Quantum Clone Leap Episode 6: A Shark

by Psychoflop

Sam leaps in Camila Torres

p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"emTheorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists from the Dyad Institute into the desert to develop a top secret project known as QUANTUM LEAP. Pressured by neolutionists to prove his theories or lose funding, Doctor Beckett prematurely stepped into the Project Accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was 1 of the clones from another Dyad project known as Project Leda. Fortunately, contact with his own time was made through brainwave transmissions with Al, Sam's monitor and project observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Doctor Beckett can see and hear. Trapped in the past, Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from clone to clone, putting things right that the Proletheans made wrong and hoping each time that his next leap...will be the leap home./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;" align="LEFT"uAct 1/u/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Dr. Sam Beckett was used to leaping into other people's bedrooms, in fact his first leap ever was into the bedroom of one Captain Tom Stratton. He was also used to not being given the satisfaction of even having 5 minutes of rest even when he leapt into the beds. What he was not used to, was drops of rust water falling on to the back of his head, and later his face as he sat up. There were many noticeable and long cracks along the ceiling and all of the walls, enough to where Sam immediately thought that this house (and he used that term loosely) should be condemned immediately. Then again, he could be leaping into a homeless person who was "squatting". His second observation was that wherever he was, he was somewhere very warm./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Could this be my first leap to Africa?" Sam asked himself quietly, but with a smile on his face./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Camila, desayuno, vamos a bucear hoy en las islas del Rosario." came a voice from 1, possibly 2 rooms over. Sam needed a moment to deduce that the words were in Spanish, translating roughly as "Camila, breakfast, we're going to go snorkeling on the Rosario Islands today"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Oh boy, I'm in Columbia"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Sam, are you OK?" asked Al as he practically ran out of the imaging chamber door to greet his time displaced best friend./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Yes Al, I'm fine. But, I think this is a new record for shortest time to wait for you to appear from when I first arrive in a leap." said Sam, who was fighting a low level of shock./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Ziggy, can we verify that?" asked Al. After a moment, he shook his head. "Nope, the simo-leap where we switched places still holds the record, and probably always will. But Ziggy does admit that this is now the fastest time for me to show up out of any 'traditional' leap. And the less said about that leap where we met Stephen King as a kid, the better. You know the TV show actually had Dean Stockwell play both me AND the devil in order to make the leap seem more macabre?"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Sam nodded in agreement as he began to get dressed. He noticed that the clothing options available were, well, rags./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Right, Columbia is considered a third world country" muttered Sam to himself./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""It does get better by our present day, but not by that much." said Al in an attempt to be sympathetic. Sam shrugged it off as he finished getting dressed./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""What is today's date?" Sam asks. Al immediately tapped his bluetooth head set that connected him to Ziggy. After only a moment, he replied "July 21supst/sup, 1990."/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"1 thing that Sam appreciated since the Dyad takeover was that, if nothing else, his partial amnesia seemed to be slowly disappearing. He was very aware of the fact that he would be leaping into different permutations of the same basic genetic makeup for the foreseeable future./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""So it's a little better than 50/50 that I leapt into a 6 year old girl from Columbia?" he asked. Al tapped Ziggy's bluetooth again, then answered "Yes, she had her 6supth/sup birthday on April 8th"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""April 8supth/sup, 1984? That's the 14supth/sup anniversary of the day that...I saved my brother, Tom" said Sam, holding back tears as he was so happy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Yup, you did. He's still our military liaison. Well, was, until the dyad buyout. Now he's effectively the bouncer of the project" said Al, who immediately shrugged his shoulders as there were some things about the project that not even he knew anymore./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Do you know why I'm here?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""No, that's the one thing we don't even know. Ziggy wants me to ask you to recap your time here up to the moment I arrived." said Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Sure. I arrived here in bed. I don't think I leapt into..." said Sam, drifting off on purpose./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Oh, Camila Torres" said Al, on cue./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Camila Torres, while she was sleeping. Her mom shouted at me from, the kitchen I guess? To get ready to go to this beach on the coast. I can't remember the name of the place.../p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Probably not relevant right now. What else?" quipped Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I could smell that a thing or 2 has already been made in the kitchen. I don't know enough about South America to know what it was, exactly. A cake maybe?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Ziggy doesn't know either. You may have to be very careful" said Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Maybe the answer lies in the little girl. Al, can you get Verbeena Beeks or one of the others to interview her? I'm thinking the answers lie in her and not by what's around me or what's even being kept secret by the government"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Al nodded, pushed a button, and said "I'm on it. Be careful" as the imaging chamber door closed behind him as he left./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"emProject Quantum Clone Leap, New Mexico/em/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"emCurrent Date: November 18supth/sup, 2011/em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Hi there, sweetheart. Can you tell me your name, please?" asked Dr. Beeks with a level of patience and understanding that her job as a psychiatrist and being with Project Quantum Leap for the better part of 2 decades required./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""¿Dónde estoy? Donde esta mi familia? (Where am I? Where is my family?)"