Quantum Leap
"Laugh and be merry or: The food of the Gods."
Written by Sara Burns
August 19, 1987
Chicago, Illinois
Part 1
"Okay Sam, your name is Jonathon Judge and you're a," Al grinned, "you're a Quantum Physicist."
Sam smiled. "Finally something I know about! Sooo, you got anything else for me? I mean, I need a little more to go on."
Al pushed buttons on the little controller thing, then punched it a couple of times. "Okay, you're in Chicago, Illinois, you're 39. You're single and the only family you have left is your mother and her dog. So how are you feeling?" Al looked concerned. Sam looked annoyed.
"What?" Al asked with innocence.
"C'mon Al! Do you know why I'm here yet?" Sam knew something was going on.
"Nope, sorry. Ziggy doesn't have anything on that yet. I'll go and try to find something." Al opened the imaging chamber door and stepped through before Sam could get another word out.
I wonder what's going on this time, Sam wondered as he studied his surroundings. He was in a small apartment, but nice. Indigo carpets, blue walls, bright green leather sofa. I bet Al likes this place, Sam grinned to himself.
"What's so funny?" Sam turned around to see a girl of about twelve or thirteen looking oddly at him. Uh-oh.
"Nothin, just thinking about..... stuff. Y'know."
Another weird look. "Whatever John." So I'm not her dad. I hope I'm not her boyfriend! Sam watched the girl sit on the Bright green sofa and flip on the T.V. to a show called Star Trek. It was Sams turn to give a weird look.
"I know. I'm a trekkie and I can't help myself. I only like the original series though so I'm not that bad." Sam sat and watched the television as a pointed eared, greenish man got shot in the back.
"So, uh, you hungry?" Sam smiled at the girl.
"We just ate." And yet another weird look. "Are you feeling okay? You look a little, I dunno, pale and sickly about fits it."
As a matter of fact, Sam was feeling kinda nauseous. "Maybe I should go lie down for a while." Sam wandered around and looked for the bedroom, then he lied down.
"I hope you're not going into remission or anything like that. I don't think either of us could take it."
Sam bolted up. "Remission?"
"I know the doctor said there was a slim chance, but we should consider the possibility that it could happen."
Sam grew a little paler. Remission for what? Oh God, he could only imagine.
"What? What's wrong?"
Sam hadn't heard the sound of the imaging chamber door opening.
"Nothing."
"What John?"
"Uh, Nothing is gonna happen." I hope.
Sam found a bathroom and motioned for Al to join him. Sam took a look into the mirror and wished he hadn't. He was so pale! He didn't know it was possible to look like that. His black hair and dark features didn't help any. The guy must work out, thought Sam as he flexed his muscles and smiled.
"Don't get too cocky Sam."
Sam had forgotten Al was there and turned around quickly, hitting his knee on the toilet.
" Ow, ow, ow, Damn!"
"Uh, you done Sam?" Al watched in mock amusement as he stepped through the toilet.
Sam glared at Al. "You better have something for me."
"Yeah, we got a little. It's not really good news though."
Sam cringed a little. "It never is."
"Okay, that little girl in there, her name is Ambrosia, but you call her Bob." A weird look exchanged between the two. "Must be some kind of inside joke. Anyway, you just...."
" What about the remission?"
Al looked stunned. "How did you know about that?" Al immediately regretted having said that.
"Were you ever going to tell me Al, or were you going to wait til I died or something?"
"Calm down Sam! Ziggy said you had a better chance of getting through this if you didn't know about it."
"So I am going through some kind of remission for something. For what? Maybe I can do something about it."
Al just sat there and looked at Sam.
"What? What is it?"
"How could he do this to you?" Al barely whispered the phrase but Sam heard it. "How could he?" Then Al disappeared. Once again Sam was left in the darkness. I'm so sick of this, Sam thought to himself. He went into the bedroom he had found earlier and sat on the bed. Eventually he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
Part 2
"That's right John. Sleep, it's best for you." Ambrosia quietly crept through the bedroom and over to the bed. "Are you feeling okay? You won't be." A filthy smile spread across her face. She took a syringe out of her pocket and filled it with a greenish liquid. "You'll feel terrible in the morning actually. Ha! This is easier than I thought it would be." She quickly injected the needle into Sams arm and emptied the syringe. "No one will ever suspect a thirteen year old of killing her step brother! I'm totally safe, but you, you're going to die. Very slow and very painfully. You'll pay for what you did to my parents. You'll die for it."
