Chapter 16
Ben moaned as he found himself in an uncomfortable position, with an itchy arm, a pain in his chest, and something heavy over his mouth and nose.
He dared open an eye to find himself in a hospital bed. The itch in his arm was an IV needle, and the thing on his face was some kind of ventilator mask. He pulled it down, looking around the ward with some urgency.
What can you remember? he asked himself. Lady —a leaper—with a gun… Addison was there—no, it was Sam… he just looked like her. But also there was another Sam? A younger Sam. And I was having a heart attack. I guess I survived that. Small favours.
He felt a hand over his chest, finding a bandage and a surge of pain. Okay, I’ve been in surgery. I suppose that’s good. Probably saved my—uh, James’s life. But… how long was I out?
“S- Sam?” he croaked in a raw voice, barely above a whisper. Boy, his throat was dry. Unable to move much, he eyed his immediate area, finding a call button. He pressed it before letting his weak body go limp again.
A moment later, a nurse entered, meeting his eye with a smile.
“Ah, welcome back, Mister Reed,” he said, crossing to his bedside and writing something on his chart. “What can I do for you? Do you need some water?”
Ben nodded. “Please,” he whispered. “And… this… hurts,” he added, pointing to his chest.
The nurse nodded. “Water and something for the pain—coming right up. Oh, and I’ll go fetch your boyfriend. He’s off in one of the sitting rooms now, I think.”
“Boyfriend? Uh… okay…”
The nurse left, leaving Ben to wonder about the boyfriend comment.
* * *
“I’m still having a little trouble with this,” the younger Sam confessed to the hologram that appeared to him as a young woman, but was evidently his own self from later in his own lifetime. “There’s not only a new Project in the future that’s not Lothos, but you—I actually leaped into its hologram?”
He leaned back on the sitting room sofa. The little enclave was nice and private, with only the occasional orderly passing by the entrance. A good place to speak to a hologram. Something Sam had never expected to need to do again.
When this hologram had appeared during the stand-off, he had momentarily had the urge to flee, until ‘she’ had whispered something into his ear: “Al’s Uncle Stawpah.”
To most people that would have meant nothing, but to Sam it meant everything. He knew at that moment he could trust this strange woman.
The hologram followed it up with an instruction to go for the gun when Ben had the other leaper distracted. Since the incident, his older self had had a little more time to explain the situation. But it was still somewhat difficult to believe. Nothing like this had ever happened before.
“There’s more to it,” the holographic Sam said, “but essentially, yes. And I can only hope that all of this didn’t affect your future too much, since I’m that future.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Sam said with a shrug. “I have a way of Swiss-cheesing these things, don’t I?”
“Yeah. I always forget the most important things.” The holographic Sam looked absolutely miserable for a moment, before regaining his composure.
“And this… ‘Ben Song’… he’s from when?”
“His present is 2023.”
Sam took a moment to process this. Last he’d heard from his present, it had been 1999. Of course, it had been a while since then, too. He didn’t know how many years—it wasn’t like he could keep a calendar. But he was certain it was far from the 24 years it would have taken to reach that time. This holographic version of him either was much, much older than him, or he had begun to leap into the future at some point. Either way, that was a lot to take in.
“I know what you’re thinking,” hologram Sam said, “and yes, it’s been a long time since I was you. A really long time.”
“And you never stopped leaping…”
“I never stopped.” He looked much sadder about that than Sam would have liked to see.
“Isn’t it what you wanted?”
His older self licked his lips, looking away. “I don’t quite remember the order of things. Have you met Janis in 2002 yet?”
“Janis Calavicci?” Sam nodded. “It was really good to see her.”
“Then you’ve spoken to Donna.”
“I have.”
The older Sam nodded pensively. “It takes its toll, you know? Remembering her.” He turned back around, looking Sam in the eyes. “Never mind the intimacy with other people. You get used to that. It’s the distance from her. It’s knowing she’s there, but out of your reach.”
He shook his head. “But I guess that’s something you’ll find out later.” He pulled out his circular hockey-puck-shaped handlink. “Listen, Nick doesn’t deserve to have his leap superseded like this. His son is still out there, and I know where. Write this down.”
