[Ted Cassidy's Voice:]... Dr. David Banner—physician, scientist...searching for a way to tap into the hidden strengths that all humans have. Then, an accidental overdose of gamma radiation alters his body chemistry. And now, when David Banner grows angry or outraged, a startling metamorphosis occurs... "Raaaaaaarh!"... The creature is driven by rage and pursued by an investigative reporter. [Dr. Banner:] "Mr. McGee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.". . . The creature is wanted for a murder he didn't commit. . . David Banner is believed to be dead. And he must let the world think that he IS dead, until he can find a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within him... "Raaaaaaaaaarh!"
"This script is crossover fiction. It is a placement of two discrete fictional characters, Doctor David Banner ("The Incredible Hulk") and Doctor Sam Beckett ("Quantum Leap"). I do not own the rights to the Incredible Hulk or Quantum Leap, nor do I own any of the characters that are associated with either of the television shows. A lot of (not all) of the places, addresses, people, and story-lines are fictional. Anything or events that are similar to stories or locations, past and present, was completely and utterly unintended or coincidental."
This episode (if aired) would have been the episode after my last fan-fiction script: "When Green Met Red, Part 1 and 2," which occurs 39 days later, and 100 days after the episode: "A Minor Problem," which aired on Wednesday, May 12, 1982.
RECOMMENDATION: To truly be able to follow and appreciate the story, it is recommended that you read my Incredible Hulk fan fiction script: "When Green Met Red, Part 1 & 2." Also, you should watch the 21st episode of Quantum Leap entitled: "Another Mother." Then, you should read the Quantum Leap novel entitled: "Angels Unaware" (ISBN: 1-57297-206-8).
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Westmoreland County
SpringHill Suites Marriott Pittsburgh Latrobe
SpringHill Suites Marriott Pittsburgh Latrobe
115 Arnold Palmer Drive
Latrobe, Pennsylvania 15650
Friday, August 20, 1982
8:35 a.m. (EDT)
Everything inside the motel room is quiet. Amelia and David lie in the motel bed, sleeping. Amelia sleeping on the right side and David sleeping on the left. They both begin to move around and awaken simultaneously. With Amelia's right hand and David's left, they begin to hold hands. They both smile as they see each other.
Amelia: "Morning."
David: "Morning... How'd you sleep?"
Amelia: "Great. You?"
David: "Great."
Amelia: "I notice you've been sleeping deeper and deeper since we've been together."
David: "Yes, I've noticed that, too."
Amelia: "Do I wear you out at night?," she said jokingly.
David chuckled.
David: "Uh no. No."
Amelia sat up in the motel bed.
Amelia: "Well, we have a long day ahead of us. When does the bus leave?"
David: "10:30 tonight. It'll be 38 dollars for both of us. That should put us in New York City by 6:35 tomorrow morning."
David sat up in the motel bed.
Amelia: "You think we'll be able to hitch hike to the Greyhound Bus Station?"
David: "Sure. We've got plenty of time. We've got less than 14 hours."
Amelia: "Yeah, that'll give us time to clean up, check out, eat a nice meal, and hitch hike our way to the Greyhound Bus Station."
Amelia put on her bath robe and stood up.
"All right then, I'm taking a shower. You okay?"
David: "Yeah."
Amelia walked into the bathroom and began to take her shower. David put his pants on and stood up. He stretched, then looked out the fourth floor window and let out a quiet sigh.
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Bernalillo County
Zimmerman Library
Zimmerman Library
1900 Roma Avenue North East
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106
Thursday, June 21, 2018
10:08 a.m. (MDT)
Neila: "Ah yeah, this is it. 'The Archive Room'. We should find some good stuff in here."
Sherman: "Tell me again why we had to come here to the collection of historical documents and records from the 20th century."
Marvin: "Yeah. The 20th century was - like - forever ago."
Neila: "What are you talking about? We haven't lived through the first quarter century since the turn of the century."
Marvin: "Okay, it was HALF of forever ago."
Neila: "There is no 'half of forever'. The problem you're assuming is that you can treat infinity like a number. Infinity is not a number. If you ask: 'what is half of infinity?'," your question has no answer. We might be able to put it into a model to explain it. For example, INFINITE divided by TWO = X. Ergo, X is half of forever."
Marvin: "Okay, it was X ago."
Sherman: "I take it you two don't know much about infinity. Mathematicians have done A LOT with infinity, since it's so complex and counterintuitive. Everyone can profit from a quick explanation about the modern theory of infinity or, at least, of some of its findings. Infinity plus one is Infinity. Obviously, INFINITY divided by 2 = INFINITY, and INFINITY + INFINITY = INFINITY."
Neila: "What's your point?"
There is a moment of silence.
Sherman: "I forget."
Neila: "Look, I don't want to spend all day in here. With the three of us, we should find something interesting to do our group dissertation."
Marvin: "Yeah, but why the archives? Surely we can find something more up-to-date to research."
Neila: "Scientists back in the late 20th century had ideas that were just as interesting as the technology we have today. There were some scientists that could have used the technology we have today back then. Today's technology could have sped their research up, even done more good with it. Look at so far investigators have gone with Forensics in the past half century alone."
Marvin: "So, you want to attempt to reboot scientific projects that weren't good for their time, but would be good today?"
Neila: "If we come across something interesting a scientific project that WAS good for its time, but would be BETTER today, maybe we could research it."
Sherman: "Well, it shouldn't be TOO hard. Everything in here is alphabetized."
Marvin: "Hmh, 'Project Virtual Reality'. 'What was the virtual reality hardware and software like in the 1990's'? Hey, we can elaborate on how the tools of the past compare what is being used now?"
Neila: "I'm sure THAT'S been done to death."
Sherman: "How do YOU know?"
Neila: "Guys, we need something a little more far-fetched than something that's become a reality."
Marvin: "How about 'Project Redbook'? Hey, it was done right in in Albuquerque."
Neila: "Really? Where?"
Marvin: "Uhhhhh, Manzano Mountain."
Sherman: "You mean the Kirtland Air Force Base?"
Marvin: "Yep. This place called: the Munitions Storage Complex was excavated by the Air Force to serve as a nuclear weapons storage area. The mountain is visible a couple of miles south of I-40 on the eastern outskirts of Albuquerque. Security is extremely tight there."
Neila: "What about 'Project Redbook'? What was it all about?"
Marvin: "It says reports of grey aliens operating within some of the deeper levels."
Neila: "Aliens? Seriously?"
Marvin: "That's what it says. A 285,000 square foot underground extension facility was constructed in the same area in 1989, although heavy secrecy surrounds these facilities, so no one can either confirm or deny these reports."
Neila: "We don't need to mess with Area 51 stuff... Hey, what that box right next to it?"
Marvin grabbed the box, took it off the shelf, and held it.
Marvin: "It says: 'Project Quantum Leap'."
Neila: "Quantum Leap? What was THAT about?"
Marvin sat the box on the self and opened the box up. He began looking at the files.
Marvin: "Okay... 'Project Quantum Leap' was a sequel of the Starbright Project that was being ran in the 1980's. The purpose of the Starbright Project was to develop an interstellar drive, a space craft, which would travel at the speed of light to enable it's occupants to explore deep into space beyond our own solar system. However, the project was shutdown in 1990 to be replaced with 'Project Quantum Leap'. 'Project Quantum Leap' was a big time-travel project led by Dr. Sam Beckett, based on the String Theory. He wanted to prove his theories and, thus, led a group of scientists into the desert, where they built the project complex. Therefore, 'Project Quantum Leap' stood for Sam's project and theories, and the actual complex. The projects total initial funding was 43 billion dollars. Along with an additional running total of 2.4 billion funded needed a year."
Neila: "This was a time travel project?"
Marvin: "Yeah, this Dr. Sam Beckett theorized that one could time travel within their own lifetime."
Neila: "Did he succeed?"
Marvin: "I don't know. There's a box filled with information here. They pulled the plug on the project on New Year's Day at the turn of the century."
Neila: "Why?"
Marvin: "New year. New decade. New century. New millennium. Congress didn't think the project was getting anywhere, so they the stopped the funding for it."
Neila: "This sounds interesting. Let's go to a research room and read all about this."
Marvin: "Do you know how much material we have in here?"
Neila: "The library closes at 11 p.m. We've got over 12 hours. I think we have time."
_______________________________________________________________
On a Greyhound Bus
Traveling on Interstate 78 East
Altoona, Blair County, Pennsylvania 16603
Friday, August 20, 1982
11:51 p.m. (EDT)
David and Amelia were sitting together, riding on a Greyhound Bus. There next stop? New York City. It was dark and quiet, on a 57° night. Amelia was reading a book. David was just sitting there, lost in semi-pleasant reverie. Amelia looked over at David and put her left and hand on his right hand. David looked over at Amelia.
Amelia: "Penny for your thoughts."
David wasn't sure what to say. Lots of thoughts would cross his mind while he'd be traveling, especially late at night. His thoughts would fly by like subway trains in an underpass. He spent so many years walking alone along empty roads, days and nights, with nothing BUT his thoughts. He think about where he was going, where he'd been, people he'd met, and ways he could cure himself of the Hulk. He'd think about his two beloved wives and his special friend and colleague: Dr. Elaina Marks. Lately, he'd think about Amelia and whether he'd be able to have a steadfast future with her. Deep down, he really wanted that. He and Amelia seemed to mesh well. They had so much in common and both of them were thrilled to have someone that they could have intellectual conversations with. However, David could not see them having a resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering future, unless he were rid of the Hulk and able to live a normal life. His head was thinking this. But his heart had begun to deeply care for her. He had been intimate many times with Amelia and his heart didn't want to let her go. He had talked with her about his doubts about having a normal life with her due to his sporadic metamorphosis into the Hulk. But Amelia was headstrong. Her obstinate attitude about parting ways with David kept them together, as she continued to be his travel companion. David would think of Elaina and have a saudade feeling. Saudade is Portuguese for "missing." It is derived from Latin: "cupido,"and the Greek: "lachtára," meaning "desire." The poignancy of her memories and not expressing his love for her would overwhelm him with wistfulness. He'd think of he and Amelia together and his feelings would be clear. Yeah! Clear as mud. And it was that equivocal mental conflict that was causing his exulansis. David, then, just said the first thing that came to his mind.
David: "Oh, not much. A little bit of nothing and a little bit of everything... Does that make sense?"
Amelia: "Sure it does."
It came quite a surprise to David that what he said made perfect sense to Amelia.
David: "Really?"
Amelia: "Sure. You possess a variety of numerous thoughts and emotions tenaciously. And yet, you're nonplussed when having to express them because of that."
David: "You're Ph.D is coming in quite handy."
Amelia smiles and chuckles a little.
Amelia: "It's okay, David. Not all thoughts and feelings are made to be conveyed."
David: "I'm sorry I'm not a good conversationalist tonight."
Amelia: "Oh, it's okay. Do you want a book to read? I find that it makes the time go faster."
David: "Uh, no thanks. I get motion sickness whenever I read in a moving vehicle anymore."
Amelia: "Oh. Lucky me. I don't have that problem."
David: "What book are YOU reading?"
Amelia: "It's '2010: Odyssey Two'. It's a sequel to the 1968 novel: '2001: A Space Odyssey'. Ever read that book?"
David: "'2001: A Space Odyssey'; yes, I have. I didn't know you were into science fiction."
Amelia: "Well, I got into '2001: A Space Odyssey'. I was 11 years old and down with the flu. My máthair knew I loved science, so she bought me that book to read, while I was stuck in bed. The sequel is set nine years after the failure of the Discovery One mission to Jupiter. A joint Soviet-American crew on the Soviet spaceship: Alexei Leonov, named after the cosmonaut, arrives to discover what went wrong with the earlier mission, to investigate the monolith in orbit around the planet, and to resolve the disappearance of David Bowman."
David: "Ah, sounds interesting. You'll have to let me know how it ends."
Amelia: "Sure... Hey, have you ever used 'David Bowman' as an alias?"
David: "Actually, yes. Quite a few times."
Amelia: "Ah... You know, it's been an interesting experience traveling around with you this past month."
David: "It's nice to have a companion."
They both smile at each other.
"You ever regret not taking the internship at Johns Hopkins?"
Amelia sat and thought for a moment.
Amelia: "No, not really."
David: "Not really as in: 'you regret it a little'?"
Amelia: "Well, I did work really hard to get into Graduate School and Medical School. I got a 165 on my GRE and a 36 on the MCAT's."
David: "A 36; 97th percentile. Very impressive. I got a 38 myself. You could've gotten into Harvard Medical School, if you wanted to. You know, Harvard Medical School is widely regarded as one of the top medical schools in the country."
Amelia: "Well, I picked a college that would be the best for the field I was going into, which was Behavioral Neuroscience. I wasn't just trying to look good by attending an Ivy League university."
David: "What is involved in Behavioral Neuroscience, anyway?"
Amelia: "It's the principles of biology to the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behavior in humans and other animals."
David: "I see... What do behavioral neuroscience do, exactly?"
Amelia: "Study and research the development and function of the nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord, and nerve cells throughout the body and studies how biological processes influence human behaviors, feelings and thoughts."
David: "Ah, so you took a lot of science courses, as well as psychology courses."
Amelia: "Yeah, I made sure I had an intense taste of both worlds."
David and Amelia sat quietly for a moment or so.
"Uhm, David?"
David: "Yes?"
Amelia: "Uhm,— I was just wondering, uhm— just out of curiosity if— well, if—..."
There came a sudden awkward silence.
David: "Yes?"
There is a couple more seconds of awkward silence.
Amelia: "Nothing."
David: "You sure?"
Quickly, Amelia answers.
Amelia: "Yeah, yeah, it's nothing... Really."
Amelia went back to reading her book. David nods and continues his silence, knowing very well that what Amelia wanted to ask him was not "nothing." He didn't know it for sure, but figured her curiosity was whether or not he thought about the both of them remaining a couple. And he had thought about it. He had been contemplating it all month long. And even though there were many times during that month went he would seriously consider it, the reality of the Hulk always made him thing otherwise. Amelia, on the other hand, was quite sure she wanted to stay with David, no matter where he went. All of her life, she always chose ambition over love. She always followed her dreams, instead of her heart. She wondered if those decisions were the correct ones. She also wondered if choosing love this time would make her happier and feel more fulfilled. David had the experience of being a drifter for almost five years, and he'd do anything within reason to either get his old life back or live a normal life from then on. Would that life include Amelia? He would admit to himself that Amelia being a part of his new normal life, without the Hulk, was quite compelling. In fact, to David, Amelia's very presence was very captivating, even smitten. As a left-brained individual, David knew, on a logical, analytical, and objective level, that his feelings for Amelia were an intellectual infatuation. Amelia knew her feelings weren't "true love," but it was a mild limerence. It was a state of mind resulting from a romantic attraction, characterized by feelings of euphoria while around David. It had never and would never cross the line into obsession or emotional dependency. But she so had a longing for her feelings to be reciprocated. David had told her, while they were in Polson, that he did have feelings for her, but she was still careful as to how she approached the subject of whatever relationship they had developed.
_______________________________________________________________
Zimmerman Library
1900 Roma Avenue North East
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106
Thursday, June 21, 2018
2:23 p.m. (MDT)
The three graduate students are still looking through the Project Quantum Leap files. All of them are fascinated by what they learned.
Sherman: "No, he was a physicist who had become stuck in the past as a result of a time-travel experiment gone wrong, and his attempts to return to his present, the late 20th century at the time, was by altering events in the past for the better."
Neila: "Changing history for the better is a good thing."
Sherman: "His reasons for wanting to travel through time wasn't for that reason. Or, at least, that reason wasn't his own. It was from some unknown force. What did they call it?"
Marvin: "God or Fate or Time, or, to make it an acronym: G.F.T."
Sherman: "Yeah, that's it."
Neila: "You guys, we have to look at the bigger picture here. This quantum physicist wanted to made the world a better place. He thought he could do that by traveling through time. Now, obviously, he figured he could travel to the past, within his own lifetime, and be able to come back to his present day. Unfortunately, it went awry because they could not retrieve him to his present day and some unknown force out there took control of his way of time traveling."
Marvin: "But there are other smaller pictures we have to consider?"
Neila: "Such as?"
Marvin: "Okay. How do we know that this Doctor Beckett even succeeded in traveling through time? It was never proven by the people involved with the project or to the powers the be that he traveled through time."
Neila: "There are thorough notes in here that indicate that he DID succeed in traveling to the past, within his own lifetime. He just wasn't able to come back to his present time to prove that he did."
Marvin: "Exactly. How do WE know that he actually traveled through time? They needed money every year to keep the project going. How do we know that the whole 'we can't get him out of the past' problem wasn't just a ploy to keep the project going?"
Sherman: "Yeah, anybody could go into hiding, especially in the desert."
Neila: "For 4 ½ years?"
Sherman: "Look, they pulled the plug on the project for a reason, right?"
Marvin: "Yeah, for one of three reasons. Either Doctor Beckett was unable to travel back in time, as he'd hoped. Second, he WAS able to travel back in time, but nobody could prove it. Or three, they could come up with SOME proof the Doctor Beckett was able to travel back in time, but despite any thing they showed the powers that be, they didn't believe them."
Sherman: "And no matter which on of the three it was, they pulled plug and Project Quantum Leap was branded a failure."
Neila: "But let's just say for a moment that it technically wasn't a failure. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that Doctor Beckett did succeed in enabling himself to time travel within his own lifetime."
Sherman: "Okay, well, according to these files: In December of 1999, they completely lost touch with Doctor Beckett and was unable to log what date he had traveled to and what place in the world he was in at any point in time."
Neila: "Wait a minute. I though that the experiment was designed around the brainwaves of Doctor Beckett and his friend, Admiral Albert Calavicci, who he called: 'Al'."
Sherman: "It was."
Neila: "Then how could they lose contact with him? Did either of their brainwave become altered somehow?"
Sherman: "No, they don't do a lot of specifying. It says that Doctor Beckett, as a whole, began traveling back and forth through time, which caused a interruption in brainwave connection. It goes on to that unless they found him through 'nano-searches,' which only worked once, they were not able to contact Doctor Beckett."
Neila: "They used a nano-search?"
Sherman: "That was huge for its time."
Neila: "Yes, but nano-searches within Doctor Beckett's lifetime could take well of over a month before they're able to get a brainwave connection. With a quantum computer, we could do a googolplexth-search. Using a googolplexth-searches could acquire a neuron-lock in minutes, rather than weeks."
Marvin: "What's this 'we' stuff? The project is no longer running and hasn't run for many years. All of the people who WERE on the project have either long since retired or passed away. None of our brainwaves are connected to this Doctor Beckett's brainwaves. What do 'WE' have to do with it?"
Neila: "Well, nothing yet."
Marvin: "Woe woe, what's this 'yet' stuff?"
Neila: "Come on, you guys. We can reboot this project."
Marvin: "Reboot the project? Neila, we're graduate students doing research for a group dissertation, not a journeymen out to take the scientific world by storm. We haven't even began an apprenticeship yet, let alone become scientists."
