A Leap Into Destiny
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"Good morning everyone," Sam, alongside Donna, walked into the room where most of the leaders of Project Quantum Leap sat.
"Morning Sam," Gooshie waved.
Al, Tina, Gooshie, and Sammy Jo were all there. Though Sammy Jo ranked lower on the workplace totem pole than the rest of them, she was still included since she played an instrumental role in defending the base in recent times.
That, plus she was Sam Beckett's biological daughter.
"Well, I think we all know why I'm calling this meeting," Sam looked at everyone across the room.
"I have a general idea," Al crossed his fingers together.
"Now that Quantum Leaping has proven to be a success," Sam told everyone, "I want to discuss the future of this project."
Sam looked around the room once more.
"Who'd like to start?" he asked.
Gooshie was the first to speak up.
"First things first," Gooshie admitted. "Running an experimental project like this for years required a lot of funding and support. We're indebted to a lot of Senators right now and if this project is to have any kind of future, we're going to need a much bigger budget."
"How much did Project Quantum Leap cost altogether?" asked Sam curiously.
"Well, uh…" Gooshie tugged a bit at his collar while sweating nervously.
"Go on, tell him!" Tina insisted.
"Sometimes it's better to show than to tell," Gooshie took out a several documents and then handed them over to Sam.
Sam took a cursory glance at how much money it took to maintain the project. And as expected, the cost was astronomical.
"Oh boy!" Sam's jaw dropped.
"It wasn't cheap Sam," Al reminded him. "But remember, we were able to do a lot of good with Project Quantum Leap."
"I, uh, think we should move on to our next topic," Sam smiled sheepishly. "What comes next?"
Al was the next person to speak up.
"Well, now that Quantum Leap is a proven success, there are going to be politicians and powerful lobbying groups who are going to be eager to make claims to this project," Al pointed out.
"We can't exactly auction this project off to the highest bidder," Sam frowned.
"Exactly," agreed Al. "And who knows what one of those big wigs in office will want to do with this Project."
"When word gets out that Project Quantum Leap can change history," Sam said soberly, "there are going to be a lot of people lining up to try to make that happen."
"Those people already exist," Al shook his head. "We've already got that other leaping project out there, based on the research and work of Dr. Lothoman."
"What will we do about them?" asked Sammy Jo. "They've already made an attack on our base. There's no telling what they might do next."
"We could always hire more security?" Tina suggested.
"Not with the budget we're running on these days," Gooshie sighed.
"What is there to do then?" asked Sammy Jo.
"We wait and see," Sam told her. "That's about all we can do right now."
"I have another issue to bring up," Sammy Jo glanced around at everyone.
"Go on," Sam nodded.
"Will we ever send another test subject into the accelerator again?" asked Sammy Jo. "After everything Dr. Beckett's been through, it could take years to bring them back. And in Dr. Beckett's case, it was only a freak accident that brought him back, not by any breakthrough on our part."
Al looked over at Sam who appeared to be a bit nervous.
"I… don't know," Sam admitted. "While this project has done a lot of good for a lot of people through history, there are a lot of other factors to consider. And before we even think about sending another person into the accelerator, we need to conduct further research to make sure we've covered all our bases."
oooo
Zoey and Kairos sat before the monitor that highlighted the base for Project Quantum Leap in New Mexico, made possible by the spy camera installed there by their agents. Watching with great interest, she noted that Sam Beckett was now having a meeting regarding the future of Project Quantum Leap.
"So now he realizes there's no going back with leaping being a reality," she sneered.
Kairos merely snorted.
"The man creates a Pandora's Box, opens it, and now he's just realizing the dangers?" Zoey smiled. "As smart of a man Dr. Beckett may be, he really doesn't give much forethought to the things he does."
"The idealism of his nature can be turned against him," Kairos noted. "Despite the hardships he has faced through his leaping, he has never truly known suffering. Soon, Samuel Beckett will realize that he has walked down a path from whence he can never return."
"What will you do now?" asked Zoey.
