A Leap Into Destiny
Winds of Change
"Well, spending the night in jail wasn't exactly my idea of a nice Christmas Day," admitted Sam.
Both men were now locked up in a jailhouse in London.
"Hey, those nozzles at the bar wanted to get down and dirty with us," Al pointed out. "What else were we gonna do?"
"Maybe it was a bad idea to go to a bar," sighed Sam. "We should've just stayed at the hotel and got some early rest."
"Wait for it, Sam," promised Al. "Before we left for that bar, I managed to make contact with an American diplomat here in London. In a few minutes the cops here will allow me to make a phone call and I got his cell number."
"So he'll be able to pull us out?" asked Sam.
"With a little luck, yes," Al nodded. "But I gotta say, us ending up like this didn't exactly do wonders for the reputation that American tourists get in England."
"Ain't that the truth," Sam finally leaned back and lied down on the makeshift bed.
Sam Beckett stared at the ceiling and allowed everything to sink in. He had been brought back to his own time but now he was facing jail time and possibly some other charges as well. Overall, it had not been the reception he had expected for his return home.
Then he remembered the mysterious stranger, Kairos, who had sent him back to his own time.
"Hey Al, remember that guy who sent me back to my own time?" Sam asked his friend.
"Yeah, what of him?" Al leaned against the bars of the cell.
"He was able to send me back to my own time with that staff in his hands," Sam said contemplatively. "I wonder who he really is. And more importantly, how was it that he was able to bend the rules of leaping in order to return me home?"
Al thought about it for a minute before answering.
"Well Sam, remember that time we first encountered a ghost?" asked Al.
"Yeah, it was back in that mansion years ago where I had to save that widow who thought her husband was haunting her," recalled Sam.
"Well, we met that waitress in the house and then later, we found out she had been dead for years," Al swallowed, remembering the ghoulish adventure with a bit of a chill down his spine.
"I remember," Sam nodded.
"Well, we never got to the bottom of that ghost mystery there," Al answered. "Oh yeah, and remember that time you leaped into Egypt? And we saw that mummy there?"
"You saw the mummy," corrected Sam.
"Oh yeah, that's right," Al recalled. "In any case, the mummy strangled that one guy who was trying to kill you. But just like with the ghost lady, the mummy wasn't your mission. Your mission was to save your partner."
"That's right," agreed Sam.
"And there were a few other cases where we encountered events that were out of the ordinary," continued Al. "For instance, we both encountered that UFO during that one leap where you were trying to save an old man from being institutionalized. And there was that leap where you leaped into an Honest-To-God vampire. And let's not forget that one leap in Washington State where the both of us saw Bigfoot!"
"I remember those well," Sam recollected. "At that point, it became harder and harder for me to deny that there were phenomenon that existed well outside the realms of science and logic."
"I guess my whole point is this," Al finished. "The goal of all those leaps wasn't to prove that vampires or Bigfoot existed. It was to save lives. After you completed the mission, it wasn't your goal to worry about a mummy's curse or what Count Dracula is having for breakfast. And as for that warlock with the staff… I don't think he's our concern anymore. Just like with all your leaps in the past, you did your part and completed the mission. Everything else afterwards can take care of itself."
"I suppose you're right, Al," conceded Sam. "I guess I worry too much sometimes."
"What you need to do is relax," encouraged Al. "In a short time, you're gonna be back home! You're gonna get to see Donna again! After all these years of leaping about in time, helping others and putting right what once went wrong, it's time your hard work was rewarded."
oooo
"Here we are," Zoey amiably gestured for Kairos to go ahead of her.
Up ahead of the two travelers was a medieval castle. It stood ominously before them like a dark fortress. But instead of knights at the gates, there were men in uniforms with machine guns.
"Thy graciousness is noted," Kairos walked ahead of her.
"This is where Project Chronos was born," Zoey informed her new master. "To be sure, our origins were humble but soon, under the care of Mr. Vincent Wellington, it became the coordinated scientific research project that we all anticipated."
"This Wellington," asked Kairos. "Is he the time mage who made time travel possible?"
"No actually," replied Zoey. "It was a man named Nathaniel Lothoman who was the originator of Project Chronos. He had a vision for certain but he also required funding. It was Mr. Wellington who became one of his chief sponsors and business partners. And after Dr. Lothoman met a most unfortunate accident, Wellington took over the project and made it what it is today."
"Thy story is most interesting," Kairos said with great interest. "Now let us proceed. I wish to meet Vincent Wellington."
"Right this way," Zoey walked up towards the front door.
"Ma'am," one of the soldiers gave her a nod. "You came back a lot quicker than we had expected."
"I have," confirmed Zoey. "In any case, I've brought a guest with me. "He wishes to meet Mr. Wellington."
