Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 15:44:14 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Mirror - part 32 Message-ID: Quantum Leap Mirror of Deception by Katherine Freymuth and Gary Marsh Copyright 1998, 1999 Part 32 "Where am I?" he cried out in confusion to find he had no voice. >Have no fear, Admiral Calavicci. You are safe here.< "The hell I am! Where am I? Where's Sam?" Fear creeped into him rapidly as thoughts floated through his mind. "Please, don't hurt him." >No one is hurt here, Alberto. If they are, they hurt themselves.< The voice responding to him was him than a little familiar to Al. He wanted to cry but he didn't. "Papa?" he asked in a whisper. >It is you who has chosen this voice. Now, you must listen carefully. You have done wrong, Alberto. A life had been taken when it should not have been.< "The kid in the alley," he realized. >Yes. A life taken by your hands, even though you were not in control of yourself at the time. Your actions, though unknowing, have put your life at great risk. However, you have a second chance now, a chance to redeem yourself and to continue your work.< It sounded more like an order than a chance to Al with the way the words came to his ears. "What kind of a chance?" he questioned. >It is a chance you must take, Admiral Calavicci.< Before Al could answer the voice of his father, he felt himself being pulled away forcefully. "Where is the little bitch?" Zoe glowered as she exited the Holographic Observatory. Thames held Cathy firmly by her forearm, gripping it tightly enough to cause the woman pain. Zoe glared at her with fury before marching up to her and hitting her hard in the jaw. "How did you do it?" she demanded. Cathy looked at her firmly and with shameless eyes. "I reprogrammed Lothos' retrieval program so that the minute you tried to retrieve him, the link would be broken. I made it look like I was strengthening the link so Lothos wouldn't notice until it was too late." Zoe struck her again. "That was stupid, Catherine! Very, very stupid for such an intelligent woman." "You're right," Cathy admitted. "I was stupid. I was stupid to let you bully me into working for you in the first place. I was stupid for whoring myself just so you could get slaves for your project. The only smart thing I've ever done these past years was to save one soul from your clothes." She looked into Zoe's dark eyes. "And now that he's free, there isn't a thing you can do about it." Zoe lowered her eyelids in anger. "Reestablish the link," she ordered Drescoll with a brief glance towards him. "I cannot," he replied firmly. "What?" Zoe growled, turning to face him. "When the link was broken, it effectively killed Calavicci's neurocells in Lothos," he explained. "We would need a new sample to reestablish the connection and we need Calavicci here to make another scan of his brainwaves." Cathy smiled slightly at her victory, gaining a hard slap from Zoe for it. "Insolent bitch! Take her to the Re-education Room." She grabbed Cathy's chin harshly. "I'll take care of you myself." Thames finally released Cathy's arm to allow her to be escorted out of the Control Centre, Cathy leading the way with dignity to the chamber of horrors. He took a step towards Zoe. "Of course, you know this wouldn't have happened if...." "Are you going to start laying blame, Thames?" Zoe interrupted angrily. "Because, if you are, we would all be to blame and you know it." She gave an evil smile. "So Catherine will take all the blame." She left the Control Centre, following Cathy and the guards to the Re-education Room. She was shocked to see Cathy voluntarily letting herself be strapped to the table, even to the point of lacing her own arms through the hole in its surface to allow her wrists to be chained to the floor. "Are you really that willing to be tortured, Catherine?" she questioned, approaching her. Cathy looked into her eyes. "It's futile to fight against the inevitable." The answer infuriated Zoe. She wanted fear and pleading for mercy and for forgiveness from this woman, not this stoic, almost heroic, acceptance of her fate. She held her anger at bay, however, confident that she would get what she wanted out of the Irish woman. She gingerly placed Cathy's head against the table and strapped it down firmly before surrounding her cranium with the metal device which had caused so many so much pain. She stroked Cathy's chin slowly. "I suggest you pray for a quick death, Catherine," she said with a sneer, hoping for a little fight from her. "If that is what you want," Cathy replied firmly, angering Zoe all the more. Zoe took a few steps from Cathy, towards the doctor who waited patiently to do his job. "Burn her," she ordered in a low voice. "Very slowly. Don't let her have a moment's peace." "For how long?" the doctor asked. Zoe glared at the woman strapped on the table. "Until she's dead but keep her alive for as long as you can." The doctor nodded a bit before obeying. After many terrible hours, Catherine Kellington whispered her final, agony-filled words. "I love you, Al." A moment later, she mercifully died. "Al?" a familiar female voice beckoned him. "Al, can you hear me?" He was shaking and he couldn't stop himself from doing so. His head pounded, forcing him to keep his eyes closed. He felt like he was about to vomit. "Is he okay?" another female voice asked, full of concern. "Al, honey?" "Uggh!" Al finally said, reacting to the taste of bile in the back of his throat. "Al?" the latter female voice spoke again. "Tina, give him a little time. He's been through a great ordeal. It may be a while before he can function normally." Despite his condition, Al forced two words from his lips. "'Bina. Tina." He laughed slightly at then unintentional rhyme. The laugh turned into a cry of helplessness and pain. "Easy," Verbina told him. "You're going through some very serious withdrawals but we're going to help you through them. Where's that gurney?" she questioned, turning from her patient. "Here, Verbina," a male voice said. *Dan MacArthyr*, Al remembered. It was then the truth really hit him. *I'm home! I'm at Quantum Leap! I'm... tired.* He immediately fell asleep from exhaustion. He wasn't sure how long it had been since he leaped homw with the withdrawal symptoms but he knew he was far better than he was when he leaped home. The nausea and the shaking were gone. His thoughts were clear. He would have felt completely clean except for the headaches that returned every once in a while and for a thought that continually came to him. Everyone told him it was his imagination but he could have sworn that he had killed someone named Aaron. When he researched the name for residents in Albuquerque, he came across the name Aaron Lomar, who had been beaten by an unknown assailant - beaten, but not killed as Al's memory insisted. History had changed but Sam hadn't been the one who changed it. It was only after Verbina had told him he had been in phase for three hours before appearing at PQL that Al realized that he had changed his own history by leaping into himself just long enough to change a murder into an assault. He still couldn't remember why he attacked Aaron Lomar and he wasn't sure he wanted to remember. For once, Al was grateful to forget something. "Al, may I come in?" Al looked towards the voice at the door of his quarters and smiled. "Of course, you can come in, honey," he told Tina. She did so slowly, obviously uncomfortable with something. "What's wrong, Tina?" Al asked, going to her and looking into her eyes. "There's nothing wrong between us anymore, is there? It's all forgiven and forgotten, right?" TIna nodded a bit. "Yeah." "Then, what's the matter?" Tina hesitated, trying to breach the subject delicately. "Al, how do you feel about you and me... having a baby?" The question surprised Al immensely. "I don't know," he said honestly. He guided her to a chair. "Why don't we talk about it?" Tina gave him a gentle smile which was promptly returned by the never retired, never resigned Admiral. The End