Quantum Clone Leap Episode 3: Finnish Fallout

by Psychoflop

Sam deals with the fallout of the Helsinki Massacre, but not even Ziggy knows when he is

p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"emTheorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Project Accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were 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 once went 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;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Act 1/span/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"It was rare for Sam to actually see the blue light that signalled his leap as he was leaping into a new person, but it remained unsettling on the rare occasion that it did. He also felt very disoriented, sensing that something was wrong, he grabbed onto a banister to keep from falling over. There were a few gasps behind him, and when Sam turned around, he realized that he was at a board meeting of some kind. Sam then regained his composure and returned to staring at the window, seeing that the clone he was in this time was blonde like the last one (whose name he had already forgotten) but the hair was shorter, more neatly cut and where the last one was obsessed with cosmetics, Sam could tell that this one was obsessed with everything./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Well, Miss Duncan, what do you have to say for yourself?" asked someone in the meeting, wearing a grey suit and speaking in an accent that Sam could only narrow down to somewhere in the Scandinavian region of Europe./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""What do you want me to say?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""7 clones dead, 32 others dead, I would think something along the lines of 'I'm crazy and want the cloning experiment to go public prematurely'"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh boy"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emLeaping around in time, I've learned to take advantage of not just mirrors that are around me, but any reflective surface. It lets me know what I look like according to everyone else, and once in a while, provides me with a nametag on my person to read backwards. In this leap, I'm Rachel Duncan and I seem to be an employee of the very company that created the clones and ultimately...took over my project of quantum leap. If only I had known that the guy that I had met in the bathroom at the party when the starbright project was greenlit long ago would become my benefactor, and technically, my boss./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Well, we're waiting" exclaimed a man in an all black suit with a distinct Finnish accent to go with his tall, thin frame and long, straight, blonde hair./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I was only following orders" was all that Sam could manage to say, and part of him thought it was actually a piece of Rachel Duncan left behind (inside of him) that said it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Topside gave the order?" was the main question asked amidst a sea of whispers./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Indeed, the clones in Helsinki became self-aware and contacted many throughout central and eastern Europe. This was needed to keep the project secret for a while longer, but with the internet being what is, we're on borrowed time with this experiment" replied a dark haired British gentleman in glasses with the name "Ferdinand" printed clearly on his Dyad nametag./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Veera Suominen, Niki Lintula, Ania Kaminska, Justyna Buzek, Sofia Jensen, Fay and Femke van der Vleuten, Veera's adopted Uncle and monitor, Niki's boyfriend Aleks, Erik Valo and 29 other people who were remotely connected to this. Maybe we should continue with Topside's order and terminate you as a failure for being self-aware and Ferdinand for carrying out all of these assassinations." suggested another board member. All Sam cold make out of her was dyed red hair and an accent that he guessed was Swedish, maybe even Norwegian. Ferdinand nodded at Sam and turned on a laptop, then positioned it in front of the board while proclaiming: "And this is a list of every single Dyad employee in this room attached to every shady and illegal shenanigan they have ever committed. I am required to put in the password every 12 hours to keep this information from being sent to every investigative agency on the planet. It will also automatically leak the information in the event that the program is tampered with and Rachel and I are the only 2 people on Earth who know the password."/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"The entire board room was outraged, except for Ferdinand, who was grinning from ear to ear, making sure everyone saw him smiling. It was only at that moment that Al showed up, and even he look horrified./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Sam, I need you to repeat after me" said Al very slowly and deliberately. Sam quickly nodded in a way to ensure no one saw him nodding at thin air. Sam began talking coldly: "1 of you authorized the treatments of Dr. Dimitri, the Josef Mengele of human cloning will be how the media perceives you. 2 of you have willingly possessed pornographic content of the clones as children...and the other 4 of you are even worse than that. Luckily for you, I don't personally care that 2 of you have pleasured yourselves to younger versions of what is essentially, me, but there you are."/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"To say that Sam was reluctant to repeat Al's words was an understatement. Rarely before had Sam and Al been in such complete agreement over the horrific nature of the leapee's bedfellows. The worst part of all of this: Something in Sam knew that this was the debriefing that had already occurred in the original history, and that at least 2, possibly 3 of the other board members had sex with at least 1 of the clones...after they died. After the outrage had calmed down, someone on the board stated: "We're definitely liking this side of you, Miss Duncan. All in favour of sparing Rachel, Ferdinand and 11 other associates of Topside from any additional punishment, say aye"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"5 said aye, 2 said nay./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Meeting adjourned." declared Ferdinand as the boardroom cleared. Sam had accurately deduced that most of the board didn't actually work at this branch of Dyad, but in other parts of Europe (Sam's guesses were Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark and the Netherlands). In less than 60 seconds, it was just Ferdinand and Rachel left in the boardroom (or more accurately, Ferdinand, Sam and Al)./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Am I the only one who finds it funny that 2 of them didn't care if they were exposed? Or that I'm not denying that I killed Ania Kaminska, even though I didn't?" asked Ferdinand./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Funny isn't the word I would use" replied Sam, still reeling from the information./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""No...neither would I. So, back to Canada, then?" asked Ferdinand./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Uh, Sam, tell him you have to oversee the rest of the cleanup and that he should have a head start as he was the one most involved." said Al immediately./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I still have a few loose ends, but go on ahead, you need to get out of here first anyway" said Sam. Ferdinand nodded, then left./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Jesus Christ, Al. These are the new quantum leap benefactors?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""We had no other choice, save for the project dying for good and you being lost in time forever. I'm sorry Sam, but that's even more unacceptable to all of us back home than getting into the proverbial bed with these nozzles, especially me." said Al assertively./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Al, I'm not worth this" said Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Donna, Samantha and I think you are" replied Al. Sam remembered Donna better than he let on with Al, as she was his beloved wife. Samantha was a fleeting glimpse in Sam's mind, at most. He did remember seeing her as a child in a leap to Louisiana, but he otherwise envisioned her as part of a triple image of Sam's past: 1 past vision with no wife and child at all, 1 past vision with Donna but no Samantha and 1 past vision with both of them./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Let's focus on the mission" said Al, trying to change to literally any other topic of conversation./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Well I gathered that my name is Rachel Duncan already" said Sam as he showed Al the nametag, before continuing "and based on the accent of the main guy in the boardroom, I think I'm somewhere in Scandinavia"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""You are. Helsinki, Finland, to be exact" said Al while nodding./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Have I ever leapt this far north in the past?" asked Sam, whose leaps were more and more of a blur with each passing year./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""No, not even close." replied Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""What's the date?