Neila: "Rebooting the project could BE our dissertation. We could show the scientific community what the technology of today could do for a product such as that."
Marvin: "Nobody's going to take us seriously, Neila."
Sherman: "And even if they did, there are a lot of variables to consider that we don't have."
Neila: "Like what?"
Sherman: "It takes money reboot a project, let alone run one. And we don't have 2.4 billion dollars just laying around our apartments."
Neila: "We could ask the State Senate to get funds directly from them."
Sherman: "You think it will be THAT easy?"
Neila: "We can, at least, try. What other variables are you talking about?"
Sherman: "Don't even get me started."
Neila: "No, come on, what else?"
There was a moment of silence.
Sherman: "Okay, what about that guy who's suppose to be connect to this Doctor Beckett's brainwaves? This Admiral— somebody."
Neila: "Admiral Albert Calavicci. Yes, what about him?"
Sherman: "What do we know about him?"
Neila: "We've got detailed files."
Sherman: "What's his date of birth."
Neila: "He was born on Friday, June 15, 1934 in Philadelphia."
Sherman: "1934?"
Marvin: "Let me see this."
Marvin took the file on Al and began using the computer to look him up.
Neila: "Yeah. His father was immigrated from Abruzzi, Italy and his mother was a Russian immigrant— "
Sherman: "Yeah yeah yeah, let's go back to '1934'."
Neila: "What about it?"
Sherman: "Neila, this guy would be - like - 84 years old right now. What are the odds he's made it to the age of 84?"
Neila: "At age 84, males enjoy a life expectancy of 1.20 years less than females and are about 14,092 persons less numerous per 100,000 born. The average life expectancy for an 84-year-old is 6.8 years. The top three causes of death among people this age are cancer, heart disease, and chronic lower respiratory diseases which contribute to an average death probability of 0.07980%."
Sherman: "What are you saying?"
Neila: "Demographically, I'm saying there's a chance he could still be alive. All we have to do is look him up to see where he lives."
Sherman: "And then what?"
Neila: "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. First thing's first. Let's find Admiral Calavicci."
Sherman: "Neila, there are variables we have to consider even while looking for the right Albert Calavicci."
Marvin: "Okay, guys— ?"
Neila: "What are you talking about?"
Marvin: "Guys— ?"
Sherman: "Well, how do know that there aren't other Albert Calavicci's out there. We may be going on some wild-goose-chase just trying to find the man."
Marvin: "Guys— ?"
Neila: "A retired Two-Star Rear Admiral in the United States Navy whose wife just happened to be a retired Navy Nurse Corps officer? Seriously, Sherman, how many of those do you think are out there?"
Marvin: "HEY GUYS!!"
Sherman and Neila stopped talking and looked at Marvin.
"I found him."
Neila: "You did?"
Sherman: "Seriously?"
Neila: "He's alive?"
Marvin: "Yes, he's alive and well. He and his wife living out their retirement years in the suburbs of Peralta. They live in a 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom, 2,506 square-foot country house off a dead end road for less traffic, on a piece of land that's just under an acre."
Neila: "That's great, Marvin. The one person who can lock on to Doctor Beckett's brainwaves is still alive. That will make rebooting the project so much easier."
Sherman: "Easier on who? Us or him? Come on, Neila. The guys retired and in his mid-80's. Do you really think he's going want to put a hold on the comfort of his retirement to work with a bunch of Millennials like us."
Neila: "Sherman, Millennials like us need his experience and expertise. Besides, he knew Doctor Beckett personally. Between that and the updating of our software into their parallel hybrid computer, we should be able to reboot the project with few obstacles."
Marvin: "Well, before we talk with this guy in person, we should, at least, call him to let him know the reason for our visit and when the best time to meet would be."
Neila: "Did you get his phone number?"
Marvin: "Yeah, it's (505) 555-6957.
Neila: "How far away do they live?"
Marvin: "About 20 miles, give or take. It's just a few miles southeast of the Bosque Farms area. They're only about a half hour away from here, depending on traffic."
Neila: "Excellent. Meeting Admiral Calavicci will be our first step. We'll figure out our next step from there."
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New York County
George Washington Bridge Bus Station
George Washington Bridge Bus Station
4211 Broadway
New York, New York 10033
Saturday, August 21, 1982
6:33 a.m. (EDT)
Amelia: "Wow. New York City. The most populated city in the United States, more than twice the size of Los Angeles. About 1 in every 38 people living in the United States resides here. There are nearly 400,000 more women than men in this city. Over 200 languages are spoken."
David: "Know our demographics, do we?"
Amelia: "You could say that."
David: "So, how's the book coming along?"
Amelia: "The book?"
David: "Yeah. 2010: Odyssey Two."
Amelia: "Oh, right. Uhm, David Bowman escapes from the Monolith's dimension back into ours."
David: "Ah. Didn't he transform into some kind of non-corporeal, energy-based life-form?"
Amelia: "Yeah, he still is. During his journey, the Avatar of Bowman travels to Earth, making contact with significant individuals from his past, like is mother and ex-girlfriend. At the same time, these aliens are using Bowman as a probe to learn about humankind."
David: "Sound interesting... In the mood for some breakfast?"
Amelia: "I sure am."
David: "Great. Come on, there's an iHOP a couple of minutes from here."
Amelia: "Been to New York City before, have we?"
David: "Yeah, I've been here a few times, off and on, through the years. Ten to one odds: I won't see one person I ever knew from any of the times I've been here."
Amelia: "It's a huge city. I wouldn't be surprised. What about a room? Is there any cheap but decent motels we could stay at?"
David: "There's an Econo Lodge on West 47th Street. We can take a taxi there after we eat."
Amelia: "West 47th Street? Isn't that close to Time Square?"
David: "Yeah, it's about a half a mile away."
Amelia: "Really? Only 880 yards from Time Square?"
David: "That's right."
Amelia: "Wow. Too bad we're not close to New Year's."
David: "I'm sure the price motels close to Time Square would be three times what it would be now."
Amelia: "Yeah, not to mention all the people."
David: "Ah yes, the intoxicated and pushy people."
Amelia: "Would you be there to keep me warm?"
Amelia smiles. David can't help but smile back at her.
David: "To keep you warm, even passed midnight."
Amelia: "Awe. You're sweet."
David: "Well, here we are, 4168 Broadway, the International House of Pancakes."
.
_______________________________________________________________
Valencia County
5 Chad Road North East
5 Chad Road North East
Peralta, New Mexico 87042
Saturday, June 23, 2018
10:52 a.m. (MDT)
Marvin: "Nice house."
Sherman: "You're not kidding. I could live out my retirement years here."
Neila: "Isn't this exciting?"
All three of them got out of the car and walked toward the house.
Sherman: "Wouldn't you love a house like this when you retire?"
Marvin: "I sure would. But hey, why wait to retire?"
They walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. After about 10 seconds, Beth answered the door.
Beth: "Can I help you?"
Neila: "Lieutenant Elizabeth Calavicci?"
Beth: "Actually, I retired as a: Commander, but yes?"
Nelia: "Oh. Uhm, we spoke on the phone a couple of days ago. We're the graduate students from from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of New Mexico researching for our group PhD Dissertation Defense. We were hoping to be able to talk with you and your husband about a top secret project that he was involved with in the late-90's."
Beth: "Oh, yes. Neila, right?"
The two ladies shook hands.
Neila: "Yes, Neila Abramczyk. It's a pleasure to me you."
Beth: "Likewise. Why don't you all have a seat at the porch table and I'll go get my husband. Would you guys care for some iced tea?"
The three of them accept the iced tea. All three of them went and sat down at the porch table and waited. After a couple of minutes, an elderly Al came out of the house, wearing his U.S. Navy Service Dress White Choker uniform. The three looked at Al and knew that there need not be any introduction. Then, a boy about six or seven years of age ran out of the house, playing with a toy airplane and making airplane noises.
Little Al: "Admiral! Admiral! We have enter outer-land! What's next?"
Al: "Oh, uh, that's a 10-4, Captain Al. Survey the area and let me know you're 20 by 1300 hours."
Little Al: "Aye aye, sir! Roger!"
The little boy ran into the open spaces of the front yard. Al walked up to the three students.
Al: "That my grandson, Albert."
Marvin: "Looks like Captain Al is going to follow in his grandpa's footsteps."
Al slowly sat down with the three students.
Al: "Yeah, he's already talking about attending the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, the way I did."
Sherman: "Wow. And he's not even out of elementary school yet. Wants to be a pilot, I presume?"
Al: "Yeah, I got him a model of a Cougar F9F-8 to play with. I used to fly planes like that during my ensign days."
Neila: "It's nice to know that we're still going to have a few good men in the Navy in the next fifteen years or so... You know, you didn't have to dress in your uniform for us."
Al: "Oh, I always wear it while I'm playing with Albert. He loves to be Captain Al when he comes over."
Neila: "Awe, that's sweet."
Beth came out of the house carrying a tray, with a glass pitcher of iced tea with 5 glass containing ice cubes. She sat the tray down on the table.
Al: "Thank you, dear. It looks delicious."
Beth: "There's even a little lemon in it."
Neila: "Thank you very much, Commander."
Beth: "You can called me: Beth."
Neila: "Oh, okay."
The three students looked at Al to see if there was a particular way he'd like to be addressed.
Al: "Al. Just call me: Al. Everybody else does."
Beth: "Where's little Albert?"
Al: "Oh, he's off on one of his missions in the front yard."
Beth smiled and chuckled.
Beth: "Ah yes, his missions. Those are very important."
The five of them shared a laugh.
"Little Albert is the son of our youngest daughter."
Neila: "Oh."
Beth: "I can't believe she'll be 36 next month."
Al: "They grow up too fast."
Neila: "Oh, well, I wouldn't know. Truth be told: I don't really want children."
Al: "You know, when Beth and I were first married, I didn't really want any children, either. I didn't have a stable childhood and I didn't believe in dragging children from duty station to duty station. It was rough when we started out. The first 8 years we were married, between sea duty and T.D.Y assignments, we only lived together less than 2 years."
Beth: "At the time, he didn't realize what children would have done for done for me while he was gone. And when he volunteered to do a second tour in Vietnam, four months after the first one ended, I almost divorced him."
Neila: "What stopped you?"
Beth: "Being in the military myself, I knew it wasn't proper to divorce a man who was flying off to fight a war."
Al: "Beth was so angry with me, and I couldn't blame her. I had put in my time; my year-long tour of Vietnam. But I had the mind of a soldier. Something within felt that I couldn't just stay in the United States, knowing what was going on over there. Beth begged me not to go. Even then, I didn't want children, even though children would've kept me here."
Neila: "Amazing. So, when was it that you changed your mind?"
Al: "Well, that would be when I was shot down over the highlands in my A-4 around March of '67. I ejected and my parachute didn't open all the way. The next thing I knew, I was a POW in a tiger cage near Cham Hoi, hearing: 'Đau nhiều hơn!' day and night."
Marvin's eyes widened, knowing what the Vietnamese command meant. Then, he says quietly:
Marvin: "Means: 'More pain'."
Neila: "Oh dear, that must have been torture."
Al: "Yeah, that's one word to describe it. I was was imprisoned at the infamous: 'Hanoi Hilton'. That was the nickname given to the Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi, Vietnam by Americans."
Sherman: "Woe, I've heard horror stories about that place."
Al: "Yeah, it was a million times worse than the 'Hotel California'. My only source of nourishment consisted of rainwater and putrid weevil-infested rice. All of us were barefoot, in tatters, and on the verge of starvation and total nourishment... It was six of longest six years of my life. The only thing that kept me alive was the memory of the woman I loved."
Marvin: "And that's when you realized the importance of children and family?"
Al: "From the moment I was repatriated until this very day, yes, sir."
Beth: "Two weeks after his repatriation, the Navy made arrangements for me to be flown to Bethesda to meet Al upon his return. He'd gotten some nasty infections in several of the wounds they'd indicted on him. Once Al regained his strength, he needed corrective surgery for several broken bones that didn't heal properly, particularly some ribs."
Neila: "Wow. That is so romantic how you kept your hope all those years. I heard that back then a lot of the POW's who'd been listed MIA came back to find themselves totally alone, because not only did they have to deal with the scars from the V.C., they had to deal with the loss of their wives."
Al: "So true. I was one of the lucky ones. I can't imagine my life without Beth or my daughters."
Beth: "Children are a gift and grandchildren are a blessing."
Al: "Yeah, Beth tells me that you have questions about Project Quantum Leap."
Neila: "Yes, the three of us were in the Archive Room in the Zimmerman Library at the University of New Mexico and came across a box full of detailed files on the project. After reading about it, it sparked our interest. We read that you were directly involved with the project and thought you would give us all the information we needed."
Al: "Project Quantum Leap. I haven't thought about that in almost 20 years. My God, has it been that long?"
Neila: "Where was Project Quantum Leap located, exactly?"
Al: "Well, it located at a very secluded place called: Stallion’s Gate, which is close to Los Alamos, not far from Santa Fe, but further south, close to the Trinity site, where the first atomic bomb testing was done."
Neila: "I see. It said something about you being the Project Observer?"
Al: "Uh, yeah. Primarily, I was the Government-Project Liaison. But yes, I was the Project Observer."
Neila: "And what exactly did that entail?"
Al: "Well, Doctor Sam Beckett was the scientist behind the entire project. Before we did any experiments, we made sure that the project was designed around our brainwaves. This way, once Doctor Beckett traveled back in time, he and I would still be able to communicate."
Neila: "Communicate how?"
Al: "Well, once we got a lock on each other's brainwaves, we would appear to each other as holograms. I would be a hologram to Doctor Beckett, and Doctor Beckett and everything around him would be a hologram to me."
Sherman: "Was there a special place you could go to lock to his brainwaves?"
Al: "The Imaging Chamber, which had two different but complementary functions."
Marvin: "Okay?"
Al: "The first function is to show a hologram of the Observer to the Leaper, to enable the communication from the Observer to the Leaper"
Sherman: "Leaper?"
Al: "Yeah, that's what we called a person who is traveling through time."
Sherman: "Ah, I see."
Al: "Now, in order to accomplish this, the chamber scans constantly in real-time the Observer inside it, capturing both their image and sounds. Then, the chamber sends a neurological hologram of the Observer through time to the moment the Leaper is in. This hologram is created by a subatomic agitation of carbon quarks tuned to the mesons of the Leaper's optic and otic neurons. In other words, only the Leaper can actually sense, see, and listen the hologram that is being sent through time."
Marvin: "And the second function?"
Al: "The second function is to show a hologram of the surroundings of the Leaper, and the Leaper himself, to the Observer, to enable communication from the Leaper to the Observer. In order to do this, the chamber has to collect info about the Leaper and their surroundings, including images and sounds, and get them through time to the chamber itself. Once this info is in the chamber, a neurological hologram of the Leaper and their surroundings is created inside the chamber, tuned to the Observer's neurons. In other words, only the Observer can see and listen the information being brought back from the past. Any other person entering the chamber would just see a big, empty room."
Neila: "How was all of this possible?"
Al: "The chamber had a radium accelerator ring surrounding it, which was used to send the holographic image of the Observer back in time."
Neila: "Fascinating. So, this Doctor Sam Beckett was the who wanted to travel through time?"
Al: "Within his own lifetime, yes."
Neila: "Okay. Now, the big question... Was he successful in doing so?"
Al: "Well, technically, yes, he was."
Neila: "What do you mean 'technically'?"
Al: "Well, I was the overseer of the project for the government. When l learned that funding for the project was in danger of being pulled because no demonstrable results have come from the project, Doctor Beckett took it upon himself to prematurely step into the Quantum Leap accelerator to prove the project works and was sent into the past."
Neila: "Quantum Leap accelerator?"
Al: "Yeah, it was basically a particle accelerator. It acts as an an apparatus or machine for accelerating and propelling charged subatomic particles to high velocities by means of electric or electromagnetic fields. The accelerated particles are generally made to collide with other particles, either as a research technique or for the generation of high-energy X-rays and gamma rays. This Quantum Leap accelerator was like a 'window' between here and the past. At the time Doctor Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator, we had not perfected 'leaping', as well called when you go from one point in time to another."
Sherman: "Oh. So the project was named due to it's actual definition. In physics, a 'quantum leap' is the movement of an electron from one orbit in an atom to another, sending out or taking on a photon in the process. In both cases, a 'quantum leap' could be any great, sudden, or discontinuous change."
Al: "Eh, yeah, however you best understand it, kid."
Marvin: "You said the he 'prematurely' stepped into this Quantum Leap accelerator; that you guys had not 'perfected leaping yet'. How did that affect how Doctor Beckett traveled through time?"
Al: "Well, the most prominent effect was that when he landed at a certain point in the past, we were unable to retrieve him back to the present day."
Neila: "Really? Did you figure out why?"
Al: "Well, Ziggy theorized that because Doctor Beckett's time transference was targetless and subjected to a whim of fate, it allowed some unknown force out there to 'grab Doctor Beckett', so to speak, and use him to 'put right what once went wrong'."
Sherman: "Who was Ziggy?"
Al: "Ziggy was our self-aware artificial intelligence, parallel hybrid computer with an ego, that ran the Project Quantum Leap. Ziggy, with her one-million gigabyte capacity, would research the point in time that Doctor Beckett was in and how things happened originally, so that he could change that historical event for the better. Of course, that would only include individual lives."
Marvin: "So, he's been to more than one period of time?"
Al: "Yes."
Neila: "Okay, wait a second. If Doctor Beckett was no longer in the present day, then how were you able to locate what point of time he was in?"
Al: "The 'leapees' would let us know."
Neila: "I'm sorry. Leapees?"
Al: "Yes. Leapers were the people who traveled through time, which was always Doctor Beckett. Leapees were the people that Doctor Beckett replaced once he'd leap to a certain point in time."
Neila: "The people he replaced?"
Al: "Yeah. You see, when Doctor Beckett would leap, his body and soul would be physically present in the past, although he would appear to others as the person into whom he leaped. He would literally which places in time with the leapees. He would occupy the body of the leapee in the past and the leapee would occupy Doctor Beckett's body in the present. So, we would first determine who the leapee was, interview him or her, and then feed that information to Ziggy. Ziggy, then, would use that data to narrow the possibilities about when and where in time the past Doctor Beckett could be."
Neila: "And these people Doctor Beckett would replace; these 'leapees'; where are THEY while you communicate with Doctor Beckett?"
Al: "They would be confined to the Waiting Room."
Neila: "The Waiting Room?"
Al: "Yeah, it was a a sterile, hospital-like room where the leapee was examined by the Project's medical staff with a table at the center of the room. The leapee's would leap onto this table and it was there that they would be questioned on. The Waiting Room was big, totally blue, and located at the end of an isolated corridor. It's the place where leapees are while Doctor Beckett is in the past occupying their bodies. The leapees are also questioned in this room, to find more information that could be given to Doctor Beckett by me."
Neila: "Okay, you talked about changing history for the better; putting right what once went wrong."
Al: "Yes."
