Fragile Reality
A Voyagers/Quantum Leap Crossover
by Carolyn (LadyTraveler), ©July, 1998
DISCLAIMER: The Voyagers, Phineas Bogg
and Jeffrey Jones are property of James D. Parriott Productions/Universal
MCA Entertainment/Scholastic Productions. Quantum Leap, Sam Beckett and Al
Calavicci are property of Donald P. Bellisario. I just borrowed them. They
were returned unharmed.
The whistling sound grew in pitch as
two bodies appeared falling from the sky. The feeling of freefall ended suddenly
with the impact of water. Landings are usually the roughest part of the ride,
of course there are times they are soft but not often. This actually was
neither. The water breaking the fall nicely, but the shock of how cold it
was, was not pleasant.
Phineas Bogg broke the surface of the water with a gasp of breath. Looking
around he saw that Jeffrey was already swimming for shore. He started to
swim to catch up to the kid. Finally reaching land, Bogg stumbled over to
sit down with Jeffrey, who was catching his breath.
Jeffrey's dark curly hair had straightened with the soaking. It would take
some time for them to dry off. Jeffrey shot an indignant look in Bogg's
direction.
"You know, I would love to land on a pile of pillows," said the twelve-year-old
youth.
Bogg smirked, "Yeah, right. I would love to drop in on Octavia's pillow bed
again."
Jeffrey let out an exasperated sigh and a disapproving look at Bogg. Bogg
smiled to let Jeffrey know he was kidding. "You okay kid?"
"I always wondered what it's like to drown. Next time remind me to hold my
breath. I'll live," he assured Bogg.
Bogg pulled out what looked, for all purposes, to be an antiqued gold pocketwatch
with an insignia of a "V" on the cover. It was, in fact, an OMNI, the device
by which they used to time travel.
"This doesn't look like New York City 1822. Where are we?" Jeffrey asked
as he glanced at their surroundings. There was nothing to offer clues as
to where they had 'landed' in time. Just a small river, a road past some
trees and buildings off in the distance.
"The OMNI must be stuck in automatic again. Well, the OMNI says that it's
June 30, 1948, Wheeling, West Virginia. Red Light," Bogg announced as he
read the information from the 'pocketwatch'. "I wonder what could be wrong.
It seems peaceful enough."
"I doubt that just sitting here we'll get an answer," Jeffrey said looking
in the direction of the road.
"Okay," Bogg said standing up and running a hand though his hair absently.
"Lets go."
"Huh? Where?"
"That way," Bogg said pointing down the road towards the buildings in the
distance.
He started off with Jeffrey jumping up and running to catch up. They walked
in silence, just listening to the birds singing in the trees and feeling
the warmth of the late afternoon sun beating down on them, helping to dry
them off faster. Bogg realized that it was a good thing it was summer after
their little dunk. Getting that wet would not have been good any other time.
A Voyager knew when the OMNI had a red light they had a job to do, even if
she or he was sick. Traveling through time to help history along, give it
a push when it's needed, the Life of a Voyager was always exciting but could
be uncomfortable when a cold hit, no calling out of work for this job.
It didn't take them long to see that the buildings they were walking towards
were the outskirts of town.
The street was busy with people walking, there was the sight of cars traveling
down the street. Many of the shops were crowded with customers. Phineas Bogg
was well aware that his clothing was drawing a little attention.
"We'll have to find ourselves some clothes to blend in," Bogg told Jeffrey.
"There's a clothing store," Jeffrey pointed across the street, "but we have
no money."
Just then there was a sound of a car speeding recklessly that caught Jeffrey's
and Bogg's attention. They could see the car was going to hit a woman that
was crossing the street just before them.
"LOOK OUT!" Jeffrey screamed in shock.
Bogg's reflexes had him already at a run, full speed to reach the woman.
There was the dazzling light display and the jarring disorientation that
Sam Beckett had come to expect from his 'Leaps'. What Sam wasn't ready for
was the feeling of being tackled from behind and carried some distance. The
wind was completely knocked out of his lungs. He could hear the sound of
a car speeding off down the road.
In shock, Sam looked to see a red car leaving in the distance.
"Are you all right?" Sam heard a deep rich voice full of concern say from
beside him.
Sam nodded, still catching his breath. He looked over to the person who must
have been the one to knock him out to the way of danger. The savior was a
tall young man with dirty blonde hair. Dressed in tan pants that had a red
stripe down the sides, black boots, a leather vest, and shirt that had large
baggy sleeves? He looks like a pirate, Sam thought.
