A Leap Into Destiny
Secrets Revealed
Al was not fully aware of what had just happened. But it seemed as if a good portion of time had passed him by.
As soon as he became conscious, he realized that he was bound and gagged with a mask of some sort over his head. At once, the two men carrying him removed it to reveal what appeared to be a prison cell in some kind of dungeon.
"What the—" Al came to his senses slowly.
The two men took off his cuffs additionally and then shoved him inside the jail cell. After they closed it, they stepped back, grinning at Al.
"You nozzles had better let me out of here!" warned Al.
"Or you'll what?" a young woman's voice spoke out.
Al saw before him a young redheaded woman in a black dress. Something about her demeanor seemed familiar. During his bachelor days, he would have no doubt made a move on her but now, Al knew better than to let a pretty face distract him now that he had Beth by his side.
"And who might you be?" asked Al.
"You don't recognize me?" asked Zoey with a smile.
"Should I?" asked Al.
"You should," Zoey replied. "Especially after all you, Sam, and I have been through."
"Hmph," snorted Al. "I've never seen you in my life. And you mean to tell me you know me and Sam?"
"Instead of telling you, let me show you," Zoey told him.
Gripping the mystic hourglass around her neck, Zoey aged herself back to her natural age, allowing Al to see her for who she really was.
"Zoey!" Al gripped the bars of the cell.
After allowing Al to see her for her true nature, Zoey transformed herself back to her youthful form.
"How?" Al was shocked. "You… you just—"
"Turned the laws of nature upside down?" Zoey asked. "You have no idea!"
"Try me," Al glared at her.
"There is more to time travel than you realize," Zoey informed him. "I have discovered that one does not merely need to leap through time… but rather, I've learned that one may control time itself and harness its powers!"
"How?" demanded Al. "That's impossible! Not even Project Quantum Leap could control time."
"How small minded you are," Zoey shook her head. "There are forces in this world outside of science that will enable me."
Al could only look at her in confusion.
"Allow me to give you a demonstration," Zoey told him.
In a flash, Zoey vanished. In surprise, Al blinked in shock and the next second, she was right beside him.
"Whoa!" Al took a step back from her. "How did you…"
"I slowed down time, opened up the door, and let myself in," she informed him.
Al looked at her nervously. He did not like where this was going.
Without warning, Zoey grabbed him by the forehead as the hourglass on her necklace glowed. A surge of power soon enveloped Al, pulsating through his entire body. Al tried struggling against her grip but it was immensely vice-like.
Finally, Zoey let go of him.
Al stumbled back, catching himself against the wall.
"What did you do to me?" asked Al.
Zoey took out a mirror from her pockets and handed it to Al.
"Take a look," she told him.
Al glanced at the mirror and noticed just how much he had changed. The wrinkles on his face were gone, only to be replaced by more youthful features. He now looked exactly the same as the old days when he was known as Bingo.
"I don't believe it," Al was shocked. "Did you just make me young again?"
"Yes I did," Zoey nodded.
"I… I haven't felt like this in a long time," Al looked at his own hands. "I'm young again!"
"Don't get used to it," Zoey told him. "Look in the mirror again."
Al raised the mirror to take another glimpse of himself. This time, his youth was gone and he had been restored to his natural age. In shock, Al dropped the mirror onto the ground.
"There's more to mastering time than your pitiful project," Zoey reminded the project observer.
"Why have you brought me here?" demanded Al.
"We've been keeping a careful eye on you," Zoey replied. "We simply can't afford to have you ruining our plans."
Realization dawned upon Al.
"Sam's here, isn't he?" Al glared at her. "You have him, don't you?!"
"That… is on a need-to-know basis," Zoey turned around, walking away.
oooo
"There was one leap I took that was unique compared to all my other leaps," Sam admitted.
For the longest time, he had been deep in conversation with Kairos, revealing the most intimidate of secrets with the time mage. However, under the spell of the potion he had drank down with the tea, spilling all his secrets felt very much like nothing more than sharing his life's story with a friend.
