Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 16:38:13 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Whale ch 17 Message-ID: PART III PARADOX Chapter 17 *No! I can't leap yet! Not yet!* He fought the feeling that was filling him, a feeling not like all the other feelings he had when he had leaped before. Someone was trying to force him to leap. Where he didn't know but he knew he couldn't leap just yet. It was too soon. He had to hold out just a little longer. He had to wait until it was the right time. It wasn't the right time yet. Not yet. But soon. Then suddenly, he knew it was time and he was grateful that he could finally let himself leap. It was a freedom that he yearned for since the leap had started. He let the feeling fill him, let himself float through time and space until he arrived at his next destination - a destination that he hoped wouldn't involve Captain Petri Rustov or an evil woman named Zoe. He would only have part of his wish fulfilled. "Where is Dr. Beckett?" the Director asked with impatience. "We were attempting to retrieve him as you ordered when he was simply yanked away from us," Thames told him. "Yanked away?" "Yes, sir. But we have Zoe back." The Director frowned strongly. "I want Beckett. We had a chance and you blew it." "I want him too, Director," Zoe told him as she walked into the room. "You can not blame Thames or the others for the inability to retrieve him. If anyone is to blame for that, it is Dr. Beckett himself." The Director looked at Zoe firmly. "And what of Admiral Calavicci?" Zoe exhaled slowly. "He is definitely very resourceful. Unfortunately, he was able to remove the bomb which I had placed on their computer." "Which leaves us back at square one," Thames commented. The Director growled quietly in frustration. Zoe was thoughtful. "Director, I believe we might be able to take care of all our outside problems with one leap." "How?" the Director asked. "They are very protective of one another, the Admiral and Dr. Beckett. If anything were to happen to the little Admiral, Dr. Beckett would be there to try to stop it. Only this time, he wouldn't succeed. Especially if we time the leap correctly." "Tell me your idea," the Director ordered. "But be warned. If I agree to it, you will be held solely responsible if it fails." Zoe nodded with understanding and proceeded to explain her plan. "Al? Are you okay, honey?" Al opened his eyes slowly. They burned worse than the rest of his face. His whole body hurt, as a matter of fact. He found himself laying on his back. Looking around, he found that he was in the infirmary. "Al? Honey?" Al looked to his right to see Tina sitting beside him, a worried look on her face. "Hello, beautiful!" he smiled at her. She returned the smile. "How are you feeling?" Al paused. "Do you want to hear the truth?" Tina nodded. "I feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck," he said a bit quietly. "Oh, Al!" She began to cry. "Hey, honey," Al looked at her with sympathy. "What's the matter?" "The matter is," Verbina said as she entered the infirmary, "if you had been any closer to that explosion, you might not have survived. You got hit pretty bad." Tina was still crying as Verbina finished speaking. Al turned to Tina with a slight smile. "Tina," he called for her attention and received it. "I'm okay now, honey. Right?" Tina smiled gently and nodded. "Okay," Al said. "Now, why don't you go home and get some rest. I'll be fine." Again, Tina nodded. Without a word, she stood up and left the infirmary, slipping Al a seductive smile. Al exhaled slightly. "Now," Al said firmly to Verbina, "if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." He started to get up. "Not so fast," Verbina said as Al grimaced in pain and laid back down. "You're not going anywhere for at least another four days. Dr. MacArthyr's orders." Al shook his head. "You can tell Dan I'm perfectly fine." "Don't give me that crap, Al!" Verbina told him. "You look like hell and I know you feel worse. If you want to help someone, help yourself and stay here. Besides," she lowered her voice slightly, "we've had enough casualties in this past week. Don't add yourself to the list." Al frowned. "I can't be that bad." Verbina gave him a slight but sad smile. "Guess again, Admiral. You were a lot closer to death than you think. That bomb was only about five feet from you went it went off. You received some pretty severe wounds from flying shrapnel and you have a couple of broken ribs. In addition, your spine was twisted harshly. You were in surgery for nearly six hours. You're lucky you weren't paralyzed." Al exhaled. "You win, Dr. Beeks," he consented reluctantly. He paused. "Verbina, what exactly happened? I don't remember very much after I removed the bomb from Ziggy. Is Sam okay?" Verbina smiled gently. "I'm sure he's fine, Al. Ziggy says he leaped just after you removed