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The Sam Beckett of 2035 had a dilemma. He had just seen his son speaking to thin air. He was so sure that someone had leaped into Nicholas. But who? After he had returned they had improved the Project so that the leaps were controlled and used for observation, as he had orinally intended. Sammy-Jo had taken over the leaping, now followed by her daughter Abby. He sometimes regreted that Nicolas had never wanted to follow in his footsteps and travel through time. He was more interested in computers and machinary than theory though. In this way he guessed that Nicholas was more like Al, who had always liked getting his hands dirty. He was sure that Sammy-Jo had never leaped into Nicholas. He kept a close eye on her leaps. Practically all of them were closely controlled in terms of who she leapt into and when. He shuddered at the memory of a time before that, when he was stuck in time and space for what he sometimes feared would be forever. If it hadn't been for Al. But no, he souldn't think abut that. Al was gone, and God, did he miss him! But he knew he couldn't bring him back. Al wouldn't have wanted them to do anything to interfere in his death. He forced his thoughts back to the problem at hand. He didn't know whether to talk to 'Nicholas', let 'him' know he that knew what was going on. He knew from experience that it dangerous to interfere too much, especially as he didn't know what they had to do here.
The Sam Beckett of 2002 also had a dilemma. He needed to know why he was here, and what he could say to his future self without letting him know who he was or finding anything out about his future, besides the important fact that he was going to have a son, of course.
'What does Ziggy say the chances are about me, the older me, knowing that we're here?'.
Al punched the question into the handlink. 'She says that there's a 96.7% chance that you, he, already knows. Wow, that's high. Oh, oh, Ziggy also calculates that there's an 86.9% that if you and he talk, you won't ever stop leaping and come home. Nicholas is never born, and Sammy-Jo will have a breakdown at the age of 42, and eventually kill herself! God, that's some predicting! Sammy-Jo's already 34. Guess you coming back stopped her. I didn't know she was so stressed and worried. Maybe I should talk to her, or get Beeks to'.
'Al, if he knows, what's to stop him trying to talk to me, to us! And if he doesn't know, well, if I avoid him, he soon will know! Al, I've got to get out of here.'
'Oh, yeah, I forgot. Nicholas thinks you might be here to help Lucy, his girlfriend. He says she's acting a bit strangely. Very quiet and she keeps avoiding him, cancelling dates, that sort of thing.'
'Sounds like she's just giving him the cold shoulder.', remarked Sam.
'Well, with that information from Nicholas, Ziggy gives it a 60% chance of you being here to stop Lucy doing anything stupid, whatever that is. She can't be any more accurate without more data'.
'She managed with the predictions about me and Sammy-Jo'.
'Yeah, well, Lucy's an unknown; you and Sammy-Jo aren't'.
'Ok, can you get a lock on Lucy?'
'Erm, yep, she's in the canteen. Go and talk to her, and I'll probe Nick for further info. Take care and be careful from now on'.
'I will. See you later Al'.
May 17th, 2002, PQL:
So, things were getting worse, thought Al as he stepped out of the imaging chamber. Why didn't that surprise him. He really, really hated being this close to past, and now future, versions of himself and Sam. The timelines were just so fragile, and every single point in his life seemed to be a crucial point in deciding the rest of his life - like did he work at PQL, did he marry Beth, did she wait for him, did Sam marry Donna, and now, did Sam come home? If history changed and he kept on leaping, then he must have made a decision to carry on, thought Al. A decision that would come about due to a Sam Beckett living 30 years in the future. That Sam had come home, did he regret it? Is that what he would tell Sam/himself? But why, he wondered. All Sam ever wanted was to come home; but then only Sam Beckett knew how Sam Beckett's mind worked. So far, all this was just giving Al Callavicci a nasty headache and a lot of worry about Sam and Sammy-Jo. He decided to go and talk to her in the morning, and went to his quarters to try to get some rest. Then he would tackle Nicholas. He was definitely taking to the boy. He was a lot like his father, and in that body, Al sometimes had to remind himself that it wasn't his best friend talking to him. It was giving him the creeps, but he knew he couldn't really avoid him, like he had done a lot of the time with past selves of himself and Sam. This time, they needed the visitor more than ever, if they were ever going to get Sam out of there.