"Do tell," Kairos nodded.
"I was leaped into an old mining town where a lot of the people there had names similar to the people at Project Quantum Leap," Sam continued. "A lot of things didn't become clear to me then but soon I realized what it was I leaped there for."
Sam straightened his collar, recalling the story vividly.
"There was a bartender there also named Al," said Sam. "At first he seemed like a friendly patron… but then he was revealed to be much more."
"Was he?" Kairos' interest was piqued.
"I can't say for sure," Sam replied, "but I think whoever Al was, he may have been the Judeo-Christian God."
"Thou art telling me that a mere tavern worker was the God of the Hebrews?" Kairos sounded skeptical.
"That was what was hinted at," acknowledged Sam. "He told me that in my line of work, the life I lived was similar to that of a priest. Priests don't always get a choice where they're assigned but they're allowed Sabbaticals before tougher assignments. In a way, Al the bartender was telling me that my leaps would get tougher."
"And doth thou believe… in the God of the Old and New Testament?" asked Kairos.
"I, uh, well… I've never really been put on the spot about this before," Sam admitted.
Kairos noticed the color slowly returning to Sam's face. The truth potion he had laced Sam's drink with was wearing off. By this time, however, they had long been done with the more secretive aspects of the Project Quantum Leap discussion.
"Thou hast seen many strange and wonderful things on thy journey," Kairos pointed out. "Doth thou believe in a creator?"
"Well," Sam took a deep breath. "As a scientist, religion had been more or less divorced from my life the moment I entered into college. But when I was younger, I do recall attending church with my parents."
"And now?" asked Kairos. "Doth thou believe?"
"With everything I've seen in all of my leaps, I would have to say there are things out there that can't be explained by science," Sam answered, giving an answer he hoped would cause no offense. "Besides, I'm standing here talking to the guardian of time himself."
As Sam looked up, he noticed the sun rising.
"Hey, the sun's rising," he pointed out. "Guess I've been talking for so long I forgot the time."
"Do not fret," Kairos told Sam. "In truth, I very much enjoyed my conversation with thee."
"So how about you?" asked Sam. "Do you believe in a creator?"
"It depends on one's definition," Kairos answered. "Was there a force that brought about creation as we know it? I believe it to be true. Is this creator a benevolent force who helps orphans and widows? I very much doubt that."
Sam Beckett got up, stretching his arms. He was growing a bit uncomfortable having a discussion like this. While he acknowledged that there was more to the world than he had previously thought, he was still a bit cautious about having these kinds of talks that went beyond his usual expertise in science.
"Well look at that time!" Sam looked out at the sun. "I bet I took a pretty big time skip when I came down here, huh?"
"Indeed," Kairos got up. "Please excuse me for the time being."
As Kairos got up, Sam nodded and left the room to head towards the direction of the Project Chronos lab.
When Kairos was certain Sam was gone for good, he turned towards the fireplace and began chanting.
"Unus quisnam est occultus vadum ostendo sum unus ego."
"It is done, doctor?" asked Kairos.
From out of the shadows a man appeared. He was a blonde haired man at middle age, wearing a lab coat and holding a recording device in his hands.
"All the important details on Project Quantum Leap have been recorded," confirmed the man. "But I ran out of recording space when he went on and on about his adventures in the past."
"Good, then let us put his secrets to good use," Kairos smiled underneath his hood.
oooo
As Al sat in his jail cell pacing back and forth, he was surprised with the whistling of another inmate in a cell close to his.
"Somebody there?" Al called out.
"Who are you?" a distinctly British voice answered. "You sound like an American by your accent alone."
"Name's Al," the project observer replied. "I assume you're another one of the prisoners down here?"
"I wasn't always," the British voice answered. "I am Vincent Wellington."
"Hmm, never heard of that name before," Al confessed. "So what did they lock you up in here for?"
