From: jj1152@mcis.messiah.edu
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 96 11:50:00 -0500
Message-Id: <"d05oJj,000000000*"@MHS>
Subject: "Top Secret" part 4

                               TOP SECRET
            a Lois and Clark/Quantum Leap/X-Files crossover
                                    by Julie L. Jekel


                            Back in Metropolis


     "All right, all right!"  Jimmy raised his hands in surrender.  "I
just don't understand why everyone chases me away just when they're
about to find out something interesting!"
     "We need you to--" Lois began.
     "I know.  I know."  He smiled ruefully.  "I get the picture."
Grumpily, he turned and left the conference room.
     Lois watched the departing figure with and amused expression.
"With that kind of curiosity, Jimmy will either make a fabulous
reporter someday, get himself in a lot of trouble, or both!"
     Clark smiled.  "Like you?"
     Lois returned the smile with mischief dancing in her eyes.  "A
fabulous reporter or in a lot of trouble?"
     "Both."
     She nodded and he leaned forward, giving her a quick kiss.
     "Back to business, Clark."
     They turned their attention back to the tape, now ready to be
played.  Clark checked the volume to make sure no one in the newsroom
outside would be able to hear it, just in case.
     Lois took a deep breath.  "Okay, let's hear what Mr. Stoddard has
to say."
     With a glance at Clark, she pressed play.  For a few moments there
was only the soft hiss of the tape unwinding but finally someon spoke.

     "May 21?" a voice asked.
     "Right.  Right," a second voice replied anxiously, bordering on
panic.  "It hovered approximately ten to twenty meters above the ground
with no apparent means of propulsion."
     "Wow!  Photographic memory?" a third voice interjected.
     "Could be quoting from something he read," the first replied.
"Let's make sure."
     There was the sound of a struggle and the second of the three men
uttered a faint, desperate, "No!", followed by a brief, heavy silence.
     "Let's start with something simple.  Like your name," the first
man suggested.
     "Sam," the second voice replied softly, now sounding rather dazed,
probably drugged.
     "Louder, please," the third man demanded.
     "Doctor Samuel Beckett."

     Recognizing the name from the file, Lois leaned closer.

     "Think you gave him too much?" the third voice asked.  Whoever it
was didn't seem to believe the name that had been given.
     "Do you know where you are?" the first voice asked, ignoring his
companion's skepticism.
     "I'm in, uh, New Mexico," the man who said his name was Samuel
Beckett replied.

     Lois grabbed a notepad and quickly scribbled 'New Mexico' on it.

     "What is the date?"
     "May first, 1999."

     The two reporters exchanged startled glances.  Could this tape be
from the future?
     "Tell us about yourself, Doctor Beckett," the interrogator who had
first spoken continued.
     "Born...8/8/53..."
     "Terrific," the other reacted incredulously.  "He's thirteen years
old??"
     "Or one hundred thirteen..." the first speculated.
     Dr. Beckett was still answering their question.  "Father's name,
John Samuel Beckett.  Mother's name, Thelma Louise Beckett.  Social
Security number, 563-86-9801.  Department of Defense UMBRA clearance
number, 004-002-02-016."

     Lois quickly added this information to her notes.

     "Did you hear that?" the first interrogator asked excitedly.
     "It's a coincidence.  He was in the service."
     "In World War One!  UMBRA is an _operative_ code!  Why do you need
a clearance?" he demanded.
     There was no answer.
     "Why do you need a clearance, Dr. Beckett?" he repeated.
     "My project..."
     "What is your project?"
     "Project...Quantum Leap."

     "Quantum Leap..." Lois muttered to herself, hastily adding the
name to her pad.

     "This project studies Unidentified Flying Objects?" the other man
asked.
     "Travel in time!" was the reply, spoken as if they should have
known.
     There was a sharp thud in the background, like someone knocking on
a door.
     "What is it?" one of the interrogators called.
     "Orderly.  Medication," came a muffled voice, presumably from the
other side of the door.
     "This patient is under private care."  The tape ended abruptly.

     Clark frowned.  He could have sworn he had heard something else...
something on a frequency inaudible to a normal human ear.
     "Could you play it again, please?"
     Lois threw him a curious glance.  He tapped his ear.  "I think I..
heard...something extra."
     Obligingly, she rewound the tape.

     "Could be quoting from something he read.  Let's make sure."
     ("No!  No, you bastards!  Gooshie, what am I gonna do now?")

     He was right!  There was a fourth voice, and a human voice at
that, but speaking on an impossible frequency.

     "Let's start with something simple.  Like your name."
     ("No, Sam...")

     He was apparently speaking to the man being interrogated.  But why
would he call him by name to prevent him from saying his name?  But
then...could anyone hear him?  Did the two interrogators even know he
was there?

     "Doctor Samuel Beckett."
     ("No...")
     "Think you gave him too much?"

     Clark reached for a piece of paper and began to write down what he
heard.  "There's a fourth voice speaking."
     Lois looked startled.  "One that I can't hear?"
     He nodded.  "It's a human voice too.  I can't figure out how he
can speak at such a high frequency..."

     "What is the date?"
     "May first, 1999."
     ("Gooshie!  If I should suddenly pop out of existence, I want to
leave everything to my first wife, Beth!")

     Who was Gooshie?  And how could this conversation cause this
person to 'pop out of existence'?  Clark frowned.

     "Why do you need a clearance?"
     ("Hang in there, Sam, hang in there!")
     "Why do you need a clearance, Dr. Beckett?"
     "My project..."
     ("Aw, no...")

     Well, whoever this person was, he knew what 'Sam' was going to say
and didn't want him to say it.  How could he speak so high though?
     Clark finished writing down the comments of the fourth speaker and
passed the paper to Lois.  She studied it with a puzzled look on her
face.
     "How many people are in that room?" she wondered, trying to make
sense of the bizarre comments.  "It's like a running commentary from a
parallel dimension or something."
     Clark nodded slowly and thoughtfully.  "The man being interrogated
said he was involved in some sort of time travel project..."
     Lois's eyes widened.  "Do you think...?"  She paused pensively.
     "Maybe they found a way to keep him in contact with his own time..
Like a temporal radio signal or something."
     "And somehow designed it to be only audible to him?"
     He nodded.  "The fourth guy definitely acted like no one else
could hear him..."
     "Except this Gooshie person."
     Clark shook his head.  "I don't know what to make of that."
     Lois turned her attention back to her notes, studying them
thoughtfully.  "Let's see what we can find out about a Dr. Samuel
Beckett.  And a Project Quantum Leap in New Mexico."


                                         TO BE CONTINUED...