Chapter 31
Hesitantly, Sam relinquished his grip on Ben’s hands, allowing the Janis-shaped leaper to turn and face him.
“Ben…?” he said, studying the eyes closely. He found that whenever people would pick him as being ‘different’ while he was leaping, it was usually the eyes giving it away. Gateway to the soul and all that.
And damned if Janis’s eyes weren’t giving him Ben vibes. He might have only known the man for a short time, but there was something mature and gentle about those eyes that was indicative of someone Sam could trust.
“Yeah, Sam—it’s me,” Ben confirmed, giving him a weak smile. “I hoped it wouldn’t be revealed like this, but here we are. At least I'm not a deranged politician’s wife with a gun, right?”
“I can’t believe it…” Sam whispered. “When did you get here? Why?”
Ben took a seat back in his computer chair, folding his arms. “I’m thinking I must have arrived here about the same time you did, Sam. We did leap together, after all. I guess I got bumped into Janis when we got here, while you showed up as you in the Accelerator.”
“The retrieval was supposed to be for you…” Sam murmured. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, Sam. You—I mean the other you—were right about me not quite being ready.” He stole a glance at the empty—but eye-catching—space in the room where the future Addison must have been standing. “But I think it all might have been for the best. Mostly.” He clasped his hands. “A lot’s changed, Sam.”
“I can imagine…” Sam mused. “Did everything turn out okay for you?”
Ben took a moment, lips pursed, attempting to formulate an answer. Sam bit his lip—that wasn’t a good sign.
“Um, can someone please explain who Ben is?” the younger Addison cut in. “And what did you say about me being a hologram?”
Sam took her by the hand, and gestured with his free hand towards Ben. “Addison, I’d like you to meet Ben Song. He’s… one of the good guys, and the only reason I made it home today.”
Ben nodded his greeting toward her. “Sorry to have misled you, Addison.”
“So she… he’s another leaper… guy?” Addison asked Sam, bewildered. “How many of them are there?”
“Well, it’s hard to say,” Sam said, rubbing his neck. “Who knows who’ll end up with my tech in the future? That’s the problem with time machines. Once they exist, the probability of encountering a time traveller any time gets exponentially larger.” He frowned, knowing that Lothos may not have even been created yet.
He felt like one of the physicists of the nuclear age; inventing a technology so powerful and yet so dangerous that it never should have been put in the hands of man. And he had to wonder who had obtained his Accelerator blueprints; what horrible breach of security had taken place, or was going to take place.
“Well, for a start, there’s us,” Ben said. He offered the teenage Addison a grin. “Me and you… uh, the you of 2023.”
“2023…?” Addison’s face tightened as her eyes darted around. “So I’m… um, she’s… in the room right now?”
Sam pointed to the part of the room where he sensed her. “Yeah—right here, I think.”
“Earlier, it was Janis,” Ben continued, and gestured to himself in a mirror hanging on the wall. “For, uh, reasons that may be obvious.” He turned his head to the holographic Addison. “We have Sam’s and your own brainwaves programmed into the Imaging Chamber, right? Think you could add them in to the visibility settings so they can see you?”
“Oh, she doesn’t have to…” Sam said. “Not if it’s too much trouble.”
“I mean, it would be proof that all this is legit,” the younger Addison said. “And I kinda wanna see what I look like in my thirties.”
“I guess we’ll let Ziggy decide,” Ben said, still looking at the invisible Addison. “Since she’s apparently in charge now.”
Sam tilted his head. “What do you mean, ‘now?’”
“Who the heck’s Ziggy?” Addison chimed in.
“Um, well… until I brought you home, our Ziggy was a computer that ran advanced predictive models, while analysing available data and tracking changes to the timeline.”
“Well, that is her main function, yes…”
“Her!” Ben pointed a finger. “See, there—the pronouns! Our Ziggy was always an ‘it’. But now it’s a ‘she’ and… she… has all kinds of new opinions, apparently.”
“Well, Ziggy used to be a ‘he’, but she’s always had a gender since I built her,” Sam said, confused. “And of course she has opinions; I gave her a personality and ego, so she wouldn’t be just another number-cruncher.”
