If you are a Gen Rex fans from the late 80's to early 90's, you may remember a little show called Quantum Leap (Yeah, who am I kidding? None of you know what I'm talking about.) It was a sci-fi show about a scientist name Samuel Beckett (not the author) who built a time machine that malfunctioned. Instead of traveling physically into the past he "leaped" into different people each week. He had a friend/advisor named Al Calavicci, somewhat of a lecherous perv, who appeared as a hologram that no one but Sam could see. They had an AI computer with an attitude named Ziggy. In order to leap out of the body and find his way home, he had to figure out what his host's problem was and solve it. Since the leap leaves his memory with gaps, he had to bluff his way out of situations. Al tried to provide Sam with help as to the identity of the person he has leapt into.
It was a great show until it jumped the shark and the series finale has got to be one of the world's biggest let downs (at least for me.) But this premise came to me one night in a dream. When I woke up, I had the whole episode in my head (minus the parts that don't make sense). I just wasn't sure anyone would read it since it's a cross-over with a show that probably none of you have ever heard of.
Anyway, I wrote it and let's see if anyone cares. The Quantum Leap episodes always start with Sam realizing he is in a precarious situation. Then at his trademark "Oh, boy" the theme music starts. So for you Gen Rex fans this is probably AU although I'll try to incorporate it as much as possible between the episode Six minus Six and before the start of Season 3.
For you Quantum Leap fans, you will probably have never heard of a cartoon called Generator Rex about a world infected by nanites that causes some people to mutate into rampaging monsters. Rex can control his nanites to help cure or contain the rogue ones. He has several people helping him… mainly a stoic man named Six and a beautiful doctor named Rebecca Holiday.
This is where my A/N ends and the show starts. Enjoy.
I do not own either.
Sam Beckett heard voices above him, "Six? Six? Are you okay?"
Sam did not feel okay. His head was pounding. He had no idea what was going on and why were they shouting a number at him. He dimly opened an eye.
"Hey, Doc! His eyes are opening." He heard a young voice say.
"Oh thank goodness." A female replied.
Sam opened his eyes to see a pretty young woman in a lab coat and a teenager in a red jacket looking at him with concern. Sam looked expectantly at them.
"Six, how are you feeling?" The pretty young woman asked.
Sam wondered why everything was so dark. He glanced over at the monitor and did a double take. In the reflection he saw a sharply dressed man in shades with a closely cropped hair cut. He looked down at himself. His suit was green. He felt something jabbing him in his sleeve. He wiggled it and out popped a blade into his hand.
The two people gasped and took a step back. Sam stared at the sword dumbfounded.
"Oh boy." He muttered.
Cue Music.
Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top secret project, known as "Quantum Leap". Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Doctor Beckett prematurely stepped into the Project Accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own. Fortunately, contact with his own time was made through brainwave transmissions with Al, the Project Observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Doctor Beckett could see and hear. Trapped in the past, Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, putting things right that once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.
"Um, hehe, uh Six? What are you doing?" The young teenager laughed nervously. "Okay enough joking. I'm really sorry I hit you with my Smack Hands. But seriously, I thought you were going to duck."
The boy was talking gibberish to Sam. He had no idea what he was jabbering on about. He looked at the young woman who was staring at him. She licked her lips before speaking.
"Six, there was a strange… burst of energy from the training room that seemed to hit you. How do you feel?" She asked slowly.
"I… uh… I don't know. Where am I?" Sam asked groggily. Why were they calling him a number?
"Doc? Do you think he has amnesia again?" The teenager asked worriedly.
"Six? Do you know who we are?" She asked.
Sam realized that this person, whoever he was, has had memory loss before. He could hide his swiss cheese memory. "No, I don't." He said truthfully.
The teenager gasped. "Oh no! I messed up his brain when I hit him!"
"No Rex, it was most likely the energy blast." She frowned. She turned to Sam, "Do you remember anything?"
"No, not really." Sam said honestly.
"Do you remember being a mercenary, training me, and fighting EVOs?" The boy asked intently.
"What?" Sam looked at him with confusion.
"This is worse than I thought. He's regressed to almost a blank slate." The young woman looked stricken.
She looked so forlorn that Sam felt bad for her.
"You mean like I did?" The boy asked. "Do you think Caesar had anything to do with it?"
"No, your brother's not even here today." The young woman stepped up to Sam with a flashlight. She pulled off his shades and shined a light into his eyes.
