START THE CLOCK
Maybe it won't be so bad, Nathan thought. Jack promised to look after Allison. He could only imagine what was going through Jack's mind…
Nathan found himself looking at whiteness. He hadn't known what to expect, but he was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be like this. He was in some sort of a chamber with no apparent entrance or exit. It looked vaguely familiar-and then he remembered a project he'd once been consulted on. It's a friggin' accelerator chamber, he realized. Nathan looked down and saw that he was whole again-had he really demolecularized?
There was a table with a mirrored surface nearby. Nathan walked over to it, somewhat unsteadily, and looked down. What he saw made him stare down in shock.
"What the hell is going on here?!"
Because the face he saw wasn't his own.
There was the sound of a door sliding open. Nathan looked across the room as a brightly lit rectangle appeared. A man smoking a cigar and wearing gaudy clothing that he wouldn't have been caught dead in stepped through.
"Nathan Stark, isn't it?" The man asked with a disarmingly friendly grin. He stuck out his hand. "I've heard a lot about you. It's a damned shame what happened in Eureka, but you were retrieved before the Leaper could arrive and take your place. Don't worry; he's fine. He Leaped into your pal Sheriff Carter instead. It was the only way we could save you, according to Ziggy."
"Who's Ziggy? What am I doing here? The last thing I remember is saying good-bye to Jack after we got the clock fixed…" Then he stopped. "Wait a minute; I shouldn't be telling you any of this. How do you know about Eureka, anyway? Eureka's true purpose is classified."
The other man shrugged. "I've got connections. That's partly why I decided to greet you in person-some very important people are going to be glad to know you're back." The man stuck out his hand again. "Sorry I forgot to introduce myself properly. The name's Calavicci, Admiral Albert Calavicci. But you can call me Al." Calavicci spread his arms. "Welcome to Project Quantum Leap."
THE END