The Knight and the Jester
Chapter Five
When Al returned to the Imaging Chamber, he found Sam washing the dishes and wearing an apron over his clothes. Through the window he could see a waning crescent moon dominating the night sky. "So," he said casually, "are you any closer to figuring out what to do for this leap?"
Sam was too busy scouring the small plate in his hand to look up. "I think I've got a handle on Chip's relations with the other Rescue Rangers over dinner. He really needs to loosen up. The other Rangers expected me to tell them how to do everything constantly, even when they know better. I think he needs to respect the others more, and be more willing to listen."
Al nodded grimly. "That's about what I figured, given what I've heard."
Sam frowned. "Heard? From whom?"
Al said nothing, but instead tried to gesture with his eyebrows.
"What are you.... oh. Chip's here with you."
Al grinned and nodded again. "I'll see what I can do about your little observation on my end. In the meantime, how's the case coming?"
"We're planning to raid Fat Cat's hideout tonight, as soon as Foxglove shows up."
"And that's when the fat will hit the fire, huh?"
Sam nodded as he put the last cup on the rack to dry.
Al moved aside to allow Sam to hang up his apron. "And who's Foxglove?"
"She's a bat that works for the Rangers part-time. She sleeps during the day."
"'Foxglove the Bat'? That may the first clever name I've heard this leap."
"Al, have you ever heard the old saying that begins 'if you can't say something nice...'"
"No," Al deadpanned. "Can't say that I have. So is this Foxglove by any chance a vampire bat?"
Sam and Chip sighed simultaneously in exasperation.
"Al," Sam said wearily. "Foxglove is an insectivore, not a vampire bat. But what would it matter if she were a vampire bat? How many times are we going to have this conversation, Al? Why must you see Bela Lugosi in the eyes of every chiropteran we come across?"
Al let a slow breath in and out. "I'm sorry, Sam. I was trying to be funny, and that was in bad taste. I promise I'll treat this Foxglove with no preconceptions, O.K.? Now, why don't you tell me what else you learned over dinner?"
Al turned and walked fifteen feet away from Chip. Chip silently picked up his folding chair and the phone and moved them next to Al. He noticed that the white room they were in was lit in such a way as to eliminate shadows and make the walls nearly impossible to see. As a result, Chip felt like he hadn't moved at all. He sat down and put the phone in his lap, being careful not to trip over the extra-long cord. He had finished looking it over soon after he had entered the Imaging Chamber and now spent his time trying to mentally fill in the half of the conversation he wasn't hearing. Given what he had been told about the Quantum Leap project, he wondered how Al and Sam could have survived the stresses of all those years. The two of them couldn't even touch each other! After a few minutes of difficult silence he adjusted himself on the hard aluminum seat. "What's happening now?" he asked quietly.
Al turned around. He had a cigar in the hand not holding the com-link. He looked from it to Chip with a dour face, and then put the cigar back into his jacket pocket. "You don't have to whisper. They can't hear you." He frowned for a second and waved his hand dismissively in the other direction. "We're watching television. Is this Blather guy always such an egotistical nozzle? He just covered the diamond theft and anyone with half a brain could have figured out that this wasn't an ordinary robbery."
"A 'nozzle'? No, he seemed normal to me, for a human." Chip looked in the direction Al had gestured towards earlier. That must be where the TV is, he thought. "Where is everybody?" he asked aloud.
Al looked up from the invisible broadcast. "Hm?" He started walking in a circle in front of Chip. "Sam is here, Gadget is here, Dale is.... Hey! I remember this commercial--it's a classic! 'Crumbly Crunchies are the best; look delicious on your vest. Serve them to unwanted guests, stuff the mattress with the rest!'" He noticed he was getting the same incredulous reaction from both Sam and Chip. "What?" he asked indignantly. A moment later he was back in the swing of things: "As I was saying before, Gadget is here, Dale is here, Monterey is here, and Zipper is...oh, Zipper is over there next to his...hey, that's one nice room the fly has! Let's see, who have I forgotten?"
"Foxglove!" cried Dale. "Are you all right?"
The bat stood on the doorjamb, clenching the sides of the doorway with her wings. She seemed to be shaking, like the room before her had been transformed into a phantasmagoria of horror.
Everyone in the room was frozen, Dale with a handful of caramel popcorn in front of his gaping mouth. Even Stan Blather seemed to shut up in shock. Foxglove slowly scanned the room, seeming to spend an inordinate amount of time looking at something behind Al (must be Zipper's room, he thought).
"Chip!" she cried. She walked up to Dale and briefly grasped his paws in her wingtips. "I'm so relieved it wasn't you," she said, gazing warmly into his eyes.
Gadget, a little confused, guessed at the root of Foxglove's concern. "We ran into Fat Cat and his gang today, and yes, Chip was hurt. In fact, Dale saved his life. Chip has made an amazing (perhaps even strangely accelerated) recovery, and there's nothing stopping him from joining us tonight."
Foxglove seemed to ignore everything else as she stepped a wing's breadth away from Sam. "It's Chip, right? If you're here, then he must be in mortal danger. What's wrong? Do you know what you're supposed to do? Is there anything I can do to help?"
Sam started getting worried, very worried. "Um..." Nothing seemed to come out after that.
Al was perplexed. "Is something going on here that I, your observer, should be aware of?" Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Zipper flying into the living room.
Dale, having somehow finished his popcorn, saw this as an opportunity to tell the story. "You should have been there, Foxy! Fat Cat stole this huge diamond, and 'though we didn't catch him, we did stop him. You see, he, Fat Cat that is, wanted to sell the diamond to this wizard on the docks so he, the wizard, could drive all of the dogs out of the city, and his office hours were 10:45 to a quarter to eleven, so now Fat Cat will have to wait 'till tomorrow."
"I think that was 10:45 to a quarter to four," corrected Gadget.
"Isn't that what I said?"
"Gadget suggested a night raid," added Sam, cautiously. "So we thought we'd see if you're interested."
Foxglove thought this over carefully for a few seconds. Sam meanwhile tried to nonchalantly tilt his head to one side while looking intently at her. He then straightened his head in shock, his eyes wide.
Foxglove looked Sam in the eye. Speaking slowly and precisely, she said, "It'll be dangerous. Fat Cat is sure to have the place rigged with traps after all of the other times the Rangers have broken in."
Sam matched her tone. "I know," he said. "But it has to happen sooner or later. Besides, it's what I do." He then looked up at everyone else. "It's what we all do," he added in a normal tone of voice.
Al looked back and forth from Sam to Foxglove. "Sam, Sam, you're scaring me here, Sam!"
Gadget stepped towards the pair. "Well, what are we waiting for--we've got a job to do!"
Zipper flew overhead, sounding the charge. "Rescue Rangers, away!" everyone (but Sam) cried, and they ran out to the Ranger Plane.