles the guards wore, but would also 
make it easier for Mulder to move ahead.  Sam drew 
on reserves he didn't know he had and picked up his 
pace.

*******************

Mulder had been crouched still as stone, in the briars, 
when he heard the rustling behind him, out of place 
in a still, dead-calm night.  He was careful turning, 
moving slowly enough not to catch the eye of a watcher, 
until he could see behind him.  Then he froze, appalled. 
 Scully was visible in light reflected down from the 
canopy.  Her pale face was still, focused, as if she were 
listening to someone he couldn't see.  Her face suddenly 
flickered into alarm, as she spun to her left.  

His eyes followed hers, his hand blurred as hers did, 
towards a holster.  The crack of the rifle was almost 
indistinguishable from the sound of his handgun.  Scully 
and the soldier dropped all but simultaneously.  

Mulder couldn't hear the briars crackle around him as 
he vaulted out of them to where he'd seen her fall.  The 
ringing in his ears drowned her voice, too, as she smiled 
at him and said something he didn't think was very 
complimentary.  She was gripping her leg, trying to 
put enough pressure to keep the wound in her thigh 
from bleeding so much.

He scooped her up and turned, running along the dark 
lip of the crest where the actinic light cast everything 
into chiaroscuro, until he was sure they were far enough 
around that the soldier's friends wouldn't trip over them 
as they scrambled to his assistance.  Mulder knew, 
instinctively, that they wouldn't be able to help that 
young man.  He might not be the FBI's best gun handler, 
but that shot had FELT true.  

He could hear Scully now, as he settled her in the cover 
of a tangle of mountain laurel. 

"Damn it, Mulder, what do you think you're playing at?  
Didn't your Arctic trip convince you that this sort of stunt 
is stupid?" He had to grin, only Scully would take the 
time to tick him off while they stood a good chance of 
coming under fire.  He was awfully glad he favored belts 
and snug jeans over suspenders, his belt made a very 
good tourniquet for her leg.

"To tell you the truth, Scully, this little scene is exactly 
what I was hoping to avoid by ditching you."  The wound 
was a clean one, gouging the outside of her thigh.  No 
involvement of bone, and the blood was already clotting.  
He smiled into her eyes (strange feeling, suddenly, like 
looking at a stranger).  She was pale, and probably 
slightly shocky, but this wound shouldn't be serious.  
"I thought I was the one who was accident prone," he 
murmured.  He put his hand over her mouth as she got 
ready to give him another broadside.  

"Ssshhh.  They'll be looking by now."  He'd leaned in 
to whisper in her ear.  "Look, do you think you can 
walk?"  He helped her forward, testing the leg.  She 
went a shade paler, if that was possible, but nodded.

********************
A low whine droned, barely below hearing, but getting 
higher and stronger.  Insects and animals were falling 
silent.  The soldiers were too busy spreading out to catch 
the intruders to notice.

********************
Al had vanished, and was back with Scully.  The two 
of them crouched on Sam's other side.  Mulder must 
have seen his eyes track, because a sudden look of 
alarm crossed his face.  Al was babbling, apologizing 
for missing the guard who'd shot Sam, worried.  Scully 
was eyeing the wound to see how serious it might or 
might not be.  Mulder had looked away, and was 
scanning the woods around them.

"You can't get clear in this condition.  You'll make 
too much noise and move too slowly."  He might 
have been talking to himself.  He looked back at 
Sam.  "And if I carry you they're bound to see us.  
They'll get us both."  Al and Scully were watching 
him now, and Sam didn't like this train of thought at 
all.  He knew Mulder wouldn't abandon his partner, 
but what was he getting at?

"Look, you only need to get clear of the peak, Scully.  
Their priority is here."  'You'?  What was he talking 
about?  "When they come after me, you break for it.  
I think they'll have better things to do than come after 
you."  "NO!" Sam heard Al and Scully echo him, but 
Mulder was gone, out of reach and heading back down 
towards that blasted ship.  

"Shit!" Al was punching at the handlink.  Scully was 
trying to keep her partner in sight and Sam was 
scrambling, painfully, up onto his feet.  Mulder was 
still under cover of the laurel that blanketed this 
hollow, but Sam heard his Glock.  He was making 
sure they wouldn't miss the decoy.  Sam spun, looking 
helplessly to Al and Scully for help, but Al was fixed 
on his handlink with a growing look of alarm, while 
Scully was craning back to try to see through the 
canopy.  Sam hadn't realized in the panic, but it was 
quiet, too quiet.  A sharp wind was rising but it made 
the only noise besides a growing, tooth-aching whine.  
Al and Scully suddenly crackled with static, flickered 
like a bad picture tube, and Scully winked out.  Al 
looked up at Sam, both of them pale and scared.

"It's Them, Sam."  Al's voice was a choked sound.  
Ziggy says the probabilities are multiplying faster 
than she can track, everything's going shitty!"  Sam 
looked down, into the hollow.  Everything there was 
frozen, the few soldiers not looking for him and Mulder 
seemed petrified down there.  

Mulder . . . Sam suddenly caught movement on the 
edge of the cleared basin.  Black windbreaker, blue 
denim.  Then it all went as the big spots exploded 
into sparks and blackness.  Al was the only light left, 
and the wind was a gale now, the droning so loud Sam 
couldn't think.  Al screamed something to him, 
something about probabilities and electromagnetic 
frequencies, and warped out of shape and imploded, 
leaving Sam alone in the dark, with the wind and the 
noise.

Sam's heart was drowned out by the drone, the air 
smelled like ozone and every hair on his body stood 
on end.  His palms were wet with terror and he'd 
never remember how he kept his feet against the fear 
that shook him like a leaf.  A sudden punctuation of 
gunfire in the hollow barely registered.  Leaves and 
dust were thick in the air, like being trapped in a funnel 
cloud, and Sam screamed with the cold and fear and 
helplessness of the moment.  

His shriek might have been a switch.  A sudden mind-
numbing glare of light crushed everything in the hollow 
into two dimensional relief.  The light was a physical 
blow, felt more than seen, and Sam sunk his face in his 
hands to escape it.  The image of the hollow, the 
crumpled ship, and two men caught in the flood of 
light was burned onto his retinas.  Time stood still.

Okay, that's all for now.  Comments and criticism welcomed. Class
dismissed.
livengoo@bcvms.bc.edu