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""She is asking where her family is" stated Ziggy. The voice of the robot made Camila run into the corner of the room and into the foetal position. Dr. Beeks had seen similar behaviour on at least 100 leaps, with half of the patients requiring sedation of some kind. Then Tom came in, dressed in his usual military clothes. This worsened Camila's emotional state to say the least./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""So much for asking the kid Sam's and Al's questions" whispered Tom, who exited quickly./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Dr. Beeks had already been informed by Ziggy before she entered the waiting room that the probability of her knowing more than 10 words of English was less than 1%, which was understandable as English was only taught in private schools or colleges in Columbia (most of whom were virtually unattended due to how expensive they were). Dr. Beeks tried to remember what Spanish she learned in school, but that was decades ago and little Camila Torres was talking too fast for her to comprehend everything (though, to her credit, she understood the basics: Camila was terrified). She probably shouldn't have walked out on Camila into the hallway, as that would just terrify her even more, but she felt so helpless./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Ziggy, what is the probability of Camila being harmful to herself or others? I only ask because of the Helena leap yesterday." she whispered./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""An understandable question given the previous leap, Dr. Beeks. However I can calculate a 96.7% probability that she will not put herself or anyone else in harm's way for the duration of the leap. Her most likely outcome is her alternating between crying and screaming for her family, as she is already doing." listed Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Not much better, but at least I won't be attacked by a chair again. Who on the project is the most fluent in Spanish?" asked Dr. Beeks, as she felt that she probably shouldn't be alone with a leap subject again for a while./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""That would be Beth Calavicci given how long she resided in San Diego, California and her penchant for Mexican food." stated Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Of course, please page her now" said Dr. Beeks in relief. Ziggy obliged, and Beth was at the waiting room door in under 90 seconds. Camila kept shouting those same 2 questions over and over./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Is that all she's said since she got here?" asked Beth who could hear Camila from several feet away, Dr. Beeks nodded./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""OK, write down the usual questions that you would've asked anyway. I'll ask them. I think this may be the first time I've interviewed the leap subject." suggested Beth. Dr. Beeks grabbed a clipboard from inside the waiting room (making sure to wave at Camila in an effort to calm her down). It took about 5 minutes, but the standard questionnaire had been written down./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Hola, ¿te acuerdas de tu nombre?" (Hello there, do you remember your name?)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"The child in the old man's body, calmed down and answered immediately: "Mi nombre es camila torres" (My name is Camila Torres)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Muy bien. ¿Recuerdas qué día es?" (Very good. Do you remember what day it is?)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""21 de Julio de 1990" (July 21supst/sup, 1990)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""¿Algo especial acerca de hoy que quieras compartir conmigo?" (Anything special about today that you might want to share with me?)/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Beth had made sure to ask the questions slowly in an effort to not only calm down Camila, but to get her to speak more slowly as well. To her credit, it worked "Escuché a mis padres decir algo sobre un viaje a la playa, pero no sé si es hoy." (I overheard my parents say something about a trip to a beach, but I don't know if it's today). By now, Al had been standing in the doorway, and while not as fluent as his wife, he knew enough to nod at Beth to tell her that the trip to the beach was true./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""All Quantum Leap senior staff, report to the boardroom immediately" came from Ziggy, and repeated./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Volveremos rápidamente, lo prometo" (We will be back quickly, I promise) whispered Beth assuringly to Camila. Camila smiled as everyone left./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""What the hell is this all about?" asked Al./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"The meeting began routinely, with Beth reciting young Camila's answers to Dyad employee Marion Bowles via speakerphone./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""After we calmed her down Dr. Bowles, she was very responsive. She knows her name (which most of our leap patients do, admittedly). She told us the date of July 21supst/sup, 1990 (more uncommon, at least until the Dyad takeover). She said something about a family trip to a beach. You called us in mid-interview but I doubt she remembered anything further based on how frustrated she looked in not remembering much else. That may change the more she calms down and the longer she stays here" said Beth, hoping for some kind of approval./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Quite alright, Miss Calavicci. That should be enough to go on for the time being. Also, I would like to apologize to Sammi Jo Fuller for the mistreatment at the hands of Dr. Aldous Leekie."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I would prefer that he apologize in person. But I do appreciate it coming from you, all the same" replied Sammi./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I'll see to it that he does just that. Now, has that parallel hybrid computer of yours figured out a scenario yet?" asked Marion./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I have not, Dr. Bowles. There doesn't seem to be any info on any of your South American clones before January 1supst/sup 1996 uploaded in Dyad's database. I'm trying to go through the regular internet to get anything, but between Columbia not being a very tech-savvy country and Dyad's penchant for keeping all of the clones low profile, especially in the 20supth/sup century..." Ziggy stopped talking on purpose to let Dr. Bowles catch up./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Don't worry, I'll old school it with a 3-way call" stated Marion. Project Quantum Leap could hear her punching in another phone number. Then the project heard the following:/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Instituto de díadas, Oficina de Bogotá, Mia hablando, ¿cómo puedo ayudarlo?" (Dyad institute, Bogota Office, Mia speaking, how may I help you?)