"I'm sure if you did a fundoscopic exam, it will show it there's any bleeding in the brain." Sam said.
"W..what did you say?" The young woman stepped back startled. "Six, how do you know about fundoscopic exams?"
Sam knew he said the wrong thing. "From TV?" He hedged.
"You don't watch TV." She said still surprised.
Sam knew he was digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole.
Luckily, a man in white popped up on the video screen behind them.
"Report!" The grumpy looking man snapped.
"He's lost his memory again." Rex piped up.
The man in white glared at the boy before turning to the young woman. "Dr. Holiday, what is the diagnosis?"
"I don't know, White Knight." Apparently, her name was Dr. Holiday. But what kind of name was White Knight? "I need to perform some more tests but that blue energy blast might have wiped out most of his declarative memory but it seems his procedural memory is in tact."
"Well, run those tests and get a report on my desk asap!" The cranky man signed off.
Dr. Holiday stood staring at the blank screen for a few minutes before turning to Sam.
"I… I'm going to set up a few tests. Stay here, please. Rex, come with me." So the teenager was named Rex. Sam wondered what he had gotten himself into and where the heck was Al?
0o0
Al was currently back at the research lab trying to calm down an irate man in the holding room.
"Where am I? Where's Rex? Where's Holiday?" Although he wasn't shouting, he managed to convey his great displeasure through his tone. He was now wearing the standard issue white jumpsuit that everyone that had been "displaced" wore.
"It's okay. You're in the waiting room of the Project Quantum Leap." Tina the medical technician was saying in a soothing voice through the rectangular peephole on the door.
"What does that mean?" The man suddenly threw himself at the door causing Tina to fly back into Al's arms.
"Hey, take it easy, buddy. We don't mean you any harm. It's just that you've been leapt into." Al said taking charge.
Six glared through the peephole. He did not look amuse.
Al sighed. "Listen buddy. Calm down and I'll explain everything." He went to open the door.
"You sure you want to do that?" Tina asked nervously.
"Just make sure security is on call." Al whispered to her before swinging the door open.
"Hi, my name is Al. Shall we have a seat?" He sat down on the bench and offered the irate man a seat opposite him. His eyes never left Al's face as he sat across from him.
At the end of the explanation, Six was still glaring at Al. But Al having been a prisoner of war was not easily intimidated. He sat with his legs crossed in the waiting room with Six. Al wasn't sure he believed that the man's name was only a number but who was he to judge. Six for his part did not seem to believe a word that Al said.
"So you're telling me your friend has commandeered my body and has to correct whatever went wrong otherwise I'm stuck here?" Six said slowly.
"That's the long and short of it. Now if you can be so helpful as to provide some information so that it would make his job easier…"
"So you're after information." Six looked like he had hit upon the game.
"No, no… Well yes, but not for what you think. We need to know who you work with, what you did, you know, some personal items so that Sam can be believable." Al tried to clarify.
"What I do is none of your business. Who I work with is none of your business." Six snarled.
Al sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "All right then buddy. You're making this way harder than it needs to be." Al got up, picked up his chair and walked out the room.
"That's it? No torture, no prodding for information?" Six asked.
"Look, buddy. I don't know where you're from but this is a research facility. We're not into torture. You'll just have to sit tight and hope Sam can figure things out without your help." Al closed the door behind him and locked it.
Six didn't know what to think. Part of him wanted to believe the man but the cynical part felt there was something up. He began exploring his room.
0o0
"What's wrong with him, doc?" Rex asked.
"I… I don't know. But it seems rather odd." Holiday said trying to keep her voice from shaking. Her hand had a slight tremor that she hoped Rex would not notice. She began gathering material to do some tests.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Rex asked worriedly.
"I hope so Rex. I hope so. Meanwhile I need you to run some scans of the training room. See if you can pick up any odd energy residue."
"Sure thing, Doc. Take care of Six, okay?" Rex went off with the scanner the doctor gave him.
"I'll try." Holiday said quietly. When Rex left, Holiday slumped over and gripped the sides of the desk to steady herself. She stifled a sob. "Get a hold of yourself, girl. Don't be stupid." He hissed to herself. She brushed aside the tears in her eyes, took a deep breath, and walked back into the medical room.
"I'm going to show you some inkblots. I want you to tell me what you see." Holiday said to him.