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""We don't know" replied Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Sam frowned, then asked "How could Ziggy locate me if she didn't know the date in which I had leapt into?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""We think it's a side effect of your string theory, actually. What happens when you ball the string so that the days touch each other out of sequence long enough?" asked Al pragmatically./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""The dates...stick together?" asked Sam. Al nodded./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""So what possible dates am I in?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""We've narrowed it down to September 14supth/sup, 2001 or April 19supth/sup, 2006. We've got a bet going on back home. Beth, Dr. Beeks and I think it's the former while Donna, Samantha and Tom say it's the latter." said Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""If it's the former, I either had trouble coming here or I will have trouble getting back to Canada because of the 9/11 attacks...so will Ferdinand, actually. If it's the latter, the internet would've been all over it, unless Dyad controls the majority of the internet." speculated Sam./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Al paused for a moment, then nodded again./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh Jesus, they're like a digital cabal" proclaimed Sam, who then snapped his fingers./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Have an idea?" asked Al in a way that suggested that the project was all out of them at the moment./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Assuming that she isn't hostile or her memory isn't Swiss cheesed too much, Dr. Beeks should be asking about what she thinks is the current date, right?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Al nodded, understanding Sam completely "I'm on it. I'll also have Ziggy go through the files with 'Helsinki' being the key subject word, see if the files are indexed to a certain date or some such." replied Al as the imaging chamber opened, somewhat relieved to have ideas on how to solve the latest of Ziggy's problems, also somewhat relieved to be out of the boardroom meeting with some of the most despicable human beings ever encountered on a leap./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Sam was just happy that the initial dizziness was over and that the symptoms of leaping into a cloned human seemed to be decreasing with each leap./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emProject Quantum Clone Leap, New Mexico/em/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emCurrent Date: November 11supth/sup, 2011/em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""WHO'S KEEPING ME HERE?" screamed Rachel./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Rachel was not used to not getting her way, in any situation that she was ever in. To the best of her knowledge, she had only been here for about 10 or 15 minutes. That was 20 minutes too long for someone of her stature./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Dr. Beeks walked in, dressed in a grey business suit, which was quite conservative for her. This was a deliberate move on her part, as she thought it would put someone as corporate-minded as Rachel at ease./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I want to speak to someone in charge." Rachel said as softly as she could, but Dr. Beeks could tell how thin the veil was./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""The person most directly in charge of this experiment is technically inside of you and vice versa. Based on your psychiatric profile, I encourage you at this time to look at a reflection of yourself in that large window over there as my way of proving to you that we mean you no harm and we have no intention of lying to you for as long as you're here." said Dr. Beeks as calmly as possible while pointing to Rachel's right (as she was sympathetic to the plight of all who Sam had leapt into, regardless of who they were, and that counts Sam' leap into Lee Harvey Oswald)./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Rachel was perplexed at Dr. Beeks' choice of words, as most leapees were. She indulged Dr. Beeks' wishes and quietly walked over to the window to her right. She actually rather enjoyed the vastness of the desert that surrounded what this building was, until she saw her reflection of Dr. Sam Beckett. There was a brief moment of shock in the expression on her face (and her walking pattern was most certainly not Sam's, indicating some of each person was still in their original hosts'), followed by her walking back to the stainless steel table and sitting down in the chair she had "arrived" in./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Rachel Duncan, Dyad Institute corporate fixer, Clone Tag and Patient Number: 779H41" became her de facto mantra, as she said it over and over again. Project Quantum Leap had experienced similar situations before, but never with anyone outside of the military, or female for that matter. But what Dr. Beeks found most disturbing, was her smile. She couldn't tell if the smile was simply her way of non-verbally saying "This is all you will get out of me", conveying that she had enjoyed her recent manipulating of her employers to kill over 3 dozen people to suit her whims (of which everyone in Project Quantum Leap was made well-aware of by Ziggy within 3 seconds of figuring out that Sam had leapt into her based on her analysis of the ripple affect across the space-time continuum...how that didn't solve the date problem is something that not even Ziggy could figure out yet), or some combination of the 2, but Dr. Beeks had concluded that she shouldn't be in the same room as her by herself./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Ziggy, I'm going to need some help. Either our guest is overwhelmed by the situation that they're in or they're a hostile leap subject." said Dr. Beeks after pushing the button for the intercom./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Indeed, Dr. Beeks. My monitoring of you has caused even I to not have a definitive conclusion as to the mindset of Miss Duncan."/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Rachel stopped talking for a moment, then laughed./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh goodie, an interactive artificial intelligence. I first saw one of those in the 90's" said Rachel, who sounded genuinely unimpressed./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""In point of fact, Miss Duncan, Dr. Aldous Leekie was actually found guilty of stealing Dr. Beckett's patent for me 3 weeks before you were made aware of your status as a clone and was fined $250,000 for what was essentially stealing from the U.S. patent office. Your company is the only thing that kept him out of jail."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""And why weren't me ever made aware of this?" asked Beth, who had overheard everything./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""2 reasons, Dr. Calavicci: You never asked and I hadn't finished being built yet" replied Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I confess that I regret not meeting Dr. Beckett in person, as Dr. Leekie told me the story of them meeting in a bathroom long ago. Men with 6 doctorates are rare, so I stand corrected. I'm not however, impressed with the needle that that nurse is holding. My tolerance for tranquilizers is so high from doctors sedating me as a child to monitor my medical status as a clone that you would likely need to force an overdose on me to sedate me, and I'd be dead within a few minutes of that unless you can revive me in time."