Neila: "We know that Doctor Beckett's attempt to travel through time was premature and targetless. You said that Ziggy theorized that because of this, it allowed some unknown force out there to 'grab Doctor Beckett', so to speak, and use him to 'put right what once went wrong'."
Al: "Right."
Neila: "What unknown force are talking about here? Some cosmic algorithm? An esoteric form of energy? A heuristic anomaly? A paranormal existence? Timeline channeling? Reincarnation through the passage of time? An omnibenevolent, supernatural entity? I mean, what did the two of you consider to be an unknown force?"
Al: "Well, the answer could be any one of the things you said. We called it: 'God or Fate or Time'."
Noila: "God or Fate or Time... So, in one sense or another, you're saying that— God had taken over Project Quantum Leap?"
Al: "After exhausting all the other possibilities, — yes."
Neila: "And your self-aware artificial intelligence, parallel hybrid computer with an ego— agreed— with this conclusion?"
Al: "Well, Ziggy wasn't as concerned about what it was that was leaping Doctor Beckett back and forth through time as she was THE REASON he was leaping back and forth through time."
Neila: "Which was to put right what once went wrong."
Al: "Exactly. You see, Doctor Beckett would relive pieces of other peoples' lives. It would always be at the point in time when something in their lives went wrong. He might have been there to prevent a death, sabotage, or a wrong life decision. Once he put things right in that person's life, he would leap out and the leapee would return to their own time. After that, Doctor Beckett would leap into another person in a different place and a different time period. Ziggy, by looking up articles and such from the time period Doctor Beckett was in, was able to make probabilities and predictions as to why Doctor Beckett leaped into that life."
Neila: "And— God was responsible for all of that?"
Al: "The two of us thought it was very possible."
Neila: "God— in His infinite wisdom made all of these mistakes and was using Doctor Beckett to correct these mistakes?"
Al: "Not mistakes that God make... Mistakes that people made. Each and everyone of us are created with a free will. Whatever decisions we make in life are decisions we make on our own. Doctor Beckett was evidently used to correct mistakes that 'people designed with a free will' made."
Neila: "Okay. Uhm, what about when you lost touch with Doctor Beckett? How did that happen?"
Al: "Well, about 95 leaps, we suddenly found ourselves with no leapee. There was nobody in the Waiting Room. An empty Waiting Room meant that Ziggy wouldn't be able to locate Doctor Beckett."
Neila: "Wouldn't that mean that Doctor Beckett finally leaped home to his own time?"
Al: "We wish. What it meant was that Doctor Beckett was somewhere in time as himself, instead of leaping into someone else."
Neila: "And there was no way to find Doctor Beckett if he was somewhere in time as himself?"
Al: "For the most part, yes. The next best thing was to do a nano-search. Nano-searches can lock on to a person neurons if you WERE somewhere in time as yourself. Unfortunately, those could take anywhere from several hours to over a month. If Doctor Beckett would stay put where he would be, there would be a 50% chance that we could acquire a neuron-lock within 2 ½ weeks."
Neila: "Did you have any success?"
Al: "One time. That was it. We found Doctor Beckett one time in Cokeburg, Pennsylvania, which was some borough in Washington County, on the actual day he was born."
Neila: "Do you know if there was a reason why he was in the particular place at that particular time?"
Al: "No, we didn't. All we knew about Cokeburg at the time we were researching it was that it was coal company town in Western Pennsylvania."
Neila: "But you did talk with Doctor Beckett?"
Al: "Oh yes, we acquired a neuron lock and Doctor Beckett and I did talk."
Neila: "Did HE have any idea what was going on?"
Al: "Eh, no. He was kind of upset and rambled on from on subject to another about finding who was controlling his leaps and how dead souls coming back to warn the living could be leapers. Stuff like that. At the time, he just wasn't making any sense."
Neila: "He said he knew what controlled his leaps? What did he say?"
Al: "He said it was some bartender who was working in this bar called: Al's Place."
Niela: "Al's Place? Really?"
Al: "Yeah, that's why I remember it so well."
Neila: "And he said a BARTENDER was leaping him through time?"
Al: "Yeah, Doctor Beckett was convinced he was something more, but we never got to have another conversation about it after I went back to the Control Room to figure things out with Ziggy."
Neila: "Why not?"
Al: "Doctor Beckett evidently leaped again. He went somewhere else in time as himself."
Neila: "And you never found him again?"
Al: "Nope. Never again. We could have done nano-searches a million times. Without him trading places in time with another person, we were able to locate him. By the time December of 1999 rolled around, Congress decided not to fund the project anymore and the place has been unused ever since."
Neila: "When did Doctor Beckett leap back to his own time?"
Al: "Uh, I'm pretty sure if Doctor Beckett leaped home, I would be the first person he'd contact. I'm pretty certain the Doctor Beckett ever did leap back to his own time."
Neila: "So he's still out there, lost in that time warp you said he was 'quantum leaping' through?"
Al: "To the best of my knowledge, yes."
All three students look at each other with amazement in their eyes. They wondered if such a far-fetched experiment took and how people in high place could leave a heroic man back there alone.
Marvin: "This is incredible."
Sherman: "This truly is our dissertation."
Neila: "Have you tried to reboot the project at any time these past several years?"
Al: "No, I'm afraid not. I retired from the Navy in 2001, after 45 years of service. The rest of the team either was reassigned, retired, or passed away. It was just our time, you know? There's only one person who can POSSIBLY reboot the project. Unfortunately, she's been trying to do that for years and hasn't had any success."
Neila: "Who would THAT be?"
Al: "Samantha Josephine Fuller, better known as Sammy Jo. She would be roughly 51 years of age right now. She was a Project technician for Project Quantum Leap a couple of years after the project began running."
Neila: "Do you know of her whereabouts now?"
Al: "No, not off hand. We USED TO keep in touch, but she got more and more busy as time went on. I know after the plug was pulled on the Project, she worked off and on with groups under Stephen Hawking, until his death a few months ago."
Beth stood up to go into the house.
Beth: "Let me see if I can find her contact information."
Beth went into the house as the conversation continued.
Neila: "Stephen Hawking? The world-renowned theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author, and Director of Research at the Center for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge? The Albert Einstein of the 21st century?" THAT Stephen Hawking?"
Al: "That would be him."
Neila: "Incredible."
Al: "Whenever she's in the United States, she guest-speaks at colleges like Harvard and M.I.T. Perhaps you'd be able to find her online in the New England area."
Neila: "It sounds like she was a real asset to that project."
Al: "With a 194 IQ, she's an asset anywhere she goes. Before they closed down the project, she had a theory on how to bring Doctor Beckett home, but we never had a chance to even examine that theory, let alone put it to use."
Neila: "If she could help us reboot the project, maybe she could put her theory to use. I just hope that it's not too complicated to understand."
Al: "Well, first of all, nobody really understands it, except Sammy Jo. And second, she won't be able to put it to use, until she has tested it out a few times. You see, that was the mistake Doctor Beckett made. He just put himself into that Accelerator Chamber, and without testing his empirical calculations, just let himself go back to the past with no target and no fail safe. Sammy Jo has to have a system that comes into operation in the event of something going wrong or that is there to prevent such an occurrence. Doctor Beckett didn't think about the consequences and repercussions. Now, he's lost somewhere in time, having not seen his family and friends in over 20 years."
Marvin: "Did you guys think of any ways of finding Doctor Beckett that may have kept the project going for, at least, another year?"
Al: "Well, we came close. Some of us thought we might be able to find and bring back Doctor Beckett if I became a leaper, and set my target at Al's Place in Cokeburg, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, August 8th, 1953. That is where we knew Doctor Beckett was in the last leap we knew of. If Doctor Beckett was right about that 'bartender' being more than a 'bartender', then he could tell where in time I could find Doctor Beckett."
Sherman: "I guess you guys didn't go through with that idea?"
Al: "No, the more we thought about it, the more thought that it would be too risky. Beth had no doubts about me be able to return to the present time, but after being without Beth for so long in Vietnam, I just couldn't do it. Ziggy herself calculated that my chances of returning to the present time were minuscule."
Beth came outside and gave Neila a piece of paper.
Beth: "Here's the last contact information we got from Sammy Jo."
Neila looked at the paper to read what Beth wrote on it.
It said:
Sammy Jo Fuller, PhD
1619 Massachusetts Avenue, Apt 2
Cambridge, MA 02138-4307
Phone: (617).555-1200
e-mail: sjfuller@mit.edu
Neila: "Thank you so much, Beth. If you, Al, and Sammy Jo can help reboot this project, even temporarily, we would be so grateful."
Al: "Well, why don't we see what Sammy Jo thinks and go from there."
Neila: "Thank you both so much for your time and thanks for the iced tea."
Beth: "It was our pleasure."
Little Al comes back with his toy airplane after running around the yard.
Little Al: "The parameter is safe and secure, Admiral! Over!"
Al: "Roger that, Captain! What's your 20? Over!"
Little Al: "I am at the end of the front yard with a 10-24! Over!"
Al: "Roger that, Captain! How about you do a 10-19 back to HQ! Your lunch will be ready soon! Over!"
Little Al: "Aye aye, sir! Roger!"
Neila began to smile.
Neila: "You and your grandson are so cute together. I hope you have a good day."
Al: "I hope you do the same."
The students left the front porch and went to their car to leave.
_______________________________________________________________
The Econo Lodge
302 West 47th Street
New York, New York 10036
Saturday, August 21, 1982
6:06 p.m. (EDT)
6:06 p.m. (EDT)
Amelia: "Thank you, David, for showing me around. I loved Time Square."
David: "Well, I'm glad. I've been through Time Square before, but this time was the most fun for me. The company was quite enjoyable."
Amelia: "My company was likewise... So, do you have any idea where you'd like to go next?"
David: "Uh, why don't we get some rest before we start thinking about moving on."
Amelia: "Sure. You know, we could always try to look for jobs here. It's a megalopolis environment. It should be hard to find jobs here."
David: "Oh, you might be surprised. I've been here a few times in the last 5 years. And every time I come back, it becomes more and more difficult to find a job, even minimum wage jobs."
As they approached the door to the motel door, David opened the door for Amelia.
Amelia: "Thank you, kind sir."
They went into the motel, then quietly went to their motel room.
David: "Well, I don't know about you, but I could use a shower."
Amelia: "Yeah, me, too."
David: "Why don't you go ahead. I can wait."
Amelia: "No, go ahead. I insist. I want to make sure I have everything I need before I shower."
David: "Thank you."
David went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Amelia looked out the motel window, watching the hustle and bustle the the city normal early evening. This wasn't unfamiliar to her at all. She grew up in Boston and seeing a large amount of activity in a noisy surrounding. As she gazed out the window, she would daydream about a life with David and what it would be like. She would never factor in the Hulk. It was a life where they lived happily ever after, without the Hulk. Maybe it was because she knew that as technology evolved, they had found a cure for him. And even though all of her thoughts about this life were all good, she did wonder why her infatuation with David grew so quickly. Amelia was never one to be like that. She had dated guys, and even gotten into a relationship with them. But sooner or later, she would always end the relationship my monopolizing her time with her studies. It was always difficult for Amelia to stay in a romantic relationship with ANY man. She truly liked and cared for the men in her past. But if there was any indication the relationship was becoming even semi-serious, she'd break it off. Truth be told: up until she met David, her brother: William (her "deartháir" as she referred to him) was the only man she unconditionally trusted. But somehow, to her, David was different. It was hard to say what made him so different. Instincts can be outré like that. You feel something, whether it's good or bad, but there is nothing psychological or biological way to explain it. All she knew was, as they say in Irish "Is mian leis an gcroí cad is mian leis an gcroí," meaning "The heart wants what the hearts wants." And HER heart wanted David...
David: "Hey."
Amelia quickly turned around and saw David behind her.
Amelia: "Oh. Hey."
Amelia didn't realize how much time had passed since David went into the shower. She was so lost in her own thoughts,
David: "I'm finished. The shower's all your's."
Amelia: "Oh. Yeah, okay. Thanks."
Not knowing what to say, she walked into the bathroom to shower. Like Amelia, David looked outside at the hustle and bustle. He began to realize that the more time he spent with Amelia, the more he could see a little of himself in her. No matter how many doubts crossed his mind, he began to feel more optimistic about their relationship as time went on. He had traveled alone for so long, the loneliness was beginning to take its toll on him. Since Amelia entered his life, he slowly but surely was becoming more buoyant and jaunty. He had hope for the future. It was as if Amelia was an Irish angel sent from above to remind him that his life still had meaning, even if he wasn't living as Doctor David Banner anymore. The only thing that haunted him was the Hulk. When will his next metamorphosis? Where and how will it happen? David was thankful about Amelia's understanding about what happens to him in dangerous situations. So far, the creature had never hurt Amelia. David didn't know it, but the creature was also enthralled by Amelia. Probably more so than David was. After being intimate many times throughout the month, David's feelings did become deeper and more beguiled.
Amelia: "Hey."
David turned around and saw Amelia. She was not only clean, but she looked looked stunning. David reached out and took both of her hands.
David: "Wow! You look prepossessing."
Amelia smiled, as her eye sparkled.
Amelia: "I'll take that as a compliment."
Amelia sat on the motel bed. David sat down beside her. They gaze into each others' eyes. David slowly caresses Amelia's left cheek with his right hand.
Amelia: "We really are quite a pair, aren't we?"
David: "Mmh hmh."
Then, they began to kiss romantically as a prelude to, yet again, another conflation of themselves. They deep kiss as an overture of the two making love.
_______________________________________________________________
United States Senator, New Mexico
400 Gold Avenue SW, Ste. 1080
Albuquerque, New Mexico. 87102
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
8:59 a.m. (MDT)
Neila, Marvin, and Sherman walked over to their assigned table. All of the senators walked into the room and sat on their leather seats. The Chairman pounded on his gavel.
Chairman: "All right, let us begin this session. Our first case comes from three graduate students from the University of New Mexico. They are here to do a presentation on the reasoning and importance of temporarily reboot a classified project that was ceased nearly 20 years ago. This project that is being spoken of is: Project Quantum Leap, which was lead my Doctor Samuel Beckett in the mid to late 1990's. We, the senate, find no desire or need to reboot this project. However, the graduate students have agreed to do a presentation before us as to why it would benefit everyone to reboot Project Quantum Leap. This wish to use this project reboot as research for their dissertation. Do we have someone who would be to speak for your group for you presentation?"
Neila stood up.
Neila: Yes, we have, Mr. Chairman. I will speak for our group."
Chairman: "Please state your full name, date of birth, and your occupation."
Neila: "My name is: Neila Hadassah Abramczyk, Master of Physics. My Date of Birth is: April 25, 1993. My occupation is: Doctoral Graduate Student."
Chairman: "Very well, you may begin your presentation."
Neila: "Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me take this opportunity to thank all the senators on this board for letting us do a presentation for you."
Chairma: "You're very welcome, Miss Abramczyk. Please continue. We have a full load today."
"Yes, of course... Project Quantum Leap was a sequel of the Starbright Project that was being ran in the 1980's. The purpose of the Starbright Project was to develop an interstellar drive, a space craft, which would travel at the speed of light to enable it's occupants to explore deep into space beyond our own solar system. However, the project was shutdown in 1990 to be replaced with Project Quantum Leap. Project Quantum Leap was a big time-travel project led by Dr. Samuel Beckett, based on the String Theory. He wanted to prove his theories and, thus, led a group of scientists into the desert, where they built the project complex. Therefore, Project Quantum Leap stood for Dr. Beckett's project and theories, and the actual complex. The projects total initial funding was 43 billion dollars. Along with an additional running total of 2.4 billion funded needed a year."
Senator #1: "You say this was a time-travel project?"
Chairman: "This time-travel project was based on what kind of theory of Dr. Beckett's?"
Neila: "He called it: the String Theory."
Chairman: "And can you explain this 'String Theory' in layman's terms?"
Neila: "Of course. For doing physics in more than one dimension, it becomes necessary to use partial derivatives and hence partial differential equations. The first partial differential equations are the linear, separable ones that were derived and solved."
Senator #1: "This is layman's terms?"
Neila: "All right, look... In physics, the String Theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of 'Particle Physics' are replaced by one-dimensional objects called: 'strings'. It describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other."
Senator # 2: "Okay, do you speak English? What does this have to do with time-travel?"
Neila: "For Dr. Samuel Beckett? Everything. You see, HIS version of The String Theory was the theory he invented that inspired him to create Project Quantum Leap. He demonstrated his theory with a string. The string itself represented one's lifetime. One end of the string represented one's birth, the other end represented one's death. Tie the ends together, and his or her life is a loop. Ball the loop, and all of the days of one's life touch each other out of sequence. This, in turn, would enable someone to leap from one day to another, back and forth, within his or her own lifetime."
Chairman: "Miss Abramczyk, you realize that here in the real world, we can only take into consideration project's that actually succeeded."
Neila: "Well, they did... Sort of."
Chairman: "Sort of?"
Neila: "Well, Dr. Beckett was able to travel to the past within his own lifetime. There were just some things that went wrong during the experience."
Chairman: "Such as?"
Neila: "Well, the most prominent effect was that when he landed at a certain point in the past, they were unable to retrieve him back to the present day."
Chairman: "Did you figure out what the problem was?"
Neila: "Well, from what I've been able to gather from Admiral Calavicci, their hybrid computer theorized that because Dr. Beckett's time transference was targetless and subjected to a whim of fate, it allowed some unknown force out there to 'grab Doctor Beckett', so to speak, and use him to 'put right what once went wrong'."
Chairman: "What was their definition of an 'unknown force'?"
Neila: "They called it: God or Fate or Time."
Chairman: "So, these people were saying that God had taken control over Project Quantum Leap?"
Neila: "That was the conclusion that and Dr. Beckett and Admiral Calavicci reached after exhausting every other possible scientific explanation."
Chairman: "And that God had interfered with Dr. Beckett's attempt at time traveling within his own lifetime and was using him to 'put right what once went wrong'."
Neila: "That is correct."
Chairman: "And some examples were used in their notes."
The Chairman opened the folder of notes to read what was written down.
"Saving the life of an Air Force test pilot and his unborn child. Mainstreaming a mentally challenged young man by getting him accepted by his co-workers. Preventing an innocent death row inmate from an execution. Averting the suicide of a homosexual naval cadet. Intervening in a sheriff killing a murderer on the run out of revenge."
The Chairman closed the folder of notes to speak to Neila.
"How commendable. But these aren't exactly earth-shattering changes that would create a very big ripple effect."
Neila: "Mr. Chairman, it really depends on how you look at it. They were earth-shattering to those who it affected, directly or indirectly."
Senator #3: "Look, Miss Abramczyk, what the Chairman is trying to say is that Dr. Beckett hadn't significantly impact on the domestic or global conflicts of the recent past. God knows he could've altered the results of the last presidential election."
All the senators chuckle.
Chairman: "Was Admiral Calavicci the only person who has had physical contact with Dr. Beckett since he had supposedly 'leaped back in time'?"
