Sliding Leap Fanfic...Part 21

Date: 11/19/2001
From: ScifiSTP

All was going well on all fronts. Al from 1999 was checking in on both the groups and Logan. For now, he wasn’t too worried about her. She was always around 30-40 miles behind the second group. He decided to let Quinn sleep until they needed him. Most people at the project were doing minor duties and routine checks. Gooshie was still moving about, but not too frantically. He had gotten about an hours nap. Ziggy couldn’t project much because she had no data on the past in the alternate universe.

Quinn managed to get topside and witness a beautiful sunset. There weren’t any signs of life for as far as he could see. There was no glare in the night sky from cities. It was quite peaceful for him. He knew that time was winding down for him. Last he had overheard was that it was about 22 hours until the gang had to slide. That was 22 hours too soon. There were times in the past where they were cutting it short and not all of them were together, but they were at least on the same world. This was one of the most difficult slides they had ever faced. He hoped that all went well on the other side.

December 12th 1997

Young officer Michael Gregory drove on into the night with Sam and the professor in the back, discussing theories and such. He didn’t get much of what they were talking about, but it was interesting. It was very strange to him that on the other dimension that Sam was from, that he and Sam never knew each other. He and the Sam from this dimension had a great friendship, even with Al too.

On his dimension he was hired on as a security officer. He didn’t know anyone from the project, he just happened to get assigned by chance. He, Al and Sam didn’t really get familiar with each other and become great friends until about a year before Dr. Beckett leaped. It all started at a party that was being thrown in celebration for Ziggy coming into being. It was an amazing accomplishment. Michael was working the halls as usual that night when a very loud and obnoxious pair, Al and Sam, stumbled down the hall. They were going to go topside to smoke cigars. Sam didn’t care much for them, but he was drunk and didn’t know any better. They had to go outside because the ventilation system was being worked on. They made it only halfway down the hallway when they sat down to rest. Michael knew it was because they were just too drunk to walk. They ended up resting near Michael and started talking to him. He figured that his night had been boring and this would liven it up. Instead of going outside to smoke cigars, they spent a better part of the evening hanging out in the hallway, talking. Even though Sam and Al were three sheets to the wind, he got to know them well and vice versa.

After that night Michael wasn’t just another face in the halls to Sam and Al. They became good friends, went on fishing trips and even went to Las Vegas one weekend. He never got to talk to Sam anymore after he leaped. Due to his swiss-cheesed mind, Sam didn’t even remember Michael. Al would tell Michael how Sam was, but Al wasn’t allowed to tell Sam about him. It was the hardest when they had to shut down the project. He stayed the latest until they officially had to shut down. Little by little they cut back on functions until they could no longer afford to stay in contact with Sam. Sam was always informed and knew what he would face. Al sometimes even threatened to leap, so that the project would have to stay open.

Michael remembered the last day that Al spoke with Sam. He was in there for hours and almost had to be dragged out. He did manage to jog Sam’s memory when it came to Michael. Al finally came out with tears in his eyes, none of them wanted to leave. For the longest time Al would go to Washington D.C. and protest until finally they pulled his retirement funds and he started practically living on the streets. He was glad when he got the call from Al about the current situation. Finally they would get to do what they wanted to do a couple of years ago. If the plan worked, they would get Sam back where he belonged.

Sorry it's been so long. Things have been hectic. Fromn now on I will be posting just one day a week, usually Monday.

ScifiSTP

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Nominated by sliderules