Back in Metropolis
“All right, all right!” Jimmy raised his hands in surrender. “I just don’t understand why everyone chases me away just when they’re about to find out something interesting!”
“We need you to–” Lois began.
“I know. I know. I get the picture.” Grumpily, he turned and left the conference room.
Lois watched the departing figure with an amused expression “With that kind of curiosity, Jimmy will either make a fabulous reporter someday, get himself in a lot of trouble, or both!”
Clark smiled. “Like you?”
Lois returned the smile with mischief dancing in her eyes. “A fabulous reporter or in a lot of trouble?”
“Both.”
She nodded. “Yep, just like me.”
He leaned forward, giving her a quick kiss. They then turned their attention back to the tape, now ready to be played. Clark checked the volume to make sure no one in the newsroom outside would be able to hear it, just in case.
Lois took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s hear what Mr. Stoddard has to say.”
For a few moments after she pressed ‘play,’ there was only the soft hiss of the tape unwinding but finally someone spoke.
“May 21?” a voice asked.
“Right. Right,” a second voice replied, bordering on panic. “It hovered approximately ten to twenty meters above the ground with no apparent means of propulsion.”
“Wow! Photographic memory?” a third voice interjected.
“Could be quoting from something he read,” the first replied. “Let’s make sure.”
There was the sound of a struggle and the second of the three men uttered a faint, desperate, “No!”, followed by a brief, heavy silence.
“Let’s start with something simple. Like your name,” the first man suggested after a moment.
“Sam,” the second voice replied softly, now sounding rather dazed, probably drugged.
“Louder, please,” the third man demanded.
“Doctor Samuel Beckett.”
Recognizing the name from the file, Lois leaned closer.
“Think you gave him too much?” the third voice asked. Whoever it was didn’t seem to believe the name that had been given.
“Do you know where you are?” the first voice asked, ignoring his companion’s skepticism.
“I’m in, uh, New Mexico,” the man who said his name was Samuel Beckett replied.
Lois grabbed a notepad and quickly scribbled ‘New Mexico’ on it.
“What is the date?”
“May first, 1999.”
The two reporters exchanged startled glances. 1999?
“Tell us about yourself, Doctor Beckett,” the first interrogator continued.
“Born…8/8/53…”
“Terrific,” the other reacted incredulously. “He’s thirteen years old??”
“Or one hundred thirteen…”
Dr. Beckett was still answering their question. “Father’s name, John Samuel Beckett. Mother’s name, Thelma Louise Beckett. Social Security number, 563-86-9801. Department of Defense UMBRA clearance number, 004-002-02-016.”
Lois quickly added this information to her notes.
“Did you hear that?” the first interrogator asked, his voice excited.
“It’s a coincidence. He was in the service.”
“In World War One! UMBRA is an *operative* code! Why do you need a clearance?” he demanded.
There was no answer.
“Why do you need a clearance, Dr. Beckett?” he repeated.
“My project…”
“What is your project?”
“Project…Quantum Leap.”
“Quantum Leap…” Lois muttered to herself, adding the name to her pad.
“This project studies Unidentified Flying Objects?” the other man asked.
“Travel in time!” was the sharp, almost condescending reply.
There was the sound of someone knocking on a door in the background.
“What is it?” one of the interrogators called.
“Orderly. Medication,” came a muffled voice from the other side of the door.
“This patient is under private care.” The tape ended abruptly.
Clark frowned. He could have sworn he had heard something else…something on a supersonic frequency.
“Could you play it again, please?”
Lois threw him a curious glance. He tapped his ear. “I think I…heard…something extra.”
Obligingly, she rewound the tape.
“Could be quoting from something he read. Let’s make sure.”
“No! No, you bastards! Gooshie, what am I gonna do now?”
He was right! There was a fourth voice, a man’s voice, but speaking at a frequency inaudible to the normal human ear.
“Let’s start with something simple. Like your name.”
“No, Sam…”
He was apparently speaking to the man being interrogated. But why call him by name to prevent him from saying his name? Unless…no one could hear him. Did the two interrogators even know he was there?
“Doctor Samuel Beckett.”
“No…”
“Think you gave him too much?”
Clark reached for a piece of paper and began to write down what he heard. “There’s a fourth voice speaking.”
Lois looked startled. “One that I can’t hear?”
He nodded. “It’s a human voice too. I can’t figure out how he can speak at such a high frequency…”
“What is the date?”
“May first, 1999.”
“Gooshie! If I should suddenly pop out of existence, I want to leave everything to my first wife, Beth!”
Who was Gushie? And how could this conversation cause this person to ‘pop out of existence’?
“Why do you need a clearance?”
“Hang in there, Sam, hang in there!”
“Why do you need a clearance, Dr. Beckett?”
“My project…”
“Aw, no…”
Well, whoever this person was, he knew what ‘Sam’ was going to say and didn’t want him to say it. But that was about the only part of the dialogue that made sense with these comments. Clark finished writing and passed the paper to Lois. She studied it with a puzzled look on her face.
“How many people are in that room?” she wondered, trying to make sense of the bizarre side-remarks. “It’s like a running commentary from a parallel dimension or something.”
Clark nodded thoughtfully. “The man being interrogated said he was involved in some sort of time travel project…maybe they found a way to keep him in contact with his own time…like a temporal radio signal or something.”
“And somehow designed it to be only audible to him?”
He nodded. “The fourth guy definitely acted like no one else could hear him…”
“Except this Gushie person.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what to make of that.”
Lois turned her attention back to a thoughtful study of her notes. “Let’s see what we can find out about a Dr. Samuel Beckett. And a Project Quantum Leap in New Mexico.”