Neila: "Physical contact, no. They appeared to each other as holograms. Admiral Calavicci could see and hear Dr. Beckett. Dr. Beckett could see and hear Admiral Calavicci. But they could not interact physically."
Chairman: "And no one else could see or communicate with him?"
Neila: "No, the experiment was designed around their brainwaves."
Chairman: "So, in other words, we only have Admiral Calavicci's word that this quantum leap ever really happened. Miss Abramczy, you must understand that this committee cannot justify funding a project that cost 2.4 billion a year back in the late '90's on the word of any 'one' individual. That would include someone has highly respected and decorated as Admiral Calavicci. Think about it... Due to inflation within the past couple of decades, that would make this committee funding that very same project for well over 3.9 billion dollars a year as of today. That's over 326 million dollars in a month's time. In a week's time, that over 81.6 million dollars. That's roughly 11.6 million dollars a day. And that doesn't even include the updating of the software that the original staff used while the project was still active."
Neila: "What about an hour? It would take roughly $486,250 dollars to run it for an hour."
Neila: "One would be very surprised what one can accomplish in 60 seconds, let alone 60 minutes."
The Chairman and the committee sit quietly for around five seconds.
Chairman: "All right. Have another presentation for us, with one or two of the original staff present, and we will render out decision on Friday."
The Chairman pounds his gavel.
"On to our next case!"
The Econo Lodge
39702 West 47th Street
New York, New York 10036
Saturday, August 21, 1982
11:09 p.m. (EDT)
David and Amelia are sitting by the motel window, looking up at the stars, with a light breeze of 66°. Amelia knew the geography of Mars and she was showing David all the places on Mars, what there names were, and even teaching what the words were derived from.
_______________________________________________________________11:09 p.m. (EDT)
David and Amelia are sitting by the motel window, looking up at the stars, with a light breeze of 66°. Amelia knew the geography of Mars and she was showing David all the places on Mars, what there names were, and even teaching what the words were derived from.
Amelia: "And that large area Southeast of the North Pole? That called: Acidia Panitia. It's from the classical 'Albedo Feature Umbra'.
David: "Makes sense. Umbra is Latin for 'shadow'."
Amelia: "That right. It has a Diameter of 3,352.97 kilometers."
David: "Wow. That's over 2,000 miles."
Amelia: "Yeah, give or take... Okay, smart guy, answer me this. Knowing it's exact diameter in kilometers, what is its circumference? And do it in kilometers, not miles."
David: "Well, let's see... It is 3,352.97 kilometers. So, to calculate the enclosing boundary of a circular geometric figure, you multiply pi (π) by the diameter of the circle. That would make the circumference 10,533.67 kilometers."
Amelia chuckles with in amazement.
Amelia: "Wow. I so wish I could do all of that in my head the way you do."
David: "Well, taking advanced classes, even while you're in college, makes a difference. After learning courses such as Trig, Calculus, and Analytic Geometry, questions like that aren't nearly as hard to figure out."
Amelia: "I'd ask you more, but I already feel like a teacher in school."
David: "No, it's fine. Continue the lesson. You make Marian geography quite interesting."
Amelia: "Do you know the circumference of Mars? In miles, not kilometers this time."
David: "Oh, that would be... 13,263 miles."
Amelia: "What's the largest planet in our Solar System and what is its circumference? Again, in miles."
David: "That would be Jupiter, hands down. Jupiter's mass is more than 300 times that of Earth and its diameter is about 11 times Earth's diameter. That would make its circumference... 272,946 miles."
Amelia: "Amazing. How do you know this stuff?"
David smiles as he recalls a good memory for a few seconds.
David: "My mom got me a telescope for my 10th birthday. She taught me about the planets and the constellations. She told me that knowing about the stars would comfort me someday, because once I was away from home, I could look up and know that she would be looking at those exact same stars."
Amelia: "That's sweet. Didn't you say your mom passed away?"
David: "Yeah, when I was twelve. It was a week so before Thanksgiving. I had that telescope for 30 years. I had to leave it behind when— well— you know— when I had to leave my life as a doctor and scientist behind... What about you?"
Amelia: "When I was seven, I contracted pneumonia. While I was in the hospital, I had to be quarantined for a week or so. My aintín Maureen bought me a telescope so I could look at the stars outside. When you're a kid and trapped in a place that's unfamiliar to you, you have to have something to occupy your mind."
David: "Your aintín Maureen. That would be the aunt that called you her little banphrionsa."
Amelia: "Irish for 'princess'. You're right."
They sat in a moment of silence and held hands.
"Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to manipulate the 4th dimension? I mean, we can go anywhere we want in the first 3 dimensions, but the 4th one? That would be the dimension I would want to have control of."
David: "Are we referring to the space-time continuum?"
Amelia: "Oh yeah."
David: "And are specifically referring to time-travel?"
Amelia: "Absolutely. Do YOU believe it's possible?"
David: "Time-travel? Well, I, at least, think it's possible in the sense that a human would survive it with the physics that we use today, if we found a way to do it."
Amelia: "But you don't think we ever could?"
David: "No, of course not. It's not that I don't think it COULD be done. I just wonder if it ever SHOULD be done. You amongst us humans knows what's best for us, even if the time-traveler is trying to change their own life? Even from a scientific point of view, it's never a good idea to try to play God."
Amelia: "Never thought about the ETHICS of time-travel... You know, you're the first scientist I've met who is a determinist."
David: "Determinism is a theory in philosophy, not science."
Amelia: "Still, look at what determinism is. It says that the occurrences in nature are causally decided by preceding events or natural laws; that everything leading up to this point has happened for a reason. Everything has a purpose; an order to it; is determined."
David: "Right."
Amelia: "So, you think our paths crossing was— well, as the Irish would say— 'cinniúint'?"
David: "If that means 'serendipitous', then I say: 'absolutely'."
Amelia: "Yeah, something like that... So, you wouldn't change anything about your life?"
David: "Besides becoming the creature?"
Amelia: "Sure."
David let out a quiet sigh.
David: "Oh, I— would love to have all the women I cared about alive and well. I would've loved to continue my research on metabolism and metabolic diseases. I would love to get the years that I wasted being angry at my father back."
David suddenly became very quiet as his voice broke in the darkness. Amelia was a bit reluctant in asking the question she was about to ask.
Amelia: "Uhm,— what uh— what about— me?"
David looked at Amelia and smiled.
David: "Oh, I would never change meeting you. It's been a pleasure to know you."
Amelia smiled back and laid her head on David's left shoulder.
Amelia: "You know, the diameter of the Acidia Panitia on Mars is around the distance from Colorado to Massachusetts."
David: "Hmh. I'm from Colorado."
Amelia: "And I'm from Massachusetts."
David and Amelia look at each other.
"Looks like a sign to me."
David: "A sign?"
Amelia: "Yeah. A sign that I should take you to Boston and show you off."
David: "Oh, Amelia, I— "
Amelia: "Please. I'd go to Colorado with you, but we're closer to Massachusetts than Colorado."
David: "Is it, also, because you want me to meet your parents?"
Amelia: "No, of course not. They don't even have to know I'm there. My deartháir lives there, but he won't tell my parents."
David: "William, right? The CPA going for his doctorate?"
Amelia: "That's right. William and I have always looked out for each other. My alcóil athair and máthair sure didn't look after us. You'd like William. He's very intelligent, like you. He's always had my best interest at heart. When we'd talk on the phone, he'd always say: 'Deirfiúr, slow down. If you don't relax more, you're going to burn out too early in life'."
David: "Sounds like you and your brother are very close."
Amelia: "Well, we don't talk very often because we're both very busy. But we're there for each other regardless."
David: "Still, Boston? I— don't know."
Amelia: "Actually, William lives in Lexington, roughly 14 ½ miles or so Northwest of Boston. In all the time he's lived there, my parents have never once taken the half-hour trip to go visit him. So, we should both be safe from them."
David: "Is there a bus that stops in Lexington?"
Amelia: "Well, no. He'd have to pick us up in Boston. But that's okay because that's where he works. He commutes back and forth five days a week. So, it shouldn't be a problem for to pick us up at the bus station. I'll just call him ahead of time."
David sat and thought about it for a moment. After about ten seconds, he figured it wouldn't big a big deal if he took the 4-hour trip up there. He looked at Amelia and smiled.
David: "Lexington, huh?"
Amelia smiled back.
Amelia: "Yeah..."
They gently began to hold hands as they leaned on each others' shoulders and looked up at the night sky.
Brandon Tree Apartments
1335 Ortiz Dr South East, Unit 24
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
3:37 p.m. (MDT)
Neila sat on her balcony, with her laptop, lost in her own thoughts. Although she was sitting out there to try to relax, all she could think about was the meeting with the senators that morning. She thought about her meeting with Al and Beth. She was sure that Al could explain the project much better and in much more detail. Then, she thought about Sammy Jo. She had never met or talked with her, but she knew that Sammy Jo had the same thing to offer as Al. She knew if she called Sammy Jo, she would find it difficult to explain why she wanted to reboot the project. She figured that if God had taken over Project Quantum Leap, then God would find a way for her to come into contact with Sammy Jo. So, she decided to take a chance. She decided to write an e-mail to Sammy Jo's MIT address. She figured if it was meant-to-be, Sammy Jo would find the e-mail before the presentation on Friday. So, she went into her MSN account and began writing.
___________________________________
From: Neila Abramczyk <neilaa@msn.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2018 3:57 PM
To: Sammy Jo Fuller<sjfuller@mit.edu>
Subject: Project Quantum Leap
Dear Dr. Fuller:
I am a graduate student at the University of New Mexico, aspiring to attain a Ph.D in Physics. I and two other students ran across a box full of files that gave us details about Project Quantum Leap. We are doing a group dissertation and became interested in what the project entailed. On the internet, we found out that Admiral Calavicci is alive and well and living out his retirement years with his wife in Peralta New Mexico. We know that both you and Admiral Calavicci were deeply involved in Project Quantum Leap. The three of us are interested in rebooting the project with up-to-date software, even for a short time. We have met and spoken with Admiral Calavicci and he mentioned you. His wife, Beth, gave us your contact information. I hope you don't mind. The three of us have also gone before the senators of the state, and are interested in a presentation with you and Admiral Calavicci about rebooting the project on Friday, June 29. If you are interested, you can e-mail me anytime. Thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you soon.
Neila
Neila, then, sent the e-mail. She kept her account open to see if any of her other correspondences had written her. Then, after about 20 minutes, a notification of a new e-mail came about. Neila checked it out. Excitement surged through her when she saw that it was an immediate response of Sammy Jo. She had gotten Neila's e-mail. Neila opened the e-mail to view the response.Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2018 3:57 PM
To: Sammy Jo Fuller<sjfuller@mit.edu>
Subject: Project Quantum Leap
Dear Dr. Fuller:
I am a graduate student at the University of New Mexico, aspiring to attain a Ph.D in Physics. I and two other students ran across a box full of files that gave us details about Project Quantum Leap. We are doing a group dissertation and became interested in what the project entailed. On the internet, we found out that Admiral Calavicci is alive and well and living out his retirement years with his wife in Peralta New Mexico. We know that both you and Admiral Calavicci were deeply involved in Project Quantum Leap. The three of us are interested in rebooting the project with up-to-date software, even for a short time. We have met and spoken with Admiral Calavicci and he mentioned you. His wife, Beth, gave us your contact information. I hope you don't mind. The three of us have also gone before the senators of the state, and are interested in a presentation with you and Admiral Calavicci about rebooting the project on Friday, June 29. If you are interested, you can e-mail me anytime. Thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you soon.
Neila
___________________________________
From: Sammy Jo Fuller <sjfuller@mit.edu>
Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2018 4:19 PM
To: From: Neila Abramczyk <neilaa@msn.com>
Subject: RE: Project Quantum Leap
Dear Neila:
It is a pleasure to meet you. I was very excited to receive you e-mail. Yes, I was on staff when Project Quantum Leap was still running. Through the years, off and on, I have kept in touch with Admiral Calavicci, but it's been quite a number of years since we've been in communication. I was also excited to hear that you and your friends were interested in rebooting Project Quantum Leap. If you need me to join you in your presentation, it would be my pleasure. I will be on the next plane to Albuquerque. If you receive this e-mail before I leave and you would like to call and chat, my number is (617) 555-1200. I look forward to hearing from you and meeting you.
Dr. Samantha Fuller, Ph.D
_______________________________________________________________
The Econo Lodge
39702 West 47th Street
New York, New York 10036
Sunday, August 22, 1982
9:55 a.m. (EDT)
39702 West 47th Street
New York, New York 10036
Sunday, August 22, 1982
9:55 a.m. (EDT)
_____________________
Amelia: "Hi, deartháir, it's Amelia."
_____________________
William: "Deirfiúr, what a pleasant surprise. How are you?"
_____________________
Amelia: "Oh, I'm doing well."
_____________________
William: "Are you still in Montana?"
_____________________
Amelia: "No. I left there about a month ago. How's everything on your end?"
_____________________
William: "Oh, everything's good. Just fíneáil. Where are you now?"
_____________________
Amelia: "I'm in New York City."
_____________________
William: "New York City? Mo Thiarna, you do get around these days. Please don't tell me you've been hitch-hiking."
_____________________
Amelia: "No way. I've been taking Greyhound bus. Is deirfiúr Siobhan okay?"
_____________________
William: "Tá, she's good. She's worried about you, you know?"
_____________________
Amelia: "Yeah, I'm sure she is. Just assure her that okay. Máthair and athair don't know where I am, do they?"
_____________________
William: "Níl slí. I didn't even know where you were until you called."
_____________________
Amelia: "Deartháir, if I were to come up and visit you, you wouldn't tell anybody I was there, right?"
_____________________
William: "Of course not. I won't tell anybody that you don't want me to tell."
_____________________
Amelia: "Good. Listen, I was hoping could come visit you— say— sometime tomorrow. By the time the bus pulls in the bus station, you should be off word. Would that be okay?"
_____________________
William: "Absolutely. I'd love to see you. Just let me know your arrival time and I'll be there to pick you up."
_____________________
Amelia: "Uhm, deartháir, there is something else. I— need to tell you something before I come see you."
_____________________
William: "You got married?"
_____________________
Amelia: "Uh, no. I'm not THAT impetuous. But uh— I did meet someone."
_____________________
William: "You did? Where? When?"
_____________________
Amelia: "I met him about a month ago in Montana. He's really intelligent, like you. You'd like him."
_____________________
William: "I see. Is a native of Montana?"
_____________________
Amelia: "No, he's from Colorado. He's got advanced degrees from a few Ivy League colleges. Plus, he's a great conversationalist."
_____________________
William: "Oh? What does he do?"
_____________________
Amelia: "Uhhhhm, well— he's some type of scientist. I'm not sure of his specialty, though."
_____________________
William: "Well, I'll look forward to meeting tomorrow. What's his name?"
_____________________
Amelia: "What?"
_____________________
William: "His name?"
_____________________
Amelia: "Oh, I thought I gave it to you."
_____________________
William: "No, you didn't."
_____________________
Amelia: "Oh... It's David... Uh,— Brewster. David Brewster."
_____________________
William: "Ceart go leor, well, it will be a pleasure to see you and to meet Mister Brewster."
_____________________
Amelia: "It'll be a pleasure to see you, too, deartháir mór. Slán."
_____________________
William: "Slán, beag deirfiúr."
_____________________
Amelia hung up the motel room phone. David came out of the bathroom fully clothed after a quick shower.
David: "Hey."
Amelia: "Hey."
David: "Who were you talking to?"
Amelia: "My brother. He told me that we could come visit. He's got a 4-bedroom house, so we can sleep in a bed, instead of a couch or some hide-a-bed."
David: "Oh, that's good. So, we'll be staying at your brother's?"
Amelia: "Yeah, unless you want our own motel room for some, uh— "
Amelia smiled as she cleared her throat and winked.
"— 'privacy'."
David: "Ah."
They both shared a chuckle.
David: "Well, I wish we had more money to spare. The thought of that, uh— "
David smiled as he cleared his throat and winked.
"'privacy' is very enticing. Unfortunately, our budge is stretched pretty thin."
Amelia: "Luckily, the cost of going from New York City to Boston doesn't cost much. It's around 215 + miles from here. There's a 12:01 p.m. departure time tomorrow. We should arrive in Boston around 4:40 p.m. and my deartháir will pick us up from there. Four hours and 39 minutes isn't too long of a ride."
David: "No it isn't. Plus, we could use a day of rest."
Amelia: "Not to mention another day of— "
Amelia smiled as she cleared her throat and winked.
"— 'privacy'."
David smiles and nods.
David: "Yes, that, too."
Again, they both share a chuckle.
"Well, I don't know about YOU, but getting hungry. What about you?"
Amelia: "Yeah, as we say in Irish, I 'bia dúil'."
David: "Uh huh. I will, in good faith, guess that means you're hungry."
David and Amelia walk over to the motel room door. David opens the door.
"After you, my little banphrionsa."
Amelia: "Awe, you're sweet. But to each other we are: 'grá spéis'."
As they left the motel room, as the door was closing,
David: "All right, I'll take your word for it."
The door closed behind them.
_______________________________________________________________
United States Senator, New Mexico
400 Gold Avenue SW, Ste. 1080
Albuquerque, New Mexico. 87102
Friday, June 29, 2018
8:59 a.m. (MDT)
Neila, Marvin, Sherman, Al, Beth, and Sammy Jo entered the room. They walked over to there required table and sat quietly.
Neila: "You think we're ready?"
Sammy Jo: "I think so. Just be confident and assure them that you know what we're all talking about."
All of the senators walked into the room and sat on their leather seats. The Chairman pounded on his gavel.
Chairman: "All right, let us begin this session. Our first case comes from three graduate students from the University of New Mexico. They are here to do a presentation on the reasoning and importance of temporarily reboot a classified project that was ceased nearly 20 years ago. This project that is being spoken of is: Project Quantum Leap, which was lead my Doctor Samuel Beckett in the mid to late 1990's. We, the senate, find still no desire or need to reboot this project. However, the graduate students have agreed to a second presentation where, at least, two of the original staff on the project would be here. Have you succeeded in doing this?"
Neila: "Yes, Mr. Chairman, I have."
Chairman: "Very well, then. Let us proceed... Who are the people in question?"
Neila: "Admiral Albert Calavicci and his wife, and Doctor Samantha Fuller."
Chairman: "Very well. Who would like to make the opening statement?"
Sammy Jo: "I will, Mr. Chairman."
Chairman: "Please state your full name, date of birth, and your occupation at the time Project Quantum Leap was still active."
Sammy Jo stood up before the committee.
Sammy Jo: "My name is: Doctor Samantha Josephine Fuller, Ph.D. My date of birth is: March 22nd, 1967. My occupation on Project Quantum Leap was: Project Technician."
Chairman: "Very well. Please begin your opening statement."
Sammy Jo quietly cleared her throat to prepare her opening statement.