"Before this unfortunate coup d'état, I was head of Project Chronos," Wellington replied. "All the magnificence of this project you see before you was due to my efforts."
Al's ears perked up in alarm.
"You mean, Alia… Zoey… leaping around in time," Al asked. "Undoing all the happy endings of the people Sam had helped… that was your doing?"
Wellington snorted. "Well, I suppose I can't take credit for ALL of it. After all, it was Nathaniel's blueprints that helped to make this project a reality."
"Nathaniel?" Al asked suspiciously. "As in Nathaniel Lothoman?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," said Wellington. "And speaking of which, just who are you? You seem to know an awful lot about our project and that other time travel project in America."
Before Al could answer, he felt a sudden coldness down his spine as dark mists surrounded the room.
"Are you deaf?" demanded Wellington. "Who the blazes are you?!"
From the dark mists, Kairos appeared, holding his time staff menacingly.
"You," Al stepped away from the dark figure.
"It is I," Kairos answered.
From his side of the cell, Vincent Wellington heard the same familiar voice that had reduced him to a prisoner in his own castle and immediately fell quiet.
"You have Sam, don't you?" demanded Al.
"That is correct," confirmed Kairos. "And soon, when we have no more need of his assistance, thou shalt meet thy companion once more."
"Why do I get the feeling it's not going to involve the two of us driving off into the sunset merrily?" Al asked sarcastically.
"I have mine own reasons," Kairos told the man. "And neither thyself nor Sam Beckett shall leave unpunished."
"What are we being punished for?" demanded Al. "We've done nothing to you."
"Oh but thou has," Kairos answered with a gesture of his hand.
At once, Al felt an invisible force surrounding him and throwing him back-first against the wall. After hitting his head, Al crumpled to the ground unconscious.
"Alongside thyself, Sam Beckett was able to change the lives of many," Kairos walked away from the prone body of Al. "He saved the lives of many and brought families back together… all except mine own."
oooo
"Hello Dr. Beckett," one of the project technicians came up to Sam. He was a blonde man in roughly his forties with a lab coat and glasses
"Morning," Sam replied, shaking his hand.
"My name is William Oliver," the technician told Sam. "Under Wellington, I was forced to participate in his inhuman time travel projects. He threatened my wife and daughter if I didn't help him send agents like Alia and Zoey back in time to destroy the lives of others. Unfortunately I didn't have a choice but to comply."
"It's okay," Sam told him. "You're human, just like the rest of us. If somebody had threatened people close to me, there's a chance I might've had no choice but to help them just to make sure my family was safe."
"Thank you for understanding, Sam," Dr. Oliver smiled. "But now that Wellington is no longer in power, there's a chance we could do some real good with this project. We could do what you've done and change the past for the better."
"Yeah, about that," Sam interjected. "I was thinking we could do further research on time travel before we send people back into the past."
"Really?" asked Dr. Oliver. "But against all the odds and naysayers, you travelled back in time to take part in history itself."
"I did," admitted Sam. "Back then I was in danger of losing my funding. I was so desperate to prove my theory right, I leaped headfirst into the fray without thinking. And thanks to that, I was stuck in time for several years away from my loved ones."
"But you've done a lot of good for people haven't you?" asked Dr. Oliver.
"That's true," Sam admitted, "but now that I'm hopefully older and wiser, I think extra research needs to be made for time travel. Look, I'm not against changing history for the better but we need to foolproof projects like these and find a way to be able to retrieve anyone we send back into the past. That way, we won't have a scenario like mine where whoever is sent back gets stuck back there for years of his life."
"Well, you do raise a good point," William Oliver conceded. "I suppose we could devote more time and resources to further research on the intricacies of time travel."
"Thanks for listening," Sam smiled.
"Hopefully once Kairos and Zo—err Miranda return," Dr. Oliver added, catching himself in his mistake mid-sentence, "we can discuss this more in depth."
