Future Quest
"Part Five"
by Montage

DISCLAIMER: They aren't mine! And I'm not making any money off of this.

Hadji looked at Jessie for a moment before speaking, "Are you sure you
know what you are doing?  You could change things very drastically
without even realizing it.  No one has ever *been* back to the past, we
don't know what problems it may cause."

"I realize that Hadj, but if what Jeremy says is true...I can't...*we*
can't risk all of that just because a few things might change."

He contemplated what she was saying for a few moments, his dark brown
eyes meeting her bright green ones.  "Jessica, there is more to this
than you are telling me."

"I...can't tell you right now, Hadj, I'm sorry," she looked away from
him.

He nodded in understanding and turned to go.

Jessie felt like crying...or screaming; she couldn't decide which.

"Ms. Quest?"

"Yeah," she replied to the comm. computer.

"Mr. Surd is here to see you," the woman sounded skeptical.

"Let him in, Tana, I'll meet him there in a minute."

"Yes, ma'am."

*Here goes nothing...and I hate being called ma'am...*

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jeremy Surd stood in front of Tana Narducci.  He towered over the petite
blond, and she looked very uncomfortable.

He grinned like the cheshire cat when he saw Jessie.

"Jess, how are you?"

"All right, considering the circumstances," her expression remained
rather neutral.

"Well, I suppose we had better get started."

Jessie nodded and they left the entryway to go to the meeting room.

Once they were seated, Jeremy began.

"Jess, I know this is hard for you, but we have to do it."

"I know...but we have to do it *without* causing any *major* changes in
history," she pointed out.

"True.  I was thinking, what if we didn't *save* Jonny, but we left them
the cure."

She shook her head, "What if they didn't find it?"

"Hmmm...we could go back and tell them about the virus, then they could
start making a cure sooner."

"Dr. Quest is...was a pretty smart guy...he'd have a cure in a matter of
days.  We may as well just give it to him."

He sighed, "Well, we're running out of options."

"We could go back to last year and replace the unfinished cure with the
real one so he could have gotten the antidote sooner," Jessie proposed.

"No good," he pulled out some sheets of paper and handed them to her,
"my dad's notes."

"'If my calculations are correct, the disease becomes permanent after
six months...though it may not resurface after the initial illness for
up to twelve years,'" she read.

She threw the papers down in frustration.

"Forgive the intrusion, but what if you were to weaken the antidote and
give it to him?  It would prevent the virus from becoming permanent and
when it became serious, the antidote would kill it all together.  That
way you would not chance changing the fact that he got sick, only that
he died...or so I would hope."

They both stared at Hadji in amazement; his plan made sense, at least
they thought it did.

Jessie jumped up and kissed him on the cheek, "Yer the greatest, Hadji!"

"It *is* simply theoretical, but I have thought about it and cannot see
any reason for it *not* to work."

Jeremy was looking at Jessie, "Whaddaya think?"

"I think it's probably the best shot we've got s far as not disrupting
the future...present...whatever.  At least not *too* much.  I say we go
for it."

"Great, now when do we go back to?"

Jessie and Hadji thought about it, "When he was in the hospital.  The
second time he got sick," Jessie said.  "No one will think it's strange
for somebody to be injecting him with something in the hospital."

"Good idea," Jeremy agreed.

"I will work on weakening the cure," Hadji volunteered.

"We'll check out the time machine, since I'm fairly sure no one knows
how to run it except Benton Quest," Jeremy said.

"On second thought, Hadji, why don't *I* work on the cure and *you* work
on figuring out how to run that thing," Jessie asked Hadji.

"Good plan, my friend."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

"Dr. Quest?"

"Yes?"

"Hello, I'm Mike Dane, the doctor in charge of your son."

The two men shook hands, "How is he, doctor?"

"I'm afraid we can't find any cause for his illness.  Or rather
illnesses.  He lapses in and out of consciousness, fever,
chills...pretty much anything you can imagine.  One minute he's fine,
the next he's throwing up.  I've never seen anything like this before;
and neither have any of the other doctors in the city."

Benton nodded, "It is quite odd, I agree."

"We'll keep an eye on him and do all we can for him...but I'm afraid we
can't help him any."

"I trust you to do your best, doctor.  That's all I can ask of you. 
Thank you for your time."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Jessie sat on her bed reading a book.  Well, she was more like just
staring at it, because her mind wasn't on her reading and she'd been
reading the same page for the last twenty minutes.  She couldn't stop
thinking about Jonny all alone and sick in the hospital.

She heard the front door slam; Dr. Quest and her dad were back!  She
closed her book and ran down the stairs.

"Hey, Ponchita," Race greeted her.

"How's Jonny?  Is he okay?"

"Well, I love you, too," her father joked.

"Hi, dad.  How is he?"

Race's joking mood faded and he became very serious, "They're doing all
they can for him...but he's still sick."

Jessie sighed, "Why can't Hadji and I see him?"

"Because the doctors think it would be too stressful for him.  It could
make him worse."

She could tell he was lying, but she also knew she wouldn't get anymore
out of him, "Could you take him a note for me?"

Race pondered the idea before replying, "I don't think it would hurt."

Jessie ran off to go find a pen and paper.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Are you sure this thing will work?" Jessie asked her friend as they
stood before the time travel unit.

"Are you sure that any of this will work?"

"Good point...shall we?" she motioned for Jeremy to go first.  He
cautiously climbed into the contraption and she, just as cautiously, got
in after him.

Jessie suddenly got up and ran over to Hadji, she handed him a blue
piece of paper, "Keep this safe for me Hadj.  If we can't pull this off,
it's gonna be one of my most important possessions."

He took it and stuck it under his turban, "I shall make sure nothing
happens to it."

He looked at her and stifled a laugh, "Don't you think you could be a
little *more* conspicuous?"

She looked down at herself and sighed.  Unlike Jonny, she wore a uniform
to work.  A black one-piece with red markings to indicate that she
wasn't a member of the security staff at the compound.  She had topped
it off with Jonny's leather jacket.  "I'll be right back."

Jessie returned a few minutes later in jeans and a blouse, "Ready...I
hope."

"Hold on to your seats, it could very well be a bumpy ride," Hadji
informed his friends.

The machinery shirred to life as Hadji started the engines.  He placed
his hand on the main switch, "Are you ready?"

"As we'll ever be," Jeremy muttered.

Hadji pulled the lever, "Umm...nothing happened," he stated the obvious.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light and they were gone.

Hadji rubbed his eyes, "Never mind..."

Montage
montage@geocities.com