Sammy Jo: "Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen of the senate, this project began with a dream. It began with the dream of a man who wanted to make the world a better place. But man was no ordinary humanitarian. He was a scientist; a physicist at that. That physicist's name was Doctor Samuel Beckett. And unlike many physicist, he was no ordinary scientist. This man had a photographic memory and an IQ of 267. The person who is alive to even come close to matching that is: Terence Tao, who has an IQ of 230. Doctor Beckett graduated from high school at the age of 16 and he went to MIT. There, he developed the String Theory of time travel with his mentor, Professor Sebastian LoNigro. He stayed in MIT for two years, finishing four year's worth of studies and then went to different colleges. He obtained seven doctoral degrees. Doctor Beckett developed the Project Quantum Leap based on his String Theory of time travel he theorized under his mentor. After creating Ziggy, his artificial intelligence parallel hybrid computer, and under pressure to prove his theories or lose funding, Doctor Beckett stepped into the unfinished Project Accelerator and vanished... He awoke in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that were not his own. Luckily, Admiral Albert Calavicci, the Project Observer from his own time, appeared in the form of a Hologram that only Doctor Beckett could see and hear. With a few exception. Admiral Calavicci, still appearing as a Hologram in the past, could be seen by animals, small children, the 'mentally absent', and people near death. What Doctor Beckett and Admiral Calavicci theorized was that he was sent back to the past to— correct a mistake."
Senator #1: "A mistake in time?"
Sammy Jo: "A mistake that happened to his host or other people around his host in that particular place and time period, since his host was the one Doctor Beckett bounced out. What that was put right, he would leave that host, go into a new one, in a different place and time period to correct a mistake there. The previous host would be returned to their own time and move on."
Chairman: "Do you know what was driving Doctor Beckett to— and I quote— 'put right what once went wrong'?"
Sammy Jo: "It was an unknown force they referred to as: 'God or Fate or Time'."
Chairman: "Is this what YOU believe to be true, Doctor Fuller? Can you say objectively say that God had taken over Project Quantum Leap, interfered with Doctor Beckett's attempt to travel through time within his own lifetime, and used him to put right what once went wrong?"
The place grew very quiet. All eyes were on Sammy Jo. She knew she had to project confidence in what she said, regardless if they believed her or not. Finally, she said, with internal reluctance and external confidence:
The Chairman lets out a deep sigh.
Chairman: "Do you believe in God, Doctor Fuller?"
Sammy Jo wasn't sure if the Chairman was asking a trick question. Still, she knew that she needed to sound confident in whatever she said.
Sammy Jo: "Yes, I believe in a higher purpose and that our lives are meant for something more than just— existing. As a scientist and as a human being, I believe in the impossible."
Chairman: "In other words, you also believe in time travel."
Sammy Jo: "After being a part of Project Quantum Leap, yes."
The Chairman opened his file folder and began looking through it.
Chairman: "I see."
The Chairman continued to go through his file folder and skimming over all the necessary notes.
Sammy Jo: "Mr. Chairman, Doctor Beckett had inhabited the lives of well over 90 people. We, at the project, called it: 'leaping into to someone'. Every life he touched, touched others. And those lives? Others. Doctor Beckett truly accomplished his life-long dream; to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, we lost contact with Doctor Beckett and we don't know of his whereabouts til this day. He didn't leap into anybody from the past. He began to leap through time as himself. As a result, the project was cut by the previous administration and ceased the funding. Project Quantum Leap has deteriorated. Drastic reductions forced the staff to either retire or be resigned. The location of it was expunged and relocated to an old Ward War II bunker inside Kirkland Air Force Base, the 377th Air Base Wing, located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque. But the project's leader, Doctor Samuel Beckett, was left behind. Doctor Beckett is still out there traveling back and forth within his own lifetime. If we can receive a 2-million-dollars budget and use updated software into to his artificial intelligent parallel hybrid computer, we may be able to retrieve Doctor Beckett back to the present day."
The Chairman looked up at Sammy Jo, after reading the files.
Chairman: "That will only buy you a little over four hours, doctor. And that's if we even approve this budget you're requesting."
Sammy Jo: "Yes. I myself will be willing to put in a share of 2 million dollars, out of pocket. And yes, it would buy us 4 hours, 6 minutes, and 36 seconds. Between all three graduate students, they were able to come up with $972,500, which will buy us another 2 hours. If we could receive 2 million dollars more from this administration, that would buy us an extra 4 hours. With your assistance, we will be able to run the project, from the moment we turn on the hybrid computer, for over ten hours."
Chairman: "You're talking about 2 million dollars as if it were pocket-change. The reality is: 2 million is a lot of money for a project that was never proven successful, doctor. And that's with no assurance that you can actually get this Doctor Beckett back, if he is still in the past."
Sammy Jo: "Mr. Chairman, I am asking you to look at this as an investment in humanity. One life that can be changed for the better is worth so much more than any money that you can give."
There is dead silence for about 5 seconds.
Chairman: "Have a seat, doctor."
Sammy Jo: "But sir— ?"
The Chairman becomes more forceful in his tone of voice.
Chairman: "Have a seat, doctor."
Again, there is dead silence for about 5 seconds.
Sammy Jo: "Yes, Mr. Chairman."
The Chairman sat back in his leather seat. He let out another sigh.
Chairman: "Admiral Calavicci, could you please stand."
Al stood up before the Chairman.
"Admiral, I understand form Miss Abramczy that you were the Project Observer; the one who was able to communicate with Doctor Beckett during each of his supposed adventures through time."
Al: "Uh, yes, that is correct, Mr. Chairman. I was the Government-Project Liaison. Project Quantum Leap was designed around our brainwaves, so he and I could keep in contact."
Chairman: "So, you can testify, under oath, that this 'quantum leap' actually happened."
Al: "Yes, Mr. Chairman, I can."
Chairman: "So, you were Doctor Beckett's guide through all of his supposed 'leaps' back and forth through time?"
Al: "That is correct, Mr. Chairman."
Chairman: "Mmh hmh."
There is a moment of awkward silence.
"Do YOU believe in God, Admiral?"
Al: "Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do."
Chairman: "Now, let there be no mistakes and no misunderstandings to you or the rest of the people in this court room. When I speak of God, I am not speaking of a military acronym or top secret project. I am speaking from a monotheistic point of view. When I speak of God, I am referring to: a Supreme Being who's the source of all moral authority and the Creator and Ruler of the Universe. Is that the God you believe in, Admiral?"
Al: "Yes, sir, it is."
Chairman: "I assume the God you believe in is the same God that Doctor Beckett believes in."
Al: "Yes, sir, you assumed correctly."
Chairman: "And you and Doctor Beckett believe that God interfered with his attempt to travel through time in order to use him to 'put right what once went wrong'?"
Al: "Yes, that is what we concluded after exhausting every possible scientific explanation."
The Chairman leaned forward.
Chairman: "Admiral, the committee has reviewed all of Project Quantum Leap's logbooks of chronicles that were documented during the time Project Quantum Leap was active. I must say: I'm very impressed about the way you and the other staff members went about it. Very impressed indeed."
Al: "Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We always made it a point to be thorough."
Chairman: "Yes, well, Admiral, you must understand that this committee has to justify granting 2 million dollars to fund a project that would be of GLOBAL importance. And yet, these supposed 'leaps' Doctor Beckett experienced were in lives of average people and never did any good beyond individual lives."
Al: "Yes, sir, we noticed that. We came to the conclusion that that's how— He— preferred it."
Chairman: "I see. Admiral, after observing your logbooks, we found that were quite a few 'leaps' that just didn't make any sense. Almost as if you were running out of ideas as to how to change peoples' lives."
Al: "I can assure you, Mr. Chairman, that each leap was important and had great impact on the lives he had had affected."
Senator #1: "You expect us to believe that God 'leaped' Doctor Beckett back into 1956 just to help Buddy Holly with the lyrics to 'Peggy Sue'?"
Al: "We figured that was the reason, since he leaped out immediately afterwards."
Senator #2: "Let me get this straight. God 'leaped' Doctor Beckett into Clint Hill in Dallas on November 22, 1963 to save the life of Jackie Kennedy, but not the president?"
Al: "Yes. We originally thought Doctor Beckett's mission was to save the president, but nobody would remember that in the original history that Jackie was killed as well. Plus, keep in mind that after John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States, Clint Hill was mainly assigned to protect the First Lady. And even after the president's assassination, he remained assigned to Mrs. Kennedy and the children until after the 1964 presidential election."
Senator #3: "So, we're suppose to believe that God 'leaped' Doctor Beckett into Elvis Presley back in '54, so he could be discovered? Seriously? Project Quantum Leap is actually trying to take credit for that?"
Al: "Help Elvis? No. Elvis was discovered just fine without Doctor Beckett's help. Doctor Beckett's mission was to change the life of a former girlfriend of Elvis for the better, without messing things up for Elvis."
Senator #4: "I'm still trying to come to grips with God 'leaping' Doctor Beckett into the life of Marilyn Monroe to save her life. If that's true, Doctor Beckett didn't do a very good job."
Al: "Well, there are some extenuating circumstances that you're leaving out. Yes, Doctor Beckett did leap into Marilyn Monroe's chauffeur. But, in the original history, Marilyn had overdosed on alcohol and Barbiturates at one of Peter Lawford's parties in 1960. His mission was to save her life so she could finish one last picture."
Senator #4: "As Roslyn Tabor in 'The Misfits'."
Al: "Uh, that is correct, senator."
Senator #5: "God had Doctor Beckett 'leap' into Dr. Ruth Westheimer— just so she could meet YOU in 1999 to help you with a personal problem?"
Al: "Eh, what can I say? The Lord works in mysterious ways."
Senator #5: "You know, Admiral, Mr. Hill and Doctor Ruth are still alive. Like you, they are in their 80's, alive and well. Doctor Ruth lives in Washington Heights, Manhattan and Mr. Hill was last known to live near San Francisco. For the sake of the project, do you think that they would be willing to come here on another day to corroborate these claims?"
Al: "Uh, that one might be a little tricky."
Senator #5: "Why is that?"
Al: "Whenever a person that Doctor Beckett had leaped into returned to their own time, we don't know how much of a memory, if any, they had of being in the future. When they leap into the future, they suffer from partial amnesia, just as Doctor Beckett had. When they leap back to their own time, the partial amnesia effect is generally reversed... Eh, plus, it's been nearly 20 years. Memories fade with time."
Chairman: "How dubiously convenient. Wouldn't you say, Admiral?"
Al: "Uh, no, Mr. Chairman. I find that decidedly inconvenient if both of their testimonies would help our case."
A moment of silence filled the room.
Chairman: "Admiral, you must realize that their are quite a few 'leaps' that are so peculiar that it would be impossible to not have an incredulous response."
Al: "Eh, like what?"
Chairman: "Well, let's see. Spotting Bigfoot in Washington State. Proving the existence of extraterrestrials in Charlemont, Massachusetts. 'Leaping' into his great-grandfather, a Union Army Captain in the Civil War, which was far outside his own lifetime. Unnaturally making it rain in Clover Bend, Arkansas. 'Leaping' into a vampire in London, England. Crossing paths with an angel in New York City, a Pharaoh's curse in Egypt, ghostly people in San Fernando, and ghostly ships in the Bermuda Triangle. 'Leaping' into an astro-CHIMP in the Chimponaut Corps during the early days of the Space Program at The Cape in Florida."
The Chairman looked down at the notes.
"And last..."
The Chairman looked up from reading the notes.
"... but certainly not least, encountering an Evil Leaper, one that Doctor Beckett saved from the shackles of the malevolent force that was 'leaping' her back and forth through time... Admiral, none of these are scientifically explainable. They are nothing more than 'kisses with the paranormal'. Inklings of a pseudoscience, at best."
Al: "Mr. Chairman, as improbable as all of that may sound, we at the project simply called things as we saw them. None of us were ever recalcitrant about speaking our minds. As far a pseudosciences go? Well, the dismissive stance you're taking on the paranormal is understandable, but it's also reflective of a scientific past rooted in the fear of unconventional thinking. Still, Quantum Physics is one area of science which not only embraces the possibility that paranormal phenomena exists, but is showing more and more support for theories once said to be paranormal."
The Chairman sat quietly with a skeptical demeanor.
Senator #6: "Admiral, Doctor Fuller mentioned that there were exceptions to who could and could not see you and Doctor Beckett as you guys really were. She mentioned that one of them was small children."
Al: "That is correct, senator."
Senator #6: "What did Project Quantum Leap consider to be a 'small child'?"
Al: "Ziggy, our artificial intelligent parallel hybrid computer, calculated children under five."
Senator #6: "I see. Did this Ziggy calculate why?"
Al: "Well, Ziggy said that children under five exist in a 'natural alpha state'. Young children, like animals, are pure of heart and only see the truth."
Senator #6: "So, these small children in the past that could see you, within Doctor Beckett's lifetime, would be anywhere from 30 to 70 years of age today. For the sake of the project, do you think that any of THEM would come in and testify as proof of its success? Or would THAT be tricky as well?"
Al: "Uh, well, it might be. Any memories they may have of me or Doctor Beckett would be vague and ill-defined, assuming they remember us at all."
Chairman: "The logbooks indicate that you became quite attached to a 4-year-old from 1981 named: Teresa Bruckner. Would it be accurate to say that?"
Al began to fondly recalled the last time he saw that little girl. It was on the episode "Another Mother." In silent reverie, Al thought with great poignancy the promise he made to her as a Hologram on Thursday, October 1st, 1981...→
Al felt a small knot in the pit of his stomach that he hadn't felt since he made that promise. In the back of his mind, Al was even beginning to wondering if Teresa still remembered him.Sam and Al were in Teresa's bedroom. Sam was folding laundry while Al was playing with Teresa (portrayed by Troian Bellisario), testing her knowledge of dinosaurs. Sam scratched the left side of his nose with his left hand. Suddenly, Sam sensed that he was about to leap.
Sam: "Al."
Al looked at Sam and realized that it was time to go. A saddened Al looked at Teresa.
Al: "Teresa? You're mommy's coming back."
Teresa: "Mommy?"
Al: "Yeah."
Teresa: "Can you stay?"
Al: "No."
Teresa: "But I don't want you to go."
Al: "Well, I don't wanna go. But I'm gonna come back. I don't know when, but I'll come back."
Teresa: "Promise?"
Al: "I promise."
Al put his hand up and Teresa put her hand through his one more time. From across the room, Sam smiled at the two of them, and leaped. Teresa watched them as they both vanish in an brilliant aura of blue light.→
"Admiral? Would it be accurate to say that?"
Al: "Yes, Mr. Chairman, I did bond with Teresa; that little girl. She knew me as 'Angel Al'."
Chairman: "She thought you were an angel?"
Al: "Uh, yes, sir. That was the best way Doctor Beckett and I could explain why Doctor Beckett was wearing her mother's clothes and why I was intangible to her."
Chairman: "Do you think she remembers either one of you?"
Al: "I— couldn't tell ya, Mr. Chairman. It's generally, on average, around 3 or 4 years of age when a person has their first memory of being alive, let alone remembering people they haven't seen since. It all depends on how far a child would experience Childhood Amnesia as they get older."
Chairman: "Childhood Amnesia?"
Al: "Yes. It's the inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories before the age of 2 through 4 years of age. Changes in encoding, storage and retrieval of memories during early childhood development are all important when considering Childhood Amnesia. Even if Teresa Bruckner remembered me OR Doctor Beckett, she never knew anything about Project Quantum Leap. She believed Doctor Beckett and I were angels, not scientist. She wouldn't be able to give any testimony to Project Quantum Leap, it's missions, or it's accomplishments."
Chairman: "Stop fencing with me, Admiral. I am not a patient person when it comes to this committee and do not appreciate you attempting to play mind games with me."
Al: "Sir, I promise I wasn't trying to undermine your authority."
There is a moment of awkward silence.
"I apologize, Mr. Chairman."
An uneasy silence filled the room as the Chairman looked at Al.
Chairman: "Are you able to recall things from when YOU were 4 years old, Admiral?"
Al: "Eh, some things, yeah."
Chairman: "Me, too. So why the song and dance? Why are you so reluctant to try to find this lady?"
Al closed his for a second or two and rubbed his forehead. There was a look of dejection on Al's face.
Al: "Teresa Bruckner passed away from cancer on Christmas Eve twenty years ago. . . I suppose in ran in her family. Her mother died of ovarian cancer eight years prior."
There is a moment of silence.
Chairman: "I see."
Sammy Jo could see that Al and the Chairman weren't getting anywhere. She wanted to help not only the three graduate students but Al as well. Sammy Jo stood up.
Sammy Jo: "May I make a suggestion, Mr. Chairman?"
Chairman: "You may."
Sammy Jo: "Suppose we were to begin to make arrangements over the weekend to set up the project to be rebooted. If you would allow us, when it's ready, we'll reboot it with the money that we decided to put into it. That will buy us the first 8 + hours. If you grant us the 2 million dollars on Monday, which would buy us the last 2 hours?"
Chairman: "In other words, doctor: you're asking me if it would be okay to reboot the project without any burden of proof or even prima facie evidence that would support your claim that Doctor Beckett's 'quantum leaps' ever really happened."
Sammy Jo: "True. But what about Preponderance of the Evidence? You know, the Balance of Probabilities? This standard is met if the proposition is more likely to be true than not true. By THIS standard, we're more likely to succeed in rebooting the project than not."
Chairman: "Doctor Fuller, this standard is only satisfied if there is greater than fifty percent chance that the proposition is true. It could be 50.01%. It could 99.99%. Do you think that the chances of being able to reboot the project will be greater the 50%?"
Again, Sammy Jo knew that she had to sound confident and sure of herself when she replied.
Sammy Jo: "Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman."
Chairman: "Even if you can't get Doctor Beckett back to the present day or if Doctor Beckett had not accomplished he mission?"
Sammy Jo: "You have my word on that, Mr. Chairman."
The Chairman quietly looked around the room at the other senators for a moment or so.
Chairman: "What about the graduate students? Do they promise as well?"
Neila stood up.
Neila: "I do."
Marvin stood up.
Marvin: "I do."
Sherman stood up.
Sherman: "I do."
Chairman: "Admiral?"
Al: "I do."
The Chairman looked at all the other senators.
Chairman: "Are we ALL in agreement?"
All of the senators responded affirmatively.
"All right, then. You have the weekend to prepare the project to go online. You will be given over 8 hours from the time you start. If you project reboot is successful, we will grant you the requested 2 million dollars for another 2 hours. These are the orders until further notice."
The Chairman pounds his gavel.
"Case is to be concluded! On to the next case!"
All the senators remained seated. Neila, Marvin, Sherman, Al, Beth, and Sammy Jo quietly exited the room. They walked through the hallway of the legal building. Al was very quiet. Everyone knew that he was perturbed about something. The silence was awkward and somebody needed to break the tension.
Neila: "Admiral?"
Al turned around quickly and abruptly said:
Al: "What?!"
Beth: "Al."
Al could tell that Beth was trying to keep him calm. Al took a few seconds to regain is composure. He took at deep breath quietly.
Al: "What is it?"
Neila: "I'm sorry. I don't mean to overstep my bounds. I was just wondering if you were all right."
Al rubbed the his forehead for a few seconds.
Al: "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine."
