Quantum Leap: The Almost Paradox

Chapter Six

"Hmmmm..." Albert said, trying to think of what to do.

"We must run!" The Eskimo told the group. "We must run! We are lucky he has not yet attacked!"

Samuel had done a bit of reading before coming to the Arctic, so he said "No. No sudden movements. I don't think he's seen us yet."

The bear helpfully chose that moment to turn his head their way. He let out a loud roar and started towards them.

"Never mind!" Samuel squeaked. "Running seems like the best option!"

The entire group – minus Al – all turned and ran back towards the ridge of caves.

"Let's split up!" Sam yelled. "It won't know which to follow!"

"Not to the cave!" Albert added. "We'll be trapped!" He pointed away to the right of the caves. "That way!"

What Albert hadn't realized was that he was pointing right towards a cliff with a huge drop. Everybody ran after him, but when he stopped suddenly Sam ran right into him. Albert started to fall forwards.

"Look out!" Sam yelled, grabbing the back of Albert's parka and holding on tightly. He pulled Albert back onto safe ground away from the edge. Albert gave him a shaky nod of thanks, as did Al.

"I will go distract him!" The Eskimo said, boldly turning towards the bear.

"Sam. You can't let him!" Al said. "You've got to stop him!"

"No! Wait!" Sam put a hand in front of the Eskimo. "I'll distract him! You keep running!" Sam started running towards the bear, but this time Albert stepped up to block his way.

"No Shandy, we can't let you!"

"You have to trust me!"

"No! Me or Sam can go!"

"I'll go!" They both turned to look at Samuel. He stepped forwards, saying "Al, I can't lose yo-", but he had stepped right onto a slippery pack of ice, and slid right off the edge of the cliff. This happened so fast that nobody had even registered that he was falling by the time he was already gone.

"Sam!" Sam yelled.

"SAM, SAM, NO DON'T DIE!" an anguished Al screamed. He had known that this was the potential outcome, but he hadn't wanted to believe it.

"No, Sam!" Albert cried.

"SAAAAAAAM!!" Sam called out, hoping he was near the top.

"Sam, follow him!" Al said.

"I'll get the bear!" said Albert. Al turned to look at him.

"No, don't." he said.

"No Al wait! You stay here! I'll distract him!" Sam said.

But Albert had already started running, and the bear had decided to follow him. Sam screamed for him to come back. "NO! AL! No! Al! No! You can't! No! Al!" Suddenly a thought occurred to Al.

"Sam, I can distract him!" Al ran right through the extremely surprised bear before heading off in the complete opposite direction to Albert. The bear did an about-face and gave chase. Albert, noticing he was no longer being followed, stopped and ran back.

"Al! Don't go!" Sam yelled. The other Al stopped next to him.

"I'm not!" Albert said. "See? And the bear is leaving!" Sam pretended to act surprised.

"It's just - leaving? Just like that?" Albert nodded in amazement. Al reappeared beside them.

"Bear's gone Sam." He said. "You have to go. Help Sam." Al gave Sam a pained look. "Before you die."

Sam looked over the edge. "Sam! We have to help him!"

Albert, the Eskimo and Sam all ran to a spot where they could safely descend the cliff, then did so as fast as they possibly could. Al just appeared at the bottom of the cliff, so that by the time they arrived beside him he had already used his handlink to find Samuel. Al pointed up at the cliff.

"Lucky he didn't fall that far - he's stuck up there on a ledge."

Sam shielded his face with his hand and stared at the spot Al was pointing at. Sure enough, Samuel was just visible on the ledge. "I think I might be able to climb up there." Sam said.

"You sure?" Albert was starting to sound panicky. "That's pretty high up! Thank God he didn't fall that far!"

"Yeah, but he won't make it long like this!" A quick glance at the handlink seemed to confirm what Al was thinking. "There's, there's, there's only one way."

"There's only one way...?" Sam asked, looking confusedly at Al.

Albert moved in front of him and looked at him hopefully. "What's that?"

Al gave Albert a look and stepped in front of him. "If we change the brainwave frequency, just a little bit, he can hear me and I might be able to wake him up. But..."

Sam was now thoroughly annoyed by the both of them. He knew having two Al's would be a problem. "We'll have to wake him up but...?"

"How do we do that from here?" Albert asked, glancing back at the cliff.

"If I change frequency to him, you can't hear or see me anymore." Al explained. "And I can't guide you, or help you."

Sam exhaled loudly. "That's the problem."

Albert was now very tired of Sam seemingly staring at him and talking nonsense, not doing anything to help Samuel. "WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?" He yelled through Al. "MY FRIEND NEEDS HELP AND YOU ARE STANDING HERE TALKING TO YOURSELF!!!"

Al ignored him. "What do you want me to do, Sam?"

"Again, I'm thinking aloud." Sam answered Albert. "Talk me - uh - myself through it."

Suddenly something happened that made Al and Albert both say "What?" Sam looked at them strangely.

"Shandy, um, are you okay?" Albert asked, full of concern.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Sam! You're flickering!" Al informed him. "As in, you might suddenly stop existing at any second if you don't save him soon!" He looked at the handlink. "And Ziggy says your chances of living are going down - and fast! Make a decision! 70%, 68%, 66%" He read off.

"Ummmm crap!" Sam made a decision. "I'm fine, yeah. But Sam up there isn't."

"So I'll change frequencies?" Al asked.

"THAT'S RIGHT HE ISN'T OK!" Albert yelled, remembering his friend's predicament.

"Yeah that's right." Sam confirmed with Al. "So you - I mean I - or we - have to go help him."

"Bye Sammy." Al said with a smile. "Good luck. Gushie!" he yelled to the man in charge of the imaging chamber controls. "Change frequencies!" And with that, Al disappeared from Sam's vision. He was, of course, still standing exactly where he had been before, he was just invisible to Sam. He used his handlink to move to where Samuel was.

Albert shook his head in irritation. "You going to help him, or keep thinking aloud." He asked weakly.

"Help him." Sam confirmed. "Let's go."

Albert grit his teeth in pain. "Start climbing." He told Sam. "But - I'm afraid I can't make it up that mountain – I– I– I got bit by the bear. My leg." At that moment, his leg gave out underneath him, and Albert fell to the ground.