Chapter 37

Angus MacGyver arrived at the facility in Arizona that housed the quantum accelerator. He had called Dr. Beckett's wife, Dr. Donna Eleese Beckett prior to alert her to his arrival. Upon entering the main door of the out of the way facility he was greeted by an older woman with graying dark hair and blue eyes. She sported jeans, sneakers and a green flannel work shirt. She was thin and looking tired to Mac's estimation.

"Mr. MacGyver." she presumed.

"Mac," he acknowledged. He noticed the lights were dim in the entry and reception area of the small complex. The site looked abandoned to him. "Your husband sent me…in a round about way." he tried to explain. "I met him once, back in 84, he helped me get a job. To make a long story short, he sent me to help another scientist named Sam. Dr. Samantha Hawke. She's a 22 year old genus like your husband. She opened a wormhole through time connecting 2022 to 1984. It was an accident. She made a warp drive engine. She wants to go to the stars. She never intended to travel through time. She saw your husband's work. She says the accelerator he invented could be used to make space travel possible. It would work with a warp drive engine to protect the vessel from the affects of space travel. She knows your husband is trapped in it. I'm here to ensure you do not lose power until we can find a way to get him out." he briefly explained.

Donna replied, "I'm grateful for any help at this point. After Al passed, well…" she motioned around her, "as you can see we lost funding and Sam was declared dead." She stated, "You're my last chance at getting him back home. I'm the only one left here." She motioned towards her attire, "As you can see I'm also maintenance."

"Show me what you have for power." he requested.

"This way," she motioned for Mac to follow.

Meanwhile

Stringfellow Hawke escorted young MacGyver through the wormhole to the year 2022 with Sam to debrief him on the matter. Dom and Caitlin stayed behind the tend to the business.

MacGyver shook off the effects of the wormhole as he remarked, "Felt like an earth quake."

Sam stated, "The side effect of the warp."

He found himself still in the hangar but the surroundings were very different. He spied the table with the engine and an older man sitting at the computer.

String introduced, "This is my brother, Saint John Hawke. He runs things on this end of the wormhole, Angus."

Mac held up a finger and stated, "I'll let that slid because my mind is so blown but I prefer to be called 'Mac'."

Sinjin stood up from the chair and grinned, "You look so young, Mac." He then offered a hand, "I know you don't know me yet. We do meet in 2015...I guess that is subject to change now. I met you in 2015 at an air show in the first timeline. You are retired and still like to fly."

Mac wrapped his mind around the situation, "This is the first time for me to meet you but you already met me…seven years ago…" he quickly did the math.

"Yup," he grinned. "I knew you would get the hang of this quick. These hacks you do…not kid level stuff." he shook his head.

"Hacks?" he asked. "Sam mentioned she knew me from camping and taught her some of my hacks."

He nodded, "My wife calls it 'MacGyverize'." Sinjin spoke to String, "You should see what this guy can do, String. He can take a paper clip, a piece of dental floss and an eraser and make just about anything with it. I've never seen anyone utilize a Swiss Army knife like Mac can."

"Good to know." String agreed.

Sam agreed, "He can rig just about anything. Even helped fix Airwolf when needed a part replaced but couldn't get it on time."

String asked Mac, "You are an aviation mechanic?"

"I know a little bit." he gave a nod. "Just what is Airwolf?"

Sinjin pointed, "Right there."

Mac looked deeper to the hangar bay and spied a black helicopter sitting in the corner. His eyes grew wide, "Wow! Can I take a look?"

Sam took a seat at the computer, "You two update, Mac. I want to study Dr. Beckett's work further."

Sijin led the way, "Over here." He led the men to the chopper and opened the door to the rear.

Mac stuck his head inside, "Oh wow!" He climbed inside and looked about. He then sat down in the co-pilot's seat as Sinjin sat at the engineers station. String sat in the pilot's seat. He had yet to sit in the Airwolf that his brother owned until that moment.

String gave a debriefing, "I helped design the bird for the FIRM. It was stolen, we got it back. I keep it hidden in our time. Sinjin is a POW in our time. To make them look for him, I keep the bird and do missions."