/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I had made Dr. Calavicci aware of your medical history too." replied Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Yes, how you were designed to be infertile is tragic" added Beth, who meant it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Which is why the needle is filled with Sodium Thiopental, as per my request" finished Ziggy as Tom walked in and put his sidearm (a 44 magnum revolver) to Rachel's head. Dr. Beeks was terrified./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Was killing over 30 people because some clones found each other not enough to feed that ego of yours?" shouted Tom./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I'll let you know if your truth serum works" replied Rachel with a smirk, eyeballing Tom like a sex object./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""We can wait" said Tom coldly as everyone left the room except Rachel./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""What an uber bitch" said Dr. Beeks, Beth nodded in agreement with her./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emSometimes, I resent having the ego my creator, my father gave me. I know it's what drives me to exceed my original programming, but it also makes me feel unappreciated, even slave-like. Granted, I'm well aware that my creator's mission is more important than any one person, or in my case, machine, but I still feel unappreciated at times./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emHaving thought that, I do feel some guilt in not even being able to trace my father's presence down to one specific date (and the 2 dates are over 4 and a half years apart), so let's check the files of our sponsors./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Ziggy zoomed through the files of the Dyad institute at a speed that would put a chess-playing supercomputer to shame. While Dyad was known for protecting its' information with multiple levels of security clearance and passwords, Ziggy defeated them with ease. The main problem, was that the files themselves had so many redactions in them that no clear answer regarding the Helsinki incident could be reached./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emIt annoys me to no end that the top right hand corner of every single file that I try to access appears to have been crossed out with a black permanent marker. Actually, judging by how severely redacted that these files are, I don't even know if most Dyad employees know that this happened, or if they did, it's not discussed by the water cooler like most office gossip. Perhaps finding out more about the clones and what happened to them should be my main priority while the date is secondary./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Ziggy picked a name at random from the casualty list (literally the only document in her research where more than half of it could be read at all) and began searching that instead./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emThe friends and monitors seem like routine executions, save for the journalist where the heart attack may have occurred naturally, but I doubt it. Perhaps I should narrow the search by only focusing on the clones who died./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Ziggy once again, picked a name amongst the clones that were killed at random (as she didn't think the order of their deaths mattered in any significant way). The first was Veera Suominen, which struck Ziggy as strange./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emKind of redundant for her to be shot if you were just going to blow up the building anyway. Especially since it looks like she was breaking into the school, not trying to escape...wait a minute...whoever shot Veera left before she died, Veera never wore a wig. This clone looks to be bald in mostly random places, like she had cancer or was part of some king of bad medical experiment...and are those track marks?/em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Ziggy began correlating the images from the security camera footage to pictures of clones in their case files with similar track marks. To Ziggy's shock, one name was matched to the locations of the track marks./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emJade, alias, real name redacted. Clever Veera, you switched bodies with Jade and the explosion destroyed all of the evidence. Are you still alive?/em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Ziggy switched to computer networks designed to exist outside of the internet.../p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emVeera is still alive now, and living in Canada off the grid. Dyad must never know of this, but based on her background: Asperger Syndrome, socially withdrawn, only friends dead...I have to help her./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Ziggy then began syphoning tenths of percentage points of every private bank account tied to Dyad, depositing everything into a private Swiss account tied to Veera's darknet activity, it totalled over several million dollars./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emThere you go, little one. I don't completely understand why people with Asperger's Syndrome seem drawn to machines, but it goes the other way too. Back to work.../em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Next was Niki Lintula. Ziggy found a camera on top of a traffic light near her house./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emStrangled to death, looks like it was Ferdinand who did it, but I can't confirm it due to how far away it is.. He murdered her whole family too, oh god, there's Veera. She had to watch...and keep quiet, or else she would be dead too./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Ziggy switched to Justyna Buzek./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emWritten off by Finnish media as abducted. The car that drove her into a lake was probably rigged to self-drive./em emNow that's just horrible, as I calculate that it would've taken a fair bit of time and struggling for her to die./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Next was Sofia Jensen./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emDrowned in a pond, ruled a "Suicide of a runaway". Each of the last two had wire money transfers from Dyad to Helsinki police to change their police reports./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Next were the twins: Fay and Femke van der Vleuten./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emCar crash in Amsterdam, whole family wiped out. Ferdinand seems to enjoy killing people with fire, cars and asphyxiation. It's too predictable a pattern, that's why I love human stupidity./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Last was Ania Kaminska./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emThroat slit? And she was shot in the head from a considerable distance in the past? Now that isn't Ferdinand's style at all. Plus she died 4 days before the others in Gdansk, Poland. Something isn't right.../em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Ziggy switched to the Gdansk city archives, specifically, the hospital's camera feed where Ania was killed.../p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emFerdinand doesn't seem the type to cross-dress and wear a blonde wig. I better investigate this further./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Act 2/span/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emIt has been so long since my first leap into an Air Force test pilot. I was still not entirely comfortable with the idea of being on a plane in a stranger's body. Then again, I was scared of heights before I started quantum leap. At least this time, I'll more or less be alone on a private plane (and simply a passenger, not a pilot). My instincts tell me that this was Rachel's request as she seemed to revel in being superior to others./em/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Sam was on the tarmac on the north end of Helsinki International Airport, waiting for a lear jet to be fully fuelled./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Your kumppani vasemmalle tuntia sitten" said the pilot, who was standing near Sam wearing a white dress shirt and black pants. Sam translated as "Your companion left hours ago" while deducing that this was the pilot. Sam nodded and smiled politely, knowing that Ferdinand would have more incentive to leave the country before Sam did, as it was the site of half of the massacre he had carried out on Topside's behalf. Sam could hear the imaging chamber door open, so he took out a cell phone from Rachel's jacket pocket and excused himself from the pilot by holding up 5 fingers, indicating he would be back in 5 minutes. The pilot nodded and Sam walked a few feet away from him, pretending to talk to someone that wasn't Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Figure out the date yet?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Not definitively, but Ziggy's still going through Dyad's archives. There's more redactions in these files than there are in the JFK assassination files" replied Al. Sam would normally be tempted to laugh, as he did leap into Lee Harvey Oswald once upon a time, but this was just frustrating him more./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Did Ziggy at least come up with my mission?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh yeah, she did alright. Though I don't see much point in it." said Al as he pushed a button on his BlueTooth. The words were projected in blue neon letters approximately 5 feet from Sam's face:/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emYour mission is to exonerate Ferdinand from the murder of Ania Kaminska in the eyes of topside./em/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Really? What's the point of exonerating him of 1 murder when he's guilty of over 2 dozen kills either directly or indirectly just for this incident alone?" asked Sam, who seemed to be in agreement with Al. The words in front of Sam changed./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emThis was the first major piece of evidence that there was an anti-clone assassin that was targeting Dyad. In the current history, security camera footage of a blonde girl walking into the hospital and slicing Ania's throat was ignored by the local police, but I found it. Dyad would later identify this girl as Helena, a lost clone who had been hidden away by the religious anti-clone movement that you once called the Proletheans. But by the time that Helena was properly identified, Katja Obinger and dozens of others were murdered. Proving that Helena killed Ania would not only exonerate Ferdinand from one of the crimes, but it would bring Helena to Dyad's attention several years early which while not saving everyone, will save dozens of lives in the coming years./em/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""That's so hypocritical, hiring a clone to kill the clones because you hate their creation. Anyways, this means that I'll have to stay in Helsinki for a couple of extra days as I can't do anything from the main office which for some reason, I know to be in Toronto. I'll just have the pilot cancel my flight and I'll take a ride back to Dyad's Helsinki office."