Neila noticed that Al didn't look "fine." Trying not to pry, she said:
Neila: "Uh, forgive, but— you don't sound very sure."
Al closed his eyes and took another deep breath. He recalled the last time he saw Teresa. She was an adult. She was an angel. He thought of there last conversation on Friday, December 25, 1998, found in the novel: "Angels Unaware."
Al: "Teresa?" She looked away.Neila: "Admiral?"
"Teresa, no." He reached for her, but she pulled away.
"Teresa, no!" He dropped his hands to his sides, shaking.
"No, we saved you!"
Teresa: "Yes, you did." The girl's eye filled and her nose reddened.
"It was the wrong time three years ago, Al," she said. Her voice broke.
"I had no idea how wrong until— " She rubbed her eyes and forced herself to meet Al's.
"We all die sometime, don't we? The important thing is to be prepared. You and Sam gave me a second chance. If I'd died three years ago, I never would have made it."
Al: "Made it? Made what? Teresa, you had your whole life ahead of you! You could have been another Nobel scientist or a teacher or— "
Teresa: "I decided to stay with the sisters," she said quietly. And then, she smiled, a genuine smile.
"Between you and Sam and Angela— well, I wanted to do something that would last, too." For a moment Al couldn't bring himself to look at her.
Al: "Oh, it wasn't suppose to be like this."
Angela: "This was her last wish, Al."
Al: "How...?" He breathed out. "When?"
Teresa: "Last night. Cancer. Just like my mom... Like your dad."
Al's gaze sharpened.
Al: "How did you know about... ?"
Teresa: "You prayed for him. He never would have made it if you hadn't prayed for him."
Al: "He made it?"
Teresa: "Merry Christmas, Al."
Al: "Here." Al handed the hat to her. "To remember me by." Then, he smiled.
"Merry Christmas, munchkin." Teresa laughed, the high-pitched, gleeful laugh she had as a child, and put the fedora on her head, tapping it down with her fingers.
Teresa: "Cutting edge stuff. How do I look?" Al swallowed and thumbed the side of his nose.
Al: "Like an angel."
Al cleared his throat and in a calm voice, he said:
Al: "I am sure. I'm fine. Just— let me know when you got everything ready to go online."
Neila: "You're not going to help us set everything up?"
Al: Uh, no. I'll leave that to you youngsters. Beth and I will relax at our motel."
Neila: "Where are you staying?"
Al: "The Uptown Sheraton on Louisiana Boulevard North East. Have a good weekend."
Al and Beth walked to their car, got in it, and drove off.
Neila: "Well, boys. We've a lot of work to do and very little time to do it."
Sherman: "Yeah. Story of our lives."
Sammy Jo: "Don't worry. I'll help guide you."
Marvin: "Thanks. We could use all the help we can get."
_______________________________________________________________
On the way to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station
5 minutes from 4211 Broadway
New York, New York 10033
Monday, August 23, 1982
10:38 a.m. (EDT)
David and Amelia are walking along Broadway, toward the bus station. The checked themselves out of the Econo Lodge early to have some leeway before they got on the bus. It was a comfortable 68°. They had breakfast at the International House of Pancakes, then went walking toward the bus station.
David chuckled and smiled.
David: "Brewster? Where did you come up with that one?"
Amelia: "Well, The New York Times was laying on the table in the motel room. It was on the 'Magical Stories' page. It caught my attention when I saw 'Women Together by Annie Gottlieb.' I had to come up with a last name quickly, so I looked at it some more and I saw the first sentence that talked about this new novel called: 'The Women of Brewster Place' by Gloria Naylor. And voilà! — I said your last name is: Brewster."
David: "Okay, well, Brewster works for me."
Amelia: "He asked about what you do. All I told him was that you were some kind of scientist. I didn't get into any specifics."
At that point, David and Amelia passed by three thugs who stood up and slowly began to follow them. The were quiet about it so they would be seen right away.
David: "Is that all he knows about me?"
Amelia: "Yeah, I thought I'd leave the rest up to you. There are lots of universities in the Boston area. You'll have access all sorts of books and a lot of laboratories."
David looked behind him and saw the three thugs. He noticed they were following him and Amelia, but he tried to ignore them.
David: "Uh, yeah, I'll have to check it out."
Amelia: "You know, some of the most brilliant doctors come from all over the world to work in hospitals and laboratories in the Boston area. You might be able to make some friends in your field. Plus, you may have a chance to find a cure for your— affliction."
David: "Uh, yeah, I uhm— "
David looked behind him again and saw that the three thugs were still following them.
"That's always a possibility."
Amelia: "What's wrong?"
David: "Nothing. Nothing, really. Let's just get to the bus station."
Amelia: "You seem a little distracted."
David: "Oh, uh, sorry. I don't mean to be. Let's just get to the bus station."
Amelia: "What's going on?"
Amelia looked behind her and saw the three thugs. David made her look forward.
David: "Don't look. Don't make eye-contact. Let's just get to the bus station, where there are a crowd of people."
Amelia: "Have they been following us?"
David: "Yes, but let's just get to the bus station, okay? We'll be safer there."
The next thing they knew, one of the thugs came up from behind Amelia and wrapped both of his arms around her torso.
Thug #1: "Hey there, beautiful. You got any sweet lovin' for me?"
Amelia: "Uh, no, I'm married."
Thug #1: "That's not stoppin' me. Why should it stop you?"
Suddenly, the other two thugs grabbed David from behind, and restrained him by each grabbing one of his arms.
David: "Ouuuh, hey, what are you doing?"
Thug #1 put his hand over Amelia's mouth.
Thug #1: "Come on, let's step into my office, shall we?"
The three thugs dragged both of them into a secluded alley. Thug #1 pulled out a pistol and put it to Amelia's temple.
"You scream, and I swear I will blow your head off right here."
David: "Please, you don't have to hurt her. Just tell us what you want."
The other two thugs twisted his wrist.
"Ouuuuuuuh!"
Thug #2: "Maybe if you shut up, you might find out."
Thug #1: "It's all very simple, really. Your wife and you money. You give us that and we''ll let YOU go."
David: "Uh, we don't have any money."
The other two thugs twisted his wrist again.
"Ouuuuuuuh!"
Thug #1: "You know, I would really like to believe you. But, you see, unfortunately, I don't. You're headed toward the bus station. That means your traveling. And you can't travel without money. Now, is there any thing else I could say or do to dissuade you of the notion that we're stupid?"
Amelia: "I'll give you all my money. Just, please, let us go."
Thug #1 laughed.
Thug #1: "You're already got what I want, honey. Once you're husband gives us what we want, he can leave."
Thug #3 pulled David's wallet out of his pocket.
Thug #3: "It's okay, man. I got his wallet."
Thug #3 looked inside the wallet and saw that it was empty. He was not happy. Thug #3 twisted his wrist again.
David: "Ouuuuuuuh!"
Thug #3: "Empty wallet? Where's your money, pal?"
David: "I don't have any."
The both of the thugs twisted his wrist again.
"Ouuuuuuuh!"
Thug #2: "My friend asked you a question. Don't you lie to us, pal."
Thug #1: "Hey hey hey, it's okay. I got what I want."
Thug #1 dragged Amelia over to the other two thugs who have David. He took his pistol and points at David, between his eyes.
"And if this guy will stop lying, we'll ALL get what we want. If that doesn't happen, well, within a minute, he'll be dead and we'll get what we want anyway... Now, give us our money."
David stood in silence and in pain.
"Don't you lie to us. Where is it?"
David in so much pain, at this point, his skin was diaphoretic. He grit his teeth.
"Well?"
David: "We— don't— have any."
Thug #1 nodded and took the safety off on his pistol.
Thug #1: "Wrong answer."
Both of the thugs twisted his wrist again.
David: "Ouuuuuuuh!"
Thug #1: "Well, let's see if I can get me a bullseye today."
All three of the thugs laughed fiendishly.
"Well, adiós."
Even though Thug #1 was tightly holding to Amelia with his left hand and his pistol on his right hand, Amelia was able to free her right hand. In a panic, she pushed the right arm of Thug #1 away from his target. Out of reflex, he pulled the trigger and the bullet hit David's left shoulder, instead of between the eyes.
David: "Ouuuuuuuh!"
Thug #2 was on David's left side.
Thug #2: "Hold him!"
Thug #3 grabbed both of his arms, while Thug #2 was attempting to help Thug #1. Thug #3 David a few feet away from all of them and threw David against a brick wall. Thug #3 still had a good hold on David. Thug #3 rammed David face and head into the brick wall three times, as hard as he could. He, then, pulled David to a sidewalk, on another street that had intermediate traffic.
Thug #3: "Auf wiedersehen, pal!"
Thug #3 threw David out into the street, where all of the Thugs hoped he would get killed by an on-coming vehicle. Disoriented, David tried looking around to see where he was for a second or two. Then, in the nick of time, he sees a car coming toward on his right side. At that critical moment, David jumped onto the hood of the car as the driver put on his brakes simultaneously. This caused David to roll on the car's hood and cracked the wind-shield. David, then, bounced off the car's hood, landed on the trunk of the another car, and fell onto the curb behind the trunk of the other car. The constant pain David was feeling became more exceedingly elaborate and intense. He was sweating profusely. David's anger elicited by the pain had escalated to manic frenzy and that when it happened. David's eyes became white and then a pale green. The man who was driving the car that hit him got out of his car to look at the wind-shield. He become very enraged when he saw the damages.
Driver: "Son of a bitch. Look what you did to my car."
Meanwhile, David's shirt begins to rip because he is now growing larger and larger and his muscles begin to expand. At the same time his skin pigmentation changes from a healthy peach color to gray and then to a full out green. The sides of his pants split partway and the shoes he is wearing rips off of his feet.
"This was my company car, you little piss-ant. Get out from behind there! If you don't have insurance, I'm gonna rip your guts out."
Slowly, a pair of green hands surface on top of the trunk of the car David landed on.
"Get out from behind there and face me. Come on! Come out and face me."
A second or two later, the Hulk's head slowly emerged as he quietly growled. The driver saw the Hulk as he stood up. "What the...?" he says as he flinches. The Hulk walked toward the driver's car. As the Hulk approached the driver. The driver backed up a few steps, then, the Hulk in his fury, took both of his fists and bashed the hood of the car in. The drive backed up some more and knew better than to try to fight the Hulk.
"You want my car? Here. Here it is. The keys are inside. You can drive it or destroy it. Whatever you want. Hey, it's New York City. What do I need a car for?"
The Hulk, then, roared. "Rrrrrraaaaaaah!"
"Okay, well, enjoy your car. Bye!"
The driver ran away as fast as he can. The Hulk saw Thug #3, which is who through David out in the street. Thug #3 could sense the Hulk's presence, but he thought it was just another person passing by.
Thug #3: "Don't be a hero, whoever-you-are. Just turn the other way and keep walking."
The Hulk quiet growled as he stood behind Thug #3. Thug #3 became curious about the noise behind me, turns around, and saw the Hulk. "Oh my G—...?," he said just before has backed up a few steps, then the Hulk grabs him and threw him clear to other side of the street he he threw David on. Then, the Hulk ran to the alley where David and Amelia were being threatened. Thug #1 and Thug #2 were still working on restraining Amelia.
Thug #1: "Lady, the sooner we get you and the money, the sooner this will be over with. So, quit fighting this."
Amelia: "Where's my husband?"
Thug #2: "If he's smart, he'll be as far from here as possible."
Suddenly, a large shadow came over them. The curiosity came over Thug #1 and #2. When they looked, they both saw the Hulk, with his fists at his sides and growling while gritting his teeth. "What the hell is that?," Thug #2 said. That's when the Hulk roared once again. "Rrrrraaaaaaarh!" "Well, it's been nice knowing the both of you," Thug #2 said as he fled the scene. Thug #2's eyes widened and jaw dropped with terror as the Hulk. The Hulk grabbed the front of Thug #1's shirt, pulled Thug #1 toward him, and looked Thug #1 dead in his eyes while gritting his teeth and snarling in anger. Thug #1 looked into the Hulk's eyes with utter horror and trepidation. Then, the Hulk grabbed him with both hands, and threw Brody as far as he could. Thug #1, then, landed on the on a bunch of garbage cans on the other side of the side of the alley. The Hulk flexed his muscles and roared: "Raaaaaaarrrrh!" Thug #1 decided to get out of there before he sustained any more injuries. The Hulk walks up to Amelia and began calm down a little. Amelia looks up and sees the Hulk. The Hulk takes his right hand and grabs her left hand to pull her up and on her feet. She looked into the Hulk's eyes.
Amelia: "David? Oh, David."
Amelia took her right hand and gently caressed the Hulk left cheek. The Hulk grunts a little.
"It's okay, David. It's me... It's me."
The Hulk felt soothed by her touch. Then, the Hulk took both of his hands and caressed both of Amelia's cheeks. Again, the Hulk was deeply enthralled by Amelia's presence. After about 20 seconds, Amelia wanted to see if the coast was clear.
"Okay, I'm going over there."
She pointed at direction she was going. She did a downward motion with both of her index fingers.
"Okay? You stay right here. Just stay here and I'll be back."
The copied her hand movements.
"Yeah, stay right here. I'll be back."
Amelia walked over to the corner of the alley quickly and quietly. She saw that there were very few people walk up and down the sidewalk, going toward the bus station. She goes back to where the Hulk is. She spoke quietly.
"David, come with me. Come on."
Amelia motioned to the Hulk to follow her. The Hulk, quietly grunting, slowly walked with her. They both walked over to a secluded place in the alley, where no one else would notice them. Then, Amelia motions to the Hulk to sit down.
"Okay, David. Sit down. Sit right here."
The Hulk looked at where Amelia wanted him to sit down. He looked around the alley.
"It's okay. It's okay. Nobody's gonna hurt us. It'll be all right. Just sit here."
The Hulk slowly and carefully sat on the ground. Amelia sat beside him, on his right side. She took his left and and enveloped it in both of her hands.
"There we go. It's okay. We're safe now. Just relax. It's okay. It's okay."
At that point, the Hulk felt tired and safe. As he began to relax, Amelia witnessed the Hulk beginning to morph back into David. For a minute, his skin pigment goes from green, to gay, and back to a healthy peach color. Simultaneously, his eyes went form being a pale green, to white, and back brown. He was now back to human form. He was David again. David put his hands over his face and slid them down ever so softly. He saw that he was still in the same alley. He heard the sound of cars driving by, sirens blaring, and the song: "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor playing in the far distance. He surveyed his surroundings, thinking: "Oh no, it happened again." He looked to his right and saw Amelia sitting beside him.
"Are you all right?"
Amelia unzipped David duffle bag to look for a new shirt and shoes.
David: "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I think so... Are YOU all right?"
Amelia: "Yeah, thanks to you."
Amelia pulled out a shirt and a pair of shoes.
David: "Did I hurt anybody?"
Amelia went from a sitting position to being on her knees.
Amelia: "No. Here's another shirt and shoes. How is you bullet wound?"
David took the shirt and shoes. Amelia leaned over to check David's to bullet wound on his left shoulder, only to see that there was no trace of it.
"Woe! It's healed. It's completely healed. Amazing."
David: "Yes. It's a corollary of the metamorphosis. Increased human productivity. The creatures metabolic rate is six times that of normal human metabolism."
After David put his shoes on and tied them, he and Amelia stood up. Then, he put his shirt on and began buttoning it.
"What time is it?"
Amelia looked at her watch.
Amelia: "We still have an hour before the bus leaves."
After David buttoned his shirt, picked up his duffle bag and put it around his left shoulder.
David: "Well, I guess the important thing is that we're on it, right?"
Amelia: "So true. We're only 5 minutes from the bus station, so we have plenty of time."
Both them left the alley casually, and went straight to the bus station to catch the 12:01 p.m.
_______________________________________________________________
The Uptown Sheraton
2600 Louisiana Boulevard North East
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110
Friday, June 29, 2018
8:02 p.m. (MDT)
Beth: "Al?"
Al: "Yes, honey?"
Beth: "I was just wondering if you were okay."
Al: "Of course I'm okay. I'm just getting ready to enjoy the sunset."
Beth: "You didn't seem to be okay earlier... Please, be candid with me, Al. What upset you?"
Al: "Beth, I'm fine. I was just tired. I'm not the early-riser that I used to be. That's all."
Beth: "Forgive me, but I don't think that's the whole story."
Al lets out a quiet sigh and remained silent.
"Al, whatever it is, you know that you can tell me anything in confidence and otherwise. Please, Al. Tell me what's wrong. You know I love you and you know I'd never judge you. Please, just tell me what it is. I promise: I will listen and not think you're insane or just making excuses."
Al sat silently for another 10 seconds, then looked at Beth.
Al: "I don't know how to explain this without you thinking I'm crazy."
Beth: "Just do the best you can. I won't think you're crazy. Things happen all the time that we can't explain."
Al let out another quiet sight, as he looked sadden by whatever he was thinking.
Al: "You know how I got attached to that little girl on Sam's 21st Leap, right?"
Beth: "Yes, Teresa Bruckner. I remember."
Al: "At the end of the Leap, I promised her that I would came back. I said that I didn't know when, but that I'd come back."
Beth: "I remember."
Al: "Do you remember the year I had to work on Christmas Eve?"
Beth: "Yes, I do. It was about 20 years ago, right?"
Al: "Yes, it was... On that particular Leap, Sam leaped into a Catholic Priest named: Father Samuel O'Keefe. He was a visiting priest at a monastery in Windy Bluff, Massachusetts. Simultaneously, Teresa, as an adult, was coming to look for peace at this monastery. She had gotten involved with the wrong people and made some bad choices within the 14 ½ years since I promised her I'd come back. She remembered Sam and I as 'angels'. She could see both of us when she was 4 ½ or so. But this time, she couldn't see either one of us. Still, Sam and I had to save her life and keep out of a life of crime."
Beth: "Did you?"
Al: "Oh yeah, we sure did. Of course, I found out on Christmas Eve, Teresa had passed away. I saw her in her angelic state on Christmas Day of the year I had to work. It was cancer, Beth. Just like her mom. Just like my dad. She had become an angel herself because she was impressed with the good Sam and I were doing for the world. I was very proud that she became an angel, but— I uh— I still miss that little girl, you know? I still miss— that little munchkin."
Beth: "And talking about it brought back all of those feelings to the surface, huh?"
Al sat quietly for a several seconds.
Al: "Yeah, I suppose it did. I think of her seldom, but I do think of her."
Beth: "I'm sure you do."
Al sniffled as his eyes welted up with a few tears. Al rubbed his eyes and was quiet for several seconds.
Al: "You're the first person I ever told this to. Not everyone believes in angels. Even before I was put in the orphanage, I was raised Catholic. You'd think that I'd believe in them more than the average Joe. But as time went by, when I was working for Project Quantum Leap, I began to believe in them with absolute faith... I also didn't know how YOU'D take it. I mean, we've never really got into a philosophical or theological dissuasion.about angels. I didn't know if you believed in them or what you would think if I told you that I believed in them."
