A Leap for All Time
A Planet of the Apes/Quantum Leap Crossover
The blue light faded. Doctor Sam Beckett felt himself moving. He saw that his hands were holding onto a pair of reins. Have I leaped into another cowboy? he thought. A blonde man wearing a light tan shirt and heavy cotton pants was riding ahead of him. Sam looked down at himself and saw that he was wearing a blue wool shirt. The thing itched; Sam instinctively scratched and nearly fell off of his horse.
The blonde man turned and grinned at him. "Take it easy, Pete! There aren't any trauma centers nearby, you know."
A voice behind Sam asked, "What's a…trauma center?" Sam looked behind to answer, wondering why he had to, and then he really did fall off and tumble into the ditch they were riding alongside of.
Because the voice belonged to an ape-a chimpanzee, as a matter of fact.
The blonde man and the ape immediately climbed down from their horses and ran to help him up. "Pete! Are you OK?"
Sam tried to get his bearings. "Uh, yeah, I think so, um…" he looked at the blonde man. It was always awkward for him to try and get people whom he was supposed to know to get them to tell him their names, but it was even stranger when one of them was an ape. Sam shook his head; but that didn't help. He was definitely not seeing things.
"Hey, it's just Galen." The blonde man looked at him with some concern.
"Oh, dear," the ape said, startling Sam again. "I think Pete hit his head harder than we thought. Maybe we should try to find one of those…what did you call them?"
"Trauma centers," the blonde man replied. "They were places in human hospitals where the seriously injured were taken for immediate treatment. Kind of like your clinics."
The ape nodded. "I think I need to sit down," Sam said.
"Sure, buddy. We can rest here anyway; we left Urko and his goons behind a long time ago." The blonde men sat down next to him while the ape-a talking ape! Sam still couldn't believe what he was seeing!-tied off their horses and joined them. "It's me, Alan. Alan Virdon. You're Peter Burke, remember? And like I said, this is only Galen. He's harmless." Alan grinned at Galen.
Galen chuckled. "Most of the time, anyway."
Sam closed his eyes, wishing this hallucination would go away. "Oh, boy…"
They made camp in the shelter of some nearby trees. It was after sundown. Galen helped Alan cook a rabbit that Alan had caught. Galen, Sam noticed, ate some vegetables he carried with him in a knapsack. The sack was made out of leather and, like their clothing, seemed rather crudely made. Whenever he was, Sam was pretty sure it wasn't in his own lifetime. And he had never heard of any period in history that had talking apes.
From his random conversations with Alan and Galen, Sam gathered that they were on the run from Urko-whoever he was-for crimes they didn't commit. Well, that part wasn't news to Sam-many of the people he'd leapt into over the years had been innocent people on the run from the law.
But nothing else about this bizarre situation was normal. From the terrain, Sam guessed that they were somewhere in Southern California. "Al," he thought, looking up at the night sky. "Al, where are you?"
PROJECT QUANTUM LEAP, STALLION'S GATE, NEW MEXICO, 2005 A.D.
"Whaddya mean, we can't get a lock on him? Former Admiral Al Calivicci, now Secretary of the Navy, chewed angrily on his cigar. "He's got to be somewhere in the past, Ziggy."
"Negative, Admiral," the computer smoothly replied. "According to my calculations, he has actually leapt forward in time."
Al stared up at the globe that housed Ziggy's personality. "How is that possible? The future hasn't even happened yet."
"According to Dr. Beckett's own theory, two-way time travel within one's own lifetime can include one's own future. However, under certain extreme conditions, it is possible to travel beyond one's own lifetime, as you know."
"That's right, sir," Gooshie, Ziggy's longtime programmer, added. "Remember when Dr. Beckett leaped into one of his own ancestors during the Civil War?"
"Yeah, I get it." Al paced back and forth. The lack of information was damned frustrating.
"I believe we may soon find out what happened," Ziggy suddenly interrupted. "The Leapee has appeared in the waiting room." There was a pause as Ziggy checked the arrival's identity. "Admiral, I believe you may want to see him. His name is Peter Burke."
Al suddenly felt cold. "Did you say…Peter Burke?"
"What's wrong, Admiral?" Gooshie asked.
"It's a long story, pal," Al answered. "Yeah, I'll see him. Damn. Who would have thought…" he went towards the waiting room, muttering to himself.
NORTH AMERICA, 3085 A.D.
By lunchtime the following day, Sam knew that this Leap was no hallucination. He had leapt into Peter Burke, an astronaut. Apparently, he, his friend Alan and another astronaut had crash-landed back on Earth at some distant point in the future…a time when intelligent apes apparently ruled and humans were used as slaves. That much about this time period became evident as they rode into a nearby town. The buildings were mostly made of stone, carved from the rocks. The humans who lived here were treated as second-class citizens at best, reduced to performing menial tasks. Amazingly, they didn't seem to mind too much. Galen told him that most humans had been brought up knowing nothing else; although in some communities they had more civil rights and were allowed to own their own farms and trade with the apes. There seemed to be three levels of ape society. The orangutans, which he saw in what looked like official buildings, seemed to be in charge. The chimpanzees were next, while the gorillas served as the police and military. He noticed them watching with suspicion as they rode down the main street.
