A LEAP IN TIME
Chapter Three Al paused outside the waiting room and entered it. Rose was sitting at the back of it with her knees up to her chest. She was wearing the skin tight white body suit that all the leapees wore. She eyed him suspiciously while he closed the door. "Hello Rose," he said smiling. "How long am I gonna stay in here?" she asked him. "For as long as it takes for Sam to complete his mission. Once he's leaped out of your body you'll go back." "You'll never get away with this. The Doctor's clever, far cleverer than a human. He'll figure out that's not me. I've been possessed before and he knows now to keep an eye out for things like that." "Which is why we need your help, Rose. I need you to give me some more information." "Why should I help ya?" "Because both of you are in danger and we need to know everything about you and your relationship with the Doctor and who he is." "What d'ya mean we're in danger? What are you doing to him?" she yelled. "Whoa, Blondie, cool it! We're not the threat, something else is. You and the Doctor are in danger of dying and Sam is there to prevent it. He leaps into people and helps fix things that have gone wrong." "He's done this before?" "Yes, many times before. He travels through time and leaps into people and helps them." Rose was silent. "He's a time traveler like we are?" "Yes." "But he doesn't use a time machine?" "Nope. Someone, we don't know who or what is leaping him around from body to body. It's not us though." Rose frowned. "I've never heard of that happenin'. I wonder if the Doctor would know." "Not sure, but getting back to him…we need a bit more information from you. The more you cooperate the faster Sam can leave and you can go back to your life with him." "You swear this isn't a trick?" "I swear on my life. You're safe here. The only thing that will happen apart from the medical exam we gave ya is I'll be in here from time to time to speak with you. We won't torture or harm you in any way." Rose sighed. "Will I remember this when I go back?" she asked. "I don't know. We've never been sure about that either. You may or you may not. And I'm not sure if the Doctor will either. But if you don't talk then it won't matter because you'll both be dead." Rose thought it over for a moment and then nodded. "Alright, if it helps the Doctor and saves him and my body from dyin' I'll talk. What do you wanna know?" Sam walked with the Doctor towards a large resort on Belocarius Pelorzian. He couldn't believe he was on another planet. He looked at the pink waterfalls beside the resort, the ones the Doctor described earlier and thought how beautiful they were as they cascaded off the high rocked cliffs which ringed the building. The grass was a soft green but the sky above was a faint purple color and there were a couple of distant planets in the sky. He walked all the way to the resort with his jaw hanging open. This is, without a doubt, the most interesting leap I've had so far, he thought. They walked into the resort and Sam looked around. It resembled a hotel lobby except the walls were made out of some shiny silver material and there were little glowing orbs flying around all over the place. They walked up to the front desk and a man greeted them. He was humanoid except his eyes were all white making him look blind. He seemed to see well enough because he looked right at them and said hello. "Good afternoon, welcome to the Starlight Resort. Are you checking in?" "Yes, we are," the Doctor said. "I'd like two single rooms, preferably side by side." Sam breathed a sigh of relief knowing they weren't gonna room together. Perhaps the hug and kiss were just a friendly gesture between them. He finished paying for the rooms and two orbs floated over. Sam watched while the Doctor lifted his bag and the orb grabbed hold of it, levitated up and carried it away. Sam followed suit with his bags and they followed the orbs while they headed for the elevator. The Doctor handed him a white plastic card and instructed him to swipe it in the slot where the doorknob would normally be in order to open his door. Sam nodded and they got into the elevator along with the orbs. Sam stared at them thinking how bizarre they were. It certainly beat a snooty bellboy who would take your bags up and then stand there with his hand out wanting a tip. He watched them while they floated around his head. Then he suddenly became aware that the Doctor's eyes were on him and he turned to see him staring at him intently. The Doctor quickly smiled at him but he thought he caught a hint of anger and distrust for a split second. The elevator doors opened and the Doctor led the way towards their rooms. Sam glanced at the orbs that were flying along beside their heads before he turned his attention back to the Doctor. He found the rooms and gestured to the one beside it. "This is yours, Rose," he said. Sam nodded, walked past him and swiped the card in the slot in the door. He heard it click and opened it while his orb hovered behind him. He walked inside and the orb followed him. The orb flew past him to the table by the window, lowered itself down and gently dropped the bag. Sam was testing the