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Marion Bowles, Liquidación Superior L7TT-DF8" (Marion Bowles, Topside Clearance L7TT-DF8)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Su autorización confirmada. ¿Cómo puedo ayudarte, Marion?" (Your clearance confirmed. How may I help you, Marion?)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Proyecto Leda, archivos, siglo XX." (Project Leda, archives, 20th century)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Te pondré en contacto de inmediato" (I will put you through right away)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Don't worry guys, this not going to be another Australian incident" she then said to Project Quantum Leap (no individual in particular)./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Indique el clon, luego la fecha, por favor?" (State the clone, then the date, please?)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Camila torres 21 de Julio de 1990" (Camila Torres. July 21st, 1990)/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"After one or 2 minutes on hold, whoever was the person (sounded like a guy about Tom's age according to most of the project) babbled on in Spanish very quickly. After Marion said "Gracias" (Thank you), she returned her full attention to the project./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""OK, so on that date: Camila witnessed someone at the beach being eaten by a shark and the resulting trauma left her in therapy for years."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Seems simple enough for us to fix" said Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I hope so. As the most likely scenario is a 92.8% probability that she will let herself die at some point in 2013 or 2014 over something that is fixable because of the state of depression that she's in." said Ziggy, a bit sad./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"emI lost track of how many times I've had a long trip in a car as part of a leap. The one that sticks out in my mind as the worst was when leapt into a 13 year old who was constantly bullied by "my" older sister. This one was actually one of the more pleasant ones as I think this was the first time I've ever seen South American countryside. Well, parts of it, as I've been using the down time to nap. To the credit of my "parents", they haven't interrupted me, probably because to them, I'm still their 6 year old daughter./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""How's it going, Sam? Oh jeez, did I wake you?" asked Al, who was floating around in the back seat of the car. Sam made sure to nod slightly so as to not attract the unwanted attention of everyone in the car./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Sorry" said Al. Sam waved it off, Al continued "OK, your mission is pretty simple. Prevent someone from being eaten by a shark and you leap out of here."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"span style="font-style: normal;"Sam actually smiled slightly, as that was one of the easier leaps that he could remember. Al then turned his attention to Ziggy for a moment, then Al said "/spanspan style="font-style: normal;"Ziggy says that you have to keep this low profile. She says that there's a 99.1% probability that given your age, you won't be taken seriously by anyone."/span/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Sam nodded without hesitation, as it wasn't the first time he leapt into a child. Al then tapped Ziggy and asked "Ziggy, can we give Sam a holographic projection of the beach that he's going to? Maybe that could give him an advantage?"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"A light blue holographic map appeared within inches of Sam's face. The North edge of the beach had trees, whereas the rest had some hotels, parking lots and low-cost housing about 20 feet from the shores. Also on the north edge, was a red X. That puzzled Sam for a moment until Al said "Based on the Dyad reports and local newspapers, that's the spot where Camila witnesses the attack, 4 hours and 53 minutes from now."/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""How's Camila doing?" mouthed Sam without actually making any noise./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""She's OK now, but understandably terrified. Being 6 years old in another country, language and time period, no one can really blame her." said Al, a bit sad, showing sympathy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Beth is fluent enough in Spanish, as I recall." mouthed Sam. Al nodded, then added "She had to do the interview this time, not Dr. Beeks."/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Sam smiled at the thought, then began rubbing his belly making sure Camila's parents didn't notice./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""You think food will help alleviate her fears?" asked Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Worked for that Aaron guy on the last leap before the Dyad takeover." mouthed Sam. Al nodded, understanding completely, then vanished through the imaging chamber door./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;" align="LEFT"uAct 2/u/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Admiral, I don't believe what you are about to do is appropriate." said Ziggy with a rare stern note in her voice./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;" align="LEFT"span style="text-decoration: none;""I'm not gonna hurt a child in my best friends body, /spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"Ziggy. What kind of monster do you think I am?" asked Al, who felt insulted./span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""None whatsoever, Admiral. In point of fact, you're the moral compass of this project next to Dr. Beckett himself. But It's nearly 100% certain that she doesn't know that." replied Ziggy, making to emphasize the word "she". Al entered anyway, with Ziggy being too stunned to electronically lock the waiting room door in time. Camila immediately fled to one corner of the room./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Told you, Admiral" said Ziggy while clicking her non-existant digital tongue at Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;" align="LEFT"span style="text-decoration: none;""I never doubted you Ziggy, but we only have a few hours /spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"to fix this mistake in time/spanspan style="text-decoration: none;". If this were a multiple day leap and it were still kind of easy, I'd lay off /spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"for 24-48 hours/spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"." replied Al, who sunk his head as Beth entered. Camila actually smiled at seeing her, but then asked "/spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"¿De dónde viene esa extraña voz?" (Where does that strange voice keep coming from?)