"Whoa! That was too close," said a wide-eyed kid with dark curly hair, running
up to them. The boy was wearing a red and white striped pull over shirt,
black jeans and sneakers. He looked no older than twelve.
"Good LORD Jessica! Poor Dear," an older man voiced as he exited the cafe
in front of them. Sam looked into the reflection of the cafe's window to
see a brunette woman standing next to the young man and boy.
"Oh, boy," said Sam.
"Quick, get her inside to sit down," commanded the older man. The boy and
the two men led Sam into the cafe. The older man went behind the counter
and brought back a glass of juice handing it to Sam as he sat down.
"Are you sure you're fine, Miss...?" the younger man asked again this time
searching for a name. There was a quiet pause as Sam tried to think of what
his name was.
"Jessica?" the older man seemed more concerned now.
"Yes, I'll be okay. I'm just a little shook up, that's all." Sam tried to
sound convincing.
"Well, of course, you're shaken up, those hotrodders! It's so a person's
not safe even on the sidewalks anymore," said the older man who looked at
Bogg and Jeffrey as if seeing them for the first time.
"Hello there. I haven't seen you two before. I'm Harry and this is my
cafe."
"Hello Harry. Jessica." Bogg said in greeting to the two, "I'm Phineas Bogg
and this is . . . my nephew, Jeffrey Jones." Sam looked at Bogg, disbelieving
what he just said was his name. Jules Verne?
"Hi," said Jeffrey smiling.
"Hello," Sam replied back with a smile.
"Yes, we're new here. Just came to town today. And it looks like we might
have to stay for a while." Bogg answered Harry's question.
Sam was anxiously looking around, waiting for Al to make his appearance.
But it seemed that Al was going to be late. Sam didn't like to be in a situation
where he had little information to go on. It made interacting with the people
around him difficult. Sam realized that he had a purse full of information
right in front of him. He started to go though it looking for anything that
would help.
"Well, you could stay at Jessica's. She operates a boarding house. You don't
have anyone there now anyway, do you Jess?" Harry stated, watching with concern
to Sam's actions.
Jeffrey saw Bogg look at the OMNI. Jeffrey hoped that saving Jessica would
help to push time in the right direction. But Jeffrey's hope sank as Bogg
shook his head.
"Hmm?" Sam asked with a blank look.
"That's it, Jessica. After what just happened, you might as well go home.
With the scare you had today, you need to relax," Harry said as he started
walking towards the door. "Come on, I'll walk you home."
Smiling, Bogg answered, "That's ok, Harry. We'll take her home. Just point
us in the right direction."
Five blocks into town they came to Jessica's home. It was a large, two story
white house that had blue trim and shutters. A gigantic maple tree in the
front yard shaded a big front porch. Off to the side was a matching big garage.
The three entered the house feeling quite at home. Sam closed the door after
entering and had to suppress a gasp as he turned to see Bogg and Jeffrey
walk right through Al. A lopsided grin crossed over Al's face when he saw
he had startled Sam yet again with his holographic tricks. Sam knew Al enjoyed
doing that, even if Al did deny it.
"Look, just make yourselves at home. I have to check on something. If you're
thirsty, I'm sure there's something in the refrigerator," Sam stated as he
went to talk to Al.
Bogg gave a curious look to Jeffrey, who just shrugged in answer.
"You know Bogg, I was almost sure that when you saved Jessica, our job here
was done."
"Yeah, me too, kid. But you know, this one just feels different, as if there's
something else wrong here. I just can't see what it is though," Bogg said
with a little frustration in his voice.
"There's nothing I can find wrong. What should we do?"
"Let's just go along with things, maybe the problem will become obvious
soon."
Sam went to an upstairs bedroom. It looked to be Jessica's with all the dresses
hanging in the open closet. "Where have you been Al? Do you have any idea
what almost happen to me? If it wasn't for that guy downstairs I would have
been hit by a car."
"Sorry, Sam," Al said shocked. He knew telling Sam the holographic chamber
had acted up would have sounded like a poor excuse.
"It's all right," Sam said with a sigh. "Who am I? What am I here for?"
Al taps on his keypad. "Well, you're Jessica Hammond. You live in Wheeling,
West Virginia. It's June 30, 1948. You're twenty-eight years old. You run
a boarding house since the death of your husband and you have a five-year-old
daughter named Katherine."
"1948? Al, that can't be right. I can't Leap before 1953."
"Sam, it's 1948 and you have leaped before 1953 a couple of other times."
Sam's memories of those Leaps began to surface. It did happen before.
"And as for why," Al looked right into Sam's eyes. "Ziggy says there's a
89% chance you're here to prevent the disappearance of Katherine."
"Disappearance! When? How?"
