Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 02:29:56 MDT
From: tperreau@banshee.VLA.NRAO.EDU (Tonemiester)
Message-Id: <9308250829.AA13597@banshee.vla.nrao.edu>
Subject: Once A King...Epilog

				Once A King

< Ed. note:  ok, ok.  I know you're not supposed to write a story to end
with a one liner -- so sue me.  I'm going on vacation soon, and I thought
that I'd give you a little sample of the next story, as yet untitled (any
help would be appreciated!) >
				
				  Epilog

"Ziggy, if you tell me this time that you've lost Sam, after all this
new equipment, I'm going to donate parts of you to CERF at UNM and get
a lot of pleasure out of seeing you blown to itty bitty pieces."  Al
scratched at his beard, cigar in his other hand.  Meagan looked at the
cigar and frowned.

"Not at all, Admiral.  I have a positive lock on Dr. Beckett -- only,
there does seem to be a problem."

"Now what?  I think Murphy is working overtime on this project."  Al
muttered.  Silently, Meagan agreed with Al.  She had never seen such an
accident prone operation.

"I have two locks on Dr. Beckett -- one for California, October 1987 and
one for Denver, April 1985."

Al felt his mouth drop.  "That's impossible!  He can't be two places at
the same time!"

"Obviously, since he is in two places at the same time, it's not
impossible."  Ziggy sniffed.

***

Sam felt the tingling of the leap vanish.  He blinked his eyes.  He was
standing on a platform, looking at a person behind a console.  The
other person looked up and...

PAIN!!!  Sam winced and grunted as it felt like he was kicked in the side
of his head by a mule.  He blinked, trying to clear his vision.  He saw
that he had on some type of uniform...

Sam clasped the right side of his head as it exploded with pain that
seared his nervous system.  He felt himself fall off the platform and
hit the floor hard, but he was only aware of the pain that throbbed with
his heartbeat.  White light filled his vision.

"Medical emergency, temporter."  He dimly heard a voice over the rushing
of blood in his ears.  Strong hands laid him on his back and pulled away
his right hand.  He felt fingers touching his jaw, then like a wash of
ice cold water the pain was over.  Echoes of it, like ghost images,
played along his body.

"Commander.  Commander Beckett."  The person was looking at Sam, concern
on her face.  "Thom.  Rest.  We'll take care of you."  Sam felt something
cool placed on his forehead and he fell asleep.

***

Thom knew instinctivly that something had gone wrong, even before he
noticed that he was a man wearing a black lace teddy.  He looked down
at his body, knowing that it wasn't his own.  He felt fingers of ice
play along his spine as he slowly looked up at the reflection in
the mirror.

A bleached blonde woman stared out at him, filling the black lace teddy.
Early morning light streamed in from the window, curtains moving softly
in a breeze.  He could smell salt air.  Thom looked back down at his body,
which was obviously male -- but it wasn't his own.  He pulled the straps
of the teddy away and looked back in the mirror.  Well proportioned came
to his mind as he ran a hand down his side, watching the reflection
mimic his movements, but following a definite feminine curvature that he
lacked.

"Holographic topology mapping," he spoke.  His voice was different, almost
but not quite his.  Thom strobbed out a message to his biocomp.

Nothing.

Of course, his subconscious told him, for Dr. Beckett never had a biocomp.

Dr. Beckett.  Thom leaned over the vanity and looked into the clear
blue eyes.

"Oh, shit..."

***

				TO BE CONTINUED