/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"This was a situation that had never come up in the entire history of the project. Either the subject was too out of it to notice Ziggy at all, or was grown up enough to accept on some level what Ziggy was. Beth knew that she needed to answer her gently, but also had no intention of lying to the kid./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""La voz se llama Ziggy. Ziggy es nuestro amigo que cuida a todos aquí en este lugar. A ella también le encanta resolver problemas, y su viaje a la playa tendrá un problema que necesita un adulto, así que ha cambiado de lugar con otro amigo nuestro llamado Sam. Cuando él solucione el problema, los 2 de ustedes volverán a cambiar. Estas partes de la pared son donde Ziggy puede escucharnos y hablar con nosotros. Adelante, está bien, puedes hablar con ella." (The voice is named Ziggy. Ziggy is our friend who looks after everyone here in this place. She also loves to solve problems, and your trip to the beach is going to have a problem that needs a grownup so, you have switched places with another friend of ours named Sam. When he fixes the problem, the 2 of you will switch back. These parts of the wall are where Ziggy can hear us and talk to us. Go ahead, it's OK, you can talk to her.) she stated perfectly, making sure to point to the speakers in the waiting room for Camila to take notice of./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Camila tilted her head sideways in disbelief and confusion, before asking "¿Estoy a salvo aquí? ¿Voy a morir?" (Am I safe here? Am I going to die?)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""No puedo pensar en muchos lugares más seguros que aquí. Y cuando vuelvas a cambiar, puedes recordarnos como un sueño." (I cannot think of too many places safer than here. And when you switch back, you may remember us as a dream.)/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Camila, actually began to laugh, which elicited smiles from both Calavicci's./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Sam had a theory that food will help cheer her up." whispered Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;" align="LEFT"span style="text-decoration: none;""I concur. Ziggy...¿Tenemos recetas de comida colombiana? Nuestro amigo probablemente tenga hambre." /spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"(/spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"Do we have any recipes for Colombian food? Our friend is probably hungry./spanspan style="text-decoration: none;")/span/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Camila smiled and nodded./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emspan style="text-decoration: none;"We arrived at the beach about 20 minutes after the last time that Al left. It reminded me a lot of Miami, only there was no one speaking any English /spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"on this shore/spanspan style="text-decoration: none;". My "designated family" began unpacking immediately. I'm in the body of a 6 year old, so I'm pretty sure I won't be expected to carry /spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"all that/spanspan style="text-decoration: none;" much. I offered to take a white canvas bag that had all of the towels in it, trading strength for necessity. /spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"Al came back as I was halfway to the Atlantic Ocean./span/em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""How long until the shark gets here?" Sam asked quietly./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""A little over 4 hours from now. Sorry I can't be more precise but Columbia didn't keep great records before the internet." he replied, almost in apology./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Remember, the first 6 or 7 years I leaped, we didn't have the budget for high speed internet. We might as well have broken into a few libraries, with how many times we had to go through newspapers." offered Sam in sympathy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I don't miss those days, not one bit" said Al. Sam then began to look a little confused as among the items the family brought included a Pinata and a couple of wrapped gifts./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Not exactly stuff you bring on a typical beach trip" said Sam. Al then tapped the bluetooth and asked Ziggy "What is going on?" after a minute, he told Sam "One of your friends is having her birthday here."/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Sam nodded thoughtfully, silently accepting it./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"emI had seen the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean countless times among my leaps, but not from this part of the world, and not this green. Something I'm hiding from Al is that I feel different on this leap. It's not 1 of those leaps where I feel a piece of my leap subject is still in me, or anything like that. But, I don't feel like a girl or a boy, but something more...fluidic, like I don't adhere to either gender or both at the same time./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="CENTER"em*/em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"They were both on private jets, on opposite sides of the world. It didn't matter, especially to Marion Bowles./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Aldous?" she asked, barely restraining unadulterated rage./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I know THAT tone of voice. What data have I collected incorrectly THIS time?" asked Dr. Leekie./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Nothing about the clones, directly. The data that I'M referring is...ethics. What possessed you to make such a conflict of interest as to sexually harass Sammi Jo Fuller. You do know that she's the daughter of Dr. Samuel Beckett. Frankly, if he were not leaping between our clones, I'd give him carte blanche to flat out castrate you." she said with an eerie level of calm./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""She...came on to me. I assure you that anything that transpired between us was completely consensual. Marion, Dr. Bowles, how long have we known each other?" he asked in desperation./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Long enough to know when you're kissing my ass in an effort to avoid punishment" she replied, completely deadpan./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Fine, I made a pass at her. I'll apologize in the morning. Would be sooner but I think I would be calling her at 4am at her local time./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Marion had to concede that he was right on that point. If nothing else, then to avoid making things worse./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I will be calling her at a random time over the next 24 hours. If you haven't apologized, I'm terminating...a lot of things."