"Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the
Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished... He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror
images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His
only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a
hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so, Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to
life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the
leap home…"
A leap too far
Oct 30, 1965
Prologue
I was having the most amazing dream.
I was floating through time, my spirit flying across my own lifetime. I was flying like Superman, but
without the suit; it was wondrous, I felt like a child again—when I had fantasized about flying
through the air like a speeding bullet—but somehow it felt different now. This wasn't a safe flight
like being on a public plane with the captain saying, "please put your seat belts on now." I am
rushing through time like the wind roiling through the clouds at an almost impossible speed and
below me was what looked like a great ocean of time sparkling like diamonds, and I could see myself
from birth going all the way into my future. I also could see all the other lifetimes I have leaped into
making right what once went wrong. I could see myself in the form of all these different people, and
all of those mirror images were looking back at me from beyond the mirror.
During this moment while leaping through time would be the only time I would ever have a perfect
memory of who I was and why I was traveling through time. The only problem is the moment I
became someone else, my mind would turn into Swiss cheese, and all my memories would feel like
mashed potatoes, all mashed together. But while I was leaping, my mind would think of Donna and I
would try and reach out to her across time my mind calling out to her crying out "Donna!" and of the
project. My heart was always there even though physically it seemed like I was never there. From
time to time, I would swear that Donna could hear me.
At one moment, it felt like I was going up and up and up and then suddenly I stopped dead in midair
and plummeted down and down towards the earth like Superman flying at top speed from just
hearing someone in need. The earth was rising towards me at frightening speed. I felt like a pilot
trying to lift the nose of the plane while the plane was saying to me, "pull up, pull up."
I gasped as I felt an intense boom! After a few minutes like always, I landed and the blue light of
leaping faded away. I, Sam Beckett, found myself in my latest leap. I had gotten accustomed to
finding myself in strange surroundings. After the electrical energy faded away, I found myself sitting
in an old armchair; I was wearing a red smoking jacket, a suit, and an old pipe was in my mouth—I
took it out coughing. A fire was burning in the center of the room. The light of the day was fading
away and the evening was setting in fast. Like with many leaps I shrugged mentally trying to hold
onto anything of myself, but it felt like I was on an iceberg that was felting away fast. Sometimes
being someone else always felt to me like a never-ending dream that I was constantly trapped in. I
closed my eyes and waited for anything to happen like—UFOs, dancing sheep, clowns anything but
nothing happened. I could smell the aftershave I was wearing. I opened my eyes again, but like
always this was a house I had never seen before, but it felt like I had. It felt as if the mind of the
person I had leaped into was still with me inside my mind, trapped and lost just like me. The curtains
nearby were red; I had never seen them before, but that was also strange because they also felt like
old friends and me being here was like I was being reunited with them. But I knew this wasn't my
house, and I knew this wasn't a dream.
Chapter 1
I was holding a book in my hands and said to myself.
"This is weirdly familiar," I told myself, taking in a deep breath. I counted my ABCs, and I tried to
visualize... What? I was confused a name came to me "Donna."
"Yes, think of Donna..."
But I couldn't remember her and said again to myself, "Who's Donna?" And then the name had
disappeared completely. "Who was I just thinking of?" No matter how hard I tried, the name was
lost to me. Completely out of reach.
I felt totally disoriented, and I couldn't shake the feeling. Suddenly a new concern came to me,
Where was I? Who was I? What the hell was going on? After a long think, I tried to discover what
those answers were to my own questions, but I kept drawing a blank.
I read the page on the book in front of me on my lap saying, "the snake wraps itself around the tree
and says to Adam take eat from the tree of knowledge and you shall be like gods knowing good from
evil."
It continued on, saying "then the snake became the devil and leaped from one lifetime to another
making wrong where there once was good."
I flicked through the book, and the entire book apart from what I had just read was completely blank.
I dropped it.
the book and was unsure what to make of the writing.
I got up feeling shaken and forced myself to leave the sitting room, but before I left the room I
looked around the room saying,
"Hello anyone there?"
I heard a voice calling me by name. A butler walked into the sitting room opening the double doors
and closing them behind him and saying,
"Is everything OK, sir?"
"I am OK, thank you."
"Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"No not really. But can you tell me, is there anyone else here?"
As if avoiding the question, the butler says, "good night" and leaves.
Wandering around the room, I found a nearby mirror on the wall. I looked at myself in the mirror to
see what I looked like this time. To me, looking in all those mirrors for the past five years I was so
used to seeing total strangers looking back at me from beyond my own reflection not my own
reflection. The person staring back at me had dark hair and a young face and had a happy expression
on our faces because I was happy to see a male face looking back at me beyond the looking glass.
And he gave himself a big sigh of relief; I was so grateful that I wasn't a woman again. But I did
wonder to myself if I would ever see my own face again.
Leaping in and out of other people's lives across time had helped me to do and see many wonderful
things.
Yet, leaping around in time always felt like a big roulette wheel; one moment you could be a test
flight pilot trying to break mark 3 and next I could find myself in a completely new place and time
dressed sometimes like a woman.
One of the most valuable lessons I've learned from leaping around in time is that everyone deserves
a second chance. ***
Sam looked around the room and it felt like he had been there once before, but he said to himself,
"how can this be?" He quickly dismissed the idea and began to look around. The main room had two
worn chairs and the whole room and house had a very halloweeny feel to it. Sam reassured himself
that it was just the fact that it was an old Victorian house. While he was investigating, Sam saw some
books on a nearby shelf and noticed they were very worn-looking old Sherlock Holmes novels.
But interesting to Sam, he found another novel that shouldn't have been there—a blue bound
leather book. He pulled the book out and the title read: "Project Quantum Leap: Sam's travels
through time."
Sam said out loud, "Oh boy!"
Sam thought about the situation.
He tried to remain calm. He knew this wasn't a dream, but it felt like one. The plain truth was, he
didn't know who he was or what he was there to change, but he knew like always that Al would be
there to tell him what to do, so he turned around.
He could hear the sound of the imaging chamber door opening and closing. Suddenly, Al was there
standing by his side with smoke rising from the cigar. Al was looking at Sam like he was in deep
concentration and wearing a multi-coloured tie and wearing a light blue blazer and a pair of slacks.
Al said, "Well, this brings back memories. Hi Sam." Al says this while looking a bit down.
"Is everything OK?"
"It's just Me and Tina. We've had a fight again and I am having to move out. If I had a dollar for every
time that happened to me… I would be well off. How many times have I had to move out?" he asked
himself, counting out on his fingers. "No, maybe when I was with my second or third wife..."
Sam said, "Al, you have to see this book"
Al replied, "What book?"
"This book…" but to Sam's surprise, he wasn't holding any book of any kind. Surprised, he said, "Al, it
was just here in my hands, where has it gone?"
Sam looked back at the book shelf, but the shelf was full of books with no sign of the mysterious
book he had just picked up.
Looking deeply confused, Al continued to say tapping on the hand link in front of Sam,
"You must've been dreaming... OK, it's October 30, 1965, and your name is Sam. Looking at the hand
link more closely your name's Sam. Sam, this is great! You can use your own name again this time."
Sam replied, "Yes, and…?"
Al continued, "Sorry, your name is Sam Tins Dale. And it's London, England. You've leaped outside
the country again, Sam. And you are a semi-professional writer. Single, no children. 25 years old."
"And why am I here, Al? " Sam asked impatiently.
Al said, "Let's see" Al tapped on the hand link further and the red and yellow and green lights flash
even more all over the device.
"Ziggy says…" after a few minutes tapping in a certain way on the hand link. "Well, Ziggy doesn't
know yet, but we are working on it, Sam. I will run the scenarios and get back to you, Sam."
Sam said, "Why is it Ziggy always comes up with the useless information first? Why can't she just let
me know why I am here? It would save me a lot of time, Al. Why can't Ziggy have the right
information just waiting for me? OK, please can you go back and find out, please, why I am here so I
can get the heck out of here? I don't want to miss anything, but Al there is something about this leap
this time that feels almost familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it."
For a moment, Sam felt a little dizzy. He put his hand to his forehead to stop himself from losing his balance.
Al said, "Be careful, Sam, you don't look to good."
Al tapped on the hand link and the imaging