Ambrosia crept out of the room and it was silent once again. But how could she have noticed the hologram standing in the corner. Smiling. He was smiling. "I don't think we need to interfere this time Zoe. It's all going to unfold on it's own." And then he was gone.
Part 3
"Yawn..... ohhhhh." Sam felt fine when he woke up, then it hit him. "Bob!"
Ambrosia ran into the room with a start. "What's wrong? I was sleeping."
"I think I need to go to hospital." Sam caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He looked kinda like that pointed eared guy on T.V. Kinda greenish. Not a good sight. Then he threw up.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll be fine! You just need to eat a little." she left Sam.
Suddenly Sam was in a fetal position. It felt like a white hot Iron was slowly entering his abdomen. It was beyond any pain he could've ever imagine. He let out a hideous groan and blacked out.
The whole time Ambrosia stood in the doorway watching. She enjoyed this devilish game. But the devil had nothing to do with it! This is all me, she thought as she saw Sam go limp. Then the giggles over took her.
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"Sam! We just found out something that you're not gonna be happy with! Sam! Wake up."
Sam awoke to a familiar voice, but he wasn't sure where it was coming from. He finally opened his eyes and was blinded by the dayglo orange. "Please, shut that off!"
Al looked slightly offended, he rather like the bright orange jacket. "What happened to you?"
"I'm going into remission. I don't know for what Al, but I know I'm dying."
"You're not dying Sam." Sam looked at Al for a moment, debating whether or not he wanted to know the secret behind Al's eyes.
"What are you talking about?"
"We looked up on this Ambrosia girl. She's your step-sister. We didn't look for step family. She's living with you because, well, here's her life. When she was 9 her mother died, actually committed suicide. Her father was devastated, but it didn't take him long to remarry. He married John's mother when Ambrosia was 11, then he committed suicide a year later. Ambrosia was convinced it was John's fault for "taking her fathers love away from her then breaking his heart". John's mother, Ambrosia's step mom, is in a mental hospital."
"That's terrible. So what am I here to do? I'm not feeling that great and I would like to get out of here as soon as possible."
"You're not going through remission Sam. Ambrosia's slipping you some kind of chemical to make you think that. It's slowly killing you. She's convinced the judge and jury will have sympathy, and they do. Ziggy says there's a 84.6% that you're here to stop her and get her some help."
"I'm not sure I could even move right now Al. But I guess I gotta." Sam slowly sat up and stood up. Then fell back down. "Maybe I should go a little slower."
Sam eventually made it off the bed and into the living room where he saw Ambrosia sitting on the couch and watching him with an unbelievable look. "You shouldn't even be able to stand, let alone walk! Ah well, doesn't matter." Ambrosia held up a gun.
"How can you be doing this? I'm your own brother!"
"Step-brother my dear. And I can do this with pleasure. You have stolen my parents from me! The only ones in the world that I have ever loved! You took them and murdered them! You think I'm the one that's mad? Take a look in the mirror, You're the psycho, and I'm going to kill you one way or another."
Sam then felt the wind off of the bullet as he jumped towards Ambrosia and grabbed the gun. Sam quickly called the police and sat with the girl until they came.
"Al," Sam was the only one left now, "why haven't I leaped? I mean, I saved John, and hopefully the little girl."
"Well, I'm not sure. Ziggy says it's something about a T.V. show. She's says to turn the channel to G5 4.
Sam found the T.V. control and eventually figured out how to work the thing. "Okay, now what?"
Then they heard theme music and turned towards the T.V. and saw in big blue letters, "Quantum Leap". An astonished look was exchanged between the hologram and his friend, as the blue light engulfed Sam in reality, and on the T.V. as well.