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Absolutely." he replied. They mutually hung up the phone, and Dr. Leekie gulped in terror./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"It was with some effort that Dr. Leekie cleared about 12-18 hours of his busy schedule just to take his jet to Stallion's Gate, New Mexico. The pilot eventually relented when he saw a rare look of fear in Dr. Leekie's eyes. He landed and was on the project site in a bit over 5 hours. From there, he found Sammi Jo Fuller shortly thereafter, still in all white pajamas, indicating she hadn't been awake that long. He approached her gently, she stopped without her name even called by him./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Miss Fuller, my actions towards you were lecherous and uncalled for. Please accept my sincerest apologies"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Sammi Jo Fuller held up one finger as her cell phone went off inside the pocket of her lab coat./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Fuller here, go...Yes, Dr. Bowles, he did...actually, he came in person. He beat you by...15 seconds. Thank you for leaving it to my discretion, OK, bye"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Sammi Jo Fuller then smiled and approached Dr. Leekie, and smashed his genitals with her knee./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I am to inform you that you are banned from Project Quantum Leap for life. Uncle Tom, kindly escort Dr. Leekie to pack his belongings and then back to his plane. If he tries anything, his life is forfeit in the eyes of Dr. Bowles." she stated with a grin./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""With pleasure, Sammy" said Tom with a smile as he pressed a Desert Eagle .50 calibre Action Express to the back of Dr. Leekie's brain stem and shoved him away./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""All primary systems unlocked. Nice job, Miss Fuller" said Ziggy. Sammi Jo was confused as to why Ziggy locked herself up, but after a moment, she shrugged her shoulders and went on about her day./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;" align="LEFT"uAct 3/u/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"emThere weren't any beaches near me growing up in Elk Ridge, Indiana. But there were some lakes near me where my family and I would go on picnics, and the customs don't really change all that much across continents. I couldn't help all that much, as I'm supposed to be playing the youngest person in the family. We were almost finished when I heard the familiar whooshing sound of the imaging chamber door. I immediately fake stomach cramps in an effort to get away from intruding eyes and ears and talk to Al./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;" align="LEFT"span style="text-decoration: none;""/spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"¿Quieres que alguien vaya contigo?" (Do you want someone to go with you?) asked by Camila's mom (of whom Sam didn't know her first name, and didn't really need to know /spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"as he wouldn't be in Camila for very long compared to most leaps/spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"). Al merely pointed at /spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"a /spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"section of fencing with signs that had "Hombres" (Men) and "Mujer" (Women) written on it. /span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;" align="LEFT"span style="text-decoration: none;""No, gracias, no está muy lejos." (No thank you, it is not very far.) Sam quickly /spanspan style="text-decoration: none;"replied. Camila's family seemed satisfied with Sam's reply, and it didn't take long for Sam to be out of hearing range of anybody./span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I'm amazed the mom or the dad didn't follow you" said Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""You and me both. Anything new?" asked Sam as he found a toilet, as apparently, he really did have to go to the bathroom. Al immediately looked up at the ceiling, not wanting to be a pervert beyond redemption./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Well, Sammi Jo busted Dr. Leakie's balls, literally. And Dyad has formally banned that nozzle from the project for life."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Sam smiled silently, proud of his daughter. Then he asked "Are Camila's parents her monitors? That would explain their indifference over me going to a public bathroom at 6 years old in a somewhat hostile third world country"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Al actually tapped the bluetooth to ask Ziggy that, thinking that it was a valid theory. After a minute: "No, the school principal is. He can observe her from a distance for years and no one would notice." Sam nodded, then distinctly heard "Oh, ¿entonces decidiste usar el baño correcto por una vez? Bien, no quieres que mamá y papá se enteren de que también vas a las habitaciones de hombres." (Oh so you decided to use the right bathroom for once? Good, you don't want mom and dad to find out that you go to men's rooms too.)/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Al stared at Sam, he mouthed the words "older brother" without saying them. Both of them were startled at that level of teasing, even though they both knew how cruel children could be at times. Al, instinctively, tapped the bluetooth, shouting "Ziggy, do we have a Psych profile on Camila Torres? Well, put it up, NOW!"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Ziggy complied, projecting a double sided blue holographic projection of a file dated at some point in the early 2000's (date partially redacted). Sam read faster than Al, but both were stunned at the same section, written by her psychiatrist (name redacted) and former monitor (or future monitor, depending on where you were in time): "Has displayed gender identity issues, possibly non-binary"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Oh boy" said Sam and Al, 6 or 7 seconds apart./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Dr. Leekie didn't have many belongings at Project Quantum Leap. So it didn't take him long to pack up what he did have (despite not having any help from anyone at all). He might have finished packing even sooner, were it not for him being nervous that Tom Beckett was still pointing a gun to his head, albeit a few feet farther away than earlier./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Is that really necessary? I'm unarmed and not exactly young" pleaded Dr. Leekie./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Oh quite frankly, sir: We consider it a kindness to Dyad that I haven't pulled the trigger yet, now shut the fuck up and keep packing" replied Tom./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I may be a parallel hybrid computer, but I completely agree with everything Tom Beckett has just said" added Ziggy. For some odd reason, the thought of a machine wanting to kill Dr. Leekie made Dr. Leekie pack even faster. When finished, he lifted everything just high enough so that he could still see in front of him, and he began walking towards the north entrance, where his jet was at. Suddenly, he felt a very sharp pain in his buttocks. The pain one gets when being kicked there./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Ow" screamed Dr. Leekie./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Oh I'm sorry, Dr. Leekie, my foot slipped on this invisible water" said Tom, trying to restrain himself from laughing. Ziggy