DISCLAMER: All characters belong to Paramount Studios and Bellasarius productions. Used without permission but with lots of
respect!

Another Stitch In Time
Chapter One

Military Hospital
Holloway Air Force Base
Alamogordo, NM
June 3, 2001

Jim shifted uncomfortably in his seat and sighed. He looked briefly over at the young woman beside him who was nervously bouncing a toddler on her knees. He had to smile at the chortles of delight coming from his nephew. Then a pang of sadness went through him when again he remembered that the small child was the only one who had come out of the explosion unscathed. Jim sighed so heavily that the young woman looked over at him.

"You okay, Uncle Jim?" she asked.

Jim forced a smile onto his face. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking, that's all."

Maxine looked at him critically. "Uh huh, and I'm the Queen of England."

Jim had to laugh. It was at moments like this that she sounded so much like her father. "Listen, Max, I'm alright. It's just been a rough few days."

"Tell me something I don't know," the dark haired 17 year-old muttered. "I just wish those nozzle doctors would figure out what's wrong with my Dad already and fix him!"

Jim put his arm comfortingly around Maxine's shoulders. He wasn't sure what he could say that would make her feel any better. He felt partly responsible for her father's condition. As soon as he had been gruffly dismissed by Admiral Berekson, he'd immediately begun searching through the crowds for Admiral Calavicci, Donna, and his nephew John.

Just when he'd really begun to fear that they were still in the complex, he'd spotted Donna standing on a rocky outcropping by the entranceway. In her arms, she held the wailing bundle that was his nephew John. Jim wondered how she had gotten up there, but after a moment of searching in the darkness, he spotted a set of stairs leading up to where she was. As he climbed them, he called her name and got no response. When he reached the top he called to her again, and still got no response. By this time, Jim could see the dazed expression on Donna's face. He reached out and touched her gently on the shoulder, hoping that would bring her back to her senses. She turned slowly, as if in a dream, a look of total non-recognition in her eyes.

"Donna? Donna, it's me, Jim," he said to her. "Let me take the baby," he said, and carefully removed the infant from her arms.

"J-Jim?" she whispered, and then collapsed to the ground.

For a split second Jim felt sheer and utter panic as he stared down at the crumpled body of his sister-in-law, then instinct took over. "MEDIC!" he yelled out over the outcropping. "I need a medic with a stretcher, stat!"

Voices rising from below told him that help was on its way. Several white helmeted figures came running up the stairs and carefully maneuvered Donna's still form onto the stretcher. "Sir?" another one of them asked, "Would you like for me to take the baby?"

Jim nodded as he handed the baby to the medic. "Yes, just make sure he's in the room with her when she wakes up. Has anyone seen Admiral Calavicci yet?"

"No, sir, I don't think so."

He watched as they descended the stairs, shock starting to creep through him as the enormity of the situation hit him like a ton of bricks. "My God," he whispered.

Jim looked out over the plateau below, watching as, here and there, small pockets of order formed out of the chaos. Never in his wildest dreams had he ever suspected that his brother-in-law's pet project could be this dangerous. They all knew shortly after Sam had made his fateful first leap, that Sam wouldn't be returning any time soon. But he'd always believed that someday Sam would be successfully retrieved. But after all this? It almost seemed impossible.

A fierce resolve started to grow within him. There was NO way he was going to tell his wife that her brother was never coming back, even if he had to rebuild the damn thing from scratch! Jim scrambled down the stairs and through the throng of rescuers, asking each one he passed if they had seen the Admiral. When it became fairly clear to him that no one had seen the Admiral, Jim ran up to a squad of Marines and ordered them to follow him.

Sprinting towards the entranceway, Jim knew that the only possible place that Al could be was still inside the complex. He forced himself to slow his frantic pace as they went down the ramp into the great hanger-like entrance, trying to moderate his fear of the unknown with his loyalty to the man he'd known for sixteen years. Silence and darkness greeted them as they passed through the giant doors, still partially open, and into the complex. He thanked the gods as the Marines broke out their flashlights, something that he'd forgotten to pick up in his haste to find Al.