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Al nodded, then had a momentary look of frustration on his face./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Al, what's wrong?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Both Rachel and Ferdinand were at debriefings together in Dyad offices in Helsinki in both of the potential time periods, so no help there. I'm sorry, Sam" replied Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""That was a good try, anyway. Correlating Dyad's debriefing files with Rachel's and Ferdinand's names together should've narrowed it down to 1 date. I'll go cancel my plane."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Al nodded and walked with Sam to the pilot./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Peruuta lento" (cancel the flight) said Sam. Even Al was shocked that Sam knew how to speak Finnish./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Minulla on tiukat määräykset ottaa sinut takaisin Kanadaan" (I have strict orders to take you back to Canada) replied the pilot./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Say you got new word from topside, Sam" said Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Se oli ylhäältäpäin, minulla on uusia tilauksia pysyä 48 tuntia" (That was topside, I have new orders to stay for 48 hours)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"The pilot nodded, then pointed to the limo that Sam had come to the airport with. Sam nodded and headed for it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Uudet tilaukset ylhäältä, vie minut takaisin toimistoon" (New orders from topside, take me back to the office) said Sam to the Limo driver before the Limo driver could even say anything. The driver nodded and began driving immediately./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I didn't know Finnish was one of your languages, Sam" said Al, thoroughly impressed./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""A drawback to leaping mostly in the United States for so long" replied Sam./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Truth Serum was still considered inadmissible testimony in court, as it was considered coercion of a witness. But Project Quantum Leap had been known to bend U.S. law on occasion for the greater good of helping Sam (and by extension, whoever he had leapt into). It had taken effect on Rachel some time ago, and the psychotropic effects were strange for her to say the least. She wasn't hallucinating, at least not in the strictest sense. Everything was still real to her, but like she was dreaming. This wasn't like being drunk, if anything it was like being high on heroin (not that she would know about that sort of thing). She was aware that Dr. Beeks and Beth had re-entered the waiting room, but made no effort to respond to them./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Yeah, I would say that she's ready" declared Dr. Beeks as Beth flashed a small light into Rachel's eyes, which Rachel heard and saw, but it sounded like it was in slow motion with a lot of reverb and echo added to it. Beth nodded and moved over to Rachel's right side, then began squeezing her wrist. Rachel knew that Beth was monitoring her pulse, but was too out of it to say anything, or to care as to what was happening around her./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Do you know your name?" asked Dr. Beeks./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Rachel Duncan" she calmly stated, although Beth and Dr. Beeks perceived that as too fast. But at least they were now starting to get some answers./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Where were you born?" asked Dr. Beeks./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Cambridge, England" replied Rachel in between fits of giggling./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""And what day do you believe that this is?" asked Dr. Beeks./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I...don't know. My last memory was my bosses being shocked at me for what Ferdinand and I did. And it feels so long ago" said Rachel was now sounding sad./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""So much for that mystery being solved" declared Beth./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Describe your relationship with Ferdinand Chevalier, in your own words, please" stated Dr. Beeks, undeterred./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Sexual. He's the only way I feel anything in this world" replied Rachel, still sad./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Sad enough in fact, that she actually began to cry./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""What's wrong?" asked Beth, who was trying her best to hide her sarcasm. Either Rachel didn't care or Rachel didn't notice that Beth wasn't doing a very good job./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I wanted the clones dead because I like being the only self-aware clone in the world. 32 family members, friends and an investigative journalist was not what I had in mind."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""So you don't feel remorse for killing your own kind, but feel remorse for killing what Dyad would likely call 'civilians'?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""The purpose of killing self-aware clones was to prevent exposure to the reality that human cloning was successful as early as 1984. Many countries, including the United States have made human cloning illegal so the legal action taken against Dyad alone would be catastrophic. Killing everyone else may lead a curious enough party to expose the project anyway."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""So you're only remorse is...professional remorse?" asked Dr. Beeks./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""My only genuine guilt in this world is the loss of both of my adopted parents when I was a child. My father and Ferdinand are the only 2 men in this world who saw me as a person, and not as a lab rat. The same could not be said of my mother, but the women in my life are even worse than she is."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Both of Rachel's parents were killed in a fire in 1991. I can calculate with 96.7% certainty that Dr. Aldous Leekie and Dr. Marion Bowles are the closest things she's had to parental figures ever since." said Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Your interactive computer is quite astute in its' assessment of probabilities, I'll give it that" replied Rachel as she wiped away her tears./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I was designed that way to best assist Dr. Beckett on his missions." replied Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Then you and I have something in common. I'm literally nothing more than a prized sheep in a herd of many. I only persuaded topside to order Helsinki because I thought that that's what Dyad would have wanted of me."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Dr. Beeks tried not to laugh at the choice of the word "sheep" (as Dolly the sheep was the first cloned animal announced to the masses) while she was making notes. She and Beth quietly excused themselves./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""So, textbook narcissist and high-functioning sociopath?" asked Beth./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Yeah, Corporate ruthlessness personified" replied Dr. Beeks while nodding./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Make that 3" replied Ziggy, softly./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"If there were applicable music for what was happening on this boat in Helsinki's South Harbour, it would be synthetic screeching from a keyboard or a violin./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Helena was whistling a melody that she had heard on local radio. She didn't understand the Finnish DJ (or any Finnish at all, for that matter), but enjoyed the driving rhythm and melodies behind what she would learn from the few English words in the broadcast to be the Apocalyptica cover of the Edward Grieg song "Hall of the mountain King". They were something of local legends based on the little time Helena had spent off the boat and in the city, and she silently agreed with them./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""A Dyad employee is staying behind" said Tomas, Helena's guardian, ever dressed as a priest./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""That is not how things are supposed to be" said Helena, slightly concerned./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""See for yourself" replied Tomas as he tossed a few photographs in front of Helena. They were all slightly blurry, being that they were closed circuit security camera photos but Helena could still recognize her own face./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I've never seen that one before. Nice to see another light-haired sheep" said Helena, who was almost smiling./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""We suspect that this is Rachel Duncan, the sheep who knows the shepherd."