"I have read up enough on this Sam Beckett," Kairos answered. "I only ask of thee now to depart from here and wait upon me in the lower levels. I shall take care of the rest."
"Very well," Zoey bowed, leaving the room.
oooo
"Well that meeting went well," Sam stood in the central room with Donna.
Everybody was outside, preparing to go to lunch. In a few moments, he and Donna would join them as well.
"You did the best you could with the circumstances," Donna reassured him. "You just got back and we're all trying to figure out what to do with all this knowledge we have."
"I know," Sam smiled weakly. "I've finally gotten home and I should be happy! Instead, my mind's bogged down by all these concerns over the ethics of this project and how it might be misused later on!"
"There may be future challenges," Donna reminded him. "But we can face them together!"
"You're right," Sam acknowledged. "I really just need to get my head back together, that's all."
"You know I'm here for you, Sam!" Donna told him.
"I guess I'm like one of those soldiers who just came back from a war," Sam told her. "I've been leaping around for so long, I don't know what living a normal life is like anymore."
"I can help you back into it," insisted Donna. "We can help you back into it! I can help you. Your friend Al can help you. We can do it together!"
"Thanks Donna," Sam hugged her. "I know I can count on you."
"You know you can," she smiled back.
"Why don't you catch up with the others?" Sam told her. "I got some catching up I want to do with Ziggy."
The two kissed each other and Donna left the room to join the others.
"Ziggy?" Sam called out. "You there?"
The blue orb that was Ziggy's brain glowed as the supercomputer came to life.
"I'm here at your beck and call, doctor," she told him.
"That's good to know," Sam smiled.
"It's also good to see you back home," Ziggy told him. "Donna looked especially happy to see you again."
"It's great to be home," Sam replied.
"What is it that you'd like to speak to me about?" asked Ziggy.
"Back when I was still leaping, you were able to calculate a lot of probabilities for me," Sam told her. "In all this time, I don't know if you ever got upgraded to calculate probabilities outside of past events."
"You mean to ask me if I can calculate probabilities in the present?" asked Ziggy.
"More or less," Sam confirmed.
"That ability… remains outside my scope," answered the supercomputer. "Calculating probabilities for changing the past was my specialty. With past events, I had enough information from newspapers, historical archives, and other reliable sources that I could safely predict the probabilities of changing history."
"I see," Sam nodded.
"I cannot predict the future, Dr. Beckett," Ziggy concluded.
"Well alright," Sam shrugged. "Thanks anyways, Ziggy."
"You wish to protect this project against future incursions or abuses?" asked Ziggy.
"Yeah, it's been on my mind," replied Sam. "You never know when one of those leapers from that other project will show up."
Suddenly, Sam found himself surrounded by a familiar blue aura for a second.
"What was that?" Sam looked at his own hands in alarm.
"I am uncertain," Ziggy replied. "But it would appear that for a moment, you were surrounded by the same aura that you had back when you were leaping through time."
"No, this can't be," Sam said in a worried tone. "I just made it back to my own time!"
Again, the blue aura appeared around him once more.
"Ziggy, what's going on here?" demanded Sam.
"Unfortunately, I do not have the answer, Dr. Beckett," Ziggy answered truthfully.
"Ziggy, trace all quantum particles for this aura," Sam ordered. "If I leap out of here again, I want the others to—"
Those were the final words Sam were able to get out before the aura completely covered him and leaped him out of the area.
oooo
Vincent Wellington sat in his jail cell despondently, rocking back and forth against the wall. He had gone from being one of the world's most dangerous and powerful men to a mere prisoner in only a short time.
If anyone was to blame, it was that wretched Zoey. She had been the one who brought that stranger back and overthrew him. In time, he needed to figure out a plan to escape. Then he would find a way to seize back control of his organization.
The sound of gunfire and screams down the hall was heard before long as Wellington perked up his head.
"Mr. Wellington?"
Right in front of his cell were two soldiers who had previously served under him before his ignominious overthrow.
"Constance!" Wellington cried out. "Ramirez! What are you two—"
"We're getting you out of here, sir," Constance told his boss. "You're the real boss of this project and you're the one we answer to."