Sinjin stated, "I was rescued in 1986. In the first timeline a bomb was planted in a chopper that was to do stunts. Dom was killed and String badly injured. I took over Airwolf for one year. Then they decommissioned the project. Airwolf just sat and rotted. I bought her and restored her with my wife and daughter's help. Weapons systems are disabled. I left the guns in for show purposes. No ammo. I can restore it to full function if need be. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. I did let Sam do some computer upgrades but left the old station intact for historical purposes. This Airwolf anyone can fly. In String's Airwolf only a few can manage the rotor to jet transition."

"Jet?" Mac asked.

String stated, "This bird can do mach one. It has two jet engines on the fuselage. The fuselage is hardened against enemy fire as well as the electronics. Airwolf can withstand an EMP attack."

Mac looked about and found the helmet. He nodded, "That's good to know." he placed the helmet on his head, "This electronic?"

"It is," String told him.

He took the helmet off for it was not connected and thus no power. He admitted, "I would love to go for a ride in this chopper."

Sinjin stated, "Why not? I can call in a flight plan and say we are going for a test flight."

String turned to Sinjin and asked, "Why you willing to take him up so soon?"

Sinjin explained, "So he will stop bugging me."

Mac stated, "I haven't said anything."

"You will…non stop!" he told him. He opened the internal compartment, "Here are the flight suits. I'll go tell Sam we're going for a ride."

String smiled as he found he would get to fly Airwolf with his brother. "That sounds good."

Short Time Late

Mac sat in the co-pilot's seat sporting the Airwolf flight suit and helmet. String piloted the bird with Sinjin at the engineer's station. They flew over the desert on what was to be a simple circle. The brothers discovered Mac could easily make the rotor to jet transition without the computer to aid. Mac found flying was a rush and began to understand how his older self could be a pest to Sinjin.

MacGyver admitted, "Airwolf is not like anything I have ever flown before."

String agreed, "That's for sure."

Sinjin admitted, "She's a bird like no other."

Mac looked over horizon. He spied a flash of white light. It zipped across the sky and then just hung before them. "What is that?" He wondered if it was something from the future.

String replied, "I have no idea. Sinjin, what's that up ahead?"

"Nothing on radar." he informed. He looked out from the rear seat. "What is that?" he wondered.

The object came closer. It appeared to be a bright glowing ball of light. It zipped around Airwolf as if the bird was standing still while in mid flight. The men looked around out the windows.

String asked, "Sinjin, can you get anything on that thing?"

"It's not even registering on sensors, String." he told him. "It's some kind of UFO."

Mac stated, "Looks like an orb of light."

String suggested, "Let's see if we can shake it." He then pressed the turbo button to engage the jet engine. They rushed ahead of the orb but found the orb was right with them. He looked out the window as the orb paced Airwolf. His eyes narrowed, "What the?"

Sinjin reported, "I got it on camera but nothing on sensors. I'm recording it." He held his cell phone to the window to record.

MacGyver stated, "It's following us."

String agreed, "It's pacing us." He then decided to see if they could lose it with a few maneuvers. He pulled the yolk back and they rose higher. The orb followed. He headed for a canyon on the distance. The orb kept pace. He entered the canyon and flew low to the ground, around the winding path and orb was right beside them. After emerging from the canyon the orb broke off and String decided he was going to chase it. He altered course to follow it. The orb then disappeared without a trace. Airwolf then returned to the flight path.

MacGyver asked, "Any idea what to make of that?"

String confessed, "Nope."

Sinjin stated, "I have no idea what we just encountered."

Short Time Later

Airwolf returned to Santini Air. Upon landing the crew spied Tony's classic truck parked near the side entrance of the hangar. The bird was then towed back into the hangar and stowed in the corner. Upon removing their flight suits and helmets the men made their way to the back of the hangar to discover Tony was visiting Sam and he had brought some take out Chinese for dinner upon leaving his work.

Tony watched as the man walked closer. He was seated next to Sam at the computer and to String it looked odd as Tony was much older than Sam; decades older in fact. He knew the man had a crush on her when he was in high school. He wondered if Tony still had feelings for his niece.

Sam dug at the bottom of the take out container with a spoon. She looked up, "Hey! How did the flight go?" she smiled warmly. Tony had managed to bring her food and lift her sprits as she was felling overwhelmed and depressed by how out of control her project had become.

Tony cocked his head, "Mr. MacGyver." He stood up and offered a hand, "Gosh, you look like I remember."

Mac asked, "How do we meet? This is all new to me."

