A Leap Into Destiny
Union
"Zoey?" one of the soldiers of Project Chronos appeared before her.
Zoey had been pacing back and forth in the dungeon, growing ever so bored with the request Kairos had made for her to stay out of the line of sight of a certain Sam Beckett.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Are you able to come upstairs?" the soldier asked. "You might want to see this. It involves Project Quantum Leap's observer."
"Really now?" Zoey was curious.
She looked down at the remains of both Constance and Ramirez.
"Thank you gentlemen ever so much for installing those hidden cameras," she told them wistfully.
"Ma'am?" the soldier asked.
"Ah yes," Zoey turned back to him. "I know Kairos wanted me to remain scarce but however, I think now is the time for a little test run."
"Test run?" asked the guard.
Zoey gripped the hourglass on her necklace as a dark purple energy overcame her, enveloping the entire place in a dark gray color. At once, the soldier stopped moving and stood there perfectly motionless.
"Excellent," Zoey said to herself. "This hourglass responds to my will. Won't have to learn any lengthy spells under this apprenticeship..."
She walked forward, pausing only when she had gone past the guard. At that point, she adjusted the hourglass on her necklace once more, allowing time to flow again.
"Zoey?" the soldier blinked. "Where did—"
"Right behind you," Zoey smiled.
The soldier turned around nervously.
"What just happened?" he asked.
However, just as he saw her, Zoey just as quickly vanished into the air once more.
"What the…" the soldier muttered.
oooo
"This is a big castle you've got," Sam said, admiring the walls, the tapestry, and the decorations of the place.
"Indeed, it is magnificent," replied Kairos.
At this point, Kairos had steadied himself and began walking on his own once more, aided only by the time staff.
"So, uh, who does this castle belong to anyways?" asked Sam.
"It belonged to the knaves of Project Chronos," Kairos replied plainly.
"What?!" Sam was taken aback. "This is the secret base of the evil leapers?"
"Fear not," Kairos said reassuringly. "For their multitude of crimes against time and space, they have justly been punished."
"So you came in and took them down all by yourself?" Sam was surprised. "That's great! This is one less group of people in the world I'll have to worry about."
"They are thoroughly subdued," Kairos told Sam. "However, because my power weakens, I still require thy help in stabilizing the timelines that they have so thoroughly tampered with."
"I'll do what I can to help," promised Sam. "I mean, you are Father Time after all."
"I am grateful for thy help," Kairos tilted his head. "Thou art a good man, Sam Beckett."
"What do we have to work with?" asked Sam as they walked down another corridor.
Kairos used the time staff, now fused with Lothos, to open up a door that revealed a technologically advanced engineering room that rivaled Project Quantum Leap in almost every way.
"The tools thou require lay here," promised Kairos.
oooo
Zoey was no stranger to time travel. However, to have mastery over time was a completely different matter. Everything seemed to stay perfectly still as she moved as quickly as lightspeed towards her destination.
It was as if absolute power had fallen into her very hands.
On the way, however, she noticed something and stopped quickly. Now frozen in time was Sam Beckett along with Kairos. The two of them looked to be walking side by side seemingly discussing something of importance.
"Oh you have no idea what lies in store for you and your friends," Zoey smiled, turning back to her task at hand.
Wasting no further time, she entered into the main engineering room, entering back into the timestream and surprising a lot of the technicians with her sudden appearance.
"Zoey!" one of the technicians gasped. "How did you get here?"
"Nevermind how," Zoey brushed aside his question. "What do we have on Quantum Leap's observer?"
"He and a female scientist are in a discussion on Dr. Beckett's whereabouts," one of the higher ranking officers told Zoey. "They've isolated the factors of time travel and leaping. Now they've deduced that he's somewhere back in their own time."
"Unacceptable!" Zoey frowned. "Officer, how many operatives do we have back in America?"
"Four or five remain there," the officer confirmed.
"I want you to contact them," ordered Zoey. "Tell them they have new orders."
"Alright," the officer agreed. "What would you have them do?"
"Kidnap the one named Al Calavicci," Zoey ordered. "And bring him here with as little noise as possible."
"What if his friend finds out?" asked the officer.
"We keep this as hushed up as possible," Zoey reminded him. "Besides, it won't be long before Dr. Beckett's services will no longer be required. And when that time comes, I want him and his blasted observer to die together."
"Understood," the officer complied. "I'll get right on it."
At that moment, the door opened up to reveal Sam Beckett and Kairos.
"The tools thou require lay here," Kairos told Sam Beckett.
"So this is Project Chronos, huh?" Sam looked around the area.
To his amazement, the project was every bit as advanced as Project Quantum Leap, albeit with a bigger room and bigger staff. For Sam, it was a shame that much of this project had been wasted on trying to transform history for the worse.
Soon, Sam's wandering eye settled on Zoey.
"Hello Dr. Beckett," the now younger Zoey approached him. "I don't believe I've had the honor."