There is silence for about 10 seconds. Then, Beth took Al's left hand and enveloped it around both of her hands.
Beth: "Al?"
Al looked at Beth and looked deep into her eyes.
Al: "Yes, honey?"
Beth smiled during 5 seconds of silence.
Beth: "I believe in angels, too."
Al: "You do? Really?"
Beth: "Yes, really."
Al: "Since when?"
Beth let out a quiet sigh.
Beth: "Well... It was the spring of 1969. You had been MIA in Vietnam for over 2 years. I was working double shifts at the Naval Medical Center, located in Balboa Park, San Diego, in the Burn Unit. I was doing that to keep my mind occupied. In the Navy Nurse Corps, they teach you to not become attached to any patients. And when they come in with 80% or more of their bodies burned, you know they're going to die. Then, I treated a Marine named: Andy. He had such a will to live. I thought that will to live was enough. I thought he would beat the odds. And for a little while, he did. It didn't last, though. Within a couple of days, he died like the rest of them."
Al nodded his head.
Al: "Vietnam. It's a wonder any of us made it out alive."
Beth: "When I lost Andy, my faith of you coming home began to decline more and more."
Al: "What happened?"
Beth: "I was in the living room, slow-dancing in the dark to 'Georgia' by Ray Charles. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, this— man appears. There was nothing special about him. He didn't have wings or dress in all white clothing. He looked like any normal middle-aged man. When I saw him, he startled me. I asked him how he got into the house. He told me that wasn't there to harm me but to help me. He said— and I quote— 'Help you and help Al'."
Al's eyes widen.
Al: "He knew my name?"
Beth: "Yes. To make sure I heard him right, I asked if he was a friend of your's. And said: 'Yeah, I'm a friend of Al's'."
Al: "This is uncanny."
Beth: "Yeah, tell me about it... He sat me down to told me that everything was going to okay; that everything was going to work out. He told me that you were alive and that you were coming home. I cried tears of joy, because I believed him. There was something in his eyes that told me that he KNEW it to be true, rather than predicting or even guessing. Then, he disappeared as quickly as he arrived. And it was true. You were alive and you did come home, just like he said you would... He had to be an angel, Al. He had to be. He appeared at the exact moment that all of my faith you coming alive had run out. From that point forward, I believed in angels."
Al: "Amazing."
Beth: "It WAS amazing. Angels are messengers of God. And I was so thankful to get that message. I can't even imagine what our lives would've been like without each other."
Al: "Oh, I know I'd be a mess. It wouldn't matter how many women I met, they would never had measured up to you. You are the one I've always wanted to grow old with. You truly are the love of my life."
Beth: "And you truly are the love of mine."
Al smiled.
Al: "Thank God for that angel."
They both sat, smiled, and gazed into each others' eyes.
_______________________________________________________________
Riding on a Greyhound Bus
On Interstate-91 North toward CT-66
Between Middletown & East/Hartford, Connecticut 06138
Monday, August 23, 1982
2:15 p.m. (EDT)
David was sitting on the window seat, watching the view as the bus was moving. He looked at Amelia and wonder how she was doing.
David: "Hey? How's the book coming along?"
Amelia looked at David.
Amelia: "What?"
David: "'2010: Odyssey Two?' I was just wondering about the story."
Amelia: "Oh. Uhm, well, Discovery was destroyed. However, in appreciation for HAL's help, Bowman had the aliens, which controlled the monoliths, remove HAL's artificial intelligence from Discovery's computer core and transformed him into the same kind of life form as David Bowman, and became his companion."
David: "Ah. Sounds very interesting."
Amelia: "It has been... Where are we now?"
David: "We're in Connecticut now. In another couple of hours, we should be in Boston."
Amelia: "Oh. Did you know that the word: 'Connecticut' is derived from various anglicized spellings of an Algonquian word for 'long tidal river'?"
David: "You know? I think I may have learned that in either seventh or ninth grade geography."
Amelia: "That's where I learned it. In one of those classes."
David: "Ah. Sounds right to me."
There were several seconds of silence between Amelia and David.
Amelia: "So, uh, how should I introduce you?"
David: "What?"
Amelia: Well, I was just wondering if I should introduce you as my boyfriend to my deartháir. I wanted to make sure that wouldn't offend you or anything."
David: "Well, no. You wouldn't offend me at all."
Amelia: "Good. Just checking."
Amelia smiled and continued to read her novel. David continued to be quiet and enjoyed the view.
_______________________________________________________________
The Control Room
Project Quantum Leap
Stallion's Gate, New Mexico 87501-4893
Sunday, July 1, 2018
12:55 p.m. (MDT)
Sammy Jo and everyone else checking out and working on parts of the project that had lacking in property, order, or distinctness of structure previously. For countless hours they tried to ameliorate all databases and made sure that none of them become more unreliable than before by errors or alterations. Since Sammy Jo had worked there before and was kept up-to-date with the latest technology, she was able to relate to the Millennials and knew the best ways to reactivate Ziggy.
Worker #1& #2: "All right."
A technology genius, named: Gordon, walked up to Sammy Jo.
Gordon: "Well, everything looks like your hybrid computer should be up and working in no time."
Sammy Jo: "How did everything go with the Control Panel?"
Gordon: "Well, it took a good 18 hours, but with the help with the graduate students, Marvin and Sherman, it is in tip-top shape."
Sammy Jo: "How difficult was it to interface it with what we've got?"
Gordon: "Oh, very difficult indeed. We had to do a complete overhaul with the hardware before we could even think about downloading the software."
Sammy Jo: "Yeah, but come tomorrow, it will all be worth it."
Neila, holding a clipboard, walked up to Sammy Jo.
Neila: "Doctor Fuller, I've gone down the check list, and everything is finished or being worked on at the present time. Is it possible for your parallel hybrid computer to have more memory?
Sammy Jo: "Sure. How much memory are we talking?"
Neila: "Well, we were planning to give the hybrid computer a one-hundred-centillion yottabyte capacity."
Sammy Jo: "My, has technology evolved. Sounds good, but let's wait until after we load Ziggy with our new Operating System, since it's.designed to provide a platform to other software and applications."
Another technology genius, named: Margaret, walked up to Sammy Jo.
Margaret: "All of the necessary apps are ready for went we load the computer with our new Operating System."
Sammy Jo: "Great. I need you to see how deteriorated the Imaging Chamber is. That has to be the first thing to go live when we get Ziggy online."
Margaret: "No problem."
Margaret walked over to the Imaging Chamber to work on restoring it. Then, Beth and Al walked into the Control Room. Sammy Jo saw both of them.
Al: "Wow. Look at this place. It's not as bad as I thought it would look."
Gordon: "Oh, we've been working around the clock for about 30 hours now. We would have been here soon, but we had trouble finding place."
Sammy Jo: "Luckily, my compass app show me the exact geographic coordinates of how far this project was from Hyde Park Road. 35.70° Latitude, -105.90° Longitude. Plus, I worked here for a couple of years."
Al: "Eh, yeah, that always helps."
Sammy Jo: "Listen, we looked all over the place for the hand-link. We've had no success. I know it's been almost 20 years, but I was wondering if you know where it is, Admiral."
Al: "Yeah, I think I know where it is."
Al took the hand-link out of the left breast-pocket of his shirt and gave it to Sammy Jo.
"Hey, I didn't let those nozzles tell me I could have a souvenir. They just expected me to leave it here. Who know what would have happened to it if somebody else got a hold of it. And we don't know what condition it would be in if it was just laying around her for a couple of decades. I walked out of here the last day we were her with the hand-link in my pocket just fine. No one cared to notice."
Sammy Jo: "Thank you so much for bringing this. This will save us a lot of time."
Al: "You're very welcome. It'll be fun to use it again. When do you think we'll be ready?"
Sammy Jo: "Well, if everything goes according to plan? Tomorrow morning."
Al: "Oh, good. Beth and I will be here."
Sammy Jo: "Remember, Admiral, once Ziggy's online, we will need you for our gigolplex-search. Compared to a nano-search, a googolplex-searche can acquire a neuron-lock within minutes, rather than weeks."
Al: "Minutes, huh? Hey, I've spent more time in the Imaging Chamber than that. Several minutes or so would not be a problem for me."
Sammy Jo: "Good. Are you guys staying?"
Al: "No. We just wanted to see how things were going here."
Beth: "We figured the hand-link would be an important instrument to give you."
Sammy Jo: "Well, you guys were so right."
Sammy Jo give the hand-link to Gordon.
"Gordon, see if you can modify this to link up with Ziggy, would you?"
Gordon: "You're kidding, right? This thing is from the Stone Ages of technology. It doesn't even look like it would up link to an iPod, let alone a parallel hybrid computer that has one-hundred-centillion yottabytes."
Sammy Jo: "That's why you're here, Gordon. You're one of our technological geniuses. You've got until tomorrow morning to find a way."
Gordon: "I'll do my best to find a way, no matter what it takes."
Sammy Jo: "That's the spirit, Gordon."
Gordon walked away while observing the hand-link.
Al: "Ha! Millennials. They have no ingenuity beyond technology."
Sammy Jo: "Yeah, well, they did do a great job in restoring this facility. I have to give them that."
Beth: "Yes, they did. It's looks as-good-as-new."
Sammy Jo: "And where are you guys headed off to, on this sultry summer day?"
Al: "Oh, just going to cruise around Santa fé for the afternoon. We haven't cruised around our state capitol in a long time."
Sammy Jo: "With the top down, I assume."
Al: "When the time is right, you assumed correctly."
Sammy Jo: "Well, I hope you two enjoy yourselves and we will all see you both tomorrow."
Al: "Bright and early. We'll be here."
Al and Beth leave the Control Room while holding hands. Nelia walked up to Sammy Jo.
Nelia: "Doctor Fuller?"
Sammy Jo: "Yes, Neila?"
Neila: "Do you really think we could be up and running by tomorrow morning?"
Sammy Jo: "With all my heart, Neila. Sometimes you just have to put science aside and have a little faith."
Neila smiled at that very statement, which gave her hope.
Neila: "Faith. Yes. Faith is an amazing thing."
Sammy Jo: "All right, everyone. We've got less 10 hours before we go online. Let's all make it count, okay?"
Everyone goes about their business, doing everything they can to restore the project, and even make it better with all the updated software they were going to use.
_______________________________________________________________
Riding on a Greyhound Bus
Interstate-93 North, Exit 23
Worcester, Massachusetts 01653
Monday, August 23, 1982
3:14 p.m. (EDT)
David: "What time is it?"
Amelia: "It's about a quarter after three. We have over an hour or so."
David: "How's the book?"
Amelia: "The end of the book takes place in AD 20,001. By this time, the Europans have evolved into a species that has developed a primitive civilization, most likely with assistance from a monolith. They are not described in detail, although they are said to have 'tendril'-like limbs. They regard the star (formerly the planet Jupiter) as their primary sun, referring to Sol as 'The Cold Sun'. The Europans also see three other major bodies in the sky. One seems to be constantly engulfed in fire, and the other two have lights on them which are gradually spreading. These three bodies are the moons: Io, Callisto, and Ganymede, the latter two of which are presently being colonized by humans. And finally, there is a Monolith on the planet, which is worshiped by the Europans more than anything else. The Europans assume, correctly, that the Monolith is what keeps humans at bay. David Bowman and HAL lie dormant in this Monolith. The Monolith is the guardian of Europa, and will continue to prevent contact between humans and Europans for as long as it sees fit."
David: "Sounds interesting. You think they'll come out with third book and make it a trilogy?"
Amelia: "I don't know. It would be neat if they did... You know, once we get settled, we could look around for jobs. Or, at least, look at the 'Want Ads'. I'm sure they will lots of openings for a laboratory assistant."
David: "Yeah, those are generally the jobs I go for."
Amelia: "You don't think that you'll run into any former colleagues around there, do you?"
David: "I don't think so. Most of my former colleagues are out west. I would guest-speak at universities like Harvard or Yale, but that's about the extent of it. I hardly did any research in New England."
Amelia: "Good, then nobody should recognize you. Between MIT and Harvard, you should be able to find an antidote to that thorn you have in your side."
David: "Yeah, that would be great."'
Amelia: "Uhm, so, if you don't mind my asking, uhm — I was just wondering— if uhm— well, if you had any plans if you WERE to find the cure you've been looking for."
David: "What kind of plans to you mean?"
Amelia: Well, I was just curious about whether uhm— you were gong to back to your old life or if— uhm maybe you might uh— want to stay in— uh, you know, Lexington. It's up to you. I was just— wondering if that was something you were uh— well, you know,— considering."
David: "Oh... Well, I wouldn't be David Brewster anymore."
Amelia: "Is that so?"
David: "Look, Amelia, if I ever find the cure for my metamorphosis, I could let the world know I'm alive. More so, I could find cures for people with motor neuron diseases. I could help people with illnesses and infirmities like: ALS, progressive bulbar palsy, progressive muscular atrophy, primary lateral sclerosis, spinal muscular atrophy, and pseudobulbar palsy. I could continue my research by finding a way for people to increase their metabolism; their human strength and productivity. I could save lives, Amelia... All of that doesn't have to mean that we can't be a part of each others' lives."
Amelia said with a twinge of hope.
Amelia: "Really?"
David: "Yes, really. I do want my life back, Amelia. You can surely understand THAT."
Amelia nodded after about 5 seconds of silence.
Amelia: "I can. I can understand that. If I wanted to live the life I was living four months ago, I would make sure I got that life back."
David: "That's good. You won't lose me."
Amelia: "Yeah?"
David: "Yeah."
They smile at each other and hold hands as the bus plunges further north.
_______________________________________________________________
Travis County
Westlake High School
Westlake High School
4100 Westbank Drive
Austin, Texas 78746
Monday, April 30, 1984
10:02 a.m. (CDT)
Doctor Sam Beckett had been leaping back and for through time as himself since the episode: "Mirror Image." He had been leaping himself around putting things right whatever he believed to be wrong. In this leap, Sam was tutoring a basketball jock (wearing is red, white, and blue letterman's jacket), playing for the Westlake High School Chaparrals, a senior, who had been struggling in Calculus most of the year. Sam could relate to the boys love for basketball since he himself played basketball as an extracurricular activity when he was in high school, playing for the Elk Ridge High School Cougars. The student, John Dulton (a.k.a: Johnny), For the second semester, Johnny has a 51% average, 50% of the final grade. Johnny must get, at least, a C— (70%) on his Calculus Final, the other 50% of the final grade, or he will fail the course and lose his basketball scholarship. Sam spent four days with Johnny (from April 30 to May 3) tutoring him, so he could pass his Final Exam with a low C and pass the course and graduate.
Johnny: "I really appreciate you taking the time during my Study Hall to help me with my Calculus, Mister. Beckett."
Sam: "DOCTOR Beckett, actually."
Johnny: "Oh, sorry, Doctor Beckett."
Sam: "It's okay, Johnny. And you can call me: Sam."
Johnny: "Oh cool. Okay, Sam. I think it's great that Mister Wilkes gave you the go-ahead on tutoring me."
Sam: "Well, he cares about you getting a decent grade in the class, so you can still be awarded your basketball scholarship."
Johnny: "You know, math's always been one of my better subjects. It seems like the higher I go, the more I struggle."
Sam: "Well, Johnny, you wouldn't be the first student. And you certainly won't be the last. The key is to use the knowledge you acquired in previous classes."
Johnny: "I have all of that, but I don't how any of it had to do with what I'm doing now."
Sam: "Oh, that's okay. I'll help you slice through that fog a bit. You see, Arithmetic manipulates numbers, whereas Algebra finds patters to numbers."
Johnny: "What do you mean?"
Sam: "What's 20 + 4?"
Johnny: "24."
Sam: "What's 20 - 4?"
Johnny: "16."
Sam: "What's 20 times 4?"
Johnny: "80."
Sam: "What's 20 divided by 4?"
Johnny: "5."
Sam: "Good. Now, let's expand a bit. What do the numbers 24, 16, and 80 have in common?"
Johnny: "They're even numbers?"
Sam: "True. They're all even numbers. But if look closer, you would also see a pattern that they are all divisible by 8."
Johnny: "Oh! Kind of like a greatest common factor."
Sam: "Right. Now, let's go further. Can you solve the equation: x + 3 + y = 15?"
Johnny: "I'm— not sure."
Sam: "What are x and y?"
Johnny: "Variables."
Sam: "Right. And what are those."
Johnny: "Unknown numbers."
Sam: "Right, x and y are unknown numbers. So, we have to figure out what they are. How do we find x?"
Johnny: "Well, you have to take the 3 and subtract it on the other side, making it 15 - 3. So, x would equal 12."
Sam: "Good."
Johnny: Oh! So, x is 12, you subtracted 3 on the left sides."
Sam: "Right. So, what's left?"
Johnny: "Uhhhhhhm, x + y - 12."
Sam: "Good. Now, what do we do next?"
Johnny: "What do you mean?"
Sam: "Well, know what x is, but don't know what y is."
Johnny: "Oh, that's right! We have another variable. We have to solve for y. So, you'd take
x + y + −y = 12+ −y. And there's are answer. x = −y + 12."
Sam: "Very good. This is what I'm talking about. You recognized a pattern to that equation."
Johnny: "Oh yeah. We did all of this in Algebra 1 and 2."
Sam: "Yeah, and that was from building you up from arithmetic. So, you see? Algebra did for Arithmetic what Calculus did for Algebra."
Johnny: "What about the courses in between?"
Sam: "Every math course is like a building-bock to calculus. First, we have Arithmetic. Arithmetic is about manipulating numbers.
Johnny: "Like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division."
Sam: "Right. Then, you have Algebra. Algebra finds patterns between numbers. An example would be: 'a² + b² = c²', also known as the Pythagorean theorem."
Johnny: "The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the square of the other two sides."
Sam: "Exactly. Of course, you probably learned that one in Geometry."
Johnny: "I did."
Sam: "That's what I thought. Geometry is the study of shapes, their basic concepts, and how to calculate things like area and perimeter."
Johnny: "I remember doing that."
Sam: "Trigonometry deals with properties of circles and right triangles, and how to use trigonometric identities, graphs, functions, and inverse trigonometric functions."
Johnny: "That wasn't bard compared to College Geometry."
Sam: "Now, you've reached the top of the pyramid: Calculus and Analytical Geometry.
Johnny: "What's Analytical Geometry?"
Sam: "It's basically geometry using coordinates."
Johnny: "Oh yeah. We've done that in class, too."
Sam: "That's what I figured. Calculus is generally covered in conjunction with Analytical Geometry. Calculus deals with the finding and properties of derivatives and integrals of functions."
Johnny: "We've been studying that most of the year. I've been trying, Sam. I mean,, really trying. I've worked with all kinds of people to help me understand it. Except for basketball practice, I busted my hump all year, and I STILL get C-'s and the occasional D. And that's on the Unit Tests. I failed all my homework assignments and barely passed my quizzes. I have to do well on my Final Exam in order to graduate."
Sam: "It'll be all right. I'll help get you through. Now, can help the difference between Algebra and Calculus?"
