Quantum Leap: The Almost Paradox

Chapter Five

Sam exhaled loudly. He should have guessed that Al would be trying to protect him. The two had grown quite close over the years, even more so since Sam had started leaping. The memories flooded Sam, and he became overwhelmed as he recalled the death of their friend and his guilt afterwards.

Al tried to look him in the eye. "Don't you remember?"

"Now I do."

"And, and, that Eskimo saved our lives being chased by a polar bear." Al tried to explain.

"Al..."

"Shandy Woodshed!" A voice cried from outside, causing Sam and Al both to jump. Albert was calling him.

"Uh, yeah?" Sam called back.

"I'd better go. But I will be back." Al grinned mischievously. "Have fun walking five miles." He left the imaging chamber again. Sam sighed and exited the cave.

"There you are!" Albert was standing outside. He gave the same mischievous grin and said "You sure take a while in the cave."

"Sorry." Sam was still pretty shocked from his conversation with Al. "My fingers are numb."

"That explains it, I guess." Albert said.

"Yeah."

Albert gave him an inquisitive look. "Who were you talking to?"

"I – again, I was thinking aloud. I do that a lot."

Albert nodded in agreement. "Bad habit?"

"Yeah."

"Well, come on." He glanced at Sam. "And don't worry, there are no bombs."

"Ok." Sam shook himself out of it, knowing that worrying could not change the fact that whatever was going to happen would happen. "Ok, alright. Let's go."

Hours later, the two men reached the camp. Nobody was there, which Sam took to mean that they were still out on the ice fishing trip he vaguely recalled. Upon arrival, Al had decided to join them once again.

"Here we are." Albert told him, setting his bag down in the snow and starting to unpack.

"Yup." Sam said.

Albert surveyed the abandoned camp. "I guess my partner is out." He seemed to decide that this meant that he could leave most of the equipment strewn around him, and he sank into a chair.

"Yeah, he must be."

"You'll meet him soon." Albert told him. "His name is Sam, and he is super smart."

Sam smiled at Al. He was glad to have such a good friend. "Thanks." Al gave him a kind look in return.

"What?" Albert asked, unable to see Al.

"Um for um... Telling me beforehand." Sam invented. Al rolled his eyes.

"Ooooookay." Albert looked at Sam. "No worries. He isn't conceited smart."

"Ok. Thanks."

"He's a great guy." Albert insisted. "And why are you thanking me for telling you all this?"

"It's just so you don't have to tell me in front of him. Cause he sounds kind of modest. So... he would be embarrassed easily by that, probably."

"Ummmm. Ah." Once again, Albert was taken aback by Sam's oddness. "Well, he must be fishing with the Eskimo we met earlier."

"Yeah, probably."

At that moment Albert was saved from any further weird behaviour by the arrival of Samuel and the Eskimo, who were each carrying lots of fish along with their individual supplies. Sam stared at his past self. He had leapt into himself in the past before, but seeing himself from the point of view of someone else was even stranger.

"Hey Al." Samuel said, as he started to methodically put each fishing item in its proper place in the camp. Unlike Albert, Samuel was a very organized person. "Who's this?" He added, throwing a glance at Sam.

"This is Shandy Woodshed, famous explorer."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Woodshed." The Eskimo said politely. Sam nodded at him in return.

"Nice to meet you too."

Samuel looked up quickly before returning to his unpacking. "Ohmygosh... No."

"No what, Sam?" Albert asked, thinking he was having troubles with the fishing gear.

"What?" Samuel was engrossed in his task again. He had finished with his own equipment and was now putting away Albert's, too.

"What's wrong, Sam?" Albert was getting semi-annoyed.

Samuel looked at him like he had two heads. "Just that its Shandy Woodshed!"

"Yeah, he is cool." Albert admitted. "But he has this bad habit of talking to himself."

"Talking to yourself can be good for the soul." The Eskimo piped up.

Sam felt the need to interrupt this odd argument. "Yeah, I guess it could be, but actually I just think aloud." He gave Al kind of a half glare out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, don't look at me!" Al retorted. "You could be more subtle."

"Whatever." Albert said. "Anyway, Sam, thanks for getting the fish."

"No problem at all."

The group all sat down in a circle of chairs, and the conversation quickly turned to the famous Shandy Woodshed's adventures, which helped Sam to get a bit of an understanding of the man he was supposed to be. Al unhelpfully hovered just above the snow for most of this discussion, which Sam found annoyingly distracting.

"So, Shandy, what are you investigating right now?" Samuel asked Sam.

"Um... polar bears." Sam settled on the first creature he'd met on this leap. "In the arctic. Their habitat."

"Getting up close and personal with them." Al added with a smirk.

"Nice." Albert said. "Just don't get too close to them, 'cause they're dangerous."

"Yeah, they can get pretty nasty." Samuel added.

"Yeah one started chasing me. So I ran into a cave, and bumped into Al here." Sam started thinking. Maybe if he was here long enough, he could actually do some real studies on polar bears. They were quite an interesting species, after all.

"Sure did." Al said.

"So where's your camp, Shandy?" Samuel asked. "If you don't mind me calling you that."

Sam was still lost in thought about polar bears, and a long awkward pause followed. It took Al sticking his hand through Sam's head and saying "Sam, you're Shandy" before Sam realised that Samuel was talking to him.

Sam glared at Al before saying "Um... it's pretty far from here."

Nobody had noticed that the Eskimo was quietly meditating in a corner of the circle, but now he gently interrupted their discussion. "Ommmmmmmmm. Hey that bear you were talking about? I sense that he followed you here?"

"Ummmmmm..." Sam said, his voice shaking. "Did he?"

"Yes." Said the Eskimo peacefully. "He is right there. By Al's tent."

"Holy crap! My tent!"

By the time the whole group turned to look, the tent was already torn apart in the bear's attempt to get the leftover food that Al had left lying around in there.

Sam and Samuel both looked at each other, and at the same time exclaimed "Oh boy!"

Al snorted.