As they inched their way through the deserted complex to the emergency stairs, Jim's hopes rose at seeing the relatively undamaged state of his surroundings. He began to think that maybe it wasn't as bad as he had originally feared. But, as they made their way down the stairs to the all-important tenth level, the smoke continued to grow thicker with each step, until they were forced to climb back to the fifth level and wait while one of the Marines came back with gas masks.

When they resumed their descent, Jim's hope slowly died, and he began to really fear that they would not find the Admiral alive. At the bottom of the stairs, they had to crouch to see through the smoke that rolled out of the open doorway, and they could see the flicker of flames against the walls.

"Sir?" one of the Marines called to him, "I don't think this is a good idea."

Jim turned and glared at the Marine. "We're just going to take a quick look. If I'm right, there's still someone down here."

Jim led them cautiously through the smoke. Rubble littered the floor, and at one point a large beam blocked their path. Jim rifled through his memory; he'd only actually been down here a few times in the past. Around that corner and down a long hallway, maybe? he thought. Left here or right? What was it my kids used to say during those games of Dungeons and Dragons? When in doubt, turn right? Okay then, right it is! As they proceeded, Jim began to remember his way with more confidence. When he turned another corner, he spotted a faint flashing light in the darkness ahead. Jim tried to puzzle out what it could be since all the power was obviously off. Suddenly, he recalled the multicolored handlinks that they used to access information from the main computer. His heart sped up when one of the flashlight beams bounced off a bright fabric that could only be from one of the Admiral's infamous outfits.

"Al!" he choked out as he approached the still form lying on the floor. "Al! Can you hear me?"

He knelt down beside Al. A faint blue spark briefly flared off of the Admiral and shocked Jim's fingers as he reached out to check for a pulse on his neck. "What the hell?!" he muttered, jerking his hand back.

He reached out again, extremely cautiously, and breathed a sigh of relief when nothing happened as he searched again for a pulse on Al's neck. His heart skipped a beat when he didn't find one. He repositioned his fingers slightly and was rewarded by a flutter beneath his fingertips.

"He's alive!" he called the Marines. "Let's get him out of here!"

"Captain Bonnick?"

Jim came out of his reverie with a start and looked up at the nurse standing in front of him. "Yes?"

"You can go in to see her now."

Jim nodded, and with a brief smile at Maxine he followed the nurse down the hall and into one of the rooms. Lying on the bed was the still form of Donna. Her eyes were open and seemed to be staring at some spot on the far wall. Jim sighed when she took no notice of his entrance into the room, and sank heavily into the chair beside her bed.

"Donna?" he called softly to her. "It's me, Jim." An agonizing pain shot through his heart when she didn't answer and her gaze never left that spot, just like every other visit he'd made each day since the explosion. "Alright then, if you don't want to talk, that's okay by me."

The doctors had told him that the more that familiar people interacted with her, the better her chances of recovery. "I just wanted to catch you up on things. John's being spoiled rotten by Al's daughters, but he's being well taken care of. Sammy's already chomping at the bit to join the clean-up crews in the complex, but the docs want to keep her, Tina, and Gushie here a couple more days for observation. Tom, Katie, and Thelma came in this morning so you'll probably see them here in a little while. Right now, Tom should be having a chat with the Foundation about putting the two of us temporarily in charge of repairs until either you or Al are out of the hospital.

"Oh yeah, when I was at the Project yesterday, there were some radiation guys practically scrabbling at the Control Room door like a pack of hungry dogs." He chuckled at the thought. "And then there's the computer guys who're keeping an eye on the backup systems on level 7. You should've seen their faces when they first saw it; they were practically drooling! Gushie says that if they touch anything, he's going to look into putting together a firing squad. You know, I think he's even got the Brass frightened of him? And it's not just his breath."

Jim paused and studied her face for a moment. "Donna, I want you to know that we're all here for you and Sam. We're all going to do everything possible to bring Sam home to you, but you've got to pull out of this to be there when he gets back."

"Jim?" a female voice said behind him.

Jim turned in his seat and smiled. "Hey, honey. I was just filling Donna in on things."

His wife Katie came into the room and behind her was her mother, Thelma. "That's good. Hi, Donna! Sorry it took us such a long time to fly up here, but I needed to close up the house and kennel the dogs."