"Hi there," Sam did not recognize her. "And who might you be?"
"My name is Dawes," Zoey lied, coming up with an alias on the spot. "Miranda Dawes. I was one of the senior advisors working for this project under Vincent Wellington who was a dreadful man. Fortunately for us, this man Kairos put a stop to his mad plans."
Sam took her hand and shook it.
"Say, don't I know you from somewhere?" asked Sam.
For some reason he could not pinpoint, 'Miranda' felt strangely familiar to him, as if he had met her before. But then again, he had seen many faces before travelling through time. And sometimes, those faces tended to blend together. Still, he could not shake the feeling of déjà vu as he stared into the young red haired woman's eyes.
"I don't believe we have," Zoey smiled. "However, your reputation does precede you. Before that loathsome Wellington took full control of this project, Dr. Lothoman was the one who initiated Project Chronos. Much of his work on this project was based on the research you had conducted."
"So I've heard," Sam nodded. "It's a shame I never got to meet Dr. Lothoman. I bet he was a brilliant scientist."
"Dr. Beckett, if thou wishes, thou may familiarize thyself with this project," Kairos told him.
"Sounds good," Sam agreed.
"You there," Zoey ushered in one of the scientists. "Show Dr. Beckett around, would you?"
"Right away," the scientist agreed. "Come on, Dr. Beckett, let's get you a good tour of this place."
As Sam walked off with the scientist, Kairos looked at Zoey with great interest.
"Thy appearance is not as it once was," noted Kairos. "But I know thou art the same women I took as mine apprentice."
"Well?" Zoey asked. "Have I done a good job or what?"
"Indeed thou has," agreed Kairos.
Even he was impressed at how quickly Zoey had mastered a few basic controls of the magical hourglass that hung around her neck. Still, she had a long way to go and he was not about to share all his secrets with her so fast.
"I alerted our remaining agents in America to kidnap the observer and bring him here," Zoey whispered to Kairos.
"Tell me, who else is Sam Beckett close to?" asked Kairos.
Zoey smiled. "I'll go find out."
oooo
"Ziggy, is the scan complete?" asked Al.
He and Sammy Jo Fuller were working overtime at Project Quantum Leap. The two of them sat at one of the tables. Several Burger Kings bags and half-eaten burgers lay scattered across it. Due to the long hours they were putting in, they did not exactly have the time for gourmet food.
"Affirmative," Ziggy replied. "Scans show that Dr. Beckett's quantum particles do no register anywhere on the North American continent."
"Great," Al shook his head. "Sam's on another continent then."
"Mr. Calavicci?" Sammy Jo told him as she looked at the supercomputer's databanks.
"Just call me Al," the former naval officer told her. "No need for formalities here."
"Ziggy's power cells are getting low," Sammy Jo informed the former naval officer. "We'll have to shut her down for the night."
"She is correct, Admiral Calavicci," said Ziggy. "Another routine scan outside of the North American continent could take up to hours. And they are hours that my current energy levels cannot support."
"But Sam is still out there," Al looked despondent.
"I know," Sammy Jo put a hand on Al's shoulder. "We'll find him. I promise. But right now you need rest. Plus you need to be with your family."
"That's right," Al muttered tiredly.
"We'll start looking for him first thing tomorrow," promised Sammy Jo.
"I'll… be here first thing in the morning," Al finally conceded.
"Good night, Al," Sammy Jo told him as Al grabbed his coat.
"Night Sammy Jo," Al waved, heading out of the lab.
Soon, he found himself out in the cold night sky, walking towards his car.
"Sammy Jo… you really are your father's daughter," Al whispered.
oooo
"Hey… Kairos?" Sam Beckett entered into the chambers of the time mage.
"Dr. Beckett," Kairos got up from his chair. "Pray tell, what might I do for thee?"
"Well, I just remembered," Sam told him. "How long have you been keeping watch over time?"
"Since the dawning of the era known to modern man as the Dark Ages," Kairos replied.
"Wow," Sam was amazed. "You were alive for that long, huh?"
"It was a brutal era," confessed Kairos. "I had seen much suffering and injustice during mine own time. More than anything, I desired to make right all that had gone wrong. Finally, the opportunity came to me."
"Well, I figured that since we both come from different time eras, there are a lot of things we could learn from each other," Sam told him enthusiastically.
"Thou art correct," agreed Kairos. "There is much knowledge from this modern era to be gleaned."
"I don't know what the concept of time was like in your era," Sam told him. "But in the present, time has practically been quantified and measured out as a science. With your powers and the scientific knowledge to back it up, we could work together to find some way to mend the time-space continuum."
"Yes, yes," Kairos assented. "It is the only possible—"
Without warning, the time mage leaned over and began coughing violently. Quickly, Sam Beckett got up to help him.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked.
"I have endured worse," Kairos finally spoke, catching his breath.
"We need to get you to a hospital bed," Sam helped the time mage sit back into his chair.