then hacked the plane that Dr. Leekie brought to the project, specifically to check the fuel supply (more than enough to get to San Francisco) and to alter the entertainment options to show nothing but the movie "9 to 5" and various selections of gay porn./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Meanwhile, on the other side of the project grounds, Camila was substantially happier than she was when she arrived into Dr. Sam Beckett's body. Beth and Dr. Beeks loved this side of her./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Bueno, ¿qué hicimos con nuestro primer intento de cocinar sopa de callos?" (Well, how did we do with our first try cooking tripe soup?) asked Beth./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Lo llamamos mondongo. Y este es el mejor mondongo que he tenido. No le digas a mi mamá, por favor?" (We call it mondongo. And this is the best mondongo I've ever had. Don't tell my mom, please?) she said, feeling scared of being punished. Beth and Dr. Beeks laughed./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Tu secreto esta a salvo con nosotros." (Your secret is safe with us.) replied Beth. Both she and Dr. Beeks held up their hands, as if taking an oath. Camila grew sad and scared again. "Tengo otro secreto. A veces me siento como una niña, a veces me siento como un niño, a veces ambos, a veces tampoco. ¿Qué está mal conmigo?" (I have another secret. Sometimes I feel like a girl, sometimes I feel like a boy, sometimes both, sometimes neither. What is wrong with me?)/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Beth became confused, despite translating everything. Dr. Beeks was grateful that Camila had spoken slowly, and after 20 or 30 seconds she whispered "In psychiatry, we call it non-binary gender status. The traditional 2 gender system you and I take for granted, doesn't apply to Camila. There's nothing wrong with her, but given that she lives in a country that is more socially conservative than America is...Ziggy, is there a direct correlation between Camila's gender identity and her depression after witnessing the shark bite?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Ziggy actually needed a second to think, "99.2% probability. I am impressed, Dr. Beeks."/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"emI returned to setting up of the party after "my brother" stopped teasing me. I've known plenty of males who have wanted to switch to female, females who have wanted to switch to male, and even a couple of people who wanted to become androgynous, but to leap into someone who wants to essentially be outside of the gender spectrum entirely, I appreciate this. I've been so long, it's nice to know I can still have new adventures. And it actually explains my feelings since I got here, part of Camila actually was left behind in me. I resolve to handle Camila with the same diginity I afford to all of whom I leap into. I hope Al does the same./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""span style="font-style: normal;"Is your brother leaving you be?" came Al from behind Sam, who wasn't even startled by Al sneaking up on him, as he tended to do it too often in all of the times Sam had leaped. Sam merely nodded, not wanting to draw any attention to himself with so many people around him./span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""span style="font-style: normal;"Beth filled me in on Camila, based on what Dr. Beeks told her. Sam, this one day will determine /spanspan style="font-style: normal;"whether Camila will ever be completely comfortable inside of...themselves." pleaded Al. Sam noted that Al had to fight the urge to say "herself". Sam put a hand over his mouth, to cover his half of the conversation./span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""What is the proper title for Camila when Camila becomes an adult? Mr. And Miss both only cover one gender?" asked Sam, unashamed to learn everything./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Mx is what Dr. Beeks is going with, she consulted with an expert in Illinois who happens to be non-binary themselves." replied Al. Sam thoughtfully nodded, then pointed out to the water and whispered "The tide is changing, the shark should be here soon"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Less than 2 hours to go, by Ziggy's guess" answered Al as Camila's family all shouted "Feliz cumpleaños magenta" (Happy Birthday, Magenta)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""span style="font-style: normal;"I'm happy that the birthday girl finally arrived, what does Ziggy have on her?" asked Sam. Al tapped the bluetooth and asked. After a minute "Not much in the way of direct information. Most of what we know is through Camila's psychiatric interviews. Magenta is, according to Camila, 'The one and only true friend I ever had' but spoke with such a sadness and longing that...Sam, Ziggy and I both think Magenta is the one that is going to get eaten /spanspan style="font-style: normal;"by the shark/spanspan style="font-style: normal;". /spanspan style="font-style: normal;"It makes sense, given that Magenta apparently knew about Camila's gender issues and supported Camila unconditionally. Wow, Camila's lucky she met someone she could talk to...poor Magenta." said Al, almost in tears./span/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""It's not gonna happen, Al. I'm on Magenta like glue for the rest of this leap" said Sam, so focused that he didn't even blink./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal;" align="LEFT"uAct 4/u/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Everyone on the project who had met Camila Torres on this leap was happy to see her, but were also happy that she had calmed down enough to have a nap. Unfortunately, it wasn't even 90 minutes into her sleep before she shot up, screaming in agony and crying again. Beth was in the waiting room almost immediately, with Dr. Beeks less than a minute behind her./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""¿Qué pasa, mal sueño?" (What's wrong, bad dream?) asked Beth./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Sí, señorita Calavicci. Tuve un sueño en el que vi que mi amiga Magenta fue devorada por un tiburón justo delante de mí." (Yes, Miss Calavicci. I had a dream that I saw my friend Magenta was eaten by a shark right in front of me.)/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Everyone on the project was aware of Sam's mission to prevent that from happening by now, but Beth and Dr. Beeks were both taken aback by Camila dreaming it before it happened. Dr. Beeks gave Camila a glass of water while Beth snuck away and whispered "Ziggy, I don't know any Colombian lullabies."