Jim relinquished his seat to Thelma who took Donna's hand in hers,. "Donna sweetie, its Thelma."

Jim motioned for Katie to follow him out of the room while his mother-in-law spoke in soft, comforting tones to Donna. Once outside, he slumped against the wall. Katie wound her arms around his shoulders and laid her head against his chest.

"Oh, Jim," she murmured.

"I know, Kate, but its going to be okay." He kissed the top of her head. "Where's the brood?"

"They're in the waiting area with Maxine and John. She looked like she needed some cheering up so we stayed with her for a little while before coming down here."

Jim sighed. "Ruth and Sharon are down at the cafeteria right now, so they'll probably be back soon to give her a hand, and Janet was gonna meet Tom at the Foundation this morning. Those four are quite amazing, Kate."

Katie looked up at Jim. "Well, considering who their father is, I'm not surprised. Al was - dammit, I mean is - a pretty strong person. Speaking of Al, how's he doing?"

"Still in a coma, unfortunately." Jim shook his head sadly,. "They've still got him quarantined in the radiation unit, since he was the last one out."

"So no one's actually been in to see him?" she asked him.

"No. They told the girls they'd probably be bringing him out in another day or so. Personally, I think they're being just a little bit overcautious."

Katie said nothing for a moment and then murmured, "Jim, what if Sam"

"Shhh, sweetie It's all going to work out."

--
Project Quantum Leap
Stallions Gate, NM
June 18, 2001
09:30hrs

Over the past two weeks, Project Quantum Leap had again become a hive of activity. Generators were flown in by military transports and power was slowly restored to nine out of the ten levels. On the tenth level that housed the Control Room, Imaging Chamber, and Accelerator, portable lighting had been strung through the corridors like Christmas lights to allow the clean-up crews and engineers to see what they were doing. It had taken a little over a week before the engineers proclaimed the level safe enough for them to begin assessing the amount of repairs needed to bring the facility back online.

Then, following a number of free and frank exchanges of view on how to proceed, an air lock had been set up at the entrance to the Control Room. Finally, everything was in place to see what damage had been done inside.

"Tom!" Sammy called as she jogged down the hallway to catch up with him. "Wait up, dammit!"

Tom closed his eyes as he stopped and waited for the physicist to catch up with him. "Hi, Sammy. What's up?"

"You know damn well what's up! What the hell's going on? I thought I was the one going in!"

She must have already been at the lock, he thought. "Change of plans, kiddo. I thought"

"Oh you thought, did you? You're in the military; you should know that's a big mistake!" Her green eyes flashed angrily as she glared at him.

"That's quite enough of that, Dr. Fuller!" he snapped at her,. "As I was trying to say, I thought that given the wreckage outside and the unknown conditions inside the Control Room, it would be safer to send in someone with two good arms and who's not so vital to the Project."

Sammy waved her good arm in frustration. "You don't know what you're dealing with, General Beckett!" she shot back.

"Neither do you. That's the point. Look, Sammy," he softened his tone, "the guy we're sending in will have a full audio and video link-up to the command center up on seven. You'll be able to talk him through the whole thing."

"But!"

"No 'buts', Sammy. This is how we're doing it."

Sammy glared at him for a moment more and then sagged in defeat. "It isn't fair, just because I've got a bum arm," she muttered.

Tom chuckled. There were times when she reminded him so much of his brother. Maybe it was a trait of genius, he didn't know. "I know what you mean. Now, would you care to join me? I'm on my way upstairs now."

--

The command center was set up on level seven. It had been decided to use the same room as the computer back-up systems since it already had the necessary technology that they would need. Gushie hovered protectively over the memory banks as technicians made the last few adjustments to the video and audio hook-ups.

As Sammy entered with Tom she heard Gushie muttering, "Video screens? What are these people thinking? Gimme an hour, I'll have a whole 3D Vid system online!"

Sammy frowned. It had become obvious over the past two weeks that they had lost what little control that they had over what happened to the Project. She knew that Tom and Jim meant well, but the PQL team had worked hard over the past six years to keep the military presence in the Project down to a minimum. If only Al wasn't She gave herself a little shake; there was no sense in thinking like that, especially right now.