"Ziggy doesn't have all the information yet but he says," Al gives the keypad
a whack to which it squawks a response. "It'll happen in the next four
days."
"Where is she now?" Sam asks as he realizes he doesn't know where she is.
"She's next door, Sam. Your neighbor is babysitting her."
"Good. Does Ziggy know who Jessica's boarders are?"
Al taps the keypad. "Ziggy doesn't have anything on that yet."
"Okay, umm, I want you to find out just who Phineas Bogg and Jeffrey Jones
are. They'll be staying here."
"Phineas Bogg? You mean Phileas Fogg don't you? Sam have you been reading
Jules Verne again?"
"I know, it sounds like an alias but run a check anyway. The guy that saved
me from being run over, that's what he said his name was."
"That guy dressed as a pirate?"
"Yeah."
Again Al taps the keypad, "Sorry Sam, Nothing." Al starts to walk towards
a wall. "Sam, let me go see what information I can find, all right?"
"Sure."
A door slides open in the wall and blinding white light pours from it as
Al steps across the threshold and leaves.
Sam sighs as he sees the reflection of Jessica in a mirror. Sam thought Jessica
was a very pretty woman. Dark hair, porcelain complexion and dark eyes. Sam
still felt uneasy to be in the woman's place. Shaking his head, Sam heads
back downstairs to talk with his guests.
Returning downstairs Sam finds Bogg and Jeffrey at the dining room table
reading the newspaper. A commotion outside draws their attention to the backdoor.
A large fluffy mutt charges into the house closely followed by a distressed
little dark haired five-year-old.
"Skippy, give that back," the little girl shouts at the dog who has a Raggedy
Anne Doll in its mouth.
"Bat's Breath!" Bogg shouts.
Quickly Jeffrey blocks the path of the dog and grabs a hold of it before
it has a chance to escape. "Gotcha boy." The dog immediately realizes it
has been caught.
"Jeffrey!" Bogg shouts with concern to the incident.
"It's okay Bogg," smiling Jeffrey says as he starts to pet the dog. The mutt
licks Jeffrey's hands in friendship. "See."
"I just wish you weren't so friendly with strange animals," Bogg whispers
under his breath. "Big fur coat . . ."
Jeffrey's smile gets wider as he hears what Bogg has just said. He picks
up the doll and hands it over to the little girl. "Here you go."
"Thank you," the girl says shyly.
"Jessica, your daughter is a wonderful child," says a voice from the backdoor.
There stands an elderly woman that Sam can only guess is Jessica's neighbor.
"My granddaughter had a great time with her and would like to visit with
her again next week. If that's all right with you?"
"Sure, okay," Sam answers.
"Good, take care dear," says the elderly woman with a pleasant smile as she
leaves.
At that moment Skippy breaks the silence with loud squeaky barks causing
both Bogg and Sam to jump. Sam realizes that Skippy can see he is not really
Jessica.
"Katherine, go take Skippy to your room to play till supper's ready," Sam
kindly tells the child. Looking at Sam, Katherine just nods in answer.
"Come on Skippy," orders the little girl. She looks back into the room with
a quick glance at Sam from behind the doorway before disappearing.
Watching the strange behavior of both Skippy and Katherine as they leave
the room, Jeffrey thinks to himself, 'What is wrong here? Was that fear,
uncertainty or some other emotion in her eyes? Why would Skippy bark at Jessica
as though he didn't recognize her?' Jeffrey had the feeling that Jessica
was hiding something.
Over the next hour Jeffrey and Bogg helped Jessica prepare dinner. Jeffrey
felt happy to help out in the chore--it was something that he missed now
that his parents were gone. Contentedly Jeffrey quietly listened while the
other two talked.
The conversation was filled with questions about each other. But they both
felt as if the answers to their questions were vague, finding out little
more then when the conversation began. Both felt the other was sincere, just
that there was something hidden behind their words. Bogg thought that Jessica
might not want to talk about the past. It seemed better not to pry too
much.
Sam had the feeling that Jeffrey and Bogg were harmless, still Katherine
was in danger and Bogg could be suspect. Sam knew better than to jump to
conclusions. It might be an accident that causes Katherine to disappear.
I just wish I could be sure. Al, I hope you find something, thought
Sam.
The rest of the evening went pleasant. Everyone had a good appetite. Bogg
and Jeffrey had eaten like they hadn't eaten in days, with two helpings of
everything. Sam also caught a comment Jeffrey made about being tired of eating
jerky. Bogg just gave the kid a look. Katherine had finished her dinner,
disappearing back into her room as quickly as she had appeared.
End Part One