At once Sam noticed Dr. Oliver's slip of the tongue. However, as to not stir the man's suspicion, he did not make any mention of it.
"Yeah, uh, sounds like this needs to be a round table discussion," Sam told him. "Anyways, do you mind if I have a look around this whole castle again? I don't think I've seen all the sights just yet."
"Absolutely Dr. Beckett," Dr. Oliver agreed. "What was that they always said? Mi casa es su casa?"
oooo
Zoey held the hourglass tenderly in her hands as she strolled through the gardens. Before her, leapers like Sam and Alia had been blessed to travel through time. She, however, had the powers of time itself at her command.
"I could really get used to this," she smiled as she walked down a path of ripe apple trees.
As she continued her stroll, the dark aura given off by the hourglass aged all the apple trees within her immediate vicinity into rotted dead vegetation. Both the leaves and apples withered up and died as Zoey walked by.
"So this is what absolute power feels like?" she smiled.
"Thou art truly a prodigy," Kairos appeared before her almost out of nowhere.
"Ah yes," Zoey looked at her master. "This gift you've bestowed upon me is truly a work of art."
"The hourglass responds well to those who have traversed time before," Kairos informed her. "Your control over time is impressive."
"I agree," Zoey walked towards Kairos abortively. "With almost no formal training, I've made the powers of this hourglass my own. At this point, I think I'm powerful enough to even—"
"Thou art a truly talented apprentice," Kairos told her, "But thou art not yet a time mage."
At once, the hourglass appeared in the gnarled hands of Kairos. Zoey could do nothing but stare in shock as her power left her. Soon, she felt her youth leave her as well, transforming her back into the older woman she once was. All of it was too much to bear and Zoey soon collapsed on her knees.
"Thy pride will be thy undoing," Kairos warned her. "Do not be so quick to assume again."
"Yes," Zoey gasped, realizing for the first time just how weak she was. "I understand. Please Kairos, I need the power of the hourglass. I need your guidance!"
She stared at him pleadingly. Finally, Kairos relented with a mere gesture as the hourglass reappeared on her neck as part of her necklace chain.
"Thank you," she gasped.
"Verily, thou art a talented disciple," Kairos told her. "But thou still hast much to learn!"
"Excuse me ma'am," one of the technicians walked up to Zoey.
Kairos, however, would allow for no interruptions. Slamming his time staff into the ground, he froze time itself, enveloping the entire castle in quantum energy mixed with his own time-based magic. Zoey looked behind and saw the technician frozen in time just like a statue.
"Thy lesson begins now," Kairos told her.
oooo
Tossing and turning at night, Sam Beckett found that sleep was a lot harder to come by now that he had been plucked from his base in New Mexico and placed in a different part of the world with a completely different time zone.
Not only that, but his throat had been parched and so far, there were no jugs of water or water bottles in the room he was staying in.
Also, he was starting to feel that something was amiss. Earlier in the day, the scientist Dr. Oliver had almost called Miranda "Zoey" before correcting himself. He was not sure how the young woman could have been the older leaper Zoey but something was still amiss.
Getting up, Sam buttoned up his shirt and opened up the door, going into the darkened halls.
After making his way to the kitchen, Sam poured himself amid the dark room and downed it heartily. In spite of the advanced technology he had seen here, the kitchen had almost no lighting to speak of. It also didn't help that the candles mounted on the walls had already gone out.
Quietly, Sam left the room only to hear hushed voices down the hall. Curiously, he went over to investigate.
As Sam took a quick peak around the corner while he was hidden by the shadows, what he saw were two soldiers guarding a doorway.
"So why haven't we iced that Quantum Leap observer yet?" one of the guards asked.
"Because," his partner told him, "we need to use him as a bargaining chip in case Sam Beckett turns on us."
"Al!" Sam said quietly as realization dawned upon him.
Somewhere in this castle, his partner Al Calavicci was being held captive.
