Chapter 8:

The sliders fell out of the portal and Sam rubbed his face. He had a few bruises, but he was no worse for wear.

"Guys! Why did we leave?" Sam asked.

"Because the timer was up. It wasn't our choice!" Michael replied.

"Anyway, where are we?" Rebecca asked.

"Looks like, the street in front of Cal-U." Michael said.

"How much time?" Sam asked.

"A day." Rebecca replied.

Suddenly a young man walked up to the group. He seemed familiar to all of them, but they couldn't put their finger on why.

"Are you alright?" the man asked Sam, noticing the bumps and bruises.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." Sam said.

"That's good, say I haven't seen you three around. I'm Robert, Robert Collins." the man said.

"That's weird... cause her last name is Collins too." Sam said pointing to Rebecca.

"Must be a common last name," Michael said.

"Say, you two look familiar." Robert said pointing to Michael and Sam. "You look like you could be related to my friends, Michelle and Samantha."

"Huh. Don't know them." Michael said.

"Anyway, see you around." Robert said walking into the gates of Cal-U.

"Oh my god." Rebecca said.

"What?" Sam asked.

"We must be on a gender swapped world, because that guy is me if I was male, and I bet his friends are your female doubles." Rebecca replied.

"How can you tell?" Michael asked.

"His mannerisms are identical to mine, and doesn't he look like me a little bit? And he said that you two resembled his friends." Rebecca replied.

"Well then. This is an interesting Earth. I guess that means that we can't get into the college with our ID cards, then." Michael said.

"Most likely." Rebecca replied. "What now?"

"Can we get lunch? I haven't eaten since that world with the diner." Sam said.

"Good idea. We can see if the pizza place that was popular on the campus of my Earth is on this one." Rebecca said.

The three walked to the pizza place and sure enough, it was there. They walked in and got a table and prepared to order.

"Just get a pie. We'll eat it." Michael told Rebecca, handing her a $20.

"Okay. But I'm getting pepperoni on it, and that's not up for discussion." Rebecca said and walked to the counter as Michael sat back down. The girl at the counter turned around, and Rebecca was taken aback at who she saw. It was Sam's female double. She looked just like him, but with long hair, and was the opposite gender.

"Are you okay, miss?" Samantha asked.

"Oh, yeah... You just look a lot like someone I know." Rebecca said.

"You look like my friend too... Do you know Robert Collins?" Samantha asked.

"Nope. Oh, and can I get a pepperoni pie?" Rebecca responded.

"Sure. That'll be $7." Samantha said.

"Okay." Rebecca said handing her the $20 and getting her change. She returned to the table and looked at Sam, and started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Sam asked.

"Your double is working at the counter." Rebecca said.

"She's pretty hot." Sam said.

"Dude! That's gross!" Michael said.

"Hey, my double had it going on. If he wasn't me, I'd find him attractive." Rebecca said.

"Wonder what mine looks like..." Michael said.

Suddenly a young woman ran frantically into the pizza parlor and ran to the counter. She threw down a paper and started to talk animatedly to Samantha.

"I've done it! I've discovered the key to the Einstein Rosen Podolsky Bridge! It's gonna be huge!" she shouted.

"Calm down, I'm at work, do you want to get me fired?" Samantha asked.

"Just meet me in our dorm when your shift is over. This is going to be awesome!" she shouted and turned to leave. The sliders noticed that it was Michael's double who was shouting about Einstein Rosen Podolsky bridges.

"Hold on." Rebecca said and walked over to Michelle. "Excuse me, Miss. But are you talking about the theory of parallel worlds?"

"Yes, how did you know?" Michelle asked.

"I'm a fan of them as well. Although, if I must give you a tip or two, make sure that you don't lose your home coordinates. That might not end so well." Rebecca replied.

"You've traveled to another world? Are you from another world?" Michelle asked.

"Can't say too much, but good luck." Rebecca replied and went to sit down as Michelle left.

"Why were you talking to my double?" Michael asked.

