He opened his eyes warily, as he always did in situations like this.
He was sat at a table in what looked like a cafe. No, given the number of uniforms present, it was more likely to be a mess hall. A mixed service, mostly male but with a few females about.
He looked down at himself. As he had suspected initially, he was female too this time. Blonde hair fell about his shoulders, onto the jacket of a pink trouser suit. A flower patterned blouse was worn underneath, with high heels shoes on the feet. He groaned.
A quick check of the jacket pockets revealed a pass card. Now he knew the name he would be using while he was here, and roughly where here was.
A soldier approached the table, carrying two steaming mugs. He hadn't realised how thirsty he was.
"Here you go, a John Benton special," the soldier said, placing the mugs on the table.
"Thanks," he said, taking in the aroma. Coffee. He had bad memories of Army coffee. Or was that Navy coffee? Each time his memory seemed to get worse, not better.
"The Doctor was looking for you earlier," said Benton, who he now identified as a British Sergeant.
"Was he?" Another none committal answer. Years of practice, he reflected sadly, sipping the coffee, which was surprisingly good.
Benton nodded. "He says he's had a breakthrough with the Maxted."
This comment meant nothing to him. "Really?" he replied, hoping to tease a little more information from the soldier.
"Yes. He didn't say what, just to tell the Brigadier when he gets back and he wondered where you were. Are you alright, Miss Grant?"
He worked the muscles that made a smile. "I'm fine, just a bad night," he improvised.
Benton looked sympathetic. "I know the feeling," he said.
He finished his coffee and smiled again at Benton. "Thanks for the coffee. I suppose I had better, erm, find the Doctor."
"He was in his laboratory when I left him," Benton replied.
He sighed when he got out into the corridor. This was the part he hated the most, the initial encounters. And no sign of 'help' as yet, of course!
A white haired man in a velvet jacket and frilled shirt appeared from a set of double doors further down the corridor. He looked over.
"Ah, Jo, I was wondering where you were," he said, a smile crossing his face. "I've had a breakthrough with the Maxted."
He nodded. "So Sergeant Benton was just telling me." Amazing how it got easier with more information. So, this must be the Doctor.
"Come and see," the Doctor encouraged, setting off down the corridor.
He had to rush to catch up with the retreating figure. Damn short legs and high heels!
The Doctor went through a door into what seemed to be an area of cells. Barred doorways formed the main part of the room. The Doctor went over to one and looked inside.
"Jo, I'd like you to meet Goranthoraxtellian of the Third House of Mextedian."
Through the cell bars he could see what appeared to be a large green beach ball. Closer inspection showed that the ball had six legs, a short neck and a head shaped like a egg. It was only when it moved and spoke he realised it was alive.
"Hello, Jo," creaked the alien, the words obviously foreign to it.
"Oh boy," breathed Doctor Samuel Beckett, time traveller and current inhabitant of the body of Josephine Grant.
***
The thing that Admiral Al Calavicci hated most were the initial encounters.
As the official observer for Project Quantum Leap and best friend to Doctor Samuel Beckett, he was the natural choice to 'interview' visitors, as the displaced souls Sam had switched with were known.
It was always a strange experience, entering the Waiting Room to see his old friend, knowing the personality inhabiting the body was not Sam. Al never knew quite what to expect.
'Sam' was facing away from him. He cleared his throat and the figure turned.
"Can you tell me who you are?" Al asked, launching into one of his prepared speeches. Sometimes visitors did little more than sit on the Waiting Room floor and rock back and forth, muttering to themselves.
"My name is Josephine Grant, I'm a member of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Would you like my service number?"
"That won't be necessary," Al assured her, typing the information into the hand unit that linked him to Ziggy, the Project computer. "Can you remember what the date is?"
A moments pause. "Monday 14th May 1973," Sam/Jo said with confidence. "Now, are you going to tell me what's going on?"
Al smiled. This was the part they never believed. "Well, you have become an accidental part of a time travel project."
Jo/Sam looked about at the plain room with it's pale blue walls. "I find that hard to believe."