the bomb. He's still... bouncing around right now." She took a breath. "You just stay in bed and I'll let you know of anything that's going on. And if Sam leaps into someone, we'll have Gushie take care of it. You just get some rest. Those are my orders, Admiral." She felt the tingling sensation which pre-empted the movement of her body through time. She was going to leap into the only person with the power to do what she had planned. She had to be that certain person at a certain time, required information that had already been programmed into Lothos. At last, she arrived at her destination. She looked around. She could see that she was in a bedroom. She turned her head to looked around herself. She was standing at the foot of a large bed. It was apparent that the person she had leaped into was packing a bag. *Going on a trip, now, are we?* she questioned mostly to herself. Looking about, she could see that her host wasn't much for decoration. There were a couple of pictures on the dresser which was placed firmly against a wall on her right side. Just to the left of the dresser was an open closet in which hung several suits. She looked at the suit with amusement, thinking of taking a few of them with her to wherever her host was going. She took the opportunity to look in the mirror just above the dresser. She smiled with delight. Oh, yes! She had leaped into the correct person. Now the question was when she was and where the other person was. "Hey," a male voice said as if to answer her unspoken question. The bedroom's door opened to reveal a young man (well, younger than how she last remembered him being) with bright eyes that glowed in the sunlight that filled the room. "You're not ready?" he questioned. He laughed. "What happened to your 'efficiency'?" She laughed slightly. "How can I compete with you?" He huffed. "You do every chance you get." He looked at the watch on his left wrist. "Well, we've still got a few hours. I'm going to grab some take-out. You want anything?" She shook her head. He looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Are you sure?" She smiled at him. "I'm certain. Go on. I'll be fine." He shrugged. "If you insist. I was going to offer you some egg foo yung but I guess you don't want any." She smiled. "Not this time." He just shook his head before leaving the room. She heard the front door close before she stepped out of the room and looked about the living room. *Nice house*, she thought. *Very sterile though.* She huffed. *Well, what else were you expecting?* As she thought this, she noticed the large display case on one wall of the living room. "Well, what do we have here?" she questioned aloud. Before her was a large collection of guns, mostly pistols. "A collector, are we?" She looked carefully at the assortment of pistols before her. "Now, let's see what will suit us best." Her eyes focused on a particular pistol with which she was particularly familiar. "Excellent," she commented. She searched her pockets to find a keyring. She flipped through the keys quickly to find the one that unlocked the display case. Opening the glass sliding door, she took down her pistol of choice. "At the very least, I'll be prepared for anything," she told herself as she locked the case and returned to the bedroom, slowly taking the pistol apart piece by piece. As Sam entered the hotel room which he had reserved, a change came over him. Everything seemed so familiar to him. Yet, when Sam had made the reservation, he had never been to this hotel. He put his suitcase on a nearby bed and opened it as he noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye. It was Al - not exactly the Al he now knew though. This Al was more stubborn, a little more difficult to handle, and nine years younger. *This is incredible!* he thought. He abandoned his suitcase and went into the bathroom to look in the mirror. There he saw a face he hadn't seen in over four years. He saw himself in the mirror. "You okay, Sam?" Al asked, looking towards him with curiosity. "Yeah," Sam replied. He resisted his urge to tell this Al who he really was, that he was a completely different Sam. Even as he answered, he couldn't stop smiling. Al was no longer looking at him though. "Why don't you get some rest?" he suggested as he placed his small duffel bag on the floor. Sam nodded. "I think I will." It felt good to be around something familiar for a change. He knew this day well. It was August 8, 1990, Sam's thirty-seventh birthday - the day before the Congressional hearing which would lead to the approval of funding for Project Quantum Leap. Sam would be able to see his dreams come true again, to relive the experience he felt when he learned that a lifetime's work would come to fruition. Right now, there was nothing else on his mind. It didn't occur to him that something was in need of being put right nor that Al hadn't yet shown himself.