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wickedwordsTitle: Trickle-Down Effect
Author: Rachael Sabotini (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wickedwords)
Other info: Quantum Leap | Gushie POV, Futurefic | PG | 660 words
Summary: Gushie waited.
A/N: Thank you toisiscolo for the '2 minutes before deadline' last minute beta; any misspellings or tense changes are all on my own. Written for ionlylurkhere in the yuletide 2007 story exchange who wanted "Something set after the end of the series, when Sam is leaping in his own body. Maybe the reaction of the people on the Project to his body's disappearance from the waiting room?" There's no way I could let that one go.
***
Trickle-Down Effect
Gushie waited. It was the waiting room, so that's what he did, he waited. Slumped down in one of the generic office chairs lining the room, deliberately not looking at the large elevated hospital bed in the center, all the machines around it silent for once. Sam's body had disappeared, and everyone was scrambling to make it all make sense. Gushie didn't need to, though. He held on tight to Ziggy's handheld interface, head down, completely focused on the display, and waited for the results to spit out.
Depending on what it said, he might tell the team what it showed. But maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he should just let them have their illusions, that Sam was out there making a difference in the afterlife, like some sort of angel, correcting human mistakes.
Gushie didn't believe in angels. He didn't believe in heaven or hell or in any particular religious myth. Gushie believed in science, and in scientific facts. What could be proven, what could be seen. The Quantum Leap project was important to him in that it proved the existence of alternate universes, and scientifically documented the butterfly effect.
He ran his hand over the handheld's casing. Ziggy had so much information to go through, so much to process now that her connection with Beckett had been cut. Admiral Calavicci and the others were desperately trying to find the physical form, not understanding the impact. With Sam's body gone, they couldn't trace what he did or who he affected; there was no record of the changes he made.
It had all vanished, wiped away in the haze of memory and 'but it's always been this way.' Everyone knew that the Admiral and his wife had broken up once upon a time, and that the Admiral had had a drinking problem, as Ziggy had documented it all. But the Admiral who nominally ran the program had never had those problems. He'd also never gone into the holographic chamber in search of Sam. That had been Gushie's job, his raison d'etre. He was the one who used their friendship to lever Sam closer to home. This Al Calavicci had three kids and two grandkids to go home to, and had never wanted to risk it.
So Dr. Beckett had laid down the initial matrix for Ziggy, but it was Gushie he worked with, and who now had the job of maintaining her. Gushie was the one who noticed the way she stored the universe branching and spinning away from every changed event, who documented how and why each alternate world got created. Sam had faith; he thought he could use the Quantum Leap project to make the world a better place, but through Ziggy, Gushie could see that it wasn't the case. He created new worlds, different worlds, by the changes he made. They weren't necessarily better ones.
Gushie took a deep breath as he swallowed down the ache inside his chest. It would have been so much better for him if the Admiral had been Sam's lifeline during each leap. Instead, he was exhausted and aching. The Admiral had his perfect wife and perfect family to go home to each night. But his Sam would never come home.
Gushie waits.
Author: Rachael Sabotini (
wickedwords)Other info: Quantum Leap | Gushie POV, Futurefic | PG | 660 words
Summary: Gushie waited.
A/N: Thank you to
isiscolo for the '2 minutes before deadline' last minute beta; any misspellings or tense changes are all on my own. Written for ionlylurkhere in the yuletide 2007 story exchange who wanted "Something set after the end of the series, when Sam is leaping in his own body. Maybe the reaction of the people on the Project to his body's disappearance from the waiting room?" There's no way I could let that one go.***
Gushie waited. It was the waiting room, so that's what he did, he waited. Slumped down in one of the generic office chairs lining the room, deliberately not looking at the large elevated hospital bed in the center, all the machines around it silent for once. Sam's body had disappeared, and everyone was scrambling to make it all make sense. Gushie didn't need to, though. He held on tight to Ziggy's handheld interface, head down, completely focused on the display, and waited for the results to spit out.
Depending on what it said, he might tell the team what it showed. But maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he should just let them have their illusions, that Sam was out there making a difference in the afterlife, like some sort of angel, correcting human mistakes.
Gushie didn't believe in angels. He didn't believe in heaven or hell or in any particular religious myth. Gushie believed in science, and in scientific facts. What could be proven, what could be seen. The Quantum Leap project was important to him in that it proved the existence of alternate universes, and scientifically documented the butterfly effect.
He ran his hand over the handheld's casing. Ziggy had so much information to go through, so much to process now that her connection with Beckett had been cut. Admiral Calavicci and the others were desperately trying to find the physical form, not understanding the impact. With Sam's body gone, they couldn't trace what he did or who he affected; there was no record of the changes he made.
It had all vanished, wiped away in the haze of memory and 'but it's always been this way.' Everyone knew that the Admiral and his wife had broken up once upon a time, and that the Admiral had had a drinking problem, as Ziggy had documented it all. But the Admiral who nominally ran the program had never had those problems. He'd also never gone into the holographic chamber in search of Sam. That had been Gushie's job, his raison d'etre. He was the one who used their friendship to lever Sam closer to home. This Al Calavicci had three kids and two grandkids to go home to, and had never wanted to risk it.
So Dr. Beckett had laid down the initial matrix for Ziggy, but it was Gushie he worked with, and who now had the job of maintaining her. Gushie was the one who noticed the way she stored the universe branching and spinning away from every changed event, who documented how and why each alternate world got created. Sam had faith; he thought he could use the Quantum Leap project to make the world a better place, but through Ziggy, Gushie could see that it wasn't the case. He created new worlds, different worlds, by the changes he made. They weren't necessarily better ones.
Gushie took a deep breath as he swallowed down the ache inside his chest. It would have been so much better for him if the Admiral had been Sam's lifeline during each leap. Instead, he was exhausted and aching. The Admiral had his perfect wife and perfect family to go home to each night. But his Sam would never come home.
Gushie waits.
