Project Quantum Leap
December 4, 2002
“Good morning, Ziggy,” Quinn said cheerfully, as he entered the mainframe room, and peered up at the glowing blue ball that stored the supercomputer’s consciousness. He carried in his arms a large, very heavy device that had taken way too long to build. The plans John had left him were extensive, but boy had it taken time to get right. A whole year, in fact. And that was even as he bounced ideas off Colin and Sammy Jo, who was a woman that had been assigned as his liaison between himself and the Project.
The group had not been permitted entrance into the Stallions Gate facility until after the Maggie of ’99 had already been an unwilling guest there in 2002. Ziggy’s orders.
But, now that Sam was on 1978 Earth Prime, and days from attempting his return, Ziggy had finally granted access to the Project. He’d spent the last few days familiarising himself with the hardware, under the watchful eyes of the little man named Gooshie and the high-voiced Tina. And now he was finally here to get Higgins hooked up.
“Good morning, Quinn. Have you come to… rearrange my wires today?”
Ziggy had some personality on her. He’d been floored at her greeting when he had first met her: “Ah. Mister Quinn Mallory has ventured to slide into my mainframe. If you satisfy me, I’ll let you do it again.”
Given what he knew about Sam, for him to have built so raunchy a computer was endlessly amusing to Quinn.
“I’m just preparing Higgins for interfacing,” he said, placing the device against the wall. He looked up at the glowing sphere, smirking. “I’m afraid he’s a little less… feisty… than you.”
“I don’t mind being the dominant one in a relationship,” Ziggy replied.
Quinn ignored the comment, and continued: “Now, you’re gonna find that Higgins has a lot of variations on your code that serve essentially the same function. I’m counting on you to decide which to assimilate and which to reject.”
He began arranging cables from Ziggy’s panels to what was essentially a reader for the quartz crystals.
“I’d recommend looking closely at the retrieval routines,” he said, fastening connections. “The other Doc Beckett seemed to put significant work into them, and they’re proven to work.”
“Quinn, you’re so gentle with my parallel buses.”
Quinn snorted. “Does this whole place just speak in innuendo all the time?”
“I believe Admiral Calavicci throws in the occasional double entendre, too.”
Quinn shook his head, chuckling, as he approached the reader.
“Okay, Ziggy. Prepare to meet your counterpart.”
He turned the machine on, and it began to whir. Ziggy’s orb grew in brilliance, as the blue lights under each crystal set into the reader started blinking rapidly.
“Oh, Higgins! Where have you been all my life?”
Quinn grinned. “I’ll leave you two to your… interfacing.”
He dusted off his hands, and wandered out into the Project lobby, where Colin was waiting with Al.
“Okay, Higgins is hooked up,” he confirmed. “Could be a day or two before Ziggy’s done integrating him into her systems.”
He exchanged a quick fist bump with Colin.
“It’s been a while,” he said, “But we finally did it.”
“Bang-up job, you two,” said Al. “With any luck, we can get a retrieval started when Sam comes through in a few days.”
Quinn nodded. “I have a good feeling about it.”
* * *
Project Quantum Leap
December 7, 2002
(Immediately after the final scene of Quinntum Leap: Part 2)
It was the hug Sam had been wishing for all these years. He and Al hadn’t been able to make any sort of physical contact, despite being in near constant communication, since he’d left over seven years ago. But now he was home, and the pair had their arms around each other so tight that he wasn’t sure if either of them dared to let go. It felt to Sam like if he let go, Al might slip away into a hologram again, and disappear into a glowing doorway.
“I had no idea what was going to happen there,” Sam told his friend. “You never told me you were trying a retrieval.”
The embrace loosened enough for the friends to make eye contact, though Sam still had a tight grasp on Al’s arms, making sure he was still corporeal.
“Sure we did,” said Al. “Our retrieval algorithms were part of the effort to get your new pals back to 1999. We just… took it a step further. Nabbed you mid-leap. We didn’t know if it’d work, but after what you told me, we thought it was the best possible chance we had.”
“What I told you… oh, that I needed a break?”
“Bingo.”
Sam wiped a tear from his eye.
Yeah. This isn’t going to be forever.
Something in his gut knew that his work wasn’t finished. But whatever time he had here, he was going to make the most of.
His attention moved to Colin, still peeking in the doorway. It was definitely him, but he was a little older, his hair was different; more of a modern style. He was grinning back with enthusiastic, shining eyes that matched those of his brother.
There must have been quite a story behind his presence, and he couldn’t wait to hear it. However, there was much to do first. Colin’s eyes flicked to the side, heralding the approach of more people to greet Sam.
First came Gooshie, then Tina, then Verbena, and just behind her appeared a face that made him stumble back, finally breaking his physical contact with Al.
“Donna…”
For a moment, he was frozen, seeing all these people he loved, and not knowing who to go to first, but as his memories returned, he knew he had to hold his wife.
Unlike the last reunion, when he was carrying a hefty chunk of Al’s libido, he didn’t go straight in for a kiss, but he did throw his arms around her, tears flowing freely as he admonished himself for forgetting her again. Why did she have to be the only major person in his life who refused to stick in his brain?
“I missed you, Sam,” Donna murmured. Sam, in truth, couldn’t say the same; a realisation that broke his heart.
“I’m sorry,” was all he could find to say in reply.