"I can assure you that time travel is possible," Al said.
"Oh, I know. I've travelled in time, on a few occasions. But it was never like this."
***
Sam was still gaping at the alien creature when he heard the Imaging Chamber door swish open and saw Al step out.
Al looked around himself and almost dropped his cigar when he saw the alien. He quickly recovered himself and walked over to his 'friends' side.
"My, Sam, you get better looking with every leap," he said, looking Jo's body up and down with a lascivious gleam in his eye.
Sam just glared at him, then coughed to get the Doctor's attention.
"I think I have to use the rest room," he said to the Doctor.
The Doctor looked curiously at 'Jo'. "Why? Do you have a sudden urge to join Captain Yates' snooker team?"
Sam/Jo smiled at the misunderstanding. "The powder room?"
"Ah, the Ladies," the Doctor realised. "Fine, I'll see you back in the laboratory. Oh, and Jo."
Sam turned back as he was heading for the door. "Yes, Doctor?"
"I think you've been watching too many American films," the Doctor commented.
***
"Did you see that, Al? That was an actual alien!"
Al nodded. "Yes, I did notice," he replied coolly, studying the handlink.
"You noticed! Is that all you can say? You noticed!"
"Well, you have landed in the Headquarters building of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, during the early 70's, in Britain. Probably the best place outside Roswell to find alien life on Earth."
Sam was astonished. "You know about aliens? You never told me about them!"
Al looked a little uncomfortable. "Well, it's all classified, Sam. You didn't need to know. So I didn't tell you."
Sam took a deep breath. "Okay. Why am I here?"
Al smiled grimly at his friend. "Ziggy says there's an 87% probability you're here to stop an alien invasion!"
"Alien Invasion?" Sam exclaimed. "Me? You have got to be joking!"
Al sighed. "Look Sam, in the Navy, you get to see some things. Like aliens. I once helped with the salvage of an alien craft that crashed into the sea off Florida. The corpse was a mess!"
Sam shook his head. "I can believe. Did you see the thing in the holding cell?"
Al nodded. "Looked pretty normal to me after the things I've seen," he said around his cigar.
Now it was Sam's turn to sigh. "So how do I stop this invasion?"
The hologram shrugged. "Search me, Sam. I'm just the messenger. Blame Ziggy, he crunched the numbers."
"Ziggy has been wrong before," Sam reminded him.
"I'll get Gooshie to re-check the figures. In the meantime, just act normal."
"I'm a man trapped in a woman's body, working for the military, trying to stop an alien invasion. How much more normal can you get?"
***
Captain Mike Yates popped his head around the laboratory door.
"Ah, Doctor," he said, walking in fully. "Have you seen Jo?"
The Doctor nodded. "She's powdering her nose," he told the soldier.
Yates smiled. "Mind if I wait?"
"Not at all. Pull up a lab stool."
A few minutes later Jo entered the lab tentatively, almost as if she wasn't quite sure where she was.
"Ah, there you are, my dear. Captain Yates has been waiting for you."
Jo looked uncertain as Yates stood up.
"I was wondering what you were doing tonight," he asked, a glint in his eye.
"Er, well, I'm washing my hair," she said, looking down at her feet.
"Oh. Well, fair enough. See you both later." He left quickly.
The Doctor looked closely at Jo. "Are you alright, my dear?" he asked, concerned.
"Yes," Jo mumbled. "I'll have to go. Excuse me."
She dashed out of the door, leaving a surprised Doctor behind her.
***
Seeing Al appear in the laboratory had been like a lifebelt to a drowning man.
"Talk to me, Al," he said as they walked around the parade ground.
"Well," the hologram said, shaking the handlink until the figures settled down. "Ziggy has recomputed the figures and you're not here to stop an invasion."
Sam breathed a sigh of relief. "Am I ever pleased about that. What am I here to do?"
"Have you met a Captain Mike Yates yet?"
Sam/Jo nodded. "He just asked me out on a date. I turned him down."