* * *
Ben was yawning and wondering if he should go back to sleep when the sound of a hologram entered his perception.
“Sam?” he whispered, looking up at the vision of Addison at his bedside.
“Ben, I’m glad you’re okay,” Sam said with a relieved sigh. “It was touch and go for a while there—you’re lucky the emergency services already had an ambulance waiting outside the station in case someone got shot.” He looked towards the door. “The other me is… coming the long way around, but he’ll be here in a minute or two. We’ve… had some time to talk.”
Ben nodded, unwilling to test his throat’s fortitude any more until he could lubricate it with water. Instead, he smiled and gave a thumbs up.
“Margaret Cartwright is now in custody. You’ll be happy to know there was no bomb at City Hall. She was just buying time with that threat. And the leaper is gone. As soon as she was KO’d, Lothos yanked her.”
Ben wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“Oh, and James is gonna be fine now,” he added brightly. “Well, at least for another twenty-one years, according to Ziggy. Now that the heart defect has been caught, he gets proper treatment. I suppose there’s no point explaining what an Implantable Cardioverter Defribillator is to you, so I won’t.”
Ben once again gave a thumbs up gesture. “So…” he gestured with his hands as best he could to ask if he was going to leap now. Sam must have understood, because he smiled and gave a nod.
“You should be leaping any time now.”
“But…” Ben whispered.
“But, we’re going to start a retrieval instead. Sammy Jo took the lead on that and I think we’ve got a great shot at it.”
Ben squinted. That name rang a bell for him, but he wasn’t able to place it.
“She’s Addison’s Mom. And… my daughter.”
Ben’s mouth fell open. “No way…” he barely got a sound out this time.
Something deep inside him told him he’d known that information already, but the shock was still the same. Sam was Addison’s grandfather… well, they certainly shared certain facial features.
The nurse returned, holding a bottle of water. Oblivious to the hologram’s presence, he walked through Sam and passed Ben the bottle, opening it for him. Ben guzzled it thirstily until it was completely empty.
“Thank you,” he said, his throat now a lot more supple.
“You’re welcome, Mister Reed. Now, let me just give you a nice booster for the pain…” He leaned over, doing something Ben couldn’t see at his drip bags before stepping back. “Okay, take it easy now. A doctor will be in to see you soon.”
Ben felt a wave of warmth pass into him from the painkillers, and he hoped it wouldn’t make him too groggy to know what was going on.
As the nurse left the room, he scooted aside as the younger Sam entered.
“Hi… um, sweetheart,” he said awkwardly, kissing Ben on the forehead for the apparent benefit of the nurse.
The nurse simply grinned at the display, before closing the door behind him.
“You didn’t have to kiss me,” Ben said, chuckling. “Or say you were my boyfriend, for that matter.”
Sam blushed. “Well, I had to say something plausible to give myself the chance to stay with you. Ben, right?”
Ben nodded. “I guess the cat’s really out of the bag. Even the ‘evil leapers’ know my name now.”
“No better time to quit while you’re ahead,” holographic Sam said, leaning over Ben with a serious expression. “And I mean that. If we’re gonna make a successful retrieval, you need to want to go home.”
“Of course I want to go home,” Ben said, laughing. Maybe a little too much, but he supposed that was the influence of the drug. “Look at me, I just had heart surgery. I want to be back in my own life free of congenial heart defects.”
“Congenital,” corrected the younger Sam.
“That’s what I meant to say,” Ben said with a snort.
“Ben,” the holographic Sam pressed, “When we start the retrieval, you need to be thinking about everything and everyone you want to see again, okay? I’m talking about your friends, your home… but most of all, think about Addison. Think about your love and how much you want to hold her.”
He blinked back tears. “Because if this doesn’t work, you might end up like me, and I screwed up everything I had, everyone I loved. My wife, my daughter, Al… my granddaughter, who I didn’t even know about until this leap.”
Rubbing his eyes, Sam crouched by the bed to get closer to Ben’s eye line. “Once, I asked Al why I could save strangers but not the people I love. I may have saved my brother’s life, but I also never got to see him again. And what I did to Donna… well, I have no excuse for it. It was rotten. And Sammy Jo… I’m the reason she doesn’t talk to Addison. It’s all because of my careless actions, all of it.” His voice began to break. “Ben, promise me. Promise me you’ll make it home. Don’t do what I did. You have a fiancée waiting for you in 2023, who deserves to have you with her.”