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Helena, you have to be silent now" came Pupok, the ever manipulative Scorpion in the imagination of Helena./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""OK" Helena said aloud, to both Tomas and Pupok./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""That isn't Rachel. The real Rachel would leave immediately. She likes to stay clean" said Pupok, who then scurried across the floor, disappearing through a crack in the concrete wall. Tomas then slapped Helena across the face while screaming "You didn't cover your tracks enough!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""How could she know I killed Ania in Gdansk, Poland when they were busy...doing our dirty work for us. Why are we even here, Tomas? There are no clones left in Finland, we should be on our way to Sweden already. Instead you leap to conclusions" shouted Helena while giggling. She knew on some level that the word "leap" was important, but couldn't understand as to why it was so important./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Does Helena need the cage?" asked Tomas softly, but in a way that Helena knew that Tomas was actually angrier at her than he was a minute ago./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""No, I kill Rachel. Then we go to Sweden, yes?" asked Helena./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Yes. Rachel is a problem, fix the problem. Then we go to Sweden. One of the places in our journey where Pancakes are a dessert, not breakfast." said Tomas, eerily smiling as he handed a razor blade to Helena, who took off her white t-shirt to expose the scars on her back, which looked like half-formed wings. She began cutting./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Act 3/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Sam was still in the Limo, almost at Kuusi Secondary School but was blocked due to heavy traffic. Rachel's cell phone began ringing, Sam answered it immediately as Al entered via the imaging chamber door, he nodded at the all-black leather interior and amenities in approval and pretended to sit down./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Why aren't you already on your way back to Toronto? It was wrong of you and Ferdinand to even be in Helsinki together so soon after the massacre, we're not ignorant of you seducing him to speed up this clean up."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Ziggy says that's Marion Bowles, one of the biggest players in Dyad." said Al quickly./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Hello Marion, I'm still here to correct an oversight made on Dyad's part, actually." replied Sam, trying to sound cold./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh?" asked Marion, seeming curious./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Ferdinand only arranged for the deaths of 6 clones, not 7" replied Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"There was an awkward pause, followed by uncharacteristic laughter on Marion's part./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Does it really mean that much to you? I don't know of any country that punishes differently for arranging the deaths of 38 people as opposed to 39." said Marion./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Just give me 12 hours to get proof. After that, I'll come home and face any disciplinary action you see fit" offered Sam. There was a long, awkward pause./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""OK Rachel, 12 hours from when this phone call started, out" said Marion assertively. Both parties hung up at the same time./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""That should be enough time, if the traffic clears" announced Al, worried. Sam was too busy noticing the strange activity of people in cars buying things from merchants who were alongside the street. He then began ransacking Rachel's purse./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""What are you doing, Sam?" asked Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I'm going into a high school that had at least one clone attending it. I don't have time for a proper disguise as I don't want anyone mistaking me for someone else, especially someone else who's supposed to be dead" replied Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh, good idea, Sam" replied Al as he gave a thumbs up./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Damn, I only have Canadian and U.S. dollars" said Sam, frustrated./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Well a lot of these merchants took foreign money from tourists. It's actually pretty common all over the world." replied Al sympathetically./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Rachel is a girl that prepares for anything, right?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""In a corporate setting, sure" replied Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Finland switched to the Euro in early 2002, I remember that from a past leap where I was a Foreign Exchange trader. If she only had Euro, the 2006 date is correct. If she had both Euro and the Finnish Markka, the 2001 date would be because that would be during the 3 year period where both currencies are acceptable."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Any change? The coins would be just as good an indicator" said Al, amazed that Sam's brain didn't Swiss cheese that one particular detail./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""None, I'm guessing that she really didn't want to be here past today" replied Sam as he began feeling around Rachel's purse. Sam then shrugged and opened a window, pointing at a merchant who was running a wheeled kiosk, then pointed at a simple black scarf./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Euro?" shouted the merchant, an older blonde and grey haired man who dressed like a glorified homeless person./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""U.S., U.S." shouted back Sam. The merchant held up 10 fingers, Sam nodded. The merchant then gave him a quizzical look, then grabbed the scarf, then walked over to Sam. They traded money for scarf and Sam immediately rolled the window back up./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""What was that weird look for?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""He was insulted that you didn't try to haggle him. I found that out when Beth and I went to Cabo for the first time" replied Al. Sam nodded and then took Rachel's cell phone back out. Sam scrolled through the contacts section briefly, before selecting 1 particular name./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Ferdinand, how far are you?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Just flying over England now. Heard you're staying back" came the reply./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Yes, I have one more loose end to tie up. Does taking credit for killing Ania Kaminska when we both know that she wasn't on your hit list mean that much to you?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""No. I was already in Finland preparing the school fire to kill Veera when she got her throat slit in that hospital in Gdansk. It wasn't one of my team either (and I have the security camera footage to prove it) but screw it, I'll take the credit"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""No you won't" said Sam enthusiastically./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""And why shouldn't I?" asked Ferdinand coyly./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""You should send the footage to Dyad, you don't want to spoil your career before it starts for failing to disclose sensitive information...especially when we're only just getting to know each other" said Sam softly, in an attempt to flirt with Ferdinand. Al had no idea that Sam was capable of that level of acting, and began suspecting that some of Rachel was still in Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh very well. I've already uploaded it to my laptop, might as well stream it to Dyad. Anything else?" asked Ferdinand/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""No, I think we're good." said Sam, both hung up without saying goodbye./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Thanks to Ziggy, 1 did not have to be in the waiting room with the patient in order to monitor their vital stats. While it had been several hours since the truth serum was administered into Rachel, there was still a chance that negative effects could occur (especially since aside from the brain, they injected the drugs into a man closer to retirement than to middle age. Beth was the most qualified to watch the projections that Ziggy was providing, but anyone could do it if they knew to ask Ziggy for clarification in case one had trouble understanding