Quantum Leap: The Almost Paradox

Chapter Two

*Note: The image above is a promo from Quantum Leap.  Sam is on the left, Al on the right.*

As Sam stood there, the shadow entered the cave in the form of a man slightly shorter than himself, dressed in a large Arctic parka. Sam breathed a sigh of relief.

"Um... Can I help you?" he asked.

A muffled voice came from the inside of the cave. "Hey, dude. This is my cave."

"Oh. Uh, Sorry?" Sam replied. "I hadn't, uh, realized this cave belonged to someone... I was just trying to escape the bear back there-"

The newcomer cut him off. "It's ok."

Still feeling unsure, Sam sidled towards the door.

"I'll just... get out... if you don't-"

Cutting him off again, and blocking his escape, the other man asked "Oh my gosh, are you Shandy Woodshed? The famous explorer?"

Sam thought for a moment. Yes, Shandy Woodshed was the name that Al had given him before. He couldn't remember anything about exploring, but then Al hadn't really got that far before he left. Being in what seemed to be the Arctic, Sam figured it was safe to say that this 'Shandy' fellow was definitely into exploring.

"Um... yeah?"

"Wow." Said the other man. His voice was filled with admiration. "You can stay."

"Oookay." Sam was getting kind of uncomfortable, and he really wished that the other man would move out of the way so he could leave. Or at least remove his hood. This conversation was starting to move in circles, and Sam wasn't quite sure what to do. And... there was definitely something familiar about the man's voice, even muffled as it was.

The other man broke the silence with a question. "Were you talking to someone?"

Sam's eyes widened in surprise. This man must have been outside the cave for a couple minutes. Hopefully he hadn't heard any of his conversation with Al.

Sam – or Samuel John Beckett – was a time traveller. He had, at one point, been a genius (Al would have said he still was), called 'the next Einstein' by many. And he himself had invented a theory that would allow a person to travel through time, albeit only within the span of their own life. He called his project 'Quantum Leap', and had gathered a team of experts to accomplish this task. But it all went wrong when his project ran out of funding, and he was forced to make a decision: abandon his life's work, or test the machine before it was ready.

Sam chose the latter option, and his first 'leap' landed him in the 1950's, with almost no memories whatsoever. And everyone in that time period was convinced he was their friend Tom! Albert Calavicci, the project observer, was the only person from his time who he was able to communicate with. Al had access to Ziggy, the project computer, who used her database to help him accomplish the task they believed he was there to do. Unfortunately, his next leap just sent him to another time, and another person's life. So, ever since then Sam had been leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that the next leap would be the leap home.

But what concerned Sam right now was the fact that, in order to leap it was essential that the people of this time believed that he was the 'host' person that he had leapt into. If this man had heard his conversation...

"Hellooo..? Mr. Woodshed? I asked if you had been talking to someone?"

"What?" Once again, Sam was jerked out of his thoughts. "No."

"Oh. Thought I heard voices."

"Yeah, well..." Sam's mind raced to create an explanation. "I was just... thinking aloud."

"Ah..." After a moment the man laughed. "How silly of me! Haven't even introduced myself!"

Sam was slightly relieved. "Uh, no. I don't think you did."

"I'm here working on an experiment."

A prickle of something sort of like Deja-vu crept down the back of Sam's neck. There was something terribly familiar about all this... if only he could put the pieces together...

"Oh?" Sam said.

The man glanced around him before continuing. "For a top secret project my best friend started."

"Oh?" And just like that, all the pieces fell into place. The project this man was talking about was, of course-

"The Starbright project. Heard of it?"

Sam looked at him suspiciously. He knew all about the Starbright project, because he was the one who started it. But he could not recall sending anyone on a trip – to the Arctic, no less – to research it. Who was this guy?

"And I'm Al."

No. It couldn't be... could it?

"Really?" Sam said cautiously. "That's... funny."

"What?" The man asked.

"I have a friend named Al."

"Oh. Cool." He paused. "But probably not with a last name like mine."

And in that moment Sam could no longer deny why the voice of this man was so painfully familiar. A chill crept up his spine as he knew what this must mean.

"I wouldn't think..." Sam said, quietly whispering "not."

The man standing before Sam dramatically lowered his hood.

"Calavicci. Albert Calavicci."