"Good morning!" she said loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear her, "We might as well get started." She swiftly made her way over to the obvious command chair, heading off Tom as he walked towards it. "Tina? Gushie? Would you take over the computer tie-in systems?"

Both Gushie and Tina looked at her in surprise for a few moments and then went over and displaced the two military technicians already in place.

"Alrighty then! Let's do this, shall we? Gushie, please signal the team at the air lock that we're ready to proceed."

Gushie tapped a series of keys in front of him and then the large video screen that dominated the wall in front of them buzzed to life. The image was from a camera mounted on the radiation suit of the Lieutenant who had been chosen to go in.

"Lieutenant?" Sammy called out. "Anytime you're ready."

"Ready, doctor," the lieutenant replied.

The image shifted away from the technicians who had helped him into the suit to the large door to the airlock. The only sound that could be heard was the Lieutenant's breathing as the airlock door slid open, allowing him to enter. Sammy felt her guts twist in anticipation, this was the one event she'd been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading for the past two weeks. She watched as he turned and pushed the internal button to close the outside door. Then the image turned and faced the light gray metal door of the Control Room.

"Okay, folks, hang onto your hats! Here we go!" Sammy said. "Alright, Lieutenant. We're going to enter the code to open the door."

She nodded at Gushie who then tapped in the code. For a millisecond nothing happened. The command center was ominously silent as every eye was glued on the video screen. Then everyone sighed in relief as the door slowly began to open.

"I'm turning on my lamps now," the lieutenant reported after the door had opened completely, revealing darkness beyond. The ramp leading up into the Control Room was suddenly illuminated by the high-powered lights mounted on top of the suit. "I'm going up the ramp."

"Come on," Sammy whispered. "Be okay, please!"

As he proceeded up the ramp, almost everyone in the command center was at the edges of their seats. As the camera slowly revealed the state of the Control Room, a collective gasp was uttered by everyone in the room. Cables and charred panels hung down from the ceiling; a large supporting beam lay beside a pile of rubble where one wall had collapsed completely; and the main console was a mound of melted slag, probably from when Ziggy's systems had overloaded.

"Dr. Fuller?" Gushie's voice had a rough tone to it.

Sammy nodded. "Lieutenant, could you look up and slightly to the right please?"

"Roger, Doctor."

The image shifted crazily for a moment and then settled on what was left of the parallel hybrid computer's main processor. The once sapphire blue globe was now a charred, blackened, melted piece of surreal sculpture hanging from a single cable attached to the ceiling.

Sammy heard an indescribable sound from the programmer and she looked over just in time to see his anguished expression before he buried his face in his hands. Her heart went out to him. Next to his wife, Ziggy had been almost his whole life. Sammy glanced at the memory banks on the other side of the room and hoped that Ziggy had had enough time to do a complete backup before the explosion.

"Gushie," Sammy said softly. "I know how you feel, but she's not gone."

Tina had taken her husband's hand in hers. "But we don't know that for certain, Sammy," Tina said in crisp, clipped tones. All trace of her Brooklyn accent was gone for the moment. "For all we know, what made Ziggy, Ziggy, could be lost forever."

"I won't believe that Tina," Sammy said firmly. "I can't believe that."

"Sammy," Tom said softly from behind her. "We really should continue the inspection. We've only got a week until the meeting with the Foundation."

Sammy nodded briskly. "Okay, Lieutenant, let's proceed. How are your readings so far?"

A soft sigh of relief rippled through the room as the image shifted away from the ruined processor to the Geiger counter he held. "Readings are nominal, Doctor. I've got greens across the board."

Sammy looked at the indicator panel at the lower left hand corner of the display screen and nodded. So far so good, she thought. So to speak. Now if it stays that way, we'll actually be able to get in there this afternoon.

"There's a ramp off to your left Lt.; could you turn that way please?"

"The ramp seems clear to me," he reported, confirming what they could already see.

"Go up please."

The door at the top of the ramp was stuck three quarters of the way down. Sammy looked inquiringly at Tom, who nodded. "Okay Lieutenant, I think we're ready for the next power shunt, so be ready. We don't know how stable those circuits will be, so you may have to move quickly if they decide to overload."

"Understood, Doctor," he replied.