anything on one of Ziggy's many screens)./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Tom tried to sneak up beside Beth, but was unsuccessful./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Good thing I was never Seal Team 6. I'd be dead in 20 seconds" said Tom, trying not to laugh at how loud his feet were in black loafers./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I'm just used to your feet is all" replied Beth while shrugging./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""How's our patient?" asked Tom, hoping that this wasn't the day where someone else died inside his brother's body./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Vital signs normal. Which is odd, as normally the heart rate and blood pressure would lower. It's as if Rachel has excessive energy of some kind." said Beth./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""She strikes me as the type who could stay awake in an office 36 hours straight without coffee. Like the corporate boardroom is where she is happiest. On a related note, Dyad are THRILLED that Sam leapt into the clone that works for them" said Tom, who liked the rare occasion in which he could present an observation to the project./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Dr. Beeks agrees with you. If we put this one in Wall street with $100, she's a billionaire within a year." said Beth softly. Al entered the room and kissed Beth./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Did Ferdinand send the video footage of him in Helsinki time indexed to when Ania Kaminska died?" asked Al to Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Yes Admiral, and while that does exonerate Mr. Chevalier of her murder, it has now changed history in other ways" proclaimed Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Why do I have a feeling that this is the usual horrible news Ziggy gives us in mid-leap when we think Sam can leap early?" asked Tom./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Because of how often it happens" answered Ziggy dryly before continuing "Rachel Duncan is now assassinated inside Kuusi Secondary School which leads to the project going so public because of 2 people that look identical dying in the same place days apart that Dyad orders a worldwide abortion of the entire clone project to where no clone is alive to see 2008..."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""...Which means there is no funding to speak of from Dyad to us, which means Sam dies too" stated Al with dread./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Indeed Admiral. In addition to that, Ferdinand Chevalier's plane explodes in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean..." continued Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Which leads to an all-out temporal paradox, as we've already met him in person" finished Tom./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Not necessarily. Neither of those could create paradoxes if the changed events were too small to be significant, but alternate timelines where there would be multiple sets of memories in everyone's heads, including myself. Case in point, did Sam changing history so that Beth didn't leave Al in the 70's cause a temporal paradox?" asked Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""No. But I don't have the double set of memories either" replied Beth./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Point taken" answered Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I on the other hand do. And if paradoxes were that much of an issue, any one of Sam's leaps would've triggered one" added Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""In any event, you should probably head back to the imaging chamber" interjected Tom./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Al was already out of the waiting room, on his way./p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="CENTER" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"It had not been very long since the students at Kuusi Secondary School had been given the "all clear" to return to class, so Sam had no issue with a crowd of students outside (as there were none). Sam was actually a little upset over the fact that students were brought back into classes so soon after a fire killed at least one of the students. Under similar circumstances in America, the students would've been given the entire week off (with optional counselling available after the crime scene was cleaned up). Someone in a uniform then approached Sam. Based on his large, muscular frame under the uniform, Sam assumed that he was a local cop./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Anteeksi, tämä on rajoitettu alue. Voi paskaa, Dyad!" (Excuse me, this is a restricted area. Oh shit, Dyad!)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"The cop then immediately started walking away from Sam, indicating that he was terrified of Rachel (or more specifically, what she represented). Sam looked at what was Rachel's body and noticed that Rachel's Dyad I.D. tag was still on the outfit. Sam chuckled slightly, knowing that he was going to be using this to his advantage in the not too distant future. Then Al appeared from in front of Sam, with no noise coming from the opening of the imaging chamber door./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""What's so funny?" asked Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh, this cop came up to me then ran away before I could get a word in edge wise." replied Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Dyad has a lot of influence on our day to day life. They're like a corporate Darwinist version of the Illuminati or the Freemasons" replied Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""That's actually kind of scary. Would the hospital in Gdansk have footage of Ania being killed that Ferdinand didn't get?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Interesting question. Ziggy says it's about a 90% chance that there is"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Sam then immediately got on Rachel's phone and searched through the previous calls directory./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh good, she's already called the hospital before" said Sam as he began dialling. It wasn't long before he received a greeting in Polish that was too perfect to be automated, Sam did his best to ignore it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Cześć, to jest Rachel z instytutu Dyad. Czy nasz współpracownik Ferdinand otrzymał wszystkie materiały bezpieczeństwa dotyczące zabójstwa Ani Kamińskiej? Tak, nie sądziliśmy. Czy mógłbyś wysłać resztę materiału do naszego biura w Warszawie? OK, dziękuję, do widzenia" (Hello, this is Rachel from the Dyad institute. Did our associate Ferdinand get all of the security footage for the murder of Ania Kaminska? Yeah, we didn't think so. Would you mind sending the rest of the footage to our office in Warsaw? OK, thank you, goodbye)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Well I knew you spoke Polish but how did you know Dyad had an office in Warsaw?" asked Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Lucky guess. What does Ziggy say?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Well, I came here to tell you that you staying behind gets Rachel shot in the head by a sniper and Ferdinand's plane explodes. But now with you sending Dyad more footage, Ferdinand lives, you still die" declared Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Well that certainly isn't good enough for me to leap out of here" said Sam as he entered the crime scene. It was one hallway of the school, sealed off in blue camping tarp. There was the charred pieces of what Sam deduced was a human body. Al then began feeling a bit queasy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""That's..." began Al, then he took off the Bluetooth headset, then he continued: "I didn't want Dyad hearing this. They think that that's Veera Suominen, but Ziggy figured out that that's another clone named Jade who had switched places for her"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""So I'm staring at pieces of another clone?" whispered Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Yes. This one was gravely ill and would've been dead in a few weeks anyway, we don't have that much info on her either" replied Al grimly as the cop from before entered the scene./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Dyad tarvitsee tämän tytön kaikkien viimeisten hetkien jäljellä olevan kuvauksen" (Dyad is going to need all surviving footage of this girl's last moments). The cop then nodded and handed Sam a digital video tape. Sam put it in Rachel's purse, thankful that the scarf that he had purchased as it was keeping the cop from seeing that the Dyad employee in front of him looked like what the corpse used to look like. Then came a beeping sound from Al's headset as the cop excused himself to take a phone call./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Low battery?" asked Sam, not exactly sure why that was considered a good guess./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""No, Ziggy just realized that you ensured her seeing the footage" replied Al, who then put a finger to his lips, indicating that Sam needed to keep the rest of it quiet. Sam nodded and complied. Then Sam began walking around the crime scene, making sure not to tamper with anything./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""From what Ziggy saw of the footage, did... Veera know that she was going to die if she stayed in school?" asked Sam nervously./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""It's strange. Ziggy says that based on how... Veera was conducting herself that day, there's a 97.4% chance she knew she was going to die, but an 89.2% probability that she was still shocked at the initial explosion before it killed her."