"I gotcha," the guard replied. "Anyways, I gotta head to the little boy's room."
"Yeah, speaking of which, I gotta go too."
"Seriously? It's not guard duty if nobody's guarding the dungeon."
"Look, when you gotta go, you gotta go. I've been holding it in for a long time."
"Fine. Let's make it quick."
As the two guards walked away, Sam stepped out of the entrance hall and walked towards the door leading to the dungeon. Somewhere down there was Al Calavicci and he would be damned if he let anything happen to his friend.
"Excuse me, Dr. Beckett?"
Sam turned around. Dr William Oliver stood there before him..
"Dr. Oliver," Sam said matter-of-factly.
"Out pretty late, aren't you?" Dr. Oliver asked with a smile.
"I couldn't sleep," Sam told him. "Jet lag. Not that I was on a plane but you get my meaning."
"Well, let me walk you back to your room," offered Dr. Oliver. "This castle can be a big place where you can easily get lost."
"Actually, I was thinking about staying up a bit later," Sam told him. "See what's beyond this door."
With that, Sam opened the door wide.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Dr. Beckett," Dr. Oliver's usually friendly voice turned sour.
Suddenly, Sam heard an electronic buzzing sound and as soon as he whirled around, Dr. Oliver had pulled out a taser. As Dr. Oliver attacked him, Sam kicked the taser out of his hand instinctively like he had before with many other assailants coming at him with a weapon.
However, Dr. Oliver was far from through. With a straightforward punch, he sent Sam Beckett staggering back. Sam quickly caught himself and blocked an incoming swing at the left side of his head, returning the favor by punching Dr. Oliver square across the jaw.
Angrily, Dr. Oliver charged, tackling Sam and knocking him down at full force. At once, Sam felt the breath being knocked out of him. He was not aware that Dr. Oliver was a former rugby player, capable of hitting hard in his tackles.
As Sam looked up, Dr. Oliver was on top of him, gripping him by the neck.
"Guards!" shouted Dr. Oliver. "Come quickly."
Sam tilted his head back further, noticing that both he and Dr. Oliver were only inches away from a long winding staircase. Reaching up and gripping Dr. Oliver by the collar, Sam planted one foot on the ground and one foot underneath the scientist's stomach, flipping Dr. Oliver over and sending the man crashing down the stairs.
Getting up, Sam went inside and closed the door behind him. By the time Sam reached the end of the stairs, he noticed he was in a dungeon with the torches still lit. On the floor was the unconscious body of Dr. William Oliver.
"Thanks for the guided tour," he glared down at his assailant.
"Who's there?" a familiar voice called out.
At once, Sam recognized that voice. It was the voice of his friend and companion, Al Calavicci.
Quickly, Sam ran over to where the voice was coming from. Sure enough, Al was inside one of the cells in the dungeon. He looked a bit haggard from being held captive but was otherwise in one piece.
"Al!" shouted Sam. "You're here!"
"Sam!" Al looked up in shock. "Is that really you?"
"It is!" Sam said excitedly. "I need to get you out of here!"
"You got the keys?" asked Al.
"Well… not exactly," confessed Sam. "How did you end up down here anyways?"
"A bunch of masked men kidnapped me and sedated me," answered Al. "Next thing I know, I was down here."
"I'm starting to get the feeling that not everything is what it seems," Sam confessed. "The people who brought me here claim that the evil leapers are gone for good. Now I'm not so sure."
"Think you could get the dungeon keys from one of the guards?" asked Al.
"Yeah, uh, one problem," Sam replied sheepishly. "One of those guys caught me nosing around here and called the guards."
Suddenly, the look of worry on Al's face transformed into pure alarm.
"Sam, watch out!" shouted Al.
As Sam turned around, a soldier blasted Sam in the stomach with a taser, sending a surge of electricity through the quantum physicist's stomach. Finally, the soldier stopped what he was doing, allowing Sam to fall down unconscious.