"They've probably been told to look out for three fugitives," Alan said in a low voice. "Come on, Pete. We'd better find some gainful employment and try to blend in while Galen checks this place out."
They checked their horses in at a local stable-run by a human-where Alan asked about finding work.
"Well, the new Zoo needs laborers. That place is going to be pretty popular with the local apes." The man frowned in distaste.
"Why is that?" Sam asked.
"You mean you haven't heard? The gorillas have been rounding up stray wild humans; bringing them into towns all over the territory for use as pets, to put on display in zoos…and for doctors to use for medical research."
Sam stared at Alan. "Is this true?"
"I'm afraid so, buddy. Galen told me about it in the last town we were in. Apparently some humans decided a while ago to separate themselves from the apes completely and became nomads. They've lost the power of speech and are literally living like wild animals."
"And there's more of them every year," the stable owner added. "They keep stealing from our crops…filthy creatures."
"They're probably just trying to survive," Sam said, angered by the man's attitude.
"Take it easy, Pete. We aren't here to make trouble, remember?" He nodded at the stable owner. "Thanks for the information. We'll check it out."
"I can't believe you went along with him back there!" Sam said when they were alone and it was safe for them to talk. Galen had returned with some food.
"We're on the run, remember?" Alan said. "Don't worry, if any of these wild humans are being mistreated we'll do something about it…assuming Urko doesn't find us first."
"That's another thing," Galen said. "He is apparently on his way to this area. Not looking for us, but to have a meeting with the local prefect, who's not all that fond of humans speaking or otherwise. There's apparently a power struggle going on back in Central City and Urko is looking for the prefect's support."
"They're overthrowing Zaius?" Alan raised his eyebrows. "That is news. But why does Urko think anybody on the council-or the general public, for that matter-would support him?"
"Zaius is seen as being weak. Urko is campaigning as a law-and-order candidate. Apparently, he's been able to use my peoples' anger about the growing numbers of wild humans to good effect…unfortunately."
"Well, we can't do anything about that here," Sam said. "Shouldn't we go back and try to stop this while Urko is here? We could leave before he arrives. When is that supposed to happen, by the way?"
"Two days from now at the earliest," Galen replied.
Alan stared at "Pete." "Come on, we can't go back now. We'd be arrested on sight the moment we reached the city limits. Everybody back there knows what we look like by now."
"I'm afraid he's right," Galen added. "I'll go back to the prefect's office and try to learn more. Maybe we can find a way to delay Urko's arrival while you two investigate this new zoo they're building."
Alan smiled. "I like the way you think. You're becoming more human all the time, Galen."
Galen grunted. "Not too human, I hope!" Galen left.
"So, where do we start?" Alan asked after he was gone.
"Well, if they're building this zoo now, they must have a holding area already set up for the wild humans," Sam said.
"So, if someone were to go there and 'accidentally' let them loose, that certainly wouldn't make the prefect look good to Urko, having a bunch of wild humans running around unattended like that."
"This would mean one less supporter for Urko to rely on in his coup. I can see where Galen gets his deviousness from," Sam said with admiration.
Alan shrugged nonchalantly. "Being on the run from a psychotic gorilla general can teach you a lot," he said. "Tell you what. You stay here and wait for Galen; I'll do some more looking around. It'll be nightfall soon, anyway. If we're going to do something it'll have to be then."
"You know, I like the way that guy thinks," a familiar voice said after Alan was gone. "No wonder he made the grade."
"Al!" Sam said with relief. "It's been nearly two days! Where have you been?"
The hologram looked hurt. "Well, Ziggy had to find you first. Once I found out who you leaped into, I had to learn as much as I could before I came here. Sending a holographic data stream more than a thousand years into the future isn't easy, you know. You need extra power, find out where Earth will be in a thousand years…"
"Never mind the technical details, Al. Why am I here? And when am I, anyway?"
"This'll give ya a kick in the head." Al tapped the keys on his handlink. "Its 3085, A.D. You've leaped into Peter Burke, an ass…astronaut who disappeared in 1979."
"Two astronauts disappeared? Al, how come I never heard anything about it? Something like that would have been huge news."
"Well, they were part of a top-secret agency called ANSA. It was the military counterpart to NASA. Ever wonder why NASA never went back to the Moon? ANSA was part of the reason their budget was cut so much in the Seventies. See, in 1972 another group of astronauts, led by one Colonel George Taylor, were sent on a mission to Alpha Centauri in what was considered the most advance spaceship ever built. It even had an antimatter drive. But something went wrong and they disappeared. A year later, their ship came back-but there were three apes inside."