mattress with his hand when the orb suddenly flew up to his face. "Oh no, you really do want a tip, dontcha?" he asked. To his surprise, the orb began to speak to him in a tinny robotic voice telling him all about the resort and the specials they had. Sam listened for a minute and then got tired of it and tried to move away. To his annoyance the orb followed him around while it went through its spiel. "I don't care, alright?" he said after five minutes. "Just go away and leave me alone!" He sighed when the orb didn't respond. He walked out the door while the orb followed. He knocked on the Doctor's door and when he opened it he saw he was being plagued by the exact same spiel. "You too, eh?" the Doctor said to him. Sam nodded. "Hopefully we won't get much more of this. I don't think they could keep their 5 asteroid rating for long with these things bothering the guests." "Is there some way we can get away from them?" Sam asked. The Doctor thought for a moment and then reached into his jacket. He brought out his sonic screwdriver and tried it on Sam's orb. Immediately the thing shut up and flew away. He did the same with his and Sam breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Doctor." "Not a problem. I'm just as glad to see them go as you are. Now shall we explore what the resort has to offer so their little advert won't be wasted?" Sam nodded. He went to shut his door while the Doctor shut his. The Doctor beckoned to him and he followed him to the elevator. Once they got in Sam got another good look at him. He was very thin and youthful but there was something about him that seemed ancient and he had wisdom far beyond his years. His body was lithe with slight muscles and the brown pinstriped jacket was not buttoned up fully nor was his tie tightened fully around his throat, instead it was hanging loosely giving him a slightly rumpled appearance as if he had just woken up and had hurriedly dressed for a meeting. He was wearing a pair of white converses which seemed odd giving the whole businesslike attire he was wearing. He was slouched up against the wall of the elevator with his hands in his pockets, a cool calm demeanor about him. Sam shifted slightly unsure of what to do around him. He still wasn't sure what the exact nature of their relationship was and he was scared that the Doctor really would catch on and find out that something was wrong. He sighed, quietly wanting Al to hurry up and get back to him before something happened. The doors opened and the Doctor strolled out with Sam following behind him. They walked across the lobby to the front desk and the Doctor made inquiries about any recreation or pool rooms they had. The man pointed to a door across the way and the Doctor thanked him and they headed across the room. The door slid open when they reached it and they walked down a long corridor to another door. It slid open and Sam saw a large pool that had a high and low diving board on the deep end. The Doctor stood rubbing his cheek while he looked around. "Where's the door to the recreation room then?" he muttered. Sam spied a door on the other side of the room and pointed it out to him. "Ah, well done, Hawkeye," he said. They walked across the room and the door slid open to reveal a large room with several different games. "Well done, Rose," the Doctor replied. "Thanks." He looked at the games but all of them were unfamiliar to him. The Doctor led him over to a couple of paddles resting on a table and instructed him on what to do. They positioned themselves in front of a large silver wall and a laser light ball shot out from the wall. They hit it back against the wall so it ricocheted back to the other person. It took about ten minutes but Sam finally got the hang of it and the two of them ran back and forth lobbing the light ball back to each other. Sam got into it and forgot about everything else except the laser ball. He loved the exercise he was getting. It felt good to burn off some of the stress and anxiety he had being on a strange planet. They played it for about a half hour before both of them decided to try something else. "Well played," the Doctor said. "Yeah, you too," Sam replied. He turned around and was startled when he saw Al behind him smoking his cigar. "I agree," he said, taking it out of his mouth, "Nice job playing the whole alien racquetball thing. You did a good job keeping the laser ball in play." He looked over at the Doctor who was examining the other games and leaned into him. "Did you find out more?" he hissed at him. "Yes, I did, so is there somewhere we can talk freely?" "Just a moment." He walked over to the Doctor. "Um, Doctor, there's a restaurant around here, isn't there?" "Yes, I think so. Why? Are you hungry?" "Thirsty. I need to get something to drink so if you don't mind, I'll do that and meet you back here." "No worries, take your time. Here you go." He reached into his pocket and handed him a long thin stick. "Here's a credit stick for you so you can do that. But use it wisely." "Thanks," he said putting it in his pocket. He headed past the Doctor to the door while Al followed behind him.
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