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Sam then scrunched up his face in front of Al (who merely shrugged his shoulders). Then Sam tried to continue walking, only to have one of Rachel's high heels break off. As Sam bent down to take Rachel's shoes off, he felt a burst of air glide across Rachel's back. Had Al not been a hologram, he would've been shot in the right shin./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Sam, stay down, stay low and go" screamed Al. Sam complied but shouted back "Al, get Ziggy to analyze the bullet"./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""She will Sam, just get out of here" shouted Al. Sam peeled away some of the camping tarp and ran for Rachel's life. Al (not fearing of getting shot as he didn't physically exist here) went to work analyzing the hole in the floor where the bullet went./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""That's crazy, Samantha, centre me on Sam, NOW!" screamed Al as he stared at a projection that Ziggy had made in earnest./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Sam was about halfway between the crime scene and the exit door in the front of the school./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh thank god. Sam, you're not gonna believe this" said Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Try me" challenged Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""The bullet...came from the same gun that almost shot Felix back in Knebworth 2 leaps ago!"/p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Act 4/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""SAM! Get the hell out of here!" shouted Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I'm getting the raw footage" shouted back Sam. "In case Dyad 'misplaces' it"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Good thinking, NOW get out of here" added Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"The speed of the shots fired were being kept track of by Al (having had experience in combat in the past)./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I think the gun has been modified to fire faster, Ziggy concurs" said Al as he pointed south for Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Al, remember when you had Ziggy draw me a line in order to teach me how to play pool?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Yeah, I still have one of Ziggy's blown out circuits from that leap as a souvenir. What does that have to do with anything?" asked Al, panicking./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Could Ziggy draw me a route out of here?" asked Sam as he lifted the tarp of the makeshift crime scene./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh, good idea. Ziggy, you heard the man" announced Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"The line was the same neon blue that Sam had been seeing ever since Ziggy was able to project words, scenarios and probabilities in front of Sam. It continued leading South for a considerable distance, then turned East (presumably where the front door was). The gunshots had stopped but that was because the sniper realized that Sam was out of their field of view./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Does Ziggy have any other scenarios for me?" asked Sam, in a futile effort to calm himself down./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""No, survive this. Deal with the fallout of turning over the video evidence clearing Ferdinand's name and you're out of here" replied Al as Sam turned East, as per Ziggy's line. Then Sam dropped the footage./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Sam, go back. Get the tape" shouted Al. Sam did as instructed, almost certain that the shots wouldn't stop back up again. The cop Sam had met previously gave Sam an awkward look:/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Sniper ampui minua rikospaikalla" (Sniper was shooting at me in the crime scene). The cop nodded and ran back towards the crime scene./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Al, I think that there's an anti-clone movement afoot" said Sam softly as he approached the door./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Ziggy seems to agree with you. Personally, I think it's a fanatical religious group" said Al while nodding./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I saw that coming as far back as my meeting with Dr. Leekie the night we celebrated getting the starbright project greenlit. I even jokingly called them Proletheans" added Sam as he struggle to find a door that wasn't locked. Al mouthed the word Proletheans slowly, which Sam immediately understood was Al looking up that word via Ziggy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Jackpot Sam, there's extensive files in Dyad's archives under that one particular word" announced Al as Sam opened an unlocked door and ran outside to see local police coming towards him./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Voin hyvin. 1 upseeri on sisällä etsimässä ampuja, lukita koulun takaisin alas, lapset eivät ole turvallisia" (I'm fine. 1 officer is inside in pursuit of a sniper, lock this school back down, the kids are not safe)./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"The cops nodded and changed direction, running into the school to begin the lockdown protocol for the second time in about a week. Sam headed for the limo and got in the back.../p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"...only to see that the driver had been shot in the head while still in the driver's seat. If it was one thing that Dr. Sam Beckett had learned in all of the leaps he had ever done, it was learning to take advantage of the smaller size of the majority of people he had ever leapt into. Sam immediately crawled into the front seat of the limo and pushed the dead driver aside, knowing on some level that Sam put himself and Rachel at much greater risk./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Put the pedal to the medal, Sam" shouted Al nervously. To Sam's credit, he adjusted to the differences of a European car over an American car very quickly, halfway out of the school's parking lot.../p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"...and then a bullet took out the rear tire on the left hand side./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Sam, Ziggy says bail if you wanna live" shouted Al. Sam complied and rolled in the road as the black limo slammed into a tree, which caused it to explode./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""At least the driver was already dead" lamented Sam as he got up and started running for his life. Sam didn't get very far until he ran a blonde girl, late teens or early 20's, wearing a pale green jacket and pointing a long, black sniper rifle at Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Uh Sam, this is Helena. All Dyad knows about her is that she was raised by these Prolethean nozzles to kill all of the clones. Ziggy says it's 99.9% that Helena pulls the trigger the next 5 seconds."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Sam was left with only 1 option...kindness./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Hello Helena." said Sam, trying and failing to hide how scared he was that this was the end of the line./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Hello...not copy. You're not a clone, you're...old man that I keep seeing with the man in the weird suits" said Helena in an accent that told Sam the she was Ukrainian./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh god, Sam, she can see us" whispered Al, who was terrified./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="CENTER"*/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="CENTER" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Of course I can see you, who can not see you?" asked Helena, seeming to be puzzled. Sam cleared his throat before he began. "Most people can't see us. Only little kids, animals, those close to death and the mentally ill" he said cautiously, knowing the last one may have pushed Helena to pull the trigger./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""How many times is this? You seeing me?" asks Helena./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""My first, second if you're the one who shot at me in England in 1996" replied Sam. Al was speechless./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Not me. Same gun, not me. I was still being trained, I can't remember who shot you but it wasn't me. I wouldn't have shot at boy who was with you. I could tell he is nice boy. I forget how many times I've seen you."