"Well, you'd better find him and accept, quickly. According to Ziggy's figures, he's due to die in the next twenty four hours. You're here to prevent that!"
***
"I hear the Doctor had a breakthrough with the Maxted," Mike Yates said, trying desperately to restart the flagging conversation.
Sam sighed mentally. This was far from his idea of fun, sitting in a restaurant with a soldier, talking about aliens. When he finally got back to the Project he was going to rewire Ziggy. With a sledgehammer.
"Yes, he has," he said in reply to Yates comment. He smiled what he hoped was not a too sweet smile. "Now he's found the right dialect, apparently he can pinpoint the correct colony world and help it to get home."
"Good. I'm surprised it agreed to spend the last week in a holding cell, but it seems it's luxury accommodation where it comes from."
Sam/Jo nodded and the conversation lapsed into silence again.
The sound of the Imaging Chamber door opening was a blessed relief for Sam. He stood up quickly.
"I just need to visit the, erm, ladies room. I won't be long," he promised.
"That's fine," Yates replied. "I'm in no hurry."
Damn, thought Sam as he headed for the back of the restaurant, Al trailing holographic smoke in his wake.
"Well?" Sam asked as soon as the door swung shut behind them. Al just raised his eyebrows and nodded.
"What?" Sam demanded. Again Al nodded, gesturing behind Sam.
A woman was standing behind Sam/Jo, drying her hands and looking curiously at the small woman who seemed to be talking to the door.
Sam smiled weakly as the woman left quickly. Al smiled his smug smile.
"I'll see if there are any more," Al said, walking through the nearest cubicle wall before Sam could stop him. He reappeared at the other end. "All clear," he reported, looking a little disappointed.
"What did you find out?" Sam asked.
Al blew a smoke ring. "Well, according to the records of the time, Captain Michael Yates died in the line of duty. The official obituary doesn't give any more details than that."
"So, you've no idea how he died?"
"In short, no. But we are trying to access the internal UNIT files, see if there is anything in them."
"Well, don't take too long. I don't have much time. And I don't intend to spend all of the next twenty four hours with him!"
"Why not?" asked Al. "He's quite a catch."
"I'm sure he is, but I'm not fishing!" Sam said with feeling, heading back towards his table.
***
Al stepped cautiously into the Waiting Room. He had decided that Jo Grant was a little unhinged by the experience, after her claim that she had time travelled before.
Jo/Sam was standing in a corner, staring into space. Al felt a familiar shiver as his friend turned towards him, inhabited by another soul.
"Don't you have anywhere with a window?" Jo asked.
Al shook his head. "This is the only room you can inhabit while you're here, otherwise you can't get back when the time comes."
"And when will that be?"
"When Sam completes his mission. He's trying to save one of your friends."
She raised one of Sam's eyebrows. "Which one?"
"Captain Mike Yates," Al told her.
"Mike!" she gasped. Then she seemed to recover. "And if he doesn't succeed?"
"Well, as well as your friend being dead, you and Sam will be stuck where you are now!"
***
Mike Yates' car pulled up outside Jo Grants flat.
"Thanks for running me home, Mike," Sam/Jo said, getting out of Yates' car.
"My pleasure," Yates replied, not realising until he had said it how much he meant it. In the three years he had known Jo, she had never been less fun. Even when she wasn't well, she put on a brave face and a smile. It was like he had had dinner with someone else entirely.
They smiled and waved and Yates drove off. As his car disappeared round the corner, the Imaging Chamber door opened behind Sam.
Sam whirled round. "Al, you've got to keep watch on Mike tonight!"
"What? Why me? If you ask me, you could have been a lot closer to him tonight. All night!" Al raised his eyebrows meaningfully.
"No way!" Sam protested. "Please Al, keep an eye on him."
"Okay. But what can I do if anything goes wrong? I can't call an ambulance or shout a warning."
"Just let me know, Okay?"
Al nodded, stepped back through the door and vanished.
