Quantum Took, Chapter Two, Part One
Quantum Took Chapter Two: Why am I Here?
Al took a tentative step back. “Um, Sam, why can this, um, hobbit see me?”
“Sam? Why are you calling him ‘Sam’? Who are you?” Frodo demanded in a voice more high-pitched in fear and anger.
Sam got to his feet. “Listen, Frodo, it’s all right…”
“It is not all right, Pippin! Who is that strangely-dressed man?”
Frowning at Frodo’s commentary on his clothing, Al punched buttons on a still unhelpful Ziggy. “He sees you as Pippin, but me as me,” he mused. “Any theories, Sam?”
“I…I don’t know,” Sam confessed to Al’s question. To Frodo he said, “It’s…it’s all right, Frodo. This is…this is Al.”
Frodo did not look at all reassured that “Pippin” was on a first name basis with this Man; his trembling hand did not move away from his sword hilt.
Sam got to his feet, his mind working fast as he sought to reassure the frightened hobbit. He did know that Frodo had enough to worry about without strange men taking over his friend’s body. He could worry about explaining the niceties of quantum mechanics later.
“Listen, Frodo…Al called me Sam because…because that’s my name.”
Tears came to Frodo’s eyes. “Oh, Pippin, you’ve forgotten your name now?”
Sam cursed himself. “No, no…I’m Pippin, but…”
“You’re digging the hole deeper, Sam,” Al said. “Let me try.” He approached Frodo, who quick as lightning drew his sword and held it inches from Al’s heart, stepping between Al and who he saw as Pippin. Al didn’t know if the hobbit would actually go through it, but he found himself very grateful that he was a hologram.
“My name is Al, Frodo, and…I called him Sam because…” Al bit his lip. “Never mind, back to you, Sam.”
Before either of them could say another word, Frodo ran from the tent, shouting for anyone who would listen.
“Great, now they’ll all be in here!” Sam groaned, putting his head in his hands.
“Yes, and one more,” Al said, looking with renewed hope at Ziggy’s screen. “Looks like one of the girls got hold of a library copy of the book, and you’ll get to meet Boromir in a minute. He was out gathering firewood when you first leaped and everyone was standing around you.”
Seconds later the tent flap flew open, and the grey-bearded man that Sam had seen earlier stuck his head inside. He frowned. “Frodo, I don’t see anyone else. There’s just Pippin sitting here.”
“Is the lad all right?” Sam heard Gimli’s voice boom outside.
“What’s going on?” a voice called that Sam hadn’t heard yet; it must belong to Boromir.
Suddenly the entire tent was torn apart and Aragorn was there with drawn sword- standing right in the middle of Al.
“He’s right there!” Frodo pointed desperately. “Doesn’t anyone else see him?”
“We see no one except Pippin, Frodo,” Aragorn said gently, concern filling his handsome features.
“I think I’d better go for now, Sam. I’ll be back when you smooth things out.” Al opened the portal, stepped through it, and was gone.
Now it was Frodo’s turn to collapse. Merry and Samwise caught him while Sam continued sitting there in Pippin’s body and feeling more foolish by the second.
”Do you think the lad’s fever is catching?” Gimli asked Gandalf. “Now Frodo is seeing people that aren’t there, and Pippin can’t remember his own name! What next?”
“I think he did see someone,” Gandalf said slowly, “but we must wait until he revives in order to question him more closely.”
Sam closed his eyes. I have to get to him first, he thought. I can’t have them thinking he’s lost his mind. I have to gain his confidence somehow, since he can see Al- who knows how to make a strategic withdrawal, he grinned wryly.
“What’s so amusing, Pippin?” Merry asked sharply, noting the smile.
Sam gulped while the Fellowship save for Frodo all glared at him.
“I’m sorry,” he said meekly. “Just a facial tic.”
Frodo was carried to Aragorn’s tent and Sam sat there wondering what to do next. Merry sat down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m really worried about you, Pip,” he said softly. “You’re acting very strangely. Are you sure you don’t feel the fever coming back?”
Sam managed a smile. “I just need a bit more rest, Merry, that’s all. I’m sorry I upset Frodo so much.”
“You didn’t upset him at all, Pippin. He saw someone standing next to you that we couldn’t see, and he was alarmed for your sake. He was only trying to protect you.” Merry paused. “You didn’t see anyone either, then?”
He was studying Pippin’s face closely and Sam thought, this one is really sharp; I’ll have to be extra careful.
“No, I saw no one there,” he said, keeping his voice calm. Which I didn’t see ‘one there’- I saw Al and Frodo.
Merry nodded, accepting what Sam said. “Well, come on then. You can lie down next to Frodo and have a rest. We’ll wake you both when it’s time to move on.”
Sam felt his stomach rumble. “What about supper?” he asked. “Wasn’t Sam calling us to supper before I passed out? I’m so hungry my stomach thinks my throat was cut.”
Merry grinned with relief. “That sounds more like our Pippin,” he said happily. “I’ll bring you a plate, and then you can rest.”