Ben shook his head, chuckling. “Incredible. I never knew our Ziggy was built lacking functions.” He spun his chair to the computer screen, cracking his knuckles. “Well, speaking of number-crunching, I have work to get done, so if you’ll excuse me…”
Sam leaned in to see the screen. “What work? What’s gonna happen, Ben?”
“Nothing life or death, but it still sucks,” Ben explained. “Some homophobic crusaders are gonna get Janis and her girlfriend banned from prom tomorrow.” He nodded in the direction of his hologram before turning back to the screen. “Addison’s gone to get Janis now.”
“Janis has a girlfriend?” Sam blinked as he processed the new information. Apparently he was still a little out of the loop. He shook his head. “Uh, never mind that. You said before you had to hack these people? What will that do to stop something they must already have in motion?”
“I don’t quite know, but it’s a start, right?” Ben opened up a console prompt, and turned to what now must have been Janis. “Hey—welcome back. Now, I assume you have some IP masking measures I can use, right? I mean, you set up that comms system with Sam, and… right, okay—go ahead.” Receiving silent instructions from the future, Ben began typing commands into the prompt.
“Hi, Janis,” Sam said quietly to the empty space, waving a hand and grinning and marvelling that she too would be at the Project of 2023. He knew she was brilliant, of course, and he supposed she was taking after her father by being a hologram.
On the bed, Addison watched on with a kind of stunned acceptance of the strange situation that he remembered feeling a time or two on his leaps.
“Janis says hello,” Ben relayed. “Oh, and she’s telling me Ziggy’s pissed about you guys finding me out. Something about melted microchips? It threw her predictive capabilities off by a factor of four.”
“That sounds like Ziggy alright.” Sam laughed, turning to the invisible Janis. “Tell her I said to learn meditation and let it go.” He turned to Ben with a shrug. “Oh, what am I saying? Ziggy’s way too egotistical to attain inner peace. Well, since Ziggy can’t help… what can I do?”
Ben snorted. “Maybe my Ziggy can’t help. But then, there’s a Ziggy in 2003, isn’t there? A supercomputer way more powerful than this PC that could, conceivably, do what I’m doing much more efficiently. And maybe I can get some sleep.”
“You know what, Ben?” Sam said, “That’s a really good idea.” He slapped the leaper on the back before reaching over him and typing some rapid commands into the prompt. “Pinging Ziggy…” he muttered, before covering the keyboard with one hand and typing his security code in with the other. Although he trusted Ben, he was still paranoid about rogue holograms watching him.
The screen abruptly turned blue, and Ben let out a groan. “It didn’t crash, did it?”
“No. Just wait,” said Sam.
A line of white text appeared in the centre of the screen.
It's late, Doctor Beckett.
Shouldn't you be in bed with Doctor Elesee? She's a lonely woman, you know.
Below Ziggy’s greeting was a flashing input cursor. Sam swiftly typed his response.
Couldn't sleep.
Ben stood from his chair, offering it to Sam.
“Thank you,” Sam said, taking his place in the seat. Ziggy’s reply appeared as he rolled it into the desk.
Interesting that I mentioned being in bed with your wife for the first time in years, and your first thought was that I was talking about sleeping.
Sam shot an exasperated look at Ben, before typing his reply.
You've been spending way too much time with Al.
Now, I have a request for you, if that's not too much trouble. It's not exactly legal.
“I appreciate this, Sam,” Ben said, taking a seat next to Addison on the bed, who finally found her voice again.
“Is… there anything I can do to help?”
Before Ben answered, Ziggy’s response came up on the computer screen.
Doctor Beckett, do not underestimate my ability to flagrantly disregard laws where necessary.
Ben chuckled. “Jeez, we really missed out on this Ziggy before. I think I like her.” He moved his attention back to Addison. “I think hacking their mailing list will only be the first step. How many friends have you got that would show up to a gay rights rally on short notice?”
Addison’s face lit up. “You’re really letting me help?”
“Sure… after we all get some sleep. It’s late.” He gestured to the watch on his wrist, which showed it was one in the morning. “You know, I think there could be merit in teaching you Quantum Leaping 101. I… have a sneaking suspicion that some day it might come in handy.”