Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 16:50:00 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Whale ch 27 Message-ID: Chapter 27 "Admiral," the Chairman told Al. "We understand your argument. However, we cannot justify funding a project as potentially dangerous as this one which you are proposing." "I thought you might feel that way, Senator. That's why I have requested Dr. Beckett to make a full presentation of his theories, therefore dispelling some of the rumors that surround this project." There were two Als at this hearing, both in dress uniform. There was the Al of 1990, who had just spoken, and the holographic Al of 1999, who ignored Dr. MacArthyr's orders and stood silently by while trying to get information from Ziggy. They had run out of time and they still didn't know who Zoe was. Sam felt ill. He knew that, if he got up to make his presentation, he would be signing his death warrant. Yet, if he didn't go up, the Project would not exist. He sighed as the Al of 1990 spoke to the Committee. "Al," he whispered to the Holographic Observer. Al lowered his head, knowing what Sam was thinking. He hit the handlink with his palm angrily. "Sorry, Sam," he finally told him. "Ziggy's still looking. He says you're going to be shot in ten minutes and you die in the hospital two hours later." "Dr. Beckett?" the Chairman asked. "Are you ready to give your presentation?" Sam sighed. "Yes. I'm ready," he answered, rising from his chair. "Sam! No!" Al exclaimed. "Zoe will kill you!" "Knock 'em dead," the other Al told him with a smile. Sam looked at him and then at the holographic Al. "I can't run from fate," he whispered to him. "Maybe not," Al consented. "But you can delay until we know who Zoe is!" "Is that what Ziggy says?" Sam whispered. Al didn't answer. Sam nodded with understanding and went up to the podium, ignoring Al's suggestion. Al sighed. "Well, if you're going to do this, be sure not to tell them about the Nuclear Accelerator Ring." It was a private joke to himself to calm his nerves, reminding himself of how, in the original history, Sam hadn't even told Al about the ring, causing the Admiral to lecture Sam about Chernobyl. Sam started his presentation. "Mr. Chairman. Distinguished Senators. In making this presentation, I hope to better explain Project Quantum Leap and thus dispel some of the unfounded rumors about the dangers of the project. The dangers are, in fact, minimal and the rewards could be limitless." Al was hitting and shaking the handlink frantically. Not getting anything, he limped over to Sam. "Sam, this is not good. You get killed in seven minutes, Sam! Six minutes! Sam, are you listening to me?" "The basis of Quantum Leap is the String Theory of Universal Structure, created by Professor Sebastian LoNigro and myself. It postulates that..." "Four minutes, Sam" Al exclaimed as Sam spoke. "Three minutes!" He looked at the handlink and hit it again. "Come on, Ziggy!" His mind suddenly went back to his all too real nightmare as Sam continued with the presentation. He looked around with cautious and concerned eyes. Everything was like the nightmare. Sam was making his presentation. His younger self was at the presentation table, giving Sam moral support. Soon those shots would be coming from.... "Oh, my gawd!" Al whispered with realization. *It's not a nightmare! It's a memory!* "Sam! Get down! Get down!" Just as Al shouted, a single shot was fired, catching Sam in his side, causing him to cry in pain and collapse to the floor. The gunman stood from his seated position, frustration on his face. He aimed the pistol at Sam's head. "Take cover! Quickly! Behind the podium!" a British voice ordered. However, before Sam could obey, five Naval guards came into the hall with their weapons drawn. "Freeze!" an ensign ordered. Sam watched Al carefully as the latter held a pistol towards the scientist's head. The Admiral's eyes flared with hatred. Sam stared in shock. "Put the gun down, sir! Now, sir!" The British man came closer to Sam. "Samuel, she's going to kill you if you don't take cover." Sam looked at Al with shock. "Zoe?" he whispered with disbelief. Zoe laughed slightly. "Right under your nose and you never even suspected." She pulled the trigger with a smile. Sam quickly pressed himself against the floor. The bullet barely passed over his head, making Sam's ears ring. There was another shot and Zoe screamed in pain, grabbing her leg as she collapsed to the floor. The Naval soldiers quickly approached her and handcuffed her, disarming her quickly of her small weapon. The soldiers began to take her away when Sam called out to them. "Wait," he instructed. He walked up to her and touched her hand, allowing him to finally see her face. Zoe raised her eyebrows. "Why did you do that?" Sam looked into her eyes. "I don't want to see Admiral Calavicci being taken away by his own men." Zoe laughed cynically. "You're a fool, Dr. Beckett." A moment later, she disappeared. All of a sudden, Al Calavicci was back. His face was covered with bruises and his lip and eyelid were cut. But his physical injuries were only a vague glimpse of the real injuries Sam could see in the man's eyes. "Oh, my!" Edward St. John