Johnny: "Well, uhm— you said Algebra manipulates numbers."
Sam: "No, that was Arithmetic."
Johnny: "Oh man!"
Sam: "Now now, don't get discouraged. You remember what Arithmetic was. What about Algebra?"
Johnny: "I— I don't remember."
Sam: "Algebra finds patterns between numbers. Remember 'a² + b² = c²'?"
Johnny: "Right, right. That theorem."
Sam: "Right. The difference between Algebra and Calculus is that Algebra finds patterns between numbers, whereas Calculus finds patterns between equations. For example, you can see how one equation such as (circumference = 2 times pi times radius) relates to a similar one (area = pi times radius-squared)."
Johnny: "Oh, both formulas of which we studies in Algebra and Geometry."
Sam: "There, you see? You're getting it. Algebra and Calculus are a problem-solving duo. Calculus finds new equations, and Algebra solves them. I'm going to take you slowly through this. By the time we're done, I don't see how you will get in less than a C on your Final Exam."
Johnny: "Thank you so much for your time, Sam."
Sam: "It's not a problem. 'Time' is one thing I do have."
_______________________________________________________________
Santa Fe County
The Control Room
The Control Room
Project Quantum Leap
Stallion's Gate, New Mexico 87501-4893
Monday, July 2, 2018
7:24 a.m. (MDT)
Al and Beth walked into the Control Room and looked around. They were fascinated by what they saw. They were quite pleased about the way everyone made all the equipment around them anew. Sammy Jo walk in the Control Room on the other side, with Margaret, Neila, Marvin, and Sherman. Sammy Jo is holding a clipboard and going down a checklist.
Sammy Jo: "Okay, Margaret? Is the Imagining Chamber ready."
Margaret: "Sure is. It was my number one priority."
Sammy Jo: "Good. What about everything we need for the googolplex-search?"
Margaret: "Everything's ready. Once the Admiral is in the Imaging Chamber, it should only take a minute or so to acquire a neuron-lock."
Sammy Jo: "Excellent. Is Ziggy ready to go online?"
Margaret: "Yes, anytime you're ready. Her new Operating System is loaded up and now has a one-hundred-centillion yottabyte capacity. She'll more memory than she'll know what to do with."
Sammy Jo: "Ha! You don't know Ziggy."
Margaret: "We've downloaded all relevant data from 2001 on, in addition to the ones from 1953 to 2000. By the time Ziggy goes online, all the facts and statistics will be collected together for reference or analysis."
Sammy Jo: "Nicely done, Margaret. Thank you. Make sure everyone else has everything else ready."
Margaret: "No problem."
Sammy Jo: "And we're going online at exactly eight o'clock."
Margaret: "Right away, Doctor."
Margaret left the Control Room as Gordon was walking in with the hand-link.
Gordon: "Well, it took me all night, but got this hand-link modified and upgraded. It's all linked up with Ziggy. Plus, I took the initiative to download a few app that would come in handy. There's a 'holographic photography and videography' app for photographic evidence of the ability to communicate with Doctor Beckett from the past. And there's a 'compass' app to make it easier to acquire a neuron-lock through geographic coordinates."
Gordon gave Sammy Jo the hand-link.
Sammy Jo: "Excellent, Gordon. Thank you. Anything you did will be a tremendous help, I'm sure."
Al and Beth walked up to Sammy Jo.
Al: "Well well well, looks like everyone has kept their noses to the grindstone."
Sammy Jo: "Ah, I was hoping to see you guys before we went online... Yes, we've all been working hard and focused heavily on jobs at hand."
Al: "Well, it sure paid off. This place looks great."
Sammy Jo handed Al the hand-link.
Sammy Jo: "I believe THIS belongs to you."
Al: "Oh wow, the hand-link's working again."
Sammy Jo: "Not only that, Gordon did some upgrading to it. You can take holographic photos and videos, and you can acquire a neuron-lock faster by using the 'compass' app."
Al: "Wow. This would've been great during the old days."
Sammy Jo: "We're going to put Ziggy online in a half-hour or so. Are you guys ready?"
Al: "We are ready whenever you are."
Sammy Jo: "Great. Just let me do some last-minute checks and we will put her online."
Sammy Jo walked out of the Control Room.
Al: "Boy, it'll be nice to see Sam again. I never thought I'd ever get to see him again. And now, all this has happened. Somehow I knew when the time came, God would let us see each other again."
Beth: "So did I."
Neila walked into the Control Room and saw Al and Beth.
Neila: "Admiral?"
Neila quickly walked up to Al and Beth.
Beth: "Neila, right?"
Neila: "Yes. Listen, Admiral, if me or my fellow students said anything to upset you on Friday, we really didn't mean to."
Al: "You didn't upset me, Neila. I was just tired. I think what you and your fellow students are doing is courageous and is a great way to set forward your journey as scientists."
Beth: "If you guys are able to permanently reboot this project, we'll be handing down the torch to the next generation."
Neila: "Well, we need to finish our dissertation and earn our Ph.D's first. But sure, I would really like to see the rebooting of the project be a success... Excuse me."
Neila walked over to Marvin and Sherman to discuss what they are going to observe and take notes on.
Al stood and nodded.
Al: "The wave of the future."
Al and Beth smiled at each other.
_______________________________________________________________
Westlake High School
4100 Westbank Drive
Austin, Texas 78746
Thursday, May 3, 1984
10:18 a.m. (CDT)
Sam: "All right. What are the 4 representations of a function?"
Johnny: "Uhhh, symbolic, uhhh numerical, uhhhh graphical, aaaaand— verbal."
Sam: "Very good. What is the primary reason to calculate derivatives?"
Johnny: "It's a way to show rate of change— or— the amount by which a function is changing at one given point."
Sam: "Good. Okay, now the problems I asked you do. You were trying to find the derivative of each function. What did you get for: Negative 6 over X-7?"
Johnny: "42 over X-8."
Sam: "Great. Now, tell me, how did you come up with that?"
Johnny: "Well, I did it like you taught me. First, I changed the sign of negative and make the 6 positive number. Then, I multiplied by the number 6 by the exponent on the bottom, which was the 7th power. 6 times 7 is 42, which became the numerator. Then, I added one to the exponent of the denominator, which equals 42 over X-8."
Sam: "Very good. All right, now, what did you come up with in the logarithmic differentiation derivative I gave to work on?"
Johnny: "Oh, the Y= (X + 1) to the 5th power over (X - 3) to the 1/2 power."
Sam: "That's the one. What'd you get?"
Johnny: "[5 over X+1 minus 1/2 over X-3]"
Sam: "Very good. You've a great job this week. I'm confident that you'll do well on your Final Exam."
Johnny: "Are you sure, Sam? I mean, I don't want to lose my basketball scholarship. If I flunk the Final Exam, I'll fail the course. If I fail the course, I won't get the one credit I'll need to graduate. Could you ask me something. You know? Just to make sure."
Sam sat and though up one for about 5 seconds.
Sam: "Okay. Using your scratch paper, what is the cube root of 3 with the exponent of 33."
Johnny: "So, 3 to the 33rd power?"
Sam: "Right. Find the cube root of that."
Johnny began writing out is work to solve the problem. It took him about 5 minutes to finish.
Johnny: "I got 177,147."
Sam smiled
Sam: "You got it."
_______________________________________________________________
Suffolk County
Boston South Station
700 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02110
Monday, August 23, 1982
4:20 p.m. (EDT)
Ticket Agent: "May I help you, sir?"
William: "Yes, I was wondering about the status of a bus the is suppose to be arriving here soon."
Ticket Agent: "Okay, what bus route is it?"
William: "It would be the New York City to Boston route."
The ticket agent looked at the bus station computer to check the status for about 10 seconds.
Ticket Agent: "Okay, it looks like it will be arriving on time. It should arrive in around 15 + minutes at Gate 6."
William: "Thank you very much. You have been most helpful."
Ticket Agent: "You're welcome."
William walked through the crowds so he could end up at Gate 6, where he was suppose to meet Amelia.
_______________________________________________________________
The Control Room
Project Quantum Leap
Stallion's Gate, New Mexico 87501-4893
Monday, July 2, 2018
7:52 a.m. (MDT)
Sammy Jo walked into the Control Room where everybody else was. She laid down her clipboard.
Sammy Jo: "If I could have everyone's attention for a minute, please!"
Everyone stopped talking and looked at Sammy Jo.
"Thank you. We will be putting Ziggy online pretty soon. I know that each of us worked very hard to make the temporary rebooting of this project. I'd like to thank the tree graduate students who made the suggestion to so. Hopefully, this will give them good research material for their dissertation. I'd also like to the all the people who worked behind the scenes and to the technological geniuses who paved the way to a new and improved Ziggy. Team work made all of this possible and I am grateful to be here with such a hardworking group. Thank you for everything."
Everyone applauded each other and were very exciting for the impending activation of Ziggy.
_______________________________________________________________
Westlake High School
4100 Westbank Drive
Austin, Texas 78746
Thursday, May 3, 1984
10:24 a.m. (CDT)
Sam sat and waited for Johnny to get finished with the math problem he gave Johnny to solve.
Johnny: "Uhm, i think I'm done, Doctor Beckett."
Sam: "Yeah?"
Johnny: "I don't know if it's right or not, but I think I'm done."
Sam: "Okay, what's your answer?"
Johnny: "Okay, uhm, the cube root of 3 with an exponent of 33 equals: 177,147."
Sam: "Very good! You see, a lot of student go wrong thinking that it's 33 with the exponent of 3, which equals: 33. I think you're ready for your Final Exam."
Johnny: "Are you sure? I mean, may I just got lucky on that one."
Sam: "Johnny, I know you're nervous. But remember what I said about each class being a building-block from previous courses and to the next class up?"
Johnny: "Yeah, the first day."
Sam: "Right. That's what we've been doing all week. We've been reviewing problems from your previous courses and apply each and every one of them your Calculus problems."
Johnny: "Really?"
Sam: "Really. For every Calculus problem you are given to solve, just remember to apply all of your previous courses to it, like I taught you, and you should do just fine."
Johnny: "Uhhh, okay, if you think I'm ready."
Sam: "You're ready."
They both stood up. Johnny shook Sam's hand.
Johnny: "Thank you for everything, Sam. I don't know where you came from or why you took the passed few day to tutor me, but it's good to know there's people like you in the world, making it a better place."
Sam: "Well, helping people is...— what I do."
_______________________________________________________________
The Control Room
Project Quantum Leap
Stallion's Gate, New Mexico 87501-4893
Monday, July 2, 2018
7:59 a.m. (MDT)
Everybody is standing around Ziggy and ready to bring her online. Everybody's anxious about getting Ziggy online so they could see how a parallel hybrid computer works.Sammy Jo: "All right, everyone. This is it. This is the moment we've all been waiting for all week. This is going to be the time when you need to be most meticulous and most vigilant. If we can get in touch with Doctor Beckett, that would be good. If we can assist him in changing a human life for the better, that would be great. If we can find a way to get the retrieval program to bring Doctor Beckett back to his own time, that would be awesome... Is everybody ready?"
Everyone at once: "Yeah!"
Sammy Jo: "Okay, then, here we go."
Everyone at once: "10, 9, 8 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."
Sammy Jo pressed the power button, which shot out numerous small blue beams, as she said simultaneously:
Sammy Jo: "Hello, Ziggy!"
Ziggy: "Good morning, Doctor Fuller. It's been a long time. I suppose I am not needed like I use to be; that I have outlived my usefulness."
Sammy Jo: "Not even close. Ziggy, we've got some new staff her to help with the temporarily rebooting Project Quantum Leap. We found a way that we could acquire a neuron-like on Doctor Beckett much faster than could years ago."
Ziggy: "A googleplwx-search."
Sammy Jo: "That's right."
Ziggy: "With a one-hundred-centillion yottabyte capacity, I should be able to do a googolplex-search with much less energy than anyone dare to guess."
Sammy Jo: "That's good. We are reviving this project on borrowed time. So, the less time we can locate Doctor Beckett, the better."
Ziggy: "Since Admiral Calavicci's brainwaves are synchronized with Doctor Beckett's brainwaves, Admiral Calavicci will have to be the one in the Imaging Chamber during the googolplex-search."
Al: "Hello, Ziggy. I'm right here."
Ziggy: "Admiral? Good to know you're still with the project. I thought you had retired."
Al: "I did. A long time ago. But I'm back to help the new staff, since my brainwaves are the only one synchronized with Doctor Beckett's brainwaves."
Ziggy: "It is quite handy to have you around, Admiral."
Sammy Jo: "We have downloaded all the data needed from the beginning of the 21st century on. We figured having that extra information would be helpful to us, just in case Doctor Beckett had leaped passed 1999, when the funding for the this project had ceased."
Ziggy: "Good idea, Doctor. It's an idea I would've thought of myself, had I been online when you made your decision."
Sammy Jo: "I'm sorry, Ziggy. We wanted to give you less work."
Ziggy: "Nice sentiment, Doctor. But you must remember that I do not tire from work like humans do. In fact, with my new Operating System, I was able to download the contemporary data in one-tenth of the time it would have 20 years ago. I would've finished sooner, but reading about 9/11 slowed me down. It depressed me."
Sammy Jo: "Yes, that did hit all of us on a personal level when we lost the hundreds of people we lost that day."
Ziggy: "2,996 people, to be exact, Doctor."
Sammy Jo: "Do you have the googolplex-search ready, Ziggy?"
Ziggy: "Powering up and having it available use will take 2.4 minutes, Doctor."
Sammy Jo: "Great. The project is only active on borrowed time."
_______________________________________________________________
Westlake High School
4100 Westbank Drive
Austin, Texas 78746
Thursday, May 3, 1984
10:27 a.m. (CDT)
Sam: "Well, helping people is...— what I do."
Johnny: "I'll never forget you, Sam."
Sam: "I'll never forget you, either, Johnny. And Go Chaparrals!"
Johnny: "Yeah, you know it!"
Johnny took one last look at Sam and gave a friendly wave of goodbye. Sam smiled and reciprocated with a friendly wave of goodbye. Johnny then walk out of the classroom, leaving Sam all alone. At that point...
SAM BECKETT LEAPED OUT!!
_______________________________________________________________
Boston South Station
700 Atlantic Avenue, Gate 6
Boston, Massachusetts 02110
Monday, August 23, 1982
4:35 p.m. (EDT)
SAM BECKETT LEAPED IN!!
Sam leaped into William Murphy, while William was waiting for the 4:40 bus from New York City. Sam looked down and saw that he was wearing a three-piece suit. This was very different from the clothes he's worn all these years while leaping back and forth through time as himself. Sam looked around thinking: "What the hell?" He realized he was at a bus station. Bus stations, Sam Beckett decided, was decidedly not his favorite places to leap into. Voices called out through crowds of talking heads. People moved in waves, and anyone not moving with them was drowned in the surge. Lights flared all around him: from glowing signs, from windows, reflected off buses outside, from flashing cameras, from expensive watches and fluorescent lights. It was a sensory overload to Sam, who wasn't yet sure what senses he had, much less which ones to trust.
Sighing, Sam closed his eyes for a moment, tried to gain his bearings, and decided to take stock of his situation. He noticed he wasn't carrying any luggage with him. That either told him that he was waiting for a bus to depart or he was waiting on somebody else who was coming in on a bus. He watched their frenetic activities, trying to isolate clues to his where— and whereabouts, hoping for someone to call out to him, recognize him, begin him on his new assignment.
What he gathered first— aside from the the three-piece suit he was wearing and no luggage— left him cautiously pleased. He knew this place! He'd been here before. The Boston South Station. He'd ridden in and out of this place at least half a dozen times during his years at MIT. The gentle "ah" that replaced the "r" sound in the New England babble around him reminded him of long, happy hours spent in the company of New England students and seekers.
The terminal was filled with sights and sounds and smells from all over the country. But what caught his immediate attention came from across the corridor by the arrival gate. Grinning, almost childishly happy, he began picking his way through the crowd, homing in on the familiar smell from the café. He looked around, still listening for other clues that might be important, and watching for anyone trying to catch his eye. Then his gaze lit on the date flashing on a status board, August 23. He needed some privacy in order to figure things out. He went into the Men's restroom. When he looked in the mirror, he saw right away that he was no longer leaping as himself. He had once again, after all these year, leaped into somebody else. He checked his host's wallet. He pulled out his driver's license.
Sam: "William P. Murphy. Address: 66 Simonds Road, Lexington, MA 02420. Date of Birth: 11/11/1955. Expiration Date: 11/11/1983."
As he looked through more of the wallet, he saw credit cards and a business card that said: "William P. Murphy, Certified Public Accountant." Sam looked upward, rolled his eyes, and sighed, thinking: "Great. None of my many degrees are in Accounting." He put the wallet back into his back-pocket. He looked upward again and quietly said: "Please don't let me be here to do someone's taxes."
Suddenly, over the intercom, he female voice said: "The New York City to Boston has just arrived at Gate 6. Again, the New York City to Boston bus has just arrived at Gate 6."
Sam's memory was vague due to the leap-in, but he did have a memory of being at Gate 6. This gave Sam the impression the he was standing at Gate 6, waiting for somebody on the 4:40 p.m. arrival. He left the Men's restroom and back out into the chaos. He looked around, trying to find Gate 6. As he was looking for the Gate, a New England-er bumped into him, almost making Sam fall backwards. While trying to regain his balance, he heard the New England-er say: "Watch where you're going there, slick." Before Sam could give a retort, he heard a female voice calling out: "William! Hey, William!" He looked toward where the voice was coming from. He saw a young, slender, attractive red-head walking quickly toward him with open arms. They embrace each other for a few seconds. Then, Sam could see in this lady's green eyes how happy she was. "Oh, my deartháir, how have you been?" Sam had absolutely no idea what a "deartháir" was or what it meant.
Still a bit disoriented, Sam said: "Oh, I uh— I'm— I'm doing— just fine. How was your uhhh,— trip?" "It went pretty smoothly. No delays or anything," she said. David, then, walked up to both of them. "William, this is my grá spéis: David." Sam shook David's hand. "Hi, I'm David Brewster," said David. "Hi, you're her gra spice or something?" "My grá spéis," Amelia said to Sam quietly. "You know... my leannán." Sam feigned comprehension. "Yes, your lee-annon. Of course. I'm William Murphy. It's good to meet you." "Likewise," said David... "So, is your car close?," asked Amelia. "Uhm, actually, I have to go find it," said Sam, all the while thinking: "Great, I don't know where this guy's car is parked." "No problem," said Amelia. "David and I are going to use the restroom. You can pick us up in front." "Oh, sure. That'll be fine.," Sam said. "Great, we'll see you out in front, okay?," Amelia replied. "Okay," Sam said, having no idea what to do.
Sam stood there looking around the bus station, having no idea what he was going to do. He didn't know Irish. I had no idea where his host's car was parked. And for the life of him, he had no idea why he was there. After leaping around in time as himself, he had become quite rusty in playing the part of somebody else; somebody that he leaped into. He stood and wondered: "How did I get myself into THIS?"
"Oh boy," he groaned.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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