"I'm afraid I can't let you in right now," the soldier replied reluctantly. "He's in the middle of a meeting with some very important people."
"And what of my guest?" Zoey spared a glance towards Kairos.
"Whoever he is, he'll have to wait," the guard told her.
"I shalt not wait upon any man," Kairos moved past Zoey towards the guard.
"I'll have to ask you to stay back!" the guard ordered, raising his gun as his partner did the same.
"Put down thy weapon," recommended Kairos. "Thou wilt not regret it."
"This is your last chance to stand back!" ordered the guard. "We can't just let anyone waltz into Project Chronos!"
"Kairos, what are you doing?!" Zoey took a step back, realizing the guards could also hit her with their ammo.
Kairos stopped where he was as the two guards trained their guns on him. Unhooking the hourglass from his time staff, he held the instrument in his hands before his would-be attackers.
"Dost thou understand how the passage of time works?" asked Kairos.
"What does that have to do with anything?" demanded the second guard.
"Seasons come and go," Kairos continued. "Life blooms like a flower and before long, it withers and dies."
With that, Kairos turned the hourglass upside down. The instrument emitted a red glow, catching the two men in a wave of energy. Before long, the two guards found themselves dropping their weapons as their machine guns suddenly felt too heavy to carry any further. Both men sank to their knees as Zoey smiled triumphantly behind Kairos.
Zoey stared in fascination at how the two seemingly spry young men had been aged by up to a hundred years or so by the mere power of the hourglass.
"Now begone!" Kairos shouted, slamming his time staff on to the bridge, this time emitting a wave of energy that reduced the two old men into dust.
"Ashes to ashes," Zoey smiled. "Dust to dust."
"This organization," Kairos asked, "Thou wishes to command it?"
Zoey stared at him in surprise. She had been an ambitious woman for much of her life but this new offer seemed to smack her across the face like a metal glove.
"Why, I'd… like nothing better," Zoey managed to smile.
"Good," Kairos nodded in satisfaction. "I possess no desire to deal with a fool like Wellington who would make us wait. From now on, Project Chronos shall be thine."
oooo
"Sam Beckett!" the US Senator walked up towards the jail cell. "Is that really you?"
Before them was a plump man with white hair and a red nose. He was dressed up in a brown business suit with a green tie to top it off.
"It is," Sam got up. "Have we met before, mister…?"
"Senator O'Neill," the American replied. "I was one of the people in office who approved funding for Project Quantum Leap. We've met before many years ago."
"I remember now," recalled Sam. "You'll forgive me if I didn't recognize you at first. I've been leaping through time for so many years that I've forgotten more faces than I remember."
"It's no problem at all," Senator O'Neill replied. "In fact, I'm happy to learn that your project has become a success and that you've made it back safely."
"Thank you sir," Sam smiled graciously.
"In any case, I've had a discussion with the officials here," Senator O'Neill told them as a guard came up towards the cell with a key. "You'll be released and repatriated back to America shortly."
"Hear that, Al?" Sam grinned. "We're going back home!"
"This is great!" Al was ecstatic. "I bet Beth and the kids are worried sick about me!"
The guard opened up the door as Senator O'Neill helped to usher them out.
"You two are free to go," Senator O'Neill smiled.
"Thank you for your help!" Sam shook the man's hand.
"No problem," O'Neill agreed.
"C'mon, Al!" Sam put his arms around his friend. "Let's get out of here!"
"Good riddance, I say!" Al agreed. "I think I'd rather starve than take another bite out of that prison food they were serving us earlier!"
oooo
Vincent Wellington was a man rich beyond imagination. He was a stocky man with a plain face and light brown hair on his head that was already in the middle stages of receding. On top of that, he wore a black business suit made from the finest fabrics.
Though he had few original ideas of his own, he had a great talent for attaching himself to those people who did possess creative ingenuity and benefiting from the fruits of their inventiveness.
One such person he had associated with in the past was the late Dr. Lothoman. The man wanted to work on a scientific project involving time travel. At first, Wellington had dismissed it as pure science fiction but after being around Nathaniel for a while, he realized that the scientist did indeed have the potential to make it into a reality… provided of course, he had the right funding and resources.
However, as intelligent as Dr. Lothoman had been, his vision of time travel had been very… mundane and technical to say the least. In short, it was not the sort of vision that would have made them rich beyond measure.
And so, after having worked with Lothoman for long enough and learning enough from him to ensure that his "Project Chronos" would be able to continue on even without him, Wellington finally had Lothoman removed from the equation permanently.
But even with Lothoman gone, his blueprints were left behind, in addition to a team of competent scientists who would make sure Project Chronos remained a well oiled machine in the absence of its creator. In honor of the late Dr. Lothoman, Wellington had dubbed the powerful supercomputer that helped to run their project as Lothos.
