A LEAPER'S FUTURE

Author's note and disclaimer:I do not own the copyrighted characters for Quantum Leap or Star Trek: The Next Generation. This cross-over was just a product of my active imagination. This is supposed to take place between the last two episodes of QL.

Dr.SAM Beckett never returned home.

-Mirror Image

Alamogordo, NM March 31, 2000

11What the hell do you mean you can't find him!" Al Calavicci exploded, shaking his fist at the large, purple orb that was Ziggy's main component. "You just had him."

"I cannot explain Admiral," Ziggy calmly stated. "Dr. Beckett seems to have disappeared from the space-time continuum immediately after he leaped out of Elvis Presley."

"We've tried everything since this happened, Admiral," Gooshie explained, "neural searches, scans around the complex; we even tried to trace any residuals Dr. Beckett may have left in the Waiting Room. Our hands are tied until a new leaper appears."

The normally calming and revitalizing state of being that

surrounded Sam Beckett during a leap was nothing more than a stormy, jolting, lurching reality. When the blue light finally faded out, the physicist found himself in an environment that was as foreign to him as the delivery room is to a newborn baby. Everything was quite futuristic and down right odd: from the clothing worn by himself and his company to the very room they occupied.

"Pssst," the man to Sam's right nudged him in the ribs to gain his attention. "The captain asked you a question, Lieutenant."

"Excuse me?" a still shaken Sam turned to face the nudger, only to be taken by surprise by the curious device that covered the man's eyes. "What's that thing?" Sam asked almost in a whisper, indicating the weird apparatus.

"Worf, is there something wrong?" Geordi La Forge faced Sam with a mask of worry molding his features and possibly his hidden eyes.

"Uh ... I ..." Sam looked around at all the faces and directed his response to the pale man wearing a gold and black uniform that resembled Geordi's and his own. "Could you repeat that question, Captain?"

"Are you feeling all right, Mr. Worf?" Data asked in a voice

that reminded the time leaper of the computer that made his leaps a success. "I am not the captain."

"... Yeah, I'm fine ... I just " Sam stopped dead in his

tracks when he caught his reflection in the window behind Data. The image was the last thing Sam expected to see. Instead of seeing someone who bore different physical attributes and nothing more, the dumbstruck Sam found himself staring into the eyes of a fierce looking Neanderthal with a dark face, pointed forehead, and long black hair that seemed to grow only from the back of his head. Frightened, Sam rose from his seat, never taking his eyes off the animal-like face that haunted him from that window pane. "Oh . . . BOY!"

A strange feeling overcame Counselor Deana Troi , but she dismissed it at once believing there was no real reason for alarm.

"Worf, what the devil has come over you?" Captain Jean-luc Piccard asked in tones that sounded too sharp to be a question of concern alone.

"Nothing," Sam clipped with inflections that simply meant 'Leave me alone already'. "I'm telling you I'm fine."

After receiving a short glance from her captain, Dr. Beverly Crusher rose from her chair and pulled a curious looking instrument from her lab coat pocket. Unsure what to think, Sam stared as she opened the gizmo and pointed it directly at him. At that second, the time traveler took several steps back and said in a voice bordering on panic, "What the hell do you think you're doing! Get that thing away from me!"

"It's just a tricorder," Dr. Crusher countered calmly. "You act like you'd never seen one before."

""Well . . . that's because I haven't." Sam wanted desperately to get out of the situation that put him in an unwanted spot light. "Sir ..." Sam met the eyes of the two men at the head of the conference table, hoping to address the right officer. "I would like to ... go lie down. I don't really feel like myself right now."

"Would you like me to escort you to Sick Bay?" Dr. Crusher offered.

No thanks," Sam declined. "My room will be just fine."

After a sigh, Piccard said, "Very well. Lieutenant, you may return to your quarters. We'll brief you on this matter at a later time."

"Thank you . . . Captain," Sam said as he turned to leave the

Redi room.

"There's something peculiar going on, Captain," Commander Wil Riker whispered to his superior. "I've never seen Worf behave like this."

Piccard didn't speak. He simply nodded to Riker and leaned back in his chair.