"Oh…right…the time thing…" he then explained, "My class met you at the hangar during band practice and then you subbed for Mr. Hinkley at the school for a week. You were a real good teacher." he then introduced himself, "I was your trouble making student, Tony Villicana."

Mac replied, "I'll remember you when I meet young you."

Sam stated, "Mac actually gets the time thing pretty good. So, how was your flight?" she grinned at the men.

Sinjin handed her his cell phone, "Watch this." He played the video of the orb.

She watched and wondered, "What is that thing?"

"Don't know." he replied. "But it out flew Airwolf. String couldn't shake it. Thing was circling around us like we are standing still at mach one."

Tony watched over Sam's shoulder, "Looks like a UFO."

"Some kind of ball of light." Sam agreed. She handed the phone back to her father. "What do you guys think is was?"

String stated, "We don't know what it was but…it did make the hair on the back my neck stand up." He turned towards his brother, "I want to show that footage to Dom, Sinjin. He said he saw stuff in the war. Wonder if that's what he saw."

"That's a good idea." Sinjin agreed.

Sam offered, "I can baby sit. You go back, Dad and show Dom and tell him what you saw. You were the engineer, right? You could tell him better than I could."

Sinjin paused, "Me go back?"

She asked, "Why not? Not like you will melt or anything."

String grinned, "You should get a chance to go through too, Sinjin. You've been manning this end. Take a break."

Sinjin pondered, "Boy what I would do back in 84."

Curious she asked, "What would you do, Dad?"

"See the cabin again. Dad's paintings. See Jo when she was young. Go get a deep fried apple pie." he confessed.

String soured, "You want to go back to go to McDonald's! Did that orb affect you or something?"

He shook his head, "You just can't find them anymore. Not that they were great anything just the nostalgia of it. Would also like to go to a Pizza Hut and a Ponderosa."

Sam asked, "What's Ponderosa?"

"A steak house we had back then." he recalled.

String confessed, "I do like Ponderosa. Huge salad bar."

Her eyes lit up, "They have a salad bar?"

Sinjin stated, "So did Pizza Hut back then, Sammy. I know you and String both like salad bars."

She grinned, "We should go."

Tony had to admit, "I would love a trip to the past to go to Pizza Hut again. The old ones, that looked like a hut with a salad bar. Boy, does that bring back memories." He looked to Sam, "I wish I could back and help you with all this. It's an awful lot on your shoulders."

She assured, "The wormhole has two ends and you are helping me at this end."

KITT then interrupted, "I have run a number of simulations with Ziggy. We conclude it is possible to use Dr. Beckett's accelerator to send someone back mentally through time leaving their body here in a state of stasis instead of having a target host wait in the waiting room."

Sam argued, "I still don't like it. It's dangerous! You are talking about a mental disconnect and if that severs enough neurons it can leave the 'leaper' paralyzed or dead. It's too risky. The wormhole is one thousand percent safer. It's just a hole through space time. You walk right through it like a doorway." Sam did not like the idea of sending someone back mentally for safety reasons.

Tony grasped her hand, "Just wish I knew back then what I know now. You wouldn't be so alone."

"I'm not alone." she assured him. "And you are helping us now. We need to build a miniature version of Dr. Beckett's accelerator to buffer the vehicle the second engine will go in. That will protect the occupants and the vehicle from being turned to atomic slim as it enters warp drive." She stated, "Whatever that UFO was it exhibiting warp drive capabilities. Warp drive suspends the affects of gravity."

"I'll work on it here after hours." he promised.

She smiled, "I appreciate it…And dinner."

He offered, "I should take you out to dinner."

Before she could answer Sinjin and String both spoke, "No!"

Tony looked at the two men.

Sinjin explained, "You're old enough to be her father."

String agreed, "I wouldn't approve that even in 84."

Tony let out a deep sigh for he understood going on a date with Sam would look more like a father and daughter night out.

Curious Sam asked, "If I went on a date with Tony in 1984, you would not approve it? We would be closer to the same age."

"He used to be a trouble maker." he rebutted defensive.

She stated, "You are not my father, String."

He announced, "I am your uncle and when your father is not around I am filling in for him. You will think of me in that same roll when you are in my time."

Tony smirked, "Reminds me of that show: My Two Dads."

She looked at the brothers and simply shock her head displeased.