"That won't be necessary," a female voice announced.
The door opened up to reveal Zoey, otherwise known to Sam as Miranda Dawes. In her hands she carried a silver tray with two teacups and a teapot on it.
"This is the herbal tea you requested," Zoey put down the silver tray on the stand next to Kairos' chair.
She then turned to Sam to explain.
"This tea helps to soothe his nerves," she told the physicist.
"Yes, I thank thee for thy hospitality," Kairos nodded.
"Is there anything else you need?" asked Zoey.
"That will be all," Kairos waved her aside.
After Zoey left the room, Kairos took the pot and poured some tea for himself. Clearing his own throat, he downed the warm liquids. After that was done, he poured some additional tea in the second cup at hand.
"I offer thee my hospitality," Kairos gestured towards the cup he had poured for Sam Beckett.
"Alright, thanks," Sam got up and picked up the cup.
Truth be told, he was honestly more in the mood for coffee than tea. But it would have been rude to turn down the time mage's offer.
However, after taking a sip, Sam decided that his initial reluctance wasn't so warranted after all.
"Mmm, this is pretty good," Sam smiled. "What's in it?"
"Tis a mix," Kairos explained. "The tea is filled with rose, hibiscus, lemongrass, and antioxidants."
The sweet aroma swirled all around Sam, triggering a euphoric feeling throughout his entire body.
"The taste is… wonderful," Sam's eyes began to slowly close up.
Soon, the scenes and aroma surrounded Sam. Kairos raised up his hand in a gesture, allowing the aroma to surround Sam in a tight ball before vanishing. At that point, Sam Beckett opened his eyes again.
This time, however, Sam's eyes looked almost glazed over, as if he was in a hypnotic trance.
"I enchanted the tea with a truth spell," Kairos told him, "taught to me by mine own mother. After the spell wears off, thou shalt remember nothing of this conversation."
"I understand," Sam replied robotically.
"Who art thou, Sam Beckett?" asked Kairos. "Reveal to me thy life's story and how thou discovered the properties of time travel."
"My name is Samuel Beckett," Sam spoke as if in a trance. "I was born on August 8th, 1953. My parents were John Samuel Beckett and Thelma Louise Beckett. I had an older brother Tom and a younger sister Katie."
"Continue," Kairos gestured.
"I was raised on farm in Indiana but before long, I knew that wouldn't be the life for me," Sam continued. "But before I left, my brother Tom was killed in the Vietnam War. And at the age of seventeen, my sister Katie ran off with an alcoholic who abused her."
"I see," Kairos' voice softened. "A life marred by tragedy…"
"I always told myself that if I could ever go back in history to right any wrongs, I would do it for my brother and sister," Sam confessed.
"Yes, and how would thou accomplish such a daunting task?" Kairos asked eagerly.
"After I graduated high school, I enrolled at MIT where I came up with the String Theory with a teacher named Professor LoNigro.
"Explain," Kairos ordered.
"The String Theory was what I came up with that inspired me to create the time travel project known as Quantum Leap," Sam continued on, seemingly oblivious to all that he was giving away. "It was best represented by a string. A string would have two ends, except in this case one end represents birth while the other end represents death. Tie the ends together and you would form a loop. And because all the days of your life touch each other, I realized that I could theoretically leap from one day to another in my own lifetime."
Kairos sat there, fascinated by what the man was telling him.
"Samuel Beckett," Kairos told him. "Thou must tell me everything about Project Quantum Leap. Dost thou understand?"
"I understand," Sam Beckett nodded almost dreamily before continuing.
oooo
Pulling up to his driveway, Al Calavicci parked his car and got out.
It had been a long day and by now, Beth and his daughters were most likely asleep. Fortunately, he had told them beforehand that he would be home late.
It was not often that he came home during the after-hours but in this case, a special exception had to be made for his friend Sam.
As Al got out, he heard his cell phone ringing. He picked it up from his pocket and saw that the call was from Gooshie.
"How'd it go?" asked Gooshie.
"So far not good," confirmed Al. "Sammy Jo and I still weren't able to locate Sam."
"So he's not in the country anymore, is he?" Gooshie inquired.
"No, he's somewhere outside," Al replied. "Tomorrow Ziggy should have enough backup power to conduct a wider scan."
"Alright, well I have to get back to Tina," Gooshie acknowledged. "Have a good night, Al."
"You too Gooshie," Al responded and hung up on his cell phone.
As he raised his head, he saw a black ops soldier standing right in front of him.
"Al Calavicci, you're coming with us," the soldier stated plainly.
Before Al could muster a response, another soldier came in from behind, grabbing Al from behind and placing a black leather bag over his head. The soldier in front of Al then took out a baton with an electric charge at its tip and thrust it into Al's stomach, administering an electrical shock that knocked him out completely.
"Good job," the soldier with the baton told his partner. "Now let's get him in the car with the other prisoner."