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"span style="text-decoration: none;""span style="font-style: normal;"Way ahead of you, Miss Calavicci" replied Ziggy softly as she projected one out. Beth took a moment to memorize the lyrics to a piece called "/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Duérmete niño" /span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"(Go to sleep, child):/span/span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"span style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="text-decoration: none;""span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Duérmete niño, Duérmete tú, Antes que venga, El currucutú. Duérmete niño, Duérmete tú, Antes que venga, El guanaguana, Qui-qui-ri-qui." (Go to sleep child, Go to sleep, you, Before the /span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"s/span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"creech owl comes. Go to sleep child, Go to sleep, you, Before the /span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"b/span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"lack skimmer bird comes, Caw, caw, caw, caw./span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;")/span/span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Camila didn't go to sleep, but she did calm down enough for the crying to stop. "Ese es el problema que Sam va a solucionar por ti. Él va a proteger a Magenta del tiburón para que ustedes dos puedan ser amigos para siempre." (That is the problem Sam is going to fix for you. He is going to protect Magenta from the shark so that the 2 of you can be friends forever.)/span/span/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"span style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That did not come from Beth, but from Ziggy herself. Beth and Dr. Beeks were outraged, as the earlier dialogue was already bending project rules. This was outright breaking them. Beth was actually on her way to unplugging Ziggy for the duration of this leap before Ziggy blurted out "I only broke the rules because it is a /span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"perfect 100% /span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"probability/span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;" for /span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Camila/span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;" both understanding everything /span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"and not remembering anything when she returns to her body". /span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"After showing Beth that Ziggy was telling the truth, Beth turned to Camila and said "Es verdad. Sam está ahí para ella." (It's true. Sam is there for her.)/span/span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Camila looked up at the ceiling for a moment, smiled, then said "Gracias, Sr. Sam. Debes decirle que si es mordida de todos modos, para evitar la medicina que combate las infecciones. Ellos pueden darle el temblor." (Thank you, Mr. Sam. You should tell him that if she gets bitten anyway, to avoid the medicine that fights infections. They can give her the shaking.)/span/span/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I'm not quite following" said Ziggy./span/span/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"span style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="text-decoration: none;""span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I do. Antibiotics give Magenta seizures, tell Al at once." stated Beth, before adding "Ziggy se lo dirá al señor Sam" (/span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="font-variant: normal;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: none;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Ziggy will tell Mr. Sam herself)/span/span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Gracias señorita Ziggy" (Thank you, Miss Ziggy) said Camila, grinning./span/span/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Gracias, señorita Torres. No sabíamos que Magenta podía enfermarse con la medicina. Has sido de mayor ayuda que la mayoría de los adultos." (Thank YOU, Miss Torres. We didn't know Magenta could get sick from medicine. You've been a bigger help than most adults.)/span/span/span/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="CENTER"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"*/span/span/span/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"emIf I had one weakness as a time traveller, it would be the anxiety that I get when my mission reaches its' conclusion. Al was still here with me, having not left since we figured out my mission. At least the empandas, cake and pinata candies were nice./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""How much longer, Al?" asked Sam in almost a whisper./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""5 minutes, maybe 10" replied Al, who was debating if Magenta was looking at him directly./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""¿Puedo ir a buscar conchas marinas?" (Can I go looking for seashells?) asked Magenta to both of her parents./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""No por ti mismo" (Not by yourself) replied Magenta's dad./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Iré" (I'll go) said Sam. Both Camila's and Magenta's parents nodded in approval./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""You're already changing history, Sam. Originally it was that nozzle brother who went with her. Camila had been in the water and didn't get to Magenta until the shark had already half-eaten her." said Al. Magenta stopped for a moment, then shrugged and continued. They reached the part of the shore Sam remembered from Ziggy's holographic projection earlier in the day. There were a cache of white and grey seashells, completely intact./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""How do I handle a shark attack?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Ponlo en la nariz" (Punch it in the nose) replied Magenta who overheard./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""span style="font-style: normal;"10 seconds Sam" said Al. The tide then grew more violent, violent enough to pull in Magenta. Sam ran into the water after her. He saw a red dot in the water, which Sam knew was Ziggy telling him where to punch. He punched immediately, he knew he hit something organic, but was now focused on pulling Magenta out of the water. They were safe, and Sam immediately began checking Magenta for bite marks or cuts of any kind. She hugged and kissed him saying "/spanspan style="font-style: normal;"Muchas gracias, me salvaste la vida. Eres mi mejor amigo y mi héroe." (Thank you so much, you saved my life. You're my best friend and my hero.)/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Sam, Ziggy says Camila told her, Beth and Dr. Beeks that Magenta has an allergy to antibiotics." stated Al urgently, almost as a blurt./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""It's OK, Al. She's unhurt, not even a scratch." said Sam, who then realized Magenta heard all of that./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""¿Es ese el nombre del hombre que está a tu lado? Y ... te ves diferente, también." (Is that the name of the man standing next to you? And...you look different, too.)