Date: Mon, 5 Jul 93 03:35:42 MDT
From: tperreau@banshee.VLA.NRAO.EDU (Tonster)
Message-Id: <9307050935.AA10120@banshee.vla.nrao.edu>
To: alt-ql-creative@cisco.com
Subject: Once A King...Part 4

				Once A King...

				  Part IV

Sam explored his, or rather Ron's, tent.  He opened the cooler, hoping to
find some water.  He found cheese, fruit, beer, beer, and more beer.  Sam
sighed and popped open a can of Coors.  He looked around the small tent as he
sipped on the beer.  There was a rolled up sleeping bag, a duffle bag, several
rattan sticks of various length, a couple with thick padding on one end.
There was the camp chair, a hibachi, and a couple of small wooden boxes.

Sam opened one box, and found that it was full of books.  He glanced at
the titles.

"Superconducting Theory, Chemistry, Physics;" Sam repeated the titles.
Something in his memory clicked.  Sam tore through the other boxes, and
finding a very modern set of clothes, he hunted for the wallet.  It wasn't
there.  He heard the imaging room door open, and looked up at Meagan.  He
had to admit to himself that she was attractive.

"Lost something?"

"Wallet."  Sam stood up.  Meagan tapped on the handlink.

"His pouch, there.  The red one."

Sam opened the pouch and dug out the wallet.  He looked at the sandy haired
photo of the student ID.

"Ronald Stevenson.  I'm Ronald Stevenson.  I...or he will win the Nobel in
1997 for his work in high temperature superconductors."  Sam ran a hand
through his hair.  "His work made the imaging room possible."

"Very good, Dr. Beckett."  Meagan nodded.  "We have found out how the
future Dr. Ronald Stevenson died.  He was on his way back from," Meagan
glanced down at the handlink; "an ass..."

"What?"

Meagan glared at the handlink while she pushed savagly at the interface.
"I will have that bimbo's head."

"Who's head?"

"Tina's!"  Meagan spat the name out.  "The data flow is not supposed to be
interrupted with the new handlink, yet it is.  She's the pulse technician,
and if she can't fix it, I'll find someone who can!"

"Hey, take it easy, Major."  Sam tried to calm her down.  "We've always had
problems with the handlink and the data flow.  It's the interference from
the radium ring.  Nothing short of a fiber optic interface cable will stop
it."

"Perhaps in 1999 that was the case, Dr. Beckett.  However, it is 2006.
The technology has improved significantly since your days on the Project."
Meagan looked back at the handlink.  "Now.  Ron was returning from an
assignation with one Patricia Howes, otherwise known as Lady Joanna of
Oxford."  Meagan frowned.  "Sounds like a name from a bad romance novel."

"Ever read any?"  Sam sat down in the chair and sipped the beer, which he
made a face at.  "Gah!  If there's one thing worse than Coors, it's warm
Coors."

"No, and I wouldn't know, I don't drink."  Meagan said.  She looked at the
handlink again before continuing.  "It was enroute from Patricia's tent to
yours that you, or rather Ron, got bit by a spider.  Specifically, a brown
recluse spider."

"That's odd.  They usually don't attack unless threatened."  Sam reached
for another beer.

"Obviously, this one felt threatened.  Ron went into shock within seconds.
He suffers full cardiac arrest on the way to the closest hospital and is
pronounced DOA."  She looked up at the sound of the beer can opening.
"Another beer Dr. Beckett?"

"It's hot, even for Feburary, and I was lugging around several dozen pounds
of armor, OK?  Besides, you're not my mother."

"Very well."  Meagan took a pose of her hands clasped behind her back.  Sam
put the beer down after taking a long swallow.

"Now what did I do wrong?"

"Nothing.  I'm just waiting for you to leap."

"Huh?"

"Fact:  you leaped into Ronald Stevenson to save him from dying.  Fact:
you did this, obviously, for the superconductors were made and we have
a history of Dr. Stevenson, including his Nobel speech.  Therefore, you have
once again altered the flow of time, correcting a wrong.  Now, you should
leap."

Sam shook his head.  "It doesn't work that way, Major.  I have to get past
the crisis point before I can leap."

"Oh.  Funny, it almost always works this way in the science fiction books."

Sam struggled not to grin.  "This isn't science fiction, Major.  Tell you
what, why don't you go and find out from Ron what path he took from Lady
Joanna's tent so I can make sure to be away from the spider.  OK?"

Meagan nodded in agreement.  She pushed at the handlink and the door
opened.  As she went to walk through, Sam called out.

"Oh, one other thing, Major.  I am still the project head, even though I'm
not there -- and you can't have anyone's head without my say so.  Understood?"

Meagan nodded once, sharply.  "Yes, sir."  The door closed as she walked
through.  Sam leaned back in the chair and sighed.

"Oh, Al.  Where are you?"