"Okay, Gushie, do your magic!"

As Gushie tapped in another elaborate sequence into his keyboard, Sammy could see the door shudder as power began to flow through it. A splash of sparks ignited at one corner briefly, but vanished as the door rose slowly until it disappeared completely above. Beyond the now-open door, they could see the two entranceways into the Imaging and Accelerator Chambers. Sammy again glanced at the radiation read-out on the screen and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that it hadn't changed.

"Seems intact," the Lt. commented.

"So far," Sammy replied. "Gushie, do those doors have power?"

Gushie nodded. "They're on the same circuit as the other, Sammy, but I don't know much longer that'll hold."

"Alright then, let's do a quick check of the Imaging Chamber first, Lieutenant," Sammy ordered. "In the center of the column between the two doors, there's a removable panel which houses the manual controls. Just press on it and it'll pop off."

They watched as he ran his gloved hands over the column and removed the panel.

"Okay, now all you have to do is take the left handle, pull it towards you, and turn it counter-clockwise," she instructed. "That should open the Imaging Chamber door."

"Roger, Doctor," he said as he followed her instructions. The door to his left slid jerkily upwards. "Readings are still nominal."

As he stepped into the Chamber, the radiation readings gave a brief hiccup as he passed through the radium ring. The normally shiny floor was littered with dust and small debris as he walked forward into the cavernous room.

"Wow," he said, letting out a low whistle. "It sure is big in here."

Sammy chuckled. "It's almost one square mile in there, Lieutenant. Fortunately, things look pretty good. Ziggy must have been able to shut things down before the explosion. I want you to do a careful check with the Geiger counter, Lt. We need to know if the radium ring was damaged."

It took almost fifteen minutes to determine that not only was the radium ring still intact, but also that most of the imaging equipment appeared to be functional.

"Alright, Lieutenant, we're going to go on to door number two!" Sammy's spirits had risen greatly, the relative lack of damage in the IC giving her hope that the AC had come through similarly unscathed. "You'll need to close the IC door before you can open the other one."

"Understood."

He turned and pushed the handle to close the IC door, and then proceeded to open the AC door. As it slowly rose, a bluish light could be seen flickering beyond the door.

"My God," Sammy gasped as the door opened completely.

"Lieutenant, check your radiation levels!" Tom snapped, resuming command.

"Uh there's a slight rise but nothing dangerous," he replied. "Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing here?"

Undulating in the middle of the Chamber was what appeared to be a six foot long snake of lightning, which was wreathed in a halo of glowing gasses and smaller fingers of lightning crawling up and down its length like fiery, agitated spiders.

"What the hell is it?" Tom asked Sammy.

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like it before," she replied.

"It's beautiful," she heard Tina gasp.

"I'm going to see if I can get any readings off of it," the lieutenant said and took a step into the chamber.

Suddenly the image on the screen began to warp, swirling into a rippling mass of angry colors. The only thing that stayed in focus was the snake itself, which started to pulsate rapidly.

"Uh I'm," came the Lieutenant's voice through the speakers.

"Lieutenant?" Tom barked. "Can you hear me?"

"There's," was the only reply.

Gushie groaned. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Lieutenant! Get out of there, do you hear me! Get out, NOW!" Tom called frantically as he saw the radiation levels start to spike.

"General I," there was a bright flash and they heard hear him scream briefly. Then the video screen went black.

Everyone stared at the screen, stunned for a moment, then "Gushie! Get me the team at the lock, now!" Tom ordered.

Gushie nodded and his fingers flashed across the keyboard.

"Yes, General?" a voice said.

"I need you guys suited up and in there on the double!" Tom growled. "We've lost contact. Find him and bring him out."

Sammy shook herself out of her shock and croaked, "They'll need to close the door."

Tom nodded and gave his men the instructions on how to do it. They waited through a tense few minutes until the team reported in again.

"Sir, we've found him," the captain of the team reported.

"What's his status, Captain?" Tom asked.

"Uh, well, sir," the captain stammered, "He's dead, sir. Burned badly. It looks like he was blasted out of the room."

"Acknowledged, Captain. Close the door and bring him out." Tom sighed and then looked at Sammy. "I think we have a problem."