Ben drank in his words, unsure of how to respond. He did want to go home, didn’t he? He’d never questioned that. But then, somehow, he hadn’t got home when he was supposed to, and he’d never really figured out why.
Sam was talking to him like he was choosing to leap. But he’d only stepped into the Accelerator to save Addison’s life, hadn’t he?
He loved her, of that he was sure. He wanted to wake up next to her, to feel her lips on his.
But it’s true that he felt a pull in the other direction. Leaping was hard work, but it was rewarding in so many ways. Was it selfish to feel that way about helping people? To want to make things right in the world?
Maybe he was taking the scenic route back to Addison. Was that so bad?
But Sam; Sam had so many regrets. He didn’t want to end up weeping over a missed life too.
Ben swallowed. “I want… I want to go home, and marry Addison, and start a life with her like we planned,” he said firmly. More firmly than he believed the words. He looked deeply into Sam’s—well, Addison’s—sad eyes. “Are you ready to bring me back?”
“Just say the word.”
Ben flicked his gaze to the younger Sam, who seemed incredibly affected by what his older self had said. He was seeing his own future, and it hung over him like a spectre. He looked like he was about to break down.
“You okay?” he asked the fellow leaper.
Sam looked down at him, lip quivering. “Well, I… I feel pretty terrible now, but when I leap, I’ll probably forget all of this happened, so at least it’ll be a surprise.” He spoke without a hint of humour.
Despite the pain medication, Ben steeled his gaze. “I’m ready, Sam.”
“You’re gonna feel a tingle, followed by a feeling of flying,” said Sam, tapping out a sequence on the handlink. “Theoretically, anyway. Okay… retrieving in three… two… one.”
A final tap on the handlink, and Ben indeed felt a full body tingle. And as he felt the leap begin to overtake him, he reached out a hand and grasped the younger Sam’s arm as tightly as he could.
“We leap together if we’re holding on to one another, right?”
“Wait, I…” the younger Sam said, alarmed. “I’m not sure—”
“Come home with me, Sam. You deserve it more than I do.”
“Ben, this might not be…” Addison’s voice deepened into Sam’s as the leap took hold. And as everything faded to blue, Ben felt himself travelling at speed through… whatever this place was. And he knew that he wasn’t alone.
Flying through the nothingness, the drug haze cleared out of Ben’s mind, and he began to realise just how rash his decision had been.
Did I make a mistake?
It was the last thing he thought before all awareness departed from him.
* * *
In the Imaging Chamber, a bewildered Addison Augustine returned to consciousness in time to see a blue flash followed by the hologram fading away in the fashion it usually would when Ben leapt.
She felt a little seasick. Something had just happened, but she wasn’t quite sure what. The last thing she recalled, she’d been in a bathroom waiting for Ben to break off from the woman he was supposed to sleep with and come talk to her. He couldn’t have done it already?
She rubbed her temples, heading for the exit.
I wonder what Sam Beckett is doing now, she thought, then abruptly wondered where that thought had come from.
She stepped out of the door, and stopped in her tracks as she saw her mother standing at a computer, typing something.
“Mom…? What are you doing here?”
Sammy Jo looked towards Addison. “What does it look like I’m doing, sweetheart? I’m trying to get Ben home.”
“Why are you here, Mom?” Addison demanded. “Since when do you step foot in this place?”
Another head poked out from behind a monitor, making Addison feel like she was dreaming. It was Sam Beckett.
“Cut your Mom some slack,” he said. “She was only late twice last week. You know what traffic is like around here.”
Addison’s head swam. What was happening here, exactly?
“Captain Augustine,” came a smooth, feminine voice from all around Addison, “If you wouldn’t mind returning to the Imaging Chamber, I would like a short word with you.”
“Who said that?” Addison said, spinning around.
“It’s just Ziggy,” said Ian, placing a hand on her shoulder as they approached. “You feeling okay, Addison?”
“Oh boy,” she said.