"Sure." Sam agreed.
"So Six. What do you see here?" Holiday asked Sam.
Sam stared at the ink blot. "Mandelbrot set."
"W…w…what?" Holiday stared at the screen.
"I mean swirly circles." Sam amended.
"Six, how do you know about Mandelbrot sets?" Holiday gaped at him.
"Uh… internet?" He gulped. Where the hell was Al?
It was then a hologram walked through the wall.
"Sam, listen, the guy you leapt into is being stubborn. He won't tell us any… hubba, hubba." Al stopped as he caught a glimpse at the female doctor. "And who is this hottie?"
Sam rolled his eyes. "I… I need to use the… uh… facilities, Dr. Holiday. I'll be… uh… right back." He pulled the wires from his head and started walking to a door.
"Six, that's the supply closet." Holiday called after him.
Sam paused. "Right, I knew that." He walked to another door.
"Computer cooling room." Holiday stated.
"Why don't you tell me which door is to the bathroom?" Sam asked.
Holiday pointed at the door on the opposite side of the lab.
"Sure, I knew that." Sam quickly exited. Holiday wasn't sure, but it looked like he jerked his head for someone to follow him.
As soon as the door slid closed, Sam whirled on Al. "What's going on? Where am I?"
"Look, Sam, calm down. The guy's name is Six." Al started. "Wow, that's a lot of green for one guy."
"Forget about my wardrobe. Can you tell me something I don't know?" Sam hissed at him.
"Your fly's open." Al pointed out.
Sam glanced down before turning around. Then spinning around in annoyance, he angrily whispered. "I have these blades hidden in my sleeves as well as other sharp objects in my pockets. I think I must have been a smoker because I have these nicotine mints in my side pocket. He knows a teen named Rex and the doctor in there is named Holiday. Do they have anything to do with me being here?"
"Well, your best guess is as good as ours." Al said helplessly.
"Al! How am I gonna get out of here if I don't know who I am, where I am, or what I'm suppose to do!" He growled.
"Calm down, Sam. Look, let me go back and see if I can get some info out of our guy. In the meantime see if you can figure out anything else." Al said as he punched some keys on a device he had in his hand.
"Does Ziggy know anything?" Sam was desperate for any information.
Al smacked the device he was holding. Some whirling noise came from the machine. "Uh… this can't be right." Al muttered staring at the device.
"What?" Sam rubbed his temple.
"Ziggy says you're not even in our world." Al said incredulously.
"Then where am I? Another planet?" Sam looked at Al with confusion.
"Look, maybe this cockamamie AI is going kuputz. Let me get Gooshie to take a look at it." Al told him. "Just hang tight!" Al then walked through a wall.
"Al! Wait!" Sam said in frustration.
"Uh, Six? Who's Al?" Rex was standing right behind him.
"No one!" Sam nearly yelled. "I was just talking to myself."
"Oookay." Rex said uncertainly.
"Listen… Rex." Sam said smiling. "Why don't you…" He stopped when Rex took a step back. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. What's wrong with you?" Rex asked nervously. "The last time I saw you smile, you were trying to drive your sword into an EVO."
"I was trying to do what now?" This Six did not sound like a nice guy. Sam quickly ran through some observations. Six apparently is stubborn, didn't smile, had a violent streak, used sharp objects, and yet somehow this boy and doctor still cared about him. So there must be some redeeming qualities, right? He took a deep breath and tried again. This time with as straight a face as he could, he said, "Rex, tell me about me. I don't seem to remember much."
Rex relaxed. "Oh that part's easy."
0o0
Al went back to the project. When he arrived the alarms were blaring.
"What the hell is going on here?" He cried above the sirens.
"Oh, thank goodness you're back!" Tina yelled.
"What happened?" Al asked.
"That guy? He escaped! He punched Gooshie and just bolted out of the waiting room. He's somewhere on the base!" Tina said hysterically.
"Oh boy." Al groaned.
Sorry for another long AN. I do not expect many people to read this. Nor do I expect much if any comments. This is purely for fun. I have been debating about quitting writing lately for a host of reasons. Mostly, it's a lot of work and there are other obligations I have. Also as some of you know I'm a teacher. Certain events in the news have caused a ripple effect in my workplace. There have been incidents, nothing dangerous just more of a nuisance. Anyway, this story will be updated slowly but it will be finished eventually.