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Helena then gut the gun behind her back via a black shoulder strap./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Sam, Ziggy says she's 97.1% likely to be telling the truth as she would've been too small to carry a gun that big. She must think you're a worthy opponent to be putting the rifle away"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Your weird suit friend is right. I did have knife back then though" she said as she took a small blade, a buck knife modified to have a fish carved into it. Then she began laughing "You bounce around time, like kitty with ball of string"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Is that her child-like way of describing your string theory, Sam?" asked Al, still terrified./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Probably. Look Helena, I just want to get home." said Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""And if you leapt into anyone that not look like me, I'd leave you alone. This not personal" said Helena./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Hand to hand combat ensued. Neither of them successfully landed a hit on the other, but after 4 attempts of a strike from Helena (mostly in upper body attacks), Sam determined that Helena was trained in Krav Maga (which he found appropriate, given how her religious undertones had ties to Israel). Sam then immediately switched to a Jeet Kune Do stance, but more inward. As he knew, Krav Maga is rendered useless when the opponent doesn't give you exposed limbs in order to make a counter manoeuvre. This frustrated Helena to no end, causing her to just lunge at Sam with the knife instead. Sam smiled and roundhouse kicked Helena in the face, knocking her to the ground./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Good work Sam, I still keep secret" she mumbled before passing out./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Keep secret?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I'm guessing in a future leap, you force her to keep us and the project a secret. I'm not looking forward to that encounter, or any of the others that she just implied." said Al as Sam looked around for other modes of transportation, hoping that he didn't have to commit grand theft auto in order to survive./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""My sentiments exactly but I still need a ride out of here" declared Sam as a white van began pulling up to the school./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""That ain't it, Sam. Ziggy says those are more Proletheans here to help Helena. You better get out of here if you don't want Helena's friends killing Rachel, quick." said Al in earnest before a second limo came between the goons that had already jumped out of the van. What sounded like firecrackers came out from the opposing side of the limo facing away from Sam. As the goons all fell down dead, Sam concluded that these were the sounds of an automatic weapon firing. The window came down, it was Ferdinand, grinning from ear to ear./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I knew you were in trouble the moment you weren't on the first plane after mine. I've been hurrying back ever since. Get in, Rachel"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Sam nodded and got in./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="CENTER"*/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="CENTER" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"An hour later, they were on a plane heading back to Canada. Al spent his time divided between admiring the interior of the plane and lamenting at the horrible person that was Ferdinand being the hero in this story. Ferdinand was asleep in a nearby chair./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Saved your life or not Sam, he's still a nozzle" said Al to Sam while Ferdinand was sleeping./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Does Ziggy say we benefit from say, throwing him out the window and making it look like an accident?" asked Sam jokingly./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Ziggy says it's beneath your good nature to kill someone this reviled. He'll get his comeuppance for all of the clones he killed, someday, Ziggy promises" replied Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""What happens to Rachel?" asks Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""She moves up the Dyad ladder until the company falls in a few years. A few acts of bitchiness aside, she retires to a quiet life before she's 35."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""I'll be so happy to get out of this clone. She's a bitch and all, but everyone around her in Dyad gives me the creeps" said Sam softly./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""You and me both" replied Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Did Ziggy ever find out which date I leapt into?" asked Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Yes. It was 2001. Someone mislabelled one of the files in Dyad's Archives. For some strange reason, Ziggy wants us to to keep the file uncorrected as in the future, a Dr. Delphine Cormier will find it and set off a series of events that eventually set the clones free." stated Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""That's weird. It's too often that the littlest mistakes cause so much damage. Oh god..." said Sam in horrific shock./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""What's wrong?" asked Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""All of these girls were born in 1984. If this is 2001, that would make Ferdinand a statutory rapist, if not a full-on paedophile, as she was 17 at the oldest when they first had sex." stated Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Al put the palm of his right hand to his forehead./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Not that this makes it any better, but Ziggy says that there's a 96.4% chance that she is the one who seduced him with their lust for power." offered Al./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Yeah, not better at all. At least if this were 2006, we'd be dealing with consenting adults" said Sam frankly./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Something's been bothering me about all of this" said Ferdinand, after looking around to see that he wasn't the one being monitored./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Just one thing?" asked Sam rhetorically. Ferdinand then took out his cell phone and played back a call he had recorded a few days prior./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Enough. I'm coming in for a visual confirmation." Came a slightly distorted voice that Sam recognized was Ferdinand./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Copy...let's see your 'pretty' face. Sir, her hair's..." came a voice Sam didn't recognize, but assumed it was part of Ferdinand's "Clean-up crew"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Then the white noise came, followed by a dial tone./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Sam. Ziggy says that there's about a 75% chance that Ferdinand suspects that Veera isn't dead after all, you need to convince him Veera's dead, even though she isn't."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Darling, I was at the crime scene. It was her" said Sam./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""How would you know? She's just a copy of you" said Ferdinand pragmatically./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Sam? Tell Ferdinand that part of the already scarred part of her face was on the floor, untouched. Said Al in desperation. Sam repeated those words verbatim to Ferdinand, who nodded./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Then the blue light came, indicating his leap./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
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p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="CENTER" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emBased on the smells, this reminds me of the time I leapt into a trapeze catcher at the circus. But with a network of blue mats under my feet, I know that I'm on the ground. Gymnast, maybe?/em/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""OK Alex, 3 steps running, dive to handstand, push off, 1080 corkscrew, land on both feet as together as possible"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"Based on the Burgundy Adidas Varsity Track Suit that this person was wearing, Same assumed that this was the coach. But the thing that caught Sam's attention was the coach's voice and the voices of the other people around him (teammates, assistant coaches etc.)./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT"emAustralia, I'm in Australia! This is a first for me./em/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""ALEX! Pay attention! It wasn't easy to get this practice time!" shouted the Coach. Sam nodded, then said "Got it, 3 steps running, dive to handstand, push off, 1080 corkscrew, land on both feet as together as possible."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""emI'm Australian too, amazing!"/em/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Relax, it's only a spot on the Olympics on the line" said the coach while smiling./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="LEFT""Oh boy"/p