***
"Morning Jo," the Doctor said as they met in the corridor outside his laboratory. He seemed to be carrying a beach ball in his arms.
"Morning Doctor," Sam/Jo responded. He realised that the beach ball was in fact the Maxted.
"Morning Jo," the creature said. It was surprising how much it sounded like the Doctor. Sam just smiled at it.
"I'm taking Goranthoraxtellian home," the Doctor said. "Would you like to come along?"
"Er, no thanks Doctor. If that's all the same to you." Sam knew he still had to keep an eye on Yates. Al was trailing him at the moment. He had reported an uneventful night and had accompanied the Captain to work. He was now in Yates' office, watching the Captain do paperwork.
The Doctor looked disappointed. "Well, I'll see you later then, Jo," he said, carrying the Maxted into the laboratory.
"Goodbye Jo," called Goranthoraxtellian over the Doctor's shoulder.
"Bye," Sam said. He heard a door slam from inside. Curious, he stepped into the laboratory.
There was nobody inside. Sam glanced at the antique phone kiosk the Doctor kept in the corner. As he looked, an unearthly noise started up and the kiosk started to fade from view.
Seconds later it had gone completely. "Wow!" exclaimed a voice behind Sam.
He spun round quickly. Al was standing there, gaping at the space where the kiosk had stood. The noise of it's departure must have masked Al's arrival.
"She wasn't kidding!" Al exclaimed.
"Who wasn't kidding?"
"Jo Grant. The real one, in the Waiting Room. She said this Doctor had a craft that could travel in time and space."
Sam looked astonished. "She told you that and you didn't think to tell me?"
"I didn't think she was serious!" Al said by way of explanation. "But Sam, this could be the answer. If the Doctor could bring you forward in time, to the Project, you would be home!"
"Yes, but like this," Sam protested, looking down at Jo's borrowed body.
Al waved this away. "I'm sure you, Ziggy and the Doctor could figure something out."
Suddenly Sam realised something. "Where's Mike?"
Al frowned, remembering why he was there. "I nearly forgot. He left his office and headed across the parade ground."
Sam left the laboratory at a run.
***
When Sam reached to edge of the parade ground, he saw Yates talking to Sergeant Benton. A moment later the two soldiers saluted and went on their way, Benton towards Sam/Jo, Yates carrying on across the square, a clipboard under his arm.
Sam smiled as Benton walked up. He managed to stop short of fluttering Jo's eyelashes.
"Where's Mike going?"
Benton smiled back at Jo. "He's doing an inventory of the munition stores," the soldier replied.
"Oh. Thanks."
"Anytime, Miss Grant," Benton replied, continuing towards the main building.
Sam waited until he was out of earshot before turning to Al. "Go and check out the store for me," he asked the hologram as they watched Yates enter a small brick building across the square.
"Okay, Sam," Al said. He vanished from sight while Sam made his way over to the building.
Five minutes later, Al was back. "Everything seems fine," he reported. "He's just finishing up."
They peered round the corner as Yates left the building and headed for another, similar one a few hundred yards away. Sam nodded to Al, who vanished again.
Seconds later he was back. "Sam, there's a grenade fallen out of it's box. It's hanging from a shelf support by it's pin. The slightest movement could dislodge it and set off every bomb in the room. You've got to stop him!"
Sam/Jo set off running after Yates. "Mike!" he called at the top of her voice.
Yates stopped and turned. He smiled when he saw who it was. "Jo. How are you today?"
Sam smiled the sweetest smile he could manage. "Much better, thank you."
"Good," Yates said. He started to turn, but stopped. "Did you want me for something?"
"Yes," said Sam, thinking on his feet. He noticed an army lorry drive onto the parade ground, then dismissed it from his attention. "I wanted to apologise for last night."
"Oh, there's really no need," Yates said.
"But there is," Sam replied, wondering how long he could keep this up. He didn't even know if this was how Yates had died before, as Ziggy had not been able to find the records.
"Think nothing of it," Yates told Jo. He turned to continue with his inventory. The store was no more than two hundred yards away.
