March 25, 2010
Project Quantum Leap
Stallion’s Gate, New Mexico

“Thames!” Zoë Hammond strode into the silent control room. A look of irritation crossed her face as she noticed that the lights on the computer console were still dead. Who would have thought the Project would take so long to overhaul!

“Thames!” she called again.

The Imaging Chamber door slid open, revealing the black man, who was chuckling to himself at some private joke. Zoë wondered briefly if he ever *stopped* laughing. Thames stepped through the door Zoë, and punched the manual control that had been installed so they could get from one place to another while the computer was still off-line.

“What is taking so long?” she demanded.

“The same thing that’s been taking a long time for the past ten years–this is a very complex computer.” He grinned at her, only increasing her exasperation.

“Doctor Beckett had this facility built and running by nineteen ninety-five!” Zoë snapped.

“Yeah, well Doctor Beckett was a genius, on top of which, I’d bet he didn’t have this baby up and running in a year either. These things take time, Zoë. You’ve got to learn to be patient.”

“I don’t have time to be patient!”

Thames laughed again. “You’re joking, right? This is a time machine we’re talking about here, remember Zoë, baby?”

Her eyes hurled spears of contempt at him. “Don’t call me that.”

“Zoë, how’s it coming?” Gregor called cheerily behind them.

Zoë rolled her eyes in disgust at the sound of her partner’s voice. That man and his goody-goody daughter! I swear, as soon as I don’t need him…

“We’re coming along at a fair pace,” Thames reported. “We’ve been working on Dr. Beckett’s string theory, to try to find away to be able to Leap outside the limits of a person’s lifetime. It’s slowing us down a little bit, but once we get through the rough spots, we should be able to get a fair enough trot going to get this place back on-line as early as May.”

Abruzzi nodded, pleased. He gestured to Alia, who had been standing behind him. “Well, when that time comes, I’m pleased to announce that it will be my daughter who makes the Leap.”

Zoë’s head snapped up, startled. “Her?!” Her eyes swept over Alia. That could ruin everything! “Gregor, don’t you think that’s an awful risk to put her at?” she suggested, hoping to talk him out of it.

He shook his head. “I don’t see why. Our technicians have had plenty of time to perfect the retrieval program, from the notes that were left. All she has to do is go back to the target date, do what she has to do, and come home.”

“Besides, I want to do it,” Alia added. She had inherited her father’s stubbornness. “I’ve always wanted to travel in time, and I like the idea of being able to see life through other people’s eyes.”

“It doesn’t bother you that your father’s asking you to kill for him?” Zoë asked bluntly. Alia winced a little, but held firm.

“No. After all, once it’s been done, I probably won’t remember it anyway.” There was a brief pause. Alia was waiting for her words to sink in, Gregor was staying out of the argument until it came time to sway the vote, Thames was watching with that same amused look on his face, and Zoë was considering the implications of the younger woman’s last statement.

She probably won’t remember it anyway… Curiously enough, that was one aspect of Leaping that had slipped Zoë’s mind. Maybe Alia had potential after all… And if *her* mind swiss-cheesed as severely as the previous Project staff had reluctantly admitted that Dr. Beckett’s was…she might even forget how she’d gotten into this in the first place, and who she was doing it for. The idea had definite appeal.

Being careful not to seem too eager in her agreement, Zoë nodded slowly, as if still mulling it over in her mind. “Well, if that’s what you want…” she conceded, her voice full of a doubt she no longer felt.

The more she thought about it, the more attractive the idea became. She had originally planned to be the one to Leap, using Thames both as her Observer, and to keep Gregor and Alia in line. It would be much easier to control things from the present. And it would be much easier to keep father and daughter in line if she had control over the daughter…

“But in that case, I must insist on being allowed to act as Observer. After all, I am the only other female on staff, and should Alia decide to make more than one Leap, I expect my life experiences would be useful to her.”

“Then it’s all settled!” Gregor gave Zoë a quick peck on the cheek and she resisted the temptation to flinch in disgust.

With that, the two Abruzzis disappeared into the elevator to return to the upper level. When they were gone, Thames turned to Zoë with a frown.

Amazing, she thought. He does know how not to smile.

“Why did you go along with that? I thought you were going to be the one.”

“But this way I can control everything from here without having to depend on *you* to keep Abruzzi and his daughter in line. Alia’s memory will be severely damaged by the Leap, which means I will be able to control her implicitly! I’ll be her best friend, her confidante, her only connection to home, and she’ll have no way of ever knowing any differently. And when I have her under my control, it will be easy to make Gregor see things my way.”

“But he’s right about one thing, Zoë. We *have* almost perfected the Retrieval Program. He could just pull her out if he doesn’t like what you’re doing.”

Zoë’s face darkened. “Well, then put a flaw into it! Make it so that it can pull her back, but not painlessly. Then, if he chooses to use it, I’ll have even more power over both of them.”

“How so?”

“Who would you trust more–a father who tortured you, or a friend who tried to get him not to?”

Thames’ infuriating smile returned in full force, but this time, Zoë simply returned it.

“Then when we get Ziggy up and running again–“

“Don’t call it Ziggy!” Zoë snapped, whirling angrily on him. “No ‘Ziggy,’ no ‘Waiting Room,’ no ‘Imaging Chamber’–I want *nothing* of the original Project in mine except the technology!”

“Then what DO you want to call it? A computer with a personality deserves a name.”

A sinister smile crept over Zoë’s face. “Call him…Lothos.”