And now? Now he, Vincent Wellington, was potentially the most powerful man in the world, in charge of a weaponized time travel project that had the ability to change the past and alter the present… for whatever price the highest bidder was willing to pay.
Also, he was not alone. In his finely decorated dining hall were a multitude of guests. From black ops agents to corrupt tin pot dictators to rebel extremists in war torn areas of the world, a motley array of colorful guests stood before him. They were a diverse array of scum and villainy, originating from all over the world, from Latin America to Eastern Europe to the Middle East to Asia to Africa.
"Greetings gentlemen," Wellington got up. "I'm quite pleased to have you here with me."
All of his guests began to clap politely.
"Thank you, thank you!" Vincent smile. "I know the reason you are here and I will very pleasantly cut to the chase."
He pressed down on a remote in his hands. As he did, the fireplace behind him slid up to reveal a vast laboratory with multiple scientists working in the background. In the center of the lab appeared to be the quantum accelerator. Not far from it was a door leading to the imaging chamber.
"You are here for Project Chronos," he told his potential customers. "For several millennia, time travel was unheard of. But now, that fantasy has become reality itself."
At this, his guests began murmuring among themselves agreeably.
"Many of you have come from war torn parts of the world," Wellington told his guests, playing upon their emotions and their political ambitions. "Many of you have lost friends and family to your enemies. Many of you are threatened with constant unrest in your homelands with little hope of peace. With the lives you have led, many of you know the true meaning of suffering."
Again, his guests agreed, nodding their heads.
"But with Project Chronos, all of that can change!" Wellington declared to his audience. "Do you remember the rebels who constantly threaten stability in your cities and countrysides? Our agents will traverse through time to eliminate every last one of them! And those soldiers from first world countries who arrived at your shores to kill your sons and ravage your daughters? Our leapers will return to those exact same moments to gun them down where they stand!"
Listening to his promises, the people in his audience began to applaud.
"For the right fee, my scientists in Project Chronos will calculate all possibilities and risks of leaping back in time to those moments," Wellington continued. "And once we have ascertained that our leapers changing your past will not negatively affect any of us in the future, we will journey through time back to the past in order to create a better future for you and your posterity!"
At this point, everybody present was completely in his hands.
"We will make right what once went wrong!" Wellington raised a fist into the air to a thunderous applause.
"Sir," one of the technicians came up to Wellington.
"What is it?" Wellington whispered harshly. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"I know sir," the technician told him. "But we still can't find Zoey or Thames. It's like they vanished into time or something."
"Well work faster and find them!" Wellington insisted. "I have customers here with us and I don't want to keep them waiting! Besides, has Zoey even done her duty and killed that priest?"
"I regret to inform you that she has not," the technician lowered his head. "Dr. Sam Beckett stopped her."
"Go back there and retrieve them!" ordered Wellington. "Do whatever it takes to find those two!"
Turning back towards the dictators, mercenaries, weapons contractors, and rebel fighters in the room, Wellington smiled sheepishly.
"I apologize for the interruption," Wellington told them. "But we are facing some minor technical issues. In the meantime, there is plenty of food and refreshments to be had in the ballroom down the hall to our left. What say we enjoy ourselves for the time being?"
Before he could escort his guests out, the front door flung open to reveal Zoey and Kairos besides her.
"Zoey!" Wellington stared at her in surprise. "Is that you? How did you get back?!"
"Well you could say I exploited a loophole in time to get back home," Zoey smiled coyly.
"Who is this with you?" demanded Wellington, glaring at Kairos. "No outsiders are to have access to Project Chronos without my express permission!"
"So sorry to disappoint you," Zoey wagged a finger at him, "but the rules of the game have changed."
"How dare you return without having completed your assignment!" Wellington ground his teeth together. "And more importantly, how dare you undermine this project by bringing strangers back to our base. Guards, seize them!"
At once, over a dozen or so soldiers surrounded Zoey and Kairos as the dictators, rebels, and mercenaries huddled near Vincent Wellington.
"I gave you a place on this project," Wellington told Zoey, "and I can just as easily remove you permanently."
"We shall see," Zoey replied flippantly.
At once, the time staff in Kairos' hands glowed as he raised his other arm, unleashing a powerful wave of quantum energy that knocked every soldier, dictator, and rogue in that room to the floor, including Wellington himself. Zoey herself held onto Kairos in order to avoid the effects of the attack.
Kairos did not let up on the quantum wave, allowing it to continue seeping across the room, inducing vertigo and other hallucinogenic effects on everyone present. Soon, some of the men fell down unconscious while others began to throw up on the spot due to its powerful effects.
