Sam Beckett leaped into his newest person. He appeared to be
in the middle of a motorcycle race in a city. There were a few people
behind him but only one person in front of him. The guy in front was
wearing a blue and orange suit. He could see that he was almost at
the finish line when he bumped into something and lost control of the
motorcycle. He got thrown off the motorcycle and landed on the pavement.
He could hear the announcer,"And the race finishes with Alex Mann in first,
Lucas Fujika in second, and Christine Jeigo in third."
"Oh boy," Sam said as he got up from the ground.
*************************************
When the blue light faded Brandon Caine found himself in a white room.
The door opened and a man wearing a yellow suit and a black tie came in.
"Hello, my name is Al Calavicci. It appears that you'll staying with
us for a while".
"Great," Brandon responded, "I've been abducted by aliens. And horribly
dressed at that".
"What do you mean, horribly dressed?" Al said, annoyed. "This is very
stylish. And we're not aliens."
"I don't think a human could dress like that"
Al ignored him. " We need your name and the year."
"Why do you need my name?" Brandon asked.
"That's confidential," Al said. Brandon frowned
"Well, maybe my name is confidential"
Jeez, Al thought to himself, this is going to be a long leap.
**************************************
"Brandon, are you all right?" Alex asked as he came over.
"Yeah," Sam said as he stood up.
"What happened?"
"Um," Sam said, Rapidly searching for an excuse. "I just got a little
distracted." He immediately regretted it. It would only make the other person
more concerned.
"Are you sure you're all right?" He asked again.
"Yes. Stop asking." Sam replied. Where's Al? he thought to himself.
"Alright. Hey, what do you say you, me and the gang get pizza for dinner?"
"That's fine," Sam responded as he followed Alex.
***************************************
Sam analyzed the situation. My name is Brandon. The athlete across
from me is Alex. The redhead is Fidget. The guy next to her is Grinder.
As for the blue-haired guy, I don't know.
"Want some more soda, Rikki?" Fidget asked. Thanks Fidget, Sam said mentally.
He took a bite of his pizza. He didn't really feel like eating. He
ate just enough to fool the others.
"This pizza tastes great!" Fidget exclaimed.
" It should. This is the best place in town" Grinder responded. He looked
at Brandon. "Don't you agree, Brandon?"
"Yes, it is very good." Sam replied, wondering if Grinder suspected anything. The
other had been looking at him oddly ever since he leaped.
He took another bite of his pizza. Soon the pizza was gone and they were
preparing to leave. Sam and Grinder got out last.
*************************************
On Big Air, Sam sat on his bunk. The plane was on autopoliot and the group
was doing their own. Fidget was going over the tapes from the race,
Alex was talking to someone named Grey, Rikki was doing manager stuff,
and Grinder was doing something in the cockpit. He noticed an iguana
staring at him from the opposite bunk. Must be a pet, he thought.
He reached toward to pet it. The iguana hissed and without warning,
bit his finger, hard. Sam drew his hand back while the iguana jumped off
the bed. It hissed at him again and ran off to the cockpit. Sam looked
at his finger. It was bleeding.
"Don't you just love iguanas?" a voice next to him said. Sam jumped.
"Al! I thought I said never to sneak up on me like that."
"I think you should put something on your finger. It's bleeding
pretty bad."
"Forget the finger. Why am I here?" Sam asked. Al looked at his handlink.
"Well, in a few days Alex Mann dies in a fire."
"What? What fire?"
"He dies in his old high school. Vallentino High School. It was closed
for remodeling. He was the only one in there."
" But why would he be in a closed building?" Sam asked.
"Ziggy is searching for details. It should be ready in the morning." Al replied.
"Al right. Keep me posted," Sam said. With that Al disappeared through the holo-
door.
********************************
Fidget was just finishing up when Vinnie jumped on her shoulder.
He hissed and nuzzled her.
"Did ya miss me, Vinnie?" She said to her pet. Vinnie just curled
around her neck. She got up from her seat to stretch a little. She noticed
Vinnie had a little blood in his mouth. She checked, but there were no cuts
in his mouth. Alex walked into the cockpit.
"Hey Grinder, could you fly us to Grey's cabin? He says there something
in the amp equation that I should see."
" No problem, A-man," Grinder responded. Rikki suddenly appeared.
"Alex, in case you've forgotten, WE HAVE A COMPETITION IN THREE DAYS!"
"Hey, relax. It will only be for a day. We'll be back in California in
plenty of time," Alex responded. Rikki didn't look convinced. Alex
was going to say something more when he noticed something.
"Hey, where's Brandon?"
"Wasn't he on his bunk?" Fidget asked.
"No, I looked there," Rikki said.
"Maybe he's in the bathroom," Fidget offered.
**********************************
Sam cleaned his finger. He drained the sink of the bloody water.
"Geez, that was a lot of blood," he mumbled.
"What happened?" A voice asked behind him. Sam turned to see Alex.
"Um, it's just a little cut."
"Well, we're making a change of plans and heading to Grey's cabin.
Something in the amp equation he wants me to see." Alex turned back the other
way. " Probably has something to do with Dr. X again" Sam heard him mumble.
Amp equation? Dr. X? Something told him Alex was not just an athlete.
**********************************
It didn't take long to get to Grey's cabin. Immediately, Alex and Grey
had gone off to talk. Fidget, Rikki and Grinder went inside to find
something to do. Sam stayed outside. Al appeared next to him.
"Nice place here. Reminds me of summer camp."
"Al, did you get anything new?"
"As a matter of fact, I did. Alex may not have been alone."
"Two people died in the fire?"
"No! Alex was the only one. I told you that."
"But you said-"
"What I meant was that Alex may have had some company before the fire."
Sam looked at Al for moment.
"So..."
"Alex may have been murdered." Al finished. Sam shook his head.
"Who would want to kill Alex? Wait. Al, I want you to search the database
for anyone named Dr.X." Al shrugged.
"Dr. X? Hmmm, nice name. Very friendly. Why him?" Al asked.
"I heard Alex mention him. I believe they've crossed paths before."
"Interesting." Al punched up the holo-door. "Very Interesting. I'll
tell you what I find." He left.
Sam stood alone for a minute, then decided to take a walk around.
He never knew that there was two people watching him.