"It's good to see not all of my soldiers have lost their marbles," Wellington smiled.
Ramirez took out the keys to the jail cell and opened it up. As Wellington stepped out, he noticed the bodies of several other soldiers lying on the floor.
"Zoey may be calling the shots now… but she's crazy!" Ramirez told his boss. "You, Mr. Wellington, have a better head on your shoulders than she does, which is why you're the one who headed this project for all those years and not her."
The three of them headed down the hall. Constance took the front lead ahead of Wellington while Ramirez guarded his rear.
"First things first," Ramirez told his superior. "We need to overthrow Zoey and that weirdo she's hanging out with. Then we reinstall you back to power."
"Sounds like an agreeable plan," Wellington nodded. "How will we execute it?"
"Oh, you won't," a familiar voice rang out.
Just as the three men got to the staircase, they saw Zoey standing before them with a devious grin.
"I'll be executing you," she promised them.
"Zoey, just the person I was hoping to bump into," Constance took out his handgun.
Not bothering to exchange any more words, Constance fired several rounds into Zoey, knocking her against the wall. As Zoey slid down the wall with blood pouring down her dress, Constance chuckled.
"Now for that weirdo upstairs," Constance snorted.
Without warning, Zoey sprung back to life, seemingly floating back on her feet.
"What the hell?" Constance took a step back.
The hourglass necklace around her neck glowed softly as Zoey placed her hands over her wounds, healing them instantly and causing the bullets to fall out onto the ground. In no time at all, the life threatening wounds Constance had inflicted upon her fully disappeared.
"Protect Mr. Wellington at all costs!" Constance ordered.
Ramirez took out a knife and charged Zoey. As he swung down, Zoey caught his arm and grabbed his face with her other hand.
At once, the hourglass began to glow once more as Zoey slowly drained the life force out of Ramirez. The soldier could do nothing but scream and struggle helplessly as he felt himself age and wither while he was being held down.
"That was rejuvenating!" Zoey finally let go of Ramirez.
Now reduced to nothing but a withered corpse, Ramirez fell to the ground lifelessly. At the same time, both Constance and Wellington saw before them a much younger and rejuvenated woman without the wrinkles and sagging face that Zoey once possessed.
"You're younger now," Wellington was taken aback by both her beauty and ruthlessness. "How?!"
Zoey ignored Wellington and walked past him, advancing menacingly towards Constance who raised his gun towards her.
"I've read up on your genealogy," Zoey told Constance in a much younger voice. "It seems that the men of your family are prone to heart attacks around the age of fifty."
With that, she raised her hand and enveloped him with a dark red energy. At once, Constance clutched his chest as an immediate pain came upon him.
"Aging your heart about thirty years should do the trick," she smiled.
"Aaaagh!" screamed Constance as he fell to the floor, dropping his gun.
After several moments of thrashing about wildly and breathing heavily, Constance stopped moving. His heart was no longer able to bear the pain. And neither was his body.
Looking on in horror, Wellington backed away from Zoey as she stood over the fresh corpse of Constance.
"You," Zoey commanded Wellington. "Back in your cell!"
"But…" Wellington stood there, nearly speechless.
Before Wellington knew it, Zoey had lifted him up and smashed him against the wall. Whatever the source of her newfound strength and power was, it was most certainly unnatural.
"I'm free to deal with insurrectional soldiers on my own," Zoey reminded him. "However, Kairos had given me no such orders to execute you just yet. Now be a good lad and return to your cage."
Defeated, Wellington could not do anything other than to follow her orders. With his shoulders sunken low, Vincent Wellington headed back to his cell as Zoey watched with a satisfied smirk.
oooo
After the blue light that enveloped him had finally disappeared, Sam looked up and noticed that he was on the tower of a castle out in the middle of nowhere.
"Where am I?" he looked around.
From out of the shadows emerged a familiar figure Sam had seen before.
"You!" Sam exclaimed. "You were the one who brought me back to my own time!"
"I was," Kairos replied.
"Just who are you?" asked Sam.
