Chapter 2

Waiting Room, Aug 12, 2000 (Present Day)

He was weightless, spinning frantically in a funnel of blinding white energy. The transformation had begun once again...

"You exist, therefore you are."

He heard the words, but could detect no sound or origin. He understood the phrase without the pretext of thought.

Without warning, the spinning stopped, and he plummeted downward through the spiraling blur of white light. Instinctively his arms flung outward to break his fall...

"Dr. Beckett."

The voice was muffled and distant, but unlike the previous voice, this came from a specific direction. Sam tried to follow the sound. He tried in vain to answer. He could not yet pull himself from the force that transported him.

His hands slapped involuntarily against the table and at the same time his eyes flew open, wild with the instinct of self protection. He felt confused, disoriented.

"Dr. Beckett, can you hear me? Do you understand me?"

The voice sounded familiar. It took his eyes a few minutes to adjust to the bright lightening in the room.

The Waiting Room?

With a sudden flood of recognition, Sam's eyes darted upward, coming to focus on the black woman bending over him.

"Verbena?" Sam asked weakly.

Her smile was warm and radiant. Her voice soft and sweet.

"Welcome back, Sam."

"Back?" Sam sat up slowly and kicked his legs over the edge of the table. He had no recollection of leaving his office. In fact, he distinctly remembered sitting at his desk and fine tuning the equation on dimensional structure and... and what?"

He couldn't remember.

Dr, Beeks applied a blood pressure monitor around Sam's upper arm. Then she checked his pulse and pupils.

"How do you feel, Sam?" Any dizziness? Feeling light headed?"

For the moment, all he felt was confusion but he shook his head in response to all her questions.

"I had the strangest sensation. It was like I..." He paused and looked around the room. "How did I get here? I don't remember coming down here."

Sam shook his head to clear his thinking. Verbena said nothing, waiting to take her cues from Sam

"Dr. Beeks," Ziggy's sultry voice echoed through the room.

"Yes?"

"The Admiral has returned. The situation is...delicate at best."

"Notify all departments of the situation and provide appropriate instructions therein. Oh, and tell the Admiral to get down here now." Dr. Beeks instructed the computer.

"He's on his way," Ziggy responded.

Sam stood up cautiously. "I'm fine. See, fit as a fiddle." Sam told Verbena

But even as he spoke, he realized things were not at all fine. He felt stiff and weak. He looked down at his clothing ans saw he was wearing a white experimental jumpsuit. His feet were bare. He looked questioningly at Verbena for answers.

"Why am I wearing this. And way does the sound system work. I thought Tina said it would be at least another week before it would be in working order. What's going on here, Verbena?"

"Tina managed to get the workers on it early," Al explained as he walked into the Waiting Room. "You know Tina, Sam. Where there's a will, there's Tina."

Sam noticed Al's yellow jacket and purple pants. When he had last seen Al, he was preparing to leave for Washington and was fully decked out in his Navy white uniform. Sam noticed the exchange of glances between Al and Verbena and surmised they were not telling him the full story.

"Al, why aren't you in Washington? Would someone care to explain a few things?"

"Washington," Al repeated, wracking his brain to recall events five years past. "Oh, yeah, tomorrow, Sam. Washington's been postponed until tomorrow. I think the senators are still haggling over how much of a cost of living raise they should give themselves."

"And the rest?" Sam asked."How did I get down here and why am I wearing this lab suit?"

"You don't remember how you got here?" Verbena asked.

Sam shook his head.

"Ah, it must be latent effects of hypnosis," Al quickly interjected. "Hypnosis can do strange things to a person's memory. I knew a guy once that got hypnotized and thought he was a five star general. He tried to order an invasion of the nurse's barracks. It might have worked, too, but just as I was about to lead the troops in..."

"Al," Sam interrupted and turned his attention to Verbena "Hypnosis? I don't understand. Why would I want to be hypnotized?" I don't remember anything since being in my office this morning." Sam looked at his wrist for his watch. It was not there."What time is it?"

"Four-thirty," Al replied. "In the afternoon," he added.

"That means there are nearly seven hours that I can't account for."

"What do you remember, Sam?" Verbena asked.

Sam squinted, trying to find words to describe what he had just experienced. "I remember a lot of light, very bright light...and a voice, I think. I don't know what it said"

"That was probably Verbena's voice," Al said.

"Maybe. But why was I hypnotized? I don't recall any discussions of this, or of agreeing to any hypnosis experimentation."

"That's a good question, Sam," Al said under his breath. "Why? Oh, it's part of the whole slew of physical and psychological tests. Washington requires them in order to approve you to test the accelerator project. I'm sure we covered all this in last week's staff meeting. Isn't that right, Verbena"

Verbena had no intention of lying, but she also realized the potential implications in making and "project guest," aware of the time travel experiment. In this instance, just as in every other, Dr. Beckett was not exception.

But Verbena was going increasingly concerned about Sam's memory lapses."Verbena, I don't really understand what's going on, but I do know that I don't like it." Sam said.

"I can see we have some work to do, Sam. But I would like to review all the data before that. In the mean time, it would probably be best for you to engage in all your normal activities. Why don't you go back to your office and tend to your work there. And you can change out of that jumpsuit. I'll let you know once I have sorted through all the data, and we will try to answer all your questions," Verbena said.

Sam agreed. He did want to change clothes. He was certain that Al and Verbena knew more than they were telling him.

"I'll be in my office, then," he said and again saw an exchange of glances between Al and Verbena

"I'll contact you as soon as possible," Verbena promised Sam.

"I don't feel comfortable with this at all, Al. I hope we're doing the right thing," Verbena said after Sam had left the room.

"It's hardly a situation that any of us would ask for, but what choice do we have?" If Sam figures out he's in the year 2000 and not 1995, he may well be able to figure out he's been leaping. If that happens, I don't want to even think about what he might do, or what it would mean for all of us," Al said nervously. "Are you sure Ziggy took care of everything?"

"I notified all department heads as soon as I realized what had happened. We've rehearsed this scenario a dozen times since Dr. Beckett last leaped into himself. There is nothing to suggest to him that he is not in 1995. All his computer access is limited to input prior to his original leap. Nothing in his office has been altered since the day he left. Ziggy is programmed to respond to 1995 data whenever Dr. Beckett accesses information or is present when anyone else is accessing information," Verbena assured Al.

"Well, at least it sounds like everything's under control. The trick is to keep this Sam too busy to even think about leaving the compound. If he's out of here for even five minutes, he'll be able to figure out he's not in his own time."

"Then we just take things one step at a time." Verbena said. "Al, what did the other Sam say when he realized you were a hologram to him?"

"He was pretty devastated. I had to get back here right away, so I just left him standing in the Waiting room with the other me. In fact, I should go back there right now, before he says or does something to make this even more complicated. This is probably the toughest thing that has happened to him since he started leaping. A shock like this could break him. He thought he was home, you know? He really thought he had finally made it home."

Verbena shook her head sadly. "I'll feed the psychological profiles into Ziggy right away. That should make it at least a little easier for you to help Sam cope with the disappointment. God help us all on this one."

Al smiled. "God's helped us through every leap so far. Why should this one be any different?"

"Why indeed."