"Wait!" Sam cried.
Yates turned back, waiting to see what Jo had to say.
Yeah, thought Sam, I'd like to know what she has to say too. Time seemed to stretch as he floundered for something to say.
The lorry had stopped between them and the store. The driver got out and slammed the door.
Sam opened his mouth. He had to say something, but all he could think of was the truth.
He never got the chance as the parade ground was rocked by a massive explosion.
***
Sam was surprised, when his senses cleared, to find Yates on top of him.
"Sorry, my dear," the soldier said, picking himself up slowly. He dusted himself down while helping Sam/Jo up from the parade ground.
Nearby, the driver of the lorry was also standing up and shaking his head. The munition store was blazing fiercely, as was the lorry.
"We should get out of here," Sam said. Yates nodded and called to the driver. The three of them ran for it.
They were far enough away this time, as the explosion of the lorry's petrol tank didn't knock them to the ground.
"What happened, sir?" asked the lorry driver.
"I don't know, Corporal. I don't think it was sabotage or a missile."
"It could have been a fallen grenade," said Sam. Yates looked quizzical. "Or something," Sam added lamely.
Yates nodded. "I was supposed to be checking safety. If it wasn't for you, Jo, I would have been inside when it happened. You saved my life."
Sam smiled. "It was nothing," he told Yates as the UNIT internal fire brigade arrived to fight the fire.
***
"... And then it just blew up, sir," Yates told his commanding officer, Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
"Anything to add, Miss Grant?" the Brigadier asked.
"No, sir," Sam replied. "Nothing at all. Captain Yates summed things up neatly."
"And what was it that you were talking about?"
Sam looked at Yates, who looked back. "Erm, I was telling him the Doctor had taken the Maxted home."
"Well, whatever the reason, it saved one of my best officers," Lethbridge-Stewart said. "Good work, Miss Grant."
***
Sam sat alone in the laboratory, drinking coffee. The fire was under control and 'she' was a hero.
Al joined his friend. He was smoking his cigar, as usual, and punching buttons on the handlink.
"Okay, Al. Why haven't I leaped yet?"
"Ziggy's not sure, but it could be you're supposed to wait for the Doctor and get a lift home in his machine!"
"I doubt it," Sam said. But at that moment the trumpeting sound that had heralded the departure of the Doctor started up again. The kiosk started to solidify in it's usual corner.
The Doctor stumbled out. The skin of his hands and face was covered in some sort of fungus.
"What's happened?" Sam asked, moving forward. He stumbled over his high heels and ended up throwing coffee over the Doctor.
"I'm so sorry," he started to say, but the coffee seemed to be dissolving the fungus. The Doctor took the cup from Sam and started dabbing his face. The fungus there started to vanish too.
"Thank you, my dear. That was a particularly nasty side effect of my trip to the Maxted colony. But you seemed to know what to do."
Sam smiled. "It was nothing," he said for the second time that day.
"Ask him about the ride home," urged Al, gesturing to the kiosk.
Sam opened his mouth, then felt the familiar pull of a leap. Here we go again, he thought.
***
EPILOGUE
Jo felt a wave of nausea pass over her. She felt like she had been hit by a forty ton truck.
Fortunately, the Doctor was there to catch her.
"What happened?" she asked. She looked around. They were in his laboratory. Funny, she was sure she had been in the mess hall.
"You had a dizzy spell," the Time Lord told her. He smiled as he helped her sit down. "Now, why don't you tell me what you've been up to while I've been away?"
***
Sam opened his eyes warily, as he always did in situations like this.
He was lying on the floor, looking up into the expressionless silver face of some kind of robot.
Sam let out an involuntary yelp of surprise.
"Cut!" yelled a voice from off to the left somewhere.
The silver face moved away, to reveal lighting rigs, cameras, sets and people. Actors.
"Can we possibly get in on the next take, Colin?" called the director.
Sam looked about him. More of the 'aliens' in their silver costumes. He was in a television studio.
"Oh, boy," he said with feeling!
