Date: Mon, 5 Jul 93 03:35:11 MDT
From: tperreau@banshee.VLA.NRAO.EDU (Tonster)
Message-Id: <9307050935.AA10112@banshee.vla.nrao.edu>
To: alt-ql-creative@cisco.com
Subject: Once A King...Part 2

				Once a King...

				  Part II

"Where's Al!"  Sam yelled at the short major, forgetting that he had
on a helmet.  He winced as his voice bounced back at him.  Several people
looked over at him with a concerned expression.

"I suggest, Dr. Beckett, that we discuss this in private.  Your tent is
in this direction."  Meagan said as she walked off.  Sam followed, noticing
that she avoided people and guy wires that stuck out in the path.  Sam
nodded and bobbed at people who nodded and bobbed at him.  He wondered where
and when he was.  This certainly was no real medieval site.  He had seen
cameras, portable cassette players, and cars.  Meagan stopped before a tent
that had a banner of a boars' head below three circles.  Sam looked at it.

"A silver boars' head?"

"Actually, azure, a boars' head erased to dexter, in chief three roundels
argent."  Meagan looked at it.  "At least, that is according to the host."

Sam went into the tent, not bothering to hold the flap for Meagan.  She gave
a start, then walked slowly through the wall of the tent.  She looked back.

"First time in the chamber?"

"Yes.  We ran simulations, but they were nothing like this."  Meagan pushed
against the wall of the tent and watched her hand vanish.  "Remarkable."

"You said you were in the Aerospace force.  Didn't you mean the Air Force?"
Sam removed the shield and rattan stick and was working on his helmet.

"No.  There is much that has happened while you were...away."  Meagan turned
back to Sam.  "How much do you remember?"

Sam looked at her.  "Nothing," he lied.  "Even less than on a normal leap."

"What do you remember?"

"The mound.  The lights and music.  Then..." Sam shrugged his shoulders as
he tried to get out of the leather armor.  "I'm getting bonked on the head
with a stick!   Where and when am I, anyhow?  And what am I supposed to do
here?"

Meagan pushed at the handlink.  "You are one Ron Stevenson, grad student
at UC/Berkley -- major is physics."

"Great.  Something I know about."  Sam got an arm free and was undoing the
buckles.  "Keep going."

"You are a member of the SCA..."

"SCA?"

"A medieval recreation group.  Your name is Lord Cedric of Wessex."  Meagan
looked at the handlink.  "And, you die tonight."

"Wha?"  Sam looked up.  "I die?"

"Or, actually Ron dies.  A spid."  Meagan frowned at the handlink and jabbed
at it.  "A spider bite.  Ron goes into anaphlactic shock and dies en route
to the hospital in Phoenix."

"Ok, I have the where, now the when?"

"Oh.  Sorry.  The year is 1987, and you are part of the Estrella war that
takes place over President's weekend in February."  Sam pulled off the 
thick leather armor and rubbed his forehead with a dirty arm.

"Now.  Where's Al?"

"Retired.  He was retired two years ago, part of the fallout of the Unified
Military Act of 2003."

Sam looked at Meagan.  "Say again?  Twenty oh three?"

Meagan looked at Sam, a sad expression on her face.  "Dr. Beckett, I really
think you'd better sit down for this."  She waited until Sam did so, unfolding
a camp chair and sitting.

"You disappeared, to you, in 1982.  Here it was 1999.  You were gone for
seven years, Dr. Beckett.  The year is now 2006.  The Unified Military Act
combined the various branches of the military together.  I work in the
branch of the Aerospace Force, your Air Force, as a liasion to the United
Intelligence Agency."

"Twenty oh six," Sam placed his head in his hands.  Seven years lost.  Gone.
"What about Gooshie, Tina, and the others?"

"Gooshie is still here, as well as Tina.  Verbena is, at this time, in 
orbit around Mars as part of the United Nations Mars Exploration Team."

"A manned Mars mission?"  Sam shook his head.  "What else has changed?"

"Several minor skirmishes between the Commonwealth of Independent States and
the Pacific Rim States.  Talk of the North American Confederacy.  A manned
lunar colony.  There is a lot to fill you in on, Dr. Beckett.  A lot of
changes have happened since you disappeared.  I'll leave you now to think
about things."  Meagan pushed at the handlink and the doors opened up.
"I'll find out some more information on how the host died, and what you
have to do to avoid this."  She walked through the door and it slid
shut.  Sam looked at where the doorway was, back in 2006.

"Oh, Al.  I'm sorry."