Sam thought about Galen. "Talking apes…from the future," he realized.
"Yep. They were taken to the Los Angeles Zoo, where one of them was killed and the other two revealed their ability to talk. They even became celebrities for a while, until they were killed by a Doctor Hasslein…"
"Doctor Otto Von Hasslein?" Sam asked. "Al, I remember him. His theories about space and time were a huge influence on Professor Simon La Nigro. The Professor used to talk about him when we were working on quantum string theory together. I heard he was killed, but I never knew the details."
"The apes, which were named Zira and Cornelius, did it. They were just trying to protect Zira's baby, who was killed by that arrogant putz The government dismissed the whole thing as a hoax. . That's another reason it took me so long to get here; I had to call in a lot of favors to get them to let me tell you that much."
"OK, Al. So why am I here?"
"Well…Ziggy originally said you were here to help free those poor wild humans, like Alan said. But…she also thinks that you're here to help bring them home."
"Home?" Sam asked. "You mean time travel?"
"That's how they got here in the first place. Ziggy says there's an eighty-eight percent probability that you're here to help Pete and Alan find an abandoned research center that has a quantum accelerator that you'll then fix and…"
"Help them leap home," Sam finished.
"Well, fixing the accelerator will be the easy part-at least for you. The problem is what you need to do to make this leap work. Ziggy says you'll need to simulate a lightning bolt which will cause the two of you to simo-leap back to our time. Once they arrive in the chamber here, you'll leap out again and stay within your own lifetime."
"Al, the last time I simo-leaped with someone it was you and you got stuck in 1945 while I was the one in the chamber. How do we know that the same thing won't happen again to Pete and Alan and that only one of them will make it home all the way?"
"Ziggy's been working on that. She says that if you and Alan both enter the chamber at the same time, it should work. That's part of what went wrong with your leap home; we both weren't in the chamber at the same time when it happened."
"Well, let's hope this time it does work-for their sake," Sam said.
Sam and Alan carried out their plan a few hours later. By daybreak, hundreds of wild humans were running loose in the town. Urko arrived just in time to see the local gorillas trying desperately to round them up. "Go help them!" he ordered his troops. "I'm going to have a little talk with the prefect."
"I can assure you that something like this has never happened before!" The prefect exclaimed. "However, if you still want my support against Zaius, I'll be more than happy to…"
"Support-from an ape who can't even keep his own wild animals locked up?" Urko snorted. "I can see I've wasted my time coming here."
The prefect nodded dejectedly as Urko left his office.
A few days later, Sam, Alan, and Galen were looking at the entrance to the underground facility that Al had described to Sam. "Pete, this is incredible!" Alan said. "How did you know this place would be here?"
"I…uh, had a hunch, that's all," Sam replied. "I figured that if there was one underground site, there had to be others scattered around the Southwest. Do you still have that data disc with you?"
Alan fished it out of his pocket. "I've often thought about getting rid of this thing," he said. "We've been disappointed so many times before. But if what you're saying is true…hell, it's worth a shot."
They made their way into the entrance. Al had been right; the place had remained undisturbed for centuries. The chamber stood at the end of the room. Sam found the emergency power supply and turned it on.
"It still works!" Alan said. "Pete, I've got to hand it to you-I think you've finally found what we've been looking for.!" He turned to Galen. "If this works, we may never see each other again. I just want you to know…you've been a good friend."
"I wish I could go with you," Galen replied. "I've always wanted to see your world. But somebody has to stay behind and stop Urko's plans once and for all."
Alan nodded. "Okay, pal," he said to Sam. "Let's get to work."
Blue light surrounded Alan. Whatever he had been expecting, it was nothing like this. It was scary, but at the same time exhilarating. He could feel time twisting around him…
…the light faded. Alan blinked and opened his eyes. Pete was looking at him. He seemed confused. "Alan? Alan…what happened? Where are we?"
They were still inside the chamber. At first Alan was afraid that they had failed again, after all….but then a door slid open. A man wearing an outrageously loud suit came in, smoking a cigar. "Albert Calivicci, at your service," he said. "Welcome to Project Quantum Leap. And welcome home."
The blue light swirled around Sam as the Leap ended. Had it worked? He'd have to wait for Al to tell him to find out….
He looked around. He was in somebody's trailer. It looked like they used it as both an office and their home.
An answering machine-an old one, he saw-beeped. A recorded voice answered. "This is Jim Rockford. At the tone leave your message; I'll get back to you."
Sam looked at the phone book that was lying on the desk and saw a full-page ad for something called Rockford Investigations. I'm a private eye again, he thought. Oh, boy…
THE END.