V said softly, looking at Al with concern. "Those bastards!" Sam whispered angrily. "Sam!" Al said softly, looking at his friend. He looked around and noticed that he was surrounded by soldiers. He seemed as if he were about to collapse on the floor from sheer sorrow. "I'm sorry, Sam. Forgive me." "Admiral Calavicci," an ensign said in an authoritative voice, "you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent..." The ensign continued to read Al his rights as Al and Sam looked at each other, the former with complete defeat in his eyes. "Oh, my gawd!" Sam said quietly. "They broke you." Al didn't reply for a moment, turning to the ensign. "I understand my rights, Ensign. Don't assault my ears with them." He returned his gaze to Sam. "I betrayed you. I'm sorry." The Naval soldiers began to take Al away again. Sam watched helplessly as the Admiral allowed himself to be escorted out of the conference room. "Admiral," the Chairman spoke up just before Al had left. Al was allowed to turn and face the Chairman. "Why did you do it?" Al didn't answer but left with his escorts. St. John looked at Sam with deep concern. He seemed very saddened by what he was about to tell Sam. "Admiral Calavicci is convicted and sentences to twenty- five years in prison after being discharge from the Navy." Sam closed his eyes. "No," he whispered. He looked at St. John, remembering the latter's name and wishing he didn't. The look on the British Observer was not good. "It's worse, isn't it," Sam concluded from the expression. "I'm afraid so. Mr. Calavicci commits suicide a year from now by slashing his wrists with a spoon he had sharpened. He left a note which expressed his sentiment that, since he betrayed his country and his friend, he did not deserve to live." Sam glared at St. John. "Al would never commit suicide." St. John hesitated. "He did, Samuel. Obviously, they had more of an effect on his psyche than you can understand or accept." Sam rubbed his face with disbelief. "I have to stay," he said quietly. "I have to save him." St. John shook his head with sympathy. "You can't, Samuel." Sam glared at him as the Chairman slowly approached Sam. "Dr. Beckett, are you all right?" Sam looked at the Chairman and nodded slowly. The nod was a lie, though. Sam didn't think he would ever be all right. "You'd better go to the hospital and have that wound checked out. I've already called for an ambulance. Why don't you sit down and get comfortable?" Sam didn't answer. He allowed himself to be led to a chair and to be helped into it. As Sam sat down, he began to feel a leap coming upon him. *No, I can't leap. Al needs me!* He quickly took out a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote down only two words before disappearing in a flash of white light. A much younger Sam Beckett winced at the pain in his side and found he had a large gash on his side. He saw the pen in his hand and the words written in his own handwriting on a paper just in front of him. "Help Al," the note said. Sam Beckett, future founder of Project Quantum Leap, knew he had to obey the note. Balboa Naval Hospital, 1999 "Al?" a gentle voice questioned. "Al, can you hear me?" Al's head shook slightly, but not to negate that he couldn't hear the woman who was trying to gain his attention. He finally raised his eyes and looked at the smiling, gentle face of his doctor. "Tell me yes if you can hear me," she instructed. Al hesitated slightly. "Yes, I can hear you," he answered her quietly. She smiled at him gently. "There's someone here to see you, Al," the Doctor told him with kindness. "Do you remember Donna?" Al didn't answer right away. "I don't want to see her," he said plainly. The Doctor exhaled slowly. "We already talked about this, Al. You need to interact with people in order to get better. We don't want an incident like we had last year, do we?" He looked at her firmly. "I'm not going to try to commit suicide again. And I won't see Donna." The Doctor smiled at him. "Why not?" Al didn't answer. Instead, he watched as the Doctor invited Donna Elesee-Beckett into Al's room and then left the two alone. Al didn't look at his best friend's wife. "Al, look at me, " Donna ordered softly. Al didn't obey. Donna exhaled. "Al, we've made so much progress in the past few years. Don't turn from me now. You and I both know you didn't try to kill Sam. The leap to prove your innocence has just occurred. Don't take the blame for something you didn't do." Al didn't answer immediately. "I may not have tried to kill him but I betrayed him. I betrayed him." He repeated the last sentence over and over again, as if it were a mantra. Donna stroked his curly black hair slowly. "You poor thing. You have no sense of reality, do you," she stated. "Every couple of years, you try to make up for a crime you never committed - you try to kill yourself - but you really don't see, do you. You don't see that none of this is your fault. You don't see that there was nothing you could have done." She looked at Al lovingly. "You poor man." Al didn't hear her nor did he hear her as she gently touched Al's cheek before standing up slowly and leaving the ex-Admiral in the hands of Balboa's psychiatric staff.