/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Al and Sam stared at each other, knowing that Magenta was just innocent enough to see them as them, as a few had done in the past./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Back at the project, Camila immediately went back to sleep after Ziggy informed her that Magenta was going to be OK. Camila never woke up again until she was home, knowing that that one nightmare would never come to pass. Sammi Jo, feeling more safe at the project than she ever had since the Dyad takeover, was in a conference room alone, speaking to Marion via a video chat./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Magenta and Camila remain friends to this day, Camila became more confident to be non-binary in her adolescence. And apparently at some point a couple of years from now, Magenta is going to drive Camila to a Doctor's appointment that will save her life. Do you know anything about a clone-specific autoimmune disease?" asked Sammi Jo, expecting to be lied to./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Not at all, but Dyad will look into it" said Marion flatly. Ziggy immediately projected the words "99.8% chance she's lying and Dyad already knows more than we do about it" just out of view from Marion's webcam. Sammi Jo made no gesture of any kind, but continued. Tom entered the room and joined the video chat./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Sorry to interrupt, but Sam hasn't leapt out of Camila yet and not even Ziggy knows why" he said, utterly confused./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""span style="font-style: normal;"Can Ziggy patch our webcams into the imaging chamber? Maybe we can solve this minor mystery together." offered Marion./span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""span style="font-style: normal;"An excellent idea, /spanspan style="font-style: normal;"Dr./spanspan style="font-style: normal;" Bowles." said Ziggy sincerely. If there was one thing Ziggy liked about Dyad, it was /spanspan style="font-style: normal;"all of the /spanspan style="font-style: normal;"new/spanspan style="font-style: normal;" abilities that she had as a computer. Sammi Jo was patched in first (as she was on project grounds), Marion took about 20-30 seconds after that. They saw a rudimentary child's bedroom (crude brick laying, a makeshift bed, a broken mirror, not much in the way of colour or consistency) and Magenta playing with Sam as Camila and Al./span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""This isn't Camila's bedroom. I guess she got to sleep over at Magenta's house." said Sammi Jo to Marion./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Well if a kid saved my kid, I'd let them spend the night as a reward too." countered Tom./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Is it normal for children to see Sam and Al?" asked Marion, actually seeming interested./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Children, animals, the mentally...off, people close to Sam's brain patterns and those about to die" stated Tom with such monotony Marion knew that that question had been asked before, and often./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Well, that explains Helena" said Marion softly. Sammi Jo turned up the volume to hear the 3 way conversation in the past:/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Entonces, cuando Camila regrese, ¿no recordará estar allí o salvarme la vida?" (So, when Camila comes back, she won't remember being there or saving my life?) asked Magenta, sadly./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""span style="font-style: normal;"No, pero Camila te ama más de lo que Camila podría decir. Especialmente porque entiendes lo diferente que es no binario es" (No, but Camila loves you more than Camila could ever say. Especially since you understand how different being non-binary is). /spanspan style="font-style: normal;"Said Sam, with Al nodding and showing her holographic pictures of nice fish. /spanspan style="font-style: normal;"Magenta giggled at a couple of them./span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""span style="font-style: normal;"Camila es demasiado buena para que yo no la apoye. Solo tengo otro amigo así y ella es una amiga mía en Francia llamada Delphine Cormier" (Camila is too nice for me to not support. I only have one other friend like that and she is a pen pal of mine in France named Delphine Cormier)/span/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Marion switched off her feed, and had a look of shock on her face. "I'm the reason Sam hasn't leaped yet."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""I don't understand" replied Sammi Jo./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Delphine Cormier is one of the top biologists in the world. Have Ziggy run a scenario where Dyad recruits Delphine to monitor a clone" announced Marion. Ziggy took about 5 seconds, then declared "93.2% probability, but it varies by clone. Perfect 100 for a clone born in California named Cosima Niehaus"./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"And upon that declaration, Sam vanished in a flash of blue light./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Sam remembered that he was sitting on a dirt and clay floor just a moment ago, but leapt into a relatively comfortable bed. One says relatively comfortable because the first thing that Sam noticed was tubing stuck into his left arm via a syringe./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"emI'm in a hospital bed, did I leap in too late?/em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"There was no mirror or otherwise reflective surface for Sam to see the reflection of who he leapt into, but by the all-white paint and machines to the left and right of his bed, Sam took solace in knowing that at least he wasn't in a cage again. Sam himself was too disoriented to tell what machines they were so that he could figure out why this clone was here, but he was focused enough to hear shouting coming from a short distance away from a window to his right./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"emGerman, So I'm probably either in Germany, Austria, Switzerland or Liechtenstein./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"He switched back to looking at himself, knowing that Al sometimes took hours to arrive with the needed information to perform his mission on this leap. He did notice a white cast completely covering the left leg and hip with few signatures on it, as is custom./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"emCast is consistent with a broken left femur. Based on how white the cast is and not many people's writing on it, I've probably only been here a day or so. I don't seem to have any other injuries, so whatever happened wasn't life threatening, for me at least. No one else is in the room so I know I'm in private quarters and based on the minimal lighting around me and my view outside, I'm guessing I leapt into the very early morning hours./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT"Sam looked back outside and saw a large mass of people walking down the street. "Lass die Berliner Mauer fallen, Lass die Berliner Mauer fallen, Lass die Berliner Mauer fallen, Lass die Berliner Mauer fallen"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT""Let fall the Berlin wall...Oh, Boy"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;" align="LEFT" /p