Finally, when he was certain that everybody present had been subdued, he stopped his attack.
Wellington managed to get up, weakly crawling on top of the table to steady himself as Zoey walked over confidently.
"As I have promised," Kairos said to her in his raspy voice. "This organization is now thy own!"
Vincent Wellington glared at Zoey with daggers in his eyes.
"What was that phrase those stooges in Washington like to use every time a tin pot dictator is overthrown?" Zoey smiled at her now-previous boss. "Ah yes, I believe a regime change has just now occurred."
She then faced everybody else in the room who were now recovering from the attack launched by Kairos.
"I have a new vision for Project Chronos," Zoey told them. "With our new ally, Kairos, we will no longer be mere leapers! We will unlock the secrets of space and time itself!"
She glanced over at Kairos who gave his assent with a nod of his head.
"Whoever does not wish to join me, speak now or forever hold your peace," she gave everyone a small warning.
Nobody in that room said anything else.
"Good," Zoey turned around towards some soldiers.
Immediately, they straightened up in preparation to obey her requests.
"You there," she commanded. "Take our dear Mr. Wellington and lock him up in the dungeon below."
"At once, ma'am!" the soldiers saluted.
They picked up the weakened Vincent Wellington and cuffed him from behind, taking him out of the room.
"Thou hast done well, mine apprentice," Kairos smiled as she bowed to him with her head.
"Now," Zoey sauntered over towards Kairos, staring at the rest of the technicians, scientists, and assorted rogues in the room, "there are going to be some changes in the way this organization is run. I suggest you all get with the program from this point forward."
oooo
At the London Heathrow Airport, both Al and Sam sat in their designated waiting areas. Before long, they would be able to depart for America.
Right about now, they still had another forty five minutes of waiting time before their flight would take off.
Besides them was Senator O'Neill. The plump man had been most eager to hear of Sam's time travel experiences.
"It sounds like you've had a hell of a time travelling through time," O'Neill told Sam. "How far back in time did you travel exactly?"
"Well," Sam explained. "Originally, the coordinates of Project Quantum Leap were theoretically able to send me back as far as the day of my birth and not a day further. But at one point, I did make a leap back to the Civil War."
Senator O'Neill looked awestruck.
"That… could have changed history if you made one wrong move," Senator O'Neill sputtered.
"I know… crazy isn't it?" smiled Sam.
"Lucky for Sam, he wasn't there to change the outcome of the war," Al added. "He was there to make sure his grand grandfather and great grandmother would get together!"
"This is making my head spin," admitted the Senator.
"But get this," Al told the Senator. "Sam may not have gone back in time to alter the Civil War… but he did end up granting freedom to someone who would have quite an impact on this country."
"Who was it?" asked O'Neill.
"It was the ancestor of Martin Luther King Jr.," answered Al.
Senator O'Neill looked at Sam as if he had just seen a deer in his headlights.
"I know," Sam nodded. "It came just as much of a surprise to me as it did you."
"Flight A3 to Chicago will begin boarding in thirty minute," a woman over the loudspeaker announced.
"That's us," Al looked up.
Their first stop back in America would be at Chicago's O'Hare airport. From there on, they would make the flight back to New Mexico.
"Hey Al, I just remembered!" Sam perked up. "I need to make a call to Donna! Think you could spare me some change for a long distance phone call?"
Al looked at Sam as if he had just asked him to dance naked in Antarctica.
"Are you kidding me, Sam?" Al was flabbergasted. "You know how much they charge for long distance calls? Especially from a foreign country?!"
"C'mon Al," insisted Sam. "I would gladly pay for it with my own money but I just got back from time with no loose change in my pockets!"
"I know that Sam," Al frowned, "but the rates they charge here… it's highway robbery I tell ya!"
"Back before we left for the bar, didn't you make a call to Beth?" asked Sam.
"Hmm, good point," Al nodded. "Well, I guess I could lend you some spare change."
"Thanks Al," smiled Sam.
"But remember, don't go over three minutes!" Al cautioned as he handed the money to his friend.
"You have my word," promised Sam as he got up and jogged towards one of the pay phones.
After inserting the right amount of change and dialing the correct numbers for the long distance service he was about to use, Sam waited patiently on his end of the line.
Finally, a female voice answered.
"Hello?" Donna asked. "Who is this?"
"Donna, it's me Sam," Dr. Sam Beckett answered happily. "I'm finally coming home!"
Author's Note: The backstory on Nathaniel Lothoman and Lothos I incorporated into my story was heavily influenced by what I had read on the Quantum Leap Wiki, which stated that Lothos was based on a deceased Dr. Nathaniel Lothoman who created him. Nowhere on the show itself was Dr. Lothoman mentioned so everything I'm writing is based on my own fan interpretation of how everything went down.