"I figured that she needed to have a warning to guard the home coordinates. I don't want to doom anyone else to this fate." Rebecca replied.

"Fair enough." Michael said.

"Excuse me, miss! Your pizza's ready!" Samantha shouted to Rebecca. Rebecca got the pizza and thanked Samantha and returned to the table.

"So, what do you think of your double?" Rebecca asked.

"Eh, since I know she's me, I can't find her attractive." Michael said picking up a slice of pizza.

"I knew it was mine, and I thought she was hot..." Sam said shoving the pizza into his mouth.

"Yeah, but you're you." Michael said.

"What is that supposed to imply?" Sam asked.

"In the two months I've known you, you have expressed interest in dating many females, and a few fictional characters." Michael replied smiling.

"Man, I wish I knew you two months ago..." Rebecca said giggling.

"Anyway, how much time do we have left?" Michael asked.

"Right. Uh, about twenty hours." Rebecca said.

"Think we could find a place to crash? I'm beat since that last world." Sam said.

"Yeah, me too." Michael said.

"I remember on my world, there was a motel near campus, it wasn't much, but it was a cheap place." Rebecca said.

"Good idea. It'll be good to sleep in an actual bed, the last two places I've slept were prison cells." Michael said.

The trio walked to the motel and checked in for the day. They walked into the room, and collapsed onto the beds. The first to reawaken was Rebecca. She went to the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror.

"Jeez, I haven't showered since the world where me and Michael were a couple..." Rebecca said to herself. With that, she stripped her clothes off and stepped into the shower and turned it on. She showered herself and put her clothes back on. She started brushing her hair when a knock started on the door. "Yes?"

"It's me!" Michael said.

"Come in!" Rebecca replied.

"We have about a half hour before we slide." Michael said. "Just wanted to warn you."

"Oh! Can we stop by Cal U before we leave?" Rebecca asked.

"Why?" Michael replied.

"If this is the day that your double invented sliding, then I want to warn them of the problems that can happen." Rebecca said.

"Good idea." Michael said.

"Wake up Sam, and we'll head on over." Rebecca said.

The three made their way back to Cal U, and snuck up into the dorms. Michael knocked on the door to what was his dorm on his world, and hoped it was right. Robert opened the door and smiled.

"Oh, hey! You're those people I saw on the ground yesterday. Listen, my friend's onto some interesting stuff, so I can't really talk." Robert started.

"Yeah, that's what we're here to talk about. Can we come in?" Michael asked.

"I guess..." Robert said.

They walked into the room to see Michelle holding her version of the timer, and showing it off to Samantha. She turned to the trio and made an angry face.

"Who are these people?" Michelle asked.

"I'm Rebecca, we met yesterday. Listen... I said I couldn't tell you I was from another world, but I feel that I should give you a few warnings." Rebecca said.

"And, in case you don't want to believe us, I'm your double from another earth." Michael said.

"Yeah, right." Michelle said. "Why are you a male? Shouldn't my double be a woman?"

"Actually, most of my doubles I've met are male. You're the first female I've found." Michael said.

As the two Josephsons were arguing, Sam and Samantha were staring at eachother, dumbfounded.

"I really hope they don't start kissing, that'd be nasty." Robert said.

"Yeah. Anyway, we have about two minutes left, so we better make this quick." Rebecca said.

"What do you mean?" Robert asked.

"Be careful about currents going into your timer, if it gets hit by a shockwave, or something like that, your home coordinates could be lost." Rebecca said.

"We'll be careful." Robert said.

"Guys! We're out of here!" Rebecca said, pointing the timer at the door.

"Sorry, but we have to bounce!" Michael said leaping into the portal.

"See you later, hopefully." Sam said to his double as he leapt into the portal.

"Sam!" Rebecca said laughing at Sam's flirtations with his double. "Have a fun sliding journey!" she said to the soon to be sliders.

The wormhole closed and the three soon to be sliders watched on in awe. Michelle held her timer up and pointed it at the wall.

"We're going to have a fun time, aren't we?" Michelle said as the new wormhole opened.