The coney stew was plain but delicious (though a bit overcooked due to the delay), and Sam ate his fill, which seemed to please everyone else. Frodo was awake once more, but did not want to talk about who he had seen, probably too embarrassed to do so, Sam thought with pity. Al was pretty hard to take on first sight with his garish clothing to someone from his time, much less several thousand years in the past. Which brought Sam back to his original musing: How did I get here, and why am I here?
Al had the good grace to wait to reappear until Frodo and the others save Legolas were asleep for the night, but with Merry asleep right next to him Sam kept his voice to the barest whisper.
“Did you get things sorted out with Frodo?” Al asked.
“No, I didn’t, because I haven’t had an opportunity to speak to him without others being around, and he didn’t raise the subject at supper. Did you find out anything?”
“Well, since we last spoke, we had a CD ROM of the books rushed from Amazon.com and fed the information into Ziggy, so now we have a lot more information to go on. I hope you brought warm clothes, Sam.”
“Why?” Sam asked suspiciously.
“Because you’re going to be up to your neck in snow in a week or so,” Al confessed. “You have to go through that snowstorm, and then some caves after that. We’re not sure yet what your purpose is for being here, but we’re working on it. The seventh CD had a skip in it and wouldn’t you figure, it picks up where you are right now, which is three days after the Fellowship left Rivendell. We have to smooth out the scratch and feed more data to Ziggy before we know what you have to do.”
“But WHY am I here, Al?” Sam whispered. “Those books were fantasy- these characters aren’t real.”
Al drew a deep breath. “You might be here to prove that they WERE real, Sam.”
“Well, how am I supposed to do that?” Sam hissed under his breath. “I have no cameras, no nothing to record their existence! And even if I did, who would believe me? They’d figure I just had a bunch of miniature aborigines dress up and put hair on their feet to prove my point!”
“Settle down, settle down!” Al urged him as he lit a fresh cigar with one hand and held and punched Ziggy with the other. “Right now, you worry about getting to Frodo and telling him who I am and who you really are before he thinks he’s going ka-ka and wants to go home.”
“You’re right, “Sam sighed. “I’ll just look for the first opportunity to talk to him alone.”
“It shouldn’t be hard to do,” Al comforted him. “He and Pippin are family, and very good friends too. Getting him alone will be easy- it’s the convincing him that he’s…”
“Not ka-ka, I know. All right, Al, beat it, I’m tired. I need all my Swiss-cheesed brain cells to think of a plan and they won’t be much good without sleep.”
“All right. Nighty-night, Sam!” Al stepped back through the portal, and Sam lay back down and closed his eyes.
Al took a tentative step back. “Um, Sam, why can this, um, hobbit see me?”
“Sam? Why are you calling him ‘Sam’? Who are you?” Frodo demanded in a voice more high-pitched in fear and anger.
Sam got to his feet. “Listen, Frodo, it’s all right…”
“It is not all right, Pippin! Who is that strangely-dressed man?”
Frowning at Frodo’s commentary on his clothing, Al punched buttons on a still unhelpful Ziggy. “He sees you as Pippin, but me as me,” he mused. “Any theories, Sam?”
“I…I don’t know,” Sam confessed to Al’s question. To Frodo he said, “It’s…it’s all right, Frodo. This is…this is Al.”
Frodo did not look at all reassured that “Pippin” was on a first name basis with this Man; his trembling hand did not move away from his sword hilt.
Sam got to his feet, his mind working fast as he sought to reassure the frightened hobbit. He did know that Frodo had enough to worry about without strange men taking over his friend’s body. He could worry about explaining the niceties of quantum mechanics later.
“Listen, Frodo…Al called me Sam because…because that’s my name.”
Tears came to Frodo’s eyes. “Oh, Pippin, you’ve forgotten your name now?”
Sam cursed himself. “No, no…I’m Pippin, but…”
“You’re digging the hole deeper, Sam,” Al said. “Let me try.” He approached Frodo, who quick as lightning drew his sword and held it inches from Al’s heart, stepping between Al and who he saw as Pippin. Al didn’t know if the hobbit would actually go through it, but he found himself very grateful that he was a hologram.
“My name is Al, Frodo, and…I called him Sam because…” Al bit his lip. “Never mind, back to you, Sam.”
Before either of them could say another word, Frodo ran from the tent, shouting for anyone who would listen.
“Great, now they’ll all be in here!” Sam groaned, putting his head in his hands.
“Yes, and one more,” Al said, looking with renewed hope at Ziggy’s screen. “Looks like one of the girls got hold of a library copy of the book, and you’ll get to meet Boromir in a minute. He was out gathering firewood when you first leaped and everyone was standing around you.”
Seconds later the tent flap flew open, and the grey-bearded man that Sam had seen earlier stuck his head inside. He frowned. “Frodo, I don’t see anyone else. There’s just Pippin sitting here.”
“Is the lad all right?” Sam heard Gimli’s voice boom outside.
“What’s going on?” a voice called that Sam hadn’t heard yet; it must belong to Boromir.
