Organization: Penn State University
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 12:20:34 EDT
From: Marshall Ryan Maresca <MRM122@psuvm.psu.edu>
Message-Id: <93203.122035MRM122@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative
Subject: Timestorm, Part 1 (repost)
Lines: 90

Hey, kids, I'm back (kind of), and am FINALLY putting up more of TimeStorm.
Aren't you glad?  Of course.  I'm reposting part one so you can refresh your
memories.  Later!
                                 Marsh


                            TIMESTORM

                            Part One


     The fire and lightning filling Sam's body settled, as he was
once again dropped somewhere in space in time.  "Odd," he thought
as he was coming in, "That didn't feel quite right."
     Sam  found  himself in a chair, strapped  in,  with  various
wires  connected  all over his body.  Memories  of  Jesus  Ortega
filled  his mind.  "Not again.  Oh, God, not again!"  Sam  yelled
out.  He thrashed and pulled, but the straps were holding him  in
too well.
     "Success!" yelled a voice from behind him, "I did it!"
     "Who  are you?" asked Sam, "What are you doing to  me?"   He
started to look around.  This was not a prison execution chamber,
that  was for sure.  He was surrounded by  electronic  equipment,
plus papers with scribbled equations on them scattered about  the
room.  Suddenly, a man came into his view.
     The  man  was  dreadfully excited.  He  was  young,  perhaps
thirty,  but his appearance made him look older.  He was  skinny,
even  gaunt, and his fingers were bony.  His hair was greasy  and
disheveled,  and he had a patchy growth of whiskers on his  face.
His  eyes  looked  immensely tired, yet were  filled  with  over-
exuberant  glee.   He  was, on the  whole,  unpleasant,  but  Sam
recognised his appearance since it was one both he and Al had had
on more than one occasion when they were pushing the Project with
everything they had.
     "I did it.  I brought you in"
     "What  do you mean?" asked Sam, warily, "I've been  in  this
damn chair all day."
     "Don't be a fool, Doctor Beckett," said the man, "And  don't
treat  me like one.  I've finally snagged you out of the  streams
of time.  I've been waiting for you for some time."
     "Oh boy."

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

     "What do you mean you lost him, Ziggy?" asked Al.
     "Just  that, Admiral," Ziggy's cool voice responded, "I  was
tracking  him  though the time streams, and he  was  moving  with
97.4% probability to somewhere in Florida in 1976, when there was
an energy surge and he dropped out."
     "Did he leap outside his lifetime again?" asked Al.
     "The probability of that is a mere 1.3%.  I think  something
else has occured."
     "Then what?  Dammit, Ziggy, give me a theory at least!"
     "I think Doctor Beckett has been... timenapped."
     "Timenapped?   Ziggy,  that's the silliest thing  I've  ever
heard!"
     "It  is the best answer I can come up with, Admiral,  and  I
give  its  probability at 76.3%.  In addition, someone  has  just
arrived in the waiting room.  Since I cannot sense Doctor Beckett
anywhere  in  the past, questioning the Leaper may  be  out  only
method of locating him."

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

     "I'm sure you are full of questions, Doctor," said the  man,
"But  at  the moment, I cannot answer them."  He went over  to  a
monitor,  and  looked  at it for a bit,  "Ah,  yes...  excellent.
Excellent,  indeed."   He  went back to Sam, "You  will  have  to
forgive  me  for being a rude host, for the moment, at  the  very
least."   He  reached  into  his coat pocket  and  pulled  out  a
hypodermic  needle,  which he injected into Sam.   Sam  tried  to
struggle  again, but in a moment he was unable to move.  The  man
undid  the straps and wires, and took Sam out of the  chair.   He
carried him to another part of the room, where he handcuffed  him
to a pipe in the wall.
     Sam's  paralysis passed in a few minutes, but it  didn't  do
him  any good.  He couldn't get free.  The strange man  had  gone
off somewhere, and was now returning, carrying a limp female form.
     "What are you going to do with her?" asked Sam.
     "Target  body, Doctor," said the man, "Like the one you  are
in  now."   Instinctively, Sam glanced around for a  mirror,  but
found nothing.  The man had strapped the girl into the chair  the
same  way  Sam had been.  The man began  running  around,  making
adjustments on his equipment, powering things up.  Sam could feel
a slight, indistinct tug on himself as the girl's body started to
glow  with Quantum light.  The glow grew brighter  and  brighter,
then  flashed,  and settled again, and someone else  was  sitting
there.  Sam's eyes went wide.
     "Alia!"