"Mine name is Kairos," the robed figure replied. "I am the one thou may know as the gatekeeper of time."
"Gatekeeper?" Sam asked. "You mean… you're Father Time?"
"I am," Kairos lied. "I brought thee back to thy own time because of the sacrifices thou has made for others in all thy leaps."
"Well then Kairos," Sam sighed. "I suppose there's a reason why I've been leaped once again?"
"Yes," confirmed Kairos. "It had been mine intention to send thou back to thy own time. However, I am now an old and frail man and my powers over time are not what they used to be."
"I, uh, I'm sorry to hear that," Sam frowned.
"But thou can help me," Kairos put his hand on Sam's shoulder. "I fear I have not much time left in this mortal coil. With thy infinite knowledge of time travel, thou can aid my efforts in stabilizing time and space. The magic I possess alone will not suffice."
Suddenly, Kairos leaned over and began to cough violently.
"Hey," Sam went over quickly to help Kairos up. "Are you alright?"
"Fear not," Kairos shook his head. "As a time mage, I have seen much over the course of history. However, not even I can fight against the sands of time."
"Here, let me help you walk," Sam told him.
"I thank thee, Sam Beckett," Kairos smiled underneath his hood.
"What is that in your other hand?" Sam inquired about the staff in Kairos' hand.
"It is the time staff," Kairos informed him. "It is the source of mine power. But even now, it dims with each passing moment."
"Let's get you downstairs for hopefully some rest," Sam steadied the body of Kairos alongside his own, helping the elderly time mage to walk down the steps.
"I shalt do everything within my power to aid you in returning to thy home," promised Kairos.
"Thanks," Sam responded. "Oh yeah, speaking of which, whatever became of that woman Zoey and her partner?"
"Those two have received just compensation for attempting to wreak havoc across time," Kairos replied in a stern voice.
oooo
"I'm sorry," Ziggy replied. "But Dr. Beckett has not travelled back in time."
After having realized that Sam wasn't coming out, the gang had returned only to find that Sam Beckett was no longer there amongst them. Unfortunately for them, Ziggy had immediately informed them that Sam had been surrounded once more by the leapers' aura and had disappeared once more.
"Are you sure?" asked Al. "Everything checks out?"
"Affirmative," confirmed Ziggy.
"Where could he have gone to?" Donna paced back and forth. "I've had to live for years without him and now that he's finally back, he gets taken from me again!"
"Don't worry Donna," Al went up to her. "We'll get to the bottom of this!"
"Before Dr. Beckett was leaped away, he ordered me to trace the particles of the leapers aura that surrounded him," Ziggy explained to them.
"And?" asked Al Calavicci.
"I can confirm with ninety nine point six percent certainty that Dr. Beckett has not leaped back in time," Ziggy replied matter-of-factly.
Donna bit down on her lower lip nervously, wondering where in the world her husband had disappeared to.
"Wait," Sammy Jo entered into the conversation. "What if we're not looking in the right place?"
"What do you mean?" asked Al.
"Ziggy's scans so far haven't shown him to be back in any era of the past," Sammy Jo told them. "What if Dr. Beckett wasn't transported to the past?"
"So you're saying that Sam could be…" Al looked at her curiously.
"He could have been transported to another location outside of this base," Sammy Jo explained. "For all we know, he could have been transported back in his old childhood home… another part of the country… or even another part of the world."
"Is this a plausible explanation?" Al looked at Donna, Tina, and Gooshie.
"It's… the only one we have," Gooshie conceded. "I mean, if Ziggy can't locate Sam in any era of the past, it would only make sense he'd still be here somewhere."
"Ziggy," ordered Al. "Run a scan based on the quantum particles Sam left behind. Scan the entire perimeters of this base… then the State… then the country… then the whole damn continent if you have to."
"I will do my utmost best," promised Ziggy. "However, I must inform you that such a search and scan mission will be quite time consuming in order to fully gauge the whereabouts of Dr. Beckett."
"This is Sam we're talking about," Al replied without hesitation. "When it comes to him, we can and we will make time!"