Suddenly the entire tent was torn apart and Aragorn was there with drawn sword- standing right in the middle of Al.
“He’s right there!” Frodo pointed desperately. “Doesn’t anyone else see him?”
“We see no one except Pippin, Frodo,” Aragorn said gently, concern filling his handsome features.
“I think I’d better go for now, Sam. I’ll be back when you smooth things out.” Al opened the portal, stepped through it, and was gone.
Now it was Frodo’s turn to collapse. Merry and Samwise caught him while Sam continued sitting there in Pippin’s body and feeling more foolish by the second.
”Do you think the lad’s fever is catching?” Gimli asked Gandalf. “Now Frodo is seeing people that aren’t there, and Pippin can’t remember his own name! What next?”
“I think he did see someone,” Gandalf said slowly, “but we must wait until he revives in order to question him more closely.”
Sam closed his eyes. I have to get to him first, he thought. I can’t have them thinking he’s lost his mind. I have to gain his confidence somehow, since he can see Al- who knows how to make a strategic withdrawal, he grinned wryly.
“What’s so amusing, Pippin?” Merry asked sharply, noting the smile.
Sam gulped while the Fellowship save for Frodo all glared at him.
“I’m sorry,” he said meekly. “Just a facial tic.”
Frodo was carried to Aragorn’s tent and Sam sat there wondering what to do next. Merry sat down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m really worried about you, Pip,” he said softly. “You’re acting very strangely. Are you sure you don’t feel the fever coming back?”
Sam managed a smile. “I just need a bit more rest, Merry, that’s all. I’m sorry I upset Frodo so much.”
“You didn’t upset him at all, Pippin. He saw someone standing next to you that we couldn’t see, and he was alarmed for your sake. He was only trying to protect you.” Merry paused. “You didn’t see anyone either, then?”
He was studying Pippin’s face closely and Sam thought, this one is really sharp; I’ll have to be extra careful.
“No, I saw no one there,” he said, keeping his voice calm. Which I didn’t see ‘one there’- I saw Al and Frodo.
Merry nodded, accepting what Sam said. “Well, come on then. You can lie down next to Frodo and have a rest. We’ll wake you both when it’s time to move on.”
Sam felt his stomach rumble. “What about supper?” he asked. “Wasn’t Sam calling us to supper before I passed out? I’m so hungry my stomach thinks my throat was cut.”
Merry grinned with relief. “That sounds more like our Pippin,” he said happily. “I’ll bring you a plate, and then you can rest.”
The coney stew was plain but delicious (though a bit overcooked due to the delay), and Sam ate his fill, which seemed to please everyone else. Frodo was awake once more, but did not want to talk about who he had seen, probably too embarrassed to do so, Sam thought with pity. Al was pretty hard to take on first sight with his garish clothing to someone from his time, much less several thousand years in the past. Which brought Sam back to his original musing: How did I get here, and why am I here?
Al had the good grace to wait to reappear until Frodo and the others save Legolas were asleep for the night, but with Merry asleep right next to him Sam kept his voice to the barest whisper.
“Did you get things sorted out with Frodo?” Al asked.
“No, I didn’t, because I haven’t had an opportunity to speak to him without others being around, and he didn’t raise the subject at supper. Did you find out anything?”
“Well, since we last spoke, we had a CD ROM of the books rushed from Amazon.com and fed the information into Ziggy, so now we have a lot more information to go on. I hope you brought warm clothes, Sam.”
“Why?” Sam asked suspiciously.
“Because you’re going to be up to your neck in snow in a week or so,” Al confessed. “You have to go through that snowstorm, and then some caves after that. We’re not sure yet what your purpose is for being here, but we’re working on it. The seventh CD had a skip in it and wouldn’t you figure, it picks up where you are right now, which is three days after the Fellowship left Rivendell. We have to smooth out the scratch and feed more data to Ziggy before we know what you have to do.”
“But WHY am I here, Al?” Sam whispered. “Those books were fantasy- these characters aren’t real.”
Al drew a deep breath. “You might be here to prove that they WERE real, Sam.”
“Well, how am I supposed to do that?” Sam hissed under his breath. “I have no cameras, no nothing to record their existence! And even if I did, who would believe me? They’d figure I just had a bunch of miniature aborigines dress up and put hair on their feet to prove my point!”
“Settle down, settle down!” Al urged him as he lit a fresh cigar with one hand and held and punched Ziggy with the other. “Right now, you worry about getting to Frodo and telling him who I am and who you really are before he thinks he’s going ka-ka and wants to go home.”
“You’re right, “Sam sighed. “I’ll just look for the first opportunity to talk to him alone.”
“It shouldn’t be hard to do,” Al comforted him. “He and Pippin are family, and very good friends too. Getting him alone will be easy- it’s the convincing him that he’s…”
“Not ka-ka, I know. All right, Al, beat it, I’m tired. I need all my Swiss-cheesed brain cells to think of a plan and they won’t be much good without sleep.”
“All right. Nighty-night, Sam!” Al stepped back through the portal, and Sam lay back down and closed his eyes.